sacha chua living an awesome life

Networking is all about following up. I’m much better now at email follow-ups, thanks to a few tools I’ve found. A Gmail extension called Boomerang allows me to mark a discussion for following up if no one has replied by a certain date. I’m trying out services like Contactually (affiliate link; free plan seems decent) and ConnectedHQ (free!) to track when the time I interacted with someone was, so that I can get in touch with people whom I want to connect with regularly.

I’d like to get better at calling people and meeting them in person, too. I’ve been practicing calling by keeping in touch with friends, especially friends who are looking for the next opportunity. I’m keeping Tuesday to Thursday for consulting, so I’m working on booking Monday and Friday lunches. I want to hear more about what they’re interested in and what can help them. It’s important to do this because most people don’t blog or tweet nearly as much as I do. If I want to find out what’s on their mind, I have to ask them.

I could probably have more flexibility if I also scheduled lunches during my consulting time. It’s easy enough to clock out of work, head someplace for a conversation, and then return to work. However, I feel more comfortable keeping it separate from my consulting time. Mental task switching robs me of some time and focus, and I never want people to feel rushed while were having a conversation. I’ve had lunches stretch to two hours or more simply because there were so many good things to talk about.

I’ve updated my Google Calendar to account for travel time, consulting, and regular commitments until February. I’ve been experimenting with services like ScheduleOnce and Doodle to give people a sense of my availability and allow them to pick dates that work for them. Doodle is more visual, but ScheduleOnce is less frustrating when it comes to busy schedules. It seems like this is a bit of a challenge for people, though, so I might just suggest possibilities, book far enough in advance, and use those services as a back-up. Alternatively, Google Calendar supports appointment slots, and AgreeADate does so too. I can give those interfaces a try, and I can also ask a virtual assistant to help in scheduling so that I don’t have to worry about the back-and-forth.

I really like ConnectedHQ’s daily summary of my upcoming calendar events and the social updates for people who are going to the event. It’s a handy way to get a sense of what people have been recently interested in, and to remember to check out their social profiles. Good stuff. I need to figure out a good process for getting my post-lunch notes into the system, too – notes afterwards, then copy them into ConnectedHQ?

When I get more of my meeting-people processes hammered out, I’ll start working on a list of people who might be able to help me validate my business ideas, such as adding value by sketchnoting business presentations and conferences.

If you’re in Toronto, maybe you can help me practise meeting people and getting to know them – by reaching out and having lunch with me! Kinda like a small-scale http://lunchwithmary.com/. =)

Do you know anyone who does in-person follow-ups really well? What do they do differently?

I’m nearly out of business cards, so it’s time to think about how I want to redesign them. Business cards are nowhere near the heart of a business (sales! service!), but I like paying attention to the little things that can help me connect better with other people.

What do I use my business cards for? What do I want my business cards to do? Business cards are ostensibly so that people can get in touch with you. Many people tell me they’re terrible at following up with people after events. The only ones who seem to do so are the ones who collect business cards so that they can add you to their mailing list! I find it helpful to completely ignore the original purpose of business cards and take the initiative of following up with people myself. This works out much better than trusting that people will e-mail me or call me afterwards.

If I’m not giving people business cards in order for them to follow up with me, what benefit do I get from carrying around and giving out these little pieces of paper?

People usually exchange business cards in the middle or towards the end of a conversation. My business cards are good at adding an extra "bump" to the conversation – an additional spark of interest. People often remark on my picture and the keywords I use ("Tell me more about what an Enterprise 2.0 consultant does…" "Oh, what have you written?" "Ooh, storyteller. What’s with that?" "Oh, look, geek! Me too!"). Here’s where those conversations go:

• Picture: This helps me communicate that I care about helping people remember. I usually commiserate about the post-conference blur of going through a stack of business cards and not remembering who’s who. Some people recognize me better from the picture, because it’s the same avatar I use on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. I sometimes point out that one of the reasons I cropped that picture so tightly is that the picture will always be current even if I change hairstyles, which makes people laugh — and communicates that I think about little details like that. Because most people see photos only on business cards for real estate agents, I also joke about that. (Hmm, maybe I should play with that some more – a real estate agent, but for the brain!)
• Keywords: This is excellent for helping people remember and for expanding the conversation topics. The keywords trigger memories of the conversation. Because I’m interested in diverse things, keywords also help me find other topics of common interest. My current card reads "Enterprise 2.0 consultant, author, storyteller, geek." I’m thinking of changing this to "Entrepreneurial experimenter, sketchnote artist, tech geek." Or maybe "Experimental entrepreneur, sketchnote communicator, tech geek"? Visual communicator? What do you think?
  Hmm – if I leave it blank and use a matte surface, or use a carefully-positioned sticker instead of printing the title, I can change the title easily as I try things out. Maybe I can even ask for feedback!

