That’s what my friend Alicia Dunams set out to do in her mid-20′s, but she instead found herself on a journey of personal growth and self-actualization. Alicia is the author of Amazon best-selling book Goal Digger: Lessons Learned from the Rich Men I Dated, a successful entrepreneur, real estate investor, and success coach. In her book, Alicia asks: Rather than marrying rich, why not set about to earn a few cool million yourself? Or start your own dream business?

I love Alicia’s enthusiasm because much like me, her strongest passion is to encourage and empower others to seek their full potential! Alicia educates women and empowers them to seek their own financial success, and become wealthy in all aspects of their lives, through her book, her Rich Girl Guide series, and via the new Wealthy Girl Summit she has organized.

Wealthy Girl Summit 2008 is a nationwide, four-day virtual wealth-building conference that will be held next week from January 24th – 27th. Alicia has brought together some extreme female power players to speak about personal finance, retirement planning, real estate and stock market investing, entrepreneurship, and the importance of emotional wealth and attitude!

The event is inspired by the tyrannical words of one of the many rich men she dated and interviewed for her highly successful book. Upon seeking the advice of “Mr. Rich” on how women can create wealth and become millionaires, this rich man replied “Women must compete for men. That is the only way they will become a millionaire. Women are too emotional and scattered to become their own millionaire.” Enraged by this sexist remark, Ms. Dunams set out to prove Mr. Rich’s point of view to be wrong. Ms. Dunams had a vision for a nationwide event that would, “in one fell swoop”, get the attention of young women across the country to take action and empower themselves, in a radical fashion, to be the creators of their own millionaire success. “I want Wealthy Girl Summit to become a movement.” Says Dunams. “A movement that will instill the millionaire mindset in young women to create wealth in all areas of their life.”

Headlining the dozen power speakers are serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist Christine Comaford-Lynch, financial strategist Loral Langemeier, and leading motivational speaker Marci Shimoff. Christine Comaford-Lynch is the CEO of business accelerator Mighty Ventures, personal consultant to big shots like President Bill Clinton, and author of Rules for Renegades: How to Make More Money, Rock Your Career, and Revel in Your Individuality. Loral Langemeier is author of The Millionaire Maker’s Guide to Creating a Cash Machine for Life and Director of Live Out Loud, a financial coaching and mentoring company. And Marci Shimoff is the New York Times #1 bestselling author of Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul and a participating teacher in the transformative film The Secret.

If you’re an entrepreneurial or success-minded young woman in your twenties or thirties, I strongly encourage you to participate in this conference. I’ve read great material from Alicia Dunams and Christine Comaford-Lynch, and have interacted with both of these awesome women, and I highly recommend their insightful lessons! 2008 is a new year, and perhaps you’ve set some powerful resolutions for yourself — to increase your income, take control of your career, or start working for yourself maybe? No matter where you are located, this nationwide teleconference and webinar should prove to be an exceptionally valuable opportunity to invest in yourself in ’08 and learn from the tremendous achievements of other successful self-made women! To become the millionaire you seek to be, or even to achieve a more humble goal, it’s all about learning to transform your mindset and beliefs, and these special guest speakers will show you how to with their proven successes! Check it out at www.WealthyGirlSummit.com

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: Women, Invest in Yourselves First with the Empowering Wealthy Girl Summit 2008

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: An Exciting New Podcast for Young Professional Women

You describe yourself as a Corporate Sustainability Strategist and a Social Enterprise Creation and Ideation consultant, which sounds very interesting! So, in layman’s terms, what do you do?

Well, as this field barely existed when I started my career 12 years ago and is still in the process of formation — I’ve done a lot of things to get to where I am today. Currently, I operate as an independent consultant providing business and non-profit development services (marketing/communications, fundraising/sales, multi-stakeholder partnerships, and strategy) to corporate social responsibility (CSR) ventures and social enterprises. I really enjoy laying the groundwork, connecting people, integrating ideas and data, and publicizing to get these ventures launched and/or scaled. And I most enjoy it when I can draw upon my experience in information technology/technology innovation, the environment, and small business and entrepreneurial development.

What does “business sustainability” mean to you?

Figuring out how to avoid the risks and take advantage of the opportunities presented to a business while still balancing economic, environmental (and human health!), and social considerations. All too often businesses focus on taking advantage of economic opportunities and only pursuing a risk management approach in terms of environmental and social considerations. This is probably not the best long-term strategy (but then how many businesses think long-term?). On the flip side, I think there is real value to be created when businesses start to think creatively about how to turn environmental and social challenges into a business opportunity.

When I say “social enterprise” in this context, I mean that the enterprise is “mission driven” — the founders have a passion for addressing a societal or environmental problem with a particular approach, service, or product. And then they just form the most appropriate vehicle around that solution (non-profit, for-profit, etc.) to accomplish the mission. Money is still important, but secondary to the mission. Especially in the case of the non-profit structure, they are often just seeking enough money to keep themselves self-financed.

Your most recent position was consulting for Envirofit International. Walk us through what a typical project like this looks like.

Envirofit is a growing clean tech non-profit in need of “expansion stage” funding. I developed a fundraising strategy and kickstarted it building relationships with government agencies, international development organizations and banks, social venture capital firms and foundations, as well as pursuing additional opportunities such as competitions, strategic partnerships, and low-cost publicity. Developing a fundraising strategy is a lot like developing a sales and marketing plan — you identify your prospects and determine your approach with each group. It’s just that non-profit fundraising is probably a lot more regimented than private sector sales and marketing; there are certain prescribed formats for letters and proposals.

You’ve worked in non-profit, government, and private business. Describe what that experience has been like, and how you got to be where you are now.

I never realized how unusual that was until I lived outside of Washington, D.C. as a professional. I formed my career in Washington, where it’s very commonplace for people to be “multi-sectoral.” It’s my sense that, at least within the space of CSR and social enterprise, the lines between these groups are increasingly becoming blurred. It was already clear to me 12 years ago when I started my career that there is no “us against them,” and the wave of the future was multi-stakeholder partnerships. Unfortunately, despite the popularity of such partnerships, they are often not as successful as they can be without mutual understanding. I think that my background enables me to provide this unique perspective.

What got you interested in sustainable development and sustainable growth?

I think it was a combination of things: many summers trips to Alaska during my high school years — was there the summer before and the summer after Exxon Valdez; saw the dried up Midwest from a plane during the summer drought of 1988. My father also worked for a large energy company, so growing up I was very aware of where my power came from — I was taught to conserve energy at a young age. Many people in my family, too, have been Peace Corps volunteers, so at a young age I was exposed to their stories about life in developing countries. I latched onto environmental issues and became a vegetarian somewhere around the age of 15…and it all evolved from there.

Do you feel like you make a positive impact with your career?

I think just about every career can be seen to have a positive impact, and some of us are more driven by impact than other motivators. I am definitely strongly driven by impact, and I do think that my career makes a positive impact at least in the short term. I cannot predict the impacts that I’ll have in the long-term. The impact that I value has changed over the years. I think it’s easy to get caught up in pursuing impact that is of national or international significance. However, all too often, such impacts lack a human connection. You may begin to wonder who did you really help. Because of this, I now gravitate toward opportunities where I can have a large impact on a small group of people or on one enterprise. Not that one way is better than the other, but you have to know what really gives you satisfaction.

When the job gets tough, what keeps you going?

I don’t know if I even think about work being “tough.” If there’s a problem that needs to be solved, it’s all I can think about to get to the bottom of it and move on. Work needs to be viewed in perspective: Think how lucky we are to even be given the opportunity of having work that also brings us great personal satisfaction. My parents and grandparents certainly did not have this. So, what on Earth do I have to complain about?

What do you recommend to students who want to get into your line of work?

I’m not quite sure if I know what “my line of work” is! I personally think it’s important to be a multi-sectoral professional and to be able to think “integratively” and creatively about business opportunities — to be able to flip an environmental challenge into a business opportunity by tapping into the resources of government agency X. But I’m not sure if a multi-sectoral career path is possible for all people, and I’m not sure if creativity is teachable.

International experience is always valuable even if you don’t intend to work internationally because it will test and change your ways of thinking about the world if you allow it to. An MBA degree helps to open doors, and these days is in demand by government, non-profit, and the private sector alike.

There are also many ways to have an impact — you don’t have to be a CSR or social enterprise professional. You can be a marketing manager who works for a green products company. You can make a bundle of money on Wall Street and then start your own foundation. There are many paths, and it’s not my place to value one over the other.

Karen, again, thank you so much for your willingness to share your incredible professional experience in corporate social responsibility and sustainability with us. For consulting inquiries, you can contact Karen at karen@jihiconsulting.com.

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: An Interview with Karen Seeh, Corporate Sustainability Strategist

Julie, in your book I Don’t Know What I Want, But I Know It’s Not This, you strive to help readers make satisfying career choices. In your experience, what are the core differences between men and women when it comes to making career decisions?

Women tend to talk to a larger number of people and be more open about discussing what their issues and problems are regarding their careers. They also seek out more opinions while men are more reticent to ask for advice from people. Men typically internalize much more until they are at the end of their rope about how to move forward. They simply aren’t as comfortable with asking for help. At the same time, people are people and my experience in my coaching practice shows that most people never think deeply or strategically about their careers or realize the importance of doing so until they are faced with a reason to do so. Even then, they are reactive and sporadic in their efforts rather then planful or anticipatory. People will plan weddings and vacations or financing their kid’s college education but rarely their careers. The elements are the same…What do you want? What do you need? What are your resources? What’s your ultimate desired outcome?

What are a few of your favorite resources for helping women succeed in business and discover the career that’s best suited for them?

I usually don’t recommend specific resources primarily because everyone finds one unique resource that just resonates for them. For example, my friend Gilda hated her job in corporate America and just decided to move to Europe for a year to learn French, Spanish and Italian in language immersion school. Her inspiration was the book Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert.

Keep watching reality TV, visit your local bookstore regularly, ask people who changed careers recently what their inspiration was, check out websites, etc. You never know what will hit you at the right time!

Continue reading at IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com: Heroines of Personal Finance and Entreprenuership #4: Julie Jansen. Make sure to visit Julie at JulieJansen.net and get a copy of her most recent book, You Want Me to Work With Who? to learn more.

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: An Interview with Julie Jansen, Career Coach and Motivational Speaker

Already in this series we’ve heard from Pam Slim, who specializes in helping people transition out of corporate life and into self-employment, but you actually encourage young people to stay and excel within the corporate world. Why?

I’m fond of saying that not everyone is cut out for the life of working for oneself. Not only is being an entrepreneur costly, nerve-wracking, and incredibly hard work, but because of the way our economy is structured, it’s simply impossible for everyone to be one. It reminds me of a psychology study my husband told me about recently, which showed that 75 percent of people believed they were above-average looking.

I bet the same thing is true of would-be entrepreneurs. A lot of people believe they have what it takes to run a successful business, but in reality, few probably do. When considering employment, young people should look at an array of options, including those that involve working in the business world.

At the end of the day, most people will end up employed in a more conventional work environment, so it may be wiser to develop the skills and the attitude that allow you to succeed and achieve your professional goals within the context of that setting. Maybe someday you will have the opportunity to “go entrepreneur,” but your happiness and success shouldn’t be contingent on it.

So tell us about your book They Don’t Teach Corporate in College. What makes you an expert on the challenges facing young employees in the workplace?

Well, you see, I graduated from college as a straight-A student hell-bent on skipping up New York City’s corporate ladder. But after six months on the job, I was so stressed out that I was ready to join the large numbers leaving the business world for graduate or law school. Eventually, though, by sticking around and paying attention to the few people around me who weren’t dropping from stress-induced coronaries, I developed many of the skills crucial to staying sane and building a career.

I wrote They Don’t Teach Corporate in College because I thought that if I shared my experiences with other twenty-somethings, maybe I would save them some of the pain I went through. The premise of the book is that the business world is not a natural fit for graduates who leave school expecting results from a logical combination of education and effort. Suddenly, the tenets of success they were taught since kindergarten don’t apply, because getting ahead in the business world has little to do with intelligence or exceeding a set of defined expectations.

If twenty-somethings want to survive in the corporate world, they have to treat their first jobs like first grade and learn the practical lessons that will help them climb the ladder painlessly. They Don’t Teach Corporate in College focuses on tangible tactics that twenty-somethings can put to work immediately to be successful and satisfied working in the business world.

You say that twenty-somethings experience lower morale and higher turnover in the workplace. What can young professionals do to avoid such challenges? And what can organizations do to improve their employees’ experience and productivity at work?

There’s no doubt that the business world can be frustrating at times, so I recommend that twenty-somethings combat poor morale by understanding their hot buttons (i.e. what pisses them off or stresses them out) and plan in advance how to react without getting angry or upset when those buttons are pushed.

They should also try to banish irrational expectations regarding what their organization or boss SHOULD do (i.e. my boss should give me a raise, the company should have a policy against this). Life does not always play out in a logical or fair way and twenty-somethings do themselves a grave disservice when they hold on to a fantasy of what work or people should be like. Finally, young professionals can motivate themselves by focusing on the big picture and acknowledging little but significant career successes along the way.

I tell managers of twenty-somethings that they should aim to understand each individual’s unique capabilities and go out of their way to develop mutually-beneficial relationships. The manager should position himself or herself as someone who is available to help twenty-something employees grow and improve, taking them to lunch to learn more about their career aspirations and the type of work that get them excited.

Twenty-somethings don’t want to be micromanaged, but they do like to receive timely and consistent feedback, and to have assignments customized in a way that helps them meet their individual performance goals. Managers shouldn’t be fooled by twenty-somethings’ assertiveness and independence – there’s a lot these young professionals don’t know and they’re looking to the more experienced managers to help them learn it!

Continue reading at IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com: Heroines of Personal Finance and Entreprenuership #3: Alexandra Levit. Also pick up her book They Don’t Teach Corporate in College and check out her blog Water Cooler Wisdom.

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: An Interview with Alexandra Levit, Author of They Don’t Teach Corporate In College

You were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for the series “Generation Debt: The New Economics of Being Young” in 2004. What were your main findings?

Student loans and student credit cards have multiplied very fast and under the radar so that large amounts of debt are now a rite of passage for a majority of young people. Two thirds of college graduates borrow loans to get through college, up from less than half as recently as 1993, and they graduate with an average of $20,000 in loans and almost $3000 in credit card debt. Combine that with a changing job market that offers fewer benefits, and a higher cost of living, especially housing, in many metropolises and you have a lot of middle-class, educated young people falling behind, to say nothing of the fate of McJob Nation; the two out of three kids with no college degree have seriously fallen behind in income and stability.

Since graduating in 2002 you’ve freelanced as a writer and editor for several publications. What are some recommendations you can make for aspiring professional writers?

Think hard about it. I don’t know many “professional writers” as opposed to people who happen to be lucky enough to occasionally get paid to write. Boyce Rensberger, head of the Knight Science Journalism Fellowships at MIT, told the New York Times on June 10: ”I feel a little queasy encouraging young people into journalism. It’s such a precarious industry right now.”

I think if you want to write for a living you need to be pretty hardcore about your craft and your subject area or field. You can build up knowledge of your field by working a related job (in politics, the law, nonprofits, fashion, etc.) and you can build up your craft by writing, writing, writing, and being in a writers’ group, and taking classes or workshops, and working in media-related fields. I freelanced as a writer’s assistant, fact-checker, and copy editor before I started writing full time. If I were starting out now I would definitely blog too.

Continue reading at IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com: Heroines of Personal Finance and Entrepreneurship #2: Anya Kamenetz. Also be sure to read Anya’s new Yahoo! Finance expert column and grab her book Generation Debt if you’re interested!

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: An Interview with Anya Kamenetz, Author of Generation Debt

What challenges did you have to overcome in the process of setting up Ganas? Did you face any hardships you think most men in the consulting business might not face?

I actually had it pretty easy when I started my business since I got a nice, juicy client right off the bat (Hewlett Packard) and a six-month project that guaranteed I could pay my bills without worrying about hustling for new work. Since I was selling my brain and not a physical product, there were no big start-up costs or financing hurdles, which is sometimes where you hear stories of slightly increased challenges for women to get VC funding or bank loans.

My challenge in the early years had to do with pricing my services appropriately, since I tended to undervalue my services and felt uncomfortable asking for “too much.” I know that this is something that affects many new entrepreneurs, but in my 11+ years of self-employment experience, I would say that it affects women at a much higher ratio then men. It could be that there is a big conspiracy by the misogynistic male white corporate machine that starts to disempower us in kindergarten and stop us from all kinds of things like getting into math, finance and engineering careers. I discount nothing, as I was raised with a healthy dose of skepticism and a fondness for theories of oppression.

Another likely theory is that females are raised in many societies to be in a “helper” and “nurturer” role, and to downplay material gain. Fathers historically talk to sons more about business and finance than they do their daughters. Women are taught to compromise and broker peace, not to engage in hardball negotiations. Whatever the cause of my beliefs, I had to get over some ineffective mental blocks in order to charge what I was worth. I am always curious what other women (and men!) think about this topic, so please comment here.

You say you went through a phase of self-employment evangelism. What are some of the more effective methods you found to encourage others to go solo?

My best experience with encouragement is through my blog. I call it the Magical Mystery Tour, because ever since I began to write it, I have experienced a strange and wondrous connection with thousands of people I never would have had the chance to talk to. I never know which topic or post is going to make an impact…sometimes what I consider the most off-topic or “out there” subjects get the most heartfelt responses. Perhaps my favorite compliment ever came from a reader who told me that I represented “virtual hope.” How cool is that? I would like to stress that my goal is not to have everyone in the world quit their corporate job to start a business. Some are not ready, equipped or naturally suited to self-employment. What I do want to do is demystify the process so that more people feel comfortable exploring the option to see if it is right for them.

Continue reading at IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com: Heroines of Personal Finance and Entrepreneurship #1: Pamela Slim.

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: An Interview with Pamela Slim of Escape From Cubicle Nation

The panel will include:

• Michelle Goodman: Author of The Anti 9 to 5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube
• Pamela Slim: Owner of Ganas Consulting and Author of the Escape from Cubicle Nation blog & podcast
• Alexandra Levit: Founder of Inspiration@Work career consultancy and Author of They Don’t Teach Corporate in College: A Twenty-Something’s Guide to the Business World
• Anya Kamenetz: Author of Generation Debt: How Our Future Was Sold Out for Student Loans, Bad Jobs, NoBenefits, and Tax Cuts for Rich Geezers–And How to Fight Back
• Julie Jansen: Speaker, Coach and Author of I Don’t Know What I Want, But I Know It’s Not This and You Want Me To Work With Who?
• Barbara Stanny: Speaker, Coach, and Author of Overcoming Underearning and Secrets of Six-Figure Women

Anyone else you guys would like to see interviewed? Let me know your suggestions.

I’m REALLY excited to get to work with Ramit and to learn from so many accomplished professional women. I’ll be busy for the next few weeks with these interviews, but it should be well worth it. Stay tuned for more…

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: Interview Series with A Few Prestigious Female Authors