Life & Work Skills

Even though it may feel like 2021 is flying by, we still have plenty of time left this year to work toward some major goals. If you’re looking to give your career a boost, why not put some pen to paper and start crafting your career bucket list? There’s no reason you need to limit your bucket list to travel and recreational activities. We spend so much of our time at work that putting the time and energy into building a career that fulfills and excites you can be just as thrilling as skydiving or traveling to a new continent. 
To give yourself some guidance this year, let’s walk through a few examples of goals you can put on your career bucket list in 2021. Of course, this is just a jumping-off point. It’s your career, so you’ll need to figure out what achievements and changes are important to you to work toward this year. 

1. Start a side hustle you’re excited about
We chose our words carefully here, the reason we think starting a side hustle “you’re excited about” is a good thing to potentially add to your career bucket list is because you should have fun with your side hustle! We all know that the hustle culture we’re living in has gotten a bit toxic in the past few years, so it’s important to only take on a side hustle if it won’t jeopardize your wellness. One major way to make a side hustle feel fun and like a profitable hobby instead of an extra job is to choose something you’re really excited to do. You should want to work on your side hustle, not feel like you have to. If you think a side hustle is something you should add to your bucket list this year, try to choose one you’re really excited about. Not sure how to get started? Here’s what to do if you end up pursuing a side hustle this year! 

2. Find a mentor
Careers are tricky and as supportive as friends and family tend to be, you can’t always turn to them for advice if they’re unfamiliar with your industry or job. Finding a mentor that has experience in your chosen career path, in your industry, or at your current company, can help you gain objective insight that comes from experience. This isn’t to say that people who provide mentorship support are career genies who know all the answers, but as they’re generally further along in their careers, they can speak from experience on some of the struggles you may be going through. 
If you don’t see any of your existing relationships evolving into a mentoring opportunity this year, it’s always okay to be upfront about your search for a mentor. People are generally happy to help. Reach out to someone you admire on LinkedIn and ask to meet for coffee. If all goes well, you can request to continue consulting them about career issues. You can also ask someone you respect at your company if you can come to them with career questions from time to time. Being upfront will help make sure you’re on the same page. For more tips on finding a mentor, read this helpful article!

3. Be a mentor
On the flip side, if you’re in a place in your career where you can give back to someone who is younger or new to your industry, then reach out and offer to lend a helping hand. So many people are afraid to ask for help, so if you feel like you can provide guidance and support to someone who needs it, you can make the first move. You can always consider joining an official mentorship program that helps teens find their way or can simply offer to have coffee with that newbie in the office who likes to ask a lot of questions. Will becoming a mentor give you a career boost? Maybe, maybe not! Even if you don’t benefit directly from your mentoring efforts, helping others is always a good thing to do. 

4. Master a new skill
As nice as it would be, you’re not going to get a raise or promotion every year, no matter how good you are at your job. As tempting as it is to focus on short-term goals, sometimes you need to pivot to devoting your energy to longer-term ones. Mastering a new skill this year will allow you to work toward goals that may be a bit farther off, while gaining the satisfaction of achieving something in the here and now. Take an online course, sign up for a professional certification program, or ask your manager if you can spearhead a new project that is a bit out of your wheelhouse. Gaining new skills now will make your larger goals easier to achieve and can be really fun and engaging. Here are a few ideas for in-demand career skills you can aim to build this year!

5. Find work-life balance
We’re all for hustling hard and busting your butt to meet your goals, but we’re also really big fans of taking a break when we need it. You can’t burn the midnight oil night after night, so make sure you’re working toward your career goals in a way that supports your wellness. There is a line between working to live and living to work, and that’s finding a work-life balance you’re happy with. Evaluate your commitments, your schedule, and your personal goals this year to see how you can find a balance that helps you feel your best. If a raise is off the table at work this year due to budget constraints (a familiar story for many in light of recent events), ask for help achieving work-life balance instead. Think—a more flexible schedule, more work-from-home days, or time off each month to volunteer for a cause that’s important to you. These tech tips are also a great starting point for finding more work-life balance!

6. Plan your next big career move
Hopefully, your career will span many happy years, so there’s no need to feel the pressure to achieve all of your goals right now. As cool as all those 30 under 30 lists are, they’ve set an unrealistic standard that we have to be at the peak of our careers in our twenties. Let’s push those thoughts aside and focus on the long game. If you can identify what you want your next big career move to be, you’re off to a great start. Finding clarity and direction for your career is a major achievement. Start thinking about what you want to achieve in 2022 and beyond, so you can start planning the steps you need to take to get there. Need some help setting career goals? This guide can help!

7. Invest in yourself
Let’s end this list of career bucket list suggestions on a purposely vague note. While we can’t tell you what should be on your bucket list, we strongly suggest adding “invest in yourself” to the top of the list. What investing in yourself means will vary depending on your needs and goals. For some, it might be going back to school. For others, it may be leaving work early twice a month to go to therapy. Maybe you need to commit to going to bed earlier or want to hire a career coach to help you during your upcoming job search. Whatever you need, give it to yourself in 2021, and we’re confident your career will benefit as a result.  More

You would be hard-pressed to find someone who’s life hasn’t been massively affected by the coronavirus pandemic. No matter where you live or what your job is, chances are you’ve had to learn to adapt to this new reality that’s not feeling all that new anymore. Of course, our lives haven’t all changed to the same degree, but on a fairly broad level, it’s coming to light that women in particular are feeling more burnt out than men in 2020. 
There are a lot of things going on right now that are out of our control, and accepting that is a wellness tool in and of itself. That being said, there are some steps women can take to help stave off burnout, and we have the expert insight to back us up. 

What is going on at home?
Research from LeanIn.Org found that in 2020, women have taken on way more housework and caregiving than men have during the pandemic. The outcome of this extra work? Women are showing signs of anxiety and burnout—signs we should take seriously. Women are twice as likely as men to experience physical symptoms of anxiety such as having a racing heartbeat or struggling to sleep right now. This is especially true for women who work full-time and who have a partner and children. They’re more than twice as likely as men in similar situations to feel that they have more on their plate than they can possibly handle.
So exactly how much more work have women taken on in 2020 to keep everything afloat? That group of women that have full-time jobs, partners, and children reported on average spending significantly more time each week on the following responsibilities than men do. 

7.4 more hours on childcare
5.3 more hours caring for elderly or sick relatives
At least 7 more hours on housework

If you crunch those numbers, that means women are doing close to 20 hours more work per week than men, which is the equivalent of taking on a part-time job after already working 40 hours a week. 
Casandra Townsel, a licensed social worker, explained that sometimes we have to cut ourselves a little slack to help avoid burnout. She suggested that we, “Recognize when we are overwhelmed and ‘burned out’ because we are carrying a load we are not meant to carry alone,” Townsel said. She expressed that it’s OK to leave the dishes in the sink. “Women can do many great things, but doing everything is not healthy or necessary.  Doing our best is good enough. It is important for women to give ourselves permission to not have to do everything,” she said.  
Townsel believes in setting clear boundaries when you’re starting to feel burned out at home, “Developing and implementing boundaries is one of the greatest tools to alleviate stress and anxiety. Boundaries are a necessity for not just our mental and physical health, but also the health of our relationships. It is important to establish boundaries within all our relationships, that includes family, which can be very difficult for some to do,” she explained. 

What is going on at work?
Home isn’t the only place where women are doubling down on work and stress. Despite the fact that we’re living in extremely stressful and difficult times, only 41 percent of employees reported their employer changed policies to allow more flexibility during the pandemic. While these numbers aren’t exclusive to women, you can see how they can affect the previously mentioned working women who are feeling burnt out. Women balancing childcare or eldercare in particular may find a lack of flexibility to really impede their ability to balance their work and personal life. Just 31 percent of workers said their manager or someone from HR checked in on their well-being. Friendly reminder to any employers reading this: ask how your employees are doing and how you can help them get through this challenging time. 

Source: Colorjoy Stock

Say what you need
When it comes to the workplace, Krista Williams and Lindsey Simcik, the co-hosts of the Almost 30 podcast, recommended taking charge of the situation by openly communicating with your boss or company about your needs. They suggest setting aside time to acknowledge what will help you cope right now and on an ongoing basis. Put on soothing music or anything that helps create a sacred space, then simply put pen to paper and write down what you need. Don’t judge what comes up. Is there anything on the list that you can clearly communicate with your boss or company? Perhaps you need different hours to accommodate childcare, want set hours where you do and don’t take meetings, or need a mental health day. They emphasized that you shouldn’t be afraid or ashamed to express when you need support. Townsel agreed with this advice, “Let go of the assumptions that you are expected to do everything. Give yourself permission to ask for help. Be assertive and request to collaborate with others. This helps to eliminate stress, while adhering to personal and professional outcomes,” she noted. 
The same rules apply at home. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by family and household responsibilities, do the same exercise. Then sit down with your partner to discuss your needs and how they can step up to help. If you’re tackling eldercare, you may need to have this conversation with siblings or other family members who should be sharing those responsibilities with you. 

Express gratitude
According to Williams and Simcik, when they feel anxious or out of control, they always come back to gratitude. 
They recommend trying this gratitude practice: close your eyes and put your hands on the part of your body where you feel the most tension. Start to notice your breath and lengthen it to ground you. Say something you are grateful for in the present moment out loud. It can be as simple as, “I am grateful for the breath in my lungs.” They encourage you to follow your gratitude with a “why.” With everything going on around us, what we can control are our thoughts in the present moment. When you choose to focus those thoughts on gratitude, it will shift your perspective and help you feel lighter and more peaceful. 

Avoid the internet
Williams and Simcik have one major piece of advice for sending burnout packing. Scale back the time you spend online. They feel there is a lot of negative energy online, on social media, and in the news, and as a result you need to protect your energy as much as you can. You get to decide what you take in. They like to do a digital detox for a day or a weekend to unplug from social media and TV. They recommend taking walks in nature, reading, journaling, meditating, and spending time reconnecting with yourself. 
Also, please note that we are living in an unprecedented time right now and you’re not alone. You’re doing your best and that’s more than enough.  More

The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to take stock of your business’s success over the past 12 months and areas where you have opportunities for growth or transitions. If you’re feeling excited about where to take your business in 2021, it’s time to capitalize on this ideation period and focus on the key things that will help you reach your goals while maintaining your boundaries. We’ve put together five important checks to make this month—from deepening your understanding of your clients to refreshing your digital presence (with a little help from our go-to website building platform, Squarespace). 

1. Understand your value drivers
If you’ve been in business for five months or five years, understanding what is resonating with your audience is a huge factor in deepening engagement, brand loyalty, and repeat customers, readers, or viewers. Sometimes knowing what is working and what isn’t feels intuitive, but don’t skimp on the actual data. Take a look at your last six months of operation—where did your customers or viewers come from? What was your most popular product, service, or blog post? Make a master list of everywhere you accumulate data from, including social media, email marketing, accounting software, and your website. 
If the amount of analytics available feels overwhelming, remember to hone in on the essentials. Just because something is available to track, doesn’t mean it will be useful to you and your particular biz. I love the analytics available in Squarespace, because they put the most important information I need at the forefront and make it super easy to navigate traffic and sales through my website. One feature that has been a game-changer for my small business is the abandoned cart analytics. I can easily see how many people are adding products to their cart on my site, but not checking out. Then, I can troubleshoot ways to get that percentage lower, from sending an abandoned cart recovery email (plus I can auto-send these reminders in Squarespace!) to offering sales to repricing or retiring certain products. 

Now as a next step, take a look at the last six months of how you are spending your time. What takes up the bulk of your days? Are they activities that directly align with and enable those revenue flows? You may have to do a bit of connecting the dots here. (Appearing as a guest on someone’s podcast, for example, probably drove some follows to your Insta that resulted in business there.)
The key to growing your business is understanding, with precision, where you are undertaking activities that either create value or eat up your time with few results. Adjust accordingly!

2. Map out client personas
With a better understanding of your value drivers, you’re positioned to revisit your dream client. When you started your business, you probably already did this to some extent. But as you really get your feet under you, who your clients are will change and evolve. You learn a lot along the way in those first few years, and gain a much clearer sense of who your key customer is.
To truly build a successful business long term, you need to know exactly who you’re serving. It’s not sufficient to say your life coaching services “help busy women everywhere.” That big of a population makes it incredibly difficult to create an effective marketing strategy, because you’d need to reach and appeal to too wide a cross-section of needs and interests. Instead, take a day and do some deep digging on your customers, and build a few dream client personas. What are their goals? How do they spend free time? What do they value? Why are they on social media? Getting super granular allows you to build a vision of a customer that creates more opportunities for you to connect with them and add unique value. Don’t be afraid to lean into a niche—that’s where your unique services and your ideal clients will connect. Need help narrowing in on your niche? Read this. 

3. Refresh your digital presence
With a fresh perspective on who your dream client is, it’s time to align your digital presence accordingly. Your social media, website, and messaging should be highly aligned with your core mission, key audience, and overall business goals. If you’ve been in the game for a while, or, if you’re quickly getting more clarity on your target audience, it might be time for a refresh.
Enroll a trusted friend to take a look at your social media and any other digital channels with fresh eyes. Or, do a short survey to past clients or newsletter subscribers. Ask them for feedback on functionality, content, and the vibe they’re getting. Do they know things about your value, style, and business proposition that don’t seem readily reflected? It doesn’t take a complete brand overhaul to continue to refine and align your virtual presence to your value proposition. Think about adding new content, refreshing some photography, or rearranging your bio. Small tweaks add up.
Now is also a great time to check in with your website. (Not sure if you need a website? Read this.) Have a friend review your site and note any questions that come up. Is it hard to find your contact information? Is it clear what you do and where customers, clients, or readers should be led after landing on your site? If you need help with layout, we highly recommend our platform of choice, Squarespace. You can choose from dozens of templates and get started right away. Replace the demo content with your own and you’re ensured a beautiful site that is also functional and lead-generating. Win, win. 

4. Invest in the boss
As a business owner, it’s easy to put yourself last on the list. For many of us, you’re a one-woman show, the Chief Do-er, planner, Executive Assistant—the list goes on. But when that’s the case and it’s all riding on you, it’s even more important that you invest in yourself. You are your business. 
This can look a million different ways, but it’s a good time to reflect on what investing in the CEO of your business looks like. It could mean you’re ready to put some new boundaries in place: for example, not scheduling any client meetings on Mondays. Or, it could mean setting new payment terms on invoicing to better manage your cash flow. It may also mean that you need to set aside some money or time for classes that can continue to elevate your executive presence. This could look like major industry conferences or skill builders like joining a toastmasters club to get better at speaking in public.

Source: Social Squares

5. Define how you give back
It’s increasingly important to understand how your business not only creates financial value, but also how it fits into larger societal good. How do you give back? This is a really exciting space to start to define your goals. And, even the smallest of small businesses have ways to do this.
Get creative. Do you have the ability to discount services to other women-owned or minority-owned businesses? Could you offer a free webinar on a particular topic to people who show a receipt for donating to a cause you care about? What about planting a tree for every package you ship? You don’t need to be a million dollar business to define and act on your goals in this space.

This post is sponsored by Squarespace, but all of the opinions within are those of The Everygirl editorial board. More

Working from home, trying to find a work-life balance, and prioritizing our well being has us all rethinking our professional lives and reassessing our motivation and our career path in general. Struggling to get through your next meeting or project lately? Feeling stuck in a career rut can leave you going through the motions from 9-to-5, spilling over into your time management, your drive, and ability to stay enthusiastic about your work. How do you stay invested in your career when you feel unmotivated? We spoke to LinkedIn coach, speaker, and best-selling author Nena B. Abdul-Wakeel on ways to stay motivated professionally, helping to give you a fresh outlook on your career.

1. Remember the Big Picture
When stuck in a career rut without much motivation left, it can be difficult to remember your passion, which is a key motivator to keep you going. When trying to stay motivated professionally, keep in mind the big picture and remember your why, including your career goals and passion.
“Take a look at how your career choice aligns with your core passion and purpose. Don’t be afraid to shift a little to the right or left,” noted Abdul-Wakeel. “You may just find a whole new level of commitment.”
When getting back to the core of your motivation in your career, don’t forget that your 9-to-5 job doesn’t make up your whole career; according to career coach Nena B Abdul-Wakeel, it’s only a part of the whole make-up of your career path.
“Remember that a job is not a career. A career should be made up of different roles that are in alignment with your career choice.”
Focusing on the why of your career path and goals may help you get back to being—and staying—motivated as you continue to climb the ladder.  

2. Develop and Invest in New Skills to Enhance Your Career
Getting out of a career rut and regaining motivation at work sometimes requires developing your skill set. Stay motivated in your career by learning new techniques and skills to see your career with a fresh perspective.
Professional development can be key to sparking a new level of motivation at work. Develop and enhance your career by taking advantage of opportunities in your company. Work with your manager or human resources to find skill-building courses, leadership trainings, and other resources you can participate in to grow your career. Not sure if your company or team has a budget for professional development? Don’t let that stop you. LinkedIn career coach Nena B. Abdul-Wakeel encourages professionals to invest in themselves.
“One key piece is staying knowledgeable about trends, tools, and processes relative to your career choice. Be willing to invest your own time and money in your professional development.”

3. Consider New and Fresh Career Opportunities
If you find yourself stuck in your current job or industry and lack motivation, it might be a sign to consider a career change.
“Often times, stuck means that there are no new opportunities for growth or advancement,” said  Abdul-Wakeel. “Depending on the length of time in a career, you can get identified as only being able to do one thing and overlooked for new and exciting opportunities.”
Consider revamping your position, joining a new company, or even switching up your career choice to regain your motivation as a professional.
Evaluate your current career and whether it still interests you long-term. Does it still fulfill you as a professional? Are there other roles in your field or industry that might best suit you or that you’re more excited about? LinkedIn career coach Nena B. Abdul-Wakeel encourages taking a close look into other career opportunities to take your motivation into your own hands.
“Be willing to change departments or companies for a new experience. That comes with risks as well, but do your research and make informed choices [about your career]. Talk to people also in your career path and learn from their experience: the good and the bad.”
A new company, position, or career might just be the key to rediscovering your motivation at work while giving you a fresh start and a new perspective.

4. Invest in Other Areas of Your Life
Sometimes, we can get so focused on our career that it becomes too much of a central part of our happiness. Invest more time and energy away from the job by focusing on other areas of your life that can bring you balance and renew your motivation from a fresh perspective.
“Sometimes we expect to feel totally fulfilled by our career, but that’s not realistic,” said Abdul-Wakeel. “We are multidimensional, and we should be willing to have different things in our lives to fulfill who we are.” 
One great way to reignite your motivation at work is to ignite other areas of your life, from focusing on your self-care and better work-life balance to spending more time with family and friends once the workday is over. Volunteerism is another great way to throw yourself into something other than your career while expanding your skill set: “Volunteering can give you the opportunity to grow new skills in a new arena,” said Adbul-Wakeel. “It’s a great way to test the waters.”
 Spending more time away from work and investing in yourself could help you spark a new energy in your career, giving you the space to rest and regain the motivation to push forward in your career.   More

If you ran a business in 2020, we want to start by giving you a massive shoutout. We don’t need to explain why last year was so challenging for business owners, and we think you’re amazing for getting through such a hard year. Whether you already started a business and made it through 2020 or you’re planning on starting one this year (go for it!), we want to help you take some actionable steps that will set your business up for success in 2021. We put together six things you can do right now to get off to a great start this year—from creating a marketing plan to giving your website a strategic spruce. Start checking things off quickly with our platform of choice, Squarespace, which offers user-friendly tools on everything from building websites to tracking analytics to sending emails, so you can get back to doing more of what you love. 

1. Refresh your website
The start of a new year is a great time to revisit your current website (or set one up if you don’t have one already). You want your site to engage your audience and help you pull in new customers, inquiries, or readers. Go through an audit of each page and really think about what the color choices, website copy, and overall layout is communicating. Is your site layout easy to navigate and understand? Is your site set up for mobile viewing?
We love and recommend Squarespace because it makes it easy to ensure your site is beautiful and functional. Pick from tons of templated designs, customize in a few hours, and your site is ready to rock. You can also preview how the site will look on mobile devices, which is essential, as that is where most of your traffic could be coming from— especially if you’re marketing on social platforms like Instagram. 

2. Make your customer’s lives easier
While the customer may not always be right (don’t tell them we said that!) they do always deserve to have a good experience with your business. Make their life way easier by making your processes, business hours, and other key information clear and easy to find.
Use your website and social platforms to show how to contact you, what your store hours are, what items you have available to purchase, and any other key info they need in order to either buy from you or book an appointment with you in the simplest way possible. Don’t be afraid to reiterate this info in multiple places—it might seem like overkill to you, but new customers will be thankful to easily find exactly what they’re looking for. And because so many people hate calling during business hours to make appointments, add convenient features to your website, like appointment scheduling, to create as seamless of an experience as possible. 

3. Let’s get automated
If you’re a business owner, you know your to-do list never truly ends. You wear many different hats during the course of your day, and that can get really overwhelming, really fast. So anything you can do to save a little time here and there can be a game-changer. Enter: automations. As a business owner, it’s hard to let go, but utilizing automations to do some of your more mundane—but necessary—business tasks is something that will save you time, stress, and headaches in the long run. 
Let’s look at email marketing as an example of how automations can make your life so much easier. Every business needs email marketing as a tool in their arsenal (btw, these are some of our go-to email tips!), and luckily email is one of the easiest things to automate. You can create automations that welcome new subscribers, send them a coupon, or recommend products they may like after they make a purchase—further engaging your audience and keeping your biz top of mind. If you’re not sure where to start, Squarespace email campaigns offer pre-set automation triggers that help you craft your emails, along with plug-n-play templates that look great on desktop or mobile. Win, win. 

 
 
4. Create a fresh marketing plan
It’s time to take last year’s data and put it to work! Take an hour or two to sit down and look at what really worked for you last year marketing wise, and equally as important, what didn’t work for you. Then take what you’ve learned and create an achievable and actionable marketing plan for the new year. If possible, create social media posts, email newsletters, and digital ads in bulk. Then schedule them out a bit in advance. 
The key with any good marketing plan is to use data to make informed decisions. While your gut can lead you in the right direction at times, it’s also extremely valuable to have analytical insight on your side. Utilize the free analytics provided by the platforms you share on, like Instagram, to gauge what is resonating with your audience. We also love Squarespace’s built-in analytics to help you understand how your audience is interacting with your website. What pages, content, or products are engaging viewers the most? Use these insights to help you make a plan for the future.  

5. Consider a rebrand 
It’s always a nice feeling to give your brand a little refresh, and you don’t have to go all out with a complete rebrand to breath some new life into your aesthetics. Sometimes, just switching up your color palette or adding a new font into the mix can change the feeling of your brand, while still keeping consistent with your look and style. 
Try adding a few fresh colors to your Instagram feed or switching up your website color palette to start. Just play around and have fun with it—no pressure to be perfect. Our graphic designer here at TEG recommends starting out with a moodboard to narrow in on colors, styles, and type treatments that you’re drawn to. Start by creating a board on Pinterest with images that you think reflect your brand and that would resonate with your audience. Then go through and find the recurring styles—i.e., warm earth tones, touches of handwritten script, etc.—and pull those into your own brand imagery and designs. For more of her tips, read our guide to common branding mistakes and how to fix them. 
A bonus: If you’re using Squarespace, it’s super easy to test out different colors within your site with their built-in design editor and pre-made palettes. 

6. Build your digital network
It seems safe to say that most of us won’t be networking in person anytime soon. Luckily, there’s really no need to. Connect with like-minded individuals in your industry over social media, ask people you’re interested in getting to know for phone or Zoom dates instead of coffee dates, and check in with existing connections via email whenever you come across an article they may like or hear about a recent work accomplishment of theirs. Want the networking to come to you? Don’t forget to add a contact form to your website!

What are you doing to help set your business up for success this year?

This post was sponsored by Squarespace, but all of the opinions within are those of The Everygirl editorial board. More