Tanya Kersey | Hollywood Career Strategist | Hollywood Career Coach | Entertainment Industry Consultant | Hollywood Career Resources

Last week I talked about mak­ing a list of career res­o­lu­tions in order to jump start the new year. I listed five career res­o­lu­tions that you should have on your list: (1) Have a plan for my career, (2) Update my tools, (3) Develop myself pro­fes­sion­ally, (4) Build my net­work, and (5) Get the nec­es­sary sup­port. In order to advance your career, ele­vate your pro­fes­sional image and cre­ate a more prof­itable you in 2009, YOU have to hit the ground run­ning NOW and get mov­ing towards reach­ing your resolved goals! Let’s focus on your first res­o­lu­tion: Have a plan for my career. All enter­tain­ment indus­try pro­fes­sion­als — whether in-front-of or behind-the-cameras, cre­ative or busi­ness — should have a plan for their career. If you don’t have one, you should get one. It’s your own per­sonal busi­ness plan that will map out how you achieve your goals. Here are five busi­ness strate­gies you can employ to cre­ate a plan for your Hol­ly­wood career:

1. Define your career goals.
2. Iden­tify the short, mid, and long term goals you intend to achieve.
3. Assess your strengths and weak­nesses. Fig­ure out how to dimin­ish your lia­bil­i­ties while pro­mot­ing your strengths. Your strengths will inform your opportunities.
4. Iden­tify the strate­gies you will employ to map the short­est path to your goals.
5. Cre­ate a time­line between here and there so you know what to do over time to bring you closer to your goals.

Start sim­ple in cre­at­ing your career plan. I rec­om­mend a one goal-one month strat­egy to begin with. Let’s start right now! No time like the present. First write down one goal you want to accom­plish this month. This is now your com­mit­ment to your­self. Make sure its an achiev­able goal that you are capa­ble of reach­ing on your own. Then list your tasks, what you need to do to accom­plish the goal. You’ve got 4 weeks to make it hap­pen. Each week will take you one step closer to reach­ing your goal. Repeat this process every month to stay on point and keep your career mov­ing for­ward. Resolve that: I will develop an action plan and fol­low through it. Each week I will do at least one thing to advance my career. I’ll make a phone call, write a thank you let­ter, take some­one to lunch, attend an indus­try event, or do some­thing else that will help me move towards my goal. I won’t wait for oppor­tu­nity to knock on my door. Action is what builds momen­tum. Next week we’ll break down what you need to do to keep the sec­ond res­o­lu­tion: update my tools. Until then, stay focused! Wish­ing you much suc­cess and many bless­ings in the New Year, TANYA KERSEY