Posts Tagged Action Plan
The B-Word
Posted by Aaron Sebesta in Financial on July 26th, 2009
Everyone is always looking for the next financial advice tip, the best way to get rich, or in this economy, a new way to save, but often times when you start to use the B-Word they quickly start coming up with excuses… “Budget’s don’t work for me, they’re not flexible enough.” “I don’t have time to budget, or I don’t know how. I’ll budget when I’m older.”
All these excuses however, while they may even be true, just keep you from reaching your financial goals, and consequently, many of your other goals as well.
One of the crucial components of a think forward, work backward life strategy, is the ability to visualize your ideal “end state” in any situation, and develop a plan to achieve it. A budget is exactly that, with regards to your financial future.
While many of you may already budget to some extent, it is such an important part of living a deliberate life that it’s worth discussing.
Contrary to what you may be thinking, a simple personal/family budget does not take a significant amount of time (my wife and I spend a few hours a month working on it), doesn’t require special skills or accounting knowledge, and gives you all the flexibility you want, without any of the guilt associated with spending. While you may currently feel guilty eating out, shopping, or buying other things you “want” but don’t “need”, now you can simply budget for those items, and gladly purchase them according to the amount budgeted. A budget in and of itself is merely a plan for where each dollar will be spent based upon your priorities, nothing more. One of the side effects of the increased transparency into your spending may be that you decide to revise your spending habits to bring them more inline with your short and long term priorities, but who wouldn’t want more control over their money, to ensure it gets spent on the things they value most!
There are as several varying theories on budgeting, each with a different emphasis, but regardless of the theory you subscribe to, there is always one resounding theme. Just do it. After you get started you can revise and modify your budgeting strategy based upon what works best for you, but waiting to start is the worst strategy of them all.
My budgeting strategy has been modified and refined as I use it, and continue to research other techniques and ideas. Some of the more recent authors I’ve researched, and would recommend are below.
Dave Ramsey is a Christian radio and tv financial talk show host, and popular author and speaker. His advice is immediately applicable and easy to follow. He breaks things down into easy to understand lessons, and explains many more complicated topics including retirement investing, real estate, and insurance. He is largely focused on getting out of debt, so if you are already mostly debt free his show won’t apply as much, but his examples can greatly help you get started with budgeting.
David Bach is best known for his book Smart Women Finish Rich but he has since written many other books including Smart Couples Finish Rich and various others. He also has a practical approach to financial planning, but one of the most important things he brings into his financial planning advice is what he calls a “Value Circle”. It is intended to allow you to determine what you value most, and ensure that your budget and financial plan are inline with those values.
Ramit Sethi is a popular financial blogger, and author of I Will Teach You to be Rich. He has a very direct approach to saving money, budgeting, and becoming wealthy, but has some great advice throughout the book and on his blog to add to your daily lifestyle to ensure that you are setup for success in the future.
Convinced? In my next few posts I will be providing more details regarding how to get started with a budget, as well as a sample budget template for you to use to get started, followed by a discussion on maintaining and adjusting your budget going forward.
Do you have any good budgeting tips or stories to share with me and others? Please leave a comment below so we can all benefit from your experiences.
TFWB Action Plan:
- Decide you want to control your money and have the ability to direct it to of your priorities, instead of wondering where it went each month.
- Research some of the above resources, or others, to begin to learn more about the budgeting process.
- Check back soon for additional information and resources to get started
Photo by Steve Wampler
So What?
Posted by Aaron Sebesta in General on June 7th, 2009
One of the most intimidating, but most helpful questions I’ve been asked, came during a break in a presentation I was giving to a customer. It was asked by one of our internal senior managers, when I asked for feedback – “So What?”.
So What?? What does that mean I thought? That’s not the feedback I was anticipating!
It wasn’t until later that I realized the value of his question. “So What”, is a powerful question I’ve since asked myself numerous times, and would encourage each of you to ask regularly. It forces you to take a hard look at what you’re working on, and ask yourself the following questions:
- Is what I’m saying adding value?
- Are all of my statements and questions made deliberately, i.e. am I just talking for the sake of talking? What are the possible answers to my question, and what are the actions that will be taken if each is given?
- Am I looking from the audience’s perspective? How does it apply to them?
These are sometimes difficult questions to answer, but vitally important to consider, in order to successfully communicate your intended message, via a presentation, email, or blog post.
So I asked: Think Forward Work Backward – So what?
As I began to review the question I came to a few important improvements. While interesting, the blog can and needs to be more actionable. It’s one thing to provide information, but unfortunately there is more information available than anyone can ever use. In order to be beneficial to users, it also needs to be something they can apply in their own lives. In addition, it needs more collaboration from within the rest of the community to truly add value to the readers. The experiences and additional information provided by other readers is one of the most valuable aspects of a blog, and were the most learning comes from. While not always an easy thing to attract, I will be working to gather input from other bloggers and provide posts that are more conducive to discussion.
It’s a difficult question, but you’re audience is already asking it, so you better have an answer.
TFWB Action Plan – So What?
- Within the next week, find an important task and take the time to ask yourself the “So What?” questions listed above.
- From your audience’s perspective, list what would help you fill those gaps.
- Produce and execute a plan to prioritize and resolve each of the identified gaps.
- Let others know your experience, and help increase the overall blog communities value, by leaving a comment below.
- Keep questioning yourself, there’s always room for improvement!
Interviewing – Turning the Tables
Posted by Aaron Sebesta in Business on April 12th, 2009
“That’s all we have – do you have any questions for us?”
Your mind races but seems to find nothing. You know you had questions prepared, but what are they?! As you scramble, you say the only thing that comes to mind – “How much does the position pay” then cringe as you know you shouldn’t have asked…
Why do interviews always seem so uncomfortable? Maybe if the room wasn’t 120 degrees and you weren’t wearing a suit that used to fit, or if you just had a glass of water you would have done better. Maybe if you’d spent more time thinking about your 5 year goals, and an example of a time you made a mistake (but learned from it of course) you might have done better. Or maybe, just maybe, if you had some insight into what the interviewer was looking for, what their expectations were, what questions they might ask, (not to mention how best to answer them), and what you looked like from their perspective – then you would have done better. While I can’t help you fit into your old suit, I can help you understand how to get that much needed perspective.
Let’s start by turning the table on interviewing – Literally. How better to learn to think like an interviewer, than to be one.
The quickest way to get that experience is right at the company you currently work for. Not all companies offer opportunities for people in all positions to get involved in interviewing, but you’d be surprised if you asked, often times how eager they’d be to train you and let you help. If they’re willing to do so, I cant recommend it highly enough.
Not only is it good for the obvious (and corporately communicated) reasons of building a stronger company, helping plan the future of the organization, etc, etc, it also allows you to sit on the other side of an otherwise uncomfortable table, instantly making you far more qualified at your next interview. Even if you’re perfectly content with your job, as it’s a great skill to acquire – especially before you need it!
Moments after sitting through your first interview, you’ll have a page full of things you will never do again in an interview, and a number of great tips you can use to put yourself ahead of everyone else. It’s all about getting a new perspective.
You now have a good list of interview questions you can practice from as well as what answers are worth top points and what answers simply don’t work. Furthermore, it’s a great way to see where you stand in comparison to other similar candidates in the field, and determine how you would rank yourself against them.
My current company offers that opportunity and I try to get involved whenever I can fit it in. In the long run you will get far more out of learning to effectively interview (and consequently be interviewed) than you will from a few more hours of work anyway.
For those of you who do not have the opportunity to interview within your organization, or if your organization is not currently hiring – I will be discussing some sample interview experiences, categories and questions, techniques and tips in another post, to help you learn from my experiences.
For those of you who have done it, I know it can be frustrating if you’re stuck interviewing under qualified candidates, but don’t let that discourage you. You learn as much from them as from the good candidates, if not more. Plus you’ll have good stories to tell! 
Who else has participated in interviewing? What experiences have you had? Do you agree/disagree with the value of doing so? Let me know.
Before you can anticipate the questions at your next interview, you have to have the perspective of already having been there. Think Forward – Work Backward.
TFWB Action Plan – Interviewing
- Find out if your company offers the opportunity for you to get involved in interviewing.
- Sign up for any training available and volunteer to observe an interview, until you get the hang of it.
- Conduct the interview.
- Debrief and document your lessons learned and observations from the other side.
- Give yourself the same set of questions and see how you do.
- Repeat – (and come back to share your feedback and experience with us!)
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