Janice Lamy, Author and CEO of Creating Your Success Plan (CYSP), a holistic system that provides career guidance for women, is keenly interested in positively impacting a generation of women by providing career success guidance through her book and online resources. Janice is an accomplished marketing professional with more than thirty years of experience leading successful marketing programs and mentoring young professionals.
Throughout her career, Janice has enjoyed serving as a mentor to others and offering guidance based upon her experience and observations. She finds fulfillment in watching young professionals grow into their careers and achieve their goals and aspirations. Janice sees a convergence of activity from many sources coming together to address the disparities between women and men in leadership roles. By helping women create their Success Plans, her intention is to contribute to that movement in a meaningful way.
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you ended up writing a book?
You know, I never intended to write a book. It was nowhere on my radar. I’ve spent the last 30 years in healthcare marketing and really enjoy what I do professionally. I’ve had exceptional career opportunities and have worked with some amazing people. Simply put, my life has been dynamic and fun. However, I kept getting this message that I needed to do something more — not something different, but something more. As I sat with that and tried to determine what it meant, it occurred to me that one of the things I love to do is to mentor others, specifically women as they navigate their careers. Taking that a few steps further, I began to think about how I could do it on a larger scale — and my “mission” came to me. I want to positively impact a generation of women! And then, out of nowhere, one day I got a very clear message…I needed to write a book designed to provide mentoring and guidance for women in their early and mid-stage career. So I got to work and the contents just seemed to pour out of me. I wrote Creating Your Success Plan in less than 60 days. It was an invigorating process!
What do you hope your readers take away from this book?
I hope women will take the time to create a Success Plan for themselves. It is such an important process to go through. It’s like having a strategic plan for your career and it will make you more focused than ever — even with all the distractions we face as women. Motherhood, taking care of the home and family, perhaps caring for aging parents — all of this can take your eye off the ball.
Personally, my career became a job for about 15 years as I was raising my daughter. I wouldn’t trade that time for anything, but I know if I had a Success Plan to guide me during that period, I could have gotten further in my professional life in a shorter period of time. If each of us had a Success Plan to follow, just think what we could accomplish!
What are the top three tools you are currently using to write, publish, and promote your books?
My website is the primary way women can learn about the book and the entire Creating Your Success Plan (CYSP) system. It includes the book, a 16-module online course, coaching packages, and an online community. The site also offers blogs and podcasts to help women become ever-more effective in their careers.
I drive women to the site through social media — both paid ads and organic posts. And, I offer speaking engagements to make women aware of why and how to create their own Success Plans.
What were the top three mistakes you made publishing your book and what did you learn from them?
You know, it really wasn’t that difficult. I can’t say I made many mistakes along the way. I found an online course that showed me exactly how to self-publish my book and connected me to editors, book cover designers, and book layout artists. Everything I needed seemed to just fall into my lap. The only challenge I faced once the book was published was trying to do everything to promote it myself. With a full-time job, it was difficult to find time and energy to focus on getting the course videos completed, the website up, and social media promotions going. I finally realized I needed help and I now have partners who are helping me promote the CYSP system. Things are going a lot better now!
When will you consider your book a success?
I already consider it a success! I’ve seen first hand how it has helped a number of women get really clear about what they want to achieve with specific timeframes and goals in mind. So, I know the process works and that’s an amazing feeling. Now, I just want to reach more women with this message. Each day, I’m doing just that. One by one, women are getting it and taking action.
There are two sections in this book. The first is all about creating your Success Plan. Your first step is to identify your core values and create a personal focus statement. You’ll single out what matters most to you with regard to your professional life—something very few people ever take the time to do. These tools will help you make decisions as you navigate your career.
Then, you will use this base to create your Success Plan, which will encompass 3, 5, and 10-year goals for your career (or whatever time frame you choose) with in-depth visualizations of what success looks and feels like along the way. This process may be quite easy for some, but for most of us, it takes a lot of thought, guidance, and introspection. You may not have all the answers immediately, and that’s fine. The more you work at this and invest time in planning for your future, the clearer everything will become.
The last component of your Success Plan is your marketing plan. Yes, you must market yourself in order to be successful and achieve your goals more quickly! I include guidance on how to develop your personal brand and market yourself, each and every day—because each day you are actually interviewing for your next opportunity! Self-promotion, based on the goals you have identified in your Success Plan, is an important key to your ultimate success and it’s something women usually avoid.
The second section is devoted to providing tips and guidance as you work toward fulfilling your Success Plan. These Success Tips include how to attract success into your life by living according to the Law of Attraction, how to continually learn and listen in order to succeed, and how to network effectively. The Law of Attraction simply states that what you think about becomes your reality. You can, therefore, create whatever you want in your career by setting clear goals and visualizing how success looks and feels and remaining focused on it, which is the foundation of your Success Plan!
If you had the chance to start your career over again what would you do differently?
Well, for one, I would create a Success Plan! Looking back, I know I would have been more successful, faster, if I had a Success Plan to guide me. If I had taken the time to identify my core values, think through what success meant to me, and find a mentor or a community for exchanging ideas, not only would I have avoided a few not-so-great career moves, I would have achieved more in much less time.
It seems like common sense to me now, but without having this kind of support and guidance in place, I simply navigated blindly through my thirty-plus-year career. That’s not to say I’m not proud of what I’ve achieved—quite the contrary. I’ve done some amazing things in my career and have had opportunities to work with incredible people and forward-thinking organizations. But my experience could have been much richer and even more rewarding if I had my own Success Plan to follow, helping chart my course to professional fulfillment.
Take time to figure out what is burning inside of you and wants to come out through your next book. It takes passion and drive to write and publish a book, as well as to promote it and get it into the hands of your target audience. It has to be something that truly matters to you, in my experience. If it is, the work will feel effortless and literally pour out of you, just like it happened for me. Good luck! The world needs more good content.
Who should we interview next and why?
Jessica Walker, founder and CEO of Care Sherpa, a service that helps consumers navigate complex care pathways such as bariatric surgery, behavioral health, and cosmetic procedures. Jessica is a dynamic woman who is driven by her passion for the business. She created Care Sherpa to fill a need she saw in the healthcare industry and I’ve no doubt she will be an amazing success. I enjoy networking with women like Jessica, and I think your readers would love to hear her story.
How can we get in touch with you?
I’m available via email at janice@creatingyoursuccessplan.com. You can also schedule a free 30-minute consultation with me through the website. I reserve a couple of hours each evening and over the weekend for those calls, and I’d love to hear from you!
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