The Friday Refresh, March 2012

Ready to refresh? Here are some links I have curated for you over the previous few weeks.

The following is a refresh list of things that the modern businessman, entrepreneur, starta or the awesome person that you are may find helpful.

The Mad List by Julien Smith

Julien SmithClick to read Julien’s post titled: Lessons I Learned Reading Over 200 Books

I know that Julien is way up there when it comes to doing thing creatively, differently and awesomely. So I shouldn’t be surprised that out of the blue, he comes up with this massive list of books he has read with little Twitter-like notes on each one of the books on the list. But I was.

You should read that post to find a new book to read. And if, God forbid, you’re not in the habit of reading books, make one. I did make this habit while at college – anything but textbooks right? – and it has helped me ever since.

Also a note for would-be pro bloggers: if you think you can gather a community by constantly writing small, ill-planned posts, then please pay special attention to the amount of time it must have taken Julien to write this post!

Being Good At Social Media & A True Story

Two really useful links for you to better use Social Media.

The first is by the Brian Clark, over at Entreproducer.com. This is how business needs to be done. Click to read his concept of a Minimum Viable Audience and maybe you can see how I am trying to do business online. A great read.

The second link will help you make social media more useful on a personal level.

Click to read his post at Copyblogger titled “14 Ways to Build Strategic Relationships With the Who’s Who of Social Media” by Tom Treanor.

Community Building

Social Media is a tool at best, or a gimmick at worst. When it’s good, it’s really, really good. In fact, I’ve based my business around it. It’s a tool for building communities.

By God’s Grace, I have a great community around the LifeETC blog, thanks to subscribers like you. Not a subscriber? click here to subscribe.

A LifeETC blog reader, Haroon, is completing a Master’s degree in Political Conflict from London’s UCL. He got in touch with me via Facebook, and offered to bring my books that I had ordered from Amazon.

Online Community Management for Dummies book
It is For Dummies. Perfect!

So I ordered the books to his London address, and he brought them here in his luggage to Lahore. We met at Gloria Jeans (Lahore) – meeting for the first time – and had a good talk on doing business and what not. And the cool part? I had ordered a book on building online communities!

Thank you Haroon!

And a hat tip to Lynette Young for the recommendation of the book.

I have directly communicated with writers, best-selling authors, the six-figure bloggers and the social media consultants, all on social networks like Google+.

For me, that is the real power of communities and being part of a group that has action takers and creative folks.

If you have not circled me on Google+, click here to do so now.

Whatever field you are in, there is a community out there that can help you build your knowledge and skill! It is high time we embrace that fact and start using Social Media intelligently.

Looking forward to a great month ahead and I wish you all the best in your conquests and queries.

Note: The LifeETC meetup is tomorrow from 4 PM to 6:30 PM (1.5 hours only) at La Dolce Vita banquet hall, Garrison Gold and Country Club, Lahore. I am looking forward to meet you there.

Dairy Farming Guide by Momekh AD

Also note: If you are interested in Dairy Farming: my Dairy Farming Guide is right now being sold at an introductory rate. The discounted price will not be offered from next month (April).

If you are interested in starting a successful dairy farm, please click here to buy the guide at the introductory price. Thanks.

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