Positive Attitudes Blend with the CEO of ME, Inc.

Anyone can willfully adopt the right attitude. No matter where you’re from or how much innate talent you have, the right attitude can make a difference in your career. Try adopting these 10 attitudes as the CEO of ME, Inc. (from an article by Kate Lorenz, Editor, CareerBuilder.com):

1. I am in charge of my destiny.
If you want something bad enough, you must “make it happen.” Don’t expect good fortune to fall out of the sky and into your lap. There’s a huge difference between wanting something and executing a well-planned strategy for obtaining it.

2. Anything is possible.
Many of us blindly accept the notion that some things are just “impossible.” As a result, we often make no attempt to reach for them. The reality is that people around the world achieve what they previously considered impossible by being relentless in their pursuit of it.

3. No task is too small to do well.
Those who are serious about getting ahead in life assign importance to all tasks, regardless of their size. They realize that others are watching and evaluating their performance — even on the small stuff.

4. Everyone is a potential key contact.
None of us ever know ahead of time who will become a key contact or perhaps an important business ally. That means it’s essential to treat everyone with dignity and respect at all times.

5. I was made to do this job ... and the one above me.
Enthusiasm is contagious. When you bring enthusiasm to the table, you get noticed … and you never know when someone noticing could turn out to be a key decision-maker.

6. It's not just what I know, but who I know.
It’s unwise to entrust your personal success to your intellect alone, smart as you may be. In the 21st century jobscape, you must become a masterful connector and networker. It’s more important now than ever before to understand the economic power contained within relationships.

7. What else can I do?
We’re all busy and we only get 24 hours in a day. But taking on extra work, volunteering, and offering time without getting paid for it is a sign of someone who is committed to success. This is the kind of energy and commitment that gets noticed — and rewarded!

8. Failure helps pave the way to success.
It sounds odd, but failure is often the best thing that can happen to us. Why? It highlights weaknesses and imperfections, providing a perfect starting point for new growth.

9. I am my own biggest fan.
When does exuding self-confidence cross the line into bragging? Most CEOs know how to display a healthy self-image without letting it get out of control. And it’s important to understand this: Having a healthy self-image is part of what makes you attractive to the business community.

10. My opportunity monitor is never turned off.
Opportunities are all around us all the time; it’s just that many of us “tune them out” when we get extra busy or pressed for time. The opportunity monitor must be left in the “on” position so that the truly great ones don’t slip by unnoticed.

Make it happen … I know you can!

I will see you on the radio on Sunday, January 8th at 8am (EST) with Networking Expert, Boxer and Author, Michael Goldberg on “Knock-Out Networking” on Your Career Is Calling on 107.7 FM and online on www.1077TheBronc.com. I look forward to taking your calls at 877.900.1077.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and keep networking alive,

Coach Rod

PS: May the New Year grant all of us the grace to live in love for one another!

Just Do It ... You Are Ready!

As student pilots approach the end of their formal training, they take one last trip with their instructors before going up for that first nerve-wracking solo flight. Instructors report that some students become so obsessed with dials, gauges, and basic maneuvers that they forget one of the most important rules: Sometimes you just have to sit back and fly the plane! The preliminaries are over. You know the cockpit controls inside out. You know how the emergency procedures work. You could probably fly the plane blindfolded and still land safely.

At this point, you’re ready to own your career as a business and test your skills for that first solo flight. You’ve fine-tuned the necessary connection and networking skills, fully embraced the CEO of ME, Inc. mind-set, tested your skill at crafting powerful, persuasive value propositions and mastered the 7-Step Job Search Methodology that will enable you to find the job best suited to your unique skills and abilities.

Don’t worry if you hit occasional turbulence such as neglecting to make a key follow-up call or perhaps misreading some core skills in a job description because those types of errors will occur. But by the time you’ve gone through a few complete cycles of the methodology, you will have acquired enough experience to claim that you “know where all the rough spots are.” Having successfully navigated those rough spots, you now become someone who can lead others — and make no mistake, others will want to follow you to learn from your successes and your failures.

Right now, however, it’s time for you to integrate all that you’ve learned into a single, seamless, and logical plan to manage your career as a business. To put it another way, it’s now time for you to just fly the plane!

Make it happen … I know you can!

I will see you on the radio this Sunday morning at 8am (EST) with Roche Executive, Luis Alberto Colón on “The 4 “E’s” to Career Management – Just Do It” on Your Career Is Calling on 107.7 FM and online on www.1077TheBronc.com. I look forward to taking your calls at 877.900.1077.

Happy Holidays and keep networking alive,

Coach Rod

Beyond ME, Inc.

The race for 21^st century jobs doesn’t stop just because you’ve successfully navigated your way into a targeted position or landed that ideal client; this entire program is much more than simply “landing a job.” The story is just beginning.

If you’ve internalized the CEO of ME, Inc. paradigm, you now recognize its unique value as a powerful business strategy, too. Simply put, you become a business leader within your network not only because it’s the right thing to for the network, but because it’s the right thing to do for your own business. There is an obvious mutual benefit in this type of business model.

In my view, there are three levels of CEOs that emerge from applying my principles of owning your career and becoming the CEO of ME, Inc.:

1. CEOs of ME, Inc.

Many people will master and implement the job search methodology and CEO mind-set described in my book and go on to find opportunities whenever they’re needed. They are winners in the race for 21^st century jobs because they’ve discovered that the process — the 7-Step Job Search Process — really works.

2. CEOs as Networking Leaders

A smaller group will move into positions of leadership, recognizing the value of helping others while improving their branding, exposure, and ever-expanding networks, all of which nourish their own CEO of ME, Inc. business.

Networking Leaders are winners in the race for 21^st century jobs because they see the long-term potential of owning their careers and establishing business rules based on reciprocity and trust. They recognize the extraordinary business value in branding themselves as someone who gives freely and without restriction.

3. CEOs as Strategic Partners

Finally, there is a select group of entrepreneurs who combine the CEO of ME, Inc. paradigm with dynamic leadership to develop truly creative and powerful business strategies. Their unique application of the ME, Inc. paradigm is built on tapping the immense reserves of talent and opportunity within their networks to promote products and services that are in high demand. Once the profit motive is appropriately factored in to the business model — while preserving trust, integrity, and the inherent value of relationships — we now have a strategic partner, the highest level of CEO career and business management.

I will see you on the radio this Sunday morning at 8am (EST) with TARGET Executive, David Neiman on “The Retail Industry Is Hot and Here to Stay – Engage the New World of Retail” on Your Career Is Calling on 107.7 FM and online on www.1077TheBronc.com. I look forward to taking your calls at 877.900.1077.

Best wishes and keep networking alive,

Coach Rod

Job Search: Success of Failure is a Matter of Choice

I designed the Extreme Job Search program so that individuals with the highest level of commitment will achieve the greatest success. This is precisely what The Black Hole does not offer.

That said, not everyone is comfortable with my system. I've seen this situation many times in the past. Students of my program with all best intentions, step themselves through some orientation material, get off to a reasonably good start - then pull back when they realize that the full burden of "working the program" rests on their shoulders alone.

But most students find the experience challenging, energizing, and inspirational. They like the idea that their next job (or client) is right around the corner. They like the feeling of being in control of all decisions and actively managing different aspects of their career "enterprise" to achieve success. And they especially like the freedom that comes from knowing they are no longer shackled to The Black Hole.

One message I want to be especially clear about is this: In the late 20th century (generally the early 1990s), the employer/employee model under which most of us labored convinced us that we would always have a position as long as we worked hard and performed at or above expectations.

That model no longer exists. Now it's up to individual "CEO" to direct the business functions of their own careers, e.g., "R & D" (networking and market intelligence), "Sales & Marketing" (resume and interviewing), etc... in order to secure a viable niche in the business landscape of the 21st century.

For better or worse, you are and will be engaged in an uncomfortably tight race for employment survival in the decades to come. My program lays out the rules for that race and asserts that your only real chance of winning is to boldly leave old-style job search thinking in the dust. I firmly believe that my Extreme Job Search System "the 7- Steps" is the best single defense against any extended periods of transition and the needless suffering endured by you and your family as a result.

I will see you on the radio this Sunday morning at 8am (EST) with Motivational Speaker and Author, Abby Kohut on “101 Job Search Secrets” on Your Career Is Calling on 107.7 FM and online on www.1077TheBronc.com. I look forward to taking your calls at 877.900.1077.

Best wishes and keep networking alive,

Rod Colon

Buzz on the Extreme Job Search Program: Seven Steps That Could Change Your Life

Do you really want to know how I help professionals land during these difficult times? Are you sure?

Pour yourself a cup of coffee and let’s get to work on my Extreme Job Search program. It is a procedure that’s been tweaked to near-perfection over the past six years but will undoubtedly be tweaked many more times whenever improvements are discovered, tested, and evaluated.

As you step yourself through this process, we'll take the networking skills you learned, the powerful CEO mind set, and the magnetic attraction of your value proposition and weld them together for maximum impact.

To do this, your CEO business brain must think in four dimensions, i.e., remember that each component (networking, CEO mind-set, value proposition, and methodology) becomes supercharged when combined with the other three but has ample horsepower to stand on its own when the situation calls for it.

This will be challenging work and at times you may become frustrated. But the payoff is substantial: You will cut yourself free from the grip of The Black Hole. Instead of being dependent on people who don’t know you to advance your career goals, you will learn to network your way to an interview, job or contract by leveraging the power of advocates — people who not only know you, but like you, trust you and will gladly help you to “connect the dots.”

The Seven Steps: High Level Overview

Step 1

As the CEO of ME, Inc, you will determine what your core skills are. Everyone is good at something; so what are your skills, talents, and abilities? What would be a suitable title for someone who does your kind of work?

Step 2

You call your work by a particular name; now it’s time to find out what the marketplace calls it. Are you a Java Developer? A Financial Analyst? You’ll make good use of a web site called Indeed.com to perform this task. You’ll also get a first look at opportunities that may be a good fit for you. The importance of this step is that it helps you determine the market demand for your skills (i.e., the spot market; a snapshot of what the prevailing market conditions look like).

Step 3

Now, using LinkedIn and your networking skills, try to identify advocates; these are people either in your network or in the networks of friends, business contacts, etc… who can “connect the dots” for you within a targeted company to get your name circulated among key decision-makers. At this step, you are performing “networking research”, that is, you are not actually reaching out to these advocates yet, just identifying who they are.

Step 4

You will then develop your value proposition consisting of: 1) a targeted resume; 2) a cover letter (or T-Letter), and 3) the job description itself. In this step you are building your case for the job. Since these documents will either make or break you, you will want to have them as close to perfection as possible.

Step 5

Once you’re SURE you understand the position for which you’ve identified suitable advocates, prepare to connect with them. With advocates who are friends, or friends of friends, you'll network to establish a communications chain to the decision makers (your “Research & Development Team” manages this). In all cases, you will document all contact with advocates to ensure timely and appropriate follow-up.

Step 6

After that, you will submit your value proposition as instructed and set up a specific follow-up schedule. You will track your contact with all advocates to ensure that no follow-up calls or e-mails are forgotten.

Step 7

Finally, you will repeat the process. As the CEO of a business, you never settle for having just one client prospect. When you’re in transition and actively looking for work, your goal should be to find at least one new client opportunity per day.

Best wishes and keep networking alive,

Rod Colon

TRUST: The Glue that Binds Relationships

Below is a list of ways to maintain trust and keep a relationship alive:

1. Be direct, open and honest in all communications with others

2. Maintain a level of respect for others that they begin to view as your “brand”

3. Admit mistakes when you make them

4. Demonstrate appreciation and gratitude for the efforts of others

5. Protect the privacy of others; always keep private information confidential

6. Establish a track record for getting results

7. Set realistic benchmarks for improving your own performance and value

8. Demonstrate a willingness to confront difficult problems “head on”

9. Set up mutually agreed “accountability milestones”; i.e., a healthy relationship allows each member to voice expectations without hurt or hesitation

10. Demonstrate your prowess as a troubleshooter but allow for divergent points of view

11. Keep promises and commitments and establish a solid track record of unquestionable reliability

12. Be willing to risk the extension of trust to others

Best wishes and own your career,

Rod Colon

How to Handle an Unexpected Panel Interview

On Tuesday, I gave a presentation at Georgian Court University. One of the attendees asked how does one handle a Panel Interview. She was caught off guard and froze when she expected to meet with one person and six showed up.

Remember that you are the President and CEO of ME, Inc. A powerful "Sole Proprietorship" representing great services and provides value to each client. With that in mind stay in control and stick to the fundamental objective stated by the client’s job description. If they asked questions that were not part of the job description you are at liberty to say so gently and ask for further information and clarity so you can answer the question/s appropriately. They will appreciate your business acumen and possibly rein them in a bit if they are not familiar with the position (this happens quite often).

Here are a few other tips:

In a panel interview, you speak with more than one person at one time. Key on the person questioning you at the time, but don't disregard the others. Being comfortable with a self-assured attitude are important. Remember you are in control as the President of your firm - don't be rattled!

Prior to the panel interview, acquire and remember the names of every participant of the panel. Then in the interview, sketch a diagram of the interviewers as they are seated and label the seats with their names. At the end of the interview, express thanks by name and shake hands with each interviewer as you depart. This is a nice touch. Feel free to exchange business cards with each panelist and follow-up.

Best wishes and own your career,

Rod Colon

Network Your Way into an Unadvertised Opportunity

You’ve built a network of trusted relationships. But why bother to network if you never plan to leverage it? It’s now time to do some asking because you’ve earned the right to do so. You’ve followed the rules and observed the connection protocols. It’s time to tap your network’s connection horsepower to help you find a position.

THE UNDERLYING STRATEGY

In order to set you up with the proper mind-set for exploring the Hidden Job Market, you need to keep the following principle in mind:

While investigating the Hidden Job Market, your primary function will be networking, not selling, and your aim is to gather intelligence from those individuals in your core skills “space”. Your job is to connect with individuals who can truly help you because they’re in the same industry, not going on some fishing expedition inside industries that have no relevance to yours.

