10 Proven Ways To Double Your Income - #4

4. Learn a new skill. As career development practitioners, we know the importance of career self-management. No longer is it wise to rely on one’s employer for job security or long-term employment; rather, each individual must think of him/herself as a personal services corporation that has entered into a contract with his/her employer for as long as it is mutually beneficial. There are 4 key elements to career self-management: 1) Have a career (or business) development plan, 2) Keep your network active, 3) Have at least 3 months’ income in a liquid account for financial reserves, and 4) Engage in Continuous Self-Improvement.™ That is, keep your skills current and marketable as the marketplace changes.

Questions to Ponder: When is the last time you learned a new skill? What class(es) could you plan for yourself this year to add something new to your expertise?

If you have questions about career coaching, visit my web site, http://www.careercoachinstitute.com/

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10 Proven Ways To Double Your Income - #3

3. Leverage your “synchronous” time. What is the most common response people give when you ask them how they are these days? “Wow, I’m really busy!” Right? The fact is, each of us has 1440 minutes each day – and we also have many choices as to how we spend it! People who seem to be on top of things don’t have more time than we do; they have simply learned how to honor their synchronous (or clock) time, and leverage it to create asynchronous systems that continue to work when they’re not!

Here’s an example: for years now, I have been teaching career coaching, how to launch and build a coaching or consulting practice, and similar topics. Most recently, many of my classes have been done via teleclass through Career Coach Institute. Those required that I be physically present, on the phone, in real time. But in the past few months, I have consolidated this course content into a textbook and workbook format, recorded lectures and coaching demonstrations on CD’s, and radically altered CCI’s business model founded on this asynchronous, self-paced model. What has that done for me as the developer of the materials? Freed me to develop new products, do the marketing, and otherwise manage the business – while all the time students are signing up and learning the content “asynchronously,” i.e., without my real-time presence being required. And students gain the benefits of greater flexibility and significantly lower costs for the training. It’s a win-win proposition!

Questions to Ponder: Think about the services you offer to clients, and the projects that you’ve spent inordinate amounts of time on (e.g., a narrative executive bio, a web portfolio, etc.). How many other ways can you think of to use that same content or format with other clients? In other media? Spending just 30 minutes each day developing a system that will run asynchronously will free dozens of hours of your time over the course of a year.

If you have questions about career coaching, visit my web site, http://www.careercoachinstitute.com/

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10 Proven Ways To Double Your Income - #2

2. Give yourself the benefit of “recycling.” No, I’m not talking about what you do with your newspapers and plastic containers! In studies of more than 60,000 people over the past 15 years, psychologist Dr. James Prochaska and his associates have found that only 77 percent of New Year's resolutions survive the first week. A month later, it's 55 percent. This may not surprise you…but the term we use for this experience of not fulfilling our resolutions can make a big difference in whether we “get back on the horse” after a fall and try to ride again.

Prochaska has analyzed how people successfully make change, initially studying people trying to quit smoking to see what led to some people’s successful efforts. His resulting model of change doesn't blame unsuccessful attempts at change on lack of willpower or motivation. Instead, it outlines six stages and contends that by identifying and understanding where we are in the process, we can gain control over the cycle of change and move through it more quickly, efficiently and with less pain.

His six stages are: pre-contemplation (denial), contemplation (thinking about change), preparation (ready to change within 30 days), action (here we go!), maintenance (holding onto the new behavior despite challenges) and termination (when the old behavior or situation no longer beckons to us). What’s interesting to note is that, although many of us expect to go from A to Z in a straightforward path, that is a rare feat! He says that although it is possible to progress linearly from one stage to the next, only 5 percent of people have no setbacks. Most successful self-changers go through the stages three or four times before they complete the cycle – and he calls these repeated cycles “recycling” rather than “relapsing,” maintaining the sense that a process is still in motion.

Question to Ponder: How can you be kind to yourself as you begin to change what isn’t working, allowing more than one try at the new behavior before you throw up your hands in despair?

If you have questions about career coaching, visit my web site, http://www.careercoachinstitute.com/

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10 PROVEN WAYS TO DOUBLE YOUR INCOME THIS YEAR

Many coaches and other information-based business owners are not making the kind of income they would like to make. But you don’t have to be one of them! The following 10 principles are a proven way to double (or more!) your income in the coming year – if you not only read them, but implement several of them in your business. Some of the rewards will be increased revenues, increased number of clients, and even a greater enjoyment of the work you do.

