CHAPTER 15
Parting gifts
No better time to refresh your resume
Your resume is and always should be considered a living, breathing, career defining document. During a world-wide pandemic, there is no better time to refresh and retool it. As the global economy continues to shift being at your best is more valuable than ever before. While people are sheltering in place or fearing their next move, candidates with updated resumes will be ready to seize the coming jobs.
The aftermath of a pandemic
The aftermath of a pandemic will indeed create new and different opportunities. How about creating media ads for small businesses. Those businesses that have reopened or new ones about to open will need a lot of advertisement. What could be more important than an affordable Twitter or Facebook ad. You can get on Shutterstock or a free site like Pixaby and create flashy poignant ads with high-quality pictures. You can either charge by the ad, or charge a monthly fee for continual site updates. Think of your local plumbers, electricians, carpenters or even hardware stores, dry cleaners and bakeries.
A note about social media and linking
While the links back to your website from Twitter, Facebook, and others may not do anything for your official search engine results, they can share an awful lot of useful information. The more useful your information the more likely people are to pass it on to those most interested. And, there is nothing better than word of mouth referrals. If you use your full domain name in the link, as opposed to a URL shortener, your link will also serve as a branding iron.
Just remember to use social media as a place to “give back” as well. Share useful links and information from others and pass along your referrals. You will be seen as a true contributor of value and be deemed trustworthy.
Self-care and self-preservation
Times might seem especially tough right now, but remember we can create our own perceptions through self-care and self-preservation. Chapters 2 and 4 should be paid close attention to now. We will emerge the victors by focusing on our habits and continuing to evolve our routines that will keep our work projects on track.
Share your enthusiasm
It is not a surprise that people respond well to enthusiasm. Furthermore, your enthusiasm speaks volumes about your involvement and motivation. Enthusiasm can be quite contagious as well.
It has been documented that enthusiastic people adapt better to change. The future of business is changing overnight. We may never see anything like this again in our lifetimes. Companies need to move quickly to respond to the changing environment. New innovations will change the marketplace and only those willing to change with it will survive. So, let’s market ourselves with enthusiasm and share this enthusiasm with prospective employers.
A great starting point
Forget about starting your career on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. “LinkedIn” is by far the most used media tool for any business, and writers can truly benefit right here. This can be a great starting point and your foundation until you set up an eventual website. Your resume should absolutely target your desired clients.
Your LinkedIn network can be your address book and, has the freedom to be designed to your advantage, packed with all you deem necessary and essential. Here you can build a network that can propel and sustain your business. You can customize a list of ideal clients and use it to target assignments.
LinkedIn messaging can be both practical and highly effective. Use this to start the conversations that will land you the jobs you want. Especially target those companies that you know you can help. Always add a personal note when inviting someone to connect with you. Remember to thank them for doing so and, also thank those who invite you to their pages.
Content marketing
With trade shows and conventions cancelled and travel reduced significantly due to covid-19, businesses have been finding new ways of conducting business. Most putting emphasis on reliable ways of building trust and loyalty with their customers. This is being accomplished with online content marketing. The total demand for B2B content has risen significantly over this past year and webinar ads have more than doubled.
Imagine your importance, as a writer who can turn a webinar into a social media blog series, for a particular company. This is huge, as now this company can reach prospects that never even viewed the webinar. You can do the same thing with company videos, podcasts and e-books, by simply watching or reading them and converting them into social media content. Just about any company created content can be presented in different and advantageous ways.
The easiest way to find this “content marketing” work is to target companies that already use your type or style of writing. If you offer great email writing, then search for those with already established email marketing programs.
The process of “how”
The process of “how” we learn, “how” we change, and “how” we grow, I think, is far more important than “what” we are learning. This is not to say that what we are learning is not important, obviously it is. It’s just that there are no guarantees to the content and skills we are learning now. However, I do believe that the process of “how” we have learned to learn will continue to be of tremendous value throughout the rest of our lives.
I hope that together we have learned to leverage change to find new ways to grow. Always remember to value and support the good of others. Never underestimate your worth or value to mankind.
Take action to embrace diversity
That word “embrace” is a word of action. It is never passive. So, it is not enough for any of us to say we are not racist, particularly when we see so much racism around us. What should we do?
I believe we need to start by exploring ourselves and challenging our own perspectives. I suggest reading about racism in the world and the history of it. Reflect upon our own privileges and our own actions. Learn to listen to others and try to understand their experiences, especially those that differ from our own.
We all have blinders on when we see the world. That is normal behavior in most instances of our early development. But, it is by listening carefully to others that we can learn how they may be experiencing the same world, very differently. This action of learning to understand by deeply listening can remove the blinders on our eyes and will enrich our lives.
This is an action, it is a process and it will take us on a far more fulfilling journey through life.
Remember, change is inevitable……………………………growth is optional.
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