Your #Career : How Getting Fired Could Be the First Step Toward a Better You…Few Things are More Motivating than Losing your Job. Don’t Squander this Opportunity to Learn About Yourself and Embrace a New Direction.

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Getting fired can feel like rejection or the painful end of something. It certainly doesn’t feel good. It can cause you to go into protective mode and tell yourself a story that wasn’t your fault. It also can lead you to beat yourself up for not meeting expectations.

Laid off Worker with Box

People get fired for many reasons. Perhaps the business wasn’t doing well and needed to cut costs or restructure. Maybe your boss really was an idiot and the two of you didn’t get along — so you subtly self-sabotaged yourself. Or maybe the job wasn’t serving you. Think back. Did you find yourself wasting time because your heart wasn’t in it? Did you get complacent and flatline instead of looking for ways to challenge and motivate yourself?

Whatever the situation, I guarantee you will be better off somewhere else in the long run.

Grieve. Then get moving.

Allow yourself to grieve for a short time. Then, stop feeling sorry for yourself and start to look on the bright side: You now have countless opportunities to consider.

Getting fired isn’t the end of the world. It isn’t even the end of your career. If it was unexpected, odds are there’s no predetermined path laid out for you. Take this opportunity to assess and regroup. What is it that you truly want to be doing? Are you satisfied in your current career, or do you need to pivot?

Most important, remember you have it within you to bounce back — with new self-knowledge that will help you become stronger than ever before.

You might want to look into specialty training or further education. Or maybe you need time off to do some soul-searching. Whatever you decide, realize you now have many different paths from which to choose. More than one is bound to make your life more fulfilling than it was at the job you left behind.

Related: 6 Habits That Turn Dreams Into Reality

Success breeds complacency.

Oftentimes people who reach a certain level of success cease to strive for more. Their basic needs are met. You might linger for years in a job that’s only mildly fulfilling you. If you’re thinking, “It can’t get much better than this,” you’re functioning but not really really thriving.

Getting fired gives you a different perspective. Take a look at your life and your next moves with fresh eyes and a beginner’s excitement. What else might you want out of a job that would make you passionately excited to get up every morning? You — and your eventual employer — deserve more than just complacency.

Related: Getting Fired Was Step One to Increasing My Pay 1,000% in 3 Months

 

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Failure is your best teacher.

Absolutely none of the world’s most successful people took a straight, smooth, always-upward path. Taking risks and reaching for something more naturally means you will get turned down and endure rejection. In fact, stretching beyond your job description could be the reason you got fired from the position that didn’t fit.

Failure isn’t an end, and it certainly doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you. Failure teaches resilience, empathy, and self-confidence. The experience is painful, but the lesson it teaches can be quite a gift.

Related: A Special Guide to Growing Stronger, Feeling Better, and Bouncing Back After Failure

“Failure is neutral — it’s how you emotionally hold it inside of yourself that is not,” says Ashley Stahl, a career coach to millennials. “In truth, failure is just feedback that it’s time for you to course-correct. Use failure as an opportunity to evaluate where you add the most value as a worker, and celebrate the fact that you’re not great at everything.”

Be honest with yourself so you can move forward.

So, what do you do now that you’ve been fired? You can look ahead by being honest about your past. Ask yourself the hard questions — the ones whose answers might reveal you bear some responsibility.

What could you have done better? What part did you play in getting fired? Would you be happy at a different job in the same field, or might you actually want to do something else?

Look at the pros and cons of your last job.

What did you love? What did you hate? Did you like the culture, or do you need something different? Smaller, larger, more service-oriented?

As best you can, isolate the characteristics you most want in your next job. Otherwise, you risk falling into something that looks just OK. Real progress means you’re moving closer to fulfillment, not just into another position that won’t engage you on a deeper level.

Start making phone calls.

Call your friends, if you haven’t already. Let them know you’re looking for a job in your sector or primed for something new. Networking is your lifeline. Your friends, family members, and colleagues should know a skilled and employable rock star is available to join their team. Take all the introductions, advice, and sympathetic ears offered.

Most important, remember you have it within you to bounce back — with new self-knowledge that will help you become stronger than ever before.

 

Entrepreneur.com | November 17, 2016 | Murray Newlands

 

#Leadership : Why you Should Never Work Longer than 90 Minutes at a Time…By Working in 90-Minute Intervals (or Less) you Could Maximize your Productivity. Here’s What you Need to Know.

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There’s so much emphasis on increasing productivity these days. Some companies are even doing things like doing away with meetings altogether to try to increase it. Workers are being mindful of productivity, too. Given the pace and expectations of modern life, we’d all like to understand how to best maximize our time and energy. It turns out, there may be a simple solution.

Clockwork

By working in 90-minute intervals (or less) you could maximize your productivity. Here’s what you need to know.

1. Strategic renewal works

Sometimes it seems like rushing around from place to place, or from one task to the next, is the only option we have for getting everything done. Our days are packed, so trying to find a chance to slow down a little feels almost impossible. But, taking time to relax could actually save you time in the long run. According to a piece in The New York Times, “strategic renewal,” which includes everything from daytime naps or workouts to longer and more frequent vacations, has been shown to increase productivity in the long run. So, while it might seem like there isn’t enough time to take a break, it’s actually one of the keys to getting a lot done.

 

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2. The basic-rest-activity-cycle (BRAC) impacts our waking and sleeping lives

We’ve known for more than 50 years that we sleep in 90-minute cycles. (If you have a sleep tracker, likely as a feature of an activity band, you might have noticed this yourself.) We move from light sleep, to deep sleep (and restorative REM state) in roughly 90-minute waves. About a decade after we learned about this natural sleep cycle, researchers began to realize that we follow a similar pattern in our waking lives as well.

3. To maximize productivity, work in 90-minute intervals

In response to this information, and in an effort to better understand productivity, Florida State University Professor K. Anders Ericsson and his colleagues studied “elite performers,” folks who excelled in their field, whether they were musicians, athletes, or chess players. Ericsson discovered that uninterrupted practice in intervals of 90 minutes or less, with breaks in between sessions, worked best for maximizing productivity. Also, he noted that these folks rarely worked more than four-and-a-half hours in a given day.

