My overall message is that of networking in general with an emphasis on face-to-face networking, so I began my challenge of meeting 100 people in 50 days as a way to lead by example and to demonstrate how it can be done. Most of my examples thus far have been people I have met in person at business meetings and business events. But I am also an avid online networker and can be found commenting on posts and participating at numerous groups at LinkedIn, Facebook and other online communities. So today I am blogging about three new people I met at LinkedIn. The caveat for an online meeting is that I must have a live conversation with the person and we should each learn a little about each other.

In the past two days I had three very interesting conversations. In each of the three meetings we decided to meet via Skype which is great, because let’s face it why pay if you can have a free conversation? In the case of my meeting with Linda Lord she was brave enough to use her camera whereas the three guys (me included) opted for the headset voice-only mode.

The Pitch - Business Lessons Learned on the Soccer Field

Linda Lord was my most recent conversation ending just about a half hour ago, so I’ll begin with her. She is the author of  The Pitch – Business Lessons Learned on the Soccer Field.  This book is a business parable following the experiences of her fictitious hero Liz Roberts the owner of a struggling event planning business who is also struggling to connect with her teenaged son. Liz attempts to make a connection with her son through soccer and in so doing finds business lessons in the practical realities of the sport. This book can be enjoyed by those interested in soccer, business, parenting or anyone just looking to read an interesting story.

My observation is Linda is part of a new breed of business book authors trying to make business lessons more accessible by making them more enjoyable to read. Stories are helpful in learning because they are like pneumonic devices that help you remember what you learn because they are presented within a context that you are likely to remember. For instance I can ask you to recall a list if items such as cat, beer, mail and computer. You could simply memorize these or I can say “my cat was laying next to the computer drinking a beer and reading my mail.”  That short story and the image it creates has a greater likelihood of you recalling that list later. Likewise in books such as The Pitch you have a greater likelihood of recalling the lessons learned within the context of the story. Learn more about Linda J. Lord and her book at www.thepitchbusinessbook.com .

Don Osborne

This morning I chatted for about an hour with small business educator Don Osborne, presenter of the Profit Puzzle focusing on eight business basics that are the foundation of profit in any business. Don says his approach is akin to a Business101 class and is the place any new business owner or entrepreneur should begin. I immediately downloaded Don’s free checklist of 32 Action Steps you can take to make more small business profit now. This looks like a good guide any business owner could use to see if you are doing all of the things that might help your business to grow and prosper. I invite you to go to profitpuzzle.com and download a copy for yourself. Don and I spoke about the possibility of my producing a short video with a few business card marketing tips he can offer as a resource to his students. This is what is nice about networking. Meet new people and create new opportunities for everyone.

Lonnie Sciambi

Yesterday I spoke with Lonnie Sciambi who bills himself as “The Entrepreneur’s Yoda” because he is ready to reveal the age old mysteries of business success to willing and eager Business Jedis. We had a great conversation sharing ancient business history and war stories. Though Lonnie is willing to mentor budding entrepreneurs (usually for free) he makes his money working with seasoned business veterans, assisting in turning around wounded and damaged businesses and helping mature business owners to successfully transition their business to the next generation of owners. Those of us who have witnessed this done badly understand there is a right and wrong way to see to it that your business survives you, and that the other stakeholders such as employees, customers, family and you, survive your exit. I look forward to learning more from Lonnie “Yoda” Sciambi and you can do the same by visiting his blog or follow him on twitter @yodacanhelp.

As it turned out these three discussions were with individuals who provide help, assistance and guidance to small business owners. Linda J. Lord through her book  The Pitch; Don Osborne through his self directed online business education and Lonnie Sciambi who provides a more personal one-on-one approach to more established entrepreneurs. I hope my readers will benefit from my new contacts by clicking through to understand each of their offering more thoroughly. Continue to follow my networking adventures in the world and on the world wide web. The count stands a Day 23 with 38 new people met.

Remember at the beginning of 2009 when Obama was in his first 100 days of office and expectations were so high?  At that time I decided to see how much I could accomplish in 100 days by concentrating my efforts on my new book “Turn Your Business Card Into Business.” Well that 100 days set the groundwork for a number of activities which have carried me through to the present day. So the message is short. Spurts of concentrated effort can pay long term dividends.

Here is my new concentrated effort. My plan is to make an effort to meet 100 new people in the next 50 days. I may achieve the goal a little sooner or a little later. That’s what we will see. I plan to blog about my activities here and introduce readers to the people I meet and just see where this leads. We are all out networking to some degree, but I want to illustrate what we might learn from a concentrated effort.

 I am going to give myself a leg up and begin April 27^th and continue until June 16^th. I have no rules about this, we’ll just let it progress. I’ll be happy to get your feedback as I go along. You can even help me out if you want to introduce me to someone or suggest an event I should attend. Updates may be daily or every other day depending on my activity.

The beginning:

 Day 1 April 27, 2010. I wanted to start with this because it shows there are a lot of ways to network. Today I met (1) Joe Corroccio of AuthorsRoost via the phone. One of my book video clients Beverly Flaxington author of “Understanding Other People” mentioned that she had an article featured there. So I checked it out and liked what Joe was doing with his podcasts and contacted him. After a fairly lengthy conversation we found there is indeed a synthesis between our two author related websites and we are currently exploring ways to joint venture.

 Day 2 April 28, 2010. I had lunch today with (2) Jim Kepler of Adams Press  .  Jim and I had both attended a meeting of the Midwest Writers Assn and happened to begin chatting as we were both walking out the door of Hackney’s in Glenview where the meeting took place. We stopped and exchanged cards and agreed to follow up. We did, and that culminated in lunch at a restaurant in Rogers Park. We learned a lot about each other and I believe that this might well be as Bogey said in Casablanca, “the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” 

In the early evening I attended a networking gathering of a the Linked N Chicago Group which as you might have guessed was bunch of folks who use the LinkedIn social media tool. It seemed like a good chance to maybe meet face-to-face some of the people I have met (or not) online. I brought my buddy Bob Solomon along who is the relentless promoter of Video Catnip a video designed to provide your cat with hours of television enjoyment. The meeting was held at the 33 Club on Wells Street in “Old Town” and just a few blocks away from my wife’s piano studio.  So Julie joined us towards the end of the event.  One of the first people I spoke with was (3) Mary McFarlin, IT management, and this meeting’s hostess. Mary mentioned that she is part of a kind of networking meeting organizer’s alliance which may be of benefit to my businesscardtobusiness networking group, we’ll follow up on that.  A related contact was (4) Jonathan a marketing research expert who might be a good speaker at one of my upcoming networking meetings. (5) Ricca Slone provides legal services and has already invited me to another networking event next week at Ann Sather’s Retaurant in LakeView.

(6)Sara, (7) David, and (8) John were job seekers. Sara is looking for work as a meeting planner I was able to give her a lead with (PMPN) Professional Meeting Planners Network. David was a very nice guy seeking a marketing management position with a NFP.  I was able to introduce him to a friend who is an accountant specializing in not-for-profit organizations. John is looking for a VP leadership position with a software firm. (9) Shane is a hair stylist at SWERVE next door to the restaurant. I have 20% OFF coupons if you’re interested. I directed him and his associates to my blog article right here about how to promote your hair salon or spa.  (10) Susan Carter is a sales associate with Caldwell Banker and we spoke about the possibility of my creating a video for her website. The last person I spoke with was (11) Brad DeSent, President of Apex Consulting Group. His firm provides “cloud computing” solutions for small and large firms. I noticed on his website that they are offering a Lunch and Learn Seminar, “What does Cloud Computing Mean for My Business?” at Walker Brothers Original Pancake House in Lincolnshire, June 23^rd. Check out the details on their website.

Okay so I have begun my quest by meeting eleven new people, only eighty-nine more to go. I will blog about it here and give a shout out to as many as I can. In this way you too can benefit from my networking and by doing so we can cast a wider net.