OMG… it’s the FCOMG

If you’re reading this page, perhaps you are interested in becoming a member of the Fairfield County Online Marketing Group (FCOMG), the Meetup.com group that I organize.

…Or perhaps even all three?

1. The FCOMG: Who makes up the group?

1. Whether you’re a savvy business owner (that has great business acumen) that wants to learn more about the online marketing world,
2. Or an online marketer (who loves to learn and share ideas) that could round out their business experience with successful business folk,
3. Or just plain amazed at the way the world is connecting together, and wants to contribute to the shared knowledge of local folk,

… then this is the meetup that will give you a shoulder to lean on in these amazing marketing times. Come share the thrill of victory – and the agony of defeat – at our Meetup!

At the very least, there will be Beer.*
*Ben Franklin loved Beer.**

2. The FCOMG: What is our purpose?

The purpose of this group will be to share best practices and ideas with like-minded individuals on the topic of (though not limited to) marketing, with an emphasis on online marketing. Further, to have a good time.

Mission Statement:

A dedicated band of rebels that inspire and help each other gain greater business success, through friendship, personal experiences and hard-won knowledge.

This is not a networking group.

Although I attend and belong to many marketing and social groups, they never seem to give me what I need to further my business. If the group dynamic is…

• Too specialized (such as 7 SEO marketers in the same room) it seems to turn into a bitch-fest about clients, which I do not wish to participate in (and to be honest, my clients are wonderful), and too stingy on the advice (being perceived as direct competitors)
• If too general (like a general business group), they always seem to impart advice that cannot be used for direct implementation.
• If too social, no business is discussed, and
• If too business-oriented, it’s usually someone trying to sell me a membership or workshop.

What we need is a business group that is for business, but with the right people that can share in the joys and humor of business development. It is a social group, but with direct help at the core of its principles. This is not a networking group, though networking will grow out of our relationships. We need to grow, as businesses, and as people, in order to succeed in life.

Goals, high priority.

• Critical business path development. Full disclosure on failures and successes in business, for the critical development and success of all members.
• Monthly discourse: We shall meet approximately 1/month, centralized around Stamford and Norwalk. This seems to be the ‘center mass’ of where most members are.
• Extending our personal high-touch network (advice). Our goal is intimate peership and mentorship. We as entrepreneurs belong to enough groups that are networking-, awareness-, and socially-based. This group is not those things; we will grant intimate advice and ‘how to’ knowledge for the betterment of members in furthering business goals.
• Help through direction, not direction through help. Our goal is NOT to simply educate each other and gain direction in business through business advice, but to bring about change in each others business for the better. This includes direct help or indirect help through detailed information on ‘how to’ achieve certain goals.

Goals, low priority.

• Extending our business low-touch network (referrals). The more aware we are of each others abilities, good and bad, the more we can refer each other to professionals that will benefit us. These are direct referrals.
• To explore and discuss personal interests.
• To support one another through camaraderie, and to inspire one another to greater heights in business and in life.
• Have a drink and a good meal if desired.
• Have a good time. We plan to enjoy ourselves, just as Ben Franklin did with his Junto, centuries ago.
• A desire to improve themselves, their community, and to help others. We are not completely inward-focused. If we feel that we can help our town, our community, our fellow entrepreneurs, we shall do it.
• To not focus on intellectual elitism but practical advice for all of us.

Potential future goals.

While the current focus of this group is tightly directed, there are future potential goals to consider:

• Co-marketing. Marketing the group, and therefore the individuals within that group, would allow us to cast a wider net for larger clients (combined abilities make for ‘total package’ business solutions), more clients (through a more diversified group audience and network of contacts), and better clients (through warm leads.)
• Passive networking (indirect referrals). Establishment of a group blog for the combined posting of business advice for marketing goals above.
• Junior mentorship. Members establish a formal relationship with an understudy, that would greatly benefit the understudy, and potentially help FCOMG. The understudies, if there were, say, 5 of them, could potentially keep us more in contact with developing trends of our craft. These understudies could take our place once per month at the table, if we had pressing business engagements elsewhere.
• Group budget. Establishment of a group marketing budget that will allow us to achieve the future goals above.

3. About Membership to the FCOMG.

Why should I join?

• We all have time constraints to business development, and need answers fast. We as business professionals must learn fast to keep up with our ever-changing fields.
• We have limited knowledge, which others easily may have. Often, we don’t know where to turn to get the right information. Sometimes, we can bypass hours of research and head-banging by simply asking the right question at the right time from an expert.
• We can group-think, increasing our knowledge base. And a group of experts, each highly specialized, would allow us to think as a group, much like a corporation.
• We can increase business acumen. There is also the added benefit of getting better AT business, the running of business, regardless of specialty.
• We can learn our adjunct (dependent, not subordinate) businesses for expansion of services. None of our businesses live in a ‘vacuum of services’. Web promoters work closely with web designers, media experts, PR firms, etc., to collectively promote business services or products.
  • … A branding expert could learn how multimedia can hone the message of their product through video.
  • … A multimedia expert could benefit from knowing how the media they develop is used online and distributed.
  • … An online marketing expert could learn more about personal branding of his services through a sales specialist.
  • … A sales specialist could learn how to take their lessons and present them on a website effectively.
  • … A web design expert could understand programming better for better deployment e-commerce systems.
  • … A programming expert could learn how his programming is used for the acquisition of segmentation or market sizing.

