PL-1B (Your first steps - Part B)

The next step in Session 1 is to put a recurring entry in your calendar for the weekly Workshop you plan to attend

• You can find the Workshop times and Zoom links in the “What's On” calendar;
• We kick-off the Workshop with a chance to spend time meeting others - so please join 10-15 minutes early

The next step in Session 1 is to gain a broad understanding of the options in the Builders menu.

The Builders menu is always your starting point for all network-building activities. It is accessed through the top menu after accessing the connectcollaborative dot net website. When you access this menu option, the Builders Menu will appear.

The Builders menu has the following Columns.

• Activity
• Meetings
• Podcasts
• Membership

Let’s have a look at the options in each of these columns.

The Activity column of the Builders menu has the following options.

• Start here & Progressive learning.
• Access your Activity Sheet
• Book guests into a CC Intro
• Start a new team member
• Up for a Challenge
• View your Team

Let’s take a quick look at each of these options.

• Option 1; Start here & Progressive learning.
  • This option in the Builders menu gives you access to the progressive learning mind map on which the podcast you are listening to right now is based.
  • It’s is essential to become familiar with the mind map and not just rely on this audio. Some things require you to see and interact with
• Option 2; Access your Activity sheet
  • If you have created and saved an Activity workbook, you can access your Activity workbook through this option.
• Option 3;  Book guests into a CC Intro
  • You can book your guests in for a CC Intro session using this option in the Builders menu.
  • This menu option will take you to a mind map that explains in detail how to book your guests in for an Intro session using our Calendly booking system.
  • It’s important to note that you are booking the intro session on your guest’s behalf. Therefore, they should receive a confirmation email, a reminder email and a reminder SMS. The confirmation email also contains a 5-minute video on what to expect when they attend the CC workshop and the Zoom link to attend the meeting. Nevertheless, it is wise to contact your guest and ensure that they have received the confirmation email.
  • All of our Workshops have an introductory session that you can invite potential new members to attend.
  • Your guests will attend the entire workshop to gain a great experience of the CC. However, while you are attending one of our Workshop sessions, they will attend a CC introductory session that explains the vision of the CC and the meetings and tools we provide.
  • Each guest will also have the opportunity to introduce and give a brief background about themselves. 
  • At the end of the session, each guest is encouraged to fill in a Questionnaire about their intentions regarding network-building. This Questionnaire will be emailed to you within about half an hour of your guest submitting the form.
  • This CC experience for guests is highly effective. Approximately 70% of the guests who attend indicate on their Questionnaire that they are ready to take a trial.
  • However, it is essential to realise that this high success rate is mainly due to CC members inviting qualified candidates. In other words, invite others that you have qualified as being willing to put in a consistent effort to build their network. Don’t just invite anyone to take a look.
  • It’s great to set a goal to invite a guest every week or every second week. This is easily achieved when you commit to 15-20 minutes of proactive network building effort using LinkedIn every day.
• Option 4; The next item in the Activity column of the Builders menu is; “Start a new team member.”
  • This option allows you to register a new member or to restart someone who has been a member of the CC in the past.
• Option 5; Up for a challenge?
  • It is crucial to develop consistent network building habits. Setting daily activity goals that you can easily stick with, really helps. This menu option suggests some inspiring challenges which will give you a predictable path to build a team of 5 network building advocates.
• Option 6; View your team
  • This option allows you to view your team and their progress so far.
  • When your team is small, it’s easy to keep track of everyone. However, let’s say you have introduced 5 people who have also introduced 5 people. Now you have 25 in your team, and it’s easy to see this quickly expanding to 125. That’s the aim of the game - a few people introducing a few people who introduce a few people. When this happens, the “View your team” option in the Activity column of the Builders menu can be very handy.

The Meetings column of the Builders menu has the following options.

Option 1; What’s On

Option 2; Workshops

Option 3; Meet fellow collaborators

Option 4; Results Accelerators

Option 5; Special Interest Groups

Let’s have a look at the options in each of these columns.

• Option 1; What’s On
  • This menu option takes you to a calendar of all CC events, including details such as Zoom links to access meetings.
  • Note that the times on this calendar are displayed in the timezone where you are logged in.
• Option 2; Workshops
  • When you access this menu option, a grid of all our workshops is displayed
  • At the top of the grid, there is a search bar. Use this bar to quickly find anything you are looking for in the Workshop content. For example, if you want to see the details of how to set up the My Most Trusted chrome extension, you could simply enter “MMT.”
  • You will be asked to choose which Workshop breakout room you want to attend at our weekly workshop. Each week choose the next workshop in sequence. So at your first workshop, you would choose Workshop 1 (Welcome and orientation). At the next workshop you attend you would choose Workshop 2 ( named “Why” in the workshop grid) and so on.
  • You can re-attend any workshop.
  • Workshops 5a & 5b are exceptional cases in that they are designed to provide you with individual help.
  • Workshop 5 explains how to reach out to others on LinkedIn using the My Most Trusted Chrome extension. In addition, workshop 5a is there to help answer any questions you may have with this process.
  • Workshop 5b is designed to help you achieve better results with your LinkedIn process. It covers topics such as how to construct better search criteria.
• Option 2; Meet fellow collaborators
  • This option allows you to access a list of all the other collaborators who are current members of the CC.
  • Initially, a mind map is displayed. This explains features such as filtering options. Once you have learned these features, you can click the “Access Now” button to access the list of fellow collaborators.
• Option 3; Results Accelerators
  • This menu option explains our weekly Results Accelerator meetings
  • Once you have mastered the fundamentals, it’s time to check out just how great our Results Accelerator meetings are.
  • The Results Accelerator meetings can be highly effective in speeding up your tangible results.
  • These meetings go for about an hour and are currently held twice a week with the same person giving us some background on themselves and what business problems they help solve.
  • Anyone is welcome to attend these meetings at any time (you do not have to register).
  • However, we suggest new people spend the first 4-6 weeks absorbing the basics of the system so that they don’t become overwhelmed by trying to do too much too quickly (as we say, it can be like trying to take a drink from a fire hose!).
  • We also suggest you choose one of the Results Accelerator meetings that you plan to regularly attend. This can be achieved by clicking the link provided when you access this option. Then, you’ll receive a weekly email and an SMS with information about who is presenting this week.
  • The format for the Results Accelerator meetings is as follows:
    • For the first 15 minutes or so, various people contribute good news stories relating to
    • Building their network
    • How they have been able to help or advocate for others and how others have been able to advocate for them
    • This is followed by a 20-minute presentation from one of our contributors. Their presentation usually covers their background, the services they provide and what differentiates them from others providing similar services.
    • The most important part of the meeting is the final 15 minutes or so, where we all contribute by thinking about how we may help the person who has just given their presentation – especially which contacts we have that we may be able to advocate them to
  • The Results Accelerators are especially great as they are usually highly relaxed, entertaining & most importantly, we get to know the presenter far better than we possibly could from a mere “elevator pitch”.
• Option 4; The final option in the Meetings column is “Special Interest Groups” of SIGs for short.
  • Special Interest groups allow people in a similar industry to collaborate;
  • For example, we have a small business SIG where those who provide services for small businesses can collaborate (even those providing similar services);
  • Someone with a passion for forming such a group usually asks the CC to consider facilitating the formation of such a group. They will then offer to lead the group, organise and administer Zoom meetings etc;
  • If you believe you could contribute to such a group, you can apply to become a member;
  • Similarly, if you have someone you know in a small business who needs help, you may be able to refer them to the Small Business Group;
  • Often the members of a SIG will be helping clients who express the need for a service that is outside their area of expertise. That member can often enthusiastically and authentically advocate for another member of the SIG whom they trust and may help provide that service to their client;
  • Members of SIG actively listen for opportunities for other members of the SIG as they provide services to their clients. On many occasions, significant business needs are discovered in casual conversations;

The Podcasts column of the Builders menu has the following options.

• Option 1; Classics
• Option 2; Workshop
• Option 3; Progressive Learning
• Option 4; How to invest your time

These podcasts are GOLD!

It is great to listen to audios while doing other activities such as driving, walking the dog or cleaning the house.

We highly recommend that you save the Builders menu to your phone’s home screen so that you can access these Podcasts easily from your phone. There are 4 simple steps to follow to save the Builders menu to your phone. These steps are described in detail using screenshots in the Progressive Learning mind map.

We are continually adding great talks to our Classics podcast. These talks are often TED talks or spoken articles carefully selected for their inspiring content. We highly recommend that you work your way through all the episodes in the Classics.

All the written material in our Workshops is also available in spoken form. This is incredibly useful so that you can:

• Listen to the content of a workshop before attending the actual workshop, where you can ask questions and interact with the facilitator and others attending that workshop.
• There is a great deal of material that a workshop facilitator could cover in each workshop, and it is unlikely that workshop facilitators will have the time to cover everything. Therefore, it is highly recommended that you listen to the podcast for each Workshop after attending it. That way, you’ll know you have everything covered.

All the material you will be covering during your weekly on boarding sessions with your Connector is available in a spoken format as well as on the Progressive Learning mind map. Therefore, it is highly recommended that you listen in advance of your upcoming session with your Connector to the content that you will be covering in that session. This will enable you to ask questions and make faster progress.

In addition to the Classics, Workshop and Progressive Learning podcasts, we also have relevant common interest podcasts such as “How to invest your time”. We all struggle with how best to allocate our time, and these talks can help a great deal.

The options in the Membership column of the Builders menu are pretty straightforward.

They are

• Option 1; Update your profile
  • Access this option to change details such as your phone number or email address
• Option 2; Display and print your CC invoices
• Option 3; Update your payment details
  • Remember to use this option to update the expiry date of your credit card at the appropriate time.
• Option 4; Cancel your membership
  • It is important that you point this option out to people when they join your team.
  • We expect people will love and want to be part of the CC, but we also know that life happens.
  • You and your team members must know that the CC is a no-risk option. There is a one-month free trial, no yearly lock-in fee, and memberships can be immediately cancelled should the need arise.

The next step in the Progressive Learning series is to learn the best process for finding the information you need when you need it.

We all have many things competing for our time. So if you have a question, rather than contacting your Connector outside of your weekly onboarding session or emailing CC, first try the following.

• Try the Search bar at the top of the Workshop grid
• Try the Search bar at the top of the Builders menu
• This will give you access to all pages, courses, lessons, topics, quizzes and podcast episodes in the system
• If appropriate, as your questions during the next workshop - especially Workshop 5a & 5b
• As a last resort, email the CC