Last week, I attended my first #hopsandchops meet here in Seattle – “Weekly Happy Hour for Seattle’s Startup-Obsessed” . That was where I met Dave Schappell – founder/CEO of Teachstreet. Too bad I did not corner him there and pick his brain, or he just introduced his a new business model (aka consulting rates

Okay, I am kidding here, but Dave, in his post, is trying to draw attention to the fact that he is a busy person and really cannot find time for coffee with a gazillion people like me, who would want his help. And since he has a hard time saying NO, he figured he would write this post as to why (…which was a GREAT idea btw!)

I want to give my perspective of this and hopefully some tips that will help you if you are an entrepreneur seeking help from the Dave Schappells … like I am . And how exactly did I learn the tips I am going to give you, you ask?? Oh, well, as a parent, I was forced to learn these lessons. While I might not be as important in the startup scene, I continue to (thankfully) be immensely important on our homebase (yeah, 2 little girls). And every time I hire a babysitter and trade my own time to meet someone, my coffee and lunch is costing me hell of a lot more than it actually seems like it is. So, like Dave Schappell, I am forced to do the math

So without further ado, here is what you should do if you want to land some great meetings -

1.NO COLD CALLING - That cold email to people never works. So NEVER EVER send out an email to someone who you have never met or who has NO idea who you are. Seems like common sense right? So I will move on ….

2. REACH OUT TO LESS IMPORTANT PEOPLE - Go to networking events. Go to #hopsandchops. Reach out to less important people and people who are in the same startup stage as yourself. They will be good brainstorming buddies. And please reach out to your CUSTOMERS – they often can teach you more than a lot of important people can – AND it will be VERY relevant to your startup -guaranteed !

3. WARM UP – Does NOT matter who you know. All that matters is who knows you. So, find the best situations for yourself – situations that make you look bright and smart and motivated – and inject yourself there. If you are really smart, you will make sure that the Dave Schappell’s are there while you do that. Simple ways of doing that? Participate in mailing lists, write blog posts, offer help to others, add value.

4. DO YOUR HOMEWORK - Learn enough about that important person you want to meet and figure out WHY you want to meet them. What value can they add? Make it easy for them to add value – give them a choice. Too busy to meet? Send them a slide deck, send them numbers, give them access to your site. A lot of these people WANT to help – so make it easy for them!

5. BRING BACK HOMEWORK – Know how every second person will give you  feedback and advice with regards to your start up? What do you do with those? If you made a to do list based on the feedback you get from everyone and tackle it before reaching out to your next set of people, you’d be asking for a lot fewer meetings, I guarantee you.

6. NETWORKING IS REALLY IMPORTANT BUT WILL AND SHOULD ALWAYS BE SECONDARY TO OUR WORK -If I am not making progress with my work – idea, implementation, customers …. I really have no idea what to talk about. Tell yourself that every morning – maybe a few times a day.When we focus on our work, the networking gets easier Somehow (LOL!) these people are smart like that – they really can somehow figure out if you have made progress.

7. GIVE SERENDIPITY A CHANCE - You know, just focus on what you are passionate about and keep engaging. More good comes out of the strangest of places and great relationships. So just go out there, be yourself and meet people and have fun. You are under enough stress to sell, already

I am a part of the Founder Institute this quarter. I have reached out to a number of the mentors through the program. I met Todd Hooper, Dan Shapiro, Will Hodgeman, Jordan Weisman, Adeo Ressi, Hillel Cooperman and more. I have had email exchanges will several of them after meeting them. Honestly, I will be thrilled if I find answers for all the questions they asked me …for that will mean I can bug them all over again. But for now, I am sitting happy, focusing on my work. And while I am grateful for their time, I am equally grateful to my peers at the Founder Institute – people like Richard Luck, Roy Leban have offered great feedback too. Yeah, I missed Dave Schappell at #hopsandchops but had a great conversation with @daryn (who I really was looking forward to meeting) !

And then, on the other hand, I have sent emails to friends and have had no response too. It all happens, it is a busy world but I am more than grateful for the help that I have had. So, before I go away to get work done, I will tell you this – let the important people know that it is okay for them to say NO – because they are human and more importantly because we are entrepreneurs – and we will find ways to get our work done and keep chugging along  – cause that is what entrepreneurs do !

