It Ain't

So... a few pieces of professional advice from someone striving to become a professional...

I recently received a really exciting email from someone I spoke with over a month ago, and never heard from again. I am very pleased by it-- and it reminded me of this important rule:
Don't assume nothing came of it until it's officially already happened! An effort you made years back could still bear fruit for you tomorrow.

Although I first learned this fact in the Army, (where they can say you get time off as much as they like, but you can't make plans for your free time until you actually leave work early-- and even then you might get called back in)... I have found this to be true of my professional connections, my various jobs (even the ones I swore I'd never work at again), my hopes and dreams, and my homework. Beyond the moral right of just doing your best at everything, there is the stark reality that you get back what you give at some point down the road, and by then-- for good or ill-- it has usually snowballed into something much larger. So doing it right, and doing your best, is really about self-preservation. (And about that great do-good high!) Oh-- and check your spelling. People make more snap judgments based on spelling errors than on anything else your email might contain.

You see... Professionals-- especially successful ones-- are busy people. They have trained themselves to make snap judgments and snap decisions because there just isn't time to agonize over every little thing. You have to trust yourself. And networking is the key to being successful. So they may have decided right away that they like you-- but you might not hear about it from them for several weeks. As I said, they are busy people.

So as a future librarian, it behooves me to make as many positive professional connections as I can-- and to maintain them. Because I am not yet in a position to give and take on that professional level, I have to remind the energetic people that I meet (and often hope to emulate) that they know me-- and that I will be on that professional footing with them in the future. This way, even though they may not have a reason to contact me today, when that reason does come along, you can bet I'll be the one contacted. This is great practice for when I become a professional librarian, and need these connections myself. Or a professional anything, for that matter. If people don't know who you are and what you do, they can't hire you to do it. And if you haven't gotten out there to find out who they are and what they do, you won't know who to turn to when you have a question or a special request. It works both ways.

Here is where I again extend my warm appreciation to one of my old mentors-- the business woman. She taught me the power of networking... that it is WHO YOU KNOW that often matters in business. She also taught me the value of keeping records, and dating every piece of paper that passes through my hands. We weathered an audit of her business together at one point, and everything had to be tracked down, and verified. This is much easier if your business calendar, your collection of other peoples' business cards, and your business lunch receipts all have dates on them. Trying to remember who you had lunch with on August 4th of 2003 is much easier to do ON AUGUST 4th of 2003, than on any day after that (especially a day that falls in 2005)!

I also learned that you must know every aspect of your business yourself-- and that includes the tax laws. Even if you don't plan to do the taxes yourself. It will influence your business decisions (and these decisions will be to your benefit because they are informed decisions), and it will greatly influence your bottom line. Don't be afraid to advocate your product (whether it's performing a service or creating a piece of usable art), and don't be afraid to do what is best for your business, whether Mr. X, whose been doing it THIS way for 20 years agrees with you or not.

So... remember that amazing American Library Association Winter Conference I went to, way back when last month? Well, I am still in touch with some of the people I met and networked with while I was there. I haven't always heard a response to my communications right away... but I know they are busy being successful... and that by keeping myself in their mind (and checking my spelling, so that I appear competent when doing so), I am opening myself to opportunities. Great opportunities.

Another secret to success that I've learned, but not always successfully applied, is to carry business cards. Always. And a pen or two. People will remember someone who gave them a good working pen in a pinch, and was prepared enough to have an extra for themselves.

Although I have business cards, I don't always hand them out, because the info they contain is not always relevant. I have a good friend whose business card carries nothing but her name. It looks very professional, and it can be handed out to anyone. And I intend to emulate this solid system with my next purchase of cards-- because those cards have lots of space for writing... and because it gives me the power to decide how a new person in my network can contact me, to provide only that information that this person will find relevant. And by writing my contact info on the card before I hand it over, I am personalizing our relationship. This goes a long way to helping them remember me.

Are they a POC (army for Point of Contact) for my art business? A POC for my work and career as a Librarian? Or are they just a neat person I'd like to get to know better? I have a different email for each of these, although I know they often overlap. So I need a business card. The one I have now is for my art business, and has an old email address on it. Handing it out does not enhance my aura of skilled competence at this point in the library game, however appropriate the card was when I had them made-- all 1000 of them. The good news is that I didn't have anything printed on the back of the cards, so I can use them for quick notes to myself... ("JUST PUT YOUR NAME ON THE CARD NEXT TIME, STUPID!")

I also believe that although your friends and your business network often overlap-- especially if you are good at what you do!!-- it is important to have an email account dedicated to business use. This way, all my electronic subscriptions to business -related journals go into the business account, as do responses to my letters of introduction to other business professionals. I'm not confronted with them on a day off unless I purposely go to my business email. I can also give that email out to strangers more comfortably, knowing my truly personal correspondences usually happen elsewhere... I never understood how a person could need more than one--possibly two-- email accounts... until I entered the business world. Now I know that if you dedicate an email account to this early on, your ability to maintain communication with your business network won't be affected if you move to a different company or state, and they cancel your company account. It's your email, and nobody can decide to delete it but you. (I actually have a friend with the opposite problem just now-- her old business email at the last institution where she worked is still active-- 8 months later. And people are still trying to correspond with her through it because of that. There's nothing she can do to reroute them because she no longer belongs to that institution.)

So, in celebration of all the good things that are happening (or about to happen, or might yet happen) in my life... Remember:

It ain't over 'till it's over!