The Secret To Successful Marketing

Leave a Comment / Business Training, Small Business Tips / By admin

The Secret to Successful Marketing

Whether you are new to online marketing or having been in the industry for several years you have probably struggled at some point. The number one reason why most individuals fail is because they do not know how to properly market their business. But get that right and the sky if the limit. Take, for instance, the project management training company Parallel Project Training – with astute business development leadership and a dedicated digital marketing company on board, they have grown ten-fold in just a few short years. Their success has been based on a highly active online presence – on their own blog and on other reputable blogs, on social media, on YouTube with their videos and on iTunes with their lively podcasts.

The majority of marketers are still using old school methods to try and grow their business. This includes face to facenetworking events to build a list of contacts. If you want to be successful in any industry you need to rethink your approach and adapt to new ways of doing business and marketing. The secret to successful marketing in the 21st century is adjusting your way of thinking to match the social networking world.

Adjusting Your Mindset

As with any industry in this world, you need to adjust your marketing and mindset to keep up with the times. The main reason why people fail in business is because they are trying to use the techniques from 10-20 years ago. Sure, these techniques can still be used to build a business but you are going to have a very difficult time growing that business and who wants a business that is just ticking over?

You need to adjust your way of thinking. Sorry to burst your bubble but, unlike using an SEO consultant, good ol-fashioned networking just doesn’t cut it anymore. The people who attend those events don’t care about your product or service because they are probably only there to sell their own product or service. Honestly, you will make little progress if you keep marketing your business this way. In fact, one of my close friends tried this approach on Facebook and her friend count dropped dramatically because of it.

In order to build a successful business you need to be there to assist with people’s problems. Be a genuine individual that truly cares about helping people. This strategy applies to both online and offline marketing. If you think your company sponsored website is going to make you millions you are sadly mistaken. You need to have a blog or a website that helps people solve their problems. Help them find answers to what they are searching for. In addition, you need to be there for your friends and family members during these tough economic times. You will be amazed at how many people will ask YOU about your business if they see that you are successful and you are not shoving it down their throats.

Are you passionate about your company and the product or service that you offer? Would you purchase that product if you were not a distributor? Once you build trust with your prospects and they start asking you about your business you need to make sure that you are passionate about your company and the product that you offer. If you have a bad product or a sub-par company it is going to be difficult promoting your opportunity – even after they approach you!

Once you have a company and a product that you honestly believe in you should have no problem building a thriving business if you apply the philosophy above. Simply put your need to build trust and be a leader ahead of trying to sell a product or service and you will be successful. Good Luck!

How To Manage Your Emails Effectively

Managing Conflict With Those You Lead

Leadership and conflict management connections

Conflicts may not happen often, but you will undoubtedly lose the respect of your team if you don’t handle it correctly. You may lose the confidence of your superiors if it is found that conflict is severely damaging output and morale. Promoting employee happiness benefits everyone; as a leader, understanding potential conflicts you may face and strategies to handle them will help you maintain workplace harmony

You are primarily likely to face two different conflicts occurring. The first is personality clashes and conflicts between individual team members, and secondly, the conflict team members have with goals or demands placed on them or the methods required to meet those goals.

To achieve goals, the team must understand not only the destination but also the route to get there. You will see better cooperation and achievement if methods used to complete a project successfully can be agreed upon.

Success requires clear communication both from the leader and the team. One of a leader’s primary responsibilities is to build a team that works well together and can handle differences of opinion without damaging the team’s overall well-being and usefulness. Undoubtedly, a team will comprise varying personalities, which is often essential to identify the best possible outcomes. Too similar characters can leave great ideas missed, so as a leader, you must have the ability to recognise potential conflicts and resolve them quickly. Understanding conflict management will help identify possible causes and give a chance to resolve issues before they occur or provide ways to resolve existing conflicts to ensure the team dynamics aren’t interrupted, and you keep a cohesive unit.

The benefits of sound conflict management for leaders

Even with differing opinions occasionally, a team that works together, successfully managing conflict, will achieve goals, develop strategies, and streamline processes more effectively if they are led well.

Look to assess the situation and only intervene when necessary. Some conflicts may resolve quickly without assistance. When a solution isn’t forthcoming, or the conflict persists, it is time to step in.

