The post Why You Should Always Keep a Running List of Your Career Accomplishments appeared first on Brazen Life.

Academic advisors sometimes call this a “brag sheet,” and they draw from it when writing recommendations for students. Keeping a list of your professional accomplishments serves a similar purpose.

This list acts as a repository that you can draw from whenever you need to. Don’t anticipate looking for a new job or updating your resume soon? You should still keep a list of your accomplishments. Here’s why:

1. Keep better track of your experiences

It’s difficult to remember all the details of our experiences. Documenting them close to when they happen enables you to accurately keep track for the future. This will make it easier to weave relevant experiences into a resume or cover letter. It’ll also help you simply remember.

2. Have readily available phrases and statistics to draw from

When you run into the VP you admire in the elevator and she asks, “So what have you been up to?” you’ll have articulate, meaningful responses to give her rather than saying, “Not much,” or giving her a generic, “Things are so crazy!” This also applies to when a recruiter reaches out to you on LinkedIn or when your uncle asks about your job over the holidays.

3. Give yourself choices

You’ll likely never include everything you’ve ever done in a resume or a conversation, but keeping a list of your accomplishments gives you options. When you’re ready to apply to your dream job, you can pick and choose the most relevant, compelling items.

4. Observe your own trends

Keeping stock of your accomplishments lets you observe your own trends. Are there any project areas you’ve really knocked out of the park? Do you post the best results when working on a team or alone? Maybe you’ve led multiple cross-functional teams and not even realized it. Documenting what you’re doing and how you spend your time helps you identify patterns that might influence what turn your career takes next.

Ready to start or update your list, but unsure how? Create a simple list. To save time and write in a professional tone, try to keep the list as a “master” version of your professional resume.

Don’t forget to apply well-known resume writing tips like including statistics to quantify your results, using strong action verbs and writing about work you’ve done in the past tense and current work in present tense.

It’s common to get caught up in our day-to-day and lose sight of our careers in a broad sense. The day-to-day is important, but it’s equally important to step back every now and then and take inventory of what we’ve been up to. (Click here to tweet this thought.)

Keeping this sort of list fresh prepares you for when the time comes to spruce up your resume, apply for a job or speak about an experience or specific result quickly.

Jane Scudder is a marketing manager and culture team lead at Hubzu.com. Passionate about career development, culture, and change management, she blogs in her spare time, follow her musings here: janeonchange.blogspot.com.

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The post Fake It Till You Make It: 5 Ways to Boost Your Credibility at Work appeared first on Brazen Life.

How do you make sure your brand sets you up for real success? Here are five ways to ensure the image you project is one of a trustworthy, competent professional, even if you’re just starting out. (Click here to tweet this list.)

1. Dress for the part you have, not the part you want

This is the opposite of the more traditional saying, “Dress for the part you want.” For a young professional, this means you should dress to look older than you are. But this doesn’t always work.

I remember spending thousands of dollars buying stuffy jackets and pantsuits that were often designed for much older people. Not only did that make me look frumpy, it caused other people to mistrust me. It was obvious to them that I was a young woman pretending to look like I was in my 50s. — Jessica, an IT consultant in her mid-twenties

A more reasonable approach would be to dress like your age group — in appropriate business clothes. It’s silly to think dressing like a senior executive would confer the credibility and respect that could only be gained through real experience. Age brings experience, but youth brings energy.

Regardless of your age, embrace your strength and dress your age. That being said, be sure to dress appropriately for the occasion. If everyone wears a jacket at your company, invest in a well-fitted one too. If jeans are de riguer, don’t show up in a suit and tie.

2. Leverage your body language like leaders do

Did you know that we only pay attention to 7 percent of the actual words people say? The majority of their message is conveyed through body language, facial expressions, and the tone of their words.

That’s why email messages are often fraught with miscommunication — we can’t tell the tone of the message. Sometimes a side remark becomes interpreted as a grave insult.

Leaders use body language to convey confidence, leadership and other emotions to connect with and motivate people. For example, after September 11th, New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani wasn’t afraid to express the shock, sadness, anger, and determination of New Yorkers in his public speeches. His ability to use emotions to connect with his audience established him as “America’s Mayor.”

Similarly, think about the reputation you want to establish. If your brand is to be a collaborative leader, don’t sit with your arms across your chest in meetings. Use open arms and a relaxed posture to convey your approachability.

3. Learn your industry’s vocabulary

In many industries, knowing to say the right words at the right time can confer instant credibility.

What are those magical words you should know to demonstrate your expertise? Often times, they’re technical words specific to your industry. Learn the vocabulary by listening to how senior managers communicate with customers or read trade journals to pick up the latest trends and news.

4. Make friends wisely

Our parents were right: Choose your friends carefully. We form perceptions of others based on who their friends are. Who you associate with at work is more important than you think.

Next time you buy another sandwich lunch to take back to your desk, think about whether you’re building relationships with the right people in your company. Having a wide and loose network helps you garner more information from all corners of the company (and industry). Further, associating with strong performers who are rising stars in the company never hurts.

5. Ask for feedback regularly

Ben, a marketing manager, liked to describe his style as “quiet confidence.” Yet, people who worked with him used another word – “mouse-y.” Ouch.

The way we see ourselves is often different from how others perceive us. As difficult as it may be, ask your colleagues for feedback regularly to ensure your brand is being perceived the way you want.

In the corporate workplace, the way we project our brand comes through our words, emails, body language, gestures and facial expressions. Every interaction you have with a colleague gives them information about your credibility, expertise and character.

What about you? Do you want to be seen as a credible, respected expert in your field? Try the strategies here.

If these strategies have worked for you before, share your story in the comments.

Debbie Choy is a Stanford MBA, career coach and author of the upcoming book, Inside Corporate America: A Guide to Promotions, Office Politics and Culture. When she’s not writing, she runs Mastermind groups and workshops, and shares her musings on corporate America at InsideCorporate.net.

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The post How to Make Your Business Card Stand Out appeared first on Brazen Life.

But there are plenty of situations where the person you want to remember you has been handed over a dozen business cards—so how do you make yours stand out from the crowd? (Click here to tweet this question.)

