Winning Strategies for Professional and Personal Development

By Felicia Pruitt Davis

Inside this book includes topics on resume writing, interviewing strategies, dressing to achieve success, communicating effectively, tips on starting your own business, high school and college career planning, living your best life, winning strategies, and professional and personal development. It is an all-in-one career guide for appearance, behavior, image, wardrobe, fashion, body image, self-esteem, self-confidence, entrepreneurship, budgeting, financial plans, and business plans.

This is a guide to help individuals discover who they are and the exercises to develop the steps to get there: This career and development guide supports individuals who are entering into the job market for the first time or reentering. In addition, it also helps students stay in school as well as assist young adults to develop the leadership and living skills that form the basic skills of life success. This is more than a basic life skills guide; it will help empower adults and young adults to overcome obstacles and pressures they face by helping them develop and put into action a roadmap. Through the career and development guide, this will help change their mind-set about what they can do and will help each individual focus on their own personal goal based on development, action, and results. Through this guide, individuals will have the tools and information to achieve professional and personal success.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Jan 15, 2023
• ISBN: 9781698713854

Felicia Pruitt Davis

Felicia Pruitt-Davis is the Chief Executive Officer (President) and Founder of Dress for Success-Warren-Youngstown, Ohio. The mission of Dress for Success Warren-Youngstown is to promote low-income women’s economic and social development through career development, job retention, and the promotion of self-sufficiency. Not only does she volunteer for Dress for Success Warren Youngstown she holds a full time job with United Healthcare of Ohio as a Sales Representative. Felicia Pruitt-Davis holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Kent State University, Kent, Ohio. She went on to receive her Master of Business Administration and in Healthcare Management from University of Phoenix. She holds a Associates Degree as a Paralegal. In addition, she serves on the Board of Dress for Success, member of AICI Association of Image Consults International, and is the secretary for the African American Achievers Association. She was nominated for the Athena award in 2004, member of NAACP, received the Delta Excellence Award in 2003 for helping strengthening and expanding the economic development for the African American Community, 2007 named Bright Light of the Valley by The Vindicator. Felicia is an Alpha Angel little sister to Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. In addition, Felicia Pruitt-Davis is married to Robert L. Davis Jr. Director of Water Utilities and together they live with their two children Brittany and Raquel. They also have one son (Corey) who is married and resides in Warren.

Book preview

Copyright 2023 Felicia Davis.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

15015.png www.trafford.com

North America & international

toll-free: 844 688 6899 (USA & Canada)

fax: [phone]

Our mission is to efficiently provide the world’s finest, most comprehensive book publishing service, enabling every author to experience success. To find out how to publish your book, your way, and have it available worldwide, visit us online at www.trafford.com

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

ISBN: 978-1-6987-1386-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6987-1385-4 (e)

Trafford rev. 01/13/2023

Contents

Chapter 1Bringing Out the Best In You

Chapter 2Communicating Effectively with Confidence

Chapter 3Self Assesment

Chapter 4Dressing To Achieve Success

Chapter 5Resume Writing

Chapter 6Best Foot Forward- Keeping Your Job

Chapter 7Career Development

Chapter 8Financial Literacy

Chapter 9Entrepreneurship Training and Development / All you need to know about starting your own business

Chapter 10Resources

All in One Guide to Career Success

Winning Strategies for Professional

and Personal Development

Tips on:

Resume Writing

Interviewing Strategies

Communicating Effectively with Confidence

Dressing to Achieve Success

Tips on Starting Your Own Business

Living Your Best Life

High School and College Career Planning

Business Plan tips

Templates and Examples

Financial Literacy

And much more…..

Author

Felicia Pruitt-Davis, BA, MBA

Dedication

I would like to thank God first of all, To my Loving and Supportive Husband, Robert that supports me and let me be me unconditionally, To My Beautiful and Fabulous Daughters Brittany and Raquel, who I continue to learn from each and every day, be the best you can be, My mother, Levada, who showed me how to be a strong woman, to my sister Cassandra, who deserves the best, my Father Elwood, thank you for being there, and my brother Mitchell may you find your light. My granddaughters Raina Raindrop, Bella my twin Grandsons AJ & Christian "I Love You to the Moon and Back! What the mind can believe the mind can achieve! You can do it!

Lastly, to All of my Dress 4 Success Office formerly Dress for Success Warren Youngstown supporters and volunteers Thank You.

