Lori Weiss, MBA: Life Cleanse

It seems fitting that I am writing an update exactly four months to the day after my previous post. My life has gone through extreme changes over these past months and this update serves as my most honest and personal yet.

On November 26, 2013, just two days before Thanksgiving, I was laid off for the second time in the span of a year. I found myself heading into the notoriously difficult time of the holidays wondering what my course of action would be. Knowing that the time span from Thanksgiving through New Year's would be a difficult period to find a job, I used the time to prepare my resume and go on some local interviews.

What I discovered was that I needed to completely rethink my life course. So I embarked on a "life cleanse." I stuck to an extreme paleo diet, exercised intensively, created lists of requirements for my next opportunity, got LASIK surgery, swore off dating, and importantly focused on myself for the first time in a long time.

Over the past four months, I have had the opportunity to explore LA and travel to various places, including Arizona, Ft. Lauderdale, Catalina Island, the Bay Area, Vancouver, and other locations around California (photos below). I have also had the pleasure of spending time with visiting friends from all over the world, from Israel to New York City. Through my adventures and interactions, I learned one very important thing: my extreme need to be social and constantly engaged. I am a textbook extrovert, as I gain energy from social interactions.

Thus, I have committed to a full-fledged job search, seeking local positions that enable me to use my excellent social skills in order to positively contribute to a company of my dreams. Interestingly, in my quest for the perfect job, I realized that the search itself stimulated me - it allowed me constant interactions with new people and new ways to uncover strategic connections. As I started teaching my tips and providing advice to my friends, I yearned to continue in this vein. It is for that reason that I have begun a freelance outreach business, providing clients (business owners, job seekers, people moving to a new city, etc.) with strategic ways to make connections and build relationships.

I have taken the big step of updating my LinkedIn profile, announcing the following to the world:

I am a dynamic, extroverted freelance Outreach Expert, providing my clients with advanced tips and skills in the following areas:
1. Event networking
2. Leveraging social media (LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter) to achieve business/professional and/or personal goals
3. Client acquisition
4. Raising awareness for your brand, business, or profile
5. Targeting and messaging
6. Building your professional career
7. Relationship-building and maintaining
8. Maximizing profit

My clients are typically individuals who are starting a new business, changing their careers, or moving to a new city, though I can certainly help anyone (such as investors looking for local startups, etc.). I am also available to speak on any of the aforementioned topics.

I have also created a Facebook page, and my website is in development. I am excited as I begin to blog about this endeavor!