From Retail to Finance

From Retail to Finance Success Story > From: Job To: Freelance From Retail to Finance “I felt stifled, and dreaded each day.” * From Retail to Finance With two generations of her familyrelyingon her income, making a career change was a scary prospect for Megha Murphy. Here, she shares the careful planning that went into her shift, and how, ultimately, the biggest obstacle she had to deal with was fear itself. What work were you doing previously? For the last 12 years, I've worked in retail management. I was a general manager, managing one of the top brands in luxury retail. What are you doing now? I'm a self-employed financial security advisor and investment representative. How did you feel in your work before you decided to make the change? I'd always felt that my voice was lost in the corporate world. A lot of the work I did was less about the real results (customer satisfaction) and more about the corporate rigmarole that needed to be attended to every day. While I understand the necessity of corporate hierarchy and the structures of corporate communication, I didn't feel like I was able to connect with it anymore. Why did you change? I felt stifled, and dreaded each day. When was the moment you decided to make the change? One of my friends had a heart attack and, suddenly, it brought everything to a head. The way I'd been working (an average of 60+ hours every week) and stressing (about work, life, my responsibilities and financial security) had left me most definitely not feeling healthy in mind or body. That's when I questioned what I was doing, and why. The day I realised that my job was actually detrimental to my mental and physical health, was the day I realised that I needed a change. How did you choose your new career? I explored many different options; some were close to what I had done before. The real answer came to me when I realised that I felt most happy when helping people find their answers through my experience and understanding. I thought about becoming a life coach and that's when I started talking to my loved ones about it. A few in my circle are in the same field, so I asked them about their experience, as well as others in the field who I didn't know. After talking to many people and considering various options, I realised that becoming a financial advisor was an opportunity to combine my love of life coaching and financial expertise. Once I narrowed down my interest, then it became easier to reach out to people I knew to connect with otherse in the financial industry and related services. Are you happy with the change? When I'm in conversation with a client and helping them prioritise their goals and then build their plans, it's the most rewarding feeling. Educating clients and helping them based on their individual situations makes each interaction so meaningful and leaves me with a sense of accomplishment. When someone I talk to turns around and tells me how much my advice has helped and made a difference, I want to go back and pound the pavement to meet my next client. I still have a boatload of fear, though. I worry about finding prospects and leads, and converting them to clients. I worry about not having enough knowledge, and that I may not earn enough. What do you miss and what don't you miss? I definitely don't miss the retail landscape. I miss leading teams, as that was an integral part of my previous work experience. But I'm happier connecting one-on-one with people, helping them gain financial strength and feel better about their lives. I love the fact that I'm able to work flexible hours. I have a lot more workâ€"life balance now than I ever did working jobs. I sometimes work longer hours, but it doesn't feel like work. How did you go about making the shift? The whole process has taken me under a year, but the seeds were sown early last year. After a vacation in my home country meeting my parents and friends, I realised that while I'd done more than required of me in fulfilling my responsibilities towards others, I had neglected myself completely. I had an agenda and it was to provide for those dependent on me, my parents and my daughter. I put myself on the backburner and even forgot to dream. I didn't have a bucket list or any idea what would make me happy. I started questioning what I was doing. A few situations at work, my friend's heart attack, an empty nest and my own physical and mental dis-ease all made me dig deeper to question what I was feeling and what I could do about it. Once I realised I wanted to quit my job and the industry I was in, that's when I started researching career change and stumbled upon Careershifters. I was inspired, emboldened and determined thereafter; I followed some of the guidelines and it just started to flow from there. After that, it was about taking the practical steps: saving up and putting in my resignation (I gave my company five months' notice), studying and qualifying for the necessary certifications that I needed and then training for the job. It was as though each step just came up as I moved forward. How did you handle your finances to make your shift possible? Knowing that I was taking a huge leap, from having a guaranteed income with bonuses to absolutely no guarantees, meant I had to have enough to sustain me for six months to a year at least. I started saving up during my notice period and had some other savings which would tide me over for about six months. I took my training courses through a company that supported the education and also gave me a small allowance as a trainee financial advisor. I had some unused lines of credit that would have been my secondary back up if needed. However, I've not needed to use those so far. It's still very tight as I have kept myself on a strict budget. I don't have any big income expected anytime soon, but as long as I'm able to keep up with my bills, then I know that it will come with time. I've always been a planner and very diligent about budgeting; that's really helped. What was the most difficult thing about changing? Overcoming fear. I think the only thing that prevented me and sometimes still keeps me captive is fear. They say that 99% of what you fear never comes true. When I sat down to chart my actions for my shift, I envisioned the worst-case scenario, and then when I found a solution for that situation, everything else felt workable and better. Having said that, I still have those irrational fears of what I would do if something totally unexpected happened. What help did you get? I read a lot; the articles on Careershifters definitely motivated me to keep thinking and working towards the change I wanted to see in my life. I had many of my circle support me, while others cautioned me heavily. Since I'm a single parent and my parents are also completely dependent on me, I had to be very sure I could take this step. But overwhelming people have supported me and said I should do it for myself. They've been my cheerleaders and my voice of reason. What resources would you recommend to others? Just like Careershifters says on their website â€" read up, meet people and put yourself out there. That might mean going out to events and places that you normally wouldn't go to, or meeting people that you've never met before. Being your true self is the starting point. When you go out there as someone who has no title or description, so to speak, you're like a blank canvas, ready to soak up what you see and hear. It makes the change process easier. Sitting in front of the computer alone doesn't help at all. What have you learnt in the process? I think my biggest learning through all of this has been understanding fear: how it incapacitates you and drains your energy, making you focus on things that take you away from your goals. I feel like I'm finally taking a chance on me and living life in the process. I'm learning to tune into my gut, to make choices and plan, but not get immersed in too many details; most of the things that are worrisome turn out to be just figments of the imagination. What would you advise others to do in the same situation? Take your time. Consider all options and envision the worst-case scenario. If you can handle that, anything else is a step up. Consider the impact on your loved onesand your financial situation. Most importantly, think about what the new situation enables you to have or do that you can't already do in your current situation. Talk to professionals, talk to people in the know. They're usually forthcoming about their own experiences and journeys. To find out more about Megha's work, visit meghamurphy.wordpress.com. What lessons could you take from Megha's story to use in your own career change? Let us know in the comments below.

6 Ways to Run a Successful Mom Blog - Classy Career Girl

6 Ways to Run a Successful Mom Blog Bored of your stay-at-home-mom status? Here, you will find all the guidance you need to kick-start, run, and make a living with a super mom blog. 6 Ways to Become a Successful Mommy Blogger 1. Know It’s in You Not every mom is a natural blogger. Just because you think it is an easy way to make good money does not mean that this is the case. To know whether you can run your own mom blog, ask yourself if: You have spare time and energy to dedicate to the blog daily. You have the motivation and self-drive required to deal with failure and rejection while learning from your mistakes. You are creative and can think up great ideas. You have basic writing skills. You can learn how to monetize your efforts. If you answered at least 5 of the above questions with a yes, you might have the skills to become a mommy blogger. 2. Find a Niche The next important thing to maintaining a successful mom blog is to find a niche. This means you must know the area of interest that you will be writing about. If feel lost, think of areas where you already have a level of skill or talent to bring to the table. Then, consider how these skills will benefit the audience you intend to target. Remember, you should be passionate about your topic to succeed as a mom blogger. Finding a subject, you are passionate about will fuel your fire and keep you going when obstacles present themselves. It will also ensure that your desire is always high even during the difficulties and you never face undesired burnout. 3. Be Realistic Most blogging moms often end up broken and unfulfilled in their endeavors because they are not realistic with the expectations that they set for themselves. Of course, you know that you need to follow your passion and get started on that blog if you are to succeed. However, you should consider what you are offering to the niche and how it will benefit the audience you are targeting. For instance, if you are passionate about Victorian fashion, it is highly unlikely that you will find an audience large enough to market your knowledge to. Therefore, you should research and write about something enough other people are interested in. Be realistic about how search engines work, and what they require from your blog to rank it highly. Factors such as keyword inclusion, the frequency of your posts, and the age of your blog will go a long way in determining your success both in the short-term and even more importantly the long-term viewpoint of your success. [RELATED: How to Land Your First Guest Post Opportunity] 4. Check the Competition Before diving into the writing, you should find out what other people are already doing.   This can generate idea opportunities where you can build the opinion of what you will say about what you intend to write. Pick a couple of the top blogs and read through them. Then, work on your blog in such a way that it will not only offer more, but it will also be more instructive, interactive, and useful to your target audience. This is one of the best ways to succeed as a mom blogger. 5. Pick a Platform WordPress is the best free blog sites platform to host your mom blog on. However, you might also want to give Blogger a try. Picking the platform to use will enable your ability to understand what it offers. With that knowledge in hand, you can set your sites on turning these opportunities into great content for your audience.   No matter if you are creating articles, audio, video, or something else, you must first have the base built before you can start reaching your intended audience and sharing your corresponding wisdom. 6. Get Started Now that your website is live, you should start sharing everything you love â€" which is doubly useful to your target audience â€" immediately.   You can do this on your blog directly, in associated social media platforms or both simultaneously.   In fact, there are so many ways to share that this would make a nice article. Create amazing posts about your chosen niche and add cool images and short videos to it.   As your audience sees the time and attention you are putting into the work, they will begin paying more and more attention to what you’re saying. The above rules will go a long way in helping you maintain a successful blog as a mom. However, they won’t work unless you do. Therefore, hit the ground running and enjoy the benefits associated with becoming a mom blogger starting today.

How to Use LinkedIn Marketing like a Business Capitalist

How to Use LinkedIn Marketing like a Business Capitalist LinkedIn is one of the most widely used social media networks worldwide. It has more than 610 million members with more than 303 million active users each month, rivaling platforms like Twitter and Instagram. And it’s no surprise why LinkedIn is so popular if you’ve used it recently, you already know how useful it can be to connect with clients, team members, and employees. It’s also a great tool to find jobs. But did you know LinkedIn can be a popular marketing tool? That’s right LinkedIn is a social media network, after all! Just as you can market your brand on Facebook and Twitter, you can attract new leads and customers on LinkedIn you just need the right strategy. In this guide, you’ll learn what makes LinkedIn an effective marketing tool. We’ll teach you powerful ways to reach new audiences with LinkedIn marketing and use it to grow brand awareness for your small business. The Marketing Power of LinkedIn You learned two key statistics about LinkedIn’s influence above, but there’s more than meets the eye to the world’s largest business network. For example, did you know 92% of Fortune 500 companies and INC 5000 Fastest Growing US Companies use LinkedIn? Or did you know that LinkedIn is responsible for 80% of B2B leads from social media? And 46% of social media leads for B2B websites come from LinkedIn? As a small business owner or digital marketer, that means you’re missing out on a huge audience if you aren’t using LinkedIn as part of your social media marketing campaigns. Another key thing to note about LinkedIn: for a social media platform, a relatively small percentage of the user base posts on their page.   Out of the 303 million active users on LinkedIn each month, only 3 million share content.    What does this mean for you? It means you aren’t competing with as many people for traction. If fewer people are posting, you have less of a crowd to wade through for recognition. Ultimately, LinkedIn is one of the best social media platforms for digital marketing period. If you aren’t using it as part of your lead generation and outreach strategies, you’re missing out on a substantial portion of your potential audience. How to Use Linkedin for Your Success To be successful on LinkedIn, you need to follow a few simple strategies. Your goal is to make as many meaningful connections as possible, create a professional profile that represents your brand’s image, and post content you care about. Let’s take a look at a few basic principles if you want to succeed on LinkedIn. Complete Your Profile Your company’s LinkedIn profile should tell leads everything they need to know about your brand. It should represent your vision and your personality. To do this, you need to fill out your profile completely. This includes a professional profile image and an in-depth description of what your company does. Remember: your profile is your first impression. Treat it like a job interview or a sales meeting. How do you want to present your brand to potential business connections and customers? Connect, Connect, Connect! Listen there’s no rule that says you should only connect with people you know on LinkedIn. In fact, cold-connecting with people can be one of the best ways to connect on Linkedin to generate awareness for your brand. If you only add connections to people you know closely, you won’t benefit much from your interactions on LinkedIn. Sure they may send you a post they like or forward an employee recommendation, but they don’t benefit your marketing campaign. We’re not saying you can’t add people who are affiliated with your brand by all means, connect with everyone you know on LinkedIn, too. But if you only limit it to people you know, you’re missing out on a potential audience. Optimize Your Profile for LinkedIn’s Search Engine People are always searching for others on LinkedIn. Like Google, LinkedIn uses an algorithm to determine the rank of websites on its search engine results index. How can you use this to your advantage? Create a list of keywords that relate to your brand and include them on your page. For example, a digital marketing agency might feature words like ‘content marketing’ and ‘growth hacking’ in their profile to show up when someone searches for those phrases. Advanced Tactics for LinkedIn Lead Generation Once you get the basics of LinkedIn marketing, you can apply more advanced tactics to reach a larger audience and improve your conversions. Use LinkedIn to Get Email Subscribers Remember what we said above about connecting with everyone?   If you follow that advice, this tip can be highly profitable. For every person, you connect with, send them a message thanking them for the connect. Then respectfully ask them to check out your content and sign up for your email list it’s that simple! This method is free and effective. Don’t let your hesitation for cold-messaging hold you back worst case scenario, your leads don’t sign up! Post Exceptional Content Did you just publish your best blog post?    Share it on LinkedIn! Your connections and followers will see it and it can generate traffic to your site. As we mentioned above, a relatively small proportion of LinkedIn users quality post content. Take advantage of this and post your best content as often as possible. Claim Your Custom LinkedIn URL By default, LinkedIn will assign you a generic, randomly generated URL. Make it easier for your customers to find you by claiming your custom URL and using it to represent your brand. Final Thoughts LinkedIn is one of the most effective marketing tools on the web but it’s often overlooked by marketers and small business owners. With goal-driven strategies and consistent effort, you can use LinkedIn as a powerful tool to generate brand awareness and increase your audience throughout organic reach. This guest post was authored by Marsha Kelly Marsha Kelly sold her first business for more than a million dollars. She has shared hard-won experiences as a successful serial entrepreneur on her Best4Businesses blog, where she also regularly posts business tips, ideas, and suggestions, as well as product reviews, for business readers. As a serial entrepreneur, Marsha has done “time” in corporate America.   Marsha has learned what products and services really work well in business today. You can learn from her experiences to build your business.

Checking Work Emails Outside of the Office is Damaging Your Health

Checking Work Emails Outside of the Office is Damaging Your Health The average person in the UK checks their phone every 12 minutes, cementing the fact that smartphones are engrained within the 21st-century  culture.   It is not just social media that is at our fingertips as work emails and office-based tools are just a click away.   In the quest to create a relaxed office environment, many are arguing that such a workplace culture paves the way to having no work boundaries at all.   Research from Glassdoor reveals that the average UK employee sacrifices 6.5 days of their holiday entitlement each year through fear of being out of the office.   Out of office worries can make the prospect of checking emails too tempting to resist.   However, ‘checking in’ can have a detrimental impact on our mental health, personal relationships and levels of productivity.   Here, the health and wellbeing brand Gear Hungry presents the effects that checking emails out of office hours has on an employee’s health along with tips on how to avoid the temptation. Emails on the brain Stanford University conducted a study that revealed when people multi-tasked, they trained the brain to switch its attention so frequently that it was constantly unable to focus.   Consequently, switching between everyday tasks and emails can have a long-term effect on your concentration levels.  Retraining the brain to fully focus on one task at a time can be problematic as it is effectively trying to form new habits. Checking your emails outside of work has been linked to ‘Anticipatory Stress’, a type of stress that occurs when a person experiences a surge in anxiety due to thoughts of an event or specific occurrence.   This can happen when a person feels pressured to check their work emails in order to stay up to date with the happenings in the office.   Anticipatory Stress often stems from a lack of confidence and consistent fear of failure.   This can lead people to commit to working out of hours.   Jordan Carter at Gear Hungry says, ‘fear of failure is incredibly common as workloads mount and the pressure to climb career ladders heighten.   This can lead to employees believing that if they work harder and for longer, success must be imminent.   In my view, this is not true.   Working smarter, not harder ensures success and avoids burnout.   Working long hours tirelessly often sees that tasks are completed far less effective and are of poor quality’. When Relationships Suffer Study’s from Virginia Tech showed that those checking their emails had no idea of the effect it was having on their romantic partners.   Working intermittently in your social hours can cause a disconnect between partners as they feel second best and unable to gain your full attention. The counterproductive facts Sacrificing your   ‘free time’ by checking emails will not only have a negative lasting impression on your physical and mental wellbeing, but it will also have a detrimental effect on your levels of productivity. Not allowing yourself enough rest bite out of the office is a sure-fire way to experience office burnout.   Office burnout will ensure that tasks are completed at a slower pace and that there is a deficiency in workplace engagement.   Every time you are interrupted by an email, it takes a total of 20 minutes to fully focus on the previous task in hand.   Research has shown that chopping and changing between tasks can see that they take 40% longer to complete.   Carter says, ‘frequent emails can affect your focus within the workplace as well as outside.   Close your emails when you are working on specific tasks and open them again once the task is completed.   I implemented this rule within my business and some employees noted that their tasks took half the time to complete’. How to avoid checking your emails out of hours 1.Create a plan of action When it hits half 5, it can be tempting to run for the door, however, before you leave the office plan the next day’s tasks and ensure that the todays duties do not overrun into tomorrow.   Employees can feel the need to check in with work when they are conscious that they may have some tasks outstanding.   Tie up loose ends at the end of every day to avoid this. 2. If I worry then I am better at my job Employees often feel that if they send emails out of hours then they will portray the message that they are committed to their role and therefore must be a good employee.   The quality of your work will always speak louder than several emails that are often unnecessary.   Not checking your emails will give your brain the opportunity to recharge and allow you to fully focus on the work in hand. 3. Disconnect from temptation Perhaps the simplest and most effective way to ensure that you do not check work emails outside of the office is to not have them on your phone at all.   Unless it is in your contract, there is no law that suggests you are obliged to connect to the workplace out of hours.   Keep your phone for personal use and leave your work at work.

What Is the Average Cost of Resume Writing?

What Is the Average Cost of Resume Writing?Are you wondering what is the average cost of resume writing? There are many people out there that ask this question, but the majority of them never find out the answer.The average cost of resume writing will vary from person to person and company to company. It all depends on the type of resume writing you're looking for. If you want to get your resume in front of a lot of employers you will likely have to pay more than someone who just wants to work for themselves.Resume writing can be extremely time consuming and very confusing. This is why there are so many different places out there that offer resume writing services. These services are ideal if you're not very good at writing resumes and need someone to guide you through the process. You may be wondering if you can do it yourself?Yes, you can definitely do it yourself, but remember that resume writing is a very involved process. You can try to save money by doing it yourself, but the o dds are against you. Yes, you can probably come up with a decent resume. But most people can't seem to put their name on it properly or even spell it correctly.If you're going to look for the average cost of resume writing, you're going to have to find a good one. A great place to start is with companies that offer resume writing services. Most of these companies have good reputations and good writing skills.Most of these companies have writers that specialize in specific types of resumes and they offer custom projects as well. When you look for these companies, make sure you check out reviews online, and talk to other applicants to find out which companies offer the best deals. It's important to know that these companies may charge a fee, and it may even be based on the number of resumes they write. If this sounds like a possibility, then make sure you're very clear about your expectations. If you're not too concerned about the price, then the cheapest one is probably fine.To sum u p, what is the average cost of resume writing is dependent on the type of resume you're looking for, the experience level of the writer, and of course, how much you're willing to spend. Check out several different companies before making a decision, and ask for samples of the work they've done before.

