Your local school board and community college probably offer a wide range of courses to keep you ahead of the game, whether you’re climbing the corporate ladder, in career transition, running your own business, or pursuing a hobby. For professional development in your specific field, check out the offerings of your professional association or other related organizations. If your remote location, varied schedule, or mobility issues make it difficult for you to attend regular classes, you’ll be glad to know that there are more online options than ever before.

As a member of WebDesign.com, I’m able to attend as many of their webinars as I like throughout the year. These range from one-hour sessions on specific topics to multi-day training programs. Some provide instruction in using Builder or other WordPress products from iThemes, but others would be of interest to any WordPress user.  Although many of them are free events, my membership gives me access to the entire library of recordings so I don’t have to miss a session that interests me, even if I can’t make it to the live class. This is especially beneficial when a particular webinar isn’t relevant to me when it’s offered, but I need to learn the material for a project later on, and I can download the handouts and listen to the recording at my own convenience.

I’ve recently completed a four-week program with Melissa Ingold called Service Business Reinvention Bootcamp, where I’ve learned a whole new way of looking at the services I offer and how I package and market them. I’m really excited about putting these strategies into action in the near future, for the benefit of my clients as well as myself and my business. If this sounds like something you can use as well, I suggest that you sign up right away – you can save 25% off the regular price by entering the coupon code SAVE25, but it’s only valid until tomorrow.

This fall I’m planning to attend a Social Media Day with the Employment Assistance Resource Network, the POC National Conference (where I’ll also be speaking), and WordCamp Toronto. Unfortunately, the latter two are being held on the same weekend, so I won’t be able to attend either one in full, but fortunately, they’re both taking place in Toronto, so I will be able to spend some time at each conference.

Please share your “back to school” plans in the comments section below!

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Back to School… not just for kids!.

Essential Skills for Business Success

Public Speaking as a Management Skill

How to be a Better Business Writer

Don’t Commit These Networking Faux Pas!

Five Ways To Keep Your Business From Taking Over Your Life

What part of managing your small business is most challenging for you?

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Do Your Management Skills Need Improvement?.

For Christmas, my stepson gave me a calendar called Office Time-Killers: Sneaky Ways of Slacking Off. My initial reaction was that he doesn’t know me very well, because I’m closer to being a workaholic than a slacker, but once I opened it up, I was delighted to see that it is exactly what I need. Here’s one of the opening pages, which I’ve stuck to the wall in front of my desk:

Each day has a little game or exercise designed to take you away from your work for however long it takes you to do it, and the first two days were questions about how I wanted the upcoming year to look. I was so inspired that I assembled my answers, some pictures I clipped in a workshop led by Wayne Pagani last year, a few other clippings, and some stickers from my scrapbooking supplies, to create my very first vision board. (Please click to view full size image)

Most of the things on my vision board pertain to my health or some other aspect of my personal life. As long as I’ve been in business full time, I’ve treated Saturday as a day for non-client work such as planning, blogging, administration and so on. Since these are activities I enjoy and not directly connected to making money, I saw it as a more leisurely day than the weekdays. However, it meant that when I did have something else to do on a Saturday, I had to squeeze these activities in somewhere else. I wished I could schedule these tasks for Friday and leave Saturdays open, but I always seemed to have too much to do during the week. Of course, just wishing for something isn’t enough – you have to make it happen. I found the answer to my dilemma in Julie Bestry’s blog post, Paper Doll Pencils You In On Her Calendar: 6 Tips for Planning 2011, where she explains,

I schedule no client sessions on Mondays, so that I know I will always have one day per week for marketing, attending to finances and handling other administrivia. It also makes Sunday nights stress-free, as I know the only grumpy meanie I’ll be facing on Monday morning…is myself!

