But is “What do you do?” a good question to ask anymore? Why are we so focused on what someone does for a living — and in today’s job-hopping society, does it even make sense?

Freelance journalist Mónica Guzmán doesn’t think so. In a recent GeekWire article, she says the classic question is outdated, explaining: “Its assumptions are stale, and we need an upgrade.”

Your job is not your identity

Why the need for a change? Guzmán says these question make your job the item of utmost importance, as well as the source of your identity — two assumptions that aren’t true for everyone.

If you’re stumped at what else to say, Guzmán offers five alternatives, which she culled from her Facebook community.

Here are our favorites:

• What are you working on these days?
• What do you like to do?
• What are you building?

Since these questions are more personal and open-ended, Guzmán says they’ll allow your new friend to choose the direction they want the conversation to take — whether it be their job(s), hobbies, or passions.

Do you think “What do you do?” is outdated? Will you try out any of these alternatives at your next networking event?

Susan Shain (@TravlJunkette) is a travel blogger who loves helping people discover adventure through international travel or alternative careers.

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The post Next Time You Meet Someone New, Try Asking These Questions appeared first on Brazen Life.

Well, welcome to corporate America.

Unless you work at a notoriously employee-friendly company such as Google or Zappos, you need to accept that the company you work for may be more interested in the bottom line than your happiness.

In an ideal world, you’d be recognized for all your awesomeness. They’d erect monuments in your honor for getting that report turned around on such a tight deadline. Do they know how hard you worked on that stinking report?

But this is the real world, and you’re going to have to fight off demanding bosses, difficult coworkers and your own bad habits. (Click here to tweet this thought.)

Here’s how you can survive in a company that’s looking out for number one — and how to know when it’s time to call it quits.

1. Stop looking for recognition

This is a tough but vital strategy for surviving a thankless job. There will be times when your job requires you to work early and stay late, come in on weekends and perform duties beyond what your job description covers. Just do it.

If you need to complete a big project or prepare for a major event or presentation, it’s in your best interest to suck it up and get it done. Sometimes being extraordinary is considered a requirement, and you’ve got to accept that you shouldn’t expect a round of applause for every extra task you complete.

2. Don’t be a pushover

When you’re passionate about what you do and you do it with friendly people in a happy environment, you tend to be more committed without expecting anything in return.

Excitement and engagement are good for your career and your health, but make sure you draw a line between the habit and the exception. If you’re routinely being asked to commit more time than is fair to ask, you have every right to communicate your feelings and negotiate something in return (like a raise or a promotion).

Remember, it’s up to you to communicate your needs and expectations.

When to call it quits: There’s a difference between being overworked and being exploited. Calling you in repeatedly on your day off without notice and/or asking you to perform tasks that make you uncomfortable are good reasons to look for opportunities elsewhere.

3. Watch for workplace hazards

If you’re unlucky, you might work with someone who’s actively trying to set you up for failure. This person might take credit for hard work that you did or throw you under the bus when you least expect it.

First, err on the side of generosity. It’s possible that this person is overwhelmed with personal or professional issues and being inconsiderate without realizing it.

But if your coworker’s behavior is clearly antagonistic, put this person on your radar as a workplace hazard. Do your best to minimize your interactions with him or her.

4. Honestly evaluate your behavior

If you find that the relationship between you and your coworker or boss is deteriorating despite your best efforts, you need to act. But before you do, take an honest look at your workplace behavior to see if there’s any chance that you could be the problem.

Do you show up late? Do you gossip and cause drama in the office? Do you bring smelly tuna sandwiches for lunch or steal your coworkers’ snacks? Evaluate your behavior from an outsider’s perspective to see if there’s anything lacking.

When to call it quits: Unprovoked, mean-spirited behavior is a red flag that a coworker is out to get you. This is a relationship that might not be worth attempting to salvage. And, of course, verbal abuse or sexual harassment in the workplace is absolutely inexcusable.

5. Be willing to walk away

If you’ve exhausted all of your options, you need to play your final card: Look for another job.

Life is too short to work for jerks, and your career is too important to waste your time trying to please a team that isn’t a good fit. Think about what you’ve learned from this position, and let it inform your next strategic career move.

It can be hard to give your best to your job and come away feeling unappreciated — especially when a warm smile or a simple thank-you was all you were after.

Fortunately, your fate is in your hands. Stand up for yourself, ask for what you need when you know you deserve it and be prepared to move on if you can’t get it.

Hellen Barbara is the founder and president of Pubslush, a global crowdfunding and analytics platform for the literary world. She presently serves on the board of directors for the Gavin’s Got Heart Foundation, is a member of the Exceptional Women in Publishing organization, and is a Power Circle member of 85 Broads.

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The post Overworked and Underappreciated at Work? Here’s Your Survival Guide appeared first on Brazen Life.

Interesting how a simple word — brazen — can make us feel a certain way and elicit a sense of power, strength and confidence.

Being brazen means taking ownership and being unapologetic about our lives. It’s a powerful word that serves as an anchor for when we want to make big (or small) shifts in our lives and our careers.

When I use brazen, I don’t mean being bossy, controlling, rude or self-absorbed. I mean the choice to be brazen in a conscious way. Anytime we step into a place of certainty, confidence and boldness, it doesn’t equate to being cocky or rude. It’s a grounded choice to proceed with an intention and goal of certainty from an authentic place.

It’s a fine line between being assured, certain and bold from a conscious place and being those characteristics from a rigid, inflexible, close-minded place. Choose the former.

When it comes to how you want to live your life and navigate the waters of your work and career, which would you prefer: to be brazen about it or meek?

As with anything in life, being brazen or timid, confident or insecure, happy or sad are all choices. The beautiful thing about being human is that we have a choice in how we feel, what we think and how we choose to act.

Our choices really do dictate what our lives look like. Learning how to be direct and conscious about our choices — how we feel, what we think or believe and how we act — are the ingredients required to get the most out of our lives.

But what does being brazen mean in this day and age? How can it help us to stand out in a crowded world of amazing, talented entrepreneurial people? How can it make us feel happier or help us shift something that we’ve been trying to shift with little to no success?

Maybe we want to improve a relationship, but can’t find that missing ingredient. Perhaps we’ve struggled financially, and the solution eludes us. Maybe we’re searching for the perfect career or want to make our current career choice more empowering.

Choosing to approach any problem or issue you face with a focus of being brazen is creates an energy that can assist you far beyond what you imagine.

If we don’t make the choice to pursue our goals with confidence and boldness, we won’t get what we want. Our energy will scream “You don’t really want it,” or “I don’t believe you!” The choice to be brazen about what we want is the choice to succeed and own our lives.

Here are four quick tips to increasing your success in life and business by choosing to be brazen: (Click here to tweet this list.)

1. Clarity

Be clear about your goals, intentions and desires. Without clarity or a plan, there’s no point. It’s that old saying: fail to plan, plan to fail. Create a vision of the outcome you want and be detailed about it.

For example, if you have a big job interview, take time to get quiet, maybe meditate, and  come up with your ideal vision of how you want the interview to go. How will you feel? What will you be wearing? How do you respond and handle interview questions?

Create the ideal situation in your mind first, so you can create the reality. See and feel what you want before it happens.

2. Commitment

If you’re wishy-washy with what you want, it’s not going to manifest. Being committed is an essential component of getting what we want and where we want to be. And commitment is a choice.

When you want a clear path, a better job, more money or a better relationship, being committed to your path is essential. If you don’t commit, it’s not a big want or desire.

3. Consistency

Once you have a clear plan and vision in mind, make the choice to be consistent. Create a plan that keeps you accountable and on track with your goals and intentions.

4. Consciousness

Be conscious about what you want to create in your life and career. It’s often required to step into a larger and bigger place of ownership and accountability. Being conscious means being aware and noticing what’s working and what’s not. It means being clear about and committed to your goals. It’s being consistent at all times.

Making a conscious choice to live in alignment with the definition of brazen — bold and without shame — is a masterful way to approach your life. We can have all the information and “how-to” to lead the exact lives we desire, but if we don’t implement those steps, it’s a waste of time.

And it comes down to a choice. Our ability to choose is our ability to create lives we love — right down to our health, our wealth, our relationships and our success.

But most of us forget how powerful a little choice can be. We can choose how to feel, what to think and how to react to situations in our lives — and that’s our point of power.

It’s a choice to be brazen or not.

Carrie Jolie Dale is an author, choice strategist and manifesting ninja. She is living proof that anyone can find happiness, meaning and purpose in their life by mastering their choices. You can find Carrie at  www.carriedale.com, Twitter, and on Facebook.

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The post Choose to Be Brazen: Why Confidence at Work is the Key to Everything appeared first on Brazen Life.

I’m not talking about landing your dream job in the world of unicorns and rainbows, but in the real world — the one where you have bills to pay and maybe even mouths to feed. What if you could know what you love to do and get paid to do it? (Click here to tweet this question.)

How would that change things in your life?

If you’re starting to get excited, you’re not alone. Because there’s a powerful tool that will help you to define and land your dream job. It’s called The Reverse Resume.

This will help you approach the search for your dream job from a new perspective. So hold onto your heels. You’re about to be blown away.

The limitations of regular resumes

You are, undoubtedly, familiar with a regular resume.

It’s a method for trying to cram every positive detail about yourself and all your career accomplishments into a single page. The goal is to impress upon those who make hiring decisions that you might be a good fit for a particular job.

The regular resume is meant to sum up your entire range of experience on one sheet of paper. Then that piece of paper is usually shuffled, filed, lost or disregarded. Not a nice way to be treated.

Flipping the status quo with a Reverse Resume

The Reverse Resume, as you might expect, is exactly the opposite.

Instead of summing yourself up neatly on one sheet of paper for review and critique to see if you meet criteria for the job, you sum up criteria of the job to see if it meets your standards.

Instead of hiring managers asking, “Is this candidate worth our time to bring in?” You ask, “Is this job worth my time — perhaps years of my life?”

The Reverse Resume can help you answer that question in a way that’s in sync with your deepest desires — even if you don’t know what those are just yet.

Feelings, not functionality

There’s a reason your job isn’t working for you: You don’t like it.

At first glance, not liking your work comes from the “soft” world of feelings, right brains and other touchy-feely things. But the truth is, humans are emotional beings. Not liking your work is just as valid as any reason you might give for wanting a different job.

It’s hard for many people to accept that feelings prevent their job satisfaction. It may be easier to accept that you’re simply no good at your job, don’t have the right skills or don’t have the right training. Clients have said to me, “I can’t believe I’m going to give up this job that pays so well because I don’t like it. It feels so irresponsible.”

Generally, the less we like something, the worse we are at it, and the less inclined we are to want to engage in it or immerse ourselves in it deeply. There’s no good reason to endure life at a job you don’t like.

There’s so much work out there to be done — so much work that could benefit from the most vibrant and alive version of you. So don’t settle for an un-animated version of yourself.

When you look for your next job using The Reverse Resume, your goal should be to capture what you want your work to feel like. Instead of a description of the function of your job (what you’ll be doing) start with a description of what you’ll be feeling and what happens that makes you feel that way.

• Are you feeling invigorated by the conversation you get to have with brilliant coworkers?
• Are you feeling stimulated by the interesting problems you’re working to solve?
• Are you feeling like a superhero because you touched someone’s life?

Start with what you love to feel, what lights you up, what skills and talents you love to use, and the situations or environments you most love to be in or problems you love to solve. Ask yourself: Where and when do I thrive?

The environment where you thrive

Once you paint that picture of what you want to feel and where you thrive, work backwards from there. You can ask yourself, what kinds of jobs would be most suited to someone who needs to be solving interesting problems and be surrounded by brilliant coworkers? A police officer? A scientist?

Keep brainstorming ideas. When you run out of ideas, it’s time to narrow down your list.

The deeper you dig into your Reverse Resume, the more you’ll know about how your environment should feel. Should your work for a startup or a corporation? Is working a 9-to-5 a better fit for you, or do you want to become an entrepreneur?

Keep asking yourself where you’ll be happiest. This is the criteria that will help you narrow your list (otherwise, you’ll just end up in another job you don’t like.)

Remember though, there are lots of reasons not to like a job. If you’re starving to death because your job doesn’t pay a living wage, you might grow to hate your job. If you never live to work a day because you’re in school too long, you might never know if you like your job.

So you’ll have to balance many factors when you think about your happiness, not just how joyful the actual job might make you — though this does count a great deal. Only you get to decide how much weight to give each thing. It’s up to you and your individual circumstances, and what makes you… well, happy.

Try it yourself

Instead of searching for your dream job the old-fashioned way — looking at specific job titles and roles to see if they might fit — turn the whole process backwards with The Reverse Resume.

1. Think about who you are, how you want to feel and where you thrive.
2. Think about what jobs might feel like a good fit for you and make you happy.
3. Refine your list until you come up with a job that seems like the perfect happiness match.

You don’t have to grope in the dark any longer. Many people don’t know where to start when they try to figure out what their dream job is. But having structure makes the process so much easier. Finding that dream job is possible! I’d love to know if you have success using The Reverse Resume.

Jessica Sweet, LICSW is a career and life coach dedicated to helping 45-55 year olds find or create work they love. You can get a more complete version of The Reverse Resume and her entire suite of free tools in the Passion Portfolio at http://www.wishingwellcoach.com

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The post How to Write a Resume: A Totally New Approach That Will Get You Hired appeared first on Brazen Life.

And then you sit down for your first meeting and you notice it: Your boss sees not just the talented, creative, valuable member of the team he/she just hired, but also a young, attractive, vibrant person. Now, this isn’t your “Mad Men” brand of sexism — no doubt that does still exist, but we’re talking about more subtle cases here.

There are clear-cut cases of sexual harassment, and if you’ve experienced one, call an attorney. Now. But there are also not-so-overt situations that you just know are less than professional. You need to deal with them:

1. Acknowledge it

You shouldn’t have to feel uncomfortable around someone that you work with or for. Take control of the situation.

It can be as simple as, “I really like that outfit on you.” When a person in the cube next to you says it, you feel great. But when your department head says exactly the same thing, you’re left wondering, “What did that mean?”

So take control. If the comment makes you uncomfortable, say, “I appreciate your comment, [only if you really do appreciate it] but it makes me feel uncomfortable.” Promote an open dialogue. (Click here to tweet this thought.)

2. If you’re not sure of something, ask

Maybe you are taken out for lunch more often than your colleagues, or invited for drinks or to attend office functions, or asked to do something that just doesn’t seem to be all work-related.

You don’t have to come out and say, “Are you hitting on me?” Just ask, “What is the purpose of this?” or “What goal do we want to accomplish?” If you don’t get a clear business objective, then your hunch was probably right. If you do get a satisfying answer, then work your hardest to help meet that objective.

3. If a joke’s not funny, don’t laugh

There is a breed of person, both male and female, who makes inappropriate jokes at the workplace. No matter who it comes from, if you don’t think it’s funny or you find it offensive, don’t laugh. Nothing stops people in their tracks like not getting the reaction they are looking for.

4. Take control of the conversation

Someone has just mistaken you for a therapist. It happens to men and women alike. You have a friendly face, you come across as understanding, and people tell you very personal stories that cross the line of intimacy. This isn’t necessarily sexual in nature, but can be just as uncomfortable.

Steer the conversation back to a work-related topic. Get what you need to know from that person to complete your job and get out of the room. These people don’t only intrude on your personal space, they can be devastating time suckers.

5. Own your space

The more confident you are in yourself and your ability to do your job, the more respect you will get from those around you. When you are unsure of yourself, you seem vulnerable and you open yourself up to unwanted encounters.

So own your space. Plan your days well, stay focused on your job, work to the best of your ability and don’t be afraid to ask questions or for help. Find a position of strength and stay in it.

Whether you are a man or a woman, chances are you’ve probably come across one of the situations I’ve described. If you remember just one thing, let it be this: Stay in control and you’ll be able to handle any situation with class while feeling great about yourself.

Amanda Aschinger has worked with just about every type of person, business, and entity imaginable. When she isn’t out telling great stories on video and film, she enjoys writing them. Amanda is a serial entrepreneur and a lover of great businesses.

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The post 5 Ways to Deal with a Flirty Co-Worker (in the Least-Awkward Way Possible) appeared first on Brazen Life.

Sales or business development professionals are vital to an organization’s success. Without someone finding new people or companies for your business, revenue, growth and success are limited.

Even if you don’t work in sales, you should care about the salespeople in your organization. (Click here to tweet this thought.) They may decide the fate of your work experience. If they bring in strong, creative, easy-to-please, collaborative clients, your job will reflect this. If you’re happy, you’re more likely to stay at a company longer, which can increase team consistency and morale.

On the flip side, sales professionals need to trust that their team will work on client accounts after the sale. After spending so much time and effort on building successful relationships, they need to know their sales contract will be long-lasting and their clients will be in good hands. And high customer retention rates, happy customers and continued revenue streams all provide for their own career growth.

Any good salesperson will find it impossible to sell a product/service they don’t believe in. Any business that offers a service relies on people to execute well, articulate their efforts, and meet deadlines. Therefore, a salesperson has to have trust in the people that actually execute on their services in order to sell it. — Lyndsey Kramer, Director of Business Development at Digital Third Coast

What can a salesperson do to trust their team for a successful client handoff? Lyndsey suggests:

1. Communicate openly

The best thing a salesperson can do is understand the capabilities and limitations of their executing teams and never oversell or over-promise what they can do. Having a solid understanding of your team and the work they do makes setting expectations upfront easier, so the process is better for all parties involved.

2. Address concerns before they become problems

If a salesperson sees red flags with a prospect during the sales process (lack of time to collaborate, lack of understanding, difficulty reaching) they need to be addressed prior to handing it off to the person or people performing the work at hand.

If the concerns can’t be addressed, a salesperson needs to walk away from the business opportunity. Signing clients who’ll end up causing problems, stressing out your team and ultimately firing you for not delivering what they wanted aren’t worth the time and energy — or the lack in faith your team will have about your work.

3. Know your team is always right

Any time a client has expectations a service team doesn’t feel are fair, a salesperson can step in on behalf of the team to realign expectations. If you want your team to trust you and respect you, you have to trust and respect them. This means they’re always right, not the client. Having your team’s back means they’ll have yours too.

How can you build trust with your salesperson?

