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Hub You - The 7 Habits of Highly Horrible Networkers
A home-based business is subject to many of the same laws and regulations affecting other businesses and you will be responsible for complying with them.There are some general areas to watch out for, but be sure to consult an attorney and your state department of labor to find out which laws and regulations will affect your business.ZoningBe aware of your city's zoning regulations. If your business operates in violation of them, you could be fined or closed down.Restrictions on certain goodsCertain products may not be produced in the home. Most states outlaw home production of fireworks, drugs, poisons, explosives, sanitary or medical products, and toys. Some states also prohibit home-based businesses from making food, drink or clothing.Registration and accounting requirementsYou may need a - work certificate or a license from the state (your business's name also may need to be registered with the state), sales tax number, separate business telephone, and separate business bank account.If your business has e
“My numbers are down. My boss is on my back. I gotta get out there and start networking…or else! What do you suggest?”
“Networking takes time,” I explained, “and you can't expect to come into loads of business or dozens of potential clients without developing the relationships first.”
As you already learned, networking is the development and maintenance of mutually valuable relationships…over time. If you try to dig
Now is the time to take action in order to get ahead of the competition!Many experts are reporting that the competitive nature of the job market continues to grow and is forcing job seekers to develop an extra edge to stand apart from the crowd. What will your edge be?Dental office management is a rapidly growing field that offers a strong potential for career growth. Many people, however, will begin their dental office careers as a receptionist or other front desk employee because they lack the skills necessary to jump right in as an office manager.Office managers enjoy not only higher salaries, but also greater responsibility and independence than front desk employees. They are the team leaders that keep the office running smoothly with their organizational and communication skills.You may now be asking yourself, “What can I do to get the edge I need to reach office management?” The answer is simple -- don’t delay in learning the skills today that open the doors of tomorrow.Develop skills right now such as: dental terminology, interpersonal communication, appointment scheduling, and i
By definition, the term networking is the development and maintenance of mutually valuable relationships. It's not schmoozing; it's not just handing out business cards, selling, marketing or small talk. Those activities are part of networking, but unfortunately, many people's misunderstanding of the term causes them network ineffectively.
The following are The 7 Habits of Highly Horrible Networkers™, and they can stand in the in your way of developing mutually valuable relationships. So, next time you attend your Chamber or Association meeting, keep these ideas in mind so you can offer the most value to your fellow networkers.
Habit #1: Attitude
Much like the development of any skill, networking begins with attitude. Unfortunately, Highly Horrible Networkers have the wrong attitude. If you've ever attended a networking function before, perhaps you've encountered businesspeople who act in the following ways:
Attitude is fundamental to effective networking. In fact, it's the most important habit to understand.
Habit #2: Dig Your Well WHEN You're Thirsty
One of my favorite networking books is called Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty, by Harvey McKay. It's probably the most well known text on this subject. The key to McKay's work is making your friends, establishing contacts and developing relationships – before you need them. Getting what you want by helping others get what they want first.
Enter the Highly Horrible Networkers, who only network because:
a) They need new customers
b) They have a new product or service to sell
c) Their boss forced them to do so
Take my friend Lawrence, for example. He's quite successful in the insurance business; however he recently approached me about using networking to obtain some hot leads.
“My numbers are down. My boss is on my back. I gotta get out there and start networking…or else! What do you suggest?”
“Networking takes time,” I explained, “and you can't expect to come into loads of business or dozens of potential clients without developing the relationships first.”
As you already learned, networking is the development and maintenance of mutually valuable relationships…over time. If you try to dig y
Six months ago, Nucor Corp. looked like it might be in big trouble. The North Carolina-based minimill steelmaker, which recycles steel from cars, dishwashers and other items to make new steel, had lost power at its Hickman, Arkansas plant. Management anticipated it would be a full week before operations there would be back online.Yet, within hours of hearing about the electrical grid’s failure three Nucor electricians performed the business equivalent of climbing Mount Everest: they drove from their plant locations in Alabama and North Carolina to the Hickman plant and worked 20-hour shifts until the plant was up and running again, only three days later. The unusual thing about this story is that these front line workers rose to the challenge of their own accord – no supervisor had asked them to make the trip. The really unusual thing is that this scenario is not viewed as all that spectacular among the folks at Nucor.As Business Week noted recently, “Nucor’s flattened hierarchy and emphasis on pushing power to the front line led its employees to adopt the mindset of owner-operators.” This approach stemmed from
The following are The 7 Habits of Highly Horrible Networkers™, and they can stand in the in your way of developing mutually valuable relationships. So, next time you attend your Chamber or Association meeting, keep these ideas in mind so you can offer the most value to your fellow networkers.
Habit #1: Attitude
Much like the development of any skill, networking begins with attitude. Unfortunately, Highly Horrible Networkers have the wrong attitude. If you've ever attended a networking function before, perhaps you've encountered businesspeople who act in the following ways:
Attitude is fundamental to effective networking. In fact, it's the most important habit to understand.
Habit #2: Dig Your Well WHEN You're Thirsty
One of my favorite networking books is called Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty, by Harvey McKay. It's probably the most well known text on this subject. The key to McKay's work is making your friends, establishing contacts and developing relationships – before you need them. Getting what you want by helping others get what they want first.
Enter the Highly Horrible Networkers, who only network because:
a) They need new customers
b) They have a new product or service to sell
c) Their boss forced them to do so
Take my friend Lawrence, for example. He's quite successful in the insurance business; however he recently approached me about using networking to obtain some hot leads.
“My numbers are down. My boss is on my back. I gotta get out there and start networking…or else! What do you suggest?”
“Networking takes time,” I explained, “and you can't expect to come into loads of business or dozens of potential clients without developing the relationships first.”
As you already learned, networking is the development and maintenance of mutually valuable relationships…over time. If you try to dig
Everyone gets emotional about money. Most of us link it to happiness and/or success. It almost certainly results in anger and frustration at some point in our lives. It appears as if money has some power over us – the power to make a difference in our lives. The truth is that money only has the power we assign to it.The cornerstone of personal finance is your ability to manage your cash flow. Taking in more than you spend is essential to growth and prosperity. Most people rely upon their job as their sole source of income. All too often we become emotionally connected to the income our jobs provide. This connection can prevent us from making sound decisions when it comes to our lives. It is this emotional connection that forces good people to stay in bad jobs.The emotional connection makes our present job seem larger than life. No matter how hard we try we just can’t break free from the bonds of this terrible situation. “I hate the job but I need the money” becomes our mantra. In essence we become addicted to the income that the horrible job provides and we don’t see a way to break free.Here are
Attitude is fundamental to effective networking. In fact, it's the most important habit to understand.
Habit #2: Dig Your Well WHEN You're Thirsty
One of my favorite networking books is called Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty, by Harvey McKay. It's probably the most well known text on this subject. The key to McKay's work is making your friends, establishing contacts and developing relationships – before you need them. Getting what you want by helping others get what they want first.
Enter the Highly Horrible Networkers, who only network because:
a) They need new customers
b) They have a new product or service to sell
c) Their boss forced them to do so
Take my friend Lawrence, for example. He's quite successful in the insurance business; however he recently approached me about using networking to obtain some hot leads.
“My numbers are down. My boss is on my back. I gotta get out there and start networking…or else! What do you suggest?”
“Networking takes time,” I explained, “and you can't expect to come into loads of business or dozens of potential clients without developing the relationships first.”
As you already learned, networking is the development and maintenance of mutually valuable relationships…over time. If you try to dig
Today’s high-tech world is deluged with more information than ever imaginable. In spite of all the promises of the paperless office, statistics show that exactly the opposite is happening. It is projected that by 2005 there will be 50% more paper than there was in 1995! Those who have tried the paperless solution find it has its own challenges. How many lunches have you missed because you were searching through files – never finding what you needed?Asking four basic questions will help you make decisions about how to manage the information in your office – whether it’s for paper or electronic files.1. What information do you really need to keep?2. In what form do you need to keep it?3. For how long? 4. How can you find it when we need it? (That’s the really big one!)To improve your chances of retrieving information, consider these six possibilities:1. Create a File Index (a roadmap for available information!) for your company. One of most valuable lessons I learned from my father was “Half of any job is having the right tool.” The network version of The Paper Tiger software (/p>
Habit #2: Dig Your Well WHEN You're Thirsty
One of my favorite networking books is called Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty, by Harvey McKay. It's probably the most well known text on this subject. The key to McKay's work is making your friends, establishing contacts and developing relationships – before you need them. Getting what you want by helping others get what they want first.
Enter the Highly Horrible Networkers, who only network because:
a) They need new customers
b) They have a new product or service to sell
c) Their boss forced them to do so
Take my friend Lawrence, for example. He's quite successful in the insurance business; however he recently approached me about using networking to obtain some hot leads.
“My numbers are down. My boss is on my back. I gotta get out there and start networking…or else! What do you suggest?”
“Networking takes time,” I explained, “and you can't expect to come into loads of business or dozens of potential clients without developing the relationships first.”
As you already learned, networking is the development and maintenance of mutually valuable relationships…over time. If you try to dig
Your brand is the culmination of everything about you and your business. It is how people come to know you. It is your business name, logo design or other symbol that identifies your goods and services. It’s what makes you different from everyone else in business. What are some of the components that come to make up your brand?1. Who I am. Your brand is a representation of who you are, including your talents, gifts, needs, values, and integrity. Your talents and gifts are what allow you to develop the products and services you offer. Needs are what you need fulfilled to be your very best. As a business owner you may have a need to accomplish. Values are behaviors or activities to which you are naturally drawn – perhaps creating or contributing to the welfare of others. Integrity is all about your thoughts and actions being highly aligned. What you think, what you speak, and what you do are consistent. Who are you? What are your most important values and needs? What talents are you sharing with others through your business?2. How I act. How you act is also a fundament
“My numbers are down. My boss is on my back. I gotta get out there and start networking…or else! What do you suggest?”
“Networking takes time,” I explained, “and you can't expect to come into loads of business or dozens of potential clients without developing the relationships first.”
As you already learned, networking is the development and maintenance of mutually valuable relationships…over time. If you try to dig your well WHEN you're thirsty, you may never find a drink.
Habit #3: Dealin' the Deck
Habit #3 is a dangerous one, and it happens all the time. Have you ever seen people distribute 173 of their business cards during the first 5 minutes of the event? They move as quickly as possible from one person to the next. They don't make eye contact, they don't ask to exchange cards – they just deal them out.
“Here's my card, call me if you need a designer! See ya later.”
“But…I…never even got your name!” you muse.
This is guaranteed to make people feel puny and insignificant. Notice these Highly Horrible Networkers don't spend time actually meeting and establishing rapport with new people; but rather concentrate on giving out as many cards as possible. It's quantity over quality, right?
Wrong.
Dealin' the Deck is one of the most common networking pet peeves. Whenever I give my program The Habits of Highly Horrible Networkers™, I walk out into the audience for a quick demonstration of this habit. I grab a stack of business cards and quickly jump from table to table tossing out dozens of them without as much looking at the audience members I'm handing them to.
Unfortunately during one speech, it backfired.
Literally.
Last year, I was demonstrating Highly Horrible Habit #3 when speaking at a local business meeting. While hopping from table to table as dozens of cards flew through the air and into people's laps and salads, someone yelled out, “Oh my God!”
I stopped dead in my tracks. I looked back at the head table and noticed that one of my cards landed in the centerpiece…
…which was a candle!
MY BUSINESS CARD WAS ON FIRE!!
I threw down the microphone, lunged at the table and snatched the burning business card from the candle! As I toppled over the chair in front of me I yelled something to the effect of “Oh my God!” shook the flames off my half burnt card and regained my balance to a roaring applause/laughter from the audience.
“And…uh…this just goes to show you ladies and gentleman,” I fumbled, “When you deal the deck of business cards without eye contact or consideration…uh…people may as well set them on fire – because they're not going to read them anyway!”
Whew! Nice save, huh? Yeah well, that client did NOT invite me back the following year.
Habit #4: Unprofessional Information
It's rema
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