Have a Signature Color

Have a specific color tone to your website? Love a specific color combo? As long as it doesn’t hurt the eyes, let your business card build your personal brand in a memorable way through color. The right use of color can take a simple, standard business card and upgrade it both in design and its ability to stand out from the crowd.

Plus, psychologists have found that color improves memory performance, since it adds an extra “memory tag” onto the item. Having a perfect color combo, whether that’s pairing complementary colors or a bright color on white, literally helps your business card stand out when it’s received, and when that receiver thinks back to the best business cards.

Organize, But Not in a Boring Way

We’ve all seen the standard, a quick list of information in size nine font that looks like it belongs in the depths of corporate America. With companies like Vista Print and Moo cards, you’re able to take the basic design and customize it to feature your key information beyond the normal standard. Why stuff your entire address in there in tiny font when you could fit your Twitter handle and website in an easy-to-read size?

The design and organization of your card speaks volumes, beyond just having an eye-catching card. Jaime Petkanics from The Prepary definitely feels this way. “A well-designed card with key information clearly laid out is much more important than something really creative or flashy in my opinion. I love a super fancy business card as much as the next person. But in reality, the content of your conversation while networking is going to make you stand out more than any business card can!”

Have a Catchphrase or Quote that Matches You

My business card has multiple versions of the backside, and one of them has the phrase “Do What You Love.” It speaks to what I blog about at thenenja.com. So many of us have slogans, quotes or proverbs that match what we work toward on a professional and personal level, and it’s a great way to add life to your business card without just placing your logo on the back. You can often design business cards to have multiple designs on one side, so you could have business cards that alternate your favorite phrases, have your logo, etc.

Plus, having that catchphrase will help bring your personal beliefs to life, adding a personal touch to your card beyond the best place to find you and your work. And who knows? Maybe the person you hand it to happens to also love that quote, philosopher, or idea behind what you’ve added to your card. And voila, instant connection.

Nena Farrell is a soon-to-be holder of a BA in journalism from San Francisco State University. Nena runs a career and tech-focused blog (with a few SF foodie reviews) at thenenja.com.

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The post Want That Promotion? 3 Easy Ways to Bring Your A-Game appeared first on Brazen Life.

It’s not too late to brush off those career resolutions and still follow through. You can still resolve to make changes at work to truly get noticed. This can still be the year you emerge as a team leader and move up in the company. (Click here to tweet this bit of inspiration.)

By capitalizing on your strengths and avoiding negative or competitive behaviors, make 2014 the year you get ahead. These essential actions will help build career velocity and happiness.

1. Elevate your personal brand

As an individual you have a history, reputation and other attributes that set you apart. This is especially true at work, where your strengths and flaws are apparent. This experience of YOU is what differentiates you — not your title or credentials. People who hone their personal brand stand out in a crowd of talent.

If you’re consistent in how your deliver the experience of you, you build equity. As you build equity, more of your coworkers will want to work with you and engage with your brand. Build your personal brand like any large brand is built: with effort and lots of reflection.

What do you do for your customers — in this case your boss, employees or clients? How do you do it? Be innovative. Be creative. This consistent experience of you is how you build trust and relationships.

Last of all, why do you do what you do? What drives you? Be inspired, and you’ll inspire those around you. Be sincere. People will notice, and they will become loyal customers of your brand.

Forget your resume for a minute. Distill all that goes into your brand in a few sentences that capture the essence of the YOU experience. Like a powerful tagline or an elevator speech, own the way you communicate your value.

2. Get in alignment

When you feel “off,” “overwhelmed,” or “not yourself,” you’re out of alignment. You could chalk it up to stress and attempt to power through. But ignoring what’s going on within will simply deplete you and make your greatest work impossible.

This “off” feeling is a signal. If your energy is low, will your brand stand out? Think about the x factor every great leader has — that magnetism, that energy that makes us want to follow them. Nothing about about a great leader feels “off” or “overwhelmed.”

Is this because of a fundamental difference between great leaders and the rest of humanity or because they’ve found their alignment? Rather than powering through when you feel out of alignment, listen to your body’s needs. Know yourself and know what you need to reach that x factor.

To get in alignment, you have to feel good in your skin. Make time to exercise every day. Don’t say you don’t have time. Exercise reduces stress and helps process what overwhelms you — obstacles you don’t have time for.

When’s the last time you had a big idea? Were you sitting at your desk? Doubt it.

3. Choose to partner

Being in business can bring out the worst in us — or the best. It’s a choice. Hierarchy, competition, pressure, poor communication, deadlines and lack of financing or budget can create a feeling of scarcity, adversity and fight or flight.

No one gets ahead in fight or flight. Feeling threatened brings out the worst in us. The blame game, politicking, punitive management, paralysis and backlashing are symptoms you may recognize.

True leaders work with their teams, rather than against them. They understand the temptation toward fight or flight, but don’t give in. Instead, they create partners. Everyone on the team has something to offer, and they all want to be recognized for their contribution.

Being a leader means knowing how to both utilize and appreciate those around you. Being a partner means working toward a common goal. The hassles and inefficiencies of duking it out with your team aren’t worth your trouble. Forget about them and become a master of partnership.

Moving ahead in your career while building happiness takes immense self-reflection. You have to understand your brand — the experience of YOU — as well as what holds you back.

When you play to your strengths and make productive choices, you’ll find you remove roadblocks, build your brand, further your cause and inspire those around you. Know yourself. Consider what makes you successful. Now go out and make this the year you deserve!

Cherie Healey is an entrepreneur, Board Certified Results Coach, business owner, and Velocity Guru for Workboard, Inc. She has over 20 years of corporate experience and a deep commitment to reminding people what they’re made of so they can make a profound difference in the world. TappedInLeader.com

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The post The Real Secret to Scoring a Promotion That No One Tells You About appeared first on Brazen Life.

You can be sure the conversation will include far more than a discussion of your on-the-job skills. Promotions aren’t offered based on job skills alone. Plenty of people are good at their jobs, yet never get ahead.

