Marketing Yourself The Most Awesome Tip

Marketing Yourself The Most Awesome Tip Dan Schawbel wrote what might be the most significant post on his personal branding blog just a few days ago. Its titled: Branding by Association is the Single Most Powerful Idea in Personal Branding This is a very long post, so Im not going to say much here.   Just go read it.   Print it out.   Mark it up. And figure out how YOU can apply it to YOUR career. Seriously. Want to know something?   If I didnt write the book on LinkedIn, JibberJobber probably wouldnt be half as far as it is today. Is that not profound?   Im not going to attribute our current success with: My amazing programming and development team, any vision or skills that I brought to the table, any traditional marketing, or even social marketing, that weve done, any branding that I did for JibberJobber.com. Ill attribute 50%+ of my current success with my LinkedIn book. But not just any book a book that was associated with a site/brand that was going gangbusters. Read Dans post, it is brilliant.   It works (Im proof of that). Id love to hear how YOU think you can apply this post and concept to your own career. Marketing Yourself The Most Awesome Tip Dan Schawbel wrote what might be the most significant post on his personal branding blog just a few days ago. Its titled: Branding by Association is the Single Most Powerful Idea in Personal Branding This is a very long post, so Im not going to say much here.   Just go read it.   Print it out.   Mark it up. And figure out how YOU can apply it to YOUR career. Seriously. Want to know something?   If I didnt write the book on LinkedIn, JibberJobber probably wouldnt be half as far as it is today. Is that not profound?   Im not going to attribute our current success with: My amazing programming and development team, any vision or skills that I brought to the table, any traditional marketing, or even social marketing, that weve done, any branding that I did for JibberJobber.com. Ill attribute 50%+ of my current success with my LinkedIn book. But not just any book a book that was associated with a site/brand that was going gangbusters. Read Dans post, it is brilliant.   It works (Im proof of that). Id love to hear how YOU think you can apply this post and concept to your own career.

5 HR Benefits to Following Employee Fitness Trends

5 HR Benefits to Following Employee Fitness Trends Health and wellness have always been a hot topic in the workplace. Employers play a significant role in helping workers get healthy with programs perks and incentives. The goal is to create a happier, healthier workforce as well as to save on overall medical costs. Finding solutions that help employees strike a balance between work and wellness is and should be a priority for Human Resource professionals and recruitment companies. So it’s only natural that as employee fitness preferences evolve so should the benefits offered by employers. Corporate benefit and fitness discovery platform Gympass uncovered a shift in employee workout patterns. With data from over 42,000 gyms and studio partners worldwide, Gympass shares that 40% of their users workout between the hours of 9 am and 5 pm. These “lunchtime lungers” are working professionals who prefer a midday workout to the typical early morning run or post-work gym session. More interestingly, their employers are responsible for facilitating their workday workouts. The chart below illustrates a movement away from specialized workouts. Studio-focused activities like indoor bicycle classes, boxing, pilates, and yoga polled to be less frequented by working professionals. In fact, full-service gym check-ins surpass all other fitness activities combined. This news comes contrary to mainstream fitness trend reports where the International Health, Racquet, and Sportsclub Association  (IHRSA) noted specialty gyms grew 70% between 2012 and 2015. Considering Gympass’ corporate partners include major players like Unilever, American Express, and Novartis these are important insights. Workforce trends like this matter a great deal. Shifts in employee fitness patterns ought to grab the attention of other decision makers with Human Resources and recruitment companies. Staying on top of corporate fitness trends like these can offer these five benefits: Industry Leadership: Adjusting your corporate benefit offerings based on the changing needs of the workforce can distinguish a company as a leader within today’s HR landscape. Staying in touch with a workforce’s changing needs can position an executive or brand as a thought-leader in this crowded space. Competitive Edge: Timely adjustments to corporate perks can strengthen employment offers across the board, creating a competitive edge. A more robust and bespoke benefits package makes for an overall more competitive offer. Increased Efficiency: New insights as shown in Gympass’ data can be used to reduce resources spent on unpopular perks. Maybe scale back on the costly Pilates studio partnership knowing most employees just need full-service gym access. Corporate Values: Being in touch with workforce trends, and offering up to date fitness benefits speaks to company values. This reinforces a commitment to a healthy work/life environment. Active Workforce: Tailoring fitness benefits to better work alongside the busy lives of employees offers realistic fitness solutions to workers. In turn, this encourages a more active corporate culture resulting in a healthier team. An annually scheduled audit of company fitness benefits can be another helpful way of keeping with the times. About the author:  Daniel Miles Hue Lee is the Principal Founder of D. Miles Media, a creative communications consultancy. Daniel is also a freelance writer covering all things food, travel, and lifestyle.   Gympass is a discovery platform that empowers companies to engage their workforce in physical activity by providing access to the largest global network of workout facilities. Presented as a corporate benefit with a flexible monthly contract, Gympass offers unlimited access to wellness providers at a subsidy of up to 70 percent off market prices. The company is headquartered in New York City.

The Changing Face of Audience Engagement

The Changing Face of Audience Engagement When you create a blog post, or promote a product, whats your goal?  When you seek any kind of audience engagement, are you seeking more likes?  More comments?  Are you hoping for your audience to purchase something?  What is it that motivates you to do what you do? For a moment, take the perspective of the person on the other end. You receive a crazy amount of pitches every day.  They want your attention, your money, or more.  Of all those vying for your attention, which ones leave you feeling used?  Which ones leave you feeling that your feelings dont matter at all? On the other hand, which ones leave you feeling important, or understood, or valued? Contrived or Real While the messages are sometimes disguised as caring about you or your situation, most of us can tell.  Like an empty I love you from someone who doesnt, the hollow and contrived concern lacks authenticity. So what does it take to connect to and retain the loyalty and attention of our audience?  For me, a recent experience is quite telling. I was shopping for a new vehicle.  And of course, in todays internet-driven economy, a good deal of my shopping was online.  I knew what I wanted, and was willing to look well beyond my local area to find it.  What I found was a lot of indifference, cold sales people, and little if any concern for me.  In fact, after a lengthy search, Id found only one target that met all of my list of wants.  It was perfect in every way.  But it ended up a no-sale. Even in the early stages of communication, I could tell it was about zero percent about me and 100% about getting what they wanted.  Which was a sale, and getting my trade for the lowest possible price.  Theyd apparently never heard of terms like empathy, problem-solving, and an old-fashioned term called customer courtship.  I was a sale, a commission check, a mark on the sales managers board.  I dont want to name names, but it was one of the two major national resale vehicle chains.  Pssst.  I hope you guys are reading this . . .  because I wont ever be back. I ended up buying from a dealer who was the complete opposite.  Where I was made to feel valued.  The engagement was like a friendly negotiation,  not a sheep getting shorn.    So Ill be back.  And, Ill send lots of referrals their way. What Lasts and What Doesnt Last Hopefully, we all want to stay in business for a long time.  While I know there are the get-it-while-you-can types who open up shop, milk the customers, and leave as quickly as possible, its counter-productive on its face.  If you do that, you have to continually start over.  And over. Similarly, those who are only in their game to extract as much as possible are likely to find long-term success tough to maintain.  This isnt a new concept.   Abraham Lincoln said you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.  For a short time, an audience may tolerate prices that are too high, value that is questionable,  or profits that are obscene.  But in the long run, they wont.  A good example is the current flap around astronomical pharmaceutical profits. So what are some of the things that drive continued audience engagement?  What is it that the audience wants and will keep coming back for?  Besides a generous dose of authenticity and empathy, all you have to do is look inward to find the answers.  What you want, they want. In Driven To Delight, author Joseph A. Michelli sums it up in four areas: Customers Crave Simplicity They want to interact with you or your company quickly and efficiently, but also know theyre not a disposable part of your monthly business cycle.  So theres a need to stay up with todays technology, yet stay focused on the reality that youre dealing with real, feeling, human beings. Customers Like The Familiar We live in a world where theres ever-increasing demands on our time.  And it takes a lot of it to seek out and develop new ties.  So your audience wants to feel confident in knowing that youre both someone that they can trust and that youll be someone they can return to and rely on tomorrow. Customers Want Old-School Service Having had their fill of shoddy products, disappointing services, and disconnected purveyors of all manner of stuff, they want far more.  Not more of the stuff, but more of the feeling that tells them whoever deliverd it to them cares about them.  That theyre doing it not just to  peddle a thought or product, but because they give a damn. Customers Want You To Be A Star Not surprisingly, those with whom we deal are kind of like our Mom or Dad.  They want us to succeed.  They want to be able to point to us and say, yeah, thats my kid.   Imagine substituting yourself, your business, in place of kid and youll know exactly what this is about.  Its warm fuzzies, times two, from them to you.  Because you gave it to them, first. Driven To Delight Michellis book is an inspiring look at how Mercedes Benz focused on making its customer experience second to none.  If you have a notion to create nothing less than great audience engagement, its a must-read. There will likely always be the short-sighted cons and impostures among us.  But if you want a long-term relationship with people who get a smile on their face when they mention your name, youll have to get to know your audience and show them how much you care. Even more than that,  it should be obvious that the magic ingredients to great audience engagement are a universal elixir.  Its all about what all of us want.   To be heard.  To be understood.  And to be valued.  Its the same ingredient that makes for good friends, good marriages, and good leadership.  Help yourself to a good, strong dose. Images: Main    Blogging

Theres a Reason its Called the Dark Side

There’s a Reason it’s Called the Dark Side This post was inspired by this thought-provoking post by Francesca Gino for Harvard Business Review. She writes that researchers from University of Virginia and College of William and Mary  discovered that Daylight Savings Time reduced national robbery statistics by 51 percent, rape rates by 56 percent, and murder by 43 percent. The researchers estimated that since 2007 the daylight saving time resulted in over $550 million in avoided social costs of crime per year.  More daylight hours make crime more detectable, and give criminals less time to do bad things to good people. That made Harvard business professors Francesca Gino ,Chen-Bo Zhong, Vanessa K. Bohns wonder if darkness could make regular office workers act less honestly as well.   They designed an experiment in which participants did a series of math problems under time pressure. The participants were allowed to score their own work afterwards and allowed to pay themselves a cash bonus for every correct answer.   The cash was conveniently left in the room in advance for the test; participants just took their cash bonus according to what they had determined were their earnings. Image courtesy 20th Century Fox Some participants took the test in full light; others did the math in a dimly-lit room. The math results for both groups were about the same, but according to Francesca Gino, “almost 61 percent of the participants in the slightly dim room cheated while only 24 percent of those in a well-lit room did.” Taking the idea a step further, the researchers designed an honesty test in which participants were asked to divide up a small amount of money ($6) between themselves and a stranger.   Whatever money they did not offer to the stranger (in reality a researcher) was theirs to keep. One group wore clear glasses during the experiment; the other wore sunglasses which gave them the sensation of being in darkness. Gino writes of the outcome, “Participants wearing sunglasses were more selfish: the amount of money they gave was 14 percent less than the amount shared by those wearing clear glasses. In addition, they reported feeling more anonymous during the study.” What does this mean? For one thing, it explains why nefarious deals take place in dark alleys. We know that bad characters prefer dark rooms and dimly lit bars; what we didn’t know was that you â€" presumably a good character â€" would be more likely to go along if you stepped into the alley with them. (Or perhaps the bad characters knew this all along.) Gino goes on to say that anonymity is akin to darkness, and that may explain the concepts of trolling on the internet, heckling from the back of the room, and anonymous poison pen letters to the boss.   When people feel that they can’t be seen, they change their behavior, and they feel free to do and say things they would never do face to face. As a team member or manager, your best defense against ugly behavior is to drag it into the sunlight. Don’t allow people to drag you around the corner to hear a piece of ugly gossip.   Stand your ground in the well-lit hallway and ask them to speak up. If you’re on a business trip with a group you don’t know well, avoid dimly lit cocktail lounges and opt for a bright outdoor café. It can’t hurt, and it might help.   As U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”

How to Ask for a Telecommute Arrangement - CareerMetis.com

How to Ask for a Telecommute Arrangement Source- Pexels.comThis is not your grandfather’s work environment. For the large contingent of Americans who now work in the technology industry â€" and even many other disciplines â€" technology has made the world a significantly smaller place.Need to meet with someone halfway across the world?No problem, fire up Skype and trade your documents using Google Drive. That’s a simple example, and you’re probably aware of the vast selection of tools that make remote work possible â€" but what about the logistics of it?evalMany managers are still hung up on the idea of people working without coming to the office. So how can you open the conversation and achieve your desired results?Explain the Why and the WIIFMIf your manager is relatively open-minded, they should at least be willing to hear you out if you request a meeting to discuss the topic of working remote. Don’t spoil this opportunity. The key to getting what you want ispresenting a reasonable motive for your requestto work from home.Perhaps you live far from work and want to recoup some of the time you would typically spend commuting. Or you have a family and need to be able to look out for the kids a few days a week.It’s best to begin by requesting only one or two days of remote time â€" this lets your employer see that you take the privilege seriously, and they can get comfortable with your productivity while you’re working remotely.Speaking of productivity, one thing you should share is thatproductivity often increases when you work from home. This fact is particularly true in roles where you can dig into a specific project and need to avoid distraction to be efficient.In an office environment, you might be working in a cubicle, entertaining chatter from your peers. When you’re at home, you can cash in on that extra time spent not commuting and enjoy a distraction-free workspace. Investing in an organized, professional-grade home office setup might help sell this idea to your manager.Have a P lanAvoiding the stigma of “shirking from home” should be top-of-mind for you when you present your argument. So again, it’s critical that you have some structure to your proposal, and that should include a proposed schedule for when you will work from home and how you will maintain communication with your co-workers when doing so.evalOur suggestion to begin by asking for a single day is intended tomitigate most manager’s biggest fearregarding remote work. They’re afraid that employees will fall out of touch with their team when they’re not in the office. It’s a legitimate concern, and to make your case, you’re going to have to demonstrate that you won’t fall victim to this pesky syndrome.A good way to do this in a professional setting is by preparing a written proposal. In it, you can include your planned remote days, your strategy for staying in touch and a set of criteria that you will be evaluated in a set span of time.You’re basically putting the act of worki ng remote into an HR-friendly document that adheres to the same set of rules a standard evaluation would.Understand the CompetitionPart of the reason your manager should be willing to hear you out is that they’re responsible for creating a work environment you can thrive in. If you can demonstrate that you’re responsible enough to get the job done from home â€" or even increase productivity by doing so â€" then to refuse you could result in an unhappy employee.evalOf course, it helps to go into this conversation with some rapport. It might be a more tenuous situation for you if you’ve just started the job.Typically, we recommend requesting a discussion to work remote at a time when your performance is good, and the company is on solid ground. It might not be so well-received when earnings are in the toilette or there’s just been a corporate merger.Even so, you can be compelled bygiving examples of how competitors use telecommuting. A good managerial staff will read into this as you expressing that “I could go somewhere else and get this perk.” And since you intend to uphold your end of the deal, it’s really more of a business arrangement than a perk.Losing people is the last thing managers want. It costs money to train you, and it’s difficult to find the right people to fit into the existing company culture.To be clear, you should not come into the office and say “I’m going to go work for [insert company here] because they’ll let me telecommute.” Instead, give an example of how your competitor uses telecommuting technology to be successful. If you can find a case study or testimonial to share, even better.Review Policy and Make Good on Your PromisesAt this point, your manager will have to decide whether they want to allow the remote time or not. If you do get the opportunity, be sure to express that you understand it’s a privilege.Set up regular communication with the office to let them know how your time is being spent. If you decide you want to push for more time, this strategy will work in your favor.Also, keep in mind that telecommuting is fairly common these days, and many companies have policies that dictate when and how much telecommuting an employee can do. If the limit is two days a week, you had better have a very compelling reason to exceed that.Telecommuting is becoming more and more commonplace, and that’s an advantage if you’re preparing to breach the topic with your manager. The more it becomes accepted, the simpler your conversation with the boss will be.evalStill, you need to demonstrate that you’ve got your ducks in a row before you just throw the idea out there. If you don’t, it will only have people asking questions about the motivation behind your request. Make a plan, and present it in a compelling way. You’ll probably face little resistance if you do.

