Im on LinkedIn Now What Second Edition !!!

Im on LinkedIn â€" Now What Second Edition … !!! Someone asked me to include a worksheet they could use to track their LinkedIn efforts.   Heres what we created the page numbers coincide with the pages in the book.   Please download this LinkedIn worksheet and feel free to share it with your friends! Wow, I am SO glad to have this submitted to the publisher so I can get on with the rest of my life!   Actually, Im very happy to have this second edition out, which is cleaner and of course more current than the first edition.   As I was writing it it seemed like daily people would come back and say make sure you include LinkedIn Applications, make sure you include LinkedIn Group Discussions, make sure you include LinkedIn Events, etc.   I was going crazy! Alas, its done, and the LinkedIn ebook and paperback is available for purchase on the Happy About site, and Amazon might have it up as early as Friday (black friday). Thank you to everyone who has supported me in this process, leaving reviews on Amazon, emailing me, reading the LinkedIn blog, suggesting me as a speaker, etc.   I am super-duper appreciative of YOU. LinkedIn has changed. Most of the changes you see are with their technology.   I guarantee in a year this second edition will feel outdated by the end of next year as new stuff comes out regularly (seemingly faster than before).   Regardless of the technology changes, let me suggest a few things I think are core to your LinkedIn experience and any success you might have on LinkedIn: Relationships, relationships, relationships! The key to short term and long term success (in many areas of our life) centers around relationships.   Focus on real relationships with real human beings.   The technology might change, but this idea doesnt. LinkedIn is powerful. If you are not getting value out of LinkedIn, Id seriously try and figure out what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong.   I know many people are getting value out of LinkedIn, from many different industries.   Go ahead and ignore it, but Ill tell you, in professional business networking, LinkedIn is the 800 lb guerrilla and no one is going to displace them anytime soon. LinkedIn provides a great learning opportunity. Whether you want to see how to interact with other professionals online (or how not to), or you want to do industry or product research, LinkedIn is a terrific resource for more than finding and being found.   Just go in and lurk in the LinkedIn Answers section and you might find some rich, helpful stuff to help you be better at what you do. Id like to invite you to be an affiliate for my publisher, and get 30% of the purchase price for all books sold from his site.   This is way better than Amazons 4%, and if your audience (blog, newsletter, etc.) could get value out of my book, sign up!   Just go to http://www.happyabout.info/linkedinhelp.php and sign up in the upper right corner. The price for Im on LinkedIn Now What??? is $19.95 for the paperback and $11.95 for the ebook. Im on LinkedIn â€" Now What Second Edition … !!! Someone asked me to include a worksheet they could use to track their LinkedIn efforts.   Heres what we created the page numbers coincide with the pages in the book.   Please download this LinkedIn worksheet and feel free to share it with your friends! Wow, I am SO glad to have this submitted to the publisher so I can get on with the rest of my life!   Actually, Im very happy to have this second edition out, which is cleaner and of course more current than the first edition.   As I was writing it it seemed like daily people would come back and say make sure you include LinkedIn Applications, make sure you include LinkedIn Group Discussions, make sure you include LinkedIn Events, etc.   I was going crazy! Alas, its done, and the LinkedIn ebook and paperback is available for purchase on the Happy About site, and Amazon might have it up as early as Friday (black friday). Thank you to everyone who has supported me in this process, leaving reviews on Amazon, emailing me, reading the LinkedIn blog, suggesting me as a speaker, etc.   I am super-duper appreciative of YOU. LinkedIn has changed. Most of the changes you see are with their technology.   I guarantee in a year this second edition will feel outdated by the end of next year as new stuff comes out regularly (seemingly faster than before).   Regardless of the technology changes, let me suggest a few things I think are core to your LinkedIn experience and any success you might have on LinkedIn: Relationships, relationships, relationships! The key to short term and long term success (in many areas of our life) centers around relationships.   Focus on real relationships with real human beings.   The technology might change, but this idea doesnt. LinkedIn is powerful. If you are not getting value out of LinkedIn, Id seriously try and figure out what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong.   I know many people are getting value out of LinkedIn, from many different industries.   Go ahead and ignore it, but Ill tell you, in professional business networking, LinkedIn is the 800 lb guerrilla and no one is going to displace them anytime soon. LinkedIn provides a great learning opportunity. Whether you want to see how to interact with other professionals online (or how not to), or you want to do industry or product research, LinkedIn is a terrific resource for more than finding and being found.   Just go in and lurk in the LinkedIn Answers section and you might find some rich, helpful stuff to help you be better at what you do. Id like to invite you to be an affiliate for my publisher, and get 30% of the purchase price for all books sold from his site.   This is way better than Amazons 4%, and if your audience (blog, newsletter, etc.) could get value out of my book, sign up!   Just go to http://www.happyabout.info/linkedinhelp.php and sign up in the upper right corner. The price for Im on LinkedIn Now What??? is $19.95 for the paperback and $11.95 for the ebook.

Five Qualities Every Great Business Leader Has

Five Qualities Every Great Business Leader Has Do you have what it takes to be a great business leader? You dont have to be a CEO to lead. If youre a team manager, supervisor or oversee the work of a single person, you need to inspire, direct and get the best out of those you lead. Whether they’re a veterinarian, a local car expert, or a national software company founder, successful business leaders have abilities that make them effective and influential. Do you have these five qualities of great leadership? You Exhibit Integrity Most people think of business as a cutthroat, dog-eat-dog atmosphere. Many people conduct business that way. Youve probably seen the headlines where leaders failed their customers sometimes to the point of risking their lives. But, leadership consultant Fred Kiel studied 84 CEOs for seven years and discovered something no one expected. He discovered that CEOs with the highest integrity had multi-year returns of 9.4 percent. Companies with low-integrity CEOs, however, had a yield of 1.9 percent. Kiel concluded that companies simply perform better when the CEO at the helm guides with integrity. You Stay Positive Its easy to have a positive attitude when things go right, but when they dont, staying positive is a lot more difficult. But, staying positive no matter what is part of a successful leaders mindset. According to an analysis of 25 different studies, positive thinking came out ahead of extroversion as a top leadership trait. Researchers discovered that happy and positive leaders tended toward a transformational leadership style. This type of leader is skilled at motivating, inspiring and mentoring their teams. In other words, a positive attitude is better for business. You Welcome Change Great leaders look for ways to improve and move on to the next level. They welcome suggestions from staff, look for ways to innovate and move forward. Successful leaders also look for benefits when change is forced on them. For example, the IBM of years ago was successful by manufacturing and selling PC clones. But, competitors flooded the market with less expensive more powerful clones. Obviously, the choice for IBM became change or die. IBM switched its focus and is now a leader in the information technology support and computing service industry. Clearly, business leaders cannot sit back once a company finds success. Business climates change. Advancing technologies pave new paths. If a leader doesnt innovate and embrace change, the business dies. You Respect Your Colleagues, Staff and Customers Great leaders look at co-workers, staff, customers, clients and colleagues as fellow human beings and treat them with respect. You might be a boss, but if employees feel undervalued, theyll end up resenting you. Workers who feel valued and respected work harder for the boss and feel invested in the companys success. Likewise, treating customers and colleagues fairly is key to business growth. The most effective leaders create a culture of respect in every aspect of the business. You Lead By Example Successful leaders work hard. They also Envision and talk about a future vision. Engage and encourage team members.   Become a shining example for their employees. Treat others with respect. And, they expect the same high standards from those they lead.    What do you think? Do you have the qualities to become a great business leader?

