Success Advice
3 Ways to Make Yourself More Marketable Overnight
In today’s business world, your personal brand is everything. It is the first impression you leave with colleagues, superiors, partners, clients, and friends. It can make or break your opportunities while opening new doors and potentially shutting others. Most importantly, it is one thing that you have the power to control.
Whether you’re on the hunt for a new career, launching down the path of entrepreneurship, or just wanting to make sure that you are prepared for any new opportunity crossing your path, a strong personal brand can set you apart from the crowd.
Making yourself marketable means that you are “findable.” It also makes you definable and gives you something that allows people to understand what you are about.
Ready to make yourself more marketable and attractive? Here are three super easy but highly effective ways to get yourself started:
1. Optimize Your LinkedIn Presence
In today’s digitally-forward business environment, your LinkedIn page is truly your virtual resume. It will often be one of the initial points of contact with a potential employer, of which will certainly check out your past skills and education. So it is important that you take the time to make your profile impressive.
Simply entering in your past jobs and a few skills won’t cut it if you want to stand out. While it seems completely unfair (and maybe impossible) to express all of your best qualities on your LinkedIn page, it is still necessary to do if you are going to make yourself marketable. Take the time to talk about what you really did in all of your past work positions.
What did you learn? What were your main responsibilities? What aspects of those positions are most relevant to the type of work you want to do in the future?
Nicole Strecker, the managing director of a large recruitment agency, put it best when she said, “Most people spend so much time crafting their pitch, they forget about how they appear in a search result. It’s the first thing that recruiters look at.”
This means that it’s super important that you optimize your use of keywords throughout your profile. LinkedIn even offers a guide to help you find the best buzzwords to communicate your qualities and skills to recruiters. Do your research and see what types of skills and keywords are trending on the job market and be sure to incorporate them accordingly.
“The best way to start connecting with everyone is to import your entire contact list and ask them all to connect with you…once you start receiving 10-20 inbound invitations to connect on a daily basis, then you know your doing a good job marketing yourself.” – Lewis Howes
2. Flex Your Strengths
It’s one thing to say what you’re good at, but it’s another thing to show it. While you may consider yourself a great speaker, writer, or leader, it won’t mean much to other people if you don’t have the content proof to back it up.
While it certainly takes time to establish yourself as a thought leader or build up a following on social media that “proves” your expertise, there is no reason why you can’t get started today. You can easily launch a blog to share some of your writing pieces on whatever your strengths are, or you can start a video channel on YouTube.
You can even reach out to niche blog websites and submit content for publication to start building your name’s searchability (a huge part of making yourself more marketable).
Of course, social media plays a huge role in thought leadership and personal branding these days – as those platforms are excellent tools for reaching wide audiences. But, they can also be highly influential in your professional career. In fact, 70% of recruiters admit that they do look into candidate’s social media activity when considering them for a position. Be sure that your social presence is beneficial to your personal brand.
3. Take Industry-Specific Online Courses
Your education shouldn’t stop after you get your diploma. While you certainly don’t need to have an exhaustive list of degrees to succeed as a thought leader or an entrepreneur, the important thing to remember is that you should never stop learning.
There are plenty of online resources that can help you stay up-to-date with the latest technology and advances in your industry or help you discover new areas of interest. You can even check out some informative videos on YouTube to see if anything piques your interest.
If you prefer a more traditional classroom environment, you can contact local universities or community colleges and see if you can sit in on lectures, or ask about free educational workshops they may offer.
An ambitious learner is extremely attractive to recruiters and professionals. Plus, adding a list of certifications and course completions can certainly boost your resume and provide you with even more skills to market yourself with.
“Shall I tell you a secret of a true scholar? It is this: every man I meet is my master in some point and in that I learn from him.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
You need to make your personal brand marketable if it is going to attract opportunities, just like you would with a business. Make sure that you are offering a remarkable and memorable first impression with a LinkedIn profile that accurately reflects what you have to offer. Establish your reputation online by making your skills and strengths highly marketable through published content on personal and professional websites. And finally, never stop learning. There are plenty of ways to keep your skillset sharp and learn new things.
Your personal brand could be the vehicle that propels you towards your goals. But you have to remember that success doesn’t just come to those who patiently sit and wait for it; you need to take action.
Do you have any tips on how to build your personal brand? Share them with us below!
Image courtesy of Twenty20.com
Success Advice
How to Alter Your Business Approach With Technological Advancements
Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner.
Technology’s evolution has impacted everything, and business is no exception. Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner. Entrepreneurs unable to do so are being wiped out of the market.
There is no doubt that AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) have taken over the business world. These technological advancements are impacting decision-making, success percentages, and other entrepreneurial aspects.
Adapting to these developments is integral to business success. Let’s explore how you can accomplish these milestones.
Embed the strength of AI and ML.
AI has modified business operations in major ways. For instance, companies have employed bots for customer support. These bots go through an effective learning process via Machine Learning before being able to answer like humans.
Bots can also perform detailed data analytics and make business moves with high success percentages.
ML is used more for the analysis of data chunks and generating successful predictions. This simply means that business owners do not have to worry about large-scale financial losses.
In terms of deployment and usage, a reputed company like Netflix employs machine learning for decision-making.
Blockchain is increasing the count of business opportunities
Tampering of financial transactions is quite common and causes severe monetary damage to customers. With the rise of digital payments, this risk has increased.
Blockchain is used to elevate your experience for monetary transfers. It combats penetrating events to extract confidential customer information.
Most business sectors are using block chain but finance and supply chain management sections have a higher count. These two corporate sections have several monetary deposits and withdrawals taking place.
In terms of percentage, approximately 72% and 5% of finance and supply chain firms have implemented block chain successfully.
Dedicate Yourself to Continuous Learning and Individual Development
You invest in learning some of the very important skills, including digital marketing, financial management, and how to gain customers as an entrepreneur.
You need to set up your knowledge base about doing business on Coursera and Udemy with the basics that are necessary for the business, building further by networking with experts through webinars.
Besides, Agile methodology will introduce elasticity to your company: this review and feedback system with further correction regularly will allow for enhancing efficiency and promptly reacting to the market.
Developing key skills to achieve goals
Running a business successfully is not only about having niche/domain knowledge. Business owners need to have communication / soft skills as well in addition to niche information.
Here are some key technical/domain-related areas that business owners should have a strong grip on.
Data Storage on Cloud: These days, companies do not store their data on physical servers. Therefore business owners should know how data is stored/edited/removed/updated via AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and other platforms.
Data Analysis/Interpretation Qualities: These days, data is as precious as gold. Business owners with data analysis abilities make correct predictions. As a result, their ventures grow in volume.
Development/Coding Knowledge
Programming knowledge gives business owners an edge whether the application is developed in-house or outsourced. It assists in getting updates deployed and handling application underperformance without getting professional support every time.
Hacking proof framework
There is no benefit of having an advanced automated system if can be penetrated. Successful business owners have above-average knowledge of cyber security and hacking attempts. They are able to choose top-notch anti-hacking software without much of an ambiguity.
Communication Abilities/Soft Skills
Here are some key communication qualities that business owners should have:
Communication/Conversation: Business owners should use to-the-point sentences in both written and oral communication.
Issue Resolution Abilities: Business owners should be able to drill down to problems and solve them. This is done successfully only if an entrepreneur has in-depth business domain knowledge.
Agile Implementations
It is mandatory for business owners to have knowledge of iterative/agile models. With such a competitive environment, it is impossible for business owners to succeed without adopting an agile framework.
Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy
A productive business venture starts with a clear vision. The first factor making a business successful is the idea behind it. It helps with endless growth and combating competition successfully. Katherine Philips once mentioned that business goals are inevitable if goals are set concretely.
- Goals should be based on smart achievements instead of complexity. Focus on the value that each one of them adds.
- Business objectives should not be vague. Key indicators should be constructed to measure the success/failure of each milestone.
- Be realistic when setting goals. Do not aim at impossible milestones since they can be demotivating.
- Milestones/goals need to be time-bound. Set a completion deadline for each one of them.
- Business goals should not be alien. Owners can think out of the box but not be obsolete / unrelated.
Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy
Business owners cannot succeed without having a network. Some tips help in this case. Attend conferences and professional gatherings to connect with other entrepreneurs.
Here are some other related points business owners should pay attention to.
- Attend meetings and conferences to stay updated with trends and meet business owners who already have well-set ventures. This helps in enhancing the learning curve of new / growing entrepreneurs.
- Being a part of business communities/groups is very productive. When one shares opinions and discusses decision-making tactics, it helps in preventing errors and enhancing success rate.
- Even the most experienced business owners have mentors as learning never stops. Take part in mentorship programs so there is an assurance that you are following the correct roadmap.
Conclusion
There is absolutely no doubt that business dimensions have evolved with technological advancements. Successful entrepreneurs have grabbed these changes in due course of time and continue to evolve. On the other hand, people following old paths and conventional steps fade out of competition. In a nutshell, keep an eye on the processes and practices you follow as these factors decide success rate.
Success Advice
Understanding the Power of Yes and No: How to Create Boundaries For Success
These words have a significant impact on how our success unfolds
The two smallest yet most powerful words in life, “Yes” and “No,” have a big impact on our growth on both personal and professional levels. In addition to affecting the choices we make every day, these words have a significant impact on how our success unfolds. (more…)
Motivation
From Couch Potato to Go-Getter: A Step-by-Step Motivation Plan for Everyone
By understanding what motivates you, you can turn your dreams into reality
Are you tired of feeling like a couch potato? Do you want to transform your life and become a go-getter? You’re not alone! Many people struggle with motivation, but the good news is that change is possible. (more…)
Success Advice
10 Micro Financial Habits for More Wealth and Peace of Mind
The World Economic Forum still reports that half of U.S. adults lack financial literacy
You’ve heard about developing financial habits, but what about micro-financial habits? Micro habits are the tiny things you can do every day with minimal effort that, together, transform your future. (more…)
-
Entrepreneurs3 weeks ago
5 Ways Cyber Security Planning Will Help Your Business Succeed
-
Entrepreneurs4 weeks ago
How to Grow Your Business in 2025 with AI, Blockchain, and Key Skills
-
Entrepreneurs4 weeks ago
6 World Class Productivity Hacks for Entrepreneurs
-
Success Advice3 weeks ago
10 Micro Financial Habits for More Wealth and Peace of Mind
-
Motivation2 weeks ago
From Couch Potato to Go-Getter: A Step-by-Step Motivation Plan for Everyone
-
Life2 weeks ago
Here’s The Thing About Learning, Unlearning, and Relearning
-
Entrepreneurs2 weeks ago
How Entrepreneurs Can Cultivate Courage and Use It as a Superpower
-
Entrepreneurs1 week ago
5 Smart Financial Moves Every Entrepreneur Should Consider