connectionsv24n4 _dec 2010

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ConnectionsThe ocial member publication o the Association o Independent Inormation Proessionals

Volume 24 No. 4 December 201


2/202 AIIP Connections Volume 24 | No. 4 | December 2010

General Information

Presidents Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

In This Issue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Spotlight on Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Spotlight on Committee Volunteers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

The I-25ers: rom IHOP to Wine Bar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Nervous About Raising Your Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Do Advice or the 1st Year AllPer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Coachs Corner - When to Stop Your Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Book Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Conerence Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

AIIP Ad Rates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

IN THIS ISSUE AIIP Board o Directors

President

Margaret King

InoRich Group, Inc.

President ElectCynthia HetheringtonThe Hetherington Group

Immediate Past President

Marcy Phelps

Phelps Research

Secretary

Vada Repta

Precision Research Link

Treasurer

Lark BirdsongBirdsong Inormation Services

Director, Membership Development

Betty StoryStory Inormation Services

Director, Member Benefts

Ellen NaylorThe Business Intelligence Source

Director, Marketing & Web

Loretta ShawLMRS Inormation Services



Presidents Message

3 AIIP Connections Volume 24 | No. 4 | December 2010

As I write this column, I ampreparing to attend the OnlineInormation Conerence in London

where I will host the AIIP Presidents

Breakast (on Tuesday morning,

or those wishing to attend). I am

looking orward to the Breakast

because it gives me the opportunity

to meet ace-to-ace with many o

our European AIIP members. As I look

through the conerence program,

I am pleased, but not surprised, to

see so many AIIP members listed

as presenters, including MaryEllen Bates, Karen Blakeman, Ulla

deStricker, Marydee Ojala, and

Arthur Weiss. At the conerence, I,

too, will be presenting: a Career

Development Talk, Transitioning

From Employee to Business Owner.

In October, at the Internet Librarian

Conerence, the eleventh annual

AIIP Technology Award waspresented to LucidityWorks, LLC,

in recognition o Lucidity, an

innovative digital research assistant

sotware application or proessional

researchers. Linda Stevenson,

ounder o LucidityWorks and an

AIIP member, was there to receive

the award, and in doing so, publicly

thanked her AIIP colleagues or

their help and support, particularly

on and o the AIIP-L. In a private

conversation, Linda told me how

grateul she is to AIIP members

or their support during Luciditys

development phase. Please join me

in congratulating Linda on her award.

In September, Andrea Carrero

resigned her position as AIIPs Director

o Marketing. On behal o the board

o directors, I am pleased to announce

that Loretta Shaw has agreed toserve the remainder o Andreas term.

Loretta has been a consistent AIIP

volunteer rom almost the very rst

day she joined AIIP. In a statement

she made last year about AIIP, Loretta

said: I had a vision o what my second

career as an independent researcher

would be, and the determination to

launch it. AIIP gave me the tools and

support that I needed to succeed.

Lorettas rst career began at the

NASA Glenn Research Center in

Cleveland, Ohio, where she honed

her skills in analytical research,

managing a technical organization,

and managing large multimillion

dollar projects. Lorettas educational

background is equally impressive:

Welcome . . .to the December 2010 issue of AIIP Connections.

Master o Aeronautical and

Astronautical Engineering, Master o

Business Administration, and Master

o Library and Inormation Science.

Please join me and the rest o the

board in welcoming Loretta in her

new role as AIIP Director o Marketing

Plans or the 25th Annual AIIP

Conerence, April 7-10, 2011 in

Vancouver, Washington, USA are well

underway. Attending the annual

conerence provides a proessional

double-whammy: it helps promoteyour business, and it helps update

your business skills. Early-bird online

registration will open on November

28, 2010. Watch the AIIP website or

program details and sponsorship

opportunities. I am looking orward

to seeing you in Vancouver!

Wishing you much success and

happiness,

Marge King

InfoRich Group, Inc.

