My experience can show others that one of two things is possible:

You loved your job or career when you started it and today it no longer thrills you.

You thought that this particular job or career was the one you wanted. And when it doesn’t work out you’re forced to confront you led yourself astray.

There’s hope in either scenario. There’s hope for avoiding making a 9-year mistake like I did working in the wrong career. There’s always hope.

I call the method I recommend promoting The Business of You.

Thinking like a salesperson will enable you to market yourself as the one perfect candidate for the job you’re applying for.

If You is the brand, then marketing your business like a salesperson makes sense.

Great sales veterans qualify their leads when deciding which prospective clients to pitch to. Once they research their ideal customer they then remember these two sales dictums:

“Don’t try to sell the customer a blue shirt if all he wants is a white one.”

“Sell the benefit not the feature” of the product.

Power listing your skills, traits, and experience on a piece of paper gives you the features of your product–You the brand you’re selling to an employer.

What is the benefit to the employer of hiring you?

Researching yourself and your ideal work environment will enable you to qualify your job leads.

So many of us are convinced we have to take any old job just to pay the rent and put food on the table. That’s not such a great bargain when our mental health suffers as we continue to show up to a job that’s an ill fit.

In the next blog entry The Business of You – Part Two I talk about how to qualify your job leads.

Once you have a better idea of the career that is the right fit for you right now you can then start conducting a targeted job search.