This great post was shared on Twitter today (quick and easy read through)!

10 Things to Do Immediately After a Networking Event:

http://bit.ly/oM49s

The Wonder Twins were fraternal twins, a brother and sister, from a 1980’s American Children’s Cartoon. They were the good guys so to speak and whenever a problem happened they got notified on their special little walkie talkie type watches. They would look at each other do a ‘fist bump’ and say “Wonder Twin Powers…Activate”. Then one would say Shape of a [blank] and they would turn into whatever that person, place or thing was and the other would say Form of a [blank] which was usually liquid in some form or variety. Then they would go off on their mission to save the world. When you think about it, this is alot like being an entrepreneur.

Apart we are strong but together we are mighty.

Two small ‘guys’ come together so that they can manifest something bigger and faster than if they tried to go at it on their own as they pursue their individual and collective mission of saving the world. Case in point, a few weeks ago I joined forces with self-made millionaire and Internet Serial Entrepreneur Yanik Silver (www.yaniksilver.com).

(more…)

Yanik Silver made me go there. That’s all I can say.  He made me break out my old school teflon coating suit and sky bike (see image at right). This was a Shonikamine custom designed for me back in 2004 by my friend James Canty of Click One Media. He took close ups of me (when I had much shorter hair) and he did some kind of 3d rendering thingamajiggy. Yes, I know. I was also hip and dangerous a long time ago…don’t act so surprised. ;-) So today, I am back in the lab dusting off and testing my old toys. And I’m also playing around with the new ones that Yanik just sent me. My challenge of the day is to modify my special teflon coating suit. Those curves are still there, but seems they just aren’t where they used to be, lol.  A teflon coating suit is critical when you go on a mission such as this one because you have all those haters and folks trying to dissuade you from going where you KNOW you need and want to go. So you need something that won’t allow those old ideas and ideals to stick. So anywhoo, let me go ahead and share why I had to back go back into the virtual abyss-

Yanik Silver, yes, “THE” with an emphasis on THE…’Serial Internet Millionaire Making, Maverick Business Insider Mastermind Creating, Underground 5 Online Seminar Quaking’ Yanik Silver, invited yours truly, Shonika Proctor aka [words cannot do my coolness any justice] to go with him on his next Top Secret Mission.  So as I prepare I need back up posse–live and uncensored. More specifically I am seeking 10 Entrepreneurs Ages 13-21 [READ: Emerging Young Renegade CEO's] because what fun is getting wild and crazy by yourself? If you’ve ever tried it….it just doesn’t quite work the same. [Sidebar: Leave the parents at home].

These 10 Young People will get to hang with me and Yanik Silver for 3 days in Washington, DC (February 20-22, 2009). Two for one! How fun is that?

But wait it gets better- it’s not even two for one. It’s two for FREE! YOU! Yes, you could be one of ten (10) lucky winners who gets free admission to Yanik Silver’s Underground 5 Online Seminar!

So here’s the quick and dirty:

1. I’m looking for 10 Young CEO’s ages 13-21 who can come to Washington, DC Feb 20-22nd to play with me, Yanik and all our fun entrepreneurial toys. Plus we’ll intro you to all the cool kids.

2.  The 10 best ever, visionary and most fun Young CEO’s will receive a free ’scholarship’ (valued at $2,995 each) to attend Yanik Silver’s Underground 5 Seminar. Here you’ll get schooled by professors who will show you what it really takes to get an MBA (Massive Bank Account)!

3. At the seminar you are also going to get a swag bag with 1,000’s of dollars worth of goodies PLUS you’ll meet self-made millionaires and lots of entrepreneurs (300+) who can open some secret doors for you and your business PLUS you’ll get a closed door coaching session and a special VIP lunch with Yanik and moi.

The contest ends on February 4th…so you totally need to register today:

Enter contest here: http://www.undergroundonlineseminar.com/challenge

If you want to peep the site to see what Underground 5 Seminar is all about and some of the fancy smancy people who will be there visit: www.undergroundonlineseminar.com

Now where did that Zap-a-Minder 5000 disappear to?

(Note: This is Part 1 of 2 of the INNERVIEW)

And here is Part 2 if you were looking for that (you’re welcome )

With his love of music, boyishly good looks and charming ways you’d think that UK teen Ed “Nashy” Nash was bringing back The British Invasion with a modern twist. But in fact, he’s soaring up the charts in a slightly different kind of way- as a successful teen entrepreneur with his latest social media venture www.ClastaZ.com a music discovery site which is used to find new music and dig up the old.

(more…)

Saw this tweet yesterday evening on Twitter: “101 Tips to Rock and Be Rocked by Twitter”.  Of course as soon as I saw the name…I just had to click through , not to mention Shama Hyder always is relevant and is putting lots o’ high quality content out there. Shama Hyder, is the blog hostess with the mostest of After the Launch.Com which teaches folks what to do once they have launched their company/website i.e. How to monetize it, get traffic and business. In Shama’s post she shared 101 fab & groovy tips about cool ways you can use Twitter whether you are the Tweet’ee or Tweet’ed It doesn’t matter if you are just starting out on Twitter or are a newbie. It is a tremendous resource.

101 Tips to Rock and Be Rocked by Twitter, Courtesy of Shame Hyder, After the Launch.

If you don’t know what Twitter is, here is my non-geek speak explantation.

Note: This post is continued from an earlier post.

Do You See What I See….

Anyway, even though I was nearly bleeding to death, tee hee he, we continued to talk for 2 hours about so many great ideas and concepts. And that was essentially my actual dilema- she provided a few tremendous marketing ideas to me that I felt were of true value. I see how those ideas can be leveraged at some point but now is not necessarily the time. I actually envisioned something quite nice at the end of the rainbow, but near the end of the conversation and our meeting she handed me a postcard advertising one of her clients upcoming launch parties. And I’ll be damned if that postcard didn’t look like some doo doo that somebody made themselves on a home computer. The image I saw at that moment kind of summed up much of my confusion—drama in the beginning means…..always drama! Anytime I have started a relationship in which I didn’t really connect with the person the first time around whether they had an overly foul mouth and no substance, uppety attitude, negotiated price or anything to that effect the relationship has never worked out.

Tips on Building Strong Value-Driven Relationships:

1. In any kind of relationship you enter whether personal or professional it’s a partnership, not a dictatorship. All parties involved should have equal value and open say and in a professional relationship it doesn’t matter whether you are the one paying the money or the one receiving the money…the customer is NOT always right. In fact, the service provider should be considered the expert on the respective subject matter for which they are being hired.

2. Choose to work with people who are more of a consultant and less of a salesperson. They talk about things and can provide constructive criticism but can also provide a solution that works for both of you. They will listen to what you want and educate you on other things that are out there and available to you. Whether it be a personal or professional relationship they are not saying how they are better or worse, only how they are different and they respect and value your time and opinion. And most importantly if they can’t help you or feel that they are not best suited they will say so or refer you to someone else who can.

3. They are more of a cheerleader than a psychoanalyst. Everybody has problems or has had problems…Financial ones, relationship ones, personality ones….you name it. Myself included It is part of who we are and how we learn, grow and develop. But dayum, out the door you don’t want to tell people how everything they do is completed * muffed * up. You want to encourage them, sandwich a little constructive criticism and encourage them more. You have to help yourself by helping them help themselves. Which leads us to the all encompassing point-

Always choose quality over quantity because the most important thing about relationships is being in one that provides value vs. one that taketh away. Because if people don’t give value to you it means that not only do they devalue you they also devalue themselves and for the most part everyone in their network. This does not serve as a strong foundation for building long-term relationships and partnerships that can successfully grow.

Here is your value test: If you have a strong network built on value and quality at any time you should be able to pick up your phone call anyone from your phone book and they will know who you are, be happy to hear from you and not question an ulterior motive.

How do you bring value to your relationships?

Indeed I am guilty as charged. I must confess that no matter how gloomy the weather is or how bad the news is I make a conscious effort to go out everyday and do something good for myself and for other people, strangers and friends alike.

There is no such thing as waiting until you are in a better time financially or personally to be able to do good for others. Your ultimate success and personal and professional growth comes from you being able to generously and openly give things of value, whether it is your time, expertise or money. You should always be open and willing to share it with those who are in need at that time.

Here is a slow paced ‘feel good’ video on how to build up your good karma account:

(more…)

Today I was reading this great guest blog post on Social Media Guru Chris Brogan’s site. The article was about how to overcome your fear when going out into public and speaking and networking at social events and conferences and such.  Before I go on, let me make the point I want to make now:

I feel that the fear and shyness people have is because of ‘acceptance’ and ‘being accepted.’ Reality is people can accept you without having to agree with everything you say and do and how you say and do it, even if you are sometimes nice and sometimes naughty. READ: Chris Rock (love that guy)!

But on a much more serious note- if you don’t have the courage to stand up and face your fears and confidently talk to people, take a lesson from this inspirational young Scottish chap, Andrew Johnston, cheers.

(more…)