From Retail Manager to Guest House Owner

From Retail Manager to Guest House Owner Success Story > From: Job To: Startup From Retail Manager to Guest House Owner “I spent each week just looking forward to the weekend, or my next trip abroad.” * From Retail Manager to Guest House Owner Phil Jackson felt trapped in his career, living for his days off while his heart longed to explore the world. When the Boxing Day tsunami hit his beloved Sri Lanka, he felt compelled to return. Here, he shares how he literally built a new life there, on his own terms. What work were you doing previously? I worked for a supermarket distribution warehouse for ten years. Before that I was a successful supermarket manager. What are you doing now? I now own and manage The Spice House, a guest house, with my Sri Lankan wife, Wathsala. It's in Mirissa, on the beautiful south coast of Sri Lanka. Why did you change? I'd always loved travel, which is the main reason why I left my managerial position at the supermarket. I realised that if I didn't leave soon, I'd be trapped on the retail career ladder that I was steadily climbing. So, I left to go travelling for a year and loved every minute of it. When I returned to the UK, I got myself a job in the distribution side of supermarkets, which allowed me to continue my passion for travel. During the ten years that I was there, I was lucky enough to visit over 40 countries. It got to the point where I just knew that starting and running a guest house was something that I could do, and, more importantly, make a success of. When was the moment you decided to make the change? In 2004, I travelled to Sri Lanka and fell in love with everything about this magical island â€" the culture, its people, its beautiful, unspoilt beaches. Soon after I left, the Boxing Day tsunami hit the island, leaving a trail of devastation. Seeing this on television, I felt a real need to return, to catch up with some of the people that I'd met. Are you happy with the change? Of course, living next to a tropical beach with a beautiful house, swimming pool, and lovely wife, I'm very happy with the changes that I've made! But there are still daily challenges and frustrations to be dealt with. What do you miss and what don't you miss? To be honest, there isn't much that I miss about my old job. Like lots of my colleagues, I tended to live week by week, just looking forward to the weekend, or, in my case, my next trip abroad! How did you go about making the shift? Deciding to move abroad can be a big decision, but it was never a big deal for me. I'd always felt more at home travelling around developing countries than I did, say, in London. When I returned to Sri Lanka after the tsunami, something just clicked in my head; I made the decision very quickly that I wanted to buy some land and build my own guest house. I made a few more trips there over the course of a year to find the perfect spot. I settled on Mirissa, a sleepy beach resort on the south of the island,. Then, I used the British Embassy website to find a very reliable lawyer and purchased an acre of land, just one minute from the beach. To finance the purchase, I sold my house in the UK and moved back in with my parents. I continued working whilst I went about designing my dream home. I got myself a good architect and builders; things went pretty smoothly from day one. I was fortunate in that I managed to buy my piece of paradise at just the right time. In 2006, the war was still going on, so tourism was very low key and consequently land prices were lower. Just as we opened the guest house, thankfully, the war came to an end; suddenly, Sri Lanka was the hottest new travel destination. Numbers of tourists continue to rise, year after year. Sometimes you need a bit of luck in life; I appreciate and am thankful for mine. What didn't go well? What 'wrong turns' did you take? To be honest, everything went pretty smoothly. As with anywhere in the world, there were building delays and a lot of red tape. But in a way this worked to my advantage, as it gave me time to plan and re-plan everything about the design of the house. I was able to alter minor design mistakes without it costing me too much money. How did you handle your finances to make your change possible? Once I'd sold my house in the UK, I was lucky enough to be able to move back in with my parents, so that I could save on rent and send most of my earnings out to Sri Lanka to finance the build. Without their help, I wouldn't have been able to achieve what I have, so I really do appreciate everything that they've done for me. Once the guest house was finally open and earning money, we were able to reinvest the income; this, coupled with my UK earnings, enabled us to make improvements and increase the number of rooms and facilities that we could offer guests. I had met and then married my Sri Lankan wife in 2008. She and her family were running the guest house while I was still working in the UK. Once they'd started earning more than me, I thought that the time was right to join them! So I made the permanent move in 2012. What was the most difficult thing about changing? Everyone told me that the hardest thing about moving abroad would be missing my friends and family; it's so true. However, Skype does make it easier to stay in touch, and being able to have guests from home stay with us is great. What help did you get? There is always help, no matter what career field you want to pursue; it's just knowing where to find it that can be more difficult. In my case, finding a good lawyer, architect, builders and Wathsala, my fantastic wife, has made everything so much easier. What have you learnt in the process? You learn a lot about yourself when you make such a complete career change. Making a success of my dream has given me so much more belief and confidence in myself. As is the case for so many people in my old situation, there was always something holding me back from pursuing what I really wanted to do; I just needed that initial push. What do you wish you'd done differently? I just wish I'd taken the plunge a few years earlier. What would you advise others to do in the same situation? Follow your heart. There is nothing better than working for yourself. It can be challenging, but have belief in yourself and go for it! But, saying that, take your time and plan everything that you can, too. Ask advice from people who've already made the change; that's why the Careershifters website is so good! Everyone needs some help and inspiration from others to take that first step. What resources would you recommend to others? Tap into experience. Don't be afraid to ask advice from people who've already made the shift that you're considering. Trust me, most people will be only too happy to offer it. To find out more about Phil's business, visit www.thespicehousemirissa.com. What lessons could you take from Phil's story to use in your own career change? Let us know in the comments below.

How Rampant ICE Is Among Teenagers And Ways To Help Them Get Through It

How Rampant ICE Is Among Teenagers And Ways To Help Them Get Through It What is ICE? ICE is a highly addictive and strong drug that affects the bodys central nervous system and is also commonly referred to as crystal meth or crystal methamphetamine. It comes in shiny whitish-blue rocks or clear crystal chunks. Also called glass or blade, it has grown to become a very popular party substance in many parts of the world. Users usually smoke crystal meth via small glass pipes, however, sometimes they can snort it, swallow it or even inject it directly into their veins. Those that have used it before saying they feel a slight and a fast rush of euphoria just right after theyve taken a hit. This drug is a very dangerous man-made substance that can cause severe psychological complications as well as damage your body in general. It has also been around for quite a while. During WWII, soldiers were given this drug to help keep them awake and alert. Many have also taken it to help battle depression and to lose weight. Today, theres only one legal meth commodity and its a tablet thats used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Its use is rare, though, and it can only be gotten via a doctors prescription. Teen ICE addiction So, What is ICE addiction? Its when someone has used the drug so much that they feel like they simply function, let alone live, a day without it. Adolescents are particularly at risk when it comes to crystal meth abuse. The human brain continues to develop until the body thats carrying it reaches its mid-20s or so, and a drug as powerful as this one can have an extremely huge impact on a brain thats still in the development stage. Teenagers may also not know about the risks that come with taking such a drug and so they might be more prone to using it more often. In fact, a lot of teenage users acknowledge the social costs and health risks of using it heavily, however, they still have a rather mellow and positive reaction towards its use as compared to crack cocaine or heroin. How does ICE abuse look like in teens Teen crystal meth abuse is seen frequently in teenage females that happen to be anorexic. They like using it because they want to lose weight as fast as possible and sadly this drug can help with that. This can often prove to be an especially dangerous and harmful combination, one which causes them to lose weight extremely fast leaving them looking skeleton-thin. Crystal meth abuse is usually characterized by lack of hygiene, weight loss, irritability, physical scars the likes of scabs and lesions caused by frequent and constant scratching, and in very severe situations meth mouth (gum disease, acid erosion and tooth fractures). Teenagers that are abusing ICE are also prone to doing things that are very dangerous and they love taking risks as well. This is one way you can identify a teen thats abusing methamphetamines. The euphoric effects that meth highs provide the user with goes beyond all reasoning and can cause teenage children to push themselves and their bodies to the extreme limit. Some adolescents use it in small doses to help them study as an Adderall alternative. How to treat ICE addiction Treatment for crystal meth abuse can take several forms and those forms in large part depend on the specific needs of the individual in question. Detoxification is usually the first phase of treatment and it can proceed smoothly if carefully monitored by experienced medical practitioners. Withdrawal, on the other hand, can prove profoundly uncomfortable for most, and it can sometimes even give rise to depressive episodes. Oh, and by the way, the risk of relapsing is high during the acute detox stage so you need to be extra careful during this period. Acute symptoms will often time be treated using medications so as to help alleviate some of the discomfort of withdrawal and side effects. Additionally, intensive, holistic treatments can also be used to help treat those battling this addiction. Some of them include: 1. Talk Therapy Beyond just ending the abuse of the drug, therapy will also help the teenager address any other factor or issue that may be causing them stress in their lives. Academic pressure, disordered eating and depression are just but a couple of the common reasons why adolescents get involved with drugs of this kind. Because this substance is so strong and highly addictive, treatment should start as soon as possible so that the harm caused can be minimized. 2. Group Therapy Support groups and group therapy matter for both the initial treatment as well as to help the teenage child get clean and to stay that way. The challenge in any recovery journey is staying clean and working alongside former ICE addicts to help keep each motivated along that journey happens to be a huge part of it all. Group sessions can give teenage kids the chance to air out their unique perspectives and problems to people that have gone through similar experiences 3. Family Therapy Working with families as a whole to educate them on how they can provide a better healing environment for their ailing child is very important. Recovery often starts via outpatient or residential programs, however, it all has to continue on even once theyre in the comforts of their home. Families can ensure through family therapy that they create the appropriate home environments for their teenager to continue flourishing, during early recovery as well as throughout their entire school years. Like they say, charity both begins as well as ends at home and so do ICE addiction treatment. That powerful rush and high many people get after using crystal meth causes a lot of them to get hooked right away. Its something you need to be very careful with or else youll find yourself abusing it within no time, especially if youre in your teenage years. The wave of dopamine that floods your brain after a hit can make you feel like youre in heaven, but its all a lie. Dont let your teenage child fall prey to ICE drug addiction. Hopefully, this article has provided you with that much-needed insight.

How Has Corporate Wellness Evolved Over Time

How Has Corporate Wellness Evolved Over Time If the number of fitness apps, gadgets and programs are anything to go by then there are no prizes for guessing that the health and fitness market has come on leaps and bounds. But what about corporate wellness? Has it become more than an in-house gym and free water coolers when ti comes to looking after employees and health and wellbeing? Our 10 corporate wellness experts tell us how they think this area of the business has developed and changed over time. Nick Patel Corporate or employee wellness programs have and are evolving.   The past five years represent a continuation of changes that started decades ago.   Most notably, more and more employers are adopting wellness programs in general.   This includes employers of all sizes.   Also, the use of technologies and software platforms are replacing and supplementing traditional wellness services.   This is partially due to employers’ desires to support and deliver comparable wellness benefits to geographically dispersed teams.   Lastly, employers are slowly moving away from legacy services like biometric screenings and health risk assessments that have shown to have little or no value. Nick Patel, CEO of Wellable. Liz Walker Wellness was once synonymous with physical health, like body weight, activity levels and healthy biometrics. Today, wellness incorporates so much more, like mental and financial wellbeing, as stressors in these areas often have long-term links to physical health and poor productivity. The discovery of this linkage has put forward the need for proactive and preventative strategies. Tackling stressors of ill health head-on and holistically prevents conditions from worsening or even turning chronic. It also empowers employees to build resilience in their everyday lives, knowing personal issues often influence workplace productivity. Liz Walker, HR Director, Unum UK. Sammy Courtright In the grand scheme of things, the corporate wellness industry hasn’t been around all that long. The origins of corporate health and wellness programs began in the 1980s, when employers realized that the well-being of their employees not only created a better work environment, and helped save money on healthcare costs. Of course, as the times changed, so did corporate health programs. While aerobics may have been a trend in the 1990s, for example, today yoga, kickboxing, and circuit training are some of the more popular options. There’s also an increased focus on mind-body health, and more of an emphasis on mental wellness along with physical health. Finally, the corporate health program industry has started to rely on technology to ensure engagement, create team-wide challenges, track data, and provide a seamless solution for RSVPs, check-ins, and scheduling. Sammy Courtright, founder and CEO of Fitspot Wellness. Lucy Tallick Wow! Corporate wellness has developed hugely over the past decade. Really beginning with sick pay and private medical insurance, it was all extremely reactive, only kicking in when an employee was at crisis point and in need of intervention. Over the last three to four years, we have seen a huge shift into the world of wellbeing at work meaning a preventative programme supporting people to be more resilient, with the goal of stopping employees reaching a crisis point in the first place. Lucy Tallick,   Head of Wellbeing at Reward Gateway. Alaana Linney In the early days of corporate wellness, the focus was very much on physical health. One of the earliest examples dates back to 1879 when The Pullman Company introduced an athletic programme. In 1926, Ford introduced a 40-hour work week limit, under the impression that encouraging work/life balance would make employees more productive. These corporate trailblazers didn’t intend to start a revolution, they just wanted to increase staff output. Fast forward to the today and workplace wellbeing has become a central pillar of most businesses, with a focus on total wellbeing (e.g. mental health, sleep, fitness, financial security). Alaana Linney, Director of Business Development at Nuffield Health. Joe Gaunt A good friend of mine recently wrote in his book release ‘we need more than free bananas’ (The Rebel Playbook by Glenn Elliott and Debra Corey). Its not about a ‘wellness week’ once a year where companies get some fruit and push forced participation or about having a weekly fruit box delivered that only gets shared among senior directors.  We are seeing more companies with the right intent, (which is great) but we need to see a sustained movement to recognise this as part of the overall business strategy and measure it.   Companies that don’t invest in this area will soon pay the price as more young people enter the workforce.   Millennials and generation Z workers are more educated and aware of the impact long hours and stress has on their health and wellbeing and therefore have many non-negotiable demands of an employer.  Those companies who are not offering what they desire will be left behind. Joe Gaunt, CEO of Hero Wellbeing. Shaun Bradley Although wellness has been around forever often under the occupational health banner, it is only over the last decade that wellness has become front and centre. The internet has played a major part in educating people that they have the tools to talk about wellness via dedicated websites, classes, chatrooms and social media. This increased understanding of wellness has a link to business productivity and ultimately results and that has highlighted that those organisations that positively impact wellness will not only win but have engaged employees as a competitive advantage. Today’s workplace wellness programs reflect a more holistic approach, caring for employees’ physical, mental and social well-being. The benefits include a better work environment, better health and reduced costs. Shaun Bradley, Director of People at  Perkbox. Ruth Tongue Having worked in corporate wellbeing for many years, weve seen the shift from the focus being solely on treating ill health and providing health insurance to preventing poor health and helping people to thrive both physically and mentally. As well as the obvious movement of offerings online and utilising fit tech, we are now seeing mental and emotional health being an essential part of wellbeing strategies, along with a focus on diversity, financial health, the impact of our environment on our health and the interaction between technology and our wellbeing. Ruth Tongue, Co-founder of Elevate. Sam Fromson Corporate wellness has been around since the late 19th Century when the focus then was providing safe working conditions.   Throughout the 20th Century the focus shifted to providing appropriate interventions for employees at high risk of work related illness or injury.   Such a focus was very much reactive and often led by regulation.   Thankfully, companies now take a more proactive approach to their people’s mental and physical wellbeing.   There’s also a better understanding of the internal and external factors which influence wellbeing at work.   The net result, widespread endorsement that investing in wellbeing makes sound business sense. Sam Fromson, Co-founder of Yulife. Jill King While certain traditional programs may be fading, workplace wellness programs aren’t being phased out. They’re evolving and becoming more sophisticated, in order to meet the specific needs of employee populations. In place of traditional, outdated programs, employees are being offered mobile apps, personalised technology, relevant rewards, and social feedback loops. Instead of an analogue weight-loss program, workers are encouraged to use wearables to track and learn from their behaviour. Rather than merely providing an EAP hotline, employers are offering tools and technology to help employees build resilience. It’s time for older programs to cede to emerging technologies that have been designed specifically to enable positive, healthy behaviour change. The rise and fall of traditional workplace wellness speaks to an exciting evolution in the industry, one that’s being widely discussed: the move from wellness to wellbeing. Jill King,  Director of International Markets at VirginPulse.

Letter to new graduates. And how about a braided career

Letter to new graduates. And how about a braided career Are you switching jobs every two years? Are you draining your savings to start companies with no business plan? Are you hiring a headhunter to find you a spouse? These are things you should be doing to find the success youre looking for in the new workplace. Sure, they create instability, but what else are you going to do? Work for IBM until you get a gold watch? The most important thing in your life is the people you love, so you need to figure out how to create a work life that will accommodate that. Do you love your dad? Tell your new boss that before you even start working, you need a week off for your dads birthday cruise. If your boss says no then thank goodness you learned ahead of time that you dont want to work there. Do you love your girlfriend? Pack your sleeping bag and follow her to Costa Rica to save a village. You can get a job saving the rain forest, or, better yet, spend the six months making a plan for how you two are going to do shared-care parenting. The best way to make sure you will have time and money to create the life you want is to have what I am going to start calling a braided career. Intertwine the needs of the people you love, with the work you are doing, and the work you are planning to do, when its time for a switch. This way, when you run out of money you can get a corporate job for a year. If life as a stay-at-home mom is unfulfilling, you can start a side business from the cafe on the corner. If your COBRA runs out, you can get a hard-core job that involves a lot of travel, pick up the free miles and the international experience and once youve earned the ability to do COBRA again, take a trip around the world with a backpack and sleeping bag. And dont forget to use those upgrade miles. Who says you cant store a sleeping bag in the first-class cabin? Does this sound unstable to you? Its not. The voice inside your head thats screaming about instability is your moms. Shes saying, I lived through the feminist movement so you can quit your job to follow your boyfriend? I didnt raise you to do that. The voice inside your head is your dads saying, You want to have fun? You have one minutes worth of experience. Whos going to pay you to have fun? And, unfortunately, the voices might also be at your dinner table, because you might also be living with your mom and dad. But tune them out. Because youre on the right track. And really, its a track. It feels like youre all over the place, it feels like you have no plan, it feels like youre always about to spend your last cent. But you are learning to create stability through transition. You can become a master of transition and you are achieve the thing you want most: A work life that supports the values you hold dear time, family, friends, community, passion, and fun. So look, this is what you need to do. You need to stop thinking that the transitions are going to end as soon as you grow up. This is not reality talking, this is your uncle talking to your dad to console him that you just quit grad school. What is going to end is the bad feeling about transitions. Youre going to get great at them because you are not the first person to have a quarterlife crisis. Youre not the first person to quit a traveling sales job so youll be home to have sex when youre ovulating. Youre not the first person to run out of money and have to take a 70-hour a week corporate job for awhile, just to catch up on bills. Lots of people are making these sorts of decisions, and theyre great decisions, in the context of good transition skills, and a good understanding of the new, braided career.

Showing Your Skills and Abilities in Resume Writing

Showing Your Skills and Abilities in Resume WritingResume skills and abilities writing, it is often said, are not really that important as the skills and abilities in general. What is actually more important is the communication skills in resume writing. This can be the best way to write a good resume and also the only way to make sure that it will be read properly. The following tips will help you in your search for good resume writing skills and abilities.A lot of the time, communication skills and writing skills may appear to be the same thing. However, they are very different. When it comes to writing, to communicate well, people tend to see what you do not say. If you do not communicate well, it is a very difficult task for people to know if you have the necessary skills and abilities to apply to the job you are applying for.There are many things that you will need to show for your previous experience and therefore for your skills and abilities. You will need to show your skills in writing, for example. Another good thing to show your references. This can be with a previous employer or by referring to an old resume. One of the best ways to show this is to use a format to create your references and the sources that you use.Next, you will need to show your skills in general. For example, when you are writing a resume, you will need to include your skills and abilities. If you want, you can even take these skills and abilities and make a graphic representation of them on your resume. This is how you will show the potential employer that you have many skills and abilities.There are certain ways that you can also show your writing skills. This includes using some of the most commonly used formats like bullet points, tables, boxes, lists, etc. These types of formats can be very effective and also useful if you want to show your skills and abilities in writing.However, if you want to show your specific skills, this is going to require more work. When you think ab out it, you may have written something that you have submitted to another company, but what happened there is that the other company also sent you a letter of reference and included a section that showed their skills and abilities. They did not say anything about your skills and abilities.To show your skills and abilities, you can actually write it yourself. You do not need to be a professional writer to do this. All you need to do is use the basic formatting and you will be able to show your skills and abilities in writing.These tips on showing your skills and abilities in resume writing will help you to write a more professional looking resume and also to make sure that it will get read properly. In addition, it will also make you a more desirable candidate for the position that you are applying for. Do not forget to include this in your resume.

Check out our facebook page in English - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Check out our facebook page in English - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Its taken us a while to get around to it, but here it is: Our Woohoo inc. facebook page. Take a look at it if you have a free minute :o) Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

9 Strategies Graduates Can Find Dream Job Through Social Media - CareerEnlightenment.com

9 Strategies Graduates Can Find Dream Job Through Social Media Technologies have changed our lives completely. We do all the things now differently. We have machines to do our dishes, do our laundry, and cook our meals.But what is even more remarkable, technologies have revolutionized the way we communicate, connect and network. Thanks to the social media we, can now search for jobs, talk to friends and send out Birthday wishes with a click of a few buttons.No one would ever believe that this is possible, but for us, it is nothing special.If you are a graduate student looking for new job opportunities, then there is something you should know.Employers now tend to look for candidates using social media unlike the old methods of posting job openings. And if you want to find a good job, you need to take this thing into account and apply certain strategies to your job search.In a second, you will get to see the exact strategies you should use. So, save them, utilize them and enjoy how simple the job search can be if you do everything right.1. Have a good photo.We all tend to snap judgements about people based on their appearances. That’s how it works, and you should be ready for thatFind a good picture for your social media profile that is suitable for a resume. You should be dressed smartly and smile on it.On that picture, you should be alone, so that the potential employer knows for sure whose profile it is. This will serve as a good first impression.2. Have different accounts for business and personal life.It is better to separate your business and personal accounts if possible. You should look like a real professional in the social media and for that, you need to have a different strategy than for your personal account.Posting some topical articles and sharing your insights on specific issues can help build up a strong positive image of a top-notch specialist. So, try to bear this strategy in mind when upgrading your job search via social media.3. Use proper language.The way you talk is another important thing to keep a n eye on. You might be posting great articles, but they will have the desirable effect only as long as you use proper language. Sound smart and try to avoid words and phrases only suitable for the informal style.4. Enlarge your network.Use social media to connect with interesting people, potential employers and those who have influence. Social media are all about connections and communication, so just use the right way.And remember to ask people you know to introduce you to someone you want to work for, as employers are more likely to hire those who were recommended by someone they know rather than a brand-new professional.5. Check out new opportunities.You should follow the profiles of companies you are interested in to see whether they have new openings. Besides, there are many different communities where HRs post information about open position they want to fill. You should subscribe to those communities and follow influencing people â€" and be sure, great opportunities won’t t ake too long to come your way. Want to Read More Articles Like This One?Sign up here to receive weekly updates from Career Enlightenment, and never miss another powerful job searching tip! SUBSCRIBE! You have Successfully Subscribed!We hate spam too. Unsubscribe any time. 6. Connect with recruiters.You need to be proactive and connect with people who hold certain positions at the companies you wish to work for. Usually recruiters start searching for perfect candidates for the open position among their followers first. So, being among those followers is a great opportunity for you to get to the point where you want to be.7. Be real.Even though you want to sound smart and professional, do not lose your own voice and style along the way. Be real and true to yourself. Do not post things that are trendy if you do not believe the same way, and opt to be honest rather than popular among your subscribers.8. Have a positive social profile.Your overall image must be positive. Otherwise, y ou will not achieve the desired effect. Do not post negative reviews of companies you used to work for and try not to complain about the business relationship online. Stay positive and keep your image that way whenever possible.9. Build relationships and maintain the old ones.When you think about a job search, consider looking at it the same way you look at any other relationships. You need to invest hard work and effort into maintaining them. The same applies here: to have string business connections, you need to work on them.Finding a job via social media is not as hard as one might think. So, why not seizing this opportunity with our step by step instructions on how to do that?