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Understanding your behavioral style and how it relates to your networking is extremely valuable.  Most importantly, learning how to identify behavioral styles in others and learning how to adapt your own approach to those different styles can really make a difference in your referability. Often times your behavioral style can be observed at a fairly young age.  When I was 11 years old, I missed the bus to school one day. The school was only a little over two miles away and I had time, so I started walking. Along th...

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Stewart Emery (Success Built to Last) was over my house a few months ago.  At breakfast one morning he told me about an interview he did with a well-known billionaire in the computer industry.  The billionaire shared an intriguing story with Stewart about an experience he’d had when the senior executives of a company interested in purchasing his company visited his office to discuss the possible purchase.   At lunch, the billionaire told the senior executives of the company he was negotiating with that h...

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The new video for International Networking Week® 2013 has just been released! This short, 11-minute video, sponsored by the Referral Institute, explains how the week of February 4th-8th, 2013 will bring about great opportunities for businesspeople around the world and increase worldwide awareness about the powerful benefits of business networking.  2013 will mark the 7th annual celebration of International Networking Week which is now recognized by many countries across the globe, with thousands of events being hel...

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I am excited to announce that I will be presenting at the Mega Partnering VI conference (www.MegaPartnering6.com) this year which is taking place in Los Angeles, CA from November 29-December 2. The event is run by the J.T. Foxx Organization (www.JTFoxx.com) and J.T., whom I’ve gotten to know over the past couple of years, has invited me to give a presentation on how to achieve success through networking. J.T. (pictured with me below) has a very interesting story as he started investing with nothing more than a ...

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I wrote an article on Entrepreneur.com last week entitled “Why Everyone Should talk About Politics While Networking” and in my opening line I state, “Yes, I believe everyone should talk about politics (and religion) while networking . . . if they’d like their network to go up in flames, that is!” Though I may have been very active in politics over the years and I do, indeed, have a definite religious/spiritual leaning, I have found that it is undoubtedly best not to mix my views/beliefs ...

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TR Garland (pictured with me in the photo below) is a friend of mine and co-author of one of my most recent #1 best-selling books called “Building The Ultimate Network.”  He’s also considered a top trainer for the Referral Institute.  For some time now, we’ve both observed a need to drill down on one of the most important and foundational concepts to networking – The VCP Process®.  Five months ago, we started a much-anticipated 12-part monthly series of blog posts which addresses this and contains some ...

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During the course of the past two decades, I have had the privilege and honor of giving many keynote presentations and participating as a featured speaker at events across the world.  I have a great passion for public speaking and I feel very fortunate that organizations and associations continue to invite me to present at events internationally. As a speaker, it is important to have a speaker’s reel video to send out to organizations who are considering you as a presenter at an upcoming event.  I recently en...

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I met Starr Hall at an Entrepreneur Magazine Conference that we both spoke at last year and she did a really impressive presentation on social media marketing. One of the things she discussed was the concept of “BizPer” Social Media Marketing. She said that about half of your social media posts should be about business and about half should be personal. I love the concept but, I’m not sure I’m comfortable with the percentage.  I definitely believe that people want to see a little of me as a p...

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BNIBusinessIndex.com has had a facelift.  Check out the new site. This is a website that gauges the pulse of entrepreneurs from all around the world through a very simple quarterly survey.  If you have a few minutes, look at the site and take the current survey.  It only takes a couple minutes (really)! To take the current survey, CLICK HERE.  Note – you can get a FREE copy of one of my books (some rules apply) by taking the survey. When you check out the site, please leave a comment here about what you...

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In this video, my friend, The E-Myth author Michael Gerber, talks about his new website — www.WorkingOnIt.com — which is devoted to helping entrepreneurs grow business and achieve success. I wanted to spread the news about this great educational resource because I am a firm believer in Michael’s strategies and philosophies for business growth.  I built my networking organization around some of the key philosophies that Michael wrote about in The E-Myth and I know that is a large part of why my busi...

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This is the final guest blog in the three-part series featuring Frank DeRaffele’s article, “Creativity vs. ‘Innovativity.’” To read the beginning and the middle of the article, please CLICK HERE for Part 1 and CLICK HERE for Part 2. “Creativity vs. ‘Innovativity’” by Frank J. DeRaffele Jr. ( . . . Continued) Recognizing ‘Innovativity’ Innovation in our businesses is extremely important. New ideas help us to run our businesses more efficiently, market m...

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Last week I posted the first part of a series of guest blogs sharing the article “Creativity vs. ‘Innovativity’” by Frank DeRaffele.  Below is the continuation of where the article left off last week. “Creativity vs. ‘Innovativity’” by Frank J. DeRaffele Jr. ( . . . Continued — CLICK here to read Part 1) So how do we save ourselves from this Ninja?  Enter the Samurai of Innovation. This Innovative Samurai (dressed in white, by the way) cuts through the creativit...

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My friend Frank DeRaffele Jr., whom is also one of the co-authors of my upcoming book Business Networking and Sex, shared with me a great article he recently wrote called “Creativity vs. ‘Innovativity’” and I’d like to share it with all of you who read this blog. Frank makes some very interesting points about the importance of balancing creativity and innovation in regard to small business and I think small business owners and entrepreneurs everywhere will benefit from reading this artic...

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BNIBusinessIndex.com has released its worldwide business survey findings for the first quarter of 2011.  Almost 1,500 business people participated in the survey—people from every populated continent around the world—and the results (see graph on the right)  indicate that, overall, the global economic state is improving.  69.4% of the respondents for the first quarter of 2011 feel that business is growing or growing substantially (compared to this time last year).  This number has increased since the prior BNI...

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One thing most businesspeople and entrepreneurs have in common is that they’re usually very busy and tend to have little time to spare. Their busy schedules often create challenges when it comes to making time to educate themselves on building valuable business skills such as networking. This is why Entrepreneur.com has created the Coaches Corner, a highly convenient educational resource offering extremely brief educational videos on topics like networking, social media, marketing, starting out, managing employees...

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I’ve been in India for the past several days conducting seminars on business networking and, I have to say, I’ve been very impressed by the business community here. The businesspeople I’ve met are passionate about learning and they are hungry for information and knowledge.  I have found the audiences here to be extraordinarily respectful and almost sponge-like in their interest in absorbing new ideas. Although it is still a developing nation, it is obvious that the infrastructure of India is growin...

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I recently got asked a really great question on Ask Entrepreneur: Where do I get connected with people who can help me open a business? Though there is evidence that business is currently on the rise and the economy is moving in a positive direction, the recent downturn in the economy prompted many people who found themselves unemployed to tap into their entrepreneurial spirit and consider starting their own business. This begs the question above–are there efficient ways to get in touch with people who can help...