A/E/C Marketing Advice, Training, and Support Group

Last week, we went over three mistakes Principals make when hiring marketers. The next logical question is:

Then who should Principals hire?

A Listener

I don’t think it is in your best interest to hire an extrovert or even someone who is very quiet and introverted. You should hire someone who is in the middle of the road. The ability to listen and be inquisitive should be core traits this person has.

A Communicator and Writer

Communication is also important. Writing ability plays a key role whenever I’m evaluating a marketing candidate. And I’m not talking about whether they properly used an em-dash instead of an en-dash. That stuff doesn’t matter. What really matters is whether they can convey an idea, like the benefit of choosing one thing over another.

Their writing has to be interesting. If their writing is not interesting and compelling, do you really think anyone is going to read it?

I’ve learned, the hard way, to give the candidate a writing assignment on the spot. Any candidate could easily get someone to write or edit their cover letter or writing sample. They should be able to write something decent relatively quickly.

Knows Something About Marketing That You Don’t

Knowledge is also important. They should know more about marketing theory than you. If they know less about marketing theory than you do, don’t hire them. If you can’t learn anything from them, don’t hire them. Even if they just got out of college, they should know more marketing theory than you. Heck, they just spent at least two full years studying it, right?

Not A Jumper

One red flag I see is marketers who jump from job to job. It’s surprising these people get hired again and again. Yet, they do.

Any Principal is going to give a marketing hire at least a year to prove themselves. If their performance and abilities are insufficient, it will take at least a year to get rid of this person. Therefore, when a marketer jumps from job to job every two to three years, that’s a pretty good indication that they suck.

Now, I don’t think you can fault someone who has only been in the business for three years. But if you see a career pattern where they jumped after 2-3 years…that’s a serious red flag.

Weird in a Good Way

One personal observation I have about successful marketers is that each one is a little bit odd. I’m not saying they come to the interview dressed in a clown suit. I’m saying there is something just a little bit different about them. And very often it’s hard to put your finger on it.

For example, one of my mentors, who I love dearly, was like someone from another era. It was like he had come to this moment from a time machine in the 50s. He’s the only marketer I ever met who brought a briefcase to work. He drank scotch. He took care of this dear mother, who was elderly.

He dressed the part too. Everybody called him Dapper John. He was like a character from the TV show Mad Men. Nobody would dare call him weird, but there was something a little bit different about him. It was just hard to put your finger on it.

I think he saw this quality in marketers too. Because if it wasn’t for him, I would have never got my current job.

I originally interviewed for a marketing coordinator position at my current firm ten years ago. After a series of interviews, a group of people sat down to discuss my fate.

The marketing director at the time said, “I don’t know about this Matt guy. He’s a little weird.”

Luckily, Dapper John came to my defense. “You’re right,” he said. “He is weird!”

“But he’s weird in a good way.”

They hired me after that meeting. Again, that was about 10 years ago…so they must have made a good decision.

Sure, there must be a fine line between weird in a good way and weird in a bad way. Certainly, you shouldn’t hire someone simply because they are a little bit different. They still need to be able to communicate effectively (in various mediums), make complex mental connections, and know more about marketing theory than you.

And they have to have the qualities I’ll discuss later in “what you should expect from your marketer.” However, if they have all these qualities, it would be a mistake to dismiss them because there is something a little bit different about them.

You’re going to have to dig a little deeper to find somebody who has the talent and core abilities of a marketer. But trust me, they are out there. Just be careful next time you hire a marketer.

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Today I’m excited to announce HelpEverybodyEveryday’s “Get Awesome!” giveaway. Each month, I’ll pick one random commenter to win one of five books that will help you get awesome!

The Rules Are Simple:

1. All you have to do is comment on one of my posts.
2. It doesn’t have to be Shakespeare, good, or even insightful…just a comment.
3. If you win you must take a picture of yourself with your new book…being awesome so we can post it on the site.

The contest starts now! May is already halfway done, but we’re gonna give a book out anyway! Winners will be selected randomly. Make sure you enter your email and subscribe to the site (top right of the website) so you don’t miss any chances to comment.

This month’s book is Tim Klabunde’s Network Like An Introvert. You can read what I said about this book here. And you can also read some of these posts that talk about the author.

• The Secret To Success Discovered?
• How Long Can You Talk About The Weather?
• The Networking Mistake That Causes Distrust. Are You Making It?

