This experience, got me thinking about good referrals in all aspects. Who doesn’t know the importance of trusted network, who doesn’t know one of the most effective way to grow your business is getting new clients referred by existing clients. I remembered it took me 6 months, numerous follow-ups to get my first client, but after that? Repeated client works plus referrals for new clients. Why would people refer you to other people they are doing business with? Likeness, trust and quality of work, you would say. But which comes first? I don’t think there would be any differences for personal and professional, in school or at work.

Quality of work comes first. You get good marks in school, you produce good results at work, you get noticed then you stand out, in some ways.

Trust comes second. You earn people’s trust by doing bit more than the above, from your heart of course. You either give extra hand to classmates in school when needed, or jump in when a colleague is overwhelmed by workload. You do it because you want to help and you can, not because you want to get “extra points”.

Likeness comes third and it’s not least important. Because if people don’t like you, even if you produce good works, and earned their trust, when it comes to referrals, there will still be hesitations.

What are your thoughts? How do you get referrals for your business? Would love you to share them here.

With the hype of social media and internet evolution making information access easier than ever before, I don’t see much has changed in terms of performing business research and obtaining business information.

Do you have different experience? If you are a business owner, how do you go about finding the information you need to make your next decision a smart one, one with no regrets? I’d like to hear your thoughts.

The original article is posted on The Source Newsletter here

….. Being an Information Professional for over 17 years, I have been taught and trained to always looking for authoritative, creditable sources when it comes to business and competitive intelligence.

I started my career with McKinsey & Company where valuable information is critical to client’s success; I spoke to associations sharing industry insights, I searched high & low on commercial databases (Lexis, Factiva, EBSCO to name a few) for valid facts, and I networked with internal consultants to seek their expertise. After that I went to work for a major bank here in Canada, again supporting research for Investment Banking and Enterprise-wide initiatives.

Reputable resources are never fully accessible on the net for free, ….. Since I am a trained Information Professional who works best with visualization, I have drafted a simple diagram here to exhibit in business and recruiting worlds, the ultimate information we are looking for are as follows:

In business, investigation is a ‘must’ process during CI information gathering, “Good Researchers are investigators” someone once told me. After we researchers exercised our curiosity practice and did it in a MutuallyExclusiveCollectiveExhaustive way, it’s really up to the management/business owner to decide whether, and how, to use the information, because behind every good business decision is an information professional.

So, Research is Research, No Matter What. I’ve said it and I am glad I did. This is just my two cents of being a newbie Recruiting Researcher and an experienced Business Researcher.

Share your opinion here and I thank you for doing so.

I’m so excited I am going to BlissdomCanada in October, seeing Lisa, a.k.a. Party Mummy roll out the red carpet, I can’t help but walk on it Let me tell you, it does feel really good !! Anyhoo, I used to be super great putting names and faces together; as I aged this ability is fading quickly, that’s why this is a good practice for me to get to know more awesomesauces and make strong connections before I meet all of you !

Here’s what to do:

a) Cut and paste the quiz onto your blog.

b) Delete my answers.

c) Answer the questions.

d) Tweet a few of the bloggers you’d love to get to know better and invite them to play along.

e) Leave a link to your blog with your quiz answers in the comment section below.

Are you ready? Get set, GO !!

————————————————————————-

1. Did you attend Blogher10?

No , I didn’t know it until all tickets were sold out…sigh.

2. Are you attending BlissdomCanada this fall?

Yes yes yes ! I know it’s bad practice that I bought the ticket with our LOC but hey, it’d be awesome if I get a sponsor

3. When are you at your blogging best – a.m. or p.m.?

I’d say, p.m, or late night, but actually I can do any time when I am “in the mood”.

4. How many blogs do you have? (Include the links)

Just one, recently started and I really need to work my butt on it !

www.infosara.com

5. What technical skill would you like to learn to improve your blog?

What? Oh I need to learn technical skillS big time, anything that will improve my blog is needed   .

6. Do you prefer the sound of silence or does action abound while you blog?

Actions won’t do, I’m easily distracted especially when there are other animals, ahem, I mean other people around.  Music is fine, however, no talking.

7. Do you include the names of your family in your blog?

Yes.

8. Do you post pictures or videos of your children?

Pictures so far, videos in the *future* plan.

9. What’s the grossest thing you’ve spilled on your keyboard?

None, I am very conscious about it as I know how hard it is to clean the keyboard but if you look at the duvet cover besides the desk, that’s another story.

10. Ever posted something you wrote while intoxicated?

Don’t think so but then again, I have very short, selective memory.

11. Do you go back and edit old posts just because you can?

Not really, but I know I can and probably should.

12. Have you ever suspected somebody took something you wrote and pawned it off as their own?

Well, not sure how many people are reading my blog at this point, but I’ll be flattered if that happens.

13. Does your spouse read your blog? What do they say about it?

No, he doesn’t even know I have a blog, or at least I think he doesn’t know or if he does then he is really doing a good job pretending it.

14. What’s something cool/positive/unexpected for you, that has resulted directly from blogging?

When I first started, it was simply an outlet for me to put honest thoughts about day to day life, it’s encouraging to know people are reading it and just amazing to connect and have conversations with others that share common groun.

15. Link to a post (or two) which demonstrate your writing style:

I Have Been Faking For So Long

Who Wants The Medal More? My Child or Me??

Ladies In This House Are Spoiled By One Good Man

16. Name a blog(s) that makes you exclaim, “Damn! I wish I’d written that!”

No, I am not name dropping nor could I write like them, but you said “damn” and “wish”, right?

Kathy Buckworth

Sharon DeVellis

Catherine Connors

Want to play? Come on and I promise you will have a blast !!

You can grow up with Playhouse Disney, and I really mean it.  I am thrilled to be part of Playhouse Disney Canada Blog tour, offered by Mom Central Canada.  For excitement like this, I just can’t tell the girls until I have the stuff in hand.

Some of you may know, my girls are 6 and 8, at the stage where they can be little princesses or young ladies, depends on the mood of day and the tasks I ask them to complete   However, that is never the case when they watch Playhouse Disney, they are just like two dolls sit quietly, eyes glued to the TV with mouth slightly open, so cute ! They love Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Imagination Movers, the first one brings back all the memory they have with Disney and the later, inspires their creativity in so many different ways.

Watching TV is a special treat in our house, and I’ve always been very selective about what’s on.  As a parent, I am confident about the programming when my girls watch Playhouse Disney, I know they get the most of entertaining and learning at the same time.  I also like their website, we can play games together or the girls can do different activities by themselves, it’s another way to engage kids for learning while playing; and again, I feel pretty safe and secure letting my girls go on the site because the contents are age appropriate and Disney has done a good job addressing the privacy concerns.

So not only can you grow up but also grow old with Disney, wouldn’t it put a smile on your face when hear someone singing “M–I–C-K-Y M O U S E” ?

After watching the 5 full episodes from the Playhouse Disney DVD I received, the feedback from my girls? “They are awesome but too short !  They need to be LONGER !! “  Now I invite you to participate in this giveaway so you can enjoy it too !

Giveaway

Win a Playhouse Disney prize pack which includes;

• Playhouse Disney DVD with 5 full episodes (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, Imagination Movers, Special Agent OSO, My Friends Tigger & Pooh).
• Magnetic Pen
• Sticker Sheet
• Crayons and Colouring Magnet

More Information

• Open to Canadian residents only. You may enter this giveaway on multiple blogs but are only eligible to win one prize package as part of the Playhouse Disney blog tour.
• Giveaway will run until Wednesday, August 18th at 8pm EST
• Winner will be chosen via Random.org.
• Winner will have 24 hours to reply to my e-mail with their name and address or another winner will be chosen.

Mandatory Entry

• Leave a comment telling me what your child’s favorite Playhouse Disney show is.  If you don’t have Playhouse Disney then leave a comment telling me your child’s favorite Disney movie.

Optional Entries

• Go to Playhouse Disney on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter. Leave a comment saying you have done so.
• Follow me on twitter and tweet about the giveaway using the hashtag #PlayhouseDisneyCanada (can be done once a day, don’t forget to leave a comment with the direct link to your tweet)

Disclosure – I am participating in the Playhouse Disney program by Mom Central. I received a Playhouse Disney prize pack to facilitate this post. The opinions on this blog are my own.

We were in Ottawa for 5 days, it was a lovely family trip.  The girls have never been in long car trip, the longest by far was from Mississauga to Niagara Falls, (which we may go in August  but will see) so this five hours drive is new to all of us.  We prepared everything from wrist bands to prevent car sick, to snack for munching, from audio story to in-car entertainment (music  and DVD, that is), combined with frequent stops, we finally survived and arrived in our hotel, Courtyard Ottawa.  As you can see two happy campers here

The next day was Parliament Hill day, literally.

Our hotel is just about 10 minutes walk to the Hill, and we were there by 9 o’clock in the morning to pick up tickets for Parliament tour so we can visit inside the building after the Change of Guard.  We went on the Rideau Canal boat tour in the evening which the weather was perfect, travelled along the Ottawa river, experienced the Nation’s Capital from both land and water, it was so relaxing with the breeze.  Highlight of the day was MosAika Sound & Light Show On Parliament Hill in Ottawa , you can have a peek of the video, it is simply magnificent !!

Canadian Museum of Nature was a day full of woo and ahh from the girls, so much to see and so much to do that we didn’t get out until 5pm.  We enjoyed the AQUA special exhibition, with “A Journey Into The World Of Water“, it shows us there is a lot need to be done to save this planet, and we are all responsible for taking action to ensure that everyone has access to safe water, in sufficient quantities, today and tomorrow.  The girls were also mesmerized by Blue Water Gallery, Mammal Gallery and Bird Gallery, and of course Frogs – A Chorus of Colours too.

Canadian Museum of Civilization is an educational place, not only for school-aged kids but for immigrants like us too.  We get to learn the history, people that made Canadian history and Canada’s First Peoples .  We also watched the 3D movie “Sharks”, that so many species of sharks are endangered or critically endangered, my 8-year-old hyper sensitive Laetitia came out claiming, “We should all stop eating meat because that’s killing animals, well if you can’t stop, you should at least eat very little meat !” Certainly, this is a great challenge for her 6-year-old carnivore sister, Emmanuelle.

On our last day before heading back to Mississauga, we stopped by the Royal Canadian Mint and got a taste of how the coins were made, also got to hold the 20+ pound gold bar which is the heaviest ever ! LOL.

So why do I say this family trip is sort of patriotic?  Because as close to the Capital, I really feel we are so fortunate to live in this  wonderful country, so proud to be Canadians again after the 2010 Olympic; I see abundant talents with amazing achievements, and I get teary everything I sing “O Canada”

Special thanks to Denise Breau, Cluster Director of Sales and Marketing at Residence Inn & Courtyard by Marriott Ottawa, who reached out to me on Twitter and gave us special rate.  The room is spacious for two queen beds, and very clean, which is the the first the foremost when I walk into any hotel room.  It has pool and whirlpool on site, plus fitness centre, so we absolutely take advantage of the facility whenever we can throughout the day.  With the HST and everything, we used the discount on our daily breakfast, it saved us substaintially