The Underminer

Everyone has at least one in their professional life. An Underminer.  A person who knows you so well that they can casually destroy your career. 

• Are you going to wear that to the presentation?
• I was unaware you could work from home the day after taking a personal day. Have the policies changed recently?
• "So how's the job hunt? Ugh, what a difficult time to find work, much less do something fulfilling.  Please let me know if I can do anything, 'kay?"
• "Oh wow I see you're putting your resume on blue paper, with a Helvetica font! Wow, how nontraditional.... You are always pushing the envelope, so to speak. And it's great.  People need to see that kind of resume every now and then."

In his satirical book, Mike Albo describes The Underminer as a passive-aggressive master.  We've all had a colleague like this. He/She knows exactly how to pull the rug out from under you- just when you thought you were finally standing on firm ground.

So how do you combat an underminer?  First, take a deep breathe. Second, have a true friend wriggle the knife out of your back.  Third, smile gracefully, excuse yourself and run for the hills. In a sea of underminers there are also loyal, encouraging, respectful professionals who can talk you off the ledge of self-doubt.  Find those people, surround yourself with them and vow never to turn into an evil underminer.

Have you Googled yourself lately?

I have a new exercise suggestion that doesn’t include entering a gym. Are you interested? Visit http://www.google.com/ and enter your name and see what reveals itself. Is the person looking back at you from cyberspace the successful, fit persona you want to embody for 2010? Or are you seeing the “before” picture that you’d rather leave back in 2009?


They don’t call it the world WIDE web for nothing. For your own personal standing, your businesses reputation and especially if you’re a job seeker in 2010, I highly recommend googling yourself at least once a month. Here are some additional tips:

• Personal status: So what if you enter your name into google and you come up with nothing but an article on a foreigner with your same name? If you’re in the market for a new job and haven’t put yourself out to network, you may be at a disadvantage. But overall, a blank search is preferable to 20 unsavory links to bad behavior.

• Job seekers: Companies will be using the web to learn about you before your resume is even considered for employment. Is your LinkedIn profile up to date? Does it match the resume you submitted? Do you have any other links that you’d rather bury than discuss in an interview? If you do, the best way to counteract this is get positive press out there on yourself so that the deep dark embarrassing link gets buried to page 2 and 3 where an employer is less likely to dig. How do you get positive press? Start a blog, join other social networking sites like Plaxo and Facebook and keep the good links coming.

• Business Owners:
o If you don’t have a PR agency on retainer you should be out there yourself checking on what the world is saying about you and your business. A few weeks ago I searched myself and to my surprise a few new links that I was unaware of rose to the top. One of which was a fantastic article that ended up linking back to my blog (Thanks again Lauren Shapiro!). I was thrilled for the mention but wouldn’t have known about it without doing a little digging on my own.

o This is also a great opportunity to evaluate your advertising spend. When you google your company name, do two or three other similar businesses top yours in ranking? Believe me, your competitors are out there doing this same exercise. Have the stamina in 2010 to be diligent about this exercise and embrace the search results.

Happy googling!

Who says you can't be organized and fashionable?

Did I see you in Target this weekend with a cart full of Rubbermaid bins? I was there, family in tow and was so excited to see an endcap display of new products by Franklin Covey and Jean Chatzky. 

If you are an NBC Today Show viewer like me, you've seen Jean Chatzky in her Money 911 segments.  For two decades this debt and money management expert has has been counseling real people about real money issues.  Her philosophy is a simple one: If you want to own your life, you have to own your money.

Now with a brand new line of products she is empowering us to own our finances.  Here's to healthy (financial) 2010!

Decluttering for home and work

Ah, here we are January 1, 2010. I have my laptop, well, in my lap and we’re slowly but surely taking down the holiday decorations. It’s now time to fix and/or trash the broken ornaments, make lists of needs for next year and pack it all up in nice Rubbermaid organizing bins to stack neatly in the garage.

