Are you artistic? Do you enjoy bringing beauty to our world? If you are an artist, a craftsperson, a designer, even a jewelry maker, your creations can become a source of income.   Your handwork may contribute to your greater financial security; it may help you diversify your sources of income.

It’s not an easy path but neither is your work easy to create.  More than anything else, the most important consideration when attempting to turn your artistic hobby into a source of income: continually focus on quality.

Think about your prospective customers, the individuals who buy handmade crafts on the Internet. What makes your work special?  Who already owns your work?  What do they love about your work?

While thinking about your prospective customers, think about the vast array of items available online.  People can buy scarves, why would they choose yours?

The most popular place for selling homemade creations online is Etsy.com. Etsy was founded with a simple mission: “to enable people to make a living making things, and to reconnect makers with buyers.”  According to Etsy’s website, their vision is “to build a new economy and present a better choice: Buy, Sell, and Live Handmade.”

As anyone who makes handmade goods knows, the quality and caliber is far greater than mass manufactured goods.  That, combined with the huge market of people seeking unique, quality goods makes for strong business opportunity.

Many people have started full-fledged businesses selling their work on Etsy.  Some of Etsy’s most successful sellers, each earning six figure incomes from their Etsy sales, were featured in The New York Times (Dec 16, 2009 – That Hobby Looks Like a Lot of Work).  Their advice to those thinking of selling their handiwork on Etsy - build a brand identity meaning you’ll need to court design blogs or the news media.  They also warned that with success comes the need to produce the products.  Some top sellers speak of working long hours to fill their orders.

Turn your creative, hand-made work into profit.  Start your own business selling your creations.  Etsy accounts are easy to set-up and they are free.  Etsy is paid a small percentage of sales.  Ready to start?  It’s as simple as these five steps:

1. Decide on your brand identity. 
2. Create a free Etsy account (www.etsy.com).
3. List your items on Etsy. Describe them in detail, and include pictures.
4. Shoppers order and pay for your item; you are paid directly. Etsy is paid a small fee.
5. Ship the item to your customer.

 

Practice your art while enjoying the income it provides.

Identity Theft Continues to Grow. March 1, 2013.  Identity Theft Resource Center reports that identity theft grew by one-third over the past year.  Identity theft, in fact, has been the #1 complaint to the Federal Trade Commission for 13 years in a row.  Florida tops the list with the majority of their cases involving government tax or benefits fraud.   Georgia, Mississippi, Michigan and Louisiana round out the top five identity theft states.

Are you protected?  For protection tips, read the Protect Your Identity article on this site, visit the Identity Theft Resource Center Consumer Protection Tips, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and OnGuardOnline.gov.

Business incubators bring strength to start-up businesses.  They do so by providing a support process for fledgling businesses.  They arrange for the resources, services and techniques necessary to take an organization from its beginnings to a thriving entity.  The incubator process can have a powerful affect on the success of a new business.  Generally, businesses established through an incubator process progress at a more rapid pace.  Equally important, incubators increase the likelihood for business longevity.

Business incubators began in support of tech start-ups.  Incubators now serve many types of fledgling companies. 

A business incubator is actually an organization with management whose knowledge, skills and contacts they share with a select group of entrepreneurs who are starting new businesses.  The management team for each business incubator selects the firms they bring into their fold.  Their criteria vary; each incubator has its own areas of expertise that will drive the selection process. 

Typically, an incubator will provide its clients with rental office space, flexible leasing terms plus shared business services and equipment.  In addition, incubator management will work closely with each of their clients, providing guidance, assistance in seeking finance and other means of support.

In today’s virtual world, incubators also provide their expertise to businesses not located within their facility.  Virtual clients may be remote or they may be working out of their home. 

In 2005, North American incubators assisted more than 27,000 companies that provided full-time employment for more than 100,000 workers and generated $17 billion in annual revenues.¹  Business incubators have such a strong track record that more and more incubators have begun.  It’s a business that is large enough to have its own professional association, National Business Incubation Association, http://www.nbia.org. ; Visit their website to learn more about incubators and to find incubators in your area.  Perhaps an incubator is right for you, enabling the strong and rapid growth you foresee.

What is your dream?  What do you want in your life that costs money?  Some people dream of a home and family.  Others dream of a boat or a vacation cabin.  Still others seem themselves travelling to Australia, to Alaska or even to Zimbabwe.  What are your dreams?

To make our dreams happen, most of us must plan and save.  That means we need to be personally profitable.  We know about profitable businesses, we hear about them all the time.  When is the last time you planned for your own personal profit?  

Rarely do we talk about personal profit and that is crazy.  What’s more important than managing our personal finances so we have the money for our dreams?  Here are a few tips for taking control of your financial future – it depends on you.

Challenge your thinking.  Start by accepting that your entire financial future depends on you.  The odds of a miraculous lottery win are nil – that’s the stuff for storybooks.  Instead, become your own chief financial officer.  Look at your income and your expenses.  What changes can you make?  What changes should you make?  Can you generate added income from other sources?      

Too often, we set aside the dreams of our younger years.  There is no reason to do so.  Instead, keep a realistic eye on your income and expenses.  If necessary, reshape your dreams and goals to the financial realities of your life. 

Finally, it’s never too soon to start.

Every money choice we make can change our financial future.  It is so easy to feel we need a bigger TV, a later model car, the latest i product or a new fridge just because ours isn’t stainless.  Immediate satisfaction waits at every corner.  Every money choice we make, every dollar we spend, can change our financial future.  The thousand we spend today means we’ll have to spend a thousand less tomorrow.      

Plan.  Plan your money for today.  Plan your money for your future.  If necessary, you may decide to change your goals so they fit your financial reality.  But, don’t let it so consume you that you forget to enjoy yourself.   

Keep your dreams in front of you.  Perhaps the best motivator for following your financial plan is to keep reminding yourself of your goals.  That can take whatever form you wish.  You might journal your progress alongside your goals.  Or, you may keep an image of your dream on the fridge. 

Remember, just because you have dreams doesn’t mean you must forgo the joy of today.  Enjoy the journey.

Don’t accept defeat.  Following the ravages of our recent recession, it’s easy to throw our hands up in despair.  We’d had expectations and some may have been taken off the table.  Instead of throwing in the towel, re-imagine.  Reshape your dreams.  Find ways to experience them at a reduced cost – or at no cost if that is necessary. The key is to find ways to make sure your income stays ahead of your expenses.

It’s a changed world.

We’re electronically connected.  So much so that governments have been toppled with tweets.  Vast numbers of us no longer do our work in an office, instead working virtually from wherever we need to be to get the job done.  Many of us no longer buy books or CDs or newspapers or even movies, instead, we download exactly what we want onto our phone, tablet, PC or TV.  Many of us even skip a trip to the mall, preferring to order online. 

We’re global.  The earthquake and tsunami in Japan slowed auto production and tv delivery into the US.  The upheaval of Middle Eastern political systems threatened US oil consumption which meant higher gas prices.  China tightly controls rare earth mineral mining, putting pressure on U.S. production of eco products.

We’re selective.  No longer do we buy a whole CD, no longer do we buy a whole newspaper.  We only get the podcast, article or song we really want.  We live where we want.  We wear what we want.  We read what we want. 

We’re inventive.   We’re instantaneous.  We have choices. 

Companies have changed.  Competitive challenge is greater than ever.  Economic pressures force operating decisions that result in painful outcomes.  Firms bypass domestic employees for far less costly offshore staffing and manufacturing.  Some firms have even changed their headquarters to foreign soil to avoid high corporate taxation.  Whole swaths of middle managers have simply become unnecessary. 

The employee-employer dynamic is altogether changed.  No longer does the employer take responsibility for each employee through retirement.  Today, we are responsible for all our retirement costs.  While some firms partially fund 401-k’s, there are few pension programs remaining other than for federal, state and local employees.

We’re personally responsible.  No longer can we count on cradle to grave employment packages.  No longer can we be absolutely sure our job will last even to the next decade.  In place, it’s up to us to not just figure out what we want and need in our lives, but also to make it happen.  That’s not just economics but also finding all the things in life that makes it a good life.  It is financial and it is personal.

It's a changed world.  Have we kept up?  Have you?  Have I?  Yes, we’re all connected.  Yes, we’re all electronic.  Yes, we’re now very selective about the things we choose to want.  Still, there are some deeper consequences to living in this changed world that are not as visible, not as talked about, not as easy to manage.

There are some basic 21^st century rules for money:

Decide on your life economic goals.   What do you want to happen in your life that costs money?   Assign dates to each goal so that you can spread your economic goals over the course of your life.  Estimate the costs for your goals and dreams across your lifetime.  Then, work to make those goals happen.

Think profit.   Whether from the work you do as an employee or the work you do for your own company, profit is an imperative.  Profit is not cash flow.  Your personal profit comes after all your expenses, every last cost is covered.  The amount that remains is your profit.

What do you do with profit?  It’s your personal profit that you use to achieve your economic goals.   Your personal profit is what will fund all your economic goals from home ownership to travel and even retirement.

Multiple sources of income.   Today, it’s risky to rely only on your income from a job.  Whether you work for a company or for yourself, there are ways for you to bring in money from sources in addition to your working income.  Establishing multiple revenue streams is important. See Multiple Income Sources in this section.

Work in America has undergone a tectonic shift. As a result, many of us feel that life as we knew it no longer exists. No longer are there jobs for life – unless you create the job and the company yourself. Whole companies can go under, leaving employees stranded. Whole job categories can disappear. Fundamental reorganization happens.

Today’s working normal requires your attention and your preparedness.

Pay attention to the financial well-being of your business sector and your firm. Talk to coworkers, google your business category, listen and read, be attentive to signs or indicators about the strength of your firm or its business sector. Are you working in a high growth business sector, a slow growth sector or is your firm in a declining sector? How is your firm doing compared to its competitors?

Keep an eye on your job category. Even if your firm is strong, be aware of their strategic planning. Some strong firms seek efficiency by reducing job categories. Or, they may choose to send certain jobs overseas. Perhaps the opportunities in your particular job category are diminishing at your firm. Even if your skills are exceptional, be aware of the changing landscape, especially if there are fewer and fewer jobs using your fine skills.

Do not jump ship too soon. If you feel you are seeing early warning signs of trouble, increase your efforts to monitor the situation. Don’t forget that some firms are cyclical, they naturally experience ups and downs. Look at your organization’s history. Has the kind of change you are noticing happened before? What happened then?

Make your own personal strategic plan. Take the reins for your career’s well-being. Consider your strengths, your skills, your preferences.  With those in mind, develop your own personal career plan. In it, assess the options available to you. Consider what might happen at your firm that would put your well-being at risk – then figure out the steps you would take to remedy the situation.

Keep your resume polished. Whatever your career category, be certain your resume is up-to-date. You never know when an ideal opportunity comes along for which you will want your resume. Or, if a negative surprise should occur, you are ready with not just your resume but a personal plan.

Actively maintain your network. Your network is a valuable asset. These are all the people - your peers, superiors, subordinates, customers and suppliers – who might have a valuable connection or referral should there be need for a change.

Establish an emergency fund. Some advisors suggest a 3-month safety net, some say a 6-month safety net and some suggest you keep enough money available to live for a year without employment. Whatever your personal number, an emergency fund can be the life boat needed at a crucial point in life.

Today’s normal puts you at the helm of your own career, monitoring your current working situation while also making plans that ensure your well-being in a thriving career over your working lifetime.

Are you in a no-growth job?  Are you worried for your job because your firm is making efficiency changes?  Do you feel unfulfilled at the job?  Or, did you lose the job you never liked to begin with? 

There are many reasons for a career makeover.  It's up to you.  You are the one who must keep a watchful eye, recognizing when it’s time to make the leap, to embrace a new vision, a changed career.

If you’ve nodded as you read this, if you know it’s time for a change and you are fortunate enough to have a job, keep that job!  Until you have defined your new job category and you are qualified for jobs in that category, making a hasty leap is a surefire road to failure.  If you are searching for a job, this may be the time for reinvention.

Start with a close look at yourself.

Let’s call the work you’re about to do My Working Future.  Here you’ll begin to define the possibilities for your future by first taking a look at yourself.

As you complete the following self-assessment, remember, there are no right or wrong answers, only your answers.   Remember, too, that some entries will open doors to possibilities while other entries will close doors. 

With plenty of paper so you can make long, complete lists, divide your pages into two columns. 

• Strengths and weaknesses.  With strengths heading one column and weaknesses heading the other, write down each of your strengths and weaknesses – even those that don’t appear to have a relationship to a job.  If you are a good singer or a strong soccer player, put them on the list.  While you may not become a professional singer or athlete, strengths of all sorts can be woven into career choices.
• Likes and dislikes.  Again, with likes heading one column and dislikes heading the other, review your personal preferences.
• Requirements and limitations. Finally, with each heading a column, consider the conditions under which you will accept a job and the limitations you impose on your job search.

Now is the time to be brutally honest.  If your math skills are strong, that is a strength.  If you think you don’t like jobs that use your math skills, that is a dislike – and also a limitation.  The strength, the dislike and the limitation need to be recognized on your lists. 

Do you want to bring your dog to work?  That is a requirement and a limitation – only certain kinds of firms allow dogs.  It’s also a like, you like to work in the kind of firm that allows pets at work.

Are you willing to consider opportunities in another part of the country?  That is a strength.  Are there circumstances that prevent you from moving to another part of the country?  That is both a requirement and a limitation.  It’s a limitation because there may be perfect opportunities in other regions. 

As you create your lists, consider the consequence of each entry.  If, under requirements, you seek a green firm, you are purposefully limiting the number of firms for which you will work.  That’s not a bad thing, that is your choice to make.

As you create your lists, highlight all the things you feel most strongly – the good feelings in one color and the bad feelings in another color.  Finding work about which you are passionate makes for great success.  Finding work where you experience negativity is a painful path to follow.

Ask your peers, friends and family for their thoughts.

Outside input is valuable.  It’s sometimes difficult to see all our plusses and minuses.  Ask what they see as your greatest strengths, your greatest challenges and what they think is your most unique asset or skill.

A word of caution.  Before you ask your office-mate or another co-worker, only do so in confidence.  You are at the start of your reinvention; it might not be understood at your firm.  Instead, consider approaching colleagues and even bosses from previous employment.  Also, ask a few close friends and family members. 

Another word of caution, consider the source of the input.  Might there be ulterior motives for their input?  If a comment surprises you, ask your source how they came to their opinion.  If you remain surprised, ask another for their thoughts on the subject. 

Take some personal and career assessment tests.

Where will I find testing? 

• Most colleges offer career testing.  Check your local colleges, both four-year institutions and community colleges.  In addition, don’t forget to check the college you attended – they likely offer career testing.
• Career coaches are another testing resource.  If you’ve a contact who was successful with a career coach, ask for a referral.  Otherwise, you’ll find certified coach referrals at International Coach Federation.  Be aware, coaches charge a fee for their work.
• Testing can also be found at online services such as Personality Desk which offers career interest,leadership and personality assessment tests at a cost. 
• Regional non-profit job and career organizations such as the Career Transitions Center of Chicago provide professional assistance to individuals in employment transition.  Many non-profit job and career organizations offer their services for a modest fee or at no cost.  To find regional organizations, check your network or Google “career center” along with the name of your town or region. Check also at your library or through your state’s department of employment security.
• Churches can be a terrific resource.  Many churches now have employment councils serving local residents.  Often, one church becomes the “go-to” resource in their area – ask around to find the church in your area.  In urban areas, some churches pool their efforts in support of low-cost or no-cost career assistance.

Personal strengths testing.  Some testing assesses your strongest personal characteristics. 

• If you use a college or career coach for testing, it is likely you’ll encounter personality and style testing.
• If you are doing this on your own, consider the VIA Character Strengths, a no-cost, online assessment of your core character strengths at VIA Character Strengths or Authentic Happiness. VIA’s character strengths are based on extensive worldwide research. Gallup, the research organization that has studied human nature and behavior for over 75 years, offers a strengths test you can do on your own though it requires the purchase of their book, Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath.

Career testing.

• Colleges and career coaches are a good resource for career testing. 
• If you decide, instead, to try an online product, be certain you understand whether a cost or a commitment is required.  Also, be sure the test result career categories have been updated to reflect contemporary job classifications.
• Women Employed, an organization working to improve the economic status of women and eliminate barriers to economic equity, provides an online career coach and career assessment tools.  Results can be sorted according to the amount of preparation each career category requires – from no preparation all the way up to advanced degrees.

Take a look at the many types of jobs in today’s market. 

It’s now time for online research.  Fortunately, there’s a terrific resource where you can view the pay scale, job requirements and the long term outlook for a seemingly endless roster of career possibilities from able seaman to aeronautical drafter, from biomedical engineer to cartoonist, from landscape architect to medical technologist.  It’s the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook. 

Remember to consider the other job categories at your current firm.  Is it possible that there are jobs at your firm that would satisfy your choice to reinvent?  Also, don’t forget the job categories at your firm’s suppliers or customers.  Keeping your self-reinvention to a job category or opportunity within your network of contacts can simplify your change.

Review the job possibilities and ask yourself some questions.

Quite literally, go through the list of jobs.  For those that interest you, stop a moment and imagine you in that role.  Ask yourself:

• What would I do while at work? Do I think I could do it well?  Do I like what I’m imagining?
• What specifically makes me excited about this job? Can I find those same specifics in other jobs?  Which jobs are similar?
• Which jobs use the skills I already have? 
• Which job types require added study or coursework? 
• Which job types require I complete a degree program?
• Which jobs are almost right? Keep a list of the jobs that might not be your first choice but are maybes. 

Be sure to consider the “related occupations” at the end of each article – you may find a surprising idea or two from this section.

For your first and second choice jobs, keep these notes.

• What excites me?  What parts do I not like as much?
• What are the qualifications for the job?  What would I need to do to become qualified?  What would that cost?
• What kinds of organizations employ people who do these jobs?
• How many jobs of this type are there in the US?  Is it a growing category?
• Are there jobs in my region?
• What is the pay range?                  

Aside from your interest factor and pay range, it’s important to also consider the number of jobs and the outlook for jobs.  For example, there are currently 14,600 jobs for economists in the entire country and by 2018, there will be 15,500 jobs.  While that shows a 6% growth rate; in fact, there will only be 900 additional jobs for economists.  On the other hand, there are 694,900 electrician jobs in the US; 12% growth is expected, bringing the total number of electrician jobs to 777,900 by 2018 – 83,000 additional jobs.   

Also keep an eye on the regions with the most number of jobs in the areas you find interesting. Would a move be necessary to pursue a chosen field?  For monthly updates of the number of actual jobs within major job classifications, by region, go to Help Wanted OnLine.

If added education is necessary, consider the amount of time you’ll need to invest to qualify for the intended job.  Also, consider the cost of that added education or training.  Figure out the exact costs and spread them out over the amount of time it will take to complete the work.  Finally, be sure the school you are considering is reputable.  If the school you are considering is private and operates at a profit, there are added considerations – you’ll find the questions to ask in the FTC Facts for Consumers: Choosing a Career or Vocational School.

What have you learned?

Draw up a summary page showing the results of your research.  This summary page will allow you to compare the various jobs that interest you along with the job you already have.  Your summary page will be a table with columns extending across the top of the page.  The far left column will be Job Type, to its right as you go across the page, add these column headings, the best things, the worst things, the qualifications, how much training I need, how long the training will take, how much the training will cost, where the jobs are, how many jobs there are, and the pay range.

It’s now time for your judicious eye to carefully sort the list.  If you need to gain a specific degree to qualify for a job choice and you are working, consider using your employer’s education benefit to get that degree.  While not easy, millions have gained their degrees while working full-time jobs.  Only you know the demands on your time and your willingness to go that demanding extra mile.

If you are not working and you need added education or training to qualify for that special job, consider immediately starting the program while you search for work.  If you find work, you can continue your education in the evening.  If your search takes longer, it will be easier to keep your spirits high because you are taking important action for your own well-being.  Unfortunately, a job search can sometimes take 6 months or longer.  You can make a lot of progress in that time.

Back to the judicious eye on the results of your research.  You are your own personal expert.  Sort each job according to your personal preferences, your unique set of skills and also the requirements and limitations you imposed at the start.  Is the pay adequate?  Is it a growth area of employment?  Keep sorting until you’ve narrowed your list to a few strong choices. 

Finally, seek out people already employed in your chosen field(s).  Speak with them, ask them about their positive and negative experiences. 

Once you’ve done the research, take a week or two to let the information settle.  Over that time, questions will arise, new ideas will formulate.  Gather the answers to whatever comes up during that time.  Then, make your decision.  What will you decide for your working future?

You’ve landed an interview and you know in your heart, you’re right for this job. In fact, you really want this job.  If that’s the case, then it’s time to get to work. There’s serious preparation that comes before an interview. If you do this work throughout your job search, you will greatly increase the likelihood of success and reduce the possibility for making mistakes.

In particular, how you prepare can quickly trip you up. While not a job interview, as a young marketing professional, I'd prepared carefully for my first big sales presentation. I was ready.  I’d rehearsed everything. I was going to be telling a big consumer product firm how my firm could help them. The fatal mistake happened with a simple question before the meeting even began, “would I like coffee?” Had I thought for even one second about the firm’s product instead of my firm's capabilities, I could have saved the day. Instead, I told the folks at Hills Brother Coffee,  “No, thank you, I prefer tea.”

Find out everything about your prospective employer.

Do spend time on their website reading everything on the site.  What do they do, how do they do it, what do they value, who is management, what is their management style, even what other job opportunities are open – read it all.

As you review their site, think about how your prospective employer presents itself. What do the visuals tell you? What do the tag lines tell you? What words do they use to describe their business and values?  Are they a serious firm or is there a relaxed style? Are they traditional? Are they inventive? Develop several lists - a list of the words used, a list of the goals and objectives, a list of the values expressed by the firm.   

Next, research their competitors.  How are they different?  How are they the same?  Do their competitors hold the same values? Do they offer the same job opportunities? 

Next, think about the customers of your prospective employer.  What can you learn about them?  Google them, learn about them.

Now it’s time to narrow your focus to the specific job category for which you will interview.  How does this job contribute to the firm?  Does this job directly impact the firm’s product or service? In what ways?  Does this job impact the revenue for the firm? How?

What can you learn about the department in which you’d work.  What’s the size of the department? What’s the hierarchy of the department? What’s the turnover in the department? Can you find out about department management?  Have they won any internal awards? 

Finally, carefully review the job description, it can speak volumes if you look closely.  What does it tell you about the firm? What does it tell you about the specific job for which you will be interviewing?  How is it like or different from the information you gained from the website?

Lists of information about your prospective employer.

Using the research described above, develop the following lists about your prospective employer.  You’ll use these lists as you craft your list of assets and reasons your prospective employer should hire you over any other candidate.

1. A list of the firm's goals, objectives and values.
2. A list of what makes them unique including how they differ from their competitors.
3. A list of key words used by the organization to describe their purpose, their goals, their values.  Consider finding ways to use those words during your interview.  
4. With the job description, develop a list of each key point in the summary, responsibilities, and qualifications sections.

Your assets, your benefits, your features.

It's now time to construct your rationale for being hired.  You'll go into the interview armed with not just a roster of all you bring to the opportunity; you’ll also bring examples and anecdotes that demonstrate your qualifications.  We’re now about to answer these basic interview questions:

• Tell me about yourself.  
• Why should I hire you?  
• What can you bring to our organization that any other candidate for this job can’t?

To begin, put your resume, the job description and the lists you’ve developed from your research in front of you. Start with the list you developed from the job description.  For every point on the list, in other words for every detail in the job description, make a list of each unique experience or skill from every job you’ve held that relates directly to that point.  Add an account of the steps you took to accomplish key points on the job description.  For those accomplishments you believe set you apart from other candidates, recall the methods or means you employed to reach the outcome. Be sure to highlight ways you've been inventive; prepare anecdotes showing your leadership style and working commitment.

Augment your lists with other professional experiences including involvement with associations, speeches you’ve made, articles you’ve written.  Do the same thing for any related personal accomplishments, whether coaching Little League, taking a group on a helping mission or fundraising for a cause.

Next, with your list of the firm’s goals, objectives and values, develop an inventory of specific examples that demonstrate their importance in your working life.

Review your research on how your prospective employer expresses their benefits to customers. Also review the ways your prospective employer differentiates itself from their competitors.  Ask yourself how this information might relate to the work for which you are applying.  If appropriate, prepare to show the correlation.  Otherwise, the information may prove useful during the interview.

If your job category doesn’t impact the firm's product or service, your research will prepare you for the inevitable question, why are you interested in our organization?

This process arms you with a great deal of information.  Its purpose is to enable you to be reasonably knowledgeable about the firm so that you can best present your personal set of skills.  This is not a know-it-all process.  From the outside, there is no way we can learn everything.  Rather, information prepared ahead of an interview allows your mind to focus on fine-tuning your responses in ways that best respond to different interview styles.

While you don’t want to burden the interviewer with excessive detail, the depth of preparation in this process demonstrates your interest in employment with the organization, it attests to strong work habits and it validates your self-confidence.

If, during the interview, an important attribute is not addressed, find a suitable moment to raise the subject.  You could make it an especially powerful moment by linking the strength not yet mentioned with a point in the job description or with something you learned about the company during your research.

Your Questions.

Always prepare questions.  Serious questions, not questions about hours or the holiday schedule.  Ask questions about the firm that show your deep interest. “I read on your website that the company plans an expansion, could you tell me more about that?” “I was interested to learn that the firm has a video competition, how are the videos used?” “In this world of change, what changes can you foresee in the department? What about changes for the firm?”

In addition, be sure to have a mental list of all the things you need to know to be sure this is the job you want. Your questions are important.

Their questions.

Seriously consider each of the following questions.  Answer them ahead of the interview.  Prepare your answers so you won’t stumble in the midst of an otherwise terrific interview.   These are some of the most-asked questions along with a few surprise questions that are used more often than you might expect. 

Interviewers ask these questions every day.  They ask them in all seriousness.  Be prepared with serious responses that convey your unique value.  Don’t use glib responses to these questions.  And, be careful with some of these questions, they are intended to dig deeply into your thoughts and thought process.  Consider the answers you prepare with your prospective employer in mind.  Does your response satisfy the goals and objectives of your prospective employer?

            Tell me about yourself.

            Why should we hire you?

            Why do you want to work here?

            What can you bring that other candidate’s can’t?

            What is your greatest success? your greatest accomplishment?

            What is your greatest failure?

            What is your biggest mistake?

            What do you see yourself doing in five years? in ten years?

            What do you see as the perfect world?

