Personal Time Management No 8 - Three Picked Time-saving Tips

On a normal day it is likely that your metabolism slows down by about 11 am - So:

• Tip No 1 - at the beginning of the week have one picked big job and four picked small jobs planned for each day. All these picked jobs for a day are to be completed by 11am. (Of course you may have more than 25 jobs to do in every week.)  Endeavour to complete the five big jobs by Wednesday. 

On some days you will find it difficult to think how to put jobs in priority- So

• Tip No 2 - at the beginning of the week against each job on the list in Tip No 1, put "Do-fast", "Do-next", or "Do-fit-in".  The Do-fast are priority one; the Do-next are priority  two; and the Do-fit-in are priority three.

Have a period of smart-time every day:

1. when you will only take calls in an emergency (life and death) or from your boss, spouse/partner, and children;
2. when your colleagues know not to disturb you;
3. your PC, smart phone, etc are off-line; and,
4. your telephone is closed.

[Note: your spouse/partner and children will know for what reason they can call you!]

• Tip No 3 - use the smart-time to complete outstanding Do-Fast jobs, to think about and work on policy and/or important operational tasks.

Books for Job Clubs No 4 - How's your dissertation going? (Book Review)

Book for a job club??? Maybe not: but the skills required to write a disseration are not too far away for the skills required for a) deciding on a career, b)  finding the right employer,  c) writing a targeted CV and covering letter,  d )  getting an interview,  and, e)  handling an interview.

"How's your dissertation going?" by Liz Hampson was published in 1994 by Unit for  Innovation in Higher Education, Lanchester University.

It is written from interviws with undergraduate and postgraduate students - it is quote-ridden in a pleasant manner so as to draw out themes - such as on Selecting a topic (topic = career); How do you choose a supervisor (supervisor = employer),  Who else might help? (eg other students = job club peers(?)), Is it worth it in the end? (degree = job).

Many of the skills needed by a student who wants to achieve a successful dissertation are, it is worth repeating, not unlike those displayed by a jobseeker who wants to achieve a successful job hunt.  [I recall having a discussion about methodology used by detectives, property valuers and biology reserachers - we agreed (a Home Office researcher, a property valuer and a biology teacher) that the skill-sets required were similar in their fundamentals.]

SWANLEY AND NORTHERN PARISHES JOB CLUB No 2 - PROGESS SINCE STARTING

This post outlines the kind of development strategy for what have become  "drop-in" job clubs at Hextable and Swanley. Members and volunteers intereact in four ways:

1. regular weekly meetings with fixed times and places;
2. occasional meetings at the library and Information Centre for advisory sessions on CV or covering letters etc;
3. emails and telephone (rarely) where a member gives contact details and communication consent;
4. social media, ie by Facebook, Twitter, and blogging eg Jaefoo-Blog 

Generally the thinking behind each approach is as follows:

• Meeting: The essence of our meetings is a)  members in small group discussion, and/or b) one-to-one "advice " sessions member/volunteer. A topic is sometimes introduced as a structured discussion.
• One-to-One sessions: These meetings  are for advice on CV and other aspects of job search or for business-building.
• E-mails and Telephone:  Media used for distributing vacancy notifications and other relatively urgent communications (a member registers consent for this approach).
• Social Media Marketing:  A relatively new approach for the following: a) to promote the Job Clubs or aspects of our work to members, volunteers, local Facebookers' Walls and more widely; b) to obtain and promote vacancy information;  c) to identify "good job club practice", eg by being a follower on Twitter; d) to give diary events information and e) to promote the locality (it may lead to jobs). 

Systems" Development:   From the beginning of December 2010 to the end of January 2011 "systems" development was heavy.  In this period much advice and help was given by Jane Gould of GB Job Clubs and the Leaders of the Job Clubs at Edenbridge, Sevenoaks and Strood.

Openings:

• Hextable Job Club:     Eventually we opened the Hextable Job Club on Wednesday 9th February at the Heritage Centre, College Road Hextable by kind permission of Hextable Parish Council. Open at 1.30pm to 3pm
• Swanley Job Club:    Nearly a month later we opened at the Swanley Job Club at the Library and Information Centre, London Road, Swanley Town Centre. Open 3pm to 5pm.

Format:  The two Job Clubs are of a "drop-in" format and are in effect one club for members but there are few "dual" members. If appropriate, arranged meetings take place outside "hours", eg to advise on an urgent job application draft CV.


Promotion Strategy 
Posters and flyers -  Information has been distributed by hand or by email - several organisations kindly display them. 
Word of Mouth  -  Introductions about the Job Clubs have been given to a)  three audiences in Swanley; b) a business- to-business show in Sevenoaks and  c)  participants at two training course in Swanley and  c) to numerous representatives of local authorities, government agencies and private sector companies and individuals.
Social Media Marketing (SMM) Having attended a course at the Stag Plaza, SMM has become part of the means of contacting and keeping in touch with members; developing on-line information posts  and generally seeking job opportunities, etc. Examples are:

 Entries for both job clubs have been published on the Directory of Job Clubs; See http://www.gbjobclubs.org/?page_id=30


 Fairly frequent Facebook messages are a) posted on the Hextable Job Club and Swanley Job Club wall; b) a few are sent to Doug Bug of West Kent Housing Association - he has many friends;


 An short article on job clubs was published by HortWeek;


 A blog has been created at http://jaef-jaefoo-blog.blogspot.com/2011/02/swanley-and-northern-parishes-job-club.html


 Blog and forum on Saga Zone;


Support:  We have been given support, advice and offers of help from many employment, business and other specialists in the community: Examples : a) Next Step sees members from time to time;  b)  Business Link courses have been attended by members - one member has attended three and now has a formal mentor relationship through Business Link to help develop his business,  c)  help with talks and discussions have been offered and taken on one occasion.


Diary of Events Outside events at which members and volunteers may learn about employment and also networking has been started, eg a)  on 17 February 2011 we attended the recent HMRC event on taxation and starting a business; b) Kent Vision 2020 was attended.


Information   Prepared and published Notes, Newsletters and other documents for members and others. Much is at Jaefoo Blog.

Starting a Business No 6 - Objectives and Profit...?

Your Business Plan will set out a) a mission statement and b) some objectives you want to achieve; they are likely to be business objectives and personal objectives.

Fundamental to any financial objectives will be your pricing startegy. How you set your prices for goods or services will be another part of the Business Plan (1 of the 4 x P's). At the end of the day, however, you will want to make an overall profit.

Consider what you want "profit" to represent - against some possible financial objectives. A property valuer's approach to profit suggests that net profit must cover the following  business and personal objectives, ie for a business person who rents or is intending to rent a commercial or industrial or property. (The approach will suffice for our purposes to illustrate the relationships between profit and objectives.) :

1. A business and personal objective will be establishing and maintaining good terms with HMRC by paying your taxes etc! Income taxation is payable on net taxable income which the business makes and which HMRC will take from you and/or your business;
2. A business and personal objective will be interest on capital invested. You will probably invest your own or borrowed money in a) property, b) plant and machinery, vehicles or other equipment,  c) furniture and d) other items. You will need to pay any interest on: a) borrowed capital (money); and (in principle) b) on any money you personally invest (from savings). It is useful to see this as being at a commercial rate of interest.
3. You will need to cover the salary or wages you would have earned as a manager of your business or by being employed by a rival (set it at the going rate). If you don't earn that in due course, you may as well give up your business and work for another;
4. Finally, a personal objective will be to recognise the risk inherent in running your own business. You are taking a risk in running your own business so you will want a portion (%) of the profit as a reward for your risk-taking.

Of course, you will not necessarily expect to achieve all of 1 to 4 in the first year: indeed your business may take several years to become established. Once it is established your might check that the business and personal objectives are being achieved - at least in financial terms!