Appearance is Important

I have recently read two books that have made me realise:

Appearance is Important!

The first book I read is called "Life is a Pitch" (Written by Stephen Bayley and Roger Mavity). As the title suggests, through out your life you have to do many pitches. Most people would think of a pitch as being something that is done for an investor to get them interested in your idea. That is true but you don't just pitch to investors. There are many examples of pitches. For example, job interviews and presentations are a pitch. Even in your personal lives there will be pitches (the book gives the example of going on the first date). Basically any time that you need to ask someone a favour, or convince them to do something, it is a pitch.

As mentioned earlier, job interviews are pitches. The second book I read was called "The Secrets to Getting a Job" (Written by Philip Garside). The book's entire focus is on doing well in interviews. This is because the author believes that the way you present yourself in the interview is important. If the employer has asked you to come for an interview, they already think you have enough experience and qualifications. The interview is where the employer sees if they like you. They will be looking at your behavior and personality to see if you will fit in with their workplace culture and will be liked by the other employees.

From reading the two books there are some tips:

• Prepare and practice what you are going to say at least a week ahead.
• Show you are passionate about the item being pitched.
• Be as honest as possible without revealing everything
• If asked about weaknesses, admit there are weaknesses but then mention a strength that solves the weakness or allows the weakness to be ignored.
• Make your pitch simple but make sure you have the extra details available if they are asked for.
• Watch your body language, this is what makes what you are saying believable. Even the way you shake hands can make people decide if they like you within a couple of seconds of meeting them. Also show you are paying attention to others.
• Dress appropriately.

One Year of My Unique Entreprenuer!

This month celebrates a year of this blog. The old saying "Time Flies By" is true in this case as many things have happened over the year. Including a trip to the US were I met a popular restaurant owner and got into some adventures. Hopefully some of my experiences can be used in this blog.

During the year I cancelled the blog UniqueNewsQuad because I felt it was not the right time for me to do it. Maybe it will come back in the future. Meanwhile my other blog MyUniqueQuad still exists if you are interested in some light entertainment.

Below the Surface

For the past month I have been learning about Strategy. The main point the lecturer wants to get across is the concept of Icebergs. It is the centre point of the course.

Most people would of heard of the metaphor of the icebergs: Only 10% of the iceberg is above water. The rest of the iceberg is under the water and is not seen. This is the point that the lecturer is trying to get across. When looking at the facts of a particular situation to see how to plan a strategy it is important to look under the surface. A strategist needs to look at what is not immediately obvious.

I think (and I assume the lecturer does too) that many people fail at business because they don't look below the surface. For example, there would be many times where a person has had product selling well in a country. They think to themselves that another country has double or triple the population so their product will be very successful over there. Unfortunately when they try to sell their product overseas they end up losing their money. Why did they fail? They did not look under the surface.

Under the surface a strategist would of seen that there were differences between cultures that would stop people from wanting to buy the product. Maybe having that product is not "cool" or is embarrassing to talk about. Maybe there is a history of cargo going "missing".

The strategist may not be able to find what they are looking for just by reading books. Below the surface are things that people know but do not talk about or have not written down. The strategist may have to talk to people to find out the truth. Even then they might not get the whole truth.

So remember : Look under the surface! Even if it is just going past the first page of results in Google.