Author Archive

Posted on October 12, 2009 - by Alex

Buying Back Your Time – A Path to Personal Freedom

Motivation isn’t my problem. I’ve come to realize that writing quality content—or producing anything worthwhile (in accordance with my own standards)—takes time. Specifically, I need at least 1.5 hour time-blocks to get real work done. And that’s tough when you’ve conceded eight hours a day, five days a week to your employer. Subtract also the time I commit to my family, and the remaining time to build my personal empire is slim pickings. So what keeps me—or any of us—from just walking away from our monotony and working on what’s important to us? Our lives are important, damnit, so what the hell!?? Oh, that’s right. We gotta pay the bills. Gotta feed our families.

Doing the Math

But what if that was taken care of? How much do you really need to pay your expenses and live in relative comfort? For me, it’s about $2,000/mo, and if I had that covered, I’d quit my job—wouldn’t you? Entertaining the thought further, if I had 10,000 in savings, I’d be set for five months. And I earned an additional $1000/mo part-time (definitely plausible), I could survive for ten months. Bills Paid, family fed. That’s what ten months could cost me. I don’t know about you, but I could do a lot with ten months.

Own Your Time

Since I’m not gonna win the lottery, it’s time to start saving up for something more rewarding than what I’ve been doing for six years. The way I see it, I’ll be buying out my time. You might say—but Alex, nobody owns your time. To which I’d say—oh, but they do. My creditors own a lot of my time because I need to work to pay them. I suspect most people are in a similar situation. We’re all a little enslaved by our debt. And it’s costing us more than the interest rate we’re being charged.

The Snowball Method

You’ve probably heard about this strategy for paying off debt. If you haven’t, the idea is to focus on paying off accounts that free up your disposable income, in turn pyramiding those dollars to the next account until that one is paid, and so forth. As you pay off more accounts, more disposable money is freed up, accelerating the repayment of the total debt—a snowball effect. I’ve been doing this for about a year, and I’m down to my last credit card. The idea here is to make yourself into a fiscally-compact free-agent with as few parties owning your time as possible. I’m making headway.

Long Term Look

Once I’ve paid off all my credit cards, I’m going to make massive payments on my car loan, then my student loans. In the next year, I hope to owe nothing but my mortgage. Next, I plan to bank up several months-worth of reserves and quit my day job to focus on building my business full time. I’m buying-back my time. I’d love to hear from anyone that has done something this, so please leave me your comments below.

Posted on September 30, 2009 - by Alex

New Wind – Changing Direction

I’ve surrendered my time again. A big portion of my day, but that’s how it goes. I’m no longer unemployed, but in that short lapse I learned how valuable my time is and how hard one must work to make it productive. And for the first time in my life I did what mattered. In this post I’ll detail the three projects I’ve been working on and how I hope to use them. But first, I must make you aware of one key detail: as I have changed, so must this blog.

Discord

In a previous post, I talked about the nine-to-five trap and how to know if you’re in it. To support my family’s quality of life, I took another job working for someone else again. It’s a great and career-worthy company. But I’ve long come to realize that it doesn’t matter. I’m now back to merely surviving and I’m not okay with that. Yet, I’m certain there are others out there like me. I know I’m not alone in my desire to be master of my own time—to be free to pay attention to the things I deem worthy, and to serve where I see fit.

New Direction

It is for this reason that this blog will continue to be a testament to my core desire to work for myself. To break out the nine-to-five trap. Before the end of the year, my goal is to be self-employed at least part-time. This means:

• I will have spend at least 10-15 hours a week working on the project’s I’ll later mention
• Help at least 10 different people/clients achieve their objectives by the end of the year
• Earn at least $100 dollars from sources besides my day-job wages
• Put at least 50 new contacts in my network

I believe these goals to realistic. I’m working on several things at once hoping at least one of them will show promise. Here’s a look at what I’ve been busy with.

Project #1 – Small Mortgage Broker

Earlier this year, I got licensed as a Mortgage Broker in the state of Wisconsin. Did I mention that used to originate loans? Anyway, I know the mortgage business isn’t the greatest right now but I also have inside experience in the industry with plenty of ideas on how to improve upon the conventions and practices related to mortgage lending. I’ve developed a basic website with some information about the business here: http://ArgusHomeFinance.com/. In the next month I’ll be signing up with as many lenders as I can to create a good selection for my prospective clients.

Project #2

This website. http://JobHuntChronicles.com is currently the most visited website out of the three listed herein. I will continue to post here as long as I feel it is useful for me and others.

