If there is someone whom you would really like to impress, learn as much as you can to be informed, enlightened, and aware of them before you meet.

By performing a simple Google search, a website review, a visit to their LinkedIn profile, or a media release search on the person you are about to meet, you can find out where they’ve been, what they care about, and where they’re going. Whether you learn an interesting fact about a hobby they enjoy, the breed of their dog, or something you both have in common, it will show that you took the time to research and that you care about them as a person.

Whether you are staying in someone’s home as a house guest, attending a dinner party, or visiting a sick friend, when you bring a “hostess gift” or a thoughtful token, you are providing a gesture of kindness which will extend far beyond your visit.

Doing your research ahead of time shows that you care about your client and your reputation. Referencing this information will better enable you to ask relevant questions and link their answers to your product or service to create a win-win situation.

Discover an interest, a passion, a preference or need your client has, and take the time to give them some small item related to it. By making the extra effort to learn about the person and their business, you become very appealing and much more memorable.

Your expertise elevates your impressions to an entirely new realm. When you have paid the price, earned the right, and done the homework to be called an expert, people will be impressed.

Your education can be the ‘make or break’ difference when a hiring manager reads your resume or invites you in for an interview. In our competitive world, today a Master’s Degree has become the new differentiator that a Bachelor’s Degree once was.

Rather than allowing your failures to define you, learn from your experience to do better next time.

Rather than staying stuck in stress, unhappiness, or grief, use your experience to find gifts in the pain and grow.