One of my personal inspirational sources, Sir Richard Branson, has stated: “I think reputation is really all you have in life – and that´s something you’ve got to fight to protect”. What are the implications of his quote?

First of all, you need to have explicit knowledge about our professional reputation, what it consists of and how you are perceived by others. Then you need to find strategies to protect and develop it further. I believe this leaves you with both good and bad news.

The good news is that it is possible to analyze the main components of your professional reputation, such as skills that come with ease, your ambition level as well as your ability to inspire others. This will allow you to focus on your strengths, deselect what others to better and stand out beyond mediocrity.

The bad news are that there is a large number of assessments and tests available in the marketplace, claiming to present the correct analysis of your personality or professional potential, often encouraging you to assume a certain role, focus on specific behaviors to interact well with business stakeholders and improve your areas of weaknesses.

Wouldn’t it be great if it was possible to de-clutter the scene and understand how other professionals really perceive you and then build your strategy on how to embrace your professional potential more fully based upon your real strengths? Just think about what it would mean to you if you were confident in how others perceive you and used these insights to consciously develop your professional reputation further…

I saved the best news for the end: When trusting your professional reputation outcomes fully, you are in the best position to excel and claim your professional spot where you are or where you ought to be.

The post Managing your most important professional asset appeared first on Katy Caroan.

I must have read hundreds of articles about why I should spend time on social media. And I have spent time reading articles about new tools that makes me save time and maximize my presence in social media to make it profitable. One of the most common questions I get is: “What is the return on investment on this initiative?”

There is a tendency to compare apples to pears, so I believe it is important to define “profitable”. Is it the number of new clients, increased revenue and profit as well as conversion of leads beyond traditional marketing only? Or should we even add things like number of referrals, percentage of returning clients and idea generation for new products and services as well?

Could it even be defined as profitable to be perceived as an authority within your area of expertise, to become the GO-TO-PERSON attracting new business opportunities through more PULL than PUSH? I believe so, and the challenge lies in the traditional calculations of return on investment. It takes time to build a trustworthy social media presence, and to be seen as a savvy social media player, you need to make the media you select support your unique position as a professional.

I understand that people might be hesitant to start blogging or using social media when there is an expectation to come up with something new all the time. Is this really necessary to be perceived as a contributor and effective social media user? From my own experience after supporting more than 100 professionals in embracing social media for themselves, there are 3 main reasons why some succeed and others don’t:

First, savvy, successful social media players are brave enough to share personal information without being private. Second, they are confident in what they want to use social media for and communicating this consistently. Finally, the savviest, most successful ones are the ones who share and acknowledge other people’s content whilst adding their own perspective to it.

People appreciate sharing, acknowledgement and new perspectives. And they want to do business with other people, not brands. This is what makes your social media investment profitable or not. In which way can you apply this in your professional situation?

More hints and tips on this will be available as part of YourVirtualArena.

The post The 3 secrets that make it profitable to be a savvy social media player appeared first on Katy Caroan.

One of the most common questions I get from people who are considering hiring a coach is: “I just feel that I have something undone professionally. But, how can I start taking action if I don’t know exactly what I want to do?” Since early days, we are so drilled into goal orientation, that it almost seems impossible to start acting until we have a clearly defined goal and a master plan to bring us the results we are looking for.

When people are facing a major professional decision, it´s so easy to fall into procrastination mode and start using excuses for not taking action. I should know, as I did it for years.

What strikes me after looking back on my own professional journey and now benefiting from helping others play bigger professional games is that there are a few, key success factors characterizing those who start acting without knowing exactly what they want.

First of all, they are able to visualize what it feels like to be in professional role they are passionate about. Secondly, they are willing to learn new skills, to experiment outside of their comfort zone and to reflect about their insights. And finally, they are assuming an open attitude towards opportunities emerging as part of the process.

When I decided to enter into my current professional adventure as a small business owner, I knew what I wanted to do more of and less of when moving on. I had basically no knowledge nor any guaranties of business partners nor the supplementary services and tools I was about to discover. In fact, some of them did not even exist when I made my professional move, and today these partners, services and tools allow me to offer create my own, unique professional platform.

Which moves did I make? I decided to learn, explore and experiment with services in demand and stayed open to new opportunities coming my way. I made mistakes, I lost time and I stumbled to define my niche. Move-by-move, I started to align more and more with my professional intentions of becoming a business woman supporting my ideal clients no matter where they are located in the world.

I have mentioned it many times before: Everyone has an opportunity to attract professional opportunities in line with their area of passion, but sometimes we need to remind each other to play the BIGGER game. To learn, explore and experiment as part of the process. Nobody should have to feel checkmate in their professional opportunity game. So, which move is next for you?

The post How to avoid checkmate in your BIG professional game appeared first on Katy Caroan.

Then, I ask them to tell me more about what they did previously when they successfully made a change to their career! Often there is silence. And more silence. “What do you mean? It just happened.” Or: “I was lucky”. Most often: “I don’t know”.

Here is the opportunity to uncover your personal recipe for professional success. What exactly did you do to get that promotion? Or to be found by a headhunter? What characterized the circumstances when you were the obvious choice for the recruiter, internally or externally?

When uncovering their stories, there seems to be a pattern of behaviors and actions that happen for each and one. This is the formula that can be used over and over again to attract new professional challenges and use your potential more fully. To some people, acting as your own headhunter comes naturally with ease, others might need a trigger to get focused. Whatever your situation is, you will always be in a position to pursue new professional adventures if you are fully aware of your personal recipe. Maybe it’s high time to test and refine your recipe this time of the year?

The post How to unlock your own recipe for professional success appeared first on Katy Caroan.