Nothing describes it better than this Youtube clip about LinkedIn. Read my comments after watching this clip:

Now that your concept is clearer after watching the clip, let us look at LinkedIn from a different perspective:
You are a single person organization trying to manage all aspects of a fast growing business. Congratulations and welcome to my world! I have a 8-to-5 job and a web design business. How can you use LinkedIn to your utmost advantage? The answer starts by writing down all tasks that are to be performed, services that are needed for running the business.Here is a handy list of service providers that a typical small business may have need for:

1. Services of a CPA to maintain proper account of finances, payroll (if more than 1 person), federal and state tax records.
2. Attorney services - initially to decide the structure of the company, then ongoing service of advise on legal matters, compliance, patents, Intellectual Property protection, lawsuits etc.
3. Financial Advisor - To advise occasionally on IRA and other investment possibilities.
4. Insurance Agent, who can provide commercial E&OE insurance and / or real estate insurance.
5. Bankers for the lending needs, checking accounts and Line of Credit.
6. Investors - when Bankers cannot help with your venture.
7. Marketing / Sales person to help with selling that niche product/service that your business provides
8. A Graphic Designer to design your logos and brochures.
9. A Web site Designer to give a meaningful, attractive and traffic generating face to your business on the Internet.

You can find all these providers in your local Yellow pages or as the video clip suggests, on LinkedIn. One thing that was NOT emphasized in the video was the “Recommendations” feature. If you find a connection that is connected to the service provider you need, you MUST ensure one of the two things: Either your connection and the service provider have done business with each other before or the service provider must have some recommendations on his / her profile. As a part of due diligence, if possible, talk to the recommendation providers. This gives you an added confidence to deal with the service provider.

Please feel free to add any other service providers that I may have missed in the list above or other advantages of using LinkedIn by posting your responses in the Comments area.

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I found 43 people on LI who listed their current position as “slave” or “slave driver.”  Kinda makes me want to cry for them.

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In light of all the events surrounding the College World Series, LinkedIn Omaha will forgo our regular meeting for June.  With the games, tailgate parties and covering for coworkers, many people have more activities than they can handle.  So, we’re giving you the month off!

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I recently read an article by Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food, and he asked the same question in regard to ecological issues.  He said that it’s nearly impossible to stop the global warming trend.  Globally, we are not slowing our impact.  Why bother making personal changes?

If nothing else, we serve as examples to other people. 

His position was not a particularly stunning revelation, but it made me analyze my history in multiple aspects.  Years ago, I made a job change that required me to take more control over my daily actions.  I decided to participate in networking groups and meet people regularly.  I was the only one in my company to travel outside the office, and I felt strange about taking my own path.

For a while, I wasn’t really making any impact.  I was collecting business cards and making friends, but it wasn’t bringing in money.  I considered quitting, but as time went on, more people in the company started asking questions about what I was doing.  Slowly, they started joining me.  Soon, multiple coworkers were attending these events.  Over time, that company developed an understanding of the importance of community involvement and networking.

I saw four former coworkers today at a networking event.  They are happy to be out of the office, meeting people and developing relationships in the business community.

It’s nice to know that you can make an impact, even if it’s only thorough example.

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On May 16th, 2008, Taylor Singletary of LinkedIn had announced arrival of LinkedIn’s Company Insider Widget on LinkedIn’s Blog. At that time, I did not see much potential in that concept but after visiting Gene Babon’s Beantown Blog, I got an idea to develop a resource for Omaha area. I have added a Resources page where you can find companies in Omaha listed alphabetically and when you click on the button, you can see connections in that company. Before you try the links on the Resources page, make sure you are logged into LinkedIn Account in another tab of your browser. If you do not see your company there, I have provided a form to add your company. Please add Omaha-based companies only. Go to Resources page.

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The LinkedIn Answers is a great resource to learn as well showcase your expertise, but that is not what I want to talk about today. While browsing through some of the answers, I came across an interesting thing. After reading the question, when I glanced at the person’s name, it said “Virtual Project”. Out of curiosity, I clicked on the name and came across a unique way to use LinkedIn. Here is a small excerpt …

Greetings.