[email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Spotlight on Members

Veerle Persy

Member Spotlight:

Veerle Persy

Somehow, history always seems torepeat itsel... My mother startedher fag store (literally!) by sewing cloth

together. When I graduated as an MD

in 1998, I harbored the ambition o

becoming a surgeon sewing patients

together. To satisy my scienticcuriosity, however, I decided to rst

obtain a PhD. With a research grant

rom the Fund or Scientic Research

FIanders, in Belgium, I worked at my

PhD in the Antwerp University nephro-

logy lab, investigating the role o the

protein osteopontin in kidney disease

using mice models still sewing,

though using much smaller needles

plus a microscope.

Thoroughly enjoying scientic

research, I buried my surgical

trade organization. From these

organizations, I gained exposure to

good literature (such as Mary Ellen

Bates oten-praised book), diverse

contacts, and broad experience.

To urther support my business, I

had a proper website developed,

and then sent to all my contacts

an email introducing my business,

Hugin Mugin Research.

Within two months I had my rstassignment: a literature study on

the eects o lanthanum. Soon

to ollow were other types o

projects literature studies, clinical

study documents, review articles,

conerence reports on a variety

o topics. Buoyed by the amount

o independent work, I let the

research lab in October 2008, and

Hugin Mugin Research has beenexpanding progressively ever since.

The increasing number and scope

o projects now also include data

management and lab process

consulting. My next business

challenge will be to cope with the

increasing demand not a bad

challenge to have.

aspirations and stayed on as a

postdoc ater my PhD in 2003. In the

ollowing ve years, I established a

research line on vascular calcication

in renal ailure, explored new

techniques such as micro-CT imaging,

became copromotor o several PhDstudents, published papers, wrote

grants, etc. Although my passion or

research never waned, the inherent

job insecurity as a researcher, always

depending on external grants,

progressively bothered me. In 2007,

when my employer allowed postdocs

to cumulate unctions, I took my

chance and started my own business:

Hugin Mugin Research.Hugin and Mugin are the ravens o

the Norse god Odin, whose names

mean thought and memory. Odin

sends the two ravens out at dawn to

fy all over the world and when they

return, they sit on Odins shoulder

and speak into his ear all the news

they gathered. Quite the image I

had in mind or my business, which

provides research, consulting, andwriting services in the medical and

lie sciences sectors.

To help support my business

networking, I became a member

o AIIP, European Medical

Writers Association (EMWA) and

FlandersBio, a regional biotech

Hugin Mugin Research



Spotlight on Committee Volunteers

Speaking as the committee chairo AIIP-L, I would best sum upAIIP-Ls purpose as the primary

way our members connect with

each other on a day-to-day basis.

We use the members-only orum

AIIP-L as a platorm to ask questions

about running our businesses, to

brainstorm about research resources

and approaches, and as an inormal

network o colleagues distributed

around the globe. Said by more

than one list participant, AIIP-L is

worth the price o admission in AIIP.

Personally speaking, the list is one o

the most collegial and inormative

discussion lists Ive ever encountered

on a proessional basis.

The AIIP-L Committees purpose is to

keep this valuable resource runningsmoothly rom both a technical and

administrative perspective. For the

past two years, the AIIP-L Committee

has been comprised o AIIP member

Tamara Durec, and mysel as Chair,

with help rom ormer Member

Services Board Director Marjorie

Desgrosseilliers. We recently

welcomed another AIIP member,

Alisa Cottingham, along with our

new Board Director, Ellen Naylor.

The committee oversees both AIIP-L

list activity and the discussion list

platorm, Sparklist. The Committees

day-to-day tasks include:

Approving requests to join

AIIP-L (non-members receive

Worth thePrice of Admission: AIIP-LMary-Doug Wright, AIIP-L Committee Chair

an email explaining that the

list is members-only, and an

invitation to join AIIP);

Responding to members

questions about AIIP-L

protocol and etiquette;

Advising members about

technical aspects o posting

(e.g., posts sent rom

Blackberrys or in non-standardcharacter sets);

Reviewing posts to ensure that

they are within AIIP-L guidelines

(and, where necessary,

contacting posters about list

violations a rare occurrence

done with a gentle touch);

Sending out occasional

reminders about list etiquette

and other list business;

Providing a monthly update

on list activity, including

names o new or returning

members and the total AIIP-L

member count;

Monitoring and solving

technical issues and problems

with Sparklist (communicating

with individual AIIP-L

members, oten with Sparklist

support, and occasionally with

the members ISP).

