Posts Tagged ‘networking’

I was waiting in a line up the other day – for almost 4 hours.  It was to get a Christmas present for my Mom, so I can’t really say what I was doing since she subscribes to my blog! Suffice it to say;  she’ll really like this gift, I hope.

Anyhow, I went to this place expecting to wait a bit – but clearly 4 hours was not what I had in mind, since I brought my 3 kids.  I was very quickly on my phone to call my husband and tell him to come and get the kids.

Unexpectedly in this line up of several hundred people – Don’t Ask! – I was immediately behind one of my clients.  She had just flown home from a trip to Ottawa and had her husband drop her off with her daughter to get the same gift.  It was nice because it gave us time to connect and talk – and outside the work arena too.

Now, as some who know me; in a situation like this I will talk to the people around me.  Unlike the days of my past where I was very quiet and shy, I have no fear anymore. Much of the talking was also some humourous commiserating about our predicament and lots of excitement as we moved a few steps at a  time. Really… you have to make light in these situations or you can get real cranky.

We waited, talked, laughed, sighed, and waited some more.  Lots more.  At one point after an hour, I went out to count how many ahead of us… not bad only 300 or so! I think the ’so’ was being very generous too! Through it all the group around us just had a fabulous time.  We talked, laughed learned a bit about each other.

There was my client, Amy, who smartly, took the opportunity to tell some of the people around about her upcoming book launch on Sunday Nov 8th.  Her 13 yr old daughter – who had a grand time and was so thoughtfully bringing the group some water near the home stretch (about 3 hours in at that point). The young woman who had brought her Mother in Law there and was having a night out from her 16 month old. She sure went up a few notches on the  “Daughter-In-Law” scale while waiting so long. Then there was Barb & her husband (probably in their 70’s) who took turns sitting down as the night wore on. As we moved along we also met Marie, originally from upstate NewYork, but living in rural Nova Scotia now and she made a 1 hour car trip in to get this gift for a friend.  A friend who one day will learn what Marie did to get her gift.  We also met two young men; waiting their turn patiently too and as the night got longer they too soon started joining in our giggles and fun.

They all learned a bit about me – met my whole family even! I learned a few things about them too. Some people would look at a night like this and think – what a waste.  Not me.

Honestly, if I had to wait in a lineup this long, moving a total distance of maybe 1000 feet over the entire time; it was a good group of people to be surrounded by.   We got silly at times; but you had to to make light of the situation.  At one point when an announcement was made – we feared the worst, but nothing happened and we continued to shuffle along until we all finally got to hold and admire the item we came there for.

It was so worth it – and really looking back, I had a great time. Hopefully Mom will love her gift too.

Technorati Tags: networking

I received one of the best compliments the other day.  It came from a friend and fellow Virtual Assistant (VA), Tracey D’Averio, with whom I had originally connected online through the VAnetworking forum and Twitter.

We had the opportunity to meet in person after 8 months when we both attended a conference this past June and roomed together with another VA.  In August, my family and I  were on vacation in Ontario and Tracey and I got together for a visit. It was here that she passed on the compliment. A simple offhanded statement, but meant a lot to me.

The compliment?  She told me that I am “exactly the same person online as I am in person“.

Why am I honoured by her compliment? As someone who works virtually with most clients I know one of the most important aspects of my success is my ability to project my true self to my clients and other colleagues. We rarely get to meet in person so this feeling is vital to having good virtual relationships.

My business is ‘me’ and being real and authentic will ensure others can ’see’ who I am even if we never meet in person. I try to make it work just as it would if we were working ‘live’.

The fact that Tracey told me she felt I was the ‘real me’ reassured me that indeed the person I project online is me.  I hope to keep it this way to continue with my virtual success.

How can you make sure that you remain real? Simple, act exactly as you would if everyone you encounter were standing right there in front of you and could see every action you make along with hearing every word you say. Authenticity and Transparency…that’s all it is.

Brad Paisley (sorry, I’m a country fan) has a song ‘Online‘ – great song and video but don’t follow this example, being better online won’t help you in the end. Be real.

Technorati Tags: networking, online presence, twitter, virtual assistant

Paul McCartney is playing in Halifax this Saturday, his only show in Canada too! He’ll be playing on the Halifax Common – a green space meant to be open to share for use by all residents and I believe they are expecting 60,000 people.

Anyhow, in my attempt to win tickets for my brother-in-law, I have been listening to News95.7 and the Beatles & Paul McCartney have been playing over and over in my head. I won’t describe to you the horror I put so many people through today as I sang my song (made up by me) to the listeners of the show -  you had to go on air and sing to be in the draw to win.

