How to avoid being boring

Red Chimneys by Adam Hawkins http://anodizeproductions.com

Ask questions.

That’s it.

Ask questions, listen to the answers and ask some more questions.

Its not about you.

Do you need tea and sympathy?

Image from www.bigtomatocompany.com

Oh dear, poor you. You’re having a hard time, your business isn’t going well and life is so unfair and you have a lot to deal with.

This sympathy is free, there’s no obligation to return it and it’s offered in all sincerity. I’d offer you some tea to go with it but I can see you’ve already had lots.

Now, how do you feel? Understood and supported? Good.

But here you are still feeling bad and I can see that every time someone asks you how things are you feel that pain all over again. Could it be that the more you focus on your difficulties the worse you make yourself feel?

Anyway, that’s more than enough sympathy now. What you need is some encouragement.

Your business doesn’t have any emotions. It responds to action. Take the right actions and your business will flourish. Expect it to sit and wait for you to ‘feel like’ taking action and it won’t.

If fear has you in its frozen grip, sympathy won’t get you out of it. Even the tea won’t melt it. Only action has any effect.

If you can’t think straight, DO something.

Consistent action, doing the right things at the right time, is what gets us what we want but until you figure out the right things to do, do something anyway. Action has a 50% chance of getting the right result. Inaction has none.

I’m sorry you’re feeling bad. Really I am but what are you DOING to change things?

Twitter Business for Beginners

Can you really get business from Twitter?

“Yes you can, and this is how.”

Business Basics

Twitter can do what every business owner wants and needs: it can allow you to listen to what potential clients and customers are looking for, need and think and it can be the means by which you connect with them directly as individuals and create rewarding relationships. In Twitter terms you ‘follow’ the people you want to listen to and attract the people you want to talk to as your “followers” (more of this later).

Ignore media Reports

You probably need to ignore most of the media reports about Twitter which are either focused on celebrities and totally irrelevant or intent on rubbishing a new media that threatens the established ways of reporting world events. Neither of these viewpoints has much to do with using Twitter for business.

Getting started is easy

If you haven’t already got a Twitter account go to www.twitter.com and follow the instructions. Do write down the password you use for your account as you’ll need this for all sorts of applications that come later. It is essential to personalize your profile. Use your own name rather than a company name but make it short, simple and memorable.

First impressions count and you will be recognised both on-line and in face to face meetings from your avatar picture so its really important to use a good one (close up head shot is best) and don’t change it too often. People form relationships with people not companies so don’t use a company logo.

Include a link to your web site or blog but also some information that is not just about business. For the same reason make sure you turn off the “Protect Updates” option. There is no point in using any social networks if your aim is to be private. Lighting a beacon fire or using semaphore is likely to be more private than any communication via the internet.

On your Twitter home page is a menu bar where you can change your profile and settings and “Find People”. Use this tab to enter in the names of people you know are already on Twitter or people that you are interested in. Click on the “follow” tab to add them to the list of people whose conversation you will be able to see. Their “tweets” will start appearing in a “stream” on you home page. If you find them boring or irrelevant you can click on their profile and “unfollow” them whenever you like.

On the right of your home page is a search box. Enter a particular subject or area you are interested in and this will bring up a list of “tweets” that have mentioned it. You can decide whether or not to follow any of those people depending on how interesting you find them. Another way to find people to follow is to use www.twellow.com (the Twitter Yellow pages) www.tweepsearch.com is another way to find people based on keywords in their bio.

You may find that some of the people you follow will follow you back or random people will find you. You will get an email to let you know who they are. If any of these look like spam accounts or have content that you find distasteful (remember Twitter is completely uncensored) you can use the “block” facility. No-one knows if they’ve been blocked or by whom. It just means that you won’t see their tweets and they won’t see yours.

Sending your first tweet

To send your first tweet type something in the box at the top of the page – max 140 characters. This will go to all the people who have already decided to follow you. What you’ll see on your home page now is a stream of tweets for the people you are following. Hover over the right of the message and two symbols will appear. The star enables you to store that tweet for later in the “favorites” on your Twitter homepage. To reply to that tweet click on the shooting arrow. This will put an @ symbol in the text box with the twittername of the person you are replying to. Type your message and send. Your tweet will be seen by that person and also by everyone else who is following both of you.

When you see a conversation or a comment that interests you, just join in. They are public not private and most people are happy to hear new comments. It’s sometimes hard to follow conversations because people dip in and out but don’t let that bother you. Anything really interesting will probably come round again. Think of it like a party in a big house – you can’t join in every conversation at the same time.

If you want to send a private message to someone (not often necessary) use the Direct Message (DM) option on the right hand menu bar. You can see all the DMs you’ve sent and received on this page. You can also see all the replies that have your @twittername in them. Always try to reply to these as they’re from people who are talking to you or about you!

What to tweet about

Join in as many conversations as possible, establish relationships, be as interesting as possible and your number of followers will build. Unless you are really, really funny or the circumstances are exceptional please spare us weather reports, your tea making habits, ablutions, TV viewing and health reports. Think about standing in a room full of people – would you spew out quotes or endlessly repeat everything that others are saying? I hope not!

As with all networking you need to get to know people before you start selling. A subtle link to a subject on your blog or website will start to build an interest in what you do but if you blast out sales messages or are just plain boring you’ll lose followers pretty quickly.

When you get a really interesting tweet or a request for help, for example: “anyone know a great packaging company/hotel/printer?” etc., you can re-tweet the message using the re-tweet button.  You’ll build a lot of goodwill and friends by re-tweeting. A good strategy is to send as many tweets as possible that other people think are worthwhile re-tweeting. Some people seem to think that if they re-tweet the millions of inspirational quotes that come their way their name will get re-tweeted too but if they’re not original or really funny you’ll just bore and annoy your followers and lose them.

Remember that the people you are interacting with aren’t virtual people. They are real people in a virtual meeting place so behave as you would if they were in the same room as you and treat them with respect.

Some people use a system called autofollow which means if someone follows you, you automatically follow them back and if they unfollow you, you automatically unfollow them. This is generally only used by people who care more about the numbers than the quality of the people they follow. It’s easy to get thousands of followers if you choose to follow thousands of people but you are probably following a lot of automated accounts that just spew out sales messages rather than having meaningful conversations with people. Its better to choose who you follow by looking at their profile. If I get an automated Direct Message (DM) I generally unfollow that account as I’m not interested in anyone who treats me like a number instead of an individual.

There are lots of scams offering ways to get more followers but these often link to automated systems that take over your account so treat anything like that with extreme caution.

That’s the basics covered and I’d recommend you spend a few minutes every day getting comfortable with those and build your followers before looking at what else is going on.

Beyond the basics

You’ll find that people on Twitter talk about the best way to use it, the various applications and options and send out links to guides and tips. This is the easiest way to learn about all the various ways that have developed, usually independently of Twitter, to make it even better. If you see someone doing something or using an application you’re interested in, just ask them how to do the same.

A couple of the most popular free applications to keep track of your account are TweetDeck www.tweetdeck.com and Hootsuite www.hootsuite.com which allows you to arrange your twitter stream into groups. You can group together people whose tweets you definitely don’t want to miss so that they all appear in one column. You can see all the tweets that mention you in a separate column. All remaining tweets will just stream past in another column and you can dip in and out of those conversations as you choose.

There are various other applications for PCs, Macs and mobile phones. You can use some mobile phones to tweet messages and photographs http://twitpic.com The best way to find out about these is to listen to others, experiment & play until you find what suits you.

