Karen's Biz Talk posts

Invitations to network -- when to accept, when to decline

I've gotten a request from a Biznik member asking me to join his/her network. I don't know this person, have not had any email exchange with this person, am not in the same city as this person, don't see any overlap or synergies between our businesses, etc.. So I declined the invitation.

It's been my impression that within-Biznik networks are for people who are in some way endorsing or at least expressing a familiarity with each others' work. So, if you saw someone in my network, you could contact me for an introduction or information.

Frankly, I'd like the ability to "flag" or othewise report Biznik members who appear to be trying to create big, low-value networks by asking everybody and their cat to network with them.

Am I off-track with this? How do others feel?

Playing the "I quit" game

As a part of my work for a particular client, I follow the trade press for a certain segment of the marketing field. This week the excellent newsletter from Marketing Profs including three tips Patrick Schaber, who writes the blog The Lonely Marketer <http: />. I just had to pass one along, because I think it's such an excellent small business exercise:

"Play the "I Just Gave My Two Week's Notice" game. Every six months, have the entire team pretend they've given notice. What do colleagues need to know before they leave? Block off a few hours to identify mission-critical tasks and processes, and then meet as a group to bring the team up to speed on various projects."

Has anyone tried this exercise?

All three tips at: http://www.marketingprofs.com/small-business/index.asp?nlid=68&amp;cd=dmo121

Discount on Mac and OS X "how-to" ebooks

My colleagues at TidBITS and Take Control Ebooks have designated February as the “Month of Apple Sales."

They're bundling some of their best-selling Mac titles and offering the bundles at tremendous discount.

The current bundle -- priced at just $22 -- gets you a 60% discount on these seven ebooks:

• Take Control of Upgrading to Tiger
• Take Control of Customizing Tiger
• Take Control of Users & Accounts in Tiger
• Take Control of Syncing in Tiger
• Take Control of Passwords in Mac OS X
• Take Control of Maintaining Your Mac (this one I highly recommend)
• Take Control of Your Airport Network

Use this code to get your special discounted price: CPN70205MOAS1.

Take Control will offer other Mac-related bundles later in the month, so if you don’t see a "package deal" you want today, just check back later.

Find out more about the Month of Apple Sales at: http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/offers/moas1.html

50% off all Take Control ebooks (good through Nov. 13)

The ebook publishing company I've been editing for, Take Control, is having a 50% off sale for special customers this week only. I asked if I could offer the discount to the members of Biznik, and they've agreed!

Take Control publishes primarily on digital lifestyle topics (setting up wi-fi security, purchasing a digital camera, running Windows on a new Mac, and more). They've recently begun offering more general "how to" titles, including booking a cheap airline ticket and organizing the perfect Thanksgiving dinner.

All Take Control ebooks are downloadable in easy-to-read PDF format.

Follow the link below to shop the full Take Control catalog. The 50% discount on your order will be shown on the shopping cart page after you click the "Buy Selected Ebooks" button.

http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/catalog.html?14@@!pt=BIZNIK&amp;cp=CPN61101TC3

Cheers,

Karen

Biznik page = SEO

My current business website is, for reasons too complex to go into here, difficult to keyword and, as a result, difficult for people to find via a straightforward Google search.

But now that I have a Biznik page, anyone who searches on my name and profession finds my Biznik page right at the top of most search results (even though there are quite a few professional writers out there who have the same name).

When I update my current business website, or create a new one, the optimzed Biznik page will take people directly to it. Fantastic! Thank you, Biznik!