Should You Quit Your Job and Work For Yourself

Should You Quit Your Job and Work For Yourself The choice to get out of bed and go to work for someone else each day can be a tricky one. Even if you’re working in an excellent firm with prospects, great feedback and â€" here’s the killer â€" a company car, there may be that nagging thought at the back of your head: I want to do this for myself. Some people were built to work in a regular, supervised workspace where the ultimate responsibility is somewhere above them and they’re free to take chances and evolve within an established format. Others won’t even show up for a job like this because they can’t handle the regularity or the thought of being subject to a manager’s whims. But a lot of ambitious people exist on the spectrum between these two points, where they yearn to create something for themselves but fear the instability that comes with going it alone. If that’s you: don’t worry, it’s normal. Now take steps to decide what’s best. First of all, know that working for yourself is a lot more difficult than it looks. This is not a negative point. If you start up your own business, you’re going to need to learn a host of new skills, which is great. You’re going to be pushed to be more resourceful, more adaptable and more resilient. Do you feel you have room to expand in these areas? Or does your nine-to-five job already ask quite enough of you? If you’ve read this far, you’re probably in the first category. In this case, there are some more difficult questions to answer. Can you live month after month unsure of when, or how big, your pay check will be, until your business becomes stable? Can you do the maths, or afford to bring someone in to do the maths, to ensure this unpredictability is minimized as much as possible? These are some of the realities you’ll have to face up to, while you’re enjoying developing your business ideas and creating your own tailored working environment. It’s a lot to think about, and you probably don’t have firm answers for each of these questions. The truth is, while you can start to make an appraisal of how suited you are to working for yourself, you won’t know quite what it’s like until you make that step. If you’re still curious but not ready to leap into the dark, it may be worth cutting down your hours at your regular job and freelancing for a while. Whilst freelancing doesn’t necessarily come with the same ups and downs as running your own business, it has a lot in common â€" you’ll need to drum up your own leads, motivate yourself, and police your invoices more vigilantly than your regular pay check. But it also gives you a great opportunity to try a variety of experiences and manage your own time. Maybe this is what you will decide to do permanently after all. Whichever path you choose, if leaving your regular employment there is a right and a wrong way to go about it. Don’t burn your bridges â€" even if you’re certain you’ll never want your old job back, you never know when your boss or colleagues will pop up elsewhere to form a useful connection for you in future. Your grace in departure will be remembered. And when you set to work on your new enterprise, as idealistic as you may be, you need to be revenue-focussed from the beginning. So many promising new businesses fail because they can’t survive beyond that difficult first stretch. Start selling from your garage if you need to, so you have an income before you start paying for overheads like warehouse or office space. For more insight into this difficult but exciting decision-making process,  check out the below infographic by  The Business Backer to help clarify some of the doubts in your head. Be bold, but be prepared. Courtesy of: The Business Backer

Career (Con)Quest #2 Job Search Mode On

Career (Con)Quest #2 Job Search Mode On Career (Con)Quest #2: Job Search Mode On Hiding your resume from your current employer is always a good idea.Most career websites have this neat feature that lets you conceal your resume from the current employer or limit its visibility. They don’t need to know that you are job hunting.…..Or that you are already working for them :).   Anyhow, here are a few bonus tips for running a stealth job search:Get more active on LinkedIn and connect with more people in your industry. This way you can ‘showcase’ yourself without putting your resume online.Avoid using the office computer and corporate email for sending out those job applications.Do go into any rants about your current job or lackluster job search on your personal social media. a) it’s unprofessional b) privacy is really non-existent these days, so the info can land in front of your boss in no time. previous article Resume With no College Degree Example + Writing Tips next article Investment Banking Resume Example To Solicit More Attention to Your Job Application you might also likeCareer (Con)Quest #20: Spray and Pray

My 5 Minute Face!

My 5 Minute Face! Getting out of the house in the morning can be a tedious and time intensive process, which is why its so important to perfect the five minute face! I challenged myself to do my makeup in five minutes flat, to create a quick and easy look. This is no small challenge for a makeup junkie like myself, but  successfully  doing my makeup in under five minutes helped me realize there are probably lots of products Im using each day that I could skip to save on time. Check out my five minute face video below to see how I created the look from start to finish! The key to success is knowing how to play up your best features. In five minutes you likely wont have time to go through each and every step of your makeup routine, but will help you prioritize what items are most and least important for you. First, identify the three makeup products you couldnt leave the house without and start there. For me, this would be tinted moisturizer, mascara and blush. From there, add on those nice to have products if you still have a couple minutes to spare. If I have a few extra minutes Ill fill in my brows and throw on some eye shadow. In the end, theres no right or wrong way to do the five minute face, but remember sometimes LESS is MORE! No need to overdue it. Use natural, sheer products to enhance your natural beauty to create an effortless yet flawless look! What products are a part of your five minute makeup routine? Any essentials you wont leave the house without? Which feature would you choose to play up in under five minutes?

Benefits of Coconut Oil you Probably Didnt Know About

Benefits of Coconut Oil you Probably Didn’t Know About Nowadays, more and more people want to live a long, healthy life and are looking for ways to use natural ingredients as often as possible. Plants, fruits and vegetables have many unknown benefits and their extracts will make a difference when you use them with therapeutic purpose. Coconut oil is one of the ingredients that can easily be classified as a superfood. Its amazing effects are given by the unique combination of fatty acids that have a positive impact on our health. These effects have been demonstrated with thorough evidence. In order to understand the benefits of coconut oil for your health, we should know about its most important effects. The fatty acids from coconut oil have strong medical properties It has a high concentration of saturated fats, so it can burn fat from your body faster than a regular diet. Also, it gives you energy and raises the good cholesterol level; it lowers the risk of heart disease. Eating   coconut oil can make you healthier Studies show that exotic populations who eat a lot of coconut are healthier that those from other countries and live longer. You can lose l weight and the harmful fat from your belly if you consume coconut oil This oil contains a medium chain of triglycerides that helps our body burn 5% more calories in 1 day. If you consume it, you will fight obesity with good calories, which are necessary as well. It kills germs and harmful microorganisms from our body Coconut oil has the capacity to kill harmful pathogens that could make us sick. Its fatty acids have positive action over bacteria, viruses and fungi. Coconut Oil supports your diet because it reduces hunger Another amazing feature of fatty acids from coconut oil is that they help you eat less, so they are diet-friendly. Also, they help you keep your good shape and normal weight. Fatty acids from coconut oil may reduce seizures caused by several diseases A ketonic diet is rich in good fats and low in carbs. Extracts from coconuts will increase blood concentration of ketones found in the human blood. More ketones can help epileptic children by reducing seizures. Coconut Oil helps prevent heart disease by raising the good HDL cholesterol level A strong heart is an important ally in our continuous fight with stress. Studies show that coconut oil has the capacity to raise the good HDL cholesterol level from the blood, lowering the heart disease risk. Oil extracted from coconuts has positive effects on your skin, hair and teeth Our beauty and skin health are important for us. More and more specialists in this area advise us to use natural extracts. Coconut oil is very effective when you use it as a skin moisturizer and protects the hair from being damaged. It improves Alzheimers patients brain functions Because it increases the level of ketones and medium-chain triglycerides from the body, coconut oil produces more brain energy in patients who suffer from Alzheimer, relieving symptoms. Readily available in stores that sell healthy food and supplements. You will get the best results if you use organic oil and not the refined version.   Its easy to find in health food sections of many stores. Use coconut oil as often as possible and you will be amazed by the results!

