Chili has everything to do with business, when it’s combined with a networking event at the InSights Group. Join us on Tuesday, October 20th, and 25 local business owners compete for bragging rights for having the best Chili Recipe! It’s a family fun event (Chili Vendors will also have trick or treating for the kids!), starting at 4:30pm and running until 7:30pm. Costumes are encouraged, and this is a family friendly event, so bring them along. Watch for some our our fantastic YouTube video recaps, who knows, maybe you’ll even find yourself in the spotlight! Let’s use our imagination, connect, network and celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit!

RSVP HERE if you can make it!

Can you find yourself attending a networking event where you play Twister or Duck, Duck, Goose.

We love! to help people find their inner joy, creativity, and renewed sense of purpose.

What can we help you find?

Did you even know you were looking?

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?

Insights Group had the pleasure of hosting a delegation of Rotary’ s from Australia on Thursday morning. In a discussion with a police officer named Ian and a web designer named Ryan we all came to the conclusion that fears and challenges are universal. Ian told of his fears of public speaking and how he was using this trip to help him conquer those fears  while Ryan is struggling with business ownership. He was looking for advice on managing his business and trying to get it all done. We talked about some things he could do and how he could relegate his time more wisely. What a great time we had, but the realization after they left that we are all the same was the most amazing part. All the people of the world are one in the same, We just look and sound different. Diversity is a wonderful thing!!!!

Follow the trip: http://www.gse9630.com/

With all the trends in social media, the question still comes up, is networking worth it? The answer is YES. The key to making connections online is much the same as making connections in person. There are a few differences, but the esssence is the same. Let’s get back to the basics with some in-person networking tips to make every experience as positive as we can!

Key #1: Smile

Key #2: Open the conversation and break the ice. Don’t wait for introductions, get out there and mix and mingle! At InSights I recommend hugging first, getting their name second. (If you are comfortable with this…it truly opens doors).

Key #3: Conversation is truly an art. Showing interest in others, listening, knowing when to ask questions to take the conversation deeper, maintaining an appropriate line of topics, not dominating the conversation and respecting others are keys to the art of conversation. There is also an art to the exit strategy in networking situations. Knowing how to leave one conversation and move on to another is a key part of successful networking. (This would be when you move on and hug the next person.)

Key #4: Follow up! If you have made a new connection, follow up. Connect with them on Facebook, Linked-In and Twitter. Use these services to keep in touch with people who you meet on the way. It’s the trend, and it works!

Key #5: Continue to go to new events and meet new people. It is the only way to make the world smaller and get more connected.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COWORKING, NETWORKING, HOLISTIC BUSINESS CENTER CREATING OPPORTUNITY FOR SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS IN BRIGHTON
InSights Group Community celebrates one-year business anniversary

Insights Group, celebrated their one-year business anniversary in January 2009 in Brighton, is offering area business owners a place to navigate their business through changing economic times. This community of small business owners, entrepreneurs, and networkers offers a place to go for advice, support, and education and shared office space. Located inside the InSights Group is a coworking, networking and holistic business center for local area professionals. This community combines the power of networking, think tanks, business incubators and office space.

Born out of a networking group with a business focus, to incorporate organic growth and a holistic approach to business, the community has filled a need in for local business owners. Entrepreneurs need not feel as if they are an island, struggling with their business trying to make it on their own. Business support groups, philosophy meetings, troubleshooting sessions, fondly referred to as the “skunk” meetings, have all found their place at the InSights Group . Founders Allan Curtis and Sandra Maki created within this former industrial warehouse on Grand River a community that started as a space hosting a unique collection of meetings rooms and offices. The space was transformed using recycled doors, windows, and $5 cans of paint, as the community grows, so do the amenities. Recent additions are the espresso lounge, healing arts meditation room, and member library.

Community members will find many advantages to becoming a part of the InSights Group, beginning with the free online community to profile their business needs and connect with other community members. A plethora of events fill the schedule, and every day of the week there are opportunities to network, learn about online social networking, how to market on a budget, creating advertising opportunities and navigating business plans and philosophy. Insights Group is the antithesis of “online” social networking (there are classes covering how to use social networking for business growth) and much more. InSights bridges the gap between meeting new people in person, and creating relationships that allow members to reach a broad audience while participating in engaged discussion and learning new things.

