Make the Most of your Winter Break!

It can be tricky to figure out what to do between semesters. So much time and so little motivation! It may be tempting to do absolutely nothing, but that isn’t always the wisest choice. So what makes the perfect recipe for the best winter break possible?

Be Productive!

Apply for Summer Internships

Even though the days are short and (if you live somewhere cold) it’s puffy winter jacket weather, now is the time to apply for summer internships. If you’re hoping to get some insight into your future field, use this time to make some connections:

• Visit – If you’re hoping to take a peek into your future, try scheduling an office visit. Pick a few companies that you might be interested in working for in the future and ask them if you could drop in one day during the week. Make sure you ask a ton of questions, dress the part, meet as many people as possible, and follow-up with everyone!  You can find more info on “winternships” here.
• Shadow – Try shadowing someone who does what you want to do for a day. An arrangement can usually be set up on your own, through your school’s career services center, or even through a family member or friend. Use the opportunity to figure out what a typical day is like and to see if – at the end of the day – you still want to do this type of work. Read this to find out how to rock your winternship.

• Get some info – Set up an informational interview on your own or through the career services center at your school with someone in your hometown. Think of it as a stress-free opportunity to find out more about a potential career in your field. Ask questions, take notes, and don’t forget to send a thank you note afterwards!
• Be prepared – Spend a day or two working on your résumé and writing some general letters of introduction that can be handed out to potential employers. Have a few handy if you plan on going on office visits. Check out this article for advice on creating your first resume.

Make Some Money

Not the counterfeit kind. Try getting a part time job if you still have a few weeks left. Hit up the neighbors for some babysitting gigs, shovel snow (if there is any where you live), or offer some tutoring sessions. Or offer your skills to local businesses and family friends. And lots of stores hire people over the holidays—check out job search sites like careerbuilder.com or monster.com  for listings!  And here are 15 more ways to make money over winter break.

Get Organized

Do a little bit of winter cleaning – out with the old and in with the new.

“Instead of spring cleaning, clean out your closet to make room for your holiday gifts,” Kayla, a junior at Yale suggested. “And give those clothes to the Salvation Army. Good Karma may result in awesome gifts.”

You can do the same with your old books – sell as many as you can and toss or donate the rest. Make sure you go through everything first so that you don’t throw away anything important.

Original Post: http://www.hercampus.com/life/make-it-count-how-make-most-your-winter-break

Get Expert Advice

College career centers can be helpful with deciding on a major or letting you know when campus recruiters are around, but what if you wantspecific knowledge about a particular industry? What if you need to tailor your resume and cover letter to a company and position that your career center doesn’t know much about? and what about the interview??

Students facing these problems need a resource outside of their school’s Career Services Center. They need advice and help from experts, people within their targeted industry willing to share their knowledge with determined students.

Evisors.com connects these students to experts in various fields for resume advice, mock interviews, Q and A sessions, you name it.

Evisors (founded in 2010) “is an online marketplace for expertise and advice that puts consumers in command of an extraordinary professional network[...] For an affordable hourly rate, anyone from students and executives to job seekers and entrepreneurs can reach beyond their personal and professional networks and gain access to expert advice related to a variety of topics including admissions, career counseling, entrepreneurship and industry expertise.”

Evisors’ experts hail from prestigious schools and organizations, representing over a thousand companies across a wide range of industries and offer previously unavailable guidance and insights.

The company has also recently been focusing on a Webinar series that cover various relevant topics. Caitlin Quan of Evisors says “With the fall semester winding down for students, we are already gearing up for next semester’s recruiting season. We are putting together our spring webinar series that will include 18 live broadcasts from our top experts who will discuss a wide range of career topics and provide their insider insights. We’re also constantly adding more experts and evolving the product, so keep an eye out for new additions.”

Expert advice is a valuable but often underutilized resource for college students looking to land their first job, but it doesn’t have to be. Evisors makes expert advice accessable to anyone with the desire to learn and better themselves, and their chances of getting hired when they graduate.

Steve Jobs Commencement Speech

If you haven't seen the Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech video yet, today's the day. Get your motivation on.

 

Here we see Steve Jobs delivering his commencement speech to the graduates of Stanford University in 2005. In it he talks about getting fired from Apple in 1985, life & death.

6 Steps to Getting Anything Done-- The Buried Life

The Buried Life Bros

Once again, the guys from the Buried Life have a ridiculously motivational post on their tumblr. Check it out, read up, and cross some things off of your list.

6 Steps

After 6 years of crossing things off our list we’ve noticed some patterns. Whether it’s playing ball with Obama or writing a #1 New York Times Bestseller, these are the 6 steps we’ve used to cross anything off our list:

#1. Stop and think about it. Really think about it.

