When most of us find ourselves in transition we’re like the man in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. Here’s the allegory in a nutshell: Imagine a group of people living in a cave lit only by a small fire. Now imagine one of them getting dragged out of that cave and brought out into the sunlight. The person getting dragged out would no doubt curse the person pulling him out, and once on the surface would be blinded by his first painful exposure to the bright sun. Eventually his pupils would start to adjust to the sunlight and reveal to him an entire new world of truth and possibilities.

Point is that the fear and anxiety that comes from a recent layoff or firing can be overwhelming. However, once the dust settles and we start to rethink our predicament, we realize that in fact being in transition can be turned into a major strategic advantage over working peers. Don’t believe me?

When it comes down to it, time is money. And time is exactly what you get when you’re in transition. Unlike working for somebody else, what you do with that time is entirely up to you. You can waste it on the worn out  job search path most people take, or you can cash in your time to establish a foundation that will pay dividends for your entire career. If I were you, I’d bet most of my time on three surefire winners: knowledge, networking and sharing.

Knowledge - Your brain is like a bank. The more you educate yourself – the more you read, the more you learn from observation and experience – the more you deposit and the more you’ll have available to you at an opportune time. If you’re not reading books, industry rags, business blogs and an infinite number of informational resources on the Web, you’re wasting a golden opportunity to make huge deposits of knowledge in your brain trust.

Networking - Today and even more so in the years ahead, your worth will not only be judged by the people you know, but by the people that know you. Known as the Network Effect, the more you invest in your network, the more value you’re able to give new members which serves to drive demand for membership in your personal network. Working professionals that understand this principal would kill to have enough time to grow their networks and in turn their career capital.

Sharing - Now imagine combining those two key elements – sharing your constantly expanding knowledge and contacts with your constantly expanding network. The result is immensely valuable and the key to making your transition the most productive time in your career. In addition to your unique knowledge, sharing should come from your intangibles, the very things that an employer might otherwise pay you handsomely for.

Only question is, what happens when you return to that cave called employment? No doubt you’ll find those cave dwellers rather dull and unproductive. Here are Plato’s thoughts on how they might see you back: “Wouldn’t it be said of him that he went up and came back with his eyes corrupted, and that it’s not even worth trying to go up? And if they were somehow able to get their hands on and kill the man who attempts to release and lead up, wouldn’t they kill him?”

Ouch.

Related posts:

1. 9 Tips to Get Executives Started on Twitter If you’re like me, you’re weary of joining yet...
2. Round III: Your Resume is Dead. Long Live Your Blog! Last week I detailed the top five arguments in...
3. @TheCareer100 Must-Follow Mavens on Twitter I’m please to announce the launch of @TheCareer100, a hand-picked...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Over the past three posts, I have focused on the unprecedented opportunities that social media offers professional stock traders and everyday retail investors. However, social media is also opening new doors for public companies willing to engage with shareholders and create an additional layer of transparency to their investor relations activities.

While the vast majority of public companies are not yet engaging investors through social media, a few smart CEOs are turning to industry thought leaders like Darrell Heaps. Darrell is the co-founder and CEO of Q4 Web Systems, a software company that provides “on-demand software for corporate and investor relations websites.” Q4’s blog has firmly positioned Darrell and his firm at the forefront of advocating for public companies to formulate more robust social media strategies. Below is an interview I recently conducted with Darrell where we discussed his views on the subject.

To read the Q4 Web Systems blog click here.

Related posts:

1. Is Wall Street Ready for the Social Investor? That's especially true in the investing world, where millions of...
2. Wall Street Beware: Top 7 Social Networks for Investors People find online social networks rewarding in different ways....
3. Will Executives Over 50 Ever Get Social Media? Forbes Insights, in association with Google, surveyed 354 top...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

People always ask me, “Can I really make money on Twitter?” Usually I answer with a long-winded response about listening first, then starting conversations and so on until I see their eyes gloss over. But when I tell them there are also some very direct ways to start making money—like harvesting free, actionable stock tips from some of today’s most talented traders—their eyes tend to clear up in a hurry.

