Over the last 6years I have presented to nearly 30,000 delegates and a wide variety of audiences and what I have learnt beyond doubt is that about 99% of them don’t like business networking.

“I feel uncomfortable entering a room full of people I don’t know.”

“I get nervous when I see an invitation I ought to accept”

are just two of the comments I hear. Or a third comment,

“It’s not for me I get enough business through referrals and recommendations.”

Now, that third response always brings me to ask what is the fundamental difference between getting business from referrals and getting it through business networking? Simple answer, the

If you are content to wait for third parties to dictate the growth rate of your business, that is fine. Rely on clients and contacts to make those recommendations. However, if you want to dictate the growth of your business then I believe the most cost effective way to spread your message about who you are what you do and how your clients benefit from buying your services and products then business networking has to be the answer.

Having spent literally hundreds of hours analysing these negative attitudes to business networking, I believe I now have most of the solutions to help overcome people’s fears and anxieties. Let me share my findings with you. Can I ask how do you feel when you go somewhere be it business networking or social and you are not likely to know many people. If you are like my seminar delegates or audiences you tell me things like:

“I could make a fool of myself”,

“I may not belong here”,

“I am going to feel well outside my comfort zone”,

“I am likely to be embarrassed”,

and the list goes on and on.

I know the key learning point here is virtually everyone feels the same, therefore as a consequence if you feel totally relaxed and comfortable you are abnormal! Don’t worry, there are just a few of us still around. Don’t misunderstand me but I know the root cause of all these fears, it is your mother’s fault. My mother, your mother, everyone’s mother, what did she tell us about strangers? That’s right never talk to strangers. What she forgot to tell us when we became mature teenagers that there was no harm in safe environments in talking to people we don’t know.

I now give you that permission because you will never be rejected. Rejection, that is the overall fear to networking. Zig Ziglar, that famous and international motivational speaker said “Fear false evidence appearing real”. Now think about it for a moment. When have you been rejected when you have approached someone at a business networking event or social gathering? My guess is never, unless of course you don’t do it in the correct manner.

Imagine a scenario. Your clients have invited you to the opening of their new premises and have been kind enough to include you on their guest list. Let us move into that room. There are 50 people there and the only people you know are the hosts. You said your hellos to them then they move on to greet other guests. Now is the moment when I ask you to remember that 99% of the people in that room had similar misgivings and doubts. So, if it is a bar do, go and get yourself a drink and look round the room and you will see them. There they are standing alone near the wall like Billy and Betty no mates. These people are standing there because of all the fears we have mentioned so far. They feel as if they have 2 ton of lead on each foot weighing them down, unable to move. At best this is due to unease, at worst raw panic. Knowing now how they feel, take your drink, go up to them and from a short distance smile. Ask if you may join them, extend your hand, shake hands and introduce yourself. I think first names only are a great way to start to build a business relationship. Most of us struggle with names, let’s keep it simple. At this moment please, please believe me, you will not be rejected. You will never be rejected. They will want to make you their friend for life at this point. They will want to give you a big mental hug and more than likely they will offer up a little prayer of thanks. No one stands on their own by choice, they do it because of their lack of self-confidence, their worries and their misgivings. Even at this early stage you and Billy or Betty will have at least four things in common:

You are both fellow guests of the same hosts. You both know no one. You are both in the same business networking event. You both travelled to get there.

There are many easy subjects you could discuss. You could talk about your hosts. You could comment on the room if there is something different about it or you could ask “so Jo, (it’s changed now from Billy or Betty Nomates because they have told you their real name) so Jo, how far have you travelled today to get here?”

It does not matter what the opening question is as long as it is something Jo won’t have any problem answering!

Believe me when I tell you that unless the person is truly antisocial, and yes it does happen very occasionally, the conversation will begin to flow. More often than not, there will soon be common topics to talk about. It may be where you both live, where your businesses are based, the fact that you are both in the same sort of business. You may both be suppliers to the host. By this time, you will both be feeling much more relaxed.

And finally, a quick tip. If you are nervous about entering a full room at a business networking event, get there early. This gives you a chance to chat to your hosts a little longer and it is likely they will introduce you to fellow guests immediately. This of course, rules out lots of the negative feelings, which we have already covered.

In other articles on business networking, we will talk about:

The problem people have with remembering other people’s names. How to build relationships through the power of small talk. How to extricate yourself, one person or a group of people How to break into groups How to park people with others, understanding that business networking is all about giving first and receiving second. Finally, how to leave any business networking event with real potential business opportunities.

The tape measure has evolved into a much modern process of getting measurements. It developed from the ribbon type to the most modern digital and laser technology capable of measuring in the most accurate method.

