Actually, Pebbles in My Shoes has been available online since it came out in 2004. For the first time, I’ve decided to sell it on my work website. So, if you click the book, it will take you the order section that is at the bottom of The Word ‘Mage book page.

This is hopefully going to be just the first endeavor to market my wares directly. I don’t have anything against middle men in certain business models. They provide the services as needed. However, being inspired by a great friend and writers I met online, it seems like this is just the next reasonable step for me.

So check it out! I’ll likely be adding more titles after the holidays. I’ll have to learn more about shopping carts in the meantime, for when I get more selections in my inventory (smiling). I have a small inventory of the current title right now and won’t be getting anymore before Christmas, thus the reason for ‘while supplies last’ statement.

it all started when i was very young

It’s all very exciting to me. Just to be able to try. When I was a child of about 8 or 9 years old, I always enjoyed playing Store with my brothers—that’s what we called it. We made money, checks, and collected things from around the house to sell. We did good business too. (And when I say made I mean we drew the money on paper cut to roughly the size of bills and checks.)

From that time to this, I’ve always enjoyed making things for the family. I had a newsletter for a short while. I made Christmas songbooks for the family. Once I made a beautiful customized calendar and coupons for my brother and sister-in-law. It was all such fun to be able to sit in front of my computer to create these things. And then seeing the happy reception they got was really a great gift to me.

practicality came crushing in

Over the years I let the creating things go in favor of more practical and time-consuming things like life and responsibilities. The computer has been a mainstay in my life and continues to be a phenomenal tool for me. The Internet provides me the access to other tools to resuscitate this dream. So, now I can breath new life into the idea of selling directly to the customer, which I think is pretty cool.

This book, Pebbles in My Shoes, is a conventionally printed, perfect bound book published through Author House. I still like the work done in it, so I’m delighted to be able to share it directly! If you should buy it, I hope you’ll enjoy it too.

Please know, I would love to hear your thoughts, reflections, or questions. You can email me at ssmothers@thewordmage.com

Inspirations to move forward on this include:

Kirk Byron Jones
Matthew Quinn

I’m a fan of Mary Poppins: the movie, the music, the story line. When I was working on this post, it popped in my head that choosing a positive attitude is much the same as Mary Poppins’ spoonful of sugar. It can make the work go better.

first tier responsibilities

Lately I’ve been really busy with three major things, A+ study, job search, and web design. In fact, I’ve been so focused on these three things until they have begun to define my days. It started feeling like a rut. It wasn’t though. It’s simply my schedule, my routine until I get done what’s needed right now. These are simply my first tier responsibilities that are supposed to get most of my time and attention.

Perception is not everything but it does mean a lot. So, I changed mine and took a different approach to what I was seeing as a rut. Instead, I looked at it for what it is: all part of my day job. Like any job there are key responsibilities and related tasks. It always makes things go better when you don’t take an antagonistic view of what you gotta do, don’t you think?

second tier responsibilities

These are responsibilities that are very important but still can be moved aside by the first tier work.

Blogging is an important one. It supplies useful distraction from my main responsibilities. So, by putting it into the second tier, it still has the urgency it merits. Things in this area are important but could get bumped for the key things. Having several blogs is a challenge. But it’s important that I maintain them.

Other duties, that fall under this umbrella include record keeping and social networking. The record keeping is fairly well in hand so requires minimal time to update, (except when I’m changing a system). Because it’s easy, I sometimes neglect it for too long. When I get back to it the catch-up is almost painless.

Social networking is a totally different animal. It’s something that I simply let fall away from me. I learned about it on a job and I enjoyed doing it. But when my recent class started, it required much of my time. Other important things got shifted around, and that just got pushed out of the bed.

other duties as assigned

Don’t you love to see that section on a job description sheet? I do because it fills me with wonder. I wonder what the hell could be so off-putting or obscure in happenstance that it needs to be shrouded in such a way. At home, mine are just as nebulous and ethereal, looming ever closer, until suddenly they’re in your face, huge, solid, commanding all your immediate attention…Well maybe not that bad.

In any given day, there are things that pop up, things that don’t fit easily into any one area, or are completely unrelated. But they present an immediate priority just the same. I work these out as expeditiously as possible, so I can return the first work. For example, today I have to edit an image for my brother. I didn’t do it when he asked and it slipped my mind. So, I’ve stamped it with a NOW tag, so it supersedes everything. And there are important emails to which responses are overdue.

