A simple tip from Meetup and Carta: intentionally build in diversity at the start so it’s embedded as your business / initiative continues. Simple!
Well done to Carta and Meetup for cracking the code on diversity and to Fred Wilson for reporting on it (read more here). I’m looking forward to using this awareness in my next initiatives as I can see it working well.
Taking branding to the next level in the …loo! Auction Rooms cafe has Aesop soap on tap and a map on the wall that explains how to get to the closest Aesop shop.
In Dan Pink’s “To Sell is Human” book he mentioned we’re now all in sales.
In the past few weeks I’ve been optimising a system to connect clients with large volumes of relevant potential customers. It could be called sales.
In refining this system, I’ve realised that now there is a massive opportunity to quickly find people online who connect with you as an individual – to find the people who will be inspired to quickly become customers, be ultra-helpful in sharing your business via word of mouth, as well as helping find answers.
The thing is, now you can connect with anyone. You don’t want to be connected to everyone. Business is fast and there are loads of messages, notifications and as the volume increases, people increasingly look for people they trust.
Being connected to highly relevant people who ‘get’ your way of thinking, your values/philosophies, your work and style… people who trust you… means you can quickly gain answers, do business together, ask for connections to potential customers and more.
LinkedIn and other social media services provide quick messaging. If you’re connected with highly relevant and engaged people you have less noise in your network and you can quickly message and create progress.
And that’s the key!
I’ve been saying for years: grow your relevant online audience, find your “niche-niche” people – the very select group of people in the world who know and respect you. Don’t bulk up your LinkedIn connections for the sake of likes and numbers, grow your relevant audience so you connect and engage with people who’ll take action.
Start now – type in a topic of interest in LinkedIn search and refine the search to your city. Click on ten profiles, read their summaries and if you’re inspired by what you read and see, hit connect. (Leave the others.) When connecting, include a message that explains why you’re interested in their perspective and what you’d like to learn from them. Be real and honest!
Repeat the process. Aim for 10-50 messages a week. Go! Discover your international peers and future colleagues.
Time is of the essence and fast progress is within your reach.
You don’t yet know the gains you’ll have in the future…
Tim B – thx again for the excellent session & sharing this post. Cam – yesterday’s chat inspired this!
This is Giles’ post that explains the automation tool for LinkedIn connections and messages, combined with LinkedIn Sales Navigator and a few other tools. We’ve refined this slightly and tailor it for relevant audiences.
Fun quote (via the Facebook newsfeed eradicator!):
Another on business culture: “The Heartbeat” by Fred Wilson – I love the opening line “The best companies I work with have a heartbeat, they operate on a pace and a cadence and a rhythm that is…”
I’ve been working with website hosting company, Serversaurus. Here are a few of the tips I’ve picked up about website hosting.
Just in case you’re listening to a Tim Ferriss podcast I’ve recommended and prefer not to listen to the first few minutes, skip the first four minutes and you’re straight into the introduction and interview. May that be useful!
Regularly meeting new people who’ve contacted me to meet-up brings a vibrancy to these emails that I hadn’t predicted. I’m usually on a high on the return walk where I’m jotting down tips or ideas discussed or topics that have reappeared from other conversations – showing these topics are something I’m wanting to explore or refine.
I’ve found 1-2 hours a week to meet new people without an agenda provides an invaluable space to reflect, think out loud, learn, connect with relevant people and open up.
We chat about things like self driving cars transporting mini veggie gardens (!!), new local eateries, improving mental health via new platforms, the richness of human connections, what’s happening in Australia and internationally in the digital / business / customer experience / service design / innovation / blockchain / growth hacking / future arenas, how to help each other’s work, make helpful business contacts and so much more.
In the past I’d take time to check my diary for free space, research and evaluate meeting someone. Now that time is spent in the meeting discussion – made even easier by sending my Calendly link so others organise the meetings – GOLD! Sometimes I research the person online as I’m walking to the meeting, sometimes I don’t – there’s always connections to make.
In some of the meeting I may have the LinkedIn app open to connect them with relevant people on the spot so I’ve nothing to do afterwards. “Breeeeathe…”
Often we’ll be so fascinated with a variety of topics that we leave each other with a hug and a massive grin.
If you’re thinking about Calendly, here are my setup tips ~
(Calendly is linked to my Google Calendar via my gmail account)
Make the link fun & engaging for people. In my Description/Instructions I’ve added: “Go to Patricia’s on the corner of Little Bourke and Little William Streets (www.patriciacoffee.com.au) and I’ll magically appear. I’m [my phone number] if you need me. “magically appear” is thanks to Matt Allen – it works!
I’ve up to 2 coffee meetings a week.
45 minute meetings – for focus (with transit, it’s roughly an hour).
Ask for the person’s phone number in the meeting setup.
Meeting venue is one I love + available times are when the cafe is quieter = shorter queues and more space.
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Rejection Therapy!
Jules Lund is fast-becoming the Aussie-accented @GaryVee which is great to see. Yesterday’s short video showed the surprising gains from having regular courage to request things from others and open up. Who knows what could happen! GO!
Early in my career an experienced Project Manager gave me advice that I still use: when estimating, come up with how long it’ll take then double it – that’s the number you give others. It’s surprising how often it works and how a simple equation reduces stress.
Here’s an example: you’re asked to finalise a presentation. In your mind you quickly work out that it should take you about a day. Say it’ll take 2 days.
Part of the reason it works is that it’s simple.
It recognises that the future can’t always be predicted in the moment: you may want to do something else that comes up, people may need longer to review, or a multitude of other things. It provides an opportunity to deliver early and remove unnecessary stress on those around you.
Delivering early is fun.
Curious?
OK, I know. It was only two emails ago that I declared my favourite book of the past ten years. It’s still true. This one, A Curious Mind, by Brian Grazer is nipping its heels!
Brian Grazer is an ultra-successful Hollywood Producer who promotes the role of curiosity in enjoyable and successful lives. In his twenties he deliberately met a new person each day and he explains how his 35 years of ‘curiosity conversations’ have informed so much of his work. He surprised me by talking of how he manages through curiosity: that through honestly asking questions people are empowered.
I particularly enjoyed his honesty and application of curious questions when working with actors who’s job it is to manipulate you in to believing them…
He also suggests we don’t recognise curiosity highly enough. I agree.
Let me know what you think if you read it. I’m …curious.
Thanks Caleb for the recommendation!
2 years
The next of these emails will signify my having done so for 2 years. Let me know what you’d like to read in celebration. Toot toot!
Search “Burniske” (the author of CryptoAssets) on your podcasts app and many will come up. They’re probably all good. This one is a great extension to the book and also a summary of crypto assets book. [1 hour listen]
For the creatives ~ [thanks Nick] “the best way to thrive in your creative life is to pretend like you’re in Groundhog Day…”
For you / your CEO
If you’re wanting to quickly get up to speed on Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality, Robert Scoble & Shel Israel’s The Fourth Transformation is a good overview. If you’ve already watched a few videos or followed VR & AR commentary, I suggest not much will be new to you. I liked learning about headsets picking up autism in children (and the potential for saving a lot of confusion).
In many facets of life people are fearful of and threatened by the new. This is often obvious in tech.
“we humans sure are insecure when it comes to technology” Matt Simon of WIRED
If you arrive at a new technology do your best to see it proactively as something to uncover, discover its usefulness, learn the risks too, use positive languaging to see its usefulness take off. When you see the media and others discounting or fearmongering a technology, dig deeper and find your own perspective and reasoning. Self-driving cars, blockchains and digital tokens/currency are a great example.
Would we already have safer driving conditions if more senior government and business leaders, the media and others proactively talked about and influenced the use of the technology? I imagine so, especially when taking into account the risks from the prevalence of phone use while driving. We’ve heard many times that the data shows self-driving cars are safer than human drivers yet the media focuses heavily on cars being hacked. The implications of being hacked are concerning though the conversation can be more constructive and uplifting.
From the new developments around you, what are the opportunities for you as an individual?
I had a sensational time recently learning how to make osaka-style okinomiyaki at a dinner party. Flipping them was good fun! I also learnt about the competitiveness around kids bento boxes at some schools in Japan. HAVE A LOOK AT THESE…. (I’m so impressed.)
Innovation.
As a new surfer I was rapt to hear about Kelly Slater’s wave pool. He and his teams have spent years innovating to create perfect, tailored waves and the results are thrilling – even if you’re not a surfer.
In September the world surfing league are holding a competition there which recognises that artificial waves offer a consistent wave for each competitor to show their prowess and personal style.
Enjoy the fun of these videos:
The intentions and when it all started working.
Drone view showing the technology. How’s the train on the side!?
The Art of Learning.
“The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance” by master Josh Waitzkin is a peaceful, kind offering of clever learning and high performance tools, including insightful stories from Josh’s life in uncovering top human performance. Towards the end the steps in creating a calming trigger for high stress situations is fascinating. Enjoy this one. [I know you will Pete Spence!]
This quick “five second” tool for getting stuff done and helping you out of procrastination / a lack of action on important things is great:When you have an instinct to do something or have a great idea, immediately countdown 5-4-3-2-1 while taking action. Try it out![Wend – your clients may enjoy this one.]
After my last email highlighting unroll.me to bulk-unsubscribe from newsletters a few people unsubscribed from this one. It’s fun to see people taking action. How’d your unsubscribing go?
Look out for the Falcon Heavy (and accoutrements) launch. It’s scheduled for 6th Feb.
