Branding Yourself

Don’t Count Your Blessings

How many people do you know who “call in favors” to get something done? These are the people who keep track of the favors they do for people, and know exactly what they owe other people.

What a sad existence that must be.

To count and keep tabs on everything that people do for you, in the fear that you’ll lose out on some valuable piece of “capital.” They hoard their favors, wrapping their gollumish arms around every favor, hissing that it’s “my Preciousssss.”

The only other place you see this is animals that guard the carcasses of their prey.

But people who count their favors, and are reluctant to call them in, will eventually run out of them. And the ones who were on the receiving end of their stinginess will remember. The favor counter will go wanting and never experience true abundance.

The Power of Networking Referrals

One of the things Kyle and I talk about in Branding Yourself is a very important lesson we learned from people like Tony Scelzo, founder of Rainmakers and Hazel Walker, owner of the BNI Indiana:

You can’t keep track of the things you do for other people.

For one thing, who has the time? Hopefully you’re so busy, you don’t have the mental bandwidth to remember every little thing you do for people.

But more importantly, if you do a favor for someone and expect a similar favor in return, that’s exactly what you’ll get.

Let’s say you and a business acquaintance are out to lunch, and she forgot her purse. Naturally, you buy her lunch. Now, you can do one of two things:

1) You can ask her to return the favor or pay you back the money. It’s kind of a jerk move, but if you can’t spare the $10, then go ahead and ask. Or, you could even be a little bit patient and wait until you go to lunch again, and maybe she’ll offer to buy.

2) Nothing. That’s right. Don’t. Do. Anything. Don’t expect the money back, don’t expect her to buy your lunch next time. If she ever asks about it, wave it off and tell her you were glad to do it.

Now, you and she may think she’s morally obligated to do something for you, but she’s not. She doesn’t have to do anything for you at all. If you expect — and demand — your $10 back, you’ll get it. And that’s all you’ll get.

But if you’ll just wait, you’ll see your kindness repaid in a much grander scale.

It could be an introduction to someone important, or who has a profound impact on your life in two years. It could be an invitation to work on a project that turns into something even better later on. It could be a sales order or a request to speak to a group with a hefty speaking fee tacked onto it. Or it could be something equally cool.

Call it what you want: God, the Universe, karma, staggering coincidence, cosmic energy, the Flying Spaghetti Monster (yes, that’s a thing). Just trust that whatever you give will be revisited upon you at a greater rate.

But if you clutch and count your favors, you’re never going to get much bigger than you are right now.

Photo credit: snake3yes (Flickr, Creative Commons)

I’m not saying so, she did.

In her blog post on TheMillions.com, Shutting the Drawer: What Happens When a Book Doesn’t Sell?, she talks about the problems she’s had in getting a publisher to buy her first novel, and she’s deciding she needs to put it in a drawer and move on to her second novel. She cites a few other novelists whose breakthrough novel was actually their second.

A friend told Edan she has been selling her writing to publishers, not readers, and that she ought to give self-pubbing a try.

But, Edan says, there’s still a stigma to publishing your own writing.

Only to writers, Edan, not to readers.

Readers will read books if they like them, and if they like you. If you only sell a book on a Kindle, and you make it super easy for them to do it — say, a link that goes directly to your page on Amazon, where they can buy your book for $5.99 — then you’ll sell your book. You’ll sell as many as you put work into.

In fact, I’ve heard a couple of editors say they like working with experienced authors who have sold a lot of books on their own. It tells them that the writer understands what it takes to publish a book. They understand what it takes to market a book. And they understand all the hard work that goes into getting people to buy it.

Yes, self-publishing takes a lot of work. And while I’ve never self-published a book, I know what goes into publishing, thanks to the three books I’ve co-authored in the last three years. It’s not easy, and it’s not cheap. There are editors, copy editors, page layout artists to hire, and promotional campaigns to create.

I’ve been lucky — my publisher handled all the editing and page layout, and they’ve done some of the marketing. But I have to do my own marketing as well. And as a self-avowed do-it-yourself, thanks to my deeply-ingrained frugality, there are ways you can get a book ready for publication, suitable to be read — and bought — by any number of people.

Here are just a few ways Edan, or any other self-published author can get their own book ready for self-publication.

• Crowd source your book. Put your book up on a blog behind a private wall. Only give a few people access to the book. You can also mark your book as nofollow, which means the content won’t actually be indexed. Let those people give you feedback and recommendations.
• Barter editing work. Anyone who teaches writing has to be good enough to do some editing, whether it’s story editing or copy editing. You may not think so, but think of the work that goes into teaching. Find another creative writer who’s working on her first novel, and swap editing work. “I’ll do yours if you’ll do mine.”
• Hire a new graphic designer to come up with your book cover. Now, you have to be careful here. Don’t just hire an out-of-work HR manager who bought Adobe CreativeSuites with his severance check. Get someone who is just breaking into the graphic design business and give them a chance.
• Use Kickstarter.com. Kickstarter is a website where people, mostly artists and musicians, ask for contributions to their latest project. Trying to raise $3,000 for a new album, $1,000 for tools to create a new sculpture, or $2,500 to publish their first book. Get 250 people to kick in $20, and they’ll get a signed copy of the book when it’s done. Any books that are left over are gravy. You sell those books, put the profits in a super-secret bank account (not your general household fund), and use it to order your next round of books.
• Embrace social media and build your network of possible readers. People buy from people they like. I go to plays my friends are in. I go to art shows my friends produced. I read books my friends wrote. These may be people I’ve never met face-to-face, but they’re my online friends, and I want to support them. So find people who are likely to read your book, and become their online friend. Then, when your book comes out, your friends will want to support you, and they’ll buy the book. They’ll also tell all their friends about it on Twitter and Facebook, and those people may buy your book as well. (Use sites like Twellow to find people by searching for keywords in their bio. If you write romance novels, search for “romance novel” in the bio, and follow those people on Twitter. Chances are, they’ll follow you back.)

As ebooks become more popular, the publishing world is going to change. More and more people are going to start self-publishing and skipping the publishing world all together. But it’s only the people who find and build their own audience who are going to be any good. If you want to be noticed, or if you just want to sell enough copies of your first book so your second book is picked up by a real publisher, consider selling your books to your readers first.

Besides, when you do publish your book at a real publishing house, you’re going to have to do all your own marketing and promotion anyway. They aren’t going to do it for you, unless your last name is Grisham or King.

They make fossil-old jokes about sticking a piece of red hot metal on your hindquarters. Or they point at Gene Weingarten’s “How Branding Is Ruining Journalism” column where he takes issue with the idea of personal branding (and makes the same stale joke about cattle branding).

And now Oliver Burkman of the Guardian in the UK questions whether we really need a personal brand at all.

Yes. Yes you do.

A Brand is an Emotional Response To Your Face

In our book, Branding Yourself (affiliate link), Kyle and I define a “brand” as “an emotional response to the image or name of a particular company, product, or person.”

A brand is more than just a logo and a tagline. It’s the emotions you feel when you see McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Manchester United, the Chicago Cubs, or BP Oil. Love ‘em, hate ‘em, that is the brand.

Side Note: This is all based on the idea that a company’s brand is no longer what they say it is, it’s what the customers say it is. So if customers say your company is evil and makes little children cry, then that’s what people are going to think of you. Like it or not, your branding is out of your hands and firmly in your customers’.

So, if people like you because you always tell the truth, then your brand is “honest.” If people like you because you know a lot of cool stuff, your brand is “smart.” If people despise you because you lie to people and hit on their spouses, your brand is “jerkface.”

Companies have names, logos, and taglines that we all respond to emotionally. So, too, do people have names, faces, and descriptors (adjectives) that we all respond to emotionally. And those emotional reactions are based on our experiences with you and what we know about you.

We feel these emotions when we hear your name in conversation, or when we get an email from you, or someone asks, “Do you know Stacy?”

Or even when we see your face.

Brand is Another Word for Reputation

Okay, so maybe the phrase “personal brand” is fancy 21st century marketing talk for “reputation.” Maybe I’ve turned into one of those trendoids who make up new words to describe things that already had perfectly good words. Maybe “reputation” is the word we should be using instead.

But that ship has sailed.

Someone like Gene Weingarten can wail and fuss all he wants about how “personal branding” is ruining journalism, but the fact is, “Gene Weingarten” is a brand himself.

“Gene Weingarten” is a curmudgeonly newspaper columnist. “Gene Weingarten” has regular readers and fans, because they want to see what “Gene Weingarten” said this week. If Gene doesn’t believe in personal branding, he should stop putting his byline under his column.

Oliver Burkeman can question whether “personal branding” is a real thing, or if it’s a detriment. But he’s the “This Column Will Change Your Life” guy for the Guardian newspaper. If he doesn’t believe in personal branding, he shouldn’t include the name of his column on his résumé, and see if he can land his next job based on his impeccable spelling alone.

Your Personal Brand Is Based On Your Past Accomplishments and Actions

We judge people based on what they did, not what they’re going to do.

We trust people because they did what they said, or helped us. We distrust people because they lied to us, or backstabbed us.

We think people are good writers because we read what they have already written. We think people are good salespeople because we know how much they sold. We think people are good athletes because we watched them play.

We look at people’s past actions, label them as good or bad, smart or dumb, honest or evil, competent or incompetent. And then we expect future accomplishments based on past actions.

Your actions and your accomplishments add up to your personal brand. What you do, how you react, what you say, who you help?

If you help people without expecting anything in return, you’re generous. If you say one thing but do another, you’re a liar. That is your personal brand, your reputation. It’s what follows you around like a shadow, until you find something bigger to replace it.

So, don’t pooh-pooh the term “personal brand.” You have one, whether you like it or not. You may choose to call it something else, but whatever you call it, it’s there.

If you don’t have one, you’ll never stand out from the crowd.

Freelancers: With all the writing competition out there- magazines paying less and companies not paying more than $10 per web page- how are we supposed to make a living writing?

This is where personal networking is going to pay off. This is where you have to shake off the “but I’m not a networker” thoughts and start meeting with people for coffee and conversations.

If you want to make more money and get better paying gigs as a freelance copywriter, start copywriting for agencies.

Magazines never paid that much to begin with. When I first started freelancing about 15 years ago, the best you could hope for was $35,000 a year as a full-time freelancer. That hasn’t gotten any better. Even if the number stayed the same, the buying power of that $35K is a whooooole lot less. But the copywriters — the people who churn out “unimaginative” money-chasing copy — can make 6 figures if they land the right client. While those people are few and far between, you can at least make a lot more money than you will in the magazine market.

What happens a lot of times is that a client will hire a web designer and never give a thought to the copy. The designer will ask and ask and ask for web copy, but the client won’t provide it. Or the client will say, “we thought you were writing it,” and it never gets done. The client slaps something up and then wonders why they’re not getting any interest, or even showing up on the search engines.

This is where the freelance writer can come in and save the day. They will either be hired by the web designer to write copy (charge about $50 – $75 per 350 word page), or they will be hired by the client.

Your best bet is to be hired by the web designer, because if they like you, they’ll constantly have work for you. The client is a one-off project. They may ask about you again, but chances are it’s the designers who are going to have the most work for you.

However, the web designers aren’t going to know you exist if you don’t meet them. I don’t mean connect with them on LinkedIn and Twitter. I mean sit down with them at a coffee shop, shake their hand, trade stories about bad clients, and discuss the ways you can help each other (because presumably you are also referring people to them whenever you can).

By networking, you set yourself up as the go-to writer whenever anyone needs copy. If you can do this, you can stop chasing down the magazines and their increasingly smaller rates.

1. Frank Coletta, CEO at Mobile Advanced Care in Brazil, uses LinkedIn to research professionals before meeting with them. He finds that he uncovers important insights that he would have otherwise not known.

2. James Filbird in China gets 75% of his business from LinkedIn. He has found that the quality of information, people and tools available on LinkedIn surpass all other social networking sites in terms of business. He is the owner of JMF International Trade Group in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.

3. Evan stumbled upon his dream job on LinkedIn. For fun he did a random search for “Advertising Sales Director”. A position at TravelZoo was advertised and  applying, interviewing and receiving the job, Evan was able to get back into an industry he loves mainly due to his LinkedIn profile.

4.After reading about an interesting company in a magazine, Liz Manning searched LinkedIn and found one of the company’s founders and sent him an InMail. At the time the company had no openings. About two months later, Liz saw an ad on Craigslist for an opening and the LinkedIn toolbar indicated that she was a 2nd degree link to the co-founder. She sent the con-founder another InMail, mentioning their common connection and within a day she had an interview and landed the job.

5. Steve Weinstein is the Manager of Marketing Communications at Cooper Power Systems. He landed this job because a recruiter from his current employer found him on LinkedIn. Steve interviewed and got the job due to LinkedIn. You never know who’s looking at your profile.

6. Chuck had recently relocated his family to North Carolina from California. In order to reach out to marketing professionals in his area he started using LinkedIn. He made a connection with the chief executive of iContact, an e-mail software company where Chuck is currently the corporate communications director.

7.Linked Group makes a difference for children in Bangalore, South India. An employee from Ernst & Young had visited a poverty stricken school in Bangalore and decided she wanted to do something to help. A LinkedIn group was created to foster a discussion on how to help. One member suggested creating a “Wish List” on Amazon. Members of the LinkedIn group then proceeded to buy books for the children.

8. David T. Stevens lost his job at a radio station and instead of wallowing he immediately went to LinkedIn. He changed his status to “I’m up for grabs, who wants me?” Awfully bold but it grabbed the attention of his connections. He was referred to the Chamber of Commerce Mountain View and within a week he had the job of chambers events and programs manager. His bio on LinkedIn also shows that he is a LinkedIn approved trainer so he not only offers a success story but you can learn upon visiting his profile.

9. Irish Software start up company Goshido used only LinkedIn to raise 230,000 dollars in eight days. They sent out 700 messages to potential investors, and garnered over 200 responses in a week. As found on LinkedIn Success Stories Frank Hannigan, Chairman for Goshido said, “Attracting investment is all about trust, LinkedIn is the largest collection of trust agents on the planet. We reduced the cost and time involved in fundraising 75% by using LinkedIn as our funding vehicle.” Did I mention it was all done on LinkedIn?

10. LinkedIn Polls help members gather information. Of course. Are they worth it? Yes. LinkedIn member, Linda Chell Rooney used to Polls application to gather ideas for a tele-seminar series on issues pertaining to home construction and real estate. In less than a month, she received 100 responses and was able to promote her seminars gaining nearly 60 participants.

11. Buddy Media

Jeff Ragovin, VP of Sales and Business Development at Buddy Media, uses LinkedIn to reach out to clients. He has found success with quality not quantity. Although his company net worth is in the millions, he uses LinkedIn to find the right people to offer company proposals to. He would request invitations based on common connections to ensure a personal connection versus a simple cold call.

12. Hans Notenboom

Hans Notenboom, Phillips’ Global Director of Online, uses LinkedIn as a platform to engage with their audience in the healthcare sector in innovative new ways. They use LinkedIn to bring thousands of conversations surrounding healthcare onto one platform.  There are over five million healthcare professionals on Linkedin from all over the world can share insights and experiences in an environment where Phillips’ can facilitate without being obtrusive. This way the information stays focused and delivers to the desired audience. They wanted to create an environment on LinkedIn that would be useful for members. They are still in their early stages but have seen a great level of engagement. They created an  “Innovations in Health” LinkedIn group, to move engagement off the website. Although it’s still early they have seen a great level of engagement among the group’s 11,000 plus members.

13. Mike Mcsharry

He is the Managing Director at Systems and Education Ltd and he found his best man on LinkedIn. He had lost touch with the best man in his wedding over 25 years ago. When planning a twenty-fifth anniversary for his wife he decided to join LinkedIn to aid in a web search. A few days after joining the network a mutual friend re-connected the two on LinkedIn.

14.Marc Rousseau

Marc Rouseau, Web Communications and Social Media Consultant is located in Cambodia, where LinkedIn and other social networks are M.I.A. He’s using LinkedIn to created introductory training courses for entrepreneurs and businesses. They have brought them closer to realizing that social media creates more opportunities for international business. In addition, he teaches them how LinkedIn is pivotal in expanding networking opportunities. He also uses apps like ‘Box’ and blog integration, to share information and/or campaigns.

15. Ricky Potts

Ricky Potts is a busy man. He is an owner of Open Book Design, Content Specialist IMAVEx and is the special coordinator and staff writer at IndyConcerts.com. He has found success using LinkedIn by networking. He also tracks the book he has read and still wants to read. LinkedIn allows him to show his blog and put his entire “online” resume on one platform. With over 300 hundred connections Ricky has found success while using LinkedIn.

16. The Weather Channel

The Weather Channel recently closed a deal to acquire sites Lakerentals.com and Coastrentals.com. How?

They were contacted by the people behind Lake Rentals and Coast Rentals via Inmail on LinkedIn. The opportunity was made aware by having the profile visible on LinkedIn. The tag-line “LinkedIn makes professional connections visible” rings true. It makes companies visible thus creating unforeseen opportunities.

17.Daniel Tunkelang

Daniel Tunkelang, Chief Scientist at Endeca found success on LinkedIn with the search feature. He helped organize and call people who had a strong interest in the topics for the event. After conducting a search on LinkedIn he chose 100 people to send a personalized connection request. He found more than 50% of those people accepted the connection. In addition, he found that some of these connections submitted papers to the workshop, one volunteered to review the book he had been working on and others expressed their thankfulness in finding a connection based on their targeted interests.

18. Schawk!

Schawk is a company with thousands of employees located in Des Plaines, IL. It found success by using LinkedIn Recruiter to fill a variety of positions. Schawk decided to use LinkedIn to create a stronger online presence and built a Schawk Career Page. The page is used in conjunction with their LinkedIn group. It has helped build a talent pool so when an opening occurs they have qualified talent lined up.  The combination of LinkedIn Recruiter, our Career Page and LinkedIn Group had a significant impact on their hiring efforts. They’ve saved $200K on searches, which were all done in a time-efficient way.

19.Stan Relihan

Stan interviewed on Cameron Reilly’s ‘G’Day World’ show on Podcast Network, on the subject of ‘Using LinkedIn as a Business Tool’. During the interview he was given a challenge: use the LinkedIn Netwrok  to find the most impressive Celebrity Guest to appear on his show. As a result, he found Vint Cerf, (co-inventor of the Internet & Chief Internet Evangelist at Google) to appear as a guest. Due to making connections and others willingness to introduce connection Stan now has his own weekly Podcast show. Without LinkedIn, none of this would have happened.

20.Ismael Ghalimi

Ismael has an interesting story on how he found success on LinkedIn. He was getting married with guest flying in from all around the world. Since he frequently used United he recommended his guests do the same. Unfortunately, the flight the guests needed had been over-booked. United had sent a piece of mail notifying them that their flight reservation had been moved. However, this change would make his guests miss the connecting flight and therefore miss the wedding. Instead of getting angry he went to LinkedIn. He typed in “United” in the search field, narrowed down the search to locate the general manager for United Air Lines France (where his guests were visiting from). He used an Introduction through a connection and got in touch with the manger to explain the situation in a cordial email exchange. What came from this email conversation was all reservations being moved back to the direct flight, offered free return tickets to Paris, a personal email to inform Ismael that the flight had a 15 minute delay and had Champagne waiting for the guests upon arrival. LinkedIn can do more than find you a job, it connects you to right people at the right time.

There have been plenty of conferences I have attended that shout from the rooftops about being successful like Donald Trump and building a better future. They talk about the world as if it were a malleable piece of clay. There has also been conference I have attended surrounding the idea of building a better story in your life and who wouldn’t want to attend a conference about bettering your life! I’m not talking about the “live your best life now” or a smiling Tony Robbins raining his praises and neural linguistic fueled smile down upon his followers. I’m talking about a bare bones build out of how to live your life and tell an unforgettable story.

We are all living in a script filled world… do you want the best script or one that is tossed?

Every piece of marketing is a story. Everything you do is followed by a story line. There are inciting incidents in life that bring on success or failure. The same applies to marketing. Are you telling the true story of your brand?

In writing, an inciting incident is the moment a script kicks a story into motion. It occurs after the setup of the characters/plot and everything that follows should be a result of that incident. It’s where a story really begins. In movies, there is usually one inciting incident that changes the landscape of the storyline so drastically that you have to watch for the end result.The same idea applies to your life. However, you will have multiple inciting incidents (both good and bad) that will help build your story over the course of your life.

I can now pinpoint different “inciting incidents” that have formed my opinion of life. Can you think of different inciting incidences that have formed the future of the top companies in the world? I can think of a few.

Your story is the only thing that is actually yours in life. You have the ability to tell your story in any way you see it. Do you want the main character of your story to be healthy? Do you want them to be successful and live a fulfilled life? Or do you want to live a tragedy.

The same storyline applies to your business or job. Are you doing everything in your power to write a successful story for your employees? Are you building a place where people feel fulfilled? Are you creating a brand that moves people to engage, give, and buy?

There is beauty behind the concept of rewriting your story. We are all on this path towards an ending. What type of conflicts, successes, mountain and valleys are you going to take to reach the climax of your life?

Are you striving to write a better story?

I wouldn’t be surprised…. that by writing a better story for yourself…. everything else will fall into line.

Having multiple brands on a social network is like having multiple phone numbers.

And if you’re a small business owner, an employee, or even someone looking for a job, people are going to buy from people they like. Not brands, not companies, not products they like. They’re going to buy from the people.

We know a guy here in Indianapolis who has several different ventures going on, all revolving around the same type of activity/event. But since he’s trying to reach different audiences, he has different brands for each activity.

For example, if he had a car repair service (he doesn’t; we just want to protect his identity), he would have a car repair service for:

• Seniors: Anyone 55 and older who needs their car repaired.
• Singles: Anyone who is unmarried and needs their car repaired.
• New Parents: Anyone who has children under the age of 2 needs their car repaired.
• Newly Marrieds: Anyone who got married in the last 12 months needs their car repaired.

(You get the idea.)

So this guy has created a different brand for each target market he wants to reach. Seniors Car Repair, Singles Car Repair, New Parents Car Repair, Newly Married Car Repair. That’s fine. It’s a great strategy if you’re trying to game the Yellow Pages system, or create a microsite for each domain name (like SeniorsCarRepair.com).

But here’s the problem. Our serial entrepreneur then joins the different social networks as each brand. We know it’s him, because he uses his real name, so it’s not like he’s being dishonest. But the problem is he then friends everyone he can (and he has built up a HUGE email database that he imports into each new identity) as each brand.

This means if you know this guy, he friends you as SeniorsCarRepair, SinglesCarRepair, etc., on Twitter, on Facebook, on LinkedIn, on any Ning network you belong to, and on and on and OH MY GOD! And now that everyone is aware of his practice, the only time I hear his name mentioned is in regards to this practice, not the actual businesses he runs. I haven’t heard of people hiring him, only of people avoiding him.

He’s not a bad guy, he’s not trying to trick anyone. It’s just that he’s not letting his personal brand do the work, he’s letting the service offering carry the load. He doesn’t seem to understand that people would rather have a relationship with him, not with four different company names he uses.

If you had four phone numbers for one person, would you call her on different ones at random until you got her, or would you choose one phone number and use that one all the time?

If he had it to do all over again (and it’s never too late), he should create one more identity: his own. Then he should rejoin the networks, group his contacts or friends (i.e. Twitter lists, Facebook business pages), and communicate with them by sub-group. That is, he can communicate with seniors about their car repairs, with singles about their car repairs, etc.

He should work on getting known for his own name, rather than the guy who friends everyone 4 times on every network he joins. For one thing, people won’t ignore him online. For another, they’ll get to know him better, and can learn about his different ventures. For a third, he can still personally network to different groups, and tailor his niche and sales pitch to that particular group or person he’s talking to.

For example, if he’s talking to a group of seniors, he can tell them about his Seniors Car Repair. If he’s talking to a group of new parents, he can tell them about his New Parents Car Repair. He can still visit New Parents networking groups, but he won’t pester the members of the group with his other car repair services.

If you have multiple brands or multiple offerings, don’t flood people’s social media stream with every brand or niche you’re trying to fill. Let people get to know you and let them choose which brand/offering is right for them. People are smart, they’ll figure it out for themselves.

Because if you bombard them with everything you do, you’re just going to frighten or piss them off, and they’re not going to call you for anything.

Photo credit: djwudi (Flickr)

There are random times throughout my life where I have the pleasure of sitting down with Chris Baggott. Chris is co-founder of ExactTarget and now co-founder and CEO of Compendium Blogware. Our meetings always consist with some type of beverage and spirited discussion around the world of direct/internet marketing.

We were talking about the future of online marketing and where social media, email, blogging, podcasting, search and mobile fit into the discussion of personal branding. After arguing about a few things here and there we came to the conclusion that everything is about content. Now, it does matter what type of tools you use and how you use them… but that more important thing in personal branding and marketing is about creating content that moves.

Chris made the comment:

Above all, it is about taking your story and humanizing the content. It is about telling your story to improve search and the sharing of the content. Simply put… get other people to tell the story for you and build your brand.

I say it all the time… I don’t care about your clients or potential clients. I don’t care about your past job. I care about their friends. Your clients are already your friends! Leave networking, social media, and networking sites to keep them in the loop with your personal brand.

Create content and marketing strategies that encourage your friends to talk to their friends.

Because the truth of the matter is…

The only people who can truly humanize your content are the people you have already served. They are also the only people (and marketing voice) that will cause potential people to act… hire… or buy.

Scott Gerber, author of Never Get a Real Job, (affiliate link) says the same thing.

As he tells Generation Y in his Amazon author page video: “Hey Gen Y, guess what? You’re getting screwed. Over 100 million of us are unemployed or underemployed. And that whole work-hard-go-to-school-get-good-grades-and-get-a-real-job mantra that we’ve been told since kindergarten is dead. And anyone who tells you differently is lying.”

Doug Karr has been saying this for quite some time too. We’ve been told if we go to college and work hard, we’ll have secure futures. No longer. Do you know who has a secure future? Auto mechanics, heating/cooling contractors, and plumbers. Their jobs can’t be outsourced. People will always need their cars, their furnaces, and their toilets fixed.

That means the rest of us have to network. We need to meet people, get to know them, and help them get to know us.

Gerber’s new book is about Generation Y, and how they can leave their job, start a new company, and pay the bills with it. While I’m one of the older Gen Xers, I have a feeling there are plenty of lessons I can learn from this book. It’s one I’ll be buying for my Kindle tonight, and reading later on.

According to Matthew May’s review on American Express’ Open Forum:

Scott Gerber is on a “death to the resume” crusade. He’s a serial entrepreneur, internationally syndicated small business columnist, angel investor and public speaker. He is the founder and CEO of Gerber Enterprises, an entrepreneurial incubator and venture management company that invests capital, management expertise, and marketing services into innovative early and mid-stage companies. He founded The Young Entrepreneur Council, an advocacy group made up of many of the world’s top young entrepreneurs, business owners and thought leaders with a noble mission: to teach young people how to build successful businesses and fight the devastating epidemics of youth underemployment and unemployment.

Gerber sounds like my kind of guy, and I’m looking forward to his book with interest. I’ll have a review here in a week or so.

Nada.

