What the Walmart VP Termination Over a Resume Teaches Us

Yes, it teaches us not to lie on our resume, not to leave a misimpression or omission about our credentials.  But why did Walmart’s former Vice President of Communications David Tovar feel the need to demonstrate he graduated from college?  I can’t speak for him but we know the answer… it’s because he needed the degree. You need to graduate from college if you want to make a living wage working for someone else. Like most employers, Walmart will not hire you for salaried sales or management without a college degree (example).

 

Want a living wage? Want to be a VP someday? Finish college.

I’ve been reading Michael Ellsberg’s The Education of Millionaires: Everything You Won’t Learn in College About How to Be Successful and other anti-college writing. The common position is that people do not need a college degree, pointing to many rich, entrepreneurial people as examples (High-tech company founders, information sales people, etc). And while I found I agreed with Ellsberg on many practical things that are wrong with higher education (and he has some great networking tips), the anti-college argument ultimately fails as a good career planning approach.  

First, a college degree or postsecondary training credential is necessary for most living-wage employment in this country; the statistics about unemployment and salaries do not lie. One reason employers require a college degree or post-secondary training credential in hiring is because it’s an easy way to screen people out, to narrow the hiring pool.  So many people are looking for jobs; employers can afford to be picky. Also, minimum job qualifications like an educational degree are legally necessary in a world where equal rights laws guard against discrimination. So does it really make sense to voluntarily cut yourself off from millions of jobs?

The anti-college crowd argues that you can creatively sell yourself into a job and if that doesn’t work (that employer must be an unimaginative boob), then start your own business. Having been happily self-employed myself at one time, I get the freedom, flexibility and success that can give you.

But self-employment and entrepreneurship is not for everyone. Not everyone has a strong Enterprising Holland personality type, someone who likes to and is good at persuading, leading, and selling things or ideas. Or is an extrovert. And while I agree with Dan Pink and many others that sales skills are needed in nearly every job now, to advise young people that a college degree is unnecessary, substituting sales and marketing skills through self-employment, is a naïve oversimplification of our work world. That's as bad as saying a college degree = a high-paying job.

Self-employment should always be a fallback option, if not a promising option for some. Having practiced labor and employment law for 10 years, I think people should be prepared, as a matter of emotional and financial survival, to be out of a job at any time, for any reason. But being prepared also means having proof of skills and education to support a job search.

Instead of warning people away from college degrees entirely, we can start by helping people approach their college years in smarter ways – identifying majors and programs of study that match their interests and Holland personality, learning more marketing skills, seeking out experiential education programs that don’t require an unpaid internship (that only wealthier parents can afford to subsidize), and adopting a flexible, free agent approach to the world of work.

If Mr. Tovar was so good at his job (it sounds like he was, given his planned promotion), he should not have needed a degree. I believe that it’s what people do, not their credentials, that matter most. But that’s not the economy and human resources legal reality we’re in. I hope and suspect Mr. Tovar will successfully bounce back from his mistake. Tellingly, it sounds like he will start by completing his degree.

New Promising Self-Employment Careers List by Holland Personality Type

Our new promising self-employment careers list on the Self-Employment Key website helps people match their Holland personality types to self-employed careers the U.S. Department of Labor forecasts to have a bright job outlook. If you're trying to decide whether self-employment is right for you, try our article, "Getting Started with Self-Employment Careers."

We also uploaded to thecareerkeyYouTube channel a short video overview about the list and the Self-Employment Key:

What made compiling this list a little more challenging is that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) tracks "unincorporated" and "incorporated" self-employed people differently.  So BLS counts an incorporated, self-employed lawyer as a wage employee, treating him or her like other lawyers working for an employer. I addressed this issue by looking at the new 2012 Employment Projections, industry trends and Mr. Hipple's excellent Monthly Labor Review article cited below.

With the new 2012-13 BLS data, we also updated the matching occupations shown during the Career Key Self-Employment Test.  These occupations contain significant numbers of self-employed people.

The Career Key Self-Employment test, developed by Career Key author Dr. Lawrence K. Jones, NCC,  is unique in that it measures Holland's personality types, shows users occupations with a significant number of self-employed people in them, and measures two "Big 5" personality dimensions research shows are related to success as an entrepreneur. Click on "Research" to learn more about it.

Another great thing about the Self-Employment Key is that at no extra charge, test takers can use their RIASEC scores to explore more matching careers, green careers, college majors, and career clusters and career pathways at the Career Key website.

Sources: O*NET's My Next Move, the Occupational Outlook Handbook, and Steven F. Hipple's article, "Self-employment in the United States," Monthly Labor Review, September 2010.

6 Critical Teamwork Job Skills and How to Develop Them

Teamwork job skills are necessary to getting hired, according to almost 80 percent of employers in the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Job Outlook 2012 survey. You need them, whether or not you are a “people person” and regardless of your career choice. The trick is to pick group activities you like with people holding similar interests to you. (Sound familiar? Think of people, leisure interests and work environments associated with your strongest Holland personality types)

So what are Teamwork Skills and how do you develop and use them in your career and job search?

First, read our quick overview of Foundation Skills and understand generally what they all are. You can download a free PDF of the 17 Foundation Skills for non-commercial use.   

In particular, look at the People Skills and the six “Teamwork” skills:

1. Working cooperatively with others;
2. Contributing to a group with ideas and effort;
3. Doing your own share of work;
4. Encouraging team members;
5. Resolving differences for the benefit of the team; and
6. Responsibly challenging existing procedures, policies, or authorities.

What kind of activities could you do to develop teamwork skills? Think about getting involved (if you aren’t already) in the community, a business, or in a school group. Here are some ideas to spark your creativity:

• Business: Organize a small business – it could be baby-sitting, yardwork, or a website selling custom T-shirts.  Working in a business with someone else, no matter how small, requires all the teamwork skills.
• Church: Participate in a team-oriented volunteer project in the community, help organize and put on holiday events, help supervise a donation drive (toys, food, diapers, etc).
• Hobbies: If you like building (or the idea of) legos or robots, find a local group – sometimes sponsored by a large local employer, and join in to participate and help with contests and exhibitions, organize a scrapbook accessories exchange at a local scrapbooking store, join another bike fanatic/mechanic to organize a spring "DIY Bike Fix Up" clinic.
• Sports: Get a group together for a charity run or walk, Serve as a volunteer coach for kids’ sports, help organize meets and games, fundraise for a charity league, participate in a school or master’s level sport.
• Music: Form a band, organize and give (free, fundraising) concerts or help musicians do so, volunteer for a music therapy program.
• School: Do a group project - either as a class assignment or create one, get involved in student government, start a new club, participate in service learning or volunteer groups, join a peer mentoring or tutoring group.
• Obstacle course or Outward Bound-type program.

BONUS: Many of these activities also help you develop other Foundation People Skills like Social, Negotiation, Leadership, and Cultural Diversity skills.

Once you develop teamwork skills, learn how to talk about them in a job or internship interview using the “PAR” method. Practice with another person or in front of a mirror how you would talk about your skills with an interviewer.

For more job skills help at The Career Key website, visit these articles:

Identify Your Skills

The Free Agent Outlook on Work

Work From Home Jobs and Careers That Match Your Holland Personality Type

Inspired by my recent Bizymoms.com interview, I decided to take a look at "work from home" jobs and how you can use the best science and practices of career counseling found on the Career Key’s website to help you choose one. After a little explanation, I organized a number of work at home jobs by personality type using Holland’s Theory of Career Choice. My goal is to help you choose a home-based career that is most likely to lead to job satisfaction.

Having often worked in a home office throughout my career, I know the benefits (and challenges) of working at home. Working at home is especially attractive to parents and caregivers, people with disabilities, and anyone else who values flexibility in time and location of work. The challenge is to find a satisfying career path that fits how you want and need to live your life.

As an overall approach, I recommend evaluating your career options using The Career Key website’s 3 step career choice process:
1. Know Yourself.
2. Know Your Options.
3. Make a High-Quality Decision.

For a crash course on work at home jobs, I recommend reading Alison Doyle’s series of “Work from Home Jobs” articles at the Job Search About.com website. She does an excellent job of explaining what’s involved and how to filter out scams.

Using Holland’s Theory of Career Choice to “Know Yourself”
Step 1: In addition to many other self-exploration activities, we recommend taking a scientifically valid interest inventory based on Holland’s Theory like The Career Key test.

As an alternative, you may want to consider taking the special version of The Career Key called The Self-Employment Key, which focuses specifically on occupations where at least 10% of the workers are self-employed. Test-takers also receive scores for two “Big 5” personality dimensions research shows linked to self-employed success.  There are also special sections on women entrepreneurs and young entrepreneurs.  You can also use your Self-Employment Key scores at The Career Key to see more careers that match your personality.

