Preparing a Professional Will

What would happen to your clients if you died?

It's a morbid thought to be sure. But with last week's tragedy in Omaha -- and the recent death of a mental health therapist I know -- it got me to thinking again about how we have a responsibility to our clients to set up a "buddy" system and prepare a professional will.

What if you didn't die? What if you just got sick or disabled?

While it's difficult to think about, the reality is that the resume writing industry has lost some members in recent years. And it's prudent to take steps now to help your clients in the event that you're not able to.

First, start by identifying a short list of colleagues you can trust to make decisions for you. Each "emergency response team" member needs to agree to be your buddy. Make sure that at least one of the buddies is close enough to you that he or she would be notified quickly if there was an accident or illness. This individual would, in turn, notify the other buddies. A family member or friend needs to know your passwords and have access to your files and office (including a key, if necessary).

Then, prepare your professional will. It should include your buddies, with contact information. It should also include a list of your current professional association affiliations, with contact information, so the organization can be notified in the event of your death. If you subcontract write, it should include contact information for that individual or firm too. The will should detail how to find your open cases and pending appointments, including contact information. (Provide the code to access your voice mail messaging system too.)

Taking an hour or two to develop your professional will and pick your buddies will save your family -- and clients -- a lot of trouble and heartache in the future.

Three Ways to Get the Most Out of Now

I've written two editions of "Write Great Resumes Faster" and I still continue to collect ideas for how to produce effective resumes in a shorter amount of time.

(I was talking with a colleague recently, however, and want to clarify that by "faster," I don't mean in 20 minutes. But if you routinely take 4-5 hours to write a mid-level professional resume, we might be able to shorten it by an hour or so -- without diminishing your results!)

Here are a couple of ways to help you improve your productivity, without sacrificing quality.

• Write the most difficult resumes first. If I have two resumes to write, and one is for a sales professional and one is for an IT analyst, I'd like to write the sales one first, but I make myself start with the technology one. We tend to do what we like first, yet the resumes we find the most difficult to write often require the most creative energy.

I often find myself overwhelmed by some projects, and procrastinate getting started because I'm not confident I can put together an effective resume for this particular client. I need all my mental energy to tackle these projects. If you find yourself consistently flummoxed by a certain career field, however, it might be time to team up with a colleague to refer those projects out.

• Create a regular writing area. When you use the same place to write each day, your mind and body become trained. When you set up in that particular place, you can focus on the task at hand more quickly. I write best sitting on the floor of my office in front of my space heater -- all year long. I can't write when I'm cold, and I have a lap desk to make the writing more comfortable. When I get down on the floor, the words just seem to flow naturally.

In the same vein, I don't recommend writing in bed. For one thing, when I get into bed, I aut0matically feel tired. Second, it's important to separate your work area from your personal area. Writing can be stressful, and writing where you sleep can make it difficult to get to sleep when it finally is time to put the pen down for the day.

• Get a focus on your focus. I have a mild form of attention deficit disorder. I think mine is "environmentally based" -- that is, it's developed because of being self-employed. When you constantly switch between dozens of tasks in a day (client management, accounting, IT guru, collections specialist, etc.), distractability is inevitable. Breaks in concentration can be caused by internal or external interruptions. Minimize external disruptions by closing your e-mail program and turning off the ringer on the phone, and shutting the door.

Internal distractions are harder to shut out. I sometimes get distracted by all the other stuff I should be doing. One option is to do that other task right now ... or write yourself a reminder note and do it later. You have to figure out what works best for you.

Weather and Working From Home

There are lots of reasons why I work from home. The short commute. Not paying a landlord and a mortgage. A fully stocked fridge, and not the dorm fridge I used to have in my old office. Getting my laundry done in between resume projects.

Another big reason is that I live in Nebraska. If you look at the map above, it's the state just above all the pink stuff in the middle of the country. That wintry mix is headed our way, with a mixture of freezing rain, ice, sleet, and snow expected for tomorrow.

In the first eight years of our business, it would have been an excuse to call into the voice mail messaging system and record an "out of the office" greeting. Tomorrow, I'll head downstairs in my PJs and slippers and put in a couple of hours of work before donning my boots, gloves, and hat and heading outside to fire up the snowblower.

It's the antithesis of the late August days when I sit outside on my back deck with my laptop and soak up a little sun while little kids splash and play in the neighborhood pool across the street.

Ah, the joys of working from home.

That's Not a Job Search System

I subscribe to About.com's Job Searching e-newsletter because I'm always looking for resources I can recommend to my clients ... or to you, wonderful readers.

So I opened up Alison Doyle's latest missive and found this tantalizing link:
"Start a Job Search System." Oooh, I thought. I always recommend an action plan for my clients -- maybe here are some new resources.

The tagline below the link sounded promising:
It's important to have a system in place when you start a job search. Start by searching the top job sites, your local job sites, and the job sites that focus on your career field(s) of interest each and every day.

Unfortunately, if you (like I did) clicked through to the link, her "job search system" involved searching online career sites, and using online career agents.

Not exactly what I'd consider a "Job Search System."