Seniors Site

Don’t you just love being the guy who knows everyone by first name? Or if somebody just needs to talk to someone, you’ll be the first one they will ever contact to get this someone’s attention?.. Well, I say, that’s one of the perks that comes with living in this world for such a long time! Seniors who have been in the work force for so many years are indeed well-known in their chosen field. Even those stay-at-home wives must have filled at least 2 personal phone books when asked.
In line with this, let me just introduce to you a new word:  networking. You must have heard this word once or twice—many times if you are active in the “web” scene. Social networking for one is probably the most used term as of the moment but just to be fair, I won’t jump into conclusion that we all are aware of that. Networking, by definition, is the act of meeting new people and making new connections. For seniors, like I stated earlier, connections are never a problem since they already existed, unless of course if you are planning to make new connections in yet another field. Problem is, most of these connections just go to waste, instead of making the most out of them. Let me rephrase that, it’s not about using people you know but taking your business to the next level just by merely knowing these people.
In today’s world, knowing as many people as you can will definitely be an advantage for you. Take for example your resume. You name people there as your referral, and somehow it has to be someone who can vouch for you and at the same time, prove to the company that his or her words can be depended on. Just imagine if you wrote down a name of a president or CEO of a well-known company? Just imagine that! That’s networking at work!
I would like to think that everyday is an opportunity to make new connections. It was said that no man is an island, and I firmly believe that. There are billions of people out there and millions of ways to make connections, there is no good reason why you should not explore the possibilities of networking. Making yourself ready and presentable all the time are the next best things to do, to attract people. To make networking work to your advantage, you should know the golden rule:  that is offering your help whenever needed. This way, you are already paving the way to a good relationship which you can reap benefits from in the future. Also, word of honor is very important so always deliver your promises.
Networking is all about relationships—as much as possible, personal ones. It should be cherished and nurtured overtime to make it work.

Juggling work and family can be hard and indeed it can take toll even to the strongest of the human race. Unfortunately, it is a situation which you don’t have much of a choice. For someone younger, let say 30-something adults, work means career while family would mean spouse and kids. However, for older adults it would mean work as a means of existence and family, being his or her parent plus partner.  If I were to choose, I would definitely go for the former as there will be enough room to somehow make it work while the latter would mean getting stuck to the situation whether you like it or not. Good news is, thankfully, the words “working” and “job” are now taking a whole new different meaning, something that is remotely possible 10 years back. Telecommuting is fast gaining popularity as business owners are starting to recognize its benefits for both parties. So does outsourcing. These two made it possible for people who are having a hard time keeping up with the ever demanding work time and family life. Here are some types of job you can do at home or away from the office, and it pays really well too!
•    Medical Transcription. If you already have a background in medical and you are pretty much familiar with medical terms used by doctors then you won’t have much of a problem getting medical transcription jobs. Medical transcriptionists are in demand nowadays since doctors and medical practitioners are required to keep written records of their patients. However, they don’t have much time for it. A medical transcription job pays well and it can be done at home.
•    Website design. Let your creative juices flow while getting paid for it. What’s even greater is that you’ll be able to view and visit your work every day! if you want to go a little further, attend computer programming classes and boost up your pay even more!
•    Legal assistance. Legal assistants or paralegals play as the lawyers secretary or, the lawyer’s secretary’s assistant. They do research, prepare documents, secure signatures and more. In other words, they do the legwork for the lawyer. Usually paralegals are not required to come to the office on a regular basis, they just report when needed.
•    Tutorials. A retired teacher perhaps? Then just go post an advertisement and let the word spread about your newfound career. You don’t have to go to their houses either, you can have them come to yours after designating a conducive spot in your house, for example a spare room.

Now that you have finally decided to take the next step on expanding your business, you now have to weigh your pros and cons carefully, so that you start this new business journey on fairly stable footing. By now, you probably know—and heard—the beauty of online selling, and how a business owner can benefit from it. Seniors, particularly, have these advantages when selling online:
•    Lower operational cost
•    Time flexibility
•    Faster transaction time
•    Wider market reach
•    Ease of selling, especially if you have limited range of motion
•    Be able to sell on equal footing with larger companies
It is easy to set up an online shop however, it can be quite expensive and time consuming too. Good thing is, there are people who specialize in this kind of business whom you could hire. Bad point though is that, there are about thousands, if not millions of people, claiming they know everything about this stuff and will charge a whole bunch for a job not so well done! In other words, scams abound, so seniors, be forewarned. On the other hand, if time is not an issue at all, you can build your own online shop all by yourself—arthritic hand and all!
•    First, you need a specific product to sell, or at the very least, a theme to work on. If you’re expanding, then you already have this one but if you are just starting out, then choose your best product or service to highlight on your web business. For example, you sell senior clothes or adaptive clothing line for disabled seniors.
•    Prepare your business plan. Of course, you need one too! It should include feasibility study, marketing plan and financials, as these are the areas which your business will depend on.
•     Choose a domain name—and choose wisely! This is your first in-action experience with the ever doubting web community but it should not be a scary one too! However, choosing a domain name for your website is one of the most important things you need to secure early on as this will carry your online store’s name. As much as possible, choose something that will represent your store more clearly such as “shoppingseniors” or “clothedseniors” (for senior clothes). Your domain name should be .com and nothing else. Also, keep it short and sweet. You can either create unique domain name or just buy an existing one.
•    Pick a good web host for your site. A web host will enable your domain name thus allowing other people to access your website. Without this, your website cannot be viewed at all. Nowadays, there are many web hosting services available for you to choose from. My advice is that you shop around and stick with the popular ones.
•    Build your website. This is where your creative juices must flow. If you don’t have any, then get a good website building software to assist you with your website building needs.
•    Set up a payment system for your website. Your website should be able to accept payments online, credit card especially. A merchant account would do or a third party payment processor.
Now that you have your website up and running, you can either keep it as it is or go a little further by boosting its search engine ranking for better searchability!

Planning and starting your own business, especially for retired seniors, are both fun and exciting as it marks a new chapter in your life and also, it will help you keep the financial aspect of your retired life running. However, doing it on your own can be tougher and may even bring about more stressful situations than all your working years combined—the one you retired from! Your simple solution? Get a partner on board!
While this setup appears easy enough to handle, many businesses get ruined by just a simple mismatched partnership. Great idea, yes, but sometimes, great business ideas get dumped just because partners don’t agree on the same thing—or refuse to give it a shot. Disagreements are expected especially if there’s money involved in it, however, you can eliminate most of the friction by securing these things ahead of time or prior to opening your business:
DO:  Make roles clear. That includes responsibilities each one holds. It may be harder for control freaks but trust me, it removes unnecessary confusion in the long run. Of course, assigning roles based on skills is very important so you need to assess one another‘s strength and weakness.
DON’T:  Be a passive partner. It’s your business too, you know! As much as your partner has the right to know and do things, he or she needs to let you know what’s going on in their assigned areas—and vice versa. This is what partnerships are for! Set up regular meetings to keep each other informed.
DO:  Discuss goals and expectations. Seniors should be wise enough to make sure you and your partner are in exact same page when it comes to how the business should run. Short and long term should be discussed as well as strategies you need to employ to reach those goals. While you’re at it, discuss budget as well.
DON’T:  Get resentment in the way—at least for the business. You should be able to communicate effectively with a partner. It is remotely possible if there is a wall dividing you guys so make sure there’s none.
DO:  Expect disagreements and plan how to settle disputes, if and when a problem arises. There should be a formal method on how to settle disputes and disagreements that is agreeable to both parties. A third party consultant can help.
DON’T:  Come unprepared. Never expect a partnership to always be smooth-sailing. There will be many issues to discuss once your business operates and there is bound to be a dispute along the way. Not knowing what these issues are and how they materialized will only make you vulnerable to manipulation.
Do:  Put it in writing—and have a lawyer look at it! This includes compensations, benefits, salary or how earnings should be divided. In other words, there should be an existing partnership agreement which specifically spell out responsibilities and rights of partners involved.

Considering the age we must be in right now and the experiences we have had so far, by common sense it is safe to assume that somehow seniors have already developed and honed their persuasion skills very well. We might even have developed our own tricky little ways to get the things we want in life. However, all things considered, some seniors prefer to just go with the flow and not put in good use their useful skills acquired all those years being a runner-up in life’s so-called rat race!
News flash for seniors! Now more than ever, you need to practice the art of persuasion. Whether you are starting your own business or hoping to land a job, or perhaps switching careers, seniors need to be persuasive enough to get things in order, and of course, be able to recognize it when applied to you as well. This, in a way, will help you assess if you are being scammed or not, if you get what I mean.
You would know you successfully persuaded a person if that person embraced your idea without any doubt at all. For those who are having a hard time applying persuasion, or feel guilty everytime they need to, here are simple ways to enhance your persuasion skills and further your influence as well:
·    Be generous. Consider this as an investment. By nature, people tend to loosen up when a person is kind or at the very least, appears to be kind. Generosity, indeed, is a sign you are willing to give whatever you have and you are kind enough to be trusted. It need not be material things, it can be in form of praises and such.
·    Personalized your moves. For example you are a client receiving an invitation though email from someone you bought something from few months back, would you like to receive a generic letter with “Dear Sir/Madam” on it or prefer to have your name emblazoned on top of it all? Of course, you would like to have the latter right? That’s the exact same thing the person you are talking to must be feeling.
·    Never confuse your audience. Seniors must focus on their thoughts when speaking to an audience. Never present too much choices and options to choose from instead, just give them only the ones they need.
·    Point out what they are missing instead of forcing your ideas in. By attacking an issue this way, your audience becomes more educated thus helping them arrive to a better understanding of the situation.
·    Express concern and move against self-interest. Yes, it may defeat your goal all together especially if you are trying to sell a product but by gaining your audience’s trust, it will be easier to have them accept and embrace your ideas.

When you talk about virtual offices, virtual assistants are never too far out of mind. In fact, it would be the next big thing you’ll ever do for your virtual office, especially as your business expands. Many seniors may frown with this idea as it is a fairly new way of conducting business and it requires certain level of techie “know-how”. However, hiring a virtual assistant has many, many benefits and it, like a virtual office would, can save you a lot in the long run!
Somewhere in this blog, I have discussed how out-of-work seniors can explore the many possibilities of freelance work, both online and offline. It includes virtual assistance which I find both flexible enough to handle and challenging enough to keep your aging brain in working order.  On the other hand, seniors need not to be on this side forever, as more and more retirees are starting out their small businesses and eventually will need services of an assistant.
I understand it can be doubtful at times as you will be working with someone remotely, and it is very possible to not meet your virtual assistant personally EVER. It can be scary especially scams infest the internet in overwhelming proportions but believe me, when you finally meet your match, you are most likely to tell yourself that the risk you have taken is all worth it.
FIND YOUR VIRTUAL ASSISTANT
There are many online marketplaces today which house different kinds of virtual assistants from all over the world. If you are comfortable working with someone through emails, chats and calls only, then you can hire someone from faraway countries such as India and the Philippines. These countries usually charge lower than other foreign countries which can definitely save you a lot of money. However, you can also hire someone local for a much cheaper rate than having them go to the office everyday! What’s more important is that the hiring senior knows exactly what he wants from a virtual assistant prior to the scouting process. Best stick with reputable marketplaces when posting for a VA job.
HIRING YOUR VIRTUAL ASSISTANT
After posting the job, you are sure to get bids. Depending on the job description you posted, you can receive at least 10 candidates up to a hundred within a minute. Now you can look at their profiles and assess if their skills are what you need. Their profiles are most likely to have their work history, time worked if the marketplace is an escrow service and feedbacks from their previous clients. These things will help you make the right decision in choosing a provider. Rates also vary depending on the extent of work and expertise the virtual assistant may have.  Like traditional office setup, you will have to set an appointment for interview so take note of the time differences. You, as the hiring party, should be able to set rules such as what you expect from your VA and what tasks are to be done.
LAST NOTES
Connection is very important as your virtual assistant will be working with you very closely. In fact, he or she may know way more about you and your business than your partner so make sure that both of you are on the same page. Give your VA a probation period of one to two weeks, and make sure she knows it. By that time, you’ll be able to determine if she’s good for you or if you need to go look for someone else all over again.

I never thought the day would come when seniors would have to brush up on their job interview skills! Back then, when you talk about senior workers, it would be the seniors doing the interview and the interviewee would be 20-something, nervous and perspiring guys. Now that the playing field got even and competition is now made stiffer than ever, it’s very common to see younger guys doing the interview with the senior on the hot seat. Even if roles have changed, some certain rules still apply. However, these are the things you need to avoid:
·    Sending an informal “thank you for your time” note. Your hiring manager won’t like it if you just drop him or her an informal email with letters too hard to understand or even a poke over Facebook. An extra effort goes a long way such as sending a written, formal letter expressing your gratitude for the time spent interviewing you.
·    Generalized resume. While it is convenient to just make a standard resume and cover letter for all your job interview needs, you still have to tweak it for every job you apply to. Bear in mind that most hiring managers go for targeted skills so it is important to consider what is needed for the job and adjust your resume and cover letters as such.
·    Showing up uninformed. Impress your hiring manager by knowing the facts you need to know about the company. You don’t go asking questions instead it should be the other way around since this is an interview. You only ask questions if there is something not clearly indicated on their job description.
·    Showing up distracted. Even if there are one hundred and one tasks waiting for you outside of an interview, you should turn off all distracting thoughts and focus on the interview now. It will only take a few minutes of your time anyway.
·    Trying to be someone else you’re not. Remember that interviews are meant to gauge if you are fit for the job they have in mind, not to mold you into someone they want to work with. Just give your best answers and try not to be too intimidated by what’s happening around you.
·    Too much stuff will bring you down. Just bring your resume, cover letter and yourself, nothing else. Unless of course, if requested by the company or the hiring manager. Take out coffee cups are not welcomed either.

Virtual offices, what are they? They function similar to a traditional office, only your staff is offsite which means, you don’t get to see your staff daily. It was said that virtual offices became popular with the advent of technology and information age, also called as, the internet age. This is the time when communicating globally is not only possible but also made very easy. With thousands of tools available for real-time collaboration and communication, it opened another door for small businesses the world over to run and maintain a virtual office with real people as staff therefore exuding a professional feel but only at a fraction of the cost of a traditional office. This is why virtual offices are the best choice, if not the best solution, for small and startup business.
Now, if you are familiar with virtual assistants, I must say they are the ones directly behind a virtual office. These folks work from home and do without all those hassles of going to and fro work, and indeed they earn well! What I like with virtual offices is that it really benefits seniors the most since it allows mobility and time-flexibility. For seniors who are looking for ways to cut costs on starting their own businesses, explore the possibilities of a virtual office. Here’s how:
·    In a virtual office, all you need is an internet connection and of course a computer—two of which I know you have now since you’re able to read this post! If you are the type of senior who travels a lot but still wants to get connected with your staff 24/7, you might need a smartphone like iPhone or BlackBerry.
·    Softwares for you and your staff’s use. This provides uniformity amongst the members of your virtual office. You can either have someone design one for you which can be as secured as ever but really expensive or just choose a good collaboration platform or management structure to manage the work flow of your virtual office. Those you can find online can be downloaded to several computers for a minimal fee—others can be accessed for free.
·    Your means of communication. Since your virtual office is mostly internet-based, your means of communication should also be the same. Skype is a great application for cheap phone calls and video conferencing—and reliable too! Rule of thumb, the application should be able to perform these things:  instant messaging, audio and video conferencing and file transfers.
·    A valid email address. If you have your own website, it’s just proper to use your own company email address and give your staff their own too since they are now a member of your team. If you haven’t gotten that far yet, a free webmail would do for now, for example Gmail.
·    A good escrow service. This will handle your payments online. It can also be used for your eCommerce business or simply for paying your staff.
·    Secure marketplace to get your staff. There are many out there such as Odesk, Guru and Elance where you can find virtual providers from all over the world. It can be global or just within your area, depending on your preferences.

When you say branding, you always associate it with a product, most probably commercial wares you are currently marketing or advertising to a specific target market. The word “brand” itself, by definition, is anything that represents a product, designed to make the product recognizable by its patrons. Branding on the other hand is a process or steps you take in order to educate your patrons of your product. Let’s take for example the Coke brand, they apply branding techniques by TV commercials, merchandise and promotional activities. Over the years, they managed to make Coke a household name such that when you say “softdrink”, it’s either a Pepsi or Coke. Now, that’s what you call good branding!
Nowadays, branding is no longer confined to products and services. If you have just entered the job-hunting scene, you must probably be aware by now that everything has changed since the last time you submitted a resume for a job. Even your basic resume took on a different look and adapted a more professional feel.   Today, personal branding IS the trend, and if you want to stand out and be picked, you need to apply good personal branding techniques to go with your attention-grabbing resume!
Seniors, however, have an advantage when it comes to branding. When all these young people run up and down just to find their own place under the sun, you my friend, exactly know what you are good at—and yes, you can write that down in a snap! Every senior has his or her own expertise, and that expertise means a lot in personal branding. Even a lifetime housewife has her own expertise such as baking or perhaps tutoring to kids. If ever she decided to establish her personal brand, it could be as a baker or a tutor which can land her work in, perhaps, baking cakes for weddings or tutoring kids either at her own home or a nearby daycare center. See how easy it is to brand yourself? Just as long as you know your strengths and capabilities!
Seniors should begin personal branding efforts starting today—and no, you don’t need any professional help as you can do it yourself. It helps you stand out from the crowd especially now that the competition is as stiff as ever! Whether you are looking for work or planning to start your own business, knowing where your expertise lies and having enough proof to backup your claim give you a tremendous edge over your competition. And that is exactly what you need!

Gone are the days when you purchase a readymade questionnaire, or form, with little boxes in it and try as you might to maintain a somewhat decipherable writing or what they call as legible handwriting. With the advent of the computer and yes, the internet too, there are now hundreds of resume templates you can use for your job hunting, or even for reference purposes. Even your hideous looking ID picture can now be enhanced for a sexier, more attractive you! It can’t get any better than that!
FYI seniors, resumes today are not made solely to be printed. A senior looking for a job can now apply even within the comfort of their own homes via the internet of course. If you have been reading posts from this blog, you should know by now that working from home has always been a favorite of mine as I see it fits a senior’s life perfectly. Your resume can now be submitted through emails and through online marketplaces using escrow accounts. Some of the biggest companies in the industry today have their own forms you need to fill up upon application however, preparing a good resume is still an essential part of your job-hunting activities. Your resume should cover these points:
·    A basic resume must be two pages long and as much as possible, no longer than that. Keep it clean and avoid cluttering your resume too much. Use simple, easy to read font and font sizes. If you want to go for a creative looking resume, try browsing for resume templates over the internet.
·    Strength and capabilities. While it is good to emphasize your experience, try to highlight your strengths and capabilities as a person and as a worker instead. Your potential employer must have already acknowledged your experience just by seeing your age written on your resume, what they need to know now are the things you can do for the company or the team.
·    Arrange it chronologically but very well targeted. It is important to read the job description well before getting your resume together. Explain in extent the ones you feel are important for the company but list also those occupations you did in the past—only not that detailed as the former. Your most recent comes first down to your first job.
·    Trainings, seminars and educational background. Same as your work history, you should also include these things in your resume as this is very important for the company to know. This serves as their reference if you are fit for the position.
·    Have someone proofread your cover letter. Grammar and sentence construction are very important as it implies your professionalism. Again, just keep it simple and it should directly answer the job description.