Lower Rates on Resonare Consulting Services ending June 30, 2011

Been thinking about hiring a career consultant (namely me!) but been putting it off? You might not want to wait any longer!

I have not gone up on the prices for my services in eight years, and I’m as affected by the whims of the economy as much as anyone else, so I’m finally adjusting my rates as of July 1, 2011.

• Single One Hour Session $130
• Bronze Package: 2 Hours $240
• Silver Package: 5 Hours plus assessments $575
• Gold Package: 10 Hours plus Assessments $1100
• MBTI Assessment $140

The good news is that my old rates will be in effect until then. If you’re ready to work with me and make a proactive change in your life, purchase a package before the rates go up!

So, what changes do you want to make in your life, and what are you waiting for?

The Importance of the Correct Title

This past weekend, I attended the Art of Powerful Living workshop held at Easton Mountain, where a number of strong and spirited gay men gathered to look at their lives and learn some things about themselves and how coaching can help them move forward in their lives. As you can image, I do similar things in my work with people and their careers. While coaching techniques can certainly be used in the career development process, it’s not the entire process and there are more tools that I use. I got a few more tools for my toolbox and some more clarity about some of the goals t I want to work on.

Note: one strategy is to speak them out loud, so here we go: My goal is to have a syndicated career advice column for the GLBT media by the end of 2011. More on that later! (Let me know if you’ve got any leads/suggestions on this.)

This has brought more into focus a distinction that I’ve seen in my work. As you have probably seen, the title that I give to my work is a Career & Professional Development Consultant. Some shorthand terms for that would be career counselor or career coach. For me those don’t completely fit.

Someone who is a counselor specializes in the investigative process. What’s going in? What’s behind these feelings?  It seems to me that it’s about a lot of unearthing of the past to get to desires. Once found, it’s left up to the individual to manage that. While I really appreciate the work done here (I think that everyone can benefit from therapy), my work is a bit more action focused than that.

The more recent term that has come up is Coach. Coaches say that they aren’t interested in the past as much as the future. What do you want to accomplish? What’s the next step you can do to make things move forward? While I definitely work with people on action steps and moving forward, a big part of my work is making sure that people are moving forward in the right direction. Making progress in the wrong direction is the equivalent of wasting time!

I don’t have a degree in counseling or a coaching certification. My approach comes out of the field of adult professional development. I feel that the best term for what I do is Educator. I make sure that we can identify the proper goals and then take the action steps towards them. I do some aspects of counseling in that I dig up stuff in people’s background and some aspects of coaching where I help people plan for success.

So, can you identify the role you play? What do you call what you do?

The Olympic Inspiration & The Coaches That Get Them There

Every two years, I get sucked into the Olympics. It doesn’t matter whether it’s speed skating, curling or crew, I’m fascinated by it all and will spend hours watching the events (which unfortunately also means I have to endure hours of commentary also).

Now, I was formally a decently competitive race walker and coach, so I know first hand about the amount of training that it takes to perform at the highest level (which is to say a lot more than I ever did). What really pulls me in is the hours of practice, focus, dedication and sacrifice to get to the proficiency that you need to compete at that level. The intensity in their eyes, the planfulness of each action; each action speaks to the focus of the goals they’ve set and the determination to achieve.

Too often, we all set goals, but don’t put in the plan the actions that we need in order to achieve them.  We see on the TV screens at the Olympics the coaches that support these athletes and motivate and train them. They are usually the difference between a talented athlete, and a talented athlete that excels.

I’ve recently hired a coach to help with my own goals, and I have to say it’s been incredibly helpful for me. (Thank you Richard!  Check out his website.) What I do with people is also coaching, but I don’t tend to call it that. I don’t get people jobs, but I help them clarify, plan, focus, and execute.  I do many of the same things as now as I have done as a track & field coach.

So, what are your goals, and what are you doing to move towards them?  If you don’t have a plan, you probably won’t get there. Let me know your thoughts below.
Ken

PS – There are still open spots for my career exploration workshop for gay men at Easton Mountain entitled Finding Your Calling: Making Connections Between Spirit and Vocation on February 26-28, 2010.  Call up soon and get the homework and plan for setting the plans for your life!