Wednesday, June 24, 2009
BS Employment Initiative on RustyMikeRadio
Hear Ephraim Geffen talk about the greatest tzedakah of all: helping people find jobs through Beit Shemesh Employment Initiative, Thursday, June 25, 1-2 pm on the Afternoon Shmooze Internet radio show. To listen, go to: http://www.rustymikeradio.com and click on the Listen Live button. Feel free to ask questions, and if you know of organizations that are worthwhile giving to, let us know by calling 02 5631492 or by clicking on the chat button on the rustymikeradio website.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Living in Israel on an Israeli Salary
Baruch Labinsky- Financial Planner, Israel Resource Network
Tonight we are looking at one small part of financial planning – the home budget. We could also focus on specific expenses and how to cut, but that is for a longer lecture.
Tonight’s lecture is called SMART finances. This is a good mnemonic to remember the principles. The financial system here is completely different, for many different reasons, from the US, Canada, or the UK. You need a “paradigm shift” in order to manage finances differently.
The average family here spends approx 10,500-11,000 NIS a month – that’s total net salary, not one person’s salary. It’s two salaries, plus Bituach Leumi, plus any other payments that come in. Two cars and a large house is NOT the norm here. You have to start thinking differently about how you spend your money, more “Israeli.” The average Israeli family spends about 2,000 NIS a month on food. The average Anglo family, when they come, spends 3,000-6,000 NIS a month.
S = Setting goals. How do you define, for yourself, as success? What do you want to accomplish in your life that has a financial component? Is it balancing your budget, getting through the month without going into overdraft, or saving for short term (paying for camp, buying new car) or long term goals (retirement, marrying off kids)? You can’t run a family budget without a plan. Create your plan based on what you’ve determined are your personal priorities. Then you can start looking at your budget and figure out where the money should go. If you’re always just muddling through you’ll never really accomplish your goals.
You should sit down and write out your goals so they are clear. It’s like writing a business plan. You have more of chance of hitting your goals when you know what they are. Need to differentiate between needs and wants.
M = Money and Marriage, which is really “family.” People fight about money issues almost more than any other issue. It causes a lot of stress in the family and it has to be something you work on together. You need to teach your kids about money management. Teach them how to deal with a budget and stick to it. Couples should have lists of assets and liabilities, account numbers, bank names, etc. People lose track of assets and then they’re lost.
A = Annual statement of worth. This summarizes all net assets and net liabilities. This gives you a snapshot of where you are right now, and where you are in relation to where you want to be. Gives you feedback so you can adjust what you are doing, or perhaps modify your goals. A house should be listed (conservatively) at the purchase price in the assets column (not current market value), and your mortgage goes in the liabilities column. It’s important to accumulate assets in each category so you have different forms of assets available when you need it.
You should incorporate a reward system for saving. If you’ve saved up a certain amount, reward yourself with something and make sure the whole family knows you’ve hit your goals.
R = Recording your expenses. This is the meat and potatoes of creating the budget. Budgeting is not a process of writing down what you spent just to have a record of it. You write down so you know what you spent and make better educated decisions about what you want to spend the next month. This is the only way to know what you are really spending. People underestimate what they spend by 20% - 50%. You need to know where the money is really going.
Make a list of fixed expenses, and variable expenses. Fixed isn’t fixed to the dollar, but you know it has to come out and you know approx what it will be.
You can visit the Lemaan Achai website to hear a recorded lecture with more information on reducing monthly expenses.
A self employed person has no idea what their monthly income will be. You can look at previous years to get an idea of what your income may be in the coming year. Take the total net income at the end of the year and average it out over the 12 months. This way you know to put away during the good months to save for the bad months. You can track your expenses monthly and know where it’s coming from, and whether it’s seasonal. If you know your high points and low points, plan vacations during the low points. Plan your marketing during the low points, plan essential business activities during the low as opposed to the high.
What to do about unexpected expenses? You should set aside in your budget 8%-10% monthly towards these expenses. It won’t necessarily go into savings, you may find this money will be spent each month on things you hadn’t planned – wedding gifts, unplanned emergency trips, fixing car, etc. If it’s built into your budget you won’t be surprised when these bills come.
T = Training - getting a financial education. Learn how to use your money as efficiently as possible. There are many resources out there to learn how to better manage your finances.
Pick one thing at a time, set specific goals and work on them and then move on to the next goal. But without knowing what the goal is, you’ll definitely never get there.
Download budgeting worksheets.
Tonight we are looking at one small part of financial planning – the home budget. We could also focus on specific expenses and how to cut, but that is for a longer lecture.
Tonight’s lecture is called SMART finances. This is a good mnemonic to remember the principles. The financial system here is completely different, for many different reasons, from the US, Canada, or the UK. You need a “paradigm shift” in order to manage finances differently.
The average family here spends approx 10,500-11,000 NIS a month – that’s total net salary, not one person’s salary. It’s two salaries, plus Bituach Leumi, plus any other payments that come in. Two cars and a large house is NOT the norm here. You have to start thinking differently about how you spend your money, more “Israeli.” The average Israeli family spends about 2,000 NIS a month on food. The average Anglo family, when they come, spends 3,000-6,000 NIS a month.
S = Setting goals. How do you define, for yourself, as success? What do you want to accomplish in your life that has a financial component? Is it balancing your budget, getting through the month without going into overdraft, or saving for short term (paying for camp, buying new car) or long term goals (retirement, marrying off kids)? You can’t run a family budget without a plan. Create your plan based on what you’ve determined are your personal priorities. Then you can start looking at your budget and figure out where the money should go. If you’re always just muddling through you’ll never really accomplish your goals.
You should sit down and write out your goals so they are clear. It’s like writing a business plan. You have more of chance of hitting your goals when you know what they are. Need to differentiate between needs and wants.
M = Money and Marriage, which is really “family.” People fight about money issues almost more than any other issue. It causes a lot of stress in the family and it has to be something you work on together. You need to teach your kids about money management. Teach them how to deal with a budget and stick to it. Couples should have lists of assets and liabilities, account numbers, bank names, etc. People lose track of assets and then they’re lost.
A = Annual statement of worth. This summarizes all net assets and net liabilities. This gives you a snapshot of where you are right now, and where you are in relation to where you want to be. Gives you feedback so you can adjust what you are doing, or perhaps modify your goals. A house should be listed (conservatively) at the purchase price in the assets column (not current market value), and your mortgage goes in the liabilities column. It’s important to accumulate assets in each category so you have different forms of assets available when you need it.
You should incorporate a reward system for saving. If you’ve saved up a certain amount, reward yourself with something and make sure the whole family knows you’ve hit your goals.
R = Recording your expenses. This is the meat and potatoes of creating the budget. Budgeting is not a process of writing down what you spent just to have a record of it. You write down so you know what you spent and make better educated decisions about what you want to spend the next month. This is the only way to know what you are really spending. People underestimate what they spend by 20% - 50%. You need to know where the money is really going.
Make a list of fixed expenses, and variable expenses. Fixed isn’t fixed to the dollar, but you know it has to come out and you know approx what it will be.
You can visit the Lemaan Achai website to hear a recorded lecture with more information on reducing monthly expenses.
A self employed person has no idea what their monthly income will be. You can look at previous years to get an idea of what your income may be in the coming year. Take the total net income at the end of the year and average it out over the 12 months. This way you know to put away during the good months to save for the bad months. You can track your expenses monthly and know where it’s coming from, and whether it’s seasonal. If you know your high points and low points, plan vacations during the low points. Plan your marketing during the low points, plan essential business activities during the low as opposed to the high.
What to do about unexpected expenses? You should set aside in your budget 8%-10% monthly towards these expenses. It won’t necessarily go into savings, you may find this money will be spent each month on things you hadn’t planned – wedding gifts, unplanned emergency trips, fixing car, etc. If it’s built into your budget you won’t be surprised when these bills come.
T = Training - getting a financial education. Learn how to use your money as efficiently as possible. There are many resources out there to learn how to better manage your finances.
Pick one thing at a time, set specific goals and work on them and then move on to the next goal. But without knowing what the goal is, you’ll definitely never get there.
Download budgeting worksheets.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
How MATI can help you start a small business
Naomi Saada - MATI, Israel's Small Business Association
MATI is a non-profit organization. There are 23 of them around the country, each independently run.
