Your skill as a great organizer is tested by amount of time your business runs smoothly in your absence. If you cannot leave it for more than a week, you need to re-analyze your staff, their respective responsibilities and capabilities, as well as direction of your leadership.

In every company large or small their should be a nucleus of competent individuals who have been properly trained and can be trusted to carry out duties of their peers as well as yourself in your absence. This nucleus is your Staff. These are people that will make difference between success and failure.

Train, Trust and Utilize Your Staff to their fullest potential!

One Last Thought In Closing:

One cannot build a good staff without good leadership. One comparison of good leadership that comes to mind is Old Scottish Clan. The members of a Clan were true to their Chief and he was true to them. If even humblest member of Clan was injured or killed, Chief stepped in to avenge or rescue them. The Chief fought for his people. He held his own life in lesser value than that of welfare of his Clan. This example is of course in extreme, but moral of story is, "you must fight for your people to have them fight for you".

Business people don't always want formality or rigidity of lunch - especially with a new contact. But idea of a 15 minute meeting in local Starbucks is often an unthreatening and welcome alternative.

4. Personalize your business card.

We all give out and receive business cards, but how often do we really notice them?

Instead of just handing it out, pause, get out a good quality ink pen (image is important), and say something like "Let me save you effort of fighting through switchboard and answering machines - I'll write my cell phone number down so you can get hold of me easily."

Or you can recommend a book or a movie and write it down on back of your card.

It is personal, thoughtful and friendly.

5. Try to do two favors a week.

At least. Get into habit of thinking how you can do favors for other people. If you know someone who is unhappy in their job, log that information in back of your mind. When you hear that another company is looking for staff, put them together.

If you think of a simple way that two people you know can be mutually beneficial, act as middle man.

Don't ask for, or expect any reward - that will come in time. But, both parties will be grateful and will remember your generous help.

6. Send greetings cards.

However important a person might be, they still find themselves fascinating. So show them that you do too. It has never been easier to remember birthdays, Thanksgiving, anniversaries, and all dozens of personal times.

Don't be afraid to ask someone when their birthday is. Write it down. Diarize it. And then make sure you send them a card. Or make it really simple, an e-card.

This tiny act of goodwill really pays dividends in long run.

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If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself alone. A man should keep his friendships in constant repair. -- Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

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7. Keep in regular contact

Have a regular DIARIZED networking hour each week to make phone calls and send emails to your growing network. This is time for 'hello how are you' calls.

Naturally you don't want to call everybody at same fixed time each week - that would be too obvious. Rotate people around, but make sure you cover everybody at least once a month.

These ideas are not rules, but they are workable examples of some of many ways you can ensure that when someone says 'I do business with people I like', they mean you.