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CAREER: Small businesses open the year in better shape than larger ones. Between January 2nd and 21st, your personal focus accomplishes great things. After this, expect to play the listening game. Associates' and competitors' golden ideas are of little use if you tune them out. Read and absorb the reports before assuming anything. By the last week in February, you have the data to function at an intuitive level. Clients appreciate loyalty and independent thinking. Projects rush ahead on track. Your chosen profession feels like the perfect way of life.

In late March, esoteric skills fall out of favor when bosses and customers demand immediate, understandable solutions. Get used to trends that could dominate the marketplace for the rest of the year. Your team relieves you a few weeks into a difficult assignment. Around May 3rd, you make wild proposals that you'd never dare to suggest under normal circumstances. If you're still talking this way when the Sun reaches Gemini, you may be drafted if you haven't already volunteered. Wherever this takes you, remember that it was your idea.

You skate the thin line of opportunity through late June and most of July. Playing it by the book isn't enough. You also have to be a good judge of character. Internal rivalry could halt or even undo much of your work after July 24th. You spend the better part of a month scrambling to protect your job, or possibly looking for a new one. The unexpected favors you around August 28th. Shareholders or industry regulators have the final word. Even if you don't benefit directly, your recent efforts are vindicated.

Once the Sun enters Libra, rules are hard to enforce when everyone pleads a special case. Fairness makes life difficult. Expect many meetings and even more memos clarifying and amending them. By late October, personalities are getting in the way. The Halloween party season is a time to loosen up and separate the people from the issues. Holidays color your professional life for the rest of the year. As the Sun comes to Sagittarius and everyone has Thanksgiving on their mind, slow down for design and performance reviews. Anyone in marketing knows what a gold mine the December gift-giving events can be. Even as you follow the money, reward yourself by spending some quality personal time with loved ones.