How to get the Most from a Networking Event Building Your Future Now

How to get the Most from a Networking Event Building Your Future Now Networking is an essential part of your job search. If you are serious about getting a jobyou should be using every opportunity to network and going to networking specific events. There are many organizations that set up networking events which include your local chamber of commerce. Its also a good idea to create your own networking event if you are really ambitious! Regardless, the key to attending a networking event isnt about asking or necessarily trying to find a job (well, you dont want to make it too obvious) its about building and growing your professional network. The more people that know you especially on a personal level (and if you start to build a good relationship with them) they are more likely to take an interest in your job search. More listening, Less talking Its very easy to talk about ourselves and what were doing! The next networking event you attend try to consciously think about letting others speak. These networking events are goldmines in respect to finding and talking to people who have a wealth of life and business experience. Sometimes it might even be a great idea to ask if its ok to write down some of things they are saying. Remember to listen and make sure to follow up with the people you meet after the event. Be part of the event! Going to a networking event is good so how about thinking outside the box and asking if the organisers need some help? If they say yes, take the opportunity to learn about the event and who is coming. Be an integral part of a networking event can open more doors then you expect especially with the professionals who are setting it up. Take Notes Bring a pen and a notebook because you will get more out of the event if you write notes. Writing wont only jog your memory after the event is over, it will stimulate your mind with new ideas! It will also give people at the event the impression (and rightly so) that you are interested in what they are saying. You never know what pearls of wisdom will be shared with you at these types of events. What can you offer? Every professional you come to contact with at a networking event is a chance for you to help them. Everyone is looking for help even they arent asking for it. Be attentive and listen for opportunitiesyou will be surprised how many people you will find that need a solution to one of their problems and maybe you can use your talents and skills to help them out! Image: Chelsea Ouellet

What Are Your Writing Goals for March - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

What Are Your Writing Goals for March - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career As the second month of 2010 fades into the background, its time to evaluate the progress youve made writing your personal branding book during February and review your writing commitments for March. Months have a way of disappearing without visible progress on your book. The best way to make sure that you make consistent progress on your book is to cultivate the twin habits of: Tracking your progress at the end of each month. Creating deadlines for finishing specific tasks for the next month. List your accomplishments during the previous month on a sheet of paper, and hang it on your wall, where you glance at it and feel good about what youve accomplished. Likewise, commit your upcoming months writing goals to paper, and hang them on the wall next to your accomplishments. You can also use an online calendar program, like Googles, to track your monthly progress and commit the time to specific tasks in the upcoming month. (See 3 Ways to Find the Time to Write Your Book for details.) Seeing obvious evidence of the progress youve made during the previous month will fuel your enthusiasm and commitment to achieve your writing goals for the next month. Looking backwards to February What progress did you make on your personal branding book during February? Did you: Identify a working title for your book? Prepare a table of contents with chapter titles and the main ideas to be included in each chapter? Analyze existing books in your field so you can position your book relative to the competition? Identify potential literary agents and potential publishers who are likely to be interested in your project? Create a cash-flow projection for your book, especially if youre considering self-publishing? Evaluate your current author platform, and create a calendar for strengthening it and broadening your involvement in social media marketing? Create a marketing plan for promoting your book before and after its publication date? Research websites of authors in your field and identify how they leverage their book into back-end products, services, and paid speaking opportunities. Theres more to personal branding success than writing! Notice that none of the above crucially-important tasks directly involve writing your book. Instead, the above involve planning and research, non-writing tasks thatultimatelyare as important to your books, and your personal brands, success as is your ability to write. I emphasize the importance of non-writing tasks because my coaching clients often say, Well, I didnt get anything done on my book last month!, but then go on to describe how they have selected an appropriate title, created a table of contents, or begun a blog to augment their author platform. When looking back to your progress during the previous month, look beyond writing and recognize the other sources of progress you may not be giving yourself credit for accomplishing! Making March count As February turns into March, take the time to identify specific tasks you want to accomplish and create realistic deadlines for each completing each task. Its not enough to say, I want to begin a blog! or I want to line up some pre-publication quotes! Goals without deadlines are just wishful thinking! Instead, commit to setting up a blog and creating a blog content plan by Friday, March 19, and commit 30-45 minutes a day working towards that goal, March 15 through March 18. By simply giving yourself a deadline, and committing the necessary timebuilding your daily schedule around your commitmentyoull find that March, 2010, and the months that followcan witness unprecedented progress planning, writing, promoting, and profiting from a book that builds your personal brand and drives business and career success. Author: Roger C. Parker’s goal is to help you save time writing a book to build your brand…and he wants you to enjoy more profits than most authors do. Roger has written more than 30 books and interviewed hundreds of successfully branded nonfiction authors. He   shares what he’s learned in free weekly teleseminars announced at Published Profitable and his daily writing tips blog.

