One of the best ways to build
your business, and your career, is to focus not on the business itself,
but on the one, unique item you have
to sell...yourself. Making your profession personal means giving your
clients a direct and personal connection to the work you do. The professional/personal
concept came to mind during one of my monthly Career-Op Skypecasts.
These are open teleconferences where readers and podcast listeners
can ask questions of myself and other attendees. On two separate occasions,
I have been asked what workers can do to protect themselves against
outsourcing and layoffs. While my own work situation as a freelancer
is unique, I believe that others can make use of some of my methods.
Clients hire you, not your company
In my own computer consulting business, people hire me, not a company.
When they call The Geek Squad or other computer support company,
they are unsure who might show up at the door, which means they
are unsure
if their problem will be solved. When they hire me, usually as a
direct referral from an existing client, they are 100% sure that
it is I who
will respond. In my case, I am my business.
No matter where you work, you should seek to establish similar feeling
in your clients, even if they happen to be your fellow employees.
Co-workers shouldn't feel they are calling the IT department (if
that is your
current assignment), but they should be calling Bob in IT, or even
better, they should simply be calling Bob. You want the client to
associate your excellent work first with you, then with your company
or department.
There are several reasons for taking this personal approach. First,
regardless of how or when your manager recognizes your exceptional
service, your clients will already be aware of it from direct experience.
Secondly, your own personal relationship with your client can't help
but outweigh any negative associations with your company or department.
During my time in corporate IT, clients would often praise my work
while complaining about the IT department in the next breath. It
was a bit surreal, having to divide yourself from your department,
but
it is essential to your own mental well-being. The truth is, it is
often IT workers themselves who have the biggest issues with IT policies.
It is nearly impossible to agree with everything your management
does. So ally yourself with your client. They should feel that
you are on
their side and a partner in solving their problems, not another drone
from a nearly nameless department.
I believe that my ability to develop a personal relationship with my
clients saved me from, at least one layoff. I had been marked for a
layoff from my IT position, but then another department, someone I
had worked for in the past, heard of this plan, and I was transferred
into their department, as their own divisional IT staffer. Had I not
performed well in the past work for this client, and developed a relationship
beyond my IT role, it is very likely that I would have ended up just
another anonymous layoff. Success in your career is truly related to "who
you know" in some ways.
You should also be developing personal relationships with your management.
The more your manager knows about you, the more difficult it will
be for them to add you to the layoff list. It is your goal to remain
employed
and build your career as much as possible. Isolating yourself from
management only makes you a question mark -- an anonymous cubicle
dweller of whom your manager knows little. No matter the quality
of your work,
if your manager is unaware of your accomplishments, if is as if they
never occurred.
Regardless of whether you are running your own business or working
inside a large corporation, you must make the professional personal.
You must connect with your clients as a unique individual, as well
as an IT worker, salesperson or accountant. It is through these personal
relationships that you will build your career, increase your client
base and cement your position within any company.
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