Running my own business over the past decade has been an exhilarating journey full of both successes and disappointments. I remember first deciding to start my own business back in 2013, shortly after I’d just been promoted into a global marketing role in the corporate world. Ironically, that promotion helped illuminate the fact I didn’t want to continue climbing that professional ladder. I’d decided the time had come for me to branch off on my own to see what unique path I could carve for myself in the world of self-employment. Looking back on these past 10 years, I now realize that certain ..read more

10 years ago, I made the difficult decision to leave my 10-year corporate marketing career behind to start my own business. At the time, I was working for a well-known, global consumer ice cream brand at an established, international company. However, my growing disillusion from my job focused on increasing ice cream consumption combined with my interest in professional coaching followed by my father’s death led me to leave that stable life behind to start my own independent career consultancy focused on helping people navigate career transitions. Aside from hiring a few freelancers to help m ..read more

If you’re someone who’s on the hunt for a new role this year, your ability to effectively find and approach recruiters on LinkedIn can have a direct impact on your job prospects. With LinkedIn recently crossing 1 billion users globally in 200 countries, it firmly remains the world’s most popular and powerful online professional network. According to data from LinkedIn, 65 million job seekers visit LinkedIn Jobs every week. Members submit 140 job applications every second, and six people are hired every minute through LinkedIn. Additionally, an average of 20 InMails are sent every second with ..read more

With the start of the new year, you may be thinking about making a career change. According to Glassdoor, January is the month employees are most likely to think about changing jobs, likely resulting from a combination of hiring managers who have refreshed their budgets and job applicants reconsidering where they want to take their careers in the new year. One of the most effective ways to learn about a target company or industry is to conduct an informational interview. In my career, informational interviews have opened many career opportunities. Informational interviews I conducted with alu ..read more

There’s something incredibly satisfying about smugly sitting down, clicking through to your Outlook settings, and switching on your out-of-office autoresponder. First, you get to decide on dates. Let’s see. Should you include the weekends as part of your out-of-office date range, signaling just how many vacation days you’ve earned through all your hard work? Or should you exclude designated national holidays and weekends to signal you’re a truly committed employee, loyal to the company cause while others are taking a breather? Regardless, the real fun comes when crafting your actual subject l ..read more

In 2000, I bought my first mobile phone (a Sprint PCS Touchpoint 2200), the week I moved to Hawaii after graduating from college. I wanted to have a way to more easily contact landlords when finding a place to rent in Honolulu. I loved having it. It made staying in touch with family and friends in the continental US so much easier. Sprint PCS Touchpoint 2200 At the time, having a cell phone was very much a novelty and more of a discretionary convenience. In the year 2000, only 28% of Americans owned a cell phone (compared to 95% now). Apple’s iPhone wouldn’t launch until seven years later ..read more

Quitting your job sometimes gets such a bad rap. When you resign from your role, other may assume you couldn’t take the heat. Or that you’re disloyal. Or that you were managed out. Quitting is rarely perceived as a positive move. Just look at any motivational movie, book, poster, quote, article, song, or any profile piece in the media. Most narratives celebrate the idea of never giving up, overcoming adversity, and staying the course no matter what it takes. Most people I speak to are resistant to the idea of quitting. Persevering through challenges may be worth the effort. You may have heard ..read more

When attempting a career pivot, you might find yourself disproportionately focusing your efforts on the practical aspects of changing careers like reworking your resume, networking with people in your target industry, or brushing up on your interview skills. All these efforts are important. Equally important is dealing with the emotional aspects of walking away from one career path to pursue another. Your ability to manage and overcome seven challenging emotional dynamics will have a direct impact on your ability to successfully execute your desired career change. 1. Departing From Your Estab ..read more

We all don’t like parts of our jobs at times. Your boss may get on your nerves. Your work commute may get tiring. Your projects may be stressful. Your workload can feel overwhelming. I don’t know a single person who likes expense reporting (including me). But how can you tell whether the dissatisfaction you’re feeling at work is “normal” for anyjob or a sign you’re on the wrong career path? Maybe you don’t feel excited about your job. Or you don’t look forward to Mondays. Or you find yourself daydreaming about another career path. Or you’re just bored with your daily tasks. The question is, h ..read more

Distraction is inevitable at work. With notifications popping up on your computer or phone to simply feeling disengaged with your work, losing your focus can result from a wide range of factors. Perhaps you love multitasking. Or you pride yourself in your ability to plan. Or maybe, you just don’t feel like you’re in the right job and you’re constantly wondering what you could do instead. I’ve had moments in my own career when I’ve found my mind wandering, either because I wasn’t fully engaged with my work or simply because I was more interested in pursuing a side project or laying the groundw ..read more