Personal Branding

Take Action – be in the top 5%

Wendy Terwelp Leave a comment

Courtesy of Marcia Yudkin, www.yudkin.com

When L.A. filmmaker Jeff Bollow moved to Sydney, Australia a couple of years ago, he planned to launch an independent feature film studio but couldn’t find enough commercially suitable screenplays. To beef up the supply, he began teaching screenwriting workshops in his new homeland.

Four years later, he had trained 641 workshop participants, but he still did not have a dependable stable of screenwriters. Although nearly everyone in the workshops loved the training, less than 5% of participants did anything with what they learned.

From what I’ve observed, this outcome has nothing to do with Australia or with screenwriting. It’s human nature. And where Bollow lamented his 95% wasted energy, I see vast opportunity for the 5%.

Taking action on what you know puts you ahead of the majority of your peers. Many know how to attract publicity, for instance, but just let that knowledge sit. When you not only take action, but do it well, you’ll find yourself way, way ahead of colleagues.

Ignoring all the usual excuses may be the most powerful step you take!

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What can I say? Marcia rocks! This advice is essential when job hunting. Don’t just pour over internet ads – NETWORK. Take action. Be creative. For more ideas, check out our newsroom at www.knocks.com/news.html.

Interviewing: What’s your ROI?

Wendy Terwelp 2 Comments

Are you a Matt Damon or a Russell Crowe?

Here’s an exerpt from today’s ERE.net ezine:

“Let’s look at an example to illustrate the ROI of top actors. If you were going to hire a well-known actor for an upcoming action movie you could pick from many obvious choices like Russell Crowe, Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and Angelina Jolie, or you could hire “Joe Nobody.”

Each of the well-known actors will cost you significantly more than hiring an unknown newcomer, but each also has a demonstrated ability to attract a greater return. Forbes.com recently completed a calculation of the ROI of top actors and what it found was:

  • Matt Damon returned $29 in gross movie revenue for every dollar that he was paid (29X or 29 times his salary).
  • Brad Pitt returned $24 for every dollar that he was paid.
  • Tom Cruise returned only $12 for every dollar in pay.
  • Russell Crowe returned only $5 for every dollar in pay (five times his salary).

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to do these calculations. The results, even to an untrained eye, are startling. If you hire Matt Damon, he will return nearly six times more per dollar invested than Russell Crowe. That’s not a 6% difference; it’s a 600% difference! If the comparison was made broader to include the comparison of hiring “Joe Nobody” as a lead actor (instead of a noted star), the difference in the ROI would simply be mind-blowing.

The lesson to be learned here is that the “on-the-job performance” of the hire (often called quality of hire) can be quantified and converted into dollars in the sports and the entertainment industry and that the same calculation needs to be done by the recruiting function in the corporate world.” (Author: Dr. John Sullivan)

So, you’re not an actor, why is this important? It is essential to know how employers look at you when hiring. Next time you are on an interview, think about what you bring to the table that no one else does.

Calculate your ROI – on a per project basis. Take a look at your performance over the past few years. Is there a project you worked on where the resulting savings was more than your salary? If so, how much more? Or if you add up all the projects, ideas, suggestions, enhancements, improvements you made to the organization over the term you were employed, how much money did you save the company? How much – in terms of revenue – did you bring in through yours (or your team’s) sales efforts? By what percentage did you improve the company’s bottom line?

When you calculate these numbers against your salary, are you a Matt Damon or a Russell Crowe? Be sure to convey your star ROI in terms of results on your next interview.

Rock on.

Interview Self-Awareness Quiz

Wendy Terwelp 1 Comment

by Ian Christie, Monster.com

Many employers are looking for candidates with a strong sense of self-awareness. So when you go in for the interview, are you ready to talk about yourself in a convincing way? It can be trickier that it sounds.

Go over this list of statements, indicating if you agree or disagree with them, to determine where you stand. Then we’ll give you suggestions on what you need to work on and how to do it.

Take the quiz here.

What’s invisible to you may be most valuable to others…

Wendy Terwelp 2 Comments

Had to share this fantastic article with you today by Michel Neray, Essential Message. Want to find your inner rock star, check out the article:

You’ve got to be pretty special to make it to the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.

According to the cover story, Amy Winehouse’s ‘stylized collection of R&B throwbacks that sound like a British hip-hop brat’s interpretation of Sixties Motown soul in the best possible way, gave Winehouse the highest-charting U.S. debut ever by a British female.’

It goes on to say; ‘Those who have only heard her voice express shock upon seeing the body that produces it: The sultry, crackly, world-weary howl that sounds like the ghost of Sarah Vaughn comes from a pint-size Jewish girl from North London, world-weary though she may be.

But what really caught my eye in the article was Amy’s own admission that she couldn’t believe it when a friend in the music business had seen one of her earliest perfomances in England and offered to hook her up with some studio time to record some demos.

“I didn’t believe he’d actually let me do it,” she says. “I was like, ‘What’s in it for you?” I just don’t get why he would be so willing to help me. Because I didn’t think it was special to be able to sing.”

Not anything special? That’s something I hear a lot from members of the Bull Pen — who all have their own special expertise, skill or way of doing things, but it comes so naturally, so effortlessly, it’s obvious to everyone but themselves.

Is it possible that you have your own special expertise, skill or way of doing things that comes so naturally and so effortlessly, it’s obvious to everyone but you?

Do you think it might be worth finding out what it is?