“To maximize gains from long-term practice,” Ericsson concluded, “individuals must avoid exhaustion and must limit practice to an amount from which they can completely recover on a daily or weekly basis.”

By focusing on limiting our fatigue to a level that we can completely recover from in a timely way, we can help to maximize our time and our productive efforts. Perhaps thinking of work or projects in terms of how they can be blocked into 90-minute chunks could be a good place to start. Who knows, maybe with practice we could even build to keeping our active workdays under that four-and-a-half-hour maximum Ericsson recommended, too.

Find out how your salary stacks up on PayScale.

Read the original article on PayScale. Copyright 2016. Follow PayScale on Twitter.

Businessinsider.com | November 11, 2016 |  Gina Belli, PayScale

#Leadership : 4 Ways Your Leadership Development Is Failing Managers…Companies, after All, Don’t Choose Managers by Drawing Names Out of a Hat. So, How Do Good Employees Become Bad Managers?

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Nobody sets out to become a bad manager, but the fact of the matter is, there are a lot of bad ones out there.

Platform Corridor

The 2015 State of the American Manager: Analytics and Advice for Leadersreport from Gallup analyzed the engagement levels of 27 million employees worldwide. It found that managers accounted for at least 70 percent of variance in employee-engagement scores.

Since a subsequent, 2016, Gallup report looking at approximately 1,500 employees found that only 35 percent of employees surveyed were actually engaged, the obvious conclusion is that it’s time to rethink what constitutes good management.

Companies, after all, don’t choose managers by drawing names out of a hat. They look at the qualities and potential of current employees and try to determine who has performed well and has what it takes. So, the question becomes, how do good employees stray off the path and become bad managers?

Let’s take a look at how leaders can guide managers through leadership development and help them effectively develop and grow:

Create career paths.

Leadership development and the path to becoming a good manager starts long before an employee is offered the position. Throughout their career, employees who want to become managers need opportunities to gain the necessary experience to become great managers.

Start employees off right by defining clear career paths that show what they can do to fit into the role in the future. Provide them with clear steps and guidance so they understand that they — and their future — are being invested in by the organization. Make sure you show them how each step in their development will help them achieve their individual career goals as well as contribute to the company.

Employees who step up will make it easier to identify which employees are interested in management opportunities as well as which ones are most qualified. That will make it easier to eliminate options that might become bad managers in the future.

Related Book: Real Leaders Don’t Follow by Steve Tobak

 

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Provide consistent training.

Management is a skill. It has to be learned, which is why many organizations offer training to help develop new managers. The problem is that a short course in how to run a team isn’t enough to let all that knowledge truly sink in and help people form good management habits.

Grovo’s 2016 Good Manager, Bad Manager report looked at responses from 500 middle managers and more than 500 employees. It found that 33 percent of respondents said they hardly ever received follow-up sessions to reinforce their management training. That is why it’s no surprise that 80 percent of managers who change their behavior after management training go back to their old ways in just six months or less.

Training is not a set-it-and-forget-it-scenario. Maintain an ongoing leadership development program for all managers. Don’t just assume they understand and let them be. Provide real-time support for their behaviors and actions by checking in to make sure they are putting the information into action. Repetition will ensure that good management practices become more engrained in the way they lead each and every day.

Evaluate managers.

The aforementioned Grovo report found that 84 percent of managerial respondents believed their companies needed a better way to evaluate managers and their abilities. That type of thinking leads to the wrong type of management behavior being rewarded by the organization. Of the managers surveyed by Grovo, 74 percent said ineffective managers were frequently praised or promoted for their performance.

When managers are improperly evaluated, that action sends the message that bad management is what a company values, what  it rewards. Avoid this by establishing clear criteria of what good management looks like. Share these standards and expectations, not only with managers, but also with employees, so they can know if their superiors are providing the right type of leadership.

Also hold regular evaluations with managers. Discuss their performance and offer feedback from senior leadership as well as those they manage. That way, as soon as a manager begins to veer off the good management path, he or she can be guided back on track.

Build an accountability culture.

Good managers hold themselves accountable. They take responsibility for their mistakes and work to find solutions. They don’t try to pass the buck or take credit for others’ successes. Unfortunately, after gaining more power, many people forget these values.

Emphasize the importance of taking ownership of one’s work throughout the organization. Have clear methods to track individual and company goals so each employee can see how he or she is contributing. Make sure everyone knows whom the team’s performance reflects upon.

If a project fails, is everyone accountable or is the manager? Employees at all levels will be encouraged to be accountable once there’s an understanding about who is responsible for what, and how progress is measured.

Related: Why You Need to Invest in a Leadership Development Program

Becoming an excellent manager is a process. It doesn’t happen overnight. To ensure that good employees don’t become bad managers, organizations must have a clear picture of what leadership development looks like — and then communicate it.

 

Entrepreneur.com | November 15, 2016 | Andre Lavoie

#Leadership : Why Everyone’s Salary Should Be Revealed…Transparency in Pay Provides Employees with Reassurance that They are Being Treated Fairly in Relation to Their Peers.

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 When it comes to their salaries, Americans are pretty pessimistic.  Almost two-thirds of over 71,000 U.S. employees who are paid the market rate for their positions believe they’re underpaid, according to a PayScale survey. These workers also said they’re considering looking for higher-paying work somewhere else, and they’d still leave if you gave them a raise.
pay-check

That’s because employees at companies that didn’t practice transparency just assumed that their coworkers were making more money.

“It turns out that pay transparency—sharing salaries openly across a company—makes for a better workplace for both the employee and for the organization,” David Burkus, author of Under New Management: How Leading Organizations Are Upending Business as Usual, said in his TED Talkearlier this year. “When people don’t know how their pay compares to their peers’, they’re more likely to feel underpaid and maybe even discriminated against. Do you want to work at a place that tolerates the idea that you feel underpaid or discriminated against?”

Keeping salaries secret does exactly that. Since companies are often transparent about expenses like health care and travel that have skyrocketed over the past few years, “It makes sense to pivot from the old way of keeping pay grades under a veil of secrecy to a more transparent way by sharing the compensation information on all employees based on the different roles,” says Tim Tolan, CEO and managing partner of the executive search firm The Tolan Group.

In fact, being open about what you pay employees can have benefits that exceed the savings companies can have by negotiating with each individual employee.

IT BOOSTS EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION

“Transparency in pay provides employees with reassurance that they are being treated fairly in relation to their peers,” says Jeanne C. Meister, coauthor of The Future Workplace Experience: 10 Rules for Mastering Disruption in Recruiting and Engaging Employees. “They may still leave, but pay may not be part of the equation.”

Workers who are paid less than the market rate for their jobs were more satisfied if their employer was transparent about their pay, according to PayScale. And if someone sat down and openly discussed the reason behind the compensation, their job satisfaction rose from 40% to 82%.

 

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IT INCREASES EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY

In a study from Cornell University and Tel Aviv University, researchers found that keeping salaries secret is associated with decreased employee performance. In an experiment, students were paid a base salary for completing three rounds of a computer matching game. While participants played the game individually, they were assigned to a four-person work group. Half of the participants were informed about only their own performance and bonus pay, while the other half experienced pay transparency, being told what the other team members were being paid. The study found the group that had pay secrecy also had decreased performance in the task.

IT ENCOURAGES GROWTH AND RETENTION

Pay transparency provides an incentive for employees to climb the ladder, says Burkus. “The research shows that when people know how they’re being paid and how that compares to their peers, then they’re more likely to work to move up it,” he said in an interview with Harvard Business Review. “And even those high performers are more likely to work hard to stay high performers in order to demonstrate why they bring that much value to the organization.”

IT HELPS FIGHT GENDER BIAS

Transparency requires employers to justify their decisions, and makes it less likely that these decisions will be based on bias or discrimination, says Kate Mueting, a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Sanford Heisler, LLP.

“For example, D.C. has one of the lowest gender pay gaps in the country (11%), and this is largely attributable to the fact that the federal government has lock-step, transparent compensation,” she says.

Earlier this year, Fast Company reported that President Obama had announced a proposal aimed at closing the gender wage gap by requiring companies with 100 or more employees to report their staff’s pay broken down by race, gender, and ethnicity to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). This information would be an update to the EEOC tool that currently collects wage data from businesses and isn’t scheduled to start until September 2017.

BUT THERE COULD BE DRAWBACKS

“In reality, salaries remain a sensitive topic,” says Lauren Griffin, senior vice president for Adecco Staffing. “Before openly speaking about your income with peers, it’s important to consider whether those conversations would offer any benefit.”

For example, sales environments commonly share performance rankings, which hint toward a person’s paycheck. “In that situation, openly discussing pay could encourage teams to share best practices and drive them to get better,” she says. “In addition, it could help retain less tenured employees who want to know what to expect as they move up within an organization.”

While there may be justifiable reasons why one employee commands a higher salary, such as increased responsibilities or experience, pay discussions can cause team members who don’t have access to the big picture to become disgruntled and feel undervalued, says Griffin.

“Once you open this door, you can’t close it,” she says. “Employees who perceive that their salary isn’t fair when compared to a peer’s can spread those frustrations to other colleagues and teams, ultimately leading to poor engagement, turnover, and decreased productivity.”

HOW TO SHARE THE NUMBERS

Potential drawbacks make the way that you share the information important. Choosing a method that fits your company culture can help. For example, Buffer puts all of its salaries on its website for anyone to see. SumAll shares numbers within the company, and Whole Foods employees can make an appointment to view the company’s “wage report.”

Other companies post pay rates for certain positions and let employees figure out individual salaries based on the hierarchy or their organizational chart. Some companies share their formula for calculating pay rates, while others provide the median salary for key roles and make this transparent both inside the company as well as on the company’s Glassdoor page.

“Some executives are concerned about the privacy issues,” says Tolan. “A way around sharing exact amounts would be to use salary bands and provide ranges for each role—and while you would still know which band a coworker is in, you probably would have to guess at their actual salary.”

Sunlight makes it impossible to hide things, said Berkus in the HBR interview. “And so in a transparent culture, regardless of how you do it, you tend to find people who have a higher sense of the organization being fair,” he says. “You tend to see increases in collaboration and all sorts of other positive effects.”

 

FastCompany.com | STEPHANIE VOZZA  | 11.15.16 5:24 AM

#Leadership : How to Disrupt Your Next Meeting — and Look Like the Smartest Person in the Room…Even the Most Ineffective Meetings Represent Opportunities for Leverage.

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Eighty percent of success, the saying holds, is about just showing up.  By this measure, the millions of meetings that are held in offices across the U.S. every day provide attendees with a strong chance to make the other 20 percent happen.

top view, group of students together at school table working homework and have fun

If they could appreciate being there, that is.

 Last year, a survey of 2,066 Americans by Harris/Clarizen showed that almost 50 percent preferred just about “any unpleasant activity” to sitting in a meeting. Alternatives included taking a trip to the DMV (18 percent), watching paint dry (17 percent) and undergoing a root canal (8 percent).

But is taking this attitude a winning strategy for an ambitious professional? Spoiler alert: not so much.

Related: Let’s Give Meetings a Much-Needed Makeover

Worse, it drives your boss nuts. Recently, one senior executive of an American-based tech multinational told me that members of her team routinely “check out” during meetings.

“These are very smart people,” she says. “But often, they either start multitasking or just aren’t fully present at meetings.”

Behavior like this can hurt even the most valued high-potential employees, because it shows passivity, rather than leadership and initiative. To be sure, there are plenty of reasons to mentally check out during an endless round of meetings — including fuzzy agendas, vague objectives and the general feeling that one just doesn’t need to be there.

In theory, anyone who calls a meeting will have a purpose in mind: to arrive at a decision, solve a problem or share updates that require feedback. In practice, that’s often not what happens.

So that kind of meeting is a waste of your time, right? Wrong. Even the most ineffective meetings represent opportunities for leverage.

Here are three ways to look like the smartest person in the room, even when a meeting feels like the dumbest time-suck ever:

1. Challenge up.

When the CEO or a senior executive attends a meeting, lower-ranking team members can wind up feeling intimidated or tongue-tied. Even when they have valuable ideas to offer, they can feel obliged to defer to authority — or worse, wholly succumb to group-think, which occurs when an organization appears to value harmony and conformity over rigorous analysis and critical evaluation.

But reticence in meetings often leads to flawed decision-making, so bosses hate it. (You may snort at this with disbelief, but my coaching experience bears this out.)

Recently, the president of a Detroit-based automotive parts manufacturer, whose VP of sales I coached for executive presence, shared that he wanted his lieutenant to “challenge [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][him] more in meetings.”

Recent research supports this. A 2013 Center for Talent Innovation survey of 268 senior executives found that integrity and speaking truth to power are highly sought-after qualities in emerging leaders. Similarly, a 2014 paper by the American Psychological Association showed that being courageous and speaking from the heart are characteristics of executive presence that help people get ahead.

But that begs the question: how do you successfully challenge the boss and not get fired? The answer is to offer substance — through sound reasoning and compelling evidence — and in a way that doesn’t threaten his or her status. This is important to get right: Neuroscience research has shown that a perceived status threat — such as a condescending tone, a scowling facial expression or thinly veiled sarcasm — is as painful as a blow to the head, leading to increased cortisol levels and anxiety.

A boss experiencing this sudden flash of stress hormones may react emotionally (translation: negatively) rather than focus on the value of your perspective.

Related: 5 Tips For Better Meetings

 

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Conveniently, success can lie in a simple swap-out of prepositions. Replace “but” with “and” when challenging your boss. Try saying it out loud to yourself right now, and see which sounds better: “I appreciate everything you just said, but we should consider XYZ.” Or, “I appreciate everything you just said, and we should consider XYZ.” The latter conveys a collaborative spirit whereas the former just sounds oppositional.

But you can’t approach this half-heartedly. A challenged boss may challenge back by probing for context or detail, or both. You responding with a sheepish expression and a half-baked argument can do more harm than if you’d said nothing. Still, if you’re immediately short on the requested details, offer to provide additional information post-meeting.

2. Disrupt the seating order.

It’s natural to sit with those who make us feel comfortable: friends, allies or teammates. But you’ve already established those bonds. Because organizations run on relationships, use your next meeting to expand your network.

Try sitting next to someone to whom you’ve never spoken, someone with a vastly different skillset or professional background — even someone who, at first blush, you may not like. This takes effort, but the approach can yield significant benefits, allowing you to establish new connections, gain a new perspective on a problem or cooperatively brainstorm ideas.

What’s more, the gesture signals to someone that you respect them. And if there isn’t an opportunity for a quick sidebar chat, you’ve created an opening to connect after the meeting — provided you actually speak to them, of course.

You can break the ice, and avoid a threat response, by elegantly justifying your disruption of the usual seating order. Ask, “’Mind if I sit next to you? I wanted to run something by you.” Or offer a firm handshake and say, “We haven’t officially met. I’d love to learn a bit more about you.” The options are endless.

The point is to take advantage of the many opportunities at meetings for smaller conversations with your colleagues, especially in problem-solving sessions. Reduce emotional distance by reducing physical distance.

3. Commit to providing something of value.

Providing value is the antithesis of “just showing up.” But if you think that value means the loaf of banana bread that you distributed at the last meeting, think again. People will gladly accept your kindness and thank you politely, but no one will see you as a serious player or respect you for filling their tummies with empty calories, however delicious.

Meetings are about progress, results and relationships. Being prepared is a good foundation for providing value, but as corporate meetings go, especially impromptu ones, you may not always be clear on a meeting’s objective until it starts.

Related: An Introvert’s Guide to Communicating With Results

Regardless, the key here is to be engaged. When a meeting begins, commit yourself to providing value in one form or another. Don’t hang back and wait for others to speak. Instead, take the lead — humbly (especially when you’re not in charge). This could mean asking thoughtful questions that broaden everyone’s understanding of an issue. It could mean offering fresh ideas that lead to possible solutions to a pesky problem. It could mean bringing the meeting back on track when it’s been hijacked by an off-topic rant, or using humor — judiciously — to de-escalate tension in the face of a frosty exchange between participants.

There are many ways to contribute value. Deciding in advance that you’ll do so can sufficiently prime you to shine in a meeting, even as others in the room silently wish they were somewhere else.

 

Entrepreneur.com | November 15, 2016 | HARRISON MONARTH

 

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#Leadership : The Future of Work- LinkedIn Data Shows More Cash-Strapped Millennials Turning To Part-Time Freelancing…The Ranks of Part-Time Freelancers are Swelling, Particularly Among Younger Workers in Expensive Cities.

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The number of U.S. workers with full-time jobs who freelance on the side is sharply on the rise.
Man at Computer with Boss

According to our data here at LinkedIn, the share of those users in our top professional fields has doubled in the past five years. What’s more, the number of people freelancing on the side of their day jobs is growing more than three times faster than the number of full-time freelancers on LinkedIn. Here’s why.

WHO, WHAT, WHERE . . .

Who are all these folks? To find out, we started by examining roughly 9,600 of LinkedIn’s ProFinder professionals. To be sure, that may be a self-selecting sample, and the way those users choose to respond to survey questions can vary based on professional, social, and regional culture, not to mention personal preference. (Not everyone thinks about freelance work the same way, for instance—some don’t even call it “freelancing.”) But because they’re vetted, qualified freelancers who have purposefully chosen to join the platform, they’re among the most committed independent workers in a gig economy that’s still very much in flux—which may make them the trendsetters to watch.

 

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In any event, we discovered some interesting patterns. For one thing, it’s clear that some people are more inclined than others to add part-time freelancing to their repertoires than others. We’ve noticed, too, that men are doing more part-time freelancing than women, and millennials are doing so more than any other age group.

Of all the users who list freelance work on their LinkedIn profiles, 20% have a full-time job in addition to their freelance business. That means full-time freelancing still dominates, but the side-gig model is quickly catching up. These are the top five industries for full-time professionals who freelance on the side:

  1. Financial services and insurance
  2. Professional services
  3. Technology and software
  4. Entertainment
  5. Staffing

. . . AND WHY

The reason is pretty obvious: extra income.

