photo credit: Matt Gush

In order to create success and make networking worth your time there are a few simple principals you must follow.

By engaging in these simple actions your efforts compounded over time will inevitably create lasting success, and lifelong friendships.

1- Regular and On Time Attendance- This should be self explanatory, but unfortunately it is sometimes taken for granted.

2- Show interest and Participate- Sitting in silence does not add value to the group or portray you as a resource. Ask questions, give valuable ideas, do anything to get people to say “Wow! I would like to speak to this person.”

3- Be a Resource, Not a Meaningless Advertisement- Constantly pitching and only attempting to meet with people who you feel can help you will get you nowhere. You must be willing to help others unconditionally.

4- Build Relationships, Set up personal meetings- One on one meetings is what are going to build your valuable relationships. If you are not willing to make this commitment your business networking efforts are going to be a waste of time.

5- Help Others Unconditionally- You willingness to help is what is going to build your credibility and your brand. Wouldn’t you like your phone to be ringing off the hook? By positioning yourself as a resource and helping everyone that you possibly can without the expectation of something in return is going to mean you have successfully created credibility for yourself and your brand.

6- Find Mentors & Engage in Personal Development- Success without personal development leads to failure.

7- Position Yourself as a Resource, Stay in contact with those you meet- Maintaining regular correspondence with your network will help you stay in the forefront of people mind. The more you can be a resource the more your emails will be opened and your site will be trafficked.

8- “Rinse and Repeat” Plan, Do, Review- You will only get better through repetition – Once you have gotten these simple steps down keep doing them! This is it, the basics. There is no need to reinvent the wheel.

Mastering the mundane is what creates lasting success. The ideas and principals have been written and rewritten over and over again for hundreds of years, nothing has changed.

You have all the tools and resources to build your business as well as you network, get to work!

It does not matter who is at a group, events, or any type of business function there is always more than enough to go around. When it seems like there is a lack, that is because you are sending off the energy that is not allowing you to maximize your potential.

When you think of scarcity that is what you will manifest. If you are intimidated of other successful people in your industry refine your skills and get better. They are not going to get any worse so the only thing to do is sharpen your own skills.

It would appear Chris and I are “competitors” in many aspects. We both host business networking events, trainings, and workshops, so why is it that both of us are able to earn significantly more money endorsing each other rather than trying to out do each other?

Mutual respect and co-operation that’s why! By affiliating yourself with other successful people you like it is just so much easier to rise to the top when you are surrounded by excellence.

Thank you Chris and all my readers for your support knowledge!

A Harris Interactive study that found 80% of Americans are not passionate about what they do. That’s 4 out of 5 people who are just working for money, not for their passion. Everyone knows passion is the key to success, but for people who don’t know what their passion is, finding it can be a mystery.

The Passion Test is a simple, yet powerful way to get clear about things that matter most to you and then a process to make those a priority in your life. Passions are clues to your destiny. In order to Live Life on Purpose, you must first know what that means for you.

When you are clear about your desires, what you want will show up in your life, however, only to the extent of your description. It’s all about Intention, Attention, and No Tension.

Intention is consciously stating what you want. Most people don’t even take the time to put in writing what they intend for their life. You can and should make intentions for each portion of your life, such as this day, this meeting, this relationship.

Attention has to do with what you want to create in your world. Your life is a result of what you have been putting your attention on, whether you realize it or not. The good news is, if you like your life, keep putting your attention on what you have been and if you don’t like your life, switch what you are putting your attention on to something you are passionate about.

The No Tension part is accepting that whatever is happening in this moment is the absolute best thing that can happen for you. Let’s face it we are not the General Manager of the Universe. Our reality can show up in many different ways and we have a choice to either resist what is happening or accept it and know that we may not see the big picture right now. Accepting is crucial to the No Tension aspect of life. .

If you are part of the 80% of Americans who don’t love their job, you can do something about it and it doesn’t take a lot of money or time. It just takes knowing how to do it and focusing on what makes you happy.

Think about what a different world we would live in if everyone loved what they did for a living!

Join me on this journey of joy and fulfillment by finding out what matters most to you in life and then start living it! Carol Hasbrouck www.IntentionalLivingOnline.com

photo credit: chenutis

We have all been stuck at business networking function where had to sit there to listen to someone ramble on and on about how great their product or service is.

Well here is a short little tip on how to catch other peoples attention with out shamelessly promoting yourself appearing to be a walking advertisement.

Business networking events are about meeting other professionals and forming alliances, NOT to attempt to sell everyone in the room. Too often we have visitors come to events, show up once, go over their allotment of time for their commercial, not participate in the group any more, and then never show up again.

