Entrepreneurial wisdom

Many people dream about starting their own business. No more inflexible working hours, or interfering boss! The chance to finally do things MY WAY!
Sara and I had this dream for 8 years, and we brought in into full-time reality in 1993, when we ran the Business Leadership Forum: USA (Executive Education Program for Central European Business Leaders) programs in Florida.

We loved running our own business, but found that there were some unexpected developments in being entrepreneurs!

1. We were our own bosses, true, but we now had dozens of other bosses as well--our customers, our partners and our volunteers. Their needs and wishes became our priority.
2. Instead of evaluating our work performance by checking off a concise list of tasks and responsibilities on a job description, we had to do it all. Whatever needed to be done, we did ourselves or found someone to do for us.
3. There was no paycheck coming in regularly. If we needed money, we had to find ways to bring it into our business--through customer payments, loans, savings, new products, lines of credit, grants and any other creative ways we could muster up.
4. Since we were marriage and business partners, we had no leisure. Every waking minute was spent talking about, thinking about, and working in our business. We tried to fence off times of recreation, but invariably, the pressures and commitments of our business intruded into our tiny "personal life" space.
5. We had a limited social life. Our family and friends didn't want to hear about our business all the time, and we were so absorbed in work that we had almost no other interests to share with them. Our time and money was so stretched that we could scarcely afford the kind of relaxed pace that family and friends expect in social activities. What time we could spend away from the business was spent in making new contacts, recruiting new customers and planning the next five years.

The lessons we learned in the 4 years we worked full-time (with no other jobs or income in our Institute were the most valuable lessons of a lifetime. We traded theory for facts in all areas of running a business: human resources, finance, logistics, marketing, customer relations, planning, public relations, etc. It was like getting an MBA, except for real--our case studies were not intellectual exercises, they were actual problems we had to solve to stay in business!

So when it comes to working for yourself, we could write a book! Hmm..our publishing house could publish and market it, maybe as an ebook...

Redirect your life and your career

You can find information on how to get a job just about anywhere. Employment offices, university career centers, your local bookstore, and the Internet are full of good advice on getting a job, especially your first job.
But what about your next job? If you've been working for awhile, and need to change jobs or even careers, where can you get help?

ILI had designed a new program, Redirect, just for people who need to redirect their lives. Maybe you are moving to a new city or country, or have reached the top of your current career field, or are about ready to retire, or need to find a new source of income, or simply feel that your life is stale. Whatever the reason, you need to think in a new way about your life and how to use the resources you've gathered in a different way.

Redirect offers a way to evaluate and move on in life. The next Redirect program begins on January 16, in Prague. Please send us an email at jbt@ili.cc for more details.

Looking Ahead, again

In January 2011, Sara and I hosted a small "Looking Ahead" program in our flat in Vinohrady. When we started the program, two of the participants had jobs they thought were secure. But within the next few months, both these people were looking for a new job.

Why do I tell this story? To illustrate that no one's career is 100% certain. Relying on your current job, no matter how much you like it or how secure you may feel in it, is not a good strategy in a competitive global economy, where everyone's jobs are tied together at some level.

To keep your job-search skills up-to-date, and to continue to learn how to meet your own career and life goals, we recommend a yearly "refresher" career development program. "Looking Ahead" is just four sessions, twice a week for 2 weeks. But in those 4 sessions, we can help you pinpoint your career dreams, understand your own motivation and purpose in life, and add some job-search skills to your portfolio.

Join us for this "Looking Ahead"! Each session is from 7-9 PM, at our flat in Vinohrady. Cost is 800 kc.

Here are the dates: Monday, Jan. 9; Thursday, Jan. 12; Monday, Jan. 16 and Thursday, Jan. 19.

Call me at 736-645-729 for more details.

Just too much trouble

Since 1978, we've been helping people find the right job, the job they can really enjoy and do best.

You'd think that, by now, we'd have an easy 45-minute method to help people get that job. But we don't, and we never will.

The hard fact is that there is no easy way to find the right job. There's a process that needs to be used, and it's a long, difficult process that requires energy, dedication and lots of time. The process starts with self-knowledge, calling for an honest look at what you have to offer, what you love to do, and what kind of life you want to live. The next step is doing serious research into the professions, businesses, and organizations that interest you, and finding out what kind of employees they need.

Making a solid match between your skills, interests, values, talents, goals and dreams and the needs of an employer is the hardest step. Job interviews tend to be like dates, where each party puts his or her best foot forward and glosses over potential problems and disharmonies. It's only when you actually have a job and work at it for a year or two that you can even know if it's right for you.

For most people, we've found, this process is just too much trouble. Often our clients start off with good intentions and enthusiasm, but get bogged down in the middle, when they begin to understand the complexities of finding a job you can really enjoy. It's tempting, at this point, to take whatever comes your way, with the idea that you can always quit.

Maybe. But as you get older, each failed job relationship becomes more bothersome. What you can walk away from at 20 is not so easy to shed at 40, or 50. At the same time, your choices become more limited--you're not young and fresh anymore, and you may not have the relevant experience to be considered for a job that's slightly different from what you've done in the past.

So I contend that it's not just too much trouble to approach the job search using a proven method that works, one that is rational and realistic. The "21st Century Jobs" seminars offer just such a method. They demand commitment and thought from our clients, but the time put into the job search always pays off in self-confidence that comes from having a reasonable perspective on what you offer an employer and what you need to be happy in your next job.