The Successful Dilettante
May 5, 2007 - Issue 21 - ISSN 1935-4886
Editor: Susan Henderson, coach@susanhenderson.com
Visit our website at: www.susanhenderson.com
In This Issue
1) Greetings/News
2) Susan's Musings - Finding Your Perfect Work
3) Featured guest: Michael Werner
This creative multipreneur is a writer, publisher, traveler, and lifelong learner. . . and, oh yeah, a successful multi-business owner! Read all about how he accomplishes this lifestyle with humor intact and what role Kurt Vonnegut has played in the scheme of things.
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Greetings/News
A cheery welcome to you all. I am happy and blessed to have you here. April was a wild ride weather-wise here in the Pacific Northwest. I am looking forward to fair sky and warm breezes for May. Wherever you are, I wish you the same.
I have some exciting News to share. I'm very proud to have been published in a fantastic new eco-project. The Money Monkey is a collection of tips, techniques and advice on how to become an entrepreneur. 25% of all profits go to The Red Cross. I've contributed a piece called Entrepreneurial Spirit - Do You Have It?. I am sharing the pages with several others such as Anita Roddick of The Body Shop, Brian Tracey, Jim Rohn and many others. I feel quite honored. For a limited period you can get the book at a discount price; follow this link to begin your escape from the Rat Race:
www.thelargemonkey.com/themoneymonkey.htm
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Susan's Musings - Finding Your Perfect Work
It has come to my attention time and again that one of the hardest challenges a person gifted with multiple interests and gifts has to face is to choose the career that is right for them. Even if you now believe you do not have to choose just one thing and stick with it forever, it just compounds the agony to choose multiple careers, as well. I would like to recommend some tools to make this challenge easier.
Paul and Sarah Edwards have written many books on self-employment and working from home. I love their work and probably own every book they ever wrote. One really stands out as the best career guide for teaching you how you can "blend your personal goals and dreams with the practical realities of earning a meaningful and prosperous livelihood working on your own." Finding Your Perfect Work: The New Guide to Making a Living, Creating a Life is not only filled with worksheets, questionnaires and resources, but it is also filled with real life stories of people who have done it.
Another must have for the aspiring entrepreneur is Why Aren't You Your Own Boss? Leaping Over the Obstacles That Stand Between You and Your Dream coauthored by the Edwards and Peter Economy. This book helps get you past your obstacles and into action once you have chosen what you want to do.
Do What You Are: Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type by Paul Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger introduces Personality Type and teaches you how to discover your own. It lists occupations that are popular with your type and gives you the tools to find work that really fits who you are. The 4th edition was just released this March.
Of course, another great resource is offered by today's featured guest, Michael Werner, of Dream Jobs To Go. These very affordable guidebooks to a wide variety of careers and lifestyles are wonderful for dipping your toe in the water by reading what those who have actually done it have to say about it.
Last, but not least, if you need a coach to help in your quest and to ease your transition, give me a call.
What are you waiting for? If not now, when?
Hugs,
Susan
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Featured Guest: Michael Werner
It is my pleasure to introduce today's featured guest. He is the CEO and Chief Schemer of InfoSource, Inc., an American company that develops online learning for schools and organizations throughout the world. He is also Publisher of Dream Jobs To Go, an e-book company that creates guidebooks to interesting, different, and just-plain-old fun careers and jobs. His latest brainchild is Teachbits.com, which is a teacher-to-teacher marketplace site where teachers can develop, trade, share, and sell learning materials (see all links at end of article).
I have been reading Michaels blog, Dream Jobs Dialog, for quite some time and love his inspiring posts. He has had a longstanding fascination with what people do for work and why, and is especially intrigued with people who’ve made severe breaks from traditional careers to pursue a strong passion in a completely different field. He says he's come to believe that his mission in life is to help other people achieve their own.
SH: Welcome Michael. How have you come to enjoy your life as a creative multipreneur?
MW: Luck. Parents. Lots of reading. Trial and (lots of) error. Thinking. Failure. Good support systems all around me.
SH: When did you realize you would be happiest engaged in a multitude of interests?
MW: Until I was about 30, I was pretty much locked into the climb-the-corporate-ladder routine. But, because I'd always loved writing, publishing, books, and creative endeavors, it came to me that I'd never be truly happy in a work life that was dedicated to one endeavor.
SH: What systems, tools, or practices have enabled you to find balance in living the life of a creative multipreneur?
MW: I've learned to say "no" as I've grown older. I just don't take on all of the things that people and organizations ask of me anymore, and I don't feel guilty about it . . . anymore.
SH: How do you manage your time? Do you make a plan?
MW: I probably make up for being somewhat disorganized (physically that is; inside, I have things pretty well sorted out) through extra effort. I don't really separate work from play. In fact, my work is my play . . . when I grow tired of one "job," I move onto another.
I have a 30,000-foot plan for each endeavor, but not a detailed one. In my businesses, I know what I'm trying to achieve but I don't have a detailed road map. This does frustrate some of my employees and colleagues at times, but I try to make up for it by creating a warm work environment.
The same is true in my personal life, and it really helps that my wife loves to wing it as much as I do.
SH: Have you had any mentors, books or people, who have influenced you?
MW: Loads of people in my life have shaped who I am. Like many people, my parents were the most influential . . . they taught me to love reading, travel, and all things education. They never told me that I couldn't do something or that I wasn't qualified enough. They were both great thinkers . . . and doers.
My 5th and 6th grade teacher, Mr. Bump, turned me onto having fun with learning. He was outrageous, witty, and a bit whacky.
In addition, I read a lot (I probably scan 300 or so books a year and read 50 all the way through), from a variety of genre . . . fiction, memoirs, how-to business, motivation/success, history. I think I learned the most, I suppose, about the human condition, from Kurt Vonnegut's writing. While he had a dark, biting take on humanity, he also saw that we are here (on this planet, this life) to fart around (his words) and to be kind to one another, because that's all we really have to offer.
SH: What advice or tips would you share with our readers in their quest to become a successful dilettante?
MW: 1. Stop watching television--if you add up the hours, it's amazing how much time many of us waste surfing endlessly through garbage. I calculated it once, and I think the average American spends the equivalent of 68 work days a year watching the tube. Just imagine all of the neat things you could do, learn, or discover if you turned the TV off and do those other things.
2. Stop doing work that you don't like. It's not worth it, no matter what the pay. You're at work the bulk of your waking life, so if it's fun, enjoyable, and creative, what difference does it make how much it pays?
3. Fart around and be kind.
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Michael Werner lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico with his wife, daughters, mutt Harley Tucker “Little Wheezer” Werner III, and mouse hunter Pip Squeak.
Visit: www.dreamjobstogo.com to check out all the career ebooks written by people who have "walked their talk." Subscribe to his content rich blog at: www.dreamjobsdialog.com. Teachers be sure to check out www.teachbits.com, which is a division of www.infosourcelearning.com where they develop online learning for schools/organizations throughout the world.
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2006-07 Susan Henderson, All rights reserved.
