I'm heading off to speak at PodCampAZ tomorrow, so here is this weeks show a little bit early. Enjoy! -- Douglas

---

In business, and in life, we often seek to control everything we can. We try to control our jobs, our careers, our schedules and more. We seek to remove the accidental, the random and unfortunately, the serendipitous. Instead of trying to control everything about your life, you might want to "let go" every now and then and see what happens. In my own experience, wonderful things can often arise.

Next Friday: November 9, 2007: Doing the (Career) Laundry

---

Join me on these networks:

Douglas on MySpace | Douglas on Facebook | Douglas on LinkedIn

---

Support Career Opportunities:

iTunes Review | Career-Op Forums | Digg.com | Podcast Alley | Reader/Listener Line @ 818-804-5049

Technorati Tags: career, job, jobs, work, workplace, podcast, podcasting, technology, high-tech, employment

---

A while ago, I came across this site, http://www.wishbookweb.com/, which hosts scanned copies of historical Christmas Catalogs from the 1940s-1980s. As I was flipping through the site, it brought back some great memories of my childhood. As a child, on the cold Winter nights in Ohio, I would often sit for hours flipping through the Christmas catalogs, dreaming of the neat things I might receive (but probably wouldn't) for Christmas. For example, this is one toy I have remembered since my 2nd or 3rd Christmas in 66/67. Bizzy Buzz Buzz. The fact that I can remember the feeling of it in my hand after so many years proves the impact that childhood toys have upon us.

So, starting today, I am announcing

"The Wish Book - A Holiday Season Podcast Project"

to be released in November and December 2007.

---

Here is how you can participate...

* Visit The Wish Book site
* Find a toy or other object that you remember from your childhood
* Tell us a story about the toy or object
* In the end, the stories don't have to be based on the catalogs. Tell us your favorite personal holiday story is fine, too

Try to include the following information in your recording:

* Your Name and Home Town Location i.e. Douglas E. Welch from New London, Ohio
* The catalog and page where you found you item (So that others can see a picture of it)
* Your story

Your story can be whatever you wish -- a real-time discussion with siblings, "hey do you remember that? Didn't you leave that out in the rain?" to amore structured "I remember this..." type of story. Let yourself go! Tell us what made this item so special to you.

If I receive enough submissions for The Wish Book, I will create a daily podcast running from Thanksgiving Day through until Christmas or New Years.

---

How to send in your audio or video?
You can send in your audio or video in a number of ways:

* Call our Listener Line at 818-804-5049 and leave up to a 3 minute story
* Record your audio or video and email it to douglas.welch@gmail.com
* Mail me a CD or DVD with your story
* Email me a URL where I can download your audio or video

Please join me in this celebration of the Holiday Season by sharing your memories!

PDF Flyer: http://welchwrite.com/blog/pdf/wish-book-project.pdf

Technorati Tags: audio, christmas, hanukkah , holiday, holidays, podcast, podcasting, video

---

I will speaking at PodCampAZ on November 3rd, 2007 in Phoenix, Arizona.

I posted a few possible topics, but this is the one that seemed to garner the most response from attendees..

---

Developing ideas and content for a weekly show with Douglas E. Welch

Douglas, writer and host of Career Opportunities -- a weekly print column for ComputorEdge magazine in San Diego, and pioneer podcast -- presents this session on developing content to keep your show humming from week to week.

Topics covered will include:

* Knowing what your gettng into
* Collecting ideas, no matter where you are or what you're doing
* Using your own life experiences to drive your show
* Using series to provide on-going material
* Using co-hosts to share the load
* "The Beast Must Be Fed!" and other truisms from journalism
* It's like writing a novel....every year!

Douglas is now in his 12th year of publication with the print edition of Career Opportunities and recently celebrated the 3rd Anniversary (Est. September 24, 2004) of the Career Opportunities podcast.

Technorati Tags: podcast, podcasting, speak, speaking, arizona, podcamp, podcampaz

---

pro·fes·sion·al·–noun
1. professional character, spirit, or methods.
2. the standing, practice, or methods of a professional, as distinguished from an amateur.

professionalism. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/professionalism (accessed: September 19, 2007).

You can often hear complaints today about a lack of professionalism among the workforce. Employees that don’t do their jobs -- companies that rip off their clients -- people who generally treat others much worse than they would like to be treated. We often see professionalism described in the negative, though. This is not professional. That is not professional. Instead, I think we would be much better off to describe what professional is, rather that what it is not.


Next Friday: November 2, 2007: Letting go of control can open up new opportunities

---

Join me on these networks:

Douglas on MySpace | Douglas on Facebook | Douglas on LinkedIn

---

Support Career Opportunities:

iTunes Review | Career-Op Forums | Digg.com | Podcast Alley | Reader/Listener Line @ 818-804-5049

Technorati Tags: career, job, jobs, work, workplace, podcast, podcasting, technology, high-tech, employment

---

Slated for release on October 24th, it's the annual Technology-themed Halloween Special presented by Friends in Tech.

"It's the Great Server Chuck and Kreg!"

Convinced that the Great Server will be making its yearly appearance, Kreg refuses to go Trick-or-Treating with the rest of the FiT gang and instead pulls an all-nighter waiting for the Great Server to "...rise up out of the server farm and brings technology to all the good geeks around the world."

Written by Douglas E. Welch and the Members of Friends in Tech

Don't miss it!

You can also check out previous FiT Halloween Specials:
- The Server Room of Horrors
- The Server Room of Horrors 2006

---

I received a great letter recently from someone who was asking just that question, who do I trust? They are feeling used and abused in their career and wondering, with all honesty, if the entire world has descended to the level of last century's snake oil salesmen. Sadly, I often talk to people who feel that they can't trust anyone.

Next Friday: October 26, 2007: Professionalism

---

Join me on these networks:

Douglas on MySpace | Douglas on Facebook | Douglas on LinkedIn

---

Support Career Opportunities:

iTunes Review | Career-Op Forums | Digg.com | Podcast Alley | Reader/Listener Line @ 818-804-5049

Technorati Tags: career, job, jobs, work, workplace, podcast, podcasting, technology, high-tech, employment

---

Once again, Mark and Mike at Manager Tools hit a very important pet peeve of mine, how to use voice mail effectively. It amazes me that we still have to educate people about this, but anyone who has received voice mail knows that there is a problem.

My favorite tip from this show, "Move the conversation forward!" For me, this is the main issue. No more "Call Me" voice mails would be top of the list for Christmas this year. (SMILE)

How to Leave a Voicemail

This cast describes how to leave an effective voicemail.

If you’ve ever gotten a voicemail which sounded like, “[your name], this is [their name], call me,” you know why we’re doing this cast.

Phone manners have been steadily decreasing for decades. When boys used to call for Mark’s daughter Kate, they would slouch verbally through, “Is Kate there?” and Mark would answer, “Yes,” and hang up. He safely assumed that any person who asked that question was a boy, and not enough of a gentleman to be allowed to speak with her. (At first she rolled her eyes, but later she liked the hurdle that Mark’s demand created: those boys that never got it ended up being…well, boys.)

What about at work? The “Bob this is Joe call me” is only one example. It ranks right up there with “saw that you called, what’s up?” answered with, “did you, errrrr…listen to my voicemail?”

In this cast, we have recommendations for how to leave a voicemail. We think of this as the first cast on phone skills…out of several hundred to come.

(Via Manager Tools.)

Technorati Tags: job, audio, business, employee, employment, high-tech, how-to, howto, learn, learning, management, manager, managers, podcast, technology, work, workplace, voicemail

Labels: audio, career, careers, communication, education, effective, employment, high-tech, how-to, howto, management, manager, managers, podcast, work

---

I came across this interesting article in my Google News feed for the keywords "work" and "career". It reinforces some of the points I have made here in Career Opportunities about planning and executing your own personal PR campaign by telling stories.

Check it out!

'Stars' are visible without the aid of a telescope - Bizjournals.com

Bizjournals.com, NC - I was catching up on some casual reading over the weekend and I noticed that the same people seemed to appear on the pages of every magazine I flipped through. It occurred to me that many of these celebrities weren't any more talented than their peers--they just seemed to have the right publicist.

It can be like that at work, too. Often, the same people seem to be on all the major task forces and committees. Their peers wonder why these colleagues seem to get all the choice projects, while they toil in the same roles year after year. Are these stars more competent--or do they do a better job of managing their own publicity? ...

(Continues)

(Via work career - Google News.)

---

I have a red LED name tag that I wear to events and it never ceases to attract attention. Since I always have people asking me where they can pick one up, I offer up these links to Amazon.com.

I see now that they both my original red LED name tag and a new BLUE LED name tag. It looks pretty cool and I just might have to pick one of those up for myself. (SMILE)

You can see my name tag, which I wear in a standard badge holder in this photo from Lunch 2.0 on Friday.

---

This is a follow-up to Prelude to Revolution - Part 1, which aired on July 4th, 2007. -- Douglas

Prelude to Revolution - Part 2

The voices and events leading up to the American War for Independence

1761-1775

Performed LIVE on September 22, 2007,

An audio play taken from historical documents.

Listen to Prelude to Revolution - Part 2

---

Written, Produced and Directed by Keri Dearborn and Michael Lawshe of Eclipse-1 Media with assistance from Douglas E. Welch of WelchWrite.com

Technorati Tags: california, make, DIY, podcast, podcasting, events, losangeles, show, drama, play, live, audio

---

No matter how successful we might become, there will be times when an overwhelming sense of failure comes over us and leaves us wondering just where we are headed. This can be caused by a small failure of a project, new challenges in your personal life, or monetary troubles, but it is important to realize that feelings of failure don't necessary mean you have failed. It can simply mean that you are at a down period in your life and work -- one that will pass if you continue doing your best work and striving for something better.

Next Friday: October 19, 2007: Who do you trust?

Join me on these networks:

Douglas on MySpace | Douglas on Facebook | Douglas on LinkedIn

---

Support Career Opportunities:

iTunes Review | Career-Op Forums | Digg.com | Podcast Alley | Reader/Listener Line @ 818-804-5049

Technorati Tags: career, job, jobs, work, workplace, podcast, podcasting, technology, high-tech, employment

---

This is a special from Careers in Podcasting and New Media...

Listen to this show

In this interview, I talk with Kevin Devin, founder of Friends in Tech and former co-host of In The Trenches: The Podcast for Sys Admins.

When faced with the outsourcing of his traditional IT position, Kevin was able to use his podcasting skills to create a new position for himself in the company.

---

Join me on these networks:

Douglas on MySpace | Douglas on Facebook | Douglas on LinkedIn

---

Support Careers in Podcasting and New Media:

iTunes Review | Call the Reader/Listener Line @ 818-804-5049

Technorati Tags: audio, newmedia, mp3, job, audio, career, podcast, podcasting, work, workplace

Labels: audio, business, career, careers, interview, interviews, mp3, podcast, podcasting

---

---

Of all the reputations I have discussed in the last several weeks, this one might be the toughest to manage. The fine balance between work and self is like an endlessly tilting teeter-totter, swinging first one way, then the next. No matter how much you might try, there is really no central, stable point. Balance shifts constantly and you have to be very aware to maintain your footing. That said, if you ignore this balance and swing more often to one extreme or the other, you, and everyone around you will suffer.

Next Friday: October 12, 2007: A Sense of Failure

Join me on these networks:

Douglas on MySpace | Douglas on Facebook | Douglas on LinkedIn

---

Support Career Opportunities:

iTunes Review | Career-Op Forums | Digg.com | Podcast Alley | Reader/Listener Line @ 818-804-5049

Technorati Tags: career, job, jobs, work, workplace, podcast, podcasting, technology, high-tech, employment

---

---