Professional Success - The Plan

What is professional success? A job with a questionable 401k at the end of thirty years of service? You're kidding me, right?!

So tell me, where are you at with your career and professional life? Are you truly satisfied where you find yourself currently? Is this where you thought you would be five, 10 or even perhaps 15 years into your career after graduating college?

What if you are currently unemployed? If you are, have you lost all of your desire to move forward with that career that seems so elusive? Better yet, can you define what your career even is at this point?!

Well, you're reading the right article to help you define what the next steps should be to get your professional life back in order. Follow this short plan that I will outline below and you will find professional success and a pace that will feel comfortable for you, but will also get you where you want to go much faster than you thought possible.

Step One: GET EMPLOYED! If you are currently unemployed and not really sure where your next career position will be coming from the obvious solution is to develop a well thought out job search strategy! Why? In case you're not aware of the vast majority of job seekers, regardless of how long they have been on the job market, have yet to put together a job search strategy that will yield the results they so desperately seek.

Sit down and put pencil to paper and list out all the available resources, contacts and tools you can use to expedite your job search success. Once you have accomplished this little task put together a timeline and a daily/weekly schedule of activities that will get you in front of perspective employers.

Part of this get employed stage is to also put together a small business plan for a side business you will start at the same time you are seeking new employment. My recommendation is to spend three hours a day, every day, performing job search activities in conjunction with the above mentioned job search plan you pieced together. The other hours of the day are to be used to develop a small side business which will help you gain a new found source of income as well as a much desired activity that can be listed on the resume while you are unemployed and job hunting.

Step Two: NURTURE YOUR CAREER & GROW YOUR BUSINESS! Once you are gainfully employed you want to make sure that you stay employed and you become a significant contributor to your employer's success. This translates to making your job a major priority in your life - which most people just do not choose to do. Get to work early, solve your employer's problems, help your coworkers at any and every opportunity, and become a valuable resource most employers desperately seek.

While you're growing your career you will also be focusing on growing your part-time side business. I already hear what you are thinking: how do you expect me to start and grow a small business while I am working a full time career position? And the answer is..... Can you afford not to?!!

By growing your business while you are growing your career you will substantially improve your level of professional success by giving yourself multiple options as far as income and professional opportunities - thus ensuring professional success. If you look at the very successful people around you the vast majority are making the payroll and not on a payroll!

Step Three: INVEST WISELY & CREATE NEW OPPORTUNITIES. With your additional income created by your stable, but growing career and part-time side business (which is on a growth trend) you will be able to invest in many of the available investment opportunities that few people can participate in today. Such investment opportunities would include real estate, intelligent investing in the stock market, purchase of existing small businesses as well as creating new financial opportunities for yourself that you are passionate about.

This is all occurring while you are enjoying a growing career that you are constantly nurturing while you are also working on gaining financial independence through the growth of your small side business. The additional revenue stream into your bank account will be a great enhancement to your financial health as well as your personal self-esteem.

In conclusion, I have seen many people follow this model and within a few short years they are able to make the choice of either walking away from their job or staying with their current employer but with a new sense of relaxed purpose - created by their income no longer depends on this particular job. By creating your own professional success as outlined above you can easily take your career and professional life to new heights as you design the very lifestyle you desire.