Here's the interesting story. Some months ago I began following Iggy Pintado on twitter. I knew his name was familiar to me and upon checking out LinkedIn realised that he had been at IBM exactly when I was there as a graduate back in the eighties. I liked his tweets and eventually managed to get hold of his brilliant book Connection Generation which describes the different personalities out there in the world, how they react and work to connection technologies and how to further enhance your networks for both personal and business satisfaction. As far as I'm concerned Iggy has nailed it and I told him I will read the book several times - it is my social networking 'bible' that I carry around in case I get a few spare minutes to dive in.
I was overseas for the first Flying Solo Live event however this year I was determined not to miss it. When I booked I was so pleased to see that Iggy was presenting The Connected Business. During the coffee break Iggy found me and introduced himself. We had a great chat working out who we knew in common at IBM - it was strange to think we had been working so closely physically (a floor apart) but did not remember meeting back then.
Iggy's presentation was excellent. He gave us facts and figures to blow us away with what was going on in the world of social networking. Early in the presentation he asked half a dozen people to stand up and my name was called. He introduced us all and said that we had met face to face for the first time today but that he considered us 'twitter buddies' and valued the support we gave him with regard to his book etc. He encouraged everyone to connect with us after the presentation. We also were asked to go and obtain the business card of someone we had not yet met. Because of Iggy's very generous introduction I had several people coming up wanting my card. Iggy then gave us great advice. He suggested that instead of putting the card in a box when we got home that we should connect with the person on the card via LinkedIn. If the person was not on LinkedIn we should invite them to join so they could become part of our network.
This was exactly the encouragement I needed. At that point I had about 70 connections on LinkedIn. After the event I spent a day or two adding people with cards that I met at Flying Solo. I then was motivated to gather cards from more recent networking events and do the same. I also looked at the connections of my new people and invited more if I knew them. I even invited some other presenters to join my network. I became fearless! I have now doubled the number of connections to 142.
Three days after the conference I received an email from one of the people who had taken my business card at Iggy's presentation. Jed Kram from Got Game was having a problem following me on Twitter and asked if I might be able to help. I went to see his account which was brand new and followed him back. I also decided out of curiosity to visit his website and was very excited by the business he was operating. Jed is an ex Sydney Kings basketball player and is passionate about providing recreational sports programs to children eg after-school, vacation care and holiday camps. I was so excited by this that I spontaneously asked him if he had any need for a 17 year old boy also passionate about basketball who would be looking for work at the end of his HSC. Jed responded by sending application forms back and asked me to get Elliot to contact him. Elliot wrote an application and emailed it Thursday. Last night he received confirmation that he appears to be a good fit. He is attending a coach training day and after the HSC will start at Got Game to see how he goes.
He was really just incredibly excited about the possibility of a job involving basketball. I don't think he could quite believe it! Interestingly enough the fact that Elliot had been coached by another rather well-known Sydney Kings player helped his cause. It was then that I said in my motherly advice tone "See, it's not what you know love, it's who you know!"
I will be looking at Jed's business and seeing how it might benefit from social networking technologies. However I must point out that the biggest reward and satisfaction came from this gift from the sky for my son. That to me is priceless and why I will continue to defend the value of being well connected online as well as in real life for both personal and business reasons.
I cannot highly recommend that you read Connection Generation. It is only after reading this book that I have seen the potential of significant rewards by opening up my online networks. A week ago I created a business Face Book Fan Page and have nearly 50 fans who want to read what I have to say or connect with me because they find value in my information. I have also begun to increase my personal Face Book friend list. Previously I was almost afraid to do this. I believed that Face Book should be for close friends and family only. Having read Iggy's book I see no reason to keep it so restricted. Face Book has privacy settings that can limit what certain groups see. I feel that once I have made a new connection on Twitter and it is a sustained one then I have not problem with developing that relationship to a closer level on Face Book. Twitter is more time sensitive. If you are not online at the same time as your 'twitter buddies' and you have are following a lot of people you might miss out on what is being said by those you care about. Face Book makes it easier to have a conversation and strengthen relationships. I see that all three services Twitter, Face Book and LinkedIn provide different qualities that are all essential if you want to expand your circle. I certainly have a long way to go before I'm anywhere near the 'super connector' that Iggy is but I know that I'm going to have an extraordinary amount of fun as I make the journey.
Thank you Iggy Pintado, Flying Solo Live and Jed Kram. You all have my complete support and gratitude.
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