Tag Archives: Business

What Did I Forget To Do Today

Kevin Willett says being busy is one thing being neglectful is another

As I take on more responsibility, I must stop and ask myself what did I forget to do today? I can no longer keep everything in my head, so I have started using programs to keep track of the things I need to do and the people I need to reach out to.

For example, each week I reach out to 100 of my LinkedIn connections to ask them if they are interested in attending networking events. Often the answer is yes, and I send them a list of events for the month. However, if they did not attend any of the events from the list that month, I was not following up with them regarding future events. Out of sight out of mind. I was simply letting that opportunity slip, which defeats the purpose of reaching out to them in the first place.

One of the common issues I see is people forget to do things because they are busy. I am sorry my friends that is a weak excuse. People don’t care how busy you are. If you told someone you would follow up on something and you didn’t, that is bad. All that gets noticed is you did not keep your promise to them, which hurts your brand

I do my best at the end of each day to ask myself what promises did I make today, and did I keep them?

Watch my YouTube Channel  for more on this and other Business Networking Tips

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business  (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin is also the CEO of the Friends of Kevin Networking Group  and the New England B2B Networking Group. Please connect with him on social media to hear about his upcoming business networking events

What Direction Are You Going In

Kevin Willett says side trips are nice, but you must stay the course in order to succeed

One of my challenges is that I loved to be challenged. I am always willing to take on new opportunities. I have learned that I must be careful in this area because I have to stay focused on my primary business if I expect it to grow.

I see a lot of my friends taking on side businesses simply because they want to make extra money. Now I totally respect that we must pay the bills but, you have to be careful about the impact your side business is having on your primary business. Look at your social media posts. Are you posting more about your side business than your primary business? I have friends that do this, and my concern is at some point people may not reach out to you because they don’t feel you will give them the level of service that they expect or need. They may feel you are concentrating on your side business more. Give some thoughts to finding a balance to make sure your side job is not costing you business on your primary job.

Watch my YouTube Channel  for more on this and other Business Networking Tips

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business  (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin is also the CEO of the Friends of Kevin Networking Group  and the New England B2B Networking Group. Please connect with him on social media to hear about his upcoming business networking events

I Am Going to Ignore You and Hope You Go Away

Kevin Willett says you are never too busy for a quick phone call or email

One of the common frustrations I hear from my friends is that they meet people at events who say they are interested in learning more about them, and then never return their calls or emails. Please stop doing this. Please stop ghosting people.

I understand that sometimes your priorities change and if they have simply tell the person who is trying to contact you. On the other end, if you ask someone for a quote, you owe them as yes or a no answer. I have been in the situation where I have asked someone for a quote and found out the cost is more than I wanted to spend on the project. Please take the time to reach out to the person and tell them your thoughts on the pricing or that you cannot hire them at this time. Now I know that this can be super awkward, but the person will respect you for being honest. When you ignore them you are killing your brand. What is the chance they will ever refer you? I say it is less than zero, meaning not only will they not refer you, they will talk badly about you. Don’t let this happen. All it takes is a phone call or quick email.

Watch my YouTube Channel  for more on this and other Business Networking Tips

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business  (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin is also the CEO of the Friends of Kevin Networking Group  and the New England B2B Networking Group. Please connect with him on social media to hear about his upcoming business networking events

Please Do Not Be Mad At Me

Kevin Willett says that in business as in life, compromise works for everyone.

I received an email this weekend from a person asking to meet me for coffee. When I told him that I could meet him in about six weeks, he emailed me back saying that if I didn’t want to meet him, I should just say so and not lie to him about my schedule being so full. I then made it worse and told him that if he wanted to talk sooner then we could schedule a video chat. Sadly, that just made it worse. His response was ‘what are you too important to meet me in person’?

Please understand that sometimes the people you want to meet with are super busy, and they are not trying to hurt your feelings by asking you if they can video chat with you instead.

Time management has become my biggest challenge. When I combine teaching with hosting twenty networking events, I often struggle with having time to do everything I need to.  Because of this I do have to think twice before I agree to drive more than 30 minutes to meet someone in person. Please understand that I am not trying to hurt your feelings, I am simply trying to grow my business. So rather than get upset about it, how about you offer to meet half way. That would be a big help and start off a business relationship on the right foot.

Watch my YouTube Channel  for more on this and other Business Networking Tips

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business  (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin is also the CEO of the Friends of Kevin Networking Group  and the New England B2B Networking Group. Please connect with him on social media to hear about his upcoming business networking events

Do It Anyway

Kevin Willett says the more you challenge yourself to do the easier it becomes

I was speaking to a woman at my networking event and I told her that I think Facebook live would be amazing for her business. She smiled and said “yes, it is part of my marketing plan going forward”. I smiled and asked “how long has it been part of your plan? Why don’t you do your first Facebook live tomorrow?” That did not go over well at all. She said she is not comfortable doing it. I asked if I could tell her a secret? The secret is most people are not comfortable doing it, but we do it anyway. You cannot let that fear stop you from doing what you need to do to grow your business. It really does get easier the more you do it. I remember the first time I did it, I was scared! Now I don’t even think about it. I do it because it helps me grow my business. Each time I post a video I am having new people connect with me who are interested in what I do and in coming to events.

I am challenging people to do one Facebook live video this week. Stop over thinking it. If you say or do something that you don’t like, simply delete the video. It is really that easy.

Some of my friends would rather blog than record a video. If you are blogging, why not add video content to your blog to see if it increases the views of your posts?

I have friends tell me that they don’t watch Facebook live. That’s ok but it’s not about you it’s about your clients and future clients and what they like.

Be sure to tag me on your first Facebook live post so that I can check it out.

Watch my YouTube Channel  for more on this and other Business Networking Tips

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business  (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin is also the CEO of the Friends of Kevin Networking Group  and the New England B2B Networking Group. Please connect with him on social media to hear about his upcoming business networking events

It’s as Simple as Wishing Someone a Happy Birthday

Kevin Willett agrees that little gestures can go a long way.

Last week I received my daily LinkedIn recap email and I noticed that it was a friend’s birthday. This guy always goes out of his way to endorse me on LinkedIn, so I wanted to take a moment to thank him and wish him a happy birthday. He sent me back the nicest email I’ve ever received, thanking me for taking the time to wish him a happy birthday. I have to be honest, I was having a super stressful day, but his email made me realize that everything was going to be okay. So take the time to wish your friends a happy birthday. It just might make your day.

Watch my YouTube Channel  for more on this and other Business Networking Tips

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business  (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin is also the CEO of the Friends of Kevin Networking Group  and the New England B2B Networking Group. Please connect with him on social media to hear about his upcoming business networking events

What Will You Be Wearing

Kevin Willett says when in doubt about dress code, just ask

I know this tip seems silly and you may be asking yourself if I have run out of tips, but, every now and then this does come up. Last week I met a guy for coffee and he showed up wearing a suit, because that was how I was dressed when we met at my networking event. He was a little upset with me because I was wearing jeans and bright orange sneakers for this coffee meeting. He said the only reason he wore his suit was because he thought I would be wearing one. The meeting got off on the wrong foot and never recovered from him feeling like I slighted him by dressing casually. Again, I know this tip may seem silly, but when in doubt message the person and say that you will be dressed casually, and they should feel free to dress the same way. Now of course you can never go wrong being overdressed. You can always remove your tie in jacket if you like, but you cannot make your jeans and a polo shirt turn into a suit and tie.

Watch my YouTube Channel  for more on this and other Business Networking Tips

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business  (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin is also the CEO of the Friends of Kevin Networking Group  and the New England B2B Networking Group. Please connect with him on social media to hear about his upcoming business networking events

Just Ask

Kevin Willett says no harm comes, even from a no answer.

I can often struggle with asking people to attend my events or join my group. I find myself thinking that they won’t want to come, so do not bother asking them. You never want to make decisions for other people. Always ask them, because the answer just might be yes.

Please do not let the fear of failure and rejection, stop you from asking. When you think about it logically, what do you have to lose? It is no big deal if they say no. Nothing has really changed right?

Watch my YouTube Channel  for more on this and other Business Networking Tips

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business  (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin is also the CEO of the Friends of Kevin Networking Group  and the New England B2B Networking Group. Please connect with him on social media to hear about his upcoming business networking events

What Is A Comfort Zone?

Kevin Willett says acknowledging your fear is the first step to overcoming it.

One of the expressions I hear all the time is ‘I cannot do that; it is outside of my comfort zone’. I really wish people would simply say that they are afraid to do something, rather than it is outside their comfort zone. When you say something is outside of your comfort zone, I find people accept it and give you a pass.

Let me give you an example. If you say you are afraid to do something your friends might try to help get you over that fear and share stories about how they were afraid and how they conquered their fear. However, I find that when you say something is outside your comfort zone, people just accept it and don’t try to change your mind, simply because we think about the things that are outside of our comfort zone.

Think about everything you have accomplished in your life. I bet some of those things really scared you, but you found the courage to try them, and you are glad that you did.

I remember the first time I taught a class at the University. I was super scared. I hoped the students and my boss would like me. I overcame those fears because I really wanted to teach, and it is the best decision that I made because teaching has been an amazing experience for me.

So next time you are tempted to say something is outside your comfort zone please acknowledge that you are saying that you are scared, and then work on a plan to overcome your fear.

Watch my YouTube Channel  for more on this and other Business Networking Tips

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business  (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin is also the CEO of the Friends of Kevin Networking Group  and the New England B2B Networking Group. Please connect with him on social media to hear about his upcoming business networking events

Do You Like Me?

Kevin Willett says that not everyone has to like you in order to grow in business and as a person.

I like to spend time each day answering business questions. One of the questions I see a lot is; when will I stop caring if people do not like me? Most of the answers given by other people were similar to ‘what people think of you is none of your business’ and ‘these opinions have nothing to do with you’.  I see those types of answers as a defense mechanism. If I don’t care what you think then it cannot hurt me if you do not like me.

My answer is a little different because, I honestly do care what you think about me. As a business owner, your opinion of me will impact my business because we do business with people that we like whenever we can.

I think it is important to acknowledge that not everyone will like you, just like you do not like everyone you meet. When I realize someone does not like me, I try to use it as a learning experience. In some cases I may have said or done something to upset them. If that is the case, I apologize and try to fix the situation. Sometimes this works and sometimes it does not. No matter how hard it may be, you have to accept their decision and move on if they decide they do not want to be your friend anymore. I had a friend in this situation and I made her realize that she valued the friendship more than the other person did.

I have also had to learn the difference between a personal friend and a business friend. For me everyone is a friend but this isn’t always the case with everyone you meet. I have had people stop interacting with me when they no longer needed to network. This is a little challenging for me to accept, but it is a part of learning and growing as a person. I have to accept that not everyone is meant to stay in my life and sometimes letting go of people allows you to connect with new people.

Watch my YouTube Channel  for more on this and other Business Networking Tips

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business  (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin is also the CEO of the Friends of Kevin Networking Group  and the New England B2B Networking Group. Please connect with him on social media to hear about his upcoming business networking events