Back then

Dress: suit and tie everyday

Waking up: 6:30am

Conversations: bitching about the job, sales budgets, production errors and nasty clients

Now

Dress: sneakers all the time

Waking up: 8:30am-10:00am depending on how later I working the night before

Conversations: strategy, motivating people, mountain biking,arts

Anyway these are my top 10 ways on how to unplug from corporate grinding machine.

It’s Monday and you are already tired. The weekend felt like it was just a time to catch up on your projects. You’ve started to get really close to your co-workers; I mean you  know their entire wardrobe and what coffee they drink.   Newsflash: You work too much and you are stressed!  Now you have heard it all and tried to combat it: exercising, having a hobby, or even volunteering. Too hard, right?

Here are the 10 things that I use to shut down the corporate grinder, just because they are easy for me:

Buy a pair of Converse: If your job is anything like mine that means you spend too much time making sure you have an ironed shirt, fresh tie and clean pair of elegant shoes for tomorrow. You spend most of your life in these “professional clothes” and even have a change in your car for corporate events in the evening. Wearing rock star sneakers is just so anti-corporate that no matter what, wearing them will put smile on your face. Every time I wear mine I get more compliments than the number of compliments I get for my most expensive and stylish work shoes.

Buy a video console: Don’t have time to play games? Trust me, if you take just 30 minutes to completely waste on beating that next level — you will totally shut off the voices in your head. I mean the voices about sales deadlines. Treat it as a therapeutic and needed chore! Bonus: Play Guitar Hero or Rock Band while wearing the Converse you just bought. I like to play “School’s Out for Summer” and have a total rock star experience.

Visit Wonderland, Six Flags, Wisconsin Dells ,etc.: Is the inability to read your Blackberry while on the rides preventing you from visiting an amusement park? Choose one Sunday and take it actually OFF by going to the amusement park. Trust me there is nothing better than a really scary ride to make you feel like a hero and fill your body with endorphins. Last summer I tried “A Point of No Return” ride on Noah’s Arc at Wisconsin Dells — it was so scary that when I came back to work on Monday not only could I handle all the craziness of a marketing business with a smile, but I was also completely fearless (for a couple of days).

Read Fiction: I, and  most of my friends, don’t read anything if the text is not displayed on iPhones or Blackberries. When it comes to reading something on real paper it is usually the most boring case study, statistics or information for the next course. I know that time is limited and the last thing you want to do at the end of the day is read something. However, try this: allocate 30 minutes, create a really cool environment to read (backyard, cozy blanket, and fresh brewed tea – something along these lines) and choose a very interesting fiction book. The change of atmosphere will help you tune out any thoughts about how hard tomorrow will be.

Watch live stand-up comedy: I always wondered why would people pay and go for the live stand-up comedy. It’s not like you going to get a better quality sound or a better view of the comedian’s face when you sit in the audience. However, I have figured out what changes is the atmosphere and the energy. You put yourself in a great mood when you watch a live comedy. Also, if the comedian is any good, you will feel the physical vibe while you are in the audience. Needless to say being in a great mood and laughing is the best treatment for your sanity at work.

Prank someone: Have a good friend? Prank him or her. Be creative and clever though. There is nothing better in this world than the misery of your closest friend. The experience will allow you to get in touch with your creative side, try yourself as an actor and you WILL laugh really hard.

Have lunch at a nearby College or University – I don’t mean it in a freaky way, but going to college will remind you about how you were a couple (or many) years ago when the reality of the corporate job hadn’t hit you. When you are surrounded by bunch of young people with bright ideas and a positive outlook on life it empowers you and it’s a nice change from being surrounded by closed minded “professionals” who “know the real life.” I actually went with my friend, who is still a student, for lunch this week and everyone thought I was a new professor. Bonus: Prank someone in college by pretending to be a professor.

Have a party at your place: Hopefully, if you work for ridiculously long hours, are appreciated by your clients more than your boss, and wake up in the middle of the night thinking about how you are going to meet the deliverables, you are at least earning enough money to get yourself a decent place. When was the last time you had party at your place? I found out that with time, crazy parties (because they are too much work afterward) become going out for dinner at a nice restaurant or going for the grand opening of a trendy, new club. Instead try having a party at your place and invite friends from back in college and high school. Don’t invite people from work – c’mon you already spend TOO much time with those guys.

