Book

One of the newest, most comprehensive, and uniquely insightful book on LinkedIn, Windmill Networking: Understanding, Leveraging & Maximizing LinkedIn, was published on September 29, 2009 and is available for purchase through Amazon.  Written by Neal Schaffer, this book continues to be one of the best selling LinkedIn books on Amazon and has also been a recepient of the following awards:

Honorable Mention, Best Non-Fiction Book of 2009, DIY Book Festival

Silver Medal, Best Business Reference Book of 2009, Axiom Business Book Awards

Bronze Media. Best Career Book of 2009, Foreword Book of the Year Awards

Book Description

Imagine finding the perfect job and developing several thousand new business and social networking contacts by simply maximizing your presence on an online network! With Neal Schaffer’s comprehensive and unique Windmill Networking: Understanding, Leveraging & Maximizing LinkedIn, you can formulate and reach those career and professional objectives. It’s all about creating and implementing your own LinkedIn Brand—which means branding yourself as if you were your own company! In this book:

• Learn fundamental social networking concepts and how to apply them
• Create and confirm your objective for using LinkedIn as well as your Brand
• Discover how Windmill Networking can enrich your social media presence for long-term success
• Engage with others through Windmill Networking and expand your network globally
• Leverage & Maximize your presence through thoroughly utilizing Applications, Groups & Answers
• Find the best company and most fulfilling job!

From the basics to advanced techniques, this is the first place to look…for the last word on online networking and what LinkedIn can do for you.

Here are some reviews of the book, with links to the full text and excerpts:

“Introducing the New ‘Everything You Wanted to Know’ about LinkedIn” from Tim Tyrell-Smith, Tim’s Strategy

Some of us think we know a little bit about LinkedIn. We have more than enough connections (or so we think). We have a few recommendations from former bosses and co-workers. We’ve joined LinkedIn groups to find classmates or look for a new job. And we’re actively meeting new people both in and outside our target geography.

Done? After all, knowing how to use 15% of a computer’s operating system works for most of us, right?

Not so fast. Remember now, we are talking about networking. For business or for a new job. Both critical things that contribute to the family’s income stream.

So now that we’ve established that LinkedIn is more than just casual social networking, it’s time to get to know this site and its capabilities. In a way that works.

So I’d like to introduce you to a new book from fellow Orange County resident and networking pal, Neal Schaffer. Neal has found a way, despite a very busy life, to write a fantastic new book on LinkedIn.

Neal writes the WindMill Networking™ blog and is becoming a well-known speaker on networking via social media. His new book is called “Understanding, Leveraging & Maximizing LinkedIn. An Unofficial, Step-By-Step Guide to Creating & Implementing Your LinkedIn Brand”.

Whether you are new to LinkedIn or have become a seasoned pro, the book is a great source of ideas on what LinkedIn can do for your career and your social life. Assuming you have one of each . . .

So what can you find inside? Here are some of the chapters that will interest anyone looking for their next great role:

• How to write a great profile
• How to write a great invitation
• How to create your own LinkedIn group
• How to research companies
• What is a LION and should I be one?
• How do I actively grow my LinkedIn network?

And, of course, much more.

If you are wondering if the book is worth purchasing, ask yourself if you feel 100% confident on LinkedIn. Are you missing leads or job opportunities because your profile is not well written. Or incomplete.

“An Excellent LinkedIn Resource” from Mike Boehmer, Public Relations Executive and former PRSA President, Cincinnati

Schaffer devotes 362 pages to explaining the vast potential of LinkedIn. He does a great job detailing the many features in the social network for professionals. He explains the various settings, applications and tools available for free (or a charge, if you choose the advanced version).  I particularly like his “pay-it-forward” philosophy toward networking — the idea that you network to see what you can give to your contacts, not what you can get from them. It falls in line with my belief in social networking karma.  There’s been a lot of attention given to blogging, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. LinkedIn seems like their plain, less sexy cousin. Reading this book will give you a better understanding why LI deserves A-list billing at any social media party.

“LinkedIn – Get a 12 month Head Start Making It Work for You” from Jonathan Wainwright, Marketing Consultant, FCG Consultancy Ltd

Neal Schaffer is one of those rare and talented people who has the ability to get to grips with a subject, take it apart piece by piece and then reassemble it, so that it is easy for everyone to understand …In, “Understanding, Leveraging and Maximising LinkedIn”, he takes the reader on a fascinating journey through Social Media Networking in general and LinkedIn in particular.  Before reading Neal’s book, I did struggle with LI and found it difficult to get to grips with. For me, it was just like IKEA flat packed furniture. Fantastic end result, but the journey to build it was a complete nightmare, because the instructions (if I could find them) were all written in ‘Klingon’.  Neal’s book unpacks this completely and is like a breath of fresh air.  He starts by recommending that users set a strategy and objectives they want to achieve through LinkedIn, as this will drive how they use it. In his case, Neal’s approach is ‘Windmill Networking’.  Let me explain this. Imagine your network is a power grid with all your contacts connected to it represented as Windmills. Each Windmill can either generate and put power into the grid, or receive and take power from it – a two way flow.  The concept being that the more networking help you provide, the more opportunity and help for you will also be generated. And along the way you project yourself as personable and true to yourself, so even in a virtual world you come across as a real human being.  Through practical, step-by-step examples, Neal shows us how to:

• set accounts up
• understand the search facility
• understand what is needed to create effective profiles
• differentiate yourself by creating your own Brand
• invite others to link with you, avoiding the deadly ‘Do Not Know’ (DNK) response
• use Groups, Questions and Answers to network
• use Applications
• avoid LinkedIn’s hidden traps such as restrictions on invitations

All in all, this is a fabulous book for anyone that wants to get the best out of LinkedIn. It will save you hours of time. As a practitioner, Neal has painstakingly worked out all the short cuts to getting the very best out of LinkedIn, so his advice works and is worth its weight in gold. And all these ‘nuggets’ relate to the free aspects of LinkedIn, he’s not a paid subscriber!  What he says makes absolute sense, because he ‘Walks the Talk’. He avoids jargon (except ironically in the book’s title) and has a relaxed and easy to read writing style, which means it is very easy to grasp quickly and put what he is saying into action.  Whether you are a beginner, or have been using it for a while, but not quite got to grips with its functionality, then I would highly recommend this book as an effective way to get the best out of LinkedIn, the world’s premier business virtual network.

Currently it seems that we are living in more of an isolated Society. Now with the advent of Social Media, we are able to establish electronic connections, which if done correctly will lead to greater personal and work relationships.

Great Guide on LinkedIn & Networking for the 21st Century! from Deepak Gupta, VP of Membership, American Marketing Association

Currently it seems that we are living in more of an isolated Society. Now with the advent of Social Media, we are able to establish electronic connections, which if done correctly will lead to greater personal and work relationships.

Neal has done what even LinkedIn has not. He has written an easy to follow and detailed guide of using LinkedIn based on his own experiences. For those of you who are serious about your career and personal brand, I would recommend reading Neal’s book.

Amazing, Resourceful Tool to Maximize Gobs of Features that LinkedIn Provides! from Keith Ramsey, CEO of Ramberg Media Group, Inc.

Neal delivers a smashing job arranging together this masterpiece for those who are serious about our careers, business and personal branding success.

End-to-end, from his experience and research, this book features a detailed guide on solutions to many self-rising questions with great perspectives, in addition to yielding respective approaches intending the use of LinkedIn by you or your business.

Attempting to understand and discover something new on utilizing LinkedIn has been a “must have” necessity.

If you’re barely getting going, seeking a job, savvy or yet deliberating plunging into social media and branding, this book is an amazing and resourceful tool to maximize gobs of features that LinkedIn provides.

Book Reviews

The enthusiasm that comes over in this…book is infectious. – Phil O’Brien, Entrepreneur

…I think Neal’s site is one of the best resources for people starting to use LinkedIn. I’d also been enthused by the preface and early chapters of the book. In my fledgling attempts at blogging, I’ve also been fortunate to exchange a few emails (and Neal’s been nice enough to take time to comment on my blog and give advice).

Anyway, the good news is that after reading the book I like Neal even more! He’s a real enthusiast for life and LinkedIn – and the book has consistent themes that I agree with such as “Pay it Forward”, “Trusted Networks of Advisors” and “Dig Your Well before You’re Thirsty”. Some books I end up skimming through – but this one I lingered on and enjoyed Neal’s personal presentation of each topic. It was fun learning about LinkedIn with him as the tutor. I certainly picked up ideas around Groups and Answers that I was not aware of – and got a real feel for LinkedIn’s corporate culture.

The secret is that Neal writes as an enthusiast who discovered LinkedIn at a tricky time in his career (moving back to the US from Japan) – and learnt the system, worked the system … and selflessly shared/shares his knowledge with others. It is a “How to…” manual – but it’s also much more that that. It’s an impassioned, self-published work that helps “anyone” exploring the idea of developing their Personal Network through LinkedIn by showing IT CAN BE DONE – and helps them to do it! Go out and get yourself a copy…..

Click here for full review

Highly recommend it! – Kristen Ridley, Senior Manager, People Communications at KPMG

…I am pleased to say that this is literally an encyclopedic how-to of hints and tips for making full and strategic use of all the opportunities LinkedIn offers, and everyone – whether a new user of the network, someone who has been on LinkedIn for years, or even someone who hasn’t yet joined but is considering it – should own and use this book!

The book is so well structured that it allows the reader to choose to either systematically work through all the chapters sequentially, or to selectively cherry-pick just the particular areas that deal with specific aspects of the tool they haven’t yet delved into or used fully.

This is an excellent book that will be a permanent “go-to” resource I know I will refer to over and over as a guide, a source of advice and a way to continuously expand my use of LinkedIn to develop my personal brand. I highly recommend this book to every user of LinkedIn!”

Click here for full review