Posts Tagged ‘career’
March 17th, 2012
Hi All!
I have 2 rituals that I perform prior to boarding a plane if it’s a morning flight: Buy a Vitamin Water and a USA Today newspaper. No matter what city I’m flying out of, if my flight is before noon local time, you can find me doing this in an airport store close to my departing gate.
There is absolutely no point in my telling you that, other than recently I was on a flight, reading my USA Today, and came across an interesting article about a new book that I thought was very interesting and inspiring. But, before I jump into telling you about it, let me take a minute to explain why the article about the author’s journey and his new book grabbed my interest:
Back in October of 2011, I published my third book, “Boomers into Business: How Anyone Over 50 Can Turn What They Know into Dough Before and After Retirement”. Basically, there are startling stats about how ill-prepared more than 47% of Boomers are to have enough money to retire (or to even cover their basic bills later in life!). So I wrote my latest book to provide career options that Boomers can consider to make more money now, on-the-side of their current job, if they’re employed, as well as what they can do after they “retire” from their current job or career to generate income past 65 years old. Again, almost 50% of Boomers are at risk of outliving their retirement savings so this is a serious issue…and will cause many Boomers to have to generate income, somehow, well into their later years.
Okay, now back to the book I read about on the plane. It’s called, “Diary of a Company Man: Losing a Job, FInding a Life”, written by James. S. Kunen (Lyons Press). In a nutshell, at 59 years old Kunen was fired from a corporate job at Time Warner, and found himself in what he, along with many other Boomers, describe as a place of: Too young to retire and too old to hire.
According to the article about his journey, 100 employees out of 500 were let go, and of those 100, 4-out-of-the-5 people let go in corporate communications were over 40 years old. He being one of the “oldest” at 59. So, there Kunen was, caught in that weird vortex many Boomers find themselves in where they find it hard to find a job, yet they’re too young to “stop” working because they don’t have enough retirement savings.
Now, I don’t want to give away the ending and how he survived this, so you’ll either have to read his book or read the article I read online in USA Today back on February 27, 2012 to get more details. But I will offer you this brief book description to wet your appetite:
The funny, insightful, and inspiring story of a 1960s campus radical turned corporate PR man who finds himself, along with his fellow baby boomers, in a place called “Too Young to Retire and Too Old to Hire”.
James S. Kunen—author of “The Strawberry Statement“, an account of the 1968 student uprising at Columbia University—chronicles his adventures on the road to finding meaning in work and life.
He traces his evolution from a rebellious youth who sees working as a kind of death, to a laid-off corporate executive who experiences not working as a kind of death, to a reinvented and reinvigorated individual who discovers something important and meaningful to do.
The experience of falling victim to America’s recession-ravaged economy (and the people who run it) leads him along a career path far different from anything he had planned. After years of making a living, Kunen finally learns how to make a life. “Diary of a Company Man” will be a revelation not only to baby boomers but to young people trying to figure out what to do with their lives.
Aside from publishing a book, what did he do to make a living? How did he reinvent himself? Did he become self-employed? Did he find another corporate job? If you’re a Boomer and find yourself in a similar situation as Kunen, let-go from a job close to 60, what can you do? Or if you still have a job but need to make more money for your retirement account, what can you do? Or if you’re looking for something you can do to generate income past 65 years old, what can you do?
For starters, on Amazon you can pick up a copy of Kunen’s book, or my new book (mine is available in both Print and Kindle versions), for some ideas! Sadly, all of this is a reality for over 35 million Baby Boomers, and the time to start thinking about financial security in your golden years is now!
Cheers & Happy Marketing!
Lisa
March 07th, 2011
Hi All!
A very powerful strategy for building your topic expert brand positioning, and for driving traffic to your website, is to write articles and submit them to online article distribution services. Some small business owners also choose to do this for additional income (because there are some article services and media that will pay for your articles), but many experts don’t do it for pay; they write articles for the 2 other key reasons I mentioned.
In Part One of this 2-part series I’d like to outline 12 ways to make your articles compelling and how they can become significant traffic-drivers to your website.
I’ll then conclude this 2-part series next week by providing you with a list of some popular online article submission and distribution services that you can use to get your articles distributed to the masses.
12 Ways to Create Articles for Brand Building:
When you write interesting articles in your area of expertise, it immediately positions you as an expert in your field. It also gives you the opportunity to showcase your knowledge and this can attract clients to you, as well as attract media interviews for you. But, if you’re not a great writer, don’t panic! You can hire ghostwriters (inexpensively) who will write them for you, and you can simply provide them with the topics you think will benefit your target audience.
However, regardless of whether you write the articles or someone does it for you, here are 12 tips for making them compelling and a valuable marketing tool for you:
- Grab The Reader’s Attention Fast: Make sure to create an interesting title for your article, and you can even make it a thought-provoking question. Also, in your opening paragraph set-up the “pain point” you’re going to solve and why it’s important to them. Writing articles that will solve a problem for your target audience is a great strategy for the angles you develop.
- Keep the Articles Simple and Easy to Understand Quickly: People want to read quick-hit information that they can grasp fast and benefit from. So make sure the articles you write provide good, helpful information and are written in a succinct style. A good way to achieve this is to use bullet points or numbered points so that your key messages and tips are easy to reference and follow. Having your key points “buried” in paragraphs will make it frustrating for your readers.
- Add Keywords for Online Search: Your articles will be posted in numerous ways online and will often be found by people doing keyword searches on your topic matter. So you want to make sure that you use the Google keyword tool that I mentioned back in the chapter about writing an effective Press Release, and add those popular search terms in the body of your articles. I know many experts who rapidly increase their search rankings because of writing articles, and oftentimes their articles start ranking higher in search results than their main websites do. Therefore, you want to implement this strategy!
- Make Your Articles Short: You don’t need to write super long articles to make them good. This is about quality not quantity! Most articles that I, and other experts write, are around 400-700 words. Keeping them short not only makes it easier for your readers but makes it easier for you to write them on an on-going basis.
- Don’t Pitch Your Services and Products: When you write articles it’s only about providing helpful info to your target audience. It is not about making your articles big infomercials to pitch yourself and/or your products. If you write good articles that people truly learn from, they will typically want to learn more about you and they will visit your website. The fastest way to kill your credibility and lose a potential “fan” is by trying to sell them on something in your article content.
- Be Yourself in Your Writing Style: Conveying yourself as likeable is important! If you’re a fun person, be sure to bring out your personality in your articles. This is the same advice I give to clients who hire me as a coach and consultant to launch their speaking careers! Don’t be one person on the stage and another person off stage. People can see through that because you’re not being authentic. And when you write articles, it may be the FIRST contact anyone has with you; even before seeing your website. So you want to make sure who you really are comes through in your writing. A good example of this is my writing style. I write in a very conversational way, and write very close to how I speak. I’m not afraid to add in sarcastic comments, casual verbiage or silly phrases to anything I write because that’s “who” I am…and I want my readers to get to know “me”!
- Don’t Quote Other Experts: The purpose of your articles is to showcase you; not someone who could be a competitor. You normally only want to quote other people in your articles if their information really adds to your message and content quality. Sure, you can quote stats and research results from studies you find, but try to avoid quoting or mentioning other experts who are similar to you.
- Offer Your Articles on Your Website: When I submit articles online, I also add them to my website, in Word, so that people can download them to use as content on their blogs, ezines, websites and newsletters. And, on my article web page, I clearly state they can use my articles as long as they are shown in their entirety, and the short bio about me provided at the end of each article is included. I also ask that they send me a link to it when it’s used. Millions of people are constantly seeking for content and understand they have to source the author who wrote it. This is great for driving their traffic to you!
- Create an E-book: Once you have several articles done, you can also compile them into an e-book and either offer it as a free gift on your website (as long as people provide you with their contact info to download it), or you can sell it. Either way, this is a good strategy for creating simple products and for building your contact list.
- Write Them Consistently: If possible, try to write and submit at least one article per month online. I know experts who do one-per-week because they receive so much benefit from doing so, but that may be tough for many of you. Start by writing a few, and after you get the hang of it and start developing a “formula” for cranking them out (or hire a ghostwriter to do them for you), you can start to increase how many you publish monthly.
- Share Your Links: Many article distribution services will create a web page for your article that will be found through online searches. You’ll have a unique url for your article’s page and can share that link to drive traffic to your article on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and in emails to your contact database.
- Embed Links in Your Articles: When you write an article, make sure to have certain words or phrases that have hyperlinks to pages on your website, your blog posts, Twitter page, Facebook page, and/or to other articles you have written and that are posted online. Just make sure the links take them to info that is relevant to what you’re writing about and to points you are making.
Okay! Get started on creating a list of article topics that will interest your target audience and showcase your topic expert knowledge. And be sure to read Part Two of this series for services that can distribute them for you to obtain massive website traffic and readers!
Cheers & Happy Marketing!
Lisa
Tags: articles, business, business coach, career, generate income online, how to write articles, increase web traffic, personal branding, professional speaker, small business owners, writing articles Posted in authors, branding, Business Tips, marketing, PR and Publicity, social media | 5 Comments »
July 11th, 2010
Hi All!
Most people know me as a Branding Expert who works with speakers, authors, solopreneurs (ie: coaches, consultants, trainers, etc.), entertainers, and small business owners. But I also conduct workshops and seminars for employees of corporations on how and why developing a Personal (Leadership) Brand platform for themselves is important to their career growth, success and advancement. And I also discuss this quite a bit in my second book, “Millennials Into Leadership: The Ultimate Guide for Gen Y’s Aspiring to Be Effective, Respected, Young Leaders at Work”.
Here is a brief overview, that I call D.A.C.C., which explains why, even if you’re an employee and not self-employed, developing your own Personal Brand in the workforce is necessary:
DIFFERENTIATION:
- Makes you stand out in the sea of other employees
- Communicates who you are to your peers, leadership, employees and clients
AUTHENTICITY:
- Allows you to speak and act authentically
- Prevents you from being “fake”
- Gives you clarity “about you” and what you stand for
- Great Quote: “To wish you were someone else is to waste the person you are!”
CONSISTENCY:
- Makes people know how you will act and handle situations, consistently
- Enables others to know who you are and what they can expect from you, consistently
- Regardless of who are interacting with, your personality and demeanor, are consistent
CLARITY:
- You know what you stand for and act accordingly
- Gives you clarity, and others clarity, on your core values
- Helps keep you on track: “If I do this or say this, is it supporting or diluting my Personal Brand?”
- Keeps your moral compass in-check when faced with questionable situations that could tempt you
Take some time to think about your core values, work ethic, personality, and unique attributes that you bring to a work environment, and write your own Personal Brand Positioning Statement. And then once it’s crafted to your liking, proclaim it, live it, and BE your brand!
BTW: I even know some employees who have taken it a step further and added a “visual brand” element to their overall branding. What do I mean by this? One woman I know always wears striped socks at work, and she is known for that (as well as her positive personal attributes); and one young man I know is known for always wearing funny hats to work. Think of this in terms of Donald Trump and his hair…we all may laugh at it, but he is keenly aware that it’s part of his visual brand, he knows it is a topic of conversation, and he loves that the media talks about it.
In the book that I wrote (mentioned above), I have a whole chapter with quotes from senior executives about the importance of personal branding, as it pertains to leadership, in the workforce. One that I love, and that really sticks with me, is: “Be aware that people are watching what you say and what you don’t say, and what you do and what you don’t do. Your next opportunities, and indeed reputation, will be impacted by the actions and decisions you make day-to-day…everyday.”
By determining your personal brand at work, and living it consistently, you are building and creating a “reputation” that can foster career success – faster than the employees who choose not to.
Cheers & Happy Marketing!
Lisa
Tags: business, career, employees, personal branding, seminars, small business owners, work, workforce, workshops Posted in branding, Business Coaching, marketing | 1 Comment »
June 15th, 2010
Hi All!
Yes, many clients hire me as their Branding/Marketing Consultant and/or Publicist, but I’m also a Certified Business Coach. And, regardless of “what” role someone hires me for, my “coaching” hat gets put on at some point. Why? Because even some of the most successful people I work with often struggle with having breakdowns vs breakthroughs…and it affects their professional and personal success and progress.