If you want to be the person selected for advancement, you must move beyond honing your skills; you must learn to sell yourself to executives throughout your company, creating a personal brand that distinguishes you from others. (Click here to tweet this thought.)

So how should you sell yourself? By creating an elevator pitch that you can deliver to these executives when you get the chance to speak with them? No. Despite popular belief, an elevator pitch is perhaps the least effective way to sell yourself.

Instead, sell yourself by engaging leaders in improvised conversations that matter to them.

Improvisation is key. You can’t possibly pre-script a conversation with one of your company’s senior leaders because you can’t predict what will happen when you meet with them. You need to be ready to improvise a fresh, spontaneous conversation that’ll capture the interest of this executive, based on what unfolds as the two of you speak.

You may not have unfettered access to your company’s top leaders, so make the most of every small encounter. Use these tips to ditch the pitch and improvise meaningful conversations that get you noticed.

Think input before output

Each executive in your company is unique. Before telling them about yourself, listen and observe. Seek to understand who they are, what their style is and what interests them. If you’re alert and pay close attention, you’ll discover ways to interest each of these executives.

Go with the flow

Engage these executives in ongoing conversations. Be willing to adapt to the subjects and style of each executive, so your dialogue feels natural, flowing and comfortable. Don’t worry about impressing this person with your skills; first interest them in having conversations with you.

Explore and heighten

As you have conversations with one of your company’s leaders, find out what matters to them. Then, heighten the conversation by talking about what they care about. This will also increase their interest in continuing to speak with you, opening up new opportunities to build your relationship with them.

Obey the one-paragraph rule

When talking with a senior person in your company, never speak more than one-paragraph’s worth of information without leaving a break. This will give the other person a chance to speak, process information or react. And it’ll help you keep them engaged in the conversation. Don’t monologue.

Focus the conversation on the other person

No matter how much an executive begins to like you, she likes herself more. It makes more sense to talk about her than you. Here’s a rule of thumb: Focus 95 percent of the subject matter of your conversations on the executive, talking about her work, her areas of responsibility, her key projects and her interests.

If you do this, you’ll inevitably find opportunities to weave relevant information about yourself into the conversation, always connecting things about you to things about her.

Focus on the relationship

Don’t think of selling yourself to your company’s leaders as a series of transactions. It’s much more about building relationships over time. By ditching the pitch and creating fresh, spontaneous and improvised conversations that matter to each executive, you’ll see these relationships grow.

Let’s return to that time in the not-too-distant future when your company’s senior leaders are meeting to determine who will move up another notch up the ladder of success. Imagine you’ve successfully sold yourself as a key leader of your company’s future. Now imagine the wonderful things those leaders are saying as they try to outdo each other in praising you.

You can make that happen when you sell yourself by ditching the pitch.

Steve Yastrow is the author of Ditch the Pitch: The Art of Improvised Persuasion (SelectBooks; January 2014) and the founder of Yastrow and Company. Find him at www.yastrow.com and @steveyastrow.

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The post Build Your Personal Brand: 5 Tools That Will Help You Get Noticed appeared first on Brazen Life.

Here are five tools to get started:

1. Pocket

Have you ever had an idea you know is great, but you forget it 15 seconds later? Great content is like that, too. With so much happening online, it can be hard to grasp the right insights and keep them around for quick reference.

Pocket solves that problem by allowing you to save anything and go back to it when you have time. You can save articles and videos, with specific tags, and send them to colleagues from inside the app. Never lose another great idea (or post) again.

2. Noowit

Sending a link to an article isn’t the most efficient way to share information anymore. Your inbox gets filled immediately, and coworkers have the same issue. That’s what makes Noowit incredible.

It takes articles and other media and creates a smart, shareable and mobile-ready magazine. You can view it on any device, and with their bookmarklet, you can always update it. It also allows you to view the article inline, so you can go back to the magazine and never have to open a new tab. Create content people love, and they’ll thank you for it. (Click here to tweet this thought.)

3. Buffer

Your time matters. How you spend it and what you do with it can determine your success in and outside of the office. Buffer acts as your social media concierge, giving you the ability to schedule all your posts throughout the day.

Choose your favorite networks and schedule your posts ahead of time. It even allows you to check the analytics of your posts, so you can see what’s working in your networks and how it gets shared. You can’t manage what you don’t measure, and Buffer helps you manage and scale your impact online.

4. Scoop.it

Being an expert in one thing can transform you from an employee to a thought leader. Scoop.it empowers you to be a publisher by letting you turn topics you’re passionate about into a collection you can share and build.

Slideshows, articles, videos and anything else you find gets placed into a beautiful layout and is easily accessible from any platform. Thousands of topics are already on the site, so you’ll have no shortage of ideas to build from.

5. Kippt

When it comes to beating the competition, you’re only as good as the information you have. Kippt lets you create an online library of cool things to share and curate. You can save any type of media and share it publicly or privately.

This can be a great resource for gathering information on a new product launch, market research or seeing how your company is perceived. You can create private groups for your team or send the entire bundle of relevant articles to people who need it. Let your bookmarks tell a story.

Test and iterate with these tools and choose the ones that work best for you and your schedule. With the right tools and some effort, you can make this the year you expand your brand and elevate your career to new heights.

Jonathan Jackson is a writer, thinker and digital media enthusiast. He just finished a resource guide for Millennials called Push: An Insider Guide to Building Your Brand, Managing Your Wallet, & Starting Your Career. You can find him on Twitter, Google+ and his website, where he blogs about life and other things.

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The post Use Blogging to Brand Yourself as a Business Authority appeared first on Brazen Life.

You can blog about what interests you, what you’re passionate about and topics in your field of study or expertise. Spend just a half hour to an hour a week keeping your blog up to date. When potential employers search for your name on the Internet, they will see your blog and that you’re an authority in your field. If you start blogging in college, it can help launch you into the job market and establish yourself as an authority on your topic. It might even become a successful business in itself.

Where to start?

Two of the most popular free blogging platforms are Blogger and WordPress. Both platforms offer free tools and are very easy to use.

One of the most important things to do when starting your blog is to pick a name that will be your brand and represent the topic you will be writing about. Next, set goals for blogging that will allow you to be consistent. It’s important to blog regularly, so make sure to choose a schedule that you can keep up with. Finally, a clever design that entices readers and is well-organized will ensure that readers can find what they’re looking for.

What to blog about?

The possibilities here are really endless. Whether you have a broad topic or a very specific niche, others are bound to be interested in what you have to say. The key is establishing yourself as an authority on whatever it is you’re going to be blogging about.

Promoting your blog and getting readers to subscribe will propel your blog to the next level. When you continue to post interesting and shareable content, you will establish your brand and notoriety.

Reaping the benefits

Being a popular blogger also means managing successful social media channels to help promote your blog and a consistent brand. Once your brand begins to be recognized and established, you will see increased sharing and more subscribers who regularly read your blog and look forward to your postings.

As your subscribers and social quotient rise, your marketability will also increase, giving you the potential to be hired for your services, expand your brand to writing or host advertising, product reviews or affiliate links on your blog to generate income.

Learn from the masters

Some bloggers have established powerful brands and successful blogs. There are many lessons and tips to be learned from their success. Here are just a few:

Perez Hilton. Perez Hilton has been blogging since before it was popular. He has blogged about celebrity gossip since 2005, embraces the controversy that goes along with reporting about celebrity gossip and continues to have a top-viewed site on the Internet. Following the success of his blog, he has gained access to celebrity events, talk shows and is a published author.

Melanie Notkin. Melanie Notkin has developed her brand about being an aunt and has appealed to millions of other aunts (and even uncles) with her SavvyAuntie blog and brand. She has established Auntie Day and has a very specific niche for her readers. When you visit her blog, you will see the consistent imagery and graphics that help establish her brand as recognizable.

Michelle Phan. Michelle Phan is a beauty expert who got her start posting how-to makeup tutorials in 2005. Since then, she has grown her brand and her business in amazing ways. If video blogging matches your concept, you should consider that as well. Phan has grown a successful company from the early beginnings in video and then expanded into writing and posting pictures to tie it all together.

Crockin’ Girls. This unique concept for a food blog features cooking tips, recipes and videos for crockpots and slow cookers only. The success of the niche brand has led to a cookbook, in addition to a successful social brand and many contributors to their recipe ideas.

Mommy bloggers. This whole category deserves a shout-out here, because there are so many successful mommy bloggers. Some have niches within the category, but they all have being a mom in common. The successful blogs have a distinct look to them and use graphics or images to create a brand that is recognizable and memorable.

When mommy bloggers develop a following, they can host advertising on their site and bring in income that way. Many mommy bloggers review products, and companies send them their products for free in exchange for a review and the exposure to the blogger’s readers. In exchange for posting an honest review to their readers, the mommy blogger gets to keep the products. Even though this is not cash payment, it is definitely a great way for moms to help support their families.

This post originally appeared on Levo League.

Carly Heitlinger is the founder and blogger behind the blog “College Prep.” Ask her for advice on how to best brand yourself.

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The post How Writing an Awesome EBook Can Help You Land a Job appeared first on Brazen Life.

It’s not easy to stand out in the job-hunting crowd. Even if you do all the right things — networking, customizing your cover letter, and letting your true self show in the interview — often there are so many other candidates that it’s difficult to show why you’re the best choice.

So why not establish yourself as an expert in the field you want to work in? You can do this in a variety of ways; via a blog, public speaking or the vehicle we’re talking about today: by writing an ebook.

Why ebooks are a good investment of your time

EBooks provide an opportunity to be published far more easily than the traditional publishing process: they’re quicker to produce, easier to distribute and cheaper to make. (And for those of you who are still dying to send your photo to recruiters, you can embed multimedia.) This is a huge boon when getting “published” is a new form of street cred. When people are on talk shows now – whether they’re actors or physicists – they’re always introduced as “Big-Time Rich Person, author of Super Important Book You Should Buy.” The fact that they’re authors outshines everything else they’ve done.

It also can be easier to achieve big numbers in the ebook world. With a bit of elbow grease, it’s not unfathomable to get thousands of ebook downloads. With that many people reading your words, your stature as an expert in your field is established; you’ll carry that aura of wisdom forward. (It looks pretty darn good on a résumé, too.) Just like a great industry blog, an ebook can convince people who’ve never heard of you that you know what you’re talking about.

How to produce a relevant ebook

When writing an ebook, go with what you know. You could start with something you know jack about and dedicate the next five years of your life to learning everything there is to know about it, but your lack of judgment will surely be disturbing to future employers. Whether you’ve been working in the automotive industry or doing underwater basket-weaving for the last 10 years, focus on that.

Once you have a general topic in mind, figure out what will attract the most attention. Check out:

• Social media: What’s trending? What will your friends not shut up about?
• The news: Don’t focus on a short-term event, but if you’re inspired to write about something lasting (like how to survive a financial crisis), go for it.
• Current issues your clientele are grappling with: If you’re employed or ever have been, you’ve run into issues that could easily be resolved if people just did something differently.
• Google Insight and Google Trends

Once you’ve started, use social media to engage your target audience. They can provide you with valuable input, feedback and suggestions.

How ebooks can get you hired

Besides being an obvious résumé booster, an ebook tells employers several things about you:

1. You have experience and knowledge in the field, and you’re dedicated to and interested in the topic.
2. You are goal-oriented and an achiever; you’re a self-starter who doesn’t need people managing you to meet a goal.
3. You have crucial skills they need: writing, research and customer recognition.
4. You have a good understanding of public relations and marketing. In fact, your eBook can garner you PR ops that may bring your new employer your way.
5. You have a lot of contacts in the industry. As you engage your audience, you’ll inevitably expand your social circle within your field. Your networking during the writing process can even land you a job.

Case in point: a freelance writer I know was unemployed and wrote an ebook on how to create valuable content. Within two months of its publication, she had offers from two different content farms who’d simply stumbled across her ebook, which demonstrated exactly what she had to offer those companies.

Another guy who works as a management consultant generated so many leads from his ebook (where his contact information was provided) that he doubled his client base in a year.

