Struggling with how to explain this to someone I don’t know well. A couple weeks ago I received an email from someone who wanted to schedule a “pick your brain” session. And we all know how I feel about those (see “Brains Are Not for Picking” on that topic. I’m considering republishing it as “You Aren’t A Zombie – Stop Picking My Brain!”). But this is a new person and I don’t know him at all so I agreed. We chose a Wednesday for lunch. My daughter wanted to have a friend over and I thought it would be fun to have them go to lunch while I was at my meeting – get them out of the house, etc. So we planned that with the other mom. Tuesday this person calls and needs to reschedule so we move it to Thursday. I get it […] Continue reading
Get Out and Network
If you ask any business owner where they get their best clients, they all say through referrals. And if you ask about networking, they will all tell you it is vital to any business. So why is it when you go to a networking event, the organizers are sweating bullets because they didn’t have people sign up, a bunch of people show up who didn’t register, and then they don’t do anything to work the room? I was shocked recently when I gave a talk at a group about networking and two guys I know sat in the back, together. They work together and are in the same office on a daily basis. When I said something to them, they laughed at me and when it came time to move around and meet new people, they left. SERIOUSLY? I’m always amazed there are people who […] Continue reading
Being a Good Audience
Have you ever been in these shoes? You sign up for a meeting because the speaker sounds interesting or you want information on the topic. You arrive, do a little networking, and settle in to hear the talk. But just before she starts, you check your phone. It won’t take long so you go ahead and answer whatever came in. And then you realize you’ve missed the beginning of the talk and you aren’t sure what she’s talking about because everyone is laughing and you didn’t catch it so you go right ahead and keep working on your phone. Been there? Well, stop it! I do a lot of speaking and I see you when I’m up there. I know you don’t mean to be rude, but it is rude. It also means you just wasted whatever it cost to get into the meeting and […] Continue reading
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