The Benefits of Networking for Freelancers CareerMetis.com

The Benefits of Networking for Freelancers No matter your background, your industry, or your long-term goals, the most important aspect of freelancing success comes down to one key element â€" networking.Before you come back at me with something like, ‘No! Sales and marketing is priority number one!’ or ‘Client satisfaction is the most important part of any business!’, let’s pull everything back.evalSales is critical to cashflow. Marketing is critical to sales. And a happy client leads to repeat business and referrals. But successful networking can â€" and should â€" encompass all of these.Networking is your best friend because it combines all aspects of self-employment and lets you convert contacts into clients. Your network is essentially a repetitive lead generator that’s powered by a continued willingness to put yourself out there.Networking means having relationships with people in your field. These relationships should be casual and easy to manage, unlike the relationships with your professional coworkers.Yo ur sell is soft, not hard â€" when networking, there’s no reason to offer a full pitch to someone unless they directly ask for it. That comes the following week with the follow-up email. All you have to do to be a good networker is to listen.If you’ve done any freelancing at all, you’re already a networkerThink back to your first client. How did you meet them? I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that it wasn’t someone filling out your contact form online. In most cases, your first client is someone you know â€" someone who trusts you enough to fulfill the need that they are willing to pay for.There’s a wide world of business owners who have problems that you can solve. This is the key to successful freelancing â€" meeting someone, identifying what their problem is, and figuring out if you have the tools to solve it.To take this to the next level, get out of the house.evalThe first step is to identify what a potential client’s problem is, how you may be able to help them, and the best way to proceed.Next, listen. Everyone loves to talk about themselves, and all you need to do is get a person to expand on what they need. When the time is right, note your expertise and ability to help them. If that moment doesn’t materialize, the old “Let’s grab a coffee and talk” line is always a strong fallback.When chatting with a potential client, ask yourself this: what problem do they have that I can solve?I went to a conference in Austin last year and listened to a talk from Ray Blakney, the founder of online language school Live Lingua.evalDuring his talk, he was asked about the next steps for his business and expressed a desire to grow and launch a new blog and update the content on his website. After his session, I approached him and introduced myself. After chatting for a few minutes, we ended up having dinner that night.Cha-ching!Take one opportunity into the next oneMarketing and selling yourself is a lot of work. There’s no getting a round thatâ€"building a roster of clients, getting the word out, and replacing old contracts with new ones is a never-ending battle. Relationship building is the key to making this process happen smoothly.The perk of one successful networking session, like the one I described above, is that you can typically employ a “rinse and repeat” strategy. Note what works as it happens, and employ those strategies in future situations.If something was awkward or you found a long email chain didn’t go anywhere, try to identify where it went sour and re-approach the next time.As freelancers, we’re lucky to have the ability to incorporate our passions and talents into our work. There are outlets for just about any niche, and the truth is that they need people to come in and fill voids.The goal of networking is to leverage your past experience or expertise into a bigger and better gig, filling that void and giving yourself a new opportunity. Once this becomes natural, the looming prospect of an ending contract becomes much less terrifying.Join a coworking spaceevalOne of the best places to meet potential clients is in a coworking space. For those unfamiliar, coworking spaces are essentially offices for entrepreneurs and freelancers â€" a space to work for those who have nowhere else to go beyond the spare bedroom they’ve thrown a desk into and labeled an office.evalThe beauty of coworking spaces is that every single person there is doing the same thing you are â€" working to grow their self-powered career â€" and they all need the help of each other to get where they want to be.Coworking spaces typically host networking events, business seminars, lunch talks, and other regular activities to get members to meet each other and connect. Many of these events are open to the public, meaning other members of the business community may be there too.The entrepreneurs and freelancers that work in coworking spaces are far more likely to hire someone they know, someone that w orks around them and that they’ve shared a coffee with in the kitchen, than some random person who sends them a cold pitch via email.Introduce yourself to those working around you. Shake their hand and introduce yourself as you would in an interview Find (and attend) local meetup groups and happy hour get-togethersBeyond coworking, you can extend your networking into the evening hours by looking for meetup groups and happy hour events that bridge the line between your personal passions and your freelance business.This is one of the coolest perks of freelancing â€" being able to blend those passions with your work, and organized meetups put you in with others who you already have at least something in common with.Expect a higher conversion rate if you can find events targeted to freelancers and/or entrepreneurs. Consider how you’re coming off to people. You don’t want to appear sales-y or desperate. Remain calm, like you’re catching up with a relative or friend you haven’t seen in a while.Not to advocate over-indulgence, but I personally find myself much looser and free-flowing with conversation after a trip or two to the bar. The public location of meetup groups and happy hour events allows you to take advantage of the social aspect of these situationsNetworking perk â€" turning your social life into a potentially lucrative endeavorEmbrace modern technology to widen your castToday’s freelance marketplace allows you to extend this practice beyond your local community. Just because someone doesn’t live near you doesn’t mean they won’t contract with you. The growth of remote work has birthed a number of freelancer-oriented networking events, giving you a great chance to identify and pursue local opportunities to get out and network.For every physical networking opp, there’s an equal online opportunity that is similar. Check out LinkedIn groups, for example, where you can not only find people with similar professional profiles to your current c lients but can actually join the same groups as them based on any mutual interests or hobbies you may have.Maintain your contactsIf your relationship with someone ends after the initial conversation, you’ve wasted their time and yours. Follow up with an email and ask the person to grab a coffee, or touch base on the points of your original discussion. This isn’t a post on email etiquette, but I’ve found it useful to employ a “professionally friendly” demeanor in these situations.Keep the emails quick and to the point, and emphasize your ability to be on the same level as the contact. You’re trying to land a client, not a jobâ€"you want the person to view you as professional to work with, but also don’t want to come across as “sales-y” or desperate. Whenever applicable, include links to your work.Keep in touch. Connect with people you meet on social media and don’t be shy about engaging with them. This can help smooth any sales pitch you end up sending their way b ecause you’re still at the top of their mind.The beautiful thing about networking is that there doesn’t have to be only one benefit. With time and consistent effort, you’ll start to see opportunities arise that otherwise wouldn’t have â€" simply because you took the initiative to put yourself out there just a little bit.Each contact is another peg in your growing wall of prospects. In our line of work, that’s the best form of security we have.Networking perk â€" turning contacts into casual friends, and eventually into clients

