Forget about New Year's Resolutions!

In the UK we have a long standing habit of setting New Year's resolutions. A New Year's resolution is something you want to do or achieve. So a typical New Year's resolution might be I want to give up smoking; or I want to lose weight this year; or I want to learn Mandarin etc.

Most people I know set New Year's resolutions but most of them rarely achieve or do them. It has always seemed strange to me why we set New Year's resolutions? What's the point in setting out to do something without then monitoring your progress?! People rarely ever check to see how they are getting on when they set a New Year's resolution.

Every New Year's Eve one of the topics of conversation will be New Year's resolutions. "What are you going to do this year?" "What's your New Year's resolution going to be this year?" I've been to many New Year's Eve parties where friends have told me what they are going to do in the coming year. Not one of them followed through.

That's because a New Year's resolution is not a big enough dream or passion. It's more of a passing want, something they'd like to do or achieve but there is usually a lack of belief behind it. Without absolute clarity and belief a New Year's resolution is always going to be hard to achieve.

I think it's always much better to set goals. But goal setting has never been that popular in the UK. Goal setting is perceived to be a very American thing. Now I don't think that's an issue but there are lots of Brits who think the Americans are a little on the loud side and over the top. I don't. I love Americans and I love their passion and drive. Which is why I do like goal setting. But with books like "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne and "The Success Principles"ec by Jack Canfield people are beginning to wake up to the power of goal setting.

As many of you know I've got a massive goal for 2011. I'm getting a body like Brad Pitt's by August 2011. http://bradsbody.com tells the full story.

So don't bother with a New Year's resolution this year! Think about some of those dreams and goals you've always wanted to achieve. Instead of a New Year's resolution, this year set a goal to achieve what you've always wanted.

To help you achieve your dreams and goals I recommend Billy Cox's brilliant book "The Dream Book". You can get your free copy here: http://www.dreamit.tv

Happy New Year and I hope you achieve everything you want in 2011. Please add your comments below and share what your goals and dreams are for 2011.

My Christmas Present!

Merry Christmas everyone.

I just wanted to share this video I took on Christmas Day just after I opened my present for my gorgeous wife and fantastic father-in-law.

I hope you got some amazing presents too and that you have enjoyed the Festive holidays with your loved ones.

Right I'm off to play with my new toy!!

My Massive Goal and Dream for 2011

I suddenly realised that I hadn't shared with you the story of my latest crazy dream.

By August 2011 I will have a body like Brad Pitt's! This has been a dream of mine for many years and in 2 months time I'll be 45 years old. The dream of that body with a flat stomach and rippling muscles has felt like it's been slipping away from me in recent years.

But not now! Thanks to Stuart Edmonstone my dream is suddenly massive, clear, in bright vibrant colour and feels very up close and personal!! Together Stuart and I have set off on this new journey and we are both extremely excited and committed.

We also realised that taking on this challenge would require hard work and determination and we'd need help and support along the way. We decided one of the best ways of not giving up on this dream was to tell the world. And we've been doing it for the last month or so. We've told everyone we meet. There are so many people who now know, that they are a constant reminder and help each time we think about eating a mince pie or slice of cake!!Christmas is a tough, tough time to be doing this but it will be so worthwhile in the long run.

To further commit ourselves to this dream we have created a website dedicated to our story getting a body like Brad Pitt's and we hope thousands of others will join us on their very own journeys. We have also created a hash tag on Twitter where you can follow us and our members - #bradsbody 

We blog regularly on the Bradsbody.com website so do visit often to check our progress.

We also need your help.
We want to reach out to Brad Pitt and let him know about our challenge and hope that he will agree to meet Stuart and I in the Autumn of 2011. We want to pose in a photo with Brad Pitt on a beach so we can prove to everyone that we did it!! We've got 8 months to use social media and the world wide web to reach out to Brad Pitt. At this stage we have no idea what he will think, but we truly hope he will appreciate what an inspiration he is being to us and all our members.

So please help us spread the word.

You can read the full story at BradsBody.com

Networking for Business - In Summary

So that's it - my experience, advice and guidance on networking for business.

It’s your approach and attitude which are so important and remember that no one’s here to buy anything. Get your story clear so you can tell everyone about it and just be yourself. People buy people so take time to get to know the people at each meeting and over time you’ll make some great, new friends and find suppliers.

The other thing you’ll get from networking is improved motivation and confidence and please, please, please, remember to follow up!  

