The New Zealand Connection

July Newsletter

Hello Everyone,

There are very important messages below. I do recommend reading in full.

This month's Xing hint:

Lot's of you didn't fill in the "about me page" as recommended last month. Basic Stuff, Ignore at your own risk.

Joining groups is critical to online success. Email lists still work best. Web based groups can also be valuable. Most of the groups on Xing don't function very well, but a few of them are excellent. Go to the groups section and join a few groups. Try to get involved in a worthwhile discussion.

The Useful Common:

Financial Crisis in the USA and therefore in NZ too?

Ryze has the best discussion networks on any online social network I know about. There are serious discussions on Ryze about economic meltdown that are not being held elsewhere. I can give you the short message in a few words. "Reduce your exposure to debt - NOW". Taking that advice seriously I've reduced my own exposure by $28,000 in the last week.

On Ryze I've been talking to a few people about this for THREE years, there has been plenty of time to get your house in order. This is not the place to say more, you know how to contact me.

Engage with other people and Groups:

Making a direct connection to a Xing member merely creates a doorway you can use to speak to that person. On many occasions, that's all you need today. BUT unless you open some of those doors and make contact and engage with the person, nothing useful can happen.

This is where there is a link between contacts and group discussions. Something happening in a group may give you reason to directly engage a contact in a purposeful discussion. Groups help to make the process of finding out who has interesting ideas more efficient. At the top of this letter, I recommended joining some groups.

Invitations

If you don't invite your own friends to join Xing, and to be part of the NZ connection, then who do you expect will invite them?

I guess most of you are not really convinced the your use of online networks is time effective or cost effective for you. There is nothing I can say to convince you. The imagination to see that having an effective network is critical to your life is in your control, not mine.

The Value of Reading

Most people don't do nearly enough READING inside online groups. Reading gives you knowledge. My website, or my blogs are one place to start. Here's the link to Open Future Limited.

Or the Answers section of Linkedin, or the Network Forums on Ryze, or the many groups on Xing. Nothing is a substitute for reading, where you learn what the ISSUES are, and WHO the people are. Nobody else can do that for you.

Regards
John