At DABGO we hope that 2007 has been a successful and wonderful year for you and your loved ones. Now is the time of year to make your New Year resolutions, and in addition to your goals for your personal life and work life. I have created a list that will make 2008 a successful networking year.

1. Get to know your network better - You cannot even begin to network, unless you know who is in your network. Make a complete list of everyone in your network, that being family, friends, coworkers, sports, organizations and online communities etc. Make notes on everything relevant you know about each person. If you have people in your online network that you do not know that well, then write them an e-mail and get updated on their current agenda. Know understand and appreciate your value to the people in your network. We all have unique interests, talents, and experiences which can be used to help others. Revel in knowing that you can touch the lives of everyone you meet if you are prepared to share your knowledge and resources with them.

2. Make introductions – When you meet new people or existing contacts, then ask them about their current challenges and then think creatively and remember what other contacts have told you about their business and expertise. If no one in your network comes to mind, then write down the challenges and keep it on your desk for a few weeks, in case you should stumble upon a possible candidate that can help. Use the new e-mail feature on Linkedin to make the introduction. You can get instruction on how here…

3. Update your Linkedin profile - So that it matches your skill set and experience. You can get some tips & tricks on how to update your profile by Linkedin employees here…

4. Arrange a lunch, dinner, event, meet-up for coffee etc. - Create an event for the local DABGO members where you live. Take the network offline locally, and connect in person with other members. A big part of networking effectively is keeping you visible. People will see you as a connector if you hold your own event.

5. Budget time for networking - Networking will not pay off instantly. So make a networking schedule (goal) for yourself that fits your schedule. Here are some examples of what could be included:

• Reach out to “X number” of people in your network via e-mail and phone every
• Have lunch with “X number” of new contact/s every month
• Have lunch with X number old contact/s every month
• Attend “X number” of networking event/s every month
• Check the www.dabgo.com site “X number” of times every month for new articles and your local network websites for upcoming events.

6. Pace yourself - Get involved in online and offline networking groups and communities at a pace that you can maintain. It is better to get involved gradually than to make a big splash and then fade away. Let your involvement and presence is a process that grows in momentum, visibility and value over time. This gives you and others a chance to develop trust and rapport. It doesn’t matter what you decided to do to get yourself noticed. Just do it, and do it consistently. You’ll find it’s a low cost way to build your business; you’ll learn a lot from others and have fun at the same time.

7. Your Introduction - Plan and practice your introduction of yourself and your company, also known as the elevator pitch. Check this YouTube movie on what an elevator pitch is here… (it is meant for venture capital, but works for any product or service pitch to a potential customer or network contact to understand your business)
Also check the following link to a fast pitch approach to generate interest here…

8. Follow up – Very few people follow up when meeting a new person and receiving a business card or contact details. Make sure to follow up within 24 business hours it will make you stand out, and increase your credibility. Your follow-up displays your level of commitment to relationships.

9. Help DABGO grow – The strength of DABGO will have a direct or indirect impact on the opportunities and wisdom you will receive in return from the network. So please go through your contact list and see if there should be any Danes living abroad or living in Denmark with two or more years abroad. Please send them the www.dabgo.com link and invite them to the network, or send me their names and e-mail addresses and I will do it for you.

10. Recommend a person - Write a Linkedin recommendation for a colleague or business partner that you value. It is a great way to say that you appreciate the person. A public recommendation is much better that sending flowers or wine with a card. It will also last longer and strengthen your connection with that person. Get some tips & tricks on how to write a recommendation here…

Danish-American Chamber of Commerce in Southern California is pleased to present the 2008 Business Summit US speaker line-up. With thanks to leading sponsors Union Bank of California, Danfoss, Embassy of Denmark, Washington DC, Grundfos, Maersk Line, and Scandinavian Airlines we invite you to:

Join successful business leaders and educators examine the central forces and challenges to competitiveness in US and Denmark during the “Competitiveness in Action” summit at UCLA, Los Angeles, March 06 and 07.

With more than 25 carefully selected speakers from two of the world’s most competitive nations, the Summit will highlight Entrepreneurship, Market positioning, and Competitiveness exploring how to build global companies from scratch, how to modify your branding in local and global market, and how to endure as champions in a global economy.

• Do you want to understand how disruptive innovation works at a successful Fortune 100 company?
• Could you benefit from lessons in entrepreneurship from top-tier business school professors?
• Would you value the latest on global economic issues and future trends affecting the business environment?

If you can you answer yes to one or more of these questions, you should go to www.dkus.org/register.shtml and secure you seat at Early Bird pricing at this limited availability event.

This email highlights four of our U.S. speakers and panellists. To see the full list of US and Danish speakers please visit www.dkus.org and download the summit program.

“Informality, disputation and disrespect for authority are core Danish traits. But there are limits, and Danes seem to know in their bones just how far they can push them. The result is an economy that looks like something out of an enlightened management textbook. There are a few clear goals and lots of leeway to achieve them. In one fascinating study, two American sociologists found that Danish line workers have nearly as much job autonomy as supervisors do in the U.S., while supervisors in Denmark have about as much autonomy as upper managers in the U.S.”

The above was taken from the article printed in the “Time” with the title “Why Denmark Loves Globalization“. A very interesting article that I received from DABGO member Christian Boserup. Read the complere article here…

How do you market yourself, your business and services in a new market with a limited budget? One way in combination with cold calling, networking, advertising, DM, PR etc. is to get in front of a lot of relevant people at the same time and present your self and your expertice, by being the speaker at a conference, local chamber of commerce, network group etc.

On the blog Quick Sprout Mr. Patel gives a few advices on how to obtain a speaking spot with the following head lines:

1. Read the requirements
2. Pick a niche
3. Create a biography
4. Create a pitch
5. Double check everything
6. Submit you pitch

Read more here…

Member offer from KaDonk Inc., Anders Heie.

What do you do when you need to view a project file but don’t have Microsoft Project? Worse, what do you do if you have a team of 300 and you need to share your Project plans?

LiveProject is a free project viewer that solves these very problems. Without an annoying expiration date or other limitations, LiveProject is the answer. With prices ranging from $500 to $1,000 for one MS Project license, LiveProject, on the other hand, is free.

Anders Heie, CEO of KaDonk Inc., creator of LiveProject, explains:

“Offering our project viewer free is a strategy similar to that employed by Adobe for its Acrobat Reader. Our goal is to get everyone to use LiveProject as a project viewer. It’s free, powerful and easy to use. There are no restrictions. When we say free, we mean it. Any company will benefit by using our basic LiveProject product because it makes Project plans more accessible. A company that has invested in MS Project does not need any additional investment in MS Project to get wider range of use from their plans. Once our free viewer is used, people will realize that LiveProject can do so much more.”

Anders, originally from Denmark, moved to San Diego from Copenhagen in 1998 to work for Nokia’s CDMA Business unit. He founded KaDonk in 2005 with two other former Nokia software engineers. While most startups hope to secure large investments through venture funds and angels, KaDonk decided to take the bootstrapping route. They quit their full-time jobs and invested their own time and money into KaDonk. After two years of late nights and no weekends, KaDonk released LiveProject Version 2.0 in September 2007. Immediately, LiveProject 2.0 saw significant traction in the market, with downloads soaring 700% in the first month alone.

You can get your FREE Project Viewer here: www.kadonk.com.

With the many possibilities of networking online both for business and socially we have created an open global DABGO group on Facebook, which is the best functioning social network site available. The network is more focused on all the social aspects of life and does not have the business functionalities of Linkedin, so in a sense they compliment each other well.

Join the DABGO Facebook group by clicking here…

Interesting Facebook facts can be found here… or read the Wiki here…

Latest news about Facebook: October 24th 2007: The Associated Press reported Microsoft had bought a 1.6% share of the company for $240 million

“Managers today juggle more responsibilities than ever and for many of them networking becomes an afterthought. Herminia Ibarra, INSEAD Professor of Organisational Behaviour says that’s a potentially fatal career mistake. “What you know is who you know,” she says and warns that managers who neglect to build their networks risk failing or remaining stuck in middle management.”

We have earlier this year posted a link to Herminia Ibarra’s article, but on the following page you will find an audio interview which I encourage you to listen to. Clink here to read and listen.

The office square feet in the big cities of the US might be so expensive, that you might feel that meeting your clients on “neutral” ground is better than showing them your office. When choosing the meeting venue, make sure not to choose any of the 5 places mentioned in the following article posted on inc.com.

Linkedin has a built in functionality that allows you to save a profile in PDF. As an example you can see my PDF profile here

Here is what this feature can be useful for:

- Forward profile to colleagues / friends who might not be within 3 degrees of the person or have a premium membership.
- You can work with profiles offline.
- File the profile locally making it searchable for yourself and others on the network. Attach to e-mail or snail mails.

The feature is located just above the persons name

“Many people don’t understand what networking really means or how to take full advantage of the opportunities a networking event presents. If you are really serious about getting what you desire, networking is one very important way to achieve it. But, before you choose your next networking event, answer these questions to improve your results.”

- What is your product or service?
- Who is your ideal client?
- What organizations, associations or events attract your ideal client?
- What is your primary objective in attending your next networking event?
- What other reason might you have for attending this event?
- What is your niche?
- What’s the best way for you to achieve your goal at your next networking event?

Get the answers for these questions by reading the complete article here…