Welcome to Chris-Smith.me

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Hi! This is me.

 

My name’s Chris Smith, I’m married to Sarah, and we have two beautiful daughters, Sophie and Scarlett (visit Scarlett-Harp.co.uk here).

 

 

I hope you find something useful here. On my website you will find information about…

  • Personal Development
    • Leadership
  • Financial Independence
    • Residual Income
    • Self-Employment
  • My Business
  • Social Media for Business
    • Twitter

 

Personal Development

Personal Development is something that we should ALL be doing. In the words of Jim Rohn: “Formal Education will earn you a living, self-education will earn you a fortune” For “Self Education”, read “Personal Development”.

In this section you will find a variety of blog posts about personal development, and also sections about my favourite authors on Personal Development: Robert Kiyosaki, Jim Rohn, and others which will be added.

 

Leadership

Whether you want to lead a team, or just set a great example to yourself and your family, Ledaership skill;s are a great part of personal development.

Here you can read my blog posts about Leadership.

 

Financial Independence

What is Financial Independence? I read a great way to measure your financial independence:

If you stop work today. How many days would it be before you would run out of money?

You can read my blog posts and articles on Financial Independence here.

 

Residual Income

… and what better way to achieve financial independence than through a Residual Income. That is an income that you continue to receive, even after you have stopped doing the work that created it. For example, Pop stars get paid royalties on their songs, after they have finished the work of recording them.

In this section you can find my posts and articles about Residual Income.

 

Self-Employment

One of the best ways to build a residual income, and become finaincially independent, is by running a home-business. In these businesses you are self-employed, and there are many questions and issues you would want to address if you are self employed, or thinking about going self-employed.

Read my thoughts on self-employment, or being self-employed here.

 

My Business

I have a small Home Shopping Business which is one of the ways I am building my Residual Income, hopefully leading to Financial Independence. I am self-employed, and it requires some Leadership on my part, and I have goine through my own Personal Development journey to get where I am now.

If you would like to know more about my business of choice, Kleeneze, take a look in that section.

 

Social Media for Business

I love using Social Media to promote local businesses, and my business aswell.

Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn etc are all great tools to get your message out to your community.

In this section you will find loads of great hints and tips on how to get the best out of them. You can find it all here: Social Media for Business

 

 

I hope you find something of interest. I do waffle on a bit, so bear with me. I work hard to earn good money, and I like to spend that money on my family and me, and offer them a lifestyle that they can enjoy. I hope you get a feel for that here.

If you would like to do something similar for yourself and your family, then please get in touch. I’d love to hear from you.

 

If you’d like a FREE information pack about joining our team and working with me, Click Here

 

Bye for now

Chris Smith :-)

Chris Smith

30 Day Challenge – The frogs get easier to eat

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On Thursday 16th May 2013, at the Basingstoke Entrepreneurs Roadshow, Agnes Cserhati of AC Power Coaching set a challenge to meet 30 people in 30 days.

You can read about the challenge here.

Thursday 30th May: BizPedia Networking meeting

The Frogs get easier to eat.

If you read my blog post about my first Networking Meeting a week ago, you’ll know I was quite nervous, and needed a push to eat that frog!

However, as I was Tweeting about it, and asking people about other local networking meetings, I came across Josh and Angie of BizPedia. They invited me to a Free Networking meeting in Southampton, so I thought: lets get on a roll, and eat the next frog.

I accepted their invitation, and the next Thursday morning I rolled up at 7:15am at Romsey Golf Club.

So a huge thanks to Josh and Angie. You can follow Bizpedia on Twitter, or visit them at www.biz-pedia.co.uk

The BizPedia Free Networking meeting was a lively bunch of local businesses, with free tea and coffee, and a simple structure:

1st – informal networking as people arrived

2nd – sitting at a table with 3 or 4 other businesses to share a short discussion on each business, what they were looking for etc.

3rd – change to a table with 3 or 4 other businesses and repeat.

So a very simple way to meet 6-8 businesses, and see how you might be able to help each other.

So Here’s a short summary of the people I met today…

Carl Swain - CW Fellowes

Stewart Dennis - Jack FM

 

Belinda - Future EmploymentCarl Swain of CW Fellowes explained that they are Business, Financial, and Tax Advisers for small, medium and large businesses. Carl is based in Chandler’s Ford.

Stephen Perry - New Forest Platinum Tours

Kirsty Ricketts Travel Counsellor

Ryan Lisk - Watertight Legal

Ian Lock - Nexus design

 

 

Stewart Dennis is Sales Manager for Jack FM and The Breeze Radio Stations. Stewart explained the 2 different audience types for these stations, and how you can target your advertising based on your target audience.

 

 

Belinda of Future Employment explained how they specialise in recruiting Sales Directors, and other staff for the Sales and Marketing industries. She is based in Southampton.

 

 

Stephen Perry is proprietor of New Forest Platinum Tours. They provide customised, chauffered tours around the New Forest for visitors to the area.

 

Kirsty Ricketts is a Travel Counsellor Associate, organising personalised holidays anywhere in the world. Kirsty prides herself in getting to know her customers, so she can organise exactly what they want.

 

 

Ryan List is MD of Watertight Legal. They provide fixed fee advice on a specialised number of legal services, including Intellectual Property. Ryan gave a great account of how he got into this business while at University in Bristol.

 

Ian Lock of Nexus Design offers Graphic Design, including Logos, Rebranding, and banners to Small to Medium Entreprises. Ian has almost 30 years experience in Graphic Design.

 

 

So this was a great, informal, and cheap way to meet and network with other businesses in the Southampton Area. if you’d like to come to the next one, just contact Josh or Angie at BizPedia.

chris smith

 

Bye For Now

Chris Smith

You can follow Chris Smith on Twitter

30 Day Challenge: The Property Investor

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On Thursday 16th May 2013, at the Basingstoke Entrepreneurs Roadshow, Agnes Cserhati of AC Power Coaching set a challenge to meet 30 people in 30 days.

You can read about the challenge here.

Tuesday 28th May: Day 10, Meeting 4

The Property Investor

Last Friday, at the 4Networking Meeting in Ferndown, I met Bernadette Lloyd.

Bernadette Lloyd - Procubed

 

Bernadette is the Area Director of this 4N Networking Group, and is MD of Procubed Services.

Procubed Services provide a number of Professional Services, but one in particular interested me: Property Investment.

 

 

Bernadette invited me to a local Property Investors Network meeting. I have invested in property in the past, and I still have those properties, but I haven’t been actively investing for several years, so I was interested in going along.

The meeting was in a hotel in Poole, and I met Bernadette briefly before the meeting, while networking with other people. Some were experienced investors, going along to meet fellow investors, and to see Simon Zutshi, the founder of the Property Investors Network, who was one of the speakers. Others were brand new to Property, and just wanted to see what it was all about.

Simon Zutshi is a very bubbly, knowledgeable, confident man, without coming across as arrogant. He has clearly been very successful in property investment, and his idea in setting up this network is to share that knowledge, and create a supportive environment for people who want to get into property investing.

He runs training courses on how to buy property for investment, but I was pleased to see that, although these courses were mentioned and promoted at the meeting, it was not an over the top sell, sell, sell approach, which made it a much more pleasant experience.

In addition to Simon giving us some thoughts on buying property in the Bournemouth area, there were 3 investors from the local area giving us stories and examples of properties they had bought, to give us an insight of the kind of deals that can be made.

Overall, a very insightful evening.

Bernadette is on one of the training programmes, so I hope to meet her again to get an insider’s view of the courses and programmes.

Lessons Learnt – Don’t discount old business ventures that have ended. I had pretty much decided I would not invest in property again, and that I would consolidate the ones I already have, but this has fired up my interest again, and who knows where it might lead.

PS - Tony Laws, the MC and host of the meeting called me a couple of days later, just for some feedback on how I thought it went, and we agreed to meet for a coffee next week – so that’s another of my 30 Day Challenge booked!

chris smith

 

Bye for Now.

Chris Smith

You can follow Chris Smith on Twitter

 

30 Day Challenge: The Power Coach

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On Thursday 16th May 2013, at the Basingstoke Entrepreneurs Roadshow, Agnes Cserhati of AC Power Coaching set a challenge to meet 30 people in 30 days.

You can read about the challenge here.

Tuesday 28th May: Day 10, Meeting 3

Agnes Cserhati, The Power Coach

agnes cserhati

 

Today I met Agnes.