Perks to Negotiate for When Seeking a New Job - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Perks to Negotiate for When Seeking a New Job - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career According to Bloomberg View, while companies have increased efforts to fill key positions, employers are also being extremely picky and candidates may be up against some tough competition for the most desirable positions. If you are lucky enough to land the job offer, no doubt you used your unique personal branding to help you get the nod. Unfortunately, even when you land a great job, negotiating for a higher salary may not be an option. However, negotiation for perks can be almost as valuable as additional salary. Top New Job Perks Some of the perks you can expect to be offered or which you might want to negotiate into your contract include: Stocks: Gain a little piece of the company you work for with stocks. The best scenario involves the ability to buy company stock as an option. Otherwise, you may get into some tax concerns later on. Telecommuting: If a company offers you a pay that is a bit lower than you were expecting, you might be able to accept that offer if you could reduce commuting costs. If your commute is more than 20-30 miles each way, talk to them about the possibility of making part of your work week a telecommuting situation. According to Global Workplace Analytics, 36% of employees would choose the ability to telecommute over a pay raise. Education/Training: A company may also pay for additional training or education in your area of specialty. This benefits the company because you are better trained and more valuable, and it benefits you because you increase your value without any additional out-of-pocket costs. Extra Vacation: Another area you may be able to negotiate more easily is vacation or personal days. If you have young children at home, these can be extremely beneficial for attending class field trips or for those times when everyone comes down with the latest stomach bug. Even four or five days of extra vacation time can come in handy. Ritika Trikha over at US News and World Report suggests asking for more vacation days than youd like, so youll have some room to negotiate if the employer doesnt want to give you as many as youd like. Health and Wellness Plans: The cost of staying healthy can put a serious dent in your paycheck. Beyond health insurance and out of pocket costs, you have to consider wellness: eating right and staying active. If you’re not lucky enough to work at Google or Institute for Integrative Nutrition, chances are you don’t have on-site health services or a professional chef. You may be able to negotiate for gym memberships or wellness programs to help, though. Company Vehicle: The use of a company vehicle can save you a bundle, especially if you are just getting started on your own. You can avoid high monthly car payments and likely insurance costs as most companies insure the vehicles they own. Some companies even cover fuel costs for work-related trips. Family Care: Leaving your children to go to work all day is hard enough, you shouldn’t have to worry about them on top of it. Many employers understand this situation and are willing to be flexible with taking off for important events or when your child is ill, but it’s still worth negotiating for additional family benefits like back up childcare services or extended parental leave. And, if they say no, try Facebook â€" they not only give four months of paid parental leave, but also reimbursement for day care and adoption fees and $4,000 in baby cash. Flex Time: The ability to set your own hours works better with some companies than others. If your industry isn’t as strict as the financial market, you may be able to set up a deal where you work the hours you want as long as they are consistent number each week and you’re getting your work done. This can be invaluable for families or those with secondary interests, such as musicians. How to Ask for the Perks If you have the offer in hand and already understand the current job benefits, it’s probably time for negotiating the job offer: First, look at the different areas above and see if any appeal to you. If there are other areas that are important, include them too. Consider the company making the job offer. Will the benefit you desire work for their company? Is flex time even a possibility? Is it a small office where additional sick days will be a hardship? Look at the request from their point of view before asking for it. Put your counter offer in writing, and at least ask for a revised offer letter if they agree. Setting the Right Tone Remain polite, ask for what you want, but do so with reason. Show the company how it benefits them as well as you, and they are more likely to go along with your counteroffer. When deciding whether to take a job offer or not, look at all the aspects of the company. Consider health benefits, possibility for raises, and even take a look at small perks, such as an on-premises gym or free annual tickets to local sporting events. Looking at the big picture will help you make an educated decision about whether or not the job is a good fit for you.

