This can either be a great tool for companies or a complete waste of time and energy.  I’ve been using social media for years and I know what fits for my company and what doesn’t.  I’ve spent time thinking strategically about how I can leverage components of it and what not to use it for, too.

First order of business? Get on Facebook.  It may seem daunting at first, but you’ll figure it out, trust me!  If you don’t figure it out, it’ll figure itself out for you.  Just don’t get sucked into all the stupid stuff with it.  Put your business profile on Facebook and people will start finding you and linking to you, and all of a sudden you’ll realize that people are learning more about what you do and remembering more about what you do because of this social networking tool.  Don’t bother wasting time with all the silly stuff meant for teenagers – think of Facebook as a resume, except an interactive, colorful one. Ensure it shows the best side of you, but more importantly, the real you.  Start focusing your time on adding all the friends and business associates you know.  If you start with that, and reading the messages people put up, you’ll get the hang out of it.  If it makes sense for your company (it doesn’t for most) then get someone in marketing or sales to set up and manage a “Fan Page” for your company.

LinkedIn is the same thing as an online resume.  Get on there, too!  It’s the new way that people are networking.  I’ve been on LinkedIn for close to 10 years now.  People aren’t going to Board of Trade events to meet each other anymore.  They are way over that.  It’s a waste of time.  I don’t have time to go down to a Board of Trade, pay for parking, walk in, talk to bunch of suits, come back out and realize I’ve got all these business cards to type up.  Eeeeew!  The new economy doesn’t work that way.  You’ll meet a lot more people using the technology that’s out there online, and free.  You won’t build the one-on-one relationships using Facebook and LinkedIn but you will identify potentially useful connections faster, and set-up time to interact outside of LinkedIn. Set up your entire profile so that others can find you easily.  When you or your team are hiring people check out their profiles on both Facebook and LinkedIn, too.  You’ll learn a lot about them.

I’ve been using Twitter since early 2008, and rank in the top 2,500 people in the world to follow.  Follow @cameronherold and you’ll learn a ton about how to use the site for marketing and customer service.  And there are even tools now that allow you to use Twitter in private spaces, one of which is called “Yammer.” Set up Yammer and you can “tweet” inside your own company privately and have the same interaction you would on Twitter—just within your own parameters.

I’ve started using Twitter as my note-taking tool while at conferences.  It allows me to multi task: I share with the people following me while reminding myself of the important points in a presentation. I type each idea or thought from a conference into Twitter.  And at the end of the day, I simply copy and paste all of my tweets into a Word Doc.

Jump in.  It’s easier than you think.

To days ago I decided to sell 5 spots on my laptop to 5 great brands to advertise on for 2010 (4 are already taken, only 1 left).

Another company will be taking the back of my iPhone – so that’s now sold too.

The most recent two brands to take spots are:

3rd spot went to Media Temple – an awesome company that hosts websites for large companies like (Starbucks, Sony & Volkswagen) & small companies (too many to list

The company grabbing spot #4 is Grasshopper.com – Great brand that launched last year in an awesome way sending chocolate covered grasshoppers to thousands of bloggers & media.  They provide a virtual phone system designed for entrepreneurs.  Check em out.

The first two spots went to Outsourcing Things Done and Maverick Business Adventures who I introduced on the blog post before this one.

If you want your company name & logo in front of thousands of entrepreneurs and business people throughout North America and occasionally globally along with these four early adopters this year – move fast.

Only 1 spot left.

I’ll be speaking at dozens of conferences again, flying business class on all flights, and spending time in airport business lounges.  My MacBook Air is with me and pretty much always out and being used.  I take it out in all my meetings regardless of who I’m working with.

And I’m also planning to post about it the companies sponsoring my laptop on my Blog, Twitter, FaceBook & LinkedIn.

If you sponsor my Laptop for 2010, your logo will be seen by tens of thousands of influential business people & CEOs.

I’m also planning to get my laptop some press this year too…

It’s pretty widely known that my nickname is ‘Connector’ so you know I’ll be telling everyone that your company is sponsoring my laptop too.

