The Reinvention Coach

New Book, New Year, New You!

My new book The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention:  Essential Survival Skills for Any Economy hit bookstores on December 31st! 

The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention is the first book to give you all the necessary tools for navigating the full arc of career change between different fields. In the book I guide you through the process of identifying your skill sets, repackaging your experience and thinking outside the box in order to manifest the very real potential you have to start anew.  I reveal the secrets behind a successful reinvention, and give you valuable advice that answers all your tactical questions about navigating the roadblocks, getting traction in a new industry, and managing your fears.  Clear-headed, calming, practical and thorough, The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention is the ideal guidebook to transforming your career and finding your way to a life you love.

Praise for the book!

The book was named a Top Shelf Recommended pick in the current issue of the Harvard Business Review! 

"Mitchell's advice is spot on" says The Dallas Morning News.

"A sharp, smart, eye-opening book" says Book A Week with Jen blog.

The book has recently been featured in the Denver Post, the New York Post, and Kiplinger's Personal Finance!

Buy your copy today at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders and Indie-Bound!  Be sure to post a review after you have read the book. 

Save the date!

On Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. in New York City I will host a free Reinvention Talk and Networking event to celebrate the publication of The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention.  Join me for drinks, get your book signed, and network with your fellow reinventors!  Details to come.

New friends online!

We’re online, so fan us, follow us and find us!  Keep up with The Reinvention Institute’s latest news and happenings.

 Facebook - http://bit.ly/FanReinvent
 Twitter - http://bit.ly/TweetReinvent
 LinkedIn - http://bit.ly/LinkReinvent

I wish you a successful start to the New Year!

Welcome Reinvention Convention attendees!

Yesterday I moderated a panel at More magazine's Reinvention Convention in New York City.  It was a fun and inspiring day, packed with lots of great information for women over age 40 who want to reinvent themselves in any area of their life (health, finances, career, beauty).  More's taking this show on the road; conventions are planned for both Washington D.C. and Chicago in Spring 2010.

One of the gifts in the goodie bag was a postcard about my upcoming book, the 10 Laws of Career Reinvention.  We are just a few short months away from its release, and already there's been lots of interest!  If you want to pre-order your copy, you can do so here and here.  And if this is your first time visiting us, you can learn more about our work at our main website here.

Three useful books plus a $25 consultation!

Clients often ask me to recommend books that will be helpful to them as they're reinventing themselves.  Here are a few that have been on my latest "must have" list:

Good in a Room:  Written by former MGM creative executive Stephanie Palmer, this book's theory is that the techniques used by top writers, directors and producers to sell themselves and their ideas in Hollywood not only work in other businesses, they often work better. Good in a Room lays out a step-by-step system for pitching yourself in high stakes meetings, whether you're interviewing for a job or trying to land a client for your business. An easy read that offers a fresh take on the old subject of elevator pitches, I recommend that all aspiring reinventors read this book.

The Knack:  Written by Inc. magazine Street Smarts columnist Norm Brodsky and Small Giants author Bo Burlingham, this book is for entrepreneurs current and aspiring.  Reading it is like sitting down with a wise and successful businessman (which Norm is) who has agreed to teach you about the mental habits you'll need to handle whatever comes up, good and not-so-good.  Written in a tough, bracingly honest tone, and peppered with the real-life stories of struggling entrepreneurs, The Knack is an entertaining and engrossing read that delivers numerous 'aha' moments and lots of valuable advice.

The First 30 Days:  I wrote a review for this book written by Ariane de Bonvoisin, founder of first30days.com, when it was first released.  Now it's in paperback, so if you haven't already read this wise treatise about navigating change, now's the time to check it out AND save a few extra bucks!

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Get personal advice on your career reinvention for only $25!

Want a little help brainstorming ideas?  Need to know the next couple of steps you should take?  Want to pick the brain of an expert to get a few suggestions?  The Reinvention Institute is offering a limited number of quick consults, via email, with a Reinvention Coach for only $25!  Click here for more information and to grab your spot.

Back from hiatus & big announcement!

My last newsletter post was February 19th, and it is now.... August!  What, you might ask, could have caused such a lengthy absence?  I wish I could say that I'd run off to Tibet to study enlightenment with the Dalai Lama, or at the very least was on a beach in the Bahamas sipping mango fruit shakes. No such luck, at least on the relaxation front. 

I've been off writing a book!  One week prior to my last post, I got a book deal with Dutton, an imprint of Penguin.  Given the timeliness of the topic-- everybody needs some career reinvention skills right now-- they wanted the book ASAP.  I am happy to report that I delivered the final manuscript last week, and that The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention: Essential Survival Skills for Any Economy will be out in January!

It has turned out to be a fabulous book-- inspiring stories of 10 people who used the laws in their own successful reinventions, combined with practical and detailed advice about how you can put each law into practice in your own life.  Stay tuned; more information to come over the next few months and pre-orders already available on Amazon.

I'll be blogging here regularly again. (Thanks to those who emailed asking where I was-- nice to be missed!) In other news, I have a new "Ask the Reinvention Coach" blog column over at More.com (website for More magazine). So if you're a 40+ woman who has a question about your reinvention, stop by and drop me a line!  If I pick your question for that week's column, you'll win a copy of our Career Reinvention 101: Getting Started audio program plus the companion Reinvention Workbook!

Cleaning up your online profile...

A recent incident with my sister reminded me of the importance of closely managing your online profile.

I opened a Facebook account several months ago to familiarize myself with the service and learn how it might be helpful to our work here at The Reinvention Institute.  Since I wasn't ready to create an official TRI presence, I mostly limited my connections to family, personal friends, and the occasional 'friend-colleague' (these are people that I've met through work whom I've become personally friendly with).  Mindful of the fact that nothing posted online is ever truly private (even with Facebook's highest privacy settings), I've chosen to be very selective with the information I share on the site.

Imagine my surprise when I went got a notification that I'd been tagged in a bunch of photos!  My sister had posted some family pictures, including a number of candid shots from my bridal shower and wedding.  Now in my sister's defense, I actually had a few wedding pictures on my own Facebook profile (I knew that the longtime friends I was connecting with on the site would want to see them).  But what she didn't know is that they were carefully edited to include only those I'd be comfortable showing the remotest of strangers or potential business colleagues.

Luckily all it took was a quick email to my sister to get the pictures taken down.  But it was a lesson learned that you must always stay on top of the image your online profile presents.

Tips for managing your online profile include doing an online search on yourself, setting up a 'Google Alert' to send you a notification anytime your name is mentioned online, or taking an objective look at your LinkedIn, Facebook or MySpace page.  For a more comprehensive sweep, download a great checklist from $100k+ job site, TheLadders.com.

For those who want a concrete game plan to weather this market downturn...

A reminder that our Reinvention Team Action Group starts next week! (Tuesday, Jan 27th, to be exact).

This group will:

• Get you unstuck
• Help you find your niche
• Get you on the road to your new career
• Give you inspiration that you can reach your goal
• Connect you with a network of friends to assist you

You might be wondering how all this can be done in nine short weeks.  I'm going to be honest: if you're looking for a 'magic bullet' easy street to reinvention, this isn't the group for you.  But, if you want (or need) a new career and you're willing to do the work and put in the effort, you will have RESULTS. 

Will you have found your dream job by the end of the nine weeks?  Again, honesty is best: there's a slight possibility, but most likely no.  This is because we don't control WHEN opportunity shows up-- only life does!  What can be controlled, though, through effort, is the chance of it showing up and how ready you are for it when it does.  This group gives you the strategies to MAXIMIZE your probability of opportunity and make sure that you're ready to take full advantage of opportunity when it comes.

This is an intense, results-driven group with lots of personal attention.  Because of that, I only run one at a time.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, because of my book project I won't do another one until the end of 2009.  I've also decided-- since I'll be juggling this group and the book at the same time-- that I'm only going allow 3 more people in.

This is the FINAL note about the January group-- so if you want one of the 3 spots, act now and sign up here.