If you are one of the many people who has been doing a job search using conventional methods such as submitting resumes to advertised job openings and hoping to get an interview, there’s a good chance you have been having a not too pleasant experience.

Here’s the newsflash: We are no longer operating in a job based economy. We’ve transitioned into a Free Agent Economy in which the rules are completely different.

You have an important decision to make. Either continue on the path you’ve been on knocking your head against the wall for hours while hoping that something happens, OR, open your mind to what you need to do to be successful.

If you decide on the first, you can stop reading this now and go back to revising your resume for the 50th time.

If you decide on the second option, you will want to read my article Recipe for Success in the Free Agent Economy completely and begin following the steps. Help is always available if you need it so you’re never alone.

Good luck with your Career Transition!

Have you noticed that people usually consider themselves the least important individual with whom to honor a promise?

Most people will be thoughtful and considerate regarding promises made to others, especially friends, yet they will not hesitate for a second to abandon a promise made to themselves.

What are the consequences of this? Quite profound actually. The ability to care enough about yourself so you take your promises to yourself seriously, is the foundation of self trust. A person who will routinely abandon themselves, will usually have little trust in themselves. They may not notice this or think it is important but it is. Usually, lack of self trust operates unconsciously but limits virtually every dimension of your life.

Self trust determines how much you are able to trust others and whether they can trust you. This in turn determines the quality and depth of ALL your relationships. In today’s world, it is your relationships, both the quantity and quality, that is your greatest asset.

Believe it or not, your capacity for building meaningful relationships determines your future income potential even more than academic degrees or skills in your targeted field. If this is shocking to you, great! It is time to wake up to the reality of the 21st century.

How does this relate to a job search or building a business? You may already know that your network is important but have you stopped to look closely at the level of support and empowerment available to you? Superficial connections might be of value for a lead here or there but it is the relationships of depth and substance, the committed partnerships, that ultimately create value and impact. These require trust, integrity, reliability and consistency.

Business Development
In business, it is the same. You are less likely to get referrals from someone who barely knows you and… as you cultivate stronger connections with greater trust, your referral network expands enormously. I’ve developed an awesome tool for expanding referrals easily and effortlessly and I routinely give away the technique to anyone serious about their own growth.

How Do You Build Self Trust?
So how do you build self trust and learn how to make and keep promises to yourself? The first step is to shift from a fear based, authority driven belief system to a supportive, empowerment based belief system.

Click here to see a chart comparing these two paradigms. At Breakthrough Coaching, we provide all the support you need to make this shift and the results are absolutely life changing in a very short amount of time. Imagine for a moment the impact on a team or work environment where everybody begins operating with integrity and is accountable. Wow!

Your Existing Cost Factor
If you are thinking right now that you cannot afford coaching, consider that you are already paying a very steep price as a result of NOT having this ability in your life. You are likely oblivious to this cost but once you see it clearly, it will shock you!

We have an option that provides all the tools and support you need for half the cost of one Latte per day. It doesn’t get any better than that! To create a free account and get started, click here.

If you have questions, send me an email to howard@breakthroughcoaching.cc. I look forward to speaking with you! As always, please leave comments and let me know what has been most valuable about this post. Please share with others too.

For many decades a commonly held view has been that academic training and degrees was the key factor in advancing your career and making you more desirable in the marketplace.

People flocked to universities and colleges to take evening courses and earn advanced degrees with hope that the additional credential on their resume would allow them to land their ideal job. This is still going on today.

The basis for this belief is the view that industry or job specific knowledge will make you a more desirable job candidate. Do you still believe this?

While knowledge in your area of expertise is always valuable to have, the reality of the 21st century has changed dramatically. Instead of academic degrees being the focal point for professional advancement, the critical success formula has shifted to the following:

• Clarity about your career/life goals
• Self marketing skills
• Effectiveness with Social Media Technology

What are Self Marketing skills?

There are many facets to this term.

First, there is the ability to identify a target market for your skills, talents and gifts. In order to do this successfully, you need to know your value and the problems you are uniquely able to solve. Relying on your past job experience will no longer work.

Second, there is the need to access your target market and find individuals with whom an alliance will be beneficial. The idea of "networking" without a clear outcome is useless.

Third, there are the skills associated with generating sufficient interest in what you have to offer and starting conversations with key individuals.

Last, there is the critical skill of presenting yourself effectively and "closing the deal". If you are weak in this area, you will NOT have the cash flow that you're seeking. It is that simple.

With all of the above, the chain is only as strong as the weakest link. You need to be strong in ALL these areas to succeed in today’s world.

Many jobs have disappeared and more will soon. Most of them are not coming back. You absolutely have to learn the art of Winning in a World Without Jobs. You can no longer rely on advertised job openings, submitting your resume and hoping for the best.

The Good News is that All of the above skills can be learned but you need to have the same level of desire and commitment for them as you did when you went to school to earn your degree.

The ideal learning environment is one in which you have all the important ingredients—state of the art learning materials, personalized coaching and the support and community for achieving results quickly. Think of it as your 21st century college.

Breakthrough Coaching is exactly this kind of place. We provide an extraordinary learning environment for all of the above and much more. We also have options for everyone, regardless of your financial circumstances. All you have to do is email us at support@breakthroughcoaching.cc and someone will respond promptly.

As with most important life changes, the key is to be decisive and take action to get results. As always, I welcome your comments and feedback.

Sincerely,
Howard

We are living at a time when more and more people are coming to realize that traditional job search methods no longer work. As the frustration builds, people are asking: “What do I do now?”

The answer is shifting paradigms from a 20th century model of ineffective job search strategies (resumes, cover letters and hoping for interviews) to a 21st century model effective marketing that creates profitable alliances. What does this mean?

Effective Marketing means that you:

• Know your product or service extremely well and have total conviction and clarity on its value
• Know your target market and how your product or service solves the problems and fulfills the needs of this population
• Are skilled and confident in your ability to establish relationships with your target market knowing where they are and how to connect with them
• Are skilled and confident in your ability to convey your value and actually close the deal and get paid.

These are the 4 keys to Effective Self Marketing. Obviously, the internet and social media play a huge role in this but knowing that is insufficient. You need to know how to build relationships and communicate skillfully.

The world is filled with outstanding products that make no money and mediocre ones that make a fortune. The difference is skillful marketing and selling.

Traditional Job Search methods such as submitting resumes and hoping for interviews has become one of the most demoralizing activities imaginable. It is equivalent to banging your head against the wall for 10 hours straight… and it feels good when you stop!

If you are a job seeker you are likely unskilled in the above steps because you have been taught all your life that you only needed competence in your field and once you have this, you would get hired. This was a lie before and now it is a bigger and more devastating lie.

When you feel you have struggled enough with conventional methods that don't work and you are ready for something new that does and allows you to have a life, get in touch with us at Breakthrough Coaching. Send an email to me here and say I want to change the game to one I can win!

We’re here to help. You can learn to make this shift easier than you think. Imagine the freedom that this will create in your life!

Sincerely,
Howard

We often find ourselves in situations where we want to refer somebody to a professional person with whom we’ve experienced benefit. Perhaps this could be a service professional that we have gained a lot of value from. Frequently, our instinct is to recommend the person to a friend telling them how great it was working with this person and encouraging them to make contact for themselves.

Statistics show that this approach has very limited amount of success for both your friend and the service professional who you would like to support in getting more business. Maybe you are unaware of the problems with this approach and you do it because it seems so reasonable or so logical. My aim here is to clarify the reasons why this method does not work and to offer a powerful alternative – the introduction which is simple to do and also has a far greater rate of success.

I am excited to share this beautiful video created by a former Career Crafting participant, Angie Widner. It is a perfect gift for this holiday season. The video is a culmination of Angie’s realizations over many years. Enjoy… and please share with others.  All comments are welcome and appreciated!

Do you feel at odds with the mainstream corporate world of employment? There are many people today who feel a strong desire, even a need to follow their own inner directives, ideas or vision and they are not finding job opportunities which are a match.

You may feel that you want the “security” of a regular paycheck yet your collective skills and experience don’t match the available opportunities you are seeing.

You may be following the advice of career professionals such as revising your resume and doing more networking but still not seeing jobs that are appealing or getting interviews or offers.

Maybe you are thinking there is something wrong with you and you have become frustrated and discouraged. This is very common nowadays.

Your greatest fear may be that you are no longer “employable” which can be very scary to contemplate. Are you continuing to pound the pavement forcing the square peg in the round hole as best as you can?

More Education
A 20th century solution to this dilemma is to go back to school to get another degree or acquire new skills with the hope that this will make you more desirable and more competitive in the job market.

Unfortunately, this usually doesn’t work today because industry specific skills or knowledge are rarely the deciding factor any longer.

As challenging and uncomfortable as this situation can be, being a “misfit” in the world of employment can actually give birth to a whole new way of thinking about yourself and a new way of presenting and marketing yourself. In fact,

Being a ‘Misfit’ can be a life changing gift in disguise.

The key is your willingness to take a step back and begin looking at yourself and your career through a new lens.

Along with this is the willingness to re-examine old assumptions, beliefs, labels, etc. about success, money, fulfillment and related themes. This may be difficult to do on your own but fortunately there are others who are skilled and available to help.

Many people today have been successful responding to the demands of the 21st century marketplace. A key factor is their openness to learning new approaches and strategies. Some of these people are also living true to their life purpose, doing something they love and making money too! How can you make this happen for yourself?

Giving Birth To a New Reality
You cannot suddenly see what you are not yet seeing. The real solutions you want and need are usually revealed through a process of interacting with others who have a larger or different perspective.

The complimentary career assessment session I offer can be an ideal first step in making this kind of change. In your session, we will sort through all the issues and factors affecting your job, career and financial situation.

You will gain new insights and leave with a solid plan of action which addresses your short term needs and long term goals. It will also be based on what is real today and what will serve you the best tomorrow. To apply for your session, click here.

I welcome your comments and questions.

Are you:

• Feeling unmotivated or uninspired about your life and future?
• Unclear about your career direction and goals?
• Habitually putting the needs of others first while neglecting yourself in the process?
• Seeking something to get you enthusiastic about 2011?

If you have answered ‘yes’ to any of the above, there is a good chance you do not have a clear life purpose. Perhaps you never took the time to think about it or it just never seemed to be that important.

For most people, the idea of life purpose never comes up because the emphasis is usually on immediate matters such as your job, paying the bills, buying the groceries, taking care of the house, kids, etc. In contrast, the idea of having a Life Purpose may seem lofty, philosophical or downright self indulgent.

My aim here is to plant a new seed in your thought processes and awaken a new possibility. The new possibility is that just maybe, having a life purpose is far more important and with far greater implications than you ever imagined. Lets start with a definition.

What is a Life Purpose?
A Life purpose is an overarching sense of clarity and direction, an inner knowing about your greatest love and passion, and/or an understanding of your optimum role, contribution and mission in the world. This definition will give you some sense of the power this can have in your life.

If this resonates with you and you would like to learn more, I invite you to sign up for our Career Crafting newsletter using the form on the right side of the page. One of the bonuses you will receive is the full hour interview I did on this subject. Please post a comment with any questions or feedback.

Happy Thanksgiving!