One of our Toasmtasters and InSights friends, Johnny Storm, is travelling to Russia on Saturday to adopt two little boys from an orphanage. One of the things that the kids in the orphanage really need is shoes. We are sending out a 24 hour request to anyone who is able…please bring or drop off to the InSights Group on Friday, May 1st, any new or used childrens shoes from infant sizes to approximately youth size 5. We’d like to send a care package with Johnny to help out and spread some joy. The shoes can be new or used, what the children often have on their feet are what we would throw away…. If you have any or can pick any up from yard sales or goodwill, please leave at the front desk @ InSights on Friday so we can include them in the care package!!!

One of our Toasmtasters and InSights friends, Johnny Storm, is travelling to Russia on Saturday to adopt two little boys from an orphanage. One of the things that the kids in the orphanage really need is shoes. We are sending out a 24 hour request to anyone who is able…please bring or drop off to the InSights Group on Friday, May 1st, any new or used childrens shoes from infant sizes to approximately youth size 5. We’d like to send a care package with Johnny to help out and spread some joy. The shoes can be new or used, what the children often have on their feet are what we would throw away…. If you have any or can pick any up from yard sales or goodwill, please leave at the front desk @ InSights on Friday so we can include them in the care package!!!

We had a fantastic meeting about business cards today in our regular Wednesday Organic Marketing class. We had a basket of hundreds of cards, picked our favorites and picked on those that weren’t. Collectively we came up with a list of do’s and dont’s as they pertain to your business cards.

What is the purpose of a card?

1.       Holds your contact information

2.       Creates an emotional impact on the viewer, so they remember you

3.       It should be memorable

4.       4. It’s a point of reference

What a business card is NOT:

1.  It is not a brochure

2. It is not an advertisement

3. It is not a place to put everything

4. It’s not a place for small fancy writing

Here is the information that should be included on your business card:

1. Your photo. we want to know who we are referencing with the card. Especially if you do a lot of networking, putting your picture on the card helps people remember who you are. People are much better with remembering faces than they are names, make it easier for them! When they go to look you up on Facebook when your pictures match they know they have the right person.

2. Include your basic contact information, name, company name phone number, email, website, and some reference to physical location

3. Make sure you include some reference to what you do on your card. If your name says it all that’s great. If it’s not clear at first glance give a few word explanation of what you do

The quality of the cardstock is important as well as the look, feel and color scheme. Stand out from the crowd. Do something other than a white card with black text. Use all of the real estate available on the card, the front and the back, or use two fronts. Be creative, memorable and make a statement.

What are some of the best things you have seen, the worst, and your favorites? Share your stories, or better yet drop off some examples or pop them in the mail!

What’s on your business card?

We had a fantastic meeting about business cards today in our regular Wednesday Organic Marketing class. We had a basket of hundreds of cards, picked our favorites and picked on those that weren’t. Collectively we came up with a list of do’s and dont’s as they pertain to your business cards.

What is the purpose of a card?

1.       Holds your contact information

2.       Creates an emotional impact on the viewer, so they remember you

3.       It should be memorable

4.       4. It’s a point of reference

What a business card is NOT:

1.  It is not a brochure

2. It is not an advertisement

3. It is not a place to put everything

4. It’s not a place for small fancy writing

Here is the information that should be included on your business card:

1. Your photo. we want to know who we are referencing with the card. Especially if you do a lot of networking, putting your picture on the card helps people remember who you are. People are much better with remembering faces than they are names, make it easier for them! When they go to look you up on Facebook when your pictures match they know they have the right person.

2. Include your basic contact information, name, company name phone number, email, website, and some reference to physical location

3. Make sure you include some reference to what you do on your card. If your name says it all that’s great. If it’s not clear at first glance give a few word explanation of what you do

The quality of the cardstock is important as well as the look, feel and color scheme. Stand out from the crowd. Do something other than a white card with black text. Use all of the real estate available on the card, the front and the back, or use two fronts. Be creative, memorable and make a statement.

What are some of the best things you have seen, the worst, and your favorites? Share your stories, or better yet drop off some examples or pop them in the mail!

What’s on your business card?

A really cool link came across my email today, with some information about Xobni. I wasn’t sure how to pronounce the name, but downloaded the plugin to my computer anyway. Xobni works with outlook to organize contacts, emails, files, and social media sites Facebook and LinkedIn, all within your outlook inbox. Contacts are organize, the service pulls statistics, organizes conversation, and tells me at a glance if I am connected with the people in my inbox. Pretty cool, check it out! Let me know what you think?

I have a friend who is an awesome marketing and website coach (if you are reading this blog post, I am sure you know who you are). One of my favorite parts of his presentation is where he outlines the user experience in terms of a website, and shares that the first five seconds of a users experience on your website is simply to get you five more seconds of attention. Every element of a website needs to have a purpose, or maybe it shouldn’t be there.

