Did You Know? Career Skill-Building Begins at Home.

Got a life? Then you’ve got a gold mine. Why? Because your life is crammed with opportunities to build the skills you need for a successful career. 

Don’t believe me? 

Think of a “crazy time” in your life when you had to contend with challenging situations like starting college, moving into a house or apartment, getting a divorce or out of debt. 

Those situations require real management skills although that may not be what you’re thinking in the heat of the moment. 

Every life challenge teaches us something important about ourselves, other people, and the way the world works. When we don’t learn from our experiences, we squander an opportunity to expand the arsenal of skills and insights our career growth depends on. 

Life lessons build skills. 

In my late 20’s, I, a country-loving girl, convinced my then husband, a Brooklyn, New York native, to rent an old farmhouse which had been the family home of an elderly, reclusive woman, recently deceased.  Prior to being rented, this remote homestead on 15 acres had been cleaned and painted from top to bottom. 

We fell in love with the place immediately, committed to a one-year lease, and moved in with our two show dogs and a cat. 

Let the adventure and skill-building lessons begin: 

Learned Lesson #1: Due diligence minimizes surprises. 

On moving day, I went into the basement and noticed that the concrete walls were almost completely black. So I looked closer and to my horror discovered that they were covered with tens of thousands of millipedes, little wormy creatures with lots of legs. Dial, Terminix, asap! So much for a pre-rental inspection. 

Next, during the early onset of winter, I noticed that there was scrap-able frost on the inside of the bathroom windows. Awaken one brutal awareness: There was no insulation anywhere in this house and no storm windows. Bad news! 

It’s important to check things out before sealing any deal! 

Learned Lesson #2: Risk management reduces calamity.

At one point, the realtor/superintendent sent his freelance, furnace serviceman to maintain the oil burner. This guy spent about a half-hour noodling around in the basement, pushing the reset button back and forth, and still the furnace wouldn’t start. So he touched a match to it and started an oil fire. 

He calmly asked, “Do you know the number of your fire company?” Answer, “No.” “Well, you should call them,” he replied. 

It took the fire company three hours to find the place. By then the house was filled with black smoke, but nothing worse. After several hours of huge fans sucking the smoke out, the calamity was over. 

Having people in the ready, who can bail you out of trouble, is smart business. 

Learned Lesson #3: Problem-solving requires initiative. 

As the winter wore on, so did the miseries of being cold while not wanting to go broke heating an un-insulated house. Something had to be done. 

We made a deal with the realtor/superintendent to share the cost of making operational a fireplace in the dining room where we would live for four months, sleeping in a trundle bed with our pets. Lovely, eh? 

It became my job to start the early morning fires in that freezing cold room. The fire wood, stored in the adjacent summer kitchen, was damp and hard to light. 

I was teaching high school at the time and a kid in my class worked at a bowling alley. When I explained my plight, he asked if I’d like him to bring me discarded bowling pins to use as kindling. You betcha! Compressed sawdust covered with lacquer starts in a flash. 

Engagement of resources and timely decision-making create good results.  

And so it goes…. 

Our lives provide endless experiences that let us develop management skills away from the office’s watchful eyes. Through those life experiences, we build our skills, insights, resilience, tolerance for stress, and courage. Experiential learning bolsters our confidence and enhances our credibility. The skills you develop at home and bring to the job will enrich your career. Seize the day! 

Do you have a story to tell about skills you learned from your life experiences? Thanks.

A Must Do! Career Due Diligence |Your Life Is Your Business

We spend hours pouring over newspaper inserts to find the best clothing buys and grocery store coupons. We spend hours Googling information about vacation spots and fitness regimens. All, before we commit.

Shouldn’t we do this for our career choices too? 

Ask any high school student facing college what s/he plans to major in and you’ll hear: English, econ, accounting, pysch. 

Then ask, “Why?” Typical answers:

• “It’s my favorite subject.”
• “I get good grades in that subject.”
• “I want to be an accountant [doctor, teacher, marketer]….”
• “My parents said that would be a good major for me.”

The problem isn’t these answers: It’s the questions left unanswered like:

• What careers paths/jobs will that major open for you?
• Do those paths match what you want from your life? 