            What’s the one thing you wish you’d done but didn’t?

            What are your goals? 

            Tell me about your last boss.

            Tell me about a conflict or challenge in your last job and how you handled it.

            Why did you leave your last job?

            How do you make decisions?

            Have you ever managed anyone?  What would they tell us?

            Do you have budget experience?

            Are you a leader?

            Who is your role model?  Why?

            Whom do you most admire?  Why?

            What would you change about this company?

            What would you change about this specific job type?

            What is the one thing you’d like to change about our world? 

            What would you change about working? 

Rehearse, practice.

Review and learn your lists about your company and yourself.  Rehearse how you’ll tell the stories and examples that demonstrate your specific skills.  Rehearse how you’ll speak about the company.  For example, as you are first meeting the interviewer, you might include an appropriate but brief comment about the firm. It might relate to the history of the firm, it might relate to a recent event. If you do, make it natural and conversational.

Attire and body language.

In the 21^st century, there is no one kind of appropriate attire for an interview.  It depends on the company, on the job category, even on the region.  However, there are a few things that never change, whether for the interview or for your daily employment.  Cleanliness, in body and attire is imperative – that even includes shoes.  Neatness is equally important – it’s a statement of your self-confidence, of how you value yourself.

Body language is interesting and can be useful – judiciously.  It’s often been said that to use body language similar to that of your interviewer has a positive outcome.  If your interviewer is very serious then follow that general lead.  If your interviewer leans a bit forward, you might consider doing the same.  Let your intuition be your guide and by no means should you ape their mannerisms.  As your interviewer speaks, you might want to nod your understanding or visually indicate your interest in what they are saying.  Visual cues tell the speaker that they are providing the kinds of information you seek.

In the end.

At the end of the day, with this much preparation, you are prepared for success. The question that also remains, is it the right employer for you, is it the right job for?

When she retired, Rosalie Bianco looked around and saw acres and acres of dead trees.  A beetle invasion was ravaging Colorado forests. 

It was 2009 and a million and a half acres were already lost.  The swarms of beetles were so great, they were visible on Google Earth.  At the same time, the American economy was in recession.  She saw friends struggling to replace lost jobs.  Add to the beetles and the recession, the fact that America needed to produce its own energy.

Naturally inventive, Bianco began to research how the lost timber could be used as a heating source. She learned that biomass such as beetle-kill trees can heat with 92% efficiency while electricity heats with 27% efficiency.    

With further research, she learned that pellet stoves and fireplaces reduce heating bills by 50% or more.  Equally important, a single pellet stove will save as much CO² as two hybrid cars.  Bianco realized that by converting dead trees to pellets for heating, consumers could spend half as much on heating while helping the environment.

As a quick aside, we’re not talking about pellet stoves and furnaces that look like they’re from the pioneering days.  No, the design range runs from traditional to contemporary.  There’s a style for every home.  It’s also important to note that pellet-fueled stoves and furnaces can heat homes and structures of any size.  They even come with adjustable thermostats.

Back to our story.  Armed with research and a plan, Bianco shared her concept with friends and family.  New Earth Pellets was started with investments from 16 very regular people who took a leap of faith.  The original 16 later grew to 23 investors all of whom understood the underlying importance of sustainable clean energy and job creation.

Their first investment was to open the mill where the pellets are made from the dead trees.  Their next investment was the opening of their Green Depot and showroom.  In its first two years, New Earth Pellets created 23 jobs. 

What are they today?  New Earth Pellets is now the largest beetle-kill showroom in the U.S.  In addition to pellets and pellet-fueled stoves and furnaces, you’ll find cabinets, flooring, furniture and furnishings created from beetle-kill trees.

New Earth Pellets’ 5,000-stove initiative is designed to save Colorado residents millions in heating bills while growing the local economy by almost $90 million over the next twenty years.  Aside from heating cost savings, the addition of 5,000 pellet-fueled stoves in Colorado will generate logging, trucking and mill jobs.

Values at its core

Creating a strong business out of dead trees takes imagination, tenacity and the commitment of a few who share the vision.  New Earth Pellets is a small business that started with core values, they call it their triple bottom line: people, planet, profit.  New Earth Pellets took a Colorado catastrophe, a national recession plus environmental values and turned them into a vital place of business.

To learn more, visit the New Earth Pellets website.  If you plan to visit Colorado, you’ll find their Green Depot at 950 Simms Street, Lakewood, CO.  

My bill arrived today – my credit card bill – and it was just not believable.  In one quick glance, I knew something was wrong, that there was a problem with the bill.  The total gave it away.  My heart started pounding as I thought, “Someone else used my card.”

Immediately, I started to look for the mistake, for someone else’s purchase that got on my bill.  Slowly, though, my skin started to crawl and my cheeks started to burn.  One by one, I recognized the charges.  Yeah, that one’s mine but where’s the really big one, the one that’s not mine?

A gift.  Actually, I see four gifts – it was a big birthday month, but really?   And, what’s a birthday without a cake?  There’s the cake, right there on my bill along with the bath rug, we really needed it, and the lunch with Karen and the computer repair and let’s not forget the dentist.

Finally, I see the culprit and it is . . . mine.  That whole darned bill is mine.  The big number, it’s my tablet.  I love my tablet.  I almost can’t remember life without it.  I totally forgot that I haven’t yet paid for it with money. 

In the wink of an eye, I’d made a whole lot of little charges never imagining they’d add up so quickly and on top of those, I have to pay for my tablet.  It’s way too much.  All I really want is for it to stop, for things to not cost so much.  I don’t want to have to pay that bill.  I can’t make it if everything costs this much.

Take a breath, I think, it’s sort of okay.  I’m going to pay the tablet off at $100 a month.  Hmm, maybe I should pay off those other things over time as well. 

Sound familiar?  This scene is playing out daily in homes across our nation and that is the terrible part, it is playing out every single day in homes across our nation.  It doesn’t make it any better or any easier knowing that others are having the same hard time, trying to figure out why the ordinary details of life cost so much.  What is to be done? 

Unfortunately, this story is about to get worse.  Let’s just look at the tablet.  It cost $500 so you thought you’d pay it off at $100 a month for 5 months.  Right?  No, that’s wrong. 

Some of your $100 a month will be paid as interest to your credit card company.  In 2012, credit card interest rates range from 12% to 16%.  Let’s use 14% for this example.  If you pay $100 a month, it will take 8 months to pay off your tablet.  Worse, you’ll have paid a total of $803.02 for your $500 tablet! 

Wouldn’t you rather spend your money on the stuff you want than to give it away to the bank?  What would you have done with that $803.02?  You could have bought your tablet at $500 and had $300 left over.

There are two advantages to paying your bill in full every month.  First, you aren’t giving your money away to the banks.  Also, it will help you stay alert to your spending habits.  

How much money did you spend on interest last year?  What could you have done with that money?  Is it time to change your credit habits?  To stay in control of your finances, pay your bills in full. 

Entrepreneurs will fuel the U.S. recovery.  To speed entrepreneurial success, Startup America Partnership was launched to provide resources and connections along with regional ecosystems for local support.

What’s in it for you and your fledgling business?

In the past, many programs intended to help entrepreneurs were more conceptual than practical.  No longer is that true.  Today there are rafts of organizations that provide innovative and tangible startup assistance. 

Startup America combines unique intentions with specific programs designed to move entrepreneurs ahead quickly.  This is not a one-size fits all plan.  Instead, the intentions and the programs may be right for some entrepreneurs though not all.  Take a look.  Find your fit for your new or growing business.

Underlying the Startup America tools are these important intentions. 

• Accelerate the transfer of research breakthroughs from university labs. 
• Expand access to capital for high-growth startups around the country. 
• The Small Business Administration (SBA) to launch two billion dollar initiatives for impact investing and early-stage feed financing as incentives to invest in high-growth startups. 
• The SBA and the Department of Energy launch mentorship program for clean tech startups.
• The Department of Veteran Affairs launches incubators to help vets start high-growth businesses.
• Catalyze innovation hubs and encourage development of entrepreneurial ecosystems that connect established business leaders with new entrepreneurs. 
• Increase connections between entrepreneurs and high-quality business mentors. 
• Call on private-sector leaders to commit significant new resources to catalyze and develop entrepreneurial ecosystems across the nation.
• Research & Experimentation Tax Credit. 

Specific resources and programs for entrepreneurs:

• Entrepreneurship.org   An entrepreneur with an idea can change the world.  That's the mantra of the site and of the site’s founder, Kauffman, The Foundation for Entrepreneurship.  This site is a treasure trove.  Their resources range from business mentors to accounting, finance and even public policy.  Kauffman’s other information-laden entrepreneurship sites include:

WillItBeYou.com for more on inspiration, networking, creation, mentoring and capital.

FastTrac.org that has helped more than 300,000 entrepreneurs start and grow their business.

StartupDigest.com is a free weekly email for the startup world.

VentureHacks.com offers good advice for startups.

Urban Entrepreneur Partnership is a premium business solution distinguished by a unique and innovative one-to-one coaching model designed to generate a rapid return on investment.

• iStart.org is the go to site for entering business competitions from around the world, browsing pages of business ideas and networking with hundreds of innovative, energized entrepreneurs. 
• TechStars.com is regional mentorship-driven startup accelerators.  You’ll find seed funding from more than 75 top venture capital firms and angel investors who are vested in the success of your startup.  Intense mentorship comes from hundreds of the best entrepreneurs in the world. 
• At StartupWeekend.org you’ll launch your business in 54 hours.  It’s a global network of passionate leaders and entrepreneurs on a mission to inspire, educate and empower individuals, teams and communities.  At a Startup Weekend, it’s all action. 
• SiliconPrairieNews.com features the region’s leading entrepreneurs and creatives and reports on startups and established companies.  Choose from the National edition or the Des Moines, Kansas City or Omaha editions. 
• The Burton Blatt Institute has a multifaceted focus including helping disabled entrepreneurs launch their own business.  
• AngelList is a community of startups created by the VentureHacks team.  Be sure to look at the Startups and Investors sections.
• Global Entrepreneurship Week   For one week each year, millions of young people around the world join a growing movement of entrepreneurial people to generate ideas and to seek better ways for doing things. 
• iBridge Network links ideas and innovations by disseminating such new works as inventions and research results. Here you’ll find a centralized online source for research and innovations.
• StartupNation.com offers step-by-step advice, networking and forums for entrepreneurs.

For more programs, especially those connecting entrepreneurs with mentors and accelerating innovation, read the Startup America Fact Sheet.

We are letters, numbers and symbols.  Our computer, our phone and our tablet all recognize us as a series of characters.  At the doctors’ office, we are SSNs and account numbers.  Our debit card or credit card is authorized when we punch in our code.  We’ve got so many numbers and codes, it’s sometimes hard to keep them all straight.  It’s easy to become a bit lax, protecting the things that give away our identity. 

Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the United States.  According to the not-for-profit, Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), there are four kinds of identity theft: financial identity theft (that is checking and/or credit card fraud), criminal identity theft, governmental identity theft and medical identity theft.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) estimates that 9 million Americans have their identities stolen each year.  Identity thieves may rent an apartment or open a new telephone number in your name, they may even open a credit account in your name.

How does a thief do this?  All they need is a single piece of personal identifying information.  It might be your Social Security Number or Drivers License number.  It could be your name, address and account number from a document you decided to throw into the garbage.  It also could be the result of a data breach or a computer virus.  The one certainty when it comes to identity theft, the thieves are inventive.  They are also patient – they are waiting for you to make a mistake.  That’s when they’ll swoop in and take advantage.

Our purpose is not to be frightening.  Our purpose with this article is to make you aware and to prepare you.  Just as important, this article is meant to remind you that you are in charge of the security of your private identifying information.  What can you do?  Below you’ll find a few important tips.  For more information,

The dangers of credit cards & debit cards

ITRC warns that risk comes with both kinds of cards:

• Debit cards have an inherent danger – they can be used without your PIN by selecting credit; a forged signature can wipe out your account. 
• Skimmers put both credit and debit cards – that’s when thieves use a scanning device that captures your identifying information at ATMs, gas pumps, retail and restaurant outlets. 

They recommend these protections:

• Be wary at ATMs, especially those that are isolated or out of place.
• Set up a separate account you only use for debits.  Don’t link it to any other accounts.  In this way, you’ve minimized loss to fraud.
• Limit your debit card use.

Smart phones and your identity

Have you ever lost your phone?  Remember it’s loaded with data identity thieves seek.  To protect yourself, a few of the ITRC recommendations are:

• Password protect your phone. 
• Install security software.
• Before installing a new app, find out information the app requires to run successfully.
• Install a phone finder.

Some everyday basics to protecting your identity.

• Shred or destroy private documents including credit card offers and those blank checks you receive by mail.  Dumpster diving is an identity thief’s gold mine.  They sort through garbage cans, collecting income stubs, checking account statements, bills with your name, address and account numbers and other revealing documents.  Every personal identifier you throw into your garbage is their target.  Be rigorous with your papers.  Owning a shredder is a small investment in the protection of your identity. 
• Before disposing of them, delete personal information on PCs and other electronic equipment. 
• Know the person asking for information.  When asked for private information, be sure you know are judicious.  Especially with telephone callers who ask for information, use caution.  If they claim they represent your credit card firm or your bank, tell them you will call back – not to a number they provide, instead, call back using a publicly available hone number.
• If you receive an online bill or request for funds, be cautious unless it is an organization with whom you regularly do business.

Protect your family and yourself online.

We use the web for just about everything.  While it is mostly secure, there are the fraudulent few who make it necessary for you to be careful and vigilant. 

• Sign out or log out of sites where you use your credit card.
• Be judicious when opening emails that have the right business name but the wrong domain name.
• Be cautious about ‘emergency’ emails.  Internet frauds are looking for easy victims.  One recent ploy has been to hijack a person’s email address book and then send an email to everyone on that contact list telling a phony story about needing money for an emergency.  If you receive such a message and it looks as if it came from someone you know, read carefully.  Does it sound like your contact?  If it seems odd or suspicious, consider calling your contact to find out if they need help. 
• There are websites designed to look just like popular websites.  Their goal is to lure personal or confidential information.  As you are clicking on various links, notice what links you use to reach a site.
• Watch for https.  Whenever you enter billing information onto your phone or computer, be sure the site shows that it is https – that “s” stands for secure.  Only then, can you be sure your information cannot be lifted.

In addition, ITRS offers excellent advice in their Protecting Your Online Identity. 

To help you guard against internet fraud, go to OnGuardOnline.gov.  There you’ll find practical tips to protect you and your family.  It’s a site designed to help you secure your computer and protect your personal information.  The federal government and the technology industry developed this site.

Source

The Identity Theft Resource Center mission is to provide best-in-class victim assistance at no charge to consumers throughout the United States.

Check your credit annually.  Once a year, go to the only official source for fast, free credit reports, http://www.annualcreditreport.com.  ; AnnualCreditReport.Com was created by the three U.S. credit-reporting agencies – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.  It is the only official credit report-providing site.  Consumers should never provide personal information to any other company or person when requesting free credit reports.      

There is only one official and free credit report site, AnnualCreditReport.Com.  Never provide personal information to any other company or person claiming to offer free credit reports.

Read your file carefully.  Make sure everything is accurate including your personal information, your home addresses, your employment history and your credit history. 

Your credit scores.  A credit score represents your actual credit history.  Lenders, prospective employers, landlords, insurance companies and other organizations use it to determine your creditworthiness.  Scores can range from a low of 300 to a high of 850 with higher numbers reflecting stronger credit history.  In the U.S. in 2010, the median credit score was 723. 

Your credit score is the result of a mathematical model that combines many factors related to your credit.  For a modest fee, you can request your credit score from one of the three credit agencies when you check your credit at AnnualCreditReport.Com.

Americans are inventive.  We come up with ideas all the time, ideas that make our lives easier, smarter or happier.  Inventions often solve a problem or fill a need.  Every single item you own was someone’s idea, their invention.

That’s how two American entrepreneurs, each in their early 40’s, made it to Forbes’ list of billionaires.  Sara Blakely took $5,000 in 1998 and started Spanx.  Today, she stands alongside 1,225 other billionaires.  What did she set out to do?  She wanted a better under garment – as simple as that.  Kevin Plank started Under Armour in 1995 because he wanted a better T-shirt, one that would remain lighter and drier throughout heavy sports.  He joined The World’s Billionaires list in 2011. 

Imagine life without light bulbs, mobile phones, digital cameras, magnetic stripes, bar codes, email or the internet.  Each of these American inventions changed how we live.  As we know from Blakely and Plank, inventions don’t have to be so serious.  Americans have also invented swim fins, dental floss, burglar alarms, video games and Tupperware.

Are you carrying an idea in your mind that solves a problem or makes things better?  Do you keep refining it?  Is it getting better and better?  Is it something other people will want as well?  If so, consider writing your idea down.  Think about it.  Wonder to yourself whether it might be a product.  Naturally, this means you’ll need to be judicious and realistic.  If it’s nonsense, admit it to yourself.  If it gets past your nonsense assessment, consider next steps.

What are some of the key steps in the process?

Sara Blakely offers Tips For Future Billionaires in a Forbes Magazine interview.  These are a few of the tips she shares with Forbes Staff Writer Clare O’Connor’s March 7, 2012 article, Undercover Billionaire: Sara Blakely Joins The Rich List Thanks To Spanx:

• Differentiate your product.  While many have tried to imitate Spanx, other brands have not achieved anything close to Spanx’ success.
• Visualize where you are going and the steps you will take to get there.
• Don’t seek feedback if it’s just to validate your work.  Too often, those who know you best will skew their response in order to save you from failure.  Follow your gut.

There’s more.  Be sure to read the Forbes article and watch the video where you learn more about the steps Blakely took over time.

What else might you do if you’ve an idea you want to bring to life?

• Due diligence means that before you invest time or money, you will conduct research to confirm that your idea is unique.
• Protect yourself and your idea/invention.  Start by keeping notes of your process and your idea.  These can be used should you ever encounter a challenge.  Once you refine you idea to its final stage, be sure to file for a patent through the U. S. Patent & Trademark Office. The USPTO defines the three kinds of patents as follows: 

There are three types of patents. Utility patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof. Here is the process for obtaining a utility patent. Design patents may be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture. Plant patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant.

If you plan a unique name for your idea, be sure it is available using the Trademark Electronic Search System.   Filing for a trademark will also be necessary if the name is crucial to the success of the potential product.

• Read everything on the subject of inventions.  Go to Entrepreneur.com for articles by and for inventors.   Read HowStuffWorks.com’s excellent article .  Use MIT’s Inventor’s Handbook.  
• More research.  What materials?  What design?  How would your idea or product be manufactured?  Is that possible?     
• Create your plan – every action and checkpoint that must happen.  Revise your plan. Revisit your plan.  Keep asking yourself the tough questions, the ones you keep praying no one else will ask. 

Idea Review Panels – Ways to Get Help From Others

Every day at Noon, DailyGrommet.com, launches one inventive consumer product or service.  They broadcast its story across the web.  People from all over the world send in suggestions for products explaining why theirs should be the daily Grommet.  Daily Grommet and its aligned organization, Citizens Commerce, test and curate the best ideas.  When Daily Grommet launches a product, they host a discussion board so people can chat with the creator.  When Daily Grommet launches a product, they sell it from their website.

Quirky.com operates a social product development site for inventors.  Each week, they use social review panels from all over the globe in addition to their in-house team of engineers, designers, materials experts, marketers and more to review all the design and invention ideas.  Each week, two ideas are chosen to begin the development process.  With all their relationships with big name consumer product chains, Quirky carries the product into full distribution. 

Again, remember your reality checks

We all have great ideas but not all of our ideas are destined to become best sellers.  All along your investigation, before you invest time or money, do your reality checks.  Yes, many people have invented hot items and they’ve made a lot of money.  What goes unreported is the number of people who’ve poured their hearts and their savings into product ideas that bombed.  Before you go too far:

1. At every step, ask yourself a gazillion questions.  What is it about the product that makes it unique?  Is there anything else on the market that is “sort of like it”?  How is it different?  Why is my idea better?  What problem does it solve?  How much would it cost?  Would people pay that much?
2. Remember, it takes time and lots of work.  Thomas Edison held 1,093 U.S. patents in his name for everything from the light bulb to a motion picture camera.   He worked tirelessly on every project, trying again and again til he got to the right solution.  He liked to say, “I have not failed.  I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”  He was also fond of saying, “Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99% perspiration.”
3. Protect yourself, protect your idea.
4. Never leave your day job til you’ve proven that your invention will actually generate income.

America’s love for invention makes good television

Not only do we invent, we love to watch how others do it.  Soon, you’ll see Quirky.com develop products on their own Sundance Channel show – it’s in development for a Summer 2012 launch.  In the meantime, the History Channel’s Invention USA hosts test, assess and decide the fate for inventions they’ve uncovered. 

One hundred years ago, Henry Ford began the first manufacturing production line.  With it, he launched the mass-production of products to be sold to thousands and, soon, millions of buyers. 

Fast forward to the 21^st century.  Small-run manufacturing can now be done in the home or at your place of business.  It is affordable, it is efficient and it takes up very little space.  For the first time ever, there is a manufacturing process that allows precise customization.  This new process is called 3-D printing; it is derived from additive manufacturing.

3-D Printing – The Additive Process

 We are not talking about flat surfaces.  3-D printing is the manufacture of items that have volume and dimension.  With a 3-D printer, you can manufacture a vase, a gear, a medical devise, even a piece of jewelry.  Only our imaginations will limit the kinds of products we can manufacture with a 3-D printer. 

3-D printing uses an “additive” process.  Material is added one layer at a time according to a detailed design plan.  So far, 3-D printing materials include metals, plastics and ceramics.  To visualize the process, imagine a bowl.  The 3-D printer adds one microscopic layer after another until the object becomes the bowl specified in the plan.  For an even better visualization, Wikipedia has a video showing the process.

By adding layers to the manufacture of an object, materials waste is minimized.  Equally important, an object can be customized with small tweaks to the design plan.  Thus, small-run, customized manufacturing is now possible. 

Where did this come from?  Originally, 3-D printers were developed to manufacture a single prototype for large-scale manufacturers.  3-D printers were designed for precision because they were used by medical parts manufacturers, airplane parts manufacturers and on.  Precision was an imperative from the beginning.  Changes could be made to the prototype until the design was perfected.  That capability now allows businesses to customize their product to customer needs.

3-D Printing Success Stories All Over the World

From aeronautic landing gears to furniture, 3D printing is the engine behind many innovative new businesses.  The New York Times tells the story of a business that combines science and humanity with a 3-D printer.  Bespoke Innovations manufactures prosthetic limbs – customized to each individual user – using a 3-D printer!

Some of the 3-D Players

For anyone interested in “printing a product”, there are many options available from owning your own 3-D printer to using a 3-D printing service.  There are many resources.  Some of the following design and manufacture 3-D products, some are suppliers to 3D designers and manufacturers.

3D Systems provides personal, professional and production 3D solutions.

Engineering & Manufacturing Services, Inc. offers product design, 3-D scanning and rapid prototyping products and services.

Freedom of Creation is a product design company that specializes in creating and commercializing 3D printed design products.

Objet provides 3-D systems and materials.  http://www.objet.com

Thingaverse.com is a place to share digital designs.  It’s a community where you can upload your digital designs and download other people’s work.

Whether you choose to create 3-D products or purchase them, Shapeways.com offers custom 3-D printing.

 

Sources:

The Economist, February 12^th – 18^th, 2011: Print me a Stradivarius, The manufacturing technology that will change the world and The Printed World.

Wikipedia: 3D Printing.

The New York Times, September 13, 2010: 3-D Printing Spurs a Manufacturing Revolution.

When starting your business, remember that you can team up.  One or more partners can serve many purposes.  By combining forces, you grow the range of skills available to your start-up.  In addition, a partner will bring that much more energy to the new business.

With greater energy and skills, a start-up may also grow the chances for success and the time it takes to become profitable.  On the other hand, a partner must be someone with whom you can really work.  A partnership will require that you are both productive.

Each partner’s role must be spelled out at the start of the relationship.  Some partners may bring money to the venture while others may bring a particular expertise.  Be certain each partner understands what is expected.

To partner or not is your decision.  If you decide that a partner is your preference, you have many partner prospects. 

• Your spouse.  Will work with your spouse add to or detract from your marriage?  Think about that before launching the conversation.
• Parents, children, siblings, other family members. One or more of your relatives may be the perfect partner.  Think about the kind of relationship you have with each.  Think about their strengths and yours.  Is there a fit?  Are there overlaps?  Are there gaps?  Will it change your relationship with that individual? 
• Friends.  Perhaps a friend will serve as your best partner.  Ask the same questions of yourself.  You want to protect lifelong friendships as much as you want to protect your marriage and family relations.  Enter into a partnership judiciously.
• Professional acquaintances.  Is one of your professional acquaintances the perfect, natural partner for you?  Again, ask the questions.  Be sure of the fit.

There are many mother-daughter success stories to tell.  Take, for example, the Peruvian Connection.  With an unlikely start, the company now enjoys global recognition for artisan-made clothing.  How did that happen?  While travelling after college graduation, Annie Hurlbut explored the Peruvian textiles market.  She learned their alpaca fiber spinning, dyeing and weaving techniques.  In the process, she found the perfect gift for her Mother’s 50^th birthday, a sweater.  That single sweater changed everything; it sparked the small business started by Annie and her mother, Biddie.    Annie imported Andean fiber products of her own design while her mother sold them from her Kansas home. The rest is history.  Read their story at PeruvianConnection.com.

Let’s not forget what siblings can do.  One of my favorite sister success stories is the story of the Delany Sisters.  Elder sister, Sadie, had a long career as a New York City schoolteacher.  Younger sister, Bessie, practiced dentistry.  The Delany Sisters lived together through their long and successful careers and into retirement.  What did these Black sisters decide to do at the age of 100?  They co-authored a New York Times’ best-seller, Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years. Actually, they were 101 and 103 at the time of the book’s publication.  Sadie went on to publish her last book, On My Own At 107: Reflections on Life Without Bessie. 

We all know what happened when high school buddies, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, joined forces.  Their work and the company they created, Apple, changed the face of the computing world.  Friend success stories abound just as friend failure stories abound. 

Partnering is an early choice.  Be sure it is right for you and for the business you are pursuing.  Ask your questions, draw up partner agreements, then dig in, and build your business.

We all have things in our home we rarely use.  They’re gathering dust but we don’t get rid of them because we use them once every year or two.  A recent trend is to rent to others the things we own. One source for this article even rents his dog to others!  Have you looked at your things, the unused stuff in your home?  Could someone else be using some of it?  Might someone pay you a rental fee to use it?

