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Ideas, insights and inspiration for busy people on the go Friday, February 25, 2005 |
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Top Sponsor Milexium International has now expanded and I have been asked to build a team of Health Conscious People. I am directly under the CEO ! Please Email me: Ellensfuture@aol.com
Editor’s Scribbles
Now that the year-end festive season is officially over, maybe it’s time to get in shape for summer or that eagerly-awaited vacation. No need to head for the gym or put holes in your wallet. Think home workouts.
For those of you who are torn between a high-flying well-paying job and the pressing desire to be with your kids during the growing years before those years vanish in a flash, we have 10 thought-provoking reasons to kiss your boss goodbye and venture out on your own.
Take it from someone who’s been there, done that. Away from the smoke and fire up in Corporate Tower, you can see blue skies and rainbows. Enough said, go read the article yourself LOL.
As always, it’s great having you here. If you find this ezine interesting and useful, please pass the word along to your friends, family or co-workers and get them to subscribe at http://minutechaser.go-getglobal.com. After all, it’s free and your email address is safe with us :o)
Have a fabulous week ahead. Ciao for now.
Kit Editor/Publisher Website: http://MinuteChaser.Go-GetGlobal.com Email: chaser@go-getglobal.com
Modern Living 10 Really Good Reasons to Quit Your Job and Start Your Own Business
by Michael J. Katz
It’s been five years since I made the decision to leave my corporate job and start my own company. No question about it, leaving nice coworkers, a stable paycheck and 12 years of tenure with one company was the scariest thing I’d ever done. And yet looking back, it was the defining moment not only of my career, but of my personal development as well. The fact is, I am now so enamored of blazing my own trail that I could never go back – I am hopelessly, incurably, unemployable.
As a result, I receive a steady stream of, “Can I buy you a cup of coffee?” invitations – from old colleagues, new friends, complete strangers – anybody who is considering a change, and who wants to know, “Why should I start my own business?” This is what I say:
1. You’ll dance to your own music. - There’s a lot of noise in the corporate world. Not physical noise, but opinions, rules, history and a whole lot of, “that’s the way we do it around here,” always just an inch or two below the surface. In such a setting it’s hard to find your path, or as I like to say, “hear your own music.”
Once you’re on your own, you’ll suddenly begin to hear what’s there, and the more you can hear it and have the courage to follow it, the more enjoyable and yes, profitable your life will be. The fact is, there is no right way to live, to act or to grow a business.
2. You’ll never have to retire. - Retiring is a strange concept to the satisfied, self-employed person. It implies that work is something you want to be done with, something you wish were over. When you truly find your passion however, the concept becomes meaningless. Do painters stop painting? Do musicians stop playing music? Do comedians stop being funny just because they’ve reached a certain age? Not if they are doing what they truly want to be doing. Sure, you may slow down or change focus as you get older, but the game is never over, since the game and your life will be one.
3. You’ll put your money where your mouth is. - I never planned to start my own business, and I always secretly believed that I didn’t have the guts to be successful on my own. When I look back now, I’m not even sure how I managed to convince myself to leave the perceived safety of living within the protected walls of a large corporation. When I finally jumped however, I was surprised by the number of friends, former co-workers and family who remarked on my “courage.” Frankly, I’m not any braver now than I was before, but I know with certainty that I don’t need a corporation to take care of me (and neither do you).
4. You’ll no longer live in two worlds. - I used to be two people: “corporate Michael” and “home life Michael.” Corporate Michael was less friendly, less intuitive and a lot less interesting. I found it easy to switch back and forth between the two Michaels, and for a long time it didn’t even strike me as odd that I would make decisions at work based on a completely different set of criteria regarding what was fair, what was smart or what was worth doing. That’s over – I’m now one person no matter what I do, and I have a more balanced, more humanistic approach to business.
5. You’ll know your own power. - Swept up in the turmoil of working as part of a corporation, there’s a tendency to blame others, wait for others, think that others are making things happen. Working alone you’ll realize how much control you actually have (and have always had). That realization will give you the courage and drive to do more things than you ever dreamed of when you saw yourself as an insignificant part of a big machine. You’ll have nobody else to blame, and even more importantly, you will see how much credit you really do deserve for everything you’ve created.
6. You’ll be free to walk away. - When you first start out on your own, you will probably be grateful for whatever business comes your way. The thought of “walking away” from a client may seem suicidal. It isn’t. As your reputation grows, people will approach you, ready to hand you their money and have you begin work. That’s terrific. However, in some cases, the fit won’t be there – something in your gut will tell you it’s a bad match. You will learn that you can say “no thank you” and walk away. Nobody assigns projects or clients or teammates to you anymore. You and only you decide who you work with and on what terms, and if it doesn’t feel right you need only say so.
7. You’ll make new friends. - If you’ve been with the same company for a long time, you’ve probably developed several close relationships. You may be afraid that you’ll be lonely and isolated out here in the “cold cruel world.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Starting your own business gains you immediate entrance into a collegial world of fellow sole proprietors and entrepreneurs, eager to have you along for the ride. We hold meetings, we have events, we meet for lunch, we talk on the phone – we share ideas, support each other and hang out together. Price of admission: a friendly demeanor and a willingness to help other people find their way.
8. You’ll pick the players. - Wherever you sit in a company, you’ve got people you interact with every day. Your boss, your direct reports, the head of the legal department, the desktop support guy, the receptionist. Hopefully you like and get along with most of these people, but whether you do or not, you’re stuck with each other. When you run your own company on the other hand, you pick who’s on the team. You get to choose your attorney, your accountant, your landlord, your printer, your partners, your clients – everybody in your daily life is there because you decided to put them there. You get to choose.
9. You’ll have real problems, instead of imaginary ones. - In a corporate setting, your happiness and success is dependent upon dozens of intertwined relationships and handed-down decisions, any one of which can change your world in ways you may not anticipate or even understand. With so much out of your control, it’s hard not to spend time “What If-ing” and worrying about the future: “What’s my boss really think of me? What if I don’t get put in charge of that new project? What if they cut my budget next year?” Fear of what might happen can become worse than the situation itself – imaginary problems.
When you’re building your own business you’re immersed in reality. Sure, you may have days where you worry about paying the mortgage, but you’ll be in the game, fighting the good fight, and no longer obsessed with the possibility of being blindsided by an unforeseen shift in the corporate winds.
10. You’ll find your purpose. - You didn’t come here to follow somebody else’s vision or sit on the sidelines watching the clock tick away until retirement. But somehow, somewhere along the way, you forgot. Now, after so many years of following the pack, you’ve come to see work as a place you go to earn enough money to do the things you really want to do. It doesn’t have to be that way. Working on your own will give you the freedom and focus to find the exhilarating, balanced, self-directed career you’ve always dreamed of.
One of my favorite quotes is from the book, The Artist's Way, and I've had it taped to the top of my computer monitor for the last five years: "Leap, and the net will appear.” Go ahead, I’ll be waiting for you.
----- About the author: Michael J. Katz is Founder and Chief Penguin of Blue Penguin Development, Inc., (http://www.BluePenguinDevelopment.com) a Boston area consulting firm that helps clients increase sales by showing them how to nurture their existing relationships, and that specializes in the development of electronic newsletters. He is the author of the book, E-Newsletters That Work.
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Offpeak Hours How to Get the Most from Your Home Workouts
By Rick DeToma A recent study found that home workouts may do even more good than workouts at a gym. This is good news for people who are time crunched and find it's too much trouble to make it to a health club. So how do you get the most from your home workouts? Follow these suggestions: 1. Have A Plan. Know exactly what it is you want to accomplish and how you intend to get there. Plan out the exercises and the amount of reps and weight you will use. If time is a factor, make sure the volume of your workout fits the alloted time. If you can only squeeze in 10-15 minutes, then make the most of it. Use compound moves for the large muscle groups. Use an exercise log and refer back to it. It's a great way to track your progress. 2. Have What You Need. Make sure you have available any equipment you intend to use and that you know how to use it. If you have never used resistance tubes, then practice with them in advance so you get a sense of the tension they provide. If you plan to use a stability ball, make sure you have the right size for your height. See a chart here. 3. Know How to Do Things Right. Make sure you are familiar with the exercises you plan to include in your home workout. Do some research and completely understand any new exercises you intend to do. Form is very important. Proper form will keep you from injuring yourself. 4. Mix Things Up. Don't stick with one workout for ever. Your body will quickly adapt to any form of exercise if you stay with it for too long. Make sure in your planning stage that you build in variety through new exercises, a different exercise order, different rep scheme or try supersets or a circuit. 5. Get Support. Work with a personal trainer to learn what you should do and how you should do it. A recent study showed that people who worked with a trainer worked harder and met their goals faster than those who did not. Just because you are doing a home workout does not mean that it can't be as tough or tougher than people who travel to a gym. Once you know where you are going and how you intend to get there, the rest is up to you. Follow your plan, give it 100% effort, eat right, and you'll be on your way to a fit body. ----- About the author: Rick DeToma is a fitness coach, and trainer who specializes in home workouts. Contact Rick for a no obligation telephone fitness assessment at: http://www.tailored-fitness-home-workouts.com/contact.html
Over Coffee
We’re celebrating Go Get Global’s first birthday this month. Enter our Birthday contest to win free advertising. It’s simple. All you have to do is link to our Birthday Bash page to help you pick the correct answer:
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Send your answer and 3x60 text ad to me here. Only one entry per subscriber please.
One correct entry will be drawn at random on February 28, 2005. Winner will be announced in the first issue of March. Winner’s ad will be posted at the Global Mall for one week.
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IN THIS ISSUE Editor’s Scribbles Modern Living 10 Really Good Reasons to Quit Your Job and Start Your Own Business Featured Sponsors Find stuff you need Offpeak Hours How to Get the Most from Your Home Workouts Co-op Ads Over Coffee Jump into our Birthday Contest and Win free advertising! - LAST CALL!
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Issue 0502-25. Copyright 2004-2005 Minute Chaser Ezine. All rights reserved in all countries. |
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Hello fellow Chasers, new and current. A warm welcome to a super hot day outside. I’m just back from my morning exercise and I need a few minutes to cool down. Excuse the fact that I’m not exactly the best-smelling ezine publisher right now LOL. But I’m lucky I get to work in my shorts and t-shirt.
