There are so many networking events to choose from and they will all put a demand on your time. You have to figure out which networking events are worthy of your precious time and will give you the best return.

One-off networking events are little or no use, because they don’t allow you to develop a relationship. You need a regular networking event, either weekly, fortnightly or monthly, but which one do you choose?

How To Choose The Right Networking Group

Here is the criteria which we give to our clients to help them choose the right Networking Group:

• The Quality of the People – Choose a networking group which attracts decision makers and business leaders. If it’s filled with only salespeople then you know they’re mainly out for themselves in order to meet their quota.
• The Quality of the Businesses – You want a good mixture of high quality businesses because you have to be recommending their services to your contacts. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend anyone from Utilities Warehouse because it doesn’t fit in with the quality of service we provide.
• A Time that Suits You – 6 am is bearable in the summer, but in the winter it’s tough. Plus, I have a young family and mornings are hectic. You need to choose a group which meets at a time that suits you.
• The Right Frequency  – I personally think that weekly is too much as I have a business to run and the weeks seem to fly past. Fortnightly fits much better with me.
• Flexibility – Does it matter if you miss a week or will you be made to stand in the corner for doing so?
• What Is Expected of You? – Do you have to bring a referral every week or is it a bit more relaxed than that? If it’s every week, I guarantee that the referrals will be of low quality.
• How Much does It Cost? – As well as your time, there will be a physical cost. Is it paid monthly or annually and what guarantees to they make?
• Who is the member? – Is your business the member or are you?
• What Else Do You Get? – Getting referrals is OK, but how else will my business grow. What else am I getting for my huge investment of time?
• Exclusivity – Will you get exclusivity for your profession within that group?

For more help on networking, check out Our Ultimate Networking Guide >

Why We Choose The Fruit Tree

The Fruit Tree is the only networking group which meets all of our criteria:

• They meet each fortnight, just after work for a couple of hours and the quality of the people and businesses it attracts is exceptional.
• The organiser, Brian Butcher is a great guy and genuinely interested in helping small to medium sized businesses to succeed.
• You pay monthly and if after a year you haven’t had a return on your investment, you can have half your money back.
• They provide fantastic learn sessions where they invite experts in their respective fields to educate the group in a range of interesting and exciting areas.
• They’re really friendly and while everybody’s encouraged to contribute to the group positively, you don’t get beat with a big stick for not bringing a referral each time.

There are currently Fruit Tree groups in Doncaster and Sheffield but more will be opening throughout Yorkshire later on this year. Check them out at The Fruit Tree >

The Rocket Powered Sessions

This is what we cover in our sessions at the Fruit Tree. Come and watch us.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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How To Choose The Right Networking Group & Why We Recommend The Fruit Tree

Take a look at her first post …

Last week I spent a day learning the art of the “60 Second elevator pitch”

For those networkers amongst you,  you’ll know exactly what it is. For those who have not yet had the pleasure of networking it is in short “how you’d describe your business if you were in an elevator with someone for 60 seconds”.

Sounds really simple when you put it like that however trust me when I say it is far from simple. The idea is you’ve got between 40 and 60 seconds to pitch your business. Try doing it without waffling, going off on a tangent or without having palpitations, spitting your breakfast everywhere or blushing like a plump English strawberry.

So in steps the lovely Nick Hill AKA Mr Presenter. When you see this guy in action he is truly amazing, calm, specific, professional but still down to earth and so approachable. I needed to know how to be like that so I signed up for a day of training with him.

Now I knew I was going to pushed out of my comfort zone but boy oh boy I didn’t realise I would be pushed out dragged back in and kicked back out again (all done in a very positive and constructive manor may I add). The day involved lots of standing up in front of the group trying out several tested methods of pitching. Each time we used snippets of old pitches, mixed with brilliant new material, positive words and NLP techniques to try and nail our pitch.

We also learnt how to use different voice tones when presenting. It’s amazing how when a pro like Nick shows you how tone can get different messages over how conscious you suddenly become of your “tone of voice”. Using NLP techniques we did some work on retraining the mind and looked at where our fear (if we had one and I think I’m safe in saying we all did) came from. I actually had no idea where mine came from until he asked us to visualise what “presenting” meant to us……wooooshhh the image came flooding back to me from as far back as about 9 years ago!

As the day neared the end my brain was completely frazzled and I wasn’t sure if I was actually able to put any of it into practice, would I actually be able to make sense of everything I’d learnt?

Well the next morning at 7.15am driving to 4Networking Wakefield, I ran through my pitch out loud to myself in the car and BANG.. I’d got it in an instant. Even better my 40 second pitch at the networking event was seamless, professional, specific and controlled..Hoorrahhh!

I’ve now gone on to compose three more variations of my pitch and have a few more bubbling in my head. So if you’re struggling with explaining to people what it is exactly that you do I’d definitely recommend a day with Mr Presenter >> 

Stepping out of the comfort zone…

At yesterdays Web Fuelled Business event, ex Dragon, Dough Richards recommended using SEO Moz, a tool which helps you to do both these things to ultimately allow you to boost your website rankings.

SEOmoz describe themselves as providing ‘SEO management, social media monitoring, actionable recommendations, and so much more in one easy-to-use platform’ .  The tools offered in their pro package include on page SEO reporting, rank checking, crawl diagnostics and link analysis. Although there are hundreds of similar products on the market SEO Moz is definitely the best we have come across. The results it provides are fast and it can quickly identify areas where you should be focussing your efforts.

Check it out for yourself and see if you can benefit from the SEO Moz FREE 1 month Trial >>

Boost your Website Rankings for FREE with SEO Moz

At last weeks Annual Doncaster Apprentice Awards we were delighted to be declared as winner of the Small Employer of the Year.

