Pamela Mitchell: The 10 Laws Of Career Reinvention - Author interview

Founder and CEO of the Reinvention Institute, Pamela Mitchell, author of the dynamic and empowering book The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention: Essential Survival Skills for Any Economy, was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions about her book with us.

She shares ideas about how to become a career reinventor and why it's essential in today's rapidly changing and highly competitive employment market. With ever rising unemployment, Pamela Mitchell's ideas are crucial for your survival and ability to adapt and prosper in your career.

Thanks to Pamela Mitchell for her time and thoughtful responses.

What was the background to writing this book The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention: Essential Survival Skills for Any Economy?

Pamela Mitchell: Back in the early 90s when I was working on Wall Street, I found myself hating my career and desperate to make a switch. I went searching for a book that could help me, but the ones I found assumed you wanted to find a job within the same industry you’d been working in. None of them told you what to do if your goal was to get a job in a different field.

I didn’t know what I wanted to do next much less have a strategy for getting there. There were no 10 Laws of Reinvention to guide me, so I had to figure it out the hard way! Through much trial and error I did, and seven months after leaving Wall Street I landed a new position in the entertainment field.

For years afterward I served as an informal mentor for people looking to make a career switch. Invariably they’d come back with a success story resulting from the strategies I’d shared. After nine years in entertainment, tired of the travel, I decided it was time for yet another reinvention. I became a certified coach and launched The Reinvention Institute, a company specifically dedicated to providing the knowledge, tools, support and inspiration people need to change direction in their careers. It is the company I looked for when I left Wall Street! The book came about because our clients and students repeatedly asked for a comprehensive guide to what they’d learned in our classes, seminars and coaching.

In today's economy, with layoffs and the dream of a lifelong career no longer a reality, is it more important than ever to have a career survival skill set?

Pamela Mitchell: Absolutely. ExecuNet's 2009 Executive Job Market Intelligence Report states that executives expect to hold a single job for 5.6 years, but they only stay in that spot for 2.3 years. They also expect to work for the same company for 6.6 years, but in actuality they remain employed by that company for just 2.8 years. While some of this job changing may be voluntary, there’s a good percentage of it that’s not. You need to have your career reinvention skills honed so that when the ground shifts beneath your feet, you can land securely in your next position.

Pamela Mitchell (photo left)

Is the book's information useful for a Baby Boomer nearing retirement, a GenXer in mid-career, or a Millennial starting their own career path?

Pamela Mitchell: Knowing the Laws of Career Reinvention is critical for baby boomers who, though nearing retirement, may have a desire (or need) to remain active in the world of work. The 10 Laws give them the tools to stay in the game. Mid-careerists can use the 10 Laws to help them rapidly adapt to an ever-changing landscape of companies buffeted by rapid technological change. For Millennials who are just entering the workforce, the 10 Laws teach them how to build a portfolio of skills that will ensure they are best positioned for future opportunities.

How can a person become emotionally and mentally prepared for career change at any point in their life?

Pamela Mitchell: A person can stay ready for career change by continually developing new skills and regularly pursuing projects and activities outside their comfort zone. They should also make a Plan B strategy a permanent part of their career planning strategy, and update it at a minimum annually.

What often holds a person back from becoming a Reinventor?

Pamela Mitchell: We did a study back in 2006 that polled over 350 professionals, 65% of whom had successfully reinvented their careers at least once. The number one perceived barrier among successful Reinventors was lack of necessary skills/knowledge for their new career. Interestingly enough, 72% of them reported that the skills from their previous career were ‘extremely useful’ or ‘very useful’ in their new career. My experience has shown that oftentimes, the biggest barrier to becoming a successful Reinventor is something much more intangible, namely fear.

What is the first step a person should take toward getting the career of their dreams even in a bad economy?

Pamela Mitchell: Buy The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention! But seriously, the first thing a person should do, especially in a bad economy, is take an honest look at their lifestyle. If you use career reinvention as an excuse to purse a pie-in-the-sky dream at the expense of your basic needs, you’ve set yourself up for failure. Once you’ve taken stock of the components of your life (finances, family obligations, interests and passions), use them as a foundation for crafting a reinvention strategy that will deliver a workable intersection of all three.

What is next for Pamela Mitchell?

Pamela Mitchell: Continuing my mission to give people practical tools that will help them stay competitive and build a satisfying, productive and prosperous career, even in the most challenging marketplace.

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My book review of The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention: Essential Survival Skills for Any Economy by Pamela Mitchell.

Tags: The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention: Essential Survival Skills for Any Economy, Pamela Mitchell, career change management skills, business author interviews.

The 10 Laws Of Career Reinvention by Pamela Mitchell - Book review

The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention

Essential Survival Skills for Any Economy

By: Pamela Mitchell

Published: December 31, 2009

Format: Hardcover, 272 pages

ISBN: 9780525951469

Publisher: Dutton Adult/Penguin

"There are no more "safe" industries. The ability to reinvent your career at any moment is the new - and only - form of job security", writes founder and CEO of the Reinvention Institute, Pamela Mitchell in her dynamic and empowering book The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention: Essential Survival Skills for Any Economy. The author provides the tools and creative thinking necessary to reinvent a career in today's rapidly changing economy.

Pamela Mitchell recognizes that the employment map is changing before our very eyes. No longer can a person expect to find a safe haven within a company, or even move to a similar position with with another firm. In fact, the author dismisses this traditional approach to career management as outdated, and even deadly to a person's career path, and describes a new way of thinking and acting in a highly competitive job market. To this end, Pamela Mitchell presents the reinvention mindset as an alternative to traditional career development ideas. The author stresses and clarifies the critical importance of being mentally, emotionally, and financially prepared to meet the challenges of a difficult and often treacherous labor market.

Pamela Mitchell (photo left) understands that changing careers can be a very traumatic experience as well as a severe culture shock. The author shares her own personal experiences, as well as those of other successful career reinventors, to help ease the transition from one career path to one that is entirely different. Pamela Mitchell shows the reader how to capitalize on current skills and to use them as a starting point for a complete career change. Along the way, she dispels a number of myths and misconceptions that surround career paths and employment stability. Career reinvention skills give the job seeker the adaptability and survival mindset to overcome any unemployment challenges successfully.

For me, the power of the book is how Pamela Mitchell combines the theory of career reinvention, with ten practical laws that provide the skills necessary, to survive and thrive in any economy. These lessons are enhanced through real world case studies and success stories. The author teaches her readers how to recognize and anticipate changes in the economy and the employment world. Larger societal trends and changes become the friend of the career reinventor, offering opportunity to change careers and increase levels of success, money, and a positive attitude. The book contains valuable worksheets that help the reader discover how to enhance their own reinvention skills. The ability to adapt to different and unexpected circumstances, combined with the right skills and mindset as described in the book, will keep anyone's career moving forward regardless of changes in its direction.

Read the essential career transformational book The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention: Essential Survival Skills for Any Economy by Pamela Mitchell, and rid yourself of the old myths that surround career planning and changes in the modern world of work. This is not a book for those who prefer traditional employment guides. Instead, this book is designed for the person who is willing to accept that change is part of everyone's working life, and that no career path is permanent any longer. Instead of platitudes, Pamela Mitchell offers advice that the job seeker can use effectively in any economy.

Read the life changing book The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention: Essential Survival Skills for Any Economy by Pamela Mitchell, and prepare today for the inevitable career change of tomorrow. This book will prevent a person being caught unaware of how to embrace the change and to adapt to the new world of employment successfully.

Tags: The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention: Essential Survival Skills for Any Economy, Pamela Mitchell, career change management skills, business book reviews.

Learn Global Business Etiquette

If you are in the process of expanding abroad, avoid cultural gaffes by learning local business etiquette in the country you are about to do business.

This article offers some good tips by business owners and experts in the trenches on how to immerse yourself in a country's culture to better understand the people, respect their ways and be sensitive about never offending.

Expanding Abroad? Avoid Cultural Gaffes

You might also check out our 8 Global Marketing Gaffes.

A Chat With Eric Schmidt on China and Censorship

Newsweek's Fareer Zakaria has a conversation with Google CEO Eric Schmidt about doing business in China despite the restrictions that Beijing imposes on Internet freedom.

Excerpt here:

Why did you make this decision? It surprised many people and many companies.

Google is a different kind of company than many others. The issue of operating in China was always complex for us. We were asked to accept a system of censorship that we were very uncomfortable with. But we had come to the conclusion that operating in China was better for everyone—us, the Chinese people—than staying out of the country. We have decided that we cannot participate in censorship anymore.

You might also check out Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.'s commentary in the WSJ (1/22/10): China, Google and the Cloud Wars (very interesting)

Refer to our blog post 1/19/10: Message to China: Stop Carving Up Cyberspace with Boundaries

The Secret History of the American Empire by John Perkins - Book review

The Secret History of the American Empire

Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and the Truth about Global Corruption

By: John Perkins

Published: June 5, 2007
Format: Paperback, 384 pages
ISBN 9781429560184
Publisher: Plume/Penguin Group

"We possess the knowledge, technology, and systems required to make this a stable, sustainable, equitable, and peaceful planet", writes self confessed economic hit man John Perkins, in his sweeping and visionary book The Secret History of the American Empire: Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and the Truth about Global Corruption. In this important sequel to the seminal classic Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, the author takes the reader on a global tour of how the empire was built by what he calls the corporatocracy was built. More critically, John Perkins describes how and why corporations and the people of the world can work together to correcting past mistakes and creating a better world.

John Perkins knows how the corporatocracy operated in its empire building efforts. He was there and was part of the process. He saw first hand the destruction of the environment, corrupt governments and local elites, and the increased poverty of the populations of each country. The creation of international debt, according to John Perkins, widened the gap between rich and poor, impoverishing the country instead of enriching the people. Despite that background, the global business practices of corporations in the past, are not sustainable into the future. As resources face depletion, and become ever more expensive to extract, while local people have demanded a greater share of the bounty. John Perkins points out that corporations have been listening, and have become much more responsive to local populations. Along the way, the corporations discovered that becoming better corporate citizens was also good business.

John Perkins (photo left) shares stories of economic hit men like himself, of jackals who allegedly assassinated government and local leaders, and of plans made by the corporatocracy for continental and global dominance. At the same time, the author describes their failures and how their short sighted goals were not achievable as planned. In their way stood the power of determined local populations to regain control of their own resources, and their own self determination. John Perkins describes in detail how non-profit organizations, working with local and indigenous populations have defied corporate power, while helping to develop partnerships with companies, for the benefit of all concerned. In place of violence, cooperation and sharing have begun the process of lifting people out of poverty, while boosting the corporate bottom line.

For me, the power of the book is how John Perkins decides that the focus must be on the present and the future. What happened in the past is done, but doesn't have to continue in the same unsustainable manner. As resources dwindle, the need for better stewardship becomes critical for both the corporations and the host country. This need for more sustainable techniques and practices provides an opportunity for creativity on the part of non-profit organizations and for local people. Through gaining ownership of large voting blocks of shares, environmentally conscious people, who seek greater equality for people, have a voice in corporate management. The result has been more socially responsible corporate practice for the world's leading corporations. The book is one of hope for a better and more equitable future for everyone, and presents a framework for achieving equality, social justice, democracy, and sustainable business.

I highly recommend the important and world changing book The Secret History of the American Empire: Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and the Truth about Global Corruption by John Perkins, to anyone seeking to become a force for change in the world. The author presents many ideas for building a more peaceful and equitable planet, where principles of social justice and democracy are available to everyone. At the same time, John Perkins demonstrates through case studies how to enhance and support ethical business practices in corporations that result in better treatment of people, and greater profits for the company.

Read the empowering and hope building book The Secret History of the American Empire: Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and the Truth about Global Corruption by John Perkins, and discover how to build a better world for your children and grandchildren, where the principles of the American Revolution and the constitution become part of everyone's life and future. This book presents hope and a road map for achieving an improved life for all.

Tags: The Secret History of the American Empire: Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and the Truth about Global Corruption, John Perkins, international finance, corruption, business book reviews.

How To Gain Global Customers

According to contributing writer Carol Tice at Inc., one-half of all small businesses do not have a website. Yes, you read that right.

Think about how many small businesses that might be if you polled the planet!

Half of Small Businesses Don't Have a Website

The actual study can be found.

What are SMB owners losing by NOT having a Web site?

Customers.
What are you waiting for?

TechTip2U Powered by: Verio

Is Your Brand Name Available On Social Media Networks?

We don't know too much about this organization (launched April, 2009) other than it came across our email desk over the past couple of weeks.

KnowEm was developed to assist everyone - from individuals to Fortune 500 companies - in discovering where their names, brands, or trademarked terms are available (or stolen) on Social Media networks. KnowEm will not only help you secure your name across the vast social media landscape but we can also show you how to contact each site in order to have the name released and returned to you.

Check it out. Let us know if it's useful to you or not. Don't see too much global here.

KnowEm.com

Christy Strauch: Passion, Plan, Profit - Blog Business Success Radio

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio

Certified coach, owner of Clarity To Business and author of the valuable and very hands on book Passion, Plan, Profit: 12 Simple Steps to Turn Your Passion into a Solid Business, Christy Strauch, shares tools with creative people and small business owners to help them better understand the purpose their ideas and business serve in the world. The concepts will help to serve customers and clients better. At the same time, the techniques help a business person understand what their business itself is saying to them. Christy shows right brained people how they too can operate successful businesses, including understanding the numbers, and the formulation of an effective business plan.

Christy Strauch is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on Blog Talk Radio.

The show airs live on Thursday, January 28, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Certified coach and author of the valuable and very hands on book Passion, Plan, Profit: 12 Simple Steps to Turn Your Passion into a Solid Business, Christy Strauch, shares tools with creative people and small business owners to help them better understand the purpose their ideas and business serve in the world. You will learn:

* Why creative, right brained people can operate successful businesses

* The importance of a business plan in developing a vision

* The critical need for clarity and accountability

* How to make marketing exciting and fun; and not a chore.

Christy Strauch (photo left) Christy Strauch, took a job in 1989 as a sales representative for a small IT company with $50,000 a year in sales. Christy had an MBA in finance and marketing from UCLA and a dream of making a difference in business. Fifteen years and 3 mergers later, Strauch was a partner, took the company public and sold it.

In 2005, with over 9 years experience working for nationally known companies such as IBM, Carnation International and Capitol Records, Christy decided that it was time to follow a lifetime calling to help small-business owners learn to prosper doing the work they love. Considered an expert in small business, Christy has been interviewed by the Los Angeles Times and the Scottsdale Daily Progress, among others.

Throughout her career, Christy has received numerous honors. She won several regional managers awards during her tenure with IBM, has been honored by the Arizona Small Business Association, received the advanced Toastmasters Silver designation and earned her Certified Professional Co-Active Coaching (CPCC) certificate from the Coach Training Institute and her Associate Certified Coach (ACC) certificate from the International Coach Federation.

In 2005, Christy formed Clarity To Business, a coaching and consulting practice. To date, she has worked with over 300 small-business owners, from artists to real estate agents, helping them to both do what they are passionate about and to make a profit.

Christy is the author of Passion, Plan, Profit: 12 Simple Steps to Turn Your Passion into a Solid Business. This user-friendly book shows people who are passionate about their work how to succeed in the business side of business. She is currently at work on You Hate to Market, and What To Do About It, which will be available Fall 2010.

My book review of Passion, Plan, Profit: 12 Simple Steps to Turn Your Passion into a Solid Business by Christy Strauch.

Listen live on Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.

If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.

To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with certified coach, owner of Clarity To Business and author of the valuable and very hands on book Passion, Plan, Profit: 12 Simple Steps to Turn Your Passion into a Solid Business, Christy Strauch, as she shares tools with creative people and small business owners to help them better understand the purpose their ideas and business serve in the world. The concepts will help to serve customers and clients better. At the same time, the techniques help a business person understand what their business itself is saying to them. Christy shows right brained people how they too can operate successful businesses, including understanding the numbers, and the formulation of an effective business plan on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Passion, Plan, Profit: 12 Simple Steps to Turn Your Passion into a Solid Business, Christy Strauch, visionary business planning, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

Passion, Plan, Profit by Christy Strauch - Book review

Passion, Plan, Profit

12 Simple Steps to Turn Your Passion into a Solid Business

By: Christy Strauch

Published: June 1, 2009

Format: Paperback: 304 pages

ISBN-10: 0984055703

ISBN-13: 978-0984055708
Publisher: The Printed Voice

"Many people fear, or even completely avoid, trying to make a living doing the things they do best - the work that calls to them from their heart", writes business coach and entrepreneur Christy Strauch in her valuable and very hands on book Passion, Plan, Profit: 12 Simple Steps to Turn Your Passion into a Solid Business. The author guide the aspiring entrepreneur through a step by step process, that can turn a creative passion into a profitable business, through clarity and accountability.

Christy Strauch understands the fears and concerns faced by every potential small business owner at the prospect of starting their own company. These fears are especially acute in creative, right brained thinkers who believe they lack the analytical skills and aptitude with numbers to succeed as entrepreneurs. For the author, having passion and love for your work are fundamental building blocks for developing a successful business, and these are the qualities that are foremost in creative people. To take the mystery out of such standard business concepts as business plans, a unique selling proposition, marketing, and customer service, Christy Strauch has created a powerful, easy to understand workbook style format to guide the entrepreneur through the entire process.

Christy Strauch (photo left) understands the reluctance that many creative people have in starting a business, including the necessity to charge a fee for their work. The author points out that what comes easily to one person may be very difficult, or close to impossible for another. As a result, the business person must not let their love of their work sabotage their need to make a living. Christy Strauch shows the small business owner how to find their clarity of purpose, and to develop a strong business plan, based on that clear vision. At the same time, the author removes the fear of numbers, and teaches the entrepreneur how to understand the language being spoken by those numbers. The numbers on the page all have a narrative and story to tell, and Christy Strauch shows the creative person how to read and understand their hidden message.

For me, the power of the book is how Christy Strauch turns what is a basic small business primer into a full course on entrepreneurship. The book is written as an interactive work book, complete with lessons and homework, that gently forces the creative individual to learn the essentials of business. In fact, the lessons are so complete, that they are valuable for any small business person to complete. The author writes in a language, and presents the concepts in a format, that is accessible and understandable for both right brained and left brained business people, creating a whole brained approach to business. While the main focus of the book is about business planning, understanding the numbers, and becoming a better marketer, the book also contains a critical message about maintaining a moral compass. For any business person, maintaining one's values and passion are very important, and are the essential guiding star for the company vision itself.

I highly recommend the practical and business transformational book Passion, Plan, Profit: 12 Simple Steps to Turn Your Passion into a Solid Business by Christy Strauch, to anyone who seeks to turn a passion into a successful company. This book describes how to clarify your vision and to utilize accountable business practices to make those dreams a reality. Christy Strauch emphasizes that business owners must follow their passion, as one can only b e truly happy and true themselves by doing what they love most.

Read the business demystifying book Passion, Plan, Profit: 12 Simple Steps to Turn Your Passion into a Solid Business by Christy Strauch, and discover how to turn your passion into the business of your dreams, while staying true to your creative spirit and maintaining your moral compass.

Tags: Passion, Plan, Profit: 12 Simple Steps to Turn Your Passion into a Solid Business, Christy Strauch, visionary business planning, business book reviews.

The Courageous Follower, Third Edition by Ira Chaleff - Book review

The Courageous Follower, Third Edition

Standing Up to & for Our Leaders

By: Ira Chaleff

Published: November 2009
Format: Paperback, 264pp
ISBN-13: 9781605092737
ISBN-10: 1605092738
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

"Most of us are leaders in some situations and followers in others. On one level we understand and fully accept this. You can't, by definition, have a world of only leaders", writes award winning leadership expert and President of Executive Coaching & Consulting Associates, Ira Chaleff, in his brilliant and definitive book The Courageous Follower, Third Edition: Standing Up to & for Our Leaders. The author creates a book for followers who choose to support a leader, and how followers and leaders can develop a closer and more equitable relationship through the courage to give and accept support, ideas, cautionary advice, and honest feedback.

Ira Chaleff understands that the old command and control model of leadership is declining, and being replaced by a model based on more parity between leader and followers. The older model was based on a paternalistic approach that no longer works with today's more empowered employees and citizens. The author points out that the older authoritarian leader and follower model worked well in the industrial age, but is not suited for the modern information age. The days of the docile follower paradigm are over. Followers now must become more comfortable with their power and support powerful leaders and work to develop newer models based on shared responsibility. To answer this problem of creating a new dynamic, Ira Chaleff presents the concept of the courageous follower.

Ira Chaleff (photo left) recognizes that a courageous follower has new responsibilities along with the new found empowerment. At the same time, a new type of leader is emerging who accepts input and feedback from followers. While self aware leaders understand the new parity relationship, years of socialization to the traditional leader-follower model must be overcome. There has been little cultural support, within our culture, for this changing interpersonal dynamic. To address this challenge to the social programming process, Ira Chaleff posits his five dimensions of courageous followership. They include the courage to assume responsibility, the courage to serve, the courage to challenge, the courage to participate in transformation, and the courage to take moral action. Combined with the courage to speak to the hierarchy and the courage to listen to followers, on the part of leaders, the opportunity for leaders and followers to work together to achieve great things is immense.

For me, the power of the book is how Ira Chaleff presents a new and powerful leadership and followership dynamic that works to benefit both parts of the relationship. In place of the outmoded traditional command and obey system, where a leader's ideas, actions, and orders go unchallenged, followers are empowered to stand up for what is right, and what is in the best interests of the organization and of society. As the world evolves into a more egalitarian culture, leaders who are not listening or responsive to their followers will fail in reaching their goals. Followers are no longer docile, and the older mindset of being subordinate is no longer appropriate in the information age when ideas and creativity flow up from followers, as well as down from leaders. Very often, ideas and decisions are reached jointly, as leaders and followers create a parity and develop mutual trust and respect.

I highly recommend the insightful and visionary book The Courageous Follower, Third Edition: Standing Up to & for Our Leaders by Ira Chaleff, to anyone seeking a new approach to leadership and followership in the information age. The book provides a clear understanding of the new relationship and responsibilities shared by today's leaders and followers. Gone are the days of the docile follower. In the more egalitarian world of today and tomorrow, leaders must have the courage to listen to and accept honest feedback. Followers must have the courage to provide that guidance for their leaders.

Read the practical and must read book The Courageous Follower, Third Edition: Standing Up to & for Our Leaders by Ira Chaleff, and begin the journey toward a more equitable, open, and trusting relationship between leader and follower. This book is the essential road map for establishing courage in both followers and their leaders.

Tags: The Courageous Follower, Third Edition: Standing Up to & for Our Leaders, Ira Chaleff, leaders, followers, personal empowerment, business book reviews.

Ira Chaleff: The Courageous Follower - Blog Business Success Radio

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio

Leadership thinker, Founder and President of Executive Coaching & Consulting Associates, and author of the brilliant and definitive book The Courageous Follower, Third Edition: Standing Up to & for Our Leaders, Ira Chaleff, describes how everyone is a follower some of the time. He removes the passive connotations of the role and shares ideas, insights and the tools needed for followers to partner with leaders. He shares guidance for leaders to encourage followers to be heard and to participate in the process. The result is increased support for leaders, reduced dissatisfaction and cynicism. Organizations will be strengthened through fewer mistakes, and better and more open and honest feedback.

Ira Chaleff is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Tuesday, January 26, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Leadership thinker, Founder and President of Executive Coaching & Consulting Associates, and author of the brilliant and definitive book The Courageous Follower, Third Edition: Standing Up to & for Our Leaders, Ira Chaleff, describes how everyone is a follower some of the time. You will learn:

* How the leader and follower dynamic has changed in the information age

* Why followers have more empowerment and responsibility to guide their leaders

* How to become a more courageous follower

* How to become a more courageous leader



Ira Chaleff (photo left) is a thought leader in the field of Followership and the founder and president of Executive Coaching & Consulting Associates.

Ira was the catalyst for the first national conference in 2006 on Followership, hosted by the Kravis Leadership Institute of McKenna College and the Peter Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management at Claremont Graduate University.

Ira is co-editor of the Art of Followership: How Great Followers Create Great Leaders and Organizations, published in January, 2008 as part of the Warren Bennis Leadership Series by Jossey-Bass.

He has published and has been quoted in numerous articles on Followership and its emergence as a newly recognized field of study and practice.

He has conducted seminars and workshops on Followership for a wide range of audiences including NASA, The Brookings Institute, Ernst & Young, The Eastern Management Development Center for the Federal Government, The Federal Judicial Center, Georgetown University, The Graduate School of Public Accounting at the University of Wisconsin, and numerous other institutions, agencies and professional services firms.

In 2006, Ira went on a multi-city speaking tour of India, introducing the concepts of Courageous Followership to both privately-owned and government-owned companies.

The Courageous Follower has been incorporated into many curricula, including senior- and mid-level police officer training at virtually every level of the California Law Enforcement community. It was part of the syllabus for the first course on Followership taught (by Barbara Kellerman) at the John F.Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Ira is President of Executive Coaching & Consulting Associates in Washington, DC.

He has been named one of the top 100 consultants by Executive Excellence Magazine.

Ira has conducted top-to-bottom organization assessments for diverse domestic and international organizations or their key divisions. Among these are the Credit Union National Association, The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency of the World Bank, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, National Public Radio, the Nuclear Energy Institute and others.

Ira designs and conducts leadership team development programs for organizations such as University Information Services at Georgetown University and Bio Regulatory Services at the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of United States Department of Agriculture.

He offers individual executive coaching for senior- and mid-level managers at privately held and newly public hi-tech companies, law and lobbying firms, corporations, federal agencies and trade associations.

Ira conducts workload management coaching and training for managers and professionals at private sector firms that have included Kraft Foods, Capital One, AARP, Volvo, American Management Systems, Glaxo-SmithKline and BlackBoard Inc.

Political Leadership Facilitation

Ira has served as Executive Director of the non-partisan Congressional Management Foundation in Washington, D.C., providing management studies and organization development services to congressional offices.

He is now Chairman of the Board of The Congressional Management Foundation.

Ira co-authored the original handbook for newly elected members of Congress: Setting Course: A Congressional Management Guide, now in its eleventh edition.

