Understanding Smart Connection

Hi - I'm Jane Bayler, and in this article I’m going to tell you all about Smart Connection and what it can do for you.

Who or what is the Smart Connector?

I am the creator of the Smart Connector, which is also the name of my bestselling book, and 90 day Personal and Business Brand Leadership Programme. This is for Entrepreneurs and Executives who want to increase their impact and authority, and become the most influential and compelling version of themselves.

I help you step up to your power so that others step up and say YES to you.

I want you to increase your wealth and business success, and also your freedom, happiness and personal fulfilment. So I created a system to help you have a great life, as well as accelerating your entrepreneurial results.

Smart Connection is the roadmap to help you be the "Architect of Your Amazing Business and Life."

How Connecting Smartly can help YOU.

In business today, increasing noise and competition means that companies are no longer competing on product or the corporate brand alone. With visibility and transparency via digital and social media, your potential customers often make their buying choices by aligning with YOU – the person, rather than the business you represent. And their decision will be influenced on how strongly your character and message resonates with them. 

Aligning Personal Brand with Personal Development.

This is definitely about personal brand. But as an Elite Personal and Professional Development Programme, it's also about more than this. Having worked at a high level in brand marketing in London for 20 years, I know the strongest brands are built from within. They’re 100% congruent. They have heritage and history. A why and a story.

They’re constructed from the ground up, rather than just being hastily put together, like new shoes or wallpaper. The same thinking needs to apply to your personal brand too.

Look at Richard Branson, who describes himself to his million followers on Instagram as ‘a tie loathing adventurer and thrill seeker, who believes in turning ideas into reality’. He’s a great example of a powerful personal brand. Tony Robbins, the personal development guru, is another. There’s Oprah Winfrey, the Queen of self-help. And Gary Vaynerchuk. If you’re in marketing you will definitely have heard of him. But if not check out Gary Vee – he’s everywhere.

People like Richard, Oprah, Tony and Gary have cleverly built their brands over time. They’ve managed to make their large and otherwise faceless corporations seem personal, and relevant to millions. Which results in those millions taking out their wallets and saying YES to them. They’re influencers of the highest order. They’re the entrepreneurial success stories we need to pay attention to most today.

None of these mega-wealthy influencers 'went it alone'. They surrounded themselves by the best mentors, advisors and consultants their money could buy. And to build massive success, so should you.

But it's also important to remember that...........................................................

Your Business Success Must Build Your Personal Success.

The bliss of learning to connect smartly is also that it gives you a permanent, actionable antidote to loneliness or pain, that can't be removed by anyone else.

It doesn’t mean you’ll never have difficult feelings, but you’ll know what to do about them when they arise.

Without genuine connection, wealthy and successful people often end up being used - secretly despised or resented by others. Relationships become sharply transactional and life becomes more and more lonely.

Think about all those celebrities that tragically died young. Whitney Houston, George Michael, Prince. They should have had the world at their feet instead of being surrounded by users. Wealth should be a vehicle to the thing that we all do it for, which is the love of other people and of life itself. But many super successful people are lonely. They don’t know how to make the transition or bridge from relationship survival to relationship excellence. It's important for successful people to know how to eradicate or reposition the users that arrive when they achieve wealth, and attract those instead who have honourable intentions and the ability to impact their lives in a positive and uplifting way.

You CAN lead, influence and inspire.

Learning how to connect authentically means you’ll become better at leading, selling to, inspiring and influencing others. Resulting in your business becoming more profitable - as well as more enjoyable for you.

There are plenty of ‘Smart Connectors’ already within my inner circle, and in my forthcoming podcast I reference and interview them - so that between us, we set a standard for connection excellence. 

People want to buy from YOU.

It’s important to remember that people want to buy  from you. And if not, they’ll buy from someone else. To illustrate this, I’ve also produced some podcast episodes on Influence and Persuasion, one of which looks at the Principle of Commitment and Consistency.

Consumers (this is a marketing term – you can think of them simply as your prospective clients or customers) are constantly looking for shortcuts to make decisions – because they’re overwhelmed by choice. They need and want our guidance and leadership. It’s a basic human instinct to be drawn to others who can show us the way. And once we’ve found a brand or person who does this, we tend to stick to them for future choices. So that’s why 'alignment' matters in business today.

But getting buy in or alignment isn’t just about making yourself visible to others, although of course, this matters too. You also have to manage their perception of you. Become, if you like, the most popular person at the party. It can be hard to do this for ourselves, but my system is designed to make this easier.

Step Up to Your Power and Value.

It is my strong desire to get you recognised as the foremost leader and authority in your sector, so you don’t lose out to others. I want you to know when and how to step IN to your power, and communicate with clarity and authority, so that others step UP to deliver on your vision and goals.

Your ability to engage, inspire and influence is your secret weapon for success. It gets others to yes. Whether it’s in your personal life, with your partner, friends or children. Or in your business, where you’re competing for the biggest slice of your market. This is what gets people to align with you. Because if they don’t, they’ll turn to others for the answer.