Your Chance To Comment

Comment on this post for your chance to win Network Like an Introvert.

Need some ideas on what to say in your comment? Since Tim’s book is about networking, why don’t you give us your thoughts on this question?

Comment on that or anything else for your chance to win!

It looks like the economy is improving and more firms are hiring new or additional marketing staff. Unfortunately, time and time again Principals make illogical and critical mistakes when hiring marketers. Let’s take a close look at three of them.

Hiring Extroverts

Over the years, we’ve collectively come to the understanding that there is a type of person that is good at marketing (I’m including business development in here too). This person is an extrovert.

Unfortunately, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Being an extrovert is about as good of an indicator of whether you are a great marketer than it is of whether you are a great engineer.

In fact, a recent study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania explored the relationship between extroversion and sales results. Unsurprisingly, the study found that extroverts are not only more likely to get sales jobs, they are more likely to get promoted within those jobs.

However, when the researchers looked at actual results they found something ironic. The sales performance of extroverts was the worst out of all the groups they studied. Yes, extroverts (statistically speaking) are the worst salespeople.

This may come as a surprise, but introverts actually performed much better in a sales role. And the most successful group were those who were “middle of the road,” people who weren’t the life of the party but also weren’t wallflowers.

I think architects and engineers tend to be introverts. They also tend to hate marketing and sales. Naturally, they think someone with personality traits they wish they had must be good at sales and marketing.

Look, I’m a terrible singer. You don’t want to and you will never hear me sing. I wish I was a good singer.

When I see a person who is clearly a talented singer, should I assume they have great taste in music? No, that would be insane. Having a great singing voice says nothing about your taste in music.

So why do we believe that extroverts are naturally good at marketing and sales? Frankly, it’s an illogical and stupid belief. Yet, people are always being hired into marketing positions because they are extroverts.

On Point Experience Over Ability and Talent

A different mistake I see people making is hiring someone solely because they worked for a firm just like yours. Now think about this. If they were so successful while working for your competitor, why aren’t they still there? And was that firm really kicking your ass while he or she was there?

There is another problem with this thinking. It’s based on social proof, which is a mental shortcut that could lead you to make poor choices.

In reality, if you can successfully market one service, you can market them all. The skill set is not connected to a specific service. If you can market the services of an accounting firm, you can market the services of an engineering firm.

Yes, you need an understanding of the services that are to be sold. But any marketer worth their salt will spend significant time during the early stages of employment to learn your business. You can learn any firms services in a few weeks.

By basing your choice on whether they sold the exact service for the same type of firm will, at best, give you a few weeks head start. That’s a fairly insignificant benefit and hardly worth making a bad decision for.

Also consider this: creative people are not just creative in one thing. Bob Dylan is one of the most well-respected musicians of our time. He’s also a talented painter. Michelangelo was one of the greatest painters to ever live. He was also an inventor. Benjamin Franklin invented everything from bifocal glasses to flippers, and is said to have discovered electricity. He is also one of the greatest writers to ever live. Sam Shepard is a Pulitzer Prize winning author and an academy award-winning actor. Sure, these are the extreme cases. But there is a point I’m trying to make.

Creativity, or any core ability, doesn’t just show up in one aspect of a person’s life. It typically shows up in several. If someone has the core ability to be a great marketer, that’s going to translate into public relations, or even business development. I’ve written entire proposals and won large contracts, successfully pitched cover stories to Engineering News Record, and talked clients into hiring my firm sole source. The ability to make a compelling pitch isn’t confined to one situation.

When hiring marketers, try to discover their core abilities. It’s their abilities that will determine their success more than anything.

Talent also comes into play. People gravitate to where their talents lie. My talent seems to be writing, so that’s what I gravitate towards. I also play music, make videos, and do a fair bit of public speaking. Yet, my real talent lies in writing. That’s where I spend the majority of my time. And when you spend a lot of time doing one thing, you get pretty good at it.

What if I had gravitated towards music? If I had spent 40 hours a week, for the last 10 years, playing music…I would be a much better musician than I am. But my writing would not be nearly as good.

Everybody has the capacity to be good at several skills. But to get really good at a skill, to become one of the best, you have to put in the time. You have to practice your practice, if you will.

Once someone discovers their talent, they usually gravitate towards perfecting that skill. This leads me to the next mistake Principals make when hiring marketing staff….

Graphic Design Vs. Marketing

If you need a graphic designer…hire a graphic designer. Yes, creativity isn’t confined to one aspect of someone life. But graphic design and marketing are two different talents. Each one takes a significant amount of practice to get good at.

I’ve never met a great graphic designer who wrote a proposal that knocked my socks off. And I’ve never met a marketer who designed something that made my eyes pop out of my head.

It’s like you are either a great marketer and a half way decent designer or a great designer and a half way decent marketer. That’s why advertising agencies have separate copy and design departments. They can’t afford for either one of those aspects to be anything less than outstanding.

It’s perfectly reasonable for you to expect a marketer to work within a page layout program like Adobe Indesign (or QuarkXpress). And it’s perfectly reasonable to expect your graphic designer to write and edit text.

But a marketer’s talent is making connections between two intangible things (what a client truly wants and a compelling way your offering fits into that). A graphic designer’s talent is to convey information visually.

Let me demonstrate this with a story. One of my first jobs out of college was creating the ads for a large chain of craft stores. I worked for someone who truly had a talent for graphic design. Just like her, I was putting ads together. But she had talent.

One day, I watched her draw a balloon. You and I know how to draw a balloon. You draw a circle, which is the balloon. Then you draw a string. But that’s not what she did.

When I watched her draw, I had no idea what she was drawing until a few seconds before she was done. After I finally realized what it was, I said, “Oh my god, that’s a balloon. It’s amazing.” Yes, I was super impressed with someone drawing a balloon. When someone has a talent, it’s impressive.

If you want someone to format text, create graphics, and lay it out into an impressive looking proposal…you are seeking a graphic designer.

If you are looking for someone to put your best foot forward and create a compelling message…you are seeking a marketer.

Don’t get those two confused.

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Sure, you’ve submitted countless proposals. You’ve certainly won and lost your share of competitions. But do you really know whether your proposals are any good?

There is a great episode of 30 Rock where Jon Hamm plays Tina Fey’s new boyfriend who she learns is “living in a bubble.” Everybody compliments what he does and goes out of their way to make things easy for him.

As a result, he lives in a reality that doesn’t exist. This isn’t a good thing. He’s a doctor that can’t save a choking man and a tennis coach that can’t play tennis! Because he lives in “the bubble,” he can’t see his failings. He thinks he’s much better than he really is.

Last week, I introduced the Indiana Chapter of SMPS to a new experiment. We separated them into several teams. I gave each team one hour to review six real proposals and pick one winner.

This was a group of intelligent, experienced, and highly capable marketers. Yet, I could tell it was an eye opening experience for them.

Everyone struggled to select a winner from a pool of some of the most successful firms in the business. In fact, only one of the teams could come up with a concrete reason for their selection.

Why?

Because we make it incredibly hard for proposal evaluators by submitting proposals that are almost identical. We submit proposals we think set us apart, but don’t. We think we have better people and better experience, but we don’t.

We are living in the bubble, unaware just how our proposals stack up.

Getting Out of the Bubble

How do you get you and your firm out of the bubble?

You could hire a proposal consultant, someone who has worked with many firms. They would likely be able to improve your proposals and give you a sense of how you stack up. The downside is it could cost several thousand dollars. But the upsides outweigh the cost.

You could get proposals from a state with a “sunshine law” and run the experiment yourself. Just be aware, the state will charge you reproduction costs that will run in the hundreds of dollars. You can find a list of states with sunshine laws here: http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/State_sunshine_laws.

Now, there’s a third option.

Introducing The Brutally Honest Proposal Critique

I offered those SMPS Indiana members something a little extra. If they brought an electronic copy of one of their proposals, I would critique it.

Some of them took me up on that offer. And I was brutally honest. These people might have been surprised to learn how awful their proposals really were.

But I could tell they got a lot of value out of it. Here’s what one had to say:

Now I’m offering the same to you. Send me a proposal and the corresponding RFP and I will critique it for $197.00.

Unfortunately, I can only accept 15 proposals. There are hundreds of people on my list, so you want to make sure you are one of the first to order.

I promise to turn them around as quickly as possible. And I can only accept payment through paypal (which will take payment from credit cards).

And if you are not extremely satisfied with the value of my critique, I’ll refund 105% of your money (yes, 105%). Either way, you’ll gain!

Click Below To Order a Brutally Honest Proposal Critique So You Can See How Your Proposals Really Stack Up!

P.S. If you have trouble with the button above, just email me at matt@helpeverybodyeveryday.com.

I see it all the time. People go to networking events and immediately give people a reason to distrust them. And worst of all, they have no idea they are doing it. So, I’m going to explain what this mistake is and give you an easy way to avoid it.

But first, let me tell you a personal story.

I used to say, “I’m not a shmoozer.” I hated going to networking events because I had to turn into someone else, someone that wasn’t me.

Oh man, it was painful. Here I was walking into an event with people twice my age. I was wearing a suit and tie, which would only come out for funerals and networking events.

I knew what I had to do…get these people to give my firm work. I had to get these people, who I had nothing in common with, to like me so I could steal away their project before someone else did. It was a lot of pressure, which made me nervous.

Just going up to people, knowing that I wanted something from them, was awkward. But I put on a big smile and did my best to play mister friendly sales guy (you know the person we’ve all met a million times).

If that wasn’t bad enought, People would come up to me, grinning ear to ear. Oh no, these people were coming up to me looking for work! I worked at an M/E/P design firm. Most of our work was as a sub. I had no work to give these people. And even if I did, I had no authority to give it to them. And worst of all, I could tell these people were being FAKE. So, those encounters were even more awkward because I was immediately on the defensive.

And guess how much work I brought in from these events. That’s right, none! Did I mention I hated networking events?

How I Learned To Stop Being FAKE and Enjoy Networking

One day, I met a guy who literally changed my life. You probably know who I’m talking about. I cold called him asking for some help and he went well out of his way to help me. This guy didn’t know me from Adam.

I was impressed. So, I researched him. What was his deal? I learned he was a christian, which coming from a strict Methodist family at least gave me confidence that this guy was on the up and up. I read his writing and it turned my world upside down. In short, what the networking approach this guy promoted seemed batsh*t crazy. But at this point, I had failed enough to at least listen.

The Secret To Successful Networking

We eventually became friends. And he taught me the secret of successful networking, which was to completely change my mindset. He said instead of getting something from people at these events, my goal was to help them. It was almost like a game (and I love games). How many people in this room can I help?

He even brought me down to DC to see him in action. It was impressive. Everyone loved this guy. Who wouldn’t love someone that helped everybody everyday. And this guy was bringing in millions for his firm.

I tried his approach. It was a huge relief. It was no longer awkward to go up to people because I was going up to determine how I could help them, not to get something from them. And when people would come up to me, I had no work to give them but I had to figure out what I could do to help them in some way. It was a very intriguing game.

And best of all, I could be myself. It didn’t matter what I wore. It didn’t matter what I said (as long as it was in the realm of decency). I could be myself as long as I found a way to help everyone I met. I could be genuine. I could be Matt.

I was now more comfortable at networking events. I was much more effective. And I was being me.

It turns out it was MY approach, the approach everyone else was also using, that was batsh*t crazy, not his. I was trying to be someone else. What was I thinking?

Being Genuine

The line between being genuine and being fake is thin. We feel we have to be our best at business functions. But here is the thing that boggles my mind…

Whenever someone comes up to me and is playing “Mr./Ms. Super Friendly Networker,” when they really aren’t, I can spot that immediately. Humans are amazing at identifying patterns. It’s really our evolutionary advantage. So, when someone is being fake, we can tell. We immediately don’t trust them because we know they are being dishonest on some level.

We can always tell when someone is being fake. Yet, we think our clients or contemporaries somehow lack that ability. It’s ludicrous. Of course they possess the same innately human abilities we do. They can tell when we are being fake.

So, stop being fake.

Be real. Be genuine. Be yourself, but behave within the bounds of professionalism. Don’t be mean. Don’t show prejudice. Don’t be vulgar. But be you.

You are awesome. We want to see you. We want to meet you.

We can tell when you are not being you. You are not fooling anyone. We don’t trust people who are fake. We don’t like people who are being fake. You are not gaining anything by being fake.

Even if you didn’t buy Networking Like an Introvert (that guy’s book). Even if you choose not to help everybody everyday. At least choose to be genuine, because otherwise you are kicking yourself in the foot.

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It never fails. People always make the same stupid mistake. They assume that extroverts have an advantage when it comes to sales. Worse yet, since they are not extroverts, they assume they don’t have what it takes to sell. So what do they do? They go out and hire an extrovert to sell for them. And when that doesn’t work, they just assume they hired that one extrovert that doesn’t deliver. So, they look for another extrovert to fill that role.

