David Harder Asks, Is it the End of the Road for the JOB?

Is it the end of the road for the job?

 We really believe it's a good to start preparing for it.
 In 1970, Alvin Toffler wrote the groundbreaking book, "Future Shock."
 In it, he talked about how technology would so transform the workplace that one day, we'd look back a hundred years and feel badly for those poor people that felt jobs were the best way to work and make a living. He described how, "Future shock is also the shattering stress and disorientation that we induce in individuals by subjecting them to too much change in too short a time."



In the early 80's, I was selling temporary help to companies in Downtown Los Angeles. We were no longer selling the scenario of replacing the secretary on vacation. We were telling companies they were overstaffed. "Cut back to the bare bones. When your workload increases, bring in temps to help meet your targets."



In September, 1994, Fortune Magazine stunned the business world with the words, "The End of the Job as a way of organizing work, it is a social artifact that has outlived its usefulness. Its demise confronts everyone with unfamiliar risks -- and rich opportunities. We used to read predictions that by 2000 everyone would work 30-hour weeks and the rest would be leisure. But as we approached the mini-recession of 2000 more of us were working 60 hour weeks and the rest were unemployed. Now, in 2009, it is clear that as the economy improves jobs will continue to disappear. Many will look for someone to blame.

We can make it a little more simple if we place a very large "RIP" over the industrial revolution.
 We've been crying over the broken employment agreement now for over twenty years.
Get over it! It's getting moldy!



Last year, a client asked me to give a final screening to a very senior executive. The CEO walked in as I asked the last question, "What is the biggest professional mistake you made and what did you learn from it?" The CEO asked me, "How would you have answered the question?" I said, "The biggest mistake I ever made was to take a job." "Expert" brings so much baggage with it, but after twenty years of facilitating thousands of people, I've accumulated a little knowledge. I believe we are headed back to becoming a "merchant & cobbler" society but this time we're armed with technology connecting us to work and to acquire sales opportunities - often in just minutes.



Today, one of the most often questions asked on Google is, "When will jobs return?"   and the most common answer, "Never."

Are people like me to blame? No. Those of us that allow our fear to scare us away from learning the very skills that would give us options - - they are not to blame but they sure will be in trouble.


Want to become resilient?
Take a course that changes your conditioning and beliefs.

Want to make a living? Instead of sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring or working for that crummy job that you outgrew years ago, learn some important life skills:



1. Take as much as sales training as possible. Hours each week if you can swing it. Learn how to sell anything.



2. Join Toastmasters and learn how to speak to people rather than yelling at them about their quotas and to cut more expenses.



3. Become a sophisticated social networker capable of getting any information you need to become successful. We are proud of our presence at Facebook - brings us more business every month! It's DavidWilliamHarder and we have an Inspired Work Alumni Group. We are now designing a curriculum on how to build a multi-national company on Facebook without spending a cent.



4. Take something within that you love doing and find a way to make a living with it. Darn, it will always include selling.



5. Build a new community around you filled with skilled advisors, supporters and reliable sources of information. Jack Canfield said, "You are the average of the five people you share the most time with." When I head that I had to get an immediate massage.



5. Draw as much positive attention to you as possible. Take an acting class. Most people draw only enough attention to themselves so they won't starve. The highly successful get attention all the time and even better? They give it; Giving high quality attention is the very foundation of charisma.



Fifteen years after I left, my last boss was very hurt when I told her taking a job was a mistake. She is an extraordinary soul and I worked for the best. But I could already feel the writing on the wall and I didn't like taking orders.

 In front of us is an opportunity. Those who get there first will win.

 Take the months ahead and learn how to sell what you love and what you enjoy.
 Take advantage of the opportunities in front of the changes, don't focus on running from the change itself. One of the best quotes from Alvin Toffler: "Change is not merely necessary to life - it is life."

All the best,

David Harder

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THE INSPIRED WORK PROGRAM



How much would your life improve if you loved your work? How would that happiness improve your personal life? If you have children, what kind of role model would you become?



Over 80% of American Workers don't like what they do for a living. Inspired Work participants, over the course of 19 years indicate the opposite: Over 80% of our graduates love their work.



For two days, we engage the heart, mind and soul of each participant in finding practical solutions for being happy with their work, financially successful, fulfilled and in leading lives of meaning. We have found the structure that leads any work, from any way of life, to full success.



Over 35,000 graduates have proven the program works. We promise you will walk out of the program with a renewed, reinvented, exciting and successful new journey with your work and hence, your life.



"I took your program in 2005. At that session, I decided to start a business focused on how to manage talent. I launched the company in June and with my business partner wrote the book that makes our case, "Enlightenment Incorporated - Creating Companies our Kids Would be Proud to Work For.



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THE DATES: Friday & Saturday, November 6 & 7 at the Luxe Summit (Los Angeles)



Friday & Saturday, December 4 & 5 at Media Training Worldwide's training facilities (Manhattan)

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THE INTERVIEW WITH DAVID HARDER:



Jess Todfeld interviews David Harder to discuss why this program is so effective, how it was developed and how it transforms workers.



Click Here: http://www.vimeo.com/6909887

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Watch David on "Million Dollar Listing" with Bravo TV - Monday at 10 p.m.

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INSPIRED PRESENTATIONS



The one common skill that is common amongst people who are wildly successful, is in their ability to move people and create action through the spoken word. Now you can quickly and easily learn the secrets of those who are leaders, those who know how to motivate, those who seem to rise up in their field. While doing it, you'll learn how to become more comfortable, confident, quick on your feet, free of "ums" and "ahs."



We have arranged to have Media Training Worldwide, the #1 media and presentation skills training company, offer their top of the line program to our clients in November. They will be coming to Los Angeles to deliver this one-day signature programs (back to back with their Media Training program.) This one day programs are vastly superior to most two-day events. This is accomplished through a revolutionary curriculum, skilled facilitators, continuous engagement, and 1 year of follow-up services (no extra charge) to keep your skills improving instead of diminishing.



During the course of the day, you will learn how to be completely comfortable speaking and presenting to others. This will not be a day-long lecture. You will be able to practice these techniques numerous times during the day. Through the use of video playback, you will be able to make the adjustments necessary to leave with a new set of skills. While the idea of being videotaped or practicing with others might provoke discomfort, consider what will happen to your life if you traded in that fear for confidence. This is confidence to make that presentation that could lead to your promotion, confidence to turn your new book into a bestseller, confidence to promote your business to hundreds at a time rather than one at a time.



The one day Inspired Presentations Program gives you the opportunity to learn a great deal with minimal time and economic investment.



THE DATE: Friday, November 20 at the beautiful Luxe Summit Hotel (Los Angeles)



Media Training – For TV, Print, Radio & the Web



Shine in your next media appearance and...

Get the quotes you want - in tomorrow's news!



Speaking to the media is a much different skill than public speaking. The media can slice and dice anything you say. How do you gain CONTROL during an interview and get the exact messages you want into the piece? Media Training Worldwide, has specific systems to teach proper body language, messaging, answer techniques, and sound bite creation.



This 1-day special program will go far beyond the traditional lecture. Everyone in the class will put the techniques into practice right away. Each participant will practice on-camera a minimum of 8 times. In this safe learning environment, you will have the chance to get better and better each time you practice. The average person may take a year or more to give 8 interviews. Imagine waiting a year to be able to build on what you learned? That would be disastrous. We don’t want that. We want you to leave this interactive workshop with a brand new set of skills.



This workshop has a long track record of improving confidence, helping people to look calmer, more comfortable, be in control of their words or messages. You’ll end this day being able to speak in sound bites but never have someone accuse you or spot that you’ve been trained.



This one day Media Training program gives you the opportunity to learn a great deal with minimal time and economic investment.



THE DATE: Saturday, November 21 at the beautiful Luxe Summit Hotel (Los Angeles)



ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS AVAILABLE IN NEW YORK BY MEDIA TRAINING WORLDWIDE:



November Six (Media Skills)

November Twelve & Thirteen (Advance Media Skills)

December Seven & Eight (Public Speaking)

December Ten & Eleven (Public Speaking)

December Twelve & Thirteen (Public Speaking



 david@inspiredworkservices.com



http://www.inspiredworkservices.com/

Writers Wanted!

Katheryn Greenaway is writing a book and she would love to have some of your wisdom
if you wish to be a contributor.

---------------------------------------------



Having clocked my 40th revolution around the sun, it is time to move ideas out of my head and into the world. I quit my job and am putting all my energy into collaborating in the creation of goods which have a positive impact.



The first project is to gather authentic experiences to create an inspirational anthology of collective wisdom, an offering of guidance for the dads of tomorrow in the care of their daughters.



Literature has the power to transform the way we see ourselves, the world, and our place in it.*



Women writers, ages one to one hundred, are sought to share a real life account of how their father has shaped their life.



Details are located at www.daughterstory.blogspot.com

.

****DEADLINE is November 15, 2009****



Would you please help me make this dream into a reality?



I invite you to please share this request with all the women in your life.

Black Swans in YOUR Future? Elfren Sicangco Cruz on Risk Management

By Elfren Sicangco Cruz

New world of risk management

In the new world of enterprise risk management (ERM), the term "Black Swans" refers to unlikely but potentially devastating risks that should merit, but often do not receive, board-level attention like the closure of Lehman Brothers, the AIG meltdown, and the Madoff-scale frauds.

It is true that low probability, high-impact events are almost impossible to predict. In fact, none of the forecasting models, think tanks, and business forums predicted the depth of the current financial meltdown in the West and the global economic recession.

However, this economic crisis has made it more important to reduce the impact on the business firm of threats we don’t understand. According to Taleb, Goldstein, and Spitznage in a recent Harvard Business Review article:
"Because of the Internet and globalization, the world has become a complex system, made up of a tangled web of relationships and other interdependent factors. Complexity not only increases the incidence of Black Swan events but also makes forecasting even ordinary events impossible. All we can predict is that companies that ignore Black Swan events will go under.


"Instead of trying to anticipate low-probability, high-impact events, we should reduce our vulnerability to them. Risk management, we believe, should be about lessening the impact of what we don’t understand — not a futile attempt to develop sophisticated techniques and stories that perpetuate illusions of being able to understand and predict the social and economic environment."


Lapses in ERM have resulted in significant losses and even bankruptcies for companies in different industries and countries all over the world. Among them are toy factories in China, software companies in India, investment banks in the United States, and commercial banks in Finland and the UK.


For the still uninformed, the traditional definition of enterprise risk management, sometimes referred to as integrated risk management, is as follows: "A comprehensive and integrated framework for managing credit risk, market risk, operational risk, economic capital and risk transfers in order to maximize firm value."(Lam)
James Lam, in his book Enterprise Risk Management: From Incentives to Controls, published in 2003, five years before the ongoing global economic crisis, identified what he called seven "key lessons" for risk management:


Know your business.



Establish checks and balances.



Set limits and boundaries.



* Keep your eye on the cash.



Use the right yardstick.



Pay for the performance you want.



Balance the yin and yang.


In ERM, the hard side (yin) focuses on processes, systems, and reporting. The soft side (yang) focuses on the people, skills, culture, values, and incentives.

While risks come in all shapes and sizes, risk professionals generally recognize three major types. Operational risk is the risk that people, processes, or systems will fail or that an external event (e.g., earthquake, fire, floods) will negatively impact the company. Market risk is the risk that prices will move in a way that has negative consequences for a company. Credit risk is the risk that a customer, counterparty, or supplier will fail to meet its obligations.
Other types of risks have also been suggested. Business risk is the risk that future operating results may not meet its expectations. Organizational risk is the risk that arises from a badly designed organizational structure or lack of sufficient human resources. Also cultural risks and reputational risks are viewed either as part of operational risks or as separate forms of risks.

Now in the midst of the ongoing global crisis, Taleb, Goldstein, and Spitznagel have written what could be a new framework for risk management. The article’s title is "The Six Mistakes Executives Make in Risk Management." According to them these are:

1. We think we can manage risk by predicting extreme events. One, we have an abysmal record of predicting Black Swan events. Two, by focusing our attention on a few extreme scenarios, we neglect other possibilities. In the process we become more vulnerable.

2. We are convinced that studying the past will help us manage the risk. You often hear risk managers use the excuse "This is unprecedented." They assume that if they try hard enough, they can find precedents for anything and predict everything. But Black Swan events don’t have precedents. In addition, today’s world does not resemble the past.

3. Recommendations of the "don’t" kind are usually more robust than "dos." Positive advice is the province of the charlatan. The business sections in bookstores are full of "success stories." There are far fewer tomes about failure.
4. We assume that risk can be measured by standard deviation. Used extensively in finance as a measure of investment risk, standard deviation should not be used in risk management.... Anyone looking for a single number to represent risk is inviting disaster.
5. We don’t appreciate that what’s mathematically equivalent isn’t psychologically so. Providing a best-case scenario usually increases the appetite for risk. Always look for different ways in which risk can be presented to ensure that you aren’t being taken in by the framing of the math.
6. We are taught that efficiency and maximizing the shareholder value don’t tolerate redundancy. In companies, redundancy consists of apparent inefficiency: idle capacities, unused parts, and money that isn’t put to work. The opposite is leverage , which we are taught is good. It isn’t; debt makes companies — and the economic system — fragile. If you are highly leveraged, you could go under if your company misses a sales forecast, interest rates change or other risks crop up.


Time will tell whether there will indeed be a new ERM framework. In the meantime, for general managers and risk managers, welcome to the new world of risk management which is increasingly becoming dominated by Black Swans.

Elfren S. Cruz is a professor of Strategic Management at the Ramon V. del Rosario Sr. Graduate School of Business, College of Business & Economics, De La Salle University. E-mail comments to elfrencruz@gmail.com

Executives Need Media Skills Today, Jeannette Paladino

Winning Media Interviews,
Part I: Ten Most Common Mistakes in Dealing With the Media

 

More than ever before, executives are being called on to represent their organizations in backgrounders, briefings and interviews with reporters from the print, broadcast and online media. These discussions offer an excellent opportunity to tell a positive story about the organization and its products and services.

Every discussion is different depending on the length, format, reporter’s style and whether he or she is working for a print publication, radio/TV station or online media outlet. A reporter with a monthly magazine generally will have the time to explore a subject more thoroughly than an on-air TV reporter who, more often than not, is simply seeking a juicy “sound bite.” With the advent of the Internet, the news cycle is now 24/7 and an executive may be called at any time of the day or night for a quote.

 

In every case, executives increase their chances of being included in a story by using techniques regarding form and content that can be learned and practiced and avoiding these common mistakes:

1. Replying “No Comment.” No comment translates to “guilty as charged.” The reply is used most frequently when the responder has bad news. You are under no obligation to give out information that would be damaging to you or your company. However, a response like “I can’t discuss the matter at this time, because of SEC regulations” accomplishes the same thing.

2.   Not Being Prepared. You need to have your facts and figures at your fingertips prior to the interview.

3.   Repeating a Negative. Your response: “Yes, earnings are down, but we made a capital investment of $50 in the quarter to expand our production capacity to meet consumer demand.” What is written: “Yes, earnings are down.” Some notable quotes: President Richard Nixon: “ I want the American people to know their President is not a crook.” Jessica Hahn: “I am not a bimbo.” Bank regulator: “We were not asleep at the switch.”

4.  Being Late to an Interview. Reporters are on tight schedules. If you are late (either by phone, in person, or online), besides irritating the reporter, you reduce your chances of getting in all your key messages. Being late to a live television interview is fatal to the relationship.

5. Restricting Your Answer to the Question. You don’t have to narrowly respond to a question with a “yes” or “no.” Use the opportunity to “bridge” from the question to offer information that will broaden the reporter’s understanding and knowledge of your company and its offerings.

6.  Ignoring the Question. You must acknowledge the question, but you can say, “It’s not a simple yes or no, but let me tell you about how our company is addressing this is important public policy issue.”

7.  Not Returning Phone Calls or Emails. This is a cardinal sin, especially if a reporter is on deadline. Return all phone calls and emails (and text messages) as soon as possible, even if you know you’ll be asked questions you’d rather avoid. Otherwise, you’ll find reporters not returning your phone calls or emails.

8.   Using Jargon. Not every reporter is knowledgeable about your industry and its acronyms. Use language in terms that are understandable to a layman.

9.    Lying. Never lie to the press. They can always find out the truth from another source or by searching the Internet.

10.   Dribbling Out Bad News. The cardinal rule is to get all the bad information out at once. Do not dribble out morsels one at a time as this is guaranteed to keep the bad news in front of the public until all the bad news is out — and it will come out.

By:
Jeannette Paladino

Business Writer helping companies to be more effective in selling their ideas through clear, compelling language.Greater New York City Area
Principal & Founder at Write Speak Sell

Timely Tips for College Students You are a Beautiful Work in Progress!

You are a gorgeous Work In Progress... did you know that?      Think about the end result you wish to create and think about the experiences you wish to have along the way. You CAN make them happen.

There are many things you can do to increase the chances of finding a job with a good company once you graduate.   The ideas and actions that you start rolling now will be of help to you as you advance your network, your skills and your knowledge base.  Some college students feel great frustration, almost in a
"Catch 22" since they may not have work experience and all the jobs appear to ask for some sort of work experience.   How are you supposed to get work experience if no one will give you that first job?

Yikes..... this can be frustrating until you understand that you can create some of your own great job experiences and future references by your volunteering and community activities.   Get smart about using volunteer opportunities to serve not only your community, your hoby or social interests but also your career.   Start Volunteering for strategic opportunities with people and projects that will give you related experience or contacts!



Here are  more tips on what to do to increase your chances of  getting called back on interviews and landing offers:


(1) Work or intern for a company in an industry related to your area of interest / college major

You can gain work experience in college either through jobs or internships. Internships are great because they allow you to try out different work environments and types of work so you have a good idea of the type of job you want to obtain once you graduate. The relevant work experience you gain through internships or volunteer opportunities will give you something to put on your resume and will make you more of an asset to a company compared to other graduates who may have great GPAs but lack work experience. Ideally, the company you intern for will offer you a job once you graduate, if not your supervisor will at least serve as a good reference. While it may be tempting to make more money bar-tending or in a retail job, participating in unpaid or low paid jobs/internships gives you relevant work experience which is the key to finding a job once you graduate. It is much better to be an intern when you are a college student instead of interning once you graduate because you can’t find a decent job due to lack of relevant work experience.



(2) Get involved in leadership roles in college clubs/organizations

Build your skills and contacts by being involved.  "Act like a HOST, not like a guest" is what noted career coach, Dr. Adele Scheele tells people in her books, Making College Pay Off and   Skills for Success.
You should also get involved in leadership roles in clubs and organizations on campus. Companies like to see that you have developed leadership skills in college so these experiences will definitely be something you can include on your resume.



(3) Utilize your college career center to find jobs/internships and to practice interviews



Your college career center has many resources to offer. Not only do they assist you in finding jobs and internships both while you are in school and once you graduate, but they also will conduct practice job interviews . This will help you feel more comfortable and know what to expect when you go in for an actual job interview. Often expert resources come and make presentations or make themselves available for mentoring of students.  Take advantage of this practice and of this chance to build your network.



(4) Attend college career fairs


Please  attend career fairs when your school hosts them.  You will expand your network and you will have the opportunity to speak with companies who are hiring new grads in your area.    This is a great start to getting your resume out there for your job search and a chance to get in person feedback and meet referral sources.

 
 
No one can truly predict when the economy will turn around but YOU CAN create more and better opportunities for yourself by making some strategic decisions about your volunteer and intern work.   Each professional connection can open doors for you later in life.
   Best of luck to you 

  Patty De

Cassandra Lee on Improving Your Efficiency & Effectiveness

Following are the four organizational techniques that will help you to elevate your level of efficiency in your workplace or business environment:




ORGANIZATIONAL TECHNIQUE #1:

File to find information quickly means that you will categorize your files by subject (e.g. vendor, project) to find the information you need fast. It doesn’t matter if you are organizing file folders or e-mail folders, it is important to categorize your folders appropriately so that you can file and find information quickly. Of course, following the rules for alphabetizing and even using color-coded files will help you to clearly delineate one file from the next so that you can find the information you need when you need it.



ORGANIZATIONAL TECHNIQUE #2:

Use a 31-day tickler file to manage your tasks, assignments and projects. A 31-day tickler file will help you to see more distinctively your upcoming deadline dates. It is a physical, visual reminder that will keep you on schedule to meet your upcoming deadlines. Whether you use a brown accordion folder with 12 file folders for the months and 31 file folders for the days of the month or a 1-31 file sorter, using a 31-day tickler file will keep in plain sight the tasks, assignments and projects that you must put your attention to immediately.



ORGANIZATIONAL TECHNIQUE #3:

Work from a clean desk gives you a clutter-free space in which to work and think. Yes, I know there are some of you who like the “organized chaos” method because having the piles and stacks of disarray make you – in your opinion – work more productively. Yet, try to clear an open space for yourself in which to focus solely on the task at hand. Don’t just make it a clean desk, make the surrounding work space (i.e. space in which you will need to maneuver to place your documents, retrieve your files, use your stapler, and get paper clips) clean, as well. Removing the clutter and working from a clean desk will enhance your ability to think more clearly, logically and strategically; thereby improving your efficiency.



ORGANIZATIONAL TECHNIQUE #4:

Complete most important tasks first to increase your productivity in your day. Creating a to-do list of what must be done in your day will give you a snapshot of where you must put your time, energy and effort in your day. But what are the really most important tasks that you must accomplish in your day? Ask yourself, “What must I make certain I get done before I leave the office today?” The answers to this question will highlight for you those tasks that are most important and should be the tasks you spend the time and effort completing first. Once you have the most important tasks accomplished, you’ll be able to put your energy and effort into completing the other tasks on your list.



In short, the four tips provided in this article are provided as a way to help you enhance and elevate your organizational skills so that you can increase your level of efficiency for your company or entrepreneurial endeavors. Try them out and see how your efficiency improves.

Cassandra Lee Operates
SSANEE Training & Consulting Group

Chicago, Illinois

877-907-2892

http://www.ssanee.com/    http://www.divaofdialog.com/

http://www.divaofdialog.blogspot.com/

Dave Nelsen of Vistage With Tips on Social Media

Ten Dos and Don'ts of Social Media




By Vistage Speaker David Nelsen


Social media and social networking are quickly becoming “de rigueur” for business.
A recent study by a Chicago-based firm, Slack Barshinger, showed that small and
medium-size businesses are getting “heavily involved with social media, with about
half using blogs, wikis, Twitter or other social media channels for business purposes.”
 If your company is not yet engaged, it’s time to jump in before your competitors beat
you to the punch.



If you’re not familiar with social media, check out YouTube, Twitter, TalkShoe,
 or any blog--these publishing and broadcasting democracies involve hundreds of
 millions of people. While most of these services were originally conceived for consumers,
social media allows businesses to engage in many-to-many conversations with customers,
 accelerating their learning and building trust. This is not your father’s marketing.



Here are ten basic rules for what to do and not do:



DON’T


1.Don’t get started if you have significant product weaknesses or customer support issues. Engaging in social media makes good products more successful, and bad products… dead. But don’t delay for long; address the issues and then jump in.