According to our data, a whopping 47% of professionals who are freelancing while working full-time are concentrated in six states with major urban populations: California, New York, Illinois, Texas, Massachusetts, and Florida. Since these professionals are living in some of the most expensive cities in the country, it’s not a wild hypothesis that they’re motivated, at least in part, by the need to bring in some extra cash.

According to a recent survey from Payoneer polling more than 23,000 freelancers in over 180 countries, the average freelancer charges around $21 an hour for their services. For those freelancing on the side who are able to squeeze in an extra 10–15 hours of client work each week, that can quickly add up to an additional $1,000 or more in discretionary income every month.

So for anyone whose main source of income isn’t keeping pace with their rising costs of living—a situation that describes many Americans yet varies widely from one state or region to the next—part-time freelancing may seem like an appealing option.

 

OTHER MOTIVATIONS THAT HINT AT WHAT’S COMING

That may not be the only motivation, though. Some other immediate benefits to taking on freelance work in addition to your day job include personal branding and networking. It can widen your exposure to different companies, types of work, and people. So if you’re deliberate about working with the type of clientele that will help push your career where you want it to go, you stand a better shot at gaining the clout—and client rolodex—to become the go-to person within your niche.

Part-time freelancers seem to understand this, especially millennials, many of whom have aspirations of making a full-time living as a freelancer. For many, side gigging, is meant to be a stepping stone. They recognize that it’s best to begin with a handful of clients to build their resumes and bulk up their portfolios before making the leap into full-time independent work at competitive rates.

Looking at the demographics of ProFinder professionals, we see a large proportion of full-time freelancers falling in the 45–59 age range. Those people have likely had long careers and built substantial networks in their industries before leaving their corporate jobs to go freelance full-time.

Faced with these patterns, it’s looking like traditional nine-to-five jobs may soon become relics of the past. As younger professionals enter the workforce, they’re gravitating more toward independent work—in many cases not just out of necessity but deliberately, with an eye toward the types of careers they want to pursue. In the meantime, it seems likely that the ranks of part-time freelancers will continue to swell—even if they don’t stay part-time for good.

 

FastCompany.com | GYANDA SACHDEVA  | 11.14.16 5:00 AM

#Leadership : How to Create a Meaningful Morning Routine…Setting the Right Morning Routine Provides the Energy to Tackle Whatever Comes In the Day.

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For entrepreneurs, there’s never enough time in the day — which is why we need to be mindful of how we spend every moment. There are countless ways to craft your morning: some of us go for a run, read the paper, dive into email or Facebook, get the kids ready or just hit the snooze button a few times. But, setting the right morning routine provides the physical and emotional energy to help you tackle whatever comes in the day ahead.

Free- Women at Luch

Running a growing business and managing a household with four kids (along with a supportive husband/business partner), I’ve adjusted my own routine in the hopes of being happier, healthier and more productive — for both my business and my family.

Since we’re all individuals, there’s no right or wrong routine — and what works for me may not work for other entrepreneurs. But here’s a snapshot of my morning routine and some of the thinking that has gone into the planning.

My typical morning:

  • 5:00 am: Wake up, meditate, focus, practice gratitude and a morning prayer
  • 5:30 am: Check emails/voicemails
  • 6:00 am: Shower, drink coffee and make breakfast for the kids
  • 6:30 am: Wake up kids
  • 7:00 am: Feed kids
  • 7:20 am: Take first set of kids to school (9th grade and 7th grade boys)
  • 7:45 am: Take second of kids to school (9th grade and Kindergarten girls)
  • 8:00 am: Get to gym, work out and stretch
  • 9:30 am: Get to the office

Be the first up in the household.

I’ve learned that if I want any time to myself in the morning in order to meditate and respond to business matters, I need to get up one-and-a-half hours before the rest of the family. I’m not alone. Business leaders like Jack Dorsey (Twitter, Square), Jeff Immelt (General Electric), Ursula Burns (Xerox), Indra Nooyi (Pepsi), Richard Branson (Virgin), and Tim Cook (Apple) are all known for being early risers.

When I carve out this time for myself in the morning, I can set the tone for a better and more productive day. If you’ve ever slept through your alarm clock and raced to get you or your family out the door, you understand how just a little stress snowballs throughout the day. I wake up a little earlier to get the positive energy moving and everything else follows suit.

 

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Meditate.

As an entrepreneur, mom, and Type A individual, I typically have hundreds of ideas and tasks rushing around in my head at any given time. Dedicating a few minutes to meditation in the morning allows me to start the day with more clarity and a calmer mindset. You don’t need to meditate for a long time; for example, I typically meditate for about 10 to 15 minutes. This isn’t the time to be reviewing your to-do list; it’s all about stillness and silence in the mind. To block out distractions, you can focus on your breathing or peaceful image (like the ocean).

Gratitude.

I’ve got a beautiful family, great friends and a career that I still love after nearly 20 years. But, when I leave the football team’s snacks on the kitchen counter, am rushing to get to a media interview and sitting in traffic, it’s really easy to forget these blessings and get bogged down in the daily stress of life. That’s where gratitude practices come in.

Related: 5 Simple and Effortless Morning Routines You Can Start Tomorrow

Positive psychology studies have shown that gratitude is associated with greater happiness and health. In one study, participants were asked to write a few sentences each week. One group was instructed to write about the things they were grateful for; the other group was asked to write about things that irritated or displeased them; and the last group wrote about events that affected them (not stressing a positive or negative).

After 10 weeks, the group who wrote about gratitude was more optimistic and felt better about their lives. The group who wrote about irritations exercised less and had more visits to the doctor. This is why I dedicate a few minutes each morning to focus on all the blessings (big and small) that I am grateful for.

Check email.

I know that many well-respected entrepreneurs and business leaders make it a point to avoid email until later in the day. Bestselling author, Julie Morgenstern wrote an entire book on the subject: “Never Check E-mail in the Morning.” The basic idea is that email is a reactive, not proactive task. By checking email, you’re basically letting your inbox hijack your morning and set your agenda.

While I appreciate the sentiment, it hasn’t worked for me. As CEO of a small, but growing, company, I’ve found it better to check in digitally and see if there are any pressing matters. Reading and responding to emails first thing in the morning ensures I’m not holding anyone else up and allows me to focus on more important tasks later in the day. I’m CEO, but I also consider myself in the customer service business — my main priorities are to keep my employees and customers happy.

Exercise.

After all the kids are off to school, I hit the gym for some cardio and stretching. Getting the blood circulating with daily exercise is critical for a clear mind and healthy body. Research shows that exercising for as little as 10 minutes releases a neurotransmitter that helps soothe the brain and boost the mood. And regular exercise can increase energy levels. Not everyone wants to work out in the morning (and that’s fine), but for me dedicating time in the morning ensures I’ll have time for exercise and it won’t get pushed aside so I can take care of a work or family matter.

Related: 10 Ways to Improve Your Morning Routine

Time with family.

Lastly, the most important priority in my morning routine is making time for my family…this includes making breakfast for my kids and driving them to school. I try to slow things down (which admittedly isn’t easy) to make it quality time, rather than just another task to cross off the list. I figure that if Barack Obama can have breakfast with his family each morning, I should be able to find time too. My husband and I are working so that our kids have a better life and understand the importance of hard work. However, I never want work to get in the way of family.

 

Entrepreneur.com | November 14, 2016 | Nellie Akalp

#Leadership : Vision- 6 Habits That Turn Dreams Into Reality…The Secret of Turning Wishful Thinking into a Life of Action and Achievement.

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When I was growing up, I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I discussed this aspiration with career advisors, family and friends. I outlined my plans in university student kitchens at three in the morning. It was the main conversation in the staff cafeteria of the large corporation I joined to tide me over until I launched my enterprise.

Free- Lock in Door

I met up with an old friend whom I had not seen for fifteen years, and we chatted about old times. After the talk of foreign assignments, pension plans and leadership roles had died off, I mentioned that I was looking to start my own company. My friend took my hands in hers, looked me in the eye and said, “Ric, you´ve been talking about that dream for twenty years. Don´t you think it´s time to do something about it?”

Walt Disney once said, “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” I finally turned my dream into a reality, not by wishing upon a star, but by converting it into a concrete vision. Today, I own my own leadership development company.

Dreams and visions are quite different.

Dreams are…                                               Visions are…

Inward looking
Ephemeral
Aspirational		Outward looking
Enduring
Intentional

 

 

 

 

A dream is something, a vision does something; a dream is a place to be, a vision is a place to go. A vision, in other words, is more structured, intentional, enduring and rooted in daily living than mere wishful thinking.

In his seminal text, The Path of Least Resistance, Robert Fritz describes a vision as a hybrid between future state (the result you want to create) and current reality (the starting point). Fritz argues there is an inherent tension between these two states that can help you “organize your actions, focus your values, and clearly see what is relevant in current reality.”

Moving from one to the other.

And herein lies the secret of turning ephemeral dreams into tangible outcomes, of launching that company that’s been on the bucket list for decades, or publishing that novel that´s been languishing in the bottom drawer since the dawn of time — it´s being able to structure the dream into something that inspires action and momentum.

Here are six habits that can help turn dreams into tangible outcomes:

1. Materialize your dream using visualization. 

Visualization, or what Shakti Gowain calls ‘Creative visualization’ in her book of the same title, is a technique in creating what you want from life using the power of imagination. Using some common visualization techniques can help participants convert their dreams into future possibilities. Sportsmen and women, for example, use visualization to inspire them toward excellence and success in competitive events. Visualization techniques are also widely used in business contexts for people to create goals and aspirations for themselves.

Related: 4 Visualization Techniques That Can Propel Your Success

 

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2. Prioritize your dreams.

One of the habits in Covey´s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, is to begin with the end in mind. Having a clear idea of what you want to achieve and being able to prioritize sundry aspirations into a single sustainable “highest goal,” as Michael Ray terms it, is a way of beginning to work strategically with your dreams. Goals should have a degree of tension –not too removed from current reality (which will make them impossible to achieve), neither should they be easily attainable. Consider an elastic band. A slack elastic band has no tension. An overstretched elastic band can snap. Fixing a goal which is challenging, but not impossible, motivates us to work toward our vision. Fritz says in Creating, “In fire building, a log on top of the pile will drive the flames upward. In the creative process, a place that is bigger and higher than where you have gone so far can increase momentum, energy and creative power.”

3. Set key milestones. 

Warren Bennis once said, “Mountain climbers don’t start climbing from the bottom of the mountain. They look at where they want to go and work backward to where they’re starting from.” It is the same for goal setting — when you begin with the end in mind and set an action plan, you can begin to work backwards and set interim goals which advance you toward your vision. Achieving things in small incremental steps has great power. Professor Stephen Morris posited a theory that if dominoes were lined up starting with five millimeters and increasing in size by one and half times, it will take just 29 dominoes to knock over the Empire State Building. Best-selling author, Ramit Sethi,applies this principle to goal setting in his domino strategy which advocates starting small and creating momentum through incremental steps.

Related: How Marking Milestones Boosts Employee Productivity

4. Monitor progress. 

One of the benefits of a structured approach to goal and vision setting is that individuals can clearly see how each action and effort propels them toward their highest goal. This helps build momentum and motivation. Dreams, on the other hand, are wispy by nature and it can be baffling to know how to get a handle on them.

5. Enlist support.

Dreams that are not anchored in reality and lack structure or outcome can be crushed by “dream stealers.” In his poem, “The Cloths of Heaven,” WB Yeats writes: “I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.”

A realistic, goal-orientated vision withstands all these negative forces and increases the likelihood of people sharing their vision. In his book Synchronicity, Joe Jaworski explores the positive outcomes of openly sharing structured goals and visions — people begin to understand your aspirations and priorities and how they can contribute to your success.

6. Know when to give up.

I know we are taught through motivational stories that we can achieve whatever we put our minds to and make our dreams come true; but as Robert Fritz says, goal attainment is linked to current reality. Give up on those unrealistic dreams that suck up your energy and creativity and set achievable aspirations — otherwise that elastic band will keep snapping in your face.

