He stood at the bar, surrounded by people…yet all alone.

Music. Talk. Laughter. A blender. Noise. He was aware of them all but his thoughts were even louder.

Why did she leave me? Why doesn’t she love me anymore?

She used to be his biggest fan. She used to tell him so.

And she never stopped telling others how much she loved him. She said so…on Facebook and Twitter and in real life.

Listen to the audio version of this story. Click the player to hear it on The BIGG Success Show podcast.

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When they first got together, people said they were a perfect match. He looked out for her needs. He took care of her. His passion was visible to everyone.

But over time, he began to take her for granted. He thought she would always stick with him. She would always be a fan.

She would catch him looking at others. At first it was just a glance. But the glances showed more interest as time went by. He didn’t think she noticed; he was wrong.

She also noticed that he didn’t look out for her like he used to. He just didn’t seem to care as much.

The passion was gone. But she wondered if he still loved her.

He seemed more distant. It seemed like he found others more interesting than her.

It used to be just the opposite. No one was like her. He was devoted to her. But now it had come to this.

She couldn’t take it anymore. She left him.

She started buying from his competitor.

His competitor shows the same kind of passion for her that he used to show. She hopes this relationship lasts.

It’s complicated…but if it works out, she’ll talk about him on Facebook and Twitter and everywhere else she can.

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast:
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The news has been full of storm clouds. Among other indicators, unemployment is rising. There is one thing you can do to face challenges like this with confidence – prepare for it in advance by keeping your options open. Here are four ways to do that:

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Visibility

Insure that people see you doing what you do best. Is your job "outbound" so you're clearly visible to customers? If so, capitalize on that relationship. Ask them for a brief note about working with you. It will come in handy at your next evaluation or if you need to look for other work.

If your job doesn't expose you to anyone outside your company, then work on your visibility. Get involved in your industry. Look for conferences you can attend. Participate in forums and comment on blog posts about your industry. You might even consider starting your own blog to show off your expertise. Volunteer to work for your favorite non-profit.

There are many ways to do it. Get started right away if you’re not already doing it. And then do a little maintenance – reach out in some way – every day.

Networking

It's amazing how many people land a new job through a referral. It's also amazing how much business results from our networks.

So why do so many of us pay so little attention to our network until we really need it?

Do you participate in local opportunities? Is your company a member of the Chamber of Commerce? If so, do you attend Chamber functions? Are you a member of any local service clubs? These are great real world opportunities to build your network.

Are you on LinkedIn? What about Facebook and Twitter? Have you joined any industry-specific social networking sites? The contacts you make through these sites will be valuable now. They may prove invaluable should you be forced to make a change.

How about combining the virtual with the real? Have you registered on Meetup to find out about local events of interest to you? You’ll meet some fantastic people while growing your network at the same time.

Marketing

It begins by positioning yourself. What makes you unique? How can you communicate that? What opportunities play to your core strengths?

Is your resume up-to-date? If not, there's no time like the present! For sample cover letters, resumes, job search and interviewing tips, check out Resume Help.

Building a Bridge Plan

What would you do if you were forced to change jobs? How would you pay your bills? Where would you look for a new job? Who would you contact for referrals? For what services would you pay? For example, would you hire a career coach?

As you prepare this plan, keep a couple of things in mind.

• You may spot some problems.
  That's why you're doing this now. For instance, at what point might you need to find some part-time work or freelance work to pay the bills?

• Allow for some recovery time.
  You're human. It will be emotional. But you'll feel much more confident having thought it through in advance. And you'll be able to keep your options open to find the right opportunity for you! That’s bigg success!

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Thanks for the gift of your time today.

Bigg success is life on your own terms. You are the entrepreneur of your own life. You can be taught some things about entrepreneuring; others you have to learn on your own. Please join us next time when we talk about which is which.

Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

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Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
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Related posts

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Becoming An Entrepreneurial Employee

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Let’s talk about social media strategy. Say you’re a small business owner. You don’t necessarily want to get on Facebook and have a Fan Page with only ten people. Would it be better to just be yourself on Facebook and tell people about your day, rather than setting up a Fan Page for your business?

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Yeah. I would say to first get accustomed to it. As a matter of fact, my Facebook Fan Page for the Marketing Doctor just started last week and I’ve been on Facebook for a year or two. I preferred my personal page where I described what I liked and disliked, linked to my blogs and things like that. You just have to take the first steps. Like anything else in life, once you overcome the inertia, magical things happen.

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We met you online, John. We met you through another good friend, Jim Bouchard, who we also met online. It’s amazing how powerful these tools are in placing every individual, every small business, close to par with large businesses.

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You could say that again! A small business is much more nimble to change. It’s the difference between a forty-foot sailboat and a multi-ton carrier trying to change course. If I could talk a little bit to the contact with Jim Bouchard, it was very serendipitous. I met his wife Alex on Facebook. She asked me to look at her husband’s web site and critique it. So I did, which was unique according to Alex. From that, Jim wrote back and thanked me. The point is that I didn’t think I was going to meet Jim through Alex. It was nothing like that. I was trying to assist. Through that assist, we’re here today. We never would have met if it weren’t for social media. It’s like going to a cocktail party but not leaving the house!

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Thanks John so much for sharing your wisdom with us.

We recommend that you get to know John better by checking out his site. He blogs, consults, speaks and offers great marketing tips for free in his online classroom.

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Thank you for reading our post today. Please join us next time when we’ll discuss making money multiply magically. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

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Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
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What's Hot in 2009: Questions

When Things Don't Go Your Way

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John, let’s say you have a brand and it’s not working. You need a brand-over. How would you do that if you’re an existing business?

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The first thing you have to do is reach out to your customers. This rebranding, or brand-over notion, comes from the marketing concept. It is not “build it and they will come” ala health care that’s being promoted. It’s find out what people want and give them what they want. For example, let’s say you have a car wash and you think hot wax is what everyone wants. But you’re not getting the number of people you want through your car wash. So you ask your customers, “Why aren’t you coming to my car wash?” They say, “It’s the hot wax. It interferes with my paint job.” Ah! What does that tell you? You shouldn’t be using hot wax, even though people in the business have told you that hot wax is great. Ask your customers. Stay in touch with them so you can give them what they want. How do you get somebody to like you? You tell them what they want to hear or give them what they want. That’s the secret.

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That’s how I got Mary-Lynn! Companies have kind of gotten this, John, although they don’t always deliver upon it. As individuals, isn’t it important to understand that a brand is a promise? We have to be careful about what we promise to be absolutely certain we can deliver it.

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Absolutely. There’s nothing worse than promising a consumer something you don’t deliver. I’ll give you an example of this. Many years ago, in the New York area, there was a beer called Peel’s Beer. Their advertising was so clever that it generated a lot of initial sales. The problem was nobody liked the beer. They promised a great beer but they didn’t deliver a great beer. Not a good thing.

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Maybe they should have positioned it as the beer you drink after you’ve had a few?

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There you go! Are you sure not in marketing?

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John, you always offer a “Tantillo Takeaway” on your blog. I’d say our takeaway with you today is “know your target market.”

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That’s always the secret. Who is your target market?

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You recently had a great post about institutional communication versus individual. The example you gave is that John McCain now has more followers on Twitter than the White House. So the individual has power with new media that institutions don’t have.

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That is correct. It’s driving the heck out of these Washington media types that the blogger, or the candidates themselves, can go directly to the voter. If we’ve learned anything today, it’s that the game has changed. You have to be on top of all the new social media. I’m 58 years old and I’m on Facebook with over 3,400 friends. I’m on Twitter and LinkedIn. I even went to my old high school web site and now I have a page there. The point is that you have to use every marketing tactic you can possibly use in today’s world. It’s funny. It’s the very reason President Obama became President Obama. He was sophisticated. Now, in the institution of the White House, maybe he feels that he has to move on or do things more traditionally.

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He’s also more edited now than he was before.

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No question about it.

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Let’s talk about small business owners. We hear all the time that they don’t have the time to get out there and utilize these new media tools. They don’t even know how to get started. What would your suggestion be to them?

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You have to do it. Enlist young people – high school students, college students home for break or friends of your own children. It doesn’t have to take a lot of time. To give you an example, I started Facebook about a year or two ago. I didn’t really do anything. Then I went down to my favorite place in the world – God’s waiting room – Miami Beach, Florida – at Christmas time. I’d picked up a book in the library, about how to market yourself on Facebook. It’s been an increasing positive function – how do you like that, George – in terms of Facebook friends ever since. I love it. And hey, if I can do it, anybody can do it. You have to make a little bit of time. It’s a good reason to go on a vacation where you don’t think about your business, but about yourself in terms of the business. It’s a little different. I’ve found it fun and exciting. You have to make it part of your day. It’s like doing cold call sales. Nobody likes to do it. But, at one point, when things aren’t moving, you just have to go and do it. You have to make time.

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Thanks so much for joining us today. Next time, we’ll wrap up our conversation about John. We’ll discuss social media marketing tips. Please join us! Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

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What's Hot in 2009: Questions

Some people sing. Some people make fun of the people who sing.

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It makes me think of that time, Mary-Lynn, when you were still in radio and we ended up at Karaoke Night with one of my favorite bands of all time, Cheap Trick.

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Yeah, I had interviewed Rick Nielsen, their lead guitarist, on my show that day. He arranged for backstage passes which was awesome. After the concert, they invited us back to the hotel bar to hang out.

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It just happened to be Karaoke Night. A woman attempted, and I’m being generous here, to sing Pat Benatar’s Hit Me with Your Best Shot. Robin Zander, Cheap Trick’s lead singer, made a face I’ll never forget.

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I kept hoping someone would sing one of their songs, but that never happened. It was still a fun night!

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Enough about karaoke. That’s just one half of the topics for today’s post.

We talk to a lot of people about social media. A lot of people in the bricks-and-mortar world are trying to get it. And like a lot of things that are new, it seems complex.

So let’s see if we can take away some of that complexity by comparing Karaoke Night to social media. We’ll look at three things we need to make a successful Karaoke Night and apply those to social media. It comes down to 3 P’s:

Place

With karaoke, we usually think of a bar or a coffee shop. Someone has to organize it and promote it.

In social media, the place may be a blog or a site like Facebook or Twitter. They organize and promote their place so people will come there and hang out for awhile.

People

Karaoke wouldn’t be much fun if there was no one there. It’s the people that make it interesting. Similarly, Facebook and Twitter are great places to be because there are so many people there.

Performers

If no one ever sang, how much fun would karaoke be? It’s fun because of the variety of talents and interests displayed. You learn about people by the songs they choose to sing.

In social media, everybody can be a performer. Of course, there’s the blogger or podcaster. There are people who leave comments; they’re performing, too.

Every tweet in Twitter or status update on Facebook is just like singing a song at Karaoke Night.

They’re both networking

Karaoke and social media both bring people together with something in common. They both allow people to show off their talents and interests. They both allow you to meet new people. They’re both an opportunity to share experiences and build relationships.

If you pick the right song when you karaoke, everybody will sing along. If you share something people find intriguing or useful, they’ll share it too. Do it enough and you might just become a celebrity with your own group of fans!

Can you think of other ways that karaoke is like social media? Share that by leaving a comment below, calling us at 888.455.BIGG (2444) or e-mailing us at bigginfo@biggsuccess.com.

To connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, etc. visit our About Page.

Thanks so much for reading our post today.

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We’re going to continue talking about social media tomorrow. We’ll look at some new research to discover if social networking can help you live longer. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

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Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
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(Image in today's post by fensterbme,CC 2.0)