Whether you are facing February with a job layoff, or maybe are starting to put out feelers, now that business is saying they actually might add jobs this year, you have to break out of your old ways and be inventive in 2011.
Here’s a great example of someone who took the necessary steps to really tell his story world-wide!
In this week’s Crain’s Detroit Business, the Rumblings section leads off with a story of a Michigan business owner who was thrust into the spotlight when mentioned in President Obama’s State of the Union address. The owner, Robert Allen, was in a reception line to meet the president and thought it would be an opportune time to give him a business card (not really sure how many people give business cards to the President of the United States, but what the heck, why not?). So the leader of the free world took the card from Allen.
But how did this business owner get in front of the president? The article discusses the steps that the solar roofing business, Luma Resources LLC, took. Really, it boils down to four steps:
1. Allen talked to a staffer at the National Science Foundation about his business and how it would be a good fit for the State of the Union address.
2. In turn, a letter was written to the US Department of Energy, which,
3. published a story about Luma in an in-house publication, which,
4. caught the attention of the speechwriters, and the rest is history!
So, just four steps to go from relative obscurity in Rochester Hills, Michigan to a mention in the State of the Union address and meeting the president. Not bad at all for making that first effort in telling your story to an individual who set the story in motion!
The same can be said for your networking. The company above was only four steps away to greatness!
Remember, you can’t just simply think you are going to waltz into the president’s office of the company that you are interested in. You need to take a few steps back, put a strategy together, do your homework and see how your path can work up to the president’s office. A fellow employee you went to college with, pledged with, volunteered with, could be a great start.
I am a big proponent of “Don’t ask, don’t get.” As the saying goes “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.” If you can’t figure a way to strategically network and learn more, you may as well just be answering the CareerBuilder or Monster ad with everyone else!
Over the next few weeks, I’m going to expand on networking with some great insight from Gail MarksJarvis, writer with the Chicago Tribune. I’ll discuss how traditional ways of networking just aren’t the way to go in 2011.
Now, let’s go out there and do something good!
How I See A New Media World 