Career | Zinga Hart

4 Smart Steps to Keep Your Brand On-Point this Year

Posted on January 25, 2016 by Zinga H

If you are up to date on the latest trends in growing your reach online, whether it is for yourself, business, or passion then you know cultivating your leadership brand means creating content for the web. Content is valuable, purposeful, creations (whether an article, video, comic, podcast, etc.) that attract a particular audience and ultimately drives them to take action.

Yes, all those infographics, quote pics, even random Twitter rants you post are tied to the web of your brand. In a sense, this becomes the pre-impression before the first impression someone might get from meeting you more personally. In a sense it also forms an idea of who you are and a baseline for the value you bring to the table that people can start to believe.

Can you visualize your self-image clearly?

While your integrity is usually tested in real life, your reputation is partially set on the foundation of what you post online. While you don’t have to be a prolific author to write your story, you do need to respect how critical it is to maintain your authenticity, while growing your personal or business brand. Self-authorship is a theory attributed to Baxter Magolda, and is defined as “the internal capacity to define one’s own beliefs” as she wrote in Three Elements of Self-Authorship. This self-definition is at the foundation of developing your personal brand over the course of your success journey. Owning your beliefs takes time because you need to sort out the wealth of information you have absorbed and learned over a lifetime and distill it into your core sense of being. While, not quick task, with simple steps you can begin to dig in deeper, find your internal sage and use that to project and share your brilliant brand with the world in a way everyone can agree upon.

Here are four simple steps to author your self-definition so you can grow and polish it over time.

Journal on what you think you have to do in order to fulfill your dream life: What are the essential things you need to live. Be specific: “Using the bathroom, eat, sleep” are some basics to include, but keep adding until you’ve exhausted your ideas, “own a business, have a family” could all be a part of this list.
Walk away from the list for a day or so and then return. Look over the list and question how this master to-do list aligns to your values, your mission, and your vision. If it doesn’t click, make a note of how the “have to” came into your life. For instance, if you wrote, “own 20-bedroom mansion like Oprah” but your vision is to travel for the rest of your life, then consider Oprah’s role in influencing your personal beliefs.
This working list is for you to return to and to refine over time. Choose the strongest beliefs of the work you have to do to live a full life. Notice what comes up over and over, notice what you are most proud of as you go about your days. Reduce your have to four or five sentences to keep your essentials close.
Own it. Write it out, make it your screensaver, or create a ringtone. Figure out a way to keep your essential commands to yourself a constant in your life.

There are easy steps on the road to self-authorship Of course, there are many more steps on this journey, from vlogging to therapy, but what matters most is getting started. Thanks for walking with me!

For more here’s a Youtube video on the four phases of self-authorship

Want a partner to help you hone in on your self-definition?

Set up a free phone chat with me here!

Simple Moves for Personal Brand Consistency

Posted on January 12, 2016 by Zinga H

Who’s focusing on their personal brand this year?

I definitely am!

Hanging out with women’s empowerment groups, a new network of fabulous friends and potential partnerships, as well as facing anything that feels like fear head on and with gusto! The energy of my personal brand building focus contagious and like I discussed at my recent workshop, From Passion to Process, where your passion is your energy! It is a colorful word for describing the feeling that arises when we are doing something delightfully desirable.

One part of facing my fears was doing starting my YouTube channel! Cheers to all the vloggers out there, creating video content is an intensive activity! Although, I create content and help small businesses’ build their brand strategy, putting myself right in the center of of building my personal brand still comes with an edge of awkwardness. Yet, I know confidence comes with time, and I look forward to learning and growing by following this new avenue in my life.

How are you growing your personal goals?

If building your brand means incorporating a new strategy, tactic, or method, how do you ensure that you stay authentic to your core values and vision, while treading across new lines?

Tying your vision to your brand means taking control and ownership of every bit of it. From your colors to your fonts, from your values to your guarantee, you need to ensure that you consistently apply your brand across your communication channels, so that you are easily recognized and familiar to your ideal audience.

So what are the major components of your brand that you need to think about? This awesome slide show by Jarkko Sjöman covers some basic features of a personal brand with the sage advice of Will Ferrell.

Below are some free or low cost moves you can take to improve and align your personal brand today!

Google Yourself (Or Your Business)

I just did it! Wow, one year ago it my LinkedIn popped up and that’s about it. Now my content, websites, and many other streams of how I want to represent myself on the web comes to the top of the list. How is your Search Engine presence? Is Google linking you to the content that you are most passionate about? If you are not showing up in the ranks you may want to consider if it’s time to focus on your online brand. Offline method: Do a personal SWOT analysis.

Update your LinkedIn profile

LinkedIn is the place to be if you want to have a voice in the professional sphere of our economy. Since I enjoy working with small businesses, start-up entrepreneurs, and non-profit directors, I make it my mission to meet, connect, and learn with the best that LinkedIn can offer. Updating your LinkedIn profile to include your personal vision or mission statement and the specific values you bring to employers, gives your general audience an anchor to who you are.

Create a piece of content (write a blog post, share a video, make a flyer for you local bulletin board)

Notice I didn’t say start a blog. You no longer have to have a blog to post articles. LinkedIn Pulse is a great platform for sharing content articles, while aligning to your personal and professional brand at the same time. Is this advice to not start a blog, far from it, but if you are not ready to dig into building your own blog yet then a small step forward would be to post there. That goes for other content as well, find ways to collaborate if running the entire content marketing enterprise is too much to manage right now. You should always strive towards having your own platform for hosting and controlling your content, but not having one is no excuse for not participating.

These small steps are only a beginning! If you checked out the SlideShare above you will see your business card, resume, website, and everything you create or is associated with you is a part of your personal brand. Checking on your brand’s bits and pieces means spending time combing through who you are and how you come across to your audience. Building your brand is about ensuring you are authentically projecting your core value, purpose, and passion with the world, which is no small feat! Keep striving because your end vision is definitely worth it.

From Passion to Process: 1st Workshop of the New Year!

Posted on January 9, 2016 by Zinga H

I had a ton of fun today at Scribbles in Kent, OH. I hosted a workshop titled from Passion to Process where we reflected on our passions and then set aside time to build a system towards enacting our passions on an annual, monthly, weekly, and daily basis. It was a blast and such a good feeling to hear it was a helpful session.

northeast ohio passion discovery

Bonus: Scribbles is awesome and I thank them for hosting us! Their wall is lined with books and getting to color on the table tops was a creative feature.

passion discovery worksheet

One part I was particularly proud of was transforming my personal at-home command center into a useful printable for everyone that attended. The full version of the 2016 Command Center is attached below. I condensed it to one-page from them to save on printing costs and paper, so I wanted to share the full-version should there be any visual types out there.

Screenshot 2016-01-09 at 10.09.20 PM

Grab the free full version printable 2016 Command Center today.

Building Your Authentic Self-Definition

Posted on January 4, 2016 by Zinga H

Building your self-definition plays a crucial role in how you lead yourself towards success. The challenge arises when you must sift through the input of others and find the wisdom nuggets you identify with, and with which others can mostly tolerate.

Trust, there is a lot of input.

We can’t help it, we want to see you take action, and so you are offered information to inspire your next moves. In addition, businesses want to envision you your ideal reality and offer you a solution to buy. While this can be useful when needs arise, it can also fill your mental chatter with clutter that distances you from the voice of your Self.

self

self/

noun

a person’s essential being that distinguishes them from others, especially considered as the object of introspection or reflexive action.

“our alienation from our true selves”

This can make communicating with your authentic self feel like the Tower of Babel when the discord first struck. Chaos and confusion as you try to build and yet somehow manage to stagnate or destroy simultaneously.

Yet, you need to envision something and you need feedback to ensure your definition can withstand the test of time.

How can you balance between external inputs and internal controls?

There are many ways, but a reliable method can be borrowed from the business world. Small businesses and enterprises alike benefit from what is called a SWOT analysis. This assessment lists the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that a certain enterprise, team, product, or brand faces. It helps sort a wealth of information so you can turn it into actionable feedback.

To incorporate this practice into your own success path take these simple steps.

Choose a personal goal you are pursuing.
On your own, list what you consider to be your personal strengths that might help you achieve this goal and weaknesses that may inhibit you from achieving this goal.
Next, consider any opportunities you could take of advantage of to reach these goals or any competition that might be in the way. Write these down as well.
Then go around and ask people you trust or your closest circle of acquaintances and ask them the give you the observations from points one and two. What do they think your strengths and weaknesses are? What do they think of your goals and what challenges you might find along the way or what gaps they might hope you fill.
Finally align the feedback notes you got for yourself and from your circle and see if where they align and where they don’t. Are your strengths viewed by your circle the same?
Go over the feedback and use it to determine what you want others to know and how you can get there.

The personal SWOT assessment is a decision making tool to help you unlock possibilities for yourself as you develop her brand.

Click to download the Personal Definition SWOT Assessment

Let’s connect!