Listen to the music: We usually listen to music while multi-tasking (going to the gym or driving). Did you ever try to just listen to the music? Try downloading classic music or maybe Enigma or Secret Garden or whatever fits your taste, find yourself a comfortable spot (cozy blanket, comfortable love-seat, yoga mat, etc.) and for 30 minutes just listen to the music. Free your mind, don’t think about anything, put your brain to sleep and arouse your inner senses. Bonus: Soak in a warm bathtub while listening to the music for 30 minutes before going to bed.

Organize Photos: And I don’t mean put them on a Facebook. Look through your old photos, organize them, and actually print the good ones. If you are adventurous enough try making a custom frame and put them on the wall. Diving back into the memories will totally turn your attention to your inner self and making a frame will give you a sense of ownership and pride from decorating your own place.

The bottom line is remind yourself how to have fun and let loose.

]]> http://romanz.org/10-easy-ways-to-turn-off-your-job.html/feed 0 http://romanz.org/life-equals-risks.html#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=life-equals-risks http://romanz.org/life-equals-risks.html#comments Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:51:06 +0000 Roman http://romanz.org/?p=228

It’s been awhile since I wrote. Running a real life business is demanding both emotionally and time wise. Most of the time at the end of the day, after all the battles, I just wanna watch a movie and hit the pillow. The internet business is like anything else in life, if you want to succeed it is not going to be a bed of roses; you will have to work hard and some days you will hate what you are doing.

This time I wanted to write about the emotional part of running any business. After almost a full year of running a business I can say that no business school in the world can teach how to deal with the emotional aspect of starting up the business. Even working in a big corporation and being responsible for bunch of people won’t give an idea what is like to fight for your idea, be responsible for other people’s lives, have fun, make money, and stay sane while doing it.

I think that no matter what business you are starting it won’t go as smoothly as planned and you are likely to run into obstacles that can bring you down. In an internet business like mine where you sell ads you don’t even have a product to sell in the beginning (no page views no sales). We’ve been doing a lot of seeding work and you won’t see the fruits of our labour immediately. We’ve been screwed over by our web company that effectively prevented us for close to a year to start making any money on the website. So how do I personally and the company as a result keep going?

As “Good to Great” states we face the brutal facts and then we still have unconditional belief that with hard work we shall reach our goal no matter what. This is simple advice, but sometimes it is hard to continue believing in yourself when nobody else does, when you family/friends tell you to get a real job and you start doubting yourself. Guess what? This why running a business is not for everybody. This is what separates fighters from wanna-bes. Your ability to not let the emotion take over you, to believe in yourself and continue to push hard is what makes a winner. In anything there is a breaking point where 90% of people will give up and 10% will continue to push, people who push become extraordinary in whatever they do.

We only live once, so I think it is worth figuring out are you a fighter or not?  So NEVER and I mean NEVER stop believing in yourself.

Hence, my search for advertising sales representative who will sell newspaper first and then when pageviews go up on the website to sell ad space there as well.

You would think that with a recession economy it would be easy to snatch some top talent, but I find it pretty hard. I posted ads on all of university websites, craigslist, my facebook and twitter.I specifically asked not to write “canned”  cover letters, but rather describe goals and how the job fits in with them. I need to know what my employees ultimately desire to see if this job will actually help them. In a nutshell I want somebody real who will be able to develop relationships with clients and is eager to learn real business, rather than just have a line on their resume.

Results after one day:

-got two resumes without cover letter at all

-three cover letters start with “To Whom it May Concern” even though my name is in the ad

-one letter says that working for RomanZ Media Group Inc. was a person’s life long aspiration. I am flattered, but the company is only couple of months old.

Needless to say that I didn’t read past the cover letter. They all might have been very qualified candidates, but they failed to start a conversation with me  – and that is a must have for any sales rep.

So I will keep looking, I would rather have no sales reps at all than have bad sales people (they cost more in a long run).

Conclusion: if you are desperately looking for a job, don’t send your resume to 1000 people per day, send it to 10 but make it personal – that would yield more results trust me!

Advertising Sales rep for Toronto4couples from Roman Zelvenschi on Vimeo.

I also paid attention that now I read more blog posts and articles that I used to skip before. In particular the posts about management, winning and business creation. Here is the list of what I really liked this week:

• Business creation – The 5 pillars of customer experience  by Freshbooks. Great short and yet comprehensive and clear post on how products need to be created in a new era when consumers are highly educated and advertising returns are diminishing. Who doesn’t like Freshbooks? And they are from Toronto!
• Motivation – 3 Lessons Learned from Ultimate Frisbee by Idea Drunk. Again this post is pretty simple to understand yet very powerful in motivating yourself to “want it more.” You should check out Idea Drunk there are lots of inspiring posts over there that could be compared to Seth Godin’s style of writing and quality.
• Sales Management – Why your sales team needs mission by Canadian Business. Great make sense article to anyone who been in sales and managed sales reps. If you are planning to run your business or running it already you got to know that sales is pretty much a core of your business, so you got to do whatever it takes to help you sales. I like the fact that author says “Okay, I’ve been a business coach long enough to know that some of you are rolling your eyes. I talk about creating your vision, mission and purpose, and you hear “pink fluffy clouds.” That sentence resonated with my right away and gave creditability to the whole article.
• Music Help – 58 Motivational Songs to Keep you Going by Young Entrepreneur. I love music and it helps a lot to work by yourself in the office day after day. This post will give you some pointers

Breakfast

Emails are permanent – once you sent that email it will stay in someones inbox or a server forever and ever. If you are international guy or gal, like myself, your words will be scrutinized even more and could be interpreted in many ways. Assuming, there is some competition in your corporate environment these emails could be used as a hard evidence against you. That is why you should act like someone from Mafia and don’t leave any paper trail that you could be nailed for. The simple rule is that if you have something negative and urgent just say it.  Just in case you get into a conflict it is way easier to protect yourself when there is no piece of paper that can act against you. So next time you are angry at a production department – take a deep breath and think if you really need to send that email.

Use emails to build image – do use emails to document the amount of work you are doing for the company. My tip is that instead of sending “FYI emails”, write emails with questions. For example: “Here is the email from ABC and after all my pitches they are considering coming on board with us. Any idea on what else I can offer them?.” I find that these emails let your superiors know on what are you working and also let them mentor you. People like to mentor and own you!

I think in a long run these actions will not only protect you, but will also help to develop a perception of a positive hard working employee. And as you know in corporate world perception is the reality.

If you agree or disagree leave a comment!

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

However, if you see the trackbacks to the post – most of them have the same idea that resumes are a necessary evil, especially if you are recent graduate.

I decided to put my two cents in: I think people who think it is impossible to find the job without a resume are just too afraid to make the leap from the comfortable to extra-ordinary. Really, anything Seth writes about is pretty hard to do in real life or more correctly very hard to commit to doing it when you are responsible for the actual bottom line.

I don’t think the problem is with Seth message though, I think the problem with people who are not ready to commit to extra-ordinary they are not ready to be heroes!

Believe!  But don’t forget to Act!

p.s. I also think that sending three letters of reference for a recent grad are way more effective than writing a resume. Think about it: any HR person will know that recent grad has no experience, so whatever is in the resume is just an attempt to cover that up. Companies that hire recent grads, hire them for their ability to develop a skill set and the best way to showcase what your abilities are in that case is through reference letters.

Queen “I want it all” 1989

I have been slowly getting back to the blogosphere and this time instead of reading every marketing blog there is – I started to read about generation Y. Oddly enough, I found out that there are bunch of other people (just when I thought I was unique) in the same boat with me: fancy degrees, big companies and even bigger dreams and even bigger working hours to achieve their goals.

The one of uniting factor among millennials is the pursuit of the happiness. In summary we want it all and we want it now. I under am the impression though that people around us think that it is just plain wrong and we need to be patient. I know that I keep getting told that I need to be more patient, stick with one thing for awhile and work hard.

Well, I agree with all the suggestions. However, I don’t think that it is wrong to admit that you want everything and pretty soon. That is normal, human, and one of the little validations to it is a song by Queen that was a hit almost twenty years ago.I am just wondering who were the fans that voted for that song to stay in the top charts for 7 weeks? I have sneaking suspicion that those were our parents that tell us now that we need to want to less and be patient.

I say there is nothing wrong to want it all and to want it now as long as person is doing something to get it. That is my G-d given right and that is what drives me.

Common admit it you think thay way too!
“It ain’t much I’m asking, if you want the truth
Here’s to the future
Hear the cry of youth (hear the cry of youth) (hear the cry of youth)
I want it all, I want it all, I want it all and I want it now“

• I have to be passionate about the job, only that way I can put my 100% and I will actually like being in the office
• The job should be challenging, I am dedicated to constant learning and easy job just won’t do it
• The company have to look good on my resume. Through my job search I understood that a lot of companies put emphasis on the brand name company in your resume. While I disagree with such approach, I also know that I have to play by the rules.