Be Promotable is sponsoring an event this month from 8/30-9/2 called the Women of Color Career Success Telesummit.  We’ll have ten amazing presenters who are career and business experts, coaches, speakers and authors share with you their wisdom on how to succeed in your career without losing your values and with clarity of purpose.

One of the really great things about this telesummit is that we will have a chance to meet great people like Denise Cooper of Coach HR at www.coachhr.com.

I asked Denise to record a short interview with me to answer :  “What is a top challenge for multicultural women trying to advance into leadership positions?”

Here’s Denise’s answer and a little taste of the kind of insight we will enjoy at the telesummit:

Denise wants you to know that she offers a great assessment tool called the Hartman Value Profile.

Some of the many benefits of the Hartman Value Profile are that it:

• identifies personal strengths and areas for growth that individuals can build upon
• helps people better understand themselves and others
• enhances workplace performance and teamwork effectiveness
• facilitates the development of a “values-based” culture that supports and fosters the development of an “ethics-based” culture within organizations
• provides managers with a valid and reliable instrument to assist them in evaluating employees and prospective employees
• helps managers make better hiring decisions and reduce costly employee turnover

Stop by her website at www.coachhr.com and check out Denise’s offerings.  And remember, there’s still time to join us for the Women of Color Career Success Telesummit.  Find out more at www.womenofcolorcareersuccess.com.

This past week I recorded a teleseminar to talk about 5 key points you should be consciously aware of that are misspoken quite often in the media right now.  If you’d like to hear this in audio format, you can listen here or read the article below.

Finding a job, doing well on the job, and moving into a better job are all part of “career management 101″ and they require continuous learning about the world of work, as well as an acute awareness of your own specific skills –especially during what we keep hearing is a jobless economic recovery.

Here are 5 jewels of information you need to know to manage your career in today’s work place:

1. If you are currently stuck in a job, transitioning, trying to get ahead, you will likely be in this position again one day – yes, in spite of the fact that we still have some companies asking about your loyalty.  The situation we have all been experiencing in today’s economy will likely change the entire course and character of our work structure for this and the next generations.I’m not going to spend a lot of time talking about depressing statistics.  I did read recently, however, that temp jobs increased by 21% between Oct 2009 and around May/June 2010. This could be a sign that as companies laid off workers, they made decisions to hire more temporary workers to control health care benefits costs, and flexibility of movement.  We are no longer in an age of permanent hiring, in case you have not seen the writing on the wall.  Combine this with the fast paced change of technology and you will understand the need to constantly revisit what skills are necessary and what jobs may need to be warped into something entirely different.

How have you kept up with your career skills?  Would you be ready tomorrow to interview?  If I asked you to email me a resume right now, would you be able to send me what I need, not just a standard, one size fits all documetn? Recently, I talked with a colleague who was preparing for an interview – we’ll call him Bill.  Bill was preparing for an interview for a next level position.  He had not interviewed in several years, but thought because his technical skills & track record at work were solid, that would be enough.  It wasn’t.  He did not take my advice and get current interview trends, nor did he update his inside resume to reflect all the things he thought they’d already know.  Keeping current on practical trends in interviewing and resume formatting could be a valuable hip-pocket tool for you.

They also suggest that workers are not skilled to meet the needs hiring managers have, and even that some of the more mid-skilled, mid-wage jobs are not appearing as desirable.  If you are someone who has competed for a job within the last 6 months and you knew you had the right skills but you weren’t picked because you couldn’t articulate them , this means perhaps it is time you took a solid assessment of your current personal brand (how you are perceived), your top strengths, your passion, and your ability to think like a leader – how well are you marketing what it is you can actually do?  Have you formalized your personal branding statement to clearly communicate your value as a worker and a professional?

2.  We keep hearing there are no jobs?  I have heard something different – there are jobs out there.  An article in this week’s Wall Street Journal Online talks about the fact that many employers are having trouble filling positions despite the high unemployment rate.  They reference that one challenge is that it’s tougher for qualified workers to actually move where the jobs are, knowing that their home may not sell or that their spouse may not find employment in the new location.

But they also suggest that workers are not skilled to meet the needs the hiring managers have, and finally – some of the more mid-skilled, mid-wage jobs are not appearing as desirable.  If you are someone who has competed for a job within the last 6 months and you knew you had the right skills but you weren’t picked because you couldn’t articulate them , this means you may need to sit down and take a solid assessment of your current personal brand (how you are perceived), your top strengths, your passion, and your ability to think like a leader – how well are you marketing what it is you can actually do?

3.  In spite of what you’ve heard – I’ve even misspoken this myself – the old “who you know gets you hired” still holds true. Now you’ve heard lately it’s more important now “who knows you”,  especially with the advent of social media and online networking but be very clear – who you know can determine what calls you can make when you need champion to influence a hiring or advancement decision.  How many of you are highly qualified, professional workers – great at what you do, top performers in your role, yet you keep being overlooked for the promotion or for the career selection?  What does your circle of influence look like?  How often have you reached out to build new relationships? How do you know when to weed out negative influencers in your circle?

4.  You can create wealth while working for someone else…just not relying on that company’s $$. You have heard about people starting businesses for themselves and I have to admit, I don’t buy into the theory that everyone is born with an inner entrepreneurial mind.  I believe some people require good ole’ fashioned training and help.  With the right tools, resources, mentors, and drive, you might either start a side business, learn to generate income through affiliate marketing, or create multiple passive income streams for yourself.  Ultimately, one of the keys to building wealth is creating passive income strategies and positioning yourself the right way to create financial independence.

5.  They are just as afraid as you are of the competitive state of the workforce. Employers are scrambling      around right now trying to figure out who will take the place of some of their tip-top seats.  It’s called succession management.  Have you heard the word retention thrown around in your workplace? That’s because there is a struggle to keep top performers who are still employed in their current seats.  I read an article July 2010 by Talent Management magazine that said out of 3000 individuals surveyed, 52% employees reported they were approached by other employers with a possible job offer within the past 12 months.  Employers are competing against each other for the top performers.  What was the highest factor in helping to attract & retain good performers?  “(their) research clearly shows that (career) development pays in terms of engagement and retention — both for the individual and the organization”.

Career development is key to creating an opportunity for you to survive and prosper in the work economy today. Consider ways you can enhance your skills to better manage the direction your career is heading now and into the future.

Don’t miss tremendous career management and leadership development training resources at  the upcoming Women of Color Career Success Telesummit 2010 http://womenofcolorcareersuccess.com.  This is a 3.5 day telesummit with speakers who are top notch experts in career & business presenting critical career success strategies to you, answering questions, providing resources that will help you position yourself as the ultimate career professional in whatever field you want.  Seats are limited.  Get in now!

Be Promotable is sponsoring an event this month from 8/30-9/2 called the Women of Color Career Success Telesummit.  We’ll have ten amazing presenters who are career and business experts, coaches, speakers and authors share with you their wisdom on how to succeed in your career without losing your values and with clarity of purpose.

One of our fantastic guest presenters will be Ron Paxton, co-author of the book, The Michelangelo Method: Release Your Inner Masterpiece and Create an Extraordinary Life.

I challenged Ron to record an answer to a common question I get all the time:  “So many people say ‘go and find your passion’ but frankly, that feels overwhelming to me.  How do I go about doing this without being stressed out?”

Here’s Ron’s answer and a little taste of what we will enjoy at the telesummit:

I had a good chuckle this week.  It all started with a tragic situation that happened early this month – a young woman was attacked by an unsuccessful rapist who climbed through her apartment window.  That part is not funny at all.

But wait…the real story is what happened on the news clip afterwards.

The victim’s brother, Antoine Dodson, was so full of character and personality when he described what happened in his subsequent threat to find the rapist, that he is all over the Internet now. He has since, with the help of millions of viewers, turned his 5 minutes of fame into a personal brand (a collection of perceptions that others have of you). The clock may be ticking, but right now he is making the most of it.

Antoine sells t-shirts (and even neckties) on the web at zazzle.com, has his own website, is doing interviews, and more.

I thought I’d pull out a few insights I took away from this.  Here are 5 characteristics of an “unintended” brand:

1. It can change circumstances (good or bad) in the blink of an eye
2. It happens when you are being your most genuine self
3. It is powerful enough to attract others into your space to give you “super visibility”
4. It requires a strategy to manage once it has been released
5. It can last longer than you think, so going back to #5 – strategy is required to maximize any benefit or reduce liability

I think back to moments in time where there was just that one minute where I might have flown off the handle and it set other things in motion, or I said that one 30-second statement that made a transformation for a friend possible.  This unintended brand thing can be pretty powerful.

What unintended brand moments have you experienced?  How long did they last and what strategy did you use once it was out of the box?  Did you make the most of it?

Watch the news clip of Antoine Dodson & the AutoTune Allstars remix here from FreddyO’s website:

After this clip was aired, Antoine’s words were then famously set to “autotune”:

About the Author: Tanya Smith of Be Promotable helps ambitious professional women develop a powerful personal brand strategy to be positioned for the career of their dreams. To get instant access to her free special report on how to surefire steps to be promotable stop by and visit http://www.bepromotable.com.

Last week we talked about my own branding strategy and I gave you 5 concepts that are key to having a great personal  brand that you can communicate for career and personal success.

This week, we will go a little deeper and I will share with you five other areas to pay attention to while you are developing your intended personal brand message. (click here to read Part I)

Other areas I work with my clients on are more inner-focused.  The five I will share with you today can be considered “pre-work”, so you may even do well to go back and read Part I after you’ve read this post so that you see the connection between both parts.

1. Purpose:   What are you here for?  What is the mission you have been uniquely designated to fulfill?  (e.g., To empower professional women to realize personal fulfillment in their daily work.)
2. Vision:  What do you see as the ideal environment you desire to create?  (e.g., A world where corporate professionals think & operate at their maximum potential for the good of the global community.)  Note:  The photo to your left is not a real picture.  I have not yet made it to a magazine cover, but this is a vision of something I believe can and will happen when I walk fully into my purpose.
3. Values:  What ideals are most important to you?  Without these, you feel disconnected and misaligned when you are in certain environments.   For example, if you work for a company that does not value family, but it is one of your top priorities, there may be discomfort and you become disengaged because of the lack of agreement.  (e.g., competence, knowledge, time freedom, family, spirituality, balance, creative expression, problem-solving).
4. Passions:  For what do you get most excited?  When you are fully engaged in this activity, does it energize you?  How can you explore this more?  (e.g. personal productivity, acquiring & sharing knowledge, motivating others, creative expression).
5. Skills:  What skills and talents come naturally to you?  Where have you spent time learning and gaining expertise?  Are there areas that you want to further develop and what will it take to achieve the level of competence you want? (e.g., coaching, empowering, presenting, seeing the details, communicating, growing professionally, learning, visioning).

I will not tell you that this part is easy, however, with diligence and attention to these areas you will become more adept at sharing your personal brand.  Having conscious awareness of these concepts and how each applies to you will require an in-depth study of yourself.

Are you up for the challenge?

About the Author: Tanya Smith of Be Promotable helps ambitious professional women develop a powerful personal brand strategy to be positioned for the career of their dreams. To get instant access to her free special report on how to surefire steps to be promotable stop by and visit http://www.bepromotable.com.

You have probably heard by now that Be Promotable is sponsoring an event this month from 8/30-9/2 called the Women of Color Career Success Telesummit.  We’ll have ten amazing presenters who are career and business experts, coaches, speakers and authors share with you their wisdom on how to succeed in your career without losing your values and with clarity of purpose.

One of our fantastic guest presenters will be Deborah Hardnett of Deborah Hardnett International.

I challenged Deborah to record an answer to a common question I get all the time:  ““I keep  hearing ‘go out and start a business’, but I’ve always worked for someone else.   What is the first step I should take to decide if that’s right for  me?”

Here’s Deborah’s answer and a little taste of what we will enjoy at the telesummit:

Can’t see the link? Try here.

You will not want to miss this event.   I suggest you go right now to http://womenofcolorcareersuccess.com to Register Now to get a ticket before they run out!

Want to win a free ticket?  For info on the free preview calls and to join the Facebook community for this event, click here: http://facebook.com/woccareersuccess.

Learn more about Deborah on our conference registration page.  “See you” on the calls!

When you are doing the work to clearly identify your brand – or the overall collection of perceptions that you want others to have about you – it may not be as simple as jotting down a few notes on a memo pad.  Coming up with a personal brand strategy that describes the irresistible, brilliant you can take some work, but once you have it, you can apply the pieces to everything you communicate – e.g. resume, interview remarks, online media, etc.

Below, I will share with you some of the components I used in developing my own brand marketing statement.

Here are the first five concepts to focus on with a brief definition of each, and an example taken from my own personal brand library:

1. Objective - what outcome are you trying to achieve for yourself or for your target audience (e.g. To develop highly successful, professional women of color to be competitors for advanced leadership positions.)
2. Core message – the primary mindset that you want anyone who comes in contact with you to adopt  (e.g. You can successfully advance your career when you increase your brand visibility in a smart, authentic, and consistent way.)
3. Target audience – who do you want to share the message with (e.g. Professional women of color, age 30-55,  seeking career advancement, career change, or business start-up.)  **Later, we can talk about who the ideal client is for you within this target – yes, there is a distinction.
4. Brand Statement - what do you do and who do you work with (e.g., I work with professional women of color seeking career advancement or transitioning into solo business. I show them how to develop a brand strategy for their career that connects them with their target audience & key influencers.)
5. Unique position – what makes you different than anyone else who does this work (e.g., My strategy is based on a 60/40 combination of proven career management techniques and online brand expertise. I also have a powerhouse network of branding resources to help my clients implement the plan once the it is put on paper.)

That’s all for part one. Think about your answers in each area. If you work on this over the next week, you will have a great start to developing your brilliant personal  brand strategy.

About the Author: Tanya Smith of Be Promotable helps ambitious professional women develop a powerful personal brand strategy to be positioned for the career of their dreams. To get instant access to her free special report on how to surefire steps to be promotable stop by and visit http://www.bepromotable.com.

Have you thought about what it really takes to brand yourself well?  It’s not an overnight process and certainly, to develop a brilliant online brand you can be proud of, it will require strategy, planning, and a little help!

This mindmap I’ve created is an example of some of the resources I work with my clients to use in promoting their brand presence.  Some people choose to do all the work themselves (that used to be) and if you are capable of wearing all these hats, and have little income starting out, that might be a short-term option.

There are less expensive ways, however, to design and implement your online brand.  My friend, Tammy Burke at http://www.outsourceandprosper.com is a great resource for learning how to use oDesk – a virtual outsourcing company to get business help at a phenomenal, affordable rate.  Check her out.

Whether you intend to use your online brand as a career booster, or if you’re starting a solo business, it always helps to have someone refer you to the “right” people and resources.  When I work with clients on developing your branding strategy, I’ll put you in touch with people like Tammy, like my friend Lou Bortone at http://onlinevideobranding.com/, and more.

(*if the image is not showing, click here to access the visual: http://www.mindmeister.com/56322020/brand-implementation-team)

About the Author: Tanya Smith of Be Promotable helps ambitious professional women share their brand brilliance through a powerful online brand presence. To get instant access to her free special report on how to surefire steps to be promotable stop by and visit http://www.bepromotable.com/.

This past week I had several questions come up about starting a new business.  Since I have the perspective of someone who has started a business with a one-man shop, or a “solopreneur” business as some have coined it, I will share a few pointers based on my big failures.  See it’s when you fail at something, or make big whopping mistakes, that you learn the biggest lessons.

Mistake #1 – Not Walking In Your Own Lane

When I first started looking at a business opportunity, it really wasn’t planned.  I had been approached by someone to participate in a direct sales business.  I didn’t know the person, and I actually never saw them again after I joined.  Much of what I learned throughout my 6 years of working that business, I learned through great trial and error and I was never truly “successful” in getting the results I wanted.

Later on, I figured out why. The work I was doing was not in an area of my passion.  While I enjoyed some of the “accessory” items like the camraderie of peers in the business, the fancy trips, etc. the actual work was nothing I’d wanted to specialize in.  My corporate background was in Human Resources and my education was in Psychology and Business. My sales business, however, was in personal care….?

After I determined it was time to go, and I headed into the direction of my passion – which is helping people become more prosperous in their careers; to enjoy life at work more. Once I understood that, things took off in a very different way.  Instead of the work of building my business feeling like trudging through mud, I actually felt more free and more joyous about it.

Mistake #2 – Spending Without a Plan

When I first started out, I heard “network, network, network” so I attended every event, spent money for hundreds of lunches, and saw maybe a 1-2% return on the investment I was making.  Well…I did get to line my entire office with business cards of people I don’t know to this day.

I was paying attention to advice from people without identifying what type of activities would really benefit me and the clients I was after. It took me several years before I learned this lesson – and once I sat down to examine who I wanted to talk to, where they frequented, and what they liked, finding them was a lot less expensive and more fruitful!

Mistake #3 – Not Getting Help

As a solo business owner, and someone who is very driven, it has been difficult to let go of certain parts of my business.  What i have realized is that just like you can’t be everything to everyone, I cannot be everything to all parts my business. I had to learn to find experts and resources that complement the areas I’m not good at OR those areas that keep me from doing the real work that generates income.  After all, as much as your work can be grounded in your passion, don’t forget you still should see a monetary return on your business…otherwise, it’s just a hobby!

There are many more lessons I could share with you but for sake of brevity in this post, I’ll leave you with these to chew on for now.

For me, being promotable is about embracing all the lessons you learn, especially in times of adversity and error, then moving forward to the next experience.  Just get ready…because you’ll have your own article to write some day on this topic! Now go out there and be promotable!

About the Author: Tanya Smith of Be Promotable helps ambitious professional women share their brand brilliance through a powerful online brand presence. To get instant access to her free special report on how to surefire steps to be promotable stop by and visit http://www.bepromotable.com/.