An Addendum to “THE COVER LETTER” ARTICLE

Upon receiving so many comments and feedback from readers searching for help after reading the blog article, “The Infamous Cover Letter” I decided to add an addendum to it entitled, “The Infamous Resume.”

In the first article, it was emphasized that the cover letter is about the “whom?” and “what” of you – personally; and the resume illustrates the “where?” “when?” and “how?” of your business life. It is at THIS time, you also will find the “why?”

Last week I did a resume for a girl that was told by her business coach that her resume needed work. Puzzled, the girl asked me to rewrite and improve it for her. I asked her to send me the description of the job she was applying for and her original resume as it looks now.

Upon reviewing the job description, I found it was a perfect job fit for her skills. However, looking at her actual resume, I could understand if she didn’t even capture an interview.

The thing is, it was all formatted properly, dates accurate, job titles listed, but it said NOTHING about her proven track record of success and contributions to each company she listed. It said she worked for them, displayed her title, said she did routine tasks for them, but there was nothing to indicate that she was a gem in demand because of her ideas, work methods, achievements, or contributions who made the companies shine due to her efforts!

In the cover letter, you say who you are and why you were perfect for this position, but in the resume, you indicate you made a contribution and then, the secret is this…remember the rule? You know, the one drilled in your head by your English teacher, the rule…“Who, What, Where, Why and When and sometimes HOW? THIS is the place you highlight emphatically the HOW!

Resume #1

Weight Loss Counselor

• Sold memberships to clients (how many?)

• Helped Members on goals (Make an impression?)

• closed & opened store.

• told the main office how we did each week (how did you do?!)

Resume #2

Read the rest of this entry »

REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!

You probably assume I am going to state the obvious here and say that spelling and grammar checks are a must, which is of course very true. However, to discover those little typos, over-sites, spelling and grammar errors, the ONLY way to do it – is to review, review, and then review one more time.

I cannot tell a lie. I am sometimes lax myself at checking my own work more than once. I type too fast and inevitably present a typo or misspelled word in my own work, but I’m great at editing others work, because I’m focusing on THEIR words, spelling and grammar, not the creation. This isn’t uncommon, by the way – for writers in particular. Their brain is creating, brainstorming, focusing on characters, plots, scenes, and getting it down before they forget it…they are not focusing on the copy until it’s all on paper, which is why we have editors and proofreaders in the first place. However, that is no excuse, I admit. So, the lesson for all of us today, is to review, review, review. I have someone else check my own pages now – and then I can blame them if it comes back to bite me! 

Sentence length is always a topic of debate. Most of the time, the tendency is to write too many lengthy sentences than fewer. Some experts say it is ok to have a very long sentence as long as the grammar, spelling and punctuation are in place. I prefer to stick to the old school of writing that says, no – sentences should not be longer than an average of 17 words per sentence…and now I contradict myself, because this sentence is a lot longer than 17 words…get my point?!

Try not to repeat a word in a sentence and even limit repeating it in a paragraph, if at all possible. This does not apply to… the, and, of, it, in, if, at, to, etc., obviously!

Whenever you can, use verbs instead of adjectives, because doing is better than describing! You know, “actions speak louder than words?!” That’s another tip; don’t use clichés, unless it is just a fun-type article like this one!

Does your headline make people want to read more? Make sure your headline presents an invitation to read more. In my header, the first one just proposed a boring checklist; in the sub-header, it called for ACTION and an admission of guilt!

Now, will you excuse me while I review, review and review once more, this copy? Feel free to make comments – just remember, I DO make sure that my client’s work is accurate, and I use two programs and a thorough hard read to make sure!

I recently had a thank you gift sent to me from a special client. This gift is a terrific read and now I am hooked as a subscriber. It is a great magazine for small business owners in particular.

Inc. is a magazine designed for Growing Companies. Now I am not here to solicit subscribers, I just want to share some of the wisdom found in this magazine.

One particular article concerned a business man who owned his own virtual software company. “Driven to Distraction”, found in the “Get Real” section of the magazine and written by Jason Fried. Embedded in the article was an illustration of a man who was surrounded by horse-fly’s buzzing all around him; with a half-crazed look on his face, the poor man was hiding for cover with both arms covering his head. The subject matter and moral of the story is, “it just doesn’t matter”.

If you had to guess, what do you suppose the story is about? Is the man fed up with his business? Does he want to quit life? Business? Does he want to throw in the towel to success? Is the word failure in his vocabulary?

Actually, his web design virtual business was good. He had started it in his apartment as a solo entrepreneur, working with all the advantages of working virtual…no commute, cubicles, or traffic, and his clients were happy with his work.

The one thing he couldn’t shake, was his nervousness over his expanding business. He felt he needed to go to the next level and compete in his field. He needed to make his Request for Proposals longer and shinier. Like a lot of virtual companies, he started saying, “we” instead of “I” to indicate that his company was larger than it really was to impress his clients. He also started to bad mouth his competition, which is a no-no in business anywhere. Why was he so nervous?

He “succumbed” to his own word called laziness. He was so busy, trying to be bigger and better he realized he forgot one important thing about himself, that he loved work, but not to work so HARD. He was writing proposals and slinging mud at the competition but that wasn’t him. So he did a turn-around and wrote shorter proposals, quit worrying about the competition and as the story goes, he got more work and even better clients. He was managing his business more efficiently, slept better and just quit worrying about the future.

His company now has 16 employees. They don’t make 5 year plans, or do projections and forecasts, AND they are no longer scared, worried, or insecure. His theory was to spend more time on what happens NOW, not in the future. Now his motto is,

“Tomorrow, Eventually, Next quarter, Next year”…all those words need to be thrown away…they are NOT necessary words to success. They just don’t matter. His theory is not to stop thinking about the future, it is to stop worrying about today…go on get lazy and just work for today.

Today, I decided to write a different type of blog. A lot of friends and relatives are suffering with serious illness, job loss, or death, and I happen to know quite a bit about loss since beyond being a writer, I am also a Certified Grief Recovery Specialist.

I lost my oldest daughter at the age of 20, and the “what happened” is not the topic for this platform. This is about Loss period. The loss of job, loss of loved ones, loss of a relationship, loss in a divorce or custody battle, even the loss of a pet, impacts greatly not only how resilient we are, but how our faith, and sometimes even our sanity, will be tested.

In dealing with loss, our most natural tendency is to ask the big question, “why?” We go over that in our mind – we wrestle with God over it, we blame or challenge someone, or sometimes – just stay angry and bitter to no avail.

Like life, death is also a journey…almost like a summation of one’s meaning on this earth – whether it’s the death of a job, relationship, or the death of a loved one. It’s a time for contemplation, but also a time for renewal.

The journey we take on, in death or loss, is one of survival and growth. Will the pain and disappointment ever stop? Will I even get another job as good as this one? Will I be able to sleep at night without my sweet dog Scuttles? Will I get cancer like my Mom or Dad? Will I ever find someone else to love me after this divorce? The list goes on and on.

The good news is that death and loss does invite renewal to life; it is determined by how our mind perceives it, how we internalize it and the acceptance of an “examination” of both our physical, and/or our spiritual life.

When one experiences a loss, it is a time for contemplation. We must go through a process and experience the grief of the loss; and we must embrace the new with faith and a new determination of purpose in our lives. There are lessons to think about as we grieve the loss…what did we learn from the experience…how we dealt with the ugliness of it, or the bittersweet memories we take with us. If a relationship was bad, or less than we wanted or needed from the deceased, did we grieve the disappointment? Did we mourn the fact of what “couldn’t be?” If it was a job loss, did we take away just anger, or surf though what that job was to us, what we learned from it, the experiences we had and the relationships we enjoyed?

When we are overwhelmed with grief, the pain, fog, and confusion are there to protect you. Even the anger is there to keep us from not being able to cope all at once. That is why there is a process. The process is a gift we didn’t know existed until we went through it. Anyone who has suffered a loss will tell you how their life changed and how they learned from the process…because life is a journey – even in death or another loss. It is a call for renewal of the soul; we change through understanding, forgiveness, growth, and a deeper appreciation for this life, no matter what the circumstances. We will know we have grown; we know we will survive, and we will have a deeper meaning to our own personal journey and those of our loved ones, co-workers, or loving pets.

LIFE IS A PROCESS OF LEARNING, LOSS IS A JOURNEY OF HAVING LEARNED.

Many of us have been in the business world long enough to know that Communication is the key ingredient to success. Without communication, you might as well just put a blindfold on and ear mufflers – too go ALONG with the mouth gag you’re wearing…or you could post the Monkey Chart on your wall!

SEE NO EVIL

HEAR NO EVIL

SAY NO EVIL

In the Fortune 500 Business arena, managers teach that team building goes through many stages, phases and growth spurts before it can even begin to exist as a team. You can’t just join a team and blink, you are done, ready to do whatever task you are assigned.

Team members come in all mindsets as individuals and distinct personalities – and an effective team gets to know who they are working and competing with, so relationships and team building can take place. The disadvantage is that an online team cannot physically meet the other team members, unless they are in a demographic locale that allows for that. However, like many other things that may not be feasible, we learn to compensate.

So, how do you effectively build an online team?

Five ingredients can help you build your team:

Low stress
Have fun
Be funny
Form Group Trust
Learn Creative Problem Solving

NOW you have a team and the work can begin.

Only after completing the five steps above are you ready to form your team. Let’s go through each one and COMMUNICATE about it.

LOW STRESS

When you first ask someone to be on your team, more than likely they are nervous because they don’t know what is expected of them. YOUR low stress level is the sedative that alleviates that right off the bat. You assure the potential team member that you picked them because they can handle the task – so they can relax. You assure them there is nothing to stress about, and that this is going to be fun.

HAVE FUN

The next step is to HAVE fun with your team after all the introductions are made. Perhaps a chat room discussion or game on Skype, or in a conference room; games, or just plain “getting to know you” chat is essential for the WHOLE team, not just the leader and the individual team member. A teleconference just doesn’t get it, if when you hang up, you have no idea whom you spoke with other than the leader. You usually don’t even know how many are on the line or on the team with that initial call. The first contact meeting should be designed as a team building exercise so when it is done, everyone knows each other.

BE FUNNY!

Nothing breaks silence and the ice, then when you laugh and tell everyone your most embarrassing moment – or have them tell you what is the funniest thing they ever heard their child say. Being funny relaxes everyone and improves team building. That first call, when everyone is laughing and cutting up, will be the last time the team members feel like strangers, they will know they have just met a whole new group of friends if the team building is successful.

FORM GROUP TRUST

Ok, so you have two or three copywriters or accountants on your team. Are they worried you may pick one over the other? Are they concerned that there may not be enough work for all three, and you may be left out? Are they strung out because of the immediate competition? It’s your job as the team leader to communicate that concern and talk about it. Trust is the important ingredient that needs to be upfront and immediate for all team members and competitors. By the end of the team building session, each writer should be willing to help each other or work together on an article. The focus is harnessing the energy as a team.

LEARN CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING

You can learn to be creative in solving issues that are bound to crop up in a team.

First, communication should be addressed BEFORE the confrontation. As the leader of the team, you need to be sure you have exhausted all teaching techniques, guidance and/or training that is expected of a leader, before you call someone on a task you are not satisfied with.

Think about it, the team member has to satisfy 3 people; you, your client, and herself.

Were you clear in your directives? Did the team member feel free to ask you for clarification of things? Which is better, go off, and do what you THINK the leader/client wants, or just ask? Are you as a leader OPEN to being asked?

MONEY AND TIMEKEEPING ISSUES

Has the leader laid out the groundwork or contract for how much you will be paid? Did you both agree on it? Are the rates the same for all subcontractors? Did the entire team have a clear understanding of the payment vs. time allotted for a project? Is the time you allotted, enough to do a good job or is it short-changed by the impact of your revenue?

Important things that will keep anyone from being successful, in all aspects of their life, whether it is job, marriage, home or relationships is usually determined by four things:

Control
Power
Money
Sexuality

When you take this equation and think about it in the context of your business or personal life – you can engage being a team member in ALL aspects of your life and allow success to be a part that; or, like these women in the picture, you can just “C the PMS!” and lose site of what being a team is.

I’ve already admitted that I’m better at taking care of other people than I am myself…especially when it comes to updating my systems, my blogs, renewing my memberships, keeping up with twitter, facebook, linked in- or any of my other social media networks.  It is difficult to do this when you are in a time constraint with your business…and time IS money.  But, the creepy crawler catches up with you.  Cobwebs set in and pretty soon, you go to do something and your compter says, “huh”? and you have a bad computer day all day. 

Case in point, I was assisting one of my clients the other day, and I wanted to setup code for him on his site that would let him keep track of how his site was doing overall statistically as it was being tracked. It had been so long since I had checked my on stats that I didn’t realize they had updated “how” they did the tracking and mine hadn’t been tracked in months…just because I had failed to keep abreast of things pertaining to the functioning of my own sites. 

Then there are those little nuisances where you see an email alert about a change on one of your pertinent sites, and you contend you will do it later…then forget, until something malfunctions again, because the computer “forgets” the old way of doing things too!

I wrote a blog last week, and it was fairly informative I thought and took particular care with it to get some information out to my readers.  Well, I went to find it on my site, and it was gone.  NOT THERE!  NADA.

Did I lose it?  Did I forget to publish it?  Was it in the draft folder?  Nope.  It was nowhere to be found.

Guess who updated?  Yep.  Wordpress.  To the new version… 2.7.1.  Now I’m sure I was informed of this earlier…sometime, somewhere, at one of my email addys…but hey, I’ve been busy!   Excuses produces Misses!

Another client wanted to know why Google Analytics wasn’t tracking his web stats…yep again…they block content that is not updated and spend their energy on the ones who pay attention!

Moral of the story is obvious.  God and Websites take care of those who take care of themselves!

WORDS AND CATCH PHRASES

 

How appropriate to read Lake Superior State University’s annual list of words/phrases that are to be banished at years end!  What a great idea!  Like a de-cluttering of the English language!  A year-end wrap up of acceptable words and non-acceptable words. uh…… “How cool is that?” (That phrase will NEVER be banished!!)

I don’t speak any foreign language, albeit a touch of Latin from my Catholic upbringing, but I wonder if other languages have catch phrases, or slang, or nicknames?  I wonder when you take a second language if it includes teaching slang or catch phrases?

At any rate, some of the words that have been banished this year,

• “from Wall Street to Main Street”;
• “winner of five nominations”
• “economic meltdown” hasn’t been chosen YET but soon will be!
• “change” (even though we desperatly need some!)
• “maverick”
• “first dude”  (adopted by Todd Palin, Sarah Palin’s husband)
• “Joe the Plumber”  (see what happens when you give a public opinion?
• “Main Street” vs. “Wall Street” (puleasssssssssse!)
• “At this point in time” (this gets nominated every year!)
• “Get a Life” (this phrase was banished in the 1997 list)
• “monkey”  (mainly used in connection with internet catch phrases)
• “going green”  (This had the highest nominations for tiresome words needing to be banished)

So what would be YOUR favorite words or catch phrase to eliminate for the year 2009?

I for one will always use my favorites, banished or not…as we get older we are “creatures of habits” (which is one of my favorites!).  At any rate, I love to say, “no way” or “you’ve got to be kidding”, then there is “for sure” and not to be forgotten, “duh!”  (the best way to insult someone is always with the word “duh” that makes THEM feel stupid….uh, duh! (how stupid can I be!)

Please write and let me know what YOUR favorite slang/catch phrase is…I’m sure with many sales people out there, hundreds of words can be added to the list! 

Sales:

• “For a limited time only”
• “time is running out”
• “hurry in while supplies last”
• “not sold in stores” (and they always are at the speciality stores)

O.k. let’s get our own list going!  In the meantime, a very Happy and Prosperous New Year to one and all and let’s hope from “Wall Street to Main Street”   “Change” is here at last!   A good one of course…duh!

Here is what I was thinking about with a recent client.  Why write a weekly blog, if you also send a newsletter, emails, and do social marketing?  Do we really believe that everyone “reads”  all that is put out there?  Blogs are great, don’t get me wrong..and there is a definite place for them in the cyberworld, but I’m wondering if it could not be put to better use?

Who are your clients?  Would that page of your website, the blog page, be a good place to speak directly to them?  Teach them? Educate or Train them?  What about that page to advertise for your clients?  As a service not a charge.  For fun, let’s call that blog page, the clientblog where any and everything that has to do with your own personal clients go there. 

Let’s say my website is really hot…and it gets lots of activity, readership and traffic. I have this client in NY, a dentist, who offers upscale dentistry and has a really unique office.  He is also running a “special” for a limited time due to hard economic times for people…What if I used my clientblog to spotlight him for a month and draw traffic to HIS website by promoting on mine?

It serves a two-fold purpose. Increases your business, increases your clients business and is good marketing and PR service.  How many times can you read someone else’s blog on “how to” or “what event” they are going to have….why not capitalize on the opportunity to give the gift of business to your client?! 

Hmmmm….this can be done and might be a good thing to consider doing!  Thoughts anyone?

It’s time for a good laugh! A belly shaking, rolling on the floor laugh…AND an English lesson to boot! My love affair with words was nourished by an email that was sent to me by a friend. It challenges the English language while giving a good laugh and marvels the astonishment about how things get to be what they are and why. Curious? Read on. 

Subject: I love English  

I love English
Can you read these right the first time?  

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.  

2) The farm was used to produce produce.  

3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse. 

4) We must polish the Polish furniture. 

5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.  

6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.  

7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present. 

A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum 

9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

10) I did not object to the object.  

11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid. 

12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row. 

13) They were too close to the door to close it 

14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.  

15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.  

16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow. 

17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail. 

18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.  

19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests. 

20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend? 

Let’s face it – English is a crazy language
—————————————————————

 Lovers of the English language might enjoy this too . . .  

There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is ‘UP.’

It’s easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?  

We call UP our friends. And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car. At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special. 

And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.  

We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP! To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don’t give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more. When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP.  

When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP.  

When it doesn’t rain for awhile, things dry UP.  

Fess UP… you like this! 

One could go on and on, but I’ll wrap it UP, for now my time is UP, so………… Time to shut UP…..!  

Oh…one more thing: 

What is the first thing you do in the morning & the last thing you do at night? U-P 

Are you laughing hard enough yet?!

The choice words we may be using worldwide, in reference to the way the economy is impacting all of us, is not just slang -but down right cursing!  Forget proper etiquette!  Forget which candidate is promising what!  Forget “severance pay” and health care costs, and fuel cost, and that General Motors just laid off thousands of salaried people along with the highest unemployment rate in years…and the fact that a lot of Americans can hardly feed their families, much less the animals! Forget it! 

Which wars are we going to fight?!  The one in another country, while others are threatening?!  Fight the housing war?  The Fuel War?  The employment War? 

Sigh.  O.k. It’s time to start screaming that we are fed up and we are NOT going to take it anymore!  America does NOT get this bad economically, we were suppose to learn from the Great Depression!  Can we learn from a Recession?

Republicans and Democrats are fighting about who created this mess. As usual, hindsight serves no one.  The debates come off as a mere game of who can outdo the other, and really does not help us to see WHO is really qualified for what our country needs at this fearful time…regardless of party…who really cares WHICH party wins, as much as “who can get us straightend out again and WHOM can we really believe?”

A friend of mine called last night really depressed.  I asked her what I could do, and she said, “ask my sister to back off of the political wagon and her one-sided views…I’m sick of it all and what’s going on in our country and I’m really down about it.” 

I assured her that it will all turn around again.  This has happened before.  America WILL survive the economic hardships and threats from any other nations…because the heart and soul of AMERICA is just that…survival.  We have had good presidents, and we have had bad ones, but as flawed as the system seems to be at times, we still have to admit it works. But it takes more than the political powers, it takes ALL of us.

As a citizen and cheerleader of our country, I say let’s all get out our flags, remember the meaning of Independence Day, and wait patiently and frugally for things to get better.  Easy to say, hard to do… but remember, the higher power has the MOST power of any candidate, or living human being on earth.  Perhaps it is time for us to remember to vote for HIM and HIS power of influence and decision-making.   God, Please Bless America and All Nations.