Alexandra Levits Water Cooler Wisdom How to Avoid Scope Creep on Your Project

Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom How to Avoid Scope Creep on Your Project One of the many challenging things I experienced in my former life as a digital marketing account manager was scope creep. Scope creep occurs when you’ve already started a project and someone requests a change or a new direction that impacts your process, timeline, and costs. Those who manage projectsand constantly fall victim to scope creep don’t have the best reputation: whether it’s your fault or not, delivering a ballooning project six months late and $500K over budget just doesn’t look good. So not surprisingly, keeping projects in scope is a topic that comes up a lot in the project management forums on LinkedIn. Thanks to my own years in the trenches and smart advice from other PMs, I’ve come to realize that controlling scope is all about advance planning and meticulous documentation. Here are four steps to undertake in that vein. Outline Your Purpose When everyone is on the same page regarding why you’re doing the project and what you’re expected to achieve, you prevent surprises later on. Before you do anything else, get your purpose and anticipated results down on paper and share them with yoursponsorand all relevant stakeholders. One of the most common causes of scope creep is misunderstanding, or various parties with different ideas about project outcomes. So now is the time to invite detailed feedback, and don’t proceed with development until everyone agrees. List Your Deliverables Projects can’t be all things to all people, so you’ll need toplan carefullyand prioritize your focus. Think about what output or functionality should be delivered when, as well as aspects like timeline, budget, development approach, quality assurance, and launch. List them in order from most critical to least critical, and get sign-off from your stakeholders so that everyone understands the method behind your madness. For more on keeping your project in scope, head over to Intuits Fast Track blog.

An Introduction into the World of Personal Branding - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

An Introduction into the World of Personal Branding - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career [Sponsored Post:  Cliftons Hong Kong is a leading provider of corporate meeting rooms, conference and seminar venues. Part of the globally recognised Cliftons group, our locations in the Hong Kong central business district provide our clients with a polished and professional environment in which to conduct their business.] Ive been asked by a lot of people for an article that introduces personal branding. I went searching through my archives and found that I really didnt have an up-to-date article that goes over personal branding at a high level. More and more educators are interested in this space and most of my posts are for someone with basic knowledge and skills. Before we step into 2009, Id like to go over the basics of what you need to know to get started on your brand for next year. Building my personal brand should be on all of your new years resolution lists. The history of personal branding Tom Peters crafted an article for the August 1st, 1997 issue of Fast Company Magazine, entitled The Brand Called You, which explored the evolution of career development, and exposed a new mindset for the new millennium. Basically, instead of relying on a company for career guidance, its up to you to take ownership of the brand called you. Personal branding called for everyone to become a free agent, which not everyone bought into back then. Now there are tools available for you to grasp your brand and shape it (social media). Web 2.0s impact on personal branding Before web 2.0 changed our world, it was really hard to get enough press to really stand out. There werent blogs, so youd have to get your local newspaper, or mainstream media to write about you. You could go to a networking event and meet five to ten people each time. You could sit in your college class and meet ten new people. Web 2.0 amplified how we network, first impressions and personal visibility and self-promotion forever. Me 1.0 was hidden behind a corporate brand, without an outside voice and not being able to afford excessive promotion (PR advertising). Me 2.0, as I call it, is when you get to stand in front of your company, at the cost of your time and with the ability to carry your voice across the world in a matter of seconds (think Twitter). Ive captured this change in my new book, rightfully called, Me 2.0. Why personal branding was inevitable There are two main reasons why personal branding is becoming a core part of our culture. Sadly, its nothing revolutionary! First, we are all being judged all the time, even when were sleeping (our online profiles are still up!). Second, we have to constantly sell our ideas to teachers, managers, venture capitalists, our friends and family, to make things happen in our lives. We have to convince them to take action. Personal branding defined In 2007, I gathered a group of international brand and career experts to collaborate on a single definition for personal branding. After analyzing the definition and reciting it in a few presentations back then, I felt it was too long, thus no one could remember it. For 2008, I shortened it to how we market ourselves to others. Personal branding is a process. Personal branding: how we market ourselves to others. The personal branding process (DCCM) 1. Discover: The first thing you need to do is to figure out who you are, what you want to do in life, while focusing on your strengths, passions and goals. After that, you should create a development plan that aligns your short-term and long-term goals and, finally, a personal marketing plan. 2. Create: There are traditional and non-traditional ways to create your personal brand. The traditional ways include a business card, professional portfolio, resume, cover letter and references document. The non-traditional ways include, a video resume, LinkedIn profile, blog, Twitter and your existence on the various other social networks. While you create your brand, ensure that the content, including pictures and text, are concise, compelling and consistent with how you want to represent yourself. 3. Communicate: After youve created your brand, it is only natural (and human instinct) that you want people to see what youve done. Depending on your audience (hiring manager, teacher, clients), you may want to tweek your materials accordingly. To properly communicate your brand, through self-promotion, you need to have your story down pat and find the right sources that would be interested in what you have to say. I would recommend promoting others before you promote yourself as well. Communication consists of guest posting on blogs, writing articles for magazines, becoming your own personal PR person (pitch to the media), attending networking events and speaking. 4. Maintain: As you grow, the brand people see has to grow at the same time. For every new job, award, press article, and client victory (to name a few), everything you have created has to reflect that. The reason is simple: You want to use what you did in the past to get what you want in the future. Also, as you become more popular, your reputation will be knocked around and tossed throughout the web, from blog post, to tweet, to video, and more. Youll want to keep a close eye on where your name is. To do this, I have created a post giving you free tools to do so. Personal branding depends on your career status High school student: If youre in high school, personal branding still applies to you because getting into a top college is very competitive. Your goal is to position yourself as worth of a top school, so getting good grades, good SATs, interviewing at schools, networking with alumni who can endorse you, writing a compelling essay and all things social media, will help you. College student: A college student is interested in either getting an internship, starting a business or getting a corporate job upon graduation. They have to compete on experience and network extremely hard in order to get a job. They need to position themselves as superior relative to their peers. This means, becoming a leader in college organizations, meeting as many people as you can, forming a personal branding toolkit and starting when youre a freshman are critical to your success. Corporate employee: If you work for a company, and enjoy doing so, then personal branding becomes the cornerstone for how you move up the hierarchy and become recognized as a leader. Entrepreneur: An entrepreneur needs to think about branding his or her company, as well as him or herself in the process of establishing a business. The entrepreneurs brand must reflect the company, yet be set apart from it simultaneously. The entrepreneurs brand is VERY important in securing venture capital. For instance, if Jason Calacanis wanted seed money, he has a better chance of getting it than someone without a track record of success (he sold Weblogs Inc for millions). Consultant: These individuals are obviously all about personal branding because its all they got. Many consultants brand themselves as masters of a specific trade (at least the good ones). They are able to track value and attribute it to the work they provide for clients. 3 laws of personal branding Authenticity: You need to be yourself because everyone else is taken and replicas dont sell for as much. Furthermore, you need to define your brand before someone else does for you! Transparency: Its better to be straightforward and honest, then lie, and have your actions work against you. Visibility: The notion that if you arent known, you dont exist. 5 benefits of personal branding Promotions: Anyone who is ambitious and works at a company will want to move up. By building your personal brand, you become the best choice for a promotion. Happiness: By aligning who you are with what you do and appending goals to it, you can turn work into a hobby. You can position yourself on a topic you love, so you get paid to do what you would count as a hobby. Compensation: Personal brands command premium prices. Just like Apple and Gillette can charge more for products you can get for less, you can do the same. Business: People want to purchase from other people who they know, like, trust. When you make those people happy that they chose you, by giving them great results, they will refer you to even more people. Perks: Strong brands get perks. For instance, I get free books from authors and other bloggers get free products, such as limited edition Pepsi cans. Celebrities, like Halley Berry, dont have to pay for anything because of who they are.

Knocked Down 7 Times Stand Up 8 - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Knocked Down 7 Times Stand Up 8 - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career A pep talk. My favorite moment in the entire Rocky Balboa pantheon is not when he beats the hell out of Clubber Lang or Ivan Drago. Its near the end of the first movie, Rocky, at the end of the 14th round when hes been beaten so badly, he can barely stand. Hes so tired he cant even raise his hands to protect himself. His eyes are so swollen he cant even see. And Apollo Creed keeps pummeling him mercilessly, blasting him with jabs and hooks from both sides. What is keeping him up? shouts one of the ring announcers. Apollo blasts him with a right hook, and Rocky drops like a stone. Down! Stay down! hollers his trainer, as Rocky lurches to his feet, trying to grab a rope just to pull himself up. He wont stay down. Rocky barely has the energy to beckon to his opponent. Come on. Im not done. Apollo looks away, sad, embarrassed, reluctant to hit him anymore. Rocky weaves as Apollo approaches, like a drunk whos only aping a boxer, not an actual boxer. Except! Rocky ducks a right hook and pounds Apollos ribs with four body blows that leave the champ holding his side as the bell rings, ending the penultimate round. In the final round, the tide turns. The crowd chants Rocky! Rocky! as he delivers his own savage beating. He takes Apollo all the way to the end of the bout, but ultimately loses in a split decision. As the bell rings, Apollo tells anyone who can hear him, There aint gonna be a rematch. There aint gonna be a rematch. We all know what happens next. That 14th round, is sometimes the life of the entrepreneur. Not the wealthy entrepreneur whose brilliant idea turns into an awesome company with a foosball table in the break room and a masseuse who comes in on Fridays. I mean the entrepreneur who works 16 hours a day just to stay alive. The one who is constantly beaten, pummeled, and abused. The one whos so tired he cant even raise his hands to protect himself. The one who gets knocked to the mat for the third time, gets up for the fourth, and beckons, Come on. Im not done. Ive been there so many times. Knocked down so many times Ive lost count. And I will be again. But I get up. Every time. I have to, because I dont know what else to do. I get up, dodge whatever is thrown at me, and start swinging. I never know whats going to happen, but I have to believe its going to get better. I have to believe that the next round will be my round. The next fight will be my fight. When you think you cant go on anymore, when youve been knocked down, and your face is so bruised and swollen that you cant even see, when the people in your corner are telling you, Down! Stay down! get up. Get up one more time than you get knocked down. If you get knocked down seven times, get up eight. Get up, because one of those times â€" maybe not this time, maybe not even the next one â€" will be when you see your opportunity. You see your opening, and you take it. You sledgehammer your opponent with a couple of savage body blows, and thats the moment that turns the tide for the rest of your life. But you wont get that opportunity if you stay down. You wont get that moment if you decide its too hard, that its easier to just lay there and wait for everyone to go away. And you certainly wont get that moment if you never get in the ring. Get up one more time, beckon to the other guy, and start swinging again. If you do, you just may become The Champ. Author: Erik Deckers  is the owner of  Professional Blog Service, a newspaper humor columnist, and the co-author of  Branding Yourself: How to Use Social Media to Invent or Reinvent Yourself  and  No Bullshit Social Media: The All-Business, No-Hype Guide to Social Media Marketing, and  The Owned Media Doctrine.

Brand Mystery 10 - Name that Personal Brand and Win! - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Brand Mystery 10 - Name that Personal Brand and Win! - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Ive been doing a lot of lengthy and analytical posts recently, so today I felt like switching it up. Ive gotten a lot of email asking for me to bring back Brand Mystery, which is a game where you guess who the personal brand is and receive a link on the following game in the series. If you want to know why I play games on this blog, the reason is simply because I think personal branding can be fun and interactive. Brand Mystery 9 Winner: Eric Windsor with the correct answer of Vince Vaughn Past Winners Brand Mystery 8 Eric Windsor, who answered Heather Locklear Brand Mystery 7 John Moore with his answer of Loic Le Meu Brand Mystery 6 Robert David Hunter, who answered “John Battelle” Brand Mystery 5 NONE! The answer was…Owen Van Natta, Chief Revenue Officer, Facebook Brand Mystery 4 Kevin M. Keating, who said Steve Rubel Brand Mystery 3 Jeff Glasson, who said Kate Beckinsale Brand Mystery 2 Adam Salamon, who said Sergey Brin Brand Mystery 1 Doug Petch, who said Bill Clinton Now that we traveled back in time, its time to reveal the latest image. Leave your guesses in the comments section. Whomever guesses correctly first wins. Hint: Looking for a job anyone?

9 Ways to Leverage Your Website to Land More Freelancing Clients - CareerMetis.com

9 Ways to Leverage Your Website to Land More Freelancing Clients Intense competition for is driving more freelancers to create online content that will aid to get infront of potential clients. In this article we discuss how to use the internet to get that job you’ve been longing for.More and more freelancers are looking for work online, and there’s no shortage of employers who are looking for their services.evalFor freelancers, getting that perfect job is no easy feat. There are numerous competitors that excel in their own way; in order to stay ahead of the game, you need to be more creative when it comes to showcasing your skills.As a freelancer, you’re encouraged to have your own personal website because it can serve as your portfolio or resume. Social media accounts don’t count. You can only present limited information with these platforms and they tend to be too personal for most employer’s tastes.With a personal website, you can show off your skills while maintaining a professional tone that convinces employers you are indeed fit fo r the job.If you already have a website of your own, here are some ways you can improve your chances of landing more freelancing clients.1. Show off your best workevalShowing off is a must when it comes to marketing yourself online. You have to treat your personal website as your best and most creative resume that would entice your potential clients to pay for your services.Think of it as a gallery of your skills that will orient your clients of your style and preference as a freelancer. You could also include personal information on your website such as a brief biography, education, awards, recognitions, etc. â€"these will add to your credibility and help employers measure your qualifications.2. Maximize social mediaSocial media accounts such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. are your friends. These sites are great platforms for sharing links to your work. If interested employers want to know more, they can go directly to your website where they can get more informati on about your qualifications and services. The more content you post, the more chances of getting discovered by potential employers or clients.evalWhatever platform you are using, just make sure your social media profiles link back to your personal website. That way, if an employer finds you, they can easily explore your other work.3. Make your resume and samples are easy to downloadAlthough a website can serve as proof of your skills, it wouldn’t hurt to have a traditional resume on your site. Most hiring managers would still look over your resume for their own reference during the interview process.Be sure to also prepare samples in PDF format for easy download and printing. You can also create a separate landing page just for your resume alone.4. Display testimonialsTestimonials from happy and satisfied clients are gemstones that you need to collect and display on your personal website. Your credibility as an effective freelancer will increase when potential clients see that yo ur work is brimming with positive comments.evalTestimonials with substance that highlight your specific skills speak of your previous clients’ satisfaction with your services and would also give potential clients an idea of your expertise.5. Don’t make your clients waitevalWe live in the age where things happen in just a snap of a finger. This is especially true for the internet. As a result, users are becoming more impatient. If your site doesn’t load fast enough, they’ll probably abandon it. You don’t want this to happen with your website.There are many factors that could affect site speed like stylesheets, Javascript files, and image sizes.Using a tool like Google’s PageSpeed Insights, you can check the speed of your page’s loading time. It will will tell you what problems are causing your site to slow down. Make sure to fix these problems immediately after you find out what they are.6. Call to actionYou could place obvious call to actions such as “Hire Me” or â €œOrder Articles Today”, or you could be a little clever and try “I’m the Right Person for the Job”.These types of CTA’s can be very helpful in nudging your visitor to take a desired action. Make sure it is clear and obvious to the visitor; big bold letters and colors that contrast the background can help make your calls to action stand out more.You also want to place it in a prominent part of your website so potential employers can easily see it.7. Make it easy for them to contact youDo not forget to put in your contact information where clients can easily reach you.You can also provide links to social media accounts that are tied to your personal website. Your chances of getting hired will increase if you provide multiple venues for contacting you.8. Add your website to your email signatureevalEmail is a widely used tool for communication so why not leverage it to give your website more exposure?Simply add your website’s URL to your signature and include it in every em ail you send. You can even add a quick and simple tagline so readers have an idea what it’s about.Quite often we’ll update our email signatures with a link to a current blog post or a landing page.9. Personal brandingWho says branding is just for big name companies? It’s for freelancers too!It’s a visual representation of yourself that gives employers a sense of your core values. Good personal branding makes you more memorable to potential employers.evalIf you impress them the first time, they’ll be more likely to hire you. Consider hiring a designer to help you out with branding. It’s worth the investment.IN CONCLUSIONA dream is something you must work hard for. The little things you do with your personal website can create wonders for your chances of being hired and landing that dream job you’ve always wanted.

Job Search Secrets - CareerAlley

Job Search Secrets - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Listen, Do you want to know a secret?, Do you promise not to tell? John Lennon and Paul McCartney Shhhhh! Job search secrets. Well, not really secrets if youve been spending any length of time looking for jobs leveraging the Internet. Of course, anything that is a secret (like a lead on a job that few people know about) gives you an advantage. Not sure that the sites on todays post qualify, but they are all worth taking a look at and, who knows, maybe you will uncover a secret. Todays post will lead with Secrets of the Job Hunt followed by a number of career related sites that focus on some of the best kept secrets of job hunting. These sites run the full range from advice to jobs. Happy Hunting! Secrets of the Job Hunt In full disclosure, I am a regular contributor to Secrets of the Job Hunt, so my view is somewhat skewed (in the right way of course). In their own words, Secrets provides Career Advice Podcasts Job Seeker Network. The site is filled with tons of articles and posts by career professionals (and me too). The top of the page has tabs for Career Coaches, podcasts, blogs and more (also runs down the center of the page). You should definitely visit the site and also try out their podcasts. 4 secrets of the successful job search This article is from CNNMoney.com and provides four secrets: Where to look for jobs, Ensure a company wants to talk to you, Demonstrate that you want the job and Stick to the tried-and-true. Now Im not going to give away the secrets, but it is worth your time to take a look. There are other related links on the right hand side of the page. Top 10 Creative Job Search Secrets Another 10 secrets here from Careerealism.com. There are some really great tips (secrets) here. And this is not a repeat of things youve seen before (unless youve already read this article). Some are preventative (like the Google Alerts idea). Now the link at the start of this paragraph are the first 5 of the ten. Please visit thehrtechnologist.com at this link == 10 Secret Tips for Job Seekers for the remaining 5. 25 Resume, Interview, Job Search Secrets This article is a little broader, providing secrets for resumes, interviews and job search. Simply done, the list is in no particular order, but does provide lots of tips and tricks. Some of what is listed are just facts (like the cost of benefits). The first item on the list is important (and one that I always recommend), and that is never pay an agency fee. Why? Because companies pay the fees and any agency that asks for fee is not doing their job. The three secrets of successful job-hunting This article was posted on Jobdig.com and provides some great tips. Dont be fooled by the three secrets in the title. Although there are just a few secrets, the article is provides background and explanations. One example is changing strategy (why and when). I wont give it away here, so take a look at this post. Good luck in your search.Visit me on Facebook

Create a Business Resume by Using The Help of Customer Service Resumes

Create a Business Resume by Using The Help of Customer Service ResumesWriting a customer service resume is not a one size fits all job application. There are no set guidelines for writing a resume in this specific industry. In fact, I am sure you know how difficult it can be to write a resume in any industry, regardless of the particular job you are applying for.Many individuals have tried to determine how they should write a resume but find that it takes them several months or even years to find a job. This is no different when it comes to writing a customer service resume. I have spoken with many individuals who were employed at one point during their life in which they made the decision to quit their current employment to start a new career in the customer service industry. Of course, a resume can not be written the same way for everyone.Therefore, it is important to carefully consider your skills and traits to make sure that you will make a good candidate for the position you wan t. Remember, the customer service resume is going to be on the same resume template as your other resumes. Therefore, you need to think about what qualities you possess that will help you make the transition from customer service representatives to a position that requires more creative writing. For example, I had a client who was employed in customer service support and wrote resumes for a variety of positions.Often times, they included all of the qualities they had when applying for jobs in order to meet the requirements for the job they wanted. However, you can write your resume differently. Often times, job seekers just provide all of the information that they have included the skills that they have but may not include the skills they need to prepare for a job. Therefore, it is important to do some research about the position you are applying for and develop the skills you want to have.In my experience, people who are seeking to enter the customer service field tend to forget ab out the quality of the work they do. They just know that they need to get a job in order to help others. They do not realize that the key to being a good manager or supervisor is to build an organization and make sure that the employees are working toward the same goals. After all, you never hear about corporate presidents or directors of sales and marketing departments.The best part about writing a customer service resume is that there is no uniformity when it comes to having a resume. Therefore, you do not have to match every style of resume out there. Therefore, you have to get creative and use your imagination. Do not be afraid to break the mold of what is considered acceptable and traditional.It is possible to write a good customer service resume without worrying about appearing too common. You do not have to look like everyone else. In fact, in my experience, most applicants focus on what does not look like the typical candidate profile that is usually found in the applicant p ool.If you are thinking about applying for a position as a customer service representative, do not waste time. It is possible to write a great resume that will impress your prospective employer and turn you into a quality employee in no time.