Photo by borman818

Yesterday’s post was “You have to START to finish!” I promised to continue the theme of starting to finish. If this is a blog written by a professional resume writer, why then is my first topic about finances and not job search or resume writing or career planning?

Money and finances are such a core of why we work that addressing the topic of finances first will help with other areas of planning and goal setting as we go on in other posts to talk about “starting to finish”. Many people go through life with a blurry-eyed way of dealing with their financial picture and fail to understand the implications of their financial choices.

A job loss example

When individuals or families are hit with challenges like job loss, the financial picture is the one that suddenly comes to the forefront. Panic sets in! I can remember a couple coming in together to hire me to write the husband’s resume.

I struggle to remember their names today because it was so long ago but I remember the wife breaking down in tears. “We will lose the house!” she sobbed. Now, the husband had only lost his job a few weeks earlier and he did qualify for unemployment. He lost his job during a good economic period, unlike our past three years of global economic crisis, but the wife was still terrified.

The outcome? After I wrote the resume and coached the husband on how to look for a job successfully, within 3 weeks, he was working again in a new position. No losing the house, no reason to panic. But panic she did.

What can be done to prepare for financial challenges?

COMMUNICATE: Most people hate talking about finances and it is the core of much financial strife. Typically, in a marriage or relationship, one partner has stronger financial skills than the other. In my marriage, my husband abhors talking about budgets, finances, tracking checking accounts, or anything else in that topic.

I started my career working for a savings and loan for three years. This, coupled with my own desire to understand finances, put me in charge of our finances. However, it also left me alone to review accounts, think about budgets, and plan for the future. Now (after 30 years of marriage) I am finally getting Bill to look at QuickBooks accounts and spreadsheets. He still hates it but it is starting to make a little sense to him.

Take some time to talk about your finances with someone you trust. If you are single, find a family member, good friend, or better yet, financial expert to talk with and develop plans.

USE FINANCIAL TOOLS and SOFTWARE: Today there are so many options. Personally, I use QuickBooks to track both my personal accounts and spending as well as Design Resumes finances. For 20 years, my husband was a remodeling contractor and so we had another QuickBooks account for his business.

I also have a massive spreadsheet that I started in 1996 to pull together monthly expenses from all sides. The Excel spreadsheet listed all the expenses for each month and organized it by due dates so I had one source to make sure all the payments were made. This spreadsheet also gives me a way to easily track where I am in my full financial picture. I can see at a glance what my total debt is and I update it regularly.

PUT MONEY IN SAVINGS: You’ve heard of saving for a rainy day. Despite working for a financial institution in my early years, I never followed the first rule of financial planning. Put some money in a savings account every month. What will that do? You will then have a plan if you do lose a job or something unexpected happens to your car or house. It is easy to live paycheck to paycheck but that’s what really hurts when life hands you challenges.

REDUCE YOUR DEBT: This for me is a little like the pot calling the kettle black. 2010 was such a year of investment into Design Resumes for me that I have much ground to cover to get back into control with my debt load. I remodeled the office, traveled to conferences to meet colleagues and gain career industry education, I invested in sound advice in marketing, and I also did some other home improvements like a new furnace.

What will I do different in 2011? I will work at paying down debt and building savings. I will make sure that any new expenses are absolutely necessary. My ultimate goal is to be debt-free because that will give me the freedom to live my life under my own control.

If you reduce your debt and carefully scrutinize new purchases, you will find that if disaster or job loss strikes, you can face it with confidence instead of fear.

STAY ON TOP OF YOUR FINANCES: Even though I have all of these tools available, I haven’t been using them to their full capacity and I often get buried in other things. Yesterday, I updated my spreadsheet for December and it took me about 3 hours. Why? because I let it get out of control. Updating it every few days or even daily would have gotten me on track and saved me a ton of time.

If you follow these suggestions, I think 2011 will be a year that you can remember fondly as one that you built a foundation for the future.

Job seeker success stories

Lately, I have been hearing the same things from my clients, both the very new ones and the ones who have already achieved their goals. Here’s a couple of notes from my clients:

A year or so ago  I was fired and came to you to do a resume for me, not only did you do an awesome resume but you gave me a glimmer of hope that all was not lost. It was so much more than just a resume to me. Recently I was hired at XYZ full time! With better pay and hours than I previously had at my old job, things really do happen for a reason!!

She had been at her old position for 16 years and it hit her very hard. I am smiling so much rereading this note. But when I first received her e-mail, I had tears streaming down my face. I know her struggle and it is so much fun to see the victory.

I recently started working with a young man who had left his chosen field, taken a job he hated just for income, and quit looking for something in his field. This is what he said after we wrote his resume:

I think the resume is coming out really really well.. Just in the past 2 days rewriting my resume  has created a confidence or what I like to call a “swagger”. I can walk with my head upright knowing that just because I’m not doing what I want to right now, I really have a nice future ahead of me if I position myself correctly.

I just wrote about this in my most recent post, I see possibilities, but I wanted to share this with you. These two clients are not the exception. I have heard back from so many of the people I worked with this year.

Someone else chatted with me on Skype yesterday morning. He had decided not to move forward with his job search after we completed his resume but a company he really wants to work with found him on LinkedIn and he told me he is in his third round of interviews. He also told me that someone else we both know has had lots of leads generated from the LinkedIn profile we wrote for her.

I’m not the only resume writer / career marketing strategist with clients experiencing success. I see reports on Facebook and Twitter all the time and I hear it in phone conversations with colleagues. Not only that, many of us who are using social networking and blogging for our businesses have experienced an upsurge in business that we haven’t seen in the last few years. My own December career marketing income is currently up more than 480% when the month isn’t complete yet.

What does this mean?

• For me, it tells me that job seekers are realizing the benefit of working with professionals and because we are hearing so many success stories of clients landing in new positions, I think it means that the economy is starting to recover. For all of us who have lived through these very tough times, we can breathe a sigh of relief.

• For me, it also makes me excited to go into 2011. I have so many plans and goals.

Are you feeling the excitement and hope too? Let’s celebrate Christmas with joy and forge ahead into the new year with anticipation of good things!

Photo by cliff1066

This was my year to start in a new direction. I started 2010 with renewed focus on Design Resumes.

Gung ho to infuse myself with cutting-edge job search and career marketing strategies, I eagerly signed up for not 1 but 3 career conferences even though I hadn’t flown in 15 years. The first in Baltimore, Career Thought Leaders 2010 (CTL2010), gave me the opportunity to learn new concepts and meet new friends. The second in New Orleans, Career Management Alliance 2010 (CMA2010), expanded my career industry knowledge and built connections.

United Airlines to San Diego!

Career Directors International 2010 (CDI2010) was in October in San Diego, a city on the top of my list of places to see. I knew I would meet more great colleagues, convert online relationships to find new friends, and forge potential alliances. I booked my flight with United Airlines in September.

United Airlines Change of Plans

I woke up in the middle of the night two weeks after I booked the flight convinced I should not go. The chronic sinus issues I struggled with re-surfaced right before CTL2010. After CMA2010, sinus issues turned into a severe ear infection and later an eye infection. Two specialists finally delivered the right medical help. By the time it was all resolved, I had been sick more than two months and felt the impact on my business.

To top it off, my husband had surgery leaving us with new debt of $10,000+ in addition to investments I poured into my home office and business in 2010. I needed to work on planning for the unexpected. If I canceled, I might lose my airfare investment. If I went, I could not trust my ears would not get re-infected, plus restaurant and hotel expenses, and I could lose potential income.

United Airlines to the Rescue

Airlines rarely give refunds but when I got the advance flight directions from United Airlines, I noticed a link for refunds. I wrote a short e-mail to United explaining financial issues and my recent ear /eye infections prompted me to cancel my flight to San Diego. I really didn’t expect a response much less a refund.

The same day I sent the e-mail, I received an e-mail back saying they were considering my request. Then I got this e-mail 5 days later:

Thank you for contacting us.  I am sorry to hear of your illness described in your email, our thoughts are with you and your family at this difficult time.  We have received your refund request in reference to ticket number 000000-00000

A refund in the amount of $411.80 has been issued to the Master Card ending in xxx1111 on October 12, 2010.  It takes approximately 7 business days for the amount to be credited back to the account.

United Airlines exceeded my Expectations!

I was astounded! Everyone told me I had almost NO chance of getting a refund and if United even considered it, they would impose a fee of $100+. The credit posted to my credit card on October 12, much earlier than promised, so once again United Airlines exceeded my expectations.

We have all seen customer service that failed. How wonderful to receive “over the top customer service” from United Airlines. I know that if I am ever in a position to travel again, my airline of choice will be… drum roll please…  United Airlines!

Photo by Evil Erin

I fielded a client call from an individual who will be working with me to create her resume and strategize marketing approaches to launch her new career. As we discussed the details of working together, she repeated what she had said in our prior conversation, “You are an investment for me, I need you!”

I love that refreshing and welcome response. I do hear those “investment” words often from my forward-thinking clients. It runs opposite to the media outcries that would have us believe “the sky is falling.”

Crystal balls don’t work. Plenty of experts and reporters seem to think they have a crystal ball these days as you listen to the news.

I know I can’t see or predict the future but what I know from experience is that the more we sit on our hands and say “I cannot”, the more likely the results will be “I will not.”

What investments do you need to redirect your future?

• Is your resume ready to help you professionally advance?
• Are you getting your online networking strategy in gear?
• Can you re-enter the work force?

The future is always unknown but only you can make it happen.

You decide. Is it time to invest?