Photo credit: www.careways.org.au

Last week was National Volunteer Week, an annual event that, since its inception in 1974, has raised awareness about the  growing role volunteerism plays in strengthening communities. But did you know that it can also help you stand out in a good way in the workplace?

LinkedIn recently shared that 1 million members have added charitable causes to their profiles and pointed out that over 60 percent of those members are Millennials who highlight their volunteer efforts as a part of their professional identity.

Some might argue that they can’t afford to work for free, but here are a few ways in which volunteering can help you land your dream gig:

Helping out helps you stand out: Did you know that one in every five hiring managers in the U.S. say they have selected a candidate because of his or her volunteer work experience? Nowadays, hiring managers are looking for well-rounded candidates and actively seeking those kind of  “do-gooders” — ones who will ultimately represent their company well in the world. Volunteer work offers the ability to showcase your interests, passions  and it’s a great way to polish up your resume and your online profile.

Getting your foot in the door: Early on in her career, Meryl was looking for a position doing PR for either music or the arts. Without the right connections (and before the assistance of social media and sites like LinkedIn), she struggled at first.  That was, until she began volunteering for a fantastic organization called LIFEBEAT,  the music industry’s AIDS organization. One of the ways they raised money was through a series of after-parties for bands/musicians from Aimee Mann to Busta Rhymes, Sonic Youth to Tony Bennett. Working one of those events, she was introduced to a guy who was starting his own music PR firm. Out of that fortuitous meeting came a job offer, which ultimately set her PR career in motion.

Photo credit: http://blsciblogs.baruch.cuny.edu

Honing your skill set: Volunteering provides the perfect opportunity to build or sharpen your skill set and stay connected to the industry in which you’re interested. This is true for soon-to-graduate folks who haven’t been able to score “real world” experience in their field; it’s also a great opportunity for parents who’ve taken time off to care for their families. It allows you to pursue your passions and get experience that make you more marketable. For example: Say you don’t have social media skills. You might try finding a small non-profit that needs help in that department. Getting hands-on experience–like  growing followers to a Facebook page or managing the group’s Twitter account–will then give you concrete examples to share on your LinkedIn profile or during in-person interviews.

Figuring out what kind of company you want to keep: Identifying which companies are supporting social efforts will help you focus your job search–particularly if you’re someone who values volunteering. Often those organizations with strong corporate social responsibility (CSR) approaches also offer a more gratifying place for people to work. The thought: When employees and management feel they are working for a company that has a true conscience, they will likely be more enthusiastic and engaged in their jobs.

“Be purposeful in what you do. Think about the why of every action you take, every piece of communication you share and every interaction or new relationship you forge.” — Toby Daniels, Founder, Social Media Week

When we met Toby Daniels, founder & executive director of Social Media Week (SMW), and CEO of Crowdcentric, we were instantly impressed with his vision of how the world could be better connected through the power of social media — as well as live interaction – and wanted him to share some of his wisdom with us here.

Since Daniels founded Social Media Week in 2008, it has become a major global conference reaching more than 100,000 people in 26 cities around the world, aiming to connect people and brands around emerging trends in social and mobile media. In order to build SMW into what it is today, Daniels and his small team have done a great job leveraging word of mouth – and, of course, social media – to spread the gospel worldwide.

SMW 2013 kicks off on February 18 in Copenhagen, Hamburg, Lagos, Miami, New York, Paris, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, DC. Join the worldwide conversation by posting on your own social media platforms with hashtag #SMW13.

When you first started Social Media Week, how did you promote it to the world?

Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter and outreach through my personal network were my primary outlets. One of the most important things I did early on with SMW was establish an advisory board of key influencers, community leaders, academics and luminaries in the emerging media and technology space. When we announced the conference in early 2009, they were a key factor in helping to get the word out.

Since then we’ve refined our approach, but even to this day, our most effective form of promotion is through our community, which in four years has grown to more than 100k professionals worldwide.

What’s the best PR advice you’ve ever received?

Two slightly conflicting pieces of advice:  1) No one does PR better than you and 2) Let your community do your PR for you.

What are your top three tips on how to network, either through social media or in the real world?

Networking is a critical part of building meaningful relationships in business and in our personal lives. Open technologies have afforded us a new way to meet and interact, however the principles of networking are no different whether you’re engaging online, through mobile or offline and in person. Here are a few principles which I believe are important:

1) Proactively forge new connections on behalf of others. This is a great way to create value and build social capital; however, connecting people for the sake of it can often be counter productive. If you make an introduction, make sure it’s something that will really make a difference. Do your research.

2) Don’t network; collaborate. Figure out what you can work on together, what you can create or what idea you can develop. Breakfast meetings, a quick coffee to catch up, and networking events are mostly a waste of time.

3) Be the signal, not the noise. Spend five minutes on Twitter and you’ll quickly become overwhelmed, not just by the quantity of information, but also by the amount of noise being created by self promoting, self-aggrandizing and self-important Twitter “enthusiasts.” Measure your own output and try to ensure that what you share is meaningful, valuable and something that people actually want to see or read. I was in an office recently and saw a great sign “stop tweeting boring shit.” Amen.

What’s your advice for developing a relationship with someone you don’t know?

Do your research, ask them questions that allow them to talk about their work and their accomplishments, and figure out a problem or challenge they are experiences which you might be able to help with. Do this, and I promise the people you meet will remember you forever.

