Free Business Without the Bullsh*t: 49 Secrets and Shortcuts You Need to Know by Geoffrey James Page A

realistic and believable, which means that they can’t attempt to paint you as the most wonderful person in the world.
    Ideally you want recommendations that reinforce the relevance of your résumé. Therefore, you may want to change or switch them, depending on whether you’re job hunting or not, or on the type of job you’re pursuing.
5. DON’T BLOG UNLESS YOU’RE A NATURAL.
    Almost everybody who starts blogging gives up after a few weeks, after which the posts become few and far between, and eventually peter out altogether. What remains is an out-of-date blog that’s a testament to your inability to blog regularly.
    Blogging with substantial content is easy when you start (because everyone has something to say) but gets more difficult over time. I say this as a professional blogger who (as of this writing) has posted content every business day since February 2007.
    If you’re determined to blog, be realistic rather than ambitious. If you think you can post once a week, set a schedule to post every two weeks or every month. That way you’re less likely to run out of things to say.
    Microblogging (as on Twitter) is less of an issue because there’s no need to constantly create anything of substance. In this case you’re generally alerting people to content they might find useful or interesting, rather than creating it yourself.
    Finally, don’t expect your blog to generate lots of traffic. Very few blogs acquire a significant number of readers. Most of the time, the value of the blog is in providing more detail—about who you are and how you think—to people who are already interested in you.
6. SET RULES FOR YOUR ONLINE COMMENTING.
    Because a poorly placed remark or off-color joke by an employee can damage a company’s brand image, most big firms have very specific guidelines for what employees can and can’t write online.
    The same is true for your brand image. You are not doing yourselfany favors by getting your brand name associated with discussions of anything that’s irrelevant to your career. That’s especially true if the discussions are political, religious, or sexual in nature.
    If you feel that you simply
must
comment on such forums, use a pseudonym, not your brand name, and be aware that even then you might still be outed. Many careers have been ruined this way.
    SHORTCUT
    SOCIAL MEDIA
    YOUR personal brand will define how people see you.
    GET a professional portrait and expunge unprofessional photos.
    CUSTOMIZE your résumé to match your career goals.
    SOLICIT recommendations that are realistic and relevant.
    AVOID blogging unless you’re being paid to do so.
    KEEP your irrelevant opinions off the Internet.

SECRET 14
How to Shine in a Meeting
    Business meetings have never been more popular. About 25 million meetings take place
every day
in corporate America alone. Conservatively, at least half of that time is wasted by aimless presentations and pointless discussions.
    Because of this, attend business meetings sparingly and only if it advances your own agenda. Remember: if you spend only ninety minutes a day (on average) in meetings, by the time you’re sixty-five they will have consumed
eight years
of your working life.
    In “Secret 18. How to Hold a Productive Meeting,” I explain how to make your own meetings go smoothly. In this secret I explain how to attend only those meetings that are useful, and how to work your own agenda into the meetings you do attend.
1. KNOW YOUR OWN AGENDA.
    A business meeting consumes time, and since you have a limited amount of time, you want to attend only those business meetings that move you closer to your goals. This is impossible if you don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish.
    If you do decide to attend a business meeting, you want the actionsyou take during the meeting to move you closer to your goals. Once again, impossible if you don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish.
    Therefore, whenever you are confronted with the opportunity to