Issue 126

October 12, 2005

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Changing Course is dedicated to helping you:

~Live Life on Purpose
~Work at What You Love
~Follow Your Own Road

Inside Today's Issue

Featured Article

Business Owners Offer “Been There” Advice on What It Takes to Change Course: Part 2

Featured Resource

Finding Your True Calling

Guest Article

Rich Career, Poor Career

Upcoming Workshops & Teleclasses

Resources for A Change

If you believe you can, you probably can. If you believe you won't, you most assuredly won't. Belief is the ignition switch that gets you off the launching pad. ~ Denis Waitley

Business Owners Offer “Been There” Advice on What It Takes to Change Course:
Part 2 of 3

By Valerie Young

In the last issue, you read tips from some of the inspiring entrepreneurs who so generously agreed to speak to the participants at the recent Work at What You Love workshop. In this second part of a three part series, you’ll be hearing some of their hard won nuggets of advice to help you start, and succeed, at your own small business.

Don’t Take It All So Seriously

When I first met Rich Wagner, I was impressed with all that he’d accomplished, but was even more inspired by his ability to bounce back from failure. Rich’s story serves as a compelling reminder that people can and do survive failure. “As you look at striking out on your own,” Rich says, “try not to take it all so seriously.” After all he adds, “They don’t shoot people in the streets for failing.”

Not that Rich started out knowing much about failure. He’d climbed the corporate ladder going from being a buyer for a large department store chain to becoming a vice president. Then, one day, he chucked it all and bought a franchise store specializing in arts and crafts supplies. Rich says he “did everything right,” so much so that before long, he owned four stores. That is until, out of the blue, the franchise chain he’d bought into went belly up. When the parent company went bankrupt, so did Rich.

Bankruptcy is never easy. But with five daughters, two in college, it was an especially trying time for Rich and his wife. The bank repossessed his house and then came in the middle night for his car. Failure is no laughing matter when you’re going through it. In hindsight though, Rich is able to laugh at what was a highly stressful time. For example, despite their dire finances, Rich says his family was actually eating pretty well because the only credit card they had left was with a department store that had a gourmet shop, adding that if there is a bright side to losing your home, it’s that the repossession process can take up to a year and a half. In the meantime, you get to live rent free.

The ability to see the lighter side of darker times is an important survival strategy to master. Of being a business owner Rich says, “By God if you don’t enjoy it you’ve failed. You can have fun on the way up and you can fun on the way down.”

Don’t Put All of Your Eggs in One Basket

After Rich, in his words, “failed with a capital F,” he could have returned the corporate grind, but once you’ve had the experience of being your own boss, it’s hard to go back to having one. Besides, he says, as a business owner he’s able to make time for his five daughters. “I’ve never missed a soccer game,” says Rich. “Getting to games was something I was never able to do when I was an executive.” 

However, having experienced the downside of investing heavily in one business, especially one over which he didn’t have ultimate control, Rich approached his next entrepreneurial foray differently. This time he wisely established multiple streams of income. Not only does generating income from more than one source add a degree of stability to his life, he’s happier because he gets to pursue a variety of interests.

Income Stream 1:  Rich parlayed the knowledge he’d gained running his franchise stores to open his own frame shop in Simsbury, Connecticut. He has one employee and his store was recently selected by Décor magazine as one of “America’s Top 100” custom framers. Rich quips that unfortunately the designation is not based on revenue, yet he’s honored to be recognized for excellence.

Income Stream 2:  A life long photo bug, he also makes a good living as a freelance photographer. One photo he took of Heublein tower, a local landmark in Avon, Connecticut has generated over $8,000 in sales, largely from tourists.

Income Stream 3:  As a digital photography instructor and one of the course designers of the American Writers and Artists Institute’s newest course Turn Your Pictures into Cash (ThePhotographersLife.com/cc), Rich gets paid to share his expertise with others. (I had the pleasure of sitting in on a portion of this class in August and was extremely impressed with both Rich’s knowledge and teaching skills and with the course itself.)

Income Stream 4:  Rich’s first three income streams compliment one another. His fourth profit center has nothing what so ever to do with framing or photography. When the owner of the ice cream shop next to his frame shop decided to sell his business, Rich bought it. Rich is a good example of the benefits of diversification. Just as you would diversify your financial investments, establishing multiple income streams is not only a safer way to change course, but a more satisfying one as well. “When the economy is bad, people may not spend as much to have pictures framed,” he says, “but they still eat ice cream.”

Craig Della Penna is also an enthusiastic champion of the multiple income stream model. He and his wife gross about $35,000 a year as bed and breakfast owners at the Sugar-Maple-Inn.com. Given that they only have two guest rooms and don’t cook breakfast, it’s a pretty low maintenance profit center. Craig also estimates that he earns another $10,000 a year in consulting fees from communities considering creating a rail trail and his real estate business nets him about $70,000 annually.

On the surface, these would appear to be very different income streams but Craig sees a lot of synergy. The B & B is along side a popular rail trail bike path in Northampton, Massachusetts. Visitors often inquire about moving to the area – and being a realtor specializing in antique homes and homes along rail trails, Craig says he has a “captive audience.”

Before he started his bed and breakfast, Craig says people would try to scare him out of it. “They’d ask, ‘Don’t you have to go to school to run a bed and breakfast’ or ‘Aren’t you afraid to have strangers in your home?’ There’s so much fear out there,” he says, “but most of it is not based on reality. If you want to start a business, just close your eyes, jump in, and do it.”

About the Author

Off the beaten path career counselor, Valerie Young, abandoned her corporate cubicle to become the Dreamer in Residence at ChangingCourse.com, offering free resources to help you discover your life mission and live it. An expert on the Imposter Syndrome, she's presented her How to Feel as Bright and Capable as Everyone Seems to Think You Are program to over 30,000 people.

Find more articles written by Valerie at ChangingCourse.com/articles/

You will recognize your own path when you come upon it, because you will suddenly have all the energy and imagination you will ever need. ~ Jerry Gillies

Featured Resource

You May Be All Grown Up...
But That's No Reason You Can't
Find Your True Calling... and Live It

When you really love your work, you don't need an alarm clock in the morning because you can't wait to get out of bed and dive into another day where the work feels like play.

Maybe you think it's too late for that. Maybe you believe that you've somehow missed your True Calling and that, well, you're not getting any younger. Nonsense. As writer George Eliot once put it, "It's never too late to be what you might have been."

Discover the work you were born to do... learn how to reawaken the "unique genius" within you... find out how to redesign your life one step at a time... and more. This lively and accessible handbook provides proven guidance from the experts plus real-life stories from average folks who are already living their dreams. To learn more about Finding Your True Calling click here (ChangingCourse.com/cmd.php?ad=170182).  

You can steer yourself any direction you choose. ~ Dr. Seuss

The Changing Course Newsletter
Copyright 2005
Lisa Tarrant, Editor
Valerie Young, Publisher
info@changingcourse.com
www.ChangingCourse.com
7 Ripley Road
Montague, MA 01351

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When people go to work, they shouldn't have to leave their hearts at home.
~ Betty Bender

Guest Article

Rich Career, Poor Career

By Shannon Bradford

What makes for a rich career? It is more than just the salary and benefits. A rich career is one that suits your talents and provides an opportunity to make a meaningful contribution, as well as one that provides the right compensation.

A rich career is one with a rich return on investment. What is career ROI? It is more than a paycheck and healthcare benefits. Your career ROI is the entire package of what you receive in return for the investment of your energy, time, and talent in a career and an organization.

Career ROI can include monetary compensation and the typical benefits package.

It can also include less tangible, indirect benefits, such as the opportunity to be involved in a professional association, credibility, status, and the reputation of the organization you work for -- just to name a few. Career ROI is also unique to you: what you consider a return on your investment may not be important to the person who works across the hall or across the country.

To determine your own unique career ROI, identify what you receive from your current career, in addition to your salary and other standard benefits. Once you have determined your current career ROI, think about what elements would make up the ideal career ROI for you. Think outside the standard HR benefits package.

Now that you know both your current ROI and your desired ROI, compare the two.

How large is the gap?

If your current ROI doesn't add up, does it mean that you need to look for a new job or career? Not necessarily. Once you identify elements of your ideal ROI, one option is to approach your current organization about making some changes.

Not all ROI changes require your employer to invest money to implement. For example, perhaps your ideal return on investment includes the opportunity to volunteer a few days a month for a nonprofit organization that you are passionate about.

Unless you are in a position where your employer would need to pay someone else to do your job during those days, this benefit wouldn't be a significant cost.

In fact, it could bring value back to the employer, by enhancing their image in the community. If your employer isn't willing or able to make changes to match your desired ROI, you may decide it is time to start looking for a new opportunity.

Before you go searching for a bigger paycheck, take time to identify your career ROI. Then, if you decide it is time to look for a new job, you will know when you find the right opportunity for you.

About the Author

Shannon Bradford is a writer and coach, teaching people how to master their brains to succeed in their careers and businesses. She is the author of Brain Power and 15-Minute Career Change. Learn more about it by clicking ResumeToolbox.com/15-minute-career-changer.html

In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Upcoming Workshops & Teleclasses

Ever wish you could escape the rat race and explore a more spiritual approach to life?

The Learning Channel is making two documentary series and looking for men to live in a Monastery and women to live in a Convent for six weeks, to conduct their own search for meaning and understanding. You DO NOT need to have a religious background, but you should be willing to engage in the process.

There will be financial compensation.

If you feel that you could benefit from this experience, or know anyone who could, please email Associate Producer Jesse Bechtel at monastery@ttpro.net and tell him something about you and why you would be right for this experience or call (240) 223-3445.

And, if you do decide to take the experiential plunge, be sure to me know. I’d love to have you share what promises to be the experience of a lifetime with your fellow travelers on the road to right livelihood! 

Resources for a Change

Last chance…Get Started for $1

If you missed this offer at the end of September, you have until October 14^th to take advantage of this special offer to test drive two popular "Get Paid to Travel" programs for just ONE DOLLAR!

You can try either:

The Ultimate Travel Writer's Course: TheTravelWritersLife.com/cconedollar  

Or,

Turn Your Pictures into Cash: A Comprehensive Course in Taking and Selling Amazing Photographs: ThePhotographersLife.com/cconedollar 

…and pay just $1 for the test drive.  There's absolutely no risk to you.

You see, no matter which program you choose, you'll be charged only $1 (plus shipping and handling). And you'll have a full 30 days to look it over.

If you see the same value and benefit that so many of your satisfied colleagues have seen, do nothing.  At the end of 30 days you will be charged the balance of the program cost.

If, however, you (or the person you're buying for) doesn't love it -- no problem. This offer comes with our no-questions-asked guarantee. Simply return the unmarked materials in those first 30 days and you won't be charged.  No questions asked.

That means with $1 today you can begin a completely new and exciting life. You'll have everything you need to start your new career, and enjoy one of the most exciting, romantic, and rewarding lifestyles there is!

But please understand, you'll have to act fast. This offer is only good through Friday, October 14.