Vitality + Health = Greater Success in Businessstring(47) "Vitality + Health = Greater Success in Business"

As this is a blog about business and networking, you may be wondering why some of my recent blogs have seemed to have a fairly apparent focus on health.  I think the video I’m sharing with you today should answer that question for those of you who may wondering.  Over the past couple of years, I have indeed become quite an advocate of the importance of health in regard to achieving success and there is good reason behind that.

In this short video, I talk with my good friend Lise Janelle, renowned success coach for companies & entrepreneurs across the world, about the role that vitality and health play in achieving ultimate productivity and success in business.

Lise offers three keys to achieving vitality and explains why it is important not only for business owners, but also for all of their employees, to focus on staying healthy and engaged in order for any given business to truly thrive.

After watching the video, if you’d like to find out more about Lise Janelle and how she helps businesses and people alike to achieve their full potential, please visit www.HeartAtWorkInstitute.com.

To find out more about the book I mention in the video, The Misner Plan: How We Healed Cancer Naturally with Food, Nutrition, and Healthy Living , please click here.  If you’d like to learn more about the Misner Plan, please visit www.MisnerPlan.com.

Do you have certain habits and/or tactics you employ to stay healthy?  Do you  have specific ways of making sure you stay connected to your core values?  I’m really interested in hearing your thoughts on this and, also, if you have questions pertaining to this topic, I highly encourage you to ask them!  I am more than happy to do a future blog addressing your questions and to consult with Lise about them in order to get you the best answers possible.

 

Branding Small Business for Dummiesstring(35) "Branding Small Business for Dummies"

While in Mexico for a TLC conference, I had the opportunity to talk to my very good friend Raymond Aaron about his book, “Branding Small Business for Dummies,” and why it’s so important for small businesses to build their brand. Unfortunately, it’s a common misconception that branding is something only large corporations need to focus on and this video outlines the key points regarding what small businesses really need to know in relation to branding.  For example, if you don’t build your brand on purpose, it get’s built for you and that’s not necessarily a good thing.

Watch the video now to learn how to use branding to differentiate yourself from your competitors and to find out how to easily get a free digital download of Raymond’s book, “Branding Small Business for Dummies.”  I can’t recommend this book highly enough and if you are familiar with it, I’d love for you to share your take on the book in the comment forum below–thanks!

The Current State of Networking Educationstring(41) "The Current State of Networking Education"

In this video, networking expert Tiffanie Kellog presents me with a burning question from the Certified Networker Community which she is a part of in Tampa Bay, Florida.  They brought up the fact that I’ve mentioned in some of my books that networking is not taught in schools and, thus, they asked Tiffanie to relay to me the following question:

“Dr. Misner, since you’ve gotten involved in networking, have you seen a shift indicating that we might be making some progress as far as networking education beginning to be provided in schools? . . .Has anything changed or is networking still not being taught at all?”

Watch the video now for my answer to this question, as well as my thoughts on one of the best places to go for a top notch networking education.  Also, if you have any suggestions/recommendations for useful resources relating to networking education, I’d love to hear them–please share your favorite networking resources in the comment forum below.  Thanks!

Networking Strategy Advice from NetworkingNow.comstring(49) "Networking Strategy Advice from NetworkingNow.com"

Today I’d like to share a video that I recorded a while back that is timelessly useful when it comes to creating a solid and effective networking strategy.  In the video, I outline the best way to find like-minded business professionals to network with and I explain the four different streams—or types of networks—which you should be sure to strategically build into your overall network.

This video comes from the educational video archive housed within NetworkingNow.com and it is just one example of the vast array of educational content offered on the NetworkingNow.com website—there are literally hundreds of business and networking downloads available in the site’s online library and you can access all of them for FREE for six months by entering the free subscription code given below.

The free subscription is a gift from BusinessNetworking.com and all you have to do is enter the code (“freesixmonths”) on NetworkingNow.com to gain access to the entire library of content!  Please note that you will be required to enter a credit card number on the site but you will not be billed for the free six month membership.  You will need to end your subscription if you don’t wish to be billed for the second six months.

Please leave a comment regarding your thoughts on this video and also letting me know what type of downloadable content you most like to access on sites like NetworkingNow.com:

  • Video?
  • Audio?
  • PDF Articles?
  • Digital Books?
  • Something Else? If so, what specifically?

Education Plus Preparation Equals Optimum Resultsstring(49) "Education Plus Preparation Equals Optimum Results"

During a conversation some years ago with Leslie Fiorenzo, a colleague of mine in the networking organization I founded, she made an interesting point of comparison between appreciating opera and learning to use word-of-mouth marketing in your business.  She said, “The best way to experience opera is to see it on the stage, and the best way to use word of mouth is to put a referral marketing plan in place. The novice, in either case, may not know where to begin.”

