01.12.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:38 pm by Joanna Vahlsing
There have been a lot of blog posts recently on Stephen M. R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust. And, after reading the book, I can understand why. In it, Mr. Covey provides a very straight forward message about why trust is so important in our lives. The reasoning behind The Speed of Trust is that with trust relationships are more efficient and cost less. Mr. Covey discusses how Warren Buffet can close a mega-million dollar deal in a few minutes and a handshake when there is a high level of trust involved with both parties.
Before I picked up the book, I knew that trust was important to relationships with other people, but the book caused me to learn something new – that one’s trust in themselves is just as important.
Mr. Covey gives the example of when he tried to change a very normal and usual part of his daily life – he wanted to wake up earlier each morning. Simple enough, he just set the alarm an hour earlier and went to bed. Well, the next morning (and subsequent mornings) Covey found himself hitting the snooze alarm, and then finally waking an hour later. What he began to notice was that by not being able to accomplish this task, he found himself frustrated and couldn’t trust himself to wake up at the earlier time. When he realized this was a source of frustration, he dealt with it.
For me, and I’m sure many others, this example hit home. If I could wake earlier, then I would be more productive, right? Well, knowing myself the way that I do, I would rather stay up all night working on a task, then get started earlier in the morning (I already arrive at work at 7am). But, the example helped me better understand how I can get frustrated when I don’t get everything done on my “To-do” list.
See, each time we promise something to ourselves (e.g. wake up earlier) and then break that promise to ourselves, we’re degrading the amount of trust we have in ourselves to complete a task. This causes us to become unsure, less self-confident and less willing to set goals; however small they may seem to be. We are undermining ourselves.
The motto to be learned here is that don’t promise something to yourself that you can’t deliver. Don’t try to get 100 things done in one day when realistically, you can only accomplish 50. By keeping promises to ourselves, we are building trust in ourselves and that allows us to lead richer and more quality lives.
Joanna Vahlsing
www.joannavahlsing.com
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01.05.08
Posted in General Tips at 8:42 pm by Joanna Vahlsing
What if you could inexpensively pay someone to take care of the tasks that eat up a lot of your time? For example, have someone book travel, research car prices or even keep track of birthdays, anniversaries and other important events and send the appropriate gift? Sound too good to be true? Well, in today’s global marketplace, it’s not.
I first heard about this unique service by reading The Four Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss. In his book, he had a guest writer, AJ Jacobs, write about his experience with a “Virtual Assistant” from Brickwork India. A Google search turned up many other companies offering similar “Virtual Assistant” services; including, Tasks Everyday, Your Man In India, and for those who are hesitant to go offshore, there is a U.S.-based company called Ask Sunday (who has posted some of their actual requests online – including one for a rhinoplasty appointment!).
Outsourcing tasks are usually billed by the hour; anywhere from $4 to $20, depending on the task and company. Those that have used these services have said that it is extremely important to be clear about the task to be completed, and if you’re dealing with someone whose first language is not English, to use plain, simple words. Also, it is important to establish a timeframe for the task, i.e. “If this task will take longer than 10 hours, please email me to confirm the additional hours.”
Also, another benefit of working with Virtual Assistants living in India is the time difference – you can send them a task before you leave the office for the day, and then have it completed by the time you return the next morning.
If anyone has tried these services, I would enjoy hearing about the experience and what you thought of it. Also, how often do you find yourself sending tasks to your Virtual Assistant?
All the best,
Joanna L. Vahlsing, PMP
http://www.joannavahlsing.com/
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01.02.08
Posted in Networking, Personal Branding at 10:32 pm by Joanna Vahlsing
I just finished listening to a series of podcasts from the A Brand You World – 2007 Global Telesummit where panelists from all industries shared their advice for creating an authentic and viable personal brand. As the CEO of ME, Inc. (a term coined by the ETP Network), it is important that we establish a brand that conveys the message we want to project to the world. Think of the masters of branding – Volvo, known for safety, Richard Branson, known for his adventurous nature, or the Covey empire, known for increasing personal and organizational effectiveness.
There are over 24 hours of podcasts from the Telesummit, and not all of them focused on online branding, but the majority of them offered tips on how to establish your personal brand online – or at least to make sure you are communicating the message that you want to communicate online. I encourage you to view the website and listen to some (or all) of the podcasts, but I thought I would share with you some of the expert advice that was provided:
Google Yourself – This may sound egomaniacal, but if you’re in the job market or looking for new clients, in today’s marketplace, most likely the recruiter or the potential client is going to Google you to see what turns up. Tip: Google has a feature called “Google Alerts” that you can set to run a search on a periodic basis and then have the service send you an email of any new results. This is helpful for not only your name, but also to have Google automatically run a search on any key words that are in your industry or a company/client you want to keep tabs on.
Once you Google your name, what do you see? William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson, who wrote Career Distinction: Stand Out By Building Your Brand, created a tool that allows you to find out your “Google Quotient” with their Online Identity Calculator. You’ll receive a rating on a scale of 1-10 (10 is the level of distinction) – I’m currently at an 8.3. They will also give you tips on how to increase your rating.
The goal of maximizing your presence online is to be referenced in the first three links that the Google search returns. Because I have a unique name, I’m fortunate that the entire first and second pages refer to me, but if your name needs a little help moving up to the top three, there are websites that Google “loves” and will usually return first. Those websites include:
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Naymz.com – Naymz is a “reputation community,” and its tag line is “Empowering Reputable Professionals.” Users can post a free online profile and then link from that profile to other sites, e.g. LinkedIn or a personal website. I like that it allows for HTML editing so you can add color and other design elements to your profile.
But, the biggest benefit is that for $4.95/mth, your profile becomes a “Sponsored Link” when someone does a Google search – think of your name as a product, and Google is trying to sell it for you! Five bucks a month seems like a bargain for that amount of exposure – you are automatically the first link on the Google search results for your name. If you’re interested, you can see what happens when you
search my name.
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Your Own Blog – Google likes blogs, especially if they have your name in the web address. Yahoo! Small Business has a nice partnership with
WordPress (a blogging website) that allows you to connect the blog to your personal website, so the web address is
www.firstnamelastname.com/blog. If you don’t feel comfortable, or that you would have the time to keep up a blog, Google will also pick up on any comments that you make on other blogs – just make sure you sign them with your full name.
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LinkedIn – Don’t need to say too much about this powerhouse, but Google does like LinkedIn. I’ve also heard that the more recommendations you have increases your place in the results.
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Emurse – Emurse is an online resume service. I have not used it, but apparently once a resume is created on the site, Google will return it in its search results. This could be helpful for job seekers who would like a professional resume on the web.
Digital Dirt – Another topic that came up during the Telesummit was how to deal with “Digital Dirt,” which describes those electronic reminders we would like to forget. For Gen Y, it could be some “not-so-professional” MySpace photos, or for other generations, it could be the New York Times article detailing how a deal went bad. The overwhelming advice from the Telesummit Panel was that it is usually extremely hard to clean up the Digital Dirt once it is published online, and they recommended that you try to replace as much as possible or “push” it farther down on the search results pages. A survey found that most people who are looking someone up don’t go passed the second page of Google search results.
Common Names – Lastly, the panelists had advice on how to handle branding oneself when the person has a common name. Suggestions included: (1) Use a middle initial; (2) Use a prefix or suffix or (3) My personal favorite, include a reference to your industry. The example they used was someone named John Smith who works in Human Resources, so he created a website using the address: http://www.johnsmithhr.com/.
Hopefully this information is helpful. If you have any questions or need more information about the websites I mention, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
I wish you well in 2008.
All the best,
Joanna
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