Ken Pickard

Ken Pickard is "The Network Dad" and a freedom fighter. This father of 5 has helped many people find their niche and passion using social media and their blog. Tell him your Goals and Dreams and he will help you own them until they are your reality. Ken is also abolishing the "Lone Ranger Marketing Mindset" by building tribes and mastermind groups. There is no reason why you need to learn it all by yourself. Join Ken and his Tribe mates to see how they can help you.

Website: http://www.TheNetworkDad.com

Facebook Profile: http://facebook.com/kenpickard

Facebook Page: http://facebook.com/TribeMastery

Twitter: http://Twitter.com/kenpickard

YouTube: http://youtube.com/user/thenetworkdad

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kenwpickard

Skype: ken_pickard

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Manball with Mentors

Published July 19, 2010 by Ken Pickard

Manball… what is it all about? I’ll get to that right quick, but first a little story time.

A while back my business partners and I all met in San Diego. This was an exciting time as this was the first time we’ve met each other. I know… not to many people start a company with people they’ve only met online, but we did!

If you’ve been following any of the Empowered Tribe you know we don’t do things normally. And by normally I mean marketing online. It seems people start out with a few affiliate products, try to market their MLM and get confused along the way. Continue Reading

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Posted in Lifestyle | Tags Aaron fortner, Empowered Tribe, Jonathan Budd, Manball, Mentor | 14 Comments

Mastermind Group Takes on “Think and Grow Rich”

Published June 15, 2010 by Ken Pickard

Think-and-Grow-Rich Welcome to my transformation journey through “Think and Grow Rich.” You might be wondering… why call it a transformational journey? This is not going to be a simple book review. I’m not going to just take one concept and share my thoughts and leave it at that. That’s too easy. What I am going to do is tear this book apart!

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Posted in Personal Development | 30 Comments

4 Main Personality Types

Published March 2, 2010 by Ken Pickard

4 people I’m sure you can see where this is going by now. There’s no fooling you!

On the Fourth day of the New Year my Tribe gave to me…
4 different personality types…
3 Social Media Sites
2 Tribe Tuesdays
1 Really Cool Tribe Page

If you have been around the block a few times I’m sure you’ve heard about the 4 main personality types. A slew of top trainers from like; Dani Joshnson, Jim Rohn, Tom “Big Al” Schrider, Jerry “Rhino” Clark, Jeff Combs and many others have taught on this topic. There’s also been a mirage of studies ranging from Myers Brigs to color charts. The main personality types have been described as precious stones, animals and colors, with the last probably to easiest to remember.

However I just don’t hear this topic being covered very much with regards to online marketing. You do hear a ton of great information when it comes to writing copy. The leading experts say you want to write with the audience in mind. You want to appeal to their thinking and understanding. You want to write as if you are writing to a friend. This is all great stuff to an audience at large. But have you ever wondered what the triggers are for each personality? Having the right words can trigger the right response.

Think about this… what is the biggest requirement for a relationship to work? It’s communication. And what is the biggest cause of conflicts and fights? It’s miss communication. How many times have you heard or been witnessed to some kind of dialogue that went like this…
“That’s not what I meant.”
“But that’s what I heard.”
Sometimes different personality types speak different languages. You need to learn how to identify each type and their specific language. This is a powerful skill in both offline and online relationships.
Have you ever wondered why someone has a messy room or car and they don’t seem to care but it really bugs the stuffing out of you? Or you’ve probably had contact with the person who is always direct and to the point and they make you uncomfortable. Maybe you thought negative about someone because of his or her loud and crazy shirt. Those are all indicators of their personality type.

We all have various levels of all 4 main personality types within us. Sometimes it’s real easy to say, “He’s a ‘Type A’ or ‘Red’ through and through.” But other times it’s a little trickier. This missing link of information is vital when making connections, and once you understand these differences you can really connect with people on a whole new level.

In the videos below I actually portray each personality type. I changed my shirt and speech to look and act like that type of person. If you can lean how to relate to each type, you can eventually sponsor that kind personality into your business. Imagine how that would look of you have several people who were the: driver, support, energetic and detailed oriented. The diversity within your organization would be very attractive.

Below each video are several words and phrases that you will hear or see from the various personalities. You will notice that some words or phrases overlap with each type.

