Our blog this week is written by Carlos Montiero, founder and CEO of Biassa. He is a strong believer of the fact that we are the creators of our own fate and have responsibility for our actions, our future, and ultimately for the results we achieve. Carlos writes about his experience and hands us a number of “golden nuggets” throughout his story.
A moment of productive idleness is worth gold!
During a time of “productive laziness”, I decided to count how many messages I could find on my LinkedIn Inbox related to the question “How to find a job?” or along the lines of “Can you get me a job?”. So far I have come across 105.
Putting a Community Together
Creating Denmarkbrazil.com not only allowed me to share knowledge on business in Brazil but it also gathered a community of people interested in the Brazilian and the Danish market
- Nugget 1: Like-minded people = Higher chances of creating business opportunities
I am a big believer and a huge advocate of a sales development “modality” known as Social Selling. In fact, there is much hype in regards to Social Selling nowadays, and I believe that part of it is due to all the publicity LinkedIn has been pulling out.
“See Me, Like Me, Trust Me, Hire Me”- Simon Gray
According to Tim Hughes, a Social Selling expert that I follow, (whom I suggest you follow too), organizations are changing the way they do business. Hughes points out in his book “Social Selling – Techniques to Influence Buyers and Changemakers” “Companies are now seeking out and rewarding change makers into the organizations that can go out and find ideas, products or services in the greater world that can be brought into the benefit of the business…All this means that most of the buying process is done even before the sales person gets involved with the opportunity”.
Initiating Conversations is without a doubt vital for revenue creation ( or finding jobs). Simon Gray says that to find an opportunity, especially in the so-called ” hidden market” people need to see you, create some sort of empathy with you and then they will hire you. The most efficient way to start conversations for me has been through social media.
- Nugget 2: Producing Content, Connecting With People, and Being Active On Social will help you start conversations
Still not convinced? So take a good (hard) look at the example below:
The first deal I landed in Denmark was because of a former CEO and founder of one of the most traditional Danish companies, let’s call it “Gold Mine A/S,” had been reading and following some of my articles.
He referred me, without knowing me personally (and without my acknowledgment) to another Danish company that he was sitting on the board.
Later the CEO and the Business development manager explained me that they heard from one of the board members (the CEO and founder of GoldMine A/S) that a Brazilian guy was generating some interesting content on business in Brazil.
- Nugget 3: Find out what your audience would like to read about and produce content from your own angle. You will crush it! But hey, be original, be yourself ok?
Social Selling & Buying Influence
One recent report from IDC from 2015 shows that social buying is directly correlated with buying influence. Further, research from Forbes indicates that 78% of salespeople using social media outsell their peers. Another study on Hubspot showed that only 1 in 4 sales people understand and know how to use social media to sell.
All the experience I have acquired generating content, interacting with other professionals, initiating conversations, sharing content has helped me to build a foundation and a good understanding on some of the mechanisms of community and influence. Plus, it helped me to build a “personal brand”
- Nugget 4: Building a personal brand makes the conversation much lighter. People will know more about you than you imagine, and they will be curious!
To Sum Up
Build a Community
In most markets, there will be competition. So why not stand out from the crowd? Why not build a community around yourself on a subject you believe you are good at? Why not add value to your community by creating authentic content and engaging, connecting and starting conversations?
Create Content
Educate people. Share your thoughts and ideas. Most importantly, add value to whoever is going to consume what you are producing or sharing. An excellent way to build compelling content is by interviewing, for example, other professionals that are authorities in their fields.
Connect
Connect with people. Go to offline events. Establish your presence online, so you can create an “excuse” to connect.
Final word
If you’re not selling socially, you may not be able to find a job in Denmark. I built a blog and a brand around marketing on LinkedIn, and while I don’t have a job, I have something better – my own business.
Creating a community around the subject # business between Denmark & Brazil was “the real deal”for me. Then nurturing this community with interesting content that they were interested in was what really made the difference.
If you do some of the things I suggested I cannot guarantee you will find a job, but I can guarantee you will start getting noticed.
Believe me; it’s worth a try.
Author
Carlos Monteiro, Founder of Biassa
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What is your best entrepreneurial advice?
NETWORK!
