How to Automate Your Twenty-Something Life + $500 Giveaway!

As a twenty-something entrepreneur with an incredibly full workload, I far too often find myself falling behind in my personal life. I'm not talking about my social life, of course. I always find a way to grab dinner with my girlfriend, sneak in a round of golf, or go out for a night on the town. That's the fun stuff. I'm talking about the annoying daily tasks like going grocery shopping, cleaning my apartment, paying the bills, doing taxes and running out to the store to pick up essentials like trash bags, razors and toilet paper.

No matter how hard I try, I cannot get in the habit of doing these things in a timely way. So recently I've been figuring out how to automate as many of these tasks as possible.

The trend towards automating your life and relying on services is nothing new for twenty-something's. Websites that save you the extra trip to the store, like Netflix are a staple among my friends. And most people I know are living in apartments or condos, where you don't have to worry about stuff like mowing the lawn, raking the leaves, or shoveling snow.

With the emergence of Web 2.0, there are a new whole host of services that let you automate your life. My recent automation to-do has been automating my finances. I put all of my information into Mint.com so I can see my entire financial picture at a glance. Then I read Ramit's book, I Will Teach You To Be Rich, and automated my bills as much as possible.

Now that my finances are taken care of, the next annoying task on my automation to-do list is to make sure I never have to run out to buy essentials again. Alice.com is launching in beta today, and if the site works out as advertised, my weekly trip to Walgreens will no longer be necessary.

Alice lets you set up reminders for when you need to reorder a product. At first you take a guess as to when you will next need a product. When the time comes, you get a reminder. But as you continue to use the site, Alice actually tracks how often you reorder each product and delivers automated reminders so you never have to run out to CVS at 6:30 in the morning because you threw your last razor out three days ago!

As busy as we all are between our careers, social lives, online networking, exercising etc. it's nice to have a handful of tools to automate the annoying tasks, and save us time and money. Alice definitely has the potential to become a welcome addition to my automation toolset.

The folks over at Alice were nice enough to offer a giveaway to the readers on Employee Evolution and Brazen Careerist. So I figured I would keep it simple. Leave a comment below listing one of the tools you use to automate your life or make your life easier. It can be anything from your Netflix subscription, products or services, your addiction to Mint, living in an apartment, or your monthly wine delivery. Get creative! We'll choose our 5 favorite comments and each will receive a $100 credit to use towards purchases on Alice.com. Good Luck!

(*Disclaimer, my girlfriend works at Alice, but the site is great regardless!)

Brazen Groups Are Live!

If you didn't join the private beta launch of Brazen Groups, I highly recommend you go check out the live version today! We officially opened groups up to all members of Brazen Careerist this morning, and we're really excited to see how they evolve.

Groups give our community the ability to create whatever content they want to see on the site. For a small site, we have a lot of user engagement and we can't express how much we appreciate that. But like any true startup, we're never satisfied. So the team came to a decision that it was time to put more control in the hands of our community, and groups was the best way to do this.

Groups have three main features. The first is chatter. Chatter is quick thoughts, ideas, relevant links, questions etc. Borrowing from Twitter, we decided to make chatter short and sweet, so 140 characters are all you get.

The next feature is events. Group members can create an event, including time and place, and an address with a Google map so attendees don't get lost on their way. We anticipate that people in the location based groups will use this feature to organize tweet-ups, Brazen meet-ups and any other networking functions. But it's also just as easy to organize online events or promote your webinars and other events.

Finally, we developed forums to let group members really dive into a discussion about a particular topic. Members can create a forum topic that they would like to get feedback on, and the rest of the group can leave comments and ideas without the restriction of 140 characters.

As we work towards becoming a full scale social network for young professionals, we will be introducing new features on a regular basis. All of the features will come from the crazy ideas that we throw around in the office and the feedback we get from you all. So if you want to have some say in what comes next, let us know what you think. You can even join the Brazen Feedback Group and start a discussion on what you think we should do.

As always, we asked some of our most active members to beta test the product, so there are already more than 35 groups. My personal favorites right now are; Fit Freaks, Madtown Crew, Bookshelf and Drupal.

Definitely go browse through groups, join the ones that interest you, create your own groups, and don't forget to participate!

Want to Get a Job in this Market? Control Your Google Rank

If you have a name like Photis Patriotis, Brazen's Software Engineer, showing up at the top of a Google search is a cakewalk. He can buy his personal domain name, start blogging, and hit the front page every time someone searches for him. By pure chance, because his parents gave him a unique name, Photis can take control of his online identity with relative ease.

But for those of us with a name like John Smith, or Ryan Healy, it's not so easy. Even after two years of blogging, and building a relatively strong online brand I'm still outranked by a copywriter in Seattle (or maybe its Denver now). He bought the domain www.ryanhealy.com, so I don't see myself outranking him anytime soon.

But after a lot of work, I have managed to claim a few spots on the front page of a Google search, despite competing with the highly active copywriter and an ultimate fighter who's nicknamed Ryan "The Irish Assassin" Healy. Hopefully people don't mistake me for him!

The point is, unless you're lucky enough to have a one in a billion name, you cannot completely control your online identity. But with a little hard work and strategy, anyone can hit the front page of a Google search.

Personalities like Dan Schawbel are evangelizing personal branding and controlling ones online identity for career purposes and the savviest of us are beginning to listen. Steven Moody, a member of Brazen Careerist recently wrote Penelope Trunk an email, he said,

"I am trying to get to the top of Google searches for my name, but competing with a Death Row inmate in TX and a con artist in Utah is proving difficult. So imagine my surprise when my Brazen Careerist profile is #6-8 on searches! I am indebted to you for the motivation this created."

Steven knows that controlling his Google rank is critical for a number of reasons. It's especially critical when you're looking for a new job because what employers find about you online is an extension of your resume. According to a Vault.com survey, 56% of employers have looked up potential hires on social networks to learn more about them, and 82% said that a negative profile will affect their hiring decisions.

Online career sites like Linkedin, Brazen and VisualCV are not going to replace paper resumes, because despite what some may believe; traditional resumes aren't going away anytime soon. But having a presence on these kinds of career sites can do wonders for building an online presence that will act as an extension of your resume.

If you're cool with Facebook being the first thing people see when they search for you, then this stuff probably doesn't matter, but if you're serious about your career, start a blog, check out the career sites I mentioned, and control what people see when they Google your name.

Why Your Company Can't Afford to Ban Social Networking

Social networking is not a fad. It's not one of those things that people think is cool for a few years and then it simply fades away. Much like the internet did, social networking and social media have changed the way the world works. We're now connected to every friend, acquaintance, girlfriend, boyfriend, and business contact that we have ever encountered – it's a powerful and even revolutionary tool.

Social media has already changed the way people communicate and interact with each other and it's changing the way business works – for the better. But still, a recent Challenger, Gray & Christmas study found that 20% of companies have banned social networking sites from employee computers! If your company is one of those 20%, you should seriously reconsider. Here's why.

It's called social NETWORKING for a reason

Network, network, network. It's all you heard from your parents growing up, your professors in college, and every successful person you've talked to since. Companies inherently understand (I hope) that employees need to network both inside and outside the company because you never know where that next big sale, or new hire will come from. In a recent press release, Nick Ragone, Director of Ketchum's Communications & Media Strategy Group says, "Banning these types of sites would be the equivalent of asking your boss, 'Do you think I really need to make sales calls or network; can't I just hang out in my office and wait for the phone to ring?' "

Of course not! Why then, would any company consider blocking a website that allows all of your employees to be in one giant virtual room with the best and brightest from inside and outside your industry? Sounds like a case of short-sighted management to me.

Social networks are the best place to recruit

Yes, I'm aware that "passive job seeker" is the big buzzword in recruiting these days, but there's a reason for that. Passive job seekers are the people your company really wants to recruit. They are the ones who are perfectly happy in their situation. They make a good salary, they enjoy the people they work with, and their employers are happy with their performance. But they still hang out on social networks, they're actively involved in online communities, and they read blogs. And they will listen to a more attractive job offer if your company can create the online presence you need to connect with these people.

Active job seekers on the other hand, are actively searching for a job for a reason. They're on Monster, CareerBuilder, and JobFox because they really want to get out of their situation. But, chances are, they are in a less than perfect job because they couldn't get anything better. You may find the occasional gem of a resume in your inbox, but you'd be much better served to connect with the people you really want through Linkedin, Twitter, or Brazen Careerist.

Social media can directly impact your bottom line

Social networks and blogs are very much about networking, connections and conversation, but if your company big whigs won't go for anything that doesn't directly impact the bottom line, show them that social media can do that too.

The Washington Post reports that Marriott made more than $5 million in bookings from people who clicked through to the reservation page from Marriott's corporate blog. I don't know the exact traffic numbers for Marriott's blog, but I do know that the longer blogs are around, and the more you write the more direct traffic you get. And in this case, an increase in direct traffic will no doubt lead to an increase in revenue.

If you hired right, your employees will not waste work time on social media

Ketchum's press release pretty much sums it up when they say, "Yes, there are a few bad apples that may waste time on these tools, but they will find ways to waste time even if they don't have social networking sites – they will find something else to distract them."

Top employees, the employees you should hire, will spend time on social networking sites, but they will not do it at the expense of getting their work done. There are only two possible reasons that your employees are wasting time on these sites. One reason is that you hired the wrong people, and you should get rid of them ASAP. The other option is maybe your company needs to provide more work to employees or re-think how you define employee engagement.

