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Posts Tagged ‘relationships’

8 Keys To Success For Live Events

March 16th, 2010 by Michael Feil

Live events are great! It gets people offline for a bit so you can meet each other face to face and interact on a more personal level. Many people don’t realize that live events don’t just give them valuable information to help the person grow, but it actually helps their business grow. This is because the relationships and connections that you make at a live event can become very lucrative partnerships and joint ventures.

In this industry that we’re in many people go to live events but don’t really know how to get the most out of their experience there. I would like to give you some tips on what to do before, during, and after a live event.

1. Make a list of questions you want answered while you’re there. Before you go to the event you need to make a list of questions you want answered while you’re at the event. If you have questions about something specific you are working on or having trouble with then write down the questions you need answered and seek out those experts while you’re there.

2. Write down who you want to meet while you’re there and what you want to ask them. This is different from the above because the above questions are questions about your specific business and struggles you may be having with your business. If you know someone you admire or respect in the industry is going to be there write their name and some specific questions about their success like, “What’s the most 3 important things you did that got you to where you are today?” Or, “If you had to do it all over again what would you do different?”

3. Get on every speaker’s blog and see what they’re about before you go to the event. You may be going to an event with several speakers but you may only know one or two of them. Before you go to the event you will want to do some research on the speakers to see what they are doing and get a feel for what their niche is in the industry. A best place to do that is their blog. You can go there and see their “About Me” page and get some background information from them and then browse the rest of their blog to see what kind of content they are putting out. After you get to know them better from their blog they may be one of the people you want to meet and ask some questions to.

4. Find a live event buddy and hold each other accountable. This can be someone that comes with you to the event or it could be someone that you meet there. Many times at live events people are furiously taking notes and when they get home where do those notes go? On the bookshelf or in the drawer never to be seen again! Well, here’s a solution for that. Ask someone to be your event buddy so when the event is over you both can debrief before you part ways and tell each other what you learned and what you’re going to implement and what your actions steps are for when you get home. Then when you get home agree to meet on Skype of the phone once a week for a short meeting to see if you guys are completing your action items that you said you were going to do. This sometimes morphs into a partnership or a joint venture. So make sure you find a good buddy!

5. Craft your brand. When you go to a live event you need to brand yourself just like you want to brand yourself online. When you meet someone you want to tell them three things; 1. Who you are, 2. What you do, 3. Why you are here. For example, if I was going to a live event that will teach me how to blog I will say something like, “My name is Michael Feil and I am and I teach people how to market online through social media and tribe building principles. The reason why I am here is to gain more knowledge on how to get more traffic to my blog and meet other people in the industry.” So then people that might not be familiar with the tribe concept may start asking me, “What is a tribe?” Then we can start having a meaningful conversation instead of, “Where are you from?” Or, “Nice weather we’re having today!”

6. Get business cards made that has your information on the front and your brand on the back. So on the front of the card you will have your name address, email, phone, etc. Then on the back you can put your brand like we mentioned above. Or you can put the URL to your top three affiliate links. Or you can say something like, “Teaching people tribe building principles that will give them massive exposure. Call me for a FREE 30 minute consultation.” Remember the goal is not how many cards you give out but how many you get so YOU can follow up with them. If they don’t have a card write down their info so you can follow up with them.

7. Cross off each question as they get answered. Going back to point one, as you are at the live event and listening to the speaker many times he or she will answer your questions that you wrote down through their presentation. Whatever is left over you can then seek out the proper people to answer them.

8. Get the event early and stay late. Most likely you traveled far and paid a lot of money to come to the event so make the most out of it. Get to the event early and stay late if you can. By doing this you will have time to interact with some of the attendees there as well as a chance to speak with the speakers. Your time there is valuable there so make the most of it!

These are just eight of many different ways you can make the most out of a live event. The main goal there is learning but the value really comes by networking.

If you are interested in meeting some of the great industry leaders and peers that you see online every day, learning all the current principles on online monetization, networking, and coming to a really fun fundraiser with many surprises you will need to check out the event we are hosting. You can find all the details at http://TribeSyndicationRevolution.com

Tags: Goal setting, Influence, relationships, Social Media Marketing
Posted in Leadership, Social Media Marketing, Tribe | 21 Comments »

Using RSS Shortcode To Support Your Tribe

July 28th, 2009 by Michael Feil

Since we’ve been talking about how important Tribes are I feel it’s important to show you another way to support your Tribe Members.

This method will give your Tribe Members more exposure and it’s a great way to promote their blogs. If you have a blog from WordPress.org you can use this powerful plug in call RSS Shortcode. Below is a video on how I use it and how to set it up.

To see it in action just go to my “Colleagues” tab at http://michaelfeil.com/colleagues/.

If this has helped you please leave a comment and Tweet it! I appreciate it!

Tags: Blog Tactics, Internet Marketing, relationships, RSS Shortcode, Social Media Marketing, Tribes
Posted in Social Media Marketing | 2 Comments »

Surprise Wedding: Yes, You Read That Right!

July 18th, 2009 by Michael Feil

Because I know most of you only through the internet I want you to fully know me; not just professionally but personally too. So here’s a little peak into my life. Although this happened a little over a year ago I want to share with you one of the best days of my life.

Well, Christina and I celebrated 10 years of marriage on 2/28/08. I am very happy with her, our children, and our plans for the future. One thing that Christina wished was that we had the wedding she always wanted when we first got married. You know, the kind of wedding girls always dream about. Unfortunately she didnt’ get that wedding because of some family situations and money, so she got a very small, immediate family only, wedding.

Well, I gave her a Surprise Wedding on our 10 Year Wedding Anniversary. This video is of me addressing the wedding attendees on what exactly I did and how I did it….

Here is what Christina saw when the limo pulled up to the same church we got married at 10 years ago. The two little girls are our daughters. It was awesome to have them in the wedding!

The Wedding Party

Here’s Christina’s reaction when the limo pulled up to the church. By the way, Christina is deaf so when I first talk to her I say, “I konw you didn’t get the wedding you wanted 10 years ago when first got marred so I wanted to give you the wedding you always wanted. Will you marry me again?”

So we had a formal wedding ceremony with 150 of our closest friends and family and then had a great reception at a very nice ball room a few miles away from the church. It was a great day and the best gift I could have given her for our anniversary. She is a great woman and deserved it!

The Happy Couple

If you like this please Retweet it and leave a comment while you’re here! I’d love to hear from you!

Tags: Character, communication, dreams, Marriage, relationships
Posted in Leadership | 9 Comments »

A Sad Situation

July 8th, 2009 by Michael Feil

Christina (my wife) and I took custody of a 17 year old girl that is a junior in high school back in October 2008 (she is now 18). She was in a very bad situation and needed a family to love and care for her. So we went through the court system and became her legal guardians. She joined our family with our two other daughters Morgan (6), and Callie (4).

Christina and I told her that if she was gonna live here she would live by our rules (which are not very strict) and she would become part of our family. We told her we would treat her like our own daughter. We gave her love, support, told her that we were proud of her, and just tried to build her up by giving her positive influence.

About five months into her staying at our house we noticed a change in her. Her actions became negative, our discussions about her behavior became more often, and even though we showered her with the care and affection every daughter needs her behavior became worse.

About a month ago she was scheduled to fly and see her mom for a month. The night before she left she did something so bad that it put my family (especially my two little girls) in a dangerous situation. After I took care of this dangerous situation my wife and I talked with her for the next four hours about her life, her actions, her decisions, and what’s been going on recently. We found out about a lot of bad stuff that was going down.

The next day when before Christina dropped her off at the airport I told her that she has 1 month to think about her actions and how she wants to live, and Christina and I has 1 month to decide if we are going to accept her back into our family, let alone into our house again.

During this past month Christina and I found out even more stuff that was going on and that was continuing to go on while she was away. So that shows us that she still doesn’t care about her actions nor the harmful life that she is living. So I informed her today that she will not living with us when she arrives back to Delaware, and that she can live with her dad now that he is back in town (which isn’t a great situation but she made the decision by her actions).

I think there are two main themes here (I may think of more as I am typing).
The first one is SELF-RESPCT. One thing that we have found out and that she has admitted is that she doesn’t have any self-respect. If you don’t respect yourself or have any self-worth then you can’t have any meaningful goals, dreams, or aspirations. Without self-respect you will never be successful. Without self-respect you life will go into a downward spiral.

Self-respect is vital to living a healthy lifestyle, making the right decisions, and learning to love yourself. If you can’t love or accept who you are then of course you will walk around with a non-caring attitude and you will put yourself in every bad situation that you can possibly think of.

People can not make you respect yourself. That has to come deep from within you. Christina and I saw the potential in this young girl. She finished this year on the honor roll, getting sports awards, and was really in a good situation, but because she didn’t see what Christina and I saw (even though we gave her the positive comments and love and care that she needed) she has made several wrong decisions.

Her comment to me was that she was a mess up and will always be that way. I tried several times to explain to her that it doesn’t have to be that way. She can get out of the situation she is in and can be happy and have a good life. I gave her the example of Christina coming from a family where everyone fights and no one get along. Chrisitna made the decision one day that she is not going to live that way and took herself out of that situation because she wanted to be happy and have a good life…and she did.

I tried to explain to her (just like my tag line says) that Chrisitna and I have been feeding her POSITIVE INFORMATION these past several months, because she never ACTED on the information we gave her she never got POSTIVE RESULTS. If you act on information from someone that has more experience than you, most of the time you are going to get positive results. How’s the saying go…You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.

Your life is what YOU make of it, and to be honest, life is too short to live a life of hating yourself and not caring about the world around you. Change is hard, it’s not easy, and it takes work, but if your are willing to put in the time and stick to your goals you will see small improvements there and there and eventually you will be out of the situation you were once in.

The second thing is that your actions affects others. This girl we were taking care of didn’t think of that. She was putting herself in a dangerous situation, which put my family in a dangerous situation, which put me in a dangerous situation because I had to quickly get the situation under control. So because of her negative actions she will not be living in our house anymore. So her actions have affected herself, her mom and dad because they now have to deal with her, me and Christina because of her betrayal, and my two little girls because now I have to find a way to explain to them why their “big sister” is not living with us anymore.

What ever you do, positive or negative, affects people. It doesn’t just affect yourself. Things that you do, big things or little things, have an affect on the environment around you. People notice when you do things big or small, and when they see what you do they will form an opinion, they will think about what you did, and they may respond positively or negatively to how you acted.

For example, an elderly person is having trouble carrying in their groceries from their car to their house. He sees you watching him, he already has a negative opinion formed of the “younger generation” and you do nothing to help him. This proves to him that their opinion was right. Now if you go and show one act of kindness…one positive act their opinion may be changed because you showed you care. You may not of thought what you did was a big deal, but it was an opinion changing action to that elderly person.

Your actions don’t just affect you!

So take away what you want from this post. It’s just sad to see this happen. I am disappointed in her actions, but I can say with a clear conscience that Christina and I did everything we could to help her out. She just didn’t want the help. Her negative actions are catching up to her and she is going to get hit hard soon. I just feel bad for her when that day comes. But like I said, she made her choice.

One thing’s for sure, this will not hinder Christina and I from helping people. That is what we’re about! We’re trying to make a positive impact on this world and we will do it one action at a time…and if you don’t want it we’ll move on to the next person. But I hope you want it because no one deserves to live in many of the circumstances that are out there today.

I wish you all the best! Please comment and retweet this if you can.

Tags: actions, relationships, self-respect, serving
Posted in Leadership | 7 Comments »

What is True Leadership?

June 28th, 2009 by Michael Feil

Today I want to touch on what is leadership.

Let’s start off with a good definition of leadership from John Maxwell who says, “Leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less. People have so many misconceptions about leadership. When they hear that someone has an impressive title or an assigned leadership position, they assume that he is a leader. Sometimes that’s true. But titles don’t have much value when it comes to leading. True leadership cannot be awarded, appointed, or assigned. It comes only from influence, and that can’t be mandated. It must be earned.”

So basically leadership is the influence of others in a productive, vision-driven direction and is done through the example, conviction, and character of the leader.

Your boss (if you have one) may think he is a leader but he is really a manager. Why? Because he has no influence. Yeah, he may tell people what to do and people may be scared of him, but that is not leading. That is poor management!

True leaders get people to do what they need to do by influencing them to do it by setting an example themselves, showing character, integrity, and respect for the people they influence.

Here is an example, suppose you are in a sales position and your numbers aren’t up to par this month and your boss sits you down in his office and says, “You need to bring up your numbers because if you don’t you will know what’s going to happen! We can’t afford to have underperformers here at this company! Now go get me some coffee!”

