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International Networking Week®  2013 is almost here and with it comes tremendous opportunity for  businesspeople across the globe to grow business through the development  of powerful new connections! International Networking Week®  is an initiative of BNI® and its focus is to celebrate the key role that networking plays in the  development and successs of business around the world.  It’s about  creating an awareness of the process of networking.  Not just any kind  of networking, but “relati...

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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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It used to surprise me when I heard statistics such as this: 50% of all businesses fail in their first three years.  Now that I’ve been in business for several decades and have seen many entrepreneurs come and go, I’m more surprised that 50% of businesses actually make it past the first three years! Maybe I’m being a tad harsh . . . but not much.  One thing I’ve learned is that most successful entrepreneurs embrace and engage in a culture of learning in order to excel.  Personal and profess...

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In this video, I talk with my good friend and partner in the Referral Institute, Eddie Esposito, about a very interesting concept he helped develop which I’ve never before mentioned on this blog site–Emotionally Charged Connection. Many people are not conscious of their Emotionally Charged Connection, yet it’s the reason we get up in the morning and do the things we do every day.  It’s driven by the heart, not the check book or the head–there’s a big difference.  Once you become ...

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In this video, I talk to Marcia Wieder, CEO and Founder of Dream University, about the entrepreneurial mindset of having a vision and a dream for a business and how to successfully realize that vision and that dream.  I met Marcia through the Transformational Leadership Council which we are both members of and, let me tell you, Marcia is truly the best of the best of when it comes to understanding this facet of business. Marcia explains that in business, dreaming is serious business; it’s the driving force for...

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A significant challenge for business owners who have stepped out of the world of corporate support and started their own enterprise is that they become worried and scared to take chances on their own.  In this short video, I speak with Dubai, UAE Referral Institute® franchisee Phil Bedford about success and the importance of the people business owners surround themselves with. Jim Rohn has said that people are the sum of the five people they are around most and Phil has a related piece of key advice for business ow...

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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 recently saw someone’s Twitter update telling me all about how his vitamin line will not only make me skinny and healthy, but will also make me wealthy. While there is nothing objectionable about any of these outcomes, the jarring reality is that the man promoting this wonderful opportunity is neither skinny, nor healthy, and he had just been posting updates about how he was desperately trying to dig himself out of debt! Do you see the disconnect here? I’m sure you have seen people at networking meetings and ev...

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In this short video, presented by Applied Transformation, Inc., Roger Green asks me about my view on the idea that high cost education doesn’t necessarily prepare students for the real world. In answering him, I talk about my feelings on where business networking fits into the world of formal education and I share some statistics about the true effectiveness of networking which, to me, are mind boggling; I also tell a personal story about having lunch with the Dean of Business at a prominent university and how ...

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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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Understanding cultural differences when doing business and networking around the world is  becoming increasingly important in this global society (click here for an explanation). On a related note, I posted a blog entry a few weeks ago outlining valuable tips from top networking experts in China and Vietnam which will help people traveling to those countries to position themselves for the most successful outcome when networking and doing business there.  I promised that I would revisit the topic of what to do when ...

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  I was recently interviewed by Bill Moller on the “First Business” news show about men and women in business.  The host said that “women are the new men.”  It’s an odd statement, I know, but I promise that if you take a mere three minutes out of your day to watch this video clip of the interview, you’ll understand what he means by this and you might not think it’s such an odd statement after all. I came to the conclusions I talk about in this interview based on many r...

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Last week I posted a blog about how cultural differences play into global networking and how understanding those differences becomes very important as we do business around the world. On a related note, I’d like to offer some valuable tips I’ve picked up from a handful of networking experts in Asian countries–today I’ll focus on China and Vietnam and in the coming weeks, I’ll revisit this topic and provide the additional advice which comes from experts in Malaysia and Japan. One of China...

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It’s a given that we all want to be happy and successful in whatever career path we choose to follow–but how do we get there?  The path may be different for each one of us, but the #1 question we should be asking ourselves in order to set out on the correct course for achieving happiness and success is the same for each of us . . .What is my passion? In this video, presented by Applied Transformation, Inc., I talk with Roger Green about the overwhelming importance of identifying your passion, following y...

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In this video, Michael Gerber and I discuss one simple idea: SYSTEMS. I used Michael’s ideas about systems to build my business and as a result, my networking organization has grown to over 6,000 chapters in 50 countries around the world. Watch this video to find out more about building business with systems and about Michael’s new website www.WorkingOnIt.com–a fantastic resource for business owners and entrepreneurs around the world.

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One of the reasons I am so endlessly passionate about business networking and finding new ways to inspire the growth of businesses around the world is because I absolutely love surrounding myself with people who exude the entrepreneurial spirit. As children, we have the sense that “the world is our oyster,” so to speak, and that anything is possible.  Unfortunately, over time, many people lose this sense of wonder and adventure and the accompanying faith that anything is possible.  Entrepreneurs, howeve...