Personal Branding Blog – Dan Schawbel

Today, I spoke with Laura T. Coffey, who is the queen of giving business and personal finance advice tips. She is a writer for TODAYshow.com and MSNBC.com. and is here today to coach you through this recession, give you hope and tips you can use to make smarter decisions before you let the recession cast a dark shadow over your career. Laura is very smart and experienced in this area and has advice for people in all positions right now, including entrepreneurs, people who are unemployed and workers.

Laura, I like how you have a short URL for your main advice column on MSNBC.com (long = http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15224522, and short = tentips.org). What was your logic behind doing this and using it to brand yourself in your email signature and email address?

Well, basically, several smart and fabulous people at msnbc.com and TODAYshow.com have taken the time to build a home page where my 10 Tips columns would be archived. I was really pumped about that home page, and I wanted people to be able to find it easily and also to identify the “10 Tips” brand with me. So I nabbed the www.tentips.org – that I use for all column-related correspondence with readers. This helps me stay organized, and it makes it easier for me to connect with readers who send me compelling anecdotes and good tips for saving money. I have a domain name for myself and created a redirect that would take people to that specially built home page for the column. I also created an e-mail address – laura@tentips.org.

Can you give a few tips on how to get a job, keep your job or start a business in this economy (2 for each)?

OK, for starters, let me just acknowledge that this is an extremely depressing subject for many, many people out there. As a columnist, it can be hard to provide advice that’s useful across the board because everyone’s career fields and backgrounds are so different. All of that said, here are some general principles to keep in mind during challenging times like these:

When it comes to finding/getting a job:

• Now is the time to network like you’ve never networked before. It’s always important to make a point of getting to know as many people as you can in your line of work – but now it’s more important than ever. By having plenty of friends and contacts in your industry, you’ll stand a better chance of finding work more quickly. Reflect on all the friends, colleagues and contacts you’ve ever made in your industry, and start reaching out to them in a friendly, not-too-pushy way. Ask them whether they know of any openings, opportunities or potentially useful contacts in your field.
• Don’t turn up your nose at new or different avenues of work. Let’s say for the sake of discussion that you’ve lost your job as a white-collar worker. You can seriously harm your chances of finding employment if you’re only willing to seek out the exact same type of work or the exact same pay. Consider working for smaller companies, and don’t view service-sector or blue-collar work as beneath you — especially if money is very tight. After all, no job has to last forever. Also, bear in mind that it’s a buyers’ market out there, and competition is tough for virtually every kind of position – from investment banker to pizza-delivery person. Bearing that in mind, remember to: apply for lots of different jobs, not just one or two; offer to be as flexible as you possibly can when it comes to your work schedule; demonstrate a positive, can-do attitude on job interviews; and remember to send handwritten thank you notes to the people who interview you. While seemingly basic, these sorts of steps are absolutely necessary to make yourself stand out from the crowd.

When it comes to keeping a job:

In his book “The World Is Flat,” Tom Friedman talks about what it takes for individuals to make themselves “untouchable” – that is, free from any serious threat of unemployment despite the flattening of the global economy. He’s writing about how workers can insulate themselves against outsourcing, but I think his advice also applies during the current meltdown of our economy.

To achieve a measure of security and protection, Friedman recommends that people become “special or specialized,” “localized and anchored” or ‘the new middle.’ Here are his definitions of those categories:

• If you’re highly “special or specialized,” that means the job functions you perform simply cannot be “outsourced, automated or made tradable by electronic transfer.” Friedman’s examples of special or specialized workers: Michael Jordan, Madonna, Elton John, J.K. Rowling, your brain surgeon and the top cancer researcher at the National Institutes of Health.
• If you’re “localized and anchored,” you have some protection because your job absolutely must be done in a specific location. This is either because the job involves “some specific local knowledge” or because it requires “face-to-face, personalized contact with a customer, client, patient, colleague or audience,” Friedman writes. Examples of such positions: barbers; waitresses; restaurant cooks and chefs; dentists; lounge singers; masseurs; retail sales clerks; repairmen; electricians; nannies; gardeners; cleaning people; divorce lawyers.
• If you want to make yourself one of the ‘new middlers’ – that is, someone who can snag and keep a modern-day middle-class job with decent wages – you have to show a keen ability and willingness to adapt, change, update your skills and learn new things all the time. Gone are the days of doing the exact same job in the exact same way for years on end. Versatility is key. Friedman also says the holders of the new middle-class jobs must have an ability to collaborate, orchestrate, synthesize, leverage and explain the complex in simple, easy-to-understand terms. These abilities hinge on the capacity to stay alert and see the big picture.

Granted, all of the above may apply to you and you still may feel threatened in this horrible economic climate. But the traits mentioned above can go a long way toward making you be perceived as indispensible and/or irreplaceable. It also goes without saying that now is the time to play well with others and whistle while you work, so to speak. This is not a good time to be a malcontent in the workplace.

