What is a business? In the best of all worlds, to be successful…

You own all the talents, abilities, skills, experience, and knowledge you have acquired and developed over your work lifetime. You completed the training and education. You made the effort to increase your value to and your experience with your employers from the first day you went to work.

You are a business....You own your products and services. Your talents, skills, knowledge, abilities, experience, education and training that make you a very valuable employee. You should identify these and interpret their value to the people who could and do employ you.

You know the markets for your business. Identifying and working those markets keeps your business profitable. Knowing what your business is, what it offers, and how valuable it is will help you negotiate a fair price for your services – to keep you profitable.

You have invested in your business.... Your investments include the time and money you spent on schooling, training, apprenticeships, practice, self-improvement, and the products and equipment you own that enable you to work in your chosen field or profession. The time you have invested in your chosen field.....known as experience....is part of your business.

In today's unstable and ever changing world, treating yourself as an independent business owner should motivate you to continuously market yourself and make yourself competitive just as you would any business.

Effective business owners stay in control of their businesses. You don't buy fire insurance after your house burns down. You should not wait to manage your career business when you are desperate because of a layoff, merger, or other change. This should be a continuous project.

Using This Book...

Enacting the steps in this book should enable you to protect yourself from the negative results of the drastic changes that are making today's world of work a jungle for both employee and employer. This book will help anyone.....

• Involved in a job search
• Actively seeking a job change
• Re-entering the paid work world
• Facing a possible lay-off or other company action

By actively participating in and following the suggestions, and doing the careful planning outlined in this book, you will learn to think of yourself as a business. You will be able to interpret your business in terms of the outstanding work, services, and products you provide. You will think of your employment as a "contract for service," not as a lifetime or longtime commitment because no company can make that kind of commitment to you today.

You will think of yourself as a business providing such things as nursing and first aid services, engineering expertise, program management, transportation know-how, clerical and/or administrative support -- not as an "MCB, Inc., employee."

You will also know how much your services are worth and you will expect to be profitable. You will expect the job to last for whatever time is possible and you will be marketing for your next "customer," just as any successful business entrepreneur does -- just as your employers do.

To keep yourself in good health, you try to eat the right foods, exercise, go to the doctor when you need medical help, and you try to keep up with the latest health information. You accept the need to do this because that's the only way to keep functioning. You need to make this commitment to your career as you would to any business.

If you wait until disaster is at the door, you mirror just what you see happening with some businesses. Many unsuccessful entrepreneurs are losing their market shares today or are unable to fight to stay in business because of poor planning. As the Japanese say, "Americans too often plan for the next ten minutes, while we plan for the next ten years."

To protect yourself from the negatives of the radical changes that keep you from functioning full throttle in these dynamic times, you need to plan for the future as well as for now, to keep your plan operational and ready, and to continually market your skills and talents. Change will become an opportunity, not an impediment. These are the good business planning practices this book will help you establish.

Chapter 1: Defining your products and services: the valuable knowledge, skills, talents, experience, that you have gained throughout your career.

Chapter 2: Organize the information into a plan... just as if you were opening any operation and were convincing the bank or venture capitalist to help finance you. Establishing your range of profitability...how much your services are worth on the market.

Chapter 3: Define your markets....start with the companies who have hired you, find those that could hire you now and in the future (both general types and specific companies by name.

Chapter 4: Write your marketing plan...where to locate your "customers"...how to present your services...who can assist you. The major part of this plan involves networking.

Chapter 5: Identify your assets and liabilities...and how they fit into your overall plan...how they will be dealt with to keep your "business" competitive and up to date.

Chapter 6: Establish goals...Make good decisions...Manage your time effectively… ...Keep good records...no business can exist for very long without all of these systems in place.

Chapter 7: How others have done it...Case studies of:

• A couple facing a new career following retirement
• A story of how an army wife kept a career on track in spite of many moves
• A third story of career managers par excellence