Guest post by Michelle Noel. Michelle is a native Nashvillian whose work supports leaders across all industries. She can be reached at michellenoel@outlook.com or at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kmichellenoel/

Whether your goal is to grow your business or land a new job, networking is a valuable tool many people neglect. Let’s look at some reasons it’s effective and how you can use it to build a better network for your job search.

Letting others speak for you

Your resume is a valuable tool, but letting other people talk about your skills and experience is even more so (this is where personal branding comes in!).

People trust the opinion of those they know and are more likely to take action on their words than they are after reading the credentials of a stranger.

If you have ever asked for the name of a good handyman or plumber from a friend, you are already practicing networking!

It’s not always who you know

It’s great to have friends and contacts you can rely on, but you can go a step further by letting them know you are actively networking and asking them to keep an ear to the ground for opportunities that may help you.

So often, it’s not who you know, but who they know that can help boost your career.

Where to build a better network

First, think of the places you go on a regular basis. Church? The gym? Your dentist? Let those people know what your goals are and ask them for referrals to people they may know.

When I lived in New Orleans, a librarian friend told me the community college was hiring. She called a friend there and I was invited to interview. Two weeks later I was offered the job.

Take advantage of social networks

Meetup.com is a website for people to meet others near them with similar interests. You’ll likely find groups there whose sole purpose is networking. It’s free and gets you connected with new people in your community.

Are you on Facebook, Instagram, or other social platforms? Let your followers know you are looking for work or trying to grow your business. They may know someone who knows someone.

Some final tips to build a better network

• Keep your personal business cards handy. You never know who you will meet while you are going about your day.
• Attending a networking event? Arrive dressed as if you are going to an interview. First impressions are crucial.
• If the meeting is at a venue with alcohol, consider having a sparkling water with lime or some other non-alcoholic drink. It’s important to be at your best when meeting new people.
• Running errands? While you don’t always need to dress as if you’re going to work, be sure you’re neat and tidy with your business cards on hand. You may stumble across an opportunity while you are out. I have given out quite a few personal cards to people I have met while out during the day. Two of them resulted in my making connections and one of those resulted in an interview.

Networking is as easy as having a conversation with a friend. Don’t forget to keep it in your collection of career-building tools!

For more networking tips, get my latest e-book Secrets to Networking With Ease and Confidence for free when you purchase my on-demand program The Secret to Successful Networking: How to Do It Naturally and Effectively.

Related Posts:

• How to Be Realistic About Networking
• Why You Need to Stop Overthinking Networking
• How to Stop Networking for Good Contacts and How to Be One!

I have so many clients who come to me feeling burned out in their current job. For some of them it’s not from working too much. Instead it’s from working outside their gifting. For others, they love their job and company, but their employers treat them as machines instead of humans!

Burned out from working too much

For those of you who are in a company or job you enjoy but are feeling burned out from overwork, looking for a new job and sending out resumes is probably not the answer right now.

Doing so would be the same as uprooting your family and moving to a house right next door to a restaurant just because you happen to be hungry right now.

Trust me. You don’t want to trade a burnout with a company you love for a burnout with a company you’ll hate.

Have the tough conversation with your boss

Instead, I suggest having a frank conversation with your supervisor, no matter how difficult or scary it may feel.

Former Wall Street CEO (for both Smith Barney and Merrill Lynch) and now entrepreneur Sallie Krawcheck says,

“The days of the boss as ‘hard-ass’ need to be kissed good-bye. Today the business world increasingly values the kind of leaders who recognize that their employees’ lives don’t begin and end when they are at work. Many of us have families, and pets, and outside interests, and medical needs, and hobbies. Really, it’s well past time to get over requiring face time. And work as an extreme sport, complete with all-nighters and last-minute business trips-it isn’t good for employees, and it certainly doesn’t allow anyone to do their best work; and younger professionals are turning away from it in droves. Why not own the fact that we are all people and acknowledge that all of us need time for our outside lives? It’s just smart business.”

Instead of taking the angle of needing some much needed relief from your current workload, take the angle of how you want to be the best and most productive employee you can be for your boss.

Tell him or her how your current workload is negatively impacting your ability to do your best. Then focus on how you can improve your performance and productivity with just a few suggested tweaks.

