Page 48 of 92

Your Business Cards

October 27, 2011 / Staff

We’ve discussed the cheap revolution before. It’s the notion that you can do so many things today and use countless services for a fraction of what they used to cost. This helps drive entrepreneurship and it helps people sell products or services without a huge support organization. You can be a one-person wrecking crew, using email, the web and social media to network, chase leads and close sales.

That said, there are still some older traditions that you shouldn’t abandon. While you may not need a fancy office and a receptionist answering phones, you should have a web site or other online presence, and you should have things like business cards. The online and mobile worlds are important, but person-to-person networking is still critical.

But here the cheap revolution helps as well. You can access business card printing services online and avoid all the hassles of the past. It’s easier and cheaper and you get exactly what you want. So do all the new media stuff, but never abandon old methods of meeting people in person and exchanging business cards.

Your Business, Your Career, Your Network

business cards entrepreneurship

The importance of spotting talent

October 19, 2011 / Staff

With the death of Steve Jobs, there will be countless articles covering his career, and many of us can learn a great deal from his success. We’ve already posted his advice to college graduates about finding what you love to do. Jobs was also an incredible innovator and manager, even if he was a tyrant at times.

If you’re a manager or you run your own business, this story might be helpful. It comes from a Fast Company article after Jobs stepped down as Apple’s CEO but published before his death.

Jobs had recently come back to the company after a 12-year hiatus working for two of his own startups: NeXT, which made ultra-high-end computers, and Pixar. He was taking a tour of Apple, becoming reacquainted with what the company had become since he’d left. It must have been a sobering, even ugly, sight–Apple was dying at the hands of Microsoft, IBM, Dell, and other competitors that were doing what Apple did, only cheaper and with faster processors.
In a dusty basement across the road from Apple’s main building, Jobs found a solitary designer who was ready to quit, languishing amid a stack of prototypes. Among them was a monolithic monitor with a teardrop swoop, which integrated all of a computer’s guts into a single package. And in that room, Jobs saw what middle managers did not. He saw the future. Almost immediately, he told the designer, Jonathan Ive, that from here on out they’d be working side by side on a new line of computers.
Jobs may not be the greatest technologist or engineer of his generation. But he is perhaps the greatest user of technology to ever live, and it was to Apple’s great fortune that he also happened to be the company’s founder.
Those computers that Ive and Jobs worked on became, of course, the iMac–a piece of hardware designed with an unprecedented user focus, all the way to the handle on top, which made it easy to pull out of the box. (“That’s the great thing about handles,” Ive told Fast Company in 1999. “You know what they’re used for.”) That single moment in the basement with Ive says a great deal about what made Jobs the most influential innovator of our time. It shows an ability to see a company from the outside, rather than inside as a line manager. He didn’t see the proto iMac as a liability or a curiosity. He saw something that was simply better than what had preceded it, and he was willing to bet on that instinct. That required an ability to think first and foremost as someone who lives with technology rather than produces it.

Jobs was always able to see opportunity and usable innovation that others could not see. He could also spot talent and put people in situations where they can thrive. The story of his visit to Xerox is legendary, as they had the graphical user interface and had no idea people would want it in their home computers.

You may not have a Jonathan Ive in your organization or revolutionary products sitting on a shelf, but you probably have some very talented people who are stuck in jobs that waste their talent. Take the time to know your team, and dig deeper than your immediate reports. Find the talent, let them work, and your company will have a better chance to thrive.

Your Business, Your Career, Your Team, Your Workplace

culture of innovation encouraging innovation fostering innovation innovation innovation challenge

Flexible careers

October 6, 2011 / Staff

We all have different career goals, but one that is becoming more important has to do with job flexibility. We want flexibility on issues like hours and the ability to work away from the workplace.

Even is a bad economy, these goals are becoming more attainable. Naturally, technology has a lot to do with it. But the culture is also changing, as companies and managers realize that they can have more productive workers if the offer more flexible work arrangements.

That said, it’s also good to think about certain careers that make it even easier to have a flexible work environment.

Graphic design jobs fit this category. Technology has completely changed the design field, as everything is now done on the computer. Keep in mind that collaboration is sometimes easier when everyone is under the same roof irrespective of new online collaboration software tools, so some employers will want you to spend some of your time in their office. But you can do much of this work from anywhere.

Writing jobs are a natural choice. If you can write, there are tons of jobs out there as content development is a growing field. With a computer and an internet connection, you can work for a wide variety of employers.

Web design jobs are in the same category and combine aspects of the two above. Firms are always looking for online designers, and this is something you can do from anywhere as well. Keep in mind, however, that this is becoming more of a commodity, so it’s important to keep working on your skills.

Your Career

Words of wisdom from Steve Jobs

October 5, 2011 / Staff

Steve Jobs passed away today. He was one of the most important and influential people of our time and he will be greatly missed.

I would recommend that everyone, particularly young people, read this speech from Steve Jobs given at Stanford in 2005. It’s the best career advice I’ve ever heard.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Read the whole thing.

Your Career

career advice career information career opportunities career tips careers help your career love your work

Love Animals? Become an Animal Trainer!

September 30, 2011 / Michelle Burton

If you’re interested in an industry that’s rewarding, fun, and has an excellent job outlook, consider animal training. Employment in this career field is expected to grow 20 percent for the 2008-2018 decade, which is much faster than the average for all career fields. Not only this, but this is one of the top fields for individuals interested in freelancing or running their own business. Around 54 percent of animal trainers are self-employed.

So what do you have to do to become an animal trainer? Besides having a love for animals, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, you’ll need a high school diploma or GED equivalent for some jobs, and a bachelor’s degree for others. For example, if you’re interested in becoming a marine mammal trainer, a bachelor’s degree in marine biology, animal science, animal psychology, or biology may be required. Some jobs may also require an animal health technician degree.

Education plays an important role in how much you will earn as well as experience and certification. For example, dog trainers with certification by a professional association or a private vocational or state-approved trade school have the most opportunities and earn the highest salaries in this sector. The Bureau reports that overall, animal trainers earn an average salary of $27,270 per year. The middle 50 percent earned between $19,880 and $38,280 and the lowest 10 percent earned less than $16,700. The top 10 percent earned more than $51,400.

To find out information about animal training and certification, visit the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT) at www.ccpdt.org or the Bureau of Labor Statistics at www.bls.gov.

Your Business, Your Career, Your Compensation, Your Education, Your Workplace