Agnes Cserhati is a business coach, mentor, entrepreneur. You can find her on Twitter, and via AC Power Coaching.

 

The story of how I met Agnes is a great example of how Social Media has changed our lives.

One Saturday morning a few months ago I was having a lie-in with a big mug of tea, browsing my Twitter Timeline, and I noticed a HashTag #SatChatUK. It seemed to be a group of people, mainly small businesses, chatting about their week. So I joined in and said hello, and one of the people chatting was Agnes.

Agnes mentioned she was setting up an office in Germany, in Bonn. About 5 years earlier, I had spent a lot of time in Bonn, when I worked for T-Mobile, so we had a bit of a chat about Bonn, and started to build a little rapport, as you do, over Twitter.

Over the next few weeks we exchanged a few “Hello”s, and some views on putting the world right, and it came out that Agnes was speaking at an Entrepreneur’s Roadshow in a few weeks in Basingstoke. So I decided to go along.

At the Roadshow I met Agnes IRL…[ In Real Life :o )  ] and during her talk, she gave us all the 30 Day Challenge. I decided to take it on, and as I am currently looking for a business mentor, I asked Agnes if we could meet for a coffee to discuss it. She could be one of my Thirty!

….and here we are. I wouldn’t be here, if it wasn’t for Twitter networking.

So, to business today.

Agnes told me about her businesses, and specifically the services she offers as a business coach. I liked her approach. She suggested we structured the coaching sessions with more time, and more intensity at the beginning, when she is understanding what I want, and I am implementing the first changes, and then gradually reducing the sessions as we monitor what impact the changes have made, and fine tune them.

I explained to her what I was looking for, and the 2 specific issues I am looking for help with. One is a decision relating to Cashflow management, and one a recruiting issue.

I wanted someone who is flexible, someone I could talk to whenever I had an issue I was struggling with.

I also wanted someone who would hold me accountable for actions I promised to take. I often find that I know what I should be doing, but I find reasons for not doing it.

I’ll speak to Agnes again in the coming days, and I hope we can work together.

Lessons Learnt - I knew this anyway, but it is important to spend time with people outside of your usual day to day business community and work colleagues. You get new ideas, new enthusiasm, and people who can point out to you any false assumptions you might be making.

 

chris smith

Bye for Now.

Chris Smith

You can follow Chris Smith on Twitter.

 

 

30 Day Challenge: The Frustrated Team Member

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On Thursday 16th May 2013, at the Basingstoke Entrepreneurs Roadshow, Agnes Cserhati of AC Power Coaching set a challenge to meet 30 people in 30 days.

You can read about the challenge here.

Friday 24th May 2013: Day 6, Meeting 2

The Frustrated Team Member

OK, I know I am behind on my schedule to meet 30 people in 30 days, but don’t give up on me yet!

Gorgeous pastries

 

Today I met up with Graham. He had suggested a patisserie he knows not far from where he works. Wow. Absolutely gorgeous cakes and bread and pastries. If I worked nearby, I would put on a stone in a month!

 

I have known Graham for a few years. We met at a Business Networking Meeting when he was a Mortgage Broker, and I was buying properties to Let out.

Graham is very professional, a hard worker, great at what he does.

He joined my Kleeneze team 18 months ago, and I was certain he would build a strong, successful team, to give him the residual income he was looking for. The main issue for him was finding the time, as he also had other commitments with clients as he is an accountant/financial project manager.

When Graham joined Kleeneze, he hit the ground running. He delivered lots of catalogues to the areas where he lived, received loads of orders, and built up a good, loyal, customer base. He qualified for loads of bonuses and Incentives.

But what Graham really wants to do is start recruiting, and building a team, to provide a residual income. The question was, when would he find the time to do it?

A couple of months ago Graham had some delivery problems. Some goods arrived damaged. This happens occasionally. It is frustrating when it happens, but thankfully it is not all that often. However, when it happens to you, it is painful. As Graham is very busy, he became very frustrated and angry at the time it took to get replacement goods back to him, and the time and effort for him to deliver the goods to his customers, while at the same time trying to repair any damaged loyalties.

Graham went quiet – I didn’t hear from him for a while. he stopped putting in orders, and I was certain that the frustration had been so bad, that he had decided to leave the business. I had pretty much resigned myself to losing a great team member.