That is an example of a lousy manager with very poor leadership skills. If your boss was a true leader he would say something like, ‘I see that your numbers have dipped this month. What’s going on out in the sales field? Have you tried doing this ….? You’re one of our best sales reps and I know and trust you can bring your numbers up by the end of the month. What can I do to help you out? Do you think it would be beneficial for me to go on some calls with you? Let’s put together a plan for the rest of this month and see how we can get your numbers up to where they need to be.”

Big difference! You see in the first example the boss is flexing his POWER, showing his CONTROL, and is asking to be SERVED.

While the second example the boss is GIVING POWER (EMPOWERING) by saying you can do this. He is HELPING OTHERS FIX PROBLEMS AND MOVE FORWARD by strategizing with you to see how you can bring up your numbers. Finally, he is SERVING you by asking if he can help you in any way and seeing if he can go out with you into the field.

What it comes basically comes down to is communication and relationships. Leaders know how to communicate and they know how to establish strong relationships that will be a win / win situation. Just remember leaders empower, help others fix problems and move forward, and serve others. I just want to encourage you to think of how you can use these 3 important principles in your own life whether it’s at work or at home.

The leadership training system that I am teach stresses on the two things that I mentioned above….communication and relationships.

Tags: Character, communication, Influence, Integrity, Leadership, relationships, serving, vision
Posted in Leadership | 10 Comments »

The Three Foundational Qualities Of A Leader

June 27th, 2009 by Michael Feil

Today I wantto talk about the Three Foundational Qualities of a Leader taken from the #1 Best Selling book on leadership, Launching A Leadership Revolution by Chris Brady and Orrin Woodward.
Here they are:

- Hungry

- Hone-able

- Honest

All leaders have to have these three qualities. They are very important for someone to reach the leadership status. Why? Well, let’s review them real quick…

Foundation Quality Number One – Hungry

Let’s look a hunger in general. Have you ever watched the news and they were doing a story on people that live in 3rd world countries who were starving and you see this hunger relief truck backing up to a crowd of these starving people? What happens when one of the relief workers opens up the back of the truck and starts throwing sacks of rice out to the people? The crowd goes crazy! They start pushing, people are getting knocked down, and sometimes fights break out? Why? Because these people are hungry and will do anything it takes to get food in them and totheir families.

As leaders we need to have that same hunger burning inside of us. We need to think of books, leadership audio CDs, and associating with the right people as the food that will satisfy our hunger. We need to believe in ourselves that once we get the right information in our heads we will have the power to make our lives and our family’s lives better. That, my friends, is the kind of hunger I am talking about!
You need to find out what is your motivation. There are three levels of motivation that I want to share:

Material Success

This is financial independence and material things. When we position ourselves as a leader we have the opportunityto make a lot of money. Many people get into network marketing, internet marketing, start their own business, investing, etc. because they want material success. They want to pay off their debt, they want to buy a new car, they want to buy a vacation home, they want to travel more, they want a Rolex, etc. So this is the first level of motivation. It’s wanting better things for yourself andyour family.

Recognition and Respect

Most people crave the recognition that others provide; apart of human nature is a deep need to be noticed and appreciated by others. It is not secret that everyone needs encouragement. For that reason, recognition by others is another healthy source of motivation.

Some people love to get rewards from their job, while others like to hear that they are doing a great job from their mentors. These and other forms of recognition canand should be used as motivations for performance.

Many people are motivated to obtain the respect of amentor, parent, teacher, boss, or spouse. Yearning for respect can be a strong motivator. So find those whom you admire, who are in a position in life you desire to be in, who are living their lives in a manner you wish to emulate, and strive to obtain their respect for what you are doing and accomplishing.

Purpose, Destiny, Legacy

The motivation factors that we have talked about so far are all great, but purpose takes us our of the realm of living only for ourselves and our own selfish desires, and onto a higher plane. Purpose involves sacrifice for the greater good, contribution for making a bigger difference, and energies directed at a long term view.

Destiny takes purpose further, comprehending the spiritual component. Destiny says that we were created, created for a purpose, and the unique abilities and opportunities that we find in our lives are God-given. Who you are, where you live, the talents you were born with, the opportunities that have and will come your way, are all part of a bigger picture, a picture into which you were painted to fulfill apart that only you can fulfill.

Legacy results from understanding our purpose in the bigger picture of our destiny and living it to its fullest. What we have and what we are given are not as important as what we contribute and what we leave behind. As one famous quote says, “My life is my message.”

Foundation Quality Number Two – Hone-able

Next we need to be hone-able which is another word for teachable. Leaders approach situation and challenges with a learner’s mind-set, that is, as a student and not as acritic. You have to come with an open mind and ready to learn. Everyone is not on the same plane so there are going to be people that have some leadership experience and know some principles, while others are brand new and want to get out of where they currently are.

So knowing that you haven’t “arrived” (HINT: No one ever arrives! We all can strive to do better that what weare currently doing now) and knowing that you want to improve will help you become a leader much faster than someone that constantly questions everything and is tough to work with. Leaders must approach learning with a positive, curious inquisitiveness, and never allow their responsibilities or setbacks to sour their dispositions.

Foundation Quality Number Three – Honorable

Author Jeff O’Leary, in The Centurion Principles, writes,”Honor, encompasses the virtues of integrity and honesty, self-denial, loyalty, and a servant’s humility to those in authority above as well as a just and merciful heart to those below.” In fact, honor is the force that holds a leader’s hunger in check. Without honor, hunger runs rampant and ultimately serves only selfish interests. Honor is the component that makes hunger productive for the leader’s fellow man.

This concept of honor is so important to a leader because people will follow a leader only as far as they feel they can trust him. People will not follow a leader they can’t trust.

He’s an example, if you work for a boss and your boss is coming into work late, going off for very long lunches, and getting caught in lies I am sure that you and your co-workers are not going to respect, follow, or trust him or her. But if your boss is honoring you with his or her actions, you will honor him or her by giving the respect he deserves.

Honor is, I believe, the most important of all three. The reason I believe this is because in order for the hunger and teaching to begin you need to get yourself right first. It has been said, “The internal victories precede the external victories.” Having honor means you are a standup person, you’re dependable, and people can trust you.

I would like to challenge you to do is to really think if you have the three foundational qualities that a leader needs to have in order to become an effective leader and what your motivating factor(s) are. And if you don’t have these three qualities sit down and write out a plan on what steps you need to take in order for you to get there becuase once start thinking with this kind of mindset you will see positive changes in your personal life and professional life.

Enjoy your day!

Tags: Character, communication, Foundational qualities of a leader, Integrity, Internet Marketing, Leadership, relationships, serving, vision
Posted in Leadership | No Comments »

Today I want to give you an acrostic of the word LEAD

June 27th, 2009 by Michael Feil

In order for you to be successful with your home based business you will need to be a leader. So today let’s break the word LEAD down into an acrostic that help us see more of what really is a leader.

L – Leaders are LEARNERS. In order for you to get better at what you do whether its sports or making money you need to learn how to do it right. With the leadership development system that I teach, people are constantly learning by reading books from some of the great authors that promote leadership such as Robert Kiyosaki, Steven Covey, John Maxwell, Chris Brady, Orrin Woodward, and the list goes on. They are also learning from the audio CDs that they get each week talking about leadership skills, financial management, time management, relationship skills, etc. Videos that come out monthly on the above topics, and monthly leadership seminars that are accessible all over the USA and Canada. When you understand that in order for you to be successful you need to spend some quality time learning first, you are half way there.

E – Leaders are EMOTIONALLY in control. We as leaders need to let our logic lead and not our emotions. If you are ever let your emotions lead you, I am sure you can tell me some good stories about the roads you really didn’t want to go down after looking back and seeing where you’ve been. If we want the best out of life we need to first logically decide where we are headed and how we are going to get there. Leaders don’t do things on a whim. They check their emotions and logically plan. Make sure you’re in control of your emotions.

A – Leaders must APPRECIATE where they are. If you appreciate where you are in your life’s journey you will stand out more and people will be more attracted to you. Who wants to have a leader that is not appreciative? Who wants to have a leader who is miserable and is always in a bad mood? This kind of “leader” obviously does not appreciate where they are. As a leader, I very much appreciate where I am because I am surrounded by good people who want to do better for themselves, make more money, get out of debt, spend more time with their family, and be their own boss. I inspire people but seeing people change for the better inspires me.

D – Leaders are OK with DELAYING. Have you ever heard of delay gratification? Well, leaders are the best at practicing delayed gratification. Think about the Network Marketer. It takes time to build his / her business. In the beginning they put a lot of work into their business and work very hard, but once they get things going they are starting to make a very good income. That income didn’t start right away. It took time for it to build up. They were delaying their income because they knew if they put in the time in the beginning the gratification (lucrative income) would come later.

The future is yours….claim it today!!