June 24, 2016 by

Make Certain You Eat Your Fruit Everyday!

Fruity Pebbles - Eating Fruit?A person who is a casual acquaintance, named Roger, attended a unique networking event hosted by me in New York City. He was my guest along with three other people. During the closing fifteen minutes we break away from the conference table and mingle with each other in true networking style.

Roger came up to me to thank me for the invitation and to say what an excellent group of people to meet. Unfortunately, he said, I am already committed to a networking group for this year. My questions were then about this other networking group. He said, well actually, I have been a member of it for over ten years and it does nothing for me. In fact, I stopped giving referrals to anyone three or four years ago because no one ever gives me any, that work out, you know, turn into business.

I asked him “Why do you continue to go and continue to be a member of this group?” Well, Roger stated, as if the answer was so obvious why would anyone ask? “Some of the people are now my friends, the day and time work and fit into my schedule so why not? After all, everyone knows me now? The fee is only a few hundred bucks a year.”

Let me stop this story for a moment to be picked up again soon.

A few days ago in reference to something completely different, my wife, Dr. Patty Ann, made this statement – “Why it is just like someone eating Fruity Pebbles Cereal in the morning and saying – well of course – I had my fruit today!” Dr. Patty Ann Tublin

Now this was an amazing statement for what we were discussing. Even better was that this quote was going to be utilized in an article written by me somewhere really soon.

Who knew it would happen this quickly! Thanks DPA!

Back to Roger and his networking group. I said “Roger, look it is great you have attended our meeting today. Thank you for coming here. If you would like to speak with me for an introductory, no cost, call for twenty minutes, we can continue this conversation. Right now there are other guests who must be greeted by me. One quick question though, is anyone in your current networking group someone you conduct any business with or in fact have you ever conducted business with anyone from your group?” Well, Roger said, “that is a long story, may I have another one of your business cards?”

The short answer is no – no one – ever.

Now Roger is on my calendar for his introductory, no cost, call for twenty minutes. Do you see how he thinks he is networking – yet – he is not networking at all!

Kind of like eating fruity pebbles for breakfast and thinking you had all of your fruit for the day!

Are you networking or is your networking not working? Contact Mitch here for your Introductory, no cost, call for twenty minutes today.

Mitch Tublin is an advanced, certified executive coach, business consultant and professional speaker based in Stamford, CT.

Filed Under: Business Networking, Networking Tagged With: , , , , ,
March 31, 2016 by

What Type of Networker Are You?

What Type of Networker Are YouSeriously, what type of networker are you?

Recently this is the conversation between these three young professional guys going into the same networking event as me:

“Dude I brought over a hundred of my cards and I plan on getting more than that many before I leave here today!”

“Man, I am going to sell all the way through this event. I am going in here to close some business.”

“Do you think there are any cute chicks going to be here?”

At least one of the three had a potentially winning mindset!

Do you think you are going to a networking event to collect new business cards? You don’t really think you are going to meet someone at a networking event and you are going to close business deals with them right there, that day, at the networking event?

Let’s set the table for the proper meal. If you believe the saying people do business with those people who they know like and trust – Networking is the first step on the know, like and trust staircase!

Here are three key items for you to be a great networker

First is your own mindset.

Be in the frame of mind, thinking – “how may I add value to others, here today, for each person I meet, how may I add value to them.”

This one small habit of thought before each networking event you plan to attend will do wonders for you and how you present yourself to others.

Second is know your talking points about yourself so you may speak them clearly and in a one or two minute maximum statement. It is possible you might have a few of these ready to go depending upon the group you run into at the networking event.

Third is you should be prepared to ask questions and then listen, then ask more questions and listen some more. Show genuine interest and ask questions of the people you meet. Too often people will say their two to three minutes and then the next person is barely able to hold back and they begin to blurt out their own ten minute story of their life!

Is there more to becoming a great networker? Of course there is! Would you be interested in joining a call about better and more effective networking skills CLICK HERE.

Meanwhile add these three key steps into your networking preparation habits to become a better networker.

Mitch Tublin is an advanced, certified coach, business consultant and speaker who resides in Stamford, CT.

Filed Under: Business Networking, Networking Tagged With: , , , ,
September 24, 2015 by

Dreaming About Starting Your Own Business?

Starting Your Own BusinessAre you dreaming about starting your own business? Many people who have a job working for a company dream about starting their own business. The majority of these folks do not act on their dreams. The story about why we should follow up on our dreams is a story for another day! Really – promise to send that one out soon!

