The Great Business

We’ve been reading about the war of the cloud. We’ve seen how big companies like Google and Apple and IBM are offering their services and applications online, changing the way people use technology. We’ve watched how smaller companies, like Salesforce.com and Facebook and Groupon have turned themselves into giants by (literally) starting new cloud based industries. We barf every time we watch those idiots on the Microsoft commercial who forgot to program their TV and are able to do it from the airport by going “to the cloud.”

And yet…you know who’s going to win the small business war of the cloud? Microsoft. Want proof? All you have to do is visit Paducah, Kentucky.

Paducah (population approximately 30,000) is located about two hours from Nashville and three hours from Memphis, St. Louis and Louisville. The city was founded in 1815, occupied by Union forces throughout most of the Civil War and had a major flood in 1937. The town is known for its annual telethon (Betty White appeared there in 1959) and is one of only two cities named in the famous song “Hooray for Hollywood”. Former MLB player Terry Shumpert was born there. Dippin’ Dots, the candy maker, is headquartered there. And so is Bradshaw & Weil.

That’s where Jared Morgan works. His family bought the 144 year old insurance agency in 1994 and Jared began working there after college. And, other than a two year stint in a youth ministry, that’s where Jared’s always worked. And the Paducah area is where he’s always lived. He married his high school girlfriend.

Bradshaw & Weill has eight employees, each averaging about twenty five years of experience. One employee has been with the agency over fifty years. Jared, at 29, is the youngster. The company is “light years behind in technology,” he says. “The smallest of changes can make things very difficult for our people.”

LinkedIn has become a go-to tool for the networking community. Even though Facebook gets much of the press, LinkedIn provides some valuable business information that can greatly assist you in your quest for increasing your network.

How can LinkedIn help you? This is a quality first question. LinkedIn allows you to get an overview of the person you are going to meet. You can find out about their company, their past work history, their education and even a little about their life and hobbies. You can see if this person is “connected” and whether they have recommendations. Any of this information can be incredibly useful. It allows you to pre-connect by finding things you have in common, or discovering interesting facts about their business past that you can follow-up with.

With this said, it’s extremely important that you have a robust LinkedIn profile yourself. Be sure to provide an overview of your current business as well as filling out the education section. Anytime you have a pleased client, ask them to fill out a recommendation for you. These references are forever so make sure to keep them coming. It is also a good idea to link to all your contacts and clients through LinkedIn. One of the first things folks with check about you is how many connections you possess.

LinkedIn can also be a great spot to provide updates to your connections, interact with your connections through groups and forums and even find new connections using the search functions. If you have been searching for another tool to round out your networking strategy, this is your missing link.