So You Want to Be a Garden Designer: How to Get Started, Grow, and Thrive in the Landscape Design Business Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy So You Want to Be a Garden Designer: How to Get Started, Grow, and Thrive in the Landscape Design Business? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on So You Want to Be a Garden Designer: How to Get Started, Grow, and Thrive in the Landscape Design Business. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

So You Want to Be a Garden Designer: How to Get Started, Grow, and Thrive in the Landscape Design Business ReviewAs a landscape designer, I hear it all the time from new acquaintances... "I'd LOVE to do what you do... think about plants all day, design gorgeous gardens, get my hands in the earth."
But almost as quickly as their tone turns dreamy, they snap back to reality. There are just too many buts. "But I have a well-paying job!" "I don't know enough about plants." Or most daunting of all, "I wouldn't even know where to start".
Love Albrecht Howard has crafted a thorough and detailed guide to getting past all those "buts" and getting into a career you'll love. She's got suggestions for how to start out slowly if you can't afford to leave your day job, how to build your knowledge and professionalism, and suggests ways of handling common situations as a designer.
Of course, along the way you'll learn the unvarnished truth about what it's like being a landscape designer. We all have horror stories of clients who think designing with plants is like designing with objects - that we should be able to specify no-maintenance plants that will do well without water, in poor soil, with deer and dark shade - yet flower all year long!
Albrecht Howard shares her professional tricks on designing for tough conditions, as well as for communicating the possibilities to clients. And she shares the pitfalls she's found as a designer and advises you on how to work professionally through the expected and not-so-expected adventures you'll have as a designer.
If you know what knowledge gaps you're missing, it's not too hard to figure out how to gain skill at specific aspects. But so much of the value in this book is in teaching fledgling designers what they don't yet know they need to learn. These are the tricks most of us learn after years of mistakes, and Albrecht Howard shares her experiences honestly so that new designers won't have to learn from the school of hard knocks the way the rest of us did.
Now - two things you should know about this book. One is that it's full of text. Not a lot of pictures. This is great if you're really motivated to read her stories and learn from her experience; it's not fluff. But if you're expecting photos of gardens or illustrations of different materials, how-to photos, or just want to skim through casually reading bits here and there - this probably isn't your book. Invest the time to read it properly and you'll find your time well-spent.
Thing number two: While it has a lot of value to established designers (I've been designing for seven years and I adored the camaraderie of finding out how similar her experiences have been to my own!), this book is much more about how to begin the process of becoming a designer than about the specifics of building and growing your business. It's not a marketing or business book, it's a how-to-approach-this-thoughtfully-as-a-career book. You'll still need coaching from your local small business administration on how to do all the nuts and bolts involved in starting and running any business.
My take? This is an awesome book that will help you figure out whether this is really a business you want to be in, and if you do, she'll hold your hand and help you feel confident and professional tackling your first jobs and getting started as a designer. And if you're already a designer, like me? Read it just for the client stories! I laughed, hard, and felt so much better knowing I'm not alone...
(EDIT September 1, 2010: It's occurred to me that while the business practices Howard espouses are perfectly legal in her state, it might not be obvious to people new to this field that laws vary wildly from state to state.
The business practices Howard advises, such as overseeing a landscape installation as a general contractor without holding a contractor's license yourself, and taking 50% of the bid price for installation prior to the start of the job are both very illegal in CA, where I live. Here, designers cannot subcontract out the installation of the design unless you hold a general contractor's license. Just wanted to urge people new to the business to call their own state contractor's board to find out the laws in their own state and not take it for granted that all of the business practices Howard advises will be applicable to you.
This is a small part of the book, though, so shouldn't detract from your enjoyment or the usefulness of the book.)So You Want to Be a Garden Designer: How to Get Started, Grow, and Thrive in the Landscape Design Business Overview

Want to learn more information about So You Want to Be a Garden Designer: How to Get Started, Grow, and Thrive in the Landscape Design Business?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Make the Right Career Move: 28 Critical Insights and Strategies to Land Your Dream Job Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Make the Right Career Move: 28 Critical Insights and Strategies to Land Your Dream Job? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Make the Right Career Move: 28 Critical Insights and Strategies to Land Your Dream Job. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Make the Right Career Move: 28 Critical Insights and Strategies to Land Your Dream Job ReviewAfter reading Rachelle Canter's concise and insightful chapters on preparing a winning résumé, I spent a couple of hours revising mine. Now, for the first time in my life, I feel totally confident presenting it to prospective clients. My new résumé articulates who I am and what I am capable of doing, as well as what I've accomplished--in only two pages. Knowing that my clients have this information in hand, and armed with other useful tips from the book, I suddenly find myself more optimistic and assertive during interviews. Dr. Canter advises us that "the major obstacle to your dream job is in your head," and she delineates an easy-to-follow path to overcoming our doubts and anxieties. Make the Right Career Move is a confidence builder throughout.Make the Right Career Move: 28 Critical Insights and Strategies to Land Your Dream Job Overview

