Twitter is Twitterific for Entrepreneurs!

Networking

I joined Twitter in January.


I joined because I was feeling pressure to do so from clients, colleagues and well… Anderson Cooper.  Every night when watching “AC 360”, the fabulous Mr. Cooper would say, “Follow Me on Twitter!”. I thought, “Why does Andy (my nickname for the handsome-Ms.Vanderbuilt’s-son) want the world to follow him on Twitter? And what is so special about Twitter anyway?”
At first I just didn’t get it.


Then, when someone I really respect and admire,  Women for Hire’s Tori Johnson, “followed” me I sat up and paid attention. From then on, it’s been a daily ritual to go to Twitter first thing in the morning and “tweet” a few sentences, and on and off throughout the day.
I’m not going to say I am the pro with Twitter yet, but here are a few things I can tell you right away:
1- Your visibility is limitless. You can literally reach an unlimited amount of viewers. It all depends on how many followers you have. When I first joined, I had no idea how to go about getting more followers. But now it seems like every other post on Twitter is about how to get more followers. I like Mr. Tweet because it picks out 200 potential followers for you and you can pick and choose.
2. You can promote your business. Everyone promotes their business on Twitter. Doing it in moderation is the best choice. I know there are a few that promote endlessly and sometimes it gets to be too much. I mean, how many times can one person tweet about colon cleansing? You would be surprised. Keep it to a few times a day. I try to do a “Tip of the Day” at least once a day. I don’t always get it in there, but try for every day.
3. Creating Relationships Builds your Business. When replying to ‘tweets’ or ‘retweeting‘ someone elses tweet, it creates a relationship with that person and they are more likely to ‘retweet’ something you said, which will increase your visibility. Plus, it’s a great way to gain new business. I’ve gotten quite a few new resume clients since being on Twitter. I’ve also just gotten to know people and created new friendships. Sometimes working in a home-based office can be isolating, so it’s nice to be able to “talk” with other business owners.
This is just the tip of the iceberg on the benefits of Twitter for your small business. There are also lots of different applications to use as well as loads and loads of articles on Google.
Social media is the hottest new trend and one of the fastest ways to build your business. Give Twitter a try. You’ll quickly become addicted. 🙂
Erin Kennedy


As I was sipping my piping hot, freshly ground Starbucks House Blend, I thought, “ahhhh”. I’m not sure what it is about coffee, but I love it. Caffeinated or not, I love coffee. The smell, the taste, the culture. I need it, have to have it, would hate to live without it.

I am from a family of huge coffee drinkers. My parents always had a pot of it going. I loved the smell, but hated the taste of it (they drank it black). When I was 19, my boyfriend at the time drank it and, wanting to impress him of course, I started as well. My love affair with coffee continued long after college and long after the boyfriend. What a wonderful courtship it has been. I’ve always been happy to drive out of the way to hit a new coffee shop or try out a ‘flavor of the week’. When a Starbucks moved into my sleepy little farming town, WHOA! You would have thought they put a mega mall in town the way everyone was talking about it.

Besides the wonderful smell and strongly bitter taste, it DOES have some good health benefits. Did you know that some health experts say that people who drink coffee on a regular basis are 80% less likely to develop Parkinson’s Disease? WebMD also goes on to say that it “lowers your risk of diabetes, cavities and colon cancer. It can uplift you and treat headaches.  There’s also some evidence that coffee may help manage asthma and even control attacks when medication is unavailable. Overall, the research shows that coffee is far more healthful than it is harmful,” says Tomas DePaulis, PhD, research scientist at Vanderbilt University‘s Institute for Coffee Studies.

So there’s that.

My career has revolved around coffee. I can always rely on my faithful cup of joe to get me though the next resume, next article, next blog post, and so on. Every job interview I’ve been on, there was a stop to pick up a coffee beforehand. Every workshop I’ve done was with coffee in hand (or somewhere in the room).

Career and Coffee seem to go hand in hand in my life. So, here’s to you coffee!

Networking when Shy

Networking
How to Network if You are on the Shy side

I am the first to admit that networking with a bunch of strangers is not easy when you are shy. Early in my career, I was in sales (seriously) and would literally have to force myself to cold call. It was daily torture. I finally admitted to myself that maybe I was in the wrong field, and no, it was not hereditary (many family members were in sales). I was never that suave, chatty, BS’er-type that seemed to dominate my lineage.
Networking when you are shy is worse than a root canal.
I understand this first hand. So, when you would rather scrub your toilet then walk into a company that has never heard of you, here are a few different things you can do to help you cope with and overcome this predicament.
1) Join LinkedIn. The fabulous benefit of LinkedIn is that you can literally cold call without ever having to be face-to-face with a living being. Simply look up a company in the directory and send your resume to whoever is in charge. How easy was that?? Now, what I would really advise would be to find someone in your network, or one of your connection’s network, and ask them for the name of someone first. Then send that person an email and begin a dialogue. I can go on and on about LinkedIn. Most of you know I am obsessed with it. If you would like to know more, send me an email go here.
2) Join a Local Business Organization. The beauty of a joining a local organization (either business or volunteer) is two-fold. Or maybe tri-fold. Is that a word? Yes, but for a closet door. Anyway, I will make it work in this situation.
A- You can go and sit at a table and have a nice breakfast/lunch/dinner where minimal attention will be paid to you (unless you stand up and introduce yourself, and c’mon you can do that) and still get to know the organization, feel productive, and get excited because you got out of your comfort zone.
B- Once you are in that comfy place, you will start talking with people and slowly begin making new contacts/acquaintances/friends that you wouldn’t have made sitting at home in front of your computer posting your resume on the useless Monster.com.
C- Now that you are talking with people, you can tell them what you do for a living, find out what they do and see if you connect anywhere.
On a personal note: I joined my local Optimists organization when I got out of college and worked for the career center as a Career Counselor. Within a year of initiation, they recruited me to be President of our Chapter, which encompassed two cities. Talk about being nervous… (but that was with public speaking, and I had to get over it quick… that is a whole different story).
Let me tell you though, the contacts I made during that time were with professionals I still talk with to this day.
3) Tell everyone you know that you are job searching. Even if you are embarrassed about it or don’t want anyone to know that either you lost your job or your job is in jeopardy, or whatever the case may be, tell them. People like to help and you really never know who may know someone that you need to know. The stories my clients tell me about who helped them get their jobs are always priceless. Your dry cleaner? Your mail person? Your colleague? Yes, I’ve heard of all these great stories and more.
Networking is the #1 way to get a job, so even if it hurts a little, get out there and tell them who you are.

Facebook & Networking Sites

Job SearchNetworking
FACEBOOK & NETWORKING SITES

I admit, at first I thought the idea of Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and other networking sites were, well, silly. It seemed juvenile and strange… not to mention an invasion of privacy. Why would anyone put pictures of family members on a site where virtually EVERYONE could look at them? I didn’t get it and poo-poo’ed the idea.

Clients begun sending me “invites” to “connect” on their different sites and boy, are there a lot of them.. Plaxo, LinkedIn, Fast Pitch, Tagged, and Twitter, just to name a few. Not wanting to seem rude to my clients, I finally broke down and started an account with LinkedIn. I found it to be very professional and a great way to have an online bio that perspective clients and colleagues can read to have a better idea of what it is I do.

Finally, after hearing my nieces and nephews talk about Facebook all summer long, I decided to cave and start an account. I did one for business and one for personal. Once I got the hang of it, it was like a giant light went on and suddenly, without warning, I was hooked. The first two weeks I was like a fiend, “connecting” with old friends and family in my personal account–catching up on what everyone had been doing, who was having children, where were they working, who had moved, married, etc. I had to keep checking. It was like a drug. Who was doing and posting what? After about a week and a half, the dazzling draw of it started to wear off. Thank goodness.

I realized a few things in my networking journey so far:

1) You can control your privacy settings, so only your “friends” can see what you posted… not the whole world.

2) With my business account, it is a fantastic way to see what my colleagues are doing, what articles they find useful, clients or projects they are working on, etc.

3) You don’t have to invite EVERYONE in your address book (my first mistake when joining– I invited everyone to join me). Invite who want to hear about.

4) Use these sites sparingly at work–remember, many companies ban the use of these at work due to loss of productivity and the system resource drain. Your job could be in jeopardy if use them without permission (although, c’mon who ever really asks their bosses if they can Facebook while at work?). Save your networking for home.

5) Pick and choose your networking forums. You don’t need to join every one. It gets to be too time consuming trying to keep up with more than one or two.

I still check my Facebook everyday. Although maybe just one account or the other, and only about twice a day. Who has the time? I am still catching up from the work I missed while on my Facebook high.

If you are contemplating joining one of these sites, read my 5 tips first and be ready to enjoy yourself. As a former skeptic, it’s easy to get hooked.

Until next time…

Erin Kennedy

DEVELOPING YOUR 2-MINUTE COMMERCIAL

At some point in your job search you will be asked to tell something about yourself.

Focus on what you have to offer. This is like a television commercial about you. A commercial sells products. Therefore, you should emphasize those strengths and qualifications most suited to the position you are pursuing.

Watch your language and presentation style. Use the formula: language + motivation = outcome. In other words, positive language + positive body language and behaviors = a positive and favorable outcome. This means there is absolutely no room for negativity. When you see advertisements, you will notice that they emphasize the positive outcome you will gain from the product, not the downside.

A sample two minute commercial may include information such as: personal qualifications, technical skills, relevant education, training, certifications and achievements.

Look at this sample two minute commercial from a corporate accountant:

“I am a CPA with over nine years of corporate accounting and financial reporting experience. In my most recent position, I was selected to lead several special projects which included strategic planning, forecasting and corporate treasury functions.

I was recognized last year as Manager of the Year for my ability to develop my accounting staff and provide training in many facets of customer service, auditing, time management, problem solving and other key functions. I have an MBA and am active in both the National Management Association and the Space Coast Chapter of the Florida CPA’s Association.”

Developing a fluid, confident and natural sounding commercial takes time and practice.

Good Luck!

Erin Kennedy, CPRW

How People are Finding Jobs

Career & WorkplaceJob SearchNetworking

How People Are Finding Jobs

Some interesting statistics are in from a couple of trusted Internet sources, WEDDLE’s (www.weddles.com) and Salary.com, on the topic of how people find jobs.

WEDDLE’s 2008 Source of Employment Survey ran from March 2007 to March 2008 and generated responses from over 15,600 individuals. The respondents were 65% male, 35% female; they had a median age of 40-45, with more than 60% describing themselves as managers, mid-level professionals, or executives.

When asked to identify where they found their last job, the respondents listed the following sources as their top ten (not all sources are listed so the percentages will not total to 100%):

· 13.3% An ad posted on an Internet job board

· 7.0% A tip from a friend

· 6.8% Other

· 6.3% A newspaper ad

· 6.2% They posted their resume on a job board

· 6.0% A call from a headhunter

· 5.8% They were referred by an employee of the company

· 5.2% They sent a resume to the company

· 4.9% At a career fair

· 4.8% By networking at work.

Survey Source: Weddles.com

Salary.com released its recent Employee Job Satisfaction & Retention Survey, where a total of 7,482 individuals and 245 human resource or other company representatives responded. Among the individual employee respondents, 7,101 were employed and provided valid responses. Of those, 57 percent of employees indicated they are “somewhat” or “very” likely to intensify their job search in the next three months, down slightly from last year’s 62 percent. The most popular job search activities that employees are involved in, in order of preference:

· 46% are surfing online job postings

· 42% are updating their resume

· 32% are reading classified employment listings

· 32% are networking with friends/colleagues

· 27% are posting or emailing resumes

Survey Source: Salary.com

If you combine WEDDLE’s “tip from a friend” and “referral by an employee of the company” you get nearly the same number as the #1 response “an ad posted on an Internet job board,” which implies that networking should receive the same amount of attention as surfing online job postings. The questions that arise are these: Are you spending an equal amount of time networking? And, if not, how can you make that happen?

Source: Career Coach Academy

https://www.proreswriters.com

Networking… the #1 way to get a job!

Job SearchNetworking

NETWORKING

A friend of mine recently asked me what was the hardest part of job search for most people. The answer? NETWORKING.

Networking can be as unnerving as standing up in front of an audience for some people. Of course you have others, like most of my sales cleints, who can get up in front of anyone and speak for any amount of time. But for most, just the thought of having to meet new people makes them wince.

Here are a few pointers to help ease your way into the networking circuit:

1) Tell everyone you know that you are job searching. You never know what doors may open for you. While in college, I told a client of mine (I was a Nail Technician!) that I was looking for an intership that would be accepted by my university AND be relevant to my degree. Guess what? As the Director of Human Resources at the time (now she is President/CEO) of an international non-profit organization, she had the federal funds to open a new career cneter and guess who was going to be interning there? All of my worrying about finding the right PAID internship, and it (she) was in front of me the whole time.

2) Get together with other professionals you know. Start your own networking “club” with friends/family/colleagues. Keep as current as possible on your own company’s job openings, too. It never fails, there is always someone who will let you know of a job opening a their place of employment.

3) Hit the job fairs. It may sound scary, meeting ACTUAL human resources people from the companies you admire, but remember, they are there to meet YOU. Their job is to take resumes and potential candidates back to the company for review becuase they NEED employees! So, dust off your best outfit, take clean copies of your resume, and head out the door to the nearest job fair.

4) Remember, you are qualified! If you are second guessing yourself as you are about the introduce yourself to a possible contact, remember that you ARE qualified for the position. Take a quick moment to remind yourself of all the RIGHT reasons that you shold be hired.

5) Visualize. This is one of my favorite tools for every area of my life. I’ve used it in job search, interviews, and presentations. Picture yourself having an interesting conversation with a contact. Picture them responsding to you in a favorable way, seemingly taken with whatever you are saying. Play our the scene in your head. What are you saying? What are they saying? How are you describing yourself, your abilities, your training/education, etc? Visualize them writing down your number or taking your card, later calling you in fo ran interview. Not only does thsi make you feel relaxed, but it helps you when you actually begin speaking with the person because you feel more prepared and not as tense when they ask you about yourself.

These simple steps will help reduce the panic and stress of meeting new people and networking. Good luck!– Erin Kennedy