Im Scared Of Failing. How Do I Turn My Back On A Secure Career To Pursue Work I Love

“I’m Scared Of Failing. How Do I Turn My Back On A Secure Career To Pursue Work I Love” Help from our Community “I’m Scared Of Failing. How Do I Turn My Back On A Secure Career To Pursue Work I Love?” * Sarah's spent years building a well-paid, well-regarded career. But the work doesn't suit her skills, and she feels detached and unhappy. How do you leap into work that fires you up, when it means taking a huge risk and starting all over again? What’s your career history and current job? I originally qualified and worked as an engineer. I later completed an MBA, and a PhD in Business Administration. Ever since then I've worked as an assistant professor in a university. How do you feel about your work? I'm not suited to an academic career. I had planned to give up my PhD while I was still studying, but then I was lucky enough to be offered the role I'm currently doing. It was a fantastic opportunity: well-paid and with a lot of prestige. I felt it would benefit my career to work hard and settle into the role. But I'm doing work that is completely at odds with my natural skills. I don't enjoy the process of academic research, which in my field is heavily focused on writing. I'm not a very good writer, so I'm constantly criticising myself and trying hard to improve. I'm also very collaborative, but I work alone, either from my private office or at home. I communicate with my colleagues mostly via email, and that makes me feel isolated and unhappy. What would you like to be doing instead? My passion is gender equality. In particular, I'd love to do something that promotes career opportunities and advancement for women. I also love project planning and collaborating with others to make positive ideas happen. To experiment with different kinds of work, I took on a side projectâ€"helpingplan and organise two successful 'Women in Leadership' conferences, both of which sold out. I worked with lots of different people, doing things like communicating with volunteers, arranging speakers and coming up with marketing ideas. That was a really energising and rewarding experience. It made me believe that it's possible to find a new career that makes me happy. What's the biggest obstacle in your way? I'm scared that if I make a leap, it will fail. My job is secure, well paid and well regarded. I don't want to lose everything I've worked so hard to achieve, only to regret it. I read lots of job descriptions for work that interests me, but I'm always overqualified, or I haven't got the right experience. This means I would probably have to start a new career at a level that's much lower than where I am now. That terrifies me, because if my plans didn't work out it would be very difficult for me to go back. I've spoken to some friends, who've told me that it's normal not to enjoy your work all the time. They say that every job has its ups and downs, so it doesn't matter what it is. But I know I could be much happier doing something more suited to my skills and passion. How do I overcome my fear of failure, and throw myself into a new and meaningful career? Can you help Sarah? Have you been in a similar situation, or are you in the same boat right now? How do you think Sarah could move her shift forwards? Do you know anyone she could talk to? Share your thoughts in the comments below and click the thumbs-up button to show your support.

Do-It-Yourself PR With Icon Coach, David Fagan - Classy Career Girl

Do-It-Yourself PR With Icon Coach, David Fagan David T. Fagan, founder of IconCoach.com, presented his topic of  Do-It-Yourself PR at Infusionsofts user conference, ICON. David  is all about helping people become Icons in their industry. How would you like your “Brand” to be taken more seriously and valued more preciously? If you can raise your Icon status, then you can attract more clients and be paid more for your expertise.   How to Become a Highly Paid Expert Through Image, Expertise and Advice 1. Vision Create a vision so big you have to step up to it to become. Expect more for yourself. 2. Simplify Learn to make complex things simple.  This means a pure, clean website, not a bunch of optins. 3. Create Experiences What is the experience you are creating for people. Like Disney and Mastercard, you should provide a priceless experience.  What is the priceless experience you are selling? 4. Not Everyone Should Write a Book Should you write a book? Ask yourself, does the world need it? Are you the right person to author it? Are there multiple ways to make money from it?  Yes, yes and yes? Great, you are writing a book! If not, go back to the drawing board because you arent quite ready yet. 5.  Stand Out You need to have an unfair advantage. Why should your customer pick you? You cant be the worlds best kept secret. 6. Dont Audition Tom Hanks doesnt audition. Too many out there are auditioning for clients and customers. Dont audition. Make your work, your brand and your authority stand out instead.  Let your body of work speak for yourself. 7.  Packaging matters Be the Tiffany box instead of a paper bag.  You want people to anticipate opening up your stuff. 8. Prepare To Be Googled Your website is more important than anything else. People are going to google you first. 9. Not Everyone Is Ready For Media Are you worthy of a media interview yet? Answer these questions. Are you and your topics newsworthy? Do you have an expert status? Are you fascinating? If so, its time to start pitching and go get on the news! 10. Be You Be authentic and be yourself. Authenticity is when someone is really good at being themselves or Being good at Being you. Thats how you can really be an ICON. When you just become more of who you really are.

6 Strategies to Find Job Opportunities When Youve Tried Everything Else - Classy Career Girl

6 Strategies to Find Job Opportunities When Youve Tried Everything Else With networking resulting in 80% of job leads, it’s best to stay focused on networking as much as possible. Now this article is for those of you who have already tackled LinkedIn networking and have already mass emailed and contacted everyone they already know. This article is for you if you are ready to take your networking to the next level for even bigger and better job opportunities. Strategy 1: Grow your network with alumni. Contact your college or university career center and obtain a list of alumni contacts in the career field you are interested in. If you are still living where you went to school, drop in and meet with the career advisor. Most advisors are happy to help alumni so don’t feel like you are bothering them. Remember, no one can help you if you never ask. Try to get a list of alumni and their contact information and go down the list asking for informational interviews. People always want to help people that they have something in common with. Also, make sure that you have joined your university’s LinkedIn group for alumni. Start contacting people in the group and make sure all alumni events are on your calendar for next month. Strategy 2: Host an event. Instead of going to a networking event hoping to find the right people, why not host your own job searching party! Invite people who are in the career you want, to come to a cocktail or dinner party and get to know them. These people you invite will benefit by expanding their contacts and networking with other interesting people that can be of value to them. The key is to do your research and only invite 6-8 of the people that you think would make an excellent and fun dinner party. At the end of the party, make sure you give a little presentation about who you are and what you could do for their companies. It might also help to have a few promotional items to giveaway. You can easily get cheap pens but you need to buy them in bulk. The emphasis here is on how you can HELP them. Also ask each of them to connect you with one other person that they know and invite them to your next cocktail party. Do this monthly and you will quickly expand your network and have new job opportunities. Don’t be scared…just do it. Especially you introverts…you have control over this one! (I know this because I am one too!:) Introverts are often scared to go to a networking event in fear that they won’t know anyone. This option is great because you are in total control. You know exactly who will be there and you can practice exactly what you will say beforehand. Easy! OK, I know what you are going to say. This is an expensive option. Wrong! I have hosted a cocktail party for 15 people and only spent $60. All you need is a free room and then purchase some appetizers and wine at the grocery store yourself. I found that people always ate less than I expected as well, especially if you are inviting women. You can also ask people to just pay for their own dinners because to have met a good group to network with is totally worth it to them. I asked 8 people to a lunch one time and they all came and paid for themselves. I just told them ahead of time that was the deal so everyone was prepared with their credit card. Just try it. You never know until you try! Just remember that every dime you spend is going to be worth it in the end. Sometimes it is also a mindset block. Make sure you change your mindset from, “This is going to be hard and expensive!” to “This is going to be a blast!” Strategy 3: Introduce others in your network. This is a great way to strengthen your network. Make an introduction between two people who would benefit from knowing each other. For example, refer potential clients or potential partners. Look through your LinkedIn network and see who could become good friends if they knew about each other. You can send a quick email introducing each of them and say I have someone I want you to meet that I think would be really valuable for you to have in your network! The people you introduce will remember that you were the one that made the connection and most likely will do the same for you in the future. Strategy 4: Start interviewing experts. This is exactly the strategy I used to grow my network of career experts and authors. Make sure you record the interviews and then post them online or consolidate tips into an ebook. It’s totally free to do this over the phone you can use freeconferencecallhd.com or use a free Google Hangout. This strategy really puts you on the map if you are wanting to grow your social brand and become well known in your industry. This is how you can take your career to the next level. So think about using this strategy of interviewing experts in your field to really help you uplevel your career even further. Strategy 5: Create a video resume. In todays highly competitive job market, creating the right video resume to accompany your traditional resume can make you stand out from the crowd and lead to job opportunities. The whole point of a video presentation is to offer a potential employer greater insight into you than a traditional resume can, so just reading aloud the contents of your resume is a waste of everyones time. Use the video to help the employer get a sense of not just what you have achieved, but what you are capable of achieving in the future. Tell them why you would be the right person to hire and what you can do for them. You can use your phone or just the camera on your laptop. Keep your video resume short. Stay within 2 minutes and remember to stay classy. Be creative, but professional. Do not deviate too much from the demeanor you would have in the workplace. Dress professionally, just as if you are going to an in-person interview. And make sure it passes the share test. You never know it could go viral. Imagine your friends and family watching the clip. If the thought of that embarrasses you, then dont submit it. Strategy 6: Call or walk into your dream company and introduce yourself. This idea actually worked for one of my friends, Kat, who got a job offer as an Associate Marketing Director. She was extremely interested when she found out about the job opening, she submitted her resume online. A couple of days later she kept thinking about the job and she realized she probably wasn’t going to get the job because she didn’t have marketing experience and she didn’t tailor her resume to the job. So she called up the company and told them she was very interested. She also knew she needed to think outside the box so she ended up researching the company a little more. After she finished tailoring and improving her resume the second time and did exactly what I teach, she printed out her resume, walked right into the front desk and had an impromptu interview. She handed her resume to the marketing manager and told her she was very interested in the position and then gave her pitch about why she thought she was a good fit for the position in person. After that, she got an email from the marketing manager who said she really liked her initiative and she asked her to come onboard as the intern. That was in October and by December they offered her a full time job as Associate Marketing Manager. So just by walking in and turning in her resume in paper and meeting the hiring manager in person is how my friend, Kat, stood out from the competition. Now, I am not saying this always works but it is definitely something to have in your toolbox especially if you are applying at a smaller company that encourages creative thinking and innovation. It’s all about standing out and being different. What strategy will you use to find new job opportunities?