The price for a spot is $2,500. That comes out to about $200 a month, or $50 a week. Your company logo will stay on my laptop all year, and you’ll “own” that piece of real estate on my laptop case.

If anyone asks about your sticker, I’ll send him or her to whatever website/email address you want. Want in? Email me – Cameron@BackPocketCOO.com

Yesterday I decided to sell 5 spots on my laptop to 5 great brands to advertise on for 2010 (2 are already taken, only 3 left).

And someone offered to pay to advertise on the back of my iPhone – so that’s now sold too.

The 1st brand to grab a spot was Outsourcing Things Done.  They are an awesome place for entrepreneurial company to get a ton of misc stuff done far cheaper than using full time staff.

The 2nd brand to grab a spot is Maverick Business Adventures (yes the company owned by internet guru Yanik Silver).  This company of his organizes fantastic adventures for select groups of entrepreneurs every couple months.

If you want your company name & logo in front of thousands of entrepreneurs and business people throughout North America and occasionally globally along with these two early adopters this year, you gotta move fast.

Only 3 spots left.

I’ll be speaking at dozens of conferences again, flying business class on all flights, and spending time in airport business lounges.  My MacBook Air is with me and pretty much always out and being used.  I take it out in all my meetings regardless of who I’m working with.

And I’m also planning to post about it the companies sponsoring my laptop on my Blog, Twitter, FaceBook & LinkedIn.

If you sponsor my Laptop for 2010, your logo will be seen by tens of thousands of influential business people & CEOs.

I’m also planning to get my laptop some press this year too…

It’s pretty widely known that my nickname is ‘Connector’ so you know I’ll be telling everyone that your company is sponsoring my laptop too.

The price for a spot is $2,500. That comes out to about $200 a month, or $50 a week. Your company logo will stay on my laptop all year, and you’ll “own” that piece of real estate on my laptop case.

If anyone asks about your sticker, I’ll send him or her to whatever website/email address you want. Want in? Email me – Cameron at BackPocketCOO dot com

Laptop Advertising - 5 Spots Available for 2010

First 5 (2 Sold – Now 3 left) great brands will get these spots…

Want your company name & logo in front of thousands of entrepreneurs and business people throughout North America and occasionally globally this year?

This year I’ll be speaking at more EO & YPO chapters than ever before.  I’m even speaking at three EO & YPO Global Leadership Conferences this year.

I’ll also be speaking at dozens of conferences again, flying business class on all flights, and spending time in airport business lounges.

My MacBook Air is with me and pretty much always out and being used.  I take it out in all my meetings regardless of who I’m working with.

If you want to sell franchises, or market subtly to entrepreneurial audiences this is a great way to get some exposure.

I’m also planning to post about it on my Blog, Twitter, FaceBook & LinkedIn.

Sponsor my Laptop for all of 2010? This will get your logo seen by tens of thousands of influential business people this year.

I’m also planning to get my laptop some press this year too…

It’s pretty widely known that my nickname is ‘Connector’ so you know I’ll be telling everyone that your company is sponsoring my laptop too.

Ya – and it’s capped at 5 (2 Sold – Now 3 left) placements…

First come first serve (but I have to like the brands)… i.e. the only chair company I could rave about is Herman Miller with their Aeron, and my favorite headsets are from Headsets.com etc.

I’m auctioning off five (2 Sold – Now 3 left) sticker spaces on my MacBook Air cover for $2,500 a piece. That comes out to about $200 a month, or $50 a week.

They will stay on my laptop all year, and you’ll “own” that piece of real estate on my laptop case. If anyone asks about your sticker, I’ll send him or her to whatever website/email address you want.

Want in? Email me – Cameron at BackPocketCOO dot com

Your job during one-on-one interviews is to sell the candidate on joining your company without appearing desperate, and grilling them to see if they can handle the pressure.
You’re a salesman/interrogator.  You want them to like you, but also to feel vulnerable.

This may sound harsh, but it’s very effective: my goal when interviewing someone is make feel like they won’t get the job, yet make them want it more than ever.  This will pay off when it comes time to negotiating a salary when you offer them the job.

