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 Grahambones

This last eight months have been a whirlwind for me in many ways. It pretty much started with my departure from Wausau Whitewater and a renewed focus on my own business, Design Resumes. I detailed much of the goals, results and setbacks here. I also talked about the importance of planning ahead very recently.

For those of you who like to stay on the blog post you are reading, I will give you a short synopsis and you can read backwards later if you want.

• My business model was originally built on building the career industry-focused business of Design Resumes and keeping a stable arm of non-profit management contracts to keep the monthly income flowing. As I talked about previously, Feast or famine is a common state when you run your own business. The contracts kept it more stable but they also used up all of my time and at best I could keep only my own daily business running but I had no marketing plan and I made little effort to market.
• I felt a lot like the humorous telephone book ad where the guy says he doesn’t need to advertise, he only has one rug. I could write more than one resume but I had and still have limits to how many clients I can handle at a time.
• When I left Wausau Whitewater, there was speculation that something was wrong with me and the organization. The prime reason was me and my need to build my own business and follow my own path. I was getting to the point where I couldn’t see how I could continue to try to do so much and get to my own goals.
• Dropping the non-profit management arm with the last contract of Wausau Whitewater meant an immediate loss of $1000 per month and some other income from special projects. I chose to do this in the worst economic times in 80 years.
• My business is the primary income for our family. The first month without Wausau Whitewater contract was March. Suddenly, my gross income plummeted to $783 for the whole month. There were many contributing factors. The office was being remodeled, I traveled to Career Thought Leaders Conference for 6 days, and I started a sinus cold on March 18 that lasted until mid June.
• Income did increase after that and I have been blessed by seeing my new marketing plan start to work. I have had numerous new clients and now find myself working with clients from many areas – locally, regionally, nationally, and recently, internationally.

If you like, you can go to the Goals post referenced above to see goals that will take more financial planning and cash flow but here is a short list of both personal and business goals.

1. INCREASED INCOME / INVESTMENT INCOME Build a passive revenue stream like Jim Connolly talks about Here. I am already reaching the point where I find myself working very long hours 12-15 hours 6 -7 days per week and I know that I cannot keep up this pace forever.
2. NETWORKING Connect with my client base, one part of my network. The last time I exported by client base from QuickBooks into Excel a few years ago, I had more than 1800 individual client names. Most of them don’t know that I have a website or how my business has evolved. I value my clients and want to keep the line of communication open.
3. BALANCE Re-balance me. In 2007 – 2009, I had a very dedicated walking and exercise program. Teddy (our German Shepherd) and I walked down to the river and back up hill home 4-5 times a week and I had another exercise program with crunches, push-ups and more that I did almost daily. The result was that I lost weight, felt better, and had more energy. This past eight months, I pretty much ignored the walking and did much shorter and less intense exercise routines. For my health, I have to change that or leaving Wausau Whitewater made no impact on me being more balanced. That means not sitting in front of the screen quite so much.
4. TIME MANAGEMENT Figure out ways to get everything done. Keeping up with the laundry, housework, clients, and more has been hard. I have more tools to do that than most people but I get distracted and truthfully being in a constantly creative and marketing mode is hard and draining.
5. PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT Find time to read. I have a massively extensive library of books on many topics and I just don’t give myself permission to just read. At night I am exhausted and can’t concentrate and in the morning other things scream priority. But I need to do that. I am a reader, I like reading both fiction and non fiction and I find that reading helps me be a better writer.

I have more but this post is long enough… This was a catch-up (ketch-up) Catsup post but I think there are takeaways for everyone. Everyone  whether they own a business or are working for an employer needs most of the elements above to be healthy and successful. Tell me what I missed.

No ordinary raspberry patch

Bob has no ordinary raspberry patch with just a few bushes. It feels like a jungle in there. I picked for over an hour, emptying my container several times and again after supper and there is plenty of berries still out there.

As I picked, I was remembering how long I have been picking raspberries in that patch. The first time was right after I met my husband, Bill, I had just turned 23.

In the early years, I remember Bob, giving me pointers on how best to pick them and help manage his patch.

“Look for the ripe ones, but don’t leave the older ones on the bushes, throw those on the ground, it starts new plants and makes the patch more productive.”

“You think you’ve got them all but they ripen when you’re not looking. Just be thorough”

“Look low, don’t miss the fruit hiding under the branches.”

