If you want to start a new business, what’s holding you back?  Maybe you’re waiting for the perfect time, maybe you’re not sure if you can afford it or maybe you have a ton of ideas and just don’t know how to get started.  All of that is very normal. Starting a new business is both exciting and terrifying at the same time, but it will also be very rewarding when you get started.

Tamara Tillman, left, and Lorena Garcia, right, fill applications for a sales associate position at the “End of Summer Job Fair,” a one-day event co-hosted at Citadel Outlets in partnership with the City of Commerce on Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) My first “real” job was a summer job. Sure, I had years of experience babysitting and mowing grass under my over-sized faux leather chunky belt, but I wanted to be a bona fide working girl.

Shutterstock Remember that scene in the 1967 movie The Graduate when Mr. McGuire (Walter Brooke) offers career advice to a young Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman)? “Plastics!” he says. “There’s a great future in plastics.

At some point in your career as you ascend the corporate ladder you will be called upon to make a presentation. Glossophobia, the fear of public speaking, is said to be so nerve-racking most people would rather prefer to die than give a speech. I know men and women who are dynamic and engaging in conversation, but if in front of an audience they become tense, rigid, and their gestures become robotic.

Leaving your current job for another one because you are dissatisfied with your salary, benefits, work/life imbalance, or lack of advancement opportunities can feel like a messy, protracted breakup. Finding the right employer is like finding the right life partner. It’s not on a first come, first serve basis, and it’s definitely not ‘one size fits all.

Millions of words have been written and published about what it takes to become a strong leader. We should talk about another aspect of leadership, which is the fact that it’s really hard to be a great leader because the corporate and institutional framework make it much easier to manage badly than to manage well. Every manager who isn’t the CEO of his or her own company has a higher-level manager to report to.

Work and play (Image: public domain) Although some people describe their lifestyle with the phrase ‘Work Hard, Play Hard’, until recently there’s been no real proof that those who push themselves in a career are also driven to succeed at hobbies. “The manifesto has been around for a long time,” says Professor Lonnie Aarssen, a biologist at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

StockSnapIO I’ll admit I’m not good at waiting in line – not at the store, and certainly not in my career. Yet, it makes sense that young professionals must be patient, as experience and longevity in a field of practice are needed to not only create competent employees but good character and leadership qualities. But it seems that a clear career trajectory does not always exist, leaving many young professionals in a spot of tension between being ambitious and being patient.

Shutterstock When I was a student in New York I worked as a waitress. I loved that kind of work because I got to keep moving, I enjoyed chatting with my customers and co-workers and the money was great. I reluctantly switched to temporary office jobs when my school schedule got too busy for me to wait tables anymore. I went to a temporary agency and they put me into a temp job at Smith Barney. I worked high above the ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center.

The proliferation of posts listing reasons why we all need mentors is a testament of our awareness as a culture for the need to nurture developing talent and continually educate ourselves. While mentorship is beneficial it’s only a fraction of what we need to reach our professional peak. Fourth century Greek philosopher, Diogenes, said, “Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination.