Happy New Year!

Thank you to everyone who has supported me and the Awaken Your CAREERpreneur community since the launch of my book in 2010. While the AYC blog has come to a close, feel free to check-out posts from the last year-and-a-half from my team of writers and me regarding how to make career success a way of being.

If you haven’t visited me over at AlexiaVernon.com, I hope you will stop on by. You will learn how to make heart-centered, high-impact communication and presentation skills a way of being through my Step Into Your Moxie programs. Be sure also to check out my keynotes, presentations, and workshops. And most importantly, hop onto my Obstacles Into Opportunities list so that you can have a 3-5 minute burst of Alexia delivered straight to your inbox each week!

A few weekends ago, I decided to take a restful break from work.  It was around the 4th holiday.  Since there were only a few pending projects, I thought it would be a good time to relax and refocus from my never-ending business task list.

Now please know, this is very unlike my usual weekend plans.  I tend to schedule brainstorming sessions or chunks of time to catch up on projects.  The weekend is a great time to work undisturbed when you haven’t been able to get to everything during the busyness of the week.

But I thought about how “productive” I could really be – by taking a complete break. Continue Reading »

If you’ve spent anytime looking at profiles on LinkedIn, you will notice a trend amongst those who share their value and brand in a clear, concise and impactful way. They’ve spent some time crafting their headline.

This is not just for social media gurus.  This advice applies to anyone who wants to stay relevant in today’s changing economy where recruiters are seeking talent through all sorts of media – including prescreening using social media.  Even if you are not working full time, you can use this advice to ensure future clients or vendors know more about your professional background as LinkedIn is commonly one of the first sites that comes up as someone searches your name.

The headline is the text directly below your name. Far too many people rely on their current job title to showcase their headline. This limits your impact. When someone is reading your profile, they will not be able to distinguish you from others who hold the same job title. Continue Reading »

Elevator etiquette, once an art form of wrangling a sale, pitching the boss, or catching that hard-to-reach colleague for a few seconds, is now something of an anomaly. Ipods, often with the volume on ’10′ from the woman or gentleman standing beside us now provide a free soundtrack during our ride, and blackberries allow us to further multitask, while also providing a distraction from making eye contact with anyone sharing our car.

What was once known as the “elevator speech” – a staple in business communication, has now been halved, if not cut in thirds. We barely have time to chat anymore. It seems those who do generate conversation are the minority, and I’ve felt out of place quite a few times when a colleague and I would speak aloud.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported on advances in elevator technology, and how these advances may be dismantling the concept of the ‘elevator speech’ all together. Companies can now offer elevators which allow employees to punch their needed floor on a keypad when first entering the building lobby. They are then directed to a specific elevator with others from their floor, significantly reducing travel time. An average elevator ride, once 89 seconds has now been reduced to 50 seconds. In addition, some companies offer elevators which can route employees by rank, or bosses can even override a passengers’ floor selection, forbidding that individual from entering a specific floor. Continue Reading »

I was home recently answering email when the electricity suddenly shut off.  Thinking it was just my apt, I went to the fuse box and flicked the switch.  No response.   I poked my head out of the window and realized that the entire block had also lost electricity as lights, ACs and other noisy engines had shut down.

I panicked and  immediately shut down my computer to avoid losing my work.  But in the midst of closing everything – I came to a realization.  If this event had not occurred, would I have been able to prioritize my “things to do list” so effectively?  No way.  I had a list of emails to respond to, people to follow up with and tasks to complete.  But most of it was busy work.  Why wasn’t I prioritizing my time to bring in new business and gain additional sales?

While I don’t recommend having a black/brown out to teach you this lesson, I recommend thinking in this manner to see what you are spending your time on.  Are you  trying to start too many projects?  Run too many events?  Keep too many balls juggling in the air?  If you are like me and many typical entrepreneurs, you probably have more ideas than hours in a day and need to ensure you are focused on what brings in money on your bottom line.

So I spent the time without electricity thinking if I only had 2 hours of time on my computer – what would I do?  What activity would result in maximizing my time in generating revenue…rather than my endless list of operational tasks?

I came up with a list that included:

1. Outsourcing a graphic design and writing project on www.elance.com.  Sure,  I could probably do the work myself.   But I’d rather spend a few bucks an hour than lose the potential to develop a large sale.  It works out cheaper – even with the additional time I need to spend managing the outsourcers.

2. Partnering with event professional www.lizkingevents.com for an upcoming workshop.  Rather than managing all of the operational details (like registration lists, advanced PR and confirmation), it is more efficient to get help and hire an expert in this area.

3. List 50 sales prospects to contact this week and set up emails/call for outreach.  This task I often push back on my Daily Things to Do List – citing the need to put out more “fires” like my above examples.  But if include it higher on my list and seek ways to outsource more projects, it will provide greater opportunities overall.

Entrepreneurs,  it’s time to put down the endless list of operational tasks.  They are important but focus your energy and your time on generating sales and maintaining revenue projections – rather than just the “busy” work.

Let me know what you are re-prioritizing for your company after reading this post!

I left work after 10pm one evening this week with my head spinning with ideas – new clients to reach out to, contracts and proposals to write, and wondering how I was going to manage all of it with limited time.

I was approached by a woman on the train platform.

For those who are unfamiliar with NYC subway etiquette – you don’t approach strangers.  And you certainly don’t approach them and hand them anything.  But she was dressed in professional work clothes and didn’t seem like she might be harmful so I glanced down at what she handed me.

It was an Avon catalog. Continue Reading »

Despite the threatening clouds overhead, the distant scoreboard along the far edge of the football field warned, “no umbrellas allowed!” Thankfully, officials did allow ponchos. With 800+ students graduating from college (my younger brother included), and many with at least 4+ family members in the stands, it was quite the bustle of activity. Assigned the task of retrieving our raingear, my dad returned with 4 ponchos just before the rain began to fall. In a span of about 10 seconds, everyone in the stadium was on their feet, and black and red trash bags flew everywhere. Grannies, aunts, parents, teens, 2 year olds – everyone was rushing to cover themselves and their loved ones. “Where’s the hole in this thing?!?” “Does this have arms?!?” and “I can’t see!” rang throughout the bleachers. What had once been a fairly calm scene of entire families in nicely-fitted suits, ties and groomed hair had now turned into a storm of flailing plastic.

This particular Saturday, which we had foreseen as a beautiful, sunny graduation morning, had turned into a very gray, wet and cold couple of hours, and as my mom, dad, sister and I sat along the hard metal benches, with the sky spitting on us on and off throughout the morning, we couldn’t help but look around and simply laugh. Mother Nature had defeated us. The hours of grooming and preparation before the ceremony; the special clothes picked out just for today; the books I had brought to read while waiting – they were all useless at this point in time. Continue Reading »

Over the weekend I had the privilege of coordinating and participating in The Pachamama Alliance’s international symposium, Awakening the Dreamer (ATD). For those unfamiliar with the program, it gives communities an opportunity to come together to address the social, economic, and environmental crises of our time, explore where we are and how we have gotten here, and most important identify the opportunities for us to lead a change of course moving forward.

I am the Millennial cliche of a perpetual learner. I can’t imagine ever getting to a place where based on age, degree, or narrowing mindset I don’t still love being in a classroom or audience having my mind stretched. Much of my thrill of learning comes not only from what a teacher, trainer, or facilitator shares. Rather, I love how these folks’ ideas start a chain reaction of my own ideas. While in an adult learning environment I’ve gotten many an idea for a blog post, chapter, new service, and even a theatre piece. This weekend while at ATD, the quotes, videos, facts, and testimony that our leader, Ningay Sing, shared prompted me to start thinking about what I have thought I have known at various points in my life. As a coach, I often frame what I believe–and what I’m seeking to explain to my clients–in alliterative distinctions. i.e., forgiveness and not forgetting. I discovered that I can really chart my evolution of ideas by these less than 140-character, Tweet-like phrases. They tell the story of my life  in a way I rather like. Continue Reading »

I recently taught a business plan class and was blown away by the number of students who had not yet started their business.

The course was at the half way point and all of the students had amazing business ideas.  New products to import and export, new services they could enhance, online applications that could save time or create new communities and even a not for profit that targeted a new client niche.  They had constructed their ideas on well thought theories, were in varying stages of market research, and had outlined their first year of income and expenses.

Yet none of them had actually started the business.

They gave me a host of reasons

• Not enough cash
• Finalizing legal structures
• The need for venture capital of other financing options
• Selecting potential partners

These were all good reasons.  But none of them could answer why they hadn’t started testing the ideas on a few select customers and getting feedback. Continue Reading »

Known for her sharp wit and off-the-cuff brilliance, Tina Fey is a comedian respected well beyond the entertainment field. Her new book Bossypants has become an immediate best-seller, and with good reason. She recently sat down with NPR Fresh Air’s Terry Gross and hit upon a number of stories, including her early years as a comedian and the training she received. A number of remarks touched me, though one of the most striking quotes included a rehash of one of the cardinal rules of improv, as she noted, “… make statements. Don’t ask questions, and put the onus on the other person to come up with something. You come up with something, give it to them, and then they have to react with something.”

 I was struck by the difference made by a mere intonation of the voice, a statement and a question. In the sphere of language, questions can also be extremely powerful, though, here , Tina refers to the power of assertiveness, and the importance of taking a stand. Daily, we are required to speak with confidence. Whether we need to sell a product, convince our colleagues to up the quality on a project, or voice our disagreement with how the direction the company is headed, we all have a voice and deserve to be the force others react to. Continue Reading »