Sell yourself, or else
Whether we like it or not, we’re all in the business of selling ourselves. Hollywood stars or pop stars have to do endless interviews to keep their profile high or promote their latest work, millions of Twitter followers hanging on their every word. Startup entrepreneurs do the rounds making presentation after presentation to angel investors hoping to secure the funding. We’re all in the business of getting people to buy what we have to offer.
Selling anything isn’t easy. We all go through the difficult experience of selling ourselves when we are trying to get a new job. From our CV/Resume to the interview itself, we want to show off our best side. Personal branding has become a whole new discipline to master with people using social media to create the ideal profile, sometimes by even massaging the truth a little too much. But once you’ve got the job you want, how much thought do you give to making sure you’re seen as valuable on a daily basis? Things can change once you’ve been hired. New colleagues, changes in your business or even in your industry, many things can affect your position - so what are you doing to stay invaluable?
David Ogilvy said “We sell, or else” of his famous agency. His background in market research meant that he took measurability very seriously and believed that direct response advertising was the key to success for all clients. Today we have a whole industry based on the kind of analytics Ogilvy would have dreamed of to have at his disposal. He would have loved Google.
Can we take such an analytical approach to our own success? We do it for our fitness with trackers and apps. Yet for something as vital as our jobs, we tend to see how things go. We don't always have a plan and forget that we never have to stop selling what we're good at and why we are the right person for that role.
So here I go, selling myself to promote a new chapter in my career. My first book is now available in the Amazon Kindle store. Called “The UX of ME”, it’s all about selling ourselves on a day to day in whatever industry we work in. Whether we like it or not, we are all products with a value on our heads. We all have our unique selling points and everything we do contributes to the perception people have of us. If you don’t know already, UX stands for User Experience, so if you’re a product then everyone you work with is a user. Every interaction you have with those you deal with contributes to how you’re perceived. That’s their experience of you – be it good or bad. My book is all about how to optimize your career using design thinking, a method that helps product and service designers to identify the right problem to solve then imagine and test ways to make things better. It will help you not only improve your “user experience” but also to have a plan and purpose in your career rather than just seeing what happens. Ultimately, you’ll be able to bring out your best and know how to take steps towards success. Selling yourself will become easier when you’ve learned how to package your strengths and minimize your weakness.
If you're sold on the idea, go and order the book right now...
(you may have to switch to the Amazon store where you have your account to download it)
