How to Turn Social Networking into a Job Offer

Making contacts has never been easier thanks to social networking—but learn your netiquette first.

By David LaGesse
Posted May 11, 2009


Dear Friends,

If you have not read the article by David, here is the link.
http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/careers/2009/05/11/how-to-turn-social-networking-into-a-job-offer.html

I have to totally agree with David here. Social networking has been a great source of leads for my services as well is a fantabulous tool for sharing and disseminating franchise information.

I was quite unimpressed at first, thinking that facebook is just one of the many dating sites available. I was right, it is. It is also a lot more than that. It have been a wonderful experience and since then, facebook have introduced me numerous money making opportunities and of course friends from all around the world.

Recently, I got in touch with an old friend from my secondary school days. The prospect of being able to chat with him and knowing what he does now and how much he has progressed really got me so excited. It turns out, he have been in contact (through facebook) with our other friends from the same school. So I added all of them and there goes my weekends. I was online almost 24 x 7 learning about them and how they are now married with children or without. What they do for a living and how they spend their spare time. It really became a great tool to really understand your friends (or clients, depending on your approach).

From the business perspective, facebook have been the main media for me to share information on the franchising trends and resources. It is easy to connect with like minded people, people that share the same interest in franchising. I use it to discuss about available opportunities, I use it to send messages relating to franchising to friends that are looking for franchise opportunities locally and regionally. I use it to advertise my interest and what I do professionally. A little note from a friend, ”It’s not about selling, it’s about sharing and creating interest around it”

That little “one-liner”, turns out to be great. The result, An email from friend in India asked me how the franchising industry have been growing in Singapore and how is he able to bring these franchises from India to Singapore. In another email (from New Zealand), asked me if I am interested to run its franchise in Malaysia and also help sell the others in Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. An Indonesian student, asked me of any international business opportunities available for him to start while he is studying there in Indonesia. A Singaporean asked me for contacts in Dubai and how he can leverage on it. A business owner asked if I am interested in a assisting them to do a project in Singapore.

On the reverse end, I bought a few things from friends I got to know in facebook. I got a web hosting services from a friend in Malaysia. I got acai berry juice from a friend in Singapore (great juice... you should try it). I help a friend in US to promote and sell their franchise. I got a Super GT race tickets from another friend in Singapore who are the SIC (Sepang International Circuit) ticketing agent in Singapore.

Well, there have been a couple of set back for me too. Firstly, I have lesser sleep. Secondly, my wife has been complaining that I spend too much time on the net and says that I have been caressing the keyboard more than her for the past year. My response to that is...

Add me in facebook.