I’ve known about Julie’s “Admin Mondays” for a long time, but this description made me realize how much I’d enjoy starting the week this way. It would also take off all the pressure of trying to clear my inbox or get other things out of the way during the weekend. So starting this week, I’m also scheduling Admin Mondays, leaving my Saturdays open for stuff like going to the outdoor market (when it’s open), visiting with family, working on my balcony garden, and feathering my nest – in other words, having a life.

I’ll let you know how I make out!

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Striving for Balance in 2011.

For the chocolate lover: Devil Brownies. Yes, they really are “deliciously evil.”

For young people of all ages: A personally autographed copy of one of Kathy Stinson’s books, including her latest release, Highway of Heroes

For the job seeker: Best Canadian Resumes and Best Canadian Cover Letters

For the recently employed: Clearing the 90 Day Hurdle

For the person who needs to get organized: Organizing Outside the Box, Organized To Last: 5 Simple Steps To Staying Organized, or a set of Organizing Tips Booklets

In addition to the above wrappable gifts, many of our clients offer digital products and gift certificates that might be just right for someone on your list. If someone you know needs a resume writer or career coach, a professional organizer for their home or office, or help starting an organizing business, please feel free to ask me for an introduction!

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Ideas for Your Christmas Shopping List.

Maslan’s book is based on the Blast Off! Coaching Program which she developed to help others achieve their goals, after turning her own life around, both personally and professionally.

The first chapter provides an outline of the program and describes the tools that you will use as you work towards your goals. The remaining chapters are each dedicated to a specific goal area, including career, relationship, health, and prosperity. This is a real time-saver, because you can choose to read only the chapters that pertain to your specific goals. I do, however, recommend reading the whole book when you have the time, because it’s full of nuggets that you may find helpful, even in areas of your life where you generally feel satisfied. Some are real eye-openers, some may be difficult to accept, and others are simply reminders of things we already know but aren’t putting into practice for one reason or another. For example, here’s an excerpt from the chapter Blast Off! to a Life of Passion and Meaning:

Four Ways to Build the Back End of Passion

1. Establish good nutrition. It’s easy to fall into fast food or snacking when you are so engrossed in your passion that you’re not taking the time to eat right.
2. Eight hours of sleep each night. Sleep is one of the most healing, energizing medicines, and it is absolutely critical for a creative mind. Did you know that sleep deprivation is used as a brainwashing technique? Without sleep, you are living in survival mode, which is the opposite of a passionate life.
3. Take a passion break once a week. Most of my creativity comes when I’m not working. When my mind is clear and I’m exploring or having fun, the ideas have room to appear. Turn off your phone. Shut down your computer. Go spend the day outdoors in nature, go to a movie, take a bike ride, or visit some friends. Talk about things other than your passion. (For a few minutes, anyway.)
4. Get physical. Especially if your passion is of the intellectual persuasion, you must get into your body. If you’re living from the neck up, your body needs to be enlivened. Choose exercise that you can sustain by doing activities that you will enjoy, such as dance, running, swimming, biking or boxing. Mix it up! It’s more beneficial to incorporate more than one activity to stimulate various muscle groups in the body. You will also stimulate the serotonin in your brain for more creativity and mood enhancement. You will prevent fatigue and burnout as you stimulate your cardiovascular system, get your blood pumping, and your billions of cells moving. Ahhhhhhh.

I ask you, do you know anyone who couldn’t benefit from taking this advice?

What I liked best about the book is that it doesn’t just tell you what to do. Instead, each chapter includes a series of practical exercises to help you identify the changes you want to implement and the steps you need to take to reach your ultimate goal. Furthermore, the exercises are unique for each chapter, and not just re-worded to suit the topic. A lot of people may resist doing the exercises because they require effort, but I’m a firm believer that the more you put into something, the more you’ll get out of it.

Readers can follow the program independently, with a partner, or with a Blast Off! Group. Guidance around forming a Blast Off! Group is provided in the book.

If you’d like to try out Blast Off! The Surefire Success Plan to Launch Your Dreams into Reality for yourself, you can order a copy from Amazon.com or Amazon.ca.

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Book Review: Blast Off! The Surefire Success Plan to Launch Your Dreams into Reality.

His presentation was well organized, first going through a list of the different ways people are using Twitter, complete with examples, and then describing several ways to gain new followers.

One strategy that was new to many participants, including myself, was the use of the Advanced Search feature. For example, let’s say you want to connect with blues fans in your community. You can simply search on “the blues” to get a quick list of recent tweets about the blues, but to go through the tweeters to see if any are in your area would be extremely time-consuming and tedious. With Advanced Search you can enter not only your search word or phrase, but the name of a place (or a zip code) and how close to that place you want the tweets in your search results to be. There are many other search options, so be sure to check it out!

Of particular interest were the many tools that Guy recommends for automating his tweets. Some people were excited to realize that they can be on Twitter without investing a lot of time into it, while those at the other end of the spectrum felt that this was inauthentic. I think there’s a place for automation, but I also think it’s essential to log into your account and interact with other people. Automation should be used so that you can spend your time forming quality connections, not so you can just put Twitter on autopilot and forget about it. Sure, people want information, but they also want to build relationships.

Furthermore, I don’t agree that tweets should be repeated every few hours as Guy recommends. His rationale is that CNN repeats their news stories throughout the day, so it makes sense for us to repeat our tweets. I already have a few people in my feed who do that, and I find it quite tedious. If you’re promoting an event or a new product, obviously you don’t want to just send out one tweet and hope it gets noticed, but instead of just repeating the same tweet over and over, you can be creative and present the information in a different way (yes, you can still be creative in under 140 characters!).

You can see the outline of the session at http://holykaw.alltop.com/twitter-as-a-weapon-demo-script, and read the discussions on Twitter by entering #SMSS10.

In one of the side conversations, Scott Schumpert asked, “Is Twitter for Marketing or Social Networking?” which I thought was a great question. After giving it some thought, I came up with this:

Social networking is one aspect of marketing, and vice versa.

What is your answer to this question?

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Kicking off Social Media Success Summit 2010 with Guy Kawasaki.

The number of options are seemingly endless, which means you can choose those that best suit your budget, your schedule, and your learning style.

Teleclasses

There are probably hundreds of teleclasses taking place every week on various subjects. Many of these are free, but in my experience, you don’t tend to get a ton of information at those. The main purpose of most of them is to get you interested enough in the subject to buy a product or register in a paid program. However, if you can spare the time and have a good long distance plan, they can still be worthwhile, even if you only pick up one or two tips.

In a lot of cases, you will receive a recording of the session, especially in the case of paid classes. This is very helpful as you can listen to it even if you’re not available when the session is held or if a one-hour long distance call is an issue. Having a recording also means you can review the information again as often as you like.

I’m not a big fan of teleclasses myself. As a visual learner, I need something to look at, whether it’s a speaker, a PowerPoint presentation, or a handout package. It’s very difficult for me to just sit and listen to someone talk for a whole hour. I have a ton of teleclass recordings saved on my computer which I just haven’t got around to listening to. I’ve thought about burning some to CDs so I can listen to them while driving or buying an iPod so I can listen while I’m out walking, but so far thinking about it is as far as I’ve got.

Webinars

I would choose a webinar over a teleclass any time. For starters, they provide the visual aids which are lacking with most teleclasses. Secondly, there is often an opportunity to network with the other participants before, after, and sometimes even during the sessions. As an introvert, I find online networking much easier than face-to-face, though I’ve met some introverts who experience the opposite, because they find it difficult to connect with people they can’t actually see.

Webinars have the added benefit of not having to pay long distance charges or tie up your telephone line and, similar to teleclasses, you often have access to the sessions afterwards.

Live Classes

Many people find it easier to learn in a traditional setting. Because they have to go somewhere to attend, they are less likely to be distracted by home or work activities. With live sessions, you also have the benefit of interacting with the other people in your class.

On the downside, you have to be there at a specific time and place. You have to go there, even if the weather is unpleasant and you’d rather stay in. If it conflicts with another activity, you have to make a choice – you can’t usually opt to listen to the recording later on.

Online Summits

Over the last few years I’ve noticed a growing trend of multi-day online events, such as the 5^th Annual Online International Virtual Assistants Convention (OIVAC) next month. I’ve taken part in OIVAC several times and have always been impressed with the wide range of speakers and topics as well as the many opportunities to network with my industry colleagues.

Another such event is the Social Media Success Summit 2010 which I am attending. The information is very relevant to my business and something I’ll be able to use both to promote my own business and to support my clients, and I find that I get the most out of a learning activity when I can apply the information right away.

Live Conferences

Many of my colleagues in the VA industry are currently attending the 9^th Annual Live VA Summit in Phoenix, Arizona. At the same time, the 22^nd NAPO Annual Conference and Organizing Exposition is being held in Columbus, Ohio. Live conferences are probably one of the best venues for both learning and networking. There’s just nothing like spending entire days hearing expert speakers in the company of like-minded professionals! Unfortunately, they can be quite costly, especially by the time you add up registration fees, travel expenses, accommodation, spending money, and loss of billable hours. You can reduce your costs by staying with friends or family, if you’re fortunate enough to know someone in the area, but you may then miss out on chances to build camaraderie with your colleagues, as much of the best networking takes place outside of scheduled activities.

For those of us who are introverts, there’s another cost to live conferences, and that is personal energy. Being surrounded by people and activity all day can be exhausting, especially when it goes on for several days. That’s another good reason to stay on site if you can, so you can retreat to your room when you need a break from it all. You will probably also need some extra time to recharge your batteries after you get home, before returning to your regular routine.

This is not a comprehensive list of learning options – there are also self-study programs, webinars-on-demand, and other alternatives. What you choose will depend not only on your personal preferences but on your learning goals. Do you need to learn a skill so you can complete a specific project? Do you want to grow your expertise in a particular area so you can increase your income potential? Do you want to work towards a degree or certification? All of these factors should be taken into consideration before deciding where to invest your training dollars.

What type of learning activities do you prefer, and why?

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on How Do You Like to Learn?.

Tap Into Your Passion To Find Your Dream Career

By Allison Maslan

In my 20’s, I ran a full-service advertising agency while raising my young daughter. I was on the fast track to success, but running myself into the ground for all the wrong reasons. What was the problem? Was it being a mom? No. Was it the high demands of the business? That was tough, but not the main problem. I learned the hard way that even though I was successful at something, did not mean that it was my passion, or that I had to do it.  I was receiving pressure from all sides to stay because outwardly it was going so well. Until inwardly, I crashed and burned. The good thing for me was that this set me on a path of healing, and search to find my purpose. And I never looked back. I made a decision early on that I would only involve myself with work and activities that I was passionate about. As a life and career coach, I often hear, “I want something more, but I just don’t know what.”

So I developed the Blast Off! Dream Career Questionnaire. It can help spark some ideas to help you tap into your passion to brainstorm ideas for your own dream career. (This exercise can be done on Interactive Life Coaching Software, Blastation.)

1. As a child, what did you dream of being when you grew up? It’s helpful to get in touch with your earlier fascinations. In early childhood, it was easier to live from our imagination without all of the interference from our adopted limiting beliefs.

2. What are some of your favorite hobbies or activities — in the present and in the past — and why? Wouldn’t it be great if you could turn your favorite pastime into your dream career? We choose hobbies and activities that most likely resonate with our unique personality as well as our physical, mental and emotional nature. They are an extension of our inner voice and a blast off to your dream career.

3. What do you do, or have you done, in your life that makes you the happiest? What is it about this that you enjoy so much? What does it mean to you? When you are in a state of joy or bliss, you are in complete alignment with your purpose. And when you’re in complete alignment with your passions, intention and actions, success is sure to follow.

4. What things have you always wanted to do, but were afraid to try? These could be activities or ideas related to your personal life or career that you have seen on television, in books, or heard of others experiencing. List anything that comes to mind that seems interesting, stimulating, exciting, meaningful or fun. Many people self-impose limiting choices and circumstances on themselves and their lives. Once those obstacles are removed, the possibilities are boundless! People often fear change, even if their current circumstances are not up to par with their capabilities. The hardest part of change is the first step. Once you get through that, creating your new and successful career becomes so much easier. The fear will be released the more you practice taking action.

5. What is a cause that you could get behind? Is there a cause or charity that you’re passionate about? There may be some career ideas that will support and reflect the charities or causes that have meaning to you.

One of my coaching clients, Leslie, felt stuck for years in a job that offered no challenge or mental stimulation whatsoever. She was very over-qualified for the position ,but stayed for the security. As the years went by, Leslie became more and more apathetic toward her work. In the meantime, she was taking classes in homeopathy for animals and volunteering at the local animal shelter. It was obvious that humane treatment and care for animals was a cause that she felt very strongly about. It never felt like work because she absolutely loved to connect with the animals. Over time, Leslie began practicing natural medicine for animals on a part-time basis until she developed enough business to take the leap in creating her full-time dream career. Now, instead of going to her boring job, she wakes up each day to a dream career that she is most passionate about.

6. What values do you hold most important in your life? If you can incorporate some of the most important values of your character and your life into your work, you will be truly living a life of value and purpose. For example, I have always felt a calling to help people in need. At some point, I finally reconnected with my deeper values and life purpose to support and inspire others on their path. Life coaching was a natural evolvement because it matched my inner values and purpose.

7. What are your strengths and talents? By tapping into the special abilities that you were born with, you can consider translating them into your dream career. My client, Keara, loves parasailing, so she is creating a charity that will help trauma victims heal through this sport. She has found a way to combine her passion and talent to give back to a cause she feels strongly about.

8. What movies and books have inspired you over the years, and why? We are often drawn to books and movies that reflect our personalities and interests. For example, history books may reflect your interest in travel or research. Action/adventure books and movies may mirror your desire for a career in an outdoor setting rather than being office-bound.

9. What does success mean to you? Success can have many different connotations and can represent different things to different people. What does the picture of success look like to you?

10. If you had plenty of money at your disposal to invest in your own dream career, what kind of business would you start? Often the fear of not having enough capital, or an inheritance, or just-accepting-poverty thinking can dissuade people from reaching for their dreams. By putting your dreams on paper, sending your strong intention out into the world and following up with action, the necessary avenues to remove these supposed limitations will appear. This is intention in action.

Don’t let the financial aspect stop you, because there will always be a solution if you actively look for it. The secret is to profess your dream, and then start taking action toward it today. You may even begin to receive checks in the mail. Stranger things have happened!

Upon completion of the Blast Off! Dream Career Questionnaire look at each of your answers. Do you see a common theme throughout? This is a very good clue for your winning dream career. For instance, if all your answers have to do with creative activities, you may fit with a career in the arts, such as landscape design, interior design, fine art or graphic design. If you see travel dominating your answers, a career as a travel agent, excursion director, or editor of a travel magazine may be the fuel for your inner passion. These answers will reflect your inner purpose. A dream career that expresses your values, hopes, loves and dreams is a winning recipe for life of passion and meaning.

Allison Maslan, HHP, CCH  is the president of The Blast Off Life and Business Coaching. Her book, Blast Off! The Surefire Success Plan To Launch Your Dreams Into Reality, is to be released on January 19th, 2010 in all major booksellers online. 888-844-3550

Alison has generously sent me a copy of her new book, and you can be sure I’ll be posting my review as soon as I’ve had a chance to read it.

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Tapping Into Your Passion.

If you also have a home based business, you know what I’m talking about. If not, you don’t know what you’re missing!

I’m sure that there are many people who are quite content to be employed by someone else, and that’s great. But if you often drag yourself to work, or find yourself counting the number of years left until you retire, you owe it to yourself to consider other options! If you’re not sure what’s involved in starting a home business, or whether self-employment is right for you, the following books will answer many of your questions.

No Limits – How I Escaped the Clutches of Corporate America to Live the Self-Employed Life of My Dreams by Sara Morgan is an excellent starting point. The author successfully left the corporate world to start her own consulting business so she could have time to spend writing non-fiction books and raising her children while still earning an income, and she wrote this book to help others do the same. She clearly outlines the benefits of self-employment and, since a picture is worth a thousand words, she includes photographs of her very inviting working environment. She also describes the type of person you need to be in order to be successful in your own small business. Morgan’s book also includes tips for deciding what type of business you should start and where to go from there, as well as important issues such as accounting, taxes, and insurance. With fewer than 150 pages, it’s an easy read which can help you determine whether you’re well-suited to self-employment and to overcome any apprehension you may have about leaving your day job.

The Complete Guide to Working for Yourself: Everything the Self-Employed Need to Know About Taxes, Recordkeeping & Other Laws by Beth Williams is, as the title indicates, a complete guide for anyone who is self-employed or is considering self-employment. Despite the title, the book is not restricted to financial and legal issues, but also addresses topics such as marketing, setting prices, and a self-assessment. Although based on US laws around taxation and business structure, there is enough general information provided to make this a useful resource for entrepreneurs in any country. The Companion CD-ROM contains all the forms in the book as well as a sample business plan you can adapt for your own use.

In addition, there are many books and e-books that cover the above topics but are geared toward a specific type of home business, whether you’re interested in becoming a professional organizer, an image consultant, a virtual assistant, an interior decorator, a dog walker, or just about anything you can imagine.

I know that home based businesses aren’t for everyone, but if office politics, wage freezes, glass ceilings and other obstacles are preventing you from living the life you want, shouldn’t you at least explore the possibility?

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Is Self-Employment Right for You?.

Another concept I didn’t quite grasp before is one that comes up a lot when you read about marketing a business, that of defining your niche. I understood the general idea, but had trouble understanding the difference between niche, target market, and ideal client. I know what type of projects I enjoy most and what type of clients I prefer to work with, but like many others, I’ve worried that being too specialized would cause me to miss out on opportunities. On the other hand, I haven’t worried too much about it, since I always have enough work to keep busy and generate a regular income.

I began this blog in 2006 with no particular goal other than to see what the fuss was all about, but since then I’ve experienced firsthand the powerful benefits that can be gained by blogging. In addition, I’ve discovered that it’s something I thoroughly enjoy, and I’ve received positive feedback from enough people that I know I have a knack for it. Earlier this year, I decided to learn what I could do to make my blog even better and to increase my ROI. Since everything I read recommended focusing on a particular niche, I set about identifying my niche and, not wanting to make drastic changes to this blog, launched Your Organizing Business in April.

It’s only been three months, but I have been astounded at the results. My Google Page Rank is already at 3 and the number of readers is steadily increasing. In fact, I had to upgrade my hosting package because by the 10^th of July I had already exceeded my allowable bandwidth for the month, something that’s never happened in the seven years I’ve had a website. Even more significant is the increases I’m experiencing in my passive income through Google AdSense and various affiliate programs, as well as inquiries from new clients in my target market. Or is it my niche? I’m still confused about the terminology… In any case, I can clearly see that I’m doing something right, and I look forward to continuing in that direction.

If you’ve been afraid that choosing a niche might force you to limit yourself, I highly recommend testing the waters by creating a niche blog. You can take comfort in knowing that your current website is still actively working for you while your new blog helps you assess the viability of your chosen niche.

After all, wouldn’t you like to enjoy a delicious bowl of pudding?

Photo credit: shrk

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Have You Chosen Your Niche?.