03/30/2011
4Networking Elstree with Katie Millman!
Has been a little while since i trekked over to Elstree so i decided to make an appearance again and i'm glad I did. Always a laugh over there with group leader Clive, Operations Rik, Marketing Barry and Area Leader Katie - ace team indeed.
Arrived as per normal earlier than the 8oclock start, i like to get the banners up, sink a coffee and then be ready for some chatting before sitting down for script delivery. Spoke to Ian pre sitting down and he wanted to get booked into Hemel which i did then and there at the meeting, technology eh!
Once we were sat down we had an interesting set of 40 seconds. There were pink phones, buzzers, a rolex watch and possibly the shortest 40 seconds i've ever done! Great as per usual though and before long we were arranging our 1-2-1's for later.
I got
Rik Parting of Blue Berry Display
Barry Cooper of Magic of the Mind
Barry Kauffer - Ink Lab
Before this though we had the 4Sight speaker, which, was Katie Millman of Jam today. Katie did an ace 4sight on several things that people say when they join the network. Things like "i need bigger business". Infact it was a collection of things Katie, herself, had actually said when she first joined 4N. 200 and something clients from 4N later and her opinion has somewhat changed. This 4sight is top notch in educating you as to how 4N really can help your business. It's also an education tool for if you ever meet one of those people who gives you a line like " i need bigger business ".
1-2-1 time.
The lovely Rik and I went through a series of applications on the iPhone that can do CRM, invoicing, qouting, task management, diaries etc etc. The reasoning is Rik is looking for a new system, we invited Rik to look at our system and although he liked it and it could cover alot of what he wants, ATM we haven't developed an APP to make it iPhone-easy. This is in the pipelines and is a real must imho.
Barry Cooper and I spoke about how we are finding 4N. We also spoke about Barrys business, what he can do, the fact that he has to get repeat business and that it isn't passive. Thing is, my girlfriend has a phobia of rollercoasters, convincing her she could get rid of this is pretty much impossible. I mean she would "want" to get rid of it, but the idea of somebody doing it through the power of the mind would just boggle her to much to even try. I'm sure there are plenty out there with the same thought pattern as this. Barry finished off showing me a magic trick with a few coins. Suggested he should start mentioning doing that at meetings, might get a gig or two!
Barry Kauffer initiated our chat by asking about SME7. I proceeded to tell him the entire story starting from i-Tr@der through to SME7. A few hurdles later i think Barry had gotten it, and he seemed a little interested in i-Tr@der moreso than SME7. We aren't primarily focusing on i-Tr@der anymore, it will continue to grow and it will continue to get new clients through focusing on SME7 so this is where we are aiming our efforts. Obviously we give great customer support on i-Tr@der, i'm just talking about "selling" it. Asked a few questions about INK Lab but need to have another 1-2-1 to chat more on this.
4Networking Aylesbury
Arrived at Aylesbury about 7:30am this morning. Was a new venue but found it easily enough. The venue itself was okay, nothing special, Steve was talking about one he'd found that was beautiful so this might get used next time, who knows.
Fiona and Clive appeared and they were going to be testing me on the pre-arranged 40 seconds we sorted last night on a social at a curry house. Steve sat us all down for breakfast ( which btw wasn't all that, massive bits of tomato that oozed juice over all of the other breakfast which gave a tomato zang to it all, not my cup of tea ) and then we were onto the 40 seconds.
After i'd finished this new 40 seconds (ending in "your route to the clouds") it received a warm reception from Clive and Fiona (haha) and i think it went down well with the rest of the crowd too. As always 40 seconds are interesting to listen too, and soon we were arranging our 1-2-1's.
Here's who i got.
1. John Weltz Utility Warehouse
2. John Whiting of City Local Aylesbury
3. Fiona Bray of That Fiona Bray
4Sight was about fear and was delivered by Andrew Nicholson and Diane MacDowall. What stops you from doing certain things? This raised a hell of a lot of questions which were all answers brilliantly by Diane and Andrew. To be fair 4sight covered a raft of things on how each person has a different reaction to life because of how they perceive it. Dont try and please everybody, because you can't. Best thing to do is be yourself, because if people don't like you, how does that effect you? it's not your business. Get on with it.
Me and John had a cover off of SME7. He wanted to then talk about 2 things. The first is something we need to chat further about and the 2nd was some people John reckons i should talk to. Will be attending a meeting of his one lunchtime soon to possibly meet them.
John gave me a brief history of himself and how he got into City Local. It is infact his daughter that is running it and he is simply helping out. I explained to John about SME7 and he seemed interested so will be giving him a call to further our relationship!
Fiona and I had a chat about Golf, and how much we very much disliked it. We then spoke a little bit about the curry the night before, and finished up talking about my new 40 seconds and how it went down. All good bar one thing which I have taken on board and next time should be dandy.
03/17/2011
03/16/2011
4N Hemel Hempstead with Steve Baker
4N Hemel Hempstead
Today was Hemel Hempstead and what a grand meeting it was. A smaller meeting the past 2 with 16 in attendance but this did not alter the familiar buzz we always get at Hemel!
Arrived bright and early to Paula already at the venue setting up a few things, with me chipping in we were soon done and then others started arriving. With @ChrisOgle stepping in as Ops today we had him collecting all doe. 3 Visitors at Hemel today so we directed them over to coffee, explained what to expect and when the time arrived showed them to breakfast!
Once everyone was sat down eating there breakfast i began the script. 10 minutes later and the 40 seconds were on the go. Yiannis had it buzzing with a clap after every one and some great comments after some pitches! Ace stuff from him.
We then arranged our 1-2-1's. Here's who i got.
1. Yiannis Charalambous and John Baker
2. Paula Hine and Martin Beal
3. Steve Baker, Yiannis Charalambous, Michael Gordon and Teresa Ward
Before i got to chat to these lovely people though, we had the 4sight from Steve Baker. Firstly i'd like to just say this if you're reading this as a group leader, you NEED to get Steve to your group. Truly a great 4sight. And i'm not just saying that because i won a bag of mars bars ;). Steve taught us all a technique to remember 20 words, of which i managed to remember all 20 through this story. I for one have always thought my memory was awful and so was astounded to see i could remember these. Brilliant.
Me, Yiannis and John had a chat about cloud computing and the company John is working alongside now. It was interesting to learn what he is doing and John is also interested in what we are doing so could be some synergy.
2nd up i sat in with Paula and Martin. This was a great 1-2-1 for me where i learn about Martin and his business. Paula gave him a few tips for his 40 seconds afterwards, which i also picked up on. Benefits not features!
3rd up was a massive 1-2-1. It was a mixture of a chat whereby we spoke about Steve's 4sight and also about Michael Gordons filter product he has. This was interesting as i learnt a fair amount. Specifically that the filter i have is rubbish!
Great meeting at Hemel as per normal. Next time we have Dickie Armour, so book in fast!!
03/08/2011
4N Ware with Chris Ogle
Hello everybody, today was 4Networking Ware, a great meeting with 33 people in the room including 8 visitors and some quality 1-2-1's, i got up at about 6 this morning, got myself ready and then fired on over to somewhere near Watford where i dropped my car off and was picked up by @ChrisOgle to make way to Ware. We arrived at 7:25 - very early, but there were people there so we mingled early!
Before long breakfast was on everybodys tables and we were eating away as Richard began the script. It was a great 40 second round that came and went rather quickly, but with 8 visitors everybodys seemed to be polished and top notch.
