1) Do what you love.
You’re going to devote a lot of time and energy to starting a business and building it into a successful enterprise, so it’s really important that you truly deeply enjoy what you do, whether it be running fishing charters, creating pottery or providing financial advice.

2) Start your business while you’re still employed.
How long can most people live without money? Not long. And it may be a long time before your new business actually makes any profits. Being employed while you’re starting a business means money in your pocket while you’re going through the starting a business process.

3) Don’t do it alone.
You need a support system while you’re starting a business (and afterwards). A family member or friend that you can bounce ideas off and who will listen sympathetically to the latest business start up crisis is invaluable.

4) Get clients or customers first.
Don’t wait until you’ve offically started your business to line these up, because your business can’t survive without them. Do the networking. Make the contacts. Sell or even give away your products or services. You can’t start marketing too soon.

5) Write a business plan.
The main reason for doing a business plan first when you’re thinking of starting a business is that it can help you avoid sinking your time and money into starting a business that willnot succeed.

6) Do the research.
You’ll do a lot of research writing a business plan, but that’s just a start. When you’re starting a business, you need to become an expert on your industry, products and services, if you’re not already. Joining related industry or professional associations before you start your business is a great idea.

7) Get professional help.
On the other hand, just because you’re starting a business, doesn’t mean you have to be an expert on everything. If you’re not an accountant or bookkeeper, hire one (or both). If you need to write up a contract, and you’re not a lawyer, hire one. You will waste more time and possibly money in the long run trying to do things yourself that you are not qualifed to do.

8) Get the money lined up.
Save up if you have to. Approach potential investors and lenders. Figure our your financial fall-back plan. Don’t expect to start a business and then walk into a bank and get money. Traditional lenders don’t like new ideas and don’t like businesses without proven track records.

9) Be professional from the get-go.
Everything about you and the way you do business needs to let people know that you are a professional running a serious business. That means getting all the accoutrements such as professional business cards, a business phone and a business email address, and treating people in a professional, courteous manner.

10) Get the legal and tax issues right the first time.
It’s much more difficult and expensive to unsnarl a mess afterwards. Does your business need to be registered? How will the form of business you choose affect your income tax situation? Learn what your legal and tax responsibilities are before you start your business and operate accordingly.

Following the advice on starting a business above will make starting a business both a smoother, less stressful process and go a long way towards ensuring the busines you start lasts and thrives. <source: http://sbinfocanada.about.com>

All too often we don’t question our values or attitudes, we don’t re-frame our thinking, we don’t take constructive action on a stressor, until a significant life event forces us to do so. I have lost count of the number of clients who have said, “What’s it all about?” following a serious illness or the loss of a loved one. I think that one of the reasons why the concept of balance comes up so much nowadays is because employees and jobseekers have finally accepted that job security is an extinct concept. As such, there is a very real, (sometimes spoken, more often unspoken) pressure to be seen to be a good corporate citizen, to be a high achiever against your performance standards, to go that extra mile …

Now, I’m not some one-with-the-universe type here – I have a strong commerical-industrial background and I work in that environment every day. I am a pragmatist and a realist and I accept that bucking against a system that subtly and constantly makes these demands of you is not easy; but again I ask, what is the point of life? Of your life? Is it just about putting bread on the table and servicing your bills, or is it a little more than that? Defining these things is rarely easy, hence the need for a managed career plan.

How do I work to achieve balance for myself?
You will find this very difficult to do unless you are working to some kind of plan and assertively sticking to it. Most people can tell you what they are going to be doing on Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, St. Patrick’s Day, etc. every year. Why can’t we do this on a day-to-day basis? For most of us, it’s because we are reacting, firefighting the myriad demands that are made of us every day.

Take a week. Draw it on a piece of paper and divide it out into a grid of 7 X 24. You can account for quite a lot of that time – sleep, commuting, job, domestic activities. Look at what’s left. What if you were to block out Thursday evening to take your partner out for a swim, a massage and a cheap & cheerful meal? How good would that be for both of you? How hard would you both work to not give that time away? We all do this for important annual events; the items listed above, birthdays, annual leave, weddings, school plays, and so forth. Why don’t we do it on a weekly basis? What about blocking out 2 hours on a Tuesday evening for a long bath with a good book and a couple of glasses of wine? Go whole hog and have candles and incense. Take this concept down to a daily basis. Would blocking out 25 minutes to go for a stroll at lunchtime with your mobile phone turned off be a good idea?

It’s a question of taking yourself and your needs seriously. That Tuesday evening bath gets deferred because your mother calls and wants to moan about Auntie Mabel for an hour. You have placed too low a priority, too low a value, on that bath. Turn the phone off. Get your partner to intercept your calls. Make a plan. Take control. I am not suggesting that you rigidly adhere to some cast-in-stone schedule – you will inevitably have to adjust. But without a plan you are merely following the path of least resistance and that rarely makes for a good balance for you. You will adopt other people’s urgencies and trail along with their agenda instead of driving your own. (The 3 most aggressive words in the English language? “Ah go on.”) A good way of looking at this is to plan out the schedule – colour code it or whatever – and then compare what actually happened with what you wanted to happen in terms of time usage. If you are not happy with the actual, examine why you felt you had to adjust away from the plan and see if there is anything you can learn from that. Play these simple games and you will be well on your way to achieving equilibrium. [I wrote about this in more detail here]

If I want a flexible work arrangement, how do I initiate that discussion with my manager?
Like any good consultant, I answer most questions with the phrase “It depends.” It depends on how flexible you need the arrangement to be, how flexible/inflexible the manager and the company are and very importantly, how vital you are to the smooth running of the company. (Bono has managed to build a lot of flexibility into his U2 schedule, but then, he is a pretty integral part of that company now, isn’t he?) The old adage tells us not to be indispensable, because if we are, we can’t be promoted. The same holds true for flexible working arrangements.

I would recommend either a bald discussion, talking from a position of strength; or a drip-feed strategy, where the concept is gradually introduced and enabled/facilitated. Unless you are Bono, you will need to focus a great deal of the discussion on benefits to the company – and if you can’t talk concretely about benefits, then you will need to at least couch the discussion in terms where the manager won’t be feeling that the company is working for your good rather than the other way around.

<Source: Consult from Internet>

I can honestly say, though, that even through the ups and downs of everyday trials and tribulations, I still love my job as chief executive of VIE at home.

In our business, where most of the sales happen at home-based parties in the evening, this means that I am often contacted by text and email well into the night – especially when it’s month end.

Just like retail stores, people tend to want to book parties and shop near month end, plus our consultants will do calls with their customers to get repeat sales – cosmetics is such a repeat purchase product – to help them achieve their monthly bonuses or incentives. The end of September will be even busier as it’s the last month of an incentive trip to Cape Town – a fully expensed luxury trip for around 80 of our top sales and recruiters, where they will be wined and dined in style – great team building and great memories!

I do have one work-life balance rule, though. I always turn my phone off at 10pm, otherwise I would be divorced!

This is done safe in the knowledge that my IT team will be checking our ordering system and the consultant online message board to ensure all is running smoothly.

Being a lark, I do check my phone first thing in the morning (no, I do not have this by my bed!). I get up at 6am, so I need to be in bed by 10pm, as I don’t function well without sleep (thankfully I have VIE products that aid sleep).

I love that early time of the day before everyone else is at work – it’s my most creative time of the day, for sure. I might write copy, work up new product ideas or plan new promotions. Often by the time my team come in they have meeting requests with me to discuss these ideas, or even a full brief.

I really try not to work at the weekend, but I am on call, and do check my emails (and sales) regularly. I have always prepped for the week ahead on a Sunday night – must be from leaving my school homework until this time. I have never counted the hours I do in a week – maybe 55-60. I don’t like to think about this as I might be surprised. Thankfully, I have a lovely commute of 30 mins across the beautiful South Downs.

I am fortunate that, while my job is 24-7, I am able to switch off. I love my garden and my home, and often recharge my batteries with a bit of fresh air. This weekend, for example, was a lovely mix of family, friends, gym, bike rides, country pubs and a lot of laughter. And good weather. What a difference that made!

Despite the heavy workload involved with being a CEO, I will be making sure I squeeze in a little R&R this week. Hope you do, too.

<Source: www.grant-thornton.co.uk>

Steps:

1. Learn all the job duties and help out when needed. Every great manager knows how to do the jobs that his subordinates do on a daily basis. As a good manager, it is important that you step in and help out your team regardless of what is needed.
2. Show that you have a good work ethic. Be on time and follow the rules. This will show your team and your supervisors that you have the interests of the company in mind. It also sets a good example for your team members.
3. Improve yourself. Be open to constructive criticism from your team and your supervisors. You can also take advantage of any management training available.
4. Motivate your employees. A team that is motivated will perform better. A manager who can motivate her employees is a manager that will stand out to everyone. One way to do this is to tell your team members a positive quote or story every day.
5. Stay available to your team. Your employees may have work or personal problems that affect their job performance. Staying available for them to talk to you about these issues will help them to perform better and will prove that you care about your team as well as the company.
6. Expect the best from your team. A good manager has high expectations. When you expect the best, you will usually get the best. Train your team members as needed so that you can have the best.
7. Accept responsibility and pass it down when necessary. Part of being a good manager is accepting responsibility for the things that happen when your team is on duty. When a supervisor brings things to your attention, accept the responsibility for the situation. Once you do this, pass any necessary information to your team and help to improve the situation. You have to do this for both good feedback and bad feedback.

<Source: ehow.com>

The Benefits of Outsourcing to Vietnam

As stated in the introduction, this section will evaluate Vietnam as an outsourcing destination against each of the factors listed in the preceding section.

• Price: In Vietnam, labor costs are 90% less than those in the U.S., which means significant cost savings for your company. Even compared to other outsourcing destinations, Vietnam’s labor costs are attractive. According to an article in “GlobalServices” in August of 2006, Vietnam’s labor cost for outsourcing IT functions and business processes are 30% less than those in India, and also less than those of countries in Eastern Europe. In October of 2006, GlobalServices named Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City among the top 50 outsourcing cities in the world, due to its having “one of the lowest production costs,” among other reasons.
• Labor Force: The government of Vietnam recognizes and promotes the importance of education and training. According to Vietnam Economic Times, there were more than 200 institutions of higher learning in the country in 2004, and that number had increased by 60% in the preceding six-year period. Today the country has a 96% literacy rate and 80% of the country’s college graduates hold degrees in the sciences (Vietnam Economic Times). This makes Vietnam an exceptional country for outsourcing technological projects, because the highly educated population has a high level of scientific and technical literacy. The labor force also have much lower turnover and much higher stability than do those of most other countries that are active in outsourcing. Overall, companies in Vietnam has an IT-related turnover rate of less than 5%, whereas in many other countries, such as India, this turnover rate can be 10% or even higher. The aforementioned 2006 GlobalServices article cited Ho Chi Minh’s “significantly low attrition rate” and “strong labor pool” as two other reasons for the city’s inclusion in its list of the top 50 outsourcing cities.
• Socio-Economic Stability: Common outsourcing destinations in Asia-Pacific are often plagued by instability. Consider, for example, the 2006 coup in Thailand, the Kashmir conflicts between Pakistan and India, and the Sri Lankan military’s struggles against the Liberation tigers of Tamil Elam. There are many U.S. travel advisories that warn Americans against traveling to these areas, but fortunately Vietnam doesn’t share these countries’ woes. In fact, Vietnam is a very stable country, which creates a hospitable business environment for outsourcing.

• • Economic Stability: Vietnam’s economy is healthy and growing rapidly, with a GDP that, according to CEIC, grew an average of 7.4% in the six years leading up to 2005. This is the second fastest GDP growth in all of Asia, as published in the New York Times article, Vietnam’s Roaring Economy Is Set for World Stage, on October 25, 2006. FDI (foreign direct investment) was almost US$5 billion in 2005, which makes a favorable comparison with that of other countries that are popular destinations for outsourcing work.
  • Ethnic/Religious Stability: Because 95% of Vietnam’s population is ethnically Vietnamese and more than 80% of the citizens do not identify themselves with any particular religion, Vietnam is largely free of ethnic/religious conflict. A 2003 UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) study concluded that Vietnam had one of the most secure environments for investment, given the conflicts in Iraq and the surrounding region. Likewise, Vietnam was ranked as the safest among the 14 countries in the Asia-Pacific Region by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy in Hong Kong (Berth of a Nation in Time, autumn 2002).
  • Political Stability: The current government has held power since Vietnam’s 1975 reunification, meaning that there have been more than 30 years of political stability in the country. The last major conflict with a neighboring country was almost 30 years ago, in 1978. Two American presidents (Bill Clinton during his presidency and in 2006, and George W. Bush during the APEC summit) have visited the country, and Bush met with several top officials including the president, prime minister, and Communist Party chief, thereby underscoring the country’s political stability.
• Business Environment: Vietnam has had a free market since its centrally-planned economy was reformed through “doi moi” twenty years ago. Today, Vietnams’ policies create a warm and welcoming business environment for foreign investment. The country became the World Trade Organization’s 150th member in November of 2006, thanks to a vote of the organization’s General Council. At that time, Pascal Lamy, the Director-General of the WTO said, “Viet Nam has shown how anchoring domestic reforms in the WTO can yield dramatic results. Viet Nam’s economic growth topped 8% last year, foreign direct investment rose steeply to over $6 billion, and exports surged by over 20%. More must surely follow with the new laws, administrative measures, and commitments on goods and services that are in Viet Nam’s membership package.” Vietnam is also taking great strides in protecting intellectual property rights and since 2002 has largely been complying with the guidelines established in the WTO Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIP). When Vietnam became a WTO member, it agreed to comply with TRIP immediately, without a transitional period. The country is expected to achieve full TRIP compliance soon, thanks to legislation that was passed in 2006. This legislation prompted the U.S. to laud the country for its “extensive revisions and updating of its intellectual property laws.”
• Language: Unlike many Asian languages, Vietnamese uses the Latin alphabet, just as English does, which makes it relatively easy for Vietnamese speakers to learn English. English is the second most popular language in the country, and the majority of Vietnams’ college graduates have high proficiency in English. Consequently, most IT workers in Vietnam are able to communicate easily with U.S. companies in English when completing outsourcing projects.

Who outsources to Vietnam?

Many Japanese companies are choosing to outsource much of their IT work to Vietnam. According to a November 2006 article in GlobalServices, “Vietnam: Capitalizing on the China-Japan,” by the year 2010 as much as 10% of Japan’s software outsourcing may be sent to Vietnam.

Intel is also heavily reliant on Vietnam to meet its outsourcing needs. In October of 2006, Intel Capital, the unit involved in venture capital for the Intel Corporation, announced a $3.5 million investment in FPT, Vietnam’s largest software company, located in Hanoi. Earlier in that same year, the company said that it was going to build a factory for chip assembly and testing with a price tag of $300 million (San Jose Mercury News, “Intel Invests in Vietnam Software Company, October 24, 2006).

Other companies that have chosen to outsource to Vietnam include Nortel Networks, Bayer, Sony, Cisco, and Anheuser Bush (source: CIO.com, “Outsourcing to Vietnam”).

Vietnam Is an Excellent Outsourcing Destination

For all the reasons described above, Vietnam is clearly an excellent choice for meeting any business’ outsourcing needs. Here is a quantitative summary of the advantages of working with offshore providers located in Vietnam.

• Price: Vietnam’s labor costs are significantly lower than those of many other companies.
• Labor Force: Vietnam’s labor force has a 96% literacy rate and high scientific and technological knowledge.
• Socio-Economic Stability

• • Economic Stability: Vietnam has very high GDP growth, with significant foreign investment and membership in the World Trade Organization.
  • Ethnic/Religious Stability: There are no ethnic/religious conflicts in Vietnam.
  • Political Stability: Vietnam’s current government has been in place for more than 30 years and there have been no conflicts with neighboring countries for almost the same amount of time.
• Business Environment: Vietnam’s laws and public policies favor business and foreign investment and the country is constantly strengthening its protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights.
• Language: Most college graduates in Vietnam are fluent in English, which is the second-most popular language in the country, in large part thanks to Vietnamese’s use of the Latin alphabet.

Source: Consult from Internet

This article lays out the business case for meeting your company’s software development needs by outsourcing to Vietnam. It first outlines factors to consider in deciding which offshore locations to outsource to. Then it considers those factors one at a time for Vietnam, concluding that the country is a promising offshore location for outsourced software development and for business’ other IT needs.

Factors to Consider Regarding the Offshore Provider’s Location

In this section, we present a simple and straightforward framework for understanding the advantages and disadvantages of various offshore locations for your outsourced projects and business functions. This list of factors focuses on the most important and relevant factors, without becoming overly complex by listing unimportant minutiae.

The main factors that should be considered are as follows:

• Price: Obviously one of the main resources to outsource work is to save money, so naturally you will be interested in the price quoted by the offshore provider. But it is critical to know exactly what that price includes. Costs for labor and overhead are both important components of the total price. Before doing direct comparisons of offshore providers’ labor costs, you should consider how much overhead you will incur in managing the outsourced work.
• Labor Force: Who exactly will be working on your project? You should be familiar with these workers’ professional experience, education, and technical expertise. Also, make sure that there are enough workers available to work on your projects, so that your work won’t be slowed by labor bottlenecks. Find out what kind of turnover rate the offshore provider has, because if the turnover rate is high, a lot of time will be wasted on re-training and transferring information to new offshore employees.
• Socio-Economic Stability: You can greatly reduce the risk of outsourcing by choosing to work with an offshore provider that is located in a country that has high economic, ethnic/religious, and political stability. If the offshore provider is located in a country with significant instability and conflict, your project may proceed more slowly or come to a complete halt. Also, the unstable situation may present dangers if and when your employees have to travel to the offshore site (Americans are often a target of insurgents overseas). And ultimately, if the country unexpectedly ends up with new leadership, you may find that the business-friendly policies that originally attracted you to the country suddenly change and become hostile to foreign investment.

• Economic Stability: Be familiar with the country’s GDP and other economic indicators, and how those indicators have changed over the past several years. Also, consider whether foreign investment is increasing or decreasing and try to understand the underlying factors. What international trade treaties and pacts is the country a part of?
• Ethnic/Religious Stability: Know what ethnic and religious groups are present in the country and whether they are tolerant or intolerant of one another. Does the country have a history of ethnic unrest and/or religious conflict?
• Political Stability: Understand the local political situation where the offshore provider is located. What kind of government does the country have, and how long has the current regime held power? Does the country have a history of upheaval and uprisings? Know whether rebellions, revolutions, and coups are common. Also consider the stability of neighboring countries and whether they have friendly relations with the country where the offshore provider is located. Read expert analyses of any regional conflicts.

• Business Environment: When you outsource IT-related work, you’ll probably be exchanging proprietary information and dealing with intellectual property. You need to know what policies the country has in place to protect your company’s trade secretes and intellectual property rights. Likewise, does the country have appropriate laws regarding economic development, taxes, and the labor force? How well are those laws enforced? All of these issues are very important in fostering a favorable business environment.
• Language: You must be able to communicate with the offshore service provider – not only with the top managers, but also with the workers who are involved with your project on a daily basis. How well do they speak and write in English?
• Strategic Fit: Many companies ignore questions of strategic fit – much to their chagrin. If the offshore provider doesn’t understand and adapt to your company’s strategic goals and standard business processes, the final deliverable will not be what you are looking for. Have an open discussion with the offshore providers’ managers and try to understand why they’re in business and how your project will be a good fit with their strategic goals

Source: Consult from Internet

1. Set up your curriculum vitae page to have one-inch side margins and top and bottom margins of between 0.5 and 1.25 inches. Use a simple, professional-looking font such as Arial (if you want a sans serif font) or Times Roman (if you prefer a serif font). Consistency is key. Use the same font throughout. Use boldface and italics to add variety to your layout.

2. Write your CV in a resume style appropriate for your experience. A chronological style lists your work experience in reverse chronological order. This style suits job seekers applying for jobs within their current field and with few or no gaps in their employment. A functional resume emphasizes experience and achievements and works best for those lacking relevant work history or for those with employment gaps. This style is also useful for job seekers with many promotions and advancements to showcase. A corporate or combination style combines aspects of both chronological and functional styles.

3. Start your curriculum vitae with your personal information, beginning with your name (preferably in bold) and listing address, phone number and email. These elements can either be centered or left-justified. The remainder of the CV should be left-justified.

4. Write an objective or personal profile. This essentially tells employers where you want to be on your career path. This statement should concisely outline the job you seek or the role you wish to fill. You should compose several objectives to use for different CVs, depending on the job. For example, you might have one objective for a contract job and another for a managerial job application.

5. Highlight your education with advanced degrees first, followed by undergradaute degrees. Include the names of the institutions, your degrees, graduation dates and associated honors or commendations. GPA is not necessary. List coursework related to the job you seek, especially if your degree is not directly related to the position. Also list any notable research projects, published articles or community service initiatives to your credit.

6. Outline the jobs you’ve held and the duties you have performed. List employment dates and job titles as well as your responsibilities. Highlight the results you achieved in your job and what benefits you brought to the company. Your work history should be written to match the requirements outlined in job applications.

7. Conclude with three references including their names, position titles, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. You may include more than three if you feel the references will provide significant impact on a potential employer.

Tips & Warnings:

• Maintain parallel construction of your descriptions whenever possible. This means if you use verb phrases to describe your work history at one job, use verb phrases in the descriptions for all your jobs. Highlight only the information that is most relevant to the job you seek. This will often be what makes you stand out from other job seekers. Allow someone else to review and edit your CV. Keep your email address professional-looking. Approximate your name as closely as possible without using numbers or odd phrases.
• Don’t sacrifice accuracy. Be truthful in your descriptions. Don’t go overboard writing your CV. Most curriculum vitae are kept to two or three pages. Don’t forget to include any certifications earned from associations, organizations or other non-school institutions related to your field. Don’t leave out any notable skills you possess such as speaking another language, operating a particular computer program, or organizing events.

<Source: eHow>

1. Step 1

   Focus on an industry. Obviously, some industries are doing better than others–and growing. Health care, education, government and food services are all great sectors to enter. So what happens if you’re in a field like public relations, where things are a bit more bleak? Focus your job hunt on public relations for an educational institution or a hospital. With a little creativity and flexibility you can slant your job hunt where it will be more well-received. Don’t dig those fields? Consider something temporary in any field that will hire right now–and remember, it doesn’t have to be a long-term thing. If you need a job, you can get one–it just may not be your dream job, but that’s OK for now.

2. Step 2

   Rebrand yourself. Jot down some of your best skills and areas in which you are best skilled. Think of a new slant to market yourself. For example, do you have a technical background, but a passion for all things creative? Consider blending the two. I have a degree in science, yet an aptitude for writing, so I market myself towards technical companies that may have personnel smarter at collecting data than reporting on it. Being that I know the industry, but focus on communications, I can pick up where their crews leave off–and that works for me. Figure out what slant works for you. And remember, you can have more than one slant if you’re looking at multiple jobs in various industries.

3. Step 3

   Try every avenue. Don’t rely solely on the want ads in your local paper. Expand your job search to include online job boards, head hunters and old connections. You’d be surprised how accomplished and optimistic you’ll feel about your job hunt knowing that you’re covering all avenues. Here’s where it’s useful to pull out old business cards or revisit your networking group–you never know when the connection you need will pop up.

4. Step 4

   Go out of your comfort zone. In these tough times, a job is a job. So if you can find a decent one that offers at least some of what you need, take it. Remember that no job is forever and you can always get something better when the economy rebounds–because it will. This is only temporary–and not every company is about to file for Chapter 11. In fact, many are weathering the storm just fine. <Source: eHow>