Working Your Passion

As an entrepreneur, I actually thought I would have more time to myself by working for myself. OK- there you have it- the largest misconception I personally had while going into business for myself. I ‘work’ all the time. Yes, frequently even in the middle of the night when needed. There is a lot of strategy, input, resources, creativity, detail, and follow up that goes into making my business ‘happen’. It needs to be done the ‘right’ way. And it takes alot of time.

Sometimes, I get tired, but not usually. Why is this?

It’s is very simple; I am passionate about what I do, which fuels me. It keeps me raring to go constantly. This shows in my personal brand statement:

I am passionate about revealing the professional uniqueness and strengths of others; I coach and inspire them to find renewed energy and interest and strive for creative successes without boundaries.

None of us is driven if not for passion or necessity… how can YOU make your career goals something you are passionate about? Know yourself and your audience. Here’s a simple equation:

Know yourself (what do I do better than anyone?) + Know your audience (what problems do they need solved?)

For the first part, ask yourself: What are 3 things people say about me? The first words that come to your mind will go a long way toward cultivating the very foundation of your personal brand and truly reflects your authentic self.

For the second part: what issues or pain points does your target audience have that your strengths can solve?

The answers to the above will form your Unique Proposition of Value (UPV).

Within your current role or even in transition, know yourself and be yourself.

As Anne Morrow Lindbergh said, “The most exhausting thing you can be is inauthentic.”

Let’s recap:

Become empowered by discovering who you are and whose problems YOU can help solve.

Understanding yourself through personal branding and being authentic will energize and fulfill you to do things better and greater than you ever dreamed possible…

Isn’t it worth a try?

Kelly Welch from YES Career Services is a veteran HR professional, Certified Personal Branding Strategist, Professional Resume Writer, and Leadership and Career Management Coach. Resourceful and creative, she is reputed for her dynamic insights and passionate commitment toward helping her clients rebrand and position themselves for career success.

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Top 5 Social Media Platforms for Career Management

How Social Media has Changed the Job Search

I created this video (click hyperlink “How Social Media has Changed the Job Search” to view) originally to demonstrate some pretty fascinating statistics about the power of social media in a job search. However, this information is equally relevant to career management. One of the strategies for establishing your personal brand online includes building profiles on professional platforms. Naturally, if you are working within a company, you will want to adhere to the company’s social media policies.

Top 5 Social Media Platforms for Career Management

How is building and participating on social media platforms helpful in career management? Networking and showing your expertise/thought leadership! Laurie Smith stated in her article, “Using Social Media as a Career Management Tool,” there are five main tools that are especially effective for business owners, executives, and professionals looking to manage their career. They include:

  1. Facebook
  2. YouTube
  3. LinkedIn
  4. Blogging
  5. Twitter

Key Ingredient BEFORE Building an Online Presence

Remember, unlocking and leveraging your personal brand is the critical step prior to building online results. Why? Simply, you want to establish your expertise in the area(s) that best match your long-range goals.

Interestingly, Kelly Global Workforce Index™ reported on Nov. 11, 2010 that Americans say personal “branding” is key to employment opportunities. The traits individuals identified as most important in this article include:

* Verbal Communication Skills
* Technical Knowledge
* Resumes
* Written Communications
* Personal Attire
* Use of Social Media

During the next several articles, I will take you through steps to establish yourself and build your presence on these five platforms, giving you resources along the way. We’ll start with LinkedIn and look at building a stellar profile, importance of keywords (and a little known tip for a keyword-rich profile), must-have apps for your profile, building your network, and many more.

This article first appeared on Classroom to Cubicle and is cross-posted at Career Design Coach.

Kristen Jacoway is the founder of Career Design Coach, providing professional speaking, training, and one-on-one consultation focused on next-generation career marketing services. She wrote the book, “I’m in a Job Search-Now What???” and the book has frequently ranked in the Top 100 in its’ category on Amazon.

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How to Achieve Your Big Picture Vision for Your Life

Joel Osteen once said the reason your rear-view mirror is smaller than your windshield is because what is past cannot be changed and is small in comparison to what lies ahead. The big picture, aka your vision, is a large piece of the personal branding process. What legacy do you want to leave and what are the goals for achieving that vision?

How to Determine Your Career Values

First, define your values and determine your values. Are they:

  • A must
  • Something you can tolerate, or
  • Something you will NOT tolerate

A free tool to help you to determine your career values can be taken at myPlan.com.

How Goals Can Help You Achieve Career Success

As William Arruda, CEO and Founder of Reach Communications, states in the video, “Turn Your Goals Into Gold,” you want to establish short-, mid-, and long-term goals. If you have just launched your career as a Marketing Assistant, but your long-term goal is to be the Chief Marketing Officer for a Fortune 500 company, what are the in-between steps you will have to achieve to reach this goal?

Defining your vision will ultimately help you to establish this long-term goal. Again, what is the footprint you want to leave? Where can you work or what can you do to support this vision?

5 Steps to Writing Dynamic Goals

Most experts agree that your goals need to be S.M.A.R.T. -  Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timeframe Specific. For example, when I wrote the book, “I’m in a Job Search-Now What???” (part of my ultimate vision in educating people about today’s job search techniques and how online identity plays a pivotal role), I followed the S.M.A.R.T. principles:

  1. Specific: It was specific because I knew the title and the ideas I wanted to include.
  2. Measurable: The book was measurable because I broke down how many words I would write per day (my contract called for a certain number of words).
  3. Attainable: The book was attainable because I have many blog posts, reference files, email answers, and years of experience as a career counselor. Also, I secured the publisher’s contract prior to writing the book.
  4. Relevant: The book’s topic was relevant in the face of today’s job market conditions.
  5. Time-frame Specific: My goal was time-frame specific because I imposed a due date to submit the first draft.

Key Ingredient for Ultimate Success

What’s the one key ingredient to achieving your vision and your goals? Find an accountability partner – a friend, a colleague, a family member, or a coach with whom you can do routine checks and will hold you accountable to the short, mid, and long-term goals you have established. Setting and writing goals is one critical piece in reaching your vision, but if you never take action, you will never reach your goals.

This article first appeared on Classroom to Cubicle and is cross-posted at Career Design Coach

Kristen Jacoway is the founder of Career Design Coach, providing professional speaking, training, and one-on-one consultation focused on next-generation career marketing services. She wrote the book, “I’m in a Job Search-Now What???” and the book has frequently ranked in the Top 100 in its’ category on Amazon.

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Expat Careers & Businesses: Storytelling about Your Brand Online and Offline

For today’s post I’ve interviewed friend, colleague and fellow personal branding strategist Bernadette Martin about her new book Storytelling about Your Brand Online & Offline. The book explains how storytelling can help executives, entrepreneurs and professionals to message and strengthen their personal brand.

I had the honor of penning a chapter in the book entitled, “How to Internationalize your Bio”.

I want to thank Bernadette for taking the time to answer a few questions regarding storytelling and personal branding.

• So Bernadette, how do you define the word “story” and why are stories so powerful?

I believe a story is an expression of real and imagined experiences, crafted and woven by the storyteller in a sensory fashion. This can play out in an oral, written, visual or tactical context in a book, movie, poem, song or dance. Stories can be expressed online through vehicles like YouTube, FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Second Life and more.

Stories capture and hold our attention. They are an extremely powerful form of communication because stories combine facts, figures and details with emotions, colors and imagery, creating synapses between the left and right halves of your brain. Stories not only allow us to process information and store it effectively in memory, but also, perhaps most importantly, allow us connect emotionally with another person.

• What makes a “good” story?

A story can meet the above criteria and definition and still not be a good story. Ideally, a story would have a stimulating beginning, an engaging middle, and a decisive yet compelling ending that leaves the listener wanting to hear more. A powerful and memorable story would trigger the senses and evoke emotion, creating a connection between the narrator and the listener. But it is in how the story is told and unfolds that makes it memorable.

A way to make your personal story powerful is through the use of GEMS, meaning captivating memorable “touch points” sprinkled throughout your bio or narratives that delight the listener. These can be quotes, analogies, humor, childhood memories, references to heroes, mentors, favorite authors, musicians and idols. GEMS are a way to strengthen your story’s message.

