In This Issue

Direct From Jen

There are people who sum up life as though it were a giant checklist: Great job? Check. Big house? Check. Car? Spouse? Children? Check, check, check! It’s a great way to ensure that you end up with life’s basic necessities – food, shelter, love – and it’s also something you can use to get absolutely everything you always dreamed about. At YSN, we call this checklist the Grand Plan. To put it in the simplest terms, you figure out where you are today and where you want to be in the future, and then it’s a matter of connecting a bunch of dots. What are the benchmarks or milestones between here and your Ideal Life? What are all of the different things you can do to reach each milestone? When you apply the idea of a checklist to your Ideal Life, you can actually achieve it much more quickly than you ever imagined possible. It also knocks down what seems to be a really daunting challenge by breaking it down into bite-sized segments.

When I was on the East Coast recently, I visited our friend Eric Anderson who founded Space Adventures, which lets ordinary citizens buy vacations in outer space. Now of all the stories of young kids with seemingly impossible dreams, this one is my favorite! But by knowing exactly where he wanted to go, Eric was able to create the plan to get there -- and he did...while in his early 30s! This week he's in Kazakhstan again sending Microsoft billionaire Charles Simonyi to the Russian space station! So, if you are interested in getting to work on your Grand Plan like Eric did, make sure to listen to this week’s Secrets podcast. You can also read Chapter Four in Secrets of the Young & Successful and then print out this Grand Plan worksheet to get started.

Now even with a Grand Plan it’s important to remain flexible, because I can pretty much guarantee that life will throw you some curve balls! The economy changes, the unexpected happens and life takes over, but don’t let it derail you from the goals you commit to. As the saying goes, “Yesterday is but today's memory, tomorrow is today's dream” and that’s the philosophy behind the “dream, then do” mentality of the Young & Successful. They are able to imagine what they want and then make it a reality!

Whether you are thinking about yesterday, today or tomorrow, this week we are going to bring it all together. We will tell you how to kiss the old you buh-bye, introduce a website that lets you escape the present, and then fill you in on how to send yourself a wakeup call 30 years from now. And for those considering making some major changes, we’ll give you a few things to keep in mind before quitting your job and help you explore some of the hottest careers for whatever stage of life you are in.

Until next time, remember: Ambition is the price of admission!

Jen

NOTE: Please don't forget to add newsletter@ysn.com to your address book to ensure you receive our weekly updates. And feel free to forward YSN to your most ambitious friends, while you're at it!

back to top

Lifestyle: Who Says Life Isn't Fun & Games?

If you ever need a break from reality, enter the virtual Bizarro World known as Second Life. Second Life is a fast-growing, online community (think SimCity-meets-giant-chat-room) where users interact via avatars (animated, computerized versions of themselves) for friendly discussions. They also buy and sell virtual real estate, build businesses like clubs, grocery stores and anything else you can imagine, attend movies and concerts; and promote actual businesses that exist in the real world!

There are more than five million registered “residents” and more than one million logins per month. Membership is free, but to own property you pay $9.95 (USD) per month plus “land-use” fees proportional to your virtual acreage. For really big projects or businesses, you can even purchase your own island! The site’s popularity has led to major companies like IBM, Toyota, Reuters and the Sundance Film Festival to use the site for promotions and advertising. For example, in Second Life, you can browse the products at Circuit City and Dell “islands,” buy virtual cars from Toyota, virtual clothes from American Apparel and much more. The hope is that the virtual sales will translate into real life purchases, which many smaller entrepreneurs claim is happening. Much like the real world though, “free” is a four-letter word in Second Life! All of the real estate, goods and services created by members for the site cost money or, rather, Linden Dollars, named after Linden Lab, the San Francisco-based company that created the site.

You will be amazed by the creativity (and time) Second Lifers pour into the virtual world, although it left one reviewer at the Los Angeles Times scratching his head: Why anyone with the imagination and downtime to create a virtual business or product just focus their efforts to make it succeed in real life!?

back to top

In The Media: Itching for Change?

Money magazine and Salary.com just released their second annual lists of the Best Jobs in America with separate Top 20s for young people, parents, retired military personnel and the over-50 crowd. Among the best jobs for the young and restless are sales reps, public/private school teachers, property managers, registered nurses and financial advisers. They say these jobs are ideal for anyone who wants to have more control over their futures, more pay and more upside.

back to top

Spotlight On: The Branding Iron

Companies focus on branding when marketing new products or businesses to consumers because they know that public perception can make or break their success.  In your career, it’s helpful to consider yourself as a product that you have to sell or promote to clients, employers, admissions boards and colleagues. What’s your personal branding? What do you want other people to think of when you pop into their minds?

At the West Coast Regional Competition for Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), Pete Van Helden spoke about personal branding and encouraged the audience to carefully construct their own. As someone who worked his way up from clerk to senior vice president and president of Retail West for SUPERVALU’s Albertsons grocery stores, he knows that the way you are perceived by others is directly proportional to your success. Here are some of Pete’s tips for developing a solid personal brand:

• Think about the things you want to promote about yourself, not the stuff you want to hide.
• Create a branding statement: Who am I? What am I proud of? What am I good at? How am I unique or different?
• Leave a lasting impression on everyone you come in contact with – even the ones you don’t see. Pay attention to grammar and tone in your e-mails and phone calls. (One of our favorite tips for very important calls or phone interviews: Look in a mirror when you are speaking and smile. Your smile can translate into a positive impression to the person on the other end!)
• In person, make sure to smile, look the other person in the eye and give a confident handshake. Pay attention to the way you dress.
• Speak loudly, confidently and with certainty.

back to top

Gadgets & Gizmos: You, 10 Years From Now

How often do you wish you could predict the future – or at least take a glimpse at what’s in store? We always say that you control your own destiny, and FutureMe.org is a website that is helping people take the first step – writing it all down. The site has taken the popular grade school exercise of writing a letter to your future self and given it a digital makeover. Now anyone can compose an e-mail to themselves or someone else and send it at a later date. Do you want to check in on yourself or a loved one six months from now? A year? 10 years? You can choose any date within the next 30 years. Did you buy that house? Find a new job? Get married? Start grad school? Move out of your parents’ house? Are you happy? If you ever had to do this exercise in school, you know how powerful it is to receive a letter from your past self to see if you achieved everything you wanted!

back to top

How To: Stay or Go?

Finding your way through the career maze is one of life’s biggest stresses, especially for anyone still figuring out their calling. Maybe you are in a negative work environment, a dead-end position or desiring change because the job didn’t exactly live up to your expectations. Rest assured, you are not alone and your dream job may be just around the corner. Consider the following before submitting your notice:

Is the Grass Always Greener? You may be unhappy at work but do you know what you want to do instead? Before you quit your job make sure you have some direction. Identify your skills, explore what you love to do and try to incorporate it into your work life; research job titles, duties and don’t limit yourself to one industry. Studies show that people make five to seven career changes in their lifetime, so consider each move as a learning experience and a step toward your dream job.

Finding a Job is a Job Itself: In its January 2007 report, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says that it takes people an average of four months to find a new job, so practice patience. Review your resume, talk to people, practice interview and salary negotiation techniques, and research every opportunity. If you are prepared, confident and able to showcase your talents, you have a much higher chance at landing a job offer.

You Gotta Pay the Bills: To pay the bills, it is important to ask where the money is going to come from. If you quit, it is highly unlikely you will receive severance or unemployment compensation. Do you have adequate savings? Are willing to take a temp job? Is your family willing to support you? When you are receiving a paycheck, your budget should include contributions to an emergency fund that will cover three to six months of living expenses.

Stick a Fork in You! Ask if your coworkers, company politics, career choice or outside factors are affecting your attitude. Do you need to get out of the company, find a new industry, take a vacation or are you just plain burned out? Take time to identify your burnout skills, which are the abilities and qualities you can do but hate doing. For example, maybe you dislike giving presentations, transferring phone calls or making frequent business trips. You will get burned out by not being challenged enough and continuing to do things you don’t like with no end in sight.

back to top