Do you know how good it is to wake up in the morning, get your coffee, flip on your computer, log in to your twitter account and find that YOU are the person being twittered about?  I do, it’s great!   It is exactly what happen to me last week. There were a great many “mentions” on twitter about my being listed as one of the Top 100 Women Bloggers to Watch.   I was surprised and honored.

It is the second time that I have been listed in a Top 100 List and both times I have been surprised and honored. I know that I am not the best blogger on the net and I am not the most prolific, but I do blog from a place that I have passion. As I said in a previous post, passion draws people to you like bee’s to flowers.

That being said, I also spend time on my social networking sites promoting my blog.  If you too are new at blogging use some of these tips to help drive traffic to your site.

1. Comment on other peoples blog – comments let bloggers know that you are reading their material.  It is always a morale boost when I get comments from others even if they do disagree with me.

2. Post your blog on your Facebook account and tweet your link now and then, let people know when you have posted new material.

3. Add links to other peoples blogs. If you are writing on a topic that others have written on, link back to them. It will build visibility and credibility for both of you.

4. Put your blog link on the bottom of your email, on your website, and even on your business card. It is a great way for others to get to know you.

5. Be brief, people do not take the time to read the long rambling blogs.  Say what you have to say in 300-500 words you will get more people to read your content.  And blog frequently, that has been a challenge for me this summer.

I am a novice blogger compared to many on the internet and I am sure there is so much more for me to learn, but I am proud to say that I have made to 2 top 100 list and I can’t wait to see what happens when I get really good at this.

Hazel M Walker, owns three award winning franchise’s. She is a 10 year owner of two BNI Franchises where she teaches members how to leverage their time and network to build each others businesses. She is also a Referral Institute franchise owner and teaches Business Owners how to harness the Science of Referrals to develop Referrals for Life. Hazel is a published author in New York Times best sellers Masters of Networking and Masters of Sales. As a member of the National Speakers Association she travels the world speaking to businesses and women’s organizations on the topics of networking to create a life you love.

I went out into my backyard today to look at my crop of Indiana Tomatoes.  I was quite disappointed to find that they still have not ripened.  The weather has been very cool this year and that means the tomatoes ripen more slowly.    I am losing my patience because I want vine ripe tomatoes NOW!

Ironically,  I came into my office to open an email from one of our newest clients.  He and I are meeting for some one to one coaching around his DISC profile, he is a high D and likes results, NOW.   In his email he stated “Please send me the roster of current and past participants, so that I may have 2 referral partners identified by the time we meet.” Oh if it were only that easy!

Unfortunately,  the key to developing strong strategic relationships with a referral partner is patience.  Like my tomato plants there is more  involved than just sticking the plant in the ground and telling it to produce.   Your referral network must be nurtured, tended to, and supported.

Here are four keys to developing a strong referral network and growing good tomatoes

1. Identify the right kind of person to build the relationship with.  Just as choosing  the right kind of tomato plant is important,  you need to know what kind of referral relationship you want.  You can have contact sphere relationships that will yield lots of little incidental leads that can keep you very busy, kind of like the little cherry tomato plant that will give you bowls full of tomatoes quickly, or you can have a full fledged referral partnership that will yield larger, proactive,  high value referrals.  Similar to the the Big Boy tomato plant.  They take longer to grow, but well worth the wait.

2. Understand that time and consistent nurturing is required.  You can’t  just throw the plant in the ground and expect tomatoes to spring forth.  The same holds true for your referral relationships.  The relationship has to be built on a foundation of trust, understanding, collaboration and educations.

3. There has to be give and take in the process.  The tomato plant needs care, water, and plant food in return you get juicy red ripe tomatoes for all of your efforts.  When you give to your referral network they will in return give to you, if you consistently take with out giving eventually your network will wither and little or no fruit will be provided.

4. Diversity is important, this year I planted one kind of tomato, so of course I am still waiting.  If you plant a variety of tomatoes; plant some cherry tomatoes who will yield great flavor quickly,  as well as the slow growing variety that give your the bigger more flavorful fruit later in the year.  Your referral network can be built with a variety of relationships.  Those who will give you leads to follow up on while you are waiting for those that will give you the quality of referrals that will allow you to work smarter not harder.    Those little tomatoes will keep you fed until the big ones are ready!

Over time and with the right work, you can have  consistent quality referrals coming into your pipeline from a well nurtured network.  Remember, like the tomato plant, it takes time and work before you realize the fruit of your labor.  Be patient and don’t try to rush the process!

Hazel M Walker, owns three award winning franchise’s. She is a 10 year owner of two BNI Franchises where she teaches members how to leverage their time and network to build each others businesses. She is also a Referral Institute franchise owner and teaches Business Owners how to harness the Science of Referrals to develop Referrals for Life. Hazel is a published author in New York Times best sellers Masters of Networking and Masters of Sales. As a member of the National Speakers Association she travels the world speaking to businesses and women’s organizations on the topics of networking to create a life you love.

I received a call from a woman today who saw our ad in the HARO. She wanted more information about our Holiday Co-op Shop program and our Online Support Group. I was not at my desk so she left a message.

I returned her call a few hours later…she was not there…I left a message.

She returned my call shortly after that. I have caller ID so I knew it was the same person. I answered…the connection sounded a bit muffled…

“Do you want your hot dog now or later…”

Well, it was lunch time and I was hungry, but I don’t think she was talking to me.

“Hello?” I said.

{More muffled conversation…}

“Hello?”

“Hello?”

As I hung up, I started to laugh. That really made my day. It made me wonder if my phone has mysteriously called someone while I was at the drive thru window with my kids at McDonald’s or getting a drink at Dunkin Donuts.

And as I sit here and sort through 25,222 emails in my InBox due to a big mistake I made with my email a year and a half ago, I remind myself that mom entrepreneurs are only human.

Traci Bisson has been a mom since February 2000 and an entrepreneur since August 2000. Eight weeks after she returned from maternity leave, the company where she had been employed for five years went out of business. She decided to try doing her own thing and failed miserably. After another year of working for two different companies (the first laid off the department she worked in and the other was showing signs of going under), she decided to try entrepreneurship again. Raising her two children and growing her company, Bisson Barcelona, has been both challenging and rewarding. Her story has been told in dozens of publications, including the Associated Press, National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB.com), Plan Ahead Get Ahead (cover story), Union Leader, The Portsmouth Herald, Our Times and Seacoast Ventures.

Currently we are running a contest on our blog where visitors are being asked to vote for their favorite mom entrepreneur company introduction. Pretty easy and straight forward right?

Wrong!

What started out as a harmless contest has now turned into a pissing match between one “voter”, who left what several readers defined as a “rude” and “inappropriate” comment, and visitors to my blog.

OK, so let me bring you up to speed.

The instructions were simple: 1. read the 10 company introductions; 2. pick your favorite; and 3. leave a comment with the name of the company you vote for. I cannot make it any simpler.

So one woman decides she wants to be different, and instead she leaves a three sentence long negative comment about how one competitors product is nasty. She started her comment saying “eeeewwwwwww”.

I have since removed the comment from my blog due to several requests from readers. I was also emailed by the woman who left the comment asking me to remove it because she was now receiving “hate mail”.

So today, in a post on her blog, I find out she received one email from a woman named Karen. Now, I do not know who Karen is and I am not sure what she said so I have only heard one side of the story. Karen, if you are a subscriber of this blog, I welcome you to tell your side before I make a judgement call either way.

Sure, I believe in freedom of speech. And everyone, when it comes to this blog, has the ability to speak their mind. I do not moderate comments. I welcome feedback. However, if you are going to make rude remarks based solely on opinion, then those comments are not welcome on this blog. At least have the decency to be familiar with a product, better yet have tried it, before offering any negative feedback. I prefer comments to be based on fact.

To the blogger who feels she was so wronged because of her inappropriate comment left on this blog, I offer this advice, which I learned when I was young…if you don’t have anything nice to say then don’t say anything at all.

Tell me honestly how you feel about this!

Traci Bisson has been a mom since February 2000 and an entrepreneur since August 2000. Eight weeks after she returned from maternity leave, the company where she had been employed for five years went out of business. She decided to try doing her own thing and failed miserably. After another year of working for two different companies (the first laid off the department she worked in and the other was showing signs of going under), she decided to try entrepreneurship again. Raising her two children and growing her company, Bisson Barcelona, has been both challenging and rewarding. Her story has been told in dozens of publications, including the Associated Press, National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB.com), Plan Ahead Get Ahead (cover story), Union Leader, The Portsmouth Herald, Our Times and Seacoast Ventures.

1. The secret to happiness is accepting yourself.

2. Every person has a right to choose their own destiny.

3. Music is one of the most supreme expressions of life.

4. Be grateful for this moment, it is all there is.

5. Most of our frustrations are the result of living in the future, or the past.

6. Spend time alone with yourself every day.

7. If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with.

8. The biggest lie is the lie of your imperfection.

9. Being kind is more important than being right.

10. Your heart is your best compass.

I’m spring cleaning my gmail account at the  moment, which just means that when I receive an unwanted mass mail-out from some company or other I bother unsubscribing rather than just deleting the email. Paying attention to these emails however has demonstrated just how many weird mailing lists I’m on.

This morning I received an email from Marbig. The stationary supplier…  I’m not sure if I should delete this one because they’ve got some pretty great competitions:

100 x FREE Marbig Correction Tape up for grabs!
Throw out that old liquid correction pen and discover correcting your work with tape!  No need to wait, tape goes on dry so you can make your corrections immediately.

Unsubscribing is a lot like breaking up with someone.

Some companies adopt the bandaid approach. Click ‘unsubscribe’ once and you’re redirected to a page that tells you that you’ve successfully unsubscribed. “If that’s what you want, fine. Never call me again.”

Some companies have trouble letting go. Click ‘unsubscribe’ and you’re redirected to a page asking you, “are you sure this is what you want?”

Some companies respect your wishes, but want to know what they did wrong. “We’re sorry to see you unsubscribe, tell us in 250 characters or less why you’re leaving us”.

Some send the ‘closure’ email. Once you click unsubscribe you receive an email in your inbox reminding you of the break up. “We got your request to unsubscribe, and will respect that, but there are just a few more things I want to get off my chest…”

Then there’s the strangest tactic, the “I will confuse you into staying with me”. This is when clicking ‘unsubscribe’ redirects you to the company’s website with a million things going on all over the page so you can’t find the button to confirm your request.  I think this is the break up equivalent of when someone with good debating skills challenges the break up with clever arguments. “Ah yes, I knew you would say that because you have commitment issues. I’d like to remind you of November 2004 when we were in the park and you said that thing…Yeah, well I guess that kinda proves my point. OK, so where do you want to go for dinner?”

Amazon was by far the most difficult break up. I clicked ‘unsubscribe’, was redirected to a busy page full of options, found an ‘unsubscribe’ button buried somewhere, received an email to confirm the break up and then another email reminding me that it was actually only a partial breakup. I would no longer receive general notices, but I would still receive recommendations for books based on previous purchases, special announcements and legal notices (”OK, so we’ll stop hanging out on the weekends, but I’m still going to call you every day, and hey, let’s spend Christmas together”). So I went back to step one and clicked ‘unsubscribe’ again (”no really, I don’t want to see you anymore”). Was redirected to the busy page again, and noticed this time that I had to select each mailing list I wanted to be removed from. No, I do not want to receive recommendations based on previous purchases; no, I don’t want to receive special announcements; no I don’t want to receive legal notices. (”No, you can’t call me! No, I will not come with you to your sister’s wedding!”)

One constant with every mailing list break up is that when you finally do get to the “You have successfully been removed from our mailing list” page, it’s written in tiny font, cowering in the top left hand corner of the page, like a defeated, beaten, sad shell of a mailing list.

This post was submitted to BizzyWomen by a great blog, Where is Sarah?, written by Sarah Fortuna, an Australian writing for her friends and family while she is living abroad.

Remember the 80’s smash, Vacation, from the Go-Go’s? As we are in the last half of August, most people I know are actually on vacation. The real question is with today’s email connectivity, whether they really are on vacation?

According to the Go-Go’s the point of a vacation is ” Vacation Had to get away Vacation Meant to be spent alone..” Unfortunately with email and mobile devices, we are virtually unable to be ‘left alone’.

I came across a great  blog by Rebecca Coggan where she quotes from a new AOL email usage study. She says, “ More than 50% said they check their email while on vacation. It’s even higher among mobile users. 78% of those who have a mobile device check email while on vacation.” She also writes, ” 28% said they feel obligated to check work email while on vacation, and 19% choose vacation spots with email access.”

That just sounds sick to me. I once had a job with a prominent Wall-Street bank and my boss told me that he was flying to the Himalayas for a 2 week vacation. I thought to myself, that this would mean that I’d get a bit of downtime at work and be able to spend some quality time with my family. Well much to my surprise within an hour of landing he sent me an email from his Blackberry. C’mon.

People need to understand that it’s okay not to be connected 24/7 as well as that the world will go on if you don’t answer an email.  If you are a business owner or a manager, you need to trust the employees that you hired, to be able to do the job while you are out of the office.

But maybe all is not lost. Ronda Muir writes on her lawpeopleblog that a law firm is urging employees to disconnect while on vacation. ” Linklaters is reported having decreed, in a fit of concern for work/life balance, that lawyers leave their Blackberrys at home while on holiday (vacation to us).The order is designed to insulate associates, in particular, from the relentless rat race for a few sweet weeks a year, according to management.”

Good for them Let’s hope that this becomes a trend.

Aaron Katsman is Managing Editor of the Israel Opportunity Investor newsletter. He is lead portfolio manager for the Israel Growth Portfolio and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. For more information, go to www.israelnewsletter.com or call 1-888-327-6179, or email aaron@profile-financial.com.