If you ask, you shall receive. It sounds simplistic, but it works in all kinds of ways.

If you’d like to make a sale, ask your customer if they’re ready to buy.

If you’d like to work on a new project, ask if you can get involved.

If you want a raise, ask for one.

Asking for what you want is often the quickest way to get it. Self-assertion allows you to take control, be proactive and grow as a person. Instead of seeing a world of limits, you see a world of opportunities. Instead of living small, you live large.

Being assertive is a critical skill, but many people are hesitant to try. If this is something you struggle with, read on for some helpful tips. Keep Reading…

My wife and I made a conscious decision roughly 20 years ago to live on a single income. At the time, we just had our first child and we didn’t feel right leaving her at day care all day long. Also, my wife really wanted to be home with our daughter. At that time, my wife and I were making roughly the same salary. So, in effect, we basically took a 50% pay cut by having her stay at home and live off of one income. Eventually we went through all of our savings. In time, due to increases in my salary, we were able to stabilize and start saving money for the future – but this took many years. Keep Reading…

There are some things that you knew how to do from the moment you arrived on this planet.  Eating – yup, sleeping – yup, and a few other related “projects”.  But for everything else you do, you had to learn by watching or listening to someone else.  You might have done this as a child, watching your parents make funny noises until you realized it was their own language.  Or you might have learned this as a teenager, learning how to drive a car with the help of a very patient parent or a professional instructor. Keep Reading…

Talent is considered an innate, natural ability. You’re born with it or without it, and supposedly you can neither gain it nor lose it. Talent isn’t learned or developed; it’s discovered by the lucky owner or by the observant talent scout.

Skills, however, are developed. Skill is acquired through training, so unlike talent, we do have some general control over how skillful we are. You can gain skill as quickly as you can learn, and you lose it as quickly as you forget.

Managers often follow a “hire for talent, train for skill” philosophy, leading us to believe that talent is more valuable than skill. What hiring managers often overlook is that highly-developed skills, besides being extremely valuable, are indicative of a strong work ethic. Skills are a testament to a person’s dedication; talent is nothing more than a gift supposedly given at birth.

If you’re wondering if you can succeed on talent alone, ask the talented writer who never got around to finishing his book, or the gifted athlete who missed too many practices to retain his high-paying contract. They’d tell you that the recipe for success has more than one ingredient, and that talent is nothing without the support of skill and dedication. Keep Reading…

In roughly 30 years of full-time employment, I have been both a manager and an individual contributor.  Through the years of experience I’ve developed my own preference, of course. While I’ve come to my own conclusion on the matter, some of you are just beginning to explore both options as possibilities. Let’s talk a little bit about what is attractive – and what is not – about both types of jobs. Keep Reading…

Throughout our careers, we accumulate a wealth of professional advice. These are the words that echo in our heads during our most challenging moments and help shape us into the professionals we want to be. They are the reminders we tack to our wall to glance at when we need inspiration or a push over the finish line. They are the signposts we turn to when faced with a tough decision about what to do or where to go next.

This wisdom can come from unexpected sources—a mentor (like a manager or professor), a relative, a friend, maybe even a client or an employee. Maybe it’s a reminder to trust your gut, or a warning against making promises you can’t keep. Perhaps it’s a charge to always put family first, or to always hire someone smarter than you.

What is the best professional advice you ever received? And where did it come from? Keep Reading…

Sure, it sounds like the start of a hokey pyramid scheme – but unless your office is very transparent about salaries, it’s hard to know if you are in the top, middle, or bottom of what you should be earning.

Money isn’t everything, and you’ve been able to help your company through the economic downturn.  Are you curious to find out if you are being valued appropriately by your current employer?

Here’s a list of salary comparison links that might help you get an idea of what you are, or should be, earning: Keep Reading…

Being “good at what you do” is an asset to your career, and it fosters a great attitude and a solid self-esteem boost.

But, unfortunately it’s not enough to get you a promotion. In fact, if you’re excelling at your current position, it might be a good reason to keep you where you are instead of promoting you. It’s quite the conundrum; if you’re great at your job, your company might never dream of putting you anywhere else.

So, if it isn’t excelling at your work, then what makes someone “promotable”?

Quite a bit of research has been done on promotability.  We’ve also discussed different strategies to move your way up.  Although it’s difficult to conduct fact-based research on it, they have come to a few general conclusions on how to get promoted:

• An employee can develop skills for higher-level jobs if they are regularly faced with “challenging” work. “Challenging” work is defined as work where the current rules and routines won’t suffice in getting the job done, forcing the employee to innovate new routines.
• An employee who does non-challenging work (mundane work where the current rules and routines are sufficient) never develops higher-level job skills, and thus may be less “promotable.”

So, how do we get promoted? Ironically, it sounds like we have to break a few rules. Keep Reading…

I don’t need to tell you how challenging it is to balance work and life. In this economy, it’s hard to say no to working more hours. You want to spend more time with your family but need to make enough money to pay the bills.

What works for many people may not work for you. Luckily you have an extremely powerful ally – your partner. No, not the person who works with you or co-owns your business. I’m talking about your spouse/significant other/family member. Who do you share your life with?

Your partner can play a huge part in achieving work-life balance. Here are some ways to help each other make the most of your time: Keep Reading…