Category: Networking

You shouldn’t need a magnifying glass

Posted on May 28, 2023 by - Business opinions, Business relationships, Marketing, Networking

Recently I’ve been having some challenges at home because my beloved has been in hospital, it seems forever, following a heart attack. (As I type this, and after nine weeks, he is home now. Yay!) Now, you may be wondering “Why is she telling me this?” Well I think it is fair to say that my patience, which I have never had in abundance, has been even more lacking of late. I have a very familiar follow-up process when I network. I spend time afterwards getting in touch with the marvellous people I have met the previous week and adding their info to my database.

Most of the time this is a nice, relaxed process—a lovely cappuccino or two, maybe a familiar TV programme on in the background as I input to a spreadsheet. (Love a spreadsheet.) Anyway, in the last few weeks some cards have not made it onto the spreadsheet. (You might be thinking “Why does that matter?” Well I meet literally hundreds of people in any given month and not being on my spreadsheet means if someone says “Do you know a widget-maker in Scunthorpe”, or whatever, wherever) I won’t find the widget maker from Scunthorpe that I met ten years ago. It often happens that I have to look at a website to find out what someone I have met does, and, it has to be said, sometimes I still don’t know because their website is full of “management speak” but that is a whole other rant, so back to the current one.

Some of the reasons they do not make it to my spreadsheet?

In no particular order, (although if they are nearer the top than the bottom this is probably because they irritate me more). They have:

  • a sparkly card, usually with a sparkly, but different sparkly lettering. I like sparkly, but not when it makes the information illegible
  • very little information on the card (I refer you back to website comment)
  • cards which have no name and/or info/sales/enquiries@Idon’twantyoutogetintouchwithmepersonallyreally.com
  • tiny, tiny, tiny writing on the card.

My rule is if I have to get out a magnifying glass to try and read your card then it probably won’t make it onto the spreadsheet. OK, now all the above might just be me, however when we pay good money to have business cards designed and printed, we probably want people to keep in touch and for people we have met to be left with a good impression about my business. If the magnifying comes into use, then these goals have probably been missed.

Don’t have a process for your networking? Want some help with your networking? Then here is my gift to you: my Top 20 networking tips. Just follow this link: ebn.uk.com and complete the form to receive your copy.

Have fun,

Glenys

Yes you can do it yourself

Posted on May 1, 2023 by - Business opinions, Business relationships, Networking

Recently I was talking to someone about IT. Now anyone who knows me knows I am a bit of a Luddite (OK perhaps more than a bit). Anyway this man knew his stuff, I mean really knew his stuff. He understood that I only want to know how to do something when I need to know how to do it. I accept that there are shortcuts, systems and apps that will make my life more efficient and exciting, but my life is as efficient and exciting as I can manage at the moment, thank you.

While we chatted another business owner joined our conversation.

It became apparent that this other person thought he knew a lot about IT, even though it was not what he did as a business. He talked about how many IT things he did himself. He talked about SEO, Cyber security, domain names, internet stuff and frankly he probably talked about other IT things but I had glazed over quite early on, partly because I didn’t understand most of what he was saying and mainly because I was really bored.

The IT expert was very polite, he listened and nodded. He nodded and smiled. I am sure that he would have said something, but the new contact didn’t seem to need air to breathe so there were few opportunities to add anything. Finally, there was a gap in the monologue and the expert said “It’s amazing how much you know. Have you ever thought about starting a business offering this as a service?” I smiled (I’m easily amused when I’m bored) At this point the back-pedalling began and it became obvious that he didn’t actually do all these IT things for his business, he had an IT supplier but thought he needed to know what was being done.

This is not how I work. Yes, I want to know why I need whatever it is, and why I need to spend this money. What I do not want is to understand the mechanics of whatever is being suggested. If I have a supplier, I use them because I trust them, I’m confident that they know their stuff and aren’t trying to rip me off. I was therefore happy when my IT expert said “Everything I offer can be done by the business person. But why would they want to? They would have to take time out of their business to deal with their IT needs, keep up to date with all new current IT issues, and there are a lot, and of course, if it goes wrong they could end with no IT and what would that do to their business? As he said that, I had a sudden picture of me taking care of my IT needs and wondered how long before I found myself dangling over the abyss of IT failure. I’m not prepared to chance it, so I don’t do it myself!

If you would like some help with your networking,  but not IT, here’s my gift to you: my Top 20 networking tips. Just follow this link: ebn.uk.com and complete the form to receive your copy.

Have fun,

Glenys

One of the best things about networking

Posted on April 10, 2023 by - Business relationships, Networking, Relationships

Recently I was talking to a business contact who I have known for a few years, but not really well. I knew that I liked him and, if you had asked me why, I would have said things like “Well, he is always pleasant and he has a great sense of humour—he makes me laugh”.  Over the last few months, for various reasons, I have met up with him more than I had and each time I have come away feeling upbeat. In networking that is not always the case!

A couple of weeks ago we arranged a 1-2-1 and before we started talking business, we had the “How are you doing?” conversation. Often this can be quite superficial. Business people put on their business faces and they talk about the good things that are happening. Occasionally, and usually after a long-term relationship with someone, with some people the business face can be ignored and they talk about real problems that they are dealing with and real, current challenges they are facing.

This is one of the benefits of networking that rarely gets talked about, the business relationships that become so secure and the people so confident in each other that they know that they will not be judged, they will be supported, and they can be confident that the issues shared will not make it on to the 10 o’clock news. In business it can seem at times as if you are alone, and are not sure where you can go for support, or if you should just keep it all to yourself.

When I met this contact, who I did not know well, I was sort of expecting a low-key and slightly superficial kind of ‘business-focussed’ chat. But this was not what happened. When I asked how he was he said, “I am dealing with some real problems, and I don’t know where to turn”. Over the next hour he poured out all the issues, side issues, what he’s done, what he’s thought of doing, what had helped and what had not. Then we worked together to work out some possible solutions, we identified some people who might be able to offer some practical help and we arranged a date when we would meet and catch up again.

This time it was him with the challenges the next time it could be me who needs someone to help. If you need help and you think it might help to talk, then get in touch. If you would like some help with your networking here’s my gift to you: my Top 20 networking tips. Just follow this link: ebn.uk.com and complete the form to receive your copy.

Have fun,

Glenys

It’s all about a camel and a piece of straw.

Posted on March 20, 2023 by - Future dreams, Networking

Recently I was talking to a new business contact, let’s call him Gilbert, about his business which he had started a days before. I remembered how excited and frightened I had been in equal measure. I remembered lying awake making plans and feeling excited about this new adventure and, at the same time, overwhelmed by what I had to do and what I knew I didn’t know with a side issue of realising that there was probably stuff I didn’t know I didn’t know! Thankfully I found networking.

We began talking about how long we had stayed safe in paid employment, with a feeling of restriction, before we made the decision to make the leap into self-employment. What do I mean by restriction? Well, as my beloved summed it up when he said: “You’ve never done bosses well”. This is true: I love being the decision-maker in my business, and I’m not saying that all my decisions have been good ones, but they have all been mine.

Gilbert and I agreed that, at some level, this move to self-employment had been made more difficult because we were paid well and there is no guaranteed income when you are paying yourself. Added to this both of us had support teams, who did stuff and knew stuff so we didn’t have to be involved. So, in the main our jobs were more interesting and rewarding than other jobs we had done. Then he asked “When did you know you had to leave?”

No one who knows me will be surprised that a holiday was involved. Because we have always liked to travel we would always hit the annual issue of having “no leave left till the end of March”. And we like long holidays. The moment I knew I had to leave was, having returned from a month’s holiday when we had completed a circle of the earth, I parked my car in my personal parking space in London, walked back into my lovely office, saying hello to my fabulous team and thought “well this is no fun”. That’s when I started to plan my exit and less than six month’s later I was self-employed with no real idea of what I was going to do. I just knew that, whatever I did my number one rule was it had to be fun.

