Opportunity Week 4, November 30, 2009
Journal Article 11/30/09
Opportunity Week 4, Day 1:
Got a LinkedIn recommendation from a former colleague today, and it was very complimentary. It makes me feel great as a professional when this happens. I also sent out 12 new LinkedIn invitations, and got two confirmations almost immediately. The first level of my network is now at 246. These are people I’ve dealt with directly, not just anybody. That’s important. I checked and saw that modest number now generates over 2 million people in my extended network. Nice.
Spent a few hours working on the business financials for the Joint Petition for Child Support Modification. I have more work to do on this project, but I set a goal of completing the financials only today, and achieved that. The rest will have to be done by the end of the week. Today’s work will also help me prep for my meeting with my tax accountant end of the year. That’s a good thing, and it gets me out in front of that dreaded end-of-year task.
Today is my last day of health insurance pre – COBRA. And I had to go back to the clinic today, since that ear infection seems pretty persistent. I went at 2 pm to avoid the morning crowd and the lunch hour. Worked well. I was in and out of the clinic and over and done with the pharmacy in 90 minutes. Back on antibiotics. Ugh. I did notice some information about the current COBRA subsidy, which I thought expired in December. That’s something I will have to look into.
Put in some solid billable time in the afternoon. I’m trying to see what is in the pipeline for the next few months. There’s work to do, no doubt. Now what I have to do is start to fill that pipeline with revenue. I’ll have to craft a marketing plan for 2010 this month. I have ideas; I just need to spend some time to gel them.
Worked late, since I took time out to go to the clinic today. Didn’t hit the gym until after 6.
TIWIKE:
Using web-based professional networking tools like LinkedIn is an advantage that can’t be overstated. If you’re not doing so, you should start today, regardless of your professional focus or employment situation. It’s something you should monitor for quality and activity as well. In addition, you should be updating your status at least once per quarter. It messages the people in your 1st degree of networking, and keeps you “top of mind.” I prefer to update mine once per month, usually with the beginning of a new project.
Tackle the tough work in manageable bites. If you can’t face the idea of working on something that you really don’t want to, make a decision to accomplish one part of it and no more. When you’re done, put it aside and schedule the next piece. Before you know it, you’re done. Many people freeze on tasks that are just too unpleasant or large. Remember the saying, “How does the ant eat the elephant? One bite at a time.”
If you have to go off-task during the day, try to make the time efficient. Avoid trying to business at lunch time or at the end of the day. That’s when everyone else is trying to do it. A benefit of not being chained to an office is that you can choose when to get things done. Enjoy this benefit. Keep in mind that if you do this, you should be making up the hours later on. For example, if you beat the crowd at the gym by going in the “off hours,” you should be working when the crowd is at the gym.
Resources:
<http://www.ehealthinsurance.com/content/pressNew/Answers_About_COBRA_Subsidy.html>
Journal Article 12/1/09
Opportunity Week 4, Day 2:
Did you ever have one of those days when things just fell into place? They don’t happen all that often, at least that we notice, so they should be recognized. Today was one of those days.
I met with my client this morning to review the Time Management course I wrote for them, and also to talk strategy for the next couple of quarters. Seems pretty solid, and that’s encouraging. I was talking to the HR folks after the meeting, and one of the senior staff came in, asking if I had a brief training module that I could give to him for an offsite that is coming up this weekend. As it turns out, we’d just decided to create a brief Communications refresher to deliver in the spring. All I needed to do was push it to the front of the queue and work on it immediately. He was grateful and I was happy to be able to help.
On the way home, I remembered that I was out of printer paper and swung around to Staples. I love that place. While I was there, I picked up all of the participant supplies that I’ll need for Time Management. And right next to Staples was a supermarket – my favorite local chain. I picked up a few, important things while I was there. Efficiency on the road is a wonderful thing.
While I was in the supermarket, my friend called. Apparently my rebid for the photo job was successful! That is very good news. We talked a bit about it, and I called her back when I got to my home office. I decided that I’d shoot the building exteriors on the weekend, since we probably don’t want cars in front of the buildings for the shots. I’ll reach out to the contacts I’ve been given to find out when the sun is on the building facing to determine the proper time of day to shoot each location. There’s a staff shot to be done, but that is local and will happen next week. It’s all good.
Had a call with my “Committee” friend about my revised resume. He liked it! That’s nice, because he is very picky about resumes, which is why I asked for his help. In the end there are only a few minor edits. That’s amazing, and a relief. I hate to send out a resume that isn’t crisp. And I have a call tomorrow afternoon with a recruiter.
Work, work work. In the end, I did have to deliver on this morning’s promise to that manager, so I worked on the Communications refresher until about 6:30. Absolutely worth it, but I’m beat. I won’t complain; it’s “work for pay.” When I was done, I had to hit the gym. I came perilously close to walking out of the house tonight in my boxers, rather than my gym shorts. Maybe I need to take a break? I probably would have noticed on the walk to the gym, after all, it’s 37 degrees outside. But clearly I am tired and not paying attention.
Came home from the gym at 7:30 and made lasagna. The last time I tried this was about 8 years ago. It came out okay, but it wasn’t “right.” This time I made it at the end of a long day, with the wrong pans. Were there suposed to be leftover ingredients? I didn’t have a lot of choice but to make it, since the meat was at the “use or lose it” stage. I froze a bunch of it for times when I don’t have the time or inclination to cook.
TIWIKE:
Attitude is everything. If you believe in yourself, and that things will work out for you in the end you will have the serenity and confidence to be successful. It isn’t always easy. You’ll fall down. You’ll screw up. You’ll lose your way. That’s part of being human. But a positive attitude carries you along with the stream of life. People see that, and are attracted to that energy.
Be patient with potential clients and hold your ground on what is fair compensation for your work. If it was meant to be, it will happen. It can be frustrating, especially for creatives. You’ll occasionally lose an opportunity, but unless you’re really off the mark in your pricing you just need to hang in there and expect success. (Looking at the prices that other, comparable professionals are charging is a good baseline.) It won’t always work out, but often does. And as you continue to do work for a fair price, you’ll build a client base and a history of successful work at that rate. The rest, as they say, is history.
When on a job search, your resume is your entre to the interview. It has to pass a digital and human screening and a few more pair of eyes if you’re going to get a chance to actually talk about what you do. All the key words need to be there in order for it to move on to the next stage. Make sure they are. Take the time and make the effort to get a great resume. Use experienced and critical colleagues, recruiters and outplacement professionals to get a sense for your resume’s quality and potential. In this weakened economy, your resume needs to stand out from many others. If you need tips on resume writing, a Google search will give you about 2 million hits! Resume Help (linked below) may be a good place to start if you’re really just starting.
Sometimes you just have to laugh. People do funny things, and you’re one of them. Laugh at yourself. You’re just showing how human you really are, and that’s a good thing.
Resources:
Journal Article 12/2/09
Opportunity Week 4, Day 3:
I spent the morning writing yesterday’s blog. I’m finding that this pattern of taking notes during the day, then completing the entry the next morning seems to work so far. The only disruption seems to be when I have a morning commitment. Later in the morning, I called a committee member to ask her a few more questions about blogging, and as anticipated she gave me some very valuable feedback. With little fanfare, I named and launched my blog today. It may not seem like much to the rest of the world right now, but this is a very important step for me.
Based on the feedback that I got from another committee member, I revised my resume this morning and sent it off to a recruiter I’d made a phone appointment with for later today. She had an older one, and we need to work from the most recent version. I also called the outplacement agency to make an appointment to meet with my job search coach. My employer only paid for a month of services, so I need to “use it, or lose it.” Amazing that in this job market, where searches can last anywhere from a few months to over a year that someone would think that a month of outplacement is appropriate. On the one hand, I appreciate the service. On the other hand, it’s seems like a token gesture from an organization letting me go at the holidays in a seriously weakened economy.
This is the week to decide about COBRA – the incredibly expensive health insurance carryover that is appropriately named after a venomous snake. When I was termed, there was some mention about a COBRA subsidy, and some notes on the rate sheet in my black (sheesh) folder of death seemed to indicate that the current federal subsidy runs out at the end of the year. Just for the heck of it, I went to the COBRA website from the Department of Labor along with a few other web pages, and it seemed to indicate that if you were laid off this year you could get a nine-month 65% subsidy from the day you elect COBRA. Hmm. That was contrary to what I’d been told. That would give me nine months of health care at just over $100 per month, as opposed to just over $500 per month. For me, that is the difference between having and not having health insurance. I called the health insurance provider to confirm. Yup – confirmed. I asked them to get in touch with my former employer and get it straight with the people who were laid off with me. Sheesh! This is important stuff! I called one of my former colleagues to let him know, too.
I spoke to someone on the management team from my last job and asked about maybe doing some contract work for them next year. She was amenable to the idea, and after all it’s how I came to them in the first place. She asked me to submit a proposal for the relationship. This is great news, and it feels good to start possibly filling next year’s revenue pipeline already. You never know.
I worked on the Joint Petition for Modification today. I’m almost there, but I needed to work out the entire year of revenue to this year to be fair. It took time, and I still have work to do but I am glad that I’m this far. I have an open day tomorrow, and I’ll try to wrap it up then. This is already behind schedule.
Had a good conversation with a recruiter. Who was a new referral to me from a former colleague, but from an organization I had worked with before – Clearpoint Consultants. They’re headquartered locally, and specialize in Training and Organizaitonal Development so it’s a good fit for me. I liked the recruiter and she seemed confident that I was a good fit for their business. Of course, there were no “hot reqs” to work on. I asked how often I should follow up with her, and then scheduled it as a monthly recurring appointment in my calendar.
I made calls to contacts that I have for the commercial shoot this weekend, and got the information about which way the buildings face so I will hit the mark this weekend. I don’t want to have to reshoot anything. The window of good weather for this weekend can close at any time; this being New England.
Daughter Meg came to dinner, and as always it was great to spend time with her. I am so fortunate in this way to have my wonderful daughters in my life.
TIWIKE:
Ask quality people for input, and follow it. If you’re not sure, by all means get a second opinion. If you’ve done a good job of creating quality relationships, the people in your inner personal and professional circles can either provide or connect you to important information, tools and people to help you to be successful. Don’t forget to be a resource for them. Networking is a full-contact sport based on mutually beneficial relationships.
Look into the important things, like taxes, insurance, legal issues and the like. Even if you really hate to deal with complicated paperwork, processes and bureaucracy as I do, these are things that will impact your life quite directly. Before you shrug and walk away from something important, take the amount of time to research it that’s proportional to its potential impact on your life.
Recruiters are an invaluable resource for job seekers. They may have the inside word on a job that isn’t quite public, or isn’t public quite yet. You don’t pay them, either. They’re paid by the employer for finding a candidate they hire. Most importantly, they have the right inside relationships and information you may not have. Combining those relationships with your solid network can really give you a leg up on the competition. Get a lead from a recruiter…get out to your network and make some contacts with people you know, and who know your work. You may be able to uncover some information even your recruiter doesn’t have and get an inside referral.
Resources:
http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq_consumer_cobra.HTML
Journal Article 12/3/09
Opportunity Week 4, Day 4:
I woke to a rainy morning this morning. It’s one of those days that I’m glad I don’t have that 25 mile commute right now. There are, after all, good things about not going to an office every day. I’m glad that I know how to be an independent. As I was enjoying the non-commute I got an unexpected call from a number I didn’t recognize. The man on the other end of the line said that he’d received a package that seemed to be meant for me at a place I left three years ago. He’d opened it, then saw my name and number on the shipper and called me. I drove over and picked it up. Nice guy. Coast Guard officer. Being a vet, I chatted it up with the guy before I left. A good experience.
I completed the paperwork for COBRA and put it in the mail today. Never thought I would get COBRA. If it wasn’t for the current subsidy, I simply wouldn’t have health insurance. That would mean a fine at tax time by both the federal and state government (at least in my state). Those are lovely things to avoid. And having health insurance is good.
After a bit, it turned out to be a glorious day. Is this December? It’s 66 degrees. Well, a day like this is a day to get things done in the true New England spirit. Preparing for winter! After hitting the gym, I took the afternoon to wash and wax my car. The road salt up here it brutal on unprotected paint. I doubt I’ll see another day this warm until March, so as they say, I’ll “make hay while the sun is shinin’ ”. And my black Mazda3 looks great with a coat of wax.
TIWIKE:
Not having to commute is one of the few potential perks of being unemployed or a soloist. There aren’t all that many perks to getting laid off, so you should enjoy not only the absence of the commute but also the absence of the fuel cost of commuting. If you add it up, the savings are significant.
When it makes sense, change plans to take advantage of an unexpected opportunity. The flip side of that coin is that if there are goals that will be moved or sacrificed, it has to be worth it. As an independent, you need to be goal-oriented enough to be willing to make up that work time in the evenings or on the weekend. Unlike being employed, “playing hookey” doesn’t mean a day off; it means putting work off to another scheduled time.
Journal Article 12/4/09
Opportunity Week 4, Day 5:
I signed up for a workshop on dreams and dream interpretation that a friend and former colleague of mine is giving on Sunday. She’s a life and executive coach with training and some real insight into working with dreams. I’m looking forward to it.
I did get some good billable time in today. That’s important, and I haven’t been at it as much as I’d like lately. My client has a lot of work that needs to be done, and I am happy to help. Lately, I’ve been tied up with so many other important, but non-revenue-producing activities… But some of that is behind me now, and I should be able to focus more on actual billable work, marketing and looking for gigs. I sent some of the materials that I’d created for my client to the “committee” for review early today. It’s great to have that resource, and I got some feedback immediately.
