I was recently interviewed by my good friend Bryan Elliott from Behind the Brand.

One of the frequent questions I receive is, “what is it you do, and how did you grow your business to the size it is in such a short time?”

Since I’m an entrepreneur, I’ve got the curse of not knowing how to answer the question easily.

However, in this interview I broke down what my businesses are, and how Sean and I took it from nothing two years ago, to a multi-million dollar business today.

Watch the interview above as I also share:

• How to grow an Internet business from $0 to millions
• How to use LinkedIn.com to find new customers
• How to build and manage a list of passionate fans (that buy your products)
• How digital goods and products are changing the game
• My personal tips for success
• How to identify your personal strengths to be your very best
• How you can overcome adversity when you face obstacles

Make sure to say hi to Bryan on Twitter for putting this together and check out the full show here.

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Is there anything I said that makes sense or confuses you?   Can you apply the things I’ve said in your own business or do you feel my ideas wouldn’t work for you? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.

Social Media Marketing

This is a guest post by Michael Cash.

People have grown accustomed to fast business transactions in the “real” world.

If you’re buying a coffee at a gas station in the morning, you just want the coffee quickly so you can move on with your day.

Business comes first – forming relationships comes second.

However, social media marketplaces rely on building relationships with your customers before they even think of buying your product.

A 2009 study by the Nielsen Company concluded that Americans were spending 17% of their Internet time browsing social media web sites. Social media sites are a powerful consumer pool that many new marketers ignore because they simply don’t understand them.

Make Sure People Are Convinced That You Know Your Stuff

One of the biggest mistakes that you can make as a social media marketing guru is publishing tips that only work with very limited application or that flat out don’t work at all. Aside from visiting a bookstore and stocking up on marketing literature, many serious Internet marketers earn a marketing degree in their free time. This isn’t so you can emblazon your site with your diploma; rather, it is simply to gain some of the skills that you will need to be influential in your niche.

Along the same lines, make sure you are either a skilled writer or have a trusted editor to rely on for nasty grammar and spelling errors. Just like a lack of knowledge, having a poorly written web site or social media space can spell disaster, even if you are giving solid tips.

Add Value, and Nothing But

One of the first mistakes that social media marketers make when approaching a site like Facebook or YouTube is assuming that they simply need to get their information out there for their potential customers. Of course, this is important. However, it is vital that your information is targeted towards your primary demographic and that it creates some discussion, or buzz.

Consider the marketing campaign of Blendtec, which hit its peak on YouTube in 2008. Using a game show style program, Blendtec created a feature called “Will it Blend.” During this show, they put different everyday items into a blender, including an iPhone and a copy of Halo 3. These videos featured the company CEO Tom Dickson and went on to get millions of views for each of the more than 100 videos. The videos became so popular that Steve Jobs even made a guest appearance when Blendtec decided to blend the iPhone 4.

Blending an iPhone 4

Before this marketing campaign, Blendtec was an unknown appliance manufacturer selling blenders at around $400.00 each. Perhaps the acting seemed a little hokey, but in the end, the videos attracted a lot of buzz about Blendtec – showing the power of their blenders in a humorous and relatable way. Best of all, the videos gave Blendtec a face and accomplished the all-important task of building a relationship before making a sale.

Give People What They Want

Whether you are running a marketing campaign yourself or want to educate others who are preparing to do so, focus on what your audience wants to hear – not what you think they should know. For example, you might be marketing a simple computer that is designed for the needs of senior citizens. While you might be impressed with the processing speed and other technical aspects of your product, your demographic will likely ignore such statements.

In fact, they will likely care about what the computer will allow them to do, or how it will change their life for the better. Rather than focusing on technological aspects, tell your readers how they will be able to connect with old friends, start their own web site, find faster routes to the grocery store, etc. Think about the problems that your product will really solve and focus on how they will appeal to your targeted demographic.

With a few successful marketing campaigns (and a few stellar before and after testimonials), you will be respected as a social media marketing guru in no time. Remember to keep your information simple and valuable. Focus on your consumers and give them value beyond exposure to your product. When people begin wanting your product (even if the product is your advice) without realizing that it was just aggressively pitched to them, you will know that you have reached guru status in the world of social media marketing.

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Michael Cash is a twenty something freelance writer and internet consultant residing in western Michigan.

Video is becoming an online content powerhouse.

And as video becomes more of the norm in terms of consuming content online, it’s important to stay up to date with using video on your blog, your social networking sites, and of course on my favorite social site for business… LinkedIn.

Why Video and LinkedIn

If you read this blog, then you know I’m a huge believer in the power of using LinkedIn to build your business or professional goals.  So what does adding video to your profile have to do with this? 

Think about it for a second.  When you search on LinkedIn and browse various profiles, what do 99% of them have in common?

They all look the same!

For the most part, all of the profiles look pretty boring.  Of course people say different things, and some format their profiles better than others, but all in all, most lack character.

Stand Out From The Crowd

LinkedIn is currently one of the top 25 websites in the world according to the Alexa Top 500, and as it’s growth continues to increase, you need to do what you can to have every advantage over your competitors.  This is where adding a video to your profile helps.

Here is a step by step video explanation on how to add a video to your LinkedIn profile, what video you should add, and why it will help you improve your value on LinkedIn.

It’s fun to know you stand out from the rest of your competition, and video definitely helps you achieve this on LinkedIn.

Step 1.  Create SlideShare.net Account and add application on LinkedIn
Step 2.  Upload a video to YouTube
Step 3.  Upload a presentation to your SlideShare account
Step 4.  Insert your YouTube link in the first slide of your presentation
Step 5.  Publish the SlideShare presentation on your profile

It’s amazing the reaction I receive from people who come to my profile and are amazed that they hear a voice and see a video when it’s totally unexpected (thanks again to Jim Kukral for providing the video recommendation for me).

I’d love to see you take the “LinkedIn video challenge” by uploading a video on your profile.  Take action today and get this set up and you will be far ahead of your competition.  Once completed, enter your profile link in the comments section below so everyone can see what video you added to your profile.

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Did you find this post helpful?  If so, please share this article on Twitter and Facebook and sign up to via email to be notified each time I publish a new article Here.  Also, want to get more from your LinkedIn experience?  Make sure to get the entire LinkedIn training course at www.linkedinfluence.com.  I look forward to reaching your comments below.

Other related posts you might enjoy:

• 7 Ways To Market Yourself On LinkedIn
• Top 10 LinkedIn Marketing Tips
• 10 Powerful LinkedIn Tips

Image credit: Racum

Smart.  Sexy.  Cool and collected.

That’s how I’d sum up power house Laura Roeder in a few words.

I’d never spoken to Laura in person or by phone, but knew she’d created some great social media/business products, and been interviewed by a number of the top online bloggers.

No big deal right?

It wasn’t until we met recently in L.A. (West Hollywood actually, as she pointed out that she almost never drives to WeHo all the way from her comfy beach community in Venice) that I realized she was much cooler in person than her already powerful online brand.

I could tell right away after we sat down for our organic lunch at the trendy Urth Cafe, that we had a lot in common in terms of our similar business and marketing mindset (she mentioned she wasn’t a fan of sports like me, but I reassured her that she would make more money then some of the best athletes in the world since 78% of NFL players go bankrupt 2 years after they retire… 2 points for team Laura .

As the time flew by and we covered what we did before we started our businesses, her latest successful product launch with the talented Marie Forleo, shared social media “secrets”, talked about affiliate marketing, who we thought was doing it the right way online, the power that webinars have been for us, and everything else about online marketing you could think of… I realized more and more that everyone I know should be introduced to her.

While we covered many of these topics throughout our hang time, it seemed to always steer back to the topic of webinars and how we both use them to (as Laura would say) “create fame” in our industry.

I ended up trying out the handy reverse camera iPhone mode to capture some of her nuggets of golden webinar tips and thought I’d give you an inside peak at how Laura uses webinars in her business.

Make sure to watch the video below to learn more about Laura’s tips, and her smart, sexy, cool, collected style.

