rachel brushfield

Career Reinvention

June 25, 2020 By // by Rachel Brushfield

Many people at the moment, because of shrinking sectors are being forced to rethink their careers. They may have been with the same company or in the same profession for their whole lives, so this can feel very very daunting.

In times of economic growth, I help people change career direction because they want to, e.g. for better work life balance, to have more fulfilling work, or to turn an enjoyable hobby into paid work.

Experience of career reinvention

I also have alot of experience of helping people reinvent themselves, because they have to, i.e. redundancy. My company was one of the first to be awarded a contract to do ‘Steer your career’ workshops after the credit crunch in 2007/2008, so we have lots of experience to support people being made redundant at this time.

I have also done many career events and workshops for membership organisations including the Law Society, ICAEW and the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) on portfolio careers, career reinvention, career strategy, personal branding to name a few.

Why I love career reinvention

I love career reinvention because it is helping people to see what they find it hard to see themselves as they are too close and seeing their confidence grow as they work out what they are going to do and how they are going to make it happen, with my support.

Career coaching is both practical and creative. One of my favourite client briefs is starting with a ‘blank sheet of paper’ i.e. a client who doesn’t know what else they could do, but do know that they have to or want to reinvent themselves in their career.

I have reinvented my own career. See my LinkedIn profile for detail: Rachel Brushfield’s LinkedIn profile

One trick pony

Often my career coaching clients feel that they are ’one trick ponies’ having done the same thing for years, when actually they have hugely transferable skills and just need help to see this and to market themselves, as they feel rusty, not having updated their CV or had an interview in ages.

Career transition client examples

My clients’ career reinvention transitions include:

An insurance broker becoming a teacher of children to learn the piano
A barrister becoming a company secretary
A direct marketing expert becoming a self employed photographer
A human rights lawyer retraining as a dance therapist
An education lawyer moving into music management
A project manager setting up a company doing cheese holidays in France

Common barriers to career reinvention

There are many barriers in people’s minds to career change, some actual and some perceived:

· Fear of change/uncertainty

· Resistance from partners, peers or parents

· Worrying about money, making the wrong decision or taking a step down the ladder having worked so hard to progress up it

· Not knowing what you don’t know

· Being in the dark about how to find out about new options

· Believing they are ‘too old’ to change

· Pleasing others e.g. parents living their lives through their children’s success instead of focusing on their happiness

· Lack of time

· Not wanting to let go of a benefit of the current job e.g. being admired at parties for being a Doctor

11 Tips to reinvent your career

1. Research employment growth areas; sectors and jobs

2. Think about when you have felt most alive and fulfilled in your work and how you can have more of this

3. Source examples of achievements and initiatives from outside your career to demonstrate your marketability

4. Think your career change through thoroughly and create a long term vision with small short term steps

5. Make time regularly to make your change happen

6. Research your options and ensure they will give you what’s important to you e.g. security, learning or challenge

7. Consider retraining and acquiring new skills to become more marketable

8. Analyse what makes you distinctive to other people in your field – that unique combination of your skills, qualities and life and work experiences – this is your unique ‘brand’

9. Speak to people already doing what you want to do to get inside knowledge

10. Be creative about how you can get experience to prove your capability and demonstrate the transferability of your skills in a new area e.g. do voluntary work, help out a friend’s business etc

11. Enlist the support of an experienced career coach

Get in touch

Client testimonials

“Energise helped me focus on my strengths at a very negative time for me, during redundancy. I found the whole process very rewarding.”

“Coaching has given me extra confidence. The process was very rewarding. The CV now looks punchier, and I feel ME again.”

“Coaching with Energise has given me choices, freedom and liberation.”

“Coaching gave me an objective, practical and understanding sounding board when I needed to get my life back in gear again. It really is a personal service that works around who you really are and what you really want to do. “

“Coaching gave me a positive attitude, confidence and insight. It has been instrumental in my success and by setting targets and deadlines it has speeded up the whole process of finding another job.”

More client testimonials

Redundancy – problem or new opportunity?

June 24, 2020 By // by Rachel Brushfield

How are you feeling about the ‘R’ word?

If you are over 40, then you will remember the late 1980’s/early 1990’s when redundancy and negative equity were commonplace.

I was made redundant in the late 80’s. It was very stressful at the time, but a problem became an opportunity as it was the beginning of my career going in a direction that was more true to me.

I used my redundancy money to pay off my debts and give my discoloured teeth ‘a face lift’ with some porcelain veneer crowns, so redundancy ironically helped put the smile back on my face!!!

The positive aspects of redundancy

All the clients I have ever worked with who have been made redundant have gone on to something better. Did you know that only 20% of people actually enjoy their work?

Often we fall into a job almost by accident, choose a career because our parents did it or thought it a ‘proper’ profession e.g. law or accountancy, or perhaps a teacher influenced our choices.

Companies can take a short-term view of saving costs, cutting headcount without considering the longer-term implications of losing people or having a talent shortage post recession.

If redundancy is a possibility for you, it’s worth having a chat with your employer about your skills being redeployed in the business differently, reducing your hours, or having a sabbatical.

Redundancy = new beginning

Redundancy can be a push to make a positive change, even if it feels out of your hands and more like an unwelcome shove that makes you angry and steals your confidence. A redundancy lump sum is often used to start a business or fund a training course to increase marketability.

Examine skill shortages = opportunity to retrain/up-skill

A skills shortage is an opportunity for people being made redundant to skill-up in the areas where there is a shortage. Sheep shearing or being a trained ballet dancer may not be your thing, but jobs such as an engineer, maths teacher or specialist nurses could be. Markets such as care homes, tech, big data and cyber security are growing for example.

Part of my role as a career strategist and coach is keeping up to date with changing trends – in demand skills and new emerging careers.

Get comfortable and competent marketing yourself

The British are very modest and people get so close to ourselves that we find it hard to see what makes us unique and marketable and how we can use these transferable skills in a different way. I can help.

The older we are and the more financial responsibilities and dependants we have, the harder and more risky the change feels.

A career crossroads is a positive opportunity to take a step back and look at who you are, what you want and how to get it.

We help our clients to achieve an uplifting breakthrough at major career crossroads such as redundancy, and have been doing career strategy coaching for over two decades.

How can we help you or someone you know at risk of redundancy?

Get in touch https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/portfolio/connect/

What’s your career insurance?

June 23, 2020 By // by Rachel Brushfield

It is vital in uncertain times to have career ‘insurance’ – a plan ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ for your career.

Do you?

Not having an insurance policy for your career is like driving a car in winter with only one headlight, a 10 year old map, a nearly empty tank of petrol with no spare petrol can in the boot and with one wing mirror hanging off.

You wouldn’t, would you?

Why then, do most people do the equivalent with their career?

You only have to look at what has happened during the coronavirus period to see the danger of how fast a sector can change.

So – what’s your career plan ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’?

Reasons for neglecting this vital area include:

· Fear: Of feeling regret and disappointment

· Time poor: Let other’s needs take precedence

· Overwhelm: Don’t know where to start

· Empty toolbox: Don’t have the tools and frameworks

· Short termism: Focus on the here and now

· Life stage: Feel no point with other life priorities

· Habit: Fell into a career and leave it to chance

· Resigned: Don’t feel deserve anything better/different

· Unaware: Never done any personal development

· Blinkered: In the dark about the fast changing world of work

Do you relate to any of these? What additional factors would you add?

Inspiring quote

“The best way to create the future is to invent it.” Alan Kay.

Self-reflective question:

What 1 action can I take straight away that would most help my future career security & prospects?”

7 tips for your career reassurance

1. Support: enlist an experienced career coach

2. Headspace: book a career retreat/away day

3. Think: replace mindless time frittering e.g. FaceBook

4. Focus: write your ideal role/career description & plan ‘A’, ‘B’ & ‘C’

5. Habit: make ‘dead’ time fruitful e.g. a commute to create options

6. Prioritise: ring fence a monthly time slot & budget

7. Informed: look inwards (self-awareness) & outwards (trends)

What tips would you add?

Get in touch https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/portfolio/connect/

Values – your inner compass

June 22, 2020 By // by Rachel Brushfield

“Happiness is not a destination, it is a method of life” Burton Hills

One of the most important things in life, in my opinion, is to live your life based on what’s important to you – your values.

So many people live life to other people’s agendas and values, whether it’s parents, teachers or society as a whole. This means that they are not being true to themselves. It’s not selfish to be true to yourself, it is wise, because if you are happy within yourself, you have more to give back to other people.

On aeroplanes they say “Put the oxygen mask on your own face first” – same principle.

Insights about values a key part of career change

Helping people understand their values is one of the key things I help clients with and then we design goals around these values. Everyone has different values, not better not worse, just different. I find that often people are feeling ‘out of sorts’ or unfulfilled in their careers because they are not honouring their values, i.e. what’s important to them.

When values aren’t honoured

Values not being honoured shows up in different ways. For example they have a partner for whom different things are important or their employer values tradition when they value modern. People can have the same value e.g. love but it’s honoured in a different way; one partner may like to hear their partner say that they love them 25 times a day, the other partner likes being hugged to feel loved.

Relationship issues are often about different values

One of the reasons that relationship issues come up all the time when I coach people is because different people have different values, but they haven’t articulated them. This is what causes the tension – not articulating/understanding values.

Check in with your values

I find values are a useful check-in. If I am feeling frustrated with a person or situation, it’s normally because one of my values is being trodden on. If I am lied to, my Honesty value isn’t honoured, if I feel forced to do something against my will, my Right to choose value is squashed. It’s like a framework to help make sense of life and to deal with difficult emotions. An inner compass.

Corporate values

The Credit crunch of 2007/2008 has taught us to question what we used to trust without question. Companies have values too and the good companies live and breathe them through their behaviour and how they act. They don’t just stick a list of words on the corporate wall like integrity, honesty, success and fun.

Clashing values – inner tug of war

Sometimes an individual has clashing values – it’s like having an inner tug of war. Freedom and Belonging is one example; part of you wants to be part of something but most of you wants to feel free, a direct inner conflict. Another example is Security and Adventure; part of you needs security and another part wants to break out and be adventurous. Understanding and managing your conflicting values is vital, especially in uncertain and challenging times.

Honour your values to stay centred

Without wishing to state the obvious, the post coronavirus period we are now living in are challenging times.

If you do one thing and one thing only, honour the things that are important to you and make sure that the people you care about are able to honour the things important to them.

10 tips to live your values

1) Think about what’s really important to you

2) Reflect on times in your life when you felt really frustrated – what was the cause?

3) Get a coach to help you understand your values

4) When you have a difference of opinion with people at work/home – analyse what value isn’t being honoured

5) Picture your ideal life – what would it be like?

6) Think about people you really connect with, What is it about them that works?

7) Be specific in your articulation of your values e.g. Expressing and demonstrating kindness rather than just Kindness

8) Explore whether your values are compatible before committing to a long term partner or employer

9) Prepare incisive questions to get a potential employer to give examples to demonstrate their values and culture as part of your interview.

10) Make a date with yourself and check in every month to review to what extent you have honoured what’s important to you

How can we help you? Get in touch.

https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/portfolio/connect/

Are you ready for career change?

June 20, 2020 By // by Rachel Brushfield

Some of our clients have been unhappy at work for up to 10 years before they contact us and in some cases, have are ill having resisting the change that they need to make – they are so ready for change.

The outcome for some of our other clients is that they choose to stay put rather than change career, and improve what they can influence where they are.

In a challenging jobs market with increasing uncertainty, taking responsibility for your career is not something you can afford to ignore.

Self reflective questions

What’s stopping me from making the change I seek from work a reality?

What’s the question I most need to ask myself?

4 tips to check if you are ready for career change

Identify your personal values so you know if there’s a mismatch between you and your organisation.
Keep a diary of how you feel about work for 2 months and notice the patterns and factors that affect your highs and lows. Review what’s frustrating you and what you can influence.
Do a satisfaction audit of the different aspects of your role. What does it tell you?
Are there opportunities to progress in the way you want at work? Explore job redesign as an option with the changing needs of the organisation.

Get in touch https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/portfolio/connect/

Exercising your entrepreneurial muscle

June 19, 2020 By // by Rachel Brushfield

More competition for jobs and consultancy work makes being entrepreneurial as well as resilient essential.

The word entrepreneurial can make people put pressure on themselves, as it is associated with entrepreneurs, and many people don’t identify themselves in this way.

Alternative words for entrepreneurial

Other words that you can use instead of ‘entrepreneurial’ that may feel more ‘you’ are:

Enterprising
Imaginative
Ingenious
Inventive
Pioneering
Resourceful
Creative

Coronavirus has forced entrepreneurial behaviour

The coronavirus has seen a massive amount of fast change and reinvention with on-line learning and teaching, for example.

Our local pub is planning to re-open in July re-organised to accommodate social distancing with an App to pre-book tables and pre order and pay for food and drinks. Food and drinks will be placed in a holding bay, for people sitting at tables to collect themselves, protecting the staff and minimising touch and risk of infection, instead of staff serving at the tables. This system will also enable more planning, and perhaps less waste, with prior knowledge of what ingredients are needed and in what quantity.

Invention and innovation

Entrepreneurial behaviour underlies the inclination to undertake invention and innovation, including the creation of something new, as well as the distribution and adoption of the new throughout society. Think Zoom and Team which are now the norm, when a few months ago, not everyone had heard of or used them.

Portfolio careers require entrepreneurial behaviour

Entrepreneurial behaviours are essential with a portfolio career, a career made up of different work strands, where you create different opportunities for yourself. As an analogy, just as with cookery, the more ingredients that you have – skills, experience, knowledge and contacts, the more ‘recipes’ you can create for yourself.

What are entrepreneurial behaviours?

Confident/’can do’ attitude

Proactivity

Learning

A mistake/failure is an opportunity to learn/relearn

Try different things

Curiosity

Assertiveness

Being inventive/enterprising

Resilient

A preference for change

Desire to change the status quo

How would you rate yourself currently on these entrepreneurial behaviours out of 100%?

Developing entrepreneurial habits helps to develop entrepreneurial behaviours.

10 habits of entrepreneurs

What are the habits of entrepreneurs?

1. Plan a day in advance

2. Get proper nutrition

3. Position themselves to serve others

4. Set clear S.M.A.R.T. goals

5. Take calculated risks

6. Know their strengths and weaknesses

7. Hire ‘A’ team players

8. Are constantly learning

9. Always look for opportunities

10. Evaluate their actions and priorities every day

6 tips to develop your entrepreneurial ‘muscle’

Block out time in your diary each week for personal and professional development
Diarise a half day or whole day away day every 2 months to think, reflect, plan and create
Read Charles Handy’s book The New Alchemists
Learn to coach yourself – ask yourself open incisive questions e.g. for a trainer: ‘What trends are growing in the tech sector that I could adopt for the training industry?’
Diarise ‘important not urgent’ tasks to make sure that they happen. According to Stephen Covey, author of the international best seller The 7 habits of highly effective people these tasks are:

Preparation
Prevention
Planning
Relationship building
Empowerment
Self awareness, learning, exploration & development
Learning new skills
Creative thinking
Networking
Prioritisation
Training & development
Exercise

6. Push out your comfort zone each week – do something that you have never done before

Get in touch https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/portfolio/connect/

Transferable skills – where next?

June 18, 2020 By // by Rachel Brushfield

A common theme amongst all of the career coaching clients I work with is a) they have a blind spot seeing their own skills and talents and b) how they can use them in other ways, i.e. possible new jobs or different careers to what they have done before.

I act as a pair of ‘wing mirrors’ to help them see their skills and be clear about where else they can use them.

In these times of redundancies and shrinking sectors caused by the impact of the coronavirus, this is a very important area to explore as part of your future-proof career.

What is a skill?

A skill is defined as: “cleverness at doing a thing, either from practice or a natural gift.”

Why do people find it hard to see their own skills?

Most people don’t think of themselves in terms of skills, and find it immodest to talk about their own ‘natural gifts’.

Common phrases that people express are: “I just do my job” or “it’s just what I do.”

It is not surprising therefore that people need support in seeing new career options for themselves.

People are discouraged from saying that they are clever and our specific and unique talents are rarely acknowledged or recognised by others. Other people may have thought about you are good at, but not shared this information with you, so it is worth asking to elicit this useful information.

In employer engagement research, frustration about lack of feedback is a common complaint from employees about their line managers, so giving feedback to your direct reports is a good thing to do to boost morale at this time if you are a manager.

Articulating the benefits you bring

Awareness of your specific skills and the ability to articulate them, sharing tangible examples of the benefits they bring is crucial in career success, especially when you are competing against a lot of good candidates.

Spell it out

For people seeking a new or different career, being explicit in helping others to see how your skills are useful in a related context is a must to convince your potential employer that you are up to the task, and not a risk. Self-awareness, confidence and the ability to market yourself, plus overcoming natural fears about change enable a change in career direction to be within reach.

Self-reflective question

What’s my best skill and in what other contexts is it useful?

Inspiring quote

“Believe in yourself. Have faith in your abilities. Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers, you cannot be successful or happy.”

Norman Vincent Peale

5 tips to help you identify your transferable skills

1) Get someone to ask you how you do your job and to write down what you say and then share their perspective of your skills with you.

2) Think about something you do well naturally and write down the specifics using the third person. Practice saying “I am really good at, for example when ….” This makes it feel more comfortable and not ‘boastful.’

3) Analyse the ‘process’ you use to do your work step by step. Most people have a process incorporating certain skills but don’t see this, as they are too close to themselves. This can be turned into a model or infographic to use on your CV, on social media or on a personal web site.

4) Ask people you work with or live with for feedback about your specific skills and do the same for them.

5) If you want to fast track your awareness, get a career coach who is trained to see your skills and help you to see opportunities where they are useful that you may be unaware even existed.

To receive a free report Personal Skills Audit, please get in touch: https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/portfolio/connect/

How to future-proof your career

June 18, 2020 By // by Rachel Brushfield

The Brexit/political impasse and more recently the impact of the coronavirus has been very stressful for many people

With redundancies now likely to be on the horizon, and many companies currently having recruitment freezes, it can feel very challenging indeed to get a job/paid work.

Even in these challenging market conditions, a sense of moving forward and progressing is vital.

So how can you take steps today to future-proof your career for the longer term?

This blog shares some practical tips and further reading to inspire and help you.

V.U.C.A. world
The current world is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous, or V.U.C.A. This is the new ‘normal’.

Focus on how you can help senior management and businesses with the challenges they face, for example business agility and transformation, creating a competitive advantage, original communication etc.

The competencies of control, curiosity, commitment, confidence and concern are important to be adaptable in your career.

5 career adaptability competencies

Control – being proactive, decisive & taking responsibility for your career;
Curiosity – broadening your horizons by seeking options, possibilities and knowledge;
Commitment – passionately pursuing & taking action to move to the career horizon of your choosing;
Confidence – belief in yourself & that you can achieve your goal;
Concern – having a positive & philosophical attitude to mistakes or rejection.

How would you rate yourself on these competencies?

Here are some tips to future-proof your career.

Build your career adaptability competencies: If you think of the above career adaptability competencies as ‘muscles’, how can you exercise them? What S.M.A.R.T. goals can you set yourself and what CPD can you undertake to build these ‘muscles’? This will put you in good stead now and in the future.

Understand your transferable skills: Skills you possess are useful in many different contexts outside of your current sector. Investigate new work areas where the skills that you already possess are valued.

Look at trends: Keeping an eye on changing trends is very important at all times, and especially when things are changing fast, which they are at the moment. In any shrinking market, there will always be areas that are growing. What specialisms are growing, for example, cyber crime and data analytics? Where are there skill shortages?

Update your skills: There are lots of free on-line courses, called Moocs shared by universities all over the world. Take advantage of these to learn new skills and develop your knowledge. For example critical thinking is a key skill of the future. Change management and commercial awareness are also good areas to develop. What actions could you take to refresh and develop these specific skills?

Build your career capital: With more competition, you need to have a higher level of qualification to succeed, and add value. Consider new accreditation and building a specialism. Investment now can create more opportunities in future. Explore thought leadership and initiate key note/panel opportunities.

Widen your options: It is wise in uncertain times to develop a portfolio career. Rather than having all your career ‘eggs in one basket’, and just have one source of earning money, explore new/different options, and develop multiple strands to future-proof your career. This is called a portfolio career – it is ideal for uncertain times. You develop different work ‘strands’ so you can pivot as markets change and you change. As an analogy, as with ingredients and cooking a recipe, the more ‘ingredients’ you have of skills, knowledge and experience, the more you can create opportunities for yourself.

Become tech savvy: New tech tools can be daunting at first, but learning them satisfying. Being tech savvy is important so that you hit the ground running in work. If there are two candidates of comparable skill and experience, having superior digital acuity will go in your favour.

Broaden your network: In the digital age, it is becoming more important to have a large diverse network. Many networks are providing free Zoom sessions during lockdown – take advantage of this and attend some networks you wouldn’t normally consider to broaden your network. Join some new LinkedIn groups, and connect with the members.

Free resources: Take advantage of any free resources from your professional body. There may be webinars, case studies and other resources you can access on their website.

Do a skill swap: A skill swap costs nothing, and enables you to learn a new skill, for example Excel spreadsheets, social media, cashflow planning etc. When you’re worried about the future, skill swaps are a brilliant way to skill-up.

Consider retraining: Retraining into a work area where there are skills shortages is worth exploring to improve your security and prospects for the longer term.

Build your resilience: Some people are naturally resilient, but it is a skill that can be learnt. Persistence and not giving up are very important. Determination will take you a long way. In fact, according to Charles Handy, a pioneer in modern ways of working, in his book ‘The New Alchemists’, determination is THE no 1 factor for success. Don’t give up!

It can feel like very challenging times at the moment. Remember you are not alone. Keep going.

Contact us to receive a free report ‘Discover Portfolio Careers’ https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/portfolio/connect/

Recommended further reading

Our articles for the award winning Future of Work Hub:

Future skills for a lifelong competitive advantage part 1 https://www.futureofworkhub.info/comment/2019/3/22/future-skills-for-a-life-long-competitive-advantage-part-1

Future skills for a lifelong competitive advantage part 2 https://www.futureofworkhub.info/comment/2019/6/26/future-skills-for-a-life-long-competitive-advantage-part-2

How’s your career capital?

June 17, 2020 By // by Rachel Brushfield

Career capital is the value of competencies, knowledge and individual personality attributes and other career assets that you have to produce economic value.

In competitive markets, career capital is even more important than usual.

In times of redundancies with supply of workers outstripping demand, the market will be more competitive. If the quality of two candidates is the same, what will differentiate them to be chosen?

What is career capital?

Your career assets combined = your career capital; the sum total of your time, talent and potential. You need to consider it in terms of its present and future value when considering your long-term career prospects. If the internet is an ocean full of ‘fish’ i.e opportunities, you need the right ‘bait’ to catch the ‘fish’ you want, whether it is a job or a self employed project. Career capital helps you to do this.

What ‘fish’ do you want to catch e.g. employer or clients?

What will your ‘bait’ be?

Why is career capital important?

The market for workers is changing. In future, employers will have reduced permanent headcount and resource up on an as needed basis with individuals and employers rated transparently on-line.

Are you ready for this new world of work?

Differentiation and visibility on-line is critical.

Career assets

Your career capital is made up of multi-faceted career assets which accrue over time.

Accolades

Patents
Awards
League table rankings e.g. Chambers
Who’s who listing

Academic

Higher qualifications e.g. MBA, PHD, MSc/MA
Links with academia or prestigious universities e.g. guest lecturer

Endorsements

Client testimonials/employer references
Peer testimonials/endorsements

Published works

Articles
Chapters
Books
White papers

Talent

Multiple mastery areas
In-demand skills e.g. creativity, big data management
Languages
Good emotional intelligence e.g. empathy

Networks

Professional association involvement
Membership of respected clubs
Size & diversity of network
Quality of network e.g. senior decision makers, high net worths

Events

Hosting an event
Speaking at an event
Conference speaking
Conference chairing

Charitable

Pro bono
Trustee post

Career credibility

Prestige/trophy employers & clients e.g. FTSE 100
Senior leadership positions e.g. C-Suite

Miscellaneous

Personal brand

What would you add? How would you rate your career capital?

10 tips for healthy career capital

Create a career strategy and ensure your career capital is aligned with it
Define your ‘fish’ – i.e. target employers or clients
Make time to think about what ‘bait’ is the best to catch your ‘fish’
Audit your career capital quarterly and define career asset S.M.A.R.T. goals
Ensure you have insights about what is important to and valued by your target audience
Define your personal brand
Measure stats for your career capital so you can monitor progress
Monitor your reputation – e.g. set up Google alerts & track your name/brand on Twitter
Use/monitor LinkedIn stats to evaluate the quality and profile of your network
When, where and how will I make time to accrue my career capital?

Thought leadership is one of our specialisms. How can we help you develop yours?

Get in touch https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/portfolio/connect/

What do our clients say? https://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/energise-client-testimonials/

10 tips for happy self-employment – part 4 of 4

June 16, 2020 By // by Rachel Brushfield

Self employment is on the rise. This is a 4 part article series sharing 40 tips for happy self-employment.

Read part 1 https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/10-tips-for-happy-self-employment-part-1-of-4/

Read part 2 https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/10-tips-for-happy-self-employment-part-2-of-4/

Read part 3 https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/10-tips-for-happy-self-employment-part-3-of-4/

Design and print high quality business cards – they speak volumes about you
Networking selectively for your own specialism

3. Have a superb support system e.g. bookkeeper, proactive accountant, IT, virtual PA

4. Develop and hone efficient expedient systems, e.g. physical paper and computer file folders from the outset

5. Back date purchases before you set up your business

6. Be adaptable and open to new avenues and opportunities – learn as you go along, learn then teach to embed new learning

7. Create your own personal image – be authentic

8. Have a plan but be agile – see what clients/projects you attract

9. Set continual professional and personal development S.M.A.R.T. goals

10. Diarise time for the opposite of what you naturally are drawn to do. E.g. if you are naturally positive and think about what you HAVE done, make time to think about what you HAVEN’T done

Get in touch https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/portfolio/connect/