Notworking! (TM pending)

Business networking has taken off in recent years. More people are finding their way online and in search of new ways to find people to help build their personal network, and of course the possibility - the hope - that new business will result from this magical and ever-growing network they are developing. From the first tiny seed, they envision a massive tree of branches, carrying bounteous fruit in the form of New Business.

As owner of several networks, moderator of several more, and member of more still, I am exposed to a lot of networks, networking people, and ideas on what constitutes "good networking online" and am happy in most cases to proceed as something of an 'open networker'. Up to a point. I'm happy to connect with new people I don't know yet, and willing to be open to develop a relationship with them if that opportunity arises over time into the future.

This open-ness of course ceases when someone displays evidence of being a pest.

So here's the deal. Want to network? Sure. Great. Join me on Facebook. Invite me to your network on Linkedin. Follow me on Twitter and enjoy access to a little bit of me and my thoughts, and if the occasion arises, a bit of help along the way. A headsup here, an idea there, a laugh or thought or other shared moment, as we learn about each other and navigate the path from respected stranger to welcome friend.

Want to progress that relationship? Move it along a bit faster? Notice if I do something that you find is useful and give me feedback. Send me a private message to say hello. Ask me a question. Send me a funny line or a clever quote. Think of something interesting that I will be entertained by, and I'll love it. I'll respond when I can and if we get on really well I might even let welcome you in to my closer circle of contacts. That's reasonable conduct is it not?

The kind of way that a relationship of any kind may develop.

Know me.
Like me.
Trust me.

This seems incredibly straightforward to me.

Instead I see increasingly, examples of a quite different approach.

It is more like:

You don't know me.

You impose on my better nature with:

A deluge of self-absorbed propaganda, sales letters and invitations to lame networks on topics that have no interest and which you've lazily clicked on "invite all" with the complete disrespect to your full list of contacts, that you've shown me.

A self-serving (and entirely misguided) virtual graffiti explosion on my network page in the delusion (supposedly) that it is going to reap you some reward. Or worse - you bombard my whole network membership with the same.

You continue to imagine in your delusion, that this is endearing to me.

One For The Record


Whatever it is that you think you are doing when you do this to me or any other of your network connections, it is not networking. It is simple bad manners.

It is not marketing.

It is not selling.

It is not building relationships.

It is not engendering trust.



Whatever it is... Stop it.








Thinking Of Getting A Business Coach?
Lindy Asimus
Design Business Engineering


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Stress Free Business Ownership

Working with a new client invariably begins with a review of the current processes in the business and a kind of stocktake of what's working, what's not working so well, and what's not even on the list of things that happen in the business, but should be.

So what are some of the elements that can be adding stress to owning a business?

Here are some that most commonly affect business owners.


No clear systems in place.

No definition to roles - no position description outlining the tasks and how to do them.

No clear chain of command.

No written policies to say "this is what we do when X happens"

No clear guide to productivity expectations.

Lack of clear and open communication between management and owners and staff.

Poor attitude to the relationships between management, owners and staff.

Lack of good financial reporting strategies, resulting in poor management of the finances within the business.

Pricing done without fully understanding and taking into consideration the cost of goods and the costs associated with their sale.

Inadequate accounting advice

No real marketing plan.

Right things getting done for the wrong reasons.

Wrong things getting done for the wrong reasons.

No real vision for the future of the business, and no shared goals for the staff and management and owners to strive toward.

These issues wear many different faces, but they often come down to a few basic principles. Getting organised in your life and in your business is a great start to getting free of the unnecessary stress that can take over our life.

What about you? Have you struggled with some of these issues in your business?

What issues have you struggled with in your business that stressed you the most?

UPDATE: 


The means to automate all of these elements in business is now available for you to get control over your business. Email me to find how you can. - Lindy


Thinking Of Getting A Business Coach?
Lindy Asimus
Design Business Engineering


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Personal Values

Have you visited yours lately?

This is a topic dear to my heart, and a discussion over at nlptalk-reserve led me to thinking about this once more.

Here's my position.

Contemplating our deepest values and identifying them
is something I have found to be useful, but I think is
not a particularly common occupation.

NLP is very useful in allowing us to do so, and if we
use the tools that it provides us in cleaning up our
thinking/speaking habits, then we have a very good way to
work through our beliefs and choose which ones really
merit holding, and which are not. Which ones are what we'd
choose now, not just ones left over from when we were children
and knew no different. Some beliefs from our childhood remain
valid. Some may not. Knowing the difference, right now in
the current context is a wonderful thing to know about ourselves.
Understanding where those beliefs came from, all adds to us knowing
ourselves, and in an honest way, and allows us to bit by bit uncover
the core values that are at the foundation of our personal integrity.

That's a good start at eliminating any incongruency between our
thoughts and our actions. That is very much of value to me.

How do we share our values? I think we share them - whether we know it
or not - by our actions and interactions.

"You are not your behaviour"... but it is very helpful when your
behaviour actually is consistent with who you would be.

Uncovering these values, is a tricky proposition, but to my mind, it
is an area that needs very clear boundaries and I'm not sure that it
is the place for "NLP manipulation" by someone other.

But maybe it is fair game for that. What do you think?



Thinking Of Getting A Business Coach?
Lindy Asimus
Design Business Engineering


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New Year Surf's Up In The Twitstream

A new year and a new discovery. I've been getting to enjoy Twitter for a little while now. And probably mostly because of the ability to see what's on the minds of people with whom I share this great internet experience. Topics come and go and it is an interesting thing to me to be able to observe the array of opinions and perspectives on world events, and even the minutiae of daily life. Being a long time fan of the Observer's View, this digital 'bush telegraph' suits me fine.

Enter www.tweetchat.com and we have party time at the Twitterer's Ball. What a noise we make! Tweets flying on the subject #Happy09 as the virtual meeting room is designated. No idea really how all those independent tweets wind up in a common twitstream but it is very impressive I will say. And now we've created one for #Teamcircle.

I feel like Linda Ronstadt singing to Aaron Neville. "I don't know much... but I know I love you..."

That may be all I need to know.

Thanks to all the new people I've met as a result of #Happy09. I look forward to connecting with you on many levels in the times to come.





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Thinking Of Getting A Business Coach?
Lindy Asimus
Design Business Engineering


Download your free 24 Page Action Plan Marketing Workbook!

Subscribe to Actionbites Blog