live
life on purpose
work at what you love
follow your own road
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Go confidently in
the direction of your dreams. Live the life you’ve imagined.
~ Henry David Thoreau |
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Opportunity Knocks:
Creative Ways to Make a Living Without A Job
No Time to Go After Your Dream?
How to Turn Your Dreams Into Reality in
Five Minutes a Day and Other Tips for Time-Stressed Dreamers
By Valerie Young
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Valerie and her rescue
dog,
"Cokie Roberts" |
You've already made up your mind that there has to be more to life than careers, cubicles, and commuting. Yet, the prospect of making a major life change when you're already feeling caught between a “clock and a hard place,” feels overwhelming.
Here are five simple steps even the busiest person seeking a major career change can take to get the process rolling:
1. Turn griping time into planning time.
How much time do you spend every week blowing off steam about your lousy job? Instead of wasting precious time complaining about what you DON’T want, use the time to create a clear mental picture of what you DO want. Then make a plan for getting from here to there. Five minutes a day spent working your plan will move you far closer to your goal than 15 minutes of griping.
2. Keep your goal front and center.
Get out your calendar and set a target date for when you want your new life to begin. Besides being a great source of motivation, knowing how much time you have until "D-Day" lets you create a realistic plan for hitting it. Next, find creative ways to keep your dream, literally, in your face. As you come across images or quotes that reflect your dream, place them around your workspace, in your daily planner, on the refrigerator – any place you're sure to regularly "see" your destination.
3. Buy with an eye to the future.
If your dream involves working from the comfort of home, you probably won't need all those business suits overrunning your closet. Resolve now to make do with the work wardrobe you already have. When you do take the leap, you can donate your business attire to an organization like Dress for Success that assists men and women just entering the job market. Spend the money you've saved instead on things you'll need for your new career or venture – like courses, buying or upgrading a home office computer, purchasing equipment, inventory, and so on.
4. Avoid the nay-seers.
Erma Bombeck once said, “It takes a lot of courage to show someone else your dreams.” Erma knew that most people – especially those closest to you – tend to discourage change of any kind. Unfortunately, other people's skepticism, like the flu, can be contagious. And, unless you've built up your immune system, these dream killers can knock you for a loop. Don’t look for support from pessimistic family or friends. Instead seek out people who can give your dream the support it deserves.
5. Do what you can – but DO SOMETHING.
As one Chinese proverb reminds us, moving a mountain begins by lifting one stone. To keep from being overwhelmed –
while still making headway – break your larger goal down into more manageable steps. Then, no matter how hectic your day, pledge to take at least one small step. Before you know it you’ll have turned your dreams into your life.
P.S.
If you're a time-stressed dreamer who has decided that the time has come to
get a grip on your time-management skills then you may want to check out Jeff
Vacek's new program. It’s called “Go Be Productive!” I’ve met Jeff a few times
now and have always been impressed with his work (and I love his relaxed Texas
style!)
From what I
can tell, this program is going to require you to dedicate some time to
analyze and then undo some of those bad time and project management habits that
are getting in your way. BUT the time you invest in learning to be more
productive – and therefore reach your goals faster – will be worth it.
Go Be Productive! at
ChangingCourse.com/recommends/gobeproductive
Add Your Two Cents
Want to comment on this
article?
Click here to hop over to the Changing Course Blog!
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
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If your dream is
big enough, the facts don't count. ~ Don Ward |
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Featured
Resource
What If You Could Take Your Passion For Brainstorming Creative Ways to Make a Living Without a Job… and Get Paid for It?
You Could Be Working from Home
to Help Other People Live Their Dreams
This is a unique and
proven program -- Outside the Job Box Career Expert Course, that I rolled
out back in December. I had such an overwhelming response that I sold out in
a matter of weeks and had to take the course off the market. After wrestling
with whether I ought to open this course back up or not, I’ve decided to
launch my Outside the Job Box Career Expert Course to a limited number of
people. And with the economy the way it is, there are many more people who
are seeking alternatives ways to make a living without a j-o-b. 
So sometime in the next few weeks, I plan to open up this
course again to a limited number of new trainees. If you already know you’re
interested- click here
ChangingCourse.com/firstinline.htm to
be on my priority list and be the first in line to be notified when I open the
doors again in the coming weeks. To discover more about this program, read on…
Here’s
what the Outside the Job Box Career Expert Course is all about -
What could be more fun than sitting at home (or anywhere in
the world really) and brainstorming with people over the telephone about
creative ways they could make a living without a job − and actually getting paid
to do it! Or running workshops on how to turn interests into income? Or making
money 24-hours a day by selling your own eBooks, CDs, or other information
products that help people do work that feeds their soul?
I can't tell you how gratifying it is to know that the work
you do makes some small difference in other people's lives. Helping someone see
possibilities, recognize their gifts, and connect the dots so they can turn
their interests into income, is something that just comes naturally to me. Maybe
it comes naturally to you too.
If you’re a creative thinker, are entrepreneurial, love to
brainstorm, and want to get paid to do what comes naturally, then in a few short
months, you could be running your own business as an “Outside the Job Box Career
Consultant.” I’ll show you how.
The details of the program -- including when I'll open the
doors to a limited number of people -- will be coming out soon! Until then, I
want you to take advantage of my Priority Notification List. Sign up on this
list so you can be among the First in Line to get all the details about this
unique proven program:
ChangingCourse.com/firstinline.htm
(Be forewarned, I already have over 600 people on my
priority list, so don’t delay!)
And, here’s a bonus for
you (one of many more to come - including a special Teleseminar coming up next
week- more details to follow!), AFTER you sign up, I'm going to send you a link
to a special bonus audio where you will hear 9
former students share not just about their experience in the course, but their
own insightful and inspiring tips and advice for anyone looking to change course
to work at what they love.
Here’s what Barb van
Wickland had to say about taking the Outside the Job Box Career Expert Course-
This program was
great. It gave me all the tools I need. It’s almost like handing you a
business that you can start yourself. Valerie over-delivered everything. She
gave me everything I needed to know to start this business on my own.
~ Barb van
Wickland
I’ll leave you with this
great quote from Katharine Graham, "To love
what you do and feel that it matters, how could anything else be more fun?"
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Your dreams can be
realities. They are the stuff that leads us through life toward great happiness.
~ Deborah Norville |
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Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is
a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.
~ Langston Hughes |
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Learning Opportunities
The Vibrant Mid-Life Woman - What’s Next?
Are you in that stage of life where you’ve raised your
kids, or done your time at that job-job, and now sense that you’re ready for a
change? Well, your time has come! Reignite those dreams you’ve put on hold all
these years. In this class, “Outside the Job Box Career Expert” graduate Sherrie
Porterfield explores ways to define your latent dreams and passions and begin to
put into action a plan for making a significant difference in your world.
About the Workshop Leader
Sherrie Porterfield of
CreativeCareerPaths.com has a passion for sharing with others how they can
take steps toward realizing their dreams, and escape the traditional cubicle
world of work. She loves helping people find freedom and flexibility to be able
to do the things they love. She particularly enjoys helping women who are in
mid-life who are looking for creative ways to make a difference in their world.
She also has a passion for helping young moms find creative career paths to
supplement the family income so they can stay at home with their children.
Registration Information
Thursday, March 26
Rochester, Minnesota
6:30-9:00pm
Click Here to
Learn More
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"Sherrie is positive, focused, and has excellent listening
skills. She came prepared to talk about options for my
generating income as opposed to working. I plan to pursue all of
her leads. I feel like I just got permission to go ahead and
explore options in my life and to take more chances. I'd highly
recommend this approach and Sherrie."
~ Toni Sims, Evanston, IL |
How To Make Money Month after Month Like Clockwork: Create a Small Business With a Big Monthly Cash Flow
One of the most challenging parts of
being an entrepreneur is the unpredictability of cash flow. Well, what if you
could set up a business where you knew there would be a steady stream of revenue
each and every month? It’s called “continuity” income and major organizations
like Consumer Reports, the Red Cross, and others have been receiving regular
monthly payments charge directly to their customer’s credit cards for years. Now
you can learn how to put the power of the continuity model to work for your
current or future business to work for you!
In this first-ever
“Continuity Summit,” friend and mega Internet Guru, Ryan Lee, has put together
and all-star line up of incredibly successful online entrepreneurs who have
agreed to share their secrets for generating steady monthly income with you.
