Tuesday my One Thing was this (click here to get One Thing sent to your email for free, each workday):

Today! Figure out how much money you have (bank accounts, under
mattresses, etc.), and how long it will last you (what are your expenses).

When I got laid off I sat down with my wife and someone else and wrote
out our budget, and figured out how many months we could survive. We
were fortunate to get help from our church and our families, and I
know this is is the exception not the rule. How long can you last, if
your income stops today?

… and I got the following question from R.B.:

Great advice.  I have yet to see, however, advice about what to do after you’ve already done this planning, and you have gone through all of your savings, etc., yet still do not have money coming in.  What then?  That’s where I am right now.

Before I give my ideas, let me just say, it’s really, really, really easy for this to happen to YOU.  Think you won’t be in a job search long?  Think you have enough savings to last, or your employer will give you a cushy severance?  THINK AGAIN.  I see this happening all around me, even in my safe little town with pretty houses and smiling people.

I wish I had all the right answers for you, R.B., but I’m just going to share what I know, and hope my readers can chime in with their own experiences and solutions.  The order is important:

First, eliminate. After we made our budget, the “someone else” was looking at each line item to see what we could trim or eliminate.  We were already living pretty lean, so there wasn’t anything we figured to trim.  HOWEVER, we definitely could have trimmed our grocery expenses (going to the beans/rice diet).  Trent Hamm is an expert at trimming personal expenses, and blogs at The Simple Dollar.  Go read his blog and see how he trims corners everywhere.  It’s become a challenging game to him, and reading his ideas is almost invigorating.  If you have cable, satellite, other other non-essential things, figure out how to get rid of them.

Second, family.  It is very hard, embarrassing and humbling to go to family for help, and some of you just can’t.  But when you are in a serious hardship, a family can pull together… immediate and extended.  Sometimes all you need is an extra $50, or $200, or more for a few months.  You may be surprised at how willingly your family, including aunts and uncles and cousins and beyond, will jump in and help you.  I hear about this all the time… and you’ll have your turn to help them (or their kids).  I’m always surprised when I hear about families helping, simply because I used to be selfish and tight with my money, and judged the person in need.

Third, government.  Call up the state welfare office and make an appointment to see what help they can offer.  Examples of financial help can include unemployment insurance payments ($1k/month is not much, but if it’s the only $1k/month you get, it can be a lifesaver!), food stamps, utility help, etc.  Another thing, and this helps give you peace of mind, is getting the appropriate health insurance for you and/or any dependents.  I hated collecting unemployment, and felt like the state employees were very scrutinizing and judgmental, and thought we were scamming them, but hey, I had kids to feed.

Third-and-a-half, your 401k.  My wife and I didn’t qualify for medical coverage because we had over $5k in assets, which includes our 401k.  Only politicians could come up with some lame idea like that.  On the one hand we’re supposed to build a 401k so we don’t depend on the government in our old age… on the other hand, if we have over $5k then we don’t get any emergency medical coverage.  Scary stuff.  Hopefully you have been putting money into a 401k.  I was cautioned to NOT draw from the 401k, because of the 10% penalty (if you take out $1,000, you HAVE TO pay $100 in taxes, no matter what).  But if that’s all you got, you got to do it.

Fourth, your church.  Obviously this doesn’t apply to everyone, as some don’t go to or have a church.  But if you have a church, or can bring yourself to walk in the church doors and talk to a leader, you might get some help.  I’ve blogged about religion’s role in a job search before.  Aside from any help you might get from church leadership (which might be help with food, or paying bills, etc.), you might find congregation members rally around you to help you in this time of need.

Fifth, friends.  Just letting certain friends know your situation can help.  We had friends who started giving us food, inviting us to eat with them, etc.  Your friends should care about you, and want to help you.  You don’t want to mooch, and they don’t want to be taken advantage of.  Be gracious, but be honest with yourself and with them.

That’s all I got… any other ideas on how to survive with zero income?

I was laid off during a job seekers market.  I wasn’t supposed to have a long job search, but I did.  Being in a job seeker’s market meant nothing to me at the time, except perhaps that I was a loser because I couldn’t land quickly.  Only a loser has a long job search in a job seeker’s market, right?

Things have changed, and the market is flooded with professionals in a job search.  If you are in a job search right now, you have seen your “competition,” other job seekers, flood this space in the lsat few months.  If you are a finance professional, I’m guessing you are looking at a change in profession or industry.  All those finance classes for nothing!

Can jobs be found during a recession?  Sure!  Of course!  I don’t know how to find a job in a recession - I couldn’t even find a job in a boom-economy!  But I’m guessing there are some components to having a successful job search in this economy.

1. Get introduced. Sounds better than writing “network!”  Wouldn’t it be better if an insider could bring you in, and introduce you to a hiring manager?  There’s only one way to get to that insider, and that’s through networking.  That insider may be 3 degrees away from you… so you better start growing your network, and asking “who do you know that…”  Go ahead and use a job search tracking spreadsheet.  I’ll use something more long-term.  Read Thom Singer’s How to Recession Proof Your Company for some similar thoughts.
2. Be creative. Get a copy of Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters and read it.  Perhaps some of the ideas in there don’t work for you, but figure out what will work for you - even if it’s not in the book.  I try and think of creative things EVERY DAY to move my company forward, to get JibberJobber in front of more people.  You need to think of (and do) creative things EVERY DAY to stick out, and be more memorable than your competition.
3. Volunteer. A lot.  Volunteer at more than one place.  Take on real duties… get on committees, and make a name for yourself.  You’ll feel better about contributing to the world, you’ll keep your skills sharp (and maybe learn additional skills), you’ll meet knew people and develop new relationships, and you’ll showcase your capabilities.  Oh yeah, and you’ll help people who need it.
4. Be patient. If I was supposed to be in a six month job search during a boom economy, how long is your job search supposed to be?  You can get anxious and stressed about it, or you can strategize how you’ll spend the time.  Yes, it’s stressful, perhaps the most stressful thing you’ll ever do (long term unemployment).  But stressing isn’t going to solve anything. Figure out how you are going to mentally deal with this temporary phase.
5. Help others in their job search. Again, helping others will help you feel some self-worth.  Once you’ve done this stuff for a month or two you are a seasoned veteran, and you can help those deer-in-the-headlights job seekers more than you think.  Take them under your wing, take them out to lunch, take them to network meetings, and share ideas with them that you had to learn the hard way.  Some won’t be ready to hear it, but some will look at you as a guru.  And when they get up-to-speed on their networking, you’ll have someone who is networking for you, which is very powerful.
6. Be thankful. Go buy thank you cards and stamps, and send out hand-written thank you cards.  This is a lost art, and those who do it become memorable. It sounds so easy, even cliche, but if you send out hand-written thank you cards you will stand out.
7. Consider changing your profession or industry. Just because you have years (and years and years) of school behind you doesn’t mean you have to stay in the career path you started with.  There’s a huge world of opportunity out there, but it might be on a path you never considered.  Think about a change.
8. Take a step job. A step job is the job you take while you are still working towards your next career job.  It might pay less, or have a smaller title, or even be embarrassing (delivering pizza to your neighbors?), but it puts food on the table and gets you out of the house.

If you are looking for a short job search, and you just want to get it over with, go find a fast food joint and change your lifestyle.  I don’t recommend that, but you’ll start getting a paycheck in a few weeks.  If you are like me, and that’s not the career path I’m looking for, then get serious about being CEO of Me, Inc.

What ideas do YOU have to find a job in a recession?

This post is sponsored by Megan Fitzgerald, of Career by Choice. Megan is a personal branding strategist who works with expatriates interested in building a career or business to support their life abroad.  She currently resides in Italy, but has lived, worked or played in over 25 countries.  If you are considering working overseas, you should contact Megan. She blogs at the Career by Choice blog.

Every once in a while I write a post that people say they love.  As a blogger, my ego is fed, even when I think “but I’ve written better!”  Well, I was pretty proud of my Chef Ramsay post, titled Chef Gordon Ramsay, of Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nighmares, and YOUR Career, but I did think I’d alienate a bunch of people who didn’t care about Hells Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares, or potty-mouthed Ramsay.

I got a bunch of kudos for that post (THANK YOU!).  I was reviewing it today and realized I left out one very critical point, and one that is a hard pill to swallow.  This is a problem I suffer with, and I see it alot.  I see it everywhere … in my neighborhood, in families, in church, in school, and in people’s careers.

In a few episodes, Chef Ramsay would determine there was a team member not pulling his weight.  It was obvious to see the slacker on TV, as I think the production crew would focus on that.  Everyone in the restaurant knew about it, because they all had to pay the price by carrying the load of the one who didn’t do his job.

This problem can be called complacency.  Or perhaps being lazy.  Or perhaps being casual.

In one episode, a manager (I think the general manager) was in a meeting with Chef Ramsay and the restaurant team members, and the GM was laying on the bench, eyes closed, getting his hair stroked by a server.  DURING THE MEETING!  What the heck???

That clip was replayed at least once later in the show.  By the end of the show, that manager was gone.

