Construction Curiosities #35 – Construction Personal Branding | New Buy America Plan | Acrobatic Attic Walking


Hey! Happy Saturday! Matt here.

Welcome to the Super Bowl Sunday Saturday Edition of the Construction Curiosities Newsletter!

This weekly Newsletter explores my Curiosities about the Construction Industry. It’s meant to make you think, smile, and become a better, more well-informed Construction Professional.

We hit the 600 subscriber mark this week. And for that, I thank you all for sharing in the vision and everything you’ve done to help promote this project within your networks.

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Summary

This week we will look at:

  • One Podcast: Construction Personal Branding
  • One Article: New Buy America Plan
  • One Quote: Do What Others Won’t
  • One Meme: Acrobatic Attic Walking

One Podcast

This week we had the chance to interview Shelly Peterson, from Promoting Me LLC. This was an interview I was selfishly looking forward to ever since Kyle and I started spitballing guest ideas for the podcast.

I hadn’t thought much personally about building my Personal Brand until more recently. When I started this newsletter 35 weeks ago, I needed a way to market it so I turned to LinkedIn. The more I posted and interacted on there by sharing my views on the industry and poking fun at the ConTech crowd 😘 I started to make more and more genuine connections. Not just a vanity number, but actual conversations with folks and some genuine friendships have come out of that.

So if you are a fresh graduate looking for your first position as you start your career, someone looking to make a career shift, or someone simply wanting to expand their network and/or help others in the industry through your content, I encourage you all to take the first steps in building your personal brand.

I forget the numbers exactly, but David Horesh recently posted that on LinkedIn there are 6.5 million users from the Construction Industry and yet there are only 2,900 “active users.” That’s 0.00045%

That means there are 6,497,100 people sleeping on the opportunity LinkedIn is giving folks right now. (I’m sure there’s a similar consumer-to-creator ratio on the other social platforms as well)

Most people don’t know this but LinkedIn gives you a Social Score. Do they use that to feed the algorithm for more reach and impressions? There’s a rumor that says yes. With so few people posting you can see it is fairly easy to be in the top 1% on LinkedIn.

Here is my score for reference:

You can check your here: Social Selling Index

I say all that to say… If you are reading this, the odds are highly in the favor of you being in the Construction Industry. And if you are in the Construction Industry, it is so very easy right now to stand out and start to build your Personal Brand.

All you have to do is start.

Step 1: Watch or Listen to this week’s Podcast all about Personal Branding and How to Stand out in a Micro Attention Society.

WATCH:

LISTEN:

How are you going to start building your Personal Brand?

Need some help or clarity on where to start?

Leave a comment and I’m happy to answer any questions the best I can based on my own experiences.

Leave a comment


Upcoming Podcast Live Recordings:

📅 Marty Schmitt, CCM – Monday, Feb 13 @ 2:30 pm CST
𝗧𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰: Taking control of your career growth and creating your own opportunities

📅 Felipe Engineer-Manriquez – Monday, Feb 20 @ 3:00 pm CST
𝗧𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰: Construction Scrum & Project Engagement

📅 Jason Schroeder – Friday, March 3
𝗧𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰: Elevate the Construction Industry through Lean Construction Practices


For all existing Construction Yeti Crew Members, click this button for the Live Podcast Recording Audience Links. This allows you to Watch and Participate in the guest Q&A.

CM Mentors Live Audience Links

HUGE NEWS! Well maybe just for me, but I finally figured out how to put an “Add to Calendar” link for the Live Audience Links!

For everyone else, head to the bottom of the newsletter to learn how to join the Construction Yeti Crew and get an access pass to the Live Recordings!


Pop Quiz Trivia Question

State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona (where the 2023 Super Bowl LVII is being hosted) was the first stadium in North America to be built with this construction feature?

A. A retractable natural grass playing field

B. Massaging back chairs in all Club Level seats

C. A retractable roof

D. Multi-sport playing surfaces

Answer is at the bottom of the Newsletter


One Article

Biden details ‘Buy America’ plan in State of the Union

The Biden administration’s proposed standards are more rigorous than past Buy America programs, which mainly focused only on iron and steel and only covered certain projects, according to a White House statement released a day before the speech.


One Quote


One Meme

If you’ve ever had to crawl into the furthest reaches of your attic, you know the feeling.


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Where else can you get this level of Industry Access and Career Support for the cost of a Cheeseburger 🍔 and Fries 🍟 each week?


Trivia Answer

A. A retractable natural grass playing field

From the official State Farm Stadium About Page:

Designed with a roll-out natural grass field and retractable roof, the first of its kind in North America, the stadium is capable of converting from a sports facility to a multi-functional event space allowing it to host numerous event types in air-conditioned comfort.

The roll-out natural grass playing field is contained in a single 40 inch deep tray measuring 234 feet wide and 403 feet long. Rolling on 546 steel wheels which rest on 13 railroad-like tracks the field travels the 740 feet inside or out of the stadium in approximately 70 minutes at the push of a button.

Designed to have the feel and playability of a traditional grass playing surface, the field allows sporting events to be played on natural grass (Tifway 419) indoors while providing unrestricted access to the stadium floor for events and staging and getting the maximum amount of sunshine and nourishment when parked outside in the desert sun.

Peace Out. ✌

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