Business Networking Groups

For anyone who's interesting in trying networking for the first time here is a list of some networking organisations in the UK:

• 4Networking
• NRG Business Networks
• BNI
• WomenMeanBiz
• Viva Networking
• Business for Breakfast

In case you missed any of the other articles in the series just click the relevant link below:

Networking for Busines - Introduction
Networking for Busines - Part 1
Networking for Busines - Part 2
Networking for Busines - Part 3
Networking for Busines - Part 4
Networking for Busines - Part 5
Networking for Busines - Part 6
Networking for Busines - Part 7

I hope you enjoyed this series! I'll be doing a few more blog series in 2011. If there is a particular area of business where you need help and advice, please add your comments below and I might create a series especially for you!

Business Cards - what do you do with them?

Jeffrey Gitomer is a huge advocate of Networking to help grow your business. I've been networking for a while now and the one thing I've noticed is the number of business cards I collect. I don't mean I'm a collector of business cards! I mean each time I meet someone at the various networking events I attend; I am given their business card.

I now have hundreds of the things! Here is a picture of my desk a few months ago before I came up with my system.

What do you do with all the business cards you've collected over time?


You need a system
I'm pleased to say I've now got a system. Michael E. Gerber would be very proud of me! As soon as I get back to my office from a meeting I take out the business cards from my jacket pocket and place them on my desk in front of my keyboard. I then open my Sharepoint contact list and add all the details from each one into the relevant contact list.This synchs with my Outlook contacts which in turn syncs with my iPhone so I only have to add the information once and I have the details where I need them.

In the case of those people who have asked for more information and help with domain names I ask them for permission to add them to my mailing list and all those I also add into MailChimp.*

Now you don't need to use an Intranet Sharepoint system from TWG Systems like I do. You might use a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool such as ACT! or Salesforce or HighRise. But even starting out with a simple Excel spreadsheet is better that nothing at all.

Easy to stay & get in touch
You need a contact database so you can keep in touch with your contacts. So you can keep those people who have asked, in touch with your products and services and news. So you can keep in touch with those contacts who might become suppliers of yours. Imagine if one afternoon you need to get in touch with one of those contacts who's card is amoungst the hundreds spread over your desk, or in your drawer. How will you find their contact details? If you've entered them in a database one quick search and you've got all the relevant details to hand.

So start adding your contact's details into a system today.

*MailChimp is an amazing Email Marketing tool and it's free for up to 1,000 contacts! It is brilliant for small business owners. I will be writing a seperate blog post on MailChimp in the next couple of weeks.

Networking for Business - Part 7

Follow Up

It staggers me how many people in Networking don't follow up effectively!

Don’t forget to Follow Up! It’s amazing how many people say they will do something, call you or send you an email and never do! So do make sure you follow up with any of the people you’ve met and agreed to do something for. This follow up should ideally be the same day, so later on that afternoon or at the latest the next day. Any longer than this and you’ll probably end up forgetting and if you do remember the perception won’t be as good as it could have been.

It’s so easy to use the “I’ve been so busy!” excuse and yes we’ve all used it haven’t we?! “I’m so sorry I didn’t get straight back to you; I’ve been flat out”. But this is great! I love it when people don’t follow up; especially my competitors, because if you actually do follow up in good time, you’ll be head and shoulders above the rest. Most people don’t follow up effectively so this gives you a big jump ahead of them.

Keep Following Up

Also make sure you keep following up. If someone was interested in your products or services then keep following up. Keep calling them and keep sending them emails and of course if you are both part of the same business network give them a gentle reminder next time you see them.

Email Marketing
If you are not using email marketing in your business you should be. Email Marketing is now really simple to implement and can be really cost effective. I highly recommend MailChimp. MailChimp is a very easy to use email marketing system, accessed via a web browser. It is brilliant for following up any leads. You can send up to 5,000 emails a month and you can have up to 1,000 contacts in your account and all for FREE!
People can subscribed to your email campaign and you can add their details, with their permission. Then you simply send out your email campaign to let them know about your latest deals and offers.

Social Media

Another effective way to follow up is via the various social media platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, FaceBook and online forums. The 4Networking forum is a brilliant, free resource for businesses and it's a great way to follow up after a business breakfast.
LinkedIn is an excellent platform for connecting with business professional and it's quite typical to get a few LinkedIn requests a fter a business network breakfast or lunch.
Twitter is brilliant for connecting with your fellow networkers and for keeping in touch with each other and arranging follow up meetings.
So make sure you embrace the different social media websites and use them as part of your follow up mix.

The Telephone

As old fashioned as it seems to becoming; don't forget to use the telephone! It is still without doubt THE best follow up tool in your following up tool box. Too many people rely on email to the job for them. I always like to follow up via email, social media AND the telephone.

So don't be one of the masses; make sure you follow up and do what you said you would do and then keep following up!