Understanding Product Design UX User Flows - Algrim.co

Understanding Product Design UX User Flows - Algrim.co User Flow, also called UX, Wire, UI or IX flows, forms an elemental part of how users interact with your virtual product. Be it software or website; user flow helps to visualize the complete path that a user follows across a situation. It is a mix of traditional flow charts with visual elements. Hence, not only it is easy for the designer to frame his work from a visual perspective but also for the clients and higher authorities to understand the concept. Introduction In product design terms, flows depict the movement of user responses or actions in respect to a product. This movement is not just any movement but continuous and relational to the product structure. Another outlook of product design flow is that flow is variable. There are multiple dynamics to any action. So, in correspondence to actions, there are also various factors associated with user flow. User flows are purely focused on task accomplishment by the user and all the probable associated alternative paths to action. What benefit does it have? Focusing on the user path lets know about the activities performed by the user. In commerce, it is vital for a business model to concentrate on how to expand its presence and generate revenue. Both of these things are factored to the user experience. How a user, be it a potential customer or an existing loyal consumer, what they do or how they interact with the product is what makes or breaks the deal. For successful business intent, companies want users to have an engaging but controlled interaction with the product. Be it the Instagram app on your phone or any website that Google takes you to after consulting search queries. All have a particular objective. It could be a lead generation for email marketing, creating awareness, or persuading to buy. With a specific target in mind, user flow help for simple processing of solution and its validation for completion. User flows take care of two things â€" paths and result. They evaluate the path taken by the user if it is right or wrong. Could it be any shorter? Could it be more effective in any way? User flow helps designers answer such questions. Characteristics One thing to note however is that user flows may not be linear. It strictly does not have constant unidirectional progress and might somewhat branch out consisting of nodes and loops portraying all possible interactions with the product. This tendency reflects the various conditions in which a user might get access to the product. Also, in user flows there is no emphasis on the feelings of the user when interacting with the product. This aspect of user flows differs from user journey maps. It is, in the sense that journey maps take into consideration the feelings of the user while being instrumental for creating solutions. On the other hand, flows have a forte in plotting approach to existing solutions. They visualize flow through to the solution. Let’s talk in examples. Consider an e-commerce android or iOS app in development. User journey maps will help to think about the features (cart, buy, sell) to provide in an app while user flows will assist in designing the procedure to perform the specific task like buying or selling on the app. It will have a visualized form of the steps that a user has to enact to complete the task. For our considered scenario of buying, user flow will have the picturized steps of going from opening the app, searching for an item, going to the item page, selecting the buy button, setting the payment method and final check out. User flows not only aid in the design sphere, but also in terms of 'explaining aspect' of the idea to the client. The flowchart structure is straightforward to grasp for any layman, thus adding to its pro package. The process is straightforward. User flows consists of low-fidelity prototypes, that is devoid of visual detail. This method helps put the focus on creating smoothest flows for users in mind to accomplish both user and business goals. The success of a website or an app depends on the effectiveness of the flow model to meet the needs of user and business. A user flow model should balance these two objectives of user and company for any business to be successful. So, now we know about user flows; what they are, what they do and how they differ from journey maps./ Let us concentrate on the ‘design’ of product design user flows. Flows for users As the name suggests, the creation of product design user flows starts with the user. The flowchart is user-centric. Before starting to work on user flows, a designer needs to have a comprehension of the role of a user. They have to understand the motivation and needs of the user along with that of the business objectives. Understanding the role of user helps designers create user goals. In addition to the impact of roles, there’s one more thing to consider. It is about how the user comes to the product or termed simply as ‘entry points.’ Entry points and goals have significant relationships with each other. So, it is necessary to consider how a user comes to the product/website. It could be direct traffic, paid advertisements, organic search, social media, referral sites, or even e-mail marketing. Different entry points have different user behaviors. Hence, all factors considered you can expect different user flow diagrams with the varying user and business objectives. Designing a user flow For planning user flow, we need to use the actual behaviors of users. Basing a design on expected or assumed user responses and thinking does not work. A designer has to know what any user who gets their hands on the product thinks and does with it. So, the first step to design are the objectives. There are two objectives or goals one need to take care of while working out a user flow. User objective. These are the user needs; needs that the user wants to fulfill. Things like buying, chatting with friends, reading news, or reservation for dinner. Business objective. These are the things that you want the user to do. A company would be into selling items or providing a service. A clear idea about the objective helps in making an efficient user flow. Creating flow outline Before creating the flow, a designer needs to create a flow outline. Flow outline helps to get a rough impression of the flow structure. It is always a good practice to start with an outline to avoid a large number of corrections in the actual flowchart. Apart for tidying up corrections, outlines also help maintain focus on the key themes of the user experience when performing a particular task. The key themes are nothing but: • User roles. What kind of users/personas are accessing the product? • Objectives. What do the user and the business intend to achieve with the product? • Entry points. How does the user gain access to the product? A note here. It is suggested to build a workflow around content. Working around content provides a more accurate assessment of steps (or pages) required for the complete user experience in achieving the task. Here are some methods for building workflow outlines: • Writing-first approach The writing-first approach helps to build a common understanding of product structure, i.e., in a website, it aids in understanding what each page serves to do. You start with questions about what to do followed by action description in square brackets. Ex. For creating an account on a website The writing-first method involves statements or questions followed by action responses. As a result, it becomes quite lengthy and more laborious for faster deduction. For a quicker process, you can use the shorthand approach. • Shorthand approach While the writing-first method has statement-action pairs following each other, the shorthand approach is a bit graphical. A line separates the step having statement or question at top and action at the bottom. The following step (statement-action pair) has an arrow connecting it to the preceding step. It might seem redundant, but let me put it out there. Keep track of the entry points. The motivation of customer changes but the needs of the customer stay the same. This change in motivation is because of that fact that any product on the web gets accessed through different means, i.e. access as direct traffic, referrals, organic searches. Let’s simplify with an example. Suppose you are looking to buy a smart TV. Case 1: 1. You search the term ‘smart TV’ on a search engine (say Google) . You look at various TV reviews 3. Then, you finally decide on one and click on the buy link 4. Fill all the address and payment details and checkout Case 2: 1. You go to Sony’s official page 2. Search for a TV, select the one you like and click on buy 3. Then, fill all the address and payment details and checkout In the first case, you were only looking for a smart TV regardless of brand. In the second case, however, you were specific about getting a Sony TV. For both cases, the motivations are different, so the entry points are different. The entry point of users is not something a designer can skim or skip over while creating the workflow structure. Sketching and prototyping flow After setting up the basic structure, we move towards the user perspective. The transformation of user flow structure into low-fidelity sketches or mock-ups shows how the user will view them when they go live. Sketching and prototyping are the closest to the actual product design user flow before the final structure gets finalized. It is unique in the sense that the designer gets to see how the potential users will view the product flow. It gives the complete idea of a product flow which is vital. Why? That's because it helps test idea with users. Any design process is about correction and iteration. A product flow prototype aids in getting the users on-board with the design and reveal the potential improvements. Prototyping before flow helps evaluate the alignment of ideas and designs to match both the user and business objective. There are some elements that still we haven’t discussed. Up until now, we talked about product flows with single goals. But, what about multiple objective user flows? For more than one objective, there is Stacked User Flow. Stacked User Flows help achieve multiple goals. Another aspect of designing user flow is communication. Communication with users helps to get a clearer picture of their perceptions, usage patterns, and preferences. This insight helps to put or reduce the emphasis on elements based on the feedbacks. There will be transitions in user experience. For a strong user flow, the key is to lessen these transitions and frictions. The more shifts you can eliminate, the better. The thing is, negative transitions (ex. going back to the homepage from an article) have much more impact than positive transitions (ex. Seeing a thank you after purchase). So, positive or negative, a designer needs to ensure their design are as much friction-free as possible. Last but not least, every element needs testing. Layout, content, value proposition, product info, call to action, all need thorough and repeated testing to find frictions and help understand users better in the view of being able to provide a seamless product user flow.

How to Optimize Your Job Posts for Maximum Exposure

How to Optimize Your Job Posts for Maximum Exposure On any given day, how many people are really looking for work?The interestâ€"or lack thereofâ€"might surprise you. Of people who have jobs, nearly two-thirds are perfectly OK where they are. But that leaves a lot of qualified candidates who might consider working for you on the sidelinesâ€"unless you figure out how to adjust your job posting strategy to reach more people and do it with more impact.Let’s start with that job profile: Turns out, more information in the description is actually better. You have to use that description in a way that helps the reader become convinced that your job can actually benefit them tooâ€"not just that they need to figure out how to improve your company. evalOf course, searching on the internet has had an impact on how well-received job postings are, too. That means you have to include common terms that job searchers would probably use, from tools that might be required to software that they need to have expertise with.You should also be specific n ot only with the company name or brand, but the location, too. The goal is to find people that are really interested in what you have to offerâ€"not to get applications just for applications’ sake.Want to learn more about how to make your job descriptions work harder? This graphic can help.Infographic Credit â€" Akkencloud.com

Psychology of Color in Branding

Psychology of Color in Branding Color plays a crucial character in how your brand is professed. Whether your brand is related to fashion, medical supplies store, or any other niche nowadays, Its very tough to connect with any new audience and give them sufficient customer trust. Research says that color psychology study is one of the best ways you can help your brand. This study can help you to grow and generate new business leads. No doubt color Psychology plays an important role to build a strong and significant brand. Here in this post, we are going to discuss on color psychology and educate you details about the color meaning, which will help you a lot to make your brand big and excellent. Now let’s understand what color psychology is?? In simple word color, psychology is nothing but the study of colors regarding human behavior. Or we can say how the human brain reacts to a particular color. Overall the study is about how a human reacts to product color when he/she purchase it from the market. Now the question is how it can relate to a brand making Yes! There are several questions like does the color of an icon brings more clicks? Does the color logo attract more people? All of these questions answer is yes! Color matters and it put a significant impact on brand Now let’s discuss some colors and what it symbolizes. Red colors in marketing can always be an attention capture concept, and it is well associated with various meaning like danger, passion, excitement action, and energy. When it comes to orange color, it symbolizes success creativity balance, and adventure. Yellow color stands for optimism, happiness, and positivity. The pink color is about the female audience, or you can say the pink color symbolizes unconditional love immaturity and femininity. Similarly, Green is about growth health; Blue is about calm harmony and stability. The purple color stands for luxury nobility and power; on the other hand, White color means cleanliness humility, innocence, and kind. Black color psychology is all about elegance, power mystery, and sophistication. Grey color stands for balance and neutrality. Brown color means wood stone or earth. You can say marketing purpose most of the brand uses brown color in a business brand like natural products or food. Final Verdict We already mentioned color psychology and their stands for brand marketing. Now it’s time to choose the best color for your business and make it successful. Though there are many niches, you will find a standard color like blue for health care. So there is no hard and fast rule always to follow the color psychology. Always choose the color for your brand according to your customer liking so that you can generate huge business lead via your online store.

How to Describe Multilingual Resume Examples Properly

How to Describe Multilingual Resume Examples ProperlyWriting a resume is not difficult when you know how to describe multilingual resume examples properly. Your resume is your foundation and you need to be able to put your best foot forward when it comes to your application. You need to create a well-written resume that will get you that first interview and land you a job. There are many places to look for examples and tips when it comes to writing a resume, but this article will give you some guidelines on how to do the job right.When writing a multilingual resume, you have to start by using the right type of grammar. This is important because many times people will use spell check on their computers and when they use hyphens they will miss out certain letters. If your employer sees your resume with only grammatical errors, they may not want to hire you or even give you an interview. To avoid this you need to have correct spellings and punctuation. Many times people are unable to wr ite this part of their resume due to stress, or maybe they do not have the proper vocabulary.Beginning your resume with your name and adding your job title will help readers focus on what you have to offer. Using your name in the beginning helps with the reader's attention and the reader may even be curious as to who you are. After your name, you can include any experience or education you have, as this is where your resume will take off.Other information such as your job responsibilities, interests, and hobbies should be included. Try not to overwhelm the reader by including too much information; remember that you need to get that first interview and create a strong impression. Including these elements helps to create an interesting and valuable resume.There are various documents that you can use when describing your skills, including a job history, the titles youhave held, the amount of education you have obtained, and your work experience. Depending on your position, you may be r equired to provide information regarding your training, certifications, and work history. Some employers may not be aware of these things; this is why having a background or educational background piece of information will be helpful. Be sure to provide this information because it will add to your overall resume. Sometimes your boss may want to see proof of your education or training so do not be afraid to mention this on your resume.In the general section, you should include your complete contact information. Including your address, phone number, email, and physical address are a good idea. All of these details will be useful when trying to find you in the future.Also include your company's policies and ethics. This is very important as employers will want to know about your attitudes and what you expect from your job. Employers like to know about these before hiring an employee because they do not want to be bothered with any disputes that might arise.You can also include any addi tional information, such as work experience, educational information, and background information. These are all relevant to your company and employer and they will be extremely useful in creating the best resume possible. The resume that you create will speak more about you than just your skills and this will help you get a better job.