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… then as we stay in touch on meaningless things, we can eventually work effectively together,” John T. Cacioppo says, observing what is happening with the daily tidbits of news we get about each other via Facebook and Twitter.  

Ironically, reading online about each other’s daily life means, for some including Julia Angwin, that they can dive into a “deeper conversation” when they finally do get together. 

This “small talk” - even when not direct or in person, makes us feel more familiar to each other. Observes Cacioppo, “It’s like team practice – a basketball team has to practice together to win.” Cacioppo was speaking as a neuroscientist.  

Yet there’s a big caveat. One may not get a true picture of what’s going on.

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If a coffee shop owner and a former minister can make money by leading groups then, perhaps, so can you and I.  In the following success stories see if there’s a method you’d like to try. With the right approach people are happy to pay you for the opportunity to hone a skill they already have or to re-invent themselves. Perhaps you can re-invent yourself and gain more financial security and independence as you build a side or main business, teaching others what you know.

Why Teach Groups Rather Than Individuals?

Remember what Willie answered when asked why he robs banks? “Because that’s where the money is.” Learning by yourself isn’t as much fun as when in an actively engaged group.

Shared enjoyment reinforces an individual’s belief that they like the class and themselves while in it, research shows. That’s why people usually learn faster in experiential group learning.  Plus they bond with each other, admire you (the leader) - and are more likely to recommend the class to others. That’s a faster path to profitability.

Choose the Group Teaching Approach That Works for You

What skill can you teach others so they can secure more work from current clients and/or get to new clients – or launch into a new profession? Here are six extremely different (and profitable) kinds of group training:

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Instead of standing on a stage, one comedian at a time, humorists were leaning over their computers, waiting with bated breath for quirky Brit Tiernan Douieb to say “Go!”  In this Twitter Comedy Club experiment, drawing a crowd of 6,000 each comedian had a 10 minute act. They madly delivered their best lines in 140-characters, one after the other. Those attending the event simply had to search for tweets appearing with the event hashtag #tcgig. Some searched by smart phone and others by computer.

Out of the comedian line up came Tweets such as Mark Watson’s “My dad used to say, ‘Money: you can’t take it with you.’ Which led to some pretty boring holidays.” 

One participating comedy club, Pappy’s even created Terry Witter (@TerryWitter) a fake heckler.

Humor’s hard to create, especially under time pressure. If these comedians can generate so many ideas, crowd attention and camaraderie using this format, so can you.  This jam-packed, Twitter-based event could be adapted to other lifestyle topics (tips by and for cycling commuters, living well on less, etc.) or professional interests (customer-attracting tips by and for restaurant owners, etc.)

The bonus benefit for all participants?  The “content” that’s created by the event, generates lasting visibility for tipsters and sponsors.  Anytime you can see the ideas again as you can on the comedians’ Twitter accounts.

If you are adept at Twitter you could take on Tiernan’s role as a business. Offer to create such events for an association and/or businesses to sponsor themed events that would attract their members and customers. Such innovative uses show that, used smartly, Twitter can attract customers and potential collaborators.

Joe Lee was sitting at a table, rapidly counting rain jackets in a small room somewhere above the sumptuous lobby of the Jamaican hotel where I was to speak at a corporate conference the next morning. I did not know who he was then, although he looked familiar. I was just told that the man in that room could tell me if there was a spare space for me to go on the rainforest tour arranged for conference attendees.

He looked up and smiled as I came in saying, “What can do for you?”  I asked him and he replied, “You came in at the perfect time. I was just making sure we had enough jackets and one of our people just dropped by to tell me he was switching to another tour.”

“The task of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there.” ~ John Buchan

Only later that night at the opening mixer when I saw Joe walk in, listening to two people animatedly talking to him did I realize he was the same man I’d shaken hands in the receiving line outside the hotel when I arrived. He was the CEO of Darden Restaurants, the company hosting the conference for its top performing managers at Olive Garden and Red Lobster.

Here’s what happened. 

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Want to make a living by hosting an online community? See this thorough post on exactly how Motley Fool creates multiple ways for amateur investors to help each other make smarter choices. 