What kind of stuff are we talking about?  Just about everything, from electric sanders and drills to cars, camping equipment and furniture. 

There are plenty of ways to make this happen depending on how much time you have to invest, your comfort and security in meeting people you don’t know and your ability to make it a business. 

If you are a do-it-yourselfer through and through, you’ll rely on flyers posted on community boards.  Otherwise, there are sites that help you source renter prospects.  Importantly, these sites have rules for payment and methods for recovery should an item be damaged.    

Some of the online rental sites are Zilok.com, SnapGoods.com and Rentalic.com.  For more, simply google rent my stuff.

While on the subject, some owners of get-away property rent their vacation homes by the day, week or month through Vacation Rentals by Owner.

Is parking at a premium?  During baseball season, some homeowners near Wrigley Field in Chicago rent their parking spaces to fans.  Do you live near a popular spot? Do you live near a business area?  Consider leasing a garage or parking space.  Always remember the cautionary side of this, to check out the person renting from you, their financial background and their law-abiding habits. 

Be Aware

As we say throughout this site, treat every moneymaking activity as a business.  Use a business structure and, most important, protect your personal and economic safety. Do not put yourself at risk in any way.  Instead, find an alternative route to added income.

 

Sourced in small part from The Daily Beast/Newsweek November 2011 article by Ron Baedeker.

Making money takes work but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy your work.  Use your knowledge, your skills and your imagination to grow extra sources of income in ways that are satisfying to you. 

Look at the moneymaking ideas that follow.  Perhaps one will leap off the page for you to adapt.  It may be that an idea here will inspire an even better idea, one for you to shape in a way that works in your life.

We'll add ideas to the list twice a month on the 1st and 15th.  Be sure to check back regularly.

Make it a business

Treat every moneymaking activity as a business.  Use a business structure.  Make a plan.  Figure out your costs and potential revenue.  Be sure to plan for profit.  Review the planning and profit-making articles in the Start Your Own Business section.

Some cautionary thoughts

In addition to thoughtful planning, be wary of pratfalls and traps that can trip you up.  Before you move ahead with a moneymaking venture, be sure you consider your personal and economic safety.  Do not put yourself at risk in any way.

Ideas from A to Z, a list that will keep on growing

Data Analysts

Use the vast resources of the U. S. government’s raw data found at Data.gov to create your own product or business.  The purpose of Data.gov is to grow public access to high value, machine-readable datasets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government. If your strength is finding the pearls in mounds of data, this may be your oyster.

Moneyball is but one example of using data to improve performance - in this case, the Oakland A's.  Today, raw, unstructured data is cumulating in massive proportions.  Opportunity is ripe for those with inventive uses for data or those with new ways to sort the data.

Graphic Artists and Photographers               

• Earn royalties when your work is offered through an online database.  From vector illustrations, design work and photographs to music and sound effects, image databases represent artists’ work to a buying audience.  Who is the customer?  Images, music and sound effects are used for every kind of business in advertising and other business materials.  Royalties are paid to photographers and graphic artists every time one of their works is downloaded.  A few of the biggest image databases are Shutterstock.com, Thinkstock.com and iStockphoto.com. 
• Sell your work through an online cooperative such as The Starved Artists™::Photography; a membership organization that brings together emerging photographers to showcase their work and create a marketplace for their work.  Or, consider selling your work at regional art and craft shows.   
• Partner with a writer and create a book or advertising. 
• Create a line of note cards featuring your finest work.  Sell them to boutiques.  Or, sell them from your own website.  As examples, take a look at  these small press notecard firms with websites: AshlandCreekPress.com, PeterPauperPress.com, JennyPress.com and VerankaPress.com for ideas and inspiration.

Gift Buying and Wrapping

Are you known as the one who finds the best gifts?  Does everyone say so?  You might consider turning your gift-buying wizardry into a moneymaking venture.  Whether you keep it local or take it to something larger, your inventive gift ideas may serve a grateful market.  You may decide to narrow your focus to emphasize a particular gift-buying need.  Perhaps it is gifts for grandchildren.  Or, it might be gifts for grandparents or parents. 

As an alternative, consider turning your gift-wrapping expertise into an artful service for clients in your local area.    

Pet Sitter

The demand for pet sitting is high.  So much so that there’s even a trade association of pet sitters – PSI, Pet Sitters International.  Their mission is educational and supportive.  In fact, on their 3/14/2012 home page, they offer a class in parrot care and another in pet dental health.  They also advocate that pet sitters be insured and bonded.

While the New York Times reports that a single pet visit can “range from $10 to $22 depending on location, and $45 or more for overnight care”, it’s a business that requires knowledge and good business practices.  Whether it’s a bird, a reptile or a dog, owners are deeply attached to their pets.  That means you must be prepared to provide the optimal care for whatever types of pets you accept in your pet sitting practice. 

Additionally, it’s necessary to protect yourself.  Learn from others who already pet sit.  Don’t give away personal information.  Only advertise in ways that encourages the exact clientele you seek.  

Social Media Writers

Turn your powerful tweet skills into a desperately needed service.  Regular tweets and Facebook updates can be a huge time drain for business people.  Develop a ghost tweeting & Facebook posting business.  You’ll create and transmit tweets and FaceBook updates for clients.

Tour Guide

Use the things you know and enjoy to create local, regional or global tours.  Tours can be as varied as your imagination.  If you love butterflies, create tours of the best butterfly gardens.  In Chicago, there are often tours of Graceland Cemetery – that’s right, a cemetery!  It’s not just the resting spot of many of Chicago’s luminaries; it’s considered an “oasis of art, architecture and horticulture.”

Naturally, there are considerations. Remember to be wary.  Never put yourself at risk.  Meet your tour group at one of the sites of the tour.  Bring a partner. 

Web Developer

Only skilled developers need apply.  Still, it’s a burgeoning arena.  Many parents of newborns start sites showing their latest pics and videos.  Then, there is the robust group of new business owners all of whom need a site.  If this is your strong suit, a new client each month will surely bring in the added revenue you seek.

Remember that specialization in your work and in your marketing will help to grow a niche business.  If you know new parents will love your work, align with local children’s clothing, stationery and furnishing shops.  Have them display your work near their sales desk.  Alternatively, perhaps your niche is small business.  Network your way using your local Chamber of Commerce, even your church.

NEW A to Z IDEA  Write a book

Write a book.  No, this isn’t a joke.  Look at any best-seller list today and e-books are not just at the top of the sales rung, many of the e-books on those lists are self-published.  If you’ve long felt you have a book in you, this may be for you.

If you really want to hold your book in your hands, write your book and have it printed digitally.  That means you can print one book at a time or as many books as you can sell. 

Click here for more information on how to self-publish whether as an e-book or a printed book.

Improbable?

Well, maybe last year a few of these ideas would have been unlikely sources of Income.  Today, the sky is no longer our limit.

A to Z Ideas for Work.  Check back for new ideas on the 1st and 15th of each month.

Sources

New York Times, March 2, 2011: Adding to Income by Caring for Pets That Aren't Yours

If your business model calls for consultative selling, a blog can be a tool to connect with prospects.  By writing blogs that answer prospective buyer questions, you link the reader to your product or service.  

Blogs can serve many purposes.  They can answer questions your prospects haven’t yet raised.  They can showcase your expertise. They can build credibility.  They can build awareness and grow your prospect base.

A blog is ideal if you are an expert, if you have a unique perspective or if you have tips and ideas to share.

A blog is publishing online.  As a blogger, you are in control of your content because you write it.  As a blogger, you can reach out to an audience of prospective buyers. 

Each blog entry is a webpage much like any page on a website.  Each blog page can be optimized for search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo.  Your optimization objective is to be more highly ranked on search results.  A higher ranking in search results will bring more visits to your blog page.

Blog pages also have advanced navigation and graphics available to them.  In fact, many organizations use WordPress – blog software – as their actual business website.  The WordPress tools turn the blog site into a content management system, which allows non-technical users to edit the site with an interface as easy to use as a word-processer.

Write Benefits and Build Credibility 

Blogs are not sales pages.  The most successful blogs offer information of interest and merit.  The most successful blogs also publish regularly, whether it’s daily or weekly.  Once you begin a blog, be prepared to keep to your planned schedule – your readers will be expecting your next post.

The strongest audience is a repeat audience.  If you build a following to your blog, you can expect the greatest long-term traffic.  With a following to your blog, you increase the potential profit for your business venture.

Think of a blog as a place to help people.  Give away some information.  As you do so, you are educating prospects on the benefits of working with you.

If you have a business website, your blog can serve as a marketing tool.  A blog can also serve as a newsletter.  For businesses, a blog supports a larger marketing strategy, connecting specific information with prospects and customers.

Building Blog Traffic

Blogs can grow readership using search engine optimization (SEO), the process of building relevancy for keywords in your blog posts.  These keywords are the words typed into search queries when a person “googles” something.  In each blog, you use related, frequently-search terms – the keywords – to drive targeted traffic to your blog site.  Your blog software will include ways to build in SEO titles, SEO keywords and SEO summaries.

You can also build traffic from your social media, from services like Facebook or Twitter. 

Blogging Can Become an Income Stream

Bloggers can sell targeted ads on their blog pages.  They are called contextual advertisements and are the paid ads from services like Google Adwords.  Google’s computers assess the content of your blog and connect it with like-minded ads.  For example, if you write a blog about stainless steel cookware, ads for stainless steel cookware-like items would be placed on your page.  The assumption is that the blog reader is interested in the blog subject and, therefore, might be interested in buying a related product. 

When a blog reader clicks on an ad, they will be taken to the advertiser’s sales page.  You will be paid an amount of money for each click – it’s referred to as PPC, Pay Per Click.  If your blog generates high traffic, advertising can provide income though most bloggers find that it generates only a partial income stream. 

Blog Hosting Services

If you don’t have a website from which to blog, there are many blog hosting services available.  Three of the most popular are WordPress, Blogger and Tumblr.  Compare hosting services before making a commitment.  Each is free though premium services are available for some.  For each, learn whether you can acquire your own domain name or will be required to use the hosting service domain name.

 

Many of today’s readers use electronic tools as their primary source for reading as they access mountains of information each day.  Every man, woman and child can source whatever they wish to read based on personal interests and preferences.  One important result is the demand for writers.  Equally important, the kinds of writing and editing opportunities are changed.

Self-Publishers

Today, writers can choose to write and publish their own work.  In fact, a self-publisher can form a business around their written work.  No longer will self-publishers be called vanity publishers.  Instead, writers are free to use the many publishing formats in ways that best serve their unique purpose.  Beyond print, a writer can publish their work as a blog, as an e-book or even as content on their own website.  Whatever the subject, there is a vast global market with a tremendous appetite for the written word. 

Writing and editing for others

The demand for writers and editors has grown though the nature of the work is somewhat changed.  Importantly, today’s writer and editor can tailor their career to serve their own needs and preferences as well as those of their clients. 

While traditional writing and editing jobs for publishers, advertising agencies and advertisers remain, the real growth and change is found with electronic media.  

Content creation is imperative for every business and for every business website.  There is an unquenchable appetite for content.  Every website needs new content, fresh material.  Some sites need new material every single day.  Other sites are satisfied with adding new material on a weekly or monthly basis.  Here, writing includes article development as well as blogs.  Ghosting a blog for an organization or an individual is work that can last.

Beyond content creation, there is social media.  Face-book and Twitter have changed the face of communication.  We live in a time when toppling a government using social media is “so last year”.  Many small and independent businesses need a social media presence but don’t have the time or skill to make it happen.  That’s right, writing for social media is a new job frontier. 

Many of today’s editorial and writing jobs can be virtual, completed over the internet without in-person meetings.  Your employer can be in London, Tokyo or another state while you complete your assignments from the comfort of your at-home workspace.   

Skilled writers and editors only, please

Before we go any further, let’s address skills.  Some of us are fortunate to be naturally gifted writers.  Others went to school where they developed their writing skills.  We are not all polished writers and editors.  A simple rule of thumb is to keep your day job until you’ve proven that your writing and editing skills can generate the income you seek.

The details: alternative writing and editing  

Content development, blogs and social media.  Firms large and small must make their presence known on the internet.  Original articles for web pages are more and more necessary.  At the same time, many organizations must stay in regular contact with their prospects and constituents.  Whether in the form of blogs or newsletters, organizations that share their own expertise grow credibility and build acceptance.  

Here are a few things a freelancer or contract writer should know along with some tips for finding these kinds of jobs:

• It’s helpful to have your own expertise.  Whether it’s food, finance, fashion or something else, your reputation and credibility are enhanced when you are an expert.  An expertise also helps you find prospective clients.  When you are an expert and you belong to industry-related associations, you can use related association membership lists for prospecting or you might create an ad for that industry’s newsletter.  Consider giving speeches or teaching a course for a related organization.
• Regularly search on-line for firms in your area of expertise. 
• Develop a roster of firms that meet your interest and skills.  Find out how they hire; provide their HR department and/or the specific hiring department with a presentation kit selling the work you do. 
• Understand and practice SEO, search engine optimization.  A professional writer will have no trouble writing articles intended to be found on the web.  That is the purpose of SEO – to make certain a website and its content shows up in search results.  For the writer, it’s a matter of incorporating related frequently searched keywords phrases into titles, subheads and body copy.  SEO objectives vary; these should be addressed with each client. 

Blogs. A blog is an online publishing tool.  Each blog entry becomes a webpage.  It can be optimized for search engines.  Each blog entry can be enhanced with navigation and graphic tools.

A blog is ideal if you are an expert, if you have a unique perspective or if you wish to share unique tips or ideas.  A blog can be a powerful tool to grow market awareness and your customer base.

If you are blogging for a company or an individual, it’s likely the blogs you write will be posted onto their website.  When blogging for a company, your content will likely relate to products or services.  However, many organizations are now introducing blogs from their leaders or in-house experts.  Because blogging is demanding, requiring a new entry every day or week, ghost bloggers may be hired.    

If you decide to create a blog as your own marketing tool, there are many blog hosting services.  A few of the most popular are WordPress, Blogger and Tumblr.  Compare the hosting services before making your decision.  Each is free though premium services are available for some.  For each, learn whether you can acquire your own domain name or will be required to use the hosting service domain name.

A successful blog means you’ll be making entries each and every day – prepare yourself.

Social media writing.  This is one of the most recent job types to come on the scene.  It’s no longer just performers, media stars and politicians who tweet.  Social change can now be driven by tweets.  

Tweets and Facebook entries are not just time consuming, they are also something of an art.  If you’ve a flair for short but meaningful content you might add social media writing to your repertoire.  Remember, though, that some kinds of ghost tweeting gigs will require you have knowledge and expertise in a specific arena. 

Online news, reviews and commentary.  Do you write insightful movie reviews?  Perhaps travel-logs are your strength.  Whatever your passion and expertise, there are e-magazines, e-news organizations and others who pay for an article or an on-going column.

Self-Publishing.  This is not for the faint of heart.  It is fraught with risk.  Many self-publishers end up selling few if any of the books they have printed. 

The first consideration, then, is why you want to self-publish.  Is there a business reason?  Do you expect to make a profit?  Please don’t decide to self-publish if you think you are going to be “discovered”.  Getting discovered as a self-publisher may have the same odds as winning a PowerBall or MegaMillions jackpot.  Here are but a few reasons behind self-publishers making the leap.

• Speakers with established speaking businesses will sometimes choose to self-publish.  Many speakers sell their books “at the back of the room” after giving a speech.  They also sell them on their website.  When an organization engages a speaker, some speakers offer a special rate for distribution of the book to all attendees.  In most instances, the speaker is not otherwise marketing their book. 
• Like speakers, when the target audience is relatively limited.  You may choose to self-publish a book for your businesses’ customer base or for a family reunion.  You may choose to self-publish if you are an artist or a gallery wishing to show your work to prospective customers.
• Again with a limited audience, you believe a book will serve to grow your credibility and you reputation as an expert.  For example, organizations and professionals may choose to publish a limited edition book in support of their practice or their website. 

Before you venture forth, be sure to read everything you can in preparation.  Of particular note is self-publishing guru, Dan Poynter, who has 76 titles to his name.  His firm is ParaPublishing, a nod to its origins developing materials about parachutes.  Another resource is The Independent Book Publishers Association.  The strongest rational against self-publishing is found in Writer Beware’s Self-Publishing article. 

Again, before you decide on self-publishing, consider what that actually means, what will you have to do after you’ve written your manuscript.  You have choices. 

• You can do it all yourself, hiring a book designer, cover designer and editor after which you’ll decide on the printing firm.  Then comes the big question, how will you get it to market?  Who will handle distribution?  How will you get your books into bookstores and libraries?  How will you get reviews?  How will anyone ever learn about your book?  If you have a narrow, targeted audience, many of these concerns disappear. 
• You can choose a firm that handles all the facets of publishing from book design to distribution, mostly for a fee.  The three biggest self-publishing support firms are these:

CreateSpace is Amazon.com’s self-publishing arm.  At no cost to you, you can use their tools to design your book and cover.  The result is a product ready to go to press.  Because it is Print On Demand, a book won’t be printed until you’ve actually sold a book on Amazon.com.  Alternatively, you can use CreateSpace’s many services including book and cover design, editing and marketing; there is a cost for these added services.  Also available, for a fee, is distribution to retailers, bookstores and libraries.         

Lulu.com offers free publishing tools.  Added services including cover design, editing, marketing and distribution are available at various prices depending on whether you bundle services or use them individually.

 Xlibris http://www2.xlibris.com/ is another Print On Demand self-publishing support firm.  All services here are for a fee and come packaged for every kind of book type and marketing/distribution purpose including various niche markets from poetry through sci-fi.

AuthorHouse  (authorhouse.com) offers a wide array of self-publishing services.  They start with basic packages but go well beyond basic design and marketing.

e-Books can be self-publishing in another format.  E-books are sold through Amazon.com’s Bookstore (Kindle), Barnes & Noble's e-Bookstore (Nook), Apple’s iBookstore (iPad and iPhone) and more. 

Amazon offers a free service to convert your book to the Kindle e-book format at Kindle Direct Publishing.

Alternatively, you may decide to convert your book using Smashwords or FastWords from which you can distribute directly to the major e-bookstores.

Affiliation with other writers.  Writing and editing can sometimes feel solitary.  One solution is to get involved with a related association.  If there is one in your area, it’s especially nice to get out, to meet like-minded professionals.  Of particular note, affiliating with other writers can be a terrific source of leads.

Be Aware

Unfortunately, there are cons lurking around many corners awaiting a simple error or misunderstanding.  A Huffington Post article about self-publishing advises writers to consult Writer Beware whose mission is to track, expose, and raise awareness of the prevalence of fraud and other questionable activities in and around the publishing industry.

Before you approach a new and unknown organization, due diligence is necessary.  Find out if it is legitimate, learn about the kind of business they do, how they make their money.  Check the firm fully.  Use Dun & Bradstreet data.  Check with the Better Business Bureau Online.  What does their “About” page tell you?  Can you contact them directly? 

Because the web is full of cons with myriad means to swindle, it’s necessary for you to proceed with caution.  Do not make any kind of a commitment, do not share personal data and don’t agree to a meeting until you have fully confirmed the legitimacy of an organization.

Beware offers that are simply not true.  Authors and self-publishers are the target of any number of fraudulent concerns masquerading as agents, writers’ services and more.  Their simple quest is your money.  At Writer Beware, you will find lists of questionable practice practitioners.

Good at Getting Things Done.  October 2014.  Lucy Kellaway, columnist for the  Financial Times writes about the single most important working skill employers seek today - employees who are conscientious at getting their job done.  Whether parts of the job are dreary or boring or stimulating, getting all of the job done tops the "most important" list for employement today.

Hot tip for job seekers.  April 2013.  Invent your next job!  That’s right, ask yourself these questions:

• what are your strongest skills? 
• how can you use those skills to meet the needs of another person or organization? 
• can you make money that way? 
• do you need to modify your skills to best serve that person or organization?

Rather than wait for a company to dream up your next job, dream it up yourself.  Become an entrepreneur by finding needs and creating solutions for those needs.

Class of 2012 starting salaries average $44,455.  January 2013.  The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) reports the following median starting salary by major for 2012 graduates with bachelor’s degrees.

Business  $53,900

Communications  $43,717

Computer Science  $59,221

Education  $40,668

Engineering  $61,913

Health Sciences  $49,196

Humanities and Social Sciences  $36,988

Math and Science  $42,471

The highest starting salaries went to mechanical engineering grads hired as petroleum, mining and geological engineers.  Their median starting salary averaged $77,500.

For the Class of 2012, the top-hiring industry sector was Educational Services where 444,500 new graduates found employment at an average $39,879 starting salary.  The top paying industry is mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction where starting salaries averaged $59,400.

Will your Facebook profile become an employment-screening tool?  February 21, 2012.  The Wall Street Journal reports the results of a study indicating that Facebook profiles accurately reflect employer assessments in areas such as dependability and emotional stability.  Hobbies and a wide circle of friends are seen as positive indicators; partying is not necessarily negative.  Read it here.

Are you a collector?  Do you browse antique shops and flea markets for rare treasures?  Have you collected more than you can store?  Have your tastes changed?  There are a million reasons for deciding to sell.  Best of all, it’s never been easier to sell whether it’s mementos, antiques, furniture or cars. 

The online auction market for collectibles is thriving.  But, it’s not just collectors who are selling online.  Many hobbyists have found an added source of income by selling their creations through online auction houses.  

For a few years, eBay.com was the only online auction choice.  Today online auction firms crowd the field and include WebStore.com, eBid.net and OnlineAuction.com.  Before deciding on which online auction house, there’s much to consider.

What can I sell? Will I make money? 

Online auction websites allow the sale of just about any kind of item.  Some sites have specialties – some are technical, some are high-end.  Most online houses, however, feature a broad range of items for sale.  The seller can put one or more items up for auction and allow online shoppers to bid for the items.  The seller can set minimum bids and time limits for the auction. 

Pricing your item(s) for sale on an online auction site can be something of an art.  Add to that the fact that your items may not sell immediately – or ever.  Prepare yourself with information.  Scrutinize the auction sites.  See what is selling and what is not selling.  Decide whether the “going price” is right for you.

Begin by comparison shopping for the types of items you plan to sell.  Look for similar items.  Is the pricing acceptable to you?  Are similar items actually selling at that price?  What is the high-low range of prices? 

Consider your competition.  Are many items similar to yours?  Are those items selling or are they simply sitting there unsold?

Online auction sales come with costs

Don’t forget that you will incur costs.  Online auction websites may differ in many ways.  One way they don’t differ is the fact that they expect to earn money from the business you do from their site.  There are a range of fees and costs.  Be certain you fully understand the costs to sell through an online auction site.

Selling through an online auction house can save you time or the expense of a garage sale or a separate website.  On the other hand, if you have a large collection or several collections, you may decide to open your own store or set-up your own website. 

A Few Words of Caution

As with all internet commercial agreements, use care.  Always be aware.  Always protect yourself. 

• Do not expose your personal information.  This is a maxim for all internet exchanges. 
• Payment processing is of particular importance.  PayPal (paypal.com) is the leading online payment processor for vendors, auction sites and other commercial users.   As an alternative, consider PayPal competitor GoogleCheckout (checkout.google.com).  Both provide a secure payment wall between you and buyers. 
• Before making a commitment with an online auction firm, look at the alternatives, compare price, value, reliability and security. 

The online auction business is so hot, there is now a website that compares the top fourteen auction sites.  TopTenReview.com researches the buying options for many kinds of products. Their Online Auction Sites is but one of those product categories.  Their goal is to help you make smart purchases.

When Marco Arment set out to develop Instapaper, he didn’t think of it as a business.  Instead, he was a frustrated commuter wishing he could read articles on his iPhone while riding the New York subway. 

The source of his frustration?  Internet connection was not available while on the subway train.  His solution?  Save the long articles to his iPhone to read when he decided it was time.

Many people would have taken the easy approach; they’d have saved articles to a Notes app.  Marco, however, is a self-professed geek.  When geeks run into boring, repetitive tasks such as saving articles manually, they think, “There must be an easier way.  Why not automate it?”

He did just that and made an app, calling it Instapaper.  Instapaper is a simple “read later” button that sends articles to your iPhone or iPad for later reading.  Marco used it for months, never thinking to mention it to others.  Soon his friends saw him using it and wanted it on their iPhone so he shared it with his friends.  Today, Marco sells it on the iTunes App Store for $3.99 providing him a full-time income.

Do you have an app idea?  Are you ready to make the leap?  Since the App Store launch in 2008, app development has become a flourishing business category.

For iPhone and iPad Apps, here’s how you do it.

1. Learn the iPhone and iPad app development programming language Objective-C or find someone who already knows it.  Since your app may become a full-fledged business, if you hire a programmer, make certain you protect your business interests legally. 
2. Develop the app.  One common approach is to start with a clean, easy-to-use user interface and work backwards.  If this is your first app, you’ll likely have many Objective-C questions.  A good resource for these questions is StockOverFlow, a user-generated compendium of technical questions.  .       
3. Charge money.  Even just charging $0.99 for your app sends a clear message, “This app is valuable and I intend to trade value-for-value for it.”

For Droids, here’s what you do.  Even non-coders can develop apps with App Inventor, which is both free, open-source and doesn’t require approval before development.  Previously available through Google Labs, it will be available through the MIT Media Lab in April 2012.  In the meantime, to get your app started, download the Android SDK.  As with iPhone and iPad, you can hire a programmer to develop your app.  Remember that if you choose to hire technical assistance, you must also protect your business legally.

To learn the business side of app development, go to Marco Arment’s own weekly podcast, Build and Analyze.

Every imaginable purpose

As for app ideas, the best are the ones that developers create to serve their own purposes.  App ideas may solve big or small problems.  Some apps solve problems we didn’t even know we had. 

Marco Arment didn’t build Instapaper because it sounded like a good money making idea.  He built it because he wanted to read long articles on New York’s subway system.  The same was true for Jolanda Witvliet.  She developed the eReadingbook app for Middle School-aged children because her children needed it.  Then, there is Apple's 2010 Design Award Winner, Star Walk that allows the user to identify the night sky from any place on this earth.  With Cartolina Postale, you can send custom postcards using photos from your iPhone.   

App possibilities are limitless.  What do you want to have happen?  Then, create an app to make it happen. 

As David Heinemeier Hansson, creator of Ruby on Rails and co-founder of 37signals, wrote in Rework, the best thing you can do when developing an app is to start.  Get something off the ground; you can add features later.  To capture the inspiration of the moment, you need to ship something out the door as soon as possible.

By Greg Minton whose writing services include web writing, SEO optimizing, newsletter development and blog writing.  Greg can be reached at www.gregminton.com.

Your road to success is paved by profit.  After all, you aren’t starting a business just to while away your hours.  No, you want positive financial results.

Whether you sell a product or provide a service, whether you are for-profit or not-for-profit, it is imperative that your revenue exceed all your costs.  While that sounds easy enough, there are many ways to be tripped-up on the road to profitability.  Here we’ll look at two of the chief culprits that pave the road to red ink.

Cash flow is not profit

In our electronic world, it’s easy to “think” we are profitable.  Too often, what feels like profit is simply cash flow.  The money coming in, your revenue, may be covering your expenses and that makes it feel as if you are profitable.  Watch out, that may not be true.  Conversely, your revenue may not be covering your costs and you fear that you’ve become unprofitable.  Maybe or maybe not.  In both cases, you need more information before you know whether you are profitable.

Planning your cash flow and checking it monthly protects you and your firm.  When you plan cash flow, you are planning how and when your clients pay you.  You are also planning how and when you pay your expenses. 

When you plan your business, you decide on the price(s) you will charge.  Then you plan when customers will pay you.  For many companies, customers will pay at the time of the purchase.  Other firms will ask their customers to pay when the product or service is delivered.  Still others will offer terms that extend payment over a specific period.  In addition, when you plan your business, you plan how you will be paid.  You may be a cash-only business.  Will you accept checks?  It may be you’ll accept credit cards.  Each of these decisions has cash flow implications.

Imagine, for example, an insurance broker’s cash flow.  Let’s assume they operate out of an office with a staff.  That means there are monthly expenses.  Then, think about their product.  Many types of insurance policies are sold on an annual basis.  If each customer pays their auto policy in-full once a year, how would you make that revenue flow across the whole year so you can pay your monthly expenses? 

Perhaps yours is a seasonal business with peaks and valleys.  Or, you have a client who is late paying their bill.  How will you handle your costs when revenue is seasonal or late?  Planning ahead means you are prepared for revenue surprises. 

Why does it “feel” as if your firm is profitable?  It’s likely you know the answer.  Operating your own business can be intense.  Under stress, we often make snap judgments based on how things feel.  Sometimes that works.  Other times, it puts you at risk.   

In addition, it is sometimes difficult to gauge profitability when some of your revenue is paid by credit card.  In those instances, the money goes straight to your bank electronically.  Payment by cash and check are more physical, requiring a deposit into your bank.  While both forms of revenue feed your firm’s expense needs, your greater question is, are you profitable?  Don’t wait to uncover a surprise. Instead, monitor your cash flow and your profit & loss.  Every month, compare your actual cash flow and profit & loss to your plan. 

Click here for free financial templates, including Cash Flow from SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives).  If you need help with your financial plan, contact SCORE to be assigned a mentor.

Click here to download free Cash Flow templates from Microsoft Office.

Break-Even

Break-even means there is not a gain or a loss.  The income for a break-even business, for example, is equal to that firm’s expenses.  In other words, there is not a profit or a loss. 

You, of course, want yours to be a profitable business.  Why would you be working so hard if your outcome were a break-even business?  To get to profit, it’s necessary to know your break-even point – the point at which there is neither profit nor loss.  To do this means you will complete a break-even analysis, an analysis that shows the point at which your income/sales are equal to your costs. 

All you need to complete your break-even analysis is your costs - your variable costs and fixed costs. 

• Variable costs are all your costs to produce a single unit of your product or service.  Variable costs include raw materials, manufacturing and the labor/salary costs directly related to the production of your product or service.  Add up all your variable costs for a specific period – a month, a quarter or a year.  Then, divide your total variable costs by the number of units produced in that period.  The result is your unit cost.

In other words, to find the cost to produce a single unit of your product or service, you done this: Total Variable Costs ÷ Number of Units Produced = Unit Cost.

• Fixed costs are the costs to your business whether you make a sale or not.  These are the costs that are not directly related to your product or service.  Fixed costs don’t change or have very little change over the course of a year.  Fixed  costs include rent, phone, insurance, salaries, advertising and more. 

You are now ready to calculate your break-even.  Start with the unit cost you calculated under “variable costs” above.  Subtract the unit cost from the sales price you will charge for that unit.  The result is the money that will cover your fixed costs – the result is called Unit Contribution Margin.

What you are doing here is looking at a single item, one unit of product or service, and subtracting your costs to produce that single item.  The remainder, the amount of money left over, is the amount of money you have to cover your fixed costs and, ultimately, your profit.  This is what this step looks like: Sales Price – Unit Cost = Unit Contribution Margin.

It’s now time to find out how many units you will need to sell to cover your fixed costs.  Here you divide the total of your fixed costs for the period (month, quarter or year) by the unit contribution margin you’ve just calculated.  The result is the number of units you need to sell to break-even. 

What you have done here is Total Fixed Costs ÷ Unit Contribution Margin = Break-Even.

The result of these calculations is the number of units you must sell to cover all the fixed costs of your business before making a profit.  Naturally, your goal is to exceed break-even, your goal is to be profitable.  Your break-even gives you important information that will get you to profit. 

What will a break-even analysis do for you?  Several things – all intended to maximize your profitability.

• It will tell you how many units of your product or service you must sell to break-even.  Once you know how much you have to sell to break-even, you can then calculate how many you’ll need to sell to achieve your expected profit. Is it a realistic number?  Will you be able to sell at that volume? 
• When you know the break-even for a product or service, you can test different price points.  What would be the break-even if you charged a lower price?  Remember that when you charge a lower price, you will bring in less money.  You’ll need to look at how many added units you will need to sell to break-even when you are charging less?  Alternatively, test a higher price.  Here, you will be paid more money and that means you’ll need to sell fewer units to break-even.  How many will you need to sell to reach your projected profit?  Again, is it possible to sell that many units?  
• When you know the break-even for a product or service, you can look at what would happen if you added to or subtracted from the cost.  Think about any enhancements you might make to grow the value of the product.  Add the cost of the enhancements you are considering to the break-even analysis.  Is the added cost worth the potential increase in sales?  Alternatively, look at the consequence of taking out a cost.  What does that do to your break-even?  If you take cost out of your product, will the change affect your customers’ favorable perception?  Will it change your competitive position?  
• Finally, break-evens help you to find the best price/cost balance for your product or service.

Complete your break-even analyses when you are planning your business and when you are “tweaking” your product or service to generate more revenue.  Once you have your break-even for each product or service category in your firm and you have tested price and cost variables, you will then decide on the optimal balance of product or service categories.  Your goal here is to make yours a profitable organization.

Millions of Americans are self-employed.  Self-employment spans every industry and job category.  There are self-employed strategists and inventors just as there are self-employed plumbers and cleaners.  Each self-employed individual uses their skills, their training and their experience to shape their products or services.

When you are self-employed, you are also a business owner.  That’s right, you operate your own business and owning a business is not easy. Owning a business means you are also the business manager and the admin person.  Business owners need to think about business insurance and taxes, they need to market and sell the work that they do.  Sometimes the demands of business ownership call for skills we don’t all share. 

Not all of us, for example, know how to price our services.  The troublesome pair of questions are, “what should I charge” and “what can I charge”.  Naturally, you need to cover your costs.  Beyond your costs, what is the number that will keep your customers loyal while ensuring you are fairly paid? 

Some of the factors that affect how much to charge include:

• The “going rate” for the work you do.  Consider both the type of work and the regional factors that affect that rate. 
• The costs you incur to perform the work you do. 
• Your knowledge, training, skills and experience.  
• Your reputation and your value to your customer base.  You may have unique qualities that enhance your value to your customer(s).  Conversely, you may have built a name as the best low-cost provider.

It’s important to ask around, to find out what people are charging.  It’s necessary to ask yourself about your uniqueness.  What is it about how you do your work that makes you unique?  Can that increase your value; can it increase the amount people will pay for your uniqueness? 

Alternatively, you may decide to work with many customers.  When you choose a volume business, you may also decide to offer “best prices”.  Much of your pricing decision rests in your assessment of your services and capabilities relative to your competition. 

Another perspective - your financial expectations.  It is also important to look at your needs and expectations.  This is the “other number”, the one that reflects your own financial needs and goals.  To fold your economic wants and needs into your pricing picture, you may choose to look at your cost of living – what you spend in a typical year.    

It’s relatively simple to translate your annual income goal into an hourly, weekly or monthly rate.  What is the annual number you seek?  Let’s say it is $50,000 a year.  If you work 40-hour weeks for 50 weeks a year, you are working 2,000 hours a year.  What is your rate to get to $50,000?  Divide the annual income you seek, here $50,000, by the number of hours you expect to work in a year.  The result is an hourly rate that will generate the income you seek.  In this example, when you work 2,000 hours a year you will earn $50,000 when you charge $25 an hour, $1,000 a week or $4,167 a month.

Don’t forget your costs.  Before you finalize your rate, however, be sure you add in all your costs to do the work.  Do you need special equipment?  Do you need special insurance?  What are the expenses you will incur when doing your work? 

When adding in your costs, don’t forget taxes and insurance.  You will be responsible for your own employment taxes that you will pay quarterly.    

Total the costs you will incur for a year of work.  Then, divide that number by the number of hours you expect to work in a year.  Let’s go back to the 40-hour work week, 50 weeks a year.  As we said, that means you will work 2,000 hours in the year.  If your costs total $10,000 for a year of work, then divide that number by your 2,000 hours of work in that year.  You’ll find that your costs total $5 an hour, $200 a week and $833 a month.

Finding a balance.  Is there a difference between the “going rates” for your region and your financial expectations?  Your objective is to develop a growing business of loyal customers and to be paid fairly.  If the going rate and your expectations are out of balance, figure out what must happen to correct that.  Will you need to work more hours?  Is there value you can add? 

Packaging Your Rates.  Instead of using an hourly rate, consider ways to package your work.  For some job types, consider offering your clients a monthly rate for a special set of promises and assurances.  These might be unlimited calls each month, perfect swimming pool chemistry, specialized data retrieval plans or something altogether different.  Use your imagination as you package your unique capabilities in ways that meet your customer’s greatest needs.

It’s very normal to wonder if you are charging the right amount, to worry that you might be under-charging or over-charging.  To ease your angst, do your “going rate” research, recognize the attributes that make your service special or unique and consider your financial objectives and costs.  It’s then time to enjoy your work.

There are a million reasons for starting your own firm and not all of them are financial.  When Mark Zuckerberg started FaceBook, he did not have an economic goal in mind; his was a “geekier” objective.  In fact, FaceBook did not start with a financial model.  

When a new business is a partnership, often one partner serves as the brains behind the product or service while the other brings the actual business to life.  In the case of Apple, for example, Steve Jobs began as the sales and marketing visionary while Steve Wozniak created their early computers.  When they started, neither had a financial expectation.   

Many of us, however, do have a financial goal, a targeted number.  Some of us even have two numbers – one is the rock bottom minimum return we must generate, the other is a sky’s the limit number.  It’s crucial to include your financial expectations in your business plan.  Why? 

1. If you need income from your new business, it is necessary to test your income needs against your revenue and costs forecast.  Can the firm generate enough money to fill your financial needs?  When might that happen?  Do you have the money on hand to get you to the time when the firm is generating that much money?  
2. If you think of your time – the number of hours in a day, week or year – in terms of income potential, what kind of profit/income can you expect from the time and money you will invest?

Here, then, are just a few of the many different profit/income expectations when starting a new business. 

• The new business will be my sole source of income.   
• The new business will supplement the income I’m earning at a job.       
• The new business will supplement the passive or portfolio income I generate each year.  
• When the new business proves itself, when it is bringing in the kind of money I need, then I’ll leave my current job and then the new business will become my sole source of income.
• I’m not expecting money from my new business because I’m planning on selling it.  I need it to generate the kind of profit that will make another firm want to buy it.  

When you have financial expectations for your business, it’s necessary to test those expectations in the financial analysis of your business plan.  Are your expectations realistic or are you dreaming? 

For more information, see Profit 101 – Cash Flow Is Not Profit and Other Financial Realities for information and thoughts on cash flow, breakeven and how to decide what you will charge your customer.  In addition, there are many sources for financial templates and mentoring.  One free resource is SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) website for free financial templates and free mentoring.  Or, consider downloading a free template from Microsoft Office.

Mission statements inform your customers.  They also inform your employees.  They even provide you, the head of the firm, with an operating platform.  A mission statement tells people about your firm, the nature of your firm at its most basic level.  It is your organization’s statement of purpose.

In a very few sentences, your mission statement tells:           

• Who you are as a company, your very purpose        
• What you do including who benefits and how 
• What you stand for and how you are unique          
• Why you are in business

The mission statement drives every firm’s strategic and operating decision-making.  Every person in the firm should use the mission to guide the work they do.  In addition, the mission statement informs those outside your firm, your customers, your vendors and others.  It explains to them what they can expect from your organization.

Because the mission statement explains the core reasons for your firm's existance, it should be written to stand the test of time.  A mission statement should not change even though time and events may change your product or service or even your customer base.

For example, in the 1980s a business technology-consulting firm helped businesses acquire and use personal computers.  In 2010, the same firm—with the same customer base—helps businesses outsource their technology to data centers worldwide.  For thirty years, their mission statement – to help small and medium size businesses use technology to lower costs and communicate better with clients – stood the test of time.  For thirty years, their mission statement stood as a guidepost for employees and for customers.  It even enabled the firm’s strategic change.

It’s unlikely you will write your mission statement in an evening.  Instead, revisit it off and on as you develop all the other parts of your business plan.  You’ll add and delete til it is the polished expression of your organization.

Why will people spend their money with your firm?  How are you different from your competitors?  Do those differences matter to your customers?  While you may believe in what you are offering, while you may have planned carefully, while you may be certain you can deliver value to your customers, have you asked the most important question?  What is it about your firm that will keep customers coming, not just once but again and again?

Competition exists for virtually every product or service.  These are the question you must answer: 

• What about my offering is unique?   
• What makes it different from the field of competitors? 
• How will my offering get noticed in a competitive field? 
• Is my uniqueness something my prospective customers value? 
• Why will prospective customers choose my offering over others?
• Why would my customer become a loyal customer?

How well you differentiate your business is a measure of your probable success.  Consider carefully the ways you will differentiate your business from the competition.  Use thought and research to decide which things will make your firm stand out from the pack.

There are many ways to differentiate a product or service.  Not all of them will be suited to your planned offering.  Some may be too costly for your field of endeavor.  Your objective is to differentiate your firm in ways your customers’ will believe are unique and valuable.  Your objective is to stand out in ways that make your firm your customers’ best choice.

Your product or service may be a potential differentiator.  How is your product or service different, better, stronger, faster, prettier or more inventive than your competition?  Will your customer value that difference enough to spend their money at your firm?  Is your product or service of greater quality?  Is it more exclusive?   Is yours the best product or service guarantee in your field?

• Can you afford to incorporate the specific differentiator you are considering into your particular product or service?

Price can be a differentiator.  The highest price, the lowest price, even a stable, never-changing price might set you apart.  Or, it may be that your product or service always offers promotional-style pricing.  Ask yourself whether price is more or less important to your prospect than, for example, quality.  When making the buying decision, where is price in your prospective customers’ thought process?

• Again, remember you are in a profit-making mode.  Can your P&L sustain the price you are considering? 

Your people can be a differentiator.  Perhaps your sales staff or technical team are the most knowledgeable or best trained in your field.  Perhaps your customer service is known far and wide as not just the best but also the most empowered to ensure customer satisfaction.

How you sell or deliver your product or service may be a differentiator. 

Your prospective buyer’s perception of your industry may provide a useful differentiator.  It’s imperative that you consider the unique aspects that will drive your prospective buyers’ buying decisions.  Is there an emotional quality to their buying decision?  Is exclusivity important?  Do your customers’ think of your business category as a commodity?

Naturally, it is necessary to look at the implications of potential differentiators.  Will your customer value what makes you unique?  Will possible differentiators make your firm a stand out in your field?  Can you afford to implement certain differentiators?  Your objective is to produce the most robust outcome while delivering your product or service in a unique way that elevates your perceived value.

Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Can you name the companies associated with these statements? 

• "You get fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less -- or it's free." 
• "When your package absolutely, positively has to get there overnight." 
• "The ultimate driving machine." 
• "The milk chocolate melts in your mouth, not in your hand."

These are all examples of effective unique selling propositions.  Pizza is the most common food out there.  Dominos’ promise sets the way you get your pizza apart.  When it comes to delivery services, there are many.  However, if you have to overnight it, FedEx is the one.  BMW…need we say more?  M&Ms are the chocolate snack that is not messy.

One common mistake in business is the failure to create a USP.  With the USP, you will express your firm’s differentiators in a way that is meaningful to your target market.  That’s right, the USP tells your prospective buyer why your firm is the stand out firm, the one that best meets all their buying wants and needs.

Developing a USP 

Developing a USP for your business takes some research and planning.  Remember that you are creating a sense of perceived value.  You want to bring in something special that makes you unique and more appealing. 

Steps to consider include:

Analyzing the competition.  When you write your business plan, take a hard look at your competition.  Where do they fall short?  Where might your firm fall short?  How can you deliver your service in a unique way that best speaks to your prospect?

Set yourself apart.  Create your clear differentiator.  Be the dentist with the most relaxing waiting area.  The burger restaurant with biggest cheeseburger.  The massage therapist that doubles as a dietician. 

Address customer pain points.  What tends to turn clients away in your industry?  Plumbers who need belts?  Lawyers who can’t communicate in everyday language?  Fine dining restaurants with snobby wait staff?  Identify a pain point and become known as the business that solves it.

Offer a guarantee.  Take the risk away from customers.  Not only do you address pain points in a unique way, you guarantee your USP.

Be specific.  Specificity sells.  “We make you more efficient and save you money” is a claim anyone from a barber to an IT consultant can make.  Make your value unique.

You can give yourself an advantage right from the start if you integrate a solid USP into your initial business plan.  Differentiate your company, and you will have insight into one of your main selling points.

For a deeper understanding of differentiation and other powerful marketing tools, consult the most widely used graduate business school marketing book, Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning, Analysis and Implementation by Philip Kotler.

 

When you define what your firm does, you are actually saying what you do for others.  Have you asked yourself, "What’s in it for my prospective customer?" "What are we offering that actually benefits our customer in a way they value most?" "What is it about our product or service that provides a tangible benefit to our customer?"

Benefits are not features.  Features describe your product or service.  Your product features may be the technology used, its size, that it has fewer emissions or even that it has a specific design feature.  Your service features may be hours served or the type of consulting you offer.  Whether for product or service, features are not a reason to buy.  Benefits explain the reason to buy.  Benefits translate a feature into a solution for your customer.

• A technology feature such as 3G or 4G is meaningless until the customer understands the benefit, that their phone’s internet connection will be faster and stronger. 
• A car may feature large cargo capacity but what does it matter until the benefit is shown to the target market – that the car can accommodate more sporting gear, for example.
• A feature may be the hours your firm is open for business, a benefit is convenience to the customer.
• A feature may be twenty years of consulting experience but that doesn’t translate to a benefit until your customer learns that your experience and expertise will actually take them to the precise outcome they seek. 

Features are simply descriptors.  Features are meaningless to your prospective customer.  Benefits mean everything.  Benefits are the results, the explanation of how the customer’s needs are being answered. 

In a business plan, discussing benefits shows your understanding of why a customer will pay you for your product or service.  A business without clearly stated customer benefits is a business destined for failure.  Enthusiasm and personal commitment will never replace the power of the answer to the primary question your prospect is asking, “How does it benefit me?”

You are about to follow in the footsteps of many.  From Thomas Edison and Henry Ford to Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg, Americans are known the world-over as innovative entrepreneurs.  You’ve a vision for success.  Now, it’s time to write your plan.

A business plan is the document that tells how you plan to grow your business.  Part of your business plan is narrative – a written explanation of the business you plan.  The other part of your business plan is the financial analysis – a numbers-driven look at how your business will work and how it will generate profit.

Your guard may go up here…Do I need to hire a lawyer?  An account? A consultant?

Relax.  While there are specifics you need to address when developing your business plan, it’s a document you can produce yourself.  In fact, there a many free online resources that show all the steps of the process – in detail.  Here we’ll introduce the free resources.  Be aware, not all online business plan resources are free. 

Importantly, with these resources you can ask questions and get mentoring to ensure you put together a solid business plan that serves as a roadmap for your success.

Business Plan Resources

Below are three free and excellent resources you should research as you start your business and formalize your plan.  You’ll find a great deal of general business advice as well as training seminars, white papers and articles, and local counseling and training.  Time spent on these sites as you plan your business venture will mean time saved and mistakes avoided as you put your plan into action.

The US Small Business Administration (SBA):  The SBA assists small businesses with all the basics including how to form, finance, manage, and market your business.  Information includes starting and managing a business, getting loans and grants, contracting and legal documentation, and general advice on business management.  SBA provides local assistance including in-person mentoring and classes through their Small Business Development Corporation.  Visit SBA.

SCORE:  With SCORE, Counselor’s to America’s Small Businesses, you have choices.  On their site, you’ll find templates for every facet of your business – click on Templates & Tools.  Or, get free and confidential mentoring from one of SCORE’s 13,000 mentors.  SCORE mentors can work with you online or in-person.  Every one of their mentors has deep business experience – and they are volunteers.  This site gives you access to webinars, enewsletter articles, and workshops.  They even have a tool to connect you with a business counselor in your area.   Visit SCORE.

BPlans:  At Bplans, you’ll find the largest single online collection of free sample business plans, plans for every kind of business from medical billing to office furniture manufacturing. In addition, BPlans has helpful tools and know-how for managing your business. Bplans includes practical advice on planning, interactive tools and calculators, and a panel of experts who have answered thousands of questions from people like you. Bplans has won several awards as a valuable "plain talk" resource.  Visit BPlans.

When you invest your time in planning and research, you increase the likelihood of a successful business.  With these resources, you’ll be able to prepare a strong business plan.

NOTE:  Because there are good, free resources for business plan templates customized to meet the needs of hundreds of business types, Everyday Success decided that business plan advice better served our readers.  Other business plan resources can be found under Links & Resources.

Your business plan is the document that will explain all the steps you will take to start and grow your business.  Part of your business plan is narrative – a written explanation of the business.  The other part of your business plan is the financial analysis – a numbers-driven look at how your business will work, how it will generate profit.

The goal of a business plan is to outline for yourself and possible investors how you intend to succeed.  The process of developing the plan forces you to think about your business in a systematic way.  You will outline facts, look at ideas with a critical eye, and, ultimately, construct a plan for a business that will remain in the black for years to come.

Because there are many fine and free business plan templates available through SBA, SCORE, Bplans and others, here we look at an overview of the parts of a business plan and in other articles, we highlight important components for your consideration.

The Narrative

The body of your business plan consists of the narrative.  In a sense, this is the chronological “story” of the growth of your business.  The narrative describes the steps you will take to first, bring your business to life and, after that, operate your business successfully over time.

Elements of the narrative include:

Executive Summary:  Though this is the start of the business plan, it will be the last section you write.  Here you will summarize all of the rest of the plan as if you were presenting the entire plan in a brief interview.  It is here you will present your firm’s mission.

General Company Description:  What does your business do?  This section describes your goals as well as your business philosophy/perspective.  Here you will assess your industry, the strengths of your company and its legal form of ownership.

Product(s) and/or Services:  Here you will offer an in-depth description of your products and services.

Market Assessment and Strategic Plan:  Market research and competitive analysis are crucial components in your plan.  In this section, you will present the results of your assessment of the business climate for your specific business category, an analysis of your product(s) and/or services in the market, an analysis of your targeted customer base and an analysis of your competition.  Following your market and business assessment, you will lay out your strategic plan including your value proposition, positioning, pricing, marketing plan, distribution plan and more.

Operating Plan:  With this section, you will fully explain the daily operation of your business, including location, equipment, people, processes, and legal environment.  Areas such as inventory, credit policies, and accounting are covered.

Management and Organization:  Who will manage your business on a daily basis?  What competencies does he or she bring?  Who will work should a vital person become incapacitated?  Board of directors, attorneys, accounts, insurance agents, bankers, and other consultants are all discussed in this section.

Financial Analysis

Financial planning is crucial.  Many businesses fail in the first year because they run-out of the cash flow needed to maintain operations.  Proper planning can help you predict where you will be in one year and further into the future.

Startup expenses and capitalization:  Here is your plan for the capital you will need to get your business started and estimate early expenses.

Profit/loss projections:  Using your monthly forecast of sales, cost of goods sold, expenses, and profits, this is the centerpiece of your initial financial analysis.  You will project profit/loss for your first year and for a longer time horizon whether three, four or five years out.

Projected cash flow:  Here is the plan for paying your bills.  Cash flow is essential to the life of a business.  Predict what you need for startup, preliminary expenses, operating expenses, and reserves.

Breakeven analysis.  Here you will calculate the point at which revenue covers all costs before making a profit.  It’s important to understand the costs of your business and what sales volume is needed to cover those costs.  A breakeven analysis will shed light on whether your firm is financially viable.  The breakeven analysis may show that costs may need to be reworked. 

Projected balance sheet:  Create a balance sheet that shows your assets and liabilities when you open for business.

A complete business plan with narrative and finical analysis will explain why you are in business and how your will organize your resources for success.  It will take some time to prepare, but when you complete it you can move forward with greater certainty that you are in the right business and have what it takes to be a success. Once you have your business plan, you’ll have a roadmap from which to build your firm.

Whether you are planning a mega-business or a small service firm, your probability for success grows exponentially when you start with a business plan.  In our dreams, we see our product or service flying off the shelf, our customers flocking to us for our exceptional service.  In our dreams, our enthusiasm abounds, our bank accounts are flush and we are invincible.

In the real world, an arduous path lies between concept and execution.  Hard and thoughtful work is mandatory.  Careful planning for every single step, even for the unexpected, is the path that leads us to a win.

It’s not very different from a championship tennis player.  They’ve practiced til perfection and then they practice still more.  They’ve visualized every nanosecond of every game.  They know which serves or returns will take them to the win.  Nothing is left to chance.  Instead, they visualize every possibility and then they practice, practice, practice their most advantageous responses.

Organize Around Your Business Plan

You probably recognize the practical necessity of creating a business plan, such as the need to: 

• Support a loan application. 
• Raise equity funding. 
• Define agreements between partners. 
• Set a value on your business for legal or sale purposes.

