February networking lunch – doesn’t February fly past?

14/02/2013 by 1 Comment

Of course February is a short month, and our next lunch meeting is next week, 22nd of February, and we will be meeting at our usual place, well at least for Barnstaple, we will be meeting at the Chichester Arms, in Bishops Tawton!

We get to use the pubs “Den” bar which most months we get all to ourselves, and we have a special menu organised which is a selection of meals from the main menu, which the pub will pretty much guarantee will be available. This suits us a lot better than trying to get the meals pre-ordered!

We book the table for 12:30pm with the aim to sit down to eat around 1pm, although we do encourage people to come along from midday so that they maximise the opportunity to network. After all, that is what we do!

We are an informal networking group, and we always resist the temptation to have that 30 second elevator pitch. I always say, if you do your pitch & no one wants your business they won’t come and talk to you, but if they don’t know what you do, they will!

We are a great bunch, a very welcoming group – I know, I would say that – and I also know for a fact that business is done between members, referrals are passed between ourselves, and what is most important…..

….we keep in touch with each other between lunches.

We advocate the use of social networking, we tweet with one another, we are friends on facebook, or at least like one anothers pages, are part of the same group on Linked In and even get to be part of circles & communities on Google+.

Lunch finishes whenever, some have to disappear back to work, others have the time to hang around and network some more – we have an all in price of just £20 which includes, drinks, food & coffee afterwards!

Why not join us – contact us via the contact page on this website & book your slot!

I for one look forward to meeting you!

Filed Under: Networking, North Devon Business Tagged With: , , , ,

Networking – why do it?

28/01/2013 by Leave a Comment

We all network on a daily basis, whether we realise it or not.

Going to the pub, the supermarket, meeting other parents at the school gate, chatting to the postman or shopkeeper while waiting to be served!

The more often you meet the same people, the more likely you are to build up a relationship, the more likely you will ask how is work going to your mates in the pub, you’ll ask the supermarket check out assistant that you haven’t seen them for a while and you hope everything is OK, you’ll ask other parents whether their kids have had that nasty bug that is going around, you’ll ask the postman whether he can leave your next parcel in the garage, or ask the shopkeeper why the price of milk has gone up since last week.

These people will respond and ask about you, you’ll get to know that the postman’s mate is a plumber and you’ll ask the postie for his number as you have dripping tap – it is all networking!

Meeting up with a group of business folk at an event that has been arranged specially for the purpose of networking, be it a weekly breakfast club, a monthly evening or lunchtime event, or whatever, is exactly the same.

After a while (not at the first meeting) you get to know the people well, you’ll know a little bit about their private lives, their hobbies, things that make them tick, as well as knowing what they do for a living! You’ll get an insight into who else they know in the business world, whether they also know a plumber to help you fix that tap, or sort out that tax return, get your heating fixed or how much a taxi costs from A-B at a certain time of night!

You won’t find out these things on your first visit, that is why they have these things weekly and/or monthly, it is important that you go regularly, that you meet these people, and make sure that they remember you for what you do when someone asks them do you know someone who can sort out X for me. That someone might just be you!

So, just because you found it hard going at that first meeting, don’t give up, go to the next one, and the one after that. It is the familiar faces that will be remembered, not those that just turn up once!

Filed Under: Networking Tagged With: ,

When did you last update your blog?

12/07/2012 by 2 Comments

When did you last update your blog?

Until I few months ago I was not really aware of the power that blogging has on business opportunities but since I was introduced to a “blogging website” I have been preparing a number of blogs and waiting for the right moment to start publishing them! That moment has arrived and it is all because of The Empower Network and also the North Devon Business Alliance Blogging Competition!

The Empower Network was only introduced to the world of online marketing opportunities last October by Dave Wood and Dave Sharpe Co-founders.

When did you last update your blog?

Now there is every incentive to blog daily or as regular as possible as the results can be explosive! What does strike me is how some blogs never take off and have only one or two entries whilst others have not been updated for months.

It can often be difficult to find time to blog when everything seems to happen all at once and you don’t get a moment to relax, let alone writing any blogs. If you are blogging for business, it is most important to add new content regularly to maintain readers’ interest.

Now the Empower Network is able to support and inspire businesses to write blogs. As well as promoting you, your business and your products and services, blogs can also generate more web traffic and can be very effective.

When did you last update your blog?

When people do find the time to blog, their thoughts, stories and insight are often both fascinating and instructive. Ideally you should spend up to one hour a day blogging even if you do not finish it. Let it become part of your time management – “practice makes perfect!”

So if you have started a blog and not updated it recently or if you want to start a blog, please add content as there is an audience here waiting to read it!

The Empower Network is a home-based business opportunity embracing how entrepreneurs make money blogging from home. You say some people like a blogging system and others don’t but initially it took me a while to get my head around blogging but the more you do it, the easier it becomes. There are so many sources of reference out there on the Internet to help you with content and develop blogging as a way of life. Blogging is a sure way of attracting leads!

