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Discover How to Choose a Career

There comes a time when all young people must decide what career to study. It is at this moment that doubts arise, and future students are not clear how to define their future, as they are debating between the vocation, skills they possess for individual careers and the salary to receive.

"You have to consider multiple factors in different areas. First, the individual, that is, 'what do I want for myself?' It is necessary to take into account the emotional aspect, the vocational aspect, that is, the development that the person has had up to that moment about their strengths and weaknesses, in which areas they could perform better, their interests, tastes, etc. " Notes the academic coordinator of the University of the Pacific School of Psychology, Felipe Vergara.

According to the academic, each student should reflect on what is seen in the future, what kind of places he feels comfortable and would like to be. Whether or not he is interested in different areas of the career, in addition to taking into account the market That profession, whether in the economic as in the work.

"Studying a career is quite demanding, especially a daytime that involves 45 hours a week. In that sense, it is important to consider what the family support is the student, if the family situation is unstable or if some conflicts prevent 100% study. Maybe there are other decisions to take, such as considering the length of the race, etc., "says Vergara.

Many young people are among several different options, and it 's hard to choose one of them. In that case, the psychologist explains that the first step is to know yourself and evaluate the alternatives well. For example, if a student is between studying music and business engineering, it is best to understand that it is not a life-or-death decision.

"Dreams are realized in an integral way, that is to say, maybe it is this and also the other. The options are not necessarily exclusive. If the person wants to study, for example, Music, he has to evaluate his abilities, the possibilities of labor field, etc. It is necessary to make a critical look at the strengths of each one in front of what society gives me. Clearly, if the person is willing to earn less at the beginning, which is going to cost, but for accomplishing what he really wants to be, it is a very valid option, "says the U. of the Pacific expert.

On the other hand, Vergara emphasizes that it is necessary to focus on the vocation, since indicators such as profitability, employability, and others, can vary and also the chances of success change depending on personal characteristics.

"Employability and income will depend on the person's contact networks, the ability to manage their career, their level of proactivity, etc. The great offer of educational programs makes us have the distorted image that the race does everything, and no, it is the personal effort. It is one thing to have the inputs of a professional career and another what is what the person does with that, "says the specialist.

Vergara also says that the vocation can not be chosen or known overnight to a performance that had the person in a test. "Vocation is determined in the course of life, in the project of life that sets a teenager forward," he says.

5 Golden Rules For Choosing Career

If you are about to embark on the road to higher education studies, it is important to choose an academic program or a career as it is popularly known, to have sufficient arguments to make decisions that allow you to meet expectations and achieve Goals laid out in your project of life.

The primary factor that leads students to defect or withdraw from his studies is related to the low academic level. And the deficiencies in the prior preparation that are brought from the school, followed by the economic conditions of the student or his family and the vocational guidance that he receives during the stage previous to his studies higher. If you want to start your higher studies and "do not try to die," keep in mind the following 5 golden rules for choosing a career:

1. Know your strengths and weaknesses.

You can get an idea taking into account the subjects you like most in school and with which you get the best grades. Also, the result of the ICFES exam becomes an excellent thermometer to know your weaknesses and academic strengths according to the areas evaluated.
Regarding academic shortcomings, In some countries, higher education institutions have since been implementing the leveling courses in the first semesters with emphasis on mathematics and literacy, teacher tutorials and directed monitoring. By advanced semester students.

2. Choose Higher Education Institutions and careers approved by the Ministry of National Education.

When finishing your studies, when you go to apply for a job it is critical that the degree obtained is valid. To answer this golden rule, there is the query module 'Looking for Carrera?', A virtual space where you can be sure that the programs and institutions that appear there are approved by the Ministry of National Education.

3. Review the 'academic work,' that is the curriculum of the career of your choice.

If it is time to choose the academic program that suits you, it is necessary to know what is the curriculum that it has, in other words, The subjects that you will see throughout the development of the semesters. This will allow you to make a connection between your academic strengths and the topics of the educational program. You will also be able to identify in which competencies and abilities you will leave with greater force to the labor market.

4. Find out what the situation in the labor market of your 'possible colleagues' is.

Through the Labor Observatory for Education you can know how much professionals are gaining; How many of them have a formal job, how many have graduated since 2001, among other information. All this you can see through search criteria such as career, the level of education, department, gender, etc.

