Exciting Beginnings
When I started Financially Fab last year, I was excited about creating the top online financial community for young professional women. I knew it was a large goal, but was passionate about providing women with solid financial advice. I spent much of 2010 researching blogging and web-based businesses.
Scared as all Heck
Fast forward to January 2011, I’ve done research and now it’s time to act. Let me tell you, that’s scary. The ambitious dream is turning into reality, while everyone (readers, friends, mentors) is watching. In December, I developed 4 goals for Financially Fab in 2011. I was still scared. Then I went to mentors asking for feedback. Without my noticing it, the goals turned into a laundry list of tasks. The breaking point occurred when my friend, the founder and president of a wealth management company, asked, “ What are your 2011 goals?” I listed 4 goals and quickly qualified by saying, first, I need to talk to X, Y, and Z person to confirm. He pushed, “What are your goals? What do you want?” It hit me; I’d been so caught up in having the perfect strategy for Financially Fab that I lost sight of my vision.
Finding my Vision Again
Sometimes, as women, we are so concerned about doing things perfectly that we lose confidence or ask for too much advice. Women in business tend to have higher success rates on the risks they take by doing more research, planning, and preparation than male counterparts. We also take fewer risks and sometimes over-prepare, missing out on opportunities in the process.[i] As women, we have to remember to stay true to our visions!
What are your 2011 goals? I decided that for 2011, I will:
- Post on Financially Fab weekly until March and twice a week after that
- Design a financial product for young professional women and get 20 customers willing to pay
- Do 2 on-camera appearances (outside of Financially Fab) where I discuss personal finance
Join in:
What’s a goal that’s got you scared as all heck? How are you going to act on it? What are your 2011 goals?
Financially Fab 
Posted by Felicia on January 23, 2011 at 5:31 pm
What am I going to do for the rest of my life? The question that has been a thorn in my side for almost 3 years. My goal has always been to attend medical school, but now currently awaiting acceptances and with an interview with a school in 1 week, I am anything but excited. I feel like I am jumping out of a plane with no parachute. I have dreamed of this moment since I was six years old and now that it is here, I do not know if I am making the right decision.
So what do do next… right? Another question that I have been lingering on for months.
So with uncertainty but the determination to gain clarity, these are my future steps to answer both of these questions :
1. Top 3 social/relationship/personal/career goals
2. Top 5 strongest/weakest character traits
3. 5 things I enjoy doing
4. 3 careers outside of medicine that I am interesting in and steps it takes to obtain them
5. Weigh the pros and cons of those careers vs. medicine
6. Use questions 1-4 to write a personal mission statement
I will then take all the answers to those questions, thoughts from the time spent meditating on those questions; put them in a bowl, mix them up and see what comes out!!!
Posted by FinanciallyFab on February 5, 2011 at 7:10 pm
Congratulations! What a great goal! Figuring out your career niche involves getting to know your values, such as work/life balance, interests, type of people you want to work with, salary, and lots of other things that contribute to fulfillment and excitement with life.
Wow! That list of 6 action items is a massive undertaking. You said your top goal is to figure out which career you want. Numbers 1 and 4 focus on that goal. If you change #3 to “5 things I enjoy doing while at work,” it will also focus on your goal. Starting with #1 helps define what’s important overall in your life. #3 narrows down to the types of activities you enjoying at work. Once you narrow to 1-5 jobs, you can use #4 to figure out next steps. After that, you should have several exciting job options!
I did a lot of introspective thinking and identifying strengths and weaknesses and what excites me before choosing my first job out of college and starting Financially Fab. It paid off. I’m 100% confident that personal finance is the right passion for me, right now.
Let me know if you want recommendations on great career and Myers-Briggs books! Happy introspection!