How’s The Year Going So Far?

So how are things going so far as we enter year five of the New Normal? Having a jolly old time?   The New Normal was created when the world melted in the fall of 2008.  Lehman Brothers went away.   Remember those days? I am sure that the 2.8 million people that lost their jobs that year do. Some may still be looking for the job that they lost. They may be working but they don’t have the job that went away never to return.

Are things getting better? Are your loving things at work?  Doing less with more?  Looking over your shoulder from time to time? Get a little nervous if your boss calls you into their office?  How do you like your recent yearly salary increases? Did you get one?

How’s the job search going?  Is it easier or harder? Do you often feel it’s all in vein? Do you think that everyone thinks that you are too old?  Don’t have enough experience?  Have been on the beach too long? Do you think that the people interviewing you are smarter than you?

How are your New Business efforts going?  Is New Business even harder or are leads coming in and your task is to separate fact from fiction?  Do you feel you even need more leads today? Does New Business take more time and are the budgets smaller?  Do you have to provide more for less?

How’s your networking going or is it the same? Do you view networking as an intention or a mission?  Do you connect with people that energize and are totally aligned with you? Are you just networking with people just like you?

Are you living large?  I network with a lot of people. I talk to 2O year old people and have drinks with the people who run multinational agencies. They all share their stories.  I shake the hand of my UPS driver at Starbucks while he sits with Fed Ex Driver and a couple of other guys talking music.  I talk to sales people at the same time that feel they are out of touch for today’s game.

I have lunch with marketing people who wouldn’t have met me in the past but now that their company is changing I appear more valuable because I am a networker with a large network. I am happy to help. Will they?

I text with the President of a prominent local company while I am going for a run.  Presidents are optimistic enough to relax a bit these days.  But bit is a short word.

I meet with marketing people that are looking for their next gig.

I meet with people who are waiting for checks. Are your clients slower to pay?  I can relate to that being a solopreneur in the New Normal.  Balancing the regular pattern of bills versus the irregular flow of checks.

I hear from people who have been downsized seven times. They called themselves a survivor and I certainly do agree.  There are many worst alternatives.

I hear from people who tell me how tough things remain.

I hear from people who tell me how things are good.

2013 is the 5^th year of the New Normal.  This is the future and Leonard Cohen wrote a song about it in the Old Normal. The lyric said “I have seen the future and it is murder”.  But then again this is the New Normal after all.

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 by Hank on Don’t Let Your Business Cards Weaken Your Personal Brand.

You may also enjoy these articles:

Are You a Finder or a Grinder?

Why College Students Need to Get into Linkedin.

What Do Agency Review Consultants Do?

I’m Just Trying to Figure It Out.

“I’m just trying to figure it out.”

People often tell me that they are trying to figure it out. After all the books, blogs, free and paid webinars and seminars on how to get to the next place – yet the majority of people don’t have a roadmap on where to go next.

Just the other day, I heard a young person say they were trying to figure it out. They were rooms away from where I sat, but their lament traveled through the air to me. They were looking for a magic way, but life isn’t as organized as Disneyland. Young people are the slash generation that many elders don’t see, and also the untrained generation. Institutions don’t invest as much in our youth as they have done in the past. The obligation of mentoring and nurturing youth may have been lost or abandoned.

There was a story on NPR recently which reported the number one psychological issue in campus health clinics today is anxiety. Young people are anxious that if that they graduate today in the New Normal, they aren’t guaranteed a job, even with a college degree – maybe even with an MBA. They have no clue on how to provide the basics for themselves once they graduate with huge student loans. That’s a big worry that can become a heavy yoke.

I can see that. Many millennials have by now spent a quarter of their lives living in the great recession. Their parents may have been downsized; their homes may have been in foreclosure.  They may have lost trust in the safety net of their parents helping them out financially. Some, in fact, may be helping their parents.

I often have a Starbucks and listen to business owners that want to take it to the next level. They tell me they are trying to figure it out. I have some clarity for them on days that can even be blind for me. Such a paradox – or could it be an irony? A metaphor? Do we teach what we need to know?

I have met too many people over the years who have been launched into the world of transition they didn’t anticipate before. Some come to me with the weight of living in the New Normal, saying they are just trying to figure it out. They weren’t trained on what to do when one is jettisoned into transition. When they worked for somebody, they often did all the figuring it out, but nothing further.