@alliworthington @thestilettomom @alizasherman @lizstrauss at Blissdom

Yes, where are the women? WHERE are they?

Well, this past week, at least 500 women were at the Opryland hotel in Nashville, for the Blissdom conference. And yes, I was there as well – co-leading a workshop with THE Aliza Sherman

While I was there, I missed a bunch of blog posts exploring why there were not enough of women leaders and entrepreneurs in IT space.And out at Blissdom, I met a bunch of women entrepreneurs who knew more about the space of online business and advertising than most men I know.  And then, I also heard that women today are starting businesses at twice the rate of men.

Having heard all of that and having a startup myself, how can I NOT jump in here, right?

In his first article in BW, Vivek Wadhwa talks about the similarities between men and women and wonders if societal failure contributes to the lack of women …

Men and women also had similar motivations to launch a business. They shared the desire to build wealth and capitalize on business ideas. Both were drawn by the appeal of the startup culture and always wanted their own company. Neither wanted to work for someone else.

Given all the similarities in background and motivation for men and women entrepreneurs—and the fact that women now outnumber men in universities—we remain perplexed by the dearth of female startup executives.

Evidence suggests that this does not reflect a failure on the part of women but rather a societal failure. Consider the contrast with India, a country that is in many respects more conservative than the U.S. It might therefore be expected to be even less amenable to women in leadership. Yet there, women are rapidly rising through the top ranks of the business community.

( In a later article in techcrunch, he goes into a little more detail into why we are missing women entrepreneurs )

So here are my thoughts and experience regarding this topic  specifically …

When I came to the United States in 1999 and joined Ohio State as a Master’s student in Electrical Engineering, I was exposed to the “Women in Engineering” concept. Honestly, it kind of surprised me – nobody had really ever celebrated the fact that I was a girl and had finished my Engineering Bachelors in India. Yet, in the United States, they celebrated women and their accomplishments ….

As an entrepreneur with a startup looking for funding, I think a few things have been really key in my life to helping me get this far (no, I am not funded yet, so, do fund my startup ) and I cannot see how I would be where I am without each one of these factors. In some sense, I imagine all of these are essential to any woman (with kids especially) if she has to do this whole startup business … (Do note however, that there are PLENTY of women entrepreneurs in the non-tech but online spaces today…..)

As someone in the thick of this, I like to focus on what we can do to be successful ourselves while helping other women (and men ) achieve their own startup/life goals ….I am not looking to change the system -I will try to do that when I become a  VC myself …

So here is what contributed to me and where I am today (startup and all )-

1. my environment growing up – the good part

my dad is an entrepreneur. He failed before he succeeded and did very well.

2. my environment growing up – the bad part

Growing up in India, we could NOT walk down the road at 10 years old without the teasing, cat calling by the boys on the street. I learned early on not to worry about the things on the periphery that do not matter. It made me angry but I did not give a sh*t. SO unless something is really in my way, I do not waste my energy fighting it.

3. Engineering school was infested with women.So really, there was no struggle

I will tell ya, I felt no lesser than the boys here. I was in ECE with super smart women. The Computer Engineering Dept had almost 50% women. We rocked the campus in every way.This was when gender became a non-issue in my life. To fight the real fight, you have to put the gender thing aside. Preconceived notions only deter us from the real goals. With both my Masters in EE and Business, I rarely felt gender was an issue.

4. Learning to earn that respect

Working with software and coding was different. I learned that women had to earn respect while men got it by default. And frankly I was okay with it - I hated the disrespect but when I did get the respect it was pretty solid. I will never make sweeping generalizations, but most of the disrespect and/or challenge for my technical skills came from American men while from the Asian men, I mostly I experienced just a wider sense of dismissal (haha right ?) – like I just did not exist. But once I earned the respect, it was all great. And people (women too) who still liked to be jerks, I followed my rule 2

5. My mentors, cheerleaders and supporters are all mostly men and some very very very strong women

The men that challenged me became my mentors and supporters a lot of times. I choose the people that inspire me as my mentors – be it men or women. The women help in the sense that you can relate to a lot. When women help, they do go out of their way to help. And the strong and smart women are smart as hell. But then, I go with the people that inspire – I need both the men and women. I might be discriminated on, but I will NEVER discriminate when I choose my mentors. I need them all

6. And then, my secret society

I read what people say and write – because I relate. These people secretly inspire and keep me going – and they do not need to say or do much in order to do that ….. Aliza Sherman, Mona, Betsy Aoki, Shauna Causey, Tara Hunt, Cathy Brooks, Laura Fitton – all women I relate to in different ways and admire for their strength and passion.

7. The husband

My husband is an essential part of all this.Supporting the family, keeping the kids, working tirelessly to be mommy while I network with the men (really, ask my founderinstitute peers!). Nope, my parents are too old to support me and I cannot imagine anyone else doing this. My husband is my co-founder who works his backside off in the background – yeah, I need this man.

8. That sheer grit.Yeah, I am stubborn like that.

So, what can we do?

So, what is the solution to this “not enough women in tech startups” problem? I think not much – as women we should keep doing what we are doing – pushing the boundaries. This is like yet another perfect problem in a big corporation – one that needs to be hit up both top down and bottom up. And I am certainly in the bottom, so I can and continue to do one of the 3 things below to help (anyone, not just women) while I fight my own battles ….

1. Provide future entrepreneurs a past that inspires and teaches

The girls today need to hear the right stories, get the right inspiration.To really ACT on something like a startup as adults, we need to hear the right stories when we are little girls – not when we are 25. I believe that the seeds to do things like this are sown early on …..

2. A present that supports

Whether we have kids or not, we need men(or someone) that supports us. This is key if we have kids. But if we do not , we still need the men and women to support us for the sake of a strong base. Heck, is an essential ingredient for self esteem. So ask for that support from people willing to give it and do NOT let people take advantage of you. Everyone that I have reached out to and asked for help when I have really needed it have ACTUALLY helped me.

3. A fire deep inside us. We just need it.

If someone has it, I will help them find it. But finally, it has to come from somewhere deep inside THEM.

The articles that sparked my writeup -

Addressing the Derth of Female Entreprenuers by Vivek Wadhwa

A response to Vivek’s article by @Bfeld

You and your VCs have a gender problem by @Vivek Wadhwa (on @techcrunch)

Women Leaders in IT by Healy Jones

I kind of feel boring because I have nothing controversial to say. Perhaps I will come back and edit my post after I have tried to raise $ (but I will succeed, so maybe not ) …. But I do think it is important to BE the change we want to see – and if I kept complaining about the discrimination, I would never get anywhere myself …nor would I get people to change … I do think far more VCs might start funding women if they saw more no nonsense women pitching rather than complaining.There is a LOT of women doing it already ..so watch out now!

What has YOUR experience been? What advice do you have for me?

Last Monday, I started a program with the Founder Institute here in Seattle. I was the LAST person to sign up. And I am glad I did.

Here is a writeup about Founder Institute from another founder (Richard Luck of @bluyah ) attending the institute.

The Founder Institute creates a pool from 3.5% of each company formed as a part of the program and redistrbutes the proceeds from the pool back to each of the  institute(local and central), the mentors and the founders. The institute offers content, mentors (contacts), very smart and driven peer groups, pitch practice and meetings with VCs towards the end of the program. And with any program, what we do with what the institute offers is largely up to us, the founders. Adeo Ressi, said something like that – and if I was in his place, I’d have said the same thing.

You can read a lot about what the program is on the website. But let me tell you what I have as a result of the program in this past week.

1. Day 1 with 3 wonderful mentors. I have not had any further communication with any of the mentors from day 1, but we had fantastic content + inspiration from these three gentlemen. Yes, ongoing conversation and value is up to me, but considering I have a startup WAY close to open beta, I believe I could use their feedback and help!

• Glenn Kelman, CEO at Redfin
• Dave Parker, CEO at 9Spaces
• Jordan Weisman

2. A super smart peer group – We work in groups at the program. Adeo said we all did incredibly well on the admission tests Regardless, I have a super smart working group that I have already met with once. They are a great set of people that I can finally go into the details of my startup with.

3. 1 and 2 while I raise my kids and my startup - I am a mom. People think I am crazy to have given up a very comfortable and growing job at American Chemical Society to pursue a start-up, but what can I say …. I do a LOT while I bring up my kids and work on my company, all thanks to Pree (my husband), but in the last week, I have had 1 and 2 while he has been away in Europe (for 2 weeks!).

So 1, 2 and 3 are a big deal for me already, but  I am excited about what the future holds. I hope I can make the most of these people and the content going forward.

Is it all worth $600 + 3.5 % of my company?

Ahh, if you know me, you know that I will MAKE IT worth it. There. I rest my case.

AND THEN, WHAT ABOUT MEMETALES?

Okay, let me come clean.  I am guessing Memetales has evolved since the last time I blogged about what it exactly is. It has evolved in it’s value proposition, features and so on. I hear that such kind of evolution and refinement is a good thing though – especially since the core passion or vision remains to be the same – ” To unlock the best in every children’s picture book”. At Memetales, we continue to believe in the richness of picture books and understand that EACH and EVERY BOOK is a door to a whole new magical world – of creativity, imagination, sharing and excitement. The book itself, is the start and not the end of the creative process.

Memetales has a collaboration space to help people get together and build picture books. This collaboration space is a wonderful community where a bunch (>8) of books are close to completion. It took me less than a couple of months, however, to realize that if these books were to be truly celebrated + marketed, what Memetales needs to be is a Marketing platform unlike any other out there. And so, Memetales evolved into the concept it is today. The Collaboration Space will continue to thrive, but I am immersed in building the Marketplace – a much broader PLATFORM, meant to grow, scale and support the marketing of a gazzillion books, complementary content and merchandise around them.

So, here is the essence of Memetales -

Memetales puts the power of  Disney-like media and marketing platform in the hands of every writer, illustrator and small publisher of children’s picture books. Memetales is a children’s picture book platform that enables every single writer, illustrator and publisher work like Disney – by easily publishing their book online and creating rich media and products around their books and characters.

I tweeted this just a couple of hours ago -

I do believe that VERY very soon, everyone is going to put their children’s books online. Now that Disney and Sesame Street are using the channel, how can the others not? Memetales will be THE platform for EVERYONE else – and I hope people see the possibilities and value add provided by Memetales as a platform with  community and tools.

As I talk to some smaller publishers these days, some of them do wonder what value is there in it? I answer that in 2 parts – well, I do think they will lose out by not going online and secondly, how can there NOT be value in putting your book amongst book lovers and letting them talk about it (for a very low cost – even free until Memetales builds the charter library of 500 books!).

So, here is a quick video of Memetales -

So, what are YOU thinking? Does all this make any sense at all?

photo credit: Randy Stewart

My talk from Ignite Seattle 6 is online! I want to share that here. It is really weird to watch it – so I have not . It was a great experience though – watching the other talks and participating in it myself. Highly recommended!

This is basically what I said : Geekiness is something that resides on the inside – it is an attitude. Geeks explore stereotypes, geeks have a gaming attitude to challenges and geeks do not care about conforming. That is true geek spirit and to connect with one, you have to be one. And yes, geeky pick up lines work!

Special thanks to @bryanzug, @briandorsey @gregoryheller @davidscole for working to get and put the video together. Truly appreciated!

photo credit: HikingArtist.com

Good for me that I eat, sleep, walk and talk strategy. I do not enjoy the sleepless nights but I am grateful that I still see the strategy plan in as I get more and more invested – emotionally especially with my start-up.

No matter how cool I think my startup is, it is always important to ask the questions over and over again. Every day, every single day.

So what is unique about YOUR business? And why will people care about it? Let us TALK!

When you start your own company, be it big or small. you have to deliver. Every single day, every single minute.

I presented at IgniteSeattle last night. It was an awesome experience. Super awesome talks – just 5 minutes each. Talks that made us laugh, talks  that made us connect, talks that made us think.

That is when I realized – be it a startup or a 5 minute talk with 20 slides – YOU HAVE TO DELIVER. If you don’t, you are OUT OF BUSINESS. From what I saw,  it comes down to 3 things:

1. PASSION – Choose a topic/business that you feel passionately about. Passion is a prerequisite to everything.

2. Think about what VALUE you are packing into your talk/product/service. Why should someone care? What is the experience you are providing? If you cannot pack that value into 5 mins (that is ALL the time a customer ever has), your passion is wasted.

3. Does your talk/business/product/service have the ability to SPILLOVER? This is important – really important. If you do not create a spillover experience/value for your customer – or have the ability to better their lives in ways they don’t even realize, then you end up settling for a “commodity” business. And sooner or later, someone will consume you in that space.

While you are at it, don’t ever miss an Ignite event if it comes to your town. Go experience it, feel the energy, take some back home and put it to good use on your startup!

photo by stewtopia

Ideas are over rated.

Okay, do not scream. Please. Ideas carry a lot of weight, but I am a firm believer that good ideas are worth nothing without excellent execution. Success lies in a lot more than just the idea – just look at Search – Google, Yahoo and Microsoft are all fighting for that space. Digg, StumbleUpon, Delicious, Kirtsy – same sauce served differently.

SHARE YOU IDEA

So get over that fear. Unless you have an idea that involves building a quick application and holds a strong competitive advantage from being first-to-market, I say, so do not stress and get all nervous about telling people what you are planning with your business. Here is why -

LEARN

1. As a Business you learn – your business plan grows. As a person, you learn. You share your work and people feel more comfortable sharing their ideas, their experiences and learning. No matter how much time you spend writing your business plan (I do not believe in business plans in the first place!) , there is always something you might have missed out on since your competition can come from so many different spaces. People will tell you about that. People with complementary capabilities will approach you for an alliance. In a lot of ways, by letting the idea out, you are doing some very important market research very early on – and that can be a money saver AND valuable for long term business development

EVOLVE

2. As a business you evolve. As a person you evolve. The consequence of learning along the way is that you build a nimble business and a nimble self. Adaptable from day 1. Without your knowledge, you start to gather techniques that help you respond quickly – to the competitive landscape and to the stresses of being an entrepreneur. My own startup has evolved from point A to B to C and so on ….as a result of sharing and the feedback …

COMMUNITY

3. You build community. And this means, support for yourself and early adoptors for your business.

Okay, now you shared your idea and the BIG guys know what you are doing. And they can come and take over your space in a single day. What do you do about that???? Come back tomorrow and I will tell you!

Agree? Disagree? Please share your responses, idea, ask questions.

And if you enjoyed it, do share it on social media channel of your choice!

SMCSeattle hosted their third event last night. I had a wonderful time meeting some warm and incredibly intelligent people out there. If you or your company (big or small) has anything to do with Social Media, I suggest you come out and socialize at the next SMCSeattle event. It is a great event to network, make friends and have an intellectually stimulating conversation.

I want to share with you a couple of videos and some information about Presentation Camp -

1. Here I am talking to Kevin Urie who started the Seattle chapter of the Social Media Club. I talk to him briefly about the rapid growth of SMCSeattle and how companies can get involved/benefit from it.

2. I also spoke with Brian Westbrook. Brian works with Seattle2.0 (along with Danille Morrill) to stream every event that would be beneficial to the startup community here in Seattle. If you cannot make it to an event in the Seattle area, be sure to go out to http://seattle20.com/live and be sure to check if there is indeed a livestream of the event.

3. I wanted to let everyone know about Presentation Camp Seattle taking place on April 4th

From the website -

“PresentationCamp is an ad-hoc gathering of passionate folks who want to share, interact and spread the love around the topic of presentation design and delivery. It’s for anyone interested in public speaking, pitching and presenting. Come to learn, come to share: everyone walks away knowing”

I am sure it will be a great day with everyone participating and learning. Note that Presentation Camp takes place in BarCamp format – which is the format most conducive to learning. So, join in and participate and learn.  You can register here. If you have any questions your person is Kathy Gill (@kgill).
photo credit: kindergentler2001

I was at SocComm. And I picked a bunch of what I call Social Media realities and want to share with you. I follow up each reality with a thought on where the money is in relation to that reality. If you choose one of these ways to monetize Social Media then remember to use the “TRUTH” in your USP(unique selling proposition) somehow. And then, when you get all rich, come back and share some with me and donate some to children’s charities or animal shelters

Do not forget to subscribe to the Geekdance feed for a follow up post on the Monetizing Framework.

1.To make real connections you have to be vulnerable - Jeff Pulver

This is one basic truth. The most important one, I think. Connections online or in real life work only if they are real. And real connections are formed when we give a part of ourselves to the relationship – whether it be helping others, sharing our lives or being vulnerable. Connections are all about trust. And there is no trust developed between two people without sharing and giving. You can fake it for a day but building lasting sustainable relationships online or offline is about being yourself and being vulnerable.

The MONEY? Can you find ways to let people be vulnerable and feel comfortable? Can you create communities for sharing? Can you act as a liaison between a product and the market and find ways to establish trust between them? Can you create the next twitter that will let people all over the world connect and form real connections? If you can do one of these you got yourself a business model

Jeff Pulver does this well. With live-tagging, his breakfast sessions and conferences such as this one, he brings together people and lets them open up, interact and be vulnerable.

2. ABC – Always Be Connecting – Chris Brogan

I cannot seem to connect in order to connect because of a strong belief that I need to believe in everything I do to be able to do it. And until I heard Chis Brogan talk, my head and heart were in disagreement about “always connecting”. Watching Chris Brogan, I learned that we should be connecting all the time because the connections are what define his space. Because we are the medium. By connecting all the time, we are keeping the medium alive. Adding value by participating in the fabric of social communications.

The MONEY? Can you get people to connect? Can you do what it takes to join the links? When there are 10 people in the room, how do you get them to talk? Can you teach people the secret to connect ALL the time. And how do you sustain those connections? How do you make it ongoing?  Not easy, but that is exactly why there is the money in the space.

3. We all have vested interests and social media allows us to promote them to each other. We all have our own truths. – Fred Wilson

ME: I think twitter is so widely successful because most people are there for business – to connect and to promote themselves. We all have our own truths and anyone who is setting out to prove that there is one universal truth is just wasting his/her time. I think it is time for all of us to say what Fred said and move on about our business. It is good to remember though that while we all have our truths, the best way to promote ourselves and our own truths is by helping others promote their truths. I know this sounds like an inspiration blog stuff – but I confuse my blogs sometimes.

The MONEY? – Can you let people share their truth and feel valued? Facebook added newsfeeds(to make money) and since then I have discovered some real activists amongst my connections there. Fred Wilson talked about Boxee(he has a stake in it). He says we don’t care about channels anymore – which is true. Do I care if a program I like is on NBC or ABC ? Not really (unless I have a stake in those companies myself). I have to agree with Fred when he says what really matters to me is what other people I connect with are watching/reading/liking. So if you can help people share their truth, you are in business. I do hope I can do this with Memetales. So far it seems to be working well. I am excited and guess what – my truth has morphed into the truths of the people in the Memetales Community. Their cause becomes mine. I am loving it.I hope it works

4. Not everyone is just sharing and caring. @JeffJarvis makes $ selling books; @Garyvee makes $ selling wine …(but) Wealth  is more than just money. Attention and Intention are great wealth engines – Shelley Pamer

If we want to monetize on what is out there today, we have to focus on what creates “value”. Always be very aware of what “value” means to YOUR target market. Can you help people create value of some sorts. Don’t focus on just money. explore any value you can deliver (pretty much the premise of this post). If you deliver here, you can create you own space.

The MONEY - Are you a blogger and can you help bloggers write? Are you a teacher and can you help teachers teach in a new space (online for example)? Did you start your business and can you help small businesses take off? If you can help people focus on their passion by taking the hard work out of figuring out what they find hard (what is not their focus), then you have some ways to make money. People want to focus on their passions, so see how you can do that.

5. Life is a beta. Make mistakes – make them well. - Jeff Jarvis

Jeff Jarvis called life a beta. So true. So so true. Don’t wait for the day you feel perfect and ready. You will never start making money that way. You will never start doing what you love. It is time to play along and make mistakes. The web lets us do that. It is time to take advantage of that.

The MONEY? This truth can make you money by saving you LOTS of it. Making mistakes does not make money directly, but it creates a great path towards making money. It is also a wonderful way to save money. I have been an open business at Memetales from day 1. If you have a question and I have the answer – I tell you. This approach has been wonderful and it has started working in the other direction too. If people in the community have an idea then they speak up. I have been getting some awesome ideas for Memetales from the community. And I really would not get such ideas even if I paid big bucks for it. And will I make mistakes along the way? I hope to apologize when I do and move on. I am a real person just like anyone else, right?