Make a Successful Presentation When Theres No Time to Prepare

Make a Successful Presentation When There’s No Time to Prepare You’ve been asked to give an impromptu presentation on the spot with little to no time to prepare. What do you do? How do you prepare for something like that out of nowhere? Before anything else, remember to gather yourself and be calm â€" it’s not that unusual to have to do a presentation with little notice. Perhaps the original speaker is sick, or maybe a new client has a penchant for requesting presentations on the fly. In either case, the person assigning you the presentation is likely aware that you did not have much time to prepare for the talk. That doesn’t mean you still can’t knock it out of the park though. Here are a few steps we’ve compiled to help you develop and deliver a great impromptu presentation. Impromptu vs. Unprepared The entire concept of preparing for an impromptu meeting might seem contradictory, and in essence, it is. However, there’s a key difference between having little time to prepare and having done no preparation at all. Preparation is the best way to alleviate stage fright. If you are always expecting an impromptu report to pop up, you’re never caught completely off guard and will be able to follow certain protocol quickly to get the job done. Rule of Threes Organize your speech or presentation into three main categories: an opening, a body, and a closing. Managing these three pieces of the demonstration is a quick way to coordinate your information in a concise and simple way. Remember to use supporting visuals â€" pictures, graphs, media â€" and use technology to your advantage. For example, if you’re having trouble incorporating a video (a classic PowerPoint letdown), you can use plugins to insert video into PowerPoint for you. Taking the tech shortcuts allows you to speed the organization process up so you can focus on the actual content of your message. Back to the structure. Your opening should be attention grabbing. Just because you’re on short notice doesn’t mean you should miss any opportunities to be humorous or witty. Chances are that if you’re asked to report on the fly, you’re going to do so on a specific subjectâ€"such as a status report on a remote team, or the progress of a particular project in your department. This knowledge should help you telescope your effort to contain only the most important information that you’ll place in the body of your message. In the body of the meeting, you should plan to cover no more than three main pieces of information. It is generally regarded that people retain information better when it comes in chunks of three (A-B-C, 1-2-3, Three Blind Mice, Three Musketeers, etc.). For example, in your body the three main points might be: This is where we are in the project These are our budget restrictions/concerns/roadblocks This is how we plan to traverse the roadblocks and move forward If the information being covered in these three points seems unclear or needs further explanation, now is the time to clarify. When wrapping up the presentation, remember to summarize your main points and end with a closing statement. For example, a powerful closing statement could reference your opening question or hook. Finish the presentation by calling the audience to action or reaffirming everyone’s commitment or role in the project. Remember This Process If you haven’t had to make an impromptu presentation before, use this time as an anchor to help secure any snap meetings that may happen in the future. This process is also a very approachable structure for any kind of speech â€" impromptu or otherwise. Image Source, Image Source