Red / Ruby / Lion / Type A

Money motivated
Have fun
Family
Going places
Take charge
Challenge
Fast music
Easy
Completion
Be the best
Positive
Action
Leaders
Leverage
Simple plan
Good food
Great time
Sociable
Gifts – Action taker, motivator
Dislikes – Slow people, stupidity, negative, things that don’t work well

Blue / Saphire / Monkey / Type B

Loves to have Fun
Does not plan well in advance
Trendy hair
Spirit lifting
Life of the party
Not organized
Verbal processor
Travel
Chaos is ok
Often late
Talk all the time
Encouragement
Risk takers
Visionary
Promotions
Large center of influence
Spontaneous
Big loud clothe
High energy
Like to talk to people
Group activities
Popularity
Loves public recognition
Gifts – Inspirational, energy
Dislikes – Details, drama, being controlled

Green / Emerald / Owl / Type C

Instructions
The facts and figures
Details
Organization
Consistent
Reserved
Does not like to waste
Controlled
Problem solver
Smart
Well educated
Predictable
Slow to change
Factual
Documentation
Steps and flow charts
Perfectionist
Notice everything
Ask lost of questions
More documentation
Debt free
Shop around
Gifts – Discernment
Dislikes – When they think something is wrong, pushy people

Yellow / Pearl / Kuala / Type D

Loyal
Supportive
Soft recognition
Non-demanding
Dislikes argument
Stay the same / Slow to change
Non confrontational
Tend to give in
Neutral clothing
Very thoughtful
All about the touch
Patient
Great listener
Kind and Gentle
Very trusting
Needs to help to feel valuable
Gifts – Mercy service
Dislikes – slimy slick salesy people, fast talkers

Can you identify with each personality type? Do you lean towards one or the other? Knowing yourself more will also allow you to understand why you do things the way you do. You are just wired that way. When you find your dominant type, embrace it. Celebrate you!

You may also be able to look back on your life and identify specific events that may have helped shape your personality. Maybe you lean to one type because you’re pulling away from someone, or covering up issues that hurt you in the past. You may be leaning to one type because you’re relating to someone you admire or someone who has influence over you. It isn’t until we free ourselves from these issues and really find ourselves, that we can help others.

Please share with the community if you have found any value from this. I would also love to know what personality type you are.

Ken Pickard
The Network Dad

P.S. If you want your comments to pop and the back link to your blog to be clicked on more… get your Gravatar today!

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Posted in Personal Development, You, Inc | Tags color wheel, Meyers Briggs, Personal Development, Personality types | 36 Comments

My Top 3 Social Sites

Published February 9, 2010 by Ken Pickard

On the third day of the New Year my tribe gave to me…

Three top social sites…

Two Syndication Power Hours…

And Oooone Really Cool Tribe Page!

I know what you are thinking, this song sounds familiar. But trust me this is nothing like… Ok it’s everything like that other sign. I give, I give. But you have to admit it’s pretty cool huh.

Ok On with the show!

We all know that social media is the all the rage. There are new social sites coming online all the time. If you Google ‘Top Social Media sites’ you’ll see millions of hits.

Some of the top sites boast populations that dwarf small countries.

It’s hard to say which one was the first social media site since even the term ‘social media’ seems to be changing as fast as the weather. But it’s arguable that Myspace was the first to become a household name, as it grew very popular with the 14-25 year range in a rather short period of time.

There are many resources, thoughts and ideas about how to leverage this behemoth of a medium. With all the various top 10 to top 100 sites which one(s) are right for you. This is a question many people really don’t ask them selves

What is social media and how do I leverage it?

For this post we are going to look at the top 3 sites… my top 3 sites. You may have a different favorite three than I do, but if you want to brand yourself and get your message out there to the world you can not afford to skip these sites.

YouTube… got videos?

Ahhh… video marketing. Even though there are many video sharing and hosting sites You Tube is the daddy. At the end of 2009 almost 23 hours of video were uploaded every 60 seconds. Let’s just pause and reflect on that shall we. Almost a full days worth of video, (1380 minutes) uploaded every 60 seconds.

It is no surprise that fortunes have been made from the power of video. Some of the geekiest videos have gone crazy viral. I’m sure you’ve seen the baby panda sneeze and surprised its mother… Did you share that one, like millions of other people around the world? What about the one where the dad makes the 5 little babies laugh and giggle? Yep me too… past that one around.

But let’s not forget that this is a social site as well. You can; rate, comment, meet, email, share, befriend, watch, discuss, and so much more all late into the night on Youtube.

So here’s a cool tip from a tribal friend Katie Freiling. She shares how this one tip can bring in hoards of traffic to your video. Don’t beat yourself up if you have not been taking advantage of this little gem.

Twitter… What’s with the 140 characters anyway?

If you’re readying this then you probably already know all about Twitter. Twitter has become a household name at 140 characters at a time. But I know there are lots of people who just don’t quite get it. I still hear the questions… “How do you keep up with that many people?” or “it’s to simple, it will never be affective.”

Ok now that YOU’VE picked yourself up off the floor; let’s cover a few issues real quick.

Don’t let the simplicity of Twitter keep you away. I love to tell people my analogy of Twitter and how it relates to the other social media giant Facebook. Twitter is like the front door to a big party. It’s where you do a fast meet and greet and say hello.
Twitter is actually a micro logging site… not a classified ad section. Believe it or not you really want to get to know people BEFORE you pitch them on your business, product, or service. Of course yoyu can through out an money tweet now and then, but the best practice for Twitter is value first, business last.
Be Polite. Do you say hi when you first meet some one. I know that’s a stupid question, but think about it. Take a look at your DM’s sometime. Why do almost all the DM’s say “Thanks… but…” Like here’s a free gift, or check this biz out. The ones I like are the invites to Facebook, or when they tell me a quick joke.

Now were ready to move into a cool tip from another tribe member Michael Feil. Michael shares some great insights on how to sue Tweetdeck.

Facebook… Why 400 Million can’t be wrong

Facebook is “The Big Kahuna” The grand daddy of them all. With over 400 million accounts and over 100 million in the US alone, this sleeping giant who just turned 6 has awakened.

What is it about Facebook that has made so many people come to just hang out for an average of 55 minutes a day? Connecting… games… business? Yes, yes, yes. You can really do it all on this site. This place gives you everything you need and were afraid to ask for. This little application that started out as a way for college kids to stay connected with each other at Harvard went crazy viral in just a couple weeks.

What I love about Facebook is it’s like the living room or the den of the party. You have more information about yourself. There are pictures on the walls. You can really let people know what you’re about or what you’re doing in a little bit slower pace. People can hang out and get to know you.

There are a couple of key things you want to do with Facebook and my friend Kary Rogney is going to share a cool way of keeping things organized.

So there you have it, my favorite top 3 social sites. Make sure and subscribe to my Youtube channel, give me an @reply on Twitter and send me a friend request on Facebook.

Ken Pickard

The Network Dad

“TIME SENSITIVE: ‘Tribe Mastery Intensive’… For Those Of You Who Want To Leverage The Power Of The Tribe, Blogging, & Social Media To Syndicate Content And Gain Massive Exposure… You Won’t Want To Miss Out On This Opportunity To Learn From My Tribe…”

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Posted in Facebook, Twitter, Youtube | 29 Comments

The Aftermath of #TribeTuesday

Published January 2, 2010 by Ken Pickard

On the second day of the New Year my tribe gave to me… two Syndication Power Hours and one really cool tribe page! Is this song catchy or what?

There they go again. My tribes just came running through my blog and social media sites and left a wave of traffic in their wake. Comments and RT’s and tagging galore! Tribe Syndication is starting to emerge as a new spin on an old concept… people helping people but with an added twist and #TribeTuesday is just that twist. The law of reciprocity working at it’s finest.

They say that some of the best ideas are born out of necessity. If there is a need fill it. If you can monetize it then you’re golden. You may have also heard that a lot of these ideas and concepts were created by accident. Well this just so happened to be the case when I decided to start a blog and create a hub for my online marketing.

I started to look around for some blogs that I liked and wanted to emulate, a few things jumped out right away. I saw many professional bloggers and was amazed at all the activity and stuff that was on their blog. Cool widgets (I didn’t even know that that’s what they were called) and graphics. These guys were masters at blogging. You could see a lot of activity. Then I saw many more blogs that were empty or looked like a ghost town. A few posts here and there or maybe several weeks between posts or comments. There was no life to some of these blogs. This brought up a couple of concerns for me.