And, no, I don’t mean major emotional breakdowns requiring medication! I mean those obstacles that get thrown at you all the time in business and life, that cause you moments of feeling overwhelmed and paralyzed…typically due to self doubt.
So this blog post isn’t one of my typical ones pertaining to PR, Publicity, Branding, Marketing or Social Media tips. It’s focused on YOU, and how to avoid having breakdowns vs breakthroughs.
Honestly, many people suffer from self-sabotage in the form of not taking responsibility for their actions. It can be more comfortable for them to stay in the “victim role” because they can put blame on everyone else for whatever is not working in their lives. And although placing blame on others for your own “issues” can be quite seductive (it gets you off the hook for doing any self introspection and work), it can be more exhausting than simply being honest with yourself. Also, and most importantly, the “victim role” mentality can make it virtually impossible to realize significant breakthroughs for progress…yet totally possible to experience consistent breakdowns in making progress within any aspect of your life.
Breakthroughs = Empowerment + Growth + Happiness
Breakdowns = Disempowerment + Stagnation + Sadness
To effectively breakthrough a personal, professional or emotional obstacle, the driving force behind it is taking responsibility for your actions and trusting yourself. For many, this can be easier said than done! Let’s take a moment to look at both of those drivers more closely:
Responsibility: You gain significant empowerment and freedom when you choose to shift your perspective from assigning blame to accepting responsibility.
And although you may feel in control when assigning blame to others for your personal obstacles, the reality is you are totally out of control. Why? You have given your power to someone else. And even though it may feel like a “relief” initially, it can manifest itself into more stress later.
You simply cannot resolve personal issues, and have breakthroughs, when the power is not your own. At the point of assigning blame, and releasing all responsibility for challenges in your life, not only have you given all the power to others, your “destiny” becomes based on their next move and decisions…not yours.
And, being able to shift your perspective to being someone who takes responsibility, starts with having self-trust.
Self-Trust: Self-trust is the foundation to our being. If you do not have self-trust, whom can you really trust? And, suffering from lack of self-trust leads to self-doubt. Having doubt in yourself is a powerful force that can set you up for failure in anything you attempt. Why? Because you are already assuming the decisions you make, and actions you take, probably aren’t the right ones, and they won’t provide you with the results you desire.
Think of this in terms of (2) real-world scenarios:
Scenario One: You want to make a career change because you’re bored or very unhappy with your current occupation. If you lack self-trust, your decision of making a change could be clouded by self-defeating “doubt” questions like: Am I smart enough to do this? Can I afford to do this? What will my friends, family and peers think? What if they think I’m stupid for making this career change?
By having those types of self-doubt questions running through your brain you can actually talk yourself out of making the career change before you even try! Or, even before you look at options and first steps to making the career change. And what is the result of that? Being stuck in a career you no longer enjoy and wishing you were doing something else…yet never even trying to make the change happen!
Scenario Two: You don’t have enough business and you’re struggling…but have your REALLY done the work to get more business? Or do find yourself blaming the economy, the competition, the powers that be?
I have clients who come to me complaining about lack of business. And when I ask them what their business development strategies have been (prior hiring me), they tell me and I don’t doubt they’ve been struggling. Posting a couple blog posts, a few tweets here and there, created a website, and occasionally go to networking events. And they truly believe the “problem” is all about the economy.
They soon realize they are not doing enough, they need to take responsibility for that, and they need to stop blaming others for their lack of business success.
Take some time to ask yourself:
- Are there situations in your life where you choose to assign blame versus take responsibility?
- How does assigning blame serve you when trying to breakthrough an obstacle?
- How can building self-trust serve you in having consistent, positive breakthroughs?
- When you feel yourself being paralysed by self-doubt, what can you do to breakthrough versus breakdown?
Your personal success and business success depend on YOU…you can have the best brand platform in the world, a terrific marketing strategy, an amazing book…but none of them will get you where you want if the demons in your head constantly try to sell you garbage…and you buy it!
Cheers to your happiness & success!
Lisa
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