Before you get desperate enough to dress up in a chicken costume and stand outside your dream employer’s office, write an ebook on a topic you know a lot about, preferably one that companies might want to hire you to help them with. Positioning yourself as a problem-solver and a self-motivated worker will bolster your candidacy – and it looks a heck of a lot better than chicken feathers.

Oh, and don’t forget to check out Brazen’s ebooks!

Nicolas Gremion is the founder of Paradise Publishers Inc. He started online in 2006 with a single website, www.Free-eBooks.net. His newest venture is Foboko.com to serve the popular desire people have to be published.

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The post Don’t Hate On Your Own Shine: How to Supercharge Your Confidence appeared first on Brazen Life.

We all have our own style, signature and colored lens to look at the world. It’s a gift, so find your own voice, embrace it and stop trying to be like someone else. At least, that’s what we often think about people who steal our ideas, criticize us unfairly or watch us just a little too closely. We tell people like that to stop hatin’!

But what happens when we become the haters? I don’t mean on someone else, but on ourselves. What should we do if we find ourselves dumbing down our ideas to gain others’ approval, or tearing down the personal brand we’ve established for ourselves, or nit-picking at every little thing we do wrong because we saw someone else do something that looks better?

You’ve got to tell yourself to stop hatin’!

As an emerging professional, it’s super important to find mentors and other people in your field who are where you want to be. But the most successful people haven’t gotten where they are because they CC’d themselves after someone else. Driven and successful people glean from other successful people, but they learn to adapt new ideas and fuse it into the plans they’ve already set for their lives, both personally and professionally.

Ready to embrace the you that others should want to follow? Here’s how:

Establish or review your personal brand

You can’t really make plans to go anywhere in life until you know who you are and where you want to go. Reading the how-to books and blogs like this one are great, but if you don’t know who you are, you’ll just be spinning your wheels.

Your brand is your personal manifesto. It’s your thesis statement. It’s what you want to be known for. It’s a succinct summary of your values and goals. As you assess the types of projects you engage in and the direction you want to move in for your career, match that to your brand.

Are you being true to what you want? Does your brand reflect your priorities? If you find yourself busy with a bunch of activities that don’t meet your goals, that’s a pretty good sign you might be headed in the wrong direction.

Identify your niche and expand your knowledge

Assess your interests, knowledge and experience. Ask yourself what you’re most passionate about, then start to focus on those areas — which means most of what you read, blog about or get involved in professionally should support those interests.

Join professional associations and Linkedin groups that reflect those interests, and get involved in conversations in those online hubs. Don’t pass up opportunities to learn more and interact with others who know more than you, so that you can start to add that information to your skill box.

Become an authority in your field

Now that you’re soaking up all this awesome information and growing and developing as a professional, don’t be stingy! It’s time to share what you know.

Offer yourself as a resource. You can do this within your professional circles by presenting at conferences, starting a blog and creating content that answers questions most people in your field want to know, or by launching a listserv, throwing out introspective topics that let your peers know you’re a focused thinker and a leader, and that you truly care about what you do.

This helps to build your reputation on the playground, so to speak. Before you know it, someone else will be gleaning insight from you.

So don’t sleep on what you have to offer. Self-evaluation is worthwhile, and we should always be looking for ways to bring fresh ideas to the table. But don’t ever compromise who you are for the sake of keeping up with the guy next door. If you do, you’ll likely never advance beyond that neighbor.

Christina Wood is an admissions counselor at Harrisburg Area Community College. She blogs at Community College Voice and is a contributing writer to The LI$T. Tweet Christina @ChristinaW82.

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The post Why Being Your (Super) Self is Better Than Being Professional appeared first on Brazen Life.

You probably hear the phrase “just be yourself” more often than you like.

But being yourself is hard, right? In a competitive world where people seem to work their way up the ladder by being professional and perfect for the job, is it really smart to be your goofy or sarcastic self? Didn’t all those other successful people drop those characteristics to get ahead?

When it comes to succeeding in the digital age, being yourself is what it’s all about. It’s not about who you think you should be to impress others, it’s about being your – buzzword alert – authentic self. You may not be perfect, but no one actually is. In fact, that’s what’s so great about personal branding: you’re better off being yourself than being perfect.

Figure out who you are

Yet to be yourself, you have to figure out who you actually are. It may not be easy, but it’s critical for establishing your personal brand.

There’s obviously a fine line between being rude and being honest with what you think and how you feel. Tread that line carefully, but at the end of the day, voice your opinions without worrying about what other people think of them – that’s the type of confidence that’s missing these days.

Don’t be afraid to speak your mind, no matter how crazy it might be. Don’t be ashamed to admit at the next dinner party that you think all of the pomp and circumstance is a bit unnecessary, or that you think the food could be better.

Pride yourself on being different

When a potential employer is sifting through a pile of resumes on his desk, which one is he going to remember the most? The one with the green cover letter that has your name and credentials in big silver font, or the one that’s printed in standard Times New Roman on an expensive piece of cardstock like all of the other resumes?

Now, if you’re not the type of person who would get enjoyment out of sending a green resume to someone, then don’t do it! Do things because you want to, not because you think you need to.

By being yourself, you stand out from the crowd and become more memorable. That offensive joke you told at a party may have upset a few folks, but others may have loved it and thought you to be truly creative and worth keeping around, simply because you speak your mind.

By trying to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one. Stick to your guns and do things a little differently from time to time. Remember, what will help people remember you is just that: you.

Don’t rehearse your next speech

If you’ve ever had to go into an interview or give a speech, I can almost guarantee you practiced a little bit beforehand (read: a LOT). Stop that right now. Stop practicing your interview techniques. Stop practicing your speeches. Stop trying to prepare for how you think you should sound when giving a presentation.

If you don’t feel ready for the presentation, you shouldn’t try and memorize what you’re going to say. Instead, learn more about what you’re presenting. By understanding who you are and what you’re speaking about, you’ll have a lot more confidence to go into an interview or conference room and simply talk. Talking about what you’re an expert in shouldn’t be difficult, so long as you let your authentic self shine through.