Twitter is a natural habitat for stock traders. After all, information is the lifeblood of the public markets—the more you know and the sooner you know it the greater your advantage. And if there are two principals that define the essence of Twitter, it’s an overabundance of free information travelling at the speed of real time.

Thousands of traders gravitate towards Twitter-powered services like StockTwits, where you can watch the day’s stock market news unfold in real time according to the thoughts of retail and institutional investors. StockTwits aptly calls this collective stream of free market consciousness, “The Human Ticker.” And while StockTwits and others do a great job filtering out non-investment related information, there’s still the question, “Who should I listen to?”

To make it easier on you, I’ve done some research and created a Twitter list called the “100 Best Damn Stock Traders on Twitter.” The only way to be 100% sure of how solid an investor’s advice really is would be to wade through thousands of tweets to measure how their advice panned out in the market over the trailing 12-24 months. I love to do the leg work for my readers, but not that much. Instead I decided to use metrics driven by the Twitter community itself.

With a few exceptions*, all 100 list members must:

1. be on a least 30 Twitter lists. Getting added to Twitter lists by others is among most efficient way to measure the long-term quality of a person’s tweets.
2. have more than 1,000 followers. There are many great Twitter users with less followers, but the number of followers usually points to a prolific contributor.
3. have more followers than following. Following more people than you follow isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s a red flag for a strategy aimed to pump follower stats, making it easier to have 1000+ followers.

Confession: I actually only found 95 stock traders that fit the bill for this list. That’s why I’m asking you, the reader, to help me finish off the list. If you know of any or come across any stock traders that you think are worth adding to the list (whether they meet the criteria above or not) kindly leave their Twitter handle as a comment on this post.

So without further adieu, I give you: 100 Best Damn Stock Traders on Twitter

*I made a few exceptions based on the relevance of an investor’s tweets when they met two out of three criteria but were on the borderline on the third.

Related posts:

1. Wall Street Beware: Top 7 Social Networks for Investors People find online social networks rewarding in different ways....
2. Is Wall Street Ready for the Social Investor? That's especially true in the investing world, where millions of...
3. 5 Ways to Job Search in Real Time on Twitter Yes, Twitter is crude and simple but it offers...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Nowhere is the spirit of wealth building stronger than on social networks for stock traders. The public nature of investing in the stock market makes social media a particularly powerful medium for exchanging ideas and advice, as well as for building your reputation as a world-class investor. But you don’t need to be a rock star day trader or bonus-hungry institutional analyst to benefit from these networks. All you need is a willingness to listen and a desire to take control of your investment decisions.

Gone are the days when you had to rely solely on fee-laden stock brokers and mutual funds. I don’t need to recount how Wall Street nearly sank the ship last fall, but the point is that through social media you have unprecedented opportunities to see inside the minds of some of today’s most talented investors. Not to mention that many of the top traders on the social networks listed below are actually professionals giving away comparable advice that might otherwise cost us handsomely.

I’ve chosen the top seven free social networks for investors below based on my experiences and because each represents a slightly different approach to community investing.

Top 7 Social Networks for Investors

SeekingAlpha

SeekingAlpha’s blog community is arguably the most influential group of investors on the Web. Nielsen recently confirmed that the site’s audience has more $500K+ portfolios, the most active traders and the largest percentage of finance professionals among stock market finance sites. If there is one finance site you follow, make it SeekingAlpha.

StockTwits — “The Human Ticker.”

StockTwits is an open, community-powered idea and information service for investments that is supported by the Twitter API. Users can eavesdrop on traders and investors, or contribute to the conversation and build their reputation as savvy market wizards. Since StockTwits piggybacks on Twitter, it is an especially powerful tool for consuming real-time information on the market and on specific stocks.

