Everyone is skilled at something and I believe that is our biggest weakness. People (that means you and me) have a tendency to trend towards a comfort zone, towards the things that are familiar and that we feel we can succeed at.

To develop ourselves personally, in our careers, and even to enhance those skills we are good at we have to get out of the box and stay outside of it for a sustained period of time.

If we’re “good” we can see those skills that are important but lacking. If we’re “great” we will stay focused on developing those skills and not be tempted back to the norm, back to the path of least resistance. The danger to our development is that we trick ourselves into thinking we really are stretching our abilities and facing down things we are not comfortable with.

If you work the most important general skill you can acquire and develop is marketing. Whether you’re a grunt in the trenches or a CEO leading the way, knowing how to market is going to be your biggest asset.

When do you market:

1. You market your self to your employers when you’re looking for a job.
2. You market your offering to your customers when you’re trying to sell a product or service.
3. You market your leadership to your employees when you’re trying to build teamwork and sell a vision.
4. You market your personal attributes to your co-workers when you’re trying to build consensus.
5. You market your productivity to your boss when you’re looking for a raise or increased responsibility.
6. You market your business to your investors or bank when you’re raising money.

When you market you need to know who you’re talking to, what they want and need, and how to communicate that you’ve got the goods. This analysis is the driver of all your business.

If you’re searching for a job in software development you need to pick up your game. There is an abundance of talent out there but fewer jobs today. Until that equation changes, you need to be more competitive with your job responses.

I’ve received the largest batch of resume’s from a craigslist as as I ever have in December 2009 99% of applicants haven’t changed their stripes. Here’s the advice:

1. If you’re out of town, specify whether you’re willing to re-locate or work remotely. Unless you’re exceptional I’m not going to contact you to find out.
2. Read the job posting and respond relevantly. I have a boutique shop that does cool things and a job posting that’s asking for some unique qualities. That means, don’t respond with a standard copy/paste letter or with no email body at all.
3. Along those lines, tell me why you’re a good candidate for the job. I spent time being detailed about the position, spend some time and tell me why you’ll fit. Don’t make me figure it out by deciphering your resume.
4. I get over 100 responses to each job posting. Ask yourself if you’re really going to stand out.
5. Give me your phone number and address, not just an email.
6. I don’t care about your GPA unless you list it as low. Maybe others do. Leave the GPA off, include the year of graduation. If there’s no GPA, I don’t care to know it. If you list a 2.2 GPA, I’m going to notice.
7. I expect everyone is embellishing to a degree, make yourself sound awesome because I’m probably going to assume you’re not as good as you say (unless you say it *really* well)

All that said, it’s a hard market out there and I wish everyone good luck with the job hunt. We’re not at 12% unemployment because it’s easy!

Hi everyone! My brother, Adam Lowe, founded a Mac blog at http://mac.lowetechlabs.com. He has invited me to publish some of my thoughts, writings, and videos on Mac related items from my Windows perspective. Adam lent me a MacBook several months ago, about six weeks ago I purchased a new MacBook for myself.

Check out the blog, it’s got some great stuff. I’ve published a first video in an infinite part series on How to make the Mac not suck for power users and I’ll continue to produce video and blog posts.

Also, if you are a Mac enthusiast and want to share tips and technology, contact Adam, he’s looking for more authors!

This isn’t a new site, but it’s something that every entrepreneur and wannabe entrepreneur should read. The advice is great, the writing is fun, and while it’s may not answer 100% of your questions, it will answer a lot of them.

http://venturehacks.com/term-sheet-hacks