053: Tips to Advocate for Yourself and Advance Your Career

03/09/22 • 29 min

Have you thought about creating your own personal brand? How about creating your own elevator pitch to help open the conversation? We have all been on those Zoom calls, waiting for the meeting to get started and making small talk. This is the perfect time to introduce yourself and make an impression. In today’s episode, I’m talking to Maisha Hagan who gives us a few pointers about turning that small talk into a little question with a big answer.

You may feel uncomfortable talking about yourself at meetings, conferences, or on Zoom calls but there is no better person to advocate for you and your skills. Maisha has some tips on how to achieve that self-advocacy whether you are an introvert or extrovert. You may want to listen in before you step on that plane for the next conference.

Here are some highlights:

Maisha’s career path. 1:34
Why are we so afraid to advocate and promote for ourselves? 3:44
Advocating for ourselves as women. 6:31
Create your personal elevator pitch. 8:07
How can we use the leadership skills we developed at our firms, to help our own personal careers? 11:14
What are some methods of self-promotion we can begin using today that help us reach our next career goal? 19:45
#1 piece of advice for marketers new to the industry. 24:12

Links Mentioned in this Episode:

Read more about Maisha on the show notes page - https://www.marketerstakeflight.com/53
Purchase your Pocket Coach - https://www.bosslady.coach/store/p8/Pocket-coach-card-deck.html
Connect on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/maishahagan/
Schedule a Discovery Call - https://www.bosslady.coach/

Want more AEC marketing goodness?

New to proposals? Download my FREE “RFPs for Beginners – The Ultimate Proposal Management Checklist.”
Stop planning, start creating with my FREE “Ultimate AEC Content Marketing Starter Kit.”
Follow Lindsay on LinkedIn and Instagram.
Collaborate with other AEC Marketers in our Facebook Group.
Purchase bite-sized, on-demand templates and training at the Marketers Place.
Enroll in online training: The Proposal Pro or Content Marketing Clarity.

Here are some highlights:

Maisha’s career path. 1:34
Why are we so afraid to advocate and promote for ourselves? 3:44
Advocating for ourselves as women. 6:31
Create your personal elevator pitch. 8:07
How can we use the leadership skills we developed at our firms, to help our own personal careers? 11:14
What are some methods of self-promotion we can begin using today that help us reach our next career goal? 19:45
#1 piece of advice for marketers new to the industry. 24:12

Links Mentioned in this Episode:

Read more about Maisha on the show notes page - https://www.marketerstakeflight.com/53
Purchase your Pocket Coach - https://www.bosslady.coach/store/p8/Pocket-coach-card-deck.html
Connect on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/maishahagan/
Schedule a Discovery Call - https://www.bosslady.coach/

Want more AEC marketing goodness?

New to proposals? Download my FREE “RFPs for Beginners – The Ultimate Proposal Management Checklist.”
Stop planning, start creating with my FREE “Ultimate AEC Content Marketing Starter Kit.”
Follow Lindsay on LinkedIn and Instagram.
Collaborate with other AEC Marketers in our Facebook Group.
Purchase bite-sized, on-demand templates and training at the Marketers Place.
Enroll in online training: The Proposal Pro or Content Marketing Clarity.

Previous Episode

052: How to Find Projects for Your AEC Firm

One of the common questions I get from AEC marketing professionals is how to find RFPs (or potential projects) before the RFP is advertised. We hear repeatedly that we must do our capture planning and firm positioning before the project is advertised. What is not discussed enough is how to find out about the projects before they get advertised.

And, since I have recently presented on this topic twice to different organizations, I thought it would resonate with you, my podcast listeners.

So, in this podcast episode, I share a high-level introduction to market research for AEC firms. I cover how to develop a market research strategy, what type of intelligence to gather when conducting your research, who to talk to, what to ask, and places to look for project information. I share my follow-the-money (and demand) strategy, along with a real-life example from my previous firm. And, stay with me until the end of the episode to get a research template freebie.

Here are some episode highlights:

How to develop your strategy including your markets and clients
What is intelligence gathering
Who to gather intelligence from
How to use RFP subscription services like IMS or Onvia as part of your market research
How to follow the money (and demand)
Market research tools
Intelligence gathering freebie

Don’t forget to turn that insight into action. Comment over on the show notes page at marketerstakeflight.com/52 if you found out about a project other than one of the ways I listed above. I would love to hear other ideas. And you would be helping others by sharing your knowledge.

Don’t forget to hit that subscribe button so you don’t miss the next episode. And, if you liked what you heard today, please share it with your marketing friends. I am a firm believer that as our individual skills improve, the entire AEC industry grows.

Want more AEC marketing goodness?

New to proposals? Download my FREE “RFPs for Beginners – The Ultimate Proposal Management Checklist.”
Stop planning, start creating with my FREE “Ultimate AEC Content Marketing Starter Kit.”
Follow Lindsay on LinkedIn and Instagram.
Collaborate with other AEC Marketers in our Facebook Group.
Purchase bite-sized, on-demand templates and training at the Marketers Place.
Enroll in online training: The Proposal Pro or Content Marketing Clarity.

Next Episode

054: A Better Approach to Go/No Go Decision-Making

Deciding whether an AEC firm should pursue a project or not, can turn into heated debates and result in hurt feelings. Some AEC firms have a pretty stringent go/no go process, that quite frankly can be manipulated. Other firms have some sort of evaluation. Many don’t have any go/no go consideration at all. They just go after all RFPs.

That’s probably why you want to listen to this episode. Maybe your firm doesn’t have a go/no-go decision-making process but wants to start one. OR you do have one, sort of, but everyone just ignores it. Either way, you want to help your firm make better decisions when it comes to what projects to pursue so you will have time to properly position, time to create beautiful and compelling proposals, and frankly, just have a life outside of work.

Even if you’re not the person making the ultimate decision, I want you to know that you can lead and facilitate this go/no go decision-making process for your firm.

In this episode, I share why I think it’s so hard for AEC Firms to make these decisions or stick to a process, what the REAL purpose of a go/no go decision should be, and walk you through an example of go/no go evaluation process you can implement at your firm. Stay to the end to learn how to get example go/no go evaluation questions.

Here are a few episode highlights:

Why it’s so hard to make timely go/no go decisions
Purpose of a meaningful go/no go decision
Reasons to do evaluate every project to pursue
Best practices for a go/no go evaluation process
Coming to a consensus that minimizes frustration and hurt feelings
Decision-making criteria
Sample go/no-go decision-making questions

And if you need even more inspiration to help you develop your go/no go decision-making, I have put together a list of 32 questions. I have personally used most of these in the past. Others I have gathered through research and collected from other marketers. Get your copy over on the show notes page at marketerstakeflight.com/54. Feel free to use and adapt for your firm as needed.

In the end, I think everyone wants what is best for the firm and its success. Making better go/no go decisions, especially those that are a result of a consensus, allows you and your firm more time to focus on proposals that have the greatest chance of winning and more time to produce higher quality proposals.

Want more AEC marketing goodness?