You can’t afford to build a career in a vacuum. Even the most independent professionals still need colleagues, clients, mentors, and friends. You can settle with the network you already have, but meeting new people has its benefits. The more people you meet, the more opportunities you have to learn new things, take on new…

Let’s be clear.  Your email is not your work; it is simply a tool to help you do your work.  But like any tool it can be ineffective or even dangerous when used wrongly.  Here is how to make email your servant not your master. 1.  Check your email inbox at set intervals. Do not have…

Finding a way to contact someone has gotten a lot easier: just type their name into Google and follow a few links. For many people, you’ll quickly find a profile on Facebook, a blog or even an email address you can use to get in touch. But a Google search doesn’t turn up good results…

I have been surprised the number of people and contacts who are completely unaware of the differences between the To: CC: and BCC: fields when addressing emails. Understandably, it’s not really common knowledge. There is a little bit of documentation around regarding these fields, but none are all that clear, in my view. To: Add contacts who you…

Haven’t made a dime on LinkedIn? A lot of people on LinkedIn haven’t made a dime from it. Chances are you haven’t made anyone else money either. In expanding your network, the main point is to help you phone or meet someone who may be able to help you in whatever it…

Previously we posted about 12 ways to use LinkedIn. Guy Kawasaki has again offered up his LinkedIn expertise. This time Guy gives a tutorial on how to drastically improve your LinkedIn profile. Leveraging the Director of Corporate Communications…

Most of us know that networking is a key to success, and certainly qualifies as a life hack. Still, the devil is in the details. I have done some reading recently, and here are a couple of books that get into the technicalities of networking. Never Eat Alone, by Keith Ferrazzi. This…

LinkedIn is one of my favorite Web 2.0 apps. It gives me a great way to keep business contacts. With the latest feature, LinkedIn Answers, it creates another dimension to receive great insights and advices from professionals. In short, it is a grown up version of Myspace. Guy Kawasaki suggests 10 more ways (his readers…

It’s astounding to me how many opportunities we miss to make communication easier. And by communication, in this case, I’m talkin g about applications ranging from simple hi-how-do-you-do interactions to business deals getting done, or NOT getting done as it relates to communication. I’ve found that lots of times, it’s a problem of omissions and…

I’m using Gmail’s built-in contact application to run my contact management. (By the way, did you see that you can use Gmail and Calendar and Chat on your own site now, configured for your own domain?) Though there are some things I can’t use Google to do easily (mail merge types of things), there…

People have unique skills and talents, and over the course of your days, you meet new people and connect to begin new relationships all the time. This means you also expand the very nature of your pool of people to consider asking for help from should a problem arise. For instance, I met some new…