Clear - Concise - Compelling

What do you really want?

What is your unique value?

Tell me about yourself ...

In the last entry I asserted that everyone is OurSelf-Employed. Success depends on our being able and willing to sell "Product Me" in ways that set us apart from the competition.

In networking situations, business owners and career transitioners usually offer routine descriptions of who they are and  what they are selling or looking for. Here's an example: "I am an insurance adjuster and I sell a-b-c-... and today I am looking for people who are interested in a quote." Or "I am an IT professional with expertise in SQL, Java, etc. looking for a company in this geographical area." Ho Hum ... nothing special, not unique, uninteresting, non-compelling, unexciting ... get my drift?


The human brain looks for patterns that are quickly identifiable so it can put your information into a mental manila file folder, file it under "insurance guy" or "IT gal" and close the drawer. It isn't that the information doesn't register, it just doesn't cause the brain to think about it very much. The effect is that you are just another "x" in the file drawer.


What if you could influence the brain of your target audience to process "Product You" a little longer before filing you as data? What if curiosity were stimulated by the way you describe yourself or your service? The person might be sparked to ask you some questions, learn more, even to have a positive emotional response to you!


The photo here could be described as a glass ball resting on a laser pattern - true. That description is clear and concise, but not very compelling! Take a few minutes and think about how you might stimulate more interest in the photo. Then review your "elevator introduction" and make it more compelling. Make sure that your uniqueness and value show up as beautifully as the photo on this post.

Love and light,
Diane

OurSelf .. Employed

"The biggest mistake that you can make is to believe that you are
working for somebody else. Job security is gone. The driving
force of a career must come from the individual. Remember:
Jobs are owned by the company; you own your career!"
— Earl Nightingale

Who do you work for? Paycheck or not, the truth is that we are all self-employed.

1. EMPLOYED: Working for a company gives a structure, goals, systems, teammates, and rewards defined by the organization.

2. SELF-EMPLOYED: Working in our own business requires self-management to create and invest our time and energy in structure, goals, systems, a team, and rewards defined by us.

3. TRANSITIONING: Working to find or create that next career step requires all of the same things and much more. You are working for yourself without knowing when the payday will arrive.

What I continue to see as I coach 'transitioning people' and employed people unhappy with their work is the battle between knowing and doing. We know that success depends on working as hard as we would in the EMPLOYED state or even the SELF-EMPLOYED state. But the requirement to stay on track day after day, often with very little support is a tall order. 

So let me offer a "reframe" for work in general. Our success ALWAYS depends on DOING what we know needs to be done. Whether we are working toward the next career step, working in a job defined by the company, or working in our self-defined business, the challenge is the same.

Own it! It is your work, your skill and talent put into action.
Focus it! There will always be something to distract or distress you in your work - focus on the task at hand.
DO IT! One step at a time, one hour at a time, one day at a time.
CHOOSE IT! Wherever you are, choose to be there rather than fighting it. Do your best right where you are and you will find the path to success.
                                    Take Charge - Get Moving
Love and light,
Diane

Relationship and Rapport

How do you connect with people you meet on the business or career transition path? People often lose valuable opportunities to create new and lasting relationships because they are so busy focusing on what they want that they don't notice what the other person wants. The emphasis is on what they want to say before the other person really wants to listen!

Here are some examples: Do you prefer to start with the big picture or all the details? Do you tend to speak in a fast, energetic style, or are you laid back and studied? The fact is that we each have preferences and a style for communicating ... and we like people who we perceive are mostly like us.

So here's a simple technique to help you be a master at establishing rapport. Pay attention to how the other person tends to behave and speak. Enter into their world and preferences for communicating by matching their patterns. You will find that when you start by establishing rapport, there will be two parties wanting to relate.

Broken

Broken ... broken-hearted over demolished dreams ... about career, about family, about love. Bright, gleaming beginnings and middles suddenly change ... and the endings we expected and planned for are changed forever. This is the point where a lot of us get stuck.

Rather than address the broken mess, we push harder to progress.

Here is what I have learned through coaching people in all kinds of transition: we try to fix the situation by more and more DO-ing of ineffective actions! The doorway to change and new dreams is in asking completely different questions of our perceptions. If what you are doing does not work, do ANYTHING else! This is one of the key presuppositions of NLP Neuro-linguistic Programming.

You have been diligently posting on job boards: Monster, Career Builder, etc.
You have been telling everyone you know what kind of work you are looking for.
You have been hoping and praying to meet the right person to fill your life with joy, while being stuck in ruminating over the past.
And it's not working? The brokenness is not attracting a brighter future, right?

Now is the time to 'clean up the broken mess' and take charge in new ways. There are strategies and solutions. Let's chat and see how to get a handle on your situation.
Love and light,
Diane

Absolute Certainty

Today I heard a very successful entrepreneur say that when we know with "absolute certainty" that we can accomplish our goal, the battle with 'self' is won. A twinge of recognition hit me and I'm asking myself which has been leading my actions - doubt and hopefulness or absolute certainty? You guessed it ... doubt is a killer of committed and persistent action. Hesitation, lack of focus, getting ready vs. getting into action with absolute certainty that today I can make it happen.

There's my theme again - Take charge, have absolute certainty that even the smallest step in the right direction will win the day, and get moving!
Think about it.
Love and light,

Diane

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference. --Reinhold Niebuhr

As I coach wonderfully talented people in career transition, I find many are not able to maintain a sense of peace and courage as time away from work drags on. They are tormented by a sense of helplessness in their inability to control the situation and get back to full employment. I hear it ... "I should be able to make things happen." "It's not fair/right that I was laid off." "What are people thinking of me, still unemployed? They think I'm a loser." As long as they are holding these illusions, they are blind to opportunities and creativity.

I have learned a lot about myself through them. We live as if our perceptions are truth when many are illusions. Illusions all around us - the illusion of security, of self-importance, of one's ability to control the world. As I take charge and get moving, I am accepting that I can't control circumstances or other people. I can only do what I can do. I can accept my limitations and claim my strengths. My mantra is "What is ... is. What ain't ... ain't. What are my choices right now?"

Let go of illusions, clarify the vision, plan and implement strategy with persistence and patience. Take charge of what I can do and build up momentum.
It isn't easy, but it is simple when the illusions are dispelled.
Love and light,
Diane

"Character isn't something you were born with and can't change, like your fingerprints. It's something you weren't born with and must take responsibility for forming."

— Jim Rohn: Was an entrepreneur, author, and speakerHere is the question:

"How is my character showing up in my actions?" If there is something about my character that is less than I know it can be, I have a responsibility in this New Year to change that. Here's my realization - I can do better this year. I will do better this year. I've written it down and designed a strategy. I am accountable to myself to consciously take action and to give it my all.

Love and light,
Diane