Category Archives for blogging

Are You Jeopardizing Your Top-O-Mind Position?


Are You Jeopardizing Your Top-O-Mind Position?

Thursday I posted “How to Stay Top-O-Mind and Not Wear Out Your Welcome.” This was in response to a request I had from someone who wanted to be removed from my distribution list. That post was from the perspective of the person distributing information or emailing to connections. Today I want to look at it from the perspective of the person making the removal request.

How Do You Decide to Take Yourself Off a Distribution List

Asking to be removed from a distribution list requires careful consideration.

We are all inundated by email and always looking for ways to clean out our mailbox. Sometimes it can pretty difficult and frustrating because the removal process is obscure, doesn’t exist, doesn’t work, or has any number of other problems.

However, when we are receiving email from people we know; it’s an easy process. We simply send them email asking them to stop emailing their information. Hopefully they will honor our request but if that doesn’t work we can simply remove them from our contact list or block them.

Is this Top-O-Mind Jeopardy?

Two easy actions to rid ourselves of this annoying email. Think about it though, what have you just accomplished?

For some reason this person made a conscious decision to include you in the distribution of the information. Whether the person created the information or it was something they saw and felt inclined to send to you; they were thinking of you.

Isn’t having people think about you the purpose behind networking? Are you potentially jeopardizing your access to opportunities?

Have You Just Asked to Be Removed from Your Position of Top-O-Mind

Here you have a situation where someone is thinking enough about you! You are on their mind. They thought to send you some information but you are saying, “I really don’t appreciate your sending me information. In fact, I really wish you wouldn’t think about me!”

Is that your goal? Is that what you really want?

Maybe the message you are sending is, “I only want you to send me the information I find important or benefits me in a certain way; otherwise don’t bother me!”

Did You Say You Would Prefer I Simply Do Not Contact You?

What if this person had an opportunity to refer someone to you or your competitor; would they really be inclined to reach out to you when you said don’t contact me?

So What to Do if You Don’t Want the Email

So what do you do if you don’t want to offend the sender and you don’t want the email? Have you ever heard of the delete key? That’s the simple solution. Delete the message and do not say anything to the sender.
Your networking objective should be to become Top-O-Mind with as many of your connections as possible. You always want them thinking good things about you. You don’t want to offend them or start them thinking about your competitor. If you have people thinking about you; you must protect the relationship. You never know where your next referral will come from or when it will come. You must keep all avenues open.

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My name is Tom Staskiewicz and my goal is to help everyone do a little better, get a little further and reach the success they are destined to achieve!

Do you need help with your message? Are you struggling for people to know you and what you have to offer? If so, I can help. My contact information is below or Email  Me Now! and lets get started.

Whatever I can do to help you or anyone to move forward in reaching your goals; I’m all for it. Connect with me on LinkedIn, Like me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.

Check out the UPPROACH site and sign up for our newsletter of career tips and ideas for job seekers, small and medium business owners, self-employed individuals, contractors, consultants or whatever; anyone wanting to move their career forward!

How to Stay Top-O-Mind and Not Wear Out Your Welcome!


How to Stay Top-O-Mind and Not Wear Out Your Welcome!

From experience I’m learning just because I feel what I say is important and some people agree with me; doesn’t mean everyone feels that way. You must be careful you do not wear out your welcome and tick off your audience!

So how do you stay Top-O-Mind? That’s what this post is all about!

It’s Easy to Wear Out Your Welcome Regardless of Your Intent

My son frequently tells my wife and I how humble he is. He’s very diligent in the process and talks about how he defines humility. Of course he is kidding – or at least I hope he is – if he’s not kidding he has no idea what the word means!

However, in his attempts to convince his mother and I; it gets old quick! He is wearing out his welcome on this issue.

Over Communicating Can Have Its Risks Too

When we are communicating with our audience we run the same risk. Again regardless of intent we can simply wear out our welcome. We need to be concerned with how and how often we reach out with our messages. We also must be concerned about the content of our messages; regardless of how relevant they may seem to us; our audience may not feel the same way. In fact, our audience may feel we are over doing it.

I sent the link to my post about “Neglect Is Your Ally” to several people and I had one individual respond by asking me to take him off my distribution list. However, it made me realize maybe my tactic wasn’t so good and maybe some people don’t like my posts. I need a lesson in humility from my son.

So How Do We Maintain Contact While Respecting People’s Privacy

Fortunately LinkedIn provides a way. Daily we receive updates from LinkedIn telling us what is happening with our connections: birthdays, promotions, new connections, their posts, job changes, new volunteer activities, etc. If you are astute you realize each of these is your opportunity to reach out to your connections and acknowledge their activity, accomplishment or special day.

You cannot let these opportunities go to waste! Even if you don’t know the person a congratulations, a like, a happy birthday, etc. will be meaningful. You need to take every chance you get on every Social Media platform to reach out and stay Top-O-Mind.

One complaint or request to be removed from the mailing list isn’t disaster, but it is a wake up call. Don’t wear out your welcome, you are hoping you can call on your network in the future and upsetting them doesn’t put them in a helpful frame of mind.

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My name is Tom Staskiewicz and my goal is to help everyone do a little better, get a little further and reach the success they are destined to achieve!

Do you need help with your message? Are you struggling for people to know you and what you have to offer? If so, I can help. My contact information is below or Email  Me Now! and lets get started.

Whatever I can do to help you or anyone to move forward in reaching your goals; I’m all for it. Connect with me on LinkedIn, Like me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.

Check out the UPPROACH site and sign up for our newsletter of career tips and ideas for job seekers, small and medium business owners, self-employed individuals, contractors, consultants or whatever; anyone wanting to move their career forward!

Top-O-Mind Fatal Mistake


Top-O-Mind Fatal Mistake

For years professional firms (lawyers, CPAs, doctors, engineers, etc.) have subscribed to newsletter services where they simply change the header on the document and then send it to their clients as their own information.

Today this is a FATAL MISTAKE because these newsletters are published on the firms blog; not sent in the mail! There may be hundreds or even thousands of other blogs with the identical information.

Your Blog Must Be Your Information

If you are going to blog and present the information as your own; then make it your own! If you subscribe to a newsletter service for content; it’s not your content! It is someone else’s content and whether you paid for it or not; it is not your original work!

Instead of taking their own time to create something relevant to their client base; they simply take information from the service, slap their header on the document, post it on their blog and send their clients links to the information under the premise of providing a unique service.

Creating Your Information Takes Time and Effort, but It Is Your Own!

Creating your own information absolutely takes time and effort. It’s not something you can just slap together; but don’t your clients deserve better? Don’t they deserve something you took the time to create? If you are using a service are you differentiating yourself from the competition? Not at all! You are simply confirming your practice is a commodity.

Personal Survey Results

I just saw a posting on LinkedIn from one of my professional connections. I knew they had been using a service and thought I would see if they are still using a service. To do this I copied a couple of sentences from their message and pasted it into Google. I enclosed the text in quotation marks and hit search. This is the text:

“If you also have an IRA, you probably named a beneficiary of that account on the custodian’s beneficiary form. The IRA beneficiary form”

The result was 38 identical hits on the search string. Was this a coincidence? I’m sure it’s no coincidence; all of these firms are using the same service.

How Does this Look to Your Audience?

Do your clients and prospects see this as a differentiator for your firm; obviously not. In fact, if they were searching for a new provider and received the same identical information from both organizations they could have a lot of different thoughts going through their mind.

For example: Did one of these firms plagiarize the information from the other? Is it really two different firms or just one firm working under two names? Did these firms collaborate on the article; why didn’t they acknowledge both authors?

If they found 38 identical results they may not know how to feel.

If You Are Going to Use a Service; at Least Add Your Perspective!

I have counseled professional firms on the issue and told them I didn’t see it as a very good marketing tool. As part of my recommendation I said, if you are going to use a service, at a minimum add your own perspective. Tell them your audience why they should read the article or what you find particularly relevant. At least make some part of the process your own!

Have Newsletter Services Outlived Their Usefulness?

If you are using a newsletter service; this is the question you must ask: has the service outlived its usefulness?
When the newsletters were mailed the chance any of your audience members seeing the identical information from multiple sources was remote. Today with the Internet it’s no longer the case; the chances are high they will see you are not an original thinker. Maybe it is time to create your own material!

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My name is Tom Staskiewicz and my goal is to help everyone do a little better, get a little further and reach the success they are destined to achieve!

Do you need help with your message? Are you struggling for people to know you and what you have to offer? If so, I can help. My contact information is below or Email  Me Now! and lets get started.

Whatever I can do to help you or anyone to move forward in reaching your goals; I’m all for it. Connect with me on LinkedIn, Like me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.

Check out our career site and sign up for our newsletter of career tips and ideas for job seekers, small and medium business owners, self-employed individuals, contractors, consultants or whatever; anyone wanting to move their career forward!

If You Are Not Saying Anything, Nobody On LinkedIn Is Listening!


If You Are Not Saying Anything, Nobody On LinkedIn Is Listening!

Does this statement make sense to you? I’m sure it does, so how do you explain people, who expect others to take notice of them, when they aren’t saying anything? Sometimes even when you are saying things it is still difficult to get others to take notice. Whether you are in a situation with other people surrounding you or a profile wasting away on LinkedIn; if you are saying nothing no one will pay attention!

For the Past Week Few Have Paid Attention to My Blog!

What’s up with that? Doesn’t anyone care? Or maybe, it’s that I wasn’t around! I wasn’t posting new material! I wasn’t bringing any attention to the blog! I was quiet and therefore no one was listening!

Sunday, July 28th, I started a whirlwind of days of driving hundreds of miles. Sunday I drove 750 miles from West Linn, Oregon to Rexburg, Idaho; on Monday I drove 750 miles from Rexburg, Idaho to West Linn, Oregon. Friday, August 2nd, I again drove 750 miles from West Linn, Oregon to Rexburg, Idaho and Saturday I turned right around and drove back to West Linn. During this period my blog was quiet and guess what; no one paid attention!

Is Anyone Listening to You on LinkedIn?

If you’re not creating a presence on LinkedIn; no one is listening to you, reading your profile or contacting you! Now when I say creating a presence; I don’t simply mean a profile. You can have the greatest profile in the world but if you aren’t generating interest; few will see it!

The Lesson I Learned and You Should as Well

The lesson I learned is my success with LinkedIn and the Internet in general requires a consistent presence. If I stop my status updates, posts, articles, comments, etc.; people soon forget.

If you want to be Top-O-Mind; you must make a continuing effort to do just that. Top-O-Mind doesn’t just happen; it takes a conscious effort!

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My name is Tom Staskiewicz and my goal is to help everyone do a little better, get a little further and reach the success they are destined to achieve! Whatever I can do to help you or anyone to move forward in reaching your goals; I’m all for it. Connect with me on LinkedIn, Like me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.

Check out our career site at http://toyourcareersuccess.com and sign up for our newsletter of career tips and ideas for job seekers, small and medium business owners, self-employed individuals, contractors, consultants or whatever; anyone wanting to move their career forward!

Helping Your Children by Building Your Network


Your Network Has Value to Your Children

While you may typically think of your network as your list of contacts that will help you in your business or career. Your network has the potential to help more than just you. One of the most important benefactors of your networking efforts can be your children.

How Your Network Can Help Your Children

Through your connections, you can provide your children access to influential people they may otherwise never know. Whether your child is looking for a connection to a college, an opportunity for an internship, a job, references, or some other interest that can benefit from a connection; you can be the missing link.

Almost daily most of you come in contact with interesting people with varied backgrounds. Capturing these connections brings value to you and your network, but it may also bring a needed future connection for your children.

As a parent building your network can be one of the most unselfish acts you ever take as you work to create the connections that your child will need as the progress through their career.

Read my other networking articles on this Blog for more reasons why you MUST be networking.

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Tom Staskiewicz is a Social Media/Social Networking Coach helping businesses, organizations, and individuals to establish and manage their Social Media presence. Your Social Media presence doesn’t just happen and will not take care of itself. Tom helps you with those processes so your Social Media efforts will work for you.

Does Your Social Networking Answer the WIIFM Question?


What’s In It For Me?

The reality is that people are always looking to understand how they will benefit from any activity or action undertaken. They may be totally supportive of an idea or a plan, but their own interests will eventually come into play. With that in mind do you have the WIIFM answer for your customers and prospects?

Does Your Offer Answer Your Customer’s WIIFM Question?

If you can answer that question for them and answer it repeatedly with a benefit that they perceive has value and is of interest; you will get their attention. We are all bombarded with information constantly and one of the easiest ways to weed through the information is by looking for those messages that quickly tell them what is in it for them and make if very clear what they have to gain.

They will take that information and then weigh it against their cost. If the benefit out weighs the cost, they will be interested and act. If the perceived benefit does not outweigh the cost, they will move on to the next offer.

Do You Struggle with the WIIFM Question for Yourself?

So whether you are promoting yourself, your business, your service, or your product; you must be able to provide your reader with an answer to the WIIFM question. If you can’t or you don’t it is wasted effort on your part and you then need to look at the WIIFM question for yourself.

If you don’t want to put the work into your own activities then YOU must be failing your own WIIFM question. For whatever reason you do not feel that putting the effort into your own activities is worth the benefit you will receive.

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Tom Staskiewicz creates networking strategies that help you build your individual and business brands. Ask him how! Check out the UPPROACH website.

Social Media Does Not Provide Instantaneous Results


Going Viral Takes Time

I was talking with one of my clients recently about their Social Media efforts. The owners had been questioning whether the Social Media effort, which they had started about 5 months ago, was producing anything tangible. She told them that it was and was able to give one or two examples. That provided a little bit of satisfaction, but not too much.

Ironically I had been thinking about that same thing with this client and had done a couple of Google searches to see how we were doing. I was pleasantly surprised at the results. This client had two pages of Google results and upon review I saw that some of the results were from reposts of our Blog articles.

I forwarded the search criteria so they could perform the same search and see for themselves what was happening. No, it is not bringing droves of people into their office thus far, but it is starting to take effect.

You Must Have Patience

The reality is that there are billions of businesses, articles, blogs, and everything else on the Internet and taking or making your place in that thriving world takes time and patience. Even when you are attempting to make a dent in a small segment of the Internet it still does not happen overnight.

You Must Create Your Own Following

To be successful you must be able to create a following and you do that by having interesting and informational posts. The fact that you post something is of little consequence; the fact that you post something that interests and attracts an audience makes all the difference.

Identify Your Target and Then Focus Your Efforts

Creating a following takes time and effort. Here are some key questions that you need to answer before you proceed:

  1. What is your target market?
  2. Is your target market…
    1. Local?
    2. Regional?
    3. National?
    4. Worldwide?
  3. Who is in your target market?
    1. Male?
    2. Female?
    3. Young?
    4. Old?
    5. Metropolitan?
    6. Suburban?
    7. Rural?

Obviously there is much more to the process than these few questions, but the ability to answer these questions will make your process much more successful and targeted. There are many people pushing the idea of building your list by the thousands every day, the question is whether you are adding valuable names or simply adding names. Be focused in your efforts so you create an audience that is interested in your message.

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Tom Staskiewicz consults with individuals and businesses on the use of Social Media to help you build your brand and your business. Don’t waste time where there is no value. You must have a strategy so you don’t throw your money away on wasted efforts.

Begging for Facebook Fans


Are You Looking to Build a Following for Your Facebook Fan Page?

There are lots of fan pages out there and many, if not most, go begging for fans. Interestingly I see many posts of people saying “Be my Fan”, “Follow My Page”, “Click on This”, etc. That may work with some people, but you will never gain a quality following using that process. That is unless you are a celebrity and people are ready to jump at anything you say or do.

To Be Successful Facebook Fan Pages Need Fans

Without a doubt your page will be far more successful when you have 100s or 1000s of fans; but you will never reach that goal by begging. You must be providing value to generate fans. There are many different ways to provide value or otherwise encourage people to follow you; but you must be providing something in exchange for their clicking “Like” and becoming a fan.

What Do You Have to Offer?

Obviously one of the first things that you can be offering is valuable information. For instance if you are reading this article; you obviously believe that there is value in the information. Providing information that is helpful and can add value to your readers can be the enticement necessary to get them to become your fan.

Some pages gather fans by offering specials, using coupons or other pricing incentives, running promotions, and other activities to encourage participation. All of these actions can help in building your following. Along with those activities you need to be regular in your postings and activities. People are not interested in Pages that stop and start.

On my page UPPROACH I offer Fan Page tips. This is gaining me a following and therefore people must believe that there is value in what I am saying. If I can do it, so can you.

Make your Fan Page appeal to readers by giving them quality!