7 Steps To Create Success In Your Career And Business

I often get asked how I do what I do, how I run my business and how I get my clients. The answer is simple but it took me a while to figure it out. Whether you are in business or you are looking for the next steps in your career you will be successful with a structured action plan. I do a mixture of things to promote myself like a Weekly Career Makeover Guide, I have a blog and a podcast, I network online (Facebook and Linkedin) and offline. Everything is scheduled and planned.

Today I share with you 7 steps to create success in your career and business. I am not a super marketing guru and a very successful coach, I am still learning but I am proud of my little achievements.

Create a vision. When I started almost 3 years ago I created my vision board to reflect all my future goals, desires and things I wanted to do in my personal life. Having a vision board gave me motivation and every day reminded me about my plans and gave me more enthusiasm and energy to move forward. I also wrote down my personal statement with a description of goals I want to achieve by the 1st January 2018 and I read it every morning. What is your vision? What are your professional goals? What would you like to achieve by the 1st of January 2018?

Do your research and ask, ask and ask questions. Whatever you are in business or a 9 to 5 job researching your market is the foundation of your success. Before going live with my business I did a short survey via LinkedIn about career coaching. I contacted people I didn’t know and asked them a series of questions in exchange I offered a free 30 min session with me. This helped me to understand the challenges, problems, obstacles, emotions of my market. If you are in a 9 to 5 job knowing your industry trends, the company you want to work for will put you one step ahead of your competitors. Think like your customer or like your employer.

Hire someone who is ahead of you, a mentor or a coach. After 3 months I started my business it came very clear to me that I needed to improve my marketing and business development knowledge. I knew some basic things, attended networking events, got my website, business cards but I quickly discovered it wasn’t enough. I enrolled on 6 months online course and in October 2013 I took part in a one-year business implementation program with a very successful business coach. It was a big, scary investment but it was REALLY worth it. I learnt how to put solid structures into your business, how to create a sales funnel, how to package your expertise and how to get more visible. Who do you admire? Who can help you? Who is doing what you want to do? After 3 years I am still part of a small mastermind group where we are helping each other to create the businesses of our dreams.

Get visible. If you are in business you can get visible offline by attending industry events or networking events, or online by social media. However, think about where your potential customers are hanging out and what type of social media they are using? Choose 3 to 4 channels to get yourself visible to your audience. I personally prefer a mix of both offline and online. I attend 2 or 4 networking/industry events per month, it depends on how full my schedule is. I choose to use Facebook and Linkedin and have a weekly blog. The same is if you are looking to change your job you can attend networking events and network via Linkedin. You are making contacts, not asking for jobs and people to buy from you.

Create your action plan and measure your progress. At the end of every week, I write down my weekly accomplishments, what I am grateful for, what was my biggest challenge and what I want to achieve next week. It gives me a great overview of my progress, what I need to improve, do less or do more. I have also a monthly marketing plan, describing all marketing activities for the month, which I check by the end of every month. If you are looking for a new job prepare a weekly plan, too. How many hours can you focus on job search activities, writing your CV, preparing for the interview? Write your plan down.

Surround yourself with people who can support you. Whatever you are looking for a job or developing your business, it is very hard to keep your motivation up, and many people will be discouraging you. Remember they are doing this because they want to protect you or you are doing something they want to do but they are scared to take their steps. As I mentioned to you before I am a part of a mastermind group, we have our weekly Saturday phone meetings and bi-monthly meetings with our mentor. Who can support you? How can you find those kinds of groups in your area? Or maybe you can create your own mastermind group of business owners or job seekers?

Refuel, relax, reflect. As you can see I am not sitting on the beach with my computer (sometimes I am working from the park) there is a lot of planning, scheduling, content preparation, making contacts and delivering to clients. There is a lot to do and I have tried to describe everything shortly. You need time to relax and refuel yourself. Sitting all day in front of the computer isn’t very productive. I got some great ideas about my business while I was cooking. So how can you relax, unwind after a working day, by the end of the week?

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Dominika Miernik

Dominika Miernik is an award-winning Career and Expat Coach with over 20 years of living and working abroad in countries like Poland, Italy, the UK and France. Over the past 10+ years, she has been helping expat and globally mobile women to create fulfilling careers and businesses around their international lives. She works with individuals and expat support organisations. And is a mentor for expat coaches.
Currently, she is enjoying a laptop lifestyle while travelling across Europe.

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