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Do you know Laura or have you seen her anywhere online before?  If so, go ahead and post your favorite thing about her.  If this is your first time introduced to Laura, please be friendly and leave a comment saying “hello” in your own way and welcome her to your community.  Take a moment to share this post on Facebook or Twitter and follow her as well @lkr.

If you enjoyed this post and want more awesome video interviews like this with people like Laura, then please subscribe via email HERE to get an update every time I come out with a new post.  Thanks again for stopping by!

I have a man crush on David Siteman Garland from TheRiseToTheTop.com. That’s right, a Man Crush!

Why? Not only is his content sexy, but the man behind the content is even sexier! (haha)

In all seriousness, I’ve been friends with David since the first few months he became active on social media, and over the last few years have been blessed to connect in person and do a number of brainstorming sessions with David where we both share ideas on how to grow our businesses (and sometimes talk about how to take over the world).

I remember talking with David over two years ago in his St. Louis condo on when he would be coming out with his first book.  Even thought he wrote the book, did all of the planning and research, I still like to think that I had a part in leaving a seed in David’s mind about producing this book.  And here we are now, and the book is alive.

I read David’s book already knowing it would be great because of his interesting daily content on “Rise”, his blog.  Little did I know that it would actually be one of the top books I’d read all year (and I’d say that even if I wasn’t a close friend).

The reason I love Smarter, Faster, Cheaper is because David shares well more than 101 ways to build your business Smarter, Faster, Cheaper, but he shares so many engaging success stories from himself and individuals/brands in many different industries.  I look at it as the one stop shop for building a huge brand and business on a small or no budget.

If you are tired of not being as big of a brand as you would like to be, or don’t feel like spending money on marketing and advertising that isn’t working for you, then do yourself a favor and pick up this book now.

Here is a video I did with David about his book, and some of the other ways to market your business the Smarter, Faster, Cheaper way. (The video is choppy at certain times but picks up after a while)

Like I said, David is a world class gentleman and this book has the potential to make you or your business world class if you take action and implement his strategies.

He has a ton of cool goodies of at his site to check out, or you can be a serious action taker and pick up his copy here.

LinkedIn is the sexiest thing since Justin Timberlake’s song “Bringing Sexy Back”.

It’s so sexy, and such a useful business marketing resource that it has more than doubled its membership in the last year and now grows at a person every second.

If I were forced to choose between using only one social networking site for my business, from Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other social networking sites, I would choose LinkedIn, hands down.  I still love these other social networking sites, but LinkedIn is by far the most powerful for your business and career.

It’s that sexy!

Why LinkedIn Is #1

With the average household income per user hitting $109,000, which is much higher than Twitter, Facebook, and the other social networking power houses, you know you are dealing with people who mean business.

Being that it is the largest business networking site in the world, there is a mindset shift when users log on to LinkedIn compared to logging on their cousin sites, Twitter or Facebook.

The mood changes, the messages are more professional. Conversations are geared toward partnerships and transactions, as opposed to how funny you looked in your birthday pictures, and everything is centered around advancing careers or building businesses.

LinkedIn Means Business

Everyone talks about the power of Facebook ads (I’m not discounting how dynamic they can be; in fact, I’ve had great success using them myself), but the LinkedIn ad platform is even more powerful considering the demographic is made up of decision makers.

My point being, if you aren’t using this powerful site to market your business yet, then it’s time to start taking it more seriously and step your game up.

There are a number of ways to market yourself and your business online, but here are 10 LinkedIn tips that will drastically increase your marketing potential:

1.  Complete Your Profile

Your profile is the heart and soul of your online business brand.  It usually ranks in the top 5 of Google search results for “Your First and Last Name”.  When others do a search for your name to learn about your product, service, company, or previous work experience, then you’d better have a rock solid profile or that first impression could drastically tarnish your value.  Make sure you fill out your profile 100% for starters, then go on from there to make it sexier.

2.  Connect With Everyone

A number of LinkedIn newbies or purists will say, “You should only connect with those you already know and trust, so you can make recommendations to others when they want an introduction.”  Believe me, I understand where these users are coming from, but how do you expect to expand your opportunities and options when you shut off communication to the rest of the 85 million plus members on LinkedIn?

Think about it, you already know all of the opportunities that your closest connections can share since you talk to them more frequently.  It’s time to use LinkedIn like a live networking event and introduce yourself to others, make new friends, and start helping more people connect.  Also, start accepting invitations to others who add you, as the more connections you have, the larger your expanded network grows which helps create more opportunities in the long run.  Here are six other reasons you should connect with everyone on LinkedIn.

3.  Customize Your Websites

This is a basic thing that everyone should do.  It’s simple.  Creating a call to action attracts more attention then having a generic link that says “My website”.  Make it look and sound sexier so when people come to your profile they feel inspired to click on your links and go back to your website.

4.  Be Compelling

I have a huge knot on my forehead from falling asleep on my desk in mid-browse when looking at LinkedIn profiles.  Most of them are extremely boring and showcase zero personality or compelling attributes.  Add an interesting story in your summary, have a video recommendation pop up in the first few seconds, or at the least tell people who you are, who you help, and how you help them so there is some direction for people when they land on your profile.  Whatever you do, liven it up a little so the bump on my forehead can go away

5.  Recommend Others

I’m a firm believer in giving and helping others succeed as much as you possibly can.  The more you give, the more you will receive.  Recommending others without them asking you to is a great way to help increase the social proof on their profile, which could be the difference between an OK year, and a great year for them.

6.  Join Targeted Groups

LinkedIn groups, LinkedIn groups, LinkedIn groups!  It doesn’t matter what industry or business you are in, this the part of LinkedIn you should be focusing the most.  There are benefits to both joining and being a part of niche-related groups, and also being the owner of them.

I feel blessed to be the owner of many powerful groups.  Many have over 10,000 members, and one more than 32,000 members.  Think of them as independent social networks where you can spread your message, connect with key partners, and take your business to another level.  Want more? Here are my top 10 reasons to start a LinkedIn group.

7.  Connect With Twitter

I sometimes find that I get more comments and interaction on LinkedIn from the same update I published on Twitter.  The updates (even when synced from Twitter) seem to “stay on top” longer than they would in your Twitter stream.  The more interaction you get, the more others see it as well (it’s similar to Facebook in this regard).

Make sure to connect your Twitter account to LinkedIn.  Others talk about why this is bad because a lot of your messaging won’t be targeted for your LinkedIn audience (especially when you use “@” symbols and hashtags), but for the most part, my message is staying at the top of mind for my connections on LinkedIn and for me that’s a powerful thing.  Want to clean things up?  Just use the #in with a Twitter update and it will sync to your LinkedIn account when there is a specific message you want members to see.

8.  Add Your Company Profile

LinkedIn is constantly enhancing its platform and one of the things that has been lagging, until recently, was the company page section.  Now, it allows you to add a video, share more information about your products and services, and give more insights about your company and the people working there.

9.  Optimize Your Search Ranking

People are constantly searching for others on LinkedIn.  They are looking for employee candidates, freelancers, industry experts, and so on.  Why not optimize your profile to help you be found and contacted by more people looking for what you specialize in?  Wouldn’t it be nice to get a flood of people emailing or calling you to sign up for your services or products?  Make sure you increase your ranking on LinkedIn by following these 5 steps.

10.  Add Advanced Applications

I love the fact that LinkedIn has rolled out a number of applications to help you promote your business or your personal work better.  It doesn’t matter what industry you are in, there is an application for everyone that can help you get your message across better, and improve the overall experience of your LinkedIn profile.  Go to the applications section on your profile to see which ones you could start using today, and make the most out of the new ones that come out in the future.

How Sexy Are You?

Better yet, how sexy do you want to be?

LinkedIn gives you the opportunity to make your body of work sexy. Unfortunately, it also gives you the opportunity to make your work look sub par if you don’t implement these LinkedIn tips.

You have the choice to receive a flood of inbound opportunities for your business and career, or to take the easy way out and not put much energy to improving your profile.

How bad do you want to bring sexy back?

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Image Credit: jose_7640

What is the one tip you received from this post that you think will impact your business the most?  Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.  Also, there are many more business marketing tips out there, and I’d love your input below as to what YOUR most powerful LinkedIn tip is.

Looking to take things to the next level on LinkedIn?  Make sure to grab a copy of LinkedWorking or LinkedIn Master Strategies today.

There is a shift happening.

Everyone got so excited a few years back when “social media” became the happening thing to do.

Men got pumped because it gave them an excuse to stay inside and play inside the Poker app on Facebook until 4 a.m., saying it was a way to connect with potential leads online.

Right.

In my opinion, the social media world has made a lot of people lazy.

Not everyone.  For some it has made them work harder in the offline world.  For others, it has made them lazy and it’s time we start shifting back.

The Online Shift

The online shift was fun at first.  Facebook was expanding rapidly to those that were outside of college, Twitter was emerging with celebrity status, LinkedIn became the online business networking resource, and everyone and their dog was blogging (literally, dogs are blogging with funny dog blogs like this one!)

We’ve gotten so caught up in the idea of being able to take away interaction with others (aka face-to-face) and instead just sit behind our laptops and connect with people online.

Man, were we wrong.

Now I’ll have to admit, I love networking online.  There is an entirely different element happening when you connect virtually, but it was exactly that mindset that got everyone away from the real world connection.

Things became easy because we could sit in the comfort of our homes and say exactly what we wanted to online without having to worry about the fear of actually talking to anyone in person.

We Forgot How To Be Personal

In a sense, we have forgotten how to be human.  Humans are supposed to interact with one another, not with computers… right?  At least that’s what I’d always thought.  It’s much more fun having the feeling of looking into someone’s eyes, sensing their body language, expressing your emotions on one another, and getting the true sense behind the genuine soul of another person.

Wouldn’t you agree that the online world takes all of that away from us?

I got an email from someone who said she had wanted to say hi at a recent event, but felt scared to approach me (and other people) in person.  She was so used to being behind a computer that her people skills had gotten rusty, so instead of taking advantage of the live event to interact with all the interesting people there who could help her build her business,  she attended only part of the event and spent the rest of the time in her hotel room doing what she had become comfortable with… being online!  Don’t let the online world make you a Shy Networker, get back offline and showcase who you really are.

It’s Time To Shift Back

Let’s shift back offline.

It so much more fun interacting with people live, in person, instead of via an avatar.  Wouldn’t you agree?

There is so much more good you can do when you shake someone’s hand, smile at one another, and interact like human beings are supposed to.  This is how business happens, and this is how life happens.

There are too many misconceptions that come to be online (both good and bad) that could easily be set straight in real life.  I’m not saying it’s bad to be online, quite the opposite in fact.  It’s more important now than ever to have an online presence to create awareness, generate leads, and increase your business.  However, as much of the energy you put to your online efforts, you want to put at least half of that to connecting with people face-to-face in the real world.

This is the shift that needs to happen, and is happening, and I hope you join me in the shift sooner than later.

I recently caught up with Chris Pearson, creator of Thesis Theme for WordPress, and he was the one who got this conversation started for me.  Check out what Chris had to say in a cab ride during a late night rally in Vegas during BlogWorld.

Those Who Shift, Win

Those who are already out there connecting with others at events locally and nationally are the ones who get it.  Chris Brogan, Scott Stratten, Brian Solis, Gary Vaynerchuk (and many more)…. they get it.  They understand that you CAN create an amazing amount of awareness and exposure online, but the real business and quality relationships start with a hand shake and end with a smile or a hug.  As sappy as the hug part may seem, you create a deeper bond with people even if you give them one of those “bro hugs” with only one arm and half a shoulder.  It brings the connection to another level of intimacy which enhances the relationship more so than any amount of interaction could online.

Next Steps

If you are feeling timid or fearful at all to attend local networking events, then you need to take action and do it.  If you feel scared to say hi to people you have never met before but would love to talk to, then do it.  Start attending more events locally and around the country where your audience or target market are attending.

Those who connect in person – win!

I’d love to hear about your thoughts on “The Shift”.  Are you finding yourself online more now then before?  Is the comfort of your own home and computer stopping you from meeting with others face to face?  What are your biggest challenges or fears you would like to overcome?  Please share your thoughts, suggestions, and ideas in the comment section below so that the others feeling these same things can all benefit.

