I have asked some people that I Know, Like & Trust… to provide guest articles that bring needed “value” to the general public. This is where they begin, with Sonya Aston… who happens to be running for the 127th State District Court Republican Judge. Well, here’s the good stuff… oh and yes… My Name is Mitchell From and I approve this message by Sonya Aston. :)
Sonya Aston answers the question that most of us won’t answer honestly… ”Are Elections Confusing You?”
Ever sit around with friends and the topic of elections comes up and you really do not want to
admit that you do not know what a primary is? Or understand what the 2010 Census has to do
with elections? This series is designed to answer those questions that you were afraid to ask.
How does one get elected? It is different for each state and for each position. For a partisan
race, that is a race where a candidate is supported by a political party, the candidate must get the
nomination from their party. In Texas, presently there are only four parties that are recognized
by the State of Texas, the Democratic Party, the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, and the
Republican Party. The Green Party and Libertarian Party select their candidates by convention.
In other words, they meet and everyone votes at the meeting to select their candidate. The
Democratic and the Republican Parties select their candidates by primary. In other words,
they hold a primary election. In the primary election, Democratic candidates will run against
Democratic candidates and Republican candidates will run against Republican candidates.
The successful candidates of the primaries and conventions will go on to be candidates in the
general election in November. The voting public may only vote in one of the primaries as long
as they did not participate or plan to participate in the conventions for the Green Party or the
Libertarian Party. If a voter votes in a primary or participates in a convention, they are now
considered a member of the party’s primary that they voted in during the primary or the party’s
convention that they attended. For example if a voter votes in the Democratic primary, there is a
record of their appearance to vote and now they are considered a Democrat.
In order to be on the ballot for the primary, a candidate must sign up to be on the ballot by a
certain date. This date is set by statute and is usually 90 days or so before the primary election.
In Texas, the sign up date was in mid-December. However, as a result of the redistricting that
took place in the spring of 2011, litigation sprang up and delayed the election.
So how do you know which party represents your thoughts on the world? There are a number
of ways to investigate. Typically each party will have a platform that lists issues and the party’s
stance on the issues. A voter can go online and find these platforms readily. Another means is
to attend a meeting. In Texas, a voter can look up the political party offices in a county online
and can usually find a list of meeting places and times. In Harris County Texas, the meetings are
all over the county and quite easily found.
The Democratic Party and the Republican Party hold a state convention every year that there is
a primary, which is every even-numbered year. Representatives to this convention are selected
at precinct conventions which are typically held after the polls close on election night. In Texas,
this year, the precinct conventions were held prior to the elections because the state conventions
were to be held 10 days after Election Day which is not enough time to get organized. In Harris
County, the conventions were held on April 21.
This is all great information, but it does not answer what offices are up for election in the
primary and the general elections. Stay tuned for more in the Are Elections Confusing series.
By Sonya Aston – Attorney with the Office of Stan Stanart, County Clerk and Republican
Candidate for Judge for the 127th State District Court for Harris County. Sonya Aston’s mission is
to instill responsibility in others for self, family, business, community and government and
promises that all who enter her court room will be greeted with respect and their time honored,
when they leave they will feel that they received expeditious, fair treatment and that the law was
followed. Please learn more by visiting Sonya Aston’s website.
A Special Thanks to Karen Cavallaro for inviting me back to speak for the college. This year she brings the Business Success Seminar Series to Tomball. I am honored to be asked to speak at Tomball, since it’s where I live. I look forward to sharing some tips on networking, as well as my own personal plan to networking success. The topic of the presentation is my very own, “C.E.O.’s of Networking” and how having a plan for your networking will save you time & money, while increasing your effectiveness!
