Category: career coach

Starting A Successful Music Career In 2019

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Whether you decided to try to make your way in the world of music this week or you’ve been at the grind for years, all musicians are in the same boat. It’s hard for creative people to make their way in the world, but this is certainly the case in the music industry. The market has become so competitive because it’s easy for people to make music. DAW software is cheaper and more accessible than ever (some music software is free), so there’s nothing stopping people from getting started. But how are you going to stand out? Whether you’re a brand new artist or you’ve been at it for years, it’s hard to get ahead. Even those who have tasted success can struggle to hold onto it. In this article, we’ll talk about the things you need to consider if you want to start a successful music career in 2019.

Figure out what makes you unique.

If you want to do well in the music world then you need to adopt a little bit of a business mindset. Of course, the goal is to avoid draining all the excitement out of your career because creating music requires a degree of passion and creative freedom. However, you do need to develop a personal brand for yourself in the same way as any other entrepreneur, so you need to think about your image and identity in that sort of manner. You need to figure out what makes you unique in terms of your sound and your presentation. You don’t need to be eccentric for the sake of being eccentric. Take a look at bands such as Radiohead; they dress in a casual manner, but their music is the thing that makes them stand out.

So, what’s your USP? If you’re making rock music then why should people listen to you rather than the thousands of other rock bands out there? If you’re a rapper then how are you going to stand out? Are you just going to use the same trap beat as every other aspirational hip-hop artist out there? You won’t come up with a fresh new sound straight away. Even the most successful artists of all time started out sounding pretty similar to the musicians who influenced them. It’s all part of the creative process. You have to learn by creating. As time goes by, you’ll start to find your sound. You could consider vocal school to try to develop a stylistic identity for yourself and learn to adapt to a variety of different singing styles. It’s important to learn to be flexible if you want to be unique. Many artists stand out because they pull influences from many different places rather than simply sounding like artists from one particular genre, for instance.

Develop a strong work ethic.

The rise to the top might seem effortless from the outside, but artists don’t just emerge from nowhere. It takes years of grinding to reach the top. It took a lot of rejections and a lot of failed attempts for many of the world’s most accomplished musicians to reach the global platforms they have today. Don’t trick yourself into thinking it’ll happen quickly. You need to develop a strong work ethic if you’re going to start a successful music career in 2019. Maybe you’ve been trying to “make it” for years, but you’ve only been dedicating a small amount of your time to the cause. You need to be committed if you’re going to get anywhere. Take the time to make yourself visible and get your brand out there as well as working on your music itself. As explained in the previous point, you need to adopt a business attitude if you want to make it in this tough industry. Keep grinding, and make sure you only do it because you love it. That’s the key to making music which sounds good. Take the time to hone your talent.

Which is More Important: Reputation or Character?

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John Wooden once said, “Your character is who you are, and your reputation is who people think you are”. The dictionary defines character as “The mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual.” Whereas it defines reputation as “the beliefs or opinions that are generally held about someone or something.” One is what you are, the other what others think you are.

Reputation used to be a less malleable thing before Google came along because people have been slowly giving the power of decision-making to machines like Google. We no longer do direct research ourselves – when is the last time you went to a library to do research – we simply “Google” something and pick a top result. Google is the new middle-man in our decision-making process. When an online reputation management company like Reputation X or others changes what Google portrays about a person or company, people believe those search results because they trust Google.

If reputation can be engineered, is character important?

According to the Washington Post, President Donald Trump has infamously lied or made misleading comments more than 1,000 times. That seems like a significant character flaw, but does it affect his reputation? Not among his core constituency – they don’t mind. In this case, it seems like character and reputation may not be that strongly tied. But companies like Patagonia that strive for great social impact clearly have a strong character and a great reputation. Other companies like Monsanto don’t have great reputations yet are no doubt filled with people of sterling character. Is character important? Yes, because it leads to a good reputation. Is it always important? Clearly not. Monsanto makes a lot of money and Donald Trump is President of the United States.

Where does business character stem from?

The character of a business is usually a reflection of its founder. Character traits like being driven, honest, hard-working, confidence, humility and more are often carried forward to the businesses entrepreneurs start. Plus, the character of a business owner will have an impact on employee behavior, which shapes the way a business’ character is formed too. If an owner is well-mannered, patient, and friendly, you are more likely to find that his or her workforce is courteous too. On the other hand, if the employer regularly mouths profanities and has a short temper, employees are more likely to be ill-behaved.

Where does business reputation stem from?

Business reputation is typically manufactured; by yourself and by others. This is because it is the way that third-parties perceive your brand and your character. When you consider the fact that most people today turn to Google when they need assistance, you see how you can alter the way in which people view your company by focusing on how you market your website online. This is not an easy task, though, and it requires constant evaluation and management. However, it is well worth it, as reputation is more meaningful, unforgettable, pervasive, and important than it ever has been.

Reputation is not fact, it is a belief

What makes a company’s reputation so powerful is that it is a belief, which is one of the strongest forces of humankind. It is what we believe about a service, product, company, person, or brand, rather than being a statistic or a fact. This alone shows why reputation is so significant. After all, if someone believes that your business is a scam, they are not going to purchase a service or product from you, are they? The truth doesn’t matter. If you believe a politician was not going to live up to all of his promises and that he was merely conning the public, you wouldn’t vote for him, would you? Belief has the power to build you up and tear you down just as quickly.

How do you manage your reputation?

Now you know why reputation is so critical but is this something you can influence? And, if so, how much control do you really have? Well, you can have an influence, and it’s up to you with regards to how much of an influence you have. Reputation management is vital. It involves influencing what and how people think of a person or a brand, and so it shapes your reputation.

With that being said, it is important to delve deeper into reputation management and how it works. You will find that this mostly takes place online. After all, the vast amount of communication that occurs today happens on the Internet. From discovering new products and reading the latest news to speaking with our friends and finding out facts, it all happens online. Because of this, it is only natural that you put your efforts into this medium.

It is also important to recognize that your reputation is going to have an impact on other elements of your company too. It is very much in tune with your marketing and sales efforts. This is because what people think of your brand is going to have an impact on everything relating to your brand. Therefore, your reputation has a monumental impact when it comes to the number of sales you make, right?

What do you control about your reputation?

A lot of business owners mistakenly believe that they have full control over their brand’s reputation. However, your control is actually very limited. The one thing you do have control over is your business’s actions. Nonetheless, when you consider all of the moving parts of running a business, you don’t actually have full control over every wheel in the cog, so to speak. Because of this, that means your reputation is held in the hands of people who perceive your company. After all, you could do everything by the book – you could provide an experience to a customer that most other customers would rate 10/10. However, if that specific customer was expecting something different, they could post a negative comment online, and then your reputation becomes suspect.

This does not mean you are helpless, though. Reputation management enables you to deal with the likes of blog posts, Wikipedia, negative online images, and negative news articles. It also involves controlling social media, review sites, and ripoff reports and scam sites. These can all harm your business. In today’s digital age, search results can last for years. One bad customer review or a ripoff website created based on your own can do a monumental amount of harm, and this is why you need to manage your reputation to ensure it does not spiral out of control.

Character or reputation?

If you spoke to most people, they would tell you that your character is more important than your reputation, as your character is all about who you are and we should all be proud of who we are. While this is true, feeling proud won’t get you very far in the business world. This is why reputation management is critical. As reputations are built on beliefs, they can easily boost your company or cause monumental damage, and this is why it is imperative for you to do what you can to manage this effectively.

Picking Yourself Up After Failure

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There will always be times in life when things don’t quite go to plan, and when it comes to living through a mistake or an issue, it can be difficult to accept our mistakes and move on.

Making mistakes is a part of life and it is natural for us, and it is important that whenever we make a mistake we are able to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off once more. Today we are talking about how to pick yourself back up after a failure and get back on track.

Accept it

When we make a mistake or fail at something in our lives it is crucial for us to accept what happened and move on. The first step to making a change and becoming a better person is to accept what you have done and understand that things happen for a reason. If you failed your driving test, it could just mean that an extra lesson or two could be a good idea for you. Don’t worry about anything and make sure that you are ready to take the next steps.

Don’t blame yourself

The things about failure is that it isn’t always going to be your fault. A failure which you blame yourself for could be something entirely different, such as with Peter DiTommaso, it is important that you don’t blame yourself for something out of your control because it will not help you move on and face your fears in the future.

Seek support

It is important for everyone to have a support network of people they can trust and rely on in any situation. After a failure you will be feeling vulnerable and you will likely suffer a knock in your confidence. To ensure that you are able to move on and be happy it is a great idea to seek support from family, friends and even professionals to make sure that everything is as it should be with your mental state. Having people there to guide you and support you can make all the difference and it will be exactly what you need in the future.

Make an action plan

The biggest step you can take after a failure is to pick yourself back up, swipe some war paint on your cheeks and get ready to face the battle head on once more. The choice to make a new plan and work harder to better yourself is important and it is crucial for you to do this in order to build back your motivation and your confidence. Once you have both of these at your disposal you can face the issue once again, learn from your past mistakes and be sure to find success.

Move on

Moving on from a failure is always going to be hard, but you cannot move on with your life if you let it hang over your head. Be sure that you take the time out to relax and get away from your problems and when you get back, push them aside and move on with the next chapter of your life.

Are You In Need Of An Exciting Career Change?

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Sometimes, it’s easy to get stuck in a bad cycle. It happens to us all. We don’t always intend to find ourselves on the wrong path – even temporarily, but it can happen. And when it does, it can really bring you down. However, the trick is to recognize that you’re not doing so well, to then do something about it. Because it’s okay to have a blip or to admit that you’re not happy, but then you need to make changes to get happier! Because you only live once. And when you’re in a career that you do not like, you really need to take action. If you’re bored with work and you lack stimulation, then maybe something exciting is what you need? Let’s take a look at some of the options you may have for that.

Something Active

First of all, you’re going to want to think about shaking things up and being a bit more active with your life. Because we spend a lot of time working and if you really don’t like sitting behind a desk all week, then getting a physically active job could be perfect for you. Maybe you should be thinking about doing something that allows you to use your body and experience different things.

Something Helpful

Or maybe you want to be helpful to others? Do you want to know that the work you’re doing makes a difference? Do you want to help others and improve their lives? Or even save them? Then maybe you want to look into nursing options or how to become a flight paramedic or even how you can become a teacher? When you’re helping others, it can be so much more rewarding for you.

Something With Great Benefits

The next thing that might be of interest to you, is a job that comes with some great benefits. Because if you’re doing a tough job or even a job that you love, it’s really great to know that you’re being fairly compensated for it, or that you get some great perks that reward you for your hard work.

Something With Travel

Or do you want to travel more? If so, perhaps it’s the time for you to think about moving into a career that is going to allow you to explore the world, travel around, and learn more. Not every job has to be based in one office or location, so spread your wings and see what opportunities may come your way.

Something For Yourself

Finally, it may even be that you actually want to do things for yourself. Sometimes, working for someone else or for a company isn’t always ‘the dream’ not is it something that you want to do forever. If you’re someone that has always loved the idea of working for yourself to starting your own business, or even going freelance – then why not do it now? Or soon? Because this could be the kind of change that you’ve been waiting for. And then, you may find that your career does get so much more exciting.

Finding A Job With A Lifestyle

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It can often be the case that midway through a random day of our working efforts, we realize we hate our jobs. We look around and think… ‘why this?’ This feeling often occurs if we’ve fallen into a certain role, such as starting as a chef in order to pay the rent. The nature of cyclical job duties and a steady paycheck can leave people feeling comfortable even if they’re somewhere they’d rather not be. Over time, there can be a growing sense of personal unhappiness, because they know that it’s time to shake off the cobwebs and jump out to try and achieve their dreams. Sometimes, this can come later on in life, sometimes, it comes earlier.

Finding a job with a lifestyle can be a great idea as far as this is concerned. It might be that the drudgery of the same office, the same lifestyle, the same commute is getting you down, when what you truly desire is variety, a job that comes with an associated mode of living, and a future you can look forward to.

Let us consider how you might go about achieving something like that:

Teaching

It might seem like teaching simply requires you to turn up, to conduct your lesson plans, to go home and think about tomorrow, but in reality there’s more to it than that. You will often find yourself emotionally invested in the wellbeing of your students, particularly if you’re teaching those still in their childhood. You might help a child get through a case of bullying or prevent it from happening. You might be able to help a child finally start to read despite a difficult home situation and slight dyslexic symptoms. You have a real effect on the lives of children coming through the schooling system, and that can be a tremendously emotionally gratifying task. New teachers are needed all the time, so this is also a wise career to choose.

Long-Haul

Long-haul driving and transportation can be a brilliant career path, especially for those who enjoy seeing many places, who enjoy driving and also enjoy the lifestyle that provides. If you’re nomadic by nature, you can make truly good money driving and building the skills to earn higher and higher throughout your years of employment, making a name for yourself. Starting out with a good haul service is a good idea, and for that you might consider these CRST International reviews. You’d be surprised at the money you can make and the lifestyle you could adopt.

Travel

Travel writers, bloggers, those who review resorts and other vacation opportunities, and also cataloging the movements of tourists can often be a lifestyle that allows you to go from place to place with care and attention. Not only does this allow you to exercise your use of the written world, but you can come face to face with some of the most amazing places the world has to offer. To us, that sounds fantastic.

With this advice, you’re sure to find a job with a lifestyle efficiently and effectively.

The Best Ways To Find Freelance Work Online

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If you’ve ever heard people talking about making money online and have wondered about how they’re doing it, then it’s probably also crossed your mind at some point that what they’re doing is some kind of big scam and that they’re either being scammed by getting involved in a get rich quick scheme or that they’re knowingly doing something illegal or unethical, when in fact, for the most part, they’re not doing either.

Of course, just like everything else, there are definitely still some scams that exist online, but mostly, these are pretty easy to spot nowadays and those who work from home and make money online are doing so in a legitimate way that really is just the same as making money by working for someone else except that they can do it entirely online because the internet has provided us with the technology to do so.

So, in this post we’re going to share with you some of the best ways to find freelance work online.

Social media:

Using social media is definitely one of the best and fastest ways to market yourself and your new business online and if you’re going to be offering freelance services such as translations, copywriting, graphic design or consulting, then you can do this by just announcing what you’re going to be doing on your own social media profiles and letting people know they should reach out if this is something they either need themselves or if they know someone who needs it.

Additionally, there are also specialized groups on places like Facebook that are full of people looking for these services, so go into those and network by providing value and letting people know about what you do so that you can start getting some clients.

Freelance marketplaces:

Freelance marketplaces definitely don’t have the best reputation, and quite rightly so since a lot of them have been known to be places that really undermine the work of freelancers by allowing everyone to bid on jobs at low rates which has attracted clients who don’t understand the value in certain services. However, not all freelance sites and marketplaces are the same, and many are now making a conscious effort to set themselves apart and not be seen as the bargain basement sites they have been. There are now many that set things like minimum project pricing so that Online Tenders can be made in a more realistic way and that the competition is based on skill and not on price.

Your own website:

Having your own website when you run a business – even if it’s as a freelancer is always going to be a massive plus point in your favor and definitely something that you should be considering because it’s a great way to build relationships with people and also you own your website unlike social media or other freelance sites that you can be removed from or that can go out of business, and since it’s never a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket – especially not in business, then having your own website just makes good sense.

Building The Skills Of Tomorrow In Your Spare Time

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Over the last few decades, the world has changed an awful lot. With the emergences of microchips and digital technology, the tools which humans have available have evolved dramatically, and this is shaping the way that businesses work. Unfortunately, though, with the world developing so quickly, there is always a shortage of those with the skills to work with the machines being built. To help you to fill this niche, securing yourself the potential to have a far more interesting future, this post will be exploring some of the key skills which are going to become useful in the coming years.

Programming

You can have the most powerful computer in the world, but it will be completely useless if you don’t have any software to run on it. These machine rely heavily on code to keep running properly, making it increasingly difficult for companies to manage their own devices without having developers on the team. Learning a skill like programming isn’t too challenging, as long as you’re prepared to dedicate a good amount of time to it. There are loads of resources around the web which can help you with this, but it is also worth keeping in mind that it’s very hard to break a computer, even when you’re dealing with the scripts which keep it running.

Engineering

Computers aren’t the only area which is improving in business, though, and it’s also worth thinking about the hardware which keeps the building going. Modern products almost always use electronics over mechanisms, nowadays, making even the simplest of tools into a complex web of wires which most people won’t understand. Getting your hands on some heat shrink tubing, a wire kit, and an arduino should be plenty to start you out on the road towards becoming an electrical engineer. While you may not have a formal certificate to show that you can work with small devices, you will have the real-world experience which will matter in work.

Communication

While a lot of businesses are looking for ways to replace their human teams with computers and robots, there are certain jobs which will always have to be handled by people. Communication is one of them, but this skill is changing along with tech. Live chat, VoiP calls, and emails all play a significant role in modern business, and being able to use them effectively can make a real difference to the people you’re working for. This sort of skill is best learned through practice, but this is nice and easy to find if you talk to people often enough.

Building skills which will help you in later life can be a real challenge. It’s hard to predict what will be necessary over the next few years, and more and more people are looking for ways to improve themselves like this. Of course, though, it’s worth taking a chance when you have the opportunity to prepare yourself for the future, even if it means you have to work hard in the process.

Take The Leap! How To Successfully Change Careers

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Stuck in an unfulfilling and uninspiring job? Are you ready to take the leap into a new career journey but don’t know where to start? We’ve compiled a list to help you take some of the anxiety out of starting a-fresh and get you well on the way to successfully changing your career.

Fine-tune your CV

Cover letters are a necessary evil. While they can be tedious and time-consuming to do, they really are the best way for you to showcase your skill-set and sell yourself to your employer. Although it may be tempting to send out a standard blanket text CV, it is something recruiters really dislike and may see your resume heading straight into the recycling bin. Use your professional profile as a way to familiarize yourself with the job description and what the company is looking for in a candidate, then use this information to clearly demonstrate why you have the correct skills and expertise that makes you the best fit for the position.

Back To School.

Heading back to class may be the right decision if you are thinking of making the move into a new industry. While it may seem daunting – especially if you graduated years ago, putting the time in and investing in your career is bound to pay off. It gives the green light to employers, signaling that you have been willing to gain the industry-specific knowledge that you need and that you are taking your transition seriously. Thinking of getting a diploma in Costume Design or itching to tackle an IT apprenticeship? There’s a wide array of choices to be found online and you can choose a course that best suits your lifestyle.

Get Out There And Network

When you’re looking to transition into a new role, it’s sometimes useful to reach out and meet people face-to-face. Networking can seem daunting, but with many of today’s vacancies being exclusively recruited from inside the company first, it may be worthwhile if someone within your industry can put a face to the name. This is also a great opportunity to meet some key-players and schedule informational interviews. These informal interviews are a less-pressurized way to meet those within your industry, learn valuable tidbits and glean some helpful advice from those who are already where you want to be.

Gain Some Experience

Volunteering in your chosen field can be a brilliant way for you to determine if the new career path you’ve chosen is actually right for you. While everything may look good on paper, there’s nothing better than experiencing what a typical day in your new career will look like, in real life. It’s also an organic way to build relationships with other people within your industry circle and make a name for yourself before applying for a full-time job.

Career Search Tips that will Help you to Find that Perfect Job

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Searching job sites for hours on end can be daunting. You may feel as though no matter what you do, you just can’t seem to get anywhere, and this can be really frustrating. There are however a few things that you can do to make the whole thing easier on yourself.

Make yourself an Obvious Fit

When you apply for a job online, your CV will probably be screened by a tracking system. It will then be passed onto a set of human eyes, to look over. There is a chance that this will be someone who works in HR or recruitment, rather than the owner of the company. They may not understand the nuances of the job that you are applying for, and they may not even understand how the skills you have will benefit the company. For this reason, you need to make yourself the obvious fit. Study the job description and mirror the words and even the phrases that are being used. Think about it, are you showcasing your strengths? Are you making your CV paramount to the role that you are applying for?

Don’t Limit Yourself to Online Applications

If you want the job search to end eventually then you need to make sure that you don’t rely on submitting online applications alone. You need to speed things up and you also need to schedule informational interviews with the people who may eventually go on to be your peers. It also helps to speak with an internal recruiter for the company and ask them questions. There are a lot of people who may be influencing your ability to land your job and the more you can find out about them, the better.

Your Resume

Sure, your resume is probably great but if you don’t position yourself as a direct match then you won’t be doing yourself any favors. Before you go ahead and apply for your job, you need to change your job wording and you also need to swap around some key terms. Change the bullet points that you have, and make sure that you are the perfect match for every job that you decide to go for. If you have a gap in your resume because you have been injured then it is always a good idea for you to look into workers’ comp. This way you can be compensated for the money and time you have lost through being out of work.

Nobody can be Bored into Hiring You

You need to come across as being articulate, polished and most of all, professional. The last thing that you want however is to come across as being boring. If you constantly try and use safe phrases, or if you appear robotic then this won’t be impressing anyone. You don’t want to appear staged and you also don’t want to be disingenuous either. Try and show a bit of personality and tell the company that you are applying to that you are passionate and willing to do whatever it takes to benefit them.

So You Think You Can Write – But Will You Be Taken Seriously?

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When you love to write, it’s something that you’ll never not want to do. The passion can often start when you’re a small child. You may find yourself writing stories, copying out stories, and even just imaging different storylines. As you get older, you’ll probably love to write in school, to enter story competitions, and you may even study literature and creative writing too. But when you don’t continue to push your writing, and when you wait years to get started, you may feel as if it’s too late. But it’s not. You just have to start thinking about this a lot more, you’ll want to also treat it a bit like a business venture, and really aim to commit. Here are some of the things you can do to make that happen, and start to be taken more seriously too.

  1. Building A Brand

To start with, if you want to get serious about all of this, then it’s essential for you to think about branding yourself. With a personal brand behind you, you’ll start to make traction online. Create social media profiles, start interacting with your readers, and showcase yourself as an expert in your niche.

  1. Building A Website

Next, you may also need a website. Now, not every writer will have one – or need one, but if you are pitching to write online, then it’s essential for you to have a space to showcase your work. Here, you’ll want to bring your branding alive with great web design that looks professional. Then editors will take you seriously – because you’re taking yourself more seriously!

  1. Networking

It’s also going to be in your interest to start networking. With other writers, editors, publishers, and by going to events. By interacting with those in the industry as much as possible, you’ll make connections, learn a lot, and maybe open new doors too.

  1. Getting Repped

Then next move that you might want to make here, is to get an agent. If you are hoping to publish a book, then you will need to have an agent in order to arrange that book deal. Yet, getting a literary agent can be equally as complicated. Here, you will want to do your research and choose an agent that you feel will represent you well and be interested in what you write, and then look to wow them with your submission.

  1. Doing A Good Job

And above all else, you have to remember that the proof is in the pudding! You can invest as much as you want into your website or your image, but if you are not a great writer, then it won’t matter. So practice your craft. Keep reading and learning and growing as a writer. And listen to any feedback that you get. It’s so important that you can actually write, that you have great ideas, and that you can tell a story that the reader will fall in love with. And then you will be taken seriously!