1. Get to know their sales process

Make sure your salesperson has a full understanding of the work you do and describes the scope accurately to clients. If you notice gaps in the sales process that are inconsistent with your role, suggest ways to improve sales presentations.

2. Create team building opportunities

Attend company social events or lunches, or meet with your salesperson or team on your own. Learn about where and how they sell, and share pain points and strong points of your role.

3. Send leads their way

If you meet a strong potential client you might enjoy working with, introduce them. Being resourceful for your sales team may benefit them by expanding their network, helping them build a broader client base, providing referred clients or qualified leads makes their job easier and may even result in monetary rewards.

Helping out a team member can only be a win-win. And your reward will be happy clients you hand-picked.

The next time you walk by your sales team at the office, think about those who may determine what’s on tomorrow’s to-do list.

Rebecca Otis, the Content/Social Media Manager at Chicago digital marketing agency Digital Third Coast, founded a small business marketing consultancy at the age of 26, was named an Austin Business Journal Women of Influence Profiles in Power Rising Star Finalist in 2012 and speaks for national organizations HP Catalyst and BlogHer. Connect with Rebecca on her site, Google+ and @RebeccaOtis.

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The post Why You Should Love Your Sales Team, Even If You Don’t Like Sales appeared first on Brazen Life.

Read on to discover the five ways you can become proactive and prepared while taking charge of your career ambitions.

1. Educate yourself

You claim you want a certain industry career, but can you prove it? Be willing to walk the walk by tuning into podcasts and subscribing to relevant blogs. See what professional organizations and learning seminars you can join.

Your resume may not reflect any jobs that directly pertain to your ideal career, but showing off to hiring managers that you’re proactive enough to educate yourself may be more impressive anyway.

2. Mentor with meaning

You’ve heard about the importance of a mentor, and you’ve thought about getting one, you just… um…

It’s normal to feel hesitant about approaching a mentor; after all, you likely respect and admire their achievements. But the hardest part is asking. (Click here to tweet this thought.) With an insightful and humbled approach, the worst that can happen is getting turned down.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to be in the same time zone to connect. In fact, people in other states and cities might be more willing to help you out because if you live somewhere else, you pose less of an employment threat.

LinkedIn is a great tool for connecting you to the professionals within your desired field. Even if you can’t meet in person, you can still message one another and gain an insider’s perspective on the job climate, fair pay and common misconceptions.

3. Volunteer

Perhaps you can’t land your dream job right now, but that doesn’t mean you can’t interact with it. Reach out to a local company within your desired field and see if you can volunteer your services in exchange for a widened industry experience and education.

Not only can these informal internships add some weight to your resume, but they’ll also connect you with the movers and shakers in the industry. Just think how much more your name will stand out in a pile of resumes when their next job opening comes around. And even if it never does, your time spent volunteering doubles as networking for leads to jobs beyond that specific company.

4. Dust off that resume

In addition to adding these new efforts to your resume, you might also want to tweak the details of your past jobs. Say, for example, that your dream is to work as a grant writer, but up until this point, you’ve only worked at completely unrelated catering and event jobs. Seems like a huge disconnect right? With a little creativity, maybe not.

 Continuing with this example, being a grant writer requires you to understand specific demands and meet deadlines while paying close attention to details. Who’s to say that as an event assistant, you didn’t meet client’s demands within their timelines while paying attention to details? The key is to honestly craft your resume so those natural connections to your dream career are made clear.

5. Update more than your look

The old saying “dress for the job you want” still applies in today’s modern world. Be willing to take out those piercings and steam a suit if it’ll get you one step closer to the job you want. But don’t stop there.

It’s also a good idea to update your attitude. Be more proactive and hungry when it comes to developing your skills. Ask your boss to meet with you and discuss your options for internal development and growth. The job you have now may not be ideal, but if you make the most of it, you can turn it into a powerful catalyst toward your future career.

What other steps can you take to take charge of your career ambitions?

Kelly Gregorio writes about workplace trends and tips while working at Advantage Capital Funds, a provider of merchant cash advances. You can read her daily business blog here.

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The post 5 Ways to Take Charge of Your Career and Land the Job You Want appeared first on Brazen Life.

A smile is the first step to influencing positive emotions in the world around you. Take it from orphan Annie, who belted, “You’re never fully dressed without a smile.” It’s your first step to nourishing a strong working relationship and making a powerful impression from the get-go.

No matter where you are in your career, these tips, tricks, secrets and one simple formula for success will get you on the way to making — and keeping — your mark in the business world:

1. Cultivate strong working relationships

The people you build and sustain a successful working relationship with have confidence you have their best interests at heart. They have faith you won’t harm or exploit them. To some, this may be reason enough to continue the relationship, regardless of what your competitors offer.

What qualities make for a successful working relationship? If you were reviewed by a customer, coworker or manager, the following words should come up: trust, respect, empathy, resilience, tenacity, perspective, integrity, accountability and competence.

People respond to someone who’s genuine rather than someone who persuades. (Click here to tweet this thought.) Consider the last time someone you trust and respect asked you to do something. You probably obliged, no questions asked.

2. Try a little bit of everything

A relaxing weekend is much needed from time to time, but when a big meeting is on the docket, arm yourself with stories. Sharing about how you piloted a plane across Lake Michigan for a long weekend with friends makes for an engaging conversation.

Of course, if the idea of cruising at 14,000 feet in a confined space makes your knees quiver, you can still try something small but new every week. Use these experiences and personal challenges to connect with a recruiter or potential client. Walk your listener through a problem you’ve encountered and how you overcame it to achieve results.

Every week gather with a few coworkers to practice telling these stories (don’t say “like” or “um”!). Not only will it boost confidence, but you could also use each other’s stories to find common ground.

3. Perfect your storytelling skills

Whether it’s for your next sales meeting or big interview, follow these essentials: come prepared, bring questions, initiate a strong handshake, practice your introduction and remember people’s names. Most importantly, show off your storytelling skills when the time is right.

Successful people like meeting fascinating new people. Storytelling is a great way to grab someone’s attention, build rapport and strengthen personal connections. If you do it well, telling a story captivates your listener and reveals common interests, all of which will encourage future interaction.

To be an expert storyteller, you must be gripping, persuasive and authoritative. Keep it short and to the point; have a beginning, middle and end; reveal a challenge you overcame; and use vivid detail and an animated tone. The goal is to leave your audience wanting more.

4. Predict the future

Don’t wait for your boss, client or coworker to realize what he or she needs from you. You’ll be serving a much larger business purpose if you empathize with their needs and make those predictions on your own. Going the extra mile is an appealing skill, and anticipating those needs — whether it’s for your boss, customer or colleague — will lead to success in any industry.

You’ll put yourself in a position of power by getting ahead of the curve. If you make someone’s job easier, they’ll never let you go.

When the opportunity arises, spend the majority of your time listening. Meeting with a potentially major client? Learn about his needs so you can align your next move with his biggest pain points.

Put yourself in his shoes: If you were him, what would you expect before your next meeting? What would make his job easier? Can you do something that’ll make him look good to his superiors?

5. Follow this formula for success

TED Talks speaker Shawn Achor — psychologist, CEO of Good Think, Inc. and terrific storyteller — teaches positive psychology (read: the connection between happiness and success).

He says most people believe this is the formula for success: How hard you work directly affects how successful you become, and how successful you become defines how happy you will be. Once you reach your personally defined goal post of success, you redefine what it means to be successful.

But Achor challenges you to reverse this formula.

Raising your level of positivity in the present releases the neurotransmitter dopamine, which makes you feel happy (good moods are contagious) and turns on different learning centers in your brain, allowing you to adapt to your surroundings in a different way.

“Your intelligence rises, your creativity rises, your energy levels rise,” says Achor. “In fact, every business outcome improves.”

6. Step up your writing and grammar skills

Texting, email and social media allow your writing and grammar skills to slip, not to mention Forbes recently alleged that professors no longer uphold the importance of writing in classes.

You’re familiar with the saying, “I judge you when you use poor grammar,” right? It couldn’t be truer. All it takes is one typo to distract your reader and devalue your hard work.

Heck, this guy won’t even hire you. “Good grammar makes good business sense,” he says. If you’re lax about distinguishing the difference between “their,” “they’re” and “there,” chances are you’ll be sloppy when it comes to other details.

A big presentation isn’t the place to underestimate the power of writing and grammar skills. After all, if you’re careless about representing your personal brand, why would anyone trust you to take care of theirs?

Amy Frye is the internal marketing coordinator at Coyote Logistics. Coyote has been widely recognized for its innovation, growth and strong culture and was named a four-­time Chicago Tribune Top Workplace and Brill Street’s Top Employer for Gen Y Emerging Talent in Chicago. Connect with Amy on Google+ or @amylovestotweet on Twitter.

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The post 6 Ways to Differentiate Yourself and Build a Standout Career appeared first on Brazen Life.

OK, so your spring break may not involve holding up a restaurant to fund your vacation or working with a drug dealer. But it can be just as productive.

When you’re in the final stages of your college career, you may want to throw all productivity out the window. But this crucial time can contribute to your future career. This spring break, don’t go the stereotypical route — have a productive “vacation” that ensures you’re on the right track come graduation time.

Here are some ways to stay productive this spring break:

1. Kick your social habits up a notch

Studies indicate that employers scour social networks to find the perfect candidate. While you may not have graduated yet, kicking your social presence into overdrive can set the stage for your future job search.

Blogging about your professional adventures can help shape you as a candidate. Creating an online job search campaign helps you stand out from the crowd. Straight interaction with your dream organization also puts you in a great light. When a hiring leader stumbles on your social platforms, you’ll have enough content to prove you know your stuff.

2. Discuss your job search with mentors

Your mentors can be an important part of your job search. They can recommend you for a job or advise you on how to navigate your career. After all, an internship employer or a professor has been there before; they understand the industry and can give you key pointers to ensure success.

3. Take on more work in your internship

It’s no surprise that internships are the key to landing an entry-level job. Increase your chances of landing a full-time job by taking on some additional projects this spring break.

Since you may have more time on your hands, ask your internship employer what you can do to help. This shows your dedication to the organization and your eagerness to learn more, which are both attractive qualities in a potential hire.

4. Create a job search plan

It’s smart to start looking for a job before graduation. During your time off, start a job search plan. Make a list of your ideal companies, qualities you’d like in a position and salary requirements. In addition, create a spreadsheet that manages where you’ve applied, contact information and whether or not you’ve followed up.

The job search can be complicated — be on top of it before you begin. (Click here to tweet this thought.)

5. Have fun

There are plenty of ways to have fun during your spring break, some of which can benefit you in the long run, like volunteering for your favorite organization or attending networking events or virtual meetups. While these activities don’t exactly scream “spring break,” they’ll positively contribute to your career — and you’ll have fun doing them, too.

What happens on spring break shouldn’t stay on spring break. Use these five productivity tips to ensure you’re ahead of the competition and nabbing your dream career before anyone else.

What do you think? What are some other productivity tips you can use this spring break?

Ashley Mosley is Community Engagement Manager at InternMatch, an online platform connecting the best intern candidates and employers. Connect with Ashley and InternMatch on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

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The post Ready for Spring Break? Why You Should Skip the Parties and Focus on Your Career appeared first on Brazen Life.

No pressure, right?

A good problem you’re likely to face is which job to take: The one that promises security or the one that promises experience? The higher-paid one or the one with fast growth opportunity?

Or, your significant other wants to move across the country to pursue her dreams — do you quit your new job, pack up and follow her? Or do you follow your dreams, even when they’re hazy and sometimes change by the time you wake up?

These choices can’t be made with a simple pros and cons list. You can find yourself longing for a crystal ball that can make the decision for you.

A personal story about taking a big career risk

Staring down my late 20s, I had already faced a fair share of these complicated decisions. One of the most recent came three years after college graduation. I was 25, leading an internal sales consultancy at a publicly traded company. I was fairly happy, well-paid and had opportunities rare for someone my age. Even though I wasn’t looking for a new job, I received an offer to work for a small healthcare startup.

After endless conversations with peers and mentors, dozens of pro/con lists and multiple sleepless nights, I made the first instinct-driven decision of my career.

I’m still unable to provide a definitive reason why, but I vividly remember launching from bed at 1:47 a.m. knowing I had to take the new job offer. Despite the advice of friends and family, I accepted the position.

A year later, I still work for that startup. And I love it. We provide healthcare organizations with a predictive modeling platform by analyzing their data to help clinicians make the best decisions for their patients. Fundamentally, these models help assess and weigh risks.

Wouldn’t a predictive model like this be useful for those big decisions in our early careers?

Based on my daily work using data to determine risk, I’ve developed a list of seven questions that can provide you with the data you need to consider when faced with life-changing decisions:

1. Does it motivate you to learn something new?

We’ve long been instructed to specialize — college majors, career trajectories, company ladders, etc. But specializing early at the expense of cultivating experience and contextual knowledge can limit your potential and stunt your self-discovery.

A familiar, comfortable job in a young career can be insidious. If an option you’re weighing will challenge you to stretch your concept of career, your long-term professional benefit will likely outweigh the short-term risk.

2. Does it push you to learn something about yourself?

Relative to risk, there’s usually no better time for self-discovery through work than your 20s. When considering a new opportunity, give more weight to the exploration and development possibilities of the role, rather than the job title or immediate responsibilities. Your early career experiences should give you room to grow and try something new.

My intended path was within the entertainment industry. I may never have discovered my passion for healthcare, technology and analysis without an openness to explore it.

Remain open to opportunities outside your original vision of career. You may have a hidden talent or interest that’s waiting to be discovered.

3. Does it scare you, just a little?

We grow most from those moments and experiences that force us to stretch beyond our limits. (Click here to tweet this thought.) Be unapologetically ambitious, even when logic and security suggest an alternate route.

4. Does it scare your friends and family, just a little more?

Naturally, those who love you most want to protect you. Because of that instinct, they may steer you towards a safe choice to limit your risk of loss or failure. Although their intentions are pure, their influence can be stifling.

If your near-and-dear are directing you away from an opportunity, consider the loving biases that they carry. Many times, the best decisions for our personal and professional growth are difficult for others to understand.

5. Does it change the way you evaluate success?

If you only measure your success by 401k balances, promotions and bonuses, you’ve mistakenly focused your attention on byproducts instead of the personal and professional experience along the way.

Give yourself opportunities to find what’s meaningful to you, and give yourself room to grow your ideas of success.

6. Will it surround you with passionate people?

Passion is contagious and powerful. Surround yourself with energy and innovation, and you’ll adopt the same vigor.

That fervent energy transforms our world every day. If you’re deliberating what’s best for you, consider the people who will teach you when you get there.

7. Does it excite you to talk about it?

Notice if you can’t stop rambling to your friends and family about the opportunity in question. It means something! Enthusiasm and buy-in is critical in an opportunity’s potential success.

Tally the number of times the opportunity organically comes to mind. Pay attention to what you’re thinking. Is it the experience? Earnings potential? Outcomes? There’s no wrong answer, but understanding your own drivers and interests will give you insight into what’s most important about your potential next step.

With every decision, embrace the privilege that you can chart your own path. But also allow that path early in your career to help shape you, too.

Cash Forshee is a healthcare technology professional who serves as the Senior Vice President of Medalogix, a Nashville, Tenn., based startup that equips post acute health operators with custom predictive modeling platforms to enable optimal patient care decisions. A Belmont University graduate, Cash is a Better Health 4Kids board member and a 2014 “Nashville Emerging Leader.”

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The post 7 Questions to Ask Yourself When You’re Facing a Tough Career Decision appeared first on Brazen Life.

Or let’s try this scenario: You’ve hit a major roadblock in your career, and the moment you tell the grandparents who raised you, you’re met by blank stares and looks of confusion.

Worst yet, this scenario: Accomplishments aren’t even acknowledged or celebrated in your immediate environment, leaving you more than hesitant to even mention anything about your career to anyone in your household or neighborhood. You feel that whatever you say will either be over their heads or met with major hateration…

What do you do when you need that extra, strategic support and it’s not something you can reach out and grab in your immediate environment? Try these four steps:

Read more at Black Enterprise…

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The post Feel Like You’re on Your Own? Here’s How to Get Some Much-Needed Career Support appeared first on Brazen Life.

There’s just one problem with the wonderful world of career advice. Just about anyone can claim to be a career advice guru, start their own blog and tell you what you should or shouldn’t do with your career.

So how do you separate the golden nuggets of wisdom from the lousy career advice? A few handy questions can help you sort through this sea of information and identify what’s really worthwhile.

1. Does the advice make sense?

Very little advice out there is fresh and new. Most of what these gurus say is simply repackaged from other gurus. And things can get lost in the process of repackaging.

It doesn’t matter if you’re reading a column written by a New York Times bestselling author or a blog you randomly stumbled across via the rabbit hole that is the Internet. Just stop and think: Does what they’re saying make any sense?

If you’re confused or befuddled by the advice they offer and struggle to understand how it applies to real life, take a pass and move on.

2. Is the information current?

The Internet has been around for a few decades now, so it’s not surprising that some information might be a bit dated.

For example, just a few years ago, most career advice gurus would have advised readers to wear a suit and tie to an interview, no matter what the job. In 2014, that advice might not work for some job interviews. A stuffy suit and tie could make you stand out, but not in the way you want. Following outdated advice can quickly move your resume to the “no way” pile.

That doesn’t mean career advice columns or blog posts from yesteryear can’t be relevant today. Just check the tips against current trends to make sure your job-hunting tactics don’t make you look like you’re out of touch with today’s realities.

3. Has this advice helped others become successful?

Many career advice gurus offer wisdom about things they have very limited practical knowledge of. As the saying goes, “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.”

You want a true career guru with a proven track record of success. Did the person actually work in the same industry you want to join? Where did they gain their knowledge? What makes them a guru more than the next guy?

Check to see if readers commented on the blog post and have become successful thanks to their advice.

4. Does the advice suit your situation?

The first three rules will help you determine if a career advice guru is legit. But this rule is probably the best way to judge the effectiveness of a guru’s advice for you and only you.

If what they’re saying doesn’t work for you, then it simply isn’t the right advice for you to follow. (Click here to tweet this thought.)

After all, you wouldn’t follow a New York road map while driving in California. If the advice isn’t applicable to your situation, then it’s not good career advice for you — no matter how well it works for anyone else.

There’s a lot of information out there. Cutting through the noise and finding what works is the key to your success.

How do you determine lousy career advice from good advice? Share what works for you in the comments!

Gerald Buck is the editor of ejobapplications.com, a site offering job applications and resourceful information. He is passionate about providing advice to those seeking job opportunities. You can follow his Twitter handle @EJobApplication.

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The post How to Identify Bad Career Advice — So You Can Ignore It appeared first on Brazen Life.

What’s holding you back from pursuing the perfect job? Or preventing you from starting that business you’ve always dreamed about? Or thwarting the progress you’d like to make?

If you find your answers to these questions begin with the words, “I have to,” it’s time to look at your reasons from a different angle.

Don’t let your choices hold you back

Here’s the tough-love truth about the “have tos” in your life: most of your obligations are actually choices. (Click here to tweet this thought.)

That’s right. Most of the responsibilities you “have to” take care of aren’t forced on you at all. Most of them are the result of choices you’ve made.

Feel like you “have to” continue on an undesirable career path so you earn a high salary? Maybe not owning that expensive condo or all the stuff that’s cluttering up your apartment would give you more freedom to find a job you actually enjoy.

“Have to” give up traveling because you can’t afford it? Maybe something else in your budget, like eating at pricey restaurants, can go instead.

“Have to” spend your weekend doing chores rather than enjoying the outdoors? Maybe you can squeeze the cleaning into a weekday evening by giving up something else, like all that time you spend on Facebook.

Each of these obligations hinges on a choice you made and, often, one you continue to make. You might have not have made it consciously — you might have automatically fallen into that routine because it’s how everyone else does it — but it is a choice.

If you’re happy with that choice, good for you. But if you’re not, it’s time to realize you can decide to choose differently.

How to pursue what really matters to you

When you see your obligations for what they really are, it becomes a hell of a lot easier to say “no” to anything that doesn’t truly help you get where you want to be.

That could mean saying “no” to poisonous relationships with people who are keeping you from following your gut. It could mean saying “no” to some opportunity everyone else thinks you’re crazy to pass up, so you have time to pursue what really matters to you. It could mean bucking the status quo and doing something different.

Whenever you’re short on time or money or motivation, ask yourself: What’s keeping me from doing what I really want to do? And how can I treat those obligations as what they really are: choices?

“If you say you never could do that, you certainly never will,” Kirk Horstead, a blogger who’s taken four sabbaticals in the last 20 years, told me. “But every one of those obligations is a choice. Getting up in the morning is a choice. Taking your kids to that game, going to work. You face hundreds of choices every day, and you just keep saying ‘yes, yes, yes’ to them. And that’s great, and that’s what gets you through the day and gets you success. But there’s also the choice to sometimes say, ‘I don’t want to do that, I don’t want to work every day of my life.’”

If this sounds like a lot of work, that’s because it is. Living purposefully takes effort. It requires swimming against the tide. It means making unconventional and often unpopular decisions. It requires consistently checking in with yourself to make sure you’re making conscious decisions about where you want to go, rather than letting the tide carry you.

But in the end, it’s worth it. Because you’re creating the life you want, not the one your neighbor wants or the one your family wants for you or the one society says you should want.

Choose your obligations wisely, so they don’t keep you from living in a way that makes you happy.

Alexis Grant is author of a new ebook, You Deserve a Job You Love: 20 Big Ideas for Succeeding in the New World of Work.

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The post Here’s What’s Really Holding You Back From Your Dream Career appeared first on Brazen Life.

I vividly remember my cheeks blushing as my mother would rave on to her fellow church ladies, “My Heather is the best, smartest, prettiest…” (You catch my drift. Aw, mom…)

Most of us were raised to believe we could do anything, be anything. Our parents trumpeted our skills with fanfare and celebration. “Look, little Johnny hit the baseball!” Society whipped on an extra helping of praise with gold stars every time we used the potty and allowances every week we remembered to make the bed.

From the start, we were rewarded for being regular, or at least better behaved than the so-called troublemakers. “Special” was never really special to us. Special was always average. It’s no wonder we now think we’re doing our best when we’re only being mediocre.

But mediocrity in the real world doesn’t amount to much — especially when it comes to entrepreneurship. It takes passion, persistence and eternal optimism to be truly special. So if you want to succeed, you have to ditch the act, stop listening to mom’s praise for awhile and learn to avoid the many allures of mediocrity. You’re better than they pretend, aren’t you?

Step 1: Take pats on the back at face value

We all love compliments. Love, love, love. We want to hear about how much we look like Brad Pitt and how our house is the nicest one on the whole block. We expect compliments when we make dinner, when we clean the house, when we submit a project.

And the funny thing is, we often get them. People pat us on the back with such frequency it feels like an injustice when someone doesn’t acknowledge that we did what we were supposed to do in the first place.

That’s why it’s so important to stop resting on your laurels. Believing the hype from those who love you doesn’t encourage you to take a realistic look at how you can improve.

Don’t be afraid to ask strangers for honest feedback, or better yet, learn to be your own best critic. Take an honest look at how you’re doing business. Where is your Achilles’ heel? Where are you missing the mark? Focus on those things rather than indulging in all the pats on the back. Everything will be better for it.

Step 2: Stop obsessing with “fun”

In James Altucher’s 100 Rules of Being an Entrepreneur, his first rule is: It’s not fun.

“I’m not going to explain why it’s not fun,” he says. “These are rules. Not theories. I don’t need to prove them. But there’s a strong chance you can hate yourself throughout the process of being an entrepreneur. Keep sharp objects and pills away during your worst moments.”

OK, so that might be a little dramatic. And I certainly don’t buy into all his rules, but the heart of this one is dead right.

When we were growing up being sold the bill of goods about just how darn special we are, we also got a load of lies about how “fun” life is. Everything is supposed to be like Candy Land all the time. And if it’s not like Candy Land, you’re not doing it right.

Wrong.

Building a business is hard work. And not just, “Honey, I chipped a nail!” hard work, but genuine hard work. You will sweat. You will cry. You will feel defeated. People will be mean. Things will go wrong. Multiple times.

The only businesses and ideas that succeed are those pioneered by people who are willing to accept the sweat and slog. People who want to play board games should just stay home in their jammies. My compromise: Working from home on Fridays… in my jammies. (Don’t judge me.)

Step 3: Rest on persistence

To quote German genius Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, “In the realm of ideas, everything depends on enthusiasm; in the real world, all rests on perseverance.”

I wish it were enough that you love your idea. That you think your idea is totally unique and will revolutionize the face of humanity. I wish it were, but it’s not. Why? Because real success isn’t built on warm fuzzies. It’s built by hard work and an honorable amount of persistence. And a healthy dose of of hopeless optimism doesn’t hurt either.

Brad Feld, managing director at Foundry Group, says tons of pitches come across his desk from people who believe their ideas are concocted of unicorn dust and Steve Jobs’ magic. These genius entrepreneurs come equipped with NDAs and a huge side of secrecy. To Feld, it’s laughable.

The greatest ideas and best companies often didn’t succeed because they were the first of their kind. It wasn’t that they were special. To quote Feld, they “became great because of execution.”

So stop believing you’re a unicorn and actually become one. (Click here to tweet this thought.) Work hard. Be special. Inspire others to join you on your mission. Rinse and repeat. Forge through the ugly. There’s only so much room at the top, and I guarantee you there are no spots for puny ponies.

Heather Anne Carson is the co-founder of Onboardly, a company that works with venture-backed startups to help them with customer acquisition. Heather manages PR strategies for a variety of clients and has helped them secure coverage in publications like Inc, Entrepreneur, Shape Magazine, New York Times Magazine, BetaKit, TechCrunch, PandoDaily,TechCocktail, Mashable and many more. Follow her on Twitter @heatheranne.

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The post A Wake-Up Call: Why You’re Just Mediocre and What to Do About It appeared first on Brazen Life.

Whether you’ve been reading Brazen for a while or just joined us recently (hello!), you know we’re all about motivating you to move in the right direction, whatever step of the career journey you’re on. We’re also all about giving you the tools to do so, because what good is motivation if you don’t know how to put it into practice?

Which is why we’ve put together this handy little reference for some of the most common career dilemmas faced by Millennials today. Whatever’s holding you back, we’ve got you covered! (Click here to tweet this guide.)

“I’m sick of being unemployed!”

Why Your Run-of-the-Mill Job-Search Strategy is Getting You Nowhere

How to Turn the Dreaded “How’s the Job Search Going?” Question Into Opportunity

Why Working Several Part-Time Jobs to Make Ends Meet is Not the End of the World

Why the Informational Interview Should Be Your Favorite Job-Hunting Tactic

Practical Ways to Use Unemployment to Your Advantage

“What if I bomb this interview?”

The Best Answers to the Worst Interview Questions

Tough Questions You Should Be Prepared to Answer During a Job Interview

6 Questions to Ask During Your Interview That Will Make an Employer Want to Hire You

How to Prepare for (and Close) Your Next Interview

4 Tactics to Make the Most of Your Interview (Even If You Don’t Get the Job)

“I have no idea what I want…”

How to Decide on a Career (Even If You Don’t Know What You Want)

3 Steps to Finding a Job You Truly Love

6 Tips for Incorporating Multiple Interests Into One Career

Careers That Work Best If You Have Multiple Passions

5 Things You Should Look for in Your First Job (Because It’s Not All About Salary!)

“I think it’s time to make a change.”

What to Do When You Realize You Chose the Wrong Career

The 3 Worst Mistakes to Make When Changing Careers

10 Steps for Changing Careers Without Losing Your Mind

How to Change Careers Even If You Think It’s Too Late

7 Careers You Can Switch To Without Earning Another Degree

“I feel stuck in a rut.”

Why Being Selfish is the Best Way to Get Ahead in Your Career

5 Ways to Show Your Boss You’re Ready for That Promotion

Think Twice About That Promotion

10 Terrible Ways to Ask for a Raise

Want More Career Responsibility? Here’s How to Get It

“I’m ready to take this job and shove it.”

Should You Quit Your Job? 5 Solid Reasons to Pack It Up

Stay or Go? 6 Questions to Consider Before Changing Jobs

How to Look for a New Job When You’re Already Employed

How to Keep Your Head in the Game When Your Heart’s Left the Building

Don’t Quit Your Job Just Because You Want To

“I’m so freakin’ stressed!”

10 Ways to Simplify Your Life and Be Happier at Work

9 Ways to Conquer Your Chaotic Workday

The Control Freak’s Guide to Getting Work Done

Tips for Leaving Work at Work (and Staying Sane)

The Young Professional’s Guide to Surviving a Terrible Week

“I want to do my own thing.”

The Wannabe Entrepreneur’s Quiz: 7 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Quitting Your Day Job

10 Things to Know Before Quitting Your Job and Embracing a New Lifestyle

Want to Follow Your Dream? Don’t Quit Your Day Job

5 Big, Brave Choices to Lead You to Successful Self-Employment

How to Convince Your Boss to Let You Go Virtual

For more great advice for all steps of your career, check out our Best of Brazen page.

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The post Top Solutions to Common Career Dilemmas appeared first on Brazen Life.

Well, the situation is actually a little more complicated than that. Can you make a living doing what you love? Yes… and no. To be honest with you, it depends. Not every passion or every dream or everything you love to do has profit potential. Some dreams and hobbies make lousy businesses. Professional careers don’t exist for everything.

The trick is finding that sweet spot where what you love to do and what other people want overlap. (Click here to Tweet this thought.) Opportunity lies at the point where your passion and its usefulness to other people converge.

For a business to exist, there has to be at least two things: a product or service, and people willing to pay for said product or service. If what you love to do isn’t useful to anyone else — if it doesn’t create value for other people by solving an obvious and irritating problem or bestowing some desirable benefit — then you’re probably never going to make money doing it. Passion isn’t enough if there’s no business potential.

That said, it’s almost always possible to find a career (or make your own) in an area closely related to something you love.

No one is going to pay you to read books for fun, but there are plenty of jobs — book editor, patent lawyer, proposal writer, reviewer/critic, researcher — that require a great deal of reading. No one is going to pay you for working in your garden or taking care of your own lawn, but they might be interested in buying your flowers or produce, or in learning how to create and tend their own garden. There’s the opportunity.

The question then becomes: Are any of the opportunities related to what you love interesting to you? If so, dig deeper. If not, pick something else you enjoy and explore the possibilities there.

Getting started

If you’re thinking about starting your own business based on a hobby or personal passion, answering these questions before you continue will help you figure out if that’s really something you’d enjoy, and whether there’s actually a market for it:

1. Would you enjoy pursuing your hobby/passion full-time, or at least 20 hours a week?
2. Do you enjoy teaching others to practice the same hobby/share the same passion?
3. Do you like all of the details of your hobby, even the parts other people find tedious, boring or difficult?
4. If your passion required a decent amount of administrative work, would you still enjoy it?
5. If your paycheck depended on pursuing your hobby/passion, would you still enjoy it?
6. Have other people asked for your help related to your hobby/passion?
7. Are there enough people out there willing to pay to benefit from your expertise?
8. Are there other businesses serving this market? Would you be able to serve this market better?

It’s all about the research. Whether you dream of bringing a new product to market or getting hired at Google, you need to become an expert on everything related to your dream job.

Say you want to own your own coffee shop. OK. What does it actually mean — what does it actually require to own your own coffee shop? Do you know anything about beans, farming and growing regions? Do you know anything about different roasting, grinding and brewing methods? Do you know anything about running a retail business? Do you know if there’s a market for a coffee shop in your area? Do you know what you could expect to earn running a coffee shop? Do you know about management? Hiring? Customer service? Do you know anything about FDA certification? If not, it’s time to learn.

Clarifying your vision

As you think about your dream job and begin to refine it, here’s what you need to know:

• The history of the company, business, or product
• The education requirements and potential cost
• The working environment or physical location
• The tools of the trade
• The typical pay you can expect when starting out
• The typical benefits you can expect when starting out
• The time requirements needed to be successful
• The physical requirements needed
• The skill requirements needed
• The emotional, relational and physical costs
• The laws and legal issues associated with the job

Intimidated? Allow me to introduce your new best friend — the Internet. So much information is available to you today, and much of it is free and can be accessed within three minutes. And don’t forget to take advantage of your local library as well. There’s much to be learned from books.

In the end, these questions should challenge you, not defeat you. If they challenge your dream and your dream is still standing, it’s worth pursuing. If these questions defeat you, you need to ask yourself why. Are you settling? Are you giving up? Or have you simply discovered you’ve been barking up the wrong tree? Change demands growth, and growth demands change.

This post is an excerpt from the author’s book, Jump Ship: Turn Your Passion into a Profession.

Josh Shipp is the host of Jump Shipp, a documentary TV series offering individuals a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live out their dreams. He’s an award-winning entrepreneur named to Inc. Magazine’s “30 Under 30” list and is the founder of Youth Speaker University. More at http://JoshShipp.com.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

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The post How to Turn Your Passion Into a Successful Career appeared first on Brazen Life.

Perhaps you chose a major without any idea of what career you could find after graduation, and now you’re stuck at a dead-end job. Or you set out with a specific career in mind, only to discover you hate it. Or you’ve figured out the only way to get to the top is to choose a different ladder.

Regardless of where your career might be at this point, never get complacent about finding the right fit for you. Here are a few steps you can take to get where you want to be, and find out what that is in the first place:

Discover your options

If you’re unhappy with your career, take action. Turn off the TV, stop looking at Facebook and start looking at job listings.

Find out who the major employers are in your city and browse their websites. Read about all the positions, including ones you’ve never heard of, to learn more about what’s available. Talk to people in other departments of your company about their roles and how they got there. Find college alumni with cool-sounding jobs on LinkedIn, and ask if they’d be willing to get coffee and tell you more about their work.

Many obscure jobs are out there; your dream job might be one of them. You’ll never know unless you educate yourself.

Your college degree isn’t a life sentence

It takes guts to change careers, but trying new things is how you find out what you like to do and what you don’t. Your career won’t magically improve on its own. Push yourself.  (Click here to Tweet this thought.)

Set small, attainable goals, like applying to one new job a week. Every weekend, write a new cover letter that explains how your skills will apply to a different job. Begin by creating a list of your highly adaptable and transferable skills. There are plenty of articles on the Web on this subject to inspire you.

Start wandering, but don’t stop wondering

Once you’ve landed a different job, don’t stop there. Keep looking inward to determine if it’s right for you. Do you look forward to accomplishing the goals you and your manager have set? Is it a company you believe in? Will your job have a positive impact on others? Instead of looking for the right role, the right salary, the right fit for your resume, ask yourself what’s culturally right.

Never settle for “just OK”

Refuse to settle for what’s convenient; constantly seek more meaningful work. Figuring out what makes you tick is the key to finding the right company culture that closely aligns with your own. You’ll probably be surprised where you find that match — often in a place you never imagined.

There’s so much pressure today to know exactly where you’re heading from the moment you enter college. If you don’t know, nurture your curiosity and let it guide you. You may find yourself in roles that suck the life out of you just to survive, but then again, you could find perfection in a position you never imagined you would enjoy.

Don’t ever settle. You’ll have to compromise many times in your search, but always use those experiences to get to know yourself, your core values and what drives you forward. If you’re always doing the work behind the scenes, someday you will find your sweet spot in a place that fits you just as much as you fit it.

Danny Roberts is a recruiter for Redfin, a technology-powered real estate brokerage that is currently hiring for many roles. In 2000, he participated in MTV’s The Real World: New Orleans, which lead him on a unique and varied career path that helped him discover what his values are and where he needs to be.

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The post These Steps Will Lead You to a Career That Truly Fits appeared first on Brazen Life.

High school can teach us plenty of lessons about how to win friends and influence people professionally. Here are seven shining examples that prove what goes on in high school hallways isn’t that different from what’s happening around the water cooler.

1. Fake it until you make it

Whether it was walking through the front doors of your high school for the first time or trying out for the school play, there were plenty of times in high school when you felt out of your comfort zone. The bad news is those feelings still happen in the professional world.

But the same advice you were given to overcome your fears and project confidence can still save your booty at the office. Don’t misrepresent your skills or knowledge, but don’t sell yourself short if you don’t know the answer to every question when you’re put on the spot.

Sometimes it seems like it’s better to get what you want now instead of later, but it’s not complicated. Be patient and don’t jump at the chance to be boss’s pet. An eloquent response that shares the knowledge you do have and promises additional research will buy you the time you need to get the information that’ll blow your boss’s socks off.

2. Tardiness isn’t tolerated

Even though most offices don’t have a tardy bell, you can bet someone is taking note of who shows up late and who skips out early. Attendance is a basic tenet of all schooling, and that’s because — like it or not — it matters. Forever.

Showing up on time is a sign of respect, courtesy and responsibility. You won’t get the keys to the executive bathroom if you always show up 10 minutes late.

3. Don’t be a mean girl

Bullying, petty competition and vicious gossip aren’t left behind with bad cafeteria food and unrequited high school crushes. Mean girls persist in the workplace, and it’s women picking on each other 80 percent of the time.

Whether you were poked fun of for your braces or you were the one who did the poking, tearing other people down never helps you get ahead. (Click here to Tweet this thought.) And like high school, trying to boost yourself up by making fun of someone else, spreading gossip or giving people the cold shoulder is a surefire way to lose respect, inspire distrust and become someone who coworkers avoid.

4. Prank at your own risk

Everyone loves the class clown, right? Well, maybe not. Pulling off the perfect office prank may be your Holy Grail, but it’s not always viewed in the best light. In high school, you might be able to get away with never taking anything seriously and humiliating others in the name of laughter, but at work, being known as the office jester can work against you.

If you can’t resist getting one over on your colleagues, prank judiciously and never cross the line into anything that leaves you or your company open to a lawsuit.

5. Where you sit matters

Where you sit on the first day might be where you’re stuck all year — and in the conference room, as well as the classroom, the seat you choose can say a lot about you. It’s a delicate balance between looking like a suck-up and seeming completely disengaged (slackers only in the back row!).

If you’re looking to move up the career ladder, be strategic. Observe what other leaders in your company do in meetings and follow suit. Sit near the person leading the meeting, sit up straight and take notes — no checking your email or sneaking in a round of Words with Friends.

After all, in the workplace, they don’t just take your phone away for the day; disruptive or inattentive behavior might put your job at risk.

6. Jump in and have some fun

Remember how your parents pressured you into taking up the trombone and joining the marching band? Do you also remember the awesome friends you made and how you can honestly start a story with “This one time at band camp”?

What you didn’t know when your folks coerced you into joining is that it’d make your life better. The same phenomenon happens at work. Look for opportunities to be on the party committee, help with a service project or bring that killer dessert you make to the next potluck. You’ll strengthen your relationships and gain clout with the higher-ups.

7. Focus on what you love

One of the best parts of high school was having more control over the classes you took. If you loved photography, you had a slew of classes to take, and you could even put your skills to work on the school paper or yearbook. There’s no reason to stop doing what you love after high school.

While not everyone can be the next Justin Bieber or Annie Leibovitz, you can still find ways to pay the bills and do what you love. Whether you become the unofficial office photographer or go into graphic design where photos are part of your job description, it’s important to find work you can be passionate about.

Even though high school may have felt like it lasted a lifetime, you’re going to be on the job for much longer, so make sure you don’t sell yourself short from 9-to-5.

What other high school lessons do you find applicable in the dog-eat-dog world of business?

Elli Bishop is a writer for BusinessBee. You can follow them on Twitter, Google+ and Facebook.

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The post 7 Lessons You Learned in High School That Still Ring True in the Workplace appeared first on Brazen Life.

While this “see the light” moment may come as a result of learning more about the role and the teams we’d potentially work with, our newfound enthusiasm is a by-product of selling ourselves for the role.

In the same way that pretending to be happy when you’re not can lift your spirits, presenting yourself as enthusiastic for a job you previously didn’t care about can have a similar effect.

Later, when looking down the barrel of an offer, it becomes increasingly difficult to turn the opportunity down, especially when no other prospects are on the horizon.

But there’s good argument for turning down a new job: the role doesn’t meet your internal value, either in title, responsibility or compensation. Learn how to value yourself — and how to sell that value to hiring managers — and you’ll be able to leave the false enthusiasm, and frustrating positions, behind.

Defining your value

One of the mistakes job hunters make is assuming their value in the job market is externally defined — that the company will look at your resume and decide how to translate your skills and past experiences into a role that befits you.

The problem with making that assumption is you place the task of determining your value in the hands of others and lose control over how your skills and experiences are translated into titles and compensation.

Let’s say you’re applying for a job you’re hoping will give you upward mobility because you believe you’re director-level material. For the potential employer to see you in the same light, demonstrate how your accumulated knowledge, experience and skills reflect your internal value.

Your value shouldn’t be defined by the buyer of your services; instead, it should be validated by the buyer. Your goal should be to present yourself as an undervalued asset that’ll flourish upon taking the next step.

Playing it smart

Does this mean you should never accept a position that’s a lower level or pay grade than what you think you deserve? Absolutely not. The way you present yourself to the job market is through the narratives you can tell about who you are and what you’ve accomplished.

If you’re moving from a well-paid job with a good title to a lower-paid job with more responsibilities, the stories you’ll be able to tell about your impact will be greater.

If the role offers a larger opportunity for growth, your perceived setback may only be temporary. Many of my former Google colleagues left the company for early stage startup ventures prior to reaching senior-level positions.

Though many accepted lower pay, over two years, many former mid-level managers changed their LinkedIn profiles to include titles such as Director and VP.

As these companies grow, the role my former colleagues play in that growth is substantial and tangible. When they look for their next job, they have great stories to tell about their impact and abilities.

The value of anything is what the market is willing to pay. As the seller of your services, you owe it to yourself to find the right buyer who will meet you at your estimated worth. (Click here to Tweet this thought.)

We all know someone who left one company for another only to receive a substantial promotion in the process. But rather than see that move as the result of luck, we should consider how the individual presented herself as qualified for the newfound responsibilities.

Determining your own value can be hard, and there’s great opportunity to sabotage yourself through over- or under-confidence.

Ask the experts

Ensure you’re valuing yourself correctly by seeking out hiring managers, recruiters and HR business partners who will provide you with an honest assessment of how to present yourself to the market.

Discussions of career progression should always be a part of any negotiation upon taking a new job. If your new company or manager isn’t interested in discussing where they might take you if you’re successful in your role, that may be a red flag.

Success, as Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, is fond of saying, isn’t a straight line but a jungle gym. Choosing the next move shouldn’t just involve looking at the next rung, but at how to optimize your time and energy as you attempt to get to the other side.

Matthew Carpenter-Arévalo works for Twitter. You can follow him at @EcuaMatt.

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The post Create the Success You Deserve By Knowing What You’re Worth appeared first on Brazen Life.

But it’s not always easy to figure out what you want from your career beyond the traditional measures of achievement: a great salary, promotions and professional recognition. What path will allow you to use your talents, enjoy the journey and bring you soul-satisfying success?

Every successful business requires a mission and a plan, and no business is more essential than the business of your life. (Click here to Tweet this thought.) You have a long career ahead of you.

And, like a business, you need a mission and a plan to remain passionately engaged in your work. If the idea of creating a strategic plan for your life leaves you thinking, “I’d rather have a colonoscopy,” rest assured this can be a streamlined, enjoyable process that lets you focus on what’s really important.

Here’s an eight-step program to help you create your strategic plan for a balanced life and joyful career:

1. Define your mission

Your mission is where your talents and passions collide with the needs of others and the world. — Matthew Kelly

Step one is to identify your skills, figure out what you love doing and think about how you can combine those to meet a need.

2. Imagine the sweet smell (sound, look and feel) of success

Next, create a vision of what your life looks like when you’re fully using your gifts, doing what you love most and accomplishing what you set out to do. Your personal definition of success should include ingredients that bring pleasure into your day.

3. Name your critical success factors

Once you’ve defined your purpose and what success means for you, it’s time to go from dreaming to doing. To start, make a list of the elements you need to bring your vision to life. This step marks real progress toward creating your personal plan and builds forward momentum.

4. Find your sweet SWOT

With your list in hand, ask, “Do I have what it takes to get there?” Answer by identifying your SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) to size up what you have to work with — or work around — as you move into action.

5. Set goals for success

A vision is just a pretty picture until you breathe life into it. Determine what you need to do to make real, steady progress toward living your envisioned life. Create a set of prioritized goals so you can spend your time getting the results you want.

6. Perform a time and emotion study

Money can’t buy love or more time. A strategic plan for your life requires mindfulness to spend your limited time on your priorities. In this step, look at a typical day on your calendar and assess:

• How well your current use of time aligns with your goals.
• Where your actions and priorities don’t line up.
• How to clear the clutter and make room for what matters.

7. Select successful strategies

Designing a business plan for your life allows you to live with integrity — where your actions reflect who you are and what you value. Select the actions most likely to help you achieve your goals.

8. Get going

The idea of starting to live the life of your dreams may be so overwhelming you feel paralyzed. Take one small step at a time until you build momentum and become an unstoppable force. Nothing begets success like success.

If you think creating a business plan is too daunting, you’ll be relieved to know it can take as little as a few hours to create. That’s a worthy investment to set your career path in an inspiring, joyful direction. As the Japanese proverb states, “Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.” With some thoughtful planning, your sweet dreams can come true.

Allison Rimm (@allisonrimm) is a management consultant, executive coach and author of The Joy of Strategy: A Business Plan for Life. She shares her insights and experiences from her years as a Senior Vice President at Massachusetts General Hospital through her Joy Strategies blog and articles for Harvard Business Review and WBUR’s Cognoscenti Blog.

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The post Find Joy in Your Work By Creating a Business Plan for Your Life appeared first on Brazen Life.

We all know the importance of doing more than expected and doing it exceptionally well to get noticed. But there’s more to getting promoted than that. Sure, going above and beyond is a great start, but there are several other factors at play you ought to consider when looking to advance your career:

1. Find your passion

Why do you want a promotion? The added benefits? Or do you believe you have something special that position needs?

Success requires passion and love for what you do. Be the employee who will arrive early and stay late. Be the employee your employers can’t live without. (Click here to Tweet this thought.)

Take pride in what you do — even in the most mundane of tasks. Take pride in yourself and your company. If you can’t do that, then reconsider that promotion, because frankly, you don’t deserve it.

2. Stay positive

Don’t complain about your projects, your clients or your colleagues (including the higher-ups).

A good rule to follow is to refrain from complaining about your job in general. Even if you’re assigned to work on a tedious task or with a grating client, maintain a positive attitude. Though it can be tough to look on the bright side of things when you’re frustrated with a project, look at it as a worthwhile challenge to overcome to the sake of your promotion.

Why would anyone want to promote you if you seem to hate the job you’re doing now? People want to be surrounded by those with good, positive energy. Prove to your manager that you actually want to be there.

3. Turn negative feedback to your advantage

Instead of getting defensive when given negative feedback, reflect on it. Criticism is the best advice you can get.

While we would all prefer to hear good things about our work all the time, it doesn’t push us to improve. Instead, we tend to get complacent and comfortable with where we are. That’s not a good place to be for very long. So use that criticism to grow, no matter how negative it may seem.

4. Expand your skill set

Constantly challenge yourself to take on tasks for which you lack experience. View those challenges as opportunities. Use every task as a way to grow on a personal level and to develop new skills.

If you fail, you still learn something, even if that something is what not to do next time. But if you do excel, it demonstrates you’re always getting better. And that drive will get you noticed.

Consider a lateral move to start with — something similar to your current position but in a different department. Gaining experience in other areas of the company will not only help you learn new skills, but expand your contacts and help you better understand your company as a whole.

5. Know your strengths and weaknesses

Would your strengths come in handy if you were given a promotion? Or do you lack the necessary strengths to be successful in a higher position?

Take the time to focus on what you don’t do so well. If you don’t deal with your weaknesses now, it’ll be more difficult to obtain a higher position and succeed in it.

This also demonstrates to your boss that you know how to identify and overcome your weaknesses.

6. Take the initiative

Seek out and volunteer to do work from the next level up. A willingness to take on more responsibility demonstrates to your manager (and you!) that you’re already capable for the position and you’re beginning to outgrow your current one.

7. Don’t constantly play it safe

Test out your ideas and challenge how things are done. Of course, be mindful of the manner in which you go about this.

You need to be respectful and demonstrate that your intention is to make things better. Your risks should aim to improve everyone’s performance and generate results and growth for the company, not just advance your own agenda.

8. Find a mentor

It’s always good to surround yourself with people you admire. Connect with others on your own level or team who possess the attributes you want to emulate.

If possible, connect with someone in a higher position, preferably the level you’re seeking. Gathering their insight and advice will be invaluable in preparing yourself for the job you seek. They can offer you expert (and personalized) advice on how to get the job, how to do the job well and what’s expected.

9. Teach others

Be a mentor yourself. Helping your colleagues improve their performance is an excellent demonstration of your teamwork and collaborative leadership skills.

It also shows that you have expertise to share, the self-confidence to do so and a genuine desire to help others.

10. Don’t expect what you don’t deserve

Finally, be honest with yourself. Do you just expect the job? Or are you putting forth your best effort with your current work? Are you continuously making an effort to get better?

If you simply expect a promotion and aren’t doing everything in your power to expand your skills, demonstrate your desire to learn and take on additional projects, it’s unlikely that promotion will happen anytime soon — or ever.

Greg Bentley is a human resources specialist who has worked for several large-scale companies. When he’s not busy at work fixing the human resources software for a number of helpless staff members, Greg enjoys studying languages and fighting the good fight to keep bad disco dancing alive and well.

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The post 10 Steps That Will Help You Earn That Big Promotion appeared first on Brazen Life.

Instead of being bolted down to your personal career agenda, you should widen your career path by becoming what I call a “career servant.”

For simplicity’s sake, a career servant is someone who serves others. By practicing career servanthood, you can engender many positive results. In fact, this altruistic strategy can lead to ultimate career satisfaction because you can help your organization advance, your colleagues succeed and yourself grow — all at the same time. When you serve your organization and others, you will easily build positive alliances and networks that can add immense value to your career.

Read more at Black Enterprise…

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They’ll take you under their wing and show you everything you should know and do to successfully navigate your way through your career. But while they’ll show you what you should be doing, you can also learn from what they don’t do. (Click here to Tweet this idea.)

The following things will increase your productivity and establish you as an assertive, forward-thinking professional — just like your awesome boss:

1. Don’t drag out emails

Have you ever sent your boss a long-winded email, only to get a single-word response back? You’re not the only one. Attention spans are shrinking by the day. Everyone experiences content overload and skims through their morning news and weekly reports to get the information they need.

Emails are no different. Deleting excess words and getting right to the point is what managers do and expect. When emails are concise, it’s easier to understand the main objective and interpret exactly what’s being asked of the sender.

2. Don’t be afraid to push back

Your boss probably didn’t get to their current position by being passive. Somewhere throughout their career, they probably had to voice their opinion about the best way to implement a marketing strategy or give their feedback on how to improve inefficiencies.

One day, you may be tasked to complete a routine project you believe can be done differently, more efficiently or just better. It could involve pulling in an additional resource or approaching the project from a new angle. Whatever it may be, tactfully tell your boss what you’re thinking.

3. Don’t take “no” as “never”

Perseverance is as crucial to winning new business as it is to proving why you deserve a raise, promotion or other opportunities. In sales, managers are trained to overcome objections and not give up easily when they’re prospecting new clients. Not needing the product now doesn’t mean the prospect will never need it.

Being told “no” doesn’t always mean “end of story; get back to work” — and it shouldn’t be interpreted that way. Sometimes it means you’ve got to go back to the drawing board and re-strategize how to prove why you deserve to take the lead on that next big project.

4. Don’t forget about the competition

As technology and human behavior evolves, managers must think of ways to help companies keep up with the changing times and stay a step ahead of the competition.

Identifying ways to enhance your own skill set will continue to position you as a top candidate when new opportunities emerge. Whether that means creating your own blog to showcase your writing and creativity, or suggesting your company offer a workshop on public speaking, you’ve got to have a competitive advantage in today’s workforce.

What are some other things your boss doesn’t do that you can apply to your own career development?

Jaimee Ratliff is a PR Consultant and a culture enthusiast based in Houston, TX. She also likes to write about all things Generation Y. Follow her at @WhatJaiSays.

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The post 4 Things Your Boss Doesn’t Do — And You Shouldn’t, Either appeared first on Brazen Life.

I’ve been there. At first glance, my resume may seem odd. I’m a former running coach who has helped create postage stamps, DVDs, books and corporate training programs. Today, I’m a growth developer for a tech startup. The common thread: I love building things, whether it’s a high-functioning team or a killer website.

If you identify with the less-groomed path, too, you can blaze your own trail. By following your intuition, you’ll build a unique, fulfilling career. You may never feel like you’ve reached your destination, but maybe there isn’t one. You don’t need to know what you want to be when you grow up. But here are five things you don’t want to be:

1. Bored

Many entry-level jobs are boring by design. When seasoned employees get sick of a responsibility, it falls to the newbie. But that doesn’t mean you need to pay your dues forever. You deserve the opportunity to use your gifts at work. You deserve to have an opinion and make a difference.

Your boss might not notice you’re bored out of your mind. It’s your responsibility to stay engaged. If you’re feeling bored, speak up. But do yourself a favor — don’t utter the words “I’m bored.” Express the desire to take on more, learn a specific skill or collaborate with a new group of people.

2. Stuck

You went to school for psychology or physics or philosophy, but that doesn’t need to limit your path. Early in your career, you went into banking or real estate or marketing. This doesn’t mean you need to spend the next 40 years doing that if you don’t love it. You have options — probably more than you realize.

Not happy with your career choices so far? Make proactive your middle name. (Click here to Tweet this thought.) Research what it would take to make a specific change. Read books, tap into your social networks and identify actionable ways to move toward your new target. Remember: people take career leaps every day. You can, too.

3. Broke

Money doesn’t buy happiness, but neither do back-breaking student loans and an ugly credit report. Even if you’re out to save the world, you don’t want to be broke. There’s a difference between living frugally (great!) and getting in over your head financially (not great).

Sometimes, you may need to make a strategic career move for financial reasons. Think of this as a big-picture decision, something that’ll help you do X, Y and Z down the road. And the big-picture rule goes both ways. Sometimes, it makes all the sense in the world to take a pay cut for an amazing opportunity.

4. Unappreciated

Do yourself a favor — don’t work indefinitely for people who don’t really get you. Find employers who like the way you think. Find emotionally intelligent people who know how to recognize and support their employees.

