Great Web Entrepreneurs – Rules of Networking Events
Published May 3, 2011 | 
Rules of Networking Events
If you’ve been in business long enough you realize that networking events are an essential part of a business person’s life, your life. So, the next time you find yourself at another networking event, consider and keep in mind these rules, and the people you meet will be thankful to you:
- “Network” isn’t something that you do; it is something you continually build.
- Meeting someone for five minutes of casual conversation at a networking event does not give you the right to become their “friend” on Facebook. Never ever, ever! But you should feel free to send them a LinkedIn invite with no problem at all.
- Understand and remember that it takes much more time to recover from a weak handshake than it does to learn to give a firm one.
Of course, your life story is far more interesting to you than to someone you’ve just met. Since you’ve already heard it before, take the time and interest to listen to what they have to say.- All stories that start with, “There was this one time, that I ….” are extremely boring. You should practice and learn to welcome experiences in place of steering clear of them.
- It is important to remember to never enter a conversation at networking event with more than half a drink in your hand (less is better). Needing a refill is one of the best excuses you can use to leave.
- Asking someone “What do you do?” within the first minute of meeting suggests your interest in them depends on their answer, so exercise patience.
- When you meet someone for the very first time, above all else make certain they don’t listen to you complain. About anything at all, small or large, and even in jest.
- The most underrated skill that takes practice to skillfully possess and use at networking events is ability to end conversations, not start them.
- Never think you “network” to meet people. But think “network” to help people.
Remember networking events are there for you to listen to the world, and hear what people have to say. Especially if you are building your own brand and want your company to succeed, listening is the best and almost foolproof way to build a lasting network of valued relationships.
Great Web Entrepreneurs – Rules of Networking
Published May 2, 2011 | Some Rules of Networking that You Should Always Keep in Mind
Shared Success — You should always create win-win relationships in business, and make doubly sure that you don’t benefit anymore than whomever you’re dealing with.
Be Generous – Always give someone a helping hand, before you ask for anything in return for your assistance. This common sense act makes people want to support you.
Smart Targeting – In order to save valuable time and to attract the right people to your brand, you want to be very specific when targeting the types of people you want to network with.
Stay Connected – Make it a strategy of high-importance to never lose touch with networking contacts, and they will remember you when new opportunities surface.
Always offer to help someone, even if you don’t know how to do it — Never turn someone in need down, and remember if you can’t help, you can find someone who can.
Selfless Giving – Understand that when you help someone, you shouldn’t expect to get something back. The really important point is that while some people will return the favor and others won’t, you’ll feel great about making a difference impacting someone’s life. I promise that over time you will see your giving returned many times over.
Don’t Forget to Stay in Touch with People – You should always find ways to help people in your network, find good reasons to stay in touch, and then stay in touch.
Be Clear and Concise Whenever You ask for Help – Be genuine when you reach out to meet people, and give people a compelling reason why you want to connect with them.
A simple fact these days is that branding your business just isn’t enough. You should realize the global markets want to be informed and listen to what you have to say. So, if you aren’t currently building and growing your own brand, your business will truly suffer for your negligence.
Finally, if you sincerely want your business to enjoy success, you should become an expert in your field, claim a website under your own domain name, connect with the media, and build valuable long-lasting relationships with your audience, including your clientele.
Great Web Entrepreneurs – Branding the Expert
Published April 29, 2011 | 
“When people use your brand name as a verb…that is remarkable.” –Meg Whitman
“Your premium brand had better be delivering something special, or it’s not going to get the business.” – Warren Buffett
“You now have to decide what ‘image’ you want for your brand. Image means personality. Products, like people, have personalities, and they can make or break them in the market place.” – David Ogilvy
Great Entrepreneurs have always been clearly focused on building the brand names of their companies, and for very good reason. Simple things people need to know about the business include its existence, what products and services are offered, and even the business location.
Some Entrepreneurs are able to invest in expensive public relations companies, hoping for any publicity in traditional mainstream news outlets. 
A lot of others for example, including bootstrap Entrepreneurs, use “guerilla marketing” tactics to generate interest with almost no marketing budget.
We’re living in a globally connected world where both consumers and journalists alike are striving to connect directly with Great Web Entrepreneurs and hear their stories of success, failure, and ultimately great success. Understand that it’s not just about what your company does, but the reasons why you started it, what its purpose is, your mission and vision, your story.
Social technologies including blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others have enabled Entrepreneurs to not only become known, but more importantly connect directly with their audiences and build valuable relationships on a global scale never seen before. As an Entrepreneur, you need to become the BRAND.
For many Entrepreneurs, it’s becoming much easier to brand themselves than the business. Here are a couple of very effective ways to do both.
Establish a Website or Blog under Your Full Name
One undeniable fact is that both the media and your customers use search engines to do research about you, connect with you, and either will do business with you or interview you. 
That’s the most compelling reason for you to purchase your full name as a domain name (yourfullname.com). Through the development of either a static website or a blog under “yourfullname.com,” you own the first search engine result (SER) for your name in Google and the many other search engines.
Understand that this must be a site separate from your business website. Also, after acquiring the rights to your domain name remember to be sure to add your picture, a bio for yourself, your e-mail address and links to the rest of your online presence (i.e. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.). This way expands the way people can conveniently get in touch with you using the medium of their choosing. As soon as you finish reading this, claim the rights to your name before someone else beats you to it.
Generate Brand Awareness through Networking
If possible, you should be connecting with other Entrepreneurs in your industry using social networks, such as Sprouter.com, and commenting on their blogs. 
Networking has proven to be one of the very best ways to become quickly known in your specific industry. Understand that when you form lasting relationships with the people in your audience, you can successfully grow your business and just as importantly, your brand for the long-term.
Finally, it is important to understand these days that branding your business isn’t sufficient enough. Believe it or not, the world always listens and really wants to hear what you have to say. You should always keep in mind the fact that if you aren’t building your own brand, your business will truly suffer. And if you want your company to succeed, become an expert in your field, claim a website under your own domain name, connect with the media, and build lasting relationships with your audience.
One of My Hero’s and Inventors of the Internet
Published February 27, 2010 | Team Altman :: History Before the World Wide Web
Internet Visionary: Lawrence G. Roberts
I have decided to pick Lawrence G. Roberts as my Internet Visionary. He was gifted with the drive to tinker and build as his interests in telephone technology and networking started at an early age. When Roberts was an undergrad at MIT, he helped “the Computation Center build some equipment to convert an automatic tape unit attached to an analog tape into the 704”[3] for a summer job. The TX 2 was the first transistor computer brought to MIT and this was the beginning of Roberts computer interaction. Since there was no plan on how people would use this system Roberts started figuring out how it worked and spent his time understanding how an operating system worked. He graduated from MIT in 1959 and went on to obtain his graduate and Ph.D in electrical engineering by 1963.
According to Roberts, in 1962 “the origin of the ARPANET thinking and work” originated at a conference at Homestead in Virginia held by the Air Force. He mentions that the group stayed up all night talking about the future of the internet. Many of the people at the conference were involved with Time-Sharing. Roberts later joined ARPA in 1966 and started working with communication problems and focused on the major issues with networking, for example, slow telephone lines. He was the chief scientist in the ARPA Information Processing Techniques Office. At ARPA he had developed the first computer-to-computer network, with his development team, which could communicate via data packets.
When Roberts became the ARPA IPTO Chief Scientist he started to design the APRANET. In December 1966 this was proposed to congress, by Roberts, to create a reliable network. Part of developing reliability in a network was breaking up the information into packets and using a system other than circuit switching. The new switching technique to be explored was packet switching. With this method 50% of the network could be inoperable and still the packets would be deliverable.
In Oct 1968 Roberts awarded the ARPANET Packet Switch Contract to BBN. By 1970 ARPANET spanned the USA with four Nodes at UCLA, SRI, UCSB, and fourth at University of Utah. Lastly, in 1970, ARPANET connects BBN into the network. Robert leaves ARPANET in 1973 to work for Telenet, the first packet switching carrier, and becomes the CEO.
Roberts is an amazing engineer and has always strove for the bigger picture and understanding of computers on all levels. He “received the Draper Prize in 2001 “for the development of the Internet” along with Leonard Kleinrock, Robert Kahn, and Vinton Cerf.” (Wikipedia) His drive for knowledge and interest in communication helped greatly in the advancement of the internet.
References for Internet Visionary: Lawrence G. Roberts:
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Roberts_%28scientist%29
[2] http://www.cbi.umn.edu/oh/pdf.phtml?id=233
[3] http://www.ziplink.net/users/lroberts/InternetChronology.html