To put it in slightly different terms, it’s not going to do you any good to tap into a pipeline of business intelligence for the pharmaceutical industry if you’re seeking a position in the financial services industry. You need to refine the “filtering” of your contacts to make sure you’re picking up intelligence for the industry — and, if possible, even the precise niche — in which you want to work.

Your ultimate goal is to answer two very specific questions:

1. Who does what you do?

2. Who hires people who do what you do?

Once you’ve mastered this “precision targeting” technique, the flow of your conversation will be along these lines:

“Where do you see the industry heading? What’s going on? What’s hot? What’s not? What groups should I belong to? This is what I’m hearing; what are you hearing?”

YOU’VE EARNED THE RIGHT TO ASK

Finally, when you judge it to be the correct time to do some asking, you must do it as an assertive CEO, not a timid wallflower. It must be a direct request for a specific action to achieve a targeted goal. Remember that you’ve earned the right to ask because of your excellent reciprocity track record. Not only that, most business owners appreciate direct, straightforward requests.

Best wishes and own your career,

Rod Colon

YOU ARE WHAT YOU THINK YOU ARE

Henry Ford once said “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.”

I’m always amazed when individuals come to me with statements of defeat, hopelessness or frustration such as “Rod, I just can’t write a good proposal … it’s hopeless!” or “Rod, I keep striking out during interviews and networking or I can never convince my manager to my point of view.”

Don’t misunderstand: I’m not amazed that they confide in me. I’m amazed that they expect me to wave a magic wand and make the problem go away. So to keep the spotlight of responsibility properly focused on the only person who can solve the problem, I use a technique called bounce back. Here are three examples:

Example #1

Jorge:

“Rod, I’m no good at writing resumes.”

Rod:

“Jorge, you’re right … you’re no good at writing resumes.”

Example #2

Melissa:

“Rod, I can’t use the telephone to call advocates; I’m just too shy.”

Rod:

“Melissa, you’re right … you can’t use the telephone to call advocates; you’re just too shy.”

Example #3

Stephan:

“Rod, I’m a failure.”

Rod:

“Stephan, you’re right … you’re a failure.”

Is this harsh? I don’t think so. I’m not slamming a door in anyone’s face and they all know deep inside that I’m just trying to break down an obstacle that’s preventing both of us from making progress.

But what I’m really trying to do with this technique is to get people to see that they are whatever they truly believe they are. It’s like this: If you think that something really is a certain way, then guess what? It really is! Your thoughts and attitudes become “causation triggers” for the very condition you’re complaining about! I’m confident that Henry Ford would agree with me.

The solution? Stop complaining! Start thinking positively even if it hurts. Just do it! No one has to stay mired in the muck of negativity. It’s time to display a positive face for the world and enjoy all of the successes that are out there waiting for you … so go after them!

Best wishes and own your career,

Rod Colon

THE SUCCESS LIST

You might think that just being enrolled in the SMC program practically guarantees a successful transition to a new job or position. But you’d be dead wrong.

The success you experience here will come from a strict adherence to some fundamental principles we will teach you. Here is a partial list:

· Your attitude, behavior, and even the way you think all have an unbelievably powerful effect on your success during periods of transition. If you don’t already know how to do it, you will need to develop a positive mental attitude about literally every task — large and small — you take on every day. Setbacks will happen but they should never be allowed to defeat you.

· You must learn how to think like a business owner with respect to your job search and career management activities. You are the CEO of a business and must learn to think and act like one. All decisions are yours, both good and bad. You must learn to hold yourself accountable at all times.

· You will bear the brunt of all work you attempt — no one will bear it for you. This is a measure of character, determination, and commitment to success. You must be relentless about pursuing all angles of the job search, not just the high-profile or glamorous ones.

· Know and understand yourself well. Know your strengths and weaknesses; capitalize on your strengths and avoid situations in which your weaknesses tend to reveal themselves. Even more important, develop a keen sense of self-awareness with respect to your interests, talents, and special skills.

· Never assume that you have made a lasting impression on someone just because you’ve had a great phone call or a fabulous interview. Be absolutely sure you follow up in all interpersonal activities. Keeping your name and face brightly framed in the mind of a would-be decision-maker can be the difference between getting the job you want and yielding it to someone else.

· Learn to acquire mental toughness. If you’ve been raised on the need for comfort and compassion from others to get through your troubles, you may find certain aspects of the SMC Program difficult. You will need to “steel your resolve” to get through the tough times on your own … and once you’ve done it successfully a few times, it will become not only second nature for you but one of the most valuable weapons in your career management arsenal.

· Become a master networker. The more you know about networking and the finer points of executing it, the more successful you’ll be in making connections with decision-makers and advocates who can help you along on your journey.

Best wishes and own your career,

Rod Colon

Small Talk: Getting to Know You … Maybe

It’s surprising to discover how many people consider “small talk” irrelevant to networking. I couldn’t disagree more. When I think back on all my first-time encounters, not one of them would have been initiated without the use of small talk. The bottom line is there's nothing small about it.

I won't spend a lot of time discussing the subject here; instead I'll refer you to some books that handle the subject brilliantly. They were written by my good friend and ETP Network member Don Gabor:

• Turn Small Talk Into Big Deals (copyright © 2009 by McGraw-Hill)

• How To Start A Conversation And Make Friends (copyright © 2001 by Fireside)

• Talking With Confidence for the Painfully Shy (copyright © 1997 by Three Rivers Press)

Don understands the value of small talk and he is a master at it. Although that may not sound like a spectacular achievement on its own, the art of small talk determines how well you will form connections — and the relationships that result from them!

Best wishes and own your career,

Rod Colon

We are CEOs of our Own Companies: Me Inc...

Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You. – Tom Peters

The Mentality: Run Your Career as a Business

On a camping trip in the Rocky Mountains “many years ago”, ETP Network Editor-in-Chief Chip Hartman had the misfortune of stepping into a pool of quicksand along the banks of a slow-moving river. I’ll let Chip tell the story:

“We broke camp around 7 am and headed toward the river. The embankment was so steep we had to run down the path to reach the water’s edge. We thought we were running out onto a wide sandy area along the river bank, but it wasn’t. With the very first step, three of us sank into the muck at least six inches. Every time we tried to remove one leg, the other would sink deeper. In less than a minute, we were almost waist-deep. Then we remembered the advice of a forest ranger only a few days earlier: “If you step into quicksand, you can escape by either lying backward or forward on it. It’s denser than water so you can actually float higher in it than water as long as you’re calm and don’t make any sudden thrashing movements. You can float your way out of it.” But how could we do something so preposterous and illogical? There was no time for debate. We either had to float our way out or risk a horrible death. One by one we tried, very gently. Little by little we paddled out with our arms and reached an area were there was secure footing underneath.”

Pretty frightening, isn’t it? But Chip’s quicksand story provides an interesting insight into paradigms. Many of us were brought up to believe the Hollywood stereotype of quicksand victims thrashing upright in the muck, yelling and screaming as they sank deeper and deeper, gasping for that final breath before slipping under the surface. It was a grim, terrifying way to die — and we all bought it!

Which proves how easy it is to cling to long-held beliefs, especially if they go unchallenged for a long time. And that makes me wonder: How many other beliefs do we hold as absolutes, absolutes that could be easily debunked if a better explanation came along? In Chip's case, the need to quickly change long-held beliefs may have saved his life. What could it do for you?

I’m going to ask you to let go of the belief that so many professionals cling to — “The Employee Mind-Set” if I work hard I will secure my position and everything else will take care of itself — and adopt an entirely new way of thinking about career management.

Let’s get to work.

As the CEO of your career you will:

• Learn to partition your responsibilities to ensure that all critical operations are carried out and none get overlooked. For example, your Research & Development Department will be in charge of networking — making connections, digging up new leads, gathering business information, etc… Right from the start, anything you do that's part of this effort is processed in the R & D “department” of your mind. Likewise, your Sales & Marketing Department will oversee the development of a powerful value proposition until every task is properly niched.

• Take responsibility for making tough decisions — there’s just no way around this. Tough decision-making is a skill with tremendous short and long-term benefits. It trains your mind to weigh options before you commit to a course of action.

• Accept the consequences of your tough decisions — both good and bad. You can savor the good results and analyze why the bad results occurred. Most importantly, don’t waste time beating yourself up when a decision yields poor results. Pick up the pieces and move on. Learn from every aspect of the failure experience because it will move you closer to career success.

• Bring a new level of personal accountability to your career. Why? Because you have a “governing body” to which you now have ultimate responsibility: your Personal Board of Directors (e.g., spouse, family, extended family, significant other, etc…).

Still not convinced you can benefit from thinking like a CEO? Are you saying, "Why bother? This sounds like a whole lot of work for very little benefit."

If that’s how you see it, consider this: Your competition fails to adopt the “I’m in charge” attitude and their race for the finish line becomes a mediocre performance at best. They remain mired in the “employee mind-set”, a part of the Black Hole crowd that inevitably lags behind. And while most of us don't want others to fail, there’s nothing wrong with capitalizing on the inept business decisions of others to gain a tactical advantage whenever possible. In other words, if you are thinking like a business owner and your competitors aren’t, you have a significant edge over them. Do not fail to leverage it!

Will you absorb this paradigm shift overnight? No. In a week? Unlikely. In a month? Maybe. People internalize it at very different rates. Most can tell rather quickly if they are cut out to be the CEO of ME, Inc.

The good news is that this mental model will work if you make it work.

Best wishes and own your career,

Rod Colon

Networking - The Machinery That Drives All Business

Networking is the machinery that drives all business, including the business of managing your own career as its CEO.

By now most professionals know that there are certain “ground rules” to be observed in business networking. For example, the focus needs to be on “what can I do for you?” rather than “what can you do for me?” You must learn to extend yourself first, tackle someone else’s problem, or use some special expertise to help them if help is requested.

Most of us have also heard of the individuals who can’t quite grasp the concept of reciprocity and plow into first-time connections with the force of a bulldozer. Their emphasis is clearly on “me, me” and they are not very subtle about it. Most would-be connections do an abrupt about-face to keep such “networking jerks” far off of their trail.

If you’re wondering what the connection is between proper networking and the job search, it’s this: Your job search will be as successful as the network of relationships you build to help you reach advocates. Networkers gain good, solid exposure by constantly putting themselves “out there” and offering help or guidance as it’s needed or requested. That exposure translates into visibility, one of the most valuable assets a job seeker can have. When you’re visible, when you’re a known and recognized entity within a network, when you’re comfortable about sharing your personal brand with others, you effectively put yourself in the crosshairs of recruiters and decision-makers. The more visible you are, the higher your chances for making the strategic connections that need to be made to get you “inside the company’s front door.”

I'll see you on the radio this and every Sunday morning at 8am (EST) on Your Career Is Calling on 107.7 FM and online on www.1077TheBronc.com. This week we discuss “Extreme Job Search” – Learn the Process.

Best wishes and own your career,

Rod Colón
Career Management Consultant, Executive Coach, Speaker, Author
Weekly Co-Host of Radio Show "YOUR CAREER IS CALLING".
732-367-5580

The Real Reason Why Personal Branding is Critical

For those who take personal branding seriously and commit time, energy and resources to its successful deployment, your reward is just around the corner. Through branding:

1. You establish your value

2. You consistently deliver that value

3. As a result, you establish trust

4. Therefore, can now negotiate

You can now negotiate. While others have frittered away their time on meaningless Black Hole job searches, you have positioned yourself in a kind of job search “catbird seat” because you now have a very high level of market value credibility. That means when it’s time for an interview, you can look forward to having the leverage to ASK for a level of compensation that you believe is both fair and genuinely deserved instead of being forced to accept whatever is offered.

For those who land an interview but who have not adequately branded themselves, they are still – despite the success of landing an interview – still at the mercy of the decision-maker when it comes to negotiating a salary.

Critical is developing your value proposition, a way of attracting the employer to you by providing rock-solid, compelling evidence of your skills, talents, and abilities – especially with regard to how they match that employer’s specific needs for a particular position. If you are already well-branded before developing your value proposition, you are at the pinnacle of power with regard to the 21st century job search. All you have to do now is “make it happen.”

CEO of ME Exercise: THE POWER OF BRANDING

1. If your business (i.e., what you do better than anyone else) could be captured in a logo and tagline, what would it be? This is not a request to actually develop your logo, but just to describe it so that others could visualize it. Try to be as specific as you can and to have solid, defensible reasons for your ideas and selections.

Next week – PLAN BEFORE YOU BRAND

I'll see you on the radio this and every Sunday morning at 8am (EST) on Your Career Is Calling on 107.7 FM and online on www.1077TheBronc.com.

Best wishes and own your career,

Rod Colón

A Personal Brand is a Mixture of Perception and Promise

Your brand is a perception or emotion on the part of others that describes the total experience of having a relationship with you. Many business and marketing experts consider a brand to be an experience, a promise, or a warranty. Still others regard a brand as simply a type of “value shorthand.”

Successful businesses have mastered the art of branding to expand their customer base and remain dominant forces within their particular industry. Generally speaking, powerful brands are associated with powerful imagery that includes a distinctive logo, corporate title, and punchy tagline. Look at the list of companies below and see if a mental image is formed as you read the name. If a powerful mental image is formed around the perception of value associated with these business names, then branding has been extraordinarily successful for them:

· Starbucks

· The Ritz-Carlton

· McDonald’s

· Nike

· Morton Salt

· Coca Cola

· BMW

Many people read a list like this and can almost instantly visualize the company logo and tagline. But if there is also an almost instant perception of value or benefit, then branding is heavily responsible for the success of that product or service in the marketplace.

As the business owner of ME, Inc, you need to be very serious about making your business stand out from everyone else’s.

I'll see you on the radio this and every Sunday morning at 8am (EST) on Your Career Is Calling on 107.7 FM and online on www.1077TheBronc.com.

Best wishes and own your career,

Rod Colón

Welcome To Shape My Career!

If you haven’t already done so, take a close look at our logo.

An “S”-shaped section of road blends neatly into the word ‘Shape’. Shape what? “Shape My Career.” The logo serves as a visual reminder of what we regard as our mission in this uniquely designed job search and career management guide.

The mission? We intend to deliver a program of live instruction focused on getting you further along in your journey to the next stage of your career — and far more expeditiously — than any rival outsourcing or career management company. As if that weren’t enough, our program is designed to be custom-tailored for your specific needs and requirements. We will, quite literally, be helping you to decide the direction, speed, and quality of that journey … in short, its shape.

In addition to helping you shape your career, our program will offer resources and support to help you as you continue your efforts even after you’ve left the program! There aren’t many outsourcing agencies that can make that claim!

The methodology contained in the Shape My Career Resource Guide will steer you toward the goal you ultimately set for yourself, whether you are seeking full-time employment, part-time employment, contract work or self-employment.

This is not a “spoon-feed me” course. In fact, it will involve a great deal of work, time, energy, and commitment on your part. But the payoff of putting yourself through it will be enormous when you once again find yourself in the ranks of the employed, or perhaps generating new business, or starting off on your brand new career.

You’re on your way and we’re here to help!

Rod Colon

Chief Operations Officer

Shape My Career, Inc.

tel: 201.477.8370 ext. 170

alt: 732-367-5580

fax: 201.385.8243

email: rod.colon@shapemycareer.com

web: www.shapemycareer.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/rodcolon

Your Career Is Calling on Monday and Wednesday Nights at 9PM (EST)

Rider University will now rebroadcast our radio show “Your Calling Is Calling” every Monday and Wednesday Nights at 9pm.

You can tune in on 107.7 FM and online on www.1077TheBronc.com.

Best wishes and own your career,

Rod Colon

Q&A with Rod Colon

Question # 1 – Jennifer S., Allentown, PA

“Rod, doesn’t this whole process seem like an awful lot of work just to find a new job? In The Black Hole, I’m done within 5 minutes. Your methodology looks as if it could take weeks, maybe even months!”

Answer # 1

Yes, it is a lot of work. But didn’t you agree to view your job search as a business back in Chapter 3? Are you going to abandon that mind-set so quickly? Business owners work hard to achieve their goals; as the CEO of ME, Inc., why shouldn’t you?

NEWSFLASH: That “5 minutes” you spend in The Black Hole doesn’t include weeks of waiting for an answer. And guess what? In some cases, the answer never comes — remember that you’re not interacting with live communicating people, just a bunch of computers. In terms of human interaction, it is a totally connectionless environment.

Do you really expect “quick” results from a connectionless environment?

Rod Colon

Connections: When It’s You and Someone Else

I have a special reverence for those occasions when I meet a person and step into his or her life for the very first time. You never know what surprises await. The person you’re about to meet may have won a Pulitzer Prize, climbed Mt. Everest, or served time for bank robbery. As a person’s story gradually unfolds before you, it will be quite easy to tell if there are sparks of mutual interest that could ignite for future encounters.

Whenever you first meet someone, you take a risk — but that’s how all good relationships start. They start with an element of chance, the chance that the other person might become a good friend or perhaps a trusted business associate based on common interests, shared experiences, and perhaps some good old-fashioned intuition.

But if you’re not willing to risk a first encounter, there’s little hope of developing any relationships. Call me foolish, but I relish these opportunities because, even when the worst-case scenario does occur, I still end up learning a great deal about human nature. There is never any real failure in the connection laboratory, just occasional setbacks.

In reality, first-time connections are golden opportunities for future relationships and in the business world, connections and relationships are everything. Just try conducting business without them! You won't get very far — and that will be especially true in the 21^st century jobscape where the opportunities for business growth will be heavily dependent on the strength and abundance of personal relationships.

Determine Someone’s Wants / Needs / Desires (W/N/D)

Let me share a special technique that creates an immediate bond with another person. The technique is to get people talking about their W/N/D (wants/needs/desires). It's an incredible weapon in your networking arsenal.

This is how it plays out in conversation: You pick up a casual remark about selling Girl Scout cookies or coaching the swim team, for example. That then gives you a hook on which to hang questions, express interest, and fuel a conversation. The best part is that your desire to learn about someone else frequently triggers reciprocal inquiries because people are naturally curious. Presto! You’ve just established a connection. Whether it deepens or dissolves from this point on is totally up to the two of you.

Uncover a Person’s Passion and Build an Instantaneous Bond

Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone, believes that if you uncover a person’s true passion, you have a golden opportunity to bond with that individual since you’ll be connecting on a powerful, emotional level. Indeed, most people will freely share information about their passions and interests.

FORM = Family / Occupation / Recreation / Money (FORM = GOALS)

Another useful formula for making connections is the FORM Equation. Get someone talking about any of the four topics above and you’ll be connecting in record time. Why? People love to talk about the powerful motivations that propel them toward their life goals.

Nurture the Budding Relationship

Once you establish an interesting connection with someone, nurture it with periodic follow-up. Connections can be solid but fleeting; if you sense there is substance to a new connection, don’t miss the chance to reinforce it by making a phone call or two. Nurturing a good connection is the best way to solidify it into a trusted, long-term relationship.

Follow up

Don’t allow yourself to forget this critical step. In my view, the failure to follow up with newly made acquaintances – and even people with whom you already share a trusted relationship – accounts for almost half of all relationship failures.

Play It Low-Key With Bad Connections

Many of us carry a certain amount of negative baggage. But if it consistently oozes into the conversation with someone you’ve just met, consider an early exit. People who radiate negativity drag everyone else down with them. Who needs that when you’re already hip-deep in a job search?

The bottom line is this: If you decide that a new connection isn't going to work, politely head for the door. Confrontations rarely produce positive results.

Best wishes and own your career,

Rod Colon's Interview on ABC-TV Shares Tips for Job Seekers

Rod Colón

Link to Rod Colon's Interview on ABC-TV "Tiempo" on Sunday, January 16th

NEW YORK -- -- Concerned about the Hispanic community? If you are, be sure to tune into "Tiempo."

"Tiempo" is a weekly round-table discussion show about topics affecting and relating to Hispanic citizens.

This week on Tiempo: Sunday, January 16:

This week on Tiempo, we begin with an issue plaguing the entire country. Unemployment is hitting the Latino community especially hard. Radio host and career coach Rod Colon of "Empowering Today's Professionals" joins the show and shares tips on dealing with joblessness.

Clink the link below to see the interview:

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news&id=5790398

Best wishes and own your career,

Rod Colon

Shape My Career Counselor Rod Colon Guest on ABC-TV

NEW YORK -- -- Concerned about the Hispanic community? If you are, be sure to tune into "Tiempo."

"Tiempo" is a weekly round-table discussion show about topics affecting and relating to Hispanic citizens.

Please join us for "Tiempo" on Sunday mornings (11:30 AM), only on ABC-7!

This week on Tiempo: Sunday, January 16:

This week on Tiempo, we begin with an issue plaguing the entire country. Unemployment is hitting the Latino community especially hard. Radio host and career coach Rod Colon of "Empowering Today's Professionals" joins the show and shares tips on dealing with joblessness.

Find more information: www.etpnetwork.com

Then, we explore the remarkable history of Grand Central Terminal. Now, you can learn the secrets of this New York City landmark in a variety of languages. Metro North Spokesman Dan Brucker talks about the new tours.

Find more information: www.grandcentralterminal.com

http://search.abclocal.go.com/search/client?st=wabc&q=tiempo

Social Networking What's The Point!

Nowadays, most people can tell you all about social networking. It seems as if everyone is involved with social networking to at least some degree. Web sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter used to be novelties, places where you could casually observe comments, profiles, messages, inquiries, and photos of complete strangers – until it became widely recognized that these sites were, in reality, “connection pools”, i.e., places where you could meet people and expand your personal network. From that time on, the sites simply “took off” and there’s no sign that they will be fizzling out any time soon.

Similarly, blogging used to be regarded as a leisure-time activity in which you could pen your thoughts, opinions, and comments and share them with whoever might have an interest in them. But, as with social networking, the business practicality of blogging (especially in the B2B world) overtook casual usage and business owners began turning their blogs into full-force inbound marketing machines.

All of this means one thing to the 21st century job seeker:

If you hope to achieve any level of name or brand recognition, you’ve GOT to have a presence on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter and it’s practically a necessity to have a regularly-updated, traffic-generating blog.

Own your career,

Rod Colon

Self Assessment

When you need to find a job, it’s important to find the right job. Despite popular fantasies of winning the lottery, buying expensive cars and homes, and doing fascinating work with interesting people in exotic places, the sober reality is that most of us have to work hard over a long period of our lives.

If you spend forty to fifty years – not an unlikely timeframe – working at jobs you’d rather not be doing, you are in truth throwing away a large part of your life. This is tragic once you realize that a career you can truly love is within your reach.

Shape My Career recognizes that participants will not necessarily enter the program with an intuitive grasp of their own skills, capabilities, preferences, talents and abilities. On that basis, SMC uses a battery of diagnostic and assessment tools to help participants learn the all-important first step in finding the right job, the right business, or the right career: knowing yourself exceptionally well.

Own your career,

Rod Colon