Propose a win-win-win situation

Think ahead what tweaks you can suggest to be a win-win-win. (A win for your boss that will make him or her look good, a win for the company’s bottom line, and a win for you and your sanity.)

Some examples of tweaks you can suggest may include:

• Delegating some things to your subordinates.
• Working remotely from home one to two days a week.
• Trading travel to in-person site visits for Skype meetings.

A trial period

Give your boss the option to try what you’re suggesting on a trial basis (typically two weeks). Offer to go back to the old way if it doesn’t work.

During those two weeks, track every single positive impact on the company’s bottom line you notice.

Examples of positive outcomes include:

• Reduction in errors.
• Financial savings for the company.
• More satisfied clients/customers.
• Increase in more qualified prospects.
• Increase in repeat sales from current customers.
• Time used more wisely.

Deliver results

Create a report reflecting these positive outcomes and present it to your boss at the end of the two weeks.

Then once you share your positive results, ask your boss for two additional weeks to see if you can repeat what you’ve accomplished in the first two weeks. If you can, he or she will find it hard to justify saying no to an indefinite continuation of your new approach to your workload.

Consider your next move

Only after you’ve had this conversation with your boss should you consider looking for a new job.

If your supervisor likes your work as much as you like working for him or her, you shouldn’t feel paranoid about broaching the subject. In fact, your boss will probably be glad you brought your struggle to his or her attention.

But if your proposal is immediately shot down and it’s obvious your feedback is not appreciated, then you’ll know it’s probably time to look for something new. But I strongly recommend taking some vacation time (even if you don’t go out of town) to really think about if you should leave your job. And if so, for what other kind of job?

Use this time to also figure out your personal mission and purpose in life so you’ll know what opportunities to say yes to and which ones to say no to. Make sure you’re targeting opportunities that allow you to work in your gifting. Otherwise, you’ll end up burned out all over again.

Don’t get burned out on burnout

When looking for something new, do so with a clear mind. Again, use some of your vacation time to take a step back and get some proper perspective on what exactly you want in your next job and what will be a good fit for your personal mission. It will be worth it!

If you need help determining your purpose and gifting, start with paNASH’s on-demand video course on personal branding. Do this before you update your resume and just start sending it out randomly with no real focus.

Don’t get burned out on burnout. If you follow the suggestions above, you can find a new lease on life which can really get you fired up about your career!

Related Posts:

• How to Know if Your Burnout is Killing You
• When is the Right Time to Leave Your Job?
• How to Tell If a Company Is a Good Fit For You
• How to Make Your Big Decisions More Simple

Welcome to “Sunday Inspiration,” a bi-weekly devotional for those seeking spiritual encouragement in the pursuit of their passions. Each post comes from an outside resource (as referenced). I hope these posts will inspire and motivate you in your life and career in addition to our weekly original blog posts. Enjoy!

One indicator of your need for personal growth is—losing interest in your career.

Many people think this comes from staying in one job too long, or experiencing a midlife crisis. The truth is, most of us lose interest in our job because we lose interest in growing.

Consider those who experience the highest levels of intensity and creativity. Generally speaking, they’re passionate about their job and they’re not nearly as concerned about specifics as they are about “the big picture.”

While those around them get bogged down in the minutiae of daily routine, growth-oriented people are busy swinging the bat and trying to hit the ball out of the park. These are people who are growing, learning, and expanding their experience—people who never lose interest in their work—or in life.

Growing peanuts sounds pretty boring, right? Not to George Washington Carver! He studied them, developed them, discovered hundreds of different uses for them, and became so famous he was invited to Washington, D.C. to explain the secret of his success to a congressional committee.

Here’s what he told them: “God created the peanut. So I just asked Him to tell me what could be done with it, and He showed me!” It’s that simple.

Spend as much time expanding your knowledge and experience as you spend on the mundane, and see if your interest levels and excitement don’t change for the better. The Bible says, “A wise man has great power, and a man of knowledge increases strength.”

Source: https://www.jentezenfranklin.org/daily-devotions/personal-growth-2-2

How to Enrich Your Life and Career with Lifelong Learning

I’m currently learning how to land paddle. Last week one of my stand up paddle boarding friends gave me another lesson in it. Land paddling is similar to stand up paddle boarding on water, but it feels so different! It’s like being on a big skate board with a stick that has a stopper instead of a paddle at the end of it.

To me it feels very foreign compared to being on water. (Confession: I’m much more clumsy on dry land than I am on water!) I’ve never skate boarded before, so this is way outside my comfort zone! But it’s a great way to get outside and get exercise, especially after paddle boarding season ends.

I’m also currently teaching myself about financial investing. This is something I once had no interest in because I didn’t think I had the ability to fully comprehend it. Even though it’s never too late to learn about investing, my limiting belief kept me in my comfort zone longer than it should have. This probably cost me money in hidden fees and the additional money I could’ve already earned had I understood it better.

Luckily my father is well-versed in this area and got me started early on with a financial adviser. But now I’m becoming more educated on how it all works. And I’m starting to make my own investment decisions instead of just relying on my financial adviser.

Finally, I’ve hired a digital marketing expert to teach me how to improve my business marketing and increase the sales of my on-demand video courses. Much of what she’s teaching me are things I know I need to do, but I’m learning from her how to prioritize it all. It’s not always easy to find the time to implement her suggestions while balancing my client base, but I know it’s important to do so I can scale my business.

Importance of Being a Learn-It-All

I’m doing all of the things above because I understand how important lifelong learning is. Being a “learn-it-all” is imperative for growth, success, and fulfillment. In fact, lifelong learning is so important I’ve included “education” as one of the seven goal categories in my 8-Step Goal-Achievement Plan (free when you subscribe to my weekly newsletter).

Continual learning can increase your earnings, reduce your risk of age-related diseases, and enrich your life!

Learning Doesn’t Follow the Smooth Road

You can see from my own experiences listed above there are oftentimes obstacles involved in being a “learn-it-all”. These obstacles can include discomfort, limiting beliefs, and time constraints. But those obstacles should never be used as excuses for not being open to learning new things.

These negative feelings and risks are to be expected. Author and CEO Gary Burnison says,

“People who are curious and risk-takers are often the best learners. But learning doesn’t follow the smooth road.”

And learning opportunities are not limited to the risk-takers. Even if you’re not a natural risk-taker, you can learn how to become a better learner.

How to Become a Good “Learn-It-All”

Burnison also goes on to say,

“While learning agility, to a large degree, is inborn…it can be developed. One of the was you can become more learning agile is to develop your curiosity. People who are curious are engaged in the world. There interests are varied, and they are constantly learning. They intentionally expose themselves to the new and different, whether that means eating unfamiliar foods or listening to music that’s outside their favorite genre. They approach every day as a new opportunity to learn something, especially about themselves. That’s why the best…CEOs begin and end the day with self-reflection.”

You can be a good “learn-it-all” by increasing your curiosity in some of the simple ways Burnison listed above.

For instance, next time you go out to eat, order something on the menu you can’t pronounce or have never heard of. And don’t just take a picture of it for your Instagram! Actually taste it and savor it. I shudder when I think of all the great foods I would’ve missed out on (including camel!) had I not been curious enough to try them.

Burnison says you can also be a good learner by ending your day or week with self-reflection. Self-reflection is the very first exercise in my book and on-demand video course Personal Branding: Why You Need to Know What Makes You YOUnique and AWEthentic.

Tangible Examples

It’s this same branding program that’s helped so many paNASH clients open their minds to learning something new and enriching their careers. It’s even led several clients to some really cool side hustles and career changes.

For instance, my client Ashley discovered she has both a passion and a talent for voice-over work. Had she not taken a voice-over basics course at the local community ed program I told her about, she never would’ve discovered her new-found talent.

She’s since taken a more intensive voice-over course while also building her voice-over portfolio. She’s even landed some voice-over gigs with her current corporation she works for. Her short-term plan is to get an agent so she can get more gigs. Her long-term plan is to eventually turn it from a side hustle into a full-time thing.

Another client, Adelaide, decided to leave her job without knowing what she wanted to do next. But because she’s a saver she was financially able to do so.

Shortly after leaving her job and in the midst of our work together, she discovered the Nashville Software School. She did some research on it and decided to delve into the world of coding which is something completely different from what she went to college for or what she’d been doing in the past. Because of her savings and her creative budget management, she was able to afford the six-month program.