Promotions are more stressful than divorce

Promotions are more stressful than divorce Think twice before you ask for that promotion. What are you asking for, really? The average salary increase is less than 4%. This amount of money is not going to change your life in any notable way. Instead, ask for something that will change your life, like training, or a plum project that will broaden your skills. Even if the benefits of a promotion were more notable, its hard to imagine them being worth the trouble a promotion causes. Development Dimensions International (DDI), a human resources firm, reports that, When given the opportunity to rate life challenges in order of difficulty, 19 percent of all US leaders [polled] rated being promoted as the number one greatest challenge, superseding personal stressors like coping with bereavement, divorce and relocation. First of all, you have to figure that the majority of these people found getting a promotion so stressful because their stay-at-home spouse takes care of all the other stuff. Of course relocation is not stressful for an executive. He or she works in the New York office on Friday and the Seattle office on Monday, and meanwhile, the spouse is moving the kids and all the stuff. So, in fact, relocation is probably a negative on the stress scale for executives because they finally get a little relief from that nagging feeling that they should go home for dinner. But even putting those issues aside, a promotion is very stressful because you have to start excelling at a different kind of job. Matt Paese, a vice president at DDI, says that the top three reasons that promotions are so stressful are: 1. Things get more political 2. There is more ambiguity and uncertainty 3. You dont have as much personal control and you have to get things done through other people. So, look, I think we can conclude here that if you dont want to deal with office politics and delegation, then you should say no to the promotion. Robert Hogan, famous organizational psychologist thinks that you either have the personality for management or you dont. Unfortunately, he finds that, Managers are rarely promoted based on their talent for leadership. Steve Fishman wrote a nice piece about this problem in New York Magazine, titled Boss Science. In this article, Hogan describes the five traits of personality: openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, neuroticism. What makes the best leader? Openness. Open to new experiences, new ideas, new people. Hes not dogmatic. He likes diversity. Hes not a routinized taskmaster barking orders down the organizational chart. (If you want to know your own traits, take the Hogan Assessment.) It turns out that its much more important to be open than to be intelligent if you want to succeed as a leader. And conscientiousness is good for being the person who does stuff, not the person who leads. Agreeable is a good trait for a great team player, bad trait for a boss. Neuroticists are good when you need to hear about the worst-case scenarios, all the time. Dont despair if youre not all about openness, though. The Harvard Business Review reports this month (paid) that the thing that really makes your workday good is feeling like youve made progress on your goal, and having your manager acknowledge that progress. So better to have the kind of work you are good at, and get praise for it, then move into a management position that you do not have the skill set to thrive. So forget about that promotion. Dont let someone else define your career path for you and then promote you through it as if their vision for your life is your vision. Instead, figure out what work you are best suited for, and request it. This is the best path for you.

Personal Brand Web Series Content Creator - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Personal Brand Web Series Content Creator - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Super Geeked Up is following in the path of podcasts before it that have taken nerd culture and embraced it as the fun art form that it is. Ranging from the more classic high fantasy to current day comic books, this sect of entertainment is just as varied and nuanced as every other topic that one can find themselves wrapped up in. Created by Jeff Burns following his success with Super Knocked Up, the show involves two other hosts, Tonya Dodds and Nicole Wright, as the three take on guests, culture and anything geek. While a project born from the mind of Burns, Wright brings in a unique perspective. While sometimes it seems like the majority of nerds are sitting on the sidelines consuming the media made for them, Wright wasn’t content with just waiting for nerd culture to come to her. Instead, she now works on creating said content for the world she grew up in through the visual medium. Humble Origins Like many nerds of her generation, it was Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers that served as the spark of a lifelong love of all things cool. Enamored by the power of the Yellow Ranger, Wright fell in love with martial arts, though she is always the first to admit that she’s never taken a class. Even so, this love of hand-to-hand combat eventually branched out into a love of the Mortal Kombat series. From there, the next big geeky moment happened when The Matrix took the world by storm. A mix of kung-fu and stylistic storytelling that transformed cinema for a few generations, it was this movie that influenced Wright’s dream to become a modern day storyteller in the form of a filmmaker. Great Power For college, Wright headed to Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts in Orange, California. Now immersed in the genre she loved, she began producing and directing a myriad of films. Of the titles she worked on, many went on to be rather successful. The Big Toe, a fantasy horror about the repercussions of taking home a toe found on the beach, sits with a 7.6 out of stars on IMDb while the documentary she associate produced, The Philosopher Kings, a search for wisdom in America, earned a 7.2. Beyond the production and direction of these films, she’s also tried her hand at acting in more recent years, even appearing in one of her own series. With the films serving as a great start to her overall career, the biggest growth came with her producing a web series known as Progress back in 2013. This three episode mini-series was built on a now-famous analogy stated by the then-Senatory of Alaska, Ted Stevens. During his criticizing of an amendment that would have prevented further monopolization of the internet by larger corporations, such as Time Warner and Comcast, he referred to the internet as a series of tubes that can be clogged by data. The internet jumped on the clearly confused Senator’s words and the internet being a series of tubes became one of the first memes. Going off of this, Progress follows a steampunk Victorian England where internet is powered by steam through a series of tubes. Including jokes about the Victorian period’s obsession with pornography and Jack the Ripper hurting the business of the cam harlots, Wright directed the series that would go on to be nominated for a number of awards, including two IAWTV (International Academy of Web Television)  Awards. Immediately following the series’ premier, the team created a spin-off, Progress: Ask a Cam Harlot. In this series, Wright further directed the show, alongside her good friend Berna Roberts, as it followed the many misadventures of Lila DeClide and her work as a Victorian internet harlot. Unlike Progress, this show went on to run for a total of 20 episodes, vastly expanding on the world established in the first series. The show was first released exclusively with JTS.TV, and the episodes were combined to create double features with hilarious original commercials in between the two episodes. Progress’ IAWTV nominations led to her discovery by Burns. Invited to produce as well as host the Super Geeked Up podcast, she now spends most of her time there, reveling in all things geek. Already holding two awards, one for Best Live Host as well as an honorable mention as a Humorist in 2008’s short Greg and Emilia, it can be safely said that of all things to happen to Wright, it won’t be slowing down. I recently interviewed Nicole and there was such wealth in her responses on how to develop your brand in an online mostly environment. How did you get started in what youre doing now? Nicole:   Ive always had a passion for entertainment ever since I can remember. When I was just a little kid I took part in church and school plays and put on some of my own for my family friends. When I was a little older I gathered up the kids in my neighborhood and produced three annual back-to-school fashion shows complete with routines and behind the scenes videos. I was extremely inspired by Lucille Ball and I Love Lucy. I would stay up late watching old re-runs and finding ways to create slapstick comedy in my daily life. Which is probably why I was so hyper! Before I entered high school I saw The Matrix with my dad and was blown away. I watched all the behind the scenes footage and interviews I could find and was wondering if I could do something like that. When I was in high school I was involved with drama and participated in quite a few of the school plays. One of the original sketches I wrote also got me notice for a scholarship. The crazy thing about all of this is I nev er actually considered that I could be doing something like this as a career. I knew I enjoyed entertaining but I guess I just thought that people dont have careers doing that. So when I entered college at Chapman University, I was undecided and was seriously considering majoring in English with a minor in Spanish. In my second semester of freshman year I took a film class and was obsessed. As cliche as this might sound, I could not imagine myself never walking the halls of the film school again. At the end of year I applied to Chapmans film school, was accepted and transferred into the film program at the beginning of my sophomore year. I think this particular moment was when I absolutely understood that this could be a career and I threw myself into filmmaking and entertainment. The other really important thing that helped me down this path was the support of my family and friends. Which do you like best acting or directing? Nicole:   I really love both but I think Im a better director than I am actor. If there was ever a chance to play a character that was basically an exaggerated version of myself, I know I could do that well! I will say though, that it took quite a few years for me to have confidence in my abilities as a Director. It definitely was an insecurity thing that I had. However, once I really believed in myself and saw myself in the same way others did, I developed confidence to really go out there and achieve my goals as a filmmaker and person! If you could give advice to your younger self, what would you share? Nicole:   I would tell myself not to be so hard on myself and to be confident and really believe in myself. I would tell myself that I can do anything I set my mind to and not let anyone else make me feel that I cant. I would remind myself that actions speak louder than words. I would teach myself that its ok if there are people who dont understand or connect with your work. The crazy thing is that Ive definitely been judged and overlooked and treated like I was dumb by others. I think a lot of it, unfortunately, has to do with how I look. I have that blonde hair, blue eyed, super young innocent looking thing going on and some people are quick to judge without really getting to know me and dont understand what Im capable of. However, Ive learned to let it go. I know who I am and I know what Im capable of. I know that my actions will prove my abilities. The other really important thing Ive learned is that it is extremely important not to take criticism personally. As an artist I think we are left vulnerable when we put our heart and soul into our work but what Ive learned is that when you put your art on display it now becomes something that other people will connect with. And not everyone will interpret your art in the same way and maybe some people will not be able to connect with it at all. And thats ok. I know that I dont connect with every song on the radio, every movie in the theater or every piece of art in a museum because we all experience art and entertainment in a way that is unique to us. Just remember that if you believe in what you did and are proud of your work, thats what really matters. How did you become introduced to the IAWTV? Nicole:   I first became introduced to the IAWTV through their awards show. in 2013 we submitted our show for consideration and attended the show in early 2014. What I discovered is that IAWTV was not just an awards show, but an organization and community that is dedicated to supporting web series creators and shining a positive light on independent content. I have met so many amazing people through the IAWTV. I recently was elected as a board member for the IAWTV which was so humbling and exciting. At the first board meeting I was voted in as Treasurer and my main focus at the moment will be to develop new revenue opportunities. I also am extremely passionate about social media and will be working with another board member on some social media strategies that will allow us to make deeper connections with our members. I also want to develop relationships with production resource partners so that we can offer amazing discounts to our members. Currently Im working on finding a great production insurance partner and then will focus on securing equipment and stage rental partners. If someone was considering creating a web series, what would you advise them to do first? Nicole:   I think the most important thing is to find a really supportive and hard working group of people to work with. Web Series is an amazingly welcoming and supportive community but extremely under funded. Most web series creators, myself included, work a day job (or several) to support our craft and we also volunteer hundreds of hours working on not only our projects but other web series projects too. Once you have a supportive team in place you really need to create a solid story. For me, I can come up with concepts, but have a really hard time executing the idea into a script. Thats why I will always need to elicit the help of experience writers to help! And thats a good thing. We all have weaknesses so its important to surround yourself with others who have strengths in those areas. Thats how you create the perfect team! Get to witness the perfect Super Geeked Up team in action and participate in the fun every Wednesday night at SuperGeekedUp.com and tweet along!

