How Does the Online Idea Party Work?
You have a dream or a wish, and an obstacle to getting there. (If you don’t think you know your wish, work through my kick-starter and read this post. To learn why you must put logic aside to find your dream, read the following.)
The online Idea Party is here to help you – and the other fellow party goers – with your wishes and obstacles.
Voices from Success Teams and Idea Parties:
Having a team to report to and hearing what everybody did each week is very exciting. It’s kept me moving all year. In the past I made some good starts on my own, but found, every time, when the energy ran out, I ran out. Now it doesn’t run out.
Jade G.
Children’s Playroom Therapist, New York Hospital
I would do a painting a year, a sketch a year. If it was only me I know I would never do it. Having to tell you makes all the difference. It’s crazy why I didn’t do this years ago, it’s so easy all of a sudden.
Caroline R. Personnel Executive, Macy’s Dept Store
Post Your Wish and Your Obstacle Here!
And help your team mates out when you can. Use the Reply link to help, the form below the comments to add your own Wish and Obstacle.
(Your first comment below has to be approved, so it may not display instantly depending on the time of the day. Once your email address is approved you can post instantly. If you want your own profile photo to show up beside your comments, instead of the cute little design, upload your photo on Gravatar.com and give them an hour or so to make it happen.)
I found your email reply on ‘tiny houses’ wonderful as I’ve become rather obsessed with them myself. Finding the place to put one actually. I have a dream of living in a tiny house community in Canada, probably Ontario. And your telecommuting list of websites was great..btw you know there is a guy who write the tinyhousenewsletter…the only warning is that it comes into your mailbox daily which I found too much so I unsubscribed..but there are wonderful wonderful ideas, videos etc.
First of all, thank you in advance for your help.
I’m a 44 year old homemaker (I hate that term) with 2 children ages 11 and 15. I really want to live simply in a tiny house and travel around the U.S. and ideally the world too! My husband works as a lawyer. Obstacles I see are that the kids are happily in school, my husband has a job that isn’t easy to take on the road and we would need a source of income while traveling. I don’t need to fulfill this dream right away although I would like to feel like I was taking steps toward my goal. My husband doesn’t think this is feasible and wonders how we could possibly make a living even if living in a tiny house. Thank you for your help!
Hi Jane,
I’m a tiny house fanatic (even started the Boston Meetup group). Whether or not tiny living is feasible is 100% up to you.
What I mean is you should avoid wrapping your life around the tiny house. Wrap the tiny house around your life! Maybe the travel dream begins part-time, so that your husband could continue to work. Or perhaps you live in a stationery small home and use a camper to travel occasionally—a life that’s still minimal and simple.
I say this because sometimes it seems that people think that if they’re not purists with tiny living, they’re just not doing it “right.” Doesn’t playing by “rules” defeat the purpose!? Do it your way 🙂
As for taking steps, read everything you can get your hands on. Decide whether you want to build or purchase your home. You might do something in between! Start the paring down process now. Getting rid of stuff brings its own surprises.
Most importantly: make connections with other tiny housers (like me). It’s one of the warmest communities out there. Hearing stories from others has been the most helpful part of my planning. I’ve learned from their failures and insights.
– Erica
p.s.
Feel free to contact me to chat sometime. I seriously can’t shut up about tiny living!
p.p.s.
What about a virtual law practice once the kids are grown? See I told you, my mind goes crazy for this stuff 🙂
Hi Erica,
Thank you so much for your reply. Lots to think about. Do you live in a tiny house now? I love what you said about wrapping the tiny house around your life. Really, my goal is to have less so I can travel more. I want to get rid of the mortgage and all the stuff. With limited space, I’d have to examine more closely what is worth buying. I want to consume less and do more. Basically, I want to live on the road in a tiny house on wheels or a remodeled rv(make it more home like). I get stuck on the how to make a living while doing so part. A virtual law practice is a good idea-that would be perfect if he could do that. Just don’t know if that’s possible. Any other income producing ideas? Thank you!
Jane
Hi Jane,
[[[ Let me preempt this response by apologizing for the # of links I’ve given. I’m afraid I’m giving you a drink from a fire hose here!]]]
A tiny house is my “forever” plan (once I’ve decided to settle down in a single spot). After a lot of research, I found that a traditional stick-frame tiny house wasn’t going to be as mobile as I’d like. For my purposes, the house would need to move at least 4x a year.
