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6 Easy Steps to a Career Basecamp in Cyberspace

November 16, 2006 by Liz Leave a Comment

It Was Someone Else’s Turn

Personal Branding logo

When our son was 9 months old, my husband said to me, “I’ve done everything I want with my career. From this point I don’t expect a lot of new challenges — 21 years is a long time. It’s someone else’s turn. . . . You’re having such fun with what you’re doing. If you can replace my salary, I’ll stay home with the baby.”

I did. He did.

This morning I realized that 21 years later, I had a similar conversation at a trade show. A VP asked why I started blogging. This was my reply.

“Because I was a VP of Publishing, this industry sees me as a product person. Folks don’t value my experience in marketing, acquisitions, and training.”

He said, “You’re right. When I look at a resume, I look at job titles first. Then, if I’m interested, I look at skill sets.”

“That’s why I blog,” I said. “My blog is a 360 degree resume. It’s an ongoing interview in cyberspace.”

It’s true. A blog can be that.

These days no one has job security. Everyone needs an updated resume. Why settle for only a resume?

You can blog your way to brand that defines who you are and what you do much more completely. Make your blog a foundation — a career basecamp in cyberspace — a showcase of skills and expertise you have that future employers and clients need.

Turn the page. I’ll show you how.

6 Easy Steps to a Career Basecamp in Cyberspace

A cyberspace career basecamp — it’s an exciting idea, isn’t it? A basecamp will outlast your current employment, provide an uninterrupted business story, even help you change careers, if that’s the plan. How do you make the most of the possibilities? Here are six steps to get you started.

  1. Identify your unique talents and competencies. What are you the “go to guy” for? Look in my header. My tagline answers that question about me. Decide what you want your blog to say about you.
  2. Make a plan for how you’ll introduce each topic or skill. Businesses have strategic plans. Be strategic about introducing your key skills. Give your readers a chance to get to know each one before you move on. Then cycle back to revisit each one again on a deeper level.
  3. Use signage and headlines to support your plan. Be obvious, not clever. Let folks know who you are by what you call things. Name/rename your blog; write your tagline; choose categories; and word post titles with your focus in mind.
  4. Write series around the key ideas. A series makes ideas bigger and helps them imprint more fully in readers’ minds.
  5. Speak with your own voice and tell your own truth. You’re talking from your competencies. Don’t be self-conscious. Explain how you think to intelligent readers. Let folks see your expertise.
  6. Ask someone who sees like an intelligent reader to check your design to ensure it supports the ideas you represent. Be convinced that how you look matches and underscores what you say in every detail.

Use this checklist to build a career basecamp in cyberspace that will show off the strength of your competencies. Your blog can be a 360 degree resume that lets future employers and clients see exactly who you are and what you can do for them.

How will you turn your blog into a basecamp for your career? You don’t need to wait 21 years.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

See the complete Brand You series on the Successful Series Page.

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Filed Under: Customer Think, Marketing /Sales / Social Media, Personal Branding, Strategy/Analysis, Successful Blog Tagged With: bc, blog-promotion, Brand-You, business-blogging, Career-Basecamp, Careers, Customer Think, job-security, Motivation, personal-branding, resume

Comments

  1. Mark McGuinness says

    November 16, 2006 at 12:16 PM

    I was just talking this afternoon with a client about using a blog/website as an online c.v. – what’s the first thing you do when you get up a job interview these days? You Google the interviewers. Who have, of course, already Googled you…

    Reply
  2. ME Strauss says

    November 16, 2006 at 12:19 PM

    Hi Mark,
    Exactly! That’s also a great argument for owning the URL for your name. 🙂

    Reply
  3. Chris Cree says

    November 16, 2006 at 2:12 PM

    Liz, this is some tasty, timely goodness that really hits the spot for me. Mmmmm….. Thanks for sharing! 🙂

    Reply
  4. ME Strauss says

    November 16, 2006 at 2:14 PM

    Hey, Chris,
    I love cooking for you. You so appreciate the effort! 🙂

    Reply
  5. Mike says

    November 16, 2006 at 5:57 PM

    “How will you turn your blog into a basecamp for your career?”

    With a wrecking ball, apparently! 😉

    Great and very timely advice! I guess I’ll do that experience design opus as a series instead.

    Thanks Liz!

    Reply
  6. ME Strauss says

    November 16, 2006 at 7:25 PM

    That’s it, Mike!
    A series get your readers hooked on you. 🙂

    Reply
  7. Delaney Kirk says

    November 16, 2006 at 8:44 PM

    I had just told my students this week that having a blog to host their resume info, references, portfolio of papers and projects, etc would allow them to distinguish themselves from other seniors looking for a job. Thanks for these suggestions I can pass on.

    Reply
  8. ME Strauss says

    November 16, 2006 at 8:48 PM

    Hi Delaney,
    What a great teacher you are to give your students that head start! I’m delighted you would want to share it. Check out the Brand you Series on the Successful Blog page. You’ll find some good pieces on things like resumes, and strengths & weaknesses. 🙂

    Reply
  9. Kian Ann says

    November 16, 2006 at 10:30 PM

    Hey Liz, how did you get started with your blog? I mean – obviously it would take time for this blog (in the beginning) to be noticed?

