Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Anti-Recessionist

Of course this one of the most hyped recession in the world history. It has engulfed more people, more countries and more media attention then ever before. I have somehow developed an antipathy towards recession together with its cause and effect. And today I saw this anti-recessionist approach of Times of India, I felt, this is certainly the way to go. I feel like, its been over-hyped. Instead of worrying about it I’d rather do these:

Wills

1.Update my resume: That means I ‘ll understand where I stand with my skills and strengths. 
2.Cost & Earning analysis: How much does Recession affect me today?  
3.Strengthen my position at day-job: Look for new opportunities, be a perfectionist
4.Prepare for alternate job, just in case: create a brand for myself
5.Analyse my finances, so that I am sure of what to expect: List precisely my savings, income sources and their reliablity
6.Revive my network: You feel safer while falling when there is a safety Net(work) 
7.Spread the word: Advocate Anti-Recessionism so that we come out of the recession sooner. Talking positive and spreading positive news will certainly help. 

Won’ts


1.Wont Worry!
2.Won’t stop spending
3.Won’t spread rumors : If I spread rumors/recession jokes it affects me. 
4.Won’t sell out my equity investments

I am an anti-recessionist. Are you ?

Posted by Ujjwal Trivedi at 18:04:31 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Monday, November 17, 2008

More than moving cheese

Change management is much more than watching the cheese getting moved. Of course being alert is one way of adapting to change, but is more relevant for changes that are sudden and uncalled for. But, there are changes that are intentional, self initiated or known. Something like change of job, institution, town(city/country). Such a change also needs to be managed, and if possible, leveraged. 

Situation
Change usually brings you to new and strange place, with new people, new work. Human brain has this habit to train itself with a routine and create a comfort zone. Something like a larva builds a cocoon around itself. When put in a new situation, its like breaking the sheath, and leaving you all by yourself. It exposes you unguard. First the brain tries to cling to the past, search for the cocooon. This resists you to embrace the new environment quickly. Also, change makes you feel insecure, uncomfortable and vulnerable (sensitive). Things that didnt use to bother you, may suddenly strike hard. And then this unusual botheration may bother you even more. You may also react rather strongly to routine situations.
 
Managing Change
The first step is to accept that things are changed and that you have to start afresh. Accept that you may become sensitive and it would take some time to build your comfort cocoon again. Analyse the situation. Do a SWOT analysis. A large part of your insecurity is from fear of unknown. When you identify your threats, this knowledge will give you confidence. When you identify opportunities it gives you a positive attitude to fight and realize your goals. 

Levaraging change
You can actually leverage a change. Change gives you a wonderful opportunity to change yourself. There always are things that you wanted to implement in your life/routine/peronality/public image etc. Again a little analysis will reveal your current needs and since you are in an absolutely new environ, you can start establishing yourself from the scratch. Soon you will find a newer self.

Have a happy and prosperous change :)   
Posted by Ujjwal Trivedi at 18:13:18 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Installing SVN on Windows

SVN or Subversion is a free version control system just like CVS. I had difficult time installing SVN server on Windows. This is what I learnt the hard way. 

  1. Download the latest version from http://www.collab.net/downloads/subversion/
  2. Run the installer exe.  
  3. Keep Repository path as the folder where you actually want to create a repository. Copy this path for reference.   
  4.  Keep Install svnserver to run as windows service checked. Hit Next. 
  5.  If you are on a local network keep host name as ‘localhost’.   
  6.  Keep host port as 81 so that it does not interfere with IIS or other webservers running on your server. 
  7.  Again give the same repository path. Keep other settings untouched. Hit Next. 
  8.  Keep hitting next until Finish.    
  Now that your SVN is installed you need to create a repository.

 Follow these instructions to create the repository from command line. This repository should be available for local usage. You can test this using Tortoise SVN Client. But you would certainly want to share it over the network. The best way is to run svnserve as a windows service. Type “services.msc” in Run and look for Subversion server. Select it and Start/Restart it.

 Now install tortoise SVN Client on other machine in the network and try checking out the repository from there using URL of repository as “svn://<IPAddress of Server>/”. Your SVN server and repository is ready.   


Posted by Ujjwal Trivedi at 19:05:19 | Permalink | No Comments »

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Creating a Brand of yourself (part 3)

Who knows your worth? 
[Even for Non-Creative people] 
[Contd. from part 2]
Now that you know that you have to come up with a weblog or e-profile, lets see how you can actually create a brand for yourself through it. 

Dazzle the web: Upload your writings/ articles/ photographs/ scetches/ paintings/ commentories/ experiences/ complaints/ answers on the web. If you wannna share your original things you can create your own blog/website and upload everything there. If you are the “other” type, still keep a blog, where you can upload your portfolio/bio/resume and contact details, So that when you comment or answer at some place, people can trace back and know about you. After all thats what you want, right? 

Create a network: If you dont already have it, You should create a social/professional network with your aquaintances, friends, colleagues. Its common sense to focus on more and more people who will be interested in your work. Though keeping just everyone might not hurt. LinkedIn/Orkut/Facebook are good for finding your aquaintances and connect with them. Through LinkedIn you can also expose your portfolio to google searches, and that will help a lot in long run. 

Nurture the network: To use a network you should be an active member. Keep commenting on people’s work, keep raising relevant questions, and keep answering the queries others have raised. Its also good to simply drop in sometimes and say “hi” so that your relations remain fresh. 

Market your weblog: Shameless self promotion is exactly what you need to do to popularize your weblog. As Katy Whitten has clearly stated that “If you build, they ll come” mentality dosnt work. Even the president of US had to self promote himself and ask for $10 donations from college goers. So dont feel embarrassed to put your blog to lime light wherever you can. Introduce it to your network. Keep a link on your profiles, v-cards, email-signatures just about everywhere. Tell new people about it. Ask them for their reviews. Whatever you do at this step, will only help you bring some interested people once. Its only the contents that will make them visit next time. Tony Hung has some extremely good pointers on how to keep your blog marketeable. And Lee Odden list some 30 points to market your blog in a big way. They have discussed in detail about all the weapons you ll need to market your weblog.   

Get your stuff googlable: Its very important to have your stuff easier to find on search engines. Though number of page hits will obviously improve your page ranks, its still important to have your weblog SEOed (read search engine friendly). Katy again some good pointers for it.   

Comment! Commment! Comment! : Visit other weblogs of your competitors (may be in other Areas), potential clients, arbit and comment on their posts. Its a nice way to catch attention of competitors and other readers. Also have people comment on your weblog, people love to read the articles that have a lot of positive comments. Also, the number of comments establishes your credibility and popularity instantly for a new reader. 

Have patience: 2000 people took 20 years to build Taj. It takes time to build on every masterpiece. Dont expect instant results. 

Now how does the CASH flow in? 

Though Seth says that it might not be a good idea to earn from what you love to do. I’d still maintain that marketing your weblog can help you in lot many ways to create your brand which will eventually help you earn, if thats your motive. Here is how…
 
More assignments: for the “work that you love to do”.
Lucrative Job offers: If you can establish your expertise, you can play on your terms. 
Consultancy fees: Selling your ideas and getting paid for it. 
Advertisements: - AdSense 
Direct Sales: if you have products or services that you can sell. 

Keep adding more to the list… I think I should keep some for myself ;=)
Posted by Ujjwal Trivedi at 18:14:46 | Permalink | Comments (2)