So, my “for now” plan is a remodeled RV like you mentioned. I recently purchase 1990 Layton fifth wheel and plan to remodel it as soon as the weather shapes up (c’mon Spring!). Here’s a link to a Pinterest board where I’ve saved a zillion RV makeover pins:
https://www.pinterest.com/ericabreuer/rv-style/
As far as income goes, I’ve worked remotely / telecommuted for 3-4 years now. I’m a freelance copywriter and I run my own small business (here’s a link to my site: http://cakeresumes.com/). Again, these are “for now” plans—they work, they pay the bills, but I’m not sure about my 5-year plan.
[[[I have a point, promise]]]
I do have the strong feeling that my career will continue to be virtually based. My idea for you is that you think of your money making on the road much the same way: the web is your oyster.
Aside from perhaps selling something on the road (I’m thinking direct sales of some kind?) or Workamping (which you might look into), telecommuting might be your best bet.
Here’s a bunch of links to various resources that could help you in that regard:
This couple has mobile internet figured out, and they link to many other important resources
http://www.technomadia.com/
“Work from Home” site that lists virtual jobs / gigs
http://wahadventures.com/
Great Article by SkillCrush
http://skillcrush.com/2014/10/10/sites-finding-remote-work/
Working Nomads (mostly tech jobs, but there are a few administrative roles etc.)
http://www.workingnomads.co/
We Work Remotely (again mostly tech jobs, but there are a few administrative roles etc.)
https://weworkremotely.com/
LinkedIn, SimplyHired, Indeed, and other sites will give you search results if you apply teams like “Telecommute,” “Virtual,” and/or “Remote” to your search.
I’ve used FlexJobs and have had mixed results. It’s worth trying for a few months, depending on your area of work. All of the jobs they list can be found on other sites, but it does save you the time of searching each site individually.
Of course, virtual work isn’t for everyone. I love my solitude! I’ve also structured my work life so that I’m not working full time or in front of the computer constantly. My schedule is loose and I can do out and about when I want. “Consume less and do more” is the only reason I can live this way. If I had significant debt, or a different lifestyle, my patterns wouldn’t support me for very long.
Okay, I’ve written a novel here. I’d love continue helping with ideas about this Jane. The virtual thing is just one of a million options. It’s one I know a lot about, but there’s a ton of others to think about too.
Tell me more about you, and maybe I can be of better help?
Jane,
I owe you a thank you!
When I was dumping links into my last response, a job ad on one of the sites I recommended caught my eye.
I applied.
I got the job.
And it’s a GOOD ONE. This is after a very rough year following a layoff. I’ve stayed afloat, but it’s been tough.
This new job is going to allow me to do so many new, important things for myself.
Thank you for our discussion! I couldn’t have done this without you!
Thanks Erica! I replied on the wrong place (on the board instead of here). A big congrats on the new job and a big thank you for all the links. I’ll check them all out and get back to you. Sorry for the late response, I didn’t see your responses until now. Thanks for all the help!
Jane
Hi Jane,
I thought of sharing this useful tool https://www.airtasker.com/jobs/ that I believe it’s relevant for your readers especially on this blog post of yours. If it’s not too much of a bother, we’d really love for it to be included on your post.
Just wanted to let you know that airtasker is a trusted community platform that connects people who need to outsource tasks and find local services, with people who are looking to earn money and ready to work. Airtasker can also help you complete your home cleaning, handyman jobs, admin work, photography, graphic design or even build a website.
Hi Jane. Well it might not be feasible to do this full-time immediately. But I think you could start in a smaller way immediately by doing it at weekends and during school breaks. Take your husband and kids with you if they are willing, but if not you can do it alone or with a friend. You could buy an RV or trailer for the purpose, or even a tent, or rent a cabin or small cottage or house boat. If you have a general interest in sustainability you might like to do short-term volunteering with http://www.helpx.net/ or http://www.workaway.info/ or WWOOF. Some of the hosts provide accommodation for volunteers in small cottages or cabins. Another possibility is to buy or rent a garden or other small piece of land with a cabin or chalet that you could go to whenever you want. In some countries these are available in garden settlements or allotments in or on the edge of towns and cities.
These are great ideas…thank you!
Hi, casually the other day I read an article about tiny houses on wheels. I googled it and found this picture:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_House_Movement#/media/File:Tiny_house,_Portland.jpg
don’t know if that helps but I find it cute!
Hi Jane,
I thought of sharing this useful tool :
https://www.airtasker.com/jobs/ – a trusted community platform that connects people who need to outsource tasks and find local services, with people who are looking to earn money and ready to work. Airtasker can also help you complete your home cleaning, handyman jobs, admin work, photography, graphic design or even build a website.
Hi there!
I am hesitating to write this… don’t ask me why.
They say that I am good at having ideas. I used to think that this wasn’t something particularly useful because I didn’t see where they could be needed. Yesterday I was talking with a teacher and I gave him some ideas for everyday-life examples (from his pupils’s daily life, I mean) he could use in the classroom to make mathematics more interesting and he was thrilled. I enjoyed that so much! I thought maybe we could gather them and make a book. And I then wondered: who else could use my ideas? Of course they are useful in coaching and for example here but I wonder if is there a way to monetize my creativity directly? Do you know if there are people anywhere buying ideas per kilogram?
Hi Maria,
I don’t have an immediate connection for people buying ideas per kilogram — at least under that name. I did come across the Idea Lady website of Cathy Stucker.
Being print-oriented (including electronic print) my thought was to do a bunch of free “101 ideas to…..” fill in the blanks with many different things, and include a link to the “1001 ideas avalanche of inspiration” versions.
Perhaps “avalanche” is not the most user-friendly of title.
I’m taking a semi-wild guess that an obstacle might be realizing how valuable your ideas are to others (so big thanks to that teacher you benefited). Now you need ideas on idea-herding and driving them to market.
Also, wondering if you are in Hanging Out? Just today read a post about an “exuberator.” That was’t her original or more accurate title, and there is a story there — which if you just read for lunch, I won’t try to recap the ideas-by-the-kilogram bits of.
Hi Lyndon,
thank you very much for your comments! I am in Hanging Out (just finished the first year). Maybe you can write the name of the article so that i can find it?
Senator X Buys Stamps — look for it in your Member Profile, Maria.
yes Maria, for sure there are!
The capability you describe is – for me – not so much coaching (which is rather about asking questions in a clever way) but consulting. Therefore, an idea might be to open up a consulting business of some sorts. A next step may be to find out more about your typical customers: what are their typical challenges? Where would you find them? In what way would you communicate with them?
It appears that you already have strong capabilities at hand, the next step would be a go-to-market for you.
What about an innovation consultant! You could design specific workshops to help problem solve for anyone in any industry. I would love to do that with you!! 🙂 Sounds like so much fun. You could teach them creative thinking / problem solving/ innovating skills or techniques as well so you are building capacity with them not just giving ideas but giving ideas on how to generate ideas 🙂
So I’m 21 and about to finish my degree in computer science and biochemistry. I’m also getting a teaching certificate.
Computer science is okay, I don’t really love it though. I am totally burned out by biochemistry and have pretty thoroughly rejected the sciences as ever being my direction in life again (except in teaching perhaps). Oh, and I guess it’s relevant to mention that the one positive thing I feel I did get from the past four years is discovering I really love higher math.
The thing is, at some point I started thinking that maybe I made a mistake when I decided not to pursue psychology. I guess I just noticed that I’m the person my friends turn to for advice/counsel and that I really really enjoy that. It’s somewhat similar to what I enjoy about teaching, I really like getting people past obstacles, making them understand stuff, helping them have insight.
Where I live it’s borderline impossible to get a psychology certification, which is why I didn’t do it, because everyone told me it would be way too hard.
I don’t want to dive back into another four year degree and I don’t think I can get a masters in psych without any bachelor’s in it. Is there some way I can check out the field, work in it, something? I just want to see if my hunch is correct or totally off base.
If your undergraduate work is in the sciences, you should not need anything extra to get admitted for a psych masters. You might want to check out a masters that doesn’t require you to move or get certified:
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/mapp
And if you love higher math and how people think and act, you might want to look into the branch of applied math called game theory.
Can you specify what you mean with higher math? I am no English native speaker on the one hand and if it is what I think it’s such a huge topic that it would be helpful to know what part or what aspect of it you particularly like. Because if you love it, you should “get it”! 🙂
Hi Alianne, thanks for posting your very interesting challenging question.