How important is it to break through the clutter when you’re trying to stand out—and what’s the best way to do so?

Be purposeful in what you do. Think about the why of every action you take, every piece of communication you share and every interaction or new relationship you forge. People rarely think about the “why” of something, only the “what” and the “how.” We are all generally more fulfilled when we live purposeful lives, so stop and think about this, and you will become immediately more interesting to others and stand out as someone who matters.  Also, see my previous answer because, if you want to stand out, you have to also be curious about other people.

How can someone use social media and the Web to market themselves or further their career?

Technology innovation is accelerating and it’s creating a skills gap in our workforce and inhibiting people in their careers. The problem is we can’t adapt quickly enough and formal education and our universities are not equipped to offer the kinds of training our future workforce needs.

There is light however. Over the past couple of years we’ve seen a wave of new education startups that are attempting to open up opportunities for students and young professionals to gain new skills through massively open online courses (MOOCS).  We also saw this as an opportunity and in September 2012 we launched The School of Emerging Media & Technology. The School’s mission is to connect the world’s greatest leaders and experts with professionals whose daily jobs and activities require a basic-to-advanced understanding of the tools, technologies and best practices that are driving change in industry.  Through this initiative, we aim to help people to become proficient in tech and social media so that they can adapt more quickly to technological change and advance in their careers.

Lots of recent (and not so recent graduates) continue to struggle to find a job. What is the one piece of advice that you wish you knew when you were seeking your first job?

I started my first company as  teenager; my second in college; and for my final year, I worked 30 hours a week doing marketing for an events company.  By the time I graduated I had a decent amount of experience.  I always knew my degree was of secondary importance, but unfortunately the education system is built on the myth that a degree guarantees you a job when you graduate.

Today our graduates feel they are at a disadvantage, but they’re not. I work with at-risk inner city kids in the Bronx who are more disadvantaged than most and yet we have established a way for them to have more work experience going into college than the average student.  The organization is called CampInteractive and through their technology and leadership programs, we place high school kids in internships in New York-based technology companies.  After a summer of working alongside inspirational entrepreneurs these students are equipped with the knowledge and experience to go on to do anything they want.  My message to graduates is if you want to succeed, you have to go out and work for it.  Your degree is becoming increasingly irrelevant.

What is the guiding principle or mission for your business and/or how you engage with your employees?

Crowdcentric’s mission is to connect people and ideas through collaboration. We’re a collection of passionate individuals who envision a future where openness and ubiquitous connectivity will lead to a more information-abundant, prosperous and sustainable world.

We deliver our expertise through a range of services including worldwide conferences like our upcoming Social Media Week powered by Nokia; news and publishing; education and training like our School of Emerging Technology; and through a range of client services including Experiential Marketing, Open Innovation, Event Design & Production and Community Management.

In terms of our guiding values we are:

Open: With an attitude of ready accessibility and with freedom and frictionless access
Collaborative: Developing systems, tools, frameworks and methodologies for working together to realize shared goals
Transparent: With a shared philosophy of accountability, operating in such a way that it is easy for others to see what actions we perform
Agile: Striving to achieve heightened levels of output and creativity through iterative and incremental development solutions which evolve through collaboration between self-organizing, cross-functional teams
Networked: Unleashing the potential of networks by dismantling hierarchical structures and by embracing new forms of distributed innovation

How have you been your own best publicist in promoting Social Media Week?

I’m sure I could be a much better self-publicist but, to be honest, I’m not really comfortable being hugely self promotional. We’ve taken a bit of a different approach over the years; one, which given the fact we’ve grown to almost 30 cities in just four years, seems to be working well.

The key is not to be a promoter but rather an architect of structured collaboration. This allows others, who are also invested in the success of the brand to become the biggest and most important advocates of what you do. Our mission is a shared one, and we bring people and partners on who are likeminded and deeply collaborative. There’s not a publicist in the world who can compete with that.

What’s the biggest challenge when you’re trying to build a brand and create buzz for it?

Having a terrible product that no one cares about.

Fashion entrepreneur Emily Blumenthal

Emily Blumenthal never went to design school. But that didn’t stop her from creating a line of handbags that she singlehandedly got into Bergdorf Goodman, Henri Bendel, Bloomingdale’s and finally to QVC. Add to that teaching Fashion Marketing at Parsons The New School for Design and running a business helping burgeoning accessories designers get their handbag lines off the ground and into major retailers across the country.

In addition, Blumenthal created the Independent Handbag Designer Awards, an internationally respected design competition, runs online resource HandbagDesigner101.com and authored “Handbag Designer 101,” a book to help designers create the next “It Bag” and a viable business to go with it. The woman is BUSY.

In Be Your Own Best Publicist, we interviewed a number of smart, interesting people on how to build a brand and stand out. Just in time for New York Fashion Week, we recently talked to Blumenthal about how she launched her brand and her advice for other entrepreneurs trying to break through the clutter with limited time and resources.

Why is it so important these days to stand out in the workplace?

The market is so incredibly oversaturated. It is key to stand out since internal competition is fierce, especially in markets that are so sought after. Proving your value is a must as that will translate into more power, responsibility and eventually dollars in your pocket.

What’s the best PR advice you’ve ever received?