What is it that you really want to do with your life? Start a business? Reconnect with an old friend? Dive to the bottom of the ocean? Smoke a cigar with Castro? Forget what you think you should do, what excites you? What feels impossible? Be honest with yourself. Your answers don’t need to make an impression on anyone but you.
For many people, the four members of The Buried Life included, the impetus to make a life change only comes with crisis. The summer before we started The Buried Life, I was struggling with depression; Dave was struggling with his weight; Duncan had recently lost a close friend; and Jonnie was just plain angry and disillusioned with our generation (“No one protests anymore,” he used to say). The four of us were so beaten down that we had no choice but to reevaluate what was important to us. Our project grew out of that frustration. Sometimes it takes a debilitating low or a crushing loss to snap you back to reality, but don’t wait for it. Ferris Bueller put it well: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

#2. Write it down.

Simply put, it’s not real until you write it down. And by that I mean, take your dream and turn it into a project. Dreams have a funny way of staying dreams. But a project is something that needs to be done. Approach it as you would any other item on your daily or weekly to-do list. When you have a deadline— a presentation, a grocery list, a birthday gift you need to buy for someone–you find a way to get it done. Treat your dreams the same way. Add it to your list. You need to buy toilet paper. You need to spend the weekend in Paris with someone you love. When you write it down, you’ve taken the first step.
When we first started the project, we put things on the list almost as a joke. We didn’t think about whether they could actually happen; we just pretended that anything was possible. “#53: Make a TV Show” was a dream we’d shared since we were young. We had no filmmaking background and no connections in the business. And we lived on an island in Canada. We decided MTV in the States would be the place to have a show because it was the biggest and best platform we knew of for reaching people like us. So we wrote it down. And then we started filming it, because that was just the next logical step. Every step led to the next. Four years later, we were executive producers and creators of our own show on MTV.

#3. Talk about it.

Everyone knows someone who knows someone who knows someone.
After you’ve come up with your list and written it down, start talking. Tell everyone you know. Tell your parents’ friends. Tell new people you meet. Talk to your cabdriver. Talk to your boss. You never know whose uncle’s wife may be able to help you. And don’t just talk about it, but talk about it passionately. Enthusiasm is infectious, and people want to help when given the chance. Help can show up in the most unusual places, oftentimes the least expected ones.
We didn’t come from money. We had an idea, we talked about it, and people showed up in incredible ways help us. Our first lawyer was our parent’s friend who had heard about what we were doing and offered to lend a hand; our first manager was my godmother; I met my first Hollywood contact while traveling in Mexico; we cold-called local companies in our hometown to raise money for our first tour. Help often came in strange places. In 2007 we were able to finagle a five-minute meeting with Jann Wenner, legendary founder of Rolling Stone magazine, in order to discuss what it would take to cross #15 off our list, “Get on the Cover of Rolling Stone.” The five-minute meeting turned into a 45-minute meeting (after Jann threatened to kick us out and asked his assistant for a knife), during which time we talked about everything from protests to Bob Dylan to the difference between our two generations. We told him about some of our most ambitious dreams, including “#19: Write a Bestselling Book.” Jann was later instrumental in helping us get our book published—introducing us to a company where we met the smartest, most talented, best-looking book editor alive (hi Lia), who eventually offered us a deal.

#4. Be persistent.

Most people give up just before they reach their goal. We all hear “No,” a lot, but we’ve come to realize that “No” usually just means “Not now.” Be creative in your persistence. Don’t piss people off by nagging them—think of innovative and clever ways to grab their attention. Be different, and never say die.
Last year, we broke into the Playboy Mansion. We rented a giant stripper cake and decorated it like it was for the Willy Wonka–themed party. Two of us dressed up like Oompa-Loompas and hid in the bottom of the cake, which was then delivered to the back door of the Playboy Mansion in a rented delivery truck. Security saw our homemade Playboy logo on the cake and allowed it to pass through the gates. After waiting inside the cake for six long hours (peeing in bottles and filming in night-vision), we hatched out unnoticed and partied at the Mansion all night with free rein. Security assumed we were just very rowdy employees.
Playboy had no idea we had been in and out, or that we had filmed our first episode. But when we went back a month later to ask for permission to air, they said, “If you air the episode, we’ll sue you and have you charged with breaking and entering.” We got ahold of the company’s vice president, and he echoed that sentiment. MTV told us to move on and film another episode. Our production company said there was nothing we could do. In a last ditch effort we decided to send Hugh Hefner a handwritten letter along with the rough cut of the episode. A week later, we received this response from Mr. Hefner himself: “You can air the episode. Just know I’m not very pleased with you boys.” I always thought that crashing the Playboy Mansion was my dream, but getting scolded by Hugh Hefner was way better.

#5. Be ballsy.

The Buried Life boys playing ball with Obama.

The majority of people don’t go after their wildest dreams because they think they’re unrealistic. Tim Ferriss says it well: “Ninety-nine percent of people believe they can’t do great things, so they aim for mediocrity.” The level of competition is highest for realistic goals because most people don’t set high enough goals for themselves. But not only do you statistically have a better chance of achieving what may seem like an unrealistic goal, doing so fuels you. Once you feel the first high of accomplishing something major and seemingly unattainable, you want to go bigger and badder, and you force yourself to fulfill the need all the more. Even better, the technically smaller goals suddenly seem less daunting.
We put “#95: Play Ball with the President” on the list because it was literally the most unattainable goal we could think of. I remember Jonnie called me from his dorm room in Montreal in 2008 right after Barack Obama had been elected and Jonnie said, “We should add ‘Play Ball with Obama’ to the list.” I chuckled because it was so absurd and agreed. I found it humorous not only because the idea was so outrageous but also because I knew Jonnie was calling me from his “room,” a tiny space he was renting for $200 a month, which he shared with a washer and dryer. Of all people, we weren’t the best candidates for a pick up game with the leader of the Free World. Nonetheless, two years later we found ourselves shooting hoops with the President in the backyard of the White House. It’s a long, complicated story, and I don’t want to bore you with the details, but this is the kind of thing that the four of us chuckle about sometimes. It’s as if we have horseshoes up our butts, but it’s also happened too many times to be luck. When you dream big, you surprise yourself.

#6. Help others.

We’ve crossed off more than 80 list items over the last six years, but the moments that stand out the most are the ones when we’ve been able to step into someone’s life and share something real with them. I’ve been surprised by how little it takes to impact someone’s life. Something as simple as asking the question, “What do you want to do before you die?” and taking the time to listen is often all it takes. If you’re feeling lost or depressed, you might find what you’re looking for in someone else. Into the Wild said it best: “Happiness is only real when it’s shared.”
Your dreams are closer than they appear. There’s nothing about us four guys that makes us more able than anyone else to accomplish our goals, other than the simple fact that we’ve decided to go after them. George Elliot said, “It’s never too late to be what you might have been.” Don’t wait.

Original Post: http://theburiedlife.tumblr.com/page/2

Top Dollar for Working Women

This one is for you ladies out there. (original post at http://finance.yahoo.com/news/top-20-best-paying-jobs-for-women-in-2012.html)

Best-Paying Jobs for Women in 2012

By Jenna Goudreau | Forbes – Thu, Jul 26, 2012 12:56 PM EDT

Get paid, you earned it!

Over the past three decades women’s median income has increased 63%, and now more than a third of working wives earn more than their husbands. It’s no surprise when, although they were once discouraged from pursuing higher education, women now surpass men in achievement of bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

[Related: How To Ask For A Raise]

Across sectors, women continue earning only 82 cents for every dollar earned by men, but more and more they are landing high-paying professional jobs and narrowing the gap. An analysis of the median weekly earnings of full-time American workers in 2011 by occupation and gender, as tracked by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, shows the top 20 jobs where women are earning the most. All require some college and most are concentrated in health care, science and technology, and business fields.

At No. 1, pharmacist is the best-paying job for women, where they earn a median of $1,898 a week or approximately $99,000 a year. Women comprise more than half (56%) of all pharmacists and earn nearly as a much as men in the job. Moreover, the field offers more than 10,000 annual openings and is expected to grow 25% by 2020.

[More from Forbes.com: Top 20 Best-Paying Cities For Women]

“Pharmacy is known for paying very well straight out of school and all the way through your career,” says Katie Bardaro, lead economist at compensation research firm PayScale. “It’s a very good return on investment in terms of money and time spent on education.”

While pharmacists must achieve a four-year professional degree and pass licensing exams, physicians and surgeons attend four years of medical school and complete three to eight years of internship and residency. Yet, for women, doctor comes in as the fourth highest paying job—behind pharmacists, lawyers (No. 2) and computer and information systems managers (No. 3)—with median weekly earnings of $1,527 or about $79,000 a year. They also earn 21% less than male doctors.

Bardaro explains that physicians face a much wider range of specialty and practice type. Men trend toward high-risk, high-paying areas like plastic and brain surgery, she says, while women are more likely to move into lower-paying specialties like general practice and pediatrics.

Even so, health-care jobs feature some of the best salaries, highest female representation and figure prominently on this list. Female nurse practitioners (No. 6) earn a median of $1,432 a week and hold 85% of positions. Women are also the majority of psychologists (No. 10), physical therapists (No. 12), occupational therapists (No. 13) and medical and health services managers (No. 16), and all earn more than $60,000 a year.

“It pays to be in a field that’s female-dominated,” says Caren Goldberg, a management professor at American University’s business school in Washington, D.C., who studies gender and pay, “because in a large group of women you’re less likely to be seen as a ‘typical’ female and thus less likely to experience discrimination.”

The STEM fields—science, technology, engineering and math—also feature strong projected growth, high salaries and narrower gender wage gaps, but women are less likely to pursue them. Female software developers (No. 7) earn a median of $1,388 a week, and female computer programmers (No. 11) earn $1,238. Yet women make up just 18% and 20%, respectively, of these workers.

“STEM fields offer a lot of job opportunities, and we should encourage more women to move into them,” says Bardaro. She speculates that extremely male-dominated fields, like technology, feel less welcoming and open to women. “It’s hard to go against the grain.”

[More from Forbes.com: The Most Unfair Cities to Be a Working Woman]

Traditionally male leadership positions have also been tougher for women to catch up in. Chief executive (No. 5) is one of the top-paying jobs for women, with median weekly earnings of $1,464, or about $76,000 a year. However, women hold just a quarter of these titles and earn 31% less than their male peers—a difference of $658 each week. Similarly, female marketing and sales managers (No. 19) make 32% less than men in the job.

In Bardaro’s research into these occupations, even when factors like education, experience, location, industry and firm size are considered there remains a large wage gap that is likely only explained by discrimination. “When there’s a boys club, women don’t have strength in numbers,” she says. “Women are also known for being less successful at salary negotiations, and that gets even more pronounced as you move up the ladder.”

The good news, says Bardaro, is women’s high educational attainment has dramatically shifted the jobs and salaries available to them. “It takes time to see major change, but I think we’re finally seeing the fruits of our mothers’ labor.”

Here's a list of the best-paying jobs for women:

No. 1: Pharmacists
Median weekly earnings: $1,898
Approximate median yearly earnings: $99,000
Women as percentage of the profession: 56%
Earnings as percentage of men's earnings: 95%

No. 2: Lawyers
Median weekly earnings: $1,631
Approximate median yearly earnings: $85,000
Women as percentage of the profession: 34%
Earnings as percentage of men's earnings: 87%

No. 3: Computer and Information Systems Managers
Median weekly earnings: $1,543
Approximate median yearly earnings: $80,000
Women as percentage of the profession: 26%
Earnings as percentage of men's earnings: 97%

No. 4: Physicians and Surgeons
Median weekly earnings: $1,527
Approximate median yearly earnings: $79,000
Women as percentage of the profession: 36%
Earnings as percentage of men's earnings: 79%

No. 5: Chief Executives
Median weekly earnings: $1,464
Approximate median yearly earnings: $76,000
Women as percentage of the profession: 25%
Earnings as percentage of men's earnings: 69%

No. 6: Nurse Practitioners
Median weekly earnings: $1,432
Approximate median yearly earnings: $74,000
Women as percentage of the profession: 85%
Earnings as percentage of men's earnings: data not available

No. 7: Software Developers*
Median weekly earnings: $1,388
Approximate median yearly earnings: $72,000
Women as percentage of the profession: 18%
Earnings as percentage of men's earnings: 86%
*Applications and systems software

No. 8: Operations Research Analysts
Median weekly earnings: $1,326
Approximate median yearly earnings: $69,000
Women as percentage of the profession: 44%
Earnings as percentage of men's earnings: 105%

No. 9: Human Resources Managers
Median weekly earnings: $1,273
Approximate median yearly earnings: $66,000
Women as percentage of the profession: 72%
Earnings as percentage of men's earnings: 86%

No. 10: Psychologists
Median weekly earnings: $1,244
Approximate median yearly earnings: $65,000
Women as percentage of the profession: 71%
Earnings as percentage of men's earnings: data not available

Click here to see the rest of the Top 20 Best-Paying Jobs for Women in 2012

More from Forbes.com:

The Most Dangerous U.S. Cities for Women
10 Happiest Jobs for Working Moms
What Women Could Afford If They Earned Equal Pay for Equal Work

20 Things I Should Have Known at 20

The guys of The Buried Life are insanely inspirational. Their focus is to live life to it's fullest, and they have this blog's support 100%. Check out this post from their tumblr. So great.

20 Things I Should Have Known at 20.

1. The world is trying to keep you stupid. From bank fees to interest rates to miracle diets, people who are not educated are easier to get money from and easier to lead. Educate yourself as much as possible for wealth, independence, and happiness.

2. Do not have faith in institutions to educate you. By the time they build the curriculum, it’s likely that the system is outdated– sometimes utterly broken. You both learn and get respect from people worth getting it from by leading and doing, not by following.

3. Read as much as you can. Learn to speed read with high retention. Emerson Spartz taught me this while I was at a Summit Series event. If he reads 2-3 books a week, you can read one.

4. Connect with everyone, all the time. Be genuine about it. Learn to find something you like in each person, and then speak to that thing.

5. Don’t waste time being shy. Shyness is the belief that your emotions should be the arbitrators of your decision making process when the opposite is actually true.

6. If you feel weird about something during a relationship, that’s usually what you end up breaking up over.

7. Have as much contact as possible with older people. Personally, I met people at Podcamps. My friend Greg, at the age of 13, met his first future employer sitting next to him on a plane. The reason this is so valuable is because people your age don’t usually have the decision-making ability to help you very much. Also they know almost everything you will learn later, so ask them.

8. Find people that are cooler than you and hang out with them too. This and the corollary are both important: “don’t attempt to be average inside your group. Continuously attempt to be cooler than them (by doing cooler things, being more laid back, accepting, ambitious, etc.).”

9. You will become more conservative over time. This is just a fact. Those you surround yourself with create a kind of “bubble” that pushes you to support the status quo. For this reason, you need to do your craziest stuff NOW. Later on, you’ll become too afraid. Trust me.

10. Reduce all expenses as much as possible. I mean it. This creates a safety net that will allow you to do the crazier shit I mentioned above.

11. Instead of getting status through objects (which provide only temporary boosts), do it through experiences. In other words, a trip to Paris is a better choice than a new wardrobe. Studies show this also boosts happiness.

12. While you are living on the cheap, solve the money problem. Use the internet, because it’s like a cool little machine that helps you do your bidding. If you are currently living paycheck to paycheck, extend that to three weeks instead of two. Then, as you get better, you can think a month ahead, then three months, then six, and finally a year ahead. (The goal is to get to a point where you are thinking 5 years ahead.)

13. Learn to program.

14. Get a six-pack (or get thin, whatever your goal is) while you are young. Your hormones are in a better place to help you do this at a younger age. Don’t waste this opportunity, trust me.

15. Learn to cook. This will make everything much easier and it turns food from a chore + expensive habit into a pleasant + frugal one. I’m a big Jamie Oliver fan, but whatever you like is fine.

16. Sleep well. This and cooking will help with the six pack. If you think “I can sleep when I’m dead” or “I have too much to do to sleep,” I have news for you: you are INEFFICIENT, and sleep deprivation isn’t helping.

17. Get a reminder app for everything. Do not trust your own brain for your memory. Do not trust it for what you “feel like” you should be doing. Trust only the reminder app. I use RE.minder and Action Method.

18. Choose something huge to do, as well as allowing the waves of opportunity to help you along. If you don’t set goals, some stuff may happen, but if you do choose, lots more will.

19. Get known for one thing. Spend like 5 years doing it instead of flopping around all over the place. If you want to shift afterwards, go ahead. Like I said, choose something.

20. Don’t try to “fix” anyone. Instead, look for someone who isn’t broken.

Written by: Julian Smith inoveryourhead.net

Make Extra Money at Work

Few people with jobs know about all of the ways they could increase their salary WITHOUT asking for a raise. Check out this fantastic article by Ben Edwards titled "7 Extra Ways to Earn Money at Work." I've shared an article by Ben before because he knows what he is talking about.

Also, he forgot to mention the 401k match, the easiest way to make extra money from your job. Many employers will match what you contribute to your 401k up to a certain percentage of your base salary, and over the years that adds up! I highly recommend depositing the maximum amount that your employer will match ever year. It is free money and financially responsible!

Make more money at work!

7 Extra Ways to Earn Money at Work

1) Employ Referral BonusesAs I mentioned above, I missed out on a ton of money by ignoring this bonus opportunity. I have a friend who interviewed with the same company I work for and ended up getting the job.  I had talked with her only a week before about her current job and her career plans going forward, foolishly I didn’t think to refer her to my company (I’ve even written about how to refer a friend for a job).

The reason employee referral programs exist is that the cost of finding good people is pretty high.  It’s worth it to many companies to pay a fee to tap into their employees professional network.

Here’s how the employee referral bonus works at my company.  They pay you a $2500 bonus for any full-time employee you refer that stays with the company longer than six months.  However, you want to make sure you research the appropriate process for referring someone so that you can get credit for the referral. 

In my case, if a candidate applies on their own, even if they mention your name, you don’t get credit.  In order to earn the referral bonus I have to submit their resume through a special page, which then gets forwarded on to Human Resources. 

So if you have people in your network that are skilled and talented and might fit the needs of your company, you should check to see if they offer a referral program. 

2) Performance BonusesPerformance bonuses can be tricky to earn depending on how your company handles them.  In some cases there are well defined milestones that will earn you a bonus.  In other jobs bonuses can more arbitrary, something you get when your boss decides you’ve been putting in a lot of work or really contributed to a project.

If the criteria for a performance bonus aren’t well defined, I’d be reluctant to work your fingers to the bone in hopes of getting a bonus.  However, if you can be pretty certain that putting in extra work will translate to a bonus above and beyond your salary then it can be a good way to make extra money.

3) Idea BonusesSome companies have employee idea programs that are designed to give you an incentive to share your best ideas.  If you’re in the middle of a project and have a revelation that could help the company (save money, be more efficient, help enter new markets, break organizational boundaries, etc) be sure to document it and send it in.

Companies with these idea bonus programs typically have a process where you can submit your ideas.  If yours are approved and implemented then you’re paid a bonus.

4) Achievement BonusesAll the businesses I’ve worked for have a way of honoring high levels of achievement (that include a monetary reward).  Usually held once or twice a year, they open up for submissions of projects from around the company.  The top projects are be nominated for the award and the winner of the award gets a cash prize.

If you have a project you feel is worthy, don’t be afraid to submit it yourself.  If this feels too bold you might be able to submit it anonymously or talk a co-worker into submitting it in their name.

5) Training & ConferencesEvery year when it’s time to make the budget my boss comes around and asks if there are any conferences or training I’d like to attend. It’s true that these benefits are different than money in your pocket bonuses but these events could someday translate into more cash. 

The skills that you learn in training can help you get a promotion at your current job or get hired for a new job.  The connections you make at conferences could someday lead to partnerships or job referrals.  Plus they give you a day or more of paid time away from the office, which is always nice.

6) Travel RewardsWhether you’re flying to a training conference or a client meeting, employer funded travel is an opportunity for you to earn travel rewards. 

Ideally you pay for the plane tickets and hotel rooms on your own and get reimbursed after your trip.  This lets you earn miles on your airline credit cards, free nights on your hotel card, or even just a percentage back on your cash back card.

There are some companies that book your trip for you or require use of a corporate card when you pay.  Although you miss out on the points, miles, or cash back from the purchase – you can still earn some rewards simply by taking the flight or staying the night.

7) Tuition ReimbursementI list tuition reimbursement separately from training and conferences because in some companies the funding (and approval) comes from different sources.

The requirements for having tuition approved and reimbursed can also be different for college courses.  For example, many companies require you to earn a minimum grade in a course before they’ll agree to pay for it.  In contrast, once funding has been approved for a conference or training, sometimes all you have to do is show up since it’s already been paid for.

Be sure you pay attention to the requirements surrounding tuition reimbursement at your company.  A former co-worker of mine didn’t read the details before registering for a course and ended up having to pay the full tuition himself.  Taking one or two courses may not make that much of a difference but if you can have a whole degree paid for by your employer that will certainly boost the value of your resume.

So, what did I miss.  Is there anything else you do in your job that helps you earn money other than your base salary?

How to Dress Professionally

How you dress heavily impacts people's perception of you. A sharp dresser communicates that they pay attention to detail and have self respect, while a sloppy dresser does just the opposite. Employers and clients will look to see how you take care of yourself to get a idea of how you will take care of them in a business relationship. The following post contains highlights from GQ's Guide to Dress Shirts and Shirting, a necessary tool for any guy wanting to appear employable. I encourage you to read the full article -- multiple times-- and then go update your wardrobe. Remember, if you look good, you feel good; confidence is key; and dress for success.

Photo: Paola Kudacki

The GQ Guide to Shirting

Think of Your Dress Shirt as Your Bulletproof Vest

It's the first thing you put on and your last line of defense. When you button it up in the morning, you should feel confident, in control, even invincible. Seriously, putting on a crisp, clean shirt that fits perfectly makes you feel like you're the boss. But here's the thing: A dress shirt is not any old shirt—there are a lot of details to get right, from the collar to the cuffs to the cut of the torso. All that said, buying the right dress shirt isn't quantum physics. You can find it at your local mall just as surely as at the fanciest, priciest, most fashionable store on Madison Avenue. You just have to understand the following principles.

• Know what size shirt you wear. Get measured.

• Always buy a fitted dress shirt—even if you're not model skinny.

• When in doubt, go with a semispread collar. It works with everything.

• Unbutton and unpress your oxford—it's cooler that way.

• Inject some personality into your workwear—try a plaid or gingham dress shirt. And pair either one with a dark tie.

• Be a man: Wear a pink dress shirt to the office.

• Get some attitude: Unbutton your shirt cuffs.

