I was having a discussion with a friend who recently left his job for a new job. His new job is essentially a sales job and getting referrals is going to go a long way in deciding how well he does. I gave his some advice on successfully networking which has made all the difference in the world for me personally.

1. Meet tons of people - You should go to networking meetings and events all around your area. Meet people and follow up with them! Then offer to have coffee with them or lunch with them!
2. Ask lots of questions about the people you meet - Honestly people love to talk about themselves. The trick is that you really need to be genuinely interested in them. Also, be non-judgemental and just try to get to know what they care about and what they are passionate about.
3. Don’t sell them anything - People hate to be sold! If there is a need for your services, ask them if they are interested. Just make sure that you aren’t just waiting for an opportunity to pick your service or product! 
4. Help them any way you can - Introduce people you meet to people they will find interesting. Send them articles or blogs you think they might find interesting. If you really want to help people, send them referrals for their business or leads for good jobs. 
5. Keep in touch - Last but not least, keep in touch. Social media is a great way to do this. However, a good in person meeting every once in a while is also important.

Do these 5 things and you will be ahead of about 99% of the people you compete with in business. It’s also a hell of a lot of fun!

When I think back to leaving my “Job” to create Appsolute Genius, I believe I finally reached a point of not wanting to settle anymore. I’d had a feeling for a long time that I could do more with my life, my career, and my passions and that I was settling. Everyone else told me how great I was doing so it was pretty easy to hide behind that.

However, I’d also felt for a long time that I was capable of building a company but the security of a steady income was hard to overcome. Once I started viewing myself as a service provider to my employer, I start to think about my “Job” differently. I realized that I was doing what they thought I was good at or putting me in the best positions for their company. Never once did they ever try to maximize my true strengths of being able to connect to people, being able to use my bigger-picture thinking, and being able to strategically effect the company. Now to be totally fair, I let those things happen, but the point is that I was just a service provider to them for certain services that they happened to currently need.

It was up to me to take control and look deeper into how I could play to my strengths. Leaving a steady job has been difficult at times, but starting Appsolute Genius has been more rewarding than I could have ever imagined. So are you settling for less? How can I help you change your life?

This post started out of frustration with my cable television provider. Or should I say, my former cable tv provider? Now I had Charter for at least two years, maybe longer. I’ve never been in love with the service but I’m a big Tivo fan so I chose to stick with Charter. However, over a month and a half ago, my own personal Hell started with Charter.

One weekend, my digital (HD) channels started to give me trouble. They were breaking up until it became hard to see them. Well, I didn’t think much of it at the time. Television has problems from time to time. By Monday it cleared up! Yay, I thought!

Well around came the next weekend and the problem started again. Seriously? So I called Charter. Now in the past this has been a painful experience with many hours spent on hold! Luckily, I got right through to a human. Holy crap, a real human! They even seemed intelligent. Wow, it must be my lucky day. She ran through several troubleshooting steps and then she sent a signal to my box. Of course I had to wait a few hours to make sure it fixed the problem or so I was told. By this time it was Sunday night and it seemed to be working. I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.

Well here came the next weekend and here came the problems again! You have got to be shitting me!!! So I called Charter once again. I talked to a customer service rep who eventually decided they needed to send a tech to my house. So I scheduled it for later in the week.

The day of the appointment arrived and at 10:15 am the tech still wasn’t at my house. I called Charter again. Are we seeing a pattern yet? The nice lady on the phone informed me that I didn’t answer the call to confirm my appointment. What call??? The rep looked at my record and asked if my number was 525-7654. Um no, that was my number about 8 years ago. I told the rep my number and they said that it was in the notes but not updated on my record. I thought “For Christ’s Sakes” but I bit my tongue. So Charter set up an appointment for me for the weekend since I had to go to a meeting by this time.

Several days before my appointment I got a call saying that a problem was found and fixed in my area that was most likely the problem. Did I want to cancel the appointment? I mistakenly said yes.

The weekend rolls around and here goes my tv again. This time i call Charter a tiny bit pissed off. I tell them to get a tech to my house that day. Later that day the Charter tech shows up. Again, he’s a very nice guy who’s just trying to help. He checks my whole house and informs me that the signal is bad at the house. This means a truck has to come to my house. He told me he would put a work order in and that they would call me.

