As a small business person, I frequently seek other small business people to provide services for my business. I also have coached clients and colleagues about starting and running consulting or coaching businesses. As for my vendors, I currently have three who I would not trade for anything. I work with the principals who have [...]

Last week, I got a call from the blog writer at CBS Money Watch who wanted to interview me on elevator pitches. I was, of course, delighted. I asked her how she happened to find me. She said that she searched amazon.com for elevator pitch, and I was one of several authors that she found. [...]

In December 2011, LinkedIn released its analysis of 135 million accounts on its network and the results of the 10 most overused buzzwords that people use on their professional profiles were picked up nearly virally on the Internet. Several of my clients forwarded this on to me. Just in case you missed it, here they [...]

In my business of helping clients with their resumes, the first question I ask is “what kind of work do you do?” I can’t begin to tell you the number of times that the answer is… “Well, I’ve done a lot of things” or “I have lots of transferable skills” or “I’ve had an eclectic [...]

A dear friend and former colleague has recently been nominated for a prestigious award and was soliciting votes. His awesome accomplishments in a challenging technical field and a photograph were displayed on the award website where others were directed to vote on the nominees. He is exceptional in his field and I, of course, immediately [...]

As I mentioned in my last post, executives with “brands” are few and far between. Here are a two more that I have encountered over the past couple of years, along with the language for the metaphor: Corporate Athlete, who helps companies cross the finish line Renaissance Woman, who serves IT and [the company] across [...]

Brands for job-seeking executives are a popular pastime for career consultants, authors, and speakers these days. It is my opinion, however, that most executives should be concerned with positioning, not branding. Occasionally I run across an executive who truly has (or should have) a brand, but they are few and far between. Small business owners [...]

“My elevator pitch isn’t working any more.” I hear this every day from my clients. They complain that no matter what they do, their introduction sounds prepared and stilted. Also, that these days, everyone has a 30 second elevator pitch. They are so obvious that the intended receiver seems to run in the other direction [...]