It then came to the 1-2-1 arranging time and this is who i got:
1. Alexandra Brothers of Silver Island
2. Nigel Beane of Colebrook Consulting
3. Robert Glover of thebestofhertford
As per normal though, we were to listen to the 4sight first, and then we got to do the 1-2-1's we pre-arranged. Today was Chris Ogle of SME7 who was giving us the 4sight about alligning business practices back to how science suggests we should. I've already explained the 4sight before in the past so to save explaining again i'll link to the forum thread where i wrote about it before. http://www.google4n.co.uk/2011/02/4n-bedford-with-chris-ogle-new-4sight.html
First up was Alexandra. Recent member to 4Networking i was interested in how David got into it and more about his business. Likewise he was interested in my role within 4N and more about my business. I told David all about SME7 and some possible video work we may like to get done in the future, he is happy to qoute us so i shall speak to him soon.
2nd up was me and Nigel. Nigel and I had a great 1-2-1 chatting through how networking works for us, how it isn't an instant thing and how the benefits aren't just measured by direct business but by friends, suppliers, a platform to 4sight, education and eventually business. We explored the idea where time is massive, you have to build trust which isn't an easy nor quick thing, so why do people expect business straight away?
Thirdly and finally was Robert Glover. Robert being young like me shared the same ideas as me as to where business is going. I've wrote a 4sight on this which i will be doing around the circuit soon. We spoke about the idea of collaborations and joint ventures becoming more prominent, working from home becoming the norm, having multiple businesses with multiple income streams as well as outsourcing the stuff you don't fancy or want to do all whilst working in the cloud!
Great meeting over at Ware today. It just keeps getting better and better.
03/04/2011
4Networking in St.Albans with Les Owen
Hello Everyone.
St.Albans this morning, i arose at 7:00, got myself ready and then dashed on over and arrived at about 7:40. For the entire 50 minutes of open networking i spoke with John and Neil about what we have got out of networking, and we also discussed the LEARN sessions, which Neil plans on attending. This also then developed on the successfulness of other means of acquiring business. I quite like the open networking bit for the randomness of the conversations you can have!
Neil soon had us filling our plates with breakfast and sitting down preparing for the 40 second round. 15 people in attendance today so the 40 seconds weren't monitored to much which worked quite well, i did the SME7 40 seconds i have.
1-2-1 arranging time now, so here is who i got:
Chris Burgess - HR Dept
Roy Virjee - Direct Route
Paul Jennings - Utility Warehouse
First up we had the 4sight from Les Owen of Les Owen Associates though, and what a revealing 4sight that was. Les's talk was on driving in so many words. A few stories from his time in the police force that were shocking, and then some facts and figures as to what happens on the road. The Motorway accounts for 2% of all crashes, however 4% of all crashes on the motorway are fatal. And 6% of those are the most expensive. It was a very insightful 4Sight and Les even gave us a 20p coin each so we can check the tread on our tires.
So, 1-2-1 time now. Chris wanted to learn about SME7 a bit more as it's a change of direction in terms of what we're pitching at 4N. This has generated interest and so i've been doing a lot of explaining recently. This got me thinking, we need an audio people can listen to so they know what it's about in a few minutes. This is in the pipe line now.
Roy and I had a continuation 1-2-1 from over at Aylesbury. Roy had sent me an email with a few questions and so during this 1-2-1 we went over a few. Roy has a site he is using but wants to track how people get there. If he puts the link on his business card he has no idea how they got there, because they'd have come straight from typing in the URL. I told him to install google analytics on his site, and to create a new page, which is soley dedicated to people whom land straight on the page. So, put that page link on the business card, and that way you know if they landed there they have done so via following the link on your card. We also talked about domain names and remapping them / domain masking.
Lastly was Mr.Jennings. We decided to go check out our Tire Treads outside with our newly acquired 20p's. Everything is alright with mine for another month or so, one is getting close but the other 3 are doing A OK. Pauls were all alright as well i believe, possibly one front one getting thin!
Another great meeting at St.Albans, booked in for next time.
4Networking Hatfield with Callie Willows
Hello everyone,
Today was the legendary meeting that is Hatfield. I got to the venue at about 7:35, put my banner up, grabbed a coffee and then had a chat with Yiannis and a few others about Brighton, old T.V Programmes and some other stuff!
An hour quickly passed and we were then grabbing our breakfast and sitting down. As per normal Andrew began the script and took us onto the 40 second round. A good bunch here at Hatfield so always an interesting 40 seconds, especially when it got to Nic who did a bit of magic which ended up in some smutty talk!
After this, we arranged our 121's, here's who i got:
Janine King - Shiatsu Practitioner and Clinic Owner
Martin Lumsden - CreamRoom
Sandra Walker - Sandra Walker Therapies
An amazing 4sight was up next. Callie Willows of Good Health Now came over from Weston Super Mare ( I believe ) came over to see us and deliver a great 4sight. It was basically a kick up the bum in terms of looking after your body, rejecting what it doesn't want and accepting what it does want. How? There are techniques you can learn. Callie also told us a story which we later video'd and have put up on a blog we run. You can check it out here: http://sensibleeating.net/an-interview-with-callie-willows/
1-2-1 time now. Janine and I had a chat mainly about working out. Should you push it to the max everytime your working out a muscle group? I've been told to do 8 reps over 4 sets of whatever weight is comfortable... it results in pain the next day which apparently isn't how it should work. I don't know.. We also spoke about whether to use suppliments (whey protein). I used to use this stuff, which thinking about it didn't help much. Nowadays i'm very anti-supplements in any sense, even in terms of medication i prefer to get better off my own accord. So, with this new programme i am going to do it all naturally with what knowledge i have on foods!
2nd up was me and Martin. Seen eachother at a few meetings now but never chatted so we grabbed a 1-2-1. Told Martin all about SME7 and then we spoke about what Martin does. It's a bit difficult because people always assume that in recording studios you want to record a song, but it's not exactly for that. You can record podcasts, excerpts from books, entire books and much more! So, do you need your voice on anything? Speak to Martin if so!
Last but not least was Sandra Walker. Sandra told me her new role over at St.Albans as operations assistant, i queried where Beth had gone and apparently she had left. Sad to see her go. This then developed into a conversation about the 4N Forums and the recent going ons there. I won't go into detail but a lot of stuff has happened of recent and a few things seem to have changed.
Hatfield, great meeting.
02/28/2011
02/27/2011
Active week in 4N for Chris Ogle
It has been a while since I have posted up on the GoOgle4N site, but it has been an interesting week this last one and whilst Otis was out doing his thing, I had a pretty busy 4Networking timetable as well.
On Wednesday I was up at the Stevenage group ably led by the gorgeous AnnSee! There were some pretty big 4Ners in the room, James Millman, Simon Jordon and Paula Hine was also there! Simon gave an inspirational 4Sight, and then it was onto the 1-2-1 appointments.
My First 1-2-1 was with James Millman of Jam. I haven't seen James around on the circuit for ages and it was great to hook up. James also went to Watford Grammar school so we have something else in common there.
I was saying to James that IPS might well be a Jam customer before long as we are out and about so often these days and need cover while we are at meetings etc. Jam have a perfect solution for these kind of situations. Also updated James on progress with SME7 which will inevitably send lots of work James's way... so pretty good 1-2-1.
Next up Ann-See Yeoh herself! Now I haven't seen Ann-See since the 4N Xmas party back at the beginning of December, so really good to catch up with all her touring around the country. We used the 1-2-1 time today to flesh out the agenda for the Interview that I was conducting with Ann-See after the meeting and this can be found here Chris Ogle interviewing Ann-See on Nutrition and Fitness for Sensible Eating.
My last 1-2-1 was with Simon Jordon the 4Sighter himself. Simon has come from a pretty tough upbringing to now be an international presenter and motivational speaker. Simon has developed his marketing skills incredibly well online and now has a pretty powerful marketing engine supporting his activities... I think we might hear a lot more from Simon in the future. I gave Simon a quick run through what we are doing with SME7, I have a feeling that we will work together in the future at some point, as there are a lot of areas where Simons skills could be utilised in the nationwide network being assembed right now!
THURSDAY 24TH NOW and off to SOLIHULL in the midlands. The only other meeting that I have done in the Midlands was Redditch back in November 2010, and so this is likely to be a room full of people that I haven't met before. I had actually met the AL, GL and the Marketing assistant before, but apart from those most of the people I hadn't.
I was 4Sighting today at Solihull and although I have released my second 4Sight, because relatively few people had seen the 1st one, and that was the one which had been publicised it was the 1st one I did... actually audience participation was so strong that we ended up running late...
My first 1-2-1 was with Paul Harris of Real Success. Paul is very much into helping business owners to see how they can get people working better together and to develop a roadmap for greater success... there is a lot of synergy between what Paul is doing and what we are looking to do to get SME's through the change necessary to survive the coming years, so I will definately be talking further with Paul.
I met Jean at a mutual acquaintance's party back in October 2009 but never new that she was involved with 4Networking until I booked up to do the 4Sight. This 4Sight has been booked for ages, so it was nice to meet up with Jean again and acutally find out what her key strengths are... or rather where she would love to be focussing her energies. Jean is a Wordpress Guru, but sees her strengths as helping businesses to strategise on how to use all the tools available to deliver on the marketing goals... I feel Jean and I will be talking more about SME7 as well in the future...!
My final 1-2-1 was with 4Networkings local Area leader Vinay Parmar and what a really nice guy Vinay is too! Now Vinay not only is a public speaker but he also specialises in helping businesses to change through his mentoring and coaching. Vinay and I will definately be working together on SME7, Vinay has a good network in the Midlands, exudes confidence and positivity, just the ticket to help us kick things along in the Gateway between the north and south of the country.
Right back in the car after a quick chat with a few other networkers including Mark from Marc Watches, who is the group leader at Solihull, then off back to Watford. A few people have quizzed me over why I would travel so far for a 4Networking meeting... my answer is (a) it is a business meeting and I would travel this and then some to go to a business meeting to meet one person, here I can meet 30+ (b) You just never know who you are going to meet... today I've met three people who could work with us on the SME7 project that's amazing... (c) these people know people in the south where I am and can recommend me to them! Plus on top of all this, our business is nationwide and we have customers everywhere, so the Midlands is in my territory anyway!
FRIDAY 25th February - Liverpool street in London... in on the train and outside the venue at 7:15am, actually the first one there! No worries, not raining and quite a pleasant morning. The meeting has been moved downstairs since last time I was there explained Peter Ragg (GL) (Agel) and actually it is a really good venue for 4N. Today I am 4Sighting again and there are a few people from 4N headquarters in the house, namely Network Director Tamsen Garrie and National Development Manager Gary Johannes. Gary is running a 4N LEARN session after the meeting today which I am also staying on for.
The 4Sight (my 2nd one this time) goes down well with lots of questions and a few suggestions for improvement (duly noted John Corey). There is plenty of audience participation again which is really good and makes the presentation flow more easily. Now onto the 1-2-1's
First up is Gary Johannes. I wanted to catch up with gary and give him an update on SME7. This project is really good for 4Networkers as literally everyone has the opportunity to participate, and Gary goes to lots of meetings... if Gary can pass on the information if appropriate then that would be good for everyone!
My next 1-2-1 is with Jagriti Patwari and also Peter Ragg, who somehow missed out on a No.2 (must have been odd numbers). I was introduced to Jagriti (Maroon Accounts) by Gary Johannes at a Business Scene event in London. I have since given Jagriti an online demonstration of i-Trader and there are some prospective situations now that we might be able to work together. Jagriti is an outsource service for everything accounting for clients and as such online tools such as i-Trader can really help to improve services to the clients but provide added value as well... good news all round!
My last 1-2-1 is with Friday's only 'Porn Star' Adam Kulesza of Folio Design and Print. I last met Adam back in October at Liverpool street last year and he was just starting out with his business and indeed 4N... today Adam wanted to know a little more about how to use Twitter effectively and I also advised a few people to follow. Adam is keen to learn and he will succeed with 4Networking and his business, do you know why? Because I like him, and others will too... top chap!
