FEATURED - Tom Powner (Career Coach, Resume Writer Mock Interview and Development Coach)

By: Stan Washington

Tiny Interview - Thomas Powner  Founder / Career Coach, Resume Writer Mock Interview and Development Coach at Career Thinker Inc.

Stan: Tom please tell me about yourself and your services.

Tom: We provide branded resumes, bios and LinkedIn profiles to enable career minded people to get the job they seek. We have a unique job search strategy that works! We also help our clients by performing mock interviews. We increase their career Connect-Ability!

Stan: What advice would you give business owners?

Tom: Understand and infuse technology in your business operations to increase productivity. Referrals are key, so stay connected to your clients even when they no longer need your services or products.  


Tom can be reached at: 

866-369-9634

http://careerthinker.com/

TomPowner@CareerThinker.com

FEATURED - Nickquolette Barrett (Chief Resume Writer & Interview Coach)

By: Stan Washington

Tiny Interview - Nickquollette Barrett, Chief Resume Writer / Interview  Coach

Stan: Nickquollette please tell me about yourself and your services.

Nickquollette: I specialize in people salesmanship wherein I create personal marketing plans taking people from job applicant status to a rockin' career candidate. I craft resumes, cover letters, professional bios, and prep. candidates for interviews. 

In addition, I coach in all areas of career development and career enhancement. My ideal client include all levels of career seekers. I always say, a well-written resume and cover letter gets you the interview and a well-prepared interview gets you the job!

Stan: What advice would you give business owners?

Nickquollette: Brand your company to match the personality, product and processes of your business. Our Brand is I Rock Resumes and we make our clients feel like rock stars. Every process we have is geared toward elevating our clients to the level of confidence they need to land the job. We also looked at the “Rock” as a foundation for a very strong resume.

Branding is something you have to live with so choose wisely. Do your research to see if the name is available. Keep in consideration how you want to treat your customers and you will do well.

Nickquollette can be reached at: 
www.irockresumes.com l www.facebook.com/IRockResumes l www.twitter.com/iRockResumes 

(469) 666-0753

Growing Your Business through Workshops

Stan Washington, President of Honor Services Incorporated, is a major innovator in technology but attributes his success to the art of writing, coaching, and communicating.

Ex-McDonald’s executive, turned coach and resume writer, returned to technology as president of a cloud database company. After retiring from leading the nation’s 14,000 technology locations at McDonald’s, Stan struck it out on his own coaching and resume writing for transitioning military personnel in a contract he landed with the Air Force. It all happened through a workshop he gave. He wants to show you how to grow your business doing the same.

One hour webinar is $19.99 for members and $29.99 for non-members. All webinars are recorded.

http://thenrwa.org/Default.aspx?pageId=1465408&eventId=889250&EventViewMode=EventDetails

Great Topics to Grow Your Business

By: Stan Washington
Date: April 23, 2014

I recently attended the Career Thought Leaders Conference and met with a number of small business owners. They had great speakers and wonderful interaction.

Here is what some people asked:

Why do I need to be on social media?
Use Social media to be where you audience is.  If you want to find "mom's who wish to reenter the workforce then Facebook would be the place because of their high degree of mom's who leverage the tool. Join groups. Participate.  Blog.  People want to hear from you!


What is the future of technology?
Terms that were discussed made me put my nerd beanie on.  "Big Data" and "3 Dimensional Browsers"  sound cool but what does this mean to you.  My input to this is you should be setting your sites on the "cloud." One presenter showed kids looking at a "Walkman."  Yes I had one of these 1980's relics. The kids of today couldn't even fathom music coming out of it. They couldn't even turn it on.

Now look at your business.  Are you still using old processes that does not include an "online" audience? Are you closing yourself off to an online business because you are afraid of it?  Don;t be. Start out small then move a little at a time and before you know it you will be online.

When is it time to expand?
When your business model has maxed out and your revenue can no longer increase.  If there are just no more hours in the day when you finish work and you still have not met your goal, then maybe it's time to expand.  Think carefully how you will do this.  Will it be selling something?  Can you work smarter? Should you streamline your processes so that you work more efficient?

Overall it was a wonderful conference! Speakers were engaging and lots of information was disseminated between small businesses.

Please visit us at  http://www.honorservicesoccice.com

Starting a business can seem slow as molasses!

After three years of development our team finally got excited of the release of our new software, Career Coach Office.  The initial tests with experts in the field stated everything would go well. On launch day we had technical issues that were minor, but still issues nonetheless.

It seemed like it took forever to correct the tiny issue not displaying a client's  picture correctly and fixing the dreaded "un-styled" tax update form that was buried way in the invoicing tool.

Let me just say every business has it's obstacles that must be overcome.

1. Expect that there will be obstacles and deal with them as they come.
2. Don't freak out when something goes wrong. All the planning in the world won't eliminate issues.
3. Break your issues down to small components so they can be addressed in a timely fashion.
4. Don't give up! When the going get's tough, you know the rest!

What seems like an incredibly slow period to you is really a short period of time to your consumers. They have no idea how many sleepless nights you've had so relax and fix the issues in an expeditious orderly fashion.

visit http://www.careercoachoffice.com and tell us what you think.

Career Coaches Top 10 list of website fears to address immediately

Use one word this year “Simplify!” 

“Where are your services?” and “How do I contact you?” were the questions “Rodger’s” customers asked him.  His reply “My prices and contact information are on my website.”

By the way, we are using “Rodger” as his name to protect the innocent and the information is not from a real website, but the situation is very real for many!

I visited his website and here is what I found:

Working Stiffs  |  Free Stuff  |  Career Mapping  |  Blog

I clicked around this website for about 15 minutes and I finally found his contact information buried on some obscure page. However, I never found his pricing nor could I discern what I was going to get from him.

I asked him why he didn’t include his pricing or have a services page and his reply was “When I talk to my potential clients I can win them over. I don’t rely on my website!”

My reply to Rodger is “Why own a website if the information is not reliable?”

Rodger read my Top 10 list of website fears to address immediately:

     1.  FEAR OF OVERPRICING

In my opinion, hiding your pricing makes me think you have something to hide. Place pricing for your products and services in a quick to access location and let me (the customer) decide if what you are selling is worth it.

     2. FEAR OF COMPETITION

Competitive edge should be “protected” not “invisible!” Give me enough information about your product or service to entice me to ask more about you without giving away your secrets. 

     3.  FEAR OF “THEM NOT GETTING IT”

Please, oh please do not ramble on your website! The “more” you tell me, the “less interested” in you I become! Tell me enough. Give me a short bio, tell me a little about your product, give me a snippet of a testimony and trust the process.

     4.  FEAR OF WASTING TIME UPDATING A WEBSITE

Your workshop you put on was great, but it was in 2007 and it’s still on your web page. Please keep your information relevant. Take a moment each week to add some fresh content to your website. Your old information will run enough customers away and then you will have plenty of time!

     5.  FEAR OF NOT TRYING HARD ENOUGH

Complicated websites look like you’re trying too hard. I need quick and easy access to your information. Does the “flash” add anything? Can I get to your information in two clicks? One word… “Simplify!”

                               

     6.  FEAR OF BLANDNESS

I visited one website and thought I was watching NASCAR. Too many colors along with ads along with multiple messages confuse me. Try to tone it down a bit. Use neutral tones with only a splash of color for emphasis. Minimize ad space if possible.

 

     7.  FEAR OF BEING DIFFERENT

Did you design your website just like everyone else’s site? If I see that same woman everyone uses on their site again I will scream. What do you want to tell me? Can a photo or illustration enhance your message or are you mimicking everyone else?

     8.  FEAR OF TAKING YOUR OWN ADVICE

When you consult on resumes you talk about “white space,” fonts and keywords for emphasis. I have seen websites with a lonesome picture, a huge gap and some unreadable tiny font. Do you have misspellings or poor grammar?

9.  FEAR OF USING TOO MUCH TECHNOLOGY

I visited one website that only had one page, no pictures, minimal words and a phone number. Visiting this site made me feel like I was in a room with a single light bulb dangling from a pull-chain. Which brings me to my next point…

10.   FEAR OF MOVING BUSINESS PROCESSES OUT OF THE 70’S

With social media, databases and cloud tools available, I still see coaches clutching onto day planners from the 70’s. They use websites like answering machines of yesteryear. Your clients expect a different level of interaction that your notebook can’t provide. Simplify your business processes today!

Resume Writers… It’s virus season!

You have a package so the United States Postal Service decided to send you an e-mail about it. Also, you have a new electronic fax and you don’t even have an e-fax service. Or, my favorite… I’m trapped in <insert country> and I need <insert amount>.

Resume Writers and other small businesses who receive a lot of e-mail tend to be vulnerable to the rising attacks. I know this is picking up because this is my number one question this week.

What are they after?

·         Identify Theft – The golden prize is access to your financials. Technology has made it easy to do banking, investing and purchasing so a carefully placed “sniffer” virus can track use of your credit card or password on unprotected sites.

·         Jump Off’s – Spammers are looking for e-mail addresses to propagate their scheme, scam or virus. They have written worms to crawl through your contact list

·         Validation – Thieves are checking to see if you are home by getting you to respond to e-mail’s. They desire to use valid accounts to do their dirty work.

How they work

·         Viruses attach themselves to programs. Every time you use the program it propagates itself or destroys the operating system.

·         E-mail viruses are after your contact list to further spread destruction.

·         Worms look for vulnerabilities in your wireless network to spread to every computer attached.

·         Trojan Horses are fake software, usually free, that says it will do one thing but does damage.

What to do right now

·         Backup your files – Spend the cash and purchase an external hard drive. Disk space is far less expensive than losing your clients’ resumes.

·         Windows users make a bootable virus scan CD – This enable you to scan your entire computer before the virus has a chance to load.

o   http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/what-is-windows-defender-offline

·         Check websites before you visit them – Google has a Safe Browsing tool that has been around for a few years.

o   http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=< Your site name>

o   Example:

http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=careercoachoffice.com

·         Report Spam – Forward unwanted or deceptive messages to the Federal Trade Commission at spam@uce.gov.  Be sure to include the complete spam email.

o   Do not call registry / International Spam

https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/

Here is my 2012 list of e-mail scams

10. Complaint Report - looks like it’s from Better Business Bureau really from quiccalabria.com

9. A new Account is Available – from Ameriprise

8. Dating Unread Messages – from mediadis.cccampaigns.com

7. Order Inqiury – from various and YES it is misspelled

6. ACH [Miscellaneous number] Transaction Rejected (made me look!)

5. WU urgent action needed – looks like it’s from Western Union really from tips828.net

4. You have a new fax [24 pages] – looks like it’s from Rapidfax but I cannot determine the source.

3. jConnect Fax [28 pages] – Looks like it’s from the “Fraud department” at the IRS but I cannot determine the source.

2. Confidential to all Employees – Looks like it came from MY company!

1. Wire Released – Looks like it came from WebsterBank.com. Said I had $160K

All of these e-mails had attachments and embedded links that can be catastrophic to your computer. Do not unsubscribe or click on any link unless you are absolutely sure you know the source!

Have a safe Holiday!