A wealth of entrepreneurship

With the help of a friend, I’m trying to gear up to become a freelance k-12 course designer (I think that’s the term we’re shooting for). Knowing that I’m weak in business skills, I’ve been trying to read through the Personal MBA program (when the local library doesn’t completely revamp the eBooks catalog to make it utterly useless).

Life Beyond Code recently shared a great collection of articles on entrepreneurship, and I’m now making my way through those as well. Every little bit will help as I pursue this route.

Finding your career direction

This is a topic near and dear to my heart. In college, the counselors in the career office knew me by first name. I navigated the office like it was my own home. Just the idea of exploring potential future careers excited me! I knew what I wanted to do, but I was open to alternate plans. I was slowly becoming great at helping others find what they wanted to do. I’ve actually considered more than once becoming a career or life coach just so I can help more people.

I find myself now in a position where I’m trying to find what makes me feel fulfilled. That’s a big part of being happy in a job. You have to want to get up in the morning. You have to be excited when you tell people what you want to do. You have to feel fulfilled. Many people don’t understand that. The problem to being fulfilled, for me at least, is that I need a career that draws on my varied skills and interests. This is what makes coaching a great idea for me.

It’s also why I’m exploring instructional design. I’m currently talking to an instructional designer about the ins and outs of the profession and I’m working on graduate school applications.

If you’re feeling a bit lost and overwhelmed by the vast sea of career opportunities, you might start by reading through these articles:

• Full-scale evaluation
• Changing careers- the skills list
• Career testing can help direct the directionless
• Questions to get your career started
• Interested in everything? You can still pick a career.
• The ABCs of a Kaleidoscope Career

Useful lists!

I couldn’t help myself. I was clearing out Bloglines over the weekend (aftert a week of barely reading anything while trying to adjust to my new work situation), and I discovered a few lists that were all interesting and worth a share.
Check them out!

• Six steps to being your own boss ( Read at Lifehacker)
  
• Five deadly mistakes when starting a business (Read at Business Opportunities Weblog)
• Ten steps you can take to guarantee failure (Read at Lifehacker)

Link dump: job search assistance

Today, I’m just focusing on clearing old posts out of Bloglines. These two, both from Monster.com, are great for those in the process of hunting down a job!

• Resume concerns
• Interview questions to prepare for

Chase opportunity

Lately, I’ve been really hard on myself. I have this list of talents that everyone tells  me is impressive, but I feel like I’m squandering them. I really don’t have anywhere to practice some of them. Through this website and the work I eventually hope to generate here, I feel like I have a better chance to make better use of more of my skills.

The problem, I’ve realized, is that this is what I’ve been saying in my head for a year now. That’s far too long to think this way. I’m slowly becoming better about pursuing freelance writing jobs. I’m trying not to settle for low sales in my jewelry business. I know this isn’t enough.

Of course, right as I start feeling this way, a well-timed post shows up on 100 Bloggers. I’m still sorting through the posts, but I think anyone who feels the way I do really owes it to themself to do it! There’s no reason to settle for what appears to be the status quo when you have so much to offer!

The series includes:

• Paying it forward
• Show what you know
• Make your boss or client look good
• Writing for show and dough
• Master the random encounter

I really need to develop a personal brand!

Useful links for the entrepreneur

I apologize for how short this post is. I’m recovering from a very busy weekend, and am trying to handle too many things at once this morning.

I did want to share the StartupVentureToolbox, which gathers a number of links that any entrepreneur would find useful! I love sites like these!

Found via the Business Opportunities weblog

Links to guerrilla marketing

I’m feeling a little pressed for time lately (my own fault for not having a specific time-management device in place this month), so I’m just going to drop these here and check them out later.

Guerrilla Marketing links
• The Guerrilla Marketing Manifesto
• Guerrilla Marketing archive

I need all the marketing advice I can get!

Found via Angie McKaig

More resume and networking links

I think my resume may actually be up-to-date for a change, but it’s always a good practice to pull out the old resume at the end of the year and make sure it reflects what you have done over the past year and that it still is in line with your professional (and personal) goals.

If you’re in need of some help working on your own resume, consider my recent posts and this one to see if any of the links match your situation!

My past posts
• Resume Advice: Link Dump
• Questions you should ask yourself while writing your resume
• An often-overlooked resume section

Recent additions to my resume advice links
• Techie-to-Manager Tips
• Put Your Resume to the 10-Second Test
• Resume Tips for Teachers

The other thing you should take out and dust off, if you haven’t already, is your elevator speech. If you don’t have one (and don’t feel like you’re alone here), then now is the perfect time to figure out what you want out of 2006 and incorporate that into your speech as you’re developing it. Speaking of which, I really ought to finish preparing mine so I have it ready the next time someone asks me what I do.

Useful tips for starting a business

This looks to be the first in a series of useful posts on starting your business. It will definitely be one to keep an eye on.

Found via Lifehacker.

Resume Advice Link Dump

It’s getting on toward the end of the year, and I’m sure more than one of us is considering a change in career or job. Some of us, like me, are even considering taking on a second or third job. There’s no time like the present to make a New Year’s resolution to update and shine up the old resume!

• Focus your resume on results
• Tips for creating a concise resume
• Top 10 questions about writing a resume
• Management resume tips

Good luck with your search!