Once the meeting was wrapped up we reconvened upstairs for the LEARN session with Gary... always struggling to stay on time (more because of the crowd abuse I think than Gary himself) the session was really interesting and very useful. Although we use all the tools there was still a few nuggets in there for us. Tamsen was interested to see this delivered, because although she had put it together and seen it delivered to the regional leaders she hadn't seen it delivered at a 4N meeting, so it was quite interesting to see her reaction as well... as always it is about getting the content out there and being used... 70% right... the rest will come as it beds in and feedback is returned to the centre... but really an excellent idea and it ought to be well received in my opinion.
After the LEARN session I stayed on for an hour to have a more detailed discussion with Tamsen. we covered quite a lot in the hours, what we are doing and how this could help 4N, indeed how perhaps Tamsen's business (Alpha) might help with the programme. We also caught up with 4N developments in general, and aspirations for 2011. Good to hear that Central command is indeed listening to those with their ears to the ground... as this is vital to have healthy feedback good and bad in order to keep the ship going in the right direction.
NOW THAT IS WHAT I CALL AN INTERESTING NETWORKING WEEK!!
02/25/2011
4N Hemel Hempstead with That Fiona Bray!
Hello everybody,
Today was Hemel Hempstead, my favourite group ( i am not biased in any way shape or form ). Arrived at about 7:20, first one there, set all the stuff up and then was joined by Ian. About 10 minutes later Katie joined us and we were soon settled down with all place holders in place and money collection had started.
Welcomed the 2 visitors we got when they arrived, showed them and new people to Hemel towards the coffee and when the clock hit 8:20 i announced that breakfast was served. Everyone seemed to be slow off the mark today and it took a couple of shouts to get people moving towards brekkie. At 8:30 though everyone was sat down and i had just finished off my breakfast (bacon, egg, mushrooms nd beans). The script led us onto the 40 second round which wasn't as buzzing as last time but still a hoot. People are getting very experimental with their 40 seconds and whilst that is good for people remembering you we must remember that sticking to 40 seconds is key. Anything over and people become uninterested!!
1-2-1 arranging time next. I had:
Ian Viner of Careers IV You
Irene Nyman of Forver Living Products
Spike Brown of Blue Feather Photography
Before i chat to these though, we had the 4Sight Speaker, Fiona Bray of That Fiona Bray. I've already done a write-up of Fiona's 4sight over on the Aylesbury thread so if you want to check it out, visit here: http://www.google4n.co.uk/2011/02/4networking-aylesbury.html .. it is awesome, so deffo get her at your group or visit a group she is 4sighting at!
Me and Ian had a chat about the SME7 database. The idea is that the people we get in there we want them to have a decent few paragraphs actually expaining what they do, with a bit of a personal twist. Because of what Ian does, we thought everyone who went in the database, could go through him first to get this little BIO done. Ian likes the idea and logistics need to be sorted, but good stuff!
Second up i had a chat with visitor Irene Nyman. Irene is a forever living distributor. We spoke about how she liked 4Networking and whether she'd done any in the past. She hadn't and expressed her worries about networking, but i quickly told her that her 40 seconds was great and this 1-2-1 was going well too! I learnt how Irene had got into forever living, firstly it was just to make a bit of money on the side through selling to family and friends but then this quickly grew as she built a team and is now budding into networking and expanding. Great chatting, not to sure if Irene signed up but we shall see!
Thirdly i spoke to Spike Brown. Spike is a photographer and joined up at Watford yesterday. Spike's an ace photographer, he really is, he showed me his work through some funky little device and they were decent. I had a couple of questions on a few projects he had done and Spike answered as if they had only happened to him yesterday! Some were dated back 3 years, so as well as being a top photographer, he has good memory too!
Great meeting as per normal at Hemel ;)
