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Want to Work for Yourself? Those Dream Jobs Don't Just Happen, They're Created
Want to Work for Yourself?
Those Dream Jobs Don't Just Happen, They're Created
by Valerie Young
While traveling in northern California last October, I happened to tune into a local newscast. The newscaster was
telling his co-anchor that the speaker at that morning's Rotary Club meeting had to cut his presentation short
because he was being flown down to Disneyland to carve elaborate Halloween pumpkins for the park festivities. The
newscaster wrapped up the story with the familiar quip, "Nice work if you can get it." He got the first
part right. For a creative kid-at-heart, being a professional pumpkin carver is a dream come true. It was his serendipitous
"if you can get it" thinking that missed the mark. The fact is, people rarely "get" great work;
they create it!
Despite all the emphasis on growth in the "job sector" I am continually amazed at just how many fascinating
alternatives there are to the whole 9-to-5 schtick. And just as traditional job seekers can't wait around for "Mr.
Job" to knock on the door, people who want to do satisfying work -- and call their own shots -- need to be
proactive as well. Francis Bacon defined a wise man as one who "makes more opportunities than he finds."
Here's a couple of other wise entrepreneurs who made it by going for it.
Sports-lover Don Shoenewald was just 18 when he went to the Philadelphia Eagles management wearing a homemade Eagle
costume and asking for a mascot job. They weren't interested. Undaunted, Shoenewald kept showing up at Eagles football
games. Pretty soon the fans adopted him as the unofficial (meaning, "unpaid") mascot. Thirteen paid team
mascot jobs, four mascot character creations (including ones for the New Jersey Devils and the San Jose Sharks),
and 18 years later, Shoenewald started Mascot Mania, the only professional training school for mascots in the world.
Despite what your high school guidance counselor might have told you, showing up invited in a bird costume isn't
the only route to self-employment. For Dan Zawacki it all began when he was working as a sales rep for Honeywell
and decided to give away 120 live lobsters as gifts to his customers. Dan was so bowled over by the response that
he decided to open a small side business shipping live lobsters complete with pot, crackers, butter and bibs to
crustacean-lovers from coast-to-coast. That is until his boss heard him pitching Lobster Gram, Inc. on a local
radio station and promptly fired him.
In the beginning, Dan worked out of his bedroom, storing his lobsters in a used tank in his father's garage. His
first year he netted only $4,000. Ten years later, his company sells about 9,000 lobster packages a year for $99
plus shipping. All and all, not a bad tale.
If you dream of making the transition from employee to self-bosser, the first thing you need to do is belief that
you can. Then, the next time you see some entrepreneur doing what they love, try thinking: "Nice work - now,
all I have to do is get it!
About the Author
Self-described Dreamer-in-Residence, Valerie Young abandoned her corporate cubicle to launch www.changingcourse.com, an on-line resource to help others discover their life mission and
live it. Her career change tips have been cited in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today Weekend, The Guardian
(London), The Edmonton Sun, the Chicago Sun Times, The Dallas Morning News, The Boston Globe, The Oregonian, Redbook,
Reader's Digest, and Entrepreneur's Business Start-Ups and she is a featured columnist for Careerbuilder.com
on MSN.com. An internationally known speaker and workshop leader, Dr. Young has addressed over 20,000 people in
such diverse organizations as CIGNA, American Women in Radio and Television and MIT
