How can you strategically use the right tools to distinguish yourself in your field, and attract the opportunities you desire?

 Try to brand yourself in a unique way:

Minoo Jha

 · 5y

What’s your most marketable skill? Why?

Hi, You asked, What is your most marketable skill and why? I am an independent Commissions Administration Consultant. I became an independent Commissions Administration Consultant in 2010, after leaving a full time job as a Sr. Commissions Analyst at a tech company. At the time of my leaving, I had no plans to go independent. But after doing the Xactly commission software training in 2010, and then spending a year and a half doing Xactly implementations, I decided it was worth giving it a shot. My first experiment was with a company called Epicor. Their Sr. Commissions Analyst had resigned. This was someone who had handled their commissions administration for 17 years. Epicor urgently needed to find a replacement for her, so there could be some knowledge transfer between the outgoing analyst and her replacement. I spotted my opportunity to market myself as an independent Commissions Consultant. A staffing agency gave my resume to the hiring manager - who was the Director of Strategic Finance at Epicor. Soon after, she called me. As soon as she did, I made a proposal to her. I said, “I know you advertised this as a permanent position, but I propose to come and help you keep the commissions processes going, until you find a suitable back-fill; and then train the back-fill before I leave.” It took a little bit of convincing, but she could see my suggestion made sense. After all, there were only 5 days left for the knowledge transfer to take place. “Would I be willing to get on a plane with her and go to L.A. the next day,” was her next question. The LA office was where the outgoing commissions analyst worked from, so that’s where we would have to go to do the knowledge transfer. I immediately said yes. So this is how my marketing of “temporary commissions administration”, actually, “emergency commissions administration” began. With that first assignment at Epicor. I have done the same thing, in one form or another, at 14 different companies since 2010. The most recent of them being Linkedin, Rubrik, and Zoom Videoconferencing. So the answer to your first question, what is my most marketable skill? It is Commissions Administration - everything and anything to do with it. And the answer to your 2nd question, why?… Because finding experienced and non-flaky temporary commissions administration help is difficult. It’s a niche field. And possibly, I am the only one who works it as an independent professional.

Here’s one more trick I used. This was to be memorable after an interview:

Minoo Jha

 · 2y

What are the best/innovative ways to introduce yourself to anybody?

Triple Hatter After reading Richard Nelson Bolles’ What Color is Your Parachute?, I found myself doing some soul searching. I thought about my past, my present and my future - all the colors and threads which were the patchwork of my life. And then I wrote a one page “dare to share” piece about myself, I titled Triple Hatter. I created it as something I would leave behind at an interview. I would hand it over to the interviewer at the end of the interview and say “This will tell you things about me that may not have been caught or covered in the interview”. If I was interviewed by 3 people in turn, I would hand out a copy to each of the interviewers as they left the room. I am sharing Triple Hatter with you. I hope it will motivate you to read What Color is Your Parachute? (when you get a chance) but more importantly, to learn to accept who you are in your entirety (past, present and future)... ... and then to “dare to share” everything you are with the world. Read Triple Hatter. Then go write your own Triple Hatter. And start sharing it with the world…. Triple Hatter One Gal. 3 Hats. I am a Commissions Analyst who writes advertising copy and a blog. I am a Copywriter who does Commissions Administrations and Implementations. I am a Commissions Admin who does Xactly Implementations You could call me a Triple Hatter. One Gal. 3 Hats. Solution Partners Inc, Los Gatos This is where I picked up my Implementations Hat. I said goodbye to fear and a regular paycheck when I signed up to be a contract Business Architect with Solution Partners and do Xactly Incent Implementations for different companies. 2 years and 4 projects later (including two 3-month stints at Salesforce Inc) – I am still entranced with the nuts and bolts of the Xactly Incent Commissions Machine. And now I can’t wait to see what it’s like to work both sides of the equation – the administration side and the implementation side. Which company will provide me with the opportunity to put both these skills to work? It’s exciting to speculate and wonder. Extreme Networks, Santa Clara This is where the Commissions Admin Experience I had gained at Palm was put to the test. And my ideas about my skills and traits. Excel whiz. Good at picking up new software. Accurate. Deadline Oriented. Dependable. I was there 5 years and had a fantastic relationship with my boss. Need I say more? Palm Inc This is where I got my training wheels as a Commissions Admin. No sooner did my boss sign me on to assist with commissions, when she went out on Maternity Leave. And never returned. So I was Palm’s one-woman commissions team from that point on. Of course, this meant I needed to take off my training wheels ASAP. Staying up nights with multiple Excel books, I did. It paid off. Minoo Jha Life Strategies My writing hat. It’s my oldest hat. Writing comes naturally. As flying to a bird. For a while, it looked like I had a broken wing. But when in December of 2010, I started blogging, I knew I was back in the groove. I write the Minoo Jha Life Strategies blog. Posting regularly to it, inviting guest posts and promoting it via Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Triple Hatter. That’s me.