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Working Extended Hours? You’re Not Alone

Alexandra Levit — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:04:06 +0000

According to a recent global survey conducted by Regus, a provider of flexible workspaces, one in two workers in the U.S. work well over eight hours a day and more than half regularly take work home with them.

Remote Work Does Not Mean Less Work

The study polled more than 12,000 business people in 85 countries and found extended working hours to be the new norm. Regus attributes this to a tight job market with fewer resources at employees’ disposal, and employees’ desire to keep and excel in their jobs. Some of the more interesting findings included:

35 percent of U.S. workers usually work between nine to eleven hours every day compared to 38 percent of global workers.
11 percent of workers in the U.S. and 10 percent globally regularly work more than eleven hours a day.
56 percent of U.S. workers take work home to finish at the end of the day more than three times a week compared to 43 percent globally.
14 percent of remoter workers globally are more likely to work eleven hour days than fixed office workers.
59 percent of remote workers globally are likely to take work home with them compared to fixed office workers.
13 percent of U.S. workers in small businesses were three times more likely to work eleven hour days than large business employees.

“This study finds a clear blurring of the line between work and home,” claimed Regus. “In the U.S., where the American Institute of Stress reports that coronary heart disease is much more frequent in individuals experiencing high levels of job related stress, the long-term effects of this over-working could be damaging both to workers’ health and to overall productivity as workers drive themselves too hard and become disaffected, depressed or even physically ill.”

But Don’t Abandon Remote Work

Although the study found that remote employees worked longer hours, telework has been shown to produce higher job satisfaction, higher productivity, and lower stress levels. Therefore, one might conclude that by allowing your team members to work from more convenient locations and operate more independently, you might mitigate the negative impact of a longer work day.

Are You the Annoying Guy at Work?

Alison Green — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:38:47 +0000

There’s one in every office: the loudmouth, the grump, the interrupter… In fact, talk to anyone about their coworkers, and you’ll almost always uncover a litany of frustrations – often about habits that most of those coworkers don’t even realize they have. But have you ever wondered if you might be that annoying coworker? After all, the office mate who’s The Annoying Guy generally doesn’t realize it.

Here are 10 warning signs that you might be pushing your coworkers to the limits of their sanity.

1. Do you dump last-minute work on people when you could have avoided it? There will always be projects that pop up at the last minute, but don’t be the manager or the coworker who sits on something and doesn’t assign it out until late in the game. You’ll come across as inconsiderate and disorganized, and it’ll be your name people are cursing when they’re working late to make that deadline.

2. Do you really like to talk, even when other people are on deadline or have something else to do? This one is hard to see in yourself, so think about how much talking you do in the average conversation compared to how much the other person does. Be alert for cues that your colleagues may be trying to extract themselves from the discussion, and remember that just because you happen to have time to talk, it doesn’t mean that others do.

3. Do you complain about people behind their backs rather than telling them your beefs directly? We’ve all had the frustrating feeling of discovering that a coworker is complaining to others about something we did but didn’t bother to come talk to us about it directly. When you talk to someone directly, not only do you act more fairly by giving them the chance to know about your complaint and to respond to it, but you may also learn new information that makes you see things in a different light.

4. Are you frequently negative? If you hate new practices, other people’s suggestions, and the guy down the hall, and especially if you’re not shy about making that known, you might be the office grump. Grumps sometimes think that they’re demonstrating their value by pointing out flaws all the time, but if you find fault in every suggestion, you’ll lose credibility, and eventually people will start finding ways to avoid your input altogether.

5. Do you bring your personal life into the office? If you’re frequently taking personal calls in earshot of others (especially if they involve yelling, swearing or crying), sharing details about the fight you had with your spouse last night, talking about your fertility issues, or complaining about your uncontrollable rash, you might be making people uncomfortable. While it’s fine to open up to your coworkers to a certain extent, remember that professional boundaries are different from social ones and err on the side of discretion.

6. Do you interrupt other people’s conversations? If you’re in the habit of answering questions that were addressed to other people, and if you don’t believe there’s any such thing as a private conversation at work, you might be the office interrupter. It can be really difficult to resist the impulse to interrupt once it’s become a habit, but try to work on retraining yourself to wait your turn and not to jump in people are talking privately.

7. Do you love to use the speakerphone? If you always play back your voicemail messages on speakerphone or, worse, have whole conversations on speakerphone, you can be confident that your coworkers are mentally cursing you. (Bonus points if these are personal calls you’re conducting within earshot of everyone!) Keep in mind that you’re not at home alone; you’re in the midst of coworkers who are trying to focus on their own work.

8. Do you feel like you know everything there is to know, and you’re not shy about showing it? If you find yourself always telling people a better way to do things and offering unsolicited opinions, you might be the office know-it-all. It’s great to have knowledge and share it, but if you come across as if you’ve done it all and can’t possibly learn anything new, you’ll alienate and annoy your colleagues. Try holding back and letting other people demonstrate their own knowledge.

9. Do you pull your weight? If your coworkers are working away, but you’re playing on Facebook or planning your wedding, chances are high that you’ve got a reputation as the office slacker. If you work less than others and find excuses for not being productive, it’s time to turn over a new leaf. Slacking off won’t just alienate your coworkers in the short-term; it will also ruin your reputation – and references and promotion potential – in the long-term.

10. Are you chronically defensive? If you bristle at the slightest hint that your work wasn’t perfect, your coworkers might end up spending more time trying to avoid you than talking to you because they don’t want to deal with your prickliness. As a result, you’ll end up finding that problems go unaddressed and you don’t get important feedback when you need it. If nothing else, try practicing this phrase: “I want to take some time to think about this, but I appreciate you telling me.”

If you recognize yourself in any of the above habits, you might just be the irritating coworker that your colleagues are complaining about. But don’t worry – there’s hope for a recovery! Try a one-month moratorium on the behavior and see if any of your relationships improve.

Four Tricks to Improve Your Memory

Eva Rykr — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:05:26 +0000

Many times when you need to remember something you can write things down on a piece of paper or on sticky note. You can use one of the dozens of note-taking apps that exist for your phone or you can opt to leave a voice memo. You might even set alarms with notes to go off at certain times to remind you of something. These luxuries are great but their downside is that if you use them all the time you lose the skill of relying on your own memory. And there are times when your only option is to rely on your memory.

For example, times you rely solely on your memory:

Remembering someone’s name after a networking event or party. Sure, you might have exchanged business cards but how do you remember which is whose?
Taking an exam. And other times when bringing your notes along is considered cheating!
Knowing details about your client’s company or a company where you are interviewing. It’s not nearly as impressive if you pull out a list.
Making a mental to-do list. Do you write out a shopping list for less than ten items? What about less than five? How often do you remember to buy everything you intended?

As with most things, having a good memory is a skill that can be acquired, learned, and practiced. There are a few memory techniques that you probably already use, but perhaps you are not aware of them. By becoming aware of how they work and practicing their use, you can increase your memory capacity.

Chunking

There is a limit to the number of arbitrary items our working memory can process. In a paper titled, The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two, George Miller found that it is possible to increase that limit by chunking the information into something more meaningful. By consolidating data points into fewer, organized, sequenced chunks of information you can remember more than would be ordinarily possible. What constitutes a chunk differs based on your own long-term memory and store of knowledge. Examples of chunking:

The town where I grew up had the area code of 973 and the city code of 398. Everyone’s phone number started with a 973-398 so I only had to recall the last 4 numbers instead of all 10.

Meaning

Here’s a common workplace scenario: you walk into a conference room only to be promptly introduced to Jason, Elizabeth, Vern, Robert, and Paul. According to PsyBlog, names are difficult to remember because they are arbitrary and meaningless. The trick to remember names, then, is to assign meaning to them. Use whatever pops into your mind. Perhaps Jason is sitting on the left so you picture him as a “J” which is a letter hooks to the left. Vern might be wearing green so he is Fern Vern. You have to use what works for you and it’s often true that the sillier the better.

Association

When you encode two unrelated items together in your memory, when you encounter one you will likely also remember the other. If you plan to visit your boss’s office before leaving for the day, take a minute to associate your boss with something you will undoubtedly come across today, such as the elevator. To do this, you could picture your boss standing in the elevator as the doors open or you can picture his face on the button that you usually hit. The next time you take the elevator you will think of your boss, thus remembering you wanted to go talk to him today. The elevator or the elevator button are essentially acting as a trigger which reminds you of your plans of talking to your boss.

Visualize

Adding a visual element engages a new area of your brain. Create an image of what you want to remember. If it is a sequence of items, you can create a “video” or walkthrough of sorts to link them together. For example, to remember a grocery list, you might picture your route around the grocery store. If you are memorizing your presentation, think of yourself as a tour guide, bringing your audience to several stations (i.e., your talking points).

Do you have a good memory? How do you manage to remember things that people often forget?

7 Ways to Make Your Story Enthralling to Potential Employers

Anita Bruzzese — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:02:39 +0000

Career experts often advise job seekers or networkers to “tell your story.” But what does that mean? Should you share how you won the school science fair in third grade or how you once locked your keys in the car with the engine still running? It’s difficult to know exactly what story to tell at the right time – and how to make it interesting enough that eyes don’t start to glaze over or someone pulls the fire alarm just to get away from you. There is a skill to telling the right kind of stories at the right time so that you not only gain the interest of an employer or contact, but also will enable the person to recall you more vividly later. One important key: Make sure emotion is evoked. Telling the story of winning the science fair might work if it conveys a sense of joy gained through hard work. Even locking your keys in the car can become a funny tale that underlines the sense of satisfaction gained by overcoming an obstacle. Dan McAdams, a Northwestern University psychology professor who has studied storytelling for more than 10 years, told a publication for the American Psychological Association that stories “help us smooth out some of the decisions we have made and create something that is meaningful and sensible out of the chaos of our lives.” That means someone who doesn’t know you well will gain a deeper understanding through your stories of who you are and what makes you tick. Bragging about how you developed a new product can turn some people off, but telling a story of how a mistake you made actually helped you find a better answer can be much more appealing and convey the same message. Here are some tips for telling memorable and appropriate stories:

1. It has to be true.

It’s too easy to verify facts these days through the Internet or social networking sites, so don’t fib to a boss or potential employer.

2. Don’t be long-winded.

Great stories are those that can retold to others. If it’s too lengthy, others will have trouble remembering key points.

3. Determine a message.

What do you want others to walk away with after hearing your story? Don’t tell a tale that shows how you want to win at all costs when you’re trying to get a job with a team-based company. Try to talk about skills that will appeal to a particular company or contact.

4. Align your values.

People are most drawn to those like them. If your research has shown a job interviewer spends time coaching youth baseball, tell the story of one memorable youth sport that helped hone your sense of self.

5. Flesh out your resume.

It can be hard to convey your personality in a piece of paper, so use stories to add punch to important skills. Think about a story that conveys, for example, your ability to be organized, flexible and cool in a crisis.

6. Practice.

Not everyone can be Chris Rock or Tina Fey, so don’t try to imitate someone else. You want to tell an authentic story that’s about two minutes long, sprinkled with enough detail to keep it interesting and relevant. Often, stories about how you persevered through adversity or how you turned a frustrating experience into a positive one are the most appealing.

7. Look in the mirror.

While you don’t want to tell a story as if you were performing in children’s theater, facial expressions and hand gestures can be used to underscore key parts of the story. Raising your eyebrows, for example, can be used to convey surprise and gain more interest from your listener. Remember that telling someone you’re a “people person” doesn’t really reveal who you are or why they should want to get to know you better. Dump the trite phrases and instead offer a deeper connection through the stories you share and you’ll develop the kind of connections that will lead to happily ever after in your career.

5 Steps for Avoiding Online Career Blunders

Alexandra Levit — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:48:55 +0000

By now, you’ve probably heard of Crystal Cox, the blogger who was sued for libel by Obsidian Financial Group after Cox wrote that some of their business practices were illegal. Cox is now required to pay $2.5 million because a judge ruled she was not a journalist and therefore not entitled to protect anonymous sources.

This is a scary story because one definitely gets the sense that Cox thought she was doing the right thing and had no intention of getting into hot water over it. And I suspect that millions of casual social media consumers are in a similar boat right this minute.

Self-Censorship is Key

My rule of thumb for staying out of trouble online is not to post anything – anywhere – that you wouldn’t be comfortable seeing on the home page of Google, or that you wouldn’t want read by your grandmother or religious officiant. This (usually) means no posts or images involving sex, drugs, or radical politics.

It’s Not Always Obvious

When you are employed with an organization, what you can and cannot post online takes on a whole new dimension. In general, you should always think before you post, because there are the obvious no nos (such as not writing that you hate your company or that you are looking for a new job) and the not-so-obvious no nos (such as posting a company announcement on Facebook or giving a colleague a reference on LinkedIn).

Privacy Controls Are Not Everything

You are not excused from careful consideration if you make use of privacy controls on your social media networks, or if you don’t think you are “friends” with anyone who could disapprove. This approach is by no means full proof. As an example, a young professional I know in Chicago got fired after she called in sick but sent a live tweet to her friends from a Cubs game the same day. One of her friends re-tweeted the remark, which eventually found its way back to the young professional’s boss.

Know the Rules

It is also critical that you understand that company’s policy when it comes to social media. Hopefully, this is written down somewhere. If you can’t find it, ask a contact in HR. Otherwise, you could end up posting something that will cost you your job. Even if you were completely in the dark and your intentions were totally innocent, at-will employment laws in most states mean that an organization doesn’t need a serious reason or in depth process to let you go. And worse, if word gets around why you were fired, it may be difficult to secure another position because other organizations will be leery of your lack of discretion.

Thou Shall Not Resume-Blast or Defame

Staying out of trouble online involves more than just social media too. When you’re job hunting, be aware that when you post your resume in a public place, you risk your boss or HR department discovering it while sourcing candidates. And, in light of the example at the top of this post, please do not defame anyone on a website. It may seem like a good way to let off some steam, but your comments could come back to haunt you – if not legally, then personally or professionally.

If you’re a bit freaked out by this advice, that’s good, because it means you will be more vigilant. Remember: if in doubt about a piece of information, keep it to yourself.

Harvey Mackay on Job Seeking, Personal Branding and Life Lessons from Lou Holtz (Pt 2)

Anita Bruzzese — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:21:54 +0000

Harvey Mackay says his best friend outside his own family is legendary former Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz. Holtz was also the head coach at the University of Minnesota and says that when he arrived in the Twin Cities (where Mackay makes his home), the “wind chill factor was about fifty degrees below zero,” and “Harvey sold me six refrigerators.”

All jokes aside, Mackay is considered a sales and business guru who has shared his selling secrets with millions of people through his bestselling books, including his latest, “The Mackay MBA of Selling in the Real World.” He has also chronicled how job seekers can use his networking and selling strategies to find a job with “Use Your Head to Get Your Foot in the Door.”

In the second part of this interview with Anita Bruzzese, Mackay offers his advice to newbies in the business world.

AB: There seems to be growing optimism about the economy. In your opinion, how should people best position themselves in their business or their career as things start to improve?

HM: I would answer this question the same way I would for the last 25 years, no matter what was happening: You must go to school for all your life.

What I mean by this is that you would hate to have major surgery with a surgeon who graduated in 2002 and didn’t keep up on the latest technology. You must continually enhance your skills throughout your career. Go to night school to enhance your computer skills. Go to Toastmaster’s International to enhance your presentation skills. You’ve got to keep enhancing your skills.

AB: Employers are being cautious about hiring. What words of advice would you have for the job seeker who may have been looking for work for a year or more?

HM: I think there are some things these jobs seekers can do to make themselves more successful.

First, they need to really know the market and territory. Even though they’re using LinkedIn to network, 50 percent to 75 percent of jobs still come through personal contacts. So, you’ve got to really get out there and meet people in your area or industry.

Second, I would immediately volunteer. Do something you’re passionate about. The biggest problems for nonprofits are money, money and money. So go knock on doors and make sales calls for these organizations. Not only will you start to feel better about yourself because you’re out there meeting people, but you’re also building a network.

Third, there are more people willing to help you than you think. Never say no for another person. Let them be the one to say no. The dumbest question is the one you never asked. I’ve mentored over 500 people, so don’t be afraid to ask someone to help you.

Fourth, get all the advice you can from career counselors or self-help books on the mistakes other people made in trying to get a job. Learn what you should be doing.

If they (job seekers) do all those things, their probability of getting a job goes dramatically up.

AB: Can you talk about some of the challenges faced by older job seekers?

HM: I think the age group of 45 to 65 has been hardest hit. It may sound corny, but unequivocally, they have to reinvent themselves.

You cannot solve a problem unless you first admit you have one, and about a third of them won’t even admit they have a problem. They still think just because their company closed up they can stay in the same industry, go across town to a competitor and get a job. That’s not going to happen.

So what can they do? They know one skill basically. They’ve got to go back to school. They may have to get an MBA, go to a career counselor, network – do all the things we’ve been talking about.

AB: A lot of career advice surrounds the idea that you’ve got to have a personal brand and promote yourself more to others. But a lot of people don’t have the chutzpah to do this. What would you say to them?

HM: They don’t teach chutzpah in school, so you’ve got to invest in yourself. Read Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” You’ve got to promote yourself and meet other people. You can’t be successful by yourself. Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto.

AB: What lessons do you feel we can all learn – and should never forget – from the past couple of years?

HM: First, if you’ve had a job, you should be pretty damn grateful.

Second, you have to be prepared to be fired from Day 1. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

Let me give you an example: Lou Holtz was a 130-pound weakling and had no football skills when he decided to try out for the team in a small town in Ohio. He didn’t really have a chance to make the team except for one thing. He decided to learn all 11 positions. If he had learned only one position, he would have had to wait for that player to be injured. But if he knows all 11 positions, he knows the odds improve. That also helped later make him a great coach.

My point is that if you’re going to be on an employer’s payroll, then you better learn to be a Jack of all trades. Learn about all the different parts of a business.

AB: You’ve been in business for a long time. Where do you get your energy and enthusiasm from?

HM: I have no negative friends. I’ve left people behind who got negative as they got older. I’ve carefully picked my friends – those people who have done something with their lives, who are relevant, who have continued to learn, stayed optimistic and continue to make a difference. I surround myself with successful people who can’t wait to get up in the morning, just like me. I constantly read or listen to motivational books or tapes.

AB: Do you ever think you’ll retire?

HM: No, no, no! Retirement is a dirty word.

The 8 Behaviors of High-Performers

Eva Rykr — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:40:19 +0000

Some jobs come with a role description and the duties you perform do not change much from day to day. In such a position, you know exactly what is expected of you and what to do in order to do well. However, most jobs are a bit more ambiguous and the path to success a little less prescribed. Nobody is there holding your hand through the steps or handing you a cheat sheet and in many cases one doesn’t exist.

First, a quick distinction between the behaviors and the outcomes as it is related to job performance. Behaviors are what you do while outcomes are what get done. Behaviors are the only component of job performance that are within 100% of your own control. So this is where I will focus.

Outcomes, while good and necessary, differ depending on what work you do. They are the result your actions, but they are also very much influenced by factors outside of your control. For example, meeting a certain dollar amount for a sales target is an outcome. Whether you are a good salesperson or not, the market demands and product quality exert an influence on what is possible and how easy or difficult it is to achieve.

Actively seeking to become a better performer, then, involves behavior. For almost any job out there, there are eight universal categories of behavior that influence the outcome of your work:

Basic Skills

Job-specific competence – the level of technical knowledge required for the position and how well you complete tasks related to the major aspects of the job. How well you do exactly what you were hired to do. For example, writing code if you are a programmer.

General work competence – how well you do other related tasks. This is the type of work that everyone is responsible for in your organization, your work unit, or your profession. For example, customer service or proficiency in Microsoft Office.

Managing Yourself

Personal effort – demonstrating effort on a frequent, consistent, and substantive basis. This includes both effort in doing and thinking. For example, when overloaded with work, you expend extra effort rather than automatically passing it on to others. Alternatively, when confronted with a difficult problem, you proactively seek solutions before giving up and asking for help. Related: see #3 and #6 on this list.

Personal discipline – keeping a schedule and organized work day. This can range from such basics as coming to work on time and avoiding personal altercations to more advanced techniques such as respecting deadlines and managing time effectively.

Working with Others

Communication – written communication such as writing clear and concise emails; oral communication such as making a point at the weekly meeting; formal communication such as presenting the results of a survey to a board; or informal communication such as discussing a project with your boss.

Teamwork – performance that is a result of a group effort rather than simply your individual effort; activities requiring collaboration or cooperation with others. Specific behaviors could include keeping a group focused, encouraging participation, acting as a good role model, and offering assistance.

Taking Action

Management – typical management duties are setting goals to support a strategy, planning projects, organizing, delegating work, adhering to a budget, meeting deadlines, training employees, and keeping everyone informed and on the same page.

Leadership – in practice, this one can get confused with management sometimes and might be neglected if you are not naturally great in this area. Examples of leadership are striving for innovation, influencing others, motivating others, acting as a role model and serving as a coach.

Take a look at the above list and determine where you can make changes. But… if this list is at all intimidating, remember this: “only the mediocre are always at their best.”

Freed from Paperwork, Nonprofit Employees Have More Time to Do Real Work

Eric Segal — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:48:06 +0000

At Horizons for Homeless Children (HHC), job one is helping homeless children become ready for school and learn how to play, share, read, and enjoy exploring their worlds. But the nonprofit’s employees were increasingly drowning in paperwork. Now, just a few weeks after implementing the QuickBase application developed by The Data Collaborative, Inc., HHC has automated many of the tasks formerly done manually, freeing time for the more important hands-on work of educating and advocating for homeless children and their families, said Nathan Hutto, Director of Evaluation and Innovation, who spearheaded the project.

“Our center-based staff maintain case files on each family we serve; everything was on paper,” Hutto said. Intake assessments, for example, were done by hand and employees had their own categories for basic demographic information. Such a system was fine when HHC was founded in Boston in 1988, but today, it touches the lives of more than 2,200 young homeless children each week through its Playspaces in shelters across the state, and 175 children through its three Community Children’s Centers in the Greater Boston area.

After a comparative analysis of the database applications available, HHC made the strategic decision to invest in QuickBase and to engage Data Collaborative to custom-fit its application development through the Intuit QuickBase Solution Provider (QSP) program. Headquartered in Arlington, Mass., Data Collaborative has been providing QuickBase application development since the product’s inception in 1999.

“The investment metaphor is the right one,” Hutto said. For example, assistant directors at each Center used to spend eight hours per month auditing files. The personnel costs of these routine tasks on an annual basis was more than the start-up investment in QuickBase and consulting services provided by Data Collaborative combined.

“Previously in our paper-based system, we couldn’t have many reports,” Hutto said. Now with QuickBase, generating quantitative data for grant proposals or donor reports is no longer a chore, but a strategic asset for the nonprofit as it seeks to continue its primary mission of preparing homeless children for school success and exploring their worlds.

“Using QuickBase has been a game-changer for the organization,” Hutto said.

How the HHC Solution was Created

Data Collaborative Developer Josh Shortlidge started working closely with Hutto in September 2011 to understand the organization’s current — and future – needs. They could simultaneously log into the application from their respective computers (i.e. ‘shared screen’) and talk through specific design issues by phone. Shortlidge described the collaboration as follows:

“Some of the key technical requirements were tracking students and classroom attendance, as well as the ability to generate statistical models from the data. We made an interface that the non-technical center-base staff would feel comfortable using on a daily basis.

Even though the application is up and running, we’re still working together to enhance its capabilities for different user groups at HHC. Nathan is now building a lot of the new functionality himself. The challenge of the project was, and still is, invigorating, thanks to Nathan’s voracious leadership!”

Twenty HHC staff members are now trained on it, Hutto said, including more than 15 who use it daily. “There was a bit of a learning curve to get all users up to speed,” he said, “but many workers had been waiting from day one for a system like this.”

For more information on QuickBase visit our website or sign up for a 30-day free trial.

Why Haven’t You Bought Your Domain Name Yet?

Alexandra Levit — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:13:43 +0000

Somewhere, there is a major disconnect.

On Mashable, Erica Swallow recently wrote a post on creating a personal website that received over 3500 tweets. It was incredible that so many people were interested in this content and shared it with their networks.

On the other side of the spectrum, there’s the seminar of highly-driven professionals I facilitated last week. When I asked how many people had a personal website, two out of 100 raised their hands.

Everyone Needs a Website

I suppose there is a perception that if you don’t have your own business, you don’t need a website. This couldn’t be further from the truth. If you are employed anywhere and intend to be in the future, you need to have a strong online presence depicting a person who is reliable, loyal, smart, and competent, and it’s your responsibility to ensure that something great appears when a potential business contact or hiring manager types your name into Google.

Build it Simply

For this reason, it’s a no brainer to purchase your name from a web domain company like GoDaddy.com and create a visually-appealing website that expresses who you are, what you love to do, and why people should care.

Your site might include a professional biography, photo, credentials, work samples, and contact information. You don’t need to spend gobs of money on a professional web designer – simply buying a template online and typing your content into the relevant fields will do the trick. In fact, it only costs a few dollars a year to purchase a domain name and keep a small site running.

Go Beyond LinkedIn

Complete LinkedIn profiles are must-haves too, but they don’t produce the same level of impact as sending someone to yourname.com. If someone has already bought your name by the time you read this, try using a middle initial or a nickname (e.g. rickthompson.com instead of richardthompson.com) so that you can create an online home all your own.

Marci Alboher, for instance, does a great job of using a personal website to effectively brand herself. Although Marci currently works full time for Civic Ventures, a nonprofit think tank, her strong online presence complete with opinion pieces and a Twitter stream has her well-positioned for future opportunities and allows readers to get a glimpse of her personality.

There is, of course, an opportunity here to be really creative. In the Mashable article, Erica Swallow features a fantastic online presence by Hagan Blount, which is presented in the form of an infographic and includes quotes, stats, and a skills graph. Using tools like YouTube Annotations, it’s also easy to create a video component to your website that outlines your unique combination of skills and experiences in a compelling way (as PR executive Graeme Anthony does here).

Drive Visitors, Post Smart

In addition to using your site as a landing page for Google searches, you can proactively drive people to it by commenting on related websites, writing expert articles, engaging in social media channels, and placing your URL in your e-mail signature and on your business cards.

Please just make sure that you are discreet with the information you provide on your site. If you are currently employed, you don’t want to get into hot water by posting confidential company data or anything that suggests you are actively looking for a new job.

Hat tip to Kristine Jubeck, a website designer at Pearl Street Studio who turned me on to the need for this post.

Harvey Mackay on What it Takes to Win (Pt 1)

Anita Bruzzese — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:02:32 +0000

Harvey Mackay is the author of five bestselling business books, including “Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten” and “Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt,” both named to the top 15 most inspirational business books of all time by The New York Times.

Besides selling more than 10 million books worldwide, Mackay is a nationally syndicated columnist for United Features Syndicate and is a top Toastmaster’s International Speaker. He is chairman of the MackayMitchell Envelope Co., a $100 million company he founded at age 26.

Recently he spoke with me about making a business successful today, the value of relationships and how he gets people to say “yes.”

AB: You’ve written a number of successful books over the years, and there are some common themes…

HM: The theme of everything I write is: “prepare to win.” There are more than 310 million people in the U.S. and for those over age 15 or so – from the moment you wake up in the morning to the time you go to bed – you are a sales person. You’re negotiating, communicating, persuading and influencing others. If you don’t realize that, then that’s when you’re going to wind up being the one influenced or persuaded. That’s when you’re going to wind up second, or third or fourth.

AB: Another theme seems to be how to get a “no” turned into a “yes,” whether it’s getting a job or landing a new customer. What’s something you feel people don’t understand about persuading others?

HM: The best way to do it is by humanizing your selling strategy. The concept doesn’t change if you’re selling insurance or envelopes. People buy from other people because of likeability. I haven’t made a cold call in more than 40 years, and neither does anyone in my company. From 40 to 70 percent of the time, you’re not going to be talking business with a customer. So what do you talk about? You go to what I call the “invisible web” and get information. Just using Google isn’t good enough.

You find out whether the person (you want to do business with) is a Democrat or a Republican, where they play golf, how much money they give to charity and where they went to school. All of this is ethical, and legal. The information is out there.

You’ll get better and better at it. Do you know everything when you go in to talk to the person? No. But you read what’s on the walls and on the desk and gain information. You talk to the guy at the front gate and the secretaries and assistants, and you gain information about the person.

We train our people that from the moment they leave a sales call, they go to their cars and begin dictating everything they learned into their iPhones or write it down.

You do all that so you build a relationship with the person. And that’s how you start to turn the “no” into a “yes.”

AB: You’ve been in business for a long time and are a self-made millionaire. What do you think is different about starting your own business today from when you launched your company at age 26?

HM: All the skills and ingredients and traits are the same. You’ve got to have passion and knowledge and be a self-starter. You’ve got to have the No. 1 most important thing – trust – with your customers and employees. But what has changed is how we get information. The acceleration of time is beyond comprehension. It’s urgent you’re knowledgeable about the Internet and social media and technology. So while all the principles of a successful business are the same, today you’ve got to merge it with cutting-edge technology.

AB: What do you think the No. 1 reason is new businesses fail today?

HM: A lot of people would say it’s a lack of capital, but I think that’s the second reason. I think it’s the people you hire. For entrepreneurs, the single biggest decision they have to make is who they hire. In the first 25 years of my business, I hired every single person, from the truck driver to the switch board operator to the sales person. One person can make all the difference.

AB: Another theme in your books has been the importance of relationships. Can you talk about that?

HM: If you really dive into the DNA of successful people you’ll find that they all have the ability to build and nurture relationships.

My father taught me early that I should always be saying to myself when I meet another person: “What can I do to help you?” It’s about reciprocity without keeping score. The key is to expect nothing in return. You must be a giver, not a taker. If you live your life that way, you can’t wait to get up in the morning.

I’ve figure out what I want on my tombstone: “He couldn’t sleep fast enough.” I don’t want to go to sleep. I was born excited.

AB: Do you think the kinds of relationships you’re talking about can be built online through sites such as Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn?

HM: I watch my grandson text so fast, his fingers are just flying. I call it the age of thumbs and forefingers. But I sincerely believe in one-on-one relationships. I’ve made at least 10 to 15 trips of 4,000 miles each just to spend 180 seconds with someone so I could look them in the eye and tell them I’m their 911.

It’s very difficult to be “all in” with teleseminars or emails. You have to be all in. The difference between 100 percent all in and 99 percent all in is 100 percent.

I’ve never met a successful hermit.

In the next installment of this interview, Mackay will talk about building a successful career, self promotion and what lessons we must learn from a bad economy.