From Career

April 18, 2018

Mistakes I Made In My Career

In 2018 I celebrated 10 year at my company. Well not exactly, since I’m currently on maternity and not there at the moment, however it counts all the same. I have been thinking about what I accomplished in 10 years and what I have to look forward to in the future. I feel that I have been in the workforce long enough to dish out some advice to you. Regardless if you are just starting out or have been there for a while take a look at the list below and don’t make the same mistakes I made in my career. Read more

April 4, 2018

The Surprising Reason I Pushed Myself Towards a Promotion

Before I went off on maternity leave I successful obtained a promotion in my company. This promotion was 3 years in the making and took a lot out of me. Previously I talked about some of the books that I read that helped me. What I didn’t mention was the different reason that I was able to push through 3 years of struggles to get to where I wanted to be. Read more

January 31, 2018

Employee Employer Shift

An Employers Guide to Keeping Great Employees

The strength of the job market in Canada varies based on who you talk to and which province you live in. The economy is doing fairly well; though some areas of the country continue to struggle. This is particularly noticeable due to the international oil industry with its peaks and valleys. Generally speaking the employment landscape is quite solid, with the unemployment rate dropping from 6.8% to 5.7% in 2017. The “Boomers” are also starting to retire. The youngest baby boomers are in their mid to late 50’s. As they drop out of the job market important pieces to company’s structures go with them. What that sets up is a shift of supply and demand for quality employees. Employers need to be aware that their top talent (their aces), are prime targets for the competition. 2018 may be the hottest year in recent history for job jumping in the corporate world.

October 18, 2017

The Tale of One Product and Three Sales Techniques

A Look At Sales Techniques

As I mentioned earlier in the year, I am currently working in a role that is sales/commission based. I am part of a fantastic team, very little cutthroat, quite supportive and am happier than I have ever been. My team is comprised of a manager and one other account manager. All three of us have a certain number of clients that we are responsible for and of course we are all focused on getting new accounts. The service we sell is the exact same – yet we each have very different approaches. This isn’t an “Art of the Deal” type of post; I don’t profess to know everything there is to know about selling/closing. The approach I strive for isn’t important either – I’d love to hear your feedback on which you think is the most effective. A combination of the three is the easy way out – but if you HAD to choose, let me know what you think.

August 23, 2017

Why Your Job Is Much More Than A Salary

Happiness is Greater Than Salary

We have talked a lot in the past year on the topic of employment. In 2016 I got a working notice for the job I had for over 10 years. In early 2017 I got another job which almost immediately fell apart. Then in April I got yet another job which is going really well. Needless to say with so many peaks and valleys we’ve had a lot to talk about. The good thing about this rollercoaster is that I landed in a place where I’m happier with my job than I have in well over a decade. A couple of weeks ago something was brought up at work that brought up another topic. I was (sort of) offered a promotion.

May 17, 2017

Budgeting on a Commission

A Few Ideas on How to Budget When Your Salary is Commission-Based

There are a few different ways to receive payment for work performed; you can be an hourly employee, working on a fixed salary, completing a project for a contracted amount, or working for a percentage of the sales you make (AKA Commission). There can also have a combination of these methods of payment – you can work on a salary up to a certain amount of hours and then qualify for overtime at an hourly rate. An employee can have a base salary and get a commission for sales. Generally speaking you wouldn’t have both a salary and a contract payment but almost any other combination is possible. I recently started in a position with a sales role. While I’ve been in sales in one way, shape or form before, this was my first foray into a pay structure that involved commission. I have a base salary, but the question came up – how do you budget for commission?
Read more

March 22, 2017

A Delicious Balsamic Salary Reduction

Our Recipe for Successfully Losing an Income

In a previous post, I provided some insight into a big change in Sarah and I’s financial world. In 2016 I was given a working notice for the job I had been at for the past decade. This meant that we had to prepare for the possibility of going down to one income for 2017. It was a scary situation. Sarah and I have had comparable salaries for several years. We both considered ourselves lucky to have solid incomes. We had worked really hard to get to where we were. The potential loss of my pay meant that we’d have to prepare to cut our expenditures in half. Read more

December 14, 2016

Invest In Yourself

Invest…

We run a personal finance blog. I can’t say this enough but saving and investing are important actions to take to grow your net worth and more towards financial independence. I’m sure you check your accounts, invest on a regular schedule and manage your portfolio with all the tools you have at your disposal.

But how often do you invest in yourself?