How to Create a Killer Elevator Speech

Photo by Mateus Campos Felipe on Unsplash The infamous elevator speech. If you own a business or have ever worked in sales, you’re probably already familiar with it. But elevator speeches aren’t just for sales people and entrepreneurs. If you are trying to accomplish anything that requires help from others, you could benefit from an elevator speech. This includes looking for work, trying to raise money or awareness for a cause, dating, or just trying to make new connections.

In fact, practically everyone can use an elevator speech. So let’s take a deeper dive into the concept and then I’ll share some tips.

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Social Media Overwhelm – How to Deal with It

Social Media OverwhelmIf you’re not actively using social media to promote your business, you’re at a disadvantage. Services like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Pinterest are now giving small one-person businesses the exposure that used to require a six-figure marketing budget. While this additional access to potential clients is fantastic, the downside is that there’s a lot to learn and it’s easy to get overwhelmed. The good news is that by just taking a few simple steps, you can leverage social media to effectively promote your business.

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How to Make Your First Day at a New Job a Success

success new jobYou’ve sent out hundreds of resumes. You made it through the grueling interview process. They gave you an offer that you accepted. Now here you are – it’s your first day at a new job. So now what do you do?

Most people are feeling some combination of anxiety and excitement when they start a new job. Whatever your feelings are, you probably have the same goal of most new hires — be successful in your new job. You really only need two things to succeed: the right attitude and the drive to be successful. But here are some tips that you can follow step by step to hit the ground running.  Read more... (981 words, 4 images, estimated 3:55 mins reading time)

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How to Stand Out in a Competitive Job Market

How to Stand Out in a Competitive Job MarketThe economy has been struggling in recent years, as many say that this is the worst job market since the Great Depression. While it’s not my intention to get political here or debate numbers, I will say that I’ve noticed that even when the unemployment numbers fall here in the U.S., they often get revised up the following month and they don’t include the people that have either taken a lower-paying job (underemployed) or have simply given up. The only reason I even mention this is that if you’re looking for work, the competition is fierce. So it’s especially important for you to find ways to stand out in a positive way.

I was unemployed for nine months back in 2003. That doesn’t seem like a long time these days as I know people that have been looking for work for two years. But honestly, when you’re unemployed, even a few weeks can seem like an eternity and most of us want to do what we can to get back to work. With so much “company” in the job search process, it’s critical to grab any edge that you can. Here are three things you can do to stand out from the crowd in a positive way:  Read more... (818 words, 4 images, estimated 3:16 mins reading time)

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Five Things You Must Do to Prepare for a Job Interview

Five Things You Must Do to Prepare for a Job InterviewOver the past fifteen or so years, I’ve interviewed probably hundreds of job applicants. Some have been in person while others have been phone screens to weed out potential duds. I’ve even volunteered to help friends by mocking interviewing them. If there’s one thing that truly astounded me in each of these job interview situations, it was how many of these people barely did any preparation (and some did none at all).

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Always Be on the Lookout For Success

Always Be on the Lookout For SuccessIf there’s one thing we can learn from our politicians, it’s that you should always be on your best behavior because someone is always watching — especially now since most people carry cell phones that capable of taking still pictures and many can even capture high definition video. To spin that around and look on the bright side, that also means that you have a lot more opportunities than you often realize.

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Throwing Spaghetti at the Wall

Throwing Spaghetti at the WallA while back, I read “How to Sell Anything to AnybodyThrowing Spaghetti at the Wall” by Joe Girard and one concept that stuck in my head was his point about throwing spaghetti at a wall. Joe says “if you throw enough spaghetti against a wall, some of it will stick.” He used this point to describe his philosophy on cold calling — if you call enough people, someone will eventually listen to you. The concept can be used in other areas of business such as sales, pitching ideas and even looking for a job — if you contact enough people, you’ll eventually find someone who is interested in what you have to offer. But wait, there’s more…  Read more... (546 words, 6 images, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)

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