In every job interview, suss out whether the job, company and coworkers are a good fit. Don’t allow your self-consciousness to drive the interview process. Yeah, you want them to want you, but you also want to work in a positive environment.

5. One-dimensional

You’re not just a [insert job title here]. You’re a teacher who also loves organic gardening. Or a designer who likes to practice martial arts. Or a full-time parent with a passion for astronomy. Or maybe astrology. You bring your own unique spin to your job and life. That’s valuable.

Seemingly disparate passions converge all the time. Maybe you dream up your best work-related ideas while taking a bike ride or browsing a bookstore. Pouring 100 percent of your energy into your job is never the answer. Don’t forget to be a student of life. Make time for the people and hobbies that fuel you.

Emma Wilhelm loves punchy words and uphill battles. When she’s not driving growth for Mad Mimi, she relishes long runs, the family brewing biz and dance parties with her kids. Follow her on Twitter @emmasota.

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The post 5 Things You Absolutely Don’t Want to Be When You Grow Up appeared first on Brazen Life.

In our wired world of 24/7 communication, can we truly quiet our minds and produce great work without falling victim to insurmountable stress?

In short, the answer is: yes. Mindfulness — intentionally focusing on the present in a nonjudgmental way — works.

When Harvard professor Bill George presented his ideas on authentic leadership in 2011, he had the opportunity to ask the Dalai Lama, “How does one become mindful?” To his comfort, the Dalai Lama responded that it involves daily mindful practices.

We spoke with leading experts in mindful leadership who incorporate this technique into their professional and personal lives: ordained minister and physician Dr. Chris T. Pernell, author of Letters to My People: Inspirational Essays, Poems and Affirmations and founder of My Body & Me, a health and wellness initiative; owner of Lotus Yoga and Lotus in Action Jennifer Kohl; and Reiki master Deborah Flanagan, owner of Center for True Health.

Read more at Black Enterprise…

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Whatever the reason, reinventing yourself is a long and complicated road, and some words of advice from someone who’s been there, done that can certainly help.

Well, what about 49 words of advice?

In an epic post on TechCrunch, writer, author and entrepreneur (and general rabble-rouser) James Altucher shares the lessons he’s learned from 20 years of rebooting and rebranding himself, including such brazen tips as:

PP) What if I get depressed?

Sit in silence for one hour a day. You need to get back to your core.

If you think this sounds stupid then don’t do it. Stay depressed.

QQ) What if I don’t have time to sit in silence?

Then sit in silence for two hours a day. This is not meditation. This is just sitting.

RR) What if I get scared?

Sleep 8-9 hours a day and never gossip. Sleep is the No. 1 key to successful health. It’s not the only key. It’s just No. 1. Some people write to me and say, “I only need four hours of sleep” or “in my country sleeping means laziness.” Well, those people will fail and die young.

What about gossip? The brain biologically wants to have 150 friends. Then when you are with one of your friends you can gossip about any of the other 150. If you don’t have 150 friends then the brain wants to read gossip magazines until it thinks it has 150 friends.

Don’t be as stupid as your brain.

You can read the full article here.

What do you think of Altucher’s advice? Is he spot on, or way out there?

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The next time you see the HR rep coming your way, don’t duck into the copy room or act distracted at the water cooler. Smile, say hello and keep these tips from an HR insider in mind:

1. Remember that HR works for your company, not for you

Sure, HR wants to support employees, but at the end of the day, they’re working to serve the best interests of the company.

So next time you’re wondering why the benefits package was cut, why so many loyal employees were let go in the restructuring or why they’re supporting a manager who was in the wrong, remember HR is paid by the company, not you.

2. Keep in mind that all employees are NOT treated equally

While HR managers will talk about everyone being talented and valued, they don’t believe they’re equally talented or valued. At virtually every large organization, individuals are classified into different groups or categories — for example, “high potential.”

You quite likely won’t know they exist, or more importantly, which group your manager has put you in. But these classifications can affect everything from your development opportunities to the likelihood of a promotion or pay raise.

When it comes to compensation, salaries can vary hugely even when two people are doing the exact same job. If you suspect you’re underpaid, it’s never too late to brush up on your negotiation skills.

There are countless HR policies companies will point to in terms of process, fairness and equality. But for every policy, exceptions can be granted. Who do those exceptions apply to? That brings me to…

3. Make a good impression, because HR’s opinion of you absolutely matters

While your manager is key to your advancement, HR can also have a big impact on your career — both positively and negatively. If they see you as the girl who’s enthusiastic, committed and articulate, people will hear about it. If they see you as the guy who’s always complaining, late and too cool for school, people will also hear about it.

So when HR is sitting around a table with the management team discussing who gets promotions, who to send to the executive development program in London or who to put on a new, high-profile committee, you obviously want to be on their good side.

HR is also the first to know about new roles opening up. Not only do you want to be recommended; you also want to make sure you’re considered in the first place. Despite what you might think (or what HR will tell you), many jobs are never advertised.

This is important because quite often, junior employees don’t have a relationship with anyone in HR. And if you don’t get to know them, they probably won’t know who you are (and therefore can’t help you). Sometimes, all it takes is a short meeting over coffee to discuss your learning and development plan or to get their input on the implications of a big project you’re supporting.

On the other hand, if you do have a relationship with the department but feel like your personal brand is lacking, do a little humblebragging and gradually build up your reputation.

4. Be careful what you discuss with HR

Though you want to build a relationship with HR, you also need to be conscious of what you share. Don’t assume your one-on-one conversation is a confidential discussion.

You can always ask for something to be kept private, but if it’s really something you don’t want known more broadly, it’s probably better not to test your luck. People who work in HR are so accustomed to dealing with sensitive information that discussing something you see as very private can happen easily.

5. Share the love with HR, too

HR is often on the receiving end of a lot of complaints. From “I wasn’t paid on time” to “Why does it take so long to hire someone?” to the ever-popular “Do we really have to waste our time with another HR meeting?”, HR reps hear their share of whining.

Like any department that often receives critical feedback, showing your appreciation for HR’s work can go a long way. Of course your feedback should be genuine, but if you show the love, it’ll often work in your favor. As the saying goes, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

Now that you have the inside track, go ahead and reach out beyond those scary HR doors. Just be careful!

Kari Reston is the Founder and Chief Executive of boredomtoboardroom.com, where she shares honest advice as well as secrets from HR and the corporate world to help her subscribers find work and build successful careers.

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The post 5 Things You Need to Know About HR (That They’ll Never Admit) appeared first on Brazen Life.

Well, perhaps one of the reasons for your lack of career satisfaction is because you’ve been coasting in your career by being an average professional. Now, this isn’t particularly a bad thing, because being average while still employed means you’re performing at a good enough level that satisfies your employer.

However, if you have a strong desire to realize your big career goals and dreams, you will have to rise above being average. The first step in becoming extraordinary is relinquishing the “I’m only going to do just enough to survive” mindset and replacing it with an “I’m going to go over and beyond to stand out” mindset so that the likelihood of you moving from being just a team player to the company’s Most Valuable Player will greatly increase.

Similar to world-class MVP professional athletes such as LeBron James and Serena Williams, as a business professional, you have to stretch yourself beyond your limits for optimal career growth and success.

Read more at Black Enterprise…

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The post Push It to the Limit: How to Become the MVP of Your Company appeared first on Brazen Life.

Whether you loved or hated your internship, burning bridges isn’t going to do your career any favors. Take Anthony Weiner’s former intern Olivia Nuzzi, for example. While she certainly got a lot of media attention for providing an inside look into his campaign, people have mixed views on whether that helped or harmed her career.

Here are seven ways to keep your professional image intact after your internship ends:

1. Don’t forget to say thank you

As your internship comes to end — or even if you’re already gone — it’s your duty to personally thank everyone you worked with during that period. Recognition is important, even if you didn’t thoroughly enjoy the working experience.

Verbal thank yous aren’t enough, either. Go with the handwritten thank you note. For each person you write, provide specifics about what you appreciated. Maybe they showed you the ropes on a new project or made your lunch break more bearable by sharing a table with you. Whatever it is, avoid a canned response.

2. Don’t badmouth anyone

Unfortunately, some internship experiences aren’t positive. You may have had a less-than-impressive manager or duties that lacked educational value, but it’s best not to share your opinions publicly. Don’t tweet or Facebook your distaste for an employer, ever.

Instead, keep it constructive. If you didn’t get the chance to share your opinions about your experience in a one-on-one meeting with your internship or human resources manager, consider reaching out to them in an email. Just remember not to be overly negative — you never know when you’ll need a reference.

3. Don’t lie about your experience

The aftermath of a bad internship may feel disheartening, but don’t blow it out of proportion when sharing it with friends and family. Lying about your experience could get around fast and ruin your professional reputation.

If you want to share your professional opinions to warn potential interns, consider posting on an internship rating website, but keep it tactful. Never lie about what took place because it’ll only come back to hurt you in the end.

4. Don’t share confidential information

You may have signed a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) or confidentiality agreement (CA) when you filled out your internship paperwork. If so, you agreed not to disclose private information related to your work.

Sharing confidential information pertaining to your internship, such as client- or customer-related details, could place you in serious legal trouble. You’d face hefty legal fees and being branded as untrustworthy — something no employer is looking for.

5. Don’t lose touch

Building your network is essential to the future of your career. Everyone you came in contact with during your internship is a potentially valuable connection for another internship, job opening or professional development opportunity.

Stay in touch with your fellows interns, coworkers and manager by connecting with them on social media sites. For instance, you can shoot your previous internship manager an email if you see the company has won an award, or check in with a former coworker to see how things are going since you left.

6. Don’t ask to be hired without having a plan

Maybe you’re looking to be rehired as an intern or you’re seeking an entry-level role. The worst possible thing you can do is ask for a job without having the appropriate planning in place. It’s the equivalent of shouting “Please hire me!” into a crowded room.

Build a personal presentation. Compile all the outstanding work you’ve done for the company and from other endeavors. Schedule a time to speak with your previous manager and pitch this opportunity. Even if they’re not sold on bringing you back or they don’t have the resources, they may know of another employer seeking an intern or entry-level employee.

7. Don’t engage unprofessionally

While judgment is subjective, you should set some engagement boundaries for yourself after your internship. Don’t go to the bar and get drunk with your previous internship manager or coworkers or engage in unprofessional public conversation on social media.

Just because your internship is over, that doesn’t mean you don’t reflect on the company — that gig will be on your resume for years to come. And burning bridges isn’t the best way to jumpstart your career. Remember to keep your professional reputation in mind even after you finish an internship. (Click here to Tweet this thought.)

How did you make the most of your internship experience after it ended?

Ashley Mosley is Community Engagement Manager of InternMatch, an online platform connecting the best intern candidates and employers. Connect with Ashley and InternMatch on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

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The post 7 Smart Things to Do After Your Internship Ends appeared first on Brazen Life.

Many colleges offer courses based on TV shows for a reason. Watching TV can unveil the entire spectrum of human emotions, from laughing at a sitcom to screaming at a football game. Aside from entertainment, your favorite shows can teach you a lot.

Next time you curl up on the couch after work to watch TV, listen closely. Primetime is full of beneficial advice, sometimes from unlikely sources. For example:

Work-life balance is crucial for success

We need to remember what’s important in life: friends, waffles, work. Or waffles, friends, work. Doesn’t matter, but work is third. — Leslie Knope, Parks and Recreation

Leslie Knope may be the most ambitious character on TV, but she knows that work isn’t all there is to life. Figure out what’s most important to you and make it a priority.

The people in your life may even help your career. For Leslie, her friends came together to help her city council campaign. Your loved ones could help you start a business or introduce you to new career connections.

Your interests, even the silly ones, can also help. Whether it’s waffles, your pets or playing in an adult kickball league, having outside interests can help keep you happy and reduce stress.

Talent isn’t enough

It’s not about talent once you get to the NFL, because everyone’s got it. It’s about being willing to go that extra mile to be the best, and that’s something that I’ve always done. — Robert Griffin III, NFL quarterback

No matter who you root for, listen to the above advice from the Washington Redskins’ quarterback Robert Griffin III. Getting the job is only the first step to career success. It’s what you do after that really matters. (Click here to Tweet this thought.)

Talent is only one part of being a brazen careerist. There are people who are as talented as you, maybe even more talented. To compete with those people, you have to work harder.

Professional athletes can’t stop working hard, even if they win a championship. Take the same tenacious approach to your career and be the hardest-working person in the room.

Don’t be afraid to try things for fear of making mistakes

There are certain things in life where you know it’s a mistake but you don’t really know it’s a mistake, because the only way to know it’s a mistake is to make that mistake and look back and say, “Yup, that was a mistake.” So really, the bigger mistake would be to not make the mistake, because then you’ll go your whole life not really knowing if something is a mistake or not. — Lily Aldrin, How I Met Your Mother

Lily Aldrin left her job as a kindergarten teacher to pursue art. After being disappointed by her choice, she tried her hand at being a life coach, slam poet, marine biologist, office assistant and beekeeper before going back into teaching and, finally, becoming an art consultant.

Despite all of her career confusion, Lily knew what she wanted and wasn’t afraid to make mistakes or change her goals along the way.

Fear is the enemy of finding career fulfillment. If you let it control your choices, you’ll never reach your full potential. Mistakes are necessary for growth and improvement.

Produce work that can’t be ignored

I’m not going to schmooze anyone. I’m going to let my work speak for itself. — Leonard Hofstadter, The Big Bang Theory

He may be a fictional experimental physicist, but Leonard Hofstadter’s career advice is simple: do good work. You might have to do a bit of schmoozing or horn-tooting from time to time, but your work should be able to stand on its own.

Even the best schmoozer needs to be able to back it up. Charming your way into a top job is hard, but you won’t be able to keep it without providing results.

What’s the best career advice you’ve seen on TV? Share it in the comments below!

Erin Palmer is a digital content specialist who has learned a lot from TV. She has been published in The Chicago Tribune and The Huffington Post, yet she still gets excited every time she sees her byline. Interaction with readers makes her day, so reach out to her on Twitter @Erin_E_Palmer.

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The post Brilliant Career Advice from Primetime TV appeared first on Brazen Life.

Don’t be a statistic. (Click here to tweet this thought.) Learn to avoid common obstacles without stumbling on your career path by remembering this advice:

You won’t be the newbie forever

If it’s your first day, week or month at a company, expect to be tested. Don’t be surprised if most of what you’re asked to do isn’t on your job description. This is the office equivalent of an initiation.

If you survive, you’ll get to come back a second day. If that bothers you, don’t get too settled into your office space because you won’t be there long. Take consolation in the thought that you won’t be the newbie forever.

If after six months (or you can fill in the blank with your own time period), you’re still the one being sent out for coffee — especially after three new people have been promoted — you’ve got a problem. It’s time to stand up for your job and career.

Have a sit-down with the boss and explain you can’t give 100 percent to your job if you have to spend 15 percent getting pastries for meetings and replacing the copier toner.

Run from office gossip

Participating in office gossip can be a career killer. Not only is it an energy drain and rarely a positive experience, but you never know who’s an office snitch.

The next time you walk into the break room and see everyone playing with cell phones and complaining about how the boss drinks too much at office parties, go take your break elsewhere. Someone may go back to the boss with the comments, and the loudest complainer may get the job of refilling the bathroom paper towel dispensers for the remainder of their career.

Don’t spend time around whiners, either. Professional whiners are the people who complain when the company changes the brand of push pins they use because “they’re not pointy enough.”

Professional whiners have lost sight of the simple pleasures, such as the fact that they have a job. Don’t let them drag you down into their pits of despair. Bring in your own push pins if that helps you cope.

Success comes slowly; disaster happens in a nanosecond

In our high-tech world, mistakes can take on a global impact instantly. All it takes is a push of the “Reply All” tab instead of “Reply” to send out a searing barb about the boss to the entire Western US division of the company instead of your friend across the aisle. Pay attention to details.

It’s best not to tweet from work unless you work in digital marketing. Don’t risk it. You could become the next topic of conversation for the gossipers in the break room.

Fail, be imperfect, quit

Sounds like really bad advice, doesn’t it? But “failure is essential, perfection is overrated, quitting is smart.” The real factor that stunts you career growth is fear.

As you enter the workforce, you want to prove yourself and you don’t want to fail. You may limit your growth and experience by sticking to the projects and tasks you know you can do. But success comes from failure. No one is perfect, so aim for “progress,” not “perfection.” The initiative you take will stand out to the higher-ups.

Don’t be afraid to quit something. A common misconception is that quitting means you’re lazy and unreliable. If you know your project was a bad idea or you can’t work fruitfully with the team you created, don’t waste time on it because you want to see it through to the end. Accept this as a failure (that’s OK, remember?) and move on to your next idea or help someone with theirs.

Learn, grow, move forward.

Amanda Richter is a mom and avid reader from the Northwest. She runs a small business from home and enjoys writing about parenting, career advice and social media trends.

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The post Tips for Surviving Your First Year on the Job, Even if Your Boss Scares the Heck Out of You appeared first on Brazen Life.

Body language is one of the most important and powerful types of communication in the history of the world. A wink conveys an air of mysticism and charm, a simple raised hand in front of your face tells everyone you’re not going to put up with what’s happening anymore, and a leg popped behind you with your head tilted back is the international symbol for glee and whimsy.

How you present yourself physically at work can truly help (or hinder) your career. According to a study led by Amy J.C. Cuddy (@amyjccuddy), an associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, standing in a power pose for a few minutes before an interview can literally help you get the job. Watch Cuddy’s excellent TED Talk on power poses here. According to Cuddy, power posing also increases people’s tolerance for risk and pain and their ability to think abstractly.

So what are some simple tricks you can do to make yourself a better negotiator, make a difficult task easier and encourage more collaboration? We talked with Dr.Carol Kinsey Goman, the author of 12 books including The Silent Language of Leaders: How Body Language Can Help — or Hurt — How You Lead, about her best body language workplace tips.

1. To reach an agreement, send engagement signals

Goman says she has seen work groups reach agreements faster by showing engaged body language such as smiling, nodding, mirroring and gesturing. ”Interestingly, that positive result is the same whether the display was the product of an unconscious reaction or a strategic decision,” she said.

2. To make a difficult task seem easier, smile

This is basically faking it ’til you make it for your body. You’re tricking yourself into thinking you’re enjoying this very difficult task.

“No matter the task,” Goman says, “when you grimace or frown while doing it, you are sending your brain the message, ‘This is really difficult. I should stop.’ The brain then responds by sending stress chemicals into your bloodstream. And this creates a vicious circle: the more stressed you are, the more difficult the task becomes.” But if you smile, you will start eventually thinking that this work is really not so bad.

3. To reduce resistance, hand out your business card

If you’re standing in a room with your arms folded and looking down, no one will approach you. Sitting with your legs crossed gives off the same signal. However, if you literally open your body up when a person comes into the room — either by giving them a card or getting them a cup of coffee — this will lessen the resistance.

4. To maximize your authority, curb your enthusiasm

Sometimes appearing over-excited can make you look weak. “In situations where you want to maximize your authority, minimize your movements,” Goman says. “Take a deep breath, bring your gestures down to waist level and pause before making a key point. When you appear calm and contained, you look more powerful.”

5. To defuse a tense situation, realign your body

If a person is arguing with you, it’s most likely because they feel they aren’t being heard. One way to make that person feel better and show good leadership is to physically align yourself with them, either by standing or sitting next to them. Conversely, an action that will make the argument worse is to square your body to the other person or to move in closer, says Goman.

6. To increase participation, look like you’re listening

If you really want to show people you’re listening, put down your phone! Goman says you can show your focus by turning your head and torso to face the person directly and by making eye contact. Leaning forward, nodding and tilting your head are other nonverbal way to show you’re engaged and paying attention.

7. To encourage collaboration, remove barriers

Literally, remove any barriers. You should take away anything that blocks your view or forms a barrier between you and the rest of the team. “Even at a coffee break, be aware that you may create a barrier by holding your cup and saucer in a way that seems deliberately to block your body or distance you from others,” Goman says.

8. To connect instantly with someone, shake hands

A good handshake is the foundation of so much good business. Goman cites a study that found people are two times more likely to remember you if you shake hands with them.

“Touch is the most primitive and powerful nonverbal cue. Touching someone on the arm, hand or shoulder for as little as one-fortieth of a second creates a human bond. In the workplace, physical touch and warmth are established through the handshaking tradition, and this tactile contact makes a lasting and positive impression,” she says.

9. To show agreement, mirror expressions and postures

When clients or business colleagues unconsciously imitate your body language, it’s their way of nonverbally saying they like or agree with you. “When you mirror other people with intent, it can be an important part of building rapport and nurturing feelings of mutuality,” she says.

10. To improve your speech, use your hands

Sometimes people say making too many movements with your hands connotes nervousness, but that’s only if you aren’t doing it in the right way. “Since gesture is integrally linked to speech, gesturing as we talk can actually power up our thinking,” says Goman.

Meredith Lepore is the former editor of the women’s career site The Grindstone. Before that, she was on staff at Wall Street Letter and Business Insider and was a contributing writer for LearnVest. She earned her Masters in Magazine, Newspaper and Online Journalism from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University after graduating with a degree in Brain and Cognitive Science from the University of Rochester. Meredith resides in New York full-time and enjoys reading, jogging, shopping and playing with her puppy, Otis.

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The post 10 Simple Body Language Tricks That Will Do Wonders For Your Career appeared first on Brazen Life.

As she danced to Kanye West’s Gone, Shifrin made it clear to her boss that she was done sacrificing her “relationships, time and energy for this job.”

The video went viral and now has 15 million views and counting. But it didn’t stop there.

Her former employer, Taiwanese animation company Next Media Animation, posted a spin-off video to announce they were hiring. A few days after she posted her original video, Shifrin made a guest appearance on The Queen Latifah Show — and received an on-air job offer.

In general, we recommend quitting your job gracefully without burning bridges. After all, you never know when you and your employee might cross paths in the future. But Shifrin received an overwhelming response for her video, and now that she’s in the job market, her resume will definitely stand out.

Her “take that!” message to her former boss may have been a good move for her. But does that mean we should follow her lead?

Have you dreamed about a dramatic resignation from your job? Do you think Shifrin’s move was a wise one, or will it come back to bite her later in her career? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Betsy Mikel has been reading and writing since she was a TV-deprived bookwormy kid. Visit her website and connect with her on Twitter.

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The post The Best Way to Quit Your Job? Or the Worst? appeared first on Brazen Life.

You’ve got what so many want. But why aren’t you happy?

As anyone with a heartbeat may have noticed, the job market has changed in the past decade. If you’re like most newly graduated job seekers, your first job is outside your ideal field. You know you don’t want to be here forever. But it’s hard to stomach that you’re spending your days not advancing your skill set or developing experience in the field you really love.

What’s a sharp, driven, gold-star employee like you to do? The answer is simple, though its implementation may take more thought: seize opportunity!

If you have no clue what that might mean, following are just a few of the many ways you can make the most out of your less-than-ideal position:

1. Volunteer to take on even more work

Although it sounds about as fun as smashing your hand in a car door, making work for yourself can be beneficial.

Do you work in programming but wish you worked in marketing? Offer to initiate or help design a new marketing strategy for an upcoming program. If you’re interested in research, offer to do an analysis of your own department’s outputs, which can supplement any existing analysis done by your organization.

Does your company already have a marketing or research department? Offer to act as a representative for your own department in the interest of collaboration. Putting to use skills you already have and want to enhance will allow you to shine. Plus, taking on this work will help you build your portfolio, CV or resume.

2. Ask your employee to pay to enhance your skills

If projects aren’t available or are only available on the “upper-level management” menu, try to locate potential for skill development. Numerous companies and organizations incentivize earning an additional degree or certificate. Many even offer financial assistance or will pay for your education.

If school is too much of a time commitment or a financial burden, look into skill set training. Companies often have funds set aside for professional development, and it never hurts to ask. Inquire about software training, conferences, seminars or local workshops. Do your research on these options, and prepare reasons as to why these trainings will benefit the company.

If these opportunities aren’t available, inquire about the possibility of sitting in as a support person on an upcoming project. You can begin garnering skills you may not already have. You can even develop these during your time off by checking out skill-building and educational websites like Code School and Coursera.

3. Play nice with every employee, no matter their status

OK, so maybe projects aren’t easily grabbed where you work, there’s no professional development budget and your supervisor runs a ship so tight you have to ask for bathroom breaks, let alone the chance to branch into other divisions.

Networking is a fantastic and accessible way to enhance your career potential, even if it’s not immediate. Engage with the people you work with. Offer to go to lunch, coffee or conferences with your fellow employees, and take this time to make personal (yet professional) connections.

And don’t only shoot for only high-level employees or even just the people in your own office. You never know when the administrative assistant you used to pal around with will accept a position as the director of resource development at a leading financial firm.

Having to climb the ladder one step at a time can be frustrating, but trying to find ways to speed up that climb will help alleviate some of that aggravation. (Click here to Tweet this thought.)

Still not convinced you can do it? Charyn Pfeuffer outlines four individuals who did. The key is to remember to challenge yourself while simultaneously giving yourself grace; you’re doing the best you can.

Sarah Colomé, M.S. is an educator, advocate and the SOARS Booking Director for A Long Walk Home, Inc. Based in Chicago, Sarah has traveled both nationally and internationally as a competitive collegiate public speaker and teaches on topics related to social justice and diversity, health education, sexual violence and persuasive speaking.

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The post How to Get More Out of the Entry-Level Job You Hate appeared first on Brazen Life.

How do you make time to pursue your passion, whether it’s a side hustle, a hobby or starting a whole new business — especially in the midst of all the other things you’re responsible for as a Brazen young adult?

Well, the best way to learn is to look to those who are already doing it successfully. We asked some of today’s top entrepreneurs, thought leaders, speakers and bloggers how they make time to follow their passions.

If you want to know how it’s done, read on!

Ash Ambirge, Founder of The Middle Finger Project (@TMFProject)

I don’t. I only spend my time on my passion; anything else is a waste of it.

Corbett Barr, Creator of Think Traffic (@corbettbarr)

By methodically cutting everything I’m not passionate about out of my life and work.

Jenny Blake, Founder of Life After College (@jenny_blake)

The answer is already in the question: You have to make time. Start small — 15 minutes a day or one hour a week — and commit to getting over that initial hump of resistance. Once you get going, your momentum will build on itself and you will no longer need to force it. For a GREAT book on this topic, check out Brian Tracy’s Eat That Frog! He says that if you have two frogs in a given day (big, hairy task that you’re procrastinating on), eat the uglier one first.

Catherine Caine, Boss Lady of Cash & Joy (@CatherineCaine)

Often I don’t. My passions never go far, so I can regularly ignore them and they’ll come back to me, demanding attention. I think maybe that’s the definition of passion: the things you can’t keep ignoring.

Arvind Devalia, Coach, Author, Speaker and Blogger at Make It Happen (@ArvindDevalia)

Making time for my passion is easy! I love walking and being in nature, so every day I allow at least 30 minutes to walk in my local parks.

Scott Gerber, Founder of Young Entrepreneur Council (@scottgerber)

I live my passion every day — helping entrepreneurs succeed and connect. I have built my passion into who I am and what I do. Rather than “finding time” to do what you love, find how to make what you love to do what you actually do, and you’ll be better for it.

Ryan Healy, Co-Founder and COO of Brazen Careerist, Inc. (@rjhealy)

Unfortunately, there is no secret. You just have to find the time. It’s going to be hard, and it’s going to take time away from doing other things, but if you put one foot in front of the other for long enough, you will figure it out.

Benny Hsu, Blogger and Appreneur at Get Busy Living (@benny_hsu)

You have to make time. Time just doesn’t magically appear for us. Do a time analysis of your day, and find where you’re spending time doing unnecessary things. Especially look at how much time you spend watching television and mindlessly surfing the Internet. Even just waking up 30 minutes earlier each day can create time for you to follow your passion.

Craig Jarrow, Founder of Time Management Ninja (@TMNinja)

You have to ask yourself, “What am I willing to give up for my passion?” Time, money, sleep or even your job? All great things worth doing take sacrifice. What are you willing to give up to achieve yours?

Danielle LaPorte, Author, Business Strategist and Inspirational Speaker (@daniellelaporte)

Focus on truly meaningful goals, and you’ll be amazed at how easy it becomes to say no to the wrong things and yes to the right things.

Jonathan Mead, Chief Troublemaker at Paid to Exist (@jonathanmead)

I don’t see any other option.

J. Money, Founder of Budgets Are Sexy (@budgetsaresexy)

You hustle your sweet little a$$es off and get busy early in the morning, during lunch breaks, other breaks, and then at night, too — whatever it takes. Everyone has the same amount of hours in the day, but it’s all in prioritizing what’s important to you. And if you really do love this passion of yours, then it’s not like you’re really “working,” anyways.

Bobby Ocampo, Director of Revolution (@ocampob)

Make your work your passion, and you’ll have plenty of time to follow it.

Joan Otto, Editor of Man Vs. Debt (@manvsdebt)

If it’s important to you, put it on the calendar. In addition to my work with Man Vs. Debt, I have a part-time job and do significant side freelance work. But I’m at tae kwon do class at least three nights a week. Those nights are on my daily to-do list at the beginning of the week alongside email tasks, blog posts I want to write and more.

Andrea Owen, Founder of Your Kick-Ass Life Coaching (@andrea_owen)

It’s a non-negotiable. I look at it as a basic need like food, water and shelter. With that attitude, it’s easy to make time.

Srinivas Rao, Host/Founder of Blogcast FM (@skooloflife)

I’m an avid surfer. That means working at nighttime so I can spend time surfing in the morning. It’s all about managing time effectively. If you wouldn’t spend your money on useless stuff, why would you do that with your time?

Joel Runyon, Founder of Impossible HQ (@joelrunyon)

You have to make it a priority. Cut out the stuff that you waste time doing or don’t really care about (watching TV, playing videos, spending countless hours online), and you’ll find you have a whole swath of time available that you didn’t know you had.

Jody Thompson, Co-Founder of CultureRX and The Results-Only Work Environment (@JodyROWE)

If it’s really your passion, you’ll find the time. Too often, we put off doing the things that make us happy for another day. Focusing on your passion first will give you more energy and focus to do the other things in your life.

Carol Tice, Owner of the Make a Living Writing Blog and The Freelance Writers Den Community (@TiceWrites)

I’m ruthlessly organized and prioritized. Constantly looking for ways to be more productive and time-efficient. I have three kids, I like gardening, Israeli dance, baking bread, fine film and food… so I need time for my life!

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The post Top Trailblazers on How to Follow Your Passion appeared first on Brazen Life.

That contact list you’ve gathered is full of potential mentors and co-conspirators who can help you hone your thoughts on everything from launching a new venture to moving to a new city. By sitting down with them to discuss your thoughts, you can get insights and work out dilemmas that will really get you on the right path.

The trick is in knowing how to tap into this resources. One author suggests you do it one cup of coffee at a time.

In an article on Inc., Peter Thomson recommends you have coffee with no less than 50 — count ’em, 50 — people to discuss your big idea before taking action on it.

As Thomson writes:

Each time I make a significant change in my life, I have coffee with 50 people to get their views on my plans.

If you’re raising investment for a startup, changing careers, or moving to a new city, then you owe it to yourself to have coffee with 50 people before making the jump.

Setting the goal of having coffee with 50 people forces you to be clear about your goals. Making the goal public, one person at a time, also makes it much stronger. Having 50 coffees is good because then you have to commit to the specific move that you want to make. You’ll also get input from smart and interesting people.

You can read the full article, including great tips on who to ask for those 50 coffees, how to ask them and how to make the most of your time together, here.

What do you think of the 50-cup challenge? Is the number too high? Could you do it?

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The post Career Success: Just 50 Cups of Coffee Away? appeared first on Brazen Life.

But he’s also one hell of a businessman.

Note: If you aren’t currently caught up with your Breaking Bad episodes, you may want to come back to this post after you are to avoid any potential spoilers. If you are caught up, and you’re eagerly awaiting the series’ final two episodes like 5.9 million other fans, let’s indulge our mutual obsession by exploring yet another way to dissect this endlessly intriguing show.

While I’m not suggesting a life of crime is the way to go, there are some things we can learn from the man known as Heisenberg when it comes to blazing our own trails and pursuing our goals with unstoppable determination. (Click here to tweet this idea.)

Here are four of the big (legally and ethically acceptable) lessons we can learn from Mr. White — and one warning we’d be wise to heed.

1. It all starts with quality

There wouldn’t have been a show if Jesse and Walt’s early days in the RV had resulted in only mediocre product.

Would they have made some money? Sure. Would international drug cartels and super meth lords like Gus Fring be desperate to get their hands on that product (and its creator)? Nope.

Walt would have just been some middle-aged chemistry teacher cooking drugs in his skivvies in the middle of the desert. His rise to mythological levels of power and notoriety started off with the one thing all wannabe entrepreneurs have to have: a solid, high-quality product. Walt’s meth was the purest in the marketplace, and his customers (and competition) recognized that — and that’s what gave him the leverage to build an empire from nothing.

Would-be business mavens, take note: unless your product or service is top-notch, all the advertising strategies and killer branding in the world won’t take you very far. It all begins with offering something consumers or clients can’t get enough of.

2. Brand matters

“The blue stuff” is Heisenberg’s trademark. It’s how you know instantly that you’re getting the best. When Walt leaves the biz behind, new meth lord Lydia insists that substitute cook Todd figure out how to replicate the trademark color, because that’s what people on the street are asking for. She isn’t nearly as concerned with the purity level of the new batch as she is with making sure their product retains brand consistency. It’s so critical it’s saved Jesse’s life (for now).

After you’ve got that top-notch service or product, you need to find a way to differentiate yourself in the marketplace — whether it’s a look, a feel or a certain brand personality. When you see an Apple product, you know it’s an Apple product. From the sleek design to the packaging, you can tell it apart from every other gadget vying for similar market share.

So, what’s your “calling card” going to be? What will let consumers know you’re different, and how will they be able to spot your “stuff” from the competition’s?

3. You are who you say you are

Walt first dubs himself “Heisenberg” in the episode where he shaves his head, confronts local drug lord Tuco and makes it clear (via surprise explosive device) that he isn’t to be messed with. It’s one of the first times we see Walt fully embrace his darker ambitions — he’s not just doing this for his family; part of him loves the power and fame, and he’s officially declaring his pursuit of that. As the debris settles, we as an audience know that he’s rounded a corner, and the streets of Albuquerque know there’s a new kingpin in town.

Whether you’re a meek chemistry teacher, an entry-level clerk or a college dropout turned startup owner, you create your own destiny by acknowledging your goals and going after them full-throttle. It doesn’t matter if the world doesn’t take you seriously at first; they will once you show them what you’re made of. Believe in the potential within yourself, act like you’ve already made it, and the world will start to respect.

4. There’s always a way out

Cops impound your car containing a laptop full of incriminating evidence? Get a gigantic magnet, b****, and erase that evidence in a way no one will believe actually happened. Kidnapped in the desert for days and not sure how to explain your absence to your family? Strip naked in a convenience store and pretend you’ve been in a cancer-induced fugue state the whole time.

The lengths to which Walt will go — and his utter refusal to believe he’s ever painted into a corner — are pretty damn impressive, and one of the reasons fans admire his ingenuity, even as they denounce his actions. He will not be stopped. He will not be beaten. While each cliffhanger episode leaves you full of dread and anticipation, you always secretly know that somehow, Walt will find a way out of it.

No matter what challenges, setbacks, or failures you face in your professional career, you have two possible solutions: lose hope and give up, or put on your thinking cap and figure out a way to tunnel yourself free, in whatever way possible. Nothing is ever truly hopeless if you’re determined enough. Never underestimate the power of creativity and resolve.

5. Know what you’re doing it all for

And now, for the warning.

Walt got involved in the whole meth scene out of a desire to provide for his family after his cancer diagnosis. As the series progressed, we’ve watched him devolve into a creature driven by greed, ego and a thirst for power. But he still seemed to have soft spots — for his kids (definitely), for Jesse (sometimes), for his wife Skylar (maybe?). It was one of the things that kept people rooting for him long after he’d clearly gone from hero to anti-hero.

Now that the show is winding down, the big question in everyone’s mind has been: Which Walt will be left when the smoke clears? Does he have any humanity left, or has Heisenberg taken over completely?

The most recent episode seems to lean towards the latter, but you never can tell with Walt. His motives have become so muddied he’d give up his entire fortune to save the brother-in-law who could turn him in — yet he has no qualms about kidnapping his infant daughter to “teach his wife a lesson.”

Walt’s two competing drives (and selves) are ultimately what’s done him in. Trying to walk the impossible line between taking care of his family and looking out for number one, he now stands to lose everything he fought for. One self is suffering for the other self’s choices. Wherever he’s going in that beat-up minivan, it’s not to celebrate his grand victory.

Don’t let an internal tug of war derail your own happiness. When it comes to your career, you need to be able to sit down with yourself and honestly identify why you’re pursuing what you’re pursuing.

Regardless of what everyone else expects of you, regardless of what you think you “should” be doing, what’s your real driving force? If you’re not clear on that, or you’re chasing something else but pretending you’re clear on it, even the most “successful” of careers won’t ultimately make you happy.

It’s your choice. Which way are you going to break?

Kelly Gurnett is Assistant Editor of Brazen Life and runs the blog Cordelia Calls It Quits, where she documents her attempts to rid her life of the things that don’t matter and focus more on the things that do. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook and hire her services as a blogger extraordinaire here.

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When it comes to the online world, we see everyone’s biggest hits. Weddings. Huge business breakthroughs. Vacation photos. It’s so easy to get lost in everyone else’s good news. Most of the time, seeing all this stuff is pretty harmless, but occasionally it has a harsher effect.

You sit down to write a blog post, and you decide to stop by Facebook and see what’s up. Cat photos. Engagements. And then you see it. That person who seems to have it all. They have the followers. They have the clients. Everything seems to be working for them.

What do you do when someone else is doing the same thing as you on a bigger scale? How do you keep doing what you do when it seems like other people are doing it better, or at least it seems like more people know about it?

Here are five tips for getting rid of the jealousies once and for all:

1. Get clear about what makes YOU different

A lot of the time, we compare ourselves to people when we have no business doing so.

Obviously we all know that there are plenty of fish in the sea, and one person can’t have all the clients, but often we don’t think about it that way.

Most people start businesses because they believe they have something truly unique and special to offer. What is it? What makes you different? What do you do that someone else can’t? Maybe you’re really good with one specific type of person who needs what you’re selling. Maybe you cater to an audience that doesn’t get a lot of attention.

This is why defining a niche is so important. People who work with a very specific type of person struggle with jealousy a lot less because they don’t have anyone to really compare themselves to, so they just spend more time doing their work.

So if you find that you struggle with this a lot, it might be time to start getting more specific about who you serve. (Click to Tweet!)

Think about your audience as a whole — can you get even more specific? For example, if you do tech help, maybe you could focus on helping classes. If you do marketing or copywriting, maybe you could focus on product descriptions or Kickstarter campaigns.

Also try to get out of your existing social circles. Can you bring your skills to an industry that doesn’t have anyone like you in it? Yoga for CEOs! Marketing for veterans!

2. Decide what you want

Make sure you’re being clear about what you want. If this is ultimately what you want to do with your life, there are two choices: watch someone else do the things you want to do, or do things your way and make a difference.

So, which one do you want more?

Entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone. If your goal is to be famous or to be known and you don’t have a reason for it, you shouldn’t be here. We’re here to make a difference, right?

Now that I know my goal is to help people, I have no choice but to keep going forward because I love my work more than my ego.

3. Create something awesome

Most of the time, we don’t necessarily want to be the other person, but there is something about their situation that we want for ourselves.

Best thing you can do? Do something that gets you closer to that goal.

Maybe you admire the list size or fame of a peer. Instead of whining about it, Google “list-building” and see what comes up. Start writing a new book or freebie. Make the decision to hire a designer to help you rework your opt-in. Want more press? Check out a blog about PR. Buy a book.

Taking action always feels good and helps you forget what you were even upset about.

It also helps us face the fact that sometimes we don’t want to do what it takes to get the thing we might want.

4. Unplug

Unsubscribe from most of your blogs. It will dramatically decrease your capacity to get the jealousies.

Control your environment. Only keep the blogs that energize and inspire you. Do not read blogs just so you can compare yourselves to them.

5. Be grateful

Think about your clients and the people (even if there aren’t many) who love you right now. How awesome is that? You most likely have a few people who are excited about your stuff.

Get to know these folks better. Talk to them. Help them so that they will spread the word for you.

The best way to deal with the fact that there is someone out there doing things bigger? Go big for yourself. Do your work, and know that if you really love this work, you don’t have a choice but to keep going.

How about you? Do you suffer from compare and despair syndrome? How do you deal with it?

Shenee Howard is a brand BFF and income creation expert over at www.heyshenee.com. She will teach you how to be mind-blowingly awesome (and profitable) online because you are already AWESOME in person.

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I received this sentiment from a well-meaning friend a few months after I graduated with a writing degree. During my post-college job search, I continued to work as a nanny to pay the bills. Though I was slowly building a professional portfolio, people kept asking me, “Why don’t you just do [insert non-writing job here] full-time until something comes up?”

My stubborn refusal not to settle eventually paid off. My dream would become a reality because I’d do whatever it took to make it so. Having a real connection to my career was something I highly valued. Many of my peers would agree.

If a personal connection to your career is important to you, then get to work!

1. Seek advice from the person you aspire to be

A mentor can help you sort out your goals and make smart choices. Until you find your mentor, you can seek out online professional advice through articles or social media. Better yet, take some advice from my mentor, Lisa Brock.

Lisa runs her own public relations firm, Brock Communications. She’s also a published author and champion of young professionals. We met when she was my professor at the University of Tampa, and she has continued to be my mentor and chief source of inspiration.

“Resist the urge to just take a job,” says Brock. “The first job is about opportunity, and no job should ever be taken for money.” (Click to Tweet!)

She advises young professionals to hold out for a mentor, the right culture fit or a job they would do for free.

2. Pay attention to your emotions

Emotional intelligence is a crucial skill for emerging leaders. Understanding your emotions can help you communicate with your coworkers and work well in groups. And it can help you reach your real career goals, even when you’re feeling confused or stressed about them.

Listening to yourself is important. There may be times when you have to face major career decisions or balance work during difficult family situations. Working with a mentor can help improve your emotional intelligence and make it easier to transition through hard times.

3. Do it on your own time

It may not be possible to stop everything to pursue the career you want, but you don’t have to quit your day job. Your full-time work doesn’t have to be the entire source of your career fulfillment. You can pursue freelance opportunities or volunteer in your field of interest.

Sometimes you have to be flexible with your career timeline. When I was working as a nanny, every freelance writing job I found brought me one step closer to writing for a living. I also used every personal connection I had to bring me closer to my goals.

Listen to your mentors, and don’t get discouraged if things take longer than you hoped.

“Life is real, and it can take a while to get the footing or foundation to follow one’s bliss,” says Brock.

I’m not a millionaire, but I pay my bills doing something I’d do for free. I’ve done unpaid writing assignments for nonprofits and for projects I really care about.

Paychecks are wonderful, but feeling fulfilled is even better.

Erin Palmer is a digital content specialist who happily spends her days writing, editing and helping college students figure it all out. She has been published in The Chicago Tribune and The Huffington Post, yet she still gets excited every time she sees her byline. Interaction with readers makes her day, so reach out to her on Twitter @Erin_E_Palmer.

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The post Why How You Feel Is More Important Than What You Make appeared first on Brazen Life.

If you’re a recent college graduate, take a look at this attitude adjustment checklist so you don’t make a big mistake that could hold you back—or even get you fired.

1. The boss, customer or coworker is always right, even when they’re wrong

You’re paid to show up on time, perform a service and generally be pleasant. If something you don’t like happens in the workplace, you’re entitled to your opinion and to discuss it with your supervisor in a one-on-one meeting and have it resolved.

But you’re not entitled to cop an attitude, shoot out passive-aggressive tweets and emails about it or stop working hard to “show everyone.”

Stay classy at all times. Even when someone is screamingly, grossly or inappropriately wrong. Just stay classy. Do what you can, leave the room and follow up with your supervisor for an appropriate course of action.

2. The place for personal technology is not your desk

Cell phones and personal technology items are everywhere. Even if you have a lax office environment, you don’t have a free license to text, tweet and SnapChat through your day’s work. (Unless you work as the social media expert at Zappos or Hootsuite, of course.)

Appropriate access means checking your phone for important messages every few hours or having your phone in your pocket (without your hands on it). Carrying on active conversations or missing deadlines due to smartphone hijinks means you’re in for an uncomfortable conversation.

3. You’re not the universe’s gift to your employer

If you believe your workplace is lucky to have you, you may be in need of an attitude adjustment. Employment is a pleasant arrangement of partnership between two benefiting parties, and if you do it right, you can get a lot out of it.

Your employer makes an income based on your work (translation: even if you’re amazing at what you do, you can be replaced), and you make a reliable income from your employer (translation: even if the job is awesome, you can find a new one).

Luck or emotional attachment shouldn’t factor into this situation. To think you’re gracing the workplace with your presence—and therefore it’s okay to take a long lunch, show up late frequently or cop an attitude about common practices—means you may not be adjusting well.

4. Work isn’t an “if I show up, I’m good” proposition (Click to Tweet!)

When you show up to work, it shouldn’t be obvious you stayed up til 3:00 a.m drinking with friends or driving back from the nearest large city. Sliding into your desk on time at 9:00 a.m., hung over and barely groomed, doesn’t cut it in a professional workplace.

If you’re receiving a regular paycheck, eat regular meals and sleep regular hours—at least during the workweek—so you can bring your A-game at all times.

5. Work isn’t a whim

In this increasingly digital and mobile world, the workplace is often more flexible and casual. But with great flexibility comes great responsibility. Just because you can do something at home doesn’t entitle you to do it at home.

And not having meetings lined up for the morning doesn’t mean you can ask your boss to let you roll in late just because. For every favor you ask, you’re using up your professional “bank”—make sure it’s worth it.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with the attitude-challenged? Do you think this behavior is unique to 20-somethings, or is it a workplace epidemic?

Sarah Greesonbach is a former teacher turned content and new media specialist who blogs at Life [Comma] Etc about simple food, better relationships and more money for everyone. If you want more of any of that, connect with her on Twitter @AwYeahSarah or see what she’s up to at Greesonbach Creative.

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The post An Attitude Adjustment Checklist to Keep You Successful at Work appeared first on Brazen Life.

Do you really want to wait for someday?

You’re focused on the big payoff of success. But what does success even look like? It may include the house, car and 401K. Or it might be making enough to retire later on and enjoy life. Usually, it has something to do with the hope of a good job after college.

But something’s missing, and that’s the other seven-letter word you may have forgotten: passion.

Figuring out what passion looks like

When you’re living out your passion, you don’t need to wait for retirement to enjoy life. Passion equals happiness.

What does passion look like?

It looks a little something like this: waking up refreshed, being excited for work because it doesn’t feel like actual “work,” wanting to share what you’re doing with others, feeling totally satisfied on the inside and wanting to scream from the rooftops. You’re just that happy.

If that’s the case, why are so many still living on the success pendulum?

For one thing, the passion route may be more rewarding, but it’s harder. It takes determination, hard work, thick skin and some faith  There are GenYers out there right now living a passion-fueled life because it is achievable.

How do you go about living a passion-driven lifestyle?

Start by following these four simple steps:

1. Write down your core values (a.k.a. principles and beliefs that you live by).
2. Write down what you love to do: hobbies, side projects, etc.
3. Add your core values to your loved hobbies and write down what jobs have both.
4. Pursue careers (or create your own!) that involve both your values and your hobbies. (Values + hobbies = passion.)

Most of us miss this simple formula. It really is that easy; there’s nothing to overcomplicate. You can even start by asking a few questions. For example, if you’re in a profession you despise, why are you still there? If your 9-to-5 job is giving you mild to severe depression or anxiety, is it worth it to stay?

The biggie: don’t settle

Don’t settle for a career that undermines your talents, skills, values and beliefs.

A paycheck may be a means to an end, but a paycheck is not worth losing your core identity over.

Where would we be now if Edison decided to give up and not create the first incandescent light? Where would our technology be in 2013 if Steve Jobs hadn’t founded Apple? If you’re reading this right now on a MacBook Pro in a well-lit room, then you get the point.

Don’t give up on your passion for a “smarter” path. That “smart” career might end up buying you every material possession your heart desires, but it won’t buy you happiness. Your time is valuable and it deserves to be spent wisely.

If you have to dig that bachelor’s degree out of your closet to remind you what your dreams were freshman year, dig it out. If it means rummaging in your basement or attic to find those action heroes or comic books you admired as a child, do it.

Find that microphone, that cape, that journal or that paintbrush. Make an effort to rediscover what you used to love and what used to matter to you. That’s the only real way for you to uncover your core values and beliefs.

Because it’s never too late get off the success pendulum. You have the ultimate power to decide when to start living your life. Your boss, partner or friend can’t decide that for you. Only you can.

Be brave. Be courageous. Be passionate. Because that’s your true form of success.

Diane Pauley is a life coach who uses her passion for the written word to help young postgrads find their life calling at PostGradolescence. You can also follow her optimistic tweets on Twitter.

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The post Success is a Lie: Why You Should Follow Your Passion Instead appeared first on Brazen Life.

Surprisingly, in plenty of instances, you very well may be more competent than your boss. As Forbes reports:

Andy Teach, author of From Graduation to Corporation, and host of the YouTube channel FromGradToCorp… says less qualified people are put in higher positions for the wrong reasons all the time. “Sometimes it’s because they have seniority; they have more years of experience. Sometimes they have a great personal relationship with the big boss. Or perhaps they have a stronger work ethic than others or work longer hours,” he says. “A less qualified person may be put in a higher position for just one of these reasons but may lack in other areas which is why their employees may feel that this higher position is undeserved.”

So, what do you do when you find yourself working under a boss you’re technically more qualified than? Check out the full article, including helpful tips on how to handle the situation, here.

Have you ever felt that your boss rose the ranks unfairly? How did you deal with the situation?

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The post Think You’re Better Than the Boss? You Might Be appeared first on Brazen Life.

Things that mattered in the past—your GPA and college major—aren’t as important as your network, your online presence, your work ethic and the right skills. These days, we’re playing by a completely different set of rules.

Here are five career secrets that’ll help you stand out, create new opportunities and get ahead at work:

1. Think inside the box first

The average GenY worker will stay at his first employer for a mere two years before moving on. If they don’t see an opportunity to move up, they move out. But there’s more than one way to advance and gain new experiences and skills. You can make a lateral move by switching into a different department or applying for a new position internally. When everyone is looking to move out, searching from within makes you stand out.

A lot of managers say they want to promote those who have had experience working in different departments and business functions. This experience gives them a broader perspective on how the company operates, thus making them more valuable and better positioned. Thinking inside the box will open new opportunities you didn’t think were possible.

2. Be more than your job description

Just doing your job isn’t enough to get ahead. If all you do is what’s written in your job description, you can be easily replaced by someone who will go above and beyond expectations. Once you’ve proven yourself, become dependable and shown your value, you can ask for additional responsibilities.

The more responsibilities you take on, the easier it’ll be for your manager to get ahead and eventually promote you into their position. Always keep your eye out for new opportunities and network as much as possible so that you can expand your knowledge base, connections and value.

3. Focus on soft skills over hard ones

Managers are looking for soft skills over hard skills and social media skills. It’s easier for companies to find professionals with the right hard skills, but finding someone who’s a good communicator, has emotional intelligence and is able to prioritize work is more challenging.

Put yourself into as many social situations as possible, learn to read people, get feedback from your manager and coworkers and work to develop your soft skills. As you move up in an organization, soft skills become more valuable because you’ll be managing people and leading them to accomplish goals.

4. Maintain your digital presence

The Internet is the global talent pool, and to receive new opportunities, you have to be a part of it. The best way to do that is by having your own website and profiles on social networks, especially LinkedIn. If people can’t find you, you won’t get offers. Over 90 percent of companies use social networks to recruit these days.

Creating these profiles isn’t enough; you must optimize them by linking them together, using keywords that reflect the job you want and marketing them through guest articles, comments on blog posts and PR for yourself. Constantly manage your online presence—what other people say about you online is how you’ll be represented to the world.

5. Acquire knowledge through connections

While many people are trying to learn as much as possible to stay relevant, the best way of gathering insights and getting ahead is through networking. We’ve moved from an information economy to a social one that requires you to be in the know and rely on people to connect you with information and opportunities. The size and strength of your network will determine how far you go in your career. Make sure you’re meeting at least one new person each day.

Dan Schawbel is a GenY career and workplace expert, the Founder of Millennial Branding and the author of the new book Promote Yourself: The New Rules For Career Success. Register for the free webinar of his book launch event for more advice.

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But a hiring manager holds a lot more besides an offer of employment. It’s all a matter of knowing what to ask and where to look.

Here are a few ways to get the absolute most you can out of a job interview:

1. Bring out your inner private eye

The first trick comes before you even reach out to a company. Keep your ear to the ground. Yes, of course you should do the cursory research for that awesome startup gig. But this is about taking what you normally do just a step further.

Don’t just glaze over the company’s website or press releases. Google the bigwigs by name. See where they’ve been and what they’ve written or created, if applicable. Read the local news where the company is based. You may find out about their expansion way before those job postings go up—and then, you’ll be first in line.

Also, this gives you an idea of the job landscape in the surrounding area. Imagine Company A is looking for a product designer. If they’re in a market epicenter, chances are higher that Companies B and C have product design needs as well.

2. Search for job postings before they even exist

When hunting for jobs, candidates usually look for openings on career pages and open positions on job boards. But instead of searching for titles and positions that companies already have, search for what they don’t have. Try to fill in the gaps.

Maybe an organization is starting a new mobile campaign or is putting together a nonprofit project for the next year. (Now you see why the first step was important!) Even if they haven’t posted open positions yet, you know exactly what they’ll need: community managers, developers, event coordinators and more.

3. Find out what’s in it for you

So you’ve snagged an interview, and your prospects look good. Great! You already know to dress professionally, arrive on time, check your breath and be prepared for those sticky questions about your weaknesses. You’ve got this. You know you should ask questions, but what questions? And when?

Aim for interview questions about the company culture, but focus more on the educational side than the dress code. Ask what kinds of internal training and enrichment programs they provide.

If the interviewer is at a loss (they don’t get this question very often, unfortunately), be helpful and give them examples such as software training or mentorship programs. This tells you what track the company is following. If they’re aggressive about in-house training, you know they take employee retention seriously.

If you think a skill set you want to acquire is in line with the company’s specific industry, be more concrete and tell them, “I want to learn __________ within five years.” (Yes, include a timeline.) In turn, express how you would be proactive within the office environment and share your talents with the team.

Besides the great impression this leaves with an employer, it puts you in a good position to make a personal connection with the interviewer. Y’know, just in case this particular opportunity doesn’t pan out.

4. Reach out and connect with someone

At the end of the interview, ask if it’s alright to connect with the interviewer on social media, as well as anyone else you may have spoken with during your time there. The idea behind this is to cement the employer’s image of you so you won’t blend into the pack of hundreds of other prospective hires.

Also, if you don’t get hired, don’t be sad; after the interview process has run its course, you can reach out to these people knowing they have a solid idea of what you’re looking for and can kindly direct you to another opportunity. Be careful not to bug them about their connections at other companies, and only approach them if you know you’re no longer being considered at their organization.

Remember, be tactful. And if they decline, don’t push the issue. The person on the other side of that table is not just an HR manager. They are also human. Treat them as such, and you’ll see results.

Well, now the interview is over. But instead of coming out on the other side simply sending thank you notes and waiting for the phone to ring, you have a better idea of the market than you did at the outset of your search. You have a more fleshed-out idea of what you want in an employer. And you have valuable connections that will follow you wherever your search takes you. Not bad for just one interview!

How else can job hunters make the interview process more rewarding?

Kim Gillus is a New York-based creative whose only true area of expertise is her rural Virginia hometown. She splits her time between social good PR projects and working on her first book. Find her at her tumblr and @kimgillus.

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The ambitious gear needs to be in overdrive to get to the next rung on the ladder, but before you go accelerating, know that there are some speed limits.

Despite what you’ve heard about the surefire ways that’ll get you to the top sooner, some habits can actually end up labeling you as a doormat—and doormats are not fun.

Here are six habits you should nix early in your career to ensure you aren’t being counterproductive in your pursuit of success:

1. Not taking your lunch break

You want to show your manager you understand meeting deadlines is crucial, and sometimes it means skipping your lunch to get that report done by noon—but every day shouldn’t look like this.

On days you don’t have tight deadlines, take a break to replenish your mind and body. The company isn’t going to plummet in stock if you take 30 minutes to eat your sub sandwich. Eat your lunch and enjoy every bite. Take some time to step away from your desk, go chat up another coworker and enjoy the break.

2. Answering emails after hours

Your personal time is just that—personal. It’s your time to spend doing what you love to do, whether that’s hiking or lounging by the pool playing Candy Crush. And what you love to do probably doesn’t include monitoring your work email like your life depends on it.

Relax. Work-life balance is a must. There are times when you’ll need to be on-call for a project that’s extended itself after hours. Other than those times, toss your work phone aside and make a point not to look at it until the next business day. Your boss emailing you pictures of her vacation to Mykonos doesn’t warrant an immediate reply.

3. Not using your paid time off

One of the best parts of the benefits package is the vacation time! But what’s fun about it if you never use what you’ve earned? You can and you should use your vacation time. All of it.

The constant workload will often make you feel there will never be a perfect time to break away and go surfing in Maui, but the truth is there’s never a perfect time to do anything in life. The work will always be there. Set aside some time with your manager early on to discuss your vacation plans and all the projects that need to be completed before your trip. Simple.

4. Over-explaining yourself

You need to go to the doctor because you’ve been experiencing an annoying pain in your leg. Does your manager need to know why you have to leave early to go to the doctor? Absolutely not.

Sometimes we over-explain our situation to our employers to prove why we need the time off. A 12-minute synopsis is unnecessary. Things that happen in your personal life are your business. Providing a doctor’s note is the best way to show you’re being honest.

5. Not speaking up in meetings

Maybe you’re the newbie at the company or you just got promoted to a new division, but it’s not an excuse for not speaking up at every opportunity when you’re invited to a meeting.

Never underestimate the importance of what you have to contribute. Your creative idea could help launch a viral social media campaign. More often than not, someone else will say the exact thing you were terrified to say, and everyone will end up loving the idea. Don’t let this happen; own your ideas and speak confidently about them.

6. Taking on more work than you can handle

You’re only one person. You can’t do all the work by yourself. You shouldn’t have to, either. Sure, you want to impress your manager and other colleagues by showing them you know how to work efficiently and can handle your workload, but never compromise the quality of your work because you have too many other tasks to complete.

It’s okay to speak up and let your manager know when you’ve reached your capacity on the tasks you’ve been assigned. Speaking up, expressing concern about your workload and prioritizing your tasks will make you look responsible rather than incompetent.

What are some habits you feel can actually hinder your success rather than help it?

Jaimee Ratliff is a PR Consultant and a culture enthusiast based in Houston, Texas. She also likes to write about all things Generation Y . Follow her at @WhatJaiSays.

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The post 6 Soul-Crushing Career Habits You Should Break Right Now appeared first on Brazen Life.

When you heard he was slated to play Steve Jobs in the new movie about the legendary Apple creator, did you groan a little? Some of us did. After all, some of Kutcher’s most famous roles are playing the airheaded Michael Kelso on That ‘70s Show and the merry prankster on MTV’s Punk’d.

But you have to give the actor credit. When he took the stage recently to accept a Teen Choice Award, he took his acceptance speech to a deeper level. We’re sad to say that we doubt how many of the continuously screaming tweens in the audience absorbed the wisdom Kutcher was laying down, but we know that you’ll put it to good use.

So, check out the video below, in which Kutcher passionately shares some career advice gems we could all stand to learn from, like “opportunity looks a lot like hard work”:

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That’s right. The typical 40-hour work week has steadily crept up over the last few decades, and most people are actually working closer to 45 hours. And some work 50, 60 or even more hours each week. How’s that for work-life balance? Do you really want to spend that much of your life on a career path you despise?

The answer is absolutely not, which is why it seemed useful (and entertaining) to put together this list of no-nos when deciding on the career for you. These are the absolute worst reasons to choose a career:

1. Everyone says you’re good at it

Are you the person everyone comes to when their computer is on the fritz? Do your friends and family find it hard not to laugh at your jokes? Just because you have a particular skill doesn’t mean you have to do that as a career. You may find that talent-based jobs like telling jokes, playing sports or creating art are a lot harder to excel at than you think.

Beyond that, hobbies you enjoy can quickly become monotonous and annoying when you’re doing them full-time. You can actually turn something you love into something you hate.

2. It’s what you’re “supposed” to do

Did mom and dad raise you to be a lawyer or doctor? Do you come from a long line of police officers or have a family business? Even if you know it’s what everyone expects you to do, and you might’ve even thought you’d be doing it from a young age, that doesn’t mean you have to if you’re having second thoughts.

When you finally decide on a path, do so because it’s what you think you want.

3. You like the perks

Okay, so you know you shouldn’t decide on your life’s work in the hopes of picking up hot guys or girls, but what about other cool stuff that comes along with it? Maybe you get a company car, free travel or a pool table in the office. Whatever perks they have that impress you, don’t pick a career based on silly stuff like this.

It seems awesome, but how often are you going to be able to enjoy it? If you’re mostly driving that company car to and from a job you hate, it’s going to end up feeling like a prison. Free travel likely means you’re going to be jetting around the country—or world—for work. How much of that time do you think you’ll be able to appreciate?

And there’s a reason that pool table in the office is always free—because people are working. There are some perks that really make a difference, but you still shouldn’t base your decision on them.

4. Your friends are doing it

This happens a lot more than you think. We’re all influenced by the people we hang around, and if you end up befriending lots of people who want to be engineers, botanists or video game designers, it’s more likely that you’ll gravitate toward that path—even if it’s not right for you.

This can cause you to struggle in your work because you don’t have a natural talent for it or desire to do it. And you may even end up finding yourself alone, because jobs are so hard to come by these days you’re probably not going to be working with your friends.

What should you do? Try new things. Diversify your interests and friend group as much as possible. Research what a job is really like on a site like CareerQA or the Occupational Outlook Handbook. Take the time to speak to someone in that career field to find out what it’s really like.

Imagine yourself in potential careers one, five or even 10 years down the line and think about what a regular day for you will be like. Ultimately, the most important thing is that you feel happy and fulfilled in your work.

Josh Weiss-Roessler is co-owner of Weiss-Roessler Writing and a professional resume writer who frequently offers job hunting advice and workplace tips. Along with his wife, baby son and two very excitable dogs, he lives in Austin, Texas.

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But at certain points in your job, you feel drained. You stop enjoying Mondays. Your mood changes.

You find yourself less optimistic. You can stare at the computer for hours with nearly zero productivity. You become your harshest critic.

The most simple tasks seem impossible. Depression kicks in. You’ve hit a crossroads. You can either step up to the plate or risk future success.

Every career has ups and downs. The trick is to enjoy the ups, then to get creative and remain resilient and disciplined during the downs.

The ups are easy to enjoy. Motivation seems to come easily. But how do you endure the downs in a career? Here are a few ways:

1. Forget the statement “It can’t be done”

Regardless of hurdles, there are always ways you can do better. The more creative you become in your job, the further you can go.

At times, it’ll seem as if you’ve hit a brick wall. Sometimes, that wall will appear much more challenging than others.

Focus on possible solutions. Look at the problem differently. Whatever you do, don’t let the hurdle render you ineffective.

2. Keep moving forward

Henry Ford said, “You have got to keeping doing and going.”

In business, change is inevitable. Change in yourself becomes just as essential.

Some core ideologies are permanent, like great customer service. But how you arrive at superior customer service may drastically change throughout a career.

Despite environmental changes in your job, always be in motion. When work seems hopeless, you’re probably also wasting time.

There are few instances in your career when learning and creativity can’t cure the most arduous problems.

3. Try not to take the downs personally

Stay level-headed. The most effective business professionals make decisions based on logic, not emotion.

Everyone goes through difficult times at work. Whether it’s having to deal with a bad manager or changes in the industry, few professions are immune to it. In fact, the more creative a job is, the more difficulty you can encounter. It’s part of the game.

When you convince yourself to enjoy the journey, you’ll do better at your job.

4. Remember: you’re not alone

Employees go through highly turbulent times in their career. Some come out of their slump with renewed energy and vigor. Others personalize their problems and don’t quite make it.

If you look at some of the most effective business tycoons in US history, you’ll see one thing in common: all share some sort of highly complex hurdle they had to overcome. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Andrew Carnegie all saw sufficient career fluctuations. Their resiliency is what proved to be the determining factor between success and failure.

They stayed motivated even during times of crisis. They forced themselves to keep moving forward. You can do the same to stay motivated at work.

Ken Sundheim is the CEO of KAS Placement Recruitment and a writer for Forbes. Among other places, Ken has appeared on MTV and Fox Business News.

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The post The Young Professional’s Guide to Surviving Tough Spots in Your Career appeared first on Brazen Life.

Whether you’re a business owner looking to get more clients, a networker looking to make more connections or anyone in between, the art of cold calling is one that could come in handy. Here’s what these experts had to say:

Discover Something in Common

“With social networks and Internet search, it’s easier than ever to research to find something in common with the person you’re about to cold call. Check Facebook to see if you have a mutual friend. Check LinkedIn to see if you might have worked in a similar industry with the sales prospect. Finding common ground can help you build rapport at the start of the cold call, so it can be more… warm!”

-Doreen Bloch, CEO / Founder, Poshly Inc.

Stand Up Tall

“Standing up, or even walking around, while you pitch will make you come across as more confident and with more presence and projection over the phone. Some people also think quicker when they are standing up rather than sitting down.”

-Richard Lorenzen, CEO, Fifth Avenue Brands

Create Objection Handlers

“Having a list of objection handlers that you memorize will give you the confidence to push yourself. There are only 7-10 common objections, so know how to handle them. You’ll find yourself more comfortable to keep calling—it’s a numbers game. Then it’s just about optimizing those numbers.”

-AJ Kumar, Co-Founder, Single Grain

Paradigm Shift

“Our best sales prospectors have a different perspective on cold calling that distinguishes them from others—they don’t take rejection personally and see prospecting as a treasure hunt, not a chore. They meticulously map and track their progress and count every “no” as a step toward inevitable success. Then, as with any professional they practice and endlessly refine their expertise.”

-Christopher Kelly, Co-Founder, Principal, Convene

Create a Freebie

“Cold calling is hard. It’s a lot easier to call someone up and tell them you want to send them a free ebook, no strings attached. Then you’ll be able to make a warm followup call to check if they’ve found your freebie useful and if you can help them act on it.”

-Thursday Bram, Consultant, Hyper Modern Consulting

Employ a New Strategy

“Think about Jonah Hill in Moneyball. Our inside sales team makes about 500 cold calls a day. The top representatives are not the ones who hit home runs every time, but the ones who get on base. Getting on base in cold calling just means engaging a prospect in a conversation. Rather than focusing on home runs, focus on getting on base. Then cold calling becomes just a game of statistics.”

-Sarah Schupp, Founder, UniversityParent

Use an Educational Process

“Offering to come in and teach their team something is often more effective than simply trying to show your solution. It gives people an incentive to sit in a meeting, establishes you as credible, addresses objections without them realizing it and helps you frame the problem and solution in terms that give you an edge.”

-Sean Johnson, Partner, Digital Intent

Practice in Your Sleep!

“Sometimes in your business, you will need to cold call clients who have not returned in a while or to invite them to some event you are launching. Have a short script that you practice to make it sound natural and personable. Prior to going to sleep, practice how you are going to deliver the call. Visualize it, practice it, execute it.”

-Nancy T. Nguyen, Founder/Sweet Sylist, Sweet T Salon

Network for a Referral

“With the proliferation of social media today, odds are you’re connected to someone you’ll be cold calling by only a few degrees. Do some research before to see if there’s anyway to get an introduction!”

-Jesse Pujji, CEO, Ampush

A/B Test Your Story

“Chart your funnel from ‘Hello’ to ‘I’m excited to work with you!’ Test different messages for each conversation point until you are satisfied with their conversion rates. As an 18-year-old, this approach helped me set new advertising records for a popular TV show.”

-Kevon Saber, Cofounder, Fig

Be Sticky!

“Chances are, the contacts you’re calling are getting blasted every day by 20 others who try to sell them something, and they’re sick of the typical message/pitch. Think of what would make you call someone back, and be like that. What approach would ‘stick’ to you as you scroll through your own voicemails? Be memorable. Now go dial!”

-Joe Cassara, Founder / CEO, You Need My Guy

Don’t Do It!

“Cold calling is stressful, painful and emotionally draining. Instead, become a thought leader in the industry and get clients to come to you. The goal is to educate potential clients about the benefits of your product or service so that they’ll come to you when they’re ready to use it. In addition, attend conferences and build relationships with potential clients.”

-Jun Loayza, President, Ecommerce Rules

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

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Every day, we hear stories about people who are trapped and miserable in cubicles and corporate life. More often than not, we aren’t held back by circumstance or by indecision or even by our financial situation. We’re held back by that annoying voice in our head that’s absolutely sure we can’t do it.

Here’s what that voice tries to tell us—and how to tell it to quiet down:

“You don’t want to end up living in a van by the river.”

One of Chris Farley’s unforgettable Saturday Night Live characters was Matt Foley, the divorced 35-year-old motivational speaker who lived in a van down by the river.

What made this character so funny was how accurately he captured our preoccupation with social status, family and money, and how terrified we are when we perceive threats to these things. These are lizard fears, visceral fears about self-preservation that we inherited from our reptile ancestors.

Lizard fears aren’t all bad—some help alert us to danger and protect us from unnecessary risks—but if you let them dictate all of your choices, they’ll paralyze you. When you feel that swell of panic telling you that leaving your cubicle behind will end in financial ruin or starvation, take time to consider that fear critically. Chances are you’ll be able to drown out the lizard with logic and reason.

“Everyone will think I’m crazy.”

Even if you’re excited about your business idea, it’s easy to get bogged down in fears about what “everyone” will think about your decision to strike out on your own as an entrepreneur. We don’t want to be seen as ungrateful or foolish for leaving “stable” corporate work in an uncertain economy.

It’s good to respect the opinions of your family, friends and mentors, but you may encounter advice that’s overly discouraging. When this happens to me, I return to this mantra: I am the only one who lives in my skin. I trust my instincts.

“I can’t start over.”

If you’ve been in the corporate world for a while, you’ve probably developed valuable skills and some respect from peers. Leaving this behind for a new venture puts you back at the beginner’s stage—but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Instead of seeing this career change as a step backward, try thinking of it as step forward into the mindset that comes with a new beginning. It sounds easier said than done, but cultivating a beginner’s mind will increase the depth and pace of your learning and make the process more fun and exciting. Starting over gives you the opportunity to move forward without preconceived expectations or residual cynicism. It’s refreshing.

“It’s no better out there.”

It’s hard not to feel like corporate life might be as good as it gets. The idea of financial security and job stability is undeniably appealing (even if those are more of an idea than a reality in our current economy).

Working as an independent entrepreneur likely will be better. You’ll find freedom and relief in doing work you care deeply about on your own terms. But the best way to find out if you’re really cut out for self-employment is to spend some time doing it. If you’re unhappy, you don’t have to continue pursuing it. It’s not an all or nothing decision, and you can always go back if you want to.

“Don’t bother trying; you will fail.”

Fear of failure is nature’s way of telling us that there’s some risk involved in a situation. It’s an inevitable part of moving into a career as an entrepreneur, but trying to work against fear of failure can be exhausting.

It’s a better use of your time to find ways to work with the fear instead. When you feel panicked about the prospect of failure, ask yourself if there’s truth in the fear. A fear of failure might be legitimate if you’ve failed to plan for your transition into entrepreneurship, but you can address that fear with preparation. Research, connect with mentors and develop concrete strategies (and concrete backup strategies!).

If you’ve done everything you reasonably can to address a fear, move forward. Mitigate your risk by taking it slow and watching your results carefully. You’ll make mistakes, and that’s okay; think of them as opportunities to grow.

Pam Slim is an award-winning author, speaker and leader in the new world of work. To learn more about how to live a fulfilled life of self-employment, check out Pam’s creativeLIVE workshop, Escape From Cubicle Nation.

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The post 5 Internal Narratives That Keep You From a Fulfilling Career appeared first on Brazen Life.