He had gotten to casual about his duties, and his role.  The GM (1) laying, with his (2) eyes closed, and getting (3) caressed????  That’s three strikes in my book.  Definitely not appropriate meeting behavior, whether you are the GM or the trash-taker-outer.

Sometimes we are just too casual about our role in our jobs.  We might get comfortable, and slack off.  Or we might get bored and start performing less than our potential.  If that happens to you, you have two choices:

1. Get the heck out! It’s time to move on.  You are not happy, and you are probably making others around you miserable.  Give yourself a pink slip, get into JibberJobber, and find a profession, industry or company where you can get serious about your job again.  If you need help getting out, check out Pamela Slim’s blog, Escape from Cubicle Nation.
2. Change! There was one episode where the manager was a slob.  Gordon laid right into him from the beginning and didn’t lay off throughout the show.  I think Gordon wanted him gone.  But the owner, who was patient and forgiving, said the store and menu had a chance to change, and the manager should get the chance too.  I didn’t think it would last, but he did change, and it did last.  And guess who became happy because of the change?  EVERYONE!

The opposite of this problem is to take your job seriously.  Take your career seriously.  If Ramsay sat down with you today and you had to tell him about your career management, are you going to hear a lot of swearing?  Is he going to lay into you?

Or are you doing it all on purpose, with a purpose, and the right way?

Heaven help us who aren’t doing it on purpose enough!

I’ve never done it this inexpensive before, and I won’t do it this inexpensive again. Now’s the chance to get in on a smoking hot deal. I’ll copy the text from the sponsoring organization’s blog post:

Sign up for the special Social Networking bundle–LinkedIn, Facebook ($35.00 special)

The social networking bundle in October 2008 includes the two workshops listed below, and can be purchased online at:

————-> Register online now ($35 special)

• Workshop 1: LinkedIn in Action, Monday October 6, 12:00 to 1:30 pm
• Workshop 2: Facebook in Action, Monday October 20, 12:00 to 1:30 pm

They are made available for a nominal registration fee of $35.00 (this includes both workshops). This is a special one time offer and seats are limited. You can order up to 10 seats.

PS: Please note that People-OnTheGo offers a number of public and corporate workshops. Feel free to e-mail us at training@people-onthego.com if you have questions, or if you would like to discuss bringing the workshops to your team.

We look forward to your participation!

If I were a good salesperson, I’d have upsell and back-of-the-room stuff to sell during this webinar.  I don’t have that, just my two books… so don’t worry about getting pressured into anything on these webinars.

This is going to be awesome, and if you’ve ever sat on the fence about listening to me speak or present, now’s the time to do it.  The first webinar is on Monday, so book it now.

JibberJobber One Thing is off to a great start, with two emails sent (yesterday and today)!  More information and sign up link here!

Next week I’ll host my first BlogTalkRadio show, where I’ll interview Susan Guarneri (The Career Assessment Goddess) about her new book, Job Search Bloopers.  Susan coauthored this book with industry veteran Laura DeCarlo, who is the President of Career Directors International.  The book is full of stories and advice, and a very fun read. You can join us next week:

Thursday, Oct 9, 2008
10am MST, noon EST
Link to listen online: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/jibberjobber

You can also call in - I think there are 6 phone lines open, and you can get the number from that link when we’re live.

I’ve kind of always wanted to have a podcast to deliver to those of you who commute, but I really didn’t know what I would say (it’s the “I have nothing to say” syndrome).  One day I realized I didn’t have to say anything - I have over 30 partners in the career space (resume experts, job search coaches, career management folks, career counselors, etc.), and I could just have conversations with them!

If you can’t join us for the live shows, they will all be available for download so you can listen at your convenience.

If you have any specific ideas, questions, topics, etc, let me know.  Because I have over 30 partners, I’m not soliciting any guests in the career space just yet.

If you are dying to listen to a career management podcast right now, check out Pete Johnson’s (the Nerd Guru) new podcast here.

“See” you Thursday!

JibberJobber One Thing started today, and I just sent the first One Thing message.  You can sign up to get one email each workday, with “one thing” you can do to move your career management forward.

I met Mario Lopez, CPA, over a year ago on the My Virtual Power Forum.  A financial professional looking for international work, Mario is a sharp, eloquent, giving, thoughtful professional.  He started a blog and asked me for my critique a number of times, and I finally got around to checking it out.

If you want me to review and analyze your blog, it’ll cost about $500 (I say that because I get lots of requests, and don’t necessarily have the time, even though I love to do it).

