I received this email from someone just the other day….

I recently graduated from …. MBA program and have not really found it to be providing any of the opportunities that  I had hoped for, even given the current economic and employment conditions. I have a desire to change careers and would like to ….., but unfortunately, I have no technical training or experience. I am currently …………. I have been doing this for 10 years, and I have hit the wall. I have to do something else, but I am having a very hard time finding what that something else is exactly as well as how to get there. I just know there is more out there, and I know I am capable of so much more than what I do or have done up until now, I just have no experience in anything else. Constantly surfing employment boards and firing out resumes is not getting me anywhere. I thought that a MBA would provide these for me, but …..

I have left the details as …. to protect the particular programs they are talking about. Fact is, the details do not matter. I hear this from so many people in so many career paths. It has become the mantra of the current tech community.

A few key points here…

1. An MBA is NOT the answer. Yes, I have one – and it was not the answer for me either!

2. Firing off resumes is not the answer!

What works?

1. Change your thinking! The education system most of us were programmed by (yes – I said programmed) is broken! You need to think differently. You have to think like an entrepreneur – even if you want a job! See a reading list you should add to your library.

2. Networking. But not the same old hat networking you have been told about. For most technical people that type of blind networking strikes fear into their hearts. Remember walking into a crowded room and seeing tons of unknown faces. You search for a face you know, but your hands get sweaty and your heart starts to race. You look to the door and think about running. Guess what – this does not work – for the obvious reasons. Instead do something that DOES work.

Try Networking for Introverts! Click Below to Read Parts 1 and 2 of this process (and there are few videos in there too!)

Part 1

Part 2

When you have just graduated high school, the world is before you. You have all of your dreams and aspirations ready to go. You look at your parents and say things like “I want to major in acting. I want to be an actress” or “I want to go into photography” or maybe “I want to major in a foreign language”.More than likely your parents stare blankly back at you with doubtful looks.

But you didn’t care back then. You had no fear about stating these things then, because they were purely, simply, exactly, what you wanted to do with your life.

Then you graduate with those degrees and feel dismayed because all of the “now hiring” signs are not looking for a photographer, an actress, or a specialist in foreign language. So what happens?

These same people go on to get jobs waiting tables, being a sales clerk, or punching cards behind the desk of some government job, because those places were “hiring”. The job made money, the money paid the rent, and that was the main priority.

Thus, we have an entire society of people who “have to have a degree” but they almost never work in their degree field.

What’s wrong with this picture? Well aside from the discussions we could have about businesses who require you to have a degree, then don’t care what your degree is in, mainly we need to talk about why people don’t choose the things they want AFTER college the way they did before.

Ignorance? Fear? Practicality? Responsibility?

There is nothing irresponsible about pursuing the career you want instead of just pursuing anything that pays money. In fact, pursuing money above all else, is the exact kind of mentality that leads to criminals. Set your priorities towards what really matters. You may need a job to pay the rent, but you aren’t doing your family any favors if you come home every day miserable because you just spent 10-12 hours doing something you hate.

If you got that degree in acting, see if you can’t make a career of that. You don’t have to be a starving artists. Keep the day job, but be looking for ways to create yourself a career that is fun for you AND makes the money you need for your family.

Looking to be a photographer? Who says you can’t open up a website where you sell your photographs? That doesn’t take anything away from what you’re doing now, but it allows you to be doing something you love. and who knows? As that website grows, maybe you can reach a point where that is your main career. Really, it is possible. IF you work at it.

The point is, as you look at your career, stay in what you’re doing if it is what you WANT to be doing. Otherwise, don’t be afraid to pursue change (responsibly)

Here is an excerpt from the text of the talk where Steve Jobs talks about being fired from Apple. You can find the whole speech at the Stanford News Service website.

…I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.²

These are just some of the ideas Dale Callahan  talks about in his new book “Company of One”, due out this Fall.

Are you an introvert? Many technical people are introverts – and many struggle to network because it feels uncomfortable.

Do you remember when you were trying to get your first job? Remember the advice and maybe even a class on writing a resume? Did anyone teach you HOW to network?

When I was in college they taught me to write a resume – but they NEVER taught me how to network. What they did tell me about networking seemed to have limited success.

• advice – Go to professional meetings to meet people.
• result – Ended up standing around knowing few people or meeting people in the same situation I was in.
• advice – Tell everyone you know that you are looking for a job.
• result – Limited success. I did get to meet some people who were the hiring managers – but it seemed my own network was not enough to get me in the doors I needed to get into.
• advice – Use the college career fairs and career counselors.
• result – Again, limited success. Problem is I was limited to those companies looking for people like me. Instead I was looking for something else.

Playing the Game

After many years of “playing the game” in job searches and having many jobs I have made some other observations.

• There are more opportunities than you can chase. Most people are looking for just one, but so many people see none!

• People with a network have more opportunities. Let me state that again People with a network have more opportunities.
  

• People hire people – not resumes.

• Resumes are an after thought for many companies. My last few “jobs” did not really require a resume. In fact, more than once it came up that the resume was needed from me AFTER the decision was made to hire me. One company told me to forward my resume to HR since they needed on file – weeks after I was hired.

• Networking is a skill most people do NOT have. Perhaps this is why my professors never taught me how to do it – they did not know either.

So what works?

I am going to give you some tips in the next few post which will tell you HOW TO NETWORK. These are networking skills that REALLY work – even for introverts. And I mean the REALLY work – powerfully!!! But you can start by using one of the tools I have already blogged about – the Reverse Interview.

Note: These post are part of my upcoming book on taking control of your career!
So let’s get started on building your network! Yes – even if you are an introvert!

Exercise: List the people in your network.

• Who do you go to lunch with?
• Who can you call on if you are looking for a new job or opportunity?
• What group do you hang out with which presents new opportunities to you on a regular basis?

This post is taken from CATRINA CALLAHAN’s blog. (All the things she wrote are in blue)

I wanted to share this blog post because it states well some ideas I struggle with it today’s society…..our education system is REALLY a mess and has created all kinds of lies – including the lies we all believe about work.

To me entrepreneurial thinking is beyond just business – it is first THINKING and ACTING with FREEDOM – something we no longer have because we have walked away from truth or even the pursuit of truth. And in my view – a honest pursuit of truth – whether it be in art, music, business, government, science, or philosophy – always leads to Christ.

In today’s university people learn all kinds of garbage – but what was the university like in the early days of this nation…..

1. They learned theology – the basis of life.
2. They learned about the constitution – the government of man by man – the basis of our freedom.
3. They learned true history.
4. They learned to think!!

Now we just teach people to follow directions and what they should believe. No wonder we are loosing our freedoms not only in the nation, but also our freedoms in the corporation. Most people do not even know they are really free to make a choice.

Catrina’s Words

“When I made up my mind
And my heart along with that
To live not for myself
But yet for God, somebody said
Do you know what you are getting yourself into…?”

A song by Relient K, but it makes an interesting point. Do we know what we are getting into? It is an easy thing to say that we will fight for our beliefs and stand up for God’s word…but do we? I find, in myself, that my fiery nature tends to answer that with a yes. And for the most part it is true. But do I really know what I am getting into? Because, as I am discovering, it is not simply a one time thing. Oh how lovely it would be if you could stand up once with a single grand speech to end all speeches and everyone would hear your magnanimous and oh so obviously correct words to immediately turn; joining you on the heavenly bound road you have found. But, sadly, that’s not the case.

You see I have found that in today’s society you are dealing with younglings that have been brought up to stand up and fight for whats right. To defend that which is most important and to never back down. Noble is it not? I would think so. Unless of course, no one really knows what it is they are fighting for. If you have people trained to fight and defend an idea; and then only give them one idea, what would you expect but that they will defend the only idea they have?

The trick lies more in the fact of diminishing the need to say “This is right.” Only feeding one idea through the system leaves out the need to say this phrase. But without this phrase what do we lack? We loose the ability to enter a new variable into the equation. The right to say “This is wrong.” By having one statement you must have the other, and this gives you two ideas. With more than one thing on the table you now have something you didn’t have before; a choice. Now, you must look on them both. As humans, we will automatically wonder why they are different and we will be forced to do what has been so discreetly erased from our society… we will be forced to think.

Why is one wrong? What makes it wrong? Who says this one is right? Why? Why? Why? Like the ever present mantra of a child we will ask this until we find an answer and in turn, choose a side.

On the other hand, this trick has been realized by enough people that it has become a problem to the tricksters. People are beginning to think, and pursue other ideas than the sole one given. So now a new strategy is needed in order to keep up the ploy. How best to do that? Why, play the game of course! They want more than one idea? Then let them think they are getting just that.

“Discussions” and ‘Debates” are organized where you are ‘allowed’ to disagree. This gives an illusion that an opposing side, and therefore a new idea may be brought to attention. But… who can give a new idea? No one knows anything but what was taught to them. And what was taught to them? The single idea society gave us as the currently accepted norm. Not to mention, even if someone has something new to put on the table, you can never be sure if they have the gall to lay it out. It takes a lot to keep up the march against the current. As I said before it is not a one time action. Once started you must constantly keep it up, get out of the water, or just turn and flow with it.

In my opinion humans are naturally lazy. And society counts on this. They know it is a rare someone indeed who will choose to constantly put up an effort to keep going against their flow and if they insist on not joining in, they will just jump out and not disturb the rest. A minor loss to them and no gain to the person who jumped out but the safety of themselves alone. And so they play the game of ‘allowing’ you to disagree knowing it is rare anyone will, and if they do they can be quickly snuffed out. Thus they win. Game over.

…or is it? What if we didn’t jump out? They will push against us till it is an unbelievable struggle just to stay standing. But if we walk on, through the exhaustion and seemingly purposeless torture, the ridicule, the unrewarded effort….what happens?

It is seen.

In a world that is geared to choose but given no choice, a world that has come to be far too used to the single minded idea given to them, someone who says no becomes an instant eye catcher. Perhaps that is all it will be for the time being, just an intriguing anomaly. But as long as we fight on, we will be watched. The second we step out or give in we will no longer be worthy of notice as we will have simply done what was expected. If however we don’t do the expected, and continue despite all odds to press on, eventually someone will stop and say…why?

And that, in it’s own way, is when society will loose the game for that person. Perhaps they shall continue to wonder and maybe one day shall join on the quest upstream rather than down, but that will just be a major bonus. But for me, I fight on just for that one time someone stops and says “Why?” For that time when their dreary eyes awaken if but a moment from the mind numbing slumber and see something new, something different, something worthy of notice. A new idea. A choice made and a choice lived.

If those of us that have chosen this radical idea of following God all stayed in the water and helped each other face the incoming brutal waves…would we not just create a little current of our own? Can we handle it?

I think I shall swim uphill and see. How about you? Do you know what you are getting into?

Thank you Catrina!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItdAcG5mNEw

How will the new health care law impact you? Are you one of those who love the new law, or one of those who hate it? Few are anywhere in between!

Unless you have been in a coma, you clearly have seen all the fallout and predictions from the new health care plan. And from what I can see, most are accurate. Jobs will be lost, taxes will increase (dramatically), and care will be reduced for MOST people.

While the new legislation is advertised as helping everyone get health care by offering another entitlement, the general feel of the current Congress is hugely anti-business. There seems to be an insatiable need to punish those who prosper for the sake of those who are barely getting by.

But, how will entrepreneurs respond?

Who will REALLY win in the end?

One of the things I love about the American spirit is the ability we have to overcome things. No matter what is thrown at us -- we tend to rise above it. Something deep inside of us  knows that we are free to choose and we will choose how we respond to anything. We have always been that way -- in fact it is the very foundation of our nation. (Read the Declaration of Indepenence to see. No seriously -- read it!)

This is what I see happening:

1. Government regulation brings red tape. This red tape means filing and complicated language. I see CPA’s and consultancies getting in the middle of the government, the people, and companies to help “translate” what the legislation says and help us all to comply.
2. Medical professionals will seek out new ways to serve. Even before this came into law, some doctors where dropping their practice where they are seeing hundreds of patients per day each for a max of five minutes and then chasing the insurance providers for the money. Instead they are seeing new opportunity to provide a higher level of care for those people who will pre-pay for medical care. So instead of paying each time I see the doc, I pay a flat $5000 per year -- and see him whenever I want! My money, my doc. The result is the doctors get to have more control of their time, see fewer patients, and put up with less insurance and government red tape. The patients get much better health care. Expect to see this practice of pre-paid or cash paid health care services move into overdrive.
3. Medical tourism will grow even larger. In the past 10 years people have already been taking advantage of traveling all over the world to receive quality health care for a better price. For instance, a heart bypass in the US can cost $30,000. In India it can cost $5000 -- and you get some of the top docs in the world. Brazil is a favorite destination for cosmetic surgery. The wealthy have already done this for years  - but now we will see a great export of the US health care system to other countries as many Americans decide they would prefer to be treated like kings instead of being treated like cattle.
4. New US industries will arise to help Americans take advantage of the new cash dotors and the new growth in medical tourism. Expect to see people get rich offering one-stop shopping and websites with doctor reviews.
5. Banks will have a whole new lending strategy, offering health care loans to those who wish to take advantage of these new alternatives but just do not have the cash to do so.
6. Of course, there will be many who take advantage of things in the law -- such as the requirements that doctors move to Electronic Medical Records (EMR) . New services will be offered by new companies which will help the U.S. health care system become up-to-date with technology.

Even if the new law gets repealed and something else replaces it, the rush of activity resulting from the new law is likely to change the landscape of the American Health Care forever.

So take heart America -- no matter how Congress attempts to mess you up -- Americans will leap to find a silver lining!

Don Appleby recently posted an article by MSNBC.

I love the title of article he is discussing. The title is

“Americans’ job satisfaction falls to record low”

and even better the subtitle

“Economists warn discontent could stifle innovation, hurt U.S. productivity”

Why do I love this depressing news? Because it says so much about what our society thinks about earning a living.

Let me see if I follow the logic….

• we hate our jobs – therefore
• we are less productive – therefore
• we are less innovative – therefore
• other countries start to beat us (the us here is the United States) in the marketplace.

Here are some things I think the authors and economists are missing:

1. Other countries are suffering from the same dissatisfaction of the workforce. The desire to have meaning in life and work and have some control over our lives is not only for those of us who live in the United States – it is true of all people. It always has been.
2. Some people will not stay in a miserable situation. While many will, others will decide to take there career and their job satisfaction into their own hands. They will go make something happen – and therefore be MORE productive. A few of these entrepreneurs can offset the lack of productivity in hundreds.

The disturbing thing about this article is that the assumption is that the only way to be productive is to work for someone else. Do these brilliant academics really think all workers in corporate America are productive? Have they ever lived a day in the life of someone suffering cubicle insanity – going to meaningless meetings, spending more time justifying they are working then actually working because the company demands reports of productivity, and then when something productive happens – it gets lost in the middle of some middle management power struggle.

In other words – do they think Dilbert is fiction?

The fact is, the United States (as well as other productive countries) have a history of productive that comes from innovation – and innovation rarely comes from large companies.

We must remember – people innovate – not companies. Very often the companies have a tendency to stifle innovation instead of promoting it.  Very often people get fed up with their jobs at companies and become entrepreneurs and go and make things happen for real.

Even the large companies who succeed know that. How many small companies have the giants like Microsoft and Google bought in the last few years? They know it is easier to buy innovation then to innovate internally.

Perhaps the best thing we can do if we love our country is to follow the advice of the likes of Pamela Slim, Johnathan Fields, Dan Miller and many others who tell us to get out and make something happen.

I have been working for a few days looking back at my 2009 company results and looking forward to my 2010 goals. Have you set new goals – or perhaps dusted off your old ones?

The results of this time of reflection have been somewhat bittersweet.

• The companies (AskDrCallahan) revenue and profit was up – but not anything to be that excited about. Of course some business people are telling me I need to settle and be glad I am still in business. I am. I am blessed – but I do not settle.
• My time in 2009 (hey that rhymes) was spent poorly. A lot of time in busy work and a lack of aggressive action. I was just too  timid to burst through some doors to make things happen.
• I was coasting – not really goal driven. In part, my goal setting process was so complex I spent more time setting and changing goals than I did making them happen. Also I was often overwhelmed not knowing what to do next.
• Many of my goals were not mine – I did not own them.

All this has led to some new goals and perhaps more importantly some new methods of self management. First the new methods….

• Set the goals that are measurable and specific. You know, goal that you know when they are done and have a deadline. I teach this stuff – but often fail to follow my own advice.
• Write down WHY I wanted this goal. This one thing made several of my goals change. I was amazed when I had to answer the why question – on some I did not have an answer.
• Make things easier. I tend to over-complicate things and then get frozen in complexity. (My wife laughs in the background) One example is our household budget – which I would pull numbers from Quicken and put into excel for further analysis. No more – use Quicken’s budget now and go with it.
• Be bold in 2010. I am tired of being timid waiting for the right time to do things. I need to get off my butt and do them. (Of course now I have a written record of what I said – so this should help;)
• Delegate. I am TERRIBLE about this. I hesitate to do it and when I do often struggle to get the results I wanted. Fortunately I have been blessed to be surrounded by very capable people who seem to know how to get it done even with a poorly laid out vision. This is all my own problem  – and I intend to fix it. Anyone know of good workshops, books, or other material that could help?

Now here are some of the goals I have for 2010. (I will spare you the whole list)

• Attend a networking event each week. I tend to hate going out in public and doing these things unless I am the speaker. If I am speaking I feel like I either add value or not – otherwise I feel like networking events are an odd mix of people selling. But in reality, every time I go to a networking I get real results. New business deals, new people I meet with interesting stories, and new people I can help.
• Take a course on learning and remembering peoples names by Feb 15, 2010. I know a lot of us struggle with this – but I see some people who seem to remember peoples names – so I know I can get better. This is not a gimmick to get business – I want to focus on people as part of my core beliefs. And knowing and using peoples names is a great way to show people I value and respect them. I also am terrible about not using peoples names when I do know them – I plan to do better.
• Do one talk per month on Escaping Cubicle Insanity. This is an area where Boldness comes in. I love to give talks – kinda fun for me. But I so often think that nobody wants to hear what I have to say. So I wait until asked to speak. It was pointed out to me just the other day that the “cubicle insanity” is something of value to people and I am doing a dis-service to others by not putting it out there. So time to be bold and speak. (And to be bold – if you have a place you would like to hear about Escaping Cubicle Insanity – let me know and we will make it happen if at all possible.)
• Develop a social media connection pool of 10,000 Twitter, 1000 LinkedIn, and 5000 Facebook by October 31, 2010. I must admit, I really struggled with the WHY on this one. I am pretty new to social media – and I am not sure why these numbers except from input from others who know. But this is somewhat a leap of faith – not knowing where it will take me.  But you can help – and connect to me any or all of the ways above.
• Increase the company pretax revenue 2.7 times by Dec 31, 2010. No, this is not how it is really worded, but to avoid putting real numbers on the page this should suffice. The company for me is really a series of companies that do different things. Two issues you might note – I am talking revenue instead of profit. The reason I am NOT measuring profit on this goal is ease of measurement internally AND I know our expense structure. A doubling of revenue means more than a doubling of profit – so I am happy with that. A second note comes from the comment I have gotten from some business leaders who say in the next few years businesses had best brace for survival instead of growth. With congress out of control, many businesses are afraid and just want to make it through. While I certainly see their concern, I refuse to live on fear, instead I plan to be able to adjust to what is going on and profit. A group of fools may be making the rules, but we do not have to be foolish in how we adapt to them.
• Run 3 miles (at one time;) by July 2010. I used to run a lot, and have gotten out of it. I really was not that interested in starting into running again, but I keep finding myself surrounded by runners like Suman and Jill, so I am motivated. I was going to do the marathon thing as a goal, but that is just not me. 

I must admit putting these goals out there seems a little open to me – I tend to be very private and reserved. Of course this is not everything, I will keep some specifics to myself, but this is a lot for me to be public about.

Now what about you? Do you have goals? Want to share any? Better yet, how can I help you meet any of your goals?

Escape from Cubicle Nation

Guy Kawasaki (Foreword). Portfolio Hardcover 2009, Hardcover, 352 pages, $4.93

Her is more detail on one of the books from my Reading List for the Entrepreneur of Tomorrow.

Pamela’s book is a must read for those looking to escape from cubicle insanity and go into business for themselves as entrepreneurs. I put this book high in the motivation category – books that tell the truth and yet leave you pumped up about making something happen – such as The Art of The Start and Crush It.

Pamela has a unique story to tell in her book. She first operated as a consultant trying to get corporate executives to work with their employees to help improve the work environment – and thus improve productivity. After years of frustration – she realized theses corporate executives just did not care – so she took to working directly with the employees themselves by helping them to ESCAPE the often meaningless work. I share Pamela’s frustration with corporate officers. When I started with the university to run the Information Engineering and Management Program, I started by recruiting executives to send their best and their brightest to grow them into the next level of leaders. In a nutshell, the corporate world (as a whole) did not care about helping their employees get better prepared so we (at UAB) started marketing directly to the employee who wanted to make changes in their career. So when Pamela wrote her “Open Letter to CXOs Across the Corporate World” I had to whole heartily agree.

In the book, Pamela starts by address the emotional issues people feel when they are looking for an alternative to cubicle insanity. Many of the emotional issues Pamela discusses – and skillfully helps you address – I have seen personally since my activity in this area started in 2000. She does a wonderful job of walking you through the emotions (mostly fear) brought on by

• fear of living in a van down by the river,
• “Lizard” fears (have to read it to get this),
• fear of giving up your important sounding title, that only you know is meaningless,
• fear of failing,
• belief the company will change for the better if you just wait, and
• fear that you might be just as miserable when you get out of the company as you were in the company.

Pamela deals with these fears – which is unique. These issues are ALWAYS present. I have read a LOT on this topic – and she is one of the few that deals with the tough emotions that strangle people into inaction. The exercises she has will operate on you like a therapist – only a lot cheaper.

Once she deals with the fears, she walks you through how to get started NOW. She does not try to pull someone from a cubicle to a venture capital financed business with 100+ employees  -  she deals with starting from nothing – usually from the home. But mainly she deals with the reality of entrepreneurship. She walks you through the process – pulling from the best resources and authors on the market – of how to get started. Here are some of the things she covers.

• finding a business idea that works for you
• developing a good business model
• recruiting your tribe
• dealing with your current financial and living situation (making changes if needed)
• planning
• testing ideas on a small scale before going forward
• dealing with money – including benefits

Lastly she steps you through making the leap for real – how do you know when your business has grown to the point that it is time to leave the day job. She even deals with the often missed issue of handling family and friends  – who often bring the pressure on heavier than you know.

For those of you looking to go it alone (not alone really – but outside of the great corporate job) I highly recommend her book! Read it actively answering her questions as you go and you will end the book a different person than when you started it.

For those of you who are thinking you need to remain the company man or woman – even though you are not thrilled when Monday rolls around – I HIGHLY recommend her book. You really need it!

Video. Listen to your GURU and take action. We all listen and learn powerful things from people who know – but usually we fail to act. Education may be the fuel – but someone has to start the engine.