I’m on LinkedIn: Now What? By Jason Alba, Happy About, 2008
Do you have a LinkedIn account and now you’re wondering how to use it? I’m on LinkedIn: Now What takes you through the basics of LinkedIn and how to get started using it to the ways you can make it work for you.
Under getting started you will learn what LinkedIn is, how to create or update your profile, managing your account and settings and how to connect with others. Did you know that if you ask three people to connect to you and they all say no you could lose your account? Be specific about who you ask to link to and if you’re going to send a request to someone who doesn’t know you well you might consider sending an e-mail to them telling them why you want to be linked to them. If you are the one receiving invites from people you don’t want to link with because you’re not comfortable being linked or you are not sure who this person is who’s asking you can let the request lapse without a response so you don’t jeopardize their account by saying no.
Making it work for you covers searching, understanding degrees of separation, recommendations, jobs and hiring, services and LinkedIn groups and answers.
Using this section of the book you can see how you and others can use this site to check out potential employers or employees, how you can block certain people from your information (you may not want your current boss to know you are job hunting) and how to establish yourself as a resource for others or use others to find answers to questions you have.
The last section deals with personal branding, shady practices, netiquette and complementary tools and resources. After reading this I realized a number of ways I could better utilize the tools within LinkedIn. Now I just have to implement them.
by Dave Lakhani, Recorded Books, 2007.
Dave Lakhani covers how to gain more effective use of your day by teaching a concept he calls “Fearsome Focus.” Fearsome focus allows you to focus on one specific task at a time for a period of one hour. You can not allow any interruptions during this time period. Lakhani found during his research that many of us spend six to eight hours a day fighting crises or fielding interruptions in our day. If we learn to plan for time to address crises that come up (the average time spent is two hours a day) and learn to stop or slow down the interruptions that try to control our day we can accomplish much more than we do today. By planning an hour a week (or more) and focusing on making the best use of that hour we can slowly make our to-do list go away and find ourselves with many tasks successfully accomplished.
Lakhani addresses how to focus, think creatively, set the stage and identify and destroy the blocks to getting tasks done. We can use this fearsome focus hour to accomplish the wanted task and by changing the way we choose to address our time constraints we can learn to focus on specific tasks and learn how to accomplish more in our day.
Topics covered include management, time management, customer experience, sales and marketing, making connections, mentoring and giving something back. Examples of successful use of the fearsome focus hour are included by Lakhani.
Whether you are a single person business or a large employer you can find connections to many local business resources by accessing Colorado Springs Small Business Resource Guide. This website was created and is maintained by the Greater Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce, the Pikes Peak Library District and Bracewell Web Works. This is a one stop location for finding answers about business questions relating to
Accounting/Economics
Business Education classes
Business Planning
Business Resources
Chambers of Commerce
Community Calendars
Demographics
Education
Employment
Financing
Insurance
Legal
Licensing
Marketing/PR
Networking
Local Organizations and Groups
Publications
Public Utilities
Real Estate
Sales
Sports and Recreation
Taxation
Technology
Transportation.
Examples of assistance include Licensing: where you can find out what licenses are required for your business, when are licenses renewed and how to do it, and what agencies regulate your industry or business and Local Organizations and Groups: where you can find listings for over 800 clubs and organizations including business, professional and networking groups. Information provided includes name, contact information, where and when meetings are held, how many members and what the purpose of the group is. This is a great way to start that New Year’s Resolution to start networking or expand your current options. You can use this information to find businesses and individuals that include your target market.
Another major component of this website is the
Business Education classes offered by the Business Education Alliance which includes the Greater Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce, the Better Business Bureau, the Small Business Development Center, the Center for Nonprofit Excellence, the Pikes Peak Library District, the Pikes Peak Workforce Center, the Office of International Affairs and SCORE (Service Corp of Retired Executives.) These classes are your opportunity to gain new knowledge about for profit and nonprofit business topics. Information included includes class description, when and where it will be held, cost (if any, many are free) and how to register for the class. This calendar shows the schedule for classes for the next three months so you can plan ahead and fit the right class for your growth into your schedule.
by Linda Seger, Inner Ocean, 2002.
There are many ways to look at things today. Linda addresses linear, circle and spiral thinking and walks us through the ways each way of thinking is beneficial to us in today’s world.
Most business relationships were originally set up as linear thinking, one straight path to accomplish a specific goal. There was usually no deviation from this. Circular thinking was the next step and looked at the various spheres of influence around us and how they rippled out from us and allowed us to look at a fuller picture. Spiral thinking is the most complex and allows us to see the web connections around us. We see some straight-line relationships, some circular and some spiral. We can cross from a linear connection to other connections within our sphere of influence.
Linda gives many stories that show us how to develop the right connections to allow us to use the relationships we have to provide the most benefits to us and others. Some relationships are between just two people, but many relationships we use contain multiple people. Some of these relationships are stagnant, while others are constantly changing members. Learning how to look at these relationships to see their impact on us and what changes may be needed is what is addressed in Web Thinking. Once you realize the impact of looking at a broader picture and how quickly you can build the right relationships with connecting instead of competing with others you will find that you get more of what you are looking for.
by Anne Baber and Lynne Waymon, AMACOM, 2007.
Many people think of networking as attending a business meeting such as Business After Hours, however networking is a lot more. To be truly good at networking and able to use these skills to help or advance your career you must be networking at all times and in all locations that make up your life. When developing and using the skills that make up networking become a normal part of all of your interactions you will be amazed at the opportunities that open up for you in all aspects of your life.
Anne Babar and Lynne Waymon share with us a step-by-step process to create, cultivate and make the most of all of your contacts. They include short tests to help you evaluate where you are and where you want to go, but most importantly they guide you through the process of how to get there.
They cover such topics as “netiquette,” avoiding the top twenty turn-offs and what topics to talk about. Opening and maintaining a conversation is what stops many of us from “networking” and since we don’t feel adept at conversations we choose not to network and lose many opportunities. Chapters address everything from topics to cover and avoid, maintaining the flow and closing the conversations to move on to the next opportunity. Reading and implementing the steps covered will make all of us stronger networkers and have us looking for new opportunities to apply what we now know.
