Just a quick note to prone you up and get you moving forward today:
Life is far too short to worry about what others think though we all do.
If you want to spend your time and your mental energy on creating a better, fuller life for you, your friends and your family then so be it.
Why let those little voices, those memories of what didn't go right, and all those mean spirited individuals who have nothing better to do than attempt to kill your dreams because they're too scared or dull to have any of their own hold you back?
Simply let it ALL go.
The guilt. The fear. The pressure. The problems of the past.
Let it go.
Let go of their expectations.
Let go of what they think you can't do.
Let go of all those little voices that hold you back.
If you know it's your time then go do it.
Get all the checks in the mail YOU want.
Recruit as many people at the push of a button as YOU want.
Let YOUR income soar to insane levels. Give your talent and creativity a PUSH!
And . . .
Consider it simply a job well done.
Hold no guilt!
You know as well as I do that all those claiming you "can't" will be the first to ask you how they can when you've proved them wrong.
It's you! The person with a will of steel and a heart of total focus and conviction that CAN!
So do:
And when they come crawling back for your help. Smile and do all that you can for them.
Today I would like to help in my own personal way again as usual with the information I believe will lead you into something better with your creativity and writing career.
Please take the time to find something for yourself here:
READY TO MAKE A LEAP INTO THAT CAREER
Whether you are embarking on a new career or feel the time is right to make a mid-career move, a solid game plan can jump-start the process.
In this post, you will find ten steps to get you going in the right direction. The industry landscape is changing, and must so your strategies. Preparation is key, and the things you do before you contact prospective employers can make all the difference in how you’re received when you finally meet them.
Get ready for good things to happen!
Get Ready!
1.Evaluate What you Want In a Job.
Whether you are in mid-career or just starting out, you’ve probably had a job before. Maybe more than one. Some good. Some not so good. It’s much easier to find “the job of your dreams” if you know what you’re looking for. Assess your professional likes and dislikes as objectely as possible. What are your “must haves” in a new job? What are the “knockouts” – the things that will make you turn down an opportunity no matter how good it sounds otherwise?
Consider:
·What are you good at?
·What are your interests?
·Do you prefer to work alone or in teams?
·Is talking on the phone torture?
·Do you enjoy meeting new people?
·Do you prefer structure or flexible schedule?
·Is travel out of the office acceptable?
·How far will you commute? Would you relocate?
Write down your answers. Don’t skip these steps; sometimes it’s important to see things in black and white. If you’re an outgoing vegetarian who love s to interview people, it wouldn’t take you long to hate your job if you had to work alone in a cubicle editing a meat-processing journal – no matter what you were paid.
2.Buff Up Your Skills.
Once you’ve determined what you want, analyze what you have to offer–and what skills you can improve.
Learning is a continuous process. And there’s nothing like learning something new to give you a new perspective or to sharpen your focus. Aim to have at least one new skill or education/training item to add to your résumé. It will impress a prospective employer and make you feel good about yourself.
Try one of these:
·Tighten up your editing skills with a grammar refresher.
·Spark those brain cells with a creative writing class.
·Get up to speed with the latest graphic software.
·Become well versed in e-publishing.
·Polish your public speaking skills with toastmasters.
·Learn to read a financial report in an evening accounting class.
·Develop your organizational skills while working with a not-for-profit.
Don’t ever discount charity work when considering skills you’ve developed or as a means to attain skills you’re not learning on the job. Many people have used the pro bono arena to successfully transition to a new career.
Try something new. Try something fun. Use this opportunity to fill in the gaps you think may be holding you back.
3.Pull Together Your Promotional Packaging.
Publishing is communication. Employers want an employee to be able to use the right word in the correct manner to convey an idea as elegantly as possible.
The first thing that you are conveying to a potential employer is yourself. And, for the record, everything counts.
Résumé: Ask others in your field what their résumé look like. If you don’t know where to begin, check a book out of the library. There are literally hundreds of books about resumes. Here are some things to keep in mind.
Keep information relevant: If you are considering two different types of jobs, have two different resumes. Don’t try to be all things to all people.
Keep it short: The idea résumé is one page long. Cover previous experience, education and training, professional awards and associations, publications, tools with which you have expertise. Keep it concise and keep it focused on the skills you’re selling.
