Course correction better than perfection

One of the reasons that people hold back on their dreams is that they believe that they don’t know enough, they’re not smart enough or they don’t know what they need to know in order to reach their goals.

Many successful people in history have been accused of being uneducated

- of not being smart enough or knowing enough. And yet by most people’s standards, go on to be greatly successful.

Henry Ford is one such person and he rebutted the “uneducated” label by saying that he had a row of buttons on his desk that would summon an expert on any subject that he needed.

Rather than store loads of information and data about his factory away in his own head - Ford only needed to know who to ask and where to get the information. It certainly seemed to work for him at the time wouldn’t you agree?

Today in the modern world connected by the amazing world wide web - we have many of these buttons at our fingertips - on our keyboard. Touch a few letters into that amazing engine called Google and voila, you have the answer to almost any  question without leaving the comfort of your seat.

The key difference I believe that stood Ford and other successful people ahead of the rest is what they do with the information once gathered.  In Ford’s case, he would organize the thoughts, facts, data and information he found into a positive plan of action.

What do you do with the information at your fingertips? Do you read and read and read, analyse and analyse but never put that information into action? Or do you assimilate it quickly, try something new, try again, try something else, make a plan of action, start something, do anything and then course correct along the way?

If you really want to step up to a new level of success then this is the best tip I ever heard - “Course correction is always better than perfection.”

To your success and affirmative action

Heidi Alexandra Pollard

The Living Leaders Advocate

Have fun while boosting your brand

So you’re already well versed with social networking sites - you regularly update your Facebook profile, you have hundreds of professional connections on LinkedIn, and you manage to share most of each day in bite sized a 140 character Tweets.

So what’s next I hear you ask.

While you may be well up to speed with adding value to your business through social media, do you know how to use it as a tool for successfully marketing your personal brand?

no? Well here are some quick easy tips for leveraging your brand on the web:

Utilize services that allow you to post to multiple sites and services with a single post. For this purpose, I highly recommend Posterous.com. It’s a free service that allows you to post to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn by sending a single email.

Trial and error is the best way to learn: try different things to see what people respond to most. This is especially true when you have a diverse audience with varying interests, it’s important to experiment and test to see what works and what people are responding to. Don’t be afraid to experiment and see what gets your audience interacting.  

Join the conversation. Social media is all about online conversations. It’s a place to listen to your users and encourage participation. If you are too heavy handed with your “marketing” you may well run the risk of alienating your community of followers. Respond to other people’s posts, interact, be yourself and join in the conversation. Remember your followers follow you because they believe you are interesting ans share content of value - never ram your stuff down their throats.

Be real. People want to follow someone they can relate to - the real authentic you. Including  photos, quotes, things that have happened to you - let people see who’s behind the brand.

Make it fun!!! Social media is about having fun and interacting. Show your passion, be a little silly, don’t be afraid to show your quirky self.

In light of this last point I have been playing around and having fun with my brand - check out my new animation video here and make your own to boost your brand! http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/6516217/

Yours in prosperity, passion and purpose

Heidi Alexandra Pollard, The Living Leaders Advocate

Fellow Mastermind members I highly recommend

I would like to introduce you to an incredibly talented group of entrepreneurs. We work together using social media strategies to push each other to the top of Google. We support each other and learn from one another on a daily basis.

We are the MPC Social Media Tribe!

Please visit a tribe member below…

	Jenny Amon Fenig Jenny Fenig Coaching Description: Jenny is a certified career/life coach, yoga teacher,  new mom support group leader, speaker, and student in the  fascinating journey called LIFE.
	Katherine CHE Life Blossoming Systems Description: Cultivator of Joy, Katherine C. H. E. is an author and expert on the Law of Attraction. She currently works with clients to help them improve any and all areas of their lives — from their health to all aspects of their well-being.
	Phil Dyer Total Business Transformation Phil is a speaker, writer, financial planner, strategic business coach  and recovering workaholic who is dedicated to helping lifestyle entrepreneurs transform their business to support their ideal life,  create conscious wealth and have fun!
	Jessica Eaves Mathews Business Brilliance Blog Description: Jessica is a seasoned business lawyer, advisor and coach for business owners and entrepreneurs. She is also a multi-passionate entrepreneur herself, having launched a number of successful ventures of her own throughout the past 15 years.
	Dr. Robert Fenell Repetitive Strain Injuries Description: Teaching chiropractors how to effectively treat  repetitive strain injuries of the extremities.
	Laura Hollick Soul Art Studio Description: Laura is a soul artist. She has developed a series of Soul Art processes that she teaches and share with others so they can connect with their spirits and transform their lives into the most exquisite version of themselves.
	Linda P. Jones Visionary Wealth Now Linda is CEO and Founder of the Global Institute of Visionary  Wealth and Visionary Wealth Now. She follows her passion for  investing and teaching others how to have investment success  and build wealth.
	Lisa Manyon Creative Writing Services Description: Lisa is a a marketing maniac and press release magician. She helps entrepreneurs take the business message in your head & craft an authentic marketing message to connect with your ideal customer.
	Ellen Marie Martin Conquer Chaos Now!™ Considered a leader in her field, Ellen Martin is a professional  organizer, productivity trainer, motivational speaker and efficiency  coach with a passion for changing lives.
	Christine McIvor Social Media Consultant Description: Christine is a social media junkie. She helps  entrepreneurs and business owners locally get to the top of  Google using simple low-cost marketing strategies.
	Pinky McKay Breastfeeding Simply International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC)  and a Certified Infant Massage Instructor, Pinky McKay is a  Melbourne based writer and editor specializing in health,  education and family issues.
	Debbie McNeill Assisting Stampin’ Up Demonstrators Description: Debbie assists Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators  with their computer and marketing needs
	Terry Monaghan Organizer of Life Description: Terry has built Organizing For Your Life on 25  years of business and entrepreneurial experience. From  corporate executives to solo-preneurs, she helps them get  the right things done, faster.
	Lynne Moore MLM Relationship Goals Coach Description: Coaching women of independent spirit to achieve their key relationship goals.
	Sue Painter Confident Marketer Description:Sue Painter is the President and founder of The Confident Marketer. Sue is passionate about helping solopreneurs create work that is satisfying and financially successful.
	Melody Park Shin Mommy Chick Join Melody as she explores conscious parenting, applying  Universal Principles, in life and business, and living a fabulously  creative life!
	Trudy Scott Overcome Anxiety Trudy helps women overcome anxiety and other mood problems  naturally (using nutrients and food) – and they love that they also  end up sleeping better, have more energy and less cravings.
	Patricia Selmo Women Spiritual Leaders The International Association of Women Spiritual Leaders was  founded to serve the needs of women who are leaders in their  spiritual communities, women who have independent spiritual  practices, and women who are aspiring to be “spiritual leaders”.
	Mitch Tublin Business Strategist Mitch is a Premier Business Strategist, with expertise in Brand Building and Internet Marketing.
	Anita Wheeler Law of Attraction Diva Author of the soon-to-be-released book “The Law of Attraction is NOT a Secret”. Anita trains and coaches “ENTREPRENEURS” how to  be more proactive in their own lives to develop what she refers to as POWER FLOW™.

Get more social to boost your career

I guarantee almost everyone has done some level of ego-surfing and googled their name to see what comes up. While it may sound like a trip down vanity lane googling yourself on a semi regular basis is a great way to track and measure your professional online presence.

Using quotation marks around your name eg: “Sarah Smith” is the cleanest form of searching and will ensure you just get results for your own name (as well as any others with the same name)

It’s a great way to track and measure your presence as well as get a feel for the topics and themes associated with you on the web. Why? Because I guarantee you many prospective employers these days are googling applicants names to confirm resume claims and get a feel for what others say about them as well as what they get up to on the weekend! Sound scary?

With Facebook leading the way and Twitter activity on the rise, Australians are rapidly increasing their participation in social media, content sharing and personal brand building. A recent study showed nearly four in five of Australia’s nine million social media users sent or shared a photo in the past year and nearly three quarters shared a link. The biggest increases in social media usage were reading and posting on Twitter and reading wikis.

Twitter’s audience levels grew by more than 400% in 2009 so if you’ve got something to say, that’s the space!

“The opportunities for brands and companies to tap into the social media phenomenon are really just beginning to emerge and to date we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg,” states Melanie Ingrey, Research Director for Nielsen’s online business.

Your personal brand is the most valuable asset you have - what are you doing to build your brand online?

Yours in prosperity

Heidi Alexandra Pollard
The Communicator’s Coach

Social Networking Ettiquette

Been tweeting lately? Made some new friends on Facebook? Chances are that you’ve come across a cyber-seller, pushy, demanding and in your face, they take no time from when you follow them to promptly sending a message selling this or that product.

The increase of social media means as business owners and communicators that we now have a new channel and many more opportunities to share our message, but it’s how professionally we do it that makes all the difference.

Have you noticed the disconnect that often exists between people’s online and offline behavior and the seeming lack of polite niceties that typically you would find in business relationships being forgone in the social networking space with people saying or doing things they would never do in person.?

In a post at his Web Ink Now blog, David Meerman Scott encourages readers to treat social-networking sites as if they’re cocktail parties. That is, interacting with others in the same way you would at a face-to-face industry event. To make his point, he asks questions like these:

• Do you go into a large gathering filled with a few acquaintances and tons of people you do not know and shout “BUY MY PRODUCT”?
• Do you go into a cocktail party and ask every single person you meet for a business card before you agree to speak with them?

“Sure, you can go to a cocktail party and hit everyone up as a sales lead while blabbing on about what your company does,” says Scott. “But that approach is unlikely to make you popular.”

Take a moment now to reflect - flick back through your tweets and see if your sell messages outweigh your sharing information and listening and responding to others. And before you next start to fire away an update consider - would you say it to a real flesh and blood person standing right next to you?

Yours in prosperity, passion and purpose

Heidi Alexandra Pollard - The Communicator’s Coach

Did I just see you on YouTube?

There is a massive market of opportunity for you as a professional communicator today to catapult your visibility and drive prospects and employers to your website, blog or online resume through utilizing the power of video. 

Research shows the average YouTube visitor spends around 27 minutes watching videos per day. By being a part of the video space you can create a more personable experience of you, your strengths and skills. You know the old cliche, people hire people they know, like and trust - well it’s absolutely true. What better way to connect with potential employers than through video so they get a real sense of who you are and what you have to offer?

Not sure where to start? I admit I wasn’t too tech savvy when I started out, but technology has made it extremely easy and user friendly to add lots of cool innovative features to your website, resume or blog cheaply and simply. There are many new cameras that can help you do just that. The new Flip Video Camera is a great ’Plug & Play’ device or you can just use the video capability on your digi camera like I do for good quality quick videos. I use the Canon IXUS 90IS and find it delivers all I need in a handy little handbag sized pouch.

Using these devices means it is now easier than ever to shoot video, upload to your computer, and then post to your resume site, blog, YouTube or Facebook across the worldwide web in minutes! No expensive editing software, no long wait times, and best of all for those of us who have been there done that before for ourselves or our clients - no big production company or agency costs to make this happen. Fantastic!

Using Twitter to find a job

I recently came across an interesting article written by Thursday Bram on using Twitter for job hunting.  To see whole article click here.

In summary the article covers that:
Twitter can offer a quick way to learn about who actually has a job to fill and perhaps even help you get your application on the top of the pile.

It’s All About the Hashtags

There are three hashtags that can come in handy to someone on a search for a new job. Keeping an eye on #rtjobs, #jobangels and #jobs can give you a look at who’s looking to actively recruit on Twitter. Even recruiters from companies like AT&T have started posting job listings, often labeling them with #jobs.

Go on and check out the at article http://www.lifehack.org/articles/money/taking-your-job-hunt-to-twitter.html

To connect with me on Twitter visit http://twitter.com/Commscoach

Yours in passion, prosperity and purpose

Heidi Alexandra Pollard
The Communicators’ Coach
Director Leading Value
www.leadingvalue.net

G’Day fellow communicators

and welcome to all the new subscribers this week.

An article recently posted by SMH/Age reporter Paul McIntyre suggests that it’s about time businesses get more serious about harnessing the power of social media as a business tool. And if they don’t, they will get left behind.

The stats provide proof. Twitter, a micro-blogging venture in which users post views, or “tweets” to a maximum of 140 characters, is still tiny, but its growth is enormous. Numbers are up more than 500 per cent this year in Australia alone according to Hitwise.

What Twitter and other social media applications can do is provide an amazing platform for Public Relations professionals to get their messages out and to interact and connect with stakeholders online.

The number of global online users is staggering:
- Bloggers globally 184 million
- Those who watch video clips online 82.9 per cent
- Those who have joined a social network 57 per cent
- Those who have uploaded photos to a network 55 per cent.
…and importantly for companies and PR people:
- 34 per cent of bloggers say they post opinions about products or brands!
In Tribes Seth Godin encourages you to lead instead of being led and he points out that social networking tools like these are the tools to help lead the tribes that we are forming online.

So the challenge for professional communicators like us is not only to monitor these forums for information but to engage and participate in the discussion. At the back of my book Boost Your Career (add link) I have included an entire resource list that you can use to find groups both online and online that you can subscribe to, join and get involved with. To get your copy of the book click here (add link).
Well what are you waiting for?

If you want to get started right away then Join the Professional Communicators’ Network online forum today! A global networking site created especially for professionals just like you to provide a platform for you to share what works in the world of communication. For now you can join for F. R. E. E. so get connected and join the discussion now!

To read more about Paul McIntyre’s thoughts visit his article

Yours in passion, prosperity and purpose

Heidi Alexandra Pollard
The Communicators’ Coach
Director Leading Value
www.leadingvalue.net

G’Day fellow communicators!

Welcome to all the new subscribers this week.

If you haven’t “Integrated” yet – it is time!

What in the world am I talking about? I am talking about…Integrating Social Networking Into Your Brand. One of the most exciting and addictive trends is integrating social networking into your website and newsletter communications (just like I have done on this website).

As we are now well into 2009, not only should you be encouraging the companies you work with and for to use social networking sites, but you should also be integrating them into your own personal online brand presence as well.

With services like Ping.fm,and TweetDeck, managing and updating your company and personal status on all the social networks is quicker and easier than ever.

Here are just a few of the social networking sites I’ve created a presence in for myself, the Communicators’ Network and Leading Value.

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Linked In

Not only do I open up the connections for my members by doing this, I also generate more leads, which turn into more members, clients and business partners.  Make no mistake about it–social networking is the tool for leaders and communicators today. Don’t get left behind!

And like all networking remember in the words of Frank Sinatra, “I did it my way” so network your way and just be yourself.

Yours in passion, prosperity and purpose

Heidi Alexandra Pollard
The Communicators’ Coach
Director Leading Value
www.leadingvalue.net

PS If you want to find and follow me on any of the Social Networks above, just click below.
See you there.
http://twitter.com/Commscoach
http://www.linkedin.com/in/heidialexandrapollard
Professional Communicators’ Network Online Forum
Facebook