You, Inc

Manball with Mentors

July 19th, 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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Tags: Aaron fortner, Empowered Tribe, Jonathan Budd, Manball, Mentor
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Mastermind Group Takes on “Think and Grow Rich”

June 15th, 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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4 Main Personality Types

March 2nd, 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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Tags: color wheel, Meyers Briggs, Personal Development, Personality types
Posted in Personal Development, You, Inc | 36 Comments »

6 Reasons Why You Need a Blogging Alliance

December 8th, 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.

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Man Day – Father And Son Time

October 12th, 2009 by Ken Pickard

Webster’s defines success as “favorable result, the gaining of wealth and fame.” I agree to a point, but the definition doesn’t stop there. Success is being content and happy in all areas of your life. A person can be rich and powerful in business but not have a happy home life. Someone else could be a master craftsman and be able to create beautiful furniture from wood, but not financially secure. Is one person more successful than the other?

Time being the great equalizer should be valued far greater than money or material possessions. Somewhere between Tim Farris author of “The 4 hour work week” and Gary Vaynerchuk author of “Crush it” is you. Your work ethics and the leverage of time will allow you to be successful. IF… you put your time to good use. Only you know where you hold the value of your time.
“The poor will always trade time for dollars and wonder why there is never enough…The rich will trade dollars for time and live life to the fullest.”

A friend of mine holds his time is extreme high regard. In his business he ONLY puts it where it’s going to give him the most benefit… and he is very picky. His team trainings are almost always in group settings and scheduled when he wants. He would much rather pay others to do menial task that doesn’t want to do. This is the mindset of a successful person, whether or not they are making a lot of money. He will have someone else do his laundry, cleaning, yard work and some cooking, so he can spend most of his time with his family. A few may say that’s a little arrogant or too upper classy… is it? Or is it leveraging dollars for time.

There are two reasons why someone starts a business. It’s to move towards something or away from something. In both cases time and or money are the big factors. So if we value time so greatly why don’t we put it to use where it’s going to serve us the best? Sometimes our greatest legacy is not our stuff… but those growing up right beside us.

Spending time with family is always a hot button for most people. One of the things I like to do is take each of my kids out for a date by themselves. It’s a great way to give some undivided attention they so richly deserve. A few of our adventures have been: bowling, laser quest, mini golf, and the movies. We usually grab some dinner before and maybe a little ice cream at the end.

A few days ago I took the day off and went to the car races with my son and a couple of other guys from our family. We went to the American LaMans finals. Let me tell you, those are some cool, loud cars! Because just the guys are allowed to go and the name of the venue is “LaMans”, the all day event is called “MAN DAY.” I believe my nephew coined the phrase.

We had a blast. This was the first time my son and I have been to one of these races. We both came back home ready to go again. This will certainly be yearly event for the guys. Below are some pictures of the “MAN DAY.”

Ken Pickard
The Network Dad

P.S. If this post resonated with you at all, please leave a comment below for the community. I would love to hear how you value time with your family and what special things you do. Even if it’s little things… the time we spend with our family is the most precious time of all.

You can also share with your Twitter and Facebook friends. This just may be what they’re looking for. If you feel this deserves a Digg or Stumble please let me know.

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Tags: Family Time, Leadership, Lifestyle, success, Time Management
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Organized Chaos – Staying Focused While Allowing the Creative Juices to Flow

October 1st, 2009 by Ken Pickard

Overwhelmed_Worker Having five kids has given me quite the experience of being stretched to capacity. I am ever so thankful for my wife who manages most of the chaos. My hats go off to all the single parents who can relate just a little.

I can think of many times when all the kids want to tell us something or vent on how their day went (all at once) and it gets a little crazy. When someone needs something from the store right now because we’re out and nobody wrote it on the shopping list… it gets a little crazy. How about when someone has to finish a project that’s due tomorrow… ok you get the point. Life gets a little hectic. Welcome to organized chaos.

I feel like we’re herding cats sometimes with all the events and planning, but this is our life and we would not change it for the world. However there must be some kind of organization. This is when you try to keep things under control, answer all the questions, one at a time while giving that person your full attention.

I noticed the same thing happens when I work on my projects or business. I start to get a little chaos running in my own mind. I’ve always been a big dreamer. I usually don’t have a problem coming up with new ideas or concepts. When I get in that zone I tap into my creative side. I’m always looking for ideas and concepts to help others with their programs or processes.

When I brainstorm ideas for videos and blog posts, I tend to have multiple ideas running through my head all at once and if I don’t take action or at least write them down… they go away. When I try to recall later what I though was a really good idea, it doesn’t seem as good anymore. I realize that if I don’t take this action I loose out, but a little trace of that idea or thought lingers. This is a dangerous area for me. I feel like I am missing work that needs to be accomplished.

I start to feel behind, like I forgot something or I misplaced something. The good news is I figured out a system that helps me to stay focused during these whirlwind brainstorming adventures.

Journal it – Keep a journal or notepad within reach all the time. I used to just grab any piece of paper I could find and jot a note down. Then I ended up with lots of pieces of paper and I could not recognize the note or idea. That sense of confusion would creep up I would feel overwhelmed. Having one place to put all the ideas or action items allows me to remain in control.

Label it – When an idea just hits you and you don’t have the time to do a full write up, jot down a couple key points, but label it. Is it for an article or video? Is it something for a project or blog post? A to-do item you don’t want to forget. Labeling these thoughts will allow you to recognize them later. If you are doing a brainstorming session, write all your ideas down but label the entry as “brainstorming” for what ever the topic is.

Date it – Add an entry date and a due date to take action on. You don’t want to have all these great ideas go to waste by not holding yourself accountable. A timeline in which to put this idea into action will help to maintain your focus.

Less is more – Keep the tasks simple and doable. It can still be overwhelming if you have an action to create a video post. You need to break it down into smaller actions: brainstorm the topic, research, write your ideas, gather video equipment and shooting location, edit, save and post. All of these action step could be written down to save you from feeling overwhelmed.

The whole idea is to get all of these great ideas off your brain and onto paper. So grab a notebook, get those ideas written down and get them implemented.

Ken Pickard

The Network Dad

P.S. If this post resonated with you at all, please leave a comment below for the community. Sharing any insights or stories you have for staying organized through life’s chaos would be greatly appreciated.

You can also share with your Twitter and Facebook friends. This just may be what they’re looking for. If you feel this deserves a Digg or Stumble please let me know.

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Tags: Focus, Getting Results, Inc, Organization, Personal Developent, You
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Is Information Overload Leading you to Analysis Paralysis?

September 3rd, 2009 by Ken Pickard

Welcome to day 3 of my 30 day video challenge. What can you change with a 30 day challenge?

Is there such a thing as too much information? Ever feel overwhelmed with all the information you get? Do you search for more information just to make sure the other information is right? If you answered yes to any or all of these then congratulations… your human!

We all know that we live in the information age. By why is it that we feel the need to get more and more of it before we do anything with it? Even better than that, why do we obtain and keep information we don’t even need?

Ok so I’m a guy. I’ll be the first one to tell you I have a bunch of useless information. My kids have asked me things like, “how many feet are in a mile” and “how far apart are those white lines on the highway?” I know these answers. I can’t tell you why but I just do. But this information doesn’t help my business. I need the information that is going to get me to my goals. Not just any information. I need the right information, and then take the action to use.

In this video I share a gold nugget that transformed my information gathering process, and allowed me the freedom to take action first, seek information second. Strange concept? You tell me.

As a bonus to this post I’ve attached the Art William’s “Just Do it” video. Thinking just a little differently will lead you to your goals and dreams, if you take action first and seek information second.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8976155746368663848

Please leave a comment below and let me know if this has inspired you to think differently. If so what action steps are you taking next? If you think this could help someone else a Re-Tweet would be appreciated.

To your growing success

Ken Pickard

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Tags: Art Williams, just do it, personal branding, Personal Development
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Begin your Personal Branding by getting your content out there

September 2nd, 2009 by Ken Pickard

Welcome to day 2 of my 30 day challenge. What can you change with a 30 day challenge?

In today’s video I cover several areas where you can find information and turn it into your own. I want to make it real clear though, DO NOT TO COPY others information. This is totally uncool, and will get you voted off the island!

I am simply pointing out the many places and avenues of finding information, creating your own content, and hot start your own personal branding. Listen for the three biggest reasons for creating content. One thought from any of these sources can lead to countless pieces of content.

Several people have told me “I don’t know what to write about.” Or “I don’t know what to say in my videos.” After watching this video leave a comment below and let me know where you get your inspiration for your content.

To your ever growing success

Ken Pickard

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Tags: "Personal development" "social proof" "social media" "personal branding" "marketing", personal branding, Personal Development, Social media, social proof
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Getting over your Fears

September 1st, 2009 by Ken Pickard

Welcome to day 1 of my 30 day video challenge. What can you change with a 30 day challenge?

This is a personal challenge for me to make one video a day and post it to my blog. This kind of challenge is great for personal branding, personal development and breaking through your fears. So let’s jump right into it.

We are starting this series with fear. I don’t mean be afraid. I mean getting over it. A personal trainer once told me that fear stands for False Evidence Appearing Real. That one hit me like a ton of bricks. I actually figured that I manifest my fears.

So I believed that I could change my thinking and start manifesting my strengths. Then I could use those areas of strength and CRUSH my fears. By building a tribe and being held accountable for a few things has really helped me break through my fears. They are NOTHING to me any more!

This video is actually a response to a blog post of Katie Freiling where she shared about her biggest fear. You all know the one. Studies have shown that this is actually the most popular fear.

What are your fears? Which ones have you overcome? Which ones are still holding you back from you true potential? Katie mentions that by writing them down your actually lessens the hold they have on you. Please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts on this one.

To your growing success

Ken Pickard

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