Sorry for the late upload of the Part 2 of the Successful Unemployment Toolkit!  (Please read the post here and upload Part 1).

Upload Part 2 of the audio (zip file that includes Tracks 6-15 in mp3 format):

mvpmodelingsolutions.com/Tracks_6_through_15_mp3.zip (This Download is virus-free, and NO, you DONT’t have to provide your contact info, or sign your life away in general. Just download and enjoy!)

If you’ve listened to both Parts 1 and 2 of the toolkit, I’d love to hear what you think! Please comment below.

Cheers,

Masha

Two years ago I read the first edition of Tim Ferriss’s 4-hour Work Week (see related post: How Much is Your Time Worth? – Unexpected engineering lessons from “The 4-Hour Workweek.”) - and was instantly inspired to create my very own internet product.

My first marvelous informational product (you be the judge after downloading it below), the Successful Unemployed Toolkit - failed miserably. I spend a lot more money on trying to market the product than I brought in by selling it. Turns out that engineering-related information does not lend itself to internet marketing as easily as “Become a Gazillioner while sitting on your couch” or “Loose 300lb NOW” type of information. It’s a lot more challenging to market and sell stuff to the scientific community (I’ll leave it up to you to decide if it’s because we’re more skeptical or simply smarter than the rest of the world ).

But as they say, it’s only a failure if you don’t learn from it. After selling a whopping 12 Successful Unemployment Toolkits, spending about $2000 on marketing, and shutting down the product website, I learned that:

- Nothing beats the thrill of selling a product that you dreamed-up and created from start to finish (even if you only sell 12 of them). Thus…

- …I cannot fathom going back to creating products for someone else (MVP has greatly benefited from this realization and is enjoying successful growth as I continue to create and develop my own products)

- Social media is an absolutely indispensable and free tool for any business or a individual

- Public speaking can be a lot of fun and I got a lot of practice as part of my first failed product marketing experience

- It’s a great big world of information out there - just because you got your degree, learning does not have to stop!

Now, what’s in it for you? Although I failed to make the Successful Unemployed Toolkit into a revenue-generating product, I still think that the information that I provide in it is very relevant and extremely useful to any engineer or scientist who is looking to grow professionally, or needs to find a job.

So I am giving away the Successful Unemployed Toolkit completely FREE. You don’t have to sign-up for anything. Just click on the link below, download and enjoy (if you find the information useful, I always appreciate your comments and e-mails!)

I will be giving away the toolkit in THREE PARTS during the month of October. Part one consists of first third of the MP3 audio portion and the Reference Guide. Parts 2 and 3 will include second and third parts of the audio, respectively.

(This Download is virus-free, and NO, you DONT’t have to provide your phone, e-mail, or sign your life away in general. Just download and enjoy!)

What is the Successful Unemployment Toolkit™? ( This text is directly from my, now shut-down, website…download is below the description…)

When I started my company, I became very involved in the company marketing and public relations efforts. In the process, I realized that a lot of techniques that go into promoting and building a small business can be very effective for individuals who are looking for a job and want to increase their professional value whether or not they are currently employed.

Working out of my home office forced me to look for opportunities that would allow me to grow as a professional while increasing my value as an expert in the field. I developed these techniques and implemented them very successfully for myself and my business. Now, I want to share with you how to use this information and techniques for your professional development.

The Successful Unemployment Toolkit™ that I have created for scientists and engineers is a set of very specific steps that you can start implementing immediately.

I will show you step-by-step how to:

· Add more valuable credentials and skills to your resume, even if you are not officially employed (and I am not talking about taking more classes or going back to school)

· Stay on top of the latest research developments in your field, whether or not you are currently working

· Stand out from the crowd of thousands of other job applicants, even if they have more experience in the field or a higher degree than you

· Develop the skills that will get you hired

· Find opportunities for professional growth

· Uncover jobs that are not advertised

· And most importantly - How to feel professionally fulfilled and HAPPY

DOWNLOAD Part 1 (zip file that includes Tracks 1-5 in mp3 format): mvpmodelingsolutions.com/Tracks_1_through_5_mp3.zip

DOWNLOAD Reference Guide in pdf format: mvpmodelingsolutions.com/ReferenceGuide_2011.pdf

Cheers!