Here are some ways to try to figure it out:

1. Stop worrying, because worry won’t make the road clearer. Instead, it creates a fog. The best worry buster is an intense workout, or whatever else may work for you. Anything that disengages you from your brain for just the right time can bring you back to it focused and ready to take on the task at hand.

2. Figuring it out can be simplified if you surround yourself with other perspectives; you’ll never figure it out if you surround yourself with yourself. The best way to train for a marathon is to talk to someone who has run one before. They will tell you that running tight to the curves will save you a lot of steps over the 26.2 miles or 42Km. The best way to figure it out is by talking to people who have walked the same struggle.

What do I know? I have lived in the New Normal all my life. I’m just trying to figure it out.

 

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 by Hank on Networking Tips for Young People.

You may also enjoy these articles:

Are Solopreneurs the Future in the New Normal?

Networking in My Hood.

She’s Not a Great Networker.

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.

Hank Blank’s Story About Laguna Niguel Connectors.

I am one of the Founders of Laguna Niguel Connectors.  I remember the original touch point as if was today but I could be all wrong.  It was in the summer of 2008.  Somebody introduced me to Randy Miller and we had a Starbucks in my hood called Laguna Niguel.  Population 62,979.  Average household income of $98,000.

We were about a year into the New Normal but nobody recognized it yet on a grand scale.  I had but I live very close to the streets as a consultant who has to create a job each and every day.   The melt down began in 2007 but many people were still embracing the lie that things were OK.

Randy and I innocently and briefly talked about building a local networking group of like minded people.  We had another planning meeting at the same Starbucks with Dipak Shan and Gregory Gaines. Our skin colors, nationalities and backgrounds were all very different but our hearts beat the same way, We talked about some very simple principles.  About paying it forward.  There was no great grand vision because nobody knew the misery that was coming.  Somebody created a Linkedin page in August 2008.  We soon had our first meeting and 23 people came to the same Starbucks.  In September of 2008 the bank too big to fail failed and the world quickly melted.

Almost three million people lost their jobs that year.  That’s the entire population of Orange County.  Some were in in Laguna Niguel.  Their average income was no longer $98,000.  Then the meetings got bigger and bigger.  Very quickly many people started to come to Laguna Niguel Connectors because there weren’t that many places to go for so many people in transition. When over a 100 people were gathering outside that Starbucks the Baristas asked me what’s going on here?  It is a cult I joked or a local Amway meeting.  They laughed and moved on.

Today Laguna Niguel Connectors has over 3400 members.  We have satellite chapters that people organized.  We have volunteers organizing events. Many angels came out over the years.  We have name tags.  We now meet twice a month. I like the meeting at Salt Creek Winery the best.

One of the lessons I have learned is the possibility of serendipity and innocence.  What if Randy or I had decided not to meet at that Starbucks? What is Dipak or Gregory wouldn’t have attended the follow up?  Would there have been a Laguna Niguel Connectors?  Maybe yes and maybe no.  Some group would have been created because the three million people in transition from 2008 and more from the following years needed some place to go.

One lucky serendipity that  made Laguna Niguel Connectors successful was that outside that Starbucks there was a large area for people to meet and congregate.  What also worked was the fire hose of social media and the growth of Linked  aligned with the millions of people losing their jobs in the coming years. Those people quickly learned  about the power of creating their own personal brand on the Internet.

What also worked was the power of the people that came.  The majority didn’t have a job but they had great value and they found a  place to meet and get support and offer their skills. Laguna Niguel Connectors became  place to learn how to navigate the New Normal.  The meetings thankfully are smaller, the attitude of people to pay it forward the same.

That Starbucks is closing soon I have been told. I hope it is a sign of things to come.

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 I Network With People in Transition.

How to Stay Strong When the Search is Long.

How to Create a Job.

The Slash Generation

I spend a lot of time with Millennials.  I knew many when they were teenagers. Some younger.  I have used smart paid interns for over a decade.  My first intern now works at Oakley.  Another intern that worked for me in the past recently got married.  His new bride works for Oakley as well and reports to my first intern.  Yes pretty crazy.  I have written about some ideas in this area in a post called Why Graduates Are Looking for Jobs in All the Wrong Places.

I recently went to a New Business Conference up in LA sponsored by Think LA.  One of the closing panelists was Mike Sheldon the CEO of Deutsch LA a very large and successful agency.

