Plan your life, then plan your business. Some of the most successful and happy people we know are entrepreneurs who created a business that's in perfect synchronicity with what they want out of life. If you do what you love, you'll work harder, better and more happily.

LIFE PLAN Elements

1. Your Current Status

Think carefully and honestly about where you are now in your life. Consider work, recreation, relationships, finances and anything else that's important to you. And then jot down some simple, succinct bullet points in each of these categories:

·Quality rating of your life on a scale of 1 to 100, with 100 being the best possible life

·Realities of your life, including funds available, expenses, responsibilities

·Things that make you happy

·Things that make you unhappy

2. Your Ideal Life

This is a snapshot of your "ideal" life, in a very brief, bulleted list. And remember, the sky's the limit, so don't be afraid of being bold or maybe even a little grandiose. Factor in things like family time, hobbies, charity work, early retirement – anything that gets you really excited.

3. Your Loves: What You Really Like Doing

Think about the types of things that you love to do, whether at work, at home, or at your local soup kitchen. List these things out briefly. And don't worry if some themes are starting to repeat in each section, that just means you have some really focused ideas about what you want in life!

4. Skills & Capabilities: What You Do Well

List the abilities, experience and strengths you can build on to attain that ideal life. Bear in mind that your skills need not be strictly from your professional life – list skills developed in your personal life as well. It may be a combination of skills that leads you to a startup that's best suited to fit your needs.

5. Track Record: Where You Have Experience

List the accomplishments in your professional and personal life of which you're most proud. Pay particular attention to successes you've had that would be helpful in starting a business and managing it successfully.

6. Your Ideal Work Style

Whether full-or part-time, at-home or on the road, working behind the scenes or interacting with lots of people – understand what your work style priorities are so you can define the best kind of business for you. Another way to look at this is, what level of risk do you want to take? You may want a relatively low-pressure first-go at entrepreneurship.

. Your Manifesto

This is your personal mission, your values and what drives you forward, all wrapped up into a one-page (maximum) statement. To write this, you should draw on everything you've already discovered about yourself in steps 1 through 6, and bring it all together into a clear statement of your principles and priorities.

Example Manifesto

Work as Freedom: We think work is about pursuing our dreams, not for the benefit of some nameless, faceless company, but for ourselves. We believe that owning our own business leads to the liberties and freedoms that the forefathers of our country envisioned for us. We're free to choose the kind of business we conduct. We're free to choose the way we spend our time. We're free to choose the people with whom we work. We're free to set our priorities.

Work as Family: We've tried to create a workplace environment where employees feel like they're actually members of a greater family. There's a sense of common purpose, mutual respect, and deep trust. Everyone should feel important and as though they're a meaningful member of the collective effort. It's an environment that empowers people to share in the hard work–and in the benefits.

Work as Fulfillment: We've made it a priority to ensure that our work gives us a sense of satisfaction. When we wake up in the morning, we can't wait to get on the phone, get online, and get our team in gear. The work we do is truly the work we love. For us there's nothing that turns us on more than facing a challenge and transforming it into an opportunity. There's nothing more thrilling than seeing a customer use our product. There's nothing more gratifying than helping someone else turn a dream into a real business. And over time, we've found that our fulfillment comes as much from the process of trying to achieve our goals as it does from actually achieving them.

Key Moves to Get You Where You Want to Go

Transform your Life Plan from a self-assessment into an action plan. At this point in life planning, you know where you want to go, what skills you already have, as well as what type of work suits you best. Draw from that information a list of moves you'll need to make to achieve your ideal life.

Using your Life Plan

It's very important to print your Life Plan and keep it in plain view. You'll find that its presence–even in your peripheral vision–will constantly remind you of what you want, what's important, and what to do next. Ideally, you should also revisit your Life Plan periodically to measure your success and to make adjustments and additions where appropriate. It's okay if things change over time–life is a fluid and dynamic thing and your Life Plan should be, too!

Use your Life Plan to provide context for strategic decisions you make–including what niche you choose to operate in, what business model you'll use, whether you'll have lots of employees or a home-based, one person operation.

Most importantly, your Life Plan will position you to do what you LOVE and that always brings out the best in an entrepreneur.

To view and download templates that will help you create your own Life Plan, go to: http://www.startupnation.com/steps/55/3751/1/3/create-life-plan.htm.

Through the American Diploma Project Network, coordinated by Achieve, 29 states have committed to aligning their high school standards with what it takes to succeed in college and the workplace. Achieve, which was formed by business leaders and state governors, has been working with 24 of those states to help them adopt high school standards that meet that goal.

Based on that work, the group has found that state standards tend to lack attention to several key areas that college faculty members and business leaders have identified as critical for success:

·While high school English standards and courses tend to emphasize literature, most of the reading material students will encounter in college or on the job is informational, such as textbooks, manuals, articles, briefs, and essays.

·While state academic-content standards tend to stress narrative writing, most of the writing young people will do in college and at work is to inform or to persuade, often requiring them to conduct research and use evidence to support a position.

The ability to work in teams and to orally present one's work is cited by professors and employers as critical for success. Yet state standards don't always cover those skills sufficiently, according to Achieve.

On the math side of the ledger, Achieve found that state standards sometimes fall short on data analysis and statistics, and often give only superficial treatment to important geometric concepts, such as proofs. Moreover, while reasoning and solving mathematical problems are often cited as the most important skills for both college freshmen and employees, state standards don't always cover those topics explicitly. Fluency in advanced math topics is less crucial, they contend, than skills in solving problems and applying math to different tasks.

In the Conference Board survey, 70 percent of human- resource officials cited deficiencies among graduates in applied skills ("soft skills"), such as professionalism and work ethic, defined as "demonstrating personal accountability and effective work habits, such as punctuality, working productively with others, time and workload management." In the NAM (National Association of Manufacturers) survey, 55 percent of employers rated the public education system as deficient in equipping students with basic employability skills, such as attendance, punctuality, and a strong work ethic.

One Arkansas employer said in a focus group, "We want somebody who shows up on time, somebody who works hard, and someone who's trainable."

James E. Rosenbaum, a sociologist at Northwestern University who's interviewed employers about their workforce needs, says: "Employers we interviewed said they were able to redesign jobs around academic-skill deficiencies, but not soft-skills deficiencies."

"Nearly all jobs", he continues, "require basic work habits, such as regular attendance, motivation, and discipline, and our schools are not taking steps to improve students in these areas. Indeed, the opposite may be occurring. If teachers are compelled to focus more on academic skills and test scores, they may devote less attention to soft skills and efforts to improve them."

Soft skills are critical to the future success of our young people. But instead of shifting the burden of teaching soft skills to our educators, shouldn't many of these skills start at home?

- Jack Schultz, The Agurban E-zine

Ours is a global economy. And success demands that companies conduct their businesses internationally–where pitfalls and opportunities are equally available.

International business requires a balance of cultures, a thorough understanding of marketing, and a knowledge of international logistics. True success in a global stage, however, requires even more.

So where can you go to become equipped for such a task?

Fortunately, the State of Illinois Certificate in International Business course is an Executive Learning program that will give you what you need.

This intensive, educational program helps current and future executive leaders develop their international skills – and advance their chances for success.

The State of Illinois Certificate in International Business also assists in preparation for the NASBITE Certified Global Business Professional (CGBP) exam and is a SBA Export Training Assistance Program (ETAP). Classes will be held in Quincy on 9/14, 9/28, 10/12, 10/26, and 11/9. There is a fee.

For more information or to register, contact Charles Bell, Great River Economic Development Foundation, 300 Civic Center Plaza, Suite 256, Quincy, IL 62301; phone: 223-4313; email: charlesb@gredf.org.

MEP's provide access for small and mid-sized manufacturers to management and technology expertise. It enables them to modernize their operations and become more competitive. MEP-I manufacturing professionals operate out of regional offices located through the state. The program is coordinated by the Chicago Manufacturing Center (CMC) and the Illinois Manufacturing Center (IMEC). DCEO funding for the MED-I is provided through its Office of Business Technology and Competitiveness.

Any business owner may take advantage of the services available through the Illinois Entrepreneurship Network. Additional information about the Network and other assistance programs is available by calling the Illinois Entrepreneurship Network Business Information Center at (800) 252-2923; TDD (800) 785-6055 or go to: www.ienconnect.com.

For many of us of a "certain age," when we talk about how things were when we were growing up, our younger friends and relatives might respond: "Yeah, but that was before the Civil War." They do not grasp what life was like when we were that age. To gain insight into how members of the college graduating class of 2010 (born in 1988, now in their sophomore year) view the world, Beloit College compiled this list. For them:

* The Soviet Union has never existed and therefore is about as scary as the student union.

* They have known only two presidents.

* They are wireless, yet always connected.

* A coffee has always taken longer to make than a milkshake.

* They grew up with and have outgrown faxing as a means of communication.

* "Google" has always been a verb.

* They grew up in mini-vans.

* Reality shows have always been on television.

* They have rarely mailed anything using a stamp.

* Being techno-savvy has always been inversely proportional to age.

* They have always been able to watch wars and revolutions live on television.

* Acura, Lexus, and Infiniti have always been luxury cars of choice.

If you are interested in helping farmers to transition their farms and assisting beginning farmers as a rural economic development strategy, you might want to learn more about the Farm Beginnings Program offered in several states primarily in the Midwest. Farm Beginnings is a farmer-led educational training and support program designed to help people who want to evaluate and plan their farm enterprise. To learn more, go to www.landstewardshipproject.org/farmbeg.html.

On Saturday, August 18, join experts and landowners for a Saturday of learning, networking and fun! Meeting location: the old Farm King parking lot in Macomb. The event is free and includes lunch and door prizes. The bus will depart at 9:00 a.m. and returns at 4:00 p.m. On this tour you will visit area farms and learn about the following:

• Fish of the La Moine River

• Funding Opportunities Available to land owners and communities for:

• Water Quality Improvement

• Soil erosion/siltation reduction

• Wildlife habitat

• Prairie restoration

• Local recreational opportunities

• Exotic species

Space is limited so reserve your seat on the air conditioned bus by calling Pat Sullivan at 217-322-2865. Charter bus provided by Schuy-Line Charter. Sponsors are La Moine River Ecosystem Partnership, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Soil and Water Conservation District, Prairie Rivers Network and Western Illinois University.

Next Meeting: Monday, August 6 – 5:15 p.m., BCHS Auditorium (Note: This is a different meeting place than usual due to school registration scheduled for the same day)

Any and all are welcome to join us–just show up! Contact Earl Bricker or Carolyn Kassing (773-3013) for more information about projects underway within the various Action Teams.