A Marketing Plan for You, Part I: Job Search

I used to have a small contracting business. Small (about 20 seasonal employees) but successful in it's own right. We did mostly exterior painting and I divided my time between operating the business and marketing to generate new business.  My team and I didn't use complicated tactics, at the time we didn't have to worry about the seeming complexities of SEO or buying ads on facebook. We did however run a successful marketing campaign. It dawned on me as I was listening to an interview with Lisa Earle McCloud, marketing expert, I utilized the very principles that she suggests. She cites the analogy of marketers being similar to deer hunters. Avid hunters will learn everything they can about the deer they intend to hunt. They will go to the place where the deer will most likely be, wearing gear that will be most likely to bag a buck.

In her example great marketers will do the exact same thing.  They will  very specifically determine the target customer and then go where they are, do what they do, see how they live, and serve them completely by speaking their language. In the business that I was in, this was pretty easy. I looked at certain zip codes, determined where there were groupings of residential neighborhoods with average incomes over certain levels, and focused on making those people aware of my services and my business.

This same concept can be applied to marketing yourself during a job search or job transition. Think about it as creating a marketing plan and strategy for yourself. For today's post let’s look at 2 of these concepts:

1. Defining your target market
2. Go to where they are

Defining your target market:

What areas are you interested in living or commuting to? If you are only interested in San Francisco there is no use at looking companies that require you to live in West Palm Beach, Florida

What types of roles are you interested in? If your answer is anything then you probably won't like this blog. It's all about how to use

What companies are likely to have these jobs? Google probably doesn't hire that many welders

Go to where they are at:

Are there professional associations, groups, or meetings that take place in the area for the industry, job or career you are interested in? It's likely there are, whether you know about them or not.

Are there local LinkedIn groups, online groups or other digital local avenues where you can get introduced to people in these roles or people who can make or influence hiring decisions? If your answer is no, then you haven't looked hard enough. Get creative. Between all of the avenues available on the internet you can easily gather enough information to understand what these people are involved in and what they participate in.

Call them at their work. When will they be available? This one seems obvious, but I guarantee you will be unlikely to get most professionals in traditional  jobs on the phone at 10am. This is prime time for meetings, activities, and general work flow time. You would have a much better shot closer to 8am or between 4pm and 5:30pm.

Have an offer at the ready:

Who are you? Why are you calling? What do you want? These questions need to be answered in a 2 minute phone call time period. It's great if you talk with.

4 years ago when I decided I was going to make job transition I knew that I wanted to be in the Human Resources field. Got involved with the local Society for Human Resources Management chapter, where I began to meet HR folks from all around the area. I began volunteering for events and in short order ended up on the board of directors for that chapter. At the same time I was contacting several HR VPs and Directors at local area companies each week. I had previously done research on all of the organizations that I was interested in and had limited it down to a list of 20. I asked to meet with many of the people that I contacted and was able to arrange phone calls, interviews or other in person meetings with well over half of them.

This targeted set of activities led to over 20 interviews and  5 job offers over a 6 month period of time. More than that it led to some fantastic long term relationships. I still have people calling me regularly and saying, I know of a job or an opportunity that you  might be interested in.

Remember most people get jobs through relationships. I hear many people say take an inventory of who you know. I simply reversed this and said how I build relationships with those people who can expose me to opportunities.

One important note on all of this, you should never set out to join a group or build relationships just because it will benefit you. The groups that I participated in often required time and energy from me to contribute to the cause. I got involved with numerous groups along the way and did not join any one of them because of the things it would get me.  Instead each of these groups lined up with my values and what I wanted to contribute to both personally and professionally. In the case of contacting employers and meeting with people each time it was something that was mutually beneficial. For them it was a potential addition to someone they  could add to their talent pipeline should they have a need later on down the road.

You can do this too. It doesn't take a scientist or even a marketing expert to use each of these concepts in your career.

Go and Happen to Your Career!

How to REALLY prep for an interview!

What do you do leading up to the interview? prep for a few questions, practice in the mirror, work on your smiling. All great but as they say this can potentially be "putting lipstick on a pig" if you don't have great experiences to draw from.

So what really preps you for an interview?

Good quality experiences are the basis for really good stories. Stories that of course have a great situation leading up to it, show what stellar behavior you chose to exhibit, and display how you achieved an award winning outcome. How you took on an extra project that changed not only the way your department does business but other departments throughout the company. How you had an idea for cost savings, that really didn't take any extra time but simply required you and your coworkers to start to work in a different way, and oh yes… this one saved your organization $27,000 in short order and lead to you getting a raise. People with experiences like these are the ones employers want to hire. These are even the type of people that are likely to get several job offers and have the ability to negotiate both salary and other terms of the position.

"But Scott" you say "I don't have any of these fancy schmancy experiences but I still want that Finance Manager job in that sweet office building down the road with a view." Maybe so but guess what? someone else who has great experiences actively improving her organization and getting results also wants that job. You will be competing against this person. Going up against someone who has great experiences in an interview is a little like the person who swims a couple of times a week in the pool at the YMCA, competing for a single spot in the olympics. Even if you get through the "elimination rounds" you will be able to tell very quickly by the rapidly expanding gap of water, who the star performers are.

Having great experiences can help you change career fields. One common language in many job interviews is leadership and influence around focused improvement. That is something all organizations are looking for and those are always transferrable skills and experiences. In fact what often stands out

Let's dig a little deeper to determine how we get there. How do you start noticing opportunities or problems for improvement in your organization?

Caring about what happens where you work is a start. Now before you launch into your martyr story about how much you care about this or that, I would challenge you to think about this: Does everyone else that you work with feel the same way about you; That you put yourself behind the needs of the organization and the people in it? That's where you start to notice opportunities to get an interview story. You get miffed a little bit when paper gets wasted or we are giving the customer a less than stellar experience. You start to cringe when you see that that since "we have always done it that way" it has lead to no shortage of missed opportunities and  extra expenses.

Another place you can start is by volunteering for projects, more responsibility, additional workload, to work with other departments, channels, or vendors. We have one person on our team right now that was promoted into position a year ago. Since then he has taken on the most challenging projects that nobody else wanted. He has since been very successful with each project. Through these he has achieved some amazing exposure working closely with other teams and at the same time stretched himself outside his comfort zone. Because of this he now has other experiences working with some of our senior leaders and at the same time has given himself a competitive advantage compared to other people in similar level positions. He will likely be very successful when a position comes open for promotion or if he wanted to go someplace else could probably get numerous job offers.

Think about it this way: If you were your own marketing or sales department for the company of You Inc, wouldn't you want to sell products or services that have significant differentiation from your competitors? That is exactly what you are doing here. Creating competitive advantage in the labor marketplace through the accumulation of the best stories is the best way to ensure that you can have the career you want. 

So remember before you get anywhere close to the actual interview the best way to prep is to say yes to experience.

The rest is as simple as just telling stories!

Just say "Hi": Simple tips to catapult a career

I work with a guy who says "hi". He is the type of guy who you aren't sure how he gets anything done because when you see him he is in your office, or someone else's office  or talking to one of his team. He is the type of guy that is rarely found in his own office but instead out where the action happens chatting with people. He always looks too happy to be busy and he is always spends way too much time talking to people to get stuff done. Right?

Let's call this guy Charlie. Charlie is actually one of the most productive people I have ever worked with. Not only is he getting results faster than most other people I have interacted with but he also is looked at as the model of discipline in this organization. On top of that it is clear that he will have more opportunities in his career with this same organization. Why is this? How does this seemingly oxymoronic set of events work together? Is he just friendly with the right people?

Well… the short answer is yes. But in a different way than you might think.

Here is what is really happening:

Every day he is stopping by multiple times per day to say hi, at the same time he's talking about what is going on in the business, what is going on that's really good, giving you his fellow co-worker recognition for doing something right or getting that result, telling you how it impacted his team, how it will impact the business, checking in on something that he has going on that involves you, a project, a task, a deliverable. Or he is spending time with his team (where they work) developing them, coaching them, keeping tabs on how they are doing with encouragement and support.

He doesn't spend a lot of time in conventional water cooler type conversations talking about the latest TV shows and politics. He doesn’t spend much time focusing on things that aren't going to generate results. Despite this he still has built some of the best relationships I have seen and has a high degree of respect from the team that he works with. The most common things said about him "I really like that guy!" and "he sure gets things done".

Here is why this works for him. He gets collaboration and accountability from the people he works with because people like him (and he provides the same for them). People like him because he cares enough about them to go out of his way spending maybe 60 seconds a day talking to them about what is important in their world and what he has in common with them. Often this might only be things he needs from them or simply touching base with how something is going but this shows constant follow up and care to his coworkers.

 I will not be surprised if Charlie continues to get amazing productivity and results from all the teams and people he works with and I would also not be surprised if this leads to another promotion for him in the next calendar year.

So although everyone has different personalities and priorities I would challenge you to take a small lesson from real life and, like Charlie, get out of the comfort of your work-space every day to be someone who says "Hi"

4 and 1/2 Mistakes to Avoid for your 2013 goals

Over the last few years my wife, Alyssa, and I spent some time to write down year long goals for various different areas of our life. Some of you might do the same thing and you have no doubt experienced the power of focused intensity on one particular area of your life. It is amazing how just by taking the time to give thought enough to create a SMART goal that you are committed to, will make it much more likely that it will happen.

I wanted to share some things that we have made mistakes on involving our goals, that way it will hopefully save some of you from having to go through some of the same pain.

Mistake #1: The invisible goals!

I am ashamed to say that we have taken a bunch of time to establish goals, in detail, by writing them down ,  agreeing and committing to them, making sure each one is both challenging but not unreachable, and then putting them away never to be seen again. Unless of course you really just like not getting anywhere fast, you should instead both write them down and then display them someplace prominent like the refrigerator or kitchen where you will see them often.

Mistake #2: Well it sounded good…(Head nodding without commitment)

It is apparently very possible to spend a bunch of time creating a number of goals that one person in the relationship isn't very committed to. And guess what happens when you are not truly committed to a goal from the beginning? You guessed it! Success in this area does not last very long.

This means you will have to be committed enough to really talk through what both of you want as a couple. We also found that some goals, like health for instance, should really be set on an individual basis. My goal for this year is to get to 12% body fat and there is no way my wife can be the one to come up with that goal and have it be effective. It is important she be there when it is established so that she can commit to supporting me.

The only exception to this might be something like "Work out together as a couple 3 times each week" or "Run the Portland Marathon together in September" In the case of the latter you may or may not even train together.   This will likely be the case for Career and potentially Social as well. I would suggest making sure that goals in the areas of Financial, Spiritual, (need I say) Relationship and Family all are collaborative and not individual goals but more importantly make sure you are not head nodding to anything you are not truly committed to. Take the time to talk it out and respect each other enough to come to something you are both dedicated to. Otherwise it can take the great activity of setting goals and turn it around to become something that you resent later on during the year when it is clear that there is no real commitment.

 Don't mess this one up!

Mistake #3:  I can't see that we are winning

This sounds silly as I am writing this but somehow in the past we have been able to simultaneously have goals (during the same year) that we achieve because we see that we are having success with them and have others that are not working because we did not take the time to realize the importance of this. For example; one year we had focused on removing all forms of debt as a financial goal and took the time to chart it out over the course of the year and review our progress every single week while updating our accounts and budgets. At the same time we completely abandoned our relationship goals part way through the year because we had not done some of the up front or maintenance work that caused success with the other area.

What caused the difference in our behaviors and over the long run was very simply breaking the large goal down into smaller pieces and at the same time making sure it is measurable in a way that is prominent and visible to us. The financial goals we saw how much debt we were paying off and later our savings and investments growing while our relationship goals we made no attempt to break down into smaller chunks. This is not only particularly effective by making a large goal more realistic, but it gives you small wins that help you push through to the end. The way I am writing this blog right now is just by writing 2 paragraphs each day. This little at a time approach helps you build momentum toward accomplishment with each small win.

Mistake #4: What was that goal again?

Virtually nobody writes down their goals. Statistically most of the people reading this haven't written down their goals. Not you? Of course not! Me either (wink, wink).  Ok you got me, I have made the mistake of not writing them down and guess what usually they didn't happen. This is applicable anywhere! I used to set weekly goals for myself when I was in sales, my boss would always try to get me to commit to something higher and then I would record it and turn it in for the week. Guess what! I would generally hit whatever I wrote down (or in this case put in excel) As long as I was committed to it, when I put it in that self prophesizing spreadsheet, all of a sudden it was more likely to be achieved. The act of writing your goals down makes it real and causes you to commit to them on a different level, I know logically this should not work but humans are often not logical creatures (we only think that we are.) 

Mistake #4.5: Wait a minute, I have to start?

Start right now! Today, if you have not already taken this step, it is not too late. Make sure you are focusing on goals, not resolutions, that are specific and measurable while getting you where you want to go long term. You are not a static being. You are always growing in the right way or the wrong way. For example in your relationship with your spouse you will actively grow together or unintentionally grow apart. Remember avoid our mistakes so you don't have to learn the hard way. 

Go Happen to You!

Why Your Self Development is like My 3 Year Old

Photo: Scott Barlow

The other day my 3 year old boy, Camden, spent about 20 minutes putting together a floor sized puzzle of a bright green  snarling, tyrannosaurus rex. This in itself was amazing because he is similar to many other 3 year old boys and has the attention span of T minus 3,..2,..1,.. blastoff to the next experience. He is normally flitting from activity to activity attempting to leave a small trail of destruction and newly uninteresting toys in his wake. Today was unique for a different reason though; After he finished putting it together he showed off his puzzle  and then…. HE CLEANED IT UP (Loud dramatic movie sound effects follow).

Ok now this probably doesn't seem that amazing to most people reading this, but let me give you some backstory: We had been working with him since before he could put anything away on his own, trying to make sure that he picks up the  things he gets out or plays with. This is the very first time he did it by himself with no prompting from us. He just finished playing and cleaned it up and put the puzzle box back on the shelf by himself. You may still be asking what the big deal is. This probably means you have perfect kids that have been cleaning their rooms, knitting small hats with unnecessary gloves for your pets, and learning how to conjugate verbs in another language since they were 18 months old, but for myself and my wife, this was a big win.

As the novelty wore off I realized just how much there was buried in this very small life event. All of the preparation and discipline to build this routine and habit are the same as what goes into building great habits and routines in both your career and your personal growth. Whether it be networking, developing great meeting habits, personal organization, or any number of other behaviors that can help your career or self development, here are some ways to make them into routine.

Use an accountability partner

If you have ever spent any amount of time working out at a gym you have probably heard about the personal trainer that is available there. You have probably also heard a number of people who will tell you that working out with a personal trainer is more effective than working out alone. Is it their mass amount of knowledge and doctorate in "personal trainer science" that makes all the difference? Probably not. It is many times the accountability and different behaviors that you will exhibit if someone else is involved. (although for the benefit of any personal trainers that may have just stopped reading this blog one sentence ago, I will admit that having someone who knows what they are doing does help too!)

Maybe you are a new manager working on building relationships with a new team, or maybe you are someone who is trying to expose yourself to new companies by participating in networking events, either way, get someone else who you trust involved in the process. Ask them to hold you accountable on a regular basis (usually weekly is a great way to go for most habits) this can be as simple as having a recurring 10 minute phone meeting with that person to check in and update them on your progress for the week. This has to be someone that is willing to kick your behind (out of concern for you) if you don’t live up to your end of the bargain.

In Camden's case, he had a built in accountability partner whether he liked it or not, to make sure he was exhibiting the right behaviors. The concept and the end result are the same though. He eventually started to clean up after himself after continuously working to integrate it into regular behavior. As with many other things, it is often the simple principles that are most effective.

Make it a part of your day: Put it on the calendar

This one sounds obvious right? Many people still don't do it. With Camden, we would have weekly and nightly chores to make sure we did not miss opportunities to build his routine of cleaning up. We wrote up what was happening when and put it on the fridge and put pictures for each chore so it made sense to him. That way it was a part of his and our lives and we couldn't ignore it.

 If you want to integrate something into your routine put it on the calendar. I did this with pieces of David Allen's "Getting Things Done" system to integrate good habits into my world and create headspace for innovation and creativity. Another time this came in handy was transitioning careers and companies. Thinking about what you will do ahead of time allows for maximum focus when the time comes to actually do it. I use outlook for my work calendars and gmail for my personal calendars. On both of these I will often put an agenda or notes or a cheat sheet in the body area, that way when the time comes to do whatever it is, I do not have to spend any time rethinking about the activity. Instead I can review the calendar item and move right to action.

Surround yourself with encouragement

When we first started having Camden clean up his toys or anything else for that matter, here is how it went: He would put one tiny toy away and we would be jumping up and down clapping and shouting "Great job!" and "You are a rock star room cleaner" and then... we would end up putting every other toy in the room away. That is how it begins, then slowly over time he started really contributing to the success of his room cleaning endeavors, right up until the apex where apparently he just thought it was a part of the process.

You can do this too without having to get your parents on speaker phone for commentary on your rockstar status as an inbox "cleaner outer". Instead choose to share your wins with others who will provide encouragement when you are doing the right things. I used to go for a run during lunch with another guy who was a fairly positive person and he would often provide encouraging words when things that I was working on were going right. This was extremely helpful to reinforce any behaviors I was working on at the time.

You can also do this by providing encouragement for others, you will find that when you establish this as part of the relationship it will often come back to you. Camden, for the longest time would burst into applause when I would put my socks and shirts away in my closet. See!... Encouragement often reciprocates.

The real moral of this story is that no matter where you look you can find ways that fit into your own life to continue to develop yourself. This is an important part of your continuing career no matter what your role and more importantly, with a little help in the right places it can be so simple that a 3 year old can do it 

The Greatest Resume Ever!... And Why NOT to Write it

As a professional in Human Resources for the last ten years and as someone who provides guidance in the area of career development and working in your passion, I get asked about resumes all the time. I get asked to look at resumes, what makes a resume stand out, what format it should be in, I have even been asked whether it  is appropriate to include an 8 x 10 glossy photo. By the way the answer to that question is no, unless of course you are a model, trying to get a spot in a photo shoot or just want to ensure that your chances for getting an interview are slim to none.

 At the risk of providing some well known (but rarely acted upon) advice, here are 3 + 1 steps I would suggest to answer all resume questions.

Step 1: Ask the right question

Step 2: Create a job posting checklist

Step 3: Get your "Push and Pull" on

Step 3 +1: Create your own opportunities

Step 1: Ask the right questions

Ask yourself a different question besides "is this a great resume?": You do not want to provide "generalized" resumes (no matter how great you think they are) to anyone unless you are at a "career fair" or networking type event. Instead ask yourself "how do you tailor each resume to the needs of the organization first, and the individual job posting second?"

Here is why: If you have a recruiter or HR person screening resumes (you will find this in organizations of 150 people or more) then they will be looking in less than 30 seconds, does this have all the needs listed in the job posting? If not you will likely be screened out. Period. Third party online submittals like careerbuilder.com and indeed.com, and company website application processes have become the norm over the last 10+ years. This means that it is not uncommon to get hundreds of applications for a single position since it is so easy to apply.

Step 2: Create a checklist

Tailoring each resume sounds really great in theory but how do you really do that? I have discovered that most people feel like they are doing this already, but when I view the job posting and look at the resume, it is clear that they do not line up. Somebody somewhere took the time to create this job posting, it is really the cheat sheet to the resume test. The easiest way to make sure you are tailoring your resume is to print off a copy of the job posting and then to take a pen or highlighter going down each section like a checklist.  Use this by comparing it to your resume to find out where the gaps are.

Why to do this:  There are large numbers of well qualified people submitting great "generalized" resumes. So... to stand out tailor your entire resume EVERY time. Is it a pain? Yes. Do most people do this? No. Remember resumes do not get you the job, interviews and in person meetings get you the job. A truly tailored resume gets you a much better shot at that in person meeting which in turn is the only way you have a chance at getting the job.

Step 3: Get your "Push and Pull" on

The method of tailoring and submitting your resume discussed above is the push part of the equation, the pull part of the equation is not difficult in any way, but most people are unwilling to do it.

Start by researching who the hiring manager is for the job posting or who may have a vested interest in the decision making process. You can do this by researching LinkedIn.com, givin' the ol' Google a try, or if all else fails simply call the person who works at the front desk, be very nice and see what information you can find out from a simple conversation. Company phone directories are also very helpful in getting contact information especially after you know who you need to talk to and have their full name.

After you know the "who" and "how" to contact them. Give them a call and simply explain that you are interested in the organization and want to find out more about what they are looking for in a person for the position that's open. Listen to (and write down) everything thing they say and then give them a thirty second synopsis of who you are and how you can help them. This includes what your background experience is, what you provide that others don't, and why you are interested in the role. Remember: 30 seconds and you have already heard both exactly what they are looking for and have a job posting as a cheat sheet to guide what information you feel will be valuable for the hiring manager to know.  After  you do this go in for the close; ask if you can schedule 15-20 minutes with them to discuss the role.

Why on earth would you do all of this: I have personally been a part of over 2000 interviews for multiple organizations as both an HR professional and a Hiring Manager, and I have had maybe 50 people call and speak to me directly. What this means for you is simply this is a job search method that very few people are using so it is an easy way to get a free pass to the interview stage while at the same time making it easier for hiring managers too. Think about it; you have limited time as a manager, someone calls you up that meets the qualifications of the job AND obviously goes above and beyond by taking the time to find out about the company the job and contact you, even if you choose not to schedule the interview you are definitely going to make mention of it to the recruiter or HR team working on filling the position.

