Blogging for Business
A New Way to Boost Your Career (and Land Happily in Boulder)
By Contributing Writer, 6-06-05
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by Dave Taylor
In years past, people relocated because companies moved them, or because word of mouth led to an opportunity across the state or country. My family relocated from England to New York because my Dad wanted to try his luck in America, then we relocated from New York to California when a new assignment
pulled him across the country.
Everything changes in the online world, however, and IBM staffer Alan Cheslow's Weblog Journey to Boulder shows just how different the search for employment has become. Cheslow, based in Marietta, Georgia, is sharing the entire sequence of his planned relocation to Boulder, Colorado, from selling his home in Georgia to finding
a job and home in Colorado. He offers two explanations for why he's doing this: "my motivations for creating the blog were because after looking for resources and advice from others and coming up empty-handed I decided I would document my experiences along the way, and from a purely self-serving standpoint I realized that I needed to market both my myself and my home in order to find a new job and sell my house"
When you consider just how many job seekers have a resume as a one-page Web site, then wait and hope that somehow, someone will bump into them and send a query note, this blog-centric approach to a job search(because that's really what Journey to Boulder is all about) is ingenious and by itself should guarantee Cheslow a number of interesting job opportunities.
Alan's not just looking for a job, though, but planning the relocation of his family - and his wife is pregnant too, as he shares on the site. If you haven't moved while pregnant, well, it's a whole 'nother experience and the
logistics (and ability to weather hassles) is dramatically affected. He explains that "part of the approach that I took in my job search was to market myself just as I would market a product in a "real" job. So I took a
look at what kinds of tools and techniques I use in my professional life and applied those same things towards my job search. I posted in my blog about the use of CRM tools, but I also used tools like Google Adwords, SEO, banner exchanges, and RSS directories to raise my "personal brand" awareness; and tools like LinkedIn for professional networking."
If you're looking for a product manager or marketing person with lots of online savvy and expertise in Internet and digital media, then do Alan a favor, justify the time he's spending blogging, and check out Journey to
Boulder for yourself.
It's no coincidence that AP is running a story this week about how blogging can boost your career; that's what Alan Cheslow has already figured out. If you're doing something interesting business-wise with your own weblog, do let me know about it.
Dave Taylor is an expert on business and technical issues, a long-time entrepreneur, prolific author, and is widely considered an A-list blogger. Learn more about him at The Intuitive Life Business Blog.
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Comments
"Chase Market Velocity" (http://marketvelocity.blogspot.com) is a greater focus and relates to my principal business -- venture consulting. The other ("Chase on Smart Energy" http://chasesmartenergy.blogspot.com) is an area of personal interest which I hope, over time, will become an area of business focus.
What's their purpose?
Chase Market Velocity is a blog focused on issues related to emerging (mainly technology) companies. It has a particular focus on the framework that Mark Leslie has proffered called the Enterprise Sales Learning Curve which I believe will have a major impact on how startups think about how to efficiently scale up a business. [Go to http://altusalliance.com/ceoInfo.html if you want a link to Leslie's whitepaper -- a version of it will be published in a major business publication in the Fall]. In addition, I capture thoughts on how young businesses can effectively grow their revenues, raise funds to faciliate growth, etc. From a bottomline standpoint, I hope being a resource for startups will raise my firm's profile. In particular, I moved away from the city (Seattle) to live in the mountains (Sun Valley) so my business development challenge increased since most of my clients are local. My hope is that this blog will be a partial substitute for in-person business development.
The other blog (Chase on Smart Energy) is geared towards people like me who are ramping up on the potential for the emerging field of "Smart Energy" (see Jesse Berst's company's site -- http://centerforsmartenergy.com/ for more information on what "Smart Energy" means). I believe that Smart Energy based systems will be a trend that has a similar impact to the Internet over the coming 5-20 years. The blog is a way for me to capture what I've been learning and hopefully connect with others who have a passion to create new enterprises in this realm. I post much less frequently but this will probably change as I get more immersed.
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