Monday, August 08, 2011
Count Me In
According to Nell Merlino, CEO of the non-profit organization Count Me In, which helps mentor and grow female-owned businesses, women have to stop waiting for the world to change, and instead step out of line and make it happen. Here are Merlino’s top tips:
Start with the end in mind
Write down or cut out pictures of what you ultimately see for your business. The more specific you can be, the more likely you will be able to communicate your vision to others so they can help you get there.
Set specific, time-sensitive goals
First, write them down and post them where you can see them. Hone your unique definition of success by determining the actual numbers, dates, dollar amounts or other specific markers you want to achieve. This way, you’ll be able to mark incremental successes and celebrate when you’ve reached your ultimate goal. Vague goals produce vague results.
Thursday, June 02, 2011
Negotiate your salary the right way!
According to Bill Humbert, a professional recruiter, and author of RecruiterGuy’s Guide to Finding a Job, applicants are so happy to land a job that they are accepting a lower salary than they have to. “Some employers feel that they can probably get away with a lowball offer, and many job hunters will grab it just so they can have a job,” he says. “The truth is there are ways to get the job and still get what you want.” Here are Humbert’s top five tips to keep in mind during your job hunt.
Don’t include salary requirements
If you are asked to include salary requirements when applying for a postion, put ‘open’ in that spot. This is one of the ways a company screens applicants early on and giving them actual figures can be used against you. “I’ve seen people agonize over what to reveal, because they are afraid of pricing themselves out of a good job,” says Humbert. If your qualifications are on target, they’ll call you. If the interviewer asks what you made at your last job, ask about the salary range for the one you are applying. You would be surprised how managers or human resource representatives will tell you.
Don’t reveal your salary history
When asked for your salary history on job applications, you may want to write ‘willing to discuss at appropriate time during interview process’ instead of an actual figure. Revealing these numbers pigeonholes you and reduces your negotiation power.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Help get equal pay for working women
Today is Equal Pay Day, yet there is still a gender-based wage gap. According to the National Partnership for Women & Families, in conjunction with the American Association of University Women (AAUW), full-time working women in the United States are paid on average $10,622 less than their male counterpart, costing families billions of dollars annually.
To get an idea of the impact these lower wages have on women, lets say that this gap were eliminated, then:
*Alaskan women could buy 1.7 years’ worth of food
*Connecticut’s working women could afford 15 more months of rent
*Women in Michigan could make 10 more months of mortgage and utility payments
*Californian women could buy 2,100 more gallons of gas
On average, women working full-time are only paid 77 cents for every dollar paid to full-time working men. This gap has been closing at a rate of less than half a cent per year since the 1963 Equal Pay Act went into effect. At this rate, the wage gap may not be fully eliminated until 2058, when today’s high school students will be preparing for retirement.
Monday, March 14, 2011
The Working Mom
There was a time when women became moms, they quit their jobs to stay home with their kids while their husbands worked. Nowadays, women want both a career and a family and don’t want to choose between the two. In today’s expensive economy, having a two-parent working household may even be necessary. According to Kimberley Clayton Blaine, author of the book The Go-To Mom’s Parents’ Guide to Emotion Coaching Young Children, a licensed family and child therapist, and mother of two boys, doing both is possible. “Thanks to the Internet and to the skills we women have developed from our years in the workforce, we have more options than ever before,” she says. “More and more moms are crafting lives that have ample time for both work and family-and we’re doing it well.”
One of the options is to start your own business and work from home and Blaine tells us how to do it right based on her own experiences.
Find a need to fill
To get started, you’re going to want to make sure that your venture fills a need out in the existing market. Is it something that is different from what is out there already? Is it better, faster, bigger, more innovative? Consider these questions as you weigh the pros and cons of going out on your own. Everyone has their own expertise, interests, or an eye for where something is missing. Tap into that to create your own success.
Test market your idea
Before you drop everything, including that steady paycheck included to start your new venture, do this work on the side before you resign. Get your first customer or at least some healthy interest before you take the full-time plunge.
Pay attention to your gut instincts
Some of the most successful businesses got their big break because they were on the cutting edge of a new trend. Take Blaine, for example. When she first started her online venture, social media, like Twitter, wasn’t nearly as popular as it is now. And yet, that’s become one of her biggest outlets for making connections in the online community to drive traffic to her sites. At the time, it may have seemed to some that the time she devoted to Twitter was a waste of time, but she knew she was investing in something important. And today, that has paid off.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Start a new business today!
According to Cynthia Kocialski, founder of three companies and author of Startup from the Ground Up, you can start your own business, even in this economy. Here are some tips if you’re considering launching or financing a start-up company:
It’s Not About the Product
Start-ups are not about the technology or product. The product is the heart of the company, but the product no more makes a company than a heart makes a human being. There are many components to a company that all have to work together harmoniously in order to achieve a success outcome.
Don’t Be Afraid to Discover
The early stage start-up process is a discovery process, not a step-by-step execution process. Many first-time entrepreneurs believe you come up with a great product idea, then they come up with a detailed business plan, and finally they hire the people to execute the steps in the plan. Discovery is simply a starting point from which the product and business with evolve, iterate, and be refined as the concept meets the customers, the market, and the investors.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Disappearing jobs and growing industries
If you’re looking for a job in this recession and haven’t had any luck, it could be that your profession is disappearing. Yusuf Wilson, job coach and author of Time To Get Hired! tells us which jobs are on their way out and one that is growing.
“We’re not buying new homes, new cars and durable goods the way we used to, and we’re not reading newspapers in the age of the Internet,” Wilson said. “Those are four job sectors affected right there, between construction workers, auto workers, realtors and newspaper employees. Because of the labor conditions and other market pressures that have changed for good, the number of jobs in those fields will never return to their former levels. As a result, people need to think about re-educating themselves and preparing for jobs that will be around for a while.”
OUT
Construction
Unemployment in the construction area was up to 17 percent this past August, up from 16.5 percent a year ago. The housing market is still floundering, and inventories are still vast because of the millions of foreclosures.
Realtors
Since 2006, the realty sector has lost 200,000 jobs, because houses aren’t selling the way they used to. Most realtors don’t work on a salary, but rather, on a commission. So, if they don’t sell, they don’t eat. Many have already pulled up their shingles and begun seeking work elsewhere. If the housing market doesn’t recover, neither will the realty sector.