Membership types.

We see 3 roles for members:

1. Organizers (1-4): Gregory Cox, Mark Progano, and John Follis, currently.
2. Leadership (4-10): Leadership in specific areas of online marketing – we will make slots available as the Meetup group grows and takes further shape
3. General Membership (45-200-ish): Show up, interact, have fun.

Although many membership groups are focused on gaining as many members as they can, I feel that this group is more about the quality of the members, not the quantity.

Member characteristics.

We are not just businesses, we are people, and we are here to help one another in any way we can. Each member will have…

• … A spirit of inquiry
• … A desire to build their business aggressively
• … The desire to learn for and from others
• … The monitoring of specialized industry trends for group benefit
• … The desire to help and encourage
• … The full disclosure of failures and successes
• … The defense of members’ reputation (think about it)
• … Last, but not necessarily least, a sharing of interesting thoughts and ideas of particular interest, business or otherwise.

Frequency of meetings.

Once per month seems optimal. Three words: sharpening the saw. We’re either dedicated, or we are not. We all have busy schedules, but I believe that monthly participation is not too much – or too little – and will benefit us all.

Challenges.

• Meeting every month.
• Criticizing each others practices in a productive way.
• Being the authority in our respective fields, as a benefit to the group.
• The realization that there is much more to do in business than previously thought, and the ego-crushing force that bears upon us.

4. About Gregory, your organizer.

Why am I personally taking up the Organizer banner?

In the spirit of ‘full disclosure’ of the concepts and precepts above, I, simply put, have had many of these problems.

I also believe that my problems (and goals) are probably very similar to other peers in the technical fields – boost leads, hone craft, get fast expert advice for free, and grow rapidly as a business.

I wish to join forces with spirited, intelligent, helpful individuals who want the same.

What are the benefits of knowing me?

I have been a professional businessman since 1997, and a professional online marketer since 2001. I have well over 200 projects, with an average of 5:1 ROI.

Almost all of my hard-won knowledge is self-taught, or through the clients I’ve worked for (many of whom are entrepreneurs themselves). I wish to share my knowledge with other like-minded entrepreneurs and get help in return.

**5. History of the Junto: a model citizen for our group.

Ben Franklin established the first Junto, which is what this group is based upon. The Junto’s Friday evening meetings were organized around a series of questions that Franklin devised, covering a range of intellectual, personal, business, and community topics.

These questions were used as a springboard for discussion and community action. Members of the Junto were drawn from diverse occupations and backgrounds, with an emphasis on spirit of inquiry, a freedom to explore lines of thought that are not business-related, which as we all know often become business-related.

They discussed primarily business of the day and week, but the Junto members were also encouraged to bring up “one or more queries on any point of Morals, Politics, or Natural Philosophy, to be discuss’d by the company,” and “once in three months produce and read an essay of his own writing, on any subject he pleased”.

To better attune you, dear reader, to the ‘spirit of inquiry’ so important to Ben and other members, elaboration on various core concepts is presented below.

By no means is the FCOMG required to precisely follow Ben’s ideal of the Junto. But his thoughts on how it should be run seem a great ‘springboard’ for discourse.

Some interesting questions Ben brought up:

These are actual questions Franklin devised to guide the discussions at Junto meetings (from Franklin’s papers, dated 1728, and included in some editions of his autobiography), with some modern FCOMG interpretations in parenthesis, as our Junto will be more business-related.:

• “Hath any citizen in your knowledge failed in his business lately, and what have you heard of the cause?” (What can we learn from those failing around us, so we do not fall into the same trap?)
• “Have you lately heard how any present rich man, here or elsewhere, got his estate?” (What can we learn from rich people on how implement winning strategies in business?)
• “Do you think of any thing at present, in which the Junto may be serviceable to mankind? To their country, to their friends, or to themselves?” (How can we help our community without taking away critical time for business development?)
• “Who do you know that are shortly going [on] voyages or journeys, if one should have occasion to send by them?” (Who is attending what, and why?)
• “Hath any deserving stranger arrived in town since last meeting, that you heard of?” (Who can we as a group cuddle up to that could help us in business?)
• “Hath any body attacked your reputation lately? and what can the Junto do towards securing it?” (Can we help each other by issuing damage control in the social human or social media sphere? Or, if member is truly in the wrong, how can we help them recover?)
• “Is there any man whose friendship you want, and which the Junto, or any of them, can procure for you?” (Is there a particular person that a member wants to know, and how could we make that happen? are there any new clients out there worth mentioning?)
• “In what manner can the Junto, or any of them, assist you in any of your honourable designs?” (What specific to-do’s or direct help can each of us offer to other members, to constructively further their business cause?)
• “Have you any weighty affair in hand, in which you think the advice of the Junto may be of service?” (What major road-blocks are you facing in your business, and has any member had the same experience, and how did they defeat the obstruction?)
• “What benefits have you lately received from any man not present?” (Success stories or ‘good people’ we should know)
• “Is there any difficulty in matters of opinion, of justice, and injustice, which you would gladly have discussed at this time?” (Are there differences in approach to business strategies, or business philosophies, that should be discussed?)
• “Do you see any thing amiss in the present customs or proceedings of the Junto, which might be amended?” (How can we improve FCOMG?)

A final word.

I hope that this has been an interesting proposal for you to read, and that you are interested in joining. Please consider calling Gregory at 203.297.3372 for more information!