Lessons Learned from Odd Jobs

I often hear people say something discouraging about their current odd job.

Maybe you have an odd job right now and are a bit discouraged by it? Fret not. There are lessons to be learned from it as well as earning some money.

When Robert Hryzek at Middle Zone Musings and Mark Goodyear publisher of High Calling Blogs & Good Word Editing asked that question, they received lots of answers. You may find these quite interesting and find that they you to not only tolerate, but actually enjoy that odd job that you might be working right now to help pay for college or while you're trying to get your "dream job".

1. Odd Jobs, by Tanya Dennis at In The Dailies



2. Odd Jobs, by Merrie DeStephano at Alien Drea



3. My First Job, by Gordon Atkinson at Excellence



4. My Life at Labor Temp, by Dan Roloff at Ramblin’ Dan



5. Into the Ordinary, by L.L. Barkat at Seedlings in Stone



6. Steam Cleaning Carpets, by Brad Shorr at Word Sell, Inc.



7. Not a Fry Cook on Venus, by Dave Zimmerman at Loud Time



8. A Lifetime of Odd Jobs, by Chris Cree at SuccessCREEations



9. Lessons from Odd Jobs, by Dan King at Management by God



10. What I Learned From… Odd Jobs, by Patrizia Broghammer at VoIP



11. An Odd Lesson, by Shalene at A Proverbs 31 Woman Wannabe



12. My “Not So Odd” Jobs, by Jim Garland at The Genius’ Gumption



13. Lessons from Odd Jobs, by Mark D. Roberts at markdroberts.com



14. What I Learned From Picking Zucchini, by Lisa Gates at 360 Alliance



15. What I Learned From Odd Jobs, by Sarah Stewart at Sarah’s Musings



16. What I Learned From Odd Jobs, by Jackie Cameron at Jackie Cameron



17. Lessons Learned From Odd Moments on the Job, by Jacob Share at JobMob



18. Lessons From Odd Jobs: You’re Fired, by Karl Edwards at Bold Enterprises



19. What I Learned From Sorting Apples, by Robyn McMaster at BrainBasedBiz



20. Things I Learned Being a Popsicle Man, by Otto Haugland at The OHO Report



21. What I Learned From Odd Jobs, by Karen Hanrahan at Best of Mother Earth



22. I Was a Fast Food BBQ Busboy, by Brandon Sanders at Words of Redemption



23. What I Learned From Pumping Gas, by Chris Brown at Branding & Marketing



24. Odd Jobs vs. the One Chosen Career, by Markk at My Opinions are Important



25. On Memes and Special Things, by Carl Holmes at thoughtsofagyrovague.com



26. What I Learned From Being a Listening Post, by Jean Browman at Stress to Power



27. Once Upon a Time I Was a Guinea Pig, by Marcus Goodyear at Goodword Editing



28. My Non-Entry to MZM’s What I Learned From Odd Jobs, by Karen H. at Stop/Start



29. What I Learned From Having a Job for a Day, by Trevor Hampel at Trevor’s Writings



30. Snapshots From a Variety of Odd Jobs, by Jim Martin at A Place for the God-Hungry



31. The Strangest Job I Ever Had - And Lessons Learned, by Tim Miller at Spy Journal 3.0



32. What I Learned From Sweeping Up Hair, by Drew McClellan at The Marketing Minute



33. What I Learned From Working in a Sweet Shop, by Joanna Young at Confident Writing



34. What I Learned From Being a Pregnant Usherette, by Amy Palko at Lives Less Ordinary



35. What I Learned From Really, Really Tired Feet, Robert Hruzek at Middle Zone Musings



36. What I Learned From Two Weeks as a Tomato, by Thursday Bram at thursdaybrams.com



37. What I Learned From Theatre Lighting, by Sam Brougher at Your Scared Seductive System



38. A Real Saturday Post - The Odd Job, by Rebecca Miller at A Christian Worldview of Fiction



39. I’ve Been Memed! Lessons About Odd Jobs, by Marlo B. Manitoba at The Joyful Christian Wife



40. What I Learned From Door-to-Door Sales, by Lillie Ammann at A Writer’s Words, An Editor’s Eye



41. Dr. Strangelove and Me: What I Learned From Riding Missiles, by G.L. Hoffman at What Would Dad Say



42. What I Learned From Odd Jobs - How Kids Start Off on the Entrepreneurial Trail, by Yvonne Russell at Home Biz Notes



43. Ria Kennedy used to work in an apiary, which, in case you didn’t know, was a “bee yard”. But here’s the kicker: she used to be allergic to bee stings!

Here's all the Results from the What I Learned From Odd Jobs Group Writing Project

So, the next time you're feeling a bit disgruntled with your situation, ask yourself...What lessons are you learning in the odd job that you're performing currently?

Working from Home - Flexibility, Fun and Financially Feasible!

Ask Wendy Piersall about working from home! She publishes "Sparkplugging" a website for those who think big and want to work from home.

Who is the Work at Home Generation?
If you use technology to free yourself from a 9 to 5, to do work that you love, to get more time with your family, or just want to make money in your socks, then you're in the right place.

If you've every daydreamed about working from home, check out her website. Wendy is a bundle of energy and a real powerhouse. She's someone who makes things happen. Visit her site and gain a whole new outlook on how you can actually make it (and thrive!) while working from your home and juggling the rest of your life.

Wendy used to publish eMOMs at Home but found that dads, entrepreneurs, freelancers, copywriters, photographers, web developers and so many other types of people were following and asking her advice that she rebranded her site to include everyone: hence SPARKPLUGGING.

Defining the Skills Needed for a Job

Job Fairs are a great place to learn more about area companies and what their requirements are for various jobs.

During a recent job fair in Trumbull county, some of the employers found it difficult to locate good applicants that had the skills the company needed.

Although 2 Ticks & the Dog Ad agency didn't mention what they were looking for in the article or on their website, after reviewing their work on the website, I bet they're looking for video editing skills, copywriting, storyboarding... maybe even video camera work. Looks like they put out good work for a reasonable price judging by their awards and client list.

When you talk to someone from a company, they have about 10 words in their head that describe the individual that they are looking for... just like you have about 10 words in your head that describes the kind of job you're looking for. What are your 10 words??

Tags: Trumbull County Video Production Jobs

Attitude Counts!

When you're working a job -- even a stepping stone job -- your attitude counts.

People notice. It matters. Take a look at what Mario Sanchez at ShoeString Branding says about a recent business trip and what he noticed in people's attitudes toward their job:

The difference in salary between these two people can’t be more than a few bucks an hour, however, one cared and the other one didn’t. It’s a matter of character and pride.

Which person are you? Do you treat your work behavior at your summer job, your college job, your job-that-you-have-until-you-get-a-"real"-job, your payback-the-college-loan-interest job as something that doesn't matter? What's your on the job attitude?

I believe that how you act on your current job makes you the person you are. How will others know you will be the right person when the right job comes along when you're the wrong person, even at a easy, temporary job?

Maybe I should rephrase it:
When you're working a job -- especially a stepping stone job -- your attitude counts.

Mario's ShoeString Branding references Jim Collin's Good to Great book's concept of having the right people on the bus. Just so you know, Jim also talks about getting them in the right seats on the bus. Good book. Go get it from the library, skim it and remember the concept. Are you the "right people" and do you know which is your "right seat"?

Flickr Creative Commons Photo Credits: Stephen Witherden

Job Hunting Tips for College Seniors (and Juniors and Sophomores!!)

It's that time of year when the almost grads start compiling their resumes and emailing them all over cyberspace.

Before you hit that send button, take a few minutes to read the advice of Drew McClellan. He has taken the time to compile words of advice from many business professionals into a f*r*e*e downloadable PDF.

Good luck!

Smart Business Cleveland -- Women Who Excel

I read an inspirational interview in Smart Business Cleveland this morning and wanted to bring it to the attention of my readers.

Lee Friedman had to merge 5 organizations into one. And she did it successfully as President and CEO of the Cleveland Leadership Center. Now that's a leader!!

She says the keys are listening, communication and being as inclusive as possible. Smart Business calls her the unifier. I think her ability to combine her strategic planning and collaboration skills really helped her.

You can read the whole story here:
How Lee Friedman brought five organizations together to form the Cleveland Leadership Center

Bridging the Gap between College and Career

Yesterday I met with a young woman who graduated with a degree in Marketing, but was still working the job that helped her pay her way through college at a bar.

Not the best work experience to help land the 9-5 job...

One of the tricks to getting a job is to help the potential employer figure out how they could use you in the business.

Here were my suggestions for her:

1) Find a place that you love & volunteer to help with their marketing: it might be your local YWCA, your church, or a local sports facility where you play basketball, volleyball or soccer. Somewhere you have a relationship.

2) Find some marketing plan templates on the internet and take a stab at writing their marketing plan. It doesn't have to be perfect, but start doing a marketing plan. Print it out to bring to your interviews...

3) Go back to your old school work and find some survey that you did. Market research, even something simple like a short survey is part of marketing. Improve on it. If you got it back from your professor with corrections, fix them. Print the survey out and bring itwith you to an interview as a "show & tell" piece. Did you get the results and compile them into a summary? Bring the summary too. Or do a survey for your volunteer marketing project.

4) Did you have an internship? If so, think of 3 things you learned. Write those down on a notecard and commit them to memory. You're going to mention those things in your cover letter and your interview. Just 3 sentences or so, nothing too elaborate.

5) Go buy an inexpensive portfolio to showcase your work. Print out a press release you wrote. Did it get published? Insert both the press release and the clipping in your portfolio. Marketing students typically don't do portfolios, but having a show and tell to present to a potential employer is powerful. Don't obsess about it... get one done. Continue to improve on it every time you do something new or better. But get it started now.

6) Ever do a powerpoint you were proud of? Print that out... You'd be surprised at the number of employers who need people who can deal with powerpoint in creating sales presentations. When you show the powerpoint, just casually mention that you know how to deal with masters, title masters, inserting charts, tables, and compressing photos so that it's not too large to email. If you know how to insert videos and flash, all the better. Don't know how to do powerpoint? Check out these basic and more advanced tutorials and practice. Visit Presentation Zen on a regular basis to get inspired and learn more.

7)Have you ever created a schedule and a budget? Make sure you do for your volunteer project listed in number one. Include approval dates in the schedule. You can do it in weeks, you don't have to put actual dates in the schedule... and the budget can be approximate.

8) Ever set up for a trade show? Write down what you took, how you set up, where you went, types of people you interacted with, how that helped the organization. If not a trade show, a consumer fair, an expo, an exhibit, etc. Have photos? All the better. Print it out and put it in your portfolio to help you with the show and tell. Event marketing, grand openings, open house, even a booth at a career fair... these all represent the company or organization to the public and often entry level marketing people are the ones who can help coordinate something like this.

9) Visit www.clevelandintern.net and look at the possibilities. Pick three to apply for...

10)Bring one or two copies of your resume to every interview. Even (or especially) the informational interviews. It's your packaging. You are the product. People can't just look into your face and realize what you can do, want to do, did and have the potential to do. A resume helps.

-- Of course I also told her to visit this blog. Hope this helps her and the other recent grads who are job hunting or want to be job hunting but don't know where to start.

In fact, if you are a blogger, or like to blog... you may be the one to help the company or organization get started on their own epublished newsletter (aka blog). Don't discount that! Many companies are trying to figure out how to get into the web 2.0 but it's like a different language to them and feels weird. Who knows. Just 15 years ago no companies very few companies had a website. Just 10 years ago Google was born. Just 5 years ago blogs took off... or was that 2 years ago?!

Good luck and keep your chin up!!

Starting Your Own Business as a Career Choice

I recently learned some very insightful ideas from a great speaker, Larry Farrell, who specializes in Entrepreneurship.

He works with Junior Achievement to help prepare materials for middle school and high school programs in an effort to help young people learn more than facts, to learn the principles of starting and running a business.

One fact: Young people will have more than 9 jobs before they are 40. Why not have one of these "jobs" actually be your business and employ people to help build your product or provide your service to the customers?

Larry's Four Principles of Entrepreneurship:

• Sense of Mission
• Customer/Product Focus
• High Speed Innovation
• Self-Inspired Behavior

For more information, check out my Branding & Marketing article with more information about Larry Farrell and his mission of bringing entrepreneurship to the world.

Branding & Marketing for Enterpreneurs & Job Hunters

Yesterday evening I had the opportunity to meet with 30 students and entrepreneurs at Kent State - Stark for the first in a series of business speakers. I was impressed with the attentiveness of the group and the questions they asked. As each person walked in, it was difficult to judge who was a business person coming from work and who was a student walking in from a class -- they all were dressed in business attire. That was a good thing -- each was "packaged" for business.

Donald Thacker asked me to speak following the Entrepreneurship Extravaganza Event in October in Kent.

Some of the information I shared related to job hunting as well as launching a product. I referenced Dan Schawbel's blog called Personal Branding and all the great links that he has compiled.

We talked about having an on line branding. Dan mentions it in one of his slideshare powerpoints. You know, potential employers will google your name and find out what your branding looks like on line. See page 5 of this 16 page presentation.

When you're interviewing with a potential employer, do you position yourself? Do you have a niche? What's your one word? One color?

Picture Yourself as an Engineer!

Each year the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. hosts an Engineering Career Day for Young Women at the company's Goodyear Hall facility.

Young women in grades 6 through 12 are invited to attend this event on Saturday, April 19, 2008 in Akron, Ohio.

This program focuses not only on engineering but also on careers that can be launched from an engineering background. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in hands-on activities related to multiple engineering fields and will also have the opportunity to interact with professionals from Goodyear, other industrial companies and local universities to learn more about careers in engineering and the sciences.

Other engineering disciplines will also be discussed, including polymer, materials, biomedical, chemical, mechanical, electrical, environmental, and aeronautical. There will also be a special session on Preparing for College for students and Financial Aid for parents. Middle school and high school students will follow separate tracks geared specifically for their age group.

Encourage students to come and enjoy this fun and informative event, as did the young women who attended last year:

"This was very informative and fun!! If offered next year, I will definitely come back." "It was an awesome experience and I now know what my future dream job is!"

The day will conclude with one young woman winning the chance for a ride on the Goodyear blimp.

This FREE event runs 8:00 a.m. to 3 p.m., is open to the public and includes lunch. Participants must register at www.goodyear.com/careerday. The registration deadline is April 5, but space is limited, so register early.

Students may be accompanied by one parent during the day’s activities.

Sustainable Business Practices in a Global Economy

For those in Northeast Ohio, Cleveland State’s College of Business hosts Dave Cowan from Lubrizol to discuss “Sustainable Business Practices in a Global Economy”. It will be held February 21, 2008 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM in downtown Cleveland.

Dave Cowan the Public Affairs Manager at The Lubrizol Corporation has global responsibility for government and community relations. Jim D’Orazio is organizing the event. Jim's a friend of mine and a faculty member at the Nance College of Business Administration

Key topics include:

• How to identify and partner with key stakeholders.
• Creating competitive advantage in the global marketplace.
• Managing risk.
• Being a “good” global citizen…profitably.

The event will be Thursday February 21, 2008 from 11:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m. This is the third in a four part series on sustainable business practices.

This free discussion and networking event will be held at the Maxine Goodman Levine College of Urban Affairs, located at 1717 Euclid Ave, in the Bonda Room (UR 254) Cleveland Ohio.

Bring your own lunch but light refreshments will also be provided by the sponsors, Cleveland State’s Department of Marketing and the student chapter of the American Management Association.

Be part of a lively discussion that may help you identify a source of competitive advantage for your company.

To register, please email j.dorazio@csuohio.edu or go to the Nance College of Business web site at http://www.csuohio.edu/cba/mkt/noon

Kathleen Grandfield's Career Combines Chocolate & Jewelry

Kathleen Grandfield's career choices has led her to combine two of her passions: chocolate & jewelry. What's not to love!?!

A gifted jewelry designer, she conceived her first handcrafted line after collecting vintage jewelry while living and working in London. She recently moved Chocolatecture and Red Texture Jewelry Designs to the Houston, Texas Area.

You can view more of her jewelry and chocolate designs at her company's website: www.kathleengrandfield.com.

Or you may want to ask her a question at her blog: La Vida Cocoa.

I just think that it's super to find a way to combine your passions to find the work you love, so I wanted to interview Kathleen as a guest here at Real Women -- Real Careers.

I was able to ask her a few questions about her career to help other women who are considering something similar.

What is the best thing about your job?: The best thing about my job is the enjoyment of being able to use my imagination to create designs in two different mediums. By consolidating both businesses under one website I am able to pursue and market both careers I am passionate about.

What's the best advice you ever got?: The best advice I ever got was to “Invest in Myself”.

Do you have any words of wisdom to other women?: To young women who are embarking on a career path I would recommend doing a Mind Map. Recognize your strengths and passions. Be true to Yourself! Also if possible hire a career coach to guide you and give you seasoned advice and empowerment tools.

For those older women faced with life’s challenging twists and turns, have perseverance and never be afraid to “Re-invent” youself. And remember….it’s never too late to achieve your dreams.

Encouraging Young Women to Consider Engineering as a Career

This career event is sponsored by Lockheed Martin, the Girl Scouts and The University of Akron:

Kids Career Day is just around the corner so don’t miss out on this unique and exciting chance to touch science!!! Kids Career Day is a ½ day program that is designed to involve children in interactive activities related to occupations in engineering, science, technology, and math.

It will be held on February 23rd, 2008 from 8:30 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. (registration begins at 7:30 a.m.).

Each activity at Kids Career Day showcases professional women who are currently employed as scientists, mathematicians, and engineers.

Enjoy a morning filled with the fun side of science and math sponsored by Lockheed Martin, The University of Akron and Girl Scouts! To join us just click the link for a registration brochure.

How Did you Get Started in Your Career

I recently was emailed by a young man from University of Washington with Career Questions from a New Marketing Grad. I thought I'd share his questions and my answers here so that it may help more people too:

How did you start your career? My major in college was public relations. In high school I always enjoyed writing. When I was in scouts I sent some announcements into the town paper and got them printed. My senior year in high school I was the school newspaper editor, so when it was time to pick a major, PR seemed to fit my skills and what I liked.

What was your career path to your current position? After I graduated from college, as soon as I got a job, I found that PR wasn't what I expected. PR didn't have the control over a company like I wanted so I quickly went back to school to study marketing. I worked in marketing for many years on consumer products before starting my own marketing company.

My path by title was 1) production coordinator 2) news reporter freelance writer (few months) 3) publications/promotions manager 3) technical writer (few months) 4) copywriter 5) assistant product manager 6) product manager 7) senior product manager 8) brand manager 9)marketing services director 10) entrepreneur/business owner of marketing firm.


What is your typical day consist of? About 50% client work, 10% managing employees, 40% running my business (sales, marketing, accounting, IT, finance, R&D, strategy.) First meeting is usually breakfast, throughout the day I'll have about 15 phone calls, 50 emails, 3 meetings and a very quick lunch/or a longer lunch if it's a meeting. Lots of writing. Many 1 minute conversations with employees. I usually start my day with a cup of coffee and blogging to get the brain cells functioning. Filing the papers on my desk at the end of the day is always a challenge, but if I don't keep up with it, I get piles stacked all over and it looks messy. I like to keep it clean and neat. I make a list of to do's for the next day. Each week I try to spend 5 hours on strategy/big picture.

What do you like most and least about your job? Most: Getting a new client we really want and doing a GREAT job for them. Least: Having to "fire" a client that just isn't working out.

What are the best strategies to break into the marketing field?
1) Volunteer for organizations you're already involved in so you have tangible skills you can show in a portfolio and meet other people who are in marketing. Help the library, the chamber of commerce, the blood drive, your church, the relay for life, community festivals, city council, or any of the non-profit organizations with a board of directors.

2) Work hard and don't complain about doing the "grunt" work like stuffing envelopes or packing bags to hand out that trade show. Do a good job so people will give you more. Look for ways to help. Watch how people do things to get things done.

3) Ask for letters of recommendation from the people you worked for (but only if you really helped them so they will RAVE about you. Ask them to write it on company/organization letterhead if possible. Ask them to mention specifics and give them a cheat sheet to help them write it.) Make a portfolio of your work. Take digital photos of "results" so you can tell a little story (less than 30 seconds each story) about different volunteer products you did. Put the photos and the letters of recommendation into a portfolio along with 2 copies of your resume to take to interviews. I like this portfolio personally because it looks so neat and professional to showcase your accomplishments. Cardinal presentation FLIP books or traditional books.

http://www.nextag.com/cardinal-presentation-book/search-html

4) Get informational interviews where you ask questions like these (What Color is your Parachute) Ask each person who else can I talk to who could help. Use networking to get more informational interviews. Use LinkedIn and Facebook. Take off any "bad" pictures on Facebook or MySpace.

5) Figure out what companies you'd like to work for. Send the VP of marketing a letter expressing your interest.

6) Make job hunting a job with a strategy, plan, daily to dos, and follow ups.

7) Look for internships. Try to get 2 or 3 of them in different areas of marketing: communication, research, web design/seo, consumer products, social media, fundraising, etc to try on different areas. Marketing is very different specialty to specialty.

Transitioning the Workplace from Baby Boomers to Generation Y

Although I don't like stereotyping, I do believe that in general different generations view work in a different ways.

A good job: Baby boomers like to "complain" how they took work home all weekend, worked thru the holidays and put in extra hours. In their mind it shows how committed they are, how important their job function, how crucial they are to the overall workings of the organization. "Oh it's really busy at work, I'm really busy, but wouldn't want it any other way."

On the other hand, when the Generation Y group (Milleniums?!) talk about work, it's more about what work enables them to do on their time off. It's not live to work... it's work to live.

I read an interesting article about how to manage Gen Y at work... because baby boomers sometimes don't understand the motivations and what's viewed as a reward to one generation will be seen as a punishment by another. I think the more individuals within the same organization but in 2 different generation groups understand where each other are coming from, it will be a smoother transition into a stronger, happier workplace.

Here's some insights the article offers -- do you agree?

Communication style: Gen Y employees speak a different language, so hiring and department managers need to practice a new style of communicating. Gen Y employees respond to humor, passion and the truth: don't even think of "spinning" a message with this audience. As Gen Y employees increasingly dominate the workforce, people who work with them should also realize how important direct and timely feedback, frequent encouragement and recognition of efforts are to 18-30 year olds. While this may feel like pampering to some, the outcome is a set of employees who are engaged and motivated to show their best work.

Happy New Year -- 2008

New Years resolutions are just goals in disguise! So what career goals are you looking for in 2008?

Figuring out:

- What you love to do?
- What you have skills to do?
- What the world needs?

Where these 3 collide is the sweet spot. Here's to a successful 2008!

Internet Marketing Resources for Students Transitioning to Careers

Getting ready to launch your career? Looking for help beyond the resume & cover letter? How about resources from the internet?!?

You may want to check out these resources from Mike Sansone, one of the top blogging coaches I've found...

Last month he spoke to students and instead of passing out handouts, in true Web 2.0 fashion Mike posted links:

1. Delicious bookmarks: http://del.icio.us/mikesansone/JannFreed to key websites and blogposts

2. His books recommendations from the Shelfari bookshelf - a neat way to recommend and share books http://www.shelfari.com/

Go Red for Women -- Doctor & Spokesperson

Dr. Debbie Plate has combined her role as doctor and public speaker. She spoke to a group of women in Akron to make us more aware about heart health. If you are considering a career as a health professional, you might not realize how much public speaking could play a role in your career.

Knowing how to communicate key information in front of an audience using a laptop, projector and PowerPoint is a skill that transcends many careers.

This morning while attending the American Heart Association breakfast to promote awareness of Go Red for Women, I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Debbie Plate describe some rather startling facts about women's heart health in the United States:

• 460,000 Women per year die of heart failure, making it one per minute. That's more from Heart Failure than the next 5 killers combined! (Cancer is #2 and stroke is #3.)
  
• Among women over 20, about 30% have high blood pressure.


• Overweight women in the USA over 20: 58% of the white women and 79% of African American.

Dr. Plate is a communications person and a doctor. Besides speaking throughout the community, she is often seen on TV representing Akron General Medical Center and interviewing other doctors about their specialties.

She urged the audience to wear RED the first Friday in February to help build awareness of heart health among women. May 8th is the fundraising luncheon to help build awareness.

When something is the number one killer, and so many of the problems are preventable, doesn't it make sense that we should focus on this?

It's amazing to me that wearing seat belts and not cutting your vegetables & chicken with the same knife & cutting board or eating raw eggs seems like it has more public awareness than the actions that cause heart failure. (but I digress.)

If you enjoy public speaking, you are probably in the minority. Many people fear public speaking more than anything else -- even death, rattlesnakes or heights!! Making your career into something where you combine two passions can be a real great way to find the work you love.

And. Oh yeah. Go eat some vegetables for your heart!!

25 Tips for Women to Make More Money than Men

When I entered the workforce women made 56 cents to men's dollar. Although it is improving, recent statistics show women make only 89 cents according to a New York Times article from this year that discusses a Queens College study. Others say 75 cents, 76 cents or 12 cents. I guess it depends on how you measure: Hourly? Salary? Same job? Same education? Same amount of experience?

There are ways to increase your earnings. Robyn McMaster at Brain Based Biz offers a book called Why Men Earn More: The startling Truth Behind the Pay Gap -- and What Women Can Do About It by Dr. Warren Farrell in her recent post Men, Women, Brains and Earning Power

The 25 strategies boil down to 3 categories 1) be more productive, 2) put in more hours and 3) choose careers that pay more.

Ironically most of the 25 strategies suggest giving up up some quality of life and job satisfaction. (IE be a prison guard vs a child care worker. Or travel extensively as a sales person.)

Many women (most women?!) choose to figure out a way to create a job that fits with their life rather than make their life fit their job. Is it that way for men too? As more men realize the lifelong satisfaction of raising children like being there at the teachable moment or for the school play or being the team manager, I believe the salaries and wages will become closer and closer.

We want to have our cake and eat it too. And why not?!

But still, as you select your career, take some time to picture how you might increase the salary by selecting a different job within the career (example, a nurse anesthetists and traveling nurses each make twice the pay of regular nurses.)

What is it Like to have a Career in Event Planning, Trade Shows, Talent Management and Talent Development?

Ann Ramsey Metzler knows what it takes to work in the high pressure world of trade shows, events, talent management and talent development. She recently relocated to Northeast Ohio after working 7 years in Columbus. She shares her career experiences while working at COSI and at The Ohio State University.

Biggest challenge: My biggest challenge is knowing how to stop at good when that is acceptable for the task. Being a perfectionist at heart makes that difficult and creates the drive in me to go forward to 'great' in every situation.

Most important lesson learned: I have learned to trust my own instincts and also trust the team I am working with for the certain task. Jobs very rarely are accomplished by only one person, therefore, the team that is assembled becomes vital to the successful completion of the task.

Someone considering this for a career should: Be willing to put in long hard hours initially and work on the weekends. Once you become more accomplished you will be able to select the specific projects and programs you work on.

What training did you have? On the job training seems to be the best training in this field. I have learned more from my mistakes then my successes. Finding a good mentor has been critical to my success.

Tips for the Recent Graduate who is Job Hunting

Yesterday I met with a recent graduate who is the daughter of a friend of my sister-in-law's. She majored in marketing and is working on her job hunt. I thought some of the information I shared with her might be helpful to other recent graduates:

• Make sure you work in an internship. An internship tells a future employer that you've worked in an office setting and know important things like how to answer the phone and sound professional, work a fax machine, copy machine, postage machine and what an "in-basket" is used for. Internships also help give you some results to list on your resume, something to put in your portfolio and real life examples of how you helped a company achieve something toward their goals.
  
• Clevelandinterns.com is a good website to get started in your job hunt. So is www.careerboard.com, as well as monster, career builders etc. But more importantly than websites, networking is still a crucial way to meet contacts who know people who are hiring.
  
• Use at least a 12 point typeface on your resume. Most people who are hiring are over 40 years old and often don't like to use reading glasses during an interview. Especially when we are talking to a 22 year old.
  
• Make sure you know your way around the computer -- if you know special tricks with powerpoint, excel and word that others don't -- you'll be invaluable. What about publisher, paint and outlook? Take some time to brush up on those clever little tips that give you an edge to be able to do something that most people with the 3-5 years of experience don't need to know to get a job.
  
• Expect to pay your dues when you start. I know, you did your 4 years of college... well, so did most of the other people in the office, so it's like you're a freshman again.
  
• Develop some questions for the person who interviews you. Things like: "what is the main focus of your company's marketing goals?" or "What's the biggest challenge in your marketing department?" are open ended questions that may trigger a response from you that tells the interviewer how you could help.
  
• Most people you meet will know someone who knows someone who might know someone who is hiring. It's about networking. Make business cards with your contact info so it's easy to refer and reach you.
  
• Find time to visit the chamber of commerce luncheons and talk to the other people at your table.

Getting a job is a job on its own. After you do get the job, remember that someone else is probably looking too. Take the time to encourage them with advice from things that helped you. Extend a hand behind you and help the next young woman in line!!

Sunny Lurie Helps Others Launch Their Careers

Interview with: Fast Focus Careers, Creator and Owner Sunny K. Lurie, PhD.

About: Fast Focus Careers help people who want to launch a career that gets them excited. We have a unique and proven method to get people to stretch their career imagination and get to know their strengths and interests. People get a rare opportunity to brainstorm their dreams and passions with a mix of peers and professionals and magic inevitably happens— to focus on a career that’s right for them. We guarantee it!

Best thing about her job: I get to do my passion which is helping people discover the type of work they can be passionate about.

Biggest surprise: The number of people here (northeast Ohio) and other cities who want to get involved in helping grow this program – - finding your passion hits on an important aspect of our life – that seems to be appealing to people.

How she prepared for this work: Many years of my life – actually 3 decades of an intense curiosity how people figure out the right career path; I collected career info. and ideas in a huge 10lb. idea notebook, also work experience, college and my doctoral research.

Most important lesson learned: Happiness at work is a choice. Try hard to do your work the way it will make you happy — I never wanted to be a career counselor working with a limited number of people in a school. So I created a career program where I could be an entrepreneur and creatively help 1000s.

Best advice: working “authentically” – being who you really are -- gives you confidence like nothing else. When the going gets tough, I seek out new people to team up with to get me excited again.

For relaxation: I spend time with nature – bike riding, tennis, golf, boating, jet skiing, walking in the park.

What she'll be doing 10 years from now: traveling around the country to my 50 Fast Focus Career sites, doing talks for 1000s of people we helped uncover their dream job.

Her one piece of advice: “No” is not an option—keep maneuvering the obstacles – if you believe there are other ways to reach your objective, you will make it happen.

Photo by Bob Perkoski www.perkoski.com

Congratulations to Mary Ann Corrigan-Davis, Athena International Award Recepient

Mary Ann epitomizes great leadership. From her early education at Saint Joseph Academy as a young girl, to John Carroll and Case Western Reserve University -- Education has always been a big part of her life. She sees it as the key to the future.

On Thursday evening Mary Ann Corrigan-Davis was honored by the Athena International as the Cleveland Recipient for her 25 years of leadership roles at American Greetings, her many years of serving on the board of Saint Joseph Academy in Cleveland and now as the president, where she provides leadership to the 665 girls at the all girls school. Education is her passion. She received the Alumni Medal of John Carroll University in 1994 and was inducted into the Saint Joseph Academy Alumnae Hall of Fame in 1996.

Shown here with Laura Shrieve of Marketing Resources & Results (left), Mary Ann Corrigan-Davis holds the Athena International Award which is named for the Greek Goddess who stands for wisdom and strength, two traits that are considered for the award.

Theresa Carter Recognized for Leadership, Professional Achievement & Community Service

Giving back. Lending a hand. Leading the way. Helping others.

Last evening Athena International (an organization that supports and honors women leaders) recognized 12 women in Northeast Ohio for their leadership, professional achievements and community service. Theresa Carter (right), president of the Omnova Foundation, was the recipient of the Athena award for the Akron area.

In addition to running the foundation, Theresa is leading the effort for this year's Summit County United Way Fund Drive and serves on 10 boards and 9 advisory councils and committees throughout the Akron community including:

• Akron Urban League
• Greatker Akron Chamber
• Fairlawn Chamber
• Tri-county Jobs for Ohio's Graduates
• Project Grad Akron
• University of Akron Foundation
• NAACP
• American Red Cross of Summit County

Theresa is congratulated in this photo by Norma Rist, Vice President of Athena.

Last night in her opening remarks Norma challenged all the Athena finalists and recipents in Northeast Ohio (about 60 women in total) to develop a volunteer effort involving leadership for women within our community.

I'll be writing more about that later, I'm sure!!

Interview with Sue Ann Schmidt, Minister

Today's career exploration interview is with Sue Ann Schmidt. She is a minister at the First Congregational Church of Hudson, Ohio, which is the church where I am a member. I asked her to share some of her experiences and thoughts to help some other young woman who may be considering this career path.

What is the best advice you could offer to a young woman who wants to break into your career area?

Probably the first thing to be said is that ministry is more of a calling than a career. A young woman considering ministry as a profession would want to feel that God is calling her to use her gifts and talents in a pastoral ministry setting, i.e. a church, a hospital, chaplaincy, school, or neighborhood service setting. Following the educational training needed by your particular religious institution.
When you started out in your career, how important was your prior experience compared to your formal education? What helped the most?

When I started out in ministry I was educationally prepared, but not so much experientially prepared. I welcomed being with more experienced people who could mentor me and help me develop skills that I knew about, but had not had much opportunity to try out....lots of new areas that were scary until someone was kind enough to walk through them with me.

How did you decide to start?
I always felt I wanted to work in a church. When I was quiet young women in my church were not allowed to be ministers. This is something that I just grew into.

What's been the accomplishment to date that you are most proud of?
I think that it would be hard to single out one accomplishment, but perhaps I would lift up that I hope I’ve made the way a little easier for other women by being a positive example.

Do you set goals each year and are you willing to share one of them with our readers?
My present position requires that I set goals each year. One for this year was “To seek additional ways for the congregation to better care for each other.”


Who was most influential for you when you were making your early career choices?
As a child I had an adult friend who modeled a church career/calling for me, but also I think my parent’s were a strong influence for me.

Did you consider other career choices other than the ministry? For a brief period I wanted to be a cowgirl!

What made difference in your choice? I always felt my life was directed by God’s leading.

Thank you so much Sue Ann for sharing your story with us. I'm sure that this will help someone else who is exploring and looking for where their life may be headed.

PHOTOS: Thanks to the church for allowing me to copy photos from their website. Some of these were from the staff retreat at Habitat for Humanity.

100 Helpful Tools and How-To Resources for Women Entrepreneurs

Jessica Hupp at Bootstrapper has a great post full of 100 resources for women entrepreneurs: blogs, tools, networking & organizations, government resources, how-to, inspiring stories and books.

Twenty Somethings: College to Career

Lindsey Pollak specializes in young professional career issues. She's a wealth of ideas and suggestions for twenty-somethings who are moving from school into the professional working world and speaks frequently at universities, corporations and business associations. Her book: Getting from College to Career lists 90 Things To Do Before You Jjoin the Real World. Here are a few:

• Subscribe to a daily newspaper
• E-mail like a professional
• Make every event a networking success
• Practice the eight essentials of internship achievement
• Perform five minutes of stand-up
• Overprepare for interviews
• Persist

Although most of her advice is for getting the job rather than actually transitioning into the day to day working world, her blog is filled with helpful info:

• Tipping.
• Who pays.
• How to Network for a mentor.

Learn more at Advice & Resources for College Students and Young Professionals

It's a fairly new blog but she posts regularly and has great advice. Lindsey is a graduate of Yale University.

The "W" List - Women bloggers

Special thanks to Elysa, a 25 year old Graphic Designer in Texas, who blogs to let others know how "our generation" is different than those before us. We are career women, single & married, girl friends, and individuals. There is a delicate balance in being an individual and being part of a support system for your friends, family and your environment. GenPink is about balancing family and work, technology, entertainment, and exploration of new ideas..

Elysa categorized the blogs into helpful groupings which makes is easier to know which ones you want to read first! Enjoy.

I added a few more to this list of over 150 too!

Art & Design

• A Look at Art & Design: Websites, Graphic Design and Marketing for Artists & Galleries - Lisa Mikulski & Dragonfly Blu Design


• Case-Notes from the Artsy Asylum: creative professionals, take on a connected world - Susan Reynolds


• Creative Curio: Learn, discuss and explore the realm of Graphic Design. - Lauren Marie


• Debbie Millman: "You can be anywhere when your life begins." These are the musings of Debbie Millman. Debbie has been in the design business for the last 20 years fulfilling her dream of working in branding and furthering the meaning, purpose and stature of brands in our culture. - Debbie Millman


• decor8: decor8 is a quick fix for design addicts that love decorating their homes but find it challenging to shop online. Your time is important, so Holly Becker scours dozens of resources for the latest tips and trends so you don’t have to. - Holly Becker


• design*sponge: is a daily website dedicated to home and product design run by Brooklyn-based writer, Grace Bonney. Launched in August of 2004, Design*Sponge features store and product reviews, sale and contest announcements, new designer profiles, trend forecasting and store/studio tours. - Grace Bonney


• Designers Who Blog: DWB features blogs discussing graphic design, web design, illustration, marketing, photography, branding, writing and advertising. - Cat Morley


• Design Your Life: DESIGN YOUR LIFE is about thinking. DESIGN YOUR LIFE applies ideas from design theory and practice to some of the basic problems of daily living, from organizing a household and thinking creatively in the workplace to achieving a relaxed and satisfying erotic life. - Ellen and Julia Lupton, identical twins


• Diary of Claudine Hellmuth : Hip art for playful hearts. "I am a mixed media collage artist, author & illustrator." - Claudine Hellmuth


• Emily Chang - Strategic Designer: Emily Chang is an award-winning strategic designer and co-founder and principal of Ideacodes, a web consultancy in San Francisco focused on next generation websites. - Emily Chang


• Essential Keystrokes : "Essential Keystrokes is where I share my favorite tips, tools, reviews and commentary on web design, marketing, blogging, new media and related topics." - Char


• Illustration Friday: Illustration Friday is a weekly creative outlet/participatory art exhibit for illustrators and artists of all skill levels. It was designed to challenge participants creatively. - Penelope Dullaghan


• Mandarin Design Daily: "For people who make mistakes." Explores numerous Web design and CSS styling tricks and techniques. Features a weblog, color chart, and free images gallery. - The MEG Blog Michelle Goodrich


• molly.com: "I’m Molly E. Holzschlag, and this web site shares my web development work and personal thoughts. Think of it as a personality site. Given that, one hopes I have an interesting enough personality to keep you entertained for at least a little while." Molly E. Holzschlag


• Netdiver: Digital culture magazine + new media design portal -> Feed your eyes. Netdiver is a digital culture magazine and luvs everything design. Like illustration, reels and shorts, flash and CSS, print and new media, urban scene, artists, portfolios, rich media, mobile generation, architecture, product design, toys and indie merch, photography and the powagirrrls. - Carole Guevin


• oh joy!: inspiration, design, style & other cool things - locally or across the country. - Joy Deangdeelert Cho


• On My Desk: Artists, Illustrators, Designers & Creative Folk Share The Stuff On Their Desks… - Linzie Hunter


• poppytalk: mining for the beautiful, the decayed, and the handmade. poppy talk is a canadian design blog collecting inspiration and promoting emerging design talent.


• Quinn Creative:Quinn McDonald’s blog is about the trips, leaps, falls, and joys of living a creative life. Quinn is an artist, writer, speaker, trainer, and certified creativity coach
  
• swissmiss: swiss designer gone nyc. "swissmiss is my visual archive of things that ‘make me look’." - Tina Roth Eisenberg


• this is rachelandrew.co.uk : Rachel Andrew is a web developer and writer. She heads up a company that provides web development services on an outsource basis to design agencies and individual designers. - Rachel Andrew


• Sheriar Designs: This is where Mani Sheriar, a self-proclaimed CSS-obsessed freak, shares her passions, thoughts, and insights into web design and development using web standards. - Mani Sheriar


• Veerle’s blog 2.0: "I’m a graphic/web designer living in Belgium. My personal journal is an online source for topics ranging from XHTML/CSS to graphic design tips." - Veerle

Beauty & Style

• The Floozy Blog: "Welcome to the exciting online shopping experience that is Floozy!" - Kate Coote


• Hostess with the Mostess: a place for readers to discover and dish on hip & modern entertaining products, party ideas, and other great stuff. - Jennifer Sbranti


• Little Splurge: Little Splurge is a shopping blog devoted to the material trifles beloved - at least for the moment - by the site’s author, who lives in New York City and is pretty dang proud of the illustration she drew above.


• Oh Happy Day: Updated Daily with Pretty Things. - jordan


• paperclippy: Paperclippy is the shopping blog for professional women on the go.

Business

• 45 Things | On the Job: Helpful Information and advice from America’s favorite workplace columnist - Anita Bruzzese


• BlogWrite for CEOs: BlogWriteForCEOs.com, a Technorati Top 10,000 blog considered one of the most influential about business blogging. Debbie Weil - known as the Mona Lisa of Blogging - is a corporate and CEO blogging consultant and author of The Corporate Blogging Book: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know to Get It Right. - Debbie Weil


• Brain Based Biz: Refreshing Business through Arts and Mind. "In this blog I tap into arts and mind to gather insights that stir creativity in business applications."- Dr. Robyn McMaster


• Brain Based Business: Using your Brain to succeed in Business. Benefiting at work from Brain Based Insights. - Dr. Ellen Weber


• Brazen Careerist: Advice at the intersection of work and life. Penelope Trunk writes career advice for a new generation of workers. She explains why old advice - like pay your dues, climb the ladder, and don’t have gaps in your resume - is outdated and irrelevant in today’s workplace. - Penelope Trunk


• Build a Solo Practice: Newly Minted or Well-Seasoned, Teaching You How to Create and Grow Your Legal Practice. - LLC by Susan Cartier Liebel


• Confident Writing: Coaching tips from a writing coach. "I coach people to write with confidence - to say what they mean, and mean what they say." - Joanna Young


• Conscious Business: Learning, understanding and teaching how to participate in the business ecosystem, in the service of sustainable small business - Anne Libby


• Conversation Agent: Connecting ideas and people how talk can change our lives. - Valeria Maltoni


• Customers Are Always: Exceptional Customer service. Devoted to customer service and the principles of exceptional customer services. - Maria Palma


• Customers Rock!: A blog about customers, their experiences, and how businesses can make sure their customer experiences rock! - Becky Carroll


• CustServ: Customer Relations: The New Competitive Advantage. - Meikah David


• Design Your Writing Life: "I work with people who have some foundation in personal development who not only want to write, but crave to create a business, launch a project, or develop a venue for the expression of their work." by Lisa Gates


• Escape from Cubicle Nation : How to go from corporate prisoner to thriving entrepreneur. - Pamela Slim


• eSoup: simplify, organize, thrive. eSoup is Sharon Sarmiento’s site about productivity, entrepreneurism and working virtually. - Sharon Sarmiento


• Forward Steps: "Notice Board of new events and happenings at Forward Steps. When I remember, I let you know of new resources I’ve created or changes to my life coaching tools and sites." - Thea Westra


• Franke James: "I am an artist, writer and storyteller. My two main blogs are not really typical blogs at all, but they are catching people’s attention, and I hope, contributing to making the world a better place. My Office-Politics daily blog is a collaborative effort, drawing on the talents of experts in the areas of executive coaching, leadership development, dispute resolution, employment law, PR and ethics to answer letters submitted to the site. My Franke James blog — where I write, illustrate and photograph on environmental issues." - Franke James


• Get Fresh Minds: Ideas so fresh … they should be slapped! For the past 14 years, Katie Konrath has been deeply in love with creativity and creative problem solving. - Katie Konrath


• Great Presentations Mean Business: Pistachio Consulting: When You’ve got something to say. Laura Fitton is a presentations consultant and speaker. She helps clients achieve their business objectives by speaking with clarity, focus and ease. - Laura Athavale Fitton


• Hey Marci: Marci Alboher, an online columnist for the New York Times, has built a reputation for spotting and chronicling the latest thinking on careers. - Marci Alboher


• J.T. O’Donnell Career Insights : Empowering individuals & corporations to new levels of professional success. - J.T. O’Donnell


• Joyful, Jubilant Learning: Welcome to Joyful Jubilant Learning, created for everyone who loves learning. We consider learning a joyful and worthwhile life’s work. We call it our 7 Wonders: Listen, Learn, Laugh, Link, Love, Live, and Leap to Wonder with us. - Rosa Say


• Liz Strauss at Successful Blog: Successful and Outstanding Bloggers. "I am a writer who uses the language to paint and to play word music, places my heart and head in the spaces, and writes in the hope that one person is better for having read what I wrote." - Liz Strauss


• Management Craft : Discussions about state of the art management. "Management Craft is my vehicle for exploring my passion for management and leadership. I am a professional management and leadership trainer, coach, and organization development consultant." - Lisa Haneberg


• Productivity Goal: Work productivity, time management, organization, tools and tips. - Carolyn Manning


• The Brand Dame: why you, no matter what you do, must find and flaunt your personal brand–how to do it, how not to do it, and everything in between…… Lyn Chamberlin


• Talk It Up: Trade show and public-speaking secrets from a Chicago trade show spokesperson. - Heidi Miller


• The copy Writing Maven: A copywriter shares tips, techniques, reviews & cranky commentary. - Roberta Rosenberg


• The Engaging Brand: Anna is popular speaker on areas such as social media, personal and employer branding, and leadership. She is an energetic speaker, recently described as "a ball of energy and crammed pack of ideas". The Engaging Brand works with both companies and individuals on various areas of engagement: How social media can boost your bottom line, How to attract and retain talent, How to develop the leadership capability within your company & How to create a strategy that both delivers results and engages the audience. - Anna Farmery


• The Kiss Business too : (the "Keep It Simple Sweetheart" principle in business). No more "Double Dutch" in Business. - Karin H.


• Water Cooler Wisdom: Up-to-the-minute career advice from one who has survived the trenches. Alexandra Levit is the founder and president of Inspiration @Work, a career consultancy. She regularly speaks at universities and corporations around the country about workplace issues involving young employees. - Alexandra Levit

Business: Marketing

• angiemckaig.com: still a great pair of legs: angiemckaig.com is the personal site of web guru Angie McKaig. Her specialties include simple, functional user experiences, micro content, online marketing and business strategy. - Angie McKaig


• BeRelevant: Email Marketing Best Practices: "I’m passionate about email marketing and I want to share that passion with the world." - Tamara Gielen


• Biz Growth News: Marketing and new media strategies to bring your corporate, employer and personal brand to life. - Krishna De


• Brand Sizzle: anne has significant experience providing strategic planning, brand development, and product innovation services to C-suite and senior marketing clients in a wide range of industries from travel, beverages, tourism, financial services and building products, to cellular, medical technology, data storage and social media. Anne Simons


• Branding & Marketing: "All things marketing: research, promotions, communications and measurement. I am especially interested in Web 2.0/social media and emerging marketing methods. - Chris Brown


• CK’s Blog: Clever strategies, the new best practices and the smart marketers behind them. - CK (Christina Kerley)


• Communication Overtones: Conversations at the intersection of public relations and social media, live from San Antonio, Texas, USA - Kami Huyse


• Corporate PR: Commentary on the theory and practice of public relations and organizational communications. - Elizabeth Albrycht


• Diva Marketing Blog: An approach to marketing that’s fun, bold and savvy … but always strategically aligned with your brand’s objective. - Toby Bloomberg


• Every Dot Connects : connection through conversation … a social media consortium. - Connie Reece


• Flooring The Consumer: A marketing blog about improving the consumer experience, particularly in flooring. To get there, it is critical to understand who that consumer is, what matters to him/her in a retail experience, and where to look for inspiration. And, by the way, more often than not, this consumer is a woman! - C.B. Whittemore


• Forrester’s Marketing: "The world is changing. And we’re not going to sit by and watch. We’re not just going to document what we see. We’re seeking to understand what’s happening, really understand it. And to help you to deal with it." - Blog Shar, Charlene, Chloe, Christine Elana, Laura and Lisa


• Inspired Business Growth : Exceptional marketing, branding and entrepreneurship. by Wendy Piersall


• Kinetic Ideas : Marketing Blog, Small Business Marketing Ideas, Marketing Tips. - Wendy Maynard


• Marketing Roadmaps: "If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there," wrote Lewis Carroll in "Alice in Wonderland." Marketing Roadmaps is Susan Getgood’s blog about where we are going as marketers, with a little bit about where we’ve been (the wrong turns and the right turns.) It’s also about turning down new roads to explore new ideas. - Susan Getgood


• Narrat Assets: Telling the Story: The impact of Art, Science, and Technology on Brand Communication and Marketing. A marketing communications professional with a flair for strategic and creative thought. - Karen Hegman


• Presto Vivace Blog: PR, Marketing, Communications, and Potomac Area Technology by Alice Marshall, Presto Vivace, Inc - Alice Marshall


• Spare Change : "my two cents on making a difference with social marketing
  
  postings from Nedra Kline Weinreich" Nedra is a consultant, author and speaker working in the field of social marketing. - Nedra Kline Weinreich


• The Origin of Brands: marketing guru, consultant, bestselling author, speaker. - Laura Ries


• Versa Creations: Build Wealth through Smart Marketing. - Vivienne

Conflict

Conflict coaching and resolution for the workplace : Dr. Tammy Lenski is a dialogue jump-starter. An expert at helping people talk out their differences and build stronger work and home relationships in the process, Tammy has helped individuals, work teams and entire organizations make their peace with conflict for almost two decades.

