A sponsor knows your accomplishments well and will sell you to others that do not know you in your organization and beyond. Your sponsor puts her (or his) reputation on the line for you and gives you a professional endorsement that gives you clout and credibility. You may actually spend more contact time with your mentor discussing your innermost doubts and issues but your sponsor is willing to put her name out there for you in order to help you advance.

It’s important to keep your sponsor well informed about your accomplishments so she can go to bat for you and recommend you for key projects that will help you distinguish yourself in the organization. Is it possible to have a sponsor and a mentor? Yes, and you should look for both.

Finding a sponsor is a more delicate task. You should seek out someone in your organization that is well respected and influential. Once you identify a potential sponsor, introduce yourself, earn her trust and respect, and then begin to share your value-add with strategic information about your accomplishments and goals within the organization.

You must be courageous in developing new relationships while searching for a sponsor. Reach across generational, gender, and racial boundaries to develop new and meaningful professional relationships. Your sponsor will most likely be a stretch relationship while your mentor may be a personal confidant with whom you already share a lot in common.

Securing a sponsor also focuses on the need to develop professional relationships internally and externally in your career field. You should be innovative in managing up and getting to know people beyond your rank and pay grade in your organization as this is the most likely talent pool for a sponsor. Someone who is a lateral counterpart will not have the clout you need to help you move upwards and serve as a sponsor.

Another strategy is to become more visible by volunteering to work on key projects that prospective sponsors will also be involved in. Distinguish yourself, be a consummate professional, and make your potential sponsor also look good, and you will earn the opportunity to ask a sponsor to consider you as a protégé.

Remember, sponsorship must be earned so it’s imperative to build a relationship with respect so you can demonstrate your worth and value to the organization. A sponsor won’t put their reputation on the line by endorsing you unless they are confident in your abilities to go above and beyond.

I just finished reading Keith Ferrazzi’s book: Who’s Got Your Back which illustrates a similar philosophy of lifeline relationships and why they are essential. As you consider people for your personal Board, check out why Ferrazzi believes that these lifeline relationships will benefit you.

1. To help us identify what success truly means for us, including our long-term career plans.
2. To help us figure out the most robust plan possible to get there, through short-term goals and strategies that would tie us into knots if we tried to go it alone.
3. To help us identify what we need to stop doing to move forward in our lives. (Referring to the things we all do that hold us back from achieving the success we deserve.)
4. To have people around us committed to ensuring that we sustain change so that we can transform our lives from good to great.

Ferrazzi goes on to say that a lifeline relationship can be between equals, peers, intellectual sparring partners, and confidants. You must choose who will serve you the best. And remember to pay-it-forward and serve on someone else’s Board – it may give you some valuable perspective.

I recently tapped one of my lifeline resources on my personal Board of Directors for advice and counsel about a career question of my own.  She helped clarify my situation and asked compelling questions I needed to address in order to move forward with my situation.  After our discussion, I can say with conviction that I am fortunate to know that she has my back!

Asking for the help of others isn’t about changing who you are but enlisting others to help you become who you can be. Keith Ferrazzi’s book is a great read – I highly recommend it. This is a resource you will highlight and refer to for years to come.

It’s Not Worth Losing Body Parts!

Law school is tough enough but Janet earned her JD while raising her two small children, who were 1 and 4 years of age during her first year of the program. A mother and top student, she succeeded at litigation and won several trial competitions and the esteemed American College of Trial Lawyers Medal, which led to a competitive summer job in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. Post graduation, Janet was recruited to work at a prestigious Philly law firm where she discovered her knack for computers and was put in charge of automating a very high profile case.

While Janet was earning accolades at the firm she was also starting to get physical ailments that were taking a toll, not to mention trying to raise her kids with the stresses of a billable hour legal career. She developed pancreatitis and asked the senior partner at the firm if she could work part-time to take care of herself. The response was not favorable after it was put to a firm-wide partner vote and one of the partners remarked, “You can expect to lose a few body parts working in this profession!”

That was a deal breaker and Janet began working with a career coach, Doug Richardson to make a transition in a new career direction.

Just Because You are Good at it Doesn’t Mean You Like Doing It

Janet’s work with her career coach began with self assessment and a full scale reflection about what she valued in her life and career. Using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® and other assessment tools, Doug asked Janet to think back to her childhood and reflect on what she liked to do as a young girl. This strategy helped Janet come to terms with the fact that she did not like conflict, a conundrum for a litigator, and helped her realize that just because you are good at something doesn’t mean that you necessarily like doing it. Janet gave herself permission to let go of the parts of her work world that did not align with her values and move towards new positions that fed her passions.

She pursued several jobs playing to her strengths as a consultant, project manager and litigation support specialist. But these new positions required travel and were high stress, which caused Janet to lapse into an unhealthy lifestyle. Not having the time to prioritize her health, she was back where she started from by not valuing work/life balance and wholesome eating habits at work. In 2001, she was diagnosed with adult onset Type 2 diabetes. This was not a complete surprise as her brother was also diagnosed as an adult so the family history was clear.

First, Take Care of Yourself

Janet did not take her diabetes diagnosis lightly. She went to an Integrative Health doctor to turn her entire life around quickly. From her brother, she knew the frustrations many people have with controlling their blood sugar, planning for meals, and how difficult it can be to establish healthy eating habits. So, Janet was determined to succeed as her own change agent and begin a new and healthy life that she was in control of.

If you visit Janet’s home you will see 100’s of cookbooks adorning her shelves. She has always loved to cook and became a certified macrobiotic chef. Janet turned this passion for food into a plan for handling her diabetes. She developed a system of action steps to control emotional eating, utilize the power of whole foods, stock her pantry with healthy choices and develop strategies to handle the special event occasions when she was not at home.

Her doctor was so impressed with the speedy turn around and diabetes reversal that she started referring patients to Janet so she could share her healthy strategies and put them on a similar road to recovery. Janet quickly became known as a Change Management Coach.

A Door Closes and a Window Opens

This unexpected career opportunity turned into a part-time venture that Janet pursued on the weekends. She considered becoming a Registered Dietician to further credential herself in this new area but instead found The Institute of Integrative Nutrition in New York and became a Certified Health Coach. This school was the perfect combination of teaching, counseling, and business building that Janet needed to launch her new entrepreneurial venture. Guest lecturers included leading health care and mind/body/spirit experts like Andrew Weil, MD and Deepak Chopra.

Janet has since become an ambassador for the school and in this role spreads the word about the program while sharing her personal and professional journey to good health. While Janet was able to reinvent her health and well being, her day job took an unexpected turn and she was laid off from her firm over a year ago due to cut backs in the economy.

As the saying goes, a door closes and a window opens and this serendipitous opportunity gave Janet the freedom to pursue her passion full-time. Now known as The Diabetes Coach, Janet has built a business to provide hope and resources for those who struggle with this Type 2 diabetes.

It is projected that without a change in current obesity rates, 0ne in three children born after the year 2000 will develop Type 2 diabetes at some point in their life, and Janet is on a mission to give a human face to this disease and empower her clients to live fuller lives. She is tapping into her former life as an attorney to write a novel called “Diabetes on Trial” to give a voice to those who live with this disease.

The Mission of a Great Life

Janet’s current book “The Diabetes Coach Approach” is an easy to follow, self-paced program that shows her clients how to unleash the power of whole foods to control blood sugars, how to manage weight without dieting, and how to make healthy lifestyle changes. Her eight steps to change management, empowers those with Type 2 diabetes to live fuller, healthier lives.

But Janet’s career transition was not effortless. She utilized two business coaches to help her visualize her Diabetes Coach business and determine how she could make her livelihood from this new venture. She worked to develop a brand and multiple streams of income including her coaching sessions, e-books, recipe cards, public speaking and webinars. Her latest product, the Diabetes Tool Kit is targeted to become a sought after resource for national health care providers.

By walking the walk herself, Janet is living her mission of a healthy life. She is the ultimate role model for her clients and can relate from experience to the day-to-day challenges and realities of this disease.

A Team of One

For her entire professional career, Janet worked in large organizations with sizable teams so the transition to being her own boss took time. She is celebrating her passion for helping people and enjoys having control of her own time but the challenge in the beginning was finding the discipline to treat this new venture like a job. Janet enjoys what she is doing so much it often seems too good to be true that this is her new profession.

There are emotional ups and downs to starting a business as well. When Janet gets stuck she calls on her team of coaches to find solutions and plan a strategy. At the end of the day, she says looking out her home office window onto her beautiful garden brings her great joy. She never looked back to the days of the billable hour and is focused and determined to make this new business a success.

Janet to Janet

You never know who in your network will turn out to be influential. Janet Sanders had been watching Philly TV news anchor, Janet Zappala for years before she had the opportunity to meet her in person at a charity event. Zappala is also on a nutritional mission and authored the cookbook “My Italian Kitchen” featuring delicious and healthy foods. Janet Sanders was showcasing a diabetic friendly chocolate product at the event when Janet Zappala approached her booth. The two Janets became fast friends and ultimate colleagues and they feature each other on their respective websites.

Building a personal advisory board has been very helpful to Janet as she launched her business. She continues to tap into this valuable resource and also looks to pay-it-forward to others who can utilize her strategic alliance.

The future is bright for Janet Sanders and she has new programs in her pipeline for stress eating solutions and stress management for lawyers, among many other projects. A career reinvention and a health renovation have given birth to Janet’s great new life.

Janet’s Advice and Action Steps:

• Develop a plan, and assemble your advisory board of mentors, resources, and people who will share candid feedback.

• Be good to yourself.

• Make yourself accountable for all your actions, it will motivate you.

• Join networking and social groups for support and camaraderie.

• If you aren’t ready to go “full time” with a new venture, start slowly while employed, with the goal of building your business with a phased plan for success.

Quote: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Gandhi

Resources:

The Diabetes Coach www.diabetescoaching.com

The Institute of Integrative Nutrition http://www.integrativenutrition.com/

Janet Zappala http://janetzappala.com/

Carey Peters: Wellness Career Coach www.coachtoolstogo.com

Tai Goodwin, the Career Makeover Coach suggests two simple questions to bring you clarity about what to do when there are too many options.

What now?

What next?

Sometimes it’s important to focus on these baby steps instead of the big picture so you can tie your answers to the above questions with actions. Tai suggests you write down your ideas. Always carry a note pad so you can be ready on the fly and don’t make a decision until you’ve gotten clarity about what really matters to you in life and career.

Big picture clarity can be scary so this is a perfect opportunity to have a brainstorming session with the strategist on your personal Board of Directors. Have someone help you outline your passion, purpose, values, and strengths along with the vision you have of the lifestyle you want.

A career coach can certainly help facilitate this type of session but if you are lucky enough to have a strategist in your circle of trust – have at it with them and map out 3 paths to create the life and work you want.

The map can be realized with a vision board, journal, or simple outline, whatever suits your personal style. By creating 3 paths you won’t stress yourself out with just one way of doing things and you won’t be limited to a single choice. You can mix and match strategies but the first step will get you moving in the right direction.

By answering what now and what next you will be able to realistically narrow your options based on what really matters to you and take the all important first steps forward on your journey.

At the time, my goals seemed so out of reach and far off in the future but this exercise with Deborah taught me that first I needed to announce my goals out loud, then write them down, and then continue on the path of making them a reality. I remember announcing to my family that I was writing a book and at that time I was still early on in the research phase. They politely said – “that’s nice” and the conversation moved on to other things. My family loves me but I’m not sure they really believed I was serious about the book in the early days.

When I began telling everyone in my circle of trust (and beyond) that I was writing a book, the dream became a reality for me and people with publishing expertise started popping up in my world. Coincidence – maybe, but I really believe it was the law of attraction at work. My family began to realize I was serious and began to appreciate my vision more seriously.

When I fully owned my dreams and goals, the plan began to unfold and people started entering my life who became an integral part of my book journey. I’m not saying these people just fell out of the sky but I am saying that when I owned my goals and repeatedly announced them, the strategy became clearer and the resources I needed became available. This also illustrated the power of positive networking.

Many of you who have heard me speak know that my newest goal is to develop a TV show based on my book that will enable me to spread my message of career reinvention, empowerment, and playing to your strengths to a wider audience. I started sharing this dream aloud about 6 months ago, wrote down my goals, and true to the law of attraction have begun to assemble a fabulous team of media professionals who share my vision of making this TV show a reality. I knew very few of these people 6 months ago but the energy surrounding this project is palpable and contagious and I’m thrilled to be working towards a new goal.

So as you tap members of your personal Board of Directors, think very specifically about what you want to accomplish. Write it down, say it out loud to all who will listen, work hard, and be open to the people who will enter your life to assist you in realizing your goals.

Create your career destiny -don’t let it happen by default!

Seeking a mentor starts simply with asking for advice from a trusted professional who has been there and done that in your industry. Start by asking for information and advice and see how the relationship develops. You will know when you have made an authentic connection with someone and taken the relationship beyond colleague to personal guru.

Mentors help to improve upon your strengths and guide you along your path to success with inspiration and resources that come from experience. A mentor can also help you set and accomplish your goals. Mentors will guide you and offer practical ideas about how you might do things differently. We all need at least one mentor that can speak candidly and offer constructive criticism, even when we don’t want to hear it.

Mentors should help boost your self confidence and empower you to achieve and overcome obstacles. But don’t think that you need one perfect mentor to help you on your professional way. In reality, life is full of mentors that can advise you day-by-day, sharing important bits of wisdom incrementally over time. I encourage you to take a close look at the many people in your life and reflect on how they may actually be mentoring you right now. Build your own personal Board of Directors, your personal posse, to guide you in your career pursuits.

You can gain a wealth of support and resources with a team. Sometimes these relationships develop organically and sometimes you need to take the driver’s seat and ask others for help.  No matter which, mentors volunteer their time and experience so always show them your respect. Listen, don’t argue – and always follow-up with a personal thank you note or gesture of gratitude. The mentor relationship is powerful and valuable, so cultivate it wisely and be mindful of how you can help others and keep the circle of wisdom continuous by becoming a mentor yourself.

I interviewed a woman for my book who has laid out a 50-year plan for her career goal of taking a product to market that will cure cancer. Her project is massive in every respect since she must first take the cancer curing protocol through a series of clinical trials that will literally take years to accomplish. You need not carve out a 50-year plan but I urge you to take a close look at the next 90 days and write down what you want to accomplish. You can always change your mind and adjust your game plan, but dig deep to think about what you really want.

Split your 90-day goal into smaller, attainable actions and chop it into manageable baby steps. My very first book interviewee, Angela Jia Kim is the Founder of Savor the Success www.savorthesuccess.com a premium business network for women entrepreneurs. She just launched a hybrid magazine/notebook (the magbook) that will help you write down your goals, check them off, and discover solutions to realize your dreams. Her Savor magbook is a secret weapon designed to empower you to be the best you can be and focus your objectives.

This is also a good time to look to your posse, your personal Board of Directors, or resource team to assemble the masterminds that will help you reach your target. Identify your solutions instead of focusing on the problems and seek out information and help from your advisers. According to Angela – passion, plus natural ability, plus hard work, plus flow, equals results!

It’s easy to get bogged down with over ambitious to-do lists. The point of the exercise is to manage the work flow into reasonable and attainable increments. Reaching a goal is extremely gratifying so set small, attainable goals for each day and work incrementally towards the big finale. Research tells us that you are 90 times more likely to accomplish a goal when it is written down. What are you waiting for…grab a pen and write down your goals!

We know that networking is not just about finding a job but building your circle of friends, mentors, and colleagues as part of your personal Board of Directors. If you are in a job now or developing a business you should be thinking ahead about the ways you want to move forward and how the people on your resource team might play a role.  Building trusting relationships takes time and earning the opportunity to ask your network for support is not instantaneous, or a given.

Former President, Bill Clinton was famous for keeping index cards with notes about each new person he met daily. His forward thinking attitude helped him build a strong network even while in college as he planned for his future political career. Known for his ability to connect with people and form a personal bond, Clinton utilized his index card system to recall important facts about people he met.

I encourage my students and clients to write notes on the back of business cards they acquire to remember specifics about people. This can be especially helpful after an interview when you are composing a thank you note.  And when it comes to stewarding your network, you should write thank you notes and follow-up with phone calls intermittently to show your sincere appreciation, even when you are not seeking their assistance.

As an experiment, start logging the new people you meet each day and jot down a few notes about them on an index card, à la Bill Clinton. At the end of the week reflect upon the number of new contacts you have made and take stock of these new members of your community. From the UPS delivery person to the new client at work, this is how you grow your network one person at a time.