Create guidelines. If it is clear that certain situations always cause conflict, try establishing rules that help respectful conduct or use error accountability that defines expected behaviours and consequences when things don’t go to plan.

When you can recognise outside forces likely to cause conflicts, such as changes in work processes that may require additional support for some team members to adjust. In that case, you can establish a training program or offer support where appropriate to team cohesion. This may be enough to reduce the chances of conflicts occurring.

The essential tips for leadership conflict management are staying calm, impartial, and focusing on facts whilst maintaining boundaries. Set clear behavioural expectations and a way for team members to understand what a resolution looks like for each individual to enable the whole team to benefit.

Managing Conflict With Those You Lead

Leadership and conflict management connections

The benefits of sound conflict management for leaders

Project Management And Stress

What Causes Stress In Project Management?

Project deadlines are quickly approaching, team members may be in conflict or uncommitted, senior management may be unsupportive, the customer may be unhappy – the causes of stress can be incredibly varied within project management. Common reasons for stress within project management are:

An overly optimistic timeline that cannot be achieved
The PM does not have control of all the resources
There aren’t enough resources
Team is remotely based and different timelines are causing difficult coordination
Conflict within the project
A stressful project environment
A lack of project management training
PM has too big a workload

These are just a small amount of common causes of stress within project management, within the giant pool of causes that can occur on a daily basis.

Dealing With Stress As A Project Manager

First and foremost, the project manager must actively recognise that they are actually stressed and commit to self-development relating to dealing with stress. When a person remains in denial about being stressed, or the effects it can have, they are not open to stress management. Learning to manage stress takes openness, honesty and commitment to change, none of which can happen if a person doesn’t accept that they are infact stressed.

There are many different ways to deal with stress, which is great, as it means you will be able to find one or several ways to suit you. No one way will usually fix all problems associated with stress, and there isn’t much you can do to get rid of stress completely, bar winning the lottery and going to live on a desert island. So it is important that you aim to work around lots of different types of stress relief, experimenting and figuring out which techniques work best for you.

First and foremost, you may need to address your project management position and it is worth taking a look at your job first to check that you have made it as stress free as possible.

Workload – If you aren’t delegating enough, your manager has been piling on the work and you haven’t been speaking up, or you have been overambitious you may have a workload that is too big to manage. If this is the case, you need to think about how you can cut your workload down. You can take on some more project management training to help you learn how to delegate more effectively. You can speak to your manager about reducing your workload. Recognise that things need to change for you to move forward.
Conflict – it may be you that has conflict or issues with someone in your workplace. Just because you are a PM, doesn’t mean you are immune to having your own personality clashes. If this is the case, recognise that the issue is having a detrimental effect on your working life and vow to get it resolved. It may be a case of resolving the problems with the person, or it might be that you have to speak to HR or higher management. Confide in a neutral party for advice.
Job Dissatisfaction – It may be that you actually don’t love your job, which is why you can’t cope with the stress – because you don’t really care about whether or not you do well. You have no passion or fire for the job you are doing and secretly strive for another career. If this is the case, now is the time to start making a plan for change. Maybe it can be for a few months, for a year or even two years depending on the job you want. You might need project management training, industry training, you might need more experience, but recognise that you can get where you want to but you have to make the first step. Your job will seem much less stressful when you know you’re headed where you want to be.
Work/ Life Balance – Sometimes we are so passionate about our job, our personal life suffers, so we don’t get enough downtime or time with our friends and family and it ends up being stressful. It can be so hard to balance work and life at the same time, but it is doable. If this is the root cause of your stress, you need to take a step back and figure out how to bring the balance back. It will take a number of adjustments which may include cutting your workload, being more efficient, learning to be more disciplined with work hours or booking holidays, but it can be done, the first step is recognising the issue and changing it.

Of course, none of these may apply to you and if they do they might not be immediately adjustable, either way, you need to learn how to deal with the stress you are under or might come under, because project management will always be a job that involves stress.

Here are some useful ways to cope with stress:

Checking Out

Checking out is where you mentally remove yourself from a situation in order to get to a better place in your head. If you are holding a team meeting that is particularly stressful, you are completing a task that is very hard, or you are commuting and find yourself ready to burst with frustration at the delays, this method is very useful. It is simply a case of mentally detaching yourself from the situation. Obviously you have to be really careful how you use this and where so you don’t just checkout when someone is speaking to you. But you can use it at set moments when you really need to. Simply breathe in for four and out for four, and take yourself to a neutral ‘nice place’ that makes you feel relaxed. When you are away from work, it is important to practise ‘checking out’ when you are truly relaxed so you can associate your special place with feeling relaxed.

Detach Yourself From The What If’s

When things are stressful, and particularly in this industry, it is easy to start thinking about the what if’s. What if I had seen that issue earlier, what if I had of chosen a different project, what if I had of dealt with this a few weeks ago. You have to detach yourself from the what if’s otherwise you will stay in the past, and won’t be able to focus on the present and the future. Obviously as a PM your job is to think ahead, but as much as possible you should be mindful and practise thinking about what is happening right now, and only thinking as far ahead as the next step to improve that situation. The more mindful you can be, the better.

Conflict Resolution

Conflict resolution is a great skill to have, and is useful both in work and outside of work. Within project management there will be lots of times when tempers flare, or when conflicts are ignored and the stress rises either directly with you, or with people around you. Conflict resolution enables you to actively resolve these issues and therefore remove the cause of the stress.

Heated Conversations

One thing that we can often do, with our wealth of knowledge, is get into heated conversations at work in order to assert our authority or beliefs. We basically end up fighting to be ‘right’ all of the time. This is a massive cause of stress, especially as usually we won’t ever feel we have been heard. Think about why you have this need to be right, and work on that issue so you stop getting into heated conversations. Working on your emotional intelligence levels will help a lot with this problem.

Gaining Perspective

Sometimes we can see situations as hugely important when really, they aren’t. A great trick to deal with this when something seems like ‘the end of the world’ is to wonder whether you will look back on it in a year and even remember it at all, or you will look back and it won’t have been a big deal at all.

Prioritising

Sometimes stress can be resolved by prioritising all the tasks we have to do in the day. If we get the tasks we must do done first thing, before the tasks that are less important, then you will feel super productive by dinnertime. This is an amazing lift and can ensure you are eating your lunch feeling incredibly light.

Recognising Extreme Emotions

If you can recognise when you are reacting strongly over something, you can do something about it. Recognise that you are angry over something when really you should just be irritated, that you are really down about something when really it should just be making you feel a bit sad. When your emotions are extreme, often stress is the problem, and the sooner we recognise the cause, the sooner we become more rational and able to cope better.

Health

Exercise can be an incredible stress reliever and it will not only benefit you physically, but mentally. It will turn on all those happy hormones, help regulate your sleep and enable you to literally work away your stress. Your diet can also have a huge effect on stress levels. Vitamin deficiencies can have an effect on cognitive function and energy levels, and dehydration can have a massive effect on our ability to cope with stress. So drink plenty of water, eat the rainbow and invest in your diet so you’re getting everything you need and more, to give you a truly well balanced diet.

Meditation

Meditation is an amazing skill to learn, and if you can master it, you can give your brain the true break it needs every day. A little yoga in the morning followed by some focused meditation, is a fabulous way to start the day.

How To Tell You’re Stressed

You might be suffering from stress if you:

Are more irritable than usual
Are feeling very emotional very easily
Are tired and struggling to sleep well
Have a reduced appetite or loss of appetite
Have a more extreme reaction to stressful situations than usual
Are struggling to cope with everyday project management tasks

Of course, it is possible that you may also be suffering from something more serious than stress, and if that is the case it is important to seek professional help. Severe depression and anxiety can show many of the same symptoms as stress, so be sure to checkout this link if you think you might be suffering from issues more extreme than generalised stress.

Managing Expectations When You’re Mentoring Someone Else

In the beginning

Before clarifying your mentor relationship with the person you’re mentoring, you should seek to answer some basic questions yourself. Entering into the initial mutual discussion understanding your own expectations and what you hope to achieve, as well as defining what you expect to be offered from the mentoring relationship will give you a good starting point. Once done you will be better placed to have the critical mentor meeting as you embark on the program.

Understanding Expectations

Seek to answer these questions:

What do I expect of the other party?
What do I think they expect of me?
What are my expectations of the mentoring program?
What should the mentor expect of the mentored person’s immediate manager to support them to succeed in the program?

Once you have the answers, you have made progress to understand your own expectations. You should then seek to align these with your counterpart.