I will assume, since you are working in the coaching field or another information business (or want to be), that you are doing work you love and want to share that with others in one way or another. Whether you are a career coach, resume writer, outplacement professional, or other infopreneur, your business provides a service to others. And unlike many fields, your service to clients fails to ring true unless you, too, are passionate about what you do. Not making enough money can zap any passion you had when you started your business, fast!

So here are 10 proven ways to increase (by at least 100%) your income – while actually working less time than you do now!

1. Choose to challenge any aspect of your life or business that is not what you want. Even those of us who enjoy our work may have areas that we would like to change. The best way to find these areas for yourself is to reflect on what you repeatedly feel frustrated or upset by (or ask your spouse what you complain about the most!). While we can’t usually change our lives overnight, we can change one thing at a time. How? By choosing to do so! If you don’t feel successful, what would have to happen to change that? Consider this quote from Spiritual Economics:

“Success is the most natural thing in the world. The person who does not succeed has placed himself in opposition to the laws of the Universe.”

When we feel that urge to make change, to improve, to get better (which is what New Years’ resolutions are all about, right?), author Eric Butterworth tells us that “your desire to get ahead, your urge to succeed, is your intuitive awareness of something within you that wants to succeed through you.” And the factor that distinguishes someone who feels successful from someone similarly situated who does not is on the inside of the person. It’s like the person who says “My job is not imaginative; there is no future in it.” In fact, “there is no job with a future in it – the future is in the one who does the job!”

Question to Ponder: What one thing in your life or business, if you changed either the activity itself or your attitude about it, would make a significant difference in your coming year?

Each of the next 9 days we'll review the other tips so stop back by to see more! Meanwhile, if you have questions about career coaching, visit my web site, www.careercoachinstitute.com

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Dispelling the Myths About Career Coaching - Myth #10

Myth #10: Career coaching should only be done in person.

One thing that is fascinating to most people when they first discover coaching (as a prospective coach or a client) is that most coaching is done by telephone. This is appealing to the coach because it allows them a flexible lifestyle. But it is also appealing to the client because of its convenience! In fact, if you receive training via tele-class (a kind of conference-call format used by Career Coach Institute and other coach training programs where class members meet by phone for the weekly sessions), you are receiving the very best preparation to be a highly effective coach – over the phone! Coaches learn to hone their abilities to listen “between the lines” to the client’s energy shifts, hesitations, excitement, style, and other cues that lead to deeply thought-provoking questions from the coach. Coaching in person is done by some (though a minority) coaches, but with the logistics required to physically get together, telephone coaching is the preferred medium to use!

If your prospects have brought any of these common misconceptions to your initial conversations, hopefully this will give you some tools to use to address them. And if you have thought you might want to consider coaching and this article has answered some of your questions, we encourage you to investigate the variety of career coach training programs available. Coaching can be a great addition to a career counseling background so that you have even more tools to use with clients’ increasingly diverse needs. Feel free to email or call the author of this article with any questions!

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Dispelling the Myths About Career Coaching - Myth #9

Myth #9: I’ve been doing career counseling or career consulting for years; I’ll just start calling myself a career coach now.

Remember what we discussed in Myths 2 and 3? Career coaching requires specific training, skills, and knowledge in BOTH areas: career development AND coaching. Simply changing people’s titles to sound more “modern” or “catchy” does not make them career coaches. Indeed, one Fortune 500 company did this with their managers a year or so ago without providing any coaching skills training; this does a disservice to both the managers and those who are trained coaches!

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Dispelling the Myths About Career Coaching - Myth #8

Myth #8: Clients can get helpful advice about their career from family and friends. Why would they come to me?

Remember the old saying, “you get what you pay for?” There are several reasons family and friends’ advice may not be in clients best interest regarding their career. First, they lack the objectivity that a coach can provide. Second, even if the change they recommend may be a good one, the client’s success may be threatening or uncomfortable in some way resulting in other problems. And finally, they may be unwilling to provide the unconditional support (even ”cheerleading”) that a coach will do as clients pursue their dreams.

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Dispelling the Myths About Career Coaching - Myth #7

Myth #7: You can’t make much money at career coaching, especially during tough economic times.

On the contrary! Career coaching is the one specialty in the coaching field that is recession-proof and actually expands during economic downturns. Why? When the economy turns down, companies lay off workers, requiring outplacement services (and these firms have added coaching as one of their services to such companies) as well as career centers (which can be set up and/or staffed by career coaches). In addition, there are more individuals in job or career transition at these times, and those who are not are overworked and worried if they will be the next to be laid off. So while the independent practitioner may find that he/she needs to offer fee incentives and/or affiliate with an outplacement firm or other organization to serve the clients who have needs during the economic lows (if we assume individual clients have less disposable income to invest in coaching), there is still a lot of work to be done!

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Dispelling the Myths About Career Coaching - Myth #6

Myth #6: The best career coaching approach is to start with what your clients are good at, their skills in designing their new job/career.

This is a premise of many career development theories. It can be effective with new graduates or first-time entrants to the workplace, as well as with those wishing to find a new job within the same industry and/or position they have held in the past. However, for the majority of people who will seek out career coaching (having exhausted their own resources and ideas about what would most fulfill them), a skills-based model will not achieve their desired result. Instead, the process must begin at a deeper level with their overall life purpose or mission, values, and the like in order to match what they do with what they love and what has meaning for the client. CCI’s Authentic Vocation™ model does this (for more information see:
http://www.careercoachinstitute.com.)

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Dispelling the Myths About Career Coaching - Myth #5

Myth #5: I don't think career coaching would be right for me because I don't enjoy writing resumes, practicing interviewing, and helping the client with negotiations.

This is one of the best things about career coaching: you can do it in whatever way fits your personality and preferences! Some career coaches prefer to focus on the "career discovery" part of the process, helping clients figure out "what they want to be when they grow up." Others prefer the tangible, immediate-results work involved in the “job search mechanics,” helping with a customized job search marketing plan, writing (or critiquing) resumes, role-playing interviews and negotiation sessions, and the like. And still other independent practitioners do all of this! So career coaching is a field that can be tailored to the individual coach’s preferences.

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Dispelling the Myths About Career Coaching - Myth #4

Myth #4: Other kinds of coaching are more “advanced” and require more specialized training than career coaching. It’s just a point to begin one’s practice. Career coaching by itself isn’t a substantial enough specialty area on which to build a practice

To put it simply, career coaching isn’t as easy as it looks! As has been already stated, it requires both knowledge and skill in career development and job search techniques. But it is a viable practice specialty. The best career coaches make six-figure incomes. Some of them choose to supplement their 1:1 coaching with writing books, ezines and articles, teaching, training, tele-classes, or speaking because they enjoy the variety of activities around the career development theme. But far from being a “basic beginning” for a coaching practice, it is a significant, substantial, and viable business.

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Dispelling the Myths About Career Coaching - Myth #3

Myth #3: I’m already a coach, so when people come to me about a job-related issues, I should be able to do career coaching.

This myth may be partly true. If a career coach has received formal coach training and has an effective coaching model that he/she is using, his/her coaching skills may be transferable. However, to coach individuals in career issues also requires knowledge of career development theories and principles as well as the science/art of resume writing, helping a client capitalize on his/her strengths and minimize weaknesses in an interview, components of an effective job search campaign, and the like. Specific training in these areas is needed to supplement coaching skills for one to truly do career coaching.

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Dispelling the Myths About Career Coaching - Myth #2

Myth #2: If I can talk to people about their job-related issues, I am (or can be) a career coach.

Career coaching requires training in coaching knowledge, skills and abilities. A coaching interaction is much more than a mere conversation; it has a strategic component and a transformational impact that puts it at a much higher level than a mere conversation. And the client’s professional future is at stake. Are you willing to risk giving uninformed “advice” versus becoming (through training and experience) a trained professional – or referring the client to one?

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Dispelling the 10 Myths About Career Coaching

As the Founder and Director of Career Coach Institute, I’ve had the privilege of attending a number of conferences on coaching and on career development. Many of the people to whom I talked seemed to assume that because they had been doing resume writing, or worked in an employment agency, or had done recruiting, or were a “personal coach,” they could do career coaching.

