Are you a sidetrepreneur?

A new word flew through the ether into my consciousness yesterday and I liked it.

The word is sidetrepreneurship.

I immediately understood this to mean the process of taking the initiative to start a business off the side of one’s desk, in addition to having a day job. So very many people I know are still working their regular gigs but are spending all their nights and weekends developing an app or service, or building an entertainment franchise, or otherwise aiming to be the next Instagram, the next billion dollar baby.

I understood the concept at once.

So I looked it up on Google. And on Bing. And as of this morning there were zero citations. No references were found. None.

Could we be in at the beginning of something new? Well the word may be new but certainly the concept is not.

Since once again being an entrepreneur has replaced being in finance as the sexy and potentially lucrative career option, more and more people are striving to develop their passions into a business. And if keeping their day job so they can pay the rent and eat is what it takes, then they must all be sidetrepreneurs.

Are you a sidetrepreneur? Let me know. And I’ll see you at your IPO.

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Posted on April 11, 2012 in Uncategorized
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Career Advancement: the more you put into it…

Is it a cliché or is it a truism? Whatever. The fact is: the more you put into it the more you get out of it.

There are so many possible triggers to your career advancement and so much advice, but there is no template to tell you which is going to be the one that makes the difference. First you certainly know you have to bring your resume up to date with a clear forward expression of your value. But then there is someone telling you to read the trades, someone else says Facebook is important, someone else says LinkedIn is the one that counts. Go to industry events, they say. Or network with your co-workers and with people from other firms, and on and on and on.

It’s all so overwhelming you don’t really get going at any of it properly do you? And the channels of communication – well I mean really! Some of us remember when we used to send mailers. In the post. Am I glad to have those printing costs behind me!

So nowadays it’s easier right? Well wrong. Because at the key moment that person you want to reach might be checking Facebook, or he could be Tweeting, or she might be scrolling haphazardly through her emails while stuck in traffic on the Ten on her interminable way to Santa Monica. Or texting, or G+ing or i-chatting or goodness knows what else. Can you be surprised she didn’t respond to your message? She never realized it was there.

The odds of a particular piece of communication being read – especially if it is not something they are waiting for – get longer every day. This proliferation has made the personal introduction even more important than ever before. Not only will you benefit from the validation of a mutual professional acquaintance, but you increase the odds of being noticed by hanging your story onto someone else’s name – someone who will not be so easily ignored or “not seen” by the person you are targeting.

Don’t allow yourself the time to get discouraged. You have to be out there – in as many ways as you can manage. Work the personal connections. Work the channels. Be out there at events. Do your follow up “calls” on a different channel from the one that hasn’t worked yet. Be doing interesting stuff and be talking (texting, writing, blogging, whatever) about it. The subject matter you are on about may be just the thing that gets the kind of attention you are seeking.

So there you have it, and I know I did not make it any easier. But the truth is, the more you put into it, the more you will get back.

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Posted on March 2, 2012 in Uncategorized
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Coaching testimonial from a Social Media Director

“Michael took a quick look at my resume and a long look at me and synthesized what was needed to make them match. He drew things out that I hadn’t articulated, and helped me breathe a sense of what I really did into those words on paper. I made those changes on my LinkedIn resume and three months later I was recruited via LinkedIn for an amazing job. I am convinced that wouldn’t have happened without Michael’s insight and infectious energy.”

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Posted on March 2, 2012 in Uncategorized
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Career Development: You should never have nothing to do

As seen in Cynopsis Classified Advantage

You should never have nothing to do.
By Michael Pollock

Have you ever found yourself feeling discouraged in that awkward period after you’ve sent out your pitch letters and resumes – and while you’re waiting for those hoped-for responses, the ones that are bound to be coming soon?

Here is a simple and enormously valuable way to keep up the momentum – and your spirits – and keep advancing in your career development. Use your own unique and acute understanding and insight of your industry sector to write a White Paper that lays out what in your view are the likely next developments in your field. Base it from your own history and your own skills so that it is something that only you can write.

Hit the keyboard without fear, starting with the invaluable brain-dump of the sh-tty first draft, untroubled by considerations of grammar, spelling or organization. Frame it from the angle that you see it. It will make it easier if you have a specific reader in mind, and write as though you are talking to them.

Read the trades. Follow the trends. Go to industry events. Think big-picture about your sector. Each article you read or conversation you have will get your brain cranking, and all of this will sharpen your own thinking and make you more interesting and more valuable.

Your White Paper could become a manifesto for your career goals. If and when you publish, it should proactively set you up as a thought leader. I very much hope that you will feel that you can publish it – maybe as a starter piece for your new industry niche blog – or by submitting it to one of the publications you have been using for research. And I don’t want to hear you say gloomily that no-one will read it. You will be amazed! And the more you are thinking about the issues and the evolution of your sector, the smarter you will become and the stronger you will be at your interviews when the time comes.
You should consider all this research and writing to be a key part of your job: that job which I define as “developing your own career path.” When you get up in the morning you will always have this project to work on, with you yourself as the demanding client.

So now how could you possibly have time to sit around and be discouraged? Just because you don’t have a new job prospect in the pipeline, or you are dragging yourself to a day-job you can’t bear any more – despite these factors, you still have your own job to do. If I may be blunt, thinking there is nothing to do when you get up in the morning displays a lamentable lack of imagination.

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Posted on February 29, 2012 in career transition, positioning
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Getting back to career development after vacation

I just was on vacation for two weeks. To Rio, since you asked.Possibly the most beautiful city in the world. And the music! And the beaches! Don’t get me started.

And when I got back I was so affected by their laid-back, it’s all good, carioca attitude that I had a hard time applying myself to what had to be done workwise. So I hit my mailbox to see what was going on and collect some inspiration. I subscribe to a lot of trade newsletters and mags. I don’t read them all every time, but when I am in need of inspiration they are a great place to start. I recommend this for your own Leap Day kickstart.

I learned that employers are stressing about how to get effective channels to reach qualified new employees. And that in the recent downturn, according to Accenture, 46% of firms added employees because they were launching new products or entering new markets, and 45% of firms needed new skills for future business – the same percentage as those who simply said they were strengthening their workforce. Which made me think that emphasizing your experience in developing new products and new businesses should be a pretty valuable qualification for a job seeker.

And reading a review of the new book by LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, I came across this tip which I like very much: “Schedule three lunch dates to take place in upcoming weeks: one with a person a few rungs ahead of you in your industry; one with an old friend you haven’t seen in a while; and one with a person from an adjacent industry whose career you admire. Do this even if you aren’t currently facing a pressing career question or challenge.”

In the next couple of posts I will share some more ideas for getting yourself and your career moving in the direction that you dream of.

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Posted on February 28, 2012 in Uncategorized
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Media specialist opens new business and writes a testimonial

I hired Michael (Pollock) two weeks after launching my consulting business, after I’d sent emails to everyone I knew and realized I had no idea what to do next. In a matter of weeks, he helped me create a unique position in the market, make my website more targeted and succinct, collect great testimonials from former clients, start a blog, manage a website redesign, and write for industry publications. With his frank and spot-on advice, I went from fearing I’d destroyed my career to signing long-term contracts for two clients in a matter of weeks. His tips on how to talk about rates also gave me the tools and the confidence to ask for (and get) more than I might have if left to my own devices. I’ve passed Michael’s name to friends struggling with their careers, and I know I’ll be a return customer if I find myself in need of coaching again. I recommend him wholeheartedly.

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Posted on February 17, 2012 in career transition, clients, testimonial
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“So why are you here?”

“So why are you here?” is too often the opening salvo from someone you are having an exploratory interview or pitch meeting with. If this is just their need to assert seniority, then smile and award them the round. But if in fact you have gone into a meeting and:

1. They don’t know why you are there
2. You don’t have some idea of why they’ve agreed to meet you and what they might need…

…then you should probably not be having that meeting yet.

So here are three rules:
1. Know what they want from the meeting.
2. Know what you want from the meeting.
3. Work at making it a dialog and not a monologue.

This last is the most important rule. Don’t launch into a one-way pitch; be curious about their needs and be ready to respond to them constructively. You can get better traction if you’ve thought through in advance what might be their motivation for seeing you: are they doing it as a favor to your referrer? Do they hope that you can fix a particular problem? Or perhaps they think you have potential and they might want a piece of it in the future?

Have in mind a list of the questions you want answered. Asking smart questions will gain you respect and garner you valuable information. So why not start out by asking the direct question you want answered and taking it from there? Ideally you’ve teed that question up in the exchange that led to the meet, so the fact that you now have face-time indicates a reasonable chance you’ll come away with something of value.

Here, to get you thinking, are some examples of things you might want:

    To find out how you can be of help – and help them accomplish their goal for meeting with you.
    To learn who would be most likely to be able to connect you to the kind of work you want to do and to get a referral to that person.
    To find out what keeps the person up at night – so you can offer to alleviate this with your relevant services – directly addressing his point of pain.
    To find out if they know anyone at company x to whom you could be referred; and by the way do you know what is going on at company y?
    To discover how they structure projects and what they look for when hiring, so you can craft your own tactics accordingly.

You should never have to wonder how to move one of these conversations forwards because you should have always prepared yourself to get the dialog going and to keep it moving the way you want it to go. Good luck.

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Posted on January 23, 2012 in interview, job search
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How I Got Here: career path videos – a viewer response

I LOVE these videos, Michael! They are worth watching several times. They made me think about how I got to those points on my list where I’ve had really good, productive and exciting work results. I really identified with your stars: my opportunities appeared by chance acquaintance (a.k.a. networking), and by running with a good idea (don’t wait for someone to ask you to do their idea).

See them here

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Posted on January 20, 2012 in Uncategorized
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How I Got Here: career path videos

There is no “normal” any more for career paths, so I thought it would be interesting to create a video series called How I Got Here, in which creative professionals talk about the twists and turns it took to get them where they are today – and the opportunities they seized.

Marc Andreessen said recently in the WSJ that “Software is eating the world.” There’s constant flux in the media, advertising, entertainment and design ecosystems we work in. So we are all curious to find out how other people find success – not so we can copy them slavishly, but so we can get ideas and inspiration to advance our own careers. We connect ideas and put things together in our own fresh way. (And let’s face it too, we are nosy: that’s why there’s TMZ!)

So let’s meet our first three creative pros, each of whom told me how they got where they are today in these How I Got Here videos. They are not my clients, they are just good smart people who have something to share that can help us shape our own destinies – which is something we are surely thinking about each and every day.

Wendell Hanes did not always know where he would find success, but success he has surely found. Hear him tell me how Spike Lee and stacking-chairs helped shape his career path.

Kate Pane is a painter living and working in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. You will hear how a chance meeting in a restaurant was instrumental in getting her first Chelsea Gallery show and the opportunity to finally move into a studio that would be big enough to stretch her enormous canvases.

Cynthia Sin Ye Cheng took her love for wine and turned it into a thriving business as a wine writer and a champagne specialist. Hear how she gets new projects off the ground and deals with the various different threads of her work.

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Posted on January 18, 2012 in career transition, goals, How I Got Here video, success
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From sea to shining sea!

As 2011 ends and we move into 2012 I am privileged to be currently working with Creative Professionals in Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, California (LA and SF) and in New York (Manhattan and of course Brooklyn.)
Did I miss anyone anywhere?
Thanks to all and all the best for a most productive and successful year.

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Posted on January 8, 2012 in client list, clients, coaching
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