Theres got to be a good reason Im blogging today

Theres got to be a good reason Im blogging today Its the Saturday of Christmas weekend. What the heck am I doing today? First, I dont blog on Saturday. Second, this is a big holiday (duh). But my family is asleep and this is a great question, I consider it a mind-relaxing topic its a blog post for the Hundred Dollar Business project. Heres the question: How did you decide to create your own job/business with JibberJobber instead of continuing a traditional job hunt? To be clear, I did continue a traditional job hunt. Let me lay out the early part of this year. I was laid off on (around) January 15th. I was given one week to transition the new CEO (the board didnt allow me to have that title because I was too young. Lame.), and then got a few weeks of severence. I busted my chops looking for a job during the first six weeks I put in about 60 hours a week and really got nowhere. Around that time, with amazing frustration and emotions (I had no idea that a job search would be so emotional but when you have a lot riding on the outcome (like being able to pay mortgage + cars, and having a pregnant wife, etc etc etc), emotional doesnt seem to capture it), I realized that I needed to step back and re-evaluate. I re-evaluated two things: First, what was I doing wrong (or, why was I not getting the results I wanted), second, how could I prevent myself from ever being in this situation again. The answers to the first question eventually led to JibberJobber I wont explain or discuss it here but recommend that anyone and everyone begin to take control of their own career management and get a free account now. The answers to the second question was along the line of the book Multiple Streams of Income. The idea is simple dont rely on just one stream of income (like, a job), rather, create multiple streams. I had read through this book a few months earlier with the idea that Id look for other streams Ive always wanted to own my own business but was too busy working long hours, commuting, travelling, etc. and never put enough time into my own financial welfare (I was working too much for my bosses financial welfare and they are doing quite well, I might add!). When the severence paid off I realized what a disservice I had done to myself. All that hard work for a few weeks of severence? Give me a break. Even though I was super-stressed I still had time to think about me and my future. I had come up with two very cool, fun internet businesses that I wanted to pursue. These would be business what would be self-sustaining so that when I got a job they could still continue, and perhaps grow into something bigger than my job would be. That was the goal. I set out to look for a highly talented programming team to develop my ideas, and started to put together business plans. Note that during this time I was still not making much progress in a job search and all of the failure was wearing on me it was very very healthy for me to work on this project where I could have some successes, keep my skills sharp, etc. One morning had to log some activity with my job search into my tracking spreadsheet so I wouldnt forget to do something later on. As I opened the spreadsheet it hit me like a ton of bricks: having this tracking ability online would be the bomb. I began to think of all the cool things that I could do with my spreadsheet if it where online and this was the beginnings of JibberJobber. (It quickly grew much bigger than the spreadsheet.) The interesting thing is that when we released the first version of JibberJobber my job search started to show results. Im not sure if it was a function of how long Id been doing the job search but on May 15, 2006 I started to get calls back. I think that its because I was able to substantiate who I was and what my skills were. I even wrote a post on how job seekers need to substantiate who they are one of my more popular posts. Eventually my wife and I decided to do JibberJobber full-time and not pursue a traditional job. Heres why: Even though it was a job seekers market it didnt mean that finding a job would be easy or fun. I went through months of hell, not getting replies, not getting any respect I admit that I started off wrong but it was a discouraging process. Ive always wanted to own my own business. JibberJobber wasnt my first choice but when we thought about the potential, and how many lives we could affect for the better, it was a no-brainer. Things happened so fast, and we made so much progress, and got so much encouragement from career experts that it helped the momentum. That momentum continues on today, and will be a driving force during 2007. I have learned so much about website stuff, internet marketing, customer service, etc. This has been an awesome laboratory experience for me, and has really sharpened my skills in a number of areas. If I ever want to go back into the market again Ill be much better for having done this. We could financially afford to do it. We have been contributing to 401k for quite a while, generously, and our parents are both in financial positions where they could contribute. Without our own money or the ability to tap OPM (other peoples money) theres no way we could have done this. We knew that we could be committed. My wife had been amazingly supportive, which is the number one key. Our families have been supportive but they know that even if they pull back were still doing it. We have all of the emotional backing that we need between the two of us and our users. Their success stories in finding a job, or networking has been a significant amount of joy for us. Aside from all of those reasons, and this may sound weird to some of the readers, I realized that JibberJobber was much bigger than me, or anything that I could become. The feedback I was getting from users and experts was so encouraging that I realized that if it grew to where I saw it could grow to, Jason Alba would be just along for the ride. And I am along for the ride and its funner than anything than I ever imagined. (one final note I was on the fast track in corporate IT. I loved it it was fun, somewhat low pressure, and comfortable. But a few years ago I changed from cost center to profit center I went to work in a capacity where I was involved in software sales and everything we did was working towards generating revenue/profit. And that was when I had said that I had tasted the forbidden fruit and was no longer interested in going back to comfortable corporate IT.) Theres got to be a good reason Im blogging today Its the Saturday of Christmas weekend. What the heck am I doing today? First, I dont blog on Saturday. Second, this is a big holiday (duh). But my family is asleep and this is a great question, I consider it a mind-relaxing topic its a blog post for the Hundred Dollar Business project. Heres the question: How did you decide to create your own job/business with JibberJobber instead of continuing a traditional job hunt? To be clear, I did continue a traditional job hunt. Let me lay out the early part of this year. I was laid off on (around) January 15th. I was given one week to transition the new CEO (the board didnt allow me to have that title because I was too young. Lame.), and then got a few weeks of severence. I busted my chops looking for a job during the first six weeks I put in about 60 hours a week and really got nowhere. Around that time, with amazing frustration and emotions (I had no idea that a job search would be so emotional but when you have a lot riding on the outcome (like being able to pay mortgage + cars, and having a pregnant wife, etc etc etc), emotional doesnt seem to capture it), I realized that I needed to step back and re-evaluate. I re-evaluated two things: First, what was I doing wrong (or, why was I not getting the results I wanted), second, how could I prevent myself from ever being in this situation again. The answers to the first question eventually led to JibberJobber I wont explain or discuss it here but recommend that anyone and everyone begin to take control of their own career management and get a free account now. The answers to the second question was along the line of the book Multiple Streams of Income. The idea is simple dont rely on just one stream of income (like, a job), rather, create multiple streams. I had read through this book a few months earlier with the idea that Id look for other streams Ive always wanted to own my own business but was too busy working long hours, commuting, travelling, etc. and never put enough time into my own financial welfare (I was working too much for my bosses financial welfare and they are doing quite well, I might add!). When the severence paid off I realized what a disservice I had done to myself. All that hard work for a few weeks of severence? Give me a break. Even though I was super-stressed I still had time to think about me and my future. I had come up with two very cool, fun internet businesses that I wanted to pursue. These would be business what would be self-sustaining so that when I got a job they could still continue, and perhaps grow into something bigger than my job would be. That was the goal. I set out to look for a highly talented programming team to develop my ideas, and started to put together business plans. Note that during this time I was still not making much progress in a job search and all of the failure was wearing on me it was very very healthy for me to work on this project where I could have some successes, keep my skills sharp, etc. One morning had to log some activity with my job search into my tracking spreadsheet so I wouldnt forget to do something later on. As I opened the spreadsheet it hit me like a ton of bricks: having this tracking ability online would be the bomb. I began to think of all the cool things that I could do with my spreadsheet if it where online and this was the beginnings of JibberJobber. (It quickly grew much bigger than the spreadsheet.) The interesting thing is that when we released the first version of JibberJobber my job search started to show results. Im not sure if it was a function of how long Id been doing the job search but on May 15, 2006 I started to get calls back. I think that its because I was able to substantiate who I was and what my skills were. I even wrote a post on how job seekers need to substantiate who they are one of my more popular posts. Eventually my wife and I decided to do JibberJobber full-time and not pursue a traditional job. Heres why: Even though it was a job seekers market it didnt mean that finding a job would be easy or fun. I went through months of hell, not getting replies, not getting any respect I admit that I started off wrong but it was a discouraging process. Ive always wanted to own my own business. JibberJobber wasnt my first choice but when we thought about the potential, and how many lives we could affect for the better, it was a no-brainer. Things happened so fast, and we made so much progress, and got so much encouragement from career experts that it helped the momentum. That momentum continues on today, and will be a driving force during 2007. I have learned so much about website stuff, internet marketing, customer service, etc. This has been an awesome laboratory experience for me, and has really sharpened my skills in a number of areas. If I ever want to go back into the market again Ill be much better for having done this. We could financially afford to do it. We have been contributing to 401k for quite a while, generously, and our parents are both in financial positions where they could contribute. Without our own money or the ability to tap OPM (other peoples money) theres no way we could have done this. We knew that we could be committed. My wife had been amazingly supportive, which is the number one key. Our families have been supportive but they know that even if they pull back were still doing it. We have all of the emotional backing that we need between the two of us and our users. Their success stories in finding a job, or networking has been a significant amount of joy for us. Aside from all of those reasons, and this may sound weird to some of the readers, I realized that JibberJobber was much bigger than me, or anything that I could become. The feedback I was getting from users and experts was so encouraging that I realized that if it grew to where I saw it could grow to, Jason Alba would be just along for the ride. And I am along for the ride and its funner than anything than I ever imagined. (one final note I was on the fast track in corporate IT. I loved it it was fun, somewhat low pressure, and comfortable. But a few years ago I changed from cost center to profit center I went to work in a capacity where I was involved in software sales and everything we did was working towards generating revenue/profit. And that was when I had said that I had tasted the forbidden fruit and was no longer interested in going back to comfortable