Project # 3 – Technology & Venture Consulting

I got the idea for starting a consultancy while speaking to some of my customers at my previous job. Through multiple conversations I realized I had something business owners took an interest in. I had information. I knew about some software and technology that could help a small business owner optimize his/her operations. I could teach people how to use it. Again, I know that many people have expertise others don’t. This is not unique. What’s unique is what you can do with that knowledge. We’ll see if I can turn mine into an asset. My website, www.Alex-Andreev.com is now up and running. It’s about using technology to help entrepreneurs build businesses. Check it out and let me know what you think.

If “If’s and Buts” Were Candy and Nuts

Then every day would be Christmas. Alas, I don’t have much time. I’m using any time I have and that my family permits me to work on these three projects. It will be a challenge to be sure. But for the first time in my life, I feel totally ready. I’m ready to suck at this for a long time. But in the long run, I see no way I can lose.

Posted on September 21, 2009 - by Alex

The Craft of Selling

We often look to our trusted advisors to help us make the right decisions—never thinking for a moment that we’re dealing with salespeople. That’s because the best salespeople understand: selling is counsel. They are facilitators of exchange. No other area of work has taught me more than the craft of selling.

Discipline of Service

‘Cocky’, ‘overbearing’, and ‘inconsiderate’ are all terms individuals associate with salespeople—which is unfortunate, because they describe the opposite of what a sales professional is, and defame an otherwise honorable vocation.  The most successful salespeople are service-oriented, and are regarded as advisors by their clientele. Consequently, their primary source of business comes from referrals—which is hard to do if you’re the stereotypical, “pushy” salesperson.

Applied Psychology

The old adage tells us, “customers love to buy, but hate to be sold.” Professional salespeople must therefore understand what makes people tick. They master the skill of reading body language, they are students of human emotion, and finally, they are disciplined in listening carefully, and hearing more than the mere surface meaning of words.

Superior Elocution

When was the last time you watched a great interview? Learning the craft of selling involves high-level proficiency in articulating questions—from general to specific, all while building trust with the interviewee. Great interviewers get their subjects talking about what matters to them, within the parameters they set. Being well-understood and having superior delivery is a principal element of selling.

Why

Unless you can make all the things you need in life, you’ll need to exchange goods, services, or ideas with other earthlings. This is central to the pursuit of our separate interests. Expertise in the craft of selling is advantageous, then, to either side of the exchange, because it informs negotiation. Even if you’re just promoting an idea—or persuading a friend to see things from your perspective, selling competency reinforces the most basic skill sets: discourse and verbal/nonverbal communication.

Final Thoughts

The craft of selling is perhaps older than war—and much more effective.  It is important that you grasp that selling doesn’t mean beguiling a person. There is no virtue to subjugating or coercing a decision out of someone. Rather, the Sales Profession is about serving people—about consultation. It is a universally applicable set of skills that can help anyone promote their work and serve mankind.

Posted on September 15, 2009 - by Alex

Tools For Job Hunting – Part 2

In the last article, I talked about BrazenCareerist and LinkedIn—two career-oriented social networks that one can leverage to develop connections and opportunities. In the second part of the “Tools For Job Hunting” series, I’ll review some tools that helped me to develop and promote my resume.

Prelude

When I got laid off, searched my hard-drive for my resume. There it was, in all it’s glory: Alex_Resume.doc, created in Microsoft Word, using the “Professional-Style Resume” template. Although I had kept it current, something told me it was time for a change. I knew there would be plenty like it crowding the desks of hiring managers across Wisconsin.

Emurse.com

I’m not quite sure how I heard about Emurse—I probably googled something like: “Resume Building Software.” Emurse turned out to be a tool where one could create a good-looking resume and publish it online, making it available for download in a sundry of formats. Not bad for being free. Here’s a summary of what one can do with Emurse:

• Build modular resumes, customize headings/subheadings, and the way they are ordered.
• Select from a handful of impressive-looking styles. The kind that don’t look like they were made in MS Word.
• Publish the resume online as a web-page, making it capable of being indexed by Google.
• Make the resume available for download via .DOC, .PDF, .ODT, .RTF, .TXT, .HTML, and .RSS. Just to be sure.
• Create multiple resume variants, and publish them all

I liked how simple and easy the site was to use. The customization options and templates rendered a clean resume with maximum compatibility.

I didn’t like that you once you created the output, there wasn’t much else to do. One just hope google crawls it and doesn’t put it into the sandbox.

The Verdict: Emurse.com is a good tool for making a clean resume and publishing it online.

Winway Resume Deluxe

Is a software program I didn’t care for. It has a similar approach at building your resume from blocks like Emurse, but way, way more awkward. After building a resume, Winway allows one to select from about a million different templates/styles. Sorting through them was like wandering drunk through a really bad art gallery. Nonetheless, here’s what you can do with this gem:

• Build a resume. Functional and Chronological. Yippee.
• Write a cover letter
• Export all of these to a .PDF
• Email Resumes out

I liked that you could create a resume and export it to the formats that are important. I enjoyed the smooth uninstall from my hard-drive.

I didn’t like that Winway Resume Builder makes an effort to insult my intelligence. I’m talking about the video coaching feature, where I got tutored on how to interview well by watching 1980s role-plays of really bad actors in spiffy re-encoded quality. That’s not how people behave.

The Verdict: You might as as well spend the $39.95 on some cologne. It’ll make you more attractive.

If You Need to Revamp Your Resume

I think Emurse.com is worth a look, if nothing more than the chance it could wind up being a Google search result for your name. Its simplicity and ease-of-use can have done in 30 minutes and moving on to the next thing. Emurse will even email you if anybody visits or downloads your resume. Has anyone else out there tried either one of these two resume-builders?

Posted on September 13, 2009 - by Alex

Tools For Job Hunting – Part 1

Over the past 3 weeks I’ve been zealously experimenting with career-seeking tools, both new and old. Most of these fit well into one of two categories: Social Media and Resume Construction / Distribution. In next two posts, I’ll provide a general overview of each tool and my opinion on how to best apply them.  The first part of this two-part article will cover career-oriented Social Media instruments.

Brazen Careerist

Founded by top-notch writer and blogger Penelope Trunk (who happens to live in the same town as me), Brazen Careerist is a professional social network for Gen Y. It’s like LinkedIn with a pinch of Facebook: helping young people develop professional connections—with a personal touch. Brazen Careerist allows one to:

• Build a profile consisting of your professional work history and education (similar to LinkedIn), with an added section for “ideas,” where you can express yourself.
• Follow/friend other members of Brazen Careerist
• Upload your own resume (.DOC, .DOCX, .PDF, and .ODF formats) and made available for download
• Link to your blog and social networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn to name a few)
• Publish a feed from your blog or create a blog post right in the web application

I liked the idea of concerting with other young people that share a common goal: advancing their careers. I also liked how Brazen Careerist made it easy for me to sign up by using FacebookConnect to fill out most of the registration for me.

I didn’t like how slow the pages loaded compared to other social web-apps. It annoyed me when I had to re-enter information into my resume numerous times because of bugs when saving the work experience entries.

I see Brazen Careerist as being a perfect HQ for building your personal brand and connecting with people—if you don’t have a stand-alone blog. Otherwise, it can be used as a more-focused Twitter: an outpost from which to build an audience that permits you to refer their attention to the things you create.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the largest professional social network with a population of over 45,000,000 users. I’ve heard it quoted that as many as 80% of employers use LinkedIn as their primary tool to find candidates. LinkedIn allows users to create a profile consisting of your resume and professional recommendations/endorsements from other LinkedIn connections. Employers also post their requisitions on LinkedIn and as a member, one can search these postings. LinkedIn lets you:

• Search for jobs
• Search for contacts by cross-checking your email records if you use a web-based email like Gmail, Yahoo, or Hotmail
• Import your resume to populate work history
• See the connections of your connections (2nd degree), and request an introduction to those connections
• Write and request recommendations for/from any of your connections
• Update a “what are you working on now?” status
• Link to your other sites/blogs

I liked that this social network actually had job postings that were current—I can’t say as much for most job posting aggregators. I also thought the recommendation feature was novel.

I didn’t like that you had to upgrade to a premium account in order to send someone a message (if they’re aren’t in your network).

I see LinkedIn as having lots of potential  for developing new professional contacts because it tracks “degrees-of-separation” so well and allows one to be “introduced” by intermediaries. This also seems like a great place to build professional credibility by way of amassing lots of endorsements and using them as testimonials—especially useful in b2b sales.

For The Long-Haul

Brazen Careerist and LinkedIn, when used correctly, allow one to build a professional image or brand online. This is a long-term strategy that demands consistency and tenacity—you may not see results for months. Reminder-to-Self: start using these tools before you are unemployed.

Next Week

Next week I’ll talk about some resume-building and distribution tools I’ve worked with and what I think about them. In the meantime, I’d love to hear your experiences with Brazen Careerist or LinkedIn. Have you ever landed or found a job/freelance work through them? Leave your comments below.

Posted on September 9, 2009 - by Alex

Risk Management & Having Options

I’ve made this mistake many times before. I’m talking about applying for a slew of jobs, getting a couple offers and taking one. It’s probably what most people do, but increasingly, I’m seeing something wrong with this approach. It’s easy for one to make a decision when one has little choice—but is it the right one?

