Tag: Progress

We all aren’t business owners yet, but it is good to plan ahead. When we do start our own business, we won’t be overwhelmed by the stress of deadlines and deliverables. Business without any doubt, demands constants attention. However, a well-balance work-life is crucial for long-term success and your own well-being.

Set Clear Boundaries.

• Establish Work Hours. Even though we are our boss, time while “on the clock” is time dedicated for work. Time apart from that is personal time.
• Separate Workspace. Don’t overlap work and home. For one, it will disturb both the working area and how you rest.

Priorities.

• Use the Eisenhower Matrix: Categorize tasks into urgent/important, important/not urgent, urgent/not important, and neither. Focus on high-impact tasks first.

Delegate or Automate.

• Work can get overwhelming. With the right workforce, task can be done quicker and efficient. Automate is an option when you have the right equipment or capital, a cost-saving options in future development.

Welcome to the New Year. A Fresh Start for Entrepreneurship and Career Change

Lets start this new year with a sense of renewal–an opportunity to reflect, reset, and refocus. It is time to embrace the possibilities by taking bolder moves towards our personal and professional goals.

Reflect on the Past Year

Before leaping into new endeavors, take a moment to reflect on the lessons learned over the past year. What challenges did you overcome? What victories—big or small—did you celebrate? Understanding these experiences can provide valuable insights to guide your next steps.

Questions to Consider:

• What skills did I develop last year that can propel me forward?
• What obstacles held me back, and how can I overcome them this year?
• What do I truly want to achieve in my personal and professional life?

Stay Motivated Throughout the Year

The excitement of new beginnings can fade as challenges arise, but maintaining motivation is essential for success. Here are some ways to keep the momentum going:

• Celebrate Small Wins: Every step forward is progress worth acknowledging.
• Practice Gratitude: Reflect on what you’re thankful for to maintain a positive outlook.
• Create Accountability: Share your goals with someone who can encourage and hold you accountable.
• Visualize Your Success: Imagine your life once you’ve achieved your goals—let this vision fuel your efforts.

There is a lot of debates on whether to get a certificate or a degree for any sort of specialize job. Essentially, it all depends on your career goals.

Certificates:

Certificates are offered at trade schools and even at some colleges. Although, going through colleges for certificates will require you to take some core classes with no guarantee of a certification. They may only offer lectures to cover the materials for your specific certificate.

• Duration: Typically shorter. Some are self-paced and requires passing difficult exams.
• Cost: Often less expensive than degrees.
• Focus: Highly specialized in a particular skill or area of focus.
• Career Impact: Beneficial for career advancement, skill development, and career field specific.
• Examples: Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), coding bootcamps.

Degrees:

Degrees requires a lot of commitments. Some of slow paced, some are accelerated. Depending on the school, it also offer networking and alumni resource that is priceless.

• Duration: 2-4 years for undergraduate degrees and additional years for advanced degrees
• Cost: More expensive.
• Focus: Provides a broad or in-depth understanding of a field, covering theoretical and practical aspects.
• Career Impact: Required for specific professions (e.g., engineering, law, medicine) and can open doors to higher-level positions, promotions, or career shifts.
• Examples: Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Master of Business Administration (MBA), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.).

I am currently working both. I’ve learned that the resource and learning material is very broad in a degree specific coursework. But it doesn’t prevent you from using that knowledge or skills to apply to your own research. On the other spectrum, earning a certificate was definitely quicker and cheaper. Although, I believe it was harder because I was cramming a lot of information in a short time just to pass an exam.

One work to keep in mind: Research.

There are lot of pieces that makes up a business. If you are not familiar with everything that has to do with your business then others can exploit you. Ex. Low ball offers on material and labor.

Most business fail to grow because they fail to do research. Business evolves and changes often (or even daily), so it is important to keep up-to-date with your market and how it reacts to the season, customers, and your workers.

I know there are influencers and business guru that is all about GRIND, GRIND, GRIND. But your body can only handle so much. Take the time to rest, especially around/during the holidays.

Benefits of resting:

1. Improved Decision-Making: When you take the time to rest, you are removing yourself from the situation. This gives you time to think clearly and see the problem from an outside perspective.
2. Sparking Creativity: Creativity flows better when there is no stress involved. Creativity tends to lead to more productivity in a more fun and productive way.
3. Better Health: It goes without saying, resting not only helps with your health but the health of the business. when you’re at your peak, the business is also at it’s peak performance.
4. Long-term Sustainability: Success is a marathon, not a race. Most business fail within the first 3-5 years. Business that overcome the 5th year are more likely to expand and grow.

These are a few ways that resting can benefit you and your business. Don’t take days off lightly, it can help recharge and improve business decision when you can keep a clear mind.

It happens a lot. Things don’t go as planned.

When this happens, we can prepare for them. It good to have a back up plan. Don’t stress or waste time to deal with the frustration and anger from failed plans. But use that energy to work towards the next step. Sometimes when plans fail, it leads to new ideas, opens new doors.

Speaking from experience, almost 99% of my plans fail and have to go to Plan B, C, or even D. Most of the time, it was caused by a force that is outside of my control. Additionally, you could use this opportunity as a learning experience and note the next step if you come back to the same block.

Of course.

If it does go as planned, celebrate when you can. Even the small victories needs to be recognized. But don’t get too distracted that you made yourself lose track.

Deadlines are important. We live in a fast-pace society where instantaneous satisfaction for customers can make or break your business.

Why they are important

1. They are dates that requires someone to deliver some sort of product or service.
2. They are dates that keeps people on tract. A plan without a set deadline will continue to drag out indefinitely.

Make them less about stress but more as achievements.

There are ways to deadline less stressful.

1. (The obvious) Break bigger projects into smaller ones
2. Do a little bit of work each day.
3. Block out time for job same time each day
4. Ask for help
5. Use available resource (technology)

While traveling, I was seated next to a lady that express herself as a career woman. She believe that every opportunity to learn and acquire new skills gave her the ability to move higher and higher in the respective company she worked for. She use her companies benefits and training courses to become a candidate for higher position she wanted to pursue.

Alternately, not everyone is blessed with opportunities like this lady. Fortunately, we can create our own by sparing some times to improve ourself. I have mentioned before that starting off with just 10 minutes a day on a new skill will eventually turn into 15… 20… 30 mins… or more. Once, it becomes a habit to expand your knowledge and skills, it becomes addicting and watch how more door open up for you.

I want to bring more business terminology onto this site. One specific term I recently learn is Oligopoly. The is where the market is controlled by a few selected business that sell similar products but the pricing are not depended on each other. Meaning go after your dreams and build a business, learn from others in the game and make it unique. The way you price your product or service should be depended on how much you and your customer values that type of products or service.

Always Keep Improving Yourself and Your Business.

Let make Wednesday the day for updates and news. This gives me a week to create content and build my website. I will try to come up with a new topic or content each week.