In short, Mario’s blog is great, it serves it’s purpose, and it has matured over time.  There is still much work to do, which Mario recognizes, but this blog shows Mario’s professional breadth and depth in a way his resume couldn’t.  Remeber, the personal branding award, You Get It, is all about recognizing professionals who use technology to help others understand their personal brand.

Let me dig right in to my analysis of his blog.  I’ve already sent this to Mario, and he has responded, but many of the points here might be helpful to you as you move your blogging strategy forward.  This is the email I sent to Mario:

Mario, que crees?  I finally got around to critiquing your blog (http://financialculture.blogspot.com).  I’m really impressed with how far it’s come.  Please know that I’m being honest, and might not be right, this is just a review off the top of my head while I hang out at an airport.  I’ll blog about this if you let me… let me know if you are cool with that.

- I like that this is in English.  Show’s your English proficiency.  I wonder, though, who your job search audience is, and if you should have this (or another one) in Spanish?  I think it’s great in English, but consider your audience (which I don’t know).

- I like your use of YouTube videos in your posts.  Relevant information to each post, on-brand, informational, etc.  Hearing from one blogger all the time (like me) is probably boring… you help diversify the information you put in, while staying on brand, with the videos.  Plus, it makes you look technologically cool, as not all bloggers have figured out how to put video in.

- this is a cultural thing, so take it with a grain of salt.  In the header you say “This blog intends to create discussions with…”  I would say “This blog creates discussions with”  You already know I think you are wordy (although I must say, your posts are more concise than what I was expecting to see), but it might help to get a native English speaker to do you a favor and spend an hour or two and proofread your blog, and help minimize cultural and language nuances in your messaging.  When I write, one of goals is to “tighten” my wording, which means cut out as much as I can and still keep the message.  Cut, then cut some more, and then cut again.

- I have to say it: I hate blogger.  Your blog needs to be hosted with a wordpress install on a server.  Until then, change the layout to make it look less like blogger (… the gray background - gag).

- I LOVE the image with all the dollars on the top right.  It is really, really, really big… taking up more real estate than I would want to give up, but it leaves NO question about your brand, expertise, and message.

- You have way too many widgets, links, images, and noise on the right side of your blog.  Just because you CAN doesn’t mean you SHOULD.  I would totally clean that up, and put those things in a Page, or multiple pages.  Get it off of the main blog page, as it really detracts from your messages, and your messaging.  Getting rid of all the widgets *might* make me like your blogroll, which is really great to reach out to other financial bloggers, but still very, very long.  Consider breaking it into categories, like I do on my JibberJobber blog.

- Post with more frequency.  3, 4 and 5 posts per month is NOT enough to build a community, readership, or get a lot of SEO benefits.  You have great content, a great voice, and really show your passion and expertise.  But It’s not frequent enough to engage me.

- does blogger allow you to put a “subscribe by email” widget on your blog?  This should be on the top right, and not having it is what I consider one of the sins of a blogger.

- I’m not good with colors and layout, but the red header and the blue sidebar don’t seem to go well together.  change one or the other, but make them match better, not clash. (Mario has since changed this)

- get rid of the snapshots widget.  It drives me nuts.

- link out to more blog posts, and blogs.  You need to market this blog more (you get 0 comments), and that’s a good start.

- Your email signature includes a link to the blog, but also links to other stuff… I got lost for a second, and I knew what I was looking for.

I also got some feedback from Twitter friends:

and

Mario, you are on the right track, I’m excited to see your blogging strategy move forward!

Congratulations! You join a special group of professionals and have earned a coveted link from my monthly winner’s blogroll area (on the left), six months of premium JibberJobber (you can transfer/award this to someone else ), and a cyber-high five! And, a new addition to the prize list is the two hour (!!) recording of Blog Marketing 201 - 501 (part of the CEO Training for Me, Inc. - listed at $49.95 (but much more valuable than that!).

Feel free to post the You Get It award on your site!

Click here to see past winners.

Barry Moltz is… a master of failure.  From the inside cover of the book:

Barry J. Moltz has founded and run businesses with a great deal of success and failure for more than fifteen years.  After successfully selling his last operating business, he founded an angel investor group and an angel fund, and…. 

… and it goes on to tell about all the cool stuff Barry does.  The emphasis on “with a great deal of success and failure” is a great description of what he’s gone through to get to the point where we could so passionately write a book about… failure.

Or, perhaps, how to react to, or deal with, or bounce back from failure.

Bounce.  That’s where the name comes from.  The image on the front of the book is a rubber band ball… you know, the ball you make by putting on more and more rubber bands?  The one you could toss around, and it bounces, almost like a rubber ball?

