It’s Not About Who You Know. It’s About Who Knows You.

I was having dim sum the other day with Debbie Moysychyn a consummate networker.  Debbie shared one of her networking truism that resonated with me.  She said, “It is Not About Who You Know. It’s Who Knows You.”

I let that sink in while I was having a bite of Har Gau.  The first thought that popped into my mind was the expression reinforced the importance of networking with people in person or face to face.

Although I believe that today your first impression is largely created by your Google presence, for people to truly know you they have to have met you live. It’s the same thing with music.  You create the strongest relationship with the music by going to concerts.

You definitely need to own Google by using social media but you also need a strong personal networking plan so you are meeting lots of people.  Face time and not Facebook leads to relationships. Linkedin doesn’t talk and walk and have accents to react to like real people do.

The optimum payoff of my blogging efforts is when I meet somebody in person that shares that they have read my blog. That is a lock and load of social and personal networking,

Although I am not certain, most likely that occurs because I post my blogs on Linkedin and my Linkedin groups.  I also attend live real time networking meetings that are offshoots of many of those Linkedin groups.  We swim in the same social circles prior to meeting.

So how do you make sure that other people know who you are?

In many ways, as we glacially emerge from the great recession word of mouth spreads quickly especially if you have the right reputation. The definition of that I will leave up to the reader to define.  Word of mouth can surprisingly break through the clutter of our over communicated society.  If you are doing it right you will encounter people who say, “I’ve heard of you.”

The expression “It’s not who you know but who knows you” also implies that you want people of influence and power knowing who you are.  The description of who people of influence means in the New Normal I will also leave up to you.

I know many more CEO’s, CMO’s and influential people than I ever knew prior to the great recession.  Why?  I never had their power, their money or their influence.  I met many of them when they were in transition.  Others I met when they were working but could see the train of transition coming down their track.  I didn’t have their influence but I had a bigger network.  You see Debbie was right.  It is not about you who know.  It is all about who knows you.

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.

Are You Ready to Get Fired?

As a Co Founder of Laguna Niguel Connectors and a person that has spoken to numerous transition groups throughout Southern California I am ecstatic that the employment outlook is getting better.

As a native in the New Normal I know that you have to be prepared for all scenarios in a rapidly changing world where a hick up like gas prices can put the brakes on hiring momentum when in the old normal they wouldn’t be linked. The New Normal is a world of sound bite news that lemmings follow.

Are you ready for the next chapter of your life or is  somebody else going write it for you?  The Chapter you don’t see coming.

Most people aren’t.  They react versus anticipate because that is the pattern they know.  You didn’t have to be so prepared for quick jobs changes in the past but that’s not the new world.

I have 27 year old friends who grew up in the New Normal and are very educated, competent and have had 3 jobs already because clients and budgets change.

So what if you got fired tomorrow.  Would you be ready?

What if you were called into an unscheduled meeting and your boss and a person from HR was there to deliver the news.  Would you be ready or would you panic?

Would you be ready to hit the mean streets of transition?

Will you be ready for the first Monday of not working with no place to go, no reason to rush to get dressed in the morning,  no company computer, no company cell phone, no company meetings, no Monday busyness?  No calls to your partner saying you will be home late that night.

Will you already have your own personal business cards?  Will you be ready to put your personal website in your new email salutation on the first day?

Will your Linkedin profile be stellar and a magnet for every recruiter to find?

Will you spend your first week talking to people about what happened or be too busy marketing yourself.

Will you spend your first nights thinking about what happened or why there isn’t enough time to take you to where you want to go?

If you are smart you will be.

In a world of disposable jobs the only certainty and continuity is the life you live with yourself and the people that are important to you.

 

The other never ending variable is the need to provide for your family.  Will they be Cobbler’s Children or fellow shoemakers?

Just like Superman, today you need to be ready to change your costume from corporate apparel to personal apparel at the drop of a tweet.

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 How to Create a Job.

Networking Tips for People in Transition.

I have spoken on networking and personal branding to numerous networking groups frequented by people in transition including ExecuNet, CafeNet, Women Sage, Ken Tudhope ‘s Networking Group for CFO’s, and the Challenger Networking Group.  I am also one of the Founders of Laguna Niguel Connectors which has over 2800 members.  I relate to people in transition because as a consultant I am always perpetually employed in many ways.

Because of my network, companies sometimes use me for recruiting so I have talked and met with numerous job seekers.  I see a lot of good things and some things that scare me and make me ask why would a person do that or not do that?

So here are some tips for job hunters for 2012.  Finally the hiring momentum is moving in the right direction.  Make sure that you are ready to capitalize.

• First, sharpen your tools.  Many times I see resumes with no e mails, I see no salutations on people’s emails, I get calls on my cell phone from blocked numbers so I cannot call the people back when I am driving.  All of these things make it harder to get in touch with people.  In this day and age of numerous candidates for every position you have to make yourself as sticky as possible and extremely easy to connect with.
• Invest in yourself. When I hear the news comments about the hundreds of thousands of people who have stopped working I can’t help to wonder if some of those people just aren’t keeping themselves marketable. Is your business card stock the weight of toilet paper?  If your Linkedin photo looks like it was shot by an amateur you aren’t investing in yourself.  Who’s to blame if you aren’t staying current on trends, technology, social media and other hiring practices?
• Drop any negative baggage.  It’s a weight. Don’t listen to your mind. Feed your mind. The smarter you become, the easier you will be to hire and the better your attitude will be.
• Quit wasting your time.  Asking second degree connections on Linkedin to introduce you to somebody that they are connected with on the second or third degree is not a warm introduction.  It is futility in job hunting.  Networking isn’t connecting strangers to strangers.
• Remember that in hiring there are two clocks.  There is the company hiring clock that moves very very slowly.  And then there is the hiring clock for people in transition.  They do not run at the same speed.  Not even close.  Quit driving yourself crazy by trying to align them.  Things will happen when they are meant to. You have no control over the schedule.
• Who were the two or three most influential people you met last year?  Spend more time with them in the coming year.  Obviously they had an impact on you.  Try to stoke those fires by spending more time with them. They are as valuable as Connectors.
• Think of Linkedin as Twitter and update your profile with substance four times a day.  Remember that your target audience is not your friends but your potential hiring manager.  Post accordingly.
• If you have stopped networking you have stopped looking for a job.  Over 70% of jobs are found through referrals or associates.  You only need to meet one person to change your life. There is a good chance they won’t come to your house. What if they were at that networking event or Starbucks you blew off derailing your potential journey?  People create opportunities not Tweets.

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 this video on How To Rise Above the Crowd.

Read this article on How To Create a Job.

http://hankblank.wordpress.com/2011/10/02/how-to-create-a-job-by-creating-a-consulting-career/

Why Holiday Time is a Great Time for Networking.

Hey Starbucks has been playing Christmas music since Halloween so I guess it’s time for a Holiday Time is a Great Time for Networking Blog.

I’ve always felt that the holidays are a great time for networking, meeting new people, taking new steps to find your next opportunity, and being out there.  I have also found it an easier time to contact prospects and that people can actually be more accessible and answer emails and calls.  They probably want to make sure that they won’t find a lump of coal under their tree.

I have always felt that the key to a successful 1^st Quarter is an aggressive 4^th Quarter.  When other people go into Holiday mode I try to stay in work mode.

The holiday period offers a full networking dance card.  There are lots of events out there. You will find that your calendar can be quickly filled.  Recently I have found holiday may involve numerous organizations collectively sponsoring one event so the turnout is larger and people from various disciplines attend.

Different people come out at Holiday events.  The Holiday season seems to attract people you don’t often see during the year.  Often Senior Level people come out during the Holidays to show the flag.

Holiday events are also social events so they are more informal and allow for one on one dialogue versus sitting down at a table and listening to a speaker. You can cover more ground, meet more people and make more contacts.  Don’t leave your business cards at home or keep them in your purse.

Let’s face it.  Many people aren’t comfortable with networking and one on one dialogue with strangers is not their strong suite.  As Holiday events are social events, significant others often attend.  Spouses can often provide relationship building touch points and follow up opportunities that you might not be skilled at.  These are the times to be working all the advantages that you can.

Holiday time offers opportunities for special follow up that you might not regularly implement as part of your networking strategy and I’m not talking about send a follow up resume to the CEO that you met.  Maybe it is a Holiday card or a personal note requesting a courtesy interview or taking your call.  Maybe you will find that the Holiday spirit of graciousness may generate different results this time of year.  There is has been an uptake in hiring across the country recently that may increase hiring in the spring.  This is a great time of year to make sure that you are top of mind.

The Holiday Season is also a great time to recognize some of the key contacts in your networking world that have aligned your direction or improved your wiring in the past year.  If you got a new position this is a great time to thank the person that helped you get there.  Send them a Starbucks card, burn them a CD or sign them up for a Magazine Subscription or just send them a personal note.  Everybody likes to be recognized and appreciated.

So get out there this Holiday Season and let’s see what the New Year will bring. I want to enter the New Year being aggressive in closing out the year and optimistic on the results that will bring.

In the spirit of Christmas download my free audio CD called Hank Blank’s Guide to Holiday Networking.  Adjust the volume up a bit.  Hope you enjoy.

You can connect with Hank on Linkedin

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

Follow his updates on twitter @hankblank

Be stupid with him on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/hankblank

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

Or you can just send him a large gift.  They are always welcome.

Job Hunting in Two Different Worlds.

A friend of mine who is in sales got a job offer this week.  She was very happy.  She got the job because of two reasons; relationships and Linkedin.  Oh of course she has many other skills that got her the job but the relationship and Linkedin were pivotal.  The last time this person found a job was by responding to an ad posted in a newspaper twelve years ago in the Old Normal.

Another friend of mine is in sales and recently lost their job.  They were living in the Old Normal and were suddenly launched into a new and uncomfortable world called the New Normal.

They had less than 10 connections on Linkedin, an incomplete profile and no recommendations.

They were not alone.  Many people who work for companies not engaged in social networking often are also not engaged with the personal marketing tools of the New Normal.  I have blogged about this before.

The friend of mine who got the job this week really leveraged the power of Linkedin.  The first thing she did was hire a professional photographer and had a number of photos taken in an office environment.  She got photographed in a variety of outfits so she would be able to pick the very best one.  It shows her in a Boardroom setting.  She looks very professional, polished and like a business leader one would want to hire. My other friend has no picture on their Linkedin page. They were invisible.

The friend of mine who got the job this week had many recommendations from previous clients on her Linkedin profile.  Former customers became her references.  High level people don’t recommend people publically unless they believe in their capabilities.  After all they have their reputation to protect.  The other friend of mine had no recommendations on their Linkedin profile.

The friend of mine who got the job found that recruiters were always checking out her Linkedin page.  She regularly sent them invites to connect on Linkedin and they responded.  They were chasing her as she had adjusted to the New Normal.

My other friend in the Old Normal sent out e mails to his associates asking for a list of recruiters that they could chase.

I continue to be surprised by how many people remain in the Old Normal.  This recession started in 2007 the same year the iPhone was introduced and let many people in transition continue to have an extremely weak presence on Linkedin.  Why are they not listening?  What do they not believe? They certainly don’t need more pain.  The time to change has long passed.

Congratulations to my friend in the New Normal. Please wake up my friends in the Old Normal.

Hank Blank speaks to companies and organizations on How to Rise Above the Crowd.  You can check him out by doing a Google search on Hank Blank or visiting his site at www.hankblank.com.

You can connect with Hank on Linkedin

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

Follow his updates on twitter @hankblank

http://www.facebook.com/hankblank

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

What Makes A Social Media Expert?

I am sure that all of us have encountered our fair share of Social Media experts.  Often many of them are fairly one dimensional.  Among a target group of their peers they may generate an adulation feast but in other marketing sectors they meet skepticism because they only have one credential.

I think social media experts abound because social media is such a fire hose nobody can really grasp it all. Everybody has their drink and knows their one sector and there is so much activity fragmentation that people can claim expertise that some find difficult to challenge.

A CEO told me the other day that his social media agency had arranged a Tweetup with 1.5 million participants. That’s what his social media experts told him.  A Monday Night Football game may only capture 15 million viewers Nationally.

In social media there are few career benchmarks or protocols.  If you described yourself as a Brand Manager or an Account Executive you would come with a pedigree of experience and a predicable certain skill set.  Not so in social media. If I ask somebody, “What did you do before you became a Twitter expert?” They respond, “I was a Realtor and then I got into social media because the market wasn’t that hot.”  Not exactly P&G.

I read a great analogy the other day from a writer I wish I could credit here who described social media as pearls on a dress. One piece of the outfit.  Now if you walked into a room wearing only pearls you would certainly grab everyone’s attention and be certain to get a ride home but you would probably only be remembered for one dimension.

If you ask many social media experts to define a GRP or Gross Rating Point they can’t.  Or an electronically optimized press release, or a VAR channel, or a listing allowance or segmentation studies.  You get the drift.

Social media is one vertical, one channel of the brand’s dimension.  When I worked at agencies such as JWT you had to immerse yourself in all the facets of the brand experience.  You knew how to read Nielsen reports, you did store checks, you rode with sales people, and you knew research methodologies up and down because flawed research could upset the apple cart. During an internal brand review at JWT, the General Manager asked the AE how they liked the Oscar Meyer slices.  The AE said they were vegetarian.  Very quickly they weren’t working on Oscar Meyer.

Sure people visit Facebook over seven times a day but the average person surprisingly to me still watches over 25 hours of TV a week and they listen to a lot of radio.

Only ten years ago we had the .com bubble.  At one time .coms that hadn’t made a penny profit were valued more than GM. Wall Street believed it and the papers printed it and people talked about it. Then the .com bust came.  The .com bust certainly didn’t kill the internet but it certainly diminished the hype.  The same will happen with many social media experts.

Just Ask Jeeves about how things can change.

Hank Blank frequently speaks on Networking and the New Business Process.  His presentations are called “How to Rise Above the Crowd” and “Why Agencies Don’t Want New Business.”  To contact him to speak to your organization or company send him an email to hank@hankblank.com.

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

Networking Tips for Lawyers

A friend of mine who is a lawyer asked me to write some networking tips that she could share with fellow attorneys at her firm.  Believe me writing networking tips for lawyers wouldn’t be the first audience I would think about but my friend is very special so this is what I wrote. I thought I would share them with a wider audience.  The legal disclaimers are at the end.

So here they are:

Networking is about developing relationships.  It is not about selling.  Business happens when mutually beneficial relationships are established over time.  You don’t ask people to marry you on the first date.  There is a whole category in humor called lawyer jokes.  Don’t let your poor networking skills contribute to it.  The types of folks that most people don’t want to meet are lawyers and undertakers.

Get off your crackberry.  Don’t become a lemming like everyone else standing in line at Starbucks reading their e mails oblivious to the people around them.  Trust me; your next big client engagement is not going to come in the form of an e mail while you are waiting for your coffee.  The Barista’s mother could be the President of a bank.  Talk to her and others around you.  Networking is about an attitude of engagement not going to a networking event. You network everyday not once a week.

You must Rock and Roll on Linkedin.  The average income of a Linkedin user is close to $100,000.  It is the preferred social media platform for your prospects.  Linkedin is a great prospecting tool and a great vehicle to improve your SEO.  Make sure your profile is complete and detailed. Make sure that your photo doesn’t look like a mug shot.  Have lots of recommendations from previous clients. It let’s others speak your praises versus you.  Post updates on a daily basis.  Google will reward you or ignore you. It is your choice.

Networking takes work and preparation.  To be really good at something you have to work at it.  Do not go to network events at 5 minutes to noon if the event starts at noon.  Go at 11:20 and read the name tags of people who will be attending.  Introduce yourself to them when they pick up their name badges.  Make sure you have lots of business cards in your hand and not your wallet.  Do not sit with your friends.  Standing around a bar with friends talking to people you know is not networking, it is socializing.

Social media is not a fad. It is not just something that young people do. Companies who do not embrace change are left behind.  Kodachrome film was a 15 billion dollar business for Kodak a decade ago.  Now the only place that you can get Kodachrome film is in a Paul Simon song.  People who do not embrace change become fads.  Do not tweet about tacos.  You use social media to distribute your thought leadership.  Participation in social media will help your SEO and make you look like a voice of knowledge if you use its power. Use it in the wrong way and you will look like a poser.

Your elevator speech doesn’t matter because your chances of getting on an elevator with a decision maker are slim to nil but the chances of that person doing a Google search on you prior to engaging with you are certain.  You need to own the first page of Google.  Every posting.  Social networking can help you achieve that.  Don’t believe me?  Google Hank Blank to see.