For the few people in the minority, who do in fact take action on their dream to start their own business, the reality of starting and running your own business is a serious and potentially overwhelming endeavor.

For anyone currently in a job who is ready to take action on their dream to start their own business here are three main areas to focus on as you move along the timeline of your journey.

STAGE ONE – PLANNING

While you are still employed – which means you are bringing home the bacon – plan! The first part of the plan is a review of self. This would be begin with your mindset and personality. Do you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur?

The second part is what is the business – the actual way to earn money? Is this a product or a service? What is the competition? What makes you different? Will people pay you for what you are going to deliver or sell?

There are numerous other initial aspects to planning. Many of these may be uncovered by taking a few assessments such as to uncover your leadership skills and abilities. These assessment results should be reviewed with you and a certified coach. Other items range from creating a financial plan, securing professional support such as a Lawyer, an Accountant and an online expert for developing websites and more. A trusted advisor will be able to guide you through this process.

STAGE TWO – TAKE ACTION STEPS

In this stage you may still be employed for a period of time. Once you are ready to begin networking in person, advertising your new business and creating the legal entity it would be wise to double check your rules of employment. Often rules do exist which state you are not permitted to run your own business while being employed by your current employer. This would especially be the case if the industry is similar to the one you are currently working in. In either case, in a perfect world you would keep your current job until there is a predetermined amount of cash flow coming in from your new business. Therefore do not leave your job as long as you are able to keep working while you create your new business.

In this second stage you would begin to determine your niche, your ideal client profile, develop your brand, your website and your social media profile for your business. A trusted advisor will be able to guide you through this process.

STAGE THREE – PUSH START!

This is the stage when you are open for business. The initial part of this stage is to double and triple check everything you have done so far and make certain you are ready to start!

Typically items which were left to set up at this point are banking, online credit card processing, marketing consistently, your sales funnel and much more.

As you are able to see running your own business may be more work than having that job where your dreams first moved you to go in this direction. The best investment you will make if you plan to start your own business is to establish a relationship with a trusted advisor who will be able to work with you as you progress in this process. The last thing you want to do is try to go down this path all by yourself!

Mitch Tublin is an advanced certified executive coach and business consultant who resides in Stamford, CT.

If you are considering starting your own business or already running a business speak with Mitch and potentially there will be an opportunity for you to work with him as your trusted advisor. –>> Sign up here for a free twenty minute call <<–

Filed Under: Business Planning, Business Strategy, Business Structure Tagged With: , , , , ,
June 4, 2015 by

Top Ten List of Things to Remember as Summer Approaches

David Letterman had his final Top Ten List on his last show 5/21: 

In honor of that, here are the Top Ten List of Things to Remember as Summer Approaches (for entrepreneurs and small business owners).

NUMBER 10 – All networking does not stop in the Summer! Summer is actually a great time to go out and network.

NUMBER 9 – Is your clothing looking a little ragged? Summer is a great time to upgrade your wardrobe. You need to be able to dress the part and look professional.

NUMBER 8 – Unless you play Basketball in the NBA, or some other professional sport, you want to look as professional as possible. A long unkept beard may work as a professional athlete, but less so in other areas. First impressions matter!

NUMBER 7 – Meet a networking contact or two for lunch each week. You should be doing this anyway! It’s finally nice outside (after a very cold winter), pick some place outdoors.

NUMBER 6 – You are almost halfway through the year – have you achieved your goals? If not, how can you reach them – create actionable steps. If you have, set some new goals for the 2nd half of the year!

NUMBER 5 – If you gave up on working out at the health club on January 2, get outside and go for a long walk every morning or evening. Leave the phone home and ask someone to join you instead – in person.

NUMBER 4 – Create a list of books you want to read over the summer. Obtain the books. Begin to read them. (Okay you are right these are three things.)

NUMBER 3 – Get creative in your business – step outside of the box and have some fun.

NUMBER 2 – Go out to eat with friends and family and enjoy ‘al fresco’ dining.

NUMBER 1 – Plan to take some time off and relax. And most importantly, turn off the devices!

Thank you David Letterman – we will miss you.

Mitch Tublin is a business consultant, advanced and certified personal and executive coach and a professional speaker who resides in Stamford, CT.

