Part 2: Why to Manage Yourself Like a Business

The term and idea of You, Inc., first coined by Intel co-founder, Andrew S. Grove over 30 years ago, is shorthand for actively investing in your employability. In other words, You, Inc is about managing yourself like a business.

Today, many people speak of personal branding as the modern way to communicate your unique value, strengths, skills, and brand differentiators that make you uniquely you – separating you from the competition. That’s true whether you’re expanding your customer base, seeking seed capital for your start-up idea, or hunting for your next cool gig inside or outside your organization.

In Personal Branding Part I, I shared my Top 5 Steps to Build and Market Value. If you jump to the bottom of this page, you’ll find a simple table that maps each action steps (the “what”) to the marketing outcome (the “why”).

 Time is your best ally in a down job market

King Henry VIII may have not been the nicest person, husband, or boss – but he had it right when he said:

“Of all losses, time is the most irrecuperable for it can never be redeemed.”

Do any of these sound familiar? I can barely:

• Get my job done
• Get home in time for dinner
• Attend my fitness class
• Spend quality time with my loved ones
• Get to bed on time
• Open a book without falling asleep
• Think clearly, or think past tomorrow
• Talk about myself, let alone brag about myself or my accomplishments
• Say the word branding or marketing without wanting to have a shower! (that’s my favorite)

No easy answers here. The vicious loop typically spirals until you face a crisis, burnout or a new opportunity comes along. Something like “you would be perfect for this new leadership role – please send us your story by tomorrow.” At which point, you burn the midnight oil updating your resume with all kinds of measurable results and achievements. That’s good – but does it really tell the story of you? Does it land you the job?

If another pandemic shutdown or deep recession took root tomorrow, would you be on your front foot ready to tell your story? Would you stay employed – or land quickly somewhere else? It takes a lot more than your past experience, as 57.8 million unemployed U.S. adults from March-August 2020 will tell you. It takes a vision, promise and future stake in You, Inc. including an ultra-firm grasp of your market value in dollars and cents.

Millions of shorthanded employers are still figuring that out. You’ll find many vultures who want to hire you for a bargain with promises of performance bonuses. In fact, I’d argue we don’t have a labor shortage as much as a weak class of employers who refuse to pay a living wage – let alone at competitive market wage. So, be careful. 

Yet, it’s hard for the same workers to translate their worth into a value proposition expressed in financial terms with data to back it up.  So make the time to get clear with yourself and prospective managers. If you were to manage yourself like a business, how would you describe your own product benefits and features – and in dollars and cents, how would that translate to customer and business value?

Putting yourself first is hard

In my three decades of business and agency life – international and regional roles – I’m always astounded by the level of complacency, sometimes anger, felt by thousands of skilled employees. Most – but not all – expect all kinds of external conferences, in-class training, paid education, new software training, paid memberships or online subscriptions. If you can secure that, or negotiate that into your offer letter or contract, good on you. Strike while that iron is hot!

However, those promises aren’t always delivered. You might have experienced that reality before or during shutdowns and slowdowns? Or you’re so busy doing your actual job, that’s it becomes punitive to step away for professional development.

And now, 18 months into the pandemic, the U.S. is still missing around 4.3 million workers. According to the Wall Street Journal, “That’s how much bigger the labor force would be if the participation rate – the share of the population 16 or older either working or looking for work – returned to its February 2020 level of 63.3%. In September, it stood at 61.6%.”

Many expect the labor shortage to last at least several more years. Some say it’s permanent. Of 52 economists surveyed by WSJ, 22 predicted that workforce participation would never return to its pre-pandemic level. Part of that is explained by 2-3% population growth. Some of it by people who are left behind in the former Industrial Era – while the Workforce of the Future leans into jobs and titles many have never heard of. By 2030, 780 million employees will be displaced worldwide and performing entirely different tasks.

No wonder why so many employees FINALLY took it upon themselves to pursue or pay for career, educational, or family priorities outside of work from February 2020 onwards, when that time for learning or adapting was handed over for free. Finally, personal development wasn’t interfering with the job you didn’t have.

There’s still another reason for workers dropping out of the workforce. They can’t afford to work. With a huge shortage of childcare, nannies and after school programs, at least one parent is staying and teaching at home. Ironically, that approach does look like managing yourself like a business – because those stay-at-home parents and actively doing the calculations of income in versus childcare costs out. And if there is no childcare – as in 50 percent of the U.S. called childcare deserts – doing a remote or flexible job might be the only path. I expect to see more and more self-employed and single consultants in the future.

Proprietorship, partnership or dictatorship?

What kind of business are you? Your mindset about learning and development – and who PAYS – provides a pretty big hint. Here are some phrases I’ve heard for years as a business manager and HR manager alike:

• “If my employer invests in me, I’ll be a higher-impact and more productive worker. So my employer should pay for on the job and outside training.”
• “If my employer gave me a bigger training budget, I would deliver more value to my employer.”
• “If I got to travel to conferences or take hours off for a virtual conference, I’d bring back an outside-in perspective and get that next promotion or at least not become obsolete.”

Some of that may be true – but it also hands control of your business (You, Inc.) over to someone else to manage. Is that your intention or by accident? Some more enlightened companies go with a Partnership model. It goes something like:

• “We will invest in you, and you must invest in yourself.”
• “Be curious. Be a lifelong learner. Build your development plan. Then, pray your manager pays attention or doesn’t text you non-stop during a three-day class.”
• “Drive the strategy around your career vision, goals and learning resources to pursue X, Y or Z career path. Oh, and your manager must approve it.”

The problem with the Partnership model is that you’re still the only long-haul proprietor of You, Inc. Did you design that to be a limited…or general partnership? How exactly does that work? Do you have the veto priority? Does your partner decide what you learn and when? Or, do you have to make up for lost “get your job done” hours – as if, your employability was a personal hobby?

I can tell you by experience that my most competitive and critical leadership, marketing and communication skills were never driven – in fact, they were seldom supported –  by my managers. The three who did – and yes, I keep in touch with them all – were stand outs from 1990 to 2010. But after the 2008 Housing Crisis and onslaught of Millennials, the mood changed profoundly. 

My pursuit of “skills of the future” often became a bone of contention on and off the job – especially among peers. It sounded like: “Why does Jane get to do this – and I don’t get to do that?” or “If you have that kind of discretionary time [weekends, evening] you should be giving it to the company” or “We can’t afford that right now.” 

A spineless manager will sometimes do nothing for everyone, instead of something for someone. So again, be careful.

Back to the 2008 Housing Crisis. That was a long, slow recovery with little in the way of personal development or training dollars. In my case, the timing also coincided with me becoming a mother three times over between 2007-2014. Working parents (women in particular) know that comes with a lot of unconscious bias around “sustaining what you have” versus “growing and promoting you” – otherwise known as the Mommy Track. 

So, self-development really had to kick in. Everything I came to know about marketing and communications in the last 10 years came outside of work. The Big 3 for me: 

• designing and delivering university-level marketing classes at the University of Portland and becoming a Marketing Coach
• industry-leading  investor and customer management relationship (CRM), design-as-a-service (DAAS), video software (Promo, Wistia), social ad platforms, web site (Wix, SquareSpace) and built-in email marketing software (SendInBlue, Wix).
• family therapy to internalize the intersection between optimal family, career and financial wellness when your time becomes even more scarce.

Quality of life became a massive job driver during COVID-19 lockdowns – so that latent knowledge around family healthy came in really handy. I’d argue that life quality – expressed as paid time off, remote work and work-life flexibility, positive work cultures and purpose-driven work – are now the biggest job drivers and will remain so for some time. These are Total Rewards you need to negotiate with your manager now and in the future in exchange for your time and talent (even if the same or a less pay). 

While wages will likely increase in a labor shortage (supply and demand), it is not the biggest motivator for most job candidates.

On your own dime and time

If you have the good fortune of working for an organization or enlightened manager who invests in people – with SANCTIONED time for learning, experimenting or training – ride that wave. Congratulations. Quickly apply what you learned into real business results and build customer and professional stories around them.

Just remember. Employer-sanctioned training can be one-size-fits-all education focused on the lowest common denominator of accepted competence, i.e. manager training, functional knowledge, core business practices, product roadmaps, IT system know-how and new marketing technology (martech) capabilities that an employer needs a workgroup to attain and cross-train. 

Think of them as necessary, sure. But as with commodities, they are expendable. When your knowledge and skills become commoditized, your “price” or market value drops too. So if you managed yourself like a business, what would you do differently? Would you change your business, kill off a non-profitable part of your career, or hire new skills to help you build something new and different? 

Collaboration, relationships and leadership capability (meaning people follow you and follow direction) are absolutely critical to be sure. However, they may not be a personal brand differentiator. They may or may not push you to the next level of mastery or differentiate You, Inc. from your competition whether that’s your next customer, partner or promotion.

So think about what would really separate you from the pack. Examples might be: speech writing, motion graphic design, new AI software language, factory automation process design, or lead carpenter certification. For a marketer like me, it might be perfecting a new writing format (from short tweet to long-form, complex business report), performance marketing, competitive analysis, marketing innovation (new software) or audience and customer trends. If you see something, go for it and pay for it. It will pay you back in terms of your future value.

The truth is: highly-personalized training is just plain harder for employers to embrace. Unless you’re a high-potential employee, that is. Well, that’s not everyone. There are plenty of solid, steady, conscientious workers who require investment, too.

The best I’ve ever seen is a free “career budget” of $500 or $5000 yearly per employee – personalized to build experts, tradecraft mastery, professional certifications and skills of the future – all of which feed long-term employability. Wise employers know that personal and business innovation go hand in glove – and also drive higher levels of employee engagement. That’s something you should definitely negotiate into your job offer or contract. I mean if “lifelong learner” and “curiosity” are what they’re looking for, get your employers to put their money where there mouth is – in writing.

Spend time with LinkedIn Learning

As a starting point, do look at LinkedIn Learning and the thousands of free and discounted classes. (Psssst, you get a free month-long trial.) Plus, industry-respected certifications abound on LinkedIn Learning through self-paced, on-demand coursework. If you have a job, many large and small businesses have a corporate account – or they’re very open to buying it for a team or workshop as part of an overall learning plan.

Examples of sought-after skills include Salesforce, Google Analytics or HubSpot certification for digital sales and marketers, Digital Analytics diplomas for project managers, or best-practice Automation Testing for factory engineers – from Test Studio and Selenium to Robotium and SoapUI.

Ask to pursue a couple hours a week on work time, or make it happen on your own time if refused.  By the way, your CEO and manager’s answer to that question will be the leading indicator to whether You, Inc is a dictatorship, a partnership or a sole proprietorship.

• Will you invest in You, Inc. solely for the benefit of your current employer’s technical or managerial ladder – therefore, they should pay for it?
• Or, will you prioritize skill training and development for your market employability – in which case, you’ll pay for it yourself with or without your department’s help? 

I know that’s harsh. 

And it’s hard to implement because of my earlier statement: Time is your scarcest resource.

So, start at the beginning

If you’re not sure where to start, hire a branding professional outlined below in Step #4 – or a certified coach. It’s money and time well invested. If you do know what to do in Steps #1-5, then make it happen with the help of a mentor, coach, or trusted co-worker. 

Either way, invest at least one-two hours with a branding or marketing professional (not a resume writer) to get you started on telling the story of you. All in the most clear, concise and compelling way possible. What’s different about marketers versus human resources? Good marketers are obsessed with personal brand differentiators and brand premium – meaning, how to negotiated an optimized price for your value. In today’s job market combined with compressed wages, that’s a huge plus.

I love HR professionals too. Heck, I worked in HR for eight years. However, the perspective is different with skills, competences, and knowledge, with far less comfort in monetization, marketing and selling.

No one else can adopt and apply those new technical, user experience or strategic planning skills, except you. So, go get that Google Analytics, Blockchain, Python Parallel, Machine Learning, Full Stack Developer, or HubSpot certification. Even if you’re not looking, read external job postings and look under Required Skills. You might see your functional skills have became a little rusty in the last few years – and it’s time to build your skills of the future.

Or, go to a class, meet people, and wear a mask! Our children do this daily. So can we. Even if it’s not the best course you’re ever taken, oh well. You’ll learn to learn – a skill unto itself.

If you think you know everything, then share the wealth!

Plenty of universities, colleges, technical and trade schools, and public schools face serious labor shortages too. They are in high need of substitutes, engaged guest speakers, program and project managers, and employment examples to motivate students.

During the 2020-2021 school year, I substituted in two Idaho school districts: Coeur d’Alene and Lake Pend Oreille. While I signed up for middle and high school History, English and Band, they called me for K6 Music Classes and Special Education. It was incredibly rewarding. Our substitutes helped keep Idaho in-person classes open. You don’t necessarily need a teaching certificate. A Master’s or Bachelor’s Degree, corporate training, manager coaching and a good sense of humor all count!

You’ll be surprised what you learn applying your skills in a K12 classroom – and the sense of purpose and confidence that comes with it. It can be a tough room!

Top 5 Steps to Build and Market Your Value

Questions? Ideas? Stories? Drop me a line. 

And of course, I’d love to help build your personal brand, unearth your unique value proposition, solidify your labor market value in financial terms using PayScale and other benchmarking tools.

Email me: [email protected]