Disclaimer. To connect with Hank check out his site at www.hankblank.com  Follow him on Twitter at @hankblank, get more networking tips by reading his blog at
http://hankblank.wordpress.com
send him an e mail at hank@hankblank.com or connect with him on Linkedin
http://www.linkedin.com/in/hankblankcom
 

How to Improve your Consulting Career

I have written a series of recent blogs on how to build a consulting career.   I started out with How to Create Job by Creating  a Consulting Career followed by How to Build a Consulting Career and recently More on Building a Consulting Career.

Here are some tips on building a consultant career.

One of the challenges with consulting is that many people say the practice is not scalable for single individuals or a limitation on capacity and growth.  A consultant is always time challenged between chasing new projects which upon completion stop generally income and the perpetual chase for the Yankee dollar.

To augment my resources I have always used paid interns.  I have done it for years.  First it was my kids and then a variety of college students. There have been many graduates of Blank and Associates.  What works best for me is students who live in close proximity to me and students who are studying marketing, public relations or advertising because that is in business I am in.

It’s a win win situation.  Students who recently graduated from college face the chicken or egg shuffle of “you have no experience.”  Working for me provides them with relevant experience and after a time they move on and get hired which is great for everyone.  I can also help them get a job by providing a working reference.

I basically try to assign as many task projects to them to save me time.  For example I write all of my own content but my interns help me by posting my blog in the discussions section of the fifty Linkedin groups I belong to.  I would be less inclined to spend the time to do that.  The more I distribute my content the more feedback I receive.

Why do something yourself that you can have a student do for you at $12 an hour? I am trying to make much more than that.

I find that students are also very social media and technology savvy which helps a lot.  They have helped me in many ways.  Everything from syncing my phone and iPad to loading apps on my devices to educating me on new technology to PowerPoint presentations.

I love it when they come to me and ask, “Have you ever thought of doing it this way?”  I generally change the way I do things because they may have a better idea. The learning is both up and down.

The other way is that I increase my scalability is because of my network.  One of the benefits of networking is that it saves you time and makes you more productive.  People think that is counter intuitive.  It takes time to get there and back, listen to the speaker etc.  They think that time would be better spent doing other things.

My network is so broad that I rarely have to research something and when I do I go to Jane Bayer at Factfinders who can find anything.  I don’t go to Google, I go to people.  I know people who have told me who to use celebrity talent, social media experts in all areas of expertise, proof readers, printers galore, and trade show suppliers.  Whatever it takes I can generally find quickly and efficiently.  There is a big difference in consulting betwen telling your client you are working on something versus having the answer.  So how broad are your resources?

More to come.  Hey this has been a journey of learning lots of lessons.

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 
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrHankblank

More On How to Build a Consulting Career.

In my last blog I wrote that one of the first things I learned in developing a consulting career was that it is not your knowledge that is key to success but how your market yourself and your knowledge.

On my journey somebody once told me that the speakers that make the most money aren’t the ones that are the best speakers but the ones that are the best marketers.

To market yourself effectively you need a plan. When I first started out I think that my business plan was mostly in my head. This was a little surprising because in my work career I was often responsible for developing written plans.

Over the course of my consulting career this evolved.  Today I definitely have a written plan but it is not what you would expect.  My plan is a visual map which is on the back of my office door and is about four feet long. It is a collage of presentation pad sheets.  It sits upon last year’s plan which is about two feet long.  It is basically a bunch of drawings, words and circles done in crayons and magic marker and not a list.

My great trainer and coach, Judith Westerfield, lead me to the understanding that as a creative person I would implement my plan better by having a visual expression of what I wanted to accomplish versus a list of tasks.  She was right. You have to visualize to realize. There are sections where I have total clarity. They are my foundation elements.  Then there are various other visual clusters that represent my objectives and the core attitude that I need to maintain to achieve my goals.

My plan keeps me on track.  One of my 2011 goals was to speak in Canada.  I recently spoke to the Petroleum Joint Venture Association in Calgary so I took a step in that direction.  Other things I have not accomplished yet but at least I have a loose structure of where I am going.

It is funny but I often show it to new interns that work for me and they totally get what I am trying to do almost immediately.  Maybe they have a youthful clarity.

The next step to developing a consulting practice is to get out of the house.  This is difficult for most people because computers can keep you trapped at home sending out e mails that delude you into thinking you are connecting with people.  People don’t remember e mails, they remember people.  Many people love to hide behind their computers but to succeed in consulting you need to get out there.  There was an old expression that sales people should have small desks so they don’t sit at them but are out and about.  Consultants should be outside people versus inside people.  They should be finders first versus grinders.  That will come later.