How to Get Better Results at the Things You Struggle With

How to Get Better Results at the Things You Struggle With Is there an area of your life where it’s a struggle to get the results you want? Maybe you struggle with attention to detail, accepting feedback, or handling office politics. Perhaps it’s about influencing clients, overreacting to setbacks or holding people accountable. When you work hard on something and still don’t get great results, it’s natural to feel frustrated, avoid the activity or even stop trying. But often, you can’t. And approaching these situations with frustration and dread just makes your results worse. What I’ve discovered is there can be a simpler way to make the changes needed to get the results you want. And it doesn’t require making a 180-degree change in who you are. A Simpler Way to Get Better Results When you can’t get out of the activity or task, it’s time to get into it by taking the things you do well and applying the principles to the things you’re struggling with. It’s what I call “flipping the switch”. When you walk into a room and flip the light switch up, the lights go on. It’s simple, instant and not much effort is involved. All you need is to make the connection between the electrical current and the light bulb. The same kind of instant change can happen when you find the key that connects something you do well with something else that you’d like to do well. It just takes three steps. 1. Identify your area of struggle First, identify where you’re struggling and want to get better results. Some clues to look for are times when you get frustrated or feel blocked by people or things outside your control. You might even have written off these situations as something you’re not able to change. For my husband, it’s the admin side of managing his basketball team, like making sure the schedule is set and the transportation lined up. For me, it was honoring my relationships with my family while I was at work. 2. Identify your area of excellence Next, get in touch with a situation where you’re at your best. An area of excellence where you’re “in the zone”, getting results and things feel easeful. Chances are you’ll also be giving off positive energy and creating an environment where people around you feel good too. Notice the level of focus, attention and care you’re applying in that situation. How do you feel and how do you make others feel? What’s the impact you’re having on the situation and the people around you? For my husband, it’s when he’s working with his basketball players. That’s his “happy place” and he’s completely focused on them â€" their moods, their needs and what it will take to get a positive result from the interaction, game or practice session. The same goes for me when I’m with my clients. Even with the toughest clients, we end up getting positive results and even having fun. 3. Form the connection Having identified your areas of struggle and excellence, it’s then about creating a conscious connection or bridge between the two. How could you apply the principles that work for you in the area where you’re getting excellent results to the one where you need to improve? How could you apply the principles that work for you in the area where you’re getting excellent results to the one where you need to improve? For my husband, it was taking the same energy, attention and focus he uses with his players and applying it to the people who help on the administrative side. And indeed, once he put the administrators into the same mental category as his players, he was able to have much better conversations that led to better results without it feeling like hard work. In my case, I never took personal calls at work unless it was an emergency. My clients came first in the office, so how dare I allow distractions from fulfilling my duty. Even my department head couldn’t persuade me to change my habits and “take those calls from your husband!” Until one day, my husband got fed up with being a second-class citizen and asked for client status. That’s when the lightbulb finally went on for me. If husband = client, then it would be easy for me to take his calls at the office. In fact, I would have to take his calls. That’s the day I “flipped the switch”, and I’ve taken my husband’s calls at the office ever since. Start Getting Better Results So when you’re struggling with some aspect of your work or life, take a moment to pause and think about your areas of excellence. Look for the parallels and connections to your area of struggle. When you’re struggling with some aspect of your work or life, think about your areas of excellence and look for the parallels and connections to your area of struggle. Then identify the bridge or connection that would allow you to simply “flip the switch” and get better results. This will turn your struggling into better outcomes for yourself and everyone around you. What could you transport from one area of your life to get better results in another? Leave a comment and let me know.

How To Use A Professional Resume Writing Service

How To Use A Professional Resume Writing ServiceIt is very important to follow a perfect writing style while submitting your Albuquerque resume. You have to be sure that the content is well laid out and concise. If the resume is incomplete, the applicant may have an issue with an interview.There are some unique advantages of using a professional resume writing service. By opting for this, you can get yourself approved and also have an edge over the rest of the applicants. You can also ensure that you will get hired. You should consider hiring a professional because they can provide you with effective resume writing.They are in a position to help you get it right and they can ensure that your writing is perfect. It is important to hire an Albuquerque resume writing service because they can guide you on how to write a good resume. They can also give you tips on how to improve your resume to make it stand out. In other words, you will be able to impress them by giving a short but powerf ul resume.There are many people who apply for different jobs and have many different resumes. This is quite an advantage for them because they can use different resumes for different jobs. However, this can pose a problem for your professional. So it is best to choose a professional to do the job.If you do not have any experience in dealing with the Albuquerque resume writing process, it is important to get one who has done it many times before. It is important to ensure that your application meets the requirements for the job. This can be as simple as providing the required information or as complex as proofing your communication skills.The best thing about using a professional in the Albuquerque resume writing process is that they can help you customize your resume for each job application. This means that they can make your resume for each job situation. Some employers will want a professional to handle the entire process and leave it to them. However, they will want a profession al to help them with their decisions.Many professionals hire people to help them with their jobs because they know that they can provide a better service than they can themselves. The company usually employs the services of individuals who have experience with job applications. This way, they can make sure that they will be meeting all the requirements for the job.Another thing that you can do is to contract a professional to write your resume. Many professionals who work for these companies to take out advertisements in local newspapers and also use search engines to advertise their services. The professionals will contact employers in order to get people to see their ads and to get a job.