Successful Blog

Thanks to Week 317 SOBs

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Successful and Outstanding Bloggers

Let me introduce the bloggers
who have earned this official badge of achievement,

and the right to call themselves
Successful Blog SOBs.

I invite them to take a badge home to display on their blogs.

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They take the conversation to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger.

I thank all of our SOBs for thinking what we say is worth passing on.
Good conversation shared can only improve the blogging community.

Should anyone question this SOB button’s validity, send him or her to me. Thie award carries a “Liz said so” guarantee, is endorsed by Kings of the Hemispheres, Martin and Michael, and is backed by my brothers, Angelo and Pasquale.

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Want to become an SOB?

If you’re an SO-Wanna-B, you can see the whole list of SOBs and learn how to be one by visiting the SOB Hall of Fame– A-Z Directory . Click the link or visit the What IS an SOB?! page in the sidebar.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

How to Stand Out From the Talent Around You

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A Guest Post by
Joel Garfinkle

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We’ve all seen it happen: A promising worker is promoted to a higher level, or moves to a larger town with a deeper talent pool. Many times, this worker is used to success, and was able to stand out in her old job thanks to raw talent and natural intelligence. It was easier for her to stand out, and without really putting out that much effort.

As she moves up in the world, though, she finds the competition getting tougher and tougher. Her skills are developing, sure – but now it is extremely difficult for her to stand out from her peers. It can be a tough adjustment to make.

Moving On Up

A lot of people can relate to that feeling in the corporate world. Working closely with the very top people in your profession is the best way to up your game. But the better the people you work with, the more difficult it will be to stand out as a star player.

It’s not going to be enough to master the details of your job description. If you’re on the all-star team, everyone is a master of their own position. To stand out from the crowd, you need to master the non-technical aspects of your job – starting with yourself. Here are 6 ways to do just that.

  1. Study great leaders. As you move up the ranks of responsibility, you may place less emphasis on being an expert at the technical aspects of your old job. Identify leaders you admire – and read everything you can about them. If they wrote books on leadership, so much the better. This will help you rise above the all-star players, to become a team captain.
  2. Learn to delegate. This is very difficult for technical experts to do. But to make the transition from player to leader, you must grasp that a manager can only excel through the efforts of others. Give clear directions, and help your people grow and shine.
  3. Learn new skill sets. Perhaps being a great trial attorney, or a great salesperson got you accepted to a fantastic team. But that’s not enough to keep you there, and it won’t be enough to get you to the next level. As you move up, you must learn entirely new sets of information. You may need to learn the rules for hiring, disciplining and firing people. You may need to become an accounting expert, where you weren’t one before. Some people may not be able to transition to working at a new level, mistakenly thinking their old skill sets and natural talent will carry them through. They will almost always be limited.
  4. Learn time and project management. Yes, there is no substitute for character when it comes to leadership. But all the character in the world will not save you if you cannot use your team members’ time wisely. Part of being a leader is mastering the skills of time management and organizational communication.
  5. Be the one with the plan. You don’t have to be the biggest, fastest, strongest or even the smartest person on the team to be a stand-out. You can be the one with the plan. Be the one others look to when things are confused or when the situation is vague. The two key components to master when it comes to any project: The timeline, and the priority of work.Master these two things, making sure they are tied in effectively with management’s goals at least two levels up, and you cannot help but be a stand-out.
  6. Be the ethical standard bearer. This is difficult but vital. You may not be the best technician in your office. But you can be the professional who insists on things being done right – who doesn’t take short cuts, and who maintains a commitment to excellence and integrity, even when no one is looking. In the long run, this will pay great dividends for you and for the organization you will soon be tapped to lead.

The fact is, if your peers are challenging you, and forcing you to do better than what you used to think of as your best, and you are still not managing to rise above the crowd yet – that’s not a terrible sign. Don’t get discouraged, because your colleagues’ and competitor’s skill and talent are going to rub off on you. It takes time and effort, but it will happen. In the meantime, If you apply yourself, and master the elements of your profession that lie beyond your immediate, current job description and conduct yourself as a leader, you will almost certainly achieve great success. Go do great things.

How do you stand out as the professional you are?
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Author’s Bio: JOEL A. GARFINKLE is recognized as one of the top 50 coaches in the U.S., having worked with many of the world’s leading companies. He is the author of seven books, including Getting Ahead: Three Steps to Take Your Career to the Next Level. View his books and FREE articles at Garfinkle Executive Coaching. Subscribe to his Fulfillment@Work E-mail newsletter and receive the FREE e-book, 40 Proven Strategies to Get Promoted Now!”