Ready to go to the next level? Work with Mitch for the next ninety days as your personal coach >> CONTACT MITCH HERE <<

Filed Under: Business Strategy Tagged With: , , , , , ,
March 6, 2015 by

Are You Goal-less?

Are you goal-lessSome people are not interested in setting a goal. They tell me they do not want to write out their goals or talk about their goals. In case you are interested words that come to mind as the opposite of the word goal are: aimlessness, avoidance, heedlessness, negligence, purposelessness and thoughtlessness. There may be more words.

This entire line of thinking is amazing to me. How can you not have at least one single goal? How are you going to hit the target when you are not aiming at the target? In fact you are saying “the target does not even exist!”

Taking this one step further, how are you going to measure your productivity or measure if what you might be working on is getting the results you wish to achieve without a clearly written out goal? How would you be able to take corrective action in time without the ability to effectively measure ongoing performance?

Let’s reel this back into a daily activity to prove the value of a small goal. Let’s assume you know you are going to attend a networking event where there may be anywhere from fifty to one hundred attendees. During the days prior to the event by taking the time to conduct some research, you should be able to figure out who will be attending this event.

Where the goal comes into play, is to set the goal to meet and speak with a specific list of twelve people in order to connect with them, and then to follow up to meet with them again one on one. If instead no time was spent conducting research and no time was spent analyzing beforehand and setting up a goal, there would be no certainty of what contacts might be made at this event at all.

Intentional relationship building is my name for this effort. It is networking with purpose and thought. This is not to say you cannot meet someone randomly. You may do exactly that and this person may turn out to become one of your best clients or referral sources – you never know. The point is to at the very least start out with plan and then take it from there with experience and knowledge.

Grab a free audio “Face Your Fears to Move Forward” here.

Mitch Tublin is an advanced certified executive and personal coach who resides in Stamford, CT.

Filed Under: Achieve Goals Tagged With: , , , ,
February 20, 2015 by

Are You Becoming A Cave Dweller?

Tcave-in-rockshe cave dweller syndrome may be impacting your ability to connect, communicate and socialize. A CEO may have cave dweller syndrome. This is when the CEO has the hidden corner office and rarely comes out to interact with fellow employees. A large publicly traded company CEO may have access to a limo, a protection team and a private jet. Not much interaction going on here with the “regular folks”.

The CEO might answer, “Do you know how many meetings I attend?” … “Okay and how many people there challenge you or in reality bobble head yes to everything you say. This is not interacting. It is closer to dictating.”

A founder of a start up may spend hours or even days locked up working on the idea, the concept, the rollout and easily loses track of time. Often the human interaction in person with other people may fall by the wayside. As cave dweller syndrome sets in there is limited feedback or interaction from the outside world.

The entrepreneur busy running their own business may have cave dweller syndrome. They may find themselves squirreled away for hours on end working on their business and not interacting, not networking, not socializing with other people other than their family and often not doing this too well (a topic to discuss in another article).

Recently in speaking with one of the under thirty generation about daily habits, work and productivity, the topic of staying in touch with the news and current events came up.

Basically the entire idea of staying in touch with what is going on in the world and current news is considered ‘clutter’ of the mind. If a topic of interest happens to come over on twitter or on facebook and the item appears to be of interest, well then it is looked up online. Maybe one or a few newsfeeds are subscribed to or not.

What do you think about this behavior? Would you consider this to be higher productivity and a clear mind to get work done more effectively or another cave dweller syndrome participant?

Here are a few suggestions which will not greatly interrupt the established routine and may actually pull someone out of the cave dweller syndrome.

First – join a round table or a mastermind group. The CEO might participate in an Executive Mastermind Group. Confidentiality is primary and best practices and advice are openly shared. Similar to groups run by me.

Second – work with an Executive Coach, trusted advisor, a person from the outside who is there for you and only for you. Study after study reflect the great performance improvement and impact of working with an Executive Coach. The ICF certification held by me is attained by less than 5% of coaches.

Third – network like your life depends upon it. NSN – Never Stop Networking. Start by approaching this by thinking – “how may I add value to others?”

Want some guidance on networking listen to my networking audio – click here to download my Ninja Networking Secrets audio and be sure to follow me on Facebook.

Mitch Tublin is an advanced certified executive and personal coach, a business consultant and professional speaker who resides in Stamford, CT.

 

Filed Under: Business Networking, Business Strategy, Coach Mentor Tagged With: , , , , ,
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