Top 5 Hacks to Do More in Less Time CareerMetis.com

Top 5 Hacks to Do More in Less Time â€" CareerMetis.com Time is money. If you aren’t using your time judiciously, you are spending money. All great business leaders and visionaries understand the importance of time, and they leave no stone unturned when it comes to making the best use of their time.As rightly said by Simon SinekWe can make up for lost money but we can’t make up for lost time.â€" Simon Sinek Having a well-planned to-do list can save you significant time. There are two types of tasks: Some tasks require your immediate attention and some tasks you can do later.To be on the top of your tasks, you should plan tasks according to your priority. If your to-do list has some big tasks, you should break them into smaller ones. This will help you complete these tasks conveniently.You can set a timer for each task to keep track of your progress. Also, you can use Google Tasks to be on track. As you can sync Google Tasks with Gmail and Google calendar, you can refer to your progress even when you are out of the office.2. Reduce Mul titasking You might be wondering how you can do more in less time if you reduce multitasking. Actually, you can. Multitasking, though it appears to offer increased productivity, reduces productivity.Research conducted at Stanford University found that multitasking affects productivity. Researchers have also found that multitaskers cannot keep things separate in their minds, which lowers productivity.evalSo, if you want to do achieve more in less time, you should start reducing multitasking. Commit to one task at a time, and you will see a big difference in your productivity.3) Weed out distractionYou have Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram accounts, and you cannot live without checking these accounts every five minutes. I don’t say you shouldn’t use these social networks. In fact, social media is a great tool to spread awareness for your brands.But, when you are writing a blog post, constant Facebook messenger pings can be a big distraction. And you will take more time t o finish that blog post.So you should weed out distractions when you are doing some important tasks. Doing so will certainly increase your productivity.4) Take breaksevalSome people believe that taking breaks during tasks reduces productivity. However, this is not entirely true. Taking breaks during a big task rejuvenates you and you will be able to finish that task quickly.A study says that brief diversions from a big task can dramatically improve one’s ability to focus on that task for prolonged periods.So take a break from your desk if you have been doing a task for a long period, you will see a surprising surge in your productivity.eval5) Delegate some tasksThe secret of many successful entrepreneurs and startup owners is that they don’t do all tasks themselves. Instead, they delegate unimportant tasks to others.As an entrepreneur, your prime objective is to focus on core business activities. You should not worry about internet research, social media management, sending news letters to your customers and prospects, etc. You can easily delegate these tasks to a virtual assistant or remote worker.A virtual assistant can reduce operational costs, amplify productivity, increase productivity, according to Ninja VA.Conclusion:In today’s cut-throat competition, if you want to outgrow your competitors, you will have to be more productive. Creating a to-do list, reducing multitasking, weeding out distractions, taking a break, and delegating tasks will certainly help you do more in less time.What about you?What methods have you employed for doing more in less time?evalDo share your thoughts in the comments sections below. I’d love to hear about it.

Why You Need To Get Over Being Nervous In Interviews

Why You Need To Get Over Being Nervous In Interviews Why You Need To Get Over Being Nervous In Interviews Being nervous during interviews happens to most people. We tend to focus too much on what the outcome might be (read: I won’t get the job) that we forget to be in the moment. And that feeds our nervousness. But what we are really doing is becoming our very own saboteur. If you are so distracted by outcomes and not investing your energy into the conversation taking place, then THAT’s actually where you lose control and fail. Instead, try to think about an interview in these terms: Imagine that the interviewer is a celebrity you’ve been dying to meet. You finally get face time with them, and you are excited and curious to learn more. Is their public persona the same as the person in front of you? Are they really as cool as you think they are? Can you find things in common? Do you share the same interests? Is there a thread there that might lead to a long-term connection? (i.e. you become friends?) That’s exactly what an interview is like. It’s a moment where all the work you’ve done to get to that moment is culminated in the most exciting opportunity to explore these possibilities. This is why you need to get over being nervous in interviews. Reframe and retrain your thinking to quit getting ahead of yourself and what the end game is, and focus on what you are doing right now. If you take this approach, you’ll start to see better results. After all, you’ve made it this far, and that means that they are equally interested in you. Believe me, they are desperately hoping you are the last person they interview so they can fill the job. So shift your thinking, and go out and have fun in interviews. You’ve earned it.

3 Ways Clutter Affects Your Career

3 Ways Clutter Affects Your Career Clutter really does affect your career: there have been studies that prove it affects the way employers and coworkers view your ability to do your job. Forbes ran an article called The Dangers Of A Messy Desk  where a study clearly showed that co-workers judge others work habits by their cleanliness, and Office Max did a similar study  with similar results.    Here are three ways that those piles bring your life to a halt: You lose important information. The argument that it has to be in your view in order for you to remember to do it loses its power when you stop seeing the item that is in front of you. Honestly, what important piece of paper have you frantically looked for in the past few months? You get overwhelmed.  How many times have you said, I cant deal with that right now, Ill get to it later? How many times did you actually get to it and do it the way you should have? You look inefficient.  People assume that you are just like they are: overwhelmed by piles of papers and stuff while you stop seeing whats in front of you and lose important information. This isnt just a workplace problem. UCLAs Center  on Everyday Lives of Families came out with a book on our clutter culture  in America that is kind of fascinating and appalling and convicting all at the same time. But we dont have to be handcuffed by our clutter habits! Get real and start small. Take ten or fifteen minutes (set the timer) and work on one pileand stop at the end of that time. Do this every day and you will begin to see a big difference. Theres all sorts of decluttering advice out there, but the big thing is doing it; if you wait until you have time to do it all, you probably will never do it. If you are looking for a job, be professional about it and keep your surroundings professional. Make your job hunt a priority and respect your time job searching. Create a desk area, keep track of your papers and appointments, do the electronic weeding of your emails, etc. Take a picture of your desk, cubicle, office, or work area, and look at it. Be honest, now. What would you think if that were a coworkers space? If you were the boss, would you want that person working for you? If you like the way it looks, then maintain it. If you dont like the way it looks, you have the ability to change it a little at a time.