We should never stop dreaming; after all, our dreams are what makes us human. They shape and guide us. But there is a world of difference between being a dreamer and transitioning your dreams into something tangible. This ability to build personal momentum and achieve realistic objectives is the cornerstone of self-mastery, and every effective entrepreneur that I have ever met gets this right.

 

Entrepreneur.com | November 12, 2016 | Ric Kelly

 

#Leadership : Actually, Women Do Ask For Raises As Often As Men—They Just Don’t Get Them…A Recent Study Shows that Women Know What they’re Worth and Aren’t Afraid to Ask for It. It’s Their Employers that Don’t.

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 Almost a decade ago, Carnegie Mellon professors Sarah Laschever and Linda Babcock found that men ask for raises and promotions four times more than women do. Their research has now been cited so often that it’s just about become popular wisdom.

free- women at meeting

But a new study by researchers at London’s Cass Business School, the University of Warwick, and the University of Wisconsin analyzed a random sample of just over 4,500 workers across 800 employers in Australia and found something surprising: Women aren’t afraid of asking for raises and promotions. Women ask as often as their male counterparts, but they get what they want less often—25% less often, in fact.

NEW RESEARCH, NEW REACTIONS

Using a detailed series of questions, the researchers tackled two stubborn yet widespread beliefs surrounding the gender pay gap. The first—that women aren’t as ambitious or pushy as men—was found to have no basis in the study (which focused on Australia, because it’s the only country that gathers data on employees’ raise requests). The second—that women are more afraid of upsetting their bosses or hurting their relationships with their employers—was also thrown out.

These findings shift the burden from professional women to the companies that employ them. These days, it appears that closing the pay gap may be less about changing the ways women have been raised to understand the value of their work and more about how their employers react to women’s improving negotiating skills.

Social and political climates may have something to do with that shift. Earlier this year, the World Economic Forum (WEF) issued its annual report on the gender gap, and it didn’t just fall into the void. Just last month, in Iceland, where women earn an average of 14% less than men, women left their desks at 2:38 p.m., leaving their workdays 14% unfinished—right at the point where that pay discrepancy kicked in.

Taking to the streets and leaving desktops unwatched might not catch on in the U.S., but the metaphor is instructive. The WEF report looked at 144 countries and measured the gaps not only in economic opportunities but also in access to education, health care, and political representation. The U.S. ranked 45th on the list. At the current rate, researchers believe, women worldwide are not going to see these gaps close completely in their lifetimes—it will take 170 years at the current rates of progress worldwide.

 

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But as one of the coauthors of the Cass School study points out, that research “potentially has an upside. Young women today are negotiating their pay and conditions more successfully than older females,” says Amanda Goodall, “and perhaps that will continue as they become more senior.” Women aren’t just negotiating more aggressively than in the past. They’re now more aware that they aren’t being rewarded equitably for doing so.

Knowledge is power, in other words, and it spreads almost exponentially over time. It’s findings like Goodall’s and her fellow researchers’ that don’t just document a problem but empower those who are hurt by it to demand change in the right places.

WHAT WORKING WOMEN CAN DO STARTING NOW

With that in mind, there are a few steps women can take right away to begin pressing to earn what they’re worth.

Know your own value. Do the research and honestly assess your talents, skills, and experiences—because your boss won’t do this for you. Get the data on pay for the same or comparable jobs in your community, so you have objective (or at least less subjective) information with which to build a case for yourself.

I was so proud when a former intern of mine was offered a position at a major tech company and asked me what to do before accepting. She’d done her research, and the firm’s salary offer was toward the top for comparable positions. Still, she said, “I know I should negotiate something.” She was right; I advised her to think about non-salary compensation that she’d value, and she ended up getting her new employer to pay for her move.

Be your own advocate. Investigate the culture of your company, how decisions are made, and what’s valued most (and least). It’s one thing to do the “hard” research—salary benchmarks and so on—and another to get a “softer,” qualitative feel for an employer’s mind-set around compensation. This holds true as much for a company you’re considering working for as one you already do work for.

Go on Glassbreakers to get or become a mentor, and LinkedIn to connect with others in your field. Read reviews on Fairygodboss. Talk to trusted coworkers. Reach out to past employees who’ve since moved on, and ask their experiences. Then use your research to help you speak up—not just about your salary offer or about that promotion coming up, but about ways in which women’s leadership can add value to their bottom line.

Outside of work, too, it’s important for professional women to understand policymakers’ priorities; change happens in both big and incremental ways. The keys to more opportunities and important social shifts can often be found in the details of all kinds of bills, from the municipal to the federal level.

Face the chaos with courage. When I left my first CEO position, a member of the board asked me what I thought was one of most important qualifications for the job. Courage was the answer that came out of my mouth before I had a chance to think. I still believe that courage is what it takes to act in the midst of chaos and against long odds that you shouldn’t have to surmount but are forced to. It takes courage, too, to own the responsibility for fixing something, even if you don’t have total authority to—and to make decisions even when you can’t guarantee the outcomes.

It’s possible to see the latest research as different fragments of the same picture. Women have changed—even in the past decade—but the world at large has not, and 170 years is too long to wait for parity. The U.S. has just fallen short of electing its first female president, but it’s worth remembering that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote. That means that a majority of American voters still wanted a woman to represent them, and that desire doesn’t vanish.

Whatever the next four years turn out to look like, it’s clear that the social tide is turning. Younger women are asking for their due when their older colleagues didn’t dare to (often as a result of wholly valid fears). It’s heartening to know that the data confirms what many of us have long hoped: Finally, women know their worth. Now it’s time for everyone else to catch up. Don’t worry—we’ll show you the way.

 

FastCompany.com | GLORIA FELDT |  11.10.16 5:00 AM

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#Leadership : 7 Things Company/Business Owners Need to Know Post-Election…Last Night’s Vote has Brought Market Scares, Wage Hikes, Marijuana Legalization and More.

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Results from yesterday’s election are in, and businesses and traders are already bracing for the changes that President-Elect Donald Trump will implement once he is inaugurated.

7 Things Business Owners Need to Know Post-Election

During his campaign, which ran for nearly a year and a half, he promised radical changes to health insurance, taxation and immigration. Whether the new Republican Congress will enact his plans is yet to be seen.