We nominated James and Rocket Powered back in November to show our appreciation for all the effort he puts into the business and inspiring his staff and feel that it couldn’t have been more deserved.

Congratulations to all the other winners and a massive thank you to James.

Rocket Powered are Employer of the Year

“If you get on a treadmill next to me, one of two things is going to happen. Either you’re stepping of first, or I’m going to die. It’s as simple as that.” Will Smith

This is great inspiration for 2012.

In this 10 minute video, Will Smith outlines the reasons for his success which he puts down to his ridiculous work ethic.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Let Will Smith Inspire You In 10 Minutes

It doesn’t matter how big you are now. What matters is how big you want to become in 2012.

Throughout 2012 we aim to help all of our fans to increase sales and improve profits for FREE, by sharing more great ideas than ever before.

We’re kicking it off with Inspiration January, where throughout the month we are going to inspire you with ideas, videos and books.

Join The New Year’s Revolution

This year we want companies to take up our challenge of making their business the very best it can be in 2012.

We want you to set one goal below, which, if you achieved by the end of the year, would transform your business & your fortunes.

It might be to attract 20 new A Clients or to double your turnover. Whatever it is, we would like you to state your goal below as a Comment via Facebook and let’s see what happens.

Get Friends To Join the Revolution

How Big Do You Want To Get In 2012? Join The New Year’s Revolution Now

“What do Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube, Dropbox and Skype have in common? Except for being ridiculously successful, they all enjoyed a strong viral effect that helped accelerate their growth.

How did they do that? Here’s the thing; most people assume that these companies grew by pure word of mouth. Well, that’s only half of the story. The other half is that they deliberately built viral features into their products that helped spread the word.

Let me explain……Eight Ways To Go Viral | LinkedIn.”

Eight Ways To Go Viral | LinkedIn

I never questioned it until I had a bad, award-winning sausage. Then I thought: Who gives the awards? What criteria are they judged on? How many people entered? Did you have to pay to enter? How often are the Awards given?  Every year? Every week? Does it help if you’re mates with the judges? Can you set up your own Awards??? Do Awards mean anything?

Awards Can Be Deceptive

My main problem is that awards can be deceptive.

The winners can be deceived

The winners can be deceived into thinking they’re a really fantastic business. This might be the case, but it might not be. Just don’t be deceived by the hype. When the dust settles, it all comes down to how good you really are. Awards only provide very short term benefits.

The runners-up can be deceived

The runners-up can be deceived into thinking they’re not very good. This might be the case, but it might not be. They might be just too ahead of what’s in vogue or simply not ‘click’ with the judges. The point is, don’t worry about it; it’s unlikely to be a reflection on you.

The audience can be deceived

The audience can deceived into thinking that awards are given to the best possible choice. They’re not. They can’t be because awards are only entered by businesses who have the time and resources to enter and who believe them to be important. There are many fabulous businesses achieving incredible things, quietly.

Business owners can be deceived

Business owners like you and me, can be deceived into thinking that awards are important. They’re not. There are only two ‘awards’ that a business needs to win: Happy Customers and Profitability. Everything else is irrelevant.

Well Done To The Quiet Ones

I don’t want to come across all miserable and on a downer about awards, they’re lots of fun. I just want to shout up for all the businesses who keep their heads down, work hard, make money, employ locally & do great things, quietly. Well done.

Perfect Your Recipe

I think that instead of trying to win awards, you should aim to perfect the recipe you already have; amazing customers, developing your team and making a profit.

I may buy a sausage from you once, because of it’s award, but Ill only buy it again and tell my friends if it tastes great.

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Are There Too Many Awards For Sausages?

Paul Arden, Creative Director for Saatchi & Saatchi wrote:

“Do Not Try To Win Awards. Nearly everybody likes to win awards. But beware. Awards are judged in committee by consensus of what it known. In other word, what is in fashion.

But originality can’t be fashionable because it hasn’t had the approval of the committee. Do not try to follow fashion. Be true to your subject and you will be far more likely to create something that is timeless.

That’s where the true art lies.”

Paul Arden

Buy The Book

See larger image It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be (Paperback) By (author) Paul Arden List Price: £5.95 GBP New From: £1.60 In Stock Used from: £0.62 In Stock

Do Not Try To Win Awards – Paul Arden, Saatchi & Saatchi

Jay Samways is currently in the final year of 6th form at McAuley School and is looking to gain insight into web design and marketing.

My Name Is Jay

My name is Jay Samways and I am currently in my second year at McAuley 6th Form.

I am 17 years old and I have came to work here at Rocket Powered for a short period of time in order to see how things work, what the company do, and to gain some experience.

The subjects I am studying at school (ICT, Business Studies and Film) will aid me in my understanding as I have worked with within ICT for a long period of time and it will benefit my learning. After Sixth Form, I have decided that I will not be furthering my education at university, and want to get into work in an ICT/Business sort of field.

The Future

At the end of my stay here, I hope to have gained an understanding of what they do here at Rocket Powered, and have a better idea of what I want to do in the future.

The main aim of being here, is to gain experience in work, and the work environment. I have previously had work experience in ‘Taylor Bracewell‘ A Doncaster branch of solicitors and found out that it just wasn’t for me.

With this being my final year at McAuley, I have decided to focus on my work and do not have a job and believe I will be able to achieve more and get the grades that I want by doing this, and after school I will then look for work.

Outside School

Outside of school I have various interests, including sports, meeting with friends, listening to music, etc, pretty much the norm for most teenagers. I like various genre’s of music, which includes RnB, Indie, and bands such as Coldplay and Gorillaz

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Welcome to Jay Samways Work Experience Dude from McAuley School