DISQUS

Hi Chris, what an excellent and timely article. One of my networking clients and I were discussing this topic just this week. Before so many people were working online, obviously they worked somewhere, somehow but offline and when evenings arrived, some as late as 6 pm or when weekends arrived, no one expected anyone to do anything but spend time at home and with family and friends. Clients "waited" until the next morning or Monday morning, if that's the case. When did everything go crazy and we now feel pressured to instanteous replies? Will you world, as you know it, cease to exist if someone does not reply to you immediately, overnight or over the weekend? I think not. We, as entrepreneurs, as online marketers, as offline entrepreneurs have to reclaim our personal space and time. Although the world is changing and the economy is tough, without personal downtime, you would not be able to survive long. Now, I believe, it is important, more than ever, to make sure to "schedule non-working time" and treat it the same as a business appointment. Our lives may be healthier, our families may be healthier and overall we may become happier and more contented people.

Thanks Chris for introducing this timely topic!
Carol Deckert, Networking Coach
http://twitter.com/caroldeckert
http://www.runlancaster.com/blog

Hi Chris,

Having been away yesterday, I missed the majority of the tweets regarding this topic, however, I DID read your entire post here. My thoughts are this: First and foremost, everyone, no matter what they attempt to make others believe, is online to make money in some form or another. By simply writing a sponsored ad, from any company, regardless of whether it's K-Mart or Macy's, should make no difference. In the blog post you covered openly and honestly that it was a PAID posting and you made your opinions known. What's wrong with that?

Did that hurt your integrity and reputation? Absolutely not, in my opinion anyway, but what it did show me was more of your ability to analyze and talk about problems and solutions in online or offline promotions.

I say, keep up the good work Chris. I enjoy reading your posts and I learn something from almost every one of them.

Happy Holidays to you and your family,

Carol Deckert
Networking Coach

Thanks for an interesting post Chris. I look at lots of magazines on a regular basis and I must admit that the "+" sign has not had an impact on me one way or the other and that 99% of the time, I look right "over top" of the sign and keep reading. It does not invite me to look for more and it doesn't invite me to look for less. I'm still not sure what the value is in using that sign, particularly when "everyone else (other magazines)" are all using it. What happened to wanting to make yourself unique in your marketing and standing out from the crowd?

Just my 2¢!

Happy Netweaving,
Carol Deckert

Just wanted to stop by and tell you . . . we really appreciate you publishing our Ladies In Business Today interview info.

Thought your readers might like to know, if they upgrade (through your link) BEFORE October 31st, they will receive not only the original 8 interviews, transcripts and hot notes from each interview, BUT WILL ALSO RECEIVE ALL THE INTERVIEW SERIES WE DO IN 2009 and we have 4 more sessions of 8 interviews planned. Good deal - 40 interviews total, transcripts and hot notes! Hurry up and upgrade today before you miss out on a good deal.

If you miss this deadline, 2009 series will be priced at $147! Sign up before October 31st!

Thanks again for all your support!

Carol Deckert
LadiesinBusinessToday.com
RUNLancaster.com

Feel free to follow me - I'm a Networking Coach! http://twitter.com/caroldeckert

I'm with you on this one! LOL! I really DON'T like Avatars, I prefer to see the person's face. Online it's tough enough to form relationships, but at least having their actual face to look at, makes it a whole lot easier. Don't remember who said it, but I agree with "Trust begins with the eyes. The eyes are the window to your soul." So avatars, cartoon or otherwise are out for me! Please let me see the real "you!"

Carol Deckert
Netweaving/Networking Coach
RUNLancaster.com
http://www.runlancaster.com

@memsom I appreciate and understand what you are saying about email being a far better method of holding private conversations. My point is this, when someone follows me, they obviously have an interest in what I am saying or doing. If I am unable to follow them back, they have no idea of my interest in getting to know them. I want my followers to know that I am open to building new relationships and will follow them as well, in an effort to see and hear what they are doing and saying. Great ways to develop a conversation if both parties know a little about what the other is doing. That's my whole point in this. Limiting how many people you are able to follow greatly inhibits the ability to network. Networking only works when it is a win/win and by curtailing the following by the other party it is not a win/win situation.

Thanks for taking the time to point out your view and to respond. You have provided me an opportunity to explain in a little more detail about why I want to have the following capability restored to my twittering. www.RUNLancaster.com promotes effective/efficient networking to build relationships and in my opinion, Twitter is greatly reducing this opportunity by not allowing me to be effective or efficient in following others that are interested in me.

@memsom Thanks for your comments. I am sorry that you are unable to make sense of my website. I own/operate a face-to-face networking/masterminding/business building group locally and am looking for facilitators to operate the same type of group for me in other locations. The focus of the group is to form lasting, professional relationships that will lead to referrals of business to one another's contacts spheres of influence. Face-to-face groups consist of no more than 20 participants, one per category exclusively, meeting on a weekly basis to learn more about how we each conduct our business and what we can do to help solve our clients' pain. During our meetings, we focus on one individual member, allowing him/her to present the way(s) they do business and how they help their customers and then following that presentation, the group brainstorms ways to help that person increase the amount of business he/she is already receiving and suggest ways in which we may be able to help (in the manner of referrals). The website is set up to explain why it is important to build relationships and help others before expectation of personal payback (netweaving) and to provide educational information on networking and netweaving.

I am also a Netweaving/Networking coach and can assist you in getting started with your social networking online and offline. I can work with individuals or groups to help you learn to efficiently and effectively build your business by word-of-mouth.

In addition to that, an online networking group will be formed later this year that will be formatted just like my weekly personal meetings and will operate under RUNIntl.com. Thisversion when launched will be modeled the same way, except for the in-person interaction will be replaced for an online forum/discussion type group - most likely in a Skype room.

If you have any further questions, I would be happy to answer them - feel free to contact me directly at carol@runlancaster.com

I appreciate your question and the opportunity to explain in more detail about the services I provide.

We’re starting with a few limits based on various parameters, and we’ll be adding more as time goes on. We reveal some limits only when you reach them, and tell you about others in advance. Twitter applies limits to any person who reaches:

1,000 total updates per day, on any and all devices
250 total direct messages per day, on any and devices
100 API requests per hour
Maximum number of follow attempts in a day

Above is what the Twitter regs are now, but look at the last one - does it specify what the maximum number of follow attempts in a day is? I am NOT a spammer, I am a NETWORKING COACH - how can I message anyone when I cannot follow them - makes no sense to me! I am annoyed - the Customer Service message I got today said to "unfollow multiple people and then my permission to follow will be restored!" How dumb is that? I follow people because I want to engage in a conversation and get to know them. Do I "talk" to 2,000+ daily - no, that's crazy to even think I would. But the opportunity is there, should I want and/or need it. I never have spammed anyone, usually have conversations with others and once in a while post an appropriate link. I believe I may have posted my blog (via TweetLater) in the very beginning for those that I followed so check it out, but then I realized that was not the right message to be posting so I changed it. I wasn't blocked when that was happening. I can't figure it all out, makes absolutely no sense to me. Since I am not able to follow any new people, I have approx 60 new follower that I am unable to follow back. From a networking point of view, it looks like I don't care and am not interested in them - WHICH IS NOT TRUE. How do I get that message out? I'm tweeting that my following limit is blocked, but how do I know that everyone is seeing it?

I totally agree about Twitter. I'm also stopped from following anyone new. I had set up TweetLater for autoresponder thank you notes to those that follow me and then to follow those that I'm not already following. No manual follows at all for several weeks. I go away for a week to come back to find that I'm not able to follow anyone because I reached my quota. How do some people have thousands of followers and follow thousands and I get stopped before I'm even started!

How does that help networking? I'm still Tweeting and compiling a list of the new folks following me. By the time Twitter gets around to allowing me to follow again, my list will be several hundred - guess I'll get slapped again.

Hope they soon get out of their growing pains and determine whether or not they want to participate. If not, I'll be looking for new places to network. I am on Plurk (caroldeckert - if you want to join me there) but I just can't get used to working on the timeline - makes it too difficult to find and follow conversations.

Thanks for letting me vent!

Carol Deckert
Netweaving/Networking Coach
RUNLancaster.com

I love fireworks! I wish there were more events that actually produced a fireworks display. My personal preference is for the professional displays - I think the safety issue plays a big part in my preference. Being a grandma, I don't like to think about the possibility of my kids or grandkids potentially being injured by the improper handling of fireworks!

My husband and our dear friends traveled to Atlantic City NJ yesterday (July 4th) just to watch the fireworks out over the ocean. Would you believe there were no fireworks on the 4th of July? Instead the casinos decided to put off their display on July 3rd! How dumb was that? So we came home, totally bummed out as we were excited to watch a cool display.

Guess we are relegated to watching the local display at Long's Park in Lancaster!

By the way, Happy 4th of July everyone!

Carol Deckert, Netweaving/Networking Coach
RUNLancaster
http://www.runlancaster.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/caroldeckert
http://twitter.com/caroldeckert

Thanks for taking the time to compile this list - I appreciate the opportunity to get to know these awesome internet marketers and continue learning all I can from them!



twitter.com/caroldeckert

http://www.runlancaster.com

Thanks for taking the time to compile this list - I appreciate the opportunity to get to know these awesome internet marketers and continue learning all I can from them!

If I can be of any help, please let me know!

twitter.com/caroldeckert

http://www.runlancaster.com

Hi Cristina! Procrastination is the biggest problem that most business owners face on a daily basis. It's so easy to get "caught up" in the daily routine that you just "don't get to" something else! Procrastination occurs when your mind continually keeps reminding you of new ideas, projects or something else that needs to be done! I have found that although I do tend to procastinate, if I put my mind to finishing one project (task), before even thinking about another, I can get something accomplished.

I keep a spiral-bound notebook on my computer and as I am working throughout the day, new thoughts, ideas, etc., just get jotted down in my notebook. At the end of the day, I review these notes to see what could be considered as critical or important to get done the following day and which items could just get added to my "wish list." This helps me keep on task and avoid the procrastination trap!

Have an awesome day!
Yours in networking,

Carol Deckert, Networking Coach
Referrals Unlimited Network
http://www.runlancaster.com