• How does storytelling factor into to the personal branding process?

Personal branding is the process of identifying, clarifying and communicating what is unique about the “Brand Called You”.  Telling an effective, clear and “on brand” story is an important element of the personal branding process. Stories can make your personal brand come alive by allowing you to express your key attributes, values, passions, talents, emotional intelligence, leadership skills and accomplishments in a relevant and compelling way. One of the most important ways this is done in through your bio. Building and crafting a body of stories, both written and oral, is key to success.

• How should expats be using storytelling to support our career goals?

As professionals we are constantly telling stories to our stakeholders such as clients, partners, staff, media, the public and recruiters. This can be in interview situations, at staff meetings, dinner parties, social functions, networking events, presentations, sales meetings, even around the water cooler. For individuals in career transition, recruiters in particular are begging for good stories. The interview offers an ideal opportunity to tell some good stories and of course it usually starts with the most frequently asked question “Tell me about yourself”.  You want to be able to showcase your story and provide a dynamic and engaging 3D picture of your experience and potential.

• What is 2.0 or digital storytelling?

It is no longer around the fire, huddled after a day of bison hunting, that we tell our stories.  Now we can choose from countless affordable, sophisticated, and easy-to-use platforms to get our story out to the virtual world.

Digital storytelling is sharing one’s story through the multiple media of digital imagery, text, voice, sound music, and animation. Web 2.0 and technological innovations are changing the way we interact, connect and communicate. There are so many ways to connect with our target and build a relationship across media. Some of these powerful communication tools include FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and blogs.

• What is one critical thing every expat should know when using storytelling to express their brand?

I suggest finding and selecting with intention and a strategy the channels of storytelling media that you can relate to and more important, relate to your target. Storytelling is a key development skill and executives and professionals throughout organizations and across all industries. We all need to become adroit storytellers and expert at using the right tools for getting those stories to their target audience in a compelling way.

For those expats who want to learn more about storytelling to build your brand can read Bernadette’s book, Storytelling about Your Brand Online & Offline.


Megan Fitzgerald, Expat Career and Personal Branding CoachMegan Fitzgerald, Expat Career and Personal Branding Coach, helps expats use their personal brand to build careers and businesses to support their life abroad. Named a top 50 personal branding consultant, she’s been featured in Fortune, CNNMoney.com and WSJ Online. She writes about expat career success at: www.careerbychoiceblog.com.

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Expat Careers & Businesses: How To Stand Out in the Global Marketplace – Part 2 of 5

This post is the second in a series discussing how expat professionals and entrepreneurs can stand out in the global marketplace. Before reading this article, I invite you to read Expat Careers & Businesses: How to Stand Out in the Global Marketplace – Part 1.

The second strategy for standing out in the global marketplace is through media or industry recognition.


MEDIA OR INDUSTRY RECOGNITION

Given the global war for talent and trends like telecommuting and working via VOIP and videochat, you are competing in the global marketplace even if you are looking for a job or business locally. With such a phenomenal increase in competition, how can one be found and stand out?

Pursuing industry or media recognition is a very effective way to differentiate yourself from your competition. Consider the ratio of people in any given industry to those who have been recognized by industry leaders or the media and it would be hard to argue otherwise.

Not only will it increase your visibility and help you stand out, but it also helps build trust in your thought leadership in your area of expertise. This trust is critical when competing amongst other well qualified professionals or businesses.

Why?  Because people hire experts. People featured in the media or industry publications are seen as experts. They are seen as people you can trust to know what they are talking about. No credible media or industry source is going to quote or feature someone without demonstrated authority on their subject matter expertise.

Recognition by the media and my peers has most definitely helped my career and business grow. A four page article about my business in Fortune Magazine and CNNMoney.com featuring me and my business in a video couple of years ago still brings in inquiries about my services. That recognition for my career and business success abroad has led to me being a sought out source for information related to expat careers from many media sources including the Wall Street Journal online and many career and expat publications on and offline. I’ve since contributed to articles, books and further recognized by my industry peers for my work in personal branding, expat careers and social media. Sometimes it takes just one industry or media endorsement to attract the attention of others.

HOW TO GET NOTICED

Doing stellar work is of course one way to be recognized by recognized authorities in your industry or the media. But with the amount of stellar work out there sometimes that’s just not enough.

First and foremost you must have a clearly articulated, compelling and differentiating personal brand so that both industry and the media can “hear” you as a unique voice amongst the noise of the masses both on and offline.

That unique voice will most likely prompt people to take notice when you take a definitive stand on a issue aligned with your brand and of real interest to your target market or audience in your target country.

It was my taking a stand about personal branding being THE way to find true professional satisfaction and success abroad back in 2006 when very few people were talking about it that helped me stand out. It was also my focus on the critical nature of your online reputation and networking to your career success overseas over the last five years that has further distinguished me from my peers. (A HUGE hat tip to William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson for opening my eyes to the power of personal branding and your online identity – both pioneers in personal branding and online identity. They both continue to stay on the cutting edge in the career space.)

Even with a powerful message, why would people listen and take me seriously? It was my client successes that provided evidence to support my words. Words not backed up by anything to prove them true will make you anything but trusted media source.

ITS NOT JUST WHAT YOU SAY ITS HOW YOU SAY IT

You’ll want to make sure your differentiated, unique perspective on a particular topic will resonate with industry authorities or the media that your target audience listens to, watches or reads. The chances of them featuring you if they don’t agree with the tone, style and essence of your message – or if the timing is not right – is significantly reduced. For this reason you need to evaluate each of these factors when taking strategic steps to share your thought leadership such as submitting articles to particular media sources or publications that your target audience or market reads.

BECOME THE MEDIA OR AN INDUSTRY AUTHORITY

With so many forms of social media (in particular blogging) providing platforms from which people can reach and influence millions of people, getting increased visibility does not have to be dependent on media or industry sources. It is now possible for YOU to become an industry resource or authority yourself.

For example, my colleague Jason Alba (and former expat) became a thought leader and an online “hub” in the career space by blogging everyday for a year. He shared about his own challenges as a job seeker and the tools that he developed to try and help him manage that process. The wealth of knowledge he shared, his authentic and engaging style and his regular engagement with his readers made him a credible, real, and respected voice amongst thousands of blogs in the career space. He then leveraged his technology experience and his own learning from the job search and blogging to build an incredibly powerful service called Jibberjobber. To say it helps jobs seekers manage their career and network effectively would not do it justice. There is nothing else comparable in the marketplace and I invite every career professional to visit Jibberjobber see what it can do for you.

Jason’s thought leadership in job search and networking naturally led him to becoming an expert on how other online tools can be of help to job seekers – namely Linkedin and Facebook. He has written two excellent books to help guide job seekers and careerists - I’m on Linkedin – Now What? and I’m on Facebook – Now What? (co-authored with Facebook expert Jesse Stay). Both of these publications further enhanced his status as an expert. Now he is in high demand as a speaker for events around the world as well as a media source for leveraging Linkedin in the job search.

Gary Vaynerchuk (also an expat from Belarus) is also someone who has leveraged social media to make himself a household name worldwide (and his business millions of US dollars). In 2006 he launched a daily video blog about wine. His very unique and unorthodox way of looking at wine garnered so much attention that it would be impossible to list all of the media credits here. With Wine Library TV garnering 90,000 daily viewers, Gary’s daily “converations” with his customers have made him an indisputable authority in the wine space. A New York Times bestselling author, highly sought after speaker and business consultant, Gary is an inspiring example of how to become an industry authority. When Gary talks, people not only listen, they are inspired to take action in whatever he is guiding them to do. To learn to do what Gary did, read his book: Crush It! Why Now is The Time to Cash in on Your Passion.

Granted the time and work to become an trusted authority is not for everyone, but it is another option for those keen to stand out and get noticed in the global marketplace.

EXPAT CAREER AND BUSINESS SUCCESS TIP:  First, be sure to read Expat Careers & Businesses: How to Stand Out in the Global Marketplace – Part 1. Then ask yourself:

  • Do I have a compelling and differentiating personal brand which will help my voice be heard amongst the masses?
  • Am I taking a stand for something that the right media or industry authorities will consider timely, relevant and engaging to the target audience or market you have in common?
  • Am I missing out or being proactive enough about being recognized for my expertise in the media or my industry?
  • Are there media channels on or offline to whom I could be a resource?
  • Does the idea of becoming an online industry hub by blogging about my expertise excite me?

Based on your answers, identify and take specific action to increase your chances of standing out from the competition through media or industry recognition.

Stay tuned for parts 3, 4 and 5!

Megan Fitzgerald Expat Career and Personal Branding CoachMegan Fitzgerald, Expat Career and Personal Branding Coach, helps expats use their personal brand to build careers and businesses to support their life abroad. Named a top 50 personal branding consultant, she’s been featured in Fortune, CNNMoney.com and WSJ Online. She writes about expat career success at: www.careerbychoiceblog.com.

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Expat Careers & Businesses: How to Stand Out in the Global Marketplace – Part 1 of 5

The easiest and most satisfying path to professional or business success is using your unique value to meet the needs of your target employers or market. This is the reason why personal branding is at the core of my work.

Personal branding is not about constructing an image that will appeal those you want to hire you. It’s about unearthing and communicating the unique combination of qualities, abilities and strengths that make you exceptional. The value that this combination can create will help you naturally stand out from them competition and attract those who need what you offer most.

Much of our unique value comes from our natural abilities, qualities and strengths. These things can be potentially be enhanced or strengthened but they cannot be changed. These unique gifts are the essence of how we can offer something that no one else in the world can offer in quite the way we offer it.

However there are pieces of our unique value proposition that can be developed and even transformed with the right amount of time, energy and strategy.  This post is a first of five posts which will discuss these things that can be developed or significantly changed to maximize the power of our personal brand and help us stand out in the global marketplace.

The first of these five areas is education and training.

EDUCATION and TRAINING

Employers and prospective clients usually expect a certain level of education, training, specific degrees or even country specific credentials when considering whether someone is a viable candidate for a job or to provide a service. One way to insure you are considered for a job or business opportunity is to understand what those expectations are and pursue getting the desired education, training or credential.

But once those baseline credentials have been secured, you are probably just like 95% of the other candidates or service providers being considered as far as educational or training backgrounds are concerned.

One way to stand out in this arena is to identify what additional education or training would not only enhance your ability to do a job or provide a service but help you to stand out from your competition.

As as an example: When I decided I wanted to be an expat career coach, I had degrees in International Relations and Multimedia Communications. I had over 10 years of experience in professional and business development, working people on 5 continents. I was confident in my abilities to help people with their careers and business worldwide. But I realized if I wanted to optimize my performance and promote myself as such a coach I could not do so credibly without getting training and filling in the holes that might exist in my skill set. Now I have certifications in Career Coaching, Executive Coaching, Personal Branding, Online Identity Management and career assessments. My education and training not only equips me to best serve my expat professional and expat entrepreneur clients, but it helps differentiates me from my competition.

Of course experience is very important. Some of my greatest learning has been in developing training for Romanian advertising executives soon after the fall of the Iron Curtain, Tanzanian cheese makers operating with minimal resources or technology trainers running computer centers in Ethiopia. But experience not mapped to comprehensive frameworks and proven approaches will not likely translate into the most effective and efficient collection of strategies and delivery of value that would optimize a person’s chances for success.

TRAINING BUILDS TRUST

In addition to helping you stand out, professional training and certification also has the added benefit of building trust with your target audience. When an employer or potential client sees that you have been trained and tested by a reputable industry organization, they can be assured that you have the skills and knowledge to deliver what you say you will.

