Network Like a Pro!

Written by Zoe Cunningham

Follow @ZoeFCunningham

I love networking. I really love it. It’s one of my favorite parts of my job. But, it hasn’t always been. I started at Softwire as a coder, and worked for 10 years on the technical side of the company. If you had told me then that I would grow to love networking I would have been astonished.

So in case you missed the thinly veiled message there, I am telling you that you too can love networking. The reason for this is that networking is essentially about making friends and being nice to people. So you don’t need to be a power-hungry-empire-builder, smooth-talking-salesperson, or an exuberant people person to enjoy it. Here are five top tips for how to get the most out of any networking event.

1. Don’t sell
I’ve found that most people who hate networking do so because they think it is all about selling. They think the aim is to sidle up to people and talk about your product/service/self until they give in and write a check. Not only is this bad selling, it is definitely terrible networking. Networking is about connecting with people. People don’t like people who are out for themselves, or are trying to pressure them into something. So don’t do it.

2. Have tactics to get into a conversation…
When I started networking there were two parts that I found particularly hard, and that I still find difficult. Luckily both are susceptible to tactics and the more you try this the better you will get. The first is how to start a conversation. It is rare that you will enter a networking event and find friendly welcoming people waiting with open arms for you. Instead, you will find that everyone in one of three situations: deep in conversation with someone that looks as close as a childhood friend, holding court with a group of spellbound listeners, or engrossed in their smart phone. In order to have a conversation you are going to have to disturb someone. As you steel yourself to do so, remember that this is perfectly normal. It is how all the existing conversations started. Prepare by having a list of questions to spark the conversation. Questions are your best weapon for networking – everyone loves to talk about themselves. If you can get in and ask something simple like “how are you finding the event?”, you will find yourself networking like a pro in no time.

3. …and out again

The next most difficult part of networking comes after this. You have steeled yourself to get chatting only to find that you are stuck in a boring, fruitless or awkward conversation, perhaps even one where the other person, not having read this article, is trying to sell you something. If you remain all evening in one conversation that is neither useful nor enjoyable, you might as well not have bothered going. You need a list of excuses prepared in advance to allow you to end such conversations. Find a need for another coffee, claim to be off to use the facilities or fake a prior engagement (people do agree to meet up at networking events). The best technique is honesty – “I need to get networking and meet some more people”.

4. Be nice
Networking at its best is a room full of people being completely selfless. It is the real world equivalent of that nauseating parable of people feeding each other with two foot long chopsticks. A great tip for taking away networking nerves is to focus on the person you are talking to. How could you help them? Can you introduce them to someone within your organisation that they need to meet? Do you have a friend who is in their area? Can you help with any of their projects? By worrying about them, rather than you, you will soon find that you’ve made a friend and are starting to enjoy yourself.

5. Find ways to enjoy yourself
“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” – whether you think this maxim a damning indictment of the modern world, or a great explanation of how to get ahead, it speaks volumes for how important networking is as a skill. To get ahead you will need to master it. So take every shortcut you can. Enjoy the free coffee, or beer, or pastries. Talk about your hobbies as well as your work. Make a beeline for people who look friendly. The happier you are at the event, the more successful you will find it.

ZOE IS GIVING A DUMMIES GUIDE TO NETWORKING FOR STARTUPS TALK AT DIGITAL SHOREDITCH (SHOREDITCH TOWN HALL) ON 23 MAY.

First APpEARED in : http://blog.ldn.io

How I Lost  A Million Dollar - Deals And Projects That Don't Pan Out

In the high stakes of international business it is easy for a multi-million dollar deal to fall through the cracks, but one deal can make a different...

When my kids were young I used to tell them to call me  "my millionaire dad".  I just love the sound of the word  -millionaire - it conjures up the image of an invincible business man, all knowing, all powerful!!

Even since I can remember I have always have a goal of being an entrepreneur , investor and working for myself. I believe then and I believe now that everybody should have a side hustle and not to depend on the company. (Sometimes companies can fire you at random and not without adequate reason). I have heard so many stories of people reporting for work and being told that they are being fired without any warning. Always be prepared, don't let this happen to you my friend.

I have had a few jobs where I have been fired, but it did not make a different, because I always had a hustle going on. As soon as I got fired I went back to what I like doing - working for myself!! Sometimes I don't have two coins to rub together but it does not really matter because in my  mind I know we work for two kinds of money - your everyday daily money for expenses and your long term wealth building projects -learn to work on your everyday money expenses and your long term wealth building projects simultaneously.