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Image Credit: SNOWfactory
Image Credit: Patrick Haney

It’s that time of year.

The time of year just before Halloween where all of the nerds come out for one weekend in Vegas and party like rock stars.  That’s right, BlogWorld is upon us!

6,000 Nerds In A Room!

To be honest, there is no telling what will happen when 6,000 or so nerds… *cough* I mean bloggers, will do when you mix Vegas, alcohol, gambling, strippers, and social media – it may be the most epic weekend of the year for all I know!

I’ve been lucky to attend and speak at BlogWorld before, and I’m even more excited to attend and speak again this year.  I can guarantee you this – there will be madness, a ton of familiar online personalities everywhere, and it will be a blast!  I would add that you would learn a wealth of information from the sessions, but I’m not sure you will be able to make any of them from the late night party frenzy.

There is an actual skill to getting through the chaos of this three day mad house.  You can actually make it a time you will never forget in the fun department, and also meet enough people to help your business grow for years.  Since a top 10 list would be too much for you to remember during your drunken state, here are my 3 simple points you should focus on to get the most out of this years mayhem.

3 Focus Points At BlogWorld

1.  Be Yourself

I hate it more than anything when you go to a conference and you get the sense that people are acting fake.  Please don’t do that this time around.  This is freaking BlogWorld!  A place where you can let loose and have some fun.  You don’t have to dress up in a suit, or act super professional.  You can be yourself and show your true colors.  We are all friendly at BlogWorld and want to connect with the real you since we’ve been stuck looking at your 125×125 thumbnail head shot on Twitter for the past year.  Be yourself, and you will meet a ton of new connections, and your old friends will love you even more.

2.  Have *Some* Plan

I’ll admit, I really don’t have a plan when going into this weekend.  Like I said, it’s a huge room full of really cool nerds and smart people who spend a lot of time online (I use the word nerds in a good way… let’s face it, I’m a nerd myself ).  I don’t circle which sessions I want to attend, or have my night full of all the best parties.  I take each hour as it comes to me, and I make the most out of every second.  That said, I do have *some* plan.  I have a number of speeches, meetings, radio/T.V. interviews, and and a few key parties I plan to attend.  Make sure that you have some things sorted out during each day, but leave room for “up in the air” time as you will want to be flexible and connect with people in the halls, jump from session to session, and more.

3.  Make Your Connections

The most important part about coming to BlogWorld is building relationships.  That’s it.  If you don’t come away by connecting with as many quality people as possible, and helping connect others, then you may have an amazing time, but will have missed the point.  If you want to get completely trashed and lose all of your money, then come back to Vegas another time.  You can still *sort of* do that during BlogWorld, but only if you are building quality relationships on the black jack tables.

Don’t worry about running out of business cards (I’m already out, so don’t ask me for mine) but make sure you gather peoples information in a way that works best for you.  If you want to create a pile of cards, just make sure you mark the key ones you want to connect with and send them personal emails on the flight home.  Out of cards?  Create a digital card with your iPhone notes and add your email, website address, social media info, and email that note to people right as you meet them so you have a record of who you met.

It’s important to collect this information, but it doesn’t matter so much how you collect it, as everything is a blur towards the end of BlogWorld and you will be lucky to come home with half of the underwear you brought with you.

I look forward to saying hi, connecting with you, and having a blast during this years BlogWorld, and if you can think of an extra tip to add to this article, then please add your suggestions to the comment section below.   Bring on the madness!

photo by Incase

I love meeting and spending time with interesting entrepreneurs.

It’s especially fun to be around those who have achieved great success as I personally feed off that type of energy and it gives me something to strive for.

One of the things I recommend others to do is to connect other people in their network to help them grow their businesses or achieve their goals.  I find it satisfying making introductions and actually seeing others succeed because of it.

This past week I was in Vegas speaking at the Perfect Business Summit (some top speakers and entrepreneurs from all over the world attended) and I got to meet some great new people but also hang out with some good friends.

If you want to learn from some of the best out there in different industries and levels of entrepreneurship, then I recommend you follow, reach out to, and connect with these individuals below.  In no particular order, here are my top 10 entrepreneurs from this past weekend you should follow and connect with.