When this sort of thing happens, It is easy to think…

  • If he wants a chat, he’ll get in touch.
  • If he decides to leave, there is nothing I can do about it.

…..and for a few weeks, that is how I had felt.

But after taking on Agnes’ 30 Day Challenge, my mindset has changed. I am starting to experience the value of face to face meetings. So I rang Graham, and left a voicemail. He emailed me back and we arranged a date/time.

I was steeling myself for a fairly difficult meeting, expecting Graham to tell me all of the reasons why he was leaving.

We sat down, coffee and almond croissants at the ready.

….and Graham was mad. He was very frustrated with the delivery problems. And with other problems I hadn’t realised – meetings that had been arranged at short notice that he was unable to attend.

…but, he did see the bigger picture! Kleeneze is a business of 2 parts. The first is the retail part. Primarily catalogue delivery. That part does give you short term income. There are occasional problems, as with any business. The second part is the team building part – recruiting, sponsoring, coaching, supporting, and celebrating successes with your team members. This is where the big residual incomes come from, and Graham sees that. He knows that is why he is really in Kleeneze.

So despite the short-term frustrations he has faced, we ended with a successful meeting, starting on the longer term plans for growing Graham’s team, and building the part of the business that he really wants to do.

Lessons Learnt? Meeting people face to face allows you to understand what the other person is REALLY thinking! It gets SO MUCH MORE done than texts, emails, and incorrect assumptions!

chris smith

 

Bye for now

Chris Smith

 

You can follow Chris Smith on Twitter

30 Day Challenge – I ate my Frog!

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On Thursday 16th May 2013, at the Basingstoke Entrepreneurs Roadshow, Agnes Cserhati of AC Power Coaching set a challenge to meet 30 people in 30 days.

You can read about the challenge here.

 

Friday 24th May 2013: Day 6, My Frog:

Eat That Frog

It’s funny how working IN your business gets in the way of working ON your business.

Since Sunday (Day 1, Meeting 1) I have been working like mad IN my business, but making ZERO progress on my 30 Day Challenge. Well not exactly zero. I made a couple of appointments to meet people next week. It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon. (That’s what people say when they get off to a slow start!)

HOWEVER, I just wanted to say another big thankyou to Agnes Csherhati for helping me to eat a frog.

If you have no idea what I am talking about, get a copy of “Eat That Frog!” by Brian Tracy. This is a great book about defeating procrastination, and doing the most important things for your business, even if they are not the most enjoyable things.

My Frog, which I have not been able to eat for about six months now, has been to go to a local Business Networking meeting. I used to go to Networking meetings about 5 years ago, and I know they are a good way to make contacts, meet new people, and do business, but I was nervous of going to talk about my current business, Kleeneze, so I kept finding reasons for not going….

  • I need to deliver some orders on that day.
  • I haven’t prepared what I am going to say.
  • What if I don’t know anyone there?
  • I have a blog post to write.
  • … etc

However, now that I have taken on Agnes’ 30 Day Challenge (and am running behind on my target!), I have a strong reason TO go. Imagine how many new people I could meet if I go to a Business Networking Meeting!

So I did.

This morning I went to the 4Networking meeting in Ferndown. I had a really good time. I met a dozen or so people who were all really friendly and welcoming. What on earth was I worried about?

But isn’t that always the way with frogs?

So I now have a bunch of appointments lined up in the coming week or two.

Here’s some of the people I’ll be meeting…

Bernadette Lloyd - Procubed

Bernadette Lloyd of Procubed Services

Bernadette is the Area Director of this 4N Networking Group, and she is also a property investor. I have invested in property in the past, so Bernadette invited me to the local Property Investors Network meeting. Result!

 

Neil Jarrett - BHF

 

Neil Jarrett is the local Fundraising & Volunteer Manager for the British Heart Foundation. My daughter Sophie had open heart surgery earlier this year, so it is a charity close to my heart. I’ll be meeting Neil to see how I can help.

 

Jo Hansell - Nimbus Solutions

 

Jo Hansell has a computer training and support called Nimbus Solutions. Jo welcomed me to the meeting, and was really helpful in introducing me to some of the other people at the meeting. I’m meeting Jo just to learn more about her business, and see if I can direct some business her way.

 

30 Day Challenge? Pah!

You can follow Chris Smith on twitter

30 Day Challenge – Dave, the tenant

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On Thursday 16th May 2013, at the Basingstoke Entrepreneurs Roadshow, Agnes Cserhati of AC Power Coaching set a challenge to meet 30 people in 30 days.

You can read about the challenge here.

Sunday 19th May 2013: Day 1, Meeting 1

I got off to a gentle start today. I met with David. David is a tenant in one of my flats. He is young, ambitious, smart, and he keeps the flat looking immaculate! A perfect tenant.

The purpose of the meeting was 2-fold. Firstly, David wanted to review our tenancy agreement. He would like to commit to staying at the flat for a further 12 months, in exchange for a reduction in the rent. I was happy with that. I always think a good tenant is worth their weight in gold. The previous tenant in this flat was a nightmare, I had to go to court to get them evicted, incurring court fees, and months of lost rent. David is a breath of fresh air.

Secondly, and this was the part relating to the 30 Day Challenge, I asked David to take a look at my Kleeneze Business Opportunity.

I hadn’t expected him to be interested, as he seems very focussed on his career at the moment, but I thought he might know someone who might be interested.

To my surprise he said he would like to look at the info for himself. He was familiar with Network Marketing, as a friend had taken him to a meeting for another opportunity recently. So he said he would certainly take a look at the information. I left a couple of business cards with him to pass on to friends.

Will this lead to a new team member? I don’t know, but you never know. This is a numbers game, and the more people you show the opportunity to, the more people will join.

Lessons Learnt? Don’t prejudge anyone. Speak to everyone about your business. You never know who might be interested.

30 Day Challenge

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Meet 30 People in 30 Days

A few days ago I met Agnes Cserhati at the Entrepreneur Roadshow in Basingstoke. (check out #erb2013 in Twitter).

Agnes is a very bubbly, motivated, experienced entrepreneur, and she was giving a talk on her experiences, and giving recommendations for new or budding entrepreneurs.

Agnes at the Entrepreneur Roadshow, #ERB2013

Agnes at the Entrepreneur Roadshow, #ERB2013

 

Find out more about Agnes at

http://www.ac-powercoaching.com/

Social Media for Business

 

or follow her on twitter:

@agnescserhati

 

 

 

Amongst all of the hints, tips, and advice she gave, Agnes set us a thirty day challenge: Business is all about relationships, and in this world of Social media, [Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn], it is important to actually meet people. her challenge was to meet 30 people in 30 days.

So, going to the pub with a mate doesn’t count, but 30 people who could help you, or you can help, and start work on a relationship.

Now those 30 people may not transform your life or your business, but it will start to develop some great habits that can become a way of life for a successful entrepreneur.

So I decided to take on that challenge, and document how it goes.By doing this, I hope it will commit me to sticking with the challenge when things get tough….

Day 1, Meeting 1 – Dave, the tenant

Day 6 – I ate my Frog

Day 6, Meeting 2 – The Frustrated Team Member

Day 10, Meeting 3 – The Power Coach

Watch this space for the next instalment of my 30 Day Challenge!

I hope you enjoy reading about it

chris smithBye for Now

Chris Smith

You can follow Chris Smith on Twitter

How to Sack Your Boss

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Some bosses are a complete nightmare – They’re never happy with your work, some are bullies, sometimes your face doesn’t fit, so wouldn’t it be great to be able to SACK YOUR BOSS!
angry boss bully

It’s usually the other way round. Your boss isn’t happy with you, so he sacks you. Or he makes your life so miserable, you have to resign to stay sane. Or you just struggle on, hating your job, but needing the money.

So just for a change, would you like to know how to Sack Your Boss?

For most people having a job is great, but for some it can feel like a trap. You need the money, but you hate your work, and especially your boss.

So being able to Sack Your Boss, and say “Thanks, but I don’t need this any more” would be the most wonderful feeling:

  •   No more Monday morning Blues.
  •   No more dreading asking for time off if the kids are sick.
  •   No more keeping your fingers crossed hoping he is in a good mood.

So, how do you solve this dilemma? You can’t just quit, you need the money. Finding another job could be like jumping from the frying pan into the fire. So here is a way out of that dilemma:

Start working on your escape, part-time.

Plan your escape

What do I mean?

Start a little Work From Home business, part-time.

An extra £50 a week, fitting it around your other commitments may not sound like much. But if you choose wisely, it can grow and grow,

Network Marketing

Many Work From Home businesses are based on Network Marketing. That means you earn money as commission from the products and services you sell personally, but you can increase your income considerably by introducing other people to the business. You earn commission on their sales as well as your own.

… and this is your escape plan!

Work 8-12 hours a week, evenings and weekends, building up the retail side of your Work From Home Business. Talk to other people about what you’re doing, and see if they would like to join your escape plan!

As your team grows, your income grows, and you will start to approach, match and overtake your earnings from your full-time job. This is called “Working full time on your job, and part-time on your fortune“.

As soon as you are earning enough – you can SACK YOUR BOSS!

Imagine the feeling of walking into the office, knowing that you don’t need it any more, and handing in your notice.

Imagine the excitement of working towards that day! And as your income grows, and you get closer and closer to the day when you can leave, you will find that you don’t have the monday morning Blues anymore! You don’t care what mood your boss is in, because you know that it won’t be long before you SACK YOUR BOSS!

Click on this link if you’d like to find out more about Kleeneze, my preferred Work From Home Business.

Bye for now.

chris smith

 

Chris Smith 

Independant Kleeneze Distributor

Winner – Distributor Challenge Trophy 2012

 

 

Manage your Twitter Timeline with Lists

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Twitter Lists

If you have built up a reasonable number of Tweeps (Twitter users) that you follow, say more than 500, and they are active – i.e. they tweet quite a lot – then it can be hard work to keep track of what they are talking about. Your Twitter Timeline can get very busy.

This is where Twitter Lists come in handy.

 

Here is a 60-second video about Twitter Lists, or you can skip it and read the info below…

Twitter Lists

A List is a collection of Tweeps that have something in common.

Lists are yours to create and name as you want – and you can make each list private, or public.

 

The name of the List should be something that makes sense to you. Why did you start following that person?

For example -

  • They follow the same football team as you;
  • They have a similar interest to you.
  • Their tweets are humorous, and you enjoy a good giggle;
  • They have a business that you want to keep track of,
  • …and so on.

 

So your lists might be called…

  • StockportFans
  • RockClimbing
  • Comedians
  • Apple
  • …for example

 

Create a List

Next, go into your Twitter application of choice and create your lists.

In Twitter.com it is really easy:

  1. Login to your twitter account
  2. Go to your Profile Page
  3. Click on the Menu Option “Lists”
  4. Click on “Create List”
  5. Enter the List name, a description, and whether you want the list to be public or private.
  6. Repeat for each List you want to create.

 

Your next job is to allocate each Tweep that you follow to the relevant List. This can be a bit of a long winded exercise if you already follow thousands of people. So you could do it over a period of time.

 

One tool that I found really helpful is TwitListManager.

twitlistmanager

TwitListManager is a great way to go through all of the people you follow, and see if you have already allocated them to a list, and if not, you can choose a list to allocate them to.

You can also revisit it monthly to make sure you haven’t missed someone out.

 

When your lists are set up, then get into the discipline so that, every time you follow a new Tweep, you allocate them to a list. If you start to follow someone, but there isn’t a relevant list, create a new list!

 

View a List

So – now you have lists, with your followers allocated to one, or more, lists, what next?

Well next time you are reading your Twitter Timeline you can choose to..

Scan your normal Timeline with the tweets of all of the people you follow all mixed together , OR…

Go to one of your lists, to view…

  • What people are saying about Stockport County FC
  • What’s going on down the local Climbing Wall
  • Some funny tweets to cheer you up
  • The latest Apple design stuff
  • … and so on

In Twitter.com you do this in the same way as you created your lists…

Go to your profile page

Select Lists from the Menu option

Then click on one of your new Lists

Now, you get a timeline exactly the same as your main Twitter Timeline, but just with the tweets of those people in that list.

Now if you want to use one of the more advanced Twitter Apps like HootSuite, you can view several lists at once, but that5 is a subject for another day.

 

I hope you found that useful.

 

Here are some of my other posts about Twitter.

Bye for Now

Chris Smith

chris smith