Is anybody interested to know what friends and co-workers think about real values of the person? Is there a gap between a “real person” and a person that other people get use to see in business relationships?

Coach Rachelle Disbennett-Lee advises that one of the most important activities in growing a business is growing relationships. We all do it, but it takes time, energy and effort to build a network. Through building that network you build relationships with people who know you, trust you and will do business with you. All of us have a network of people we depend on. We might use their services, get referrals from them and ask for assistance when seeking a job. It is vitally important that we build relationships with the people in our network so that we can obtain good tips and advice. If you neglect your network you might find yourself without resources or references when you most need them.

However, other people need to know how they can benefit from you. How to network by becoming more of who you are? In other words, if there is a gap between perception and reality, between you other people see and real you, people won’t understand your ability to be a part of the network.

My personal vision is if people know exactly who you are you will get a certain value in the network. A personal brand is the key for successful networking and here how it works. A personal brand is similar to a business brand and here I absolutely agree with David McNally and Karl Speak, co-authors of my favorite book about personal branding. In business, the rules of brand management focus on strategies and tactics that build strong business relationships, which by their nature, are very special. Many of them used by businesses in managing their brands may be used in managing personal brands with the same success. Obviously, strong personal brand that is clear, complete and valuable to others create successful relationships in networking.

Building a personal brand can be very challenging, however. It is not easy to get to be more of who you are when there are so many different relationships around. It is hard to be the same and to have “one face” with everybody.

A strong personal brand needs to be clearly defined. First of all, it needs to be distinctive, to have a point of view that is to say. Next, it needs to be relevant, so the true value of the brand is connected to something that others think is important. And last, it needs to be consistent, based on the experience and behavior of the brand owner. In other words, when all that you do in your life is distinctive, relevant and consistent, people in your network see and understand your personal brand.

As a conclusion, not all personal brands are acceptable by all people. Everybody has own values and others shouldn’t judge them. That what business people think is right particularly for them is a main thing business people do. They stand for their brand.

Bill Browder, the Hermitage Capital Management Fund owner who has managed his business in Moscow for more than 10 years with $4.1 billion in Russian stocks under his management, was abruptly denied entry when he landed in Moscow in November two years ago. He is still unable to enter Russia despite all his efforts. In 2006, Robert Amsterdam, a Canadian lawyer was expelled from his hotel room in Moscow in the middle of the night when police suddenly revoked his visa. Frank Neuman, U.S. businessman, who used to be co-owner of a chain of furniture shops in Moscow, was turned back in a local airport in February two years ago and has been unable to enter ever since.

What do foreign investors feel about doing business in Russia where it is difficult to predict what will happen next? “Well, that is why you make 23 times your money in 10 years”, answers Mr. Browder.

When most investors think of Russia, they think energy. The image of Russia is the destruction of the former Russian oil giant Yukos, the rise of the biggest state-owned enterprise Gazprom, and the tough politics of the Kremlin. But for many investors from the U.S., Europe, and Asia, investments in Russia are related to the consumer boom. Last year, foreign direct investment in Russia was estimated to be $16.7 billion, about 40% more than in 2004. Consumer-related sectors attracted Coca-Cola Co. with the $600 million acquisition of Russian fruit-juice maker Multon, Dutch brewer Heineken invested $750 million in acquisitions, and Ford, General Motors, Toyota and Volkswagen have made investments in car production. Most of that investment came to those sectors other than oil and gas, which is a sign of economic diversification. This year Citibank had 47 branches in the country and says its Russian business is growing at 70% annually.

All that business people need to know about the people of booming consumption that there is no better time to make a business in Russia than today. Across this country, “companies are spending billions of dollars to upgrade facilities and expand capacity- all in an effort to keep pace with surging consumer demand. Fueled by Russia’s vast energy sector but ranging well beyond it, the boom goes a long way to explain Russia’s new assertiveness on the world stage.”

The strength of the Russian consumer is what’s attracting these companies. There is heightened consumer demand not just in Moscow but also, increasingly, in other cities related to the capital’s breakneck economic development. “Russia’s gross domestic product grew by 6.4% last year and has averaged 7% growth over the past five years. Dollar income per capita has risen by nearly 29% per annum over the same period, faster even than in China.” These investments target Russia’s middle class.

Relatively large disposable income and a growing middle class have caused an explosion in all types of consumption. Last year, sales of new foreign cars reached 600,000, a 57% increase on 2004 and a six fold rise since 2001. Mobile-phone ownership has mushroomed from 3 million in 2000 to 80 million today. No less than a fifth of all households own a computer, four times the figure in 2001.

However, Russian business people are in some way in contact with corruption and crime. They don’t know what is legal and what illegal. Bribes and gifts are needed in order to get proper medical care, to get to sell vegetables in a marketplace, to get a good education and even to get a proper funeral for a loved one. Criminal organizations control banks, stock exchange, hotels and commercial enterprises. Bribes control political decision-making, the police, the courts, the customs and the border guards, the very people that are supposed to control crime.

Analysts note that corrupt Russian officials take bribes of US$240 billion (€189 billion) a year, an amount almost equal to the state’s entire revenues. The global anti-corruption group Transparency International and Russia’s business-funded National Anti-Corruption Committee last year estimated that the level of graft had jumped as much as sevenfold since 2001. Russia is near the top of Transparency International’s scale of corruption, at No. 121 out of 163 in 2006, along with such countries as Rwanda and Burundi. Four years ago, it had been rated 71.

The biggest concern is a mix of rising government power and criminalization. Contract killing, like other services, is subject to market rules: the lower the perceived risk, the lower the price. The risk of getting caught for buying murder in Russia is generally very low; even so, the alleged customer in the killing of Andrei Kozlov, deputy governor of Russia’s central bank, apparently miscalculated. Then, Russia’s general prosecutor said solving what was the highest-profile hit of Vladimir Putin’s presidency was a matter of honor —and solve it the authorities now say they have, fingering a group of amateurish Ukrainian hit men and middlemen, who were supposedly paid just $10,000 altogether.

Here are my rules of doing business in Russia. If you are lucky to have a business there, don’t mix it with politics, and if you do so, be ready to face a tough government inspection over your business. Don’t pursue business in any industry which serves as a main tax source of Russian economy. If you do so, be ready to actively share the revenues with Russian government. Doing both means taking heightened risk over your investment and also over your personal freedom and life in Russia.

And more important, don’t cause conflicts with your Russian business partners. If it is unavoidable, be aware of the possible consequences in terms of your personal status and the widespread corruption in the country. Your visa can be invalidated, permitting your immediate deportation or denial of entry into the country.

I work at office, in my car, at home, everywhere. My clients don’t like to wait. My co-workers don’t like to be out of access. My cell phone is my only tool on the go. My BlackBerry is my office outside of my office. I check my e-mails about twenty times an hour. I know I am cell phone media addicted. If you are the same we are in the same club!

There is no way to conduct a small business today without wireless devices. Business people rely heavily on wireless technology to stay connected to their business and customers while gaining flexibility and time away from the office.

According to an AT&T survey of 1,000 small business owners, 42 percent of small business owners wouldn’t survive without wireless technology. There is a strong expectation of increasing the use of cell phones and other wireless devices by business people in the near future. 55 percent of respondents indicated that they expect to depend on wireless technology more two years from now.

Other key findings included:

Nearly two-thirds of respondents (61 percent) said they were likely to conduct business while away from the office.

More than half (56 percent) believe it’s important to have flexibility to mix work with personal business in their daily routine.

Half (49 percent) said they are optimistic about wireless technology giving their business a competitive advantage.

10 participating markets made these following rankings: Atlanta, San Diego, Dallas, Charlotte, Detroit, Bay Area, Chicago, Connecticut, Oklahoma, Milwaukee.

Obviously that dependence on wireless devices in small business devastates a wallet of business people. However, there is good news. Need to pay for business communication? Write off the cost of that. Matthew Bandyk tells how to do that and what you need to expect in his article in US News and World Report.

My opinion, however, that despite the complexity of writing off costs of wireless communication for small businesses I believe that technology will make a communication itself more cheap very soon, even free of charge. Jajah and Skype are my favorites and pioneers of cheap communication do it more simple and reliable. So, here is the thing, write off what is permitted now and explore new ways of communications simply reducing cost and approaching to zero.