As for starting a business in this economy:

I can’t really speak to what it would take to start a full-fledged business with multiple employees because that’s outside my realm of experience. What I can speak to is starting a home-based business with just one employee: You. I did this a couple of years ago as a writer and editor, and it is hands-down the best thing I ever did. Some tips:

• Devise a plan of attack. Before venturing too far down the path toward self-employment, make absolutely sure a market exists for your product or services. Writing up a business plan can help you determine whether your idea is workable. You should prepare a business plan even if you don’t plan to apply for a loan from a bank or the Small Business Administration. You can visit your local library and check out books about how to write business plans for free.
• Reflect on how easy – or how challenging – it may be for you to fly solo. If companies in your career field frequently rely on independent contractors to handle certain jobs, perhaps you could become one of those independent contractors and start working right out of your home almost immediately. (This is what I’ve been able to do with both writing and editing.) If the independent-contractor route could work for you, you could do business as a self-employed individual or a “sole proprietor” for tax purposes. For details, visit this IRS Web site.

How can someone pay for college (it costs roughly $40,000 per semester for some schools now), while not going broke?

OK, for starters – and I’m really not trying to be facetious here – don’t choose a school that costs $40,000 a semester! That simply isn’t necessary in most cases. This is one of those areas in life where serious bargains and breaks can be found if you invest the time and do some sleuth work. Some ideas:

• Pick the right school. Sure, the country’s most elite private schools have an almost irresistible appeal, but so many other options exist that will allow you to spend so much less. Remember all those high-caliber private schools out there that don’t have the name recognition of Harvard but still need to fill their classrooms. Many of them offer “tuition discounts” (i.e., financial aid). And of course, you could save a bundle by choosing a public university in your state – or, better yet, by opting for a community college for the first two years of that four-year degree.
• Hunt down scholarships. Scholarships are the best way to go because you never have to repay the money. Contact local organizations in your community about scholarships, and do searches on the Internet through sources such as FastWeb, FinAid and the College Board.
• Go crazy applying for grants. Grants are great because they don’t have to be repaid either. You can learn about grant possibilities here. Also consider whether these two grants might be appropriate for you: the Academic Competitiveness Grant, which offers up to $1,300 for students who have completed a rigorous high school program; and the National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent, or SMART grant, which offers up to $4,000 for undergraduates majoring in physical, life or computer sciences, math, technology, engineering or a foreign language “determined critical to national security.”
• If you happen to have a job with a large company that offers a “Corporate U” – or with an employer that helps cover education costs at schools in your area – tap into that resource so you can improve your skills and bolster your resume. Hundreds of corporate university classes have been accredited, meaning you could get college credit for them if you ever enroll in a degree program.
• Borrow as a last resort. If student loans are unavoidable, opt for subsidized loans when you can. The federal government pays the interest on such loans while you’re in school and during the grace period before repayment begins. For details, turn to the U.S. Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid Information Center, (800) 433-3243); Nellie Mae, (800) 367-8848); and Sallie Mae, (888) 272-5543).

If someone wanted to start a home-based business instead of work for a company, what steps would they take to get started today?

I would reiterate the tips I mentioned about home-based businesses in my answer to question #2, and I also would add that the home-based-business route truly could be a serious consideration for you if your job is in jeopardy in this crazy economic climate. You have to know yourself well enough to determine whether you’re a self-starter and you have the initiative and self-discipline to make this work. It’s also important to have a decent work space for yourself – a place where you stand a chance of concentrating on your work – and to have health insurance if at all humanly possible.

If your spouse has a job that provides benefits for your whole family, then you could be in an ideal situation to take a risk like this and start your own business. But even if you don’t have that ideal scenario in place as far as benefits are concerned, you still may be able to find relatively reasonable health coverage through a business or trade organization in your field. At the very least, you could secure a low-cost catastrophic health insurance plan with a deductible of $2,000 or more.

As a long time journalist, how have you built your own brand and looking back, what would you change about it (if anything)?

To tell you the truth, I never thought much about “branding,” per se … maybe because I got started at this journalism thing in the pre-Internet dark ages of the 1980s! But one thing I did do on an instinctive level, I guess, was keep my maiden name when I got married in 1997. I know that may not sound like a huge thing, but in retrospect I think it made it possible for me to maintain at least a little bit of name recognition. (Not that most readers pay any attention to bylines, mind you!) But anyway. It was really important to my husband that I keep my maiden name for professional reasons … and also because my name contains a built-in joke! (My name has two drinks in it … get it? Laura T. Coffey … Tea Coffee …)

I didn’t think much about the importance of branding until the 10 Tips column began to have a real presence online. That’s when I secured the tentips.org domain name and e-mail address. My goal is to use my columns as the basis for a book someday, so the brand matters much more to me now.

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Laura T. Coffey writes a column called “10 Tips for Keeping Your Money in Your Wallet.” A veteran journalist with 20 years of newspaper experience, she has written and edited for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Prague Post in the Czech Republic, the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce, the Peninsula Clarion in Alaska and the St. Petersburg Times in Florida.