1.  Ali Brown

I’d only heard about Ali from other successful women entrepreneurs who had been to her events, or been on her famous Ezine for years.  So many women loved her so I was interested to find out what she was really like in person.  I was refreshed to know someone in her position could be such a down to earth, and real individual.  We had the same flight from Vegas to L.A. and I was even more inspired with her struggling personal stories early on from taking the leap to quit her job to become a struggling entrepreneur to now running a multi-million dollar business.  Make sure to check out her Shine event, her blog, and follow Ali on Twitter @AliBrownLA as she is a quality person and business woman to know.

2.  Darren Hardy

Success is Darren’s middle name.  Darren spoke at the Perfect Business summit as well, and when I met him, he oozed success.  Everything about the clothes he wore, to the way he spoke, to his posture showcased someone who is confident, and who has achieved great things.  Darren is none other than the publisher of Success Magazine and author of The Compound Effect.  He is definitely someone I’d love to learn more from, and I think you would get a lot out of him as well.  Make sure to check out his personal site here, and follow him on Twitter @DarrenHardy.

3.  Michael Schneider

I’ll have to admit, I’ve known Michael for about a year now (thanks to the intro through the one and only Shira Lazar) and we have become good friends.  I’ve met up with Michael in L.A., London, and in Vegas during out separate business travels, and the guy has really taken over the world by storm with his start up company Mobile Rodie, a.k.a. the most powerful mobile app platform in the world.  Michael knows a ton about all things mobile, and at the end of his speech someone told Michael he was so impressed the event was able to get him to speak and that it was the most informative information on mobile he had ever heard.  Check out Michael on Twitter @MSFD.

4.  Larry Benet

Larry Benet, or “The Connector” as he is know in the business world is one of the most connected people you can meet.  I had heard about Larry’s famous SANG events where he had people like Tony Robbins, Tony Hsieh, Keith Ferrazzi, Jack Canfield, and every other successful author and speaker under the sun attend and speak at his events.  I got to spend half a day with Larry at two different events, in cabs, Warren Whitlock‘s car, and it was fun to learn about the personal side of Larry.  It made me see why so many love to connect with him and why he is successful at what he does.  Check out his blog here, and follow him on Twitter @LarryBenet.

5.  Dan Bliss

What can I say, Dan Bliss is the man.  He is the founder of Perfect Business and the Perfect Business Summit which is one of the top entrepreneur events of the year.  I had the pleasure to meet Dan at one of my L.A. networking events in early 2009 (I believe) and have had a lot of great conversations with him ever since.  It helps to know that Dan graduated from Ohio State and since I live in Columbus and love the Ohio State football team, we get along perfect!  Dan is another person who is extremely well connected and knows a lot about raising investment, and knowing the exact tools you need to start and grow your business.  Check out the Perfect Business site, and on Twitter @perfectbusiness.

6.  Pam Slim

Pam is a celebrity Business/Life coach and is also the author of Escape From Cubicle Nation.  She is pretty much a rock star, and I got more relevant, useful information from her insights in our 20 minute conversation than I did from half of the business books I’ve read this year.  She is an awesome person, great writer, fun speaker, and has that genuine motherly soul that makes you want to give her a big hug every time you see her.  We have only talked a few times in the last two years, but I plan on connecting with her more often as I was reminded at how wise and relevant her advice really is.  Make sure to check out her blog here and follow her on Twitter @PamSlim.

7.  Matthew Lesko

Matthew is my hero.  It takes a lot of balls to be on T.V. all the time, wear a suite with question marks all over it, and act like a mad scientist.  The thing I love about him, (as Jim Kukral would say) is he gets your attention.  In a world where attention spans are shorter and shorter, he continues to keep them.  He has written over 100 books, and pushes the limits with marketing and infomercials.  He had a number of great ideas about where things are headed in the future with T.V. infomercials and the shift to online marketing.  As crazy as his clothes may be, he’s a bright guy.  Check out his blog here and follow him on Twitter @MatthewLesko.

8.  Alicia Dunams

I’ve also known Alicia for over a year now and we have connected a few times in person, but it was fun to hear about the latest things going on in her business.  She helps individuals get more leads, sales and publicity by helping them launch their own book in a little less than a month.  It’s pretty fun to get more press, and writing my own book (with co-author Frank Agin) has opened doors for me that otherwise wouldn’t have been open.  Make sure to check out here site here and follow her on Twitter @AliciaDunams

9.  Trey Pennington

Trey is someone I’ve had the pleasure of being on stage with during a social media panel.  He is probably one of the nicest guys in social media that I know, and I think it has a lot to do with him being from the South (just kidding Trey).  He has somewhat of a Southern accent, has the manners of a saint, and seems to have a smile on his face no matter what this situation.  He has a dominating presence on Twitter, and just knows a lot about building a community (much better than myself).  I see Trey all over the world speaking on a number of stages, and only see big things to come in the future.  Make sure to check out his blog here and follow Trey on Twitter @TreyPennington.

10.  Josh Ochs

I sat on the advanced social media marketing panel with Josh, and grew to like him very quickly.  1.  Because he agreed with a number of the things I was mentioning in regards to LinkedIn and social media and 2.  because he had a number of complimentary ideas to add to our panel that was more refreshing than previous panels I’d been on.  He also used the word “nerd” or “nerdy” 27 times during our hour long talk, and because of that, I figured the guy was pretty cool.  In all seriousness, Josh is the marketing pro behind Media Leaders, the international social event company that now operates in 15 cities around the world.  Feel free to check out his blog here and follow him on Twitter @JoshOchs.

My Simple Recommendation

Follow these entrepreneurs, watch what they do, connect with them in person, and try to add value to their life or business.  They each have unique talents, experiences, and connections that could make or break your next project or business.

If you know any of these successful entrepreneurs yourself, please add a note in the comments section stating what you like about them, or how they have directly benefited your business already.  Also, please share this article only with those who you respect, so they to can enjoy the benefit of connecting with these powerful entrepreneurs.

Wouldn’t it be nice to rank #1 on Google for a certain keyword in your industry or niche?

It would be amazing, and that’s why brands spend a lot of money every month to SEO agencies in hopes of making the front page of Google for a certain keyword.

I knew this concept was powerful as well, but realized the more I taught others this concept of ranking high on LinkedIn, they got excited about it!

Ranking High on LinkedIn

When you look at the image below, you will see that I rank first when you type in the keyword “sports” on LinkedIn.  For me this is very important as I want to dominate the online space with my site SportsNetworker, and the Sports Executives Association.  I want to be known as a credible resource in the sports industry, and by ranking first out of over 1.2 million (image below is an old screen shot) results for the word “sports” on LinkedIn this allows me to stay at the head of the pack in the sports business world.

5 Keys To Rank #1 On LinkedIn

This is a simple process to rank on the first page of search results in the “people search” section on LinkedIn.  Although this doesn’t work every time, it works most of the time and I’ve seen it well over 100 times happen for people in real time.  There are five places you need to put your keywords when you use this strategy:

1.  Headline

Your headline is the first thing people see when they go to your LinkedIn profile, therefore (in my mind) it’s the most important or most relevant part.  If your headline doesn’t have your keywords in it, then you are missing the biggest section of the equation.

2.  Current Work Experience

Your current work experience is the next most relevant thing because it is what you are currently doing in business.

3.  Past Work Experience

You start to notice that this works in the top to bottom approach within your profile.  Start from the top, and working your way through your profile to the bottom.

4.  Summary

Your summary is the meat of your profile, or the body of your speech.  Make sure it looks clean and you don’t just add a line of key words next to each other or it won’t represent your personal brand well.

5.  Specialties

This is the section you want to add a number of different keywords to showcase your talents in short phrases.

I go into more detail about each section during my video interview with the sassy Amanda Coolong and good friend Efren Toscano on the TechZulu show below.

There are a number of other reasons LinkedIn can help you improve your reach within your industry or niche, simply starting a LinkedIn group will help your build a loyal fan base of potential customers in no time.  Take advantage of this powerful site by optimizing your profile full of key words, then start using the other amazing features it has to take your brand or company to the next level.