Before the real estate down turn I was involved with about ten investors that we do deals together. I call them my front money partners. The partners fronted the capital and we bought the properties and flipped. At one time we bought over $15 million worth of property. We made some money, but also lost some money as a result of the market downturn. The 2008 real estate downturn was very devastating and it is still taking its toll on individuals and families all over the country. As of now housing values are increasing, but we have a long way to go.

Now let me tell you about how I lost a few millions. If you are involved in high stakes businesses that a lot of people are involved, especially, all you need is for one person to screw up and everything goes down the drain.

I was involved in a $37 million bio-mass processing facility deal in an overseas market. The project was progressing smoothly and we have signed the memorandum of understanding . The funding for the project has been secured and all of a sudden the project sponsor stopped returning calls. The entity that was supposed to provide the collateral reneged on his promise.

Our lead person was always going to visit our sponsor to solidify the project and move the deal but we realize something was wrong when our lead person could not locate the sponsor. After repeated enquiries we discovered that the project sponsor has secured funding from another entity.

We were devastated - after all we have been working on the project for the past twenty four months.  The project was costing about ....37million...and my partner and I was supposed to make about 2 million dollars in finders and other fees.

Let me introduce you to a business that most of you might not be familiar with - It is called a Finder - A Finder is somebody who locates a service or a product for a client - it could be introducing a service to a client, help arrange a multi-million dollar deal  as a finder  - as a finder what you do is introduce a source. Typical fees could be 3% of the first $5 million ...or the amount could be $50 million and the fee could be .5% of $50 million. It could also be locating a rare painting, an art artifact, or something like that,  or an item for a client and you charge a fee.

Let me tell you that most MBAs who get out of the elite business schools like Harvard Business School go into what we call private equity. They arrange financing for corporation and make huge fees on the capital that they arrange.

Our deal was a high stake international deal, but deals go soar all the time. As a matter of fact 90% of deals just don't go through; however, all you need is just one deal to fund!! As a Real Estate Agent I have  been involved in deals where the buyer I was representing was also working with another Agent without my knowledge. On  numerous occasion, I lost money because the buyer decided to use another Agent without my knowledge. (The Buyer was secretly working with another Agent while simultaneously using my services). Such sometimes is the nature of business, some people can be duplicitous!!

All of us in one way or the other lose deals. Our first , second or third businesses do not pan out. What do you do in situations like this? The most important thing is not to give up;  continue to pursue your dreams. Over the past  years I have lost numerous deals - such are the nature of deals - you have to have a number of balls in the air, because you never know which one will mature and yield the fruits. I keep a lot of deals in the air!!

Currently, I am working on some high state international deals that involves a lot of money, I am praying and hoping this time all these deals pan out.... I just want to leave a legacy for my children's children as the bible says a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children!!

Are You In Business For Yourself? Lessons From The Battlefield Of Business.

Are you battlefield field scarred from all the skirmishes in the business battlefield; read this and recharge your battery for the next onslaught. Arm yourself and be prepared for battle.

1. Learn to weed out the time wasters - people who waste your time and are not contributing to your goals - this is especially when you are in sales - you have to learn how to qualify people quickly through a series of questions that you device - just learn to weed out the time wasters.

2. Compile a "not to do list" - a "not to do list" is crucial - I know we have been brainwashed  to do a "to do list"  - a  not to do list would help you eliminate the things that you don't need to do. For example, I don't  answer all calls that I get. I let them go into my voice mail and return calls at designated time. After you are interrupted, it takes a 7 minutes to get back on track

3. Track down your most productive hours - device a means to know your most productive hours and capitalize on it. Your most productive hours might be just four hours a day, but if you optimize it you will be able to increase your productivity. Most employees work between 5-6 hours per day. What with the gossip and the interruptions going on!!

4. Spend time on the follow up - your follow up is what yields the result - like in tennis, it is the follow up shots that makes the difference. According to available statistics the majority of sales are made through 5th-12th contact. Make it your business to follow up.

5. Determine to accomplish a significant task everyday - make it a habit to accomplish a significant everyday - tasks are what results in measurable goals. "Those who progressively take action, measure their results, refine their efforts, and continue to take action are destined to succeed; it's just a matter of time and a willingness to keep going"

6. If you have an area of expertise write a manual /booklet - it help to sharpen your mind or thinking on a particular subject. It might even helpful for you to write an e-book or a best seller one day. One day, I suggested to my wife - I said, baby, you should write a book entitled "Raising Godly Children in an ungodly world". She looked at me, but she never responded. I believe that one day she is going to write that book since she has a passion for children!!