Bounce is a book about the rubber bands… Barry shares 10 things which become YOUR rubber bands to help you bounce back from… well, life.  He talks about the idea that we think our career and success trajectory is always up-and-to-the-right, but in fact, it is quite variable, and we need to learn how to deal with the variables/variety.

I LOVE this book for the hundreds (it seems like hundreds) of examples of people who succeed, people who fail, and people who have a nice mixture of failures and successes.  

It’s a book that helps our paradigm shifting, gives us tools to manage, and inspiration to keep on doing things.  I’m not going to put all the 10 bands, but I’ll put the last one:

Whatever our goals are, making better decisions leads to more success.  The final building band is to value action - almost any action.  Active decisions will lead to a bounce and natural flow of your business life.  Anything that gets in the way of a person making better decisions should be tossed overboard.

I put that band on my bounce ball a long time ago.  Leaving it off leads to analysis-paralysis.  

You can check out Bounce on Amazon - it’s about $17 right now.

Last week JibberJobber was the first thing mentioned on Fox News (My Fox Gulf Coast / Fox 10).  Here’s the description:

On Monday’s Daily Dot Com, Charissa Cowart shows you a website to help you organize your job search materials. She also tells you that you can find video memories of Yankee Stadium on the Yankees website. Check out the websites here.

Here’s a link to the clip (click on the image below):

Want to know how it happened?  I met Charissa Cowart on Twitter, we exchanged a few tweets, she checked out JibberJobber, and the rest is history. 

What, you say, Twitter is lame?  It worked pretty good this time  Thanks a bazillion Charissa!

Yesterday at the National Resume Writers Association conference I heard a question like this:

“How do I get more people to read my blog?” 

And an answer like this:

“Make sure you write great content.”

Unfortunately, I disagree.  Having great stuff is not good enough.

If you have a blog and want more readers, having great content is not good enough. 

If you have a Twitter account and want more readers, having great content is not good enough.

If you have a resume and want to attract hiring managers and recruiters, having great content is not good enough.

If you have a story and want to inspire, motivate, persuade, influence, or touch someone, having a great story is not good enough.

Having great content, even being interesting, is not good enough.

You have to market.  Nike has to had to market.  Coca Cola has to had to market.  Job seekers have to market themselves.  Bloggers have to market their blogs if they want other people to find and read the blogs.  Twitter people have to let people know you have a twitter page, and show you have interesting thing to tweet.  If you have a resume you have to get it in front of the right people, and differentiate yourself from the hundreds of other resumes a hiring manager might see.  Storytellers (that’s all of us) need to get an audience, because telling that story again and again in front of a mirror isn’t inspiring anyone.

Marketing, for you, includes having a brand and letting others know about it (i.e., know that you exist).  Marketing is not just limited to big (or small) companies.  Marketing is key to your career success.  

Check out Conversation Agent Valeria Maltoni’s recent post on In a Tough Economy, Branding Matters.  She talks about how job seekers (and career managers) can use technologies for branding.  She is a branding thought leader, and it’s cool to see her take on what we can do for our own careers.

If you listen to podcasts, you have to check out the Personal Branding Summit recordings… hours and hours of recordings on personal branding from very different perspectives, at NO COST.

If you have great stuff, move to the next phase and let people know about it!

 

 

This post is sponsored by Bonnie Kurka, CEO of Executive Career Suite. Bonnie offers resume, coaching and outplacement services, and specializes in helping executives make that next step in their career.  Bonnie has a terrific blog, and is a JibberJobber Career Expert Partner.

I had an idea a few days ago, and my mind has been spinning since.  Today I’m announcing Jibberjobber One Thing, which will help people who are interested in nurturing their careers, or even protecting their careers, and wondering what they can proactively do to salvage some idea of job security.

JibberJobber One Thing is a Yahoo Group (sign up here) that you can join to receive ONE email a day.  The email will have ONE suggestion of something you can do for your career that day.  It will be very, very short (one or two sentences) and actionable (something you can do that day).  I brainstormed dozens of ideas, and will get more from my partners.

The idea is NOT to overwhelm you, rather to give you bite-sized things you can do, or at least think about, to move your career management in a positive direction.

JibberJobber One Thing will mature, I’m sure, but for now I see it as a very simple, non-intrusive tool to help you do what you need to do. 

We’ll start sending the emails out on Wednesday, October 1, 2008.  You can sign up here, and unsubscribe whenever you want.

Cool idea?

This post is sponsored by JibberJobber.com.  If you are going to do ONE THING for your career today, you should sign up for JibberJobber.com, get your free account, and start to manage career relationships.  If you are in an active job search, use JibberJobber as your job search tracker, or job search spreadsheet, and track and organize your job search efforts.