He shared a comment that resonated with me. Not totally sure about the context but he talked about using the power of account coordinators/slash video people and using their passion to get things done at the agency.  As I remember they used them for research or interviews.  They were hired to do one thing but their passion skills were also being utilized in other ways.  That only happened because they were recognized.  Somebody saw the slash skills.

Now CEO’s of major agencies rarely talk about harnessing the power of entry level people but that has been something I have doing for years.  Maybe I live closer to them.  I bet Mike has children.  I bet he has a daughter.  I could be totally wrong.

I believe that we can do great things by capturing the power of the Slash Generation. It is a win win opportunity.  Many young people have a hard time entering the work force and many employers often try to evaluate young people by old rules and need to change their hiring lens. I am not talking about the advertising industry here.  It has always embraced outliers to a degree.  Few companies today would hire somebody with no college degree that studied calligraphy like Steve Jobs.

I believe that the Slash Generation also needs to bring their slash skills to the forefront more and not neuter them. Conformity shouldn’t be the aspiration of youth.  It is the compromise of later life.  Forget your parent’s resume template.  That is from the Old Normal.  The resume, bio, curriculum vitae of the Old Normal has to become an infographic of you. Can’t do an infographic then make it highly visual. Young people don’t read and old people are tired of reading.  It should outline both your achievements and your passions. Do not suppress you passions.  Photography, building computers, being a DJ can be valuable to the right company.  If companies don’t get it they aren’t right for you.

If companies want to hire their potential future success based on the criteria of the Old Normal they will be left behind. Company growth doesn’t come from rigidity.  It comes from adapting and reinvention. Who better to reinvent you that the future generation?

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.

Graduating Into a Recession

The New Glass Ceiling.

Why Young People Shouldn’t Try to Find a Job.

Networking Tips for Young People Who Hate to Network.

Why MBA Schools Need to Teach a Course On What To Do When You Get Fired.

Why Young People Shouldn’t Try to Find a Job.

I had a great time recently speaking to the students at CBU Graphic Design class on How to Rise Above the Crowd.  My presentation was about how to transition learning into a career. My expertise comes from my experience as a person who has to create a job each and every day as a solopreneur in the New Normal.

Young people can certainly get a lot of advice these days on how to get a job.  Most from people who live in the Old Normal and don’t walk the physical or digital sidewalks of the New Normal.

You can listen to politicians who largely live an entitled life and whose hearts don’t beat in the New Normal.

Your college professors will give you advice as well but if they have never worked in the business world and strictly have an academic background their advice will be largely theoretical. Like a nun advising you about birth control. I love you Sister Mary Agnes.

Your parents will give you lots of advice but there is a good chance that if they have been employed for more than ten years with the same company that they found their last job in a newspaper  and not from a recruiter calling them because of their Linkedin profile.

You can get advice from your peer group but that will largely be peer wisdom.  Better for a bar.

First, young people need to understand that your focus shouldn’t be about getting a job; it should be about creating your long term personal brand strategy in the working world of today.  You see in the New Normal you will have at least 12 jobs at different companies but your brand will be yours forever.  Twenty years from now there may be no employees only contract worker bees. You need to focus on developing a long term career strategy versus just a job at just a company.

You need to be a brand within a brand.  Even if you work at Apple you need to have your own personal brand and your own unique identity and it needs to be coherent.  Consistency is key in branding.  Your brand says everything about you.  Your brand includes the way you dress to your personal branding material to your on line social media strategy.  Your social media thought leadership should amplify your brand.

Here are the mandatories for young people today and into the near future.  You must have your own personal website.  You must have your own personal business cards and carry them at all time in addition to the business card of your employer.  You must rock on Linkedin because it is the social media channel of business.  You must own the first page of Google.  All ten postings with a presence that is consistent with your personal brand.  All of the digital platforms that you use must be based on your name and not an alias.  Do not tweet about tacos.  Tweet about show how smart you are.  Most important, develop a powerful personal network that others don’t have that reflects your brand and the resources you uniquely offer.

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.

Graduating Into a Recession

The New Glass Ceiling.

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

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.

New Measures of Success for the New Normal.

I meet with a lot of people.  I am a networker.  I speak on networking across the country and get to meet with a variety of different people from lots of places.  Networking creates the path in my life journey. Occasionally networking sessions can be more like therapy sessions when people who are adrift are searching for alignment. The New Normal has caused a lot of changes and disruption. Unfortunately, I am not a Yogi.  Then there are networking meetings with people who have greater clarity on what defines them and where they stand.

