Recap of November TVCNet Meeting: What Sustainability Can Do for Your Business and Your Clients

I've had a few days to reflect on the recent TVCNet meeting where John Bernardo of Sustainable Innovations presented on What Sustainability Can Do for Your Business and Your Clients to a group of attendees at The WaterCooler in downtown Boise.  I'm still excited about all I learned from John and believe sustainability will become more and more prevalent in the way we do business in the years to come.

I was pleased to host John for this meeting.  John has been a loyal supporter of TVCNet as a member since he joined earlier this year.  It's been my objective to have the membership to use the monthly meetings as a platform to spotlight their consulting businesses and services to the business community.  John went above and beyond in his presentation explaining what sustainability is and how it impacts business not only in Idaho, but around the world.  I believe his company, Sustainable Innovations, will be a positive change agent in the business community as we move forward in these uncertain economic times.

Quite simply, sustainability is about making the best use of resources to meet human and business needs while at the same time preserving the environment so needs can be met not only in the present, but in the future as well.  John was very clear at the start of his presentation to say that he doesn't consider himself and environmentalist although applying sustainability to business processes and operations produces a "green" benefit.  Bottom line, it is a smart way to do business.

Other points of discussion during John's presentation:

• External factors of an environmental nature will impact business more than ever before.  Regulations and international agreements will dictate what can and cannot be done.
• External factors altering the way we do business should not be looked at as barriers.  They should be looked at as opportunities.  What may be seen as a waste or by-product in a company's operations can actually be a benefit or resource to other areas of the business.
• Implementing sustainability enhances the bottom line in many ways.  Specifically, the younger generation entering the workforce are concerned about a company's impact globally.  Sustainability is a way to demonstrate a commitment not only to employees, but to shareholders as well, that they are thinking globally.  Retaining employees and reducing turnover as a result of sustainability efforts is a positive impact on the bottom line.

I understand that this topic can be controversial and a subject of heated debate.  Personally, I'm all for clean air, clean water and alternative energy only if it is driven by the marketplace and not mandated by bureaucracies.  To me, sustainability is the way.  It is hard to ignore that we are in the midst of a global economy where changes in one part of the world have a ripple effect on the opposite side of the globe.  As consultants, regardless of our field of expertise, we can implement sustainable solutions in the services we provide.  First, is to find a way to reduce waste.  Look for opportunities in the waste or find ways to use the waste in innovative ways.  Second, is to think about the impact of your decisions and actions and how they may play out 10, 20, maybe 50 years from now. 

Sustainability does have a "green" advantage, but above all it ensures that business will be around for future generations to benefit from.

Building Effective Training in Five Easy Steps

Thanks everyone for your patience. 

Late last week in my wrap-up of the July TVCNet Meeting I promised to take the topic I presented on and create a Knol.  There have been some delays, but I finally have it published.  Please vist Building Effective Training in Five Easy Steps to see the content that was presented at the last meeting.  If you were there, the topic is open to comments and editing - moderated, of course.

July TVCNet Meeting Wrap-Up

I want to thank everyone who came out on Thursday the 24th to attend the July TVCNet meeting where I presented on Building Effective Training in Five Easy Steps.

We had great attendance at our new location, The WaterCooler at the corner of 14th and W. Idaho Street in downtown Boise. My reporting on the event will be a purposely thin not because it was uneventful (quite the contrary), but because during the event I learned from a TVCNet member about a new web service that I plan to leverage to help "repackage" the topic we discussed. Google Knol is web giant's attempt to compete with Wikipedia. I plan to take the topic we discussed and post it to Google Knol. Once it is published I will be sure to post the link here on this blog. From there, you can comment on the topic and add your own insights regardless if you were present or not. The beauty of Google Knoll is that it allows people to create a body of knowledge on a given subject in an online, collaborative effort.

In all, the July TVCNet meeting was terrific and the feedback I have received has been welcomed. Future meetings in August and September are in the works and will be announced shortly.

TechBoise at the WaterCooler June 24

As a professional who services the Treasure Valley tech community with my consulting business, I am pleased to pass along information about an informal event happening on Tuesday, June 24th.

Tac Anderson, the organizer of TechBoise, is hosting a gathering at The WaterCooler starting at 5:30 p.m. I have attended a couple TechBoise gatherings and have met some very interesting people. It's an excellent opportunity to network and learn more about what's happening in the world of technology in the Boise area. It is also an opportunity to visit a newly created venue that I believe will be fundamental to maintaining the growth of business and technology in southwest Idaho and the northwest.

More information on this event can be found here. If you plan to attend, I'll see you there!

What to Expect From the January TVCNet Meeting

Tomorrow we will hold the first TVCNet meeting of 2008 and I thought I'd give you a preview of what to expect. The format for TVCNet meetings (at least through this Spring) will be round table discussions focused on a central topic or theme. This month we will be discussing marketing a consulting business.

As any experienced consultant will tell you, more than half of their working days throughout the year is dedicated to marketing and promotion. It's about promoting yourself to get the next client or to maintain the relationship you have with current clients. Everybody has their own story to tell about marketing - what works for them and what doesn't work. It is my hope that by sharing our experiences marketing our respective consulting businesses, we can learn best practices and find ways to easily apply what we learn.

For the duration of the meeting we will let the topic and the discussion run its course, but to get things started here are some questions we'll present to light the fuse on what we hope will be a lively discussion:

1. What marketing challenges did you experience in 2007 and what do you intend to do in 2008 to overcome them?
2. What are your marketing goals for 2008?
3. Who is your #1 target market and what channels do you intend to use to reach them and why?

If you plan to attend, give these questions some thought and feel free to come with your own questions about marketing a consulting business. Here are the details on the time and location of the January TVCNet meeting:

TVCNet January Meeting
Thursday, January 24, 2008
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

BSU TECenter
5465 E. Terra Linda Way
Nampa, ID 83687

The meeting will be co-moderated by myself, Justin Beller, and Mike Fisch of Apropos. If you have any questions about this meeting please contact me through the TVCNet website.

See you there!

Building Your Credibility to Market Your Consulting Business

In preparation for the next TVCNet meeting, a consultants' roundtable to discuss marketing a consulting business in 2008, I found the following blog post of interest:

Building Credibility: 11 Ways to Show You’re a Professional

Marketing a consulting business is much more than creating a logo, choosing colors, business cards and snazzy brochures. It's about presenting a professional image that will give potential clients a sense of security as they engage with you in what should be an honest, meaningful conversation about their business needs.

Clients will do business with you if they like, know and trust you. Your credibility is by far your best marketing tool. Take a look at the blog post and I think you will see that most of the tips to build your credibility do not have to make a big dent in your pocketbook.

Also, for more information on our upcoming meeting where we will be discussing best practices in marketing a consulting business, please see January 24th on the TVCNet Calendar for more details.

Redefining Leadership: November TVCNet Meeting Recap

Normally I take this time to recap what was presented at the most recent TVCNet meeting, but I thought I would take this time, and perhaps the next couple days, to blog my reflections of what I learned.

Kim Lewis of Leadership In Motion presented on the Power of Leadership last night at the November TVCNet meeting. The word "power" is really and understatement. For me, the discussion was a paradigm shift in what I had always thought leadership to be.

I might have mentioned before, but I think the reason why consultants are hired to help clients solve problems is because they are actually seeking our leadership. Leadership, unfortunately, is an ambiguous term. Kim pointed out that if you look up the word "leadership" in the dictionary it says, "The ability to lead."

OK...

That doesn't tell me much.

Definition of Leadership
According to Kim, the definition of leadership is:

The ability to influence an individual or group of people by understanding, developing and utilizing their strengths/talents to achieve a common goal and reach an outcome.

Now that's better!

It's a broad definition, but nevertheless it does a much better job explaining the role of a leader. Being a leader doesn't mean you have underlings or people who report to you. If you are a consultant and run your own business (whether or not you have people working for or with you) you are still a leader. You are a leader with everyone you come in contact with on a daily basis starting with the people who are close to you, like your friends and family all the way down to your clients.

A Paradigm Shift in Leadership (for the consultant)
At the conclusion of the meeting I walked away with a new definition of leadership that I formed which I think fits nicely with the profession of consulting. If it is true that consultants are hired to provide leadership with the services they provide, perhaps a new definition of leadership can be formed for consultants.

A consultant's leadership role is to influence and motivate the client's resources (people and / or physical assets) to create understanding, development and utilization.

How about that definition? Do you think it defines the leadership role of the consultant or does it need more work? I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts.

The Power of Leadership to be Presented at the Next TVCNet Meeting

In the month of August I wrote a post about leadership. I've always felt consultants had a special place in business as leaders. When clients call upon us to help address specific challenges in the work place we draw upon our specialized knowledge and expertise and, in effect, provide leadership to develop a workable solution.

On November 13th, TVCNet will be holding our regular monthly meeting at the BSU TECenter from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. where Kim Lewis of Leadership in Motion will be presenting on The Power of Leadership.

