Sack Your Boss! 6 Steps to Start a Business

Sack Your Boss! 6 Steps to Start a Business A career as an entrepreneur is quite lucrative. To become an entrepreneur, you need to have plenty of confidence, motivation and the courage to take risks. In the modern-day world, there are multiple examples of successful entrepreneurs. If the story of an entrepreneur highly motivates you and you dream to make your own mark, you can decide to start on an entrepreneurial journey. If you havent decided to leave work just yet, check out So You Want to Leave a Job You Hate. If you are already on your way, here are the 6 ways to becoming an entrepreneur: 1. Think of a Unique Idea The journey of an entrepreneur begins with an idea which has the potential to bring success. If you want to prove your entrepreneurial talent to the world, you should start brainstorming to come up with a great idea. If you are already working in an industry, you should try to figure out the gaps that other businesses have been unable to fill up. Once you have identified the loopholes in an industry, you can rack your brains to come up with an idea in the form of an effective solution. 2. Believe in that Idea Whether or not you have strong belief in the idea you have come up with can make all the difference. If you don’t believe in an idea really strongly, it will fail even if it was a unique one. Once you have thought of a great idea, you should have enough confidence to make it work for you. It is your determination which will matter more than actually the idea that you hit upon. 3. Write Out a Plan To make an idea really work well, you should prepare a concrete plan. Successful entrepreneurs have always put their entire plan in written. Right from creating the product to marketing it to the target audience, you need to focus on every detail. Don’t forget to do extensive industry research to write out a great plan to make the business idea come to life. 4. Get the First Round of Financing In the initial stage of your entrepreneurial journey, you will need to arrange for the first round of financing. This is where putting your entire business plan to paper comes in handy. When you have a written plan in hand, you can easily put across your point to venture capitalists. 5. Start Working When you have the finance available to start your entrepreneurial venture, it’s time to prove yourself. Use appropriate resources to accomplish the project within the pre-decided timeframe. You should also have the motivation to overcome the barriers that you might face while moving ahead. Be inspired and continue to move on with a positive attitude. 6. Connect with Other Entrepreneurs You must have heard the line that ‘being with a winner makes you a winner’. Now that you are in business, you should adopt the habit of networking with other successful entrepreneurs. Networking with other entrepreneurs keeps you motivated as well as abreast of the latest tips and tricks of the trade. So, are you determined enough to set out on your entrepreneurial journey? Related: The Pros and Cons of Being a Freelancer. James Tomerson writes regularly on career, education and latest job trends for jobdiagnosis.com.