 

We started talking about a system to generate business by referral and, just like opera, if you have little or no experience with referral marketing, it would be a mistake to jump into action without preparing yourself–preparation is key to success. Central to the referral-marketing process is getting people to send you referrals. To do so, they must know exactly what you do–what product or service you provide or make; how, and under what conditions, you provide it; how well you do it; and in what ways you are better at what you do than your competitors. You absolutely must communicate this information to your sources. And to communicate effectively, you must know the same things. Before business owners map out their referral marketing campaign, they must stop and get a clear picture of where their business currently stands.

Leslie commented that when people begin to learn and study opera, they begin with basic works by composers such as Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini before moving on to more complex works by composers such as Richard Wagner. In the same way, when marketing your business by word of mouth, there is a place to start before you meet with the people in your network. You begin by preparing answers to some basic questions about yourself and your business like:

1. Why are you in business?
2. What do you sell?
3. Who are your customers and
4. How well do you compete?

The ability to communicate this information to your sources and prospects will be invaluable as you begin to build your network and formulate your plan to gain more and more business the most effective way–through referrals.

Once you master some basic tools, you can move on to a deeper understanding of the process. For example, there are three laws of Notable Networking:

1. Have a positive and supportive attitude, and provide a positive and supportive environment for other business people.
2) Learn how to use networking tools efficiently, including business cards and an informative name badge, and have a business-card case to hold others’ cards.
3) Networking is an acquired skill that requires listening to CDs, reading books/articles, picking the brains of great networkers and practicing what you’ve learned.

One fantastic place to get information about all things related to networking is NetworkingNow.com.  I highly recommend that you become familiar with the basic tools of word-of-mouth marketing and begin to implement them in your business so that you can begin to watch it grow. Because, just like appreciating opera, if you don’t begin with the basics, you won’t experience the optimum result.

If there is an educational resource which you’ve found to be specifically valuable and effective in learning to network, I urge you to share it in the comment forum below so others might utilize it and benefit from it as well.  After you leave a comment, be sure to send a quick e-mail to larry@bni.com with the subject line “Blog Comment” so he can reply to you with a coupon code for a free six-month subscription to NetworkingNow.com.

 

Lisa Nichols: Powerhouse Speaking to Build Businessstring(51) "Lisa Nichols: Powerhouse Speaking to Build Business"

In this short video, I’m joined by my good friend, master speaker and trainer Lisa Nichols, to talk about “Powerhouse Speaking.”  It’s nearly impossible to grow a business without speaking, which is why business owners around the world use speaking to increase their customer base.

The question is, what is the most effective way to build your speaking platform and hone your core message in order to create the most revenue and financially infuse your business?  How do you systematically move your audience to action?  Watch the video now to learn how you can become a Powerhouse Speaker, build trust and rapport with your audience within the first seven minutes of speaking, and increase your closing ratio from 10 to 25 percent.

In what ways, large and small, have you used speaking to grow your business? Have you joined a weekly networking group where you give a short speech about your business to your fellow networkers each week?  Have you made a habit of speaking to community service clubs such as Rotary or Kiwanis?  There are so many ways to use speaking to build your revenue stream and I would love to hear about the particular ways you’ve used speaking and what results you’ve experienced from it.  Please share your stories in the comment forum below and, as always, thanks so much for watching my video blogs and participating by offering your feedback–I absolutely love hearing from BusinessNetworking.com blog readers!

MotivatingTheMasses

For more information, be sure to visit Lisa’s website: www.MotivatingTheMasses.com/Powerhouse.

How to Invest Your Time & Money for the Highest Returnstring(59) "How to Invest Your Time & Money for the Highest Return"

In this video, I talk about how to invest time and money into your business in the way that will ultimately pay the highest return–education.

Many businesses fail within their first three years of existence because they only pay lip service to education yet aren’t willing to invest the time, effort, and money into learning about how to continually grow and develop in order to achieve the business goals and the vision they outlined for themselves at the start.

The fact is, people who immerse and engage in a culture of learning are much, much more successful than those who don’t. Watch the video now to learn about an action you can take this week that will help you measure whether or not you’re investing enough of your time and money into what will truly help your business earn more and achieve more. 

BobGrowthGraphI’m quite interested in hearing your thoughts on this video, your comments about what you currently do in order to invest in educating yourself to build your business, and also your results from carrying out the action item I explain at the end of the video.  Please leave your feedback regarding any or all of these things in the comment forum below, and for the first ten people who add to their comment where Bob makes his cameo appearance (and get the answer right) during the video, I’ll send them a surprise gift that will most definitely help them invest in their networking education!  (Note: To ensure you receive your gift, please e-mail your name and complete mailing address to erin@bni.com with the subject line “Bob.”)  I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

Time + Learning + Networking = Referral Marketing Successstring(57) "Time + Learning + Networking = Referral Marketing Success"

In this short video, I’m joined by two esteemed referral marketing experts, Phil Bedford and Tom Fleming, each of whom offer memorable metaphors which demonstrate the crucial nature of education in achieving success when it comes to business networking and referral marketing.

Watch the video now to find out how lumberjacks, lots of excuses, driving a vehicle, and one good reason can all combine to help you make time in your schedule to learn more and ultimately earn more.

After watching the video, think about the ways in which you might already seek out education in regard to business networking (e.g., reading the blog posts on this site, etc.) and please leave a comment in the comment forum below sharing your suggestions for great educational resources which may help others learn valuable tools and skills to improve their referral marketing success.  I’m always on the lookout for great books, blogs, etc. so if you’ve found educational resources that have been particularly helpful to you, I’d love to hear about them–thanks!

ReferralInstituteLogo

 

 

 

To find out more about the Referral Institute®, the educational organization in which Phil Bedford and Tom Fleming are both highly involved, please visit www.ReferralInstitute.com.

The “Everything Your Business Needs” Online Event: April 1st-5thstring(76) "The “Everything Your Business Needs” Online Event: April 1st-5th"

I’m excited to announce that during April 1st-5th, I am going to be participating in an online event called “Everything Your Business Needs” and I’ll be one of over twenty business experts presenting on an array of topics and areas of business that are important for every business owner to educate themselves in.

This short video, put together by the event organizer, Jarrett Gucci of Dynasty Web Solutions (who also happens to be the person I have to thank for designing the BusinessNetworking.com website and getting this blog up and running) explains the ins and outs of the event and how it can help business owners grow their business and achieve long term success.

I constantly tell people that in order to obtain success, it is necessary to immerse and engage yourself in a culture of learning and this online educational seminar is a perfect way to do just that.  After watching the video, if you’re interested in finding out more about the event and how you can sign up for it, please CLICK HERE or on the graphic below.

EYBNLogo

What are some of the ways you immerse and engage yourself in a culture of learning for long term success?  Which tactics of educating yourself have been the most effective?  I’d love to hear your thoughts so please leave your comments in the comment forum below.  Thanks!

 

Get a Top Notch Networking Education for Free at NetworkingNow.com!string(67) "Get a Top Notch Networking Education for Free at NetworkingNow.com!"

This video from NetworkingNow.com explains the powerful impact your business card can have and why it’s so important to tailor your business card to coincide with the exact business image you want to present.  

This video is just one example of the vast array of educational content offered on NetworkingNow.com–there are literally hundreds of business and networking downloads available in the site’s online library and you can access all of them for FREE for six months by entering the free subscription code given below.

The free subscription is a gift from BusinessNetworking.com and all you have to do is enter the code (“freesixmonths”) on NetworkingNow.com to gain access to the entire library of content!  Please note that you will be required to enter a credit card number on the site but you will not be billed for the free six month membership.  You will need to end your subscription if you don’t wish to be billed for the second six months.

Please leave a comment and let me know what type of downloadable content you most like to access on sites like NetworkingNow.com:

  • Video?
  • Audio?
  • PDF Articles?
  • Digital Books?
  • Something Else? If so, what specifically?

Want to Earn More? You Need to Learn More…string(48) "Want to Earn More? You Need to Learn More…"

It used to surprise me when I heard statistics such as this: 50% of all businesses fail in their first three years.  Now that I’ve been in business for several decades and have seen many entrepreneurs come and go, I’m more surprised that 50% of businesses actually make it past the first three years!

Maybe I’m being a tad harsh . . . but not much.  One thing I’ve learned is that most successful entrepreneurs embrace and engage in a culture of learning in order to excel.  Personal and professional self development is an ongoing journey–not a destination.  It’s always a work in progress.  Often, businesspeople get so caught up working “in” their business that they forget to spend time working “on” their business.  Part of working “on” a business is one’s professional development.

Most entrepreneurs only pay lip service to education (okay, maybe not you since you’re actually taking the time to read a blog post about business but I’m talking about the average entrepreneur).  Ask a number of entrepreneurs and businesspeople if they would be willing to attend a seminar on building their business and three quarters of them will say yes.  However, if you proceed to tell them that the seminar is four weeks from tomorrow at 7 p.m., only a handful of those who initially agreed they would go will actually sign up.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it from him.  An investment in knowledge always pays the highest return.”

With that in mind, here’s an action item that will help get you started on the path to immersing and engaging in a culture of learning:

Look at your financials (or checkbook, or credit card statements) for the past year.  Have you invested money into any type of ongoing business education?  If you aren’t “emptying some of your purse into your head,” take a few minutes to think about what you want to learn to help you build your business and then sign up for something this week.

Remember, if you want to earn more, you need to learn more (and reading this blog from time to time won’t hurt either)!

Lastly, share with us something that someone once taught you (something from books and seminars are OK) that helped you in some important way.


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