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How To Keep Your Job

24 July 2011

Welcome to Book Four! I can hardly believe that I now have four books out there in the world, paddling their little canoes through the choppy waters of sales and marketing.

It took me a while to realise that writing books is the easy bit… what requires real energy is selling it. I do something every single day to sell books, whether it’s checking Amazon rankings, or setting up tweets, or jotting down blog ideas. It all feeds in to the process of chatting to people and pointing them at Amazon and like all good processes, it leads to good outcomes. It also leads to new friends and more support.

And what progress so far? Well… Job Hunting 3.0 has sold out at Amazon and new stock is due in on 27th July. It’s going to be reprinted in February as a mass market paperback. And then there’ll be a film, probably staring Brad Pitt as me I would think.

Oh hang on, one of those statements is false. Sorry Brad, you’ll have to find something else to do next year.

And I’ve been asked to go ‘from book to brand’ in a quest to focus a bit on getting a bigger reputation as a Modern Careers writer and expert coach. (I coined the term Modern Careers, as the words ‘careers expert’ bring back uncomfortable memories of my careers master at school, who was to careers advice what Darth Vader was to charitable works.)

Now, you might be wondering what this has to do with How To Keep Your Job. And the answer is simple:

1) Do something everyday to sell yourself in a positive light. Maybe smile at a colleague, share good news with your boss, or make the tea.

2) Think about your own personal brand. How would you describe yourself in three words? What would your colleagues say? Do the two views overlap or diverge?

We all have power and we can all assert ourselves, find our voice and make a positive difference to our future.

Two years ago I didn’t have a book deal and knew nothing about social media. Today I’m about to start planning book five and have built strong networks on Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn. And I recently found out that Marshall Cavendish now account for your social media reach when deciding on whether to commission you. So, all my work is paying off and I love being a writer.

And here’s the thing: If you want to keep your job you can take your power and use it to really make a difference. I did. And so can you!

Good fortune!

PS… My first book, called My Boss Is A B@$T@*D, was featured in The Guardian on Saturday. Please click on the link now if you want to read the article on line.

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