In a very real sense, the single best way to advance in your career or build your business is to be a good story-teller. That probably sounds strange, so let me explain what I mean. I'm not saying you should become one of those people who can manipulate the facts and talk their way in and out of situations with no regard for anyone other than themselves. We have enough people like that in the world already.

Instead, I'm suggesting you become a good story-teller by truly appreciating what you have to offer, understanding how it relates to what people need, and finding the most effective way to communicate your potential. In other words, you have to be an expert at marketing yourself. Unfortunately, even people who are marketers by profession struggle with this.

Marketing yourself is far more difficult than it sounds. In the 16 years I've been working with job hunters I have yet to meet anyone who can, within the first 45 minutes, clearly articulate their most compelling accomplishment as it relates to why a potential employer might hire them. This is a HUGE problem when you consider that most interviews are only about 45 minutes long. The reason most people don't communicate their accomplishments effectively is often quite simple: they have no idea what they are. People might think they know—and they might be far more insightful than most—but they still miss an unbelievable number of opportunities to share their true capabilities. In other words, they aren't good story-tellers. Why? Because they don't know the whole story.

What it Means to Be a Good Story-Teller

To be a good story-teller, you must first be a great marketer. For those of you who are more logical and process-oriented by nature, this undoubtedly sounds like bad news. The truth is, logical, left-brained, analytical, and process-oriented thinking may be what makes you successful in your job, but it isn't what you need to market yourself. As a result, your most valuable professional asset—the way you think—could easily become your greatest liability.

Like any market, if you choose to participate, you have to think like a marketer. That means right-brained, creative, marketing-oriented thinking. If you are a hard-core analytical person who has doesn't think creatively, don't worry. You are not alone. There are ways you can begin to think more creatively about your experiences. Just find a coach who can help.

Believing, Thinking, and Speaking Our Truth

There are two steps you must take before you can speak comfortably and confidently about your interests and abilities:

1) You have to understand the origin of your passion

2) You must believe in yourself

Generally speaking, step two will take care of itself once you have uncovered the secrets of step one.

Tracing your passion is important because you have to convince a potential employer that you have logical, compelling reasons to pursue a particular career. This is particularly important for entry-level candidates who have more potential than experience. Remember, people don't want to feel like they are taking a risk when they make the decision to hire you. That's why your reasoning has to be sound and believable. If you ever find yourself thinking, "I know I'd be great if only someone would give me a chance,” take it as a sign that you need to do a more thorough self-assessment.

Start by answering these questions:

· How old were you when you first recognized your interest in this career?

· What, specifically, opened your eyes to this opportunity?

· Is there a particular person you admired (e.g., parent, grandparent, mentor, teacher) who served as a role model or otherwise nurtured your interest?

· Is this a subject you studied in school?

· What have you done on your own initiative to learn more about the field?

The last question is especially important because relatively few people think to sell themselves on the experiences they have gained as a result of their own initiative. However, these experiences tend to be the most convincing. Think about it. If you read and studied numerous books on your own, you obviously have more than a passing interest in the subject matter. This usually gives people more than enough reason to believe your interest and sincerity. Whatever the case, it is important to trace your passion because this understanding will help you communicate your enthusiasm for the career or the business.

What If You Haven't Identified Your Passion? This is a very real issue for many people. If you truly aren't sure what you are passionate about, think about all the projects you have been involved with as well as your related accomplishments. Then, ask yourself these questions:

· When did I feel the most energized?

· When did I feel the most drained?

The key to a happy and fulfilling professional life is to find a career in which you can do more of what energizes you and less of what drains you. No doubt, this sounds like common sense. Nevertheless, it is amazing how many people don't think in these terms. If you are like most successful people, there are certain projects in which you can immerse yourself and completely lose track of time. Likewise, there are probably other activities—including some at which you excel—that you may absolutely dread doing. For this reason, it's critical to look beyond your skills to your actual interest level.

A Reason to Believe

Once you've traced your passion and you can describe the origin of your interest, you have completed the first, critical step in the self-assessment process. But it doesn't stop there. Your new challenge is to show what you've achieved as a result of your passion. In other words, what have you done that gives potential clients or employers a reason to believe they would benefit from working with you?

Creating a Journal

To answer the que

stion above, it is important to create an inventory of specific experiences you can use to support your case. This will take a lot of work, but you you only have to do it once. After that, you can add to it as you go along. At that point, logging your inventory is strictly a matter or maintenance.

Maintaining Your Inventory

The need to quantify your accomplishments does not end when you get a job offer. Quite the opposite. In order to earn raises and promotions, it is important to track accomplishments on an ongoing basis. Keep a list of every project you work on and highlight the ones where your efforts had a direct, positive impact. It may sound like a lot of work, but it really isn't. Just keep your journal nearby and jot down the key details. This way, you won't have to rely on your memory a few months or years from now when the facts aren't as clear.

The first entries in your journal will address the following:

1. Make a list of any time you have ever been recognized for an accomplishment. Go back as far as you can.

· What, specifically, did you do?

· If you received an award, how many people were eligible?

· What was special about your performance or achievement?

· How old were you at the time?

This is an important category because it forces you to acknowledge yourself for the accomplishments that others valued. For example, if you were elected or appointed to serve in a particular role, it says a lot how people view you and your performance. Or perhaps you earned a promotion faster than anyone else in the company's history. If so, that can be a selling point on its own because it gives people a favorable comparison between you and other people who received the same promotion but took more time to earn it.

The recognition you receive from others is tremendously valuable because it provides a third-party assessment of your skills and abilities. It's like having the person in the room telling the interviewer what a great job you did. Better still it's factual. You don't have to say how great you are when the facts speak for themselves.

2. When friends, family, co-workers, and others come to you for advice or assistance, what, specifically, do they need?

If you don't know the answer to this question, start keeping track. Friends and family are almost always better at recognizing our talents than we are. By opening our eyes to the way others already see us, we are forced to acknowledge our unique contributions. The more we do this, the better able we'll be to counteract all those years of programming in which we denied and doubted our abilities. Thus, building an awareness and appreciation of our gifts is an important step in developing the unshakable belief in ourselves that we need to speak confidently without worrying about bragging.

3. Think back on all the projects (work-related and personal) on which you've been involved. What is different because you were there? What did you bring to the table that otherwise would never have occurred? In other words, how is the result better because you were on the team?

I like to think of this as the "It's-A-Wonderful-Life-Approach" to the self-assessment process. In the movie, George Bailey, the main character, was given the chance to see how the world would have been different if he had never been born. In a very real sense, that's exactly what I'm asking you to do. It's the best way I know to get people to think about—and acknowledge—their achievements. As an added bonus, you'll get a much-deserved boost in confidence because you'll see just what a difference you actually make in this world. Later, when you've built a substantial inventory of contributions, matching your specific experiences with the needs of a particular client or employer will be easy. And, you'll be that much closer to making the sale.

Beyond the Self-Assessment

By now, you've probably noticed that creating an inventory of experiences and accomplishments is a critically important first step. But it's just that—a first step. You owe it to yourself leverage all of your skills and experiences as a one-of-a-kind package. Whether you see it this way or not, a thorough self-assessment often reveals some interesting, valuable insights that can help you reach personal and professional goals alike.

Think of each experience as a piece of a dynamic puzzle—or a Mr. Potato Head if you prefer. Your job is to know what all the pieces are (i.e., a complete personal/professional inventory) and to find a way to combine them into pictures potential clients and employers will find intriguing. Notice, by the way, that I used the plural "pictures” rather than the singular. What appeals to one employer or client will not necessarily appeal to another.

In researching my first book, Getting Your Foot in the Door When You Don't Have a Leg to Stand On (McGraw-Hill), I was able to show how different companies within the same industry often look for radically different skills—even at the entry-level. I won't repeat my findings here, but keep this in mind as you move ahead. Take the time to know and appreciate these differences and you'll be in a better position to make the sale.

The above in an excerpt from Rob Sullivan's forthcoming book (currently untitled).

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