Wednesday, September 16, 2009

A different take...

After seeing an update on the Kanye reaction on SPORTSCENTER, I started to think about the magnitude of the incident at the VMAs.

I like to think of the stunt, which is what it was, as a potentially genius idea. Who knows if these motives are legitimate, but I think it is fun to think about.

After hearing his apology on Jay Leno, it seems that Kanye has been thinking about taking some time off for a while. The Taylor Swift encounter is proving to be an eye-opening experience that will make his decision to disappear for a while a little easier.

Since he knew he was going to go on hiatus prior to the VMAs, he needed to make a big deal about it. It's like going to rehab ... things are going bad, admit yourself into the hospital, then recover on your own merits: a heart-warming story that has played well for plenty of people.

Fortunately for this situation, all parties involved were able to benefit from some positive PR.

People who have never heard any of Taylor Swift's music now feel bad for her, and think she is a poor, innocent girl that was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Beyonce was able to show some high class by bring Swift back on-stage later on to finish her speach.

Kanye will go into hiding for a while and come back with a vengeance, sporting some new, more mature writing that will take him to a different level a la Eminem.

It is hard to think that this wasn't coordinated. If anyone knows anything about going into hiding, it's Jay-Z, who just happens to be Kanye's big brother, and Beyonce's sugar daddy. It is also interesting that Jay-Z was on Jay Leno with Kanye after the apology... seemingly holding Kanye's hand through it all.

Taylor Swift was just an innocent bystander who's reaction would be predictable. If you have never been on stage at an MTV event and Kanye wants to take the mic from you, you don't say no. As for the other 98% of people that were there, they would have shoo'd him off stage. But Taylor Swift was just an easy target.

Like I said, it's hard to say if this was planned, but I can see how it will end up benefiting everyone involved.

n/a

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Just Hold On A Sec

The hardest part about finding a job ... is waiting for them to call.

If you are like me, which you probably aren't, your mind takes situations and runs in all kinds of directions. So when I am in an already mentally stressful(applying for a job), personally stressful (don't have a job) and environmentally stressful (why would I leave Florida?) situation my brain has a field day of ideas!

I have already lived out the next 5 years of my life in my mind according to each and every possible outcome of my job search, but the stressful part is that each one of these futures is pending a call back! Even though each future is different, and I honestly prefer some to others, the point is I HAVE A FUTURE.

It has always bothered me how complicated we have made life. Back in the day, the only thing people had to worry about was what they were going to eat, where they were going to sleep and what were they going to wear.

Thanks to some tremendously giving people in my life, I will always have those three things. Yet, by today's standards, that is not even close to being enough to be considered successful. And being successful is the only thing anyone ever wants, right?

The point is that though the search is tough now, and may even be driving you to the point of insanity, it will all work out in the end. I don't know how many people have told me that this experience is "building character." Honestly, I am not in need of anymore of that.

So I like to think of it analogical terms...

The best views are from the highest mountains that require the hardest climbing. Even Miley says, "It's the climb."

So just hold on a little bit longer... you're on belay!

n/a

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Priorities

Ok, so you have a few job opportunities on your plate and you need to make a decision on which one you want to pursue further.

I would like to get a sense of how other people prioritize things and the rationale behind those priorities.

There are several things to consider:
- The position: the opportunity to advance as well as job security
- The location: economic and weather climate, close to family, friends, support system
- The benefits: insurance, free stuff (i.e.- universities and free tuition)
- The money: hourly or salary, a lot or a little, based on experience or commission
- The company: reputation, product/service offerings

Basically list which things you think are most important to you and which of these don't matter. Feel free to add to the list as well!

n/a

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

First Time Jitters

“I’d say it’s a mix between uncontainable excitement with a touch of nausea…”
That was my status for most of the day yesterday. It is a feeling that I hadn’t had before, and I honestly wouldn’t mind having again.

Through my pre-professional career (in school and interning) I had only experienced some very preliminary steps of the job searching process. When it comes to finding positions, sending resumes and cover letters, and getting no response: I have that down pat. But when it comes to absolutely falling in love with the idea of working somewhere and spending all day putting together the strongest list of recommendations and the best strategy to make sure you get the job: yesterday was my first time.

I have definitely dealt with pre-emptive excitement over a position. I got googly-eyed over a position at a small university down here in their PR department, to find out that the last line of duties that said, “and some administrative responsibilities” really meant that it was a secretary position.

Don’t get me wrong, that is totally fine! But I have been working with some elite PR professionals down here, and to be demoted to secretary and to make a salary doable by a McDonald’s manager… I have to expect better!

Back to the point…

I realized so many things yesterday that I remember being mentioned by some of my mentors, but I never really took to heart.

It’s not what you know but who you know.

Absolutely, positively, 100% true. If you are well connected, the path to the doorway is so much smoother. However, all your connections can do is get you an interview. And you have to remember that those resources put their namesake on the line because they believed in you… so you definitely don’t want to be a let-down!

Know the position inside and out.

You cannot expect to be an innovator or make yourself visible (two points I brought up in the last post) without knowing the position that you are innovating and visibilizing <- not a word.

READ the duties of the position. RESEARCH the company or institution. TALK to whoever you can to get a sense of what the position entails and what the last person was like. If you can do these things, you can blow your employer away with your wealth of knowledge.

Keep your eye on the prize.

Don’t get sidetracked or discouraged by things like, “Well, the position might just have been posted for formality’s sake. They probably already have someone.” Or, “You don’t really meet the requirements, your application will get tossed right away.”

Trust the work that you have put into your application materials, and be confident that you have done a good job.

If that doesn’t make you feel better … Pray.

n/a

Friday, August 21, 2009

My Secret Project

As I said in my last post, it is important for interns, graduates and employees in general to take initiative and try to make yourself visible. One way to do that is to be innovative.

Luckily, you don’t actually have to INVENT something to be considered innovative in the workplace. There are so many developing techniques, strategies and philosophies out there in every industry that leave you plenty of room to introduce a fresh idea to your company.

What I am doing now, as my last hoorah in the internship, is an online social media plan for one of the non-profit clients. There are a couple of factors of this project that make it an innovative project.

1. It is online social media.
Old people don’t like it, new people don’t know how to run it. So it takes a special someone that is classically trained, but contemporarily knowledgeable. You need to grasp the concept of relationship marketing while being able to convey appropriate tones through the Web … which is harder than you think!

2. It is non-profit.
Especially in the communications consulting approach, non-profit organizations are a hybrid breed of clients. In this particular situation, all the work we do for them is pro bono, meaning the work that is being done through the agency is not getting compensated for … meaning not a lot of people are jumping at the chance to stay up until 3 a.m. coming up with something.

Luckily, as an intern, I am not an expense, so it makes sense for me to spend time on it.

The difficult part of the project is finding social media tactics that can be executed by a limited staff on a limited budget who work limited hours. If you know anything about social media, those three things are quite the opposite of what is necessary to be successful.

Since social media is free (the newest kind of earned media), the only investment is time. So in order to come up with a proposal that takes less time with fewer people, the tactics have to be quick and easy, but also effective.

Here are a few of my ideas in case you ever run into this situation, like I did.

ESTABLISH A BLOG
It doesn’t have to be fancy like mine : P There are plenty of free sites to create an account, and they are amazingly user-friendly. Upload videos and pictures, send links to relevant news stories, give some insider information about the company. You don’t want to update too much where you become annoying, but just enough to keep up with what’s going on.

TWEETDECK
Or any other kind of program like it, that can update Facebook and Twitter statuses from one location. This streamlines your promotion of the blog entries, so it saves time. Using services like bit.ly will allow you to track the clicks and develop some profiling information of your audience.

USE FACEBOOK
A lot of people have a Facebook account, but don’t utilize all of its features. If you are a commercial company, put on some promotions through your wall to drive traffic and increase fans. If you are an event center or museum, use the events feature to let everyone know about what’s going on. (If you were really good, you would send them to your blog from your Facebook, and the blog would send them to your main site.) FB is the most popular social networking site on the Web, so your presence there will make or break you.

I know this was long, and irrelevant to most people, but these things are the beginning of a new revelation of PR, marketing and advertising. It is so subtle, and so relationship-based, that we will find ourselves building relationships with brands … maybe even Facebook-official relationships!

n/a

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Some Kind of Summer

My last post was on June 3 which was a loooong time ago.

So much has changed since then with my working situation, my personal situation and my relationship situation. It is amazing how much change can happen in a short amount of time.

You know things had to be hectic if I wasn't able to log on at least one time last MONTH. So I though it would be appropriate to bring you all up to date with my revelations of this summer!

1. Long distance relationships work if they are with the right person, in the right relationship.

So many times relationships fall apart with distance. I am here to tell you that it is not always the case! If the feelings that you have for your girl/boyfriend are based on legitimate aspects, distance will not have a major effect on the "end result" of the relationship.

Por ejemplo, if you can't stand being on the phone with your girlfriend for more than 20 minutes at a time, maybe you don't really mesh well with her personality. If you can't trust your boyfriend to stay faithful to you, even though you were on the phone when he fell asleep, maybe you have some serious trust issues OR he is not doing a good enough job in telling you how he feels.

Distance puts your relationship to the test, and most fail because they are based on the wrong things. Granted, the physical presence of a loved one does make a difference, but if you can still find a way to be completely in love with that person while not seeing them for long periods of time, imagine what it will be like when you are together.

2. Unless you hire everyone yourself, you will not get along with everyone in the office.

You love your family and friends because of the things you have in common, your similar beliefs and goals, and the things you enjoy to do. People at work are generally an inconsistent assortment of people that have nothing in common other than the ability to do their job. Don't get down about it, make the most of it!

Believe it or not, there is good in every person, and most of the time, your rough spots are from misunderstandings. TALK to people and work it out. It will make a huge difference in how you feel about work.

3. Finding a job in a recession is harder than the needle in a haystack.

I just settle with playing in the hay and hope I get poked by a needle, but the analogy has some weight to it. You have to come off as multi-dimensional and innovative or there is no reason for anyone to hire you (unless they are friends with your dad). That's not to say that there aren't any jobs out there, because there are. The amount of people that are APPLYING for these jobs is what has changed.

Find a way to make yourself visible.

4. Don't get cocky about your education.

The things you learn in college are really nothing compared to things you learn in the work place. There are practical applications of things that were mentioned in class, but the "A" that you got in that class may or may not mean absolutely nothing when it comes down to it.

I am glad that I have grown this summer, and there certainly have been growing pains to go with it. They give you character, yes, but they also give you perspective... and that perspective will definitely come in handy later.

n/a

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Real World

“I’m gonna run through the halls of my high school, I’m gonna scream at the top of my lungs.
I just found out there’s no such thing as the real world, just a lie you’ve got to rise above.”

I graduated about a month ago and the only thing that has changed is my temporary address. My boss is still distant, my co-workers still have opinions, I still set my own bedtime, and I still don’t have any money. So where is this real world that everyone in my life up to this point has been preparing me for?

I am starting to think that John Mayer was correct in his accusation that it has all been a conspiracy: a lie to make sure that we pay attention and prepare for the worst. It turns out that I was ready for the “real world” in the 9th grade. If I can survive the ridicule of underclassmen, especially those involved in sports, you can survive anything that the world has to offer.

I guess what my parents and teachers were trying to say was, “You can mess up now and it’s no big deal. But if you mess up in the real world, you’ll be in trouble.” I guess there is some validity there.

Even at an internship, if you mess up there is still the excuse that you are an intern and aren’t being paid to be stupid. But when you are on a payroll to do a good job, you really have to pay attention. Yet, if you pay attention in school, pick up on social things in your personal life, and learn from your internships or first job: you’ll be fine.

There is so much pressure these days to be successful, yet at the same time, the opportunities are slowly dwindling. Even the idea that you can “make your own success” is becoming harder and harder to fathom. Yet I believe that everyone has a gift, a role and a talent that they are meant to carry out in their career, and that belief isn’t snuffed out yet. If you have a dream, it can come true. If you have an idea, it can become reality.

It’s up to you to decide how quick, effective and painless you want your adventure to be.

n/a

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Soft thoughts in hard times

I have always been a fan of irony and oxy morons and puns and analogies and lists without commas, but I have really been thinking about one in particular that has some actual application in my life right now:

The worst thing possible, might be the best thing ever.

Follow me on this.

Consider some aspect in your life that is going really well. For instance, you have a great job that you love and you enjoy going to work every day. Though you want a promotion, and will eventually push for one, you are perfectly happy where you are now.

Something comes up at work: a big assignment or a major account or a long-term project: It is all put on you. You are overwhelmed with all of this responsibility, and it doesn’t go away for years. Over this time, you don’t feel the same way about your job. You still love it, but things have changed and you’re not sure if it is still worth all of this heartache you go through every day.

Then when the task is finished, after years of hard work you put into it, you finally get your raise. Things are better than ever for you. Not only are you back to loving your job, but you are making more money, enjoying more time off, and you are finally living the life you’ve always wanted.

Those two years you spent suffering made the promotion that much more rewarding. You know what it’s like to be under pressure, so you appreciate the times when you are out from under it. Plus, it has prepared you for any hard times that may come up in the future. You know it can’t get much worse than that, so you aren’t afraid of anything.