That was my “moment” and I asked Gilbert what his “moment” was. To be honest I was expecting some story like mine. He said he had been thinking about it for years and he knew what he would do and how. His final-straw/camel moment was he said when he started to think about what he liked about the work he was doing, the employment package he had and the people he worked with. He knew that he definitely had to start his own business when he realised that the best bit was that…he had a chair that swivels! The next day he started to negotiate his way out.

From my swivelling chair I would like to help you with your networking, so here’s a gift to you: my Top 20 networking tips. Just follow this link: ebn.uk.com and complete the form to receive your copy.

Have fun,

Glenys

Definitely not a vanity move!

Posted on March 6, 2023 by - Business strategy, Future dreams, Networking

Recently I was talking to a business contact about his move into a business unit. I have known this particular contact for over 20 years after meeting him at a networking event (where else!). At the time he was working from his front room, with his lovely mum as his only member of staff. Over the years his business has grown and yet he has remained in his home office, now an actual office rather than his front room, staff have changed and he and his business have survived even the devastating loss of his mother at an early age. He has worked hard, been amazing at marketing and seen the resultant success.

While talking, I said that no-one could say he was making a vanity decision and we began to talk about how tempting these vanity decisions are. What are ‘vanity’ decisions, often involving vanity purchases? They are using money either from your business (or investing it from your own money) to buy ‘things’ and these ‘things’ are often not needed but give the business owner’s vanity a stroke. The nice new desk to replace a perfectly good desk. (Of course, always get a great chair to sit in, or stand at, because you may spend a lot of time at your desk and you don’t want to undermine your spine etc.) You see people with large shiny offices, staff, every piece of equipment you can imagine…and no customers!

Now the conversation I was having with my contact was definitely, from my part at least, not based on a history of “Well I’ve never done that” because I have stroked my vanity many times by buying stuff that was lovely and shiny and I didn’t need! When I set up my first business, I bought lots of stuff that I had occasionally used when I had worked in the corporate world but didn’t actually need for my small office at home, or, if I did, I didn’t need the super deluxe version. The same was true when I started my catering business. I had a storage unit which was full of stuff, and, unsurprisingly, because I am sometimes a slow learner, the unit got larger as I bought more stuff, and then reduced in size as I learnt that I didn’t need to own all the stuff I had. In the process I wasted a lot of money. But I did learn.

Obviously, my contact, being wiser than I, didn’t need to be taught this. He has seemed to know instinctively to only spend money you must spend. Save the money, don’t buy, buy the less shiny one, buy second hand, you get the picture. This last part is what I have learnt. I also realised that by saving money in this way I had more money, at the end of the year, to have more money to spend on shiny things for my home, for holidays and as soon as I realised this the vanity decisions became less and easier.

So I wish my contact all the success he deserves as he moves into his lovely shiny, and absolutely necessary, new business unit.

If you are not sure about spending money on networking let me help with a gift to you: my Top 20 networking tips. Just follow this link: ebn.uk.com and complete the form to receive your copy.

Have fun,

Glenys

Surprising myself with what I know.

Posted on February 20, 2023 by - Marketing, Networking, Relationships

Recently I was on holiday and started talking to an American woman about what she did. She was a registered nurse who had a doctorate in medical administration. Her special area of interest was preventing heart disease. As part of her work she gives talks to various groups of people. Being who I am, I asked her if she wanted to make this some sort of business to (and remember I was talking to an American) monetise it all. (Apologies but I could not bring myself to spell monetise with a z!) She said she would love to offer products and information etc. online but didn’t know where to start. We went on to chat about other things and didn’t get back to business mode again.

The next day while eating lunch I realised I knew how to do what she needed to do, because I had done it for my (and staying in American jargon) “side hustle”—helping people lose weight by devising their plan to balance and manage their weight loss. (If you are interested here’s the link: www.glenyschattertley.uk.com). What we did was have a breakfast talking business, which felt like being home, if we had meetings that looked out over the Indian Ocean! I quickly outlined what her online “funnel” might look like (I had to explain this to her) based on what I had on my website. We also spent some time looking at marketing. I also remembered how panicky I felt when the mighty Lesley Morrissey (https://www.insidenews.co.uk) started me on the journey of online selling and also, of course, social media.

