Almost six weeks ago, I was browsing at Barnes and Noble to find a book on “Dummies for a new blogger”. This is the best thing about Barnes and Nobles, they have such a nice extension of Starbucks within, as I was settling down with my book, I had a young kid across me reading about “Space”. I confidently asked him- what do you want to become when you grow up? Without taking any further time, he quickly responded I want to be You Tuber and shoot videos. His response did not surprise me, today You Tube has become like an incredible hulk, which stores and streams millions of videos, music and movies in mostly all the languages.

Lately we have noticed a significant rise jump of new video bloggers popping out each day. They post videos on everything ranging from make up, shopping, cooking, pranks, reviews on tech gadget, traveling and so on…I myself learned some home DYI’s, make up tricks and Italian cooking from the video bloggers.

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Shalini Shah

www.smartliving24x7.com




 

Three T ’s approach- absolute necessary for Teenagers!

Recently, I stumble upon a website known as www.studentdebtcrisis.org and I read few of the thousand sickening stories posted on the website, student ending up with paying 63k with interest from 28k; paying almost close to 9% interest. As I scroll through some more, my heart was sinking and my eyes were popping out. In just few other clicks on Google, I again read few more mind-boggling stories about kids coming out in public to sue parents for not paying their college tuition bills. Most of the students were in a quicksand situation- some desire to return their degrees, some experienced students were not getting any jobs and some were simply signing up for two jobs just to pay out their student’s debt. The outcome of all the stories were, kids were hoping if parents taught them value of money and budgeting in their early days.

These stories are not common in the United States, according to CNBC- the numbers are staggering: more than $1.2 trillion in outstanding student loan debt, 40 million borrowers, an average balance of $29,000, (http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/15/the-high-economic-and-social-costs-of-student-loan-debt.html)

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Shalini Shah

www.smartliving24x7.com

What to be successful? - learn from a You Tuber

I religiously follow handful YouTube’s channels and love to entertain myself during some down time after a hectic day at work.  I recently happen to ask a young kid while he was scrolling few books at Barnes and Nobles on science and technology, I asked him, what do you want to become when you grow up. I was confident his response would be an engineer or a career in medicine.

Without taking any further time to think, he confidently replied- I want to be a “You Tuber”.

I was not shocked by his response because I was aware about the new trend by young teenagers to occupy the space on YouTube. What shocked me was- how can a person earn his living just off by video blogging. In real world, it just didn’t make sense at all. So to investigate more about the video blogger life behind the scenes, I wore my investigating cap on and mostly spend my weekend to research about real work done by you tubers behind the scenes.

So here are my findings below and we all should follow the same rules at work or in personal life to succeed”

1)   They have found their niche

I almost investigated over 15 famous you tubers including the new rising ones, one thing was common among all of them - they all have found their niche, it could be anything playing videos games, beauty videos, funny videos like one by aka superwoman Lily Singh or by Miranda. None of them have followed the crowd, they are passionate and confident about their interest and that was clearly visible in their videos.

2)   Be authentic

All the you tubers have a strong crowd following them on YouTube, Instagram , Twitter, Snap Chat and so on.. They have never distributed freebies to viewers to follow them or like their videos; instead they have remained authentic and honest with their viewers. Followers can sense the authenticity in their videos, which are not highly scripted. They are transparent and honest; give chance to viewers to take a peek inside their life.

3)   Ask their feedback and use it

You tubers have learned this point like a punch in the gut- without their followers, they have no chance in the world to succeed or to survive the growing competition each day. Therefore they take all the feedback from their followers very seriously and work hard to implement as they learn everyday. They are loyal to their followers and don’t forget the value of followers.

4)   Appreciate

You tubers have learned to appreciate their competitors in a positive way. They love to promote each other and even collaborate with each other. They take the competition healthily and learn from their competitors.

Each You Tuber spend hours on creating their content, watching 3 minutes videos may not be a big deal for us but it surely takes several days for them to format, edit, uploading those videos with right content. Editing alone can take up to 10 hours and another few hours to upload them.

Lessons learned 1) No easy road to success 2) appreciate others 3) take competition healthily 4) take feedback seriously, not many people will waste time giving you one 5) Be authentic 6) find your niche- its never to late.

Should we all go for “Credit Card Diet” for end of this year?

Yes, it is that time of the year, where our shopping hormones are running high. We are surrounded by companies who have perfected their skills to lure us with all kind of sales flyer, marketing emails, discount coupons, pre-approved credit cards and much more…

There intentions are clear and focused- let the customer spend…spend…more spend…

Marketing department of Wal-Mart, Amazon or any other large corporations have spend millions of dollars to track your spending habit via credit card, face book likes, pictures, and many other several ways. Their main targets are holidays where customers walk out of their homes with credit cards inbuilt in their phones and ready to roll to go on uncountable shopping spree..

