Have you ever had a discussion with a person where you feel you have step outside of yourself and watched your outside person kick the one that is you standing there. Its moments like that which make you question…

What is it that you bring to the table? What makes you unique?

I was speaking with Andrew Ballenthin who hands down, was a great guy to talk with and had some real helpful insight for me on where certain propects in the marketplace are going. You should follow him @solsolutions. I posed some questions to him in regards to possible synergies in regards to my skill set and he said

Don’t reinvent the wheel, see how you can connect with like minds

In of itself not a very earth shattering statement but when put in the cloud of social networking it speaks volumes. It speaks to all levels of engagement regardless if your just an observer,blogger or a tweeter on amphetamines. You are connecting and filtering your online exchanges based on like minds or aspirations with others that have the same end in sight. A statement that Andrew can obviously attest to by the activity and engagement present on his Community Marketing Blog

Position yourself,learn and constantly evolve into a person that can assist yourself in your vocational engagements but also benefit others and then in turn yourself when you partner with other great people. Invest the many hours it takes to be focused and aware of all the different types of people and different lines of work because there will always be a common thread.

Another couple of great take away items from our telephone conversation was that

• Listening and interpreting is an art form
• Restating what the person said to confirm acknowledgment
• More listening, less talking
• Offer an honest opinion and explain the intention is to help not hinder
• Before ending the conversation summarize topics discussed and any future plans

It was a pleasure and as most people will find if they are honest with themselves, striving to better oneself sometimes takes a type of person to really look at themselves and ask the 5 W’s

Have you ever had to take a hard look at your person or business and ask? Would love to hear your experience.