Everyone - EVERYONE has something to share...

I'm back from a short break.  

Had a lovely relaxing time, and reminded my self how important breaks are and a goal for 2018 will be to take more Michael time.

So, on this break I met and talked, often at length (those that know me will be nodding sagely), to lots of new people.  My wife is amazed how by day two I know everyone around the pool, in the restaurant and of course in the bar :D

This blog may leave you thinking I only talk business, far from it and quite the opposite, I learn many other things from my new friends, but this is a business blog, and I really wanted to share this one conversation.

Three conversations, that became relationships very quickly, stood out...

A guy in the commercial air conditioning industry, very driven, successful, 20 teams on the road every day, and over time he shared with me quite detailed insights to his business, the sector, and his approach to business.  Pay attention, listen, ask questions and people will share so much, and as the title of this blog say's, I believe everyone has plenty they can teach me.  So I let them talk, let them share, let them teach me.  Ask me anything about A/C, I am your man ;)  Seriously though, ask me about the sector, trading conditions, the challenges businesses face in that sector and margins that are possible, margins that are likely and break-even points, and I'll have a considered view thanks to my new friend.

I met a building site project manager, a Manchester United fan ... from Manchester!  I know! I'd read there was one - and I have met him ;).  Great guy, we had a lot in common, mostly bloke stuff - like football, cars, F1, his dog...  But the conversations moved around and he taught me a great deal about the construction sector, not the least the huge difference between projects in the North West and projects in London.  You see, I know someone who is a site manager in London. and he had already taught me a lot about his industry, so I had a benchmark.

But, the most profound conversation I had was with a 70 something Norfolk farmer, working a small farm, surrounded by enormous 'mega' farms, a softly spoken disarmingly gentle man, completely at peace with his life, who as we talked over time told me, and taught me, more and more about rural Norfolk life, farming, business and ... sales.  Sales!  My 10p is you weren't expecting that, neither was I.  He had so many stories about land deals, seed purchasing, produce sales, equipment purchase / lease / loan - when a combine harvester can cost £500k+ you have to be sure you need that one, sure you can afford it and be very good at negotiating... 

He had been sharing anecdotes and stories for a few days, he was as keen to know about me and what I do as I was to learn about him.  He had a wonderfully open mind.  Then the day we parted we were talking business again, and he said this, (I can't type in a soft Norfolk accent - but oooh I wish I could)

"The thing is Mick... You have to let people buy"

Boom, right there, my philosophy in three words.  Let People Buy.  And... he's been doing this since before I was born!!  So, nothing is new, we forget more than we learn, and everyone - EVERYONE has something to share... Its for us to respect everyone we meet, not to judge, listen and... learn...

I'm not sure my farmer friend will ever read this, judging by his mobile phone, he's not an early adopter of leading-edge technology, and prefers a newspaper to 'that there google', and I am not about to suggest he's wrong there, mainly because I'm not sure he is, life's a mix and it takes all sorts, different strokes etc. 

I love Norfolk and he is very likely to get a visit sometime soon, I'm toying with giving him and Amazon Echo and seeing who wins ;)  So long as he lets me have a drive of his tractor - he has by far the best toys - so seems a fair swap.

Mick

Lets connect - 

I am on Facebook here - www.facebook.com/mick.holloway

I am on Twitter here - @mick_holloway 

I am on LinkedIn here - linkedin.com/in/mickholloway

And Steve - you can write to me at the Business and Technology Centre, Bessemer Drive, Stevenage, Herts, SG1 2DX

www.24-7.so 

Connecting on LinkedIn - "How do you know Mick?"

My gander is ... up.

Not often that happens, pretty casual, easy going guy, not much rattles my cage - unless I find Marmite in the kitchen!

So, what's up Mick? I'll chuffing tell you what is up.  I just invested an hour of my life sitting through an online training course that promised to show me how to get in front of  'X' hundred targetted LinkedIn prospects.  That I picked up little new, is fine, its always good to see how other people use LinkedIn.

LinkedIn ask 'How do you know....'

Whats rattled my cage was the connection strategy proposed by our hero.  Having carried out a targetted search, the advice was to reach out to the 2nd degree connections in the results.  Fair enough.  But the advice was to send invitations to connect, again - fair enough.  Then, to get around what to do when LinkedIn asks, as they always do, "How do you know Mick ?" the advice was to simply click on  "We've done Business Together"  REGARDLESS of whether that was true !!

Moreover - the presenter claims there was a 'bug' in LinkedIn that lets you do this and hence allows the invite to be sent!!

Lorks-a-Lordy, wrong on so many levels.  Its not a bug in LinkedIn! LinkedIn assume you will be honest, so do I!  It is not alright to make a claim to a relationship that isn't so, don't you think the recipient will know if you did or didn't work together?

