12th September 2007

Build Your Career Like A Business

posted in Career, Working Smart, Using Law Of Attraction At Work, Boss Mentality, Build Your Career Like A Business |

Hey Folks,

Welcome back! If you have just joined us or you were so busy that you weren’t free to come by for the pass week, we have just completed our latest series called “Are You An Asset Or Liability To Your Company?“. In that series, we talked about what are the factors affecting how your boss determine how valuable you are and tips on how you can become a valuable employee. You may want to check it out. :)

Now that you know how your boss evaluate and decide how valuable you are and assuming you did all that and you are very successful at it. Does that make you indispensables? Is your job secure? Unfortunately not. The fact is anyone from the cleaner all the way up to the CEO can be replaced when the situation warrants such a change. The real truth is that there is no sure thing as a secure or indispensable job.

There Is No Indispensable Job
Look at Steve Jobs, he lost his job in a company he founded! Look at what happens when an MNC relocates it’s operations to oversea when it decides that it is no longer cost effective to operate in country. What I am trying to say is that sometimes, the factors are beyond what you can control. So what can you do about it?

Well, we can’t do anything to change those external factors but we can change the way we look at our job and career. This is what you can and probably need to do:

Treat your career as a business
and the jobs are services
that your business render to the customer,
which happens to be the company you are working for.
Only thing special is that this business takes on
only ONE contract at a time.

With just this change in perspective, you will never handle view your job in the same light ever again. Here’s what will change:

Looking For A Partner
When you look for a company to join, you will never lulled into getting a job that you have to compromise. You will actively be looking for a company to partner with to form a win-win partnership.

Branding
You will always be looking for ways to brand yourself, to differentiate from the crowd and creating uniqueness that other companies desire and are willing to pay for your services.

Renumeration
You will look at renumeration as a business would their profit and loss statement. You will fight for what you deserve and deliver what you were paid for.

Delivering Value
You will always be looking for ways to deliver a better value to your customer (the company you are working for, just in case you are lost) for the contract price (your renumeration) they awarded you. You will never be happy until you do so.

Efficiency
Time is money and OT is cost to you. Hence you will strive to work as efficiently as possible during office hour and minimized the OT whenever possible.

Self Improvement
A business that does not continue to innovate and improve is bound to get obsolete and you probably don’t want to be redundant at age 45 right? So self improvement becomes an important aspect that you cannot ignore.

All these changes comes naturally the moment you treat your career as your own business. Your focus shifts from having a narrow of a job to a much broader view of looking at your career. When you build up your career sufficiently, other companies will be fighting for the chance to partner with you. So who should be worried now, you or the company you are working for? Look at Steve Jobs again, he was so well branded that Apple has to get him back.

In the following post, I will be elaborating on how to fine tune your mindset and Build Your Career Like A Business.

Cheers
James

PS: Sorry I am a bit late today, I had to rewrite this post 3 times before it felt right. I am not sure how long this series will last but I’ll try to keep the following post to around 500-750 words (was not very successful the last round, my post got longer and longer. The last post was nearly 2000 words in length).

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There are currently 9 responses to “Build Your Career Like A Business”

Why not let us know what you think by adding your own comment! Your opinion is as valid as anyone elses, so come on... let us know what you think.

  1. 1 On September 12th, 2007, Raymond said:

    Hi James,

    I think that the uncertainty attacks not only employers but a business owner too. My business is highly dependent to government’s law.

    But, of course, I will only attract the best I can. :)

  2. 2 On September 12th, 2007, JamesKaren said:

    Hey Raymond,

    Actually I was referring to applying the mentality of running a business to managing a career. Not actually asking folks to run a business :)

    Cheers
    James

  3. 3 On September 12th, 2007, Build Your Career Like A Business | Careers Resource Center said:

    […] the rest here: Build Your Career Like A Business affecting, check, determine, employee, evaluate, factors, series, talked, valuableaffecting, check, […]

  4. 4 On September 12th, 2007, lisaq said:

    nice post james! lots to think about!

  5. 5 On September 12th, 2007, Raymond said:

    Got you, James.

    Thanks. :)

  6. 6 On September 12th, 2007, JamesKaren said:

    Lisa: Thanks and definitely lots to think about. :)

    Raymond: Glad to clarify :)

    Cheers
    James

  7. 7 On September 13th, 2007, lisaq said:

    hi again james…in response to your question

    yes, i think so…shifting my focus to view my career as a business would alleviate some of the frustration that comes along with knowing that my pay is not based on my value or performance as an employee…the other frustration i have is that moving up in education means becoming an administrator which i have no desire to do…i love the classroom and that’s where i want to stay…knowing this is why i am trying market myself in other areas such as blogging, teaching online classes, my proofreading/editing service, etc…it’s the only way to increase my value financially without giving up what i love to do…

  8. 8 On September 13th, 2007, JamesKaren said:

    Hey Lisa,

    That’s Great! Looks like you have found your directions. Keep working on your passion (teaching) and you should be able to fulfill your dreams. That proofreading/editing service is a step in the right direction :)

    Cheers
    James

  9. 9 On December 22nd, 2007, Negotiation Trainer said:

    I agree with you on the importance of self improvement. Not only your business has to keep-up with the innovations on the market, but also you have to keep-up all the time with the newest methods and innovations from your field of activity. Your competitors are not losing time, even if you are the best now if you don’t improve they will catch on.

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