Some companies are so obsessed with controlling employees, they've failed to see that banning social networking at work is no different than controlling the number of employees who received a PC in the '80s and limiting the number of employees with internet access in the '90s. And we all know what a great idea that was. So go ahead, ban social networking at your company. But do so at your own peril.

Why Every Company Needs to Embrace Social Media

Social media is changing everything. Business Week recently published an article about the power of social media and how companies are beginning to embrace it, because they really don't have a choice. Not everyone has a blog, or wants to blog, but you would be hard pressed to find many people who aren't on some type of social network. Now it's time for corporate America to follow suit and meet their potential customers on their own turf, or risk falling behind the times.

Image Credit: qtmcknight

The article says, "It's as if the walls around our companies are vanishing and old org charts are lying on their sides."

There is truth to that statement. Social media is changing how business works, so businesses better figure out how social media works. Here's why every company needs to embrace social media, now.

Brand Awareness and Traffic

Brand awareness is crucial, it always was. But today you have to go beyond old media to market your message to the masses.

On Friday, my post about Gen Y changing the work place was picked up on Stumble Upon and Digg. On Sunday, 60 Minutes re-aired a segment featuring my blog. Guess what? Our site received 4 times more traffic and 10 times more comments on Friday then it did on Sunday. When prime time national media attention can't compete with a couple of niche websites on a Friday afternoon before a holiday weekend, you know that things just aren't what they used to be. These days, if you want to create real brand awareness, you better start with the niche communities.

Passive Job Seekers

Job boards are dying, fast. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Lou Adler, a chief executive of the Adler Group, a company that trains corporate recruiters on hiring practices, says, "I certainly see many, many companies posting their jobs on job boards….and not getting any results and wondering why."

The reason why is because people aren't actively looking for jobs. They are, however, actively browsing social media sites and spending time on social networks, and even if they don't know it, they're passively looking for jobs. The smartest companies are taking advantage of this and creating a social media presence.

Someone may not be looking for a job, but if they stumble across an interesting blog post, Facebook page, or Twitter profile that mentions a great company, they will take the time to investigate further. So everyone is a passive job seeker. It's up to every company to create a large enough online presence so the right people will stumble on them.

Credibility

Online credibility comes from the way you handle your brand and the links and references your blog or website receives. When people link to you, it's like an unofficial endorsement from that person. Think of it like politics. When John Edwards endorsed Barack Obama, it made a big splash. A company can gain serious online street-cred when one of the big guns endorses them.

But again, like politics, the common folks matter too. You must first establish credibility with the masses, and then the big fish can provide you that final push. Even if it takes a while, online credibility will eventually lead to mainstream coolness.

The Coolness factor

The majority of social networks and social media sites are not "mainstream cool." Outside of Silicon Valley and the 900,000 tech crunch readers, the majority of people don't know what Friend Feed, Digg, or even Twitter is. But your company should, if you want to be cool. Why be cool?

If your company can adopt a bunch of these new technologies and figure out how to properly use them to leverage your brand, at some point it will pay off. Not only will your company immediately be considered cool in the tech world, but when one of these sites becomes a legitimate hit, like Twitter is about to become, your company will be mainstream-cool as well.

And when you're mainstream cool, everything changes. You'll have people knocking down your doors trying to get an interview with your company. Just ask Google.

Controlling the conversation

Social media is a constant conversation and because of this, business is now a constant conversation. It's a comment string on Brazen Careerist, its someone's Facebook wall, and it's a Linked In recommendation. Someone, somewhere is out there talking about your company, and they can say whatever they want. All you can do is control the conversation.

Controlling the conversation does not mean telling people how to talk about your company or spamming a couple bloggers with job postings or company descriptions. It means creating a presence where you can initiate and continue a conversation.

What social media requires is authenticity, because even a newbie social media user can sniff out a phony quickly. But authentic conversation isn't what most companies do naturally. So when corporations want to initiate a conversation, they have to find the right people, and they better empower those people to tell the truth, which isn't always great news to deliver.

Starbucks is a great example. When things started going south, they publicly admitted to being at fault. They started a social networking site to ask for help from the customers. And we all remember when they shut down the stores across the country for an afternoon to address some fundamental problems. Smart decisions like that come when you take the time to start a conversation and then remember to listen, too.

It's not easy. It takes a ton of time and it may even consist of a couple full time hires, but establishing a social media presence is worth it. Sooner or later every company will be actively using social media, but the trendsetters are the one's who will get the most out of it. Don't be left behind.

If you enjoyed this article, please vote for it on Digg, share it on StumbleUpon or bookmark it on del.icio.us. I appreciate your support.