5. If necessary, ask about funding plans or financial support to fund your higher education.

There are different sources of financing or economic support that can be offered by public or private entities; The Institute of Credit and Technical Studies Abroad (ICETEX) is an entity of the State that grants educational credits to the population with lower economic possibilities and good academic performance.

Also, there are other ways to find financing for your career, do not forget to ask at the higher education institution of your choice if the campus offers students some type of financial credit, scholarships or incentives. A statistics reveal that students drop out or withdraw less when they receive funding from the institution or are beneficiaries of credit with sources, hence the importance of ensuring enough time in advance how you will finance your studies.

If you still do not know what you want to study, we recommend that you talk to a professional counselor, he or she can help you find the ideal profession for you.
Evaluate all the alternatives and choose the one that suits you best. Most importantly, do not let other people choose your future.

What Online Accounting Software for My Business?

Business-Strategies Management Tools

Which accounting software to adopt for your business? How to do your accounting and prepare your invoices? Is there any online software without download?

Any entrepreneur who begins his activity must ask himself the practical question of how to keep his accounts and how to prepare accounting and business documents. This goes for all types of events, from the micro-enterprise (ex-self-employed) to the company, even in cases where a public accountant is used.

It should be noted, however, that accounting is not compulsory in self-employment / micro-enterprises.

The contractor must have a tool that can take charge of:

Commercial management: customer registration, quotation, invoices and purchase orders,
Financial management: follow-up of cash, management of payments and reminders,
Accounting follow-up: recording of accounting transactions (expenses, expense reports, turnover ...). Note that this last point can be entirely outsourced to an accounting firm, but this will incur additional costs.

Online accounting software.

Many accounting software programs exist on the market, which is suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises.

The most powerful software is of the "SaaS" type (Software as a Service), that is to say, that they are available through a simple application, accessible remotely using an Internet browser. This is the case of the itool software that we will discuss below.

The SaaS model has many advantages:

No download,
Software accessible by an identifier and a password from any machine provided with an Internet connection,
Automatic Updates,
Backing up data to a remote server.

Saas software is, therefore, simple, accessible and requires no user-side maintenance. A real improvement over conventional solutions and a worry are less for the entrepreneur!

An example of online accounting software.

Keep your online bookkeeping with Itool

A subsidiary of the famous EBP, Itool is a SaaS software dedicated to the accounting and commercial management of companies, whatever their type (micro-enterprise, individual company, EURL, SARL, SASU, SAS.) activity.

Itool allows you to manage your business in an easy way:

Accounting: entry of entries, account management, balance, logs, general ledger, indicators,
Sales management: customer file, product file, quotes, invoices, holdings, purchase orders, sales history, payment management and reminders, signs, article and stock management,
Establishment of tax forms.

Itool is a simple, complete and accessible software.

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How to Start a Business?

Business-Plan Entrepreneur

Creating a business is a stressful and exciting adventure, often the adventure of a lifetime. The decision to embark on a business start-up can change everything: the professional life of the entrepreneur, of course, but also his personal and family life.

This article summarizes everything you need to know about how to create your business, to read carefully to avoid the rush and irreparable mistakes!

How to build your business: understand the steps.

Starting a business is not just about starting a business, This is a long process, which can last 6 months to 2 years, and that requires going through necessary steps.

Here are the 7 basic steps to start your business:

Find an idea of activity. The idea is the basis of business creation, but sometimes also the pretext. Attention, the best ideas can kill!
Validate the concept through market research. It is a stage that carries within it the germs of success or failure. If the market research is well conducted, then the business project is on track. A botched market study could lead to disappointment and disappointment. (Read the best ways to market research)
Encrypt the project. Putting realistic figures on the idea and assumptions of activity is a difficult exercise. Yet this is what will make it possible to judge the viability of the project: the funders will pay attention.
Find financing. In business creation, money is the nerve of war. Finding funding is always tricky, fortunately, new emerging investment solutions, which allow bypassing the traditional solutions.
Make right choices. What is legal status? What are tax and social system? What type of lease sign? How to write a contract to protect yourself? What insurance to subscribe? These are all questions that the entrepreneur will have to answer.
Create the legal structure. As we said above, it is a formality. This still requires some preparation.
Launch activity and sales. Once the legal structure is created, the hardest remains to be done: it is worth starting to make itself known and to sell.