Did you know? The United States is a bad role model, carrying a debt of 17 trillion dollars. Almost 20 million customers are addicted to shopping and have no control over their behaviors.

People are constantly filling the empty space of sadness in their life by going on shopping spree, which usually last for maximum 48 hours, and then they are back to normal- feeling depressed again. Some of us have no idea, how much we bought and how much we really have and the primary question is DO WE NEED ALL OF THIS?????

My husband and I spend several days in the month by analyzing our shopping habit for previous months or rest of the year to keep us on track. I want to share with you my tips, hoping this would help you and your family to stay away from credit card debt

1)   Admitting you are a shopaholic is the first step to success. Take help from your family, partner or children to come clean over this issue.

2)   Take an inventory of things you have in the home. Sort them out in two tabs- “absolute necessary” and “can live without it”- Once you compile- your “can live without it” list- keep that handy on your phone, tag it on your fridge or make a color copy and hang it in your bedroom. The point here is to remind yourself- No need to buy unnecessary things.

3)   Companies send sales flyer every day especially before holiday to tempt people to go online and shop~ BLOCK THOSE EMAILS OR DELETE THEM RIGHT AWAY

4)   Open a savings account for your child or yourself- keep transferring set amount every month as a your future savings. Over the time, increasing amount accumulated in your account will motivate you with a positive mindset to save more.

5)   Don’t get lured by 15% or 20% additional discount you get, when you open stores credit card. Their goal is to sell you things, credit and much more. Say NO to store cards or any coupons.

6)   Shop with cash and only cash. Put in place envelope system to divide your monthly expenses and use cash as much as possible.

7)   Finally use MINT.COM or ENVELOPE app on your smart phones and tablets to keep eye on your spending.

Hopefully our tricks will help you to save money and live debt free life.

Learn “Ground Rules” at work

It has been already three weeks at your new job- you have already attended orientation, meet and greet sessions and attended meetings with breakfast with your department. After two weeks of easy-going tasks- you are now thrown into all kind of projects and expectation level have gone up- its too much pressure on you to make sure everything you mentioned in your interview was true and it was worth hiring you.

You may think you have hit the nail on the target- by stocking up all the admiration from your employees about your skills, sincerity and intentions to excel in your department. Well, you are missing something- sometimes we all- what about “fitting in the group”

You may think- fitting into the group- well that was already achieved, when my co-workers praised me for my work and results achieved from first project- Well- its not going to give you cut that easy ladies and gentlemen. If you are like me, who is super passionate about your work and have full intention to stay longer than follow below steps and see the results… I am sure you will be surprised ( I learned them with trail and error methods) 

1)   Surrounding environment

Your current environment around your cubicle should give you transparent picture about your co-workers

a)    Are they socially active? b) Hang out after work hours- catch up on a drink c) more funny interactions and less gossiping 4) sharing lunch recipes and so on.. if you come across any of the above examples means the group is pretty flexible, willing to understand if you are late in your assignment and wont make fuss about little things

2)   Behaviors norms

a)    Dressing styles of employee- some office have very formal attire and most of the employees are quite uptight while some office have laid back attitude when it comes to attire- the seniors managers care about outputs on project instead of the dress codes

b)   You can also determine from your peers work space- colorful, pictures, positive quotes and souvenirs than that means they are more relaxed and letting you in their personal space- perfect way to strike a conversation if you find family pictures.

c)    Staff meetings- are your meeting straight-forward and strict or do you get chance to strike personal conversations before and after meetings- your manager is open to your feedback.

3)   Read newsletters

Make sure always to grab a copy of your departments or organization’s newsletter- its very important to stay updated with current movements at work place to demonstrate sincere and hard working attitude to excel around your peers

4)   No complaining

Always remember to highlight this point- never complain about your previous work place or manager- it can make you visible by giving you negative publicity in the group. (You definitely don’t want to be in that situation at all cost)

5)   Never get comfortable- dont leave any lose ends

Some people have habit of getting comfortable around peers after first two months of job- always remember to keep a tab on how much personal information you share related to family members, salaries etc and so on…

You will be highly visible in your first one year of work- make sure to create a friendly yet sincere hard working impression.

Remain positive, calm and approachable at all times

Graduating with “Master’s in Health Administration”- Learn and Act little different than others!

