I talk a lot about business and entrepreneurship, but sometimes you just need a job. And finding a good one in a “layoff economy” is not always an easy thing. You need strategies that work and you need them now.

To start, you want to keep some essential facts about job hunting and the hiring process in mind:

• 90% of jobs are not advertised. This is huge, and it means newspaper classifieds, Craigslist, and the big career websites are only telling you about 10% of the jobs out there.
• There are 3 gateways to get through. The first is getting your resume looked at, the second is getting an interview, and the third is getting hired. You have to get through all 3 gateways to get the job.
• Companies want solutions to problems. A lot of times, a company will advertise a position but end up not hiring. They end up finding another solution because they don’t just want a warm body; they want a solution to a specific problem.

Just understanding these key points is critical to your job hunting strategy. It tells you where to look for a job, and how to present yourself for maximum results. So put these 5 strategies to work and let me know how your job hunt goes …

1. Get on Top of Your World

Communication has 3 components; body language, voice tonality, and the words you use. Your state of mind affects all these things either positively or negatively, so before you even write your resume or start your job search you need to be in the best frame of mind you can be.

This means sweeping away stress and anxiety, and boosting your confidence, level of happiness, and your go-get-em attitude. Here’s a few ideas to help you pump yourself up:

• Get active. Run, walk, bike, dance, pump some iron … anything to get your blood pumping and the “runner’s high” working in your favor.
• Get procreative. Put together a romantic evening with your significant other and make it a night to remember. Guaranteed to make you forget everything else.
• Have a play-day. Take the family out or go out with friends and just have a blast doing something new and fun.
• Do something selfless. Help someone out and expect nothing in return.
• Look good to feel good. Get a haircut or go to the spa for the afternoon. Then, buy a few new clothes to help you look your best.

2. Walk the Road Less Travelled

We know that only 10% of the jobs out there are ever advertised. We also know that 90% of the people out there are competing for those jobs; these odds are not in your favor. And getting a direct referral from someone pushes you right past gate one (getting your resume read) to gate two (the interview). It can even push you right into gate three (getting hired).

This means network, network, network and it’s how the best jobs are always found:

• Talk to your friends and family. Hit every party and group gathering you can.
• Play catch-up with former employers and colleagues.
• Attend conferences and events related to your field.
• Check out community job fairs.
• Talk to people everywhere; the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. Just connect, make conversation, and look for opportunities.
• Research companies you’re interested in and start cold-calling them. Ask for the HR person, turn on the charm, and talk to them about any positions they’re hiring for.

3. It’s Not a Cover Letter, It’s a Sales Pitch

The best cover letters I’ve ever seen come from marketing people. They know how to sell it, and no matter what kind of job you’re applying for, you need to sell yourself with your cover letter.

Remember, companies are looking for a solution to a problem. And many times, if they don’t see the solution in any of the resumes they get, they just put off hiring someone. No interviews, nothing. Your cover letter needs to convey that you’re the solution to their problem.

1. Figure out the “real” problem the company needs to solve. They might need specific expertise or experience. They might need better efficiency or higher quality. If you know the job you’re applying for well, you already understand the common pitfalls and challenges that companies are dealing with.
2. Highlight yourself as the solution. With a few brief bullet points, talk about what you can bring to the job that will solve their problem. Don’t be arrogant or wishy-washy; be confident, factual, and positive. And describe the real benefits that hiring you brings.
3. You’re talking about what you can do, not what you’ve done. Unless you’re name-dropping, simply refer the employer to your resume for more detail on your experience, education, and accomplishments.
4. Close your cover letter by asking for an interview to discuss the position, restating your contact number and email address.

4. Your Resume is You

If you can’t get an interview through a direct referral, your resume has to introduce you to the employer. And you’ve got some more sales pitching to do. While your cover letter is selling the benefits of hiring you, your resume is selling the features you come with; education, experience, and key accomplishments.