Don’t Put All of Your Eggs in One Basket

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. I hear this a lot  in conversations about investing and risk management and think to myself, why should this be different with careers? I’ll be exchanging eight hours (sometimes more) of my daily time—a limited commodity to be sure—for money. Ergo, I’ll want to make sure I have options (no investing pun intended).

Controlling Your Choices

Two offers isn’t enough. I think having 10 would be nice, but 4-6 would be realistic. I’ve got a bit of time before I start my new job, but in the meantime, I’m amassing my pipeline of applications again. My goal is to have at least two additional offers to consider before starting an new job. Consider this: there are employers out there right now, waiting to extend you a kick-ass job offer for work you actually want to do—likewise there are employers that will suck years of life and vitality right out of you (if you let them). Having the foresight to discern one from the other is paramount.

Posted on September 3, 2009 - by Alex

The Nine-to-Five Trap And Knowing It

You’re in it if you hate what you do. If you relish the opportunity to malign work when you’re with your friends, it’s got you. If you’re habitually overcome by dissonance that feels like you should be doing something else with your time, you’re in the nine-to-five trap. I’ve been there. Still am to some degree… But I’ve also been out—and knowing the difference means everything.

The Nature of The Beast

The problem is most people in the world don’t even know they’re in it. That is, they might be aware of the dissonance I mentioned, but don’t infer any meaning from it. They accept distaste for their job as a condition of life. The first step to unplugging from this matrix is to become aware of it and it’s purpose in your world. Psychology has a name for this concept; it’s called meta-cognition.

Once I Knew

Even with the gnawing awareness of discord in my life, I did nothing for months. The words of David Allen from his best-selling book Getting Things Done, “Your whole life is important,”  resonated in my brain with every passing minute. If you find yourself in a situation like mine, start listening to that voice. Use it as a catalyst as I did, to start tunneling out.

The Economy is an Excuse

Sure, the job market is more competitive now, but it’s not an excuse for doing unfulfilling work. I’m learning that scarcity is mostly illusory, as the opportunities I’m now procuring were not even on my plane of existence a few months ago. You and I both have a unique set of skills, experiences, and talents, refracted through the one-of-a-kind lens that is the self. That has value that no one can compete with.

Escape Progress

In my previous post I outlined my strategy for promoting my abilities-for-hire. I will use this blog as the platform for my voice. I also created a twitter account earlier this week which will serve as a hub/outpost to call attention to my blog and a place I can publish minor musings. Twitter may be the most powerful social medium around today due to it’s super-low barrier-of-entry and I’ll write more about it in future posts. What about you… are you in the 9-5 trap? Let’s hear about it. Leave me a comment below.

Posted on September 1, 2009 - by Alex

Selling Yourself & Hiring Your Employer

I mentioned in my last post that the offer I signed was just the beginning. Life is about working with what you’ve got and creating additional opportunities. The best example I can give of this is the same one that inspired me to start this blog as part of my plan to become more marketable: Susan Hires A Boss. Susan is a first-rate marketing professional who studied under the great Seth Godin. In my unhumble opinion, Susan exemplifies the way smart people ought to seek meaningful work—define what you want, then get them to apply to hire you.

What I’m Selling (Myself)

If I wanted to market myself like Susan, I’d start by defining my abilities-for-hire. Evolved over nearly a quarter of a century, my expertise can be categorized as follows:

• Internet Marketing / Social Media
• Project Management & Productivity
• Graphic Design & Web Development
• Finance & Credit (especially Real Estate)
• Sales Psychology
• Computer Hardware & Software
• New Technologies & Media
• Writing & Speaking

I’d encourage my readers out there to make a similar list—one even more specific—because we seldom give ourselves any credit for the abilities we have, especially when we use them regularly. A humbling question I ask myself often is: what good am I?

My Strategy

Rather than explain it, this should give you a visual representation of my scheme. This mind-map was created in a software program called Mindjet Mindmanager.

Selling Myself Strategic Outposts

Now that I’ve negotiated and secured employment, I’m focusing on the self-employment and social media channels to improve my visibility as a marketable sales professional. Later this week, I’ll tell you about some tools I’ve been exploring in the social media branch of my strategy. In the mean time, use the comments box below tell me some of the ways you’ve used social media to find work.

Posted on August 31, 2009 - by Alex

Moving Forward – Offer & More

Accepted Offer!

Some major progress today: the company I’m the furthest with in negotiations has come through with their counter-offer. The second offer was the number I wanted and I’ve accepted it. Unless something better comes along, I will start working for the company in September.