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Are Your Customers Embedded?

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A Guest Post by
Rosemary ONeill

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Last week, my husband and I went out to eat at a new restaurant. It was obviously a family-owned affair. While we were waiting for our food, a guy appeared out of the kitchen hoisting aloft a plate of hot wings. He said, “these are for anyone who wants to try them.” Of course, I had to try them, and they were excellent.

I asked the guy what they were called. He said, “I don’t know, they don’t have a name yet, what do you suggest?” I laughingly said, “call them Rosemary’s Wings!” He said, “we just might do that.”

Do you think I might be curious to revisit that restaurant to see whether my wings are on the menu? You bet. And if they are, do you think I’m likely to return again and again? Yessiree.

That restaurant has the same opportunity all business owners have—to literally embed customers in the business. At my company, we’ve had a long-standing tradition of making little gestures that weave customers into our daily work; naming features after them, using their names on documentation, hiding “Easter Eggs” in the code, and thanking them for suggestions that lead to new software features.

Once a customer has been “embedded,” they have a feeling of investment that is very hard to break, as if your business is their personal project.

What are you doing to make it personal? Is there a small crazy gesture you can make that will earn you a customer-for-life?

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Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work on the Internet. Check out their blog. You can find her on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Is Not Giving Two Weeks’ Notice Cool When Quitting a Job?

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The days of individuals staying at one employer their entire lifetime are few and far between any longer.

Given factors like a struggling economy, people going back to school to further or change their careers, and employers downsizing many businesses, it is not uncommon for a professional to end up with four or five jobs by the time they slip into retirement.

For those individuals who decided that it is time for a career or job change within their present line of work, what is the proper protocol for leaving their current employer?

Some individuals believe it is of utmost importance to give two weeks’ notice so that no bridges are burned should they want a relationship with their present employer down the road.

Others, meantime, feel like two weeks is not necessary, given the fact that most employers will let go via layoff or fire someone on the spot, hence, not providing the employee with advanced notice.

When looking at this matter from the employee point of view, keep these factors in mind:

  • Would your employer do the same? – The answer to that question nine times out of 10 is no. Unless it is a matter of not renewing a contract and the employee is told so when it comes up for renewal, employers are not going to walk over to your cubicle or call you into their office and tell you they are firing you in two weeks. In many cases, you will have literally minutes to clean out your desk, gather your belongings and most likely not say goodbye to fellow workers;
  • Will you need this employer as a reference? – Even though many employees switching jobs already have their new job lined up before exiting their present one, they may want their soon to be ex-employer’s reference down the road. They may want to even do some part-time freelance work for the one they are leaving. By not giving two weeks’ notice, those chances pretty much go out the window;
  • Do you want to maintain office friendships – In some instances; you have gotten to be good friends with one or more co-workers in your present office. If you just up and leave for greener pastures, your co-worker or co-workers may view it as bailing on them and specifically that friendship you built if you don’t tell them ahead of time. Determine ahead of time how important your soon-to-be ex co-workers are to you when considering appropriate notice;
  • It really is a small world – Many employees would be surprised to learn how truly a small world it really is. The last thing you want is word getting around that you just up and left a job without proper notice. It may not hurt you now that you landed a new job, but it could down the road when you may be let go by this new company and find yourself job hunting again.

Speaking from experience, I’ve been on both sides of the coin here as far as how much notice I gave.

In my first full-time job out of college, one I was at for just under six years, I gave my employer a good six weeks’ notice because I wanted to have a smooth transition and I knew I was relocating on the other side of the country months ahead of time.

So, how did my employer repay me for doing a nice thing like that? After the first week or so, they had my replacement training under me, telling me several times if I didn’t like my new workload, work conditions etc. I was more than welcome to leave my job early since they had someone in place to replace me.

Needless to say, I never have nor ever would give an employer that much notice going forward.

In one part-time job, I had been told by my employer that certain things would happen following my training process. Needless to say, they never followed through on any of those promises.

Knowing things were not going to change, and knowing I would continue getting the run-around, I worked two weeks ahead of time so that my assignments both present and over the next two weeks were done, walked in one morning and cleaned out my desk, and left before anyone showed up.

I’m not saying it was the wrong or right way to do things, but at the time it felt like the decision I needed to make.

The bottom line is each employee has to weigh the matter at hand, determine how giving or not giving two weeks’ notice will impact them down the road, and go from there.

Yes, it seems like the right thing to always do, but in some cases, right doesn’t always win out.

Photo credit: jezebel.com

Dave Thomas, who has authored a number of articles regarding small business credit cards and commercial vehicle insurance writes extensively for Business.com, an online resource destination for businesses of all sizes to research, find, and compare the products and services they need to run their businesses.

How to Recognize and Recover When You’ve Started Believing Your Own PR

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The Universe Falls Out of Balance …

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Communities grow and change. We do too. It would be unrealistic to expect that a community of people would stay static. Would we really want it to? It would be hard for us to grow, innovate, and build new things without the dynamic change of a community’s ebb and flow.

But it’s a sad and serious thing when a community starts to lose the energy and interest that made it a community. It’s even sadder when that happens just as things start going good.

It can happen to anyone — you, me, our best friends. We’re on a team and a great thing happens! We get some applause and attention! New “friends and followers” start showing up and new opportunities start appearing. Strangers start joining in the fun. Then, our favorite people quit showing up.

What? Right when things start going good, the good ones start going?
Really … well, sometimes yes.

But you can bet it’s not them, its us.
When that happens more often than not, we’ve quit thinking about the community and they’ve noticed.

When the world starts to revolve around us, people move away and the universe flies out of balance.

How to Recognize and Recover When You’ve Started Believing Your Own PR

In the fray and frolic of good things happening, we can grow faster than fast. Networks explode and bandwidth becomes slim. All at once, a mother lode of new expectations and rewards are sitting within reach. Possibilities and potential are right there, but … they require new discipline and focus.

People don’t decide to make the world revolve around them. People decide to take the new work, the new calling seriously. We forget that if we focus too hard on the work, we can make it more important than the people the work is meant to serve. Most of us would be embarrassed to think we ever did. Most of the people we know won’t tell us if that’s the road we’ve landed on.

So, how do you recognize and recover when you’ve made yourself the center of the universe? How do you win back the folks who’ve decided that you’ve gone to the dark side of believing your own PR?

  1. When you ask people about their business, their life, their goals, does everything they say come back to a story about you? People who live in the center of the universe are self-focused. Name an event from the Big Bang to a cat that had kittens. People in the center can easily tell you how it proves or illustrates something about them. To recover: Care more about why someone is telling you a story than what you might have to say in response.
  2. Do you have the same conversation with everyone? If you’re bringing the same story to every conversation, you’re not considering the person who is listening. Folks like to talk about beautiful ideas and compelling stories — things worth sharing. Conversations are meant to be an exchange. To recover: Listen more than you talk. Give people a chance to ask how you are and they’ll be more inclined to care.
  3. Have people stopped listening when you talk? It’s the Boy Who Cried Wolf. Folks figure out that people in center of the universe are stuck inside the stories they tell. They don’t bother, because they know a person has to want to leave the center of the universe. To recover: Find the rewards for being part of the world where everyone interacts and come back.
  4. Does it seem like people only want, want, want? Do you feel surrounded by people who take and people who feel sorry for themselves? Misery loves company. Winners form a circle. To recover:Wire your head back to your heart. Be the kind of person you admire and want as a friend and supporter.

We don’t need to “believe our own PR,” when we really know who we are.

Success is about helping other folks reach their goals.

The universe does fine without us — the people we serve are the reason to be us.

Be irresistible.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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Hotel 71 Once Again The Host Hotel For SOBCon Chicago 2012 – Book Your Room Now!

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We are pleased to announce that once again (for the 5th year in a row!) the fabulous Hotel 71 will be the host hotel for SOBCon Chicago 2012, May 4-6, 2012.

And, we’ll also be up in “Batman’s Bedroom” at the hotel’s 39th floor ballroom for our Sunday give-back sessions.

There are a block of rooms available at the excellent rate of $185 (their current offered rate is $259) – all you have to do is click this link, enter the number of nights, and “Continue”:

Link to Hotel 71 Special $185 Room Rate

Please make your reservations as soon as possible, because these weekends in Chicago are always packed with other events and conferences – and, the rooms at this excellent rate are limited.

And, while you’re at it, if you haven’t already, don’t forget to register for SOBCon Chicago 2012 at the early registration rate of $795, $200 off the regular ticket price.  This offer expires on December 16th, so hurry!