Want to learn more information about Make the Right Career Move: 28 Critical Insights and Strategies to Land Your Dream Job?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

48 Days To The Work You Love Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy 48 Days To The Work You Love? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on 48 Days To The Work You Love. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

48 Days To The Work You Love ReviewDid you know heart attacks increase by 33% on Monday mornings, more people die at 9am Monday than any other time of the week, and male suicides are highest on Sunday nights, just before the weekly grind? Dan Miller does, and impending death is just one of the reasons he wants you to find better work.
Dan Miller's 48 Days to the Work You Love provides a combination of the things you already know but need to hear again, and need to know but don't. This book will do more than help you strengthen old resolutions; it will teach you how to make meaningful changes in your career--and in the way you view work altogether.
First, Quit your Job
48 Days persuades the reader to leave the job that isn't working (no pun intended), and find something better. "Job Security" is no longer an excuse to stay where you are over-worked and underpaid. While in the early 80s the employment philosophy was work for a good company and they'll take care of you for life, today loyal workers are often (not fired but) "laid off", "downsized", "right-sized", "reorganized", reengineered", "put into the mobility pool", freed up to "pursue other opportunities", "uninstalled", and are often on the receiving end of "a cost containment exercise" (email other creative terms to Miller at work@48days.com). Why the change? Fifty years ago it took a lifetime for technology to make your job obsolete. Today it takes 4 or 5 years. Therefore, as Miller explains, "everyone lives on the edge of job obsolescence and the threshold of career opportunity"
Miller is so for you quitting your job that he writes, "You must develop a sense of what you can contribute that goes beyond 1 company or organization. A career path today will likely involve moving from organization to organization, creating a picture of rising circles, rather than a vertical ladder. In fact, a vertical rise within one organization will very likely move you away from your strongest areas of competence." And it will limit your earning potential, as Miller suggests "in changing companies you may be able to increase your income by 40 to 50 percent though that is unlikely to happen while moving up in one company."
48?
I have to address this, as you surely are wondering, why does finding the work you love take exactly "48 Days"? Miller explains that 40 days is a sacred time-span, and to this he adds eight "free days in the process to create your own plan". I can't decide whether this is blasphemous or just really hokey--to Christianize your book with an overused `sacred' numeric, and then casually change it. Still, it's certainly better than other possible titles: Every Worker's Battle, The Work Factor, Loving your Work too Much, and Work is Not that into You Either.
Despite the title, the book reads and flows well. It takes the lecture, vignette, lecture, vignette, lecture, vignette approach--which works--and most of the stories are really quite good. A few are perfectly cliché, of course. For those who haven't heard, if you help a struggling butterfly out of its cocoon, it will die. It needs to do that on its own. The same applies to hatching birds.
There are 4 Things you Need to Know
Often books are published that would make a good book chapter--the 4 points the author drones on about can be summarized in a couple hundred words. One of the best things about 48 Days is as soon as you think you know everything Miller is going to write, he introduces something else. For example, all this came from the second-half of the book:
*Fewer than 1% of job seekers find work by responding to an internet ad
*During an interview, your answer to any question should be no longer than 60 seconds
*The best times to have an interview are Tues-Thurs between 8-10am
*2,322 of 2,756 managers rank enthusiasm as #1 in what they want in applicants
*Today people are paid for their productivity, not their time, not their seniority
*IQ contributes only about 20% to the factors that predict success
*69% of businesses today cost less than $10,000 to start; and 24% cost $0
*The most successful people got there not by being in the most lucrative industry, but by doing work they loved
A Brick in the Wall
Finally, Miller reminds the reader that work is a part of life, it's not life itself. Don't sacrifice your family, community, church, recreation, or personal development for a job. He writes good advice I should take myself: "if you are working more than 45 to 50 hours a week in your job, you are limiting success in some other areas of your life. Don't expect all your fulfillment, value, and meaning to com from the work you do."
He also writes we should work out 4-5 times a week. This being said, I'm late for the gym...
48 Days To The Work You Love Overview

