You know what they say: “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.” If you’ve been coveting the greener grass of a career change, be sure to stop and reflect before you plan a major shift. While transitioning careers sometimes makes sense, many people mistakenly believe a career change will solve all of their problems. Even successful career changers may be surprised to find that they encounter the same (or worse) problems in their new careers. Before you start to explore what’s on the other side of the fence, consider the following reasons not to change careers. [Read more…] about Planning a career change? Answer these questions first
Write and speak like a professional
Everyone you meet will form opinions based on what you say and write. That’s why I’m so excited to announce my new book, Write & Speak Like a Professional: Success in 20 Minutes a Day.
Strong written and spoken communication skills are crucial to opening doors. Millennial Branding’s research showed soft skills topped the list of “must have†skills that employers want, with 98 percent of employers saying communication skills are essential. It’s up to you to make the most of every opportunity to prove you’re capable and confident.
It’s no secret first impressions matter – that’s been the case since the beginning of time. What’s new, in our increasingly fast-paced, digitally connected world, is how a simple stroke of a keyboard, or an email gone awry, can quickly damage a professional reputation. On the other hand, a stream of consistent, well-written social media updates can just as easily raise your profile and impress people you’ve never met who may positively influence your career.
As a job search coach and social media strategist experienced at helping job seekers and business owners market themselves online and in person, it’s clear the most successful professionals try to improve their communication skills at every opportunity. Whether your focus is networking, job search, or excelling at work, it’s more important now than ever to know how to present yourself in person and in writing in this hyper-competitive work environment.
Write & Speak Like a Professional: Success in 20 Minutes a Day provides instructions and exercises to improve your communication abilities and offers insights and ideas to help refine your skills in every aspect of your job or career. It includes instruction on everything from networking to resume writing and interviewing.
Learn how to:
- Network professionally — online and in person
- Create cover letters and resumes that get you noticed
- Approach job interviews with confidence and poise
- Use social media appropriately and effectively
- Introduce yourself decisively and make a great first impression
- Write emails people will read
- Much, much more!
Communication skills are just as important in the workplace as they are when looking for a job, so you’ll also find details about how to impress people at work and how to write clear, concise business emails that will get the best results. With attention spans growing shorter, it’s never been more important to learn how to hone in on your message and eliminate non-crucial details. This book helps you recognize if you’re missing opportunities to communicate succinctly and demonstrates how to remedy any problems.
Whether you’re attending a meeting, or writing a memo, it’s up to you to put your best foot forward. This book provides the resources to help you identify any deficiencies or problems you may not have considered.
- Are you using words in your emails that call your professionalism into question?
- Does the tone or inflection of your voice make people think you aren’t confident?
- Could you be doing more via social media to expand your reach and extend your influence in your professional community?
- How are your listening skills?
- Does your body language send the message you want people to receive?
Read this book to learn how to improve your ability to make a strong first impression, and how to extend and enhance that impression so your colleagues and supervisors will listen carefully when you speak and appreciate what you write.
Click here to download a free chapter from the book : Communicate Using Social Media.
Be sure to touch base to let me know what questions you have, and feel free to share your best communication tips in the comments! Post on social media using the hashtag #WriteSpeak.
Learn about my other new book:Â Manage Your Time & Your Life: Success in 20 Minutes a Day.
How to manage your time and life
Are you overwhelmed by life’s details? Whether you’re looking for a job, or you’re fully ensconced in a career, do you feel like you’re always running to catch up, and never completely in control of your day-to-day work and home life? I wrote a new book just for you!
Manage Your Time & Your Life: Success in 20 Minutes a Day provides suggestions and recommendations to help you make the most of every hour of the day. The result? You’ll have more time for everything that matters to you, and you’ll be able to successfully achieve your professional goals. No one has time to waste! That’s why this book starts out by illustrating how to network effectively and how to choose the best jobs to apply for to avoid the dreaded “resume black hole,†when employers ignore you. (After all, you never know when you’ll want to look for a new opportunity.) If you already have your dream job, you can dive directly into the slew of best practices and ideas included in the majority of the book, which is dedicated to helping manage your time for professional success.
In this book, I cover the entire gamut: from how to incorporate healthy routines (such as what to eat and how to make time to exercise) to how to set and achieve your aspirational work goals. Whether you need help organizing your office, managing distractions at work, tracking your emails or keeping a useful checklist and calendar, this book provides practical insights, exercises to get you started and information to help.
You haven’t been tracking your “wins†at work, or you don’t know what apps you should use to make the most of your time and avoid being distracted? I’ve got you covered!
Manage Your Time & Your Life: Success in 20 Minutes a Day is an all-in-one efficiency “bible,†with suggestions to help you identify key action items and take the necessary steps to accomplish your long- and short-term goals. Learn how to get a firm handle on your schedule to keep efficiently moving forward with your professional plans.
- Do you need help separating your “must do†from your “want to do†items?
- Could you use help to overcome procrastination and learn to become accountable for your plans?
- Would you appreciate advice about how to stop wasting time, effort, and energy?
This book includes techniques and ideas to help you get organized and keep on track.
For example, learn how to:
- Plan your job search — get it done in less time
- Prepare for interviews — without memorizing answers to hundreds of questions
- Make the most of your time at work
- Get organized and feel in control of your life
- Create useful lists and prioritize
- Avoid procrastination
- Much, much more!
Download an excerpt from the book: How to Avoid Procrastination.
After you read this book, you will be able to quickly review your progress, assess your strategies and make positive changes. Are you ready to put the right combination of action items in place and just get things done? Order the book today (it ships on July 7th) and get started!
Be sure to touch base to let me know what questions you have, and feel free to share your favorite productivity tips in the comments! Post on social media using the hashtag #TimeLife.
Don’t miss my other new book, Write & Speak Like a Professional: Success in 20 Minutes a Day.
Tired of job hunting? Start a business instead!
If you’re thinking about starting a business or hanging a shingle, you’ve probably considered how to improve efforts to tap into social media and to use social networks to help promote your business, product or service.
Statistics detailing social media business opportunities via social networking
The statistics are pretty compelling. GrowingSocialMedia.com featured these numbers in a recent roundup:
- According to Statistica, the number of global social media users is expected to reach 2.5 billion in 2018.
- Pew Research Center found that 90% of adults age 18 to 29 use social media. (Although, that seems low!)
- We Are Social Media found 71% of women are active on social media, compared to 62% of men.
- Perhaps most importantly for business owners: 92% of small business owners who use social media believe social media marketing is important for their business, according to Business2Community.
Neoteric UKÂ compiled more great stats in an info graphic referenced on We Are Social Media. They noted:
- The fastest growing group of new users on Twitter are between 55 and 64 years old.
- 45% of users feel “worried or uncomfortableâ€Â when email and Facebook are inaccessible.
- The +1 button (on Google+) is hit at least 5 billion times per day.
- 189 million of Facebook’s users are ‘mobile only’, thanks to smartphones
Does social media propel direct sales?
With these statistics in mind, you may think social media marketing is a great direct line for you to help sell your product or service. Post a few great insights on Facebook, and VOILA! – you’re a selling machine, right?
Not so fast.
Last week, Ad Week  reported about data from e-commerce vendor Custora analyzed between January and March, 2016. Reviewing about $100 billion in sales among 500 million shoppers, researchers identified only 1.5 percent of retailers’ last-click e-commerce transactions that came via social media. Of those, not surprisingly, Facebook dominated 81 percent of sales, while shopping-centric Pinterest generated 10.8 percent.
Why use social media marketing if it doesn’t produce direct-click sales?
Stay top-of-mind / inspire trust / leverage reviews
Why aren’t retailers dropping their Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and other accounts and desperately searching for another marketing tool to guarantee sales? They realize social media isn’t about “selling.” Instead, it’s a vehicle to help stay top-of-mind for clients and customers.
In addition, leveraging these tools helps companies inspire trust in their target audience. Especially if you are a small business or are not well known, if you have a community of social media followers who are engaged and to whom you respond frequently, potential customers may be more likely to take a chance on making a purchase from you.
Social media is a great way to help encourage happy clients and customers to leave a positive review for you, which, in a buying environment where people look for online validation that their purchase is a good idea, is very useful to drive sales.
Teach Google what you want it to know and demonstrate expertise
Another, equally important reason to leverage social media as a business owner. These tools give even the smallest business the opportunity to feed content and information directly to Google and to “teach” the search engine what they want it to know.
In addition, using social media helps business owners demonstrate expertise and leverage credibility, which is especially important for consultants and coaches, but also for people selling products based on their knowledge. For example, if you are marketing a diet product, you’ll want to prove to your audience you know something about health. Similarly, if you’re selling exercise equipment, it will help inspire confidence in buyers if they can easily see your social media stream is full of content demonstrating you are an expert in the fitness field.
Even if you’re already making money online — tap into a bigger audience
Email marketers or those who rely mostly on Facebook ads and webinars to sell products and services may think they don’t need to leverage non-paid social media to get the word out. Certainly, if you can drive people to sign up for a webinar where you can demonstrate your expertise, you’re on the road to success. However, you’ll never know how many MORE people might have taken the time for your webinar or purchased your product if you had a credibility-boosting social profile.
Expand your network and access referrals and assistance
Yet another important reason for businesses and business owners to use social media tools is that they allow you to grow your network and meet new people who may be willing to promote you or your company to their network!
- One new tool I’ve been checking out lately that fits in well with this model is called Brazzlebox. It’s a virtual community for small and home based businesses. Check out their video. Members of the community can easily network with other businesses nearby, and connect up with other businesses in the same industry. Members can post on the network, trade private messages or even give out coupons.
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I built my business using social media tools and I LOVE helping people figure out how to make the most of these resources. So, I launched a new program to help other entrepreneurs who want to stop wasting time on social media and start making money. The “Smart Business Owner’s Social Media Help Desk†is a private Facebook group where I teach entrepreneurs how to leverage social media to enhance their reputations, grow their brands, expand their businesses and make more money. Click through to learn more and access the limited-time offer bonuses!Social Media Tips for Business Owners
No matter where I go, I find myself talking to business owners about social media. Literally, I can’t shut up! They ask, “What’s with Twitter, I can’t figure it out?†Or, they say, “I don’t have time for social media. How do you do it?â€
That’s all it takes, and off I go, explaining how social media isn’t rocket science, but it’s not intuitive, either. I start ticking off all kinds of tips and tricks to help make it easier to make social media marketing work for his or her business.
For months, I’ve been asking myself, “How can I tap into my passion about social media to help more people?†And, “How can I offer overwhelming value, but keep it affordable, so even new entrepreneurs can get onboard and it’s valuable for people who have a good start, but could benefit from some easy tweaks?†I want to provide something that’s so amazing, it’s a no-brainer for every business owner. I think I’ve finally figured it out!
Most business owners need a helping hand. Think about it:
Wouldn’t it be incredible to have someone to ask the you can’t quite figure out how to upload that photo to Twitter? Or, to be able to ask an expert if your tweet looks good, or if you’re going to embarrass yourself by publishing it?
What about when you want to decide the best hashtag to use for something you post? Who can help? How about if the person there to hold your hand (virtually) just happens to be someone CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Fox Business and Forbes ask when they have questions about social media?
Learn everything from big-picture strategy to technical know how:
- Choose the best social networks to connect with your customers and clients.
- Save time while you stay top-of-mind for people who need to know about you.
- Leverage social media marketing to build relationships and increase awareness of your brand.
- Inspire trust, influence buying decisions and make more money.
- Look smarter than your competition.
- Get it all done faster so you don’t waste time!
Sound good?
Social media constantly morphs and changes. (Have you noticed how often LinkedIn changes its interface? If you’re confused, it’s not you, it’s them!) A kickstart is great, but you’re too busy doing your work to keep up with the latest and greatest on social media. You could spend weeks or months trying to unravel social media’s complexities, only to find out your favorite network just got an overhaul and it’s back to square one for you.
So, this program isn’t based on feeding you a bunch of hour-long webinars. Who really watches all those webinars, anyway? Isn’t it better to have your questions addressed directly? You need help putting your social media strategy to work every day.
Join me in a brand new group: The Smart Business Owner’s Social Media Help Desk.
You’ll have 24-hour access to ask your questions, and I’ll be there daily to help you overcome every social media issue, from the big issues (what to say in your profile) to the most mundane. (Is there really a “best time†to post?)
A bonus for members? As the group grows, in addition to my expertise and targeted advice, you’ll also have access to opinions and ideas from your fellow business owners. Members will be invited to share opinions, ideas and best practices. There’s strength in numbers, and an empowered, well-informed group of business owners is a great asset.
What do you actually get?
Whether you’re just getting started, or you’re ready to ramp it up, there will be useful information for you.
Access to a group where you can ask and get answers to all of your social media marketing questions. We’ll house everything in a private Facebook group (since that’s where you likely spend a lot of time).
- For a limited time, a free, 30-minute, one-on-one preliminary social media coaching session over the phone. (Sign up before I decide I don’t have time for these free sessions!) My initial social media consultations normally start at $300. For anyone who joins The Smart Business Owner’s Social Media Help Desk now, I’ll include it for free.
- Daily Help Desk Hints – 6 weeks of  social media pointers that you can easily implement in 15 minutes or less. Learn how to strategically and efficiently target your audience, create appealing visuals and plan your social media calendar in advance.
- I’ll regularly share actionable tips in the group you can implement to generate better results from your social media marketing.
- You’ll always be up-to-date. You’ll have the latest information when a network adds new features or makes changes that could affect your business.
- SHORT (5-8 minute) webinars with tips, tricks and trends you can apply toward your own social media marketing. Topics include “How to write great professional bios,†“How to find your customers or clients online†and “The best tools to use for social media success.â€
- Checklists to help you solidify your social media business strategy – and ongoing, up-to-date information to keep you successful moving forward.
Interested? Learn more about how to make the most of your social media marketing by joining TODAY!