I want my next set of business cards to continue sending those messages: I care about helping you remember me and continue the conversation, and I’m sure that conversation will be interesting.

Elements for the business card:

• Picture: People respond well to this, so even if it takes up a fair bit of space, I should keep it. I can play around with reducing the height and moving my contact details underneath the picture instead.
• E-mail and web address: sachachua.com? livinganawesomelife.com? something else? On one hand, sacha@sachachua.com is my canonical e-mail address, and it’s useful because all of my other social network profiles use that address. On the other hand, people respond well to livinganawesomelife.com. I’ll try using sacha@sachachua.com as my e-mail and livinganawesomelife.com as my domain name.
• Business address: Many people omit their location, but I find it to be helpful to know where people are, especially when travelling. That way, I can use location as an excuse to reconnect with people. A full address feels better than just city and country.
• Phone number: I’ll put my business number and my cellphone number. People are pretty good about not calling my cellphone unnecessarily.
• Twitter/LinkedIn? I don’t need to include these because my webpage links to profiles. People have had no problems finding me on Twitter and LinkedIn in the past.

Possible additions: 2D barcode? Maybe – handy way to encode e-mail address, maybe vCard information. Takes up space, not sure if people use them.

I’d like to add a sketchnote similar to the one I have on my Twitter profile, but with a white background and more colours. This might be a good use of the back of the business card. It’ll be pretty sparse, so people can still use the back of the business card to write notes. My goal there would be to have an instant, portable demonstration of what I do, instead of fiddling with my smartphone or waiting for people to check out my website. Hmm, even maybe Moo’s Printfinity – I think that having unique designs on each card would make it even more fun to give out cards. I should try converting my sketchnotes to 1039×697 and printing them at 300dpi to see what they look like at that scale.

Frills: Raised print? Foil accents? Don’t need them. A heavier card stock would be nice. Rounded corners are tempting – they feel more modern, and the business card doesn’t get as worn in the pocket. It does break some people’s hack of dog-earing various corners of the business cards in order to remember to follow-up, though. Still possible, just harder.

Layout: I’ll continue with the horizontal layout, standard US business card size. I noticed that when I’m scanning business cards, vertical ones make me frown a little. Since I can’t stash oversized business cards and postcards in my business card holder, they’re harder to keep track of, and I don’t want other people to deal with the same issues. I’m definitely going with my own design. Like stock photography, template business cards are obviously template business cards, and I want to hack my cards so much more. =)

Number: I ordered 500 cards on March 25, 2008, which was around 4 years ago. I’d been using them more than IBM business cards even when I was at IBM, so it’s not like they were sitting in drawers. I’ve also used print-your-own business cards in order to test different concepts, such as putting networking tips on the back of the card or recommending favourite networking-related books for cards to give out after a presentation.

I’d like to replace my business cards in one year, because I’ll learn even more about business card design by then. I might even know more about what kind of business I’d like to explore! I should probably order 100 or 250 cards. I’ll be paying slightly more per card and more in shipping, so I should make sure that I’m learning a lot of things that I can fold into a my next design.

Slowly growing!

I want to revise and expand on The Shy Connector, which seems to have become a perennial resource. I was thinking about the kinds of things I have a hard time with and that other people might want help with too. Does this resonate with you, and can you add more?

Creating opportunities for serendipity: I’m choosy about the events I go to because networking can be draining just as much (or more, even!) than it can be energizing. I don’t really go to coffee get-togethers just to hang out. It doesn’t feel natural to me to possibly interrupt someone else’s train of thought for a question or an idea. That said, I often don’t mind overhearing other people’s questions, and sometimes I end up chatting with them about that.

Because it takes a lot to tempt me out of the house, I work harder on creating online serendipity through blogging and social networks. I spend time reading about other people’s interests and sharing my own. It does tend to be limited to the people who participate online, though, which means a tiny fraction of the possibilities.

Starting conversations: You know those people who will happily strike up conversations with strangers they meet on the bus or in an elevator? Totally not one of them. I find it difficult to start a conversation with someone for no particular reason. I prefer to have the excuse of a conference, an event, or a question.

I hardly ever start conversations with new people, but I’ve discovered a handy trick of jumping right in the middle of one. If people have read my blog, or if I’ve read theirs, then we can continue the conversation from those points. If we’ve attended a lecture together, I can use that as a starting point as well. As I do more of this, I might get more used to starting conversations to find out what people know.

