Flowers are springing up

The flowers have been popping up for a while now. It happens every year. Opportunities, like flowers, are all around us, we don't always see them for numerous reasons.
Remember that Ray Kroc used to sell milk shake machines. One day he saw the McDonald Brothers hamburger stand and thought if they'd just expand then he could sell more machines. The long short of it is he bought their name and proceeded with the expansion and the rest is history.
We must avail ourselves to listen and pay attention because you never know when that opportunity will rear it's head.

Easter 2011

Happy Easter to all of you. Be sure you spend time with family and friends. You never know when one of them will come up with an idea for you to check out.

I have an offer but am hoping for another more suitable opportunity.

This is the position you want to be in. "Two birds in the hand...". Of course it does create a dilemma of which place to take. After hours and days of research, networking, talking, personal relationship building and then interviewing you wind up with multiple employment offers.



What to do? Everyone arrives at their decision in their own way. Whether it be by salary, location, challenge, potential growth or you name it. The big issue is do you feel comfortable with the people and the position. Sometimes you need to listen to your intuition and allow it to assist you. Folks have come back and expressed their mistake for taking the most money only to find out they were not happy. Remember that one situation worse than being unemployed is not liking the position or the people.



It is up to you to balance this out and make your best decision. The worst that happens is it doesn't work out for any reason. The positive side to that outcome is you have another chance to re-invent yourself to your next being.

Where is the best place for me to do my networking?

The simple, actual, and short answer is: Everywhere! That's it for everyone. Remember that all your friends and family know many people in many careers. Each of those people know people and not all in the same profession. Don't get mired down in trying to only meet with people in your chosen profession, talk to everyone.

This is a numbers game and the more people you meet, make personal relationships with and most of all help will take you closer to your next opportunity.

When leaving the house my first goal is to have some fun. Then by listening well, people seem to lead me to the next question or idea. From there I may or may not suggest a connection. My big goal is to help those I can. I wind up networking anywhere, anytime.

Third, we finally make transformations

It always seems like so long when we are not being successful in our search for that next opportunity. Sometimes we feel like we are struggling yet at the same time we are making headway. As our changes and transitions continue some will fall into the category of transformations. Those items, actions and attitudes we now know work better.

As all of these culminate it seems all of a sudden we are getting more interviews and calls. Normally we don't reflect back as we just say "...it is about time..." As smart as we may be we do continue to learn and grow.

When folks return to the Support Group to thank the attendees, and give their learning experience, a common phrase is "Do you know when things began to change for me? It happened once I changed".

Nuff said

Second, we make transitions

As we traverse the path of being successful in our search we will usually have made a few changes in how we go about this. When we find a new better way we incorporate it because it feels better. We continue on. Soon we realize this new change works better and is more successful for us. It now becomes a transition and is part of our repertoire.

We will make many changes and in turn some convert to transitions. There is no fixed number because just as snowflakes are all individual so are we.

We continue to do this and make more changes and transititions and in time some fall into the category of "transformations"

First, we begin making changes

When that tragic day comes and we are no longer gainfully employed we ponder what to do. Our minds are filled with despair and joy all at the same time. First the cash flow has stopped yet on the other hand we are thinking of all the opportunities we'd love to take on.
We get busy and begin laying out our path to the next opportunity or position we'd like to take on. We then usually go through some unsuccessful attempts and regroup. Bottom line is we begin making some changes to our original plan to propel us to our next challenge and opportunity. We will make numerous changes to our behavior and attitude. Many we won't even recognize.