Flexibility is key so that you don’t inadvertently miss out on emerging new career opportunities that may not exist today. It would be foolhardy to have a rigid 10-year plan that’s fixated on attaining a certain IT position, because even if that position is strategic in 2001, it may be obsolete by 2011. Try to think in broad terms, such as the type of contribution you’d like to be making five years from now. And don’t expect to reach your career apex in just a few years, no matter how bleeding-edge your skills may be.

Once you have a flexible long-term plan in place and you’re weighing your immediate opportunities, remember that there are no hard-and-fast rules for IT career advancement. Neither is there a formula to guarantee that an opportunity in front of you will be a good one. So apply some creative thought to different kinds of career moves that might propel you toward your next goal or your ultimate goal.

With a crystal ball in one hand and a serious self-assessment in the other, analyze any new opportunity in the context of the current IT job market as well as where the market might be going a couple of years from now and balance that against your personal goals.

Ten Tips I Wish Someone Had Given Me

With nearly 30 years of IT experience behind him, Carl Wilson, executive vice president and chief information officer of Marriott International, Bethesda, Md., shares the advice he wishes someone had given him at the outset of his career. His 10 recommendations for IT career planning serve as criteria you can use for evaluating potential job opportunities. As you weigh various offers, use these points to judge an opportunity in the context of your long-term career.

1. Choose your company and boss carefully.

Does the company you’re considering conduct its business in a manner that you’re comfortable with? Is its main line of business one that you’ll feel comfortable supporting? “It’s very important that you can personally identify with what that company is trying to achieve, its products and services,” Wilson advises. “You will not achieve full success working in an environment that runs counter to your values.” For example, Wilson notes that he “would have a very hard time working for an arms dealer, but it feels great to be working for a hospitality company that’s trying to make travelers’ experiences wonderful.” Likewise, you probably won’t feel you’re meeting your full potential working for a boss whose values don’t mesh with your own.

2. Work only for an employer that reinvests in you.

Will the employer’s policies, practices and IT budget support your further skills development and career advancement? “Look for a company that has a career path you can progress through based on your own acquired and demonstrated skills, especially in the early stages, when you’re as much a student as a worker,” Wilson says. “If a company isn’t reinvesting in you, eventually that will impact your career negatively.” In each round of interviews you go through with an employer, ask for concrete examples of IT staff members who have progressed through different jobs in the organization, training that others in your position have attended and skill-development opportunities that would be available to you.

3. Build your network early and grow it over time.

Does the employer support participation in professional associations and industry groups? Is the environment one in which you can foster a variety of different relationships? Because you never know where a colleague — within your company or without — is going to end up, it always pays to build relationships with other professionals in your field, Wilson says. “Most major jobs in really good companies are filled by word-of-mouth and recommendations by employees,” he explains. Start developing a network of people you respect preferably while you’re still in college. Get involved in professional associations as soon as you enter the work force or launch a new career path. Not only will a solid network help you uncover viable new career opportunities, it will also expose you to new ideas, technologies and approaches to your work.

4. Try to not repeat a work experience more than two or three times.

Does the employer seem to pigeonhole IT professionals or does it regularly provide opportunities to pursue new challenges? “Make sure your role changes over time so you keep growing,” Wilson says. “You don’t want to accumulate 20 years of experience that’s really just four years’ experience repeated five times.” If, for example, you’re an applications developer, don’t get stuck building one particular type of application, such as sales-force automation systems.

5. Don’t be afraid to take a lateral or lower-graded job for more experience.

Does the company offer flexible career paths? Would it support unconventional moves that could benefit your long-term career development? Sometimes, the best career moves for your future are those that don’t necessarily advance you from your current position, but will expose you to new ways of thinking about IT. Wilson says his career has profited several times over from a willingness to step down the ladder rather than up it. In the mid-1970s, as a top mainframe programmer at Bendix Corp, he took a 6% pay cut to move into a business-process re-engineering job, because he “wanted the opportunity to have a direct influence on the design of systems and not be just a top coder.” The experience broadened his perspective on how IT could be applied to the business. Nine months later, Bendix recognized his efforts by moving him into a key project-management position. While you want to assess the pros and cons of an unconventional move carefully, don’t rule out what may be a good opportunity simply because it doesn’t fit a traditional model.

6. Don’t be afraid to take on tough assignments that no one else wants.

Does the company recognize and reward employees for taking risks and accepting challenges that have a high potential for failure? Does management provide a soft landing if you fail? “That should be part of the leadership role in IT because it’s not always an individual’s fault when a project isn’t successful,” Wilson says. “There may be extenuating circumstances or it just turned out not to be a good idea.” Management should encourage staff to take on risky assignments — and IT professionals should seek challenging opportunities — because “you learn at an accelerated rate when you take those on,” he says.

7. Realize you won’t be promoted by your boss, but by your peers and subordinates.

Does the job give you the opportunity to interact with colleagues up, down and across the organization? Does the environment support peer feedback and 360-degree reviews (in which leaders and subordinates review each other)? “The way bosses know who to promote and move forward is based on what they hear from an employee’s peers and subordinates,” Wilson says. “A lot of people try to manage their careers by ingratiating themselves with upper management, but it’s more important to focus your time on developing strong relationships with your peers and being an advocate and supporter of your subordinates. If you do those two things well, management will notice and upward movement will come automatically.”

8. Acquire project-management skills.

Does the IT organization follow sound project-management methodologies? Does it advocate project-management training? “This is the most sought-after skill set within most companies today,” Wilson says. “People who can organize work, break it into chunks, influence and get work done by others and define deliverables that produce value are very, very valuable to any company.” Even if you don’t plan to become a project manager, Wilson still recommends project-management training because “it helps you to be a better team player and understand the demands of the project; you’ll contribute more to the team’s success.”

9. Learn from your mistakes. If you don’t make any, you haven’t done anything.

Does the company’s management style make room for you to learn from your mistakes? Does it foster a generous, risk-tolerant environment, seeking to turn errors into opportunities for growth instead of admonishments and recrimination? “Celebrate your failures as much as your successes,” Wilson says, because that’s how you learn and grow. His favorite interview question is: “Tell me something that you really screwed up badly,” he says, because people reveal a lot about themselves in how they respond. “If they say they’ve never made any mistakes or had any problems, then they probably haven’t done a lot,” he says. “If they say it was everyone else’s fault, they probably didn’t learn anything. But if they say, ‘Yes, I had this project and I messed it up and in retrospect, I should have done this,’ then I know I’ve found a star.”

10. Live a balanced life, because your work is what you do, not what you are.

Does the company expect you to always put your job first, or does it promote policies and practices that will help you strike a balance between your professional and personal lives? “If we become too absorbed in our work and identify ourselves so closely with our work that it’s all we think about, we cease to be effective and that’s where burnout comes from,” Wilson explains. “You have to have a life outside of work.”

Build time into your day that belongs to you and “vigorously protect and defend it,” Wilson says. For example, he gets to the office around 7 a.m., but he avoids meetings before 8 or 9 a.m., so he can use mornings for thinking and strategizing. Likewise, he clears his calendar after 4:30 p.m., because that’s when he wraps up the day’s to-do lists. By 6 p.m., he’s headed home for family time. “It requires some prior planning, and there are times that the job demands that you step out of the lines,” Wilson says, “but you have to maintain time for you.”

So you come to my house to talk about it. From my ad, you know that the car is rust free, that it’s been meticulously maintained and that those once-in-a-lifetime car repairs have been made. I echo these facts to you in person, assuring you that I’ve done my best to take care of the vehicle since I bought it at the 125,000-mile mark.

Convinced, you hand over the $1,500 and leave with the car — right?

Of course not. You wouldn’t consider buying the car at this point. I may have assured you about the car’s performance, but why should you take my word for it? You’d want to take a test drive, to see if it runs as well as I claim. You might even take the car to a mechanic you trust for an independent evaluation of its condition.

In other words, even if you believe I’m sincere and telling you everything I know about the car, you’d want other opinions. You’d try to gather information from experts who have no vested interest, knowing that you’re making a big investment and may want to keep the car for a long time. Besides, the information I’ve provided is just a small part of the picture, and, since you don’t know how ethical or mechanically knowledgeable I am, you can’t be sure if it’s true.

With this example fresh in your mind, think about how you’ve gone about choosing a career. Given the large amounts of time, money and effort involved, wouldn’t it be wise to take the same critical approach for buying a used car to exploring and deciding on your career?

What’s the Truth?

All too often, I’ve seen college students decide on professions without challenging their own and others’ beliefs, assumptions and perceptions. They may ask a few questions, then say “here’s what I’ve heard” without finding out if it’s true.

Using limited and sometimes inaccurate information “is the predominant way for students to make career plans and decisions,” says Mark Schappert, associate director of career services at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y. “It’s the exception rather than the rule when someone takes a lot of time and says, ‘Let me look at who I am and gather lots of information on alternatives and what they’re all about.’ Instead, we tend to operate based on our own limited view of the world and of careers and career options.”

One problem, of course, is that given your student obligations, you’re likely pressed for time. Another is that not knowing about something can be unnerving. It’s easier to just blindly accept what you hear. I know — I did the same thing as an undergraduate. “This could sound flip, but 100% of students fall into this trap” of believing career myths, says Paul Fornell, associate director of the career development center at California State University at Long Beach. “All students — traditional and nontraditional — are walking around with untested assumptions, values and beliefs.”

Serious Consequences

It’s risky to let your unexamined beliefs and perceptions get in the way of learning about various careers. The consequences can be fear-provoking at best and tragic at worst.

A recent graduate of La Salle University in Philadelphia felt she had wasted a year of college because her roommates persuaded her to switch her major to business from her real love — religion/philosophy, says Genevieve Carlton, the university’s associate director for career planning.

“They’d told her she wouldn’t get a job if she pursued a religion/philosophy degree like she really wanted to,” says Carlton. “Ultimately she did switch majors, but when it came to looking for a job after graduation, she was almost afraid to come to our office — because she feared we’d agree with her roommates.”

The student completed a resume and cover letter and did some research on potential employers. A week later, she landed a job as a researcher with a publishing company. “In this case, there was a happy ending, but this student still carried a fear through four years of school that she was going to be unemployable,” says Carlton. “She would have saved herself a lot of anxiety if she’d done some digging beyond what her roommates told her.”

Even more troubling, some students abandon career aspirations based on misconceptions about themselves or their desired profession. How many times have you heard a fellow student (or yourself) say something like, “I wanted to go into teaching but my dad told me there’s no money in it,” or “I’ve thought about computer programming but I don’t want to sit around in front of a computer screen programming all day.” It would be tragic to rule out your dream job based on unchallenged or inaccurate beliefs developed by listening to your peers, your parents, the media or other sources.

