Geert Conard's Blog, page 13

Small Business Owners are the true heroes of our economy

Following up on my New Year's message I want to express my sincere admiration to those small business owners who really excelled themselves to struggle through the financial crisis.

As a small business owner myself and a proactive networker attending many business events, I have seen the rock-hard impact of the financial crisis at very close range. I have seen the impact on the lives and businesses of many friends and how they reacted to it.
The first industries which were hit within my network were recruiting and IT companies.
Both of them services on which companies will start saving when times are bad.

While lots of large companies have closed their books in the last two years, I have seen lots of small business owners struggle hard to survive, often kicking and screaming. But somehow, despite a record count of folds in 2010, most of them still survived because of their pride and tremendous willpower.
Instead of closing the books they have cut costs, paid extra attention to their customers and invested even more of their personal funds and efforts in their business and marketing.
I personally know at least a few business owners who have chosen to stop paying themselves a wage for a year, creating the necessary cashflow for their business to survive another year.
I would love to see which employee or which CEO of a large company would do the same, if law would even allow it.

On the other hand we have the CEO's of banks and other large companies who often appeared in the newspapers being laid off with a large bag of money as a goodbye present.
Were those CEO's overpaid ? If they didn't get the job done they sure were. But if you can find a good manager who really gets the job done, you should pay him enough. If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys to do the job !

The worst part is however the fact that public opinion doesn't make any difference between small business owners and the CEO's of large companies they know from the news-bulletins. I often heard people talking bad about business owners, accusing them of getting rich on the backs of their poor employees. They are also widely accused of fraud and avoiding taxes. I just wish they could see the efforts small business owners make each and every day to stay alive, to keep their business alive and viable and to create the necessary jobs for our economy and community to survive.

When attending networking events I always see people profiling themselves as successful managers of their companies, building their credibility. When talking with them in private I often heard those stories of struggling to survive. I think we shouldn't be ashamed to admit that we fight to survive, for the fact that we simply refuse to choose the easy road and fold, that we fight for the economy to keep on running and for the fact that we are making sure that 2011 is indeed the year that everything kicks back into gear again. All those small business owners are working like ants, moving our economy forward.

Don't you think our networking efforts would have been more successful if everyone admitted how hard it was in 2009 and 2010 … and everyone would have gone the extra mile to help each other to survive this together. Times of crisis or not, small business owners are always the true heroes of our economy !

Networking and Entrepreneurship in 2011

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Dear Networking and Business contacts,
For starters we wish you a happy, healthy and successful 2011. May the years of financial crisis and "getting-back-on-our-feet" stay behind us for good and let's shift the economy back into a higher gear together !

It's a tradition to start the New Year with a letter of good resolutions. This year I would like to title my New Year's resolutions : "Networking and Entrepreneurship in 2011". Let's start by looking back at last year.
2010 was the year "after the financial crisis". It was the year where a record count of companies had to close their books. It was the year where the blow really hit us, after most companies where already digging deep into their financial backups. It was also the year where it was more than ever before needed to network because only by joining forces we could conquer this storm.

Networking is something we all do online and offline through multiple networks and business clubs. Trendwatchers call this "inline networking" combining online and offline.
When entrepreneurs and businessowners used to be able to stay in touch with 125 to 150 people, by adding online networking they are now able to stay in touch with 500 people or more. The more people you know, the more opportunities will come by !

The social part of this avalanche of contacts is of course awesome, but as entrepreneurs we mustn't forget to have a look at the business part. On many networks you hear great slogans emphasizing the business intentions, but on average it mainly stays a social community with occasional referrals. Let's try to become active in 2011 and work on this business part of our networking efforts. Let's try to go for the next step and kick our economy in the butt.
Networking in these hard times is necessary more than ever before and especially "sharing with your network" has to be part of it. When every entrepreneur actively tries to share with his or her network we can all survive these difficult times. Last year I had set myself a goal to share at least 10.000 € with my network through referrals. It was no problem to reach this goal. Every week you will hear contacts that are searching for someone or something.
It's a very small effort to guide them in the right direction through connecting them with someone in your network. My goal for this new year is to refer at least 11.000 € of business to my networking contacts, referring to the year '11.


"I can highly recommend Geert as a leading social networker and event host in Belgium, and am grateful to him for valuable business referrals and networking opportunities."
Levent Korkmaz, Salesforce.com CRM Consultant & Non-Profit Implementation Partner, BECAUSE sprl
I also wish for Belgium to finally get out of its political jam, because this is a very bad situation for all Belgian entrepreneurs. The world's economy is watching us with many concerns and it gets more and more difficult for Belgian entrepreneurs to get credibility abroad.

Of course we are also preparing to make the next step toward a successful 2011. We have started to distribute our new company-flyer and we have prepared a nice calendar of 'open' Social Media Workshops.
We also look forward to meeting you again at one of our presentations or workshops, at one of the many networking events … or monthly through our newsletter !
Warm regards,
Geert CONARD

Netwerken en Ondernemen in 2011

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Beste lezers, klanten en zakenrelaties,

Allereerst wensen wij jullie een gelukkig, gezond en succesvol 2011. Laat de jaren van financiële crisis en het "terug recht krabbelen" voorgoed achter ons liggen en laat ons met zijn allen de economie terug in een hogere versnelling schakelen !

Traditioneel starten we een nieuw jaar met een nieuwjaarsbrief vol goede voornemens. Dit jaar wou ik heel graag deze voornemens in het teken zetten van 'Netwerken en Ondernemen in 2011'. Hiervoor blik ik dan ook eerst even terug op het vorige jaar.

2010 was het jaar "na de financiële crisis". Dit was het jaar waarin een recordaantal bedrijven de boeken moesten sluiten. Dit was het jaar waar de klap pas echt keihard aankwam, nadat de meeste bedrijven al heel diep in hun reserves zaten. Dit was ook het jaar dat netwerken meer dan ooit nodig was omdat we alleen samen deze storm konden overleven.

Netwerken doen we voortaan allemaal zowel online als offline via meerdere netwerk- en businessclubs. Trendwatchers spreken nu over "inline netwerken" als combinatie van online en offline. Waar men vroeger als ondernemer met gemiddeld 125 a 150 personen een goed contact kon onderhouden, doen we dat nu met de online netwerken erbij moeiteloos met 500 of meer personen. Hoe meer mensen je kent, hoe meer opportuniteiten er zullen voorbij komen !
Het sociale aspect van deze overvloed aan contacten is uiteraard schitterend, maar als ondernemer mogen we toch ook het business-aspect niet vergeten. Op veel netwerken klinken voortdurend mooie slogans met betrekking tot het genereren van business, maar in de praktijk blijft het toch vooral een sociaal gebeuren met slechts sporadisch enkele doorverwijzingen. Laat ons in 2011 eens actief werken aan het business-aspect en ervoor zorgen dat we samen een flinke stap vooruit zetten in onze business en de economie een flinke schop onder de kont geven.

Netwerken in deze moeilijke tijden is inderdaad meer dan ooit nodig en vooral het "delen met je netwerk" wil ik hier benadrukken. Wanneer alle ondernemers actief moeite doen om te delen met hun netwerk overleven we allemaal moeiteloos deze harde tijden. Vorig jaar had ik mezelf tot doel gesteld om minstens 10.000 € aan business door te kunnen geven aan mijn netwerkcontacten. Dit streefbedrag heb ik ook probleemloos gehaald. Wekelijks hoor je mensen die op zoek zijn naar iets of iemand en het is een kleine moeite om deze mensen op de juiste weg te zetten als je ze via je netwerkcontacten kan helpen. Mijn streefdoel voor het volgende jaar is dan ook om analoog met het jaartal minstens 11.000 € aan business te kunnen doorgeven aan mijn netwerk.
In het kader van een coachingsproject voor UNIZO was ik dringend op zoek naar een CRM-partner. Mijn toenmalige CRM-partner had net de boeken neergelegd. Eén telefoontje aan Geert en ik werd geholpen. Een dag later zat ik rond tafel met Levent Korkmaz. Intussen werken wij een jaar samen en staan nieuwe projecten op til in 2011. Dank je wel Geert!
(Karl Mortier, Quattro Development)
Verder wens ik net als u allen uiteraard ook dat België eindelijk uit zijn politieke impasse komt, met als voornaamste reden dat deze situatie allesbehalve positief is voor de Belgische ondernemers. De wereldeconomie kijkt momenteel heel erg bezorgd naar België en het wordt alsmaar moeilijker om als Belgische Ondernemer ook over de grenzen jezelf te bewijzen.

Zelf doen we uiteraard ook ons uiterste best om er iets van te maken in dit nieuwe jaar.
We zijn alvast gestart met het verdelen van onze nieuwe folder en het opmaken van de kalender met onze 'open' Social Media Workshops (zie website).
Verder kijken we er natuurlijk naar uit om jullie opnieuw te mogen begroeten tijdens één van de vele presentaties of workshops, één van de vele netwerkevents … of maandelijks via onze nieuwsbrief !

Met vriendelijke groet

Geert CONARD

Location based marketing finally popular in Europe

Almost from the start of the very first Location Based Networks in 2008, they stimulated retailers to launch promo's for those customers who "checked in" at their local stores, pubs and restaurants.
During the first year I noticed lots of successful actions and promo's starting up in the USA and UK, some even nationwide (e.g. promo's of Starbucks, Domino's Pizza, ...)
Pioneer Foursquare has a great business page, listing the latest promo actions nearby.
It seems that after the summer of 2010 Belgium and Holland also noticed the positive aspects of these promo's and finally jumped on the wagon. Especially near larger cities, it happens more and more that when you check in somewhere, you'll be attended to "Special Promo" actions nearby.
Only yesterday I was attended to a promo by a local bookstore in Maastricht (NL) where they hand out free bestselling books to customers who have checked in to their store at least 10 times.


If you are active in retail or horeca ... take action now and get more customers. Location based networks are very clever marketing tools and free to use !!!

The Social Network

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Today, Oct. 27, the hit movie 'The Social Network' hits the screens in Belgium.
This movie about the early days of marketleader in Social Networking Facebook has been hyped for many weeks now. The movie is based on the book 'The Accidental Billionaires' of Ben Mezrich.

Why should you be interested to watch this movie ?

- Because 26 year old Mark Zuckerberg is a self made billionaire, this year marked at #35 of the Forbes Billionaires List.
- Because Bill Gates was the man who brought the PC to our living room, but Mark Zuckerberg is the man who made us communicate on Social Networks.

Tonight I'll be doing a 30 minute presentation, introducing this movie at Kinepolis Hasselt.
Premiere Event The Social Network

Privacy on Social Media (Video)

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Just before the summer holidays I was booked for a Social Media workshop by Procter & Gamble in Brussels.

Around that same time there were a lot of stories in the news about online privacy and more specific about how your employer would react when he sees your "wild weekend" pictures on Facebook.

In my opinion it's pretty simple if you use your common sense. Don't post it if you don't want it seen by everyone. In the video below I give you my view on this and also tell you how to use it to your profit !


Visit our video-channel at www.youtube.be/geertconard

Essential tips to find a job on LinkedIn

1. Make sure your profile is complete<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" ?>

LinkedIn is, after Google, probably the most used tool to search for your name. Even when they only search for your name on Google, your LinkedIn profile will probably show up on the first page of results. You can make sure people will like what they find !

Use your profile to display your skills and talents. If your profile is 100% complete it will show you as an expert in what you do. Make sure you have added some recommendations and always list your job...

Breakthrough of location based networking

This week Facebook announced the launch of Facebook Places, their take on location based networking. From this week on available in the USA, other countries to follow soon.
I was probably one of the first people in Belgium who really believed in location based networking while many others laughed and said it was "just a game".
Today I see more and more businesspeople check-in to their workplaces, their favorite restaurants and bars and even promoting those by giving tips to other users. Today...

KMO Marketingcongres 2010

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(dutch posting)
Peter Desmyttere onder meer bekend van de Intac Internet Academy, organiseert op vrijdag 8 oktober 2010 in Edegem (Antwerpen) voor de derde keer het marketingcongres dat zich specifiek richt tot de Belgische kmo's. De bedoeling is op één dag de marketing- en communicatiekennis van zelfstandigen en kmo's een flinke stimulans te geven door praktische informatie te verschaffen die deze doelgroep aanspreekt.
De KMO-markt kent een eigen specificiteit en is zeer praktisch en...

The News is happening right now !

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I have to admit I'm an information-junkie.
I watch the news on TV, read newspapers and scan the Internet for all possible info which might be interesting for me to digest.
How relevant and up-to-date are these information sources ? In general the answer wouldn't be too positive.
Watching the news on TV gives you an overview of what happened during the day, supplemented with highlights and reruns of what happened the day before.
The morning newspaper will bring you an overview of what was on the...