Helping Hands For Coaches

On Tuesday, Facebook reached 300 million users, and is in the black! Yes Facebook, the number one social network for number of users, is actually making money.

What does this mean for coaches?

Well, for all business owners, we know that one (or three?) main factors to success is “Location, location, location” – and with foot traffic of 300 million users, Facebook is the place for a life or business coach to be. Go where the people go! Where else are you going to find such a diverse culture of people? Even if you connect to a very small percentage of those users, you still have a huge potential of doing business. However, with so many users, perhaps you may feel the need to ‘shout!’ to be heard, but this is not true. If you start small, and are genuinely are interested in people – listen, interact, share – then your network will expand naturally. As Chris Brogan stated, “Don’t make your efforts on places like Twitter and Facebook solely about driving people to your home base, but instead, be helpful, participatory, and a good citizen of the social space you’re occupying. When you have some really interesting or helpful information, consider pointing people to your post for more information.”

When you first join Facebook, become friends with people you admire – check out your bookshelf or your RSS feeds for who that could be. People that follow those individuals might be like minded to you, and thus potential ‘friends’. As you grow your network, remember to interact with them as you would in ‘real life’ – such as a networking function. Ask questions, read their profile, get to know them. I’ve noticed that if I keep-up with my network a little everyday vs. a lot once a month, I’m much more likely to gain more out of it – both personally and professionally.

By the way, we’re having a Facebook Success Forum next Friday, September 25th. If you want to learn more about how successful coaches use Facebook, sign-up for the free 1 hour class.

Ken Davenport: Recently hailed as the “P.T. Barnum of Off-Broadway” by the New York Times for his unique 21st century marketing strategies, Ken Davenport is becoming widely recognized as one of the most innovative theatre producers today. Ken’s visionary tech-savvy was also recently featured on a national commercial for Apple’s iPhone and he was named one of Crain’s “Forty Under 40” in 2008 as a result of his fresh ideas and unprecedented success. Ken’s impressive Broadway and Off-Broadway production slate includes Speed the Plow, Will Ferrell’s You’re Welcome America, Blithe Spirit, Altar Boyz, The Awesome 80s Prom and My First Time. He is also the creator of broadwayspace.com, a new social networking site for the Broadway community and TheProducersPerspective.com, his popular blog where he gives his opinion on everything relating to Broadway and beyond.
Website: http://www.davenporttheatrical.com/
Ning website: http://www.broadwayspace.com/
Twitter ID: http://twitter.com/kendavenport

Sarah Benner is a Sr. Marketing Manager at VerticalResponse heading up the Retention Marketing team. She manages a team responsible for all customer communications (including social media and community), customer retention, product education/training and other customer programs. She has over 8 years of marketing communications and product marketing experience working at companies like Siebel Systems and CNET Networks.

Sarah holds a Bachelor’s degree from University of Washington and a Master’s degree from Emerson College.
VerticalResponse: www.verticalresponse.com
Ning website: http://vrlounge.ning.com/forum
Twitter ID: http://twitter.com/VR4SmallBiz

Andrea Anderson and business partner, Barbara Hemphill, author of the Taming the Paper Tiger book series, believe a Productive Environment is a Profitable Environment. They share this vision with their 100+ Productivity Trainer Authorized Consultants around the world through online training and mentorship programs. These programs emphasize Barbara Hemphill’s proprietary processes and methodology for helping clients create and sustain a Productive Environment–”an intentional setting in which everything around you supports who you are and the goals you’re striving to achieve”. Their newest project, the iProductive Environment Platform (iPEP) is the only program that helps clients find their physical files (in filing cabinets and bookshelves) and their electronic files, in one search. Andrea and Barbara enjoy living in NC while serving clients around the world.
Paper Tiger Productivity Institute
Website: www.PaperTigerInstitute.com
Ning website: www.OrganizersPowerUp.ning.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/andrea_ptpi
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I’m really excited to offer my first interview, using my *new* Kodak zi6 video camera! It was a Valentine’s present from Nirzhar – thank you, hubby! I wanted my first video to really count – and I think I captured it! John Gray spoke at the International Coaching Awareness Day this past Friday, and I asked if I could interview him on one point he made during his talk. Mainly, he stated that the reason he was so successful was because he stayed true to his essence. I wanted to know more about that so I could share it all with you! It’s kind of funny, too, because it is my very first video with the new camera, so I had it pointing at the floor when I started shooting! Too funny!