Because the process and results are transparent you can see credible comparisons. That’s a trust-building feature for attracting members to any community. 

Denis Hancock describes how they evoked this Wisdom of Crowds effect to grow a profitable business.

Hint: They “used the insights from their community to enhance their core value proposition, rather than replacing it.”

To keep your community members happy hear insights from veteran Patrick O’Keefe.

He takes a stupid stand. (Translation: he hit my hot button.) My first response is to dislike him. (Apparently that’s a universal reaction.) My distaste shows on my face and in my tone, despite my attempt to cover my feelings in a cloak of civility. Even friends or sympathetic bystanders take a psychic step back.

Naturally he reacts in one of two ways: Stepping Back (saying little, going blank-faced, silent or even walking away) or Escalating Up (counter-attacking, speaking louder, standing closer). It’s instinctual - beyond our conscious choice. These are rapid, thin slices of gut reactions and responses. The charged air change happens in milliseconds. We’ve already made each other wrong.

Worse, yet is knowing we escalate up into conflict quicker than over into connection. That’s because our primitive brain is wired for survival. 

Put more bluntly, self-protection trumps happiness or helpfulness in the sequence of gut instinctual reactions. Yet we can reduce the fear response and increase our ability to make connection, even in times of potential conflict. With practice, these steps have helped me, with these twin caveats: More »

In Star Trek two heroes in-the-making, one impulsively intuitive, the other straining to be rational, recognize they can learn from each other. So can women and men. How do you react in a hot situation?

“A thought comes when it will, not when I will,” wrote Nietzsche. Emotions are learned shortcuts for deciding, based on experience. In an argument culture we have many cues to overcome. 

Some shortcuts destroy relationships. Frustrating as it feels we seem destined to repeat the self-sabotaging behavior. 

Other learned behaviors enable us to strengthen relationships and to attract opportunity. Here are some shortcuts. Using them we can recognize traps we set for ourselves and act from our strengths.

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Like scent, humor has extremely offensive or captivating effects on us, depending on the kind.  In the past two posts I described two kinds, unifying and divisive. The third is humorless. Are you? 

Frank Tyger suggest that, “The ultimate test of whether you posses a sense of humor is your reaction when someone tells you you don’t.” How do we get that way? “By starving emotions we become humorless, rigid and stereotyped; by repressing them we become literal, reformatory and holier-than-thou; encouraged, they perfume life; discouraged; they poison it, warms Joseph Collins. 

Without humor it is hard to step back to see a situation in a brighter way or come to terms with it - or to hope. “There is a sorrow in the seriousness of humorous people. They do not easily find among ideas or purposes a place of rest.  The courage in their eyes is wistful.  If they don’t even recognize sarcasm, they may lack higher cognitive skills.

A sense of humor can put you back in control. Instead of giving in to depression, a

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Humor requires a target. If you make a bulls-eye out of someone weaker, particularly if you initiate the attack, you look like a bully.  Take aim, instead, at the powerful. Or, rather than getting upset, consider yourself lucky when someone makes you a target first.

Because, as Isaac Asimov observed, “For a humane person, the put-down is most satisfactory and most easily greeted with pleasurable laughter when the person being put down has done something to invite it – in other words, if he has attacked.  Then it is lunge-and-riposte and at the riposte we can laugh with a clear conscience.” 

Poke Fun at Yourself

When one makes oneself the butt of the joke one demonstrates unifying humor. Self-deprecating people build trust, get heard and get ahead. They look comfortable with themselves - an endearing quality. Here are six examples:

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The shocking moment for rising stars is when they meet someone who’s rising faster. For some of us this happens in fourth grade, for others it’s in college or on a job. The good news is that you’ve still got a way to get ahead. Even now. And it’s more fun. Hear how in my conversation with Zane Safrit. 

Hint: You may be smart, hardworking, well-intended – even good-looking. Yet if you can’t collaborate with people extremely unlike you (they don’t act right - like you) you’re leaving opportunity on the table. In fact, you may be burning bridges. Use your talent fully with others. Here’s four barriers to successful collaboration: 

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