Veterans in the civilian workforce live by the mantra “first my mission, then my men, then myself” and know the powerful capabilities of a cohesive team. They derive satisfaction from their individual accomplishments but realize their potential increases exponentially as a unit. They despise self-absorb, back-stabbing sycophants. If you’ve never heard the term “Blue Falcon,” I encourage you to look it up now.
In summary, if I handed you my resume you’d never see these skills listed … but they’re there. You may not believe Special Forces training is relevant to the sales job you advertised … but it is. The next time a military veteran applies for a position with your company, look beyond the resume and the rifle.
What you’ll discover about our military veterans and their professional capabilities will pleasantly surprise you.
About the Author
Michael Kaplan is the founder and CEO of Phase 2 Advantage, a consulting company that provides entrepreneurship and business management training for military and academic organizations. His most recent book, The Prior-Service Entrepreneur: Providing Military Veterans with the Competitive Skills to Start a Successful Business, has earned a 5-star rating on Amazon and is currently used as a course textbook in numerous business and entrepreneurship training programs throughout the United States.
EDITORIAL FOCUS: Content Marketing Institute
Experiencing difficulties with content marketing is inevitable. If you haven’t found the answers you need, now is the time for a game changer. If you’re a startup founder who wants their business to take off, it may be time to make some drastic changes to your content marketing.
The Content Marketing Institute is a company that has one focus: improving and advancing content marketing.
Originally Junta42 in 2007, the business became an industry leader in content marketing matching – but the people wanted more information and education on content marketing. This is where the Content Marketing Institute, Content Marketing World and CCO magazine developed.
CMI was founded by Joe Pulizzi, who is not only a content marketing master, but is also an entrepreneur, speaker and author on content marketing. His belief in that content marketing can continue to advance is only just the beginning of the importance of content marketing.
What they do
So what exactly does the Content Marketing Institute do?
* Provide helpful and useful advice on content marketing
* Offer news and exclusive articles, including an ebook, on content marketing
* Offer strategies and plans for creating a successful content marketing plan
* Give tips to those who are just starting out and need to understand how content marketing works
You may be thinking one thing: there are hundreds of websites online that offer the same tips on content marketing that you’ve read over and over. This is where you are mistaken. The Content Marketing Institute goes above and beyond to provide guidance and assistance for those who want more out of their content marketing. They ensure that anyone who has an interest of requires help regarding their content marketing will get it.
Because of Pulizzi’s belief that brands have the ability to push harder and do more with their content marketing than they have in the past, this company strives to offer more helpful and beneficial information to anyone who seeks aid.
Why it matters to you
Sure – it may be easy for you to push out loads and loads of content without any hesitation, but how useful is that content? Are you sure you’re truly offering your customers information that they need or are you just creating content that is being neglected by the reader?
As a startup founder, much of your marketing is based around content marketing. It may take awhile for you to establish your business and allow your startup time to take off but with the perfect content marketing strategy, this will give you the chance to truly push your startup out to the audience.
The guidance you will receive from the Content Marketing Institute will be relevant to you because it will offer you a strategy and outline on how to create a perfect and successful content marketing plan.
Through the website, you can also find out information such as how your content marketing measures up to others or just read articles and published work from other successful entrepreneurs. This company even offers a consulting group to further assist you if your content marketing needs have not been met!
Many startups fail because of a poorly constructed content marketing strategy. Startup founders fail to realize that content marketing is not simply publishing articles on your blog or filling up your social media channels with useless information; it takes a strategic plan which the Content Marketing Institute can help you develop.
Content Marketing World
One of the other developments founded by Joe Pulizzi after Junta42 was Content Marketing World: the largest content marketing event in the entire world!
In the 2014 Cleveland event, there were over 2600 delegates from over 50 different countries. This event offers content marketers and others who are interested to network, meet with and speak to some of the best professionals in the content marketing industry.
The event that recently took place in 2014 had speakers from some of the biggest brands in the world, including Julie Fleischer of Kraft Foods, Jeff Charney of Progressive and David Jones of John Deere. Attendees also enjoyed a closing from keynote speaker Kevin Spacey.
Attending this event not only provided those who attended with a way to gain inspiration for their own content marketing, but they could learn strategies from other successful brands to take back home to their own businesses. This event is hugely effective for startup founders because it allows them to implement useful tools and tips into their business and give it the extra push it needs to successfully take off.
Thankfully the registration begins on December 1 for next year’s event, which will be in Cleveland once more on September 8-11. Be sure to plan ahead so you don’t miss this unforgettable event.
Were you unable to attend in 2014?
Whatever the reason, if you missed this year’s Content Marketing World event, there are still several options available for you to enjoy and learn from some of the speakers and presentations that were at the event.
If you want the experience and insight that the event had to offer, there is a Video on Demand option for those still seeking the exclusive advice and guidance from this spectacular event.
Once you check out the preview of what kinds of videos and slides they have to offer, you can find a package to purchase that will suit your content marketing needs.
Intelligent Content Conference
If you can’t wait until next year’s event or you’re a little further from Cleveland than you’d like to be, there is an event available for all the West-coasters: The Intelligent Content Conference.
On March 23-25, 2015 in San Francisco, you can join some of the smartest content professionals in the world to learn about content marketing, content strategies and more. There will be two full days of information including case studies, discussions, presentations and day entirely dedicated to workshops.
You will gain insight and information on other ideas relative to content marketing such as adaptive content and content management. If you’re passionate about the importance of content marketing and how it relates to your business, then you shouldn’t miss this event.
If you're still unconvinced, the word on the street says the infamous chocolate tasting bar will be returning!
The Content Marketing Institute
Whether you’re a content marketer, digital strategist or amateur entrepreneur, the Content Marketing Institute can help you with your content marketing development. Their services, articles and events are almost guaranteed to help you improve your content marketing skills.
Be sure to utilize all of the options and services the site has to offer and don’t hesitate to sign up for their free newsletter or send an inquiry to their consulti
ng group for more assistance. Taking advantage of these opportunities will open the doors for you, as a startup founder, in successfully improving your business as well as getting information out to your audience in a tactful and beneficial way.
If you’re just starting out or have owned a small business for years, the Content Marketing Institute has a little bit of something for everyone. Stop wondering where your content marketing is going wrong and visit their website today.
Motivational Boosters
1) Vision
Establish a clear vision of your goals, set attainable expectations, understand and consider any risks, and keep your eye fixed on upcoming achievements.
2) Confidence
If you’re confident in your organization’s potential for success, the outside world and the employees who make your organization function will share your faith. Never be skeptical, and always maintain a positive attitude.
3) Resources
Be prepared for the future by establishing the financial, technical and personnel resources necessary to expand as you reach milestones for your operation.
4) Organize
As they become necessary, arrange all of those previously established resources for efficiency. Organizing tools into corporate best practices legitimizes your operation.
5) Commitment
Clearly dedicate yourself to achieving your goals in a way that drives your employees and colleagues to reach for their own. Use positivity and motivation to create a favorable environment, and connect with others by being amiable and focusing on integrity.
6) Hard Work
All of the intelligence in the world cannot replace a solid work ethic, and there is no way around putting in the hours if you want the result. Dedication results in efficiency, and the combination of the two will create a smart and motivated operation that gets results.
7) Work Hard, Party Harder!
Every member of a hard working operation needs the opportunity to blow off some steam. Punctuating periods of impressive output with small celebrations reinforces the effort and encourages future performance. Teams who work hard together should rejoice together!
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Successful Startup 101 Magazine - Issue 9 Page 7