We’re going to talk about the “Networking Diet,” but I have to set things up for you first…
Have you ever felt like you needed to lose a few pounds so you went on a diet? That’s not the issue. The issue, is when you constantly feel like you need to lose some weight. Why? Because then you get on the viscous cycle that most dieters know way to much about. You go on a diet, lose some weight, and because you had some success, you decide to take it easy and go off plan. Surprise! You gain some of, if not all, the weight back. So what do you do next? That’s right, you go on another diet, and another, and another and the cycle goes on forever. Trust me, I know the drill. Haven’t you heard of this weight gain and weight loss being called the Dieter’s Yo-Yo? I’ve been overweight for many years now and it’s not because I like being overweight. In fact, you could say that I’ve lost more weight than most people. If you measured my success by my overall efforts and total weight lost, I’d be a winner. However, we don’t measure my success by my efforts or past weight lost, but by where I’m at. Have I arrived at a healthier, leaner, thinner physique? No. Well, not for very long, at least.
The Networking Diet – Similarities? I think So.
The Networking Diet – What is it?
In your business you have determined that networking is good for you. Networking is going to help you grow your business because of the referrals that you expect will come your way. So, off you go, looking for a few good networking groups to join. You attend and attend and attend these groups… almost religiously, until you start to get some referrals. This might be 30 days and this might have taken as much as 90-120 days. You start to build some trust with those around you. They see you at the events regularly and you even help a few people by making some connections for them. However, after a month or so, you decide that you’re getting too busy with business and you decide to step out of your networking groups. I mean, you don’t want to take on more business than is comfortable, right? *sarcasm* So, the Networking Diet kicks in and what you do is you leave the groups for a month or two, so things will settle down. The problem is you stopped attending the groups and they stopped referring business to you. The Networking Diet is in full effect at this point. The trust that networkers have for one another is significantly tied what I call I.C.E. They are looking to see what your Integrity looks like. They want to see if you are Consistent and whether you are truly Engaged. When you leave a group, your ICE melts. Here’s the recap: You go to groups, build up trust, referrals come. You leave groups, trust falters and referrals stop coming. [Rinse/Repeat] The other issue is that the more times you go through this cycle, the harder it is to rebuild that trust. What we need to do is to cut the string of that darn Yo-Yo.
Also, remember the regular food diets? It’s not about how much total weight you’ve lost. With the Networking Diet, it’s not about the total amount of referrals you’ve received in the past. It’s about where you’re currently at. Have you arrived? Have you arrived where you are currently seen as someone that people trust and freely, openly, warmly, refer business to you? This is where you want to stay… clear away from the Networking Diet.
Break the Networking Diet cycle- Gain trust & referrals
What do we do to break the Networking Diet cycle? Committed Consistency. Don’t be consistent for just a little while. Be committed to a few groups that you can handle the time expense of. Then be consistent on a weekly/monthly basis. The longer you are consistently committed, the more success you will have because you will have given the relationships ample time to develop a deeper Know, Like & Trust… further distancing yourself from the Networking Diet cycle. Remember, people will do business with and refer business to, those that they Know, Like & Trust.
Networking should not be looked at like a diet. It’s not a quick fix. It’s a lifestyle change. When people ask me if I’m eating healthy because I’m on a diet… I answer them, No, this is a lifelong change in eating habits/choices. It has to be, for long-term results & success. Make a long-term commitment to make networking a part of your business growth plan. Don’t get on the cycle; Stay off of the Networking Diet.
Sell my IT company? – Have you thought about this question?
If you’re an owner of an I.T. (Information Technology) company, you’ve probably had that thought before. How do I know? I’ve been there. I have spent over 15 years in the I.T. industry and that thought ran through my head plenty of times. It’s not a bad thing. Sometimes business owners go through life changes and business ownership is no longer a fit for them. Sometimes they have put years into the business and now they want to get an early start on retirement. Anyway you look at it, it’s not giving up… it’s moving on. Again, I can say this from experience because I too sold my IT services company. The main question I had was “How do I sell my IT company?”
Answering the question, “How do I sell my IT company?”…
The answer for me was just plain ole dumb luck. I stumbled upon an opportunity to sell my IT company. Up to that point, I really hadn’t seen any simple, easy, inexpensive, resource to help me sell my company. That’s where I’m here to help. I want to make it easy for others that are at that point and are finding it just as difficult as I did. I have been blessed this past year with some amazing introductions and business associates. These connections have made it possible for me to make this offer to you:
Looking to sell your IT company? Contact me.
If you are the owner of an IT Services Company (Managed Services or Break/Fix is a significant percentage of your revenue), then I would be open to looking at purchasing your company. All you have to do is contact me by email, phone or social media and after a short conversation we can get started on the process. We can sign an NDA, I will have our people review the company and then we’ll make an offer. It’s that simple. If you want out, you have an out… without just walking out empty handed while leaving all your customers in the breeze. As I may be interested or willing to help with a transaction anywhere in the nation, I am personally interested in IT companies in the state of Texas, specifically Houston.
The “Sell My IT Company” statements…
I WANT to sell my IT company; I WISH I could sell my IT company; I NEED to sell my IT company or I PRAY I can sell my IT company. Regardless which one of these is you… let me help. I want to take what you’ve poured yourself into and carry on. Your customers will be given the same great service that you always gave them. Contact me and let me help. Now you don’t need to wonder or ask… “How do I sell my IT company?”
The quickest way to fail at networking is tied to the same reason that we came out and started networking in the first place. We are typically introduced to networking through an individual, book, audio or video resource… encouraging us to grow our sales, our profits and our bottom line… through networking. While this is usually the driving force behind us getting out into the “networking world,” it puts us in the wrong frame of mind, for successful networking. Why? Because this makes us think “Sales.” I want to increase my bottom line, so it must be about how many people I can meet and present my products/services to, right? Wrong.
Networking is not about sales. Networking is about connections and lots of them. If you think about the first part of Networking, you will see the word “Net.” Just imagine a net and where each horizontal thread of the net meets a vertical thread. At each of those points, you will find a “connection.” If you want to catch more fish, you need a bigger net, right? Well, you can make a net larger by either spacing out each connection, but then the holes in your net get larger and you net is not effective. Instead, you have to have more and more connections that are closer together. This will make a larger net and one where the holes are smaller, so you have success… catching fish. It’s the same with networking. We need to build our net by creating many solid connections with the people that we meet. Here’s the rub; when we start networking with a “sales” mindset, people will naturally pull away from us. People do not want to be sold and neither do you. We can smell a salesperson a mile away and we run away from them as fast as we can. If we are trying to make “connections” in our net, then leading by selling isn’t going to work. We have to put our sales hat aside and start looking at networking as an opportunity to get to know others around us and see how you can give into their lives. By taking this approach, you will quickly begin to see your net grow and you will have the end result of increasing your bottom line, but as a bi-product of your networking, not as a result of your sales skills or prowess.
The Lost Art of the Thank You Note - Give Honest Sincere Appreciation
I have learned a lot from Dale Carnegie during my life. As we start the new year off, I wanted to share a nugget that I have found very important.
Writing a sincere thank you note is one of the professional skills that can make a lasting favorable impression. People like being appreciated. One of Dale Carnegie’s fundamental human relation principles is “Give honest, sincere appreciation.” When writing a thank you note, use a plain, small card. However, the card is not as important as the effort, so if paper is all that is available, write the note anyway! Use this 6-step formula as a sure-fire method of expressing appreciation in a written note.
1. Greet the Giver: Dear Mr. and Mrs. Smith OR Dear Jamie. It seems like an obvious point, yet many people will begin a note with “Hi” or even omit the greeting.
2. Express Gratitude: Thank you so much for the book. The key is to keep it simple and specific. The point of writing the note is to create an expression of a heartfelt sentiment.
3. Discuss Use: I started to read the book immediately and have found many great ideas already. People like to know that you found their gesture or gift valuable. Sharing how you are using the item or idea makes their effort more meaningful.
4. Another Thank You: Thank them again for the gift. It’s not excessive to say thanks again.
5. Complimentary Close: Wrap it up with a close that expresses your final thought: Regards, All the Best, Sincerely, Gratefully, etc. Then sign your name.
6. Send It: Even if your colleagues and acquaintances are not of the note-writing variety, be the one who sets the precedent.
It is the mark of a true professional to become skilled at writing thank you notes in this age of email, voicemail, and text messaging.
Demonstrating business professionalism is not difficult; it just takes effort and focus. Applying simple aspects of business etiquette goes a long way in establishing our professionalism, which builds our confidence and comfort in business settings.
As we attend networking opportunities, we find that most of them revolve around food and drink. It is true that food brings people together. Just think back to the last few social gatherings at your house and ask yourself, where does everyone congregate? In the kitchen! We are so accustomed and comfortable with socializing around food and with food, that we have allowed some bad habits to creep in.
Here’s the scenario: You’re at a networking event that has some wonderful hors d’oeuvres that look mighty tasty. Since you’re not in any big conversation, and you’re feeling a little hungry, you go and grab a plate of those hot-wings and other tasty treats. As a right handed person (which most of us are), you hold the plate in your left hand and proceed to chow down, using your right hand to grab the food and shovel it in your mouth. Towards the end of the evening, you realize that nobody has really come around and struck up any conversation with you and you think to yourself… what is wrong with these unsociable people?
What really happened is that you isolated yourself from the room. Anyone that was paying any attention to you at all, noticed how you were eating your food. Nobody wants to walk up to someone who is eating with their right hand and introduce themselves. Why? Because they know that the introduction leads to a handshake and they don’t want to shake your hand that has been all over your food and in your mouth. There are frequent times when I see someone doing this and they go even farther and lick each and every one of their fingers… to get them, clean. This individual will find the evening to be one where it is hard to connect with people. Not only will people not want to approach you, but they will not want to bring someone over and introduce them to you for the same reasons. Not only are they personally uncomfortable with your habits, but they are concerned for the person that they want to introduce to you.
The bottom line… carry your plate of food in your right hand and eat with your left. Just remember this: Protect your right hand, so people feel that you are consciously being considerate of them. If you’re going to network, network with intention and purpose and you will reap the rewards of standing out in a crowd… in a good way.
With Christmas and New Years coming fast, we will have plenty of networking opportunities that will have drinks of all kinds, available. This is always welcomed, especially because of all the talking that we do while networking. Now, whether you think that toting a drink around the room makes you look more sophisticated or whether you just need to quench that thirst, there is a definite rule that everyone should know about drinks and networking. Don’t carry your drink in your right hand.
Now, I know that most of you are complaining right now, saying, “… but I’m right handed, it’s only natural for me to carry my drink in my right hand.” Even so, we must train ourselves to carry our drink in our left hand. Most drinks “sweat” and the outside of the glass gets wet from the condensation. This means your hand gets wet. Now, if you had the glass in your right hand, this is what happens:
A perfect connection for you approaches and wants to introduce themselves to you. They say “Hello” and extend their hand to shake. You leave them hanging for a moment while you switch your glass into your left hand, proceed to wipe your hand on your shirt or pants ( trying to get it as dry as possible) and then shake their hand. You think that you were smooth, but what you just did was slime them with a wet, cold and clammy hand.
After people catch on that this is your M.O., they will stop coming up to you at events and they surely will not bring people over, to introduce to you. Carry your drink in your left hand to avoid this common mis-hap. Also take note, that with your drink in your left hand, your right hand is free to not only shake hands, but also to reach into your shirt/jacket pocket or purse for your business card. Be intentional; know how your actions will help or hurt your networking.
First off, I have to say that the 11:11 phenomenon is one that I experience on a regular basis and I have to blame Leo Corley for that. Once he shared with me that he saw 11:11 all around him… I couldn’t stop seeing them. Now, as 11:11:11 on 11/11/11 approaches, I felt I had to do a little tribute and put a countdown timer on my blog for us. Here’s to you Leo!
Well, this week was my oldest daughter’s first day of “Big School,” as she likes to call it. She is a brand new Kindergartner. It was kind of surreal because we went about our normal routine… getting ready for school, etc. The only exception is that instead of going to the day care, we went down the street to the bus stop. I guess this is why we didn’t have any tears or anything; we have been doing the “school thing” for a while now. Maybe if this was the first time she was going anywhere, then we might have been a little weepy. I’m very proud of her… and of Mommy… for being such big girls. :)
By Sonya Aston – Attorney with the Office of Stan Stanart, County Clerk and Republican
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