When I was starting out and wanted to get into television, a buyer pulled me aside and said, “You would never open a clothing store if you didn’t know how to shop.” In other words, make sure you know how to buy before you can sell. I have used this in every step of my career; I try to get behind the mindset of those that I am pitching and to address their needs before I even begin to tell them anything I am working on.

What are your top networking tips?

Always be prepared and do your homework. No editor, publicist, stylist, or buyer has time to deal with people who don’t know their brand, business, or customers. There is nothing worse than pitching someone on an idea when they say “we don’t do that, and never did.”

What’s your advice for developing a relationship with someone you don’t know?

I make cold calls on a regular basis. In fact, 80 percent of my time is spent calling people that I don’t know and convincing them on a new concept that they may know little about. A key point to remember: B aware that the person you are speaking with has no time for you until you prove you can give them something they might need or want, so having your elevator pitch ready is always a must. Having said that, know how to throw some humor into it (whether they laugh or not).  That’s my secret ingredient to keeping people’s attention and making them forget they are talking to someone they don’t know.

How important is it to break through the clutter when you’re trying to stand out—and what’s the best way to do so?

I remember hearing about people who sent their resumes over in different colored paper, but I think the fundamentals of common courtesy — which most forget — are important; e.g. sending a thank you note and, if they are someone you really need to work with,  remember something they said in the conversation and send them a follow-up little gift. I dealt with someone very senior at a magazine and he has everything known to mankind — what could I possibly give him, a puppy? So I was on vacation and had a shirt made with his name on it and dropped it off with his assistant. At the end of the day, everyone wants to feel like someone was thinking of them (in an non-stalker way), so if you do things like that, you will never be forgotten.

Do you use social media and the Web to market yourself or further your career? If so, how?

Yes! For better or for worse, social media is here to stay. As overwhelming as it is, one must remember they are always ‘on’ and for that matter, always being watched. I consult for handbag designers as well and I actually had to alert one of them that the bikini picture she had posted devalued her work and she should pull it off ASAP. You, yourself are a brand and should always be protected.

What’s your best tip for how to get what you want at work?

I think it is key to keep a running portfolio of your accomplishments. Papers you have written, projects you have submitted, presentations that were well-received — when showing this to the powers-that-be is a sign of how organized and forward thinking you are, as long as you have a goal in mind as to why you are showing this. This is something you can stand behind and no one can take that away from you.

Lots of recent (and not so recent graduates) continue to struggle to find a job. What is the one piece of advice that you wish you knew when you were graduating?

Keep your hustle on. You are not alone and you are not special. Unfortunately, you are up against people your age who have done much more than you, so make sure you’re prepared to show why you are valuable and what your USP (unique selling point) is.

What is the guiding principle or mission for your business or how you engage in the workplace?

Try to stay focused and make sure you are moving forward to a greater goal.

How have you been your own best publicist?

No one has ever PRed me better than me — at least for the first 10 years of working for myself. You need to know you, your product, your brand before you can ever expect anyone to do it better.

How to get people talking about your brand.

You have a great idea, a website, a business plan and maybe even some funding. Now what? That doesn’t mean anything unless people are talking, sharing and buzzing about your brand. If no one hears the proverbial tree falling in the forest, how will they know it actually exists — and why would they care?

For most startups, publicity typically falls to the bottom of the expenditure list. Yet, in this day and age, with so much competition for coverage and attention, it can be the thing that connects the dots, raises your profile and attracts consumers, advertisers, partners and investors. The reality: Those who put public relations as the lead horse will likely cross the finish line first. But if you’re bootstrapped and feel you just can’t justify the cost of hiring a PR firm or an in-house communications specialist, you can learn how to be your own publicist — and kick-start the drumbeat about your brand through press coverage and social media buzz.

Recently, Jessica participated in a panel at the Golden Seeds Innovation Summit — a conference run by an investment firm that supports companies founded by women entrepreneurs — called “Building Your Brand: Lessons in PR for Early Stage Companies,” where this topic was discussed. Moderated by The New York Times bestselling author and former Hearst Magazines Chair(wo)man, Cathie Black, the panel also included The Daily Muse co-founder Kathryn Minshew, Business Insider tech reporter Alyson Shontell and Joannie Danielides who runs an eponymous PR firm. Below we share some of the advice that was given during this panel.

• Know your elevator pitch. Have a great story and know how to tell it…quickly. What you pitch to the media is not that different from what you have to “sell” to potential investors and, similarly, you have a short period of time in which to impress them and gain their interest.

• Find a news hook. Understand how your business fits into a bigger trend or story. Don’t just pitch in a vacuum. Minshew of The Daily Muse said that she often pitches reporters when new job numbers come out or as part of a story on young female tech entrepreneurs in the career space so they use her as an expert on a particular trend. Shontell advised startups to identify how their company or story relates to a broad audience.

• Be scrappy and resourceful. Follow reporters who cover your industry on Twitter, then retweet them and respond to them. Also, read relevant media about your industry and stay up on the latest trends.

• Leverage your connections. We live in a world of six degrees of separation when everyone knows someone who knows someone else who can lead you to the right reporter, producer or blogger who might cover what you’re doing. Don’t be afraid to ask the people you associate with if they can help make introductions. Minshew emailed everyone in her personal network a clip of her appearance on Bloomberg TV as an FYI.  Someone on her list sent it to his cousin who worked at CNBC and they called her for a segment. The point is: every interaction is an opportunity for you to build buzz for your brand.

• Make it easy for the media. Most members of the press appreciate someone who makes their job turn-key by giving them a good idea and the facts and resources to back it up. Danielides said, “Get your facts straight and have them at the ready when you’re pitching. You want to be accurate and, if you don’t know the answer to something, don’t fabricate it.” Get back to the media promptly with answers and information and they’ll be more likely to want to work with you again.

• Do your research. Don’t pitch an outlet without having read it or watched it first or followed the stories this reporter has recently written. You don’t want to approach someone who would never write about you or your company. As Shontell advised tech startups in the audience, “Don’t pitch me the same thing you pitched to TechCrunch because our point of view is different.” Be cognizant of the media’s time and always ask if they have a minute to talk. Don’t reach out to them at the end of the day, when most are on deadline. And be respectful, even if they’re rude (which they sometimes can be).

Just as you do when building a business plan, you need to have a communications strategy for your company, whether you’re doing the PR yourself or working with a professional. Know your key messages inside and out and understand how media coverage can help your brand. For more advice on how to build a brand and create buzz, check out our book, “Be Your Own Best Publicist: How to Use PR Techniques to Get Noticed, Hired and Rewarded at Work.”

What are your best tips for getting the attention of the media? Share with us here, on Facebook or Twitter (@bestpublicist).

The truth is, we all face difficult situations at work but not everyone knows how to handle them. Often people let mistakes and crises cripple — even paralyze — them, but bouncing back from roadblocks in your career is not as daunting as you might think. We really believe that every crisis is an opportunity. Most errors are reversible, and it’s important to remember that how you respond in tough times shows who you are as a person as much, if not more, than how you are in good times.

Need some guidelines? Here are a few tips for how to handle your next crisis:

#1:  Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst.

• Go with your gut. When you see a red flag, pay attention. How many times in life have you kicked yourself for not listening to that little voice in your head that says, “Something is wrong here”?
• Have a plan and a back-up plan. In PR, we try to lay out a strategy and do our best to identify potential pitfalls and problems on the horizon. While we may not always be able to predict what’s coming our way, by doing the exercise and putting a solid plan on paper, you’ll be prepared to deal with it if the issue ever sees the light of the day.

#2:  Be a Problem Solver.

• Stay calm. In a crisis, people tend to get anxious. Maintaining a sense of Zen will not only allow you to think more clearly but will also set the tone for those around you.
• Get focused. You want to quickly assess the damage and determine how to move forward.
• Find a solution. Next, you need to figure out how to address and remedy the situation. Start by considering your end game — what’s the ultimate outcome you’d like to see? — and work backwards from there.

#3:    Own up.  

• Take responsibility. If you screwed up, don’t make excuses — just apologize for any misstep, miscommunication or oversight on your part.
• Be authentic. People can tell whether you mean what you say. For instance, when Netflix changed its business model in 2011 and consumers and shareholders balked, CEO Reed Hastings made an awkward video where he basically apologized for not explaining the company’s change well enough to customers, not actually for the bad judgment in doing it in the first place. His misdirected apology backfired and he lost credibility and respect as a result. On the other hand, when JetBlue cancelled 1,000 flights in 2007 when an ice storm crippled its operations. Instead of blaming the weather, then CEO David Neeleman made a public apology detailing what they would do to make it right with their customers.

#4:  Control the Damage, Clean Up the Mess.

• Act quickly. Don’t let a small mistake linger and turn into a bigger one. That’s not to say you should simply be reactive, but i f you know you did something wrong, deal with it right away. Say, for example, you stuck your foot in your mouth during an important business meeting and inadvertently offended your boss or a client. Acknowledge the gaffe, apologize and try to move on without beating yourself up. Remember what Theodore Roosevelt once said, “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”

#5:    Keep Things in Perspective.

• Learn and let it go. Often when we mess up, we tend to be hard on ourselves or overanalyze an error, reliving the mistake over and over. But rarely will the crises we deal with be life or death so it’s important to be able to step back and take a 10,000 foot view of the situation and its long-term effects.
• Everybody loves a comeback. In most cases, if you fix a problem quickly and show that you can move past it, others will be able to as well. Our society likes nothing more than a survivor story (see Martha Stewart, Charlie Sheen, Robert Downey, Jr., etc.), so respond smartly and swiftly so you can recover.

#6:    Turn Trouble into Triumph.

• Make that lemonade: When you’re going through (or almost on the other side of) a crisis, look for the silver lining. Get into an argument with someone? Perhaps it opened up a new dialogue that wasn’t previously possible. Did you stumble and fall (either literally or figuratively)? Learn to laugh at yourself, find the humor or lesson in whatever the situation.

#7:    Fail Forward.

• Find the lesson. Our favorite interview question is “Tell me about a time when you failed, how you dealt with it and what you learned.”  The answer will broadcast how someone handles a crisis and whether the experience made him or her more effective at work or in life.
• Join the club. Nearly every successful person – from Steve Jobs to NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg to Oprah Winfrey – has been fired from a job.  Nearly every inventor has failed at something before they made it big. For example, a scientist at 3M was attempting to develop a super-strong adhesive but instead created a weak glue that didn’t leave residue. Because his experiment failed, his error led to one of the most successful inventions ever (who doesn’t love a Post-it?).
• Lead by example. What you learn from failure helps you identify new ways of doing things and allows you to grow and become a better manager and leader.