Business plans prove to another party that the business will raise enough revenue to cover expenses.

What many people fail to do is prove to themselves that their business will be profitable.  It’s easy to think:  “I’ve got such a great idea for my business, I know it’s going to make money. I’m not going to spend time on a business plan.”

But a great idea is not enough.  A business plan is not just a document to prove profitability to others.  It is a plan that outlines how you are going to get there.  A business plan can help you:  

• Define your concept as a business. 
• Define your objectives and describe how you will achieve them. 
• Outline the experience and qualifications of your personnel. 
• Determine a timeline and benchmarks for activities and goals. 
• Discuss and plan for required facilities, equipment and resources. 
• Set budgets. 
• Define your target market. 
• Create a unique sales proposition. 
• Differentiate yourself from the competition.

More than a Menu

The popular program, Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares, demonstrates what happens to many ventures that do not have a solid business plan.

In this program, food enthusiasts who started restaurants find themselves on the brink of failure.  Host Gordon Ramsey’s process for saving these restaurants centers on restructuring the business to be profitable.  

Ramsey admonishes owners, saying, “You have to think of this as a business!” Restaurant owners who had “a great idea” are dumbfounded that they’re in the gutter. 

The cure is to go back and define for themselves how to run a vibrant and profitable business.  Details like budgets, employee management, and competiveness, each are critical elements of a business plan.

Prove it to Yourself

It’s true that a business plan is a tool to show bankers, venture capitalists, and other investors that you are worthy of financial support.

More importantly, it’s a document that shows you have more than just an idea.  Its value lies in systematically analyzing how your business will work.

Successful business people plan every detail.  You can avoid costly--or even disastrous mistakes-- with a thorough business plan. 

The first person you should prove profitability to is yourself.

You’re ready, you want to build your own business.  That’s terrific.  Millions of Americans are successful business owners.  Before you begin, however, it’s necessary to answer some telling questions.  Your answers can make the difference between a great success, barely breaking even or a complete failure.

Whatever it is that makes you sure your new business will be a success – whether it’s capitalizing on existing knowledge, transforming a well-honed skill into a money-making venture, profiting from an exceptional contact base or another unique asset – the power of your success rests in how carefully you’ve crafted your business idea and how well you know yourself.

Why do I want my own business?

Your first important question to ask yourself is “why?”  Why do you want to start your own revenue-generating firm?  What are your personal goals?  Do you want to:

• Do something you enjoy?  
• Get Rich?                 
• Have a flexible lifestyle?    
• Help others? 
• Show the world the hot new product you’ve invented?     
• Be your own boss?
• Fulfill your competitive drive?       
• Be home with your children?  
• Bring your dog to work? 
• Prove to yourself that you can do it?
• Prove to others that you can do it?

As you start to outline your business plan, these are the first questions you’ll want to ask yourself.  As you answer this first question, look to see if any of your personal goals are contradictory.  For example, flexible lifestyle and high income may or may not work well together.  Working in a field you enjoy may or may not fit with your competitive drive.  What are the implications of your personal goals?

How can I shape my business to my strengths and vision?

Successful business start-ups require self-knowledge.  Consider how your personal strengths, weaknesses and working style will help or hinder your business.

Know thyself.  Strong entrepreneurs know success stems from effort.  Take a careful personal inventory:

• What describes you in a working environ? 
• What are your greatest strengths? 
• What about your weaknesses?
• What work absorbs you so fully that you lose track of time? 
• What do others say are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?

What is your working style? What are your working assets and detractions?

• Are you a workaholic – and proud of it?            
• Would you prefer modest hours and a commensurate income?            
• Are you aggressive and competitive or easy going and accepting?           
• Are you a people person or do you prefer a quieter work life?           
• Are you an idea person who is not as good at making things happen?            
• Do you love making things happen, do you delight in the detail?           
• Do you enjoy using your hands?           
• Are you at your best when your mind is challenged?           
• Are you a presenter? A performer? A teacher? A student?           
• Are you inventive? 
• Do you have a head for numbers? 
• Are you flexible?

If you find yourself to be a mystery, if you are just not clear about your greatest strengths or weaknesses, there are tools to help you.  In Is It Time for A Career Makeover?, you’ll find an array of tools including working skill, personal strength, character strength and career interest assessments.  The takeaway, that capitalizing on your strengths and managing your weaknesses is imperative when conceiving your own business.

What is my professional vision?  How do you see your professional self?  What is your vision of you at work?  Do you see yourself selling? Counseling others? Teaching? Building things? Providing medical care? Offering personal services? Writing? Making music? Leading others? Informing others?

Imagine yourself ten or twenty years from now.  What will you want to say about your working life?  Do you want to make a difference?  What about a sizable profit?  You can do both if they are both in your plan.  The important point is to recognize the vision you hold for yourself while you are shaping the organization and not years down the road.

Should it be a solo practice, a partnership or a franchise?

When conceiving your business, consider whether you’ll prefer to do it on your own or with others.  This is crucial.  A firm with one or more partners has the advantage of merging complementary skills.  A firm with partner(s) spreads the workload, the risk and the rewards.  How would each of these business styles change the business?  Will it have a positive effect on the firm’s potential success?

Deciding to go the partner route means finding the right partner(s).  Whether a professional associate, a friend, a spouse, a son or a daughter, it’s necessary that each partner make an equitable contribution.  Find a balance for each partner’s investment whether their investment is in skill, contacts or financing.  Equally important, consider how working as business partners will change your relationship.  Some relationships can flourish with business as a component; others may deteriorate.  When deciding on a partnership, explore the professional and personal implications.

You may decide to go it alone.  Carefully consider the full range of demands you will face when going it alone.  Even when going it alone, you can spread the workload by hiring staff or services to handle certain facets of your business.  Going it alone puts the entire load on your shoulders; here you retain the risk and reap the rewards.

Alternatively, you might consider a franchise.  While you’ll retain the risk and the heavy workload, you may find an advantage in buying into an organization with an existing product or service base.  As with partnerships or solo start-ups, franchising requires careful research to prove the merits of the business for you.

Will costly equipment be necessary?

Whatever your idea, a new business requires an investment of resources.  Sometimes, the start-up investment is merely your hard work.  More often, some kinds of equipment will be necessary.  As you consider what business to start, carefully enumerate equipment costs as well as all other significant but necessary costs.  If you don’t know precise costs, google them to find estimated costs. 

If you aren’t certain what costs might be involved in starting the business you have in mind, be sure you do your research carefully – business start-up costs can often be surprising. To begin, you can google “cost to start” and then fill-in the kind of business you are considering.  Whether it’s “costs to manufacture shoes” or “ costs to start a restaurant” or “costs to start a hedge fund”, you’ll find plenty of resources on the internet. 

How much capital do I have to invest?

You’ll need to start your business with enough capital to carry you to a viable, revenue-generating organization.  Remember, too, that it’s likely you won’t recover your start-up monies immediately.  For these reasons, take a realistic look at the start-up costs and the funds you expect to invest.  Remember that you may never recover the money you’ve invested.  Can you afford to risk the money?  Is it money you are counting on for other purposes?  What are your alternative financing sources? 

What do I already know?  Who do I already know?

Be clear about your knowledge base.  While many of us are quick studies, learning while risking investment capital in an unknown and untried field compounds the risk.  Before leaping into the unknown, find inventive ways to capitalize on your existing skills and strengths. 

Speak with people who own similar businesses.  Ask them about what is most satisfying, most disappointing and most lucrative.  Oh yes, be sure to ask about their biggest mistakes.

Continue asking yourself these questions throughout your planning process.  Digging deeply in the planning phase will help you build an organization with a strong foundation.

When you go into business for yourself, it’s likely you’ll run into times when you’re just not generating the income you expected.  In fact, it’s entirely likely you’ll run into times where there is no income – no income at all.  Why, you ask?  There are loads of reasons.  Business start-ups can be far slower than planned which means a delay in income.  For some firms, growing the customer base is slow, again, delaying income.  Some businesses are seasonal while others rely on landing a ‘big account’ and it just hasn’t happened.

To smooth the financial ups and downs of operating your own business, many people try to have what is referred to as multiple streams of income.  If your company isn’t bringing in sufficient capital, other income resources can take up the slack.  When your own business runs into a seasonal downturn or is constrained by the economy or for any other reason is not generating the necessary capital, multiple income streams add to your income.

The federal government and the IRS recognize three types of income:

1. earned income from a job or business,
2. passive income from business sources for which you do not work regularly, and,
3. portfolio income from personal investments.  Passive and portfolio income can be paid regularly, eg, monthly, quarterly or annually.

Passive income can come from a wide range of sources including rental of owned property, book or patent royalties, e-book sales, website advertising, and certain types of ongoing sales commissions.   Establishing several sources of income in advance of a business start-up can help to ease the financial burden many entrepreneurs encounter.

See Also:       Money Matters: Money Ideas: Multiple Streams of Revenue

What’s hot?  Inventive businesses that meet traditional needs.  April 2013.  Ocappi, an online jeweler, has conceived of a terrific solution for grooms who can’t decide which is the perfect ring.  Here, the groom can order “mock rings” thus enabling the bride-to-be to be a part of the ring selection.  Warby Parker offers low-cost glasses online.  Here, they’ve designed their own frames and they manage the production.  Best of all, customers can virtually “try on” their glasses. 

Neither firm invented a new need.  Instead, each found a new solution for traditional needs.

Forbes Magazine names top startup incubators and accelerators.  April 30, 2012.  Forbes reports that “they typically take a small piece of the equity in exchange for a small amount of cash and entry into the program.”  Forbes ranking evaluates incubators based on the value of their startup companies.  These are top 3 U.S. incubators on the Forbes list:  

Y Combinator, founded in 2005, Mountain View, CA

TechStars, founded in 2007, Boulder, Boston, New York, Seattle, San Antonio

DreamIt Ventures, founded in 2008, Philadelphia, New York, Israel

Today, startup incubators and accelerators literally dot the U.S.  Click Forbes Incubator List for the full article and the rest of their list.

Forbes Magazine, April 30, 2012: Top Startup Incubators and Accelerators: Y Combinator Tops With $7.8 Billion In Value by Tomio Geron

Self-made billionaires - small business entrepreneurs join an elite circle.  March 7, 2012.  Spanx founder, Sara Blakely, joins Forbes 2012 list of 1, 226 billionaires.  In 1998, she took her $5,000 savings to start an undergarment business, Spanx.  Blakely is not just the sole-owner of Spanx, she's kept it debt-free.  Why did she start the firm?  Because she wanted a better undergarment.

A year earlier, another entrepreneur joined the list of billionaires.  Kevin Plank started Under Armour in 1995 because he wanted a better T-shirt, a T-shirt that would remain drier and lighter during football practice.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) announces the NYSE Big StartUp to help small businesses grow.  March 23, 2012.  Today, the NYSE announced the formation and funding of NYSE Big StartUp to bring their community and partners together to fuel new business, capital-raising activity and, ultimately, job growth.  This new organization will connect young companies with established corporate entities.  Additionally, loans for startups will be available.  The NYSE committed $1.5 million to the fund and they are calling on large corporations to commit added sums.  The NYSE Big StartUp partners are Accion, the largest microfinancing resource in the U.S., Entrepreneurs Organization, an organization whose mission is to fuel the entrepreneurial engine and Startup America Partnership, the federally initiated organization committed to helping young companies grow jobs.

Small business success may depend on where you live.  February 21. 2012. NBC9 in Denver reported that Colorado’s new business success rate is a whopping 77%.  Yes, they repeated the number various times, assuring their listeners that the number is correct.

Rather than drop everything and race off to Colorado, there are other cities where small business is strong.  The Business Journals research shows the ten best U.S. cities for small-business vitality. They define small business as a firm with 99 employees or fewer.  The top cities are: 

• Austin     
• Oklahoma City                    
• Charleston, SC   
• Charlotte   
• Seattle    
• Tulsa    
• Raleigh        
• Denver                        
• Washington                
• New York City

The strongest new businesses are those started by people who love what they do!  Here’s the story of a woman who was passionate about how to treat the people who worked for her – she even included the Golden Rule in her initial business plan.  She started with a $5,000 investment and a very clear plan; today her firm’s annual revenues are just shy of $3 billion!

Mary Kay Ash had worked successfully in direct sales for more than two decades ultimately becoming national sales director for a global firm.  However, at 45, she resigned over her growing frustration as yet another man she had trained was promoted to a position not just above hers but also at twice her salary.  Without a clear view for what was to be next, she started writing a book to help women achieve the business opportunities she had been denied. The more she wrote, the more she realized she was actually creating the plan, the foundation for a new organization where women could develop their talents and achieve unlimited success. 

In 1963, using the knowledge she’d gain working for others along with the plan she’d just written and $5,000 in savings, Mary Kay Ash created Beauty by Mary Kay.  Sadly, her husband died as she was about to launch her new firm.  In his place, she enlisted her 20-year old son, Richard.  The plan for her fledgling company was very clear about its values.  The company was founded on the Golden Rule and praising people to success.  It placed faith first, family second and career third.  This, indeed, was a company with a heart. 

This remarkable business, started 47 years ago, is not just a company with a heart, it’s a company with more than 1.8 million independent Beauty Consultants throughout the world and sales of about $2.6 billion, a company that’s been profitable starting with its very first year.  That’s right, Mary Kay Ash wrote a plan from her heart, invested her $5,000 in savings and, with help from her son, she grew Mary Kay into one of the strongest businesses in our world.

Material sourced from Company Founder tab on the Mary Kay website.

Money is an unusual subject.  Some of us talk about it, others avoid the subject altogether.  Our early awareness of money stems from childhood.  These first experiences often form our lifelong relationship with money.  Unfortunately, that’s as far as most people’s money training goes.  In the U.S., there is little effort given to money management education yet we live as part of a global economy that is financially demanding. 

How, then, are we to navigate the complexities of managing our own money?  In this bountiful world, economic choices are endless; often, these choices enter our lives before we have the knowledge to make wise choices.  Frequently, a college student’s first economic experience is a checking account and credit card.  Without preparation, the credit card can become a dangerous instrument. At the same time, taking on student loans can change a young person’s life.  While the economic consequence of a college degree is positive, the burden of a large loan can cause a lasting economic impact.

There are many sources for financial literacy training.  Remember, it is more than learning about investments.  Personal financial training includes earning, saving and spending, in other words, money management. 

Local Colleges.  Just about every college now offers financial courses including money management courses.  Look at the various colleges in your region to find the courses best suited to you. 

On-Line Resources and The Public Library.  Many sites on the internet are loaded with free information that explains earning, saving, spending and investing.  For example, see the Finance articles at KhanAcademy.  Mint.com offers free personal finance, budgeting and money management tools.  They also have a strong section for children at diffeent ages.  

If use the internet for your research, remember that many sites are seeking your business.  Whether it’s the purchase of a book, a newsletter or a financial service, always check for references and quality.  Buyer beware is necessary.

Your public library is a storehouse of books targeted to your needs and interest.

Teach your children.  Start their knowledge of finances early.  You’ll discover many types of financial literacy programs designed for children and teens.  One to consider is JumpStart.org, a coalition of national organizations.  Jump$tart is dedicated to financial literacy training from pre-kindergarten through college.

Once you are grounded in personal finance and money management, look at developing your investment skills. 

Investment Firm Training Programs.  Every investment firm is interested in your business.  Understanding that is important if you decide to consider their various educational offerings.  Many of them offer information and articles; some of them offer classes.  If this is your preference, take time to research those offering classes.  Ask about the class or program objective.

Money Clubs/Investment Clubs.  Rather than try to figure it out on their own, some people join an investment club.  Together, members pool their money, hash out their research, decide on their investments and take the plunge, they invest their capital.

Some clubs are chapters of an association.  Others are individuals who have found a mutual interest.  Some can tell stories of terrific success; others may not have encountered windfalls but their members have learned from the regular research and discussion preceding each investment.

Ask around.  Find a group in your area that meets your interests and pocketbook.  Be aware and cautious.  Do not invest your money without deep knowledge and research.

Money is necessary in our lives.  It provides the roof over our head and the food we eat.  Beyond those basic needs, however, our individual money experiences can differ dramatically.  Some of us have more money at our command while others have little money to command. 

The bigger difference, however, is how we relate to money.  It’s not a subject we often consider.  When you think about money, what are your feelings?  Does money give you a sense of power?  Does it make you nervous?  Do you prefer to avoid the subject of money altogether?  Our emotions, even our sense of self-worth, have links to money.  Whether aware of it or not, we each have a relationship with money.

While money is necessary, it doesn’t buy life satisfaction.  Money is a tool.  Money buys us the bed on which we rest, the food we need for our sustenance, a car for our transportation and clothing for warmth and modesty.  You choose your bed whether deluxe or practical.  You choose your food whether for pleasure or nourishment.  The car you drive may represent status, speed or economy.  Your clothing may be fancy or plain.  While money acquires the goods, our personal emotions may play a role in our choice.

For some, life enjoyment and money are inextricably linked.  For their entire lives, their emotions, personality, and sense of self-worth can drive their financial well-being.   

Where does this come from?  As children, we were more or less aware of money depending on our family’s openness on the subject.  In some homes, only the adults are included in the financial dialog.  In other homes, children are told of the family financial condition – sometimes in detail, sometimes in approximation.

Starting in their earliest years, children mimic family customs, often accepting them as their own.  However, children do not adopt one family trait at a time.  Instead, they receive a complex bundle of messages, absorbing everything they see and hear.  Each child interprets the many incoming messages in their own unique way. 

In an economically challenged family where the parents have a generous personal style, the child may adopt a generous or a tightfisted relationship with money.  In a wealthier but demanding and disciplined family, a child may adopt an extravagant or a controlling relationship with money.  We cannot forecast how childhood experience will alter adult behavior.   

Furthermore, money messages can come from television shows, advertising, computer games, friends and acquaintances.  Our personality shapes the messages we receive in ways that become the foundation of our relationship with money.

Money management is not taught in the U.S.  Much of our ‘money sense’ comes from observation as a child – how our parents managed their money, how money was used by our families and our friends’ families.  Our unique personality frequently colored what we saw, making us more or less likely to follow behaviors.  

Some of us become ‘star-struck’ about money, basing economic decisions on what other people own.  Some of us become controlling about our money, using it to gain favor while others may use it as symbols of status.

How can we make sure our sub-conscious isn’t driving our money choices?  Awareness and self-monitoring are the best tools for protecting your financial decisions.  Keep a log of your answers to these questions.

• Make note of the financial decisions you’ve made that represent you at your best.  What makes them your best?  How do you continue the behavior? 
• Make note of the financial decisions that were mistakes.  Look also at what led to a purchase with only short-term satisfaction.  What drove the choice?  Was an inner need involved?  
• What are your personal buying habits?  Are you impulsive?  If so, why?  Are you slow and cautious?  If so, why?  Do you have a hard time making a purchase?  If so, why? 
• Do my financial decisions reflect the life I want? 
• Do my financial decisions change my future?  How? 

Your answers will help you make better decisions in the future.  Then, every month, review your financial decisions.  Your goal is to be the master of your economic destiny.  That may mean you’ll need to best a few long-held but unconscious behaviors.

 

Today, most jobs are posted online.  To find job postings, you can go to a job search site or an employer’s own website.  Or, you can do both.  You may choose to regularly check job postings on your targeted companies’ websites and, to broaden your search, also use online job search sites that bring together a vast array of available jobs. 

Some job search websites offer jobs posted by individual employers.  In other words, the employer pays the site to post their job.  Other sites, aggregate all the jobs listed on company websites and on job boards.  Then, of course, there are niche websites that post jobs in a very narrow job category such as lab rat jobs noted below.

Be aware that some websites seek a fee for their services.  Other sites offer various services for which they charge a fee.  Be aware, be cautious, be judicious and only agree to added cost if you believe the outcome justifies the expenditure.

To get you started, here are a very few job search websites.  This is a small list.  When you google job search sites, you’ll find links to many more sites.  

Some of the largest job search websites are:

• With 23 million visitors monthly, CareerBuilder posts more than a million jobs.  In addition, they offer search and resume advice.
• Monster is global, offering jobs around the world along with career advice. 
• Craigslist provides local job postings.  It's an electronic version of newspaper classified advertising.

Sites that aggregate job postings from job boards and company sites include:

• At Hound, you’ll find jobs from employer websites that are not advertised. 
• With more than 50 million monthly visitors, Indeed is a global job search site that brings together job postings from thousands of company websites and job boards. 
• Simply Hired is building the largest online database of jobs on the planet, which means they are pulling together job postings from thousands of job boards and company career sites.

Job search sites that target niche job categories include:

There are niche job search sites for just about every employment category imaginable.  You'll find them by simply googling job search sites plus your working interest. For example, if you are a bookkeeper, you'd google job search sites for bookkeepers. In the meantime, a few niche-like sites are listed here.          

• If it's a corporate job you seek, take a look at JobCentral, a site sponsored by a group of U.S. corporations..
• The Ladders narrows its focus to $100K+ jobs.  They offer search and resume assistance – at a monthly subscription fee of $30. 
• The scientific and professional publisher, Springer, has launched job search sites related to the products they publish.  Sites include www.scienceandhealthcarejobs.com, www.stethoscopejobs.com and www.labratjobs.com.
• Federal job postings will be found at USA Jobs.

To target specific job types, from accounting to healthcare, from marketing to welding, InternetInc can link you to the top websites in your field.  Quite literally, categories run from jobs in pharmaceuticals or wine to jobs as an EMT. Each site is rated by InternetInc.com, a net rating organization. 

A word of caution for online job searches.  Be aware that there are online job scams.  To avoid encountering a negative experience, read the Online Job Scam Fact Sheet from Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

To gain the “inside scoop” about jobs and companies visit The Glass Door.

Job Availability Resources. 

Every month, the private research organization, The Conference Board, updates its Help Wanted Online data that shows labor demand based on the number of available jobs advertised online and sorted by industry. 

The Federal Government Offers Job Help. The U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration sponsors a group of job search and business development services under the heading Career One Stop.  The services are these:

America’s Service Locator connects individuals to employment and training opportunities to make informed employment and education decisions.  On the site, you’ll find an array of services from connecting individuals with employment training including links to Workforce Investment Act supported training programs in your region to career centers that provide job search assistance and classes.

MySkillsMyFuture helps laid-off workers and career-changers find new occupations that take advantage of their own skills, knowledge and experience.  Users will learn more about suggested matches, locate local training programs and/or apply for jobs.

Worker ReEmployment provides employment, training and financial assistance for laid-off workers from the immediate help of unemployment insurance, healthcare and other financial concerns to job searching and resume tips.

Key to Career Success provides links and services to help veterans and military service members successfully transition to civilian careers.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is a storehouse of work-related information.  For every job category, the Occupational Outlook Handbook provides analysis of the nature of the work, the training and qualifications necessary for employment, projections for the future number of jobs and earnings.   The BLS also provides data for the fastest growing occupations from 2008 to 2018 along with the education/training required.  Note that job growth represents newly created jobs.  Added jobs will also come available through attrition.  

You’ve strong working experience.  You’ve always been successful.  Of course you know where to look for your next perfect job.

With that in mind, here is Cautionary Tale I:

It’s February and Laura Davis has been out of work almost six months.  She had a great job in client services for the regional office of a marketing solutions provider.  Laura is a whiz at database marketing.  In the decade she’d been with her firm, both her responsibilities and her stature grew.  She saw hers as a perfect life – a great job and a loving family. 

Unfortunately, the recession hit.  Laura was amongst a later wave of her firm’s lay-offs.  It’s been six months and she’s still looking – for her very same job.  She’s targeted only those firms near her hometown that do exactly the same kind of work.

Fortunately, Laura’s husband has a great job, her children are happy in school and they live close to her extended family.  Laura can’t disrupt all the positives in her life to consider jobs in other parts of the country.  

What can you do when confronted with the limited likelihood of finding a job just like your last, especially when your last job provided personal success and increasing recognition? 

First, take heart.  Recessions and economic downturns do not last forever.  Besides, whatever the job category, good employees are valuable to employers.  On the other hand, today’s economic reality means that opportunities are diminishing in certain job categories.

It has become a 21^st century imperative for every facet of our life – the ability to see beyond our plan, to look beyond our expectations.  There are limitless opportunities outside our comfort zone.  Unfortunately, that makes it necessary to look outside our comfort zone. 

Though this advice may seem simplistic, there is substance to each.  Read on:

• Stay positive.
• Keep your mind open.
• Think outside the box.
• Reality check everything.

Throughout your search, challenge yourself to see beyond the realm of your former employment - it may be limiting you.  It’s easy to do.  Laura wanted to replace her job with another just like it and that kept her from finding employment. 

Instead, review your search goals every week.  Take on the role of a nay-sayer, poking holes in every aspect of your search.  Then, defend your every goal.  You may find that your nay-sayer voice makes some good points.  If so, modify your search goals.  

Positive actions keep your energy and confidence high.  Broaden your network and stay in touch with those in your network.  Write some gratis articles for a related business journal.  Even consider writing a blog related to your professional interests

At the same time, it is your personal responsibility to keep your radar honed to see what other job opportunities are available.  Broaden your vision to consider alternative roles or other business categories.  Accept a different kind of job or a different role.  You might even blog about it.  While you may think this outlandish, consider accepting a very different kind of role.  You might even blog about the experience.  When the economy recovers and opportunities are again available in your preferred business category, you’ll have a terrific story of your recession accomplishments. This kind of inventiveness and flexibility proves your tenacity and willingness to be a player even in the toughest times.  This kind of action differentiates you from the pack.  Hiring managers will look with favor.  Add a section to your resume or the cover letter you send with your resume calling it “how I made the economic downturn work for me,”

How might you find jobs that use your very same skills?  There are many ways to broaden the number of targeted companies.  To begin, consider client or supplier firms, even client prospects.  Then, of course, the real leap is to consider firms outside of the business category.  How do you do that?

Job search today calls for totally outside the box thinking. To initiate fresh thinking, review Setting Strategy and Career Change.

Cautionary Tale II   

John Scott, a semiconductor process technician, has worked about two-thirds of the last five years.  In other words, he worked forty-one of the past sixty months and was unemployed for nineteen of those months. 

John trained at his community college, never imagining that a seemingly futures-driven occupation would face steadily diminishing employment opportunities.  Worse, because there are fewer job opportunities, more people are vying for each job.  It’s especially painful because John was very good at his job and always received superior ratings.  

John is “holding out” for another job through his union; he plans to retire when he’s 55 with his union pension and benefits He’s certain his union will help him get another job at his $24 an hour rate. 