How to Organize a Job Search 5 Time-Saving Tips - Career Sidekick

How to Organize a Job Search 5 Time-Saving Tips - Career Sidekick How to Organize a Job Search: 5 Time-Saving Tips Applying for Jobs / https://www.edenscott.com/blog Job searching takes time. Lots of time.Much of this time is wasted on tasks that can be simplifiedif not completely cut outby getting organized during the job search process.Here are five tips for how to organize your job search so you aren’t bogged down with busy-work. With your new found time, you focus on what will really land you the job of your dreamsâ€"networking, customizing your resumes and cover letters, and preparing for interviews.5 Tips to Organize a Job Search1. Target companies directlyIf you’re not directly visiting the websites of the companies you want to work at, you’re missing out on key job opportunities.But Kyle, I use LinkedIn, Craigslist, Indeed, and other large job search sites to find open positions. Aren’t the jobs posted there, too?Yes and no.While it’s true that plenty of jobs are posted on websites such as Craigslist, Indeed and similar job search sites, the majority of openings never make it past the company’s Careers page.So, save yourself some crucial time and energy by going directly to the hiring companys jobs page if you want to know about their current openings.By bookmarking the Careers pages of all of the companies you want to work at, then organizing them in a folder (see Step 4), you’re saving yourself tons of time and dramatically increasing the number of legit jobs you’ll be able to apply to.So this is one of the first things you should do when you begin to think about how youre going to organize your job search.2. Get organized with search alertsCreating saved job searches takes even more of the busy work out of researching jobs, allowing you to spend more time on those tasks that really matter.While each site calls the function something slightly different (‘saved search,’ ‘search alert’ and so on), sites like Craigslist, Indeed and LinkedIn allow you to search for a job and save the search parameters. They’ll send you an email notification each time a job that matches those parameters is posted to their site.You can set similar search alerts with Google Alerts or any other preferred search platform. You can also change the search alert frequency to ‘daily’ so job opportunities are bunched into a single email, saving you even more time.Just a few minutes of your time and your inbox will begin filling with job opportunities!3. Export and organize your LinkedIn contacts into a spreadsheetStatistically speaking, the best way to land a new job is still via networking. Most positions are never even posted online because often they are filled through word of mouth referrals or recommendations.Before spending your valuable time filling out applications, you should be checking if any of your friends, family, colleagues or other connections work at the hiring company.This process can often seem time-consuming, but can be simplified by using LinkedIn’s job searching features!Furthermore, LinkedIn allows you to export a list of your connection s, their current company and position, and other relevant information into a spreadsheet.After you’ve downloaded this list, search it each time you apply for a job. If one of your connections work there, ask them for a referral!This can often lead to your resume going directly to the hiring manager, with a much higher chance of getting read.While you can do this search via LinkedIn using the ‘Current Company’ field, the first method (exporting your contacts) is much quicker. Plus, the spreadsheet allows you to filter your results by company name, and then sort with color coded columns and add notes each time you reach out to someone. So much customization!4. Create a system to stay organizedThis job searching stuff is stressful in itself. Don’t let your lack of organization be an added stressor.You don’t want to be called in weeks or months later for an interview, only to find that the hiring managers remove the job posting and you forgot what position you applied to. Avoi d the awkwardnessâ€"take a screen capture of the job posting.While you’re at it, create an individual folder for each company you apply to. Don’t just save your customized resume and personalized cover letter in the folder, but also add a screen capture of the job posting including the full job description, responsibilities, minimum requirements, desired skills and education.Add in an Excel or Google Sheets to log every place you apply to. Include the company name, position and how you submitted your application.This is a powerful way to get organized and keep track of everything going on in your job search.5. Use Streak as your personal job search CRMIn addition to using a spreadsheet, consider downloading Streak (it’s free!). Streak is a tool for your inbox that allows you to create a ‘box’ (a folder) for each job applied to, helping you stay organized throughout your job search.For us night owls, Streak allows you to delay sending emails. If you’re working on applicat ions at 2 AM, but don’t want them to go out until the morning, you’re good to go.Streak also tells you whether someone has read your email, solving the age-old question, Did they receive my application?Those are my top 5 ways for how to organize a job search to be more efficient and get hired quickly.Now, go send out some applications!NOTE: I am in no way, shape or form connected with Streak, other than being someone who uses the product. I did not receive any form of compensation in return for mentioning Streak.About this guest author:Kyle Elliott, MPA, CHES runs CaffeinatedKyle.com. His goal is simple â€" to help people find jobs they LOVE (or at least tolerate). Kyle loves coffee (if you couldn’t tell), writing and eating the same thing at different restaurants.

The Journey to Creating an Honest EVP

The Journey to Creating an Honest EVP Were pretty sure youve heard of the Employer Value Proposition by now. Now, lets explain why its so great helpful, especially if youre evaluating it. Dont have an EVP in place? No worries, this is a great place to start building it. Yes, even from scratch. What is EVP? You might already know what it means, but let’s explain it one more time for the newbies. EVP is short for Employer (or Employee) Value Proposition. Lets take a look at the definition of the famous Simon Barrow â€" you SHOULD know about him, hes the KING of Employer Branding. He says:  The term EVP is being used to define the underlying offer on which an organizations employer brand marketing and management activities are based. In this context, the EVP is often referred to as the Employer Brand Proposition. Good stuff right? We think so too. But, how to apply this proposition to the real world? Lets continue in the next step: Where is your company currently at? 1. Whats Your EB Status? Sure, youll be needing an EVP at some point, but dont jump in like a headless chicken! First, measure your status quo. If youre not tracking your companys social media, website, Glassdoor score Google ratings, its an excellent place to start. You should be engaging communicating with your audience for sure, but how do you measure it all? If you want to save time, but still measure the effect of all existing platforms? There is the Employer Brand Index. Whats that? Read on, dear friend, for we have just the thing for you. 2. Employer Brand Index? It sounds a bit generic, but trust me; its not. In fact, its very clever. Based on a robust methodology, it includes 16 Employer Brand Attributes. These specific attributes are based on copious amounts of research and data collection. Everything that encompasses your employer brand can be attributed to at least one of the 16 attributes. Having these attributes allows you to understand the exact areas you’re doing well on or the areas that need improvement. Check them out, you could recognize a couple of them, as they are mentioned a lot in employer brand context. From top left to bottom right: Benefits Perks / Career Advancement / Change Stability / Company Reputation CSR / Culture Values /  Diversity Inclusion /  Environment Innovation Technology / Job Satisfaction /  Learning Development /  Management Organization Mission Purpose / Remuneration /  Team People /  Work/Life Balance 3. Attributes + Your Company = EVP Lets say that youve done an Employer Brand Index, and Mission Purpose is the best-scored attribute. This is an obvious sign that you should highlight that in your Employer Value Proposition. To construct a realistic EVP, you need to know which attributes are performing good AND bad. The bad ones are a work in process, so dont highlight those in your EVP. However, you shouldnt be hiding the bad stuff, but work on those, to improve them in the future. All the attributes that are performing well, you should highlight in your EVP of course. That way, youll make an honest proposition. After all, what we dont like, is a false promise. 4. Activate Internal External EVP To activate your EVP successfully, you’ll need a two-step activation. First of all, everyone currently working for your company should know what’s going on. If you’re too fast skip this bit, you’ll be missing an essential part of the EVP activation. This is where a lot of companies go too fast on. Before you communicate it through your external channels, such as social media or career websites, you need to tell your people first. As long as you slowly build up the communication logically, you’ll be able to activate your EVP properly. 5. Your EVP Performance To successfully activate the EVP that you crafted, you need to measure. Now, what better way to do this with all over again? To constantly know whats going on, you need to measure constantly. Well, you can do that quarterly with the Employer Brand Index! Curious to learn more? Go to:  employerbrandindex.co

