A friend just sent me a link to a YouTube video this afternoon. It was amusing enough, but a link to another one caught my eye, so I had to click on it. The title is “The Mean Kitty Song,” and I’ve had cats so I know something about how crafty they can be. Moreover, the video has had close to 31 million hits! Check it out and have a good chuckle on me.
I’ll be back to more serious posts tomorrow. Or maybe the next day.
“What business are we all in?”
I asked this question at the beginning of a presentation I gave recently at one of the networking groups I attend. To my delight, the answer I was looking for came back right away: “Sales.” I asked a follow-up question, “What product are we all selling?” The reply: “Ourselves.”
We are all in the business of selling ourselves. We had just finished going around the circle introducing ourselves and our businesses. There was a Realtor®, a mortgage professional, a solar panel installer, a woman who transfers 8mm movies and VHS cassettes to longer-lasting DVD’s—in short, there was a wonderful variety of professions and services present. In fact, some of us were wearing multiple hats, myself included, as I led with my network marketing business and was now promoting my website design business.
And yet, the one product we all had in common was ourselves. We were all promoting ourselves. After all, why would I go with one real estate professional over another? Simple. I would go with the real estate professional that I had the strongest connection with, the one I had gotten to know best and to trust.
Face-to-face networking is a great way to build these trusting relationships. But what if one is building a business nationwide or even worldwide? And even if one’s business is purely local, how does one get found by those who are in need of those services?
The simple answer is to be sure you have a website. In my own website design business, I often explain to people that a good referral for me is someone who has paid for a large ad in the Yellow Pages. Seriously, who reads the Yellow Pages any more? Sure, there’s yellowpages.com, but I think it is much more common simply to use a search engine to find whatever you’re looking for. I know that’s what I do, and I continue to be dismayed by how often I don’t find a website for whatever establishment I happen to be looking for.
Clearly, the world needs my services!
So will any old website do? Can I have my son or daughter slap something up for me? Can I pay a local college student to build my website as part of a class project? The short answer is yes. Of course, you’ll get what you pay for, often either a templated site that looks amateurish or a flashy site with little substance.
What I specialize in is websites that get results. Search engine algorithms are constantly changing, yet certain principles have remained the same since the beginning. It is these principles that I adhere to, as well as my favorite principle, KISS.
It really is quite simple. People type keywords into their search engines, and the search engines serve up websites they think have relevant content. So all you really have to do is determine what keywords people are searching on when they are looking for you or for your type of business, and then be sure that your website uses those keywords throughout. Translation: Have a keyword-rich website filled with relevant text.
Still, it is ultimately a human being that will see the website once it is served up, so making it visually appealing is also key. Personally, I have some graphic design skills, but I prefer to partner with graphic designers for whom that is their passion. Together we make for a winning team. They can design a website to be visually appealing, then I can program it to be found by search engines and make it effective.
As we went around the circle introducing ourselves, there were a few people who were employees of larger corporations. Certainly their employers have corporate websites, and they may (or may not) have their own personal page on that website. Perhaps this sort of professional does not need a personal website. And yet, if you think about it, they are still in the business of selling themselves. It certainly couldn’t hurt to have their own individual Web presence.
I think we can all agree, however, that a Web presence is absolutely crucial to the success of small business owners or people operating a business out of their homes.
A custom-designed website can cost many thousands of dollars initially, as well as ongoing updates to keep it fresh and current—that is, relevant. Not all small businesses or home-based businesses have that sort of a budget. The good news is that there are companion strategies that cost little or no money, and even those with full-fledged websites should consider the following:
With or without a website, you will definitely want to enhance your Web presence. The Web is clearly the vehicle for 21st century business.
Contact me with your questions about any of the following services. I am glad to help in whatever way I can.
There really is no reason why you can’t have a website of your own. Get started today and watch your business take off.
Following is the text of the Forward Day by Day meditation for December 13, 2009, the third Sunday in Advent. Forward Day by Day meditations are written anonymously, otherwise I would love to credit the author. As it is, I shall credit Forward Day by Day itself and Forward Movement Publications.
