From Pig Breeder to Charity CEO

From Pig Breeder to Charity CEO Success Story > From: Job To: Startup From Pig Breeder to Charity CEO “I had no real interest in working for a large multinational, whose bottom line was making a profit for shareholders.” * From Pig Breeder to Charity CEO Simon went from being a pig-breeder in Vietnam to running a charity in the UK.Read on to find out how he did it! What was your role in your old job? I ran a pig breeding company in Vietnam. We were a UK company and brought in by the Vietnamese government to turn around the quality of pork. I initially went to Vietnam to supervise the construction of a farm and train Vietnamese staff to run it - that took 2 years, living remotely. Then I continued responsibility of the farm, as well as sales and marketing across Indo-China. This included setting up business plans and then small farms with local farmers What is/are your new role(s)? I have set up and run a social enterprise in London. I recruit, train and support employees who are or have been homeless and we provide a shoe care and car cleaning service into the city. Half my time is spent recruiting, training and mentoring homeless people and the other half running a small business, business development and customer care to our 40 clients (mostly investment banks and law firms). Why did you change? After four years in Vietnam, I was keen to return to UK as I didn't want to be a lifelong expat. There were a lot of positive elements to my role in Nam - being there and getting to understand a country from a rural point of view and particularly helping small farmers set up viable businesses and improve their lives. But these were personal job satisfactions, and I had no real interest in working for a large multinational, whose bottom line was making a profit for shareholders. Following this experience and having travelled home, I wasn't really sure what to do, but didn't see myself in a regular desk job. Initially I became involved with a sports charity set up by a friend, that ran a football for the homeless. From there it was a natural jump to bring together my business and homeless sector skills. Are you happy with the change? Yes - although I have to say my previous job was pretty good! I find the concept of running a business with both financial and social aims really exciting, and also like working between different sectors. Although day to day work can be difficult and sometimes depressing, over time we have seen many homeless people achieve fantastic outcomes which is very rewarding. What do you miss and what don't you miss? I miss Vietnam, but not the industry I was in. How did you go about making the change? After selling the agricultural business to the Vietnamese government, I accepted redundancy which was good as I knew I wanted to change sector and this gave me a push (as well as funds to travel home very slowly). Initially, having witnessed extreme poverty in Vietnam and other areas of the world, I was interested in development. However, I also wanted to return to the UK, so when a friend in London started a homeless charity, I did some voluntary work with them and then started to work as their national development manager. What was the most difficult thing about changing? Although I has a lot of self-belief and resilience, knowing that I'd find something I loved eventually, I still had to go through a few months of unemployment. In this period I was offered other jobs, but I wasn't prepared to settle for anything unless I was passionate about it. What help did you get? I found that most people enjoy talking about their jobs/careers and many were willing to meet up to chat about their career paths. Ultimately I believed in myself and didn't receive much conventional help. What have you learnt in the process? Life's too short to do something you thought may have been a good idea aged 18, and then don't enjoy. People always laugh when I tell them I used to be a farmer and now work with homeless people, but there are plenty of transferable skills that I've used in both roles and it seems very natural to me. What do you wish you'd done differently? Nothing. What would you advise others to do in the same situation? Do your reseach and go for it! What lessons could you take from Simon's story to use in your own career change? Let us know in the comments below.

How To Get Your Side Business Thriving

How To Get Your Side Business Thriving Having a side business is becoming more and more popular. Perhaps that’s because it allows you to have a full-time job to sustain yourself while pursuing a passion project. Side businesses are a great way to earn extra income and gain experience running a business, but they’re not always as glamorous, or easy, as those online articles make them out to be. Whether you answer questions for money, write your own blog, make YouTube videos, sell on Etsy, or bake and deliver goodies, you know a side business has its ups and downs. Some days might be full of fun and excitement, but others may leave you staring at your screen, coming up blank and distracting yourself by watching trailers for upcoming films like People You May Know  to hone your networking skills.   In some months, you may be more profitable than ever before, but in other months, you may just barely make enough to keep your business afloat. Despite the ups and downs, there are a lot of benefits to running a business on the side, and the potential to turn your passion into your full-time job is hard to pass on. If you’re having a hard time getting your side business up and running, don’t give up just yet. Here are some tips to help you get your side business thriving and bring you closer to the dream of running a business all your own. Research. Whether you’re just getting started or already have a side business established, doing research is extremely important. It’s important to research your target audience, research what sells, research competitors research, research, research. The more information you have, the better equipped you’ll be to make the best moves to set your business up for success. Offer what sells. Once you’ve done the research, plan what product or services you will offer (or what product and services you’ll switch to offering, if you already have a side business established). It can be hard to get over the desire to offer something you think is cute or something you enjoy doing as a hobby if it’s not something that’s going to sell well, but offering what your audience wants will bring you greater success. Market. Marketing is extremely important when it comes to growing a side business. Get on social media, establish your name and brand, and do everything you can do to establish your brand as trustworthy in your market. It can help to look at the campaigns of other businesses; Juul e-cigarettes, for example, have a strong brand presence that has quickly amassed a large following in the vape community. Do what you can to make sure people recognize your logo, name, and work. Get in front of the right audience. Part of marketing is making sure you get yourself in front of the right audience. If you’re selling custom watercolor portraits, you shouldn’t really be advertising on LinkedIn; a visual platform like Instagram will be better suited to your needs. There are people and businesses out there looking for your services, so it’s important to get yourself in the places you need to be to get in front of the right audience. Run tests. As you begin to develop and grow your business, it’s important to run tests. Test your products and services, ads, new product ideas, etc. Running tests will give you a better idea of what your audience wants and save you the time and hassle of starting over after a launch that had poor results or failed completely. Keep costs low. Especially when just getting started and growing your side business, it’s important to keep costs as low as you can. This might require doing constant research and comparing vendors any time you’re at the computer, but it will go a long way toward helping your side business thrive. Keeping costs low will give you more opportunity to expand when the time comes and make it easier to stay afloat during the lean months. Seek out mentors. There are a lot of people who have been where you are and who have done what you’re trying to do. Find them and use them as mentors for your own side business. Whether they get directly involved and help you get your business established or simply offer advice from the sidelines, a mentor can make a big difference when it comes to making decisions and planning ahead. Don’t rush. It might be tempting to get ahead of yourself and try to do or implement things prematurely. Although it’s important to plan for the future, rushing the work, expediting processes, and getting ahead of yourself in your business can be detrimental. Take things slowly and don’t implement anything too soon. If you’re feeling a little bit behind, don’t give in to the pressure and start rushing to catch up; make sure everything is done to standard. Plan for the future. Although you shouldn’t rush, you do need to plan for the future. Think about where you want your business to go and what it will take to get there. Think about where you want to be in five, ten, or even fifteen years. Even if you are willing to sell should the right offer come along, build the business according to your plan and what you want it to be down the road. Set boundaries. One of the most important aspects of running a side business is setting boundaries with yourself. It takes a lot of discipline to run a business. You already spend a huge chunk of your day at a full-time job and you need to keep a personal life. Don’t let your side business overrun either of those priorities. Making a schedule and sticking to it will go a long way toward helping you keep your work/side job/life balance to keep you sane and prevent burnout. Whether you’re planning to start a side business or already have something in the works, your dream isn’t to work hard only to struggle for months before watching it fizzle out. Having a solid plan, getting in front of the right audience, and setting boundaries can go a long way toward helping your side business thrive. Do you have any tips for those who are just getting a side business started? What is one of the biggest challenges you’re facing with your side business?

The entrepreneurship craze is over. Now what

The entrepreneurship craze is over. Now what You can easily trick yourself into believing that entrepreneurship is all the rage among young people. Hacker meet-ups, entrepreneurship clubs on college campuses, and the sudden growth of incubators and accelerator programs can present fodder for this case. But these are really just ways to talk  about starting a company. Zachary Slayback  says,  Entrepreneurship among young people is actually relatively  uncommon.  Relatively few young people today own stock in a private company, and a good chunk of those who do likely  aren’t entrepreneurs anyway, but rather work for companies who issue equity to their employees. The reason entrepreneurship is relatively uncommon is its too high risk for 90% of Generation Y. They are simply not risk takers. Their parents raised them to be successful in the most common sense of the word, which precludes risk taking. Because risk takers look crazy, not successful. Confirming that reason is the Wall St. Journal, reporting that Gen Y is starting  businesses at a much lower rate than Gen X. Gen Y wants fulfilling work, but starting a company is not-fulfilling, its all-consuming. There is no half-time alternative. (The difference between an entrepreneur and a startup founder is not the hours or the pressure or the craziness. Its the size of the business.) The  picture up top is  what people want: stable, but interesting home life. The problem is how to get interesting and stable at the same time.  Here are some answers. Recognize that your job is not your life. Another way to look at it: your job is not your life, so a super-interesting job does not make an interesting life. It makes a workaholic. Think about it: anyone you know with a status symbol job is someone who works all the time or took enormous risks instead of picking a  predictable path. After coaching hundreds of people Ive discovered that most people who say they are in unfulfilling careers are actually unfulfilled in their personal life. This is because work is not your life, its your work, so if youre unsatisfied in your life its probably not a problem with work. Its just much easier to ask for career advice than life advice. And its much easier to change jobs than change your personal life  (get married, have kids, stop being a slave to your parents vision for your life, etc). The good news is that we can stop listening to the hype about how entrepreneurship leads to fulfillment. We know its not true. Get a safe job. Dan Lyons author of Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-up Bubble, spends 300 pages talking about how poorly startup employees are treated. And those lucky employees who do make a ton of money from working at a startup are more like lottery winners than people who do something significant in their job. So dont bother with the startup. When you work at a large, stable company you get a regular paycheck, predictable systems, and a management team that answers to a board of directors. There is a career path for you at a company like this, and it is safe and predictable. Which means that you can create the life you want outside of work. You can make a safe, stable family, and you can follow your passionwhich is not something you should get paid for, but it is something you should make time for in your life. Climb a corporate ladder halfway. I recently talked with the bestselling author in India, Karan Bajaj. And I realized he has created a lot of ways to make a stable, boring job a path to personal passion.    He worked at Proctor and Gamble  and wrote his first  book at night, after work. You can only do this if you actually have time after work, if you can keep your work from seeping into all hours of your day. And the best way to do this is at a corporate job. Take sabbaticals. Taking a year off in between jobs is an effective tactic for completing projects that  have a clear start and finish, but it wont help  you  balance  kids and work. Its really hard to take vacation time because the 24/7 nature of technology means we often work when we are not supposed to be working. But if you take a year off, you are totally removed from work. Karan wrote this most recent book, The Yoga of Maxs Discontent, during a year-long sabbatical from work. Freelance. Not everyone fits into a large company, and not everyone feels comfortable with a boss. If you think youll die going into work every day, then freelance. Freelancing as an alternative to a daily grind.  Freelancing is not entrepreneurship. Freelancing is finding someone to work for, but you work for them occasionally rather than every day. Just like  getting a safe job, someone  else  has the  company vision and you  fit yourself into it. As the entrepreneurship craze declines, freelancing rises, and by 2020  40% of the workforce will be freelance. Freelancing is great if you want control over your work hours without  the craziness of entrepreneurship. So it makes sense that one third of freelancers say they do it for their kids. (Heres how people  get the guts to start freelancing.) Work in slow motion. I think this is the route Im taking. Because  I told Karan  Id be writing about his book on my blog. And then it took me one month to actually publish the post. This tactic doesnt work for building anything, but if you already have what you want, working in slow motion is a way to preserve it without destroying your personal life. Did you see the movie Zootopia? The sloth? Thats what I feel like when Im working. I used to criticize myself for working so slowly, but I am coming to terms with this pace. Its like people dialing down their corporate jobs for children. Or taking a sabbatical to write a book. Ive had the photo up top for a long time, but I didnt use it because I felt like its too domestic. But now that I understand my personal life better, I see the cabinet full of dishes can be interesting in the right light. Most people are not balancing work and kids so much as calibrating between stability and instability. We each  look for a way to create a stable enough life so we can enjoy what is interesting about that life. But not so stable that the thrill is gone. The art of life  is in the instability. But no one enjoys art if they cant eat.

Plumber Job Description - Algrim.co

Plumber Job Description - Algrim.co Plumber Job Description Template Download our job description template in Word or PDF format. Instant download. No email required. Download Template Using Your Template Follow these instructions to use your new job description template Step one: Fill out all details in your job description template using the provided sample on this page. Step two: Customize your requirements or duties to anything special to your workplace. Be sure to speak with team members and managers to gauge what's required of the position. Step three: When the census of the team has agreed on the description of the work, add in a Equal Employment Opportunity statement to the bottom of your job description. Step four: Check with your legal department, management team, and other team members to ensure the job description looks correct before creating a job advertisement. Choose a job board that's specific to your needs.

How to Better Prepare for a Career Change - CareerMetis.com

How to Better Prepare for a Career Change Photo Credit â€" Pexels.comWhether it is because you’re stuck in the same position for too long or you simply want to pursue a career in a field you love, a career change can be a difficult yet necessary move to make. There are a lot of advantages you can gain from finally making that jump.You may end up in your dream position, which means you’ll have more fun working while earning more rewards at the same time. A career shift is also a great way to boost your career going forward.Before you decide to quit your existing job and pursue a different career, however, there are a few things to prepare first. Here are some of the tips you can use to get started.1. Improve Yourself FirstevalevalA career shift always comes with risks. To keep the risks you face at a minimum, it is a good idea to prepare yourself better for the new field you’re entering. Fortunately, you have plenty of ways to better prepare yourself.Online education has been the solution for many. Top universities such as Washington State University are now making their distance learning programs available to online students. You can pursue any degree you like, from an online MBA to a degree in nursing or other specific fields.You can even choose a particular specialization to help support your new career. For example, if you’re thinking about jumping to marketing, it is easy to find an online MBA program in marketing, international marketing, or internet marketing.A master’s degree will help you land a better job when you do make that jump. You don’t have to worry about settling for a less rewarding position or starting over from scratch, since you can combine your years of experience with the new skills and knowledge acquired from the course.2. Look at the MarketA career shift is actually a great decision to make today Save some extra money as an emergency fund. Brush up on your interpersonal skills. You can even take leadership courses or other short programs designed to refresh your per sonal skills. This, and the previous tips we’ve covered in this article, will get you absolutely ready to make that jump and start working on a brighter future.

Announcing an extra CHO Academy, November 5-8 2019 in Copenhagen - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Announcing an extra CHO Academy, November 5-8 2019 in Copenhagen - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Graduates from the 2018 Academy in Copenhagen We are really excited for our next Chief Happiness Officer Academy this month. 25 participants from 16 countries are coming to Copenhagen to learn all the theory and practice of creating happy workplaces. Amazingly, the Academy sold out over three months ago and even has long waiting list. So we have decided to add an extra Academy this year on November 5-8 in Copenhagen. This is a great chance to come to one of the worlds happiest countries and learn all about happiness at work. Read more about the Chief Happiness Officer Academy, see the full agenda and get your tickets here. UPDATE: We just announced the November Academy and we already sold the first ticket :) Looks like these will be going fast too! Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

Writing Resume Vs Typing It

Writing Resume Vs Typing ItMany people think they are different when it comes to writing resumes and typing them. But in reality, they are both similar. It's just that one takes more skill than the other.When you are applying for a job, you want to make sure that you have the proper computer skills. That way, if you're applying for a job, your resume will be properly formatted. Some of the best computer professionals are not always the most talented when it comes to formatting resumes. They are too busy writing applications that they don't have time to format resumes.Typing a resume is going to be more difficult. But there are still a lot of things that you can do that will increase your chances of being hired. For example, try to match your resume to the job posting. If your resume isn't at least somewhat related to the job posting, you're going to get rejected faster. You may even get a higher chance of being rejected altogether because the employer doesn't like your resume.Even if you're not able to match your resume to the job posting, always keep in mind that the potential employer may change jobs or leave the company in the future. If your resume isn't up to date or shows that you've left the company before you had a chance to do so, you're going to have a problem with getting a job. Be sure to always update your resume after every move or layoff.Another thing that you should consider when preparing a resume is to make sure that you give a good impression in the interview. Some employers like to see someone with confidence. Because of this, you want to make sure that you have a positive attitude in the interview as well. It makes the interview process much easier for the interviewer.Typing a resume also takes a lot of skill. You have to use the keyboard in certain ways and make sure that you have the proper commands entered correctly. Also, you want to be able to put your mouse cursor where you want it to go.Typing a resume is easy when you have good typi ng skills. The only time it becomes hard is when you're trying to get your computer skills down. Because of this, you want to make sure that you use the program that is most appropriate for your level of skills. A beginner can use WordPad, which is considered to be the simplest program on the market.It's important to remember that both writing a resume and typing it are both similar and unique. You have to have the skills necessary to write a good resume, but you have to also know how to type a good resume. Try to match your resume to the job that you're applying for and make sure that you use the appropriate software when you're doing the same.