Information Products (LinkedIn for Job Seekers, etc.) Is My Ninth Revenue Stream

Information Products (LinkedIn for Job Seekers, etc.) Is My Ninth Revenue Stream Every Friday I’m sharing each of my ten revenue streams. With this post I only have 4 left (this is #6 of 10). I’m big on diversifying personal income, whether you are an entrepreneur or an employee. My intention with this series is to inspire or encourage you with your own diverse revenue streams. Below this post you’ll see links to the previous posts, or you can click on the Multiple Streams of Income category on the left. I had to wait to announce this one for a while because I was still putting it together, however I suspect this will be a considerable revenue stream.   In my post on Consulting as a revenue stream I said that YOU ARE AN EXPERT IN SOMETHING, and I hope that this post helps you understand how you might be able to capitalize on your expertise.   There are some grand differences between consulting and having information products, as youll be able to determine from this post.   Ill use the first new product as an example. I should mention two things: I have already had information products available for quite some time on the JibberJobber CEO page (CEO because YOU are the CEO of YOU, Inc.!).   They were recordings I did and sold online, but I didnt push them much because I didnt have fancy graphics, nor did I have squeeze pages (which I think are annoying), nor did I fully understand how I was going to distribute them.   Alas, I think the products are awesome, especially the Write Your Book webinar as well as the Blog Marketing 201 501 webinar.   Ill be updating both of those. My vision of how to do information Products was greatly expanded by my participating in chapter meetings of the National Speakers Association, and for that Im indebted to Marc Wolfsfeld, who invited me to come to my first meeting (and who has shared great ideas with me throughout the months Ive gotten to know him better). Lets get back to this revenue stream, Information Products.   To get this up and running I had to bring in help.   My videos are good, but I wanted to make them better (and for a future product, I have to make them better).   So I hired a full-time video editor.   I know, however, that you dont have to have a full-time editor, or even have video, to have products.   If you have expertise, you can create a product TODAY, and have it ready to sell TODAY.   How?   Either record an audio presentation (there are a billion ways to do that), or get the 30 day trial of GoToMeeting and spend the next 30 days recording your visual presentation its as easy as that!   Ill share some thoughts about Information Products in the framework of Marketings Four Ps: Product The difference between a product like this and a service like consulting is the scalability.   Ask anyone who consults for a living and one of their concerns is how to create revenue without putting in the hours (how do I get an hour of billing without doing an hour of work?). Thats the beauty of a product I can sell 1 or 1,000 or 1,000,000 and, if I have a good system, it wont matter.   Im sure if I get to the 1M mark, Ill have a very different system than if I had 10 sales, but I can still scale the sales even to a billion (in theory). I have had to come to terms with the idea that this product cant be crap.   As the creator of my webinars, Im very concerned about the quality something to lose sleep over for sure.   However, Ive also realized that if I over-concern myself about creating the perfect product, Ill never get it done.   Sometimes you have to just hit the record button and start. Heres a funny thing about LinkedIn for Job Seekers many of you may know that I do not like to script things I like a good bullet-point list to work from, and then just wing it.   But on this series I had to script, WORD FOR WORD, each of the sessions.   The one time I didnt do that, I had to re-record until I finally did it. Price How much are you worth?   I cant answer that for you.   Pricing your product is tough thats why theres the Professional Pricing Society (no kidding)!   Here are three considerations on pricing my products: I am an expert, and therefore, should command a higher price. Because of my books, my speaking, and my experience in the last three years, I think Im qualified to be an expert in this space.   Of course, having others say Im the LinkedIn expert helps considerably :p   Too many professionals think what they do is easy, and price themselves way too low. I cant price myself out of the market, if I want to sell a lot (or make a lot). If I charge $500 to individuals for LinkedIn for Job Seekers, how many sales do you think Ill make?   I agree (none). Many products like this go for around $100 (which I think is too much, especially for a job seeker). I was in an internet marketing mastermind group and was asked how much my ebook sold for.   $11.95, I responded.   They all thought I was nuts, and that I should sell it for $80+.   There is some weird phenomenon online where people are selling their products for a lot more than Id pay I think it depends on WHO the prospect is a job seeker vs a company = different pricing thoughts. Ive decided to price LinkedIn for Job Seekers at $59.95, which includes shipping and handling (the final product is a DVD, since the files are way too big to download) for the next month Ill offer it for $49.95 since it wont be shipping until mid-March (so prepurchase it and save $10). Promotion Promoting my JibberJobber CEO webinars was done halfway, as I wasnt quite sure how to really sure how I would run that side of the business.   But its a solid revenue stream now and with my video editor, and my DVD plans, and my marketing plan in place, Im ready to get behind it. I will beef up my JibberJobber CEO page, but Ill also have other places where Ill communicate the information (including affiliates (Ill announce that later) and JibberJobber Partners).   Ill also put information about my products in my newsletters (my monthly newsletter hasnt gone out for 9 months!   It will go out as soon as we get some mail server stuff worked out), and Ill look at some traditional advertising. They key here, as I mentioned in my First Revenue Stream post, is that marketing and sales is a substantial, significant part of the success of this revenue stream.   Ive seen crap products fly off the shelf, while awesome stuff just sits there.   Making sales leads to success, not making an excellent product.   Again, Im sensitive to the quality of my product because I want to have strong reputation of having excellent stuff. Placement This has always been an awkward P for me, since most of my stuff has always been on the word wide web.   So perhaps Im interpreting this wrong, but a lot of placement will be on the websites I mentioned in the Promotion section above. Ill also have an inventory at my office and in my laptop bag, so that Im always ready to deliver a DVD if someone wants it.   What am I missing here? Helpful information?   If you have an information product, have purchased one, or want to have one, what do you think makes it successful?   Share thoughts or ideas below Here is a breakdown of the revenue streams I’ve shared so far: Revenue Stream 1: JibberJobber User Upgrades Revenue Stream 2: JibberJobber Partnership Program Revenue Stream 3: Books I write Revenue Stream 4: (not announced yet) Revenue Stream 5: Professional Speaking Revenue Stream 6: Consulting Revenue Stream 7: (not announced yet) Revenue Stream 8: (not announced yet) Revenue Stream 9: Information Products Revenue Stream 10: (not announced yet) Kristen Jacoway works with highly motivated professionals in leveraging career marketing services that utilizes the innovative methodology of the REACH 1-2-3 SuccessTM personal branding program. Her program includes a career marketing portfolio and online identity services through a highly collaborative partnership with clients. She has organized teleseminars/webinars that focuses on personal branding, job search strategies, interview skills, and resume development. JibberJobber customers can receive a 10% discount on the personal branding, job search, interview skills, and resume workshop. Enter coupon code CDCJIBBERJOBBER10 in the coupon field at checkout. Learn more at http://www.careerdesigncoach.com Information Products (LinkedIn for Job Seekers, etc.) Is My Ninth Revenue Stream Every Friday I’m sharing each of my ten revenue streams. With this post I only have 4 left (this is #6 of 10). I’m big on diversifying personal income, whether you are an entrepreneur or an employee. My intention with this series is to inspire or encourage you with your own diverse revenue streams. Below this post you’ll see links to the previous posts, or you can click on the Multiple Streams of Income category on the left. I had to wait to announce this one for a while because I was still putting it together, however I suspect this will be a considerable revenue stream.   In my post on Consulting as a revenue stream I said that YOU ARE AN EXPERT IN SOMETHING, and I hope that this post helps you understand how you might be able to capitalize on your expertise.   There are some grand differences between consulting and having information products, as youll be able to determine from this post.   Ill use the first new product as an example. I should mention two things: I have already had information products available for quite some time on the JibberJobber CEO page (CEO because YOU are the CEO of YOU, Inc.!).   They were recordings I did and sold online, but I didnt push them much because I didnt have fancy graphics, nor did I have squeeze pages (which I think are annoying), nor did I fully understand how I was going to distribute them.   Alas, I think the products are awesome, especially the Write Your Book webinar as well as the Blog Marketing 201 501 webinar.   Ill be updating both of those. My vision of how to do information Products was greatly expanded by my participating in chapter meetings of the National Speakers Association, and for that Im indebted to Marc Wolfsfeld, who invited me to come to my first meeting (and who has shared great ideas with me throughout the months Ive gotten to know him better). Lets get back to this revenue stream, Information Products.   To get this up and running I had to bring in help.   My videos are good, but I wanted to make them better (and for a future product, I have to make them better).   So I hired a full-time video editor.   I know, however, that you dont have to have a full-time editor, or even have video, to have products.   If you have expertise, you can create a product TODAY, and have it ready to sell TODAY.   How?   Either record an audio presentation (there are a billion ways to do that), or get the 30 day trial of GoToMeeting and spend the next 30 days recording your visual presentation its as easy as that!   Ill share some thoughts about Information Products in the framework of Marketings Four Ps: Product The difference between a product like this and a service like consulting is the scalability.   Ask anyone who consults for a living and one of their concerns is how to create revenue without putting in the hours (how do I get an hour of billing without doing an hour of work?). Thats the beauty of a product I can sell 1 or 1,000 or 1,000,000 and, if I have a good system, it wont matter.   Im sure if I get to the 1M mark, Ill have a very different system than if I had 10 sales, but I can still scale the sales even to a billion (in theory). I have had to come to terms with the idea that this product cant be crap.   As the creator of my webinars, Im very concerned about the quality something to lose sleep over for sure.   However, Ive also realized that if I over-concern myself about creating the perfect product, Ill never get it done.   Sometimes you have to just hit the record button and start. Heres a funny thing about LinkedIn for Job Seekers many of you may know that I do not like to script things I like a good bullet-point list to work from, and then just wing it.   But on this series I had to script, WORD FOR WORD, each of the sessions.   The one time I didnt do that, I had to re-record until I finally did it. Price How much are you worth?   I cant answer that for you.   Pricing your product is tough thats why theres the Professional Pricing Society (no kidding)!   Here are three considerations on pricing my products: I am an expert, and therefore, should command a higher price. Because of my books, my speaking, and my experience in the last three years, I think Im qualified to be an expert in this space.   Of course, having others say Im the LinkedIn expert helps considerably :p   Too many professionals think what they do is easy, and price themselves way too low. I cant price myself out of the market, if I want to sell a lot (or make a lot). If I charge $500 to individuals for LinkedIn for Job Seekers, how many sales do you think Ill make?   I agree (none). Many products like this go for around $100 (which I think is too much, especially for a job seeker). I was in an internet marketing mastermind group and was asked how much my ebook sold for.   $11.95, I responded.   They all thought I was nuts, and that I should sell it for $80+.   There is some weird phenomenon online where people are selling their products for a lot more than Id pay I think it depends on WHO the prospect is a job seeker vs a company = different pricing thoughts. Ive decided to price LinkedIn for Job Seekers at $59.95, which includes shipping and handling (the final product is a DVD, since the files are way too big to download) for the next month Ill offer it for $49.95 since it wont be shipping until mid-March (so prepurchase it and save $10). Promotion Promoting my JibberJobber CEO webinars was done halfway, as I wasnt quite sure how to really sure how I would run that side of the business.   But its a solid revenue stream now and with my video editor, and my DVD plans, and my marketing plan in place, Im ready to get behind it. I will beef up my JibberJobber CEO page, but Ill also have other places where Ill communicate the information (including affiliates (Ill announce that later) and JibberJobber Partners).   Ill also put information about my products in my newsletters (my monthly newsletter hasnt gone out for 9 months!   It will go out as soon as we get some mail server stuff worked out), and Ill look at some traditional advertising. They key here, as I mentioned in my First Revenue Stream post, is that marketing and sales is a substantial, significant part of the success of this revenue stream.   Ive seen crap products fly off the shelf, while awesome stuff just sits there.   Making sales leads to success, not making an excellent product.   Again, Im sensitive to the quality of my product because I want to have strong reputation of having excellent stuff. Placement This has always been an awkward P for me, since most of my stuff has always been on the word wide web.   So perhaps Im interpreting this wrong, but a lot of placement will be on the websites I mentioned in the Promotion section above. Ill also have an inventory at my office and in my laptop bag, so that Im always ready to deliver a DVD if someone wants it.   What am I missing here? Helpful information?   If you have an information product, have purchased one, or want to have one, what do you think makes it successful?   Share thoughts or ideas below Here is a breakdown of the revenue streams I’ve shared so far: Revenue Stream 1: JibberJobber User Upgrades Revenue Stream 2: JibberJobber Partnership Program Revenue Stream 3: Books I write Revenue Stream 4: (not announced yet) Revenue Stream 5: Professional Speaking Revenue Stream 6: Consulting Revenue Stream 7: (not announced yet) Revenue Stream 8: (not announced yet) Revenue Stream 9: Information Products Revenue Stream 10: (not announced yet) Kristen Jacoway works with highly motivated professionals in leveraging career marketing services that utilizes the innovative methodology of the REACH 1-2-3 SuccessTM personal branding program. Her program includes a career marketing portfolio and online identity services through a highly collaborative partnership with clients. She has organized teleseminars/webinars that focuses on personal branding, job search strategies, interview skills, and resume development. JibberJobber customers can receive a 10% discount on the personal branding, job search, interview skills, and resume workshop. Enter coupon code CDCJIBBERJOBBER10 in the coupon field at checkout. Learn more at http://www.careerdesigncoach.com Information Products (LinkedIn for Job Seekers, etc.) Is My Ninth Revenue Stream Every Friday I’m sharing each of my ten revenue streams. With this post I only have 4 left (this is #6 of 10). I’m big on diversifying personal income, whether you are an entrepreneur or an employee. My intention with this series is to inspire or encourage you with your own diverse revenue streams. Below this post you’ll see links to the previous posts, or you can click on the Multiple Streams of Income category on the left. I had to wait to announce this one for a while because I was still putting it together, however I suspect this will be a considerable revenue stream.   In my post on Consulting as a revenue stream I said that YOU ARE AN EXPERT IN SOMETHING, and I hope that this post helps you understand how you might be able to capitalize on your expertise.   There are some grand differences between consulting and having information products, as youll be able to determine from this post.   Ill use the first new product as an example. I should mention two things: I have already had information products available for quite some time on the JibberJobber CEO page (CEO because YOU are the CEO of YOU, Inc.!).   They were recordings I did and sold online, but I didnt push them much because I didnt have fancy graphics, nor did I have squeeze pages (which I think are annoying), nor did I fully understand how I was going to distribute them.   Alas, I think the products are awesome, especially the Write Your Book webinar as well as the Blog Marketing 201 501 webinar.   Ill be updating both of those. My vision of how to do information Products was greatly expanded by my participating in chapter meetings of the National Speakers Association, and for that Im indebted to Marc Wolfsfeld, who invited me to come to my first meeting (and who has shared great ideas with me throughout the months Ive gotten to know him better). Lets get back to this revenue stream, Information Products.   To get this up and running I had to bring in help.   My videos are good, but I wanted to make them better (and for a future product, I have to make them better).   So I hired a full-time video editor.   I know, however, that you dont have to have a full-time editor, or even have video, to have products.   If you have expertise, you can create a product TODAY, and have it ready to sell TODAY.   How?   Either record an audio presentation (there are a billion ways to do that), or get the 30 day trial of GoToMeeting and spend the next 30 days recording your visual presentation its as easy as that!   Ill share some thoughts about Information Products in the framework of Marketings Four Ps: Product The difference between a product like this and a service like consulting is the scalability.   Ask anyone who consults for a living and one of their concerns is how to create revenue without putting in the hours (how do I get an hour of billing without doing an hour of work?). Thats the beauty of a product I can sell 1 or 1,000 or 1,000,000 and, if I have a good system, it wont matter.   Im sure if I get to the 1M mark, Ill have a very different system than if I had 10 sales, but I can still scale the sales even to a billion (in theory). I have had to come to terms with the idea that this product cant be crap.   As the creator of my webinars, Im very concerned about the quality something to lose sleep over for sure.   However, Ive also realized that if I over-concern myself about creating the perfect product, Ill never get it done.   Sometimes you have to just hit the record button and start. Heres a funny thing about LinkedIn for Job Seekers many of you may know that I do not like to script things I like a good bullet-point list to work from, and then just wing it.   But on this series I had to script, WORD FOR WORD, each of the sessions.   The one time I didnt do that, I had to re-record until I finally did it. Price How much are you worth?   I cant answer that for you.   Pricing your product is tough thats why theres the Professional Pricing Society (no kidding)!   Here are three considerations on pricing my products: I am an expert, and therefore, should command a higher price. Because of my books, my speaking, and my experience in the last three years, I think Im qualified to be an expert in this space.   Of course, having others say Im the LinkedIn expert helps considerably :p   Too many professionals think what they do is easy, and price themselves way too low. I cant price myself out of the market, if I want to sell a lot (or make a lot). If I charge $500 to individuals for LinkedIn for Job Seekers, how many sales do you think Ill make?   I agree (none). Many products like this go for around $100 (which I think is too much, especially for a job seeker). I was in an internet marketing mastermind group and was asked how much my ebook sold for.   $11.95, I responded.   They all thought I was nuts, and that I should sell it for $80+.   There is some weird phenomenon online where people are selling their products for a lot more than Id pay I think it depends on WHO the prospect is a job seeker vs a company = different pricing thoughts. Ive decided to price LinkedIn for Job Seekers at $59.95, which includes shipping and handling (the final product is a DVD, since the files are way too big to download) for the next month Ill offer it for $49.95 since it wont be shipping until mid-March (so prepurchase it and save $10). Promotion Promoting my JibberJobber CEO webinars was done halfway, as I wasnt quite sure how to really sure how I would run that side of the business.   But its a solid revenue stream now and with my video editor, and my DVD plans, and my marketing plan in place, Im ready to get behind it. I will beef up my JibberJobber CEO page, but Ill also have other places where Ill communicate the information (including affiliates (Ill announce that later) and JibberJobber Partners).   Ill also put information about my products in my newsletters (my monthly newsletter hasnt gone out for 9 months!   It will go out as soon as we get some mail server stuff worked out), and Ill look at some traditional advertising. They key here, as I mentioned in my First Revenue Stream post, is that marketing and sales is a substantial, significant part of the success of this revenue stream.   Ive seen crap products fly off the shelf, while awesome stuff just sits there.   Making sales leads to success, not making an excellent product.   Again, Im sensitive to the quality of my product because I want to have strong reputation of having excellent stuff. Placement This has always been an awkward P for me, since most of my stuff has always been on the word wide web.   So perhaps Im interpreting this wrong, but a lot of placement will be on the websites I mentioned in the Promotion section above. Ill also have an inventory at my office and in my laptop bag, so that Im always ready to deliver a DVD if someone wants it.   What am I missing here? Helpful information?   If you have an information product, have purchased one, or want to have one, what do you think makes it successful?   Share thoughts or ideas below Here is a breakdown of the revenue streams I’ve shared so far: Revenue Stream 1: JibberJobber User Upgrades Revenue Stream 2: JibberJobber Partnership Program Revenue Stream 3: Books I write Revenue Stream 4: (not announced yet) Revenue Stream 5: Professional Speaking Revenue Stream 6: Consulting Revenue Stream 7: (not announced yet) Revenue Stream 8: (not announced yet) Revenue Stream 9: Information Products Revenue Stream 10: (not announced yet) Kristen Jacoway works with highly motivated professionals in leveraging career marketing services that utilizes the innovative methodology of the REACH 1-2-3 SuccessTM personal branding program. Her program includes a career marketing portfolio and online identity services through a highly collaborative partnership with clients. She has organized teleseminars/webinars that focuses on personal branding, job search strategies, interview skills, and resume development. JibberJobber customers can receive a 10% discount on the personal branding, job search, interview skills, and resume workshop. Enter coupon code CDCJIBBERJOBBER10 in the coupon field at checkout. Learn more at http://www.careerdesigncoach.com

Raises When is the Right Time to Ask - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Raises When is the Right Time to Ask - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Students and clients of mine often ask about how to ask for a raise. They want to know the words to use, when to ask and how much to ask for. Perhaps you are mystified, too. The answer to all this is much simpler than you imagine. Raises are no longer about longevity. There are no more automatic raises. Simply showing up and doing your job isn’t even enough to provide you with the security of a job. The end of endless raises didn’t happen with the Great Recession we are just emerging from. It happened nearly three decades ago, on or about the time of the dot com/bomb. So it’s probably been true since before you were born. Your parents probably didn’t get a gold watch and pension for life. Maybe your grandparents didn’t either. What does get you a raise? Not effort. No. In business, unlike in T-ball, you don’t get a prize for trying really hard. This is the toughest concept to convey to most employees. If effort were all that it took, then your employer would pay his or her rent with effort, the utility bills, and your salary. Effort does not make money. Results? That’s more on target. The specific type of result matters the most. Are you making money for your employer? Are you saving money for your employer? Are you being resourceful and conservative when it comes to using assets? Are you bringing in business at any level? Does your social media performance look like it inures to your employer’s benefit? Are you pinteresting, g-plusing, tweeting, FBing, blogging, reviewing, posting or doing anything to draw attention â€" in a good way â€" to your company? At this point in your career, you have enough of a network: friends, family members, athletic leagues, clubs, and the like. Have you accessed any of them for anything substantive? Client attraction, retention and control is a clear winner when it comes to asking for a raise. If you are bringing in more than enough to cover your salary, overhead, expenses, and mistakes (yes, mistakes you make that cost your employer money and time): then! Have you saved the company money under the same terms and conditions: then! Then, you sum up what you’ve done and make a case â€" just make an appointment beforehand. Let your boss know you want to discuss your salary and employment terms. I have run a lot of companies. I have had a lot of employees. I have never said no to anyone who makes the company money, that is profit above and beyond what it costs to run it (plus what we need to put away for rainy days when business is hard or the economy is faltering). I have never met a business owner or professional manager who says no under those conditions. Until you’re delivering more than effort, until you have proven value: don’t ask and don’t tell your boss that you’re ready to have that conversation. I know it’s not what you want to hear. But it is the truth about business. If you were the employer, you wouldn’t have it any other way. Author: Nance Rosen  is the author of Speak Up! Succeed. She speaks to business audiences around the world and is a resource for press, including print, broadcast and online journalists and bloggers covering social media and careers. Read more at NanceRosenBlog. Twitter name: nancerosen

Classy Career Girl Profile Interview Sara Pirok

Classy Career Girl Profile Interview Sara Pirok Keep reading to be inspired by one of the REAL classy and ambitious ladies who are driving change, inspiring others  and making the world a better place. The more we know that other women are making the impossible possible, the more empowered we will be that we can do the same. We were ecstatic to see how excited you all were to read about our top 20 Classy Career Girls of 2015  so we wanted to dive even deeper into  even more  working women making a difference in 2016. In this interview, we meet Sara Pirok, a classy woman  dedicated to developing and implementing new and innovative marketing strategies in her position as chief marketing officer of Fromm International, a leading marketer of beauty essentials in the professional beauty industry, with an emphasis on cutlery, salon apparel, combs, brushes, and other salon tools. Sara is responsible for leading product and brand management, product marketing, creative direction, and design, as well as future vision and strategy. Name: Sara Pirok Titles: Chief Marketing Officer Website:  www.frommbeauty.com Who inspires you? My team at Fromm inspires me every day. I am extremely fortunate to be surrounded by a group of smart women and men who are passionate and creative in their careers. Seeing their drive and hard work motivates and inspires me to be my best self at the office and beyond! What’s your typical day like? Like many, my “typical” day at work is usually far from typical! From conceptualizing creative launches for new products to partnering with like-minded brands to increase buzz and visibility for Fromm, my daily tasks always revolve around one main goal: bringing fresh and new ideas to the table to take our brand to the next level of success. Though my “desk” may differ, as I’m often on a plane, traveling to a trade show or beauty-related event, I am thankful that I am able to express my creativity by building and executing strategies for a brand that I truly believe in. What advice would you give to your 20-25-year-old self? I would tell myself to stop being so self-critical. I was very hard on myself at that time in my life. From criticizing myself for my physical appearance to being hard on myself for making mistakes here and there. I look back at pictures now and I wonder why I wasted any time worrying I would literally pay anything to have my 25-year-old body back! I also realize that the mistakes I made in my 20s led me to where I am today. I’d also tell myself, “You are on the right path.” Throughout my life, I’ve always had a passion for beauty, working in salons and cosmetics counters when I was younger. When my first corporate job wasn’t beauty related (I was in sales and marketing in proprietary education), I was a bit discouraged. Looking back, this position launched my career, taught me the importance of process and procedure in business, and ultimately helped me to land my first beauty industry position. It was the perfect place for me at that time in my life.  How do you balance work with your everyday life? I’m very lucky to have a job that I am extremely passionate about, and to remain driven, I make it a point to approach each day as rested and refreshed as possible. I try to keep procrastination and distractions to a minimum and get as much done during the work day as possible in order to leave at a reasonable hour. I believe in leading a healthy lifestyle and look forward to Pilates or yoga at the end of the day. However, family will always come first and helps to put everything in perspective. When I come home at the end of a long day, I really try to put my phone away and soak in all of the time that I can with my little one and my husband. Since becoming a mom, I don’t know that I believe there is such a thing as finding a perfect balance; I just do the best I can and let the little things go.  What are your goals? Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Fromm is an amazing company and is very well known in the world of beauty professionals. Recently, I led the company through a full rebrand consolidating the brand’s portfolio of 13 brands to three and focusing efforts on the consumer market as well. In five years, I’d love to see myself continuing to make Fromm an even stronger brand and seeing our newest line, 1907 by Fromm, as one of the top beauty brands for consumers.  What was your first job? My first job as a teen was working at a cosmetics counter. This truly sparked my love affair with beauty. I was surrounded by products that inspired and intrigued me, and I knew that I wanted to continue working in the industry.  What is your favorite vacation spot? It’s a toss-up! I love Antigua for a relaxing beach vacation when I need to just turn off, but Paris is hands down my favorite city, especially when I want to explore. The people are amazing, the shopping is incredible and inspiration is everywhere! My favorite place to visit is a bit outside of Paris: Claude Monet’s gardens in Giverny. When you walk the property you literally see his paintings come to life â€" it’s more beautiful than words can describe and provides tons of inspiration to bring back home. What is your favorite thing to do on the weekend? Weekends are dedicated to my family. My favorite weekends are those where we have no plans. Some weekends (especially during the frigid Chicago winters) we prefer to be homebodies, relax and spend time together. We hardly ever watch TV during the week, but lately, once my little one is in bed, my husband and I will pick a new series and binge watch it â€" the beauty of Netflix, Amazon, and on-demand shows. I also love interior design and try to refresh a room or two in our home every year. I love the thrill of finding unique items at consignment stores or even at Home Goods (who isn’t obsessed with Home Goods?). My husband is a good sport and my son is too young to complain, so I’m enjoying it while it lasts!

The Spirit of Giving

The Spirit of Giving The holidays are upon us! The plurality of that word is important: for some, it means Christmas; for others, Hanukkah. Still others understand it as the time for Kwanzaa, or Ramadan, or Winter Solstice. But whatever the holiday may be, there is a common thread shared by everyone this time of year, and that is the spirit of giving. I’m not talking about the commercial side of holiday giving. There are many ways to give and many reasons to do so. Each of us has at least three “things” we can give: Money (Whether in the form of a gift or dollars), Time, and Thanks Money. This doesn’t need extensive exploration. It’s a renewable resource. If we have it we can give it or spend it on others; be they strangers (traditional food donations, toys for needy children and the Salvation Army bell ringers come to mind), or family and friends. Time. The holiday season for many of us is a very busy time full of planning, shopping, decorating, entertaining, cooking, baking the list goes on and on and all of this in addition to our already hectic lives. Time is a difficult gift for most of us. We have so little of it; it’s non-renewable â€" in fact it is our most precious resource. Giving time: To strangers as a volunteer at a shelter, to a board of a charity, to your aged aunt or uncle or parents taking them to an appointment, reading to a child so they might learn the vast and diverse worlds available in books, to your significant other to re-kindle the spark. Time is a special gift. Most of us have a budget for gifts; be they charity or otherwise. Think about budgeting your time. Write down a list of who will you give time to, when, and how much? Then spend it throughout the year. Thanks. Thanks is the most renewable resource we have to give â€" it costs us nothing and yet so often we are stingy as if in giving it we were using up some finite resource. Or, maybe we’re just lazy. The unstated benefit of a thank-you is the feeling you give to others. Saying thanks and giving thanks cannot be underestimated. And should not be underdone. The power of a sincere thanks cannot be measured. How often do you thank the people closest to you for their daily support? Your children for just being? Your employees for the quality of their work? More than half of employees in a recent survey, 55%, said they were never or rarely thanked for their efforts. Conversely, 35% said they were thanked frequently at work. This e-mail poll of 1,002 people also revealed that colleagues are much more likely to say thanks than managers â€" 84% said they express gratitude to a co-worker daily or frequently. And, what about customers? When was the last time you thanked someone for buying from you or even considering your product? I frequently fly Southwest Airlines. Every single time my flight is about to land, the Captain thanks me for flying Southwest because he knows I could have chosen a competitor. I like that! It’s the holidays. Remember to spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever. Remember to say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side. Remember to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesnt cost a cent. Remember, to say, I love you to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you. Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again. Give time to love, give time to speak and give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind. I want to thank everyone reading this article for their time and for giving us mind-share when we know you’re overloaded. Now write out your list of people you give holiday gifts to and be sure to include time and thanks in your list of presents for them.

The Best Jobs for People Who Love To Travel

The Best Jobs for People Who Love To Travel While some people prefer to work consistently in one place, oftentimes the city they were born in, others prefer to combine work with travel, the classic example of this being the role of a flight attendant.Flying all over the world, working erratic hours The digital nomadic lifestyle opens up many opportunities, from general Freelancer to SAAS start-up, but there are still plenty of more traditional jobs available in the worlds job market that will enable you to free your travel bug. So whatever your skill level in your current industry or if you’re just starting out it’s worth considering if you could do your role overseas.To browse just some great jobs for people who love to travel, as well as some great tips for working abroad check out this new infographic put together by De Vere Hotels: