What follows is an article I wrote for a local business publication.  Most or all of this also applies to you as a job seeker.

If you build it will they come?

Overcoming the “Field of Dreams” approach

Unfortunately the business world is littered with the remnants of many promising companies that failed to recognize the significance of persistant sales.  Despite great products, a small company must persist through the sales process if they are to have any hope of surviving. Far too many entrepreneurs assume that if they built it, customers will come. Most smaller companies aren’t adequately funded and run their bank accounts dry before any significant business comes their way.

Small business owners and executives are usually too busy developing their product or service to give enough attention to reaching decision makers who might buy their wares. They think that simply being visible is going to generate business. This motivates them to develop a web page, create some handout materials and spread the word among people they know. When they realize that no one is seeking them out, the decision is made to increase visibility by going where the key decisions makers are looking for information. They start giving presentations at seminars, writing contributed articles for trade publications, joining trade groups and going to trade shows.

People do not naturally assimilate general information and turn it into an understanding as to how it will benefit them. Customers must be guided to this understanding and then encouraged to make a buying decision. It seems counter intuitive, but intelligent business people can not seem to “connect the dots.” This is why the savvy entrepreneur needs to perfect a pitch that includes features, advantages and benefits.  In other words, draw the picture for the customer and explain how their solution will help them turn a profit. After initial failure to attract adequate attention, these small companies will“idiot proof” their message so it can not be missed.

In the instance where decision makers are reached and interest generated, there is often too little follow up. Business owners wait for the person to contact them. After all, the busy executive said they would follow up and no one wants to appear to be “pushy.” After waiting a long time, the small company will finally contact the prospective customer. If they can not get through after several tries, most will give up.  They assume that the prospect has simply lost interest or was never really interested in the first place.

In reality, closing the deal can be a lengthy process. Even with a truly interested customer, the road to success can be a long one. I’ve developed a list of five common set-backs in the sales process of start-ups and small companies:

“What we got here is a failure to communicate.”

Product developers are excited about their new product or service and assume that the benefits of it are clearly visible. All too often, developers expect that people will imediately see the significance of their product. In reality, customers may need more time just to understand the offering. For this reason, the company message must be clear enough so that the prospect is not required to talk themselves into liking the product. The sales pitch must explain how the product or service will save precious resources; generally time or money.

Assuming that they like you….they really like you…

It is easy to misunderstand the prospect’s level of interest. Being simply “interested” may mean that they are only entertained by the demonstration, concept or presentation. The company representative needs to learn to qualify the interest to prevent wasted effort. Some deals are never going to move forward because the prospect can not see a specific benefit derived from the offering.

One is better than two.

Particularly in partnerships, there is a failure to make “following up” one person’s job. Both the seller and the prospect will return to the office after a trade show or seminar and get back into their routine. Unless “closing the deal” is part of someone’s routine, chances are, nothing new will happen. One person must be assigned responsibility to follow up with the prospect until the deal either closes or falls through and that person must be held accountable regularly. It can not be a team effort or no one will be required to face the team on a weekly basis and explain why they did not follow through.

“It ain’t over ’til it’s over.”

Of course, a major failure is the lack of “persistent sales.” Rarely will the sales person get through the first time. They will have to repeatedly follow up. There is a sticking point which needs to be overcome before the two parties develop a smooth working relationship which generates income. Multiple meetings may be required and additional people may need to be brought into the process. Most or all of these people will need to be satisfied before the deal can be closed. You have to persist beyond this “sticking point” until the deal has enough momentum to close.

“All that is gold does not glitter.”

And finally, there is a temptation to chase the next hot prospect. It is so easy to lose confidence that the deal is ever going to close. When that next great prospect emerges, it is so hard to not chase them. To continue calling a prospect and never getting through or to continue having conference calls were everyone seems to be finding reasons to not close the deal; it just seems like wasted effort. When another promising opportunity emerges, it feels so logical to put all effort into making that new deal happen, only to end up, a few weeks later, at the same point in the sales process.

We have all seen ballgames where a new game plan is required to turn things around. A shuffling of the line-up, so to speak, can re-set the game and cause a team to reemerge with momentum in their favor. Here are a list of game changing solutions that can also give businesses the winning edge

Clarify your sales presentation.

Make sure the benefits of your product or service are crystal clear to the decision maker who is often multi-tasking and isn’t fully attentive. I have noticed that a major benefit of going to a trade show is not so much the ability to excite a handful of prospects. After all, trade shows with booths, shipping, handouts and travel are expensive. Your return on investment can be pretty slim. The real benefit is the opportunity to test market a sales message to a small sample of a target audience. About halfway through any show, sales people become much more effective in selling since they have successfully honed their message with real prospects.

Separate the wheat from the chaff.

I have seen really good sales people turn skeptics into customers. However, it takes extra work and the initial order is usually pretty small. With less effort and better results, they can close the sale with a customer who is truly interested. Hiring a good sales person is not always an option for a small company. The sales role is going to fall on someone. I’d suggest applying Pareto’s Principle (the 80/20 rule) so attention is given to the “vital few” and not to the “trivial many.” So many prospects (80%) are going to consume too much effort for too little result (20%). A small business can not afford to spend scarce resources without stellar results. By sorting out which prospects are serious, wasted effort is avoided. One suggestion I would offer is to simply try to close the deal as quickly as makes sense.  Those uncomfortable with the sales process are generally reluctant to quickly close a deal by simply asking for the sale. Promptly asking for the business at the appropriate time will shorten the sales cycle and quickly weed out uninterested prospects.

Put someone on the hook

This should be pretty obvious. There is little discomfort in shared blame. Make the responsibility for following up and closing the deal, one person’s job and make them report to the group regularly. Having someone on the hook to drive the deal can be uncomfortable but it makes all the difference. Be ready to ask (and have answers for) the tough questions like, “Why have you not reached them?,” or, “What methods should we be using to reach them?” Noone wants to be the bad guy, but when it comes to survival of the company, everyone will need to toughen up or face the consequences.

Make a plan to stick with it

We have all heard, “Plan your work and work your plan.” The same goes with making a plan  for following up with a great prospect. Make a plan on how and even how often you will follow up with a prospect. Decide early on what methods and collateral you will use to gain their attention and build a relationship along the way. Then devise a tracking system and stick with it. Little which is worthwhile happens without a plan. When it comes to your livelihood, planning to succeed should be paramount.

Know When to say “When”

There will be a time when it must be accepted that the deal is never going to “make.” The interest may be there but the funding may be lacking. Or, the prospect may simply be too busy or lack the authority. However, it may be that there is serious intent to buy but the process is lengthy and an occasional reminder will keep things moving forward. Therefore, it is best to plan for a gradual reduction in frequency. Rather than pelting the prospect every day for two weeks then walking away, it is better to contact them two or three times a week for a couple of weeks, then reduce contact to once a week. Eventually, you will be following up once a month until it is determined that the deal is dead. You need to know when to say “when” but don’t say “when” too soon.

I suggest that those in need of sales efficiency get a mentor or form an accountability group with other like minded professionals. Chosen partners can help you hold yourself accountable to persist until a deal is closed. And on the flip side, they should be able to help you point out that your field of dreams may never materialize and it is time to move on.

Good Luck and Godspeed.

I was talking to a friend the other day who is having money problems. As a result, he has started bringing his lunch to work. That day, he’d had a peanut butter sandwich. Being a Texas boy, I figured it was a peanut butter and banana sandwich. To my total disbelief, he told me that it was a peanut butter and dill pickle sandwich. He assured me that it was good and that I should try it. So I did. Not bad but not great either. I’m going to stick to peanut butter and banana sandwiches but I did, at least, give it a try.

That started me thinking back to something my sister-in law told me. She and my favorite Aggie brother-in-law expatted to England a few years ago. He works for a British company and they made it worth his while to spend a couple of years in Cambridge. The friends they made at church and in the neighborhood found certain American eccentricities to be marvelous fun. For example, each time a new person visited their house, they just had to see the enormous “American fridge” (refrigerator). The British use refrigerators about the size of a dorm refrigerator.

Not everything they observed at my sister-in-law’s house was typically American. For example, she loves flavored creamer in her coffee.  When she would invite friends over, she would hear them make reference to “American coffee.”  These Brits came to believe that every American drinks coffee with vanilla, hazelnut or caramel macchiato creamer in it.

I’ve come across a number of odd instances during my visits to the UK which show a funny perception of Americans. For example, I went out to dinner one night and ordered a cup of tea. The waiter brought me the water, a tea bag and a timer. He then explained to me how to brew a cup of tea.  I guess they thought that the Boston Tea Party was the end to our drinking tea in the States.

One thing the Brits just can not understand is our love of peanut butter. They can not imagine spreading that “ghastly stuff” on perfectly good bread. When my sister-in-law mentioned that we occasionally put a banana on it, nausea was clearly visible on their faces. Not being at all deterred, she added, “Or sometimes we put jelly on it.” With clear dread registering in their voices, they would ask, “What… sort… of… jelly?” The horrific answer, “Grape” was far beyond their wildest expectations. What sort of creatures are these Americans?

We can not really understand a culture until we have spent some time there.  Some people would be much happier watching a TV show about England or Egypt than to actually experience the country and the culture first hand. The problem is, you just don’t understand it if you have not been there.

I have often said that the problem with a resume is that we are so much more than a two page Word document. This is like seeing the pyramids on TV rather than riding the camel up to them, going inside them, wandering around through the dimly lit walkways, finally making it back out into the daylight and being ripped off by the old guy who just stands at the exit with his hand out like a tour guide (even though he has nothing to do with the pyramids).You can not experience the pyramids on TV. Can you know anything about me from my resume?

This is where platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn can be very helpful. Share a little bit about who you are. Help me to get to know you.