Masha

Dear MVP Readers,

I am so excited to announce my first set of On-demand short courses for ACS!!  Seeing a huuuuge need for practical knowledge of statistical data analysis for science/engineering professionals (see previous post), I’ve created 2-4 hour course modules that can be viewed on your own time, and will leave you with a much better understanding of how to best analyze your experimental or computer modeling data.

The courses that are now available on the American Chemical Society website are:

Introduction to Statistical Analysis of Laboratory Data -

Understand the fundamentals of statistical treatment of laboratory data and learn how to solve basic data analysis problems with the help of Excel.

• Introduction to Statistics and MS Excel
• Measurement
• Calibration and traceability
• Why do we need data analysis?
• Three types of error
• Accuracy and precision
• Significant figures
• Population and Sample
• Mean, Variance and Standard Deviation

Advanced Statistical Analysis - Hypothesis Testing and ANOVA

• Determining significant Systematic Error
• Testing Variances
• Hypothesis Testing
• One way ANOVA
• ANOVA in Excel
• Least Significant Difference
• Sampling
• Multi-way ANOVA

Introduction to Statistical Calibration of Laboratory Methods

• Understand the linear calibration model
• Learn to estimate the uncertainties in the calibration parameters
• Learn to perform calibration calculations in Excel
• Calculate parameters and uncertainties in the standard addition method
• Calculate the detection limits from measurements of blanks and uncertainties of the calibration method

Excel Basics for Statistical Analysis of Laboratory Data

• Introduction to MS Excel
• 12 Hands-on Excel Examples Covering:
  • Mean, Variance and Standard Deviation
  • Calculating confidence Intervals
  • Normal distribution testing
  • Test for an outlier
  • Determining significant systematic error
  • Hypothesis Testing
  • Systematic Error
  • Testing Variances
  • One way ANOVA
  • Least Significant Difference
  • Sampling
  • Two-way ANOVA
  • Linear calibration model
  • Standard addition model
  • Limits of detection

Through a combination of lectures and problem-solving sessions, these On-Demand module will teach statistical techniques you can put to immediate use in your workplace. Example Excel files demonstrated in these modules will be available for you to download.

My live on-line courses in Statistics and Chemical Kinetics are starting on Sept. 15th 2011. To register visit:

Essentials of Chemical Kinetics

Introduction to Statistical Analysis of Laboratory Data

Hope to have you as a student this fall!

Cheers,

Masha

Ahhhh… the Holiday Season…Every year around this same time a slew of  “experts on gift-giving” come out with numerous super-ultimate gift lists for mothers, fathers, friends, teachers, babysitters and hairdressers. But when was the last time you’ve seen a great gift giving guide for all of the Engineers in your life?

I have yet to see such a guide. So I am self-proclaiming myself as a gift-expert for scientists and engineers this season! Here is the SUPER-ULTIMATE Gift Guide for every engineer, scientist, and techie-in-general on your list. Enjoy!

(Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with any of the companies below and am not compensated for any of the product suggestions. I own MVP Modeling Solutions.)

SUPER-ULTIMATE Gift Guide

For your co-workers:

Working with Engineers? Thank them for their great work and attention to detail with:

Neocube 216pc Magnet Puzzle

It’s a fun magnetic puzzle that anyone working in front of a computer all day would appreciate! It looks cool sitting on your desk and keeps you entertained while you’re procrastinating… I mean, brainstorming.

$19.95 from www.Amazon.com

Click here to see the cool video of the puzzle.

For your lab mates:

Need a creative gift for a biologist or chemist that will actually help them work better? Get them a stylish looking Molecular Model Set. They are fun to tinker with while…uuuhhmmm…brainstorming, they look cool AND make you look smart while sitting on your desk.

$31.50 from www.Amazon.com

Piled Higher and Deeper comics are an oldie but goody. Created by a Stanford engineering graduate it kept me entertained though out grad school years and students and advisors alike can still empathize with the comic strip’s characters.

For your thesis advisor:

If you are a grad student, praying for graduation - give a small token of appreciation to your advisor! Every little bit helps.

World’s Best Advisor Mug

$12.95 PhD Comics Store

For your friends who are desperate to get out of grad school and start living:

Grad Student Motivation Chart Mug

$12.95 PhD Comics Store

For any of your Techie friends having to survive in the corporate world:

Of course we can not forget about Dilbert as we think of our “could-be” researchers who have sold their souls to the corporate world (yes, that would be me).

Make them a Customized Dilbert gift!

1)      Choose favorite character

2)      Select your favorite comic strip

3)      Choose to print the strip on a mug, card, t-shirt of water bottle

For anyone in the STEMs fields:

Entertaining t-shirts from www.thinkgeek.com. Here are some of my favorites:

T-shirt with a built-in equalizer. Animates to ambient noise or music. $29.99

Stand back t-shirt: Staring at $15.99

Molar Mole t-shirt: (it’s made out of repeated Avogadro’s number!) Staring at $15.99

For your HR, procurement of training manager:

Last but not least, remember that your HR and procurement departments can be helpful in letting you know about various opportunities in the company. Make their job easier by helping them spend company training budgets on courses that engineers would enjoy and managers would approve off:

MVP Courses now on sale! Choose from chemistry, chemical-kinetics and engineering modeling courses.

Students - help the people in charge of seminars and talks at your university. Suggest they look into the entertaining and valuable MVP Keynote talks.

Hope this gift guide will help take care of every engineer and scientist on your list.

Very Happy Holidays!

Masha

I am looking for Speakers for the ACS Fall 2010 National Meeting and Exposition in Boston. And it just might be YOU!

DISCLAIMER: this is not a give-away or a lottery. I am offering you an opportunity to work hard to do something uncomfortable (public speaking); to take time out of your day job (or search for a job) in order to prepare a presentation, travel to a conference and to present in front of a bunch of strangers.  If you’re thinking  that that is a pretty crappy “opportunity”, read on

Dear MVP Readers,

I am organizing a session at 2010 ACS Fall meeting, titled: Computer Modeling - The Wave of the Future. The session is co-sponsored by the Division of Computers in Chemistry, Division of Chemical Information, and Division for Small Chemical Business.

Why you should care:

I am selecting speakers for this session and it is a wonderful chance  for many of you to:

-Present yourself as an expert in computer modeling, chemistry, biochemistry, engineering and/or small business development area

-Network with industry professionals in chemical, biochemical and engineering industry

-Grow professionally

-Boost your resume

-Learn what’s new in the chemistry field

-Develop you communication skills

Why might you want to do any of these things? (If you do not know the answer already, you REALLY need the info in my Toolkit!) All of the above can be instrumental in helping you get a job, grow your business, or help you become a more valued industry professional.

What you need to qualify:

- Ability to travel to Boston and attend ACS meeting on August 22-26 (you’ll be responsible for your own travel expenses, but if you are NOT an ACS member, you will get free admission to the conference on the day of presentation).

-Be working (or have worked) in area of computer modeling that has something to do with chemistry, biochemistry, biology or chemical or bio engineering

- Be able to say something about how modeling and simulation can help small businesses (I’d be happy to help you with this part, just contact me at masha@mvpmodelingsolutions.com, if you’re stuck on this one)

I am interested! What to do next:

If you have any questions for me about presenting at ACS, please submit them in comments below. I promise to answer all of them! If you are seriously thinking of presenting, please contact me at masha@mvpmodelingsolutions.com.

Finally, please pass the link to this post to any of your colleagues or friends who are looking to grow as a technical professional!

Best of luck!

UPDATE