Ira continues to facilitate strategic planning retreats for congressional offices to create stronger focus in the service of their constituents.

Ira has hosted delegations of legislators from other countries interested in studying the mechanisms through which the United States Legislative Branch has developed the capacity to balance the power of the Executive Branch. He has facilitated in-country retreats for this purpose for the Senate of Nigeria and conducted similar work for the parliament of Sierra Leone.

He has facilitated strategic planning efforts for international organizations such as the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the Club of Madrid, both of which are dedicated to supporting the viability of emerging democracies.

My book review of The Courageous Follower, Third Edition: Standing Up to & for Our Leaders by Ira Chaleff.

Listen live on Tuesday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.

If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.

To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with leadership thinker, Founder and President of Executive Coaching & Consulting Associates, and author of the brilliant and definitive book The Courageous Follower, Third Edition: Standing Up to & for Our Leaders, Ira Chaleff, as he describes how everyone is a follower some of the time. He removes the passive connotations of the role and shares ideas, insights and the tools needed for followers to partner with leaders. He shares guidance for leaders to encourage followers to be heard and to participate in the process. The result is increased support for leaders, reduced dissatisfaction and cynicism. Organizations will be strengthened through fewer mistakes, and better and more open and honest feedback on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: The Courageous Follower, Third Edition: Standing Up to & for Our Leaders, Ira Chaleff, leaders, followers, personal empowerment, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

Doing Business With the World: It's Easy. Here's How.

Who wouldn’t want to sell to more than 1.7 billion people? According to Internet World Stats, that’s the current number of Internet users worldwide, up 200,000 since December! How can you prepare to capture this astounding audience and do business with the world? Above all else, you need customers, but before we cover that, here are other factors to consider.

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Separately, Happy Australia Day!

A Dose of Davos

The World Economic Forum, the annual gathering of government and corporate leaders in Davos, Switzerland (pictured), runs until Sunday.

Here are some highlights.

World Economic Forum

Benefits of Offshoring When You Think Wide

Too many organizations mistakenly limit offshore work to routine tasks.

More broadly, our research has implications for what kind of work is “offshore-able.” We believe that if Western companies focused more on fostering collaboration between workers separated by geography and culture, and less on forcing offshore workers to perform tasks in very specific ways, the range of work they could source offshore would be significantly expanded. Companies struggling to fill talent gaps in semiconductor-chip design, drug discovery, engineering and other intellectually complex areas could draw on high-quality and growing talent bases in countries like India and China.

Global Copyright Treaty?

A landmark intellectual IP agreement -- known as Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) -- is in the works. Why the secrecy?

How It Works: Cloud Computing

With cloud computing, an on demand access to virtualized IT resources that are provided as a service over the Internet, you can reduce risk and gain control. This is not new. It has been taking place in some form or fashion for years. Just a new name has been coined to define it. For example, if you have an email account with a Web-based e-mail service like Gmail, Yahoo or Earthlink, then you've had some experience with cloud computing.

Cloud computing 101: "How Cloud Computing Works"
Wikipedia definition: Cloud computing

Whatis.com definition:

Cloud computing is a general term for anything that involves delivering hosted services over the Internet. These services are broadly divided into three categories: Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). The name cloud computing was inspired by the cloud symbol that's often used to represent the Internet in flow charts and diagrams.

According to InfoWorld: What cloud computing really means

2010 Tipping Point for SMB Use of Cloud Computing:

Tip No. 5: SMBs use the cloud to avoid infrastructure problems faced by offering their services in different countries around the globe. The cloud will act as an equalizer in this manner and allow SMBs large and small to compete internationally.

In line with above, cloud computing has changed how companies market, sell, provision and deploy new services on a global basis.

As cloud computing goes global, you have to ask yourself: whose laws matter?

TechTip2U Powered by: Verio

Coldwell Banker Kansas City Loses the Online Buyer

Everywhere today there are signs of failure, countless articles on various ideas for motivation, reaching more customers or just staying in business. Along the same lines it is important to note where companies, marketers and salespeople have gone wrong even with the best intentions. Starting this online illustration off is a group of Coldwell Banker offices within a particular region who were sold the idea to 'turn off' all of their websites and individual online marketing to use only one website they could all share.

In terms of search engine marketing a website should be considered an online billboard where a single billboard is only capable of reaching a small target audience on a specific location of the road. If buyers drive home on the road your billboard happens to be located then you have the opportunity to present your message to those buyers. Anyone who drives home another way or lives in another part of town will never see the billboard nor will they ever have a chance to see your advertising. A website works much the same way in that a single website will never rank very well or be listed very high in a wide range of buyer search results.

Search Engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc.) rank websites higher or lower based upon the content, traffic, number of links and related websites and even website locations. Thus a single website will never be 'everything to every search engine' and will never rank highly for more than a few specific search terms or keywords. With Coldwell Banker offices abandoning ten (10) individual websites for the local offices that previously contained specific information for each region or area to all share a single template website the local offices lost the ability to prospective reach home buyers, sellers and relocation customers on search engines. The intention may have been to share resources or lower marketing costs but the result was a loss of 90% of their potential online reach within all search engines.

One of the specific Coldwell Banker offices hosted the website at our website hosting facility with an average monthly Unique Users (unique visitors or prospective clients) of 4,400 and 882 active home buyers who had created accounts within the website to search for or save homes for sale in the local market. The monthly investment to maintain the website was $150 which equates to 3 cents per unique user (potential customer) per month before considering the 882 active buyers who created an account on the website.

The website was ranked # 1 on Google and Yahoo for specific search terms pertinent to the locations of offices such as 'Coldwell Banker Overland Park' or 'Coldwell Banker Kansas City' branding the company to thousands of home buyers and sellers every month (important to note there are several Coldwell Banker offices in the area but this website showed up #1). The website was turned off, all 882 active customers with home search accounts on the website were kicked off without notice and the website is no longer ranked on any search engine within the first two pages.

Somewhere along the way a salesperson from a website design company sold a local Coldwell Banker Relocation office on the idea that they should design a single website for all of the local offices to share. Maybe the idea was to save money, maybe they wanted to try and compete with Reece and Nichols who typically has 50% of the local market listings and uses one website or maybe it was just so the relocation company could get a fee for every single home sold by any local Coldwell Banker office. Whatever the reason was the local Coldwell Banker offices lost a tremendous opportunity to reach more customers through their individual websites (online billboards) and proved there is more than one way to lose business in a tough market.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson

Internet * Technology Expert

http://www.builderconsulting.com/

913-814-8844 Office

Does Social Networking Bring Business?

Several educational offerings about Social Networking were offered at the 2009 NAHB IBS in Las Vegas this month sharing a wide range of ideas. Many different options were shared with direct examples of builders, real estate professionals and companies marketing via social networking groups. Myspace.com, Ning.com, Facebook.com, Activerain.com, LinkedIn.com and dozens of others portrayed an endless list of options to share a message.

The difficult aspect of social networking in marketing is correlating any resulting leads or sales. Any additional opportunity to reach prospective customers or place an 'online billboard' is beneficial yet there seems to lack a single direct method of converting social browsers to buyers. Most social networking websites are provided free of charge so a return on investment only includes the time required to collect, publish and update the information on each of the portals.

Marketing is either targeted or not; social networking is the new hot marketing idea (even though it has been around for years) though it has not yet been refined to a targeted marketing tool. Anyone considering the launch of a social networking marketing campaign should first start with a Blog followed by one or two of the thousands of other social marketing portals to practice upon. Blogs have always been well liked by the search engines so they are an excellent proven opportunity.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson

BuilderConsulting.com

913-814-8844

Social Media Tools for Easy Online Marketing

Some of the best places to market today are FREE, more classified ads are placed daily on Craigslist.com than any other website except Ebay (who happened to buy Craigslist) while there are dozens of other similar websites used for online ads. Most users simply post an ad online using the basic ad creation tools built into each classified ad website causing the ads to blend in with others easily. A way to augment your online ads is to create a 'webpage' using HTML and external image hosting yet this requires some level of website design skill, the software and time to develop the ad; most people will not take the time to do this.

Another solution is to use the excellent online tools, What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) HTML Editors that create the webpage for you through a few basic steps. One such website is vFlyer www.vflyer.com enabling customized online ad creation for Real Estate, Rental/Leasing, Automotive/Cars and Marketing Companies. Setup of an account and basic flyers is FREE with a small paid subscription service available for those who post multiple ads each month.

Another online website with FREE social media marketing tools is Easy Auto Sales www.EasyAutoSales.com specifically setup for for automotive ad creation, classifieds and posting. The Easy Auto Sales website incorporates unique tools such as Facebook integration, history of buyer/seller ads, creation of custom HTML for posting the ad on other websites and direct feeds to many search engines showcasing any auto posted within the website to buyers on Yahoo and Google FREE of charge. Functionality includes online community forums of automotive questions, car clubs and vehicle research.

Last but not least is the Postlets Classified Ad Creation and Marketing website www.Postlets.com primarily focused on real estate ad creation while incorporating tools for cars and trucks as well. The unique feature of Postlets is that the ads created are marketed directly to all of the following top social media websites for FREE once the ad is completed:

	craigslist
	Facebook
	FrontDoor
	Google Base
	HotPads
	MySpace
	Oodle
	Trulia
	Twitter
	Vast
	Zillow

The basic Postlets account is FREE enabling full access to the website, ad creation and basic marketing tools. Enhanced options create a complete website for online ads with enhanced marketing for each of the individual posts at a nominal charge of $5 for one, $40 for 10 or $75 for 25 ads including the website and marketing. That equates to $3 per ad at the bulk rate which is much less expensive than newspapers or other online paid advertising websites.

To request additional information on other online marketing, social media or website development contact Builder Consulting www.BuilderConsulting.com

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson

Internet & Technology Expert

Builder Consulting - Building Better Websites with Results Since 1995

913-814-8844

Is it Blogging or Bragging - there is a difference

Do you ever feel like some Bloggers suffer from a since of direction or creativity? After reviewing dozens of blogs around the country from self proclaimed professionals you find several who have a post with useful information followed by a blog bragging that they sold something to someone. Anyone who mistakenly subscribed to that type of blog would be greatly disappointed to see Blog posting about some trade show or who got hired since that information belongs on the company news area or on a Blog dedicated to company news.

Consider if the Wall Street Journal went from publishing useful news one day to only publishing information about some new printing machine and the great people they have on staff the next day - No News and a clear lack of focus. Most often this type of random blogging is done by bloggers with a lack of content or ideas to simply 'show' they have posted something...anything...desperate to keep new content. Keep online content consistent, consider how a prospective client may perceive the content of a blog and never post junk in place of valuable information just to show your doing something!

Online users looking for information on a Blog will be disappointed to find a blog full of bragging.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson

http://www.BuilderConsulting.com

913-814-8844 Office

Back to the Basics...Sales & Marketing First

The past week has been spent speaking with marketing directors, sales managers and consultants about their Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, ActiveRain and other online social networking accounts. One sales manager shared and email from marketing firm outlining a several month long marketing campaign done by creating a fake person on Facebook intended on tricking buyers into coming to see homes for sale. The email shared that several people had agreed to be be Facebook friends with the fake person and even attended a party at a new urban condo unit. There was no information on how people reacted when they found out they had been tricked into visiting the community by a salesperson though the email did share say the marketing had lots of buzz until it was shut down by Facebook for violating terms of use and creating fake accounts. Are legitimate marketing professionals now Twittering for customers or spending months on fake online profiles creating fake people to trick buyers into viewing their products or location?

Would someone who was tricked into visiting a home by a fake person on a fake online account be the best prospective buyer? What ever happened to generating leads and sales through marketing? What happened to connecting with buyers through legitimate methods such as a well developed and search engine optimized website or effective targeted email marketing followed by personal calls to prospects to help generate interest. There are home buyers out there and the majority of buyers are using the Internet to search for homes, legitimate buyers are looking for a home for the best price not trying to be entertained or invited to a party. Multiple opportunities to reach buyers and share a message is good though quite a few marketing firms seem to be focusing efforts on random items online tools or Tweets while forgetting the basics of Sales and Marketing!

Build a better website, buy online advertising to put yourself in front of prospective buyers where they are looking then focus efforts on Twittering and creating online areas to chat with someone in hopes they may buy something. Back to the basics, the basics changed moving away from newspaper and print ads to the Internet Super Highway where you can reach more buyers and sell more...if the basics are done properly.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson

http://www.BuilderConsulting.com

913-814-8844 Offices

Hallbrook Pays Lawyers $25,000 to Ensure Hallbrook Real Estate is Not Ranked #1 on Google

An excellent example of what not to do involves a group of lawyers representing a development group who charged their customer $25,000 to make sure they were not on the first page of Google. Yes, you read correctly that the lawyers helped their real estate customers make sure they were not listed on the first page of a search engine in the middle of a terrible real estate market and only made $25,000 for doing it. The Hallbrook subdivision is an upscale neighborhood in Leawood Kansas minutes South of Kansas City. Homes for sale and real estate in Hallbrook are listed by several real estate companies with ads listing the spectacular Hallbrook Real Estate or Hallbrook Estate Homes for sale.

A local real estate company wanted to promote the homes and real estate they had for sale in the Hallbrook subdivision through a website to reach prospective buyers searching online. A small Search Engine Optimized marketing website was built incorporating the words Hallbrook Real Estate in the domain name (website address) listing homes for sale in Hallbrook and local area attractions. The website also featured on the home page links to the Hallbrook Country Club, Hallbrook Realty Team and other real estate companies with listings for sale in the Hallbrook subdivision. Within weeks the website was ranked # 1 on Google attracting the attention of someone at the Hallbrook Office Center or Hallbrook Country Club.

Someone somewhere was upset that the word Hallbrook was being used to sell real estate for sale in the Hallbrook subdivision. The first contact was a letter from a lawyer demanding that the # 1 ranked website be taken down because Hallbrook was a word used in the company trademark. The website was taken down for a short time to be sure nothing wrong was being perpetuated through use of the word Hallbrook to list real estate for sale in the Hallbrook subdivision. A quick search on Google showed 41,115 notations of the term Hallbrook Real Estate including dozens of similar websites that were not ranked on the 1st page of Google. A call was made to the lawyers representing Hallbrook Office Center sharing that the # 1 ranked website also linked to their client's website sending prospective buyers while clearly noting the website was not affiliated with any of the Hallbrook entities.

Months went by without further communications until a huge packet of legal paperwork was delivered to the website hosting company (Builder Consulting) from Lathrop & Gage lawyers. A lawsuit had been filed claiming use of the word Hallbrook was a violation of the trademark held by Hallbrook Country Club and Hallbrook Office Center. Lawyers from Lathrop and Gage shared that nearly $25,000 had been spent for the lawsuit demanding the # 1 ranked website listing real estate for sale in Hallbrook be taken down requesting that NO FURTHER marketing for the Hallbrook subdivsion, homes or real estate ever be done.

To be clear, lawyers from Lathrop and Gage wanted written agreement for their real estate clients that the # 1 ranked website on Google sending buyers to the Hallbrook subdivision be taken off the Internet in addition to confirmation that no future marketing would be done pertaining to Hallbrook. This seems completely contrary to everything a real estate company would need and want but for small $25,000 legal fee it was so agreed.

The lawsuit was dismissed, the website is no longer live and Hallbrook real estate sales are down 288% which is no surprise with the aggressive anti-marketing campaign in full force. Interesting to note when the case first came up the website was offered for sale for $1,000 at which point Lathrop and Gage shared the customer had already spent almost $25,000 on the case so they were not interested in buying the website...it would have been MUCH cheaper to just buy the website and keep the # 1 ranking on Google!

There are long term ramifications of immediate actions, begin with the end in mind!

Almost everything from cars to homes to websites

After everything the economy, people and companies have been through it seems that everyone deserves a reward for making it through the challenges. Today, homes are being sold for pennies on the dollar, mortgage rates are low, a classic muscle car can be found for a few thousand dollars (watch Barrett Jackson Auctions sometime), Walmart has 'lower price' signs everywhere and you can buy a new car for almost nothing. Anyone who made it through the past two years without losing everything is in an incredible position to buy anything.

There are foreclosed homes for sale in the Kansas City market for as little as $10,000-50,000 without structural or major work required; other real estate professionals share it is the same in most places. Older areas of town have homes with mortgages where unfortunate people paid for 20 years then lost the home. This means the balance on the loan is only what remains from the purchase price 20 years ago after payments have been made for 20 years and the home appreciated. Hence a home valued at $50,000 in 1979 may have appreciated to a value of $75,000 with a remaining loan balance of $15,000 when the home was foreclosed so the bank can only sell it for the balance of the loan (foreclosing on homes is not to be for profit above the loan balance).

It is a great time to buy investment property, rental homes or even an extra home downtown for those nights the drive back from cocktail hour seems too far! Homes are not the only excellent deal, search on Ebay Motors or Craigslist anytime to find $80,000 supercharged Jaguar Luxury Sedans selling for $10,000 in perfect running condition. Less common vehicles such as Austin Martin Ultra-performance sports cars that sold for $144,000 a few years ago are selling for $25,000 when the people who blew their money on such luxury items now need the cash to pay bills. There is something very wrong and something very right about this transfer of assets though it did create opportunity.

Invest in yourself and your business, have a new website built to reach new customers, take advantage of social media and networking. Everything done today returns your investment in the future so get ahead of the competition now while business is slow, but increasing and consumer confidence is improving.

If you have the money stashed away or happen to be one of the well performing companies it is a great time to look for a new office building, a car, LCD TV or investment properties. The economy was hurt when consumers became scared to spend money, buy a home or invest but the time has come to correct this and get a great deal at the same time. Invest in real estate, buy a nice car, take someone out to dinner and help make things better while enjoying life in the process!

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson

www.BuilderConsulting.com

913-814-8844 Office

Being Posative Leads to Success...in Business & Life

I have considered writing about this for several weeks though until today I felt it was more of a personal mission than a Blog worthy message. When I arrived at work today there was an email from a builder in Texas inquiring about website services and online marketing. The email had the company name, website address, phone number, name and details of when the builder wanted a new website launched (60 days) so I picked up the phone and called him to find out more about his business and how we may assist.

The first questions I ask anyone is "how did you find our company?" to which his reply was "another website company trying to sell me a website gave me your name". He further elaborated that the sales person from the other website company had been so persistent and gone on for weeks about Builder Consulting that he simply had to go look us up on the Internet and find out what would cause someone to be so insecure they had to name another company, by name, as someone they "better not work with..." although he had never heard of our company or mentioned our name previously.

After spending a few minutes online researching website development firms and specifically our firm since he had been told by a sales person NOT to contact us he was comfortable enough to send an email request through one of the 12 websites he found pertaining to our company to speak with someone himself. When we spoke he was clear about his business needs and goals, inquired if we knew the other company (at which point I shared I knew who they were but would rather speak about how Builder Consulting can provide solutions than gossip about another firm) and we proceeded with a 30 minute conversation about his business.

By the end of the conversation the company on the other end of the phone became a customer requesting an agreement to begin working with Builder Consulting. He stated openly that the other company he had been speaking with was so negative and focused on why he should not work with other companies, while our conversation was simply about his business needs and what Builder Consulting would do to assist him.

The culture of a business or individual shows clear to others, short term gains may be made through negative marketing or slanderous claims about companies that may be considered competitors but those gains will never last. When a company we have never spoken with contacts us and becomes a customer simply because someone was so scared of trying to sell their work based on quality, service, results and innovation then it becomes quite clear that happiness in business and life ultimately determines success.

If an individual or business needs to say bad things about another to sell their products or services then they simply must not have a good enough product or service to be sold on its own standing - most companies are smart enough to realize this.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson

http://www.BuilderConsulting.com

913-814-8844 Office

Building Better Websites and Technology Solutions Since 1995

Some of the many benefits of Insomnia...

As far back as I can remember I have been unable to sleep much, it first felt like a curse yet looking past the sleepless times there have been tremendous benefits. Throughout schooling I would use the time to read books, magazines and when I had read everything in the house I started to log onto my father's workstation and learned how to work with Bulletin Board Systems (BBS). Social Media is not a new invention, we were doing the same things using BBS in the early 1980's with man bulletin board systems surviving today.

It was a place to share information, comments, play games, read about others and the information they posted (sound familiar...maybe kind of like Facebook or Myspace). Everything back then was simple text, we created images with dots and dashes after the wonderful sound of a 1200 baud modem dialing, the handshake and then connection. I would guess the majority of Internet Users today have never heard a dial-up modem connect or have gone through the transition from 1200 baud to 2400 to 56K to high speed and now higher speeds. I was caught using the EXPENSIVE IBM Workstation provided by EDS for my father but I never learned because I never slept and it was always something new or interesting to learn.

Forward over 20 years later and I still spend nearly every night from whenever I arrive home until 3,4 or 5 AM on the computer. I have several computers in the house, two laptops in the bedroom (so I always have one in reach) enabling me to spend 100+ hours each week learning on the Internet. Add to this the PDA cell phones with Internet Connection, the wireless cellular EVDO high speed modem and dozens of computers, servers and workstations at the office and I now appreciate Insomnia. There is always a benefit to every experience, sometimes it may take years to truely see but if we have the patience and determination things become clear.

It has been a busy day, maybe I can get to bed by 4 AM tonight after some more time online...

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson

www.BuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites Since 1995

913-814-8844 Office

Understanding Pay Per Click PPC Search Engine Marketing

Search Engine Marketing through use of Pay Per Click (PPC) ads is an effective method of placing any website in front of prospective clients without having to optimize or market the website. Companies with new websites, extremely old websites or websites which offer multiple services in multiple locations are best serviced through use of pay per click marketing. Search Engine pay per click marketing (Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Marketing, Microsoft bCentral) is typically setup with a daily and/or monthly budget for the marketing campaign.

In traditional advertising marketers charge for a specific location in a magazine or newspaper in hopes that someone saw the advertisment based on a distribution number created by the company selling the advertising. This left much to be desired since the company selling the advertising was the same company providing the customers with the 'distribution numbers' estimating how many people might see the magazine or newspaper and hopefully view the advertisment inside of it. There was no true way to judge how many people saw the advertisment or what the return on investment was for the ad campaign. Online advertising, specifically pay per click (PPC) changed things with the pay for performance method of costs.

With PPC advertising a company only pays when the advertisment they show on the search engine is clicked on and a prospective customer is taken to the website to view the customer. When a customer simply views the ad on a search engine, without clicking, then there is no cost to anyone. Advertisers may setup a daily and monthly budget to spend for ads in addition to individual bids (yes bidding similar to ebay) for each search term or keyword phrase. A company or individual may bid for a particular phrase or set of keywords to have their advertisment show up when a search was done for those words on a search engine. The benefit is that advertisers pay for exactly what they receive while the detraction of bidding on keywords is that competitors can instantly outbid each other driving the costs up dramatically.

This means that ten companies may bid for the keyword phrase 'Kansas City Website Companies' all spending $1 per click to show up in the first ten advertising locations on a search engine. When ten more companies decided to bid on the same set of keywords they outbid the first companies for $1.50 per click or 50% higher cost per click. When the first set of companies see they have been outbid and their ads are no longer showing then they bid $2 a click or 100% more for the same traffic. Bidding sometimes becomes extremely competative when people or companies target a specific keyword phrase with no limit on how high the bidding goes for each click.

The benefit of Pay Per Click is that companies never pay for the branding/marketing aspects of having online users view the ad unless the online user actually clicks on the ad (thus pay per click). Online marketers sometimes neglect taking the time to search for the best 'bang for the buck' when setting up PPC accounts for clients. Builder Consulting spends several hours consulting with the customer to determine the top keywords and phrases then sets a specific budget for each term based upon the overall monthly goals and cost per click likelyhood of a return on investment. Keep in mind that any account setup with a daily and monthly budget will not show all ads all of the time.

The rate at which ads are shown is based upon budgets, likelyhood of the ad delivering a click (more effective ads are shown more often), the number of advertisers paying for each search term and the remaining balance of a budget for each advertiser. Any individual or company can setup pay per click advertising in a matter of minutes, setting it up properly to requires experiance and an understanding of the overall concepts, goals and technical aspects of the systems to provide a true return on investment.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson

BuilderConsulting.com

913-814-8844 Offices

Online Classifieds Usage Double Since 2005

According to the latest Pew Internet Research study nearly 50% of all Internet users are using online classifieds. Forty-nine percent of online adults surveyed said they have visited sites like Craigslist, Kijiji and Oodle, up from only 22% in 2005. The study says that 9% of Internet users visit these sites on any given day, compared with 4% four years ago.

Online classifieds are particularly popular with 25 to 44 year old Internet users, more than half of whom use Internet classifieds, while just under half of 18 to 24 year olds and 45 to 54 year olds 49% and 48%, respectively use online classifieds.

Those figures fall for users over 55 with 35% of 55 to 64 year olds using classified websites, while 26% of Internet users over 65 do.

Use of classified sites also increases with income and education, with online adults earning $50,000 or more, as well as college graduates, considerably more likely to have visited them. The Pew Research study highlights the growing importance of online classifieds to Internet users and reflects the changes in the audience for classified ads in terms of those who place them and those who make purchases using online classified websites which devastated a key revenue source for traditional newspapers.

Craigslist is by far the most used website in the United States. In March 2009 all classified websites averaged 53.8 million unique visitors, up 7% from February. Craigslist alone had 42.2 million unique visitors in the month of March (out of the total 53.8 million total users). Newspaper classified revenue fell from 17.4 Billion to $10 billion over the same period with real estate classifieds down 52% since their peak in 2006. Total Internet ads revanue for newspapers in 2008 was $3.1 billion according to the Newspaper Association of America.

Just as past studies of online users have shown, adults living in households with incomes of $50,000 or more a year are significantly more likely to visit and use classified ads sites than lower earners. More than half (56%) of higher income Internet users use sites like Craigslist, compared with 47% of those making $30,000-$49,999 and 42% of those making less than $30,000 a year. In addition, online adults making $50,000 or more are more than twice as likely as those earning less than $30,000 a year to use online classified ads on a typical day.

The Internet continues to be the strong point in business and live with the numbers clearly showing adaptation by the average user.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
www.BuilderConsulting.com
913-814-8844 Office