Lewis Howes: Making It Up As I Go Along

Lewis Howes used to play American football for a living. When a sports injury put him out of the game for six months he had to find ways to make a living. He had zero business experience but knew what he wanted to achieve. So without any great plan he set about building some businesses and writing a book. His first book was all about LinkedIn, a platform that Lewis is passionate about after having spent many hours each day learning how to exploit as a business tool. He now travels extensively giving talks alongside running popular webinars. 

What I like about his story is how Lewis reinvented himself and created successful businesses with no great plan. He's made it up as he gone along. I hung out with Lewis and here’s a two minute video of our chat.

Rediscover Your Spark With A Fresh Perspective

This week a taxi driver was telling me now he’d done the job for 20 years, he’d lost his initial ‘spark’. He just doesn’t enjoy it anymore.

And it’s not just taxi drivers; many of us get stale doing the same role for too long. So if you don’t have the courage to actually quit your job, how about reframing it to get that spark back?

- Try new ways of doing things. Don’t default to ‘auto’ mode for everything; try a different perspective or a fresh approach to tasks, meetings and projects.

- Reinvigorate your working environment. Moving offices, changing desks, decorating the walls - even putting some flowers in a vase - can improve your outlook and motivation.

- Go outside your comfort zone. Meet new people, lunch with co-workers you never hung out with before, extend your role, add new responsibilities.

- Think and Reflect. Keep a journal; define some goals and make notes on your desires and achievements.

- Be authentic. Incorporate more of the real you into your working day, don’t leave your personality at the door.

Okay, so it might be easier in some jobs than others. But even for my bored taxi driver, a clean of his car, listening to a new radio station, trying some new routes around town and keeping a journal of interesting passengers *could* make a world of difference and give him back that spark.

You’ve just got to try it.

What's Your Niche?

One big thing I’ve learnt in my career and running my own business is the importance of occupying a niche.

By that I don’t mean a gimmick, but an authentic offering that is more distinctive than aiming at the mass-market at large. I’ve seen too many executives and small businesses who try and be ‘all things to all people’, rather than have the courage just to think niche.

‘Niche’ doesn’t have to mean specialist; it can be the unique attitude that informs your approach to business or your brand personality. It’s about knowing who you want to talk to – who your target audience is - rather than just blindly trying to talk to everyone.

The skate store in my local town. Yes, that’s niche.
A marketing specialist focused on tech brands. Yup.

But it doesn’t have to be so obvious.

One of my jobs working for a organisation saw me soaking up the projects and opportunities the CEO didn’t know what to do with. That vacuum became my strength. All that weird and wonderful stuff that no one knew what to do with landed on my lap. ‘Special Projects’ became my niche – people knew that Ian Sanders was good at dealing with pioneering and odd-shaped projects.

So whether you’re an executive seeking a job or a start-up defining your market offering, give your offering that distinctive edge with a clearly defined niche that you – authentically - live and breathe.

So what’s yours?

Managing Your Identity

(This is an excerpt from my book ‘Juggle! Rethink Work, Reclaim Your Life’)

Wearing different hats can get confusing. Some people see you as one thing, others might see you as something completely different. But if you define your personal brand as YOU – beyond the job titles, beyond the labels - then that's much more authentic.

If we heard that the CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi was also a lecturer in Business Studies and Chairman of USA Rugby we might wonder what on earth that has to do with being head of a global advertising agency; but as his brand is personified – ‘Kevin Roberts’ is the brand not ‘Saatchi CEO’ - then why can't this bloke called Kevin juggle nine different balls? He’s defined by who he is not a bunch of job titles.

Since you may be judged by perceptions (and the reality of your professional offering might be quite different from its perception), in a Juggle life your identity is really important. In all you do, you need to communicate your breadth. If you don't, people might think you are a one trick pony and that will limit your potential. Be honest; your work life should be a mirror of the real you; don't hide your talents – be your (full) self.

So if you only have a reputation for one thing; start shouting about the other bits. Communicate your personality. This new media space offers fantastic opportunities to communicate our multi-dimensional selves and to be really transparent. As Gary Vaynerchuck said:

‘I think that every person is multi-dimensional and has enormous things they are good at and many different interests and I think that the best way to communicate in this new social era is to talk about all of them, don’t hide anything. … I think people will always embrace ‘real’ and ‘authenticity’ and I think the more things you talk about that you are passionate about, I think the more people are going to get to know who you are. So please don’t fear being multi-dimensional.. Expand what you are talking about’.

Use whatever platforms you have at your disposal to tell YOUR story. Communicate your passions and don’t be afraid of mixing it all up together. Tell it like it is: Work, Play, Family, Hobbies = This is me.

Make It Your Own

I’m often asked by people working in full-time jobs how can they start to reinvent their work lives. They want their work life to better reflect their talents and desires, but they don’t know where to start.

I always tell them to start by making the job their own.

We all have the potential – whatever career level we are at - to shape our jobs in a particular way, to put our personality stamp on it. Sure, you need to ensure you deliver the requirements of actually doing the job, but around the edges there’s huge potential for making it your own. Whether you are the CEO or the 65 year old greeter at the door of the local Asda supermarket, you can inject your personality to bring a distinctive approach and style to the role.

I never just filled a job. I always reshaped it, re-invented it and made it very much my own, reflecting my style and also my desires to get involved in other projects and ventures. You may not feel that your admin or sales role has much scope to be reshaped. But try taking on other tasks that reflect your talents. Organise the team social, be the company blogger, take photographs for the company newsletter. Whatever it is that is ‘you’, put some of that in to the role = it’s all in pursuit of the Work You being the Real You.

There is no one-size-fits-all career plan or job spec. Each person brings a unique approach that has the potential to take the role in a different direction.

So whatever you do, don’t stick with the job spec, start reinventing it.

'Is The Work You The Real You' ?

It's a simple question.

I know people who answer 'yes' and 'no' to that. A guy who works in banking, but when his suit is off the real him is the passionate windsurfer, that's where he wants to be everyday, his job does not drive him. Then there's the bloke I know who's marketing director of a global car brand. He's passionate about cars, always has been. He loves them. And he loves his job 150%. Whether he's driving to work or entertaining clients at the Grand Prix, he is his job. A woman I know is a senior manager but still lets her personality shine; there's no mask - what you see is what you get whether how she dresses, her business style or sharing a joke with her team.

But inevitably we've all had times where we've put a suit on, performed a role, put on our best voice and tried (too) hard for a presentation or job interview. We all have (I used to).

But with time and experience comes the confidence to JUST BE YOURSELF. Total authenticity. No pretence, no having to put a 'work mask' on, no stuck-in-a-rut doing something you hate. If you're stuck in a dead-end job and you'd love to be outside teaching and playing tennis, maybe it's time to become a tennis coach? The fulfilment and passion of being true to your desires is very liberating; it's at the heart of my book 'Juggle! Rethink Work, Reclaim Your Life', the notion that if you love what you do, you'll be more productive and successful.

Remember, the goal is for 'The Work You' to be 'The Real You'. So re-craft your job or role to make sure it reflects your talents, personality and desires.

DO IT! Take the leap...

Success in realising your professional – and personal – goals is about having the confidence, balls and tenacity to DO SOMETHING about your dreams, goals and aspirations.

So you have to be good at taking the leap, to action your ideas.

To re-invent your business, win that new client, change your organisation, take up that new hobby, organise that date, book that trip to Paris. Whatever.

Ideas alone are not good enough. You need action.

It’s like that bloke I know who runs a shop. Every time I go in there he’s talking about giving the shop a makeover and a lick of paint. He’s always talking about it, what colour to paint the walls, when to do it, but it doesn’t get done. Ditto my friend who keeps on talking about putting on a charity night at the local pub; my supplier who talks about changing the company’s name and launching a new website; my friend who talks about quitting her job to follow her dream.

So stop talking about and start doing it.

7 Tips To Sharpen Your Job Hunting Skills

In the last couple of weeks I have mentored and advised a handful of people seeking advice in the job market. A woman in her 20s seeking a career change, a senior guy just made redundant, a cousin looking to rediscover a role he feels passionate about. Sure, the job market in 2009 is tough (but when was it ever easy?) but here are some tips to sharpen your job hunting skills:

1) When you’re selling yourself to a prospective employer, it’s all about telling your story so make sure you can knit your career history (however random and disparate) into a narrative. 2) Don’t try and be something you’re not - aim for a role/ company culture that is consistent with your own personality.
3) Make sure you do a good ‘sell’ both in interview and how you communicate your personal brand. Use a blog and tools like Linked In as your shop-window.
4) Don’t just look in the obvious places for jobs; make tailored speculative approaches to companies and brands you are passionate about. Use the internet to research, research, research your targets. You might get lucky.
5) Make the most of your personal contacts, friends & family, because – of course – who you know counts.
6) Be super pro-active and rapid in going for opportunities, in following-up enquiries/ interviews because success might be about who’s quickest and keenest.
7) Try and identify how you are better than the next candidate, what makes you distinctive, what insight or skills make you more valuable?

There’s more job-hunting advice from me in this feature ‘More Skill Than Luck’ in The Guardian from earlier in the year.

Rethinking Your Career

The 'Weekend FT' had a piece on how redundancy has prompted many executives to retrain and follow their dreams ‘Jobless Bankers Carve Out Careers From City’ (FT April 18/19 2009).

Of course redundancy can be frightening stuff. With mortgages and bills to pay, mouths to feed, the thought of losing your job is not likely to fill you with optimism. But, if you are fortunate enough to have some savings to fall back on or a redundancy package that gives you space and time to ‘breathe’, it can be a catalyst for some great changes in your life.

So many of us fall into a rut with our career; I know people who have stayed in the same job or organisation for years and years, but never really meant to. Redundancy can give people the opportunity to do something completely different, to follow their dream. To retrain, do quit an office job for something totally different, or to take the leap to work for themseves. The FT article quotes Kate Blake, director of Dartmoor Outdoor Company, which retrains people who want to work as mountain guides has had more enquiries due to redundancies:

‘They are thinking, this is the kind of kick in the pants I need to [make me] look at my life and do something I enjoy’.

So, if you are unfortunate enough to be made redundant, try and turn it into an opportunity to change your working life and consider what you really want to do.

Think about new benchmarks for success

At the heart of living the Juggle life is the need to redefine success; because when you juggle stuff you do for money with stuff you do for love, it’s not just about the salary anymore.

Traditionally, business success was all about Status and Salary. Even today, a friend of mine who’s job hunting proclaimed that his primary motive is to get a job that ‘earns as much money as possible’.

(Nothing wrong with that) But that’s not mine.

Measuring success is not about those traditional benchmarks. For many of us, it’s less about where you are on the corporate ladder, what position you occupy, what your perceived status is, and what your earnings are. Instead success is more about such indicators such as passion, happiness, fulfilment and lifestyle.

So instead of asking yourself whether you’re going to get a pay-rise this year or get promoted to a position with a bigger salary try introducing some other benchmarks. Ask yourself:

« Is this role something I feel totally passionate about?
« Do I work with a bunch of people who enrich and stimulate me?
« Is my job an extension of my DNA; is the Work Me the Real Me?
« Do I have the autonomy and flexibility I want?
« Do I get to ‘make a difference’ in this organisation?

Don’t be an unhappy overpaid executive (because what’s the point in that?), consider more important benchmarks in your career development.