I also get around this by pulling people into existing conversations. If I see someone else (usually another introvert!) hovering around the edge of a conversation I’m in, I use body language to invite them closer, and direct a few questions their way. I also hover around the edges of other conversations, which is a great way to not have to start one.

Continuing the conversation past small talk: If I go to an event and end up having one unmemorable small talk surface-level conversation after another, it’s quite draining. I like digging to find what people are really interested in or what they’ve learned, but it’s sometimes a struggle to get people out of the name-job-and-serial-number swap.

I find small talk a little easier for acquaintances and friends (naturally), because I can take advantage of the notes I keep on people’s interests and ask after those instead of talking about the weather. With people I don’t know, I try to take the lead in the conversation by asking questions. This means I can avoid the somewhat dead-end-ish “So, what do you do?” and use questions like “So, what are you passionate about?” or “What’s your story?” If I’m lucky, that gives me enough information for follow-up questions, and I can weave some self-disclosures into other questions or ideas to even out the conversation.

Managing my energy during events. A buzzing event can be overwhelming. A multi-day conference, even more so. I can tell when I’m getting tired and networked out: I start glazing over or feeling pressed in on.

I’ve learned to take my breaks unashamedly. Excusing myself is one way to do it. The women’s bathroom is often a quiet place to retreat to. Other times, I’ll go for a walk. In a pinch, I can hover on the periphery of a conversation that I don’t need to participate in, or take out my paper notebook and update my notes, or pretend to answer e-mail while clearing out my brain.

Following up afterwards. Okay, so I’ve met people and they’re potentially interesting, but then what? If I don’t bridge the gap between that and the next conversation, then it’s just conversation practice and the slim chance of being remembered in case we bump into each other again.

It helps to realize that most people suck at this too. You know those exchanges of business cards and contact information? I tend to follow up with more people than people follow up with me, and that goes for extroverts too.

I try to make it easier by giving myself homework during the conversation. If I think of a relevant book, for example, I might promise to send the details and a short description. If I’m at a conference, I might promise to send my notes. Then I have a built-in excuse for writing.

Building the connection from there. Because I rarely go to events or hang out in cafes, I tend to not bump into people much. However, it takes quite a few conversations to build a connection. Some people are comfortable inviting other people for follow-up lunches or coffees. I’m still getting the hang of that myself.

Blogging makes it easier for people to get to know me. I link to my blog in my e-mail signature, and try to share notes of events as another way to create value. If other people blog or post on Twitter, I subscribe to their updates too.

So that’s what I’ll work on helping other people with:

• Creating opportunities for serendipity
• Starting conversations
• Continuing the conversation past small talk
• Managing my energy during events
• Following up afterwards
• Building the connection from there

Can you think of other things that might be challenges for introverts too?

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The Toronto Public Library hosts monthly networking events for people who are interested in starting a small business. Most people have not yet started a business. It’s a good opportunity to ask questions and learn from someone who has figured some things out.

Sal Sloan came up with the business idea for Fetching! when she got a dog. She had signed up for a fitness bootcamp, and the combination of exercising herself and walking her dog wore her out. Why not combine the two activities – help people exercise with their dogs? With a $10,000 loan from her parents, Sal started Fetching! by focusing on exercise for people and obedience training for dogs. With early success, Sal broadened her scope to focusing on helping people have active fun with their pets. She has been doing the business for two and a half years, and continues to work part-time on another job. This helps her grow the business organically by avoiding financial pressures.

One of the lessons I took away from the conversation was the power of delegating work to other people. Sal knew that other personal trainers could run sessions much better than she could, so she hired good people whom she could trust to represent her company. She’s looking for someone who can help her with the business side so that she can grow more, too. After I bank some money from this consulting engagement, I might start my delegation experiments again.

The session was an interesting contrast to last month’s meetup with Kristina Chau of notyouraverageparty, who had been in business for three years and who was struggling to scale up beyond herself. Sal has clearly put work into figuring out how to scale up, and it’s great to see how it paid off.

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The Start-up of You is a book about networking and career planning using tips pulled from the startup world, sprinkled with hip jargon such as “pivot” and “volatility.” It’s a decent book for people who are new to connecting or cultivating their network and who also like reading about technology and entrepreneurship. If you’re a fan of The Lean Startup and similar entrepreneurship books, The Start-up of You is like seeing those ideas applied to other parts of life. It’s easy to read, and it flows well.

I liked examples such as the “interesting people fund” and the idea of having A-B-Z plans. There are good tips for asking your network better questions (p208), too. If you’ve read a lot of other networking or career growth books, though, you might not come across many new aha! moments here, but it’s a good startup-influenced view at managing your own career.

Are you a visual learner? Check out my other sketchnotes and visual book notes!

Event organizer or conference organizer? I’d love to help you help your attendees remember and share key points. Talk to me about sketchnoting your next event!

Darren Hudgins liked my Shy Connector presentation a lot, so he asked me to put together some quick tips to share with the ~400 people at the Instructional Technology Strategies Conference. Here’s what I came up with:

They’re going to play it live at the conference at 12 PST. =) I’ve kept it short so that I can share a few quick tips and then get out of the way of all that awesome networking. It sounds like a great crowd.

If you’re here from the ITSC, you might also be interested in my sketchnotes from David Zach’s keynote. Click on the image to see the full version.

Here are other pre-ITSC conference networking tips I’ve shared:

For more networking tips, check out:

(Also see my full notes for the Shy Connector presentation and other blog posts about connecting)

I made the video with the guide to conference awesomeness using Microsoft Onenote, Microsoft Powerpoint, a Lenovo X61 tablet PC, Camtasia Studio 7 (which doesn’t get along perfectly with the Windows 7 on my tablet). I’d love to go back to the free Inkscape drawing program for drawing if someone can help me figure out how to get it to smoothly digitize. =) Thanks to IBM for sponsoring this effort!

Follow me on Twitter (@sachac) for more updates. I’ll be around from 12 PM to 1 PM PST to answer questions or share other tips. Use the #itsc11 hashtag or mention me by adding @sachac to your tweet. If you’re here after February 21, feel free to leave a comment on this blog post for Q&A. Hope this helps!

I was talking to an independent consultant who wanted to get better at using social media to expand his network. I suggested that he put together articles and presentations that he can share with his contacts (mostly executives) that are useful and that they would probably share with the right people in their companies.

Thinking about this, I realized that imagining the ideal scenarios can help people recognize the value of investing in sharing knowledge or building a social media presence. You can say that sharing is important, or you can imagine a story that goes like this:

CEO of small business: Oh! It’s an e-mail from __. He always sends me useful information, so I’ll take a look at this one. Hmm, this whitepaper looks like something our company could learn from. Let me send it to the director in charge of that.

Director: Hmm, an e-mail from the VP, I better read it. Ah, an article that looks like it will help with one of the challenges I’m currently working on. Hey, this guy has some great tips. I wonder… Oh, he has a website with other articles and presentations! Great. I’m going to flip through the presentations that look immediately useful. I should probably bookmark this site so I can come back to it later. Hey, he’s on Twitter. Let me check out what he posts… He’s got an upcoming seminar – that looks interesting, maybe I’ll attend. I think I’ll follow him on Twitter so that I can hear about other updates. Hmm, maybe he can do some consulting for us for this project – that would save me a lot of time, help me get the results I need… (and if he’s as good as he seems to be, I’ll look like a star).

Someone else searching on the Net: Hmm, I need to learn more about ___ if I’m going to be able to deliver those results. Oh, here’s an article that might be useful. Those are good points. Let me save this. I wonder… ah, he has other articles and presentations. Those are useful too. Let me read them… I wonder if he’s available to do some consulting. Oh, look, he’s in Toronto too. That makes it easier. I should give him a call.

Think about what success looks like. Tell yourself a story about what could happen. It’s probably less about just increasing the number of your followers or posting at least one blog post a week, and more about actions and results. What’s that story? Walk through it in your head, check if it’s plausible, and identify the pieces you need to build in order to make it happen. Doesn’t investing in those pieces make more sense now that you can see how they’re related to your end goals?

That led me to think about the ideal stories I tell myself. When I write for my blog, this is what I hope will happen:

Me: “Ah! Now I understand things a little better. Let me go try that and see what happens. … Yup, that works, and here’s how I can make it even better.”

Someone: “I need to figure out something. Let me search… Hmm, that look interesting, let me try that. Hey, that works. Oh, that looks useful too. And that one! And that one! I’m going to add this to my feed reader. … Oh look, another post from Sacha. She reminds me that it’s possible to be cheerful and have fun doing awesome things. =) Hmm, I know someone who might find this useful too…”

Someone: “Can you help me with __?” Me: “I could’ve sworn I’ve written about that around here… Ah, there it is! Here’s the link.” Someone: “Awesome. Thanks!”

What are the stories you imagine, and what do those stories help you learn about what you can do to make them happen?