How To Get Rid Of Your Low Self-Esteem and Achieve Success CareerMetis.com

How To Get Rid Of Your Low Self-Esteem and Achieve Success â€" CareerMetis.com Photo Credit â€" Pexels.comHave you always wanted to build your self-confidence and lose that poor self-esteem? Many people do. It affects all areas of life and harms our chances at success.Here are some tips on being more confident.What is Low Self-Esteem?Low self-esteem is when a person doesn’t believe that they are good enough. This usually happens after a series of poor results, but it could also be a long-term condition that can start at a very young age, often as a result of events that happen in childhood or poor parenting.evalPeople with low self-esteem think that they can’t achieve anything significant in their life. They might try to fake high self-confidence, but their insecurities are very obvious from the start of the conversation.How To Lose Low Self-Esteem and Build Self-Confidence:Here are some excellent ways to lose your poor self-esteem.1) Have Some Me Time Every Day evalEvery morning you should get up early and have enough time to get appropriately dressed â€" your best clothes that make you feel good are a decent option â€" and groom yourself. This is an instant confidence booster. You look good, so you’ll feel good and beam self-confidence.Have an occasional spa day or any treatment that makes you feel good.2) Use Positive AffirmationsPositive affirmations are a well-known way to increase your self-confidence and become a happier person. Write down things that are important to you, things that feel good when you say them and things that make you feel better. Remind yourself to read them every day.They have a substantial impact on your mind and could help you get rid of low self-esteem.3) Focus on Your SuccessInstead of moping around and waiting for your success to happen, you need to focus on it. Work towards it. See what you can do to bring yourself closer to your goals and then do it. It can be straightforward if you try it, all you have to do is stay focused on the success and do your best as you progress.evalDon’t let other peop le get you down. Don’t lose your focus because of small things or unimportant events. Be with people that support you and understand just how your success is critical to you.4) Focus on Your StrengthsPeople with low self-esteem usually focus only on their flaws and things they don’t know. This, sadly, only feeds into those bad feelings and doesn’t help make anything better. Instead of focusing on the negatives, focus on your strengths.For instance, what you can do well, what you can do better than most people or something similar. Lose your negativity and think only about how your strengths can be utilized to make you more successful. Try to improve areas that are not as good or use those weaknesses on your way to success.eval5) Avoid Self-CriticismPeople with low self-esteem are often very judgemental of themselves. They are always questioning and criticizing every move they make even though it might be a good move. For one, don’t expect perfection and don’t expect everyt hing to go smoothly. It probably won’t, and it doesn’t work for most people.evalIf you fail, consider it normal â€" again, most people fail on difficult tasks or in many things in life. Think of it as a learning experience rather than something negative. However, do your best at everything you try. This way, you will always know that you did as much as you could to make it work.6) Work at Achieving Your GoalsStart by setting goals. They should be meaningful to you but also measurable and have a reasonable time-frame. Then, split your goals into small milestones. The smaller and more manageable, the better. You should be able to achieve them quickly enough â€" the best benchmarks are just slightly above your possibilities. This makes them challenging enough so you’ll feel proud of yourself once you are done, but not too hard, so you get lost on the way of achieving them.These bite-sized milestones can boost your self-confidence and put you in the right mindset for losing low se lf-esteem. In the end, you’ll achieve your goals, and you’ll be a success at what you set out to do. This can help you lose low self-esteem for good.7) Feed Your Brain and Soul One of the best ways to build self-confidence is to keep learning and getting better as well as spending time on things that improve your mood.For one, keep learning. Take up a course, learn something new like a new language. Develop your skills, work on being more mindful and focused on improving yourself. Set an hour a day that you will dedicate to reading, learning and exploring your skills. Set another hour that will feed your soul.Read books you love, listen to music, watch TV shows or documentaries, look at art or take a walk â€" do whatever pleases you. This is that essential time that helps you discover your preferences and who you are. With these two combined, you’ll have a lot more self-confidence because you will know who you are and you will know how you are progressing each day.8) Stop Comp aring Yourself to Everyone ElseThe worst thing you can do is comparing yourself to others. It’s a toxic behavior and it harms your chances at being successful. People are not cookie-cutter same, and everyone has different skills and possibilities. Don’t build your self-confidence based on other people. Compare yourself with yourself, and that’s the only way you’ll be able to be successful and your best self.Comparing yourself to others also leads to poor and toxic relationships â€" you could end up resenting the person you are comparing yourself to. It’s much better to let go of your envy or inferior feelings. Losing your low self-esteem can be a lengthy and challenging process, but it’s a necessary one if you want to be successful.Be kinder to yourself, and that’s a good start â€" build from there. Soon, you’ll learn to be much better to yourself, and as a result, you’ll be much more successful.

Join the Woohoo Academy in Copenhagen on June 16-19 - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Join the Woohoo Academy in Copenhagen on June 16-19 - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog 10 people have already signed up for he first Woohoo Academy training, which will take place?on?June 16-19 in Copenhagen and which?will be awesome :) The training is meant?for: HR staff, managers and internal facilitators who want to get a real understanding of how to create a happy workplace. Members of the?Woohoo Partner Program who want to develop their knowledge and skills. Read all about it and sign up here. Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

Writing a Resume For a Technical Company

Writing a Resume For a Technical CompanyIf you're going to write a resume for a technical company, there are several important elements that should be covered. It can be a lot of work to produce a really quality resume. Many companies, however, won't expect you to do it on your own.A good resume will cover a number of different aspects. Here are a few. It's a good idea to include a lot of details, but there are some key points that should be covered as well.You should provide a basic skill or knowledge that can be used in your job search. This is something that is not being emphasized enough when people are writing resumes. You need to mention what kind of position you would fit in. This is the first thing that hiring managers will check when they consider who to hire.The next step you should include is the job description. This should be filled out with a minimum of eight main sections. There should be one section devoted to your skills, another for skills in the previous job, anoth er for skills that are needed in the new job, and so on. An employer wants to know what you have to offer, not just your education or experience.A great ability or skill for the position you are applying for can be added in. A certification or higher education can add to your resume. This is a good way to show employers that you have gained a new skill that will help them to fill a specific job. Do you have any hobbies or interests? These can be included as well.If you have any previous positions in which you have shown leadership qualities, these should be mentioned. For this reason, it'sa good idea to list all of your leadership roles that you've had. This will help to highlight your personality and demonstrate how you are a team player.Finally, you should include a few things that you have done that have contributed to the company. These should show that you are a valuable part of the company and that you have skills that will benefit them. For instance, you might have been respo nsible for creating new equipment or bringing in new products. Being involved in this way will show that you can contribute to the company.The next time you are writing a resume for a technical company, there are many important details that you should keep in mind. The tips here can help you get started. Use these and find a great way to include them when you write your resume.