The Chicken List Smackdown Video Just Place The Call

The Chicken List Smackdown Video Just Place The Call I saw a link to this website from my business mentor Mark LeBlanc: Just Place The Call! Ive written about calling, and the Chicken List (that list of people you are too scared to call) plenty of times here and here and here and here and here.  I get it, I really do. Im afraid of the phone, too.  Sometimes I wonder if the person will punch me through the receiver, or take away my first-born, or some other horrific thing.  The phone tends to paralyze job seekers. Ive heard the phone weighs five hundred pounds! or my tongue weighs a thousand pounds! I get it all.  I live it, just like you do. But there is something special about the phone. I challenge you to get good at it.  Instead of envying others who seem to do it well, instead of blaming your personality profile and saying if you had a different personality you would do it, JUST PLACE THE CALL. A mentor in my job search, John, is the one who introduced the Chicken List phrase to me.  His advice was priceless: start calls with the hardest person on your Chicken List.  Get the hard people CROSSED OFF.  Get through those.  Let me add, if you are still alive after those calls, then calling other people will be a breeze! Check out the Just Place The Call video, and after taking the two minutes and twenty three seconds to watch it, PLACE THE CALL!  I havent downloaded the 501 Telephone tips from that page but if you do it, and like it, let me know! (apparently, this is their blog, with lots of cool looking blog posts about improving your phone skills) [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5obGC-bn3o] The Chicken List Smackdown Video Just Place The Call I saw a link to this website from my business mentor Mark LeBlanc: Just Place The Call! Ive written about calling, and the Chicken List (that list of people you are too scared to call) plenty of times here and here and here and here and here.  I get it, I really do. Im afraid of the phone, too.  Sometimes I wonder if the person will punch me through the receiver, or take away my first-born, or some other horrific thing.  The phone tends to paralyze job seekers. Ive heard the phone weighs five hundred pounds! or my tongue weighs a thousand pounds! I get it all.  I live it, just like you do. But there is something special about the phone. I challenge you to get good at it.  Instead of envying others who seem to do it well, instead of blaming your personality profile and saying if you had a different personality you would do it, JUST PLACE THE CALL. A mentor in my job search, John, is the one who introduced the Chicken List phrase to me.  His advice was priceless: start calls with the hardest person on your Chicken List.  Get the hard people CROSSED OFF.  Get through those.  Let me add, if you are still alive after those calls, then calling other people will be a breeze! Check out the Just Place The Call video, and after taking the two minutes and twenty three seconds to watch it, PLACE THE CALL!  I havent downloaded the 501 Telephone tips from that page but if you do it, and like it, let me know! (apparently, this is their blog, with lots of cool looking blog posts about improving your phone skills) [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5obGC-bn3o] The Chicken List Smackdown Video Just Place The Call I saw a link to this website from my business mentor Mark LeBlanc: Just Place The Call! Ive written about calling, and the Chicken List (that list of people you are too scared to call) plenty of times here and here and here and here and here.  I get it, I really do. Im afraid of the phone, too.  Sometimes I wonder if the person will punch me through the receiver, or take away my first-born, or some other horrific thing.  The phone tends to paralyze job seekers. Ive heard the phone weighs five hundred pounds! or my tongue weighs a thousand pounds! I get it all.  I live it, just like you do. But there is something special about the phone. I challenge you to get good at it.  Instead of envying others who seem to do it well, instead of blaming your personality profile and saying if you had a different personality you would do it, JUST PLACE THE CALL. A mentor in my job search, John, is the one who introduced the Chicken List phrase to me.  His advice was priceless: start calls with the hardest person on your Chicken List.  Get the hard people CROSSED OFF.  Get through those.  Let me add, if you are still alive after those calls, then calling other people will be a breeze! Check out the Just Place The Call video, and after taking the two minutes and twenty three seconds to watch it, PLACE THE CALL!  I havent downloaded the 501 Telephone tips from that page but if you do it, and like it, let me know! (apparently, this is their blog, with lots of cool looking blog posts about improving your phone skills) [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5obGC-bn3o]

Startup Tips are for Women Too!

Startup Tips are for Women Too! Ladies, the number of women-owned business in the US has grown to over 9.1 million firms. These firms generate a whopping $1.4 trillion in sales and employ around 7.9 million people, according to the National Association of Women Business Owners. That’s not all, the NAWBO also reports that one in every five American firms bringing in million-dollar revenues is owned by women. Furthermore, over 4 percent of women-owned companies are bringing in over one million dollars. If you are looking at your prospects as a woman entrepreneur, your options are virtually endless today. Of course, it must be understood that women face certain unique challenges when juggling business and family. Here are some tips that may help. Align Your Business to Your Objectives If you are trying to start a business while managing a home and a family, you are going to have your work cut out for you. Although there is increasing equality in home life responsibilities and roles, the majority of primary care givers are still women. This is why it is so important to align your business with your own personal objectives. If your primary goal is to raise healthy and happy children, your business should not get in the way of that. If anything, it should facilitate that. You don’t have to work away from home or full time to run a successful business. With the advent of telecommuting and online businesses, there is barely anything you can’t do today. Get Up to Date Speaking of technological advances, no matter how old or young you are, get with the times. Capitalize on the resources that are at your fingertips. People have never had better access to education, information, and resources than they do now, no matter where they are. You can learn new skills and read Corporate Business Solutions reviews at home or while traveling, for instance. You can create and perform all your media marketing strategies from your computer. You can automate e-mails and track work. You can even crowdsource your projects entirely from your living room. You will never have to worry about missing anything important at home or at work. Define Your Business Image Any startup needs to go through a phase of development that requires a lot of thought and planning. Take the time to think about the kind of image you want your brand to give people. This will include your logo and name, your vision, your business goals, and even color schemes and designs. Plan out business processes and see how you can optimize them. Use consultants like Corporate Business Solutions to help you do all of this. You can use their expertise to improve your business as you go along too. Network, Network, Network Get on networking sites that can help your business, like LinkedIn, not just social networking sites that can promote it. Make connections with others in your industry, and look for individuals that can benefit your business and benefit from it. It won’t hurt to find a business mentor. There are plenty of women entrepreneurs and business owner associations that can offer resources and support for your startup. It will take time and effort before your startup shows measurable results. Nonetheless, the future of women in business is more promising now than it has ever been before in our history. Image credits: Main    Networking

How to Get your Professional Image Right

How to Get your Professional Image Right Guest Post The job market is a competitive place right now. The numbers of well-paid and interesting jobs are few and far between, while competition for these jobs is growing yearly. This has led to recruiters having the pick of the crop when it comes to filling vacancies, and candidates needing to have the full package of qualifications, experience, skills, the right attitude and image if they want to even compete. Of all these things, image is perhaps the easiest to get right, but also the one that so many people get wrong. The basics are easy making sure you turn up to a job interview dressed professionally, but a professional image goes beyond the job interview. It is a combination of your appearance, your social media profiles and how you conduct yourself within the office. Often ‘self-branding’ refers to the same thing, which basically comes down to investing in yourself and creating a professional image that makes you an appealing employee and someone people want to work with. To help you create a well-rounded professional image here are some tips: Dress First impressions count and people will judge you by what you wear. If you work in a very corporate environment, finance for example, suits are still the norm for men while women also tend to dress formally. Those in more creative industries, however, often wear more relaxed clothes and even jeans can be regularly seen in some offices. If you look at your industry you will soon start to see a sort of dress code, whether it is relaxed, smart, or fashionable, so in order to show you will fit in well with your peers it is a good idea to modify your style to match. This doesn’t mean you have to copy everyone else, as if you are more comfortable in formal clothes but work in the media, perhaps swap your trousers for a pair of well-cut jeans. Grooming Although many people often overlook their grooming, it is also another important aspect of your image. Making sure you have clean nails and hair, no body odour and, if you are a woman, wear natural, subtle make-up. You might think it won’t make a difference, but people do make judgements based on appearances and if you constantly look scruffy it will give off the impression that you are disorganised and unable to cope with a hectic schedule. However, if you look like you take care of yourself, you look organised and in control. Body language Our body language is often out of our control, after all we all have our own unique mannerisms. Saying this, however, there are parts of our body language that can be trained to make ourselves look more open, alert and professional. Making eye-contact, for example, when talking to someone makes you seem more trustworthy. Leaning towards someone talking in a meeting makes you appear interested in what they are saying. Alternatively, crossing your arms can make you look defensive and looking at your mobile when someone is talking can make it look like you don’t care about what they are saying. Social media You might think that your social media is separate from your professional image, but social media profiles are becoming increasingly important. Workers have been reportedly fired from jobs because of status updates they have put on Twitter and Facebook, while many employers will look at a candidate’s social media profiles before making job offers. As well as this, customers and clients are increasingly using social media as a method of researching people within businesses they are working with. This shouldn’t make you paranoid, just remember what you put online, even on private profiles, is in the public realm and can reflect positively or negatively on you.