How stupid is that? Assuming an extrovert is good at sales is like assuming a blond is dumb. It’s so ignorant that it’s offensive.

Here is the truth. Again and again, academic research has shown that being an extrovert does not give you any advantage in sales. In fact, it’s the opposite. And the best sales people, they are not extroverts. They are not introverts (although better than extroverts). They are just normal (known as ambiverts).

No offense to extroverts. You’re all great. You just don’t have the natural sales advantage everybody thinks you do.

There’s Nothing Conventional About Wisdom

I just got done reading Dr. Adam Grant’s latest research on the subject and I wanted to share some of it with you:

Do you know an intelligent person who believes extroverts have an advantage when it comes to sales? Forward this to them or send them a link to this page to set them straight!

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Email is the primary form of communication in the business world. But the business letter is still around. Eventually, you’ll have to write one. But you might not remember how to put one together.

Don’t worry, I got you covered.

I’m proud to announce BusinessLetter.co (yes, .com was taken). This site reminds you how to format and write business letters.

It covers these topics:

What Is A Business Letter?

Well, some people (I’m looking at you Generation Y) might not know. I also go into why you might write a business letter and the different types you might write.

The Business Letter Format

Here I go over all the formatting rules you probably forgot. How do you indicate you typed this letter on behalf of someone else? That’s in there.

A Sample Business Letter

I created a cute little business letter for everyone to see.

Business Letter Templates

Of course, I’m all about making things easy. So, I provided links to free business letter templates to use with Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and Open Office.

In case you ever have to write a business letter (I write them all the time), you now have a resource on the topic.

But more on that later.

Many years ago, I was on the phone with Tim Klabunde (now with Timmons Group) and he said something that probably changed my life.

Today, I sent Tim an email that said:

“You’re gonna love this…”

The email contained a link to an article printed in the New York Times entitled, “Is Giving The Secret To Getting Ahead.”

The article is about University of Pennsylvania’s Dr. Adam Grant. According to the Times:

“Grant, 31, is the youngest-tenured and highest-rated professor at Wharton. He is also one of the most prolific academics in his field, organizational psychology, the study of workplace dynamics.”

He’s also more than an academic. Even though he’s younger than me, this guy has been a successful salesman and is on Google’s speed dial as someone they reach out to when they need help. Ironically, he’s an introvert. But through his research into human behavior, he’s found the secret to success in the business world…helping other people.

The Phone Call

It was probably 2008 when I was on that fateful phone call with Tim and he said to me:

“I’m just helping everybody everyday.”

To me, that was it, an “aha” moment. Tim summed up my conclusion, based on many hours I had spent studying social psychology and human behavior, better than I ever could. The secret to successful marketing was to “help everybody everyday.”

I went on to create HelpEverybodyEveryday.com and publish Proposal Development Secrets. Helping marketers and proposal managers has given me the opportunity to fly first class (they give you ice cream!), speak in front of large audiences, and take my family to Disneyworld (on me).

Tim went on to publish Network Like an Introvert (which was an Amazon Top Seller), become a Principal at a small firm, and later took over the marketing operations of a firm with 12 offices.

These are just two examples of how helping others helps you. The secret of success is helping others. Tim and I have been preaching that for years. Now the science backs it up.

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It’s been a while since I gave you something that was truly, mind numbingly, awesome! OK, FancyHands was close…but you had to pay for that.

But what I have for you today takes the cake. Let me explain…

CRM…Urggg!

CRM is obviously a huge frustration in our industry. A few years ago, I even got together with some of the top minds in the industry to envision the Perfect CRM.

We all know the problems. Most systems are way too expensive for smaller firms. And even if you can afford it, the per user pricing structure makes giving access to everyone cost prohibitive.

Of course the list goes on:

• They are not user friendly.
• They don’t encourage the user to keep using the system.
• They have too many useless features.
• Your staff prefers using Outlook, etc.

Just writing about it is painful for me. But people who have a working and usable CRM swear by them.

I thought the Perfect CRM project would be a warning shot across the bow of the CRM businesses that serve us.

I even had a face to face meeting with Dan Cornish, the owner of Costential, who seemed interested in providing a solution. But he never really committed to the idea. His team thought some of my ideas, like gamification, were just plain nuts.

Yet, I couldn’t let this idea simply die. This problem just had to be solved.

Luckily, I was contacted by a group of open source developers who had a similar vision for CRM. And using a few of my ideas, they built something I think you’ll be very interested in.

