Category: career coach

3 Reasons To Follow A Multimedia Career

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Some people say you should only choose a career where you can make a lot of money in. Others think you should pursue what makes you happy, regardless of the job prospects. Personally, I think you should look for a combination of the two. A career that generates a decent amount of money helps you live life comfortably. While a career you enjoy means you’re happy to go to work.

Multimedia careers are a great example of careers that offer both these things, and so much more. If this is a path that interests you, then feel free to check out these reasons it’s a great idea:

Excellent Freelance Opportunities 

Nowadays, freelancing is seen as a desirable way to work. You get to stay at home or work from wherever you feel the most comfortable, and there’s more flexibility involved. You will find a plethora of freelance job listings in the multimedia field. It’s an industry where you can certainly do a lot of work from home, meaning you haven’t got to be tied to one company. This provides you with more work diversity, the potential to work for multiple companies at once, and an opportunity to earn more money.

So Many Different Jobs

If you take a look at all the jobs on offer in relation to multimedia careers, you will be stunned. There are simply so many different things you can do – both in the form of traditional contracted work and freelance jobs. In fact, there are so many careers you can pursue within this generic career field. Graphic design, digital camera operator, video editor, sound technician, and game designer are just a few common examples of multimedia careers. The best thing is, a lot of these jobs can overlap on one another with regards to the skills you need. If you study a generic multimedia degree, then you have the potential to walk into any number of jobs.

The Multimedia Industry Is Forever Growing

Finally, with a career in this industry, you’re part of something huge. The multimedia landscape keeps on getting bigger and bigger as more technologies are introduced. You have some career paths that look doomed to fail at some point. Some careers aren’t future proof in the sense that there’s no guarantee your job will even exist in a decade or so. With multimedia careers, you’re guaranteed to always find something to do. It’s a career path that’s built for the future, there’s never any fear that the skills you’ve learned will become obsolete.

As mentioned earlier, the right career revolves around balance. You need to have a job where you can feel certain that you’ll get regular income and can live without worrying about paying bills every month. But, you also want a job that you enjoy. I feel like multimedia careers are the perfect example of just that. Most of the jobs in this industry aren’t your typical desk jobs – they involve creativity and skill. If you’re struggling to find your ideal career path, then maybe this is the answer you’ve been looking for?

A Career Is More Than A Paycheck. Here’s Why

Scott Asai2 Comments

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What are you looking for in life? There are many different answers you could give to that question, including health, happiness, and wealth. But whatever you answer with, there is a good chance that your career will go a long way in helping you achieve your goals in life. You might find that it can even help to boost your personal life and achieve some personal goals.

As you can probably tell, then, a career is more than just a paycheck. It’s not just the money that you should think about when you are looking for a job, there are other factors to think about as well. Here are just a few of them.

People First

All good companies will put their people first. When you start a job hunt, it really is important that you research all businesses you are considering so that you can find out about their company culture to make sure that people always come before anything else. Your job can have a huge impact on your mental health, and if your employers aren’t respectful of this, then your overall health will be at risk. So, in order to feel respected and appreciated at work, make sure you always apply to companies that put their people ahead of anything else.

The Social Side

Work shouldn’t be all about work. There needs to be a good social side as well! Working in a company that has a great culture and team, such as small and medium businesses like www.arksolvers.com, can have many great benefits but the main one has to be the fact that everyone clubs together and the team will feel more like a family. Everyone supports one another and helps each other out whenever things in the office get a bit on the stressful side!

The Work Excites You

Every day at work needs to be exciting, informative, and different from the one before. After all, you will be working for around forty years, so you need to ensure that you find a job that keeps you on your toes! Think about what your passions and hobbies in life are and see if you can find a job that fits these. You will then have a whole lot of fun in your work and will enjoy every minute. Trust me, that will make it a lot more bearable for the next forty years!

There Are Good Prospects

In a career, you need to have the ability to move forward in your work and grow and develop within a company or industry. If you follow all the tips at www.thebalance.com and work in a company that promotes employee development, then you will have the chance to go really far in your career. This will help you stay motivated throughout, and will also see you receive many great rewards and benefits.

As you can see, then, there really is more to a career than just the monthly paychecks. Pick the right one, and it will take you far!

Career Evaluation: What Are You Chasing?

Scott Asai3 Comments

Stop for a moment.

Whether you love, hate or just accept your job – what does it represent?

Since work consumes such a large part of our lives it should serve a purpose.

Finding the perfect job isn’t going to make you “happy” for long. That’s not saying you can’t stay in one profession for a while and enjoy it, but chances are on bad days your mind wanders to other options.

A career is never meant to define you.

When casually asked, “what do you do?” it results in three reactions: proud, ashamed or blah.

The better question to ask yourself is: what are you chasing?

For me it’s lifestyle. As a father and entrepreneur I want my work to provide the opportunity to control how I spend my time. Sure, I’d like to make more money (who doesn’t), but if the tradeoff is I’m rich, but can never see my family it’s not worth it.

Consider your life stage. Don’t default simply to age.

There are people in their 20’s married with kids and others in their 40’s single.

Values don’t change much over time, but priorities do. Added responsibility like being a parent will do that to you.

Feeling stressed isn’t fun, but tension also promotes growth. Changes whether expected or unexpected will challenge you. Take time to relax, but too much of it can hurt you.

When it comes to evaluating where you are in your career, remember to stop comparing yourself to others and look at it in “chunks.” Each experience prepares you for the next so no matter where you are take what you learned in the past and utilize it to propel you into the future.

Chasing is healthy in moderation.

Ambition leads to drive and motivation.

But what’s most important is to define your career path based on your standards alone.

Those who are focused are trying to win the race, not consumed with beating others.

3 Ways to Help You Reach Your Career Resolutions in 2018

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At the beginning of the year, resolutions for a better 2018 are at the top of everyone’s mind. While money and health goals are often the most popular topics, your career goals deserve some attention too. Resolutions are sometimes branded as a waste of time because, according to U.S. News and World Report, 80% of resolutions are abandoned by the second week of February. To help you keep resolutions that matter and are impactful to your career, read our 3 simple ways to help you keep your mind, body, and spirit focused on your resolutions well beyond February.   

Mind: Improve Your Productivity Levels

The procrastination bug can bite at any time and did so when I sat down to write this article. I opened a blank document and then continued to do everything but write. We all fall victim to procrastination, but there are a few productivity techniques you can try to help yourself break free from this self-sabotaging habit.

One popular solution is the Pomodoro Technique, which breaks your time up into 25 minute increments, or “pomodoros” with 5 minute breaks in between. After 4 pomodoros, take a 15-20 minute break to refresh your mind and keep you focused for your next pomodoro.

Another solution to time-wasting is to become aware of when and where you’re wasting your time. Install the RescueTime extension on your computer for daily reports of what you accomplished and where your all of your lost time is disappearing to. When you know where you’re being distracted (looking at you, Facebook), you can set up a list of sites to block to help you help yourself.  

Body: Dress for the Job You Want

When I’m feeling down in the dumps, one of my coping mechanisms for going about my day is to dress up more. It helps me feel better about myself and improves my day, and science backs up this technique. Research from the Social Psychological and Personality Science journal shows that wearing formal clothing helps the wearer feel better about themselves and like they were more in control and more creative. The solution is clear: feeling down? Dress up!

Sometimes dressing up means wearing smarter and better engineered clothing too.  To optimize success we must first be both comfortable and confident in our appearance, the tough part is finding the fine line between too comfortable while maintaining our own signature professional aesthetic. Men’s clothing company Tommy John has created a line of moisture-wicking and antimicrobial men’s underwear and undershirts (that won’t untuck) loved by professionals across many industries, their products help aspiring individuals feel both cool and supported during the high stress moments (interviews, big pitches, public speaking engagements).Check out this savvy infographic below filled with insights for overcoming physical discomforts we all endure, like fidgeting, sweating, and pacing.

Spirit: Learn How to Laser Focus through Meditation

Some individuals feel that they can never focus because they can’t quiet their busy mind. Your mind can be your biggest foe and research has shown that mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques, like mediation, yoga and deep breathing exercises can have positive impact on your focus and overall in your life. Try apps like Aaptiv  which offer  guided meditation sessions. Videos on YouTube are another simple way to learn how to meditate, stretch and control your heart rate to increase your focus while decreasing your stress levels.

Finding The Right Career Path For You

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Lots of young people struggle to identify the best career path, and so they end up working jobs that are less than suitable. Some tips on this page should help to turn that situation around. When all’s said and done, you just need to find something that makes you feel excited to get out of bed in the morning. So, take a moment to consider this advice.

Play to your strengths

Most people have at least one talent or another, and so it makes sense to consider career paths that enable you to play to your strengths. If you’re excellent at mathematics – become an accountant. If you’re fantastic at woodwork – become a carpenter. You get the idea, right?

Consider your hobbies

Everyone has a hobby they could use to earn a fortune if they take the right approach. The infographic at the bottom of this page highlights a system for those with pilot’s licenses to turn a profit, but you could do it with almost anything.

Go for the money

If all else fails; you should always go for the money. Nothing takes the sting out of working a job you hate better than a significant wage packet at the end of the month. If you can’t find anything you enjoy; at least make sure you become rich.

Those tips should help you to make better decisions this year when it comes to seeking out the best employment solutions. Put them into practice as soon as possible, and you could turn your situation around within just a few months.


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Don’t Call Me A Life Coach

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Back in 2007 when I started my business I got certified as a Life Coach.

Although there are always personal conversations I have with clients, I’ve never marketed myself this way.

What is a Life Coach? 

Is that someone who is going to tell me how to live my life?

If that’s so I don’t want to talk to him/her…

Life Coaching has becoming more acceptable and mainstream recently, but I’m not comfortable with that title.

It could be because of the certification I earned from iPEC. When I started as a coach I thought I needed to be certified to prove my credibility, but to this day no one has ever questioned me about it.

During my 6 month training, I only connected with a few people in my cohort and used less than 10% of the info they taught. In fact when people contact me via LinkedIn asking about iPEC I tell them it was a waste of money.

The only 2 people I’ve met with the title Life Coach at one point in their career that I respect are: Jenny Blake and David Vik. Yet both are thought leaders and entrepreneurs which is why I admire them.

My gripe is this: being labeled a Life Coach is vague and the imagery associated is fluffy.

When I worked with a coach nearly 15 years ago it was for his expertise in a specific niche. Great coaches are consultants who use coaching techniques.

See, coaching is not an answer to “what do you do?”

Rather it’s the “how you do it.”

For example I run an online test prep company now which I focus on the sales, support and customer service for. I contract tutors to work with students while I coach my team.

I’ve found over time that I can use coaching in whatever I am doing as a career. It defines my style, not my job title.

Don’t call me a Life Coach.

Top Tips For Investing In Your 20’s

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Everybody knows that investing your money is sensible if you want to have a healthy retirement pot. But you don’t need to worry about that until you’re getting close to retiring, surely? You could wait, but if you think about it, what real reason do you have to delay? The earlier you get started, the more money you can save up. Starting in your 20’s also means that you don’t have to put as much money into investments each month. When you’re young you probably don’t have much experience with investments so it can be a little daunting. Don’t worry though, just follow these simple steps and you’ll realize that investing doesn’t have to be that hard.

Get Some Help

This is the number one most important thing to remember. You can do all the research you want but you still won’t be an expert. If you make poor investment choices you’ll lose everything so it’s always sensible to get help from a professional. Hire a good broker that can give you advice on the markets and tell you where your money is safest. Check out this tastyworks review to get a better idea of what help they can offer you. It is possible to make investments on your own without the help of a professional but it’s not worth the risk.

Understand The Power Of Compound Interest

When you put money away and it earns interest, the rate at which that money grows will get faster and faster as the interest compounds on itself. If you started investing in your 30’s, you’ll make significantly less money than you would have in your 20’s because of that interest. The earlier you get started, the more money you stand to make and even a few years can make such a huge difference.

Clear Debts First

Thinking that investing is the solution to all of your problems is naive. It can help you to build wealth from a young age but you need to think about your overall financial health as well. If you’ve got a load of student loan debts or credit card debts, all of that money you build up is just going to go into clearing them when you’re older. Before you start thinking about putting money into an investment pot, get all of your other financial business in order as well.

It’s also important that you get a handle on your spending habits as well. If you’re reckless with your money then you won’t have enough spare cash to put aside each month.

Increase The Amount Gradually

When you’re younger, you’re likely to be earning a fairly low wage. If you put too much away for investment you won’t be able to save for a car or a house or anything like that. When you first get going, start off with a small amount. Then you can increase the amount gradually, in line with your income as you start to earn more. That way, investing isn’t going to make life difficult for you.

Investing isn’t just for people in their 40’s that are earning a good wage. The earlier you start, the better.

Project Lead: Handling Your First Big Job

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For a lot of people, the idea of managing a professional project will feel like very unfamiliar territory. Most people don’t get the chance to explore this sort of job through their education, instead finding it to be a shock when they have to do it in their career. To help you with this, making it a lot less daunting, this post will be exploring some of the key jobs you’ll have to perform to make this work as a leader.

  • The Planning

Planning your project will be the first and most important part of something like this. Having a solid plan in place will make it impossible to find yourself stuck without knowing where to go, and you can find some areas to help you below. This is important for any type of company, even those with very little work to do.

Delegation: Choosing which job goes to which person will take a lot of work on your part. You will have to decide who is best for each role, making it hard to ignore the friendships or existing relationships you have.

The Split: Along with choosing who will do each job, you also have to consider how the work you have will be broken up. AGILE is a great methodology to look at for this. Though designed for software development, it can still be very useful to other sorts of work.

Monitoring: Keeping an eye on how well your job is going will be fundamental to keeping it on track. To do this, you will need to plan to have testing, assessments, and other work done at regular intervals.

  • The Outsourcing

Once you have a rough plan of the work you’re going to be doing, you’ll probably have an idea of what your existing team has the ability to handle. For example, in the case of software development, you’ll know if you have the right developers for the job. If you don’t, it isn’t the end of the world, though, and you can often hire someone temporarily. Websites like Freelancer are perfect for finding corporate event planning, product design, and all sorts of other services. Using this sort of initiative can make you look like a very good leader.

  • The Process/Assessment

With some of your work being handled outside of the company, the assessment you perform becomes much more important. At predetermined intervals, it is very worthwhile to conduct testing, audits, and even shake-ups to make sure that things are being handled correctly. This sort of work will be especially important if you have investors or clients looking for updates. There are loads of companies out there with the resources to help you with this. So, it could be worth doing some research to make sure you’re getting the right support.

Hopefully, this post will inspire you to take the stress out of your first big project. A lot of people get very stressed when they have to deal with work like this. With the pressure you’re under, it would be easy to fall apart, and this could have a huge impact on the future of your career. Being prepared is always the best way to remain cool and collected, even when given issues to fix.

Stop Waiting Until You’re Ready

Scott Asai1 Comment

If you’re waiting until you’re ready to start a project, stop.

Technically you’re never “ready.”

There’s always more research to do…

There’s always more testing to do…

There’s always more planning to do…

Problem is, that’s what’s stopping you…the failure to act.

Take advice from someone whose started a number of projects that haven’t turned out successful: you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

Just like hurt is inevitable in relationships, failure is bound to happen at some point in business/your career. Deal with it.

What’s helpful to know is by NOT doing anything you’re making a choice:

Every action or inaction you take has a cost. Most of the time the cost of doing NOTHING is more painful.

Use the analogy of going to the gym. The hardest part is getting there, but once you arrive rarely do you regret it. The feeling of accomplishment after completing a workout should overpower not feeling like going.

Today monetizing a passion doesn’t mean quitting your job to start a business. It includes creating a side hustle. If you think of your career as a financial investment, doesn’t it make more sense to diversify than go all-in on one role?

Freelancing will soon pass up full-time employment in the job market. That means multiple streams of income is the future of survival. If you currently don’t love selling, get used to it.

You and I value mentors because of their experience. Without starting something you lack it. Trial and error is still the best teacher, so in order to grow stop thinking and start doing.

That’s how every successful company got to where they are now: they started.

Dreaming is overrated.

Execution is what counts.

Business Overseas Relocation: Where In The World Should You Go?

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The idea of moving your business can be a daunting one, but there are numerous upsides to consider. There are many countries dotted around the world with lower levels of corporation tax, meaning that you could save a substantial amount of money on your operating costs– even when you factor in the potential expense of such a move.

According to the Tax Foundation, the US has the third-highest corporation tax rates in the world, so it’s easy to contemplate the savings you could make. If you decide to make a move, where in the world should you aim to go?

Macau

With a top rate of corporation tax of just 12.0% — which is less than half the US rate — it’s easy to see why Macau has become such a business center in recent years. A former Portuguese colony, Macau has been under Chinese sovereignty for nearly 20 years, and has flourished in this time.

Singapore

A corporation tax rate of 17.0% and a low-regulation style system has meant Singapore has created a powerful reputation as a business haven. The top rate corporate tax is still nearly half of what it is in the US, and an established foreign infrastructure can help you make the transition with ease.

While there will be new laws to adapt to, the general low levels of regulation mean that there are fewer bureaucratic hoops to jump through, which is well worth taking into account.

The UK

The UK’s top rate of corporation tax of 20.0% is not the lowest in the world (though still lower than the US), but is noticeably low for a developed country. What makes the UK such an intriguing investment is the uncertainty created by the Brexit vote. The right wing of the (minority) governing Tory party have made it clear they believe the UK’s future involves styling itself as a “Singapore-style low tax, low regulation economy”. The center wing of the party disagrees, but it’s fair to say current Brexit negotiations are not going well, meaning that a “Singapore-style” economy could ultimately be born from the chaos.

There will be new-to-you laws and legislation to adapt to, meaning you may need help with key legislation, but there’s plenty of help around. If you need to figure out IR35 then expert advice and resources from Qdos Contractor will get you up to speed, while PAYE advice can be found from most accounts. Ultimately, if you prefer the idea of moving to an Anglophone country with a potentially lucrative future, then the UK might be a good bet.

Ireland

Ireland has one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the world, at 12.5%. The downside is the country has a history of economic instability — the so-called “Celtic Tiger” that ultimately proved unsustainable — which may give you pause. The economy is relatively stable at the present time and notably business-friendly, so if you don’t mind the potential for future unrest, then Ireland could be a viable option.

If you want to cut your operating costs — and particularly your corporate tax rate — then any of the countries above are well worth considering.