At the outset of the mentoring process sit down with the person you’re mentoring and discuss the expectations you have from the relationship, before you progress any further. As the mentor you should lead the conversation, but you must allow space for the other person to articulate their needs and expectations.

Following these three steps will help you cover some of the key areas you need to clarify:

As the mentor, state your expectations, and allow the other person to ask questions and clarify what is offered and what your expectation means.
As a mentor you are seeking agreement on the expectation. Agreeing a common definition and understanding for every aspect of the mentoring partnership in advance will avoid potential confusion or feelings of resentment later through the mentoring program.
If you cannot agree on any of the expectations or feel that they are not realistic at this time or are not appropriate, you can mutually decide to put them to one side to be revisited at a future time. As the program moves forward there may be a chance for agreement later on or for a mutually agreed adjustment.

As the mentor you are there to guide the person you’re mentoring through the targets and make progress as expected. This role is often used to foster career development, which is of benefit to both parties enabling them to grow within the business and as a person. However, sometimes employees may not progress in as short a time as you think they should, which could cause anxiety on both sides. Understanding how to mentor an anxious employee is a useful skill to have, allowing you to manage their expectations and your own, so that things do not become problematic.

Make Money At Home | Ten Options

Leave a Comment / Business Success / By admin

Make Money At Home

As the Holidays begin to peek around the corner people are beginning to search for ways to make money at home for the up-and-coming gift giving season. Not only that, the recession has hit people hard and I honestly believe that home based businesses are going to explode in the coming years as more and more people look for ways to make money at home.

Whether you choose to offer a decorating service or a grocery shopping service, advise people on how to declutter a home or, indeed remove the clutter in your truck – the options are endless.

Make Money At Home | Ten Options

10. Grocery Shopping Service. Put an add on Craigslist or in the paper that targets the elderly and busy moms. Have people email their shopping list to you and you can do their shopping for them. If you advertise in Craigslist you will not need to spend any money on marketing.

9. Internet Tutor. I personally do not know a single person who does not own a computer. However, there are still millions of people that are completely clueless (my mother-in-law, for one) when it comes to operating their computer and using the internet. Again, you can advertise on Craigslist for free. Charge by the hour.

8. Hauling Service. If you have a truck you can advertise a Hauling Service on Craigslist. Offer to haul away peoples junk, tree branches or trash and charge per load. With decluttering so popular as people seek to get more organised and create a less stressful life their are plenty of people who need someone to remove their clutter. (See this Ultimate Guide to Decluttering if you need some encouragement to declutter)

7. Translation Service. Are you fluent in another language? Start a translation and transcription service or become a tutor. Another option is to tutor people in English where that is not their first language – especially foreign business people who have been posted to the US and want to improve their spoken English. Yet another option for those with a second language is to become a voice-over artist. Look for a specialist voice-over agency like Matinee who can find you work and advise on the equipment you’ll need at home.

6. Holiday Decorating Service. You can decorate residences and businesses for the upcoming Holidays. You could do both interior and exterior. Charge by the hour.

5. Live-in Carer Jobs. Help look after an elderly person who wants to remain in their own home instead of going into a residential care home and giving up their personal space and independence. According to the not-for-profit organisation the Live-in Care Hub (www.liveincarehub.co.uk) there is a massive demand for carers now more people know that live-in care is an alternative to a residential care home.

4. Window Cleaning. Charge by the window or by the size of the house. You don’t want to charge hourly because you can clean a LOT of windows in one hour.

3. Garden Care Service. Mow, trim, weed lawns and include leaf removal during the Fall. You could also include snow removal during the winter months. You will need a good mower and trimmer to start with. Investigate the competition to set your rates.

2. Start An Online Business. Join my blog by signing in with your name and email address on the home screen and I will provide you step-by-step instructions on how to start an online business.

1. Blogging. There is now a complete blogging and marketing system that you can use for $25/month. The best part? You can share with it others that want to blog and you get 100% affiliate commissions for everyone that uses your affiliate link to join. $25/month in residual income for everyone that you share the blogging and marketing system with. In my opinion, this is the best way to make money at home. Also, perforeming an SEO health check will help you.

10 Ways To Make Money At Home – Conclusion

As you can see, by using some imagination you can easily come up with several ways to make money at home. Making money at home is not as challenging as some think. Regardless of how you make money at home, new technologies such as this wireless credit card reader will help you take payments digitally.

I have started several successful businesses from my home and now I am thankful to be a full-time blogger and entrepreneur.

Project Management Resources

Leave a Comment / Project Resources / By admin

Whether you are leading a small team on a small project or heading up a large department, leadership needs to morph and change in response to a range of internal and external factors. It is essential you keep pace with change which is why leadership podcasts should be at the top of your list.

Having your finger on the pulse of leadership challenges and opportunities means the way you respond as a leader is appropriate but also forward-thinking. Podcasts allow you to access information and ideas when you are either on the go or relaxing. But which podcasts are the go-to for leaders?

1 Leadership & Loyalty

For anyone taking their first tentative steps into leadership, this is a must-listen. Hosted by strategist and author Dov Baron, the range of topics linked to leadership make this a podcast you’ll listen to time and again.

Tapping into the expertise of guests from across a range of industries, Leadership & Loyalty hosts a range of interesting discussions.

2 Leadership2020

The Leadership2020 podcast, hosted by Clare Carpenter, an expert in HR and recruitment, examines in detail the need for changing leadership in a changing world.

Like most podcast hosts, Clare delves deep into the issues around leadership and business with some of the biggest names in business and recruitment. 2020 is turning into a turbulent year for all kinds of reasons and now, more than ever, leaders need to step up their game.

3 Entrepreneurs on Fire

An American based podcast, the content of Entrepreneurs on Fire means that there is something for everyone, no matter what industry or sector you work in.

As both leader and entrepreneur, there will be hard failures and wonderful opportunities and successes. But as a leader, you’ll need to utilise and optimise both. This is essentially the crux of this podcast and one that also provides daily business updates that are interesting too.

4 The Jocko Podcast

The Jocko Podcast my not be everyone’s cup of tea but if you believe in the underlying principals of military leadership being useful in the business field, then there is some interesting content for you here.

Straightforward and non-fussy, you would expect that the surprisingly direct interview style of the podcast host John Willink would put people off opening up. However, you’ll find they respond with the same direct appeal, a great way to pull out the principles and ethics of their leadership qualities.

5 Engaging Leader

All these podcasts are built around their own take and premise on leadership and the qualities people need to develop to become an effective forward-mover in any industry. The Engaging Leader podcast is all about using connections and engaging relationships to get the best out of people, all with the drive of making a bigger and better impact.

Again, its programmes boast a range of fantastic interviews with previous casts littered with interesting discussions.

Podcasts are fantastic for delving into subject areas and matters, leadership included, that you wouldn’t normally come across. And these five podcasts are just a handful that you’ll find useful.

7 Minute Workout – Really?

If you are reading this review, chances are you are either a 7 Minute Workout rep or you are looking at whether this is the right business opportunity for you. Finding the right business opportunity can certainly be stressful and I commend you for doing your due diligence.

Let me first start out by saying that I am neither an affiliate or a customer for this company. My goal is to provide an unbiased, third-party review of the organization, products and compensation plan so that you can make an informed decision on whether the 7 Minute Workout business opportunity is right for you.

In addition to reviewing this opportunity I will also provide some information at the end of this review that will explain how the most successful 7 Minute Workout reps are building very large organizations using the power of the internet.

The 7 Minute Workout Organization and Products

Co-founded by Joel Therien and Chris Reid, 7 Minute Workout launched in June of 2011. They have created a fitness program that is suitable for individuals of all shapes, sizes, ages and fitness levels. The program is sold by the companies affiliates using the direct sales model and multi-tier system.

As the name of the business would imply, the product is a workout regimen that is to be completed 2-3 times per week at 7 minute intervals. Customers that use the program have access to an online tracking system for their weight, body measurements and a social media system that is focused on health and wellness.

Customers can join the program for $24.97 per month (very reasonable in my opinion). For the cost of 5 Big Macs you can spend 7 minutes a day working out instead of eating; brilliant!

The company stands behind their product by guaranteeing that their system will get individuals into the best shape of their life if they just workout for just 7 minutes, 3 times per week. They offer a 30-day no questions asked money back guarantee. They do have some incredible testimonials of individuals with almost unbelievable results.

Show Me the Money!

Always the highlight (and most read) section of all my reviews a look at the 7 Minute Workout compensation plan.

As an affiliate for the company and in order to earn commissions on sales and referrals you need to pay a one-time fee of $149.97 plus maintain the $24.97 per month membership fee.