Whether you already have an online business or are
in the “dabbling phase” – there are lots of different ways that small one-person
businesses can create continuity income that can fit your “passion, niche and
lifestyle” including…
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Paid membership sites
(build a strong loyal tribe)
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“Micro Memberships”
(create a membership site in 2 days)
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Print newsletters (easy to
create and creates great buyers)
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Tele-Coaching (crack the
7-figure monthly ceiling with coaching)
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CD or DVD of the Month
(simple creation. High profits)
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Hybrid continuity
(unlimited income potential)
In most cases, it’s even easier to create
continuity programs than it is regular one-time products.
Because the demand is so high to learn about
building continuity income (and there’s so much terrible information floating
around) Ryan is doing something completely out of the box. The “Continuity
Summit” is the FIRST 3-day large-scale event to focus solely on building your
recurring revenue.
In this
special 3-day event in Stamford, Connecticut Ryan Lee and some of the top
internet marketers on the planet will all come to one place, with one mission –
to help you develop your very own continuity program.
Whether you already
have information products or you are completely new to the business, this 3-day
event will change your financial future forever.
Internet marketing seminars typically cost a
minimum of $2,000 to attend. But not this one….
If you register before Wednesday April 1st
the early registration price is an unheard of $199! (Travel tip: The
event rate through the Hilton is $89 but if you pay online in advance you can
get a room rate of somewhere around $65. Or use your AAA or AARP number online
for a rate in the mid-$70s. Share a room and save even more!)
The (Big!) Continuity Summit
May 15-17, 2009
Stamford, CT
Click Here to Learn More
P.S. I’ll be there, speaking on one of the panels.
Plus, you’ll get to meet some of the people who have taken my unique
Outside the Job Box
Career Expert Course and Business Launch Program who will be on hand to help
people brainstorm how to turn their interests into RECURRING income!
P.P.S. If you think this is something you can’t
learn how to do, then consider this…
If you happened to be on the
Changing Course
Club Opportunity Hour call when Ryan came on to talk about membership sites
than you know that Ryan used to be a physical education teacher in the Bronx!
Then he discovered continuity programs and in a matter of a few years was
earning over a million dollars a year online setting up membership sites in the
fitness world (his passion!). If you have a passion – and the desire to learn
how you can turn your passion into income – I urge you to join Ryan, the Outside
the Job Box Career Expert and me this May!
Click
Here to Learn More
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Cherish your
visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul; the blue prints
of your ultimate achievements. ~ Napoleon Hill |
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The View From
the
Other Side
"All successful men and
women are big dreamers. They imagine what their future could be, ideal in
every respect, and then they work every day toward their distant vision,
that goal or purpose."
~ Brian Tracy
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Resources for
a Change
I guess it pays to
read those AARP magazines after all. The March-April issue had some great ideas
for making extra cash.
Earn Money Walking Dogs
FetchPetCare.com is a national pet
walking/sitting company that pays local people $10 for a 30 minute walk and
more for day boarding. I read about a retired college dean who works 2 hours
a day and earns an extra $600-$800 a month. The company provides the
insurance and bonding and does all the booking. If you pet sit on your own
you can charge $15-$30 for a walk and $40-$60 for a sleep over. Not bad –
plus you get some exercise and some great company too!
Earn Money Giving Your
Opinion Market research
groups pay as much as $100 an hour for consumers to offer feedback on their
clients' products and services as part of a focus group. How it typically
works is you go to their office where you answer questions while people from
the research group and their client company watch your reaction from behind
a 1-way mirror (I know because back in my corporate marketing days I was one
of the people on the client side of the mirror.) To find focus groups near
you go to
MarketsDirectory.com and click on Focus Group Facilities or
Greenbook.org for survey and focus groups in your area.
Warning: Never pay a firm that
claims to get you into a focus group or give out your credit card
information.
Earn Money Running Errands
People who set up their own personal assistant and/or errand running
business charge anywhere from $15-$25 an hour to grocery shop, drop off dry
cleaning, drive clients to the airport, etc. Sites like
DoMyStuff.com
let you bid on jobs in your area. If this is something you think you’d
really enjoy,
Triangle Concierge will train you how to start and market a personal
concierge service.
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!
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