Daydream to Boost Your Most Passionate Career Path

Posted on December 15, 2015 by Zinga H

96% of adults daydream. If you are one of those adults, ask yourself: are you using this seemingly random activity to the fullest potential?

Like most successful activities, daydreaming to your favor will take practice, purpose, and persistence and, in this case, we’re going to focus on your career. How can you use daydreams to ensure you are reaching your career path’s most passionate potential? There are simple techniques to do so, but first a short overview of current thoughts around daydreams.

What are daydreams?

Daydreams were discovered when scientists notice neural network activity while participants were not participating in anything at all. This came to the formation of the phrase “stimulus-independent thought,” which are thoughts created sans interaction or engagement with the environment outside of our minds. In this sense, daydreams may seem as if they are out of your control, and they can easily be, but the truth is our mind is a muscle and we work with it as we would most functioning muscles in our body.

So how can we use daydreams to create our best career path?

We must actively practice day dream by engaging in personal discovery sessions. This type of daydreaming is called positive-constructive daydreaming, which is the active reflection on our feelings, thoughts, imaginations, and other personal facets of our life in an open manner. This activity means letting go of any urge to stop yourself from thinking a thought or dreaming a dream. Studies found this type of thinking led to an overall sense of well-being and furthermore it opens you up the possibilities of where you can apply your value.[source]

How can you use this on your career path?

The answer is there are many ways to do it and you mustn’t stop at one! Experiment and continuously reflect on your career path throughout the time that you desire to earn a living for yourself. Two simple ways to incorporate this technique into your life is by:

Take a career quiz

Taking personality quizzes, like this one, or this one, and imagining yourself in the ideal roles that they describe for you. When it comes to career construction, my old mentor, Dr. Mark Savickas, told me they’re only about half right. Yet, this is a safe and simple activity to envision a future you.

Put yourself into the position and research it. Note what excites you and what doesn’t as you explore what the role has to offer.

The closest personality test for your work preference is the Holland Code, a model developed by John Holland and used by the military. My Holland Code was IEAS, most Holland Codes are the first 3 letters, which meant my career preference would be book restorer. NO!!! Don’t let online or even legitimate quizzes decide your career path, in order to find your authentic value you must dream deeper into who you are.

Career Path Dream Land

Asking yourself probing questions and then answering them until you reach a point of profound clarity is a thing. This is what is needed to really unearth the answers of who you are and where you are meant to bring value to the world.

A safe way to do this is what I call a mini-self-retreat. Find a way to get time alone and comfortable: send the roommate or partner out, find a baby or pet sitter, or go to a hotel.

Relinquish yourself from responsibility save for your Self.

Then have a nice thoughtful internal discussion about what you want. Stay with the discussion and record your answers for later use, listen to yourself with openness and innocence, as if within you there is a great warm source of your very own personal all-knowing. It can seem different at first, but this is just a surface level way to find your authentic value from within.

Will daydreaming get you a job? No. Constructive daydreaming and self-discovery will set you on a path to a career you are confident carrying as a part of your life’s legacy. If that’s something you think is worth having, let me know!

Comment and we’ll connect 🙂

No affiliate links in this post.

7 Quotes to Inspire Your Career Action Plan

Posted on December 7, 2015 by Zinga H

Building an authentic career path takes effort. Maintaining your job, keeping yourself open to new opportunities, while improving your skills to keep up with the pace of change in the working world is just a few additional domains to juggle in the scope of your life. Endless online applications and a degree of uncertainty during interviews, can make the experience daunting for even the most seasoned of career champs. Now, the path of talent connection is moving to the social world, which is an additional activity to include on your list of many.

On your career journey it is important to stay motivated.

Here are some 7 motivational quotes to keep your career aspirations in perspective as you continue to build the dream.

There are positive and negative thoughts and, hey, it doesn’t cost you a cent more to think positively

– Angelo Dundee, boxing trainer

Even the best career candidates will not be chosen for every position. The factors that go into choosing you are plenty: the needs, culture, and desires of the company, hiring manager, and team will all play a role into the final decision. So while you may find positions slipping out of reach, there is no need to be negative because that will only slow down your search. Stay positive because it keeps you active.

You can’t build a reputation on what you’re going to do.

— Confucius

If you want to be X (a marketer, account manager, etc.) you are not going to get there by talking about what you will be doing, you need to find ways to do it! Learn the tech associated with the position, volunteer where you can, write about it! Find ways to do what you want to do, whether it is a part of your position or not.

No man can succeed in a line of endeavor which he does not like.

-Napoleon Hill

Recognize what you don’t like to do early. This will help cut out positions you don’t really want so you can spend time on what you do want.

The worst days of those who enjoy what they do, are better than the best days of those who don’t.

—E. James Rohn

When you find something you love, you will know because even the pain points will be worth it.

There is no passion to be found in playing small—in settling for a life that is less than you are capable of living.

–Nelson Mandela

I run into people who shy away from speaking outlandish visions of what they want from their future. They fear the disappointment that comes from not attaining it. Yet, the disappointment truly lies in the moment resigned from choosing a life they want. Imagine the best future you can then work towards it today, it is much more fulfilling than giving up all hope before trying.

Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.

-Gloria Steinem

Another reason people shy away from imaginations of the future is because they think imagining and daydreaming are a waste of time. This is a dangerous rumor. Dreaming, imagining, and thinking are exercises that ensure our career dreams grow into a career process with an outcome we desire. Make it the first step and give yourself permission to dream your best life.

No one rises suddenly in the world, not even the sun.

Know that your career progress will unfold with time. Just continue to cultivate the process, plan for greatness, and hold patient as your destiny blooms before you.

What’s your favorite career quote?

Relish Every Achievement. Celebrate Your Success As an Entrepreneur or In Your Career Path To Victory. Be authentic by remembering the small parts.

Relish Every Achievement in 5 Easy Moves

Posted on November 23, 2015 by Zinga H

One of my clients is a visionary. Her passion for setting bold goals and creating constant possibilities to current situations is thrilling.When we meet, I find sometimes she feels discouraged by all her organization has not achieved, and quickly overlooking all the small victories she did accomplish. She isn’t the first person I’ve known to do this, and at times, I’ve been guilty of getting discouraged about where I am not instead of remembering and celebrating how far I’ve made it.

So for our next move forward, we’re going to take a look back on how far we’ve made it.

Here are five ways you can relish your achievements today.

Think of 3 ways you have grown in the past five years. Remember yourself from five years ago. You probably made mistakes, struggled to achieve something, or achieved something that made you proud. Consider this growth. If five years is not enough then think over the ten past ten years. You graduated, got that job, started a blog or business. Take a historical scan of your past and thank yourself for taking those successful steps.
Check off parts of your vision board that you have lived. I had on my vision board to be bold and hang with the best. This year I’ve met more CEOs, executive directors, and other business leaders than ever. What is on your vision board that you find is a quality you are currently exhibiting? The point of a vision board is to help us define our desired reality. When you begin to live those desires you have acted in successful alignment with your vision, so take the time to celebrate. Don’t have a vision board? Make one.
Go through your social media and celebrate your successes. Visit your Facebook page, LinkedIn account, or other social media channel and look for a time where you posted something you were happy about or found to be a particular achievement. Tell yourself good job again and remember that you have been successful in the past and are on the right track. Can’t find anything? Then think of a moment where you shared good advice that someone liked. There, you made an impact, which is a successful action.
Remember something small you did successfully and do it again. If you are having a hard time remembering an significant successes then think every smaller and consider the daily achievements we make. Did you remember to take the garbage out on time? Or call your mother after you set the goal 3-weeks ago? These little acts are acts of success and worthy content to from when your memory banks feel fuzzy.
Share your goal/purpose/mission. Celebrate. Taking ownership of our success means being able to be held accountable. When you share what you want to do with another you have taken a victorious step towards being more accountable, while improving your path to your long-term achievement. It’s a win-win move that you can use anytime.

Celebrating our successes over time is just as important as learning and growing from our failures. Both success and failure keep us humble and motivated on our personal or entrepreneurial success path.

How do you find time to celebrate your success? Comment below or Connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn

One More Move @ZingaHart take command of your life like this mountain peak using the computer hack described in the article at zingahart.com

One More Move: Use your favorite command everyday

Posted on November 9, 2015 by Zinga H

@zingahart

Happy Monday! It’s been a wonderful week, almost like a sense of renewed outlook on living, yet the same one of seeking authentic leadership in an ultra-produced world. What is different today from most? I realized my most subtle, yet productive, method for active habit building. I changed my password. What better way is there to affirm and command ourselves on a daily basis then to set our passwords to exactly what we most need from ourselves?