    I want to help my own mum transit to be a “Work at home mum”, but I don’t know how to.

    Can I seek your advice?

    Reply
  10. ME Strauss says

    November 16, 2006 at 10:36 PM

    Kian Ann,
    I think it was a little easier about 30 million blogs ago. 🙂

    But I tell folks to have someone Google my name and tell the person that what they find is because I have a blog. Then I start explaining why Google likes blogs . . . and why in 3-5 years there won’t be phone books because everyone will just look on their computer.

    Reply
  11. Kian Ann says

    November 16, 2006 at 10:42 PM

    Heh.. okay. So I’d better get my mum to start right tonight then, because at leasts its now 57 million blogs, not 570 million 🙂

    Reply
  12. ME Strauss says

    November 16, 2006 at 10:52 PM

    That’s a good point, Kian Ann

    Still she has to want to. I’m a mom and you can’t make me do anything. Moms are like that, you know! 😉

    Reply
  13. Kian Ann says

    November 16, 2006 at 11:01 PM

    Hmm… so I gotta start devising a strategy now.. 😉 and if I succeed, I can start to get know for “How to get your mum to blog” 😛

    Yeah I guess she must really want to. Yesterday night I was just having a short chat with her, and she was telling me about my little 12 year old cousin starting her blog, and getting on Friendster and thing like that – she seems interested to start one herself ;P

    Let’s hope my observations are accurate.

    Reply
  14. ME Strauss says

    November 16, 2006 at 11:04 PM

    Your observations do sound like interest. 🙂

    Reply
  15. Kian Ann says

    November 16, 2006 at 11:27 PM

    This is so exciting! I can’t wait to get started!

    One thing I’ve observed too is that I’ve been posting about stuff in the blogosphere and she told me yesterday that although she reads my blog, she doesn’t really understand some of the terms that were used, like all the “WordPress” and “XML” and things like that. I guess I’ve been too geeky (thanks to what I study), heh!

    Maybe I should start a blog WITH her so that she’ll keep me from being too geeky. Have you seen any mom-and-son blogs around? 😛

    Reply
  16. ME Strauss says

    November 16, 2006 at 11:30 PM

    That happens to all of us, Kian Ann. We forget what we didn’t know. Try hard to hold to what it was like before you were a blogger.

    No, I don’t think I’ve seen any blogs with Moms and sons. In fact, I think I’ve only seen one or two family blogs — blogs where the whole family actually did post on the blog. 🙂

    Reply
  17. Kian Ann says

    November 16, 2006 at 11:52 PM

    Great advice Liz! Heh, its late over there and I know you are going to sleep 🙂

    Its been great talking to you! Goodnight!

    Reply
  18. ME Strauss says

    November 16, 2006 at 11:54 PM

    Thank you, Kian Ann!
    Good night and Good day! 🙂

    Reply
  19. Mike says

    November 17, 2006 at 12:34 AM

    Liz,

    How’s this for a start to my series?

    Mike

    Reply
  20. ME Strauss says

    November 17, 2006 at 5:41 AM

    Mike,
    I think your series is going to be a hit! That first post is very enticing! 🙂

    Reply
  21. Sandra Renshaw says

    November 18, 2006 at 1:18 AM

    Hey Liz,
    Great post. I’m writing an article for a local college newspaper about blogging and putting a resume online. This is a great post to point to.
    Sandy

    Reply
  22. ME Strauss says

    November 18, 2006 at 7:02 AM

    Hi Sandy,
    Check the Brand You posts on the Successful Series page too. There’s a great on on Writing a Resume as a Brand YOU Brochurs.

    Reply
  23. Carolyn Manning says

    November 18, 2006 at 3:24 PM

    Liz,

    I was trying to stretch my bounds too far. This post puts into perspective that my bounds will stretch when the time is right.

    Carolyn

    Reply
  24. ME Strauss says

    November 18, 2006 at 7:53 PM

    Hi Carolyn,
    You were taking on a LOT. I’m glad to think you’re cutting yourself some slack and giving yourself room. You’re a fine writing and wiring takes time, like wine it needs to breathe, as do writers. 🙂

    Reply
  25. Carolyn Manning says

    November 19, 2006 at 7:56 AM

    Hi Liz,

    Thank you so much. 🙂

    Yeah, it was too much too fast and burn-out was inevitable.

    Reply
  26. ME Strauss says

    November 19, 2006 at 7:59 AM

    Hi Carolyn,
    It’s so easy for that to happen when blogs can start in a second and we have time on our hands in the beginning. You should joing the beta test and we should write you a plan . . . 🙂

    Reply
  27. Carolyn Manning says

    November 19, 2006 at 9:47 AM

    Liz,

    That sounds like an excellent idea. Where do I go to sign up? 🙂

    Reply
  28. ME Strauss says

    November 19, 2006 at 10:43 AM

    Send me an email and we’ll get the process rolling. 🙂

    Reply

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