When I hadn’t heard from Charter several hours later, I once again called. I had memorized the number at this point from calling it so much. A very nice lady told me she could see the work order but she would follow up to make sure it got taken care of. She called me several hours later and left a message saying that she was still waiting on the supervisor. The next day she left a message saying that the truck would be at my house within two days. I felt relief! Maybe this hell was coming to a end. I never heard from her again but I thought that maybe the truck had come.

Well you can probably guess it. My tv service went down again the next weekend. I called Charter one last time! I told them to disconnect my television service but to please leave my Internet on. Ironically the Internet worked all during this fiasco. The gentleman on the phone asked me if there was anyway to make it right. I said that I was afraid not. I just wanted free of them!!! So they scheduled to disconnect my tv service and I signed up for Directv.

So I came home yesterday and the tv was out. No problem. However, my Internet was also down!!! I wondered if I had killed puppies in my former life and karma was getting back at me.

So I now wait on Charter to come to my house tomorrow to fix what they screwed up. In the meantime I wondered what I could learn from this and I came up with a few things.

1. Don’t wait until it’s too late to make things right.
2. Having nice employees is great but you need someone making sure things are fixed to the customers satisfaction.
3. Give your employees the tools to do the job. This includes good processes and systems.

Unfortunately I can’t get back my lost hours or lost earnings but maybe they will finally get it right. So stay tuned to seVe how it turns out!

Remember the 80’s classic, The Karate Kid. We watched Mr. Miyagi transform Daniel-san from a wimpy kid being picked on by the Cobra-Kai to a strong fighter who defeated Johnny Lawrence at the karate tournament. As Mr. Mayagi told Daniel-san “Wax On, Wax Off!” and “Paint da fence!”, Daniel was getting stronger and learning valuable skills. 

So you might be wondering what all this has to do with networking. Networking can literally change your life (or at least your career or business). The relationships you can build can bring opportunities you never thought possible. However, many of you might feel like white belts when it comes to networking. Your skills might be weak and your business or career are suffering for it! Well, I’m going to be your Mr. Mayagi and help you earn your proverbial black belt in networking.

     1. Get your white belt by:

• Actually showing up at events around town
• Introducing yourself to others and asking them about themselves.

     2. Get your yellow belt by:

• Paying attention to people and not scanning the room
• Remembering to bring business cards to all events

     3. Get your green belt by:

• Asking about people themselves and minimizing how much you talk about yourself
• Getting business cards/contact info and following up.

     4. Get your purple belt by:

• Making it a regular habit of meeting people for coffee, lunch, or drinks to find out more about them.
• Keeping connections alive by connecting with people through Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc and regularly commenting on things they say that you find interesting.

     5. Get your brown belt by:

• Taking time to figure out how you can introduce people to others they will find interesting or useful.
• Learning to be more intentional about meeting people in industries or positions you find interesting. 
• Regularly touching base with people through out the year.

     6. Get your black belt by:

• Helping people find jobs, referrals, resources and more. Basically becoming the go to person for being able to find whatever people need.
• Keeping notes on people you know so that you can always remember who does what, the last time you met them, when their birthday is, and other relevant details.

It takes patience, focus and discipline, but with a lot of hard work, you can move to the next level and earn your proverbial black belt. Before you begin your training, I must ask one thing of you (No, not bow to your sensei), but tell me what you think of these tips above. Share your ideas with the rest of us. 

One of the things that I realized quickly in my business was that I just couldn’t do everything by myself. There’s just too much work to do and many of the things you need to do, you have no real expertise at doing (marketing, business tracking systems, web development, accounting, etc). So I began surrounding myself with other talented professionals that I also liked spending time around. I also quickly realized that while I needed their help, I couldn’t really afford to pay many of them what they would normally charge. I’m not the type of person to ask for anything for free because deep down I want to be fair to people. However, many of these people had quickly become friends and they saw my struggles and offered to help. To date, we’ve had inexpensive or free help with PR, marketing, branding, accounting, advertising, business systems, content creation and more. I’ve been blown away by those who have stepped up to help Appsolute Genius and myself!

I had to ask myself why my friends have helped so much, and I’ve come up with one thing I know for sure. Really saying thank you! Now I don’t mean a casual thanks like when someone opens the door for you. I stop everyone who goes out of their way for me or my business and I make sure they know how much I appreciate their effort. They will generally say “it’s no big deal.” to which I tell them they are wrong, it’s a very big deal and I truly appreciate it. I also make sure that I don’t forget their help and I help them if I ever can. I believe this simple gesture means a lot to most people. One of the best feelings in the world is feeling appreciated. This is very powerful and I challenge you to go back to those you didn’t thank properly along the way and do it right and to make this a habit. We all need help from time to time and most people just want to feel they’ve help and that you appreciate it.

I don’t generally write extremely personal posts on my blog. I mostly reserve it for posts about business, networking, and mobile development, but I’m going to make an exception. Almost two and half years ago, my wife and I began a very long and trying journey. My wife became pregnant! I quickly went from nervous to ecstatic. A switch was flipped and I knew without a doubt that I wanted to be a father and that I was ready! I was truly excited.

Fast forward to current. Amy and I have been through two miscarriages and a fairly large amount of fertility treatments. I can’t begin to describe how devastating and frustrating it has been. It is truly the hardest thing we’ve ever experienced in our lives and nothing else is even close.

So why am I telling you this? 

Well, we have decided to adopt a baby. It is a decision that we are very comfortable with and excited about. However, we need your help! We intend to do a private adoption. What does that mean? It means that we aren’t using an agency to find a child for us. Our best chance to find a baby is to let as many people know as possible. Babies are given up for a variety of reasons: financial, drug-related, teen pregnancy, etc and you never know when someone knows someone looking to give their child up for adoption. So we need your help to be on the lookout!

So what are we looking for?

We are looking for a newborn or infant. The race doesn’t matter at all. For health reasons, we are going to be careful with drug and alcohol addiction with the mother.

I cannot really express my appreciation for any help you can give us.

Brian

I was having a conversation with a friend the other day about what is driving people to use Foursquare. Now, I must admit that I’m a little bit of a convert, and I do use Foursquare pretty regularly. So the basis of our discussion turned to what emotional needs Foursquare was serving, When I think of human needs, I often refer to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. For those that don’t know, Maslow created a pyramid structure that shows our basic needs by broken down by the categories: Psychological, Safety, Love/Belonging, Esteem, and Self-Actualization. The basic principle is that people look to satisfy their needs from the bottom of the pyramid first. So food, water, and sex, which are psychological needs, are generally our first priority. After this level of needs is satisfied, we look to satisfy our needs for safety of our health, property and so on.  I think you get the point.

Gen Y - “Because children born during this time period have had constant access to technology (computers, cell phones) in their youth, they have required many employers to update their hiring strategy in order to incorporate updated forms of technology.”

While looking at Maslow, the conversation took an interesting turn toward Gen Y, and how they differ from Gen X and the Baby Boomers. We came to the quick conclusion that Gen Y seems much more interested in achieving Self-Actualization needs such as creativity, spontaneity, and lack of prejudice. This says that on some level, Gen Y isn’t as concerned with the first four levels of the pyramid. However, I couldn’t help but think about my Gen Y friends (because I’m technically Gen X) and their patterns of behavior. Many of my Gen Y friends believe strongly that the path to happiness is through Self-Actualization. The funny thing is that many of those same friends seem to be missing several important pieces of the pyramid. For instance, they don’t take care of their Psychological needs to eat and sleep, their Safety needs for health and employment, their Love needs for sexual intimacy, and their Esteem needs for self-esteem and confidence. They strive so hard to reach the top of the pyramid that they seem to be missing the foundation of their needs. So I put the question out to you, Is Gen Y upside down?

As many people know, I was recently in a feature article in the Birmingham Magazine. I was honored to be asked to do the article and proud of how I was portrayed. But this article made me realize that there are things that many people don’t know about me.

First off, I am half Hispanic on my mother’s side of the family. It isn’t something I bring up because I do my best to be judged on my merits, not my heritage. However, it is something that I would never hide and something that I am proud of. I just mainly want people to get to know me and judge me on my actions. If they decide after knowing me that I am a jerk or arrogant or whatever, then that is ok. Hopefully, they will think positively of me, but at least I had a chance to make an honest impression.

Next, I have an engineering background and I own a company that writes iPhone apps. Many of you know that. What you don’t know is that I don’t think that writing iPhone apps is revolutionary. I think that it is an area of software that is growing rapidly and I truly enjoy doing it, but I know I’m not curing cancer. There are many people doing more important work than me.  However, I don’t simply complain about the city or my life. I am working hard by creating organizations such as Birmingham Entrepreneur to change this city. I’m out there everyday doing my best to help move us forward.

Finally, my biggest annoyance and the fastest way that I will be turned off by a person is finding out that they only care about themselves or that they will hurt other people to get what they want. I’m far from perfect, but I care about others, and I will do whatever I can to help good people.  I will not stand by and watch people hurt others or take advantage of people. It is just not acceptable.

So there you have it. That is just a bit of me in a nutshell. I have huge dreams for me and for this city. I won’t settle until I reach them. If you are a good, decent person, get to know me and tell me how I can help you.  And thank you for caring enough to read this.

Have you seen the movie Avatar? So you’re the one who hasn’t seen it. As of this weekend, it passed 1 billion dollars worldwide in gross box office.  That represents more than a tripling of the studios original investment. I don’t know of a single business that wouldn’t take those type of returns.

Now what makes Avatar so compelling. At $13 a pop, that is a lot to ask, but people aren’t just seeing it they are seeing it multiple times. They are telling friends and family to go see it. They are writing blog posts about it. Why? You can sum it up very easily. THE EXPERIENCE. Avatar offers an experience that you don’t normally get, even at the movies. It is quite honestly amazing.

I have come up with a few things that define this experience to be. First, it is visually stunning. It stands out from almost every movie I’ve ever seen visually. The CG is amazing and they took the time to blend it with non-CG scenes very well. Next, it pays attention to detail. If you look closely, you will notice that the Avatars have human looking hands with 5 fingers while the natives have more primitive hands with 4 fingers. Finally, it tells a strong, emotional story. The love between the main characters feels real and deep. By the end of the movie, you are truly pulling for the Na’vi. This all leads to an experience that is powerful and makes this movie so successful. If you take a close look at other really successful businesses such as Apple, Coke, or many others, you will notice how many of them offer a superior experience.

So I walked out of Avatar realizing that no matter what you do, if you want to be amazingly successful with your business or your product, offer a better experience to your customer. If you do this and pair it with marketing that lets people know about this experience, you will be much more successful. It really doesn’t matter if you are a real estate agent or an iPhone developer, you need to up your game and offer a better experience. How will you offer a better experience in 2010?

Admittedly, LinkedIn and Twitter are very different. Twitter is a great place to keep up with what is going on, to learn from others, to meet new people, and to keep in touch with others. I have met so many new people and learned so much and I have Twitter to thank for this.

However, no matter how hot or cool Twitter is right now, there are still things where LinkedIn is better. So here are 5 things that LinkedIn is better at.

1. Organizing a group - LinkedIn has a very robust group functionality. It gives you the ability to have discussions, post jobs, share relevant news, send announcements to members, and create subgroups. Twitter only has lists which really only allow a very basic group.

2. Understanding professional backgrounds - Since LinkedIn has what is very much like a resume, you have the ability to view the “resume” of almost any professional you meet. It helps to understand more about where somebody comes from and what they have done.

3. Searching companies - LinkedIn gives you the ability to search for companies including who you know that works there or (better yet) used to work there. I often look up a company that I’m starting to do business with and then call a friend that used to work there. Often I didn’t know they worked there until LinkedIn told me.

4. Find who knows who - LinkedIn makes it very easy to look at person and see who you both know. It says John Smith and you both share Mary Jones as a connection. How convient.

5. Recommendations - LinkedIn allows people to give you a recommendation for your work or vice versa. It is like a referrence for the world to see.

I’m sure I’m forgetting a few things but don’t write LinkedIn off. It can and is very powerful. What are your favorite tricks or tips for LinkedIn?