Establishing and Maintaining Your Professional Reputation

As seasoned entrepreneurs, we realize that without a positive professional reputation we aren’t going to get very far. For any new entrepreneur, establishing an excellent reputation is not something that is achieved overnight. It is the product of consistently good behavior, over time, and it is earned. Whether you realize it or not, you started to lay the groundwork for your professional reputation the day you began your very first job. You began to build that reputation through your actions. A good reputation is important no matter what kind of business you have or are working toward. What people think about you is frequently based on what they have heard even before they have met you!

Opportunities can come as a result of establishing and maintaining a good reputation. Your good reputation can help you to receive a recommendation for new customers/clients, a job you want, or an introduction to other professionals who can help advance your career and bring you new business. The bottom line is that people want to help and be associated with those who have good reputations.

However, one major mistake can significantly damage your reputation, leading to missed opportunities and making it difficult to restore other people’s confidence in you. Why am I writing about something that seems so obvious? Because I have seen how basically decent people can suffer after making some poor, often uncharacteristic decisions. These mistakes are damaging. It takes a significant amount of time to rebuild relationships and repair a damaged reputation. Being cognizant of the potential mistakes and attempting to avoid them is well worth the effort, versus wasted time on damage control.

Each and every person that you interact with, online or IRL, is an opportunity to enhance your professional reputation. Ensure that your interactions with people online and IRL are professional and responsible. You’ll be remembered based upon those interactions. For those just starting out, the connections you make now, if they are positive, can go a long way towards building your business and last throughout your career.

To avoid reputation-damaging actions, here are a few pitfalls to pay attention to:

BE CONSCIENTIOUS ABOUT YOUR ONLINE ACTIVITIESYou need to be diligent about maintaining your Internet profiles and online presence. We all have diverse backgrounds, opinions and actions will differ, misunderstandings will happen, and debates will occur. I have seen discussions, particularly those in online forums; go awry when people are passionate about a topic. I’ve also seen actions online that would insure that I would never associate with certain people. As a businesswoman, your best bet is to steer clear of those situations; you never know who is lurking online. Even though they may never post a message, important contacts could be forming impressions about you as a result of your actions and posts.

Do your online profiles and actions convey what you want customers or clients to know about you? Search for information about yourself on Google. Take a look at what is posted and ask yourself, "Would I want a customer or client to see this?" Remember that every piece of information that you post or that someone posts about you on the Internet can last in cyber-space forever and customers/clients are checking up on you online! Invest in setting your social networking profiles to private!

HONOR YOUR OBLIGATIONS AND BALANCE THEM

Over-promising, overextending, overestimating and overdoing do not allow you to show your best to others. Live a balanced life, take care of yourself, and develop a positive professional identity. Carefully selecting your activities and opportunities is one of the most important skills to master. Saying "no" and respectfully declining enticing opportunities will serve you much better than taking on a project only to end up quitting and letting people down once you are involved.

BE GENUINE, TRUSTWORTHY AND LOYAL

Genuine people are credible. Credibility breeds trust. And trustworthy people are loyal. A credible person is an expert due to her experience, qualifications, intelligence and skill set. Someone who is trustworthy is honest, fair, unselfish and caring. Loyal people are valued because they are faithful to a cause, ideal, custom or institution. The possession of these characteristics will enhance your reputation, while exclusions of the same are observed and damaging.

GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE

Allowing others to shine when they’ve given you a helping-hand enhances your integrity. After all, nobody is successful without the assistance of others. It is important to acknowledge those who have had a part in your development and achievements. Reputable professionals understand that they never lose credit when they share the fame of their accomplishments with those who have helped them along the way.

In the end, a solid reputation cannot save you from your worst mistakes, but it can buy you understanding and time to respond so that others know that your mistake was out of the ordinary.

Is self-employment right for you?

DEFINITION OF SELF-EMPLOYMENT: An individual who operates a business or profession as a sole proprietor, partner in a partnership, independent contractor, or consultant.

Many people dream of working for themselves, believing that this is the answer to solving a multitude of employment related problems. But, how many people are cognizant of the true advantages and disadvantages that come along with self-employment? Of course, it seems like there are a lot of benefits to being self-employed–no boss to report to, you can set your own hours, the credit for your hard work belongs to you and so does all of the money that you earn.

Let’s take a further look at the advantages of self-employment.

1. Capacity to set your own hours so the rush hour traffic commutes may not be a part of your life anymore.
2. Freedom to take vacation time or sick time.
3. No boss or supervisor to answer to. You get to set the rules.
4. Freedom to create your own work environment.
5. You choose the projects to work on.
6. Ability to directly determine the value of your own work.
7. As a self-employed person, other than freelancers looking for clients, you don’t have to worry about searching for a job. You already have one!
8. With the exception of face-to-face interactions with clients and customers, you can work in your pajamas if feel like it.

But here is a flip side to self-employment that many people aren’t aware of.

1. When you chose to become self-employed, you are taking a substantial financial risk and you assume ALL the liabilities.
2. You lose the safety net of a guaranteed paycheck and benefits such as health insurance.
3. If you need start up capital, you may need collateral such as your home.
4. If you are used to living “large,” you’d better be prepared to change your spending habits.
5. If you are not working, you are not making money. If you are working by yourself there is zero money coming in when you take vacation or sick days.
6. You have the freedom to set your own hours but it is almost certain that your work hours will increase, possibly dramatically.
7. Because you’re working for yourself, you’re going to have to take care of everything yourself!
8. If anything goes awry, it’s your complete responsibility. The buck stops with you!

So what is the bottom line? Discipline and Commitment!
If you are disciplined enough to work long hours, able to tolerate risk, cope with the stress, handle the potential of failure, work well alone and figure out all of it on your own, then self-employment may be right for you.

~ If not, then maybe you should keep your current job or continue your search to work for someone else.

© 2009-2010 Networking For Women

Woman Of The Month ~ Sonya LaRae

Sonya LaRae

CEO, LaPaz Image/Event Consultants

What comes to mind when you think of the word Diva? Probably not humility, grace or selfless giving. And then there is Sonya LaRae, a woman who redefines the word Diva. Sonya divides her time between running LaPaz Image/Event Consultants and donating her gift to image seminars for young women.

When we decided to start a series on women of interest, Sonya LaRae immediately came to mind. We had set up to do a phone interview and had scheduled 30 minutes. After 2 hours it was only out of necessity that we ended the interview.

As Sonya began to speak of her early childhood spent in New York, it was easy to assess that Ms. LaRae was far from what anyone could describe as a typical Diva. Raised by her mother, at the tender age of 10, her family moved from New York to Texas. In her own words, it was a culture shock. A Hispanic girl with blue-green eyes was an unlikely fit, but with fashion as her passion Sonya adapted to her new environment. She attributes her mother’s strength for her own ability to overcome life’s difficulties and Sonya has had one or two.

Sonya tells that she has always helped friends and family dress for different occasions but this was always just for fun, something that she enjoyed. At 17, Sonya accompanied her mother to a seminar. She had designed an outfit, last minute for the occasion and unknowingly this would set her course. A woman at the seminar spotted Sonya’s outfit and wouldn’t give up until Sonya told her where she’d gotten the outfit. An embarrassed 17 year old quietly stated that she’d designed it herself. There the seed for LaPaz Image/Event Consultants was planted.

In 1999 LaPaz Image/Event Consultants came to fruition. The company has afforded Ms. LaRae experiences that by her own admission she’d never of had. Living the good life and working at her first love, in 2002 she almost lost it all. After what should have been minor surgery, Sonya was left paralyzed. It was four years before she would walk again but none of it stopped her from pursuing her passion. Ask Sonya why she’s love fashion and you’d expect to hear the typical and you’d be wrong. Ms. LaRae is driven to educate people about self-worth and her love of fashion comes from the knowledge that looking good to yourself equals feeling good about yourself.

La Paz means The Peace and the company motto is:
“Where Everything Is Fabulous!” We think Sonya LaRae is rather fabulous!