MATI runs many courses:
Ebay merchandise, running a restaurant, franchising. But there is also a general course, opening a business in Israel. It covers taxation, insurance, banking system, marketing, and making a business plan. At the end of the course you will know 2 things:
1)The vocabulary – ma’am, nicui mas, etc
2)What was the hardest for you to learn, that is where you’ll need professional help.
All courses are subsidized but there is an additional discount (for olim up to 10 years in the country, or returning citizens within 2 years). They will run courses anywhere there is demand, as long as there are 15 people.
Courses can be held in English, Hebrew, or Arabic.
The second (and main) service they provide is private consultation. MATI has in-house consultants who can meet either in JLM or BS. First meeting is what they can provide, what you need going forward, your break even point. Then they decide how to move forward.
The first step is to plan the business properly and have a good business plan. Business plan is also used to present yourself – to a bank, investor, potential partner. If you apply for a loan with MATI you will need a proper plan. Third use of a plan is to follow up while you are running the business. It’s important to sit every week/month/quarter to review how your business is going according to the plan, and if the plan should be modified.
Business plan writing is highly subsidized for Olim. It only costs 250 NIS, which is about 10% of its cost.
You can also get a mentor through MATI – they will give you specific consultation on whatever field you want. You have people who specialize in the construction, or restaurant business, for example and they know the ins and outs. They have to be qualified by Tamat and are called Authorized Mentors.
The first meeting with mentor is fully subsidized for new Olim, and you can get from 8 to 25 meetings for free, depending on the case. So you meet with an in-house consultant, and then decide what kind of specialist you want to meet with. You meet with someone from Misrad Haklitah and they will approve 8 hours. If you feel you need more after that you can put in an application for extension and see if they approve it.
Second kind of mentorship is Tamat mentorship – it is 20 hours. Israeli pays 25% of the fee and Oleh pays half of that (200 per session full price). If you know of a mentor you’d like to work with, if they are authorized you can work with them. Otherwise MATI will recommend someone to you. It is possible to switch in the middle if need be, but there is a procedure and you may need to wait a bit to get someone knew.
There are also volunteer mentors, they can be used if you still need more help after all the hours you’ve gotten.
MATI basically takes you to the point of creating a business plan. If you need long term plan, or need specific help in a field the MATI in-house consultant doesn’t have expertise in, you will be recommended to a mentor.
MATI does not have money to give loans but do know how to ask for them from different places and they can help you apply. Usually the first place people go for a loan is the bank. They may refuse a client either 1) because they do not believe in the business or the client’s ability to run the business, or 2) you don’t have collateral and they don’t want to take a risk on you even though the business sounds great. This is where MATI can really help.
All their sources are better than the bank because they give more money for less collateral. They will also generally give better loan terms than the bank. All these loans will be given through the banks but it’s from public money – from the sochnut, tamat, misrad haklitah, private donors, etc. They put this money in the bank and instruct the bank to give it to you.
For collateral you will need guarantors. Even if you have equity in your house the entire house is fully mortgaged to the bank until the mortgage is paid off so generally to get a loan against it you will have to go to the bank that owns your mortgage.
There are several types of loans you can get through MATI with different interest rates.
Olim loan:
You have the right as Olim to use Misrad Halitah funds.
It’s better to go to MATI when starting a business rather than starting on your own and realized a year later you need help and want a loan, it’s harder to get it retroactively. If you have an existing business and want to expand, you can definitely get a loan for that. It is easier to get a loan for that than a new business. All the loans require some self financing, at least 20% has to come from your own pocket.
There are several things you CAN’T get a loan for:
1)real estate, if you want to buy a place to run your business in. they will help you renovate and buy equipment, but not purchasing
2)salaries, either for you or your employees
Certain things you can get financing for a whole year (equipment) and some for a few months (rent).