3 Surefire Ways to Landing Your Next Job

3 Surefire Ways to Landing Your Next Job If you haven’t been job hunting within the last year, you’ll find things are a bit different. It is going to take more than a resume to land your next job. Competition is fierce In many industries and pockets of the world, hiring is on the upswing. That’s good news! As a matter of fact, there has probably not been a better time to look for work in the last three years! But, and this is a huge BUT: Competition is fierce. There are tons of qualified (even over-qualified) candidates applying for every job. Why does this matter to you? It is going to take more effort and planning on your part to land that choice job. Here are three things you can do to better compete: You must stand out! You must find an inside connection and follow up on every job you apply for! You need to be well connected! 1. Stand Out The resume you submit has to be specifically crafted to match the job and company you are applying for and that old generic cover letter has to get tossed. Develop a customized cover letter unique to every job you apply for and explain how you can fit their specific needs. You should have a strong personal brand and online presence that means building a LinkedIn profile that is more than just a regurgitation of your resume. It should convey your personality and tell your story, but dont stop there! Build a reputation online by creating a personal website, and any of the other social tools out there to spread the word about your deep commitment and passion for the work you do. If you dont know about keywords and search engine optimization, take some time and learn about them. This knowledge will help you build the right online presence. 2. Be Assertive Follow up after you apply for every job and don’t give up when you don’t hear back. And dont stop there. Find inside connections who can give you the low-down on what is going on in the hiring process and perhaps be a referral source or an ally for you. The best way to find out about jobs is to network with industry colleagues. If youve built these connections already, tap into them. If not, start today by joining professional associations and groups focused on your area of expertise youll need these relationships again, so dont treat this as a one-time effort. Finally, be sure about what you are looking for and the value you add and convey this consistently and constantly through your personal branding statement (which should be in your email signature, on business card, and a part of your introduction whenever you meet someone). 3. A Strong Sphere Of Influence Know key people inside and outside of your industry but dont stop there! Your personal network of friends, family and past colleagues is equally important. Be sure everyone knows what companies you are interested in working for so they can refer you to the right people. To maintain and nurture your connections, remember to give as much as you get. Always pay it forward by helping other people inside and outside of your network. Develop a reputation for being a connector or go-to source for your expertise. Timing is everything Dont shut any doors or turn away any opportunities, because you never know where theyll lead.   While your sense of urgency is quite real, the companies doing the hiring operate under a clock that moves at a much slower pace. Hiring takes longer than anyone expects. There are fires that need to be put out which take precedence over filling an opening. Be patient but never assume no news means theyve hired someone else. The bottom line here is that people hire people! Every step of your search needs to incorporate human contact and connections.

Teaching Positions - Writing a Good New Teacher Resume

Teaching Positions - Writing a Good New Teacher ResumeIf you are looking to apply for a teaching position, writing a good new teacher resume can get you an interview. When submitting resumes, people tend to be brief. But what happens when you enter the college teaching world?While the new teacher's responsibility is to prepare a well-written, professional resume, it is up to the school administrators to make sure that the letter can actually make a difference. It is important to remember that the first impression a potential employer has on you is the letter itself. If the letters in your possession are not professionally written, your chances of getting hired are greatly reduced.There are some things to keep in mind when composing a teacher resume. First, you need to keep your skills as a teacher in mind. Do you have some form of a degree or certificate? Do you have any experience teaching elementary or secondary education? Does your work as a teacher involve hands-on work or classr oom management?Next, you want to consider some of the key components to composing a teacher resume. If you are new to the job, you want to put a little extra effort into your resume. Find out if there are any records of how many years you have been teaching or even a list of students you have served.Your information should also be complete and accurate. Check with the school you are applying to see if there are any previous students' records to confirm that you have a strong background in the field. Be sure to include your education degree, your work experience and your certifications if you have any.When writing your resume, remember that this is a person who is applying for a job. You must approach this job interview in a professional manner. Practice writing a few teacher resumes before you go on to the interview. Doing so will help you feel more confident and comfortable about speaking with the candidate.The student who writes the letters for the new teacher will also need to le arn how to approach these applications. This is the person who will get directly involved in the hiring process. Do not be afraid to ask questions and learn as much as you can about the new teacher. You will also want to make sure that you are able to offer feedback on the new teacher's work experience and educational background.While you are preparing to write your letters to the potential employer, you will also want to take care of other aspects of your life. This includes having a well-organized file system, developing a folder structure, and keeping a timetable that keeps your day clear and organized. Keeping a clean and tidy office space will be very helpful to you while you are compiling your application letters.

Self Perception Matters, Seriously. - Wolfgang Career Executive Coaching

Self Perception Matters, Seriously. - Wolfgang Career Executive Coaching Do you believe that a broken mirror, cracked into a thousand crumbling segments, can portray how you truly look? Of course not! Because of the cracks, the reflection would reveal a distorted image of self, a lie to your true appearance. Similarly, having a distorted sense of inner self can cause confusion and anxiety. Like the greek God Narcissus, who was so inflamed with pride that he lost his will to do anything but look at his own reflection, having a deceptive inner critic can rob us of our time, happiness, and ambition. Having a pessimistic sense of self is just as destructive, perhaps even more so, as narcissism. Your self perception can make or break your career. Many people may think that a job is about fulfilling a specific role, and that’s that. But your emotional life feeds your career much more than you may imagine. Your perspective can fuel your ambition, or kill it. Your perspective can help you to become a great leader, or keep you safely in the background. If you find yourself in a cycle of unhealthy thoughts, you may want to try these three practices: Self Perception: Self Talk Much too often our pattern of thoughts can be negative, and stay negative. It is almost too easy to remember the area’s in which we fail to succeed, watching them play like a broken movie reel over and over again. This pattern of thinking doesn’t thrive without some seriously negative side effect, such as depression and anxiety. So how do you overcome negative thoughts? Recognize them and counteract them each individually. When you do make a mistake, which is inevitable, instead of thinking, “I’m not good at anything,” tell yourself, “I choose to learn from my mistakes. I’ll be better next time.” The dialogue happening in our mind’s does truly affect how we live. Positive self talk is not about deceiving yourself, it is about the ability to recognize what is already true. Self Perception: Self Compassion Having compassion for yourself is no different than having compassion for others. If a good friend of yours was suffering in any way, your response to would be encouragement, an offering of hope, compassion. Why don’t we attempt this kind of kindness to ourselves? In order to give compassion and empathy, we need to recognize the suffering. Choosing to recognize that you’re hurting, flawed, and ultimately, human, is a scary and brave undertaking. But until your eyes are open to your need for compassion, you won’t be able to have it for yourself. When you fail, be kind to yourself. Learn from it, and move forward. Do the same when you’re imperfect, or your shortcomings are on full display. These things are inevitable. Self Perception: Trust Yourself You’re good at your job, trust that! You were hired for a reason, because you can specifically do what no one else could. If you find some heavy decisions are on your shoulders, and many people are pulling at you to make them happen, trust your instincts. Great leaders are people that trusted their instincts and acted bravely on them. Self Perception: Believe In Your Position It is proven that happy employees work harder and stay in their positions longer. But it is easy to simply get through the day, forgetting why you chose your job in the first place. Take time to recognize when you are happy in your job, and that you and your role are an integral part of the larger picture. Which coworkers are you thankful for? What value has your job brought to you? What value have you brought to it? Silencing your inner critic isn’t possible, and it isn’t the main goal here. The goal is to have the ability to hear this critic and not take direction from her. Remember positive self talk and self compassion. You can’t keep looking through a broken mirror hoping to gain an accurate sense of self. And if you can’t take it from us, take it from this little girl.

This Is Where Your Business Could Be Wasting Big Bucks

This Is Where Your Business Could Be Wasting Big Bucks It’s so common in business for business owners to waste a huge amount of money on things that they don’t really need. However, the sad thing is that many of them don’t realize that they are wasting money at all! When you become aware of these drains on your finances, you can do a much better job of running your business and spending money on the things that really matter. Below are a few examples of where your business could be wasting big bucks. Renting Office Space When You Don’t Need It If you don’t need office space, it could be a good idea to hold off until you do. You might want somewhere you can host meetings every so often, but you could just as easily meet up somewhere when it’s time for a meeting and have your team work remotely instead. Collaboration software makes this even easier. If you really do need an office space, then looking at shared spaces could be a more viable and financially sensible option for you. Outsourcing Too Much Outsourcing is a great way to save time and make more money while avoiding the things that you’re not great at. There are many tasks that must be completed within a business, and it’s a really good idea to figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are so you can effectively outsource. However, you might find yourself getting carried away with the idea of this, and try to outsource as much as you can rather than what you really need. Hiring People Who Are No Good For The Job Hiring the wrong kind of people is going to mean spending a lot of time and energy checking over and fixing work, and perhap even having to let them go in the end. You want to save money in the beginning, but you shouldn’t do this by hiring people who arent suitable for the job. You should never have to dedicate too much of your time to a new employee. Not Marketing Correctly Marketing is tough. In fact, this is probably one of the things you should outsource in order to avoid problems later on down the line. However, you must outsource to a reputable company, figure out what’s working for you by tracking your results, and learning a thing or two about marketing yourself. More money doesn’t necessarily mean more results. Purchasing Luxury Equipment Right Away Having equipment that enables you to complete your work to a high standard is great, but luxury equipment is not always necessary for this. You should focus on what you really need when you first start out, and avoid impulse purchases. If you visit EquifyAuctions.com/construction/on-line-auctions/  you may be able to get equipment you need for a reduced price. Failure To Track Expenses Properly If you don’t track your expenses properly, your cash flow will suffer. Every little expense in a business can add up, and tracking it correctly is a must. Hiring an accountant at the beginning of your business venture will be a big help.