Four Guidelines

A more sensible way is to treat career exploration the same way you would when shopping for a used car or any other important purchase. Consider these basic principles:

1. Never assume.

Just as you wouldn’t assume that I’m telling you the truth about my car or that I know everything about cars, don’t assume that you — or other people — know everything about a career you’re considering. You likely know only a fraction of the relevant available information, and you must do serious research to learn the rest.

2. Gather information from a variety of sources.

If you’re considering a particular field, don’t just ask your roommate about it. Talk to professors in the department. Visit your school’s career services office and discuss the major with a counselor. Ask for literature about the field. Many career services offices have print or online brochures entitled “What Can I Do with a Major In?” Also ask for the names of alumni who pursued the major you’re considering and who would be willing to talk to you about their jobs and careers.

3. Critically evaluate your sources.

Attending college is about learning to become a critical thinker — and that certainly applies here. Think carefully about your sources of information on careers. How do your parents, friends and roommates compare with the U.S. Department of Labor when it comes to knowing trends in various industries? Who can give you a better sense of what it’s like to be a professional dancer: a dance professor or your faculty adviser from the psychology department?

4. “Test drive” your ideas.

Most campuses help students “try out” a career path without committing to it. If you’re thinking of becoming an accountant, for example, your school’s career services office or business department might arrange for you to “shadow” an accountant for a day or week to learn first hand the profession’s pros and cons.

Similarly, consider applying for internships that allow you to earn credits in your major and explore a career more extensively. And don’t underestimate the value of a strategically selected part-time job, which can give you a good idea of what a career or industry is really like.

Following these guidelines requires more time and effort than just late-night gabbing with fraternity buddies or dorm mates. When you settle on a career, you’re making an investment in yourself and your future. How you approach it could mean the difference between “the road not taken” and an exciting, fulfilling career.

The Basics
There is plenty of information out there to help you. All you have to do is find it. A good place to start is with a qualified tax advisor, such as an accountant, tax attorney, or financial advisor. You can also simply pick up a newspaper or magazine around tax time; they’re full of helpful articles and ideas. There are various books and brochures available, and you can even get solid tax advice on the Web. Just type “taxes” into any search engine and get ready for a tidal wave of results.

“The most important thing is to have a plan and not wait until the last minute to execute it,” says Michael Sly, a CPA with Sly & Fiore in Massachusetts. “Spending a little in professional fees for good tax advice can actually help save you hundreds in return.”

For the most part, anything you want to do to limit your tax liability must be done before the end of the tax year. The major exception to that rule is your tax-deferred contribution to an Individual Retirement Account, which can be made right up until the April tax-filing deadline. Most other tax strategies have to be implemented before December 31.

Here are some helpful tactics to consider for the new tax year.

Adjust Withholdings
Make sure withholdings from your paycheck are adequate to cover the taxes you owe, but not so much as to create an overpayment. It’s nice to get a tax refund, but that’s money that should have been sitting in your account earning interest. When you fill out a W-4 withholdings form, be sure to use the worksheet and do the calculations properly. You want to have the appropriate amount of tax deducted from your pay. And if you get married or have a child, remember to adjust your W-4. It can make a difference.

Monitor Estimated Taxes
Similarly, if you’re self-employed and pay estimated quarterly taxes, be sure that your payments adequately reflect the amount of income you actually earn each quarter. If you’re doing better than expected, increase your tax payments, and vice versa, so there aren’t any surprises at the end of the year.

Max Out Tax-Deferred Contributions
If you participate in your employer’s defined contribution plan (a 401(k), for example) or have your own retirement plan (a traditional or self-employed IRA), make the maximum allowable contribution–or as much as your budget will allow. These amounts will not be subject to taxation until after you retire.

Use Your Section 125 Savings Accounts
Many employers offer their workers the opportunity to contribute pre-tax dollars to “use-or-lose” accounts for such expenses as childcare and medical/dental treatment. These contributions lower your taxable income and limit the bite of federal, state, social security, and Medicare taxes.

Consider Deferring Compensation
If you’re eligible to receive a year-end bonus of some sort, consider deferring that payment until after the first of the year, especially if you expect to be earning less in the coming year.

Recognize Capital Gains and Losses
Assuming you have both gains and losses from your investments, you may wish to consult your tax advisor (before year-end) and consider a strategy for limiting the taxable effect of both scenarios. And remember, you don’t necessarily have to sell an investment or piece of property in order to incur a capital gain. If you’re invested in mutual funds, for instance, it’s likely that some of them will distribute their capital gains to shareholders, which becomes a taxable event for you.

These are just some of the strategies and techniques, all of them legal, that can help not only limit your tax liability, but also ensure that you don’t overpay. If any of them seem right for you, consult with a tax advisor just to be sure–then go for it. When you really think about it, paying more than your fair share of income tax is like making a non-deductible contribution to the IRS.

• Pension plans
• Social Security
• Tax-deferred savings
• Basic (taxable) savings

This is a good time to evaluate your situation and come up with a workable retirement plan of action.

Do You Qualify?

Retirement before age 65 is for a select few. For those who sold a dot-com for millions of dollars, won the lottery, inherited oceanfront property on Martha’s Vineyard or sold Cisco stock at 86, retire now if you feel you’ve worked enough. It might even be time to “give back,” like executives who made their fortunes many times over. For example, John Sculley, former CEO of Apple and Pepsi, runs an incubator for startups and bankrolls a children’s show for public television.

Even for the fabulously wealthy, retirement is expensive. For example, if you’re under 40 and have recently sold a dot-com, life would seem to be good. But to retire, your income from that transaction would have to be at least $4,000,000 to accommodate a yearly budget of $100,000, if you plan to live until you’re 80. In addition, that money must be invested wisely so capital gains tax and other income expenses can be absorbed.

The Big Picture

For the most part, retirement is a choice based on numbers. If you’re an average Joe with above-average intelligence, take a look at the following numbers:

• This year, 200,000 Americans will turn 65, according to the National Commission on Retirement Policy. In 15 years, 1.6 million will do so.
• Fifty years ago, an American’s life expectancy was under 65 years of age. Today, it is over 75.

These facts are offered to illustrate a point. In the next 15 years, Social Security will be insufficient even for the most frugal-minded retiree.

Look at this ratio difference. The commission reports that 50 years ago, that more than 40 workers would paid into Social Security for every one beneficiary. In 14 years, when baby boomers begin to retire, there will be fewer than three workers per beneficiary. That means the social security benefits pool from is being drained and current spending levels on entitlement programs are not sustainable.

The commission says we’re not saving enough. We consume too much and save too little. For example, “In 1996, Americans between the ages 30 and 49 had only accumulated one-third of what they will need to retire [and] one economic study indicates that half of American families have below $1,000 in net financial assets.”

The numbers show that Americans must take more responsibility and be more aggressive about saving if they want to maintain their current lifestyle in retirement.

Retirement Exit Strategies

So for those who did not sell a dot-com for millions of dollars, win the lottery, inherit ocean front property on Martha’s Vineyard or sell their Cisco stock when it was at 86, it’s time to execute an exit strategy.

• Use one of many retirement planners proffered on the Internet, by investment banks and by financial programs such as Quicken. But keep in mind that these plans are not for the faint of heart. They do the numbers right in front of you and estimate to the penny how much you must save and invest to live a decent life as a retiree.
• Begin or continue to invest in a 401(k) plan, either at your job or independently through Fidelity Investments or another well-known plan.
• Begin saving. A number of financial consultants agree that the best way to ensure that money will be put aside is to have a budget with yearly benchmarks of targeted savings. If you can devise an automatic savings plan through your bank or employer, all the better.

Unless you want to face your golden years at a fast-food restaurant, either as an employee or patron, run–don’t walk–to your local investment counselor or Internet-based retirement site to devise a plan. It won’t be easy in the current economy, but by the same token, this could be an indicator of things to come. Start saving!

You’re a new employee and a first-time taxpayer. Now is the time to get serious about financial planning–if you have not done so already. Put accounting on your priority list and focus on serious tax savings.

Good Accounting in Place
Bruce Budofsky, a partner with New York-based accounting firm Allen Schneider, recommends that you get a good accounting system established, hire an outside accountant, or both.

Budofsky also offers tips to help retain more of your paycheck:

• Invest in a 401K plan, since it is tax deductible.
• If you rent a house or an apartment, consider looking to buy because mortgage interests and real estate taxes are tax deductible. If you are in a higher tax bracket, try to invest in municipal bonds and secure a long-term capital gain (holding stocks longer than one year) if you can).
• Obtain an IRA deduction–if you don’t have a pension plan, you are eligible.
• Get a receipt for any items greater than $500 that you donate to charity.
• Look to refinance a mortgage when interest rates go down; right now is a good time to do so.
• Consider paying points on a mortgage. This gives you a lower interest rate and cuts down monthly payments.

Tax Tips for Individuals
According to Joseph Solomon, president of Joseph Solomon Financial Group, a financial services corporation, you should take a closer look at capital gains. “If individuals in the marketplace suffer a severe capital loss,” he says, “they should consider offsetting this by selling items with heavy capital gains, thus breaking even from a tax point of view.”

• Tax Tip: Capital losses up to $3,000 can be deducted annually. If you have to report large gains, you should consider accelerating losses by this method.

Solomon advises learning about various education credits and the deductibility of student loan interest. With the Hope scholarship, qualified individuals are allowed a tax credit of $1,500 for each of the first two years of college. In addition, individuals are allowed a Lifetime Learning Credit of $1,000 for post-secondary learning. For example, 20 percent of the first $5,000 paid in qualified education expenses.

Since 1998, Solomon says, we have been allowed to make non-deductible retirement contributions up to $500 annually towards the education of a child, until they reach age 18. Earnings accumulate tax-free for years. Interest paid on college loans will be deductible for qualified individuals–in 2000, deductible interest is $2000; in 2001, it will be $2,500.

Do the Research
Look into certain retirement accounts: If you are 50 to 55 years old or younger, consider a Roth IRA deduction each year. This $2,000 non-deductible contribution accumulates tax-free, as long as it is in the account at least five years and you withdraw at age 59 1/2 or older. It has other advantages over the traditional IRA as well.

• Another Solomon Tip: Use distributions from certain retirement accounts to pay for qualified higher education expenses, a home, medical expenses, disabilities, or death–and you won’t incur the standard 10 percent penalty.

Starting your own business also has many favorable benefits, Solomon adds. Homeowners can take advantage of beneficial home sale rules. If you sell your home and you have owned and lived in this property as your main residence for at least two of the five years period prior to the date of the sale, you can exclude capital gains tax on $250,000 for a single person and $500,000 for a married couple.

• Final Tax Tip: You can buy a home today, live in it, improve it substantially for two years, then sell it at a gain without tax penalty as described above. What’s more, enterprising individuals can do this every two years.

1. Create a written statement about the kind of business you want to have. Focus on the essence, rather than the precise form. A marvelous example of that came from Wendy Nemitz, a student of mine, who wrote, “The word entrepreneur brings to mind Bill Gates or some other techno-wizard, seeking to build a multimillion or multibillion-dollar firm.

I seek to work passionately on a variety of projects in my small back porch office. I want to make a reasonable living, keep control over my working conditions, enjoy what I do, follow an honorable path and spend some time in the Greek Islands.” Once you can get a clear notion of the larger picture of your life and can identify the kinds of rewards you seek from your work and the contribution you want to make, you can make better decisions about how to accomplish that.

2. Read about others who have taken the entrepreneurial road. The more stories you know, the more you’ll begin to identify with other self-bossers. What prompted them to start a business? What defeats did they suffer? What is their guiding philosophy? Ferret out entrepreneurial role models and listen to what they have to say. They are the best teachers around.

3. Support others who are self-employed. Make it your personal policy to patronize small businesses whenever possible. It might cost you a couple of extra dollars to buy that best seller from an independent bookstore, but do it anyway. Don’t overlook service providers, either. My travel agent works from her home. My accountant, doctor and dentist all own their own small practices. Not only is buying from small businesses good for the owners; it’s good for you, too. You’ll pick up tips by osmosis while helping to create a small business-friendly environment.

4. Keep a file of business ideas. Start a file or notebook with ideas, including clips of article that catch your fancy. Keep notes of your ideas as they occur. Read the Yellow Pages. An idea folder is like a compost heap; some of your thoughts will be cooking for a long time before you’re ready to act on them. Ideas are, however, an entrepreneur’s stock in trade, so build up a fat collection for future use. It also boosts your confidence to see that you can keep generating ideas and implement them as needed.

5. Get in the habit of doing something every day to further your dreams. Open a business checking account, make an appointment with a potential supplier, visit a small business that interests you, set up a filing system; get the name of a good accountant and interview him or her. Taking regular action will send a powerful message to your subconscious mind that you are serious about your success. It will also cure you of the notion that you must wait around for circumstance to improve before you can get going.

6. Invest in your entrepreneurial self. While a lot of people talk and talk about what they want to do someday, there’s a foolproof self-test you can give yourself to see if you’re backing your dreams with action: look at your checkbook and your calendar. Are you spending your time and money in ways that reflect an investment in yourself? Are you building a library of helpful books? Attending seminars? Meeting with other entrepreneurs? If you don’t support your dreams, you can’t expect anyone else to, either.

You know if you’re good. You can tell immediately from the applause and audience feedback. One person says yours was the “best speech I ever heard.” Another says, “You touched my life.” You’re asked how much you charge for a speech. Should you go pro?

Don’t underestimate how hard it will be. Currently, 4,000 members of the Tempe, Ariz.-based National Speakers Association (NSA) and countless others are trying to capture the market for motivational, educational and entertaining speeches and seminars. Minimum requirements include confidence and a thick skin, training, marketing skills and knowledge of the industry.

“Anyone getting into it who doesn’t realize the cost, personal commitment, hard work and years of perfecting the craft is making a mistake,” says Patricia Ball, former NSA president and a professional speaker from St. Louis.

Ms. Ball says speakers must have three major areas of expertise they can address and be well-informed on each. Speakers also need “platform experience” and possibly voice or dance lessons. “What we do is essentially a business,” she says. “You need to know about advertising, how to write a yearly plan and how to keep a budget.”

A professional actress who once appeared in stage plays and commercials, Ms. Ball was performing in a one-woman show when a business owner asked her afterwards: “Do you have anything you could put together that would help my company?” That started the actress on a new career path. To perfect her speaking ability, she decided to give 60 free speeches. After about the 30th speech, meeting planners were inquiring about her fees. That was 30 years ago, and Ms. Ball has been speaking professionally ever since.

Professional speaking is a growth industry, with the number of NSA members up 30% in the past 10 years. The number of meetings also is growing. Meeting Professionals International, a Dallas organization, estimates this total will increase by 9% in 2001. Moreover, speakers are branching out and offering consulting, facilitation and coaching as part of their services. Yet succeeding in this field isn’t as easy as it looks, says Mark Sanborn, a Highlands Ranch, Colo.-based speaker for the past 15 years. “The beginning speaker thinks it’s easy because it looks easy,” he says. If you’re considering becoming a professional presenter, the following steps will help you make the right decision:

Understand why you want to speak.

You may know what you want to say and that you enjoy speaking. More important, however, is knowing why you want to speak publicly.

“Some people get into this business because they like the attention. The same people are deflated when they get off the platform,” says Vincent Poscente, a motivational speaker from Dallas and author of “InVINCEable Principles” (Invinceability Series, 1999).

Mr. Poscente had trained for the Olympics and been Canada’s fastest skier. On the day before the competition, he took a fall. As he says, “There are zero calls for a skier who won 15th place. I raced in the Olympic games but I didn’t win.” He turned this seeming negative into a positive by crafting a message about peak performance and the journey of life.

The biggest benefit he gets from speaking is an immediate sense of contribution. “It isn’t just the message to the audience,” says Mr. Poscente, “but the ripple effect of [having] people go home and implement it.”

Pay your dues.

Dues paying for the professional speaker means honing a craft over a long period through training and practice. Robert Tucker, president of The Innovation Resource in Santa Barbara, Calif., and a speaker, advises aspiring presenters to join Toastmasters, a speaking organization based in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.

