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The Sacramento Connector is a publication of Get Networking Now! TM & My Biz Assistant TM. It features articles for the entrepreneur and B2B advertising at affordable rates.
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HTTP://GRAVITYSERVICES.ORG 1
GRAVITY
Please join GRAVITY for our Þrst annual wine tasting fundraiser. Come sample Þne wines, light appetizers and delicious desserts from local vendors. There will also be live entertainment, a silent auction, and rafße prizes too! All funds raised from this event will help support GRAVITY in opening its Þrst transitional living facility for our local youth.
DETAILS
Date: May 28, 2011
Time: 7:00pm-10:00pm
Location:
Bridgeway Lakes Boathouse3650 Southport ParkwayWest Sacramento, CA 95691
GRAVITY WINE EXTRAVAGANZA
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets are $25 in advance
and $35 at the door. Visit
www.gravityservices.org to
purchase your tickets in
advance.
GRAVITY TAX ID # 27-3971844
Vino, Vino, and more Vino
ContentsBusiness Background Check - It Pays to
Know Someone Else’s Business
WHERE IS YOUR TIME SPENT?
5 Effective Ways to Teach Your Child Presentation Skills
Sacramento Connections
4 Terms of Engagement
Upcoming Charity Events
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8
11
12
16
17
Cover Photo courtesy of Thom Puckett
So what is business background check really all about? The following report includes some fascinating information about business background check--info you can use, not just the old stuff they used to tell you.
You've got work to do and have to hire a business to do it. Whether it is a contractor to work on home improve-ment projects or you plan to build a swimming pool, you want to make sure you pick the right business to do the job for you. That is why a business background check will help you in your decision. You can find out if the com-pany you are dealing with is a fly-by-night type of operation or a company with integrity.
If you have got the time and patience, you can conduct your own business background check. The internet holds all sorts of information, just waiting to be discovered. However, you have to know where to look. The most com-mon place to start is your local Better Business Bureau, especially if it is a locally owned business. The Better Business Bureau can help you verify the company's address and company officers. As part of your business back-ground check, they can also tell you if there have been complaints against the company and if the issues were resolved or not.
Another step in your business background check is typing a simple search in an internet search engine. You can find any mention of the company you want to do business with, from their accomplishments to financial informa-tion. If you have the company's Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN), you can find out much more in your quest for a business back-ground check. For instance, that number could be run through the Secre-tary of State website and you can find out about the company's officers, financial information and incorporation information. You can find out if the company had done business under another name too.
Business Background Check - It Pays to Know Someone Else’s Business
Hopefully the information presented so far has been ap-plicable. You might also want to consider the following:
The Federal Employer Identification Number can also be run through Dun and Bradstreet’s database to find out even more financial information. Armed with your new-found knowledge, you can make a big dent into your busi-ness background check. Now, you can find out a bunch of
information on your own as well as pay nominal fees for access into certain databases. Or, you can hire an investigator or an online corporation who specializes in the business background check. So how do you know if THAT online business is trustworthy? Look for the online Better Business Bureau emblem on their website.
What information do you really need to ensure that the company is one you want to do business with? In the business background check, you can find out if the company pays their taxes on time. Have they ever been sued for some type of business malpractice? What is their work ethic? How do they treat their employees? Do they have proper licensing to conduct business? With a business background check, you can determine all that information and more.
Just remember, you have only yourself to blame if the business you conduct with this company without going through all the business background check procedures bombs out and you lose money. It pays in the long run to spend forth the time and effort now in a business background check.
WHERE IS YOUR TIME SPENT?
Do you find at the end of your day that you still have a million things to do and you didn’t accomplish any of it? Sometimes, it is useful to take the day apart piece by piece, see where we spent our time and then we can address where we were unproductive. Here are some areas to evaluate in your day. 1. Were you constantly interrupted with questions from your team? Could it be that you do not have systems in place so that everyone knows what to do and when? While it is frustrating for you to be con-
stantly interrupted, think how frustrating it could be for your team. Take a look at the questions being asked, then you can hone in on where things are unclear. This is where you can begin creating the processes that will take care of the questions and the frustration.
Do you know a mother who has persevered through her battle with breast cancer and continues to be a role model to her family
and community?
Nominate her to be a Bright Starts Pink Power Mom!! She could be one of eight women to re-ceive a $5,000 donation to the breast cancer charity of her choice, plus special pampering
gifts just for her. Now what breast cancer charity could she possibly donate to, hmmmmmmm…….
Go to www.pinkpowermom.com to nominate
your Relay mom Breast Cancer Survivor today!
2. Did you attend way too many meetings that day? Were they run ef-ficiently? Did they end with goals accomplished and next steps in place? If not, begin by making it clear to all attending the purpose of the meeting and the expected outcome. Create an agenda and distribute it to every-one prior to the meeting, so attendees still have time to add items. Then make sure that the right people have been asked to attend. Depending on the meeting, invite those who fit with the purpose of the meeting. If you are looking for new ideas, specifically invite the creative people. If you have a project that needs a plan or has a plan ready to be executed, then invite the people that do that well. Some meetings might require all of the above to happen and would benefit from a variety of people. In general, the less people in a meeting, the more productive it will be and the more likely the outcome will be achieved.
3. At some point in the day, did you find yourself on Twitter or Facebook? Did you look at the clock and an hour had passed before you knew it? As-suming here that your social media is to promote your business and widen your network then it should be part of your work day. Set a time of the day to look at your social media,. preferably at the end of the day, or when your brain power is low. Set a timer on your phone, so you don’t let the time just slip out from under you.
When we look at where our unproductive time is spent, it usually isn’t just one area of our day that sucks up our time, but pieces here and there. Decide on one thing that you can change to be more productive, and com-mit to it for the week; whether it is starting processes for your business or organization, helping to improve meeting facilitation or being more con-scious about time on social media. At the end of the day instead of being surprised that you got nothing done, you will be amazed how being aware of how you spend your time will im-prove the quality of your time spent.
Consultant and speaker Christine Giri, AKA The Time Tamer, works with high-performing en-trepreneurs and business professionals to increase individual and organizational performance. Christine is available to speak and consult on a variety of professional productivity topics including Time Management, Work flow Processes and Effective Delegation. With humor and insight, Christine’s straightforward style and ability to deliver valuable content will empower you to improve and grow your business.Christine can be contacted through her website at www.timetamerconsulting.com or at 916/435-2862.
5 Effective Ways to Teach Your Child Presentation Skills
by SARAH COOK
Having to speak in
front of an audience
scares most people, but
if your child learns this crucial skill in their childhood you will help them to avoid being ever
anxious about speaking in public. Children approach things often in a fearless way. Thus, the sooner
you start teaching your child public speaking skills the bet-ter. Speaking in front of people
– taught at an early age – might help them to become great com-municators and leaders one day. A skill and asset that they will keep for the rest of their life.
There are multiple benefits of teaching your child how to speak in front of other people:
* it helps to build their communi-cation skills and confidence* they learn how to capture the audience’s attention* they learn to develop charisma* they learn to write their own speech* they discover their own poten-
* they discover their own potential
Five ideas how you can teach your child great presentation skills:
1.) Be a Role Model and lead by ex-ample.I remember the first video that I re-corded and uploaded on YouTube. My 3 1/2 year old daughter was observ-ing me and loved watching it. She is usually quite a shy girl, but she was so inspired from it that she started imitating me and recorded herself by repeating what I was saying. Apart from being already very tech-savvy with an Apple Computer, she loves looking at her own video and since then became generally more confi-dent. If you have a computer with a
web cam show your child how to record vid-eos. It’s a lot of fun and they surely love watching themselves. Give them con-structive feed-back and help them to im-
prove to become really great in it. By watching themselves they will realize how they come across to other peo-ple. It’s a great way to learn and im-prove. Learning by practicing is often the most effective way of acquiring a new skill.
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3.) Provide any opportunity to hold speeches in your pri-vate circle.Whenever there is an important event, such as a wed-ding celebration, an anniversary party, a friend or rela-tive’s birthday, etc. allow your child to speak. The more exposure your child gets to bigger groups the better. Your child will gain a powerful advantage and as adult they will lose their fear of public speaking.
4.) Encourage your child to take on a leadership role at school. If debates or discussions are taking place encourage your child to take the lead and use any given opportunity to practice. Initially it might be difficult for your child to put him/herself outside his/her comfort zone. But getting more in-volved in school and/or extracurricular activities might turn into an invalu-able experience which adds to your child’s learning and skill development.
5.) Let your child join a group in which “Presentation Skills for Kids” are of-fered such as:
a) Toastmasters: (USA) There is a eight-week program called “Youth Lead-ership program” in which kids get lots of opportunities to learn how to give powerful presentations, conquer their fears, express their ideas and suc-ceed. For more info check out their website at: http://www.toastmasters.org/Members/MemberExperience/SatellitePrograms/YouthLeadership.asp
b) Fastrackids: (www.fastrackids.com) (USA, India, Germany, Brazil, Rus-sia etc.) Kids get the chance to hold presentations by being recorded, which then will be shown to their parents. You can watch one of their videos at: http://www.youtube.com/FasTracKids. I was quite impressed!
c) Kid Power Academy: (www.kidpoweracademy.com (UK) is a company that helps your child to conquer shyness and become a master communica-tor.
Karin Schroeck-Singh is the blogcaster (blogger and podcaster) of the “Manners And Career Blogcast”, at http://blog.mannersandcareer.com, a website for smart professionals who want to get free high-quality advice on etiquette and career- related topics.
Book Your Party Today!
[email protected](916) 572-3482
“Protect your assets...”
Dianna’s Designer Jeans
She is an MBA Postgraduate from the University of Leicester (UK) with 15 years of work experience in Italy and the United Kingdom in sectors such as: Recruitment, Office Management, Market Research, Teaching & Training business subjects and soft skills (Marketing, Human Resource Management, International Business and Business Etiquette). She loves helping individu-als and businesses gain a competitive edge by strengthening their profes-sionalism, image and productivity.
Karin is the author of the following five books:
* Worte, die befluegeln, 222 Ideen andere zu loben which talks about the power of praising people as a motivational tool* 100 Tips Business Meeting Etiquette (eBook)* 200 Etiquette Quotes (eBook)* 178 Ideas for a Special Mom – An eBook for Career Women who want to strengthen the bond with their child – (eBook)* Recommendation Marketing: The creation of a word-of-mouth marketing strategy (eBook)
You can follow Karin on twitter: twitter.com/TheEtiquetteGap and on Face-book.
4 Terms of EngagementEngagement is a term that is recently popping up in applications other than the military: “rules of engagement” and marriage: “we’re engaged”! Now the term in increasingly more often found in reference to business rela-tionship development. So what exactly does engagement mean?
According to Wiktionary.com the French engager can mean to pledge or commit to, to involve, or to encourage, and the suffix ment is from the French mentum and means the result or product of an action (Online Etymology Dictionary). CAUSE & EFFECT! To me this is poetic. Just as a marriage engagement re-quires two people to be committed to
each other, engagement in business relationships also implies reciprocation among two or more parties.
Wiktionary offers 6 definitions of engager, but I will focus on 4.
1. to pledge, commit Here you understand the value of this person and commit to them, to learning about them, what is important to them, what needs they have, and if you can help them in some way. You commence interaction.
2. to involve Your audience begins interaction with you because of your ac-tive commitment to them, shown in your verbal and nonverbal, online and offline communication
3. to encourage This made me think of the phrase, No one likes to be SOLD, but Everyone loves to BUY. This is where you motivate them through added value to stay engaged with you or your brand.
4. to enlist This is the Active Stage where your call to action is heeded based on their response to the previous 3 steps. This is where sphere of influence becomes influenSPHERE as they identify with you and your brand. They are now in varying stages of customers, clients, and raving fans. This is where Return On Relationship happens. (Thanks to Ted Rubin for ROR terminology!)
There are a lot of people really excited about Social Media these days be-cause they think that it’s a short cut to engagement. While it IS an addi-tional tool, it is NOT a short cut. I don’t think it makes the other Tools in the Toolbox (like letter writing) obsolete. The offline tools for building re-lationship STILL WORK. You still need a hammer to build a house, but now you can draw and share your plans online! Social Media is another tool to add depth to our engagement, and it just may be MORE work, because we have to fight harder for people’s attention. But it is SOOOO worth it. Just ask Ted Rubin. Click HERE for Ted’s Bio.
How do you engage your audience, clients, customers, influenSPHERE?
Like this article? Like my Facebook page at facebook.com/influenSPHERE About the Author: Michele Valencia, owner of influenSPHERE, a Networking & Business Rela-tionship Consulting company, helps new and established business professionals discover and fully utilize their inherent networking strengths to have greater positive impact in their sphere of influence through a mix of old-school networking techniques with a healthy dose of online networking.
Saturday, May 21, 201110:00 a.m.
