Conversations worth having

(L to R) Rachel Valdez, Beto Yarce, Murthy Kalkura, and Gil Gido

Last night at Tutta Bella on Stone way NAAAP Seattle and the National Society of Hispanic MBA's (NSHMBA) hosted a conversation with local entrepreneurs and members sharing the Secrets of Success.  I had a front row seat since I  had the priviledge of moderating.  On the panel were business owners: Beto Yarce of Cintli; Rachel Valdez of 16 Copenhagen; and Murthy Kalkura of 4AM Corp.
 
My overall experience from walking in the door to leaving can only be described as time well spent. Many who came either had a business or had an interest in knowing what it takes to start and run a business and this brings me to why I am writing - conversations. Conversations, I believe are key ingredients when it comes to running a business and even more so, leadership. Conversations can either be worth having or not having.  For me, those not worth having don't convey action. In fact, conversations lead to some result in business; for example, starting a business. They can end in no, maybe or what we would all like to hear, YES! It seems simple enough, but yeses move businesses; so as an entrepreneur, it's important to know when you are having a conversation that will lead to a yes. For example, yes, to a sale; yes, to accepting a new contract; and yes, to opportunity.
 
So what else can lead to a yes?  Well, I overheard and was engaged in many conversations last night and each had an element of authenticity, passion and free exchange of thought. There seemed to be no judgements or disinterest that I heard. As an entrepreneur, you get skilled in being authentic, passionate and inclusive and you start listening for opportunities that you can yourself use or pass onto your friends, clients and collegues. For me, it surely is a different experience when hearing, no, right?
 
Great! Since I want to provide you with short and timely information that you can use now, I'm going to end here. I know that I can't cover everything in this post. So, if you want to know more on having conversations that lead to yes, then you'll want to hear what Jack Canfield, a well-respected success coach, says, "it all starts with asking." http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=403944388995


With that, I want to give a special thanks to Christine Chen Velazquez of Chen Communications, Geraldine Rodriguez of NSHMBA and Hang Chen of NAAAP Seattle for organizing the event and giving folks an opportunity to have conversations worth having.
 
Regards,
Gil Gido
NAAAP Seattle
President

Connecting with people on LinkedIn

A few days ago I attended a LinkedIn seminar at the School of Visual Concepts in Downtown Seattle and learned a few things that I thought I'd pass onto you. It definitely was 2 hours of insightful uses delivered by Cindy Pain, an esteemed career coach at Lee Hecht Harrison.

LinkedIn, now having approximately 50 millions user profiles, is a great marketing tool for you and your business. LinkedIn has made it a business of connecting people - yes, connecting you with people in your professional background or industry. Now if you're shy, you might want to start slowly and allow for invitations, but jump right on in and invite people into your network. Don't worry about looking good or looking bad. A general rule of thumb I use is if people are on LinkedIn, they are more than likely open to an invitation to connecting. Most of all, be courteous, generous and respectful. It goes along way in building your relationship once you connect. If you're looking for new connections, as Cindy puts it, "link in or be left out. "

Ready to start a profile? Here's how.

Step 1. Establish your profile
LinkedIn allows you to quickly establish your profile. Click on their join today link at https://www.linkedin.com/reg/join It couldn't be any easier. You will need a valid email address if you don't have one, you can get one at hotmail.com, yahoo.com or gmail.com. If you have a resume, you just copy and paste all of your information.

Step 2. Connect with people you know.
Once you've established your profile. You will want to start off by inviting everyone you know. These are your family, friends, clients, vendors, bosses, former bosses and organizational members to name just a few. As part of LinkedIn's free service, you are allowed 500 invitations. That's a lot when you think about it. When you make the invitation with people, offer them value in connecting with you. Is it your network? Is it your expertise? Can you recommend or introduce them to others? Tell them "what it is" in your invitation. Before long you will end up with lifelong friendships and business relationships. That is, if you nurture your network.

Step 3. Connect with people you don't know.
There are a few simple ways to connect with people you don't know on LinkedIn. These are people that are friends of your connections or friends of friends of your connections. Now to connect with people outside of your network with your connections, if it's appropriate and depending on your need, you can ask your friend if you can be introduced via Linkedin. Reciprocate with introducing other people, too.

People you don't know that are outside of your network could be the approximately 49.9 million other people on LinkedIn or those not already on LinkedIn. To get access to these people you're going to need to search for them either in person at a conference or at a meeting or through LinkedIn's search feature. Once you find the person(s) you want to connect to, make the invitation. They'll either say "yes" or "no". If it's yes, then start nurturing the relationship. If it's no, then don't beat yourself up. If you don't get a response, it's likely that person isn't using LinkedIn regularly or has a personal profile setting that prevents them from getting invitations.

This is just the beginning and I'll blog about networking in future posts. If you want or need more information, I've listed a few important links.

Regards,
Gil Gido
NAAAP Seattle
President


Additional information:

• LinkedIn New User information: http://learn.linkedin.com/new-users/
• 10 Ways to Use LinkedIn: http://blog.linkedin.com/2007/07/25/ten-ways-to-use/ or by Guy Kawasaki http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/01/ten_ways_to_use.html
• School of Visual Concepts: http://www.svcseattle.com/

LinkedIn is the respected trademark for the LinkedIn Corporation.