If you want to achieve success at anything, the fastest way to do it is by modelling the strategies of those who are already successful at it.

How this book came about?

Don't you just get hopping mad every time when you've made a significant contribution to the bottomline of the company and yet your boss won't give you the recognition you felt you deserved?

Do you feel paralyzed by the fear of retrenchment every time your company is going through a restructuring exercise?

Does your ego get hammered out of shape whenever your employer tells you, "We are unable to let you take a higher position because you don't have a higher qualification"?

If you have said 'YES' to all these 3 questions, you are not alone.

The workplace of today and the future are always evolving. Work is done much faster, more effectively and efficiently using technology. The workplace of today has far more highly educated, qualified and skilled talents than ever before. However, possessing outstanding paper qualifications and a core set of skill sets can no longer promise and guarantee job security in today's unpredictable world of the knowledge-based economy. More employees find themselves increasingly vulnerable to losing their jobs as employers place a greater emphasis on non-academic skills, people skills, as well as technical skills. Ever since I started training and coaching employees on employability skills in 2004, I observed that employees face a common set of issues at their workplace and these are but not exclusive to:

• Being ignored for a promotion they felt they deserved
• Career progression stalled because they lack the qualifications deemed necessary by the employers
• Thought to be too old to learn new things or to be given job enlargement
• Thought to be lacking transferable skills to switch careers
• There was no chance to use their existing skills in their current job
• They believe foreign staff are preferred to locals due to cost issues

Such issues were unknowingly created due to:

• Fear of losing what they already have now
• Fear of the unknown
• A False sense of security
• Pre-conception that their job is for life
• Self-defeating prophecy
• An Absence of self-reflection

Who is this book written for?

These preceding issues will continue to exist unless we begin to look inward, learn to market ourselves to become a desirable human capital and win the war of talent. 'NAIL IT: Hard-Hitting Strategies To Make Yourself More Marketable' is intentionally written for individuals thriving in the world of work. Individuals who want to take control of their own career and remain employable in any economy. If achieving sustainable employment is what you want, this book is definitely for you.

Why do I want to write a book about Personal Marketing?

Marketing is the lifeblood that runs through the veins of all successful organizations. Without marketing, no matter how good the product or service, the organization will fail. It's marketing that defines the distinctive features and benefits of the product or service. It's marketing that sets the price. It's marketing that communicates those features and benefits to the appropriate audience. It's marketing that delivers the goods to the consumer. An excellent example is when Steve Jobs, the late CEO of APPLE Inc, introduced the first iPhone in 2007 to the world of mobile phone users. His introduction of the first iPhone has became one of the much talked about marketing strategies of our time.

The same goes to all individuals thriving in the world of work. Individuals are products of their own unique creations. They must be able to easily identify their transferable skills and market them to employers (if they are employed) or potential clients (if they are entrepreneurs). Unfortunately, not many people are fully aware that they have a set of transferable skills that can be nicely packaged and marketed successfully.

In fact, most of the people whom I trained and coached felt that the concept of personal marketing should have been introduced to them in their early career stages so that they can better position themselves to enhance sustainable employability. With those invaluable experiences under my belt, I decided to write a book and share with you the things I've learned and helped you avoid some of the errors I made.

Here are some of the things you'll find inside the book:

• DISCOVER your authentic self and unearth the talents that will help you to go further in your personal, career and entrepreneurship endeavours.
• SPOT and open doors of opportunity.
• BUILD your personal and learning resources to develop your capabilities and market value within the working or business environment, producing better performance and effectiveness.
• CULTIVATE a growth mindset and stay employable in any economy.

What will be in the book?

I will share with you how to market yourself and remain employable using the following 7 Strategies:

1. Open and Expand
2. Discover and Accept
3. Scan and Mark
4. Pick and Package
5. Plan and Build
6. Sell and Secure
7. Pay and Support

These strategies are developed based on my personal and working relationships with people who know how to market themselves and enhance sustainable employability. A few of them are featured in the book. They are from all walks of life and from different education background. All of them have one thing in common - 'Achieving Sustainable Employment Through Strategic Personal Marketing.'

To make this book worth paying for, I have also added some self-discovery and self-reflection exercises inside the book. The self-discovery and self-reflection exercises contained will allow you to UNEARTH YOUR STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES, LEARN MORE ABOUT YOURSELF, AND DETERMINE THE DIRECTION YOU WANT TO GO. I have also added many resources (online and offline) in the book that you can use to your advantage. In a nutshell, this book contains practical tips on marketing yourself that you simply can't miss out on

My Publishing Plan

This campaign serves a DUAL purpose:

• Firstly, to self-publish the book because it allows me to be in control of the entire creative and selling process. Hence, your support means a lot to me. By supporting this campaign, you will help me transform my manuscript into a real book that people can buy.
• Secondly, I will be donating 50% of the profits from book sales to Pink Spartans, a dragon boat team for cancer survivors and supporters. So please support my book publishing campaign and support this cause if you are willing. Assuming this funding comes together, 'NAIL IT: Hard-Hitting Strategies To Make Yourself More Marketable' will be released in June 2015.

The Impact You Can Make

You can help a lot by just spreading the word about my book. You know people I don't know. Please tell people you know about my book. The more people who know about this project, the better chance it has of becoming fully funded.

Thank you!

With deepest gratitude,

Terence Chiew