Day 19 - Life as you Climb: Creating Environments Where Everyone Can Thrive

During this blogging journey I have shared many stories that have revealed my passion for guiding college students and young adults to discovering their niche. However, there is one other passion of mine that I spend a lot of time on: social media and digital trends. In 2014, social media has become a buzz word that no longer serves justice to the magnitude of impact it is capable of. I am fascinated with the strategy behind social media, and how brands or people can use it connect in new and powerful ways. I am specifically intrigued by the psychology of how platforms are being used and how 18-30 year olds are experiencing life in the digital world.

In day 16 & 17’s posts, I touched upon the fact that I created a digital media team for my department. In the last few years, I have spent countless hours finding ways to teach myself several technical skills like DSLR video/photo, Final Cut Pro, Adobe suite, etc. Now, anyone that really knows me, knows I look up to entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk. After reading his books Crush It and Thank You Economy (two books that have helped me with my social media career and The Niche Movement) I did whatever it took to get Gary’s attention. The relationship started when Gary tweeted me back and invited our digital media team into his agency, Vayner Media in August 2012 as part of our training. Then, one of our other students Jay Anandpara, was accepted to intern there during the summer of 2013. Again, in August 2013, the relationship grew stronger when our team visited for an even better training.

*Side note: A lot of why our team is successful is because of Vayner Media’s insights and execution on social. Thank you to everyone at Vayner including Gary.

In addition to this relationship our team has established, I have spent time analyzing data and rapid prototyping different engagement strategies to find our brand’s digital voice (ie. the social media sweet spot with our audience). Yes, I used the word brand and not department. Even though we are managing 5-10 social media accounts as part of our day to day duties. The big picture of our role is to serve as the department’s voice, imagery, and ultimately, brand in the digital space. That’s what I love about social media, when it is done with intentionality it can be a powerful force for your brand.

A lot of social media is humanized - from emotions to the way we talk to the way we share (or broadcast) information. So how did we humanize it? Well, I realized this year, you need to work hard at it while continually tweaking your strategy. In addition, it most certainly can be trained - especially to 18-22 year old students. Sometimes though if you are lucky, you just come across the right person who “gets it.” In 2012-2013, our department hit the digital voice jackpot when we hired Brittany Katz.

In the last eight years, I have never worked with a student who was as well-rounded as Brittany. She came with the personality, the energy, the work-ethic, the brains,  the common sense (which was huge on countless occasions), and most of all the pulse of 18-22 year olds, especially at Rutgers. Unfortunately, many who run a social media account for any business or department, think it is as easy as “set it, push it, and forget it.” However, it takes creative thought, copywriting skills, design, time, and the instinct that it will resonate with your audience.

With little training, Brittany understood all of this from the beginning. When we launched TweetDeck (a free social media listening tool for Twitter) in the Fall of 2012, we encountered hundreds of conversations happening about Recreation/Rutgers and a lot of times not about us. Brittany was able to find the best way to @ reply or jump into conversation every single time that would build our audience’s relationship with @RUrec even closer.

Brittany’s next skill set is that she had the natural personality to get in front of our camera, host our Knightly Knowledge YouTube series, and connect with our audience via video. Finally, Brittany has the ability to step away from the cameras and apps, and connect with people. The first day of training, she hit it off with our Director and made an impression that our Director will never forget.

May 2013 was another bittersweet moment where some of our best digital team members graduated: Dylan McLendon, Emilie Buckley, Patty Rivas and unfortunately, Brittany Katz. Just like any senior, the first 3-4 months of post-graduate life was tough. Her future was just starting though. She had interviews from NYC to DC with large corporations to start-ups and agencies. She rolled with the punches and made it work, until November 2013 when she was hired as a Community Manager for Vayner Media. Needless to say, as much as I missed her on our team, I was ecstatic for her.

Since Brittany started at Vayner, within seven months she has already begun to carve out her niche. She started CM’ing (community management) for a well-known snack company. A few months later was asked to add another on another brand’s account to her responsibilities. It’s safe to say that Brittany’s amazing work-ethic, personality, expertise, and skills she learned from working with our department is paying off.