The company uses a binary multi-tier compensation plan and affiliates are paid for both personal referrals and the referrals in their downline. They do offer a “fast start” bonus and team cycle bonuses that are paid on a 4/2 split.

Should You Join As an Affiliate?

This is certainly the million-dollar question now isn’t it (no pun intended)? After reviewing the 7 Minute Workout organization it is clear that they have an amazing product that is getting results. My only question is can I do it in the shower? This is the only time in the day that I have 7 minutes.

I would be a little hesitant to recommend this company but the 30-day money back guarantee certainly gives me a little more confidence. I will certainly be keeping an eye on this company as the months go by to see if their business plan is sustainable in this very competitive niche. Fortunately, the company is tapping into a resource that we all lack; time!

Although the 7 Minute Workout affiliate opportunity does look very viable business, reps should not expect success overnight. The reps that tap into the power of the internet are going to be the most successful. The affiliates that grasp the philosophy of attraction marketing and use an online marketing system to drive their business will quickly rise as leaders in the organization.

How to Achieve Business Success

Leave a Comment / Business Success / By admin

It is no secret that the majority of those people who try to start their own business fail to achieve success. Running your own business is much more difficult than simply turning up each day to your corporate job but the rewards can be much more lucrative once you find success. A lot of people have found success running a small business. If they can, there is no reason why you can’t achieve success as well. Below are the things that you need to increase your chances of finding profitability in your small business. If you have all these, there is nothing to stop you from achieving the success you have always been dreaming of.

5 Tips to Achieving Business Success

1. Patience. No genuine business is a make-money-fast scheme. Yes, you can earn money on the day you start your company but if you want to keep a steady income, you have to be very patient. Be patient with every aspect of your business. Be patient when generating leads. Be patient when doing social media marketing. Be patient when communicating with potential leads. This is where a lot of businesses make a wrong turn. They can’t wait long enough to see their efforts work. They have this notion that if you run a PPC ad today, you will get a hundred leads tomorrow. This is not how online marketing works. The truth is it can take weeks or even months before you get to see any leads trickle in. If you are not patient enough to wait for weeks or months, then starting your own business is probably not right for you.

2. Focus. You can never achieve business success if you don’t know how to focus. You should learn how to eliminate all the unnecessary distractions around you. Another big mistake that a lot of business owners are guilty of is that they keep on trying to do many things all at the same time. They have this wrong impression that the more things they do, the more money they can earn. They end up being caught up in too many activities. The sad part is these activities are getting wasted or aren’t getting any results. That said, you should only focus on activities that are getting results. The general rule is to focus on the most important matters and put aside everything else.

3. Mentors. You need a mentor especially if you are just starting out. They will show you the way and advice you on how to avoid the mistakes that newbie business owners usually make. You have to make sure though that the mentor has the experience to back up whatever lessons or tips he/she is going to teach you.

4. High quality products and services. If you have great products and services in your hands, you will be able to create a line of loyal customers over time. These people will keep on coming back to you because of the quality of your stuff. Make sure the tools you use are also high quality, such as a keyword research tool.

5. You need to have a training and marketing system in place. Do not try to do all of your marketing on your own or you will have a very difficult time getting found online. In my opinion, use the experts for the best online marketing.

Achieving Success with Internet Marketing

With the proper tools, resources and mentoring I honestly believe that anyone can achieve busines success with Internet Marketing. The majority of individuals fail at ever achieving success because they constantly push their opportunity and product instead of offering value to those that are desperately asking for help. If business owners quit worrying about themselves so much and started focusing on helping others they would be able to achieve success a lot faster. Business success is achievable as long as you have the attributes and things discussed above.

How Important are professional qualifications for your career?

A more traditional approach

As already mentioned the APM Project Management Qualification (remember the one that used to be called the APMP?) is designed for anyone who sees a knowledge of project management as an essential part of their role – even if they are not actually a project manager. So, for instance a member of the PMO (Project Management Office). It provides a solid foundation in PM skills, tools, processes and behaviours. Anyone can take this course and achieve a professional qualification,.

So undertaking training to gain professional qualifications, and continuing to develop your skills and knowledge, are now a part of many careers. And, indeed, sometimes the only way to distinguish yourself from other professionals with the sme level of experience.