Even being unplanned, the interruptions by other tasks can be beneficial. They break up my days. That helps because being focused, for hours daily, on any one goal can burn you out, even if you don’t notice it right away.

perspective always matters

My interruptions compel me to take a deep breath and step away from the project at hand. Returning to the project with fresh eyes helps me to not overlook things, as can happen when just forging right through. It’s happened to me that I’ve gone to sleep with a question or problem I was working on, and awakened with a solution. It’s more fun when I wake after a full night’s sleep, but sometimes it doesn’t wait until then.

My suggestion to you is, don’t fight it, but embrace the time away for what it is. Whether you’re interrupted by children or other family, or just something that must be done, fix your perspective: Choose to focus on what good can come from breaking up your day, taking a breather, getting a chance to do something different. Finally, give yourself full permission to really get invested into doing the other things and see if your primary work doesn’t go much better.

Today I am catching up on my writing for my blogs and for work. I’m doing it at a restaurant near my home. Not because I needed to get out. I didn’t. I’m here because I competed with a computer and lost.

Yesterday, I waited 12 hours for an AT&T technician to come out an install my phone. I was told that I couldn’t get a smaller window, and that I would have to wait until next week for the same company to prepare the Internet. (???) That was even after I told them I had an old modem on hand and that I wouldn’t require technical support.

No one came to my door. No one called me. And I couldn’t get a live person on the phone—until this morning. By this time, I was ready to pop because of the sheer ludicrousness of the situation. When I did get a person yesterday and today, they told me that the computer was showing that my installations (phone and internet) were complete. (So???)

my feeble argument

“If the technician had bothered to ring my doorbell to see to it that his effort was complete and everything was working he would’ve discovered that there was a problem! What is the point of insisting that someone be present for 12 hours if you’re not even going to follow up in person AT ALL?!

The woman’s response: “Who told you you needed to be home? Was it a recording? Well it wasn’t me.”
“So you’re so busy you can’t see to it that my service that was supposed to be completed yesterday gets done before next week? There’s no one working in my area?!?” She wasn’t happy with me. But it was just as well—now we were even with no superficiality to blur the facts.

She had no empathy for me that her company having forced me to stay home to wait for her technician. That she was not the specific person didn’t lessen the impact one iota. She seemed to not understand that. So, to improve her abilities, I hope she learns the feeling first hand, soon, and returns to work a more compassionate person.

what’s scary about this

It would seem that there are enough machines in place and people without business sense to make some interactions sluggish and woefully uncomfortable. It seems like the workers have become the extensions of the machines. (And I’m sure the reverse was the intention of the inventions of the computers.)

When in the course of human events, the interactions between computers obfuscates the reactions of the people, then there is a larger problem than existed before computers. This is not a dramatic problem for workers; they really don’t get it. The owners obviously are so removed as to not feel it and possibly don’t care. The first woman I talked with this morning, was the only one who sounded like she got it, and cared.

Still, she told me I may have to wait as long as four more days to get the help I need for service that was scheduled for yesterday. A person who was supposed to call within two hours, was replaced by an automated message to deliver the bad news. Of course, I was too put out to accept that. I needed a person to tell me this was so. The people on the phone who reiterated this final blow, seemed grossly indifferent.

a new way of being

The question now is, how do I move forward from here? Do I learn a new way of communicating? I guess I will have to give up on human-ness when dealing with large, sluggish and woefully unresponsive companies. I wonder, if I had chosen a smaller service provider, would I be here in the restaurant writing or at home, online with my phone working.

Tomorrow is my last day before going back to class. I was off this week, and hoped to get things like this done. AT&T ate up yesterday. And I recently got another automated call, that they are going to possibly eat up tomorrow. A service technician will be working in the area sometime until 19:00 and a person (only option is me) needs to be available.

The welcome recording says “Welcome to the new AT and T.” This is new and the service used to be better, so they really are going in the wrong direction.

Home voluntarily is very different from home by force. A twelve (12) hour service window means that this company is WAY TOO BIG!! This is a great time for a competitor to come in and unseat them with a comparable product and truly responsive technical workers.

When was the last time you had to argue against the feedback of a computer to make your truth known? How’d that work out for you?

I just wanted to post a quick note to say that my aStore, The Blog About It Store, is live. Actually, it’s been live, it’s just that now it’s attached to the site—again. I’ve had access to it for quite a long time, but I always put it on the back burner to set it up through my site. I was waiting to find a way to do the fancy stuff.

