My friend Alexandra Levit just wrote a book called "How’d You Score That Gig? A Guide to the Coolest Jobs- and How to Get Them." Her book bubbled up from lots of conversations with friends at social gatherings where inevitably one person would describe a cool job that no one had heard of.
Despite what you may think of my opinion based on my blog’s name, there are certainly times and places for a "job," rather than striking out on your own. If you have to be your own venture capitalist for awhile, you might as well do it in an interesting profession! The more time that goes on, the more I see that feelings of liberation erupt from your own positive thoughts and beliefs, no matter your work configuration.
I interviewed Alexandra for my podcast where we discussed not just the contents of her new book, but also what it is like to be a successful self-employed writer. She gives some tips for choosing book topics that are not just interesting to write, but that may pique the interest of publishers.
Listen in to our 33-minute conversation at this week’s podcast.
Sadly, I think unless you’re working for yourself, you have to trick yourself into thinking you’re working a cool job…I mean i’ve had two jobs already, and they’ve both been the same, you have to play by other peoples rules and deal with a lot of red tape…There is no such thing as being hired for what you want to do, or have the skills to do…It reminds me of this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNItN8QsvJM
For the younger folks out there, don’t forget that large corporations are not your only shot. Look hard at all the startups that are coming out of the college demographic. Network with young entrepreneurs to find a high-growth project to contribute to. It’s one of the best experiences you can get.
http://collegemogul.com
I know this blog is international, so pardon the following: one blogger I read wrote, “The default status of an American citizen is sole proprietor.” To have a job is to hire out one’s labor under a contract. Most of us are just not aware of this. From that perspective, what matters in not whether one has a job at a given time.
Positivity is definitely the key, but there is at least one job that absolutely counts as one of the world’s coolest.
You have to work for Hallmark cards, and your job is to be a coolfinder. Your job is to travel the world looking for design trends.
It’s a very coveted position, and they only hire internally, but it would be worth it to go to work for Hallmark for twenty years to get a shot at it.
And I’m not that into greeting cards.
I’ll write more about that position later – it’s too juicy not to be a blogpost.
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Very cool Jim! Can’t wait to read the post. Let me know when you write it.
Good to hear from you … hope you and Franki are doing great.
-Pam
Actually, I just got something out of this post that wasn’t the main point: “if you have to be your own venture capitalist for a while”. Did you pick up that phrase from somewhere else, or just coin it now? It sheds an interesting light on the “split personality” that we sometimes have to assume.
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I believe I coined the term Keith, but who knows in today’s open source world! It certainly has been a personally useful phrase when I chose to do some “non-ideal” projects in order to support long-term goals.
-Pam