• Don't settle for a limp collar. Use stays.

• Learn to wash and iron your own shirts. You'll save cash and ensure quality care

Read More http://www.gq.com/style/style-manual/201204/shirts-guide-sizing-fit#ixzz1vnrLRPhc

Rise above the Challenge!

Me when I started my first business...

If you want to be successful at a young age, you are going to run into some challenges. This article courtesy of www.under30ceo.com outlines the challenges you will face as a young Entrepreneur and how to overcome them.

7 Ways to Overcome Age and Be Respected as a Young Entrepreneur

Many years ago the barrier to entry into business was high. Starting a new business was extremely difficult for a young twenty something year old not to talk of a young person below the age of 20.

While this has certainly changed in the 21st century there are still challenges of credibility, access to funding and so on facing a young startup entrepreneur.

In some climates like Africa, the Middle East, Asia and South America young entrepreneurs have to fight against a mindset where people tend to see youth as not with potential for success but as liabilities.

Still despite the many challenges you may face as a young entrepreneur it is a very exciting time to go into business for yourself. There has never been a better time to start your own business than now. With the internet and new emerging technologies lowering the barrier to entry it is now a more open game for every willing soul.

Challenges to Expect if You Are a Young Entrepreneur

It is better you understand the challenges you are going to come up against as you set out to start your own business or run your own company. Knowing these challenges will help you develop the right attitude to overcoming them.

Challenge of Credibility

I recall the first time I sat before a big hotel executive in my country trying to convince him on how my tiny marketing consulting company can help stimulate reasonable sales and profit growth for his large hotel. The fact that I was a young, small guy with little or no track record didn’t help matters.

As a young entrepreneur you are faced with convincing clients, customers and even prospective employees that you are serious enough and capable of delivering on your promises. Building credibility will determine how far you go as an entrepreneur.

Challenge of Cynicism

In parts of Africa you meet lots of unbelief when you introduce yourself as an entrepreneur and they see you are very young or even too young. I don’t know about your country but there is something about being young and in business that makes people look at you with some skepticism. It is a challenge you have to overcome with boldness and professionalism producing stellar results whenever given the chance. Results will erase the challenges of cynicism and credibility faster than anything else you can think of.

How to Become Respected and Successful as a Young Entrepreneur

You should never despair when people take your words for nothing and dismiss you with a wave of the hand. Learn to grow a thick skin. And here are ways you can become successful even as a young business person.

1. Embrace Technology:

Nothing has contributed to the high number of successful young entrepreneurs in our world today more than technology and the internet. Two decades ago or even less it was more difficult to start a business. The financial requirments and barriers were too high. Technology has taken care of that today. Media businesses like NairaBrains and TechCrunch no longer take much money to start. You can start a serious business today with a couple thousand dollars and no warehouse costs and inventories etc. Today businesses worth millions of Dollars have been started by young, bleary eyed teenagers who had barely enough money to cater for their needs. All thanks to technology.

If you hope to start a business and hopefully grow it to become profitable without the luxury of millions look towards problem solving through technology. It is one of your best shots. If your idea is good enough maybe before you run out of money you get interested investors willing to give you enough funds to take you to profitability.

Internet and tech companies are reasons we have more millionaires in their twenties. So look at problems or challenges that can be solved with the use of technology with enough potential market size, get the right partners and jump in. It will be an easier route to becoming a successful entrepreneur.

2. Use Other People’s Experience:

I struggled with a colleague of mine trying to run a business a few years ago while in the University until I learned the lesson of leverage. If you can’t get across a dugout throw a plank across it and walk your way through. If you are starting a business a sure way to fail is to try to do everything. You might be good in programming and so single handedly you get the website for your idea up and running. How do you promote the idea, get early users in and improve onward all alone? How do you source for more funds from investors?

You don’t have to pay to get other people’s experience. You can offer equity to have experienced people join your team thus complementing your own efforts. You can also get a lot of other people’s experience by just asking. If you have a meeting set up but you need a more credible figure to boost your chances of getting a worthwhile contract then seek out that more experienced person and ask him to join you. You take the back seat and ride on the back of the more experienced people to get what you want.

3. Be Bold and Creative:

Be bold! There are no two ways about in today’s business world. Do your homework and be confident all through. If boldness gets you into trouble only more boldness will get you out. While this may not be absolutely true I have found from experience that you have to be very bold to get the respect you deserve as a young entrepreneur. At the first sign of timidity you lose. Do not allow yourself get cowed. You should also never be too boastful or proud.

Become creative and look for unconventional means to solve problems. People tend to respect you for that. If you are young, ambitious and creative you stand a better chance to succeed. Use your creativity to your advantage.

4. Surround Yourself With a Sound Board of Advisors:

A very good way to tap into other people’s experience as earlier stated is to build up and surround yourself with a smart and knowledgeable Board of Advisors. It need not be a formal board nor do they need to know themselves. They are people you consult for advice, people you go to for business leads. One of the first things I did while trying to restructure my company last year was to weave through all my contacts and create an Advisory Board of all experienced and accomplished professionals who I felt will be of great help to my business. I approached them and asked to seek advice from them whenever I needed to. Several of them agreed. I advise you should do the same.

How Do You Get Such Board if You are Then Young and Inexperienced

Getting a decent Board of Advisors is no easy feat. Chances are that you do not know any experienced or resourceful individual in your proposed line of business. The only way to solve this is to actively begin to network and meet the right people. LinkedIn and a few other networking innovations have made it more easier to link up and meet new people you wouldn’t otherwise have met.

- Don’t make any request first, Build up a Relationship: It’s always smarter to build trust and affinity before making requests from new acquaintances and associates. Make positive efforts to gain their respect and trust and then politely explain that you are starting a company and you feel their experience will be invaluable to the success of your new venture. Let them know that because of how busy they might be you would love to have them as one of your Advisors. Promise not to take much of their time or run to them with every little problem you have.

Getting the right advisors will be difficult. Many will not have your time and turn down your request. The few that do agree may not even have the time to give you advice on phone, reply with detailed advice through email or meet in person with you. So the sooner you know that the better.

Start with gathering a list of potential advisors who are good for the kind of business you are going into. then approach them one after the other to first connect then request. If you end up getting two or three who can give freely of their time and advice you then that will be great for you.

5. Network, Network, Network:

Your best bet to meeting the right people and team you need for your success in the entrepreneurial journey is via social media. With the help of social media networking you can hire the best hands, get needed investors and advisors, attract good consultants and ultimately reach out to more of your target audience without spending tons of money.

If you are a young entrepreneur social media can be a very powerful and important tool for you.

5. Build a Reputation: Reputations grow like fire because they are essentially helped along by word of mouth. Determine a specific talent or thing you want to be respected and known for and quickly begin to build a reputation for yourself. When your name goes ahead of you it doesn’t matter anymore if you are young. For instance if you grow a reputation as a very tough and smart manager you’ll find that it neutralises the age thing and people begin to take you on your reputation and not your age.

6. Push for and Embrace Positive Change:

One astounding feature of today’s youth is that they are more adaptable to change. To succeed today you’ll have to be dynamic and fluid. You can become successful by pushing the limits and boundaries and initiating change. You may be met with initial resistance but if you are courageous enough you make a name for yourself later on.

7. The Art of Organization (Set goals, checkpoints and strive to meet them):

Unorganized individuals hardly make good football managers (same for business management). Until recently organization and definiteness of purpose was one of my greatest challenges as an entrepreneur. You have to be able to plan the short and long term future of what you are building or hoping to build. Keep the long plan in view and execute the short term plan with dexterity making adjustments as situation warrants..

If you are not organized it shows in your business life and activities and you lose respect. That is something you don’t want as a young entrepreneur. Plan and follow your goals. Never enter a meeting without planning and being ready with necessary facts and information.

Join other young entrepreneurs who read NairaBrains.com to get latest business insights and developments.

Paul Eze is the Managing Director/CEO of Pejas Solutions Limited, an ICT services and tech startup incubator company. He is also the Managing Editor at NairaBrains.com, a fast growing business and technology information blog in Nigeria.

Paid Leadership Positions

Even Red Bull offers paid leadership positions to students.

Most college students are looking for ways to strengthen their resume, but few are aware that many universities offer paid leadership positions to students. All schools have certain programs that they need to maintain, and many of these are the ones that will pay students to invest their time. Here's a list of departments that often pay students to take up leadership roles.

#1. Resident Adviser (RA) - the highest paying (free room and board) but also comes with the big sacrifice of living with new students.

#2. Inter Club Council- At my school positions like Vice President of Finances and President of Club Affairs for the Inter Club Council pay over $1000 for the year, and look great on a resume!

#3. The Student Newspaper- Whether you take pictures, write articles, design the web site, or sell advertisements, the student newpaper at your school should pay you for your time. Plus it's great practical experience.


#. 4 International Programs- If you went abroad, your school's international program office might hire you 
to become an ambassador for your program (my university does this).

#5. Become a Student Ambassador- Many organizations from Red Bull to The National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) are looking for students to represent them on college campuses, and will pay you to do it.


Your school could offer many more positions in a variety of different areas, this is just a sample of whats out there. The important thing for you to do is to start looking for these types of opportunities on campus. If you  do find any more, or know of any more, I encourage you to comment on this post and let me know.