I was talking to a journalist the other day about reinvention and the need for re-creation in today’s journey of lifelong learning.  She shared her mother’s formula for success.  Her Mom is 90.  In her MOM’s world you worked for one company as your career job for the majority of your life and then retired.  When I present and ask people today if they will be working for their current employer for the rest of their life, they laugh.

In the new normal I know 28 year olds that are on their 3rd job.  I also meet 27 year olds who work but have no meaningful career job.

I met a very successful career driven woman the other day whose measure of success was climbing the corporate ladder and competing in a man’s world. That was her comfort zone.   Then her ladder was knocked out from under her and there were no steps to climb.  She was adrift.  She wanted her ladder back. She had no measure of success in the New Normal.

In the Old Normal the measures were very clear.  Promotions, Peer Recognition, Raises, Company Cars, Expenses, larger offices.  For many, the office of today is their local Starbucks.

I still remember vividly meeting with somebody during the .com bust. The precursor to the Great Recession.  It was probably 2001 or 2002.  I met with a person in transition at the place where I was working at the time. She shared what happened to her.  I still remember her words.  She said she was devastated that she had lost her job.  She was clearly defined by her job. Her job was her measure of self worth.

I remembered even then thinking that you aren’t defined by the company you work for.  You are defined by your character.  That leaves a more lasting impression than your accumulation.  So what is your measure of success?  How do you define achievement today in a world where there are no gold watches?

Career currency, financial currency, or social currency.  Which pays a higher yield in the end?

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 The Power of Networking.

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

Is Networking A First Thought or an Afterthought?

I had a light bulb moment one time.  The switch was turned on by a great guide that helps from time to time. Like all self employed people during the Great Recession I was chasing the Yankee Dollar.  I was going through the desert looking for the oasis of money.

My guide asked me how my personal marketing was going?  I basically said that I was too busy chasing money to market myself.  As the words came out of my mouth the light bulb came on and my brain said you are stupid pretty much at the same time as my friend did.

You see marketing yourself is a core element of your business success.  My number one marketing tactic has always been my networking.  No total strangers have come out of the blue and said I want to work with you. My network created my river of opportunities.

I often get emails from people saying things like please accept my apology for the delayed response in accepting your connection request.  I have been pretty busy lately and I am behind on my Linkedin requests.  Today I think you have to drive down both sides of the road to succeed.

Networking needs to be a parallel path to your work activities and should not only occur only after you have finished your busy work.

So what path is your networking on?  Is it a first thought or an afterthought?

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

What Kind of Job Are You Looking For?

What Kind of Job are you Looking For?

I had coffee the other day in Laguna Beach with a very smart person.  I am grateful that I live close to Laguna.

When I was going to college in Canada I sat on a beach in Laguna and said I want to live here. I wanted a piece of paradise.  It was pretty much out of reach. I had every obstacle in the world to make that happen including my brain and life’s reality.  I have had three meetings at the Starbucks in Laguna this week looking at the beach networking with people. My experience is testimony that dreams are achievable.

My new friend used to work in publishing which is an industry that has changed drastically in the New Normal.  I attended a Business Wire breakfast recently that featured a panel of local press reporters.  They work at places where half the seats are empty. I am sure that the cubes are dusty and the company meetings less exciting.

This has happened to many industries.  I am an Ad Guy.  My former job in the corporate world doesn’t exist anymore so I had to create one for the New Normal. That wasn’t exactly easy.  Lots of businesses have changed. When is the last time you booked a trip through a travel agent or taken a roll of film to be developed?  When is the last time your kids read a newspaper?  Do your kids own a watch?  When is the last time you weren’t multi tasking and just thinking about nothing for an hour?  They are planting farms in intercity Detroit. The world is changing.  The secret is to change before it changes you. To go to the places you want to go before anybody else gets there. That always isn’t easy.

I asked my new friend what kind of job they were looking for and they looked at me and said “I don’t know.” That stopped me for a moment. It sounded like I am looking for a job that doesn’t exist. I have heard that before. There are many people looking for the path of clarity.  I know my new friend will figure it out because of their skills and experience but I thought of the many people that aren’t as gifted as them.

The key to survival in the New Normal is a very broad horizontal and not vertical network.  Like a traffic circle this will give you more opportunities for an exit to a new future.

The train of change will continue to come down the track very quickly in the New Normal.  You just have to make sure you are in the Locomotive instead of the Caboose.

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