What are you looking for in small business support? Can a place like InSights help you find it?

Recent polls at InSights show that about half the people in the room at a local networking event have at least heard of twitter. The other half laugh at the word. You have to admit, at first it sounds kind of silly. For the purpose of this discussion, let’s start with what twitter is:

Now that you’ve seen the video, here are my top five tips to using twitter.

1. Identify the reasons you are going to twitter, once you have a goal, you can work out a twitter plan, otherwise you might use all of your time surfing and playing, without getting closer to your purpose
Are you hoping to connect with friends and family?
Do you want to promote your brand or blog?
Do you want to meet new people?
Use it for netwokring?
Keep tabs on your brand, image, or company?

All of the above, and more, are great reasons and uses for twitter.

2. Tweet
Jump in with both feet. You will build a great twitter network through your activity. If you post interesting things, people will be inclined to follow you. Share useful information, fun facts, and add some of your personality. That’s what it’s all about! Give people a reason to follow you. Be interesting, not overly shamlessly self promoting.

3. Follow other Twitter users. Follow people because of their interesing posts. Target conversations near you if you are looking to grow in your geographic area. Expand your reach if you have a futher reaching goal.

4. Reply, Retweet, and have those conversations!
Reach out, share information, and let others know that you find them interesting. Asking questions is a great way to get some answers! Respond to others. Use the reply feature or the @username to have those two sided conversations.

5. Practice restraint and Twitter Etiquitte
Avoid spam. Promote content that is interesting. Don’t bring in the band and banners declaring yourself the next best thing since sliced bread. Insert your personality, interests, and yes promote yourself, but do it in balance with everything else. Share other’s links and information. Be the person in the party that listens as well as they talk.

I could go on and on, but would love your opinion. What is your best advice for the next Twitter user?

Today I participated in a presentation and panel discussion of the benefits of using social online media for business. Thanks to David Haslam, Daninelle Zhu, and Brenda Meller for putting together a great presentation that was featured at the TLI Meeting @ U of M, Dearborn Campus today. Danielle talked about using Twitter, Brenda educated on Linked-In, and I got one of my favorite topics, Facebook!

I would not have had the opportunity to speak on the subject today in front of a new audience, if it weren't for the connections that I have been able to create through networking, both off and online.
I also connected with a woman today featured in Gary Vaynerchuck's (Wine Expert, Video Blogger) keynote speech that I watched last week. I somehow found her twitter account, clicked follow, and got a direct message back about her 100,000 worldwide hugs campaign that I had read about last week. The world is getting smaller, and we are getting more connected. This technology is here to stay.

Can you please help us spread the message that there is a way to connect locally (when I say locally, I would include southeastern lower Michigan) through our InSights Group website? Take a quick moment to email someone you know, the instructions are to visit www.InSights-Group.com and Click Connect to create a free profile. Who do you know that may benefit from making connections with our amazing community here in Livingston County? We'd love to get every local business profiled on our website, and continue to create awesome connections, great opportunities, and more positive energy flowing through! The online community is free, and it opens doors like you can't imagine!

As an aside, I am teaching the next web training @ InSights on Monday, 1/26 from 1:30 pm - 3:30 pm. The cost is $20, or free if you have your golden ticket from our anniversary celebration.

My final request for today, please share your networking stories? Who have you met, or who have you connected with through both on and offline networking? I'd love to hear, and perhaps incorporate your stories into some of my teaching opportunities.

We had a day full of networking opportunities and meetings at InSights today, and in Ann Arbor as we attended the ACE ‘09 Entrepreneur event, then travelled back to Brighton to wrap up the day with a Toastmasters meeting. I overheard a conversation from a woman who was wondering when she would have time to get any work done. Interesting question, considering I have the same dilemma. So, here we are late at night and I am writing a blog post, twittering, and updating my facebook account. Where does the balance come in to the in person social activites that are so important for growing our contact spheres? Does anyone have any advice on their strategy and how to keep it all simple?