Connecting

We are human therefor we desire to connect: we talk, we smooz, we joke, we support, we listen, we are there.

I decided yesterday to dust off my LinkedIn and send invites to connect to people I know. For some reason I ended up sending invites to 88 people but was pleasantly suprised by the amount of them accepting me on their network as yet. One mate send me an email saying, thanks, but I have enough trouble keeping up in the real world. He is right.

Why do we enterain the fact to connect online if we have so much on our plates already? Interesting point. All of us like to belong, in my case, to share, support and help. I like getting to know people and if I can do something for them, I will, as it's in my nature. I like learning from others as I'm quite aware I do not have all the knowledge or experience.

The people I seem drawn to in connecting with have the following attributes:

The Values of Entrepreneurs
Passion
Focus
Insatiable desire to Success
Intelligence
Confidence and Self Belief
Commitment
Loss Averse
Realism

(With thanks to Deborah Meaden)

I will add: alternate way of thinking + sense of humor

The ability to commit (to their vision) is a core character trait. They don’t care what anybody else thinks. Confidence attracts, and most people can sense it. They must be clever in a quick-witted way, with a mind that refuses to accept barriers and that can solve a multitude of problems within seconds. Everyone has their own expertise and strenghts because all of them are talented.

Going over the networks I'm part of:

Facebook, Linkedin, Flokka, Twitter, it's no wonder you get to a point where you think for the love of God, why would I want to join up with ANOTHER one? Good question. I'm waiting for Google WAVE (+ sign up). It's a new product and should make life easier, as it makes emailing a different experience and basically throws together a whole bunch of aspects these networks have. (It's coming out later this year and they're finetuning now to eliminate possible bugs.) Trust me, in this day and age, like my mate said: it's about making life very very simple and back to basics. Family time is the top priority along with our passion for our work, our vision. Time simply goes too quickly and we can't do all, or we'd go bonkers. So that means also being able to say "NO". (Remember that word? I'm using it now. Finally.)

So why the heck bother with networking? If you're interested in people it's a neccesity. Also, I think it's worthwile for me to keep reading up on what's happening out there in the world, the market place, and also locally. One of the topblogs is ofcourse Seth Godin's. Then I visit Hugh McLeod's Gapingvoid, Aunty Cookie, the Style Files, Chris Guillebeau's posts I get by email, DutchCowgirls, and a few more Design blogs to keep up. As I get to work at 8 am and officially start an hour and a half later, this usually works out fine. I don't need to read them to be able to design something, it's more to see what the demands are out there and what products are hot, juicy, working and succesfull. I'm focussing on what's happening here in NZ and Oz, the US and Europe as they are the main players for me.

So as you can see, enough to do. Time to get busy again. I'm excited about my accesory line for women. The pieces need scouting for the appropriate chains before I can do some photoshoots etc. It takes time, but better to get it right then launching it half assed (as they say here).

So what does it keep boiling down to? Be organised and as they say, it's not what you know, but who you know, that is important. Remember the fun aspect. Get that serious frown of your face, you will be nicer to look at and it saves buying expensive facial products.