The idea is that people who decide to join The Empower Network will have the ability to market anything they want on a blog that is highly ranked and has thousands of visitors daily. Your website will be there – just add your name and photograph. The benefits also include:-

• Low cost entry level to the program to get you started
• It will help existing businesses and is a business opportunity in itself
• Online marketing pays 100% commissions directly into your account immediately , (no waiting 30 or 60 days to get paid)
• You can leverage your Empower Network system to grow your income
• No complicated technology and set up arrangements
• You don’t need to be an expert blogger
• You can generate more leads by blogging straightaway
• It does not matter whether you are new to the internet or not.
If you’re ready to take massive action, learn REAL marketing skills, get real results, and decide to change your life”…
…welcome to The Empower Network     

TO VIEW MY BLOG AS IT APPEARS ON MY EMPOWER NETWORK WEBPAGE PLEASE JUST COPY AND PASTE AND GO TO:-

http://www.empowernetwork.com/barton1/blog/when-did-you-last-update-your-blog/

 

OKAY! NOW FOR FURTHER DETAILS ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CLICK HERE:-

 

Please let me have your comments as below.

 Regards


John Barton

Tel: +44 (0)1237 476 068

Skype: jowbarton

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/noahsark10

Source of reference: Robert Zarywacz and Naomi Chapman

 

Filed Under: All Blogs Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Dunbars number – how big is your network?

12/07/2012 by Leave a Comment

I received an email newlsetter yesterday which brought up the subject of Robin Dunbar and his research on how big peoples networks can get! The quote from the email stated:-

“According to research from the British Anthropologist Robin Dunbar the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships is about 150. These are relationships in which an individual knows who each person is, and how each person relates to every other person.

More than that, there is another number of the number of people at the core of your relationships and that number is five.”

In my opinion the 150 is always a moving feast, people come into the group and people leave the group. I remember when I moved to North Devon from the Thames Valley I had a very busy social life and had a core group of friends that I saw on a regular basis, I had work colleagues that I used to see and deal with regularly, I had my advisors (pension, insurance, bank manager that type of thing) that I talked to on occasions and of course family.

Now that I am in North Devon, and I’ve been here nearly 10 years now, my core group of friends has completely changed, my work colleagues have been replaced by my networking colleagues and in some cases my clients as I now run my own business, my advisors have all changed and of course my family group have remained constant, albeit that i don’t see them quite as often as I used to.

I have over 500 connections on LinkedIn, I have over 4200 followers on twitter as @llamakevin and another 1400+ as @infraredheating, I have quite a few “friends” on facebook as well, but I will be honest and say that actually the number of people that I have that stable social relationship with is probably less than 150?

How big is your network?

I’m not telling you who the 5 are though :-)

Thankyou to Martin Davies of NRG & your email that inspired this blog!

Filed Under: General Business, NDBA Awards, Networking Tagged With: , ,

Networking is about referrals!

11/07/2012 by Leave a Comment

Whether we like it or not, the whole point of networking is to garner further business and to get yourself referrals. Of course it is also about giving referrals as and when you can.

This week I received a request from a client to find them an accountant and a solicitor, and from the various people who have attended the North Devon Business Alliance lunches I was able to pass two of them a serious referral.

These opportunities don’t come along that often, but when they do it is a great feeling to put some business in the direction of some of my networking colleagues. I don’t expect anything as a reward for passing these referrals, but in the ways of the world I am confident that from somewhere I will receive a referral in return, and not necessarily from these two individuals.

This brought about a discussion about the format of business networking, from the very disciplined networking that BNI offers, where referrals are an expected part of the mornings breakfast meeting to the very informal networking that we have here at the NDBA.

Both methods work as does everything in between, the formula that BNI have come up with worldwide is a very successful formula and not one to be knocked, but it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, just as our informal networking where we have a jolly time and occasionally pass some work to each other isn’t everyone’s cup of tea either.

At our NDBA lunches we are well known, apparently, for being a very friendly bunch where we happily discuss both business and non-business topics with gusto, no shortage of trying to put the world to rights, but there is also little attempt to find out what each other does and what sort of business we would like to get from our fellow members, but and this is the big but, we do keep in touch in between meetings, we keep an eye out for each other on Twitter & Facebook, on LinkedIn and various other social media platforms.

We discuss openly in these areas issues that face our business, where we would like to get help from one another, we get the occasional RT (reTweet) when we are asking for help or when we are sending out that sales message, so that when we get to our monthly lunches we are ready to just relax and put the world to rights. This is different from many other networking groups where during the meeting it is all about the business and getting down to the issues because in the main – not always, but in the main there is little contact between members in between the meetings.

This is one of the things that attracts me to social media in general, there is plenty to learn – have a question, tweet it out to the universe, and someone will come back with an answer – just as you would in a business group, ask, and even if no one knows the answer the chances are that they will know someone who does. However, we are also able to tap in to each others networks far easier as with each RT (reTweet) our question is being asked around the other persons network & the message gets out far quicker than asking people around a table and expecting them to remember to ask that question a few times with people they meet as they go on with their working week.

There is room for all types of business networking and the ability to keep pace with things is far easier using social media, keep an eye on what people are saying and what people are asking, be involved and remember that at the end of the day we all need to give and receive referrals, that is after all why we network!

 

Filed Under: General Business, Networking Tagged With: , ,
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