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Why you should be a mentor

March 23, 2010 By 4 Comments

“We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give” – Winston Churchill

In the beginning of his career, Winston Churcill had a mentor in Bourke Cockran a British Lawyer and Politician. If Churcill mentored any one particular himself I have not figured out, however with quotes like this, he inspired many.

A mentor is a professional advisor; usually two of the most important qualities of a good mentor are that they have “learning attitude,” and “effective managerial skills.” If you have this qualities  I encourage you to become a mentor, to a fellow novice as myself.

Last week, I read a blog post from an internationally recognized young entrepreneur. He wrote that he never had a mentor and he thought that the reasons where that; character did not fit with a mentor and many think of him and others like him as “young people who think they know everything.”

I was a bit surprised by this, because I have never looked for a mentor but I have always seemed to have mentors, and has he is some one I admire I just assumed that he had many mentors and supporters.

Have you heard the Buddhist proverb:

“When the student is ready the teacher will come”

When I have needed guidance and help, the help has come in one way or another. I guess I never asked the question “would you be my mentor?” instead I just asked questions and the relationship that has formed between me and the more experience people I have asked, have become a mentoring one because of this.

No matter if you get asked to become a mentor or just naturally find yourself in that position, I encourage you to do it, and here are a few reasons why.

Teaching make you analyze and draw conclusions of your work

It is one thing to know something and to do that, it is another thing to explain how it is done for someone else. Teaching and explaining what you do, make you look at things differently and learn them more thoroughly. Therefore you will become better at what you do by constantly teaching it to someone else, and depending on the level of expertise of your mentee, you might have to become better at what you do to be able to fully answer the questions you get. This can also lead to advancement in your own career as you will show the features that are wanted in people who are promoted: unselfishness, desire to develop and leadership etc.

You have a better change to stay connected with what is “new”

If you are a few years into your career, it is very likely that the things you were taught in school have changed since you graduated. In most fields, things such as strategies and techniques changes very fast, and it is harder to stay updated when you are working full time. Therefore, a mentee can assist you by teaching you about the latest development and what is taught now compared to when you where in school. Thus, you can get a competitive advantage and get a wider picture by letting the mentee teach you stuff as well.

The relationship is both give and take.

As I just said; the mentee can teach you things as well. However, this is not the only way the relationship goes both ways. Maybe the mentee have a few connections that you can benefit from. Or computer knowledge that can help you with you online resume? Or be a very good listener, who you can speak to about changing career without judgment? Sure, you are the more experienced in the relationship, but that does not mean that you cannot gain from it. I think that the relationship is even better if you benefit from it, both because you will be more inspired to teach if you get something back, and because the mentee can feel that him or her is contributing as well.

With that said, the benefits of being a mentor is plenty; You become better at way you do, by teaching and analyzing. You stay connected with what is new and gain competitive advantage. And the benefits of the relationships goes both ways.

So what is there to wait for? Go and find you novice and start mentoring today!

Filed Under: Career development Tagged With: , ,

IKEA Creates Another Public Showroom – This Time They Furnished The Paris Metro

March 19, 2010 By 4 Comments

People tend to see traditional marketing and online marketing as two separate things. But constantly we see examples of the fact that they are really not that different. A good “traditional” marketing campaign such as the one I’m going to write about today: the IKEA‘s public showroom, will become widely discussed online. Just as well as the campaign I talked about before by Volkswagen: the fun theory will be discussion face to face.

When the marketing is interesting enough, it wont matter were or when it is, people will speak about them at anytime they have the opportunity and share with people both online and offline. Thus viral does not have to be online and mouth to mouth does not have to be offline.

I have mentioned before that IKEA used Obama’s message of change in their commercials they had advertisement reading “Embrace change.” Though in their case it was more implying of a redecoration than a political change. However, what I had not mentioned was that they build an mock up oval office in the union station in Washington DC. The mock up featured low cost solutions to furnish an oval office, and gave visitors a chance to sit in the executives chair of course monitored by their secret service officers.

Picture: Apartmenttherapy.com

A few days ago they did the public showroom again, but this time in Paris. Between the 10th and the 24th of March four of the Paris metro stops are furnished with sofas for the travellers to use while waiting for the metro. The walls are covered with showroom examples and the furniture have price tags. I do not know about you, but I have waited for the Paris metro, and I for sure, would have appreciated these sofas.

Photo: Freshome.com

So what is what is so great about this marketing campaign? Well, except for the obvious benefit for the travellers to have a place to sit and something to look at the advantages are many.

  • Something to do while waiting - Most people get really bored while waiting for the metro, if they do not have music or a book to occupy them. Thus, having something to read or do while waiting is appreciated, and we also tend to actually “take in” what we are reading, as anything is more fun to do, than just wait…
  • Playing with more senses - Instead of only giving us something to look at, they also give us the opportunity to feel, touch and try the furniture they are selling, which gives us a better idea of what we are getting if we buy it.
  • It is memorable - How many times have to sat in a sofa while waiting for the metro? Not that many, nor in any other public place either. Thus, it is unusual enough to mention to a friend, who might just remember that she need a few things for IKEA, and head over there the next they… BAAM! conversion …
  • People talk about it both online and offline - If you search on any of these campaigns on Google you will find thousands of mentions, if you look at the local newspapers you will find articles about the  events as well and if you speak to any of the locals I’m sure many of them will have a few things to say as well. Showing that new ideas does spread everywhere.

Create an online point – to !

I don’t know if IKEA planned any online activities for the Paris metro stations displays, but for the oval office, they complemented the offline showroom with the ability to design your own oval office on their website. Giving people a easy ”point to” when they want to discuss the subject online, is also a great idea to stimulate the buzz in the online media sphere. Actually, most people who have talked about the oval office event choose to show a picture of the online showroom as this was more available for the general public.

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It is never too late to change your life – and the stories that proves it!

March 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I admit any second that this statement is really coming from the wrong person, considering my age. However, I meet a lot of people who are 10 and 20 years older than me (still young, right?) who admire what I do with my life, and wish that they have done the same. The conversations I have usually begins with that statement, continues with me says that they can still do it, they respond with some lame excuse and then go on with their life of not doing what they really want. I think this sucks! (yes I use that word)

Thus, now I will take the five of the most common statements (I’ve heard) and prove them wrong, and hopefully on the way share some of the most amazing stories I have heard!

I’m too old

Have you ever heard about Kier Barker? He had been stuttering for 56 years and was forced into early retirement because of it, when finally he managed to turn it around. With a tool called SpeechEasy and the help from Toastmaster he not stop stuttering but he also became a motivational speaker to teenagers. Talk about making a complete makeover at the age of 60.

Thus, if you are 30 or 40 and not stutter, imagine how much easier is must be for you. It is never too late even if you are above 60. After all in Sweden we have university student that is older than 80.

I don’t know how to do anything else

A while ago, I read about a man who had been working for a charcuterie company. But always dreamed about being copywriter. Now at 47 he is finally doing something about it. He stopped working and is commuting 4 hours every day to school and of course most of his new friends aka classmates are half his age. However, none of that matters because he is fulfilling his dream. Money is short as his wife is the only one working in the household but they manage, probably a lot because of the happiness you get because you are doing what you want to do. Proving that being in debt is also a problem your can work around.

Even though it might take you four years to get an education it might be worth it, because of all the years you will have after to do what you want to do. Sure, money and location might be an issue, but you can get used to that and as I told you before you can study online.

What about our children?

Many adults seem to think that they would neglect their children if they moved for a job or reduced their income for a while because they wanted to study. I would say that it is actually the complete opposite.

  • Relocating with children

There is many reasons to why people need to relocate for work and sometimes it is a permanent relocation while sometimes it is only for a few years. Regardless of which your children will become more culturally experienced and grow as individual because this, and most schools are used to handle transfers students today, so that won’t be an issue.

A friend of mine spent a year in America, as her father had to work there for a year. She says that it helped her gain new perspectives, improve her English and get used to the fact that no one seemed to know anything real about Sweden. Sure, it was hard to leave home to go, it always is, but when she returned her friends was still there and now 7 years later she is still in contact with the friend she made in the US.

Talk with your children about the move, regardless of if it is temporary or permanent, and hear their opinions. They might consider it “scary but cool.” And there are numerous sources to take help from.

  • Reducing your income to study for a while

Most parents want to give their children everything, at least from their own abilities. Therefore, they argue that they cannot reduce their income to study because it will affect their children.

My dad changed profession from a truck driver to a computer teacher when I was around 10. A few years later my mum started studying at the university, for no other reason but to learn more about her profession of guiding people with autism and other neuropsychological problems. I barely noticed that they had less money while studying, but what I did notice was how much happier they got. Something that made me want to study and follow my dreams.

Conclusions

It is never too late to change your life and start doing what you want to do and the people who you love and care about will only admire you more for it.

Any other excuses to prove wrong?

Filed Under: Annelie's Musings Tagged With: , ,

Would you drop out or not, if you got your dream job?

March 12, 2010 By 5 Comments

Earlier this week I got the question; “If you got offered to start your dream job, would you drop out of school? I mean you seem to know so much already, do you really need to study anymore?” My first response was, “I think that the more I study, the more I realize how much I don’t know.” I really believe this which is why I continue to study and not only my major but other things as well.

So back to the question, would I drop out? I guess, this is one of those questions you cannot really answer until you’re in the situation and know all the details. However, I believe that I would not drop out.

The reasons for this are plenty;

  • People who stop studying to work tend to never finish their degree
  • I would worry on how I would do in future positions and when it came to promotions if I did not have a degree, (though this might not matter after a few years of working.)
  • I believe that academic studies are important though I agree that you learn more by doing.
  • Lastly, would I want to work for a company that could not wait for me until I finished school?

My ideal situation if this would happen would be to start working and finish my degree while working. As I have been working all through school, I know that this is possible though it might need some schedule management.

Anyone who would be in this situation should probably contemplate the same things.

What do you think you would do? Do you agree or disagree with my reasons for not doing it?

Filed Under: Career development Tagged With: , ,

Why you should Use Twitter Lists to Complement your Blog Posts

March 9, 2010 By 1 Comment

More than a year ago, Mashable started to create lists of inspiring people on twitter in certain areas, which they shared in posts on their website. The lists were not only good marketing for the people on them, but they were also great for new Twitter users who want to find people who tweet about their field of interest.

Today, I see a similar trend happening on other blogs; people recommend other’s that they are following and put up a link and a description of the user. But this seem a bit “yesterday” to me, after all; we now have Twitter lists to do that.

If I go back to Mashable again, you can check their Twitter account and see that they have created multiple lists that is now named for example; web, twitter-stars, design, marketing and of course social media.

This means that if I want to I’m interested in one of the lists that Mashable have, I do not have to click on each users, I could simply subscribe to the list and see if I like it. Then, I could decide to start following individual users and not the list, but I saved a lot of time.

I recently did something similar when preparing a Swedish Blog post, I wanted to tell people about the social media representatives of Dell. Instead of listing each of them, I created a list with those I knew about and linked to that one, giving my readers an easy way to get in touch with anyone of them, in just one click.

So the next time you are recommending people to follow on Twitter on you blog. Do both! Give them the easy option to follow your list (which is good marketing for you also) or each individual !

Filed Under: Annelie's Musings, Social Media Tagged With: , , ,

Google Equalize Opportunities to Discuss for Online Students

March 7, 2010 By 1 Comment

So, as you know from a few previous blog posts and my bio, I study online. What you might not know is that I have done about half my education on Campus. Therefore, I often compare the pros and cons with the two ways to study and constantly find new ones.

My latest discovery was in the English Class I’m taken, we are studying culture and literatures and this particular assignment was an analysis of the short story Doctor Marigold by Charles Dickens. We were told to find interesting angles and questions to the text and then discuss the subjects in a group. In one of the groups I was in we started discussing whether the characters were “mimetic or semiotic?” I was pretty confused by this question before as both these concepts were new to me, but after making searching and reading some information on Google; I could participate in the discussion.

The interesting thing about this is that not only could I participate and generate value to the discussion even though I did not know anything about the concepts before. Even more, neither did the other group members (except for the girl who asked the question) but it still became the most active discussion thread.

Now, if this had been a question in the classroom, there would probably been more than one who where familiar with the subject and they could discuss it leaving other in the dark. Something that would be a lot less educating, than the online discussion group which allowed us all to understand and participate.

Thus, sometimes discussions and group assignments online are actually better for the students, because we have the time and material to understand new concepts. And everyone get’s heard, as there is no one speaking louder or thinking faster.

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Bravissimo Use Their Customers As Models

March 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment

One type of marketing technique that really interest me, and which I even consider writing my thesis about, is how you can use current events and issues to market your business. I been talking about this in a post about Ikea, and how they promoted their business with the message Obama sent the public: change.

Today I stumbled upon another example of this. I saw the advertising material for the lingerie brand Bravissimo, who focuses on underwear for women with bigger breasts. They use real women in and not just any women but their actual customers. These women are curvy, healthy looking women and thought they have been styled and look gorgeous they really are real women.

Of course the use of these models helps positioning the brand towards a certain audience which is what they are looking for. But more importantly, in this case, it diverts us from the size zero ideal and show how great women look when they have curves. This means that the brand Bravissimo takes up the battle against the sick ideals which the fashion industry promotes.

Other brands have done similar things before, but Bravissimo actually let their customers apply for the opportunity to model for the brand. This shows that these women are not only models but actually customers who like the brand and enjoy the products. This makes the campaign and the message of it even more genuine.

Because of the message and pictures of these gorgeous real woman, the brand have got even more publicity than they would in another campaign. But hopefully, they have also contributed to preventing the issues with teenagers that the size zero ideal creates.

Go Bravissimo!

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