DEBRA This is America At Work. I’m Debra Stamp. CHUCK When I connect with a person, I go into that connection not knowing exactly how somewhere down the line we may be able to help each other or help somebody else. DEBRA Chuck Hester is a guy who appreciates the power of communicating and has become a sought after resource for small business owners, entrepreneurs and working folks worldwide. Along with his day job as Director of Communications for iContact, an email marketing software company, Chuck has obtained a sort of guru status on LinkedIn, the online professional networking service. Chuck has managed to braid his career and passions together and he loves what he does. CHUCK Yeah, absolutely, I’m a, what I would call a counter intuitive type of guy. I really enjoy what I’m doing in a corporate lifestyle, but at the same time want to be able to be an entrepreneur. DEBRA In addition to lots of speaking engagements, Chuck has a new book out on LinkedIn and the ‘pay it forward’ lifestyle. And hosts a growing event in Raleigh, North Carolina, called ‘LinkedIn Live’, where people actually meet their online acquaintances in person, which helps take the business relationship a step further. He has more than 10, 000 first level contacts on LinkedIn. All his best and closest friends, I’m sure. CHUCK Yes, exactly. That’s one of the things I, that’s one of the jokes we like to talk about, especially LinkedIn Live when we have 200 people in the room, I say it’s me and my 200 closest friends. Really, it’s a chance to build a database, it’s a chance to have 6,000 folks who I never know when I may need information from them or how, more importantly for us, when you mentioned the ‘pay it forward’ lifestyle, more importantly for Steph and I, how I can possibly help somebody out. DEBRA LinkedIn has become a valuable, professional business tool. CHUCK It is a tool that everybody should be using. If you are part of the community it gives you a chance to be connected to folks that can help your business, help you find new candidates for jobs, help you find new vendors, help you find new sales. At its core, it is a business community and a business network. It’s a chance for business and like minded business folks to get together, help each other and grow the community. DEBRA So, how do you tap into this vast community and actually get something done? Do you have to know everybody? CHUCK Not necessarily. One of the axioms of good social media and social networking is to be part of the community and part of the conversation and LinkedIn allows you to do that in several different ways. One of the best ways they have, is they have a section called ‘Answers’ and which I believe is backwards. It’s basically allowing you to ask a question of your contacts and the whole community of 21 million people are out there. So, for instance, if you’re needing a new printer, I have a need for printing for brochures that I need to get out within the next 30 days and I’m looking for recommendations on folks who are really good. That can be a question that can be posted on LinkedIn and then folks can come back and answer that question. DEBRA So, when you post a question in the ‘Answers’ section, it goes out to the whole network? CHUCK Absolutely. It gets posted on what would be basically be known as a forum area where you can click in to the ‘Answers’ section and look up questions on whatever it may be. But also, for instance, if you ask that question, it will go directly to your direct contacts, so that, say you have 600 and some odd contacts, those 600 people can actually get an email that says, “Hey, Chuck just asked a question about re-financing his house”, or finding a printer, whatever it may be, “if you can help him, please answer this question.” It becomes more personalized as you add connections and you can personalize it to zip codes and where you are in a particular area, or expertise areas, marketing, business development, technology, whatever that may be. DEBRA Now, in answering the answers, yeah, he’s right, that’s backwards, how should you present yourself and your information? CHUCK I think that also points to one of my philosophies and one that most LinkedIn power users believe. When I talk around the country about LinkedIn, one of the things I say, is you really need to treat your connections like they’re standing right in front of you. Really have respect for them and understand. So, you wouldn’t go, “Hey, I need a printer, help me out,” if you’re talking in a one on one conversation with somebody at a cocktail party, for instance. You would go into an explanation of what you’re looking for, why you need this information, how they can help you and honestly, with my ‘pay it forward’ philosophy, I always end with, “And how can I help you later on and just let me know?” DEBRA Chuck applies some of the old business philosophies and axioms to social networking, such as being polite and not asking for things too often. CHUCK Just because you’re behind a computer screen doesn’t mean that you cannot treat that person like a human being. DEBRA He also suggests you take time to develop your LinkedIn profile. CHUCK The profile is probably the most important aspect of what you do on LinkedIn and my profile talks specifically about who I am, where I work, my ‘pay it forward’ philosophy, what I’m looking for as far as connecting, how I can help people. It is, to a certain extent, your on line portfolio. DEBRA Another important aspect of your profile, is the recommendations section. Chuck says those recommendations can really make a difference. CHUCK If you know a person well enough, they can recommend you on LinkedIn and it sits on your profile. Folks who have seen the, whatever I happen to do, they can go and they write a quick paragraph on who I am, why they would trust me, why they would hire me somewhere else. DEBRA Pay it forward is the cornerstone of Chuck’s life. He has personally been the recipient of its benefits and makes it a point to ‘pay it forward’ whenever he can. CHUCK I am not necessarily doing a favor for you because I want you to do something in return for me. What I want have happen is if I do something for you, I want you to pay it forward, meaning that you go to someone else and help them in need and then it just keeps proliferating throughout the country and throughout the world. DEBRA The LinkedIn Live events, that Chuck hosts in Raleigh, were a result of casual get togethers with some of his local area LinkedIn connections. It was decided a more formal networking event would benefit more people. CHUCK Fifty people showed up for the first one and it’s just blossomed from there. It’s, I can give you the numbers, but basically now it runs about 200 people in a room and all the drinks and hors d’oeuvres and everything are taken care of by sponsorships. We don’t pay a dime. DEBRA Networking. Yikes! So, what do you say? What does someone do to make these work? CHUCK The philosophy behind that is, let’s just get in a room and talk. If you can introduce yourself; if you can do it on line, you should be able to do it in person. Introduce yourself, tell them what you’re about, ask them what they’re about more importantly, and find out if there’s a connection. There may be something that they can help you out with, or vice versa. Or you can move it forward. They get a chance to really connect with folks they may never have had the chance to meet with in person. DEBRA Pay it forward is integral part of the LinkedIn Live events. CHUCK Our sponsor this time around has given us $500 in cash. And we will put together 2 $250 envelopes and two different people will win them. But they don’t keep the money at all. They don’t get to keep the $250. They have to pay it forward to somebody in need; whether it be somebody who needs a job, someone who may be down and out because of school problems, whatever it may be and then in July, which is two months after this event coming up, they will come back and report on how they spent that money, how they helped folks out. DEBRA Wow! CHUCK Yeah, it’s powerful. 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