corporate IT.) Theres got to be a good reason Im blogging today Its the Saturday of Christmas weekend. What the heck am I doing today? First, I dont blog on Saturday. Second, this is a big holiday (duh). But my family is asleep and this is a great question, I consider it a mind-relaxing topic its a blog post for the Hundred Dollar Business project. Heres the question: How did you decide to create your own job/business with JibberJobber instead of continuing a traditional job hunt? To be clear, I did continue a traditional job hunt. Let me lay out the early part of this year. I was laid off on (around) January 15th. I was given one week to transition the new CEO (the board didnt allow me to have that title because I was too young. Lame.), and then got a few weeks of severence. I busted my chops looking for a job during the first six weeks I put in about 60 hours a week and really got nowhere. Around that time, with amazing frustration and emotions (I had no idea that a job search would be so emotional but when you have a lot riding on the outcome (like being able to pay mortgage + cars, and having a pregnant wife, etc etc etc), emotional doesnt seem to capture it), I realized that I needed to step back and re-evaluate. I re-evaluated two things: First, what was I doing wrong (or, why was I not getting the results I wanted), second, how could I prevent myself from ever being in this situation again. The answers to the first question eventually led to JibberJobber I wont explain or discuss it here but recommend that anyone and everyone begin to take control of their own career management and get a free account now. The answers to the second question was along the line of the book Multiple Streams of Income. The idea is simple dont rely on just one stream of income (like, a job), rather, create multiple streams. I had read through this book a few months earlier with the idea that Id look for other streams Ive always wanted to own my own business but was too busy working long hours, commuting, travelling, etc. and never put enough time into my own financial welfare (I was working too much for my bosses financial welfare and they are doing quite well, I might add!). When the severence paid off I realized what a disservice I had done to myself. All that hard work for a few weeks of severence? Give me a break. Even though I was super-stressed I still had time to think about me and my future. I had come up with two very cool, fun internet businesses that I wanted to pursue. These would be business what would be self-sustaining so that when I got a job they could still continue, and perhaps grow into something bigger than my job would be. That was the goal. I set out to look for a highly talented programming team to develop my ideas, and started to put together business plans. Note that during this time I was still not making much progress in a job search and all of the failure was wearing on me it was very very healthy for me to work on this project where I could have some successes, keep my skills sharp, etc. One morning had to log some activity with my job search into my tracking spreadsheet so I wouldnt forget to do something later on. As I opened the spreadsheet it hit me like a ton of bricks: having this tracking ability online would be the bomb. I began to think of all the cool things that I could do with my spreadsheet if it where online and this was the beginnings of JibberJobber. (It quickly grew much bigger than the spreadsheet.) The interesting thing is that when we released the first version of JibberJobber my job search started to show results. Im not sure if it was a function of how long Id been doing the job search but on May 15, 2006 I started to get calls back. I think that its because I was able to substantiate who I was and what my skills were. I even wrote a post on how job seekers need to substantiate who they are one of my more popular posts. Eventually my wife and I decided to do JibberJobber full-time and not pursue a traditional job. Heres why: Even though it was a job seekers market it didnt mean that finding a job would be easy or fun. I went through months of hell, not getting replies, not getting any respect I admit that I started off wrong but it was a discouraging process. Ive always wanted to own my own business. JibberJobber wasnt my first choice but when we thought about the potential, and how many lives we could affect for the better, it was a no-brainer. Things happened so fast, and we made so much progress, and got so much encouragement from career experts that it helped the momentum. That momentum continues on today, and will be a driving force during 2007. I have learned so much about website stuff, internet marketing, customer service, etc. This has been an awesome laboratory experience for me, and has really sharpened my skills in a number of areas. If I ever want to go back into the market again Ill be much better for having done this. We could financially afford to do it. We have been contributing to 401k for quite a while, generously, and our parents are both in financial positions where they could contribute. Without our own money or the ability to tap OPM (other peoples money) theres no way we could have done this. We knew that we could be committed. My wife had been amazingly supportive, which is the number one key. Our families have been supportive but they know that even if they pull back were still doing it. We have all of the emotional backing that we need between the two of us and our users. Their success stories in finding a job, or networking has been a significant amount of joy for us. Aside from all of those reasons, and this may sound weird to some of the readers, I realized that JibberJobber was much bigger than me, or anything that I could become. The feedback I was getting from users and experts was so encouraging that I realized that if it grew to where I saw it could grow to, Jason Alba would be just along for the ride. And I am along for the ride and its funner than anything than I ever imagined. (one final note I was on the fast track in corporate IT. I loved it it was fun, somewhat low pressure, and comfortable. But a few years ago I changed from cost center to profit center I went to work in a capacity where I was involved in software sales and everything we did was working towards generating revenue/profit. And that was when I had said that I had tasted the forbidden fruit and was no longer interested in going back to comfortable corporate IT.)

Turn Your Desk Into a Workplace Sanctuary

Turn Your Desk Into a Workplace Sanctuary Most people don’t put much thought into their desk organization at work. Whether the label maker is your best friend or you can never seem to find the document you need to save your life, you’re probably pretty set in your habits either way. But you would probably be much more willing to change a few things about your desk if you knew that your practices affect your productivity and attitude at work everyday. According to an Entrepreneur.com article, the average employee in offices spend over an hour of their day “looking for things.” This is pretty disturbing when you think about how much productive work you could finish in an hour. Not only does a disorganized workspace cause you to waste time, but it also increases your stress levels. Yes, Even Your Desk Can Be A Sanctuary Turning your desk from a daunting pile of documents into your very own sanctuary can do a surprising amount for your mood and efficiency at work every day. Redesigning your desk with feng shui, the practice of arranging objects to attract positive energy, is a great way to make a much more conducive space for a calm and serene place to work. Take the time to simplify what you keep on your desk surface and make a point to tidy it up everyday before you leave. Starting the next day being greeted by a clean space can do more than you think for your piece-of-mind. Adding little personal touches like a family photo to your desktop or a desk plant can also do a lot to make you feel at home in a place you spend the majority of your time. Desk plants can even improve your ability to carry out cognitive tasks and concentrate by 10 to 15 percent. Investing just a little time and effort into brightening up your bland desk space and creating a visually-inspiring environment for yourself to work in can help you be both happier and more successful at everything you do when you go into the office. Check out the following infographic from the folks at National Pen Co. for some great tips on desk organization!

The Basic Steps to Put Together a Conference

The Basic Steps to Put Together a Conference Putting together a conference is a daunting task, but it also is an opportunity to show so many relevant qualities in anyone’s career ladder. You are able to show your leadership, project management, public relations, and  networking skills  all at the same time. A successful conference does great things for all involved â€" you get a pat on the back, your team gains great experience, your company gets good rep, and all its attendees get to learn new things and meet new people. My suggestion is that next time it comes around; you should  jump at the opportunity  to spearhead it. Okay now, stop looking at me like I’m crazy. Trust me once you have the basics down, execution can be much easier. Here are some fundamental things to remember. WHAT. The most basic thing that you need to be very clear on is WHAT the conference is about. Knowing the agenda of your conference gives you the direction to know everything else that follows. This includes creating the theme, objective, itinerary, speakers, and attendees. WHEN.  Once you have the fundamental information down, lock down a date and duration. As a rule of thumb, the shorter a conference is, the better your presentations and activities should be as there is no time to waste â€" but this also means a more meticulous time preparing for it. Before setting the date take seasonal and availability considerations Is it going to rain, is it conference season, will it overlap with a holiday? Understand how these circumstances can affect your event. Most of all, give yourself time to prepare for it thoroughly. Draw a timeline based on the size and demands of your conference. WHO.  Apart from your speakers and attendees, it is important to have a great team to back you up. Who will be working with you? What will be their roles? Putting together an efficient and compatible conference committee will save you so many problems later on. Delegate roles and take not of what each and every one of them should be doing at a given time. Follow up, follow up, follow up! Make sure you are hands on at all times and that everyone has a sense of responsibility over their tasks. This also means rewarding accomplishments and incentivizing goals.    It might also be a good idea to bring in a professional speaker, as this can add a great deal to your conference. The speaker is what attendees will remember the most, so if you do not have someone who can deliver the speech is an entertaining, yet informative manner, you will not end up with the reaction that you desired. You can  hire professional speakers who specialize in all different categories  to attend your event, whic h should leave you with a knowledgeable individual to capture the attention of everyone who attends your conference. HOW.  If you are not one to confidently say that you are an event wiz, don’t worry. There are professional  event management  companies who can execute your dream event for you. However, you will still need to know what you expect from them and what you want from your end. Where is the venue? How much is your budget? What is your theme? Come prepared with answers to this so they can show you what they can do and offer. It is also important to communicate with them regularly to make sure that nothing is missed. If you choose not to use a service, a checklist will save your life. Also, compile all your suppliers and make sure you have them all saved on your phone and sorted in a useful excel file. Make sure you have extra manpower to execute smoothly. Dont let such an important project intimidate you.  Remember, the key is organization and being in control.  If you are able to pull this off with grace and finesse, smaller projects will be a piece of pie. Any tips for first time conference organizers? Comment below or tweet us @mscareergirl!

The Wonderful Thing About Thank You - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