I applied to over 600 different jobs in 12 months before landing one in Fort Wayne, 40 miles from where I lived. I found it on CareerBuilder.com, and the only reason I got it is because the company was doing a hyperlocal search, not a national one, and I was one of a few candidates who happened to find it. But if it hadn’t been for that 1 in 600 stroke of luck, I may have gone another year without finding anything.

Nearly two years ago, I ran into a similar situation. I was laid off from my job, and had no other offers on the immediate horizon.

“I’m not waiting around this time,” I told my wife. “I’m not waiting for the opportunity to come to me, I’m going out to find it.”

So I started my own company, but surprisingly (or maybe not so surprisingly), I had a job offer 6 weeks later, thanks to my networking and blogging. I ultimately became the owner of that company. Ever since then, I’ve owned my own ghost blogging and social media consulting company with my good friend, Paul Lorinczi. And while it’s been a lot harder than having a regular 8 – 5 job, I’ve enjoyed controlling my own destiny.

I only wish I had thought to do this seven years ago. I only wish I had decided not to sit on my ass, feeling sorry for myself, and submitting hundreds of resumes to companies who dehumanized the entire job search by turning it over to a piece of screening software whose sole reason for creation was to say “no” to job seekers. (Not that I’m bitter or anything.)

I know people who are still doing this. They’re still applying to jobs with hundreds of other people. They’re still pinning their hopes on a phone interview, or seeing a lack of a rejection email from a company as a good sign. (And shame on you, if you’re an employer who doesn’t see the need to send a rejection email letting those people move on. How lazy and soulless can you be?)

These people are still sitting around, moping and waiting, sulking and worrying. They spend all day filling out applications, and attending meetings and support groups for other unemployed people. (I have been to these groups — they stink of fear and desperation. They are not the place where people who are looking for jobs should be.)

If you’re looking for a job, quit looking. Quit putting in those resumes on Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com, and all those gateways that make it possible for thousands of people to dump their resumes into meat grinders that will grind you up and spit you out without ever pausing to consider you for more than a nanosecond. Quit hiding under the covers, waiting for the repo man and the boogeyman to come and find you. Rather than cowering in the corner, or sitting on the couch, lamenting your lot in life, get up and do something about it.

• Start your own company and work hard at it. You may fail, but you failed at trying something new. It beats failing to get off the couch. You won’t make much money at first, but you’ll make more money than if you just sat around feeling sorry for yourself. And you added some new skills and met some new people along the way.
• Attend business networking events, not unemployment support groups. Go to the places where people who have jobs know other people who have jobs (and job openings). People in networking groups live to help people make connections to other opportunities and people. If you are clear about what you want — “I want to meet the decision maker in a company who hires people with my skills and experience in __________” — they can search their own networks and put you in touch with those decision makers.
• Ask people for informational interviews. Pick someone who is fairly prominent and well-known in the industry you want to work in, and talk to them for an hour. Ask them who else you should talk to. And ask them if they know anyone who is hiring someone like you. That person may not be able to help you directly, but he’ll know someone you should talk to. That person may not be able to help you directly either, but she’ll know someone to talk to. Eventually you’ll meet the person who can help you.

There are a lot of other ways to find jobs using networking and social media. In fact, Kyle and I wrote an entire book about it. It’s over 300 pages long, and nowhere in any of those pages do we suggest you should watch TV and wait, hide under the covers, sulk and pout that life isn’t fair, hang out with other unemployed people, or submit hundreds of resumes to job boards. (You’re free to do any and all of those things. Just know that they all work equally as poorly.)

You need to network online and offline. You need to create your own personal brand, and associate with people who can help you. You need to actually take action, not pin your hopes on one phone call or one interview. Join Twitter and LinkedIn, and connect with people there. Go to networking meetings, and connect with people there too. Have one-on-ones with those people, and connect more deeply. Get those people to be your advocates and your agents. Have them help you find your new job.

This is your life and your future. You’re the only one who is going to make anything happen with it. So get up and actually do something useful for yourself. If you sit at home and wait, don’t be surprised when nothing happens for you.

Photo credit: ToniBirrer (Flickr)