Feelgood movies - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Feelgood movies - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Carsten and I arranged a feel-good movie night last week. Its simple: Get some nice people together and watch a movie that makes you feel good. We saw Field of dreams, which to me epitomizes the genre. It contains every single element that makes a good feel-good movie: Its a quiet, touching movie with a positive theme, it shows people acting selflessly and it has a happy ending (essential to a feel-good movie). Also, Field of dreams is about forgiveness, redemption and second chances themes which often figure in feel-good movies. Other excellent examples of the genre are: A wonderful life Amelie Russian pizza blues Eat drink man woman Pane e tulipani The fisher king Out of Rosenheim (Bagdad Cafe) Pleasantville Down by law Forrest Gump Mifunes sidste sang Some movies are not really feel-good per se, but still contain the feel-god factor. A few examples of these are: Good Will Hunting The snapper Hable con ella Jonathan Livingston Seagull Mitt liv som hund Royal Tenenbaums Shawshank redemption Smoke La vita e bella Whats eating Gilbert Grape And some movies are just so exuberant and joyful, that they can deliver that feel-good kick, through sheer pizzazz and energy: Much ado about nothing Moulin Rouge Rocky Horror Picture Show Oceans eleven If you know a movie that should be on this list, let me know. 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

Veterans Can Help Write Resumes - An Appreciation From The Military

Veterans Can Help Write Resumes - An Appreciation From The MilitaryIf you are a veteran of the United States Navy, you may be eligible to help write a resume. The chances are very good that if you were in the navy corpsmen, you can help the marine corpsmen prepare their resumes. The military loves veteran candidates and they will welcome the support.For those who have served their country, they may be eligible to help with their resumes. There are a lot of veterans that may be retired, but they still have years of service. Many of these veterans would like to continue to serve, but they are not sure what career path to take. They do not want to fall into the same pattern as the rest of the civilian workforce.There are ways to help the veterans prepare their resumes. The military is known for being a very strong military force. They use that strength to help them find jobs that can benefit them. Many of these jobs need to have some type of skill set that the veteran has.Veterans who a re willing to help with their resumes may be able to find better job opportunities. Many of these veterans might be looking for new careers, so they can maximize their time and use what they have learned in the military. Many people in the military, especially veteran corpsmen, often go back to school for more knowledge and skills. These skills help them get better jobs.Veteran corpsman and other military professionals might also be hired as coaches. These professionals can often help with the military recruiter's recruitment efforts. Many schools hire coaches to help with their athletic teams. These coaches use their experience and knowledge to help build their teams.Many large corporations hire veterans to help with resumes. If you can write a resume, you can also help out at large corporations. Most companies have their own recruiting teams that can help the company find new talent. Many of these recruiters have decades of experience working with potential employees.You may be su rprised at the number of resumes you can help write. Some veterans have served more than a decade in the military. Many of these veterans had children after they left the military. For this reason, they usually write more than one resume and then submit it to many different agencies.This will help the agency to make the most out of their resources when they look at your resume. If you have served in the military, you have certainly been assigned to a military branch. Whether you worked as a corpsman or you were a marine corpsman, you can write a resume.