Yesterday, I was sitting in a workshop and kept getting emYesterday, I was sitting in a workshop and kept getting emails from friends saying, "I saw your name on TV." I was confused, because they didn't say, "I saw YOU on TV." 

So, I shot back emails asking for more details.  Turns out that reporter Len Ramirez featured a story on CBS5 news on Monday night about how LinkedIn is helping unemployed people to find jobs. 
So, if you watch the video, you'll see at one minute, thirty five
seconds into the coverage (1:35) that my name shows up in a story about
LinkedIn job seeker David Stevens.  Voila!  My two seconds of fame. 

You
don't see my adorable mug hamming it up for the camera.  You even don't
see a picture of me.  You just see my name and a network update, "Dr. Susan Bernstein is now connected to Kim Fisher."

Why does all of this matter?

I
share this to tell you the "behind the scenes" story of how this all
came to be.  Not because I want you to know about my fame — this is
not exactly Oprah-worthy news, after all.  No, it's because I want you to know how LinkedIn made this all possible, so that you can use LinkedIn, too, in innovative ways.

Flash
back about three months ago.  I wanted to learn about ways to build
publicity for my business.  In particular, I wanted to know how to
build media connections that might be useful one day. 

First aha – Use LinkedIn Q&A to pose questions to a bunch of people!  I had a question, and I could either post it on LinkedIn Q&A or I could search for an expert in my network.  In this case, I didn't wind up doing either of those. 

Second aha – Check out Q&A — because you never know when you'll find someone useful to you!  I happened to also be looking for information on networking, and saw in the Q&A section that David Stevens (who worked for a radio TV station in a PR capacity). had answered a question on myths and misconceptions about networking that Krista Canfield had asked. Instead of posting one or more questions on Q&A (when I didn't really know what questions I'd want to ask), David's reply made me think I might be able to have an extended conversation with him about media PR!  At the time, he was a Marketing Solutions Provider at
NextMedia Group.  

I decided I wanted to get in touch with David.  So I sent a request for
introduction to Krista Canfield.  She's always been amazingly gracious
and helpful, and I figured she'd help facilitate the introduction. 
And, as I usually find on LinkedIn, the connection was successful, and
David was only too happy to talk to me about media PR.  He called me
and we spoke for nearly an hour.  I got some vital insights from our
conversation, thanked David, and told him that if I could be of
assistance to him, I'd be happy to return the favor.  We joined each
other's LinkedIn network so we could stay in touch.

Third aha –what goes around, comes around. Just a few weeks later, David sent me a note saying, "You
said if there was ever anything you could do for me you would be happy
to."  Although I didn't know David well, I loved his enthusiasm and his
assistance, so I wrote something honest, "“I asked David for some perspective on radio PR, and he was extremely
knowledgeable and helpful. He gave me some interesting insights as I
learn more about this media.” 

Fourth aha – getting recommendations can help you get a job…or at least get attention. 
As I suspected, David was being wise as he saw that his job was coming
to an end, and he gathered recommendations so that a future employer
would be able to learn more about him.  Sure enough, he found his next
job through LinkedIn, as the Channel 5 news about his job search success story makes clear.  

I
truly love success stories like this.  I'm a self-proclaimed "power user" of LinkedIn,
and I estimate that upwards of 60% of my clients find me through
LinkedIn.  I'd love to show you how to leverage LinkedIn in your job search…whether
you're conducting a job search right now, or anticipate that you'll
need to be on your toes about using LinkedIn in the near future.  On
Thursday, November 13, from 6-8 pm Pacific, I'm offering a webinar, Using LinkedIn Strategically in Your Job
Search. 
It's very reasonably priced, and 88% of the people who attended this
same webinar on October 22 were "very satisfied" with the content. 
C'mon, check out the details — and start using LinkedIn much more strategically, with better results!

Happy linking!

Susan

Dr. Susan Bernstein
Job Search Coach & Founder
The Job Search Gym
www.JobSearchGym.com

If you feel held hostage by your job, it may because of the mortgage you are carrying.  I watched one client brave a 2-hour commute, each way, to work, just so she and her husband could afford their home in the San Francisco Bay area.  I'm sorry, but that's nuts.  Spending four hours a day, five days a week in your car, just so you have have the so-called American dream of owning a home?  Shoot, she had very little time with her husband and they were constantly stressed out.  They both felt fearful that they would lose their jobs, because they knew that meant they could lose their homes.  It's awful to be tied to your job just so you can keep a roof over your house that happens to have your name on the title.  What ever happened to renting?  What ever happened to reasonable living accomodations?

Do you want to unleash yourself from an employer or a job you hate?  Your ticket may be in downsizing your home.  I know.  I've done it.  When I was married, my then-husband and I owned a 4-bedroom, 4-bath 2400 square foot house in a chic San Francisco neighborhood.  Did we need that much space?  Well, we figured that we'd have kids, eventually.  Sadly, we split up instead.  But now, I rent a home with less than 900 square feet.  It's a 2-bedroom place where one bedroom is my office.  But I could live in much smaller quarters, and not just because I'm petite.

I'm always appalled when I go to visit my parents in the Phoenix area. 
The homes near them are monstrosities.  My parents home, at 3000 square feet, is the dwarf in the neighborhood.  I even saw one mega-mansion under construction
there during my last trip.  It was three stories high, with one
story built underground to circumvent the local restrictions on
building more than two stories.  I hate to imagine how much power it
takes to air condition such palaces in the midst of the desert, and how
much work it takes to keep the manicured lawns looking good.  Excuse
me, but this excess does not take into account the long-term impact on
our economy.

Fortunately, the financial craziness we're experiencing has lots of people getting creative and scaling back.  I especially love the movement to smaller homes.  It's good for the economy, it's good for our sanity, and it's good for the environment.

CNN ran a story on living in 100 square feet of bliss.  I invite you to consider this move to less — for giving you more.  I know I am.  And, I'm also looking into co-housing, a movement of bringing people together in communities.  They own their own homes, plus a common space, and they all spend time pitching in to cook and do other things for each other.  In our age of isolation, this is a solace, and one that can often be more affordable.

What other options are you considering to untether yourself from the ball and chain of a mortgage that's keeping you tied to work that you don't enjoy?

Pondering with you,

Susan

Dr. Susan Bernstein
Coach, Speaker & Author

www.WorkFromWithin.com

Work From Within, LLC

I recently called a representative, Jonathan, at Charles Schwab, where I have whatever happens to be left of my investment account.  I was only half joking when I asked Jonathan if he was taking Tums and scarfing down aspirin.  The current market nuttiness is enough to upset any stomach and create significant headaches. 

But, it doesn't have to be that way.  At least not as I see…or feel it. 

While I've had my moments of wanting to bury myself under the covers and not come out until this market mess is over, I hold a lot of hope.  In this current unpredictability, I've discovered that my recent PhD in somatic psychology (aka mind-body psychology) is way more valuable in addressing our uncertain times than my MBA.  Why?  Because somatic psychology addresses how we respond to shock and trauma, and has proven tools to help people regain their inner compass. 

From the mind-body psychology perspective, most people have one of four responses to shock and trauma: fight, flight, freeze, or faint.

In terms of fighting, I see a lot of people wasting a lot of time pointing fingers and laying blame for the economic mess. That provides only temporary relief, and in terms of emotional contagion, fighting spreads insidious, unproductive anger. Some people catastrophize and want to take flight, and have the urge to pull totally out of the market. Especially if you have more than fifteen years until retirement, you'll want to think twice before gambling on a big sell off. Another response is to freeze, and just get paralyzed, unable to do anything, due to fear. That doesn't leave you much room to respond. Finally, fainting is to collapse and play dead. Hmm, being non-responsive seems unwise.

So, what to do. First, I'm not going to get on my b-school soapbox and advise you what to do with your money and investments. But I do think it's a good idea to inoculate yourself against the fear that the media generates by reducing your diet of stories about the current situation. Don't stay uninformed, but don't adopt one of the four shock and trauma responses. Instead, I want to advocate four healthy responses to the current tumultous market gyrations:

Get conscious.
Get connected.
Get courageous.
Get calm.

Get conscious about your money. Not just how you budget and spend it. But also about your habits around finances. We all have unconscious patterns in how we act around financial matters. We need to integrate our "shadow" selves, in Carl Jung's terms. Around money, those patterns tend to be: acting naively, not acting at all, becoming victims of circumstances, going to "war" with imagined "enemies" over economic situations, adopting a martyr stance, gambling, falling into pseudo-spiritual patterns of acting as if money doesn’t matter at all, or oppressing others with money. When you become aware of your tendencies, as uncomfortable as they may be, you're able to shift them. And instead of acting unconsciously, you can learn about money and investments. And you can discover how to use your skills and talents to transform and manifest your own financial reality.  I've written more about this in a posting about money coaching.

Get connected to community. We humans are wired for connection, and we especially need it in times of change. Actually, we're wired for connection, While connecting virtually is nice, there's nothing like the in-person handshake or hug to let someone know you care. Do something nice for someone. Take a genuine interest in the people around you. Not just for selfish reasons, so you can get a job if your company lays you off in the next few months. But for the long-run, so that you're not alone. This is a great time to go to industry events and mixers, and to join in social events that interest you. Find "your peeps" so you know you have places where you belong.

Get courageous. Look, if (and that's a very big if) everything is going to hell in a handbasket, why not take that risk you've always wanted to take? Especially if that risk still allows you to take care of your basic physiological and safety needs, ala Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. And, even if the world's not going to hell, this is a vital time to stand out. Make your mark. Be visible and show initiative. Start up a project or effort that really matters to the bottom line, where you’ll help improve profitability, productivity, or time to market. If you don’t know what that might be, ask your customers or your management about the biggest problems they face, and help them to find solutions. Do this using skills you enjoy using. And assert your boundaries so that you are not putting in tons of overtime. Manage your energy, not just your time.

And finally, get calm. Breathe. In and out. Slow and deep, instead of the fast and shallow way we usually do when we're stressed. Fortunately, breathing is one of the things that happens automatically. Thank goodness we don't have to put in on our "to do" list every day! But, we're seldom aware of our breath. And it's an amazing resource for getting calm. Set up a ritual to do nine slow, deep inhalations and exhalations every 30 minutes. When you're feeling fearful, your breathing capacity can drop 30% or more, which means you're cutting off oxygen supply to your brain, and your thinking gets fuzzier. You can clear your mind with meditation, too. It's a great way of helping you to release non-essential thoughts and get grounded and centered. No, you don't have to shave your head and wear flowing robes to practice. You can start by focusing on your in and out breath and compassionately noticing and naming your thoughts as they drift through your mind.

I've come to understand that despite my desire to control everything, uncertainty is a constant in life. These four principles have helped me to weather some pretty intense times in my own life.

I also want to offer you a FREE resource for helping you to weather the ups and downs of the market, and their impacts on the job market, your financial life, and your inner sense of well-being.  I invite you to sign up to receive access to a one-hour teleclass I recorded on creating inner security in times of uncertainty.  You'll also get a handout filled with more tips on staying sane in trying times. 

Hey, how about helping out our other readers?  I bet you have ways that you're coping with the current market mania.  What are YOU doing to cope with economic stress and uncertainty?

Wishing you consciousness, connection, courage and calm,
Susan

Dr. Susan Bernstein
Coach, Speaker & Author

www.WorkFromWithin.com

Work From Within, LLC

I'm excited to introduce you to Jenna Mahina, who left work as a community relations program manager at a Silicon Valley high-tech company to become an artist and workshop leader.  This high-energy woman has charm and chutzpah, all rolled up into a fun package.  She's all about igniting and celebrating authenticity. 

But, for a while, Jenna felt really stuck in work that she was good at — but no longer loved.  She looked into her heart and took a leap of faith.  Faith in herself and a positive outcome.  And she's loving her new life, outside the toil of seemingly non-stop meetings and activities that no longer challenged her nor held meaning.  It was time for a change, and Jenna listened to the voice within that told her to move along. 

Here's a bit of Jenna's story:

How did you get into your former career as a community relations program manager?

As early as age 7
when I did the March of Dimes Walk-a-thon, I always loved helping people. 
I was already doing the job as a volunteer for several years and insisting the
company make a formal role for me.  As the saying goes, “the squeaky wheel
get the oil.”

Jenna, what did you dislike about your former career?

A lot of the tasks I was skilled at, enjoyed doing and that kept me
happy at my job were replaced by meetings where I discussed what other people
did.  Also because of the change in responsibilities I lost the one-on-one
interactions with employees, which was a large part of what made my job
meaningful to me.

So what was your impetus for change?

In the year leading up to the change, I had a lot of personal
challenges.  As I reflected on what was important to me, I realized that
my current career didn’t allow for a life that balanced my whole self.  I
wanted more freedom to focus on things that are important to all aspects of who
I am, not just work.

What are you doing now?

I’m exploring many aspects of my creativity!  I started a venture called Intoxicated Soul, and have been selling my artwork there, as well as at my local farmer’s market.  Intoxicated Soul is a vehicle for my photography and my workshops.  It's also an e-commerce site and I write my own blog.  People can also find out about the empowering workshops I lead, including one I'm offering on September 20 at Fort Mason in San Francisco, called Autumn Soulebration: Celebrating Our True Selves.   It's a time to laugh, share, giggle, envision, eat and celebrate the abundance of the autumn season.

And, I'm simply doing more things that I love, like swimming with whales, going ATV quadding for the first time in a year, spending more time at the ocean, and being with my family.

What do you love about what you are doing now?

I love the freedom — of my schedule, my time, and who I spent my time with.  I also love having the ability to express my creativity freely.  And, I'm proud of my courage to step outside my comfort zone.

I love how inspiring Jenna is!  She loves dwelling in what's possible.  I've seen that when she runs into an obstacle, she turns it around…or rolls over it, like in the ATVs (all-terrain vehicles…four-wheelers) she loves to ride. 

Thanks, Jenna, for inspiring all of us! 

YOU can meet Jenna!   She's part of a panel discussion called

Follow a More Authentic Career Path. 

Date:  Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Time:  6:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Location:  San Francisco's Fort Mason.
Registration:  $55.   Ensure your space by registering online.

Hope to meet you there!  You can also meet others who've made big career changes, including Jeff Kennedy (attorney to HR consultant), Todd Kelly (tax manager to marketing consultant) and Ande Scheinker (event planner to culinary explorer).

Celebrating change!

Susan

Dr. Susan Bernstein
Coach, Speaker & Author

www.WorkFromWithin.com

Work From Within, LLC

I love talking about people who have made successful career changes.  And, I love letting you in on those stories.  It's especially a treat to tell the stories of people who have made the journey from work that looks successful on the outside (but is soul-sapping on the inside) to work that aligns with their hearts' desire. 

In fact, I'm hosting an event called "Follow a More Authentic Career Path" on Wednesday, September 10, from 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm at San Francisco's Fort Mason Center.  Not only will you get to mix and mingle with others seeking to do more fulfilling, meaningful work.  You'll also get to hear the "true stories" of six people who have been courageous enough to leave a prestigious but unsatisfying career to follow the path of their heart. 

Today, I'm interviewing Jeff Kennedy.  Like many others, he found the allure of the legal profession to be a little too shiny and not enough substance.  He ran the risk of burning out.  But instead, he followed another career path that took him closer to what he loves and cares about.  And now, he's really doing work that comes to him naturally and feeds his heart and soul — and is even paying the bills.  Pretty amazing for his first few months in his own consulting venture.

***

Dr. Susan:  Hi Jeff.  Hey, will you please tell our readers about your former
career?     

Jeff Kennedy:  I was an employment
attorney and then a corporate HR business partner.    

Dr. Susan:  Can you please share with us, briefly, and what got
you into your former career as an employment attorney?

Jeff Kennedy: I always
thought that I could be a lawyer, and when I found myself working as a
paralegal on Wall Street I thought I might as well go to law school, and so I
did. 

Dr. Susan: Like a lot of people, you found law glamorous on the outside, but not the same on the inside.  What did
you dislike about your former career?

Jeff Kennedy: After 3
uncomfortable years in law school and 6 years litigating employment cases I
faced the fact that I didn’t want to continue to spend my days fighting and my
nights churning over the last confrontation and preparing for the next, so I
transitioned to human resources where I could leverage my employment law
experience and do some good to help employees and employers avoid litigation. 

Dr. Susan:  Essentially, even though you didn't have to be as confrontative, working in HR for a corporation wasn't totally satisfying for you.  So, what are you doing
now?

Jeff Kennedy: I'm now an independent HR consultant with my own firm, HR By Your Side.  This new role is the most recent step on my path pulling together
the aspects I value most from my prior roles – the close, independent, unfettered
client relationships I had as an attorney with the positive, compliant,
preventative focus of HR.

Dr. Susan:  What do you love
about what you are doing now?

Jeff Kennedy: In addition to
the close client relationships, positive and forward-looking approach, autonomy
and self-defined work-life balance, I’m really enjoying building a business and
a mutually beneficial professional network.

***

I really want to congratulate Jeff.  I can't tell you how many people come to me feeling dissatisfied about the "shallow" or even "confrontational" connections they feel at work.  From all the dissatisfied people I talk to in my practice as a career transformation expert, I hear a widespread, deep-seated hunger for stronger, more meaningful working relationships with colleagues, managers, and clients.  Jeff has that.  And, he has better work-life balance.  We were able to have breakfast together last week, something that would have been quite a feat to pull off when he was in his former work.  Nice for both of us!

Would you like to hear from Jeff and me and four others who've made major career changes?  And mix and mingle with us…and others who are dedicated to doing soul-satisfying work?

Please join us on for "Follow a More Authentic Career Path" on Wednesday, September 10, from 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm at San Francisco's Fort Mason.

Authentically yours,
Susan

Dr. Susan Bernstein
Coach, Speaker & Author

www.WorkFromWithin.com

Work From Within, LLC

It’s a big deal for a mom to decide to go back to work, as my friends at YourOnRamp most assuredly know (YourOnRamp is a resource-rich website for anyone thinking of on- or off-ramping from work).  Many women agonize over the decision.  They wonder if they are being a bad mom.  They may feel guilty going back to work if their own mother was a stay-at-home mom.  There are all of the arrangements — daycare, backup childcare, working hours, commuting, and much more. 

 All working moms, in my opinion, should be given a paid day off a week, because boy, do they work hard!

So, moms re-entering the workforce need all the support they can get.  And I want to share an information-packed video for all working moms who may be outside the San Francisco Bay Area who missed the View from the Bay show with LinkedIn PR Manager Krista Canfield, who spoke about what to do if you’re a mom who’s going seeking new work:

• Begin your hunt at least six months before you want to start work
• Update your skills and talents, if necessary, with courses
• Be a news hound
• Give your resume a facelift (you can learn to do this masterfully through the Job Search Gym)
• Do your homework on salaries (Use salary.com and payscale.com)
• Reconnect and rebuild your business network (of course, LinkedIn is amazing for this!)
• Feel confident in your dress
• Tap into local resources, like your state’s department of labor office, and of course, blogs!

Happy hunting to all you amazing moms!
Dr. Susan

Dr. Susan Bernstein
Coach, Speaker & Author

www.WorkFromWithin.com

Work From Within, LLC

PS – I’m very happy to be newly-officially-affiliated with YourOnRamp as one of their featured career coaches — take a peek!

 I’m excited to share with you, dear readers, about a book that’s a gem for people who are returning to work after some time off.  It’s especially great for moms who are ready to add either full- or part-time work to their days, and is also helpful for anyone who might want to make sense of the working world after having been away….like traveling, taking medical leave, or working on a family project. 

This skinny book, Your Career OnRamp, is jam-packed with tips, suggestions, activities and inspiration for making a career change.  The authors, Catherine Clifford and Millie Froeb, spent lots of time gathering information from people who are experts in career change, both those who help people in transitions, like me, and people who have onramped (and offramped) and know what it takes.  It’s an amazing distillation of helpful ways to consider where you’re going.  The chapters help you assess your readiness for change, get support, discover your life path, consider education, create self-marketing tools, build your network, find your job, prepare for interviews, and assess jobs you’ve been offered.

I’m thrilled to announce that Catherine and Millie invited me to include an activity in this valuable book.  You’ll find a way to look at the activity I created, Drains, Gains & Desires, on pages 34 and 35.  Completing the information in this chart will give you a way to get clearer on where you’re headed as you onramp again.  So will the other exercises provided by a wealth of innovative career counselors and coaches.

I hope you’ll consider investing in Your Career OnRamp.

Wishing you well,
Susan

Dr. Susan Bernstein
Coach, Speaker & Author

www.WorkFromWithin.com

Work From Within, LLC

Ch, ch, changes…

I notice how bottled up I feel, even though I have something exciting to say to you, Dear Reader.  But actually saying it?  Making it real?  That feels confrontative.  Like I’m crossing a barrier.  Or jumping off of a cliff.  But I can’t find the cliff outside myself.  It’s internal.  It’s the inner block
to being freely expressive. 

And how ironic that I need to talk about it, as it’s what I help others to do — to free their expression, to connect them to themselves, so they know what’s true for them, from the inside out.

So, let me stop beating around the bush and get right to the point.  Deep breath, here it comes…

Work from Within (my business, this blog) really should be called Wisdom from Within(tm).

There.  I said it.  But what does that mean?

continue

Do you ever find yourself dragging to make change?  Perhaps you care about improving the environment, or local politics, or the attitude in your office.  You want to get others behind you, supporting the same cause.

I used to think that we needed a majority of people to get behind an issue to make it change.  Now, through an inspirational One Minute Shift, from the Institute for Noetic Sciences, which advances the science of consciousness and human experience to serve individual and collective transformation, I’m thrilled to learn that I’ve been WRONG!

Listen as author and speaker Marianne Williamson speaks about how change only needs 11% of a group to get the momentum going.  What changes could you affect if you could get just 11% of the people around you to change? 

Here’s to 11%!
Susan

Susan Bernstein
Life, Career & Money Coach
www.WorkFromWithin.com
Work From Within, LLC

Recently, I’ve had a bunch of people ask me a question that starts with…

"Am I too old to….?"

You fill in the blank…

"go back to school"

"start a business"

"get married"

"change careers"…

Sure, there are some things that we probably can’t do when we’re too old, like being a gymnast or having a baby.  But, heck, you can do yoga and make yourself a pretzel at any age, and you can adopt a child or become a foster parent…I think we can always look for possibilities.

But, how do you sum up that inspiration to do what you want, no matter your age?  I want to thank my friend,  Natalia Rae Kraft of BeginWithin for this inspiring quote:

“Do not fear death. More importantly, do not fear life. Look over your life.
What do you remember most vividly? Wonderful meals? Television shows? Endless
conversations about neurotic relationships? No. All these are forgotten. We
remember when we have taken risks – no matter what the outcome. You will not
find a Spiritual Master that suggests you play it safe… or a Spiritual text
that advises you to avoid pain at all costs. It is never too late to fulfill
your destiny. At age 44, Gandhi was a humble lawyer. At age 36, Mother Theresa
was simply an unknown nun. Taking risks defines who we are. Risk brings life
into our existence.” ~ unknown wise one

At age 36, I changed careers.  I finally knew I didn’t want to be a 70 year-old woman when I studied psychology.  I worked part-time and went back for a PhD in Somatic Psychology at Santa Barbara Graduate Institute, and LOVED learning and growing with a community.  And, if I hadn’t loved it?  I figured I could drop out and find my next love. 

At age 33, my brother left the wild and crazy concert industry.  He’d already been drafting contracts for rock bands, and finally saw that the real money was in actually being an attorney.  So he went to law school to become an attorney, when the average age at his law school was 25.  Well, that meant he already had a few grey hairs as well as a healthy dose of wisdom, meaning he could manage the stress better than average.  He’s now practicing law in the construction industry, and kicks butt in the courtroom.

We make changes…ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on, yah…oh, la, la, la, life goes on..

What do you WANT to do but worry that you’re too old?  What does your fear keep you from doing, due to your age? 

What have YOU done when you were older than you thought you "should" be to make a change? 

I’d love to hear from you! 
Ob la Susan Na Na

Susan Bernstein
Life, Career & Money Coach
www.WorkFromWithin.com
Work From Within, LLC