Personal Branding Interview Martin Lindstrom - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Personal Branding Interview Martin Lindstrom - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Today, I spoke with Martin Lindstrom, who is the New York Times bestselling author of Buyology and an international branding expert.   The last time I had a conversation with Martin, he was getting ready for his book launch and today, hes taken that book to bestseller status, so its great to have him back on this blog.   In this interview, 100% of the focus is on personal branding.   Martin will explain his own distinct personal branding theories and ideas, as well as give you a glimpse at the future of personal branding and much more. How important is having a personal brand during a recession? More important than ever. During a recession companies (or rather people) buy trusted solutions â€" and brands are all about trust. So the stronger your personal brand is the more likely it is that you’ll secure a job first, be kicked out last and in general noticed in the public. What do the most powerful personal brands have in common? There are two categories of personal brands â€" those who rise to fame due to their provocative nature (think Madonna, Richard Branson or O’Riley) â€" I call them for the provocative personal brands. Then there’s the softer category of personal brands â€" the type of personalities who rise to fame due to their ability to mirror the problems of their audience (think Oprah, Dr Oz or Suzy Orman) â€" we call this category for reflective brands. All those brands have three things in common: They’re first of all stay on message â€" never deviate away from their core values (like Oprah is the listener â€" always taking the weak persons side), they keep reinventing the way they get the same message across (Madonna reinvents her character â€" Branson consistently provokes established values) and last but not least they have a main platform for reaching their audience (Suzy Orman Show, Madonna’s concert tours, O’Rilley Factor). What are the first most important steps in order to build a strong personal brand? There are three steps â€" each essential in order to create a powerful brand: The three steps are: Attention, Bridging and Re-Invention. The most obvious step is to generate attention â€" some people call it the 2 minutes of fame â€" however this has absolutely no value unless a rigorous plan has been put in place bridging the short fame to a permanent brand. One of the best â€" and most classic examples of this was when the European pop group ABBA â€" won the European song contest â€" the key reason why they raised to fame. Their manager had prepared a detailed program for what to do if they would win â€" one of these activities was local language versions of the winner-song: Waterloo. The song was sent by currier to all TV stations across Europe the day after they won. Those days’ music videos didn’t exist â€" so ABBA’s approach to reaching all TV stations without being there were a worlds first. The strategy help elevate ABBA from just a winner of a song contest to become a permanent star on heaven. The last step is to re-invent the message. All successful artists have found new and innovative ways to convey their message â€" yet they all still stay on message. This is a never ongoing evolution â€" explaining why authors keep publishing new books and why provocative musicians keep provoking the media. This is their way of attracting and keeping the spotlight on them. How do you identify an area of competence? Creativity is defined as combining two ordinary components in a totally new way â€" funny enough this is the way you’ll find your area of competence as well. Let’s pick my own life as an example â€" I’ve always focused on branding â€" however I’ve always combined branding with something new. 14 years ago I focused on Internet Branding, 10 years ago on Kids Branding, 5 years ago on Sensory branding and today on NeuroScience and branding. The way for me to stay new and keep attracting attention around the world of branding is to consistently identify new trends within the world of branding â€" often things which has been around for a long time â€" yet combine these with the world of branding and thus create a totally new discipline. So in short â€" identify an area you feel very comfortable within â€" then identify an area which in combination with your core expertise would create an amazing constellation â€" and go for it. What’s the future of personal brands going to evolve over the next 10 years? Let me first of stress one thing â€" we’re all brands. It may be that some people are an unpolished brand, others are weak brand or a less concise brand â€" but we’re all brands. Over the next decade we’ll see an increase in awareness of personal branding. People will not only become more aware of their looks (I think we’re well on our way on this point) â€" people will begin to go to speech training, attend sessions in breathing techniques and NLP. Finally we’re likely to see that almost every person will begin to “merchandise” themselves; Applications like Facebook is likely to fuel this trend â€" offering easy and cheap ways to convert favorite pictures into customized t-shirts, mugs and mouse pads, selling screensavers (with the face of you on) or friends trees (a tree outlining the hierarchy of all your friends â€" printed on a t-shirt). - Martin Lindstrom, is the New York Times and Wall Street Journal Best-selling author of Buyology Truth and Lies About Why We Buy. Lindstrom is the CEO and Chairman of the LINDSTROM company and the Chairman of BUYOLOGY INC New York and BRAND sense Agency London.   As one of the world’s most respected marketing gurus, he advises top executives at companies including the McDonald’s Corporation, Nestlé, Procter Gamble, Microsoft, and The Walt Disney Company. Martin Lindstrom speaks to a global audience of close to a million people every year. He has been featured in numerous publications, including Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, and TIME and featured on NBCs TODAY SHOW, ABC News, CNN and BBC, his previous book, BRAND sense, was acclaimed by the Wall Street Journal as one of the five best marketing books ever published. His five books on branding have been translated into twenty-five languages.

Finding Resume Writing Services in Dunlap, IL

Finding Resume Writing Services in Dunlap, ILWhen it comes to professional resume writing services, Dunlap, IL is a place that can be found on just about any job seeker's wish list. While a lot of people would love to be able to get a full-time job after college or graduate school, many do not have the proper training or experience necessary to land their dream jobs. With that said, there are many different types of professionals who are looking for work; some may be students who need to get their feet wet before landing a job; some may be retired employees looking for a change of pace; and others may be professional resume writers who need to build up their resumes and establish themselves as one of the best in the business.Dunlap, IL is a town that is filled with people from all walks of life. While some people come from a completely different set of circumstances than other people, there are also a number of people who have worked in the city and never left. These people have all become part of the business community, with companies like Caterpillar and General Electric hiring hundreds of employees each year.With that said, it is important to understand that while these people may be employed at big businesses, there are many resume writing services who have offices all over the United States. The internet has made it possible for companies to connect with those who need resume writing services. While the work is done locally, the location of the company may not mean much when you are trying to find out where one may be located. While there are some companies that deal only with this one state, there are also some who have an office somewhere in all 50 states.If you are not sure how to locate the best service, it is important to understand that traditional services may not be as affordable as they once were. Some of the current professionals have to charge less because there are so many people who need their services. While all resume writing services can us e the internet, it is important to know which ones have local offices. It is also important to realize that there are online versions of most services that will require you to go to the offices to make the arrangements.Traditional services have offices located in places like Chicago, Minnesota, and Boston. While it may be tough to find the best services on a state-by-state basis, it is still important to find one that has an office close to your own. This is important because the more time it takes to set up appointments and make decisions, the longer it will take to complete your resume.Online services that deal with resume writing services often offer a wide range of products that can be used in preparing a resume. Some of these products are very basic, but there are also a variety of more advanced products available as well. It is important to choose the best one that is going to meet your needs.While there are some traditional services that can be found online, they can also be found locally. This means that if you do not live in the Chicago area, you will still be able to find the best services for your resume. It is important to understand that because some of the online services do have a physical office, the services will be much more affordable than a traditional firm.When it comes to getting the best services for your resume, it is important to consider services that can be found locally. This makes it easier to get exactly what you want from the services that you need.

