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Are You Suited for Self-employment?A recent poll conducted by Yahoo! Small Business showed that nearly 3 out of 4 Americans have considered starting their own business. In fact, of more than 2,200 adults surveyed, over half (51 percent) said they would like to launch their small business within the next 5 years. Clearly, entrepreneurship is a part of the American Dream. But is everyone suited to being his or her own boss? Here's a 10-question quiz that can give you a quick idea of your chance for success if you decide to go out on your own. Keep track of the score on a separate sheet of paper. Be honest. Give yourself a "2" for every "yes" answer, a "1" for every "somewhat" and a "0" for every "no". 1. Are you organized? Do you like to make lists and prioritize your day? 2. Are you task-oriented? Can you focus on a specific task until it's completed? Or do you frequently leave things unfinished? 3. Are you comfortable working with a personal computer? Do you have good computer skills? 4. Are you goal oriented? Do you have a 1-, 3- and 5-year plans for where you want to be? 5. Do you have a wide network of friends and colleagues from previous organizations you've worked for, or schools and organizations you belong to? [ ] Yes [ ] Somewhat [ ] No 6. Are you comfortable serving other people? Have you ever worked in a service role before? 7. Would you characterize yourself as friendly, cheerful, and easy to get along with? 8. Would you say that you have a marketable skill that is needed by other people or companies? 9. Are you willing to work extra hours at night or on weekends to meet deadlines or to make more money? 10. Is making money and being financially secure more important to you than having "status" symbols like a fancy office, expensive car or a big title? Your score: Okay, add up the total. Remember, you should have given yourself a "2" for every "yes" answer, a "1" for every "somewhat" and a "0" for every "no". 11-20 = You're definitely suited for self-employment. 6-10 = You may be suited for it, but should learn more and work on your skill set and service orientation. 0-5 = Don't leave your day job. Self-employment isn't for everyone. It often requires a highly-motivated, self-starter type of person who would gladly work long hours each day because they love what they're doing. If you're that type of person? maybe it IS time to break free and live your dream. Barnaby Kalan is an award-winning freelance copywriter and author of Outsourcing Yourself: How to Turn Your Job Into a Business for Greater Wealth and Security. For a free chapter of his book, visit http://www.outsourcing-yourself.com
| | | | RELATED ARTICLES What You Should Know About A Medical Billing Specialist Whether you are a person who is thinking about becoming a medical billing specialist or a company looking for a medical billing specialist, then this article is for you. There are several things that you should be aware of in the medical billing industry and I will walk you through them so that you will have the background information that you need to help you make a decision that will best suit your needs. We will first take a look at what it takes to become a medical billing specialist, and then we will also explore the alternatives to hiring a medical billing specialist. How to Become a Real Estate Agent If you're wondering how to become a real estate agent, the basic process is fairly simple, although it does vary a lot from state to state.. You will need to take classes, pass exams, earn a real estate license, find a broker to work for, then find sellers or buyers as clients. Tips For Successful Job Hunting: How To Get A Job Without A Resume I am in my mid-thirties, and, as you can imagine, I have changed and looked for jobs many times in my life. No matter how successful was in my job hunting research, I realized that there are certain ground "rules" that need to be respected; otherwise, we will not get what we want from our careers. 7 Steps To A Job-Winning Resume A new resume can jump-start your career. Your network contacts may ask for a resume and some industries absolutely, positively demand a resume as the price of admission. When you begin thinking of your resume as a power source, the results can be astonishing. One Cover Letter Secret You Cant Afford To Miss Suppose you were the hiring manager, your desk piled high with cover letters and resumes to sort through. Which of the following cover letter greetings would grab your attention? I Just Lost My Job: How Am I Going To Tell My Kids? One of the responsibilities of a human resources professional is to let employees know that their job has been eliminated. It is seldom easy to do and often painful for the person who is hearing the news. Job Search: Time Management There is an old adage that "Looking for a job is harder than working." How true! The rigors of job search are magnified by the turmoil we experience: lack of self-confidence, humiliation, financial pressure, and the undercurrent of emotions that color all we do: fear, anger, depression, anxiety, loss. Networking Mistakes and How You Can Avoid Them 'Fear of rejection' is the major reason why individuals looking for a career change hesitate to use networking as the most powerful weapon in their job search armoury. This is even the case with senior people who you would have thought anybody would be delighted to receive a call from. In 99.9% of cases this fear is unfounded - most professional people are pleased to receive calls from like-minded people and are a pleasure and delight to talk to. Dont Settle Chuck was the best of the twenty-four candidates. Still, he didn't have exactly what I was looking for and my instincts warned me of his unusual personality. Yet the skills required for the job were specialized and he had most of them, and I'd been interviewing for five months, and my boss wanted the position filled before the budget process started. No, he might not be perfect, but he would be ok. Becoming A Home Inspector: What the Home Inspection Schools Dont Want You To Know Chances are if you're reading this you've thought about becoming a home inspector. You may have even seen the ads that say you can make hundreds of dollars a day as a home inspector. Home inspection schools put many of these ads out. They paint a rosy picture about the profession and how easy it will be for you to make a ton of money virtually overnight. I'm a Professional Real Estate Inspector and I'm going to tell you what the home inspection schools don't want you to know about this profession! Personal Grooming: 8 Top Reasons Why You Can?t Take It For Granted In Your Career Most people when they landed "the dream job" after an interview or even got "the deal" of the lifetime in their businesses, sadly to say tend to slack on their grooming habits and it even goes to the point that they are wearing their pajamas going to the office. It seems that's very extreme but it happens. 5 Key Factors to Consider When Selecting an Outplacement Firm With today's economy, more and more companies are finding themselves faced with the situation of having to reduce headcount to remain competitive. Here are five key factors to consider when selecting an outplacement firm if your company is ever faced with a workforce reduction. 1. Types of Services Provided. One decision you will need to make regarding outplacement is whether your displaced workers would benefit most from group or individual one-on-one outplacement. For the majority of outplaced employees, if your budget permits, individual outplacement is the preferred option since it provides one-on-one support that will help them move forward more quickly than they would on their own. If you decide they would benefit most from individual outplacement, you will then need to determine what services would be most valuable to your displaced employees. One option would be to select an outplacement firm that develops their resume and cover letter for them. Another option would be an outplacement firm that offers office space and a computer for the displaced worker to prepare their own job search materials. 2. Areas of Specialty. Another factor to consider when selecting an outplacement firm is whether it is important to you that they have experience working with the type of displaced employees you will be sending them. A related factor is whether it is important to you that the outplacement company specializes in dealing with companies like yours. If their areas of specialty are important to you, review the outplacement company's web site and other marketing materials to see what their specialty is or ask them directly. If an outplacement firm's expertise lies in serving large companies displacing administrative staff and your small business is displacing experienced managers, this outplacement firm may not be the best fit for you. 3. Experience with Current Job Search Practices. How important is it to you that the outplacement firm be experienced with Internet job search techniques? Is it likely that the Internet will play a key role in your displaced employees' job search strategy? If you determine that Internet savvy is an important evaluation point for an outplacement firm, check to see whether the outplacement firm recognizes the importance of the Internet by having a web site. Are they aware of the top online career sites? Do they offer a service to post displaced employees resumes on these top online career sites? Do they have the ability to distribution resumes electronically to a select group of employers and recruiters? 4. Length of Time Support is Provided. Another factor to consider when selecting outplacement services is the amount of time you feel the displaced worker would require outplacement support. In general, the more senior-level the position, the longer it will take the displaced employee to find suitable employment. A second time factor to consider is whether the displaced worker will receive ongoing one-on-one scheduled sessions with a career transition consultant or whether the ongoing support merely includes access to job search support materials. 5. Costs. Outplacement costs must be considered when selecting an outplacement firm. Check to see whether outplacement costs are clearly defined and stated on the outplacement firm's web site and in their marketing materials. Are you charged only if the displaced employee elects to contact the outplacement firm for support or are you charged regardless of whether the displaced employee receives support? Are there affordable packages available that provide the services you feel your displaced employees would most benefit from without providing unwanted services? Another cost factor to consider is whether the outplacement firm gives you the able to select outplacement services a la carte to meet your needs. Also determine whether the outplacement company has a minimum fee requirement or whether they will charge you only for the number of displaced employees you actually have even if the number is as few as one. By considering each of these five factors you can develop effective selection criteria for deciding on an outplacement provider to best meet the needs of your displaced employees while adhering to your budget constraints. Copyright 2001-2004, Quest Career Services, LLC. All rights reserved. A Career in Image Consulting You might have seen them while watching TV shows such as Extreme Makeover, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, or What Not to Wear. Or you might have heard that Martha Stewart needed them to give her advice on how to look sympathetic to a jury. Surviving Corporate Politics Part 2: Keeping Up Appearances Never a 2nd chance to make a 1st impression, or so the saying goes. We all know that when someone is introduced into your work environment for the first time, their peers size them up immediately. How they are dressed, how they talk, and how they set up their workspace. Especially in large companies, where there is constant personnel movement, keeping up your appearance is a full time task. In smaller companies, how you compose yourself from Day 1 is of utmost importance. We will start with the basics: How to Success On The Job from Job Hunting to Keep Your Job and Get Most of Out of It INTRODUCTIONThis article will prepare you for the difficult task of job hunting. Not only will it show you how to get a job but it will show you how to keep your job and get the most out of it. You will be able to use the most modern psychological measures in dealing with other people so that you are always ahead. Follow the instruction in this book and see yourself go to the top. Bartending School Online- Earn Your Bartender Training From Home Many young adults flock to bars, lounges and clubs on a weekly basis. They spend hundreds sometimes thousands of dollars on entertaining themselves and their friends. When the night's over and the lights go up, everyone starts to trickle out the front door a little more broke than they were when they entered. Everyone that is, except the bartenders who get to walk out a little richer than they were when they came in. Bartending as a career can be lucrative and extremely fun. Better yet the occupation fits well with many young adults lifestyles and allows them the freedom that regular nine to five jobs don't. The Perfect Resume The perfect resume offers Logical Proofs: Facts Quantifiable data Logical conclusions Achievement and success statements Relevant professional goals/accomplishments Limits the use of jargon Maximizes use of occupation/industry-specific key words Your capabilities and skills Clear, specific, measurable, and quantifiable words and phrases Sells you based on your achievements to date Powerful Phone Interviews Phone interviews are de rigueur with many organizations. Working in Dubai Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is one of the world's fastest growing employment hotspots in the world. Up to 20 new companies establish themselves in the emirate's free trade zones every week and since 2002 some 650 companies have registered in the Dubai Media City free trade zone alone. 175 Power Verbs and Phrases for Resumes, Cover Letters, and Interviews While you're revamping your resume or cover letter or constructing your proof-by-example stories for interviews, you'll find you need to watch your word choice. Why? Communication is powerful if the words we use to communicate are powerful. That's not all it takes, but the right words make for a good beginning. |
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