Actress Jessica Alba became an entrepreneur by co-founding a company that made $150 million in revenue last year. Lawyer Marci Alboher leveraged her successful career to become an author and life coach. Nowadays, more and more women are making these types of broad career shifts. And in becoming “broads,” they affirm their statuses as successful businesswomen and reap many … [Read more...]
3 Basic Skills / Attributes Entrepreneurs Need
Do you have the basic skills/attributes that entrepreneurs need to be successful? If not, start cultivating them now. Here are three you should start working on developing as soon as possible: 1. Professional Presentation Skills Professional presentation skills are extremely important for an entrepreneur. When you think of professional presentation skills, you probably think … [Read more...]
7 Ways a Hobby Can Advance Your Career
Do you have hobbies? Some people pack their off-work hours with extracurricular activities, while others wonder if binge-watching the latest TV show counts as a hobby. Whatever you enjoy doing with your leisure time, you may not have considered the impact hobbies can have on your career. There are many ways the activities you love can contribute to and advance your … [Read more...]
What I Learned by Leaving a Big Career to Take a Sabbatical at 30
It is a couple of weeks before my 6 month sabbatical comes to an end. I am walking my little dachshunds (i.e, daxies) at 11 a.m. in the local park. While sitting on the park bench embracing my last hours as a free agent, I realize one of the hounds has lifted his leg on a neighbor’s stroller and I need to go apologize. As I approach to diffuse the situation, I start … [Read more...]
Self Confidence and the Female Entrepreneur
In Ireland, there is a strong, on-going government initiative to encourage entrepreneurship. In conjunction with the global recession of the past eight years or so, Ireland also experienced its own devastating banking crisis. During, and since this awful time, realization dawned that entrepreneurs are the backbone of our economy. Their strength, in the face of uncertainty, … [Read more...]
5 Things I Wish I Knew in the First 5 Years of My Career
In my career in technology, I have helped many customers create wayfinding systems---the touchscreen-enabled systems that allow people to chart where they are and where they are going as they navigate a shopping center or college campus. Wayfinding is a lot like the lifelong effort of shaping a career. The first step is to identify where the “You Are Here” pin might be and … [Read more...]
The Need for 2-in-1 Hybrid Talent
My parents worked the same job for 35 years. Chances are, so did yours! Each of their career paths, once chosen, existed in its own great silo. Once an accountant, retired as an accountant! Fortunately, that does not have to be your case. Today, career sites are replete with interesting examples of job postings that combine different streams of specialties. This new … [Read more...]
Make Your Own Luck
There I was---thrilled to get my very first college acceptance letter. I couldn’t believe I had gotten into the musical theater program at University of Michigan! All my life, I had dreamed of pursuing a career in theater, on Broadway, in every musical possible---and this was my golden ticket! I had worked so hard all of my life for this and felt that at 18, everything had … [Read more...]
Establishing a Leadership Brand Within Your Organization
The term, leadership brand, was first used by David Ulrich and Norm Smallwood in 2007. Not only were these university professors describing---in their book with the same name---a way to assess the competencies that individual leaders must possess, but also to address the importance of leadership within the organization. In other words a company needs both individual leaders to … [Read more...]
4 Ways to Kick Start Your Momentum
Wouldn’t you agree that sometimes it’s challenging to keep your momentum going? Sure, there are times when everything seems to come together effortlessly. As things progress, they get better and better. The problem is life isn’t perfect. It’s not always easy to keep your momentum going. You might start a project that seems fun and exciting only to find there is a great deal … [Read more...]