Applying for jobs

How successful you are in being hired for the jobs you are applying for will depend on whether you have that extra special ‘something’ to offer the role. This is your Unique Selling Point. Whether it’s your incredible organizational skills, your ability to manage a team, or just your sociable, magnetic personality – your Unique Selling Point is what is going to get you the desirable jobs. You should think about what it is about you that is likely to connect with the job in question, and why you, over any other candidate, would be able to achieve real lasting success in the role.

Finding your Unique Selling Point

It’s not always that easy to pinpoint exactly what your Unique Selling Point is. Often, our most valuable skills are those that come most naturally to us, and therefore we might not always notice them. The way to discover what your most unique attributes are is to think about what you are really good at in day-to-day life and how these skills might be beneficial to the job you are applying to.

Often, our Unique Selling Point is based on something unusual or ‘different’ we have done in the past – you might be a tenacious, determined person because you’re a keen mountain climber in your spare time, or you may be highly persuasive because of relevant jobs you’ve done in the past.

Your Unique Selling Point is what sets you apart from your competitors in the job market, and aside from the rest of your necessary skills, it is what will ensure that a potential employee will remember you above the rest. Ultimately, jobs are matched with candidates depending on whether they have the relevant skill set. By highlighting your Unique Selling Point, you are demonstrating why you should be hired above your competitor.

Within working in an extreme career comes with some if not many risks. However, it is these risks that make the job all the more exciting. Take for example, crocodile wrestlers in a zoo in Thailand. The idea of battling these beasts is a thrill enjoyed by some Thai people, who earn their wages sticking their head between crocs quick to snap jaws. The employer of the zoo has to have some form of protection in case of an accident. That is why employer liability insurance is so important. This is the same for any employer who hires people to work with dangerous animals, from the Spanish matador taunting a ferocious creature with a red temper or the lion trainer, hoping to gain the king of the jungle’s trust.

Other risk takers include performers and entertainers, such as those in the circus. An expensive business, employers in this situation should seek cheap liability insurance so they can watch their employees with some security swallow a sword, breathe fire or juggle knives.

As zoos, arenas and circuses are all place providing an entertaining service to the public, they too need to be covered against any unfortunate accident that risks to occur. Public liability insurance will do the trick. This could help the magician who gets a volunteer from the audience with the intention of making him or her disappear or throw a knife at the moving target they’re tied to and something astray happens. Sure the magician loses credibility but he could be covered from a lawsuit. For all these careers the highest measures of risk assessment and reduction are taken, yet liability insurance is still so important.

However, does that really mean that you have to hire an entire staff full time? Not at all. If you’re a small business that just needs a little bit of help, you might as well turn to freelancers for assistance.

The nice part about freelancers is that you can work on specific projects together. When those projects are done, you can break ties with the freelancer. It doesn’t’ have to be a long term thing unless you really need it to be.

They are also independent contractors, which means that they actually handle their own taxes. However, you have to make sure that you don’t make the mistake of taking care of too much for them — that would run the risk of them being classified as employees. This adds a lot of complexity on your end of things, so it’s better to list in the work / hire agreement that they truly are independent contractors and that means that they are responsible for their own taxes. The only thing that you need to do is collect enough information to pass along to the IRS when it’s time to report their income. You have to report income when their wages exceed $600 in a calendar.

If you don’t want to hire personnel or independent contractors, you’re going to have to turn to software. Even though your initial costs might be higher for automation, there’s nothing wrong with this. In the long run, it can be cheaper to purchase great software than turn to another human. The human touch is expensive, but it really can make all of the difference in a pinch.

Common automation services would be the virtual office phone line rather than having a secretary. Virtual PBX systems are pretty affordable even for very small businesses, so you will always have the ability to direct phone calls to the right place. Even if it’s just to you and your business partner’s respective cell phones, you’ll at least look as big and professional as a major corporation.

There will be services that are just out of your reach that you actually need to contract out to someone. Look at your business budget and make sure that you have room for some of these things by default. Now is definitely the time to take action — good luck!

One thing that new business owners try to skip over is a good website. You really want to make sure that you’re thinking about getting a good web site out there. By not having a website, you’re going to make it a lot harder for clients and customers to actually find you. You also make it much more difficult to establish your brand.

In the grand scheme of things, the brand that you set for yourself really does matter. You don’t want to find that you can’t do business because nobody knows you exist.

Local marketing efforts definitely make a difference and word of mouth can also help. However, a website can be like your online headquarters. If there’s something that you need to bring to the attention of your crowd, you’ll be able to do that. That’s powerful, and there’s really no way to get around that.

So what you have to do is decide what type of message you honestly want to present. It’s tempting to rush the website design by getting any type of template that you can find. However, you really do owe it to yourself to start thinking about your website in a different way.

A website really is like your corporate headquarters. The way it looks and what’s presented there forms the first impression that your customers have. So if a website is poorly designed and poorly written, you’re not going to be able to show people that you really can actually run a business that’s here to stay.

The more attention that you put into your website, the better. If you really have the money, you should think about getting a professional to design your business site. This will give the best impression and show that you’re willing to invest in your own company. Let’s face it — if you’re not willing to invest in your own business, nobody else is going to want to invest in it either! Check out the ins and outs of website design and development for yourself!

Yes, during such hard economic times, people might try to convince you that it’s not really worth your time to start a business. You have to push that aside and focus on what really matters — reaching your goals.

In order to really have a business, you need to make sure that you have a strong plan that’s going to move you forward. You need to think about not only what you want to offer to the public, but also how you’re going to finance it. For a microbuisiness where you offer online services, you might be able to just use your credit card. If you have low interest credit cards, this definitely makes sense. Keep in mind that if you’re going to apply for serious business loans, you’re going to have to get a big business plan in place.

Don’t forget that you’ll also need to incorporate your business. You don’t want to find that you can’t take certain deductions just because you’re not incorporated. It just depends on your state that you are doing business in. If it’s an online business, then you need to make sure that you focus on getting incorporated in the state that you are physically residing in. Yes, you can incorporate in Delaware or Nevada or even Wyoming for tax advantages, but most of those advantages won’t even affect your company in the slightest.

So it’s just a matter of getting organized. Figure out how you want to keep your books and where you’re going to actually store your records. Yes, this means that you’re going to really have a lot to think about, but welcome to the world of being a business owner.

You might be in for some really long nights and a lot of hard work ahead of you. However, deep down you already know that there’s really nothing in the world like being your own boss — check it out today!

Well, in this case that someone else would definitely be an accountant. You always want to make sure that you’re not having anyone handle a service that’s going to be something that you can do, unless they really have a lot more expertise than you. Do you really need to hire someone just to mail out envelopes here and there? Not really. Do you really need someone to watch over your taxes and make sure that you can actually stay in business? Of course you do. You need to make sure that you have someone on your side that will be watching your money, your income / expenses and other things.

The level of accountant that you get will depend on how large your business is and how complicated it’s going to be to actually do your taxes. If your business is very new and you don’t have a lot of income yet, then hiring an accountant isn’t going to be that hard.

You don’t really want to rush the selection of a good accountant. This means that you really don’t want to wait until you really need to get your taxes done to try to find the right accountant. You need to think far far ahead of April tax time on this score.

Computerized tax preparation software can also help if you really don’t want to hire an accountant. And if your taxes are still relatively simple, this isn’t a big deal. However, if you start building a more complex company that has assets of its own like stocks and bonds and other instruments, you really owe it to yourself to get an accountant.

Think about it — the cost of not hiring an accountant can be pretty severe. Hiring a professional truly gives you the peace of mind that you wanted all along. Running a business can be complicated, but don’t be afraid to get the right experts on your side — it truly can make all of the difference in the world!

From here, you really want to make sure that you’re thinking about what you actually have to sell to your customer base.

Market research is something that can help you target your prices accordingly. If you offer something in your market that is hard to get, you’re going to have demand. That means that you need to charge rates that are going to not only cover your costs, but also take care of your profit needs. You should be trying to draw a salary from your business as well as handle your own business taxes. Yes, it’s all well and good to want to help people, but you’re always going to be paying the price when you don’t charge appropriately.

You might attract a crowd by having the lowest prices in town, but these are not customers that will be with you through times of thick and thin. Once someone else has a lower price, they’ll move on. This means that you’ll have problems growing your business.

You should really try to offer a premium service if at all possible. Trying to compete on price is something that’s only going to make your life a lot harder in ways that you really don’t want.

This is another good reason to network with existing business professionals in your market. You can see what they charge and try to get a feel of what you should charge. Don’t be afraid to let them know that you’re having pricing problems. Veteran business owners love helping out newcomers.

It’s never too late to adjust your prices if you haven’t been charging what you need to charge. Don’t think that you have to settle for low prices forever — you really do deserve more!

It’s easy to sit there and think that you can do it all on your own, but the reality here is that you really don’t want to just stay to yourself. When you interact with other business owners, you’re going to get the opportunity to actually work with other business owners and get a fresh perspective.

The support that other business owners can give you is also second to none. You don’t want to find yourself feeling lonely and frustrated. When you really think about it, there’s a lot to think about with a new business. You might have pressure from family and friends to perform, because the bills are piling up. Who is going to understand what that’s like more than a fellow business owner?

In order to find them, you need to make sure that you’re getting very social. LinkedIn and Twitter as well as Facebook are great portals to finding people that will be able to work with you. There’s nothing wrong with trying to get your business out there. In fact, you never know — if you partner with a business with services that compliment yours, both businesses can actually thrive a lot faster than if you were to work separately.

It’s completely up to you to figure out what you want to do, but the time is definitely right to figure out what you want and then reach for it.

Working with other business owners will also encourage you to make better goals. You’ll be able to hear the hopes and dreams of others, and you never know when you’re going to be inspired, or what will honestly inspire you.

There are often local meetup groups filled with other business owners that would love to work with you. It’s just a matter of making sure that you can accomplish a lot more than what it seems. Are you ready to take your business to the next level? Then networking with other business owners is definitely a must!