Then I realized how much time had passed, and it was just unacceptable. If you look at the software versions I’ve included, you’ll begin to get the picture, too. And so, looking ahead to all that I want to do, it occurred to me that this would be an easy thing to get up and running and out of the way. A few days ago I got going and haven’t stopped yet.

I updated the links and changed the colors just a bit. For now there’s a link on my left sidebar to get you to the store. And when I remember how, I’ll include it in the tabs. I want it to be accessible. And that’s why there are links on the page that return you to my blog.

About the Items Included

• The books I’ve chosen are books that I’ve read, mostly. Some are of interest to me and I have yet to read them.
• The applications I’ve chosen are those that I use and like.

So far, I’ve only included books and software applications. If you’re curious about one in particular, please feel free to ask me.

I’ll tell you know, I’ve read everything by Kirk Byron Jones. And I’m still working on the magnificent writings of Erwin Raphael McManus.

I hope you visit my bookstore and find something that interests you. My library is full of books that inspire me throughout my life. When you find something that does the same for you, please drop me a line letting me know.

So, it’s been anything but quiet since last I was here. Since then, I’ve secured my place for A+ certification training; the training begins next month, May 2010. And, I managed to keep up with a poem a day, so far. I don’t know about the day until I get to it, because my verses don’t come together until the night, when home is more quiet. It just got quiet here today. So, we’ll see what I can manage.

With a vote of confidence from my comrades in the project, and reading their inspired words, I will continue to write. If not on prompt at least I’ll write a poem a day for the rest of National Poetry Month. I’ll have to make the choice predicated on whether or not work has to be sacrificed. I want to write the poems no matter what. But, I have to move business forward too. Work MUST go on!

Work must go On

I thought it would be a piece of cake to get up early and get them done. The thing is though, my family drama starts early, sometimes. And work sometimes takes a back seat to people’s needs. Still I try to not lose too much ground by making up time wherever I can find it. As a result, on yesterday, I spent a few hours working on changes that will be uploaded to my work website. It was good for two reasons:

1. There was so much noise and activity in the house until I couldn’t get the writing creativity going.
2. Starting is a great way to finish anything.

Submission Sites

This quarter is set to be fun as it is slated for trial and error. I’m trying out everything that’s been on my list for some time now. First is submission sites for my poetry. I’ve been putting it off long enough. If I don’t re-start now, who knows when I’ll get back to it.

I say re-start because I did submissions years ago. Some of those publications may be history by now. But I’ve lost all those files in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It’s time to lay some new inroads to mainstream publication.

Three things I’m working on related to submitting:

1. Reading publications’ issues to familiarize myself with what they publish. We have to be a good fit if I’m going send them anything and expect them to publish it.
2. Preparing the best submission letter I can. Reviewing what writers are sharing online is one way to find out what’s working. Also, first even, writing the publishers according to their guidelines. And then trial and error to see what comes back to me with the response I need to hear, be it yes or no.
3. Seeking out and studying honest detailed feedback from writers I greatly respect. It would be good to know if I’m reaching anybody. Or, if mine is just writing I should keep for my family and friends.

Self-Publishing Once Again

Self-publishing is very exciting these days. With the proliferation of selling sites, I can publish ebooks without any assistance. Of course I’ll have to do this at least for a chapbook because I can.

For full length publishing I’ve self-published once before. I want to do it again, and I really am pleased with Author House. So I’ll probably return to it for my second poetry collection (which should be completed soon).

And, to spice things up a bit more, I’ve toyed with for some years now to do it all myself. I’ll share that big news whenever it comes to fruition.

2nd Quarter Goals

By the end of this quarter I would like to have:

• 10 submission sites that I am actively courting
• 2 new writing clients
• 1 poetry chapbook ready for editing

Of course I’ll be sharing my findings along the way. My submissions will be here or linked to here from Telling Stories. It depends on the writing jobs I get, where they will primarily posted, possibly at my work blog and referenced here.

So, what do you think? What of your ideas have become concrete goals this quarter? Which publishers do you like to use? Why? I look forward to hearing from you.

Related posts:

1. it’s high time i get certified
2. Time Waits for No One
3. Poetry Just Because

Seizing an Opportunity

It turns out I didn’t really like any of the blog themes I tried out recently. Not as much as I like my current theme, anyway. So what’s a girl to do to get some change? Take a different route, and spruce things up a bit.

I decided to make just a few cosmetic changes to this theme to suit me (like the color on my h- tags here to blue from gray). Behind the scenes, I’m going to try to get more into the PHP of things and customize a theme. A new pet project that I’ve been wanting to get into. I’m taking it behind the scene so I can spend just my free time until I get it where I want it.

I want to make my own theme from scratch one day. For now I want to be able to use themes I like and customize them as much as I want.

Complementing Current Skills and Interests

I’ve mentioned from time to time how important it is to be cross trained. It can improve your understanding of seemingly unrelated topics. In college, I tried really hard to get out of taking Chemistry I. My contention was, I was never going to have a job that required that. My boss at the time explained to me that it would touch all of my jobs. He said beyond teaching about chemicals, it would train the thinking process.

I passed the class and hopefully I got the benefit that he pointed out. Can’t really say for myself. But what he said to me taught me to embrace the many things I’m interested in and to pursue them even if they may seem unrelated. If there’s an interest, within reason, pursue it—you never know what it might lead to. That’s my take, anyway.

Do you find growth opportunities in minor challenges? What do you do about that?

Related posts

1. 6 skills to increase your marketability
2. Cross Training for Personal Gain
3. Good Stuff during Slow Times

Work is work. Some parts are good and some are not so much fun. Both parts are inherent in pretty much any pursuit. So what do you do about it when the not-so-fun parts slow you down to nearly a halt?

Why is the Job You Love Not So Fun?

You have this job to do, like it or not. It’s fun to write, but this topic bores you. You love this topic, but there’s better information that you need to find. You love this web design, but you need the layout changed, (something you can’t do easily).

Sometimes, as in the last example, it’s a matter of deciding if you need to learn or brush up on a new complimentary skill. If you find that you need the same skill repeatedly, training may be in your best business interest. And isn’t it fun to learn new things?

Other times, it’s just that the yucky part is something you’d really rather not do. Does that sound like attitude to you? It does to me.

If you accept a job and make it your responsibility, it’s not a good idea to give up on the assignment. After all, who want’s to be thought of as unreliable? That’s a reputation killer.

The Good News: You Get to Choose

Bring your best self to the table. If you’re not feeling the vibe of your assignment, it may be that you need to attend to your personal state.
Consider changing your mindset. What is it that you don’t like? It’s a topic that can benefit your employer, otherwise why would they have requested it? If you can’t—really can’t— get into the topic, get into the work.

Watch your mechanics of working. Get to the formulaic actions you take to bring together an article, post, proposal, newsletter, press release, or whatever else you’re into. Let yourself get caught up in the process, and revel in the activity.

Attend to the related events. Who are the people you have to interact with the make it come together? The people you interview, coordinate with, query for details, may have interesting happenings that they can share if you’re receptive to the tangential sharing. Consider it a break, and take it as part of the process–because it is.

Pick out the places for gratitude. Be grateful for the job, sure. And, beyond that, appreciate the highlights of the not-so-fun stuff. After all, you are able to get the work done. It could be that you were sick and couldn’t perform. Yes, you know what I’m saying: Remember that whatever hangs you up about a job, it probably could always be worse. And, if that’s all you can tug on to pull you to the joyous side of work, do it.

It boils down to doing the work because you chose to take it on. Take joy in the things that you love to do; and, even the experiences you don’t relish can bring something to your life—if you let it. If you’re open. If you take it in. You choose in any event. Why not choose joy?

Tell me what you do to get through the yucky parts. Or, do you always outsource that stuff?

Resources:

• Knowing a Little More Saves a Lot
• Getting to the Sweet Spot of Writing

Shon Bacon interviewed me and posted it on her blog site, ChickLitGurrl™. I’m excited to be among the talented people she interviewed.

In my interview, I answered really good questions that made me think about where I am. It’s something I do periodically but I’ve not done in such detail for someone else. She got my scoop and can read it and find out what else I’m up to.

Visit ChickLitGurrl™. You need to read through this great hub put together by Shon for her readers. It offers excellent insights into authors and their books, and writers making a difference. Her book reviews present the information I look for in reviews. I’ve added titles to my book list based on her site. Don’t overlook her sidebar. Shon makes great use of that realestate to provide us with even more information.

In addition:

Connecting through Social Media: I should mention ChickLitGurrl™ is one of the great connections I’ve made on Twitter. You can visit her Twitter page and learn more about Shon Bacon.

You ever notice how people and events, seem to have commonalities in their success stories? Certain characteristic traits are present in success stories I read and hear about, and they tend to jump out at me sometimes. This year, I went home to New Orleans, Louisiana over the Mardi Gras celebration. I witnessed these four common threads of successful behavior in action.

4 Traits of Success

1. Do what you do to the best of your ability
2. In order to satisfy your audience, review feedback
3. Take from feedback only what is useful
4. True success lies in being true to yourself

Mardi Gras 2009 in New Orleans, Louisiana

I saw the themes in play through the Mardi Gras celebration, a long-standing New Orleans tradition. This year New Orleans, Louisiana reported the best Mardi Gras attendance numbers since Hurricane Katrina hit the port city:

Despite a downturn in the economy nationwide, the Crescent City is flourishing – at least for this weekend – as thousands of visitors flock to New Orleans to enjoy beads, boas, parades and parties.1

Visitors arrived in New Orleans for Mardi Gras, taking a break from their regular routines. They came to enjoy themselves and some to help the city. Believe it or not, some had business meetings in town that didn’t account for this major party. And visitors and natives partied together.

Give the People What They Want

New Orleans businesses provided street music, like in front of Harrah’s Casino, and various spots along Canal Street. There were booths and street vendors selling food, drinks, trinkets, and souvenirs. Music and the rest of the party was free.

And wherever the music played the people danced.

There was high police visibility and not so conspicuous security personnel and loads of entertainment throughout the city. Mardi Gras is, like many things, it’s what you make of it.

It wasn’t Perfect . . . What is, Really?

People had fun, as is the tradition of the Mardi Gras celebration before Lent, and the city made money. There were dangers that were thwarted and some not. People were killed over Mardi Gras and traffic laws were broken. People drank too much and hurt themselves too. Still, crime is everywhere. My contention is if that’s all you saw when you looked at New Orleans, Louisiana and Mardi Gras, then that’s all you were looking for.

Attracting Useful Interactions

I’ve seen that what you bring to events informs what you take from it. Two ladies interviewed on the news said they came to see the party, and to spend money to boost the New Orleans economy. The media caught up to them later in the celebration, they said they had a great time. New Orleans held their grand party on their own terms, informed by what needs they saw for celebrants, businesses and the community.

• We all can use a break from time to time
• A big party with open bar is a big draw
• Generally people want to help others when they can (in this case by putting money into the New Orleans economy)
• Many feel good by giving others a hand up (tourists), and great to be able to help themselves (businesses & locals participation)

The success of the New Orleans Mardi Gras celebration reflects the four themes common to other success stories. Your success will come when you apply the four themes in your endeavors. And when you make strong effort, you’ll find that you attract useful interactions.

Maybe you’ve seen these traits in your own story. Share your experiences in your blog or website and link to it here in the comments. I’d like to hear about your experience.

Reference

1. From WWLTV.com: Despite Economic Downturn, Carnival Business Booming

Freelance is the life! I work when I want, doing the jobs I want to do. I’m going to be so successful! Isn’t it grand! Well, yes and no.

Like most things in life, freelance is what you bring to it. To get the best results, you should be bringing your A game to whatever work you do. That means doing the administrative stuff behind the glamor of say freelance writing. Yes, I’m smiling.

One of the things I really like about freelancing is that it challenges me to be creative about how I get the attention of folks who may be in need of my services. Consider the following.

Doing the Work of Freelancing

You are in charge. You have to solicit the work, impress the clients, attract the attention of the people who will potentially pay you.

As the person in charge, you need to develop and use creative business and marketing plans so that you can stand out from the crowd. To be prepared, you also have to recognize that this plan is going to change from time to time.

You can work when you want. Strategically though it’s a good idea to be at work when your potential clients are at work. Try to want to work when your target audience is at work. If it’s not in your plans, try to at least be available to them at their convenience.

It’s great to have your information online and easily accessible, like your blog, website, portfolio, video or whatever you’ve chosen to post. But it’s even better to have times when people can contact you. Determine your schedule of availability and be present. And make sure that people know when you’re available.

Don’t forget to play. You remember that old saying about all work and no play? The one I remember says something about Jack being made dull. I don’t know about that but using the all work method can definitely burn you out. Plan your work time and your play time, too. The balance is important from the beginning. So know where your time is spent as well as you know where your money is spent.

You can accept only the jobs you want. To save your time and the time of your potential clients, state the jobs that you accept. In your offerings, it’s important to be as specific as possible. And, update your services regularly to reflect skills you acquire, and to remove services you decide not to offer.

I Hope I’m Stating the Obvious

Yes, you are the boss. You call the shots, fire the clients, outsource when you need to. You’re the creative genius driving your business forward. You are the diplomat whose responsibility it is to keep your income coming in. And it’s your fault when business grinds to a screeching halt.

Remember these two guides to navigate through business landmines. They’re not even hidden and yet people manage to trigger them from time to time. Honesty, clarity and integrity are keys to getting this part right.

1. Don’t offer to do things you can’t do. Most of us know this but I’ve heard the horror stories from employers about people who take creative license when listing their skills. You can’t recover from this easily. Once your inability is revealed, you’ll likely be seen as a fraud. That’s how I’d see you. If I did it, it’s how I’d feel.
2. Don’t say yes to things just because you were asked. If you’re anything like me you really like to be accommodating. That’s a good thing, but temper it with common sense. Make sure it’s feasible to say yes; even if making sure means that you have to postpone a response to check your schedule. You don’t want to disappoint a client with delays if you don’t have to. Sometimes they can cost a client more than you know.

You are the boss in your freelance business. And you have to make choices and take actions that will keep you in the mainstream of things. The work of freelance can be rewarding. But it’s also a challenge you must rise to daily in order to have the success you desire.

I know, you say you’re  a writer and that’s all you need. But let’s face it, that’s not all you need. The more you know, the more diverse your background, then the more marketable you are. You don’t have to  be great at everything. It helps to understand something about the larger picture of your company or at least of your department. And no, it’s not so that employers can better exploit you.

I am doing transcriptions and every time I get to it I strive to go faster. It’s a full-time job that I do freelance. I get to set my schedule. And it really is W-O-R-K. When I’m transcribing, I am focused on several things:

• What I’m listening to, deciphering the speech
• Interpreting the nuances to decide the best punctuation/li>
• Remembering the guidelines for this organization
• And trying to go fast

The related skill of audio manipulation has helped me a great deal. There are times when the audio is low, and knowing how to increase the gain says me from having to go to my employer and say that I need a new recording. Saves us both time and money. If presented with an analogue recording, I know how to transfer it to digital, which again keeps me working without having to return to my employer saying I can’t use this recording.

Writer Related Skills

Writers need to have a broad understanding to work more efficiently. I’m not saying that there are 6 specific skills that you as a writer need to acquire. However, acquiring skills related to your area can help put you ahead of the game. Try to pick things that interest you. It makes it feel less like work.
As a writer working for a web-based company, several of my interests were quite useful. Look at your company and evaluate what other skills might make your work flow more easily. Some suggestions of useful related skills include:

1. Editing - in any company, you want to have your best writing and your best finished product. Put your effort into writing a good piece. Then go back with an editor’s mindset and look as objectively as possible for what the company wants to say. This is really useful when you’re ghostwriting.
2. HTML coding – for the company that may still require that. Knowing how it works can show you some things you can and cannot do or how to code the text fully.
3. Interviewing – it helps a lot to know how to ask questions of people and of text. Works closely with research.
4. Researching – knowing how to find information paramount for writers. Often times companies will have materials that you work from and you simply need to review the material. When a company doesn’t have this, it’s great if you can find the information on your own.
5. Writing in different genres – it’s critical to know the different voices that are used in articles, ads, promotions and offer content. Keeping these clear in your understanding, makes it easy for you to move between several for writing them, as well as editing your work after.
6. Design – graphic design, web design, print design are all part of presenting any information. Each has rules related to written content. Knowing how to set up the front and back matter of a book is far different in setting up a blog post for easy readability.

Stacking the Odds

These are all really good skills that have helped me in my work. They can increase your marketability and can increase your salary. So, you’re not just learning to make yourself more well-rounded, or to get in, but to get paid better. It’s not always the case that the pay will be better. However, your chances are greater than if you didn’t have any other skills.

No matter what is the company you work for, there are related skills that you can learn that will help to improve your productivity. It’s a productive and honest way to impress your employers. There are many other things that you can to do improve your chances to get a job, keep a job or advance in a job. Be creative.

Leave a comment and tell me what you do to improve your marketability. How do you set yourself ahead of the curve?