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06/02/2021 By Jason Bean Leave a Comment

Stop Wasting Time: These Are The Signs That Your Career Isn’t For You

In the US, only 32 percent of employees are engaged with their work. The lack of interest can be because of different reasons. But one of them can be that people choose careers that aren’t for them. If you belong to this group of disengaged employees, here are the signs to look for to know if your career isn’t for you.

You Can’t Relate to Your Colleagues

One of the most evident signs that you are in a career that isn’t for you is when you can’t relate to your colleagues. Generally, your coworkers and other people in your profession are great people to create relationships beyond work. Most of us end up making lifelong friends with people that share our career choices.

It is about sharing the same passion and interests. But when you are in a career you hate, those topics that others find interesting you’ll probably hate too. For example, if you are a full stack developer and one of your colleagues is excitedly explaining the last project he is working on, you will only find it boring.

Also, you won’t be able to understand how some of your coworkers are so excited every day about going to work. You won’t be able to relate to what they find so incredible or satisfying. This can also be due to the current company you work in, but if it also happens with other colleagues in the industry, then you know what it probably means.

You Run From People Asking About Your Career

When you are passionate about something, people only have to mention it to make you go on a monologue. But if you are on a career that isn’t for you, the opposite will probably happen. You will feel like running every time someone asks you about your career, and you will probably give a short answer and change the subject.

Maybe you don’t do it consciously, but pay attention to your reactions when people ask the dreaded question. It can also happen that you start complaining non-stop. It is also a sign that you at least are in a job you hate.

You Feel Like an Actor

If you feel like an actor or an impostor every time you go to work, then that is another sign you are in a career that isn’t for you. When people are in places they don’t like, they sometimes have to put up a façade. When you are in a career you hate, you probably have to put a mask in the office.

Having a bad attitude will probably only give you more trouble at work. If you feel like you can’t be yourself during office hours, then that career isn’t for you. You shouldn’t have to become somebody else every day. And in the end, it will make you feel more miserable than doing dull tasks or going against your values.

Your Career Doesn’t Align With Your Values

Our core values are probably the ones that define our actions. They help us decide what the best path for us is. Sometimes, they also help us identify what is good or bad. And when the career you choose doesn’t align with them, you feel like you are doing something wrong.

For example, suppose your values go against mistreating animals, and you are in a profession where the industry is about killing animals for consumption. In that case, it is very clear that you will feel conflicted. Maybe you are only doing it for the money, but going against your values just because of the good pay will make you feel hollow in the long run.

It’s Disappearing

Finally, the last sign that you should change your career is if your current one is disappearing. The truth is that technology has changed a lot of things in our world, including taking over several tasks that humans used to do. And even if you are in a career you like, it won’t serve you if it will disappear in the next decade.

You can consider making a career change in the tech industry. It will only take a few months if you enroll in a coding boot camp. And you can even learn the skills with free coding courses. It is something to think about for the future.

In Summary

Staying in a career that isn’t for you will only have a negative impact on your life. You can identify if your career is a good match by looking for the right signs. For example, if you can’t relate to your colleagues, don’t like people asking about your work, have to put up a facade every day, or your work doesn’t align with your values, then it is probably time for a change.

Another reason why you may change careers is if your profession is disappearing. It may sound discouraging, but it is better to make a decision early on. And you could be learning with an online course while you still continue your current job.

Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash

04/08/2021 By Jason Bean 1 Comment

Entrepreneurs, Now IS the Best Time for that New Startup

We are all living with the implications of the pandemic — it has made us cautious and even wary of things we never would have hesitated about previously. Even the most risk-tolerant entrepreneurs may be reluctant to make the move to start a new business right now. While it is true that Covid-19 has negatively impacted the economy, this is actually a good time to launch a startup for a number of reasons.

Why You Should Consider Your Startup Now

As dreadful as the pandemic is, it has created some opportunities for the birth of businesses through lower interest rates and the acceleration of e-commerce. Starting your business now can also position you well for obtaining funding from sources as there is less competition. Establishing your startup now also brings government funding opportunities that may not be available in normal times.

Your capital can also go further right now, making it less expensive to get started and increasing the likelihood of your success. Businesses that are closing may offer you discounts on their equipment, including office or production supplies. You may be able to get a reduced-cost rental on office space if you need a brick-and-mortar location or even purchase a small venue and rent out space to other vendors as a source of steady income.

Partnering up with other entrepreneurs can also be a good way to venture into your business without taking as much of a risk. Startup costs can feel prohibitive for many new entrepreneurs but delegating tasks and hiring outside parties for business tasks can save you a lot of time, money, and headaches in the long run.

How Outsourcing Can Help

When business owners spend a lot of time on tasks that are difficult for them, it wastes precious time and creates costly mistakes. Rather than investing too much time in tasks that can make your life miserable, it may be more cost-effective to hire experts in the field. Hiring freelancers or remote workers to deal with certain aspects of your business can save your sanity and allow you to focus on the areas that you specialize in.

As an example, hiring data analysis services is a smart investment for your growing business. Resources such as Bnpositive can also offer wisdom in a variety of topics from SEO content to tech advice as your business gets up and running. Allowing others to help you in these specialty areas can make your life simpler. Hiring an expert is worth the expense, so be sure to check reviews and look at sample work prior to hiring anyone.

You Will Help the Economy

Starting your business now will help the economy, as well as offer you a steady income. The economy benefits when entrepreneurs make the leap into starting a business. There are scores of people looking for work since the pandemic began, guaranteeing you a lot of candidates to choose from as you begin the hiring process. Even if you start a business on a small scale and gradually build it as the economy improves, you will reap the benefits of starting your business during this unusual time.

You can start a business successfully, even during a pandemic, with planning and strategy. Hiring freelancers has many advantages and can help you grow your business using the expertise of professionals in a variety of fields.

Image credit link: https://pixabay.com/photos/laptop-workstaion-office-work-4906312/

03/26/2021 By Jason Bean Leave a Comment

How to Create an Animated Slide In Effect on a Divi Column

Since I just finished creating this little guide for a client, I thought I'd publish on my site as well as I'm sure it could probably help someone else in the future.

If you're a Divi theme user, then you know there's a load of features and power available within the interface, sometimes the challenge can just be where to go to do the things you want to do. In this case, I was working on recreating a theme that someone had built. In there process they had ripped out all the benefits of using WordPress and buried code and functionality deep into the template files where nothing was easily accessible or manageable. In their design, the site appeared to be a continually scrolling website but scrolling right-to-left, not top-to-bottom. To keep that same feel and experience for the visitor, I created an animation effect for the main content column in the layout to appear like it slides in from the right when each page loads.

Now, how and where did I go in Divi to do it? Here we go!

First I used the Divi Theme Builder controls to build me a layout that consisted of a simple sidebar on the left and a wide content module on the right. That was achieved by adding a single Divi row container into the layout with a simple 2 column layout inside of it.

Follow these simple steps to animate the entire right-hand column of the layout:

Step 1: Access the Divi Theme Builder and Row Settings Control

You can access the Divi Theme Builder from the Divi section available in the main left-hand menu within the standard WordPress Admin Dashboard. Hover over the green row container until it's control module displays and click on the little gear icon

Step 2: Access the Column Settings Controls

When you access the Row Settings controls a new modular window displays with the columns displayed, just click on the gear icon for the 2nd column displayed, which then opens another modular window.

Step 3: Navigate to the Design Tab of the Column

As you're aware, each module, container, row, section in Divi normally has three tabs across the top for managing all the settings available (Content, Design & Advanced). We want to access the "Design" tab, so click on it.

Step 4: Scroll Down to the Animation Section

At the bottom of the Design controls is a section labeled "Animation". Within this section are all the controls you need to make your slide-in effect happen. Once you get in there you'll see, as usual with Divi, you have a plethora of controls and modifiers to take advantage of in your design.

In my case, the client was very pleased. Was not familiar with Divi, but seemed to be very impressed with the organization and ease of which managing content and manipulating features and controls were within the theme. The other thing that I thought was interesting, and surprisingly quite a challenge with this project was the broad range of responsiveness that was needed within the design. It stretches the full width of any monitor and resolution to fill the available space, but also shrinks down and displays well for mobile phones and tablets.