Related: Woke Up With a Dark Cloud Today? Read These 7 Pieces of Inspiration From Entrepreneurs.

Americans also weighed in on more than 150 ballot measures in various states when they cast their votes yesterday. Here are some of the shifts that the election will entail for businesses.

1. Market reactions 

U.S. stock markets opened more calmly than projected, which could be attributed to the gracious tone of Trump’s acceptance speech early this morning.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 700 points in futures trading overnight, while S&P 500 index futures fell as much as 5 percent, according to Quartz.

However, within the first hour of opening, some markets were up over yesterday’s close. They’ve fluctuated slightly since, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 210 points (1.15 percent) as of 1:55 p.m. ET, the S&P 500 up 21 (.98 percent) and the Nasdaq up 37 (.76 percent). The dollar exchange rate is also stable this morning. Trump’s claims that he is going to rebuild U.S. infrastructure are correlated with a surge for Caterpillar, which is currently up 6.1 points (7.21 percent) over yesterday’s close.

“By way of comparison, major indexes fell about 2 percent four years ago after President Obama was re-elected,” according to CNN Money.

Anticipation of a December Federal Reserve interest-rate hike has dampened investment activity throughout the latter half of 2016. Expectations of the hike “had fallen to about 50 percent as results pointed to a Trump triumph,” but they’ve since “returned to almost 80 percent,” according to Bloomberg.

Much hinges on Trump’s rhetoric in the coming hours and days.

 

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2. Threats of an Obamacare repeal

While there’s a great deal of uncertainty, some industries have reacted in accordance with Trump’s campaign promises. The stock of healthcare firms is falling today due to Trump’s stated intention to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Centene Corporation is down 10.91 points (16.33 percent), making it the second-worst-performing stock on the S&P 500 today (as of 2 p.m. ET).

Under Obamacare, many small-business owners have complained of having to put in hours of administrative work to insure their employees — and foot the bill amid rising premiums. However, the repeal of the ACA could reverse progress toward insuring the largest proportion of Americans in history.

3. Minimum wage hikes

Minimum wage increase proposals passed in four states: Arizona, Colorado, Maine and Washington.

  • In Arizona, the minimum wage will rise from $8.05 to $12 by 2020. Minimum-wage workers at large companies will get 40 hours of sick days a year, while those at smaller businesses will get 24 hours a year. Employees will be guaranteed one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked.
  • In Colorado, the minimum wage will increase from $8.31 to $12 by 2020.
  • In Maine, the minimum wage will rise from $7.50 to $12 by 2020. For tipped workers, it will increase to $5 an hour, with $1 increases until earnings are equal to the general minimum wage by 2024, according to Money.
  • Washington state voters approved a ballot measure to raise the minimum wage from $9.47 to $13.50 an hour by 2020. Employers will now be required to provide minimum-wage employees with one hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked.

In South Dakota, voters rejected an initiative to lower the minimum wage for non-tipped employees under 18.

Trump has expressed opposition to a minimum wage hike at the federal level.

4. Recreational and medical marijuana legalization

Ballot measure approvals will triple the number of Americans living in states where recreational cannabis is legal, according to the Associated Press.

Related: Legal Marijuana a Big Winner in Elections Across the Country

  • Voters in California, Nevada and Massachusetts approved ballot measures legalizing the recreational use of marijuana.
  • Voters in Arizona rejected recreational marijuana.
  • As of 12:24 p.m., recreational pot in Maine is still too close to call with 94 percent of precincts reporting.
  • Florida, Arkansas and North Dakota voted to approve marijuana for medical purposes.
  • In Montana, residents voted to give patients easier access to medical marijuana. Licensed providers will be allowed to serve more than three patients and hire employees to cultivate, dispense and transport medical marijuana, according to Newsweek.

5. Tax reform

Trump has proposed lowering taxes for the wealthiest Americans, who earn more than $413,350 per year, to a 33 percent rate. He wants to reduce the number of tax brackets from seven to three, and 47 percent of his proposed tax cuts would go to the top 1 percent of richest Americans, according to Forbes.

As for his proposed business tax cuts, Trump has put forth a plan to reduce corporate tax rates from 35 to 15 percent. This would be a means of deterring companies from operating in other countries with lower tax rates — and keeping them in America.

This 15 percent rate would apply to income from an S corporation, partnership or sole-proprietorship.

“This means that a taxpayer earning business income would experience a drop in top tax rate from 39.6 percent to 15 percent under the Trump presidency,” according to Forbes.” It also means that under the Trump plan, the difference in top tax rate between paid as an employee (33 percent) and as an independent contractor (15 percent).”

Trump has also put forth a plan that would ease the burden on large companies such as Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, Oracle and Cisco Systems bringing cash into the U.S. from overseas, with money saved to go to infrastructure upgrades.

“It will provide a deemed repatriation of corporate profits held offshore at a one-time tax rate of 10 percent,” according to DonaldJTrump.com.

6. Paid leave and childcare policies

According to the NFIB, Donald Trump proposes expanding unemployment insurance programs and eliminating fraud within them to pay for six weeks of maternity leave.

According to Trump’s website, his child care plan would incentive employers to provide on-site care by raising the annual tax credit and also allow both working and non-working moms to deduct childcare expenses. Some have said that this plan encourages mothers to stay at home.

7. Limited immigration

Most Americans are familiar with Trump’s xenophobic comments, including his plan to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, his call for the “extreme vetting” of refugees and talk of mass deportations, ideological certifications and the end of birthrate citizenship. He has also proposed a “complete and total shutdown” of Muslim immigration to the U.S. and defunding of “sanctuary cities” where undocumented aliens reside.

Related: If You’re A Hillary Supporter, This Is the Best Advice You’ll Receive Today

If Trump deports all undocumented immigrants, this action could reduce the labor force by 6.4 percent, reduce the GDP by 5.7 percent per year and cost nearly $1.6 trillion to enforce over 20 years, according to one estimate.

Trump also wants to eliminate the H-1B visa program, which allows non-immigrant workers to reside in the U.S. to perform skilled labor. Many companies in Silicon Valley take advantage of this program in order to recruit the best talent from around the globe.

 

Entrepreneur.com | November 9, 2016 | Lydia Belanger