Tape measures are similar to rulers but, the difference is that it can be folded or rolled. They are commonly used for dressmaking and tailoring. They are made up of ribbon, cloth, plastic, or metal. Tape measures consist of linear measure marking in metric and imperial units. Carpenters or construction workers also make use of tape measures made up of thin metallic ribbon that remains straight. The metallic ribbon retracts into a small convenient storage. Surveyors also utilize tape measures with a hectometer as its measuring unit.

A unique feature prevalent to most tape measures is a small diamond which is embedded every 19.2 inches. It is called black truss marking. Measuring tapes are ideal measuring tools because of its flexibility which can be used to measure even tight corners and curves. It can also be carried in a pocket because of its small size.

This measuring tool comes in different types:

Body Measuring Tape

This type of measuring tape can be used to measure circumference of the head, waist, legs and arms of the body. One of the models of this type is the Quick Medical QM2000 Measure Mate Body. It features accurate and quick measurements. Another good feature of this tool is that it can measure up to 60 inches and has automatic retracting system. In addition, measurement readings are shown on both sides of the tape. For a more accurate measurement, a 0.1 cm increment is used with this tool.

Ghostwriting has become a popular and practical solution for people with great ideas but poor writing skills. They hire a ghostwriter to convert their ideas and concepts into a cohesive publishable manuscript. Ghostwriting is a great career for a motivated writer who is willing to write for good money but no recognition or credit.

Who is a Ghost Writer?
A ghostwriter is someone who writes a book, speech, and article or editorial that is published under someone else’s name. Some people have great ideas, recognizable names and business but either do not have the time or cannot write well. They supply their ideas, notes, and drafts to a good writer. This ghostwriter will write, research, interview, edit the manuscript and take the book up to the publication stage. The book will then be published under the name of the celebrity. Their name and photo will grace the cover and win all the laurels and praise. A ghostwriter, depending on contract, may earn anywhere from $100 per page to a split in royalties.

Qualities of a Ghost Writer:

1. Strong writing skills. Dazzle the contact trade magazines or publication with superb writing and editing skills. Write interesting, grammatically correct and knowledgeable articles in prestigious publications to draw notice towards your work.

2. Maintain confidentiality. Ghostwriters should keep their connection with their work confidential. They should be willing to work around the client’s schedule. They even may be required to travel along with them if the work demands.

3. Strong ego. Most ghostwritten books are promoted as written by clients. They must have a strong ego to withstand the client’s praise and accolades for actually doing their work.

4. Network. Build a good network to get good work. Keep in touch with editorial firms who hire writers for any work.

5. Create online presence. An online and offline presence helps customers to find you. Customers actively look for your services through Google, on mailing lists, blogs and various online means. Promote yourself over good domain names to improve your availability.

6. Understand affiliate marketing. There is lucrative money in affiliate programs. A good ghostwriter can keep up the flow and continuity of the program to keep it interesting and going.

7. Search engine content writer. Imaginative freelance writers can use very high traffic keywords in certain high-ranking article directories to produce content. Content based on keyword phrases pulls in high traffic through clicks, resulting in more sales and cash inflow. The ghostwriter can build a well-structured and attractive resource box at the bottom of the article on a client’s site.

Understand the publishing industry and market trends. Do polish up your writing skills; once your credibility as a ghostwriter is established, there will be no dearth of business for you.

Further education is often vocational or work based with emphasis on the needs of employers. It provides general education for individual of all ages. People use further education to explore certain subject knowledge and upgrade their work skills. In recent years there has been a big increase in business and management education.

There are a wide range of business studies and management courses which are highly valued by employers. A standard course in business usually covers the following subject areas:

- human resource management,
- economics,
- information system management,
- strategic management,
- organisational behaviour,
- marketing,
- finance, and
- international management.

Most management education is provided by universities and management or business schools. Almost every university is offering business and management courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Some business schools also offer short management training courses. Most of the colleges also developed links with universities. Students can have the opportunity to study certain courses at a further education college, many courses lead to internationally recognized business qualifications that are awarded by independent examining bodies, for instance, the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry International Qualification (LCCI IQ). LCCI IQ provides a range of business qualifications in finance, secretarial, marketing, languages and information technology.

Further education courses may be studied full time or part time. Many colleges and universities now offer the option of online learning on some courses. However students are advised to check the quality and reputation of online educational providers before signing up for any courses.

The biggest mistake when business networking is to look for customers. No one knows you, no one trusts you and no one likes to be sold. So, what should you do, ask for referrals? Nope. That’s the second biggest mistake. Why should I give you anything if we’re not friends?

