Remember the Deck of Cards that the U.S. military unveiled after the 2003 invasion of Iraq? In addition to Saddam Hussein, it featured a who's who of the regime's inner circle. If you'd diagrammed it, you would have ended up with a traditional hierarchical chart with...
In this age of instant everything, planning seems to be getting a bad rap. But make no mistake: planning matters. Here are my five tips for jumpstarting your business in 2010: 1. Assess your financial health. Before you can set goals for the new year, it is useful to...
DC Web Women, which runs a listserv designed primarily to enable peer-to-peer support and education in technology and new media, has been in the midst of a brouhaha lately about marketing. Or, more accurately, a few people seem very upset that the listserv guidelines...
Have you tried to send a personalized LinkedIn invitation lately? I'm a big believer in personalizing my invitations for several reasons: I'm inviting one person to join my network, not sending out a mass mailing. It's a valuable way to follow-up with someone and tell...
I turned down a ticket to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame yesterday, opting instead to bring another online relationship offline. So I had drinks with Sonny Gill, a super-cool community manager and basketball fanatic with whom I've been tweeting for some time. The...
One of my favorite reasons for attending a conference is the opportunity to meet new people and expand my community. At last week's GrowSmartBiz conference, Washington Business Journal's Alex Orfinger asked for a show of hands as to who sat with someone they didn't...
Since I recently wrote an ode to business cards, it seems fitting that I pass along some takeaways from Steve Fisher's terrific, funny, presentation on 10 Rules for Killer Business Cards: Tell me what you do (and quickly). Don't use your personal e-mail address. You...
I love that there's an iPhone app that lets you exchange contact information just by bumping phones. But does this mean that business cards are becoming obsolete? Business cards speak to me, especially when it comes to small businesses and solo practitioners. The...
Sometimes it's useful to have a simple screening process. Today I want to thank all the people who: Announce their job searches and ask for help via generic e-mails to blind-copied recipients. Send updates to multiple people. Don't say "thanks" when you take the time...
So you're at a networking event, and someone comes up to you, introduces themselves, and immediately asks for your business card. What's your first impression? Mine: oh, oh, someone is about to try to sell me something. Why? Because they haven't even bothered to chat...