How could I compete with those who are blogging on a regular basis?
How could I keep a blog going indefinitely?
What value do I have to offer others that will keep them coming back?
How do I get traffic to my blog?

Now there are many great resources, books and trainings on driving traffic, but it really comes down to actually putting these concepts into play. Several factors need to happen at around the same time and if you’re new to blogging or marketing online in general your learning curve is going to skyrocket. Learn how to blog, create content… and build relationships and traffic.

The power of a blogging alliance will assist you in all these areas. A blogging alliance is a small group of people coming together to syndicate each other. There’s a specific method of tactics that we use to create the buzz for each others blogs all over the net. These ‘Syndication Power hours’ have driven more traffic to our new blogs than any other single event before… or since.

What others are saying about going tribal on Tuesdays.

Take a look at Debbie Turners post about creating a checklist for #TribeTuesday Debbie breaks down the importance of staying organized through this dynamic process of syndicating her tribe.

My fellow Tribe leader Kary Rogney shows what’s about to happen to his blog when #TribeTuesday come crushing through. Do you think Kary is starving for Traffic? Not with over 22,000 page views to his blog since it launched. That’s less than 5 months of being online. That’s the power of a tribe.

Fellow Tribe enthusiast Kathy Jodrey tells you why #TribeTuesday is the next best thing to hit Twitter since #FollowFriday The reason is value and relationships. Unlike follow Friday Tribe Tuesday allows people to syndicate with a. The relationships that are built create a solid foundation for growing any following. Move over #FF #TribeTuesday is here to stay!

Another great master tribal leader is Michael Feil. Michael is pulling back the curtain and share a little of what goes on behind the scenes during our #TRibeTuesday power hour.

The sharing of tips and tricks and knowledge during this time that is set aside for syndication, takes the mastermind alliance concept to new levels. It’s very common for every one of us to share a new little gem that we’ve heard about this week. We also make comments about how we can improve each other’s blogs, or point out an issue that arises. Some of the benefits that come out of the Power Hours have been: accountability, teamwork, learning and sharing of ideas.

Leave a comment for the community and share what you would do. Did this shed any light on the power of having a tribe for syndication?

Ken Pickard

The Network Dad

You can also share with your Twitter and Facebook friends. This just may be what they’re looking for. As always I appreciate your Diggs and Stumbles.

P.S.S. If you want your comments to pop and the backlinks to your blog to be clicked on more… get your Gravatar today!

“TIME SENSITIVE: ‘Tribe Mastery Intensive’… For Those Of You Who Want To Leverage The Power Of The Tribe, Blogging, & Social Media To Syndicate Content And Gain Massive Exposure… You Won’t Want To Miss Out On This Opportunity To Learn From My Tribe…”

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Posted in Marketing, Social Media Tips, Tribes | 15 Comments

How to Build a Tribe Page

Published January 1, 2010 by Ken Pickard

On the first day of the New Year my tribe gave to me… a really cool tribe page. Sing with me now… ok maybe not.

Welcome to Day 1 of the 12 tribal days of the New Year.

Just like the 12 Days of Christmas, the 12 tribal days of the New Year will start January 1 and have the date’s number as the set of item numbers in the blog post. So naturally we have to start at the beginning. Trust me this will be fun.

The theme around these 12 tribal days is all about Tribe Syndication, but you probably already figured that out.

Before we get to the ‘how’ of it all we need to cover the ‘what.’ What is a Tribe page anyway? Good question and I’m glad you asked. The tribe page is one of my favorite pages as it’s the section where I can promote other people in my tribe or blogging alliance. These people I look up to as trainers, team members, people who I want to associate with.

Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Viddler video.

As you can see from the video the benefits of a tribe page with the pretty link plug in is; traceability, visual promotion and mutual benefit. As my blog grows in traffic so does all the clicks through my tribe member’s pages.

Now get out there and make your own tribe page. Leave a link as I would love to check out your kick butt Tribe page. Also leave a comment for the community and share other ways we can promote each other.

Here’s a few examples of some great tribe pages.

Ken Pickard

The Network Dad

You can also share with your Twitter and Facebook friends. This just may be what they’re looking for. As always I appreciate your Diggs and Stumbles.

P.S. If you want your comments to pop and the back link to your blog to be clicked on more… get your Gravatar today!