2.Don’t use social media to overtly market or sell. Instead educate, enlighten, inform, and entertain your audience. In this way, you’ll position yourself and your company as an expert in your field and benefit from the “media halo.”



3.Don’t “set it and forget it.” This makes you look worse than not showing up at all. Once you get started, sustain your participation and interaction.



4.Don’t go negative. Emphasize your strengths and advantages rather than making claims about a competitor’s weakness.



5.Don’t mix personal and business accounts/personas, etc.



6.Don’t expect to fully control the conversation. Social media is not an advertisement, product brochure, newsletter, email blast, or one-way monologue; it’s a conversation. Conversations are bi-directional and can have rough edges. Even if you don’t want to participate, your customers and prospects are already talking. Join them.



7.Don’t worry about some negativity for online users. Studies show that a little negativity increases credibility and empathy. Paraphrasing Abraham Lincoln: “You can’t please all of the people all of the time.” Be responsive to the negative.



8.Don’t feel the need to disclose everything. Not everyone who likes sausage wants to see exactly how it’s made. Be open and honest and use discretion.



9.Don’t be a generalist. With literally hundreds of millions of blogs, videos and podcasts to choose from, every individual can precisely tailor their consumption to their interests. Focus on one topic and do it well (the narrower the better).



10.Don’t overwhelm your followers with too much information, or too frequently. Everybody’s got a busy life and nobody enjoys getting “Twitter-ria”. Focus on the highest value information and content.

DO



1.Do the same up-front planning you would for any important business initiative. Define your target audience. Detail how you intend to create value for them. Map out how you expect them to create value for you. Document your approach and objectives per medium (blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc.).



2.Listen and learn from others for a few weeks before responding. In general, spend twice as much time listening as responding.



3.Display your Personality, and keep the content Interesting and Entertaining (the old radio adage “PIE”). Remember, people buy from people; show your professional self.



4.Be authentic. Never before has a medium and its participants been more skilled at smelling a rat and turning against the perpetrator.



5.Remember that social media is about two-way conversation (see “Don’t try to control” above). Conversation builds trust; trust leads to more sales.



6.Favor timeless content over time-sensitive content (note: this varies based on the medium and there are exceptions). We live in a time-shifted “Tivo” world and there’s wonderful leverage in creating a blog post (for example) that will have value to new readers weeks, months, or even years from now.



7.Remember that “push” is out and “pull” is in. Direct mail, traditional advertising, and unsolicited email are forms of “push” -- the content producer chooses who to target. “Following” on Twitter, “subscribing” to a blog or podcast, or viewing a video your friends “liked” on Facebook are forms of “pull” -- the content consumer decides what to listen to. In today’s information-rich world, people want to opt-in, choosing where to spend their valuable time. Give them a reason to choose your content.



8.Keep your eyes open. Use Google Alerts, search.twitter.com, relevant Linkedin Groups, Ning networks, and other sites to monitor or “listen in” on conversations about your company, your competitors, and the best practices in your industry.



9.Show patience. As the party with more power (a business relative to a customer/prospect), attacking or being critical will frequently backfire and word will propagate quickly.



10.Learn from your audience (as they will learn from you). Be prepared to rapidly evolve your products and services to meet their needs. They’ll suggest valuable ideas you never thought of.

In the next few years, social media will become a primary vehicle for interacting with your customers, partners, suppliers, and even employees. By getting started today, your company can adapt to a changing world more quickly than your competitors. What are you waiting for?



Vistage member and speaker, Dave Nelsen helps companies develop social media strategies to improve their marketing, sales, customer support, and even internal communication. He’s the Founder of podcasting pioneer TalkShoe and a long-time entrepreneur.

 You can contact Dave at dave@get121.biz.

With more than 14,500 members, Vistage International is the world’s foremost chief executive leadership organization. Vistage’s Executive Leadership Program provides unparalleled access to new ideas and fresh thinking through monthly peer workshops, one-on-one business coaching, speaker presentations from hundreds of top industry experts, social networking and an extensive online content library of articles, best practices, podcasts and webinars.


Executive Leadership Program Powered by You

Today, Vistage International (TEC’s successor) and its global affiliates operate in 16 countries. Executive Leadership Program members meet in small groups every month under the same guiding principles—to help one another make better decisions, achieve better results, and enhance their lives. They’re also connecting in ways Nourse could never have imagined, collaborating online, tapping into a vast content library, and learning from hundreds of top industry speakers.


Vistage-member companies generate nearly $300 billion in annual revenue and employ approximately 1.8 million employees around the world. Studies have shown that Vistage-member companies outperform their competitors and, on average, grow their revenues at three times the percentage growth rate after joining Vistage.



Patty's note:



TEC now called Vistage was instrumental in my entrepreneurial growth from 1986 on.



For more info about Vistage please visit their wesbite at http://www.vistage.com/

Al Walsh, Back by Popular Demand......... Speak up!

Speak UP!   by Al Walsh

Mindy Gibbins-Klein posted a blog on Ecademy regarding her desire
 to see women take a stronger role in the public speaking world, and
 asked for my comment. I thought it might be useful to share my thoughts:




I’m forever encouraging people to take risks in order to develop their careers.
Had I not taken some risks in my career, I would not enjoy the extent of knowledge
and experience that I do today; nor would I have grown as rapidly. That is not to say
that we should take foolish gambles; but we don't want to be over-cautious either.

 This bit of advice particularly applies to women. Most women I've known in the business
 world tend to take the safe, conservative route. There’s safety in “blending into the herd”,
 but you’ll never enjoy the growth-benefits that can come with standing out and differentiating
yourself. Women need to take some more risks and throw themselves "in harm's way" now
and then. For instance, I've intentionally taken jobs that I knew had a limited "shelf-life" because
 I wanted experience with business startups, turnarounds, M&A, and other activities that I
wouldn't otherwise be exposed to. This required exposing myself to new experiences and having
 to develop new skills while "under fire". These experiences have been my best, for a variety of
 reasons. They are the experiences where most of my professional growth has occurred.
 They’re the experiences that have primarily shaped me as a business leader.

 Public speaking falls into the “taking risks” category.

Most people find it a bit awkward, and tend to shy away from it.
It's a learned skill that's best developed in the crucible of hard experience.
Women should look for speaking opportunities and hone their skills.

 Corporations always have “dirty little tasks” to be performed that the majority shy away from - such as internal training classes. Experiences like these provide the opportunity to sharpen one’s skills as a speaker.
I’ve volunteered to conduct many of them.

Take opportunities where you can.
They will sometimes come rapidly from strange directions.

Once, as a young exec for a new company, I joined a selling trip overseas to tout some new technology to government officials. As we approached the final minutes before our first presentation, it was announced to us that the prime minister of the country was present and had decided to sit in. Everyone panicked like “deer in the headlights”. After a pregnant pause, I volunteered to go first. The others were happy to “sacrifice me”. I stumbled over my tongue a bit at first, but soon warmed up to the subject and set the stage for the others. We wound up winning a contract. A week later, the same exact scenario happened in another country. Both leaders were very patient and gracious with me over my “thick tongue”.

You're going to make mistakes at first. Oh well, no big deal. Everyone does! Find "vacuums" to fill, take the risks, make your mistakes, learn from them - and grow. Stick your neck out a little more often.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with the results. If no opportunities arise where you’re at - maybe it’s time to plan a move.

Al Walsh, CEO

Walsh Enterprises, Business and  Financial Advisors


Huntington Beach, Ca


http://www.awalsh.us/


More of Al's articles can be found at: http://walshal.wordpress.com/. I select sources who have displayed an amazing capacity for incisive analysis. I’ve been following them for years. They saw what was coming, and why. You won’t find this information in the boiler-plate press.

Your Attitude and Happiness are Critical Components of Your Success

Introducing
Happy for No Reason
personal learning course

Author of Happy for No Reason,

co-author of six Chicken Soup for the Soul books,

and featured in the The Secret DVD and book    http://www.marcishimoff.com/


WOW!

I had a chance to learn more about March Shimoff and her speaking and her best selling new book.  Marci is a celebrated speaker and she has a fabulous program which took extensive research and preparation to put together over years of experience.

Since your happiness is important to me, and since you attitude is an important predictor of your
success in your career and in your life.... I wanted to share this opportunity with you now.   Patty De

HAPPY FOR NO REASON!

This means that no matter what happens in your life -- no matter what stress plows
 into you -- no matter how dire the circumstances might turn -- you can AUTOMATICALLY
return to a higher level of happiness than you have today.


To be happier, everything you need is inside you — and the Happy for No Reason
 personal learning course gives you the simple instructions on how use it, so that you:

•Take ownership of your happiness. You’ll focus on solutions instead of problems, find the gifts in life, and make peace with yourself.

•Don’t believe everything your mind tells you. You’ll question the validity of your thoughts, let go of thoughts that don’t serve you, and incline your mind toward joy.

•Let love lead. You willl focus on gratitude, practice forgiveness, and spread lovingkindness. (This works as well in business as it does in your personal life.)

•Make the cells of your body happy. You will learn to nourish your body, energize your body, and tune into your body’s wisdom.

•Plug yourself into spirit. You will invite connection to your higher power, listen to your inner voice, and trust life’s unfolding.

•Live inspired by purpose. You will find your passion, follow the inspiration of the moment, and contribute to something greater than yourself.

•Cultivate nourishing relationships. You will learn how to tend to your relationships so that they grow, surround yourself with support, and see the world as your family.

These notable people have joined happiness expert, Marci Shimoff,
 on the recordings of this new course: Paul Scheele … Chunyi Lin …
 Jeddah Mali … Hale Dwoskin … John Assaraff … Jack Canfield …
 Lisa Nichols … Lynne Twist … John Gray.



In eight CDs and through 100 pages of the guidebook,
 you will learn practical, down-to-earth strategies based
on the new science of happiness that will help you experience
 happiness "from the inside out."



To make your happiness journey easier for you,
we’ve included a copy of the extraordinarily popular
Happy for No Reason Paraliminal that Marci created
with Paul Scheele in 2007.



This version of the Paraliminal, which works with your inner mind to be happy from
 the inside out, is encoded with Holosync audio technology provided by Centerpointe
 Research. Using Holosync creates new neural pathways between the left and right
brain hemispheres, balancing the brain, enhancing mental/emotional health, improving
mental functioning and self-awareness, and healing unresolved emotional issues, all to
 support raising your baseline of happiness.


You don’t have to have happy genes, win the lottery, lose 20 pounds, or become a saint.
 By the time you finish listening to the Happy for No Reason course you will be experiencing
 more happiness. Follow the steps, which help you adopt habits that most happy people have,
 and you will live in an authentic state of sustained happiness for the rest of your life.



Happy for No Reason CD Course $248.00

It's Risk Free! http://www.happyfornoreason.com/Products/Course

Build an Unshakable Inner Home for Happiness

http://www.happyfornoreason.com/Products/Course

Taming the TO DO List and Finding Depth in Everyday Life

One of my favorite, thoughtful authors is Abby Seixas
From time to time she offers classes and lectures and
 I always recommend them to people who seek more
 meaning in their busy lives.


The Deep River Within:

Taming the To-Do List and Finding Depth in Everyday Life

Abby is again offering her  7-week distance course for women in the art of slowing down.

Beneath the busyness of our daily lives flows a deep
 river of creativity, passion, silence, and a place of
contact with ourselves and what matters to us. Although “the deep river” is a powerful source of
 nurturance, the fragmentation and sheer pace of life in 21st century America often buries this deeper dimension under the perpetual-motion surface of our days.

This course is about slowing down.

Based on Abby’s highly acclaimed book,

 Finding the Deep River Within: A Woman’s Guide to Recovering Balance and Meaning in Everyday Life, and on her in-person seven-week groups, the course will introduce the three preliminary doorways and six core practices that can support us in allowing our own deeper currents to flow through daily life.

With the help of readings, experiential exercises, discussion, creative expression, humor, and each other, we will explore ways to free ourselves from the tyranny of our “To-Do’s”, and so to rest more in our deeper selves and in the gift of life itself.



Phone seminars will be: Mondays, Oct. 19–Dec. 7, 2009; 7:30-8:45 pm EST
 and Wednesdays, Oct. 21-Dec. 2; 7:30-8:00 pm EST. *

(No meetings the week of November 23rd)



Phone seminars will be recorded for course members only, to download if a meeting is missed.

In addition, there will be a participants-only website for posting comments, sharing and questions, and for accessing downloads of all supplemental materials.

Cost: $225 (you are responsible for your telephone carrier’s charges for the calls.)



TO REGISTER, click here. (This pilot course is limited to 8 participants)

QUESTIONS? Abby@deepriverwithin.com or (781) 647-4404





P.S. Also upcoming: an in-person 7-week group (begins Oct. 20); a one-day workshop (Nov. 7), and the Facilitator Training day (Nov. 8), all at the Women's Well, W. Concord, MA.



And...a day-long workshop in Falmouth Maine on Oct. 17th.

Jack Canfield and Amanda Gore on Finding Your Passion

This is from Success Magazine article with Advice from Amanda Gore and Jack Canfield

Jack Canfield is the co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and a peak performance coach.

Amanda Gore is a professional speaker and author of four books, including You Can Be Happy. She has a background in psychology and stress management.


Finding Your Passion

Q: I enjoy my work, but I don’t think I am living my passion with my professional choices.
What steps should I take to get closer to my dream business and out of the professional doldrums?

Amanda Gore: First, find clarity about what is your passion;
then you can create the opportunities to pursue it more specifically.

Once you are clear about what inspires you, enthuses you, makes you feel
creative and that you are contributing in a meaningful way or that you are
making a difference, then you can decide if you need to change jobs, change
your perception of your job, create your own company or volunteer more!

Often we expect our professional lives to feed all of our needs, but our perception
of a job is faulty! We can make a job our work. Work is a much bigger concept. It
refers to what we were put on Earth to do. A job can be work if we perceive it
correctly.

Any job we have needs to be viewed from the aspect of service:
Who are we serving and how are we serving them?
Doing our job with the right spirit, with the right heart, transforms it into our work.
When we are busy focusing on serving others, our passion ignites, our enthusiasm fires others up. We are more likely to be acknowledged and appreciated, our confidence and energy levels increase and we are fired up to start our own business, if that’s what emerges out of our search for clarity.


Jack Canfield: The key is to start by just leaning into it.
When I realized I wanted to do more writing and less traveling around the world
teaching live seminars, I decided to write the first Chicken Soup for the Soul® book.
I knew I wanted to have 100 stories in the book, so I wrote or edited two stories a
week for a year. The majority of that work took place from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. after my
wife had gone to bed and on the weekends. I couldn’t afford to quit my “day job,” so I
just knuckled under and did it when I could.

The most important thing is to get started in some way today.
If you have the capital to jump ship now, go for it.
If not, work up to it. But the key is to start doing something, however small, today.

Paul Castain's Tips for Acing the Interview!

Acing The Job Interview!

Our world has grown increasingly competitive.

While our ultimate destination might be a new job our first challenge is becoming more memorable!

Having interviewed over 1,000 professionals and spearheading the Sales DNA program at Consolidated Graphics, I have truly seen it all. I've also been the dude on the other side of the desk getting interviewed. There were times where I knew I nailed it and other times that I left thinking "I can't believe I said that out loud!"

Today's blog is about you, kicking tail,

taking names and wielding a little something

called IMPACT!

So strap in folks, its a lengthy one but this is your career so there will be no corners cut!

1) Get Current With Key Things You Should Know: Your industry, your craft, the local business landscape, national/international business landscape. Want to kick it up a notch? Have a quote, a statistic, a study to show your interviewer you take business seriously! Just in case you want to take it up two notches, come prepared with an interesting story pertaining to the areas I mentioned and watch how it can liven up your interview.

