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Message from the President August 2008 Well we are off to a great start, after a successful Bottle Auction in June we had 5 new members join at our Happy Hour in July. We are all looking forward to the Central Region Education Conference, September 18-20 in Houston. There’s a great line up of education and the opportunity to earn the Certification in Mortgage Ethics designation while you are there. I would encourage you to come to Houston and improve your mind and skills. We have some great speakers lined up for the rest of this year and are already planning our next education seminar for September or October. Look for more details soon. This month I’m going to do something a little different, and share with you something I wrote for another publication on networking. Please email me at Connie's email to tell me what you think. How do you network in today’s world?Networking used to be all about exchanging business cards at meetings and social functions. You know, the more people you meet the greater the chances that you will encounter someone you will do business with. In the last several years there has been an explosion in professional and social networks and it got me thinking about when and how to use each. What with LinkedIn, Classmates.com, Facebook, Myspace and Plaxo, which one is the right one for you? First, we need to identify the differences between a social and a professional network. A network is a community of individuals with common interests. Some like Myspace and Facebook connect friends; chat, messaging, email, file sharing and video are standard ways to communicate. Others like LinkedIn connect business professionals, people you’ve worked with, done business with, etc. All generally provide a way to ask for introductions from someone you know who knows someone…. Six Degrees of Separation. Plaxo seems to be a hybrid and connects you with family, friends and business partners by incorporating chat, video, and file sharing. So, with all of these choices what’s a person to do? One suggestion would be to have 2 or 3 networks that you subscribe to regularly. I use LinkedIn and Plaxo because it allows me to keep my friends and business contacts organized. Because I have moved around quite a bit, staying in touch has been challenging. LinkedIn has allowed me to reconnect with colleagues that I worked with more years ago than I care to remember. I check it regularly to see who I know who has been better at connecting with people than me and send invitations to people we know in common. One caution with any social networking site is to be careful what information you make available. Think about the impression you make with the information you post. This is especially true in business. You need to filter recommendations to ensure they are appropriate and reflect the image you want. Once it’s made available on one of these sites Information about you is very easy for anyone to find. A former colleague told me about an individual who they were interviewing for a new position. When a quick online search turned up a MySpace page with less than flattering pictures and multiple references to their devotion to partying, the perception of them as a competent business professional was shattered. What image do you want to project to potential clients and business partners? If you don’t already, I encourage you to investigate these sites and see how you can incorporate them into your business. It used to be that you went to a networking function and dropped a note or email to anyone you met. Now you can add them to your network and stay in touch forever. Connie Smith - Vince Lombardi Past Messages: |