Week #14 What Color is Your Parachute?

Have you ever thought about starting your own business? I know I have. In the most recent chapter of  What Color is Your Parachute? I read about starting a business. For some people, job hunting might not be going very well or maybe you've realized that you want to be your own boss. If any of those things apply to you then maybe starting your own business may be the right choice for you.

According to the book there are four things you should do before opening your own business. Those are; write, read, explore and get feedback. Write, write it all out. Write down your ideas, skills, interest, knowledge and anything that comes to mind. Read, read about whats its like to own your own business. Read things that you feel passionate about that will help you create your own business. Explore, explore your options. Explore how businesses like the one you are trying to create turned out. See what worked for the business and what didn't. Then think of ways you can use those things to make your business better. Finally, get feedback. The best people to go to for feedback is family. They know you better than anyone and will be able to give you the best advice. It's also important to explore whether staring your own business is going to require sacrifices from them, not just you. Also ask them how they would feel about if they needed to make sacrifices for your business. That feedback may open you eyes to realize if opening your own business will be possible. 

Pictured above in my grandmas dance studio. My grandma owns here own business and it's not always easy. She said she opened her own business because she wanted to be her own boss. Grandma Pat is 81 years old and still owns her own business today. Before opening her own dance studio she did just about everything I mentioned in the above paragraph. And that is because she read What Color is Your Parachute? She told me that she wouldn't have had any idea as to how to start a business if it wasn't for this book. Anyone can be successful as long as you take your time and are willing to learn from your mistakes.

Week #13 What Color is Your Parachute?

I'm sure everyone has had the thought of changing careers before. I know I have. In chapter 11 of What Color is Your Parachute? I learned the five ways to choose / change careers. Before I go into the list of ways to change careers I would like to say that there is no problem with wanting to change careers after. It's not a big deal. Some of my friends have made such big deals about changing jobs because they thought people would look at them different. That should not matter. You do what makes you happy. Ok rant over, on to the list.

1. The internet
2. Tests
3. Using the flower exercise 
4. Changing a career in two steps
5. Finding out what the job market may need

The job market is always a good place to look for a job. The only problem with looking into the job market is, you may not find a job you want but you'll find a job the job market wants. That could be good and bad. Good because you may get to experience a job you never thought you would do and bad because you might end up doing a job you hate. In my personal opinion I think looking to see what the job market needs is a great place to dig into. You never know what you could find. Heck I would totally apply for a job that the job market needs just to get my foot in the door somewhere. It's good to get all kinds of experience. That is what most jobs look for when you apply, what kind of experience do you have. The more experience you have the better shot you have at getting a better job. So, there is no shame going out and finding a job you may not want to do, you could end up falling in love with it. No matter what it'll be a learning experience. I think thats what matters most. 

Week #12 My grandma knows about, What Color is Your Parachute?

Tonight I was doing my homework at my grandma's house and she saw my What Color is Your Parachute? book sitting on the kitchen table. She picked it up and sad "Gianna are you reading this book?", I said yes gram I am reading this book for a class. She looked at the book and said, "You know what, I read this book before I opened my own business." I lifted my head from my computer and looked at her and said, "really?". She said, "Yes! I actually used tips from this book to help me with my studio.".

Little bit of background  my grandma, Pat Toniolo, opened up her own dance studio in 1979. When she first opened she had 800 kids and within a year she had to open a second studio because she was so busy.  My grandma is now 81 years old and STILL has her dance studio today, and she has no plans of closing the studio any time soon. She has been very successful in her 38 years of business. If tips from this book can help me be as successful as her I would be so happy.

The picture above is the front of my grandmas dance studio. It is located in Elmwood park IL.

After grandma looked at my book for awhile she started talking to me about it. She said that she remembers reading a lot of helpful tips from this book. I am in utter shock that she knew what this book was.  She even knew what the Flower exercise was! My dad on the other hand had no idea what the book was LOL. My grandma said she actually might still have her copies of the editions she read in the basement. If she does I plan on looking at them to see what has changed and what hasn't. I think that would be really cool. I will update everyone in the coming weeks on if I find the old What Color is Your Parachute? books.

Week 10: What Color is Your Parachute?

This week I read chapter 8. Chapter 8 was called self inventory part 2. This chapter builds on all the skills from the last chapter. On the first page of chapter 8 we learn about the flower exercise. The flower exercise consists of seven petals because there are seven sides to a person or seven ways we think of ourself. These seven petals are ways we can describe ourself. These petals consists of different categories.

1. You and people. 
2. You and a work place.
3. You and skills.
4. Your and your purpose in life.
5. You and the knowledges you already have.
6. You and salary/responsibility.
7. You and geography.

The chapter goes through each petal and uses chats, graphs and fill in the blanks that correspond to each category.  I love that each chapter comes with these tools that I am able to fill in and use for my personal benefit. Like I mentioned in my last blog post I am a visual learner. Writing things out and drawing pictures really helps me better understand what's going on.

The picture above is called the fisherman's net. The fisherman's net is used in petal five. This chart is used to map out all the things you've learned about yourself though your pervious job experience. I really like this chart because ultimately this chart may help you unearth a job or job fields that would be ideal for you. The book suggests that it is good to spend some time on this chart so you can really think about your answers before writing them out. There are many other charts that will help build a better understanding of where you want to be in the job world. If you want to fill out your own charts you can google the ones used in the book and print them out for free! That is something I will be doing so I can physically see how my job hunting career is going.