Talkin about this genn er ashun.....

Todays spoilt audi estate , Sports pack full turbo, generasjon is spoilt and credited to heck. Good times will but only continue...buy that house you gotta stretch to.....take that extra credit card.,...our house will go up 30 percent ad infinitum....

In other words, there is a whole generation which has not been “adversity tested”.

Robbins says that to cope with the current level of change on a personal level, and to help us stay focussed on opportunity rather than fear of loss we should train ourselves emotionally – to build our “emotional fitness”. He states that we all have emotional patterns, or habits which will play out at times of great stress – angry people will get angry, fearful people will become even more fearful and so on.

So his strategy is firstly to identify what our habitual emotional patterns are, and then to consciously condition the emotions which are more helpful to us in terms of our response to crisis (for example, creativity or determination).

Robbins also encourages us to look outwards rather than inwards – to find a way to get outside of ourselves and realise that no matter how hard things are, there is always someone who has it harder. As he says, “If you help someone else, it changes you too.”

To Suceed....Fall Flat on Your Face; Repeat.

“Would you like me to give you a formula for success?....

It's quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure ..."

Thomas J. Watson – Founder of IBM

cont.... " You're thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn't at all... you can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember that's where you'll find success. On the far side.” –

Albert Einstein was by many accounts or rather interpretations of his intellect, a failure.

His language was late in developing. In fact he made no attempt to talk until he was more than three years old. His teachers' considered him mentally retarded because of his strange behavior and his failure to learn by memorizing. He had been home taught to the age of seven and didnt fit into the germanic, regimented and learn-by-rote ways of the education system. That his intelligence and inquisitiveness was evident from the many hours he spent experimenting with a pocket compass at age 5 was maybe however not lost on his father who gave him that probably fateful gift.....

In 1894 his father Hermann's business venture fails again. The family then relocates out over the Alps to Milan, Italy. After two months on his own, Albert obtains a doctor's certificate saying that he is suffering a nervous breakdown. The school authorities dismissed him. From there he spends a year in Italy. But again the business fails and the family moves to Pavia. Where again the business fails. Without a diploma he is not able to enter a University.

There are numerous examples in the world today of highly successful men and women who had to overcome many failures and setbacks along the way, but who also had the perseverance, determination and self belief to keep on trying.

For example, in his early career the actor Harrison Ford was told by the Vice President of the “New Talent” program for Columbia Pictures that he didn’t have what it took to make it in the movie business.

The VP said that in the first movie Tony Curtis ever appeared in he had just a 10 second shot delivering a bag of groceries, “but you could tell just by looking at him that he was a movie star”.

Ford replied that he thought the point was to look like a grocery delivery boy, however the VP didn’t find this funny and fired him. But with the true mindset of a winner, Ford simply said that was fine, as he didn’t want to work under those circumstances anyway.

He was also initially rejected by George Lucas to play Hans Solo in the first Star Wars movie, and was not the first (or second) choice to play Indiana Jones either, but the rest, as they say is history.

Another example is Basketball legend Michael Jordon, where at High School he tried out for the varsity basketball team during his sophomore year. However, at 5 feet 11 inches he was deemed too short to play …….

If either of the above examples had succumbed to the false belief that their failure in each case was final (as so many people do), how differently would their careers and lives have turned out?

The difference is that these individuals, and all individuals with a winning mindset learn to view failure as a positive thing rather than negative.

They understand that in order to be successful it is inevitable that failure will occur along the way and they learn to embrace failure rather than fear it, as the vast majority of us have been conditioned to do.

As Jordon says, “I know fear is an obstacle for some people, but it is an illusion to me… Failure always made me try harder next time.”

Roflmao

- det nye språket ved SMS!

Samtidig som "rubrikkannonse-språket" blir mer og mer utrydningstruet, har det oppstått et langt mer avansert språk. mange tiår, om ikke lengre, har man daglig kunnet lese forkortelser i avisene, som for eksempel: "Volvo 240, blå met. p.brukt. s.v.hjul, h.o.b. 50.000".

Inntil internett revolusjonerte kjøp og salg mellom privatpersoner, gjaldt det å spare penger når man annonserte - man betalte ofte for antall bokstaver eller linjer. Dette språket har nå mer eller mindre forsvunnet - men det har i samme periode oppstått et annet språk. Formålet er ikke å spare penger - men tid.

Språket(om man kan kalle det et språk) består i hovedsak av forkortelser og fungerer som et internasjonalt språk som brukes over hele verden. Under er en ordbok vi har samlet sammen på nett. Hjelp gjerne oss å lage denne komplett ved å foreslå ord i kommentarfeltet under.

A
AAK Asleep at the keyboard
AAR8 At any rate
ADAD another day, another dollar
AFAIC As far as I?m concerned
AFK Away from computer keyboard
ASAP As soon as possible
A/S/L Age/Sex/Location
ATM At the moment
ATW Around the web

B
B Back
B4N Bye for now
BBS Be back soon
BC Because
BCNU Be seein' you
BFN/B4N Bye for now
BG Big grind
BIL Boss is listening
BITD Back in the day
BMG Be my guest
BOTOH But on the other hand
BRB Be right back
BTDT Been there, done that
BTDTGTTSAWIO Been there, done that, got the t-shirt and wore it out
BTW By the way
BYKT But you knew that

C
CD9 Code 9: Parents nearby
CID Consider it done
CSL Can't stop laughing
COZ Because
CU See you
CUL eller CUL8R See you later
CULALIG8R See you later aligator

D
DQMOT Don't quote me on this
DMC Deep meaningful conversation

E
EOM End of message
EZ Easy
EG Evil Grin

F
F2F Face to face
F2T Free to talk
FAQ Frequently asked questions
FUGLY Fucking ugly
FWIW For what it's worth
FYI For your information

G
G2G Got to go
GAL Get a life
GF Girlfriend
GGN Gotta go now
GID Glad I deg
GJ Good job
GL Good luck
GOL Giggle out loud
GR8 Great
GRT Great
GTG Got to go
GW Good work

H
H8 Hate
HAK Hugs and kisses
HAND Have a nice day
Hax Hacking/ Jukse

I
IAC In any case
IAE In any event
IC I see
IDC I don't care
IDK I don't know
ILY I love you
IMHO In my humble opinion
IMNERHO In my never even remotely humble opinion
IMNSHO In my not so humble opinion
IMO In my opinion
IMPOV In my point of view
IOW In other words
IRL In real life

J
JIC Just in case
JK Just kidding
JTLYK Just to let you know

K
K Okay
Kewl Cool
Kgid Kjempe glad i deg
KIS Keep it simple
KIT Keep in touch

L
L8 Late
L8R Later
LBH Let's be honest
LOL Laughing out loud
LO2 Lotto (flaks)
L02K5 Ekstrem flaks
LØV Love

M
MIRL Meet in real life
MILF Mother I?d like (to) fuck
MORF Male or Female
MOS Mom over shoulder
MTFBWU May the force be with you
MYOB Mind your own business

N
NE Any
NBD No big deal
NILF Nerd I?d like to fuck
NMU Not much, you?
NP No problem
NRN No response necessary
Noob "Newbie" ? en nybegynner

O
OIC Oh, I see
OMG Oh my god
OTP On the phone
OWTTE Or words to that effect

P
P911 Parent emergency
PAW Parents are watching
PCM Please call me
PIR Parent in room
PILF Professor I?d like (to) fuck
PLS Please
PLZ Please
POC Point of contact
POS Parent over shoulder
POV Point of view
PRW Parents are watching
PWNED Owned/ Å bli eid i feks, data spill.

Q
Q Question
QLT Kult

R
ROFL Rolling on floor laughing
ROFLMAO Rolling on floor laughing my ass off
ROTFL Rolling on the floor laughing
RL Real life
RSN Real soon now
RUOK Are you okay?

S
SFETE Smiling from ear to ear
SIT Stay in touch
SNX Snakkes
SOZ Sorry
STFU Shut the fuck up
SYS See you soon
S2R Send to receive

T
TAFN That's all for now
TBA To be announced
TBH To be honest
THX Thanks
TIA Thanks in advance
TMB Text me back
TOY Thinking of you
TER Ta en Rune/ Drite seg ut offentlig
TTFN Ta ta for now
TTYL Talk to you later
TY Thank you

U
U You
U2 You too

W
WB Welcome back
W/E Whatever
WFM Works for me
WTF What the fuck
WTG Way to go
WTH What the hell?
WU What's up?
WYGOWM Will you go out with me?

X
XOXO Kyss og klemmer

Y
Y Why
YT You there?
YW You are welcome

Z
ZZZ Sliten eller trett

condensed bullet points for short talk

• positives in the recession- less experienced people in work seeking jobs; Risk Aversion
  
• USP - Your own unique selling point - for that company !
  
• MMO - Motivation is king , opportunity is in your favour
  
• Go South
  
• Open Applications - Quality, and get on the phone
• Networking- market research and getting your face known in marketing depts.
  
• Have a personal visiting card or make an MSc course card!
• Go direct to the Decision makers
  
• Use the career office for interview technique and preparation
• 5 interviews to get on your career path - the first rung
• With knock back for jobs or ANY delay of more than say five workign days it is VITAL to GET FEEDBACK on anything you could improve on in application and interview.
  
• You don't need to stick a job a whole year if it is off track or just a foot in the door
• Be demanding in what you want to do when offering your time free through work placement, LEC graduate schemes or just voluntary marketing for charities- get onto some juicy experience. Work shadowing is more productive than photocopying or tele "marketing".
• Bend a sales job in an SME into a marketing job.
• Get a sales job located near the HQ of the company

Tasks or Projects

1. make a class business card and buy the print
   
2. make a class flyer or web site- build the brand
3. Locate all the marketing departments you can in Scotland and say Bristol or somewhere a bit nice to live. DO the same for all the agencies- ad agencies, internet, PR etc etc.As a class, phone them all ! get the key decision makers and find out if they are expanding or just possibly recruiting soon.
   
4. Locate any recruitment consultants who actually help graduates into their first job or decent temporary work
5. Find out about work placement schemes with the LECs, the uni here
6. FInd as many local potential places to work as you can near where you live or may live back with your parents!
   

Your First Marketing Career Move in the Recession

Following on to "Job Hunting for the Marketing Graduate in 2008-09


Let's be positive! Companies need marketing in a recession, some are desperate to survive by reaching new customers. Also companies can be more demanding in who they recruit into marketing because they will expect those few to have a high retention and develop their careers with them. Maybe they will specify marketing education for these first positions whereas before they percieved a more open "best person"- they will be facing many more applications from graduates so they may use this as a filter.

Take another angle as presented in the last blogging, there will be fewer applications from experienced candidates in work because they will be keeping their heads down. Only a handful of marketing managers or even assitants will lose their job, so the competition from them is far less. Further to this, people will not want to leave a secure job to work in a start up or higher risk profession. Sales people will stay out in their cars, and marketing assistants will not move into advertising agencies for example.

The down side is that many, many more graduates will be seeking work and applying to advertised vacancies. It is therefore your task to save companies money by going direct before they advertise or go to the expense of comitting to recruitment firms. You are going to

Going south to the London area becomes more attractive because there will be lots and lots of rental properties and other northerners won't want to risk moving there. COnversely people in marketing jobs in london who own their houses or have a cheap place rented will not want to move due to the whole negative equity thing for the former. So some jobs in the provincial counties ie Up North, out West etc may be more available.

