Tuesday's Treasure - Networking 101

Many of you have accumulated wealth through the effort and determination required to succeed as a small business owner, entrepreneur, or by breaking through the glass ceiling at a Fortune 500 company.

My fellow 85 Broads Member, Hilary Eaton Pearl, is an internationally recognized success coach and founder of Hilary Pearl Associates. In her seminars, she emphasizes the need to create and maintain a "personal brand".

There are many ways to do this. One is to join one of the many women's networks that have been created within corporations that recognize the value, and cost saving, associated with fostering gender equality. Many employers like Deloitte, view it as part of their business strategy.

By viewing this blog, you are passively joining in to my global network. Each time you click through to another blog or website, you are taking part in what I call learn & apply involvement.

Another way to amp up your personal brand value is to join one of the many digital social networks, such as Facebook or LinkedIN. Be very careful here, however, because reputation management is much more difficult when you hang yourself out to an entire world via the World Wide Web.

If this is the way you want to go, I suggest you hire a good "social media trainer" such as Kathryn Rose who is part of the Ladies Who Launch network, and Founder of Supreme Social Media. They can coach you on how to tap into this incredibly powerful tool and become more effective with networking at all levels - professional and personal.

And finally, there is just plain, old fashioned face-to-face human interaction. Take time to strike up a conversation with a person next to you on the train, in a store, or restaurant. Janet Hanson, Founder of 85 Broads calls this "seeing the trade"

As Hilary says "It’s each of our responsibility to make introductions between two people you find interesting. Later, the gift will come back to you."

Branding Tips for WoW

In Tuesday's post I mentioned that so much of who we are and how we are perceived comes from the importance we place on leveraging our personal brand value.

After all, isn't life often reduced to a few paragraphs in an obituary or maybe an article if we are worthy enough to have one written posthumously!

How will your story be told? Who will read your social biography and come away with a true sense of who you were and why you mattered?

The often overused term "first impressions matter" is actually fairly accurate. Some statistics I have read claim that first impressions are made in the first 20 seconds, and a bad first impression takes 20 additional contacts to rectify that bad first impression.

Maybe that is why many cultures place such an emphasis on the use of customs such as gifting and the sharing of business cards.

What does your first impression say about you? One of my dearest friends and esteemed colleagues (and a terrific guest blogger!), Evie, presents a business card that was designed and printed by the prestigious Alpine Creative Group. Her logo is pictured above, and her card is printed on fine card stock, and nestled in a small envelope - very impressive.

Evie is an international spokes-model and cultural exchange diplomat and no doubt these cards come in handy when meeting dignitaries, celebrities, and Heads of State.

Maybe that is why Sean "p-diddy" Combs and LeBron James are listed as clients on the Alpine website along with numerous corporations, and the US Government.

Next week we will cover gifting and how wrapping a certain way can go a long way to a great first impression.

Until then, remember to Believe, Achieve, Receive. SDG, JBHIV