This week I had a short service call where I had a wide variety of tasks.   First, I was asked to diagnose a laptop with a display problem.  After being powered on for two minutes, the display dims and can’t be seen.  I had a hunch the Display had failed and proved this by connecting my external monitor to the VGA connector  and had a perfect picture.  Number 2: two years ago I had set up a wireless network for this client.  Now, new users attempting to connect were unable to.  I used my laptop to prove the wireless network was still operational and it was.  I compared the login credentials with mine and found they were incorrect.  They had old information.   Third: The client wanted to know how to use the networking site Linkedin.com and I showed them a few options.  I searched LinkedIn contacts for people in a certain industry in Fort Wayne to show the powerful search feature.   And I showed how to message a contact.  Four: the client had a VHS VCR tape deck which had lines across the television screen occasionally during tape playback.  They assumed the playback heads needed cleaned.  I had another idea; the tape head tracking needed adjusting when a new tape is played.  I showed the client how to adjust the tracking up and down with the front-panel controls.   That’s about as diverse as one service call can get!

Tuesday morning I attended Georgetown Networking at Georgetown Bowl.   Some others in attendance were Vic Sockrider, Steve Sandstrom, Jane Schwartz, Mike Moses, Dan Surface, Mark Pfeiffer, Richard Reed, Michelle McCarel, and Bill Hartman.   Some of us bowled first before the meeting.  Vic and Steve setup 7-pin no tap and Jane almost got a perfect game.  Networking and bowling go well together and if you haven’t done it come out and give it a try.  Dan Surface presented the program of 13 ways to promote your business which gave me some new ways to promote myself.   Dan always gets us involved in the discussion and I learned much this meeting.  Come out every Tuesday at 730AM join us.

The last couple of days I have been updating contact information for my computer clients; adding emails, web sites, and tracking down incorrect emails, etc.  I occasionally encounter business people who have company web sites and use different email addresses to send business email.   What I mean is in my case, the web site is gconsult.us.  My email address is shane@gconsult.us which matches.  But other businesses have a web site like My-business-site.com and use an unmatched email as in stupid567@goobermail.com.  Or cutebunsOO@poorimage.net.   Some people don’t realize that if you have a web site you’re paying for, you also have email addresses available with the same domain name.   Ask your web site hosting company about using your web site email if you’re not now.  Or ask me and I can look into it.   It will put you and your company in a more  professional light.

I discuss LinkedIn.com (LI) quite often with networkers and professionals.   LinkedIn is a what call I call a business social media site.  You won’t find pictures of cute animals or discussions about peanut butter sandwiches which look like famous people.  You’ll find professional groups to educate you, recommendations for your contacts and yourself, posts about business-related articles and job opportunities.   I have connected people using the “get introduced through a connection” service.   Sunday, a client called me to say a friend’s company needed computer support and said they are a LI contact.  I proeceeded to search his contacts and send them a message to connect.  I can view what the company does so I’m not surprised when I arrive.   I’ve had companies want to check out my credentials and reliability by asking for a resume.  I suggest they find me on LI and connect and they will find all my information.   If you don’t have a web page, then Linkedin can be a way for people to find you.   Half the networkers I ask have a LinkedIn account and those that do have accounts,  most don’t have any idea what to do with it. I can assist with that.   If you aren’t active on LI, at least have a current profile on it and have a picture.  And one piece important piece of advice: have your phone number, email address and web site on LI also.   Many times I look for a phone number on someone’s contact info never to find it.  Make it easy to be found!

Last Thursday I attended the monthly CU@Georgetown networking party which also had the New Haven Chamber Meet Me@5.   This was held at the Georgetown Bowl in Fort Wayne.  We had many people in the lounge and I want to thank to Vic Sockrider for hosting and all the food and drinks.   I ran into Dan Hodges, Jeff Abbott, Gary Kasunic, and Vince Buchanon  from the old New Haven Chamber of Commerce Networking Group from 2005-2007.   From the Georgetown group, I saw Shironna G, Dan Surface who mc’d, Sally Segerson, Beth Flagg, Steve Jehl, Al Wasvick, and many others.  Dan Hodges and I got to talk about networking and blogs and he introduced me to some of his friends and we talked about computers, LinkedIn and viruses. The after-hours events are great for re-connecting with past contacts and networkers.  I don’t think Dan and I have talked this much at one time and if not for this event it probably wouldn’t have happened.  Gary and I talked about his business and his family which was interesting.  Anytime you have a chance to attend an after-hours networking event you should.  It gives you more time than a noon-time or morning networking event.