June 2010 – Page 3

A Results Based Resume

My recruiter recently told me
that I had the worst resume ever.
The reason that I land gigs
is because…
well…
I’ve landed gigs
at some of the top companies.

Why is my resume
the worst ever?

Because it is task heavy
and not results focused.

Employers want to read
about results.
They want to hear how much money
you saved previous companies,
what products you successively launched,
and
what changes you made in a company.

If you’re like me
and still stuck in the ’80’s
with a task heavy resume,
you may wish to update it.
You never know
when you’ll need it.

Forbes has a great list
of five things a recruiter
wants from employees.

Find A Way

An author buddy
was complaining about
how expensive book award contests were
to enter.

Her argument was
that there are many great books
written by broke a$$ authors.
The world is deprived
of these works due to lack of funding.

That’s bullshit.
The world is deprived
of these works due to lack of creativity
and if the author
isn’t creative enough
to figure out a way
to get the $35 entry fee paid,
then how innovative can the book possibly be?

If you believe in your product
that much,
ask a friend, family member, or fan
to pay the entry fee.
Repay them out of the increased sales
when you win.

Never let lack of money
hold you back
from achieving your goals.
Find a way.

Time For You

I get cranky
when I spend too much time
working to make
other people’s dreams come true
(i.e. usually on a business contract)
and not enough time
making my own dreams come true.

So I take a day off.
When I worked full time,
it would be a sick day.
Now, I take an unpaid day.

One of my buddies
tries to work through it.
She ends up snapping at people,
walking away from projects
at the worst times,
and
otherwise f**kin’ up.

She damages relationships
and projects
by not seeing to her own needs first.

If you’re an entrepreneur
raising money by working for someone else,
manage your entrepreneurial impulses.
There’s no shame
in taking a (planned for) day off
to indulge in business building.

Take time for you.

Procrastination Is A Luxury

An interviewer asked
best selling novelist Jodi Picoult
how she fights writer’s block.

Her answer?

“I don’t.
Writer’s block is for people
who have the luxury of time.”

I have the same thoughts on procrastination.
Procrastination is a luxury.
It is meant for those of us
who plan to live forever.

The rest of us have a short time
on this earth.
We can’t possibly do
all that we want to do.

That means there’s no time for delaying.
I don’t talk about writing a story.
I write the damn story.
I don’t talk, talk, talk about project launches.
I get the facts I need
and launch.

Sure, I make mistakes.
Sure, I don’t often do things
with full information.

But I do.

Go out there and DO!

Misleading Marketing

I was invited to a free lunch
on Friday.
I was told it was ‘Italian food.’

I envisioned pasta.
The actual meal was pizza.

I love pizza.
I love pizza more than I love pasta.
If I had been told it was pizza,
I would have gone
and enjoyed it.

But I was told it was Italian food
and, even though I prefer pizza,
I felt like a fool
for having been ‘taken.’

That’s what misleading marketing is.
It is when you think
your shit isn’t good enough
so you ‘enhance’ the marketing message,
hoping that someone will try it once.

But they only try it once
because they feel like a sucker
for having been tricked
and end up associating that negative feeling
with your product.

You have a choice.
You can mislead prospects
and hope you have an unlimited number of prospects
to sell to.

Or you can market a product
you have confidence in.

Designing Bottles With Passion

In April’s Men’s Health,
Chad Lavigne
talks about innovation and passion.

Lavigne designs bottles and tubes
for personal care products
(The bottle for Kenneth Cole Signature
is his).

He is passionate about his art
(and yes, designing bottles
IS art).
He is so passionate,
he collects bottles for inspiration.
“I’ll see bottles
and have to have them.
I try to carry that passion
over into my designs.
There are millions of products
on the market.
If there’s not some thought
behind a product,
it doesn’t mean anything.
And if it doesn’t mean
something to you,
why should you buy it?”

HAVE to have them.
That’s passion.

Last night,
I told the office cleaning lady
she did a great job.
“But of course,”
she replied.
“I’m the best cleaner there is.”

She’s the BEST.

Are you living at that level
of passion?

Younger Bosses

A survey by CareerBuilder
found that 43% of workers 35 and older
are currently working for a younger boss.

This can be jarring, at first, for
a career employee
as it feels like
you’ve been leapfrogged.
After a couple of months however,
you realize that she’s a boss
just like any other.

That means boss rules apply.
You adapt to HER management style,
not the other way around.

Because if upper management
wanted the same ol’, same ol’,
they would have hired
an older worker like…
well… you.

They didn’t want someone
with 20 years of company history.
They wanted someone
who would do things differently.
That means YOU are expected
to do things differently also.

Age is simply another factor.
I’ve had great younger bosses
and I’ve had sucky younger bosses.
All these bosses, however,
were just that… my boss.

The Last Days Of A Contract

My last day at the business gig
is tomorrow.
I received a huge new project
yesterday.

Unless you plan
to extend the temporary employee’s contract,
don’t do this.
She won’t get the project done.
As she’ll be rushing to finish it
(and she won’t finish it),
she won’t have time to document the process.
She’ll leave the project in a big mess.

If the project has to be finished,
the new employee won’t know
what has been done.
He will have to start from zero.
He’ll toss what the contractor has done.

If the project doesn’t have to be finished,
it won’t be.
The contractor will have rushed around
for no reason.
She could spend that time
transitioning and wrapping up
other projects.

No project manager
wants to start a project
and not finish it.

No project manager
wants to finish a project
another manager has started.

Assign a project manager
who might be there
for the duration.

Spying On The Competition

When I was with
a quick service restaurant chain,
we’d go on
competitor shops.

When I was with
a major beverage company,
we would count shelf facings
of competitor’s products.
We’d call their 1-800 numbers
and ask questions.
We’d have Google alerts
on their brands.

Every successful company
is aware of what competitors
are doing.

It enables them to respond quickly
or even choose not to respond at all.

Forbes has a list of six ways
you can keep an eye on competitors.

Yesterday’s Wallflowers

When I first joined
my local writing chapter,
I didn’t know anyone.
The members had already formed
into cliques.
I didn’t really fit.

So I started the back row gang.
Whenever a new person joined
or I saw someone sitting alone,
I called out to her
to sit with ‘us’ in the back row.

Now, at meetings,
the back rows are full
and those newbies aren’t newbies anymore.
They’re published authors.
Some have written bestsellers.

That’s the thing about wallflowers.
They don’t stay wallflowers.
The woman who didn’t know anyone
yesterday
knows half the room tomorrow.

Be kind to wallflowers.
They’ll remember that kindness.

Lori Richardson has some more
wallflower stories.