What They Taught Me:

Ultimately, what Brittany (and other students on my team) have taught me is that you can trust 18-22 year olds with your organization's social media strategy. Now that doesn’t mean I gave the “keys” to our social media accounts to Brittany on day 1. However, with the right training, expectations, and proper feedback, she grew the popularity of our accounts more than anyone. In turn, she helped our department break through the noise at a large institution.

Unfortunately, too many of my colleagues in this field (and even other business owners in other industries), are scared at just the thought of a college student, let alone an entry-level employee running their social media. What everyone needs to realize, this generation are the ones immersed in these platforms, pop culture, and staying connected. My advice, especially if you are targeting 18-30 year olds, is to hire and train (the right way) a Gen Y like Brittany.

How They Inspired Me:

If I wasn’t as passionate about helping young adults avoid employment unhappiness, I would be doing what Britney is doing in a heartbeat. Among many other ways, this is the biggest way Brittany inspires me - to see her doing something that she loves and is great at.

#NicheTip

When you hit your stride in your job where things start to click, like it did for me in 2012, you need to figure out the reasons why you’re thriving. Once you do that, repeat it as much as the situation allows. Next, tailor a similar thriving environment for those around you (i.e. employees, students, colleagues). Clearly, all of our students do not take jobs in students affairs, recreation, or social media upon graduation, but I have customized environments for them to succeed, grow, and thrive that will get them closer to discovering their niche.

Day 18 - How I Learned to Get Things Done with Purpose & Personality

Over the last few posts, I’ve revealed a little more of how the last six years has helped me get closer to finding my niche. There’s been so many students, co-workers, projects, and experiences that I will never forget. However, before I move onto the third part of my “How I Found My Niche” series, I would be remiss to not mention two more people that I have had the pleasure of working with in different capacities at Rutgers.

This person (you’ll hear about the second on Day 19) delivered a t-shirt cannon gun to me with less than a 24 hours notice.

When Rutgers Habitat for Humanity was seeking sponsors for their Build-a-Thon this person helped secure space, provided staging, and connected the club with the right people to pull off this event - back to back years.

Back in May 2012, when many of us were planning the Big Ideas Conference, this person put together one of the most amazing and dynamic socials in conference history.

This person also played bartender for my rehearsal dinner.

She is none other than: Carey Loch.

Yes again, another “big sister” in my life. My country music lovin’, big sister from Wyoming. Carey Loch is the Director of Programs for Rutgers Student Life but her title is just the beginning of who she really is. Carey has her hands in several successful programs at Rutgers such as: Dance Marathon, Beats on the Bank, and all of Homecoming week including the legendary Bed Races. And these are just the big ticket events.

Not only is Carey a colleague in Student Affairs, a close friend to Courtney and I, but she is someone that I look up to because she brings the product and the punch. She has built a collaboration with our department to add a layer of “WOW” to some of our events like Mud Run, Color Run, and EDM Run. In a time when Athletics takes precedents, Carey has created partnerships with them that has been indisposable to the programming offered to Rutgers students.

I also have to thank Carey for helping take the Rutgers Habitat for Humanity club to the next level with their fundraising and outreach. As I mentioned in day 7’s post, I served as their staff advisor and have been in the process of raising $100,000 to build and dedicate their own house in Plainfield, NJ. In April 2013, Carey stepped into to help the club secure a location and partnership with Geek Week as they executed their first 24 hour Build-a-thon.

The following semester for Build-a-thon 2.0, Carey went a step further (completely volunteer) and helped them organize a location, bridge a partnership with Residence Life, and secure a stage for a concert. She saw the hard work, dedication, vision, and passion Punit Arora, club president, had. She genuinely wanted to help anyway she could. Both Punit, myself, and the rest of the members are forever grateful for her efforts.

Did I mention Carey does all of this with one of the brightest and most positive personalities I have ever witnessed? Because of this, she is sometimes rewarded with more work and more people wanting to work with her. So how does she do it? Why does she do it?

It’s simple - she has one philosophy: Principle. Product. Personality.

Principle: When Carey starts a project or partners with someone, she wants to make sure everyone involved is doing it for the right reason. In our world, it generally should be for the students or Rutgers community.

Product: For Carey, producing a quality product is a huge value for her. Especially, if her name is going to be on it. When she is working with others, she wants to make sure these people will walk the walk and not just “talk a big a game.”

Personality: Carey’s personality is contagious and anyone that gets to associate with her are lucky. So her third philosophy is clear - you better play nice in the sand box. She knows not everyone may be as upbeat as her, but you better be optimistic, be able to carry out a conversation, and share similar values as she does. Also, it doesn’t hurt if you like to have a good time while you work.

Even though Carey’s events are large scale and draw a lot of attention, a lot of times her work goes unnoticed. But she is ok with that. Just like a lot of people that I have introduced so far, she is selfless. If you know Carey, make sure you thank her the next time you see her. If you don’t know her, get to know her.

What They Taught Me:

Carey has taught me that when you work on projects that you are passionate about, everyone involved needs to put their agendas to the side and only leave room for one - the students.

How They Inspired Me:

As I continue to build my personal brand, Carey has inspired to be a better connector every single day. Whether it is meeting people to build my own network or finding ways to put two people in touch, I always come back to “How would Carey Loch approach this?”.

#NicheTip:

Principle. Product. Personality. Don’t forget it the next time you work on a group project - real world or in class.

#NiceStory with the authors of BOLD: Get Noticed, Get Hired

On Tuesday July 1st at 7:30pm EST, Kevin O'Connell, founder of the Niche Movement, presents a on-air interview with Melanie Feldman and Josh Siva, authors of BOLD: Get Noticed, Get Hired. This book was written to tell the inspirational stories of those who have been there before. We will talk about REAL strategies on how to stand out, create a strategy to land interviews, and how Melanie and Josh wrote this book. 

Joshua Siva is a Procurement and start-up professional from Buffalo, NY. He loves creating new things, watching college basketball (Go Pitt!), and traveling the world.

Melanie Feldman is a Media and start-up enthusiast from Honolulu, Hawaii (Alhoa!). She loves meeting new people, living in NYC, working at Undertone, and playing volleyball.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RawqvJL_xVw

Hosted by Kevin O’Connell, founder of the Niche Movement.

 Join the conversation…

Use #nichestory to participate in the Twitter convo, and if you have a question for Laura be sure to use #nichestory so we can ask it live on air!

@nichemovement @koco83

@boldjobbook

Day 17 - Other Duties as Assigned: Not Always a Bad Thing

In yesterday’s blog post I introduced Chris LoBue and shared the impact he has made on my photography skills, creative ability, and entrepreneurial spirit. Looking back throughout the years working at Centenary College and Rutgers University, my marketing knowledge from FDU has always stuck with me. On a daily basis, promotion, engagement, marketing strategy and branding keeps coming back to all the programming I have been a part of.

For today’s post, I’d like to share how in 2010, I started to come closer to finding my niche and the three influential co-workers that have supported me and always kept me moving forward.

About a year and a half into my job in Rutgers Recreation, I had already learned how to update our website on the backend, use iMovie to make promo videos, and found new ways to reach out to students. In late 2009, Facebook had just turned five years old and Facebook Pages began popping up everywhere. Based on my previous knowledge and ambition to learn new things, I was asked to lead a committee to build out a social media presence for our department. After looking at trends, best practices, and seeing what else was out there, we launched our Facebook Page for our department in Spring 2010. Mind you, this was all considered ‘other duties as assigned’ at this point because I was still managing all my intramural duties. I say this because I think these other duties should not always be looked at as a bad thing...and I’d like to share with you how those other duties shaped my career path.