So these are the main steps in starting a business. These measures are likely to vary from project to project. They sometimes intermingle. Blocking may occur if an action depends on the completion of another step. It's all the complexity of starting a business!

How to start a business: first to train.

Creating and running a business is a business in itself. Few entrepreneurs approach entrepreneurship with the necessary skills and knowledge but do not seem to care. Grave error! Business creation is all too often an amateur climbing route, without the right equipment, without the technique and the knowledge of risks. Under these conditions, how not to fail?

Creating a business, even small, requires training on several aspects:

Marketing and trade,
Communication,
management,
Assembly and project financing,
Risk management,
The legal issues (contracts),
And many other aspects, more or less important depending on the activity chosen.

The experience of professionals and former business leaders will be beneficial. They will be able to explain to you how to create your business by avoiding the traditional pitfalls.

Good news, there are free solutions for training to start a business, for example, the one proposed by WikiCréa: click here to find out more.

Training for business start-ups helps reassure, reassure others, reduce their area of uncertainty, and thus increase self-confidence.

How to set up your business: well to surround yourself.

The ideal for successful business creation is to surround yourself with real professionals, namely:

Of the generalist practitioners of the creation of company: leaders, ex-entrepreneurs, advisers in creation of company,
Financial professionals: accountants, financial advisors,
Legal professionals: notaries, lawyers, legal advisors,
Risk professionals: insurers, mutuals.

Professionals in their profession: technicians, suppliers, partners ...
The success of the business creation project will, therefore, depend on the entrepreneur's ability to surround himself with confidence and cost. It is necessary to share ideas and access information by any means possible, for example by activating its personal network.

If you do not have a private network, consider hiring experts.

A real entrepreneur is also the one who knows how to surround himself by "selecting" his associates.

How to create your business: know how to adapt to the situation.

How to build your company in an environment that evolves continually? Most business development projects change very quickly. The entrepreneur adapts to his situation and his environment in real time. It updates its strategy, its business model, and its numbers according to the elements that surround it.

A real entrepreneur is one who knows how to adapt but without overreacting to the appearance of a new feature. Changing too often or too suddenly of strategy could have adverse consequences.

How to start your business: where to start?

Start by taking stock of yourself. Where are you? What do you do? What is your personality and what are your strengths?

The goal is to take advantage of your strengths to advance the idea of your project. Do not put pressure on yourself, give yourself time for your project. Do not rush, accept that your idea may ripen. This approach is fundamental, it is the object of the first module of the training to the creation of OLB.

How to create your business: what conditions of activity?

How to build your business efficiently if you do not know the terms of activity? Depending on the project, the activity can be commercial, artisanal, liberal, agricultural or artistic. This will have an impact on the conditions of installation and exercise, as well as the standards to be respected and the social status of the leader.

Some professions are regulated, which can be translated into mandatory training courses, necessary diplomas, official checks, specific insurance obligations, or financial obligations.

How to start a business: Financing.

Funding is the bottleneck of many business creation projects. The lack of personal contribution, the difficulty of obtaining external funding or sufficient bank loans is the cause of many failures or abandonments.

Indeed, how to create your business without money or contribution? That seems difficult. However, some activities require much less input than others, read our blogs recommendation to make your path easier.

But by the way, is it so difficult to get financing to start a business? Not necessarily. It is enough to understand what can lead a financier (banker, the public body.) to grant or to refuse a financing. The criteria to be taken into account are the following:

The profile of the creator and his knowledge of the market or trade (experience),
The behavior of the author (character, banking behavior),
The sector of activity envisaged: there are areas that are more promising than others,
The quality of market research,
The steps already were taken,
The fact of having already customers,
The fact of having already partners, suppliers, subcontractors, or prescribers,
The contribution of the creator, other than financial: the input of a network of knowledge, the contribution of material for example.

How to create your business: the way to success.

In business creation, it is easy to fail. But, contrary to popular belief, it is not difficult to succeed, if the creator shows prudence, modesty, perseverance, rigor, listening, and gives himself the means to access information.

The Best Methods of Market Research

Business-Plan Marketing

What is the use of studying its market? How to do a market research? What are the best methods of study?

Market research is one of the key steps in building a project. Yet it is often seen as a constraint, a waste of time or even a forced passage to obtain financing.

Few future entrepreneurs understand the value of a real market study, probably because they have difficulty detaching themselves from their ideal image of their activity. Why try to find out more about the market when everything is already decided?

Yet the project leader must seek to detach himself from his "dream" and begin to take an interest in the client's goal:

Far from being wasted time, market research must win, identifying as soon as possible the potential of the market, the most buoyant customer segments and the central expectations of customers. Market research helps to reduce risk and to mark the construction of a relevant offer.

Definition: Market research involves gathering and analyzing information to better understand a market and its stakeholders. In the end, the results of the market research must make it possible to define a strategic positioning adapted to the expectations of the target clientele. The market research can be summarized in the business plan.

The objective is, therefore, to know the needs of clients, directly (by asking them questions or by inquiring about them) or indirectly (by asking questions or by inquiring with actors in contact with them).

Finally, market research is not solely conducted to validate or invalidate an idea; It is especially an excellent way to get in touch with future customers and partners to start a sustainable business relationship.

Here are the best methods of market research, by decreasing interest.

METHOD 1: The business study.

The market research involves questioning professionals who work on the same type of activity. It is not a matter of interviewing competitors but professionals working in a comparable market but in a different geographical area.

Method: Interview by telephone or if possible face-to-face. It is a question of asking a maximum number of issues open to the professional: type of clientele, characteristics, behavior, competition, the effectiveness of the means of communication used, obstacles encountered, tricks and good practices, etc.

Advantages: The business study often delivers accurate and relevant information. Interviewer 2 or 3 professionals can cross-check information and compare practices.

METHOD 2: The study of competition.

Tell me the state of the game and I will say the condition of the market! Analyzing the competition consists of listing the professionals already established in the target market and studying precisely their location, their area of intervention, their offer, their positioning, their price, their distribution method and their communication policy. The study of competitors is often very wealthy in lessons.

Note: Contrary to popular belief, the presence of a vast number of competitors in the market can be seen as a sign of market dynamism. On the other hand, the absence of competition can reveal a risky, non-existent or not the very lucrative market.

Method: Mystery shopper analysis, on-site or by telephone. Field observation report. Analysis of the reputation. Study of commercial discourse.
Advantages: The study of the competition makes it possible to calibrate its offer, and assume a clear positioning.

METHOD 3: The study of suppliers.

How to do a market research, continued with the study of vendors. The study of providers is a good way to access the main characteristics of the market. Suppliers, by their number, location, offer communication and prices, provide valuable information on the state and dynamism of the market.

Method: Listing and supplier listings, direct approach, analysis of the offer and the commercial speech, direct questioning on the best sales, the best customers, the trends of the market.

METHOD 4: The study of prescribers.

A prescriber is an individual, professional or institution that is likely to recommend the purchase of a product or service. For example, a TV vendor can redirect its customers to an antenna installation company. Prescribers are often an excellent potential source of revenue. This involves identifying the first prescribers and seeing the extent to which a partnership could be established.

Method: Identification of prescribers (who would benefit from prescribing my product?). Meet by phone or face-to-face.

METHOD 5: The study of potential clients by questionnaire.

The poll ("survey" or "survey") is the best-known market research process, but it is not necessarily the most effective. Indeed, it is often difficult to identify or interview a representative sample of potential clients and to obtain relevant answers.

METHOD 6: The study of potential clients by observation.

The observation method consists in studying the behavior of potential customers in their environment, in the manner of a sociologist. The study must be done invisibly: the subject of the investigation does not know that it is observed. This involves, for example, studying the use of a street by passers-by or vehicles, studying the journey of customers in a shop, and noting any particular, recurring or remarkable behavior.

METHOD 7: The study of keywords and trends.

Here the new information and communication technologies must be used to identify particular trends in the market, for example:

Google Trends: a free tool that allows you to view keyword search trends over a period of time, and compare several keywords together. The tool also provides close-in keyword ideas and provides trends by country or region.
Google Alerts: a free tool that allows you to subscribe to keywords and receive by e-mail the latest content related to these keywords (articles, publications, news, sites, blogs ...). This ensures automatic access to source information on a given theme.

