Resources Link

Let Directline for Business find the right Tradesman insurance to suit your business
Find out more about how Direct line can help you find the right van insurance cover

Favourite Site

Business Blog | Lilamitre-arte.com

Business Adversiting, Careers, Customer Service, Entreprenuers, Ethics, Home Based Businnes, Management, Marketing, Networking, Public Relations, Sales And Small business

I attend a lot of networking events, industry association programs, and one-on-one meetings for breakfast, coffee or other food-related events. Whenever I network or attend events, I always tell people that it was worth my time and money if I gained just one creative idea or contact from the experience. This past month I really put that concept to the test by attending numerous networking meetings, including one tele-networking event!

Here are a few nuggets that I picked up as I networked my way through the past month.

1. Be Bold! The Woman’s Club of Minneapolis recently featured motivational speaker Ann Ulrich, who said, “We create our own possibilities for success by boldly creating opportunity from possibility.” According to Ann, combine possibility with perseverance and professionalism and you have your own personalized recipe for success. How do you create your own possibilities? By being bold of course.

2. Think Big. Sandra Wakefield, an advocate of Brilliant Living (her TV program bears that name), is also an advocate of brilliant networking. She recently brought together a group of like-minded women with the intent of connecting them with an organization that could help make their business goals and personal dreams come true. Not only did she inspire these women to think big she inspired them to think about how taking their businesses to the million dollar (or more!) level. Now that’s thinking big.
Read the rest of this entry »



12 26th, 2009

Are you thinking about setting up your own business? Have you an idea for a new business but are unsure about how to proceed? If you have answered yes to either of these questions, this article could be of benefit to you. I am going to write about how to plan and create a successful small business.

Many people are looking at ways in which they can become self-employed as they have had enough of being dictated to and fed up of long and frustrating commutes to work. They want the freedom of being their own boss and to be able to choose their own hours of work.

Leaving a full time career can be quite a scary prospect however. The security of having a regular income and other benefits such as a pension and a share save scheme can seem hard to let go. I am sure many people whether rightly or wrongly have opted to stick with this security and to merely keep their business plan as an idea, which they never see through or use.

Other people are willing and happy to take the risk and see it as a way of getting out of the rat race.

When you have an idea for a new business you then need to think of a name to call it. I would keep this name quite short as it makes it easier to remember for people. It obviously needs to have something to do with the business sector you are entering.

You will now need to work out how much money you will need to set up the business. This can be quite daunting but is essential. In the short term I would advise to keep these start up costs as low as possible, you can always buy or rent better machinery in the future as an example.
Read the rest of this entry »



Rien ne serait plus simple que de se rendre chez un connaisseur habilite et diplome en la matiere. Or, ces derniers ne se comptent que sur les doigts d’une main et les nombreux pretendants au titre ne repondent pas toujours a vos attentes. Attendez-vous donc a devoir partir en voyage et d’investir en temps et en argent afin de trouver le seminaire adequat par excellence que vous attendez tant.

Preparez avant tout votre presentation. L’ideal serait de se mettre a la place de votre auditoire, compose essentiellement de personnes surchargees de mails et de coups de telephones et qui, parmi leur quinzaine de rendez-vous professionnels et leur rendez-vous familiaux, esperent que votre presentation ne sera que de courte duree et passionnante. Pour cela, ecrivez un resume de votre discours ne tenant que sur une page, ce qui donnera le sentiment que vous ma?triser parfaitement le sujet et non le besoin de lire vos notes.

L’autre point essentiel qui devra ?tre aborde lors de ce seminaire porte donc sur la maniere de capter l’attention du public mais surtout d’eviter les pieges type. Parler de vous personnellement n’interesse que tres peu de personnes et savoir s’adresser aux gens n’est qu’une infime partie de votre succes prochain. Votre enseignant devra donc vous inculquer comment faire de votre auditoire une star, comment intercaler lors de vos discours votre presentation et s’adresser a eux en leurs posant les questions opportunes, et gerer votre temps de parole et leur temps de reponse. En les questionnant, leur esprit de competition se voit decupler et enthousiasmer.

Read the rest of this entry »



10 15th, 2009

Have you ever been at a networking function talking to someone when during the conversation you felt very self-conscious trying to say the right thing? Were you afraid that maybe if you said the wrong thing the person might not find you likeable, and therefore not want to do business with you? If you have, I am about to tell you why you should not worry about it. Like the obnoxious song “Don’t Worry – Be Happy” from years ago, I want to share with you the reason why being careful about what we say works against us in the networking environment.

Our goal in business networking should be to establish new relationships and through the process of follow-up develop them over time. As with any relationship, being honest plays a very important role in that development.

When we meet someone for the first time, we want to make a good impression. Often we put on our “party face” so that we do. This can often cause us problems that we do not expect. One problem is that when we try to appear to be something that we really do not feel inside of us, we often have a fear that we are going to be “discovered”. This fear causes us to feel uncomfortable about the situation and though we may be smiling, we are really cringing inside.

Most people worry that if they just be who they are, that no one can accept them. I argue that if we do not just be ourselves, sooner or later who we really are will slip out and then we will have to deal with the consequences of being discovered. This then leads to a feeling of distrust between people.

Have you ever been in a relationship with a person of the opposite sex where you did not tell them something important early on and later had to reveal it or even worse it was revealed by accident? It leads for difficult times after that and a lot of shuffling and apologizing.

Read the rest of this entry »