Another loan is IFLA – Israel Free Loan Association. It is funded by private donors and they give money for many different things, one of which is starting a business. MATI generally does not recommend these for new businesses, it is better suited for existing business who can pay it back faster. They require 4 guarantors for the full amount, and even though it is interest free they will need it back much quicker (within 30 months) so your monthly fees will be high for a new business. You can find more information on their website –
http://www.freeloan.org.il/english/homepage/
http://www.freeloan.org.il/english/loans/
http://www.freeloan.org.il/hebrew/docs_details/Loan_new_immigrants.html
There is also Keren Shemesh for young (under 35) business people, for opening a new business. It is prime loan. There are several other sources of funding as well, they offer larger loans.
All of these loans know of each other and work together. They will sometimes ask, why did you apply for this and not for that. It is possible to apply for more than one loan, if you can pay them all back. The loans are personal, not for business. If there are two partners in the business they can each apply for a loan but not if they are married – then they can apply for two separate businesses.
Applying for a loan is a 3-4 month procedure. How to deal with this delay:
1)say, I believe in this and I will rent the place and start paying and risk that the loan will come through (90% are approved)
2)I won’t take the place yet, put that information into the business plan (because you can’t write a business plan without a location and you need the plan to apply for the loan) and hope the place will still be available when the loan comes through. You risk the place becoming unavailable
3)You can start to rent the place and not renovate, don’t invest, until the loan comes through, and you may lose time to be able to start the business and you may lose the few months of rent but this is sort of a middle ground.
Misrad Haklitah will give a loan that becomes a grant after a few years (Survival grant).
Opening a tik:
1)most accountants will tell you to open a tik at the last minute and we will explain that the business expenses you incurred in the past couple of months should be included in this tik.
2)Others will tell you to open a tik right away and I’ll explain to the tax authorities that the first few months you did not have any income.
There is no middle ground to be able to try out a business and then see if you want to open a tik. In order to get money from an approved loan you will need an open tik. (it is a very quick process to open a tik so you can definitely wait till the last minute).
Three taxes you will see:
1)Mas Hachnasah – Income Tax
a.There are tax brackets – you pay a higher percentage as you make more money. It is called marginal tax (mas shuli) – on the part that is taxable at 10% you pay 10% and above that you pay 20%.
b.Regular employee gets paid each month and pays taxes each month. Self employed person pays at the end of the year, on what the profits are after expenses.
c.Nicui is a deduction (hotzaah mukeret).
d.It’s very hard to pay all your taxes at once at the end of the year so they do mikdamot. They estimate what they think you will profit and you pay monthly based on that. At the end of the year they calculate what you actually earned and make up the difference – you either pay more if you owe, or they pay you (with interest and inflation) if you over paid.
e.Zicui – these are your tax points. Each year you fill out a form giving all your details and it determines how many points you have. Each person has 2.25 points. A woman has an extra half a point. If your spouse isn’t working you get an extra point. A woman gets a point for each child. Each point is worth 197 NIS. So you don’t pay on the first x amount you earn (point times 197).
2)Bituach Leumi/Mas Briut – start at 1.6% and maximum you pay 5%. There are no exemption points for this. Mas Briut pays for your sal bruit – your kupat cholim. Bituach Leumi is social security.
3) Ma’am – VAT – Mas Erech Musaf. When you collect money from a client (customer at a store, or you provide a service) that includes the 15.5% and you pass that on to the government. Each step of the process adds value, so if you sell a final product you only pay on the value that you added (taking the baked bread and putting it on the shelf) and you already paid the ma’am along the way – what you paid the baker included ma’am for his work, and what he paid the guy who grew the wheat included ma’am for his part, etc. So you can deduct what you’ve already paid. Ma’am is not paid on all expenses, ie salaries, bank loans, etc so you can only deduct what you’ve paid. The rest you pay out to ma’am, this is paid every two months.
Osek Ptur (vs Osek Murshe) is someone who convinces the tax authorities that their income will be less than a certain amount (currently 67,000 NIS/yr) and then you don’t have to charge Ma’am because what it will cost the government to collect the taxes will be less than what you will be paying in taxes. The flip side is that you don’t get a refund on ma’am that you pay for expenses, like buying a computer.
Franchise.org.il – MATI can connect you with franchises you can buy, which may be a way to start a more stable business (although more expensive) and they provide additional services. You can find more information on MATI’s site.
MATI is a non-profit organization. There are 23 of them around the country, each independently run.