6. Making a human connection, at the end of the day, that’s what social is all- Kenny Miller, EVP, MTV Networks Global Digital Media

There is nothing more to say, is there? Kenny Miller said it well. When I stayed home after I quit my job and moved cross country, I started an inspiration blog. To put down everything in my head. But what ended up happenning was real connections.

The MONEY? -Real connections give you a wonderful opportunity to better you social proof because of the trust element due to the human connections. Word of mouth works wonders to build a strong brand – especially when your business is taking off or you are in trouble. You can certainly make a LOT of money if you can teach someone or a company how to make a :”human connection” as opposed to a “connection solely for maketing purposes”. Can companies and brands do that? And how? In a world where people primarily communicate over virtual channels, how do we figure out how to make a human connection?

7. Be passionate about helping/community.  – Katja Presnal on the panel by  Lindsay Maines, Katja Presnal, Audrey McClelland, Beth Feldman

Katja is such a great example of success doing what you love. She is what she called a perfect example of “promotion through anti-promotion”. I call this “pull” vs “push”. You do not promote yourself – instead you project yourself as a helpful person involved in community and truly connect people and do it long enough and people will start thinking of you as a connector. It is hard work wither way – so you might as well promote yourself by helping others rather than just markeing yourself directly.

The MONEY? - I don’t have to say anything here. There are enough and more people that have done this and proven that the money will follow. Choose who you want to help and go for it. Help them for free while you have a steady stream of income and very soon you will quit your full time job because people  will want to pay for your help.

8. If you are not doing what you are passionate about, you are an idiot -Gary Vaynerchuk, Wine Library TV

GaryVee truly rocks. When he talks, you cannot NOT listen. Although there were parts fo his talk that I would have not agreed with, there was no point challenging him – he was passionate and he was speaking his truth. And I have to say – if you watch Gary speak live, you will realize, even if you are doing something you trulyl love, that there is more of yourself that you can give to what you are doing. This guy shook me up.

The MONEY? - There are 2 parts to the story – do what you love but be smart about it. Doing what you love is great but you will not make the money unless you create value and tell your buyer (either explicitly or implicitly) why they should buy from you and not anyone else. Be smart about executing it and find a partner with a business head .

9. Fans (People) crave authentic interaction- Laura Roeder

Laura is a gentle soul. She drew our attention towards the fact that it does not matter if you are a celebrity or a normal person. Everyone craves authentic interaction. This is no great secret.

The MONEY? The target for this service is the “rich and famous”. If you (or somebody) is already in business and making money figure out how you can be authentic in your interactons and grow your business – at evry touch point – on your blog, in your advertising material, in every email and in every conversation. Teach the stars, the heroes, the celebrities how to maintain an authentic channels for interaction and help them share their wealth with you

10. Listen to your employees. There is a marketplace of ideas within the company. – Peter Hirschberg, co-founder + Chairman,The Conversation Group

This is so true. Just like Shelly Palmer brought our attention to the fact that not all wealth = money, not all satisfaction comes from money. A big part of the satisfaction in life comes from getting feedback, appreciation and being concerned. So when you have a problem in your organization and you think you cannot fix it without bringing the next big consultant and paying him big bucks, think again. We have incredibly talented people who are passionate in our own organizations. Think of what you can give them if you cannot give money. Yes, money goes a long way but money alone does nothing. A little money and a LOT of something can produce big results. Talk to your employees and community. Let them come up with the ideas to fix problems.

The MONEY? – With this attitude built into your orgnizational management from day 1, you are all set to make smart financial decisions all along. You will save money and build an organization with a higher collectuve satsfaction. And the company will belong to the commuity – and believe me, you do not want it any other way!

What are your thoughts? Questions?

