Career Change & Executive Coaching

4. Career Coach - Count Your Blessings!

 5. Career Coach - How to Feel Wealthy!

How wealthy do you need to be happy? Most people I know would say that they wished "To be comfortably off."  If you remember back to when you were a new graduate and just entering the job market, you probably had the same experience that I did.  

The salary cheque seemed huge at first and then within a short time, it barely covered the expenses! And so we tend to live up to our salary level and it rarely seems quite enough. We spend our working lives striving for more.

Yet, I've met people whose lives are so rich that multi-millionaires are envious of them. What can we learn from them?

Firstly they don't have any 'side' to them - meaning that they don't connect with any particular social class or express any attitudes that could be considered harmful to others.

Second of all, these people have taken meagre resources and invested their time and ingenuity into making their home eco-friendly and very beautiful with natural objects that excite the imagination.

Moreover they are deeply hospitable people who one feels would give their last crust to a waif or stray, perhaps you.

Here they are putting the finishing touches to their statue of Orange Lawrence, Founder of Orange County, that was unveiled this weekend by the Lord Mayor in the centre of Orangeville, Grand Valley, Ontario.

They are rightfully prideful of their work and theirs is a strength that belies modern thinking that generosity and kindness is a somehow a weakness.

I feel wealthier just knowing them. 

Using a combination of criterion hierarchy and objective elimination we strip away the unmet needs that are your emotional holes and 'ready' you for career and business success. We focus your career attention on a defining platform that you can make uniquely your own.

It is simplicity itself and the truth is that you could do this for yourself..... if you could coach yourself uncritically. And, there's the rub - have you looked in the mirror lately and said "Gorgeous image - so love you?"

Once we've stripped you of baggage i.e. the negatives in your life - you will find the space filling with seemingly boundless energy and enthusiasm and my job will be simply be to channel. (I love this bit - where clients are so inspired that they hardly need to meet up - like rocket chrysanthemums in the autumn sky.)

A well-executed blog sets you apart as an expert in your field. But it is only one promotional tool amongst many and before you can use one you have to ask yourself the question. "If people were searching for me, what question would they ask?"

''People who are more visible and have a reputation and stand for something do better than people who are invisible," says Catherine Kaputa, branding consultant and author of ''Blogging for Business Success." To be valued, you have to be sure of who you are and what you want...only then can you select the people you want to work with.

''Decision-makers respect Google-karma," writes Tim Bray, director of Web technologies for Sun Microsystems - on his own blog, of course.

To escape the entry-level grind, you can either pay your dues, working up a ladder forever, or you can establish yourself as an expert in the world by launching a blog. High-level jobs are for people who specialise, and HR recruiters look for specialists online.

More and more of my senior players are taking a role online to lead and make a difference. After years of enjoying freebies, it is nice to feel as if you are giving something back to the community, instead of 'Take, take, take.' Witness the blogs that are increasingly written and read by business leaders - Leadership Executive Coaching.

CollegeRecruiter.com offers the latest on internships and entry level jobs.

I won a 'Carnival of Career Intensity' competition prize recentlywith my article: 'How to Change Your Career With A Blog' and the host Dave Lorenzo has kindly emailed me to ask me if I would like a copy of his book inscribed to someone, perhaps someone who is graduating.

Synchronistically, my son, Edward is graduating in July from Leeds University, UK in: Computer Science and Management Studies and my Daughter, Elizabeth is graduating from Birmingham University in Nursing Studies. I am a very lucky person.

One of my coaching clients a Wing Commander in the Royal Airforce used to say that it was the ONLY question he would ever bother to ask an interview candidate: Are you a lucky person? (I believe the originator was Admiral Horatio Nelson)

His reasoning went like this. When you invite someone for interview you KNOW that they probably have the right skills. If their answer to your question is "Yes, I am a lucky person and........" then, the likelihood is that they will bring their luck with them to your organization.

In the thousands of hours, I have spent coaching and interviewing people I often find myself musing as to whether the person I am speaking to is a 'lucky' person or not and how luck-making it is to count one's blessings every day.

If you had a choice which do you think you would prefer: Money or Luck?

Perhaps I ought to say a little about where I am coming from so you will understand what I mean when I say that Mike Cherim's web site design service was 100% from start to finish for a job very well done. It will be my pleasure to recommend his services to the CEO and executive coaching clients who view my blog.

I found Mike's name, by searching Google for someone who could design a professional theme for my new web site. His name was #1 and I could see why. I had set myself some tight goals: whoever I chose, had to have a site themselves that I would wish was my own and Mike's site at Green-Beast.com is, I am sure, you will agree highly covetable!

It wasn't just the fresh, easily accessible and compelling design that told a story, but the voice of Mike that you could hear in the friendly text. He told me that he could build a state of the art web site for me, virtually stress free at an affordable price and he did - over the bank holiday weekend!

Oh I forgot, I've been a dot com-owner for ten years now, since 1996 (and they say that on the internet, every two years are worth ten in the external world, giving me, aaargh! 'fifty years of experience') That's not to say that I know everything, in fact, I'm only beginning to know what I don't know. But I do know one thing and that is that I'm not easily impressed.