CAREER PLANNING
Career Planning for Creatives and other Professionals
GOAL ASSESSMENT AND GOAL SETTING
I have worked to assist individuals and organizations shape their businesses for many decades. What I have recently realized is something that would have amazed me when I began. I now see that the foundational elements for successful careers for creative entrepreneurial professionals and organizational executives are essentially the same: There must be a target market for their services and/or products that can be attracted, retained, and expanded. But in order for anyone to reach the point of success, it means utilizing appropriate strategies for job success. That begins with Goal Assessment…evaluating one’s vision, as well as one’s training and skills…and, one’s limitations…to determine one’s career qualifications and the appropriate path to self-marketing. In short, accurate goal assessment and goal setting are keys to one’s strategic planning.
STRATEGIC CAREER PLANNING
For those of us schooled in arts and letters, achieving success means that even the early phases of our careers must rest on more than indulging in a satisfying hobby. One’s family members and educators may point toward a precise methodology for launching our work. That often means turning to a financial adviser for a concise plan. Unfortunately, for those of us developing careers in art and literature, there are few marketing specialists addressing our fields of endeavor...who are not paid inordinately high fees for services that may have little to do with our expected trajectory. Unlike the past, there is one other likelihood…we will pursue several careers in our mortal lifetimes. For me, the movement from writing commercial and historic nonfiction to fiction did not happen until I was well past age fifty.
Regardless of when such a change occurs, there is a strategy that anyone at any point in their life can take: Shaping a Career Plan based on one’s formal education, supplemental training, and unique talents and skills. For example, in expanding my authorship into fiction with the Natalie Seachrist Visionary Hawaiian Cozy Mysteries, my qualifications for such a career as an author were in place. I was able to cite performing arts training and professional experience, a Bachelor of Arts Degree in history with distinction from the University of Hawaiʻi, and years of working as a free-lance writer in my career plan, Biographies and Résumés which were strong enough to obtain a publisher.
PACKAGING MY AUTHORSHIP
As my writing continued, I sought total packaging of the mysterious tales I was creating: Casts of characters (even a family tree in one book); aphorisms at the start of each prologue, chapter, and epilogue; folio art surrounding each page’s number; a section of notes and acknowledgements to discuss aspects of each book, as well as snippets from my own experiences in more than two decades in Hawaiʻi; and annotated glossaries of Hawaiian and other non-English terminology. As I sought an artist, I focused on offering readers a recognizable element...and settled on a single frame that would surround the featured picture on each book cover. One of the first artists with whom I visited, offered a picture of an English garden...hardly a representation of the Hawaiian Islands. This experience spurred me to examine aspects of life in Hawaiʻi during the last century. That brought me to consideration of symbolic representation and images of Hawaiian heirloom jewelry that feature elegant carving of floral patterns in gold or silver, often with a rubbing of blackening (niello treatment). When I found the beautiful and gifted Art Director Yasamine June, I provided her with a few pictures, and she presented me with the following frame I now utilize in many ways...
ASSESSING PROGRESS
As the books within the mystery series have emerged, I have seen patterns in their readership. My books are especially appealing to well educated women and men who are interested in alluring settings, Island multiculturalism, and pan-Pacific history. They also appreciate books featuring visions and other aspects of the supernatural. Beyond that, there are several elements that draw positive response: The romantic relationship between journalist Natalie Seachrist and life partner private detective Keʻoni Hewitt; local products and businesses; Hawaiian and other ethnic foods; and for many, Miss Una, Natalie’s adventuresome feline companion!
Have I accomplished all that I desire as an author? No. Am I making progress? Yes. At this point, I suggest everyone consider the words that business philosopher Stephen R. Covey used to encourage his audiences, “Begin with the end in mind." Considering this, you might write out a series of questions that begin with the word “What.,,”
~ What should my work look and sound like?
~ What can I offer my clientele (in my case, readers and listeners) that is unique and will encourage their loyalty?
~ What qualities should I seek in the individuals and organizations that can help me achieve success?
As one of Covey’s classic books on the principles of successful organization suggests, it is optimal to base choices in both our personal and professional living on doing what is truly important, but not urgent. Although he has passed, his advice in general, and charts regarding time management, are as relevant as when his voice reached out to millions of followers.
By so doing, we can gradually work our way through the quagmire of incomplete projects to reach a point where we can stay ahead of the crises that often materialized and enjoy greater fulfillment in both our professional and personal living!
What are you doing to encourage the next generation
of progressive professionals in your field of endeavor?
Aloha, Jeanne