Am I saying you should business network to make friends?

That’s exactly what I’m saying.

Many salespeople are blabber-mouths. They tell you everything they know about their products, as if they can talk you into buying right there at a networking meeting. Maybe it’s to be expected. In America, we swim through an ocean of obnoxious sales messages all day long. Perhaps, when we sell for the first time, we can’t help but sound like all the bad commercials we’ve absorbed throughout our lives.

Test this at your next networking meeting. See if people tell you everything they know about their product when you ask them a simple question. More importantly, see if you do it, and watch how people respond when they are talked at.

We are savvier than ever before and less tolerant of sales pitches. We can smell them a mile away. We run, we hide, we TIVO, we channel surf – we do whatever it takes to avoid all kinds of marketing. We have to. We are bombarded and we want peace.

I just had a woman come to my door, no joke, at 7:45 p.m., while I was writing this paragraph, to interest me in a free pizza from a new pizza place nearby. 7:45 p.m.! I told her, kindly, I am not interested in any marketing or advertising messages at my front door, thank you very much.

Want to push people away? Talk at them about your product before they ask you anything about it. Want to make friends? Here’s how.

Love people. That’s right. Just love them. Love who they are. Love what they say. Give them 100 percent permission to do and say whatever they’d like. Just take them in. If 90 percent of success is to just show up, the other 10 percent is caring.

Your feelings about people can be felt. You hide nothing. That’s why the best thing to give when you network is a real liking, a real love, a real appreciation of people. When people talk, listen. When they ask you a question, watch out. Right there you might be tempted to say a lot. Don’t. Instead, give simple answers to simple questions and see if the person wants to know more. If they don’t, ask them a question about themselves.

I’ll repeat that in case you missed it. Ask them a question about themselves, not about their product or service. And don’t ask them questions to qualify them as customers. That’s the kiss of death. You might as well reach in their pocket and pull out their wallet. Instead, engage, connect, and enjoy each person as an individual. Then, when you become friends, you’ll do what friends do naturally. You’ll help each other.

Now relax, pretend you’re at a party, and go network like a pro.

Today

Waist cinchers and Waspies from the 1980s are a type of wide, laced belts with elastic fabric and soft plastic stiffeners.

Ribbon corset

The ribbon corset is made of pieces of ribbon, as opposed to fabric. In 1901, a simple pattern of silk ribbon, two bones, and a busk was available, allowing women to construct their own ribbon corsets.

A pseudo-ribbon corset looks like a ribbon corset but is made from cut cloth instead of ribbons. The outside seam of the cut cloth is sewn fine, while the tight inside seam is sewn plain and curved.

Function

A short corset from 1906

A type of short corset been used as light corset for sleep, and another type for light summer corset, used next to the skin or outside of the summer dress. But also an elastic girdle belt been used on the outside of corseted dresses.

The New Look

Dior’s New Look brought the waist cincher to popularity around 1947. In his autobiography, Dior wrote: “I designed clothes for flower-like women, with rounded shoulders, full feminine busts, and hand-span waists above enoumous spreading skirts”. The hand-span waists so beloved by Dior were achieved by foundations garments, of which the most popular was the waist cincher. Called the “waspie” or “guepiere”, it became the quintessential undergarment of the New Look. Boned and back-laced, it differed from the Victorian corset of decades past primarily in its length, usually only 6 to 7 inches. Fashion magazines of the time stressed that it was “super-light weight” and containing “feather boning”. Such garments were worn tightly cinched at the waist, usually over a girdle. The combination was described by Anne Forgarty, an American dress designer who popularized the New Look in the US “To maintain your figure at its flattering best, depend on foundation garments to control and distribute; a cinch or tight belt to restrain.”

Wholesale Manufactureres, eBay wholesale suppliers – Where to buy wholesale to sell on eBay? Idea from: http://www.topztrade.com for eBay reseller.

Nowaday, more and more people use eBay to do business. But, they’re all lack of experience to hunt for a good supplier & manufactureres. Today, I will share some good experience to you.

If you want to build your eBay business and make more money, you need to find eBay wholesale suppliers. I say ‘eBay’ wholesale suppliers  because you need a supplier who knows how eBay works and their feedback system. You don’t want suppliers who will only deliver a product you’ve sold 21 days after the purchase has been completed. If you use such companies you’ll be very unpopular on EBay and you’ll get lots of impatient customers who are very likely to leave you negative feedback on eBay. One thing you need to realise is that most of the power sellers on eBay marketplace and Auction site

The Jacquard Ribbon dates all the way back to the early 1800′s. This was during the Industrial Revolution when factories just started to arise. Before mechanical devices and weaving machines were invented, fabric was woven by hand which was a timely task. The new machines produced this fabric at an exceptionally faster rate, but it was only able to produce simple patterns, not the detailed ones that skilled workers could create.