Now, here's the thing, above all else, what are you saying about yourself if you are so willing to start a relationship with a... LIE !!

Good luck with that,..

What should you do?  Use Inmails, find their email address and click 'Other' and use that route, failing that see if you can engage via groups.  If all else fails, and you really must lie, then in the least customize the invitation text and apologise, excuse your actions by confessing to using the 'backdoor' method to invite.

So, note to self's - bear this in mind, if you are open to invitations to connect, make it easy for people to invite you to connect, and that's so easy - how about putting your email address in your LinkedIn Profile?  After all, for any invitation, you can always say NO.

Am I alone with this one? Is it just me?

Mick

Lets connect - 
I am on LinkedIn here - www.linkedin.com/in/mickholloway

I am on Facbook here - www.facebook.com/mick.holloway

I am on Twitter - @mick_holloway

Mick@24-7.so
www.24-7.so

Repurposing your Social Media...

Repeats, oh yes - there's gold dust in repeats...

Are you making the MOST of your excellent content?  Those considered, researched, drafted, written and re-written blogs can be working much harder than you may think...

In this blog, I am not looking to discuss which platform you should be blogging on, maybe that's a subject for a later post.  This blog is to encourage you to make the most of the blogs you have created by carefully re-purposing them.

So what is Repurposing?  Simply the recycling, re sharing of original content.  Sharing in different formats (audio, video, infogram...).  Sharing on different platforms, Facebook, LinkedIn etc.  And Sharing at different days / times.

Recycle your Content

Why would you do this?  Surely repeating yourself will discourage people form following you?  Not if you give it some thought, a little planning, a Re-Purposing Strategy no less...

The benefits include -

Efficiency - Making your good content work hard for you.  Increasing your reach, your audience and engagement.

Effectiveness - Repurposing can help you ... BE EVERYWHERE !
      Different People like to engage using different media...

      Different People like different social media platforms...

      Different People engage with social media at different times...

So - your fabulous blog, once posted as a blog, could, when re-packaged, sliced up and 're-purposed', provide you with weeks and weeks of content to share.

As an example lets look at the following... consider a blog, "My Favourite 5 Social Media Tools" (There's a title for the future, 'my top 5' hasn't been done before ;) )

Consider the following (simplified) chart of a proposed re-use strategy...

Even on these modest figures you can see the blog would provide over 35 posts and tweets.  And that's just the blog as a 'text' based medium.  We can also present this as a video, audio mp3/podcast, infogram, many more ways to share the blog and its components.

But, it gets better, there's a further dimension, TIME.  Ignoring the affect of Ripples in Space/Time (that too may be a future blog ;) ).  A key strategy in re-purposing is to share your content on different days and at different times...

How many posts / tweets is that now?  We're going to need a bigger calculator...

Actually, we ARE going to need some help.  To have any chance of doing this effectively you have to consider automating the sharing of this content.    Otherwise, all you will be doing all day long would be posting content, I love Social Media - but that's not the way.

LOL - I sense a future Blog 'My top 5 Social Media scheduling tools'.

Mick

Lets connect -

I am on LinkedIn here -  https://uk.linkedin.com/in/mickholloway

I am on Facebook here - https://www.facebook.com/mick.holloway

I am on Twitter here -    @mick_holloway

www.24-7.so

The Top 8 Mistakes of A LinkedIn Profile Photo

Importance of your LinkedIn Profile Photograph

I LOVE Infographic's.  Good Info graphics, obviously - I just find it easy to grasp the information being shared, particularly data and numbers.  I think that puts me into the psychological learning category - Visual-Lazy... Sounds right ;)

Recently, with our members and students, we've been looking at content, and encouraging our members to keep their various profiles up to date... Which starts with their profile photo.  I posted a blog on the subject Does your Profile Photo Matter?

And, today I came across, this great little Infographic, informative, accurate and humorous... Tick's all Michael's boxes :D

Dear reader, I present to you, by Jamie Shanks, 8 mistakes people make with their LinkedIn profiles. A fairly comprehensive list, although I would add the wide angle holiday shot with our hero a dot on the horizon, skiing down a mountain or waving in front of the Eiffel Tower / Big Ben / White House / Great wall / Taj / Ayres... etc.  

I can confirm I have witnessed all of these...

Here's the link to the original article : http://www.salesforlife.com/linkedin/8-things-to-avoid-in-your-linkedin-profile-photo-infographic/

Mick

Lets connect -

I am on LinkedIn here -  https://uk.linkedin.com/in/mickholloway

I am on Facebook here - https://www.facebook.com/mick.holloway

I am on Twitter here -    @mick_holloway

www.24-7.so