During these same years, John became a master of his favorite hobby – fine furniture making.  His home is furnished with many of his beautiful creations.  John is a bit humble about his hobby.  When family and friends tell him how much they’d love to buy one of his pieces, he just nods.

John is also technically savvy.  He’s the go-to resource for advice on which electronic products to buy and he’s the one everyone asks to set his or her new equipment up.

John’s technical training and his ability to work with fine detail were ideal for his job as a process technician.  His economic skills may not be as strong.  He hasn’t considered that even with the income from unemployment, his earnings have been far less than $24 an hour because he only worked for 41 out of 60 months.

He’s also not looked beyond his original life vision – to retire at 55 with a union pension.  John’s skills in making fine furniture and electronic equipment consultation are valuable.   There are two businesses waiting for the light bulb in John’s head to turn on. Best of all, he’d likely earn far more than the $24 an hour he sought.

There is nothing comfortable about change.  It’s also hard to imagine asking for money for things you already do.  John has two choices, he can:

• Retool his skills – most likely by returning to school, or,
• Take advantage of existing skills

The challenge is trying to see possibilities beyond our original plan.  Our personal responsibility in this ever-changing 21^st century is to keep our radar operational, seeing all that holds promise.

Searching for a job takes time, it takes commitment and it takes stamina.  To get to your win with a smile on your face and your spirits intact, takes forethought and effort. One of the best routes to satisfaction is daily refreshing experience.

Some of the activities you might consider during this frequently anxiety-ridden time might even be ones you could add to your resume. Each day, find time for enjoyment. Several times a week, fold in a deeply rewarding experience.     

Local college or online courses.  Whether you return to school for career enhancement training, for altogether new working skills or for pure satisfaction, learning can be fulfilling.

Start a blog.  Whether it’s career-related, job search-related or the expression of a long-standing interest, write about it.  A caveat here, remember that everything you publish on the internet stays on the internet.  Monitor your writing, making sure it will enhance not curtail your job search efforts.

Volunteer your time and talent.  Whatever favorite organization you choose, whether it’s a charity, an arts organization, a church, an educational organization, volunteer your time and talent.  You’ll find it a satisfying experience.  You may even meet contacts helpful to your search. 

Coach a team, tutor students.  Connecting with others can be uplifting.  Share your knowledge and/or skills with others.

Grow your streams of revenue.  For a raft of ways to increase your income, go to Multiple Income Sources.

Become a performer.  Performance skills improve how we present ourselves, they even improve sales performance.  Whether it’s in an acting class or joining a chorus, experience as a performer can enhance job search esteem and personal presentation. 

Play with your children.  Little can be more satisfying than pure play with your children.  Enjoy!  Celebrate your little beauties.

Find a new experience to enjoy with your spouse.  Whether it’s working out together, cooking together, singing together – whatever it is, add a new togetherness activity.

What have you wished you had a bit of time to do?  Do it.

Learn something new.  There’s lots to learn at little cost - how to cook, how to tell jokes, how to act, how to give a speech.  Simply download the recipes, the jokes, the lessons.  Or, go to the library for books from which to learn.

Develop a new hobby or grow your skills with a favorite hobby.  Whether it’s photography, ceramics, painting, sewing, wood working, star gazing, bird watching, guitar playing – whatever strikes your fancy.

Get in shape.  Not only is it great for our figures, working out makes us happier and healthier.

Full immersion, complete absorption, energized focus – these are the things from which spontaneous joy can be experienced.  Balancing your job search with the things that fully engage you will make your search time  

The problem.  It was a one-two punch.  A major recession hit our nation at the very same time the basics of our economy were changing.  Sadly, we know the result – millions of workers are not just unemployed, many no longer have the skills needed to get a job. 

Why is unemployment still so high?  One of the causes of today’s unemployment is structural unemployment.  Structural unemployment happens when worker skills and region don't match those of the available jobs.

There are several likely reasons for this structural unemployment.  One is technology.   Businesses are increasing their efficiency and their output using technologic advances.  As a result, they need employees with high skill levels.  Another reason is globalization.  U.S. businesses of all sizes are selling into every region of the world, thereby changing goals, operating methods, even the location of employees.  Lastly, the housing crash left many workers with mortgages greater than the value of their home, thereby preventing a move to a more opportune region.

Where are the jobs?  By the end of April 2011, the number of available jobs was at the same level as four years earlier, before the recession.  Jobs are slowly again becoming available but with a difference.  Some firms are choosing to hire temporary and contract workers, thereby, saving the cost of benefits. 

• Manufacturing.  One of the most robust areas of growth is in the very same category that experienced the greatest job loss.  Employee qualifications, however, have changed.  Today’s manufacturer seeks workers with a far higher level of skills than in the past.  Workers need to be able to operate computerized machinery.  They must be able to use and understand blueprints.  Plus, many of the jobs require strong math skills. 
• Health Care.  This is a burgeoning arena; it never stopped its growth through all the months of the recession.  Strongest growth areas are home health aides and staff for outpatient care centers. Other important growth areas are medical records technicians and every level of nursing. 
• Sales. 
• Accounting, finance. 
• Teaching – in the private sector. 
• Federal jobs  But not postal or census jobs.

As a job seeker, what can you do?  If you see more challenges than potential rewards in your current job category, it may be time to consider adding skills that will prepare you for a different kind of job.  In place of playing the job market waiting game, try on an altogether different career to find out how it feels and what rewards you might expect.

It takes courage to make a career change.  It also takes thought, planning and probably some added coursework.  On the other hand, if you are in an overcrowded, low-growth arena, you may never recover economically without making bold changes. 

Using the tools and links at Resources When Looking For A Job and Career Change, think about which job growth areas would appeal to you, which would use your personal strengths.  Once you’ve a list of prospective career-change categories, begin to narrow the list by asking questions:

• Is it a growth area?  How many jobs are currently available online?  How many unemployed jobseekers .are qualified for jobs in this sector? 
• What would you need to do to qualify for jobs in this category?  Will it require added coursework?  How much?  Can it be done at your local college?  Can it be done online?  What would it cost?  How long will it take? 
• Can you prepare to qualify while holding down a part-time job? 
• What will this job pay at the start?  What will it pay with experience?  Will lifestyle changes be necessary?

As you narrow the list of prospective job categories, seek out people who already hold similar jobs.  Chat with them. Find out what they like and don’t like. Remember to filter other people’s comments with your own personal sense of self.  Ask a respected friend or relative to be your sounding board.

If you choose to make the leap, congratulate yourself for your courage and tenacity, for seeing a new vision even in the most difficult of circumstances. 

Some of us are naturals at finding the perfect job no matter what the economy.  Others of us find the search process slow, painful and seemingly fruitless.  In today’s job market, the rules are changed.  Connectedness is necessary.  You’ll not just connect one-on-one, you’ll also connect through social media.  Today, searching for a job is a full-time job.  It's important to treat it as such.

Start with the big picture.

 As you begin your search, look at what kinds of jobs are available and how many people are competing for each of those jobs.  To find the number of open jobs advertised online compared to the number of unemployed job seekers, go to The Conference Board's research Help Wanted Online.  The data is sorted by state, region and job type; best of all, it’s updated monthly.

On August 31, 2011, there were 3,990,600 job openings advertised online. It sounds like a lot of jobs til you compare it to the number of unemployed job seekers on that date – 13,800,000.  There were 3.35 unemployed job seekers for every job opening advertised online. 

Don’t let this make you feel hopeless.  Instead, use the information to help you craft your search strategy.  This database sorts job vacancy by region and job type.  For several years, the strongest job category has been computer and math where there are 2.8 jobs for every unemployed job seeker with computer and math skills.  For healthcare practitioners and technical, there are 2.6 jobs for every qualified unemployed job seeker. 

Next, look at the weakest job categories. Through August 2011, there were 19 qualified unemployed job seekers for every production and construction job advertised online and 7 food preparation job seekers for every online job opening.

Finally, let’s look at the number of openings in different job categories.  In August 2011, the job categories with the most number of openings included computer and math (532,200 jobs), sales and related (521,900 jobs), healthcare practitioners and technical (513,700 jobs), management (396,600 jobs), and, transportation and material moving (192,200 jobs).

While the information may not always be pleasant, a realistic assessment at the start of your search will keep you from relying solely on heavily competitive job sectors.  Your strategy can become a two-pronged approach, with the job category where you have working experience as one path and a different job category to which you aspire as your alternate path.  See Career Change on this site for tips on career reinvention.

For more information, google your selected job categories and the actual job titles you seek.  To be sure the information you uncover is current, add the current  calendar year to your google search words. For example, for accounting jobs for nonprofit firms, you'd google "accounting jobs + nonprofit + 2011".

Set your goals.

Now that you have an understanding of the challenges and the opportunities by job category and even region, it’s time to set your goals.

• Decide which job type(s) to pursue.  If, in your research, you learn that your preferred job category has many job seekers, it will be wise to add one or two other categories to your search by reinventing your career.
• Decide how and whether adding skills will pay out. There’s an online class for just about everything.  Plus, local colleges frequently offer courses suited to the knowledge base and skills needed by regional businesses.  Taking courses during your job search demonstrates your personal level of job commitment to prospective employers. 
• It takes time.  How long it takes to find a new job depends on your earnings, the growth or decline of the job category, the region in which you live as well as the strength of your resume and the way you present yourself during interviews.  However long it takes, evaluate your wins and losses each week and each month, giving yourself credit for the things that worked.
• Look at the pay.  Many unemployed job seekers are accepting employment at rates below their most recent rate of pay.  Take a serious look at your spend  rate, at the income you’ll need to cover expected future costs including home, children, education, travel, even retirement.  Pare the lists til you’ve gotten to the bottom-most point for pay.  Is it realistic?  Do firms with employees in your chosen job categories pay at that rate?  If your answer is yes, great.  If your answer is no, you’ll need to reinvent yourself by adding skills for which employers pay at your required level  or you’ll need to establish other revenue sources.   
• Benchmark your search efforts.  Set daily and weekly goals for the number of jobs for which you apply, the number of networking emails and phone calls you make. 

While you are searching for your job.

Talk the talk, walk the walk. During your search, maintain the characteristics of a person with that job.  You aren’t just searching for an accounting job, you are an accountant. You aren’t just searching for a machinist job, you are a machinist.  Read what people performing the job read.  Talk the talk that people performing  the job talk.  Stay current on everything those performing the job know.  Participate in organizations of like-minded workers. There’s an association for everything, join the one best aligned to your working goals.

Write your resume, synthesize it to a bio. Your resume is one of your most important job search tools.  In it, you’ll demonstrate your value to prospective employers.  In another of this site's Job Search Series articles, Resume Writing, Selling Your Benefits and Features, you’ll find tips on crafting a strong resume.  There you’ll also find tips on writing cover letters and email subjects.

Use your completed resume to craft a three to six paragraph bio. To this, you’ll add a brief call to action in an opening paragraph explaining your job search goals and ways people can be of help. Your bio will serve many purposes. You can upload it to your LinkedIn profile. Organizations for which you volunteer can use it for an article in their newsletter. At the onset, it may seem extraneous but you’ll find you use your bio again and again.

Master your elevator speech. In today’s fast-paced world, the elevator speech is an important tool for you to convey in 60- to 180-seconds: 1) what type of job you seek, 2) the skills and knowledge you have, 3) the ways your employment will benefit an employer, and, 4) the specific way the contact can be of  help. Craft your elevator speech. Synthesize it and edit it until every word and every sentence informs your contact about you, your unique qualifications, the job you seek and what the contact can do to help. 

You’ll most likely have several elevator speeches, each suited to the situation in which it is used. While you are crafting your elevator speeches, think about what your contact needs to know in order to take an action on your behalf. Be very clear about what you want your contact to do. Is it to make a connection for you within a specific firm? Or, are you simply seeking their advice?

Network.  In our connected world, one of the most productive ways to get a new job is to speak with everyone – former contacts, current contacts, family members, friends and friends of friends – anyone and everyone.  For each contact, seek to take away at least one idea.

Now, with such a severe shortage of jobs, treat your network contacts with care. Some contact prospects may shy away from speaking with you as they fear you’ll take a lot of their time or they just don’t have a name or an organization to suggest. To counter these concerns, at the very start, explain that you’ll be brief, that you aren’t looking for a name so much as their wisdom and advice. That puts your contact at ease; what follows is often very productive.

Email and telephone are the best means to reach contacts.  One particularly successful approach is to email the prospective contact, sharing at the start of the message that you’d like to speak with them by phone, that you would make it brief, that because you respect their work experience, you are simply looking for their wisdom and advice.

Some contacts may have knowledge of firms that interest you.  For these contacts, be prepared to acknowledge your interest in specific firms, asking for suggestions on ways to connect within the firms.

Have business cards printed with your name and contact information on the front.  On the reverse side, include a brief statement about your job goal or a key benefit you bring to employers.   

Monitor job-listing sites.  There are 4 million jobs listed online.  Find the sites that best serve your job goals and check them once or twice a week; for sites with a large number of listings, it’s smart to check daily or every other day.    

Google everything.  Whether it’s companies that interest you, names of people employed at a firm or a job description phrase or term you don’t understand – whatever it is, you’ll learn much from links generated by a google query.

Master social media.  LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) is one of the foremost job-related social media sites.  There you can post your bio, your goals and objectives, your working experience and more.  Equally important, LinkedIn sources a broad range of contacts for you.  Simply go to the LinkedIn site, develop your profile and begin to make valuable connections. 

Twitter (www.twitter.com) and FaceBook (www.facebook.com) now serve as job search tools.  It’s important to keep the content of each on a business-like footing.  For that reason, you may decide to have a separate Twitter and FaceBook listing for your job search.

Start a blog related to your line of work.  Or, write a blog about retooling your working skills.  Or, write about specific experiences during your job search.  Are you volunteering to use your working skills for a charitable organization?  If so, write a blog about the experience.

Remember that everyone in the world, including your prospective employer, can see whatever you post on the internet.  Before you post on FaceBook, Twitter or your blog, ask yourself whether you want your prospective boss to have read it.

Take breaks. Enjoy yourself. Stay in touch. The old adage goes, all work and no play makes Jack or Jill a dull boy or girl. The same is true when devoting yourself solely to your search. Plan breaks in your daily schedule. Plan non-work related activity that you enjoy – whether it’s playing with your children, coaching a team, volunteering for an organization, working out, yoga, gardening, painting or anything other – enjoyment takes you away from the seriousness of your job search while also keeping your spirits elevated. Finally, staying close to family and friends during your search is essential. They can be your anchor as you reshape your work and economic life.

Exercise & diet. Did your job take so much out of you that you let your diet, even your exercise slide? There’s no time like a job search to get back to your healthy eating and exercising habits.  Best of all, the result of diet and exercise is not just a sleek physique, people who are fit are known to be happier.  Keep your spirits up during your search by retaining your fitness.

Prepare your answers for well-meaning friends & family. These are the people who love you, who want your life to be good. That means they’ll be asking, with some frequency, how it’s going. Keep them updated with as much detail as is comfortable to you. Or, you may prefer to say that your search is coming along, that they’ll be among the first to hear good news from you.  Another approach is to email a monthly or quarterly update.  In this way, you can preempt the questions while making family, friends and/or contacts feel included.

Seek other income sources during your search. A part-time job may serve you well during your search.  Some part-time employment can be done from the comfort of your home office.  For others, your physical presence is necessary. You'll find other income tips and ideas in the Multiple Income Sources section.

Blow your own whistle.  Keep an eye on your progress.  Measure it.  What are you doing that works?  What isn’t working?  Do you need to rewrite your resume?  Is your elevator speech giving the kind of information that allows others to be helpful?  Have you mastered social media so greatly that you’re spending all your time online?  Are you trying to get the impossible job?  Are you searching for a job in a field that is declining?  Are you looking for an unrealistic pay level? 

Your future well-being relies on your honest assessment of facts at every step of your search.  Are you doing everything you can?  If you are, that’s great, keep it up.  If you are not, then blow the whistle on yourself.  Make changes to get your search back on track.  Until you start your new job, think of your search as your full-time job.

Help Wanted Online developed by The Conference Board, www.conference-board.org, a global, independent business membership and research association working in the public interest.  They are a non-advocacy, not-for-profit entity.

One definition of psychology is mental strategy.  Here, then, are mental strategies that can strengthen your value as an employee while cementing your working relationships.

Negotiation: finding the win-win that best serves the firm.  Win-win negotiation occurs when neither party can better their outcome.  In win-win negotiation, fully understanding your goals is imperative.  It's equally important to gather information about the other party's goals.  Strong win-wins may include inventive and sometimes unexpected solutions.

One of the oft-told negotiation parables is the story of an orange.  Two parties want the only remaining orange.  Rather than cut the orange in two, the parties discuss their reasons for wanting the orange.  It turns out their purposes are very different.  One wants the juice of the orange for breakfast, the other wants the rind to make marmalade. As a result of negotiation, each party gained more than had they simply cut the orange in half.

Planting seeds of ideas, one at a time.  Change is often difficult for an organization.  One of the ways to bring about change, whether large or small, is to communicate one small idea that would lead to change.  Allow that idea to develop amongst those whom you believe will make the change happen.  Soon, add another small idea that would lead to the same change.  One seed at a time allows for the growth and acceptance of a big idea. Often, one or more individuals will take on one of the ideas and champion it.  Ultimately, these seeds can grow into strong and unified changes led by members of the team.

Employ positivity and persistence.  It’s relatively simple to enact positivity at work.  It starts with your mental attitude towards your work, that you value the work you do and the work of the organization.  Working relationships are important to positivity; establish rapport as well as interest in the individuals who populate all the levels of the firm.  The capstone of positivity is demonstrating persistence, the daily practice of excellent work.  Positivity and persistence are contagious; you’ll soon find your team embracing it as well.

Empathy.  Empathy is the ability to recognize and understand what others are feeling. In the workplace, understanding how others feel means you’ll be able to construct your communications more effectively.  What is that other person’s perspective?  Why do they hold that opinion? 

You can use empathy in several ways.  First, of course, working relationships are important.  Acknowledging other people’s feelings, perspective or opinion strengthens the relationship.  Secondly, understanding others’ feelings enables you to shape your work for the firm in ways that gain support and approval.

Notice the nonverbal stuff.  When we speak, our words are but one part of the information we convey.  Our facial expression, the hand gestures we use, the body movements we employ, our posture, our eye contact, the tone and loudness of our voice, even our appearance changes the way our words are received.  A person standing tall, with direct eye contact, a strong voice and a warm smile is the image of a confident individual whose work will more likely gain acceptance.  A person with a slouch, arms folded, a distant gaze and a monotone speaking voice is the image of a person who has closed himself or herself off.  Listeners will assume this person is not interested in what they are saying or to whom they are speaking.  It’s the nonverbal communications that speak volumes – keep an eye out, you’ll learn much.

Listen carefully.  Yes, careful listening is a mental strategy.  Too often, we hear what we expect to hear which means we miss key points.  Without careful listening, we can miss words and that can alter meaning.  

Repeat what the other person has said.   This is an interesting tool.  By repeating what another person has said, you accomplish several things.  First, you confirm that you are seriously considering their content.  Second, by restating what the other person has said in the form of a question, you allow the speaker to reconsider their content.  Restatement in the form of a question also means you can follow it with a question of your own.

For example, John says, “I believe we should only use open source software.” You reply, “Let me be sure if I understand you correctly, you think we should only use open source software, is that right?” You then continue by saying, “What are your reasons for such a change?"

We, us and our versus I and me.  One important organizational goal is effective communication with its constituency.  For that reason, organizations benefit from using a strong and unified voice.  In both written and spoken communication, the choice of pronouns heightens the message and increases the sense of a unified position.  Choosing the pronouns we, us and our  enables these kinds of strong statements: “we propose", "research shows us that" and "our strategy".  These are inclusive pronouns that establish a universal voice of expertise, they reflect an organization that's not just credible, it's an organization built on strong teamwork.

On the other hand, many successful companies use the I and me pronouns.  These may be organizations whose founder remains the face of the organization.  Is yours a we, us and ours firm or an I and me firm?  Whichever your firm is, adopt their style during your working hours.  Use it to enhance the work you do.

Successful companies plan carefully, making certain their revenue always exceeds their costs.  The difference between revenue and all costs is profit.  But, it’s not as simple as revenue minus costs equals profit.  Let’s take a look.

 

Employers pay for more than the payroll 

 

Your income is important to you.  In fact, it’s not just important, you want to see your income grow.  Your employer feels the same way about the organization, wanting it to grow and thrive.  Thriving organizations foster growing wages.  That’s why your employer’s attention is on balancing costs while growing revenue. 

Equipment to Electricity to Training.  Though easy to overlook, the place where you work costs money.  There’s the cost of the real estate, the electricity, the phone system, the computer network, your desk or workstation, the computer on which you do your work, the printer that prints your work, even the toner and paper for the printer, it’s all an investment made by your employer. 

Consider the various departments in your firm.  Not every job affects your firm’s main product or service.  Human resources, accounting and corporate are costs of doing business.  Other departments and jobs are responsible for selling, creating or delivering the firm's product or service.  Each department  plays an important role in the well-being of your firm.

Whether you work for a law firm or a bakery, a fitness center or a construction firm, the city council or the local hospital., every employer pays these costs. 

Benefits & Taxes.  Your employer invests in your benefits, those perks you've come to expect. In addition to wages, the average employer pays an added 25% and 35% per employee for the costs of benefits and payroll taxes.  That’s right, for every $10,000 in wages paid, the average employer pays an added $2,500 to $3,500 to cover benefit and tax costs.  If you are earning $50,000 a year, your employer is likely paying an added $12,500 to $17,500 in costs for your employment.

Employer-paid benefits include health, dental, life and disability insurance.  They also include 401-k or IRA contributions as well as Social Security and Medicare taxes beyond the amount you pay.  Employer-paid benefits may include college reimbursement or even special extras like parking or gym memberships.  Certainly, they include the 10 to 20 days or more of paid vacation each year plus the 5 to 10 sick days.  When you think of your earnings, remember to consider the value of these extras.

The bigger picture starts with the budget.

Every employer – whether for-profit or not-for-profit – starts each year with a budget.  Deciding how much to pay for a job, even deciding how many employees the firm can afford, is one result of the budget process.

Public employers do not operate for profit.  A school district, city council or fire department must function to public expectations ensuring that costs never exceed the tax-funded operating budget.  The local tax base dictates whether wages are robust or constrained.  

Revenue is the starting point for a budget – how much money will come in during the coming year. For example, individual school boards establish a formula for the operating budget for each school. Airlines calculate their revenue based on how many tickets they expect to sell and how much cargo they expect to carry. Auto manufacturers estimate the number of cars and trucks they expect to sell in the year. Your firm’s budget starts with revenue.

Next comes costs. The first cost is the cost of making the product or providing the service - called cost of sales or cost of goods sold.  When the product or service cost is deducted from revenue, the remainder is gross profit. 

All other costs make up overhead.  The cost of sales, the cost of marketing and the general and administrative costs are all a part of overhead.  Deducting overhead costs from gross profit results in operating profit.  Operating profit is the profit made from the operations of the company.

Finally, interest payments on debt the firm may have incurred plus taxes are deducted from operating profit to reach the final number – net income. 

Net income can be used in two ways.  Some net income goes to the firm’s cash reserves.  Employers are not one-year entities; they must invest in growth.  Cash reserves are used to fund that growth; they also protect the firm in times of economic peril. 

Net income can also be paid to owners.  Owners have expectations.  When owners invest their money in a firm, they expect the value of their investment to grow.  Not only do they expect growth, some owners expect to get some money back every year in the form of dividends.  Investors have choices and they chose your firm.  They could have invested their money elsewhere.  Instead of investing in real estate, in a bank, even  your competitor, your owners chose your organization.  Your firm exists because initial investments were made.  The result is the expectation to see growth and, in some cases, dividends.

How does all this affect me?

Employers, whether public or private, for profit or not for profit, make difficult decisions as they develop their annual budget.  They know the value of their workers, especially their best workers.  They also know that the well-being of the entire organization rests in how they balance all the costs.   

During the budget process, your firm considers all the ways to balance costs.  Goals set by management will guide each cost decision.  For example, when customer or user satisfaction is a goal, product or service costs may increase.  Quality goals also affect costs. Growth is an important goal affecting costs whether it’s the replacement of aging equipment, a new computer system or other ways to grow capacity.  Planning and budgeting help to ensure your firm will remain strong over the years.

It’s a blow.  The company for which you’ve toiled, the company that’s been giving you great reviews, high marks, kudos, that company is letting you go! 

A shock to our system means adrenalin is pumping.  It’s not an experience for which we’d ever think to prepare.  But here it is.  It’s actually happening . . . and, it’s happening to you. 

All that adrenalin rushing through your system is making you breathe faster, it’s physiological.  It’s also sending alarm signals throughout your nervous system – fight or flight is a natural reaction.  With an adrenalin rush, some of us become angry, others flee.

If there has ever been a time to take a deep breath, it’s now.  Take a deep breath, count to three then let it out, take another deep breath, count to four and let it out.  Breathing is the number one calming tool.  Slow it down. 

A common termination phrase is “it’s not personal, it’s corporate.” Of course, it’s personal.  To you it is deeply personal.  Again, breathe deeply.  It feels deeply personal as your mind races, seeking a solution that could turn this around. It feels deeply personal as you edge towards anger or deep fear. Breathe.

Don’t say anything yet. Let your breathing ease. Keep your cool. Retain your professional composure as you begin to think. You really want a good reference. Begin to focus, you’ve done great work and you want a great reference. 

As you compose yourself, begin to consider your needs, what you need going forward. While the meeting will be kept brief, begin a dialog. 

1.         Understand the reason for the termination. Is it economic, is the firm facing financial challenges? Are others also being let go? How many? Is it the firm or is it something you’ve done? Are you missing a skill? Is there a relationship or behavior issue? 

 Get clarity but don’t dwell on it, you aren’t going to turn the decision around.  Instead, focus on what you need to know in order to move forward.

2.         Will the firm make a public announcement about the termination? Will your name be used in the announcement? If your name will be used, ask to have input in the writing of the announcement. 

Ask how your departure will be announced within the firm and to the clients and suppliers with whom you worked.

3.         Were there any agreements or commitments between you and your firm? How do hey affect this change in status? 

4.         Ask about your severance package. Sometimes, these can be negotiated based on the kind of work you’ve performed, the length of your employment or other factors unique to your employment with the firm.

5.         Ask about outplacement.  Does the firm work with one outplacement firm or do they provide a choice? 

6.         Ask whether you could use your company email address until you land your next job.

7.         Understand the practical side of the termination including Cobra health insurance. Occasionally there are unique circumstances where the actual termination date can be extended to enable coverage of a specific health issue. 