My personal harvest since I first started picking raspberries?

I took my father-in-law’s advice for more than picking berries. When I met him, he was division manager for Wisconsin Public Service.

As a well-connected business person with a passion for community service, he also loved fundraising for Kiwanis and Wausau Whitewater and food projects, such as the Kiwanis pancake feed, Kiwanis fair booth, and Kiwanis Little Olympics.

He was the driving force during Wausau Whitewater’s beginnings. Once  the course was underway, he and another prominent businessman generated the sponsorship development for Wausau Whitewater for years, working with businesses and corporations to help them understand why they should fund such an amazing community resource.

He invested that same passion into many community development products. Once the headline in the paper was “Father of the Incubator.” Bob convinced other business leaders to work with him to launch an incubator to build small businesses, giving them a place to start, shared resources, and guidance. His project outgrew the location and was moved to the industrial park years later.

His business advice, community service, and passion rubbed off on me.

When his Kiwanis club needed an administrative coordinator, he sent me off to interview. The first contract with Kiwanis helped provide a steady base for my fledgling business, Design Resumes. It also built an understanding for me and connections to many people and aspects of the Wausau area.

Six years later, he told the board of Wausau Whitewater that they should interview one more person (me) to replace the exiting marketing firm who had managed Wausau Whitewater operations and the 12 year contract began.

I turned to Bob for advice many times during the years since as I grew my business and I still give him updates on what is happening. He’s 88 now, my youngest son is 23. I feel I am just now incubating the business I started so long ago as I forge new roads using technology, marketing, and communication tools that didn’t exist when I first started picking raspberries.

Everyone needs at least one mentor

Whether you are in a job search, career change, or starting your own business, you need someone to help you find the best fruit, the best way to pick it, how to keep generating more, and reminders to look where you don’t think there is fruit.

Sure, you will drop some fruit and you might get scratched along the way but if you listen to your mentor and keep trying to do better, you will find a reward in the end.

Casey Eichfeld

On Monday, Casey Eichfeld and his dad, Steve, came to dinner. I’ve known Casey since he was 9 — he’s 20 now.

Before I even met Casey, his reputation preceded him. I read on the paddlesport e-list that at 9, Casey was an incredible paddler.

We reminisced about those times and Casey’s paddling history. He started paddling solo at the age of 5 and worked hard to build his skills in C-1 paddling.

A C-1 paddler sits on their knees in the kayak and paddles with a single blade paddle. Challenging sport with fewer athletes trying to paddle this class than others.

Casey and his dad are here because Casey is competing to make the USA Slalom Team at the USACK Junior / Senior Slalom Team Trials in Wausau. He had sent me a message on Facebook asking about camping during the event and said he was looking forward to seeing me soon. I asked if he had realized that I had resigned from Wausau Whitewater and it was a surprise to him.

I told him  he and any one he wanted to bring with him were welcome to eat at my house when he arrived in Wausau if he got here before I left for New Orleans and the Career Management Alliance Conference. Casey called Monday to see if I was still available and to get directions. We had a great meal of brats and hamburgers, salad and chips. Simple, but an opportunity to touch base about all the changes in our lives since we last saw each other in 2007.

Big changes for Casey! He paddled in the Beijing 2008 Olympics for Team USA as a C2 partner with Ricky Powell. Watching him grow up from a little boy with a big paddle to an Olympic competitor with goals to compete in 2012 and 2016 is hard to believe.

Why the “Bittersweet” title? Even though I know that it was time I moved on from Wausau Whitewater and it was the right decision, talking to Casey about all the people who are in Wausau right now that I will not connect with again is bittersweet. A little sad. I’ve been blessed with knowing a wide range of incredible “goal-driven” people through my whitewater days.

I love watching a paddler like Casey progress from learning a craft to using it in national and international competitions. When I write resumes, goal-driven is an over-used buzz word but there are just a few people who end up really being defined as goal-driven. Setting goals, putting measurable steps in place, and then achieving your goals takes true dedication and determination.

Though I am not going to see wonderful people like Casey and his dad very often any more, I am connecting with new wonderful people in the career field and in my clients. Life is always a bit bittersweet when you leave one  role and move on to another. But new challenges and opportunities are always out there for the truly goal-driven people.

If you are facing challenges within a job search, just know that there are new doors opening all the time and you will find one soon.