Putting a resume together is pretty straight forward because it’s simply a record of what you’ve done. But keep these points in mind:

• Keep it neat and easily scannable/readable whether it’s being read onscreen or printed out. Also, stay away from crazy fonts or anything that’s distracting from the content.
• Fill any holes or “lost time” in your history. If you have to do this, rather than stating this year to that year, state the number of years you were employed at each company.
• Fit in with the company’s business culture. For example, a non-union company won’t be impressed if you flaunt your union credentials. It scares them. And the opposite can also be true.
• Tailor your descriptions of duties, accomplishments, and skills to the job you’re applying for. You want to talk about the things you’ve done that are most relevant to what you will be doing.
• Use your references up front if it will help. Generally, it’s good practice to finish your resume with “references available upon request”. But, if there’s a chance a little name dropping will help you make a connection, include your references page as well.

5. Kick-Ass Interviewing

If you’ve gotten to the point of getting an interview, you’re more than half way there. And even if you’re up against other applicants who are better qualified on paper, the interview is about much more than that. It’s about you. It’s about what you can bring to the job. And it’s about making the employer believe in you.

• Sell yourself first. Law 14 of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership teaches us that people have to buy into you before they buy into your ideas. An interview is that kind of feeling-out process. It’s not all business; you have to get to know each other with a little casual conversation too. Be likeable and real. Just leave your funny bone at home; some people don’t like funny.
• Be interested. Look for things you know about when you go in. These might be customers or suppliers you’ve dealt with before, equipment you’ve operated, or a process you have experience with. Ask questions and relate your own helpful and positive experiences to those things. A little “shop talk” goes a long way.
• Be confident. Anything you don’t know that’s part of the job is something you can learn. Anything about the job that doesn’t appeal to you is something you can change later or adapt to. Fear itself is always the only thing you need to fear. If you need a boost before the interview, hit strategy #1 quickly and go in there while you’re on top of the world.

So there you go. A job search is basically marketing. I think you can see that understanding what an employer needs will help you immensely. Looking in places where jobs are best found will also help you immensely. And being at your best throughout the whole process will help you … let’s hear it … immensely.

Now go get ‘em.

© Zoomstart, 2008. | 5 Great Job Hunting Strategies that Will Get You Hired

Go to the Zoom Tools Page to get free ebooks and other cool stuff

For a lot of people right now, the economy sucks. But for some, it’s a time of great opportunity. And which side of that fence you’re on depends a lot on how you understand the fundamentals.

Let’s get all metaphoric and try to sort it out …

The Lion vs. The Gazelle

So we take a lion and a gazelle and put them in a big fenced-in park. And we wait. One of two things will happen … either the lion eats the gazelle or the lion starves to death.

Those are the ONLY two options. That’s the brutal truth, and at the end of the day that’s just a fundamental truth of economics. Someone always wins and someone else always loses. The lion and gazelle can not live in harmony and go skipping off into the sunset together. This is survival.

But what if we tweak the rules of the game?

Well, we can give the lion an advantage by making sure there’s lots of tall grass to sneak around in. But that’s unfair to the gazelle, so to help level the playing field, we’ll paint the lion red. But maybe that’s too much in favour of the gazelle, so let’s make a rule that says the wind only blows in one direction. That way the wind can’t suddenly turn and give away the lion’s position when it’s sneaking up through the grass.

And you know what … we can make rule after rule after rule to try and level the playing field in order to make it as equal as possible. And all that does is make the game last longer.

There are still only two possible outcomes. Gazelle or lion. No matter what else happens. And knowing that is extremely powerful.

So how does this apply to you? Your investing, your business? Well it gives you two rules to live by:

1. Know your advantages and disadvantages. If you don’t understand the game, if you can’t find enough strategic advantages on the field, find another game to play.
2. Always live to play another day. If things start going bad; if the wind changes direction or you suddenly find yourself painted red … cut your losses and get out of the game.

Whether you see the economy as good or bad, it’s still all about how you CHOOSE the games you play. Don’t waste your time blaming others for cheating or arguing about an unlevel playing field. Get out of the games you can’t win and find the ones you can.

Because there’s always a sweet scent in the winds of change.

And it just might be your dinner.

© Zoomstart, 2008. | The Economy Sucks … Or Does It?

Go to the Zoom Tools Page to get free ebooks and other cool stuff

Most people think about trading as simply buying a stock and profiting when the stock goes up. Well, it’s time to change your thinking because that’s only half the game. That’s only 4 1/2 innings of a 9 inning game.