MATI runs many courses:
Ebay merchandise, running a restaurant, franchising. But there is also a general course, opening a business in Israel. It covers taxation, insurance, banking system, marketing, and making a business plan. At the end of the course you will know 2 things:
1)The vocabulary – ma’am, nicui mas, etc
2)What was the hardest for you to learn, that is where you’ll need professional help.
All courses are subsidized but there is an additional discount (for olim up to 10 years in the country, or returning citizens within 2 years). They will run courses anywhere there is demand, as long as there are 15 people.
Courses can be held in English, Hebrew, or Arabic.
The second (and main) service they provide is private consultation. MATI has in-house consultants who can meet either in JLM or BS. First meeting is what they can provide, what you need going forward, your break even point. Then they decide how to move forward.
The first step is to plan the business properly and have a good business plan. Business plan is also used to present yourself – to a bank, investor, potential partner. If you apply for a loan with MATI you will need a proper plan. Third use of a plan is to follow up while you are running the business. It’s important to sit every week/month/quarter to review how your business is going according to the plan, and if the plan should be modified.
Business plan writing is highly subsidized for Olim. It only costs 250 NIS, which is about 10% of its cost.
You can also get a mentor through MATI – they will give you specific consultation on whatever field you want. You have people who specialize in the construction, or restaurant business, for example and they know the ins and outs. They have to be qualified by Tamat and are called Authorized Mentors.
The first meeting with mentor is fully subsidized for new Olim, and you can get from 8 to 25 meetings for free, depending on the case. So you meet with an in-house consultant, and then decide what kind of specialist you want to meet with. You meet with someone from Misrad Haklitah and they will approve 8 hours. If you feel you need more after that you can put in an application for extension and see if they approve it.
Second kind of mentorship is Tamat mentorship – it is 20 hours. Israeli pays 25% of the fee and Oleh pays half of that (200 per session full price). If you know of a mentor you’d like to work with, if they are authorized you can work with them. Otherwise MATI will recommend someone to you. It is possible to switch in the middle if need be, but there is a procedure and you may need to wait a bit to get someone knew.
There are also volunteer mentors, they can be used if you still need more help after all the hours you’ve gotten.
MATI basically takes you to the point of creating a business plan. If you need long term plan, or need specific help in a field the MATI in-house consultant doesn’t have expertise in, you will be recommended to a mentor.
MATI does not have money to give loans but do know how to ask for them from different places and they can help you apply. Usually the first place people go for a loan is the bank. They may refuse a client either 1) because they do not believe in the business or the client’s ability to run the business, or 2) you don’t have collateral and they don’t want to take a risk on you even though the business sounds great. This is where MATI can really help.
All their sources are better than the bank because they give more money for less collateral. They will also generally give better loan terms than the bank. All these loans will be given through the banks but it’s from public money – from the sochnut, tamat, misrad haklitah, private donors, etc. They put this money in the bank and instruct the bank to give it to you.
For collateral you will need guarantors. Even if you have equity in your house the entire house is fully mortgaged to the bank until the mortgage is paid off so generally to get a loan against it you will have to go to the bank that owns your mortgage.
There are several types of loans you can get through MATI with different interest rates.
Olim loan:
You have the right as Olim to use Misrad Halitah funds.
It’s better to go to MATI when starting a business rather than starting on your own and realized a year later you need help and want a loan, it’s harder to get it retroactively. If you have an existing business and want to expand, you can definitely get a loan for that. It is easier to get a loan for that than a new business. All the loans require some self financing, at least 20% has to come from your own pocket.
There are several things you CAN’T get a loan for:
1)real estate, if you want to buy a place to run your business in. they will help you renovate and buy equipment, but not purchasing
2)salaries, either for you or your employees
Certain things you can get financing for a whole year (equipment) and some for a few months (rent).
Another loan is IFLA – Israel Free Loan Association. It is funded by private donors and they give money for many different things, one of which is starting a business. MATI generally does not recommend these for new businesses, it is better suited for existing business who can pay it back faster. They require 4 guarantors for the full amount, and even though it is interest free they will need it back much quicker (within 30 months) so your monthly fees will be high for a new business. You can find more information on their website –
http://www.freeloan.org.il/english/homepage/
http://www.freeloan.org.il/english/loans/
http://www.freeloan.org.il/hebrew/docs_details/Loan_new_immigrants.html
There is also Keren Shemesh for young (under 35) business people, for opening a new business. It is prime loan. There are several other sources of funding as well, they offer larger loans.
All of these loans know of each other and work together. They will sometimes ask, why did you apply for this and not for that. It is possible to apply for more than one loan, if you can pay them all back. The loans are personal, not for business. If there are two partners in the business they can each apply for a loan but not if they are married – then they can apply for two separate businesses.
Applying for a loan is a 3-4 month procedure. How to deal with this delay:
1)say, I believe in this and I will rent the place and start paying and risk that the loan will come through (90% are approved)
2)I won’t take the place yet, put that information into the business plan (because you can’t write a business plan without a location and you need the plan to apply for the loan) and hope the place will still be available when the loan comes through. You risk the place becoming unavailable
3)You can start to rent the place and not renovate, don’t invest, until the loan comes through, and you may lose time to be able to start the business and you may lose the few months of rent but this is sort of a middle ground.
Misrad Haklitah will give a loan that becomes a grant after a few years (Survival grant).
Opening a tik:
1)most accountants will tell you to open a tik at the last minute and we will explain that the business expenses you incurred in the past couple of months should be included in this tik.
2)Others will tell you to open a tik right away and I’ll explain to the tax authorities that the first few months you did not have any income.
There is no middle ground to be able to try out a business and then see if you want to open a tik. In order to get money from an approved loan you will need an open tik. (it is a very quick process to open a tik so you can definitely wait till the last minute).
Three taxes you will see:
1)Mas Hachnasah – Income Tax
a.There are tax brackets – you pay a higher percentage as you make more money. It is called marginal tax (mas shuli) – on the part that is taxable at 10% you pay 10% and above that you pay 20%.
b.Regular employee gets paid each month and pays taxes each month. Self employed person pays at the end of the year, on what the profits are after expenses.
c.Nicui is a deduction (hotzaah mukeret).
d.It’s very hard to pay all your taxes at once at the end of the year so they do mikdamot. They estimate what they think you will profit and you pay monthly based on that. At the end of the year they calculate what you actually earned and make up the difference – you either pay more if you owe, or they pay you (with interest and inflation) if you over paid.
e.Zicui – these are your tax points. Each year you fill out a form giving all your details and it determines how many points you have. Each person has 2.25 points. A woman has an extra half a point. If your spouse isn’t working you get an extra point. A woman gets a point for each child. Each point is worth 197 NIS. So you don’t pay on the first x amount you earn (point times 197).
2)Bituach Leumi/Mas Briut – start at 1.6% and maximum you pay 5%. There are no exemption points for this. Mas Briut pays for your sal bruit – your kupat cholim. Bituach Leumi is social security.
3) Ma’am – VAT – Mas Erech Musaf. When you collect money from a client (customer at a store, or you provide a service) that includes the 15.5% and you pass that on to the government. Each step of the process adds value, so if you sell a final product you only pay on the value that you added (taking the baked bread and putting it on the shelf) and you already paid the ma’am along the way – what you paid the baker included ma’am for his work, and what he paid the guy who grew the wheat included ma’am for his part, etc. So you can deduct what you’ve already paid. Ma’am is not paid on all expenses, ie salaries, bank loans, etc so you can only deduct what you’ve paid. The rest you pay out to ma’am, this is paid every two months.
Osek Ptur (vs Osek Murshe) is someone who convinces the tax authorities that their income will be less than a certain amount (currently 67,000 NIS/yr) and then you don’t have to charge Ma’am because what it will cost the government to collect the taxes will be less than what you will be paying in taxes. The flip side is that you don’t get a refund on ma’am that you pay for expenses, like buying a computer.
Franchise.org.il – MATI can connect you with franchises you can buy, which may be a way to start a more stable business (although more expensive) and they provide additional services. You can find more information on MATI’s site.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Identity Crises: Who am I without my job title?
Identity Crises: Who am I without my job title?
Summary of Workshop given by Ellen Segal, Life Coach
June 8, 2009
Ellen gave us a short definition of coaching, warning that it makes a lot more sense when you do it rather than talk about it.
We introduced ourselves and spoke about how the workshop would be conducted.
We examined our feelings about being out of work. Some of us were sad, others bored and frustrated; some were relieved to be out of the rat race welcoming the time to re-charge their batteries, while others were lonely and missed the camaraderie of work We discovered that there are many feelings associated with being out of work and that we are not alone in these feelings.
Ellen shared an excerpt from a book that highlighted the feelings of loss and imbalance after leaving a job. This excerpt suggested that we begin to look at WHO we are instead of WHAT we are.
Ellen reminded us that the loss of a job title (WHAT we are) is not a loss of WHO we are. We each have a unique set of values and living by these values and making choices that honor our values determine who we are and who we will be.
Ellen explained how our values are what make us tick. And that our values are constant even when our circumstances change. So something that makes us feel good while at work doesn't have to stop being a part of our lives when we leave the job. We can use the exercises Ellen taught us to define those values that made us feel fulfilled at work and find ways to express those values outside of work so we can continue to lead satisfying lives.
Ellen led us through a visualization exercise. Using this exercise as a spring board, Ellen coached us into creating a list of our own unique values. We then chose 5 of our values and rated them from one to ten as to how they are being honored in our lives right now.
We picked one value that we wanted to show up more in our lives and through Ellen’s coaching we each came up with one action we can take this week to bring that value to the next number up on our scale. We read out our plan of action to the group, and when we were ready to commit to doing that action by next week and report back to Ellen that we had done so we stood up to a round of applause.
We learned that acting to bring our values into sharper focus in our lives will lead us to more fulfilling lives, whatever our present circumstances.
So, who are we without our job title? We are our values. And our values are what make our lives worth living and will guide us to our next stage in life.
Ellen Segal
"Yes, You Can!" Coaching
Because the power you seek is within you
+972-2-999-0546
ellensegal@netvision.net.il
Member of Israel Coaching Association
Summary of Workshop given by Ellen Segal, Life Coach
June 8, 2009
Ellen gave us a short definition of coaching, warning that it makes a lot more sense when you do it rather than talk about it.
We introduced ourselves and spoke about how the workshop would be conducted.
We examined our feelings about being out of work. Some of us were sad, others bored and frustrated; some were relieved to be out of the rat race welcoming the time to re-charge their batteries, while others were lonely and missed the camaraderie of work We discovered that there are many feelings associated with being out of work and that we are not alone in these feelings.
Ellen shared an excerpt from a book that highlighted the feelings of loss and imbalance after leaving a job. This excerpt suggested that we begin to look at WHO we are instead of WHAT we are.
Ellen reminded us that the loss of a job title (WHAT we are) is not a loss of WHO we are. We each have a unique set of values and living by these values and making choices that honor our values determine who we are and who we will be.
Ellen explained how our values are what make us tick. And that our values are constant even when our circumstances change. So something that makes us feel good while at work doesn't have to stop being a part of our lives when we leave the job. We can use the exercises Ellen taught us to define those values that made us feel fulfilled at work and find ways to express those values outside of work so we can continue to lead satisfying lives.
Ellen led us through a visualization exercise. Using this exercise as a spring board, Ellen coached us into creating a list of our own unique values. We then chose 5 of our values and rated them from one to ten as to how they are being honored in our lives right now.
We picked one value that we wanted to show up more in our lives and through Ellen’s coaching we each came up with one action we can take this week to bring that value to the next number up on our scale. We read out our plan of action to the group, and when we were ready to commit to doing that action by next week and report back to Ellen that we had done so we stood up to a round of applause.
We learned that acting to bring our values into sharper focus in our lives will lead us to more fulfilling lives, whatever our present circumstances.
So, who are we without our job title? We are our values. And our values are what make our lives worth living and will guide us to our next stage in life.
Ellen Segal
"Yes, You Can!" Coaching
Because the power you seek is within you
+972-2-999-0546
ellensegal@netvision.net.il
Member of Israel Coaching Association
Listen to Nettie Feldman's afternoon shmooze with guests Chaim Emet (israemploy.net) & Nat Gordon (Marksman Employment)
Excellent tips on job hunting - podcast can be downloaded from RustyMikeRadio.com.
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