One of the easiest and quickest ways to get more business using Twitter is to have a blog that is configured to update Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networks whenever you post a new entry. As long as the blog subjects are of interest to your followers they will RT these links and lots of people will visit your blog and help you to build a reputation as an expert in your field and make you easier to find on Google and other search engines. One of the easiest ways to do this is to use www.killerseosuperblogs.com

There are lots of useful tools at www.tweetlater.com including setting up automated tweets and numerous analytical tools at www.twitteranalyzer.com. Again, use these with caution or your will either bore people or annoy them and lose followers.

How it works for me

I have been using Twitter since January 2008 and choose the people I follow very carefully. Because much of my business is local I started out by selecting local business owners and connecting with people I already know.
However, I quickly found and joined in some really interesting conversations about things that are nothing to do with my business and started following and being followed by a wide variety of people from different countries that include writers, artists, journalists, photographers, musicians and TV producers. I’ve learned a lot, expanded my interests, made friends and laughed so much that at times I couldn’t see to type.

I’ve built my business connections because all of these people are connected to others who have been drawn into the conversations. I’ve been invited to write for other people’s blogs and I’ve had blog posts re-tweeted by people who have no interest in my business but because they’ve grown to like me they promote me to their followers and I do the same for them. As a result I’ve had more people attend my workshops, mastermind groups and other events and I am building a reputation that goes way beyond the local people that I regularly do business with. I’ve also been invited to join and contribute to a private international discussion group of people who value my business ideas.
As all this activity is free, the only investment is my time which is a lot less than any efforts I could have made to get my business known by so many people.

I only ever tweet from my PC, never from my phone and I’ve never posted a twitpic.  I use TweetDeck and HootSuite as I find they both have features that are useful. I follow about 900 people and am followed by about 2,000 people. However, the people who are following me have between them hundreds of thousands of followers so the number of people I am able to reach goes way beyond my own account. My account is a small one by many Twitter standards but it’s manageable and gives me great results.

If you’d like to know more about using Twitter I’d be very happy to help. Just email me or send me a Tweet  http://twitter.com/AnnHawkins/

This article was first published in Aug 09 and updated in June 2010

You can’t be good at everything

Repeat after me:

Do big goals lead to big success?

"No Hands" by Adam Hawkins http://anodizeproductions.com

Should you set big fat hairy audacious goals or stick to the reasonable, more easily achieved variety?

Many interviews with highly successful people reveal that they set themselves huge goals, fired by a burning desire to achieve something specific and that these goals determine their direction and purpose in life and colour all their decisions and actions.

They also freely admit that when they set these goals it’s usually without any clear idea of how to achieve them.

What they do have however,  is an unwavering belief that they CAN.

What happens is that when a goal excites you enough, you start to live every day in a way that makes it possible to achieve it and obstacles don’t seem so daunting. Setting reasonable goals rarely leads to that sense of excitement so there isn’t the same incentive to overcome obstacles and the goals  just becomes another “so what?”

All great achievements begin with an idea, a want, a longing, a desire.

While she was still Posh Spice, Victoria Adams said she wanted to be “more famous than Persil”. As Mrs Victoria Beckham she got her desire but many of our wants and longings never get past the wishing and dreaming stage.

If you’ve ever had your dream laughed at, if you’ve been told to ‘get real’, keep your feet on the floor, your shoulder to the wheel and your nose to the grindstone (ouch!) you’ve probably let go of that dream and it may now be just a vague longing.

How would you feel if you re-ignited that flame? What’s stopping you from blowing on the coals of your burning desire and setting off on an adventure of achievement?

My guess is, that interfering with your thinking, your determination and your belief is a very small word called FEAR.  It may be fear of failure, fear of success or simply a series of “what if’s?”

Fear is a tricky emotion. Most of the people who have achieved big fat hairy audacious goals say that the magnitude of what they were trying to achieve scared them – but they did it anyway.

If you knew that you could not possibly fail, what would you attempt?

On June 16th in Cambridge, Andy Gibney will be leading an interactive session on “How to set and achieve audacious goals and create a sense of purpose. Details here >>

If you can’t be there, join in the debate by telling us your views here – it would be great to know what you think – especially if you have a big fat hairy audacious goal!

Why should you trust your business intuition?

Crystal Ball by Adam Hawkins http://anodizeproductions.com

Intuition is a big part of business success for many people.

In a world where we are deluged by information and opinions, how do we make decisions?

Change in the business world is more rapid than ever before and survival requires unique strategies and different processes of decision making. Very often there is no precedent and therefore the rational, analytical approach is of little use.

The answer may be to trust our intuition more.

Intuition is part of our nature and many successful people admit that intuition is a big part of their success including Donald Trump, Oprah, Richard Branson and even Bill Gates.

Einstein and Edison described their creative process as having original ideas that didn’t come from the rational foundation of the mind. Jonas Salk, the inventor of the polio vaccine, says, ‘The intuitive mind tells the logical mind where to look next.’

Studies of Fortune 500 CEO’s found that the top executives relied upon quiet time, moments of prolonged inner reflection, to help them make better decisions. The inner connection allowed them greater access to intuitive problem solving which resulted in clearer thinking and more effective decision making.

What is intuition?

Intuition is a way of using the brain’s power without the constraints of logical thinking. We gather information from a wide range of sources and often get what is called a ‘gut feeling’ but all too often dismiss this because there is no logical explanation.

We are sometimes talked out of using our intuition and into logical decision making because we  can’t explain why some things just ‘feel right’ and yet when we look back these feelings are often proved to be right.

In our MasterMind groups I see lots of creativity that is born out of intuition. People come up with great business ideas all the time but what creates real success is the trust in their ideas and the drive to follow them through and bring them to fruition. It is often too easy and too tempting to stick with what we know rather than put a lot of effort into developing something new.

When intuition works:

Here are some examples:

Ray Croc bought the McDonalds franchise in the initial stages of its development for what was an exorbitant price. He couldn’t afford it but said ‘My funny-bone instinct kept urging me on.’

Conrad Hilton was bidding on the world’s largest hotel and the amount that apparently popped into his head was only 200 dollars higher than the next bid. He described problem solving as ‘I keep listening in a sort of inside silence until something clicks and I feel a right answer.’

Paul Fireman began the manufacture of Reebok shoes when the aerobic exercise boom was non-existent, using an innovative and extremely risky shoemaking technique.

When Jim Adamson was employed by Gap he discovered on a trip to the Far East what would be the first jeans to be imported into America. He purchased far more than was forecast to sell and the product still sold out in only a month. Asked why he didn’t purchase more he said, ‘I just didn’t know how good my intuition was.’

And that’s a lesson for all of us!

Tell us of your experiences where intuition has worked for you ….

Join us on May 19th when Simon Turner of the Acer Group and International Account Director and member of European, Middle East and African Management Team will show us why its important to

“Learn to Trust Your Business Intuition”

Simon is also Non Executive Director for 4 companies including Yorkshire Building Society, two Internet Businesses both pan-European and a PC Security company with shares floated in US and Germany and previously was Group Managing Director for DSG-International, Managing Director Philips Consumer Electronics- UK and Ireland, Senior Vice President Philips Media Europe.

After this talk you will:

Be aware of the laws of success as practiced by some of the world’s most successful people.

Understand how instinct and intuition are used to make business decisions.

Develop your sixth sense for grasping opportunities and avoiding dangers.

For more details click here >>

Seductive Networking

Seductive Networking by Adam Hawkins anodizeproductions.com

“Be seductive” the man said. “Use your voice, your eyes, your body to seduce the person you’re talking to. Make them WANT to get to know you better.”

“Most importantly”, he added, “Remember, it’s not about YOU! To be interesting you need to be more interested in the person you’re talking to than in yourself.”

“THE man” was @SteveTrister and if you haven’t seen him perform, you’re missing out big time.

Steve was entertaining a bunch of business owners and at the same time giving them invaluable tips on how to get the best out of the networking experience. His performance was brilliant; full of really funny observations about all the ways to alienate people and how to be really engaging and not just spout a tired old elevator pitch.

He put particular emphasis on being aware of the emotions we create in others and how to make real connections. Steve’s performance was great and the interactive session where he got people to practice was lively and seemed to get good results.

A few minutes later we went back to networking and the carapace of the seasoned networker slammed firmly back into place. I know habits take more than a few minutes to change but hell’s teeth, even the most unaware person in the room couldn’t have missed the main message:

IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU!

Yet here we were with myopic men peering at chests to read name badges to decide whether (chest notwithstanding) someone was worth talking to, instead of making eye contact and simply saying, “I’m Bill, who are you?”

No attempt at small talk, not even the slightest interest in the person (again, chest notwithstanding), only in the business they run.

If “What do you do?” was banned from the vocabulary, most serial networkers would be struck dumb.

Well pardon me folks, but I am more than my business. If I start a conversation with “I like your tie / necklace / hair colour / codpiece” or “What’s the wine / canapés / cocaine like?” I don’t expect the response to be “What do you do?” followed by (and usually without pausing for breath), a lengthy description about your business.

I’m looking for banter, rapport, a bit of fun, an exchange of ideas.

If I just wanted to know what business people are in I can get that from the attendance list. The reason for going to networking meetings must surely to meet the PEOPLE not the businesses, to discover if they’re funny, quirky, boring or obnoxious.

I WANT to be seduced but it seems like there’s fat chance of that ever happening.

Be honest now, how many times have you come away from a networking meeting having been totally fascinated and charmed by someone, irrespective of whether their business is of any interest to you?

Which is a shame because I’m sure in ‘real life’ most networkers are charming and fascinating and they know equally charming and fascinating people but we’re all missing out on those extended connections because we never get further than “What do you do?”. No one has a real conversation because they’re too busy looking over each other shoulders to see who they’re missing.

Whoever invented the term “Working the room” should be sent to networking purgatory. You won’t find Steve Trister there – he’ll be too busy having fun and making people laugh!

Find Steve Trister at http://www.stevetrister.com

If you want to learn how to give a high impact, influential and memorable message every time you speak, take a look here: http://www.performancedynamite.co.uk/

and catch Steve in Cambridge on 15th December!

Interestingly, Twitter seems to amplify  the habits that people display in other networking arenas. Before I follow someone on Twitter I check out their tweet stream to see if they sound interesting, if they interact with others and have a bit of fun. If they just broadcast endless one-way messages, and especially use repetitive auto tweets  I generally don’t follow them.  Auto tweeting is like sending a recording to a party and expecting to pull! If networkers displayed their Twitter name on their contact details it would make networking much easier – there’s no where for the boring, self important types to hide!

What do you think? Am I expecting too much? Are we people first and businesses second? What would happen if, instead of asking “What do you do?”, we asked each other “Who are you and what are you interested in?” Are YOU a seductive networker? Tell me below ……

What’s your second impression like?

Shadow by Adam Hawkins http://anodizeproductions.com

We see a lot about the importance of creating a good first impression but what’s your second impression like?

You get into the right clothes, do a bit of grooming, practice the smile and the firm handshake, learn a bit about body language and voice tone and wham, bam, thank you m’am you’ve aced the first impression. Everyone thinks you’re a great guy or gal and relaxes.

Then what? Then the real you gets an outing. When you stop trying to impress is there a different you that comes out?

I’ve recently had to re-asses my opinion of someone who always gives a great First Impression performance and remembered this that I heard from George Raynault, a multi-millionaire I worked with for several years who was a very wise man:

Someone at a reception smiled a hello and shook my hand warmly.

Later I saw him almost sneering at one of the waiters.

And, later still, talking behind someone’s back.

You only have one chance to make a first impression, true, but you have an

awful lot of time to make plenty of second impressions.

If you are meeting someone for the first time and may not get a chance to see

them again, a first impression really counts. For a very short time.

However, if you are going to be interacting with a person over a longer period of

time then second impressions are even more important.

Is someone who is rude to waiters and cab drivers or who cheats a barmaid out

of small change really someone you want to do business with?

If someone is always blaming other people and doesn’t treat others as they’d like to be treated why would you recommend them to others?

If people know they can rely on you to behave well and honorably even if no-one is watching, if you listen to them, make them feel good, cheer them up, be kind or give them good advice they will always seek you out and introduce you to others.

Second impressions are even more important than the first ones. Appearances only go so far. Its deeds that show your true worth.

You Unlimited

“What counts in the ring is what you can do after you’re exhausted. The same is true of life.” Muhammed Ali

Clive Gott is testimony to these words. When in June of 2004, he reached the lower of two peaks on Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, exhausted, did he accept that “at least I am at a peak” or did he look for something extra within himself to go the last 210 metres to ‘the roof of Africa?’

In April of 2006, when out of water, bereft of energy and still faced with more than 3 miles to go on stage two of the Marathon Des Sables in Morocco, he was faced with a choice. Would he climb into a land rover and call it a day or, somehow, get to the end of that stage and start a new day tomorrow?

Be honest now, what would you do? Do you have that dogged determination to get to your goal or are you more likely to take the easy way out?

You see, what counts is what we do after we are exhausted. Whether it is physical or mental exhaustion, the ability to find something extra is what separates winners from losers.

Clive applies his experiences to all aspects of life – not just physical and mental challenges but emotional ones too. He was married three times before he woke up to the fact that HE was the one who needed to change in order to have a fullfilling relationship.

He is also very funny. Listen to this short video clip called “Blame the Boss”

Clive has a passion and that is to release the dormant energy and magnificence of others. To encourage and inspire anyone and everyone to take life by the throat and say “I’m not done yet!” Clive is a student of life who happens to be compassionate, courageous, inspirational and very funny. Using his own achievements (and blunders) and life experiences as his main examples Clive has the unique ability to make the seemingly complex simple to understand, the challenging seem achievable and the impossible possible.

He is the reason that my ‘Inspirational Speakers’ events exist because he had faith in what I was doing and inspired me to believe in it and in myself enough to keep working at it and turn it into an achievement to be proud of.

Come and see Clive in Cambridge on 17th March for the presentation “You Unlimited”  You won’t walk away unchanged.

http://www.clivegott.com

Help a young man to achieve his dream!

Sing your Heart Out by Adam Hawkins http://anodizeproductions.com

From Bradley Young (age 12)

Dear All

Please help a schoolmate with his dream.

James Christie who is just 16 has entered a song writing competition for east Anglia and is currently in second place but he needs your help.

This is not just a great achievement because he is doing very well but also how he got there.

In 2006 he had a very bad rugby accident; he was stamped in the head. He was rushed to hospital and has been partially sighted ever since. After being told he could not play sport he turned his talents to music. While giving his speech in assembly he had to be helped up the stairs onto stage an someone else had to control the computer as he cannot see the mouse on the screen.

He is very close to first place (or by the time you read this he might be in first). If he wins he gets a lot of help with his career from professional musicians.

The competition closes midnight Sunday 14th March 2010 so please, please, please spread the word quickly.

He is only 212 votes off first place (at the moment)

Here is how to vote:

1. Go to Google

2. Type in: ‘Numu songwriter 2009’

3. Click on the top website

4. Scroll down to the second list of music

5. Instead of looking at recent look at most popular (on the tab at the top of the list)

6. Listen to catch you when you fall by James C

7. Listen to it as many times as you can (put it on mute if you like)

8. Don’t listen to anyone else because a listen counts as a vote

9. Send this message on

10. Enjoy the music

11. The more you listen the more votes he gets

Your help is greatly appreciated

Bradley Young