Developing a Product Called YOU
Last week we explored how operating your own business relates to managing your career as an employee.
- Businesses offer products that satisfy the needs of its customers. Customers pay a price to purchase the products.
- Employees provide their personal product (their skills and capabilities) to enable their employers to satisfy the employer’s needs. The employee’s price is the employee’s compensation.
The product/employer’s need relationship can be expressed in the following formula.
Think about the times when you were hired, promoted, or assigned to a career-advancing position. Think about the great interview—how well you connected with the hiring decision makers. The personal chemistry was great and you made the case for selecting you. Thinking deeper, you will find that the core reason that you were selected was that you had what the situation called for (right product/right situation).
When you operate your own business as an employee, you are in The Business of Me.
The personal value you create for yourself as an employee is your compensation, your channel for fulfilling your personal economic hopes and dreams.
Products are the foundation for operating a successful business. Declining sales remind businesses of the importance of products. I participated in 2 successful business turnarounds during my career in the corporate sector. In both instances, the management team initiated the turnarounds by reevaluating our products. The success of the turnarounds confirmed that going back to our products was the right place to start. We realized that the best marketing and selling techniques, customer service, and support processes do not matter if the business does not offer the right products—products that satisfy the needs of the target market.
The Business Product Development component of the Business Management Process provides the blueprint for developing and sustaining products that align with the needs of the marketplace. Product Development includes the following basic steps.
The Product Development component of The Business of Me applies the Business Product Development Process.
Next week’s article will cover the assessment step in the Personal Product Development Process.
Have you given more thought to managing your career as your own business?
Have you thought about times that you took a business management approach to address a career opportunity, situation, or challenge?
If you did not, do you wish you had?
How well do you understand your product?
What are your right situations—situations that cry out for your personal product?
Why would you promote or hire you?
Are the trends in your compensation indicating a need to execute a Business of You turnaround?
I invite you to share your comments, experiences, and suggestions.
Your career is your most important economic asset.
Linwood Bailey is a career coach and the author of The Business of Me: Your Job … Your Career … Your Value. The Business of Me provides a career management and information resource designed for today’s business professional. Since 2008, Linwood has enabled business professionals to manage their most important economic asset—their careers. Linwood, the been there coach, provides innovative career management solutions derived from his 34 years of experience managing functions and people in multiple industries, regions, and corporate cultures.