What if we treated our new meetings and interactions with the same rules of interaction? The first five minutes of our discussion are the basis for me giving you permission to have five more minutes of my time. What if we had a stopwatch, that kept resetting in these intervals, and at any one of them when you’ve had enough it was okay to walk away? How many of your conversations would end early? How much time are we spending non concerned about the user experience as it pertains to our in person interaction? I bet we would show much more value on our time and that of others if we treated our in person interactions as unique user experiences with the same permissions.

Interesting concept. If you got to the end of this post, I’ve held you for five of these user experience web intervals, which I believe is a great accomplishment in itself. What is your measure of the user experience, both online, and in person?

Today I reflected quite a bit on how fortunate I really am. Work is rolling in faster than we know what to do with it. It is a tremendous oppurtunity to grow. The things that are happening are a direct result of our media strategy. Not only are we teaching it, but also we are doing it. To live with  a grateful heart is the most freeing experience ever. Create a media strategy and work it hard and always remember the attitude of gratitude.

The InSights Collaboratory will be at the Job Fair sponsored by Cleary University that is taking place at Crystal Gardens on Wednesday, April 22nd from 11;30am-4:30pm. We will be sharing the word about two very valuable upcoming events. Together the InSights Collaboratory (a non-profit organization) and The InSights Group bring you these great opportunities:

Have you considered starting your own business? Join us for an Entrepreneur Exploration Workshop to help you decide if starting a small business may be right for you, what local resources are available and where to start.

Date: Wednesday, April 29th,
Time: 9am-10:30am @ the InSights Group Center
Cost: $10

This workshop will help you decide if starting a business might be right for you. Explore your business ideas, find out what to do first, and how to get started on the track to business ownership with people who have started right where you are now.

TO RSVP ONLINE CLICK HERE

Join us to learn How to Use LinkedIn to assist in Your Job Search

When: Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
Time: 10am-noon @ the InSights Group Center
Cost: $10

This LinkedIn® training for business takes the mystery out of LinkedIn® and gets you quickly up to speed with everything that you need to know to be a skilled user of this extremely powerful business and network development tool.

Get found and get noticed.  We will teach you how to create the most effective profile to fit your needs;
Find exactly what you need.  You will learn to successfully search for people, business opportunities, resources, and jobs; Turn your network into results.  Build your network quickly and efficiently (to over 1,000,000 connections in a week!);
Leverage your time.  Learn key tips and tricks to help make you a Master LinkedIn® Networker.

TO RSVP ONLINE CLICK HERE

Sponsored by: The InSights Collaboratory, a non profit local resource organization

RSVP for either class by calling: 810-623-5839 or email tickets@insights-group.com

Think about all the ways we have available to us to contact or interact with someone. Telephone, internet, fax, instant message, text message, twitter…what happened to good old letter writing? We were considering the ways that we communicate and came up with some interesting conclusions. Are our personalities different based on the different ways that we are sharing our information? Do you have a different personality online than you do in person? What about emailing versus letter writing?

I can cite the experiences I have had over the years. I have had a pen pal for over 22 years now. We started writing when I was in third grade, and we have always written letters. A few years into our relationship we (I) thought it would be cool to talk on the phone. It didn’t go as well as our letters. Even when the internet and email became more popular, we still stick to letter writing. Anyone who knows me knows that the quickest and easiest way to get ahold of me is via email. So why don’t I connect with my penpal online? Our relationship began on paper, and it is still very much the way that I prefer to communicate with my pen-pal. We have met in person, once a few years ago when I travelled to attend her wedding. We literally met moments before she walked down the aisle. We did have a little bit of time to connect, and it was a fantastic, life changing experience for me. Yet here we are, back to letters. I enjoy getting one in the mail, and I am sure it is the same for her.

How are our new methods of communication changing our relationships? Do you have different methods to connect with different people? Do you have favorites? Or do they all seem to have their place in our lives that have so many dimensions and different areas to interact?

We had a great discussion during our Connections group today. The question to ponder was with so much social media and getting to know people, where is the point to connect in person when meeting online? There are connections recommended by friends, and there are people we meet through social media that are simply interesting. Do we often jump into that face to face meeting too quickly? If we have a common interest and the door is open, what happens when we try to create a relationship too soon, before the common element is apparent?

Our discussion led us through many different scenarios. The common consensus was that if we have a goal in mind for the meeting we may avoid that awkwardness that comes from not knowing how to proceed. This is easy if it is a point of sale call, where one person needs or wants the other’s service. What about when it’s not so clear? Setting the stage ahead of the meeting helps to prevent those uncertain feelings from coming up. What does this person want? What do they expect? Am I meeting the expectations of the meeting? are all questions that may run through our mind.

Relationships in one form may be different in another. What have your experiences been when making the introductions through social media? How do you navigate beginning a relationship through this new media?