Oct 20, 2008 | blog
How have you positioned yourself? Have you been building your brand? How are you prepared to take advantage of opportunities in a down economy?
While you listen to the gloom and doom of the mainstream media, naysayers, and general pessimists, remember that only you have control of your career. Just like leaving your financial future in someone else’s hands, doing so with your career is a recipe for disappointment or worse.
Perhaps your position at your company is secure, and you don’t have to worry much. Perhaps it’s anything but secure. Either way, the realities of today dictate that one takes a more proactive approach to staying relevant to your industry, and maintaining visibility in your market.
The great part is that both these things are quite easily accessible to everyone. All you have to do is take the initiative and begin. Sure true training courses by “certified†learning facilities cost real dollars and take up real business hours. However there are other alternatives – search them out on the web. You may already be doing this on a daily basis online or through RSS feeds.
The bigger part, though, is to be making sure to gain visibility in your market. To do that, you’ll need to explore the avenues of “web 2.0†and social media. The tools are plentiful, easy to use, and low to no cost. Most of the ones that give you the most value are going to be the no-cost options, with only your time as an investment.
The time investment is creating and maintaining your presence. It could be one site or network, or it could me many. The more involved you are in sharing information and ideas, the more likely you’ll be to gain both mindshare and authority within your market and industry.
The important thing about working towards this goal, is to make yourself more marketable, more appealing to potential employers and clients. So it’s important that you give examples of your expertise as much as possible. Don’t worry about giving away shared knowledge, every industry has a shared knowledge pool at every level of experience. You need to demonstrate that base knowledge and build upon it. Showing what makes you stand out in the process.
The demand for quality, well-rounded, experienced people never diminishes. The more polished your skills are, and the more people know about them, the more valuable & desirable you become to any organization. And you need to have those qualities visible to the public to take advantage of that next opportunity.
Oct 20, 2008 | happiness
Starting the week as one starts anything; from the beginning.
Oct 8, 2008 | happiness
Early into the office gives one more time to prepare for the inevitable.
Oct 1, 2008 | happiness
Wanting to help people escape the cube farm.
Sep 29, 2008 | blog
You know the place, the one we all crab about, the one we all supposedly hate to go to every morning? Yeah, the place where the coffee sucks, your desk is too small, and where traffic is always a pain to get through. It’s the office – the one your employer has graciously equipped and staffed for your working pleasure.
I know exactly what many of you are thinking. We all seem to dread heading to work in the morning, knowing that there is a "pile of work" ready and waiting. It seems we associate the negatives of the work we do with the place our employers house there workers and rarely associate the positives of the office itself.
What if you could separate those feelings? What about all the work and preparation that goes into that workplace? The costs involved for employers to provide a workplace for each employee are substantial, and the goal is ultimately make it as easy as possible for you to get your assigned tasks done. Most of the time it works, though our perception is usually clouded by co-workers, outside influences, business climate, workload, and many others.
Many folks talk about working remotely, or from home. It seems that lately we’ve become so enamored with this idea that it’s like the end-all solution to our working woes. As if, just getting out of the office will make all the difference by itself.
This simply isn’t the case. You can change the scenery, but that doesn’t always solve the issue. There are great things about working from home, or being able to set up at a coffee shop for the afternoon. Getting away from drive-bys and the daily routine are highly effective ways to GTD when you need to.
Just don’t forget that on a regular basis, those remote locations, or the home office also have their distractions. Whether it be sick kids home from school, household chores that seem important during the day, or just the noise and music at your favorite coffee shop – they are distractions too. Start taking a look at your employer’s office as a space designed specifically for getting things done. The resources available far outstrip what you can set up at home, or find as a secondary workplace.
From people resources to copiers, take a fresh look and try to separate out the workplace from the work itself. You may be able to discover unused offices or conference rooms to skip off to for an hour. Or find that color printer that does 11×17 landscape that you need for your presentation – you don’t always need to go to Kinkos! Your company is paying for resources to enable you to do your job, finding out what’s available and using the existing space more effectively could make a bit of difference in your productivity and perspective. Give it a try and share your tips if you have them.
