We’ve all got some big challenges to deal with these days: this wacky economy, maintaining cash flow, laying safety nets, building our companies, attracting more business, all while managing to stay sane and tenacious through these trying times.
That’s why we rolled up our sleeves and put ourselves to work on attacking this hairball of issues that literally can make or break your career…not to mention your spirits.

After months of all nighters and brutally long workdays, we’re finally ready to unveil a big new resource to help you find solutions to your biggest personal and professional challenges.

It’s called Fast Track to Success: 30 Days to Transform Your Life & Career.  Jam packed with perspective, inspiration and tips for leaping into action, this new tool is GUARANTEED to make a serious difference for you.  And you can take that to the bank!

How?  Fast Track is an online learning program that you can power through in as little as 30 days, 30 minutes a day.  Every lesson features online posts to read with full audio (read by me!) that you can download and listen to on the go if you’d prefer.  Then, once you’ve learned, it’s time to help you do.  Almost every lesson has a worksheet (or a few) designed to walk you though putting everything into action immediately.

Since this is all about getting to the next level, you’ll see not only your perspective, but outlook and opportunities evolve more and more every day!  We’ve even included a few videos to keep you fired up and opportunities every step of the way to share your thoughts or ask for help or advice from our team.  And again, we’re so confident this can help change your life for the better, we’re willing to guarantee it.  We’ll even send you a hard copy of our New York Times bestseller Secrets of the Young & Successful: How to Get Everything You Want Without Waiting a Lifetime as our gift.

To celebrate the launch of this new program, we’re going to spend the next 30 days sharing some of our best tips and tricks to take on this crazy economy on by storm, increase your opportunities, amp up your competitive advantage, and yes, make more money!

We want to share your best advice too, so keep your eyes peeled and we’ll offer plenty of opportunities on YoungandSuccessful.com, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to share your expertise and experience too!  So stay tuned and help us spread the word about anything you find particularly useful to your friends and colleagues.  We’ll all fare better and find the success we crave and deserve if we bond together and become a force to be reckoned with.

Here’s to all of our success!

Hi,

I have been in the corporate world for the past two years since graduation, but have a huge itch for entrepreneurship. Therein lies the problem, no idea where to go from there. Great resources on YSN, I just need to get the ball rolling! Any advice?

Career in crisis?  Just laid off?  Feeling stuck?  Not sure what to do next or where to turn?   Let YSN come to your rescue.

We’ve helped thousands of people figure out what truly matters to them, discover new possibilities, make difficult decisions, and transition from work they hate to lives they love.  All you have to do is ask and we’ll send you our best life raft.

Leave a comment below or reach out to us on Twitter: @ysn_careerSOS

Hi,

My name is Gregory and I am a print journalism major at Delaware State University. I am approaching my last semester in school and I have not had an internship. My school requires that you do one internship to earn 3 credits.  I have already registered to do the internship this coming fall semester. However, what I most likely have to do is get an internship at a newspaper that is near my school. Many of the editors at the newspaper are friends with the mass communications teachers .  Unfortunately, this is not exactly what I wanted to do. I would much rather have an internship at a magazine, particularly in New York. I have applied to many of them and I never got a response back. I realize that this is my last semester and I need to take any internship I can get so I can be done by the end of the semester. However, during the spring, I would like to try to intern somewhere else until I graduate in the spring. My problem is that most internships require that you receive a credit. If I already had an internship and received a credit, will they still let me intern if a college credit is mandatory? How can a person do multiple  internships if most places require you to receive a college credit?

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS BY LEAVING A COMMENT.

SEND YOUR QUESTIONS TO ask@ysn.com,  AND FIND US ON TWITTER @ysn_careerSOS

Over the past few weeks we’ve talked a lot about finding internships and launching new careers; But some of you reminded us that many of you aren’t just starting out.  You’ve been working for years now.  But maybe you’re looking for something new.  A change perhaps?  So, this week, I wanted to dive into a whole other perspective on career transitions – changing careers, or what is often called “recareering”.  It’s way more common than you might think, and it can actually be exactly what you’re looking for to shake up your own career and start anew.

There are a lot of reasons that people decide to “recareer”— that is, start over with a new career.
Some get tired or fed up with the path they’re on and decide to try something completely different.  When industries or companies start shifting or collapsing, some are forced to look for different kinds of work.  Others leave the workforce to raise a family, pursue higher education or just take time off.  And then there are always those who just like to jump around to keep things interesting…or because they lack direction or a bigger picture career plan.

Regardless of the reason, recareering doesn’t have to feel frightening or dreadful.  It can, after all, be the beginning of a whole new life and adventure.  If you or someone you love is considering, or in the process of making a dramatic career change, here are a few tips to keep it the most positive and productive experience possible:

• Don’t let your past experience limit your options.

• Try to get away from your usual environment for a bit to clear your head and allow yourself to fanaticize about what your future could look like.

• Think about all the things that you’ve dreamed about doing throughout your life, even casually or jokingly.  Allow yourself to go as far back as childhood.  Consider whether there might be any merit to those prospective paths.

• Define what success might look like for you.  Don’t allow others to define it for you.  This is your life.  Not someone else’s you’re planning.

• Build a laundry list of things you could do.  Don’t edit yourself down by what’s practical just yet.  Be sure to include both industries you’re interested in (ie: sports, publishing, international trade) and any functions or roles (ie: sales, accounting, teaching, lab technician).

• Separately, make a list of your biggest goals and priorities (ie: paying off debt, saving for your kids’ education, buying a house, achieving a comfortable life/work balance, etc.) Use this list of your top 5 priorities and goals as a decision making filter.  As you consider different opportunities, work your way down the list to see how many objectives you can achieve with each prospect.  Then start to focus in on the options that will allow you the resources or space to achieve what matters to you most?

• Consider what made you unhappy about your past career.  How can you avoid it or minimize those elements or characteristics?  Also think about what you liked the most or excelled at.  How can you try to incorporate them?

• Once you’ve honed your list down to 3-5 of your best new career opportunities, dive into some heavy duty research.  Research industry blogs, newsletters, books, trade magazines, associations, conferences, and any other great hubs of information you can find to learn more.

• Reach out to your network and find connections to people in those areas of industries who you can talk to and ask for some advice on next steps for you.

• Study you resume and consider all the transferable skills, experiences and relevant expertise you can leverage in these new career paths.

• Work on your verbal and written pitch and start using it to get you the best new opportunity you can find!

• Lastly, be sure to pursue something you really like, or at least find really interesting or challenging.  Find a way to monetize doing what you love if you can. It truly is possible to make money doing just about anything.  You just have to be clever and creative enough to figure out how to package it so others will pay for it.

Think of recareering as a new adventure, an opportunity to start fresh, start over…and the future will suddenly look much brighter…even if the path ahead is still a bit fuzzy.

Jennifer Kushell, Co-Founder & President of YSN.com – Your Success Network.