The Savvy Entrepreneur

This question came up on LinkedIn a few weeks ago:
What do you do at a Business Networking meeting when you meet a competitor who seems to know everyone … and you don’t…?
I felt compelled to leave this reply:
I tend to use my natural defense mechanism (to be disarmingly charming) to my advantage.
I would befriend this [...]

I guess everyone is getting ready for International Networking Week ‘09 (February 2-6), because I keep finding all these great articles on networking and creating your 30-second commercial.
Here’s an article I found in the CampbellRiverMirror.com, writen by Colleen Evans, Executive Director of the Campbell River Chamber of Commerce.
My favorite quote in this article highlights the [...]

Kevin Dervin wrote an article, Do You Get Attention With Your 30-Second Introduction?, for WebProNews a while back that I wanted to share with you.
He offers these 5 tips for developing a compelling 30-second intro:

Start with the first sentence.
Avoid the What You Are approach.
Avoid the What You Do approach.
Say how you solved a problem or [...]

Rick Spence wrote an article in the Financial Post today entitled Why nailing your elevator speech is crucial.
I love this sentence the most:
“Networking is your key to new contacts, referrals and customers – and most people are so bad at working a room that anyone who even tries to do it well will stand out [...]

Networking speaker, Hank Blank was featured in a Reuters article yesterday. His suggestions echo what I go into detail about in my guidebook, Beyond Muzak: Designing a Compelling 30-Second Intro.
Here’s a quote from the article:
“Effective networking is about less of you and more about helping the other people that you meet first. A lot of [...]

Here’s a 30-second intro formula by Bob Bly, one of my favorite services-based marketing authors.

Seeing as I haven’t given birth yet, I figured I’d mosey on over to LinkedIn Answers and pose a new question: What are the 3 biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make when giving their 30-second intro?
As usual, the responses received so far have been insightful and informative. Want to join the discussion? Click here to post your answer.
Mistakes [...]

Just as an aside… things are “happening”, if you know what I mean. Last night, I had a false alarm, with a succession of painful contractions. My hubby was just about to call the midwife when everything stopped. Woke up this morning and still no baby!! But, it’s a good sign that things will happen [...]

For the first time, I posted a question on LinkedIn, not really knowing what kind of response I’d get. I don’t know what’s taken me so long to discover the Q&A feature on LinkedIn (thanks to Lara for the suggestion), but I’m sure glad I did.
My question was a simple one: Do you have a 30-second intro? So far, [...]

My friend and colleague, Pat Snow, president of NetworkingPlus Montreal area business group asked me to pass this event along to you.
Join 80 to 100 business people in a relaxed environment… a unique opportunity to expand your business connections.
Date: Thursday, March 27, 2008
Time: 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Place: The FIRM, 2362 Hymus, Dorval H9P 1J9, 514-421-3476 [...]

How many of you use networking mainly to build your contact database and exchange leads and referrals?
On the Business Networking Advice blog, Josh interviewed Srirupa Dasgupta, author of Effortless Networking: Everyday Wisdom to Transform Your Business and Life and she shared this fresh approach to networking:
“You can use [networking] to get information, do market research, [...]

I used to be, until I ‘got’ that networking was about relationship-building, not card stacking! What are you supposed to do with all those cards?
Sarah B. Hood shares 5 tips for becoming a better “card collector” in her article Better card collecting in the January 15, 2007 edition of Canadian Business magazine.

Target specific people. Don’t [...]