The worst thing possible, might be the best thing ever.

Think about it.

n/a

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Easter Eggs Don't Even Compare...

You spend your whole life looking for something that you’re not sure you will ever find.

Whether it’s the best job in the world, the girl or guy of your dreams, or the house you’ve always wanted to live in: Everyone has something that they dream about having, and will not be truly happy until they find that thing.

Of course, we spend most of our lives on this quest. Even if we find one of these things, we check it off and move down the list until everything is exactly how we imagined it would be when we were little.

How do you know if what you found is “the best” or “the one” without completely ignoring the rest of the world and what it has to offer?

I think that once you find that house…you know. Once you land that job…you know. When you are with that person…you just know.

Trust me: if there is one thing I hate more than snow, it is clichés. But this one is for real!

Never think that what starts as mediocre will grow on you and become the thing of your dreams…that’s not how it works. You should be wowed from the get-go. Settling will never result in true happiness.

And if you are sitting there worried about if it will ever happen: if you will ever find what you are looking for…have faith!

The feeling you get when you know you’ve finally found it is more than worth all of the pain and struggles you went through to get there. If you think you should give up, please don’t.

There are things in this world that were meant to be… and you will find your something sooner or later.

Monday, January 19, 2009

astigmatism

I was thinking today about why hindsight is 20-20. I wondered if it was possible to be so aware of the moment, that you can have the perception that is gained in hindsight. You would think that having that ability would allow you to make the right decision in every situation; in turn, making life easier.

I think I have been using this method for my entire life. I don’t usually make decisions “on a whim” or “live life for the moment” because whims and moments are temporary. I always knew that I wanted to make decisions that I would be proud of no matter how old I got (assuming that the older I got, the more critical I would be. i.e.- mid-life crises).

Is this something that separates me from other people? I think so.

Most people have different priorities in life. They are in it to have fun, and enjoy their time, and aren’t too particular about how they go about those things. For me, I am convinced that I can have fun and enjoy my time without making regrettable decisions. In fact, I think half the fun is knowing that I am enjoying myself AND I am doing the right thing.

I have always been sure not to criticize other people for how they choose to live their life…because it’s theirs. However, I am always eager and willing to offer advice on how to solve the problems that arise from continually making “bad decisions.”

You’d be amazed at people that have been making unanimously “wrong” decisions for so long, and don’t even realize it. Their level of standards has shifted so much, either because of their surroundings or a personal change, that they cannot reconnect with what their true self really values.

It’s a difficult thing for these people to deal with. No one likes to be told that they are wrong, but it’s even more hurtful to have to tell yourself.

But this isn’t the end of the world.

It’s never too late to change. There is a reason that everything in life can be called “a phase,” and you shouldn’t be afraid to snap out of one if you realize it is not making you a better person. Hopefully if you are experiencing this, like I was, you have a strong group of friends that can help you through it.

You’ll be glad to know that, even though you may be embarrassed to ask for their help, your relationship with these friends will improve immensely: Especially if they have noticed the same change in you.

Everyone wants you to be the best you can be, so why shouldn’t you want to?

n/a

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Do ya smelllllllll

The Rock put it best when he said, “Know your role. And shut your mouth.”

People have been living on this earth for long enough to realize that there are only so many options for what kind of people they can be. Everyone fits a mold that has been filled by millions of people that have come before them.

At some point you have to realize that even though you have complete control over what kind of life you choose to lead, it’s all been done before. The trick is, to find someone that did it best. If you know what kind of person you want to be, find someone that lived that life successfully.

For example, if you want to be a nerd, you have several options. You can be that guy that doesn’t get married, but works for Geek Squad making $20 an hour. Or you could apply your brains to more entrepreneurial ventures like Bill Gates and make jocks everywhere think twice about getting on a nerd’s bad side.

The point of life is to make the most of it: If you aren’t doing that, you should really step back and try to figure out what your role is.

But there are differences between roles and stereotypes. For example, can you tell the difference in this list?

-Supermodels will always sleep with rock stars
-Mailmen will always be afraid of dogs
-Waitresses will always come home with sore feet
-Band kids will never date a cheerleader

Though there are solid reasons why these will be true for the most part, there are always exceptions. So you have to choose whether to be the exception, or the example.

Just like those books where you come to an important scene and you can choose your own ending, there are plenty of ways you can go with your life. It’s just that…in real life, it’s not just a matter of turning back the pages and choosing a new way to go.

So really think about decisions that will put you on a path toward a new ending.

n/a