2) Meticulous Preparation: This is where so many people drop the ball. Its inexcusable in this day in age not to do your homework. Let's start with the obvious stuff. Study the heck out of their website, the about us section, press releases. Learn who the key players are. Google the company, the individual who will interview you as well as the key players. Never know when one of them might join you in the interview. Better be prepared. Know who their competitors are (who knows that might even create another opportunity for you). Look for things that enable you to get inside the head of your interviewer such as a blog, discussions on Linkedin etc. When I interviewed for my former position with Dale Carnegie, I found out my interviewer did a presentation for the Egyptian Chamber of Commerce on Leadership. I studied the powerpoint he used line by line and was able to understand how he thought, terms he used, his philosophies on leadership and was able to leverage that by getting him to talk about his favorite subject . . . himself! Isn't that what we all love to talk about, ourself? The other part of your research should involve developing preliminary questions based on your research. Things you want to discuss, get clarification on etc. It should also involve something cool you can keep "in your back pocket". When I interviewed for Consolidated Graphics, I found information which included a picture of my interviewer at a grill with the heading "Grill Master". At one point my interviewer called me out to see if I did my homework. I told him about articles where he was written up in Printing News and other publications. He wasn't impressed because he felt anyone could have found that out. I then presented him with the picture of "The Grill Master" and we had a good laugh. He explained the story behind the picture to me and we had an opportunity to connect. That's a critical reason why meticulous preparation is key! Important: Telling someone you researched them is one thing, verbally proving it is another, but showing them differentiates you. That's why you should bring your research with you in a folder. Feel free to tap that folder when you tell them you did your homework. The other part of meticulous preparation is understanding the basic questions and becoming fluent with your responses! I have included a link to some standard questions you should know. http://justsell.com/sales-interview-questions/ I'll get into more detail on some specific questions where you need to really be on your game later in this post. Oh, one more thing about proper preparation. There is a specific question you need to ask that can save your hiney big time. Before you hang up the phone feeling like a million because the interview is set, ask them "Is there anyone besides yourself who may join us?" That stupid question will help you research ALL the appropriate parties and even reveal that the person you are speaking with won't even be interviewing you. Wow, talk about a big waste of research and showing up unprepared, huh?

3) Get in the right "state" before you interview: This can be particularly hard if life has just dealt you a groin kick. If ever there was a time for a game face, its now. Listening to your favorite "pump up" music can work magic. How could you not want to kick ass after listening to some "Born to Be Wild" or some "Enter Sandman"? I wrote an entire blog post on this and you need to check it right now dude http://salesplaybook.blogspot.com/2009/07/soundtrack-for-success.html And while you are at it your attitude, quite frankly may need a mandatory enema. We can't be sure so for a quick exam go here http://salesplaybook.blogspot.com/2009/09/when-your-attitude-needs-enema.html Do you ever get nervous? Well Uncle Paul has you covered. Take two shots of Cuervo, just kidding. Seriously, hold a ceramic cup filled with warm water before you go forth and conquer. The warmth travels the nervous system and calms you down. I've coached people who have stage fright and call reluctance with this crazy remedy and it works! Visualize yourself saying the right things. Visualize your interviewer nodding their head in agreement and showing verbal and non verbal signs of approval. Now, pardon me for the "101" moment but part of meticulous preparation is allowing enough time so you don't have to rush. Do you think you are at your best when you just screwed up the punctual thing? Nuff said!

4) Unleash the Advanced Rapport Techniques: And no, I'm not talking about commenting on the trophy on the shelf or the pics of the kids. Do that and you blend in with everyone else and run the risk of sounding artificial. I'm talking about the holy grail of rapport as in understanding that each person is wired differently and therefore has a different code for you to crack in order to connect. Get the skinny by clicking here http://salesplaybook.blogspot.com/2009/02/play-19-one-size-doesnt-fit-all.html

5) Beware Of Certain Questions: When someone asks you about money, always give a range for what you are looking for. That leaves room to negotiate and keeps you in the game. Under no circumstances are you to answer the "Tell me about your weaknesses" question with that BS of "I'm a perfectionist" I would suggest telling them something more in the past tense of something you had to get a better handle on such as time management, delegation, prospecting etc. Then tell them how you did it, lessons learned, your biggest take away etc. You will come off much stronger and won't sound like you read the from the same script as the others. Beware of the "Why are you considering a change?" question. Many people look at this as an opportunity to get negative and bad mouth their employer. Use your head, think it through and you will be fine. Final advice: Beware of left hook questions from the interviewer. They are designed to ruffle your feathers to see how you handle (and sorry for saying this) other people's stupidity as far as I can gather. I mean stupid questions like if you could be any animal or travel to any place in the world. You wouldn't want to say "I'd like to be a Lion because who wouldn't want to be the king of the F'n jungle baby! And as for places I'd go if I could go any where, I'd go to wherever you got that question from and eye gauge the jackass that taught you the question" Anyway, sorry for that folks, I'm a tad jacked up on Mountain Dew!

6) Don't Over Talk Your Answers! I like to think of it as Gorilla Warfare because you need to get in and get out. And while you are at it, watch those digressions (you know when you take someone around the block with your answer and ultimately drop them off some place else) Personally, I can't stand long winded answers, especially if they don't answer my question. Check their temperature after answering a question to make sure you covered what they asked. Here's a little inside secret for you. A good interviewer will allow a little uncomfortable silence after you answer to see what you do with that silence. Many times they will find out some pretty wild things about you simply because the average person has a need to fill silence out of nervousness. My suggestion, simply stare them down, confidently and with a smile as if to say "Your monkey style kung fu is ineffective biotch!" Gold star if you use silence on them!

7) Do This and Take It Over The Top Baby!: Proactively prove what you say.

Don't wait for them to ask for proof. Show them! Here's how it works. I tell the interviewer that I was the grand freakin wizard of sales. Well, they may take my word for it or I can provide them with my sales ranking charts in the company newsletter, my W-2's etc. Have testimonials from clients? Bring them! Letters of recommendations from previous managers? Bring them! Better to come prepared and choose your weapon than get called out and have to look like everyone else when you say "I'll bring it next time" Always put your best foot forward and don't count on a next time!

8) Focus On Delivering A Congruent Message! If I want to project a message of being confident and well prepared, I'm not sure a verbal message littered with "ums" "you knows" "basicallys" and a non verbal message that includes squirming and breaking eye contact will help. The cure? Video tape yourself. Watch your body language. Do you look confident, capable and some other C word so I can complete the freakin C Trilogy I just started? Listen for useless "ums" etc. Consider using what I call "intentional language". This includes money words like reduced, increased, streamlined etc. And when you make it to the finals (and you will) use inclusive language such as we, us, partner, collaborate.

9) Come Prepared With Solid Questions! More candidates screw up this step by asking lame questions like "How much does the job pay" "Do we get Victory Over Japan Day off?" all during the first date so to speak. This is your opportunity to ask some of those cool questions you came up with during your meticulous planning as well as questions that sort of presented themselves as the interview progressed. Oh and please don't read them from a list. By all means take the list out to once again show the preparation, but know your material! If you want to score mega points ask the questions others aren't asking. You know the ones that make the interviewer stop dead in their tracks and say "Wow! No one ever asked us that before. Great question!" Here's a little secret (don't tell anyone, I mean it) The secret to connecting with people is obviously quality conversation. The secret to quality conversation lies in the questions you ask! Don't ever discount the importance of good questions as part of your strategy!

10) Ask What The Next Step Is: More candidates lose opportunity simply because they didn't have the stones to ask for the next step. You need to demonstrate your confidence by asking. Many interviewers (especially in the sales circles) will intentionally hold off to see if you ask! Don't fall into the trap of Not asking.

