“You’re dreams will be realized when you get connected with people that are on the way, not in the way.” Anon.  This was from Chapter VI and it is very true in my opinion.

Glenn writes in the final chapters of the book about the evaluation of relationships and what to do when the relationship falls apart. He brings his caring of people to the words on the page.

After Chapter X, there is a terrific set of forms to use as discussed in the book.

If you have a copy of the book and have not read it, you should set the time aside Now!  If you do not have a copy, follow the link and purchase one at Glenn Garnes’ website.

As always, I love input – Please tell me what you think

Being an honest person, I must first say that Glenn is my new friend.  My life was blessed this past October when he became my new friend.  The first time I met Glenn, I already knew quite a bit about him.  One of my most trusted friends recommended Glenn.  She was singing his praises as a Connector, as a friend and as a mentor.  I had learned that Glenn had been a lawyer and had done some really impressive things in connecting business professionals with each other.   When I met Glenn, the man immediately made me feel as if we had known each other forever.  His love of people shines through just like the warm sunshine of a summer day.

Having said all that about the author of this book, now let me tell you about the book !  I’ve only read 5 chapters, but I had to sit down and blog about it.  It is inspiring, whether or not you are considering a business partner, it has valuable information that we all should know.    The book is packed full of ideas of how to build relationships;  what to avoid in business relationships and generally will help you to focus your efforts.

I love Glenn’s quotes as they are always something that motivates, inspires or makes you think.  This book has them sprinkled in and here is one I especially like “All the ideas in the world are worthless without quality people to help you implement them.”

I’ll keep you updated on the rest of the book, but I suggest you all run to his website and buy one and Yes, I mean Now!

Then, Let me know what You Think - I love input – Anita

It’s been a long week compared to our ‘shorter’ one last week.  And, Now we are in December; the month of holidays, extra activities, and a general rushing around.  I’ve already had my two favorite activities coincide like a train wreck for a December party on the same night / time – ugh.

Ah, to the question of the hour - Is having a Facebook Fan page worthwhile for your business? Will it add value to your business and how can it help?  I’ve been reading lately quite a few news articles and blogs about this.  Many folks seem to feel that a Fan Page for a small business, or self employed company / individual is not of value.  Some of the facts I’ve heard are:

• Fan pages are essentially for Rock, Country, Music Super stars
• Fan pages traditionally have been created for big name labels like Red, Macy’s
• A good deal of Fan pages now have less than 100 fans

Ok – I have to disagree.  I am a new Virtual Assistant;  just been on this journey for about 3 months now, but I just think these peeps are wrong.  Here’s my data -

• Emarketer – July, 2009,  said “81% of executives feel Social Media sites enhance their brand and build lasting relationships”  51% of businesses are Not using Social Media, as they just don’t know how – Ok, but 49% Are using Social Media!
• Companies like Ford, IBM, and others long ago hired Social Media experts to assist them
• If your business has a Facebook Fan page, then when someone does a Google search, the Fan page information appears (oooh, aww, like magic
  

Personally, my friends, I think the most important reason is that from all that I can gather – Facebook has 300 million active users worldwide – Wow.  That is just too many folks to ignore.

What about those that have less than 100 fans – I say “So, that is 100 x all of their friends x all of their friends” .   If someone knows your business and trusts you, then before you know it they will recommend you.  This is Why you have a Facebook Fan page for your company, but ya know, it’s just my opinion

So do you or your company fall into the “I don’t know how to create or maintain Social Media accounts – or the I don’t have time” .  I have excellent news for you!  There are awesome folks out there that will help you with this.  We are called Virtual Assistants.  We can figure out all the special things that you need to know to create Facebook Fan Pages for your business.  We are here to help your business.  My company, TKM Virtual Services, provides an array of services to help you to focus on the actual product or service of your business.

What do you think? To me as a Virtual Assistant, that is the most important issue – What do You think about Facebook Fan Pages? ?  – - Anita –

One of the first wonderful sites that helped me and continues to is – SocialOomph.  This site is great for scheduling tweets, monitoring if you have been mentioned or your tweets retweeted and it also has the ability to search on keywords for you.  All of these things and a bunch more for Free!  The ‘pay business’ account for SocialOomph offers even more resources for users.

Now, as a Virtual Assistant,  I follow some folks almost daily.  These folks are my ‘online’ mentors. I visit their blogs and websites frequently.  When I noticed that Scott Monty, Ford Social Media specialist, also recommends SocialOomph, I knew I must have found a real gem for Twitter!  My daddy, a Naval Mechanic, was a Ford man, so I follow Scott’s blog almost daily.  In his recent post on Twitter “Enough is Enough”, he talks about SocialOomph as a tool that has successfully helped him.

I also recently was given a link to a new site that provides the same type of services as SocialOomph, and although, I admit, I have not used it very much, it seems very useful.  Tweetminer, has been highly recommended to me as the newest and easiest to use for scheduling and monitoring tweets.

Another tool that is really helpful to get Company’s information out there and visible, is Twellow.  This is a yellow pages for Twitter.  When I create a new Twitter account for clients now, I automatically sign them up at Twellow.  After all, it is all about getting the Company information out there as often as possible.

As of October, 2009, Flickr reports that 33% of the users on Twitter are from ages 18-29 and 22% of the users are from ages 30-49.  This is 55% of the folks that are Tweeting and the age range that most  companies are targeting.  I just read an article today that says that Twitter is estimated to be worth $600 million and it has about 70 million users on a daily basis, worldwide.  These numbers make it impossible to ignore Twitter as a possible tool for all businesses.

I hope that these Twitter Tips help you.  If there is anything that I can do to help you further, please feel free to contact me.  I Love Input, so just pop in and give me a comment `Anita

The subject of business cards has come up quite frequently in my house and with my new company.  As a new Virtual Assistant, I am working with someone who believes that business cards are important,  and my husband has decided recently that he should ‘help’ me with this.

Research started at this point – What programs do we have that could reproduce something quality?  Well – duh, without a quality printer, forget it.  Off to the web to find some resources.

We start reading articles about business cards .  They tell me what I should have on them, how they should look, and even that I should have my picture or Twitter Avatar on them.  Check this cool article out from Michelle Mangen, a Virtual Assistant in Wisconsin, as I think she has some great info.  It seems all the social media news sites have lots of tips of what to do with the creation of the card

In the end, the best and most reliable source comes to me from a referral.  Someone that I know, and trust, is recommending someone they know, and trust, to me for my business cards.  This is always the best way, I believe.

In my personal journey, I would have to say Yes!  In just a short time, my family and I have expanded our lives into Facebook;  we’ve purchased the last 3 or 4 books at Amazon and we spend a great deal more time on the computers than we watch television.  All three of my children (21, 15 and 11 years) are constantly debating which of them get a turn on the computer.  They know better than to ‘touch’ mommy’s computer as that is for her ‘work’.  As a Virtual Assistant, I have been suddenly immersed in social media and have found it to be such a joy.

There are many areas that social media affects folks’ lives, but one especially cool way, I think, is when it brings attention to things.  For instance, here is a link from msnbc that talks about travel and social media.  They address the wonderful aspects of bringing issues to the attention of folks in the travel industry.  Twitter is great for this as when anything happens, it is immediately sent out in a tweet.  Information flows rapidly at Twitter.

I ask you – Is it changing the way your family and you live?  Do you watch less TV?  Do you spend more time on the computer?  Do you order / shop online more?  Tell me !  `Anita

The deal is that you can update your status in LinkedIn and it will tweet it for you in Twitter, also.  This way you are reaching more people with your information.

Twitter is really becoming the place to become connected in my opinion.  Companies like Ford Motor have their own Social Media employees,  who are getting Tweets out regularly.  These Social Media experts for many Companies are aware of the benefits that the LinkedIn site has as well.  There are possible job opportunities on LinkedIn in almost every arena of the business world, and many companies are using these resources.

The information on the web is overwhelming at times.  I know that more and more I feel on information overload.  I read somewhere today, there are over 200 million blogs out there!

In my opinion, it is an amazing feat to have instant access to information that’s happening Now on Twitter.  But, to have LinkedIn connected in this new way, it will make the possibilities for job opportunities for everyone increase.  ~ Anita

I researched and found so many options but here are a few that really impressed me.  This gentleman, Evan Carmichael, has this nifty little guide – “The Top 50 Social Media Blogs of the Year“!  It has links to many other blogs of all types and subjects.  It’s pretty interesting.  It is one of those places that you can connect to a bunch more helpful sites.

One thing I thought was really interesting was that there are so many Women’s Blogs.  There is even a website that is a Directory of Blogs by Women – BlogHer.com.   I think this is so coool!  I suppose that is because I am a Woman – LOL!

There are so many seasonal blogs; like Thanksgiving sent out a pouring of “I am thankful for” so will the holidays coming in December: Christmas, Hannakah and Kwanzaa, as it is at Valentines’ Day or St. Patty’s day, my personal favorite, being Irish!

But I was actually shocked at how many of us are blogging about helping others.  We are blogging about paying it forward, about charities that we support, about videos that others are posting that are about helping others, and about our favorite organizations that we love to help.  Helping others is a top of the list subject for blogs!  Yea, this is great news as it means that many of us are doing  this – Helping others!

It seems that Everyone’s Got a Blog.  Many of us seem to be using them to communicate.

I love input – What are you blogging about? – What is your favorite subject to read about?

B  Well – Anita

As a Virtual Assistant now, I am always searching through Social Media sites and I watch for those that are promoting helping others.  I was impressed with this video on YouTube about students helping others.  As a Girl Scout Troop Leader, I believe strongly in the Girls giving back to their communities and helping others.  I hope you will spend just a moment to watch this video:

Please – I’m always looking for feedback – Tell me Your Thoughts, ~ Anita

There is such good information in there.  I am currently in the middle of exiting one career and entering into another one.  The idea that is suggested in the book of connecting with people that you already know really made me think.  Like a light bulb coming on, I thought -  I can ask my clients who I am sadly leaving after many years, to write a referral for me.  I can still stay in touch with some part of their lives through LinkedIn.

I have always thought that my life is a great variety of activities, organizations and people that I know.  In Linked Working, this is one of the other ways that they say to expand your network.  The book suggest you should have a ‘diversity of connections’ by ‘creating a variety of cliques’.

Both these ideas have really hit home for me.  I am hoping to make an action plan for a goal each day this week for my friends at LinkedIn.  Catch up with me there!

I’d recommend this book to any business professional as it is a great read!   I also loved the quotes at the top of each chapter!

Tell me your thoughts or comments – If you’ve read the book, it is important to me – What did you think?  ~  Anita