Posts Tagged: freelancing
Considering Entrepreneurship: First steps to starting your own business
Posted in Career Advice Economic Crisis Entrepreneurship Recommended Resources on March 15, 2009 at 8:14 pm
This Saturday’s New York Times featured a front-page story about how the recession is prompting some people to start their own businesses instead of looking for new jobs. It’s an encouraging story if you’ve ever considered the option of creating your own venture, large or small.
While some people decide to dive headfirst into entrepreneurship, others feel more comfortable dipping in a toe, then an ankle, then a knee before swimming solo. The choice is very personal and depends on your experience, finances and overall comfort with risk. But, if you’re thinking even just a little bit about starting your own business, it’s never too early to take actions that will set you up for taking the plunge when you’re ready. Here are some suggestions for first steps to take if you’re thinking about starting your own small business or becoming a full-time freelancer: (more…)
How to get a good job in a bad economy: 7 recession strategies
Posted in Career Advice Entrepreneurship First Job Out of College Job Hunting Networking on October 19, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Job hunting is tough right now, but absolutely not impossible. The key to finding and keeping work in tough times is the same as in good times: action. The more positive action you take, the better your chances of landing a great gig. Here are 7 tips, and I promise many more in the coming weeks and months.
1. Be smarter, faster and better. I wish I could offer you a magic piece of advice about job hunting and working in a bad economy, a piece of wisdom that I’ve been saving for this type of situation. However, my best advice is to use all of the same job hunting and career management tips I always advise, but do them smarter, faster and better (which, by the way, is the title of a book I co-wrote with the fabulous executive coach Karlin Sloan).
Being smarter, faster and better means:
- Updating your resume to include examples of how you thrive in challenging times, how you excel at stretching a budget, how you can bring in new clients and new revenue right away.
- Making 5 calls a day to networking contacts, rather than making 5 a week.
- Attending one networking event a week, rather than one a month.
- Following up immediately after you meet someone or learn of an opportunity. Return calls right away, send a thank you email the same day you have an interview, send in a resume as soon as you learn of an opportunity.
In any situation, ask yourself, “What would be the smartest, fastest and best way to handle this situation?” and do just that.
2. Try new strategies. We all get into ruts — going to the same networking events, talking to the same people at our association meetings, setting up the same keywords on the same employment websites, writing the same phrases in every cover letter.
STOP!
The same old stuff will no longer cut it. As Albert Einstein said, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.To get a job in a bad economy, you have to cast a wider net and be more creative than ever. Try some new and different keyword searches as you look for jobs online. Challenge yourself to attend networking events in totally new industries, towns or social circles. Start looking in the newspaper if you’ve never done that before. Look for jobs at small companies if you’ve always worked for big corporations (and vice versa). (more…)