Step 2: After you’ve measured your top two or three Holland personality types and selected occupations that interest you, the next step is to look at whether there are “work at home” options that match your personality.

To do that, it’s important to actually understand what Holland’s Theory means and how your personality relates to careers.  So even if you see a job title or business activity that is not listed as one of the 250+ on The Career Key or on The Self-Employment Key, you will know how it may or may not be compatible with your personality.

For example, if you see “Online Tutor” and it is not listed on The Career Key test and website’s list of matching careers, you can look at the job duties and see that teaching is the main component; enjoyment of teaching is a characteristic of people with a “Social personality type.” Therefore, someone scoring high in the Social personality type would likely find this job compatible and satisfying.

To jump start the process, I’ve organized by Holland personality type the unique Career Key “work groups” of careers, along with job title examples found in home-based work. This is not an exhaustive list; consultants who work at home could be based on many occupations not listed below.

The Career Key test and our “Match Your Personality with Careers” article not only list matching occupations but also link each one to accurate, comprehensive career information at the Occupational Outlook Handbook.

A Selection of "Work at Home" job titles (in Red) organized by Career Key Work Groups and Holland Personality Type

REALISTIC
Crafts-Metal, Wood, Plastic, Fabric (Jeweler, Upholsterer)
Food Preparation (Baker, Chef)
Manufacturing & Production (Woodworker, Textile/Apparel/Furnishings Worker)

INVESTIGATIVE
Computer Science & Technology (Computer Programmer, Computer Specialist)

ARTISTIC
Literary Arts (Writer)
Visual Arts (Artist, Graphic Designer)
Communications (Editor, Technical Writer)

SOCIAL
Nursing, Therapy & Health Promotion (Registered Nurse, Dietitian or Nutritionist)
Education & Library Services (Teacher, various types)

ENTERPRISING:
Sales & Purchasing (Sales Agent)
Business Administration (Chief Executive Officer - think “self-employed” or business owner)
Promotion (Copy Writer, Public Relations Specialist)

CONVENTIONAL:
Mathematical Detail (Bill & Account Collector)
Oral Communications (Customer Service Representative, Receptionist, Telephone Operator)
Materials & Records Processing (Medical Transcriptionist, Word Processor)

Don’t try to be someone you’re not: Do what you enjoy and the money will follow
There is strong sales and entrepreneurial aspect to most self-employed work at home jobs. So make sure that if your Holland scores are low for Enterprising, that you seriously rethink whether self-employment, particularly in sales, is right for you. Don’t be seduced by the promise of making large sums of money. The people who are successful are the ones that enjoy selling, who score high in the Enterprising personality type.

If Enterprising is not one of your top two personality types, working for someone else doing work that fits your personality types is a better option than direct sales.  You’ll save money by not purchasing inventory you never sell, and you’ll save yourself heartache and stress from doing work you don’t enjoy.

Additional Work at Home Resources*:
Alison Doyle’s “Work at Home Jobs by Company Directory”
Bizymoms.com’s “Top 40” Business Ideas

*My links to About.com or Bizymoms.com imply no endorsement of either site or the jobs/companies linked to from those sites. Although these sites link to us, we do not get any financial benefit from external links and as a policy do no reciprocal linking. If we think a web page is helpful and contributes to our mission, we link to it.

Get Creative with Self-Employment

How do you convert your hobby, dream, or passion into a successful small business idea? Even if you are not an artist, this excellent article in the NYT Shifting Careers column about Artistic entrepreneurs showcases artists who made the leap and lessons learned. Science has proven the connection between job satisfaction and matching your personality with self-employed careers. Once that match is made, you can work on starting your own business if that’s right for you.

In a self-employed career, whether it’s in art, social work, or as a scientist, here are some lessons learned from others’ success:

Embrace new technology and make it work for you. Getting started on the Internet is relatively cheap. But one of the biggest challenges to starting a business is the “Google” business model, where advertising is supposed to be the holy grail – and your sole source of revenue. With the proliferation of free Internet content, open source software, etc., making money can be a challenge when people expect everything for free. Not everyone can drive traffic to their site with the words “green, sex, cancer, secret, and fat.” Get creative about providing something of value people will pay for.

Business (making money) is not evil. I know it’s hard to say this after Wall Street’s implosion. But ideology only gets you so far (and so poor). I’ve written before about my late artist grandfather who was trained in the early 20th century to distrust and disdain commercial art. And yet it was his beautiful commercial work, America's first children’s moveable books, that supported his family during World War II. Making a living trumps ideology – but they need not be mutually exclusive.

Job experience in different fields can be an asset. For people who have changed careers at least once, your experience – working with different types of people and exposure to a variety of customer needs can really work to your advantage. You get needed perspective about what people want and need – which is what business is there to provide.

Self-employment and starting a business in tough times

Now may not feel like the time for taking financial risks, especially starting a business. But maybe you don’t have a choice. Leaving a job or being unable to find a job because of a poor economy sometimes pushes people into self-employment, whether or not it is something they dreamed of doing someday. That was my first experience with self-employment and I know the twin feelings of dread and excitement. How do you make the best of it?

Visualize success. Embrace self-employment, either as a short or long term career choice. The more you fight it, the less energy and enthusiasm you’ll apply to marketing yourself and your business. There is a reason that successful sports athletes visualize success; studies show visualization works.

Understand how your personality type influences your business success. By working in an environment that matches your personality, you’ll be more likely to achieve success. Know yourself and know your options.

Identify your strengths and weaknesses and adapt your business to them. If you’re a writer/artist/lawyer/salesperson who is not good with or interested in financial record-keeping, pay someone else to set up your bookkeeping and file your taxes. It may pinch your wallet, but you’ll hurt more in time and money later if you screw it up.

Effectively use your time, especially if you are still job searching. If you haven’t given up hope on landing a job but want to take on contract work to pay your bills, plan out your work time. You don’t want to do a poor job on both your job search and your business.

By carefully evaluating yourself and following a science-based process to make a startup decision, you avoid the mistakes many people make of reacting to crisis. By being optimistic and forward looking, you’ll avoid a paralyzing funk and take action instead.

Choose a Career First, Tweet Later

With all the buzz around them, you may wonder whether Twitter and other Social Networking wesites could be helpful sources of information in choosing a career. Other bloggers post excellent tips for using sites like Twitter for job search, business development (take note would-be entrepreneurs), and on the job. But what if you’re choosing a career or making a career change? Recently I did some research, trying to see if I could learn anything practical or valuable about careers and came up with very little - certainly not worth the time and effort.

While social networking websites can be helpful if not necessary after you decide on a career, your time now is better spent on learning about your career options. Because how can you market your “personal brand” when you don’t know what it is yet? The answer is, you shouldn’t, especially when information on the web has the shelf-life of a rubber tire dumped in the ocean. You don’t want to present yourself in a certain way or say things you might regret later. Professionalism is highly valued but easily lost.

If your goal is to get more information about career options, career specific networking is a better use of your time. In this type of networking, you use the Internet to meet in person new people to gather information about a career (informational interviews). Once you are in a career that satisfies you, social networking with peers through sites like LinkedIn for future job leads and mentoring is practically a “must."

One of bestselling author Steven Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is “Begin with the End in Mind.” This fits perfectly with using online social networking. Decide what career you’re aiming for and then present yourself accordingly.

If you disagree and have ideas about how social networking sites help with career choice research, I’d love to hear about it.

Setting Personal Career Goals Ensures Success

Always on the lookout for new, helpful career resources, I read Hearst Magazines' head Cathie Black’s new book “Basic Black” over the weekend and would recommend it to career seekers and would-be entrepreneurs. Many career/business books contain much of the same, recycled advice, but I found Ms. Black’s book a fresh read because of her down to earth writing style and practical, real life “case studies.” It’s like reading the text of an engaging informational interview. Anyone from high school seniors to midlife career changers will get something valuable out of this book.

Career Key’s mission is to help people make the best career choices so I found her chapters about Drive and Passion particularly relevant. “Knowing yourself” takes more time than some people in this fast paced world are willing to spend; but for speed you sacrifice quality. Ms. Black reiterates the importance of taking time to set specific personal goals; you’re more likely to reach them. She also recommends finding authenticity for yourself and “figuring out what kind of work will be most satisfying for you.” In 2006, Ms. Black was named one of Forbes' “50 Most Powerful Women in American Business,” so I suspect she might know what she’s talking about. Fortunately Holland’s Theory of Career Choice offers a scientifically proven way of finding work likely to lead to job satisfaction. Learning what your Holland personality types are will help you set those personal goals likely to lead to future career success.

Learn from Olympians - Keeping the Business Alive

Now that his life is under a microscope, I just about choked on my diet pudding snack reading that in competition, Olympic champion Michael Phelps eats 12,000 calories a day. And he eats omelets and pizza, not nasty energy bars that melt in your car and taste vaguely like chemicals. I don't know about you, but that kind of caloric intake seems unreal - and enviable. Having a sedentary job and being a woman, I'm supposed to eat less than 2000 calories a day. Pizza is a luxury not a staple. Granted, Mr. Phelps works off his behind - literally - for a living. Not that I've been looking...

But to link this to career choice and self-employment (you knew that link was coming), this Wall Street Journal article on Phelps' business prospects reminds us of the "flash in the pan" danger that confronts many would-be entrepreneurs like this champion. You receive some press or momentary attention for your product or personal brand and then it fades. How do you prevent that from happening? According to his agent, by being patient (long term goals) and strategic; he described the marketing efforts in the lead up to Beijing with an uncertain payoff.

And as pointed out in this New York Times article, resilience and flexibility in the face of change are some of the best methods past Olympic champions like Bruce Jenner have dealt with the silence after the gold dust settles. And where have we heard this before? The top two personality dimensions that correlate most with entrepreneurial success are openness to experience and conscientiousness defined as:

• Conscientiousness "indicates an individual's degree of organization, persistence, hard work, and motivation in the pursuit of goal accomplishment;" and
• Openness to Experience is seen in a person "who is intellectually curious and tends to seek new experiences and explore novel ideas."
  

I would make a risk-free guess that Mr. Phelps is high in Conscientiousness. And in adopting the new advances in swimming technology, I'm thinking he can stretch that search for innovation into business ideas. My bet is on Michael Phelps to do what he puts his mind to: be a long term commercial success and to elevate swimming's visibility. 14 gold medals can't be wrong.

In considering self-employment, think of flames ... and artists.

Would-be business owners can decide whether to be discouraged or educated by crash and burn stories about other entrepreneurs. What do you do when you suffer a major business flameout – like when your name, a fashion business you've built over 24 years, and the ability to do something you love are all taken away from you – at least until your non-compete agreement expires in 2010? This morning I felt myself cringe as I read about the entrepreneur and fashion designer Sigrid Olsen's business demise. All I know about this situation is what I read in this NYT article “Forced Retirement,” but it seems like both a cautionary tale and an uplifting example of restructuring and optimism. I can't imagine how stressful it must be for her. But Ms. Olsen appears to be picking herself up and choosing new business directions.

In restructuring her career, Ms. Olsen serves as an example to would-be business owners and the self-employed. Be tough, optimistic, and keep going. Even experienced, talented artists like Ms. Olsen must make a living and how best to exercise your creativity than by being your own boss? In deciding whether or not to start a business and become self-employed, it's helpful to read others' stories and consider how they relate to the industry they are in.

Artists, like Ms. Olsen, are mostly (62%) self-employed. In fact, you'll find many artists, like my late grandfather Julian Wehr, who do not like others' limits on their creativity. Mr. Wehr was a sculptor and “father of the American moveable book,” a self-employed artist and paper engineer whose children's books were popular in the 1940s and highly collectible today. While his passion was sculpture, he designed these books as a way of supporting his family. A disdain for commercial art, and by extension working/designing for others, was embedded in his NYC alma mater Art Students League's education in the 1920s. And looking at the Department of Labor's numbers, this artistic view of one's employer is still alive and well.

So if you're considering self-employment, include in your decision-making process the cautionary tales of others' experiences, like Ms. Olsen's, while researching the industry you may enter. With the right industry, you may find a home for yourself with like-minded people with a similar personality – and an ability to face adversity and continue their success. Artists are more resilient than you may think.

Stop watching the news

Whether you are choosing a career, making a career change, or deciding whether to start your own business, this is admittedly an unsettled and uncertain economic time. We have Presidential elections coming up with two candidates with completely different ways of dealing with the recession. Little economic news seems good. And grocery shopping makes me personally depressed - apple prices have risen to $2.39/lb from $1.99/lb 6 months ago, here in Washington state no less. But don't let the uncertain economy derail your decision-making process.

Time to stop watching the news. Stop thinking "macro" - the big picture and start thinking "micro" - what is the status of my current situation, my industry or industry of interest, and my region? How people and careers are doing varies widely based on these factors. If the "big picture" news is causing you to hesitate or be extra nervous about making a big career or business start-up decision, turn it off and focus on your local situation.

For example, for most people here in the Pacific Northwest, unless you are starting a spa (discretionary services people usually cut back on during tighter times) or looking for a job in real estate, big career and self-employment decisions are largely unaffected by the economic downturn. Personal cash flow is tighter because of higher prices, but if you're trying to decide which Investigative occupation appeals most to you, say a nurse or a doctor, your decision is basically unaffected by current conditions. The need for doctors or nurses is not going to change much soon. However, for someone considering a farming career in the midwest, the overall economy may impact your decision - depending on what crops are grown locally (wheat, soy, or corn) and future fuel and food prices.

Your most accurate sources of information to help you make your decision don't come from the news media, they come from talking with people actually working in the jobs that interest you. Information interviewing, networking, and reading blogs written by working people will give you practical information you can use. Realistic perspective about the economy, unlike the "sky is falling" news spin from major media, comes from the people who actually live in it.

Starting a Business Using Holland's Theory

In starting a business, you need to consider many important questions like what business idea to choose, how to implement it, and how to pay for it. But what about your personality's compatibility with starting a business - and its compatibility with certain types of businesses?

There are a few quizzes and tests on the internet that try to assess your entrepreneurial personality, but only one test, The Self-Employment Key, relies on science in using Holland's theory of career choice and the Big Five Personality Dimensions, two of the most studied and popular personality theories. Now I admit this is a shameless marketing post, however, I find people are so used to the same advice over and over again from mass media, that new, unique, scientific ideas sometimes get buried - people stop thinking to even ask unique questions. Like how the science of personality is relevant to your success in entrepreneurship.

So if you're tired of superficial advice about starting a business that is repeated over and over on the internet, you should try visiting our website and taking The Self-Employment Key. Like the folks at The Riley Guide, I think you'll find it worthwhile. Please learn more about our research online here and let us know what you think.

Getting Startup Money is a Pain in the ...

Having talked with a few people "in the know," I hear this feeling is not unusual among would-be entrepreneurs or self-employed with that hot new business idea. It is also true. So how do you get the money to get started as self-employed or an entrepreneur?

I know there are websites, blogs, and books devoted to answering this question. Some of these advice sources also contain a lot of "rah rah," pie in the sky, worshipping at the altar of the idea of entrepreneurship without addressing the practical difficulty of raising money.

When doing research myself for a business idea, the answer was pretty straightforward and I'm happy to share it:

• You need to fund it yourself, either through savings, borrowing against assets, or contract/paid work you do while starting the business. And if you can't work at the same time as startup due to conflicts of interest or time constraints, or you don't have savings, then you need to try other options.
  
• You need to find "angel" investors, either family or friends or business contacts, to give or loan you the money. Forget bank loans unless you've started businesses in the past (successfully).
  
• Venture capitalists want to see a prototype of your idea. If it takes money to develop that prototype, you need to rely on yourself or your angel investors for it. No prototype, you can forget VC funding.
• Getting VC funding is difficult, takes a lot of time and effort, is risky (of your idea being hijacked if it is good), and you give up a significant amount of control of your business if you are successful. And you need to know people to start the process - have trustworthy business contacts.
• If you do have access to money, whether you are blessed to receive a gift from family or can borrow from a retirement asset (God forbid), make a good decision about whether and how to use it.
  
• Bottom line, you need to fund the beginning stage of developing the prototype yourself or borrowing money from friends or family. If you can't muster that initial funding, then you can't act on your idea.

And I won't charge you $24.95 for this advice - which I know seems pretty bleak. It was a little depressing to me until I realized that it is nothing more than saying, you need to be creative, realistic and keep your "eyes open" in this process. However, there are plenty of success stories out there, so people figure it out. We've developed a list of website resources (NOT put together through reciprocal linking or paid sponsorship) that can help. Nobody ever said it would be easy - but it's worth it.

Reading OK! magazine and self-employment ideas

If you want to find out what startup businesses may NOT be the right choice, OK! and other gossip and fashion magazines are your idea book. These magazines contain ads/articles for many of the products featured in hot new business lists. Noting the popularity of my post on hot new businesses, I wonder if people are looking in the wrong direction to what's "hot" now instead of what works now and will work in the future.

Granted, our consumer culture almost certainly guarantees a place for "hot list" celebrity wannabe merchandise like handbags, specialty lingerie, and organic cotton PJs eco warrior Leonardo DiCaprio wears (now that he's no longer dating supermodel Gisele). While "of the moment" now, these items are expensive to create, market, and wedge into an already crowded field. The "hot" lists say little about these challenges. And more importantly, is your personality even compatible with these industries?

What about the time-tested successful areas like franchises, real estate development, and services? I think these options are sometimes lost in the spectacle of what's hot now. It's easy to get caught up the the frenzy to be "of the moment," envisioning your product on Oprah's favorite things list. All I'm suggesting is that when you consider business ideas, you look at areas compatible with your personality AND have a market, both now and in the future. Our website contains a lot of practical information about high quality decisions that will help you.

Start a Business with People Like You

As you should know by now, our companion websites The Career Key and The Self-Employment Key both rely on the well known and researched Holland's Theory of Career Choice as the basis for making good decisions about careers and starting a business. I recently enjoyed this post from Mark Cuban's popular blog that contains among other smart tips for startups, advice related to Holland's Theory (probably without him knowing it):

"hire people who you think will love working there [your startup]."

This fits in perfectly with Holland's Theory that people like to be around others who have similar personalities. In choosing a career or business, it means that people choose jobs where they can be around other people who are like them. Has this been your experience?

Hot New Business and Self-Employment Options

Recently I educated myself about new trends in self-employment. I took my son to the Barnes & Noble train set to play, and while there, I browsed Entrepreneur.com's spring 2008 Hot List: Best Businesses, Markets, Trends & Ideas. Among the top business areas they recommended were eco-friendly clothing, IT consulting, and handbag design. A lot of the categories made sense, given what you read online and in the media - certain themes keep coming up: "going green," the need for tech-savvy advice, and our consumer culture's obsession with all things celebrity: handbags, little dogs, and rehab.

Some of these businesses involve retail and the sale of products, as opposed to services - an area I am more familiar with based on my personal experience. To learn more about retail, I just finished reading an excellent book by Kim Lavine, Mommy Millionaire, where the rough and tumble world of selling gift items was described in all its glory; trade shows, mall kiosks (I always wondered how that worked), packaging, inventory, etc. Unlike many entrepreneur books that focus on the "rah rah, you can do it" theme and the magic formula for the right idea with a brief mix of business plan advice, Ms. Lavine gives a detailed account starting her million dollar business - and it was not easy. I've not seen such an interesting, and realistic (as far as I can tell) account of getting angel financing.

Because my startup experience has been with a service based business, this book was an eye opener about businesses that involve inventory, which is why I bought it. So before you join the ranks of handbag or specialty lingerie vendors, check out this book and books like it with a more realistic (although still optimistic) account of entrepreneurship. Reading this book was a perfect part of the "Know Your Options" step of decisionmaking we recommend.

Self-Employment & Entrepreneurship: Hope Springs Eternal

Self-employment and entrepreneurship are hot right now, in the movement for work/life balance and control over one's destiny (and cash flow). In the sinking ship that is our economy at the moment, entrepreneurs are our diversification trump card. The ones that grow our economy when big mortgage lenders, the Enrons, and big box stores bring it down. And they are alive and well.

When I go to the local Barnes and Noble or to the park with my son for him to play with train sets and sandcastles, I see at least a third of the adults are fathers. And when I talk to the other parents, many work part-time and for themselves. They're not K-Fed, or hangers on, but part of the flextime world.

Again and again, I see the advantages of self-sufficiency and flexibility - having the skills to work wherever you want, when you want. Self-employment and entrepreneurship can be your ticket to flextime success - it was for me at one time in my career. I'm just pleased to see daily reminders of hope in our economy. And my son enjoys his trips to the park!

Expert Advice on Self-Employment & Starting a Small Business

After over two years of research and work, yesterday we launched the Self-Employment Key test. This unique test, based on the popular Career Key, helps people decide whether self-employment is right for them, and which businesses fit their personality type.

The Self-Employment Key website also provides practical, high-quality advice for those interested in entrepreneurship as a career. Special sections focus on women and young entrepreneurs, life-work balance, and recommended resources.

If you see topics you want to learn more about or want to suggest new topics, please email me. I welcome any feedback. I look forward to hearing from you.