I was on the phone with a savvy investor a few weeks ago and he said “JibberJobber is like a beautiful woman in an ugly dress.  You really need to change the dress!”

I know, I know.  I’ve been working on it for years.  I think we’re ready to change the dress, but I wanted to show you and see what you think.  About 95% of the people I’ve asked love this, and 5% are violently opposed to it.

I guess that’s how it goes with dresses, too, huh?  Some love, some hate, and really, when it comes down to it, probably 80% of dresses are just fine.

So please, tell me what you think of this new design for JibberJobber… I hope to get it finalized soon (click to see bigger):

And if you can’t remember, here’s the current, soon-to-be old design (click to see bigger):

Dear Monster Management:

I just read that you are laying off 400 people, worldwide. That is 7% of your workforce.  You are doing this so you can get your financial house in order, so to speak.

That makes sense, and we get that. Layoffs are “nothing personal,” of course.

I’m guessing you are offering outplacement services… which is great.  I’m guessing you’ll pay $2,000 average in outplacement for each of those people, which means outplacement will cost you 2,000 * 400 = $800,000.  That’s not too bad, and hopefully your terminated employees will use and appreciate the services.

Let me suggest that you consider one of two things:

1. Complement the current outplacement offering with JibberJobber and my videos that I’ve created to help people in their job search. So, in addition to the $800,000 that you are giving to one of the big outplacement companies, ALSO buy your terminated employees a JibberJobber outplacement package (which will complement, not compete with, the other outplacement services).  OR,
2. Don’t get outplacement services, and instead spend a fraction of the $800,000 and the JibberJobber package. A fraction of the $800,000.  High value services, less expense.

I know $800,000 isn’t much for a company your size.  I’m hoping that your 400 terminated employees, and then people that are left, will appreciate your goodwill gesture to help your alumni get back on their feet.

We’d love to be involved… contact me?

Sincerely,

Jason Alba

Monster watcher and CEO of JibberJobber.com

The writing was on the wall.

But to this day, six years ago, I didn’t believe it could really happen to me. I had done too much for the company. I sacrificed things. I put them before my family, and my health.

But one board member walked in and told me it was time for the board of directors call.  He had left the company about 18 months before, but had been involved in board meetings without my knowledge.

He knew what this call was about, and he tried to prep me.

I was going to get laid off, on the phone.

After it was done, he took me to lunch so I wouldn’t have to lick my wounds in private.

Then, after lunch, we had a meeting where we announced to a stunned company that I was leaving, and he was going to take my place.

What emotions did I experience?  I think all of them.  Across the spectrum.  Hope and shame at the same time.  It was weird.

And thus, my journey began!  Thank you for being a part of it…!  Six years since that day, once dreaded, now celebrated!

You, too, will celebrate your day that you might now remember with bad feelings.

Last year the first post of the year was titled The Job Search Rabbit Hole.  I think I should make a (kids) book out of it.

I’ve used that idea as the 2011 theme, and focused a lot on job seekers chasing something that doesn’t exist (read the post for the story/analogy).

This year I want to talk about something I’ve realized as I’ve spoken to thousands of professionals and executives  across the U.S.  I have started to say that “the job search is 99% communication.” Written, verbal, body language, etc.  It’s all about how we communicate.  And we can communicate A LOT better.

I just finished a life-changing book written by friend and mentor Mark LeBlanc titled Never Be The Same.  It is a fast read, and completely intriguing.  It was written after Mark finished a 500 mile walk across Spain… the famous Camino de Santiago pilgrimage.  Get the book here – I loved Mark’s unique style … it was just delightful to absorb.

Mark gave me permission to share this excerpt from his book… I LOVED this story as it illustrates the communication problem that I want to help YOU think about this year.  Mark talks about going to a networking event and sharing his elevator pitch. It had all the bad, junky, jargon cliche yuck that most elevator pitches have.  One day, though, he wasn’t in the mood to share it, so he shook things up (almost accidentally).  He writes:

It was my turn-my minute-to stand up and introduce myself, again.  Only this time I didn’t blather on about my broad range of services and menu of presentation topics.  None of which, you might recall, had I provided to a single client or audience since Small Business (No-So-Much) Success was born.  My calendar was empty from Day One. Instead, I simply got up and shared my dream. In a monotone, mind you, with nary an inflection of enthusiasm whatsoever.

“My name is Mark LeBlanc, and I run a company called Small Business Success. I work with people who want to start a business and with small business owners who want to grow their business.”  Period, end.  I shut up and sat down.

There were about twenty five business people at this meeting, and when it was over, seven of them came up to me.  Now, this was a total surprise, because for ten months, no one-and I mean no one-had any interest in what I did or had to offer. Instead of repelling people, as was my habit, I seemed to be attracting prospects. There was a line, for heavens sake!

“I want to start my own business,” said one woman.

“My wife has been wanting to start her own business; give me your card,” said a business man.

“I’ve been in business ten years, but seem kind of stuck. I’d like to know more about growing my business, cranking it up a notch. Can you help me with that?” came from another.

My favorite response was a friend’s: “I’ve been listening to your introductions for ten months, and I had no clue this is what you do. I think I can refer a few people to you.”

Within thirty days, seven prospects wrote me a check and engaged me in the process of helping them start of grow their business. It was as if the floodgates opened and soon prospects came in faster than I could handle. Okay, maybe not that fast, but when you did not earn a nickel for nearly a year, this new-found success felt like I was sipping from the fire hose.”

WOW.

I had a similar experience, which I blogged about here: Substantiate Yourself.

I am convinced that the canned 30 second pitches job seekers are coached to work on lead to really, really bad results.  The pitch sucks. No one responds.  Mark changed his, focusing on the outcomes of his work, and he got results.

Small, minor, easy changes can change the results.  He didn’t throw in bigger words, fancier phrases, or more stuff.  He whitled it down to the core message, and he got results.

This is a theme that will be on my mind all year.

Will you join me this year, on our journey to better career management?

I have two JibberJobber trainings left this year … one tomorrow morning at 9 am MOUNTAIN TIME ZONE, and one next Wednesday at 9am MOUNTAIN TIME ZONE.

If you haven’t jumped on one yet, get on one!

If you have, but it’s been a while, come for a refresher.

Please let your contacts know about this training… thank you

REGISTER HERE

JibberJobber is a tool that helps you organize your job search.

Many use JibberJobber when they are NOT employed, to keep up with their networking.

Many small businesses use it as their CRM tool.

Learn more on the webinar

I did it!  Last week I finished an exhausting week of 13 keynote presentations in a four day period.  It was hard, but so rewarding and exciting.

Some of my rewards:

• James, who said: “Jason, if Minneapolis had a rock star, it would be you!  I’ve heard your name, or about JibberJobber, every week for the last three months!”  That is so awesome – huge THANK YOU to all the people who continue to spread the career management message (from 2.5 yrs ago when I spoke there 9 times in three days).
• An attendee at my “101 Alternatives to a Real Job” presentation who said: “I have been wrestling with a few decisions recently, and after listening to your presentation I now know what I need to do.  Thank you!”  As a speaker, that is one of the most rewarding comments I can get – to know that what I did in some way touched and impacted you.
• Arriving early at one of my presentations and chatting with another early attendee for more than 30 minutes… it was a quiet, peaceful time and we had a very enjoyable conversation.  This lady has gone through some amazing hardships, including serious family issues, serious medical issues, and job loss, any of which would debilitate any normal human being.  She strengthened me as we talked, and I’m appreciative for her openness and time.
• Getting my first real meal on Friday morning.  No kidding.  I was running so hard from Monday through Thursday night that I had not treated myself to a real meal.  I was blessed by a bowl of cereal here, a tortilla wrap there (thanks Anne Pryor!), but it wasn’t until Friday morning when I sat down in a restaurant and had a full meal.  Bonus: the friend I was with is a mentor/hero, and I was greatly inspired by the time with him.
• My Groupies!!  How can I not thanks and appreciate my “groupies?”  These are people who followed me around from presentation to presentation and said “we’re stalking you!”  I said, nah, you aren’t stalking me… you are just my groupies!  Having people go from meeting to meeting helps me strengthen and believe in my message.
• Presenting to the Minneapolis chapter of the National Speaking Association – this is a unique group of people… NSA changed my life a few years ago, thanks to Marc Wolfsfeld who invited me.  It was cool to do a presentation, and give back, to my peers from another state!  I’m always inspired when I meet other speakers and learn about how they inspire others.

