Ivan R. Misner's Blog, page 111

Frank De Raffele: Localism Is the New Patriotism

The following post is a guest blog written by my friend Frank De Raffele (pictured at right below).  It does focus on America; however, I’m willing to bet that it will get you thinking about localism in you own place of residence, no matter what area of the world you live in. “Localism Is the New Patriotism” by Frank De Raffele Did you know that in 2010 the American people said that they trusted the small business owner over 13 other institutions? According to the Pew Research Center, 71% of those surveyed said that they trusted small business. Only 22% ...

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Free Monthly ‘Networking Cafe’ Webinar–You’re Invited!

In this video, filmed at a recent networking conference in Nashville, TN, I talk to my good friend and partner in the Referral Institute®, Eddie Esposito, about the monthly Networking Cafe webinars we offer to the public.  These FREE monthly webinars offer invaluable information about how to grow business through networking and referral marketing and we often have guests on the webinar who are experts at helping people achieve business success.  Past guests include Jack Canfield, Michael Gerber, and Susan RoAne, among others. These “Networking Cafe” webinars take place on the last Friday of each month and all you need ...

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May I Take Your Photo?–A Lesson in Great Customer Service

I was at the BNI® U.S. National Conference in Nashville, Tennessee last week and every day, room service would come up and deliver my meals (often, right as a meeting in my suite was wrapping up).   Leslie (pictured below) was the employee who most often made the deliveries during the last part of my stay. On one of these days, I had a group of ten BNI Directors in my suite. They were kind enough to give me a Givers Gain® plaque (pictured at right) made by one of their local members. We started to gather around to get a ...

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Simple, Compound, & Complex Referrals

In this video, filmed at a business networking conference in Nashville just last week, I talk to my very good friend and Business Networking and Sex Co-author, Frank De Raffele, about the difference between simple, compound, & complex referrals. Frank explains the importance of understanding that there’s a certain amount of time and energy spent correlating to each different type of referral and that there is, indeed, one type of referral that is considered the ‘ultimate’ referral–the type of referral that we’re all ideally searching for. Watch the video now to learn the difference between these three types of referrals ...

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Are You Serious about Being in Business? Here’s How to Find Out . . .

A while back, I was one of the featured speakers at a conference for small business owners and one of the other speakers offered a list of things that all business owners must have in place in order to truly be in business and position themselves for success.  The speaker said, “If you don’t have all these things in place, you’re not really in business!” This really stuck with me because there is a lot of validity to it.  With all the responsibilities of being a business owner, sometimes circumstances can get over whelming and some of the key things ...

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A Burning Question for Richard Branson

Last year, My wife Beth and I posted a question on Facebook in search of the most creative and interesting answer.  The question was: “If you had an opportunity to ask Sir Richard Branson one question, what would it be?” In this video, I reveal the best, most interesting question that someone responded with: “What venture or company do you wish you had started instead of someone else, or what business did you have a chance to invest in but didn’t and now regret not investing in it?” I go on to reveal the equally interesting (if not more interesting) ...

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Balance: Illusive and Elusive

When we hear the term “work-life balance” we think about trying to spend an equal amount of time in all areas of our life.  The problem with that is that almost no entrepreneur can actually achieve that. While life can’t be fully in balance, it is possible to create a life that is in harmony with your vision. Here are some simple techniques: Wherever you are – be there. If you are at work, don’t be thinking about the time you didn’t spend with the family the night before, or what you should be doing with your “significant other” right now. When you ...

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Real Goals vs. Wishful Thinking

I recently had a conversation with a business owner who claimed that they were going to triple their business this year.  When they told me this, my first thought was that tripling their business was a great goal to have and, naturally, I wanted to know how they planned on doing that so I asked.  The answer revealed a huge problem . . . they didn’t have an actual plan. In this video, I talk about the difference between real, attainable goals and what people often label as “goals” that are, in reality, nothing more than wishful thinking.  In the ...

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Is It Possible Your Follow-up Tactics Aren’t Doing You Any Favors?

I once had an interesting conversation with an associate who was surprised that she’d gotten flak from a referral source for taking five days to follow up with a prospect that the referral source had referred to her.  My associate explained to me that she doesn’t like to follow up with prospects for four or five days because she doesn’t want the prospect to feel like she’s too eager. I told my associate that I strongly disagree with her follow-up strategy.  My reasons why are outlined in the following paragraphs . . . When building relationships, it’s always important not ...

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Networking Fundamentals to Boost Your Bottom Line

Today I’d like to share with you the newest networking video from the educational video archive housed within NetworkingNow.com. Have you ever wondered what the ONE secret to success is in regard to networking for your business? In this video, I reveal the answer to that very question and I also explain four key networking fundamentals which are guaranteed to boost your bottom line. This video is just one example of the vast array of educational content offered on the NetworkingNow.com website—there are literally hundreds of business and networking downloads available in the site’s online library and you can access ...

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