I decided to get to the gym early today for some reason. It was a tough workout. For some reason, my energy just wasn’t there.
After the gym, I finished off the Joint Petition document. I feel confident about the outcome. It’s tough on me financially, and may be a stretch, but it’s fair and accurate. Now I just have to make sure that I can keep up with it! I e-mailed back and forth with my ex about it a little, and tucked the documents into the mail. We’ll talk about it next week.
You never know what’s going to happen next. I broke a tooth, and made an emergency call to my dentist. Great guy. Turns out that he’s out of the office next week, but he can take me today. At the appointed time, I jumped in the car and sped over there. He worked his usual magic, and I was out of there in about 40 minutes. I went right from there to my next appointment. The traffic! Oy…
I met my friend to help her with the activities in her upcoming dream workshop. She’s a subject matter expert, and very capable, but in this case she was working on some participant activities for her workshop, and wanted some pointers. I’m on her “committee.” As I waited for her at Panera, I noticed a lot of people working on laptops, meeting with others, reading and other such things. It’s interesting to see this trend in New England, and it’s been steadily growing for the last 20 years or so. Not so long ago, it would be unusual to meet someone in a book store, for example. Now it’s common. And I know a lot of soloists who get out to a public place to work or read to beat the sense of isolation. From here, my friend and I braved some more traffic to have a birthday dinner with some friends at a restaurant in a nearby mall. Except for the holiday traffic and parking, it was a great time.
TIWIKE:
Get the paying work done. It’s easy to spend lots of time working on other things that could and should be done, but don’t generate revenue or the possibility of future revenue. They need to be done, especially those related to managing expense, but weekly priorities need to be focused on finding income if you’re going to make it. Stay focused. You’ll be happy for it in the long run.
Bad weather days are one of the potential perks of being a job seeker. You didn’t have to sit in traffic in the rain or snow with the rest of the commuters. Enjoy that. Enjoy not having to deal with some of the silliness and politics that come with working inside an organization as well. As long as you’re “out,” take the perks as they come.
Be on someone else’s committee. Be a helper. Working together with other job seekers and independents is good for all. If you miss being on a team in a corporation, this activity will mitigate that. And getting comfortable working out in the world, whether in a library, a restaurant, a cyber café or what-have-you is a good way to beat that isolated feeling you can encounter when you’re on your own for months at a time.
Sometimes the Universe is going to throw you a curve. It’s easy to get frustrated, and stuck on, “what ELSE is going to happen to me now?” With enough of that thinking, it’s easy to get to a place where you feel like you’ve got a dark cloud following you. Handle things one at a time. Enjoy the fact that you can handle it. With enough “taking things in stride,” you’ll become an expert in flexibility. That’s a good thing.
Journal Article 12/5,6/09
Weekend Edition
Saturday
I’d been putting it off, but it was time to take the TIWIKE blog to the next level. I logged into WordPress and started to see what needed to be done to get this baby out in the world. It took some time, but I figured out how to get the last three weeks of blogs uploaded and edited. It was a little challenging here and there, but then there it was – out there. I set up my new domains so they would point to the blog. It was pretty simple, using some of the instructions online. The whole operation took the afternoon, but I was pretty satisfied with this first pass at blogging.
But those are the mechanics.
The real deal here is that after many years of wanting to, I finally started writing something beyond courseware and corporate communiqués. I’ve been saying that I am a teacher, a writer and a photographer for some years. Now, all three are a reality in the way I’d imagined them. It’s a dream I’ve dreamed, and now I am living it. That is something to celebrate!
Sunday
Today was a busy day for photography, and I had the first installment of that successfully rebid job to shoot. It snowed a few sticky inches last night, and I awoke to blanket of snow. The shots are three industrial buildings, and I’m not sure that the client will want snow in the shots, but then again it is December in New England and they want these shots right away. And we need an empty parking lot, which means I am restrcited to shooting on the weekends. So in this case, that means I shoot in the snow. It’s rare that I have a paid photo gig, and I won’t see this money until next month but sure it will come in handy. I celebrate the opportunity to work as a professional photographer.
It was a glorious day, with a fresh blanket of snow and a clear blue sky. As I drove to each of the three locations, a total of about 230 miles over about 4 hours, I enjoyed every beautiful mile. I cranked up the music, including some classic rock from the 70’s. It was a good day. These are fair times.
I was supposed to go to that dream workshop, but a last-minute heating system emergency at my mom’s house cancelled that. I was sorry to miss it, not only because I am interested in the dream work, but also because I want to support my friend. In the end, being there for family is more important.
In all – a good week. I’m feeling more confident every day.
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