After a much needed long weekend away in the BobbleBox, I'm back to it, building on my successes, and learning how to be more focussed and effective.
Yesterday I sat through an awesome live tutorial on YouTube strategy from Justin Brown at Primal Video, and topped up some of my Microsoft Office skills with Leila Gharani.
Today I've reworked my LinkedIn profile, reworked my CV and sat through some of the most insightful LinkedIn Learning I've picked up so far: Guy Kawasaki's (not the motorcycle manufacturer, the guy who helped develop Apple) Turning life wisdom into business success. It's well worth signing up for your free trial to LinkedIn Learning just to listen to this one recording.
So, what are the biggest things I took from it? There are three things I kind of already knew that have been reinforced, and I've been able to apply them to my specific situation.
Be Unique AND Valuable:
If I can deliver something to you that's Unique AND Valuable with the emphasis on being on VALUABLE TO YOU, it improves my chances of success.
WIN - WIN - WIN:
If You win...
then I Win,
The businesses I work with to help you win also benefit
Rejection is not failure:
It's a numbers game
Do what you need to do to gain traction
Learn and develop
Stick it out - overnight success doesn't happen overnight
It's been two months since I was made redundant, and I'll be honest, it's been tough! There's dozens of jobs out there, but hundreds of candidates. Have I just sat on my behind and applied for jobs? No, I haven't... it's been a slog but I'm gaining traction.
I've developed www.dnay.co.uk as a hobby site, and www.d, learningwatadave.uk to promote my business.
I've created a Data Dave YouTube channel, and produced five videos to promote my business.
I'm developing a Social Media presence on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
So, how am I already measuring up?
Be Unique AND Valuable:
No individual part of what I'm offering is unique. There's tons of content on Excel and other Microsoft add-ons, and there's a lot on business, and system analysis and governance.
Where I believe I am Unique(ish) and Valuable is that I can bring all three (and everything in-between) together.
WIN - WIN - WIN:
It's all about you - Yes, I need to make a living out of what I'm doing, I've just been made redundant six years short of retirement with a sizeable hole in my pension pot. Over time I'll build a Social Media presence that I hope will be able to fill the hole.In the meantime, I'm offering my wealth of knowledge to you at a fraction of what you could save.
If you feel you need reassurance that my audatious claim that I could save you hundred's of thousands of pounds, then don't just take my word for it, watch the first two minutes of this video. Then, come back to me.
Rejection is not failure:
It doesn't make it any easier to swallow, but I've always known this. If I didn't know this I wouldn't be writing this blog.
To close this blog, a quick recap of some of my core skills.
My full CV/Resume is available on request.
Business and Data Analysis: I have a long track record of successfully translating business needs into viable, coherent, and relevant solutions.
Dashboards and reporting: Graphical and Textual Insight for Exec Summary and operational analysis with easy access to core data.
E2E Stakeholder Engagement: Requirements Capture and Translation, Manage Expectations. Challenges to the norm and/or relevance of a request are carefully considered, and constructive.
Re-use, adapt: Robust regression testing is applied to ensure existing processes / end users are not impacted.
Work with quantitative data and qualitative insight: Logical thinker with experience of Form and Workflow setup and management.
Confident working solo or as part of a team: Quick to learn, happy to assist. Instructions are clear and concise.
Soft Skills: Proactive, inventive, flexible, adaptable, and acutely attentive to detail.
Expert user of
Excel
Access
Word
PowerPoint
SharePoint
with extensive experience of other applications including
Statistical Analysis,
Mind-Maps,
Forms and Workflows
Video Recording and Production
Website
AND, I bring the added bonus of being a qualified Quality Professional.
=IF((Your gain)>(My cost),“Hire Me”,”Walk Away”)