As a discussion list platorm, Sparklist is

proving to be increasingly problematic;

an ad hoc committee has been struck

to nd a suitable replacement at a

reasonable cost. AIIP-L is currently

running on an old version o Sparklist.

With the newest version, we would

not be able to port the AIIP-L archives

to the new platorm. The archives are

such a valuable member resource

that the Board has decided to stay

with the old version o Sparklist until

a replacement is ound. An improved

AIIP-L is anticipated to be in place in

early 2011.

Mary-Doug Wright serves as the Chair o the

AIIP-L Committee. She is principal o Apex

Inormation, based in Vancouver, BC. She

specializes in health services planning and

policy, health technology assessment, and

the social sciences, providing comprehensive

literature-based/secondary research

to academics, government agencies,

non-prots, and other consultancies, or

systematic reviews and evidence-based

decision making. She also provides topic

summaries and overviews and conducts

environmental scans. She can be reached at

[email protected].
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]



the i-25ers

My oce dress can be jeans anda t-shirt. However, even withall the social media that we IIPs use, I

still need the occasional ace-to-ace

encounters with others o my kind.

When I lived in Washington DC, I

helped organize the I-95ers group,

comprising ino-entrepreneurs rom

the area and whoever wanted to

drive in (usually via the I-95 highway,

hence the name). When I moved

to Colorado in 2003, I organized a

similar group which we eventually

named the I-25ersin reerence

to the highway that runs through

Denver. While most o us live in

the greater Denver area, we have

members in Oregon, Indiana and

New Mexico.

I started the I-25ers group with the

same eeling as when I launched my

business a little bit o trepidation,

some worry whether anyone wouldcare, and excitement to see what would

happen next. I sent emails to every AIIP

member in Colorado, inviting them

to meet me at an International House

o Pancakes about 10 miles north o

Denver on a Wednesday morning.

Why there? The IHOP was right o

the reeway, able to handle a group o

undetermined size, and served endless

cups o coee. To my pleasant surprise,

we had 8 or 10 people at that rst

meeting and enough enthusiasm to

warrant scheduling a second meeting.

We had several more meetings there

until I realized that the location wasnt

convenient or many in the group.

We eventually ound that we had the

most number o people attending

meetings held on Saturday mornings

at someones house.

O a mailing list o around 50 people,we average between 6 and 10 people

at any given meeting, and we hold

meetings every couple o months.

Hosting rotates among six or seven

regulars in Denver (or nearby) or

whom we are all grateul. Some

people bring ood to share. Our last

meeting even included nibbles rom

the wine bar where member Nora

Stoeckers nephew manages events.While most hosts just make sure

everyone has something to drink,

Lark Birdsong has awed us with a ull

brunch complete with root beer foats.

No more IHOP ood or this group!

Our program ormat varies. For

example, i we are meeting soon

ater an AIIP Annual Conerence,

we share some o the insights we

gained rom the conerence. For

other meetings, we might ocus on

a topic such as managing clients

or marketing with social media.

Some meetings consist o everyone

describing a resource they consider

essential; the compiled list o

resources is then shared with the

rest o the group. And we sometimes

have an un-meeting during which

we all toss out ideas and then

decide which ones to discuss. Thesecan be very satisying, as we oten

manage to nd solutions or ideas or

each persons questions.

What I nd most valuable about the

I-25ers meetings is the generosity o

the groups members. We regularly

exchange ideas on how to approach a

One aspect o being an independent ino pro I treasure isbeing able to work by mysel, wherever I happen to be.

The I-25ers: from IHOPto Wine BarMary Ellen Bates, Bates Information Services

Mary Ellen Bates


9/20



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Your Most Prized Asset

Nervous About

RAISINGYour RatesFirst Focus on Your Most Prized AssetYouI had wanted a change or quite

awhile. Ive been in business or

about 15 years, but have elt a little

bored and rustrated that Ive been

generating the same income or

the past our years. So I recently

accepted a part-time job in the same

niche market as my clients-business

valuation. Its a great opportunity,

and I still want to maintain and grow

JT Research. But while Im calling on

my subcontractors to handle more

o my research work, Im still eeling

stretched. Im really tired o the

smaller jobs, but it has always beenhard or me to turn down work.

So I did what I usually do when

Im stuck, I got help. I hired a new

business coach. The last time I

worked with a business coach, over

three years ago, I let the experience

empowered and more protable. I

raised my rates and improved my

marketing materials to refect the

value my services oer. But three

years later, Im acing a recurring

issue: how to raise my rates.

Good business coaches arent cheap.

Im limited to how much time I can

spend with mine. So, at the onset, he

asked me two important questions:

Question 1: What do you want

to get out o thiscoaching overall? and

Question 2: What do you want

to get out o todays

call?

Ater giving it some good thought, I

answered:

Answer 1: What should I do with JT

Research now that I havethis good part-time job?

Answer 2: I want to raise my rates,

and once again Im

araid to do so given

todays economic

climate. And Im araid

to say no to work.

The rst thing I told my new business

coach is that Ive always been ner-vous about raising my rates and take

just about any project that comes my

way because o the money Ill make.

But you know what? Im exhausted.

The coach quickly suggested I do

one thing: ocus on my most prized

asset me. I laughed at this clich,

and he elaborated. Change is hard.

We will rationalize whatever we can

to keep the status quo.When I told him I had issues around

money he countered: No, you have

thought patterns around money. Our

thought patterns create emotions, and

our emotions create actions, which turn

into results. Sound like therapy? Yeah, I

guess it is. But I was paying attention.

Jan Davis, JT Research


12/20



Do Advice

Its been a little over one year since

I ocially started my business,

which may be loosely dened as

when I rst registered my business

name and rented oce space. Its

been a ast ride with a big learning

curve, and only now am I really

beginning to eel ocused and more

condent in my business direction.

I have had the opportunity to try

some things that worked and some

things that did not work, and in the

end, researcher that I am, I am more

condent than ever that taking the

time to weigh and balance all myoptions has let me with no regrets

and more condence in the direction

I have chosen.

For me, nding my ocus meant

going back to my roots in tourism,

hospitality, and travelbeing rom

Hawaii and all, and working in and

or the industry or almost 20 years.

Now, I am proudly ocused on this

subject area and condent in myability to deliver business and market

intelligence services to strategically-

minded proessionals. I have my target

marketnallyand that eels good.

So this is where I am at, and heres

what I am learning along the way.

Hopeully, it will conrm some o

your activities, and, sooner rather

than later, help you break away rom

other activities. Here goes:

1. Start a monthly newsletter.

Start collecting contacts, and

get in ront o them every

month with a newsletter.

I youre really good, do

something on a weekly or daily

basis to get in rom o your

target regularly. See #2 next.

2. Do social networking;especially Linkedin, Twitter,

and Facebook. This is a great

way to start collecting a

ollowing and showing your

Sonia N. Isotov, Isotov Information Services

expertise. Its also a great way

to stay in ront o contacts

who have not subscribed to

your newsletter. Further, its

a great way to stay in ront o

your target weekly, or evendaily, rather than once a

month with your newsletter.

Important! Set a time limit,

daily or weekly, or you will get

sucked into the black hole that

can be social networking. Oh,

and connect with everyone.

Everyone you do any business

with, not just clients. At this

point in the game, you needto get the word out. Being

particular, wont help.

3. Do get your logo and business

cards proessionally done.

From there you can design

your own letterhead, and save

some money. You can print

up letterhead at home or at a

proessional printer as needed

Frankly, letterhead almosteels a little pass these days;

all things being predominantly

electronic and all.