(****WE WANT TO STRESS THAT THIS IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH
LINKEDIN IN ANYWAY!!!****)

If you are here, you were either invited, or you somehow stumbled upon us. Either way, we hope you find this process interesting, and worthwhile!

This placeholder has been established within the LinkedIn environment to explain what we’re attempting to create, as well as to potentially attract members to our team.

We’re currently a small team, that’s relatively new to LinkedIn. We’re familiar with the overall goals of LinkedIn, just never really needed to use it, or contribute to the overall LinkedIn community, until now.

Surprisingly, they have 9 connections so far! It seems they are operating out of San Francisco, Texas and Florida. This seems to be their goal:

Our goal is to build a team of people/developers, who want to be part of a Sweat Equity Startup. We recognize the need to have income to pay your bills, so if you’re looking for a paid/salaried function, this isn’t for you. (Once we have revenues flowing, we believe we’ll be more than willing to entertain you guys!!) Initially, we’re looking for partners! 

I have met many people face-to-face with similar idea but this is the first time I am seeing this happen on LinkedIn. They seem to have some type of infrastructure ready to go and have a business plan probably.

Can LinkedIn platform help in this quest for Sweat Equity?

Will six degrees of separation  work in their favor?

Only time will tell. Filed under Concepts.

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In recent past I have often received “requests to endorse/recommend” from people that I have met once or twice in Business Networking meetings. I also receive these requests from people whom I know as they used to be in my business network but I never got an opportunity to do any business with them. I have drafted a standard email message that I would like to share with you:

Dear [Name]

I would love to give you a recommendation/endorsement. However I have not worked or done any business with you and I do not know enough about you to write a recommendation for you. I would suggest that you contact someone who has either worked with you or has done business with you to get a proper recommendation/endorsement. Secondly the recommendation will be more genuine if it comes from someone you have worked with before.

The people who read your recommendation are definitely checking if the recommendation is from someone who has worked with you or is it just a fellow networker.

I am sure we will do some business in future and I will be in a better position to recommend/endorse you and your business.

Cordially,

I would love to know, how you have dealt with such situation.

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Have you clicked on “Who’s Viewed My Profile” lately?  You might notice that it’s “Someone in the Leadership function…” instead of a real name.  While this might drive you crazy to not know who these people are, it also provides an opportunity for you.

Notice on the bottom of the page, you can change your visibility settings.  This will allow people to see your name when you view their profile.  Personally, I’ve contacted several people this way, so it’s a great little way to “ping” a prospective business partner.

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I heard from another friend today that “corporate” has blocked LinkedIn access.  This seems to be pretty common among financial institutions and other litigation-obsessed groups, but, in my eyes, it represents failure on many levels.

It’s a failure in trust.  Corporations are more concerned with policing staff than empowering them with access to information.

It’s a failure in vision.  What can your employees achieve when given greater capabilities?

It’s a failure in Human Resources.  If you can’t hire professionals that you can trust with time management, you’re doing something incorrectly.

When considering LinkedIn or any other information-based resource, company policy makers need to strongly consider the impact of potential benefit over potential loss.  Too many people in “corporate” want to say “NO!” instead of “Yes.  How can we make this happen?”  Employees are not given enough freedom to innovate because they’re strapped down with restrictions.

Take that to your board.

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Recently, I asked some friends for their LinkedIn “victory stories.”  I know LI has brought me certain successes, but I’m curious about how it’s worked for other people.  Wendy Zikas sent me the following experience:

“LinkedIn has helped me with my new career by getting the changes and new contact information out to all my contacts in a very simplistic manner.   In turn, the response regarding my change was very well received, judging by the responses from my contacts via the new LinkedIn contact information I posted.  Some people that I haven’t heard from or made contact with in months responded to the changes in a very favorable manner.  I was shocked at the number of responses within an hour or two of the new posting.  That kind of marketing power is huge when it comes to keeping and maintaining a name for yourself.”

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