So who decides ‘what next’? Who decides which direction you’re going to go in? Your old university careers advisor? A recruitment consultant? A fortune teller? Here at Position Ignition, we believe that only you can make the decision if you truly want to take control of your life. Whether it’s a slight shift in career direction or a total about-face, it’s up to you to decide ‘what next’? It is you who must ultimately decide the one career direction you’re going to try next.Why only one direction at a time? Isn’t it better you hedge your bets by pursuing several different avenues at the same time? The truth is, if you try to focus on too many options and ideas at once, you won’t end up truly focusing on any of them and your chances of successfully changing direction will decrease dramatically. If you really want a shift in direction to lead to career progression or increased professional contentment, you must narrow down your options and then choose the one angle that’s best for you at this present time. We are dedicated to helping people adopt a focused approach and narrow down their choices; from what our clients have told us, this is an effective, proven way of finding a new career direction.

Even though it’s up to you to make the decisions and take control of your career, it is important to include your partner and your family in your decision. After all, they are a significant part of your daily life and are directly affected by your day-to-day work. They can’t, however, make the final decision for you. Getting the balance right between involving them and retaining control can be tricky and that’s why we offer support and advice not just to individuals, but also to couples and family units. Together we can move you towards deciding what next, and that decision will still be yours and yours alone.

There are lots of business plan templates available today online. There are specialized sites that provide new business organizations templates that can help them structure a successful business plan. This will eliminate the need to fully know how to write a business plan. All you have to do is follow a sort of map of what is needed. A template is just like a fill up the blanks questionnaire.

But why do we actually need a business plan?A business plan can help your business in many ways. It can help a business be on track. When a business has a set of goals that it needs to achieve with a specific time frame. Everything on a business will seem to flow and will have a sort of structure.

Knowing how to write a business can have added benefits to a business organization. When one has this skill, you can customize you own business plan. You will be able to put your needs specifically for your organizations situation and current state.

Nevertheless, because of business plan templates, people can have the least skill in writing a business plan and still have a success and effective business plan at hand.

When you do find a template that can replace the skill of knowing how to write a business template then everything is set. Just be sure that the template you need is the one for your business. This is because not all templates can be used on all types of business. Sometimes you even have to get two or more templates and combine them to be able to have the perfect business plan template for you.

In this day and age, it is okay not to have certain skills that are necessarily needed years and years ago. Knowing how to write a business plan can be replaced by having a good site that provides good business plan templates. In fact, these templates are even better because they are tested and proven.

Hosting your very own signature event allows you to affirm your brand. What do you value? What do you stand for? For example, companies that are family centered tend to host events that are open to everyone. They want to see your children running around playing tag, tugging on the bottom of your skirt while you pour more lemonade. Companies that are not as “family centered,” may encourage you to leave everyone at home and come “stag.” Companies that are more altruistic tend to pull together events around giving back to the community. One of my former companies hosted a “Clean up the Bay” day. Those that promote leadership and team building are looking for opportunities for employees to be able to get out and work through opportunities that allow them to build those “leadership muscles.”So, by now many of you are asking how in the world you are to be expected to host an annual event when you are a company of one! I’m so glad you asked. The sky is truly the limit on what type of event you can host. For example: a wine tasting party, a themed brunch or luncheon, dinner and theater, salsa classes, gourmet cooking classes, picnic, sports lessons or rock climbing, etc…

If you are looking for a little direction when it comes to putting together your events, consider these three things:

Be Creative

Don’t look around to see what everyone else is doing! Who cares? This is your opportunity to really start making your mark. Your event could be for the general public, your loyal customers (giving them something to look forward to) or your employees. Just decide on something that really represents who you are.

Align the Event  With Your Values and Purpose

If you center your event around the things that matter most to you and your company, then it will be much easier for you to “justify doing it.” The problem is, many people throw a holiday party or annual family picnic because they think it is something they “should do.” They believe their employees “expect” them to do it. But guess what is the first thing to get cut when times are leaner—you got it? When you design an event that is in alignment with who you are as a company, then it becomes part of your fabric.

Size Doesn’t Matter

It doesn’t matter if you invite 5 or 500 the number of attendees is not a reflection of the quality of the event.  For example, a small company, a graphic design firm that hosted a “pottery painting party” for 15 of its most loyal clients would reap just as many benefits as the larger company that has over 1,000 attendees.

So what is it that is stopping you?

The secret lies in tuning in to the little voice in your head that guides and directs your actions. That little voice will set the tone for how you approach your career change plans. You may be familiar with some of the messages:* How will I know I am doing the right thing?

* What if it all goes wrong?

* It’ll mean starting all over again.

* I’m not good enough to do…

* Yes, but I can’t afford it.

* Things never work out for me anyway

* It seems like such a marathon and I don’t know where to start.

* I don’t really know what I want to do, so I’d better wait till I am sure.

Heard any of these before? Yes, I thought so!

This little voice – your inner critic or your gremlin – is the source of your career change sabotage. The messages arise from your unconscious and generally are designed to keep you safe by stopping you taking any risks. As children, we were constantly encouraged to be careful and we often internalise that ‘be careful, play safe’ message and replay it automatically, even when it is no longer relevant. But playing safe is not always the best approach in life.

So what’s to be done?

As an adult, you have the ability to tune into these messages and to question them. You can check if they are relevant and valid to your situation right now. You can see past the fearful ‘gremlin’ to the positive opportunities that lie ahead.

Here’s how you might do that.

How will I know I am doing the right thing?

I can carefully review my skills, abilities, values, personality and experience and use these to identify career options that will be right for me

What if it all goes wrong?

What evidence is there that it will ALL go wrong? With careful planning and preparation I can minimise the risk.

It’ll mean starting all over again.

Is that necessarily a bad thing? Why should I build on a career that makes me unhappy – better to start afresh on the right foundations for me.

I’m not good enough to do…

Who says? What evidence do I have that shows I will not be good enough? What can I do to fill any skills gaps?

Yes, but I can’t afford it.

But I can plan for it. I can make sure that I don’t leave my job without saving up some emergency funds. I can review my expenditure and be clear what is not essential. I can explore part time job options that can bridge the gap between my old and new careers.

Things never work out for me anyway.

Never? When have things worked out just a little bit? I can ask other people to tell me what they see as my successes and strengths.

It seems like such a marathon and I don’t know where to start.

Any big change is achieved in small stages. I can break it down into tiny steps and keep on taking them. I will commit to doing one small thing each day.

I don’t really know what I want to do – I’d better wait till I am sure.

I will never be 100% sure about anything. My plans may change a bit anyway as I move forwards anyway, so I might as well just start exploring. Clarity will not come from standing still.

See what I mean about questioning and challenging the little voice within?

So your three step action plan is:

* Tune into the voice of your inner critic

* Challenge what it says and come up with alternative messages to re-shape your approach to career change

* Take action on the basis of your new approach.

People come online and start doing some things but they are totally clueless about what they need to do so they just start doing everything that they hear about.  This leads us to the first key thing needed to start a small online business and have it become successful.  You need to make sure that you are getting training from someone that actually knows what they are talking about.There is lots of different training material out on the internet for someone to get a hold of but most of it is just crap.  It is theories and ideas that have never really been tested or it is something that has worked once for one person but then never has been duplicated.  This is not something that all that great if you are putting your time and money into learning this.  So make sure that the system works.

The other thing that people seem to really have a hard time with when they want to start a small online business is that they build a website that is not conducive to making money online.  Most of the sites that are out on the internet are not sites that are all that good for selling things, they are more of a brochure than an actual sales funnel.

And that is what you want when building a small online business, sales.  You want products to sell and if the sales funnel that you have set up does not sell your product all it does is just talks about your product, you are going to have a hard time making money.

So the two biggest keys in creating online success is getting the right training and building sales funnels that actually sell your product.  If you take those two things and apply them when you start a small online business, you will see the success that you are wanting.