Changing Course Newsletter: Issue 160

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Aspiring entrepreneurs – especially those who are “creativity-impaired” – can take heart in knowing there is more than one way to generate ideas for products or services.

Capitalize on mistakes. Some of the best product ideas were unintended. Did you know, for example, that Post-It-Notes were the result of what 3M Company researchers at first thought to be a bad batch of glue?

Then there was Thomas Sullivan, a New York City tea importer who, in 1908, found that the sample tins of tea he normally sent to customers had become more expensive. His solution was to send less tea and to have the samples sewn into small silk bags. Sullivan’s customers assumed that these convenient bags were meant to steep in hot water and orders started rolling in for this new product innovation now known as the tea bag.

Sleep on it. One of the best times for idea development is in the early stages of sleep. Both Thomas Edison and artist Salvador Dali often used their nap time to stimulate creative thinking. The men would nap in a chair while holding a small metal object (Edison held a ball bearing, Dali, a key).

The object would eventually clank to the floor, awakening the nappers with a start. Edison and Dali would then quickly jot down whatever ideas or intuitive connections may have been in their mind.

Pay attention. Did you know that burrs were the inspiration for the popular clothing fastener known as Velcro? When you start looking at the familiar with fresh eyes you’ll be amazed at the creative business possibilities you might see.

Be ready. Keep a notebook and pencil or a small tape recorder handy at all times. After all, you never know when or where the inspiration for your new enterprise may strike!

Trust your gut. Speaking of Post-It-Notes, back in the late 1980s my then employer held a course on innovation. Attendees were put into small groups to brainstorm new product ideas and then present the best idea to the entire class. As I watched the other groups writing their favorite idea on flip chart paper and hanging them on the wall with masking tape, the light bulb went on…

What if flip chart pads were manufactured to work like giant Post-It-Notes for easier hanging? Being a trainer myself, I thought it was a great idea. My group didn’t agree and picked another one instead. What was at the time a novel product improvement is today pretty much the standard for flip chart pads. I may have missed out on a fortune but I learned an invaluable lesson – trust your gut and go for it.

About the Author

“Turning Interests Into Income” expert, Valerie Young, abandoned her corporate cubicle to become the Dreamer in Residence at ChangingCourse.com offering resources to help you discover your life mission and live it. Her career change tips have been cited in Kiplinger's, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today Weekend, Woman's Day, and elsewhere and on-line at MSN, CareerBuilder, and iVillage.com. An expert on the Impostor Syndrome, Valerie has spoken on the topic of How to Feel as Bright and Capable as Everyone Seems to Think You Are to such diverse organizations as Daimler Chrysler, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Harvard, and American Women in Radio and Television.

To read more articles about how to work at what you love without a job go to ChangingCourse.com/articles.htm

Having a Life You Love Means Finding Your Gifts

By Barbara Sher

Adapted with permission from:
I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was:
How To Discover What You Really Want And How to Get It

You want a life you will love.

A friend's father got it right when he said, "The good life is when you get up in the morning and can't wait to start all over again."

Is that you? Or does the idea of the good life sound like an unreachable paradise? If you aren't the kind of person who jumps out of bed every morning excited about the day ahead, I know you desperately long to find a goal that will spark excitement and energy; you yearn to find the place where you can make your mark. Albert Schweitzer found his place, so did Golda Meir, and so did the kid next door who practiced guitar day and night.

They knew how to live. They believed in what they were doing with all their hearts. They knew their work was important. When you get near people who are pursuing their heart's desire, you can see the intensity on their faces.

Life is just too short to live without that kind of focus.

In the early 1980s, two Harvard psychologists completed a study of people who called themselves happy. And what did happy people have in common? Money? Success? Health? Love?

None of these things.

They had only two things in common: They knew exactly what they wanted and they felt they were moving toward getting it. That's what makes life feel good: when it has direction, when you are heading straight for what you love.

And I mean love.

I don't mean what you're skilled at. I don't really care what your skills are. When I was a single working mother with two babies, you know what my skills were? I could clean a house like a demon; catch a moving bus with my arms full of laundry, groceries, and kids; and squeeze a dollar until the picture of George Washington screamed for mercy.

I do not want the career that uses those skills, thank you.

I don't believe you live the good life by doing what you can do; you live it by doing what you want to do. I don't even think your greatest talents necessarily show up in your skills. All of us are good at things we're not madly in love with. And all of us have talents we've never used.

Relying on your skills to guide you is simply unacceptable. That's why I don't give personality tests or skills assessments to find out what you should be doing.

I know what you should be doing.

You should be doing what you love.

What you love is what you are gifted at. Only love will give you the drive to stick to something until you develop your gift. That's the way really big things get accomplished in this world - by people no different than you and I who know what they want and put everything they've got behind it.

If you don't know what you want, you can't get out of the starting gate - and that's discouraging. But you're not alone. Recent figures show that as many as 98 percent of Americans are unhappy with their jobs. And it isn't only financial considerations that keep them where they are; they simply don't know what to do instead. What you may have thought was your private little nightmare turns out to be heartbreakingly common.

Well, I have a surprise for you.

You do know what you want. Everybody does. That's why you feel so restless when you can't find the right track. You sense there's some particular work you are meant to be doing. And you're right.

Einstein needed to formulate theories of physics, Harriet Tubman needed to guide people to freedom, and you need to follow your original vision. As Vartan Gregorian said, "The universe is not going to see someone like you again in the entire history of creation." Each of us is one of a kind. Every living person has a completely original way of looking at the world, and originality always needs to express itself.

About the Author Barbara Sher is a career counselor, speaker, and best-selling author of five books including Wishcraft,I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was, and her latest Refuse to Choose: Use All of Your Interests, Passions, and Hobbies to Create the Life and Career of Your Dreams. (see Workshops and Teleclasses below). Barbara has appeared on the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, and 60 Minutes – just to name a few. Learn more at BarbaraSher.com

"When I start to dwell on what I haven’t done, I make a ‘reap’ page and list all of the things I’ve already achieved."

~ Thirty-eight-year-old Lisa Norris, Made By One Girl Handmade Books in Chattanooga, Tennessee

Bed & Breakfast Associations in Canada

This site lists associations by province and includes a link to B&Bs for sale. If they are selling they may be interested in getting away for a while which might open the door to some kind of trial period where you run it for six months or so to see if it’s the right place for you.

Creative Screen Writing Magazine includes a listing of what scripts a dozen top production companies, management firms and agencies are looking for, exclusive interviews with Hollywood's top writers, and more. Four times a year, paid subscribers receive an updated list of more than 100 ProdCos, Agencies, and Managers who accept unsolicited query letters. They also offer a helpful resource page on how to write a screenplay at CreativeScreenwriting.com/how/index.cfm

The World of Boating Radio Show dubs itself “...the first and only nationally syndicated radio show devoted exclusively to the boating lifestyle!” Even if you are not a boating enthusiast, this is an interesting example of turning a passion into profit.

Parade Magazine, the popular insert in many Sunday newspapers in the U.S., is doing a feature on career changers. Part of what I love about my work is getting to showcase the wonderful dreamers I have met through my work here at Changing Course. You never know how these interviews will turn out but I know the editor I spoke with interviewed at least one of the many clients I raved about -- hotel manager turned photographer, Rodney Washington. When Rodney spoke at last year’s Work at What You Love workshop in Ventura he was still working at his day job. Ten months later he is pursuing his passion full time. The article is scheduled to run in the April 15^th issue.

Note: Changing Course does not accept paid advertisements from any of the resources listed here. This list is provided to expand your thinking about just how many interesting ways there are to make a living without a job!

Mark Victor Hansen's Mega Book New York