The Link System®

You cannot be considered a serious networker or be a competant “Link” without subscribing to your local Business Journal. Every community has their business publications. Here in San Diego we have the weekly San Diego Business Journal, The San Diego Daily Transcript and the quarterly Biz San Diego Magazine.  For my money, I like the weekly Business Journal.  It’s not too much…it’s not too little…It’s Just Right.
 The SDBJ is a part of my Making The Connection networking workshop.  I bring in an issue and we discuss how they can use it to:

• Be conversant in current events - Make networking conversations easier 
• Find information to share with “Links”
• Learn about the “Movers & Shakers” in your community…imagine running into someone at the next event and being able to comment of their recent article…believe me…they will be impressed and flattered
• Find events/seminars for yourself and others
• Learn of future “Awards” events and nominate someone
• Learn of future articles in their editorial Calendar
• Learn the top companies in major industries And more!

For the proactive, creative thinker there are several pieces of useful information in every issue.  Did someone you know get a promotion? Send a congratulations card! Did you notice a business meeting that will pull in a certain audience demographic?  Share that information with others! When it comes to speakers, the more influential the speaker, the more influential the audience.
 
In  my Link System® Trainings, we define networking as “The exchange of Ideas, Information & Resources”.  Keeping current with your community’s business news to find information to share with your network is imperative to staying  ahead of your competition.

British polititian Benjamin Disreali said “In the end, the person with the most success is the one with the best information”

What Does It Take To Be Successful? People are forever clamoring for the missing element that will turn them into a success. Elements such as the right words to say (script or sales copy), better quality leads, better tools to use, (website, computer, an assistant, etc). Now don’t take me wrong, these elements are important as well, but they not the determining factors in most cases.
I once attended a training by Darren Hardy, now publisher of Success Magazine. That question was put out to the large audience and Darren wrote down the suggestions as fast as they were shouted out: Determination, confidence, passion, persistence, integrity, high self-esteem, etc., almost 20 in all.

Darren told us it boils down to three main components: knowledge, skill & attitude. Then he took our list and noted which category our suggestions fell into. By an overwhelming majority they came under (drum roll, please) Attitude. (For comic relief, someone had offered “Good-looking” and that was determined to be a skill). All the knowledge and skill in the world will be in vain if we undermine ourselves with negative self talk and self doubt. There is a fine line between learning from our past, then growing vs. letting what happened in the past hold us back. The choice is ours.

Our daily actions are the product of the thousands of thoughts going through our heads every single day. In fact, many of those thoughts are repeated over & over again. Now, are those thoughts positive and encouraging? Or are they negative and limiting? How better would our lives be if we took 10 minutes a day to feed ourselves strong, positive, uplifting & educational “food-for-our-thoughts” every day? What could be your potential if your thoughts were all positive? Think about it, then act.

It was several months in the making. I first heard from Ellen Volpe, President of American Business Associates, when she purchased the CD audio program from the website. When I saw she was from Long Island, a quick Google search told me she was a major player in the local Business to Business Networking scene. A phone call was in order! Five months later I stepped up to the podium in front of almost 100 people gathered at the Clubroom of Hofstra University in Long Island, New York. What a thrill!

Here is Ellen Volpe, (second from the left) and the rest of her crew who help out that morning. The Hofstra Club is a very posh venue located on the Hofstra University campus in Hempstead, Long Island.

“The event on Friday was engaging, entertaining and most of all informative. Mindy, your energy and interactive presentation made the time fly by. Ellen and Gene, thanks for making this quality program available. ” Joyce Zimmerman - JoyWriter Communications

In the crowd was Paul Pileggi who had been to the workshop I presented last year for Greiner Maltz Commercial Real Estate. It was he who shared this information with Ellen in one of her networking groups.. Thank you Paul!

In the picture to the right, this man is no doubt explaining to the other that the nametag goes on the RIGHT lapel! This group was very vocal and willing to engage…so fun to work with! We had them up on their feet trying out the “Four Link Questions” and taking the microphone to tell us who their links are. More than one company sent their entire crew!

“Mindy has a passion for networking”
“Awesome!!”
“Very enlightening and refreshing….A wonderful session!”
“The concept of ‘linking’ vs. ’selling’ takes a lot of pressure off. Great information!”

I hope to return SOON to present another workshop. Bye!

Bye!