You ever play half a game and win it?

The First Reason to Short Sell

Stocks, property, commodities … toothbrushes; when you add up everything of intrinsic value in the world, at the end of the year it’s worth about 3 to 4% more than it was exactly a year ago.

That’s right, it’s inflation. The net result of all the triumphant gains and all the catastrophic losses when you look at the big global picture is a measly 3 or 4%, otherwise known as the rate of inflation. So when you see companies on the stock market making gains of 10, 20, 50, 200%, it means something else, somewhere, somehow … has to go down.

Or else we’d all be paying $12 for a toothbrush.

So other than that 3 or 4%, half of everything that happens in the world of investing involves losses. Price drops. Devaluations. In short, the market goes down. It’s half of the entire game. Half.

With short selling (betting a stock will drop), you can play that other half.

The Second Reason to Short Sell

You ever get the chance to talk to someone really successful? And all you want from them are those 7 magic steps that will allow you to do what they do with the same great success. And they talk about everything EXCEPT how they do what they do.

And it sucks. You think they’re just not willing to give you the “secret recipe”. Well there’s actually a lot of value in what they have to say, no matter what it is. Because it’s all part of their mindset. And those magic steps to success that they have; they come from that mindset.

And that’s what short selling gives you as an investor. It changes your thinking and gives you a fuller, more complete mindset…

• You’ll realize just how easy a great stock from a rock-solid company can go down the tubes.
• You’ll build a better understanding of fundamentals and hype, and how they make stocks go up AND go down.
• You’ll start to learn different hedging strategies that can mitigate your losses if a trade goes sour.

And of course, short selling means you’re never stuck playing just half the game. So grab your bat. You’re up.

© Zoomstart, 2008. | 2 Massive Reasons to Practice Short Selling Stocks

Go to the Zoom Tools Page to get free ebooks and other cool stuff

Thanks to the rising price of oil and the mortgage meltdown the stock market has been what the British would call “dodgy”. There’s a lack of confidence in the ability for companies to perform and earn, and that’s driving the markets down.

But it’s not all bad news. Bear markets can bring good investing opportunities and there are numerous strategies you can employ to minimize the erosion of your portfolio and even make some money …

1. Don’t invest. A lot of investment funds are holding a larger than normal cash position right now. This is simple cash preservation and the idea is to wait out the bear; when the markets are going up, it’s because stocks in general are going up, and your chances of picking the winners are much better.

2. Go short. Shorting a stock is betting the stock will go down. You can place your bet by buying put options which is the option to sell a stock at a price in the future that you think will be higher than it will cost to buy. You can aso write call options. By writing a call, you’re giving someone else an opportunity to buy your stocks at a specific price and if the stock goes lower, the option is useless and you keep the premium (the price of the option) when it expires.

3. Finding the winners. There’s always smart money somewhere. After the dot com crash, massive amounts of capital went into property (and fueled that bubble). You want to look for those opportunities rather than focusing on the negatives; oil has been on the rise. And with it, alternative energy plays like solar have held fairly strong. Look for companies that are solving the current problems.

4. Go bargain hunting. This is probably one of the best strategies you can employ in a bear market. After all, it’s all about buying low and selling high. Companies that are holding strong against the bear or companies with low price/earnings ratios that are primed to bounce back can usually be bought at a decent discount. Also, stocks that are down while the company is still earning well and paying a good dividend can be a great investment.

There are risks to all these strategies, just as there are risks in a bull market. But using bear market strategies in a bear market is one of the keys to investing success.

And that’s no bull.

© Zoomstart, 2008. | 4 Ways to Invest in a Bear Market

Go to the Zoom Tools Page to get free ebooks and other cool stuff

There’s been a lot of chatter about Facebook going public. A lot of people don’t think it’s possible. And I tend to agree … or at least, I used to.

Social media sites like MySpace and YouTube usually end up getting purchased by bigger companies for one simple reason: they can’t financially stand on their own. It’s really difficult for a social media site to earn big returns because users are there to do other things. They don’t click on ads.

Cracking the Web 2.0 Code

Someone’s going to do it. Sooner or later. And of course there are many much smaller websites that are profitable. Just not IPO worthy.

There are a few reasons I like Facebook as an IPO opportunity …

1. Branding. There are a lot of good IPOs but the truly great ones happen with established companies that everyone knows. Companies that have products or services that a lot of people use and depend on.

2. Creativity. More than most social sites, the Facebook team has been willing to try out different (and sometimes controversial) things. And if you want to cook up the omelette that is profitability, you have to crack a few eggs.

3. Focus. Companies the size of Facebook eventually either go public, get bought out, or dwindle into obscurity. Sure, Mark Zuckerberg always answers the “IPO question” by saying they’re focused on building the company with no plans to go public. That’s savvy politics and it’s the right focus to have right now.

Facebook’s Edge Over the Other Guys

I also see some really basic and fundamental advantages that Facebook has over other social media sites. Advantages that could lead it to profitablility and a successful IPO …

1. Partnership Leverage. Facebook apps has done two things; it’s allowed third parties to make a great deal of money with facebook which never hurts your popularity. But it’s also given Facebook more access to multimedia (like YouTube videos) dynamically – which translates into all the fun, without all the bandwidth costs. The Facebook API should bring more of the same, but put Facebook in the earnings seat.

2. Effective Dull Space. Your typical MySpace page looks like someone threw up on a Jackson Pollock painting. Making it difficult to make anything stand out. Facebook’s interface is much cleaner, even with all the wild apps that people run. This makes it a lot easier to present advertising and actually have people notice it.

The Patience to Get There

Amazing “can’t miss” IPOs don’t happen everyday. They come along once every year or two. And they offer significant investing opportunities … think Google, Mastercard, Visa.

There are a ton of great companies to invest in, but grabbing these young stocks of world class companies brings in strong and sure returns in the first few years. So I’m always patiently looking at the horizon for the next one.

And maybe. Just maybe, in 2009 or 2010, it’ll be Facebook.

© Zoomstart, 2008. | Facebook IPO Could be the Next Big Stock Opportunity

Go to the Zoom Tools Page to get free ebooks and other cool stuff

When it comes to picking stocks, or picking a winner in anything, everybody’s got a system. A magic calculation that can tell the future.

Well, here’s mine …

Above, you can see a historical stock graph and 3 spiral swirls. But not just any kind of spirals … golden spirals. The golden spiral is based on the golden ratio. Otherwise known as Phi.

Phi is a mathematical pattern that we see everywhere in nature, from the shape of seashells to the very structure of our galaxy. It’s everywhere. The Golden ratio which is 1 to 1.618 is often viewed as the measure of perfection. It’s amazingly aesthetically pleasing to the eye and it’s used in graphic design a lot (called the rule of thirds).

Phi is so ingrained into everything around us that many scientists believe it holds the key to unlocking the greatest prize that physics has to offer; the grand unified theory. I tend to agree.

What Stock is This?

The stock is one of my favorites; Visa. In my graph, the first two spirals track actual rises in the stock. The third spiral predicts the next rise and fall. I also keep a spreadsheet that tracks the weekly compound growth of both Visa and Mastercard and I’ve put the Visa numbers in the graph for additional reference.

Are You Serious?

[Dramatic pause] … Hell no.

First, let me say there are a number of REAL technical indicators including historical performance, investor sentiment, and corporate fundamentals that make these predicted numbers very possible.

But I’d never make a trade decision based on my pretty little spirals. Or anyone else’s. Here’s why …

There’s a fundamental PROBLEM with any system that tries to predict the future. And it’s called the Heisenberg Principle. Which basically states that if you make a prediction, and then act on that information, your actions will have an impact that changes the future. Thus, whatever you predicted won’t happen.

I’m talking about this because I see a lot of advertisements for amazing stock trading “systems” out there. Don’t get duped.

I’m sure some of them have some success here and there. But according to the laws of physics, the more people that use a successful “beat the market” system, the less chance it has of success. The more people that game a future prediction, the more impact there is that will void that prediction.

Of course, there’s always the theory of self-fulfilling phrophecy.

Now there’s a system.

© Zoomstart, 2008. | Phi, the Golden Ratio, and Predicting Stock Prices with Quantum Physics

Go to the Zoom Tools Page to get free ebooks and other cool stuff

The mechanics of successful investing is pretty simple. Buy low and sell high. The less simple part has to do with what to buy and when to buy it. In other words, selection and timing.

Stock selection and timing are really closely related. The key is recognizing both current value and potential value. If the current value is less than the potential future value, you’ve got a winner. And of course if the opposite is true you could still have a winner by shorting the stock (betting it will go down).

Finding Stock Opportunities

There are literally thousands upon thousands of stocks out there. So first, you need to find them, and find out a little about them …

1. Yahoo Finance. This is one of my favorite places to do stock research. It’s full of big breaking news on companies and general economic trends. Their stock quotes are 20 minutes delayed but they give you company profiles, key statistics, info on competitor companies, links to news and blog commentaries and quotes on options pricing. Yahoo Finance is a great place to start.

2. Online business news. Big media players like The Wall Street Journal and Forbes are great places to find out who’s being talked about and what’s being said. You can also check out Investor’s Business Daily, The Street, and The Motley Fool. I don’t subscribe to any of these sites because, to be honest, I don’t want to be sold on some amazing “golden opportunity”. That’s a good way to lose money. I want the public news. The big chatter. I want the hook, not the line and the sinker.

3. The boob tube. It’s also good to tune into the tube and watch the business reports on BNN (Canadian Business News), CNN, and MSNBC.

Determining Value and Potential

There are companies that lose money but their stocks perform very well. At least for a while. At the same time, there are companies with solid business models that nobody cares about. What’s the deal?

A company that actually produces a profit is going to offer you less risk. Especially in the long run. Plain and simple. But regardless of that, a stock’s rise is heavily based on confidence or market sentiment.

If a lot of people believe the company has great potential, up goes the stock. It’s demand for the stock and belief that it will continue to go up that pushes up the price. At the end of the day, nothing else matters nearly as much as confidence.

This is why I don’t like super-secret “tips”. I want a stock that everybody knows about. That everybody is talking about. A stock that everybody is buying which drives the price up.

If enough people believe, it will go up.

And if those beliefs are based on sound fundamentals, it’ll keep going up. If not, it’ll go down, and probably a lot quicker than it went up.

© Zoomstart, 2008. | How to Find Great Stocks to Invest In

Go to the Zoom Tools Page to get free ebooks and other cool stuff

If you park your money in the same place for 20 years, you can do well. But a lot of times you’ll just keep up with inflation. And sometimes, the only gains you make come from steadily pouring money into your parking spot over many years; it’s just a savings plan. Not an investment plan.

Great returns come from catching the waves. Good waves can last anywhere from 2 to 5 years. You hop on, ride high, and then hop off and look for the next one.

The dot com bubble was a nice wave. And over the last few years property has been a good wave. The real question though, is … where’s the next big wave?

Wave Spotting

The answer has 2 parts. First, the sectors or industries should be experiencing strong growth. And second, where individual companies are concerned, they should have strong growth potential.

And by strong growth potential I’m not asking myself “are they cool” or “are they in the hot industry of the moment”. The question I’m asking is “can they sell it”?

Big Wave Candidates

Here’s a list of strong sectors to keep your eye on and maybe get involved with. In each of them there are a whole host of companies.

I won’t list specific companies because you should do your own research. And no matter how hot an industry is, some companies will bring stellar performance and others will completely bomb.

1. Commodities

Have to mention it, just because the cost of everything (energy, grain, metals, etc) has been on the inflationary rise. Commodities are the raw materials for everything else. When they go up, the cost of everything goes up. And that’s the problem with commodities that I don’t like.

Not only do rising commodity prices have the power to hurt every other investment opportunity out there (costs rising faster than revenues), but they have the power to hurt their own earning potential too.

2. Alternative Energy

One good side-effect to the high cost of commodities (oil) is the strength in alternative energy sources. Solar is very strong (I resisted the temptation to say it’s hot). Wind is strong. Biodiesel.

It’s also worth looking at the technologies that make these energy alternatives easier, more efficient, and cheaper to produce.

3. Food Production

Companies that produce phosphates and potash (fertilizers) that aid in agricultural growth and food production have been very strong. This is, with regards to chemical pollution, a controversial industry. But given the alternative (trying to feed the world with lower crop yields), it’s got nowhere to go but up.

4. Financial Companies

Banks and investment corporations have been taking a bath thanks to their risky plays in the subprime mortgage market. And they’re still wet. But they’ve got 2 things going for them.

One, they’re down and that translates into “they’re cheap”. Two, finance is the cornerstone of every other business and investment vehicle. They don’t just make money, they are money. In the second half of 2008, we’ll really start to see who the comeback kids in the financial sector are.

So those are a few hot sectors. There are others, and of these I’m more bullish on alternative energy and finance because I can wrap my head around them easier than the others. Which is an important point in itself …

If you don’t understand how they make money, gravitate towards something you have a better understanding of. It’ll help you sort the winners from the losers a lot easier.

Post your wave faves for 08 and beyond in the comments.

© Zoomstart, 2008. | The Next Big Investment Wave

Go to the Zoom Tools Page to get free ebooks and other cool stuff

I get a fair amount of traffic to my post on Visa Stock. And it’s clear by the search terms that a lot of people are wondering ‘Should I buy Visa’?

If you got in on the IPO at $44, you’re a pretty happy camper. Even if you got in on opening day at around $60 it’s still a pretty sweet deal. But what about now? As the price continues to rise?

Hindsight is Not 20/20

You know how people buy lottery tickets and they’re just one number out from winning a couple grand. “Ohhh, I had 42 instead of 43″.

Well, you could have had 10 or 7 or 22 and you’re just as far away from 43 as you are with the number 42. A different ball came down the chute. Period.

What hindsight does is give us history. It gives us experience. And that’s the true value of it. It can’t tell us the future, but it can lead us in the right direction the next time a great opportunity comes along.

Yeah, Yeah … So What About Visa?!

Visa is a long term hold (1 to 5 years). It could experience rocket growth, or it could experience very conservative growth. I can’t tell the future. No one can.

But we can learn from history. Huge ROI, limited-risk opportunities do not come everyday. You have to be ready to jump on them when they come along. So I’d say Visa is a great place to park some cash if you’re getting in now.

And then, watch, wait, and listen. When another killer opportunity comes along, you can cash out a few lots of V or whatever and jump on it.

Always watch what’s coming down the chute.

Your ball 43 is in there somewhere.

© Zoomstart, 2008. | Is Visa Stock Still Worth Buying?

Go to the Zoom Tools Page to get free ebooks and other cool stuff

Always remember: Smart people make money when times are good. Rich people make money when times are bad.

It’s pretty much all people have been talking about; Bear Stearns, the fifth largest investment bank in the U.S., whose stock was up at $160 last year, got blown out in a firesale deal to JP Morgan for $2 a share.

Playing the Patience Game

A lot of people that get into trading stocks jump in, buy a bunch of stocks, and then sit and watch the ticker hoping for the best. Or, they get into the game because they’re girlfriends’ second cousin’s husband is a trader and gave them a (not so) hot tip.

The smart way to play is to follow some basic “market truths” and exercise the patience you need to jump on the smart opportunities. Here’s a quick list of what to look for:

• Extreme devaluations on bad news
• Small caps than can leverage big gains (percentage wise) on good news
• Kick-butt IPOs
• Buy while people are selling and the price is dropping
• Sell while people are still buying, and this is important; before the price peaks because you can’t predict exactly when that will be

So, while everyone was reeling from the talk of a financial system meltdown, my buddy Tom (Trader Tom), jumped on Bear Stearns yesterday like a fat kid on a smartie at $4. This morning, he jumped out at $6 and made a quick 50% on his money. Not bad for a days work.

He could have done better ($8), but greed will kill you in this game. If you’re patient and conservative you will more often than not, make money.

And the best part … he’s buying lunch.

© Zoomstart, 2008. | Trader Tom … Quick 50 on Bear Stearns Stock

Go to the Zoom Tools Page to get free ebooks and other cool stuff