Lesley reduced my panic by not only providing her expertise but also support (think hand-holding) as we got this project off the ground. During my conversation with my new contact I could hear myself echoing some of the things Lesley had said: “You can choose how and when you do something”, “this is your business and these are my suggestions”, “You can stop at any point” etc.

During my slightly surreal breakfast meeting I amazed myself at what I knew, however I know  that I am not an expert and I believe we should always use experts and not think we know everything, so I referred her to Lesley’s page and suggested she sign up. I also reminded her that she could choose not to do anything, or choose not to anything just yet. As a potential small business. That is her right.

Now, I am back home and back into my usual networking, which I do know something about. In case you need some help with your networking. here is my gift to you: my Top 20 networking tips just follow this link: ebn.uk.com and complete the form to receive your copy.

Have fun

Glenys

What can you expect from networking?

Posted on January 16, 2023 by - Business relationships, Marketing, Networking

Recently I have been talking to people who are new to networking and some of them are not sure if networking is worth doing. In case you fall into this category let me explain why I think networking is a vital part of any marketing strategy. It is true that I have always networked, both before and when I worked in the corporate world and certainly when I became self-employed. The only difference was that when I became self-employed, I realised that what I did had a name…networking.

People often seem to think that they network to get work and, while this is certainly one result of networking, it is not the only result. When you network you build relationships, people get to know what you do, and they learn to trust that you know what you are doing. If you build strong relationships your contacts will feel confident that their reputation is safe when they recommend you to one of their contacts. So when you network you meet people who almost become your salesforce. For some people this is all they think you get from networking and—certainly if they don’t immediately get work—they say that networking doesn’t work. Yes, it does, but you need to work at it.

There are other things you will get from networking. One is that you meet people who do other things that you may need in your business: accounts, IT, recruitment etc. They can supply their services to you which means you can concentrate on what you do, servicing your customers, developing new products or services etc. Networking enables you to grow your business because you are not being distracted by sorting your tax return, sorting out a bug on your computer or ensuring you have robust contracts for your staff.

You also get people around you who will support you on those days when things are not going as planned and you just need someone to talk to about it, and this may just be someone who you can use to rant to about life, challenges or whatever. I certainly have a few people who fill that category. (I usually find that the phrase “Is it me” gets said at some point! They can share some of their energy when you have none, but don’t forget that, at some point, the roles may be reversed and they may need you when their day is going the way they planned.

One final thing you may get is opportunities that come from networking. I’ve networked in a high security prison, a cinema with a tour included, been given access to parts of Stansted airport that I would not have had if I had not networked. I hope that you have been persuaded that networking is not just about getting work, it is so much more.

If you want some help with your networking let me help with a gift to you: my Top 20 Networking Tips. Just follow this link: ebn.uk.com and complete the form to receive your copy.

Have fun,

Glenys

Why network?

Posted on December 19, 2022 by - Business relationships, Marketing, Networking

Recently I was talking to a contact, let’s call him Fred, about some work his company had just started. He was really surprised, because he knew that a lot of people had gone for the work and his company was quite a small one. They could do the work, but he was surprised that he had won the work rather than one of the larger, better-known companies. I asked him how he had heard of the work and he said that a business contact had told him, and introduced him to the potential customer. My next question was “How did your contact and the potential customer know each other?”  He said that they played golf each week.

Now, assuming that his prices and service provision were similar to all the other potential suppliers there had to be something that gave him the edge. In my opinion, it was that he was connecting with someone who wanted to use his company. Why? Because someone who the potential customer knew and who he met once a week had made the connection. They probably knew each other well and they trusted each other and Fred’s contact was willing to put his reputation on the line by introducing them. That’s why he got the contract. That’s networking.

It will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me and my business to know that I fundamentally believe in networking as a powerful marketing tool. It turns cold connections into (at least) warm connections. It puts your company in front of potential customers, even when you are not there. It puts you in front of people you might not have ever met, and it raises your profile. My question who be: Why would you not network?

If you want some networking hints and tips let me help with a gift: my Top 20 networking tips. Just follow this link: ebn.uk.com and complete the form to receive your copy.

Have fun,

Glenys

Pulling into the sidings

Posted on December 5, 2022 by - Business opinions, Networking

Recently I was discussing workload with a business contact. This was, in part, because we were talking about Christmas and the number of extra things that needed to be done. Neither of us had been twiddling our thumbs before Christmas loomed its head! (Full disclosure means I need to say that being on holiday a lot was both wonderful and brought with it challenges of time management. My contact’s business was also growing, bringing with it its own challenges.) We talked about how we were feeling, and we both agreed that we were feeling a bit of pressure.

We began to discuss what we could do to reduce the stress and we both had different ways of dealing with this. For me exercise is my stress reliever. When I exercise, I feel better about myself, more able to deal with stress and tasks. I also do some of my best thinking as a I work out. Often I will do some exercise interspersed with admin tasks, phone calls, invoices etc. My contact had a completely differed way of dealing with his stress.

He said he “Mentally pulled into the sidings”. It was a phrase and a practise that he had learned from his dad and whilst never really analysing what it actually referred to, for him it meant stopping what he was doing and going and just sitting, usually in his garden. He would make a nice hot drink, sometimes some music or an article he wanted to read “when he had a minute” or a chapter of a book he was reading. He had learnt to use this as a way of switching off for a short time.

Although our methods were completely different, we both agreed that allowing that time for ourselves left us feeling better able to deal with the things needing doing. So what is your way of dealing with pressure? Exercise? Pulling into the sidings? Something else?

If one of your pressure is networking let me help with a gift to you: my Top 20 networking tips. Just follow this link: ebn.uk.com and complete the form to receive your copy.

Have fun,

Glenys

Being outside my comfort zone

Posted on October 24, 2022 by - Networking

Recently I have been on holiday to the Galapagos Islands (Yes, we had a lovely time, thank you). This was definitely a “Bucket list” holiday and one which I would recommend to anyone. However, it was not our usual type of holiday. Until we did this holiday, we hadn’t done any nature-type holidays where we were continually up close and personal with the nature. I first realised this was going to be different when I looked at what they recommended we bring:

  • snorkelling equipment. Not a problem, as we had our own, but they could provide anyway,
  • wet suits. We didn’t have any, and we had never been anywhere where we needed them,
  • wet shoes for “wet landings”,
  • walking poles.

I started to panic after snorkelling equipment. This holiday list was definitely not in my comfort zone and all the pictures in the brochure showed people dressed in khaki.  Khaki is not in my colour palette. After fretting for a week or two I gave myself a good talking to and decided that I would arrange my own spin on khaki. There didn’t seem to be any mention of people dying on the holiday, so I reckoned I would be OK. So, I bought all the stuff and started the adventure.

What I hadn’t realised was the continual challenge of getting on and off the boat into dinghies, often in choppy waters, and getting to land hanging on for dear life. The first time, I had a major meltdown, which the guide pretty much ignored. This wasn’t his first rodeo! Outside my comfort zone and I couldn’t have seen my comfort zone through binoculars!

Slowly, I learnt to relax and decided not to ask how many they lost in an average holiday.

So, what did I learn?

  1. That you don’t need wet shoes for wet landings, the water is very clear, and you can easily see where you are standing so bare feet, and then put on walking shoes is less faff.
  2. You need to leave any dignity you have behind. When getting on and off dinghies you will be hauled, pushed, pulled, and grabbed. You just have to give yourself up to the people who do this all the time. They get you where you need to be.
  3. If you are 6 foot and do a wet landing the bottom of your shorts may get a bit damp. If you do a wet landing and like me you’re are below 5 foot, your top knicker elastic will be soaked!

I learnt a lot, and some of it was about myself. I realised that occasionally being out of your comfort zone is a good thing. Would I do it again? No, bucket list entry has been ticked. Would I recommend it to others? Absolutely.

So, does networking place you outside your comfort zone? Then here is my gift to you: my Top 20 networking tips. Just follow this link: ebn.uk.com and complete the form to receive your copy.

Have fun,

Glenys