As I led our social strategy, our Director allowed me to recruit and hire four students in the Fall of 2010. This first go around, I had a small outreach plan and not a lot of demand. However, one project lead to another. The need for video and photo followed and I bootstrapped any resource, camera, and equipment we could get our hands on.

Over the next two years, we built out this part-time project into a department of social media managers, photographers, videographers, and brand ambassadors. I saw a vision of what this team could accomplish and how it could help our department be innovative while breaking through the noise at Rutgers. Luckily, so did our Director and she extended an offer to create a full-time position to run our marketing and social media. You know that you are carving out a niche when someone creates a position for you. Don’t get me wrong it took a lot of 60+ hour weeks, but there was light at the end of the tunnel.

Since starting in the new role as Assistant Director of Marketing and Social Media in July 2012, we have built a unit run on the creative minds and efforts of 18-22 year olds. I am completely dedicated to this team and coming up with the best social media content and creative campaigns that will actually grab the attention of college students. This upcoming year I am proud to say, we had 65 students apply for 5 positions and we now have a team of 10 students hired for Fall 2014.

By far, this has been one of my biggest accomplishments in my career and it required a lot of work, savy, resourcefulness, and small wins. Throughout the last four years, I couldn’t have done it without three co-workers that are now close friends: Kristen Pettis, Kate Quinlan, and Meredith Stille. I keep coming back to this, but I view a lot of my friends as brothers and sisters and it is safe to say that Kristen, Kate, and Meredith are my big sisters.

Trying to build your niche and make a name for yourself requires long hours, extra effort, and a desire to learn new skills. When you have hard working people like Kristen, Kate, and Meredith around you, the long days turn out to be some of the most memorable.

What they have taught me:

Kristen taught me me to be selfless. No matter what she had going on (personal or professional) she would drop what she was doing and help get it done, with a smile on her face - time after time.

Kate taught me tenacity. She is the type of person that has an idea, doesn’t wait around, and does whatever it takes to execute it. #ladypower

When one of our student employee’s had a family tragedy due to Hurricane Sandy, Meredith went all in and did whatever it took to help her and the family out. She dropped everything in her life and served as more than a supervisor and more as a family member. Meredith taught me what it really means to be there for someone.

How they inspired me:

Here’s what they all have in common and how they have helped me get closer to finding my niche:

1. They are each hard working and when they have a vision they do everything in the power to carry it out.

2. They share a passion to make a difference in the lives of young adults.

3. They are never stuck on the status quo - every year I have seen each of them find ways to improve their jobs, programs, or trainings.

#NicheTip:

Don’t ever be too good for the ‘other duties,’ be the person that takes those additional tasks and makes them awesome. It’s also so important to be firm in your vision but flexible in your path. There were times where I would have loved to have more resources or go full time with the marketing position before the department was ready. However, I kept focused on the vision and found a way to make do with the cards I was dealt. Finally, find your people. Look for the coworkers that you like to be with and that inspire you to always do better. I’ll expand on this in my post tomorrow...stay tuned.

Day 16 - People Come Into Your Life for a Reason

“There will always be a reason why you meet people. Either you need them to change your life or you’re the one who will change theirs.” - Madeline Sheehan

 

On December 30th, 2008 on top of a lighthouse in Harbour Town - Hilton Head, SC right around sunset, my life changed: I proposed to my girlfriend of five years, Courtney Stone. I spent the two months leading up to the proposal planning it all out - from asking her parent’s permission to ordering the perfect ring to planning a spur of the moment trip to South Carolina. From that moment on after I popped the big question our relationship became that much better. Courtney and I came together to celebrate with friends and family over the next month and then the real fun began: start planning a wedding. Now for most guys, this seems like a daunting task that they want nothing to do with. Of course, things like wedding registry and the late nights putting together menus and seating charts were a bit painstaking to say the least.

Little did I know that apart from the menu tasting at our venue, meeting our photographers Chris and Suzanne LoBue of CLB Photography would be the highlight of the wedding planning festivities (oh yeah, and of course marrying Courtney was fun too!).