That’s my segue to, the title of my blog post today! I chose this song to showcase my social media experience this past week to my readers. Social media is more than a marketing channel/tool, it is also about networking and connecting with others.

Last Friday I had a client run into some issues with her Facebook fanpage. I was asked to figure out why it wasn’t working properly. After much searching, I found myself stumped. So… I started putting out my ‘feelers’ to see if anyone else could help figure it out. I used Twitter, facebook and some blogs all weekend and through until yesterday.

Finally this morning, 5 days later, I found the answer with a little help from a friend of sorts; but many ‘friends’ were trying to help me figure it out. These were not people I have ever met, yet they were attempting to help me just the same.

What was in it for them, you might ask? Nothing.  So why would they bother? Simple, to help out a ‘friend’ who happens to be someone they have never met and probably never will. Being helpful is the only reason why any of these people made contact with me. Connecting and networking… that’s all it was about and I am so grateful they took the time to help me, and ultimately my client.

The next time you are talking about social media and Twitter and Facebook and don’t seem to get it all… try thinking of it as the water cooler or staffroom in your office. When you are sitting at your office stumped on a problem, where do you turn? To your co-workers in the office… well, social media works in the same way sometimes; the only difference being that the ‘office’ of each party involved most likely spans a great distance and they may never meet face to face.

The ‘bug’ was noticed by Salman Ansari, with  Involver .   Salman, I really appreciate your help. It was a simple solution, but one that took an extra set of eyes!  Involver is a company that has some great Facebook Applications for Pages – definitely check them out! I use them with many of my clients. Salman, you also helped out someone else having the same problem, she contacted me after seeing the posts, and once I found the fix, I passed on the info to ehr as well!

Thanks to everyone else  (I hope I do not forget anyone) who helped by retweeting my posts or commenting back on a blog or sending me a message on Facebook or Twitter.  I am grateful for the time you gave to me and my problem.

Melissa Ward Dawn Riley Net Weave Mari Smith

Darlene Victoria Cindy Bruce Green Lasagna

Technorati Tags: facebook, networking, Social Media, thanks, virtual assistant

I’ve been blogging for almost a year now and have had the pleasure of people making comments on my blog.  I also read other blogs and comment on them.

Sometimes it is a simple comment and sometimes, based upon the topic, I may recommend a place where I got help or found more info etc.  I never blatantly say – “check me out or I can do that – go here”, it’s not my style.

This month a comment I made on someone’s blog got edited. A first experience for me. My policy is don’t edit, but don’t hide from criticism either.  If the comment is unprofessional, I don’t approve it and my spam catcher does good work too.  If someone takes the time to make a valid comment – not a spam one – then I feel I approve it all or not.  If it had one section that was not appropriate, I would contact them to ask permission to edit. For example, I had a client who had a blog comment make reference to another line of work she had been in, she wanted to edit that but instead we emailed the person, explained the reasons and asked if she could remove that one part. Reasonable action and the other person fully understood.

The editing of my comment bothered me because I took the time to participate with someone else on their blog, and the sites (two) I was recommending were not competition for the blogger just a recommendation to get more info from.

Now I wonder if others commonly edit comments or not? What is your policy?

Technorati Tags: Blogging, networking

Well… here it is Tuesday and I am all packed and ready to go to my first ever conference with fellow virtual assistants.

I am heading to Niagara Falls, Canada for the Forum on Virtual Assistance (FoVA) to learn and share and connect with many people in the VA industry.

I have been networking online for almost a year now at VAnetworking, CVAC and several other places. I have also been working with, or creating friendships with, other VAs that I met online.

Networking online can be scary for some people but I love it.  In fact, in my banking days, I had several jobs that had me connecting with others via telephone – and really it is the same principle, even if it was in the days before cell phones or email. I encountered these people daily in my job, but never face to face.  I met my husband from a  friend I worked with ‘virtually’ in 1988.  She and I finally met, a friendship was created that still exists today; and her fiancé introduced me to my husband. If I had never taken the time to meet her at the bank function for all the departments, my life would have been very different.

My favourite aspect of online or telephone networking is when the time comes that you finally have an opportunity to meet those people in person – face-to-face. I find this really solidifies any online or remote relationship and takes it to another level.

So, my bags are ready, the family is kicking off school early to drive me to the airport and I cannot wait to get there and meet all my ‘friends’.

Watch out FoVA here I come!

Technorati Tags: event, forum, networking, virtual assistant