A couple of weeks ago I went to Orlando for a conference.  When I got back to my office my computer was rebooting.

I think it had been rebooting for days.

In fact, it was stuck… and each time I tried to restart it I either almost got it to start (in Safe Mode) or it would remain hung in the rebooting process.

Finally, I took it back to the place I got it and they replaced the hard drive.  Diagnosis?  Unfixable, hard-drive failure…

Cool – I got a new hard drive – probably faster and better!

Uncool: I had to reinstall EVERYTHING on it.

I loaded Camtasia (for webcast recordings) and Snagit (for screenshots) and Skype (for my phone system) and Windows Live (for chatting) and Dymo Labels and Dymo Stamps (to ship my LinkedIn DVDs) and my printer driver (took way longer than it should have) and Adobe Acrobat (which should come with the OS installation) and GoToWebinar (for my webinars that I do at least twice a week) and GOM Player (to view videos from my video editor).

So far I’ve loaded all of the mission critical stuff.

So far I haven’t had to load Microsoft Outlook, Word, or Excel.

If I were to have had all of my contact information in Outlook, including names, phone numbers, email addresses (I use Gmail and Google Apps so I have this anywhere I have an Internet connection) then I would have already loaded Microsoft Office.  And then I would have to go to my backup and retrieve the backup.

If you are using a desktop application to manage your professional relationships, I sincerely hope you have the disks for the application so you can easily reload it on your machine.

I also hope you are somehow backing up YOUR DATA so that if something happens, after you reload it, you can get your contact information back.

Managing your career is hard enough without worrying about being your own IT Manager.

That’s why I’ll not use Outlook beyond what it was designed for.

Obviously I use JibberJobber for my Personal Relationship Manager (PRM) and Customer Relationship Manager (CRM).  During the time my PC was down (about a week) I could still access all of that critical information from my laptop, just by logging into JibberJobber.com.

I still have important information in my Outlook, but it hasn’t been important enough for me to load outlook and then figure out how to restore my files.  So far JibberJobber has carried me through the mess of a failed PC.

By the way, I have used and strongly encourage a third party backup system… the one I’ve used is Mozy.com, which is owned by EMC.  It costs $5/month and runs backups when I’m not using the PC.

Use Outlook for what it was intended … and if you use it for more, or don’t have proper measures in place in case it goes down, you are risking sanity and productivity.

There are lots of books on Twitter right now – I was supposed to write one of the earliest but I was in the middle of rewriting I’m on LinkedIn — Now What??? and I wasn’t sure I wanted to write another technical book that would have to be updated every year!  I opted to not do that but instead create hands-on, visual webinar recording that shows you how to use Twitter.

Twitter for Job Seekers (the video) is specifically designed for professionals in a job search.

It is a 1 hour and 24 minues (and one second) video, walking you through what Twitter is, and how to use it in your job search.

It’s based on the idea that you want to find network contacts who can help you in your job search – find people to add to your own personal/professional network, as well as how to communicate with them after you find them.

There is also training on what to do with your own Twitter account. As a professional, what could or should you be tweeting?  (going into personal branding, and how to use Twitter as a Personal Branding tool)

I show you how to get value out of Twitter EVEN IF YOU DON’T HAVE A TWITTER ACCOUNT.  This is essential for many professionals who aren’t excited to jump on this bandwagon, but still want to tap into the power that Twitter.com has created.  There is significant power there – and you can tap into it without even signing up for an account.

I won’t try to convince anyone to get a Twitter account, but I do want you to learn how to use this tool so you can achieve your career management objectives.

To access the recording (as many times as you like) simply do the following:

1. Login to JibberJobber.com.  This is as security measure so this video isn’t shared out inappropriately.  If you don’t have a JibberJobber account, get one on the front page – it takes about 60 seconds.
2. Mouse over the Tools link (from the main menu) and go all the way down to Videos (click on the Videos link).
3. The last tab on Videos is “Premium Videos.” Twitter for Job Search is the last one there.

This $50 investment into your career management is worth it… once you are done you should have your brain wrapped around Twitter as a tool, and know how you are going to incorporate it into your job search strategy.

(if you are already logged into JibberJobber, simply click here)

It’s been a while since I helped write I’m on Facebook — Now What??? Jesse and I have been talking about getting a second edition out early next year, and I’m excited to get a more current book out (although Jesse says the book is still quite relevant, which is cool).

My mind has been in Facebook lately as I prepare a 90 minute presentation called FACEBOOK ESSENTIALS FOR EXECUTIVES: Meet the “new” Facebook.  You can sign up at the Experts Connection website (click the link above) – I’m really jazzed to share what I’ve learned – specifically, what we should be doing with Facebook as part of our social networking strategy.

Over three years ago I knew about direct competition.  I’m not talking about spreadsheets, I’m talking about companies who have websites that are very similar to JibberJobber.

I haven’t blogged about competition for a few reasons, but it makes sense to blog about them now.

The first competitor launched the week after we did, in May of 2006.  It was called Isabont, but has since been renamed to Virtual Job Coach.  I had a phone conversation with the founder that November and found him to be a nice person.

For a while it was just Isabont and JibberJobber – we did a lot of stuff the same, and I tried to watch what they were doing.  Over time I heard about other sites that were considered competition – we watched all of them, wondering who was going to do what.

Regularly when I am on the road speaking I hear about a new competitor coming out – it has happened across the country – most recently from someone from my hometown (lol).

Today I got the following Contact Us message (this is the entire message):

I have known about Red Salsa for a while, and figured someone had hired them to develop a competitive system.  Someone at Red Salsa told their team to get JibberJobber accounts so they could reverse engineer the system (or, as the message above says, copy the features).

I sent an email to Red Salsa and asked them what was up, but of course got no reply.

It is unfortunate that companies can’t create their own stuff, and use unethical/deceptive means to reverse engineer someone else’s intellectual property.

I’d love to know who is behind this (is it Red Salsa or someone else), and what they plan to do.  I wish them well as they enter this market with about 10 other competitors.

I think I can only do one thing about my competition (outperform them and gain a critical mass of users/evangelists)… what do you think I should do?

Monday I blogged about not ever allowing one person to have control over my income again.  Thom Allen has seen me go from job seeker to business owner and professional career manager over the last few years.  I was surprised to see this in the comments from him:

I have seen [Jason (me)] change over the past few years.

Oh boy… here it comes… what exactly has changed?  I’m still the same brilliant (lol) person I was three years ago.  He continues:

He’s more confident, which is probably a far cry from where he was when he started JibberJobber.

Hm.  Interesting observation. I thought that when I started JibberJobber I was pretty confident (or, cocky).  But Thom has seen me in various network settings and lunches over time, and he’s got a different perspective than I do.

As I’ve thought about it I wondered where my confidence level was at back then… and where it is at today.  I admit today I’m more confident because I’m three years into my business, and I have accomplished a lot.  Back then I really had no idea if could measure up to the challenge.

I wonder what people would say about YOUR confidence level, right now?

If you are in a job search, or an extended job search, I bet your confidence level is lower than you might think.

This week at my networking event I met plenty of capable, accomplished executives who seemed to have low confidence levels.

Do me a favor – go read one of my favorite blog posts talking about this very issue – it’s called I Smell Blood.

And think about how you can change your confidence level – because it really does make a difference.

Yesterday I blogged about my cousin who was hired in just a few days from when he found a job posting on Craigslist.

I guarantee he was prepared to have the right conversation when the time came.  He was ready.

Last night I dropped in on a network meeting I haven’t been to for over a year.  The hostess recognized me and at one point said “Jason, why don’t you take a few minutes and tell us about JibberJobber?”  What a golden opportunity to sell the concept to people who needed it.  Two years ago I would have messed it up – last night I was surprised, but much better prepared.

Today I flew into Orlando for a surprise meeting. I was just here 2 weeks ago.  Due to a series of events that happened from two weeks ago, I’m back and here to talk about some pretty serious stuff.

I am ready.  I’ve been ready for a while.

You never know when you are going to meet that key contact – whether it’s online or in person.  It might be from a referral, and it might seem meaningless.  But you have to be ready.  here are some of my suggestions:

• Know what you want. If you know what you want, then when an opportunity arrives you’ll be better prepared to react appropriately.
• Know how others can help you. People will say “how can I help you?”  It is better to know what to say rather than “I’m not sure but I’ll let you know later.”
• Know who you are. So many elevator pitches suck – they are misleading and offbrand.  If you know who you are, who you want to be, and how to communicate it, you can take advantage of those 10 or 30 seconds  you might get.  Not prepared?  That’s okay, you can just mess it up like most people do.

How else can you be ready?

Last week I met a cousin-in-law who I’d only known from Facebook.  He has read my blog and tweets and knows my mind is in career management and job search – and because of that he shared a cool story with me.

He was working in a job that was okay but definitely not where he needed to be – and he regularly was scanning for open positions.  He said he included Craigslist in his daily routine to see what new jobs came up.

He told me he saw a new job posted on Craigslist (he’s a senior level network engineer), applied for it, and within 4 days was hired.  It was very fast… he was in the right place, with the right skills, and interviewed well, and I’m sure he’ll do great at this new job (which is much more aligned with what he needed).

Craigslist in a job search?  If you thought Craigslist was only a place to find or dispose of furniture you might be missing out on an opportunity to find your next gig.

Susan Joyce, owner of JobHunt.org, has written about finding a job on Craigslist.   You can see her post titled Using Craigslist to find a job, where you can also download a free ebook with the same title.

The idea is to use appropriate resources to find out about opportunities… don’t discount Craigslist.

(however, I will say that if you go to the discussion forum for jobs you are absolutely wasting your time.  I think this is one of the darkest and most shameful areas that Craig allows on the site – stay away from it)

I lost my job January 2006.

I lost 100% of my income the day I heard, over the phone, something to the effect of “we’re going to have to let you go.”

I felt equally bad for the other people who were getting let go from my company.  We had all given more than 100% to the company. Our loyalty was with the company, which I thought could be shown by the fact we hadn’t taken a raise or bonus for about three years (even though employees from the parent company, where some of us had come from, enjoyed raises and bonuses regularly), but we kept plugging away trying to make a go of this somewhat start-up.

It was a sickening time.  Alas, not to worry, I was going to land soon, I felt.

After weeks, which turns into months, I realized that “landing soon” was something other people might do – not me.

One group of people had the power to take away 100% of my income.  I was left with 100% of my expenses (mortgage, 2 cars, bills, etc.).

I think one person actually influenced the group to make the decision, and one other person from the group signed off on it, which made it happen.

It really comes down to one person.

In contrast, right now there is not one single person who controls my finances.

I don’t have one single contract or client or user who can do away with 100% of my income.

Even if I weren’t actively involved in my business I would still make money right now.  You can learn how I do it in my Multiple Streams of Income posts (the how is not as important as the idea that it’s actually happening).

How about you?  Have you relinquished 100% of your income to someone (or something (a corporation)) else?

If you have, what can you do to change that?

What better way to end the week than to give someone an unsolicited LinkedIn Recommendation.

On my LinkedIn Blog I just posted a critique o.f a LinkedIn Recommendation I got – you can read it at Excellent LinkedIn Recommendations – an example.

I didn’t ask for that Recommendation, and I wasn’t expecting it.  It has made my day….

Imagine if you make someone else’s day – well, you can.  Just go find a first degree connection in LinkedIn and write them a real, glowing, value-add LinkedIn Recommendation.

You can get some tips from my blog post How To Write An Excellent LinkedIn Recommendation.

Want more LinkedIn training?  My video, LinkedIn for Job Seekers (not just for job  seekers) provides over 2 hours of training on LinkedIn.  Or, my best selling LinkedIn book is pretty awesome (so I hear ).

Another new update we did this week is so simple it barely merits a blog post.

Of course, some users will love it, even though it’s not a huge deal.  So I’ll tell you what is was, but I want to wrap it in a concept.

JibberJobber is… well, complex.  It’s not simple.  It’s very powerful, but the complexity kind of scares some people off.

I bet your job search, or career management, or personal branding management, is also complex.  There are tons of books, articles and blog posts about the stuff – it has to be complex.

Sometimes in the complexity we miss opportunities to simplify, while doing something that will have a “significant” impact on what we are doing.

Check out the first time I wrote about this in one of my favorite blog posts titled I Hated My Lawnmower.  One tiny change made a huge (significant) difference in my lawn mowing experience.  And my neighbors couldn’t laugh at me anymore (for that, anyway ).

The second time I referred to this was another favorite post titled Permission to Manage Your Career.  As someone who’s serious about CEO of Me, Inc, this was a significant epiphany for me.

My message to you is this: perhaps there is one simple thing you can change which will produce significantly different results.  Perhaps it’s a job search tactic… or perhaps it’s where you work (messy office vs. clean room or coffee shop)… or perhaps it’s what you wear when you start your day… or perhaps whether you smile when you are on the phone or not.

One simple thing might change a lot.

Find that one simple thing, and then I challenge you to make the change.

Ok, having said that, here’s the simple change we made (thanks to a few users who have suggested this):

On the List Panel one of the columns you can see is the Next Action Item Date.  This is now a hyperlink – you can drill down and go to that log entry/action item.

So simple, but a real enhancement for those who navigate a lot through the List Panel view.

There ya go, another cool enhancement, and an analogy of how you can relate the concept to your career management