We’ve been working on a new site design for blueskyresumes.com for a while. We started by clarifying our brand, we then went on to site strategy – thinking through everything we want the site to do for us and for our visitors – and now we’re in the design phase, where that stuff is coming together page-by-page.
I’m so excited about it I can’t even tell you!
One feature that of the new site will be a really amazing resume samples section that I’m not going to give away just yet, but which will be pretty special.
I’m always surprised when I go to another resume service’s website and find that they don’t have any samples on display. Our samples are our single biggest sales tool – not to mention the source of the vast majority of our search engine traffic. Why would you give that opportunity up?
The answer of course, is that some resume writers are afraid their ideas will be stolen by others. They feel that by sharing, they will have lost something.
I feel the opposite. I feel that sharing brings you more. I think that the more you put out into the world, the more comes back to you. Will somebody copy one of your resume designs if you put it on the web? Probably. So what? They can’t copy the originality and talent behind that one resume. They can’t translate the ideas for themselves. And even if they could … so what again? What have you actually lost?
I always knew this, but it crystallized for me when I took Brian Clark’s Teaching Sells course last year, and then again this year when I read Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. Both approach the subject from a different angle, but both put forth the basic premise that to be trusted, you must give. Both say that you won’t lose money if you share your knowledge – that in fact, you and your business will benefit by sharing freely with others.
I know they\’re right. And here’s one way I know … earlier this year I had a fantastic opportunity for another resume writer. I needed to find a relative unknown in the industry, but someone who had great potential. The opportunity paid well and offered fantastic exposure. So I went hunting on the web. The first place I looked was at the websites of resume writers I follow on Twitter. I wanted to see their work and judge whether I should contact them. And yet 90% of them had no samples available.
90% of them lost out on a great opportunity because they were unwilling to share! Now multiply that by every client who comes to their site interested in a new resume, but leaves because she can’t see any examples of work. And every journalist researching a story. And every potential strategic partner.
For me, it’s a no brainer. I’m going to share as much as I can wherever I can. I think that it will all come back to me. And if someone steals a resume design I created, well, good luck with it. I hope it gets you a great job!
What about you … do you share your knowledge or are you a hoarder?
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