It’s been years since I’ve been in Minneapolis.  Even so, I met many people who came to my presentations years ago, and I was welcomed with open arms.  Minneapolis is cold in the winter, but the hearts of the people I met with over those four days warmed me to the bone….

Thanks to everyone who touched my life last week, and made it possible.  Definitely a week I’ll remember for a long time!  And a big thanks to the sponsors who helped pay for parts of my trip

Today I get on a plane to Minneapolis.  And then an epic moment in my business – this is the first time I’m scheduled to speak 13 times in 4 days.  I have very, very fond memories of Minneapolis from my speaking tour there in 2008 (where I spoke 9 times in 3 days).  This one is going to seal the deal for me.  Although, I would like to see what this town looks like outside of the winter months :p

Here’s my schedule. I will have goodies and freebies in abundance – so COME!

Monday, December 12

Fly in late in the evening.

Tuesday, December 13

(1) 7:30 – 9am Easter Lutheran Church (on the hill) in Eagan;

Topic: Career Management 2.0

(2) 10 – 11:30am Minnesota Manufacturing Networking; St Michaels Church in Bloomington (9201 Normandale Blvd, Bloomington, MN)

Topic: JibberJobber! This is the ONLY presentation on JibberJobber this week!!

(3) 1:30 – 3:30pm Minnesota Career Coaches Association ; Private event for members of the association

Topic: Career Management 2.0 for Coaches

(4) 6:30 – 8:30 pm: Basilica of St. Mary (88 17th Street North, Minneapolis, MN)

Topic: Happy Holiday Handshaking – this is a new presentation I’m copresenting with Catherine Byers Breet of Arbez – jazzed about this presentation! RSVP HERE

Wednesday, December 14

(5) 8:00 – 9:30 Starbucks Networking Group (Private – MEMBERS ONLY)

Topic: Career Management 2.0

(6) 10:00 – 12 noon: St. Andrews Career Management 2.0 ; St Andrew Lutheran Church, 13600 Technology Drive, Eden Prairie

Topic: Career Management 2.0

(7) 1:00 – 3:30 pm: SamsNet Good Samaritan Church; 5730 Grove Street, Edina, MN

Topic: “Happy Holiday Handshaking” RSVP HERE

4:00 – 7:00pm: Not speaking… just networking! I’ll mingle until about 5p – Mingle Bells sponsored by Arbez and Thrivent Financial

(8) 6:00 – 8:30 pm Minneapolis Job Support Workshop; Christ Presbyterian Church (6901 Normandale Road), Edina, MN

Topic: “Getting More out of LinkedIn”

Thursday, December 15

(9) 10:30am – 12 noon: Face2Face Job Search Networking Group, Bet Shalom Synagogue, 13613 Orchard Road, Minnetonka, MN 55305

Topic: Getting More out of LinkedIn (emphasis on searching and finding people)

(10) 2:30 – 3:30pm: Private engagement at outplacement firm

Topic: 101 Alternatives to a Real Job (based on my next book)

(11) 7:00 – 9:00pm: Soar4Jobs Transition Support Group, 3495 North Victoria Street, Shoreview, MN 55126

Topic: Career Management 2.0 (with some 101 Alternatives)

Friday, December 16

(12) 8:30 – 10:30am National Speakers Association – Minnesota Chapter, Ridgedale Library, 12601 Ridgedale Drive, Minnetonka, Minnesota

Topic: Social Networking to Grow Your Speaking Business

(13) 11:00 – 2:00pm 7 Degrees Creativ, Ridgedale Library, 12601 Ridgedale Drive, Minnetonka, Minnesota (SAME LOCATION AS MORNING)

Topic: Career Management 2.0 + 101 Alternatives to a Real Job

Evening: FLY HOME! 

