But what does it all come down to? In my mind it is about value. At the end of the day we are all sales people trying to sell a product, you, to a particular company. You want them to “buy” you, as in give you a job. Or in some cases you want them to not let you go. Either way your task is the same, show that you provide value, so much value that the company cannot afford to do without you. You need to know how to market you.

So how do you do that? In my opinion the first step is confidence. As Mary Kay Ash once said, “If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can’t, you’re right.” It boils down to believing in the gifts and talents you have. Think of all the things you have accomplished. Make a list if you have to, and list everything. I graduated from grammar school, and high school, and college. I wrote a resume that landed me a job. I made a great birthday cake for my cousin and everyone raved. And so on. As human beings we tend to focus on all the things we did wrong. Flip that around and focus on all the many things you do right. Think of all the things you are good at and list those. These lists will help you see that you have talents, skills and value to add to any company.

Next, (and this one may seem obvious) Do Your Job. I have seen it more times than I’d like where someone is so concerned about losing their job, they spend work time updating their resume, or making networking calls, or even complaining to anyone who will listen. If you are doing any of the above, STOP! If you currently have a job, one of the best ways to make yourself indispensible is to put your shoulder to the wheel and work hard. If you are currently out of work your new job is to find a job. Don’t sleep until 10 and wander around in your PJ’s. Get up, get dressed (complete with hair and make-up done), and go to work. If you aren’t spending at least 30 hours per week on this, you are truly job hunting.

Last, with all the great material online today you have no excuse for not building your personal brand. Dan Schwabel has an entire blog dedicated to personal branding with really great content. Make sure your various online professional profiles are up to date, such as LinkedIn, for example. When you meet with friends, work associates, or networking contacts dress professionally and not in gym clothes or pseudo-pajamas. How you dress, act, and look is as important as your resume, your online profile AND what comes up in a Google search of your name. When someone does a Google search on you (and they will) what shows up? Anything? Be in control of that and determine what you want that content to say.

We are all in control of our own situations. You choose how you will react to any given situation. If you are out of work or worried about losing your job, choose to have a good attitude and it will get you further than you think. Choose to be proactive about your situation and you will be miles ahead of the competition.

Then I learned about the whole “follow back” etiquette. Oh, okay, so these people following me don’t particularly care about my updates, but at least I’m a tiny blip on their radar. Then I learned about TweetDeck where you can see just the updates of the people you want. So not only were these people following me just because it was the “proper” thing to do, but they probably aren’t even seeing my tweets unless I tweet about something they are actively searching.

It isn’t like I tweet about mundane day to day life all the time. Granted I have the occasional “I’m getting on a plane now” tweet. But I also tweet articles and links and questions that I think might be thought provoking. Was anyone listening? I didn’t expect a flood of direct messages a mere month into my Twitter-hood, but one reply would have been nice.

And then I got one! Then two! And then one from Chris Brogan himself. (okay so that one was kind of a “put me in my place” reply but it still counts.) And yet I still feel like I am a speck of sand in the ever increasing beach that is Social Media. Are there lurkers like I once was who are wall-flowering until they get comfy? If we are all shouting to be heard who hears us?

I met so many great people! First I met Katrina who is an awesome business coach. She doesn’t pull punches and won’t let you get away with half-@ssed responses. I met Realtors, the best of whom was Chris; he was insightful. I met designers and marketing professionals, sales people and a self-professed serial entrepreneur. It was really amazing.

Later in the evening I had the chance to meet Jeff Marmins. He is a networking king! He introduced me to Josh Unfried who runs MomFaves. I’ll admit I follow Josh and MomFaves and meeting him was as close to meeting a celebrity as I will ever get so I was a little giddy. The fact that he was so down to earth and easy to talk to made the meeting even more brilliant. That was one of many highlights of my evening.

Overall, I had a superb time despite the suffocating heat. It was well worth the one evening spent away from Sweet Pea. My only regret is that I didn’t go to a TweetUp sooner.