Let’s invite some friends, suppliers and clients to come to our next meeting.

See you all there!

Boris Mahovac R.G.D.

Sign up for my next Contacts2Clients Business Seminar

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When you log in to your user account you will notice the new layout and styling immediately, with the main menu now running in the left column. If you haven’t used the blog yet, now it should be even easier to use.

Writing for this Blog
A reminder to those members who are yet to publish their first blog post, and those who have published only one or two, that your account level is Contributor, which means you are not able to publish directly to the blog, but have to submit your article for review first. This review is only technical in nature, so we’re not concerned with content or style, unless your article appears to be encroaching on other members’ field of expertise, in which case you will be advised to revise your article. Once you’ve published several articles (or you’re an experienced blogger running your own blog site) your account will be upgraded to Author level. This will also allow you to upload images and videos to accompany your blog posts. BTW, even at the Contributor level, you can always link to videos you posted to YouTube.

To our visitors the blog should look the same, except that now the List of Speakers article is “sticky” and will always be displayed first on the main blog index page.

Twitter
If you’re reading this post on our site (as compared to our RSS feed, or on our Linkedin group where your articles are automatically syndicated — one more reason for you to blog more for added exposure) you will notice another new feature: the Retweet button found in the upper right corner of each blog post. If you’re on Twitter, I’d recommend that you re-tweet this, and all other blog posts in an effort to promote individual members and our group as a whole to your Twitter followers. Also make sure you follow @OakvilleNetwork, too. I’ve recently created this account which will tweet automatically each time you post an article on our blog!

Here’s to your successful business blogging!

Boris Mahovac R.G.D.

Sign up for my next Contacts2Clients Business Seminar

Let's connect:

One of my network groups is HAPPEN in Mississauga, Halton and Peel Professional Executive Network. There are many wonderful professionals “in transition” in HAPPEN. They are a great group that offers help while they are looking themselves and also after they land. One member, in particular, who helped me through his public relations efforts, is Hugh Black from HMB Communications Group. Contact hughblack at cogeco.ca.

Within HAPPEN, conversations are around finding full time employment and within my business networking groups, the conversations are around finding new business development opportunities. Over the past months, I have noticed a difference emerging between the two groups. On one hand full time traditional employment seems to be going the way of the dinosaur and on the other hand, the members of the small business group are as busy or busier than before Christmas.

Yesterday, all the random pieces of networking came together. I had been networking with Hugh Black, putting forward my point of view that people were choosing self employment,  then the new Canadian statistics for unemployment in April 2009 showed that unemployment stayed the same and there was an increase in the self employed numbers.

As a result of Hugh Black’s efforts; I was interviewed as an example of someone who had successfully transferred their skills and started their own business,  Executive Sales Support. My business helps sales and business professionals get out of the office to see more clients and close deals. As a result of this interview, I was mentioned in an article on the front page of The Toronto Star’s Business section on Saturday May 9, 2009.

Yahoo, networking pays off for business development!

If you want to network with me I have a linked in profile. I look forward to helping you.

Here is the link to the article “Self-employment: The ‘do-it-yourself recovery’ Jobs increased last month, largely through people embracing self employment. The Toronto Star’s Business section on Saturday May 9, 2009.

Are you looking to grow your business? Business networking site Linkedin.com has over 36 million users world-wide. Join Linkedin and start building you virtual business team and start generating leads.

• Manage the information that’s publicly available about you as professional
• Find and be introduced to potential clients, service providers, and subject experts who come recommended
• You can use it to build your reputation by asking your clients to endorse you.
• Be found for business opportunities and find potential partners
• Discover inside connections that can help you land jobs and close deals

Check out my latest blog post on how I use Linkedin to grow my list of qualified prospects!

Here’s another way we can help each other recommend us more confidently: offer “social proof” about you in the form of client testimonials. A properly worded and formatted testimonial is a great way you can say: “Here’s what others think about me and my business.”

A good testimonial must have the person’s real name as a minimum, because those “B.M. from Oakville” really don’t cut it anymore in today’s cynical world. If it’s from a client, ask them if you can also include their business name as well – this will also work for them as a small advertisement.

How to collect testimonials:

1. handwritten/typed letters or cards
2. voice mail or recorded audio testimonials
3. emails of praise you receive – ask the sender for their permission to use as a testimonial
4. some online networking sites have a “Recommend” feature, such as these on Linkedin, if you’re a member, ask your contacts and clients to endorse you.
5. regardless of the original form of the testimonial, you can post in to your blog site, or web site

Once you have testimonials organized on your web site or blog, give us the link to them so we can include it when communicating with someone who we think might be a good referral for you. For example, to recommend Boris, the Email Marketing guy, you can send an email with a link to all of Boris’ testimonials or just the one , like this recent one.

If you have any ideas, please enter them as comments to this article!