How to Self Brand Today for YOUR Future Business of Tomorrow

Getting a personal email address that looks good on a resume is one thing, getting an email address to build a business upon, founded upon your years of cultivated industry expertise, is quite an art form.  Attempting to do this while you are currently employed, without creating a conflict of interest with your employer, is another matter altogether!  The irony of trying to start a business while employed is risky business when one is trying to Self Brand themselves for whatever business model they want to build; integrity and “your good name” must be as one.  (view our main website at Linda Hertz Group)

So how does one Self Brand themselves as they work the daily grind and pressures of today’s Corporate America or Corporate Britain..or wherever you may live and work? Answer: VERY CAREFULLY!  Most people who have ascended the corporate ladder have gathered very specific expertise within their discipline and often dream of one day ending corporate life and start their own business; consulting or some other small business model.  The easiest way to get started is to pick a Domain that you will begin to use immediately for your personal use TODAY in the form of personal email address, but will be the foundation for your business email and website address for your tomorrow’s. There are 2 ways to go about it:

2 DOMAIN NAME APPROACHES

1. If your name is well known within your industry, then use it!  The easiest place to start is obtaining a domain name that is hopefully your name; think of Charles Schwab (schwab.com).
2. If you don’t want to use your name but one specific to your industry of interest then again, figure out a Domain name that will be best for your type of business.  People spend fortunes on marketing expertise to figure out a best name and there are very few .com’s left to choose from, but maybe you will get lucky!  Look at what MedReps.com did?  Short, sweet and to the point!

Now for what type of Domain to get?  Should it be a .com, .net, .org?  The most popular is still a .com; it is still the preferred domain and of course, the most difficult to find available.  Start with .com, then .net and .org use to be just for educationally oriented sites, but you can still use it if the first two are not available for your Domain Name of choice. A couple of years ago domain companies began promoting “.co” ; the jury is out on how those are working and if confusion may occur with people thinking it should be .com and is a typo.  Just my thoughts on that.  You can go to the front page of any Domain Company site and most have search boxes where you can plug in your desired Domain name to see if it is available. 

So how do you go about getting a Domain and what services would be best for you? There are many domain service companies out there, but the two most popular remain GoDaddy.com and Register.com.  I have used both extensively and this is what I have found and perhaps it will help you decide which one to use:

1. GoDaddy.com is probably the best known to the general public Domain Company.  When I want to just buy domain names and park them (not use them, just make sure I own them to secure for future use) I buy them in 5 year packs (you can buy Domain Names for 1 yr., 2 yr. with renewal options.  The longer out your go, the cheaper the price.  The more popular the name that you may have selected the higher the price.  Go Daddy is Cheap and, in my opinion, if you just want to secure a name to use for your personal (for now) email address..go Go Daddy!  If you want to actually launch a website yourself and get going building your business now, then you may want to pick a better Personalized Service company like Register.com.  Sorry, Go Daddy, but when you need assistance and someone on a phone that can help you…not so good.  Also beware that Go Daddy adds a base price and then it quickly gets expensive by adding their “value adds”.
2. Register.com I prefer for the domain names I need to launch a website and/or get personalized service.  For a little more money I feel they present a number of really nice options PLUS you can call them and almost always get quick prompt help and service.

Of course some of you may not want to pay the money for an email address, and I have written a collection of articles on the power of branding oneself using free email services, but if you plan on hanging out your own shingle one day, it is best to start paying a little money to invest in your own future!  Your OWN Domain Name can be the foundation and beginning of everything you have worked towards your whole life.  It’s hard to give up a dream when you are staring at it every day in your email box!  

View our main career resource website: Linda Hertz Group

©Linda Hertz, All Rights Reserved

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Do You Know The Health Of Your Company? How About Your Job Security?

Most of you know that I love stocks and I am an active trader with a balanced hand at portfolio stock management.  In fact, it is this hobby that led to my daily medical news tweets that some of you follow every day.  I realized that the CURRENT health of medical and pharmaceutical companies can often be predicted long before a lay off or conversely a hiring expansion.  Everything our medical sector does is watched very closely due to the obvious connections to government and legal legislation and reimbursement, as well as the importance of the products and services produced that can save and change lives (for better or sometimes worse)! 