I have graduated with Masters in Health Administration from a well-established university located in Philadelphia, PA. This article is all about- if I were to graduate all over again than what would I have done differently- if you were thinking to choose this program or if you are almost graduating than I hope my advice can really help you to make wise DECISIONS…

1)   Always chose a school who has a medical school or a health system affiliated with it

Many universities have their own health systems and medical schools- benefit of choosing those schools will be- (a) Alumni can really help you to build your goals or give you real-time update in current health industry and how can you improve your chances to get a job after or even before graduating (b) most schools refer their student to health system departments- smart and hard-working potential candidate who could be a great asset as an intern or associate (c) Professor can also help you to navigate to find a decent internship to build experience- asking your professor should be top on the list- Professor may have tons of contacts with health systems or may have friends in health care companies.

2)   “Plan B”

If you didn’t get admission with any of the health system affiliated schools than you should have option B in action right way. Your action B should be using LinkedIn to contact health system leaders to find a potential internship or volunteer opportunity. Your goal during grad school should be building experience and network.

I personally got hired full time from my internship program- remember to network where you go- commuting, out on school field trip or even hanging out in the city. You never know whose sitting next you in train or in the restaurant.

3)   Always “BE” ready- “Have your professional contact card ready”

One investment you can do during your grad school is – print your contact cards- as I said earlier- you never know- you can get your next networking opportunity on the train platform or during those grocery checkouts lines.

True story: I got my first networking opportunity at Whistler, BC (1000s of miles away from east coast). Would you believe it?? Hiking 7000 feet mountain- I came across this couple from San Diego hiring candidates for top-most well-known companies in California- the couple took a look at my resume and also gave me tips to negotiate my salary later on.

4)   Sign up on LinkedIn

I cannot emphasize enough how LinkedIn can change your life (I am not paid to write this). In fact, I got my last internship with my LinkedIn contact. Learn to write a perfect invitation - if you are sending any invitation to an experience professional contact- don’t sound “cheesy” or “Jazzy”- Just explain your present condition, goals and ask if they could take some time and help you out. Simplicity always works”

5)   Getting healthcare job is not easy- manager’s look for experience

Especially if you have little to no experience- make sure you sign up as a student member of HFMA, AHIMA, AAHIM and so on.. ACHE.ORG guaranteed post fellowship programs around the country every year- over 200 combined fellowships are posted by hospitals across the country (which are usually very well paid, 1 or 2 years program) If you are one of the fortunate one to get selected- than this fellowships will bump your careers, goals and opportunities.. World will be your oysters-

I wish you all the success and happiness in your chosen career. Please feel free to contact me if any questions- more than happy to help you

Regards. 

 

Got disappointing performance appraisal- Now what ?

I recently got a call from a close friend who got some unsatisfactory reviews from his manager. Like everybody else, even he believed he was out-performing all the job duties and was very well liked within the peers but unfortunately that was not the case in the eyes of his manager. Upon further encounter, I learned, he never asked for any specific examples that made his manager come to certain conclusion. And well, that was the turning point of our conversation and looked like both the parties left the room with different ideas and conclusions of what was said or perceived. (Well it happens mostly all the time with employee’s especially new hires that are scared to ask questions). Upon this episode, I quickly check my work calendar as my appraisal was approaching very soon too and I wanted to make sure- I don’t encounter the similar situation.

Four years ago, the man of the house referred me to this book when I started my first job but I ignored his suggestion. I was pretty excited and was on cloud 9 to have my first job and I firmly believed that I have learned everything in graduate school, which will make a perfect hire for any organization.  Unfortunately I never touched a single page of that book. Now I hastily rush back to my study and edgily look for the book—its called “Hit the running Job by Andrea Dolph and Ray Sarnacki”.

I quickly establish chapter number 7 will come handy during my upcoming appraisal session and I would like to summarize the chapter for you with this article.

 Few important lessons to remember:

1)   Keep track of your work

Always make sure, you track your accomplishment, special projects assigned- always ask for informal feedback from your coworkers, managers and other employee involved in the projects. Keeping track of your accomplishment can come handy during appraisal process

2)   Don’t act defensive

Getting appraisal could be nerve wracking; even the most experienced employee can get defensive. Take your appraisal as a learning event to improve and correct your shortcoming, remembers always be listening and taking notes.

3)   Ask for specific examples

Whether you get negative or positive feedback, always remember to ask certain examples because negative or positive feedback could be perceived in anyways. Miscommunication could really hurt manager-employee’s relations.

4)   Disagree with evaluation

Many of us get emotional and cannot ask right questions during the meeting. If you get in one of that situation-take notes and schedule a follow up meeting to discuss further on those issues to get more clarity on future goals and performance

Appraisal is very crucial for your career, it is prepared to help you reach your goals and get up to full potential. Without formal feedback, you wont be able to correct your shortcomings or get a chance to climb the ladder in any organization.

Hope this article was helpful

Please shoot any questions or comments you might have.