The Wonderful Thing About “Thank You” - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Almost universally, the first words our parents endeavor to teach us to say are “mama” or “dada.” Although some of us perhaps were quicker than others, sooner or later we made our parents proud by uttering these words. Shortly thereafter our parents attempted to grow our young and impressionable vocabularies, while making us polite human beings, by teaching us to say “thank you” or some other words of appreciation. Although our first “thank you” was likely for something given to us, we now realize that there are a lot of reasons to show our appreciation. We can say thanks for compliments, encouragement, friendship or a referral â€" we can even thank someone for thanking us. In short, there is hardly an activity or event which does not provide us an opportunity to express our genuine and sincere appreciation. There are as many reasons to say thank you as ways to say it Although our first “thank you” was probably spoken, we now also know that there are as many ways to say thank you as there are things to be thankful for. Clearly, we can continue to verbally say thank you â€" whether in person or over the telephone. We can say thank you in a note â€" whether handwritten or typed. We can say thank you by returning a favor â€" whether a similar favor or something entirely unrelated. We can say thanks by sending a gift of appreciation â€" whether something meaningful or a small token. The “when’s” and the “how’s” of saying thanks are reasonably clear. The reason why we should say it is not as clear. Most networking books and articles that attempt to answer why we should say “thank you” do little more than say “because it is the right thing to do.” This answer only begs of the question. Why do we say thanks? The precise reason why we should say thanks, however, is probably not important. Again, our parents taught us to say it with the intent of branding us as being courteous, well-mannered human beings. Despite these intentions, by laboring to teach us how and when to say “thank you” our parents have unknowingly armed us with a powerful networking and branding tool. How is this? Simple. Networking is about establishing and strengthening relationships for the mutual benefit of individuals in the network. In short, taking the time to appropriately say thanks fortifies our network. When we contact someone in our network, our words of praise, note of thanks or gifts of appreciation serve to further etch us in their mind. We may never be able to make ourselves completely indelible in the memory of our network. It is, however, this contact â€" no matter how trivial â€" that serves to create, strengthen and consummate our relationships, especially when regular contacts might be few and far between. Thank you is behavioral reinforcement Once we have established contact, the gratitude we demonstrate serves two purposes. First, saying thanks provides our network behavioral reinforcement. In other words, showing appreciation provides a tangible or intangible incentive (depending on what you give) to repeat the action. When someone gives us something â€" whether information, a lead on a new job or client, or an introduction to someone â€" we feel great. When we say thanks to the giver, our elation tends to be contagious. Although it is not our intent in showing appreciation to gain something else, positive reinforcement is powerful. The giver seeks to repeat the behavior that has provided him or her a positive feeling â€" giving us something else. Thank you is one more opportunity to connect The second benefit our gratitude provides is confirming with our network the opportunity we seek. For example, our contact could be used to reiterate that “what you provided is exactly what I needed.” Our contact can also be used to clarify that “although I appreciate the thought, what I am really looking for is this” In either case, we can use the opportunity to further inform and empower our network to work for us. In summary, there is so much we can be thankful for and there are so many ways we can say thank you. Saying thank you or showing appreciation, however, does so much more than brand us as well-mannered. In short, taking the time to appropriately thank someone can be used to further expand and develop our network. Oh. Almost forgot Thank you for your attention. Author: Frank Agin is the founder and president of AmSpirit Business Connections. In addition, Frank is the author of Foundational Networking: Building Know, Like and Trust To Create A Lifetime of Extraordinary Success and the co-author of LinkedWorking: Generating Success on the World’s Largest Professional Networking Website and The Champion: Finding the Most Valuable Person in Your Network.

SEO Content Writing Resume

SEO Content Writing ResumeSEO content writing resume is quite important for you to consider when trying to find the right job. Just about every professional career is looking for people who have an outstanding level of experience with good communication skills and a catchy way to go about the things that they are doing. So, if you are looking for employment, then it's time for you to think about this resume.A good SEO content writing resume is the first thing that employers see when they get a look at your profile. You would want to make sure that the resume that you write up is very targeted to the kind of position that you are seeking for.An SEO content writing resume can be both professional and approachable at the same time. The most important thing that you need to consider is the ability to convey your message clearly and eloquently. Most job applicants have their work history on their profiles as well as previous educational achievements.If you are unable to use keywords effec tively in your resume, then this is a telltale sign that you do not have good grasp of the English language. You must be able to write well enough so that people are able to understand your information. People are not going to take you seriously if they cannot understand what you have written.Search engines such as Google and Yahoo will send your resume through search engine submission and article directories if you submit it. This gives them an opportunity to make sure that the information that you submit is true. In order to be an SEO content writing resume that is popular with the search engines, you need to write professionally and ensure that the content on your resume is targeted to the type of job that you are seeking.As with any other job, you want to know that you are being hired for a specific position before you put together a writing resume that will work for you. Also, you need to decide if you want to add in certain pieces of information that can be useful to your pros pective employer. You could even include an introduction that says something like: 'From my experience I have found that the skills that I possess will help my employer in various different areas of their business'.You might also want to include something along the lines of: 'I am a passionate advocate of social media and Internet marketing and I am constantly expanding my knowledge and skills as a result'. It is important that you are able to connect with the employers by providing the correct keywords on your SEO content writing resume. People are always looking for new ways to gain knowledge about new products and services, so they will click your link in your SEO content writing resume to try and get more information.Once you have your SEO content writing resume, then it is time to send it off to the hiring managers. In order to do this you need to use a professional web designer and you want to be sure that you get a professional response from the person that is requesting you for a job.

Is Your Professional Brand as Strong as Starbucks

Is Your Professional Brand as Strong as Starbucks Starbucks just unveiled their new logo featuring their well-known green siren but with one dramatic change the words Starbucks Coffee have been dropped from the logo.At first I thought, What the heck? Why would a company drop their name from their logo? How is that a sound marketing strategy?But then I thought about it. Maybe its an act of shear brilliance. Maybe its Starbucks way of saying, Hey, we are Starbucks and everyone knows it. Maybe its their way of keeping pace with our fast paced world where less is sometimes more.Strong brands dont need their name attached to their logos. Everyone recognizes the Nike swoosh, the McDonalds arches, and Apples apple. Maybe the worlds strongest brands dont need a name next to their logo because its redundant. And who has time for redundant?I think the same can be said for people with strong brands. Oprah certainly doesnt need a name badge and Lady Gaga probably doesnt either.In both the cases of well-branded products and people, the name has almost become irrelevant because the brand emotions and attributes have become more powerful.Can you imagine a professional life where you are so well-branded, so unique in what you do that you are immediately recognizable for what you represent and your name is just a mere appendage? Maybe its not a pipe dream.Take some time this year to think about your professional brand and unique value proposition. Strip away the irrelevant, redundant, and outdated information. Be bold and take risks conveying who you are and what your market differentiator is. You may just find that your newly pruned image is a much stronger brand than you thought.

Office Schmoffice! Find Fun Ways To Earn Your Living - CareerAlley

Office Schmoffice! Find Fun Ways To Earn Your Living - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Now that the New Year has begun we are all looking to make fresh goals and start our lives fresh and for the better. One of the biggest changes a lot of us want to make in the New Year is often our career. A job is a massive part of our lives and it takes up a lot of our time. When it comes to making a fresh start we might want to ditch the office for good and try something totally new, and here are some of the ways you can do that. source Sell your photos We all enjoy taking photographs of the places we visit and sights we see, and often these photographs end up in a folder on our computer never seeing the light of day. If you think you have taken some good quality images over the years, you can submit them to a site such as Shutterstock and sell them for a little bit of profit. Every time someone downloads your image they will pay you a small amount of money and this can be a good way to earn some cash for talented photographers. When it comes to making a fresh start we might want to ditch the office for good and try something totally new, and here are some of the ways you can do that. Tweet This Create Art If you have an artistic flair and you are a dab hand with the pencil or paintbrush, you can make some serious money by becoming anartist and selling your art online and at shows. When you have created your art you can use a site such as Etsy to open up a shop and sell your art all over the world. And when there are flower shows and fairs in your local area you can make a stand and sell your art in person! It can be a fun job and one which gives you the opportunity to be as creative as you want. Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash Write Stories Copywriters and creative writers are always in demand these days due to the sheer volume or bloggers and content creators out there in the world. When looking for side jobs online or full-time freelance work you can always guarantee that there will be a lot of choice with writing. You could write articles for a company, create short stories and even run a blog for an individual. There are countless possibilities and it can be a lucrative career option. At some point in their career, many people consider taking their career in a freelance direction. There are pros and cons to doing so, but its the freedom of doing the work you want that attracts so many. If youre thinking about launching a freelance career, you likely already know that its not going to be easy. It takes a lot of hard work to build an independent career, where its up to you to find the work you need to keep going. Before you decide to go freelance, you need to come up with a plan to decide how youre going to do things. ditch the office Be A Tour Guide For those of you who want to travel the world and take it by storm there can be no better option than to become a tour guide in your favourite place and spend your days walking around and talking about amazing locations. Whether you choose to talk about the city you live in or one across the sea it doesnt matter, youll be doing something you love and no two days will be the same. It will allow you to travel the world and make money as you go and this can be a great change from rush hour in the dark each morning. source Open A Cat Cafe Who doesnt love cats? You might have heard over the last few years that a growing trend is happening with cat and dog cafes, and if you are an animal lover this could be a wonderful business for you. All you need to do is work with a local animal rescue centre and bring some cats into the cafe to cuddle with customers, and if the customers like the cats enough they can ask to adopt them. It can be a great way to save animals and also run a fluffy, cuddly, fun business. What's next? Ready to take action? Choose the right tools to help you build your career. Looking for related topics? Find out how to identify and land your dream job. Subscribe and make meaningful progress on your career. It’s about time you focused on your career. Get Educated Contact Us Advertise Copyright 2020 CareerAlley. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy + Disclosure home popular resources subscribe search