7. Devote at least one hour a day thinking - think on paper - that means have a pen and paper with you and write down what comes to your mind - you can solve most problems this way -  write down ideas that come to you that might be the business idea that propels you to wealth. Do you know you can solve most problem during your thinking time?

8. Keep a lot of deals in the air  -because you don't know which ones will succeed. I normally don't have a written down plan on a daily basis, but I have a general idea of what to do - I keep my schedule flexible so that I can zero in on the most important tasks. I am a river person, I go with the flow, but I keep my eye on the ball!!

9.  Keep pushing and don't lose your momentum - What is momentum? Momentum is the art of assembling resources both visible and invisible resources to propel you continuously towards your life purpose. Specifically, you should be able to maintain your focus and be able to get back on track if you side step away from your journey. Is it possible to lose your momentum? Absolutely and that is why you have to make sure that you are always aware of your goals, so that you can always get back on track with some kind of guidance and feedback.

10. This might be like negative thinking -, but it is not. It takes a long time to succeed in business so be prepared for challenges , problems and even a failure. For example, I have developed what I can a "shock absorber" within my framework of thinking so I go into a deal with low expectation, because we all know how to deal with success. I normally go into a deal expecting the worst, because we know that success will always find some joy. Know that  businesses go through a life cycle so be prepared to weather  the vagaries in the business cycles with equanimity.

What I Learned As A Real Estate Investor - Six Major Lessons

What I Learned As A Real Estate Investor - Six Major Lessons

These are some of the observations that I have witnessed over the years as a Real Estate Investor. I have participated in numerous transactions and acquired and sold a number of properties with my front money partners. Also, as a real estate instructor, I have coached a number of students and participated in numerous seminars and real estate investments trips. I am also the author of ten real estate investment manuals.

1. Know Your Niche: Defining your niche as a real estate investor will enable you to have a specific property that you are buying or selling. You will also know the profile of your buyers and sellers. Simply put you will know your target market . As somebody once said there are "riches in niches ". A niche market will enable you to focus on your specific market and enable you to do quick deal flow analysis.

2. Do Market Research: As an real estate investor, market research would enable you to define your market and approach your target market intelligently. Write a detailed plan and read it yourself. Realize that investment is a plan - a plan to get you from point A to point B.

3. There is a lag in real estate investment: like any business it takes a long time to succeed. You are going to realize tomorrow what you sow today. The instant success story is just not true. Remember it will take a long time to understand real estate investments and you have to be ready for that. I believe that 5-10 years would be a good measure of one's accomplishments as a result of the vagaries of the business cycle.

4. Know the timing: In real estate investment timing is everything. The current real estate market is very confusing, but because the market is shifting towards a seller's market, real estate investors have to devise a strategy that takes advantage of the current market condition.

5. Put together a system: I believe in systems. Systems helps you to become more efficient in what you are doing. The more you work the system, the more automatic it becomes and the more efficient you become. There will be an exponential growth as soon as you put a system together!

6. The Millionaire Real Estate Hype: There is so much hype about being a millionaire real estate investor. I know it sells books, but is the hype justified? Most people do not need to be millionaires. Start with what you want out of life. May be a home, a nice car, an educational fund for your kids, and funding for your retirement. Work backwards with the numbers and determine what you need to live comfortably. The reason is that you increase your risk factor any time you buy another property. Once you are comfortable with what you have your aim should be to pay off all your properties and own them free and clear. It is advisable to have some reserve - may be a certain percentage of your net worth in liquid cash in case of emergency.  Many a real estate investors were caught nakedly exposed during the real estate melt down, because they did not have any reserve to cope with disturbance in the market place.

FAILURE: Entrepreneurship’s Untold Story

FAILURE: Entrepreneurship’s Untold Story

Written by Tom Houge

This isn’t the typical entrepreneurship story. You already heard about the startup that began in the closet and conquered the boardroom. The media always tells us about the corporate buyouts and massive seed rounds. Not this time. This story deals with entrepreneurship’s darkest secret—failure.

What is failure?

Google will tell you what failure is not by defining it as a “lack of success” or “an unsuccessful person, enterprise, or thing.”

To me, failure is subjective. Failure is a story defined by its negative outlook, but within every failure hides the seed of an equivalent or greater success.

My story begins on a ship. In Spring 2011, I embarked upon the journey of a lifetime with Semester at Sea, a study abroad program that allows students to sail around the world while earning university credit. One day, a shipmate and I decided that we wanted to create something that could connect the diverse people across the globe.

Jeff Lucas and I returned home from our epic odyssey and founded a tech company with the goal of being the number one destination for finding people. Fipeo was going to be a search engine capable of finding the perfect person for you to talk to, based on any query.  From there, you would be able to connect face-to-face from the comfort of your home.

Soon after returning, my business partner moved across the country to my home in Maine so we could be more productive. We worked like maniacs. Every moment was dedicated to Fipeo.

People noticed our dedication. We were amazed at how many people wanted to help us out and it was inspiring to see how talented our friends and family members were. When we finished our investment presentation, an awesome video and Prezi created by friends, we moved to Long Island to find investment. 

Our first investment presentation was in my uncle’s movie theater. After my uncle returned from a business trip the following week he called us into his office.  Jeff and I showed up very overdressed, but the meeting was a success. He agreed to invest. I can remember our celebratory fist bump and the relief we felt as we walked out of that office.

We outsourced much of the design and development to an Indian web agency. It was very stressful as we negotiated a contract from across the globe, not sure if the company could be trusted.  We were heading into unchartered territory. 

Once the web build began, we relocated to Jeff’s home in Colorado. Disputes with the team in India were frequent and we were forced to discover what drives people to do their best work. We quickly learned to value the tools of passion, shared values, and giving credit to drive progress forward.

Somewhere along the line we learned of Airtime, founded by Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning, and their $33,500,000 worth of star-studded funding.  Others thought that we would be crushed by Airtime, but I was confident that our product was superior.  Even so, it was overwhelming to think of the odds we were up against before Airtime eventually launched and flopped into oblivion.

When Fipeo beta launched, we were immensely proud of our product.  We believed that it would be the next revolution if we could only get it in front of enough people.  In only a matter of months we managed to secure huge press throughout the country and the globe and our user base spanned over 100 countries.  

At one point we had two investors, a billionaire member of the DuPont family and the owner of the largest commercial real estate company in Delaware. During second financing round talks, we raised issues with the wording of a document and talks began to disintegrate.   

Originally, one of the investors said that he wanted to write a six-figure check and take a backseat, but by the time we got down to drafting paperwork we felt as if they were collectively clawing for control.  Though the terms were extremely favorable for us, we thought they were trying to take advantage of us in the fine print.  Without the additional funding, our remaining funds slowly began to bleed away.  As our expenses hit us month-by-month, things started to become more uncertain. 

One of the most crushing blows to Fipeo was when we discovered Runfaces.com.  The site, so similar to Fipeo that I was convinced they stole it, was exploding in popularity.  Runfaces now has more than half a million users (according to the counter they previously displayed on their site) and is making the Fipeo dream a reality.  While it validated our idea, it also brought us to the realization that we had dropped behind the curve.

Our decline occurred gradually over a period of weeks and months for a number of reasons—a lengthy registration process that deterred users, the investment disaster, and, maybe even Runfaces; but, the definitive blow came when Jeff’s house burned down in a Colorado wildfire. We made the decision to pay back my uncle and move on with our lives.

I was absolutely devastated.  We had made all of that progress and put in all of that time and effort only to tear everything down.  No words can express the devastation of a shattered dream.

We learned many lessons, but I believe we learned more from our eventual failure than from any of our successes.  While our triumphs were much publicized, we seemed to disappear without a sound.  It takes courage to be at the helm during rough seas and my hat goes off to all those who have weathered the storm.  As a culture we seem to shun failure and this is something I think we need to move past.  It is no coincidence that some of humanity’s greatest achievers can also claim monumental failures. 

This piece is dedicated to all of the entrepreneurs who risked everything pursuing their dreams and ultimately failed.  It is my final catharsis from a brutal plunge.

But still, I charge on!

The grandest challenges of the human race lie ahead of us and there is no time to be halted by the dreaded “F” word.

*Editor’s Note: Jeff is working at Deloitte in San Francisco and Tom Houge has just returned from a six-month hospitality internship in Israel, followed by a three-month European backpacking expedition. Both remain entrepreneurs at heart and Tom is advising a private jet startup.