We all know that there are slight distinctions in the content of what career coaches do in comparison with career counselors, depending on the approach used. However, in my tour of several countries over the past few months dialoguing with career professionals, I have found that the primary differences are in the methodology coaches use. I believe there is a place for both career counseling and career coaching. Certain clients desire a more directive approach (which can be found on one end of the spectrum among both counseling and coaching), others want to take the initiative in their discovery process. These posts are designed to discuss some of the common misconceptions or “myths” about career coaching so that you can decide for yourself whether your approach is more counseling or coaching-oriented and whether you might want to expand in either direction.

Effective career coaching requires training and expertise in at least two areas: career development (including theories, models, how to help a client find their ideal work, and how to design and execute a job search strategy) and coaching (defined as an interactive process of exploring work-related issues leading to effective action). In coaching, the coach acts as both a catalyst for and facilitator of individual and, in turn, organizational development and transformation. Let’s explore some of the aspects of coaching that are often confusing to both career professionals and their clients.

Myth #1: A career coach must have a Master’s Degree in counseling.

Currently, there are no educational requirements for coaches in most U.S states. (However, some states such as Colorado subject some coaches to state regulations; check with your state’s employment or labor department to see what the requirements are where you live.) In 48 of the 50 states, career counselors are required to have a degree in counseling, but career coaching is not the same as career counseling, as we will see below. If you are going to be a counselor, you need a counseling degree. But career coaching is a discrete skill, the primary prerequisites being specific coaching training and a knowledge of career development principles. Whether practicing in the U.S. or abroad, degrees in counseling or psychology are not required to be a highly effective coach. (Some therapists and social workers who have completed our program found they had to “unlearn” some habits to be effective coaches.)

Each of the next 9 days we'll review the other myths so stop back by to see more! Meanwhile, if you have questions about career coaching, visit my web site, www.careercoachinstitute.com

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Strategic Planning Myths and Tips

One of the things that makes this time of the year especially unique is that we are preparing for a celebration of a series of holidays (and related time off) and, simultaneously, see the year coming to a close and a new one starting. So planning for next year to be even better than this one was is on our minds too.

As business owners, we know we need to do something called "strategic planning" when we start our business and at least annually as it grows. But what is that and how do we proceed?

A "plan" is defined by Webster's as "a method or scheme for achieving or doing something; an aim or goal." For a plan to be "strategic," it has to be related to important business priorities and incorporate strategy, right?

I found a great site the explains strategic planning and the traits needed to do it well:
http://www.tiny.cc/eUhjZ
Even the one-person SOHO (home-based solo business owner) needs to engage in this process during the next few weeks. Otherwise, you're likely to find that you are trying to "plan as you go" - instead of executing a plan that you set out in advance.

I find it most helpful to begin with the desired end result, or as Stephen Covey (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) says, "Begin with the end in mind." So if I want my business to earn $1 million and touch 2 million people in the next year, I work backward from that by self-coaching: "what has to happen to achieve that result?" "How many widgets at x price do I need to sell in order to reach that goal?" As a coach, it might be x number of clients at $500/month would get me there - but I also play with y number of clients at that price, and z number of clients at $1500/month (packaging my services differently.

Planning can be exciting and empowering - and can also save resources down the road if I find out that a planned initiative is overpriced or doesn't meet a need in the planned market. Early on I wrote a book on consumer rights (just as I was preparing to leave my career as a lawyer) and found that though it was written for consumers, attorneys were a primary market since the publication designed for attorneys on that subject was way out of date!

Coaching too can find surprising markets. Maybe instead of new entrepreneurs you find yourself with CEO's of growing business enterprises for clients. Or instead of clients already in a job transition, it's the managers facing "warm chair attrition" (to quote the late Roger Herman) who want to do something else, are only partly present in their jobs, but don't know what they want to be when they grow up.

I invite you to, as I am, see your year-end and new year planning as an exciting opportunity to broaden your reach, to make a bigger difference, and to find more "life" in your business. Coaching is all about self-empowerment, making what's already an inner strength even stronger.

In fact, if you want to join me on New Years Day to do YOUR strategic planning (for personal and business areas of your life), I'm doing a two-hour class, "Celebrate the Past, Embrace a New Future" where you leave after 2 hours with a completed (or at least partly completed!) Master Life Design. We do it in class! And you learn the latest techniques to set yourself up for success including quantum physics, intentional living, and more. It's just $99 for two full hours of facilitated exploration and discovery - you can register here: http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/netcart.asp?MerchantID=44936&ProductID=2646300

But whether you choose to do this or not, do set aside a few hours to reflect on your successes and set new, bigger, grander intentions for 2007. I support you in your success!

