Why Every Solopreneur Needs an Intern from the Slash Generation

This is a post that I recently wrote for MENG.

I am a consultant and have used paid interns for the last ten years.  First my kids, then their friends and recently graduates who are looking for their first real career job but need to get some real world experience.

I don’t like the term intern.  It’s from the Old Normal.  I prefer to call them Assistants.  I wish I could come up with a catchier name.  In the New Normal, Assistants are part of the Slash Generation.  In the Old Normal the availability of intern positions is dead as a doormat.

I have written about this from their perspective in an article called Why Graduates Are Looking for Jobs in All The Wrong Places.  In it I wrote that recent graduates who need experience could cross that goal line by working for Solopreneurs like me.  Many of my interns are now in the corporate world.  One of my Assistants recently got married and his wife works for my first Assistant that I hired ten years ago.

They are all different.  Some have their own podcasts, some love YouTube, some Tweet others don’t.   Some love music and play in bands.  All text and use Facebook. They all PowerPoint better than you.  They are all unique.  They are all valuable.

Since I am a Marketer I have found that I have had the best success with Assistants that came out of the PR, Advertising or Marketing school programs.  They know the basics and they know the jargon.  If you are in Washington I know somebody that speaks four languages.

My assistants help me with tasks. These are the things that we need to do but shouldn’t do as consultants as you can’t bill for your time.  For instance repurposing my thought leadership. They don’t write my blogs but they certainly can think of places to post my content.  I could spend time posting my blogs on my fifty Linkedin groups but why should I?  Should I go to the UPS store to send out packages or should they? I would rather pay somebody $12 an hour and pursue initiatives that could monetize me more.

I often speak on Networking, New Business Development, and Social Media.   Many organizations do not pay for speakers.  Should I use my time to chase non paying gigs or use my Assistants for the initial outreach?  We all have too many things to do with less time.

Most Millenials came out of their womb texting.  They were born into technology.  My current Assistant built her own computer.  Why would I sync my iPad and iPhone when they can do it?  Who knows more about Apps?

I love it when my Assistants come to me and ask have your ever thought of doing it this way?  No I say but let’s start. We all need a little realignment.

In the end it is a win win for everybody.   They need you and you need them.

They improve my productivity and I can go back to what I like doing best.  Being an Under Assistant West Coast Promo Man.

You can connect with Hank on Linkedin

http://www.linkedin.com/in/hankblankcom

Follow his updates on twitter @hankblank

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/hankblank

You can watch a video by Hank on Networking Tips for Young People.

You can also read some other blogs that may be able to help you.

Why Graduates are Looking for Jobs in All the Wrong Places.

Are Solopreneurs the Future in the New Normal?

How to Create a Job By Creating a Consulting Career.

Advertising Agencies Need to Focus on Things that Clients Can’t Do.

I went to a very interesting New Business Conference this week sponsored by Think LA and Mirren.

A number of speakers from different agencies focused on the common problems facing the industry.  The move to more project based assignments versus AOR relationships, declining revenues, the shift to clients having multiple agency relationships, etc, etc, etc.  It wasn’t pretty.  A sea of laments.

There was a very interesting presentation by Tim Williams from Ignition Consulting on New Emerging Business Models for Agencies.  He outlined the days when agencies did things that clients couldn’t do.  Setting type, preparing mechanicals, producing TV commercials. Yes agencies did things that seemed like magic potients for clients.  Elixirs of creativity. Then came the computer which changed the playing field.

Certainly agencies very quickly jumped on the benefits of technology and the new creative software that accompanied it.  But clients could also buy computers and do many of the same commodity things in house.  Maybe not originally with the same degree of creativity but how many clients really want creativity?  It is more a platitude than an attitude? Most companies aren’t Nike or Apple.

The next day I had an early morning coffee with the CMO of a pretty significant company in Orange County.  He had started his long and successful marketing career in the advertising industry.  He felt that he could do in house most of the things that agencies could do and do it better.  He could do social media, videos, produce ads, hire photographers for product shoots, and update his web site. The 22 year old AE wasn’t going to take him to the next Marketing Valhalla. He really didn’t need to pay an agency to resize ads. Then he said one thing that stopped me.

He said the one thing that had great value for him was ideas. That sounded good for agencies.  Then he said something else that wasn’t good.  He said that agencies gave their ideas away for free.  Now I don’t know what agencies he had talked to or what his agency experiences were but he was right that agencies often give things away for free.  I wrote about this recently in a blog called Why Agencies Need to Stop Giving it Away.  I have painfully learned in my business that giving away your knowledge for free is not a great way to pay the mortgage.

The conference and my breakfast left me with the conclusion that to grow agencies really need to focus their future services on the things that clients can’t do.  I think that menu may change based on the clients you encounter.  There is a good chance that what many clients can’t do is to live at the forefront of today’s dynamically changing technology.  Many clients don’t have centers of innovation for instance.  I certainly believe that agencies have the creative fire power to develop these services and productize them.  The scale of agency innovation surpasses most client organizations in my opinion.  I still hear plenty of client ahs when I do agency searches.

The problem is that many agencies have commoditized their offerings and can offer little more than their clients can do at less cost and probably with more insight. It’s time to stop billing for low hanging fruit and go to a higher level and get paid for it.

You can connect with Hank on Linkedin

http://www.linkedin.com/in/hankblankcom

Follow his updates on twitter @hankblank

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/hankblank

You can watch a video by Hank on Networking Tips for Young People.

You may also enjoy these articles.

How Many Agencies Are Submitting.

Why Small and Smart is the New Agency Model.

How Agencies Can Get More New Business

Are Solopreneurs the Future in the New Normal?

I read an interesting article by Jan Norman in the OC Register today on Solopreneurs.  Yes, I get the OC Register and the LA Times delivered.  I read the article after I scanned the New York Times and the Globe and Mail on my iPad.  Yes there is still a hockey strike.

Now I have written about How to Create a Job by starting a Consulting Career in the past, but there were a number of items in Jan Norman’s article that resonated with me.  I was not really familiar with the term solopreneur.  Guess I should read more.  There are almost 17 million Solopreneurs in the country.  That’s half the population of Canada. The army of Americans working independently grew by nearly one million in 2011.  That is not surprising when the unemployment rate in California is 10.7%.

The solopreneurs straddle every age group and live everywhere.  That seems to make sense.

Many Solopreneurs trekked out on their own because they got fed up with the bad bosses, the archaic workplace rules, the dysfunctional workplaces, and the false promises.  I know a number of people that are stuck in the wheels of Metropolis.  They work very long hours in a demanding workplace where the attitude can be if you don’t like it there is somebody in line to take your place. The New Modern Times. Some employers are stepping on toes in the New Employer Employee Dance.  Being s solopreneur allows you to break the company yoke.

The burdens are high for a solopreneurs.  They work very long hours, and over half of them worry about the lack of predictable income, the ability to retire and the absence of security. Many of these concerns sound pretty much like the same worries of the working class.  I have always said that having to create a job for yourself every day is like being perpetually unemployed.  It also makes you extremely grateful and close to the pulse of life.  You notice different things. The people with signs at every shopping strip exit asking for work and food. The weary in people’s faces when the search has been too long.  When somebody tells you to have a good weekend on a Friday it doesn’t feel the same as when you are employed because you will probably work on the weekend.  The calendar moves differently for you.

What caught me in the end was that the majority of solopreneurs are happy.  Over 70% were highly satisfied with their independent work style.  I don’t think that employers at most companies would get those marks on their company’s employee satisfaction surveys.

I think I am going back to work and listen to some Bobby McFerrin.

You can connect with Hank on Linkedin

http://www.linkedin.com/in/hankblankcom

Follow his updates on twitter @hankblank

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/hankblank

You can watch a video by Hank on How to Create a Job.

Why Reinvention is a Virtual Necessity.

I recently wrote a blog called Out of the Game which outlined the importance of staying current and connected on your career path and personal development.

There used to be an expression I would hear quite often.  “They are a dinosaur.”  It was really a description of a person or a company who was not current on emerging trends.  For instance, agencies that were slow to adopt digital solutions versus traditional advertising.

The iPhone is about five years old and more than 75 million have been sold.  Kodak is going into bankruptcy protection.  The Olympics are coming up soon and not too many people will be capturing magic moments using Kodachrome.  A decade ago, Kodak may have been sponsoring the Olympics.

I know a friend who was recently in transition.  They shared with me that the last job they found was in the newspaper ten years ago.  If you told somebody today that you were job hunting in the newspaper they would think that you were pretty much out of touch.

I started blogging two years ago after I heard Tony Heish from Zappos speak at a combined Harvard/USC event in May.  During his presentation he said “Follow Your Dream and the Money Will Come.” That May wasn’t a particularly robust time and I thought to myself that is easy for you to say because you made $100 million on your first deal.