I’m technically still on vacation, but am already thinking about getting back to work Monday. A nice entrée to the year will be carrying over our personal de-cluttering activities to the home office. Sorting stacks of mail. Reviewing bank statements. Prepping 2009 taxes. What tricks do you have for staying organized in your work environment? Some ideas from the SleeveShirt home-office:

• Keep the paper shredder handy. We always seem to burn ours out, so this year I think we’ll invest in a better model and ensure to clean out the blades at first clump
• Have a singular place where you deposit mail. You should have already sorted out the bad junk, reviewed the good junk and recycled, so now you have a place for correspondence that needs tending to, coupons and bills.
• Hit Target. There’s a reason the circular is chock-full of storage solutions right after the holidays. It’s a great time to clean up not only your personal space, but your work haven.

May your 2010 be organized and focused! Happy New Year.

Women with Wine on Wednesdays

A good friend of mine, and a small business entrepreneur started an inspirational gathering called Women with Wine on Wednesdays. The goal of the WWW network is to bring an amazing group of women together for the sole purpose of inspiring each other.


The evening looks something like this: a casual, but energetic forum for women to share items that have inspired and/or motivated them personally or professionally, all while enjoying their favorite wines.

The inspiration takes many forms; a quote, a fabulous book they have read, a person, experience or a story. I’m sure the stories get more colorful as more wine is poured.

Are you looking for camaraderie and motivation? How about hosting your own WWW event with your circle of friends or neighbors? May I suggest a fine Chianti?

Drumroll Please…

For years I’ve honed my marketing and advertising skills to develop concise and effective creative briefs. Creating a logo for my business was no different than playing Account Manager for one of my clients. I needed to stay focused with singular intent. I needed to ask myself probing questions to get to the heart of what I wanted my logo to convey- emotionally and rationally. I needed to take stock of my company today, and where I want it to be 5 and 10 years in the future. Then I needed to sit back and watch the creative process unfold.

The weeks that followed were exciting and fruitful. Not only was I working with a trusted and talented designer, but for the first time I was taking stock in myself as the “client”. Was I clearly communicating my expectations? Did I respond in the timely manner that I had promised? Was I providing effective feedback? Was I trusting my designer to the design and why I hired him in the first place?

Putting yourself in your client’s shoes is a great exercise to remind you of what you respect about a good working relationship. If you’re in retail, go through the purchase process on your website a few times a year and see what your customers are seeing. Is there anything you would change to make the experience better? If you’re in a service industry, have you ask for feedback from your vendors and clients? Find out if they enjoyed working with you. Did you get the sense that they would work with you again? Ask them if there is anything that you can improve to make the relationship work better for them.

And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends, Clients, Potential Future Clients,… I am proud to introduce you to the SleeveShirt Consulting logo!

What is old becomes new again.

One of our childhood holiday staples: The Sears Wish Book catalog. I can remember hoarding the book away from my brothers and dog-earing pages so that I could effectively complete my list for Santa. This year Sears, in addition to issuing a printed version of the Wish Book (I didn’t get mine, did you?), issued an interactive version to allow customers to turn virtual pages online.

"For years the Sears Holiday Wish Book has brought Christmas to life for kids of all ages, and made holiday shopping easier and more fun for our customers," said Imran Jooma, senior vice president for Online at Sears Holdings. "While there is still a printed version of the Wish Book, the new interactive version puts a new twist on an old tradition and brings even more value to our customers by allowing them to easily browse and shop online at their convenience."

What took you so long Sears? Novel idea- using the internet to suppor one of your most highly anticipated tactics of the entire year.

In a surprising flip, one of the most respected online retailers of our time, Zappos.com (recently acquired by Amazon.com) has mailed 750,000 copies of a printed catalog. Their goal is to re-engage with lapsed online consumers as well as to appeal to those who are more inclined to the paper medium versus a pixilated one.

“Different people respond to different media,” said Aaron Magness, director for brand marketing and business development at Zappos.com in Henderson, Nev. According to Mr. Magness, Zappos is planning a spring catalog for 2010 and perhaps others with themes like “weddings, in June, or housewares, around Thanksgiving.”

Sears is backing away from print, Zappos.com is moving towards it. How long before the two retailers find the balance and maximize marketing bang for their buck? I can’t wait to see…but first, I have to go shopping.