This workshop will define what leadership is, evaluate what qualities we need to possess in order to be effective in the role of leadership plus understand what constitutes exemplary leadership.

Attendees will learn:

• Definition of leadership
• Qualities and practices of effective leaders
• How to build leadership skills to get results

If you are a consultant, independent business owner, manager or executive in any of the number of companies in the Treasure Valley, this event is for you.

We hope to see you there.

Business Continuity Planning: A Timely Topic Discussed at the October TVCNet Meeting

In light of the recent events in Southern California, last night's topic of discussion at the October TVCNet Meeting couldn't have come at a better time.

Jo Ann Bujarski of the The Business Process Dr. discussed business continuity planning for your organization. It should be noted that business continuity planning is not disaster recovery. It's about maintaining, recovering and resuming your business in the event of an emergency whether with you or a high-value client.

As I listened to Jo Ann most of my thoughts were with the people affected by these devastating fires. Think of all of the people and businesses that have been disrupted. How many of them had a plan in place to keep their businesses running in the event of an emergency? In this case, a natural disaster or what is now being determined as a man-made disaster due to arson.

Consider these interesting statistics. According to Jo Ann:

• 2 out of 5 businesses go out of business within 5 years after having a disaster.
• Fewer than 30% of Fortune 2000 companies have a full continuity plan in place.
  

In this day and age there is no excuse to have a plan in place for your business. Consultants have even more at stake if you consider that your entire business is based solely on the knowledge and expertise you have stored in your head. What would happen to your business if something happened to you?

I know for a fact that many clients ask for a continuity plan as part of their proposal process, depending on the work that is being conducted. Do you have one in place? If not, it's time to think about one. Take stock of your situation, assess the risks you and your business face and document what you or a trusted colleague will do in the event of an emergency.

Looks like I know what I'll be doing the rest of this week...

Business Continuity Planning for Your Organization Presented At October Treasure Valley Consultants’ Network Meeting

Thursday, October 25th is our next TVCNet meeting. Jo Ann Bujarski of the Business Process Dr. will discuss Business Continuity Planning for Your Organization. We will be holding our meeting at our new location - Lotus Garden, 2120 E. Fairview Ave. in Meridian from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Details of the meeting are in the meeting flyer which you can download directly from this blog post or from our website.

Feel free to distribute the flyer to anyone you think would benefit from this presentation. We look forward to seeing you.

Septebmer Meeting Recap - Putting Creativity to Work For You

In a post I made to this blog a few weeks ago, I discussed what consultants are really hired for. One of the things we are hired for is our creativity to help our clients address a specific business problem in our organization.

Shaun Loughney of Lytic presented a very insightful and engaging topic on creativity to our group of professionals in attendance. She helped us identify the barriers or stumbling blocks we sometimes, subconsciously, put in front of us when we are trying to apply creativity to a problem solving situation. The lesson learned was that if we can sharpen our skills to identify the stumbling blocks, not only in ourselves but in the people we serve, we can unlock a world of creativity just waiting to be tapped into. Above all, Shaun did a wonderful job illustrating that we are all creative whether we think of ourselves that way or not.

To validate that point, as I was getting ready for the workday it occurred to me that consultants in and of themselves are creative. Let's face it, we took the action needed to form our consulting businesses. We had ideas and we shaped them into something that creates value in the business community (at least we hope it does). Action is the key to putting creativity to good use. If you are unable to formulate a plan to implement your creative ideas, much of it will be lost. Shaun closed the meeting by giving us a worksheet we can use to create our own Creative Action Plans.

In the days ahead I will work with Shaun to select which materials she would like to share in our Resources section of the TVCNet website. As soon as they are posted I will let the membership know they are available.

Also, Shaun recommended a terrific book on creativity called What a Great Idea - 2.0 by Chic Thompson. If you have read the book I would like to know what you think of it. Two other books I personally recommend to help stimulate creativity are Aha! by Jordan Ayan and The Innovation Killer by Cynthia Barton Rabe.

For those who attended, thank you. Mark your calendars for Thursday, October 25th at for our next TVCNet meeting as Jo Ann Bujarski will be presenting on Business Continuity Planning.

Putting Creativity to Work For You Presented At September Treasure Valley Consultants’ Network Meeting

Treasure Valley Consultants’ Network proudly presents Putting Creativity to Work For You, a presentation by Shaun Loughney of Lytic on Tuesday, September 18th from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. This event will be held at Lotus Garden, 2120 E. Fairview Ave. in Meridian. Business-to-business consultants, business owners and managers are encouraged to attend this event. Members admitted free, non-members pay $5.00.

Solving complex problems and creating fresh opportunities for growth in a changing world begins with creative thinking. This presentation will highlight key thinking skills that drive creativity and innovation and how any professional can introduce them into their daily decision making. The presentation will also explore common blocks to creative thinking, how to free associate with an idea map, and formulate a Creative Action Plan. Participates will understand creativity blocks, have new tools to evaluate a fuzzy situation, determine alternative solutions, evaluate & select and put to action a solution.

For over 17 years, Shaun Loughney has worked closely with leaders in business to dramatically improve their results. She has experience providing business systems analysis and successful project implementation for information technology, web application development, business automation and customer service solutions.

May Meeting Recap - Promotion That Pays Off, Marketing Professional Services

Kathy Martin of Sanders Martin Consulting presented an engaging topic on marketing professional services at last Tuesday’s Treasure Valley Consultants’ Network meeting.

This is a topic I was happy to have someone among the membership step up and present. I think marketing professional services is one of the biggest challenges we consultants and independent business professionals have in our day to day business. After all, selling consulting services is not like selling a car or an item on a store shelf. It’s intangible.

Kathy began her presentation by discussing how the traditional approach to marketing and promotion is a costly venture, both in terms time and money. She used a wonderful analogy to explain how most consultants or professional service providers market themselves by relating it to strawberry jam. If you take a certain amount of jam, spread it around and around, it becomes thin and has very little flavor when it comes time for your customer to taste it. It’s a misnomer that if you market and promote yourself in many different places you’ll eventually reach your customer.

Focus is the key to marketing and promoting your consulting business. Also, understanding the decision making process clients go through when they consider hiring you is important to know as well.

Focus
I’ve been driving this one home on the blog for quite some time. Kathy reinforced this by saying that you must always know who you are selling to. Be thinking of your target market in terms of narrow and deep, not far and wide. I was recently reading an article on marketing that stated, “If you sell to everyone, you sell to no one.” The misconception is that if you have a niche market you lessen your potential for more customers and higher profits. The thing most folks forget is that a niche market is your most likely customer. Not only are they your mostly likely customer and the easiest to sell to, they are also likely to be repeat customers if you give them ample opportunity to like, know and trust you.

The Customer’s Buying Process
Kathy then turned to what the customer is thinking when they encounter a consultant. If you did your job focusing in on your target audience, the rest should be easy. Right? Not entirely. Consultants should know that the decision making process customers go through is usually a two step process. First, they look at your credentials. Do you know your stuff and can you do the job. If you meet these criteria, you end up on a list with other consultants. Second, they verify whether or not they can trust you. If you can demonstrate your trust and your credibility that usually puts you up at the top of the list. That is essentially the process most use to select a consultant.

Keep in mind that when a customer enters into an agreement with a consultant, they are buying into a relationship more so than finding a solution to their problem. It’s really no different than the process you go through to find a good doctor or mechanic to meet your needs. You have to feel as though you can trust them before you make the commitment to have them take an active role in your life. Any misstep on their part could be costly for you in more ways than one.


In the end, Kathy reminded the audience that the number one promotional tool any consultant has is their own self. Present yourself in a dependable, professional, trustworthy manner and spend your time showing your competence, not telling.

Promotion That Pays Off to be Presented at May Treasure Valley Consultants’ Network Meeting

Treasure Valley Consultants’ Network proudly presents Promotion That Pays Off, a presentation by Kathy Martin of Sanders Martin Consulting on May 22nd from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. This event will be held at Chicago Connection located at 1935 South Eagle Road in Meridian. Business-to-business consultants, business owners and managers are encouraged to attend this FREE event.

As business people we deal with an increasingly competitive marketplace, more so now that technology has enabled businesses to go global. Consultants especially find the marketing task to be difficult because they are essentially selling themselves. Traditional promotional tools such as advertising aren’t often cost effective or objective and don’t bring in clients as quickly as most independent business professionals would like.

Martin will cover 8 proven, cost effective promotional strategies to greatly improve marketing results for any consulting business. In addition, her presentation will include what pitfalls to avoid in promotion, the true definition of promotion and the key step to effective promotion and why it is non-negotiable.

A former Competitor Intelligence & Market Research Manager for a Fortune 500 company, Martin started Sanders Martin Consulting in 1996 to help entrepreneurs and business owners find, attract and keep the most profitable clients, overcome aggressive competition and get a high return on investment on promotional dollars.

Make your plans now to attend this last meeting before we take our Summer break.

April Meeting Recap - Building Your Consulting Practice Through Word-of-Mouth

One of the things I enjoy about Treasure Valley Consulting Network is the bringing the members and business community at large topics I feel will excite and motivate people into action. When the audience engages the presenter with questions and comments, I know I've done my job.

Last night was no exception as Justin Foster from BlueLine Grassroots Marketing presented Building Your Consulting Practice Through Word-of-Mouth. Most of the presentation centered on the use of blogs in business, especially consulting. While we didn't necessarily get into the finer points of how to generate word-of-mouth marketing, the blog is the starting point to creating this powerful form of marketing for small businesses and consultants.

Justin and the folks at BlueLine have been pounding this message home ever since they started their business three years ago; there has been paradigm shift in the way marketing is conducted. The consumer has more power than ever before and traditional marketing messages will not get through to them. They have put up all barriers to marketing messages, they are demanding value and they are filtering what they see, hear and experience. Justin now believes that the moment has come and marketing is about to change here in the Treasure Valley. The question is, will you be a part of it?

Up until last last year, I used to make fun of anyone with a blog. I thought blogs were for ego-centric people who had an insatiable thirst for attention. Now I see that they are a powerful business tool. They transform the stale, impersonal presentation commonly accomplished through websites, brochures, flyers and business cards and give it a personal edge. The technology now allows folks to engage you in an honest, meaningful conversations and you are able to share your knowledge with the rest of the world - people who are actively seeking out your content, your thoughts and ideas.

Word of mouth marketing starts with the blog. This is where you can create and demonstrate your value to the business community - your customers. If you haven't started yet, it's time to get going. The hardest part is figuring out where to begin or what to write about. The key is to not think so much about it.

When I started blogging for both TVCNet and my business, here's how I approached it:

• Begin with your audience in mind. It's a trick I learned when I worked as a radio disc jockey years ago. Pretend you are having a conversation with just one person and stick to one thought or one idea at a time.


• Talk about what excites you and what motivates you. If it doesn't excite or motivate you, it will show in your material.


• Make it relevant. Tie your topic into something people can relate to in everyday life or perhaps with a current event. Take a cue from good comedy writers. A good joke has an element of truth in it. That is what makes it funny. Good content has something real people can identify with.

I could continue to write about this topic for a long time. I'm just as excited about it as the folks at BlueLine. I'll wrap up by saying that word-of-mouth marketing and new marketing mediums such as blogs, podcasts and forums will continue to evolve and find new purposes in business. The topic and discussions around it will not end, they'll only change especially for consultants who can find a way to leverage this medium.

April TVCNet Meeting - Building Your Consulting Practice Through Word of Mouth

Our April meeting is officially on!

TVCNet is pleased to present Building Your Consulting Practice Through Word of Mouth, a presentation by TVCNet member Justin Foster of BlueLine Grassroots Marketing on Tuesday, April 24th from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Please note that this month’s meeting will be at a different location. It will be held at BlueLine Grassroots Marketing located at 1011 W. William Street in Boise (corner of Boise Ave. and Broadway). All TVCNet members, business-to-business consultants and business owners are encouraged to attend this FREE event.

In preparation for this month’s meeting, I was thinking how consultants and independent business professionals in the new economy have begun to discover that traditional marketing methods lack the power to effectively promote their knowledge and expertise. Looking at an advance copy of the presentation, Justin plans to cover some innovative marketing techniques that can be applied to any consulting practice or business to break through the barriers our customers and perspective clients have put in place to filter out messages competing for their attention.

Justin will discuss:

• How to build a self-promotion toolkit consisting of a website and blog and what to include in each
• How to craft your message so you can communicate with your target audience in a professional manner
• How to use networking to create citizen marketers who will help carry your message to the business community at large

We look forward to you attending. If you plan to do so please RSVP by Friday, April 20th by calling (208) 484-6692 or e-mail me at justin@tvcnet.org.

March Meeting Recap - Peggy Jordan and Business Writing Basics

It was an intimate, yet engaging crowd in attendance at Tuesday’s TVCNet meeting where Peggy Jordan of Working Words Communications presented Business Writing Basics. We heard a great presentation from a prolific writer and communicator based here in the Treasure Valley.

Business writing, on the surface, may not seem like a hip and cool topic. Nevertheless, it’s still important especially to consultants and business owners who rely on the written word to demonstrate and communicate their thoughts and ideas to their target audience. Whether the purpose is to market or to inform, words are an essential tool for doing business and providing services. Lacking basic writing skills can make the most brilliant person sound like a buffoon. In the midst of the Web 2.0 world we live in, practically everything we consume is content driven and we need to take advantage of this to reach out to our audience and establish ourselves among the many independent business professionals in the workforce today.

Here is what I think are some of the key takeaways from Tuesday’s meeting:

1. When it comes to the written word, it only takes 7 seconds to make a good impression on your audience.
2. Know your audience. If you don’t know who you are trying to communicate to, what is your purpose in writing?
3. There is a lot of value in being brief and to the point. “Spend every word as if it were 5 dollars.” Thanks for quote Kathy Martin!

Peggy had so much more to talk about regarding this topic. I was sorry I had to cut her off due to time constraints. Perhaps we can have her back again to go into greater detail on a particular subject surrounding business writing.

Our words are what help us connect with others. If we concentrate on making a good first impression with our writing, clarify our target audience, and be succinct in our word choice and usage, I believe consultants and business owners will be able to stand out from the crowd and reach the people we want to do business with.

Meeting Reminder and Some Free Audio

One last post before I head out for the weekend.

Just a reminder to let you know our next meeting is this Tuesday, March 27th at 5:30 p.m. Peggy Jordan, TVCNet member and owner of Working Words Communications will be discussing Business Writing Basics. Full details and directions can be found here.

Also, many of you know I've raved about the book by Michael Port called Book Yourself Solid. He recently held a tele-clinic on "Why People Buy" and you can hear the audio playback here. Why people buy is an important question for consultants. When we have a good idea as to why our customers buy from us and why they hire us to help solve a business problem in their organization, we know what works in our marketing and what doesn't. We have a better idea as to where to concentrate our efforts.

Michael is one hell of a marketer, so keep in mind any time you listen in on one of his free calls he always has something to sell. In this case it's his 15 week group coaching program. The good thing about any of his calls is the content he provides is always useful and I commend him for that. You always walk way with information you can use and apply back to your business. Just take it with a grain of salt.

If you really want to understand how a guy like Michael works, read the book. Nevertheless, it's useful information to help you market your consulting business and I hope you enjoy it.

Disembodiment of Information

Thank you to Tac Anderson of New Comm Biz for presenting at last night's Treasure Valley Consultants' Network meeting. We had about 20 people in attendance, most of them with a background rich in web experience, and most of them contributing to the discussion on search engine optimization (SEO).

What I took away from the meeting was something Tac said about the state information and knowledge in the world today. With the accessibility of the internet, information is now disembodied. It is no longer attached to item that is delivering the message. For instance, if you walk into a store and see a display for an item, the message the display is giving is attached to the display. The same could probably be said about a billboard you see along the side of a road. It works in a similar way. The message is tied to the billboard. Today, that same message can be delivered on multiple channels, especially on the web, anywhere in the world wherever there is access.

As consultants and independent business owners, we now have tremendous leverage to get our message out - to market and sell our specialized knowledge, skills and expertise. It makes sense to position ourselves in a way to ensure sure our information, that is now disembodied from vehicle delivering it, reaches the people that are actively seeking it out. SEO is the way.

The best place to begin is through our own original content. What is on our minds? What do we have to say? How can we be of service to the business community? If we do this, we create a starting point for ourselves and give our potential customers something to come to. It sure beats the old methods of marketing - pushing our message out into a marketplace and not really knowing if what we have to say will be accepted or rejected. With the web, you at least know that your visitor has some interest in what you have to offer. Otherwise, would they have clicked on your link in the search engine results if it didn't have some relevance to what they are looking for? It's much better than nothing at all. The trick is to make sure you are in those results pages. A good SEO strategy is the way.

SEO is an ever changing field and fortunately for us we have people like Tac to help us make sense of it. To all those who were in attendance, thank you for being part of a great meeting. If you were unable to attend, be sure to attend the next meeting on March 27th as TVCNet member Peggy Jordan will be discussing Business Writing Basics. This is a great follow-up topic to what was discussed last night. I will be posting more information about that meeting in the weeks ahead.

The Key to Networking

In preparation for tonight's TVCNet meeting, I found this great article called The Key to Networking from Entrepreneur Magazine.

Networking is about building relationships on trust and credibility. Ivan Misner, the author of the article, uses a terrific analogy centered on keys to drive home his point that it takes time to build good networking relationships - enough to where you'll be comfortable enough to hand over your keys to a colleague.