Posts tagged as:

consultants

Building a digital presence after age 50: 8 lessons

by Peter Osborne on October 7, 2010 · 0 comments

This post is based on my PodCamp Philly presentation last week.  Here’s a link to the handout, but please take a few minutes to read the background.

I’m not sure if I’m going to make it as a consultant.  It’s not talent; it’s staying power (i.e., cash flow) and visibility.  I have to admit I’m spending more time lately on the search for a full-time position.  I’ve made mistakes along the way.  I’ve spent too much time cultivating prospects who I knew deep down would be slow to decide or slow to pay.  I’m not doing myself any favors with branding myself to attract both recruiters and clients.  I’m not as good as Search Engine Optimization as I need to be to get that visibility. And I prefer to do the work (content execution) than I do looking for it (selling new clients).

I’ll be 51 in a couple of days and compete every day with younger consultants (and job seekers) who are more comfortable with the online tools and platforms.  But the scary thing is that I’m much more advanced than most of my peers who don’t have websites, don’t have blogs, threw up crappy LinkedIn profiles that described any one of a thousand people, and think Twitter is a waste of time (if they knew what Twitter was).  And if they have a Facebook account, they’re using it to share picture of the kids with the grandparents.  And Search Engine Optimization?  You’re talking a foreign language with most of them.

Social-networking use for people 50-64 has risen 88% over the past year, but only to 47% this past May, from 47% in April 2009, according to a Pew study.  In a comparison statistic that’s hardly stunning, the growth was far slower among the 18-29 demographic.  The AARP released its own study in September, saying that while 23% of its members use Facebook, only 4% use LinkedIn and 3% use Twitter.  And then of course there’s the recent Sysomos study of 1.2 billion Tweets that reinforces my demographic’s view of that platform: 71% of messages fail to produce a reaction.  So why bother, they ask. 

Building your digital visibility is a huge deal because the ranks of consultants are being filled by an increasing number of the nation’s unemployed people who have been out of work for more than a year (30% of the 14.7 million and 35%+ in each of the demographics over the age of 35, according to a Pew study released yesterday).  Competition for projects (or jobs) is fierce and you have to make it easy to find you.

18 months ago, I was a digital infant...but I've grown up a lot because I have great parents

I did a digital inventory within 24 hours of being laid off.  I was sure I’d have a new job within 90 days and would be double-dipping for a very long time.  But I was interested in where I stood.  That inventory didn’t take long. I had 127 connections on LinkedIn, 74 of them internal contacts (despite having a relationship-management job with dozens of partners).  I had a bare-minimum Profile, belonged to a couple of credit-card industry and university-alumni LinkedIn groups, and had no idea what an Answer was.  No blog.  No website. No Twitter. No Facebook. One listing — midway down the first page — when I Googled my name.

I’m in a much better place today.  This is one of two blogs (here’s a link to the other one). I actually have three websites, though one is somewhat dormant.  I have more than 500 LinkedIn connections (and less than a third are former co-workers) and a LinkedIn profile that has been described as one that “people can learn from.”  I’ve started some LinkedIn groups and belong to a bunch and use them to promote my blog and consulting services and meet people who have either helped me or I can help. I started on Twitter a few months ago, mostly to learn how to use it but I think I’m developing a pretty strong presence that could pay off with projects or jobs in the near future.  And I’m Googling much better, although I will admit that my brand Googles better than my name (more on that in a bit).

The purpose of this post is not to whine or complain.  It’s to offer my advice to people who are where I was 18 months or so ago, to help you avoid the mistakes I’ve made in building a digital presence.  So here are the eight ways you can improve your online presence, build credibility and trust, and (hopefully) get more business.  I’ll keep it brief (although it’s already kind of late for that), and probably elaborate in future posts.

  1. Strategy Before Tactics.  This is so, so important.  It’s not about getting 500 Connections on LinkedIn or getting 10,000 hits on your blog within X months.  Those are tactics for a bigger strategy.  What are your goals? In the big picture, you want people to be attracted to you for some reason.  You want to get a job; keep your skills sharp; create a visual resume; sell your skills or more products; retain customers (or get new ones); build a community; or promote a cause.  You need to build your list and (very important) claim your digital real estate (that one, BTW, is the subject of a future post and a new product I’m developing).
  2. Don’t Just Dive In.  Take your time.  Choose your platforms and don’t try to do everything at once. First, do some listening. I’m not talking about just setting up Google Alerts for your name or company and seeing what people are saying about you.  It’s about listening to conversations about your industry and related topics.  It’s about watching how other people do it — subscribing to their blogs, looking at their websites, seeing how they Tweet (if you want a good starting point, go to our Blogroll on Steroids where you can link to some of the best–that’s how I’ve learned).  It’s not about keeping score or being a Collector; it’s about building relationships. A terrific PR person and blogger in Chicago, Gini Dietrich, told me she thinks 500 Twitter followers is a magic number.  She didn’t tweet anything until she had 500 followers but focused solely on building relationships by sending direct @ conversations until she hit that 500 number.  Those 500 still follow her and she knows most of them in ways, now, other than Twitter.  I admire her discipline and have begun taking periodic looks at my Followers and cutting out the spammers. 
  3. Stay Focused. Avoid Distractions.  Stay Focused is the mantra of my friend Ed Callahan and he’s right.  You have to remind yourself regularly what your goals are and stay on track.  Use keywords within reason.  There are lots of bright, shiny objects out there.  Don’t try to grab all of them.  It’s easy to get caught up with blog reading and Tweet flows. Be careful about mixing business and pleasure.  Schedule yourself and be disciplined.  Regarding my goals, I’ve recently consolidated my WordPress.com blog with my consulting website onto a new domain with a new host that lets me do affiliate marketing, use PayPal to close on my Calls to Action, and take advantage of my Must Read links in my blog to get a commission from Amazon (just a few examples).  I’ve already paid for my first year of website hosting with commissions from partner sites.  I still have a long ways to go on this one, but I’ve done a 180 since I started.
  4. Build a Brand, But Don’t Lose Your Name.  You have to Google well and you need to focus on figuring out your keywords and then using them.  Some will tell you that people should be able to find you by searching on what you do and where (e.g., attorney and Philadelphia).  That’s more difficult when you do many things or don’t fit neatly into a one- or two-word description.  I made the decision to brand as Bulldog.  People like the name.  I get comments.  They smile at my business card. And it accurately describes my brand.  I also created this website to provide tips, links, and advice to new consultants.  I “own” the Bulldog Simplicity and Consultant Launch Pad search terms, but I don’t yet own my own name.  I haven’t done a particularly good job, apparently, at tying Bulldog to my name when I plug it in alone.  You can own your own brand on LinkedIn by focusing on your profile, requesting targeted Recommendations, letting people know when you post, building your industry network, and defining (and using) appropriate keywords.  And one more thing, use and tag videos and pictures on your site and blog.  They search far better than words.
  5. Forget Daily Metrics…For Now.  True story.  My daughter wrote a post about the band Paramore on the Nickelodean website that had 400 hits within a couple of hours.  My ego took a hit. The point is, the numbers really don’t matter for most of us.  It’s the Comments and the engagement.  And that’s different for a lot of people in this demographic because we grew up looking at spreadsheets and getting promotions and bonuses based on the numbers.  I started with a WordPress.com blog and had 14,000 hits in about a year.  But it wasn’t translating into business or calls about a job.  My advice: Think carefully about your Categories, Tags, and Keywords.  Figure out what the important metrics are that impact your goals and do the right things that help you achieve those goals and build a community. 

  6. Learn sharing early

    6.  It’s All About Sharing. People in my demographic are not wired to share, at least not the way you need to think about sharing with social media.  It’s more than sharing your thoughts. You have to have the confidence to give away your processes, knowing that you’re the best choice to implement it.  Comment on other people’s blog with something more than “nice post.”  I’ve seen a big (relatively speaking) jump in Twitter Followers in the past two weeks because I’m participating in evening chats. Offer some perspective.  Sally Hogshead, the author of Fascinate, says “you can be comfortable or outstanding but not both.”  Don’t worry about getting a negative comment from someone, she says.  Clients in the middle don’t care.  The middle position is goodbye.  It’s death.  It’s not caring.  Think about what you can create over the next 30 days that people will want and put it on your website or give it away.  It will come back to you.

  7. Online Is No Substitute for Face-to-Face.  We can all get stuck behind our keyboards “talking” to people and forget that the best way to build trust and get referrals is to meet them in person. I published a post last week about a friend who called me out of the blue and took me networking.  To this point, most of my networking has been with other people looking for work.  Then I went to PodCamp Philly last week and made 15-20 good solid contacts. I’m feeling much better about my prospects.
  8. Without a Call to Action, You May Be Wasting Your Time.  Marketing blogger Jim Connolly says visitors to your website need to be able to tell what you most want them to do.  Your blog can have  a lot of goals, says Chris Brogan, from attract new business or promote someone else, to providing links, starting a conversation, or being helpful.  On LinkedIn, you need to make it easy for someone to find you or to get their attention and you have to tell them what you want.  Just having a blog or a website or a Profile isn’t enough.  This is where your goals come in handy.  Calls to Action are the Mariano Rivera of goals.  You have to be able to close.

We (people over 50) need to be online…to compete, to find the job or get projects, to get into the conversations, and to remain relevant.  Whether you’re looking for projects or looking for a job, the game is Survivor, where the strongest don’t always win and the decision maker looks for reasons to eliminate rather than embrace. Don’t let your online presence be a reason to be voted off the island.  Figure out how to make Google and Bing and the other search engines your friend in your public-relations effort.  We’re all in this together.  If you need help, here’s a link to my consulting pages.

Time to open the Comments section.  What important lessons have you learned while building your online presence?

P.S.  By the way — and this P.S. is both a commercial and a contest entry –  there are a lot of places you can learn how to raise your digital presence and improve your search results.  If your consulting focuses on public relations — and if it doesn’t, you can stop reading – one place to learn a lot would be the 2010 PRSA International Conference in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 17-18.  I’d love the opportunity to learn at the feet of Lee Odden, who will be doing sessions on SEO for PR and Social Media for PR.  I’d love the chance to hear live (and maybe meet) some of the people I’ve been learning from over the past year or so.  If PR is where you consult, maybe I’ll see you there.

{ 0 comments }

11 great posts from last week to start your week

by Peter Osborne on October 3, 2010 · 2 comments

You’re busy and may not have had time to keep pace with some of the best posts from the past week.  Here’s a set of links to articles that should appeal to consultants and small-business owners.  This is a great opportunity to acquaint yourself with these writers and perhaps subscribe to their blogs or bookmark their sites.  As always, I’ve posted this same list over on Bulldog Simplicity.  Have a great week!

12 E-Mail Marketing Tips for Small Business.  I’m linking to the post by Chrisanne Sternal of UnderstandingMarketing.com, but it borrows heavily (and acknowledges it) from a post that Lisa Barone of Outspoken Media wrote for the Small Business Trends blog.

Social Media and the Big Conversation “Fail.”  It started with a great post by Mark W. Schaefer (he of the terrific [grow} blog) about his surprising meeting with someone who he “talks to” a lot through social media.  What put this post on this week’ list are the comments — more than 100 of them — that really highlights social media’s strengths as a place to build community. 

How to Align Marketing With Sales.   Michael Brenner’s post covers an important topic, but what set is apart was the way he juxtaposed a couple of other recent posts on the subject and provide links to those posts.  That’s what put it on this list.

Why Getting Attention Won’t Make You Rich.  A very funny post on Copyblogger from Sonia Simone, who argues that being unique and authentic and getting attention isn’t all there is to being successful.  Instead, says Sonia, the key is building trust.

Small Business Act of 2010: An Overview.  Nice summary of the new law that builds on information that MyVenturePad.com took from the White House Blog.  Good starting point for consultants who are interested in how it will impact them so you can ask questions of your lawyer or accountant or do additional research.

Time is Money, Now Act Like It.  Are you taking full advantage of your most valuable resource?  Scott Allen offers some great tips that really struck a nerve in terms of the comments on this post.

8 Bad Habits That Stifle Your Creativity.  Dean Rieck makes the list for the second week in a row in a post for Copyblogger (And this would be a good time to go sign up for the RSS or e-mail feed of their daily posts).  A nice piece that talk about the habits that “crush the creative pathways in your brain.” 

Living Self-Employed Online: The Manual They Forgot to Give You.  Glen (just Glen — no last name that I could find) is apparently a 21-year-old South African from England has written a great post that’s worth a read from every consultant who used to work in an office and now has to stay focused in a home office.

 Clever Ideas Can Sound Crazy…At First.  Just a quick post with a reminder to listen when your co-workers (or the people around you) come up with ideas.  Nice summary from Paul Williams of IdeaSandbox from the always valuable MarketingProfs Daily Fix site.

Found in Translation. In the midst of some recent online debates about who bloggers write for, here’s a thoughtful NY Times op-ed piece by author Michael Cunningham (“The Hours”) on how he learned to write for for his readers, plus some musings on the “most fundamental yet elusive quality for writers.”   A great reminder not only for consultants’ blogging efforts, but for proposal and report writing.

And in the Video/Graphic Department…

30 Conversations on Design.  Just a very cool website created last year by Little & Company to commemorate 30 years in business.  The comany asks 30 very creative people two questions:  What single example of design inspires you most (For Dan Pink, it’s the eraser) and What problem shoudl design solve next?  The 2010 videos are now up (making a total of 60 on the site).  Bookmark the site and go to it when you need to be inspired or just to get a different perspective on things.

Did I miss any?  Please feel free to add additional links in the Comments or send me your thoughts for next week’s post.

{ 2 comments }

When was the last time you helped someone face-to-face?

by Peter Osborne on October 1, 2010 · 2 comments

When was the last time you gave a new consultant or a job-seeker a REAL helping hand?

It’s been a challenging 21 months for both my consulting business and my job search (and, I suppose, for my psyche).  Then I got a call yesterday from one of my former managers, inviting me to go with him to an event last night.

“It’ll be a good way for you to meet some people,” he said.

But he had a lot more in mind.  As it turned out, Hal is a board member for the group and it was an awards ceremony with some of Delaware’s top business leaders in attendance.  As we made our way through the room, he made it a point to introduce me to every single person in our path.  He told a little story about how we came to work together that reinforced my “bulldog” brand and then told them something about my consulting services that would clearly get their attention.  We didn’t actually move on until he got a promise that they’d call me, or that I’d call them, or that I’d send a resume or my business summary.

Unbelievable.  You know that saying about how God doesn’t give you more than you can handle?  Well, I’ve been wondering lately whether the two of us had a completely different view of what I can handle.  And this was like God saying, “OK, maybe you’re right.  Let me take a bit of the pressure off.”

For the first time in awhile, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel…and it’s not an oncoming train.   I hadn’t asked for Hal’s help.  He knew I’ve been struggling and decided to give me a helping hand.  And I’ll be forever grateful, even if no projects or jobs come from it.

I’m a big believer in karma.  That the good deed you do today will come back to you in a positive way.  Here’s my question for you:  What have you done lately to REALLY help someone who’s struggling?  I’m not talking about forwarding him a job posting, posting a Recommendation on LinkedIn, retweeting them, or putting a nice comment in her latest blog posting.  I’m not really talking about sending them good wishes, picking up the phone to see how things are going, or asking if there’s some way you can help. 

All those things are great, of course, and much appreciated by the person.  But I’m talking about doing something face-to-face.  Like taking them out to lunch and really listening to their problems.  Like taking them to an event where their prospective customers are and giving your personal endorsement.  Like pulling them aside and giving them honest feedback about their resume, their brand, or their career direction.  Like asking a client about their most pressing needs and introducing them to a someone who can help, just to give them a chance to build their reputation and maybe earn a referral.

When was the last time you pushed away from the computer and did something offline, something face-to-face, something truly meaningful that the person will remember for the rest of their life.  Something that will help them get over the rejection letters (or worse, the complete lack of response on resumes or sales proposals). Something that will change the way they’re feeling about themselves and give them hope that things will get better.

As I drove home last night, I promised myself I was going to do the same thing for someone else when the opportunity presents itself.  There’s a ripple effect to the kind of thing that Hal did yesterday.  Try it for yourself.

{ 2 comments }

Warning! Business credit cards don’t carry the same protections as your personal card

by Peter Osborne on September 21, 2010 · 0 comments

Between the CARD Act, the Durbin Amendment, and other federal legislation, banks' profit margins are crumbling and business cards could help restore some of that profitability.

A struggling consultant friend of mine told me the other day that he’s fallen behind on paying some of his business expenses so he’s decided to put more things on his business credit card because paying 30+ days late isn’t going to hurt him all that much.  It’s an approach he says he’s taking on his personal credit cards without having to worry about huge rate increases.

He’s wrong.

Business credit cards are exempt from the CARD Act (the shorter name for the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act) that was signed into law last year.  That means business-card issuers can do the things they can’t do with your personal card — increase the interest rate on your existing balance, jack up your rate to the 30% range after just one late payment, charge high fees for irresponsible behavior, and apply payments to the balance with the lowest rate first.  And that could put you in an even bigger world of hurt.

Now do you understand why card issuers mailed 45 million business credit card offers in the first quarter, up 256% from the first quarter of 2009 (vs. only29% for all credit-card solicitations )?  It sure as heck wasn’t because they saw an early end to the recession and suddenly decided lending to small businesses was a safe thing to do.  To be fair, some issuers (Bank of America is one example) say that’ll apply the consumer rules to their business cards, but they don’t have to…although Sen. Charles Schumer of NY is raising holy hell over the marketing increase and is charging the banks with pushing unprotected business cards to consumers (including retirees) under the guise of a business card.

Now what does this mean for you.  Well, you certainly should be using separate cards for business and personal use because it makes tax time much simpler.  And business cards often come with higher credit limits (a big help with cash flow, particularly with the grace period); better rewards; and better record-keeping.  But business cards often come with higher interest rates, higher annual fees on those better rewards, repration a whole lot easier. 

You don’t necessarily need to get a business card.  You could earmark a personal card — which does come with those CARD Act protections — for business use.

Keep in mind that the CARD Act and subsequent legislation targeting checking and deposit accounts are hammering the banks’ bottom lines and costing them billions in annual revenue.  There’s no assurance — absent additional legislative action — that the banks that are voluntarily complying with the CARD Act on their business-card side will continue to do so.

{ 0 comments }

Beefing up the Blogroll on Steroids

by Peter Osborne on September 19, 2010 · 0 comments

More tools for your toolkit

Just a quick post on a Sunday night to talk about a streamlined vision for Consultant Launch Pad.  We’re changing the description of this site to be Tips, Links and Advice for early-stage consultants (and experienced ones too).  If it doesn’t fall into one of those three categories, we probably won’t include it.  The first step in this direction: I’ve nearly doubled the number of links in our Blogroll on Steroids this weekend — we’re over 70 now — and expect to add a lot more over the next few weeks (the goal is 100 by the end of September–each of them with a description of the writer or the site or blog’s goals).  Our reason:  We want to provide the consultants, freelancers, and small-business owners who visit this site with a quick look in a centralized place at people who consistently offer high-quality advice and resources for this growing audience.

I see this site as part aggregator (providing you with links to a variety of sites dedicated to helping consultants and small businesses) and part new content (blog postings and resources like e-books, checklists, and the like) with some advice added in (although the Forum has been a lot less popular to date than we expected).  Look for more short posts chock full of bullets you can use right away in your day-to-day efforts to grow and strengthen your consulting business.

I’m Tweeting as @consultantlaunc and doing a substantive amount of Retweeting of articles I hope interest you — or would interest consultants you know.  If you’re not on Twitter, you ought to consider it.  It’s a great place for finding a lot of great discussion on topics of interest to consultants and small-business owners — more than you might think.  You can also start looking for a post to start next weekend with a compilation of the best of the web’s postings on consultant- and small business-related issues.

Good luck.  We’re all in this together.  Let me know if you have suggestions on ways we can make the site more useful for you.

{ 0 comments }

Thinking about consulting?

by Peter Osborne on June 22, 2010 · 0 comments

So you’ve been out of work for far longer than you — or anyone else in the family — ever expected.  You had — or more correctly, have — something special but nobody seems to be seeing it.  Nobody’s calling back, and that ”perfect job” you applied for attracted 200+ resumes within three hours.   And now your severance is gone.  Or will be soon.
 
So what’s next?  Assuming the issue is not your failure to develop a compelling personal brand or effectively help recruiters and hiring managers find you, for many people the answer to the What’s Next? question is exploring consulting or project (1099) work. 
 

 You won’t be alone in making this decision: The number of people who have been out of work for more than six months hit 6.7 million in April 2010, nearly 46% of the unemployed.  The New York Times says we’ve lost 8.4 million jobs in this recession and many of those jobs aren’t coming back.  As many as 23% of U.S. workers are operating as consultants, freelancers, free agents, contractors, or micropreneurs, according to the Wall Street Journal.  The percentage of unemployed workers starting companies rose to 8.6% in 2009, a four-year high, with the biggest increases among people 55 and over, according to the Challenger, Gray & Christmas outplacement firm.  The underemployment rate — which counts people who have given up looking for work and those who are working part time for lack of full-time positions — rose to 17.1% in April, from 16.9% in March.

The trend toward “portfolio careers” — where individuals cobble a career together from multiple consulting (or 1099) engagements is growing and demand for high-end temporary business talent is not focused on cost-cutting projects but on driving innovation.

But not so fast.  Even with a great value proposition or skill, it’s not that easy.  First you need to think through whether you have the temperment for the ups and downs of this strategy.  Then you need to think about company structures, the sales process, and a myriad of other things.

Recapturing what you used to make may not happen for years, if ever.   The percentage of new projects you win will be much lower than you might expect.  Many people warn that you can’t do a full-time job search and consult at the same time…at least not effectively. For many people, the process of selling yourself is more daunting than a root canal and may require skills that are somewhat alien to those you had when your company was giving you direction.

On the other hand…

The best way to find a full-time job may be through an “audition strategy,” where you demonstrate your value to a full-time employer prospect through a short-term project.  Many people think that’s the best way to separate themselves from the masses these days.  And this may be a way to pay the bills and prevent you from taking a job that will make you miserable.

This site is designed to help you make the decision and then, if you move forward, be successful.  In addition to unique content, we will also provide links to other sites with great advice and content.

So, what scares you about making the leap to consulting or project work?  What will help you make the decision or be more successful?  Simply put, what kind of content can we offer that will make this a site you’d bookmark?  Please send us your thoughts at  peter at consultantlaunchpad dot com. We look forward to hearing from you.

{ 0 comments }