Many have asked me why I bother to report/tweet the medical, bio and pharma news each day (now found daily on the front page of our Main site).  My reply is quite simple, “Everything moves very fast now in our industry, a company can introduce a new, unique surgical product and enjoy a nice entry lead into the marketplace, only to see it evaporate within 5 to 10 years by the competition or newer concept products.”  

In our industry all it takes is one product recall, FDA failure, key reimbursement reduction or elimination to effectively shut down a company or, minimally, have it fall prey to a buyout within 12 to 24 months of the event.  Compare that to other industries like a long dying Sears and Roebucks, who just announced today they were closing 62 locations, but a company that could carry on as it went into a slow decline for decades; there is no room or tolerance for a slow, long bleed like that in our industry.

We are fortunate to be in this industry for many reasons, but let me add one more; it is an industry that is transparent IF YOU stay on top of the medical news trends, the products and the changes in healthcare.  Ask any pharmaceutical representative that did not read the trends of their industry 8 years ago and stayed until they were laid off….the writing was on the wall if they would have just read it from time to time. 

Think of my medical news tweets as just that, a wall of news that may help you stay on top of the health of your industry, your company, the competition and ultimately the health of your job security.  (please view our main site to read ALL our insightful articles) 

©Linda Hertz, All Rights Reserved

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The Strategic CAREER Hunt For The Employed

 

I was struck the past couple of weeks by currently employed people, with no fear of an impending layoff, responding to a few of the jobs I had posted.  There was nothing wrong with the jobs, but there was a whole lot wrong with why THEY would be interested in them!  In fact, as they shared with me the other company names and jobs they were in process with, I could only ask, “Why?”  Many did not have a clear answer.  The others had a vague feeling or a partially thought-out response, “I need to reduce my travel” or I heard, “I feel stagnant.” Some said the classic, “I need to make more money.”  At this point I know they all had one thing in common; they have not done their homework to do an effective CAREER HUNT, they were merely doing a JOB HUNT.  Let me explain the difference.

 

When one does not have a Job, they are certainly in a Job Hunt mode; they need a job and most want and should try to find one as quickly as possible!  So they FIRST dive head first into the job rubble; picking through the pile of job postings from hiring companies and recruiters alike on multiple job boards and etc,.  Certainly they would like to find their dream job, but they are not in a power position of having a job while looking, let alone THE TIME it takes to do a true CAREER HUNT.  Career Hunting takes a lot of time; Job Hunting not so much.

 

Most people, even those that are not unemployed, approach finding a new career the same way; doing a Job Hunt. They hunt for jobs like shopping for a pair of jeans and perhaps with less thought; it’s would be like trying on EVERY pair of pants without any regard for what style or design one likes before shopping.  The unemployed have a reason to approach the job market in this manner, after all, if you don’t have any pants, I am sure something is better than the alternative.. baring everything and having no pants at all!  They frantically try on all the pants and will try to make it work.  A little tight? I can lose the weight!  A little short?  I will just wear flats or, if you are like most guys, who cares? They think that perhaps wearing dark socks will hide the obvious!  It doesn’t feel right, but at least it covers the essentials!  It gets even more confusing if a recruiter calls you and throws another pair of pants for you to try on!  Maybe I can make that work!  You see, these people have mistakenly put picking out a Job the FIRST thing they do and often that is all they will get, just a Job.  A Career Strategist makes the actual Job Hunt the LAST thing they do.  

 

A STRATEGIC CAREER HUNT requires a good deal of homework BEFORE you even look for a pair of jeans…I mean job.  Certainly the unemployed should try to incorporate Strategic Career Hunt strategy in the attempt to find a job, but the unemployed don’t have the time to do it correctly and let it unfold over time (If you are unemployed, you may want to read a suggested strategy piece I wrote a few months ago, More Downsizing’s; Unemployed and In The Wrong Pond?) .  The process can take up to a year or two.  Why?  Because you are not going to merely look for an open job and then hope it fits or try to make it fit.  You are turning the tables around, you are going to determine exactly what companies (by name and division) you want to work for, and the job you want within those companies FIRST, before you even see if they have an open job. 

 

 BUILDING YOUR BEST CAREER STRATEGY! 

 

1. Build out the type and quality of life you want (PLEASE read my earlier Blog, 2 Questions That Can Turn Your Life and Career Around: The Post It …).  This exercise is the foundation of your Career Strategy!
2. Select a company that is centered upon solid earnings, growth and has products that are going to be needed now and in the future, as well as a pipeline of new products to stay relevant in a quickly changing world.  This lends itself to yet another Blog I will write next, Selecting Companies that Will Survive and Thrive!  Think about it, just 10 years ago Kodak was profitable.  On January 19th, 2012 Kodak declared Bankruptcy.  Did this just happen? No, they have only had one profitable year since 2004!  Look at Boston Scientific’s terrible earning and sales growth for several quarters now; go with a STRONG company, not one getting weaker.  Pharma? Talk about a go nowhere career….so just don’t go there!
3. Determine the TYPE of products that you would want to sell and the type of customers you would enjoy calling upon. There is a huge difference between selling Medical Capital Equipment, Medical Devices, Medical Disposables and certainly pharma.  If it kills you to get up early, then a Cardiovascular Sales Job in the Operating Room is probably not for you!  Calling on Long Term Care Nursing Homes is way different than working GPO’s and IDN’s within the Acute Care Market Place.  Nursing Call point vs. Physician and etc.
4. Identify the type of Company Culture you would enjoy working within and then begin the investigation of which company provides it.  Conversely, make sure you identify the company culture that you would hate to work within and stay away from it, regardless of how many millions they will pay you to work there!  Let me give you an example, some Stryker Sales Reps. (Orthopedics) can make over $300,000 per year (albeit they laid off 1,000 people just a few weeks ago!), but aside from that downsizing, at Stryker you better thrive in a very competitive environment and understand if you don’t perform..you are FIRED in rather short order!  It is a hard driving performance oriented Orthopedic company and the reps. live with not yearly performance but extreme pressure for monthly performance.  Other companies thrive on a more friendly relationship sale, like coloplast or other Wound Care Companies, but pay far less then their aggressive counterparts in Spine or Cardiovascular.
5. Understand the Career Path of your current job and the job you eventually want to aspire to in the near and far future.   For example, you don’t take a Pharmaceutical Job after selling copiers to eventually get into medical device sales.  You don’t leave your Sales Job of 5 years when you are next in line to be a District Sales Manger (a Position you want) to hop to another company because the sales job there pays more money!  Career advancement is usually built upon a logical sequence of jobs that builds expertise and knowledge required for the next promotion or outside job opportunity.

 

Is your head spinning yet?  You may be thinking, “Wow, this is a lot more work than just interviewing for a bunch of jobs when a recruiter calls!”  Please think again, perhaps it will save you a good deal of time when that recruiters job  clearly doesn’t fit your overall career strategy.  You already know those pants won’t be a fit, so why bother trying them on?  When you have done the homework, you are ready for the next CAREER move by finding the Job that fits you! (View our main career site for all our career articles and resources at Linda Hertz Group   no cost to join and what can it do for your career is absolutely Priceless!).

 

©Linda Hertz, All Rights Reserved

 

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Is Your Email Address Showing YOUR Age? Get Hip With It!

I was going through a number of resumes this past week and I started to laugh at some of the email addresses.  Why? Because some of them just shout, “Hello there, I am really old and out of it and still driving a horse and buggy too!” I have been meaning to write a short Blog on this now for a few years, but now due to newer, cooler email addresses that have been growing popular, I felt the time has come for me to address (pun intended) this. 

Don’t feel badly if you have one of these ancient emails, simply get rid of it and get a hipper one for applying to positions on LinkedIn, Job Boards and certainly for displaying on your resume.  Attached to the old one? Then go ahead and keep it for your personal use to lesson the disruption of having to change all your business accounts and your routine emails to long time friends.

So what Emails show your age? 
Here is the list:

• msn.com
• hotmail.com
• aol.com
• bellsouth.com
• att.com
• yahoo.com (that use to be a young one 6 years ago..not now)
• cox.net
• roadrunner.com (do they still have that one?)
• earthlink.com

Some of you are probably now offended! So sorry, but just think of it…do you know anyone under 30 that has a msn.com or earthlink.com email box?  Exactly!  My 81 year old Dad has an msn.com email address! I just went back to look at one of those mass emails he sends out all the time to his cronies (and me) ALL the time.  You know the emails retired people send, old jokes that are so old they aren’t funny anymore or frankly inappropriate to downright dirty?  They seem to love to send a bunch of politically correct and incorrect stuff too; Hey, what else do they have to do anyway? Now I digress…

Getting back on topic, I just went through each and every person he sends these news notices to and clicked to see what their email addresses were; guess what I found?  There were at least 20 people getting his group email and they all had cox.net, tons of msn.com’s and aol.com’s and even a frontiernet.net (don’t ask).  To my surprise ONE person had a new email address, ONE PERSON!  

So why not take years off your age on your resume and get a cool new email address?  The one email address I would recommend as of today is a gmail.com, yes a gmail account.  A gmail.com account is best unless, of course, you have your own domain name.  Most of you do not need your own personal Domain Name unless you plan on branding yourself or creating a business after you are done with corporate America.

A gmail.com account is free and is tied to your Google account and all the cool stuff you can now do with Google +. Yahoo.com is trying to catch up with their newer y.com, but why not forget Y and go with the more useful and hipper G?  

So go ahead and give your resume a face lift with a new gmail.com address.  You are never too old to get with it!  Do you know who the one person was on my Dad’s Group email box that had a new Gmail account?  My 95 year old Uncle!  So see, it is never to late to look hip, even if your hip happens to be the result of a hip implant!  (See all of our career articles at our main site, the Linda Hertz Group..join us today!)

©Linda Hertz, All Rights Reserved

By Linda Hertz why not invite me to Linkedin with you today?

J

On A Performance Improvement Plan? 2 NOW Survival Strategies

Have you been feeling the heat lately from your sales manager?  The weekly Friday call-ins are now EVERY Friday and the field visits from your manager have intensified over the past few months, the warm fuzzy feeling is gone between the two of you (or perhaps it never was?).  These are the early signs of being lined up for a PIP,  Performance Improvement Plan, and then BOOM…it is official; YOU ARE ON A PIP!  Didn’t see the signs?  You should have.

The PIP is used in good companies ONLY as a last resort and often, if the company is an excellent company, never used or only sparingly.  Why?  Because excellent companies and managers have been trained on how to truly lead and coach with uplifting, supporting and VERY measurable and directive standard COACHING Trip Report Letters routinely issued at the end of each field visit.   You see, EVERYONE gets those Letters; the good, the bad and the ugly after each and every field sales visit or perhaps conference call if needed…yep, even when you are doing great and hitting the numbers. 

Funny, but in my experience, using that type of true COACHING management style often leads to just that, managing top performers.  In that form of leadership the non-performers rarely feel they were singled out, they were held to the same management style and paperwork (e-mail) flow as everyone else; they could see they were drowning in not accomplishing the sale goals and tasks at hand and often together the manager and the sales representative came to the conclusion; the rep. needs to look for a new job NOW!  Doesn’t get ugly, everyone came to the same conclusion.

Unfortunately the last medical company I worked for just didn’t get it; they managed by using a PIP, yep the hammer.  You pull it out when you need to start drumming a person out.  VERY FEW people make it when the PIP drum roll begins.  You must

Where You Have Worked DOES Brand You; are you Walmart or Tiffany Merchandise?

I have been conducting Career Consults and Interview Workshops all week for donations to the Avon Breast Cancer Walk and I found myself coaching Job Seekers and sharing with them the behind the scenes thoughts and comments that Recruiters NEVER talk about when we are conducting interviews.  In fact, they are the same thoughts I would keep buried when I was a hiring manager in Medical Device Sales!  You have heard the saying, “You are what you eat”, then let me add another line, “You are who you have worked for”too!  So are you a Walmart or a Tiffany?  Are you a Lincare or a Medtronic?  Now you are getting into a recruiters head!  Let me continue to share these inner thoughts.

One of those thoughts is looking at the quality of the employers that a person has worked for since they graduated from college. Why is that important?  Let me give you a couple of reasons.

Prepare Your Career; 16 Signs YOUR Company Is Up for Sale! – Linda Hertz Group

Prepare Your Career; 16 Signs YOUR Company Is Up for Sale! – Linda Hertz Group

via Prepare Your Career; 16 Signs YOUR Company Is Up for Sale! – Linda Hertz Group.

Taking Jobs You Don’t Like? So What’s Wrong With YOU? – Linda Hertz Group

 

 

Taking Jobs You Don\\’t Like? So What\\’s Wrong With YOU? – Linda Hertz Group

via Taking Jobs You Don\\\’t Like? So What\\\’s Wrong With YOU? – Linda Hertz Group.