I refer to these people as: “The broke know it all’s.”

Do not be one of these people if you intend on being successful at any business endeavor your partake in. Your reputation is everything and once that is tarnished you will spend drastically more time cleaning up what you have destroyed than it would have taken for you to build a long lasting meaningful relationship from the get go.

Have a wonderful day everyone!

“Life is not about being liked, It is about being effective” –Joel Bauer

In today’s market we must either adapt or die, both in life and in business. The definition of insanity has changed! No longer is it an incorrect expectation to do the same thing over and over and expect a different result, in fact you can count on something new happening. Can you guess what it is?

You now have the ability to lose money for doing the same things over and over that used to make you money. If you choose not to evolve with the times your business will be left behind.

We are living witnesses to the most amazing advances in business ever. Our marketing cost can be drastically reduced and we can reach far more people than ever before in a fraction of the time. This is new and uncomfortable for most of you to comprehend, but age and excuses make no difference it is happening with or without you.

What matters now is what are you going to change in 2010? What changes are you going to make in your marketing plan to reach higher levels of success? What changes in your schedule will you make to allow time for personal development and continuous education?

Change is eminent!

The resources are all at your finger tips. Look up people like: Brian Tracy, Joel Bauer, Jim Rohn, Social Media Examiner, Mari Smith, and so many more. There is an abundance of FREE and extremely valuable information available to you.

Make excuses a thing of the past. Embrace the changes in your field. Get out there and make today your most successful day ever!

photo credit: h.koppdelaney

Where has this sense of entitlement come from that has spread like a plague? Since when are employers, educational systems, or governments responsible for individual financial well being? What happened to personal financial education, personal development, and self motivation to make the most of our own life?

Our lives represent the cumulative amount all the decisions we have ever made. Once you know and understand that you will have the ability to decide whether to participate in the recession or choose not to accept it.

The largest fortunes are created during a economic slump. This is the time of opportunity. Just the other week the DOW rebounded back 53% from its low in March. So over 5 months time there was 53% increase! You can view this one of two ways,

1) There were significant losses, and we are only back to the numbers of 1999. We still have 47% left to go to get back to where we were so we can break even.

OR

2) Wow what any opportunity there was in March, maybe we should have made the attempt to learn about trends and how to capitalize on them so we can identify an opportunity like this in the future.

There were still investors out there who at the time lost money, but were intelligent enough to know that market would rebound and chose invest significantly more money than ever before. Now they have come out on top.

It is all perception.

We are entitled to nothing. We live in the greatest country in the world, we have our freedom to choose. There are no other resources we can ask for that gives us the ability to create success. It is up to us to create our dreams. The resources are available, we have the internet, and libraries which have more resources than we could possibly go through in one lifetime.

USE THEM! Self educate yourself and lets build some long lasting wealth together!

photo credit: peruisay

Success has a degree of fear attached to it mainly because becoming successful normally requires change. If you do what you have always done you will get what you have always gotten. Defining your goals and setting up you game plan is the easy part, the consistent and persistent implementation of success principals is where the challenge begins.

Once you truly understand YOUR reasoning behind setting YOUR goals, not what is expected of you, but what YOU feel in your heart of hearts that is what will propel you through any unforeseen challenges.

Many people go through some sort of self sabotage, certainly myself included. You will see that everything is going absolutely perfectly and life just seems to get better and better then boom you  fall into the complacency trap. Complacency is the thief of ongoing success.

We are our own worst enemy. Our subconscious mind has so much magnificent power, but we so infrequently maximize its potential. Self doubt, negative or unsure thoughts and actions, talking the talk and never walking the walk, procrastination, these are all things we have 100% control over. Have you ever noticed that the things we like to do the least are what creates the results that we desire the fastest?

One factor in particular which encompasses so many of the success principals is personal development. The ability to set goals, make a game plan, put it into action, and stay focused. In a nut shell that is how to avoid self sabotage, obviously much easier said than done. That is why we must continue to read, listen to quality audio programs, attend seminars, and most importantly keep your motivating goals in front of you at all times. Read them back to yourself multiple times a day to remind yourself why you do what you do. Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. What extra effort are you willing to make?

Take a step back and evaluate yourself to see if you can identify things you do that are pulling you farther away from your goals. Find out where you are comfortable and if that is bringing you closer to your objective. Your biggest fear of success is stepping out of your comfort zone and making the changes necessary for the acquisition of all you had ever hoped for.

Step out on faith!