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A Little Dose of Appreciation Can Go a Long Way

One of the purest and most powerful energies available to us is appreciation. And what better time to exercise our power to appreciate than (a) during the holidays when we tend to get caught up in the busy-ness of the season, and (b) as the end of one year yields to another and we look back on what we cherish about the past 12 months.

When I feel the pressure of “too much to do” sneaking in, more and more often I am training myself to stop, to check in with my physical state, and to find something to appreciate. It’s amazing how just making that simple shift in focus also shifts my perception.

And it can be as simple as that! Here is how Esther and Jerry Hicks suggest we practice this in Ask and It Is Given:

“Begin by looking around your immediate environment and gently noticing something that pleases you. Try to hold your attention on this pleasing object as you consider how wonderful, beautiful, or useful it is. And as you focus upon it longer, your positive feelings about it will increase.

Now, notice your improved feeling, and be appreciative of the way you feel. Then, once your good feeling is noticeably stronger than when you began, look around your environment and choose another pleasing object for your positive attention….

The longer you focus upon things that feel good to you, the easier it is for you to maintain those vibrational frequencies that feel good. And the more you maintain these good-feeling frequencies, the more the Law of Attraction will deliver to you other thoughts, experiences, people, and things that match your practiced vibration.” http://www.abraham-hicks.com/

The practice of appreciation also applies in our coaching. There is a specific branch of coaching called Appreciative Inquiry:

“Appreciative Inquiry asks people to tell their stories about what works, to share their connections with others where they have been at their best, to talk about what is life giving and equitable. It assists people to imagine their organizations and communities in more affirming ways and to envision policies, practices and behaviors that promote equity and that enhance the life giving forces in relationships.”

Coaching as a discipline begins with the premise that you are perfect, just as you are, and that you (the client) have the answers within you. Yes, you may want some things in your life to change, but if we begin our coaching with “what’s really working well for you right now?”, it sets the stage with positive energy before we delve into the desired areas of change.

For more on this approach to coaching and organizational development, I recommend http://www.appreciativeinquiry.com/ai.html

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Holiday Job Searching: Do it or not?

Have you or your clients bought into the myth that it’s fruitless to continue searching for a new job during the holiday season? It is a myth! In the 21 years I’ve worked in career development, I’ve seen some very exciting jobs and contracts come through between Thanksgiving and New Years. Sometimes the week between Christmas and New Years is when companies must fill their openings (or commit their coaching/training dollars, in the case of the coach’s business prospecting) or they lose their budget dollars.

Now is the time to keep our eyes on the goal, perhaps shifting strategy slightly but continuing nevertheless. Those that give up or go on vacation during the last two weeks of the year often lose out on key opportunities! Now I’m not saying not to take a break if that’s what you really want and need…but don’t do it because you don’t think there are opportunities out there!

Susan Heathfield recently wrote an article, “Holiday Job Searching” about this topic:
http://www.tiny.cc/dfq9E
And for “A Recruiter’s View: 5 Myths About Holiday Job Searching,” by Sinara Stull O’Donnell see
http://www.tiny.cc/pzo0C

Her myths are:

1. Nobody hires in Dec. (check out all the reasons this is untrue!)
2. You won’t find the job you really want in Dec.
3. Nothing ever happens after Dec. 15 so you might as well leave town
4. Even if an employer has an opening, the hiring manager won’t have time to meet with you
5. You’ll have a better chance if you wait till the first of the year

So how do you use the holidays for an effective search? Check out “Holiday Job Searching” by Alison Doyle here:
http://jobsearch.about.com/od/networking/a/holiday.htm

Sending holiday cards to prospective employers (especially if you’ve already interviewed with them) can be a thoughtful and attention-getting strategy that works wonders in helping a candidate stand out from the crowd. And I would add another: to the extent that your search involves “snail” mailing resumes or targeted letters, skip that strategy in favor of email or phone contact – the mail is too bogged down at this time of year for important mail to get through at normal pace. Or try something innovative and Fedex or UPS your document to the hiring manager for personal delivery!

Happy hunting!

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