The financial world is full of secrets, but they are gradually being revealed. More and more social networking sites are rising. We’ll examine three examples of sites that not only enable networking, but expose financial data. This makes us think – will this transparency reach the big financial institutions? Could the current financial crisis be avoided if the public knew what the bankers were doing?
The Web 2.0 revolution is reaching the financial sector. It’s not only forums and chat rooms, and not another Twitter application for stocks. This time it’s about revealing trades in real time. One sector is standing out: forex. Trading currencies has been around for a few decades, but it was limited to big financial institutions. The internet, among other things, brought this niche of financial investment (or speculation if you wish) to the masses.
“Show me the money”
There’s lots of innovation around forex trading platforms, so this served as good ground for networking sites as well. In 2009 and 2010, these networking sites went deeper – deep into the pockets of investors. Similar to applications such as Google Latitude that expose your geographical location, these sites expose data. But it’s not only forex. Let’s see some examples: Read more…
Well, the first place to look for money is your bank account. If there isn’t much there, and you have a great idea, you’ll have to search for funding and investors. In this post we will try looking at the subject with a different perspective.
Part of my work with start-up companies includes finding investors and funds. With time you find that somethings works for you better than others. Of course, these are just my impressions. Hope you’ll find them useful:
During my work with business partners and clients I hear all kind of opinions and thoughts on how the web, social media, and online networking influence our business. I collected a few that are all a part of the World Wide Web mythology.
Setting up a website can cost as low as $150: there isn’t a bigger mistake for a business than this one, especially for small and medium businesses. In many cases, a business website is the ‘Front Cover’ of the business and your reputation. This is where most of the new clients and costumers first encounter your product. That ‘Front Cover’ of your business should reflect the quality of your product. You don’t have to spend a fortune on it, but have a professional do the job, plan wisely what your site should consist of, make sure the design is friendly, and that all the features work properly(links, payment, video’s, ads etc.). This still isn’t a big cost, and it is of great importance. Isn’t it worth paying a little more on your website?
Social media is a waste of time. I will start by how NOT to use social media (Sent by Shooky Galili) Read more…
The web is rich with ‘How To’ guides. I also read some of these articles and posts every now and then. You can probably find endless blog posts on ‘how to network ‘ online. I chose to publish here the first official ‘how to’ post to be on 5 things you should try NOT to do regarding your network. Remember, we all learn from mistakes, why not learn from others’ mistakes?
Don’t miss opportunities – When does that big opportunity come? You could never know. In order to avoid missing opportunities, there’s only one thing to do. Take part in activities related to your business and personal life as mentioned here before. Any occasion or person you meet, could easily become a great opportunity for a big client or a new contract, or finding the perfect candidate for a job your hiring for.
Then again, some meetings just bring up too many bad memories
Don’t force your business – Your product is great, I’m sure of that. But try to understand the event you’re participating in. Timing is everything (along with a good product,creative marketing and some luck…). Sometimes you might just have one opportunity to introduce yourself to someone relevant to you - don’t blow it. If you speak about your business in the wrong place, you might be considered rude and maybe even boring. From my experience, always introduce yourself first as a person, an individual. Don’t talk about your business straight away. People like to connect with people, not companies. Start by a short introduction about yourself. People will remember you but they will seldom remember a company name. If people will remember you it doesn’t matter which business it is, They would be interested in YOU.
In this post we will continue reviewing LinkedIn as part of our networking activities. Execpt for growing your connections on LinkedIn and joining groups, there is a lot more we can do to contribute to our growing network. Now, we will review how to connect to people we don’t know but would like to meet.
How to connect to unfamiliar people: LinkedIn is a great and fast way to connect to people you would like to do business with, but haven’t met before. Here are a few ways on how to do it.
First of all, I recommend as a prior step to get connected to all your existing connections as described in my last post: LinkedIn – Increase Your Networking. After doing so, the LinkedIn system will automaticly suggest people you might know, and can be used to connect to people you might want to know. This appears on the upper right side of your screen titled “People you may know”.
You just opened up a new business. Best of luck to you!
Well, luck isn’t really the key for success here. A good idea is important, timing people will say is crucial, and of-course L-O-C-A-T-I-O-N (usually said three times). But is that all?
We think not.
As a partner in morethan one business I think one of the most important things is to let people know you have a business. It’s not that obvious: most people would think that they need to talk (or write for that matter) about their business only with customers and suppliers. This attitude could be the downside of your business, Let’s review this:
