Golden Rule 2.0

Don't do to anyone what you wouldn't want them to do to you (unless they request the treatment).

If someone attacks you in a childish and inconsequential manner - ignore them. Turn you back on the offender.

Why?

Because an intelligent person does not lower their status by arguing with childish people (drunks, fools, mentally ill, etc.).

For example; Kings do not respond to "cat-calls" from peasants.

On the other hand;

If someone attacks in a manner that has detrimental consequences - defend yourself / strike back hard.

Why?

Because an intelligent person protects their reputation and physical health.

For example;

Kings respond with an Army when they are invaded or physically attacked - as should we.

It is our "god-given" right to defend ourselves from harm.

Thus, we must fight against the Trump phenomenon.

Why?

Because Trump is behaving like a methamphetamine addict - boxing with entities that only he can see. His natural impulse is to pick fights. It's only a matter of time before he harms the rest of us.

The POTUS doctrine is supposed to be; "I may not agree with what you say, but I will fight for your right to say it." It's part of the inauguration oath to defend the constitution (which includes Freedom of Speech). Instead, the frigging douche-bag Trump is driving us towards nuclear Armageddon.

Trump is way too reckless. The proverbial "loose cannon" will be the end of us if we don't remove him from power. The election needs to be annulled - as if it never happened.

How I went from 1 to 26 endorsements in less than a month ~ Linked-in 202 ~ Obtaining Recommendations ~

When I see a profile on Linked-in that indicates 500+ connections and zero endorsements - I question the quality of the connections. My personal goal is to have a five percent ratio of endorsements to connections - meaning that if I have 100 connections, then I should have at least 5 endorsements.

Mission accomplished. In the past month, I received 25 recommendations on Linked-in. These endorsements extend all the way back to my first job as a "loud-mouth" teenager.

Question: How did I go from one lonely endorsement to twenty-six in a single month?

Answer: it wasn't easy

1. Be an outstanding performer (obviously), who receives thank you notes. Save the notes.
   
   
2. Go through your file of thank you notes that people have sent to you over the years.
   
   
3. Invite the people who have sent you thank you notes, to join your Linked-in cult (whoops, I meant fan club, whoops, I mean "network").
   
   
4. After the person has joined your cult / fan club / network on Linked-in, make it real easy for them to endorse you by sending them the exact words that they already wrote on the thank you note that they sent in the past. Ask them to copy-paste their own words into a Linked-in recommendation. Make it mega-easy for them.
   
   
5. Start writing endorsements for the people who you would honestly hire or work with again. Write lot's of them. Don't expect reciprocation from the folks you write endorsements for. Write endorsements for others because:
   
• it makes you feel good
• it demonstrates your writing style (the endorsements that you write are displayed on your profile as well as the recipients).
• it demonstrates a cool-person attitude.
• people who write endorsements are higher status than those who don't. They are the proverbial "class acts."
  
  
6. Wait three weeks, then start round 2.
   
   
7. Resend your endorsement requests to anyone who didn't respond. Point out how many endorsements you already have. Provide a link to your portfolio website. In a nutshell, demonstrate that you are a BAMF (bad ass MoFo - a.k.a. "A" player), who is worthy of being endorsed.
   
   
8. Resubmit the endorsements that you wrote for others and weren't accepted. Re-write them. Don't ask why they didn't accept the original. They probably didn't know that they have to click "Accept" - or the phone rang and they never came back to the email. Point out that endorsements = credibility and it is in their best interest to have lots of them.
   
   
9. After someone accepts your endorsement, you can ask for one from them, if AND ONLY IF, you deserve to be endorsed by that person. For example, I have written many endorsements for people who don't really have enough experience with me to reciprocate. Deaton Bednar, PM in Texas, is a good example. I hired her to be a project manager for Callidus and she did a great job. I wrote her endorsement spontaneously when I came across her on Linked-in. The only thing she can say about me is "Freddy is a cool guy. He was a pleasure to work for. I hope he hires me again." That isn't much of an endorsement, and I wouldn't want her or anyone else to write it. I can't stress enough, we must write endorsements for those who deserve it - without expecting anything in return. Do it because it makes you feel good, and it looks good on your list of endorsements that you have written for other people. When a champion reaches the goal, arriving at the top of the mountain, the first thing he or she does is turn around and reach out to help the person climbing up behind them.
   
   
10. Moving forward, when someone sends you a thank you note, reply; "You're very welcome. Can you please copy-paste what you just wrote into a recommendation on Linked-in."

Question: how long does all that take?

Answer: it depends on:

• how many thank you notes you have received
• how many connections you have on Linked-in
• and how many of those connections you can sincerely endorse
  
  

My collection of thank you notes contains well over 100 from the past 20 years. In the past month I have spent at least 100 hours re-connecting and asking for endorsements (using the copy-paste technique described in #4) - and another 100 hours writing over 60 endorsements for other people - without being asked.

Don't be discouraged by the amount of time I have spent. I am an old guy who is anal retentive enough to save thank you notes. Most people won't have to spend as much time collecting endorsements as I do.

Is it worth the effort? You tell me. In the past month I have received 25 endorsements. That's an approximately twenty-five percent response rate to my requests for recommendations - and approximately five percent of my total connections.

Is it  worth the time and effort? Would I do it again? Yes and Yes.

If you found value in this post, then please click the "+1" button (below) and leave a comment.

Rockin regards,

---Freddy

3 Reasons to have Linked-in and FaceBook accounts

1) Convenience:

FB and LI save us the time and pain of updating our contacts phone numbers and email addresses. If you send someone an email and it fails to arrive - because your contact has changed their address, simply check their FB or LI page and copy/paste their new address into your email tool. Your email tool will remember the new address.

Facebook has replaced the friends and family portion of my phonebook.

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2) Credibility:

If you don't have an account on FB and LI, then your business suffers a hit on credibility. It's like not having a phone number or email address. If you give out business cards, or use email or have a website, then it may also make sense to have a Linked-in page and a Facebook page (for you and your business).

Linked-in has replaced the business portion of my phonebook / rolodex.

If you want people to be able to find you, then it's a good idea to have a Linked-in page.

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3) Cool:

The warm-and-fuzzy feelings (and laughs) that you get from keeping in touch with friends and family are their own reward (even if all you do is read their posts and look at their photos).

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"Non-adopters"

When you come across folks who say "I don't use Facebook or Linked-in" - it's because they don't care about reason #3 (the cool factor), or they have privacy concerns or time management issues or they have a bad habit of posting and then regretting it, or they are outlaws on the run, or maybe they don't have a computer or have some sort of physical handicap that makes it difficult.

If you care about that person, politely inform them about reasons 1 and 2 (increased credibility and eliminating the maintenance task for contact-info).

Luv ya,
---Freddy

Preconditioned Patterns of Behavior

If it weren't for all these preconditioned patterns of behavior we'd be lost in an abyss.

My first public Blog

The design tools on this site are cool. If you want to start a Blog, this is the place.

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