I was asked recently how I set such concrete revenue goals with confidence.  A few people asked me to show them how I ‘forecast’ to which I replied I don’t really forecast at all.  What I do is more like ‘reverse engineer’ a target that I feel like I can and want to hit.  Then I spend the rest of the year maniacally focused on hitting it.

So – here is how I set my Revenue Goal this year – and how I intend to hit it.  And why I know a 150% increase from 2009 will happen:

1) I first list out all the types of revenue I can generate from my business in its current state.  For me these include:

• Speaking Events
• Coaching/Mentoring Clients
• Strategic Planning
• DVD Sales

2) Then I list out all the types of new revenues I can generate from Projects I 100% know I’ll launch this year if I focus.  They include:

• CD Sales
• Online Webinar deployed learning
• Strategic Alliances/Others Selling my DVDs

3) Then I look at what I can charge for each in 2010…

• Speaking Events – I’ve decided to keep my fees the same for 2010 – $10,000 for Out of Town, $7,500 for Vancouver events, $6,000 for EO or YPO Chapters
• Coaching/Mentoring – I’ve raised my rates for all new clients to $4,200/Mth from $3,500/Mth (20% increase).  I’ve done this because I’m currently close to my self imposed cap on how many clients I’ll work with at the same time.
• Strategic Planning – This will stay the same as in 2009 – $10,000/Day
• DVD Sales – I’m going to raise my rates on these in 2010 – from the current $197 each – to either $297 ea. or $597 ea. (seems crazy & arbitrary – but I’m told there is SO much value in them for Entrepreneurial companies and their employees that I should charge more.  I’ll be doing some online testing with pricing – and doubt it will make a difference.
• CD Sales – This is a product that’s  being asked for and will sell for the same price as the DVDs (it’s the same content – just another way to learn it)
• Online Webinar – I know I’ll launch it this year – but there is so much to do here still that I’m not forecasting any revenue from it at all (it will be a lift for 2011 though)
• Strategic Alliances – This is where I plan to get the biggest lift this year – and have the plans already in place – I need 10 solid companies or people with strong lists promoting my DVDs to their lists – and I’ll share a strong % with them from all revenues.  This will scale…

4) Leading Indicators
I worked hard in 2009 to set up a solid base for 2010 so I’d have strong revenue predictability:

• I’m speaking at the EO GLC in Hong Kong & New Orleans (both will drive speaking events for 2010 & 2011).
• I have 2 strong Canadian Speakers Bureaus – and in December landed 2 very strong USA Speakers Bureaus.
• I’m speaking at the American Society Of Association Executives two conferences
• And have a couple of other strong platforms that will drive speaking for 2010 & 2011
• Speaking is predictable revenues
• At Events I also sell DVDs & CDs
• At Events I meet potential coaching/mentoring clients
• I have 10 solid companies that I am mentoring – 12 is my cap – so I will easily stay at my cap all year (and I’ve budgeted on 10 average – and in 2009 I only averaged 5 as it was a new model)
• Strategic Planning went really well last year with the companies I helped.  I’m not the cheapest but I deliver huge impact while doing these sessions.  Some clients have already said they’ll bring me back.  Some already have me booked.  And my speaking events will put me in front of hundreds of other companies who could use me as well.
• I have a few commitments from major online gurus like Yanik Silver who will be marketing my DVDs to tens of thousands of companies.

5) I know what my bandwidth issues are – and opportunities (i.e. 100% Net Margin DVDs) etc.  So I’m using those to leverage revenues.  And I also know there are brilliant people out there I can pay as a percentage of revenues (thanks Jack Daly for that lesson) and I’ll leverage that too.  Intro’s have already happened.

etc…..

From this rough plan that you’re reading – I already have tight action plans in place for how I’ll hit each one.  I know the exact dollar amount I’m targeting from each category.  I know what I need to do when.  I’ve spent two years building my FaceBook & Twitter followers who are already helping me.  So as you can see.  I’m not just picking an arbitrary goal.  I’m putting tight plans in place to hit it.  And I will.  As do the companies I coach & mentor.

Hopefully you have tight plans in place to hit your goals for 2010 too.  If you don’t, then your goals are merely dreams…