7 reasons why career coaching can make you happy

7 reasons why career coaching can make you happy7 reasons why career coaching can make you happyIs your career going to plan? How about the other parts of your life? If youre stuck in a dead-end job or feel youve somehow been drifting along a career path by accident rather than design and its making you unhappy, its elend too late to do something about it.This is where career coaching can be hugely beneficial. Being frustrated, stressed or dissatisfied at work can have a major impact on your performance at work, your relationship, your health and wellbeing. An experiencedcareer coachcan help you rediscover how to connect your personal values with your goals, getting your professional and personal life back on track.Use this powerful approach as a first port of call, not as a last resort, to reap the benefits in the shortest possible time.1. Make the right career choicesIts a complex world out there in the professional sphere. Technology in general, and the importance of digital platf orms and social media in particular, are advancing rapidly and this has a major impact on job search and career management. With so much information out there, how do you know what skills you need and which direction to take?A great career coach has the training, experience and tools tohelp you make informed career choices. With an uncanny ability to see the wood for the trees, s/he can point you towards the path thats right for you and your goals.2. Find a way forward thats tailor made for youCareer decisions are as different as the individuals taking them theres no one-size-fits-all solution. Thats why its so difficult to get the right answer from reading self-help books or online resources theyre simply too general. Even talking to friends or trusted colleagues may not get you any further.With the expert assistance of a career coach by your side, youll be able to identify and build on your own personal experiences, circumstances and aspirations, devising a plan of action thats p erfect for you.3. Be paid what youre really worthMaking a career change, getting a new job or a promotion takes a lot of time, effort and personal investment, all of which can be thoroughly demoralising if you dont have the right support in place.With a career coach to guide you, you will learn how to save time and make the process faster, more productive and more satisfying. Learn how toput yourself forward effectively and confidently for the right jobs, with the skills to negotiate a salary that reflects your level of skill and professional standing.4. Discover your inner confidenceOne of the greatest demons many people have to verstndigung im strafverfahren with in the workplace, including at senior management levels, is a lack of confidence. A skilled career coach will be able to identify your personal strengths, pinpoint your unique selling proposition with clarity and make sense of your career in a way you may not have thought of yourself.Armed with this awareness, you will fe el empowered to present yourself with muchmore confidence in job interviews, in meetings with senior decision makers in your company, and in day-to day relations with your colleagues and peers.5. No more procrastination or inactionSometimes, life just takes over and however good your intentions may be to do something about your unhappy job situation, the time never seems to be right. If youre plagued by lack of time or knowledge, or areoverwhelmed by the prospect of a major change, or something else is stopping you from making a change to the status quo, career coaching is the perfect answer.Finding a good career coach is the first step to addressing the herausforderung. Whats more, once youve started working together you know that therewillbe progress and it may come sooner than you think.6. A problem shared is a problem halvedWe all need a bit of support sometimes. If youve gone through a rough patch at work, perhaps recovering from redundancy or having to deal with bullying in t he office, looking forward may be difficult for you.With a sympathetic career coach with a solid background in psychotherapy at your side, you can work through the issues and find your way through the darkness. You will emerge from the process with a more balanced sense of perspective, and greater confidence with which to go forward into a positive future.7. Building career skills for lifeThe best bit about career coaching is that the skills you will learn will stand you in good stead for the rest of your life. Fully empowered to understand the triggers that create blocks to your success, and equipped with strategies to remove these blocks for good, your efforts will now naturally flow towards your goals without the risk of being thrown off course.Its a valuable investment into your professional (and personal) future that will bring you closer to the happiness you deserve.This article was originally posted on YourCoffeeBreak.co.uk.

How to Develop Your Own Cold Call Opener

How to Develop Your Own Cold Call OpenerHow to Develop Your Own Cold Call OpenerThe first few seconds of a cold call are crucial. Thats the moment when a prospect decides if theyre going to say No, thanks and hang up or if theyre going to give you a few moments to tell them more about what youre selling. So developing just the right cold call opener can make a huge difference in how well your schlussverkauf calls go. Using Your Elevator Pitch as a Starting Point A good cold call opener often sounds much like an elevator pitch, a quick sales appeal you could say to someone when youve got minimal time, like in an elevator when one of you might be getting off on the next floor. If you already have a strong elevator pitch, you can modify it into a cold call opener with little difficulty. If not, crafting your cold call opener can give you the basis for your new elevator pitch. Identifying Yourself The first part of your cold call opener is your name and company affiliation. You m ust begin by giving the part whose day youve interrupted the basic courtesy of identifying yourself. If you give only your first name, youll probably sound more friendly. And be sure to lead off with the name of the person youve reached once youre sure thats who it is. That will also help establish a connection between you. Mentioning a Benefit Quickly Unless the person youre calling hears something that would be helpful to them within a few seconds, they will hang up and get back to what they were doing. Thats why its crucial to quickly mention a benefit your companys product or service can offer them. If your product can increase the efficiency of their manufacturing process by up to 33 percent, say that?. If your service can cut their online customer acquisition cost (CAC) by an average of 44 percent, say that. Offering Credibility To make your opening benefit more credible, provide some information on the reach of your company that will show it isnt some fly-by-night out fit. If more than 250 companies around the world that are similar to theirs have experienced that increased manufacturing efficiency, say that. If both your company and the one youre trying to land as a customer are small businesses, you might mention that six local companies they would recognize have lowered their CAC dramatically after using your service. Asking for More Time Now that youve made it clear exactly what youre offering, you need to ask your sales prospect for permission to tell them some more about it. Telling them youll take only a minute of their time when you dont know whether they have a minute to spare right then isnt the best approach. You may be seen as presumptuous and unworthy of any more of their consideration. Asking them whether you caught them at a good time is a better option. It shows youre aware of the demands on their time and youre not taking their attention for granted. If they say no, you can ask whether you could call them back later that day. If they say yes, you have permission to go ahead with a more-detailed pitch. Opener Examples Combining all of those parts would lead to openers like the following, all of which would be preceded by a confirmation that youve reached your intended prospect either a transfer to that persons extension or something along the lines of Hello. Is this Jos Salazar? Yes. Jos, this is Samantha at Fantastic Widgets. More than 250 global companies have increased their manufacturing efficiency as much as 33 percent by switching to our products. Is now a good time to speak with you about them?Jos, this is Samantha at Exemplar Marketing Services. Our company has lowered customer acquisition costs for six companies in Middletown, including ABC and XYZ, by up to 44 percent. Have I caught you at an OK time?

Are you ready for FIRE, LeanFIRE ... or just kidding yourself

Are you ready for FIRE, LeanFIRE ... or just kidding yourselfAre you ready for FIRE, LeanFIRE ... or just kidding yourselfThis post was inspired by lively discussions on the FIRE and LeanFire Reddit. What I have to share on the topic of retiring early and purple drankFIRE may seem controversial or critical however, my reason for sharing this is to help you be successful in your goals.The FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) MovementAn interesting development over the last several years has been theFIRE movement. Financial independence is defined as having sufficient passive income and/or sufficient investments to cover your living expenses. The turning point is when you have saved enough or reduced your expenses enough to achieve financial independence.Once you have reached financial independence, you are now free to live a good life, or at least that is how the story goes.Since financial independence is a formula, those seeking FIRE often focus on both sides of the equation, b eing the reduction of living expenses and increasing passive income and investments. Many on the FIRE path will go to such heroic efforts to minimize expenses that they can achieve the definition of FIRE with comparably very little saved, sometimes referred to as lean FIRE or LeanFIRE.LeanFIRE is steeped in anti-consumerism, simple living, and even homesteading. Despite the proliferation and popularity ofblogs, books and web forums,the pursuit of FIRE is elend new. The acronym is a recent development however, the concept of reaching financial independence and retiring early was bedrngnislage born of the internet nor of recent time.The concept easily dates to the 1960s, and I bet that one could easily make an argument that the U.S.A. was founded by the godfathers of geo-arbitrage.Fortunately, people pursuing FIRE or leanFIRE have the benefit of learning from those that came before them.Are You Pursuing FIRE or LeanFIRE?Some people may argue the difference is just semantics. I believe words matter. A yacht and a kayak are both vessels however, if I told you I took my vessel out on the open water this weekend, you could be forgiven for thinking I owned something much grander than a kayak.Similarly, if someone told you they reached Financial Independence, I doubt the image that comes to mind is of one living in a yurt in their neighbors backyard. Being frugal and living simply is impressive and admirable. As a community, though, we need to enaya we are all on the same page.A proposition, Modify Financial Independence Retire Early TerminologyAs such, I propose we modify the definition of FIRE. In my opinion, financial independence should equal having sufficient passive income and investments to replace your wages or the median income (like the cost of living) for the community you are living in.Financial independenceshouldentail some form ofcontingency planningand/or redundancy. As well, I would argue that failing to plan for variables is not a plan at allif one va riable threatens your independence, then by definition, you arenotas financially independent as you believed you were.LeanFIRE would mean that you have chosen a FIRE path that focuses on simple living and frugality to achieve your goals. It also means you do not have sufficient resources for FIRE.Of course, if you are leaving your job to turn a side hustle into your main gig, and you need that active income to maintain your standard of living, I would consider that asself-employment on the path to FIRE.Why Does any of this Matter? Because you are Playing with FIRE.Good planning entails considering what could reasonably go wrong and plan ahead for contingencies. Good planning needs to work in good times and bad. Both forms of FIRE have some risks. The leaner the FIRE, the more risks you may need to plan for and if you fail to plan you could get burnt.Lets Talk About What Can Go WrongLiving ExpensesLiving expenses will go up over time, and inflation is hard to measure or even forecast . This is in part because inflation affectshouseholds differently.If you ask a cattle farmer, a truck driver and a technology consultant how much expenses go up annually, you are likely to get three very different answers.The farmer and the truck driver are much more sensitive to changes in energy and commodity prices than the tech consultant. In fact, the tech consultant may argue that expenses declinePeople express their belief that their stock market-linked portfolio will keep up with inflation. They make the assumption that the stock market returns will beat the average rate of inflation. The question is, will you experience average rates of inflation? Will people, such as retirees that need to allocate a high proportion of the passive income to living expenses, tend to be more sensitive to inflation in energy and commodities?TIPMake sure your inflation protection strategy is correlated to the inflationyou arelikely to experience, not just a general cost of living inflation.Taxe sTax policies change and evolve over time. The only thing we know for certain is that we dont know anything for certain. Luckily, the various income taxes are easy enough to plan for.The challenge is in theproperty taxes and indirect taxes. In many areas of the country, property taxes have steadily increased at rates greater than the rate of inflation. An extremely lean FIRE plan may not be able to keep up with property tax inflation.We must worry about indirect taxes, are you prepared if the town you live in doubles or triples the water bill? If you reside in the country and rely on a well or septic system, do you plan for the potential cost of conversion to public water and sewer if the township mandates that change? A mandated change like that today could cost $15k. What would it cost in ten or fifteen years?TIPConsider setting aside extra money forrainy day emergenciesbefore leaving the workforce. Correlations ChangeThe great recession and financial crisis thought us several les sons about portfolio design and volatility in income-producing portfolios. We have also learned that correlations change. In 2008, multiple asset categories experienced losses. One thing I often hear people on the path to FIRE say is if their portfolio loses value they will just go back to work.The financial crisis taught us that weakness in the stock markets tends to correlate highly with weakness in the job market. If that wasnt bad enough, the same finance downturn that damaged your portfolio could also trigger a layoff where your tenant works, and now he is unable to pay rent. It has become popular for those seeking FIRE tomake money online, just keep in mind the economic forces that rattle your investments could impact your side hustle as well.HealthcareHealth care and health insurance are some of the biggest challenges to those aspiring to FIRE and Lean FIRE. The Affordable Care Act has created some opportunities for people to purchaseaffordable health insurancethey have struc tured their taxable income in an ideal manner.The issue remains that, over the course of 15 to 25 years, we do not know what health insurance programs will look like. Historically, health care costs increase at a greater than average rate versus the rate of inflation. It would be prudent to plan accordingly.I have heard people in the lean FIRE community indicated that they will engage in medical tourism. As appealing as traveling to Belize for your health care may sound, unexpected health issues dont often give us much warning. Quite often, health issues do not make time to travel either.LawsuitsMany individuals on the path to FIRE include some form of rental properties for income in their FIRE portfolio. Real estate offers some compelling advantages namely, you can purchase a rental property with little to no money down. I cannot begin to count the number of satellite radio commercials or infomercials that pitch the rental property passive income dream.Rental properties are not wit hout risk landlords can and often get sued. Recently, a tenant was awarded$300k over a bedbug infestation. Even with adequate insurance, a lawsuit can be costly. Neither property insurance nor liability insurance covers property owners if the town or city levies fines or requires improvements on the property.TIP Should your path to FIRE include rental properties, consult your lawyerandyour accountant about what planning may be necessary toprotect your assets.Asset protection isnot a substitutefor quality liability insurance.DivorceMany marriages end in divorce. Out of the number of people who get divorced each year, Im willing to bet theres a handful of couples that would haveinsistedprior to their marriage going south that they would never possibly get divorced. Your spouse may be onboard with your lean FIRE dreams now. Ask each other what happens if opinions change.Many couples that embarked on homesteading or self-sufficiency found out that overly simple living wasnt as romantic and charming as it sounded. Alternatively, if you are lean FIRE, and your spouse is not able to visit the children or grandchildren as often as wanted because its not in the budget, will that spouse remain onboard? Potentially, too lean of a FIRE could lead to anxiety and resentment. Please do not risk your marriage by retiring too early and without proper planning.TIP make sure you have adequate pre-nuptial and/or post-nuptial agreements.Failed FIRE What is the cost?I have attempted to point out some of the risks to people on social media. Their responses are usually a glib answer such as I will just go back to work. The problem with that answer is, if your plan fails, it could be too late. Its doubtful youre going to abandon your FIRE dream due to a bad day in the stock market, or even two.You may not realize your plan is not working until it is too late. You may be several years, or even a decade into your plan when you realize you have a problem. In the case of a medical emergen cy, you may be physically unable to work. Re-entering the workforce may be harder than you anticipated.Lets be clear should you leave your profession prematurely and find out a handful of years down the road that your planning did not work out, youre unlikely to get much sympathy. Its highly unlikely your previous employers will hire you back. Even if they do, it may not be at the paygrades you were previously at. A ten-year hiat in your resume may cause difficulty in seeking employment, if, for no other reason, ten years is a long time in certain industries, and skills perish over time.Your Definition of FIREYou should be prepared for the above situations, although I am hopeful these things do not happen to you. When you are prepared and have a plan in place to deal with the curve balls that life tosses at you, then that is the moment when you are truly financially independent.There is nothing wrong with trying to retire early orsimple living. Good planning means you can enjoy your retirement with peace of mind and security.The key is to choose a path to FIRE that is sustainable and works foryou, your family, and your goals.This article originally appeared on Your Money Geek.