This meant even more to me by the sheer fact that it was the meditation for that particular day. My mother died on Friday, December 13, 2002, and every December 13 as well as every Friday the 13th since then, I hold her memory especially close and say a prayer for her. I know she is watching over me. I love you, Mom.
With that, the rest of this post is the author’s meditation on the Epistle reading for that day. I hope you enjoy it and find it as meaningful as I did and still do.
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Philippians 4:4-7. Rejoice in the Lord always.
Really? Always? But Lord…
“Yes, always. I’ve noticed that you’re joyful enough when the flowers bloom and the balmy breezes blow. But why no joy when you lost your job, when your wife left you, and when you had to take a second mortgage on your home? Maybe you thought I’d left you then, that I am with you only amidst the flower blossoms and the warm breezes. But when Paul wrote about rejoicing in me always, he was chained in a prison cell. He rejoiced even there. Paul knew that I lay next to him on that cold stone floor while the mice and roaches crawled over him. He rejoiced not because happy things were happening (they weren’t), but because he knew I loved him. And I love you, too. In fact, I am closest to you when you are most debilitated, fearful, despondent, and helpless. It is then that I hold you most closely to my heart.
“Feel my arms around you. After crucifixion comes resurrection. So it was with me and so it will be with you, for I am with you and you are mine. I claim you for my own. I love you and I always will, come what may. Rejoice in me. Always.”
I have become an active social networker, participating in group discussions on LinkedIn and Facebook. Just now I replied to a post in one of my network marketing (MLM) threads, and I felt it would make for a good blog post. Here is the original discussion post:
Is representing more than one MLM company (at the same time) hurtful or helpful to your home-based business?
I’ve been involved in MLM for a bit over three years now and have already experienced the fact that I have found myself representing more than one company at the same time. Much of this is due to the shifting around of my immediate upline and their upline leadership. I have gotten to know many other network marketers, who say, with pride, how many other companies they’ve been involved with. I met one guy who say’s he is currently with 12 different companies—all at the same time! How is this possible? Or, more importantly, how is this profitable?
I am perplexed how I could even commit my time and energy to promoting only two “opportunities” with success.
Am I alone here? Does anyone else out there have suggestions on how to best succeed with presenting more than one opportunity?
Thanks,
Guy
Hi Guy:
Here’s my experience, and I look forward to hearing others’ experiences, as well.
I joined my first network marketing company in 2002 and immediately started seeing other opportunities all over the place. I joined a few, and most fell by the wayside, but over time I found myself juggling multiple opportunities at once, and none of them profitably.
By January of 2008 I was actively trying to promote four opportunities. Then I got the great idea of writing a book about network marketing, figuring I must be an expert by now. 
I outlined my book and started writing the chapter on how to evaluate a network marketing opportunity.
It occurred to me that I should plug my four opportunities in to my own criteria and see how they measured up against one another. Guy, it wasn’t even close: my first opportunity, the one I joined way back in 2002, was head and shoulders better than all the others combined.
I could have kicked myself. If only I had stuck to my guns with the first one instead of letting myself get sidetracked by “greener pastures” elsewhere, I would have found myself in a much better financial position. I stopped promoting the other three opportunities and focused on my first love. It was definitely the right thing to do.
I strongly encourage you to focus on one opportunity at a time. I have developed great relationships with my colleagues in other companies, and when I speak with a prospect who I think would do better in one of their opportunities, I am more than happy to refer him or her on to my counterpart. Over time, I’m sure my counterparts will start passing me their prospects whom they think would be a better fit in my company. In my opinion, this is a better way to juggle multiple opportunities—with multiple people!
I’m still plugging away at my book. I invite you to sign up for email alerts at demystifyingprosperity.com and I’ll keep you posted as to my progress.
Best wishes to you for massive success in 2010! The more of us who make network marketing work for us, the better off we’ll all be.
The recently departed Jim Rohn, one of my most influential mentors (rest in peace, dear friend), was an ardent proponent of network marketing, not to mention health and wellness and proper nutrition. His passing has prompted many glowing tributes.
I just read one in the form of a great blog post from Randy Gage, a fellow network marketer. He explains brilliantly and succinctly what makes network marketing so different from any other profession in the world. Here it is in its entirety:
http://www.networkmarketingtimes.com/blog/the-power-of-your-testimonial/
To summarize the points that Randy makes:
If you are already involved in a network marketing opportunity, good for you! Stick with it. The only people who make no money are the people who quit. Also, unless you are totally dissatisfied with your company or your team, don’t let other opportunities lure you away from your primary focus. You joined your company for a reason. Stay the course, follow the directions of your successful upline and crossline, and reap the benefits, one of which, as you know, is helping lots of others achieve their financial dreams along the way.
If you are not yet involved in network marketing, what are you waiting for? It is absolutely genius. Find an industry and a product that you are passionate about, sign up, and then spread the word. Paid word-of-mouth advertising makes so much sense. Most people start part-time, working their business in the nooks and crannies of their lives. As their commission checks grow, then they experience true financial freedom, continuing with their “day jobs” only if they want to, not because they have to.
You might consider signing up for email alerts at the website for my upcoming book, Demystifying Prosperity™: Why You Should Take a Serious Look at Network Marketing. And please post your comments below.
Here’s to your massive success!
How blessed am I! As I write this (Wednesday afternoon, December 9, 2009), I am gazing out at the Pacific Ocean, waves crashing to shore in the Bahía del Descanso—the Bay of Rest. The weather could not possibly be more perfect: crystal blue skies, warm sun, and the sounds and smells of the ocean.
Sanoviv Medical Institute, about which you can read much more at sanoviv.com, is located in Rosarito Beach, Baja California del Norte, Mexico, about an hour south of San Diego. Its founder, Dr. Myron Wentz, chose the place for a variety of reasons, one of which was simply to be in Mexico where he is much freer to practice his state-of-the-art alternative therapies than he would be in the United States, such is the state of overregulation there.
But why Rosarito Beach? Dr. Wentz was fortunate to be able to procure the former Levi Strauss estate, which is situated on a cliff noted for its positive energy frequencies. (Yes, energy medicine is one of Dr. Wentz’s alternative therapies.) It could not possibly be a more beautiful location.
Yesterday was my birthday. My friend Nick has come to Sanoviv several times before and is here now for some follow-up treatments. He invited me to be here with him as his “companion.” Sanoviv has a wonderful companion program, where people not receiving treatments are able to accompany people who are for $100 a night. This covers lodging, all meals, even clothing (more later). As Usana associates, however, we were able to take advantage of a Convention special, where companions are able to stay for free during the month of December. So, as it turns out, it was cheaper for me to come here for five nights than it would have been for me to stay at home!
How blessed am I that this just so happened to coincide with my birthday!
Sanoviv’s primary focus is detoxification. We live in such a toxic world. Of course, industrial pollution is the most obvious example, but it actually goes way deeper. From the synthetic clothes we wear to the synthetic foods we ingest, our modern life styles are anything but healthful. So during our stays at Sanoviv, we are provided 100% cotton loungewear and foot-massaging sandals. The meals are absolutely delicious—and completely devoid of the most common allergens: gluten, animal meats, starches, etc. Everything is vegetarian, with fish at lunchtime.
There is no coffee in the morning and no alcohol in the evening. Martini man that I am, I thought this might be difficult for me, but it hasn’t been. I had a slight headache the second morning I was here, which I attribute to caffeine withdrawal, but other than that it has been a breeze. I can hardly wait to weigh myself Friday morning, as I know I have dropped a few pounds. (OK, I have a few more to shed, I know. Baby steps.)
So this is how I have spent my birthday. I received many wonderful birthday greetings on my Facebook wall. Thanks to all of you who wrote. How blessed am I to have so many beautiful friends!
Thank you, Dr. Wentz, for your vision that created both Usana Health Sciences and Sanoviv Medical Institute. And thank you, Robert Allen, for introducing me, quite by accident, to Usana while I was investigating real estate investing.
I used to think that 35 was old. Now I know that 55 is young.
It has been over a month since I last posted to my blog, and I feel I owe my regular readers a bit of an explanation. I have been fully ensconced in my job search, and it has gone anything but smoothly.
This is the first time in my life that doors have not automatically opened for me, and it is extremely disconcerting. Prior to my current job search, the last time I updated my résumé was way back in 1995, and that was a mere formality as I had already been offered the job in question.
Time and again seemingly ideal positions have come up, and when I submit my credentials I get the standard reply that others more qualified are in consideration. It’s hard to believe that there are so many others out there with my unique collection of skills, but evidently there are. Either that or my résumé is absolutely not presenting me accurately.
Last month I attended a Career Relaunch Forum at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J. I drove down the day before to stay with my friend Nick in Passaic. The next morning I got up, took my shower, and had plenty of time to get to the event a half hour early, but when I went to open Nick’s apartment door, the handle would not work. I jiggled the handle and turned the latch for several minutes, all to no avail. I had no choice but to wake up Nick and enlist his help to get out of his apartment.
He had no more luck with his lock than I did. So he called a couple of his neighbors that had keys to his apartment, and one of them came up. We yelled back and forth through the door, but she was not able to unlock the door from the outside, either. Then Nick suggested to me, “You could always use the fire escape.”
My heart leapt up into my throat as I considered the implications of his words. I contemplated whether this was a sign that I shouldn’t attend the Forum. Just as quickly as I thought this, though, I realized that I didn’t want to have driven five hours for nothing. I decided that this was merely a speed bump on the road to my new career, and so I proceeded with the plan at hand.
Dressed in my suit and carrying a mug of coffee and my portfolio and newspaper, I opened his dining room window and crawled out onto the fire escape. I could feel my heart pounding as I looked down the 30 or so feet to the ground. Gingerly I descended the two staircases to get to the bottom level of the fire escape. From there I had to lower a ladder to make it the rest of the way to the ground.
At that point it occurred to me that there was no way I could carry everything I had brought and hold onto the ladder. So I tossed the newspaper and portfolio to the ground, determining that I could carry my coffee cup. (I have my priorities, after all.)
Now my heart was really pounding, because the ladder was absolutely vertical—no reasonable angle whatsoever. Rung by rung I descended, holding on (with one hand) for dear life. I finally reached the pavement below, my heart still pounding wildly. I shoved the ladder back up, picked up my belongings, and got in my car, hands shaking on the steering wheel, and I just sat there. After a few minutes I determined that I was able to drive, so I headed for South Orange. I arrived with no time to spare, but at least I made it.
The Career Relaunch Forum was good, and I made some connections there. (Sadly, in the month since then, none of then has panned out … but I didn’t know that at the time.) After it was over, I drove back to Nick’s place. The locksmith had been able to free him from his prison and installed a new (fully functioning) lock. Both of us decided to celebrate our respective victories by going into New York that evening for drinks and dinner.
We took the train into the city and were then on foot, going from place to place. At one point we were walking down Cornelia Street in the Village, chatting and not paying much attention to our surroundings. The next thing I knew, Nick had tripped and was falling … in super slow motion! His foot got caught on, of all things, a speed bump in the road. He completely lost his balance, and down he went, with me watching helplessly. Once time resumed to normal speed, I checked with him to be sure nothing was broken. He had scraped his elbow, but other than that and a bruised ego, he was all right. We had good laughs the rest of the evening.
This was a perfect metaphor for my job search: yet another speed bump, and this a literal one. One day at a time—that’s the only way I can live these days.
My frustration with the whole job-search process has continued, so much so that this past week I decided to stop looking. That’s right. I have pretty much given up on finding traditional employment. Certainly I will consider any offers that come along, and I plan to keep my résumé on CareerBuilder, Monster, and other popular sites. But I am done banging my head against a wall. Funny thing, the phone has started ringing with headhunters pursuing me. It’s amazing how we often find what we’re looking for once we stop looking so hard. Wish me luck.
So I’ll let them find me. I am a highly qualified professional, and any organization would benefit tremendously by hiring me. That is not narcissism, it is simply the truth.
Meanwhile, I have decided to capitalize on skills that I already possess in websites and Internet marketing. I have several opt-in pages on the ’Net, and I am polling my subscribers to learn what they would like to receive from me: training videos, downloadable PDF’s, physical products, whatever. I’m partnering with other Internet marketers, so stay tuned. As I develop the niches I’m marketing to, I’ll let all of you know.
One way or another, my skills and talents will pay off. My goal is and always has been to leave this world a better place for my having been here. Let me know how I can help you.
Whenever I find an interesting video, I like passing it on to my readers. There have been several YouTube videos in the Did You Know series, and I’m sure there will be many more. Enjoy this one.
My favorite remains Did You Know 3.0, mostly for the throbbing music. But all of these videos (you can search for more of them in YouTube) provide plentiful food for thought in this rapidly changing world we live in.
This is the text of my third speech at Ad Libs Toastmasters Club. By the end of the speech, you will know five things you can do today—while still employed—to facilitate your next job search.
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Gone are the days of lifelong employment with a pension and a gold watch upon retirement. My grandfather and my father both enjoyed lifetime careers; I certainly have not.
This speech came about due to my own current job search. In my last speech, titled “The Accidental Professional,” I explained how my career has developed over the years due to a series of fortuitous accidents—doors of opportunity opening up for me. For the first time in my life, I am having extreme difficulty finding my next job. Sadly, as we all know, I am far from alone.
I actually had to dust off my résumé, which I hadn’t used since 1995. Not only did I have to update it with 14 years’ worth of career developments, I had to change its language and tone, which was appropriate for 1995 but not for 2009.
So with that, allow me to offer you five steps you can take while still employed to facilitate your next job search.
Step 1. Keep your résumé current. Because I had let so much time pass since last updating my résumé, my memory of projects I worked on and responsibilities I had was quite dim. Consequently, it appears that I did very little, especially since 2001 when I was let go of my last outside employment. Nothing could be further from the truth. Under the aegis of my own corporation, I have kept current with database technology, specifically DB2 and MySQL. I have branched out into Web services—Web hosting, domain registration, and website design. I have gotten involved with network marketing, which brings with it a whole slew of side benefits in the personal development arena. And I have studied investing, mostly stocks and commodities but also some real estate.
My hope was that these latter pursuits would by now have brought in enough income to pay all the bills, but I have not been so fortunate. Hence my current job search. But I would be in the job market even if money were no issue. Having worked alone for the past eight years, I yearn for the camaraderie of the corporate world.
Back to the point at hand. When I brought out my résumé to update it, I had no idea how long a process this would be. Several résumé workshops and networking events later, I think it is finally beginning to work with the automated keyword sniffers that companies are using these days. So I encourage you to keep your résumé current on an ongoing basis. Keep a log of your various projects and assignments, including keywords that future employers will be searching for.
Step 2. Set up and actively use a LinkedIn account. LinkedIn hasn’t been around the whole time I’ve been underemployed, but I was invited to connect with a friend on LinkedIn years ago, and it’s only been this year that I’ve become a power user.
LinkedIn is your online professional résumé. Keeping it current will help you keep your offline résumé current. Join LinkedIn groups that might be helpful—certainly professional groups (I’ve joined several DB2‑, database‑, and mainframe-related groups) but also alumni groups. Keep in mind, though, that LinkedIn is for professional networking; leave the social and cultural and political associations for Facebook. Which leads me to my third recommendation:
Step 3. Clean up your Facebook account. A prospective employer is going to google your name and see what comes up. I encourage you to do the same. Just because you’ve only listed your LinkedIn profile on your résumé doesn’t mean he or she won’t find your Facebook page or, for that matter, MySpace, YouTube, blogs, and what have you. Clean up references to you that might cause an employer to bypass you for someone else.
Step 4. Get recommendations from current colleagues. Have them write you recommendations on your LinkedIn account. I learned this step only because it has been so hard ten, fifteen, twenty years later to get recommendations from colleagues that used to think quite highly of my work. I’ve gotten some, just not all that I would have liked.
Step 5. Keep current within your industry. I have a friend who is a PeopleSoft developer, and she is having a terrible time finding a new job, because her former employer kept her using an out-of-date version of PeopleSoft. Participate in LinkedIn group discussions. Purchase and read technical books. Take adult-ed classes at night. Do whatever it takes to hone your skills.
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I hope this has been helpful. I’ve given you five concrete steps you can take to make your next job search much easier. If you are employed, thank your lucky stars—even if you dislike your current job. It’s a whole lot better than not having a job, especially in this market. And don’t think your current job will last forever. I made that mistake once; I’ll never make it again.
Lately I’ve been a-singin’ the Job Search Blues.
As my regular readers know, I am in the market to get back into IT. The bulk of my technical background is in IBM’s database, called DB2. I’ve been working with DB2 since 1987. Prior to that I was a mainframe programmer/analyst and consultant, with copious experience in COBOL and CICS that I have been able to draw on to this day. (For those of you whose eyes just glazed over reading all of this alphabet soup, buckle your seatbelts. It gets worse. But stick with me; the overall story is worth it and may still apply to you.)
Now, I haven’t been in a job search since 1995, and at that time my résumé was a mere formality, since the company that hired me had a business relationship with my former employer. Everyone knew and respected me, so the transition was a breeze.
In 2001 I was downsized, but since I was pursuing other income avenues I felt no compelling need to get back into another IT position right away.
Little did I know that I would actually miss the day-to-day challenges, the water-cooler camaraderie, and the satisfaction of a job well done. So earlier this year I dusted off my résumé and started pounding the virtual pavement. (Did I pick a great time to look for a job, or what?)
Instead of being a breeze, my current job search has been incredibly frustrating. I have no doubt that my skills and expertise would be a great asset to any potential employer. The jobs I am applying for are all great fits. Were the economic reality different than it is today, I am certain that I would have been hired months ago.
But the rules have changed, and I can’t blame everything on the economy. Evidently, no human being reads résumés any more. Instead, they all go through a keyword extractor, and if you don’t happen to use exactly the right combination of keywords, your résumé doesn’t get chosen for further consideration … this time perhaps by an actual human being.
Case in point. I applied at one company for a position ideally suited to my technical background: “Mainframe DB2 Domain Technologist.” I mean, really, could a job title more perfectly describe my background? Having submitted my résumé online for various other positions with this particular company—and gotten nowhere—I opted to apply for this “perfect” position through a friend of mine who actually works there. I emailed him my résumé and he forwarded it on through the appropriate channels.
Later that morning I received an email from him indicating that there was some concern that I did not in fact possess enough mainframe background for the position. I was astonished. I wrote back emphasizing that it was precisely because of the mainframe requirements that this particular position was a perfect fit for me. He passed that back on. I have heard nothing, and it has been several weeks.
So here is what I think happened in this age of keyword-sniffing software. But first some terminology background. DB2 has been around on the mainframe since the 1980’s. (Remember, I started in 1987—that was Version 1.2.) Then IBM developed a version for its PC operating system OS/2. Since OS/2 never caught on commercially, IBM decided in the mid-1990’s to open it up to Windows. It was at that time that I started learning DB2 on these lower-end platforms, which IBM began calling DB2 UDB. UDB stood for Universal Database, their moniker for that version of DB2 that supported advanced features such as user-defined distinct types, user-defined functions, and large objects. (Again, my apologies to my glazed-eyed friends. Please bear with me.)
Well, the term UDB began to supplant DB2, meaning DB2 that runs on Linux, UNIX, and Windows, as opposed to DB2 that runs on the mainframe. This, despite the fact that mainframe DB2 became DB2 UDB once it also started supporting user-defined distinct types, user-defined functions, and large objects. In other words, the term UDB was being misused and misunderstood. That is why now in Version 9 on all platforms, IBM has stopped using the term UDB entirely.
In my résumé and in my cover letter, I used the term UDB correctly, meaning as IBM used it. To me it included mainframe DB2. Sadly for me, to most hiring departments it only indicates the Linux/UNIX/Windows (LUW) platforms of DB2. Hence the keyword sniffer’s concern that I did not have enough mainframe experience.
How frustrating is that.
The saddest thing about the current state of affairs is that most companies must be bypassing exceptional talent due to poorly programmed keyword-sniffing software, not to mention nontechnical eyes perusing technical résumés. In their favor, the current economic reality is leading to a lot of applicants for the same position, so even discarding some highly qualified talent, there remain a lot of applicants to choose from.
As I said, didn’t I pick a great time to look for a job!
Anyway, wish me luck, everyone. Whoever ends up hiring me is sure to be very pleasantly surprised. That’s not arrogance. That’s simply the reality of thirty years of experience in this industry.
To be sure, I’ll keep you posted.