Corporate Idealist

photo credit: michelhrv

As much as we might like to look for a silver lining, sometimes we get stuck in jobs that, let’s face it, we hate. But in the face of certain circumstances like oh, I don’t know, a down economy and a tough job market, we may feel we must persevere. But how?

Luckily, CAREEREALISM has your back. In a feature called 6 Strategies for Surviving in a Job You HATE, they call attention to some techniques to help you muddle through somehow. Some of their advice is:

• Time For One’s Self: [...]  It is vital to set some time aside each day, particularly before heading into work.

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• Decompression: Failing to “blow off steam” and letting frustrations build up can be dangerous not only to yourself but to others as well.

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• Keep On Keepin’ On: Anything worth doing at all is worth doing well – even if it’s something you hate. Not only will this give you a sense of accomplishment and pride in yourself, it can also help you down the road should you need a reference.

Been there? Got advice? Sound off in the comments.

Nicholas Holland and Jackson Miller, pictured here, launched gpsAssassin, a location-based multi-player iPhone game, after developing the company and product at last year's Nashville Startup Weekend

photo credit: tmgstudio

This weekend I participated in Nashville Startup Weekend. That’s right: the idea behind this event is to start up a business in a single weekend.

My team (which ranged over the course of the weekend from as many as 8 people at the beginning to as few as 3 people still going at 5:00 AM after Saturday’s work session, and back up to 6 when we presented our new company on Sunday evening) successfully scoped, designed, and built a prototype of a web-based application dealing with group food ordering. We also developed the business plan, marketing plan, and financials for both a bootstrapped and an invested approach all between Friday evening and Sunday afternoon.

This is not merely an exercise; this is a viable business that we will be launching in the coming weeks. Our presentation even garnered investor interest.

In short, over the course of a weekend, with the help of pizza, beer, coffee, and Red Bull, a new company was developed with a marketable product and a business model that is cash flow positive in month 1, profitable in month 3, and can either produce dividends for its creators or become an attractive acquisition target in the months and years to come. And that was only one team: several other companies formed this weekend, too.

The big takeaway from the weekend is this: it doesn’t necessarily take a lot of time or money to do something awesome. What it takes is focus and determination to get it done.

The next time you question whether something can be done, or whether you have the time or resources to do it, maybe try figuring out what you can do. And then do it. And then figure out a way to make the next step happen. And then do it.

It sounds simple enough, but inertia can be hard to overcome. Making that first step is challenging, but incredibly rewarding when it leads to a finished product.

Happy Monday! Here’s hoping your week is full of focus and determination.

photo credit: rahims

We all have them. You give them out pretty frequently, quite possibly at parties. And you probably get a ton whenever you meet up with people.

Get your mind out of the gutter – I’m talking about business cards.

They say so much while saying so little. They’re such a part of the corporate world that we all know what to expect when we see one. Can one really be idealistic when it comes to this staple of society?

Perhaps. That’s exactly the question Matt Cheuvront asks when he challenges his readers to be memorable. His trick? A hand-written business card.

Guy Kawasaki calls attention to the handiwork of Justin Ruckman. These cards are easy on the eyes while cutting to the chase.

Of course, there’s a difference between being memorable and being ridiculed. What you might do by attempting to stand out may have you falling flat on your face. What’s important to remember, then, is the element of risk. No one was ever remembered for playing it safe. No one became remarkable or outstanding by maintaining the status quo.

So, whether it’s your business card or your business suit, your business model or your business plan, be willing to take an appropriate risk. Doing so may open you up to an entire new world of contacts, opportunity, and possibility.

Tell us: how do you take risks at work? How do you know which ones are worth taking?

photo credit: Wagner Machado Carlos Lemes

If the rows and rows of self-help books at the local bookstore are to be believed, we should all be trying to improve ourselves in various ways every moment of every day. And sure, there’s something to be said for allowing yourself to evaluate your own skills and characteristics with unflinching honesty and making efforts to improve areas that matter, especially if something you do (or don’t do) negatively affects other people.

But a post in the wonderful blog Dumb Little Man puts forth that, for greatest gain, we should concentrate on our strengths, not our weaknesses:

It’s so intuitive – “I’m worst at tasks involving my weaknesses, so my greatest potential for development is in these areas. If I work on those things, I’ll become rounded!” Too bad it’s incorrect. Your strengths represent your natural ways of responding to the world; by going ‘with the grain’, instead of against it, you’ll find it easier to perform the amount of practice necessary to reach expertise in your chosen field.

It’s such a great observation, and so easy to overlook. After all, it’s easier to build on momentum than to counteract inertia. I give this advice to my clients when it comes to marketing, as well: concentrate on what’s going right, and figure out how to piggyback off of that in as many ways as possible.

What’s more, as they point out further into the article:

strengths-use leads to happiness. Achieving this happiness means both finding tasks that are suited to your strengths, and finding ways to involve your strengths into the tasks that you do.

Does this mean you shouldn’t look in the proverbial mirror every so often and give yourself a good hard review for potential areas of improvement? Not at all. But it does suggest that the majority of your time is best spent developing your talents and becoming even more of a rockstar at them.