Dean's Light Box: Help! I Need a Catchy Title...

Several items to cover this week in the blog: My book, the potential job inches closer, a first at my website, and a snapshot of Sunday evening at our house.

I'm fleshing out the outline for my book and with Mrs. D's help, I think we have the right subtitle. Here's my strategy: Make a very catchy title and include a subtitle that explains what the book is really about. So the subtitle as of right now is, "Navigating the Custom Home Building Experience." I think that fits the bill for describing what the book is about, what it will provide the reader.

But, I have not found the right title yet. I need it to grab peoples' attention and make them curious. Feel free to leave a comment if anything hits you.

The recruiter for the potential job I mentioned last post spent the week contacting my references after noting that the hiring manager was pleased with my little "homework" case-study exercise. My heart nearly stopped when he called me on Friday and said that he had been able to get in touch with one of my references but that the others had not returned his several calls and messages. I scrambled, got in touch with one of them who noted that she had just received one call from him the night before and was planning to call him back as soon as her work schedule allowed. I also quickly contacted a couple of other people who graciously agreed to act as references for me and I passed their contact information on to the recruiter. Fortunately, he was able to speak with my original reference later in the day and then called to ask me to talk with the hiring manager's boss. Are you starting to get the impression that this company is really, really careful about who they hire? Also consider that they have been looking for a candidate for this position for approximately six months.

At first I thought that this was a little odd but then I also thought that this is probably good. They likely end up hiring fewer poor candidates than other companies. Both of us have a clearer picture of what to expect and are both comfortable with the fit. Later in the afternoon the recruiter called again, arranged for me to meet with the director on Monday and, after another discussion about my salary expectations, noted that they would likely be back in touch on Monday or Tuesday with an offer. Oh, then he called yet again to find out what kind of health benefits my current employer offers. I *think* they might be serious.

This week I did something that all the online marketing books and podcasts I've perused recommend: I emailed the members of my Six Sigma web site </end shameless plug>. I was amazed at the response. I simply included a little blurb about the most recent blog entries with links to each and an invitation for them to submit a review on their training experience. I got more than four times the regular traffic and made a little revenue from click advertisements. Wow. I think I'll do that again in a few weeks.

And finally, here's a little shot of our house this evening. Mrs. D and EV put the final touches on EV's first school "report." Her assignment, as preparation for the upcoming discussion of thanksgiving, was to research and report on cradle boards. According to their research, these are native american baby backpacks. EV had a great time with Mommy making a model cradle board: