Many people are claiming that the economy is too tough, or that you simply will not be able to get your idea off the ground.  However, instead of being discouraged by a slightly less-than advantageous economy, look at these challenges as hurdles to overcome, not brick walls that stop you in your tracks.

Taking the first step is the hardest, and countless success stories prove that there is still room for new business.  Here are 6 simple steps to becoming your own boss.

1. Start Writing a Business Plan – Put your ideas on paper, and continue to add detail.  Don’t know how to write a business plan?  Numerous online resources are available such as bplans.com and sba.gov. These are great websites that offer sample business plans, and guidance to get you on your way.
2. Get Your Hands Dirty - Experience is by far one of the most important factors for creating a successful business.  Dive into the field you want to be interested in, and become the expert.  Find the best in that particular field, and develop a thorough understanding of the industry, and how to work within it.
3. Understand Your Competition – With today’s technology, chances are you aren’t the only fish in the pond advertising your specific services or product. How can you differentiate your company?  What can you do to add more value? Why should people come to you?
4. Find Capital to get started – Find out where to get the money you need to start.  Overestimate the amount you need to get started to build your business to account for unforeseen risks.  Look to investors, banks, friends, and family to raise what you need to get started.  If times start to look tough, reevaluate your business plan and make the necessary changes to see where you can improve to make your idea more attractive to lenders.
5. Surround Yourself with the “A-Team”- Find the best in the business and get them on your team.  Friends and business are two different things; make sure you draw the line between them.
6. Get the Word Out- Learn to market effectively to get your business known.  Websites can cost pennies a day to run on a server.  You don’t need to be a computer programmer to launch a website.  Website building sites such as webs.com and wordpress.com make it simple and easy to build and maintain a site.  Take out a listing in your local paper, and even setup your own promotional event to get started.

Here are some unique and thrilling jobs that pay surprisingly well:

Pearl diver

• Specializing in plucking pearls from pearl-bearing oysters, the job of a peal diver in Australia pays well. The catch is that pearl diving can be a dangerous occupation at times due to the amount of pressure in water basins. The going daily rates for this thrilling occupation are as much as $1,300 Australian dollars ($1,216 American).

Master sommelier

• Experienced sommeliers, or wine stewards, are wine professionals that make their money by flawlessly pairing wines with dishes in high class restaurants. To do this you must have a high knowledge of everything wine and be able to develop wine lists and have an acute knowledge of various types of wine. This taste tester and developer can earn $80,000 to $160,000 per year.

Airplane repo man

• Full of adventure and high-stress work, aircraft repo men can make a fortune. Repossessors get a 6-10% commission of the resale price of a plane they reclaim for a bank. The job of a repo man is anything but easy; risks of getting shot at or tossed into a foreign prison are possible outcomes. As for the payment, most airplanes cost millions of dollars generating a $10,000 to $900,000 pay back to the reposessor per plane.

Bounty hunter

• The job of this high risk worker entails tracking down criminals that have skipped town after posting bail and returning them to prison. Pay is 10-45% of the bail deposit amount. For instance, a suspect that skipped out on $100,000 bail could net the bounty hunter $10,000 to $45,000 upon his or her return.

Voice-over artist

• From cartoons to radio commercials, simply talking or impersonating voices can pay well. Voice-overs exist all over television networks and even in the film industry. Five minutes of finished audio can pay as much as $325 to someone who has experience. Lesser-known professional voice-over artists can earn $50,000 to $80,000 per year.

Dr. Woody, as he is affectionately called, discusses the VIPER approach in his book. This approach focuses on looking inward and figuring out your values, intrinsics, passions, essence, and personal road map.

To learn more about those principles and learn how Woodward is incorporating those into the working world, watch the following video.

However, sometimes it can feel like you can get lost in the shuffle of the hundreds of thousands of resumes on those monster career sites. This is why CareerBuilder.com created their Resume Upgrade program.

The Resume Upgrade program triples the number of companies viewing your resume! How? Well, for starters, your resume gets highlighted to make companies notice it easier. Once you sign up you’ll need to select the upgrade level you want. The higher the level, the higher the listing. There are six levels (copper, bronze, silver, gold, platinum and titanium) that offer a certain percentage of increased exposure. For example, the copper level gives you 25% more exposure than you would have if you simply had your resume online, whereas the platinum level offers you 140% more exposure, and also allows you to see which companies are reading your resume!

To read more, click here.

Careers at non-profit companies tend to start from internships, so this is a terrific tool if you want to try your hand at non-profits. The following is a list of the best internships for 2011 in cities all over the country.

• Advocates for Children of New York
• Camphill Soltane
• Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
• Farm Sanctuary
• Food for the Hungry
• Hudson Institute
• Mother Jones
• National Women’s Health Network
• Sierra Club
• Teen Voices

As sharing your resume with companies during interviews you will want to highlight the experience that you gained while studying abroad.  Many employers are looking for people who are versatile and adaptable, and by listing your study abroad experience on your resume you are demonstrating your ability to succeed in a new environment and your willingness to seek out new experiences.  Having a relevant story to tell in an interview or having relevant global experience listed on your resume can be a definite advantage.

Your study abroad experience should be under your education section on your resume. Since you did not receive a degree from your experience overseas, instead of sharing your degree, date of graduation and graduating GPA you would put the classes taken that benefit the job you are applying for along with skills you learned while abroad.

Although necessary, discussing salary can often be the most nerve-wracking part of the interview and job-acceptance process. As part of your interview preparation, follow these steps to get the salary you deserve.

1. Research the role’s salary in your area
   1. Depending on where you live, the pay can fluctuate by thousands of dollars. Going in and asking for the salary of someone working in New York City in a small town in Utah will not help you get more money. Use online salary calculators and others in the position you are interviewing for in your area to determine average salaries and how they match up to your skill set.
2. Convince the recruiter you are worth the dollar amount
   1. Be prepared to give examples on why you should be paid what you are asking for. Explain how you can add value to the organization and why you are unique for the role.
3. Be Up Front About Salary
   1. Most companies will have a set salary range for the position you are applying to. If you are hoping to make $35,000 – $45,000, tell them up front so you don’t find yourself at the end of the interview process and get offered something much less than what you need to live.
4. You Can’t Always Get What You Want
   1. It is quite possible the number that a company offers you may be much less than you were expecting. If the offer is below your salary requirements, see if you can be given more responsibility or extra vacation time to make up for the difference. No matter what, tell them you need time to consider the offer.
5. Stand Your Ground
   1. If the company can’t be flexible with their offer, you either have to accept it as is or politely turn it down. If you do get what you asked for, agree to the new additions in one phone conversation.
6. No Matter What, Be Professional
   1. Money is a touchy subject and the people involved in the negotiations will remember how you acted for as long as you work with the company. It may even give you an edge when it comes time to ask for a raise.

Getting your first job is exciting, but don’t let that excitement cloud your judgment when it comes to your salary. Working for less money than you can live on will get old very quickly so set your goals and be willing to walk away if the money isn’t right.

Additionally, temporary work is up, with companies pulling in contract workers to meet the demands of business. This can add experience on your resume, allow you to test the job market and gain skills you may need for your future career. Seventeen percent of companies surveyed planned to expand contract employees into full-time staff this quarter, making temp work more enticing.

Location, location, location!

Depending on your location, you may have a better chance of seeking employment than others.

• Highest region hiring is the West with 33% of hiring managers planning to increase full-time employees
• The Northeast has plans to hire 28% new full-time employees
• The Midwest – 27%
• And the South is looking to add the least at 24% of companies planning to hire full-time employees

Size matters (when it comes to companies hiring)

• Small businesses with 500 or less employees are showing healthy growth, with 36% hiring this quarter, up from 19% last quarter
  • Only 17% of businesses with 50 or less employees are planning on hiring full-time employees
  • 36% of businesses with 500 or more employees are expected to hiring this quarter

Those numbers are excited and mean good things for those entering the workforce. Make sure your resume is free of spelling errors; you are dressed to impress and go out there and land the career of your dreams!

Many cities host several local and regional employment events throughout the year. Sometimes the events are smaller and hosted at colleges, while others are much larger and hosted at convention centers. Here, we have listed the country’s top 5 biggest and best career fairs!

1. CareerBuilder.com Career Fairs

CareerBuilder hosts job fairs throughout the country that cater to individuals with experience in sales, health care, technology, finance, management, government, retail, administration, and customer service.  Their expos give many job seekers the chance to meet employers and companies that are searching for individuals in such fields.

2. Monster’s ‘Keep America Working’ Tour

Keep America Working combines the job fair experience with Monster’s unique employee matching technology. The fair gives the opportunity for job seekers to meet employers face-to-face, as opposed to the usual online introduction.

3. Women for Hire

Founded in 1999, Women for Hire is the first and only company devoted to providing employment services solely for women. The career expos have the country’s top recruiters that are willing to meet one-on-one with aspiring female workers.

4. Salute our Heroes

Originating in New York City, Salute Our Heroes has become a nationwide series of events geared to celebrating our country’s veterans. The event connects veterans and their spouses with outstanding job opportunities.

5. National Career Fairs

One of the largest career fair companies in the country, National Career Fairs hosts over 300 job fairs each year in more than 75 cities. All types of employers and job seekers are invited to attend.

No matter what career field you are interested in pursuing chances are there is an internship available for it. Internships are great learning tools that allow students to understand the day-to-day work of the field they have chosen.

Top 10 Internships with the Best Perks

1. Dell
2. Domino’s Pizza LLC
3. Garmin International
4. Golman Sachs & Co.
5. Google, Inc.
6. J.P. Morgan’s Investment Bank
7. KPMG
8. Oracle
9. Tribeca Film Center
10. Whirlpool Corporation

Top 10 Most Unusual Internships

1. Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences
2. Child’s Play Touring Theatre
3. Florida Grand Opera
4. Franconia Sculpture Park
5. Hawk Mountain Sanctuary
6. Land Between the Lakes
7. Martin Agency
8. Morris Arboratum
9. NASA
10. Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts