Which Networking Style Are You?string(31) "Which Networking Style Are You?"

June 16, 2016
, , , , , , , Business, Connections, Ivan Misner, Networking, Networking Prep, Networking Tactics, Referrals, Success, Video Blog

This is the fifth and final video in the “Ivanism” Garage to Global series, hosted by Entrepreneur.com. In this series, I expand on common phrases I’ve used throughout my 31 years of referral-based networking.

When you’re at a networking event, do you eagerly bounce around the room, chatting with various people and passing out business cards? Do you tend to seek deep connections by only talking to a few people for longer periods? Everyone has their own way of making connections and networking, and it helps to understand just where you fall in the lineup.

Knowing your networking behavioral style will help you capitalize on your skills–and maybe even identify some flaws to improve upon. Take a look at the video below to find out YOUR style and maybe the next time you’re at an event, you’ll be able to better position yourself for greater success.

 

How to make the Ordinary, Extraordinarystring(39) "How to make the Ordinary, Extraordinary"

June 9, 2016
, , Business, Ivan Misner, Success, Video Blog

This is the fourth video in the “Ivanism” Garage to Global series, hosted by Entrepreneur.com. In this series, I expand on well-known phrases I’ve used throughout my career.

Success is the uncommon application of common knowledge.

It’s common knowledge within the business company that success in business comes from having passion, systems, goals and vision, social capital and leverage. So if we all have the same idea of what it takes to be successful, why aren’t we all?

Give me three minutes, and I’ll give you the answer.

 

Thin

Are You Spread Too Thin?string(24) "Are You Spread Too Thin?"

June 6, 2016
, , , , , Business, Ivan Misner, Success, Video Blog

“Are You Spread Too Thin?” is the third video in the “Ivanism” Garage to Global series, hosted by Entrepreneur.com. In this series, I expand on classic phrases I’ve used over the years.

Do six things a thousand times and NOT a thousand things six times!

But what does that really mean?

  1. Focus on key priorities and making them perfect (or close to it) before moving on to other projects or tasks.
  2. Making your business the best at a few services, not simply OK at several.

Wait, I can’t give it all away! Watch the video below to get the full scope of the idea.

 

 

flame

Are you Flame or Wax Happy?string(27) "Are you Flame or Wax Happy?"

June 2, 2016
, , Business, Success, Uncategorized, Video Blog

This is the second video in the “Ivanism” Garage to Global series, hosted by Entrepreneur.com. I expand on common phrases I’ve used over the years and explain how they can apply to your business and referral networking style. Today I discuss the Ivanism, “Working in Your Flame vs Your Wax“

Are you flame or wax happy?

That sounds like a bizarre question–but it’s not.

When you’re working in your wax and when you’re working in your flame are two very different things, and can affect you in different ways. If you’re flame happy, you’re excited, motivated and ready to pursue your ambitions. But what happens when are wax happy, and simply complacent with working on things that you aren’t passionate about?

The video below talks about this idea and ways you can make sure you’re always flame happy.

 

 

 

Ignorance Fire

Is Ignorance on Fire Ever a Good Thing?string(39) "Is Ignorance on Fire Ever a Good Thing?"

May 30, 2016
, , , , , , , , , , , Business, Connections, Ivan Misner, Marketing/Sales, Networking, Networking Tactics, Referrals, Success, Uncategorized, Video Blog

Ignorance on fire

The following video is part of my new “Ivanism” Garage to Global series, hosted by Entrepreneur.com, where I expand on catch phrases I have used frequently over the years.

 

I know, it’s a strange concept: “Ignorance on fire is better than knowledge on ice.”

Most people read that statement and think, someone who’s excited but ignorant can do more harm than good.

I’m here to tell you that the opposite of your intuition is true. That’s right–and you’ll see why below.

 

You are not entitled to referralsstring(33) "You are not entitled to referrals"

May 9, 2016
, , , , , , , , , , , Business, Connections, Ivan Misner, Networking Tactics, Referrals, Success, Uncategorized

That’s right-you read correctly.

Referrals come from cultivating real relationships. They come from putting the work into your networking by giving others referrals before expecting them in return. They don’t come from sitting idly in a meeting, watching others getting referrals and wondering where yours are.

Are you wondering just how to get that referral pipe flowing?

1. Become a farmer. Except you’re not cultivating seeds, but relationships. You’re not harvesting produce, but referrals. Networking is about farming for new contacts (and referrals,) not hunting them. Have One-to-Ones with your chapter members. Get to know them and their business well so you can begin to pass referrals to them. This is how you cultivate a relationship-show genuine interest and make an honest attempt at helping them succeed. You’ll build trust with one another, which makes the next step much easier.  referral

2. Find a referral partner. As I write in my book, Truth or Delusion, “There is a way to the flow of referrals predicable and adjustable.” After you’ve gotten to know your fellow chapter members, choose one to partner up with to pass referrals back and forth to one another. Pick someone who needs referrals you can provide (for example, if you have a toy shop owner in your Chapter but you have no kids and rarely interact with them, they might not be the best partner for you.) Determine what types of referrals you need and ask your partner to do the same; then, exchange specific referrals based on your own networks. Begin to set up meetings with your referrals and if it’s appropriate, bring your partner with you. Afterward, analyze the meetings with your partner and use as much detail as possible.

3. Get your PH.D. in Networking. Ok, not literally. But you can become a gatekeeper of networks as you begin to connect your network with another person’s, and then another person’s, and then continue to build upon it. Become the go-to person in your business community-the person others come to if they needed a referral for anything. “Know a trustworthy plumber? Yeah, ask Susan-she knows everybody!” But instead of becoming the human phone book, you are connecting people in your community with good, honest businesses. This will not only help you build your network referrals, but it will also force you to continue to build and deepen your relationships and provide you with an excellent reputation.

What process has worked for you when referral gathering?

 

How One Teacher Changed My Lifestring(31) "How One Teacher Changed My Life"

May 5, 2016
, , , , Business, Ivan Misner, Networking, Networking Prep, Success

In honor of teacher appreciation week, I wanted to share with you all a moment with one of my teachers, Mr. Romero, who had a profound impact on my life.

I was 14 years old and I still remember the discussion vividly. It was a discussion that forever changed my perspective of what I could and could not do.

It was the end of my sophomore year and I had been on the student council for two years.  He asked me into his office and told me that I did a great job over the past two years and that I should run for Student Activities Director.  I remember clearly telling him I couldn’t run, because I was only a sophomore and that I would be a junior next year; all the top positions in Student Leadership were Seniors. 

I’ll never forget him looking at me and saying, “So?” 

I said that I didn’t think any junior had ever held a top position on the student council.  Again, he challenged me. I said, “Ivan is DeterminedWhat do you mean – so?, I can’t run.”  “Why not?,” he said. “Just because it’s never been done, doesn’t mean it can’t be done. I think you’d do great. You should run.”   I thought about it all night as I tossed and turned over whether I should break from the norm and run.

The next day I came in and filled out the forms to run for Activities Director. Low and behold, I ran–and I won. It was an amazing experience, knowing that I defied the odds and turned the tide for my fellow classmates who might be encouraged to run next year. I was the first junior to hold a top leadership role at the high school. 

At the end of the year, Mr. Romero called me into his office again and said, “You did a great job this year. What are your plans for next year?” I said I wasn’t sure. He said, “I am – you should run for President.  I think you’d be just as great in that role!” I thought about it overnight and came in the next day and filled out the paperwork. I ran and won. 

That role laid the groundwork for the person that I would become as an adult. It provided incredible challenges and amazing opportunities to work on my leadership skills. I will always be indebted to Mr. Romero for how he influenced me as a young man. He taught me to never accept something without first challenging and questioning it. It was this sentiment that has always pushed me to reach for the unreachable.

Using Your Passion to Sell Your Businessstring(40) "Using Your Passion to Sell Your Business"

March 28, 2016
, , , , Purpose, Success, Trust

ID-100228591Are your referral partners excited about your business? Getting your referral partners excited about your business is one of the top ways to generate more referrals, and build your contact base more.

You’re probably sitting there thinking, “Oh, but nobody could be excited about my business. I do XYZ, and that’s boring.” Are you excited about what you do? Are you passionate about what you do?

Hopefully, the answer is yes – as a business owner, you should be excited and passionate about your business. That passionate you have for your business should show in how you describe it, and excite your referral partners. If you’re not excited about what you do, no one else will be either.

Think back to a time when you heard a motivational speaker, perhaps as a keynote at a convention or during a seminar. When you left the room that you heard the speaker in, was there an energetic buzz in the air? Were the other attendees excited about what they heard? Usually, the answer to that question is yes. But why?

Motivational speakers have an uncanny ability to share passion through their words, which increases their credibility and helps listeners remember their messages better. The very same end goals should be what you have in mind when educating potential referral partners about your business.

Increasing the excitement about your business can be easy. Take time to think about why you are excited about your business. What about what you do makes you look forward to waking up in the morning and going to work? Your personal challenge in networking is to have an extraordinary message that not only captures, but highlights, your passion and the essence of your business.

My challenge to you this week is to explain something about your business that excites you to a referral partner who may not have known about it before. See how they receive this information, or if they start to get excited, too.

Let me know in the comments below how that passion-fueled conversation goes!

The Power to Get Things Donestring(28) "The Power to Get Things Done"

January 11, 2016
, , , , Advertising, Book, Entrepreneur, Follow up, Goals, Productivity, Success 2

thepowerHow often do you hit a slump in productivity? Worse, how often do you know what you should be doing, but then fail to do it regardless? It happens to the best of us, but the good news is that this is entirely avoidable.

Steve Levinson, PhD, and Chris Cooper recently released a book titled The Power to Get Things Done, and in it, they tackle how to turn your good intentions into actions and ultimately results.

This is one of those books that I stand behind, because I really believe that strong businesspeople can benefit from the tools to help follow through. As I said in my foreword for the book, the ability to turn good intentions into action is one of the most valuable assets that anyone who is serious about achieving their goals can have.

For me, the most impactful tips of the book are the keys to maintaining follow-through mastery. Everyone has done it at least once – you work hard to perfect your ability with something, you reach a level where you are satisfied, and then immediately stop practicing because you reached what you saw as the pinnacle. The thing with skills, though, is that you lose your ability when you stop practicing, or striving for better. What this book teaches is to always have goals in mind, and to always strive for your goals – both valuable suggestions to all business professionals.

The Power to Get Things Done was recently released and is available on Kindle or in paperback.

What goals do you consistently set for yourself to help keep your productivity up? Share with me in the comments below!

The Pieces of Successstring(21) "The Pieces of Success"

January 7, 2016
, , , Author, Balance, Success 4

ID-10028822As so many of us launch into spectacular plans for the new year, whether those impact our businesses or our personal lives, there are a few things to remember when to comes to gauging the success of those plans. To truly be successful is to be in it for the long haul.

For the most part, your success is determined by your hard word, and by your choices. You can work harder than anyone you know, but if at the end of the day you make the wrong decisions, you will never achieve the success you want. So many people think that they deserve to be successful just because they work hard, but this is not the case. Hard work is simply a piece of the puzzle.

Many hard working people claim that they have “bad luck” when things turn sour, despite their efforts. In reality, it is poor choices that ultimately lead many of these people to why their hard work isn’t leading to success. This isn’t to say that every choice you make has to be a good one – to hold yourself to such a standard would be to set yourself up for failure. Instead, you need to make more good choices than bad ones, and minimize the impact of the bad choices by accepting them and fixing it quickly.

Becoming successful takes time and effort, and unfortunately many people want to get from point A to point Z without all of the challenges, lessons, and milestones in between. You cannot work hard and immediately expect the success that you think you deserve. Success is not an entitlement, no matter how badly we want it to be one.

I’ve said before that working hard is only the first part of success. Making good choices is the second part. It takes both to achieve success.

How do you motivate yourself toward long term success? Share with me in the comments below!

How to Become a Charismatic Introvertstring(37) "How to Become a Charismatic Introvert"

November 23, 2015
, , , Introducing Yourself, Relationships, Strategy, Success 9

ID-10066405I am a natural introvert. I know, I know. Shocking. It can be hard to believe that I might be a bit shy, considering how many dozens of times a year I get up in front of audiences and speak on a variety of topics. However, even an introvert is able to muster up some charisma and get in front of a crowd. To build up your own charisma, here are a couple tips you can try.

First things first, develop some interests. Read the news, listen to the radio, travel, watch speeches done by people you consider charismatic or by people who are leaders in your field. It is generally easy for people to talk about things that they find interesting, or things that they know about.

Another great way to build up some charisma is to go into your conversations with a positive attitude. Nobody wants to talk to a Debby Downer. Plus, if you act happier, you may even trick yourself into feeling happier.

Talking with hand gestures can actually help you feel more confident, as well, and come across in your charisma. The catch here is don’t overdo this, as it can quickly spiral out of control and cause you to seem a little scattered and off-putting.

Finally, your body language can do a lot when it comes to your charisma. Are your shoulders tense and bunched up toward your neck? Are your knees locked while you’re standing? Are you figditing? These are very obvious signs of being uncomfortable. Consciously work to control these, and you may just see your confidence and charisma skyrocket.

What steps do you take to build up confidence when speaking in front of strangers or large groups? Share your tips in the comments section below!

Using Your Unique Selling Propositionstring(37) "Using Your Unique Selling Proposition"

November 9, 2015
, , , Behavioral Styles, Networking Tactics, Relationships, Storytelling, Strategy, Success 5

uniquesellingOne of the biggest issues I see or hear when it comes to networking and word-of-mouth marketing strategies comes from the individual businessperson’s mindset. So often, people believe that in order to network successfully and set themselves up for the most referrals, they need to tell everyone who will listen (and some who won’t) everything that their business does. This misconception simply leads many to believe that by talking to everyone in the room, they’ll maximize their referrals.

This is not at all the case. What this actually does is bores your intended audience, and overwhelms them with more information than they could ever possibly remember.

The key instead is to come up with a unique selling proposition for your company, business or service, and use it when you network. Your unique selling proposition will be a brief summary of your business, the key word here being brief. You’ll want to share this description as concisely and as engaging as possible. Not only will your audience walk away understanding what you do, but if you have described your business in a compelling way, they’ll be more likely to remember you because you entertained them and kept them listening.

The biggest indicator of a good unique selling proposition is that it gets people to ask you more about your business, and keeps them genuinely interested in what you do. They should be short, sweet, and to the point, without being vague or misleading. Your goal is to open the door for a conversation, not leave any potential contacts confused.

What is your business’s unique selling proposition? How do you use it to get word-of-mouth referrals? Tell me in the comments below!

1 2 3 4 5 … 19