After your departure, think about how to capitalize on the relationships you’ve established within the firm and the connections you’ve made outside of the firm.  Contact those individuals whom you believe would be good references.  Whether by mail, email or a phone call to express your appreciation for the working relationship you’ve had, ask if you could use them as a reference.

It’s called a jobless recovery.  Productivity in theU.S. has grown slightly to exceed the 2007 levels.  Unfortunately, that productivity was fueled with 6.8 million fewer workers. 

Those hardest hit, those with the highest unemployment rate, are at the bottom of the educational scale.  For all of 2010, average unemployment was 8.2%; it was nearly twice that rate for those without a high school diploma.  14.9% of those who did not complete high school were unemployed. 

While high school grads fared far better than non-high school grads, still, their unemployment rate exceeded the national average and was almost twice that of those with a bachelor’s degree. 

Those who fared best were individuals with advanced degrees.  Doctors and lawyers fared the best with unemployment about one-fourth of the nationalaverage.

While not as extreme, weekly earnings vary significantly by level of education.  The chart is somewhat misleading because it does not account for the inconsistent income experienced by those with higher levels of unemployment.  The variance would appear far greater if actual lifetime income were considered as it would demonstrate earnings loss from unemployed periods.

Not everyone is ready, willing or able to pursue education year-in and year-out after high school. With internet access, however, many are now able to complete degree programs thereby increasing their expected lifetime earnings while reducing the prospect of unemployment.  

College and advanced degrees can be completed at any time in life.  Just because many follow a sequential path, the road less traveled may be just right for some. 

 

Do you want to sell a product you love—but work on your own?  Direct selling might be for you.  Does cookware bring a smile to your face?  Do you delight in fashion for yourself and others?  Would you love to make your own cards or sell wine as an independent rep?

All these opportunities exist in the world of direct selling.  With direct selling, you offer a product or service person-to-person.  You don’t work from a fixed retail location, and you are your own boss.  Often you can set sales goals and hours to fit your schedule and ambitions. 

Some direct sales positions, such as in the insurance and financial industries, are offered as full-time, career opportunities.  Others, like art and crafts sales, have no minimum sales and allow you to sell as much or as little as you want to target. That, of course, means you can set your hours.

As with any type of entrepreneurial endeavor, you take on risks with direct selling.  You are basically in business for yourself, so you must be disciplined and self-motivated.  But if you think of your venture as a job where you are—in a very real sense—your own boss, the hard work in direct selling can pay off.

Sell Yourself 

When you get into direct selling, you will align yourself with provider such as Mary Kay, Primerica or Stamping Up! They provide the goods and services you ultimately sell.

But when you go into action, you’ll find that you also selling yourself.  In the person-to-person world of direct selling, you must come off as personable and credible.  Often, sales are made based on personal relationships.  Referrals are vital to the direct seller.

Think about your personal brand.  The direct sales path runs through you.

Sell From Your Interests

Direct selling gives you the opportunity to choose a single product line.  Choose a product you can speak to people about with peaked interest and enthusiasm. 

As an individual rep working away from the environment of a store or office, deals center on your presentation.  If prospects sense that even you aren’t interested in this stuff, you won’t motivate them to buy.

The best direct sellers are passionate about what they sell.  Home chef’s sell kitchen knives.  Investors sell financial solutions.  Decorators sell candles. 

If you choose to go into direct selling, sell yourself on the product or service first.  Use it and derive value from it yourself. 

Then take the energy of your experience and share it with others.  Sell the win/win.  If you do it right, you’ll be taken seriously as a provider, make money—and best of all—enjoy your work.  Find the firm that speaks to you at www.directselling411.com.  See also Working For A Company and Yourself.

By Scott Yoder, Denver-based writer who specializes in online content marketing, sysafari@seowebeditor.com, www.seowebeditor.com.

Across our nation and around the world, in the tiniest rural towns to the pulsing big cities, people are selling. Some people sell to businesses while others sell to consumers. Here, we are looking at selling to consumers.

We shop differently today. Stores and the internet are our main shopping venues. Word of mouth, internet reviews and personal shopping experience serve as our main source of information about the products we buy. 

There is, however, another sales channel - direct selling - where an informed person sells directly, person-to-person. When asked how they shop, few of us remember to mention the products we buy from a direct selling experience. Still, every year, millions of Americans buy billions of dollars of product from individual direct sales people 

Just as millions of Americans shop through in-home parties and person-to-person demonstrations, millions of Americans are the sellers who present their product or service directly to their customer. That’s right, there are 15.1 million people in the U.S. selling about $30 billion in products and services directly to their customers.

Direct selling is a career category that suits many individual purposes:

• Are you an entrepreneur at heart?
• Do you love meeting new people, always expanding your circle of acquaintances?
• Do you want a flexible career that lets you decide how much time and energy you invest, shaping your work to fit your life?
• Do you have a passion for a certain product category?

If one or more of these is you, then direct selling may be a choice for you.

Direct sellers sell just about everything. You know Mary Kay and Avon, leading skin care and cosmetics firms. You'll also recognize Amway for their skin care and nutritional products. Herbalife is a source for health and nutrition products. Primerica sells insurance and financial product. Tupperware sells kitchen storage product.  Pampered Chef sells gourmet kitchen tools.  The list goes on and includes wine, jewelry, vacuum cleaners, tools, candles, gardening products, green products and much more.

Earn while you learn.  Direct selling firms pride themselves on providing the tools their representatives need to operate their own successful business.

As with everything, good judgment is important when considering a direct selling firm. Make sure the ones that interest you are reputable. Check them out through the Direct Selling Association, www.dsa.org. Find out if their products meet all the claims made. Speak to current representatives. Find out why representatives decide to leave – or to stay. Speak with customers to learn their product satisfaction.

If you are still interested in finding about the benefits of selling for one of these firms, you’ll find much more information and links to the direct selling firms at www.directselling411.com.  You can also google direct selling companies or direct selling opportunities to learn more.  For added information see Direct Selling under Multiple Income Sources.

Work is fast-paced and loaded with productivity-enhancing electronics.  Your day is crammed with a continuum of calls, meetings, deadlines, more meetings and calls and, of course, emails.  It’s tumultuous.  How do you get it all done?  Equally important, how do you stay focused so you can get it all done?

Modern work environments are not designed to get you to a state of flow – immersed in your work.  Instead, it’s endless interruption.  Here are a couple of flow-inducing ways to keep your productivity high, so you can be a top-performer.

Managing communications - email, phone calls, even tweets.

You love that smart phone, it vibrates every single time another email hits your inbox.  You check it, who’s sent it, what’s the subject?  That tiny check of the message has interrupted your concentration, your mind has altered its focus.

It’s a 21st century phenomenon, the result of omnipresent electronic communication – emails, texts, IMs, tweets, calls.  In a 24/7 world, they never stop.  We think we can manage it, that we can multi-task, that we can do more than one thing at a time.  Not so.  Neuroscientific research shows that rather than simultaneously, we do many things quickly and sequentially, that our brains move from one subject to the next and the next very quickly.  Literally, the brain stops and switches to each next task you ask of it. It's sequential, not simultaneous.

While on a phone conversation, you glance to check for other messages.  To do that, your brain actually stops and switches to the message and then stops and switches again to get back to the phone conversation.   Same with whatever work you are doing.  To glance at the vibrating phone, your brain stops and switches so it can recognize the importance of the message.  To get back to your work, the brain must stop and switch back to the work but, often, the flow, the mental focus, is interrupted.

1.         Check for messages once an hour or even every other hour.  It’s tough to turn it off.  You’re a part of a community.  You share ideas and information.  Checking for messages is ingrained.  On the other hand, your decision to check at certain times in the day sends a different kind of message to your co-workers and superiors – it tells them that you value your time and your attention to your work. 

At the start, you may need to manage expectations.  When responding to messages after a no-message hour or two, explain that you check for messages hourly or at whatever frequency you've chosen. 

Enjoy the focus, the time for high productivity.  You may well find you are doing your very best work.  Your thoughtful dedication to your work will be noticed.

2.         Who’s calling?  Is your personal phone also sitting on your desk?  Is your personal phone also receiving all your personal email?  Establish discipline for friends and family.  Returning personal messages should be kept to a minimum during your workday.  Help your friends and family understand that while you value them, you also value your job. 

Naturally, if you are expecting a vital personal message, handle it.  But vital means your wife is in labor or your child’s school is calling, not where to meet for dinner.

3.         It’s only courteous.  It used to apply to phone calls, now it applies to messages, emails and tweets.  Your smart phone vibrates while you are in a meeting or while you are discussing a business issue with another.  It’s natural to take a glance.  After all, it’s a split second glance, right?  Accepting a call in the midst of a meeting or a discussion disrupts the flow; plus, it can be rude. 

Now, if you are anticipating important business information, it is appropriate to accept the intrusion.  If you are in a meeting, quietly remove yourself from the room to accept the call.  If you are in a discussion, apologize for the intrusion explaining the urgency of the call or message.

Honor the working goal.

Loyalty to one’s firm is no longer as strong as in the past.  On the other hand, there are many reasons to value your job.  Some people love the work they do and that is why they value their job.  Others value the income their job provides.  Still others value what they are learning on the job, knowing they’ll use the information gained and contacts made throughout their career.

Whatever the reasons, you can demonstrate your commitment to the work you do in the ways you do your work. 

1.         Respect your co-workers time.  Consider sending an email in place of a phone call or a drop-in visit to your co-worker’s office. For meetings you plan, consider whether the subject might be handled by email instead.  If the meeting is warranted, prepare a clear agenda with time paramenters. Be prepared and be timely.  And, for those of you who are talkers, keep an eye on your verbosity.

2.         Protect your working time.  This is the corollary to respecting your co-workers time.  When asked to attend a meeting, review the agenda and meeting objectives.  Confirm to yourself that your presence at the meeting is warranted and that the time invested is merited.

3.         Recognize the value of other people’s opinions.  Each one of us brings our own ideas, our own talents, our own perspective to the table.  One really terrible idea might actually engender the truly brilliant idea.  Shutting off individual contributions may keep the firm from excelling.  On the other hand, when managing a forum for ideas, keep watch on the amount of time invested.

4.         Keep your eye on the best outcome for the organization.  As you do your work, keep your firm’s objectives in mind. Ideas for greater efficiency or effectiveness demonstrate your commitment and your value to the firm.

Getting the job done.

The single most important job skill sought by employers today is the willingness, the tenacity to actually do the job.  It may be boring, it may not be a job you love but if you are interested in keeping the job, be certain you get it all done.  Lucy Kellaway of the Financial times reports that study after study points to conscientioiusness as a key hiring requirement.

With these steps, your productivity will be on high.

Fame may come from a lifetime of work, but most career beginnings include a resume. Looking for work in 1482, Leonardo Da Vinci, then age 30, wrote a letter to the Duke of Milan offering his considerable engineering skills and secrets.  At the end of the letter, he noted that he could also sculpt and paint. 

This resume, in the form of a letter, tells the Duke exactly how he would benefit from Da Vinci’s work.

Most Illustrious Lord, Having now sufficiently considered the specimens of all those who proclaim themselves skilled contrivers of instruments of war, and that the invention and operation of the said instruments are nothing different from those in common use: I shall endeavor, without prejudice to anyone else, to explain myself to your Excellency, showing your Lordship my secret, and then offering them to your best pleasure and approbation to work with effect at opportune moments on all those things which, in part, shall be briefly noted below.

1.  I have a sort of extremely light and strong bridges, adapted to be most easily carried, and with them you may pursue, and at any time flee from the enemy; and others, secure and indestructible by fire and battle, easy and convenient to lift and place.  Also methods of burning and destroying those of the enemy.

2.  I know how, when a place is besieged, to take the water out of the trenches, and make endless variety of bridges, and covered ways and ladders, and other machines pertaining to such expeditions.

3.  If, by reason of the height of the banks, or the strength of the place and its position, it is impossible, when besieging a place, to avail oneself of the plan of bombardment, I have methods for destroying every rock or other fortress, even if it were founded on a rock, etc.

4.  Again, I have kinds of mortars; most convenient and easy to carry; and with these I can fling small stones almost resembling a storm; and with the smoke of these cause great terror to the enemy, to his great detriment and confusion.

5.  And if the fight should be at sea I have kinds of many machines most efficient for offense and defense; and vessels which will resist the attack of the largest guns and powder and fumes.

6.  I have means by secret and tortuous mines and ways, made without noise, to reach a designated spot, even if it were needed to pass under a trench or a river.

7.  I will make covered chariots, safe and unattackable, which, entering among the enemy with their artillery, there is no body of men so great but they would break them. And behind these, infantry could follow quite unhurt and without any hindrance.

8.  In case of need I will make big guns, mortars, and light ordnance of fine and useful forms, out of the common type.

9.  Where the operation of bombardment might fail, I would contrive catapults, mangonels, trabocchi, and other machines of marvelous efficacy and not in common      use. And in short, according to the variety of cases, I can contrive various and       endless means of offense and defense.

10.  In times of peace I believe I can give perfect satisfaction and to the equal of any other in architecture and the composition of buildings public and private; and in guiding water from one place to another.

11.  I can carry out sculpture in marble, bronze, or clay, and also I can do in painting whatever may be done, as well as any other, be he who he may.

Again, the bronze horse may be taken in hand, which is to be to the immortal glory and eternal honor of the prince your father of happy memory, and of the illustrious house of Sforza.

And if any of the above-named things seem to anyone to be impossible or not feasible, I am most ready to make the experiment in your park, or in whatever place may please your Excellency - to whom I commend myself with the utmost humility, etc."
 

Da Vinci got the job.  He lived in Milan until 1499 completing painting, drawing, building design and engineering projects for the Duke.  In 1498, while still in Milan, he painted The Last Supper and a few years later, he painted the Mona Lisa.

Credits:

Thanks to Marc Cendella, Co-Founder of TheLadders.com, a job-search site for $100k+ jobs, for introducing me to Da Vinci’s “resume letter” in an OpsLadder e-newsletter.

Leonardo3 at www.leonardo3.net is the source for Leonardo Da Vinci history and artifacts..

Whether you are starting a business you expect will become the next Microsoft or you are starting your own restaurant, green dry cleaning establishment or clothing store, whether you plan to offer your own personal services as an event planner, a masseuse or as a janitorial contractor, you must create a plan.  It could be that you are going to offer the same type of work you’ve previously provided as an employee – legal services, accounting services, marketing, media services.  Or, you may be planning to develop apps for i-phones or i-pads.  No matter what type of business, no matter how large or how small, every business that expects to succeed needs a plan.

“Why,” you ask, “what good will that do?” “I don’t want to take the time,” you say, “I just want to get going.”  Well, the fast path to failure is the unplanned path.  66% of small business start-ups survive 2 years and 44% survive 4 years.  My bet is that you want to be in that 44% and you don’t want to just survive, you want your business to thrive.  Most certainly, you want it to be profitable.  Planning, preparing for all the challenges you’ll confront, that’s the most powerful means to your success.

You may have already googled ‘business plan’ and thought, forget it, that’s a lot of trouble or, you may have felt a tad daunted by the complexity.  Not to worry, there are ways to shape your business plan so that it works best for the size business you are planning – whether it’s a $25,000 a year business, a $250,000 a year business, a $2.5 million dollar a year business or something still larger.  Whatever size business you envision, you, your invested time and your invested dollars will more likely see a successful return if you start with a plan.  Click here for all the business plan details – what needs to be in a plan, what kind of a plan for start-ups, existing businesses, for big ideas and for the more modest-sized firm.  (Why risk it, make a plan!)

By the way, if your only goal is to make money, your prospects for success are immediately reduced.  Surprised?  It’s true.  The strongest new businesses are those started by people who love what they do!  Here’s the story of a woman who was passionate about how to treat the people who worked for her – she even included the Golden Rule in her initial business plan.  She started with a $5,000 investment and a very clear plan; today her firm’s annual revenues are just shy of $3 billion!

Mary Kay Ash had worked successfully in direct sales for more than two decades ultimately becoming national sales director for a global firm.  However, at 45, she resigned over her growing frustration as yet another man she had trained was promoted to a position not just above hers but also at twice her salary.  Without a clear view for what was to be next, she started writing a book to help women achieve the business opportunities she had been denied. The more she wrote, the more she realized that she was actually creating the plan, the foundation for a new organization where women could develop their talents and achieve unlimited success.

In 1963, using the knowledge she’d gain working for others along with the plan she’d just developed and $5,000 in savings, Mary Kay Ash created Beauty by Mary Kay.  Sadly, her husband died just as she was about to launch her new firm so she enlisted her 20-year old son, Richard.  The plan for her fledgling company was very clear about its values – the company was founded based on the Golden Rule – on praising people to success – and on the principle of placing faith first, family second and career third.  This, indeed, was a company with a heart.

This remarkable business, started 47 years ago, is not just a company with a heart, it’s a company with more than 1.8 million independent Beauty Consultants throughout the world and sales of about $2.6 billion, a company that’s been profitable starting with its very first year.  That’s right, Mary Kay Ash wrote a plan from her heart, invested her $5,000 in savings and, with help from her son, she grew Mary Kay into one of the strongest businesses in our world.  Material sourced from the Mary Kay website, http://www.marykay.com/company/companyfounder/default.aspx.

For more information on using your passions, your greatest strengths, go to Everyday Life/Your Strengths.

When your goal is a thriving firm, it’s necessary to seek the advice of experts.  Yes, for sure you can read Accounting for Dummies, but that doesn’t mean you’ll gain the greatest advantage when seeking business loans or investment credits or when making certain your firm is profitable and not just churning cash.  Or, you can go to a seminar on marketing and hope you’ve gained the right information to take your business to the right customers using the right offers and media.  When you are risking not just your money but also your time and your heart, it’s an imperative that you use experts in their field.  Remember, there’s not a successful enterprise today that doesn’t seek the advice of experts.  If you need references, be sure to go to Money Matters/Links.

Learn everything you can about your customers, who they are, why they’ll want your product, why they’ll pick your product or service over another.  Is there something about your product or service that makes it altogether different from your competitors?  Is there a way to tell your competitors about the difference so that your customers will recognize it and chose your product or service?  This is called differentiation, how your product or service differs from your competitors in ways that compel your prospects to choose your product or service.

Your financing strategy is critical to your company’s well being.  Right from the start, it’s necessary to work from well-developed financial forecasts while supplying the new business with the capital necessary for all cost categories.    It’s necessary to have a well-developed stream of capital that funds all operations. Further, fully developed financial plans along with the tools to assess your progress will help to make certain that your company generates profits and not just cash flow.

Being your own boss has its perks.  You set your hours and control your workflow.  A sense of freedom comes when you realize you are in charge, all the frustrations of employment fade as you envision a business of your own making.  It’s what you always knew you should do – run your own company.

The jolt of reality is not far off.  As you delve into self-employed work, you’ll realize that working for a company also has advantages.  Your employer doesn’t just provide paychecks; they cover a number of expenses that you take on as your own boss.

Whether you plan to be the sole employee or you plan to establish a firm that employs others, there are costs you simply can’t avoid.

Equipment to Electricity
From the computer to the paper and toner needed for your printer, calculate the costs by imagining every step you need to take to fulfill your business promise. 

You love making cupcakes.  To start a bakery, you are renting space, equipping it with ovens, display cases, baking sheets and a cash register.  Then there are the costs of operating the bakery.  Flour and sugar are costs of your product.  Are you the baker and the sales person?  If not, add one or two employees.  There are cake boxes or other containers in which to deliver your product.  There are so many costs to simply selling a cupcake!

Perhaps you simply want to be a consultant.  That seems easy, no employees, no office or shop, you’ll just work out of your house.  Terrific.  Be sure, however, to add in the cost of the office equipment beyond your trusty computer.  The printer, paper and toner, the scanner, the business phone, the presentation folders.  Then, of course, you will visit your fist client.  That means gas and parking. 

It’s easy to imagine yourself giving great presentations, landing the great new piece of business.  Then, of course, you need to do that work, the work you’ve just proudly sold.  Again, imagine all the steps of actually doing the work.  What equipment will you need?
If you’ve always had an assistant, now you don’t.  What equipment did your assistant need to do their job?  Wearing many hats means you need to calculate the costs of the equipment each “hat” requires.

When you do a financial analysis in your business plan, calculate for these expenses.  It will affect your profits--and ultimately what you can pay yourself.

Benefits
Insurance costs are the subject of never-ending debate.  But, if you’ve mostly worked as an employee, you may not yet know the actual cost of health insurance.  It is significant; be sure you add its cost into your business plan.

But, that’s not all.  As an employee, you had paid vacation time and sick time.  When you are self-employed, you’ll find you are balancing lost billing hours with a couple of weeks vacation.  What are your choices?  Is there someone whom you can employ to fill in while you are basking in the sun at your favorite get-away? 

Then, of course, the many perks.  Parking and business lunches are now a part of your costs.  Training is an investment you’ll be making for yourself.  While these are tax deductible as business expenses, they are cash outlays your business will be making.

Taxes
When you are employed, your employer pays a part of your social security and Medicare taxes.  Those who are self-employed must cover the costs of these taxes themselves.  You can learn more about self-employment tax at: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=98846,00.html

Additionally, you will have to keep records of your finances and transactions so you can accurately pay your taxes.  As an employee, your 1099 is straightforward.  When you are self-employed, you either serve as your own accountant or take on the expense of hiring one.

If you’ll be more than one, if you plan for employees, each of these costs and each of these tasks is compounded.  Expect to pay the employer portion of employee’s social security and Medicare taxes.  Plus, the accounting and paperwork is complex.  You’ll quickly be comparing the costs versus the benefits of a payroll company.

None of this should necessarily discourage you from pursuing a career where you work for yourself.  As you create your business plan, remember that many expenses and tasks that were taken care of for you in a regular job fall into your lap when you’re self-employed.

Allow for the time commitment and costs of being your own boss.  If you prepare in advance, you can avoid frustration and set reasonable expectations as you develop your new business.

It was a decade of turmoil, the first decade of the 21^st century.  It started on a high followed immediately by the first of two recessions!  We raced back to another high and then plummeted to a far worse recession.  In its wake, our economy is unsettled and we, the people, are unsettled.  As we recover, we see that employment is forever changed. 

One of many changes in the working life of every American is the need to take charge.  No longer can we count on employment as our sole means of income.  No longer can we anticipate a comfortable retirement without managing the plan ourselves. 

We are each responsible for our personal destiny and our economic destiny.  It calls for each of us to be inventive.  It means we must each find sources of income beyond our employment income.  It means we'll likely spend a few evenings or weekend hours in pursuit of added income sources.

Whether employed or not, establishing other income streams helps lay the foundation for financial security.  These are the three sources of income.

Passive income.  This is regular income coming from business sources where your active involvement is not necessary.  Rent from property, earnings from website advertising, royalties received from books or patents, residual income from sales.

Earned income.  Your job is earned income.  To supplement your job income, there is a vast array of added income opportunities.

Portfolio Income.  This is investment income.

The Multiple Income Sources articles that follow are meant to provide ideas.  You may decide to create your own full-time business.  You may decide to establish a part-time business.  Or, you may find ideas for establish passive income sources.  Most important, be certain you are in charge of your financial destiny.

You’ve wanted added responsibility.  You’ve asked for it.  You’ve worked hard to deserve it.  Now, it’s yours!  You’ve been offered the chance to shine as you lead the redesign of your division's website.

But, wait!  Before leaping to the yes, ask the necessary questions.  Instead of a quick and giddy reply in the affirmative, you might say, “Fantastic. I look forward to this increased responsibility. I’m pleased you have the confidence in my ability to develop the website for our new division. Am I correct in assuming that with this new responsibility, I’ll have access to the strategic plans and division managers plus the authority to change the budget?”

The bottom line? Don’t accept responsibility without the authority to accomplish the task. It’s a recipe for disaster; it will never end well. Ask the necessary questions. Make sure your authority matches your increased level of responsibility. Then, and only then, will you be able to show you are worthy of increased responsibility.

You have the skills.  You have the knowledge base.  There’s no way around it, you are great at your job.  On the other hand, have you added the skills that make you a terrific employee?  These things can solidify the strength of your position at the firm.

Support the goals of the organization.  Of course, you say.  If so, then ask yourself, do your actions reflect that support?  Do you talk about specific organizational goals?  Do you directly refer to specific goals in the work you do?  Do you restate them regularly?  Do you refer to the successes of the firm?  Do you think about issues or challenges of the firm, making appropriate suggestions through accepted channels?

A corollary to your support of your firm’s goals is your support of your department’s goals.  What does your department do that make a difference for the firm?  Do you refer to department goals in the work you do?

Be a Team Player.  When you work for an organization, it’s important you demonstrate your willingness to be a part of the unified voice, the joint action.  That doesn’t mean you can’t shine. It doesn’t mean that your contribution isn’t exceptional. It doesn’t mean you aren’t able to lead.  It does mean that as a part of a team, the contributions of the many cumulatively result in a successful organization. There will always be team members who are recognized for their outstanding contribution - to the team and the firm.

Energy & Enthusiasm.  There is no better indicator of a strong employee than one who works hard, does good work and is enthusiastic about their job and their firm.

Take pride.  The pride you show in your work and in the firm speaks volumes to your co-workers and the leadership of your organization.

Be timely.  Whether it’s your work or your arrival time at the office, timeliness is imperative.  Timeliness is evidence of your self-respect and your respect for the organization.

Be honest and trustworthy – as an employee, as a co-worker.  Both of these traits build respect for your principles.  When you say you’ll do something, be certain you can do it.  When you agree to a manufacturing schedule, for example, be certain it is possible.  If anything stands in the way of meeting that schedule, be upfront about it., explain the nature of the issue and the steps you can take to ensure you’ll meet the agreed-upon timeframe.

Straight-talk wins the day.  When asked for your opinion, thoughts or ideas, share them directly and with decorum.  It’s not in your interest or the firms interest to offer thoughts or comments that are harmful or unconstructive. If your opinion varies from others, explain your reasoning, be clear on what led you to your conclusion.

Be respectful to everyone.  While this should go without saying, it applies to the regard you demonstrate to every person, whatever their place in the organization, whatever their knowledge, skills or personal habits.

Practice personal self-discipline.  Remain aware of your personal habits.  In other words, don’t dominate discussions, don’t demonstrate dissatisfaction when a decision does not go your way, don’t intrude inappropriately.  These actions may be the result of excitement, knowledge and commitment. However, they are not an effective means for workplace success.