The advice of the Business Triumphs expert: Prefer the quality of the data to the quantity. Put yourself in a logic of direct contact and acquisition of customers. Your investors will appreciate it.

Do not hesitate to comment on this article or ask your questions (below).

Creating a Business: The Best Ideas Can Kill You!

Business-Idea Business-Plan Entrepreneur

Where does the idea of starting a business come from? How to distinguish a good idea from a bad one? How to test your idea? How to find a business idea?

Creating a business always starts with an idea, indeed supported or driven by motivations or a particular situation.

The idea often carries within itself the germs of the success of the project or its failure: if the idea is coherent with the creator's desires, needs, know-how, and knowledge, then it will have more chances of success, Even if these elements are not sufficient.

There are actually two types of entrepreneurs:

The one who wants to undertake and therefore who seeks an idea,
And one who has an idea and therefore wishes to create a company to exploit it.

The origin of the idea.

The reasons for starting a business can be very different from one entrepreneur to another:

Desire for independence, a desire not to have a leader over oneself,
Want to manage your time,
Difficulty in returning to paid employment,
Need or desire to settle where you want, for example, to leave a large city,
Want to test, to prove oneself,
Character entrepreneur, creator,
Want to create your own job so you can use your full potential and do what you like,
Desire to take revenge and prove things to others (entourage, family, colleagues or former boss),
Want to earn more money,
Desire to give meaning to life,
Want to exploit a " brilliant " idea or an exciting opportunity.

Each of these reasons is legitimate, but must be moderate:

The desire for independence: do not forget that your new boss will be the customer!
Ability to manage time: it is actually your customers, suppliers, and partners who will determine your schedules!
Difficulty in finding a paid job: do you think that you can create a company by default?
Ability to locate where you want: do you say you will find many customers in rural areas? Do you think that working remotely will be sustainable in the long term?
Do what you like: you will have to do what the customers ask!
Desire to prove things to others: do you think that you create a company solely for the eyes of others?
Earn more money: remember that the average pay of a VSM leader is often less than that of an equivalent level of experience,
Give meaning to your life: if the goal is only to make sense of your life, get involved in an NGO or create an association!
Exploiting a "genius" idea: it is a classic trap (see next point).

In reality, the best ideas mix some of the motivations listed above:

The idea must be consistent with the personality, values, skills, desires and constraints of the entrepreneur,
The idea must also respond to a market expectation,
The idea must make it possible to distinguish itself from the competitors, without necessarily being revolutionary.

Attention, the best ideas can kill you!

Attention, commercial flop in sight.

Many business creators wake up one morning with a brilliant idea, even revolutionary, and decide to implement it by thinking that nobody thought of them before them.

This constitutes a major trap of business creation, combining a lack of information and excess confidence. It's a deadly trap.

If you have a supposedly great idea, tell yourself that others had it before you, and may have broken their teeth. Do you know why there is no low-cost perfume in tobacco shops? Just because there's no market for it. The Bic brand experienced it at its expense in the late 1980s.

Market "flaws" are rare: the idea that a pan of the market to exploit could have been "forgotten" by competitors is very often false. If an idea has not been used, it means that the risks were considered too high by the competitors, or that the market was not considered sufficiently mature.

This is not to say that there will be no room for you. A good strategy is to concentrate on a niche, that is, to do the same thing as its competitors, but in a more targeted, better-marketed and more qualitative way.

Mostly you are launching a revolutionary idea, you will have to create your own market: to make yourself known but also to make your innovation known, to educate your customers, to explain to them how it works ... it will be expensive and costly.

In conclusion, if an excellent idea falls on you, ask yourself why you hang on to it: does this not just prove that you need a change in your professional life?

How to find a business idea?

Method 1: Start with the available resources.

This process consists of taking stock of the resources (internal or external) available to draw natural conclusions about the activity that could be exercised:

Know-how, skills, knowledge,
Facilities, assets,
Network, contacts,
Equipment (tooling, room for disposition),
Personal money and money were mobilizable in the entourage.

This very analytical method is useful, but perhaps a little "cold" ...

Method 2: Starting from market trends.

This is to listen to market trends, for example by reading the specialized press or surfing the internet. The goal is to learn about fashion's ability to last over its life cycle.

The idea is to intervene in the stable growth phase of a trend, at a time when the competitive pressure is weakest due to the rapid development of sales.

Example: I want to create a range of cosmetics based on argan oil: I must, first of all, know where the trend is: has the boom gone past or still in progress? What is the evolution of the number of press articles on the theme of the benefits of argan oil? How are the competitors?

Method 3: Starting from the field.

This method consists of observing the terrain in a quasi-scientific way, to identify what works and what does not operate in a given sector of activity. This process is close to market research, although further upstream.

The study can concern companies already installed, on their offer, their turnover.
It will also be necessary to observe the behavior of the clients and ask them questions, for example by a questionnaire.

This involves getting into action, going to the field without waiting.

Method 4: Start from his dream and give himself the means to achieve it.

It is a risky way, as we saw above. By starting too passionate, the creator leaves blinded and has trouble getting off his cloud. A brilliant idea can turn out to be a massive commercial failure.

But it is a method that can be effective if the creator gives himself the means to accede to reality, to go down again on earth. Here, it is assumed that any idea can be viable if the economic and organizational model is adapted.

A fictitious example: the inventor of an airliner that operates on wind turbines is likely to fail if he plans to produce his own aircraft. Why not go through intermediate steps, such as launching a range of toy wind turbines?

Method 5: Implement an idea from another country or sector of the economy.

It is about appropriating what works elsewhere to make it work here. But watch out for cultural differences.

The advice of the business creation expert:

Analyze and test your idea of starting a business as soon as possible. Confront your idea with the reality, talk about it to yourself and take note of the reactions of your interlocutors. They may be able to enlighten you and make you see things differently.

Fail Fast, Succeed Faster: Five Key to Achieve Success

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The biggest fear of most entrepreneurs is to fail. Learn to face your mistakes and share your experiences. You'll be successful as soon as you learn from it.

"Fail fast" is a widely used saying. Entrepreneurs don't wake up and wonder "how can I fail today?" What is important is not to accept it, but to figure out how to handle it.

As an educator at the Launch Academy, one of the hardest things I've had to deal with is with students struggling against failures.

Our program attracts and admits the extremely competent who, as entrepreneurs, are very hard to themselves. What is unexpected about our program and the tasks of the entrepreneurs is that failure is what is expected. How we face, it is what defines us. I share the recipe to do it:

Try.

Theodore Roosevelt, one of the toughest and most interesting executives in our history, tells us that "it's hard to fail, but it's worse to never have tried."

Akhil Nigam, the founder of MassChallenge, said during a panel in National Small Business Week that "as a new entrepreneur you must make your business start to exist." If you do not act out of fear of failure, how will you create something meaningful?

Own your failure.

As you make your creation come to light, you will stumble along the way, and those who follow you will also have difficulties. Accept your part in the failure. If you make excuses for yourself or blame others, nothing good can come out of a situation that is already worrying.

Excuse me.

For many of us, this is the hard part. For me, it helps to realize that failure is part of the human experience and that you can grow thanks to it. It also contributes to having others to relate to.

Dani Dewitt, a Launch Academy student, says "I think being around a group of people who are also going through the same kind of things has made me realize that I need to keep seeing everything from different angles until I can solve the problem."

Apologize.

As part of accepting your mistake, be authentic with those you've done wrong. There is nothing more exasperating to your customers than the phrase "we apologize for the inconvenience."

As for example, if your email service went down, it would be better to listen "We know that email is critical in your business and we feel appalling about the inconvenience. We will update it as soon as we resolve the issue to make it work again." He always accepts the problem and the importance of solving it.

It carries out a transparent retrospective. Commonly in the corporate world, this would be called post-mortem. This term should be avoided unless you are in a health business, as it is unlikely that someone will die as a result of your failure.

In software development, we use the term retrospective when we refer to a board where we remember what went well and what went wrong in managing failure. Involve stakeholders in the process and be transparent in sharing what you have learned with your employees and clients.

Teach the others.

We have a saying in my work: "Teaching is the same as learning." As entrepreneurs, our business moves very fast to think about failure. It uses this framework as a means to learn and progress after having benefited from the experience. Don't get confused, failure is not mortal.