Business Insider had a great article on what the top high-tech companies want to see in your LinkedIn profile. In addition to the usual stuff such as a complete profile, lack of worn-out buzzwords and specific skills they also want to see what you are passionate about. If you are a social media marketer, do you have anything about social media marketing on your LinkedIn profile? Are you reading books about it? Are you going to the Social Media Club in your area? Are you connected to social media experts? Do you belong to the social media LinkedIn groups? Do you update your network with the latest social media news? Does your LinkedIn profile connect to your Twitter account….and do you Tweet social media stuff? Do you have a link to your personal blog….and does that show any passion for your field?

Your resume may get you in the door but your personality is what will get you the job. Show me that before I pick up the phone and call you. Give me a reason to keep your resume instead of deleting it. I really can not understand much about you from a two page overview of your career. Your resume may make you look like an uptight stuffed shirt. Show me a little passion, a good sense of humor, an interesting person and an intelligent person and I will be more inclined to give you the benefit of a doubt.

Good Luck and Godspeed.

As I mentioned in my last post, I have a friend who is a networking machine. He is reaching out to every Dallas area recruiter he can find on LinkedIn. Then he meets with them face-to-face. It is paying off for him. He is getting interviews. He also spent considerable time with one of the most knowledgeable experts on LinkedIn, this side of the Rockies. I thought I knew a lot about LinkedIn, but I learned a lot of new stuff in a short amount of time.

The first thing is your name. This is a trick that a lot of people are catching on to. Go to your settings (it is a drop down menu that you access by going to your name in the upper right hand corner). Go down the right side of the screen to “Helpful Links” and select “Edit your name, location & industry.” You are going to want to change your  last name.  You want to make this a branding statement. Don’t just be Frank Torbin. If you are a CPA, change your last name to “Torbin, CPA.” My last name, according to LinkedIn, is “Snider, MBA Marketing.”

The next thing you might want to change is your Professional “Headline.”  I had my headline as “Business Development Director” because that is my current job title. Wrong! This should be your dream job title. For me, that is “Director of Marketing” or “Marketing Director.” It makes a difference which one you choose. This is where you are going to need to do a little quick research. Go to the People search in the upper right hand corner and test out the different job titles for the job you want. For me, I tried “Director of Marketing” and “Marketing Director.” When I did the search, I included the parenthesis. I do this because you want LinkedIn to see that job title as one keyword. If you just enter Marketing Director, then LinkedIn will find every occurrence of Marketing or Director. I am not really interested in people who were Band Directors and Marketing Coordinators.I want to find all Marketing Directors.

As it turns out, there are 218,923 “Director of Marketing” and 278,439 “Marketing Director.” You want to use the job title which gets the largest number of search results. You may think that is counter intuitive. You want to stand out, so why bury yourself in the largest group of results? The reason is, hiring mangers and recruiters fish in the pond with the most fish. Get yourself into that pond.

My friend recommends that you update your profile every day, once, between 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM. You do this from the Home page (the page that LinkedIn shows you first when you log on). There is a field right next to your photograph called “Share an update.” You might post a hot news story related to your field. For me, that is easy. I am in marketing. Social media marketing is a hot topic and there is plenty of news to share each day. For you, that might not be so easy. I hope you belong to some groups on LinkedIn related to your profession. You can see what is being discussed on those groups and pick a topic or article to share. You are doing this for two reasons: you want people to know you stay current and you want people to be reminded that you exist. Out of sight, out of mind. If I want to hire a PMP, it helps if every morning when I get to work and pull up LinkedIn, I see Larry Schmidt, PMP sharing some hot topic gleaned from the Master Black Belt group. I might want to take a look at Larry’s LinkedIn profile.

My friend also blew everything I know about recommendations. He told me that I must get two recommendations for every job (or at least the jobs from the past 15 years). I’d been told that one recommendation bestows a little extra juice for the keywords found in a particular job profile. My friend said, “Two recommendations, twice as much juice.” The best way to do this is to reach out to a former boss and say, “Would you mind giving me a recommendation on LinkedIn? I have written something you might find useful as a starting point…” then you write your own recommendation. 9 times out of 10, they will post what you wrote with few or no changes…unless you went crazy and stated things that just were not at all true.

The last thing I want to mention is your volunteer work.  Edit your profile and right below the gray box that gives a quick overview of your history, there is a blue section called “Add sections.” Click on that and find “Volunteer Experience & Causes.” Select that and enter any volunteer work you do. According to an article in Fast Company, people who volunteer, get hired faster. I won’t go into the details from the article, but you should add uncontroversial volunteer work you do. I would shy away from mentioning any work you do for political candidates (as an example).

This is also a place where you can enter your ”causes.” Once again, proceed with caution. Habitat for Humanity is a pretty safe cause. Occupy Wallstreet….you might not get invited in for an interview.

Good Luck and Godspeed.

There is a spider in my guest bath. He (or she) has built a web in my bathtub. Way down low, by the drain. This is a tiny little spider with a tiny little web. It has been there for a couple of weeks now. I have to wonder if any prey has found its way into his/her web. Obviously, this particular spider lacks some ability to select a prime spot to set up shop. There are very few insects in my guest bath and almost none in my bathtub. I occasionally see a tiny this or that but there are much better locations to catch a lunch. Outside, for instance.

This led me to wonder how long a spider can go without eating.  According to Yahoo! ANSWERS:

It depends on the species, but Spiders can go a long, long time without eating. Two weeks is nothing. Many could go months if they had to. By not moving around too much, slowing their metabolism, and not expending any unnecessary energy, they can live a long time without food.

In some ways, this describes my early months after getting laid off. I took what seemed like the safe path. I wanted to find a job at an established company with pay and job title consistent with my years of experience. I put my resume on various job boards and applied for the few near perfect jobs I found there. Despite the fact that we are told over and over that about 1% or 2% of job seekers get their jobs through job boards, most of us take this route. We know that we should be calling everyone we know, driving to a location convenient to them and buying them a cup of coffee or lunch. We should be looking up recruiters on LinkedIn and reaching out to friends of friends. We need to be expending a lot of energy and a fair amount of money for coffee, food, gas, thank you notes, stamps, etc. However, most of us are like that spider. We are doing what we have always done in the hopes that some hapless prey will come our way before we starve.  And, we are tightening our belt a little more each month as we see our bank accounts shrinking.

I met with a friend today who is going  the exact opposite direction and taking a very active approach. In 2011, he met, face-to-face with 426 people for informational interviews. He spends part of every day looking for recruiters on LinkedIn and connecting with them. Not just any recruiter, but ones that specialize in his line of work. He has become an expert at using the advanced search features on LinkedIn. He has even gone so far as to buy the upgraded LinkedIn service.

Once he connects, he sets up a meeting. He will accept a phone call if that is all he can get, but he prefers to meet face-to-face. He is no spring chicken and he is not exactly eye candy but he is upbeat and positive and genuinely likes people. It comes through when you meet him. His goal is to meet with 25 recruiters every week! Ridiculous? He is doing it.

So what does he say? Simply his 10 second commercial: What he has done and what he is looking for. Then he asks for advice and any additional contacts they might like to share with him.

His strategy is working. He is currently in the advanced stages of interviewing for five jobs. These are senior level jobs….the kind that are the most difficult to get.  He has reworked his LinkedIn profile based on the best advice available from David Lanners, a local LinkedIn guru. I have heard Lanners speak on a number of occasions, but my friend met him for coffee, bought him lunch and ended up spending seven hours with him (and taking 18 pages of notes.)

What motivates a guy to go to these lengths when the average job seeker spends an hour a day looking for a job? He was motivated by the same thing that eventually caused that tiny spider to vacate my bathtub drain. Hunger. Not literal hunger, but he drained his savings at a time when his kid was just about ready to start college. It was either find a job or tell his son that he could not go to the college he’d been planning on for the past two years. I had that conversation with my son. It was a hard one. How do you tell your kid that you were not willing to spend 12 hours a day working to make sure their plans for the rest of their life are not interrupted?

If you are at that stage in your job search, check my next blog post.  I will share with you some of my friend’s special LinkedIn secrets.

When I first moved from software engineering into semiconductor marketing, I was given the assignment of promoting a new technology (FireWire). This technology had been slow to take off and management was running low on patience. For a couple of years, they had been told that success was imminent. Soon we would start giving them some return on their considerable investment. With a small marketing team assigned to make this happen, we had to be careful how we spent our time. The rule of thumb was that we should never talk to anyone who did not have the potential of placing a 100,000 unit order. There were plenty of small start-ups that wanted to develop FireWire enabled products, but we simply lacked the resources to deal with all of them. Besides, it took exactly the same amount of time to send samples to Sony or Dell as it did to send samples to Bob who is developing a new product on his kitchen table. Chances were good that Sony or Dell would eventually order 100,000 units. Chances were equally good that Bob would never amount to anything.

It was with this mindset that I answered my first phone call from Andreas. He wanted samples and was willing to pay for them. However, he worked for a company I’d never heard of. I brushed him off. The next week, I received another phone call from Andreas. Same request. Same friendly, unassuming tone of voice. Same result. I brushed him off. This went on for months. I quit picking up the phone and let it go to voice mail. Every week, I heard the same friendly, humble request. “I would like just a few samples. I am willing to pay for them. Please call me back…”

One day at our staff meeting, one of the other marketers said, “Who is Andreas? I am getting a phone call from him every week asking for samples.” I responded, “Me too!” The other marketing guy responded that he also got weekly calls from Andreas. Somehow, Andreas had figured out who the three FireWire marketing guys were and made weekly phone calls to each of us. We all agreed that we admired his persistence and that he was always nice about his request, even though it had been going on for a few months with no results. One of us said, “We should just give him some samples. Don’t charge him…just give them to him. He has been so nice about it and he obviously wants them badly.” We all agreed and Andreas got his samples.

As it turns out, Andreas was the president of this small company we’d never heard of. He was developing a debugging tool to help people who were designing FireWire into their products. This was something we’d never even thought about. And, as it turns out, was vitally important to the success of the technology. If Andreas had never gotten his samples, the roll out of FireWire products would have been delayed again and my management would have pulled the plug on the whole project.

Andreas went on to become a major player in the FireWire industry and to build a successful company which he sold for a small fortune. Years later, I was in town on business and gave him a call to see if he wanted to get together for dinner. He was delighted and picked me up in his shiny red Viper. As we drove to dinner in his $65,000 car (this was a few years ago), I related to him the story of the staff meeting where we decided to send him the samples he’d requested so many times. Then I asked him, “How did you remain so nice after we ignored you for so long?” He responded, “I was nobody from a company you’d never heard of. I desperately needed your product to be successful. I had nothing to offer you and you had everything I needed. All I could do was to be nice and ask again.” The tone of his voice let me know that he was still that guy. Viper not withstanding. He was still that guy I heard on the other end of the phone so many years ago asking once again, nicely, if I would please sell him some samples.

Andreas did two things right. He was nice and he was persistent. When you come across that great job that you really want, you should persist. Check out the company Facebook page. Web pages give you business information (product lines, sales locations, press releases, documentation….) Facebook (if it is done right) will give you interesting information about the company (charities they support, corporate team building events, mentions in the major press, industry trends…)  which will make for a much more interesting interview.

Check out the company on LinkedIn. If the company is a small one, you will probably be able to figure out who just left the company, making the opening you are interviewing for. Do a “People” search, but enter the company name instead of a person’s name. This will show you who works for the company and who worked (past tense) there.  If you determine who your predecessor was, look them up on LinkedIn. Tell them you are interviewing for their old job and invite them to connect with you on LinkedIn. Then set up a call. I have done this twice and found the people to be willing to talk and ready to share extremely useful information.

Once you actually have the interview,  mail a “thank you” note ASAP. Call a few days later. Invite the hiring manager to LinkIn with you. Even if they turn you down, stay nice and keep in touch. I heard somewhere that 30% of people who are hired, leave after 3 months. I am not sure if that is the case in the current economy but I have seen a number of people return to Southlake Focus after a few months because the job was just not right. Mail or email a note to the recruiter and the people with whom you interviewed a couple of  months after your interview. Let them know that  you are still interested in the company.

Follow them on Twitter and retweet them. Comment on their blog. There are so many things you can do to keep in touch. Be persistent and be nice.

Good luck and Godspeed.

Life is full of ups and downs and a series of comebacks. During one particularly bad period in my life, my son told me something that lifted me out of a low and taught me something which has led to many comebacks. He said, “Do you remember that time up in Seattle when we played Stratego in the back of that SUV? That is one of my favorite childhood memories.”

If I’d had to guess, I would have never picked that event to be anyone’s favorite memory. It was not winning the science fair. It was not our trip to Barcelona. It was not the praise he received after screening his first amateur claymation. It was a routine task that he and I did together. It was an event that was quickly fading from my memory.

The event he made reference to occurred during a business trip I made to Redmond to visit Microsoft. I brought my family with me as a makeshift vacation. They found things to do during the day while I was in meetings. About halfway through the trip, we ran low on clean clothes. My son and I gathered a trash bag of dirty laundry and set off to find a laundromat. That was not easy, as the area around Microsoft is fairly affluent.

We found a laundry room facing the parking lot of an inexpensive hotel. The facility was intended for hotel guests and required a room key to gain access. We waited until a hotel guest walked up and tailgated into the laundry room. Then we devised a way to gain access back into the room by propping the door open just a little…but not enough to attract attention. Then we went back to the rental car, an SUV. We lowered the tailgate and played a couple of games of Stratego while the laundry washed and dried.

To me, the evening had been about washing clothes. To my son, the evening had been about playing Stratego with his dad.

When you are 9 years old, one-on-one with a significant adult can be special. However, I think what made this event stand out in my son’s mind was the sense of adventure. He’d seen his mom wash clothes many times at home. This time, he and his dad were on a hunt. We were hunting for a laundromat. We were hunting for locations which looked like they might have a laundromat. My son had never been aware of laundromats, much less the fact that there are certain locations where they were more likely to be found. Once we found one, gaining access into the laundry room was a whole new game of strategy…with some mystery and stealth…and a tiny bit of danger (in the mind of a 9 year old).

To cap it all off, we played his favorite board game in yet another unusual location; the back of a really cool SUV.

I’d known this kid for 9 years and knew the joy he could bring to every situation. He saw life as an adventure. A speed bump in the parking lot just had to be walked across like a balance beam. When studying for a history test, he answered sample questions as if retelling a scene from a novel. At the grocery store, toy guns would materialize in his hands as he would leap around corners and shoot storm troopers.

I knew, that night in Redmond, that we were on an adventure together: hunting for the laundromat, gaining access, playing his favorite board game. But over the years, the grind of adult living had reduced the memory to simply washing laundry. For me….but not for him. He still remembered the adventure and treasured it.

So here we are, in what we hope is the continuing recovery from the Great Recession. We have weathered something that economist predict will be discussed for years to come. For those of us who lost our jobs, laid people off, or struggled through a sharp decline in business, we have participated in a piece of world history. It did not feel much like history. It felt painful, demoralizing, frightening and humbling. Some of us have learned new skills, obtained new certifications and branched out in new directions. I have been forced w-a-y out of my comfort zone and taken on things I would have never done if I’d remained comfortably employed. I am banking on the fact that I am now much better suited to the new economy than my friends who spent the last two years doing what they have always done.

In the middle of this struggle, however, I have not forgotten the lesson I learned from my son. I am embracing this change with a sense of adventure. It has made this trying time easier to manage. It has helped me remain constructive in my attack on the problems and not despairing. It has also helped me to remain positive and even upbeat. I think I will look back on this time and say, “Yes, that hurt, but it was a game changer. If I could have only seen the endgame, the journey would have been exciting.”

I hope that you can find your path through your current situation. You may discover that one of your loved ones will point back to this time with fondness. One of their favorite memories may come from the Great Recession when you took them with you on a mundane task. A task that the two of you approached with a sense of adventure.

I do not watch much TV so this may have been all over the place on the 9/11 anniversary. I only became aware of this when my 90 year old father emailed it to me last night.

On the day the Twin Towers collapsed, New Yorkers were trapped on lower Manhattan. A single call went out from the Coast Guard for assistance in evacuating nearly half a million people. That one call yielded “everything that could float.” This civilian flotilla of ferries, tug boats, yachts and other vessels came together at the World Trade Center site in the largest boatlift in history – greater than the one at Dunkirk during World War II.

People were plucked from the water, disabled people carried, fuel was shared freely and no one was left behind. In the words of the Captain of the Amberjack V (a charter yacht) who responded to the call, “I never want to say the word ‘I should have’.”

The Amberjack V was not the only hero of the day, but Anthony L of Brooklyn posted comments on Yelp! which are worth passing along.

I have no connection to the Amberjack V, but felt compelled to provide this link regarding the story about her (and her Captain’s) role as first responders on 9/11/01.

http://gcaptain.com/video-boatlift-untold-tale-sept-eleven?30705

Godspeed Captain Vincent Ardolino.  Thank you for taking action in the face of uncertainty, confusion and chaos.

I was there on that terrible day, but didn’t escape by boat (I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge), but three very important women in my life were able to safely make it home thanks to the boatlift effort on 9/11.  I didn’t know for hours that they were OK, and watching this video brings goosebumps to my arms, learning that you were running to save us, while we were running for safety.

Thank you.

It was a day that was supposed to tear America apart, but instead brought Americans together. In the words of the President of the Center for National Policy Stephen Flynn, “Our national DNA is resilience.”

For the full story on the Reuters Blog:
http://blogs.reuters.com/katharine-herrup/2011/09/09/boatlifters-the-unknown-story-of-911/

Good luck and Godspeed.

I spent last weekend in Austin. We own some property near Bastrop where all the wildfires have been making the news. A small portion of our property was burned, but nothing to complain about. A few small trees will not make it but the 100-year-old trees (and older) were largely untouched.

What I gained from this trip was an affirmation that people can be very decent in a time of tragedy. Everywhere we saw tents set up with supplies for people who’d lost everything. We saw insurance agency SUVs and roadside trailers along most major roads. The power company was working to restore power along every road and piles of charred trees had been cut up for removal by unseen people. An all out effort to restore lives was fully underway and clearly visible among the piles of ashes with a lone brick chimney which remained of modest and affluent homes.

The most compelling stories came, however, from my sister who lives in Bastrop and works at the local Walmart. Here are a few samples of what she told us:

Tuesday, Sept. 6,  2011

I worked at Walmart on Tuesday from 7 am until 4 pm. The first wave of people I helped were firefighters who had come in from across Texas to help. They were buying water and Gatorade. The next wave of customers were people who had obviously lost their homes and were buying clothing and toiletries. Later in the day, people come through who were buying stuff to give to the various relief efforts around town.

Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2011

Another interesting day at Walmart. I went in at 2:30 pm. It was hazy and everything smelt of smoke. When I got to work, they’d turned off the AC because it was bringing in more smoke. Walmart 1042 has pulled in associates from the surrounding cities.  So many of our associates have had to “call in” due of the crisis.

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It seemed like every other family that came through my line had either lost their home to the fire or had been evacuated and didn’t know if they had a home to go back to. The store manager came through my line and bought a bunch of snacks to donate to the firefighters. The owner of a popular local restaurant told me that he closed his restaurant yesterday and spent the day cooking chili for the rescue workers. He stayed at it until the local grocer showed up with a portable kitchen and started feeding the workers.

A family came through  yesterday and bought a ton of water and groceries with food stamps. I thought it was for their own big family, but they were going to donate it all to those in need.

Friday, Sept. 9, 2011

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As of today, most people know if they have a home to go back to or not. Until today, many evacuees have just had to wait and wonder. Two of my friends have posted pictures of their burned out homes; nothing left but rubble. Others have posted pix of their home miraculously spared from the turmoil that surrounded them.

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I saw a shift in what customers were buying. They were buying cleaning supplies. Some told me that they have returned to a home that was intact, but smelly due to 5 days of rotting food (no electricity). Others told me that they were trying to clean up old campers to stay in.

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I recognized one family that came through my line. I smiled and mentioned that I had seen them about this time last night. They said that was because they were in my back yard. At my puzzled expression they explained that they were the family that had set up a tent in our parking lot. Travel trailers are not an unusual sight on any given evening at Walmart, but I noticed the tent last night.

Saturday, Sept. 10, 2011

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The “tent” family came through my line again tonight and they said that this was their last night to stay in our parking lot. They found a hotel room in a nearby town. They were happy with their stay in the Walmart parking lot. Food and a clean bathroom were only a short walk away and they didn’t have to stay in a shelter. They said they didn’t want to hear everybody’s stories. It made me wonder if they had personal experience with living in a shelter before.

Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011

Several weeks have passed since the fire started in Bastrop. People are literally sifting through the ashes that were once their homes. Armed with wood and screen shifting boxes, they look for that one treasure that may have made it through the inferno.  Many homes are nothing but ash and a chimney. I have been told time and time again about how one house would lie untouched next to a completely devastated home. I saw that first hand today as I took my parents and brothers on a tour of the area.

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Countless people have come through my line at Walmart and told me that they lost everything. But no one seems bitter, as one man put it “I can’t feel victimized because it happen to so many people” For the most part people are philosophical. This “perfect storm” hit rich and poor alike. The nicest of homes and most humble shacks were taken.

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Over the weeks I have seen fire fighters from all over the U. S. from Alaska to the Navajo Nation. Things have calmed down now. I don’t see as many firefighters, but signs of cleaning and rebuilding; massive tree cutting equipment and linemen working to restore electricity and phone service the stricken areas.

One of my “take-aways” from this experience is that one quote:

 They lost everything, but no one seems bitter. As one man put it “I can’t feel victimized because it happen to so many people.” For the most part people are philosophical. This “perfect storm” hit rich and poor alike.

I saw people sifting through ashes of what was once the home base of their life.  I saw dozens of pickup trucks lined up to sell scrap metal which days earlier had been their washer/dryer, refrigerator and patio furniture. I saw flatbed trucks with the burned out hulls of collector cars from the 50s and 60s. I saw 5000 square feet of ash, with two chimneys, a swimming pool and a fountain. As we drove away, there was little we could say. We’d seen heavy hearted people looking for anything among the ruins that would bring a piece of their past back into their lives.

They are not victims and they are not giving up. They are rebuilding. These people have experienced a piece of Texas history. As is the case with so many historical events (The Civil War, The Kennedy Assassination, The Dot Com Crash), it is not pleasant. The Great Recession is no different. As we appear to be on the brink of a second dip back into recession, those of us who are out of work are going to be joined by a whole new wave of people looking for work. Don’t feel like a victim. This is happening to a lot of people. Now is the time to prepare yourself. Be forewarned and forearmed.  Size up the situation and determine how you are going to deal with it.

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Good luck and Godspeed.

Today, with unemployment stuck at 9.1% and the President speaking to Congress about the latest job creation plan, my father emailed me a group of pictures from 1935 – 1939; The Great Depression.

There is plenty to be down about today. As if being unemployed in the Great Recession were not bad enough…

The worst wildfires in the history of Texas are raging near Bastrop, TX, just 30 miles east of Austin (my home town).

View of Bastrop fires from Austin, TX

View of Bastrop fires from my sister's house (in Bastrop)

It was announced today that Texas experienced the hottest summer on record for any place in the USA, replacing the summer of 1934 in Oklahoma. Places like Arizona, which get hotter during the day, cool off at night. Temperatures stayed in the 80s all night long this summer in Dallas.

In addition to the record heat, we are also in the middle of the worst drought in Texas history. Water restrictions are in place.

I attended a lecture today where I saw a list of jobs on the “endangered list.” Over the next five years sales, travel agents, teachers, law clerks, proof readers…will all see a net loss in jobs. Near the bottom of the list (i.e. the “bad” end of the list) were marketers, with a projected decline of 32.7%. One third of all marketing jobs are going away over the next 5 years. These are being replaced with “crowdsourcing” where projects are posted to web sites and people around the world compete for the work. Need a logo? Post the request to Logo Tournament. Need a web page or collateral? Post the request to 99Designs. Talented people from Brazil, Romania, Vietnam, etc. submit  bids and you select the one you like the best. So much for middle aged marketers …like  me.

I could go on, but as I sit in a comfortable chair, in an air conditioned public library, with clean clothes, enough to eat, bills paid and a car to drive home (with all the windows, A/C, radio/CD player and a half tank of gas) I think it is better to reflect on what my parents endured during the Great Depression. These images tell the story.

Now, having seen where we were in 1939, keep in mind that more millionaires were made, coming out of the Great Depression, than at any other time in our country’s history. Look for the opportunities. They will be there.

You may need help in finding them, getting started, or achieving “lift velocity.” I find LinkedIn to be useful. There are scores of groups for start-ups, entrepreneurs, protean corporations, consultants, local business networking, etc. Join a bunch of those, read the articles, follow the discussions and ask questions.  Determine which ones do not work for you, drop them and add some more.

Keep in mind, very little will just come to you. You will have to go out and find it. Become active in a few groups on LinkedIn so when you ask a question, you are not a stranger. People help people they know….so become known on your LinkedIn college alumni group(s) and other groups you find interesting or helpful.

Stick with it. As in fishing, you are going to bait several hooks, lose the bait a few times, get a few strikes that don’t take and sit there with your line dead in the water. You will need to change your location, time of day, bait, etc before you catch anything. Stick with it.

And if nothing works, seek help. There are coaches out there that might do you some good, but my best advice is to find two or three other entrepreneurs and form an accountability group. This will be a group that can give you advice, tell you what worked for them and hold your feet to the fire until you do what you said you would do.

I know. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. You should have never had to face a lay off or an impossible job market or that cyber blackhole where resumes disappear. You should have a new job by now. Hiring managers should understand that you can do the job even if your experience is a couple of years old. Your “safe job” should have never moved overseas or fallen victim to crowdsourcing. No, and hard working families should have never faced the Dust Bowl, lived in cardboard shacks, tents and Model Ts and endured 10 years of a crushing financial depression followed by a horrifying world war. But they did….and you are. Now it is time to do something about it.

If you are considering doing a start-up, let me suggest a piece I did on why start-ups fail: Overcoming the “Field of Dreams” Approach.

Good luck and Godspeed.

“I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.” — Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon is one of my favorite historical figures. Often vilified, people forget some of the accomplishments of his first term: opening relations with China, extricating the US from the Vietnam War, achieving détente with the Soviet Union…these were no minor events.

It was his second term for which he is remembered. That is when he became the first president in history to resign, facing the clear and present danger of impeachment.

Nixon was flawed by a dangerous ambition which tempted him to resort to dirty tricks to win election to public office. In an ironic twist, he won his second term by a landslide. His involvement in the Watergate break-in was totally unnecessary but ultimately ended his career and wrote him into the history books as a disgraced criminal. I can only speculate how history would have treated “Tricky Dicky” if he’d only been as paranoid as an average politician.

His story is that of a man, with feet of clay, who overcame fantastic odds to achieve one of the world’s greatest accomplishments. It is a fantastic tale of human triumph and tragedy with plenty of sobering lessons for all of us.

His life, lived in the spotlight, left us with plenty of notable quotes. The first one to come to everyone’s mind is, “I am not a crook.” Another commonly recalled quote is, “You won’t have Nixon to kick around any more.”

Lesson number one, watch what you say when the cameras are rolling. That is not the time to let your bitterness, anger or pettiness show. You are not likely to have network news recording you, but you do have exposure from social media. Watch what you say and how you say it. No one wants to hire an angry person with issues.

There are plenty of other quotes which give us a much better picture of the man. For example, the next quote had to be one learned the hard way.

“A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits.”

After narrowly losing the presidential election to Kennedy, Nixon went on to lose a gubernatorial race in California. Everyone counted the man out, however, he went on to win the presidency twice.

Considering his many years in politics (as member of the US House and Senate as well as vice president) you have to be amazed that he actually considered himself to be a Washington outsider.  He could express a cynical view of politics shared by the common man.

“Any change is resisted because bureaucrats have a vested interest in the chaos in which they exist.“

At times he said things that were either shrewd beyond normal human capacity or dangerously pragmatic.

“Solutions are not the answer.”

Then there were the times when he was gracious in defeat. I believe he had “better angels of his nature” whereby he coped with defeat by turning his attention to the welfare of the American people.

“A public man must never forget that he loses his usefulness when he as an individual, rather than his policy, becomes the issue.“

And finally, there were the poetic parting words to his staff as he left the White House upon his resignation. Too bad, he was not able to live up to them.

“Always remember that others may hate you but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.”

But perhaps the Nixon who appeared in his later years, the “Elder Statesman” who gave advice to several presidents of each party, shows that he did live up to his advice, and ultimately did not destroy himself.

Be careful what you express in social media. Let us see your better side. Your wit and wisdom. And when you fall prey to your lesser nature, be encouraged. Google loves fresh content. The term “Nixonesque” expresses a tendency toward being paranoid, bitter and underhanded. However, in his final years, Nixon emerged as a fallen leader with wisdom to share and a certain generosity and humility which comes with the role. Let what you say today and in the future be positive. The weight of fresh content will cause your unfortunate social media blunders to drift deeper and deeper into the recesses of the Internet.

In the end, it is those who finish strong who are remembered well.