Archive for July, 2006
In a recent business meeting [ where I was also showing my portfolio ], someone remarked that I’d done quite a few LinkedIn logos [ logos for LinkedIn India, LinkedIn Socially and suggestions for the LinkedIn Power Women Yahoo Groups ]. I told them that I’d been an avid online networker for about two years and that I’d gotten 80% of my business because of online business networking portals like LinkedIn and openBC.
And their reaction was “Oh! Really? You mean to say that these networks really work?â€
And I said “Oh! Yes they do!â€
And since then I’ve been thinking that it is not LinkedIn’s or openBC’s responsibility to do the networking for me. They have provided an excellent networking field for me and it is upto me to “work†these networking fields and reap the rewards.
You will not get work / business / contact or a job just by virtue of being a member of LinkedIn or openBC [ regardless of whether you are a paid member or a free subscriber ].
In the brick and mortar world, where you strike deals over the phone and in face-to-face meeting, you HAVE TO pick up the phone and make that call. And you have to then create a conversation that makes sense.
Similarly in the virtual world, you have to take the initiative and send an e-mail and that e-mail / message HAS TO make sense – it should NOT be a boiler-plate unless your GOAL is to be IGNORED.
How do you know who to call in the brick and mortar world?
It’s mostly word-of-mouth and referrals.
In the virtual world, it is easier to find information – you have the online business networking portal’s search functions and you have Google. They point you to people’s blogs and website and then it is upto you to create a PERSONAL CONNECTION. Once that is done, connecting on openBC or LinkedIn is just a click away.
It’s netWORKing. You have to work the network to make it work for you!
July 20th, 2006
Following on my previous post about meeting with Christophe Langlois.
Chris has now posted the video of the interview on YouTube and can be accessed from his blog from this particular blog post. The interview’s about business networking and blogging.
July 19th, 2006
Christophe Langlois is in Mumbai, India and I had the opportunity to meet with him.
Christophe is Sales Manager – EMEA & Asia Pacific at Accuity.
We discussed online business networking at length – portals like openBC, LinkedIn, eCademy, Rediff Connexions and many more I’d not even heard of – Chris is obviously more experienced with the various networks than I am and it was fantastic to speak with him. He also managed to get me to do a video interview about online business networking and blogging, which he is going to post on YouTube and I will post the same on my blog as well.
Chris blogs about business networking on his very well-written and informative blog called the Visible Networking blog. You can grab a feed for his blog here.
July 12th, 2006
This is to inform everyone who’s sent me messages asking whether I’m alright that I am indeed alright and I appreciate everyone’s concern – thank you for writing in.
It’s that time of the year when everyone in Mumbai begins talking about how this is a bad year for Mumbai. First, the rains and overflooding; then the Shiv Sainiks burning buses and rioting and now the seven [ tentative number ] bomb blasts where about a 100 people have already lost their lives.
The roads are jammed with people rushing to get home, the rain gods are being generous once again and the phone lines are crammed with frantic phonce calls puring in from all over the world into Mumbai.
While this does not have anything to do with design – at least not directly – indirectly, it’s all destiny and hence design.
There are no words to grieve the loss of lives and I will not even attempt the same.
Peace.
July 11th, 2006
The asideConsulting blog had been hosted on Blogger for over two years and has now been moved under the main aside website with a new WordPress design. It uses the Alexified theme, which is another personal favorite alongwith Blix.
Visit the new aside Innovation blog and check out the new design – compare it with the old Blogger blog.
July 7th, 2006
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