the startup of you

Prepared by Colin Post – find me at www.expat-chronicles.com

The Startup Of Youby Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha

•“Silicon Valley revolutionizes entire industries through the way we work. It is now time to

export our playbook to the rest of the world. The Startup of You is that key playbook: it will

help you revolutionize yourself and achieve your own career breakout.”

- Marc Andreessen

Slideshow put together by:

Colin Postpost.colin@gmail.comFreelance Vendor and MarketeerFreelance writingwww.expat-chronicles.com

Invest in Yourself

• Actionable steps from each chapter of The Startup of You.

• Steps are designated to do in the next day, week, or month.

Round 1

In the next day:1. Update LinkedIn summary to articulate competitive

advantages. “Because of my [skill/experience/strength], I can do [type of professional work] better than [specific types of other professionals in my industry].

2. How would other professionals you work with write the above sentence (describe competitive advantage)? If there’s a gap, you have self-judgement problem or marketing problem.

Round 1In the next week:

1. Identify 3 people striving toward similar aspirations. How did they get there? Bookmark their LinkedIn profiles, subscribe to their blogs and tweets. Track their evolution, take insight and inspiration.

2. On LinkedIn and Twitter, follow companies you’re interested in. Track emergence of new opportunities and risks.

3. List your key assets in context of market reality. Examples: I excel at public speaking (BAD). I excel at public speaking on engineering topics, compared to other engineers (GOOD).

Round 1In the next month:

1. Review how you spent your last six Saturdays. How you spend your free time may reveal true interests and aspirations.

2. If you stopped going to the office, what would NOT get done? What’s a day in the life of your company without you there? That’s where you add value, your strengths.

3. Create a soft-asset investment plan that emphasizes learning about growth markets and opportunities (trips, conferences, new classes). Email your plan to three trusted connections to hold you accountable.

Round 2In the next day:

1. List your uncertainties, doubts, questions about your career. List hypotheses around these uncertainties – what do you need to figure out in order to know whether you stick with Plan A or pivot to Plan B?

2. Write out your current Plan A and Plan Z, and note what possible Plan B moves are available to your current situation.

* Plan Z is ultimate backup plan (moving in with parents, waiting tables, cashing out 401k)

In the next week:1. Meet someone who used to work in your niche who

pivoted to a new career plan. How did they make the shift? Why? Was it a good move? What were the signs that the time was right?

2. Plan to develop more transferable skills which are broadly useful to other jobs. Writing, management experience, tech/computer skills, people smarts, international experience or a second language. Once you’ve chosen, make a concrete action plan to stick to.

Round 2

1. Begin a side project for nights and weekends oriented around a skill or experience that is different but related. Ideally, collaborate on this project with someone in your network.

2. Establish an identity independent of your employer, city, industry. Reserve a personal domain (yourname.com). Print business cards with just your name and personal email.

Round 3

In the next day:1. Identify 5 people you spent the most time with

in the last 6 months. Are you happy with the influence those 5 people are having on you?

1. Introduce two people who don’t know each other. Then think of a challenge you’re dealing with and ask an existing connection for an introduction to someone who could help. Offer a small gift.

2. Imagine you got laid off today. Which 10 people would you email for advice? Reach out now.

1. Pick a weaker tie in your network who you’d like to forge a stronger alliance. Help him or her by sending interesting articles, helping with a presentation, or forwarding jobs.

2. Create an “interesting people fund” for coffees, lunches, and travel costs to meet new people and shore up existing relationships.

Round 4In the next day:

1. Budget time for randomness. Read a book you wouldn’t otherwise read, take a coworker from a different department to lunch, attend a speech or seminar in different field.

2. Take the most curious person you know to lunch, and try to get infected by their sense of awe.

1. Find an industry event or ideas conference to attend in the next six months.

2. Set aside a “yes day” – say yes all day and note the serendipity that results.

3. Identify those in your network who always find interesting opportunities. Try to understand why they’re hubs of opportunity and resolve to meet more people like them.

1. Start your own group of association. Regular luncheon, one-time meetup – what’s important is you convene friends and exchange ideas. Create a simple wiki or LinkedIn group to organize and share details.

2. Subscribe to pubs like Wired or MIT Tech Review. Identify friends who are early tech adopters. Understand tech, social, econ trends that might create new opportunities.

Round 5

In the next day:1. Reflect on risk in your life. Rank your projects

from most to least risky. Think hard about the real downside and upside possibilities and be sure you’re not exaggerating overall riskiness. Where there’s uncertainty, are you mistakenly ascribing risk?

Round 5

In the next week:1. Identify and take on risks that are acceptable

to you but others avoid. Are you okay having less money in savings with a low-paying but high-learning job? Or maybe a month-to-month contract as opposed to something long-term? Find a project with these kinds of risks.

1. Plan to increase the short-term volatility in your life. How can you take on new projects (or jobs) that involve more ups and downs – more uncertainty?

2. Revisit your Plan Z. Is it still viable? If your Plan A were to unravel, will you still be in the game? Consult your mentors to help think through contingencies.

Round 6

In the next day:1. Adjust LinkedIn feed to show most helpful

info. Select which types of updates you want. Save search queries on relevant topics at linkedin.com/signal.

2. Are you following the right people on Twitter? Adjust if necessary.

1. Sort your connections into domain expertise categories. Who do you know very well? Who is very smart in general? Who’s your go-to person on technology? Interpersonal issues?

2. Make a list of 2-3 top issues you think about. Keep related questions in mind to raise in conversation.

3. Post one article a week to an email list, blog, Twitter followers, FB friends, or LinkedIn connections. Pushing interesting info increases chances of receiving valuable info.

1. Schedule 3 lunches in the next few weeks: 1 with someone higher than you in same industry, 1 with old friend, 1 from adjacent industry. Engaged conversation leads to serendipitous intelligence.

2. Become a go-to person for other people in your network. Make your interests and skills known via blogging, email, discussion groups.

The End

Colin Postpost.colin@gmail.com

www.expat-chronicles.com

the startup of you

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