July 8, 2011
Reinvent Yourself (July 8, 2011)
Posted in Business, Career, social networks at 2:59 am by dinkinsunlimited
I admit it: I’m an avid reader. But I’m not the prototypical reader that reads for fun. I don’t read novels or really any type of fiction. There are times I do, but I tend to find it counterproductive. When I do read, I read for information. Knowledge for knowledge sake. I read to improve myself in every facet of my life. Looking around in the space around, I see mounds of books and magazines, all with pertinent information, one of which I will be sharing with you. There was a specific article from Fortune magazine that really caught my attention. This article, “Pulling the Ultimate Career Makeover” chronicles the lives of five (5) successful people who were faced with tremendous circumstances, but each found a way to reinvent themselves, managing to create successful businesses and finding new sources of employment. One man, David Kahn owned Blockbusters and Subways. But circumstances, rise of Netflix and “$5 subs”, brought an abrupt end to Kahn $15 million a year franchise businesses. But through social media savvy and good product research, Kahn was able to start a very successful and profitable yogurt company, Yogurt Mountain. Another man, Mike Merrill was a rising sales executive at NetApp, until he got laid off. But through the use of social media outlets like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook and his newfound burgeoning knowledge on social media, Merrill was able to obtain new employment. I’ve used these two as primary examples of reinvention. There were three (3) others included in the article: Mae Tai O’Malley, Tom Murray, and Paul Levine. To read their stories, pick up your local copy of Fortune Magazine. Just make sure it’s the July 4, 2011 issue. In this article, the author, Douglas Aiden Warshaw, gives six (6) basic rules for reinventing, “rebranding”, oneself. These rules are as follows:
- Get Online, For real. In other words, make use of social networking sites to increase your personal brand.
- Start from scratch
- Learn by doing. This means that you should worry about how perfect something is. Just go out there and do it. Learn through hands on experience.
- Share the wealth. Knowledge is a commodity that should be shared with other. Sharing knowledge also increase people’s awareness of your own personal brand.
- Cut Back Fast. Become fiscally responsible and financially fit.
- Prioritize Your Passions. Get rid of all of those things that you don’t like. As, Warshaw says, “plot you passions and sill sets and see if it gets you to a new place.
By following these few basic rules, one will be able to successfully change their career prospects and thus, their future success.