Covestor — “Follow investors that have proven their worth.”

With Covestor, you can coattail the world’s best investors: see what stocks other members are investing in and why. Find ideas from others doing the hard work and putting their own money where their mouths are. If you had to choose one investor social network to join I would recommend Covestor.

Motley Fool CAPS – “Investors helping investors beat the market.”

Outperform … or underperform? The Fool’s unique stock-rating service provides insights into what Motley Fool community members (as well as more than 100 professional Wall Street firms) think about the stocks investors own. More than 5,000 stocks – and the thousands of investors who cover them – carry a rating from one to five stars.

Stockpickr — “The stock idea network.”

Stockpickr Network provides members with windows into the stock picks of other community members as well as professional investors, sparking discussion via idea-sharing forums and products. It also updates the portfolios of selected professional investors, including Warren Buffett and George Soros. You can easily browse these portfolios and drill down on stocks that interest you.

Wikinvest — “Investing simplified.”

Wikinvest is Wikipedia for investors. It offer insightful community written wikis that aim to give investors the context they need to understand what they are betting on when they purchase a particular stock or invest in a specific sector. Unlike traditional data-driven finance, Wikinvest articles boil down the important nuggets about a company. Through WikiCharts, it also offers stock performance charts that contain user-generated annotations.

The Investor Network “Where real investors connect”

Run by the brokerage services powerhouse, Broadridge, The Investor Network is unique in that it validates each member as a “real” investor at an actual public company. They believe this allows community members to share ideas and information without having to weed through the noise on other investment-oriented sites.

Will free social networks one day replace high-priced Wall Street pros? Ask community investors and some will tell you that the pressure on sell-side analysts has already begun. I’m betting that the wisdom of crowds will continue to produce too much valuable information for any single organization, or street for that matter, to keep pace.

Update: SeekingAlpha and StockTwits recently announced a $7 million and $3 million, respectively, round of financing. Also, in addition to integration into Yahoo Finance, SeekingAlpha has been added to NASDAQ’s official website (example).

Related posts:

1. Is Wall Street Ready for the Social Investor? That's especially true in the investing world, where millions of...
2. 100 Best Damn Stock Traders on Twitter People always ask me, “Can I really make money...
3. Should Public Companies Be Afraid of Social Media? Over the past three posts, I have focused on...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Where were you on September 15, 2008? The day Lehman’s collapse ignited a domino effect that nearly broke the economy’s back. I was sitting at home creating a wire frame for my web startup, “Symblr,” an online community that connects investors with peers to get real time, collective feedback on investment ideas. However, I spent most of that particular day starring like a deer in the headlights as the DOW dropped some 500 points, sending the markets into an even deeper panic. The days that followed… well, you were there, I don’t need to describe what happened next.

I’ve learned two unforgettable lessons since those tumultuous days. The first is that the “professionals” on Wall Street we depended on to rate, analyze and invest our money did not make decisions in our collective best interest. They were either too greedy, woefully negligent or just plain stupid. I’m sure they’d deny the stupid part first. The second lesson is that I should have trusted myself more and not abandoned my vision for Symblr, even under the crush of uncertainty and the evaporation of the VC market.

Back then I envisioned the future of the equities market as a place where social media would decentralize the then untouchable, highly centralized influence of Wall Street. Symblr was meant to be a leader for the future of that movement.

Since last Fall, social media has exploded on the scene. That’s especially true in the investing world, where millions of retail investors (day traders & other individual investors) are connecting through services like Twitter, SeekingAlpha, StockTwits, SkyGrid and Facebook to give each other advice and exchange investment ideas. The real time web technologies that have harnessed and filtered that fire hose of information are creating a collective blue print for knowing when, where and how to invest. The result is what StockTwits pithily trademarked, “The Human Ticker.”

Will the social web deal a blow to the financial industry like it did to the music industry and traditional media? I don’t know, but over the coming months on this blog I will be covering some of the people and trends fueling what I’m calling the era of  ”Social Investing.” Of course that brings me back full circle to September 16, 2008, a symbolic day I’ll now remember as the day the old guard, represented by Lehman, tumbled and a new collective financial industry emerged from the ashes.

Related posts:

1. Wall Street Beware: Top 7 Social Networks for Investors People find online social networks rewarding in different ways....
2. Should Public Companies Be Afraid of Social Media? Over the past three posts, I have focused on...
3. 100 Best Damn Stock Traders on Twitter People always ask me, “Can I really make money...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I get mass emails from my professional network all the time. Most of them are lengthy updates on where somebody is on their job search. I don’t mind getting them and I try to help when I can, but unfortunately I rarely ever feel compelled to forward those messages on to the rest of my own personal network. If I did feel compelled to do so the original sender might benefit from the exponential exposure to thousands of other executives in my network, not to mention the many thousands more from the networks of the other recipients.

That means the messages you send to your hundreds of contacts could introduce your name and expertise to thousands of potentially important executives, further closing the gap between you and the decision makers that can give you what you need.

So the question becomes, How do I craft a message that motivates others to spread my message? To start, assume the position that most people will not spread your messages out of the goodness of their hearts, but if you give them something worth spreading they will be happy to do so as a way to create good will with you and others.

You don’t necessarily need to be an expert marketer or a social media maven to create messages that go “viral.” And by viral I mean that your messages take on a life of their own and get forwarded on without you actually pressing send. It’s actually not as difficult as it sounds if you walk into crafting your message with the intent to get people talking. Here are three ways to turn your one way email messages into a conversational spark:

1. Give them something of value. The ultimate value that you can provide your audience is value they can spread to their own networks. An example might be a job posting that wasn’t quite right for you (let them know why as a way to describe what you are looking for), but that might interest them or somebody they know. Not everybody will feel compelled to share information with others, but you’ll find that the proactive executives within your network are also on the look out for great content to forward on.
2. Give them something to talk about. People are inherently social; they’re always looking for opportunities to tell others about a great movie, an awful restaurant experience, or a business trend that could change the landscape for a particular industry. When you read a newspaper or industry blog keep your eyes peeled for some gem of information that you think might be useful for executives in your network. Make sure that information further emphasizes your expertise and shows that you’re somebody with your finger on the pulse of that particular subject.
3. Take a risk, be controversial. Vanilla messages that repeat what’s already been said a hundred times will never go viral. In my experience, the messages that get the most attention are the ones that take a position against the common consensus. I’m not saying to write something you don’t believe in. But if you can back up your contrarian opinion with a well thought out argument and facts, you can quickly establish yourself as an independent industry voice and a person worth promoting.

Keep in mind that the point of these messages is to reinforce your ultimate goal, whether it’s to find a job, get your name out there, or create sales opportunities. The most productive way to come up with content is to write about subjects you feel passionate about.

Once you identify those subjects you’ll be much more likely to write inspired messages that catch fire with your audience and take them past the tipping point. If you can achieve that just once, I promise you’ll never send another vanilla email again. And your network will thank you for it.

Related posts:

1. 3 Ways to Get More Out of LinkedIn Groups A few weeks ago I started a LinkedIn group...
2. 5 Ways to Job Search in Real Time on Twitter Yes, Twitter is crude and simple but it offers...
3. Your Resume is Dead. Long Live Your Blog! Welcome to the hyper-competitive job market of The Great...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Forbes Insights, in association with Google, surveyed 354 top executives at large (annual sales greater than $1 billion) corporations to understand how they use the Internet to gather information. A clear generational gap emerged, especially when it comes to social media tools like blogs and Twitter.

Here are some of the major findings:

A generational shift is occurring in the C-suite that is transforming how they use the Internet. Executives who came of business age with the rise of the personal computer—typically those between the ages of 40 and 50—are now assuming leadership positions in corporate America. These executives access information more frequently than previous executives, see greater value in emerging Internet technologies, and are willing to retrieve information in different ways, such as via video or through a mobile device.

The Internet is the C-suite’s top information resource. Executives find it more valuable for locating business related information than references from colleagues, personal networks, newspapers and magazines, TV and radio, and conferences and trade shows.

Members of the C-suite search for information themselves. While delegating research may be part of the stereotype of a C-level executive, it is not the reality. More than half of C-level respondents said they prefer to locate information themselves, making them more self-sufficient in their information gathering than non-C-suite executives.

Video and online networks are emerging as C-suite tools. While text is still the preferred format for receiving information, streaming video, webcasts, and similar formats are increasing in prevalence, especially among executives under 50. Similarly, although most executives prefer personal contacts, they are increasingly willing to network and seek advice through online communities.

Executives under 40 are the most willing to engage with emerging Internet technologies such as blogs, wikis, Twitter, mobile computing, and online social networks. According to the report, 58% of executives under 40 maintain a work-related blog daily (35%) or several times a week (21%). According to the report that figure drops to 35% among those 40-49 followed by a precipitous drop to only 5% for executives over 50.

I’d like to know what exactly is holding back executives over 50 from utilizing social media. Is it that they feel like the technology is too difficult to learn, or is it that they simply and actually don’t see the value in it?

I believe it’s a frame of mind that can be overcome, not a technological deficiency.

What do you think?

Related posts:

1. You Are the New Media It’s easy to get bogged down in the minutiae...
2. Should Public Companies Be Afraid of Social Media? Over the past three posts, I have focused on...
3. 9 Tips to Get Executives Started on Twitter If you’re like me, you’re weary of joining yet...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

The world is an elevator. That’s especially true for an executive in transition. Every interaction with a fellow executive, potential employer and recruiter is an opportunity to deliver a clear, crisp and compelling elevator pitch that proves you’re a stand out job candidate.

But how do you cram an entire career’s worth of work into just 15 second? You can’t and you don’t. The bad news is that I’ve heard hundreds of long winded, confusing, uncompelling elevator pitches that instantly gives the listener glossy eyes. The good news is that means you have an opportunity to stand out and deliver an impactful elevator pitch that cuts through the noise and makes you the person they remember.

Here are 5 tips to make your elevator pitch sing:

1. Pay attention. Every executive that’s serious about networking has an elevator pitch. Pay attention to what they say and how they deliver it. This will help you get a feeling for what works and what doesn’t. You’ll probably come across hundreds of forgettable pitches so get good at learning from the bad ones.
2. Be authentic. Read the first draft of your elevator pitch out loud and honestly ask yourself, “Could somebody else just as easily claim what I’ve just said?” If the answer is yes, start over. If your elevator pitch is indistinguishable from the rest, you’re simply wasting everybody’s time.
3. Keep practicing. Very few people have the oratorical skill to deliver a 15-second speech on demand and under pressure. To know and live your pitch you’ll need to repeat it outloud100 times. Practice emphasizing different parts of your pitch. How you deliver it is even more important than what you say.
4. Every word counts. Every word should have a purpose. That purpose should be to have an immediate and lasting impact. If you need some help click here to use the Harvard Business School Elevator Pitch Builder. The ultimate goal is to deliver a pitch that says it all in less than 5 seconds.
5. Smooth delivery. Too many executives try to cram an entire career’s worth of work into 15 seconds. Rushing through your elevator pitch makes you sound inexperienced. Speak purposefully and with confidence.

Your elevator pitch is more important than your resume. In fact, it’s the most important tool in your job search arsenal. Unfortunately, the only way to master it is to deliver it hundreds of times at every opportunity. If done right, your elevator pitch is your first impression. If done poorly, it’s likely your last.

FREE BONUS

Does your elevator pitch need work? In the comments box on this post write in 50 words or less why an employer would be foolish not to hire you.  I’ll do my best to respond to everyone’s comments, but I encourage everyone to help each other out and provide some constructive feedback on as many pitches as you can.

Related posts:

1. How I Got the Job—Part I We embark on this long strange trip called transition...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Career maven Tim Tyrell-Smith just released a free ebook highlighting his top “30 Ideas for a Successful Job Search.” The ebook is a greatest hits compilation from Tim’s thoughtful and highly-practical career blog at www.spinstrategy.com. The book discusses what he believes to be the “three most important keys to successful job search: strategy, psychology and networking.”

If you’re looking for useful ideas you can implement right away to keep your transition fresh, interesting and moving forward, I highly recommend reading Tim’s ebook and subscribing to his blog.

Click here: http://blog.spinstrategy.com/2009/08/new-ebook-now-available-30-ideas-the-ideas-of-successful-job-search-.html.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Yes, Twitter is crude and simple but it offers something few services can—access to the world as it unfolds. It’s called real time search, a powerful concept that’s redefining the web and opening new doors for job seekers willing to brave off the beaten path. For those that do, job searching in real time means instant access to employers, recruiters and executives the moment they mention a job or talk about a need you can fill.

Here’s the real time web in a nutshell: Basketball superstar Shaquille O’Neal was recently traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers to play with Lebron James. Maybe you heard about it from a friend or on ESPN, but believe it or not Shaq first learned about his new job on Twitter. He didn’t hear it from his agent, he heard it from @allonso (an everyday fan from Phoenix). It was amusing to read Shaq’s tweets that morning because he got caught off guard, but it goes to show how quickly information travels on Twitter and how easily you can access just about anybody.

Here are five steps to get your real time job search started now:

• Over 230,000 new jobs were posted on Twitter in the last 30 days. That’s up over 20% from last month as reported by TwitterJobSearch.com, a terrific resource for job listings on Twitter and one of the world’s first real time job search engines. Another fantastic resource is the search tool on Twitter, its timeliness and utility are the envy of Google and Facebook.

• See a job opportunity? Reply instantly with your “Twitter Resume” from twtjobs.com. After you’ve distilled your resume to 140 characters, TwtJobs creates a unique page you can forward to employers. It includes your Twitter and LinkedIn profiles, a picture and a link to your blog or website. Here’s one I created as an example: twtjobs.com/09klcn.

• Employers read your Twitter profile so why not read theirs? Learn about who posted the job, check out their website, scan through their tweets and use that intelligence to personalize your application. A quick Twitter search may turn up other employees as well as valuable insights on how customers talk about that company.

• Knowing who to follow on Twitter is essential. I follow experts that regularly talk about how to improve every aspect of my career. I’ve done most of the leg work to get you started by publishing the top 100 must-follow career mavens on Twitter. @TheCareer100 is comprised of select employers, executives, recruiters, bloggers, resume writers and outplacement firms. I suggest you follow all 100.

• Further leverage your LinkedIn connections by importing them to Twitter. It’s a two or three step process: first export your contacts from LinkedIn to your desktop; then import that file to your Gmail, Yahoo or AOL account (start an account if you don’t have one); finally import those contacts into your Twitter account. Only a select few will be on Twitter, but they’ll likely be exceptional networkers.

Ready or not, real time job search powered by Twitter is here. With that said, Twitter probably should not be the central focus of your search. I recommend it as a supplement to your other activities with an emphasis on finding some precious nuggets of information to give your application an edge.

Had any good or bad job search experiences on Twitter? Share them below as comments so we can all benefit from your experiences.

Related posts:

1. 3 Ways to Get Your Vanilla Networking Emails to Go Viral I get mass emails from my professional network all...
2. 9 Tips to Get Executives Started on Twitter If you’re like me, you’re weary of joining yet...
3. 3 Ways to Get More Out of LinkedIn Groups A few weeks ago I started a LinkedIn group...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.