The Hidden Job Market How is it Opened - Hire Imaging

The Hidden Job Market How is it Opened - Hire Imaging Hidden Job Market is a term thats been used for years by career experts. I believe it does exist. This post will show you what the hidden job market is and three tips for unlocking it in your job search. Hidden Job Market: What is it? The hidden job market refers to jobs that aren’t posted or advertised in a conventional manner. These include newspaper or online classifieds, company sites, job boards, career publications and phone-in employment lines. Statistics show that nearly 80% of jobs fall into this category. For those making $300K and up, 90% are typically hidden. Hidden Job Market: Why do companies use it? Companies often choose not to advertise a position to avoid the costs, time and manpower associated with advertising, screening and interviewing. Busy hiring managers frequently dodge advertising to avoid complex recruitment processes, the charge of applicants and unproductive reviews of generic resumes. Instead, they use referrals, social networking and professional associations to find potential candidates. Bottom line: in your job search, you want to find the hidden job opportunities and pull them to you, rather than push out only to visible openings. Hidden Job Market: Some tips for opening doors Most of my clients who have been successful in accessing the hidden job market in their job search, are using combined strategies of reaching out to their networks and contacting people directly who they don’t know. They are spending no more than 20% of their time on advertised openings. Here are three approaches that have worked for them: Send emails or direct messages through LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook to your entire network asking for referrals. Try for 100+ people if you can (family, friends, former colleagues, professors, your accountant, veterinarian, etc.). The email or message would go something like this: Subject Line: “Can you help me?” Body: Give your brief pitchwhat you want to do and your value to an organization. List the names of 25 organizations you’d like to work for. At the bottom of the email, ask for contacts in those organizations. Make it clear that you will not be asking for a job, but rather a 10-minute conversation about the company and how you might fit in at some point.   Be sure to blind copy all recipients in email so you don’t disclose their addresses. My client, John sent an email to his network stating he was interested in a Minnesota-based IT executive role. He was pleasantly surprised when his cousin’s neighbor phoned and connected him with a Minneapolis software firm’s CEO. This led to an informational interview. A new CIO role was created. John got the job. Maximize LinkedIn to get informational interviews. My client Karen saw this tip online, and used it very successfully. Beforehand, she had set up her LinkedIn free account (www.linkedin.com) by building a strong ROI-based profile, building her 1st degree connections, and joining LinkedIn groups relevant to her career field, interests and targets. She then conducted “advanced people searches” (click “Advanced” on the right, next to the People search-box) to find people she wanted to reach out to via LinkedIn or email. Karen wanted to work as a Financial Analyst and used those two words in her “Advanced People Search”. She saw she was indirectly connected to a CFO through one LinkedIn Group and three mutual connections. She emailed the CFO directly, referencing their mutual connections. That led to a meeting, interviews and an offer. Think potential opportunities with every interview or meeting. My client, Madeline, a 40ish job seeker, went through an intense, long interview process with a large advertising agency’s Production Departmentâ€"five interviews over three months. She was notified that she did not get the job. She called the hiring manager at 8:30 a.m. the next morning, and asked if there might be other areas of the firm where her expertise might be valued. This got her an interview with the Creative Department. She didn’t get that one either. Undaunted, she again asked for a referral, which led to two more interviews for an unadvertised position in Media Services. This time she was offered the job, and happily accepted. So, understanding that there is a vast hidden job market gives you, the job seeker an advantage over those who do not! Applying strategies and being persistent to reach out to decision-makers who know about a job that is not visible, could put you at the very top of the candidate pool! Do you have some ideas to share for tapping into hidden job market? Photo: Faithful Chant

Escape from Corporate America

Escape from Corporate America Last week I went to hear  Pamela Skillings  speak at Pace University. Pamela is the author of  Escape from Corporate America: A Practical Guide to Creating the Career of Your Dreams. In her presentation, she shared some chilling statistics about the American workforce including:  The average American spends more than 100,000 hours working over their lifetime; thats more time than they spend with their spouse and family.50% of people are dissatisfied with their jobs  and 80% have fantasized about a new job.The #1 cause of  job stress  is lack of control over what you do and how you do it.Whether you are questioning staying in corporate America or staying in your current job, having a plan is key. In this  new economy,  thing change quickly and very few people stay with one company for their entire career. New careers and new jobs dont happen over night. It takes creativity, commitment, and patience to reach your goals. Having a strong support network is key. What steps are you taking to plan your escape and move on to the job of your dreams?