Another example is, you didn’t know Spanish to deal with Spanish customers, so you learned language in your spare time and ended up getting a promotion or a higher salary as a result.

Don’t be afraid to let interviewer know you have some weaknesses. We all do. The important thing is to show him/her how you dealt or are dealing with that weakness in order to make you a better employee.

Put aside money while you’re still receiving a paycheck. Don’t wait until it’s too late. It’s much easier and less stressful to quit your job and to start something when you’ve adequate money in reserve.

Fatal Mistake 4 – Did Not Have a Systematic Strategy for Developing ‘People Assets’

‘People Assets’ are defined here as your valuable contacts and relationships that can be leveraged to generate income.

A good source of valuable contacts is your job. Besides office colleagues, you’ll get to meet customers, suppliers and service providers. Depending on your position in your organization, you may have opportunity to attend seminars, travel overseas and participate in trade shows – with more exposure to all kinds of people.

Outside your job, you’ll also have many opportunities to meet people. In your neighbourhhood, religious organization, social club, PTA, your mechanic, hairdresser, plumber, former classmates, etc. etc.

Therefore it’s not lack of exposure that causes most people to fail to develop people assets….BUT most people fail to develop ‘people assets’ due to some of these reasons:

·Sloppy with gathering and recording details of all people met. (Details should include much more than just person’s name, contact details and company name. It should also include contact’s interests, spouse and children’s names, favourite food, car he/she drives, etc. etc. Gathering these information is an ongoing process and requires a contact management tool). ·Did not develop relationships due to unwillingness to invest time on new contacts (by having activities together like playing games, going for family outings, trips, get-togethers, drinks). ·Did not take opportunity to go extra mile to help others while you had a job (and you were in a position to do so). The good feelings and goodwill that are generated from your acts of service are assets that you could ‘cash in’ as returned favours long after you’re no longer in company. Your strategy is to convert as many of these contacts to ‘people assets’ as possible from a casual (“Hi” and “Bye”) level to F-Level (that is, Friendship level) where both parties can mutually call upon each other at anytime for a conversation. From F-Level nurture these ‘people assets’ to Relationship level (or R-Level). At this level people will go out of their way to help each other. Finally, highest level is P-Level where people become business, social or life Partners with one another.

Fatal Mistake 5 – Wasted Too Much Time on Unproductive Activities

When you have a good job especially one that pays you more than your total monthly expenses, it is very human to feel a sense of security. There is no urgency in your money situation. You tend to ‘enjoy life’- indulging in all kinds of activities many of which are unproductive as far as money is concerned. These unproductive activities include such time wasters as…

·Frequently hanging around entertainment joints (like pubs, night clubs, discotheques); ·indulging in unhealthy vices (such as gambling); ·talking, talking, talking with same group of friends during working hours; ·going for lunch with usual clique instead of with different people to nurture new relationships. (Imagine going for lunch say 3 days a week for four years with same people. This equates to over six hundred lunches. How many other people could you have spent those time with?); ·talking on phone for too long; ·internet chat, net surfing, etc.; ·behaving like you’ve made it and you’re on holiday during company-paid trips - instead of learning about local market, meeting local business people, gathering local business information.

The key word here is ‘moderation’. You are not expected to forego every little joy of life completely or to indulge only in actions with an ulterior motive. Life would be rather boring then.

Just remind yourself that time is limited and precious. Every person has 168 hours a week. What you do with these hours while you still have a job could impact your life when you don’t have a job.

Fatal Mistake 6 – Did Not Start and Develop a Parallel Career

A parallel career is here defined as something you do while you still have a job with end goal of working for yourself. It's not merely a sideline, second income or part-time job. If you take on a sideline or a second job just to supplement your primary income and your end goal is NOT to change career...NOT to work for yourself…then this sideline or second job is NOT a parallel career. Many people who had left or lost their jobs look back with regret. They missed opportunities and made mistakes. How they wished they did not bask in sunshine of a false sense of security with a job. They should have started and developed a parallel career while they still had a job. Their career change transition from employee to entrepreneur would have been a less stressful one because they had ‘comfort’ of a paycheck.

Regards Joseph Lee Infopreneur, Writer, Engineer and Consultant. Former company high-flyer - shares tips, ideas and information on how to avoid these fatal mistakes and to start considering a parallel career at: http://www.parallelcareer.com/