DreamChaser PMU Horse Rescue and Rehabilitation Social Media Campaign

Here is a project I worked on for DreamChaser Horse Rescue and Rehabilitation

Choosing a Career Coach or Guidance Counselor

Maybe you have exhausted all your ideas in solving your existential crisis or repeatedly failing job hunt. Another way to find what you're doing next with your life is to find a career coach (counselor or guide).  Career coaches  can help you find your dream job.

In order to find a career counselor,

1. Ask friends if they have ever used a career counselor and have suggestions

2. Try the telephone book ( Ancient, I know)

3. Use the internet, google search career counselors in your area. 

4. Your college or university's career center (This one might actually be free to students and Alumni!)

Important Questions to ask include

• What is your program?
• Who will be counseling? What is their experience? 
• Do you have a sucess rate? 
• What is the cost for this service? 
• Is there a contract? (please, take it home and read it. Do NOT blindly sign)

Also, fair warning that "Pay me first" packages tend to be  a scam. I have not had experience with any of them, but reading the fine print is important!

If you're frustrated, I guarantee it won't hurt to investigate career coaching and job counseling. 

Dealing with your Feelings while hunting for work

The job search can be a trying time. It's easy to be full of anxiety and nervousness while trying to figure out what job you will do next. It gets even worse when money is tight and it feels like no end is in site. The longer the job hunt goes on, the less money is available for use.  Feelings of unhappiness, hopelessness, and depression are common.  It is very important to deal with these feelings. Richard Bolles, the author of What Color is your Parachute offers a few suggestions for dealing with one's feelings while unemployed.

1. Get enough sleep! If  you are not getting enough rest, your body is not functioning all that well. I know this sounds hypocritical coming from a college student nearing finals week. What it comes down to is that you will feel better if you get enough sleep
2. Live a healthy lifestyle! This includes regular exercise, drinking plenty of water, reducing sugars, and eating a healthy and balanced diet.  
3. Change the physical surroundings around you. Many believe that your physical surroundings reflect how you feel. If they are a messy disaster, you likely will feel like a mess and anxious disaster. 
4. Get out! ( No literally, go outside and enjoy nature daily!) 
5. Focus on other people and their problems. Try volunteering at a place that interests you where you can also help others. Examples include a food bank, a hospital, or an animal shelter. 
6. Go on mini adventures! Explore  the area you live in. Find places you've never been and enjoy them. This will give you a break from obsessing about your unemployment.
7. Expand your mental horizons! Learn to better understand your brain to help heal. If that does not interest you, learn something new that sounds interesting to you. Did you want to play an instrument as a child? Never got around to it? Try it! 
8. Talk to people! Particularly relatives and close friends to release your pent up feelings. This will help you gain power over your feelings. 
9. Get angry! Go the gym or even use your pillows as a punching bag. This will help  you get some of your anger and frustration out. 
10. Keep a gratitude journal. Make a daily list of things you're grateful for. This will help you stop brooding about what is wrong and instead, think about the precious gifts we have. 

Keep your head up, the job hunt will eventually end. The feelings are hard to deal with now, but they will be replaced with different feelings when you finally get the job. All of these recommendations are still good recommendations for when you land a job. 

Do you have a mission?

To find one's mission in life,  a person must define what is unique about them.

Our mission can guide us, telling us who we are, what we want to do, and what we plan to do in the future.  By following your mission you are being something as opposed to just doing things. Having a mission can help one decide what he or she is going to do with his or her time. What is he or she going to accomplish in his or her life? This sounds great,  but what on earth are the parameters for an individual or a companies mission statement?  

Some things to remember about finding ones mission

1.  Your mission exists in your daily life, you just need to find it!
2. Your mission improves the human race is some way of another. 
3. Your mission will be strengthened by using your talents to complete it, in places that are appealing and interesting to you, and will fill a gap society lacks. 

Denise Morrison, the CEO of Campbell's soup, defines her mission statement as follows: She hopes "To serve as a leader, live a balanced life, and apply ethical principles to make a significant difference."
Her mission statement fits all of the parameters mentioned above, it's something that relates to her daily life, improves the world through her management of her Campbell's soup company, and it dictates her decisions. 


It'll likely take time to create a mission statement that you full-heartedly support, but understanding yourself and your goals enough to have a mission statement will guide your future. Don't worry if it's not as short and concise as Denise Morrison's mission statement. 

You Could Be Your Own Boss

It's not easy and there are a lot of ways to fail. Here are some tips to become a successful entrepreneur.

1. Write

Write to figure out who you are and what you want to do. Look at (or create your resume) and find out what skills you already posses, what things you like, and how you can combine these skills and interest to get paid!

2. Read

Learn all you can about running your own business by reading. The author suggests a few places to look into including Daniel Pink's "Free Agent," workingsolo.com, Small Business Administration, A Small Business Expert, Business Owners' Toolkit, Business Owners' Idea Cafe,  Nolo's Business. LLC

3. Explore

Interview and look into others who have started a similar business, find out their mistakes and challenges. You need to figure out what skills, knowledge, and experience you have, what skills, knowledge, and experience you need, and finally what skills knowledge and experience you lack that is required for your business.

4. Get Feedback

Workingsolo.com and checkster.com are websites that ask the hard questions of whether you're cut out to run your own business.  Ultimately, you should discuss your plan with people who are important to you and close to you and see how they feel about it.

In the end, if you decide you do indeed want to be an entrepreneur, know that this involves some risk and that having a plan B if your plan doesn't work is very important. Have a plan b drawn out before you even start your initial plan!

Best of luck!

Finding a Career

Let's face it, in a world full of distractions, obligations, and complex long term decisions, it's hard to decide what to do with your time.

Do  I go to grad school? Do I enter the work force? Should I become a doctor? Will I have financial security? Will I enjoy what career I choose?

In Richard Bolles' book What Color Is Your Parachute? He discusses the numerous way people decide on a career to pursue.

Some ways to explore possible careers include
1. Looking all around the black hole we call the Internet. Sources like the occupation outlook handbook provide information about employment rate of jobs.
2. Through tests that analyze personality and interests like the Dr.Holland's Self Directed Search. The problem with tests is that they sometimes limit people too much to thinking that they have to pursue 1 specific career. The reality is that these tests should provide ideas as to what to do next.
3. Bolles' flower method which analyzes different aspect of one's life, aspirations, and current abilities to find a  dream career.
4. Changing careers in two steps by changing both he field and job you have to what you want. By doing this in two steps you gain experience in the field before getting your dream job.
5. Choosing a job based on what the job market currently needs by looking at projections of future "hot jobs.

The moral of the story is that multiple methods can help decide what career to persue d how to get there.  The adventure is trying the different method and finding a career that interstests you.

Everyone has Handicaps and Dragons

Have you ever met that person that seems like they have everything figured out? They know exactly what they want to do, where they want to be in 5 years, and have the perfect balance of work and play. It seems like there is absolutely nothing that can slow them down.

This sounds great, but does not realistically represent people. People are full of doubt and insecurities. Sometimes we find success, but we still feel like importers.

Handicaps can be physical disabilities, but they do not necessarily have to be.

Some examples include

• I am physically limited and cannot perform certain tasks ( a physical handicap) 
•  feeling like you lack experience or qualifications
•  I don't have the right degree
• I don't fit the "look"
• I'm too young and inexperienced
• I'm too old
• I'm too shy

The best way to approach a handicap is not to treat it as something that is limiting you. Instead, have a positive attitude towards it. This handicap is adding to your charm.

Keep a positive attitude, and do not let dragons prevent you from pursuing a job, a career, or even just an interest.