So, next time there’s that misstep, mistake or misunderstanding, remember to take a deep breath and  be your own best publicist by remaining calm, seeking the solution and seeing the challenge as an opportunity to lead and learn.

Now it’s your turn: What’s a mistake you made, what did you do and what did you learn from it?  Share with us here, on Facebook or Twitter.

In Be Your Own Best Publicist, we interviewed a number of smart, interesting people on how to build a brand and stand out. As part of our online series of Q&As, we recently talked to entrepreneur, strategist and blogger extraordinaire Nicole Brydson and got her to share a little about her professional evolution, the importance of being yourself — and  why she believes that you don’t have to start your entrepreneurial path outside of the traditional workplace.

Why is it so important these days to stand out in the workplace?

Successful ideas can help you stand out and can mean spinning off entire new companies by yourself or with your employer. I went out on my own to build BrooklynTheBorough.com, but I recently met the entrepreneur Nora Abousteit at a DIY Business Association event. Along with her former employer, the German publisher Hubert Burda Media, she turned their stodgy old sewing magazine into a social media sewing circle phenomenon called BurdaStyle. Then she left to build Kollabora – a site where you can buy materials. She’s proof you don’t have to start your entrepreneurial path outside of the traditional workplace, and that companies who seek to innovate well and invest in their talent will be rewarded for risk taking.

What skill or technique have you, yourself, used to get ahead or get a job? 

My motto is to go straight to the source. If you arm yourself with primary-sourced information, strong analytical skills and pair those with a healthy listening capacity, you will be knowledgeable about how to proceed on any matter. For the corporate world, the “48 Laws of Power” is a must-read on getting ahead. The first rule is telling: “Never outshine the master.”

What’s an example of when you’ve been your own best publicist? 

I firmly believe that being yourself is the best way to be your own best publicist. Personally, I’m a huge nerd, and tend to get overly excited around my intellectual heroes – most recently at a fireside chat that the MIT Enterprise Forum hosted for Media Lab director Joichi Ito. As he was explaining the future of innovation in business to a room full of corporate manager types, I frantically nudged my friend Daniel as Mr. Ito described how entrepreneurs innovate most efficiently at the edges of industry. In all my excitement in feeling a kind of validation, I forgot where I was, and Mr. Ito called on me thinking I had a question. “No, I’m sorry!” I replied, “You’re just describing my life!” After I apologized later for interrupting him, he kindly gave me his business card, as did everyone else I spoke to that night. That’s when I learned the old adage is true: advertising you pay for; PR you pray for.

What are your top networking tips? 

Read a variety of news sources everyday, be yourself and listen to what people are really telling you – read between those lines. It’s okay to promote yourself but the best way to get someone to listen and connect with you is to show you are able to do the same. Once you really listen to what they are saying about themselves you can decipher what information you have that is relevant to them and share it – you never know what you will inspire in people, or what they will inspire in you.

 How important is it to break through the clutter when you’re trying to stand out—and what’s the best way to do so? 

Get baby blue glasses from Warby Parker? Jokes aside, I think that if you are genuinely true to yourself, follow your love and trust your gut, you will stand out no matter what because most people do not. Being clever helps, but so does being honest with yourself about what you want from your gig, because if you’re happy with your work you will be good at it and inevitably stand out.

What’s an example of a creative way you have attracted attention for an idea, yourself or a client?  

The website I founded, BrooklynTheBorough.com, is my creative way to attract people to the idea of building local community in the digital space. It’s ostensibly a local arts blog to the unsuspecting eye, but in fact it’s a community that connects people hyper locally. When we know our neighbors, we’re much more likely to understand them and growing up in New York City, getting people to understand each other is like a small coup each time.

Do you use social media and the Web to market yourself or further your career? If so, how? 

Is there another way? I’m dying to know how to get rid of my three Twitter accounts, multiple Facebook pages, and don’t forget Instagram. I’m keeping LinkedIn though! Way back in January of 2009, I was laid off from the New York Observer at the height of the recession. After writing a weekly column called ‘Brooklyn, the Borough’ there, I took what freelance work there was between my unemployment checks and started to build BrooklynTheBorough.com. For the first time, I found myself in a position to take all these communications platforms for a spin in a natural way that I, not my employer, directed. So I would say, follow your instincts with these new tools, because after all, they are still new and the old definitely doesn’t like the new very much. Now, in January 2013, I am launching a new business model for local media that invites the community to participate and benefit from the newsgathering process, while strengthening the backbone of the local arts economy in Brooklyn.

What’s your best tip for how to get what you want at work? 

One thing I say a lot is that there’s a big difference between one’s work and one’s job, and getting what you want in either requires vastly different maneuvering.

When pursuing entrepreneurial work, the best tip I have is to trust your instincts and balance your unshakeable confidence with healthy skepticism. Bruce Springsteen said it best in his keynote at SXSW in 2012 – “Rumble, young musicians, rumble. Open your ears and open your hearts. Don’t take yourself too seriously, and take yourself as seriously as death itself. Don’t worry. Worry your ass off. Have ironclad confidence, but doubt – it keeps you awake and alert. Believe you are the baddest ass in town, and, you suck!” I think the core of that is to trust your instincts and their non-linear splendor. However, if you’re working in a traditional office, I might refer you back to my second answer.

What do you think is the best/worst recent example of managing your profile? 