Be willing to accept added responsibility. Accepting added responsibility, with the appropriate authority, shows you are a loyal and committed member of the firm. It's important to remember the words appropriate authority - the means to accomplish your added responsibility.

Be supportive, champion others.  This is a strong team-player habit.  Supporting others strengthens everyone.  It also strengthens your position within the firm.

Don’t talk about others.  Office politics can be a deadly game.  There’s no doubt about it, there are firms where the boss seems to institutionalize bad behavior.  Have nothing to do with it.  If, in your presence, others start to speak negatively about another, you can excuse yourself. You may even suggest they share their thoughts with the individual under scrutiny. Not speaking about others is an indication of your trustworthiness.

“I” messages.  As a rule of thumb, don’t make statements about others at your workplace; only make statements about yourself.  There once was an unbearable client who badgered his account manager with endless emails about that manager's software choices, his grammar and more.  The client's never-ending stream of suggestions frequently included inaccuracies.  The account manager could have said, “You need to stop these messages because they are unpleasant and frustrating.” Instead, he said, “I don’t like it when you send these messages because they are causing delays in the project.” In this way, the account manager kept the focus on the work being done for the client. A subtle but important difference.

With these skills in your arsenal, regard for your working style should be strong.

If you lived in the Czech Republic before 1989, your pay as a janitor would have been the same as your pay as a surgeon.  For the most part, everyone earned about the same pay rate regardless of the skills or difficulty related to the job.

In the consumer-based, capitalist economy of the United States, this is not the case.  In the U.S. we’re accustomed to pay ranges and pay scales assigned to each job.  Many factors determine pay ranges including:

1. The type of business and the costs related to the business.
2. The profitability of the organization.
3. The geographic location.
4. Individual training, skill set and experience.
5. Individual seniority within the firm.
6. Individual time and effort put into job.
7. The degree to which the job affects the success of the company.

An entry-level registered nurse will start their career at around $48,000.  An entry-level teacher can expect a range between $32,000 and $44,000.  An entry-level administrative employee can expect a range from $15,000 to $30,000.  An entry-level electrical engineer can expect a range between $48,000 and $69,000.  The range for a doctor who has completed their residency begins at $110,000.  These are starting salaries; naturally, with experience, energy, effort and seniority, increases can be expected.

Whether you are a data entry clerk, an account executive, an engineer, an attorney, a fireperson or a barista, jobs have pay ranges.  Jobs without fixed pay ranges are generally those where the individual directly affects revenue, usually sales positions. Whether as a sales manager, an investment broker, a real estate broker or as an insurance sales person, sales jobs often rely on commissions based on the employee’s performance.  Here, we’re looking at jobs for which there is a pay range. 

We can agree that without employees, there wouldn’t be an organization.  What would a school be without teachers?  What would an airline be without pilots?  While that is true, a company is a composite of many kinds of skills and job types.  It could be said that “it takes a village” to keep a company running.

How, then, does a company decide how much to pay so they can hire the best employee for each job in the firm?  It’s the result of many factors.

Skill and Personal Enterprise

First is the skill-level required to do the job.  If specific and harder to find skill sets are required, pay is usually higher.   Skill-level exists across the working spectrum.  Today’s automated manufacturing plants require production workers be proficient with sophisticated computerized machinery – skills usually gained at a community college.  Teachers, engineers and nurses begin work once they have their bachelor’s degree.  Doctors and lawyers complete three and four years of graduate school before they begin their work.  And, many of the successful business people have completed a master’s program before entering the work force.

Pay is often tied to the impact a job has on the success of the company.  While every department is important and can affect the well-being of the firm, there are always pivotal roles that are usually paid at a higher rate.  A CEO is ultimately responsible for setting a successful path for the company.  Sales people are usually compensated based on how much revenue they generate for the company. 

Personal enterprise.  Taking one’s knowledge and skills to a higher level for the success of the company, is recognized in pay.  It’s how hard you work, and your willingness to exceed expectations and grow your skills that can grow one’s pay and responsibilities.

The type of industry affects levels of pay.  Airlines have costly equipment, costly fuel bills and the need for a large number of employees to perform the necessary jobs from mechanics to baggage handlers to pilots to flight attendants.  While airline industry costs are great, the public expects to pay the lowest fare.  That means pay cannot be outsized.

On the other hand, jobs in the high tech arena with a very different cost structure, are frequently more lucrative.

Top companies compensate accordingly.   Workers at a booming company may see a windfall while companies that are sluggish also offer less competitive salaries.  

Industry standard pay ranges.  For some business categories, job-specific pay ranges may not differ greatly from company to company. Instead, pay is typical within certain industires, though there may be moderate regional differences.

The Question to Ask Yourself

No matter where you are in the workforce, in a free-market economy, individuals compete for higher paying jobs.  They get the training, they put in the hours, and they execute their own personal plan.

With these points in mind, would you have been motivated to go through years of medical training to become a Czech doctor, only to be paid the same amount as the person who empties the trash?  Their system didn’t work.  Competition and compensation for skill motivate people.  Only you can decide how much you want to earn over your lifetime.  The answer is in the form of a question: How hard will you work and what skills will you develop?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects job growth through 2018 will be strongest in the service-providing sector, continuing the long-term shift away from the goods-producing sector.  BLS projections show the greatest job growth will be concentrated in two industry sectors – 1) professional and business services, and 2) health care and social assistance.

Below are the thirty fastest-growing job categories sorted by the level of academic preparation needed for each job.  The projected number of newly created jobs that will be added to the U.S. workforce between 2008 and 2018 is in parentheses.  Don’t forget that jobs also become available through attrition – replacement of those leaving a job.

Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral Degrees 

Biomedical engineers  (11,600)

Network systems and data communications analysts  (155,800)

Financial examiners  (11,100)

Medical scientists except epidemiologists  (44,200)

Physician assistants  (29,200)

Biochemists and biophysicists  (8,700)

Athletic trainers  (6,000)

Computer software engineers, applications (175,100)

Veterinarians  (19,700)

Self-enrichment education teachers  (81,300)

Environmental engineers  (17,000)

Computer software engineers, systems software  (120,200)

Survey researchers  (7,000)

Physical therapists  (56,000)

Personal financial advisors  (63,000)

On-the-Job Training and Associate Degree

Home health aides  (461,000)

Personal and home care aides  (376,000)

Skin care specialists  (15,000)

Physical therapist aides  (17,000)

Dental hygienists  (63,000)

Veterinary technologists and technicians  (29,000)

Dental assistants  (106,000)

Medical assistants  (164,000)

Physical therapist assistants  (21,000)

Compliance officers, except agriculture, construction, health and safety, and transportation (81,000)

Occupational therapist aides  (2,000)

Pharmacy technicians  (100,000)

Environmental engineering technicians  (6,000)

Occupational therapist assistants  (8,000)

Fitness trainers and aerobics instructors  (77,000)

Don’t let this list constrain your vision.  While not on these lists, Time Magazine’s recent job growth article included artists and animators.  In addition, CareerBuilder includes internet hosting and publication, auto manufacturing and waste management to their list of fastest-growing industries.

If you don’t see an occupation reflecting your personal skills and interests on the BLS list above, look at the detailed career descriptions and forecasts for each career category on the online edition of the Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-2011 Edition http://www.bls.gov/oco/.  You’ll even find wind energy jobs in the handbook.

One relatively recent change to the demographics of the work force is that the baby boomer generation is not just aging, they’re also staying in the workforce.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) forecasts that a quarter of the labor force in 2018 will be 55 years of age and older.

Sources

U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://www.bls.gov

Time Magazine, Jan 17, 2011

MSN and CareerBuilder (http://msn.careerbuilder.com/Article/MSN-2549-Job-Info-and-Trends-Job-hunting-Check-

 

What, you say?  OODA?  It’s a crazy name.  Every time I say it I have to smile.  Crazy name or not, it’s a powerful process that’s perfect for thinking about your financial life.  Whether it’s your work, your sources of income, your spending habits or your financial goals, using OODA can help you make effective decisions and take informed action.

OODA was designed for combat operations.  In 1995, USAF Colonel John Boyd designed the OODA Loop for use in war.  While an unusual source, a good idea is worth borrowing.  It is such a good idea that the OODA Loop is now used by businesses as they set strategy and by learning process organizations.

Let’s get to it.  OODA is short for observe, orient, decide and act.  While it works for both individuals and organizations, it was originally designed for one decision-maker.  OODA shows where to place your energy on an issue based on the facts plus the decision-maker’s personal goals, preferences and values.  The result is a clear decision and the steps to implement the decision. 

You’ll see from the diagram that OODA is a loop that starts with raw information, a thorough observation of the situation.  Information gained through careful observation is then processed (oriented) using personal goals, values and heritage to reach a decision.  The decision is put into action, sometimes in a test phase.  The informed and timely decision is based on observation and information gathering filtered by personal goals and values, thereby enabling action.

OODA is a process, it is repetitive.  As new information is gained, it is filtered by personal goals, values and heritage in advance of further decisions and action.  Actions taken can also provide new information.  That added information may also be the result of changing circumstance.  It takes OODA to reach decisions and take action that reflects our personal goals, values and heritage in the context of ever-changing circumstance.       

What are some of OODA’s advantages?

• It favors agility, nimbleness, maneuverability over power.  In other words, it favors individual decision-makers.
• It enables one to take control of situations/circumstances/issues by reaching informed decisions, putting those decisions into action and reviewing the result as an incoming observation.  OODA is best suited to changing circumstance.

OODA’s originator, John Boyd, explains  how you can use OODA to imprint your personal style onto your life experience.

“The essence of winning and losing is in learning how to shape or influence events so that we not only magnify our spirit and strength but also influence potential adversaries as well as the uncommitted so that they are drawn toward our philosophy and are empathetic towards our success.”

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OODA_loop

Boyd, John R., The Essence of Winning and Losing, 28 June 1995, a 5-slide set by Boyd.

Graphic: Author Patrick Edwin Moran, April 19, 2008.  Full diagram originally drawn by John Boyd for his briefings on military strategy, fighter pilot strategy, etc.

 

Let's first look at how many businesses there are in the U.S.

• There are 27.1 million non-farm businesses in the U.S.
• These businesses generate $30.1 trillion in revenues.

Of those 27.1 million businesses,

• 805,500 are publicly held, with $19.2 trillion in revenues.
• 26,300,000 are privately held, with $11.0 trillion in revenues.

Of the 26.3 million privately held firms, the 441 largest firms employ 6.2 million workers and generate $1.8 trillion.       

Where are the paid employees?

• 5.75 million firms employ 118.7 million individuals who are paid.
• 21.35 million firms do not have paid employees; these are sole proprietorships and partnerships without employees on the payroll.

What kinds of businesses?

• 14.0%  professional, scientific and technical services
• 12.6%  construction
• 11.5%  repair, maintenance, personal, and laundry services 
•  9.9%  retail trade 
•  9.7%  real estate, and rental and leasing
• 42.6%  all other industries

Ownership, Employment & Receipts by Gender in privately held firms:

Women owned   7.8 million non-farm businesses (28.7%)
Women employed  7.6 million persons (6.4% of total employment)
Women’s receipts  $1.2 trillion (3.9% of all receipts)

Men owned     13.9 million non-farm businesses (51.3%)
Men employed   41.5 million persons (35.0% of total employment)
Men’s receipts   $8.5 trillion (28.2% of all receipts)

Equal (*) ownership  4.6 million non-farm businesses (17.0%)
Equal (*) employment 8.1 million persons (6.9% of total employment
Equal (*) receipts  $1.2 trillion (4.2% of all receipts)

(*) Ownership is 50% men and 50% women, eg, equal ownership.

Sources:

U.S. Census Bureau 2007 Survey of Business Owners, released 12/7/2010
Forbes Special Report The Largest Private Companies (In the US in 2008, the 441 largest private companies accounted for $1.8 trillion in revenue and employed 6.2 million people.

We each have personal preferences and passions that translate into the choices we make throughout our lives.  Naturally, that is just as true in our work lives as in our personal lives. 

Will you prefer to work for a company?  Is that in your personality?  Or, do you prefer to take on the challenge and risk of your own firm?  What are the factors that indicate you’ll thrive working for a company?  What are the indicators you'll be successful working for yourself?

The New York Times wrote of a woman about to complete her medical residency.  She followed her father and grandfather into medicine but she did not follow them into their medical practice.  Instead, as a new mom of twin boys, she accepted a salaried job as a hospital physician because her hours will be controlled and the kinds of illnesses she’ll treat will be more interesting.  She made the choice based on her personal preferences and passions.  She made certain her work fits her life as it is today. 

There are many reasons to work for a company just as there are many reasons to work for yourself.  It’s your job to make your choice based on what works best in your life.  Here are a few points to consider when making your choice.

Considerations when deciding to work for a company

The work is your passion.   This is one of the best reasons for accepting a job, because you love the work.  What firms employ people with your skills and passions?  Even with the perfect job, keep an eye on the other firms that need your skills and passion.  If you love teaching, certainly there is the school system but don’t forget all the training programs that employ individuals who teach.  You greatest skills and passion may be a fit at many types of firms.

Hours and work-life balance. This depends entirely on your needs and the kind of job you seek.  If you want to work your way up the ladder, it’s likely you’ll work long hours whatever the business and job type.  On the other hand, managing your hours is possible with many kinds of firms; job sharing is even a possibility.  Understand fully the firm’s expectations before saying yes to a job.

Travel.  Again, it depends on the kind of job you seek and whether travel fits into your life.  There are armies of business travelers whose job keeps them flying or driving, sometimes weekly, sometimes monthly, sometimes less frequently.  Many consultants travel every week to their client.  Sales people with large territories, travel by air or by car to see their current customers and to sell new customers.  If you’ve a yen for travel, there are many types of jobs and companies for which it is an imperative.  On the other hand, travel may conflict with elements of your personal life – a factor you’ll need to consider.

The benefits.  Many employers offer an array of benefits from insurance programs to paid vacations, from tuition reimbursement to a matching 401k.  Every benefit has a tangible value that increases your pay package.  As you make your decision about a job, be sure to consider the relative value and breadth of the benefit package.

Gain experience in your chosen field.   Over your working years, you will gain both knowledge and contacts that add to your value as an employee.  This is especially true when working for a firm where you can expect to learn from your boss and other superiors as well as from fellow workers whose jobs are in other departments in your firm.

You want to work your way up the ladder.  Working in an organization can be a great opportunity for you to show your stuff, to prove the power of your particular skills.  Many have reached great heights with exceptional rewards working for a company.

Job stability or not.  For the past century, employment by a firm was thought to be the most stable form of work.  This is no longer a reliable expectation.  Even the strongest firms have had cutbacks, mostly for economic reasons, whether sending jobs offshore or reorganization for operating efficiencies.  As one considers employment, consider the long-term viability of the product base, the financial soundness of the firm, even the strength of the leadership team. 

Not risking your own money.  This is key.  Most entrepreneurs risk their own capital.  As an employee, you are not investing your own money.  Instead, you are working for the well-being of the entire organization while being paid by that organization.

Camaraderie with fellow workers.  Many of us enjoy the stimulation, the rapport, the team experience found when working for an organization.

There’s a corporate personality.  Many firms have their own established style, their own persona usually aligned with the product base, biggest brands or celebrity owner.  Whether your firm is local firm or you are an IBMer, whether you are a high school algebra teacher or a member of the Best Buy Geek Squad, there is a style, a way that is typical in your firm that differs from other firms. 

Considerations when deciding to work for yourself

It’s your passion.  For all who choose to work for themselves, it’s imperative that you love what you do.  Why?  Aside from the fact that you’ll most likely be risking personal capital and putting in long hours, the real reason that entrepreneurs must love the work they do is because the strongest new businesses are those started by people who love what they do!

You are inventive.  Starting from scratch requires the entrepreneur to create more than the product or service.  Entrepreneurs are responsible for all the necessities of a company – capital, accounting, marketing, sales and operations.

You can’t imagine working for someone else.  For some, there is an awareness of their need to be the leader in their working life. 

You’ve a competitive streak and want to do it for yourself.  While similar, here the entrepreneur has set their sight on producing a personal success.  The gain is within, an internal satisfaction for taking their vision to a successful outcome.

You like wearing many hats.    You’re a multi-tasker, you love getting it all done because you get to control the outcome.  As an entrepreneur, you’ll be called on to be inventor, strategist, accountant, clerk and mail room manager.

You want to put your stamp on a company.  You have a vision.  It may be a vision of the product or services offered by your company or it may be a vision of the way your firm does business.  Whichever, it is your vision for a company with your unique imprint.

You never stop learning.  It’s in your veins, you are stimulated by ever-increasing base of knowledge and take deep satisfaction in using your knowledge base in the shaping and growth of your own firm. 

It's okay that one mistake can spell disaster.  44% of all business start-ups survive four years.  That, of course, means that 56% of all business start-ups fail to survive four years. 

It doesn’t have to be one or the other           

Keep in mind that you can do both.  You can work for a company and for yourself.  In fact, one of the most exciting elements of life is our ability to control our destiny, making sure that the experiences we desire actually happen.

Consecutively.  Many people begin their careers working for a firm, gaining both knowledge and contacts.  While many choose to continue their careers working within an organization, some choose to take their knowledge and contacts and to build a firm of their own.

Simultaneously.  Depending entirely on the type of work you perform at your company-based employment, there are ways to work for yourself while working for another.  From taking your invention to market to turning your hobby into a business to selling cosmetics or insurance in your spare time, you’ll find ideas, tips and tools on this site under Work: Own Your Business.

Business Planning

• Business Plan Template from SBA.
• Entrepreneurship.org  A one stop resource offering investors and mentors.
• Free tech-related newsletters:  EnterpriseDigest.Com, GamingDigest.Com, GreenDigest.Com, HealthDigest.com, MobileDigest.Com, SocialDigest.Com, StartUpDigest.Com.
• JumpStartAmerica.Org. 
• SCORE, the free and confidential counselors to America’s Small Businesses.
• Small Business Administration Provides an excellent array of business planning tools.
• StartUpAmericaPartnership.org  To spur the creation, scale and support of high-growth firms by bringing companies, universities and non-profit organizations together.  Includes Entrepreneurship BootCamp, StartUp Digest.
• The Entreprenuers Friend.  Practical guidance for entrepreneurs at all stages of business development.
• Woman Owned  Resource for women entrepreneurs.

Multiple Income Sources

• Direct Selling Association To find a direct selling company that aligns with your interests and skills, go to http://www.dsa.org/forms/CompanyFormPublicMembers/search.

Personal Financial Planning

• Women’s Institute for Financial Education.
• WISER, Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement is dedicated to improving the long-term financial security of all women through education and advocacy.
• SecondActLiving.com   Work, play and financial independence after age 40. 
• Mint.Com  A strong, free way to manage money.

Looking for that plum job?   One of your most important tools in any job search is your resume.  Within no more than two pages, it’s your opportunity to demonstrate your value to a prospective employer.  Every aspect of your resume informs the reader about you – from the words you choose to the kinds of information you include.  Instant judgments are made; make yours a resume that leads to a meeting. 

Before you start writing.

Your writing job will be so much simpler and your resume so much stronger if you first develop these materials.  You may be surprised at just how often you refer to them during your resume writing and your search.

In detail, describe the job you seek.  What firms have your perfect job?  What will they include in your perfect job's description?  What are the responsibilities?  What are the qualifications? 

What experience, contacts or knowledge base would cause the hiring manager to say "this is the person I want to hire?"

List your benefits and selling features.  Benefits and features are the things that make you unique.  To begin, make a list of your working experiences, the specific knowledge and skills you can employ, your contact list and every other personal qualification.  Every one of these is a feature, the data points, the facts about you.  Features are important, whether it’s language skills, software development competencies or technical training, every feature is an important personal asset that adds to your story.

To strengthen the importance of each of your features, write an example of how you've used your features in ways that bring particular beneift to a prospective employer. Transforming your features into benefits for your prospective employer differentiates you from every other applicant. This is what makes you memorable and not an also-ran.  It’s no longer enough to simply list core skills. Instead, it is necessary to demonstrate how you use your skills in ways that are meaningful to your prospective employer.

To do this, write a brief description of how you used each feature and the result for the employer.  Let’s say you have specific software knowledge but for the job you want, every other applicant has the same knowledge.   What makes you different when you use that software knowledge?   Do you apply it in a different way?  Are you faster?  What enhances your results over others?  Answers to these questions are your benefits, the things that differentiate you from all other applicants.  Benefits show your unique value to your prospective employer.

You will, of course,  cite your features and their benefits from experience at previous employers.  Also, include the features you've developed in personal endeavors.  Have you held a leadership position at church?  Have you organized a fund raising program for your favorite charity?  Have you coached a team, chaired a committee, taught a skill, acted in a play or sung in a choir during your non-working hours?  Coaching shows mentoring, team-building and teaching skills.  Chairing a committee shows leadership, management and organizational skills.  Don’t forget to translate these features into benefits for prospective employers.

Make a list of action verbs.  These words describe the things you do.  Action verbs bring life to your resume.  Words like develop, create, manage, operate, direct, conduct, teach, mentor, act and write.  You’ll get help finding action verbs at www.thesaurus.com.

Start your writing.

Choose your resume style.  Resume protocol varies by industry and job type.  The most common style is chronologic where your employment is listed sequentially starting with your most recent job and progressing through your employment history.  The functional style resume features your skills and how you’ve used those skills.  Finally, the combined format uses features from both chronologic and functional resume styles. 

Learn which format is preferred in your industry.  Or, you might choose to prepare a resume in each of the styles.  Simply google “resume types” to get to one of the many websites with style sheets and tips for each of the three resume styles.  Here, we’ll consider the content and formatting that applies to all resume types.

Word Choice.  There are two kinds of words to consider as you write your resume.  The first is active words.   Active words demonstrate accomplishment and results.  Active words help the reader envision the prospect as one who takes action.  Words like planned, organized, taught, edited, wrote, started, directed, grew, led, sold, empowered, developed, implemented, created – all these words imply action.

The other important words when writing your resume are the search-specific key words.  Today, resumes are screened electronically.  That means that the keywords used in the job description become key words in the screening software used by many employers.  Carefully incorporate the descriptive words found in the job description.  Use the words appropriately.  Consider the frequency of each word’s use.  Some key words can be used throughout your resume – if appropriate. Consider synonyms. Without these words, your resume may be rejected before human eyes have scanned it.

Your Name.  Whether emailed or submitted as a printed copy, your name must be at the top of every page.  Things happen, pages can be separated.  With so many applicants vying for each job, it’s easier to throw a resume out than to figure out how to match a second page to its first unless there’s a name at the top.

Summary.  At the top of your resume, right below your name and contact information, place your summary.  It shouldn’t be more than three or four lines.  As you write it, keep the hiring manager in mind.   Begin by listing all the things that best describe your work history, your experience and your top skills.  When possible, quantify.  Use numbers or words that quantify, whether it’s top sales person, best results or another quantifier.  Shorten each point to a phrase and then create sentences using these phrases.  It’s not easy. Keep taking words or phrases out til you get it to the few ideas and words that best describe you at work.

Objective or goal.  There are mixed opinions on whether an objective or goal serves a fruitful purpose any longer.   Check with colleagues or google the “merits of an objective on a resume.” If you decide to include an objective or goal, ask yourself, “What is my working purpose?” You’ll need to use caution.  While your main purpose may be to get a job, that should never find its way onto your resume.  Whatever the job, hiring managers want to hear your passion; they want to know that you really want to do their job.  You’ll want to write a clear statement of your deep and sincere desire to work in the specific business or job category

Electronic submission.  When submitting a resume by email, follow page format conventions.  Set all margins to 1 inch.  Use universal fonts – generally Arial or Times Roman – so your resume can be read on all computers.  Be aware that not all firms accept resumes in PDF format.  Learn the format preferences of the firm to whom you will submit your resume.

Proofread it! Misspelling and poor grammar will often be the reason for immediate rejection. Proof your work.

Cover letter.

Always enclose a cover letter with your resume.  In it, you can toot your horn; tell of the three or four unique benefits you would bring to the firm.  In the opening paragraph, acknowledge the firm and the specific job you seek. In that same paragraph, include a powerful sentence about you – you can draw the words for this sentence from the summary you wrote for your resume. 

Follow the opening paragraph with three or four bulleted points that explain the key benefits of your employment.  Conclude your cover letter with a well-worded paragraph that expresses your strong interest in the firm and the job.  That’s it; your cover letter is complete.

In closing.

Make everything easy to read.  Make it easy to find your best qualities, especially those related to the job.  Make certain your prospective employer will quickly grasp the benefit of your employment.  No one said this was easy.  Job search is a full time job til you land the plum job you’ve sought.  Here’s to your greatest success.

What a crazy question you say.  After all, you’ve got your job and you even feel pretty secure in your job.  What more does one have to do?

As we’ve learned in recent years, change is ever-present.  Whether it’s the tech bubble or the housing bubble, the banking debacle, an earthquake and tsunami, a massive oil spill or a war, in today’s world, everything that happens affects our economy, our companies and the stability of our jobs.

What’s also changed is that losing one’s job is no longer a hallmark of failure.  Instead, losing one’s job is more often the result of cutbacks, of jobs no longer needed, of jobs that are no longer a part of a company’s mission and revenue stream.

It’s easy to think it won’t happen to your company but that’s what the employees of Arthur Anderson, Enron and Lehman Brothers all thought, “it won’t happen to my company.” Each of those companies failed in an instant.  One day thousands were employed at the firm, the next day there wasn’t a firm.

How many companies can you name that were started in your lifetime yet they no longer exist? How many products have you owned that were hot, must-haves that no longer exist? From audio cassettes and video players to walkmen, they’re memories.  In the 80’s and 90’s, we shopped at neighborhood bookstores and record/cd stores; today, they’re kaput as we download or stream our books and music.  For those who still want a book or CD, we shop for them online.

Today, companies reinvent themselves to stay current and to stay in business.  Reinvention, however, means the elimination of entire job categories.  At the same time, companies are finding ways to get jobs done more cheaply which means they send your jobs overseas to workers earning a third or a fourth of your salary.  In 2010, the U.S. produced more goods and services than in 2007 but with 6.8 million fewer people working.

It’s time to take charge, to establish your personal economic vision, the personal vision that will keep you at the helm, making your life follow the financial path of your choice.  When a job is your sole source of income, you are at risk.  What other streams of revenue can you create?

Answers to these questions are found throughout the Money Matters section.  Here are a couple of important links to get you started.

• Working Success – Workplace Success
• Job Search Success – Setting Strategy
• Start Your Own Business – Before You Start
• Start Your Own Business – Multiple Income Sources