Keep it clean: Don’t get creative with designs, fonts, papers, or graphics. Your name should be displayed prominently at the top; limit the text to two font selections; select white or cream paper. If you are a freelancer, include your business logo, if appropriate.
Cover memo: Develop a template to use with the accompanying résumé. Same rules apply. The cover memo should be the same format, font, and paper used for the résumé. If you will be applying for more than one type of job, have multiple cover memos as well. Don’t rely on memory to make adjustments to just one version. When you’re responding to several positions at the same time, something will slip by.
Portfolio: Careful scrutinize every piece you add to your portfolio. This is the essence of the body of work–both scope and quality. If you’re just starting off, include school projects and samples of work created specifically for the portfolio. You can be more creative here, but again, remember to be focus on what skills you’re selling. You can have as many versions of your portfolio as you need.
4.Line Up a Reference or Two.
We live in a debatable society. For that reason, as much as anything else, many companies have ceased the practice of seeking references on job candidates. They’re not particularly helpful, as the reference may not feel comfortable speaking freely. That doesn’t mean that a prospective employer won’t ask. So it’s a good idea to line up a reference or two in case the subject arise.
Of course, select people with something positive to say about you!
Do not include the names of your references on your résumé. It is not even necessary to include the “References are available upon request” line. Do not include them in any initial contact with an employer. Wait until they are asked for. Have the name, position, and contact information for your references typed on a separate sheet of paper.
Some Potential references:
·Current or former teacher/instructor.
·Current or former colleagues.
·People you’ve worked with on a charity committee or business organization event
Current or former supervisor
Outside consultants you’ve worked with
Consider a person with whom you have worked that does not do the same work as you. For instance, if you are an editor, perhaps you have worked on several successful projects with the same graphic artist. This person makes an excellent reference. He or she can speak to your ethic, your ability to maintain project schedules, to remark on your editorial expertise. That is up to the employer to determine by interviewing you and reviewing your portfolio.
Get Set!
5.Research your Market.
Who’s buying the skills you’re selling? Since you already know what you want in a new job, the next step is to focus on where you can get it. There’s a huge universe of people buying writing, editing, and publishing talent. The key is to find out who they are and decide which of them interest you.
Some prospects include:
·Ad agencies.
·Area corporations
·Book publishers
·Commercial magazine publishers
·Consulting companies
·Journal publishers
·Literary agents
·Newspapers
·Public relations companies
·Trade publishers
Once you’ve focused on one or two markets, research them to learn who’s who. Need information about area corporations, try Newspapers? Read all local papers–both paid subscription and free. Trade publishers? Try literary market place.
Get to know who the players are in your market. Be familiar with names. Follow recent mergers and acquisitions. Analyze whether the market is good or if you should look elsewhere.
6.Research Job and Salary Range.
The next step is determine what jobs are available in your market. Not only the positions that are currently hiring–all available jobs. You want to know as much as you can about your target market, whom they are hiring and what they are paying.
What are the current titles and what duties do those jobs entails?
What is the highest publishing related job on the organization?
What is the career path to get to that job?
Are there multiple paths? Technical v. nontechnical? Editorial v. sales?
Are there gender biases? Age biases?
What is the turnover? Do jobs open frequently or will you have to stay in the same position for long periods of time?
What are the salary ranges?
Where does this organization fit in the market?
Do your research both online and off. Study the organization’s Web site. Peruse the trade press. Check out the financial news. Search area newspaper’s archives. Read their old press releases.
This information is vital to jump-start your career. However, it’s data, Facts. News, statistics, Third-party intelligence. Now it’s time to start getting connected.
7.Join A Professional Association.
One of the best ways to get involved with your target market is through professional associations. A number of associations may serve members in your target market. Select those that complement your skills. Start with one or two. You want to have enough time to get personally involved.
Associations cover:
Business writing
Medical writing
Public relations and publicity
Independent/freelance writing
Layout/design/graphic arts
Publishing
Training and development
Web technology
Once you have joined, contact the president and ask to get involved. Join a committee. Write for the newsletter. Attend board meetings. Meet people and get involved in ways that can help them. Agree to do only as much as you can accomplish successfully. Have fun.
Professional associations are the best way to get insider information about your market. Most of them have members-only job postings. They tend to list the achievements of their members in their newsletters (one person’s promotion may be a job opportunity for you). Membership directories are excellent sources of people to talk to about their jobs or companies. (Don’t, however, call someone you don’t know and ask for a job! That’s professional suicide.) Once you get to know people, they will talk openly about their organizations and others they’ve worked for.
Get Started!
8.Begin Your Campaign
By now, you’re well prepared to begin your campaign. You know your market, you know your targets, and you know the experience needed and the salary paid.
Now you can begin searching for open positions. Even though your search is very focused, there are a number of ways to go:
Contact an executive recruiter,. Many work with people who have as little as 3+ years of experience and up.
Use professional membership job postings.
Search the internet. There are literally millions of jobs on the internet. Use this medium as research. Find out where the jobs are and follow up with a paper or cover letter and résumé. If you apply electronically, be very sure that your skills match perfectly to he requirements or your résumé will be automatically eliminated.
Discretely ask friends and colleagues for referrals.
Read the want ads in the Sunday newspapers. An old standby still works.
Since you are launching a focused campaign, you also sent out résumés to your target companies who are not currently advertising for openings. You know what they want since you’ve done your research on them. They may not be aware they want you until they see your credentials.
9.Continue To Do Good Work On Your Current Job.
Professional recruiter lore indicates that finding a new position requires approximately one month per N10, 000 in salary. Want to make N60, 000? Expect the search to take at least six months. During that time, you may be working at a job you no longer want, no longer like, or have long outgrown. Grit your teeth and do your very best.
Continue to maintain a high level of professionalism. Many times, people emotionally disengage from their current position when they began a job search. Performance fails and quality decreases. Everything they do began to be affected–including the crucial job.
Don’t let this in-between times catch you at your worst. Tell yourself that you can tolerate anything now that you know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. Strive to perform at your current job the way you want to perform at your new one.
Develop a professional mantra of how you want to be perceived in your career. Select from the keywords bellow, or choose some of your own.
Repeat your mantra to yourself as often as needed to get you through the day-to-day work to your new opportunity. “Keep up the good work” is not an empty catch phrase for you now, it should be a way of life.
10.Keep A Positive Attitude.
Just as your 9–5 work ethic rubs off on all parts of your life, so does your attitude. You might be coming from a bad experience–a “Night of the living Dead” kind of bad experience, but a prospective employer doesn’t want to know about it. If fact, he probably doesn’t want any scent of it anywhere near his organization. It’s vitally important that you always express a positive attitude during interviews.
It's been somehow writing and looking into my next book coming out in June and so many other things bugging the mind out here but I really know i have to make this quick and give out this wonderful time management information to help you out and show some ways in which you can better make your time work for you.
So today, I will like you to join me and learn something out here about planning and managing time for your success.
"Planning For the Best Results in Five Easy Steps"
It is said that planning makes sure that you are preparing for all the good stuff to happen. Great results are achieved with careful planning. Often we may consider something to be an overnight success, but more often than not, that was result of months or even years of deliberate planning. Let us go into more detail of how you can improve your planning ability, with these five easy steps.
It is said that planning makes sure that you are preparing for all the good stuff to happen. Great results are achieved with careful planning. Often we may consider something to be an overnight success, but more often than not, that was result of months or even years of deliberate planning. Let us go into more detail of how you can improve your planning ability.
First of all, you have to ask yourself what are the intended results that you wish to achieve. Knowing this will focus your planning efforts on how to get there, which bring us to the next point of deliberation.
The next step is to figure out what you must do to get those results. Obviously, you have to do something, right. Otherwise there would be no point to the planning if everything is not in your control. List out the steps that you will need to take to achieve your goals.
Next, you have to decide on your priorities, sometimes you have to do the steps outlined above in a sequential manner and that will determine the priority. Other times, several tasks could be started without impacting each other. It is in these cases that you have to prioritize and get going with one of them.
Determine how much time each step in your plan will require and when you will take the time to do them. Some tasks you can do anytime, and some others you have to do at a specific time or you could be more efficient doing some tasks early in the morning, for example.
Finally, make sure you have allotted some time for the unexpected things that crop up. Yes, these things are rarely in our complete control, so build in a bit of buffer so that the unexpected can be dealt with without too much impact to your plan.
These are all the ingredients that you will need to make a great plan that you can follow. Planning will help you to manage your time better, and get your goals done in a prompt manner.