Soon enough, the Jacquard Loom was created to solve this problem, which was an attachment to a loom, and it allowed the machine to create very intricate designs just as fast as any other simple pattern or design. Many people lost their jobs because the Jaquard Ribbon no longer needed to be manually produced. The process is quite complicated, it can be compared to that of a pasteboard card.

Each hole has a different action, so basically, one could alter the loom’s actions to create whatever design they were trying to produce. Not only did this spark the development of intricate designs in ribbon, it spread to many other industries. The idea of the pasteboard card, or punch card concept, many other developers followed it and were able to successfully put it to use.

First – stop thinking like a business owner. I know, you might think this is odd. However, the reason most business owners don’t write a business plan is because they are too close to their challenges and can’t decide what they need to do. Stepping out of character will help you see the big picture and the little details so you can focus on what to do.

Since this was written during championship football season, I want you to assume the role of a winning college or professional sports coach. It doesn’t matter if you are a woman or a man for this job. The goal will be the same. You will want to prepare your team to win the championship game by as many points as possible. If you have trouble with football, pick any team sport and the concept will work. The idea is to get into the character of a winning coach to help you create a plan.

Think like 60 Minutes is all You Have

A football game is divided up like a business year. There are four quarters and two minute warnings you must plan for. You will need plays and actions for kicking things off, receiving special team opportunities and think offense and defense to win.

Understand You and Your Opponent

Winning coaches invest time to research opponents and you need to determine both your strengths and weaknesses. If you don’t take time for this, you will get clobbered by the other teams. Use this research and analysis to formulate your complete game strategies and special plays.

Plan For Special Plays

Every team will need specials plays to kick off, receive, punt, and defend the red zone and two minute warning. These are special opportunities you have in the year from new equipment, vendor specials, trade shows or open houses you can plan for.

The Offensive Game Plays

You will need a list of offensive running and passing plays to execute during the game. These are easy to think about and you must plan for them.

Action plans to start a new business relationship and move forward. Actions to build a stronger customer base. Actions to generate referrals for new clients from existing ones. Open house and networking actions you will execute for new business.
The Defensive Plays

You will need a list of defensive plays that protect your accounts and seize opportunities. These could include a blitz or a pass rush that capitalizes on an opportunity.

Action plans that develop satisfied clients and builds strong relationships. Surveys that will help determine if you have new opportunities or lost business. Monitor and track competitive actions that may impact your current business. If you can, have contingency plans for injuries, bad calls and penalties in the game.

I hope you see the advantage of planning from a different perspective to make your sales plan fun and much easier to write. Your business plan doesn’t have to be 20 pages long. You need a single sheet that covers the actions you will take to win the game in your business. When you finish writing your business plan, it should be on a 12 month calendar with goals and objectives for each quarter.

A complete game plan makes it easier to adjust actions during the game and in your case, the business year so you can motivate your team throughout the year. If you need help with your plan, I suggest you take time to watch a championship game. Think of it as research. You will be done with your sales plan sooner than you think and it will be fun.

The first image that generally comes to mind when picturing a wedding dress is a white gown, but color can be used to great effect in wedding dress design.  This does not mean that the dress has to be a solid color either – a white wedding dress can be accented with color in several different ways in order to create a beautiful wedding gown that no one will forget.  To add an additional color, bridesmaid dresses can be coordinated with the accents so that there is a common theme throughout the entire wedding party. The only limit to how color can be used to accent your wedding dress lies with your imagination.

Colored Ribbons

One easy way that color accents can be added to a wedding dress is through the addition of colored ribbons.  Depending on the style of the dress these ribbons can be added in several different ways.  Colored ribbons can be used as lacing in dresses that feature a corset-like lacing up the front or back of the gown, or along the edges of the different pieces that make up a more elaborate dress.  Some dress designers choose to use colored ribbons to trim the edge of a veil or train, providing just a dash of color to a beautiful traditional gown.  Others may incorporate colored ribbons into the dress design itself, creating multiple splashes of color in woven ribbon designs.

Colored Sashes

Much like colored ribbons, colored sashes can be used to add a striking color accent to otherwise basic wedding dresses.  The most common way in which colored sashes are used is by securing the sash around the bride’s waist like a belt, though other uses of a colorful sash as part of the wedding dress design are not unheard of.  Many wedding dress designers who choose to use colored sashes combine them with matching ribbon accents to help complete a larger color theme within the wedding dress.