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Issue 155 |
January 11, 2007 | | |
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About Your Subscription
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Changing Course
is dedicated to helping you:
~Live Life on Purpose
~Work at What You Love
~Follow Your Own Road
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Inside Today's Issue
Featured Article
Having Trouble Changing Course? The Solution May Not Be What You Think
Featured Resource
You Can Get Paid to Do What You Love
Guest Article
Resources for A Change
View From the Other Side
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If you
don't like the way the world is, you change it. You just do it one step at a
time.
~ Marian Wright Edelman |
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Having Trouble Changing Course?
The Solution May Not Be What You Think
By Valerie Young
One of the best parts of my “job” is getting to hear how
someone I’ve somehow touched made the shift from dreaming to doing. I’m not
talking about achieving their dreams, although that’s always great to hear when
someone has finally taken the leap. But I find it equally exciting to learn
about the small successes.
Just this week I received lovely box of handmade chocolates
in the mail. It was a gift from someone who attended the annual “Work at What
You Love” seminar this past July. The note read, “Thanks to you, I can’t look at
work the same way anymore.” High praise, especially when you consider it came
from a college career counselor. As far as I’m concerned a shift in how we think
about work itself is progress. And when it comes right down to it changing
course is really just series of small steps – and as you’ll soon see, the right
information.
All these progress reports from others got me thinking
about my own journey from corporate America to self-bosser. So I decided go back
and take a look at the very first article I wrote for the inaugural online
version of Changing Course back on August 8, 2000. It was a question and answer
exchange between a reader named Anne and me.
In case you weren’t around in 2000, I thought it might be
helpful to share it again:
Dear Changing Course,
I have been reading,
planning, thinking, taking notes, etc. on starting an at-home business. My
love is sewing and crafting and faith in God. My idea? Creating and selling
inspiration quilt blocks. The problem? It seems that almost 95% of what I
have read about at-home business and finding your life purpose/path ends up
being based in a service-oriented business. It seems like providing a
service vs. producing a product is the truly sustaining career path. Am I
wrong?
I love my husband, my
family, my friends - I am blessed with a myriad of beautiful and loving
people in my life. What I am missing from 7-5, Monday-Friday is my "life."
Any advice?
Anne from Wisconsin
Dear Anne,
I am not sure what you are reading but as I flip through my
copies of Entrepreneur, Business Start-Ups and other small
business-oriented magazines, I see no evidence that service businesses have
an edge on those that sell a product. In fact, in some instances, products
may have the edge because people can "see" what they're buying.
The issue for anyone thinking about starting a home-based business is not
service vs. product. The real question is: Will people buy what I have to
sell? Finding the answer means you have to do your homework. The first thing
you need to do is determine who your potential customers are and where to
find them.
Not sure where
to begin? Here are seven ideas to get you started:
IDEA #1: Approach local specialty gift stores about selling your quilts on
consignment. You'll have to sell your wares to the store at wholesale but
your expenses will be next to nothing.
IDEA #2: Sell your product from your own website. This may be a little labor
intensive at first but would also allow you to reach literally millions of
potential customers. Contact spiritually like-minded sites to propose
setting up reciprocal links.
IDEA #3: Investigate what it takes to get into specialty catalogs featuring
hand-made products aimed at your target market.
IDEA #4: Place classified ads in magazines, church newsletters, ezines and
other publications aimed at people who share your faith to see what kind of
response you get.
IDEA #5: Craft fairs abound this time of year. Do a little "on-site"
research by walking around and seeing what other vendors are doing. Compare
prices, style, quality, displays and so on. If it looks like a viable way to
market your craft, get a table of your own.
IDEA #6: Talk to other crafts people about their experiences. You'll find
that most people -- especially entrepreneurs -- are only too happy to share
what they know with kindred spirits.
IDEA #7: Experts come in book form as well. Barbara Brabec is one of the
more prolific authors on succeeding in a crafts-related business. Check out:
"Creative Cash: How to Profit From Your Special Artistry, Creativity, Hand
Skills, and Related Know-How," or "Handmade for Profit: Hundreds of Secrets
to Success in Selling Arts and Crafts"
For your convenience, both books are now available in our bookstore at
ChangingCourse.com/bookstore.htm
As for advice about what to do about your life being "missing" during
the workweek... the first step to reclaiming your life is to
believe you deserve to have one!
To learn more about the difference between making a living
and having a life, I invite you to read Step 1 of my "10 Steps to
Escaping the Job World and Creating the Life You Really Want"
ChangingCourse.com/articles
Finally, perhaps the most important thing about pursuing a dream is to just
begin. Why? Because as the great opera diva Beverly Sills once said, "You
may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try."
Valerie Young
Linus Pauling once said, “The best way to have a good idea
is to have lots of ideas.” Even though this particular Q&A is seven-year-old,
re-reading it got me thinking about some common myths about changing course.
Like, for example, the mistaken belief that the main reason people don’t strike
out on their own is because they’re too afraid. I don’t think it is fear that
holds us back. What I think keeps most people stuck is a lack of information. I
mean, if you were Anne can you imagine how excited you would be to receive not
one, but seven solutions to your problem?
Which leads me to the other huge misconception namely, that
it “takes money to make money.” The truth is there are only two things you need
to make money – a creative mind and the information you need to implement it.
Think about it. What if someone handed you a fistful of money and said, “Here…
go start a successful business doing something that would make you incredibly
happy.” If you didn’t have a clue as to what would make you happy or you had a
great idea but absolutely no idea where to begin, where would you be?
I’ve seen firsthand how information and a little creative
thinking can literally change lives. So over the years I’ve tried to deliver as
much information and as many ideas as possible. It was a lot easier to answer
individual question in 2000 when I had around 900 readers than it is today with
more than 23,000. As much as I’d like to, there’s just no way that I can respond
to everyone personally. That’s why when I created the
Fast Track Your Dream Community, I wanted to make sure there was a place
where the Anne’s of the world could go to get their individual questions
answered – and that there would be more people than me to answer them.
So in September I started a training program to teach
people how to start their own business helping people figure out how to turn
their interests into income. It has been an incredibly gratifying experience to
use what I’ve learned over the course of a decade to help others start their own
businesses in about three months. I was even more excited when this new cadre of
Outside-the-Box Career Consultants (AKA “The Dream Team”) agreed to staff a
password-protected Q&A Forum just for Fast Track Members.
One of the people who signed up for the Creative Career
Consulting Certification Program is Ken Robert, the author of this week’s Guest
Article. Starting in couple of days, Ken and dozens of other creative minds from
the U.S. and Canada will be popping in and out of the Fast Track Your Dream Q&A
Forum. They’ll be answering – and as importantly, posing – questions to
help people like you to find the information and ideas you need to turn your
passions into profits.
The
great idea lover George Bernard Shaw once wrote, “If you have an apple and I
have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each
have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange
these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.” Exchanging ideas is
powerful stuff. The more people there are generating ideas, the more ideas
there will be for everyone. And if lots of people are sharing their ideas
just imagine how much fruit all of our collective ideas will bear. It’s like
an ongoing virtual idea fest!
As some of you already heard
though, there is a flip side to all this personalized Q&A and idea sharing…
Giving Fast Track members so much
individual attention also meant I had to make the tough decision to limit
the number of people I can accommodate to around 200. I know this means that
less than 1% of the 23,000 Changing Course subscribers will be able to get
in. But I decided it was better to disappoint a few people initially than to
bite off more than we could chew at the Q&A Forum – and then not be able to
properly serve the people that get in the program.
Registration for Fast Track began
a few hours ago. The response has been incredible. In the first hour, more
than 25 percent of the seats are gone. At this rate it looks like 50 percent
of the membership spots will be spoken for in the first 24 hours.
Things are really crazy here
today. Right now my plan is to keep the registration process open for two
weeks or until we reach 200 members, whichever comes first. Given the
tremendous response I honestly don’t know what’s going to happen. If you
aren’t able to get into the program initially, once things settle down in a
month or two and I get a handle on what the Q&A Forum coaches can handle,
I’m hoping to open up the program to more people.
If you’re ready to fast track your
dream then
click
here to learn how you can become one of a select group of people to turn
their interests into income in 2007 (ChangingCourse.com/fasttrackyourdream.htm).
About the Author
Off the beaten path career
counselor, Valerie Young, abandoned her corporate cubicle to become the Dreamer
in Residence at
ChangingCourse.com, offering free resources
to help you discover your life mission and live it. An expert on the Imposter
Syndrome, she's presented her How to Feel as Bright and Capable as Everyone
Seems to Think You Are program to over 30,000 people.
Find more articles written by
Valerie at
ChangingCourse.com/articles/ |
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The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty YES to your
adventure. ~ Joseph Campbell |
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Featured Resource
You Can Get Paid to Do What You Love
This Time Next Year, You
Could be Living Your Dream of a More Flexible, Satisfying Life…
Please Join me as One of
a Select Group of People Who Will Turn Their Passions into Profits in 2007.
Starting Here. Starting Today.
You really can escape the
9-to-5 world. You can find ways to do what you love and get paid for it. Lots of
people have…
…like Beverly who finally
pursued her love of decorating. Today she goes into people’s homes and shows
them how they can redecorate on a shoestring budget using the furnishings they
already have.
… or like Bob, a former public school teacher, who now runs
snowmobiling tours in Quebec in the winter and sells vintage car parts out of
his barn in rural Massachusetts in the summer.
A whole world of possibility exists out there. It's just
that sometimes -- as I suspect you well understand -- it's hard to navigate your
way through it on your own…
You know you don't want to be doing what you're doing… yet
an escape plan hasn't exactly materialized…
That's what I would like to help you with -- I'd like to
give you the tools and support you need to discover what you love to do… and
then get started doing it… right now.
When you join the Fast Track Your Dream Community, you gain
all the tools, resources, expert guidance, mentors, and networking you need to
reinvent yourself faster, more efficiently, and more economically than you ever
could on your own.
That's because I'll give you every single proven and
effective resource I've created or uncovered in the past decade… books, special
reports, worksheets, audio recordings, and more… all designed to help you
discover, follow, and achieve your dream, fast…
Plus members can tap into an incredible amount of targeted,
timely, expert advice through monthly teleconferences hosted by dozens of
experts I've lined up to teach you how to quit your job and get a life.
And that's just the beginning.
A group of Outside-the-Box Career Consultants is always on
call to answer members' questions. The "Dream Team" as I call them are there to
help you brainstorm ways to turn your interests into income, navigate any
nagging fears and self-doubts, deal with the dream dashers in your life...
And there's a lot more, too…
But what it comes down to is this: If you're ready to
propel yourself from where you are today to where you want to be… if you're
ready to turn 2007 into the year you finally gain the freedom and flexibility
and satisfaction you've always longed for… then the most efficient, time-saving,
and cost-effective way to do it is as a Fast Track Your Dream Community member.
Learn more and get your new life started, today at
ChangingCourse.com/fasttrackyourdreams.htm |
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Every
artist was first an amateur.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson |
Guest Article
Are You on
the Wrong Bus?
By Ken Robert
How do you know when you’re headed in the wrong direction? It’s easy
to miss your destination if you’ve given no thought to where you’re
going. If you took the first job that came along, or the one everyone
told you was right for you, with no consideration for your own desires,
you may feel as though you're traveling on the wrong bus headed
somewhere you never wanted to go. That feeling came over me one day like
a thick, green cloud of exhaust fumes.
I was sitting in a hotel conference room listening to a mantra from
the pages of a popular business book, “Good to Great” by Jim Collins, a
book about how good companies become great ones. It was required reading
for everyone in management, and on this particular day the members or
our region business team seemed very excited about one line in
particular. Get the right people on the bus and the wrong people
off the bus. They really loved that line. They repeated it over
and over.
Get the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the
bus. In other words, hire the right people and fire the wrong
people. Not exactly ground breaking, but it really seemed to excite the
speakers who chanted it. The rest of us took it as a thinly veiled
threat we could deliver to our teams or apply to ourselves, but it
impacted me in an unexpected way.
Get the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the
bus. In my mind I saw a bus filled with passengers dressed in
business attire and clutching briefcases. I realized my job was a seat
on that bus and I noticed how so many of the passengers around me
clamored and scraped for their seats, how they played games to take them
from others, and how, in order to keep them, they often held their
tongues, stifled their thoughts, and pretended to be enthused about
where the bus was headed. And after all that clamoring, maneuvering, and
pretending, most of them spent much of their time complaining about
their seats and dreaming of the day when the bus would finally stop and
let them off at a place called retirement.
Get the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the
bus. Over and over they chanted it, and each time I heard a
voice grow louder in my head: I’m on the wrong bus. I’m on the
wrong bus! I’M ON THE WRONG BUS!
I realized I’d spent a good portion of my life on one wrong bus after
another, trying to fit in and keep my seat. But no bus would ever be the
right one, because being a passenger on someone’s bus had never been my
dream. If I were ever going to reach my destination, I’d have to get off
the job bus and drive my own dreams.
Are you on the wrong bus? Here are five
telltale signs to help you decide.
- You purchased
your ticket using price as your sole criteria. Even though you
don’t buy a job, money’s definitely a major criterion when choosing a
career. If money’s the only thing keeping you there, that’s a very
strong sign you’re on the wrong bus. You wouldn’t take a bus to
Toledo when you want a trip to Vegas because a Toledo ticket was
half the cost. Why would you settle for work that sucks the life out
of you, even for higher pay, when you deeply desire to be inspired
and energized? Drudgery at double the salary is still drudgery.
- You hopped
the first bus out of town. Did you take your current job because
it was the first thing to come along? Maybe your circumstances
didn’t allow you to be choosey, but yesterday doesn’t always dictate
today. Start taking steps right now to get your own set of wheels.
- You took this
bus because everyone else was taking it. Your friends were doing
it, your father or mother did it, or maybe your family has been
doing it for generations. But you’re all grown up now and life is
not a game of Follow the Leader. Mary H. Jacobsen wrote an entire
book about the perils of “Hand Me Down Dreams.” Start exploring
other destinations, find out where you want to go, and look for the
first safe exit. If your parents jumped in a lake . . .?
- You find
yourself looking out the window and wondering . . . What lies
beyond the streets you’re traveling? That bus you’re on, the job you
took some time ago, may have been just the thing you needed. A job
can teach you the ins and outs of a business, develop skills you
never knew you had, and yes, pay the bills, but it’s okay to change.
It’s okay to grow. I’m giving you permission to explore new options.
If you find yourself in a daydream stay with it and see where it
takes you.
- You just
can’t wait until the stupid thing stops. Constantly checking
your watch is perhaps the number one sign you’re on the wrong bus.
In all my travels (all the jobs I’ve ever held), once I got beyond
the learning phase, once I’d mastered the ins and outs of the job, I
was bored - painfully bored, and I watched the clock like a time
keeper at a sporting event. But taking the steps to build my own
business rooted in things I truly love serving the kind of people I
love, I only check my watch to make sure I haven’t missed an entire
day. And that’s a clear sign you’ve taken the wheel and started
driving your own dreams.
Doing work you love
transcends time. You get lost in it. You’re absorbed by it. An intensity
comes over you and as Barbara Sher writes, “Life is just too short to
live without that kind of focus.” And it’s way too short to spend riding
around in circles on a bus going nowhere.
About the Author
Ken Robert is a Creative Career Consultant, Writer, and Idea Freak who
loves helping people find creative and exciting ways to make a living
doing what they love. During his fun, idea-popping, 90-minute brain
storming consultations, Ken leads clients through a full blown
exploration of their passions and purpose and provides them with soul
stirring ideas for sources of income that flow from who they truly are
and what they truly love. He offers follow up coaching and is available
for speaking engagements as well. You can contact him at
ken@creative-career-ideas.com or by calling 1-888-TRULY-YOU. Find
more details at
Creative-Career-Ideas.com
Editors
Note: Ken Robert is a member of the Outside-the-Box Career consulting
team who will be answering questions on the Q&A Forum. The Forum is
available to members of the Fast Track Your Dream Community. Look for
more articles from the “Dream Team” coaches the coming months.
Click here to learn more about the
Fast Track Your Dream Community.
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Nothing is
predestined: The obstacles of your past can become the gateways that lead to new
beginnings. ~
Ralph Blum |
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First say
to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.
~
Epictetus |
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The View From
the
Other Side
“We praise people who want
balance in their lives, but reward those who work themselves to death.”
~
Roy
Neel, former President Clinton’s deputy chief of staff who quit to take a
job allowing him to spend more time with his family.
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Resources for a Change
John Lennon
Song Writing Contest
The current session of the contest is closed. But if you
are a song writer you may want to get in the loop for the next round or just go
to get free songwriting tips from famous musicians like Al Jarreau, the
Veronicas, Pat Methany and others (JLSC.com).
Greetings
Magazine
I subscribed to this magazine over a decade ago when I had
my own line of humorous greeting cards (at least *I* thought they were funny!).
Much of the magazine is aimed at the larger greeting card industry, but the
classified section lists greeting card companies looking for lines to represent
as well as greeting card designers seeking reps to add them to their line. It’s
also a great way to just get a feel for the business in general and to, as
Barbara Winter puts it, “join the conversation.” (GreetingsMagazine.com/greetings/index.shtml)
How to Start
a Home-Based Catering Business
Author Denise Vivaldo shares her experiences and advice on
every aspect of setting up and running a thriving home-based catering business,
from estimating your start-up costs and finding clients to outfitting your
kitchen and staying profitable. The book covers how to define your market niche,
sell yourself, establish your daily schedule, price your services, organize
parties hone your food presentation skills, avoid the 10 most common home-based
mistakes, and much more. (Amazon.com) |
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live
life on purpose