How can I choose a career if I hate working?
The list of careers given to me in school was incredibly short and boring. Here are some creative examples from people I know. A question from Quora
This is part 2 of 4 of a series called, “Live Outside the Box.”
In case you missed it, here’s part 1.
If you are of the belief you can learn anything, my god, the world is your oyster and there are hundreds of ways you could build a career.
Here's a message I got on LinkedIn last week:
In almost every industry, if you can demonstrate a high level of competence, there will always be someone willing to pay to benefit from your expertise.
The challenge that most competent people have is more about marketing, positioning, and pitching their expertise once they've mastered something -- I'd recommend studying those skills because they'll enable you to monetize all your interests.
Some people I've met you can glean some insight from:
A month ago, I visited a computer repair specialist -- he had 5 stars on Yelp and was open on a Sunday. I showed up and his office was his parents' living room and he charged $60/hr for his services. He conducted a free 20 minute diagnostic of my laptop problem on the spot, taking apart my laptop in front of me. I think he recently finished college but he had built a reputation for fixing computers beginning in high school.
A couple weeks ago, I met a guy who recently started getting paid $10,000 to keynote 45-minute speeches. He's in his mid-twenties. He mastered his speaking abilities through Toastmasters and started out by jumping on an invitation to speak for a local middle school. His day job is running an afterschool program for underprivileged youth.
A lady I met a couple years ago had been certified through a coaching program but wanted to leave her umbrella organization and do her own thing. She now coaches introverted men how to embrace their own version of sexiness and makes well over 5-figures a month. She was convinced there was a market because her boyfriend was the introverted-engineer-type who struggled initially in the dating scene because he didn't fit the "traditional" mold of masculinity. (See www.businessinsider.com/sarah-jones-introverted-alpha-2015-4)
I have a friend who is a former attorney turned mindfulness teacher. She doesn't care much for a traditional job and loves bringing mindfulness to top performers in all sorts of industries. She's taught a couple classes through General Assembly, has run workshops for law firms, neuroscientists, and for tech CEOs. The workshops and classes act as the beginning of her funnel which eventually leads to private coaching beginning at a 4-figures a month.
My friend Kim who has taught many classes at GA. I know a couple guys who lease properties in San Francisco and Palo Alto -- some of the most expensive areas in Silicon Valley -- and then add extra beds + makeshift partitions for bedrooms, and then sub-lease them out to young, single, tech workers who want a below-market place to rent and don't mind the tradeoff of having more housemates. One of these guys makes 6-figures a year running his leasing and subleasing operation across 4 properties in San Francisco.
I personally know two Quora Top Writers who built their writing reputation on Quora, got published in media outlets like Inc.com and Forbes, and are now Forbes Columnists who get paid on performance.
I could go on, but there are so many ways to make money, and many ways to do it outside of a job you don't really care for.
Please don't take advice from people who don't have the results you are looking for.
It is 100% possible to build a career without losing your autonomy. You may have to forfeit some/most of your upfront earning potential to get it off the ground, but it's feasible. Even more feasible if you are the kind of person who can set your mind to learn anything.
It all starts with getting really good at something and having a way for other people to see those results -- that will build your credibility to start charging for your skills/services/knowledge.
Don't get me wrong, this is not a get-rich-quick scheme. Many of the people I mentioned above invested years into their craft before they could monetize. This is the nature of getting so good that they can't ignore you to the point of wanting to throw money at you -- it takes time!
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