Business

I received an email this weekend from a person asking to meet me for coffee. When I told him that I could meet him in about six weeks, he emailed me back saying that if I didn’t want to meet him, I should just say so and not lie to him about my schedule being so full. I then made it worse and told him that if he wanted to talk sooner then we could schedule a video chat. Sadly, that just made it worse. His response was ‘what are you too important to meet me in person’?

One of the things that amazes me is how often people will meet someone at a networking event and proceed to tell them that they just used someone else who does what they do.

It happened last week. I had someone go on and on while talking to a realtor and a mortgage person about the great experience her child had purchasing a home and that she would recommend the realtor and mortgage person that her child used to everyone. Would you like to have been that realtor and mortgage rep listening to this lady tell you how great someone else in your field was?

I was speaking to a woman at my networking event and I told her that I think Facebook live would be amazing for her business. She smiled and said “yes, it is part of my marketing plan going forward”. I smiled and asked “how long has it been part of your plan? Why don’t you do your first Facebook live tomorrow?” That did not go over well at all. She said she is not comfortable doing it. I asked if I could tell her a secret? The secret is most people are not comfortable doing it, but we do it anyway. You cannot let that fear stop you from doing what you need to do to grow your business. It really does get easier the more you do it. I remember the first time I did it, I was scared! Now I don’t even think about it.

Last week I received my daily LinkedIn recap email and I noticed that it was a friend’s birthday. This guy always goes out of his way to endorse me on LinkedIn, so I wanted to take a moment to thank him and wish him a happy birthday. He sent me back the nicest email I’ve ever received, thanking me for taking the time to wish him a happy birthday. I have to be honest, I was having a super stressful day, but his email made me realize that everything was going to be okay. So take the time to wish your friends a happy birthday. It just might make your day.

I know this tip seems silly and you may be asking yourself if I have run out of tips, but, every now and then this does come up. Last week I met a guy for coffee and he showed up wearing a suit, because that was how I was dressed when we met at my networking event. He was a little upset with me because I was wearing jeans and bright orange sneakers for this coffee meeting. He said the only reason he wore his suit was because he thought I would be wearing one. The meeting got off on the wrong foot and never recovered from him feeling like I slighted him by dressing casually.

One of the expressions I hear all the time is ‘I cannot do that; it is outside of my comfort zone’. I really wish people would simply say that they are afraid to do something, rather than it is outside their comfort zone. When you say something is outside of your comfort zone, I find people accept it and give you a pass.

I had two really cool experiences at the University this week. As part of a class I teach, my students have to develop a business as part of a group, and then pitch the business idea to the class. I have a student in one of my groups that really hasn’t said much in class. When I asked his group members who would be pitching, he said he would be, which made me smile. The group he was in has some upper classman in it and it would have been super easy for him to let one of the other students pitch the idea. I honestly did not know what to expect from him and was a little nervous for him. Of course his pitch was awesome and he did an amazing job. I could not have been more proud of him.

I am really proud of my friend Bob. This past weekend he did his first video upload to LinkedIn.  I have been encouraging Bob to do videos for a while now, but it is way out of his comfort zone. In my opinion, Bob is an excellent writer and does a great job offering career advice on his blog.  However, many people will never take the time to read a blog post. That is why I am a big fan of combining blogging and videos to promote your business.

Last week my friend asked me to speak to her class at the local community college. While I was there I met a student who is trying to become an apprentice in the one of the local unions. In the small world of things, I happen to know someone in that union. So I called this person and asked him if he could help the student out, and he did.