A week before graduation she landed a job with a highly sought-after company. This company’s interview process usually takes several months, but she had one interview and got hired a week later.

What are you learning?

So my questions to you are:

• What do you want to learn?
• What are you curious about?
• Are you currently learning something new?
• Are you making time to expand your mind on something interesting?

Education doesn’t end after graduation. So become a “learn-it-all”!

Related Posts:

• 7 Best Books That Will Make a Huge Impact on Your Life and Career
• From the Comfort Zone to the Learning Zone
• 10 Lessons I’ve Learned From 10 Years of Freelancing
• Why You Need to Think Like an Entrepreneur (Even When You’re Not One)
• How to Make Money, Stay Fit, and Be Creative: Combine Your Passions

We’ve been in a good job market recently. But, companies do continue to downsize. I know because said companies often call me to provide outplacement counseling for their former employees as part of their severance packages. In working with them, many of these employees discover they’d rather work for themselves instead of working for someone else again.

Did you know 94% of the 15 million jobs created between 2009 and 2017 were either part-time or freelance jobs?

And did you know, by next year 40% of the workforce will be independent workers? This is according to a study conducted by Freelancers Union.

If you find yourself in the near future having to look for a new job or become your own boss, whether by choice or by force, will you know how to do so? Will you welcome the opportunity as a way to finally pursue your passion?

Why You Need the Skills of an Entrepreneur (even if you’re not one)

Even if you never become an entrepreneur, you’ll still need to think like one to gain future employment. Regardless of how good the job market currently is, competition will always be fierce. Especially for full-time jobs with benefits.

Therefore, you have to really sell your skills to employers. These skills should include the ones employers are demanding which I’ve listed below. And these same skills will help you succeed if you choose to go the entrepreneur route instead.

The 8 Skills Everyone Needs to Make a Living (entrepreneur or not)

Let’s look at each of these skills and how paNASH’s on-demand courses help you develop them:

1. Creativity. The free on-demand course 5 Ways to Pursue Your Passions in Life and Work encourages you and provides you a safe place to explore your passions and creativity.
2. Ability to generate and execute ideas. The course Don’t Just Set Goals, ACHIEVE Them! teaches you how to set, execute, and achieve your goals and ideas. (Free with purchase of course bundle.)
   
3. Communication. In Personal Branding: How to Know What Makes You YOUnique and AWEthentic, you’ll learn how to clearly communicate your “WHY” and your “HOW” of what you do. (E-book included.)
   
4. Public Speaking. Also in Personal Branding, you’ll learn how to find your authentic voice and develop your message for your audience.
5. Writing. In Resumes That Get You the Interview, you’ll learn how to write a clear, concise and effective resume that will make it through the applicant tracking system to a human. (E-book and sample resumes included.)
   
6. Likeability. In The Secret to Successful Networking: How to Do It Naturally and Effectively, you’ll learn how to make networking a more pleasant experience. Especially if you’re an introvert. It’ll teach you how to network more comfortably and naturally, in return making you more likeable. (E-book included.)
   
7. Salesmanship. In Steps to Acing the Interview and The 3 Super Powers of Successful Job Seekers, you’ll learn how to sell your skills and abilities in an authentic way that matters most to employers and potential clients while helping you reduce your interview anxiety. (E-book included.)
   
8. Negotiation. In Make More Money Without Taking a Second Job, you’ll learn how to negotiate a larger salary offer, a pay raise, or a promotion. (Free with purchase of course bundle.)
   

Invest in Yourself

If you learn these skills now, you’ll be able to pursue your passions and make your own money with your own resources. Or you’ll be able to market yourself to a job doing something you love working for someone else. It’s your choice!

One way to begin is to invest in yourself. Take the money you’d normally spend on something unnecessary and instead put it toward some classes to learn the skills employers seek and some other new skills. This could include taking continuing education classes or online classes, including the ones listed above.

These courses are easily accessible, affordable (some are even free!), and allow you to work at your own pace. paNASH’s on-demand courses are designed to teach you how to market your new skills to a new employer or as an entrepreneur to potential clients. You can purchase them individually, or you can save $235 when you purchase the course bundle!

What are you waiting for?

Related Post:

How to Make Money, Stay Fit, and Be Creative: Combine Your Passions