When I homeschooled myself in high school, I could have easily sunk into the endless world of the early semi-anonymous Internet and Sims, but I didn’t because then my password was some form of I need a to-do list for everyday. With that in mind, my mind went to work. I to-do listed my way through finishing my self-taught HS diploma in three years, my college degree in four (even after dropping out a semester), and my master’s degree in two (while working full-time and diving into a bunch of entrepreneurial ventures). Now while this is a list of accomplishments, it’s not the point. What kept me steady through these lively years was my to-do list and repeatedly reminding myself I needed one. So for your one more move towards a path to success with a little less stress, find time to do this: Set your password to the command you most need.

For example: Let’s say you need to call your mother more often.

First make it an affirmation by placing yourself right next to the action.

I [yourself] will call [the action] my mother on Sunday. Another example is, I call my mother every Sunday.

Then take the first letter or first few letters of the command into letters and change some obvious letters into numbers. In this case our first example will change from:

I will call my mother on Sunday to

1Wcmm0nSunday – I like to spell out the last word for added length. This not only creates a strong password that is unique to you, it also affirms and reminds you of what is truly important. Some motivating commands I’ve used in the past have been:

I need a to-do list for everyday –> 1natdl4evryday

I will do it.

I write for 15 minutes everyday.

etc. My current one, I won’t share, but let’s just say it was a needed change in my life and I am pleased.

Do you have any useful motivational hacks? Share with me on Twitter @ZingaHart or comment below.

friends connecting by a campsite like one would find in northeast ohio especially if you were on a retreat and wanted to connect with your leadership team

One More Move: Connect

Posted on October 20, 2015 by Zinga H

Image source

I had lunch with a colleague yesterday and the weather was delicious. When in Northeast Ohio one must bask in the sun’s rays for winter is always a whisper away. My colleague was a woman I’ve been meaning to have lunch with since last year. It took twelve months for our schedules to align so we could breath and meet for lunch’s sake. She was a mentor to the Executive Director of the non-profit I am helping to grow, and when she spoke in one of my graduate classes I could tell she was a kindred spirit.

Tweet: Persistence pays. Follow up on the people you mean to meet. You meant to meet them for a reason. @ZingaHart

Meeting for leisure can be rare in a world where agenda’s are pressing and calendar days stream past us. Yet, leisure is the glue that sticks business together. It is where we find the human in all the services, activities, and products we offer. It keeps us orbiting around where our purpose belongs. It is imperative that all personalities find ways to connect. My lunch was a bonus because she was an acquaintance so we had much to discover about each other. When we met, I got to remind myself of why I got into higher education, the renaissance career path I have taken over the past decade, and the complex life history that makes me who I am. She got to speak about her path as well and the art of leadership today. We didn’t focus on the mission, yet we refueled for the long haul.

Here are three simple ways to connect this week:

Remember that person you’ve been meaning to call? Send an email or Facebook message. Sometimes it takes a build up to get to the call stage.
Respond to someone’s comment on LinkedIn. If they reply back keep the conversation going.
Schedule 1 lunch meeting with a person you would like to know more. Schedule it for 2-3 weeks out so you don’t feel rushed into the challenge.

Connecting with people is the cornerstone of building trust. Therefore human connection is the cornerstone of our economy. Authentic leaders will find time and space to facilitate human connection and allow for it to grow in organic ways. How do you take steps to grow your connection with others? I would love tips – as an INTP it is a worthy challenge for me.

One More Move: Automate Some Emails

Posted on September 28, 2015 by Zinga H

Over the course of a year, I handle hundreds of emails helping adult learners who are beginning or ending their graduate degree careers. Fresh from school myself, I realize it is important to deliver quick, user-friendly responses to help them continue their paths with one less roadblock. Anyone who has to consistently answer familiar questions will find relief in e-mail automation. Taking time to direct anyone who approaches directly to valuable links on the website helps students while boosting your brand as a service leader.

Here’s how:

Think of common links you share with others.
Group them around frequent questions you get on a daily or weekly basis
Use your email service provider to create link snippets:
- Create a canned response with Gmail
- Create a Quick Part on Outlook
Take time to write a 1-2 sentence response and provide helpful links in your message for each and every person.

This blend of human response and helpful links elevates your email customer service, while shaving time for high order activities.

Do you automate your emails

What are your favorite tools?

Another simple step to take this week. Check out more moves on the site or send an email to weigh in on being an authentic leader in a branded world.

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Update your LinkedIn profile

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How can you balance between external inputs and internal controls?

To incorporate this practice into your own success path take these simple steps.

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What are daydreams?

So how can we use daydreams to create our best career path?

How can you use this on your career path?

Take a career quiz

Career Path Dream Land

No affiliate links in this post.

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On your career journey it is important to stay motivated.

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