Towards your borderline aspect (everyone told me…) I would answer with Mark Twain: “If everyone is for it, I would go against.” Message: Do not care for what others will whisper into your ear. Do your own thing and listen to your heart (as Barbara strongly encourages us to do!).
In regards to your question: I have walked a similar path, made a diploma in Industrial engineering many years ago, only to find out some years ago, that Psychology is a subject I also like very much. My route from then on was: to participate in further education of a somewhat limited size (for a year on ten weekends, once a month) and embed the psychology stuff I have learned there gradually in my daily business work. That helped!
Another advice may be: once you have learned your psychology lessons try internships or short for-free engagements. There is not much harm done, if someone hires your for low money for a short-term period. However, for you the benefit of the learning experience might be very high!
Let’s just say that you do not *need* a degree to offer psychological benefits…
What is it that you like about psychology? In a sense, teaching *IS* an area of psychology…mixed in with performance art.
Without knowing what the answer to what attracts you to psychology…I’m just stabbing in the dark here. But tell me if any of these strikes a chord with you or intrigues.
Here are some ideas:
Go the route of finding an interesting mentor and from them, learn more about psychology by emulating what they do that you find constructive and enlightening. In fact, find a string of these people and wrap up how they do what they do into your own combination.
Use your skills in programming to build an awesome “advice” site, program or app for a phone that dispenses psychological inspirations, psychic readings or advice.
There’s a huge genre of psychology in the occult field. In particular, it’s quite easy to learn how to do Tarot “readings.” People want to know what to do with their lives and go for the “ask a psychic” strategy.
…there’s more, but please give me feedback so I know where to focus my ideas.
Hi Guys,
Barbara has directed me her and I’m hoping you’ll be able to help:-)
My name is Joanna and I’m 36 and originally came from Poland. I have been in the UK for16 years now and changed jobs quite often apart from the one I’m doing at the moment.
I have been in this role – as a Marketing Assistant for a Pharma company for about 7 years now and you could say that I’ve hit the wall and I don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. I hate the job that I’m doing as it’s sooo boring and the job satisfaction is 0! well it’s what Barbara would describe as a ‘good enough job’ so I don’t hate it that much because people are nice and the job pays well and i can leave whenever I want (well within reasons) and my son’s nursery is within 5 min drive.
Gosh I don’t really want to bore you and you probably don’t have time to even read this ..
As you probably gather from my short introduction, I am desperate to make a career change because the work I’m doing doesn’t suit my personallity at all! I operate as a robot at the moment, coming to work doing the same thing over and over again with no passion..( My Mum thinks that I should be grateful for what I’ve got in the current job market but I know deep down that I want more)
As a little girl I go often on holidays to visit my cousin in Sweden every year for school holidays and her Dad used to take us to Sheraton hotel for ice cream whilst he gambled:-) and I vividly remember sitting at the table and I spotted this couple in a distance who were having a conversation in english and thinking to myself..’wow..I wish I could speak english that well’ the next similar moment like that I had when I started high school and had my first french lesson and our tutor played a song by Joe Dassin ‘ Aux Champs -Elysees’ and I had the same thought of how much I loved that language and how much I would like to speak fluently…
So really throughout my high school I would only really excel in languages and found them qutie easy to learn. I have also discovered ( and I hate boasting but i’m just being brutally honest with you:-)) that my accents are very close to the native speakers. People always tell me that my accent is excellent and I sound like a native english or french.
My Mum is an artist, a portrait artist who worked all her life as a teacher. She used to tell me that I’m really good at it but I never really paid any attention to it because at shool there was always this girl whom everybody praised and she was the ‘artist’ so I thought well..if she’s good I ‘m not..only recently I have discovered that I am quite good at portraits and when I paint I come alive. I listen to the music when I do that and totally immerse myself in it. I have got my own website with my portraits and started painting again. (Although it’s hard having a 2 year old son around ) but I do it in the evenings. However, I don’t like to call myself ‘an artist’ because I don’t think I’m really good at it.
And there’s another avenue which I never persued fully …acting. Again, when I was little I used to peform at school and again my Mum told me that this is my talent and I should have been an actress. See..this is where I’m not sure if acting is for me because as much as I love the idea of peforming on stage, the castings, the auditions aren’t very appealing to me. Perhaps might try it as a hobby but I burnt myself once when I did join the local acting drama group and the girl who was teaching us already had her favourites and wasn’t really paying attention to the rest of us.
I will stop now 🙂 but in a nutshell, I kind of now what comes easily to me and what I enjoy doing but I don’t know what jobs to look for in order to feel alive !
Look forward to hearing from you
Joanna xx
Hi, Joanna. When you’ve got a good enough job, sometimes it pays to think inside the box. Is there anyone within your pharma company to whom you could pitch an idea to improve their marketing/recruiting/pub relations by doing portraits for publication? “This is the face of disease x – these are the people whose lives we improve,” for example.
Could you do some acting and avoid auditioning by joining with your employer’s training department to do role plays for videos or audios for training purposes?
Could you volunteer to do some social media research on customers in France or Poland using your language skills? Or organize a program to send volunteers from your company into local schools to tutor students in foreign languages, perhaps in health care terminology?
Pharma companies tend to have much deeper pockets than most theaters, artists, or translation services. And while it’s a big deal to try something risky that requires recruiting special talents, when the talent is already on the payroll, their risk goes way down. And every pharma company needs to constantly be winning friends among those who buy or prescribe their products, among those who could help sell them, and among the local politicians who decide the fate of their manufacturing plants, so it makes sense to keep trying risky things and see what happens.
Hi Patty! Thank you very much for taking time in replying to my looong winded email:-) I have never thought about looking inside ‘the box’ and today I have asked my manager if we could have a look at providing our patients with leaflets in different languages! The answer will be probably negative as Pharma companies are highly regulated by the code of practice but If I don’t ask I won’t get:-) will let you know what the outcome is. Thank you so much for the advice x
I hope the answer is yes, but if it’s no, ask what part of the code prohibits it. As a multi-talented, creative person, you may figure out how to comply with the code. When I was having a bi-level house built by a builder who turned out not to know his craft, I got on the phone with an inspector to have him read me the part of the code that made the front door landing unacceptable. As he read it aloud to me, he realized that it would not apply if the door opened out instead of in, and I quickly found a source for a door that opened out. I am so excited that you took this first step toward a more satisfying worklife.
Hi Joanna,
How about doing voice overs? You can use your language and accent and acting experience for that. Check out voices.com – you can do voice overs from home nowadays.
Maybe your pharma company can use your skills in translation or product videos. How about talking to someone in your pharma marketing department. I used to work in pharma advertising and they have a HUGE budget.
Perhaps you can also look into local community theatre near you.
best of luck!
Hi everyone,
Pep talk needed… I feel like I’ve missed the boat as regards getting a good career. When I left university, for some reason I was too scared to do what I really wanted (drama school or creative writing masters were the two things I dreamed of the most) and ended up…just kind of never leaving uni. I did a literature masters (which I hated writing), then some lovely but badly-paid lecturing jobs (on short-term contracts ehivj you couldn’t renew), some teaching qualifications, a PhD (which was horrible and which I really didn’t enjoy)… All the while, i knew i really wanted to act and write, but i just didnt have the confidence to take those dreams seriously. I’m now on a one-year contract to turn my PhD thesis into an academic book. This should sound like a great job, but… I’m earning terrible money (roughly what I was earning straight out of university), my job finishes in September and I’m already worrying about what to do next, I spent last year applying for ‘secure’ admin jobs for which no one wants me (which is how I ended up applying for the book-writing grant)… Well-meaning family members say things like ‘when are you going to write your novel?’ ‘I wish you’d hurry up and do something, you’ve got so many talents’… I’m feeling stuck, really feeling the pressure to find a career that pays better money (I’m 31), feeling like I’ve missed the boat and it’s too late for many things, not daring to go for what I used to want to do (acting – how will I ever make money? Writing – how can I write anything good?) Worrying about money is making me feel like i’ve got blinkers on. I try to work on my special projects, freak out (‘shouldn’t I be looking for work experience or something??’; ‘this is taking way too long’) and end up stuck again.
While I was doing my PhD and hating it, I started writing a blog on which I detailed the struggles of a PhD student. The blog ended up getting many hits (about 27,000 page views to date) and lots of PhD students read it and commented on how helpful it was and how well it was written (a couple even said ‘you should be a motivational writer’). I know I’m good at the things I love (writing, acting, comedy, drawing). Trouble is, I just feel totally stuck. I want to do these things and one day get paid for them, but I have real trouble to motivate myself to start big projects and see them through. I have a handful of ideas for funny magazine-type articles (which I haven’t finished writing); a comedy gig which I have performed three times (and I want to make the time to find more venues to perform it in), and ideas for short films and screenplays. I can’t seem to get going on these things. I feel stuck.
I can’t help but compare myself to my friends and family members, who all earn good money in nice jobs and live elegant lives, while I’m just scraping by.
Any ideas on how to calm down, stop freaking out about money, stop wasting time pottering around and feeling sad, and find the confidence to start writing and performing seriously – much appreciated…
Dear Angelique,
here speaks a physics ph.d who’s working as a coach and trainer after years hesitating, doubting, not daring… and staying in academia since it was the way of minimum resistance. I’ve been where you are! Academia can be a trap sometimes and it gets to be a painful trap.
I have many ideas for you:
– Most importantly: Start doing what you love right away, in the smallest, easiest version, so that you spend some time every day or every other day doing it. Forget about getting money for it at first. That is what is stopping you! If you do what you love you get no money… but how should you get money for it if you don’t do it? So start separating both topics (money and doing what you love): it is the easiest way to get started.
– Is there a way to monetize your blog? Sounds like a great asset! What about…
* Including adds.
* Having a literature list with amazon links that pay you something.
* Offer workshops.
* Offer coaching/counseling on how to “survive” a phd.
* Sell funny products for phds:
** Make a small book where unhappy ph.d students (most of them) get their steam off: I gave someone I know who is starting as a teacher a book called something like a “doodlebook for teachers”:
http://www.amazon.de/Kritzelblock-f%C3%BCr-Lehrer-Antje-Haubner/dp/3551682763/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425755445&sr=8-1&keywords=kritzelbuch+f%C3%BCr+lehrer
It has for example a page where you can draw around when you are in a boring meeting. Or I imagine a page where you can get your aggressions out on your advisor or your topics or referees… Include a couple of phd-cartoons and it makes a great present!
** sell t-shirts? Post-cards with some hope-giving texts?
– Get a success team: what you want to accomplish would overwhelm everybody. Not because I think it is kind of impossible or something but it is an emotional roller coaster to reach out for what you really want and possibly you won’t do it without support. Having a team of people cheering you up, helping with ideas and contacts and so on is worth millions. Here you can find one close tou you:
http://shersuccessteams.com/
– Do you know that Barbara is starting a book club for her book “it is only too late if you don’t start now”? It starts next thursday so hurry up and check it out!
http://barbarasclub.com/bookclub/iotl2015/
As you see in the descriptions it says to people in their 40s, 50s, 60s, and so on that it is not too late for them, so it is definitely not too late for you!! I started my coaching career from scratch with 32 and I live on it.
– Start getting your money from somewhere else, what Barbara calls a “good enough job”. That’s a job that doesn’t kill you but that is just ok and that leaves you some time and energy for your favourite things like writing.
I have to stop here because my kid is messing around my computer and I dont want to lose what I wrote. But I have more ideas. 🙂
I would be very interested in your blog (I work with phd students). Can you post it here or send it to me per email (mail@mariamachon.com)?
Dear María,
Thank you so much for your kind email… It was REALLY helpful and made me smile so much!… I think you are right that the ‘how-to-do-a-PhD’ ideas are a good place to start using the things I enjoy and also making something useful!… I have, in fact, already started scribbling notes on a book about ‘How to Write a PhD’ (which would be based on some of the best bits of the blog, but which would be a lot more detailed and streamlined – the blog is obviously a bit messier) – it could perhaps combine my own experience of coping with a PhD and also the topic of my PhD (I wrote my thesis on a writer who complains a LOT about what a pain writing is…)
I have also written and illustrated a sort of jokey ‘How to Write a PhD’ 20-page comic book, which I wanted to give to a friend for Christmas. It’s a little book of PhD-writing advice, with silly illustrations; it’s basically a book on how to get stuff done. I printed it on Blurb so it looks like a real book, and everyone who comes over and picks it up now comments on how well this little book might actually sell if it was displayed near the till in a bookshop… It will obviously need some polishing, but I am going to start looking in the Writers’ and Artists’ Handbook for publishers I could approach!
I have been planning these little projects for some time, but I have always been half wondering ‘would anyone actually buy this?…’ ‘Is this just self-indulgent and boring?’ – it’s amazing to hear that you think this could be good.
I think I have been feeling a bit stuck and directionless and not sure where to start, so THANK YOU for helping me clarify my focus a little bit!…
I also think that you are right when you say that I need to separate the money from the art, and just start doing things for myself anyway.
Having AdSense on my blog is something that I have also been thinking about!…
Thanks again 🙂
PS. my blog is easy to find – just Google the words that are going through a PhD student’s head when they’ve just had a harrowing meeting with their supervisor (http://hatemyphd.blogspot.co.uk/)
PPS I did notice the ‘It’s only too late if you don’t start now’ message – and it did make me feel a bit happier!
Angelique,
You might want to look at what one of Barbara’s other grads did with what she learned about getting tenure: http://www.facultydiversity.org/
Jennifer
Interesting! is this her business?
Hi angelique,
thanks for your very interesting post on the life situation you are currently in.
Terms like the “boat missed” and “feeling stuck” are several times to be found in your note. When I read your lines, I perceive somebody who
* appears to be under strong pressure and stress and
* somebody with rather low self-esteem (comparing herself to others around her).
My advice might be:
1. Accept the fact, that most of the problems you currently face, are basically created by your own atttitude and behavior.
Therefore, a) stop comparing yourself to others, b) face the truth that you are a unique human being and c) perceive all the resources that already are within yourself.
2. Reach out for help from others (like you do via this forum).
To me, it appears that you are a somewhat optional-type person. You might need others with rather procedural-type strengths (who will be able to form your “creative chaos” in a nice structure that your environment will be able to digest and properly respond to).
3. Do not let go of what you – in the first place – liked so much: acting and writing.
Think about alternative scenarios in which you can earn money via a safe job on a part-term basis and still act and write. It might be an idea to start from there and once you will be more successful in what you really love you can give up the admin job eventually.
Hugs from Berlin, Matthew
interested in improve and sketch comedy
Hi Faye,
Is there an obstacle in the way of more improv and sketch comedy in your life? Would you tell more about what your desire is?
Curiously,
Lyndon
If you don’t mind, I’d like to point out another typo, this one in How to Get What You Really Want PDF.
On the Find An Angel page the last word is misspelled, inforamtion instead of information.
Thanks.
Thanks, Debbie. That typo is a little harder to change, as it’s in a scanned document. I’ll see what I can do.
It is SO EXCITING to find Barbara Sher online! I read her books and went to a presentation she gave decades ago. It changed my life! To this day, to explain in our family that someone is making an assumption with little basis in reality we say, “…but EVERYONE wants to work with primates!” I believe if someone passes this on to Barbara, she will recognize it.
What do I need to do to join the party from 2/28-3/1?
I would also like to ask if someone could correct the grammatical mistake on this page? “…if you don´t think you know your wish, AND read this post.” should read “…know you wish, THEN read this post.”
Thanks, Debbie. I (the webmaster around here) just tweaked that sentence to make it a bit clearer. The placement of “if you don´t think you know your wish” was a bit confusing, because there are two things to do if this is true.
Oh, yes. To join the Idea Party, follow that link and click on the Join button before next weekend.
LOL, Debbie! Yes I know the line you’re referring to and it made me smile to remember it. You can see some of it on that video on YouTube at this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owVmMvEeScc
It starts at 6:56 on the timeline below the video.
Friday through Sunday is the second Idea Party given by the Barbara Sher Coaches at their Facebook page. Last time it was really fantastic! If you get a chance, head over there on Friday and tell them your wish and obstacle. (If you know someone who is more comfortable reading German, let me know. There will also be a German language Idea Party going on!) Go to this Facebook Page: Idea Party in English hosted by Barbara-Sher-Coaches
or this url:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/900175639992970/
Claudia Lenzen
February 15 at 4:09pm · Edited
Our next Idea Party takes place from Friday evening, 27.02. until Sunday evening, 01.03.2015 CET.
If you also know some friends who are looking for inspiration and great ideas for their wishes / obstacles just bring them with you.
We’re looking forward to a another lively exchange of ideas!
Oops, Claudia’s right: It starts on Feb 27. That would be *next* weekend. Sorry about that!