MindFrenzy

November 6th at the C.E.O. National Conference in Chicago saw the launch of Under30CEO.com.  The conference was buzzing about the network and the idea of connecting all of the C.E.O. Chapters across the country.  However the community is not limited to C.E.O. it aims to include all young entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship clubs at schools across the country and world by giving them a simple online platform.

Here’s the idea behind the community…..

Nobody can change the world by themselves

This is Under30CEO

Our Dream

Expansion

Join us and change the world

Join us and achieve whatever YOU want; this is our call to action; this is our future.

Under30CEO.com

This post is the 4th of a 4-part series on the how-to’s of niche social networking. Most of the focus will be on young entrepreneurs because my experience has shown that they are the least equipped to benefit from social networking.

See Part 1 - The Profile
Part 2 - Getting Acquainted
Part 3 - Adding Value

Part 4 - Follow-up

Well now you have completed your profile, joined some discussions and groups, and begun to add value to the network. Now one of the most important keys to the success of your social networking venture is to STAY WITH IT!!!

As with anything else nothing happens over night. You have to stay with the network and keep checking back and staying up-to-date.

Remember that people are busy and don’t sign-on to every network they are a part of every day. So just because you sent friend requests to people or messages and they didn’t respond don’t get discouraged. Give them time to check back.

Don’t stop starting discussions just because yours didn’t get a big or maybe any response. Maybe you just didn’t pick the right topics or yours got buried quickly because so many other discussions were started. Keep trying and you will eventually get something going.

When trying to organize a tribe in a group give them time to contribute. Your e-book or event or whatever you decided to try and create probably won’t be ready to go in a week. Maybe you get lucky and get people who are as passionate about it as you and have the time to jump on board right away. However its more likely that it will take members time to get involved and add their pieces to the idea.

Just don’t give up. To many people give up or lose interest and then say that social networks are pointless and don’t offer much. Well those people are the reasons why there is such opportunity for entrepreneurs out there. Successful entrepreneurs never give up and fight through the up and downs of their work. The unsuccessful well they give up.

Remember it doesn’t take much. You don’t have to organize a new group everyday. Add a comment to someones page or put your 2 cents into a discussion. Give everything you do time to develop and you will see some great success.

Good luck!!!

Check out Under30CEO.com for young entrepreneurs.

This post is the 3rd post of a 4-part series on the how-to’s of niche social networking. Most of the focus will be on young entrepreneurs because my experience has shown that they are the least equipped to benefit from social networking.

See Part 1 - The Profile
Part 2 - Getting Acquainted

Part 3 - Adding Value

OK so now your profile is set-up and you’ve said hi to a few people, joined some groups, and added a point or two to some forum discussions. Now its YOUR turn! Time to truly add value to the network and make a name for yourself. Show people that you have a lot to offer and are someone they should pay attention to.

Now there is no one way to do this. This is where you can get creative. First the simple things to add value…

-Start your own group and organize a tribe around it. Invite people who you think will be interested and run the show! This will get you some attention and show your leadership skills.

-Start discussions in the forums. Take some time to come up with creative topics that will get people interested. Getting a good discussion going is a great way to get noticed as everybody who sees it will see you started it. That’s all you had to do was start it! If it’s interesting the community will take over from there.

-Add videos, pictures and events (these are the options on Under30CEO.com). Take some time to find some interesting stuff. Not only will you get your name in those sections of the network but it will also further develop your profile because it probably tracks things you do.

Now that’s the basics. Let’s get more in depth about what you can do.

Find ways to truly create valuable content! What do I mean by this? Content that can be distributed amongst not only members of your network but that you can distribute outside of the network. Things you can show people in your industry and can help them in some way.

Let’s look at an example of this.

One thing that will be happening on Under30CEO.com is the development of e-books. The entire network will hopefully get involved in creating e-books for young entrepreneurs by young entrepreneurs. There are a million topics for such e-books. Now these books will not only be great for all members of the Under30CEO community but can also be distributed outside the community. This is valuable content. Everyone who contributes to the e-book gets cited so they can also point to it as something they did. The books can then be used by anyone who finds it interesting.

Now ANYONE can also take charge and create an e-book or some kind of valuable content. Going back to the point above about creating a tribe around your group. Well make some kind of content within your group. For example we encourage all C.E.O. chapter to create chapter groups on Under30CEO. Now within these groups someone can take charge and create a chapter specific e-book about the members, their businesses, their goals, or whatever topic they want. Then they could not only show this to everyone in the community on Under30CEO but also show it to their school. Let the other kids at the school see more about the entrepreneurs around them.

And of course it doesn’t have to be school specific or have any other restrictions. If you can put a group together and form a tribe of 5, 10, 50 people you can create something no matter where everyone is from.

Now these are just a couple of ideas. Creating valuable content just takes some creative thinking and a leader or two. But just think of what you would create if you could have a club of a 100 passionate people. Now just make that club virtual. Make content that can be seen by everyone. Now you can extend your reach way beyond what you do in a room on campus or a conference room at work.

If you successfully create this type of content you can always point back to it and show that you organized it. That you organized an e-book that was downloaded 1000times. Or put together a monthly meet-up in your town or city that brought people from surrounding towns that you had never met before.

This type of content is unique to social networking right now. Very few networks do anything of true value. Look at facebook or myspace. What have you done on there that you would point to and say “I created this”. What have those networks done to encourage valuable content creation? The answer is very little. Niche networking is popping up all over the place but many still fail to do anything valuable. That’s what will separate the winners and losers in niche networking. The creation of content is what cutting edge networks are beginning to do and that is what will allow them to succeed.

Leading one of these tribes or simply getting involved with one will help you stand out in this ever crowding cyber world.

Just be creative and take charge. The possibilities are limitless.

Part 4 - Follow-up

This post is the 2nd of a 4-part series on the how-to’s of niche social networking. Most of the focus will be on young entrepreneurs because my experience has shown that they are the least equipped to benefit from social networking.

See Part 1 - The Profile

Part 2 - Getting Acquainted - Groups, Forums, Events, Introductions

Now your profile should be all set up and ready to go. At first many social networks will seem a little over-whelming but they are all actually fairly basic. Some of the basic features that most networks will have are forums, groups, events, and obviously the ability to connect with other members. Lets take a look at getting started with each.

-Forums
Forums are a great spot to pick up some advice, learn something or just get involved in an interesting conversation. They can be a little disorganized but this is just the nature of a forum. New discussions are always popping up thus sending other discussions into the archives. Forums are used best for short pointers and responses. Most people don’t spend their day trying to figure out their response to a forum discussion. What makes a great forum is a place where you can post a discussion and then receive numerous quick responses. Then you can piece it all together and figure out the best answer.

Forums are a great way to add your 2-cents to various discussions rather quickly. Don’t be afraid to jump in and get involved in some discussions. Don’t worry about being wrong or judged for your responses. What’s the worst that could happen? The person who started the discussion doesn’t add you as a friend? Things could be worse. It’s better to be seen getting involved then doing nothing at all. If you don’t get involved nobody will ever know you exist on a network.

One of the key rules of forums is to keep things as categorized as possible. Sometimes this is hard to do but just do your best.

Check out the forum on Under30CEO.com

-Groups
Some people brush off groups as worthless because people just join a bunch but nothing happens. Well this is the case at times but groups can actually be very valuable. A group can act as your own personal network within a network.

For example - On Under30CEO.com there are many members from the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization (CEO), this is a college organization with chapters across the US. Each chapter is encouraged to start a group for itself on Under30CEO so members can easily stay in touch with each other. This also lets you learn about the other members of the chapter by seeing their profiles on the network.

I do suggest using groups in moderation. Don’t just join every group you might have an interest in. Join the ones you will actually participate in. Just joining these things won’t make you stand out on a network, again its all about getting involved!

-Events
Check out the events that are on the network. Usually you can find some interesting things to go to. This is also a great way to meet people who are attending the same event as you are. One of the worst things about conferences are their size and how you can feel lost at times. But if you talk to a few people before hand through a network you can organize meet-ups so you don’t have to go at it alone.

On Under30CEO.com events for entrepreneurs across the country can be found all the time.

-Introductions
Using all the above features you should be able to find some very active people on the network. Introduce yourself to these people by writing on their wall and maybe sending a friend request. Try to get involved with them (if they are interesting) and let them know what you are looking for and what you look to add to the network. One thing about social networking is you can’t be shy. Get out there. Some people will never respond but many will and they could be huge contacts.

Don’t spam everyone on the network with intros. Check profiles and talk to people who you really want to connect with. Just because the network is full of people with a common interest it doesn’t mean everyone is a good fit. Take the time to read profiles and connect. It pays off in the long run.

So go get involved!

Part 3 - Adding Value

This post is the 1st of a 4-part series on the how-to’s of niche social networking. Most of the focus will be on young entrepreneurs because my experience has shown that they are the least equipped to benefit from social networking.

There a many social networks out there. Everyone knows about networks like Facebook and Myspace. Those networks are fine, they serve a purpose and set a framework for social networks. However those networks don’t have any type of focus, they do a very bad job at creating any type of value. How many times have you used Facebook or Mypsace to really advance your career or meet someone new in your field? More recently many niche networks are beginning to pop up. There are networks for just about anything you can imagine from cat lovers to successful business owners. Once again these networks have not done a good job at creating value or keeping people’s attention on the network. Many people join them but then never come back because there just isn’t much of a reason.

Well now that is also changing. Social networks are starting to pop up that look to create valuable content one being Under30CEO.com. These new types of networks can be a huge resource for anyone, with young entrepreneurs being the focus for Under30CEO.com. There are steps that can be taken to ensure you benefit and move closer to your goals when you join a niche social network. A lot of this will have to do with the founders and the atmosphere that they create but if you use a network properly you can almost always gain something.

Part 1 - The Profile

Whenever you sign-up for a network the first thing you will be asked to do is make a profile. This is 1 of the most important things to COMPLETE WHEN YOU SIGN-UP. Don’t sign-up and then say you will finish the profile later. If that’s the case wait to sign-up when you have time to complete everything. The Reason being that on many networks there is a place where you can see the new members that have joined. This is a huge opportunity to get your profile in front of many people. If it’s blank people won’t make any effort to contact you or friend you. I’m not saying that when you leave that most recent members page no one will ever see your profile again, but your profile will get viewed many times and you never know who may be looking. Could be that contact your business or career needs! Later in this series of posts we’ll look into getting people to your profile after you have been on the network for awhile.

Now some steps and tips for your profile. Might differ from network to network, these are assuming a business oriented network.

1. Use your full name
No nicknames or just first names. You are looking to connect to people right? You wouldn’t put a nickname or partial name on your resume or business card. Your full name will allow people to find you in other places such as your company website or just to research more about your work. It’s all about trust and the more someone trusts you the more likely they will help you.

2. A picture of yourself
To many people sign-up to a network and don’t upload a picture. I never understand this, these same people are on Facebook or Myspace with their pictures up but think that for some reason it’s not needed on a meaningful niche network. This is where it’s MOST needed. If you don’t upload a picture of yourself most people will pass right over your profile because it looks like you aren’t involved with the network. Also make it a real picture of yourself not some animation or a picture of your dog, once again you wouldn’t do that on your resume if you could.

3. Provide as much information as you can
There will usually be a series of questions or places to add info about yourself. Every question doesn’t always apply but far to often even the basic ones get over-looked. You want to make it as easy as possible for someone to connect with you. By providing all the info possible there’s that much more of a chance someone will read something that makes them leave a comment or want to talk to you further.

Remember your profile on a niche network is just like your cyber resume. You try to provide all the info you can on a resume to make yourself stand-out so do the same on a network.

Here are some examples of great profiles on Under30CEO.com

Tyler Fishback
Robert Calise

4. Put up your links
Many networks will also let you add links to other profiles you have online. It could be your blog, site, linkedin, facebook whatever it is DO IT. Add as many as you can this not only lets people connect with you on other networks but also helps with the whole trust thing. As they connect with you in various places they will begin to remember and trust you.

5. Customize with care
You will usually have the option to customize your profile page to a point. Now this is great to help you stand-out but don’t over-due it. Remember that you are here to connect and hopefully work with people not to show-off how many colors you can fit on your profile page. You want people to remember what they read and learn about you not how crazy your page is. So be reasonable and you should be just fine.

Young entrepreneurs check out Under30CEO.com to start putting these skills to use!

Part 2 - Getting Acquainted - Groups, Forums, Events, Introductions

As a small business you are probably always looking to create some buzz around your products or services. This time of year provides tons of opportunities to take advantage of. There are so many big events with the holidays coming up not to mention the election this year. Here are a few examples of what some companies are doing to take advantage of the elections.

Starbucks - free cup of coffee if you voted

Krispy Kreme - free doughnut with “I Voted Sticker”

Ben and Jerry’s - free scoops 5-8pm on Nov. 4th

Now these aren’t small businesses but it doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of all the events going on. Hopefully you did some kind of promotion or marketing event that went along with Halloween and the elections. However if you missed out on these 2 events start planning for the next couple months.

Thanksgiving
Black Friday
Hanukkah
Christmas
New Years

All of these things cause a lot of disruption in people’s lives. People get thrown out of routine, some like it some don’t. Lot’s of travel takes place along with lots of massive gatherings. Find ways to add yourself into these happenings, possibly make the disruption process more enjoyable. Be creative and throw yourself out there. Start planning something for each of these events that will further the reach of your business.

If you want to succeed you can’t let some of the biggest events of the year slip through your fingers.

Alright so you have an idea for a business. Now your thinking I need to start developing this idea. After some thought you decide to go after investor money, it’s just the only way you can really launch your idea. So it’s time to write up one of those 50 page business plans right? WRONG

Now I’m not going to say that at some point a formal business plan isn’t needed (I’ve yet to find out when). But in the beginning don’t waste your time or investors time with a complicated plan.

Recently my business partner and I decided to begin pursuing investors for one of our projects. We have a million ideas and thoughts on how to develop the business but nothing in a formal plan. The first step we took was to write an executive summary. See my Guide to Writing an Executive Summary. Now even these summaries can be 3,4,5 pages long in some cases. How long was ours? 1 page. 1 page to explain what we hope to be a multi-million dollar business. Seems almost impossible right? Or maybe lazy?

It’s not! The 1st investor we contacted got back to us. We set up a phone call and the first thing he said was how he loved our summary because it was only 1 page. I didn’t ask him about all the other pitches and projects he has seen but my guess is they were much longer then 1 page.

Investors don’t have a lot of time. They see hundreds upon hundreds of projects every year. They don’t want a huge plan that takes an hour to read. They want the idea. That’s it! They want to see and understand the idea. If they like or are intrigued by the idea they will pursue further. The investors I talked with didn’t fully understand all aspects of the business but they were able to envision the idea. When they called me they already had a picture of the business in their head and had been able to brainstorm their own ideas for it. This is key. You don’t want a strict business plan that doesn’t allow room to maneuver. Your project will almost never turn out anything like your original plan in the first place. Especially in today’s fast pace world businesses change day to day. Websites get updated weekly with new features or layouts. Nothing is set in stone besides the main idea/focus that the business is based around.

So don’t waste your time writing a 50 page business plan that will only get modified a hundred times before you actually start your business. Spend your time condensing that 50page plan into 1 page (2 pages is fine also). Work on your hook and sinker. Those lines that will grab anyone’s attention and make them want to learn more. Even if they don’t understand everything make them want to learn more or start thinking up their own ideas.

Your more likely to get 50 people to read your 1 page summary then you are to get 1 person to read your 50 page plan.

Anyone else have experiences like this?

It really amazes me how many small businesses don’t have blogs. In today’s world they are such a critical tool when trying to reach out to new and old customers.

Now I realize that part of this reason is that some people still don’t know what a blog is let alone how to make one. But you would have to think that they have heard of blogs. With a little online research into marketing or business promotion you can easily find many suggestions to start a blog.

In the end though I don’t think its the lack of knowledge or know-how that stops most people with businesses from starting a blog. It’s about the content.

The question - “What will I write about?” Or an excuse like “I don’t have the time.” These are the real road blocks that stop people. However I don’t think these are road blocks at all for a small business owner.

So you don’t know what to write about.

Well lets see you have a small business. This means that you probably have some knowledge in that industry or niche. Maybe some people even refer to you as a guru or master in that business field. You probably want to attract more customers to your products or services (I don’t know many businesses that are trying to get rid of customers). Well generally people buy things from people who they trust or consider knowledgeable in that field. Now maybe these people don’t really know that you are knowledgeable in your field and you wish there was just some way to show them how you think and what you know.Hmmm get where this is going?

So there you have something to write about. A successful blog has great content but that great content is there for a reason, there is a smart person behind it. Is there anything easier to blog about! Just focus on whatever your business is and write down all those tips and pointers that you spend your days explaining to customers.

But now you still don’t have the time.

Who said that if you want to become a successful business owner it was going to be easy? There is always time. Blogging is not something that takes a lot of time to do either. If you are passionate and knowledgeable in your field (which you should be because you started a business in it) then writing quick informative posts should be easy. Posts don’t have to be long or often, quality over quantity. If you find it hard to write quick posts because you just love going into detail or you find you get more response from well thought out detailed posts then add some filler to the blog. In between the technical posts give quick links to resources in your field. Or maybe you travel a lot to speak or promote your business. Make quick posts about where you are and what your doing.
It’s great to have unique and informative information in a blog but customers also like to know what you are doing. Those quick filler posts will also show people that the blog is active and that just because you really haven’t had a chance to make a long post in a couple weeks you are still there.

So there ya go. There is no reason a small business should not have a blog. A blog is a great place to show off your talents and how great your business is to an audience larger then you could ever imagine. It will take a little time to get used to blogging and to get your blog looking and feeling the way you want it to but if you start it will get there. The key is starting and in time you will see the benefits.

And this doesn’t apply to only small business owners. This goes for anyone with a business or who is looking to start a business. Think of the benefits if you haven’t started your business yet and you could create a dedicated following to announce your new business to!

So get out there and start a blog! No excuses!

Read this awesome post about setting up a blog over at Zaggededge.com

Guy Kawasaki wrote a post called The Art of the Executive Summary awhile back but it still holds very true.  He covers 9 important points that you should hit on when writing a summary.

Remember 1 of the biggest keys is the very beginning. You need to grab the readers attention. Even though the summary might only be 1-2 pages long the person you give it to might not read past the first 1-2 paragraphs.

Also come across as friendly and open.  It may be a formal summary but don’t clog it with technical jargon and how perfect the plan is. Write it like your talking to a friend and know that the actual business is very likely to start in a different way then what you envisioned in the plan.

So check out Guy Kawasaki’s post The Art of the Executive Summary.

Good luck!

Seth Godin just released a new book called Tribes. The book talks about leading tribes and who is doing it. I wanted to make a post about how Seth launched the book because it really shows why he is such a revered marketer and why all of his work reaches the highest levels. Now normally a book launch goes through some general steps. The author will probably work it into presentations he makes to promote it. They will announce it on their website or blog. They might form a group that is excited about the book to further promote the launch. Then they will just tell everyone they know and spread the word as best they can.

Now Seth implemented these strategies but with some twists that made his launch really “remarkable” as he would say. So lets take a look at some of the steps he took.

1. Created Triiibes

Back in July Seth announced that he was starting a private network called Triiibes. In order to join the network you had to pre-order a copy of his new book Tribes which was set for release in mid October. Once you pre-ordered the book you had to send him the receipt and then he would send you an invite to this private network. The network right now has 3,647 members. It has grown slightly from the original number because Seth has offered things like friend invites during the 2 months the network has been up. Now lets look at what this network does for the launch of Seth’s new book.

- Core followers
Everyone who pre-ordered the book to get an invite to the network was excited about this opportunity to be a part of this. These people told their friends about this exclusive club they were in and at the same time told them it was because of a new book Seth was launching. So right off the bat Seth has created word of mouth marketing about his book launch that is still 2 months away!

- Seth is active in the network
Seth as usual shows he cares about his followers and stayed fairly active on Triiibes. He has a Q&A discussion in the forum and regularly posts updates to the network. This lets people see further into Seth’s mind, exactly what anyone who joined Triiibes would want to do. This also enhances Seth’s image as people who maybe decided to check out this network but weren’t a long time follower of Seth now got to see how helpful and dedicated he is to his work.

- It became a resource
As Seth said this wasn’t a network like facebook. The network was created to create content. It became a great place to go to read a great blog post or take part in an intriguing discussion. This came from keeping the network private which made it full of like-minded people who were focused on making related content. This kept people coming back and thus kept the thought of Tribes on their minds.

2. Surprise Free Early Copy

So about 2 weeks before the actual release of the book I and all others who pre-ordered a copy got a little surprise in the mail. A free copy of the book! At first I was a little confused I didn’t even realize it wasn’t the copy I had ordered. But then there was a note inside from Seth telling everyone it was free with no strings attached. He then said that he wanted us to read that copy of the book and once we received the pre-ordered copy in the mail to give it away. What a way to create even more hype around the book!

After this happened I went onto Triiibes to see if everyone else had the same experience. I found that everyone was talking about it whether they had received their free copy yet or not. I realized then what a great way to create viral marketing right there. Every person who got a free copy talked about the fact that they got a free early copy of Seth’s new book for the rest of the day. In giving away thousands of books Seth was probably able to reach tens of thousands of people with his concept of Tribes.

3. Speaking

Now this is a fairly common technique that follows a book launch. Seth will be speaking in NYC on Oct. 22nd about the book, it is a brand new presentation covering the material and concepts that Tribes is about. Even for this event Seth encourages people to take videos of the presentation. Something you don’t see to often from speakers and again he knows that these videos will be put on youtube, facebook, mypsace, and whatever other networks are out there. Thus it ends up being 1 more method that his words and ideas and book reach more ears and eyes.

All of this was no accident. This is why Seth Godin is considered a master marketer. He knows how to sell things.

I think this is key to any business that is just starting, you don’t need a master marketer to create similar effects. Finding ways to create that all important “wow” factor that gets people talking. Do something that makes people go out and tell their friends and family. Seth planned out how he was going to get that “wow” factor by creating the Triiibes network and then having a group to surprise with a free copy. But it doesn’t have to be on that scale. Most people have fairly ordinary and even boring day to day routines. If you find a way to interrupt that for just a minute that may be all that is needed to get that person to spread your ideas to a few more people.

The point is that any business can implement this type of marketing. It’s not very hard. It just takes a little creative thinking and some planning but anyone can find a way to make someone go “wow” so that person goes and tells the next few people they talk to.

Anybody have any experiences with things like what Seth did? Made you take a second look or go “wow”.

If I get some good responses I’ll make a follow up post about them. Don’t forget to leave your name and a link if you want so I can give you credit!

Get a copy of Tribes at Amazon

And nice job to Seth! He talks about this kind of marketing all the time and then he shows that he knows what he is talking about by successfully doing it.