So once again- my key advice: do many, good quality spec' applicaitions, network to markeitng managers to find out how they got there and maybe get your name known, and move south. Get involved with new spin outs and start ups and any LEC or Scottish Enterprise support for small companies or placements for graduates.

The Size and Shape of Your First Job

Being in a job makes it a lot easier to get another job. It puts a value on your head for the recruitment constultants and a percieved "pinch" from another firm of someone who is willing to get out of bed early and work hard. Also YOU are showing your mMO for the job at this other firm OVER that job you have already.

SAYING IT ONCE AGAIN: last time I promise : YOU ABSOLUTELY DO NOT NEED ONE YEAR IN YOUR FIRST JOB to be able to move to a better job.

This puts a new complexion on things- you can take a job any time after your exams and either stuff doing the MSc project, or run it as a project in your job which is a lot better than struggling on in the evenings with it and will get all round brownie points AND probably move you more in to a marketing stream in the company rather than say just sales-

Once in this job you do need to keep it relevant to be able to sell your self out or indeed to just hold on to it and your sanity if nothing else really turns up by the time a year has gone by.

How do you do this? Well you may get taken on a very vague premise as a graduate trainee or just a placement by a LEC and it is easy to get side lined into what becomes largely a telesales job. Turn this on it's head by doing the MSc project there and doing some good quality market research. Demand some marketing responsibility - PR is free, web pages cheap as chips; or actually ask for a defined, ring fenced communications budget. Use my SBM techniques to mopve your job as far away from being a dull direct markeitng, telesales follow up or just endless presentations to potential "partner" ie punters.

Small or Large?

When looking at the above, LEC and spinout/ start ups then these are mostly small or smallish companies. If you land a "marketing assistant" job at a big company it can actually be harder to move out without first moving UP and that can take time - meanwhile you are the marketing dogsbody with your MSc the butt of jokes!

When coming into a small company you have more levarage over your job title. Be cheeky- try and get somethign like product manager, brand manager or even marketing manager ! Avoid being landed with "marketing assistant" or the vague "executive" and ask if you could be at least an Assistant brand/product or marketing manager. I have been offered brand manager and declined out of embaressment for their measily budget after a LEC placement came to be a job.

Small companies don't have the time to waste going back to recruit new or take someone else on a placement so use this leverage and the power of your MSc to win a decent job title in order to spring you out when you want to move into a proper budget company!! Having at least "APM" as job title will make you much more sellable by other people- and on paper, but especially when networking and doubley especially when now contacting those once disinteressted parties, the recruitment companies. Michael Page Marketing will now be calling YOU quite frequently.

When workign for large companies, at entry "assistant" level, you need to make sure that you aren't walking into two years of photocopying or if there are unexpected surprises- try and talk to the person last int he job and push the line manager as to what tasks you will get andwhat the likely career progression would be given hard work! (phrase it as much as what is in it for THEM as ME!) For example there are several jobs in Scotland I have been to which were marketing assistant to begin with and progressed to being a sales or account manager - with few positions ever becoming vacant beyond that. A large company may expect you to serve your time in sales to ever get a brand manager job, and this pretty much reigned in the whisky and beer marketing jobs when I was graduating- a long slog flogg!

Using an Outside Job Offer as an Internal Springboard where you are!

In a recession, complaining about your job when it is clearly as it was in outset is a bad idea.... and even if the "maybe get to do's" talked about don't come to fruition, complaining can put your head on the block when it comes to cut backs or when a bosses niece wants a marketing job! ( i was sacked for this very reason and very nepotistic replacement as the bread winner in a family with children by some fukkking norwegians last year!)


BUT if you aren't getting to do juicy marketing then there is something wrong. You should have looked the gift horse in the mouth and outlined a couple of concrete projects to utilise your skills before you even sign up..... but all that can go wrong and petty jealousys from those already employed can soon see you side lined in an "assistant" role. Trying to get onto projects is good, but you will quite likely end up the dogs body !

IN big companies then you do have to be aware that the best route may be a short time in sales rather than as a marketing dogs body, or alternatively to work in smaller companies as say an APM and come over quickly into such a role in a blue chipper. Ask carefully how for example a brand manager has got into their position.




Ad Agency Versus Client Side in a Recession

Advertising agencies and all the other marketing and related IT business services have a tough time in recessions BUT recover very quickly because they are lean and mean!

The economics of nearly all agencies is simple in a recession- lose a client, lose your job! Big or small, loss of a major client, several smaller or just big budget cuts from them means the company is "right sized" over night.

This is all a very known fact amongst experienced marketers and it is known as a high pressure, long hour job. Agencies of all sorts may be very open to a trial period, free project period or placement because they don't incurr costs. Also you can maybe get in as a dispensible graduat account executive on a low salary. A perfect spring board to other agencies! keep on lookign for a job elsewhere !

Under a recession while in the ad' agency you may find that you have more responsibility earlier than in any client side job, and also it can diversify more quickly as agencies struggle to win "through the line" business from existing clients rather than doing too much pitch work (they have right sized and often just don't commit resources to more than defending current clients as In agency.) So you may start in account planning and end up running a big internet site for a customer!

You will as always get very hands on experience int he mechanics of producing all that is visible in marketing. ALso you will get exposure to doing this profitably with lower budgets! This makes you ideal as a marketing manager in a company needing to cut budgets when you leave the agency world for "client side"


Sales

As I stated above, many marketing positions demand that you have worked in sales wihtin that company or at least industry. I would say in b2b marketing, 90% of product manager have worked in sales. Also there are some plumb foot int he doors at big companies as sales people leave or fight for promotion to an office job which may be percieved as safer. Take overs and down sizing are rife and it is often the cream who leave at the first wiff of redundancies. So there is space often in good territories (worked well by the last guy and with enough potential customers in a small enough geography to maximise your time in creaitng any growth figures)

I would extend whisky and beer sales for PM entry to probably financial marketing- the biggest two employers of marketers for nine years agho when I was a lad!

As a graduate sales trainee you are actually more sheltered fromt he recession than the marketing asssitant. Also you are not expected to be truely performing until 12 months are up, so you may well have moved on before you need to slog those 12 hour days in the mondeo to get a sales track record as a springboard- both strategies in one scentence! Work hard, get results, threaten to leave or just leave to a competitor as a marketing person armed with invaluable information !

Some elements of sales are related to your degree and you should exploit this so as to show prospective employers in marketing how you are apllying your knowledge in not just the usual sales day. Business analysis, customer segmentation, analysing market research reports, business planning, sales conversion analysis, consumer behaviour, real world versus internal blah-blah claims for products. Crucially, marketing communications at the coal face- what works and what doesn't hold water right there and then from the customers response.

As long as you have a nice manager and fun team to work with at training and conferences on Tenerife, sales is fully tolerable and indeed an alternative career in itself. TO move on you will need to get results, which means finding buyers and listening to them over a period of time and winning their trust enough to really find out what will be decisive. Simple as that. wiht a lot of tyre wear and shoe leather using up your grey matters time on this planet. With an arrogant, overbearing and dominatn boss and managemetn structure it can be a nightmare and you should be getting out into their marketing dept asap.

CIM Dip Marketing in 2009-10?

If you are not in a sexy, hands on marketing job but rather at assistant level, in sales or in shitty job, a CIM course wiht attendance at meetings can:

1. keep you sane
   
2. use your brain
3. case study is good for personal development
   
4. network with potential managers who may employ you
5. find out who sales reps work for and beat them into their own marketing departments before they qualify in CIM!!!

Armed with the Dip CIM you can always go down further career development plans with them, and also you can hunt down employers who prefer CIM (only ever met one small company, but LECS maybe like accreditation for consultancies)