How do I recognize a great professional opportunity when I see it?
Truthfully the probability is very high that will appear in a non-traditional form. Here are seven things when to open the door when a career changing opportunity knocks. 1. Opportunities are risks wrapped in various shapes and sizes: If you’re the type of person who doesn’t like risks - get over it! The only way to create anything new is to take a risk. If you’ve been thinking that you will be able to achieve great success without taking chances and always playing it safe, you are sadly mistaken. Break the cycle by taking little risks and build up over time. 2. Risk vs. Reward: Early in my career I worked on several “high risk-high reward” assignments. Lucky for me I never had a major screw up. I quickly learned that these projects and teams often use the same go-to people. It’s like playing your best players at crunch time. Volunteer for internal and external projects that will give you exposure to the starting players and senior leaders and decision makers, even if it’s the holiday party committee. 3. Determine if it’s on the path to where you want to go: Whatever you are trying to achieve, you need to have a plan. Ask yourself, would success in this project get you one step closer to your ultimate goal, job, or venture? 4. All that glitters is not gold: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Beware of people who seek to use you to advance their own agenda. For example, I know a handful of people who have made millions in multi-level marketing (sometimes referred to as pyramid schemes). However, I know of more than a hundred who have failed miserably working in this type of business model because they lack strong salesmanship, disciple and time, and a wide social network. Read the fine print and understand when and how you will be compensated if you are well suited for any opportunity. Work on fine-tuning your judgment about people, places and things. 5. Do what others have not or cannot do: Is the opportunity related to creating, launching, or doing something that others have not been able to do? Seek opportunities where you will be first or able to establish a strong reputation for yourself in one area. Remember in life, career and marketing – you don’t always have to be the best, just first. 6. Select ventures that you will be able to quickly leverage to create and find other similar opportunities: The saying you are only as good as your last hit, really applies to almost every industry. Think how success in this project or job will cause others to seek you out to do the same thing for them. 7. Embrace change: Just as you must get over any fear of taking risks, you must embrace change and doing things in a new and different way. Approaching your career in the same manner is not going to make a life-changing shift in your career. Expand your knowledge, expertise, and experience and always look for a new way to do the same old thing, Today embrace a new mentality about opportunities and your big break. Remind yourself that calculated risks, leaps of faith, and stretching you outside your comfort zone are necessary to create career success. Everything you do will not work out as planned, so play the numbers game by taking more and more calculated risks, and soon more and more will start to pay off.
Now that the New Year is in full swing here are seven “must have’s” to turn a new career leaf in 2017.
1. Fill in the blank: Whatever your current or desired field is, be you need to have expertise in a specific segment. If you do social media: are you a strategy person or skilled at identifying and engaging influencers? It’s not just about working in one industry or field, but rather about becoming an expert at something that others value and need. 2. Writing: Over the past 20 years I have found that many people struggle with business writing. The trick is to keep your communications concise, using simple sentences and explain the only 5 questions that anyone ever wants to know: WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN AND WHY. Go online or sign up for a class, but work on making sure that you are comfortable with writing your ideas efficiently and effectively. 3. Negotiation: Check our “archives” to see what we recently posted about this critical skill and how to develop it. http://livingonpurposeproject.com/post/156036582629/january-18-2017-ask-patrice-when-it-comes 4. Salesmanship: There is a saying that salespeople are born, not made. However, we can all become more skilled at selling people on our ideas, vision and even ourselves by using some marketing 101 tactics and strategies – always remember to educate and not sell, and that even people who are looking to buy don’t want to feel a hard sell. 5. Perseverance: 80% of most things you attempt will not turn out exactly or even close to what you had planned - it’s called life. The sooner you embrace this fact the better life becomes. At many points in your career you MUST be willing to work longer, harder, better. Period. If not, step side and make way for those of us willing, ready and able to do the work at hand. 6. Humor: Everyone thinks they are funny - only a few are right. Of course, you think you have a great sense of humor but how can you test it out? Fine tune your ability to use wit and humor to really connect with and even disarm others. Remember humor is about being makings smart observations about people and life. If you need some ideas to put together your 10-minute comedy set, check out two of my favorite comedians – the late George Carlin and Chris Rock. 7. Keep your word: Following through on what you say allows you to always demonstrate (a practice) this core skill. The secret is to under promise and over deliver and make your personal and professional goal to be a person of your word. At the end of the day, people hire, partner with, and seek out those who are consistent and reliable. Work on your time management and keep yourself organized and soon you will find this is second nature.
Successful people have the necessary skills and mindset for success. Anyone can do it, once you know which skills and abilities will enable you to consistently be a rainmaker. This week, take a few minutes to access your current skills and set goals for making them sharper and savvier.
Audrey Pass, Chief Marketing Officer for Empire State Realty Trust, Assistant Treasurer/Board Member of NY Women in Communications, and former publicist for Oprah Winfrey, on career reinvention, being an “outsider” in your field, a sure-fire way to figure out your next step, and the power of a ‘failure is not option’ attitude.
