Mr. Fant said that the United States House of Representatives passed HR 2847, the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act. This bill is designed to help create jobs by cutting payroll taxes for businesses and investing in new surface transportation projects. H.R. 2847 contains legislation to increase tax deductions for small business expensing. Because the bill was modified, it must return to the Senate for another vote. This is expected to take place next week.

I located information about the four key provisions included in the HIRE Act:

• New Jobs Payroll Tax Exemption: offers an employer exemption from Social Security payroll taxes for every worker hired after February 3, 2010 and before January 1, 2011 that had previously been unemployed for at least 60 days.  It also allows an additional $1,000 income tax credit for every new employee retained for 52 weeks to be taken on the employer’s income tax return.
• Section 179 Expensing: helps small businesses grow by allowing them to write off more of the cost of their 2010 expenditures in lieu of recovering those costs over time through depreciation.
• Highway Trust Fund Extension: extends existing highway programs which provide states and localities with the certainty they need to make decisions on projects.  It allows for billions more to be invested in infrastructure throughout the nation and saves one million jobs.
• Expanding Build America Bonds: allows state and local governments to borrow at lower costs to finance more infrastructure projects and put people to work.

Even if a job seeker isn’t specifically looking for work in highways or infrastructure, Mr. Fant believes that these incentives will spur growth other areas of the economy as well.

Small Business Administration:

Mr. Fant addressed small businesses pursuing government contracts. The Small Business Administration (http://www.sba.gov/) has tremendous resources for small businesses, including information on preparing a business plan – which would be necessary for a government contract. The Charlotte, NC District Office of the SBA (http://www.sba.gov/localresources/district/nc/index.html) office is located at 6302 Fairview Road, Suite 300, Charlotte, NC 28210-2227 (704-344-6563 Phone).

SCORE:

SCORE (the Resource Partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration) is also located in the same building. SCORE is a national association dedicated to helping small business owners form and grow their businesses. The local website is: http://www.charlottescore.org/. Mr. Fant’s Charlotte, NC contact at SCORE is Mr. Chuck Sawicki (704-344-6576).

Matchforce.org:

Mr. Fant discussed matchforce.org (http://matchforce.org/). According to the website “MatchForce matches North Carolina businesses to government contracts, government purchasers to NC suppliers, and job seekers to NC jobs. Businesses, contracting officers, cardholders and job seekers can register, post, search and receive opportunities – and get results – TODAY!”.

Small Business Technology

The Small Business Technology Center http://www.sbtdc.org/ “has been helping North Carolina businesses grow and create new jobs since 1984.  SBTDC specialists provide management counseling and educational services to small and mid-sized businesses throughout North Carolina.” The local SBTDC office is located at UNC Charlotte, 8701 Mallard Creek Road, The Ben Craig Center, Charlotte, NC 28262-9705 (phone – 704.548.1090). Mr. Fant noted his local contact is George McAllister, Regional Director (704-548-1000).

Local Information:

Some local resources were shared and discussed by other members as well. I’ll cover this next time.

By the way, if you are interested in obtaining more information about the group, you can contact me at jliebel@vnet.net. I started this group about a year ago (through meetup.com) in response to growing unemployment in the Charlotte/Cabarrus County area. We now use LinkedIn and email for our communications. Attendance and the frequency of meetings have increased way beyond my initial dream. I continue to coordinate and facilitate the free weekly two hour group meetings (with volunteer assistance from group members). We received no outside funding. I’d like to add that donations are always appreciated. : )

It’s a lively friendly meeting where we share individual “wins”, resources, and support one another. We also share one meeting a month with the Cabarrus Regional Chamber’s Jobs One group. I’ll share more information next time about these local support resources as well.

I want to thanks Mr. Fant for sharing his time and resources with the group. I also want to thank him for being open to listening to the concerns of some of the local job seekers.

As a career coach and the developer and facilitator of a local job seekers/ networking group I’ve learned so much the past year. I’ve meet job seekers with extensive career and educational achievements. In the past I would have assumed that these engineers and CEOs wouldn’t have any difficulty finding a job.

I remember when “computers” were the way to go if you wanted job security. Yet I’ve met plenty of unemployed IT professionals.

What we thought we knew about career paths and job security has changed over the past few years. Job seekers certainly know this.

People who haven’t been searching for work recently may assume there is something “wrong” with these people, that they haven’t yet found a job. In the meantime, these same people may be experiencing stress from increased workload, and the fear of being laid off themselves.

Experts share plenty of free job search, networking, and resume “tips”. But what happens when your industry or network is not longer available? (the Jimmy Buffett song, “A Pirate Looks at Forty” comes to mind – “Occupational hazard being my occupation‘s just not around”.. but I digress)

As a daughter of a Pittsburgh steelworker, I know about lay-offs, companies closing, industries disappearing. My father was my age when the steel industry left Pittsburgh. He was ineligible for any future retirement benefits, and was too young to file for Social Security.

A change in your job or career impacts your entire life, family and sometimes your health. But this isn’t about me and my experiences.

As a recovering pessimist I want to provide strategies and hope to motivated boomers in transition. If you are ready to challenge some of your old beliefs, I can share the secret to finding more joy and ease during your transition. But you have to commit to taking a pause to look inside yourself for that “secret” and remembering what energized you and brought you joy.

I can help you increase clarity and reduce the overwhelm from managing the changes in multiple areas of your life. We can create a strategy for you to move forward with ease and joy to create and personalize your next big “thing” (whether that is a new job, small business, or totally new career).

If this sounds appealing to you, give me a call (704-786-1579) or send me an email at jliebel (at) vnet.net. I’d love include you in my announcements about the exciting workshops and teleclasses I have planned.

Of course if you have been thinking about individual coaching and have questions, please contact me for a free, no obligation introductory coaching conversation!

Remember “You have to do it by yourself, but you don’t have to do it alone”.

The description states:

Find the Perfect Career Just for You!

The Career Within You Includes:

• A Quiz to Determine Your Personality’s “Career Type”
• Worksheets That Fit a Selection of Jobs to Your Strengths, Needs, and Objectives
• Extensive Tables of the Careers That Currently Offer the Most Money, the Most Opportunities, and the Greatest Flexibility
• Sample Resumes That Will Catch an Employer’s Attention
• Detailed Tips on Preparing for a Successful Interview
• Success Stories of People Just Like You

A bit about the authors —

Ms. Wagele is a musician, cartoonist and author. She previously co-authoring several books about the enneagram. For this book, she partnered with Ingrid Stabb, a graduate of Yale University with a MBA.

How could an artsy creative person collaborate with a business minded corporate person to write a book on careers? Well, answers to that and more are included in the book.

I read about the enneagram in the past. However, after I figured out my “type” (2- Helper) I got a bit bogged down, and placed it aside. However, this book, including Ms. Wagele’s illustrations made the enneagram so accessible and clear. Also included in the book are short questionnaires to help you determine your own type, if you don’t already know your Enneagram type. (ok, I am a 2- Helper)

Next we add Ms. Stabb’s business knowledge and experience to explain how the enneagram can be used in career development and decision making. The book explains how we can flourish in our careers by maximizing our personality and strengths! The book goes further to show how a job seeker can take this information, assess and evaluate their work values, and evaluate the likelihood of being satisfied in a specific future job or career.

Lastly the book has information on searching for a job that maximizes your Enneagram strengths.

I think this book would be perfect for individuals all along the career continuum. Young adults could learn how to maximize their Enneagram strengths early in their career. A little self-examination could help them confirm whether they are proceeding on the right path – or walking a path outlined by someone else.

Mid-career adults, or those in transition, could benefit from some insight into their own personality and careers. Maybe the reason that one job didn’t work out so well wasn’t because your supervisor was crazy… maybe the actual work didn’t allow you to maximize your strengths and personality.

I think we’ve all seen people who seem to have landed in the perfect job. They radiate joy. They are shining as they fully express themselves! I want to encourage anyone who is feeling stuck in their job search or career to take time to play with this little book for some insights into your personality and career/job suggestions. And if you are already radiating joy in your current job situation, check out this book to explore more about yourself and how you can continue to maximize your personality and strengths!

In making contact with our work “passions” in life it is helpful to look back at our careers and experiences and analyze them in terms of what made us happy, and what didn’t. Here below is a format I use with my clients to help them to systematically identify patterns in their histories.

I suggest you write this out longhand with pen or pencil rather than on a computer. This exercise takes some time, but is well worth it; you may see patterns both in your approach to your working life, and in the actual experiences themselves, that you didn’t realize were there!

Photo credit: Alvimann from morguefile.com

1. Childhood/youth
a. As a child what did you “want to be when you grew up”? What were your dreams/hopes/secret desires?

b.What were your hobbies/interests? How did you spend your time during summer vacations?

c. What subjects interest you most at school? Which ones bored you the most?

d.What did your parents do for a living? How did that influence your decisions about your work and future? How did your parents’ value systems around work affect you?

e.What did you decide to study at the college/university level? How, if any, was that influenced by others (parents, friends, culture, etc.) Were there any aspects of yourself you felt you left behind in order to do what was expected of you by others?

2. Young adulthood/early career.
a. In college/university what did you plan to do as a career? If you didn’t know how did that feel?

b. If you took “elective” courses in school what were they?

c. Hobbies/interests/individual study issues? Special courses you took outside of school?

d. What beliefs do you think you had about jobs/careers at this stage of your life?

3. Adulthood
a. Your career history, List each of your positions or list them categorically and list the parts of these jobs you have loved, and the parts you have not. How have your personal desires changed as a result of each of your jobs? What did you learn about yourself in each of these jobs?

You can use this format if you choose to!
Years

Company and/ or Position

Things I loved

Things I didn’t like

What did I learn about myself?

b. List all your qualities as an employee, manager, and contributor: The talents and skills you know you possess, and also the personal skills/talents/characterisitics your colleagues, bosses and/or clients have commented on, informlly or in performance reviews:

As a Contributor I have the following talents and skills:

Managers/Bosses have said:

Colleagues have said:

Clients have said:

c. List the things you have NOT liked about your jobs and parts you would rather not do. This can also include “structure” of the jobs, time spent, etc.

d. With what things/issues do you see you have a pattern of behavior?

e. What have your consistent feelings been around your working life?

Conclusion
What are the trends you see in your own autobiography:

About your jobs?

About any repeated patterns?

About your own choices and behavior?

About how you have spent your time?

About your own fears/issues you perhaps did not want to address?

About your true “loves”/passions/qualities?

Given your considerations above and the working path you have followed, can you identify some of your “beliefs” and patterns of behavior around your working life?

How has money entered in to your choices about work… if it has?

What other patterns do you see?

What have you learned about yourself from this exercise?

Would you like to explore your autobiography, and what it could mean for your present and future? Please contact me with questions or comments.

The Institute for Entrepreneurship at Central Piedmont Community College will offer the Kauffman Foundation-designed FastTrac New Venture program next month for unemployed and underemployed individuals who want to explore business ownership

Date: Tuesdays, Feb.2- March 9; registration deadline is Jan. 27
Time: 9:30 am -4:30 pm
Location: Hall Professional Development Building at CPCC Central Campus, 1201 Elizabeth Ave.
Cost: Free
To Register: 704-330-6832 or www.fasttrac.org

DAILY OPERATIONS

Get tips for smooth running of a business at this seminar by the Small Business Center at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College.
Date: Jan. 26
Time: 6:30-8:30 PM
Location: RCCC North Campus, 1333 Jake Alexander Blvd, Salisbury, NC
Cost: Free
To Register: 704-216-3512 or www.rowancabarrus.edu/sbc

If you are going through a career transition, I hope you have a group of like minded individuals to support you along the way. If you need help in locating a group, let me know and I can try and help. If you are in the Concord/Cabarrus County area, please contact me for details about our Friday networking and job seekers group. Awesome energy, support and accountability for folks who are seeking and finding new opportunities!

And if you are interested in more individual support, give me a call for an introductory session to see if working with a coach could help you clarify your next great adventure!

I know many of us have new ideas and plans for 2010, but I always appreciate reading Robin Sharma’s suggestions about living a “successful” life, and thought I’d pass them along.

What are my favorites? Well, let’s see…#3, #5, #7, #8….#11, #13 and #15…and certainly, #16 gave me the opportunity to sit down, and reflect. Always a good thing at this time of year!

By the way, I just watched “Man on Wire” this past weekend. Fascinating movie about a man with a dream, while many others (including myself!) found him a bit unstable from time to time. But the thought about living life “on the wire” has resonated with me since then.

Be sure to read Robin’s Bio at the close of this post, and drop by his Web site for more inspiration.

And, as always, I hope you take the time to leave a comment – with YOUR favorites in the list.