001_a_lbj6.jpgimage%202.jpgimage%203.jpg

Introduction

15057.png

I am excited that you have decided to purchase this great tool for your personal and career development. I would guess that you have been looking all over for a guide that will give you personal and career development tips all in one. Your investment in this book is well worth it. You are not the only one looking for ways to improve your appearance and boost your career. No matter how old or young you are, it is never too late to reevaluate and redefine your appearance and personal development.

Many people wonder, how should I present myself to the world? How important is dressing for success? What is the proper way to write a resume? In this guide we are going to give you some tips, techniques and guidelines to follow. Throughout this guide you will have an opportunity to apply what you have learned and utilize the tools and examples to help you develop a new you! It is so important to reexamine the way you are presenting yourself to the world, especially if you are entering the job market for the first time, or reentering and looking for a career.

If you don’t know, I am here to tell you that, at the first initial meeting, people begin to judge us by our appearance, by how we talk and walk, and even by who our parents or relatives are. This is very true, of course, you might think, but it’s just not fair. Shouldn’t it be what you have inside that count? However, it’s the way of the world, and we can’t change who are parents or relatives are. But we can change the way we present ourselves to the world.

Within this guide I am going to give you a jump-start into ways to improve how you are preparing for a new career and to look your very best professionally! There will be insightful tips to move you forward into helping you bring out the best in you, and get the life you deserve. We are going to rediscover, renew, redefine, and recharge your life through this career guide and the exercises.

The tips this self-help guide will provide you with are not typically available in most bookstores—at least not in their entirety. If you are an instructor or teacher, this comprehensive guide will give you the appropriate tools and information to help you discover and rediscover your students. If you are just seeking ways to improve yourself personally, this guide is all in one.

After each chapter, and throughout, it will give you words of motivation and questions to test your knowledge. Topics will include keeping your best attitude, success principles, bringing out the best in you! Dressing for success (professional image consulting), resume writing, communicating effectively with confidence, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship (starting your own business).

At the end you will have resources and examples to use as tools. As you travel through this guide, enjoy every minute of each chapter and share the information with your family and friends. This is not a one-day process; take your time, and if you have to go back or stay in a chapter for a while, that is great too. This is an overall career guide that will move you towards a happy and successful life. It will also help you discover what you want and how you are going to get there. How do you move forward in your life, if you don’t know where you have been and where you are going? A great start is a plan (roadmap).

As you are reading through this guide, I encourage you to highlight and underline what you feel relates to you. Make notes in the margins or in the area for notes on goals you want to put into action. Once you have done that, read the notes over and over again. Repeating helps keep the information fresh in your mind. Remember, in order to move forward, you also must take action in completing the goal/s. Just remember, it is a process so it is not going happen overnight. Take one step at a time!

At this point, I want you to think about this question? What would truly bring you happiness and success in your life?

Now, everyone will have a different answer; no one will respond in the same way. Your goal might be securing a job, visiting Paris, earning your degree, graduating from high school, learning how to play golf, losing weight, exercising more, building a stronger marriage or creating a happier home. Whatever it is, you will need a road map to get there.

Now what I want you to do is to put these priorities on a list of things to do. (Following, you will see an example to get you started.) Just remember, success takes time, commitment, eff ort, perseverance and the will to never, ever give up. When you want something in life, sometimes it seems easy for others; but really you never know the challenges someone else faces to achieve success.

In order to accomplish your goals, there are assets you must possess: vision, the right mindset, self-esteem and resilience. To be successful you must be willing to take risks, and the ability to handle failure or rejection. Remember, if you don’t succeed the first time, you must try, try again and give 110%!

IMPORTANT WORDS AND DEFINITIONS

Perseverance — to continue a course of action even in difficult situations

Commitment — a pledge or promise to do something

Confidence — the quality of feeling certain, the belief in one’s own ability

Resilience — the ability to recover from challenging situations: strength, courage, good spirit

Self-Esteem — self-respect

Vision — mental image, imagination, something perceived in a dream. Anything in life worth having is going to take hard work.

Energy is the essence of life, Every day you decide how you’re going to use it, by, knowing what you want and what it takes to reach that goal, and by maintaining focus……...Oprah Winfrey

Chapter 1

Bringing Out the Best In You

Bringing out the Best in You

H ow do you bring the best out in you? One important characteristic is your attitude. How important is