What do you do with $22 million - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

What do you do with $22 million - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Thats the question CD Baby founder Derek Sivers faced when he sold his company. His answer: He gave it all to charity. I told them, I don?t even really want the money. I want it all to go to charity anyway. I just want to know that I don?t have to get a job at some point later in life. I want to know that I?m taken care of, but I think it could be harmful for me to have $20 million. Which reminds me of Fred Gratzons definition of success: Here is how I know someone is successful If you are able to give from your abundance then you are successful. Fred Gratzon (source) Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

Why Did You Leave Your Last Job

Why Did You Leave Your Last Job We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. If youve ever searched for a job, you know that you will be asked many different questions. One question you can be sure will come up is why did you leave yourlast job or, if still employed, why do you want to leave. Employers will want to ensure you have good reasons for leaving your prior employment. Reasons for being Unemployed: Happens all of the time for many reasons (business is off, company is closing, company is acquired by another company, etc.) Getting fired happens to the best of us. Whether it was for cause or not, it can and does happen. You were fired If you were fired from your last job, avoid using negative words like fired. If you were fired, try to find out from your former employers HR department what will be communicated when someone calls for a reference check. Maybe have a friend call asking for a reference so that you will know how it is being presented. This will help you prepare for this question during the interview. You were downsized It is not uncommon to be let go due to a downsizing (stores closing, plants closing, trying to save money, etc.) If you were let go because of a downsizing, it is an easier story to tell. It may have been reported in the news and it is certainly something that can be checked. You had to quit due to a personal or family tragedy Maybe you were needed to care for a sick parent, spouse or sibling or maybe there was a death in the family and you needed to step in to help. Obviously not an easy thing to manage and certainly an explanation that is acceptable. You quit to find a better opportunity While it is always better to find a new job while you are still employed, sometimes you need to quit in order to have the time to find your new opportunity. Even if you were miserable in your last job, it is best to only say that you were looking for new opportunities. Typical Questions (and Answers): Understanding your reasons for being unemployed or why you are considering leaving a job are important to potential employers. Why are you looking to leave (or why did you leave) your current job? Looking for better opportunities. Your current company is downsizing (moving, closing, etc.). You were not looking to leave your current job, but are really interested in this opportunity and the company. You want to make more money (should not be the main reason). Limited Opportunities at your current employer. Did you leave voluntarily or were you let go? If you were let go, try to keep the answer short and to the point. Focus on the job not being the best fit for you and your skills (have examples). Maybe you were asked to take on responsibilities that your employer felt you could not handle. Stay Positive: Whatever your reasons for leaving (or being let go) from your current job, it is important that you dont bad mouth or say anything negative about your former employer or company. Focus on the positive aspects of your prior role (the skills you learned, what you achieved, etc.) If an employer questions why there are any gaps in your employment history its a good idea to be well prepared to answer that question. Whatever you do, if a job really ended badly and you want to leave them off your resume, dont try to fudge the dates of other jobs to cover the space you created by not listing that job, you may eventually be found out and that is simply not going to get you a job. Good reasons for gaps in your employment history would be staying home with the family such as taking care of someone who is sick or raising the kids. Other reasons could be for moving to a different town. However, even if you really did take time off to say travel or say write a book, may to you sound OK, it may not sound so good to a prospective employer so you might not want to use that as a reason, even if it is true. We are always eager to hear from our readers. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions regarding CareerAlley content. Good luck in your search,Joey Google+