I still remember the first time we met Chris and Suzanne in April 2008 at their studio in the basement of their home in Red Bank, NJ. Talk about a start-up (in a good way). When we arrived for our initial appointment, we were pretty much greeted by their two young, beautiful daughters Sophia and Abby. Chris and Suzanne had it down to a science and organized babysitters every time they had an appointment so they would not be distracted from their clients. Somehow they always made it work.

Courtney and I loved the personal touch and were blown away by their studio converted basement. Immediately, Chris and Suzanne connected with us before even showing us any pictures, discussing prices, or talking logistics. It felt like we knew them for years and they genuinely wanted to know about us so they could put together the best creative behind their shots and make sure it was a fit even if we weren’t going to hire them.

Long story short, we did hire them because we loved their dynamic, our comfort level with them, and their picture style really did speak for themselves.

So how does all of this fit into the “How I Found My Niche” series? For starters, CLB Photography has come a long way since 2008 while still keeping their personal touch. They have moved their studio twice and are now settled into the heart of Red Bank, NJ where they have a storefront, full-time staff and a large studio upstairs. They still focus on wedding photography but have added boudoir shoots and B2B photography as well.

How do we know all this? Because Chris and Suzanne were not only our photographers the day of our engagement shoot and wedding - they became part of our circle. Both of them are great at connecting with a variety of personalities but most of all, they are creative and take risks, just like Courtney and I.

Since our wedding in May 2010, the story with them continued on:

1. In August of 2012, I was putting together an in-depth digital media training for my new student marketing team at Rutgers University.  When I needed a photographer to conduct a training that would relevant and especially engaging, who did I call? Chris LoBue.

He not only was full of energy and kept ten college students engaged for three hours at the end of summer, he put photography on a level playing field. Whether my students were experienced or have never held a DLSR camera before, Chris kept things simple, while giving of us some of the best advice: “Do whatever it takes to get the shot.” This philosophy has stuck with us helping us capture some of best moments in our department over the last two years. All because of his valuable, down to earth training.

2. When I started the Niche Movement in January 2013, I was racking my brain of people in the tri-state area that found their niche and had a great story. Sure enough it hit me: CLB Photography. When I reached out to Chris and Suzanne, they openly invited me to their studio to let me interview them (part 1 featured below). After hearing more of their story, I really got to know them on a greater level and appreciated how far they had come. They had a vision, took risks, and grew their business all while living out their passion every day.

Prior to CLB Photography, both Chris and Suzanne were on different paths with typical 9-5 jobs that didn’t fuel their creative-side. Sure, for a while they talked about their dreams, then started working on it on the side, and finally they took a leap of faith and have never looked back. That leap of faith has paid off as they have been featured in every wedding magazine in the tri-state area, appeared on Good Morning America, and have worked with many fortune 500 companies.

What they taught me:

As I built our digital marketing team at Rutgers, Chris played a major role in my knowledge and creative ability with a camera. To this day, I try and put myself in the same mindset that Chris and Suzanne use when they are on a shoot. As it relates to finding your niche and entrepreneurship they have taught me to trust your gut. Going out on their own requires a lot of risk, but if you have a passion, strong work ethic, and vision, you can really make a name for yourself.

How they inspired me:

As I reflect over the last few years since I met Chris and Suzanne, they have definitely inspired my creative side and confidence to capture the moment. Whether it is photography or videography, when you are behind the camera, you are in charge and hold the vision on how to capture the moment. Both in my personal and professional life they have taught me to take risks and not deviate from what you value at work.

#NicheTip:

Sometimes we put our relationships in boxes. I could have easily placed the LoBues in the 'personal relationship' or 'wedding planning' box, paid for our photos and moved on. However, when I meet someone that talented and passionate about their work I am always thinking about how I can connect them with my students or how I can build upon that relationship because I know I will learn a lot from them. Look at those in your life that have found their niche, and figure out new and different ways you can continue to build the relationship and learn from them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9kEf-MkN24