Want to learn more information about 48 Days To The Work You Love?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

The Unwritten Rules of the Highly Effective Job Search: The Proven Program Used by the World's Leading Career Services Company Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy The Unwritten Rules of the Highly Effective Job Search: The Proven Program Used by the World's Leading Career Services Company? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on The Unwritten Rules of the Highly Effective Job Search: The Proven Program Used by the World's Leading Career Services Company. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

The Unwritten Rules of the Highly Effective Job Search: The Proven Program Used by the World's Leading Career Services Company ReviewYou may be lucky enough, if you have the bad luck to be a downsized executive, that your last employer will see fit to plunk down $10,000 so that the author of this book will coach you to get a new job. If not, your best bet is to plunk down $21.95 and buy this book. You won't get the hand-holding or on-call career consulting, but you'll get just about everything else an insider with the world's biggest executive outplacement firm has learned about the brutal facts of landing the next job. Orville Pierson tells it like it is. He treats the reader like he would a member of his family who comes to him for advice. It's a guide that covers all the basics, sure, but what really sets the book apart is the no-nonsense advice required to score a new job. The Pierson Method, as he terms the collection of his dos and donts, is a proven roadmap for unemployed people. Yes, it can be a lonely and scary journey. What I like the most is that Pierson acknowledges that the biggest obstacles aren't out there in the woods. They are inside us. In our minds. The important thing is not to act like a victim. The case histories he provides give us the confidence to move forward in trying times, and that's all anyone of us can aim for.
The Unwritten Rules of the Highly Effective Job Search: The Proven Program Used by the World's Leading Career Services Company Overview

Want to learn more information about The Unwritten Rules of the Highly Effective Job Search: The Proven Program Used by the World's Leading Career Services Company?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Rites of Passage at $100,000 to $1 Million+: Your Insider's Lifetime Guide to Executive Job-Changing and Faster Career Progress in the 21st Century Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Rites of Passage at $100,000 to $1 Million+: Your Insider's Lifetime Guide to Executive Job-Changing and Faster Career Progress in the 21st Century? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Rites of Passage at $100,000 to $1 Million+: Your Insider's Lifetime Guide to Executive Job-Changing and Faster Career Progress in the 21st Century. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Rites of Passage at $100,000 to $1 Million+: Your Insider's Lifetime Guide to Executive Job-Changing and Faster Career Progress in the 21st Century ReviewFirst published in 1988 and then continuously updated since (for obvious reasons), this book really does provide what its subtitle promises: "The insider's lifetime guide to executive job-changing and faster career progress." Lucht organizes his material within 20 chapters which are sequenced in logical order, from "The Person in Charge" which explains how to manage one's career from college to retirement to "Expand Your Career by Expanding Yourself" in which Lucht provides excellent advice on how to establish and then nourish a wide and deep network of contacts. The reader is also provided with three appendices: "Behind the Scenes with the retainer Executive Recruiter", "Outstanding Retainer Executive Recruiters", and . "Sources of Information for a Job Search." The greatest value of the book is derived from Lucht"s advice, not from any sources to which he refers his reader, valuable though they certainly are. The key is to know which information is needed, why, and how to use it most effectively. I wish this book were available after I completed my formal education. I also regret that I was unaware of Lucht's insights and suggestions when making several major career decisions of my own. For those who are contacted by a recruiter or for others who fear that their career is lacking focus and direction, Lucht can be an invaluable advisor.
Many of us play golf, a game which has quite specific rules as well as generally accepted etiquette. Managing a career is really no different but many people do not know -- or least understand -- the rules and etiquette. Most professional golfers have a "swing doctor." I view Lucht as serving essentially the same purpose for business executives. Professional golfers vary in terms of their size, strength, "tournament tested" competition, athleticism, judgment, self-control, and commitment. The same is true of business executives. Therefore, it remains for each reader to complete a rigorous self-audit. Identify strengths and weaknesses. Set bold but realistic career objectives. Then select an appropriate combination of ideas, strategies, and tactics from among the abundance of material which Lucht so generously shares. This is not a "job-hunting manual." Rather, a comprehensive and cohesive guide to nourishing one's career by nourishing, in the process, one's self.Rites of Passage at $100,000 to $1 Million+: Your Insider's Lifetime Guide to Executive Job-Changing and Faster Career Progress in the 21st Century Overview

Want to learn more information about Rites of Passage at $100,000 to $1 Million+: Your Insider's Lifetime Guide to Executive Job-Changing and Faster Career Progress in the 21st Century?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...