Here’s a #TapTip vlog about the importance of setting goals in order to compare your decision outcomes with what you need to achieve according to your plan.

Posted by: Yael Tamar Greenberg

The article about Cassanova McKinsey can be found here.
   
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Key to success in any field is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours.

By Yael Tamar

In his book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell builds an impressive case of why very talented people succeeded. He uses examples of famous composers, musicians and scientists to show that it was not by talent alone that they got to being incredibly good at something. 

He calculated that one needs to work on something for about 20 hours of work a week for 10 years in order to convert your “talent” to greatness. In other words, talent is simply “practice makes it perfect.”

Some examples that Gladwell gives are the Beatles, who before becoming the most popular band in the world logged more than 10,000 hours of playing on stage in a German bar (over four years, sometimes 10 hours a day), an experience to which other bands could not come near.

Another example is Bill Gates, who by sheer luck had logged in more than 10,000 hours of programming by the time he dropped out of Harvard.

Of course these historical examples have to do a great deal with opportunities. The Beatles got invited to perform at the German club and Bill Gates lucked out to be one of the 50 guys in the world (allegedly) who had an unlimited access to a computer at the time he grew up in.

However, opportunities present themselves all the time. We just have to have an eye for them and work hard logging in hours at something we want to be great at.

And this is good news for most of us!

Start planning your achievement today, sign up for http://taptank.com

Author: Farhana Rahman

  TapTime with: Daniel Feldman, Social Media Manager of @Waze

You can tap Daniel for: Customer engagement advice, help building a fantasy football team. I’m going to tap him for Hebrew lessons.

Daniel will tap you for: Networking purposes

Where do I start talking about Daniel? He’s one of those personalities that makes look forward to getting on Twitter. When asked of his interests, Daniel responded, “I play squash, fantasy football, cook, go salsa dancing and study for an MA degree in conflict research resolution and management. I also work at Waze which is an amazing, top of the line startup. Shameless plug: For those who aren’t familiar with Waze, its a free GPS application that routes you around traffic http://www.waze.com”

Daniel landed his first position in Social Media in 2008, ‘before anyone even knew what social media was,’ while living in Israel and seeking a position as an English teacher. He originally used social media to keep in touch with his friends. As time went on, he used it to “keep up with my interests, get useful ideas that I can use at my company, as well as make connections that could serve me well in the future.”

He also likes connecting with people of positions similar to his, such as: Liz Heron (Social Media editor at New York times), Meghan Peters (community manager at Mashable) and Martin Beck (Social Media/Reader engagement at LA times). In approaching people of such influence, Daniel simply tweets them with direct questions, and comments.

Most of Daniels connections are in the U.S, Canada, Israel, Taiwan, the U.K, Hungary, and Australia. But from what I have seen, he really has ‘em all over. Feel free to reach out to him through Waze, or his personal Twitter handle.

Author: Farhana Rahman

The biggest rule-of-thumb when it comes to handing out business cards is to not hand them out like playing cards. Presentation is key. That doesn’t mean presenting your card on a mini silver platter though! If handling a small number of cards, you don’t even need a business card holder, so long as your cards are easily accessible, and neat. Also-do make an impression in your delivery. Show your personality, and add a humanistic element to your card.

I like to perk myself up before handing one of my cards over to a person-of-interest, and I like to come off as a personable professional, rather than a pitchy annoyance. Below is one approach I take. Works very well for me:

Clearly you could see that I am being personable and professional- not pitchy or ridiculously fake. People love praise, so praise them. Let it all come naturally, because the whole point of exchanging business cards is in the prospect to have a professional future with the contact.

One thing I learned the hard way: Business cards- never leave home without ‘em!

Author: Farhana Rahman

TapTime with: About.com Video Producer: Pelpina Trip

You can tap Pelpina for: Production and hosting of videos, host events, conduct presentations, help with brand awareness, review products/websites on video, etc.

Pelpina will tap you for: “I would love to help with a company or product’s brand awareness if someone wants to talk about their social media/marketing/PR expertise on video with me (Skype works), and I would love to teach you Dutch over Skype if you can create a cool Twitter background for me!”

By Yael Tamar

So you have an idea for a great product. You’ve been obsessing over it for some time now; and not only that, you’ve been working on it full time. You’re an entrepreneur…

And then one day a friend sends you an article that [Insert company name here, e.g. Google, Facebook or smaller players] has just launched something very similar to what you thought was going to make you rich. 

Do you close up shop and go back to your full-time job?

The answer is, not so quickly. Remember, competition is a good thing. I am sure [Insert company name here, e.g. Google, Facebook or smaller players] is not the only one who has a similar idea to yours. 

The way it works is when you create an initial offering, you initially guess what people will need or like. However, users will dictate to you eventually what they really need and want. 

That’s why companies do what they call a Beta with their new product. They monitor users’ behavior for a few months to see whether the product has answered the need those users have. 

You run several pilots to cover all kinds of users to see which kind of products or services that you offer are in the highest demand. 

After 6 to 12 months of such testing, you evaluate and streamline our activities using a 80/20 principle - which 20% of activities you provided brought 80% of the revenues and then you focus on those activities. 

Let’s assume that [Insert company name here, e.g. Google, Facebook or smaller players] is really top-notch in a specific area of operation and covers the whole nation geographically. Then if you fail to offer added value to users in that area and your potential users chose not to use your service or rate it badly, you will not offer that service and focus on more profitable activities.

However, this is not the most likely outcome at all! OK, maybe statistically, it is, but if you take different measures and steps to be a successful startup (Example: Lean Startup methodology created by Eric Preis), then statistics are on your side. 

The more you try, the higher is the probability you will succeed. That’s why the most successful entrepreneurs are the most persistent ones. 

Good luck!

Author: Farhana Rahman

Are you one of the many people who feel a degree of intimidation in approaching successful people? This could include anyone… a superior at work, management of an establishment, affluent people with a high level of influence, etc.

Personally I’m not afraid to approach these people, because of a little outlook that I taught myself. Works great for me! Allow me to explain in the video below:

In addition to treating successful people as… people, you can’t allow yourself to worry about making the other person ‘like’ you. We all have a lot to learn from each other, so allow your confidence to shine through in a personable manner. Talk about what the person would find useful and fascinating, don’t just throw a bunch of trigger words at them (that’s annoying.)

It’s understandable that you wouldn’t want to risk losing what could be a valuable relationship. Even so, what really matters is making an impression. That’s what plants the seed. Even if you flub here and there, you can redeem yourself as you follow-up, because the connection has been made, and the seed has been planted.

Author: Farhana Rahman

TapTime with PR & Media Maven: Sabrina G. Fadlun

You can tap Sabrina for: Multilingual, PR and media support. She’s also fantastic in editing documents. And oh, she also says, “I can also teach how to cook great Italian home meals once I learn how to do it myself!”

Sabrina would tap you for: Insight on tech, journalism, convos on the arts and movies. Plus points for anyone with a sense of humor!

Sabrina acknowledges that social media is the present and the future. She calls it “the real way of communication and outreach to millions of people all over the world sharing similar passions and interests.” And trust me, she is a fantastic communicator with an outstanding understanding of cultures around the world.

When she first started using social media, Sabrina wished to gain professional contacts. But as she progressed, she came to realize that she was losing sleep from the enjoyment that came with engaging with a multitude of people “despite language, religion, ideology, belief or any other kind of barriers.” Most of this Italian beauties current contacts are in Israel, and are English speakers in their mid-late 30’s.

In addition to collaborating with her on TapTank, be sure to reach out to Sabrina on Twitter, and you’ll see why so many high-profile people in many industries adore her. And here she is on LinkedIn!

by Yael Tamar

This was one of those pictures that make you grunt and worry that you’ll never get that modeling contract. “Hey, Gil! Could you please take down that awful picture of me? Oh wait, on the second thought…”

On the second thought, leave it. I will use this horrendous piece as an example of how to pick up on body language cues from a person’s body language and how to use it to your advantage.

Right before this picture was taken I was thrown a ball and asked a question. This is a mirror image and so I’m looking to the right as I am responding. I am right handed (as you can see, I caught the ball with the right hand). A right handed person looking to the right while answering is constructing a memory, as opposed to creating a story. At least I am not lying!

The fact that I was looking up means that I was accessing visual information as opposed to auditory or other sensory form.  Basically, me looking up toward my right while holding the ball with my right hand means that I was most likely remembering a past event.

Of course, if you’re a fan of the Lie to Me TV show, you’ll know what I am talking about.

There’s a huge science to picking up cues from body language and how that will take you to another level in negotiations, but we’ll review just a few critical ones here.

1. Visual cues

When you hear a promise or an excuse, look for cues that it’s a genuine one. As you saw above, a right-handed person will look to the right when remembering and to the left when making stuff up. See if they are getting impatient or distracted and if they are looking at their watch or phone. That means you are losing their attention and need to change your pitch/approach.

Watch what your counterpart is doing with their body:

Where are his/her hands, are they folded?

(They are closed up to your idea.)                                

Is he/she rubbing his/her hands together?

(An indication that they expect to receive something)

Are they rubbing their neck?

(They are embarrassed.)

Are they rubbing their nose?

(They are not telling the whole story)

 Are they scratching their head?

 (They really don’t know)

Are they touching their ear?

(They can’t really hear what you say.)

Are they tilting their head?

(They are interested and contemplative)

2. Gain rapport by imitation

It’s called mirroring in NLP. Try to imitate a person’s style and gesture, but do it subtly. E.g. imitate their tone of voice, speed of speech, posture and quirky movements (e.g. tapping the table with a pen) without being too obvious about it. This will help you get their rapport and then you can lead the dance. You can even try to match their breathing!

You can further correct the “wrong feeling between you” by mirroring, taking the lead of another person’s nervous or hostile motions and gradually reducing them and transforming them to a more friendly approach. 

3. Be on their side, literally

Sit on the same side of the table if possible, and no matter what, don’t sit on the opposite end. Sitting next to each other raises the feeling of a common goal and of a mutual interest.

4. Be genuinely interested

Just like you can pick up on the cues from the body language of others, some people can read you like a book. Make sure you know what you are talking about and exude confidence. Don’t look up or to the side when answering a question and keep your own position is as open as possible. Show that you’re interested in the other person and be as much engaged as possible. For me, I find it easy to keep repeating the phrase in my head: “I’m going to close this deal” or “They are going to love me” during the meeting.  

Tune in as we’ll be giving more advice on how to gain rapport and use body language cues in negotiation

Author: Farhana Rahman

TapTime with: Entrepreneur & Buff of Finer Things in Life, Lori Lewis

Author: Farhana Rahman

TapTime with: Master of Marketing: Gary J. Nix (@Mr_McFly)

You can tap Gary for: Marketing strategy tips. He also has a fantastic sense of humor that is known to perk people up!

Gary will tap you for: Strong connections and good conversations.

Author: Farhana Rahman

The dictionary definition of ‘crowdsource’ is to outsource work to an unspecified group of people, typically by making an appeal to the general public on the Internet.

This is a common practice amongst entrepreneurs of any level, because sometimes they simply don’t have the time to complete tasks, or aren’t capable of completing tasks on their own.

First-time entrepreneurs can easily make their loads lighter with the help of a crowd! From coming up with catchy names or slogans for your new venture, to the creation of logos or compilation and editing of videos- the possibilities of what can be achieved through crowdsourcing are endless.

According to Astrophysicist Chris Lintott, there are three surprise perks that he noticed came along with his projects: 1) Crowdsourcing led to serendipitous discovery. 2) Crowdsourcing led to impromptu collaboration amongst strangers. 3) Crowdsourcing kept people engaged with the project. 

But think about it, there are just so many other perks to it! Through crowdsourcing, there is a huge pool of talent working on the side of the entrepreneur- and in record time! Plus, there costs get cut dramatically because large projects get broken down into much smaller groups- and because of that you can make sure that only the cream-of-the-crop tackles your tasks.

Have you ever crowdsourced? What are your thoughts on it?

Author: Farhana Rahman

TapTime with: The Entrepreneurs Behind @Rawporter (Learn more of their raw news app here!)

The co-founders of Rawporter spend the bulk of their time keeping up with the hustle and bustle that comes along with enhancing their recently launched app. They consistently make sure that the beta is polished and functioning properly while working on adding to their user base. They are consistently planning for the future, because they know that it is just one thing to just build a product, but they go an extra mile by doing a lot of research, and working off of user feedback. A lot of feedback from immediate network circle.

The founder of Rawporter, Kevin Davis, took his first jab at social media when his younger brother introduced him to Friendster. Kevin found it interesting and automatically knew it was something that would stick around and get increasingly popular. Kevin originally depended on social media to share things with his family members, and slowly gain popularity. Co-founder Rob Gaige originally heard about people using social media from a marketing perspective. He independently researched peoples trends, to make his marketing approaches more current and real. Rob started connecting with professionals to build a larger user base. Kevin and Rob, as well as their developer Michael Robinson, acknowledge that Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter serve different purposes. They turn to LinkedIn for media connections, Twitter to reach out to large masses of people, and Facebook to create stronger bonds with their followers and cultivating relationships.

The men of Rawporter noticed that a large amount of people enthusiastic about their app hail from the music and entertainment industries. Bearing that in mind, they envision themselves cultivating relationships with them through our service for additional exposure, and for crowd sourcing. They admire the fact that their users collectively have many diverse interests, and seek many ways to cater to them.

Rawporter is always happy to connect and engage with people through their Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts. And iPhone users- don’t forget to download their app!