2021 Professional Resolutions

​ ​ ​ ​ Hi Indiana and happy new year! Let's hope it is better than 2020. It is great to be back emailing you after my holiday. I hope you managed to have a break too, and are now feeling somewhat refreshed. A new year is traditionally a time to take stock and consider the future. This applies as much in our professional lives as it does personally. That is why, in this email, I wanted to make a few suggestions about what you might want to focus on in 2021. Broadly speaking the people on this mailing list fall into two categories; those who work for somebody else and those who run their own business. Of course, some of you do both, running a small freelance business on the side. Others of you might be planning to make 2021 the year you transition from one group to another. So, let's look at what New Year's resolutions these different groups should be making. However, before we jump in, I wanted to tell you about something. I have partnered with the guys at Laracon.eu to run a live online course on "designing websites that convert". This course will not only improve your skills; it will also make you a more attractive hire as your work will pay for itself many times over. Resolutions for Business Owners For those of you running your own business, I would suggest that 2021 should be the year you stop relying on word of mouth recommendation as the only way you win work. Although word of mouth is great, it is a passive way of winning work. We live in volatile times, and if the phone stops ringing, we need another way of bringing in work. The other problem with word of mouth recommendation is that it normally wins you more of the same kind of work. That can be limiting if you are keen to win bigger and better clients. The number one reason agencies and freelancers come to me for mentorship is related to sales and marketing. They either want more or better clients. In most cases, the answer is to build a robust sales funnel. One that grabs the attention of potential clients and holds it until they are ready to buy. This is typically done using a lead magnet and through regular email communications (like this one). So make 2021 the year you build a sales funnel and become more proactive in your approach to business development. Resolutions for In-House Teams For those of you working in-house, my advice is not dissimilar in some ways. It may sound ridiculous as you work in house but, you too suffer from a sales and marketing problem, even though you do not know it. You see, most people in your organisation do not know what you do or why it is important. You need to make 2021 the year you promote your hard work and educate colleagues about the importance of user experience and digital. In effect, you need to be launching an internal marketing campaign to promote the user and their digital needs. This can involve everything from regular email newsletters (focused on how UX can help colleagues achieve their aims) to lunchtime presentations, persona posters and open usability test sessions. But People Appreciate My Work Already If you are lucky enough to work in a company where your work is appreciated, you probably have a slightly different problem. Your team has probably become a bottleneck with more work than you can handle as everybody wants to use your services. The answer to this is to make 2021 the year you transition from implementors into educators and coordinators. The knowledge and expertise you have in your team need to start gradually disseminating throughout the organisation. See Also:How to Encourage UX and Digital Adoption Through Virtual Training​ You need to be running training sessions, creating playbooks, holding surgeries and producing self-learning courses. When I work with teams to implement these kinds of programmes, they quickly transition from being implementors of others ideas to leaders in digital direction and custodians of best practice. Resolutions for Those Working at Agencies But what of those of you who work for an agency? What should you be focusing on in 2021? Well, I am going to suggest something that might prove a little controversial. I want to suggest that 2021 is the year you attempt to become more of a generalist. I know the perceived wisdom is that we should all specialise in our careers, which is good advice. But there is something to be said for having an understanding of other disciplines too. If we understand other disciplines, we become better team players. However, it also makes us more adaptive. As I said at the start, we live in volatile and unpredictable times. No job is safe; and so the broader your skills, the easier you can adapt to the market. So there you have it, my recommendations for what you should focus on in 2021. However, I would love to know your thoughts on what 2021 will hold. What will you be focusing on professionally or is 2021 just business as usual for you? Drop me a reply and let me know, I promise to respond. Talk to you next time. ​ ​ ​ n If you no longer want to hear from me, I completely understand and you can unsubscribe from all emails here. Alternatively, if you need to update any of the information about yourself you can edit your profile here. ​ ​