Introducing Zurmo

Zurmo is a FREE web-based CRM system that your IT person can easily set up on a web server, Amazon’s cloud, or even a local networked computer. And if you are a little computer savvy, you may even be able to set it up yourself. In fact, I have it installed on my laptop right now.

Zurmo has just about everything a small to mid-sized firm would need in a CRM.

How Could It Possibly Be Free? Come On, What’s The Catch?

Zurmo was started as a side project from people at the company Telestream. The guy who started Telestream, Jason Green, had some early involvement with SugarCRM, which last I used it…sucked. From what I understand, he wasn’t happy with the direction of SugarCRM and left to form his own venture. This is a solid product built by some very experienced people.

Zurmo is open source, which means people from all over (including me) contributed ideas and code to the project. All these different people contribute to the project with the understanding that the computer code will be made freely available to the public. If you want to learn more about open source, just click on the link earlier in this paragraph.

In a nutshell, that’s why it is free with no strings attached. No per user costs. No maintenance fees…nothing!

What Zurmo Can Do

Right out of the gate, Zurmo has all the features of most CRMs. It can track accounts, leads, contacts, and opportunities.

You can important information (like contacts, leads, opportunities, etc.) by creating a CSV file in Excel or Outlook. You won’t have to type all your information into the system (who wants to do that?).

You also have the typical administration control of user permissions.

How It Is Different

As soon as you install Zurmo, the difference will present itself. You’ll be awarded a badge, much like you would in Foursquare.

This is the “Gamification” aspect of the system. It awards you for using it. This adds a competitive aspect to your CRM, which engages the user much like a video game. And this is where my ideas were implemented.

This aspect of the system is most evident in your profile (as seen below).

In addition to badges, there are points and leader boards. I’m pretty sure you can turn these off, but why would you?

Zurmo also introduces the concept of Missions. Missions allows co-workers to challenge one another in exchange for a reward. I’m not sure this feature is ready for prime time, but it’s an interesting feature which is available for you to use.

Still To Come

In April, Zurmo plans to release an update that will bring email marketing, Outlook, Exchange, and Gmail integration to the system. This update will also add reporting features, which I’m sure your boss will want.

Ok, How Do I Get This?

There are many ways to download and install Zurmo. For the extremely tech savvy people, like your IT person, the source is available at the Zurmo site.

But there are other, easier ways to get it up and running. I downloaded it from Bitnami, which provides ready-to-install versions for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

If you don’t have a server it can be easily set up on Amazon’s Cloud Service using Bitnami Cloud. You’ll have to pay Amazon and Bitnami some money. But then again you might not because both services offer free tiers.

Even if you are bad with technology and have no IT person, you can still use Zurmo. Arvixe has Zurmo hosting plans that will set you back a whopping $4 per month. Remember, that’s not per user. That’s for unlimited users.

The Perfect CRM?

Zurmo is not perfect. But it is easy to set up. It’s pretty user-friendly. It probably has everything your firm needs in a CRM. It encourages user engagement. And most importantly, it won’t cost you a dime.

It does not have a project/proposal database. I doubt it ever will. But keep your eyes peeled and a simple solution just may pop up on this site in the future.

If you are thinking about deploying a CRM but don’t know where to start, give Zurmo a try. Try it out with a few people on your team and see if it works for you. If so, you owe me big time for this one!

If you liked this article, please subscribe below or on the right side of the homepage. If you have used or end up using Zurmo, post your impressions in the comments to this post because that will help others who are on the fence.

Before this week’s list, I have to mention Quoteroller’s Proposal Book Contest. They’ve decided to give out one of the five best proposal books each week to the person that posts the best comment on their website. And look what made the list…Proposal Development Secrets. If you want a chance to win a free copy of that classic or one of four slightly lesser texts, head on over and make a comment.

Now on to the list…

• How to Do a Proper Self-Review and Identify Your Professional Pain Points (Before Your Boss Does)

• The Magic of Apprenticeship

• Stoicism for Modern Stresses: 5 Lessons from Cato

• Find Out if Your Suit Fits with Seven Simple Tricks

• Throw Your Life a Curve

• Turn Work Experiences into Measurable Achievements on Your Resume

• Habits of Remarkably Charismatic People

If you liked this article, please subscribe below or on the right side of the homepage. If you want to give us your thoughts on these issues, please leave a comment below.