There are many, many people who made this possible… too many to name… you know who you are, I am indebted to you… so call me on the favor. Thank you!!

This isn’t really a new product line… but it is indeed awesome. I just haven’t announced it before, because I know my competition likes to see what I’m doing and try and do it on their own.

I wanted to get some clients before I announced it… I have some clients on this system now, and sometime next year I’ll fully announce it.  For now I’ll tell you this:

1. It is for university career centers,
2. It is NOT JibberJobber (although JibberJobber is integrated with it),
3. It is my version of a “learning management system” (not based on popular learning management software, like Halogen’s product line).

I love referrals to career centers, and alumni offices.  If YOU have a connection at your career center, reach out to me.  I’m happy to give you information about this system, and even show you a very short demo of how it works. If you are comfortable with it, you can introduce me to your career center… cool?  I’d love that – thank you in advance!

NOTE: this is for the career center CLIENT, not for their office staff.

Tomorrow (Tuesday, November 15, 2012) I am doing two awesome webinars.

At 4pm EST (Tuesday, Nov 15) I am doing an updated LinkedIn for Executives: Beyond the Basics, for Experts Connection.  The cost is $60.  I’m amazed at all the crappy LinkedIn advice floating around… rest assured, I won’t go into anything superfluous.  I’ve always recognized that my audience is busy, or feels overwhelmed, and needs to know what to DO to get the most value, and then move on.   Click here to sign up.

At 7pm EST (Tuesday, Nov 15) I am hosting Mark Hovind for our second “tell me about the economy” NO COST webinar.  The first one blew me away.  I almost-guarantee (I hardly ever guarantee anything) that you will learn a ton.  Is the economy going up?  Is it going down?  Disregard the crap you get from the media and check out Mark’s analysis, taken from current economic numbers and compared with the trends from the last 60ish years. Click here to register. (here’s the last one I did with Mark, in July of 2009)

Sign up for at least one of these!

Happy Halloween.

Now that that is out of the way…

I’ve been working on a new project.  It was inspired by parts of many conversations I’ve had over the last couple of years.  This will be my next book, hopefully in print by the end of this year (or early in 2012).  I’m really hustling on it.

In part, it was inspired by Dick Bolles, author of the mega-best-seller What Color Is Your Parachute. Dick impressed the idea on me that as we (as speakers, authors, etc.) show people their alternatives, we give them hope.  I thought back to my job search when I felt all my alternatives had dried up, and how hopeless and out of control I felt.

When I got the idea for JibberJobber, which was an alternative, I know the hope I had, and exuded, was like night and day.

In part, this book was inspired by people I’ve talked to, after my presentations, about what they are doing, or what they could do, to earn some money “on the side.”

In part, this book was inspired by Robert Allen, and his book Multiple Streams of Income.

In part, this book was inspired by Timothy Ferris (4 Hour Work Week), who shares examples of people who are doing it (he calls their businesses their “muses“), and GaryVee (Gary Vaynerchuk), who included 4 killer ideas at the back of his book, Crush It.

In part, this book is inspired by the stories I hear about, and read about, of people who are ready to take the plunge and JUST DO IT. One in particular came from DOBA founder, about the dude who wanted to clean his garbage cans, and ended up making more per day than some make per week.

101 Alternatives to a Real Job is a book about hope.  It’s about alternatives. It’s about ideas.  The message is “these people are doing it, and maybe you can, too.”

Whether that means you start a business with the potential to make thousands each month, or just a hobby that makes a few hundred bucks a month.

I want to take the inspiration I’ve gotten from my audiences over the years and share it with millions of people… people who’s hope has been gone for a long time.  People who have been told there’s only one way to a good career.

This book shows 101 alternatives to that old definition of a “good career.”

Alternatives and options = Hope.

If you want to preorder, email me and let me know how you want to pay.  I’ll reply back with the options (check, Paypal, credit card)

To keep updated, watch this blog, or get on my LinkedIn Group.