CHOOSE WISELY

It is very important for the expat to choose their training and certifications wisely. Degrees, certifications and training are not universally accepted. This can create real challenges when your professional life has in large part been possible due to certain training and/or credentials and the country where you want to move does not accept those credentials. Doctors, lawyers and healthcare professionals are obvious examples of credential driven careers. But you’d be surprised at the requirements in some countries to do things like teach or even drive a taxicab. Without doing the research to insure that your investment in learning and/or credentials will be valued in your target country(ies), you could very well be spending a lot of time and money that ultimately will not further your goals of building a fulfilling professional life abroad.

ITS A LIFELONG JOURNEY

But because the need for different skill sets can change so rapidly today’s fast-paced marketplace, it’s not just about getting the education, training or relevant professional certifications. It’s also about keeping your skills and knowledge up-to-date and relevant. Those who commit themselves to lifelong learning will keep their competitive edge. This means having a learning plan in place that keeps you growing and evolving so you not only stand out from your competition, but due to the value you bring to any situation will naturally be seen as the candidate or provider of choice.

EXPAT CAREER AND BUSINESS SUCCESS TIP: Whether you are an expat professional or entrepreneur, it is critical in today’s competitive global marketplace that you take whatever steps you can to maximize the power of your personal brand to stand out from the competition. Ask yourself:

  • Is there education, training or credentials I can pursue that will enhance my ability to create value that my competitors may not have?
  • Is that education, training or credential accepted and valued in my current expat home or target country?
  • Do I have a learning plan in place to keep my skills, knowledge and expertise up to date so I am ready to be responsive to ever-changing employer or market needs? Or to move to another country?

Based on your answers, identify and take specific actions to take to leverage training and education to help you stand out and get noticed by those who need what you offer.

Stay tuned for parts 2, 3, 4 and 5!

Megan Fitzgerald, Expat Career and Personal Branding Coach, helps expats use their personal brand to build careers and businesses to support their life abroad. Named a top 50 personal branding consultant, she’s been featured in Fortune, CNNMoney.com and WSJ Online. She writes about expat career success at: www.careerbychoiceblog.com.

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Reach Branding Launches Career Bailout for Financial Industry Employees

Today, Reach announced the Career Bailout Program
for employees of the failed banks and financial services firms. The
$700B taxpayer financed bailout will do a lot to shore up the financial
industry, but will do little to help the average worker who – through
no fault of his own – has found himself without a job.

We hear a lot about the multi-million dollar payouts to CEOs of
failed financial services firms, but little about the employees who are
caught in the turmoil and have lost (or will lose) their jobs.

There will be a lot of resumes of competent professionals flooding
the market from Lehman Bros, Bear Sterns, Washington Mutual (WaMu) and
Wachovia employees – making it much more challenging to find the ideal
job.

Personal Branding is a way to discover and project clear
differentiation and value. It will help these new job seekers
out-compete in a very crowded employment market, and Reach Personal
Branding Strategists are here to help.

Reach and our Reach Preferred Personal Branding Strategists got
together to offer a free ‘career package’ to employees of these failed
financial institutions. Included in the package are a resume review,
360°Reach personal brand assessment and an Online ID evaluation.

This will help job-seekers jump-start their job search, focus on the
positive and develop valuable and differentiated positioning in this
incredibly competitive space. With a lot of banking industry resumes on
the street touting similar credentials and experience, the key to
success is to stand out and offer differentiated value. This is an
opportunity for employees to re-think their careers and their
candidature, understand their personal brand and develop a strategy for
finding their next role.

Target individuals for this program include anyone whose last
employer was  Bear Sterns, Wachovia, WaMu or Lehman Bros and who lost
his/her job as a result of the recent failure. The program will expand
should other institutions meet the same fate. Individuals who qualify
will be able to select a personal branding coach who will provide the
services included in this career bailout package free of charge. These
services are limited, and will be provided on a first-come,
first-served basis.

Reach Preferred Personal Branding Strategists who are participating
in the Career Bailout include Walter Akana, Kim Batson, Nancy Branton,
Michael Colemyn, Rob Cuesta, Deb Dib, Kirsten Dixson, Susan Guarneri,
Steve Lanza, Kristen Jacoway, Bernadette Martin, Wendy Terwelp, and
Erin Yoshimura.

You can find out more about the program at www.reachcc.com/careerbailout

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