He began his career as a journalist writing articles and books on innovation and future trends. While promoting his first book, he spoke to scores of service clubs, joining Toastmasters in Glendale, Calif., to perfect his speaking style.

His advice for the novice orator: “Speak, speak, speak. Speak at every opportunity you get.” Practice to the point where meeting planners feel you “under charged and over delivered.” Meeting planners confer with each other and word will spread about you. “It’s a small town [across] America and you’re only as good as your reputation,” says Mr. Tucker.

After 20 years of paying dues, he’s known internationally as a futurist and innovation expert. The home overlooking the ocean in Santa Barbara he just purchased is “a house built with words,” he says.

Start speaking part time.

Unless you invested wisely, don’t depend immediately on a speaker’s income. Business cycles will affect your engagements, with the slowest times around the Christmas holidays and most of the summer.

Lou Heckler, a Gainesville, Fla., humorous motivational speaker for more than 21 years, jumped into the business after 15 years in commercial broadcasting. He cautions others to avoid his early mistake by keeping their full-time jobs while building speaking businesses part time. Rookie speakers should practice constantly and tell meeting planners they’re available to speak during lunch, evenings, weekends or “anytime if I have notice,” he says.

Success will depend on more than being a good speaker.

Professional speakers contend that speaking is the easy part. The hard part is selling a product — you.

Marlene Chism, president of ICARE Presentations in Springfield, Mo., worked a factory line job, won bodybuilding championships, graduated summa cum laude from college, joined Toastmasters and experienced speaking success. She was uncertain about her career future when a friend asked what she would do if she had no limits or excuses.

“I said that I would be a dancer or a choreographer,” says Ms. Chism. “She said, ‘That’s not going to happen. You’re 32 years old. You live in Springfield and you haven’t taken much dance.’ She asked what my second choice would be and I blurted, ‘to be a professional speaker’. ”

In the business for three years now, Ms. Chism speaks nationally in the field of communications and is integrating dance into some presentations. Beginners often make the mistake of “thinking that all it takes is being a good speaker,” she says. “You must understand business, marketing and sales. It’s not about the gig today, it’s about the opportunity tomorrow.”

Novice speakers should join Toastmasters and attend NSA meetings, practice speaking, refine their topic and be willing to learn. They also should realize that at first, speaking for pay is “a hobby that pays for itself,” she says.

Decide what topic you wish to present.

Another typical rookie blunder is trying to speak on every topic an audience wants. Beginners will say, “You want a speech on stress? I can speak about stress! You want to hear something on goals. I can talk about goals!”

“It isn’t about having seven topics, it’s about having one, ” says Mark LeBlanc, a La Jolla, Calif., author of “Growing Your Business” (Milt Adams, 2000) and a speaker for 19 years. Mr. LeBlanc, former owner of a graphics and printing company in Minneapolis, speaks about small-business success. For the first 10 years, he spoke part time as a way of sharing his ideas about business ownership with others.

“You have to figure out what you want to speak on. It has to be something you want to speak about and something near and dear to your heart, not, ‘What’s the hot topic of the 2000s?’ ” he says. People in it for the long haul should “find a particular area they can sink their teeth into,” Mr. LeBlanc says.

Be realistic about the industry.

Some aspiring speakers have stars in their eyes about the money, glamour and travel involved. Juanell Teague, a Dallas-based business coach to the speaking industry, suggests taking a closer look. Speaking “takes a tremendous amount of energy and it drains you,” says Ms. Teague, president of People Plus Inc. “It’s a different lifestyle. You’ll be away from family a lot.” Consider your children’s ages and your family situation and decide how long you can be away.

“Don’t go into it thinking it won’t be a strain on your marriage,” says Mr. Heckler. “You’ll be gone a lot. You’ll be giving your energy to other people at the other end of an airplane ride. You need to develop an incredible capacity for loneliness. Even in front of a room of 1,000 people you feel alone.”

You won’t make much money at first either. Ms. Teague, who developed a manual to help speakers understand fee progression, says setting fees is the biggest mystery in the field. “The first level is zero. You speak for free,” she says. “The second step is between $100 and $850 and so on.”

Don’t expect a speaker’s bureau to do all the legwork.

Many presenters believe their careers will take off and they won’t have to market themselves if they sign on with a speaker’s bureau. Not so, says Michele Lemmons-Poscente, chief executive officer and president of the International Speaker’s Bureau in Dallas. “A bureau won’t make your career,” she says. “Bureaus typically don’t start working with you until you are someone.”

What makes you “someone” to a bureau? Your fees are one indicator. “A speaker needs to be charging the kind of money to be able to give 25% to a bureau,” says Mike Stoll, president of the All-Star Agency in Fairfax, Va. Before contacting a bureau, you should earn $3,500 a speech and have a professional video, Mr. Stoll recommends.

Ask yourself the right questions before starting out.

Mr. Sanborn parlayed a background in sales and marketing into a professional speaking career. He advises speaking hopefuls to ask themselves three questions:

• What is my message?

• Who will pay me to hear it?

• How will they find out about me?

If you can answer these questions and are willing to pay your dues, you may be ready to step to the podium.

You must be ready to handle sudden career changes.

When I gave notice at my last job, my manager told me not to bother coming in anymore–that day was to be my last.

So, instead of enjoying a leisurely day at the office–saying goodbye to colleagues, tying up loose ends, and leaving early–I was diving through all my files. I wanted to make sure that I didn’t leave any personal business behind, wanted to bring home all my work samples. My quest to find a new, more life-fulfilling job began right there and then.

I wish I had thought about disaster preparedness beforehand.

Whether your industry is prone to layoffs or you just happen to have a finicky boss, no one should be caught off-guard in the event of job loss. By putting together a plan like this, you will always have one eye on the door and one ear to the ground:

1. Keep up your industry contacts. Stay in touch with your old boss, phone a colleague across the country just to compare notes, go to as many industry conferences and meetings as you can stomach, and introduce yourself to the unfamiliar faces.

2. Stay current on industry developments. This includes developments outside your own current job and company. Prospective employers and future colleagues will be impressed when you confidently spout your opinion on the latest news and gory trivia in your field.

3. Get references. Keep in touch with people in your network–the people you used to work with and work for who think most highly of you, are in the highest possible position, and can articulate your greatest assets. Keep their contact information current, and keep them informed about your latest accomplishments.

4. Keep your resume updated. You should always have clean copies on hand. You’ll have sweaty palms when you get ready to apply for a new gig only to realize you need to spend extra anxious hours whipping that document into shape. I always dread those midnight jaunts to Kinko’s.

5. Main your portfolio. Be sure that, when the ax falls and you have one hour to clean out your desk, you won’t be sweating the fact that you have all your work samples on the office computer, and nothing at home. Download them now and keep those copies at home. When my colleague Traci was getting ready to leave her job as assistant news director at a Dallas radio station, she stayed late every night for two weeks dubbing tapes. Shouldn’t she be home packing her bags for Boston and having one last drink with friends? Sure, but she needed to take home copies of the news stories and features she produced over her five-year career with the station.

6. Keep your hard drive clean. Delete personal messages and documents now so you won’t have to worry about what your replacement will do with what might be personal, sensitive information.

7. Maintain paper files. It’s good to leave your files in the most organized manner possible. You never know when you might be asked to return, or to work with your successor in another capacity. In fact, when I was asked to leave my miserable job as an actuary, my boss was so impressed with my mature attitude (I was 23 at the time) and enthusiasm about my remaining workload, he agreed to keep me employed for an additional two weeks.

8. Copy all personal information. Your work email account could be cut off even before you get the ax. If you want to make sure you have those ever-important email addresses of friends and colleagues, you’d better find a way to make a back-up copy of that information now. Consider photocopying your rolodex, and archive the contents at home. Even if you wind up needing just one of those phone numbers, it’ll be worth it.

9. Protect your finances. Do I really have to remind you to put away some money just in case that next paycheck doesn’t materialize? Believe me, you’ll be a lot better off when you’re in between jobs and you don’t have to resort to serving up a side of fries just to pay your phone bill. You’ll need all that free time to look for a great new gig anyway.

10. Keep an outfit handy. I might be caught off-guard if I happen to be called in for a face-to-face job interview. Does my good suit fit? Do all my shoes look scuffy? Try to keep something decent to wear to an interview, even if you’re in an industry that values the casual look.

Spend some time now preparing and getting organized. You’ll be glad you did.

You have to know when to move on.

“I really felt stuck. I stayed, hoping it would get better,” recalls Marilyn Fox, a journalist who used to work for a music Web site. “It never did.” It took Fox nearly three years to learn that her job would never take her where she wanted to go. The wait-and-see approach to career management is a common phenomenon, and one that’s becoming even more common in this iffy economy. Workers are afraid to trade what they have–however lackluster that may be–for the great unknown.

“People sabotage themselves by playing it safe,” says Kristin Taliaferro, founder of KristinCoach.com, an international coaching service based in Dallas. Knowing when to move up or move on is fundamental to keeping your career moving along happily.

A job may be good at a certain point in your career, but people inevitably grow and change. They will always look for new challenges. Knowing when to move up or when to move on is the key to keeping your career on track. After all, if you feel like you’re stagnating, you probably are. “That inkling is telling you something,” Taliaferro says.

Designing a Plan
First, make sure your goals are clear. “Review them quarterly,” Taliaferro advises, “and make it a point to learn a new skill every quarter so you keep things fresh.”

Next, ask yourself these three questions. Be firm in your answers. “You can’t be wishy-washy,” Taliaferro directs. “You’re in one camp or the other, nothing in-between.”

1. Do you enjoy getting up and going to work?
2. Does your job completely drain your energy?
3. Is your job furthering your goals?

If the answer to any one of these questions is no, it’s time for a change. “A lot of people hang around,” Taliaferro says. “They wait for someone to make things better for them, to offer them a promotion or a better assignment. It doesn’t work that way. If you want something, you’ve got to get it yourself.” That’s a lesson Marilyn Fox learned the hard way. “I guess I was expecting my boss to see how patient it I was, what a good job I was doing and suggest that I move up,” she says. “It never happened.”

Talking to family and friends is another way to gauge whether the time has really come for a career shake-up. Ask them if you seem happy in your job. “Tell them to be honest with you,” Taliaferro advises, “and really listen to what they say. If they say you seem stressed, or work too much, that’s a sign.”

Fear of the Unknown
Fear is the main reason why people don’t move on when they should. “They are afraid of not having enough money; they are afraid of seeming disloyal; they are afraid of the unknown; they are afraid of giving up the community of friends they’ve built up at work; and they’re just plain afraid of change,” says Taliaferro. It’s important to realize that postponing change doesn’t make it any easier. “People become more and more beaten down and lose their confidence the longer they’re in a job they shouldn’t be in,”

Fox now agrees: “The more I waited, the less confident I became. I started wondering if I could ever get a job doing what I really wanted to do. I just dreaded going through the whole search process again.”

But she did. She quit her web job with a small nest egg in the bank. For the next two months she hunted for a new job, one that would use her skills and challenge her. She eventually nabbed a spot as deputy editor for a new woman’s magazine. Fox now writes three to five features a month and travels around the world covering music and entertainment news. “I could kick myself for waiting so long to move on,” she says.

“Moving on is always awkward. Be prepared for it,” Taliaferro concludes. “To be successful, you have to get comfortable with being awkward for a time. When you think it’s time to move on, you need to do it as soon as you can. If you don’t, there’s a chance you never will.”

Native Californians are perplexed by the phrase back East. Back to what? Humidity? Hurricanes? Sub-zero temperatures and slushy, grimy snow? Los Angeles has its share of problems–smog, earthquakes, floods, forest fires–but it also has bikini-clad babes blading down the boardwalk, a bright white sun that never quits, and palm trees swaying in the sea breeze. Who would ever want to go back East?

Los Angeles is unique in its ever-growing young adult population, expanding job market, and high quality of life. Many people spend their time outdoors, enjoying the glorious weather year round. Believe it or not, there are enough cultural attractions here to impress any diehard Yankee. And, most importantly, the cost of living here is lower than in other big cities, so recent grads can afford larger apartments and even save some dough.

Finding an Apartment
To give yourself an edge while apartment hunting, sign up for a rental list. Most lists require a membership fee, giving you access for up to three months. Without a rental list, you are relegated to the classifieds. Many still find success with the tried and true “drive-till-you-drop” method, searching up and down residential neighborhoods for vacancy signs.

“You will be frustrated at times,” says Elizabeth Koenig, who recently landed a job as a project manager for a women’s rights organization. “You may stumble upon a hidden treasure without that palm tree motel feel.” If you do, give the landlord a check immediately. Landlords will often require that recent college graduates have a parent co-sign on apartment leases. Without proof of current, paid employment, a guarantor will almost always be required. From four to six weeks of rent and a security deposit will usually be required when the deal is done, so save up and be prepared. Once you sign a lease, make sure you “walk through” the apartment with your landlord. Write down any noticeable flaws so that, when you move out, you can get all of that security deposit back.

Where to Live
Where you live is really dependent upon three things: price, neighborhood feel, and commute. Many East Coasters prefer living in centralized, congested areas like Hollywood and West Hollywood–because it reminds them of home. Suburbanites like the laid-back vibe of the West Side. As far as living close to your job, it’s a coin toss. Most of the movie studios are in the valley, so if you’re in the industry and you live in Brentwood, you may have to deal with a heavy commute. The automobile is central to life in LA, and most people drive 30 minutes or more to work.

Rent control was recently eliminated, so landlords jacked up the rent in many areas. This seems to have affected the trendier spots like Santa Monica, Venice, Brentwood, West Los Angeles, and West Hollywood more than anywhere else. Rents in the Valley (Studio City, Burbank and Glendale) are lower and you will get more for your money. Hollywood, Los Feliz, and Silverlake are also worth a look. These areas are now teeming with would-be ingenues and leading men, thanks to the indie film Swingers.

Finding a Job
Whether or not you’re pursuing Hollywood fame and fortune, LA is teeming with jobs. Waiting tables and working temp jobs can free up time and provide starry-eyed actors with the flexibility to run from audition to audition. Other entertainment-related jobs include production, public relations, management, and video game development. Internet companies abound here: Many of these companies directly interact with the entertainment community, while others develop new businesses. Web-based programming and online media content are also red-hot job areas.

If you’re willing to secure a few credentials, you can teach in the public schools. Josh Chefitz, for example, teaches word processing at a Los Angeles public high school and writes in his free time. “A friend of mine recommended working in education,” he recalls, “so I researched online, found the Los Angeles Unified School District Web site, registered for emergency teaching credentials, and started as a substitute teacher.”

There are several ways to make your job search easier. Take full advantage of campus job fairs before graduation. Many companies travel to colleges, offering career information and interviews. The Internet is another vital tool. Online job searches provide quick, accurate, and current insights into the city’s workforce. You should also contact your local alumni headquarters and network, network, network! The more people you know, the more open doors you’ll find.

Making Friends
Living in Los Angeles can be lonely at first, but stick it out. Since the city is spread out, you may initially feel more alienated here than in, say, New York City. You must make a conscious effort to have the social life you want. An easy way to make friends is to answer a roommate ad. A new roommate provides instant friendship and helps share your costs. Look to live with other recent graduates who share your political or social vantage point. If you know anyone with a friend or relative in the area, ask for his or her number. This is Hollywood and schmoozing is part of the deal, for better or worse.

Make an effort with your co-workers. You will spend most of your day in the office, so this is a good place to start. Angelenos try to live healthy, so turn your workout into a social gathering. Clubs and bars can be intimidating, but young people flock to them on the weekends to hear live music, get a bite to eat, and talk about the latest flicks. Bring a friend and mingle. People will not look at you like you are crazy. That only happens back East.

Sarah Cohen, a Masters candidate in Jewish Communal Service and Social Work, came to LA from Birmingham, AL. “Once you know one person,” she says, “they’ll introduce you to their group. I’ve met people in bars who were from the same region as me, and others through college friends. It was easier than I thought it would be.”