“TIME SENSITIVE: ‘Tribe Mastery Intensive’… For Those Of You Who Want To Leverage The Power Of The Tribe, Blogging, & Social Media To Syndicate Content And Gain Massive Exposure… You Won’t Want To Miss Out On This Opportunity To Learn From My Tribe…”

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Posted in Tribes | 31 Comments

6 Reasons Why You Need a Blogging Alliance

Published December 8, 2009 by Ken Pickard

blogging aliance

Before I jump into the reasons why you need a blogging alliance, let me explain what one is. Quite simply it’s a small group of people who banded together to promote each other. We use social media as our playground and personal blogs as the vehicles of choice to get our messages out. A blogging alliance usually has members from the same niche and similar levels of experience on the social sites. However this is not mandatory, as the group can bring in a new member, and rather quickly that new person can get up to speed.

Another term we use for this alliance is called a tribe. The charter for a tribe or blogging alliance is content syndication. This is the act of ‘buzzing’ each others posts or videos or anything they publish online. Ok… now that we’re all caught up on the ‘what’ is a blogging alliance, let’s dive into some of the benefits.

Benefit #1 is Content Syndication – Even the word itself demands attention. It sounds powerful and full of meaning. Syndicating someone else’s content is a way of showing that they have value. There’s something there you should pay attention to. You are not only promoting that person to your following but your giving that person social proof.

This does so much more than most realize. Next time you’re on Twitter or Facebook look your profile. Are people listening to what you have to say? Are there people RT’ing you and commenting on the information you’re putting out. Even if you’re just starting in social media you can gain so much ground by having an established alliance supporting you.

Benefit #2 is Exposure – This is a no brainier. If you are looking to make a name for yourself, carve a spot in the online marketplace you can not be worried about being over exposed. I can hear you chuckling now. I bet your saying… “That’s not a problem for me!” I need all the exposure I can get.

True… but you want the right exposure. It’s not enough to have a blog or website where you have to promote it by yourself and run the risk of looking spammy. That social proof I mentioned before is key and exposure from others is gold.

Benefit #3 is Relationships – Building relationships is a benefit as well as a requirement for a blogging alliance. You will actually strengthen your established relations as the alliance continues to mature. Just like making friends and connections offline you need to work with your friends online.

You also want to pay attention to the strengths that each person brings to the group. Look at the personality traits and what each offers. Build on this. You will also hear from many leaders that building relationships starts from within. This is a basic success principal that needs to be repeated often.

Benefit #4 is leverage – Ok bear with me on this. Leverage others is another key success. This should not be looked at as a negative thing. We’re not here to use each other for your gain only. That’s why this blogging alliance works so well. You MUST look out for others first. But you can leverage others for group benefit.

You’ve probably heard of OPT (Others People Time) and OPM (Other People Money) By pooling resources and strengths the group is able to learn and grow and share experiences. This happens almost automatically when the group dynamics are in balance. IE not one sided or focused on one person.

Benefit #5 is a quick learning curve or baptism by fire. – We had a new member join our tribe recently, and he is always mentioning how he continues to learn something new almost every time the group gets together. He’s not worried that he’s too far behind because he enjoys the journey. But how cool is it when we continue to learn from everyone else.

I am also learning all the time. Blogging, social media, marketing… there’s always something new coming out or something changing. We all want to keep learning and growing our knowledge. The real take away though is being able to pass that on to someone else as soon as possible.

Benefit #6 is joint ventures – Now we’re getting somewhere… the money! One key aspect to a blogging alliance to how to monetize your blogs and products as soon as possible. Yes it’s great to hang out and be social but if you really want to learn grow and share… make a product together. Put your knowledge to use. Get motivated, help some people and make some money.

This is what my tribe did. We launched a 6 week intensive that showcased; blogging social media and tribes by building communities and syndicating each other. By the way… this is only the beginning.

There it is… 6 of the many benefits for creating a blogging alliance. A tribe if you will. So now ask yourself again…” Do I want to promote my own information, products or services by myself, or leverage the power and massive exposure of a blogging alliance?

Leave a comment for the community and share what you would do. Did this shed any light on the power of an alliance? Have you benefited from one?

Ken Pickard

The Network Dad

You can also share with your Twitter and Facebook friends. This just may be what they’re looking for. As always I appreciate your Diggs and Stumbles.

P.S.S. If you want your comments to pop and the backlink to your blog to be clicked on more… get your Gravatar today!

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