I was asked to speak at Edgewood College's Career Week 2016, but I could not be there so I created this video to answer some of the questions I know will be talked about during Career Week.
Here are the questions I answer in the video:
Thanks, Nick Regardless of how you make your living, you are in business for yourself.
The results you produce for your employer or your clients as an entrepreneur are the skills, abilities and track record you take with you where ever you go in the future. So, yes, even if you're employed somewhere, you work for yourself. Posted by Nick Venturella This is a great interview with Steven Pressfield, who is an author I admire. He wrote, The Legend of Bagger Vance, The War of Art, Do the Work, Turning Pro and many other great books.
Some of what Pressfield talks about is so true in terms of each of our own personal internal struggles toward being successful in ways that are meaningful to each of us -- what makes us truly happy. I know I can relate to his words. He is very wise when talking about one's destiny, and for me, he nailed exactly how I often think about it. It's a bit of a longer video, but worth your time. Posted by Nick Venturella I recently read an article on Entrepreneur Magazine's website by Mahesh Rajagopalan, the CEO and co-founder of Picpal, a real-time photo collage chat app.
The article was about decluttering your mental workspace. One of the concepts from the article that stood out to me was the idea of "Effort Sprints." Many start-up tech companies , and most software companies these days, utilize "sprints," or an agile methodology, to accomplish leaps in production output in a short amount of time. The gist about "sprints" is , for a certain length of time -- usually a few weeks or a month -- you, your team, etc. will work on nothing but the major task/project at hand. Eliminating all other distractions to focus on a specific portion of a project allows an individual or a team to accomplish a whole lot in a relatively short amount of time. Once the time period is over, the work is reviewed , critiqued and updates and fixes that need to happen are documented to be addressed in the next sprint. Accelerated forward motion towards your goal is the idea. The nature of working this way is that iterative improvements are happening regularly and large productive, proactive strides are made instead of reactive iteration that often happens in a less intentional scramble as things need to be addressed. This concept can be applied to your own individual efforts throughout your work day with what Rajagopalan called, "Effort Sprints." Similar to "sprints" in a production/business sense, "Effort Sprints" help you minimize interruptions -- turning off email, messaging notifications, etc. -- while in a specific timeframe you've dedicated to working on a specific task. From Rajagopalan's article, research is clear that multi-tasking stunts productivity by as much as 40 percent. So a way to increase your ability to get things done, block out 2 hours in the morning and maybe 2 hours in the afternoon where you can identify a very specific task or set of 2 or 3 related tasks to accomplish in that timeframe. You can even schedule checking/responding to email two or three times day so you compartmentalize efforts in a way that allows you to have a singular focus on it. You'll likely find you get those things done more quickly than if you just answer any and all emails that come in , when they come in. You'll also likely find that the quality of your output will increase due to paying closer attention to what you've worked on. In this "Effort Sprint" model, you do need to block out some de-stress time within your day. It's good to clear your head after a sprint. If you can take a walk or exercise, that can be helpful to get your blood flowing and help you focus again for your next sprint as you return to work. When you take a break, try to leave your work area, get out of the office and let go of work for a short time. Doing this will allow your subconscious to continue working on your tasks without you even knowing it. However, you won't give your subconscious the opportunity to work for you if you don't take some periodic breaks from your work. Posted by: Nick Venturella We’re all human. It makes sense then to create content that connects with humans. Building connection from your creation to another person, even online, is one way to build a relationship. If you produce content for marketing purposes then you are in the business of connection and relationship-building. However, if you don’t know how to appeal to real people you will struggle to foster a connection, and that connection is the spark needed to build a relationship. Plus, when your content does connect well with others it gains ‘share-ability’ in social media. So, how can you build a human connection with someone from your online content? Here are three ways:
Be sincere Chances are the struggles you experience as a human are pretty similar to those who consume your content/art/music/other. That said, what do you struggle with? Examine yourself, decide what you need help with, research solutions and build content that addresses that for your audience. Be empathetic Now, that you’ve identified the issues your audience has (which you share as well) you can be empathetic to your audiences’ situation. You know because you’ve been there, or you are there now. Help your audience understand that you understand, and that they’re not alone – there is a community of others just like them, like you, dealing with the same thing. This is where the beginning of the spark of a connection and potential relationship arises. Be helpful Share what you’ve discovered in overcoming your own struggles. What has worked? What hasn’t worked? Be a bit of a mentor. Share what you’ve found out from your own experiences that you wish someone would have shared with you earler on in your journey. This has value for others. Your audience then gets the benefit of shaving time, energy and possibly money off their approach to overcoming the identified struggle. The bottom line with being helpful is to do your best to provide useful solutions whenever possible, and the best test is to think, “Would I find that solution useful?” Posted by Nick Venturella I'm inspired by several other bloggers, musicians, philosophers and entrepreneurs. Of those I like, I thought I would share a list of who they are and link to their websites for your benefit:These are just a few that I enjoy. There are many more, but if you want a place to start. These are good. Take care, -Nick Venturella Anyone who fancies him or herself a blogger, or strives to be one will gain value from Kevin Oubridge's Blue Chip Tips blog, and in particular his post, "The Inexpert Blogger's Guide to Blogging Like an Expert."
Outbridge runs Blue Chip Coaching, which helps executive coaches win more clients. In the post linked above, Outbridge provides some very practical and basic tips for bloggers at any stage (even if you know these tips, as a seasoned blogger, it's a great refresher). Check it out. Posted by : Nick Venturella One of the reasons I love content marketing is that content is a vehicle. Content is a dynamic vehicle. It can be written word, visuals, audio or the combination of audio and visuals – video. The beauty is, every piece of content is a new opportunity for relationship building. I’ve talked about the idea of everything boiling down to communication and relationships in business and life. (here's free ebook on the topic) Communication (or content) is the vehicle that drives relationships. If you can’t communicate and connect with another individual you will be hard pressed to develop a trusting relationship. That’s the other thing: trust. Trust develops when continued communication and honest connection takes place over time. Without trust your relationships will not be sustained…again, in business and life. This takes place everywhere: in your home with your spouse or significant other. At work with coworkers, management, staff, vendors, etc. The point is, Every piece of content or opportunity to communicate is a chance to build and deepen a relationship. I’m a firm believer that the more positive relationships you have the easier it is to get things done and move the needle, in business and life, in the direction you want. Sometimes, often in fact, that means finding the silver lining with each experience and encounter you have on a daily basis. To do this is a disciplined effort that takes time and willingness to learn from your mistakes. The reason positive relationships are so important is because no one wants to work with a negative person, no one wants to be married to someone who is unhappy all the time. Even if trust isn’t violated, negative energy, while less abrupt than a clear violation, is a slow toxic killer. I do a lot of work in the HR industry and while I’m often impressed with how many positive people there are in that industry, I’m equally unimpressed and disappointed by the number of cynical, negative people who wonder why they struggle in their work and life. These are the same people that think they understand how to connect with content. They put out content that is selfish, self-serving and anti-relationship-building, though they don’t realize it. They simply claim, “content marketing doesn’t work,” or “my industry is full of a bunch of d-bags.” So if you stay positive and realize what you do and say communicates something distinct and significant about you and your view on the world, you can approach every piece of content you might create as an opportunity to connect, build trust and build positive meaningful relationships that can ultimately make your day-to-day better. Be better and help to teach others to be better by your example. Post by: Nick Venturella
Owner Media Group, Inc. consists of CEO, Chris Brogan and President Rob Hatch.
Many online blog-type folks know Chris Brogan -- he's been blogging, talking about the internet, business and how to be successful in better, often simpler ways. Rob Hatch is Brogan's yin (or yang -- not sure who is who) in the Owner Media business model. The point is, these two are well-respected and have proven that their information and courses are of value far beyond their selling price. Hatch is the author behind one of Owner Media's best selling courses, Work Like You're On Vacation (affiliate link). Hatch and Brogan's years of making mistakes about what to focus on each work day allowed them to develop this course of a better approach. To reach one's goals and success, Hatch and Brogan figured out a methodology that helps put success in one's way by utilizing simple systems to improve organization, prioritization and better decision making leading to increased and intentional productivity. Now more than ever, we're always on, interrupted by others' agendas everywhere we go at work or otherwise. It's no wonder people are overwhelmed and scattered in regard to where their focus should be to best move the needle on their/the company's goals. If you're looking for a different approach to deal with the overwhelm and increase your ability to get the work done that matters, then you may want to check out Work Like You're On Vacation. Posted by: Nick Venturella
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I just read a great, inspiring article from James Altucher on LinkedIn Pulse.
I recommend reading this article to be inspired to believe in yourself and take a chance on YOU. No one can live the life you live. It is uniquely yours, and you can make your world a little better everyday, for yourself and others around you. No small feat of kindness and abundance is too small. Read the article, especially if you've been doubting yourself lately. posted by Nick Venturella
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