After two years of blogging I have had thousands of people read my blog.  In fact more people read my blog some days than visit my site in a month.

Things change and we need to reinvent and change.  Today your Linkedin profile is more important than your resume.  Your first impression is not created by your Elevator Speech but by your Google presence.

There are two catalysts for reinvention based on my personal experience.  Networking and Youth.

Today’s youth surrounds technology.  You want to be immersed in technology.  Surround yourself with youth.  Ten years ago I started using college students or recent graduates as paid interns to help me with tasks.  They can’t write a blog but they can certainly find places to repurpose it in discussion groups.

I love it when some approach me and ask,” Have you ever thought of doing it this way?”  We generally start doing it that way.

Currently the look of my Word Press blog is being updated by Dalip Jaggi who is 22 year old. He recently developed a couple of mobile apps.  My YouTube videos are shot by SparkHouse in Costa Mesa.  Their CEO, Torrey Tayenaka is 25.  I make a call on my iPhone with a local 949 number.  One of my creative partners Dante Fiorini answers it.  He is in Argentina.

How did I meet Dalip and Torrey?  By networking.  Your network is your engine of reinvention.  The more diverse it is, the more opportunities for growth it can provide.  A constant pattern of networking regenerates you and puts you on new roads of discovery.

The dinosaurs that emerged from the Ice Age weren’t the ones that were the biggest or the strongest.  They were the ones that were the quickest to adapt.  Nothing’s changed.

You can connect with Hank on Linkedin

http://www.linkedin.com/in/hankblankcom

Follow his updates on twitter @hankblank

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/hankblank

Watch his video on YouTube on How to Rise Above the Crowd.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkO7efleWX4

The Currencies of Networking.

I listened to a webinar today put on by Keith Ferrazi a master networker.  He wrote a book published in 2005 called Never Eat Alone. I think I bought it at Borders. That was before the world melted and we moved to the New Normal except for Borders.  That was a very long and short time ago.

On his Webinar he had Reid Hoffman the Founder of Linkedin.  I enjoy using Linkedin.  It is my primary social media channel.  When Social Media was getting launched my peers embraced Facebook but I loved Linkedin.  Anyway it became my preferred social media channel although I engage with many others.

During the webinar Ferrazi and Hoffman defined the various currencies of networking. They talked about professional currency for instance. I related to that because I talk about the various benefits of networking in my networking presentations.

Networking provides a variety of currencies. One of the primary benefits of networking is financial Currency. It is the most obvious and what most people really want.   Over the course of time I have read about other definitions of financial currency.  One is that your network equals your net worth.

The oldest one I know is that it is not what you know but who you know.  That’s the top down theory and it works.

The problem with reaping the benefits of financial currency is that it takes time and we all want the quick fix.   Financial currency will come if you plant the seeds and wait for the bounty to come.  You have to realize that one event is a stepping stone to other people, other events and future opportunities.

Somebody long ago or about 3 or 4 years ago sent me a quote saying that “The Opposite of Networking Is Not Working.”  They must have been a prophet.

I also learned very quickly that one of the primary benefits of networking is Social Currency.

What the heck is social currency? Well it starts with understanding that money isn’t meaning

Success is not significance. The Great Recession has equally taught everyone no matter how rich or poor that financial currency can be fleeting.  Even millionaires clip coupons these days.

People with a lot of social currency realize you are not defined by how much money you have or where you work. A key of a person’s success and overall value is their relationships.  You are defined by your character and who you help in life in the New Normal.  That currency is deposited in a different way but it has a high level of return immediately upon deposit.

Often social currency and financial currency go hand in hand.  People who have a lot of social currency are often involved in mentoring, philanthropy and similar activities.  Often I find that they appear to also be very financially successful.

If you have strong relationships people become your apostles and advocates and become your business development people.

Social currency becomes most valuable when financial currency is a little weak and we may be surrounded by the worries inherent in the New Normal. That is when its value truly comes to the forefront.

What kind of networking currency are you depositing today?

You can connect with Hank on Linkedin

http://www.linkedin.com/in/hankblankcom

Follow his updates on twitter @hankblank

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/hankblank

Watch his video on the Power of Networking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-dSNVAN9FU&list=UUEigDTyDiFGXVfyg7sRErOg&index=10&feature=plcp

Hot and Cold Networking Doesn’t Work.

Hot and Cold Networking Doesn’t Work.

The new Jobs Report came out yesterday and the report wasn’t too cheerful.  Very tepid job growth.  That’s life in the New Normal.  We live in a world with an unemployment rate of 8.2% in the U.S. My friend Lynn Marie Hammond reminded me that the Euro Zone’s stagnant economy has left 17.4 million people out of an active population of around 156 million people without a job.

I read in this month’s issue of OC Metro that even the well educated and diverse Orange County the land of desperate and over indulged housewives only added 12,600 jobs from January 2010 to January 11.  Not much growth for a county of three million people.

The same issue had another survey among OC Executives.  The percentage of respondents who expect business activity to improve or stay the same today was 84%, an increase from 78% in 2010.  You see today in the New Normal progress is when things stay the same.  We have all seen the job market free fall and we have learned that staying the same is an acceptable platform.  It is survival.

In this world many people still believe that the Old Normal will return and they network that way.

I call it hot and cold networking.  When they are looking for a job it is all about the networking.  “Let’s catch up at Starbucks.”  “Let’s get together to see how I can help you.”  “Would love to catch up.”  When they land they revert to their old habits. You never see them or hear from them.

You reach out to them after they have been with their employer for a few months to check in.  They are too busy for Starbucks or lunch.  They have no time.  They have a job and don’t need your network anymore.

These are the hot and cold networkers of today.

Then in today’s world of the New Normal they are on the street again.  They are not ready to be fired.  They reach out again and want to network. They try to atone for their past behavior.  They promise change.

After years of seeing this from many I have lost layers of compassion.

I am sure we have all met hot and cold networkers.

What they don’t understand is that today you have to be networking all the time.  Just like sharks you have to be constantly out there expanding your resources and learning about opportunities.  Opportunities and jobs are being created but they are often spread through word of mouth because nobody wants to deal with a deluge of submissions from unqualified people.

Truth be told, hot and cold networkers don’t come to mind first when I hear about jobs.

What is your networking temperature?

You can connect with Hank on Linkedin

http://www.linkedin.com/in/hankblankcom

Follow his updates on twitter @hankblank

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/hankblank

Watch his video called How to Rise Above the Crowd.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkO7efleWX4&list=UUEigDTyDiFGXVfyg7sRErOg&index=5&feature=plcp

The New Employer Employee Dance.

While travelling recently I read a new survey in USA Today Snapshots on Loyalty Gap perceptions between Employers and Employees.  It shared that 59% of employers in 2011 felt that they were very loyal to their employees and that percentage had increased from 52% in 2010.

At the same time, only 32% of employees believed that their employer was very loyal to them and that percentage had declined from 40% in 2010.

Clearly employers and employees are not on the same page.

When I share these stats with some of my peers virtually no one feels that employers are loyal.  I don’t think that anyone who has been through the great recession wouldn’t be skeptical about those findings.  We live in times in the New Normal where companies are cash rich and employee lean.

In one generation of working we have moved from an employer-employee relationships where thirty years ago it was the norm for a person to be hired into an organization out of school and then remain for the next 20 or 25 years or longer with that company and then retire.  The term gold watch has disappeared from the work lexicon.

But now we are at a Mexican Standoff so to speak where employers need top talent and people want jobs but at the same time employees don’t trust their employer and would move to a better opportunity at the drop of the hat because they know that employer would fire them at the sign of any economic downturn.  They have shared many beers with friends and associates or spouses who texted them that they had just been let go a month after being told by their boss they were great.  I know of many Millennials who have had three jobs already.

I also recently read a very interesting blog by Sarah Miller Caldicott on the definition of progress for Gen Y’s. She outlines that Gen Y’s are looking for flexibility in their work environment including access to social networks.  She wrote that “Gen Y seeks participation in collaborative activity that involves sweeps of people including-but also lying beyond-those co-habiting their office space.”

I share the same belief and have posted some blogs recently on my belief that the most successful companies in the future will be the ones who train their employees to be the best networked.

Smart companies will foster smarter employees and make them more marketable.

Recently I heard about one Fortune 500 company who was actively training their employees to have optimized profiles on Linkedin and had implemented a four week training program with prizes such as iPads.  I have heard whispers of similar activities with other companies.

Here is the New Employer -Employee Win Win.  Smart companies will start by training all their employees to rock on Linkedin because of its business focus and allow them to access to social networks during working hours.  They will provide them with Linkedin recommendations for their employee profiles.

