Marketing lessons from the streets

By Don McNay


“When I introduce you, I’m gonna say, ‘This is a friend of mine.’

That means you’re a connected guy.”

— “Lefty” (Al Pacino) in the movie Donnie Brasco

 

I learned some wonderful marketing tips from mobsters.

I grew up in northern Kentucky. My father was a professional gambler, and the Newport and Covington areas were heavily influenced, or controlled, by the Mafia.

My dad said about his bookmaking operations, “We can’t advertise on television or put a sign in the window. We can’t sue if someone doesn’t pay us. All we can do is hope that honorable people refer us to other honorable people.”

It must have been a good system. Without advertising, he never seemed to lack for customers.

I live in a more refined world of high finance and well-educated financial consultants. Many of my competitors are affiliated with huge corporations with million dollar marketing budgets.

As a small business, I have a marketing weapon that is impossible for a large corporation to compete with.  

The friend-of-the-friend referral.  

When I am meeting someone for the first time, I try to find if we have a common friend or connection. If you go through the six degrees of separation, most people will connect before you get two degrees away.

Instead of just saying my name, I mention our common relationship.


Read the rest of the Richmond Register article for complete article and more advice



Don McNay, CLU, ChFC, MSFS, CSSC is the bestselling author of the book, Wealth Without Wall Street; McNay, who lives in Richmond, Ky., is an award-winning financial columnist and Huffington Post contributor. You can learn more about him at www.donmcnay.com .

He is the Chairman of the Board for the McNay Settlement Group (www.mcnay.com) which provides structured settlement consulting for injury victims, lottery winners, and the families of special needs children.

McNay founded Kentucky Guardianship Administrators LLC, which assists attorneys in as conservators and setting up guardianships. It is nationally recognized as an administrator of Qualified Settlement (468b) funds.

5 Tools For Managing Your Personal Brand Online

BY AMBER MAC

Beyonce and Jay-Z recently filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to protect daughter Blue Ivy Carter's name--a probable first step to establishing the newborn's personal (and likely profitable) brand. While the move may seem a bit premature, web users of all ages are similarly trying to navigate social media sites to get seen, heard, and hopefully, trusted.

Even if you work within a large organization and don't have celebrity parents, it's a good idea to start thinking about your personal brand today. Not only will the resulting larger network help you keep your options open on the work front, participating across social media sites can help you to stay informed about your area of expertise so you don't fall behind.  

Yes, it's all about expertise. If you've been successful on the personal branding front, chances are that you've established yourself as an expert. Whether you blog about real estate, tweet about stocks, or pin about jewelry, social media makes it easy for anyone to shape herself or himself online.  

Aside from creating compelling content, a personal branding regimen should also include an active plan to achieve your daily goals. Consider short intervals during your regular routine when you can manage your various online accounts. That might mean jumping on social sites every couple of hours for 15 minutes at a time, or maybe more depending on how important a strong digital persona ties into your professional success.  

Once you've put aside the time to engage, there are a few key tools beyond the obvious services such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter that you should use to maintain a healthy digital presence. Here are five to help you get started and to stay on track.

1.  Namecheck - This free tool is invaluable to personal branding newbies and experts alike. With one click, enter your desired (or current) username into the search box and discover where that name is registered across multiple social media sites. The service automatically sifts through 12 of the top services to see if the name is taken or available. It's a good idea to register your name on sites that you don't plan to use, just in case those platforms soar into popularity in the months to come and you want to protect your identity in those respective places.

2.  Squarespace - This out-of-the box tool has been available for some time, but it still tops the list of easy-to-use services for a hosted website (in other words, no technical skills required). Whether you want to blog, include social media widgets (such as a Twitter feed), or show off image galleries, Squarespace is a cinch to set up. Moreover, the mobile apps versions of this tool for both iOS and Android work great. If you currently blog on WordPress or one of the more popular engines, it's simple to import all your content into Squarespace. For a personal site, it's just $12 a month--not too shabby considering you can use any of their beautiful templates and be up and running in minutes.

Tools - 3 -5 and Complete Fast Company Article

Standing Out in a Job Search

By Careerealism


Sometimes, there is nothing wrong with defining who you are based on NOT being someone else.
Let me explain.

When I was in high school, I didn’t really stand out. Despite how hard I tried. Grew my hair long, dyed it green. Whatever it was I tried, it didn’t really work. I was still the quiet, unremarkable kid in the back of the class.

Then, one day the loud speaker announced, “Will Joshua Waldron please come to the principle’s office immediately.”


I turned bright red. The whole class started to chuckle, “this quiet kid got into trouble?”
“But wait”, I futilely tried to explain, “She said ‘Waldron’, I’m Waldman!”
“Never mind that, go to the principals office.”


And so I got my first badge of honor. Which I didn’t really deserve. So I thought.
But I kept explaining it wasn’t me. There was indeed a Joshua Waldron who got himself into quite a bit of trouble on a weekly basis, and it was NOT me.

Looking back, it was that one silly mix-up and then my defining myself as “not-Waldron” that turned things around for me.

I Am Not this, I Am That
I believe this same principle can be applied in almost any situation based on a principle found in a book called, “Made to Stick."

It describes the idea of a Meme, an idea-object that is easily grasped by others. The example of, “a pomelo is like a large grapefruit” can be better understood than a lengthy description of the exotic fruit.

By relating to something that others already know about, you can define yourself.

In high school, Waldron was notorious. By defining myself as not-Waldron, I became memorable to many people who I ordinarily wouldn’t have known.

Who Are You NOT  - More advice and complete article

Top 40 Career Experts on Twitter

by Adrian Granzella Larssen


Love Twitter? So do we. And what we love even more is connecting with others out there who help us bring the best career advice to young professional women like you.

So we’ve scoured the Twitterverse to bring you a list of experts who do just that. They range from big names you’re sure to recognize to lesser-followed, up-and-coming tweeters. But what they all have in common is a knack for tweeting interesting, relevant advice on getting the job, succeeding at work, and having a fulfilling career. Check out our 40 favorites!

Best All-Around

@Alevit
Alexandra Levit, named a best online career expert by Money, “helps people find meaningful work and succeed once they get there.” Tweets include tips like what to do with summer interns and how to communicate across generations.

@careerwomaninc
This “international consulting company dedicated to the advancement of women” tweets issues, trends, and topics to help women achieve both professional and personal goals.

@ExcelleNews
Monster’s “social networking community for career-minded women” tweets super- relevant tips like how to spot a toxic boss at the interview and how to minimize distractions at work.

@littlepinkbook
Tweets by the site that pledges to be “your path to a beautiful career and a beautiful life” cover not just work, but money, life, and style topics, too.

@nicegirlsbook
The co-author of Nice Girls Just Don’t Get It gives sharp advice to help women stop being too nice and start being more successful.

@PYPro (of course)
Our Twitter stream will keep you in the loop on our “smart content for smart women.” Plus, join in our chats at #GenYJobs for answers on your biggest job-related questions (our next topic: résumé tips & tricks).

@RulesforWork
Look for the Rosie the Riveter icon for “humorous, tell-it-like-it-is advice” from Kelly Love Johnson, author of Skirt Rules for the Workplace: An Irreverent Guide to Advancing Your Career.


@The_Grindstone
Fresh, funny, work-related content for professional women, from the serious issues (“Attention Women: the Media World Needs You”) to the lighthearted and cheeky (“Casual Fridays: Stripper Heels Are Meant For Strippers”).

@WomensAlly
Founder Diahann Boock takes seriously Madeline Albright’s warning, “there is a special place in hell for women that don’t help other women.” So she’s created a “dedicated place for women’s career advice” with great tips for workplace success.

@workawesome
Targeted at “people who want to be awesome at work,” this site’s tweets keep you informed on its own killer content (“How to Create Happy Employees” and “Workaholics Anonymous” are recent faves).

More Twitter Users and Complete Article

How I Did It: Dan Schawbel on Becoming a Personal Branding Expert

By Scott Gerber

The founder of Millennial Branding talks about establishing his position as the personal branding guru for Gen-Y.


Dan Schawbel, the Managing Partner of Millennial Branding LLC, is a world renowned personal branding expert. He is the international bestselling author of Me 2.0, and the publisher of the Personal Branding Blog. He talks about how he created his own personal brand.


When I graduated college in 2006, I had to struggle to get a job at a Fortune 200 technology company, despite having eight internships, seven on-campus leadership positions, and a management roll at a small website design company under my belt. While in college, I learned how to sell myself through interviews along with using a website, business cards and a professional portfolio. But I was an introvert, intimidated by the idea of attending networking events and asking for jobs. As a result of my fear, my job search process was eight months long. After meeting 15 people and getting rejected for two positions, I finally landed a job in product marketing.

After a year of full-time employment, I read Tom Peter’s famous article in Fast Company called “The Brand Called You.” I realized immediately that Tom’s words reflected my own understanding and appreciation of the topic. I began searching online to see if there were any websites and experts who were already competing in the personal branding space and realized that no one my age was talking about it.

My friends were complaining about how tough the job market was and that there were no resources to guide them through the process successfully. It became my mission to help young individuals embrace their own brand identity so they could have a more fulfilling career. And since I was only 23 at the time, I could relate to what they were going through.

I took my passion for personal branding online, and started PersonalBrandingBlog.com, where I shared career and branding advice for students and young professionals. My age was my biggest challenge at first, and I was criticized for not having enough life experiences to draw from. So I started new projects that would reinforce my expertise. Within six months, I was publishing more than 10 posts per week, filming videos for Personal Branding TV, and writing articles for blogs and magazines. I also launched Personal Branding Magazine, which included an interview between Donald Trump and Guy Kawasaki, among other articles. For my efforts, my work was profiled in Fast Company, which positioned me as an expert in the field. The execs at my day job found the article and I was recruited internally to co-create the first “Social Media Specialist” position at the company.

Read more: http://moneyland.time.com/2011/06/15/how-i-did-it-dan-schawbel-on-becoming-a-personal-branding-expert/#ixzz1PRzvnPBO

 

Five Common Reasons Resumes Get Discarded

Posted by Meghan M. Biro


Who can forget Elle Woods, cheerfully handing her resume to her law professor’s assistant. “It’s pink,” he says. “And scented. I think it gives it a little something extra,” she bubbles in reply.
But wait – maybe not so much.

In the annals of resume mistakes, ‘cute’ is near the top of the list. Let’s look beyond cute at five more common reasons resumes are discarded – often before they’ve even been read.


Spelling, grammar, punctuation
Tales of resumes with spelling errors are legion among hiring managers – from the pathetically funny ‘Pubic Relations Expert’ to the sadly amusing ‘Manger’ where Manager was intended. Spell check is adequate but not sufficient – use a real dictionary if you’re unsure how something is spelled, have a friend read the resume  to you back to front to proofread for errors, have a parent read it, or, best option, retain a professional resume writer or coach for final review, edit and proof. Your resume is your proxy with prospective employers. Make sure to present your best face.


Objective statements
Once a resume standby, have fallen out of use. Stating your objectives on a resume is a triple-fail – it focuses the resume on what you want, rather than how your skills match the job description; it steals precious space for information that should be in the cover letter; and, except in cases where your job record may not match the requirements of the post you’re applying for, it doesn’t tell the recruiter anything they don’t already know. It may be ok to use an objective statement when you’re trying to position your experience in one field as applicable to a new opportunity in a different field, but even that’s a stretch.  Avoid the objective statement to avoid the wastebasket.



Overly formatted
Cursive fonts, multiple fonts, elaborate paragraphing, excessive use of bullets, gratuitous boxes and margin rules, graphics and images – especially photographs – stop many recruiters before they’ve read word one. Communicate clearly why you’re the right candidate by including useful information about your skills and experience, and using formatting sparingly. Formatting your resume in such a way that it’s hard to read – or cute – is a mistake.


Too much information - More Information and Complete Glassdoor article



Meghan M. Biro, founder of TalentCulture, is a serial entrepreneur and globally recognized career expert in talent acquisition, creative personal and corporate branding.

Warning: This video will make you hate your job more than you already do

By Stephen Chapman


It’s another Monday morning and you’re tired, your weekend was too short, and you probably uttered something close to the following last night: “I can’t believe I have to go back to that hell hole tomorrow.” Don’t you wish you could tell your boss how much the workplace sucks, even if you’re doing something you’re passionate about?

Back in the day, an employee telling their employer that they were unhappy in the workplace would have most likely afforded said employee nothing more than an “oh, I’m sorry; let’s go cry about it, shall we?” These days, it’s fairly well-understood that happier employees are more productive employees, but a vast majority of large corporations have a long way to go in the department of employee happiness.

With that in mind, companies like Google are paving the way to a model work environment with unheard of perks and niceties; thus, making themselves easily one of the most attractive companies to work for. To see what I mean — and to give you a reason to hate your employer about 100-times more than you already do — check out the video below to see just how much Google provides for their employees:

Check out the Video and the rest of the story