How to Get to Your Goal's Finish Line

Happy Sunday, ladies,

I am looking forward to seeing you tomorrow night.

I read Finish: Stop Making Perfect the Enemy of Done by Jon Acuff over the weekend and realized that was a good theme for tomorrow's meetup.

We've talked (and I've written) in depth about how to figure out what your next career should be and what you need it to provide, but that's not enough to get it done. Even if you know what's next, you need to start, keep going, and get to the finish line—and the last part is often the toughest part.

And that's what Jon's current book is about. He had written about getting started in a previous book but then realized that's not the biggest challenge for him and his readers. So in this book he tackles how to keep going and what it takes to become a finisher.

It's a quick and easy read, so I highly recommend you pick it up, but I'll share some highlights so we can discuss this tomorrow night.

Basically, we have trouble finishing because we allow our perfectionist natures to get in the way and make it too difficult. Sometimes we unconsciously sabotage ourselves by giving up as soon as it's not perfect, doesn't come easily, are nearly done but afraid of what's next, or for many other reasons perfection tricks us into believing it's better to give up. The answer is to either cut our goals in half, double the timeline by when we want to achieve the goal, or take more actions to ensure it gets done. And to help with this, use either positive or negative reinforcement (e.g., reward or fear) to motivate you, but make sure that both the goal and reinforcements are the right size for what you're trying to accomplish.

And if you can build fun into your goal and choose other things to either pause or bomb at, you're much more likely to get to the finish line. The goal need not be difficult, complicated, or miserable—that's perfection talking and not true.

So give this some thought and let's discuss tomorrow night how we can all become finishers.

Until tomorrow,
Karina

What Matters Most?

Happy Sunday ladies,

I know it's been a while since I wrote, but life's been a bit rough and I haven't had the energy or mind to write. I also had been reading more fiction and not studying much, but I needed that break to recharge mentally and otherwise.

Since we have a meetup coming up next week and I read a short but inspiring book, I decided to make it the theme for the upcoming meetup.

The book is called Wait, What?: And Life's Other Essential Questions. It was written by James Ryan, Dean of the Harvard University's Graduate School of Education, in response to his latest graudation speech that went viral.

As per the author, asking the following five questions will allow you to succeed in life and work:
  1. "Wait, what?" gives you deeper understanding.
  2. "I wonder...(what or if)?" encourages curiosity.
  3. "Couldn't we at least...?" leads to progress.
  4.  "How can I help?" builds good relationships.
  5.  "What truly matters?" gets you to the heart of life. 
He offers a sixth bonus question that speaks for itself: "Did you get what you wanted out of this life, even so?" 

We won't go through all of these questions at the meetup, but I do want you to think about what truly matters to you.

When you're making large changes in your life—and who can argue that career change falls under this category—it's good to remember why you're making the change to begin with, and to not forget what truly matters to you and the type of life you want to lead.

Food for thought.

Hope to see you next week,
Karina

Spring Cleaning Continues

Happy Sunday and Happy Mother's Day!

When I first wrote about spring cleaning a few posts back, and how every yes to one thing is a no to something else, this was as much a reminder to myself as to all of you.

I have since put my other blog on hold; tried to be better and more consistent about my exercise, diet, and sleep (still a work in progress unfortunately); and spent more time on the things that give back, such as reading. This is what I need to do, not only to be at my best but to be able to weather this career-change journey, for however long it takes.

Due to this, I'm going to make this blog monthly instead of weekly. I'm not sure how many of you read this or if it's helping you on your journey, and the writing is no longer helping me on mine. But I will post a recap of each meetup with some food for thought so that those that can't make it get some benefit and for those that could, to have something to return to as a reminder.

I welcome contributors to this blog and ideas for how to make WCC better.

Hope to see you at the next meetup,
Karina


Daily Blessings

I wrote about facing our fears last week and even shared what mine was. Facing it had taught me I had to redefine how and where I find meaning in my life.

So when I realized how hard it was for me to remember all the good in my life and in the world, I decided to do something about it to help me and others in similar situations: I started a secret Facebook group called Daily Blessings.

It's meant to be a place to focus on the good—on our daily blessings—and to share them with each other so that we're both motivated and motivating. I invited a bunch of my friends and also asked for others to opt into this experiment, and so far people are appreciating it. I've even had friends tell me that they needed something just like this, which made me feel good and supplied some of that much needed meaning I had been looking for. 

And I've kept it "secret" on Facebook (i.e., not searchable) not to keep people out, but to make sure that the wrong people don't find it. In another group I manage, I had admitted some members I then had to kick out for inappropriate posts. I eventually made that group secret to avoid more "policing" and didn't want any of that negativity to affect Daily Blessings.

If having a positive and safe place where we can help each other remember our daily blessings would help you, just send me your email address and I'll add you to the group. And members are free to invite others, so I'm hoping we can spread some positivity and hope, which will definitely help us in our career change journey and in life.

Face Your Fears

Being in transition is hard. You don't know how long it will take or whether you'll be happy with the outcome; all you can do is keep going forward, day by day, step by step, and hope for the best.

Some days and weeks are easier; others harder.

This past week was a hard one for me since my grandmother was hospitalized. Fortunately she's coming home tomorrow, but since she's elderly and ailing, we were all really afraid of losing her.

Death is one of my worst fears. I hate talking about it or even thinking about it, but there was no escaping it last week. And this made me realize that part of why I feared death was the unknown, but the other part was that it's an end and I'm terrified of not having the opportunity to contribute, to build—to make the difference I know I can.

I fear a life without meaning so I can't wait for a job to give me that meaning. I still hope for and will keep looking for that opportunity that is a great fit and that also allows me to contribute to something meaningful, but until that happens, I have to broaden how I define "meaning" in my life.

What is it you fear most? How can you redefine what it takes to face and overcome that fear?

Spring Cleaning

Happy Sunday, ladies!

Spring has finally come and I hope you've all had a chance to enjoy the weather.

I noticed that no one has RSVP'd for the May 17 meetup as of yet, so I wanted to remind you to please do so and to as many of the future meetups as you can. This will allow me to plan better since I know how many are interested and able to attend. Also, if not enough members want to or can attend any given month, I may cancel that month's meetup and if it's one with a guest speaker, I need to give them advance notice.

In addition to lovely weather, spring makes me think of spring cleaning. It's all about throwing out the trash and giving yourself a fresh, clean start. And this kind of cleaning need not just be physical (i.e., actual trash), but can be mental, spiritual, or in any aspect of your life that needs a cleaning.

I recently ordered a book called The Stop-Doing List. I haven't received it yet so can't tell you much more about it, but the title does speak for itself. As I mentioned at the last meetup, every time you say yes to something, you're saying no to something else, so it's equally as important to decide what to stop doing.

And those decisions aren't always easy. There's generally a reason you started doing something—and probably a good one—but that doesn't mean you should keep doing it. Just like you shouldn't go along with what's "right" for someone else.

So let's use the lovely spring weather to inspire a spring routine cleaning so that you have more time to work on your career change journey. And I'd love to hear the things you decide to stop doing, so please share that here or in our Facebook group.

Until next time!

Happy Holidays and Recharging

Happy Sunday and Holidays, ladies!

I know it's hard to slow down and take a break when there's so much to do, so consider holidays a gift to yourself that forces you to slow down, reconnect with family and friends, and recharge.

Because burnout is to be avoided at all costs. Not only will recovery take much longer than you think, but the knock-on effects on your health are not to be minimized.

Also, when you're rushing from task to task, you don't have the time to process everything you're learning and trying.

So be kind to yourself, take a long walk in the glorious weather we're having, and think back and forward. What's been working? What has not? What can you try differently?

And don't forget to acknowledge and make time for the things that give back and keep you motivated, since those are critical.

So enjoy your holidays, as will I, and here's to coming back stronger, recharged, and more focused on where our career change journeys need to take us.

Until next time!

The Choices We Make

Happy Sunday, ladies.

It was so great seeing some of you last week and thanks to a new member, Christina, we have a great new location for upcoming meetups.

Our topic last week was time management since regardless of where you are in your career change journey, or how successful you are, you still only have the same 24 hours as everyone else.

One thing that came up is that every time you say yes to one thing, you're saying no to another. In other words, every choice made leads to one road rather than another, which reminds me of a favorite poem of mine, Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken."

If you haven't read the poem, you can find it in its entirety here, but below is the last stanza and the one that speaks to this point:
I shall be telling this with a sigh/Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.
This isn't meant to be scary; it just is. The opposite of making a choice is still a choice: you've just chosen to do nothing. And most choices are not final or even necessarily long term, so can be reversed or changed if the need arises.

Isn't that what we're all doing in our career change journey; i.e., course-correcting a previous choice made?

So let's choose to be kind to ourselves as well as brave in our decisions. And if you're stuck on a choice, post it in our Facebook group so that we can help you out.

Until next time,
Karina

Preparation for Meetup: Questions to Ask Yourself

Happy Sunday, ladies!

I look forward to seeing you Wednesday and if you haven't RSVP'd yet, it's not too late: https://www.meetup.com/Women-Career-Changers-Networking-Group/events/236318918/.

As mentioned in an earlier blog post, we'll be discussing time management at this week's meetup, in addition to your stories and progress/hurdles.

Some things to ask yourself between now and then:
  1. Do you know where you spend most of your time?
  2. Do you have enough time for what's most important to you? And if not, why not? 
  3. How do you decide what to do and when? Do you plan ahead or go with the flow?
  4. What tools do you used to stay on time and schedule (e.g., calendar, lists, etc.)?
  5. What time(s) of the day are you at your best?
  6. Looking back at the last week, how much of your time was spent as planned and/or you'd like it to and how much were things you felt you had to do and/or came up unexpectedly?
Given that regardless of who you are, you only get the same 24 hours as the rest of us, learning to better manage your time is critical to success. The first step is to be more mindful and these questions will help.

I look forward to hearing your answers on Wednesday and us all helping each other get a better handle on how to get time to be our ally, not opponent.

If you can't make Wednesday's meetup, feel free to post your answers here or in our Facebook group and I'll respond.

Until next time!

Communication Is Key

Happy Sunday, ladies,

I'll be announcing our venue for the upcoming meetup this week and hope to see you all at our April 5th meetup. It'll be a great chance to share your progress and concerns, and learn from each other.

If you recall from an earlier post, Kelly Hoey taught us that everything we do is networking. If you take that further, everything we share is communication.

Whether an email, your resume, a blog post, an interview, or even a chance encounter, they all involve communication and when you're trying to make a good impression, it's not only what you say but how you say it. There are many good books on the topic and I summarized one a while back for Actionable Books, but it also takes practice and preparation.

Do you know what you're looking for? Your strengths? Do you have an "elevator pitch" ready if someone asks what you're doing and/or looking for? If you don't know or can't articulate this clearly, people won't be able to help you.

We will be starting our April 5th meetup with everyone introducing themselves and why they're transitioning, so this will be a good opportunity to practice your story. And since practice is important and does make it easier, please join us for this safe practice opportunity.

Until next time,
Karina

Managing Your Time Well Is Critical

Happy Sunday, ladies,

I just emailed everyone asking for help finding a new venue and wanted to repeat that request here. If we can't find a good venue to host us, we'll have to meet at a quiet cafe and although that's great—and I won't have to bring food—it's not conducive to guest speakers or panels.

Since I'm juggling two part-time jobs, a few smaller jobs, and two meetups, I've been spending a lot of time organizing, prioritizing, and just thinking of the best way to manage my time. And regardless of the cliche you prefer (whether time is money, your most valuable resource, etc.), we can all agree that how we spend our time is critical not only to our success, but also to our energy and overall mood.

Instead of scrambling from task/job to the next, hoping you don't forget anything critical, it's best to list everything coming up. Whether you prefer to do it in a to-do list app, on paper, in a bullet list, or your calendar, make sure you're not keeping it in your head, since that's a huge drain on our limited mental bandwidth.

I personally am using a combination of tools. I've blocked off chunks of time on my calendar so I'm sure I have enough time for each of my clients, and then tasks associated with each go into a productivity/task management app. Currently my favorite is NirvanaHQ, which is based on David Allen's GTD (Getting Things Done) system. I've used many others both personally and professionally, but this is what's working for me now.

Another thing important to keep in mind when organizing and prioritizing is your personal energy rhythms. When are you at your sharpest? If you're a morning/evening person, that's when you should be doing the more challenging tasks and save the easier ones for when you're not so mentally alert. A great book that lists these and other productivity tips is The Daily Edge by David Horsager. (My blog post highlights some of my favorite takeaways from his book.)

For all of you job searching, working on your side hustles, or figuring out what your next career transition will be, your time is probably spread thin between whatever pays your bills currently (or finding something to pay those bills) and the other responsibilities you have. As we heard from our panelists, it's critical to give yourself time to recharge and to think and plan, so let's talk about this topic and how we can better manage our time and energy at our 4/5 meetup.

I'd love to hear what's working or not working for you, so feel free to share either here or on our Facebook group.

Until next time!

Tips from Our Expert Panel

Happy Sunday, ladies,

I hope you've all remembered to set your clocks one hour forward, although ironically our weather is feeling anything but spring-like.

And it was great seeing those of you who could make it to our Wednesday expert panel. I've messaged everyone our panelists' contact info and also posted it on the meetup page and our Facebook group.

They were kind enough to share three tips for those of you who could not join us, and I've also shared one memorable takeaway per panelist (see below).

Avery's Tips

  • Give yourself room to unplug from your previous job, get quiet, and begin to listen to what you really want.
  • Work with a coach for structure, accountability, a conclusive direction, and to accelerate your journey.
  • See this process as part of your growth and cherish it. You are moving toward the best version of yourself. Believe that what you desire is possible and take small steps every day, and you will soon see results. 

Patty's Tips

  • Fear is there to protect you. It doesn't care if you have a meaningful life. When you feel it, ask "What are you protecting me from? Are you helping me in my mission?"
  • Don't make stuff up to worry about. Life is too short to have imaginary, vicarious, outdated or irrelevant fears. Let them go.
  • Question your gut. If it sounds like my Chinese mother, it's fear talking, not your true self. Thank your fear, then put yourself in charge.

Kelly's Tips
  • Life is short. Always remember you can be, do and have whatever it is that you want in life, if you are willing to work hard, be dedicated, be patient and persistent.
  • Your mindset is powerful, every situation is not happening to you it is happening FOR you. Ask yourself what is the opportunity in this moment and/or situation? What can I learn from this?
  • If you don't ask the answer is always "NO." Always ask for what you want because there is a 50% chance you will get what you are asking for, and keep trying until you get a YES!

My Takeaways
  • From Avery: first "flare" to capture all the possibilities than focus based on your north star and values and give yourself time to decide on change.
  • From Patty: determine whether you're dealing with fear (real), anxiety (imagination of future), or stress (feeling overwhelmed). Deal with the fear, prioritize to deal with stress, and settle your imagination to deal with anxiety.
  • From Kelly: find balance with a power hour that's all about you and keep believing.


Lot's of great food for thought and for those who attended, would love to hear what resonated with you.

Until next time,
Karina

Make Time for Recharging

Happy Sunday, ladies,

For those who have not RSVP'd for Wednesday, it's not too late to do so and you won't want to miss all the great tips our expert panelists have to share with us.

And I hope you all had a good week. Mine was good but unusual in that I actually read more fiction than nonfiction, which was much needed. And this reminded me of an important lesson.

Change is tough and takes its toll. We all know this but do we recognize how it effects all of us who are going through a major change? Do we make the time to take a break and recharge?

Since we don't know how long our career transitions will take, nor where this journey will lead us, we need to treat this as a marathon instead of a sprint (I borrowed this phrase but can't remember from whom).

In other words, pace yourself. Find the balance. Recharge. Don't lose track of who you are and the things and people that inspire you to keep going. Don't forget to exercise, eat well, sleep, read...or whatever it is that you need to refuel for the journey ahead.

And with us nearly ready to "spring forward," more sunlight will hopefully help us recharge too.

Until next time,
Karina

Learn from the School of Life

Happy Sunday ladies,

I hope you've all had a good week and are looking forward to our next meetup, only a week and a half away. I was working on the questions I'll be asking the panelists and can't wait to hear their answers. And there will of course be time for your questions too, so come prepared.

My Sunday was more and less productive than hoped for. Less in that I didn't do everything I wanted to; more in that I made an important decision: I decided to drop out of an MBA program I was going to start in a month.

I already have a Master's, although in publishing, and have four certificates in business-related topics. For years I wondered if having an MBA would make a difference and help me break out of publishing. So I started an online program, took three semesters (and did well), and then put it on hold since I had been let go and couldn't afford tuition. Truth be told, it had been somewhat disappointing anyhow.

Fast forward a couple of months and I hear that University of the People now has a free MBA. It sounded perfect, so I applied. It's all volunteer run so they're a bit slow, but I did eventually hear that I got accepted and was going to start in April.

But I've been dreading the semester's start instead of looking forward to it, and today officially withdrew from the program. I finally had to admit that I was doing this for all the wrong reasons and that my time could be better spent elsewhere.

Recently reading Not Taught: What It Takes to be Successful in the 21st Century that Nobody's Teaching You by Jim Keenan also helped. Part of what made the original more prestigious (and expensive) MBA disappointing was that it was too academic and not practical enough. I read so many business books and consider myself a student of life, so school just doesn't cut it for me anymore. And that's okay. Jim points out how there are many things we need to learn that school doesn't teach us, including how to sell, brand ourselves, network, think, and handle change, just to name a few.

But the ultimate deciding factor was that I'm not looking for a corporate job and the kinds of opportunities I'm interested in don't require (or care about) MBAs.

I think we all have things we think we need to do or pursue, either because it's what we were taught to do or because it seems like a shortcut. But time is money, and especially when you're juggling transitioning plus working, time is a very precious commodity and sometimes even more precious than money.

So reevaluate all the things you're doing. Is there something you're spending a lot of time, effort, or money in that you don't enjoy and feel you must do? Why do you feel this? And is it really serving its purpose or are you better off doing something else? Transition times are a great opportunity to reevaluate all aspects of your life and to "clean house" wherever needed.

Just some food for thought. Let me know if this resonates and/or helps.

Until next week,
Karina

Network with Purpose

Happy Sunday ladies,

I hope you all got to enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend.

Today I want to touch on a topic we know is super important but may also be super intimidating to many of us: networking. As we spoke of at our last meetup, attending our group is many of your first step to networking more, since you know how important it is. And to be honest, that's in part why Kat and I started the group too: to make it easier for us to network with others going through what we are.

I had the opportunity to listen to Kelly Hoey, author of Build Your Dream Network: Forging Powerful Relationships in a Hyper-Connected World, speak at a Women's Media Group event. (You can read my brief review of her book here.)

Kelly started out as a lawyer, then moved over to the training/development side of the business, where she had to become a networking guru to reconnect with alumni of her company. She became involved with a women's networking group that was then called 85Broads (it's now called Ellevate), ended up becoming their president, and then moved on from there to becoming a startup investor and accelerator founder. Each of her moves was done with the help of her network and via targeted outreach.

The six major takeaways I took from Kelly's talk and book are:
  1. Networking should be targeted to be effective—know why you are attending any event and/or reaching out to any person so you can help them help you;
  2. Every interaction we do is networking—all our social media, our email signature, our voice mail message, and any time we connect or respond to someone;
  3. If you don't have a personal email signature (which I didn't until after listening to her speak), then create one now;
  4. Always follow-through on any new connection you make, and this does not mean just the day after, but a few week's later too so that you're top of mind;
  5. It's no longer about who you know but who knows what you know, so make sure you get content and ideas out there;
  6. Don't wait until you need a job to network—always be connecting and paying forward.
Kelly was really inspirational, as was her book, and her lessons are really timely given our career change journeys. So let's think of ways we can be more thoughtful in our networking and targeted in our outreach, and how we can help each other as well.

Until next time,
Karina

Recap of Our Second Meetup

Happy weekend, ladies!

Thank you to those who joined us Wednesday night for a great second meetup.

Unlike our first meetup, and as intended, this one was all about us: sharing our stories, the successes and challenges in our career-changing journey...and not feeling so alone since we're all going through similar things and now have each other.

Since all stories and journeys were unique, there aren't takeaways per se, but each attendee left with actionable items they can work on and report on at our next meetup. I'd encourage you all to use our private Facebook group to keep us informed of your progress on these items and so that we can cheer you along the way. (If you haven't joined us on Facebook yet, you can find that link on our meetup home page.)

A few members did mention that joining us was a first step for them, whether in overcoming their fear of networking or finally taking a step forward in a journey they knew was overdue. To them—and all of you who attended—I want to say congratulations. Showing up is a critical first step; participating is a second one. So you've already taken two steps forward and we're here to help you take more.

For those who couldn't make it, there's always next month and ways to stay involved and allow us to help you in your journey virtually. Feel free to reach out to me for suggestions.

Next month's meetup is our expert panel, so definitely not one to miss. And we're starting to charge a small fee just to cover our expenses (e.g., food or venue). If you'd like to attend but the fee is a hardship, let us know.

Since my actionable item was to take better care of myself (e.g., sleep and relax more), I wish myself and all of you a week where you're good to yourselves.

Until next time,
Karina


Preparation for this Week's Meetup

Happy Sunday ladies,

I'm so excited that our next meetup is coming up, and I look forward to hearing how your career-change journeys have been going.

Unlike our last meetup when we had a great guest, this one will be all about connecting and sharing. We'll start off by introducing ourselves, then spend most of the evening talking about what's been working and what has not in our journey. During this part of the evening, I'd like you to consider some of the things I've been writing about: either your one word, your strengths, where you find your joy, etc.

Funny enough—and I swear I don't plan this—I published another year-plus old blog draft that really speaks to our situation. You can read it here, but in brief, a book I read back then recommended considering what everyone keeps coming to you for as your purpose. Even if the thing people keep telling you you're great at is not what you see yourself doing, rethink the core of that thing and consider how else you can apply it.

After we've all had a chance to share our wins, challenges, and answers, we'll finish off the evening with a final circle where we do our own version of "give and get." Since we are trying to build a support network, we will all mention something we've learned either that evening or in our journey, something we would like to learn, and something we can teach others in our network. The hope is that this will further help us help each other and lead to expanded future opportunities.

I look forward to seeing you all this week.

Until then!

Remember Your Strengths

Hi ladies,

I hope you had a good week and weekend.

I've been trying to take advantage of my transition time to pick up some new skills and in forcing myself to sit through some digital marketing classes, had an epipheny.

Yes, it's good to have a broad skillset and learning is always an advantage, but we need to remember that everyone can't be good at everything. Knowing more is good but knowing what your strengths are, and where your contribution will be most effective, is even more important. And it's critical that as we transition and have our moments of despair, we not forget this.

I was reading Megyn Kelly's book Settle More. (You can read my brief review here.) I of course knew who she was, but hadn't realized that she was a successful attorney before she gave it up and started over as a journalist. And she was not born into money so she did this all on her own merits and through lots of hard work and perseverance.

Megyn realized that her law experience could translate to her dream—journalism—and that the strengths that allowed her to excel in one would help her succeed in the second.

This is inspiring for two reasons:
  1. It is possible to transition mid career or higher and make a success of it and there are so many more women who have done this than we realize.
  2. All the time and effort you put into your original career or job are not lost, but can be useful in your new career and its success.
And this all brings us back to spending the mental time in figuring out what our strengths are and what we really want in our new career.

More food for thought for next week's discussion and I look forward to seeing you all there.

Until next time.

How to Figure Out What's Next

Hi ladies,

I hope you all had a good week.

I had originally planned on writing about a different topic, but then something serendipitous happened. Since I hadn't finished the business book I had started, I didn't have a new post for my other blog and therefore had to access the few drafts I had previously written and not posted. Funny enough, the oldest one was about figuring out how to figure out what was next during your career transition. You can read it in its entirety here.

Regardless of when I originally wrote this and why, it speaks to me a lot more now then it did then. In rereading this post, which I hadn't touched since November of last year, three things jumped out at me:
  1. Looking back to what you enjoyed as a way to figure out your path forward.
  2. Considering the things friends and family naturally come to you for as indication of what your purpose is.
  3. And really digging into your essence even if the package may not be practical.
Since we're all transitioning, I think these questions—and perhaps this book—are things worth considering. And don't we all aspire to do the thing we enjoy and are naturally good at? 

What other questions do you ask yourself to help you forward during this time? 

Please share your thoughts either here or in our Facebook group and I look forward to discussing all this during our next meetup.

Until next time.

Your One Word as Transition Guide

Happy Sunday, ladies,

My aim is to try and blog once a week and I figured Sunday evening is practical for several reasons, and one is because it's a good time to look back at the previous week and look forward and plan the coming week.

One of the great wins this past week was finishing reading Evan Carmichael's Your One Word: The Powerful Secret to Creating a Business and Life That Matter. The reason this was a win, besides that I finished another book, is what it taught me: that my one word is #Build.

You can read more about what that means to me and how I got to that conclusion at my other blog, but I wanted to bring it up here since figuring out my one word was an especially valuable experience because I'm in transition. Knowing that my value is #Build means that any job offer or opportunity that does not allow me to #Build—whether solutions, connections, or opportunity—is one I should walk away from.

That is the strength of knowing your one word: it is your core value, both what you consider important and what you have to offer, and is your compass. It can help guide you in making tough decisions in life, and especially when going through a transition as we all are.

I recommend you all pick up his book, if you can, but if you can't, I'm sharing the key questions below that Evan offers to help get to your one word.
  1. What makes you happy? 
  2. What connects your happiness? 
  3. What trait do you hate? 
  4. What's your constant? 
  5. Is this really who you are? 
For those who will be attending our February meetup, I'll be discussing this further at that time. For those who can't, please post your thoughts and one words as you discover them, either here or in our Facebook group.

Until next time!

Takeaways from our first Women Career Changers meetup

Hi ladies,

First of all, thank you to those who joined us for our first meetup last night. And thank you to Ellen Afromsky for hosting us and Susan Danziger for being such a great and motivating guest speaker.

For those who couldn't join us, and to help those who did remember the key takeaways, below is a summary of the lessons Susan shared:
  1. Life is always about change so don't wait to be out of work to be open to new people and ideas.
  2. Make it a habit to connect to new people every day. Susan connects to 30 new people a day, but whatever number you choose, make this a priority and break it down between morning, afternoon, and evening. "Connects" can be responses to previous emails, a new message/email, or everyone you spoke to or invited to an event. This will make sure that you're always meeting new people and open to new ideas (see lesson 1).
  3. Have an online brand and include content you generate as part of this. Whether this is a blog or tweets, you want someone to be able to find you—and relevant and professional things about you—when they Google you.
  4. Know what you're worth and say no to the clients or offers that don't respect that.
  5. Don't chase the clients/jobs that don't get what you have to offer; wait for the ones who do.
  6. And if you need a new experience to get the next job/client/opportunity, don't wait or ask for permission: just do it. Either start your own project to demonstrate you've got the required skills or volunteer with an existing company to get them.
For those who attended, did I miss a key takeaway? And please share how you apply any of these. 

Until next time!

Welcome

Hello, ladies, and welcome.

Kat and I are thrilled to have all of you join us and we look forward to meeting you at upcoming events and both learning from and helping each other along our career changing journey.

If you haven't already joined our meetup group please do so since that's where all events will be posted.

Enjoy your weekend and stay warm,
Karina and Kat