4. Defnitely put a web page up.

Build yournetwork!



Do Advice

Make sure you have a way or olks to subscribe to

a newsletter. Advertise your social networking. You

need to capture contacts.

5. Do mail postcards to announce business is open

to ormer colleagues, business acquaintances (o

all kinds, and dont be shy), and riends (especially

your tennis buddies, or whatever hobby you have).You never know where that frst project is going

to come rom and you need to build a network.

Unless your list is hyper targeted, I suggest you

resist the urge to do any other kind o mass

mailing.

6. Do buy books. You are in an intensive learning

phase and need the latest and greatest inormation

rom the latest and greatest gurus. Start with Mary

Ellen Bates newly updated edition oBuilding and

Running a Successul Research Business. I especiallylove the used books secton on Amazon.com,

although I dont know i Mary Ellens book is old

enough to be in the used section, but I did fnd a

lot o great old editions rom the latest gurus on

competitive intelligence and business consulting in

general, plus all the Super Searcher Series books. Oh,

and i you dont already get the Borders newsletter,

this is a must have. I got a ree cup o coee on

my birthday and 30-50% discount coupons every

weekend. [Dont orget to go thru the AIIP website toget there; the association gets credit.]

7. Do order a good laser printer, not an inkjet, i you have

the money. Im still regretting that decision mysel.

8. Become a thought leader. It took me a good year

to come to terms with

the act that my second

year is going to be the

Year o Writing. Im

convinced you need to

be a thought leader iyou own a business in

the modern world. It s

just good marketing.

What do you need to

do to be a thought

leader? Three easy

things to do: write a

blog, write a book, and write an ebook.

9. Do write a marketing plan with annual goals:

monthly, weekly, and daily. I weeded out a lot o

useless activities when I started thinking about

doing things that actually got me in ront o buyers

Once you see everything you are doing laid out inblack and white, then you will start to see that you

are only capable o doing a ew things really well,

and you can start to weed out mediocre activities.

10. Do in-person networking and start working on

establishing relationships. Join associations your

prospects join, write or their newsletters, or

otherwise volunteer or prospect-acing activities.

11. Do set up Google alerts on your prospects.

12. Do ollow your leads. I someone asks or a webinar

and you have never done one, do it anyway. You

Luck is what happens

when preparation

meets opportunity

Seneca, Roman philosopher, politician,and early CI proponent.

Sonia N. Isotov



Do Advice

know what? Now youll have intellectual property.

You can do so many things with the inormation

you presented in the webinar: tweet about it, chop

it up into smaller articles and use it or your blog,

etc. Do build your intellectual property. This goes

back to being a thought leader.

13. Do use a business coach, have a mentor, surroundyoursel with smart people, and/or orm a

mastermind group. I have one guru o a business

coach, Mary Ellen Bates, and at least three mentors

I keep in touch with regularly. I also have a very

nice relationship with my AIIP Mentor, Deb Liptak,

First year, the year of reading;

second year, the year of writing.

What will the third year bring?

rom ino2go.com. Thank you all or your time,

patience and knowledge sharing.

In the end, the best advice I have or you is to keep it

simple. Trying to do too much, and not being ocused on

a clear direction, is probably the biggest actor against a

1st year AIIPer; especially those who are generalists and not

centrally located like me (rom Hawaii). Once you have set

your direction, you can really hone your marketing plan,write a better blog, tweet consistently, and more. Every

strategy in your plan will come into ocus.

On the other hand, you really do have to pay your

dues and jump across a ew bridges, to really own

your business and be sure youre headed in the right

directionthe direction that is right or you. Only by being

in sync with your passion will you really succeed. All in

all, readers may not agree with some or all o what I have

written, but I ound these things to be true or me. Last,

I want to saydont be too hard on yoursel. As one o

the gurus I have been ollowing once said (or blogged, I

orget): I youre not ailing, youre not trying.

Sonia N. Isotov, Principal, Isotov Inormation Services, has extensive

experience as a Business Researcher working with corporate decision

makers. Sonia holds a MLIS rom the University o Hawai`i and

worked or many years or the U.S. Small Business Administration

where she delivered secondary research, business analysis, and

business consulting services to retailers, services, manuacturers,

non-prot organizations, and government. She also loves to playtennis and invites all AIIPers to a game. Contact: [email protected]
mailto:mailto:info%40isotov.com?subject=AIIP%20Newslettermailto:mailto:info%40isotov.com?subject=AIIP%20Newsletter



Coachs Corner

IIPs who conduct research ace anabundance o databases, Internetsearch choices, and tools and its oten

dicult to know when to stop. We

must satisy clients within budget and

ensure protability or our businesses.

To be protable, its necessary to

generate enough income to cover

all business expenses, pay yoursel

in a way that meets your personal

nancial needs, and (not to be

excluded rom the ormula) you

need money to reinvest and grow

your business. Much o my modus

operandi is a delicate balancing act

between actors such as: Client goals

and inormation requirements; a nitebudget with deadlines; delivering

quality results; and increasing size o

the sale and margins.

Early in my business, nearly three

decades ago, I believed it was

incumbent on me to search all

potentially relevant databases. I

ound that my work style was

costing me! I trimmed expenses by

searching ewer databases and still

continued to satisy clients. I also

reduced the use o more expensive

databases wherever possible. By

becoming more judicious, I elevated

my prot margin.

Spending excessive time is a greater

challenge to conquer. Whether

on a xed budget or working hourly,

many researchers nd it tempting to

continue research beyond the time

and budget allocation, usually either

because were enjoying ourselves what researcher hasnt discovered the un

o working on some topics or we want

to wow the client and go over and beyond

the call o duty. In many cases, research

takes longer than initially anticipated.

Further, its crucial to cover a topic rom

various perspectives using multiple

sources that are reliable to maintain

quality. A given is that we must stop

when we run out o time but its also

truly amazing how many extra hours

o searching, analyzing, and writing we

can expend within even a short time

rame. Stopping isnt easy and in act,

not stopping can be considered an

occupational hazard. Whats the cure? You

need both will power and sel control but

never orget: Youre in charge!

A key business goal and requirement

or success is to take control o

sources while orcing yoursel to

stop when you reach the budget

cap not ater assuming you workon a do not exceed budget, which

I highly recommend. Explain and

include do not exceed budgets and

their implications ahead o doing

research--verbally and in proposals

and letters o agreement. Inorm

clients youll provide both results and

2010 All Rights reserved. No part o this document or inormation may be reproduced without the expressed written permission o Amelia Kassel.

Amelia Kassel, MarketingBase



Coachs Corner

recommendations or additional research i needed. Rather

than continuing ad innitum, include next steps in your

report, some o which require added time and expense.

Just as you must ask or a sale, ask or extra budget when

applicable. A client can make the decision about whether

to go orward. A ew basic tips to ollow:

1. Evaluate and review the time and expense you

spend or each project to keep watch over proft

margins.

2. Reduce the number o databases and websites you

search to decrease both time and expense.

3. Watch or the same inormation repeating, which isone clue or stopping.

4. Avoid time spent beyond the budget cap and make

recommendations or more research.

Yes all o this takes eort and practice but by rigorously

ollowing these measures youll benet both your clients

AND yoursel. Implement these management techniques

today to keep your business healthy or now and

the uture.

Amelia Kassel is President o MarketingBase, a global frmspecializing in industry, company and competitive and market

intelligence research. Amelia operates The Mentor Program

or new research proessionals and those wishing to expand.

Contact:

[email protected],

www.marketingbase.com
mailto:[email protected]://www.marketingbase.com/http://www.marketingbase.com/mailto:[email protected]



Book Reviews

Self-Promotion for Introverts: The

quiet guide to getting ahead.

Nancy Ancowitz

McGraw-Hill (2010)

Nancy Ancowitz writes Sel-Promotion

or Introverts or individuals who

wants to make more o an impact in

their proessional lives. Whether this

means achieving more credit or their

ideas, increasing their visibility, or

making more money, Ancowitz has

years o experience rom which to

draw. As a ormer vice-president o

corporate marketingand currently

a communications coach and artist

Ancowitz is an introvert who has

ound the right proessional balance.

In her own eorts at sel-promotion,

she interviews several high prole

individuals (including Bill Clinton and

Warren Buet) to include their advice

or introverts within a proessional

environment.

Ancowitz begins by addressingmisconceptions commonly held about

introverts. She claries that introverts

are oten quite good socially and that

many hold high prole positions.

Being an introvert does not mean that

one is shy (although one may be),

but it probably does mean that being

social is taxing and that alone-time is

essential.

Introverts are prone to internal

thought that can lead to negative

sel-talk. In the books early

chapters, Ancowitz suggests specic

mental exercises to counteract

the negativity. With regard to

the creation o ones game plan,

she encourages the creation o a

dream team (not unlike a Master

Mind group) o individuals who

support and respect the introvert- a group that will speak honestly

about goals, accomplishments and

opportunities. I one chooses to work

through the many exercises in these

initial chapters, one has, in essence,

perormed a SWOT analysis and

developed a nascent business plan.

Additional chapters cover

target audiences (who are ones

clients?), networking (positioning

onesel as a valued expert), chalk

talk (presentation skills), and

interviewing. Within the interviewing

chapter, Ancowitz covers two (omany) points I thought particularly

relevant to the IIP. First, she provides

recommendations or how to handle

uncomortable (but necessary) topics

like compensation. In this discussion

she oers several open-ended

questions one could edit and use in

any negotiation. Second, Ancowitz

emphasizes using listening (a natural

skill or most introverts) to tease

out needs o potential employers

(clients)---and using those needs to

lay out and dene ones proposals

and value propositions.

Finally, there is perhaps my avorite

chapter: Your Opposite. I nd it

ascinating that my needs as an

introvert (such as space and alone-

time) might contrast so dramatically

with the pet peeves o the extrovertwho never wants to be alone!

O course, these characteristics are

on a spectrum and no one person

ully exemplies either extreme, but

the book was un and educational

or me. Whether one identies as the

introvert or extrovert, I recommend

this book or anyone looking to

evaluate how personality can be

optimized or sel-promotion.

Linda Stacy is Senior Research Specialist

& Training Manager at LEK Consulting

in Boston and is planning to launch her

research business, InoGazelle, in the

coming year.


19/20


20/20

Conference Update

Online registration opens November 28, 2010.

Earlybird registration will be availablethrough March 4, 2011.

Our annual conerence is the highlight event or

membersseveral stimulating and exciting days o

learning, enjoying the company o long-standing

colleagues, and orming connections with new colleagues.

The Association

o IndependentInormation

Proessionals (AIIP)

will host its 25th annual

conerence April 7-10, 2011 in

Vancouver, Washington, USA.

In 2011, AIIP is proud to oer our 25th annual conerence,

celebrating 25 years o successul, productive, and

valuable conerences.

The conerence is where attendees . . .

Hear rom experts in business management,

marketing, planning, client relations, and other

topics crucial to running their businesses and

growing their revenues.

Learn rom colleagues tips ranging rom new

technology tools to branding and pricing or services

Explore strategies or balancing business and lie.

Examine exhibitors latest products.

Enjoy ample time or discussions with colleagues(and having a lot o un!)

And

First-time attendees receive special attention in a

tailored session.

Everyone leaves with a mountain o new ideas and

energy or the year ahead.

Feedback rom past conerences is uniormly

enthusiastic, stressing the special value o an intimate

venue coupled with highly targeted programs andlively events designed to stimulate discussion.

The ocus o the conerence program and the discussion events

is businesssharpening skills, increasing opportunities, and

growing revenue . . . but the value o the personal connections

is the primary reason many members attend.

For urther details, go www.aiip.org/conerence .
http://www.aiip.org/conferencehttp://www.aiip.org/conference

connectionsv24n4 _dec 2010

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