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In the Life
I’m writing this from the Hartford airport. I’m on my way to
deliver a keynote at the YWCA North Central Indiana’s
2012 Tribute to Women. What an incredible organization and
honor.
Actually, since the last newsletter I’ve been up and down the
east coast.
 First
I went to Atlanta to speak on my work on the
Impostor Syndrome to a standing room only audience at Emory
University. Hands down one of the most beautiful campuses I’ve
seen -- and I’ve seen a lot of campuses.
From there it was on
to the Big Apple to talk once again on the Impostor Syndrome.
This time the audience was 275 medical school faculty and
post-docs at Columbia University.
Smart and fun group!
The
trip got off to a bit of a bumpy start. First there was no
place remotely near the New Haven train station to park so I
almost missed my train.
Once I arrived in the city the hotel told me the conference
organizers had booked me to arrive the next day -- and they were
completely sold out. Yikes! Fortunately I’m travel savvy enough
to know that there are always rooms and I wasn’t budging until
they found one.
I was already
running late when I had the bad luck to hail a brand new cab
driver who had no idea how to get to the Westside Highway! I did
manage to secure a hotel room and after changing cabs midway,
arrived at Columbia with a whopping 5 minutes to spare. Whew!
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Rene in Times Square |
It wasn't all work,
though. I got to attend the
Conference Board’s Women in Leadership conference and meet
people like Kate White, editor of Cosmopolitan magazine and
Joanna Barsh Director,
McKinsey & Company and
author of
How Remarkable Women Lead.
And I got to hang out with my friend and Conference Board
coordinator Rene Carew, eat some fabulous Japanese food, and
attend the phenomenal play,
Memphis
-- a must see!
The highlight though
had to be attending the retirement party for Dr. Bailey
Jackson.
Some people pass through your
life, some people touch your life, and some people change your
life. Bailey changed mine.
In the early
1980s Bailey became the founding director of the Social Justice
Education program at UMass. I was founding coordinator. More
importantly Bailey was my doctoral advisor, my mentor, and I’m
proud to say, my friend.
Along with many
others, we led weekend workshops on the “isms” -- racism,
sexism, anti-semitism, classism, and able-ism. We weren’t being
“politically correct” -- a term I detest because it is so often
used to trivialize basic civility. We were exploring how
stereotyping and bias of any kind hurts everyone.
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Lee Bell and Pat Griffin |
It was great to see so many old friends all of whom are making a
powerful difference in the world. People like Lee Bell who is
doing important anti-racism work at Barnard College and Pat
Griffin who’s breaking new ground combating homophobia in
sports.
Last but not least, I got to spent time with two very cool guys…
Long-time Changing Course subscriber Ed Borowiec from Santa
Cruz, California was visiting family in my neck of woods and
drove up for a quick visit. Ed is doing wonderful work leading
workshops to help others find their calling. Check out his site
at
www.SuccessRevisited.com.
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Ed Borowiec and Valerie
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Matthew Goldfarb and Valerie |
My
newish friend Matthew Goldfarb moved his copywriting and
marketing messaging strategy business from New York to nearby
Northampton. It took a year but we finally got together.
I was so impressed with Matthew’s operation that I plan to add a
visit to Corporate Renegade’s very cool office space to my
upcoming Work at What You Love workshop and retreat. It’s
looking like it’s still on for June 20-24.
The announcement for what is likely to be the only Work
at What You Love workshop of the summer will be out later this
week. Right now 82 people have placed their names on the
Priority Notification list for one of just 12 spots. If you’re
not on the priority notice list and want to be,
sign up now.
If you need pressing questions answered about the Work at What
You Love workshop/retreat, feel free to call me directly at
413-367-0222.
Gosh I’ve been rattling on and haven’t even told you about the
headless hawk I found outside my front door! (I’ll spare you the
photo.)
If you’re a Facebook friend you can read all about the great
mystery. If not -- let’s be friends!
www.facebook.com/valerieyoungdr
And while you’re there check out my fan page at
www.facebook.com/drvalerieyoung
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Opportunity Knocks: Creative Ways to Make a Living Without A Job
Still Don't Know What You Want To Be
Those “Crazy” Business Ideas Often Turn Out to Be the Best
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Dreamer in Residence
Valerie Young |
By Valerie Young
When Bob Page told his friends and family he wanted to quit his auditing job
to start his own business, they were less than encouraging to him. Well,
that's actually an understatement. Basically what they told him was he was
crazy.
Fortunately he didn't listen. Instead he figured that if he could devote
time to doing what he loved, he could make money - even if it was less than
what he was earning at a CPA. Bob was right on the first count. When you
love what you do, it's hard not to make money. What Bob didn't realize at
the time was that his "crazy" idea would wind up making him more money than
he'd ever dreamed of.
You see, today Bob's company, Replacements Ltd. is the world's largest
supplier of discontinued china, glassware, flatware, and collectibles. It
all started when Bob bought a part interest in a Greensboro, North Carolina
antique store. A customer asked if he could find some missing pieces for her
china set. He did. And then an interesting thing started to happen.
According to his website:
“As friends learned of his interest in china and crystal, they asked him to
be on the lookout for particular dinnerware patterns they needed as well as
pieces they had lost or broken. Bob quickly found himself devoting more and
more time to his hobby, often staying up until the early morning hours to
fill orders. Bob stored the china and crystal in his attic, while his
bedroom served as his office."
When the Small Business Administration (SBA) refused him a loan saying his
idea would never work, Bob convinced the owner of a commercial building to
rent him retail space. He got the word out by placing small ads in
magazines.
His crazy idea worked! In his first year he
grossed more than $150,000 in sales. In 2002, sales exceeded $69 million and
in
2008 (the
latest figures available)
sales
exceeded $85 million.
Now, the company's 455,800 square foot facilities house an inventory of
nearly 13million pieces from over 340,000 patterns, employs some 500 people,
and serves more than ten million customers worldwide.
So much for the wisdom of friends, family, and the even the experts at the
SBA!
Speaking of finding support, try to imagine what Katie Wainwright's family
and friends had to say when she told them she wanted to pick up dog poop for
a living.
You read right. In 2003 Katie started Doggy Doody Disposal in my home town
of Agawam, Massachusetts. The company provides "doody scooping" or bagged
doody removal for clients in western Massachusetts and northern Connecticut.
In addition to residential clients, they also service commercial property
owners, pet related businesses, golf courses, parks, realtors and more. The
company credo is "We do doody so you won't have to."
And as a dog owner
myself I appreciate the added touch of keeping their client’s informed of
any changes in their dog's doody. I mean who does that?!
These are just a couple of the countless other "crazy" ideas that have
proved the nay sayers wrong and helped catapult the idea maker out of a job
they hate into a life they love. The next time you get a crazy idea for a
small business do two things:
First, get a notebook and label it Crazy Business Ideas. In one section,
collect examples of crazy idea that have worked. In another keep a
running list of your own crazy money making ideas.
Next, seek out people who will support your idea. Unless you come from a
family of entrepreneurs, chances your supporters aren't in your family
or immediate circle of friends. Where will you find them? You don't have
to own a business to join an organization inhabited by entrepreneurs.
Although I have zero interest in inventing a product, I once joined a
local inventors group because I love the energy of being around can-do,
make-it-happen type people.
Similarly, you don't have to be a business owner to join your local Chamber
of Commerce. Many communities also have some sort of association of small
business owners that meet on monthly basis.
As the great actor Katherine Hepburn once said, "Life is to be lived. If you
have to support yourself, you had bloody well better find some way that is
going to be interesting."
Some of the most interesting means of support begin as a crazy idea. The key
is to keep coming up with them, then when you find one you love, recognize
that the only sane response is to go for it.
Add Your Two Cents
Your thoughts mean so much to me -- and the other 23,000 change seekers who've received this article. I'd love to hear what you think!
Click here to hop over to the Changing Course Blog!
About the Author
Profiting
From Your Passions® expert Valerie Young abandoned her
corporate cubicle to become the Dreamer in Residence at
ChangingCourse.com
offering resources for people who want to work at what they love. Her career
change tips have been cited in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today Weekend,
More, Kiplinger's, Woman's Day, and elsewhere and on-line at MSN,
CareerBuilder, and iVillage.com. Valerie is also the author of
The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women: Why Capable People Suffer from the Impostor Syndrome and How to Thrive in Spite of It with Crown Publishing/Random House.
To read more articles about how to work at what you love without a job go to ChangingCourse.com/articles.htm
Connect With Valerie Online |
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Learning Opportunities
Finding and Connecting With Your “Tribe”
There are interesting
people and then there are very interesting people. My friend Max
Simon is in the later group.
Where as some on-line businesses are all
about the money Max has a deep commitment to mind-body-spirit awareness.
At
only 23 he became the lead educator and director of Consumer Products
for Deepak Chopra at The Chopra Center. Then at 26, Max was voted by
Martha Stewart to be “The Next Big Idea”.
From there
Max went on to launch his own Big Idea which resulted in a 7-figure
business that’s serving tens of thousands – all in a few short years.
But again for Max, community comes first and money comes second.
Last week well over 400 Changing Course readers signed up
for a live webinar led by Max Simon called "FIND YOUR TRIBE."
If you missed the class, you have another
chance.
Find Your Tribe Webinar Replay
In the
webinar Max covers how to…
Transition from working with clients
individually to
leading small groups
Have conversations that
inspire people to actually step up and invest in what
you have to offer
If you already
have a crystal clear picture about exactly who you were meant
to serve and who will pay you well for helping them... you can skip this
one.
But if you tend to
attract people from all different areas of life,
if you're getting (or anticipate getting) a lot of people saying "I
can't afford it," or if you’re not getting a very strong
response when you put your work out into the world I highly recommend
you register to watch this free webinar replay.
The webinar is aimed primarily at people who already have
a business idea. But there’s a part in the middle where Max covers the
four different ways to serve that may jog some ideas for those of you
who is still in the figuring things out phase.
Also FYI Max stayed on at the end to answer lots of
questions from people at both ends of the continuum and everywhere in
between. Lots of aha moments right there.
Click Here to register to Watch the Webinar
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