Tag Archives: Career

New England Chocolate & The Entrepreneur Spirit!

The New England Chocolate Company is a delightful oasis in the midst of the busy beach town of Salisbury, MA (north of Boston). In 2002, Jayne Murray, owner & entrepreneur extraordinaire, decided she was ready to leave 22 years of being a speech pathologist. But what could she do or want to do? A delicious idea began bubbling up . . . she and her husband, Les, really like (love) chocolate especially fine Belgian chocolates. In their many travels over the years, they have always gravitated to the chocolate shops in every city and village. But they couldn’t get that quality of chocolate in New England. An idea . . . could they make and sell fine chocolates themselves? The answer was yes.

Chocolate making it was. One year later Jayne & Les were in business making Belgian chocolates from their kitchen and selling it out the side door. In time, they rebuilt their property to accommodate a 750′ sales and kitchen area with their living spaces custom built above it. It all worked out and now Jayne & Les make undisputably the best Belgian chocolates in all of New England.

So what can we learn from the New England Chocolate Company? Jayne is my twin sister, Diane, favorite breakfast buddy and fellow twin mom. Just last week I had the chance to join them for a early breakfast in Salisbury. I asked Jayne the secrets to her success as a Chocolatier and a successful small business owner. With her wonderful laugh and savvy business sense, Jayne shared several tips for the new business owner. The first I want to share with you is the best . . . love what you do!

You Have to Like (Love) Chocolate!

Conversation on a Pier in MaineTo start your own business you have to like (preferably love) the product or service you are providing. Sounds so simple but it’s amazing how often this idea is overlooked when entrepreneurs start their own businesses. Loving what you do and what you provide will sustain you both during the prosperous times but, more importantly, during those tougher economic times. If you’re not very excited about the actual work you do then the work will become drudgery and you will quickly lose your interest, passion and commitment to making your successful.

So think about the work you do, or would like to do. Do you like it as much as Jayne likes her chocolates? Can you work day after day, month after month and year after year in this kind of work? If the answer is yes, you are well on your way to creating a business that truly fulfills you and that is profitable and fun to boot.

Now go celebrate with a piece of chocolate. Order direct from Jayne www.newenglandchocolatecompany.com or just stop in and see her when you are next in the New England area. You’ll be glad you did!

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Career Support Groups Help with Job Loss

Searching for a new job can be a lonely experience.  When you leave your old job (either voluntarily or involuntarily) you experience some very real losses.  We often think of the financial loss but there are other losses which are much more subtle but are equally hard to adjust to.  These include the loss of a daily routine; a sense of belonging; a feeling of purpose and the loss of regular contact with professional colleagues.  It can be a difficult adjustment.  And it’s easy to become isolated especially with the current popularity of job searching primarily on the Internet.

Start a Career Support Group

Here’s an idea . . . seek out a career support group.  It can either be one offered through an employment organization or a community group.  Or even better, start your own with other people who are in an active job search.  Not sure where to meet others like you?  Just start asking around especially if you involved with an employment group – we have ProNet for unemployed professionals in Northern Nevada – and invite a couple of other folks to join you for coffee once a week.

You’ll be pleasantly surprised by how helpful a group like this is especially in helping to reduce the isolation almost everyone feels in today’s new world of high-tech job searching methods.  We need the human touch – the chance to talk and support each other.  And people know people know people.  Remember 80% of professional jobs are never publicly advertised.  They are filled by personal contacts and referrals.  So reach out to others – you help them and they help you!

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A Powerful Question to Ask Yourself

In all the years of being a professional coach, I’ve used numerous “powerful” questions to help clients discover and clarify their personal and professional strengths.  But there is one question that really captures it all.  And that is “When are you really at your best?”

I ask clients to think about that question – not to hurry – and to come back to our next session with three or four stories that capture a picture of themselves at their very best.  The stories will have a theme through them – a red thread – that tells us what comes together to bring out the best of themselves.  These are natural talents that are coming together and over time have often become career and life strengths.

People, Ideas or Things

Lake Tahoe at Its Best!

These themes fall into three interest areas: an interest in people; an interest in ideas or an interest in things.  For myself, I have always gravitated toward work with people in some capacity.  When I ask myself this powerful question, I always come back to involvement with people during significant life and career transitions.  That theme has always run through my years as a Masters level social worker; an adult, child & family psychotherapist; my community volunteer work, and now as a corporate trainer and a professional career/life coach.

Now It’s Your Turn to Ask

 

 

 

 

 

 

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“City Slickers”: The Ultimate Internship

I just finished laughing my way through the classic movie “City Slickers” with Billy Crystal.  Do you remember this one?  It’s all about three good friends in the throes of middle age who sign up to be volunteers on a cattle drive from New Mexico to Colorado.  I’ve watched it many times and love the themes of friendship, adventure and finding what is uniquely meaningful to each of us in different chapters of our lives.

The Ultimate Unpaid Internship

But this time, I watched this movie from a different perspective . . . here are three friends paying a lot of money to essentially be volunteers on this cattle drive.  As the story goes, the paid cowhands disappear one by one leaving only the volunteers and the herd of cattle.  The other volunteers bail out – after all they are suppose to be “on vacation”  leaving behind our three cowboy heroes.  Now the cowboy volunteers are not getting paid to “bring the herd in” but they are committed.  So risking life and limb in torrential rains they drive the herd for miles and deliver the livestock successfully to the cattle ranch owners several days later.  For their efforts, the boss refunds their money and each of our cowboys goes home knowing that they have finally found the true “it” in their lives.

Working Without Pay But Loving It

Written in 1991, City Slickers gives us a fascinating glimpse at what would become a career & economic phenomenon in the 2000’s.  People of all ages being willing to work for no or little pay for the experience and possible opportunities that this work could open up for them – sometimes even paying out of their own pocket  for the opportunity (as I’ll be doing when I work in Greece in October).  These positions can be called any number of things: internships, externships, job shadowing,  apprenticeships, mentoring etc.

Both my college-age daughter and niece are doing summer internships here in Northern Nevada.  Why?  They are enjoying having this inside track to experience and do things they wouldn’t have been able to do through traditional hiring practices. And it very likely this unpaid work will give them some advantage in future paid job opportunities.

Is It Worth It?

I have to believe that it’s a win-win for both the intern and the businesses but it is an interesting wrinkle when interns are being used more and more to replace paid staff especially in a deep recession as we have been experiencing.  In a brand new book “Intern Nation” Ross Perlin explores both the history and the pros and cons of “contingency labor”.  It’s fascinating.  Watch for more on this topic in my July First Monday Tip Newsletter.  For now, I’m with Billy Crystal and his fellow “unpaid interns”.  It’s too much fun to miss!

Posted in Career Tips & Strategies, Inspirational Leadership, Navigating Change, Personal Development, Your Time & Energy | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Networking Made Easier!

Whether you are in the job search, exploring an entirely new career path or marketing your own business networking is critical to your success.  There is simply no better way to advance your career than to personally connect with people that are in the know – people that can open doors for you and send opportunities your way.  And in turn, you are doing the same for them. 

Easier Said Than Done

Sounds easy?  Networking doesn’t come easily for most people especially for introverts.  Many people find that networking can be quite overwhelming or even intimidating especially in larger events or with complete strangers.  It’s a skill that takes practice, practice and more practice.  

3 Steps for Easy Networking

Here’s three steps to make networking not only easier but more fun and productive.  First, think of networking as making connections – building relationships.  This is a different mindset entirely.  Set the intention of having one or two significant conversations – not “working the room”.  Second, listen  in these conversations with sincere curiosity.  Be curious about everything – the focus is on them not you.  Give them the gift of listening.  Third, think of what you can offer them – how can you help them get what they need – perhaps an introduction; a good book or resource or a shared idea.  

You will be pleasantly surprised how this shift in your mindset (and expectations) takes much of the stress out of networking.  It’s an other-directed approach that is much more productive.  Bring a couple of business cards back, enter them in your database and send a quick email to just say how much you enjoyed the conversation.  Now that’s powerful networking!

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