Transition Solutionz - 5 Necessary Skills Series

If you are in transition or concerned about your job, this series is a must for you. Author and consultant, Richard S. Pearson will be joining show hosts Chicke Fitzgerald and Tiffany Topcik to talk about the 5 necessary skills needed to keep your career on track.

#5in5 - Who should I add to my network and how? Five in Five series

It is a good idea to start your networking with those that you know and those that you trust (and those that trust you!). Your address book is an excellent place to start.

If you use a hosted email/address book product, such as GMail, AOL Mail or Yahoo Mail, many of the social networking systems have an auto-import feature to invite those that are not yet members of their network to become your "friend".

If you use an email/address book system based on your computer, you will first need to do some housecleaning. You can then either manually go through and add people to each of your networks (we have a tool to help you - download HERE), or once your address book is updated, you can export your address book to one of the hosted email products so that you may use the auto-import feature.

Whatever your situation, don't attempt to do your updates all in one sitting. Lay out a realistic game plan and work on it for a minimum of 5 minutes per day (if you have a large address book, it may take more than 5 minutes a day, so allocate your time realistically). In any event, it should not take you more than 20 business days. I guarantee that it will feel good when you are done!

Today's five steps in five minutes will move you closer to taking full advantage of the social grid in your networking:

1. Book time on your own calendar for the next 20 business days to go through each letter of the alphabet and decide who to add to what network (you can combined some letters such as E-F, I-J, O-P-Q, U-V and X-Y-Z).
   
2. In your Facebook account (and yes, we do recommend that you use Facebook for all of your network needs) set up different lists for each type of relationship (e.g. business, former co-workers, real life friends, prospects, friends of friends, school friends, family, etc.). Go to Friends page and Create New List for each category. Then when you invite people from your cleaned up "A" list tomorrow, you'll be able to classify them!
3. If you use Twitter, then consider using a product like Tweetdeck.com to separate the people that you follow into groups. I have a list for my "real friends" and my "real colleagues" versus those that I don't know firsthand.
4. Choose at least one business oriented network, such as LinkedIn or Plaxo, particularly if you are in transition. Make sure you list your full work history, particularly in Plaxo, as they will search your past companies automatically for you to see if you want to connect with former colleagues. I list all the companies that I have consulted for as well as those that I worked for (with Consulting Advisor as the title).
5. Write down your starting network numbers for each of your networks at the beginning of this project and see how far you advance your network at the end of 20 days!
   

Once you've taken these preparation step, mark the calendar for 20 business days out and check the size of your networks then!

SPAM - The Icon

#5in5 - Workflow tips for Social Networking Success - Five in Five series

Today's tips are really just common sense. When it comes right down to it, success usually relies on just executing what you know is right.

1. First thing in the morning, open your favorite browser.
2. Open separate tabs for the social media tools that you are committed to using faithfully
3. Set up a time on your calendar every day and book it as you would a meeting to update each one of the platforms (e.g. 8am - 815am Facebook, 815am - 830am LinkedIn, etc.)
4. Use your time to post/repost/retweet, to add a few new friends/connections. Honor the time commitment in your calendar so that you don't get "sucked" in. If you need more time for one component (e.g. writing a new blog or recording a video), then set aside a special amount of time or even a special day for that activity.
5. Perform at least one random act of social media kindness (write a recommendation, compliment someone else on something they have written).

Chicke Fitzgerald | founder | Solutionz Media

#5in5 Stratospheric social media tips - Five in Five series

The Go-Giver is a gem of a book, written by John David Mann and Bob Burg. The book outlines 5 laws of stratospheric success. Law #3 of The Go-Giver is The Law of Influence, which says, “Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first.”

So today's five in five series outlines 5 ways that you can place other's interests before your own. Random acts of social media if you will!

If you don't have the accounts that I refer to in each action, create one and link to some friends and colleagues on each!

1. Go to Linked in and write Recommendations for 3 of your friends or colleagues.
2. Visit a blog on a topic that you are passionate about (http://blogsearch.google.com/) and write a comment on one of the posts.
3. Watch a video on YouTube and if you like it, take the time to say something nice in the comments about the video (if you need a headstart, try www.youtube.com/chickefitz)
4. Re-tweet someone's post on Twitter
5. When you accept an invitation on Facebook, take the time to recommend some other people that they should link to.

Here's a secret - if you do this for 30 days, I guarantee you that you will see stratospheric benefits!

Twitter Basics - Get on the Social Graph, Catch the Buzz

Have you been hearing the buzz about Twitter? Is the Pope Catholic?

If you have been afraid that Twitter will suck you in and you will become the man on the commercial "tweeting" about sitting on the deck with his teenage children rolling their eyes, watch this video and get some ideas on how this micro-blogging tool can help you grow your network, your reputation, your brand, your business.