11) Proper Follow Up!: I wouldn't lose impact by sending a crappy thank you email! Too many people get caught up in this virtual stuff. If you want to stand out, you need to move it to real time by sending a handwritten thank you! Set yourself up for the win whenever you are asked to provide something by answering "(name of interviewer) I promise to get you that by Tuesday" Then call on Monday (because you want to brand yourself as on top of your follow up) you call with this "(name of interviewer) here are those TPS Reports as promised" Do that and you bond now on a subconscious level and in ways the others that interviewed missed!

12) Know What Makes You Different! Put yourself in their shoes. They are interviewing all these candidates and they so desperately want to find the difference maker. What's yours? Be able to articulate and demonstrate this throughout the entire process. In fact, this needs to be your focal point. Your difference!

I want to leave you with a final thought.

You were wired for great things. More importantly, you deserve that greatness.

Sometimes we forget that when times are tough or when life has stuck another needle in the Castain Voodoo doll. So if you read this today having been through a struggle, I hear you and want you to know that I have too had to rebuild my life a few years back after losing everything (including my self esteem). Please don't let it get to you. I truly believe that the best chapters in our success story are ahead of us, not behind us.

Now go unleash some of this on that interviewer.Hurry up!

A new chapter in your incredible success story awaits!

Please pass this along to your network and stop by our Sales Playbook Group on Linkedin by clicking here to join http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=1832739&trk=anet_ug_grppro

Want cool, free sales tips delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to Paul Castain's Sales Playbook by Email

David Harder's Inspired Work

The Inspired Work Program leads people into happiness with their work. It is a two-day totally immersive experience that leads to breakthroughs in virtually every area of your work. When we look at how much time it consumes, we find that work is the biggest relationship that we have. Most of us were never given the role models and education to treat work as a relationship. In our culture, the standards usually center on survival and predictability. Now more than ever, this is the time to raise our standards.

Come participate and step into the life you are meant to have!

Dates: Los Angeles (October 2 & 3, November 6 & 7)

Chicago - Available to our clients on request

New York - Program dates will be announced shortly

Take a look: http://www.inspiredworkservices.com

Even better, call us! In a very short conversation, we can mutually identify what the program will bring to your life. We don't pitch, we listen.

Charlene Gorzella: (312) 550-0677

David Harder: (310) 277-4850

P.S: See David on reality TV!

Watch him work with the turks of "Million Dollar Listing."
On Bravo TV beginning October 12 at 11 p.m.

Virtual Jobs, the Career of a Virtual Assistant

Could you work anywhere?

In a field of flowers?

From desk/office you have set up in your kitchen?


Consider the Career of a Virtual Assistant........
being one or utilizing the services of one.











Cheryl Ebner is the capable Virtual Assistant/ executive director for local trade organizations. She works behind the scenes and out front as needed by her clients. Santa Barbara Virtual Assistants
is one of the Central Coast of California businesses that we admire.
Cheryl has a newsletter and she recently ran an article by Minda Zetlin entitled Why You Need to Hire a Virtual Assistant . I thought you might like to see what Cheryl and her colleagues have to say about Virtual Assistants.


Melinda starts our asking entrepreneurs and business people if they are overwhelmed at the office. Then asks if they are not yet ready to hire new staff? A virtual assistant might be the solution.

For small businesses that are drowning in paperwork or administrative tasks, the traditional choice has been to hire a part-time or full-time assistant, or else slog through unassisted.

In these work-from-home days of the Internet, there’s a third option: hiring a virtual assistant.

Though the profession is relatively new and definitions vary, virtual assistants provide administrative or other services from their own offices, over Internet, phone, or fax.

Zetlin says that virtual assistants (VAs) can provide a wide range of services, including not only administrative tasks such as clerical work, correspondence, and making travel arrangements, but also Web-based marketing, bookkeeping, writing, and any number of other tasks.

VAs are small businesses themselves; some are one-person shops who may mostly handle administrative duties, others work with a staff of VAs to provide a wider range of services and greater availability than is possible for a single person.

For Wendy Battles, a health and lifestyle coach with a company named Healthy Endeavors, hiring a virtual assistant meant finally being able to market her business the way she wanted to. “As the business grew, I had more and more tasks,” she says. “I spend a lot of time with clients, but I also need to do marketing. And I’d wanted to launch new tele-seminars and develop more courses.”

Now two virtual assistants help Battles with Internet marketing tasks. They disseminate her weekly two-minute audio tips, improve her site’s shopping cart and search engine optimization, and write pitches. The Internet marketing work she never seems to have time for is finally getting done. And, though a Web developer might also have been able to improve her SEO and shopping cart, working with a VA has a different quality, she notes. “A Web developer wouldn’t do some of the stuff my assistant does,” she says. “Plus a Web developer might not always be available or have the same mentality about getting things done that a virtual assistant does.”

What to expect from a VA
Ready to consider hiring a virtual assistant? Here’s what to expect if you do:

1. Don’t expect to have to make a big commitment. Some VAs work on a fee-for-project basis. Others work on an hourly basis whenever you need them. But many prefer a monthly retainer for ongoing work. “That way, we get to know the clients and share in their successes,” says Sue Kramer Harrawood, marketing director for the International Virtual Assistants Association, and a VA herself, whose company is Peace of Mind Virtual Assistance. But just because you pay a retainer doesn’t mean you’re committed to a lot of work or expense -- many VAs allow for a commitment as small as five hours per month. Whatever you decide, it may be a good idea to plan for extra work -- perhaps double the usual amount -- during your first month, as the VA gets to know you and your requirements.

2. Expect to pay $25 per hour for a truly novice VA, to $65 per hour for a more experienced or highly skilled one. At least, within the United States, those are the going rates. Many VAs from other countries, notably India, will work for $5 an hour, or less. “You can cut overhead dramatically, but I’ve been looking for offshore VAs for 10 years, and have only found one who reached my standards,” says Jennifer Goodwin, owner of internetGIRLfriday.com, a VA firm that employees other VAs to help serve its clients. Technological challenges and a language barrier can also be an issue when working offshore, Goodwin notes.

3. Consider looking for a VA who specializes in your industry. “Some VAs are specifically trained and licensed to work with real estate or insurance,” Kramer Harrawood says. Others may specialize in copy writing. Depending on the type of work you need, seeking out a VA who knows your industry may be well worth the effort.

4. Check out the VA carefully before you hire. A prospective VA should expect that you will want to have a detailed interview, and also check references with current or former clients. And, if the VA will be handling sensitive or valuable materials, you can take it a step further. “If you feel you want to do a background check, or look for a VA who’s bonded, then do it,” Goodwin declares. “There are plenty of them out there.”

5. Remember that the VA is a small business owner, not an employee. “A lot of people who hire VAs think of them as employees, and they have that mindset that the VA has to come into the office and do whatever they say,” Goodwin notes. “Actually, it’s more of an equal partnership.”

6. Expect more efficiency than you would with in-house staff. “Usually someone on staff has a lot of downtime, because there are breaks, conversations with co-workers and so on,” Goodwin says. “There are studies that show a VA who doesn’t have these distractions can get through an eight-hour day’s worth of work in four hours.”

7. Think of the VA as a partner in your business. “Sometimes there’s a great benefit for a client to creating a strategic alliance with the VA,” Goodwin says. “A lot of VAs send out newsletters, and feature their clients in their newsletters. And let’s say a company like mine has a client who’s a florist. I may want to send flowers to my other clients. And my other clients may want to send flowers to the people in their lives as well. Sometimes you can both make more money if you look at it as being in business together.”

The thoughts and connections available from the professional associations of virtual assistants can really help with your research about this emerging profession. I highly recommend the International Association of Virtual Assistants and know that this is a key enprepreneurial business that is here to stay. Patty De

The Single Most Critical Skill for the 21st Century

The Single Most Critical Skill
for the 21st Century

According to the World Future Society, a publication I enjoy reading and love learn from the most critical skill for you to develop in the coming years will be FORESIGHT.

In this era of accelerating change, knowledge alone is no longer the key to a prosperous life. Foresight is the critical skill.

Knowledge quickly goes out of date, but foresight enables you to navigate change, make good decisions, and take action now to create a better future.

We often think people are successful because of luck, when in fact it was their foresight that made them “lucky.” If you look at any successful person, organization, even a country, you will find a high degree of foresight. That’s why foresight is...

The Secret Ingredient of Success


Foresight is critical to achievement in all areas of your life, including your major life decisions.

People who lack foresight are likely to find themselves unemployed when jobs are unexpectedly lost to new technologies, competition from overseas, or shifts in consumer tastes.

Foresight is the key to survival in a world of disruptive innovation.

Foresight enables you to see opportunities, avoid threats, and chart the fastest path to your goals. The key to success is seizing opportunity when it arises. But you need to see the opportunity and be prepared to take action. That’s why foresight gives you power and agility to achieve any goal you want to achieve.

7 Ways to Spot Tomorrow’s Trends Today

In the more than 40 years since the World Future Society was founded,
futurists have developed a range of techniques to study the future.
Here are a few techniques futurist use to spot new opportunities and
potential problems. These methods give individuals and organizations
an edge to help them succeed in a fast-changing world:

1.Scan the Media to Identify Trends—Futurists often conduct an ongoing and systematic surveys of news media and research institutes. These surveys help spot significant trends and technology breakthroughs. Futurists call this environmental scanning.



2.Analyze and Extrapolate Trends—After the trends are identified, the next step is to plot the trends to show their direction and development into the future. Trend analysis and extrapolation can show the nature, causes, speed, and potential impacts of trends.


3.Develop Scenarios—Futurists often describe the future development of a trend, a strategy, or a wild-card event in story form. These scenarios can paint a vivid picture that can help you visualize possible future developments and show how you can prepare effectively for future risks and opportunities. Scenarios help you to blend what you know about the future with imagination about the uncertain. Scenarios help you move from dreaming to planning and then to accomplishment.


4.Ask Groups of Experts—Futurists also conduct “Delphi Polls” which are carefully structured surveys of experts. Polling a wide range of experts in a given field can yield accurate forecasts and suggestions for action.


5.Use Computer Modeling—Futurists often use computer models to simulate the behavior of a complex system under a variety of conditions. For example, a model of the U.S. economy might show the effects of a 10 percent increase in taxes.


6.Explore Possibilities with Simulations—Futurists create simulations of a real-world situations by means of humans playing different roles. For example, in war games, generals test out tactics they may later use on the battlefield, or corporate executives can explore the possible results of competitive strategies.



7.Create the Vision—Futurists help organizations and individuals systematically develop visions of a desirable future. Visioning creates the big picture of the possibilities and prepares the way for goal setting and planning.



If you enjoyed this article and would like to learn more please consider a membership in the World Future Society. You can also discover how to use these techniques yourself in your business and personal life. We’ve prepared a special report that shows how to use these and other futurist techniques.

It’s called The Art of Foresight: Preparing for a Changing World. This report will show you how to use futurist techniques to prepare realistically and creatively for success in your personal and professional life. You can get a copy FREE with an introductory membership in the World Future Society.


Important Forecast The Millennial Generation Will Have Major Impacts
on Society
The millennial generation, born between 1982 and 1998, will have a huge impact on every aspect of society in ways similar to their parents, the Baby Boomers. Some futurists believe Millennials are the next “great generation” of U.S. society, exhibiting many of the heroic qualities of the World War II generation of Americans.

Millennials have a strong entrepreneurial bent. Twice as many say they would prefer to own a business rather than be a top executive. Employers will need to adjust virtually all of their policies and practices to the values of this new generation, including finding new ways to motivate and reward them. See how in your free report, Urgent Warnings, Breakthrough Solutions.

For more info please contact: World Future Society futuristupdate@wfs.org

Forecasts for the Next 25 Years.

THE FUTURIST: A Journal of Forecasts, Trends, and Ideas About the Future: This bimonthly magazine focuses on innovation, creative thinking, and emerging social, economic, environmental, and technological trends.



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To "friend or not to friend" That is an interesting question!

I noticed that there is a Twestival in my home town this evening. What's
a twestival you say? Or... at least that's what I asked and read further to find that it's a gathering of those who TWEET.... a Twestival = people coming physically together to tweet about their favorite topics, and in this evening's case it is about one of my favorite NGO's! Direct Relief International. http://www.directrelief.org/

To learn more you can visit www.twitter.com/sbtwestival or www.twestival.com

Tonight's Twestival is to raise awareness and build networks of Tweeters who care about Direct Relief International's important mission to enable better health around the world. Quite a worthy cause and the NGO utilizes both old world communications and today's social media. (Old world means I actually attended a real, in person strategic planning and development meeting yesterday at their world headquarters and the day before I attend a "gotomeeting" via phone and my pc for another committee meeting.

You can get on board and make a big difference in your speed networks and your social contributions.

Now, How about "Friending" your boss?


Social networking is invading the office. The issue used to be,
"Which friends will I 'friend?'"
But what about when the boss wants to friend you?
And what about the other side of the coin—should you friend the boss?
What about co-workers? Vendors? Clients?

A recent survey suggests that friending in these situations often makes
people uncomfortable. But, because it's not always avoidable, the survey's
developers—OfficeTeam—suggest setting up some different levels of friends,
so that the people from the office don't see pictures from your social life that
may not be appropriate for the office.


Survey says ...

OfficeTeam is a staffing service specializing in the placement of highly skilled
administrative professionals. Their survey was conducted by an independent
research firm and is based on telephone interviews with 150 randomly selected
senior executives at the nation's 1,000 largest companies.

Executives were asked, "How comfortable would you feel about being 'friended'
by the following individuals on Facebook?"
Their responses:



Boss Co-workers Reports Clients Vendors
Very comfortable 19% 13% 12% 7% 6%
Somewhat comfortable 28% 38% 32% 34% 23%
Not very comfortable 15% 13% 15% 17% 24%
Not comfortable at all 32% 28% 33% 33% 38%
Don't know 6% 8% 8% 9% 9%



"The line between personal and professional has grown increasingly blurred
as more people use social networking websites for business purposes," said
Robert Hosking, executive director of OfficeTeam. He said that managers,
even if they aren't going to connect with business contacts on social networking
sites, need to be prepared to deal with requests for friending and such.

Hosking advises managers and employees to familiarize themselves with privacy
settings and create different friend lists to control how—and with whom—information
is shared. "Individuals should classify their professional contacts into a 'work' list and
limit what personal details this group can view," said Hosking.

Following are some common Facebook situations professionals may encounter—and OfficeTeam's recommendations for handling them:

• You're tagged in an embarrassing photo. Untag yourself and change your privacy settings so photos are viewable only by your close friends.

• You're friended by someone you don't want to connect with.
It might be best to accept friend requests from colleagues to avoid slighting them,
but add them to a "work" list and adjust your privacy settings so you can effectively
separate your job from your personal life.

• You're considering friending your boss. It may seem like a natural extension
of amiable office small talk, but think twice before proactively friending your
boss. It could become awkward for both of you.

• You want to join various groups. You should join groups that interest you.
But if you have colleagues in your network and don't want them to see the
groups you join, remember to adjust your application settings.

• You would like to be a fan of certain pages. Becoming a fan of pages on
Facebook is visible to anyone who can view your profile, so you should avoid
becoming a fan of any page you are uncomfortable sharing with coworkers or
business contacts in your network.
• You love quizzes. Stop and think for a mo
ment before taking online quizzes and posting the results to your
Facebook page—unless you want professional contacts to know which
Gilligan's Island character you most resemble.



Patty's note:

Use "old world" wisdom today...... Don't say or write anything that you are not
willing to have show up on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. This is a pretty
effective governor and if used as your guide will save plenty of embarrasing and potentially career derailing moments!