Reflecting on your Quarter One of 2023

Can you believe we are already passing by the first quarter of the year? It seems like just yesterday we were ringing in the new year and talking about resolutions and 2023 goals.

I facilitate a couple of mastermind groups for local business owners. These groups are great because they give business owners a community of support, accountability, idea generation, a venting space, and a regular “meeting of the minds” that allows for rapid growth. Click here if you’d like to learn more about my mastermind groups.

While it makes sense that business owners would stop and pause to consider their business progress after the first part of the year, it’s a good practice for individuals as well. We often get so busy. Work, kids, activities, dogs…it’s easy to get caught up in the go-go-go that we don’t stop to say, “What am I doing with myself and is it what I want to be doing? Is it what I need to be doing?”

I want to offer you a moment of free space to slow down and think about your year so far. Below are some of the questions I ask (or will be asking—be prepared, people!) the business owners in my mastermind. Maybe you can take 15 minutes to consider them for your business or your life. Even better, find a friend to grab lunch with and discuss both of your answers. If you’re married or in partnership it’s also a nice date-night conversation to help open up lines of communication and expectation setting as we move into a new season.

1) What was a big WIN in Q1? What made it a win?

I love starting this conversation or thought-practice on a positive note. What is something that went extremely well so far in 2023? What was a goal you accomplished or have made great progress toward? Have you started a new habit?

Even small accomplishments or a positive habit change can count as big wins. A fellow coach I know asked me to write down everything I had accomplished in my business since the beginning of the year. It was fantastic! Sometimes it’s easy to dwell on what we are working toward, our failures or even small missteps, but to sit down and think about a win or an accomplishment sets your mind right for the rest of this activity and for moving forward in 2023.

2) What was a missed opportunity or loss in Q1? What happened that caused this to occur? Is there anything you can do to prevent it from happening again?

We’ve got to take stock and recognize what hasn’t gone well. Did you lose a big client? Not reach your sales goal? Give up on your new year’s resolution? This question isn’t about dwelling on the negative, rather, it’s about analyzing what went wrong to ensure we can course correct.

Some things are in our control. Maybe you need to do a better job of controlling your own calendar because you didn’t spend enough time reconciling your budget. You can easily block (and honor) time off each week to ensure this gets done.

Somethings are out of our control. Maybe your kid got three back-to-back sicknesses and you spent more time at home and it negatively impacted your sales numbers. This is a natural part of life, things happen that are out of control. Sometimes you have to recognize it was a tough Q1 and going forward you are going to get back on track (and load your kid up with some vitamin C).

3) What do you need to change moving into Q2?

Look at your goals for 2023, think about how you’re spending your days, and sit with yourself for a minute. I want you to check in with your head, your heart, and your gut here. How has the first part of the year been for you? Are you accomplishing what you set out to? Do you feel happy with the way your year is going? Are you motivated to charge into Q2? Where you find a disconnect, think about what you need to change moving forward.

Maybe you need to reprioritize your sales calls.

Maybe you need to connect with your employees more and honor your scheduled one-on-ones.

Maybe you need to turn your phone off at 6 PM and focus on your family.

Maybe you need to schedule a vacation.

Figure out what you need to change and course correct now.

4) Finally, are there additional resources, contacts or services you need to engage with to help you as you move forward?

You are not meant to do this alone, friend. Whether you are a business owner, a mother, or a single, cat lady—you can ask for help, hire help, or trade help. Can AI help you write your blog posts? (AI did not help me write this, but maybe it should have!) Do you need to connect with someone in real estate to help you source a new business location? Should you finally hire that cleaning service so you never have to touch a toilet brush again? Could you trade baby-sitting nights with your neighbors so you can both get a night out?

You can streamline your business, career, and life by leaning on others. Don’t have so much pride that you suffer through another quarter.

What do you think? I know if you take the time to take stock of your Q1, you’ll move more intentionally into Q2. If you like this sort of thing and want to surround yourself with likeminded people who can help hold you accountable, consider joining a mastermind. Email me at sarah@collinscareercoaching.com with the subject line “A Mastermind For ME?” and we’ll see what we can work out.

Take care of you, my friend.

Resume Words to Get You Hired Faster

I am on Pinterest a lot. I’m very obsessed with it actually. I love using it to find new recipes,  look up cute decor ideas, and discover the latest workout trend that is surely going to help me get that six-pack (ha, we'll save that for another post, but I like nachos too much for six packs). And because I’m a career coach I pin a lot of career advice (username sarahbargcollins if you want to follow me and see all of that advice).

However, sometimes I find myself feeling frustrated because not all of the advice on Pinterest is GOOD advice.

The photo above is an example of a pin I pulled directly from my Pinterest page. This pin claims by adding these words to your resume you will get hired faster. It's a great pin because it's colorful, to the point, and promises easy wins, but will adding any of those words to your resume actually land you a job faster?

Maybe. But essentially that pin is encouraging you to mindlessly throw buzzy words onto your documents. Personally I would never recommend that to a client.

It comes as no surprise to me that this pin is advertising quick fixes. By following this pin to it's attached website you will find an etsy page selling resume templates. Now I am not hating on this person's business. You go, girl because being an entrepreneur is HARD. 

But when it comes to actually building a resume, I'm not a big fan of quick fixes, which means I am not a fan of templates. Nothing about a resume should be that difficult. And if anything is going to be difficult it is going to be coming up with the right content, not the design. As much as I love a fancy, sleek looking resume, what I KNOW is that recruiters are not looking at the aesthetics of your resume. There just isn't enough time to consider the looks usually. I mean it should look clean and organized, but pretty? You can't cover weak content with cool fonts. You, however, can take a plain-Jane looking resume and write compelling, descriptive, tailored content and find that the interviews start rolling in. 

Anyway, I have digressed from the main point...buzz words.

What’s better than throwing some buzzy words onto your resume? What’s proven to work? What should you be doing if you are looking for a new gig?

Be intentional about the words you use on your resume and cover letter. Tailor your resume and cover letter to the job description. Use the words directly from the job description.

The job description is your map to the treasure and the treasure is the new job you want.

Follow the map! 

Sometimes when clients want to apply for a certain job the job description is very small and does not contain a lot of words. They then ask me how do they decide which words to include in their resumes and cover letters. I encourage them to find similar positions and look at those job descriptions, use those words. You can also put on your critical thinking cap and think about what you’ll be doing in the job and use those words. That might mean you look on Pinterest for lists like the above pin to gather ideas. I’m okay if you are using your resources and being strategic. What I’m not okay with is mindlessly throwing words on your resume just because you think they’ll magically get you the job.

Magic isn’t a great way to do a job search. Being intentional and strategic is typically much more effective. And this targeted, intentional, key-word rich way of shaping your resume and cover letter is all because of the applicant tracking system. However, I will save the details of the ATS for another post because it needs it's own article to shine.

If you’re struggling with you resume or cover letter... I get it! They are HARD (especially that pesky cover letter, right?!), but that is exactly why I have my business. I coach people on strategies and techniques to make job search documents to actually get you hired faster. Together we can work as a team to figure out which jobs you should be applying to, how to tailor your documents to get you an interview and then we will practice interview techniques to land you the role. And once you’ve accomplished all that I can even help you negotiate a higher salary.

If you like the way that sounds, go visit my coaching services page to see what plan works for you.

Ditching busy...for now

During grad school I started getting so irritated when people bragged about how busy they were. One look at any of my social sites and you’ll see the evidence as I was always posting articles and insta photos about it. It felt like every person I ran into felt compelled to tell me just how hectic and chaotic their schedules were. They wore busy like a badge of honor. But even as I was posting and sharing the, “stop glorifying busy” pieces, I was falling into the exact same trap. I was working during the days, taking classes at night, volunteering for local organizations, and maintaining a full social calendar.

After grad school I continued to live my life in this busy way. I took secret joy in being the first one in the office even though I would complain about always being the one to turn on the lights and make the coffee. I would deliberately stay at work longer than everyone else. I was the first to show up to meetings and usually the most prepared. I kept a full schedule during the work day, sometimes barely leaving enough space between appointments to use the restroom. Not only was I trying to prove my work ethic was strong and something to be admired, but I was relishing in the fact that I, in my own mind, was the “hardest” worker in the place.

Professionally this served me well. I graduated with my master’s degree 2013 and by 2015 I was leading an office as the director. Being busy really seemed to pay dividends for me.

The truth is being busy made me feel empowered and purposeful. Having a lot on my plate brought a lot meaning to my life.

Today, however, my calendar is empty. About two months ago I quit that stable job to start down a new path. You see, in January my first child was born and growing up I had a dream that one day I would be a stay-at-home mom. So with the birth of my son I took a good, hard look at my life. Did I want to continue to be a busy bee trying to climb a professional ladder while now also juggling my growing family? It’s not as if this isn’t possible, many people balance their careers and parenthood exceptionally well. For me, however, the thought alone was overwhelming because I knew the same tenacity that pushed me to be busy at work would be in overdrive pushing me to be twice as busy at home. After many conversations with my husband, friends, and professional colleagues I decided to jump out of the professional rat race and focus more on my family and other professional goals.

Let me backup. I am very privileged. I have a husband who can financially support our family and who believes in me and my dreams. I have dreams that include not only being a very hands-on mother, but also starting my own coaching business. In my mind, I know I’ve been given an incredible opportunity. But in my soul? The current state of nothingness on my calendar at times makes me feel weak, unworthy, kinda empty, and a little pointless.

Of course my son and husband bring me great joy and make me feel needed and worthy everyday. But at this point in my new motherhood/new business journey our days are very fluid. No longer are the days jam-packed with appointments, meetings and conference calls. Now we wake up when we wake up, check email in between feedings and read books that consist of five whole pages.And in this new silence I am learning a very valuable lesson.

I have the opportunity to look inside myself and ask, “Hey, when all of the labels and responsibilities are removed, who are you? What do you really want to do?”.

People change. Our lives evolve. Who we are and what we do and how we go about our days morphs as we grow. And while this can be scary, it is also necessary.

Even though my calendar is empty today, I still have worth and value, it just looks and feels a little different than I am used to.

Maybe you are in-between jobs. Maybe you are stuck in a job you hate. Maybe you want to take a risk and start a new business. Maybe, like me, you want to focus on your family more. Don’t be afraid of failure and don’t feel like your worth relies on how how full your calendar is. Change is hard. But what if you could make the change, push through the silence and find more meaning in life? Wouldn’t it be worth it? Wouldn’t you want to at least say you tried?

You know my answer.

I’m taking this moment of silence and trying to listen to hear what it has to say. I’ll take lazy mornings and long good-nights and try to cherish them. I know my to-do list will not always be so sparse. As my son grows and my business expands, my calendar will also fill. I’m likely to hit a wall someday where I feel even busier than I did in my 8-5 gig. But, in the meantime, I will try to grasp that my worth and meaning don’t need to come from clocking-in, conference calls and bragging about long hours. Yes, it’s okay to be busy, but it’s also okay to ditch busy, if even for a moment, to think about who you are and what you truly want out of this life.