Beware of Online Scammers!

Last night I received an inquiry through my website annemariayritys.com from a person who suggested that he would write and feature my story at Entrepreneur.com for USD 2.000, claiming that the article would give me more credibility. I searched the person’s name online, and found nothing.
Why should I pay USD 2.000 for an article in Entrepreneur.com to some random, unknown individual? Be careful with all those many scammers out there; there are plenty of them on digital and social media.
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How To Protect Your Brand Online?

As a small business owner, an entrepreneur or if you are self-employed, you must be prepared to protect yourself online. You MUST set clear boundaries in terms of what kind of approaches and behavior you are willing to accept from people/businesses approaching you online. It is no different from how businesses and people would behave and approach potential clients offline, except from the fact that many businesses and private persons have forgotten about any kind of etiquette or business rules online.

When building your online presence and while branding and marketing your business online, you must be prepared to protect yourself and your brand identity. Of course, every brand wants to be loved, but there are clear differences between love and obsession. Since I have personally been targeted by tens and hundreds of (online) stalkers, I want you to have the tools and the knowledge to prepare yourself for the unexpected, and to learn how to protect yourselves and your brands from unwanted attention. While having to protect myself and my brand from unwanted attention, I spent months on reading about the topic. Recently, I found following interesting article written by Alex Lickerman M.D. and published in Psychology Today:

Obsession – How to make an obsession function positively

Read the above article to learn more about the topic, just to be able to protect yourself better both offline and online, and, especially online.

I know this from a personal experiences, with a decade of experience and hundreds of thousands of contacts and followers on social media in almost every county worldwide: I have been a target many times, by people obsessed with my brand image who want to move in with me and occupy my whole life without even knowing me on a personal level.

You do not have to learn everything the hard way, like I had to do: blocking people who constantly harassed me, threatened my life etc. Although social media allows us to use completely new tools to make ourselves known, there are strict limits to what is legal and not, even online. For instance, if a person does not respond to your constant messages online, blocks you on social media, why do you keep stalking them? However much you may love a brand, you must learn how to love yourself first and let go of any obsessive need for trying to control other people, their brands, and their businesses, especially when your exaggerated behavior is harming them.

Access some of my previous posts here:

TWITTER BRANDING & MARKETING 2018: Learn How To Brand & Market Your Business on Twitter Inc.

How to Create Your Online Business in Five Easy Steps

How to Drive More Traffic to Your Website

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Make sure not to miss this opportunity!

If you personally are/your business is on social media, you simply cannot afford not being present on Twitter Inc., which has been among the top 10 most visited websites for years already. In fact, there is not one business in the world that could not benefit from being on social media!

In Twitter Branding & Marketing 2018 you will learn how to become a Twitter Power-User, including the many benefits of your business being on Twitter. Don´t miss the opportunity to download my FREE OF CHARGE, step-by-step guide to becoming a Twitter Power-User! Make sure to share my personal Twitter tips with friends, family & your networks too. Yours sincerely, Anne-Maria Yritys

Simply click on the following link to access and to download Twitter Branding & Marketing 2018:

 

Twitter Branding & Marketing 2018

 

Connect with me on Twitter @annemariayritys. For climate/environment-related posts only @GCCThinkActTank. Subscribe to Leading With Passion to receive my latest posts delivered personally to you.

Take a step further to create YOUR online business. Learn more about the many benefits of how to create a beautiful website with WordPress.com and how to monetize your blog/website: 

WordPress.com – Create A Beautiful Website

Jetpack – The ideal way to experience WordPress – Code-free Customization

WooCommerce – The most customizable eCommerce platform for building your online business

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twitter Branding & Marketing 2018 (2)

 

Be careful who you send your resume to!

 

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Anne-Maria Yritys 2017. All rights reserved.

I recently received an e-mail from a New York-based executive search firm with a note that they received my details by an outside talent source firm, stating that they are looking to fill C-level positions for one of their client´s recent acquisitions, and if I possibly would be interested in learning more. 

Since the e-mail was sent to one of my many e-mail addresses, and not my primary e-mail, it took me a week before I even noticed it. Instead of sending them my resume and based upon my earlier experiences, I sent a response by e-mail asking them if they could give me details about the talent sourcing firm that had referred me, who their client is, and where these roles would geographically be located. Within only a few hours they got back to me, per e-mail, stating that they cannot give any details about their client until a non disclosure agreement has been signed.
As a response, I sent them the links to my website, my LinkedIn and Twitter profiles with a brief note that they can find my resume there. I have grown aware of recruiting firms and headhunters collecting people´s CV´s and resumes, many of whom lack the effort of doing their job well, i.e. fail in ever getting back to their customer/s. Be really careful/selective about who you send your CV/resume/other personal data to, since many recruitment firms seem only to be interested in gathering people´s personal data rather than actually having a purpose of really filling out a position. Which is why I am, these days, extremely selective about sending out my CV/resume to anyone, if at all!
I know loads of professionals in the headhunting/recruitment industry and have inside information. With the professional networks that I have online, I could even start my own headhunting/recruiting firm but quite honestly, I have seen too much in order to be willing to do so.
In Finland, most jobs get filled either through sourcing internal candidates or by other means, rather than through online/offline announcements. Most of the work announcements online and offline have mainly a purpose of serving the recruitment firm as an advertisement. In Finland, the vast majority of all roles are filled in other ways than sourcing candidates through job announcements. In Finland there is also a legislation that says that recruitment firms cannot keep applicants data for no more than six months in their data bank, but who checks this?
Moreover, referring to the New York-based executive search firm that approached me, I have gathered many experiences in dealing with professionals from around the world, including New York. Many of those that I have dealt with from New York seem to use an elbow tactic, so if you ever deal with them in business, make sure that THEY first deliver their part of the possible deal, before doing anything for them.
Further on, in 2015, I was contacted by a NY based recruitment industry startup on LinkedIn. They basically had an expectation of me to a) make PR for them for free b) find a way of transferring my LinkedIn data (the professional details of 30.000 individuals) to their database, sending me a non disclosure contract trying to offer me WARRANTS as a payment. I was smart enough to consult an international lawyer at that stage. Shortly after having installed their software on my computer, it broke down. I still have no idea why, but I suspect it happened due to their software. I never found out, just brought my broken laptop to recycling and bought a new one. I also blocked these people from my personal online networks. Whether they installed a virus/malware through their software on my computer is still unclear to me.
Be really careful about what you do online, and who you trust. It is not paranoia to use common sense in business. I have personally learned some very valuable lessons through my online business activities.
Anne-Maria Yritys 2017. All rights reserved.