One of the problems Facebook was concerned with early on was how to monetize the business. They had a lot of people starting Facebook pages, but they were not sure how they would turn that into a cash machine for the company. They have taken the Google model and super-sized it. What Facebook is doing is not only shear genius, but challenges all other companies that sell ad time or space to keep up, or face losing huge amounts of advertising. Why? It is far more efficient to buy ad space on Facebook than through any other media. With Facebook, the advertiser can hyper-target the customer because of all the information Facebook gathers. In most cases, they have the city you live in, your sex, your relationship status, how many kids you have, and now with the “Like” button, what kind of food, movies, hobbies, music, vacations, and more you like. A good advertiser can take their advertising budget and zero in on who they want to see their ads. Think about TV. You may like “Modern Family”. There are demographics available, like the average age of someone watching, but it is more like 25-49 year olds. There is a little more data than that available to the advertiser, but it is still a shotgun approach. You will hit your target, but a lot of the buckshot will be wasted. The buckshot is money. With Facebook, you can pick the age, the sex, and the other things already mentioned to help advertisers make better advertising decisions. Every time you click the Like button, they know a little more about you.

While you may not care what information Facebook has about you, you should. People don’t think hard when it comes to passwords. Your password can get stolen with the information you leave on your page. How many people use the name of a pet, a birthday, or something personal to them? You give thieves a head start on stealing your identity and more. Here are some things to do to take precautions against that.

* What is your birthdate?
* What is your zip code?
* What city did you meet your husband or wife?

Here are some other things to do to protect yourself.

* Restrict access to your profile to “Friends Only.” You can access this option in “Privacy Settings” under the “Account” tab.
* Also in privacy settings, choose the option that prevents search engines from finding your profile.
* Do not post the year you were born or indications of your exact age. Also never post your birthplace.
* Don’t post your children’s names anywhere on your page, including captions.
* Don’t post the street you grew up on, your first school, or any favorite teachers’ names.
* Avoid posting other favorites, like movies or artists.
* Never post your address or phone number, and consider keeping your e-mail private.
* Don’t post details of upcoming trips – it may not help someone break into your profile, but it will give advance notice you’ll be away from your home.
* Avoid clicking on third-party links that may be malicious programs disguised as a game or quiz.

I am a big believer in investing in your own career. I hear people say they won’t buy something for work because  their company should pay for it.   Granted, I don’t think you should be expected to bring in your own desk and chair if you are hired to work in an office.  However, if you can do your job more quickly, efficiently, and effectively by spending some of your own money, why wouldn’t you?  For the purpose of this, let’s assume that we are talking about a small amount of money compared to your salary.

Back in the early 90’s, before radio stations went digital, they were still analog (as opposed to sending smoke signals).  I had thousands of pieces of audio, and no real easy way to get access to it.  I hired a programmer from MTV to come in and put all of my audio in a database.  I bought a laptop to keep in the studio, so we could type in a keyword and find audio we needed in seconds.  I don’t know of anyone else that did that back then, and it cost me some money.  However,  it added value to my show, my career, my bonus, and so I considered it a good investment.  Over the years, I have spent a fair amount of money on all kinds of products, courses, and equipment that I thought would help me improve, do my job better, and make more money.  Just because the company wouldn’t do that for me didn’t mean I couldn’t get it done.  You need to look at yourself as self-employed.  Whatever you do,  you need to think of yourself as a product.  Regardless of what you do for a living, if you improve your product (you), you improve your chances of career advancement and more income.

About a year ago, I was recuperating from an injury. My doctor was concerned about leg swelling, so I needed to have custom fitted compression stockings.  The woman measuring me had the exclusive contract with the facility where I was treated, as well as several other facilities. While measuring me, she complained about not having a laptop to input my information.  The company she worked for was set up where she could log in from anywhere, put in all the information, and the stockings could start being processed. However, the company did not provide laptops. So she would have to go home every night and type in all the information. We could argue how cheap the company was, but that is not the point. For $400 she could buy a cheap laptop, type in the measurements on the spot, and since almost every facility had wireless internet, the order could be sent before I could get my shoes on. As a side note, she screwed up my order, and I never got my stockings.  Sale and commission lost.  A $400 investment would save her hours of work. Her aggravation with her company caused her to not see the bigger picture, that she was did not value her time.  We figured she could buy five hours of her time back every week, for a one time payment of $400. Let’s say she had two weeks vacation, and the laptop would last for two years.  That is 100 weeks at 5 hours a week. She could buy 500 hours back for $400.  She would have paid $1.25 for her time.  I don’t know about you, but my time is worth more than that.  I would take that play every day.

I encourage you to invest money in your own career.  If you don’t think you are worth it, how will any one else?  I have met very few working people that are perfectly happy with their salary, and their job.  The quickest way to be seen as valuable is by being efficient, and willing to do the little things others aren’t.  And don’t be shy about letting your boss, or your customers, know what you are doing to stay on top of your game, and ahead of everyone else.  That being said, I understand the people above you have to be bright enough to pick up on your efforts.  Let’s be honest, some bosses are dip shits.  But in this economy, it never hurts to be the person getting it done.

We often here the term “thinking outside the box.”  Your boss wants that unique idea, he wants to do something nobody else is doing, so bring him fresh ideas.  Or you may want new ideas for your business or career.  Sure, we all want that, but it isn’t always easy to turn on the brain faucet and have genius spill out.  I have an idea that may help you succeed at that, and help you be even more successful in your career.  This is one of the best things I do.  I have no doubt it will work for you.

Every year, pick four things you really want to learn, or get to know much more about.  Then immerse yourself for the next three months of learning that skill. Then move on to the next, while continuing to improve on the skill you just learned.  In one year, you will be at least proficient in four new skills, in two years eight, you get the math. Look back over the last several years of your life. Time is moving regardless of what we do.  Five years ago was not that long ago for most of us.  Twenty additional skills could have had major influence on your life.  I can give a vague example now.  I am in talks about doing a project that may happen down the road, maybe not.  However, in the course of the conversation, a skillset of which I am knowledgeable came up in the conversation.  The people I was speaking with had a different, more promising project that involved someone that knew and could explain this particular skill.  They had no idea I knew anything about this subject matter, and quickly began to express interest in moving the project to the front burner with my involvement. I would have had no shot at being involved if it was not for me spending months learning about this. This skill has nothing to do with how I have made my living, but it could very well in the future.

I have learned about many things over the years, internet marketing, how to build multiple sources of income, speed reading, trading futures, options, and stocks, and others.  Personally, I like to learn from people who have done what I want to do, and do it successfully.  So I have sought out successful people in the fields I want to learn, and learn from them.  You may want to learn how to build a website, become a gourmet chef,  or speak a foreign language. The knowledge is out there.  You just have to go get it.  Not only will learning new things keep you young and curious, you never know how it will change your life.

I was already planning to blog about this. It seems even more poignant now with the possible heath issues of Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple.  He gave an amazing speech to the 2005 Stanford University graduates. It has been re-published many times. You can find it on my website at this link http://www.rockyallen.com/rockys-favorites/ Take a few minutes and read it, it is well worth it.

I urge you to implement this plan in your life.  Take a pottery class, learn how to cook gourmet food, learn how to re-finish old furniture, write software, or write poetry.  There are hundreds of adult education classes. I beg you to never give up the quest for knowledge.  The worst thing that can happen to you is….you get smarter.