Friends

IN THE BOX PODCAST

Episode 46: Friends/Family Influence, Downtime, Bite Your Tongue And More (Podcast)

Garth Beyer

On this episode of In The Box Podcast we talked about how family and friends influence you’re decisions when you’re first starting a business, what we do when we have downtime, when we better bite our tongues, how to avoid bad energy and the difference between acknowledging something doesn’t work and being a naysayer.

Episode 46: Friends/Family Influence, Downtime, Bite Your Tongue And More

Family/Friend Influence – How much influence / power should you give your close friends and family when you are sharing a new business idea with them?

Downtime – What do you do when you have a moment of down time?

Bite Your Tongue – When is it a good idea to bite your tongue?

Bad Mojo – One tip on how to cut ties with bad energy?

Bonus – What is the difference between acknowledging something sucks and being a hater?

 

Stay Positive & Check Out All The In The Box Episodes Here

Don’t Bother With Critics

Garth Beyer

Ignore The Critics, Shun The Naysayers

If it’s a critic you’ll never be able to please, don’t try.

If it’s a critic you might be able to please, don’t try.

If it’s a critic you can please, don’t try.

There are two people we all mean to please: those who care and ourselves. Unfortunately we get confused about critics. We think mattering equals caring, and so we let them judge us, let them decide to pick us or not, let them control our progress (or worse yet, the direction of our progress).

Critics don’t care, friends do. And it’s easier to turn a stranger into a friend than it is a critic.

 

Stay Positive & Having Critics Is Essential, Listening To Them Is Optional

Photo credit
You’re Surrounded

You’re Surrounded

Garth Beyer

Surround Yourself With People Who Care

There are people all around you. To your left. To your right. You’re surrounded.

How do you feel about it?

It pays to really think about the answer because you’ve decided who you’re surrounded by. It’s your decision to work with people with low standards. You’ve decided the friends you will hangout with are the ones who don’t inspire you to work creatively.

We’ll never stop being surrounded by people. Whether we succeed in our endeavors or screw up, there will be people all around us, prodding, interacting, asking questions.

We owe it to ourselves to surround ourselves with people who will challenge us to go to the next level, to think differently, to answer the tough questions.

You’re surrounded. Is it a good feeling?

 

Stay Positive & If Not, Change The People

Photo credit
Horizontal Prioritization, A Better Method Of Prioritizing

Horizontal Prioritization, A Better Method Of Prioritizing

Garth Beyer

Design Matters

Perhaps you’ve heard of the six F’s (family, friends, finances, fitness, faith, and fun) or something similar. Every success mentor always suggests making these lists, and I agree, not just in life, but in business as well. They allow you to divvy up your focus on all the important matters. However, the way they are often presented is vertically.

Family first

Faith second

Finances third…

The problem with prioritizing your life this way is that it gives you an excuse to not tout as much effort in the bottom categories. By prioritizing vertically, you’re forcing yourself to weigh the importance of each group, when, in fact, the reason for writing the various groups (whether you go with the six F’s or some other type of categorization) is that they are all equally important.

Success and balance aren’t easy to achieve, but trying to achieve them using vertical lists and actually prioritizing one important theme or category over another is a sure indicator of always lacking sufficiency, efficiency, and quality in the bottom-most themes or categories.

Prioritize horizontally. Then feel free to list goals and tasks below those, vertically.

While finances and fun are both equally a necessity, how you go about achieving each is not.

Go ahead. Try it.

 

Stay Positive & Design Matters When It Comes To List-making

Photo credit

The Forgotten Factor Of Networking

Garth Beyer

Networking has officially become a buzzword. Not recently, of course. It is, however, getting more criticism. Some folk are refusing to use the term, thinking of networking as an act, a play to be sure you can get what you want from someone at a later time. Some believe networking is full of fake smiles and insincere it was great meeting yous.

It’s hard to argue about it. Networking really is a game of give and take, except, in networking’s defense, if everyone agrees to it, then is it wrong. (Don’t blow that statement out of proportion.) No one goes into networking events unwilling to give and no one goes into them unwilling to take. It’s not a game of cat and mouse, it’s a game of human interaction.

I do have one bone to pick about networking events. More and more I’m seeing those who attend them not enjoying themselves. They talk to those who they think they should talk to. They will stand talking with one person who they know they don’t connect with. They’ll waste an evening searching for a possible future exchange they can make with someone when it’s not there.

I said everyone at networking events are there to give and take, but each has its limits. Not everyone there will be able to help you, yet we think they will.

It’s not hard to pause in conversation with someone who you’re truly not enjoying conversing with to say, “Excuse me, there is another person I wanted to connect with tonight. If you would like to chat again, here’s my card.” And move on.

Networking, sure, is about putting your talents out there for others and looking for others’ talents you can use, but it’s also for enjoying yourself, making friends, not partners.

Friendship is an exchange too. More valuable, I would be willing to argue, than the skills of someone you meet at the event.

 

Stay Positive & Enjoy Yourself, Always

Nothing Quite Beats It

Garth Beyer

I’ve written a lot about connecting with new people, making more connections, putting yourself in environments where you find and interact with people who have the potential to mentor you. It’s worth noting nothing quite beats an email that reconnects you with someone. Handwrite a letter to someone who it has been awhile since you’ve spoken to and wish them well. Send an email to a few idols you’ve had the chance to meet and note what they said that has stuck with you since you last met them. Find some old friends on Facebook and see what they are up to. Full disclosure, you may not find those who you previously connected with have gone further in their life than you, but you have a chance to leave a positive impact on where they are at right now in their life.

 

Stay Positive & In This New Market, Old Friends Are As Important As New

Missed Connections

Garth Beyer

Successful businesses are built around the idea of connecting. And with new media, this has never been easier to do.

Just yesterday I posted on Seabird’s Facebook page and they actually responded with an honest and sincere update. I thought to them I was just a fan. Now, I’m a friend.

Today I posted a suggestion on Boulders climbing gym’s page. Instead of saying something along the lines of “great idea, we’ll consider it.” They asked me a couple of questions in an effort to make my suggestion happen.

I see business to stranger interaction on Twitter all the time. The result? No longer strangers, no longer consumers, no longer another person on the email list. Instead: friends, connections on an emotional level, and above all, real trust.

What I see is businesses connecting with strangers and turning them into friends. Next, what I believe businesses need to do is discover a way to then connect friends with other friends.

For example, a friend of mine is working on her first startup. She is building a website that you can rent graduation gowns from other students who graduated before you. She can connect well with the target audience, being a recent graduate herself.

But what matters most to her business plan is the level of social interaction and connection she is using to leverage herself. It’s not just about saving money on a cap and gown. It’s about inspiring, creating, aspiring, and sharing your story with other past and current graduates within your field of interest and geography. Beneficial connections for any graduate!

If I may throw an idea in. I think every Facebook page for a restaurant/gym/local shop/retail store/movie theater (you get the idea) should have a missed connection portion on their page.

Business to peer connecting has gotten easy. Now, to benefit more than your competition, it’s about businesses connecting their peers to other peers.

 

Stay Positive & Once You Connect, Connect Others

Garth E. Beyer