It s a shame I've been sitting on this book for about two years now. A friend of mine gave me Never Eat Alone , by Keith Ferrazzi a couple years ago (thanks Rey), and it s been on my bookcase ever since. It was resting there not because I didn't want to read it, but because I already had so many others in the pipeline. I finally got around to reading it last month and I definitely recommend it. In very simple terms, Ferrazzi explains why networking is important and how to do it. From how to make call lists to planning dinners to personal branding to goal setting, it s all here. He also maintains a valuable blog .
Inevitably there will be times when you have setbacks or things don t go your way. Maybe you didn't get a job you thought you were sure to get. Maybe you lost a job unexpectedly, didn't win a contract, or lost a major client. Your car always seems to break down right after you've had some other unexpected expense. These kinds of situations immediately place us in crisis. They don t feel good, but sometimes they re what we need in order to grow. The beautiful thing about crises is that they force us to take a step back and reevaluate what s going on in our lives and rediscover what we truly want and need. When we get over that initial shock and feeling of disappointment, we might realize that maybe that job wasn't really the best for us anyway. Maybe, just maybe, that wasn't what you really wanted to spend your life doing. Maybe that friend was holding you back instead of pushing you forward. The way I deal with crises of these sorts is simple: If something doesn't go my way professionally, I try to create a situation that would be more rewarding than the situation originally planned. A while ago, I was offered a job that looked very promising. After I accepted the offer, they pushed the start date back three times, later informing me (via e-mail) that they wanted to bring me on in the near future but I should feel free to explore other options. I was extremely disappointed. I felt disrespected and angry, but decided to make the best of the situation and follow my dream of working internationally. I then flew to Santiago, Chile and had great professional and personal experiences I wouldn't have had otherwise. Later, reflecting back on the original opportunity, I realized that working for a company that avoids a start date three times and then can t pick up the phone to explain the situation is probably not where I need to spend my time. Use setbacks as an opportunity to put your goals in order and act on them. In the moment, it s difficult to look at a setback as temporary, but they are. They happen to everybody. It s how you respond to them that will determine how they affect you.
One of my favorite people in the world right now has to be Melissa Lojewski. Aside from being an overall great person and freelance graphic artist, she has proven there is still room in advertising for fine art. Never willing to settle for stock images and basic typography, she is the one of the very few people I know who has the freehand drawing skills to produce fine work worthy of print. She’s more articulate with imagery than most people are with words, and her positive attitude and desire for perfection has been an inspiration to all of those around her, including myself. Please take a moment to check out a sample of some of the work she has done. For more, check out her portfolio at http://melissalojewski.blogspot.com/.
This particular set is a packaging concept she put together for gift boxes for the Chinese New Year. It was “Year Of The Hog.”
Links:
Melissa’s Portfolio
Melissa’s Twitter
Yeah I know. I’m a little late to the game with this one, but I finally set up my Posterous account. I’ve been meaning to do it for about two years now, but I finally got around to it. Like most people, I use Twitter for all my microblogging needs, I maintain a full blog here, and I even have a Tumblr account that I keep on autopilot, updating with anything I post via my blog, Facebook, and Twitter.
Alas, I have finally found a reason to set up a Posterous account, which you can check out here. Basically, it comes down to this: I’ve been struggling lately with how I should update my blog. I try to keep this one more focused on leadership, marketing, social media, networking, etc. There are several things I would like to put down here, but I would either have to sacrifice focus or update it much too often in order to do so. For people who subscribe to this blog via RSS feed or by email, I don’t want to inundate their inbox with a crazy amount of updates. Nor do I want to send them a continuous stream of irrelevant content.
I use Twitter to post quick updates, communicate with friends and professionals, and keep up with news on various topics. Where I found a void was the chasm between microblogging everything and blogging only business material. That’s where Posterous comes in. I like the ability to email photos, videos, and pretty much any kind of media I want to share while providing a little more detail than I can with Twitter. Also, I don’t have to update my self-named blog every few minutes and drive people away. So, if you want to see what I’m up to, feel free to check out the Twitter or Posterous accounts. We’ll see how it goes. I just set it up today and I have some exploration ahead of me. But so far, I like what I see.
Thanks Rey. I know you told me to get on this over a year ago, but I’ve been busy…I promise.
Links: