Blogging Can Help-or Hurt- Your Career

Blogging has become an impulsive contemporary art for careerists. Should you develop your own blog or shouldn’t you? Will it help or hurt your career? Let me present this canvas to you as a primer of sorts to think about this issue.

Much of my career practice and coaching involves an organizing thought: You own the business of your career. It’s your work life mission, your vision. For years I coached and, some would say, admonished my clients to take ownership of their career paths as they work for someone else. When you do not own the business, one of the greatest ways you can help or hurt your career centers around your own online and offline reputation. With so many choices and so much information at the click of a computer key, we may feel information overload no matter what our career field might be. We may also feel empowered to create or destroy.

What’s easy can be fun or dangerous. In a matter of minutes, you can set up your Blogger, WordPress, Typepad or related blog site. And the minute you post? Your words can be accessed by billions of people around the world. No Web designer needs to be hired. No technical guru at x dollars an hour has to listen to and potentially kill your ideas. You own this medium. You have freedom. You can say or cite anything. There’s no waste of time and no need to white-board everyone else’s ideas.
It’s so easy but don’t let the impulsive ease of blogging let you forget about the eyes that watch your art, your views, your passions, protests, observations and objections.
How might this medium help – or hurt – your career direction and path?

How it can help:

1. You have an audience. Keep it positive. Blogging may add to the company’s brand and your position as an authority or subject matter expert within your company or your field. Jane S. worked at a powerful, regional advertising company. She cleared her personal blog through her boss, her boss’ boss and her company human-resources department. They said she didn’t have to, but with my advice she did. During a recession, she has received two promotions, and her blog has since been incorporated into the main site of the corporation because of its business development prowess. She says, “Now 40 percent of my time is incorporating my personal brand or blog into the company’s brand with the complete blessing of the executive team.”

2. Paint the right picture. Drive customer confidence. As you cite critical sources and make intelligent, important observations, your personal blog augments your position within your company and promotes your company. You never bash your company. You can be yourself and be authentic. James P., a salesman, asked for permission from his company to comment on his business travels and business adventures as a technology sales consultant. Customers love the funny, idiosyncratic stories. James says, “My blog has been a business generator for the company and earned me four speaking engagements on behalf of the company and four speaking engagements locally that were sponsored by local sales networking organizations. I can’t believe it. It’s made me kind of recession-proof in my career!” His first book is being self-published, and his company uses him to teach and train all new sales personnel.

3. Get a raise and a promotion. Defend the faith. Blogging helps you document and publish your ideas while associating with great people. Again, Alice P. published her blog under a pseudonym two years ago. Today she has kept the quirky observations about life, travel, art and kids quite eclectic. Her blogging has incorporated funny observations about office life without offending anyone at work. It’s been serialized and referred to by the company. The CEO thought her site should be commented on, featured and linked to by the company to help with Esprit de corps. Alice states, “Now I have an in-house company editor who helps me promote and publish my blog. We’ve added videos and more fun stuff. The company pays me monthly.” She keeps her comments happy, funny and still personal.

How blogs can hurt:

1. One small step. Negative posts can be fatal. Blogging can open you up for many legal, liability and employment questions, problems or crises. Last year, Jim C. came to me after he had posted a rather nasty post on his Top Ten Worst Retailers in the World blog. His company did business with two of those retailers and as nosy or highly sensitive corporate personnel found out about his lambaste, it caused a rift at the company. According to Jim, “This year for other reasons I was let go. It was not the economy. I crossed the line.”

2. Pictures tell a thousand stories. Larry seemed to pipe up at work a lot about things that bothered him. So he decided to publish a seemingly anonymous blog. As a techy he posted hundreds of comments on political ideas, named people he thought should be impeached and railed against what he considered bad taste and fashion. He did this anonymously under a lot of different names. But when he decided to take pictures at the year-end Christmas party and publish captions that offended nearly everyone, he was, well, suspended without pay forever (fired).

3. Beautiful art can be destroyed. Craig became disillusioned after an 18-year career. Nearing retirement, his company had promoted three people younger than him to the technology-director level. Years ago he had engineered their Web presence. Knowing that having no blog presence left his company vulnerable, he found it increasingly interesting and titillating when he created a blog presence; added negative comments to company products; and dumped a list of customer complaints onto the proverbial, anonymous IHATEXCOMPANY.com, the site a former employee developed to stick it to the man. Under pressure, the IHATEXCOMPANY.com author faced legal entanglements and gave up Craig’s name as a blogger. Now Craig is in litigation. It’s not looking good.

Imagine you’re an artist like Michelangelo dipping brush into paint; a seemingly limitless creative well. You’re halfway done with your masterpiece, the signature of your worklife and rather spiritual mission. As you take your impossible position on the scaffold to paint more of the Sistine Chapel you have a thought. Imagine you could destroy your Sistine Chapel with one strike of the match. Like the great artist, blogging can help you take ownership of your career and worklife vision. Of course, it can also be just for fun, too. But let’s also realize you, like the great artist, have the power to create or destroy your career future with just a few strokes or decisions.

Make sure you know your audience and you understand the potential impact of your newly minted blog posts. It could make a lasting impression and a permanently positive or negative impact on your career picture.
Paint yours. Paint it well.

An exerpt from The Power of Discipline by Brian Tracy

An excerpt fromThe Power of DisciplineBy Brian Tracy

Why are some people more successful than others? Why do some people make more money, live happier lives and accomplish much more in the same number of years than the great majority?I started out in life with few advantages. I did not graduate from high school. I worked at menial jobs. I had limited education, limited skills and a limited future.And then I began asking, "Why are some people more successful than others?" This question changed my life.Over the years, I have read thousands of books and articles on the subjects of success and achievement. It seems that the reasons for these accomplishments have been discussed and written about for more than two thousand years, in every conceivable way. One quality that most philosophers, teachers and experts agree on is the importance of self-discipline. As Al Tomsik summarized it years ago, "Success is tons of discipline."Some years ago, I attended a conference in Washington. It was the lunch break and I was eating at a nearby food fair. The area was crowded and I sat down at the last open table by myself, even though it was a table for four.A few minutes later, an older gentleman and a younger woman who was his assistant came along carrying trays of food, obviously looking for a place to sit.With plenty of room at my table, I immediately arose and invited the older gentleman to join me. He was hesitant, but I insisted. Finally, thanking me as he sat down, we began to chat over lunch.It turned out that his name was Kop Kopmeyer. As it happened, I immediately knew who he was. He was a legend in the field of success and achievement. Kop Kopmeyer had written four large books, each of which contained 250 success principles that he had derived from more than fifty years of research and study. I had read all four books from cover to cover, more than once.After we had chatted for awhile, I asked him the question that many people in this situation would ask, "Of all the one thousand success principles that you have discovered, which do you think is the most important?"He smiled at me with a twinkle in his eye, as if he had been asked this question many times, and replied, without hesitating, "The most important success principle of all was stated by Thomas Huxley many years ago. He said, 'Do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.'"He went on to say, "There are 999 other success principles that I have found in my reading and experience, but without self-discipline, a person with every blessing of background, education and opportunity will seldom rise above mediocrity.With plenty of room at my table, I immediately arose and invited the older gentleman to join me. He was hesitant, but I insisted. Finally, thanking me as he sat down, we began to chat over lunch.It turned out that his name was Kop Kopmeyer. As it happened, I immediately knew who he was. He was a legend in the field of success and achievement. Kop Kopmeyer had written four large books, each of which contained 250 success principles that he had derived from more than fifty years of research and study. I had read all four books from cover to cover, more than once.After we had chatted for awhile, I asked him the question that many people in this situation would ask, "Of all the one thousand success principles that you have discovered, which do you think is the most important?"He smiled at me with a twinkle in his eye, as if he had been asked this question many times, and replied, without hesitating, "The most important success principle of all was stated by Thomas Huxley many years ago. He said, 'Do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.'"He went on to say, "There are 999 other success principles that I have found in my reading and experience, but without self-discipline, a person with every blessing of background, education and opportunity will seldom rise above mediocrity.

When Succes is Slow, What Can YOU Do?

When Success is Slow, What Can You Do?
by Jack Canfield

Pop Quiz: Can success be sped up? Is there an antidote to slow outcomes despite arduous planning and actions taken? What's the secret for seeing huge results right now?! I get versions of these questions frequently from people who feel frustrated at sluggish progress in their success journey - despite all the know-how and principles they rigorously employ.Let's get one thing straight...When we admire someone's success, or even our own, we often focus on the end result and not so much on the effort (and time) that it took to get there. This can cultivate unrealistic expectations, especially the idea that overnight success can happen through careful strategy and an execution of sound advice. The truth be told, success typically follows a series of little events and achievements that can seem to take an eternity, that include a few disappointments along the way, and that challenge everything about you to the core - your stamina, courage, integrity, and even your willingness to keep going. If you focus on what's not working, guess what: You're likely coming from a place of aggravation as your mind wraps around all that is wrong. You may even have negative thoughts like "I'm not good enough," "It will never work," or "Something must be wrong with me." What this mentally does is engender more of these counter-productive feelings. And given what we know about the Law of Attraction, you attract what you are feeling. So negative experiences, people, and results will beget more negative experience, people, and results. There's not much success in that. The key, then, is to focus on what IS working. To do so, I recommend two simple practices: journaling and meditation. Maintaining a journal (I call it an Evidence Log, Results Journal, or Gratitude Journal) is a great way to steer your attention to the positive and continually renew your vision for yourself.Start each day with reflections on what you are grateful for in your life (list them out!) and end each day with notes on what went right (again, write them down), however small they may seem. Spend time each day in quiet contemplation, prayer or meditation. Meditation can be powerful tool for arriving at solutions to problems and shifting your attitude so you can attract success sooner rather than later. The magic of meditation is its ability to essentially shut down the outer layer of your judgmental, highly-critical brain and allow your unconscious mind to take over. This is where you enter a deeper state of inner peace and joy, tapping into a higher level of creativity that will help usher in the results you want. (Don't know how to meditate? Lots of books and materials are available to guide you this practice. It's easier than you think. ) Let's say you're doing ALL these things, but you still aren't happy with your results...I'll ask you then, are you taking real ACTION? You may be taking the actions you are used to taking. But if you keep doing what you've already done, then you'll keep getting what you've always gotten. It's a matter of practicing some new behaviors. Shake things up a bit and see if you can take new actions or modify existing ones. Remember the Rule of 5. Every day do five specific things that take you toward your goal. Change up the five actions regularly and be open to feedback so you know when you're off course. Lastly, I want to remind you about patience. It's natural to underestimate how long a certain goal can take, especially a profound one. When I set a goal to become a millionaire the year was 1983. How long did it take? Eleven years. It took time for Chicken Soup for the Soul to hit the bestseller lists. You could say our tenure on the New York Times list was more than a decade in the making. That's a lot of patience for someone who initially wanted overnight success.So, yes, patience is a virtue. But keep at it, and in no time, you'll be only one week, or one day away from your ultimate success. Remember... be grateful, reflect on what IS working and continue to take ACTION!© 2009 Jack Canfield* * *

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE?You can, as long as you include this complete statement with it: Jack Canfield, America's #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com

Mind Management

Expand your comfort zone to increase your wealth.

T. Harv Eker June 1, 2009

If you challenge your mind to expand your comfort zone, you will naturally expand your wealth zone. By striving to grow your comfort zone, you are constantly taking risks and finding more opportunities, ideas, actions and growth than you ever imagined. The bigger your “container,” the more income and wealth you will attract and hold. Challenge yourself to constantly make your container larger, and watch the universe rush to fill the space.

What is the single most important skill you can master to increase your happiness and success? Training your mind.

How do you train your mind? Start by observing your thought process. If you are like most people, your mind continuously produces both empowering thoughts, such as those that lead to success, and disempowering thoughts, including those that don’t support your wealth and happiness. As you identify your thoughts, you need to begin consciously replacing your disempowering thoughts with empowering ones. In doing so, you will begin adopting empowering attitudes as your own. Start by making declarations to yourself, such as “I act in spite of fear,” “I act in spite of doubt” and “I act in spite of inconvenience.”

Believe it or not, you can choose your thoughts and control your mind. You have the natural ability to cancel any thought that does not support you. You can also install self-empowering thoughts at any time by choosing to focus on them.

At one of my seminars, Robert Allen, a close friend and bestselling author, said something quite profound: “No thought lives in your head rent-free.”

What he meant is, you pay for your negative thoughts in money, energy, time, health and happiness. If you want to move to a new level in your life quickly, begin by dividing your thoughts into two categories: empowering and disempowering. Observe them, and determine if they are supporting your happiness and success. Choose to entertain only the empowering thoughts, and refuse to focus on the disempowering ones. When a nonsupportive notion comes to the surface, replace it with a more supportive way of thinking. I call this process “power thinking.” And mark my words, if you practice it, your life will never be the same.

So, what is the difference between power thinking and positive thinking? The distinction is slight, but profound.

People use positive thinking to pretend that everything is rosy when they really believe it is not. With power thinking, though, we understand that something is neutral until we assign it meaning by creating a story.

"You have the natural ability to cancel any thought that is not supporting you."

This is the difference between a positive thinker and a power thinker. A positive thinker believes their thoughts are true. Whereas a power thinker recognizes that their thoughts are not true, but since they are making up a story anyway, they might as well make up a story that supports themselves. Why do we do this? Not because our new thoughts are true in an absolute sense, but because they are more useful to us and feel a heck of a lot better than nonsupportive ones.

Observe yourself and your thought patterns, and entertain only the thoughts that support your happiness and success. Challenge that little voice in your head whenever it tells you, “I can’t” or “I don’t want to” or “I don’t feel like it.” Don’t allow this fear-based, comfort-based voice to get the better of you. Make a pact with yourself that whenever the little voice in your head tries to stop you from doing something to support your success, you will do it anyway to tell it that you are the boss. Not only will you increase your confidence dramatically, but eventually, the voice will get quieter and quieter as it recognizes it has little effect on you.

Particularly during economic downturns like this, it is crucial that we change our pessimistic thoughts into empowering ones and stretch our comfort zones to attain and hold more wealth. We must constantly choose to remain positive and not let disempowering thoughts take hold, regardless of what the media says about the global economy.

Practice getting out of your comfort zone by consciously making decisions that will make you uncomfortable. Talk to someone you would normally avoid, ask for a raise at work or try something that scares you.

Living a mediocre life does not lead to happiness. Constantly wondering what could have been does not lead to happiness. What does lead to happiness is living in our natural state of growth and reaching our full potential.

The next time you are feeling uncomfortable, uncertain or afraid, press forward instead of retreating. Experience the feeling of discomfort and accept it for what it is—a feeling. Recognize that a feeling does not have the power to stop you. Push on, and eventually you will reach your goal.

The point, however, is not whether or not those feelings of discomfort eventually subside. If they do lessen, take it as a sign that you need to increase your objective because the minute you get comfortable, you have stopped growing. Managing your mind to live at the edge of your comfort zone will allow you to grow and reach your fullest potential.

Because humans are creatures of habit, we have to practice. Practice acting in spite of fear, in spite of discomfort, in spite of inconvenience. By doing so, you will quickly move to a higher level, and your wealth will almost certainly increase.

The mind is a powerful tool, but it is also the greatest soap-opera scriptwriter in history. It creates powerful stories based on dramas or disasters that have never happened and likely never will. As Mark Twain said, “I’ve had thousands of problems in my life, most of which never actually happened.”

It is important to remember that you are not your mind—you are much bigger and more powerful than your mind alone. By learning to train it, though, you can conquer your fear, expand your comfort zone and dramatically increase your wealth.

T. Harv Eker is an author, success trainer, and founder and president of Peak Potentials Training. His books include the No. 1 New York Times Best-Seller Secrets of the Millionaire Mind and the international best-seller SpeedWealth. He also offers the Millionaire Mind Intensive, a three-day seminar that helps people take control of their minds and nurture self-empowering thoughts.

Do you know your Target Market? If you don't read this article 3 times!!!

Get Gonnected-Make It Happen Special article.

This article tells you very directly to realize what resources you have around you and market and promote to them early and often.

To be sure you are presenting the right offering to the right market, we began by taking a cold hard look at your market and where the opportunities are.

Possibly one opportunity is to narrow your service to better address the worries of your customers and the challenges in the marketplace. Focus on them - look at your existing customers as if they are the reason for your business. Talk to them about their concerns and worries and actually listen. Tell them you'll do what ever to help them with their worries. Engage some people in your company regarding how you can continue to make sure you treat your customers as being very special. Don't let customers get away because of indifference or your lack of attention. Out humanize your competitors.

You probably learned when you took a few actions that your company isn't as attentive as you thought you were, and how such simple things as being really interested in your customers work. You also learned some things about the marketplace. Now let's leverage these learnings.

Principle #3
Your existing customers will save you. Be clear about why a customer should deal with you - then maximize every interaction to increase your margins and make sure the customers see your difference.

Focus on knowing your clients, what they want and match your offering around their motivations to buy is tantamount to beginning to see your differentiator. Michael Porter of Harvard would say you have 3 choices of strategies. Differentiate, focus by a particular segment or overall cost leadership. These generic strategies are approaches to outperform your competitors so you can earn higher returns.

Differentiation: Be unique. One of our clients, Finning in Western Canada, provides Caterpillar tractors in the construction and oil sands industry. It is known for its great dealer network, availability of excellent spare parts, high quality durable products, which is crucial up North and where downtime is very expensive. For the last few years we've been helping them with customer service. They are difficult to compete with and they can increase margins due to their brand loyalty.

Low Cost: Our biggest worldwide customer is Walmart. It's very clear to all internal/external that cost reductions, tight costs, overhead control, cost minimization in service, sales, advertising and so on exist at Walmart. A great deal of managerial attention is necessary to yield above-average returns despite strong competitive forces. Competitors can't keep lowering their prices to compete. They usually go out of business while Walmart still earns returns despite low prices.

Focus: It's about serving a particular target very well and each functional policy is developed with this in mind. It is a form of differentiation. I have a client in Hamilton who devoted their entire existence to keeping Dofasco happy and profitable and built a very good business doing so. Other companies can focus on a narrow industry, not just one client but regardless, it works and is a great defense against competitors.

Most of us probably sell to a broad market and haven't invested in mechanisms to make us low cost at much, so differentiation is our ticket to compete. It requires that we have marketing abilities, a great compelling story, a creative flair, we listen to the market, have strong affiliates or cooperation from channels, close internal coordination between R&D, offer development, marketing and sales and we attract talent who match our offering.

The question is, "Why should I buy from you?" If you can't answer this, you aren't different and you better be a strategic low cost company for you'll be battling for price alone. If your story and marketing doesn't distinguish you, then even your best customers will flee when they get a better offer.

Get this right and you'll thrive in the recovery and the upswing that is coming - get ready.

We'll talk soon about the messaging, the story and the marketing necessary to grab market.

Let's talk about how to leverage every interaction with your existing clients. Now we're getting very tactical.

There is not a company that exists that fully maximizes the potential inherent in its customer base. In fact most feel they do and they don't, or stubbornly refuse to change their methods when it comes to marketing/ selling to their existing clients. Even in tougher times.

In the early nineties recession, my associate (now our President), Kathie Mather, told me to quit fretting over our overhead and declining sales and get out of my office and meet with some of our old clients to see if we could help them survive. Well I said, "Okay, if you'll do it too." And off we went!

After visiting many clients and listening to a lot of sad stories, we started to put together a way to support them. After all, we had a lot of competent people not as active as they usually were who could help. It resulted in the creation of 3 new services that helped our clients and us survive and thrive for many years. (Today those business services are continually used in 70 countries throughout the world of Dale Carnegie - from China to Brazil.)

The Point: Your best prospects are your existing customers.

I suggest before you put money into finding new customers, stop and divert some of your resources into reselling, up selling and cross-selling to your existing customers.

In every way possible:

Get in touch - whether by phone, mail, email or in person (all customers want to feel that they are special and that you take special interest in seeing to their needs).

Provide post-purchase reassurance each time a customer places an order with you. Call him/her a week after to see how it's going. This will put aside any post-purchase dissonance.

Give your customers the best deals and guarantees that you can possibly get away with. Don't be afraid to be compelling and stand out. Remember to match with what will motivate them to buy.

Listen for the situations they are in and the impact your products/services can help solve. You could come up with some creative ways to market and/or deliver that impact. Sometimes it's the littlest things that we miss that if we had listened, could be turned into a real new offering. We need to hear the impact our products/services could have and then package or bundle and sell it to them and others. Creativity is mainly about listening.

Build rapport and trust. After all, that's all that's missing most times from new customers buying from you. It's the same for existing customers in tough times. Be as honest as you can be with your customers. People do business with ethical people they can trust. Here is our 1990 not too slick, but honest offer after listening to our customers: "Looks like we have people sitting around and you are struggling so why don't we get our people to put their heads together and see if we can help you grow. Any cost is too much if what you buy doesn't help you grow."

Keep an accurate and timely customer list. Work this list. As boring as this principle sounds, I'm always amazed at how few times companies don't even have this. They have transactional buyers and they don't get the DNA for each customer. Many times they don't even know their target's names. Set up a preferred valuable customer campaign for this list now - throw all you have at your best customers.

Up sell or resell right at, or immediately after the initial sale and you can dramatically improve your profits. Offer a package of related items or services for a 20 to 30% discount if they buy now. Upgrade the sale by offering a $200 off for example, a superior version of what they are buying if they upgrade now.

Read the following sentence three times so you will let the right side of your brain hear it:

Customers are silently begging to be acknowledged, informed, given advanced opportunities and led to action.

Read it again. Did it sink in yet?

If you insert "your people" instead of customers into the sentence, you will realize an even greater importance of this principle.

Regardless of what business you are in, this concept works anywhere.

Blogging Can Help- or Hurt-

Blogging Can Help – or Hurt –

Your Career Blogging has become an impulsive contemporary art for careerists. Should you develop your own blog or shouldn’t you? Will it help or hurt your career? Let me present this canvas to you as a primer of sorts to think about this issue. Much of my career practice and coaching involves an organizing thought: You own the business of your career. It’s your worklife mission, your vision. For years I coached and, some would say, admonished my clients to take ownership of their career paths as they work for someone else. When you do not own the business, one of the greatest ways you can help or hurt your career centers around your own online and offline reputation. With so many choices and so much information at the click of a computer key, we may feel information overload no matter what our career field might be. We may also feel empowered to create or destroy. What’s easy can be fun or dangerous. In a matter of minutes, you can set up your Blogger, WordPress, Typepad or related blog site. And the minute you post? Your words can be accessed by billions of people around the world. No Web designer needs to be hired. No technical guru at x dollars an hour has to listen to and potentially kill your ideas. You own this medium. You have freedom. You can say or cite anything. There’s no waste of time and no need to white-board everyone else’s ideas. It’s so easy but don’t let the impulsive ease of blogging let you forget about the eyes that watch your art, your views, your passions, protests, observations and objections.How might this medium help – or hurt – your career direction and path?How it can help:1. You have an audience. Keep it positive. Blogging may add to the company’s brand and your position as an authority or subject matter expert within your company or your field. Jane S. worked at a powerful, regional advertising company. She cleared her personal blog through her boss, her boss’ boss and her company human-resources department. They said she didn’t have to, but with my advice she did. During a recession, she has received two promotions, and her blog has since been incorporated into the main site of the corporation because of its business development prowess. She says, “Now 40 percent of my time is incorporating my personal brand or blog into the company’s brand with the complete blessing of the executive team.” 2. Paint the right picture. Drive customer confidence. As you cite critical sources and make intelligent, important observations, your personal blog augments your position within your company and promotes your company. You never bash your company. You can be yourself and be authentic. James P., a salesman, asked for permission from his company to comment on his business travels and business adventures as a technology sales consultant. Customers love the funny, idiosyncratic stories. James says, “My blog has been a business generator for the company and earned me four speaking engagements on behalf of the company and four speaking engagements locally that were sponsored by local sales networking organizations. I can’t believe it. It’s made me kind of recession-proof in my career!” His first book is being self-published, and his company uses him to teach and train all new sales personnel. 3. Get a raise and a promotion. Defend the faith. Blogging helps you document and publish your ideas while associating with great people. Again, Alice P. published her blog under a pseudonym two years ago. Today she has kept the quirky observations about life, travel, art and kids quite eclectic. Her blogging has incorporated funny observations about office life without offending anyone at work. It’s been serialized and referred to by the company. The CEO thought her site should be commented on, featured and linked to by the company to help with Esprit de corps. Alice states, “Now I have an in-house company editor who helps me promote and publish my blog. We’ve added videos and more fun stuff. The company pays me monthly.” She keeps her comments happy, funny and still personal. How blogs can hurt:1. One small step. Negative posts can be fatal. Blogging can open you up for many legal, liability and employment questions, problems or crises. Last year, Jim C. came to me after he had posted a rather nasty post on his Top Ten Worst Retailers in the World blog. His company did business with two of those retailers and as nosy or highly sensitive corporate personnel found out about his lambaste, it caused a rift at the company. According to Jim, “This year for other reasons I was let go. It was not the economy. I crossed the line.” 2. Pictures tell a thousand stories. Larry seemed to pipe up at work a lot about things that bothered him. So he decided to publish a seemingly anonymous blog. As a techy he posted hundreds of comments on political ideas, named people he thought should be impeached and railed against what he considered bad taste and fashion. He did this anonymously under a lot of different names. But when he decided to take pictures at the year-end Christmas party and publish captions that offended nearly everyone, he was, well, suspended without pay forever (fired).3. Beautiful art can be destroyed. Craig became disillusioned after an 18-year career. Nearing retirement, his company had promoted three people younger than him to the technology-director level. Years ago he had engineered their Web presence. Knowing that having no blog presence left his company vulnerable, he found it increasingly interesting and titillating when he created a blog presence; added negative comments to company products; and dumped a list of customer complaints onto the proverbial, anonymous IHATEXCOMPANY.com, the site a former employee developed to stick it to the man. Under pressure, the IHATEXCOMPANY.com author faced legal entanglements and gave up Craig’s name as a blogger. Now Craig is in litigation. It’s not looking good.Imagine you’re an artist like Michelangelo dipping brush into paint; a seemingly limitless creative well. You’re halfway done with your masterpiece, the signature of your worklife and rather spiritual mission. As you take your impossible position on the scaffold to paint more of the Sistine Chapel you have a thought. Imagine you could destroy your Sistine Chapel with one strike of the match. Like the great artist, blogging can help you take ownership of your career and worklife vision. Of course, it can also be just for fun, too. But let’s also realize you, like the great artist, have the power to create or destroy your career future with just a few strokes or decisions. Make sure you know your audience and you understand the potential impact of your newly minted blog posts. It could make a lasting impression and a permanently positive or negative impact on your career picture.Paint yours. Paint it well.

Life Entrepreneurs

Get Connect Make It Happen! special post

Last night, I had the great honour of attending at the "How Life Entrepreneurs Have Created Extraordinary Lives" event at the IT 360 conference at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The other speakers were Paul Tobey and Phil Taylor. Both men are fascinating...

If you don't know Paul Tobey, he conducts really worth while seminars both on public speaking and on internet marketing. Paul was a jazz pianist at the top of his game when he came to the earth-shattering realization that he was playing his way into the poorhouse. If that wasn't bad enough, he became plagued by tinitus (ringing in the ears) and had no choice BUT to reinvent himself.

The result? A business devoted to Training Business Pros. His seminars are loaded with immediately actionable information that help people take charge of their lives and businesses.

I hadn't met Phil Taylor but it was a really pleasure to hear him speak. Not unlike Paul Tobey, Phil Taylor has overcome great adversity in his life and is using what he has learned to help others. Phil owned a successful advertising firm with 50 employees. A series of events caused him to lose his business, his home, and his way. For three months, he lived in a park with his five cats.

Now he runs a not for profit called GoalAchievers which provides peer support for successful entrepreneurs and leaders in a variety of fields.

There were some truly extraordinary people in the audience trying to change the world through good works and socially responsible business ventures. I had a chance to talk to some of them afterwards, including Thomas Kaufmann who does Eco-Park development, David Moses, a video producer very engaged in the stories of Canada's First Peoples, and Tony Matchem, a Registered Nutritional Consultant who is helping people to better health through what they put in their bodies. Thank you to everyone for coming out and all of you who stopped by to say "hi" afterwards.

Special thanks go to Jennifer Beale from Unleash PR who Emceed the event so ably and Max Haroon, the event founder and President of the Society of Internet Professionals. I can't wait for your next event!