Employers will also work hard to make their employees more marketable while they are with them.  That will be today’s curriculum of professional development and a definition of a company that is best to work for.  They will also train them how to network.  Employees will appreciate that and as a result they will be better equipped to do their jobs and if things should change, more marketable, and it will be quicker to find a new job.

In return employees will recognize that to a degree their employer has their back to a degree and will channel their network to help them and their employer succeed.  A tenuous dance and new employer-employee contract perhaps but better than the Employer blah blah outlined in the USA Snapshot.

You can connect with Hank on Linkedin

http://www.linkedin.com/in/hankblankcom

Follow his updates on twitter @hankblank

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/hankblank

Watch his video called How to Rise Above the Crowd.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkO7efleWX4&list=UUEigDTyDiFGXVfyg7sRErOg&index=5&feature=plcp

The New Glass Ceiling

We all know about the term Glass Ceiling which refers to the unseen, yet unbreachable barrier that keeps minorities and women from rising to the upper rungs of the corporate ladder, regardless of their qualifications or achievements.

I think that today’s glass ceiling is very low.  Today’s glass ceiling is the barrier that young people face in getting their first solid career position.  I would say it is probably the hardest it has been for youth to get a job for decades.

Many young job seekers find their job prospects somewhat bleak.  I have read that the unemployment rate among young people aged 16 to 24 is around 17% and I am sure that number is probably understated.

Unemployed youth is a global factor that has lead to unrest in many countries around the world. In Spain, the unemployment rate among young people is around 50%.

Recently I spoke to the Student Bar Association at Whittier Law School.  The biggest challenge that students were facing was encountering the full funnel of graduates from the last couple of years that have not landed and we competing for the same jobs.  There is a large inventory of unhired lawyers.

A belief in future opportunity has always been vital for youth.  It leads to optimism and a general sense of pending improvements in society. It must never be dampened. It is vital to both the growth of financial and social currency.

When I graduated, the job situation was also quite bleak as there were millions of Baby Boomers graduating at the same job and simply not enough jobs.  I was lucky that in Canada at that time there were some safety nets and programs to help the transition and soon I found my first job in advertising.  I think sometime it helps to be oblivious to doom and gloom news as a young person and forge your own trail.

So how do you break through today’s glass ceiling if you are looking for your first job?

Well first you have to start networking earlier in your life and learning how to capture the power of networking to get your first job and all the jobs you will land in the future.  I have written about this before in my blog called Networking Tips for College Students and Young People that hate to network. It remains my best read blog ever.

I have also written a blog for young people called Why Graduates Are Looking for Jobs in All the Wrong Places.  When things change you have to change.  The animals that emerged from the ice age were not the biggest and the strongest but the ones that adapted the quickest.  Eight of the ten services I offer today in my suite of marketing services I didn’t do ten years ago. Reinvent constantly.

You also have to start on your job quest much earlier and Go Where You Want to Go.   Sure it is an old song lyric but there is some truth to it.  Today you need to go where you want to work.  Develop a list of the five companies that you want to work for in the coming years and engage with them in the New Normal.  Connect with their people on Linkedin, post content on their Facebook page, Tweet their content.  Make relevant and learned noise to create awareness about you.  Don’t send them your resume.  Write the head of the department where you want to work and tell them you want to work for them when your graduate and continue to communicate with them on an ongoing basis.  Start this while you are a Junior.  Yes a Junior.

I also believe that today’s well travelled and experienced job holders should help to mentor today’s young and emerging graduates.  I think this is a great opportunity for people in transition.  Young people can probably help you develop some skills particularly in the social media space.  And young people can pick up some life skills that experience provides.  For me that’s a powerful Each One Help One Promise.

You can connect with Hank on Linkedin

http://www.linkedin.com/in/hankblankcom

Follow his updates on twitter @hankblank

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/hankblank

Watch a video on Why Graduates are Looking for Jobs in All the Wrong Places.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLt8Vh2OqVc&list=UUEigDTyDiFGXVfyg7sRErOg&index=3&feature=plcp

Why CEO’s Need to Market Themselves in the New Normal.

This blog is not for the CEO’s of Wall Street.  They are easy to find.  This is a blog for the CEO’s of Main Street companies.

We all know that the average job lifecycle of a CMO can be pretty short these days.  I have read articles that say it can be as short as 18 months in some categories.  While doing some research on that topic I also came across some stats that said the average life cycle of a CEO was 54 months.

Since nobody gets hired as a CEO right out of college that translates to roughly  four to five CEO jobs in a working lifetime.  I also read an article that said it takes an average person making $100K plus an average of 18 months to find a job using networking, recruiters and job boards.  That is a lot of time on the beach.

I recently learned that two CEO’s who jobs were eliminated.  They were doing a great job but things happen, companies get sold, things go bad, there are mergers and acquisitions, changes, and cheese gets moved in the New Normal.

I have always believed that the CEO’s of companies need to do more to market and promote themselves when they are working.  They need to create a lot of accomplishment legacy on Google to help them find their next gig when things go South.

I think that they should insure that a proportion of their companies PR budget is focused on promoting them as well as the company.  They should be the face of the brand or the company.

Some say that this is self serving.  Well are company’s severance packages self serving these days?  I have heard many stories of people at various levels of organizations who were heroes one day bestowed with cornucopias of awards and recognition jettisoned from those companies in a fashion that would make your think they were delivery people. Accomplishments and accolades dissipated into vapor.

CEO’s need to stay top of mind when they are out of the game and the content of your past achievements on Google helps keep you there.  The more content you get out there when you are on the job the better. While you are tenured you need to promote yourself.

Make sure your leadership and accomplishments are the focus of company features in trade and business journals. The perceptions of a well run ship inspires employee and investor confidence.   Bringing that to the forefront is not self serving, it is smart business. There is a legacy of CEO’s that were great personal branders when personal branding was not in the vernacular.

CEO’s need to write articles and blog.  Be one of the few CEO’s who has a robust Social Media presence besides Richard Branson.  Also be one of the few CEO’s that attends networking meetings on a regular basis in your business community and industry.  Speak at Conferences. Accept Linkedin invites.  People who walk a different path get noticed.

Start your own CEO networking group comprised of working CEO’s and CEO’s in transition. Promote it aggressively and get credit for it. When you need a lifeline the CEO’s that are currently in transition may have landed and they will be your strongest supporters.

Does this take a lot of time?  For sure.  Then again if you remember the stats at the start of this blog there will be times when you have too much time.

By the way I am not a CEO.  I just see.

You can connect with Hank on Linkedin

http://www.linkedin.com/in/hankblankcom

Follow his updates on twitter @hankblank

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/hankblank

Watch some videos on http://www.youtube.com/user/MrHankblank

Email him at hank@hankblank.com

 

2012 New Year’s Resolutions Everyone Can Keep.

We all know the drill.  New Year’s Resolutions that quickly dissipate as people revert to old habits. Many are focused on working out and getting in shape after the holidays or a life of Chettos.

To change your actions you need to focus your resolutions on how you want to live your life.  If you focus on the way you approach life, breathe life, see life, then the working out and the other things you want to change will become easier because you will be in control of your life. It is easier to change direction if you are in the saddle.

So here are some resolutions I want to share that you can adopt for the coming year.

• Focus on your accomplishments.  For many people the last four years of the recession have been very challenging.  Doubt can quickly rise to the surface. Drop that baggage.  The only one creating it is you. Focus on your accomplishments and not your defeats or what you don’t have. You have done a lot; you just need to have the eyes to see it.
• Focus on gratitude.  You can find gratitude in very small things if your eyes are open, your ears are clear and your heart loves.  Gratitude gives you tremendous clarity. Gratitude makes you feel better every day.  Gratitude is life’s greatest shield.  If you are grateful you may be besieged but you will never be defeated.
• Focus on humility.  I think that many people misunderstand humility. It is not weakness; it is a source of great strength that rewards you with tremendous appreciation and vision. I think that both gratitude and humility provide everyone with the ambition to do more, appreciate more and invest more in the things that are really important in their lives.
• Focus on your passion and your success will come.  It may be an obscured journey but if you believe in your passion and vision things will happen.  If you have a failure bump would you rather fail by doing what you believe in instead of what people tell you do? Defining yourself by the company you work for instead of who you are is a very shallow measure of self worth and accomplishment.
• Focus on accountability for your goals to achieve your goals.  The best accountability monitors are the people that you respect and the people that love you and respect you and that you never want to disappoint.  If you have people around you that do not want you to fail you will succeed.

You can connect with Hank on Linkedin

http://www.linkedin.com/in/hankblankcom

Follow his updates on twitter @hankblank

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/hankblank

Watch some videos on http://www.youtube.com/user/MrHankblank

Email him at hank@hankblank.com