62 Ways To Make 2010 Your Best New Year Yet
By Robin Sharma, January 3rd, 2010

1. Remember that leadership isn’t about your position. It’s about your influence.

2. Get fit like a pro athlete

3. Lift people up versus tearing people down

4. Protect your good name. An impeccable reputation takes a lifetime to build. And 60 seconds to lose

5. Surround yourself with positive, ethical people who are committed to excellence

6. Remember that even a 1% daily innovation rate amounts to at least a 100% rate of innovation in 100 days

7. Believe in your dreams (even when others laugh at them)

8. Measure your success, not by your net worth but by your self worth (and how happy you feel)

9. Take an intelligent risk every 24 hours. No Try-No Win.

10. Read “Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist”

11. Watch “Man on Wire”

12. Regardless of your title at work, be a team builder.

13. Remember that business is all about relationships and human connections

14. Say “please” more

15. Say “thank you” more

16. Know your Big 5: the five things that need to happen by the end of this year for you to feel it’s been your best year yet

17. Read your Big 5 every morning while the rest of the world is asleep

18. Read “As You Think”. At least twice this year.

19. Be willing to fail. It’s the price of greatness

20. Focus less on making money and more on creating value

21. Spend less, save more

22. Leave everything you touch better than you found it

23. Be the most positive person in every room you’re in

24. Run your own race

24. Stay true to your deepest values and best ideals

25. Write a handwritten thank you note to a customer/friend/loved one every day

26. When you travel, send love letters to your kids on hotel stationary. In time, they’ll have a rich collection to remember your travels by

27. Read “Atlas Shrugged”

28. Be a problem solver versus a trouble maker

29. Rather than doing many things at mediocrity do just a few things-but at mastery

30. Honor your parents

31. Commit to doing great work-whether anyone notices it or not. It’s one of life’s best sources of happiness.

32. Give more than you receive (another of the truths of happiness)

33. Have your 1/3/5/10/25 years goals recorded on paper and review them weekly

34. Be patient. Slow and steady wins the race. The only reason businesses that went from zero to a billion in a year or two get featured in magazines is because 99% of businesses require a lot more time to win

34. Underpromise and then overdeliver

35. See part of your job as “a developer of people” (whether you work in the boardroom or the mailroom)

36. Wear your heart on your sleeve. When people see you’re real, they’ll fall in love with you

37. Be authentic versus plastic

38. Read “The Alchemist”

39. Remember that life wants you to win. So get out of your own way

40. Consider that behind every fear lives your next level of growth (and power)

41. Eat less food

42. Drink more water

43. Rest when you need to

44. Read “SUCCESS” magazine

45. Write your eulogy and them live your life backwards

46. Demand the best from yourself

47. Remember that the more you go to your limits, the more your limits will expand

48. See everything that happens to you as an opportunity to grow (and therefore, as a precious gift)

49. Be obsessed with learning and self-development

50. Become comfortable alone (you are the only person you get to be with your whole life)

51. Smile. It’s a stunningly effective way to win in business and life

52. Reflect on the shortness of life

53. Be bold when it comes to your dreams but gentle with those you love

54. Remember that success is dangerous because it can kill drive/innovation/passion and going the extra mile. Be successful yet stay hungry

55. Read “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin”

56. Be of deep value to this world

57. Own beautiful things but don’t let them own you

58. Use excellent words.

59. Laugh more.

60. Don’t complain, gossip or be negative.

61. Plan as if you’ll live forever but live as if you’ll die tomorrow.

62. Feel free to pass these lessons on to those you want to help.

Robin Sharma is a world-renown leader and coach in the personal development world and is the CEO of Sharma Leadership International, which helps organizations develop world-class leaders. He’s also the author of 10 books, including 5 #1 bestsellers, such as The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. And on top of coaching and writing, Robin is a highly sought-after speaker and consultant to organizations all over the world like Microsoft, Nike, FedEx, NASA, KPMG, IBM and The Young Presidents Organization. Visit his Web site at: http://www.robinsharma.com/.

However, I don’t know anyone who hasn’t been touched by unemployment, either directly, or indirectly, over the past few years. Using the Dept. of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers, this video vividly depicts the transformation from January 2007 — approximately one year before the start of the recession — to the most recent unemployment data available today. Of course these numbers don’t include those who have taken part time jobs, are underemployed, or just plain “gave up”.

The Geography of a Recession

If you want some help in moving forward and not being included in these numbers you might want to talk with a career coach, who also has small business experience. Joni