When it comes to social media profiles, I really cannot stand food pictures, especially food pictures taken after the food has been consumed. But in the broader sense, I thought the Jill Kelly-inspired David Petraeus scandal was really telling about how Americans think about ownership of their digital selves. Jill Kelly seemed to think she could control what her FBI investigator friend would and would not read in her email, but once they’re in, they’re in, and whoops, there are all those emails you wrote to that other general.

That was a “whoops!” moment.  So – on that note, would you mind sharing a bit about a time that you failed and what you learned from it? 

Let me count the ways! Losing a job always feel like a big failure, so in that sense I have failed, but I now know that failure is a precursor to success, and often, being open to failure leads to success. My most recent failure was during the early development of BrooklynTheBorough.com. I did not immediately consider alternative business models to the traditional banner ad or local event series for which local media is best known.

I ended up making the same mistakes as my previous employer did, hemorrhaging money on a start up during a recession while bringing in what I like to call “Google pennies” on my AdSense account. For a local site, that is not scalable in the way that say, The New York Times is.  It doesn’t make sense to continue on with the traditional ad box business model that rewards page views and not quality content. That failure brought me to the model the site is launching now with an IndieGoGo campaign, which serves citizens, musicians, artisans and local businesses by helping them sell and promote their independent commerce locally while also supporting free community media by and for Brooklynites.

Learn more about Nicole’s IndieGoGo campaign here: http://www.indiegogo.com/Brooklyntheborough.

Multitasking is actually bad for our health.

In a world of multitasking and constant distractions –from the ping of texts and emails to everyone having to wear more hats at work than they used to– time management is one of the biggest challenges. We might feel like we’re doing more — and, in a way, we are — but we’re actually get less done in the process. So, is it possible in this day and age to streamline your work style, be more productive and get back some time in your day to focus on big picture stuff, strategy and brainstorming, all of which will make you more effective at your job?  Yes, says Julie Morgenstern, a productivity expert and bestselling author of five books including Time Management from the Inside Out. Dubbed the “queen of putting people’s lives in order” by USA Today, Morgenstern has made it her life’s mission to help people get more out of everyday and find focus in their lives, both at work and at home.  This month marks the launch of her new Circa Balanced Life Planner, a paper-based system for the digital age, designed to help people make good decisions about where to spend their time. Sign us up!

Morgenstern spent some of her valuable time talking to us about the email addiction epidemic, why being pulled in a million different directions and always being connected is bad for the brain, and sharing some great advice for how to manage your time more effectively this year.

Why is multitasking ineffectual?

It has been scientifically demonstrated that the brain cannot effectively or efficiently switch between tasks, so you lose time. It takes four times longer to recognize new things so you’re not saving time; multitasking actually costs time. You also lose time because you often make mistakes. If you’re multitasking and you send an email and accidentally “reply all” and the person you were talking about is on the email, it’s a big mistake. In addition, studies have shown that we have a much lower retention rate of what we learn when multitasking, which means you could have to redo the work or you may not do the next task well because you forgot the information you learned. Everyone’s complaining of memory issues these days – they’re symptoms of this multitasking epidemic.  Then, of course, there’s the rudeness factor, which doesn’t help develop strong relationships with others.

Have distractions multiplied in recent years and, if so, how?  

One is obviously the smartphone, which has made it so that you cannot get away. There are no safe zones where you can actually unplug. You feel like you’re busy and doing something – it’s a chemical addiction. There are so many things we can do through our screens now – stay in touch with friends, do business, entertainment, watch Netflix, do research, create a Pinterest board.  The volume of tasks in our lives that we can now do through a screen rather than tactilely has increased exponentially. It’s more than just email. It’s all the things we can do on screens.

Why is it so important to minimize interruptions and distractions in today’s world?

It’s important to use all parts of your brain instead of only one. That will help reduce mistakes and increase the satisfaction of engagement. The human being desires a sense of control and fulfillment and I’m seeing a swing. People of all ages are reaching a tipping point and need a ”screen break.” There’s comfort in the fact that the human spirit is saying “this is simply too much.”

What are three ways in which people can work smarter?  

1)    Build “screen breaks” into your schedule, both at work and at home. The length should be a min of 1-3 hours at a time so you can engage in a deeper and different way on problems, studying, writing, thinking, talking, etc.

2)    Avoid email and all screens for the first and last hour of the day so that you wake up and engage in a deeper, more focused activity of some sort. It’s easier to start deep and come up to the shallow. And at night, sleep studies show that being in front of a computer screen is an energy source and it stimulates rather than relaxes.

3)    If you schedule your day between meetings and action to-do’s, plan every day plus tomorrow and the next day, it makes it easier not to get distracted. It’s best to keep track of everything in a single system – from meetings to to-do’s, both personal and professional – which will help you focus and prioritize. If you plan what to do and review it the night before, you’re less likely to get sucked into mindless distractions. The more specific you are, the more likely you are to combat distractions.  Knock out the big things and the toughest stuff early in the day so you have the rest of the day to catch up with the buzz, the urgency, the distractions and the little stuff.  Take advantage of the morning to complete the tasks that require more energy and discipline. If you divide your day in half, that works for most people.

If people are daunted by adding several new rules to their lives (like trying to accomplish too many New Year’s resolutions and then giving up on all of them), what’s the one thing that is either most important or easiest to do?

The number one most powerful thing you can do to rediscover the power of focus is to control email use – scheduling when and how often you check your email.  If you promise yourself that you’re going to check email only four times a day, between 9am-6pm, that will really help.

How do you advise that people “addicted” to email and social media break the habit of always checking their mobile devices?

All of these distractions are mindless, so you might want to give yourself a little mantra or phrase that gets them to refocus or resist distractions. One idea is “Leave it!” — which is a dog-training term — or ask yourself, “Is this the best time to do this?”  You can ask yourself or stop yourself when you feel the pull of a distraction. Also, when you’re having a screen break, don’t have the device nearby. When you’re supposed to be working on a report, turn off the dinger on your email or put the device away altogether. Track this for a month and see how well you’re doing at taking screen breaks and accomplishing bigger tasks. Assess each day how you did at it. You could even create an alarm every two hours to check your email.

Often, people try to change their habits, and they can’t get through a day without constantly checking email, so they give up. They didn’t realize how addicted they were. People who succeed give it a few days of discomfort, like a drug withdrawal, and then they can get through it. Sometimes people stay on track until a crisis and then they forget to go back. Overall, if you can make sure to give yourself time away from your “screens,” you will be more productive and fulfilled.

What are your best time management tricks?  Share with us here, on Facebook or on Twitter (@bestpublicist).

Handwritten notes: a lost art?

In a recent Wall Street Journal article on “The Lost Art of the Handwritten Note,” author Philip Hensher addresses how our increasing reliance on typing and texting is making the handwritten note go the way of the fax machine. He says, “The ready communication through electronic means that has replaced the handwritten letter is wonderful. But we have definitely lost something here, and those Skype, email and text exchanges won’t be treasured in the way that my teenage letters, scribbled journals and postcards have been for years.”

We couldn’t agree more. Recently, Jessica moved apartments and unearthed a shoebox full of handwritten notes from old friends, ex-boyfriends (not sure her husband appreciated that she hung onto those!) and thank you notes from magazine editors with whom she worked for years at Hearst Magazines, including the late, legendary Cosmo editor Helen Gurley Brown. Had those been sent to her via email or text, she definitely would not still have them — and they wouldn’t have had the same sentimental value.

When people ask us if, after a job interview or informational meeting, they should send a thank you via email or snail mail, we always suggest both.  The speed of an email foll0w-up is great but can get buried in a busy person’s in-box (or even get lost in the “junk mail” folder if you’re sending it from an unfamiliar email address). In this day and age, when sadly we’re getting fewer and fewer letters in the mail, a handwritten thank you note, well-crafted on good stationery, will make a candidate stand out from others who chose not to take that extra, personal step.

In fact, a female magazine publisher we know said that if she interviews someone and they don’t send a real note as a follow-up, she will not hire them, no matter how impressive they were in person. And a media executive with whom Jessica works asks his sales staff for photocopies of the thank you notes they’ve handwritten and sent to clients and prospective clients during the week so he can make sure they’re actually doing it, versus relying on email alone.

The generation graduating from college now has grown up in a digital world. A world in which Hallmark stores barely exist because people now send e-vites and e-cards. Where the sleep-away camps they attended allowed parents and friends to send emails instead of real letters (of which we still have every exchange from our own childhoods). Where getting on the phone with their high school friends seemed foreign when they could just make plans via text message and IM. And where every student has a laptop, smartphone — and likely even a tablet device — before they’ve gotten their first full-time job.

But there’s still something to be said for taking the time to hand-write your thoughts — whether it be your feelings for a loved one, condolences for a friend who has experienced a loss, or a thank you to someone who has taken the time to help you with your career — and send through the good old US Postal Service (they could certainly use the business) in a real letter or card. Let’s not lose the art completely or our memories and sentiments will disappear into Internet purgatory when our in-boxes automatically delete old files. If we could have hand-written and mailed this blog post to everyone reading it, we would have.

Share your thoughts with us here, on Facebook or Twitter (we would invite hand-written letters but are reluctant to announce our street addresses on the web!).

“Get people talking.  People have a lot of interesting things to share.  You might discover an unexpected connection.” – Kelsey Recht, CEO, VenueBook

Ever try to book an event and end up calling around to dozens of places, trying to get someone on the phone to check dates of availability, budget, menu, capacity, etc.?  It can be extremely time-consuming and often fruitless. Well, Kelsey Recht, founder & CEO of VenueBook, has a simple solution: create an online platform that enables corporate event planners — or regular people — just looking for a party space to search all of those things and more in one place.

When we saw Recht pitch her idea at a NY Tech Meetup Women’s Demo Night a few months ago, we knew she’d be a rising star in both the technology and hospitality worlds. While VenueBook just launched in New York City, the company plans to roll out its platform to other markets around the country over the next year. We interviewed the founder of what she calls “an OpenTable-like platform for finding and booking event spaces” about launching a brand, standing out in your career and creating buzz.

Why is it so important these days to stand out in the workplace?

The harsh reality right now is that the economy is not strong. Jobs are hard to come by. If you have one, you need to do your best to excel and make a name for yourself.

What’s the best PR advice you’ve ever received?

Do your homework on reporters and what they cover first. Half of the battle is knowing the right person and what angle to take with them.

What are your top networking tips?

Get people talking. People have a lot of interesting things to share. You might discover an unexpected connection.

What’s your advice for developing a relationship with someone you don’t know?