Step 3 +1: Be Proactive and Create your own job opportunities

Are you reaching out to organizations that you are interested in and setting up times to meet with the individuals that have the ability to hire you? If so, great keep it up, I am sure you are already generating interviews and meet and greets and this will lead you towards the job of your dreams much faster than anything I can tell you about a resume. If not, this is the next step.

In his book 48 Days to the Work you Love, author Dan Miller suggests the fantastic idea of making a list of companies that you are interested in working with regardless of whether or not they have positions available. I believe that this is a great idea because if you already have a relationship with the company guess who they will likely go to if they have a need later on.

 You could easily begin by using the research techniques in Step 3. Then make a phone call simply explaining that you are really interested in their organization and that you would love to schedule 15 minutes with them even if they don't have a position open now.  Ultimately the jobs that you are looking for are probably going to be hired from a previous relationship, so as you already know, your focus has to be on establishing the relationship groundwork to truly be considered for a position now or opportunity down the road.

The points I detailed above generated me about 20 meetings/interviews and 5 job offers last time I was searching for a new opportunity. All of these  things are simple to do but are outside of the comfort zone of most people looking for the position they really want. What really gets you that job or career you desire is not a great resume, but instead being willing to do the things that others will not. My advice to you is to put your focus in areas that generate results and leave everything else to people providing the piling up resumes that may never see the light of day.

Comment: What has worked for you in the past?

Success Will Come to Those... Who are Morning People???

Columbia Gorge Sunset, Copyright Scott Barlow

Years ago I heard a chinese proverb “No one who can rise before dawn 360 days a year fails to find success for his family.” At first I interpreted this to mean that I could have whatever I wanted as long as I got up early and hustled. The problem with this interpretation was that I started to feel entitled; I'm the one getting up early and working extra hours, how dare you question my quality of work, I'm putting in the time and don't you forget it! This led to no shortage of situations that had me somehow surprised that good things weren't just leaping in the car window as I rolled it down to leave for work each morning. Apparently this desirable and prosperous consequence to early rising doesn't just happen overnight.What I came to learn later on is that the intention behind the quote was much more powerful than the literal meaning of the words themselves: if you are disciplined enough to be able to commit such an act as getting up before the sun rises, that discipline will carry over into other areas of your lives. Once you have intentionally developed that type of day in and day out discipline you will slowly become prepared to do the things you were meant to do. 

This is such an interesting concept because so few people are willing to behave in this way that it is almost certain that you will find success through this type of discipline. This of course is contingent upon this discipline being focused in the areas that you want to experience success. Oddly enough this is where I see the biggest lack of discipline for most people pursuing a new career. Everyone wants to do it, very few are willing to put in the time and focus to do what is necessary.

No one wants to have to spend 40-50 hours a week at their current job and then overtime hours on your own to pursue what they really want to do. This is what it takes though. If you want to move into something you are passionate about and truly enjoy doing it is not only difficult but it is worth it. If you get up at 5am each day it becomes easy to find the time to tailor your resume to a new job opportunity, work on developing a side business or interest, or simply be able to plan effectively because everyone else is in bed. I am currently using this principle of getting up early right now to write this blog. It's unlikely I would be able to find time during the rest of the day to have any consecutive coherent thoughts to put in print. 

The big takeaway here is this; there isn't anyone who's found success, that is saying that getting up early wasn't worth it. I believe that, as I have experienced in my own life, that as you experience true success (career) in one area it impacts other areas of your life (family). 

So go have a positive impact on your family and your career. All you have to do is get up...and then the next day get up...and then the next day...

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Starting with the Absence of Precision. Who Knows where will lead...

Road to Everywhere, Scott Barlow 2010

This blog is for those who want support and a positive influence while trying to find or pave your way in this world of abundant opportunity and excess naysayers. I hope to share experiences from my life, passion and career that adds value to yours.  There will likely be a mixture of stories, writings and even pictures. Who knows where this will lead to…

“I do not pretend to start with precise questions. I do not think you can start with anything precise. You have to achieve such precision as you can, as you go along.”

Bertrand Russell 

Here is what you won’t find in this blog:

• This won’t be about easy ways to achieve career success or a move toward what you are extremely passionate about overnight.

• There will be no theoretical advice. Everything comes from my experience or the personal stories of those who I have coached and collaborated with.

• Things that are guaranteed…I will focus on principles as opposed to strictly techniques, however I have found you cannot apply half a principle to anything

As we go along, let me know what is helpful and adds value to you… Thanks for reading! 


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