BlissAndConversation.com

You’ve hit lay-off time in this shrinking economy and you’re sick of of waiting to be wanted. You’ve always been an executive but your job has been abolished and there don’t seem to be any new ones out there with your name on them.  You’ve always been a journalist but newspapers, if not folding, are slicing staff down to the bone. You’ve always been a good salesman but nobody’s buying and a lot of companies where you had contacts aren’t selling enough to hire anyone new. 

It isn’t fair!  No, it isn’t, but it’s reality at this point in the 21^st Century.  Life’s not a beach, at least not one that you can sit on with no income.  You’ve called everyone you know, scanned the want ads and on-line job boards daily, sent out numerous resumes.  “It takes 8-9 months,” runs the conventional wisdom.

It seems you’re busy searching all the time but you feel intrinsically passive.  Something inside is beginning to writhe in frustration.  You want to spread your wings and fly.  You feel like you have to be practical.  You’ve always dreamed of being an entrepreneur but you’re not quite ready for that, whether because of lack of money or lack of experience.

The old saying, “Do what you love and the money will follow” isn’t so pie-in-the-sky as it sounds.  You probably were already doing it.  Whatever you studied in school, whatever jobs you held probably drew on some element of your affinities.  The more you can use the things you like and do well, the better you’ll do at anything.  Start from there and you’ll widen that road until it gets you where you want to go.

Example:  Dana was a journalist who couldn’t find a writing job but had a never-used degree in education.  She taught an arts journalism class at The Learning Annex, an alternative school, and always made it a practice to go out socially and professionally to almost anything to which she was invited that appealed to her.  One day, sitting around a friend’s pool with a group of women she barely knew, she heard one raving about a class she’d taken at an adults-only college.  Dana sent her resume to the dean and was called in for an interview. 

“I don’t think many of our students would be interested in your journalism class,” said the Dean as the interview wound down, “but we do need someone to teach our Film Appreciation Class.  That teacher just quit.”  Although Dana had never taught that or even studied it, she was something of a film buff, had reviewed film and knew a lot of people in that industry.  When the Dean found out Dana knew more about Alfred Hitchcock’s “Notorious” than she did, she hired Dana on the spot.  Dana found a nice salary, students she loved who loved her back and creative satisfaction in a field she never dreamed of entering..  All from getting out there with an open mind and initiative.

Make a list of things you love, things you’re good at and get out there, either as a volunteer or a part-timer.  Do things on spec.  Your passion, curiosity and persistence will open doors you never dreamed existed.