The reverse interview is one of the most powerful methods I have found to find a new job. It is also a very powerful tool for uncovering new business opportunities. I learned of this tool when reading What Color Is Your Parachute? 2010: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers. (Actually I had read a version many years ago.) In the book, Richard claims that you will get job offers even though you have never asked for jobs. Finding this idea preposterous, I had to try it – mostly as a challenge. I was sure he was an idiot – and set out to prove him wrong. What I found was a whole new way to discover the world of opportunity. The basic idea of the reverse interview is that you will contact someone who is where you want to be in a few years, ask them to talk so that you may learn what it takes to get where they have gotten. Nothing fancy.
Recently we caught up with Brandon Morgado and Chase Wright, co-founders of StartUpBirmingham, a new web-based company that brings people and resources together in one place for entrepreneurs, and well, start up companies. While focusing mainly on the Birmingham area, Brandon and Chase's dreams are broadening fast. Read what they had to tell us about life as a start up entrepreneur.
Starting June 14, IEM will begin its newest web series called IEM CloseUp. Each webisode will feature a new start up company stemming from IEM. Each year, clients are required to create a company of their own as part of their final project. Many of these projects go on to become solid, successful, careers for the clients that created them. In the IEM CloseUp we introduce you to these entrepreneurs and answer some of the biggest questions they face. Where did their idea come from? What are they trying to accomplish? Where are they now? And perhaps most importantly: What advice do they have for other entrepreneurs out there pursuing the same dream?
You won't want to miss the latest IEM CloseUP as we "Meet StartUpBirmingham", a company focused around what it means to start a company, where to locate your needed resources, and answering the entrepreneur's most burning questions.
IEM's continuing education event went GREAT last night! Not only did we hear from some great people in Business Intelligence & have a nice time networking, but we also had some impromptu speaking and some great winners for our door prizes!! Many went home with free copies of Dale's new book, as well as some free t-shirts! Here are just a few of the photos we took at the event, but don't forget to check out our Facebook page for more! Thanks to all who came out! If you missed this Continuing Education event, don't worry! We are scheduling the next one right now!
“Formal education will make you a living. Self education will make you a fortune.” - Jim Rohn
IEM brings a lot to the table, but the paper degree you get at the end of the degree is just that, a piece of paper. Society demands that you produce documentation for what you learn, to prove that you are, in fact, an educated human. But what makes IEM unique is that your time here will bring about new skills, and lifelong effects to your life that provide you those un-documented moments of brilliance when you learn how to self-educate. When you walk away from IEM you'll be better organized, more confident, more focused, and ultimately better prepared for the job you already have---or that job you've been dreaming about.
Do you ever doubt yourself? Doubt is a powerful force in my life. But where does doubt come from?
Take this scenario:
The Winner
Ever met the person who seems to have it all under control - the real "winner"? When you get to know them, really know them, you often find a great deal of doubt underneath. They are not sure of themselves - any more than I am! I remember having the CTO of a major US company speaking at one of our IEM seminars. He said "everyday when I look in the mirror I think 'today is the day I will be found out.'" He, the well-known expert, knew at anyday he would be shown to be the fool.
Who is in Your Mirror?
When you look in the mirror, do you see what the CTO saw? Do you think "I will be found to be a fraud"? Or do you think it is no use because:
In the Sunday, February 14th, 2010 edition of the Birmingham News, there was an article entitled “Green Shoots.” (This was on page 1 of Section C, the “Money” section). In the article, Samford University business professor Franz Lohrke offered seven things to consider if you are starting your own business. I’ll recap them briefly here:
1. Focus on providing value. 2. Learn about your industry. 3. Understand your business model. 4. Manage your cash.* 5. Minimize fixed costs.** 6. Use low cost “guerrilla” marketing tactics. 7. Try to find partners.
I received an email from a guy who wants a new job. Of course, I counseled him on all the things I've shared on here about the reverse interview, networking, and Three Steps to Being Employed. And yet, I still received this message:
Basically, I want to work in the engineering field (Power, control or telecommunication) with a little bit of programming. The major problem with me is, I did not go for a co-op or an intern during my time at college. Most of the jobs are looking for experience.
I would like to start with a programming field and later switch to the core engineering field. Or engineering company that do a little bit of software (programming).
For now I feel like my wish may not be fulfilled in this harsh economical times. Most of the companies that I have applied haven't replied. Others are on hire freeze. I have talked to a few recruiting firm using both email and telephone and they promised to let me know as soon as they get some openings.
Lastly, I want go back to graduate school as I work.
Adding value to your company. Taking steps that matter to boost your revenue without going overboard on expenses. Find out what really matters to your business and see what matters. If you're office is spick and span but you've got no assets coming in, what's the point? Hold this reality up against businesses that focus more on adding real value and less on superficial value. Their businesses typically make more money, and isn't that the point? Not expensive junk to trot out for show, but spending money on adding value to your company and your clients.
Dale Callahan is a contributing writer for the IEM Blog. Dr. Callahan is the IEM Program Director for the Information Engineering and Management Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His thoughts here represent the types of topics covered in the Entrepreneurial courses he teaches the clients of the IEM Program at UAB. Thanks to DaleCallahan.com for this article.
In this YouTube video, Guy Kawasaki presents the 10-20-30 rule (Rule about how to give presentations where people actually listen)
Don Appleby has served since 2004 as an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham where he teaches in the Information Engineering and Management Program. He has over three decades of professional experience in the information technology industry. Prof. Appleby is retired from IBM. Thanks to ProfAppleby.com for this video. (the original post on this is no longer available. but the youtube link works, so enjoy!)
Wow, how long has it been since I’ve encountered an area of scientific research and thought “that would be really cool to work on!” But this article on computational linguistics really captured my imagination.
I was beginning to wonder if I even still had an imagination.
Check this out:
“Traditionally, decipherment has been viewed as a sort of scholarly detective game, and computers weren’t thought to be of much use,” Barzilay said. “Our aim is to bring to bear the full power of modern machine learning and statistics to this problem.” – extracted from the article below at www.mnn.com:
Don Appleby has served since 2004 as an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham where he teaches in the Information Engineering and Management Program. He has over three decades of professional experience in the information technology industry. Prof. Appleby is retired from IBM. Thanks to ProfAppleby.com for this article.
Do you want to start your own business? Have you been thinking about it for years?
Many people want to start their own business, but get caught up in the battle over common misconceptions about starting a business that reaches, honestly, mythical proportions. So here I share with you a list of common myths about startups, and what the facts are about new companies.
Myth : It takes $100,000 to start a business in the US. . Fact: I am not sure why, but this $100,000 I keep hearing over and over. Fact is, most US companies start for a LOT less. In fact, according to a CNN article the average cost is about $10,000. And I would agree! But, this means some have started for a lot less.
When you are a new business you want to get the word out about your company to everyone you can think of, and then to everyone you can't think of. It doesn't matter who hears about your company, you want the word out there and you want it out there yesterday.
So what's the fastest way to spread information? Well, of course, we turn to the internet.
Granted, the internet is arguably the fastest way to get information across to anyone and the potential to make money there is great.
But realistically, there is also a great potential to lose a lot of money that might of been better spent elsewhere.
Just like any other business marketing investment, you need to look at what makes the most sense for your business, focused on your customer base. If you are marketing a product or service to the 50 and over crowd, then even if you spend thousands on Facebook advertising (where a large percentage of visitors are in the 18-35 age bracket), you aren't really hitting your target audience and consequently, you probably aren't getting the sales you want.
When you are looking into social media–and even if you’ve already been bitten by the online marketing bug—make sure that you’ve researched not only your target customer base but also that you’ve researched the social media outlet. Make sure that your investment dollars really will turn around and make money for you. Otherwise, it just isn’t worth it. For small businesses your money is especially tight, but nobody wants to throw money away. So be wise in your investments, and don’t spend where it doesn’t make cents.
This article was published as a guest submission on DaleCallahan.com
Cassidy Cash is a social marketing guru. Cassidy works with companies to create and manage their websites, blogs, and social media outlets, in order to maximize their overall web presence and produce a greater ROI. If you ask her, she'll say she gets paid to play on Facebook. Thanks to Cassidy Cash for this article.
Here’s a quote from an article on today’s CNBC website:
Those eye-popping totals come on top of the nearly $2 trillion in cash that corporations have on the sidelines. “Why do nonfinancials have a trillion-plus in cash equivalents?There is a reason they do—it’s uncertainty out there,” says Bob Andres, CIO and wealth strategist for Merion Wealth Partners in Berwyn, Pa. “It’s not that they’re simply borrowing money at a very low cost and putting money on the shelf. They don’t see the opportunity out there. That works against the equity market.”
Don Appleby has served since 2004 as an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham where he teaches in the Information Engineering and Management Program. He has over three decades of professional experience in the information technology industry. Prof. Appleby is retired from IBM. Thanks to ProfAppleby.com
Budgeting your time is about using deadlines effectively. You divide a large project up into smaller tasks that each have their own individual deadline. Whether you are working for a company that assigns you a deadline or if you have the freedom to plan your own, chances are the "finish line" is a main question at the forefront of any project planning. So to make sure you meet that final deadline, it makes sense to budget your time at the beginning of a project so you can foresee oncoming problems and adjust as needed during project implementation. To demonstrate how to budget time, let's say you and your team of 4 family members are moving into a rental house.
Step 1: Just like any good budget, start with your categories and make a list of the tasks that have to happen in order for you to complete the larger project.
For the family moving into the rental house, it might look like this:
What is your career goal? Lately I have been reflecting and reading about this question - and how people answer it.
Several things I have read and listened to have been written by people who have ideas and have shared them with others via various forms of communication. Not just a Facebook posts - but something more bold - taking part in the larger conversation - making a statement. These "bold" people - who we call authors - are all businessmen and women - out selling what they have to offer the world. Some I like, some I do not, and some are just plain crazy. Yet, they are the voices that set the trends and steer the conversations - if only for a moment in time.
The faculty with IEM are so committed to seeing companies and employees succeed, that Brian Rabon, IEM professor of Technical Project Management and IEM alum is now offering two new classes for Project Managers, Software Development Managers, Senior IT Leadership (Directors, VPs, CIOs, CTOs, etc), and anyone interested in furthering their skills in project management.
The first class is coming up this month and is a 6-week preparation course entitled "PMP Exam Prep Kickstart". Brian will be walking his class through How to Take the Project Management Professional (PMP) exam. This class walks participants through “the nine knowledge areas as outlined in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). Depending on where you are in the process of obtaining your PMP certification this class will either; jumpstart your efforts and help you develop a plan for tackling the exam or be a final review before taking the exam. Either way this class will position you well for passing the exam” (www.yourpmpartner.com)
The reverse interview is one of the most powerful methods I have found to find a new job. It is also a very powerful tool for uncovering new business opportunities. I learned of this tool when reading What Color Is Your Parachute? 2010: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers. (Actually I had read a version many years ago.) In the book, Richard claims that you will get job offers even though you have never asked for jobs. Finding this idea preposterous, I had to try it – mostly as a challenge. I was sure he was an idiot – and set out to prove him wrong. What I found was a whole new way to discover the world of opportunity.
These are the questions asked by budding entrepreneurs – people caught in
Starting June 14, IEM will begin its newest web series called IEM CloseUp. Each webisode will feature a new start up company stemming from IEM. Each year, clients are required to create a company of their own as part of their final project. Many of these projects go on to become solid, successful, careers for the clients that created them. In the IEM CloseUp we introduce you to these entrepreneurs and answer some of the biggest questions they face. Where did their idea come from? What are they trying to accomplish? Where are they now? And perhaps most importantly: What advice do they have for other entrepreneurs out there pursuing the same dream? 
The Winner
I received an email from a guy who wants a new job. Of course, I counseled him on all the things I've shared on here about the 
In this YouTube video, Guy Kawasaki presents the 10-20-30 rule (Rule about how to give presentations where people actually listen)
Wow, how long has it been since I’ve encountered an area of scientific research and thought “that would be really cool to work on!” But this article on computational linguistics really captured my imagination.
Cassidy Cash is a social marketing guru. Cassidy works with companies to create and manage their websites, blogs, and social media outlets, in order to maximize their overall web presence and produce a greater ROI. If you ask her, she'll say she gets paid to play on Facebook. Thanks to Cassidy Cash for this article. 
Here’s a quote from an article on today’s CNBC website:
