After surveying recruiters,
Cosmopolitan drafted the top ten interview mistakes.

They are
1. You Say, “This Is My Dream Job”
2. You Trash Your Old Boss
3. You Ask About Vacation Days
4. You Drink Water or Coffee
5. You Look Hot
6. You Talk Salary
7. You Play It Too Cool
8. You Wear Jeans
9. You Don’t Turn Off Your Cell
10. You’re Late

Many of these are no-brainers
but wait a minute,
what about #4
(You Drink Water or Coffee)?
Isn’t that a common offer
by interviewers?

Yes, it is
but it is one of those insincere questions like
‘how are you?’

When your prospective boss asks you
if she can get you a coffee or water,
she doesn’t want you to say ‘yes.’

Her time is valuable.
Expecting her to source beverage for you
is ridiculous.
It also communicates that
she should wait while you refresh yourself.

Drink coffee or water on your own time.
Take the interview time
to sell yourself.

Purple is the hot color
for this fall.

How to use purple?
Well, not with product development,
not unless the product
has a short lead time
(fall is a few short months away)
and an even shorter shelf life.

But you may wish to use purple
in marketing materials.
You could
show ‘customers’ in that hot color
or use purple font
or create window displays using purple.

One of the fun things about marketing
is that although the message
and brand should be eternal,
marketing materials can reflect
that moment in time.

Have some fun with purple this fall!

A publisher had an unexpected gap
in their publishing schedule.
That happens at even the biggest publishers.
Authors get ill.
Editors win the lottery.
Gaps happen.

Many times publishers
will bump up books
or send an urgent call out
for clean submissions
or… gasp… ship with an empty slot.

This publisher sent an urgent call out.
An author friend of mine,
knew this was a great opp
for a fellow author.
She sent a brief but professional mass email
to an intimate 44 member author loop,
relying that this publisher was in desperate need
of submissions.

Desperate, perhaps, wasn’t the best word
as the rumors immediately started
that the publisher was in financial trouble.
Why else would they need
to spam the world for submissions?

There are times to use mass email
and there are times to use private email.
If you wish the message
to be viewed as exclusive, or special
or, in this case, an opportunity not to be missed,
take the time
and send the message privately.

When a new employee is hired,
management makes a big splash
about it.
Notices are sent out.
Introductions are made.
Some managers even host a welcome lunch.

When employees leave or are let go,
it is a quieter affair.
Often there’s no official notification.
Going-away lunches are more and more rare.
Real reasons are hushed up
and plastered over with official phrases
like ’she’s exploring new opportunities.’

Everyone notices the new hires.
Very few employees
notice who leaves a company.
Even fewer care enough
to figure out WHY people leave
and what this might mean
to their own careers.

BTW…
if you see high turnover in
the finance department,
you may want to dig into
the financial status of the company
you depend upon for your paycheck.

I also get very nervous
when long-term senior executives leave.

Many of the most beloved brands
in the world
have nicknames.

Coca-Cola is called Coke.
McDonald’s is called Mickey D’s.
Nora Roberts is called La Nora.

So when do you use
the formal name
and when do you use
nicknames?

Brand Naming has a wonderful article
outlining when you should and shouldn’t.

Basically formal marketing
should use the formal name.
Nicknames are for insiders.
You don’t have to market to insiders.

You also can’t force insiders
to use a nickname.
Nicknames are earned.
They are not given.

How are they earned?
By the brand gaining enough passionate fans
that they create their own language
and give the brand a nickname.

Focus on your formal name.
Let your fans
work on your nickname.

Aside:
I’d like to send a big thank you
to Jakub.
I derive no compensation from this blog
other than thank you’s
and sometimes I question
if I add value.
Jakub emailed me exactly when
I was asking myself that question.
Thank you, Jakub, for appreciating my posts.

A friend of mine
has been researching for a story
for over six months now.
She tells me about
all the cool facts she’s learned.
She thinks she’s doing something.

She’s not.
She’s preparing to do something.

I’m the opposite.
I’ll do enough research
to know my story premise is possible.
I write the story,
with blanks for research gaps,
and then I fill in the ‘facts’ later,
doing only the research I need
to finish the story.

Researching may be necessary
(or it may not be)
but it is not doing.
Doing is doing.
You only get paid when you ship.

A friend of mine
has ever minute filled with noise.
She always has
either the tv on
or the radio
or…
She is constantly being entertained.

She is also
the least creative person I know.

When I’m plotting
(a story OR to take over the world),
I need quiet.
The tv isn’t on.
I often don’t have any noise.
My brain fills that empty space
with thoughts,
sometimes crazy thoughts.

For many people
(and there are always exceptions),
if you fill every space,
there’s no room to be creative.

If you want to raise problem solvers,
if you want to encourage creativity,
leave some quiet time,
some open spaces.

I belong to a group of five authors.
Almost every day,
we email each other
and talk about what we did
writing-wise that day.

We have measurements
words written,
manuscripts submitted,
that are short forms for progress.
Not surprisingly,
our group has achieved
great things this year.

One of my entrepreneur friends
does the same with three other entrepreneurs.
They email each day
and mention what they did marketing-wise,
what sales they made,
what products they produced.

My friend is beginning to have success.
She tells me,
that if not for these other women,
she would have quit long ago.

Consider finding others
at the same stage you are
and create a support system.
It can be as simple
as having someone you need to be accountable to.

I don’t watch tv shows
unless a legal copy is available online.
I don’t care if there are commercials.
I simply want to be able
to watch the show whenever I want.

Many of my friends feel the same
except they aren’t as fussy
about the legal part.

So they go to the pirates
if the legal content isn’t available.
These shows lose out
on advertising revenue
and access to these viewers.

There’s been some buzz
about Taylor Swift’s new song Mine.
The official video isn’t available yet
on YouTube
(my listening station of choice).
I don’t care about the video.
I just want to listen to the song.
And the song is available on YouTube
from ‘fans.’

It would take very little
for Taylor Swift’s people
to put the entire album on YouTube
(with the album cover)
and earn advertising revenue off it.
Instead, the ‘fans’ get the advertising revenue.

If you don’t offer your content
in a way viewers or listeners or readers want it,
they WILL go to the pirates.
Doesn’t it make sense
to capture these potential customers yourself?

In a workshop I attended yesterday,
we all worked on a problem
and then presented it.

The presentations weren’t to practice presenting
or to get feedback on our solutions
or so other groups could use our solutions.

The presentation was
to ensure we did the assignment.

WTH?
A professional workshop is not grade school.
The only one hurt
by not doing an assignment is the attendee.

Don’t waste time
(your time and, in this case, the entire class’s)
by checking something that doesn’t need to be checked.

And if you want to get the most
out of a workshop,
do your homework.