The phone rings all the time…that’s what they do. But how many people can say that their business took a whole new direction after one phone call?

In the fall of 2004 I received such a call. The gravely voice on the other end introduced himself as Mel Kaufmann. He wanted to know about my business. He heard I had a networking event calendar. Could I please send it to him? I told him about The San Diego Networking Guide and my coaching practice and took down his email address. In return he told me that he taught networking skills and he was going to be working with Merrill Lynch in La Jolla in the coming weeks. He had a book on networking… would I like a copy? “Of course!”…I gave him my mailing address and that was that!

A few days later I received a small padded envelope with a little book - The Millionaire’s Handbook. The size was nothing to be impressed with. Inside, these words were scribbled…
Mindy,
Make a Million!
Mel

It sat on my desk for a few days, then one morning, I tucked it into my little walking pack and went for a morning hike up Mt. Woodson. I sat on my favorite rock and opened it up.

Now, you must remember that for the last 3 years, I had published a networking event calendar. I have coached my clients on networking and I belonged to a weekly networking group for 10 years. What more could I learn????? As it turned out….PLENTY!!

As I devoured each one-page nugget, I found myself looking forward to what the next page would bring. Because of my experience, there was much I already knew and there were some ideas that I knew intuitively, but had never articulated. The most exciting ideas & concepts were totally new to me!

My mind was racing with the possibilities these new strategies represented…The Link System® was a system with a purpose….a different purpose. Finding LINKS, not sales…BRILLIANT!

It took me about 45 minutes to read the 100 pages…100 “Kaufmann Corollaries” (Definition = A Profitable Business Truth That Never Varies).
I had to know more.

I came down off that mountain and I called the number on the back of the book as soon as I walked in the door. I told Mel, “I LOVE your book. What else do you have?” He invited me to his training at Merrill Lynch.

Two weeks later I walked into the training room and met the man whose materials were already changing my networking life. With him was his friend Virginia Devine, who was the newly retired former Executive Director of BNI-San Diego. (I later learned that Ivan Misner, founder of BNI had featured Mel in his book Masters of Networking)

As I soaked up the material and learned more about Mel’s relationship with Merrill Lynch, my mind was reeling with ideas. At the end of the second session, I asked Mel if I could be one of his trainers. I was shocked to learn he had not trained anyone else…it was just him! We talked about who my market was….they certainly were not the corporate types like Merrill Lynch. They were home office entrepreneurs, sales reps, & solo professionals in private practice. He agreed to consider me as a trainer…I was flying! Afterwards, I met a girlfriend for dinner and all I could talk about was this great training I had stumbled upon.

A few days later I received an email from Mel with a crushing blow. He had decided not to train me to teach The Link System®. He believed that my market would not be able to afford the training at the same pricing structure he had with Merrill Lynch…Oh NO!

I was depressed for the rest of the day, then I regrouped and rallied with a rebuttal that got his attention. I reminded him that The Link System® was born at the Wilshire Chamber of Commerce…he developed his material for the small business person. He was right…my market could not afford a $5000 training, but I would structure open enrollment trainings for individuals, not companies. “It would be a shame if these skills were denied them. Everybody in business should be able to learn The Link System® and I very much want to teach it to them”. I clicked “Send”, and waited to see what my future would be.

Mel’s response the next morning was short, but sweet.

Mindy,
I like the way you think. See you on Tuesday.
Have a blessed day,
Mel

Woo HOO!
That was in October. The first week of February, 2005 I held my first Link System® training with 20 people and have not looked back! I have done trainings & workshops in San Diego, Long Beach, Ohio and TWICE in New York.
Now that I own the rights to the Millionaire’s Handbook and The Link System®, it’s time to expand and bring on new trainers.
Let’s get started!!

May 21, 2009

The Millionaire’s Handbook is comprised of 100 “Kaufmann Corollaries”, easy-to-read, one page Nuggets of Networking Wisdom. It was the best book on networking I had ever read. Why? Because you don’t have to wade through a lot of stuff to get to something useful. Every page has a lesson to learn. Every day you will receive a Kaufmann Corollary (KC) or two. In addition, I will add some of my experiences and those from the students who have been in my workshops. Mel calls this little book “A quick read, but a lifetime study.” Here is the first excerpt. Enjoy!

KAUFMANN COROLLARY #1

Don’t be Late

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