Always assume the other person is very busy. I ensure I am accommodating to his or her schedule. For example, if I request a meeting with someone, I always meet them somewhere that is convenient for them.    

How important is it to break through the clutter when you’re trying to stand out—and what’s the best way to do so?

It is cheap to start a web business these days. To stand out in the crowd, do something radically different. For example, Apple didn’t design a better flip phone. They designed something radically different than anything available in the marketplace. Our product is very different than our competitors.

Do you use social media and the Web to market yourself or further your career? If so, how?

Yes. We use social media to promote the VenueBook brand across many platforms. Events are visual, so people especially love Pinterest.

What’s your best tip for how to get what you want at work?

You need to understand the inherent motivations of the people around you. A recent study released showed that employees rate jobs based on more qualitative than quantitative, financial measures. For example, a start-up often cannot pay the same market rate. However, you can motivate people with different qualitative perks.

Lots of recent (and not so recent graduates) continue to struggle to find a job. What is the one piece of advice that you wish you knew when you were graduating?

Be proactive.  If someone does not follow up with me, I automatically eliminate them as a candidate for a job at VenueBook. I firmly believe luck is what you make it. Some people seem “luckier” than the rest of us. However, I think luck comes from putting yourself in the right place to get lucky over and over again.

What is the guiding principle or mission for your business or how you engage in the workplace?

My mission in our office is not to be paralyzed waiting for perfection. Just get things done and then iterate. My motto is, “Don’t tell me who caused the problem.  Tell me how to fix it.”  This is my motto because I do not want my team to be afraid of trying new things out of fear that it will not work.

How did VenueBook get from idea to reality and what prompted you to launch a business?

I was planning lots of events on top of a full-time job. When I was at business school, I knew I either wanted to work for a start-up, start my own company or become a VC. I researched the VenueBook idea while at school and never looked back. I never went to a recruiting event while in business school. I knew that was not the role for me.

What’s your ”elevator pitch” for VenueBook and how did you come up with it?

VenueBook is an OpenTable-like platform for finding and booking event spaces. I came up with it by comparing ourselves to other companies available on the market today.  

What’s the hardest thing about getting attention for a new brand, particularly without dedicated PR support?  

The first PR hit is always the hardest one to get, but after that it cascades. It is similar to running a business. The first customer is always the hardest.

What’s your advice for helping your brand stand out against the competition?

Build a beautiful, useful product and talk to your customers often about how your product can make their lives easier. If no one wants your product, you do not have a business.

Check out VenueBook at www.venuebook.com and follow them on Twitter at @VenueBook.

The Wall Street Journal ran a story last month ago called “Are We All Braggarts Now?”, which examines whether social media has given people a platform — and permission — to constantly boast about their accomplishments, children, jobs and lives in general. In the piece, Elizabeth Bernstein writes that “we’ve become so accustomed to boasting that we don’t even realize what we’re doing. And it’s harmful to our relationships because it turns people off.” We believe this is a generalization and that, while select folks spend all their Tweets and Facebook posts talking about how their child is the world’s most talented and beautiful, there are ways to leverage social media to promote yourself and what you’re proud of in a smart and more subtle way.

In our book, Be Your Own Best Publicist: How to Use PR Techniques to Get Noticed, Hired and Rewarded at Work, we dedicate an entire chapter, called “Toot Your Own Horn (but Not Too Loudly),” to teaching people how to be their own publicists without irritating those on the receiving end. There’s an art to self-promotion and part of it is building your reputation slowly and strategically so you don’t come across as too in-your-face. (Though we don’t see what’s so bad about posting “Got my first royalty check for my book,” as referenced in the article. As authors ourselves, we know what a huge deal it is to finally see some rewards from all the hard work you put in!). Nonetheless, here are a few tips on how to avoid being pegged as a braggart:

Pat yourself on the back but pat others harder. It’s okay to post something about an award you won, but make sure you’re also congratulating others when they’ve received accolades. Hit the “like” button on Facebook or re-tweet it when you see that people you know have posted about their personal milestones and they’ll likely do the same for you. A third-party endorsement often has more impact than if you tout your own accomplishments.

Offer a take-away. If you wrote a great blog post about how to avoid being a braggart, for example, linking to it might actually offer useful advice to the folks who click on it. Or if you say, “Our nanny is a rock star,” maybe you can tell people where you found her so they can find their own personal Mary Poppins or link to the great sample sale where you scored amazing Hermes piece, so others can benefit too.

Don’t make others feel bad. We haven’t had a real vacation in a while (that’s a whole other blog post!), so it’s natural to feel a wee bit jealous when we see our friends post amazing beach shots of their tropical trips (though we’re mostly happy for them). That happiness would be dampened, though, if they posted or tweeted things like, “Ha, ha! I bet you wish you were here!” or “I feel like I died and went to paradise.” instead of “Great view from my hotel room in Costa Rica.” The upshot: Be cognizant that not everyone is as lucky as you are, watch your tone and try not to over-post. (You are on vacation, after all!)

You can always dial down who sees what posts on social media, if you fear that you are over-sharing to your extended crowd. And, on the flip side, if you feel that some of your Facebook friends or those you follow on Twitter are getting out of hand with their self-promotion, simply filter out their posts or stop following them. That way, when you see them face-to-face next time, stories about their child landing first seat in the school orchestra or their latest major deal at work won’t irk you quite as much.

What kind of posts annoy you?  Share with us here, on Facebook or Twitter.