A college education today is still believed to be a “leg up” to better jobs, mainly  higher pay and promotions. It doesn’t necessarily mean better for your happiness, satisfaction, or health. So a lot is riding on your major and the jobs attached to it.

Why due diligence? Because it’s your life! 

Students pick majors with romanticized notions about the great jobs they’ll get by being accomplished students. They never talk to anyone currently doing those entry level or supervisory jobs to get a behind-the-scenes look.

I once coached a graduate from a prestigious university whose major was criminal justice. Just before graduation, she realized that starting jobs in her field meant street assignments. No way! So she stayed on, switching to journalism until she realized that starting reporter jobs meant evenings and weekends chasing stories. She switched again to English lit and graduated with no direction, huge tuition bills, and no viable career path.

Hard to believe she didn’t investigate  those job realities the second and third time? It just didn’t occur to her and she’s not alone.

I’ve also worked with many, career-weary adults who took a long time to admit that they had invested years in a career that never fit them. Each one had to either reinvent him/herself or start over. Even with their own experiences behind them, they don’t teach their children how to avoid the same mistakes. Why? Because no one showed them how.

Don’t get me wrong. Every career is an adventure. That’s good. What isn’t good is committing to a career path blindly. Due diligence helps minimize painful disappointment or reasons to start over. You can’t control for everything, but you can avoid lot of missteps.

You need to do this! 

Whether you are a student, an entry level or veteran employee, each time you say to yourself: “I want to be a [job title]:”

• Write down the name(s) of 5 people in your family, community or among your friends, who are doing that job or one like it
• Ask them to spend 15 minutes explaining to you what they do on a daily basis
• Ask what they like best or least, what skills or education they needed, what it takes to get promoted, and who else you can talk to
• See whether or not their work environment fits you
• Ask yourself: Can I see myself in that line of work for a long time? 

(This is called information interviewing, a technique credited to Richard N. Bolles, who’s book, What Color Is Your Parachute?, gives the details. Find more on line. See, it’s all out there for the Googling!)

CBS contributor, Ben Stein, says, “The giants I have worked with in my life… found the thing that they were very, very good at, and did that with extraordinary focus.” Then he adds: “…harmonize your goals with your talents.”

That’s big! If your goals aren’t rooted in a realistic understanding of what the job market is all about, harmony is harder to come by. When you’re business fit, you’ve achieved the understanding and insights you need to build your best career. Let the explorations begin!

Have a story about a student who isn’t making the connection between his/her studies and the job market? Any ideas why students don’t explore the real story behind the kinds of jobs they’re after? Your insights can make a big difference!

Dullard or Dynamo? A Case for Change! | Your Life Is Your Business

“You just don’t get it.” Ouch! That’s a pretty damning phrase these days. It’s also a reminder that we need to keep up or be left behind with no one waiting for us to catch up.

The more you know the more options you have.

Do you know dull people? I do. Are you dull? I hope not. We’re all susceptible to becoming stuck in a rut or irrelevant if we aren’t careful. So ask yourself:

• Do I hang around with the same people all the time?
• Am I doing the same things in my free time?
• Do I avoid new challenges at work?
• Am I doing my work the same old way? 

If you answered “yes” or “unsure,” oops!  

When a company answers “yes” to those questions, it’s saying, we

• Don’t want new employees or customers either
• Don’t invest in performance improvements
• Don’t take risks to become more competitive
• Don’t adopt new industry best practices 

Would you buy stock in that company? Me neither! Would you buy stock in yourself? Hummmm!

You can’t go forward when you’re stopped or in reverse. 

Your life is your business and you’re the only one driving. You can either go forward, park, or back up.

Business survival depends on the ability to grow and remain relevant in the marketplace. That’s why companies engage in research and development, exploration of new work methods, and employee training.

You need to do that too…for yourself. If your life is one dimensional, you limit yourself. Too many people expect the company they work for to provide learning and growth opportunities instead of finding those outlets themselves. Hey, it’s your life. Learn what you need to learn. Accept experiences that will enrich you. Do it yourself!

A casual comment may be all you need. 

A friend of mine invited me to attend a local horseman’s expo that featured vendors who sold tack, clothing, supplies, and services for people like us who were into horses.

During our wanderings, we met a woman who was selling equine art, signed prints featuring everything from cowboys to race horses. We loved what we saw.

As we were leaving the venue, my friend asked, “Would you like to do that?”

“What?” I asked.

“Become an equine art dealer,” she replied.

That’s all it took.

Now you may be wondering why I’d want to take that on. After all, I was already a commercial horse breeder and had a major corporate job.

The answer: “Because I knew nothing about retailing. I’d never been a waitress or a clerk. Never took money—cash, check, or credit cards—from anyone. I knew nothing about inventory management or sales for that matter.

Here was a chance for me to learn how all this works with products that I was passionate about and for customers who were horse enthusiasts like I was.

The business involved contracting with equine artists willing to provide copies of their work, prints and originals, on consignment. We would sell their art at major horse shows in PA and NJ where we set up as vendors. We also sold art on line.

I did this for 10 years. Here’s a partial list of what I learned how to do:

• Procure and merchandize products
• Market through cooperative advertising
• Attract and retain customers
• Manage inventory, pricing, and on-line sales
• Package, transport, and ship
• Manage the legal and accounting aspect of a partnership 

This wasn’t a very profitable business but it was a highly enriching experience.  

Nothing beats an ace-in-the-hole. 

We all sleep better at night when we have the right skills and experiences to maximize our career and job options. It’s like having a business fitness 401K. So fight the good fight against dullness and irrelevance by taking advantage of opportunities to learn and do. It’s all money in the bank.

Care to share an experience where you tried something new? What did you learn and how did it feel? Your story may spark a change!

 

Adversity as Steppingstone | Your Life Is Your Business

I’ve been broke. Actually twice. The second time was scarier.

When we least expect it, life throws us a curve ball. After all, our life is our business, so adversity comes with the territory.

Pay attention. What you see can fool you.

When the people and conditions in our lives are in synch, things run smoothly. But what happens when:

• Disagreements drive a wedge between you and a friend
• New people that you don’t like are accepted into your circle
• Your debts have gotten out of hand
• The raise or promotion you counted didn’t happen 

Events like these can change everything.

If you don’t own the problem, it won’t get fixed. 

First, you need to ask yourself, “What’s the real problem?”

Then ask, “How am I in the way of the fix?”

Usually, that answer is fear, uncertainty, low self-confidence, confusion, lack of skills, or an unwillingness to reach out.

We own our adversity. No blaming. No excuses. No hiding. Even when our problems are touched off by other people or situations, it’s still up to us to fix them. Our life is our business and a failed life is unacceptable.

Here’s my story.

Sometimes there are relationship situations that can’t be fixed or negotiated, so you need to make decisions that “stop the bleeding.” I did.

Here I was again, on my own, starting over with a mountain of debt. I owned a highly mortgaged house, ten pieces of furniture, a car, and two dogs.

Luckily, though, I had a low level management job with career growth potential somewhere down the road.

For me, asking for and accepting help from others doesn’t come easily. I believed, then, that I was supposed to solve my own problems. After all I’d gotten myself into this mess.

But this time, the circumstances were dire. Painfully, I borrowed hefty sums from two family members to avoid losing everything I had left.

When adversity comes, it expects your complete attention. So my septic system erupted. Yes, sewage soaked the lawn. I called the plumber whose quote was $2,400. I started to cry. The plumber said, “You can pay me $25 a month. Is that okay?” I cried harder for his kindness.

There was only enough money each month to pay fixed expenses. Food is a variable expense. Canned spaghetti or stew with rye bread was a staple. Every Sunday, my neighbor sent over a plate, a real home cooked meal.  I learned to accept help from everyone. They gave it warmly.

Opportunity is always knocking. So open the door! 

Until I could earn more, I would have to live this way. Up until then, I had always been an employee, used to getting a paycheck. I’d never made a dime otherwise.

One morning my phone rang. I heard a man say, “This is your veterinarian.”

“Okay,” I think. “Why is he calling me?”

He says, “My Office Manager just quit. I remembered that you were a manager. Since you know my practice, I thought maybe you’d have some advice.”

I was so caught off guard that I said, “You should call someone who does practice management consulting and have them look at things for you.”

He says, “Can you do that?”

I say, “Yes,” to my own surprise. We were both desperate.

I made it clear that his would be the first practice I ever consulted for, so the fee would reflect that.

He was my client for three years. Through him I ended up with clients in three states, using my vacation days to work with them.

In less than three years, my debts were gone, my career was growing, and I felt in charge of my life.

“Yes” can power your future. 

Adversity is often a steppingstone. Use business fitness to develop the strength you need to overcome adversity and achieve success in life—your way. It isn’t magic and it isn’t difficult. Ready…set…go!

Do you have a tale of adversity that enlightened you and brought you to a better place? What was your “ah ha” moment? Our shared struggles are our bond.

 

Money Talks. Are You Listening? | Your Life Is Your Business

Money is work. Given the chance, it will manipulate our decision-making. The question is: Who’s supposed to control the behavior of money? That would be us. 

When we have too little money to get what we want, we borrow and pay interest. When we have extra money, we invest and hope for gain. Too much borrowing and interest eats up what we earn. Poor investing means loss. There’s a lot of “woe is me” around money. 

When you control the money, it can’t control you.

 We all need money to live. That’s why we work. We need certain basics: a means of transportation, place to live, furnishings, food, and clothing. We also need to embrace life, advancing our interests and talents. There’s a cost to that. 

When it comes to spending money, the big issues are speed and magnitude. How fast must we have the things we want and need? And how grand is our thirst?

Early on, most of us don’t really know what kind of life we want to live. There’s just so much out there to figure out. We often make decisions about cars, houses, clothes, vacations, and all manner of stuff based on what others own or what people say we should have. So we just follow the pack, spending away. 

The problem: Once money is spent it’s gone. That means you need to replace it. So, you keep reporting to work each day, volunteer for some overtime, hope for a raise or promotion, or look for a new job. Maybe you even add a sideline to raise some extra cash. The cycle keeps spinning. 

We control the money by controlling our spending. Pretty complicated, eh? 

The snafu here is that spending is about behavior—ours! We spend money for lots of reasons, not all of them too admirable. Here are some typical lines: 

• I deserve to treat myself. I work really hard.
• My job is so boring. I’ll feel better if I go shopping.
• Life is short. I need to enjoy these things while I’m young.
• Everyone else has these things. I can’t look like I’m a loser.
• If I don’t stay in style, I’ll be left out. 

Controlling spending gets easier when you know what it is that you’re working toward. 

We all make bad purchasing decisions. Each one is a lesson.

When we spend our money on dumb stuff, we need to revisit the “why” of our buying decisions.  I’ve made a few  bad purchases myself.

1. I was once obsessed with Longaberger baskets. I bought scads of them, especially the ones with the plates. I used some, decorated with others, and kept some in the boxes. I convinced myself that they were “investments” that would eventually turn a profit. Nada! (Lesson: Unless you have a market in-hand, don’t borrow to buy and resell.) 

2. I’d always wanted a baby grand piano but couldn’t afford one. I knew an antique refinisher who was restoring a baby grand that I could have for under $2,000. I was blind over it and forgot about the “if it’s too good to be true” warning. The piano became unplayable in short order. I felt like an idiot. (Lesson: Don’t let your heart rule your head and then squander your money.) 

3. As a horse breeder, I was approached about investing with a partner in a well-bred  stallion from Florida. There was a string of “experts” attesting to the quality of this horse. The price was right but not a bargain. To make a long story short, soon after we bought him, his underlying health issues surfaced and he was dead of natural causes in 6 months. (Lesson: Always do your own due diligence on any major purchase.)

 It’s your money. Treat it like it matters. 

Your life is your business. Your money makes up your budget, your investment portfolio, and your solvency. Be mindful of the life you are trying to build for yourself over the long term. Remember: business fitness is about being prepared and ready to move your life forward. You money is your wheels! 

Have you had any money “experiences” that have been eye-openers for you? What are important lessons you’ve learned?

 

Are You Worth the Risk? | Your Life Is Your Business

Any idea about who has a stake in you? I mean a real money stake based on your risk-reward value. Seem like a weird question? 

When you’re the investment, you’re expected to deliver a return. 

That’s right. Every time we borrow or accept money from an outside source, we are their investment. So we have an obligation to reward the investor. 

Here’s how this works. Let’s say, you’re a college student. Your parents pay part of your tuition and a lending institution pays the rest. Both are investors. You work to satisfy the terms of their investment. 

Parent-investors expect you to: 

• Select a course of study that leads to a career that will support you
• Complete all courses with passing or better grades
• Meet all graduation requirements
• Adhere to the rules and standards of the institution
• Take advantage of placement opportunities
• Successfully complete relevant internships
• Graduate with an employment offer 

The return on investment for your parents is the knowledge that they have positioned you to be a productive, self-reliant citizen. It also brings to closure their expenses for your schooling. 

Lending institutions expect you to: 

• Pay back their loan with interest according to the payment schedule

That’s all they care about. It doesn’t matter to them if you went to class, took courses that added up to anything, or got a job. They simply want their investment back with interest. How you do that is your business. Institutional investor’s aren’t fussy. They just want their return. 

Investing is about growth. Growth is about your future. 

Most of us have investors throughout our lives. The bank gives us a mortgage, a credit card, a car or home equity loan. They have a stake in us, want their money back with interest, and aren’t concerned if what we borrowed their money for is a good idea or not. 

We are the most important investors in ourselves because we have the biggest stake. 

I mean that. We’ve got to be smart with the money that we make or take. We need to use it in ways that position us for growth, increase our options, and provide us with the quality of life that makes sense for us. 

If we aren’t smart about the way we use the money others invest in us, then we are missing the boat. Each time we want to cry about our financial woes, we need to take a hard look at how we’ve used the money we’ve earned and the money we’ve borrowed. Our life is our business, right? 

I’m not talking about a time when the employment rug got pulled out from under you, although it is a reminder about having enough money saved to pay the bills for six months. I’m talking about the failure to have a real budget and financial strategy for your life. 

Robert T. Kiyosaki’s book, Rich Dad Poor Dad, is a must-read for everyone, no matter where you are in life. It’s a readable, straight-forward, and practical explanation of the right way to look at and handle your money. 

When I was eight, my parents bought me five shares of Sperry Rand Corporation. They thought I should understand about investing in the stock market. 

My dad told me that Sperry had invented a computer (Univac) that could do mathematical calculations faster than any human being. I had no idea why that mattered. 

“That machine is going to have a big impact on the future,” he predicted. 

“You betcha, Pop!” Thanks for showing me what it felt like to be an investor with just a small stake in what may lie ahead.

Like it or not, we are all the chief financial officers of our own lives.  

No business thrives if it isn’t fiscally sound. That includes the business of our own lives. Stay focused on the expectations of your investors, engage them strategically, meet your obligations to them, and enjoy being business fit as you move your life forward. 

What has been your experience dealing with those invested in you? Any advice to share?

Like Trump: We All Get To Hire and Fire | Your Life Is Your Business

(If you’d like a chance to win a copy of my book, Business Fitness: The Power to Succeed—Your Way, here’s how: 1.)  comment on this post and 2.) suggest a topic for a future post. Decision time: Feb. 5, 2010. The best submission gets a copy of the book. I’ll also do this with 4 future blogs to increase your odds! Good luck.) 

There’s a lot of grousing out there about hiring. So when it’s our turn to hire, you’d think we’d be really good at it. 

After all, we’re hiring people all the time. Yes, hiring people to work for us. Our life is our business, remember? 

From the time we start living on our own, we’re hiring. Mostly, we hire temps or independent contractors. 

So, who are we hiring?  

• Personal service providers—hair stylists, manicurists, fitness trainers
• Home maintenance folks—grass mowers, plumbers, electricians,
• Finance and legal eagles—CPAs, insurance agents, attorneys
• Health and wellness pros—physicians, dentists, message therapists

When it’s your time to hire, what’s your process?  

If you’re like most people, you don’t have much process at all. Your steps probably include: 

• Asking a friend or family member for a referral
• Going on line or looking in the yellow pages
• Posting what you need to your social network  

Usually, we end up with the names of one or two people. We contact them and the first available person gets our business. 

When we hire services for ourselves, we generally don’t use a systematic process like businesses do. That can be a problem. 

When we’re clear about what we want, we’ll make a good hire. 

I once hired a man to save my old barn from falling off its foundation. He was referred to me by my friends at the feed mill who had used him often.

My hiring process for this construction work was very clear. I asked him about: 

• his prior experience and his plan for this job
• the size and skills of his crew
• the estimated time-to-complete and cost   

The result was a work-for-hire that met everyone’s expectations. 

When that job was done, I asked if he would take down a couple old pine trees. He said, “Sure,” and I left it at that. 

I came home from work one afternoon to find him trying to cut those trees down by hand. Why? Because his chainsaw broke. The job had taken him all day. His bill was an outrageous surprise! I never used him again. So, he was fired! 

Lesson learned: I hired smartly the first time and like a dope the second. 

Too often, we don’t take our personal hires very seriously. 

Why? Because we think we’ll just get someone else if they don’t work out. The reality is that we tend not to “fire” them. 

I once had an ophthalmologist who was extremely well-trained and competent but dismissive when I asked questions. I stayed with her for 8 years because it was too much trouble to switch. 

Then her staff made two disturbing gaffs that she “blew off” when I questioned them. It was time: “Fired.”. 

When we live with our bad hires, it costs us frustration, stress, and money. Since our life is our business, we need to avoid those costs to be successful. 

Here are some tried-and-true steps for your personal hiring process:

• Prepare a list of skills and traits, like trustworthiness, quality, reliability, and availability, that are your “must-haves”
• Ask for and check references from people who had a job done like yours
• Have a direct conversation beforehand about how the work, billing, and communication will be done  
• If you have any reservations, walk away—and find someone else    

The hiring you do in your personal life is not easy. But when you do it right, your business fitness quotient goes way up. Good luck! 

By now you’ve figured out that “Your Life Is Your Business” is a series of posts  to help you manage your own life successfully. Do you have a topic to suggest for a future post? Also add a comment to win a copy of my book.

Personal Customers As Good As Gold | Your Life Is Your Business

The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver is as much about personal customers as it is about competing out in the cold. Just look “outside the ropes” at each venue.                                      

In February we’ll get a chance to watch Lindsey Vonn, USA alpine skier, the oldest of five who started skiing at 2. As a youngster, she already had a coach and by the time she was 10, her talent was so obvious that her father laid out a skiing future for her. 

He ultimately moved Lindsey and the rest of the family from St. Paul to Vail—the land of world-class slopes. The move paid off, launching Lindsey’s winning skiing career. 

Lindsey’s story isn’t unique. Nearly every Olympic athlete reaches this pinnacle of competition because of the selfless, unflappable support of family members, friends, sponsors, and even whole communities—their personal customers. Whether there’s a medal or not, these customers share a moment that’s as good as gold. 

The people who are invested in us become our personal customers. Why? Because we have an impact on their lives. 

Here’s how I plan to serve three of mine this week. I’ll: 

• comment on an article for a retired colleague living in Seattle
• call my best friend to arrange a fun day in Philly   
• send my neighbor a birthday card 

Every business needs customers or it won’t survive. So, in the business of our own lives, we need to understand what our personal customers need and want from us. 

Who are our customers? And what do they want?  

We each need to get a handle on these questions for ourselves, but here are some answers: 

• Immediate family members want support, caring, love, loyalty 
• Our friends want a confidant, an empathetic ear, laughter 
• Our neighbors want courtesy, respect for property, a helping hand 

For most of us, our crowd of customers may not be as large or as glamorous as an Olympic athlete’s, but each of us has something unique and valuable that we contribute to them. It may be the: 

• Ability to keep a confidence
• Advice on how to make a perfect layer cake
• Availability to baby sit on short notice  

We need personal customers to become business fit because they become our following. To serve them well is to meet or exceed their expectations. We do that by letting them know that what they need matters…that they matter. 

Because our life is our business, we interact with our customers far more intimately that any other business would. Our ability to engage our customers in our own lives is one way to celebrate and honor their support. 

Do you have any personal customers whose lives you have impacted? What was the impact of that experience on you?

Are You a Grape Nut or a Cheerio? | Your Life Is Your Business

When I was in the 6^th grade my nickname was Big Otis. (So embarrassing, still!) That was because I was the tallest girl in the class and a bit “chunky.” 

Then, in junior high, my moniker became Nona Butterworth after a pancake syrup icon. I guess they thought I was now tall and sweet, hold the chunky. My brother still calls me Nona. (Ah, the immutable power of branding!) 

As a result, I learned early on that it’s better if I decide how I want to be branded and not leave it up to the masses. 

Although our personal brands can spring out of any fertile ground, here are some features that we pretty much control: 

• Our look—the way we package ourselves: clothes, hair, and bling
• Our expertise—our degrees, certificates, and know-how
• Our conduct—our manners, speech, and behavior
• Our relationships—how we treat people and work with others
• Our career—the line of work we’re in, job title, and employer

Everyone who knows us or something about us has an opinion that becomes our brand from their point of view. Sometimes their label is positive and sometimes it’s negative or neutral. The better they know us or the more they have heard about us the more solid their opinion. 

Are you seen as a little nutty or really cheery?

Kinda grapey or more oaty?

Brand identity, pure and simple, is labeling. Instead of getting a paper wrapper pasted across our face, we get someone’s personal narrative. Based on their perceptions, people decide whether or not they want to affiliate with us. If we were a product, that’s how they would decide whether or not to buy. 

Curious about who your branding audience is? Here are the usual suspects: 

• Immediate and extended family members, even your own kids if you have them
• Teachers, classmates, and neighbors
• Your boss and coworkers
• Business people (even the clerk at Starbucks!)
• Your significant other or others, depending on your social habits
• Your friends, in the flesh and on line

Unsure about your brand? Ask a friend, “What’s the first word you think of when you hear my name?”

The way people brand us in our personal lives doesn’t have to be correct or fair. What people think is what they think. We can either conduct ourselves to attract the labels we prefer or not. 

Remember: Your life is your business. So if you want to optimize opportunity, then you want to do an effective job of personal brand marketing. 

“Why bother?” you ask. “What’s in it for me?” 

“A positive brand identity positions you to achieve the success you want and also serves as a safety net when the going gets dicey,” is the answer. 

Here are the kinds of things a good personal brand identity can get you: 

• The chance that someone will recommend or hire you for a job
• The benefit of the doubt when you need it
• Credibility when you want to borrow money
• Cooperation and help from neighbors when you’re in a pinch
• A promotion, a raise, or a special assignment
• Support from people who know you well and others who may not 

A positive brand attracts people who will speak well of you, raise your value in the eyes of a broader audience, and provide a platform from which you can continue to grow. 

Business fitness is about attracting a following. Your brand is that magnet. When you build a personal brand that supports the kind of success you want, the sky’s the limit. As the manager of brand marketing in your own life, you truly drive the possibilities ahead. 

Got a brand label to share…funny, serious, or scary? All are welcomed.

Surprise! You Really Are Manager of Facilities and Fleet | Your Life Is Your Business

 

You’re an entrepreneur just like everyone else who is out there on their own. How can you tell? If you’re responsible for housing yourself and making sure that you have a vehicle to get you around. That makes you the Manager of Facilities & Fleet (your overheads) in this personal life enterprise of yours.

Sounds like a pretty important position. Have you seen a job description?  

Most people don’t think about their “life chores” as “job duties.” But they are. If we want to house the business of our lives in comfortable and healthy surroundings, we need to take responsibility for the roof under which we live. That’s what facilities managers do in business.

Where we live is an expense. It can also be an investment, in part. It comes with requirements like maintenance, insurance, furnishings, safety equipment, and service hook-ups. The decisions we make about where and how we live have an impact on our finances.

Fleet managers have a crucial job too. Our life business is stymied when we don’t have transportation. That usually means we need a vehicle. Just like the roof over our heads, a vehicle is an expense: payments, insurance, registration, maintenance, tires, and gas.

It’s important to be realistic about what kind of vehicle your business needs. This means being clear about how that vehicle fits into your business plan even when it might be more exciting to have something that screams out, “I’m hot!”

A successful business aligns income with expense. We need to do that too.

When we have too much overhead expense, we don’t have much left over from our revenue stream to grow the business of us. Smart moves get us to the success we want.

Stay dry. Drive safely.

The next “Your Life Is Your Business” post will look at your brand marketing. 

Got a “basics of business” function that you don’t think applies to your life? Write it under comments as a challenge and I’ll take it on!