Justin G. Roy

I was going through my favorites in explorer earlier today and found a link to a post Chris Brogan wrote on 9 Ways To Promote Your Blog Posts, back in August.  Great tips and thought I would share them with the A/E folks who read the blog.

1. Delicious
2. StumbleUpon.
3. LinkedIn’s status message
4. Just offer genuine commentary on the post you read
5. Facebook
6. FriendFeed
7. Zemanta
8. Twitter
9. Write blog posts that others will find useful

Are some of these foreign words?  If so, check out the post with tips on how to use each site.

I remember, back when I was growing up, hearing this phrase a hundred times a day.  Why?  Probably because Mom knew what the answer would be.  Unfortunately, our house was not very large (think: 7 people, 1 bathroom) and before I could even say “Dad” I got my answer. 

After years of this torture children are exposed to, I am talking about the word No, I decided it was time to make my own money.  Fortunately for me, there were plenty of lawns to mow and driveways to shovel within walking distance.

As my lawn and snow business started to grow, however, I never forgot about the customers who took a chance and hired me.  Granted, the fee they paid was a bit less than what I was now receiving but they did provide a reference and testimonial.  Also, granted it was my parents, and their going fee was fifty cents and food on the table. 

Seth Godin’s blog today inspired this post.  Read it here.  He wrote about how now is not the time to ask for money.  And I could not agree more.  Now is the time to write your own book, ticket, or whatever you want to call it.

Growing up in a house of 7 with a stay at home mother, there was not much extra money floating around.  Though we learned not to ask (we still did), we did learn how to be creative when it came to selling and collecting. 

What am I trying to say?  A couple lessons. 

First.  Do not forget who got you started.  If you have not talked to them in over 2 weeks, stop reading and pick up the phone.  There are many people who got you started, from parents or guardians to former mentors and bosses to first ever clients. 

Second.  You write your own book.  Period.  If you need a more satisfying career, go find one.  If you need more money, go sell more.  I have a friend who sells water and wastewater engineering services to municipalities and works about 45 hours each week and complains about needing to sell more.  The first words out of my mouth were to the effect of, why are you at home at 7pm then?

Use this time to figure out who you are and what you want.  Then go do it.  But remember, never forget who got you started.

Great post from Ford Harding, Trying Times and a Rainmaker’s Soul (and also his Soles), this week.  Harding talks about how many rainmakers will have to work twice as hard to get less business than before.

Depressing but true.  But look at it this way.  For every connection you are making in the downturn, you are increasing your chances of winning more projects with less work when the economy turns. 

My advice:  stop looking at the negatives and realize there will be some positives from this.  One of my friends, who happens to be a Business Developer at a local Architecture & Engineering firm here in Chicago told me the other day:  My day’s are longer yet the potential for my rolodex keeps growing.

I like the quote and tell him that every day he becomes more valuable to his current firm and in fact becomes a much more valuable and needed candidate in the hiring market. 

What are you doing today that will have a positive impact tomorrow?

I read an interesting post by Seth Godin the other day, The growing productivity divide, and it got me thinking about jobs, roles within a company, careers, ect.

My favorite (or, only) brother in-law, Rick, is an HVAC guy.  Not a mechanical engineer, or design engineer by any means, but a true HVAC Contractor.  He crawls in attics when the air conditioner breaks, and temperatures reach well over 100 degrees.  Don’t worry, he has the winter to cool him off when the heating breaks. 

I, on the other hand, sit in an office.  Granted I do have a sweater when the temperature drops a bit here, but I am not exposed to some of the conditions Rick is.  However, he asks me quite frequently how the heck I sit still.  Funny, I am usually thinking the same about him – how can he climb up to install A/C in 110 degree crawl spaces?

We are two completely different people, career wise.  Though, I do enjoy building, but he does not enjoy using the Internet.

Godin’s post reminded me of some conversations I have had with Rick over the past 5 years.  Rick is confused by the Internet, does not understand email, and thinks everybody in an office wears a pocket protector.  Does Rick know and understand the tools it takes to be an architecture and engineering recruiter?  No.  Do I have the tools to be an HVAC Contractor?  No.

Neither of us think the others job is glamorous, yet we both believe our own is better.  Since this is our blog, we might lean towards recruiting taking the lead today. 

We are both fully utilizing tools necessary to do business.  We have a blog, understand the Internet, and am an email whiz. 

Do you understnad the toold necessary to do your job?  If not, now is the time to learn or realize it could be time for a job change.

Chris Brogan recently had a post, 25 Ways to Build Your Community.  Great advice for anybody who is looking to, or just did, start blogging. 

I have noticed a few new blogs in the design and building industry in the recent months and have been following them pretty closely.  What I have noticed on the Architecture blogs is a lot of self-promotion or postings with renderings or schematic design rather than link-love to the developers or building professionals or end-client. 

Keep in mind.  Yes, we blog to help ourselves.  However, we can also help others in the process and highlight their work, their new projects, their promotions.  Think they won’t notice?  Think again.  If you can be a cheerleader for your clients, vendors, or business partners, they will notice and try to return the favor. 

Try interviewing one of your clients for a post.  Better yet, PDF the post and send it to their PR/Marketing department so they can post on their site (which, of course, promotes yourself).  I cannot claim this idea as original, but I will call out to Liz Strauss who I met at the last Networking For A Cause event.  Liz and I were talking blog (it’s more exciting than you may think) and she gave me some great advice.  Thanks!

WOW.  Very interesting article printed on Reliable Planet last week about the average employee tenure is 4.1 years.  Possibly the term “job-hopper” is going to have to change?

Here are some other facts pulled from the article:

• Median tenure for employees age 55 to 64 was 9.9 years
  Median tenure for employees age 25 to 34 was 2.7 years

• Public Sector employees median tenure was 7.2 years
  Privte Sector employees median tenure was 3.6 years

• Management and professional occupations had the highest median tenure of 5.1 years.
  Within this group, Architecture & Engineering employeers had tenure of 6.4 years

Click here to read the full article.

No.

Architecture and Engineering firms are still actively recruiting for new employees.  Everything from an architectural designer to a water/wastewater engineer.  It seems like the A/E industry still has some growth opportunities available.  AND, most of the new employment opportunities are not with the larger (measured by number of employees) design firms, rather the A/E firms who are less than 500 people.

As I perused through Google the other day, searching for statistics on the retention rate for consulting engineering firms, I continued to come across firms, nationwide, who continue to hire.

Some of these firms may have a desperate need, or some may realize this is the best time to “beef up” their staff with opportunistic hires. 

What is your plan?