Q101 The Alternative
Q101 (formerly on Chicago radio @ 101.1 FM) The Alternative - Chicago's New Rock Alternative - Everything Alternative - Chicago's Alternative - Gen X - Generation X
The real secret to success is one that folks rarely talk about, either because they don’t think they have to point it out or because they don’t realize that it’s the first real step.
The first thing to worry about, the thing that matters most first, before all others? Your confidence.
If you’re not confident, “networking” and “baby steps” won’t take you very far. You’ll go to events and flail about. As you interact with people, you’ll convey your own self-doubt. Your words may say one thing, but your body language will say, “I don’t believe in myself, and neither should you.”
Some people feel ineffective doing what they need to do to succeed. They’ll attend networking events without much success, but they should keep going. “Just get yourself out there,” they say. “The more people you meet, the more comfortable you’ll feel.”
What can YOU do to build up your self confidence? READ HERE.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/jobs/sns-201303201800–tms–brazenctnbc-c20130320-20130320,0,1876816.story
If you’ve read an article about job searching — ever — chances are you know that 70% to 80% of positions never get advertised. This reality is mega-frustrating when you’re hunting for a new gig. You can hit up desirable employers directly, but the “cold” email method is rife with uncertainty. Is reaching out to someone you’ve never met even worth the effort? Well, yes and no: The counterintuitive trick to cold-emailing employers is to never send a cold email. No matter how clear, concise or witty your message, its likelihood of yielding the desired response — actually, any response — is low. Employers are busy, their inboxes are packed and you’re a stranger. A stranger who is asking for something.
So what do you do? Jess Adamiak is on a mission to help you communicate better. Jess identifies five tips for better chances of getting noticed when “cold” emailing for a job.
Channel your inner detective. Who calls the hiring shots at your dream employer? (Heads up: It is highly unlikely this person works in the HR department). You want to talk to someone with the power to give you, or help you get, what you want.
It doesn’t take much to uncover your own personal hidden network — spend an hour spying on your friends’ LinkedIn and Facebook connections, and you might be surprised to discover who knows whom. (Remember, your pals don’t need to be acquainted with the decision maker — they just need to get you one step closer.)
For the rest of the tips, READ HERE. Good luck!
Source: http://mashable.com/2013/04/06/dream-employer-email/
It’s easy to poke fun at the thousands of mediocre business books churned out annually. But planning a business book—regardless of whether it makes it to store shelves—is a useful exercise for business owners seeking to define their brand better and stimulate demand for their product or service.
First, come up with a title. Working on the title should prompt you to answer crucial questions about the story you want to tell your customers: What’s the common thread?
Loews Hotels’ Jonathan Tisch wrote Chocolates on the Pillow Aren’t Enough, reflecting the company’s premise that great products and services need to deliver “experiences that are unique, memorable, and deeply rewarding.” Starbucks’ Howard Schultz wrote Pour Your Heart Into It to share the values by which he built his coffee empire. And Bill Gates’s Business at the Speed of Thought made the case that a computer on every desk was only the beginning.
The discipline of organizing their thoughts into a book compelled each of these business leaders to examine what their companies stood for. And their books reinforced the elements they attributed to their success, suggesting the volumes belonged on the shelves of each of their employees as well as the local Barnes & Noble. A well-written business biography is as much a manual for corporate culture as it is good reading.
By going through the process of determining the essential idea by which your company is (or should be) known, you’ll gain appreciation for what your brand is all about. And you might find it doesn’t stand for much, which in itself would be a valuable discovery.
READ MORE
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-02-22/a-branding-exercise-for-your-business-write-a-book#r=hpt-fs
In a dream world…you hire good people, treat them like family, let them work their magic with customers. Then watch the accolades—and the dollars—roll in.
If only reality were like that.
“It takes focus,” says Ken Blanchard, a San Diego-based management expert and author of “Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service.” “It takes focus and energy and you can’t have a lot of mistakes.”
By “focus,” Mr. Blanchard means deciding what experience a business wants to deliver to what kind of person. “You have to set parameters for what you’re trying to do,” he says, and that, by definition, means not being all things to all people. There’s the first secret of customer service.
The second: zeal.
Retailers with reputations for customer service are “evangelical to what they’re selling,” says Paco Underhill, CEO and founding president of Envirosell Inc., a New York retail research and consulting firm, and author of “Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping.” Mr. Underhill points to Torrid, the plus-size retail chain, as an example. “They hire customers and turn them into associates,” he says. “If you’re plus size, wouldn’t you be more willing to accept advice from a plus-size woman?”
Oh, the secrets just keep pouring out. Wanna see the rest? READ MORE!
Source: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120929/ISSUE02/309299999/masters-of-customer-service-5-local-standouts-reveal-their-secrets
We’ve all had work days in which we wished we’d be asked to leave and never come back. Then comes the hard-hitting reality that unemployment is about as bad as it gets in the professional world.
Phoenix resident Amy McClenathan, who is still heartbroken over the loss of her mother, learned this lesson after updating her Facebook status with the confession, “I wish I could get fired some days, it would be easier to be at home than to have to go through this.”
Her wish came true. Her getting fired may not have been legal, but she takes full responsibility for the post. If you want to keep your job, keep your complaints off Facebook.
http://mashable.com/2013/01/27/facebook-fired/
We all are given the same 24 hours in a day. Then how is it some people can’t seem to get anything done, while others appear superhuman? It’s about choices that allow people to make the most of every day, and still feel happy and relaxed. Try these tips and see if they work for you.
1. Pick Your Priorities
Make choices about the activities in your life. With most endeavors, you can either go deep or go wide. Focus on spending time that for you is fun and productive.
2. Go For Efficiency
You don’t do everything well. The things you do well usually give you greater joy and require less time. Don’t take on something with a steep learning curve if you don’t have the available bandwidth. Design your life to meet your wants, and recognize when to say no to opportunities that are outside the scope of your desires. Live your life by design, not default.
3. Actively Manage Time-wasters
Social media, family, friends, employees, co-workers and general whiners all under certain circumstances can suck precious time from you if you let them. Budget your time for necessary activities. Make a choice to limit non-supportive interactions that don’t energize you. As for social media, it can easily be a black hole for time and productivity.
Like these so far? Want additional ideas to get more bang out of your day?
READ MORE HERE
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/12/6-things-really-productive-people-do_n_2285606.html?ir=Small+Business
Making money online is a matter of finding an audience who you can either advertise to or receive direct payment from. Either way, you need something interesting or informative with which to catch and hold your readers’ attention. Your content is everything.
I’ll show you how you can make money presenting and distributing content via podcast or a newsletter, and how you can connect directly with your audience as an online tutor.
Getting Paid To Podcast
To create a podcast, you will need a microphone and some recording software. If you have a camera, you can also produce video podcasts.
You can download a free recording program from audacity.sourceforge.net, where you will also find tutorials on the technical side of podcasting.
When you have the content and are able to produce good quality podcasts, you need listeners. You can find them by submitting your podcast to directories such as podcastalley.com, promoting it through a website or blog, or advertising in forums and newsletters.
The bigger your market, the better. Don’t be afraid of competitive markets, they’re big for a reason–they pay and people are listening!
You will then be able to make money by finding a sponsor who is willing to pay to reach your listeners. You could find your own advertisers, or join a podcasting network such as podtrac.com.
If your content is desirable enough, you can charge for access to it, through services such as iTunes (apple.com/itunes). If you are selling your podcast, however, it is a good idea to create a free content version too in order to reach new listeners.
How To Get Paid To Publish Online Newsletters
Even if you prefer the written word to audio podcasting, you will still need to take care of some technical details.
The best way to distribute newsletters is through an autoresponder list service. These can be set up to automatically deliver pre-written emails to subscribers at set intervals. Each new subscriber will receive all of the emails in your predetermined sequence. That means you can load up a year’s worth of content (or more), and it’ll automatically publish straight to your subscribers’ email boxes without you touching it again!
A free autoresponder can be downloaded from responders.com, while a more professional program can be bought from aweber.com. These programs will also help with managing your subscriber list, so you stay spam compliant.
A successful newsletter will be attractive, easy to read, and compatible with different computers and internet browsers. You can create beautiful PDF documents using a free program such as openoffice.com.
Also, you do not have to create all your own content. You can get free stock photos and articles from sites such as publicdomainimages.net and ezinearticles.com. You can also pay for pre-written content from sites like associatedcontent.com.
Email newsletters are perfect for marketing your own products, if you are running an online business. You can also make money by selling space to advertisers or even charging for subscriptions.
By using the tools from services such as aweber.com, you can grow your online newsletter list to hundreds or even thousands of people.
Get Paid To Teach People All Over the World
If you have knowledge and experience to share then you can do so in a podcast or newsletter, or by writing content for a site such as demandstudios.com, who will pay for articles.
Alternatively, you can become an online tutor and communicate directly with students through video chat and email. You could find your own students by advertising your services on craigslist.org, or join a company who will pair you up with suitable learners.
In order to get the best jobs, you may need some relevant qualifications, such as a degree, proven experience in a particular field, or a teaching certificate of some kind.
Websites that recruit online teachers include universalclass.com, mytutor24.com, and tutor.com. Wiziq.com has a teacher directory where you can describe yourself and potential students can find you.
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Technology has transformed much of the job application process over the last decade. Slow to catch up is the text based resume. But things are a-changin’ with the rise of QR codes and hyperlinks, applicant-tracking systems (which companies use to search resumes by keyword), and new informal guidelines from recruiters.
Keywords. Keywords may be the “key” to keeping your resume in the “loop” and from being automatically and electronically dumped. And placement of those near the top of your resume are increasingly becoming the norm. According to Sal Loukos, a resume screener at Seven Step RPO, a recruitment process outsourcing firm, an average of 6.25 seconds is spent on each resume. That is the time it takes for the decision to be made if a candidate fits the job description and can move on to the next step in the process.
Experience. Any job hunter would be better off by communicating some of the benefits and advantages that can be brought to the table – as the RESULT of your experience as listed in your resume.
For better results in snagging an interview, READ MORE. Good luck!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203922804578080543455774854.html?mod=WSJ_Tech_MIDDLETopNews
There are things you should do once it is clear you are going to be laid off. But what if there is some uncertainty about your continued employment? What then?
Now is the time to become intimately familiar with your expenses. Start saving as much as you can. Rainy days are coming.
First, suspend any aggressive debt-payoff plan and just make minimum payments. It’s not a practice you want to continue long after working again, but it will keep you floating. Next, consider halting contributions to a retirement plan. Kiss Starbucks goodbye for awhile and maintain a stock of macaroni and cheese. Keep your resume up to date and apply for other jobs.
Once you are actually unemployed, just breathe, and have patience.
This advice proves to be most difficult for people who did all the right things and still had to exhaust their savings to survive a layoff. They become overly anxious to get back to the financial point before they became unemployed. It can also be hard for others who admit to being financially challenged even before becoming unemployed.
Once you are employed again, don’t immediately go back to big time spending habits. Filet mignon can wait, and don’t return to eating out a lot. Don’t reward yourself with wants because you’ve been so focused on just meeting your basic needs.
Simple ideas? Maybe. Difficult to follow through? Certainly. It will take time to rebuild your cash stash, so be patient and practice some self control. Focus on the basics a little while longer, then ease on into the rewards.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/saving-strategies-before-and-after-a-job-loss/2012/10/11/1f019f86-10fc-11e2-be82-c3411b7680a9_story.html
They said it would never happen. Pay for Facebook? But nobody said you couldn’t, if you wanted to. Facebook Inc. is letting users in the United States pay a fee to boost the visibility of their postings on the social network, the company’s latest effort to look beyond advertisers for revenue.
The promoted-posts-for-users feature, which Facebook began offering as a test on Wednesday to a limited number of its U.S. users, ensures that a comment or photo shared by a Facebook member gets prominent billing in their friends’ newsfeeds.
The paid postings will be visible on the desktop and mobile versions of the social network. Facebook will place the paid-for postings towards the top of people’s newsfeeds for a limited period of time. Facebook’s newsfeed typically displays content by freshness and relevance.
How much would you pay to be certain your posts are being viewed by your friends? The current test price in the United States is $7, according to a Facebook spokesman. Maybe it’s worth it for everyone to be certain to see your latest post of the family mutt hugging the family cat while in peaceful slumber. Wouldn’t want to miss that.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-rt-us-facebook-featurebre89219w-20121003,0,6490336.story
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