What I Learned on My Summer Vacation

My child starts kindergarten next week. Earlier in the year I made a conscious decision to cut back on client hours during the summer months and spend the bulk of my time with her (although I have some neat business developments coming) and just go with the flow – a huge challenge for me! It has been great fun and I wouldn’t change any of it. In these few short months I learned some valuable life lessons, not necessarily in any order:

· I would go on vacation once a month if we could work it out. But schedules and commitments don’t allow for that, so instead we find creative ways to make some fun each day!

· I don’t enjoy eating in restaurants nearly as often as I once did. In June my husband and I decided to try Suze Orman’s suggestion to eat in for an entire month in order to eat healthier and to see what impact it had on our wallets. We made it most of the month (we did go out for Father’s Day and then got a little lazy during the last week) and discovered that we really prefer to eat at home. It is less complicated and we don’t have to wait for a table. Financially we saved some but spent more on groceries. The amount saved would add up over time though, and if you’re a habitual dine-out type and want to save some money I would definitely recommend it. The experiment period is past and we have eaten at home a lot more since.

· I don’t have to be such a creature of habit. As I said, I have spent the better part of the summer going with the flow, which is a big challenge because I work best with daily structure. But I learned to adapt by seizing opportunities to work at odd times and have still managed to complete some business projects. I’ve relearned that each day is a new day and shaking up your routine can actually make you more productive and creative!

· Romantic ideas are sometimes just that. Who hasn’t daydreamed of that fabulous career that marries fresh air and immeasurable success? Two years ago I started gardening in my back yard and did so well that I began fantasizing about supplying fresh produce to local restaurants. The first year we had a great crop of tomatoes; last year I grew so many cucumbers that I made 20 pints of pickles! This year? It has been hot and dry, we’ve had more pests than ever devouring everything and nothing has done well. How DID my grandparents make a living at this? Back indoors for me…

· I really, really like working. This is a good thing. I enjoy clients, I like structure, and I like developing products and services to help make peoples’ lives a little easier. So maybe it’s o.k. that my hobby farm didn’t work!

· Tweeting, Facebooking, blogging, LinkedIn-ing, You-Tubing, etc. can simply take over your life. I have done it all, and I strongly recommend being very, very focused about how and when you use any of it!

· Recession is a drag. Almost everyone has been negatively affected in some way, and no one likes feeling out of control. My greatest hope, though, is that there will be positive outcomes of learning what is really important to us; that we identify our core values and learn how to let some of the other “stuff” go.

To that effect, if you or someone you know would like to schedule a free consultation, I would love to get it on the calendar! My goal is to deliver 25 free consultations (yes, really)during the month of September, so either call or text me, 972-333-5932, or send an e-mail message to consultation@pilotcoaching.com.

I also offer some a la carte services to provide cost-effective alternatives to one-on-one coaching and still provide a kick start to help you move ahead more quickly and strategically. In addition to the e-courses, “Life in Focus” and “Career in Focus” I now offer resume critique and cover letter development, and an individual one-time goal-setting/strategy session. Again, contact me via e-mail, or phone or text me at 972-333-5932. Let’s schedule a consultation to see what might work for you within your financial and time budgets.

New! Sign Up for a One-Hour Goal-Setting/Strategy Session

Some new “a la carte” services have been added to my practice. I recently announced that I am offering resume critique and cover letter development; I’m also very excited to begin offering a one-hour goal-setting/strategy session.

Many of you with whom I have spoken recently have expressed hesitation to commit to coaching for financial reasons which I completely understand and respect. The irony is that this may be a time in your life when you most need the objective focus and support that the one-on-one coaching relationship provides. That is why I want to offer a great way for you to get that support, focus and strategy you need right now.

A one-hour goal-setting/strategy session actually will require quite a bit more than one hour of our time, but that is the amount of time we will actually spend talking together in a formal session. I will send you written material ahead of our call so that we can sort through as much information as possible before we talk. There will be a series of questions I will ask you about what Is working and what isn’t in your life and/or career, and we will correspond by e-mail as we work through that. Then we can spend the time on our call getting very, very specific about what you want and your plan of action. Following our call I will send you a written summary of the outcomes of our session.

The charge for this service is an affordable $175.00. No surprise fees added later, no bombarding you with sales pitches afterward. When we finish, you will walk away with goals and strategies we generate together and hopefully a clearer, fresher outlook. If you want to get started, send a message to gwen@coachgwen.com with “goal session” in the subject line. If you’re not sure, call or e-mail me for a free consultation. Let’s get started!

Focus on What NOT to do? You Bet!

This month's issue of Inc. Magazine features Jim Collins, author of Built to Last and Good to Great talking about how small businesses can thrive in 2009. Though focused on entrepreneurs and small business, a lot of what he said translates to other areas of life.

One statement in particular has had a huge impact on me. In talking about how business (and life, I would add) has changed in the last 10-30 years, he states that

"You need a laserlike focus on doing first things first. And that means having a ferocious understanding of what you are not going to do. The question used to be which phone call you wouldn't take. Now, it's the discipline not to have your e-mail on. The skill is knowing how to sift through the blizzard of information that hits you all the time."

Like many of you, when trying to focus on one task I may become easily distracted; before I realize what has happened, I've spent an hour on something else that wasn't even on my to-do list for that day! It may be the "ding" that signals I have new e-mail, a phone call, or simply seeing something in my environment that pulls me away. Usually when that happens it is because the new distraction is more fun or interesting than the task that would actually move me toward a completed goal.

But I am resolved to develop my ferocious understanding and laserlike focus on what I will NOT do! Here are my tips to help you do the same:

• Turn the sound off so you won't be tempted to look at or answer unnecessary e-mail, phone calls or texting. This is easy to do for an hour at a time, or whatever time frame you need.
• If there are fun things that are luring you away (shopping, social gatherings, hobbies) set certain days or times that you will indulge. The rest of the time, don't.
• Unsubscribe to the e-mail newsletters (not this one of course!), daily sale notices, and whatever else clutters your inbox every day but doesn't move you ahead.
• If it helps, set a timer. My sister tells me she sets a timer to "de-clutter" her workspace for 20 minutes at a time, uninterrupted. It helps her stay on task and when the timer goes off, it's over. No distractions allowed during that time, and no guilt when time is up.
• If necessary, make a "to-don't" list for the day. Write down the things you will not do that will keep you from your day's goals.

In the process, you will begin to see more clearly where you waste the most time and begin to enjoy greater accomplishment at the end of each day!

Never, Never, Never Neglect the Cover Letter!

A few years ago a client mentioned that she had sent quite a number of resumes and was getting no response. Knowing her credentials to be impeccable, I asked what she said in her cover letter. Her response? "I don't have a cover letter because I have been sending them online."

After I recovered from choking, we went over the importance of a cover letter even in the modern age, created one, and she immediately began getting multiple calls for interviews.

How do you include a cover letter in response to online job postings you ask? Simple. We'll get to that in a minute. First let's understand the importance of a cover letter and what it accomplishes that a resume alone can't.

In the old days, a resume was sent via snail mail and the cover letter was nearly always requested: "Send a resume with cover letter to P.O. Box..." The primary reason for the cover letter was to help the recipient screen the resumes. If the cover letter was poorly written the chance of the resume getting read was slim, unless you were one of only three applicants for a position.

Guess what? That is still true, it has just taken on a slightly different form. The primary purpose of a cover letter is to get your resume read and help you get a call for an interview. You use the cover letter to:

• Explain why you are applying for a specific position and where you learned about it.


• Direct the reader's attention to something important and relevant in your resume, i.e., here is why you should want to talk with me.


• Explain briefly and in a positive way why you are specifically interested in this position.
  
• Request an interview and tell them the best way to reach you.

The cover letter should always be kept to one page and the format goes like this:

Heading: Should match your resume heading (name and contact info)

Date:

Name and address of recipient

Salutation. If you don't have a contact name, you may say "To Whom it May Concern:"

Paragraph 1: Why you're writing. "I am writing in response to your advertisement for a window washer posted on xyzwindowwashers.com."

Paragraph 2: Why you're a logical choice. Write two or three sentences about yourself that would be relevant to the job and make them want to call you.

Paragraph 3: Request the interview and provide them with the best times and plaes to reach you. You may also indicate here if you are applying in confidence so they know not to divulge your search to your current employer.

As for how to include a cover letter when you're responding online, there are a couple of ways. If you have been asked to send the resume as an e-mail attachment, you can either make the e-mail message your cover letter (same format and length) with the resume attached, or make it the first page of the attachment which is the way I prefer because then if the resume gets forwarded or printed and handed to someone, the cover letter is more likely to go with it. Use your best judgment. And often now when you complete on online resume form there is an option to include a cover page. Always do this if the opportunity exists.

The cover letter is your introduction. It gives the reader a sense of your personality in a way that a resume cannot. Unless you are applying for a skill-specific position where your skills outweigh the importance of your ability to communicate and get along, I would not expect you to get many calls for interviews without it.

If you don't have a cover letter to use or if you're not confident about the one you have, I am happy to help. Go to http://coachgwen.com/cch and look for the "a la carte services." Developement of a cover letter is one of the services offered.

The #1 Must-Have, Right Now

In Texas, where I live and work, we are hearing reports of new unemployment records being set. Not surprising news. In recent months I have been talking with clients, friends and others in my network to find out what their greatest needs and what people need to be doing and have in place when/if you find yourself back in the job market. Besides the obvious need of having a financial cushion in place, there are some other basics you should have at the ready whether or not you are presently in the job market.

The number one thing I find that most people DON'T have ready is a good, updated resume. And having to scramble to put one together when you are abruptly placed back in the job market is not the best time to begin this process. Many people losing jobs now have been in the same place for several years and are way out of practice in marketing themselves. And when you're out of practice, you tend to lack confidence to put a really good resume together. Add to that the stress of being laid off or downsized and the emotion of a transition and your search can get off to a really bad start.

If your resume is not current and/or does not give an immediate snapshot of your qualifications and experience, do not delay. Get on it this week. If you don't have one at all, begin by making a chronological list of all of your work experience starting from the present and working backward. Then under each job list first your responsibilities then your accomplishments. Under accomplishments, quantify any successes you had anything to do with; any time you can say you added dollars to the bottom line or improved efficiency by x% which added to the bottom line (get the idea?) you must do so. The purpose of the resume is to get you an interview. Period. Think of it as a marketing piece, not just a list.

If you need objective help to give impact to your resume, I am now offering resume critique. You may find more information on my products and services page, http://coachgwen.com/cch . There are also resume writing services in most cities and online if you don't even have a basic one from which to build. I cannot stress enough the importance of your resume. Do not neglect this critical item!

Next post: The importance of cover letters.

A Review of the Cash Machine Workshop

On Feb. 20-22 I attended Loral Langmeier and the Live Out Loud team's "Cash Machine Workshop" in Dallas. If you don't know Loral, she has written the series of Millionaire Maker books and she recently appeared on "Dr. Phil" as a financial expert. I have been recommending her books to coaching clients who were considering starting their own businesses and because of that, I have wanted to attend one of her workshops and see for myself that she is her product. On that front I was not disappointed.

The workshop takes the principles laid out in her book, The Millionaire Maker's Guide to Creating a Cash Machine for Life and drives the points home on an expanded, more personal level. The primary principle of creating a cash machine is that you create a business that will earn you new cash within a fairly short time. If you have a dream or a business idea that you can't translate into income within about a six week time frame then she calls it a hobby instead of a cash machine. Loral is a very dynamic speaker and drives these points home with humor and solid know-how. She will tell you that she grew up on a farm in Nebraska and learned how to work hard for money, but wanted to learn a different way. She made her first million by age 34. She is very entertaining and three days of what could have been extremely dry material went by very quickly and sparked a lot of creative thinking.

I like the principle of creating a cash machine because it helps quickly focus whether your idea is a dream or a solid business proposition. You systematically evaluate your idea on the basis of how quickly it can generate cash and remove emotion from the equation, but of course do not compromise your values. My favorite quote that Loral uses a lot is "If you want a $3 latte, go earn the $3 and buy yourself a latte!" In this scary economy when the instinct tends to be to fret and worry and deny yourself anything that costs money, it is refreshing to be offered another option to get creative and go out and make your personal economy better!

Now, I will say that the environment of the workshop was a little rah-rah for my taste. After every break there was a warmup emcee that yelled, "Fired up?" We had to respond by yelling back, "Fired up!", followed by "Are you ready to go?" "Ready to go!" For us introverts in the room that was a little exhausting. But the great thing about this experience was that Loral herself presented the course material. I have noticed that a lot of these programs are sold for thousands of dollars because there is a big name attached, but when you get there the big name is nowhere in sight. Not so here. It is made very clear that when you sign up for a Loral Langmeier course, you get Loral Langmeier.

Overall the course met my expectations. As a coach I like to envision the future and all the possibilities attached, but find it harder personally to bring it down to the details of what must be done immediately and in what order to bring it to logical fruition. That was my primary reason for being there and I got that and then some. The lecture portions of the program covered basics like the germination of the idea, evaluating its potential for earning cash, designing services around it, creating a business entity (federal i.d. number and company structure), revenue modeling (great exercise!), and your sales pitch or "talk track" as they call it. A small expo of previous independent cash machine builders was also offered in the next room offering many of the services entrepreneurs need.

In addition, we roamed around the room at all breaks and in dedicated selling time with a sign on our back with a slogan of sorts, and made actual cash sales to each other. By the end of the weekend, something like $56,000 had been exchanged in the room. And whether or not you made sales (some products didn't lend themselves to being sold in that environment) you still benefited from critique on your talk track. That alone was probably worth the price of admission!

And speaking of price, the workshop retails for $3750. I personally paid $1995 because I attended her free lecture in Dallas in January and they offered a deep discount to anyone who signed up that day. They also provided two tickets for me to sell to any Cash Machine workshop in the U.S. this year (contact me if you would like to buy one; a spouse or business partner can attend with you on the same ticket) at the same discount. Please note: though the Live Out Loud organization offers affiliate opportunities, I am not currently an affiliate and am not receiving anything for this review. I mention the tickets only because I have them and would like to make them available to anyone who might already be interested in attending the workshop.

Of course, the whole weekend they are continually upselling you, making it sound imperative that you continue your momentum by signing up either for six months of individual coaching with one of their coaches or the big one, "Loral's Big Table." Both have big sticker prices. The coaching was going for around $7,000 and the big table (one year of access to their team and three in-person weekend meetings with Loral and other Big Table members building and critiquing your businesses) that was going for around $12,000. And these were the 2009 "Economic Stimulus" prices. While these prices are comparable to the going rates for a lot of these programs (actually a little less and you get the real speaker herself) I did not sign on for any of these continued services but I do think that if you're extremely serious and focused on a business you want to create and have a good idea that has real profit potential, these additional services could accelerate your earnings and save you a lot of money in early mistakes.

I am glad I paid the tuition to attend this weekend workshop and would definitely recommend it to anyone planning to start a business or who has one that isn't making enough cash. I will also be incorporating a lot more of the information into my coaching practice and feel better equipped to help entrepreneurs focus on the bottom line.

The Live Out Loud organization has also started a membership community that will provide lots of small business services including several kinds of insurance. That is something I'm going to look into for myself as well. The annual membership is currently $218 which would be well worth it for the networking but more for the health insurance if you have no other group options. If you want to read more about the workshops and other offerings, you may visit their website at http://www.liveoutloud.com.

In summary:

A few of the points I took away from the workshop:

• Know what you must do yourself and create a team to assist with the rest.
• Look hard at the numbers. Decide on the magic monthly number you need right away and create a revenue model for the immediate 90 days.
• The first step is to create your entity. Pay the money for a reputable CPA and/or attorney to get you set up correctly from the beginning.
• If you do the numbers and realistically can't generate sufficient cash within six months or less, you need to table that idea and look at another cash machine. You can pursue the dream later after you have made cash.
• Enlist every resource you can to support your business; this include services you can pay for, information you can gather for free (it's all over the place!), positive friends who encourage and inspire you.
• Don't wait for everything to be organized in detail. Go out today and begin selling; take orders and deliver the product in a reasonable time!

I attended a Loral Langemeier Workshop Last Saturday

When I'm working with a client who is either considering starting a business or is already running one, I usually recommend Loral Langemeier's "Millionaire Maker" books, and in particular "The Millionaire Maker's Guide to Creating a Cash Machine for Life," among a list of other books. (I sure wish she could shorten the title though.) So when I was notified that I could attend a free seminar locally, I didn't hesitate. After all, I only recommend things that I know enough about to recommend. I should also state up front that I am NOT currently an affiliate of Live Out Loud or Loral Langemeier's products; I do not currently receive any financial benefit from recommending any of these products.

Note: If you want to read more about these books and products, visit liveoutloud.com.

Knowing that her workshops are costly, I expected that anything offered for free was going to come with a sales pitch, and it did. (The cash maching workshop retails for $3495, and you can then go on to "Loral's Big Table" for I think around $14,000.) But I will say that the free workshop offered great information and the sales pitch was not offensive to me or to my friend who accompanied me. In fact, quite unlike me, I signed up and paid for the cash machine workshop coming here in three weeks; it also helped that attendees at this workshop received a discount.

What Loral offers can be summed up in one of her own statements: "Instead of cutting back, doing without, and limiting ourselves, I say that if you want a $3 latte, earn the $3 and go get yourself a latte!" This is now becoming my new mantra. She also suggested that the industrial age is over; she will tell you that the era of getting a job, earning a paycheck and counting on pensions is over and you are capable of never having to work for anyone else again.

The cash machine workshop for which I registered promises to send you home with a workable business idea (i.e., a product or service) which you can create to generate cash flow within a few weeks, and marketing, sales and financial plans to do it. My personal motivation for attending has more to do with wanting to immerse myself in this kind of information and participate in a group. I believe it will also restore some confidence that gets diluted working in an isolated environment much of the time as I do. I am also evaluating a couple of new business ideas and this will help me focus and avoid wasting energy on unprofitable or unmanageable projects.

Being a slow adopter I have been reading the books and blogs and receiving the "Live Out Loud" newsletters for about a year. I have wanted to attend the workshop but am not one to let go of my money easily! So I was already a good prospect for these folks. What finally sold me was that it is being offered locally, it is timely (only three weeks from now) and Loral herself runs the workshop; she doesn't send "people" to deliver canned information. And since many self-proclaimed gurus offer similar seminars or workshops and charge in the tens of thousands, I felt this to be a very good value.

So, stay tuned as I intend to write a full review after the fact. There are supposed to be several teleconferences in preparation for the workshop and I have quite a bit of material to read ahead of time. I'll let you know how it all goes!

Reminder - Last Week for Early Bird Pricing

Just a quick reminder that this is the last week to sign up for my "Life in Focus" and "Career in Focus" e-courses at the early bird prices which expire on Jan. 31. For more information, visit http://coachgwen.com/e-courses.htm.

Dig Your Way Out of the Clutter!

Though I no longer make New Year's resolutions, I usually get a burst of energy following the Christmas holidays when I put away the tree and all the decorations. After looking at all of the new "stuff" that was brought in for Christmas, I looked around and had this sense that if our house didn't explode, I might! So I began plowing into reorganization of everything in my home and office that wasn't serving me.


If you read my e-book, "The Realist's Guide to Dealing With Clutter, Once and For All," you'll know I don't subscribe to the notion that I can overcome my tendency to clutter. Ever. Instead, when I see a problem area in my physical environment, I think about how I want that space to function versus what is happening now.


Here's an example. Yesterday I looked at the row of phone books in my kitchen windowseat that is always sliding away from itself and which is viewable from the street (never mind that it has been that way for three years!). We live in a suburb of a large metro area so we have our city book, one for the county, one for the large city nearby, the at&t version, the Verizon version, etc. etc. I decided I couldn't take it any more! I do need the phone books in that location because even though I rarely use them, I do still consult them on occasion when I just want to find the number for a local business and don't want to sit down to conduct an internet search.


So, the answer to my own question, "How do I need this space to function?" was that I needed the phone books to stay in the same spot near the phone, but I would like for them to remain upright when I remove one and I would like for them not to be visible from the street! The solution? I measure exactly how wide and deep the space is that holds the books and bought an attractive basket that holds them all neatly and out of the way.

So what, you may ask. Why is this blog-worthy? Because sometimes the most annoying clutter problems are solved so easily, yet they tend the ones we put off because they aren't as big as some of the others. Lining up phone books doesn't seem as important as cleaning out the entire storage closet or painting the bathroom. And because those projects are so intimidating and we can't block off the two full days we think we need to complete them, we don't handle any of it!

So, my encouragement to you today is to tackle one or two small but persistent annoyances in your environment. Change a light bulb that is burned out, dust a windowsill, clean out a drawer. Not only is it pretty quick and easy, it's way more rewarding than you expect! Had I known how thrilled I would be to no longer see that mess of leaning phonebooks I would have handled it three years ago!