Remember – it’s human nature to want guidance and to be helped to make the right choices. You can be the one that influences people to choose you over others. So that they accept your leadership without question.

Authentic rapport and connection isn’t about selling, especially not in the old way, which I call manipulation marketing. Today’s buyers are too savvy and too informed to fall for those old tricks. It’s not about shouting louder or being everywhere either, although this will get you attention.

Embrace attraction marketing, or showing up as the most consistent and authentic version of yourself. Because when you do, you win the trust of others. And trust is at the heart of business success today. 

Level One - Connecting With Yourself.

My 90 day programme starts with 30 days of personal transformation or overhaul. This is because personal brand – or becoming the most popular person at the party – isn’t like a new dress or some glamorous jewellery. It’s an inside job. Think about the people you have found absolutely irresistible in the past. Who would you love to spend a day with? Personally, I’d love to spend a day with Oprah, Tony, Richard or Gary Vee, but I’d also love to spend a day with a handful of other people I’ve met in my life who just have the ability to make me feel great about myself and the limitless possibilities for my life.  You can be that person too. The inspirer. The leader. The torch bearer. The creator of those value vouchers that turn into business profits and cash in the bank.

To inspire or lead others, you have to be a leader of yourself first. And it’s not as easy as people think. This is why the programme begins with the relationship or connection you have with yourself.

You can’t inspire or lead others if you’re struggling with issues of self-mastery  such as poor self- esteem, loneliness, depression, weak interpersonal boundaries, or an inability to regulate your emotions. The more you’re able to stand up for yourself in a relaxed way, express your vision and values clearly, and regulate your mood, the more purpose and joy you’ll have in life. And the more people will naturally be drawn towards and want to align with you. They’ll want to know how you do it – because energy and emotions are contagious, and we humans crave purpose and joy. 

Smart Connectors are positive people. They're never, ever boring or bored, because they see life as an amazing adventure and approach it with a passion that fires up other people too.

Most people fake positivity. They say they’re fine, or put on a mask. But we humans are intuitive creatures and can tell the difference. The overhaul of the relationship you have with yourself is a necessary first step to connection with others. You're far more transparent than you seem. It's not that you'll never have problems, but you’ll learn to approach them as temporary obstacles. When things go wrong, you’ll remind yourselves that a bad day is just one day. It will pass, and tomorrow, or next week, or next month you’ll have the chance to re-set and accelerate both connection and purpose.

So what happens if life’s dealt you a series of really harsh blows?

I’ve seen repeatedly that the perception of what is ‘harsh’ is not a truth. It’s a story we tell ourselves. Many people go through extraordinary hardship and still come out the other side grateful and smiling. 

People who think life has dealt them endless blows are usually disconnected from others in the form of authentic communication. They don’t realise that most people have multiple 'crosses to bear', and that it’s pretty likely theirs are no worse than thousands of others who may have a completely different perspective. Don’t buy into the victim mentality. Don’t join the pity party. As long as you’re alive, you’ve got your health, a roof over your head and enough money to feed your family, life is good. Anyway my programme goes into this in more detail as it is a system that can be learned and practised, so let’s move on to the second level – how to resonate and connect with others.

Level Two - Connection with Others.

You can’t be disconnected or isolated from others and be emotionally healthy. Numerous studies have shown not only that people live longer when they have meaningful interpersonal contact, but also their survival from chronic illnesses like cancer improves dramatically. Because we’re pack animals, like dogs, isolation and disconnection is actually deadly to us humans. Remember those Romanian orphan babies who failed to grow and develop because they weren’t being cuddled enough? The more quality connection we can build into our lives, the happier we will be. And the more contagious positive energy we will transmit to others. Meaning they will seek us out, and prioritise contact with us over others. 

Connection accelerates business growth too.

Of course this is tremendously helpful to us personally, but since this is a programme for business executives and entrepreneurs, it means that when the right people choose to invest time and energy in us, it will result in profitable growth for our businesses too.

More money brings the time and freedom to enjoy the life we truly desire. So it’s like a virtuous circle of business and life.

Studies claim interpersonal connection is the new luxury.

Business automation is great for profits, but deeply uncomfortable to us humans. Look at how its playing out today, everything from learning to services is becoming automated, meaning that too often we end up staring at a screen or listening to a voice that doesn’t have a real person on the other end that we can engage with. It may feel like a relationship is being built, because the voice and the face are human, but that’s our imagination tricking us. We’re actually being abandoned on a human level. We’re left with a feeling of emptiness, a soul searing sadness, if this isn’t balanced with REAL TIME interaction with REAL people. 

Life is short, so spend it with those who 'lift you higher'.

Life is finite. Time is short. We need to be able to differentiate between the people who are worth us spending time and energy on, and those who are  just going to leave us empty and frustrated. The programme helps us to do this. It makes us evaluate how and why we relate to others. We learn through Step Two how to bring the right people into alignment, and inspire them to act in our best interests. It also helps us recognise the behaviours and attitudes in others that are unhelpful or even toxic to us, and eliminate those behaviours (or the people that display them) rapidly and effectively from our lives. 

Level Two contains a method and a system for connection and interpersonal growth. So that when the right people enter your life, you'll know exactly what to do to keep them there.

You'll learn to be of service to others in the way that resonates with them. In other words, possess the skill of discovering and responding to the values of others rather than operating as if theirs are the only ones that count. You'll adjust your behaviour and style to make others feel comfortable. You'll step into another’s shoes to see life through their lens, and then step up and manifest this wisdom practically. If this sounds like work, well yes it is, if you’ve been used to operating from a purely selfish perspective. But to get people to resonate with, align with, and say YES to you, this is really the shortcut to business as well as personal success.

Our first world lives have become too complex and challenging.

In the last hundred years the exponential rate of change in the world has far exceeded our ability to deal with it comfortably. What worked for our ancestors simply doesn’t work for us. We’ve installed their operating system, but it’s deficient for the society we find ourselves within.

Today, most ambitious people leave their families, towns and even countries of origin. This wasn’t an option for our ancestors. They stayed in the same place, within the same culture, and with the same people, as their parents, and their parents’ parents. The rules have changed today, and a new paradigm is needed. It’s mostly the unambitious who stay in one place today. Such people often have a fixed mindset, believing suffering and limitations are an inevitable part of life. If you're reading this article, that's not you, is it?

Think about soap operas. Their huge popularity presents a world that is comforting on all levels: lifelong friendships, nurtured on a daily basis, through face to face interaction. The boredom of close knit communities tempered by problems and dramas that are, of course, happening to people other than ourselves. They’re so far from the lives we find ourselves living. The way soap operas soothe is the way we hurt. And it’s all about connection.

Smart Connection isn't for everyone.

Is this a first world programme? You might ask. After all, people the world over, in third world as well as civilised societies, have made sense of the world and each other for as long as we’ve been on Earth. 

It’s certainly true that this is an elite personal development programme for ambitious individuals, who want to be the architects of their amazing businesses and lives, rather than people who are in survival mode.

In one of my podcasts, I look at Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, that demonstrates how certain needs have to be satisfied before you move on to a higher tier. 

If you’re worried about where your next meal is coming from, you won’t see the relevance of the programme to your life. And that’s fine. This isn’t for everyone. As I already said, my programme was designed for ambitious individuals who want to be the architects of their amazing businesses and lives. For such people, my programme presents a shortcut and system for interpersonal success and wellbeing. It also gives them the ability to impact others and give back to the world too.

Level Three - Connection to many.

Connection - or resonance - with many is the number one rule of brand success. So if you’re an entrepreneur the how and why of your 'personal brand' is absolutely critical to master. One of my favourite authors MJ Demarco talks about money as ‘value vouchers’. He says: 'If you want to make millions, impact millions'. So when you create 'value vouchers' for millions, in the form of communicating clearly how you can solve their problems, they will pay you millions in return.

Taking your message to the world is an art as well as a science. The SCIENCE comes from automated, technology based systems which have the ability to bring you to the attention of your prospective customers. It can also come from mastering social media, uploading volume of blogs or vlogs, doing podcasts or public speaking, and developing distribution methods or systems to make your personal brand accessible to many. The ART of connection to many, however, is far more skilled and complex, involving your bespoke message and how you express it, and that’s what Level or Tier 3 is all about. 

Taking your message to the world can be philanthropic or commercial.

It is actually natural for people who have developed confident self expression and mastery, which we cover in Levels 1-2 of my programme, to want to broaden their horizons and step up to the challenge of taking their message to the world (Level 3). Sometimes your message may not even have a commercial goal. It's healthy to have an altruistic or philanthropic purpose in life too, whether either supports your business or exists alongside. 

For example, I use my Smart Connector Facebook page as a daily meditation journal, to impart wisdom and encouragement to those who are struggling in life. Compassion is an important element of my personal brand, and people visit my page daily and express their appreciation and thanks for encouraging and inspiring them, which means so much to me. It’s one way I give back to the world, and you can do this too if you wish.

A lot of people talk about personal brand today but don't actually understand how brands are constructed. Having spent 20 years in advertising and media I do. And there’s the difference. 

Always remember that brand equity is the product of consistent investment over time. There really are no overnight successes. Start small, with the right structure and support, putting in the foundations for you to fly over time. 

So the system I’m going to put you through in this last and final phase of my 90 day programme is really just the beginning of your journey to becoming the very best version of you.

Of course, you can take it further, with my application only Inner Circle Masterminds and Retreats, but first, put the foundations in place and start your journey to being the architect of your amazing business and life. I invite you to get in touch and set up a discovery call. Thank you for taking the time to read my article and I wish you every success in 2020.