Somehow it snuck up on me and happened again. Today is 2 years after my first blog post.

 

I have to admit that this year wasn't nearly as active as my first. There've been a number of other priorities in my life lately. However, the value of the blogging I'm doing and have done in the past continues to pay dividends. Having a regular blog has absolutely been worth the investment of my time.

 

Another friend of mine, Jason Alba the Founder and CEO of JibberJobber.com, just celebrated his first blog birthday in the last few days. He is doing a really cool series on his blog about the secrets he's learned after blogging every business day for 1 year. It's a great series, and he's only up to Day 2 of the 5 Day series. Jason is another person who came into my life and network because of my blog. I'll tell you more about JibberJobber next week, it's also an excellent resource.  

 

I guess I should go eat some cake?

 

Happy Networking!

 

Scott Ingram

It's often difficult to keep up with all of the things that are happening with people in your network. But, there are some great tools that can help you keep up.

 

One that I've been using for the last six months is Google Alerts. This handly little tool allows you to select a key word or phrase and will notify you when something new about that topic hits the web. You can set the notifications for daily, as-it-happens, or weekly.

 

First I recommend that you do this for yourself. Setup an alert for your own name. I've been surprised a number of times at being quoted in blogs and other news publications that I wouldn't have known about otherwise. Next think about your best clients and customers. I've been able to make some really fun congratulatory calls to clients when I've been notified about awards, acquisitions and other honors. What about your top prospects? Do your competitors, or even their incumbent vendors know what's going on with these folks. This is an incredible opportunity to stand out.

 

My own Google Alerts consist mainly of full names and company names, but it's also a useful tool for keeping up with speific industry news that might be useful for you.

 

Try it out. Setup your own Google Alerts today.

 

Happy Networking!

 

Scott Ingram

Everytime you take the time to get to know someone over a cup of coffee, a meal or a visit to their office you have a huge opportunity to learn. You can learn about that person and their background and what makes them tick. You can learn about what's made them successful now and in the past. You can also learn more about their industry and what distinguishes their organization from another.

 

This will serve you in a number of ways. First, you'll be able to develop deeper relationships as you show an interest in the person you're meeting with. Second, the more you know the more valuable you become... to your clients, prospects, colleagues and friends.

 

I'm not sure that I've ever had a formal mentor. But, I've had hundreds of mentors. You can learn something from anyone, no matter who they are. They might be the CEO of a large company or the lady that arranges your flowers. It doesn't matter.

 

Schedule a meeting right now and learn something.

 

Happy networking!

 

Scott Ingram

I often talk with people who at one time or another were active networkers. Either intentionally or unintentionally they stop networking. For some reason these former networkers are sometimes more apprehensive than new networkers to get back out there. My guess is that they think that their absence somehow reflects negatively on their credibility.

 

In reality getting back out there is a breeze. You already know people and they'll be excited to see you, they'll want to catch up and will probably be eager to introduce you to new networkers that you may not have met during your absence.

 

You just need to pick-up where you left off. Before you know it nobody will even remember you were missing. Did you used to be really active in the Chamber of Commerce or another active networking group? Get back out there. You'll be glad you did.

 

Of course what prompted this post was my blogging absence. One thing lead to another and before I knew it it had been over 2 months since my last post! One friend and fellow blogger even wrote an obituary memorializing the death of my blog.

 

Just like getting back out there and networking it only takes one post for me to be a blogger again. After a few more posts most of you won't even remember that I took such a long unintentional blogging vacation.

 

Check back soon! There's more to come.

 

Happy Networking!

 

Scott Ingram