Rethink that dress code

Finally, how should you dress when you go out to meet people? A suit may give off an air of professionalism, but it doesn’t always communicate who you are as a person. Since whether you’re likeable is what really matters when you meet someone, don’t wear something or be something that you’re not.

Wear the clothes that you feel the most comfortable in, and ignore anyone who says you should dress “nicer.” If nice clothes don’t help you achieve anything other than feeling nervous and antsy, then don’t wear them. The trick is to just be you. That means that if you’re a jeans and polo shirt kind of guy, then by all means, go for it.

Althaf Ahmed is an S.E.O. Consultant and the co-founder of Social Hacks, a blog containing eight distinct yet related topics that affect our everyday lives as social beings.

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The post The #1 Way New College Grads Get Hired #BrazenStuff 12.04.11 appeared first on Brazen Life.

Here’s some cool reading for you to peruse this afternoon:

1. How to make solid contacts over the Holidays

2. The #1 way new grads get hired

3. Good information for anyone in marketing: 3 common PR sins and how to fix them

4. Chelsea Clinton is doing more with her personal brand

5. Workers are fighting employers who don’t let them rant about their jobs on social media

6. How easy is it really to make money from blogging?

7. Media diet hacks

Did you read something awesome you’d love to share with the Brazen audience? Leave it in the comments or let us know on Twitter!

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The post How to Succeed Professionally When All Jobs are Temporary appeared first on Brazen Life.

Even if you’re an executive at a well-established company, your job could be temporary. Working for yourself? There’s no telling how long your business might last.

Particularly in a down economy and a tight job market, it’s important to keep this in mind. Companies downsize. People get fired or laid off. The market changes. And while you might find another job in your field, your career is likely less stable than the careers your grandparents had years ago.

You may be tempted to get comfortable in your job because it doesn’t seem threatened at the moment. But as recent news goes to show, the multitude of jobs that seemed like they would be around forever are disappearing. Several cases in point: Bank of America laying off 30,000 workers, Borders bookstore closing, and even the U.S. Postal Service closing offices across the country.

How can you prepare for these inevitable changes in your career? Here are a few ways to safeguard your income:

Create a strong personal brand. Although your current job and career play a part in your professional brand, your personal brand is something that stays with you throughout your entire career, no matter where you end up working. Get active online, share and create relevant content, and give people a reason to remember – and hire – you.

Continually build upon your skills and education. Stay on top of news and trends within your industry. If your company won’t pay for professional development, figure out other ways to make it a priority. Learn new skills by attending webinars, conferences and training sessions, and gain skills that will help you regardless of whether you decide to move up in your current career or transition into a related field.

Build a professional portfolio. Keep track of your accomplishments, work pieces, recommendations and referrals in one place. Consider securing your own domain name (www.firstnamelastname.com) to house your professional portfolio. That way, when it comes time for a new job search, you’ll have everything you need all in one place.

Have a back-up career. When I was laid off from my job in public relations a few years ago, I realized the importance of starting my own side business to ensure I always had a job. Now, my back-up career is my full-time one. You never know how things will pan out, and you can no longer count on a company to keep you employed. So think outside the box about how you can grow your own side gig that can serve as a back-up plan. Thanks to the Internet and social networking, it’s easier to start your own business than ever before.

Maintain your professional network. Networking is still one of the top ways to land a new job. By keeping in contact with your professional connections, you’re more likely to learn about new job opportunities, gain referrals and make additional connections. And if you do lose your job, you’ll have a network to turn to for help.

What steps have you taken to set yourself up for success even if your current job disappears?

Heather R. Huhman is founder and president of Come Recommended, a content marketing and digital PR consultancy for organizations with products that target job seekers and/or employers.

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The post A Fight in the Journalism World Invites Questions About Personal Branding & Integrity appeared first on Brazen Life.

The debate began when Medill School of Journalism student Leslie Trew Magraw requested to interview two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten about how he built his brand. Instead of discussing how he’d grown his reputation throughout his four-decade career, Weingarten used Leslie’s assignment to deliver an indictment of the media’s focus on marketing and the consumer’s influence on content. He then took a shot at the new generation of journalists for not being willing to work hard to earn their reputations:

Now, the first goal seems to be self-promotion — the fame part, the “brand.”

Many veteran journalists are very uncomfortable with the notion of a person having a brand, believing that focusing on marketing your talent automatically detracts from attention to your work and compromises your integrity. They came up in the business at a time when journalists didn’t have to worry about marketing their careers; producing good work and being associated with a reputable news organization was enough to “make a name for yourself.”

Not anymore.

For many journalists, the changing media landscape’s effect on employment dynamics – from long-term job security to professional nomadism – requires proactive management of their careers. Fortunately, having a career strategy and professional integrity and are not mutually exclusive, and it is from that perspective that I write about personal branding.

I have to believe those on both sides of the branding argument want the same thing: to make a living with integrity while doing a job they love. If we can rise above the branding versus reputation semantics and generational finger pointing, young professionals in all fields can benefit from journalism’s branding discussion as they seek to establish their careers.

Personal branding is fundamentally about how to distinguish yourself from those with whom you share general characteristics. That is to say, your brand is your intrinsically unique set of qualities that give you value. If you want the people with whom you interact professionally to see your singular value, you first have to be aware of it yourself first:

Be authentic. Your personality, passions, life experiences, values system and beliefs inform the kind of work you naturally are drawn to. Use that knowledge of your core values as the foundation for your career decisions. Without that awareness, that compass to guide you, you won’t be able to determine whether an opportunity is a good fit. As an extroverted news junkie who’s happiest when I’m providing people with information they find useful, my working as a social media producer allows me to professionally be true to who I am and do so confidently and credibly.

Understand where your talent and skills lie and use them. Your brand is meaningless unless you produce quality work to support it, and that starts with knowing what you do well. Many resources are available to help you identify your intellectual strengths and natural talents. You may have figured that out a long time ago or may still be struggling to pinpoint your greatest asset. Taking aptitude tests and talent assessments helped me appreciate my interest in languages and affinity for storytelling that I’d taken for granted, which eventually led me to journalism.

Communicate effectively. All the passion, hard work and talent in the world won’t get you where you want to go if nobody knows about it. That’s why I’m writing my blog, participating in Twitter chats and connecting online. Knowing how to clearly and effectively share what you’re about as a person and an employee is the difference between being in the loop as opportunities arise and being left in the dark.

• Reach out to colleagues at work, at events and online to learn more about your profession.
• Make sure you can tell them what you have to offer that sets you apart from others.
• Take advantage of tools such as blogs, portfolio sites and YouTube to create a digital footprint where you can express creatively express why you have value in your field.
• Keep your online profiles up to date, making sure they collectively provide consistent information.
• And finally, be smart about what you post on social networks and Twitter. Whether you consider it personal or professional, it all affects your brand.

These strategies don’t relieve you of the responsibility of hard work; in fact, they add to it. And when it’s done to build a personal brand authentically and competently, I don’t know how anyone could argue with that.

Jennifer Gaie Hellum blogs at Brand Me a Journalist: Using Social Media to Create a Professional Niche. She is a recent graduate of Arizona State University’s Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, where she was named Fall 2010 Outstanding Graduate Student. Jennifer currently works as a social media producer in Phoenix, Arizona.

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The post Rock-It at Work: Get a Personal Brand Card appeared first on Brazen Life.

Name: Dustin Canter

Age: 26

So what do you do at Brazen?

I’m the director of business development. My job is to create business with global 1000 companies.

What did you do before Brazen?

I started a restaurant (Howbowda Bagel) and moving & storage business (My College Storage).

Tell us something unique about you.

I can eat six saltine crackers in 20 seconds.

What is one thing that has helped you advance in your career?

Creating a personal brand card. I was at a transitional point. I’d just moved to a new city and was looking for good opportunities. So I created a business card with my name, email, phone number and personal website. I also included four words on the card that describe what I want other people to know about who I am, what I am looking for and why they can turn to me for advice or questions in a particular field. My card says:

Dustin Canter
Adrenaline Junkie, Entrepreneur, Health Nut, Philanthropist

If you’re in a transition or even if you aren’t, get a card and brand yourself in a unique and interesting way. It’s a conversation starter and will prompt people who might want to work with you, to ask questions.

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The post The Future of Personal Branding: 5 Predictions appeared first on Brazen Life.

Despite the mainstream adoption of social media globally, the basic principles of personal branding still apply. You have to define your brand, position yourself in the marketplace, and constantly reinvent your brand over time. You have to figure out what makes you special and then communicate that to the right people, who are interested in your story and message.

Social network profiles, and blogs, have made it easier to build a brand because you’re investing your time instead of thousands of dollars. In today’s competitive landscape, just having a presence isn’t enough. You have to maintain it for the rest of your existence and be committed to your career and business objectives.

I’ve been following the personal branding movement for over four years and have identified several trends that you need to become aware of if you want to remain competitive. Each trend will have a dramatic impact on your life moving forward and the sooner you build your brand, and take advantage of new technologies, the more prepared you will be for a successful future!

1. LinkedIn will replace resumes and job boards

About a week ago, I predicted the end of resumes and job boards in Forbes and the recruiting world retaliated. Although, you will still see job boards for time to come, the real pathway to employment is through the connections that we all share. Companies such as BranchOut.com and LinkedIn.com have put a “social graph” over our job search, which allows us to tap into the people we already know to get job referrals. Networking is clearly the key to getting the best jobs in the world, and applying through job boards isn’t going to get you anywhere.

Traditional resumes as we know them don’t fit into the new workplace paradigm. Forget the Microsoft Word resume and start building your online presence so that recruiters can find you and place you. Soon companies won’t even ask for your resume; they will ask for a single URL that should point them to a reason why they should hire you.

2. Your personal and professional lives will converge

Did you know that 96 percent of Americans under 50 are on Facebook? Facebook connects the world and even when we leave our laptop or desktop computers, we login through our mobile phones. Forty-six million Americans check their social networking sites multiple times each day. When you live online, your actions can affect the way people around you treat you, in and out of the workplace. Everything you publish, and whatever is published about you and can haunt your career for time to come. Rep. Anthony Weiner found this out the hard way. He, like many other politicians, celebrities and regular people, learned what you say online is in the public domain and can be used against you to ruin your reputation.

3. The recruitment process will have a mandatory online presence background check

A 2010 study by Jobvite  reported that approximately 80 percent of companies plan to use social networks in the background check process. Eventually, all companies will use the Internet to verify candidates and it will be as common as a drug test. If you aren’t found online, it will show that you aren’t as valuable to employers as other candidates. My advice is to build a website and manage your reputation before other people do it for you.

4. Online influence will be a determining factor of whether you get a job

A decade or so ago, if you had the right hard skills, you would be almost guaranteed a job. Then, when the market became more competitive, companies started looking for soft skills, including presentation, writing, organization and leadership. This way, companies could recruit the individuals who would be the best fit to the organization. Today, you need to have hard skills, soft skills and online influence. You might be hired based on the number of Twitter followers you have or if Lady Gaga retweets you. Individuals who have the largest and most influential networks bring more to a company – they bring an audience of potential buyers.

5. Relevancy will become our greatest challenge

It’s becoming a great challenge to keep up with the latest information and technology that’s pertinent to your career. I see relevancy becoming even more important but very challenging because our brains can’t process the sheer amount of information out there. I skim through eight hundred blog posts each day and that number isn’t going to decrease anytime soon. You need to know what’s going on in your marketplace and react to it. Consumers are expecting more from businesses and if you aren’t current then you’re irrelevant to the marketplace, which means that you will eventually go out of business or get laid off.
Dan Schawbel is the managing partner of Millennial Branding, LLC, a full-service personal branding agency. Dan is the author of “Me 2.0: 4 Steps to Building Your Future,” the founder of the Personal Branding Blog, and publisher of Personal Branding Magazine.

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The post The Kim Kardashian Approach to Career Advancement appeared first on Brazen Life.

In practice, that means earning income from multiple sources, constantly investing in and upgrading our skills and promoting our own “brands.” On average, we’ll change jobs 10 times before age 36 (PDF), which means that even if we technically have a boss, we won’t have him for long – and we need to be ready to impress the next one.

Create Multiple Income Streams

As my friend Chhayal explained when I interviewed her for my book “Generation Earn,” that kind of flexibility can save you in today’s economy. She works as a professional videographer, but always keeps up a second source of income by working as a fitness instructor at local gyms. She’s passionate about exercise, and loves encouraging other people to work out. When she unexpectedly lost her job, she was able to quickly ramp up her teaching gigs to make it easier to weather that rough patch of unemployment. And in the future, she wants to turn her exercise expertise into a full-time small business, especially now that she’s also a new mom.

We’re not all exercise buffs, but most of us have some kind of hobby that could potentially earn us some cash, such as teaching a second language, designing websites, or even blogging. Brainstorming with a friend can turn up some unexpected ideas. At the very least, moonlighting provides some extra income insurance in case your full-time job suddenly disappears one day.

Invest in Your Skills

Investing in the skills you use everyday also helps. Career expert Alexandra Levit told me that she didn’t always feel like she knew how to excel in the corporate world. She learned the hard way about the importance of relationships after she didn’t get promoted despite working hard, while she watched as her more social and networking peers did. To help her with the social side of work, she took a Dale Carnegie course in personal development, and that’s when she started getting promoted.

Personal or group coaching, in fact, can be just the kind of investment that helps you take your career to the next level. Whether it’s learning better public speaking skills, mastering the art of goal-setting, or picking up a new certification in your field, working with professionals can be worth their price. Coaching usually starts around $200 per hour, but sometimes employers offer to pay part of the cost or coaches offer discounts in exchange for helping to spread the word about their services. Of course, you can always try to get free help by taking a more experienced colleague out to lunch.

Promote Your Brand

Lastly, brand promotion – what seems second nature to Kim Kardashian – can be one of the hardest tricks to learn, but it’s essential for almost everyone today. We might not all need a Twitter account (although it doesn’t hurt), but we do need to know how to highlight strengths and accomplishments to supervisors, clients, and other decision-makers.

As brand guru Dan Schawbel points out, successful “personal branding” can even help you in the most traditional of job interviews. He suggests deciding what your long-term goals are, and then cultivating your online presence around that goal. When someone runs your name through a web search, your LinkedIn profile and other identifying websites will appear – and they should read the way you want them to.

If these traits don’t come naturally to you, then you can nurture them with a little TLC. Maybe self-promotion feels a little icky to you; if that’s the case, run ideas by a trusted significant other or friend first. If you receive praise from a client, then you probably want to pass on the message to your boss, and that trusted cheerleader can help reassure you that it’s the right move.

After some practice, you might decide that you’re actually more like Kim Kardashian than you thought.

Kimberly Palmer is the author of the new book “Generation Earn: The Young Professional’s Guide to Spending, Investing, and Giving Back.” You can connect with her on Twitter.

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The post 8 Tips to Building and Maintaining a Professional Online Image appeared first on Brazen Life.

by Pete Kistler

Maintaining a professional online image is a very important aspect of your career. Through a simple online search, an employer or client can find out what you like to do, how you blog and tweet and see the overall professional online image you portray of yourself.

Here’s advice and eight tips on maintaining your image as a professional online:

First of all, how often do you update your Facebook status? More importantly, how do your updates reflect your professional online image? The status “at the bar getting trashed tonight” does not sounds professional. Neither does the wall post from your friend talking about that last party.

Tip No. 1: Don’t use your status updates to share information about the actions an employer doesn’t need to know about. Censor your wall posts and patrol the posts written by others on your own wall.

The photos you post also can impact how people perceive your online professional image. Although it won’t hurt your image if you have photos showing you outside of a professional setting, it will hurt you if your photos display you in a way an employer may see as inappropriate. Even if you don’t post unprofessional photos of yourself, your friends could still tag you in photos without considering how it could affect your image. Depending on your career goals, the type of photos considered appropriate will vary.

Tip No. 2: Never post pictures of yourself at a bar, party or other situation that may be inappropriate, and inform your friends to ask for permission before tagging you in a photo.

Facebook users concerned with maintaining a professional online image also should be cautious about joining groups and fan pages. Groups such as “Party Girls” do not portray professionalism. The various applications on Facebook, such as quizzes and games, also can affect your image.

Tip No. 3: Try to avoid joining groups, fan pages and applications that are not relevant to your field. If you decide to join an irrelevant group, be sure it is about a topic you would be willing to discuss with a company CEO and your grandmother.

Setting your profile to “private” is one way to avoid professional online image issues. But people often accept friends who they do not know well. Additionally, a potential employer may go through a mutual friend to see your profile.

Tip No. 4: Even with strict privacy settings, it is still possible for other people to get access to your Facebook account. Always be insistent on maintaining a professional online image, even if your profile is set to “private.”

Your tweets and the conversations you join are a reflection of your professional online image. If you do not have your tweets set to “private,” watch what you tweet.

Tip No. 5: Build a professional online image by sharing ideas and information and adding knowledge to the community. Write relevant and useful tweets.

One of the social networks used less often by young professionals is LinkedIn. But LinkedIn can help build credibility in a person’s professional online image. You should go beyond simply filling out a profile and take full advantage of the site’s features.

Tip No. 6: Request recommendations, join groups and answer the questions of other users after creating your LinkedIn profile.

Participating in the blogosphere also can help build a professional online image. Blogging displays leadership and knowledge in your given field. As a blogger, you also should contribute to the community by commenting on other blogs. If you wish to be seen as a professional, you should not write about personal matters on your blog.

Tip No. 7: Strategically write blog posts that will showcase your skills and knowledge and comment on other industry-related blogs.

A personal website or online portfolio is a great tool to help build a professional online image. Not only does it show that you are serious about your career, but you also can include materials to promote your personal brand, such as recommendations and work examples.

Tip. No. 8: Create a clean, well-designed website focused on promoting your personal brand in your field to help build your image.

Professional online images take time to create and build. By following these eight tips, you can help build a positive and credible online image that can help advance your career.

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