A mentor of mine recently commented that “coaches keep complaining business is too slow.” In response, I reported that things are the opposite for me, and that I am rarely slow. He asked me to present him with “The Top 10 Reasons Why My Coaching Business is Not Slow,” and here they are: 10. I place great emphasis on business development.

I first became acquainted with teleclasses back in 1997 when I stumbled across the coaching community. At the time, I lived in small town in western Massachusetts, and professional development opportunities were few and far between without a drive to Albany, NY, or to Springfield or Boston, MA. With teleclasses, I thought I'd hit the personal development motherload. I could simply dial a teleconference bridgeline from the comfort of my own home and be connected with 10-150 other people around the globe, who were all gathered on a call to learn more about a particular topic. Moreover, in many cases the class was free or low-cost, and I didn't have to get dressed, drive anywhere, find and pay for parking, nor stay overnight, all of which I would have to do if it were an in-person seminar or conference. What could be simpler?

If you're the typical person who's considering becoming a computer consultant, then you are probably a LAN administrator, doing some kind of PC support job for big enterprise or maybe even working for a smaller integrator. In this article, you'll learn what you need to do first to realize your goal of becoming a computer consultant. From talking to hundreds of people in this situation right now, the number one thing is that you have to decide that you really want to and really need to do it. Don't put tons and tons of time getting all this IT training and business training and spending all this money until you've decided that you really want to do it.

It should come as no surprise that there is a currently a shortage of teachers in the United States. This unfortunate trend has been seen for well over a decade. To compound the issue, recent labor studies have predicted that teaching positions will likely continue to grow faster than the national average for the next several years due to recent government regulations to reduce class size and increase educational accountability. The need for teachers has never been greater. Though this trend is good news for teachers on the job market, it does not diminish the fact that competition will remain tough for the most desirable teaching positions. Competition is especially fierce for English, Social Science, Humanities, and Elementary grade positions. Teacher will need to pay close attention to the presentation of their credentials, as detailed in their resume, in order to ensure that they can compete in the race for prime positions in the educational system.

PREPARING EMPLOYEES FOR THE PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL INTERVIEWS: Remind employees to give some thought to the purpose of performance appraisal: it is a means to learn from the past, plan for the future, and improve effectiveness and work satisfaction. The performance appraisal discussion is an opportunity to motivate, recognize, and reward your employee. It is a time for you and your employee to share perceptions about the employee's accomplishments during the performance period. It is meant to be a culmination of all previous communications made during the performance period. PREPERATORY QUESTIONS FOR EMPLOYEES BEFORE A PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL: 1. What is the overall purpose of your job? Think about what your contributions are to the operation of your work group, department, and the university as a whole. What is the output of your job, not just the specific tasks you perform? Why does your job exist? 2. What are your major areas of responsibility? Which are the most important? Why? 3. What are the performance expectations of your job? What is your understanding of how well each part of the job must be performed? 4. How can your performance be measured? How do you know when you succeed in each critical area? What happens when the job is well done?