You will succeed or fail in your consulting career based on the power of your network.  I have written many articles on the power of networking.  My network has sustained me.  During the ten plus years of my consulting practice I have never had a call saying, “Hank I am a total stranger and I want to do business with you.”  I have had calls saying I got your name from Mary or Sally or Bill and those calls lead to new opportunities.

My advice is simple on the networking front.  Schedule five meetings a day when you start consulting.  Two will get cancelled and you will end up with three meeting a day.  Each of those people on average will give you two names which ends up being 6 names a day. If you follow that practice on a daily basis you will connect with 30 people in a week and 120 in a month.  If you networked with that purpose for a year you would be a very connected person.  Possible? Yes. Powerful?  Well let me ask you a simple question.  “How would your life change if you met one new person a day?’

More to come.  Hey this has been a journey of learning lots of lessons.

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  
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrHankblank

How to Build a Consulting Career.

I wrote in my previous blog that it doesn’t appear that the hiring market isn’t going to catch fire any time soon.   I hope history will prove me wrong.  I see many people desperate for work spending hours on low probability job pursuit just to stay busy.  People cold call me saying they are looking for work when I am not even a recruiter.  Many people spend their time chasing vapor.  Perhaps that time could be better suited building a consulting practice with a greater rate of return.

Consulting is not for all.  Somebody once told me that a consultant is somebody who likes to have their feet firmly planted in mid air.  It is like jumping off a cliff every month hoping you encounter somebody on the way down with an extra parachute.

So how do you build a consulting career?  Well one of the most painful things that I had to learn in making the switch from the work world to the consulting world is that it is not your knowledge but your product that counts.  “Hey I have a great resume and great experience.  I am smart.  People will seek me out. I was stupid.”  You can’t send people your resume when you are pitching a consulting gig because you need substance because those prospects expect you to produce substance for them.

You need to productize your knowledge.  Ten years ago you needed collateral and a brochure.  I think that is less important these days.  My capabilities presentation is a Keynote presentation on my iPad.  It is simple, affordable (except for the iPad), portable and makes an impression.  My friend Ivan Torres created it for me.

Then you needed a site.  My friend Dante Fiorini created the current Hank Blank site. Matt Desio the original one. I have had a personal site for about ten years now and people visit it according to Google Analytics but I can get more people reading a blog posting in one day than visit my site in one month.  On a good month I get ten times more visitors to my blog than my site and people say they like my site.

Today many people may not need a website at all.  You may be able to get away with a rock and roll Facebook page if you are in social media or have some types of practices.

Today I find that my Linkedin profile is the core of my personal product and branding.  Often more people check me out on Linkedin in one day than visit my site on any given day.  I used to have a recommendations file when people asked for references.  Now I just cut and paste the pertinent recommendations from my Linkedin profile and e mail it to them.

Another piece of advice I can give is never to do anything yourself.  Sounds like a nice life eh? Well if you consult I can guarantee you that you will work more than you have ever worked in your life but it will be a different kind of time.

What I mean is use other people’s expertise. I have shared what Dante and Ivan have done for me and they are just the start of my journey.  Many people said to me many times you use a template and build your own site in four hours.  Why would I want to do that?  Don’t fall into that trap.  I have scissors at home but I don’t cut my own hair.  Use the best resources to produce the best product at the price you can afford.  I have also always traded my expertise for their expertise when possible.  Yes barter.  People will do things for you if you try to make money for them.

An iron rule. You can never compromise your personal branding.  If your card doesn’t make people smile it is not working. You need to be memorable and your card is what people take away.  You don’t need to over think it.  The Hank Blank card with Blank on the back was created by my friend Ken Church and printed in four days.

It makes people smile or laugh all the time and smiles and laughs start relationships.   All your materials need to impress people.  Never cut corners with your personal brand.  If you are using a free card from the internet you simply aren’t committed to yourself. Those types of cards will never make people smile or laugh.  Just forget you.  You can never compromise your personal brand. That is all you have when you start.  Just you and your brand and some hope.

More to come.  Hey I have ten years of mistakes to cover here.

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 videos on YouTube 
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrHankblank