Facebook

Join the Entrepreneur's Networking Cafe group on Facebook. Share resources, information, news, and events of interest to all of us who think like entrepreneurs in our work and businesses. If you are a creative independent thinker who is always coming up with ideas, you will fit very well in the group. This site is not for marketing, but if you have real information about how you are succeeding, what success means to you, or how you balance your life and work, you can also include your business name and web address. The best way to market yourself and your business is by sharing useful information, products, and resources.

We had fun meeting at the coffee shop with amazing results. Our small group found so many connections that the meeting resulted in internships, tours, presentations, and Jewelry and craft shows.

Nancy Miller, M.S., Career Management Consultant
Copyright Center for LifeWork Design © 2007
Reprint by permission only – www.centerforlifeworkdesign.org

Vision

Most people don’t wake up in the morning and think about their vision. I do. I wonder if I will wake up with clear or cloudy vision, and that’s just my eyesight. I was born with cloudy lenses. I didn’t have a clear picture of the world or my place in the world. While most people aren’t born with cloudy eyesight, many of us go through our lives without a clear picture of what we want. Like the sand on the beach, we sometimes wait for the next tide to pull us in another direction without really knowing where we are going.

When I graduated from high school, I had no idea what I wanted to do or be. I can hardly remember having any dreams, goals, or plans. I waited for opportunities to come to me. I still had cloudy vision, and no idea who I was or what I wanted. Some people seem to know from an early age what they want to be. They seem to have an internal map providing a direction and sense of purpose. They may even demonstrate remarkable talents at an early age. But just knowing your talents and abilities isn’t enough to clarify your vision. Your talents are the abilities that you are born with, and your vision lets you know how you want to use those abilities.

Vision
The ability to see
-Encarta World English Dictionary

Having vision is more than the ability to see with your eyes. Your vision is your picture of the future. Your vision includes your dreams, expectations, and unconscious desires. Honoring your vision and valuing your dreams gives rise to your imagination and creativity.

Vision
“the ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom.
-New Oxford American Dictionary

I call this a vision map. Whether your map is clear or vague, you have some kind of picture or expectation for your future. You may have a picture framed by fear of the future and limiting beliefs, or you may see a world full of opportunities. But even people who have a very clear picture need to broaden their landscape. Like taking your camera lens from zoom in to zoom out, we need to take time to look at the bigger picture. If you know what you want to do, what you like about the things you are doing, and where to look for opportunities, you will stay resilient and ready for the future.

Having a clear vision of your expectations opens up opportunities for living in the moment, challenging limiting beliefs, and changing course to adapt to new opportunities and adventures. If your vision is unclear or you are experiencing difficult life transitions, contact Nancy Miller, MS., LifeWork Coach.

This website is intended for informational purposes only. Comments are open to the public and not endorsed by the author. For career advise, coaching, or counseling, please seek out a professional who can meet your personal needs.

Nancy Miller, M.S., Career Management Consultant
Copyright Center for LifeWork Design © 2007
Reprint by permission only – www.centerforlifeworkdesign.org

Your Story

What’s your story? You have a unique and interesting story to tell about your experiences, hopes and dreams. Your story includes your successes, challenges, credentials, and the people who helped you along the way. Your mentors, partners, and heroes helped shape your path, and your family, culture, and environment were a springboard for your career. Whether you feel like you took a bungee jump off of a cliff or a gentle climb through a bed of roses, your environment gave you challenges and opportunities that helped you build the character and resilience for finding where your dreams can lead you.

This month in the LifeWork Planning Guides we will develop a Personal Summary. Your Personal Summary is the first step in your LifeWork Success Plan. Your Personal Summary will give you a good start on your personal/career portfolio or the executive summary for your business plan.

In the business plan this would be the Executive Summary. It would be placed at the beginning of your business plan, but it would be completed when you finish your plan. This section can be completed now and then later you can condense, revise, or add to it after you have completed your LifeWork Success Plan™. Your LifeWork Success Plan™ is your personal business plan that can be used to help you stay focused and motivated in your career, or it can be used as a preliminary business plan. You will decide whether to share it, or keep it as your own career inspiration.

Your personal summary is the story of you. You have natural strengths that you were born with as well as skills and character that you developed over your lifetime. Your story includes not only your skills and abilities, but more importantly, what brought you to the place where you are today. Take a moment to think about who you are and why you are doing the work you are doing. Even better, write a paragraph or two (or several pages) on what led you to do what you are currently doing. You will find motivation and inspiration in your own story. Most people don’t like to think about a business plan, but your personal plan is about you. Enjoy yourself!

LifeWork Planning Guides™ help you stay motivated and inspired to do the work you love to do. When you complete the 12 months of LifeWork Planning Guides™, you will have completed the 12-step LifeWork Success Plan™ To receive your next LifeWork Planning Guide™, sign up through PayPal with no obligation. The first month is free. LifeWork Planning Guides give you an affordable guide to developing a plan for success in your life and business.

This website is intended for informational purposes only. Comments are open to the public and not endorsed by the author. For career advise, coaching, or counseling, please seek out a professional who can meet your personal needs.

Nancy Miller, M.S., Career Management Consultant
Copyright Center for LifeWork Design © 2007
Reprint by permission only – www.centerforlifeworkdesign.org

Think like an entrepreneur

Entrepreneurs are innovative, hard working, and willing to take calculated risks. Successful entrepreneurs research, plan, develop a product or service, and then market creatively. They invest time and money when needed to meet their own success goals, and re-evaluate their goals regularly.

Whether you are working in a career you love, looking to transition into something new and different, or starting/maintaining a business, you need to think like an entrepreneur. Introverts and extroverts may find very different ways to market their products and skills, but everyone can develop a network. Your network is your interactive support system for finding your personal/career success.

People of all ages are using technology for information, socializing, and learning. The internet is a fabulous tool for researching, playing, and building a social network, but it is not a substitute for real people. Anonymity on the internet can be fun, exciting, scary, or a deterrent to your career success depending on how it is used. Having a Real Person Network is a necessary addition to having an online presence.

Whether you are building a business presence or looking for a job, the internet is a good place to start. But with all of the marketing toward the use of the internet, you can easily be lulled into thinking that it is your best business/career resource. The Job Market section of today's Sacramento Bee describes internet tools such as CareerBuilder and says, "To maximize visibility in front of employers, job seekers should use these job-search options." While the internet tools described can be very helpful to a job seeker, they should not be relied on too heavily. There are jobs and careers that use technology more than others to seek out employees, but trust and face-to-face contact are often much more important than the internet.

Beware of putting your resume on sites like Careerbuilder.com. Many websites ask for personal information, and send back hundreds of unwanted emails. Remember to not provide your address, social security number, or personal references with your resume on any online sites (with the exception of possibly government websites or secure sites that you have thoroughly checked out.) Make sure the website you are using begins with http:// and then the site you are looking for to avoid having your information hijacked by phishing and scams. Use common sense and caution when using the internet and social networking sites. You may find that you are not as anonymous as you think you are, and you need to know where your information is going. With the internet, you might be surprised where your persoanl information ends up.

Enjoy your adventure in networking. There are so many ways to network that there is a place for everyone to find connections. Successful networking means looking for people and places where your interests, values, products, and services find common ground.