Put your thoughts in the comments or @thinkmaya on twitter and we can talk about how YOU can make money in the social media space

photo credit: udono

I saw Chris Brogan last week. At SocComm. I talked with him for a couple of minutes and heard him talk at the summit. Here is my account of what I learned and experienced that day -

NOTE: SKIP TO THE SLIDESHOW IN THE END IF YOU WANT A QUICK RECAP OF THE NOTES I MADE FROM THE CHRIS BROGAN TALK AT SOCCOMM

Chris Brogan’s first question to the audience was “Why are we not connecting all the time?“

I am sure I missed out on the next couple of minutes of his talk as I wondered why I do not connect all the time? Maybe I equate connecting to schmoozing/selling? I cannot seem to connect in order to connect because  I really need to believe in everything I do. And until I heard Chis Brogan talk about why we should connect, my head and heart were in disagreement about “always connecting”.How can I do something that I believe in my heart to be sleazy??

Watching Chris Brogan, I learned a simple truth. (The following paragraphs are my thoughts – not things Chris said ) . We should all be connecting all the time because the connections are what define the social media space. Without us, there is no medium. We are the medium. By connecting all the time, we are keeping the medium alive. Adding value by participating in the fabric of social communications.

We are all the system. Does that make sense? Social Communications is not about a bunch of social networks or facebook or twitter. It is all of that along with the people in it. Social media will work best when the people become the medium because that is the way it is meant to be. By accepting the fact that we should connect because connecting is what defines the space, we will make the space more effective, add value, share value and help others connect.

Why am I picking on Chris Brogan?

I don’t know. Because he gave a talk so close to a talk about life, maybe? Perhaps because, amidst all his social media geekiness, he first and foremost appears like a person? Maybe I pick on him because he is the perfect beauty of paradoxes… because how much he taught me so much in such little time. I pick on him because he knows how to be BIG by being small, really small.

This is one guy who has gotten it. He floats seamlessly between the real and virtual worlds, the digital and the analog. He seems to tweet all the time but manages to be present wherever he is.Brogan is a genius. And a real person.

I wish I had spoken more with Chris Brogan. Especially after his advice about connecting. But it is hard. For someone like me. To hang around a multitude of people waiting to talk with Chris. The conference space was crowded enough and there were bigger crowds around people like Chris. I stopped to say hello to Chris. I did not know what to say – we might have had 20-40 seconds between us.Some highlights of the 5 minutes I hung aorund him:

• Chris looked me in the eye while he talked. He does that with everyone.
• And he says people’s names. Multiple times.Every time he talks to them. Perhaps 5 times in 40 seconds?
• And then, when other people jumped in to say hello or were lurking around, he pulled them into the existing conversation, ever so gently, by introducing us to each other.
• In the few minutes I hung around him, he had introduced me to 2 people that I’d have never met otherwise. Chris is not just a person in this space – he is THE space – the medium. Guy Kawasaki introduced me to someone the minute I told him about my startup, Melanie Notkin did that too. On Twitter. These people get it. They are the space. They define it and help it evolve. And they don’t make a big deal about it.

Here is why I wish I had spoken more with Chris Brogan. I came home and watched his talks at the Tools of Change conference that took place in New York the same time that SocComm took place. I was following the #toc updates all day on twitter (thanks @writermama!). If I had just hung around Chris longer, would we have been able to talk about #toc? What would Chris Brogan have to say about my startup dealing with children’s books? My startup that is leveraging the social, the collaboration aspects and the new trends in publishing? If I had hung around Chris a little longer the conversation would have perhaps steered that way?

But then, as Chris Brogan says,“always think about what will be”.

The next time I meet someone like Chris or Chris Brogan himself, I will have a lot to talk about. But then, I wonder how much I will say because I will be busy being the medium – helping others connect. And who knows, perhaps we ALL will have an enlightening discussion and people I never knew existed will give me the greatest insights into what I am doing! I await this magic of the Social Media space.

So there – be connecting, all the time. Magical conversations and learning happens from connecting. Connect for the sake of yourself, connect for the sake of the others and connect because you cannot be a lurker in this space.

Enjoy the little presentation I made with a few other things Chris Brogan taught me that day. I will put a follow up post and a presentation with what I learned from the other speakers with my take on Social Communications.

image by chrisbrogan

Lessons for Social Media — From Chris Brogan

View more presentations from thinkmaya. (tags: soccomm chrisbrogan)

Were you at SocComm? What did you learn?