Archive for November, 2011

Business Travel Jobs – Cruise Staff Positions

November 27th, 2011

If you are looking to have an occupation that involves lots of travel, gaining a cruise staff position may be the perfect opportunity for you. You will gain employment on luxury cruise ships that travel all over the world – often to luxurious locations, such as Hawaii, the Caribbean, Australia, and more.

Additionally, you will be paid for travelling to these locations! Plus, much of your standard bills is going to be covered, such as food, room and board, and health insurance, to help you save the majority of the money that you simply earn on these business travel jobs!

Business Travel Jobs – What you ought to Gain A Cruise Staff Position

A cruise staff position involves assisting with the operations from the ship so that passengers are at ease and also have a great time on their vacations and getaways. This means that you’ll want a bubbly personality, are friendly, and also have patience with those customers who may be rude or insult you for conditions not being as much as their expectations.

To be able to gain a coveted cruise staff position, you need to be determined so you need to have some luck when it comes to timing. Some assistant cruise directors are hired within a couple weeks of applying, but others don’t get hired until years after they begin trying to get the positioning.

Assistant Cruise Directors

Probably the most sought-after positions on the cruiseship may be the Assistant Cruise Director. This person helps the Cruise Director in managing and supervising another cruise staff, in addition to many other general responsibilities. They will be visible and high-profile in dealing with the passengers and will assist with coordinating the ship’s activities.

The Assistant Cruise Director is anticipated to socialise using the ship’s guests and participate in shipboard activities. On some occasions, they will be expected to host a night time show or event. They will also profit the Social Host/Hostess in welcoming passengers onboard and bidding them farewell when they leave the ship.

Other Cruise Staff Positions

If you’re looking for business travel jobs aboard a cruise ship, there are many other possibilities, including the following positions:

Audio Visual Coordinator

Casino Staff

Cruise Consultant

Cruise Director

Social Hosts and Hostesses

Av Coordinator

The Audio Visual Coordinator manages all light and sound onboard the ship. He/she must oversee the presentation, maintenance, and repair of all audio equipment, including that utilized in games, presentations, and band performances. The Audio Visual Coordinator is also accountable for establishing the microphones needed during lectures, activities, and performances.

Cruise Consultant

Cruise Consultants get a lot of spare time: their main function is to provide information on future cruise trips during regular desk hours, in the hopes of getting those customers to purchase future cruises aboard the ship. If you have the gift of the gab, these business travel jobs might be for you personally!

Cruise Director

The Cruise Director manages all onboard entertainment. They often have a background in entertainment and frequently work their way up from other positions. Many Cruise Directors can give performances a couple of times throughout a cruise. They’re also probably the most visible of staff members to the passengers.

Getting a Killer Business Idea

November 27th, 2011

You realize you want to start your own business and be your personal boss – great news. However, you do not yet possess the perfect business idea – panic not. This is a method that I use with a number of clients that can help them create a number of basic business ideas that can be polished and worked into a fantastic business proposition that’s their unique.

The method has three steps:

1. Idea Generation
2. Confirm & Learn
3. Start Small, Grow Fast

Step one: Idea Generation – This really is about picking out plenty of ideas, writing them down and finding a common thread around which you’ll begin to build a concept. Keep in mind your company idea doesn’t need to be unique, only the way you deliver it.

I’m a big believer is doing things you enjoy – that way you will make the long hours and effort required to build your dream business and minimise the agony. Starting your own business really gives you the opportunity to make a move you are passionate about.

Here some questions to ask yourself and scribble the answers down:

What are you proficient at?
Exactly what do you enjoy doing?
What exactly are you experienced at?
What’s your passion in everyday life?
What have you always aspired to do?
What exactly are you hopeless at / really dislike doing?

Once you have done you need to start looking for common threads and just how existing skills and data can compliment your potential business.

You may find that you are proficient at organising, love travel and are enthusiastic about wine. Maybe at the back of the mind you’ve always wanted to be considered a travel agent. Your work to date has been in administration, however your really hate numbers and finance. So taking a look at this list a possible business idea may be around organising wine tasting tours for high-net-worth individuals. To address the problem with numbers and finance you might have to consider getting someone else involved either as a business partner or advisor.

Step two: Confirm & Learn – Here we go ahead and take raw business idea and begin to research its potential. As you start to learn much more about the marketplace of the business idea you can begin to shape and develop the concept further as well as confirming if it’s something which appeals to you like a long-term business.

Look to see if there’s a good marketplace for this type of business – Google Trends and Google Traffic Estimator are excellent free tools with this research.
Examine the competition and see how you could be better, different or cheaper. Also look to see how they differentiate themselves.
Do some training or possibly get a basic qualification. This can expose you to environmental surroundings of the new market and you can quickly find out if you enjoy it before investing further.
Talk the idea over with many people you trust. However, you must be aware that, certainly in my opinion, many people is going to be negative about using the ‘risk’ of having your own business.
Get some experience doing a bit of part-time or volunteer operate in that sector
Go on a highly informative and fun seminar / workshop to kick the concept around!

Step three: Begin small, Grow Fast – This is about not being bankrupt inside a year! You have found an appealing and desirable business idea. You now comprehend the market better and have gained knowledge and possibly some experience. So how do you put that into action?

I firmly believe you have to test the market for real in a small and part-time way. If this proves successful you can start to build the business and invest additional time, effort and cash as the business progresses. If your first attempt isn’t as successful while you wished a) you have learnt some useful lessons, b) adjust the formula and try again.

I’d also suggest putting together a very brief ‘twitter’ strategic business plan that lets you shape you business further. This consists of 6 simple headings – each no more than 140 words:

1. Describe your business
2. Describe the market potential and competitive landscape
3. Describe your ideal customer and why they would buy from you
4. Describe how you are going to market and attract your ideal customer
5. Projected earnings and costs for the next 12, 24 & Three years
6. Goals for the following 12 months with associated actions

If you can take a seat and write the above mentioned plan in an hour or so, you probably have a fairly well considered business idea. Should you struggle to do this I recommend you need more time researching and shaping the concept.