Education/Teachings on Life

• Learned on Women : Uncovering. Connecting. Inspiring. "My 17+ year career in marketing and public relations took an exciting turn into the realm of the women’s market in 2000. That year I began regularly writing for online publications about the ins and outs of, you guessed it, reaching women consumers." - Andrea Learned


• Live the Power: "Maybe I can help some other scared, young “grown-up” just like me to discover some of the greatest truths to creating a happy life. You are the only creator of your life!" by Karen Lynch


• Making Life Work for You : Providing information on community, success, and life management. - April Groves


• Manage to Change: Making sense out of change. Ideas need to add up before they can multiply. "I hope that together this blog will help us to open our minds to new ideas – get comfortable with them – and maybe even take them out for a spin!"- Ann Michael


• Peace Love Harmony: Words of wisdom from "Friend" - a conglomeration of nonphysical energies devoted to helping us along our journey. by Kirsten Harrell


• Priscilla Palmer: Personal Development Demands Success. "Hi. I am Priscilla Palmer. I am a life coach who specializes in personal development. There are many skills that have helped me turn my dreams into reality. These skills can be learned by anyone who is willing to work at it. I want to share my passion with the world. I believe that it’s okay not to be perfect, but it is catastrophic to be complacent. Life is a gift. Let’s live it up!!! Let’s make the most of it while we can!!!" - Priscilla Palmer


• Purse Lip Square Jaw : Anne Galloway, Lecturer & PhD Candidate Department of Sociology & Anthropology Carleton University Ottawa, Canada. - Anne Galloway


• The Podcast Sisters "The podcast for the Non Geek!" - Krishna De, Anna Farmery and Heather Gorringe

Entertainment

• The Parody: "Parody n a thing that is done so badly that it seems deliberately to mock what is intended." Inspired by musings, interests, and true events. - Sasha Manuel


• That’s What She Said: a blog by Julie Elgar about the popular television series "The Office" - Julie Elgar


• Enter the Laughter: "Hi! I am a wife, mother, friend, humor columnist, online retailer, aspiring novelist, and pumpkin farmer… a woman who is trying to do ten things at once, but only succeeding at about half of them!" - Marti Lawrence


• Entrepreneur’s philoSophie’s: A weekly comic for women entrepreneurs. - Joanna Alberti

Green

• Small Failures: Sustainability for the Rest of Us Jess Sand. Every action is a choice and a risk, but it’s the small failures that
  
  lead to big successes. Small Failures sets out to prove that living sustainably and living well are not mutually exclusive. Within these pages, you’ll find tips for living sustainably without giving up the fun stuff, profiles of sustainable products and businesses, and a soapbox-free (most of the time) place to learn about the green stuff.

Finances

• Wealth Strategy Secrets: Helping you go from Financial Zero to Wealthy Hero. - Nicola Cairncross, Judith Morgan and The Money Gym Coaches

Health

• Back in Skinny Jeans: The skinny on skinnifying. It’s one thing to read about health. It’s another thing to live a healthy life. - Stephanie Quilao

Music

• Christine Kane: Christine Kane is a singer-songwriter, performer, teacher and writer. - Christine Kane

Personal

• 365 Days of Gratitude Photoblog: be grateful for the simple things in life.


• Do It Myself Blog: Glenda Watson Hyatt shares her experiences living with cerebral palsy to motivate and inspire others to think about how they perceive their own situation and their own world around them. She does all this by typing with only her left thumb! - Glenda Watson Hyatt


• Dooce : My name is Heather B. Armstrong. I am married to a charming geek named Jon. We live in Salt Lake City, Utah, with our three-year-old daughter, Leta Elise, and our five-year-old dog, Chuck. - Heather B. Armstrong


• Get Shouty - Katie Chatfield


• if..else : Hand Crafted Geekery. If..Else is the personal site of Phu Ly, a developer living in London. - Phu Ly


• Moda di Magno : Blog for stylish living. Mrs. Magno Audi driving, Mac using, doppio drinking, (mostly) Red Sox loving liberal. - Lori Magno

Technology/Blogging

• Deborah Schultz: Technology changes, humans don’t. Evangelist, strategist, catalyst in the new world of social media and beyond. - Deborah Schultz


• Lorelle on WordPress: On Lorelle on WordPress, she writes about everything WordPress and blogging, covering more than you may want to know about how all this blogging business works. - Lorelle VanFossen


• PopGadget: Personal Tech + Innovative Lifestyle for Women. Technology magazines ignore women and women’s magazines ignore technology. Popgadget is a lifestyle magazine that embraces technology as a regular and essential part of women’s lives. - Mia Kim & Hoyun Kim


• Tech Kitten: Mac Tech, Tips, Advice and Reviews. - Trisha Miller


• Techie Diva: Techie Diva is technology blog with an undeniable feminine twist. This doesn’t mean the opposite sex isn’t allowed, on the contrary, we love men who don’t mind partaking in our fun conversations which cover everything from emerging technology to the latest "it" gadget. - Gina Hughes


• The Business Blog Angel: business blogging services, for SMEs, coaches and other solopreneurs. - Claire Raikes

Travel & Culture

• Escape Blog: Giving sight to culture-blind travelers. - Melissa Petri


• Fish Creek House : For the fishing, for the forest, for the fun. Luxury with a taste of the rugged outdoors. - GP

Twenty-Somethings

• BeautyLoveSpirit: Our philosophy is simple: Positive advice and inspiration for twenty-something women


• GenPink: GenPink is about being a twenty something woman. Letting others know how our generation is different than those before us. We are career women, single & married, girl friends, and individuals. There is a delicate balance in being an individual and being part of a support system for your friends, family and your environment. GenPink is about balancing family and work, technology, entertainment, and exploration of new ideas. - Elysa Rice


• keep up with me: "I’m 27. No kids, no pets, nonsmoker. I live in the DC metro area (Alexandria, to be exact – which, although it’s close to my own name, I swear I didn’t move here on purpose). I’m the second of five kids (two sisters and two brothers). I’ve been blogging since September 2002. College graduate, sociology major. Voracious reader." - Zandria


• Lindsay Pollak: Advice & Resources for College Students and Young Professionals. - Lindsay Pollak


• Little Red Suit: The purpose of LittleRedSuit is to explore the many ways our lives, our efforts, our careers and our PR and marketing efforts are impacted by our new media world. Join me in this conversation, and you’ll probably hear a lot about marketing, media, Generation Y, the workforce, communication, personal branding, relationships and very likely several other topics. - Tiffany Monhollon


• Michelle & the City: I am a 25 year old Graphic Designer. I work at a law firm and I absolutely love my job! - Michelle


• Modite: Helping you change the world, because a quarter-life crisis is so last year. Rebecca Thorman gives advice to navigate beyond the line of work and play, based on real experiences. It’s engagement for the next generation, and the young at heart, like you! by Rebecca Thorman


• Ypulse : Media for the Next Generation. Daily news & commentary about Generation Y for media and marketing professionals. - Anastasia Goodstein

Weddings

• Style Me Pretty: Abby is a writer, a designer, a girly girl. She is forever inspired by the world around her. She dreams in color. Professionally, abby designs a line of invitations and social stationery. For fun she scours the world for inspiration. - Abby


• Weddingbee: Weddingbee is a wedding blog updated daily by 20 real brides across the US and Canada. We feature an active community, wedding inspiration and ideas, diy projects, product reviews, vendor spotlights, advice and news, with a core focus on real brides’ wedding planning journeys from engagement to “I Do” and beyond. - Bee Kim

Women in Business -- Research and Information

I found that the Center for Women's Business Research has many interesting statistics about women owned businesses.

• Between 1997 and 2006, the percent growth in the number of 51% or more women-owned firms was nearly twice that of all U.S. firms (42.3% vs. 23.3%).
  
• In Ohio, 38% of privately held businesses are owned by a woman, either as a majority owner or equally owned.
  
• According to the Center’s research, four in 10 women entrepreneurs want their businesses to become as large as possible and 83 percent want to increase their firm’s profitability. However, only three percent of all privately-held women-owned businesses generate $1 million or more in annual revenues. This is compared to six percent for men-owned businesses.
  

What is the difference in the businesses? Here are some of the things the Center discovered about the women with a business that generate over a million dollars in revenue:

• Plans for growth
• Sets goals
• Sells to other businesses (I'm not sure if that means they sell their busines or they supply Products and services to other businesses as opposed to consumers. Probably the latter.)
• Constantly upgrading their skills
• Bring in business partners