Why I Did It

The way I see it, this is the first step in replacing my income—it’s more money than my last job, and I can’t keep them hanging. It’s vital to work with quality people in an environment you’re comfortable with. Not only do I know many of the salespeople working there already, but the area is familiar. Finally, I’m very comfortable selling the product/service this company offers—technology is my forte.

I’m Not Done

Did you really think this was it? We’re talking lifestyle/workstyle design here, folks—there’s still much to be done. One of my main objectives is to be location-independent, and despite what the live-your-dream-be-your-own-boss spam would have you believe, it’s hard to find that kind of work. I’ve been busy with some projects that are part of my overall strategy to find and do fulfilling work that I haven’t told you about yet. I’ll share more on this with you later in the week.

Posted on August 28, 2009 - by Alex

Do Yourself a Favor and Negotiate Wages

Totally Worth It

Keep this in mind: a $2/hour increase is equivalent to $4,160 in added annual income. If you can spend 30 minutes of your time (planning and phone conversation) in exchange for $4,160 additional wages, why wouldn’t you negotiate the first offer? In some countries it’s considered rude not to! Some people—like me—even take a sick pleasure in it.

The Set Up

I mentioned in my previous post that I had 2 interviews. The second interview on Wednesday went great—so great in fact, that the “panel” of sales managers all said they’d like me to come on board right at the end of the interview. They said the HR person would get in touch with me ASAP to extend the offer. Not more than 30 minutes later, I got the call. I wrote down all the information regarding hourly wage, benefits, etc—all while sounds as lukewarm in tone as possible to the offer. After detailing the whole offer the conversation went something like:

HR Lady: Do you have any questions?

Me: Nope, you’ve answered them, thank you.

HR Lady: …<dramatic pause>… So does that sound good to you?

Me: Well, I’m not going to accept just yet… As I mentioned to the folks that interviewed me, I’m looking at a number of offers and working with some other companies. I’m very interested in <name of company redacted>, but I’d like to get back to you. When can I do that?

HR Lady: …<dramatic pause>… Um, I guess that would be OK. I’m out of the office tomorrow, so do you think you could get back to me by 4:00 today? I guess, how much time did you need?

Me: Hmm… well, I’m supposed to hear back on another offer either today or tomorrow. I don’t want to tell you that I’ll get back if to you today if I’m uncertain. I should hear back by Friday, though. Would that work?

HR Lady: …<dramatic pause>… If you don’t get back with me today, here is the phone number for <name redacted>, the manager you’d be reporting to if you came on board. Either way, let us know.

Me: Sounds great.

Planning How to Counter

As a salesman, how could they expect me not to negotiate? I deliberately didn’t call HR Lady back on Thursday, planning instead to call the sales manager—who by the way, is the authority behind the offer—on Friday. Here’s how that conversation went:

Me: Hi <name redacted>, I was asked to give you a call today since the HR representative is out of the office. I’m not sure if you’re aware, but she called me yesterday with an offer. I want to work for <company name redacted>, but the offer was lower than I expected…

Sales Manager: …Oh?

Me: …Yeah… when I spoke to human resources initially, the told me that starting pay for that position was <offered rate> and that it was based on experience.

Sales Manager: …Correct, however, the way people really make their money around here is on commission.

Me: I understand that—but the base pay will, at least initially, make up over 50% of my income. I feel that based on my 6 years of sales, management, and training experience, I am worth more than <offered figure>.

Sales Manager: …I see where you’re coming from. I actually authorized the offer to be more like <slightly higher figure>. If you could take some time and think about whether that would suit you, we can take it from there…

Me: My previous employer paid me <figure I’m looking for>. Admittedly, the commission structure was not as good as <company name redacted>’s but, as I said, this will be over 50% of my income starting out, and I feel the market can give me at least that number. I’m just not prepared to take a pay cut at this point.

[note: the commission structure this employer was offering was more lucrative, and in total, I would not be taking a pay cut even if I accepted the first offer]

Sales Manager: So <higher figure> is what you were making before, huh?

Me: Right. I want to “kill it” for <company name redacted> and I think you’re a great fit, but I also want to be paid what I’m worth.

Sales Manager: Let me see what I can do. Can we get back in touch with you Monday?

Alex: Certainly. I look forward to hearing from you then.

The Waiting Begins

Now I’ll wait and plan. I’m thinking if they offer me something lower than what I’m willing to settle for, I’ll tell them I’ll need to think about it, and perhaps, “may I have it in writing” and decide what to do from there. If anyone out there has any stories of a similar wages negotiation, please share them below.