Escape from Cubicle Nation

Perfect example of escapee from Cubicle Nation in O Magazine

In the November issue of O Magazine, Patrice Clayton's Harlem Tea Room is featured in the "great food" section.  In her words:

"I realized I wanted my own business," Clayton says.  "I'd come from a corporate background, done my MBA in Ohio, and worked in marketing.  I'd always had entrepreneurial urges.  I knew I wanted to open a business in Harlem and I wanted to do something the neighborhood needed, but I knew it had to be something I was passionate about.  Two years ago, I came up with the idea of a tearoom.  I gave myself five years to make it happen, but when I returned from vacation in January 2004, I thought, Where is my life going?  I must do it now!"

Although I have never met her, I am so proud of Patrice Clayton!  In addition to starting a lovely business, her background in marketing landed the holy grail of exposure for her target market ... O Magazine.  Keep up the good work Patrice - you are helping us all!

Useful and free webinars from startupnation.com

Jeff and Rich Sloan of Startup Nation just created the first of 10 webinars called StartupNation's Ten Steps to Open for Business.  The first webinar is called Create a Life Plan and it addresses what I have been blogging about on this site:  before you begin your new business, you must first define who you are and what is important to you.  In this 30-minute overview, they cover some good things to think about when making your life plan.

Look for Steps 2-10 each Wednesday in coming weeks.

I think Startup Nation does an excellent job of using web technology for education purposes.  Their webinars are engaging and informative.

How do you leave the comfort of a corporate job?

Alright, now we are getting to the meat of things.  My dear friend John just wrote this comment about my earlier post Posting a big vision is scary!.

"Ok, I'll bite. I've returned back to cubicle nation to stash cash for my next run at a solo career. But I'm tempted by the nice, regular paycheck, benefits, etc. I feel like I'm getting addicted to Lazy-Boy lifestyle. So the big trade off is giving up a relatively sure thing for a higher risk venture (which by the way I'm still trying to identify). If I was single, no problema. But married with kids in CA? Gotta stop to think. My struggle is that practicality has overrun big audacious vision, so much so that vision has become more like a walk in heavy fog (unless of course somebody is willing to pay me LOTS of money to eat chocolate!)"

John, since you are a seasoned blogger, I am sure you won't mind if I analyze your situation in a public forum.  Who knows, Dr. Phil could be next for you.  Here are the thoughts I pull from your post:

• The comforts of a corporate job cannot be underrated.  The benefits are there for a reason - to entice smart and productive people like you to stay and help the company generate more profits. Why do you think that crack dealers give young kids free samples? I don't mean to correlate all corporate execs to crack dealers, but you have to admit that their means of persuasion are remarkably similar.
• Staying in a corporate job just for the perks is like marrying someone only for their money.  I happen to know that John has a wonderful, soulful, supportive, beautiful and all-around fabulous wife. He would never choose a shallow life partner because he is a deep person.  So John is what I term the quintessential high-functioning closet entrepreneur.  He knows corporate environments inside and out, but is really meant to work for himself.  I have been trying to get him out for ten years, so maybe this year will be the year.
• The starting point for John's path out of Cubicle Nation is definitely answering the question "Who am I, really, and what makes me happy?  Before exploring potential businesses and entrepreneurial activities, you have to get really clear about who you are, what makes you happy and what kind of unique contribution you want to make in the world.  If you skip this step, you will spend years wandering around aimlessly, trying out different business ideas none of which will take root since they don't have a foundation of clarity and passion.
• Yes, there will be tradeoffs. Forging out on your own for the first time involves a tremendous amount of work and sometimes money.  But if you get crystal clear about what you want to do, all of a sudden you can start to see alternatives for how to do it.  If you truly could do what you want, spend time with your kids and wife and do something that moved you creatively and spiritually, would you HAVE to live in Silicon Valley where a house the size of a storage locker costs $800,000?
• What is really important for your kids?  We all know that regardless of how hard we try to be the best parents and providers for our kids, they will probably require therapy anyway.  So forget trying to be perfect.  I agree we need to provide good shelter, healthy food, access to a great education and basic security like health insurance. Mostly, we need to live our lives as an example of what we want for them.  Would you want your child to work in a job they didn't love?  The more you do what you love, the more expansive your life becomes and the more love you have to share with your kids.

I know I have already gone on too long for an average blog post.  I will continue to write about this topic, and may even pick up this subject for my next Get a Life article in November.

John, as usual, you will be sorry you got me started thinking about this.

Why blogs are great promotional tools for working moms

I have gained a tremendous amount of respect for working moms since becoming one in March of this year.  As a small business owner, I am always thinking of creative ways to get my message out to clients and potential clients.  So I have been delighted with the advent of the blog.  Here is why it is great for working moms like me:

• You only need a few minutes to create a good post.  When you are running as fast as you can behind your little one, the prospect of writing a long sales letter or ezine article can seem impossible.  A blog post, on the other hand, can be easily formulated in your head while you are mixing rice cereal, putting in a load of laundry or changing a diaper.  Then you can take 15-20 minutes to write it while your baby snoozes or occupies himself with an amusing toy.
• You can post from anywhere.  As long as you have internet access, you can keep good posts coming as you travel, take a long weekend or visit friends.
• You can do it all yourself.  If you want to make changes to a website, often you have to work with a designer.  This can take time setting up conference calls or writing out instructions in an email.  With a blog, you can do it all yourself, whenever you have the time.  I tend to do most of the design work on my blog late at night when my son Joshua is sleeping.

Posting a big vision is scary!

I have learned something from my recent experiment to invite Get a Life readers to post their big vision for their life on my blog.  Since I have a sizeable subscriber list, I was expecting to see the comments pour in, as people eagerly shared their aspirations with others for support and encouragement.  Instead, what I saw was a bit fat silence.

Then I got a message from one of my readers:

"Your Posting last night is just a little too scary!  I can't tell you the terror that rose up in me when asked to articulate what I really want."

Now I get it - creating a big vision can be threatening and intimidating and can make you feel bad for not knowing what it is!

So maybe a better question is:

What do you struggle with when trying to articulate what you really want to do with your life?

If we get this dialogue going, then I can share some strategies for overcoming these challenges.

I do like what Vicky White says about the Law of Attraction:

"The Law of Attraction states that I attract to my life whatever I give my energy, focus, and attention to, whether wanted or unwanted."

Post your big vision here and watch it come alive!

In this month's issue of Get a Life, I shared the story of Flagstaff, Arizona artist Louis Buchetto.  Before he had the gumption to become an artist and open his own successful gallery, he wrote the following statement on a piece of paper that he put on the wall beside his bed:

I will create a unique form of art, share it with the world and become rich and famous.

He read this statement for 3 months straight, 6 or 7 times a day until he believed it to be true.  And it worked!

Some of you may think this is a bunch of California woo woo stuff that only works if you are a New-Age hippie like me.  Trust me, it isn't.  This really works.  I am convinced it is how I have created a successful business and found a wonderful husband.

What is your vision for yourself? 

Using the comment tool underneath this post, say it in clear, tangible terms.  Speak from your heart - articulate what you really want.  Sharing with others will exponentially increase its probability to come true.

Are you a sellout if you still work for a corporation?

In my radical days as a "power to the people" college student, I always imagined myself in the middle of a village somewhere, organizing people to fight against The Man and teaching kids to read.  Fast forward five years, and there I was in a blue suit and heels, creating Powerpoint presentations and using words like "employee engagement," "value metrics" and "alignment of initiatives."

In the long run, being an employee in Corporate America was not for me.  But I would never trade my experience since I gained a truckload of skills, saved up a decent amount of money in my retirement account, and met some of my most dear friends.  As a consultant, I have worked for many big-name companies.  In every case, I have met some smart, capable and ethical people.  I have also met a lot of schmucks, but that is certainly not unique to the corporate world.

So if you are still working inside a corporation, don't fret it.  Take advantage of the learning opportunities and great perks.  When you are ready to break out and work for yourself, don't burn your bridges.  Your co-workers could be your best source of new business.

Building my Brand Journal: It sure ain't build it and they will come!

I have been working at a feverish pace on my blog.  My brain is filled with things I want to write about and I have to carry a notebook around at all times just so I capture all the ideas.  I have been trying to post new entries at least once a day.  But I realize that I have to put a lot of energy this week into getting my blog out there so that someone besides my most loyal friends and family will read what I have written!  Since I just started this blog two weeks ago, I have a long way to go to get my name out there in the blog world. 

Late at night as I sit in my bathtub (yes, truly the only peaceful time to read when Josh is asleep and I am done writing) I am reading through the section of Get Known Now that is called "Promote Yourself Online."  Man, are there a lot of things to do!  This week I am going to search for other blogs that have a similar audience as mine that I can cross-promote in.

And a note to my Feedblitz subscribers ... I am so sorry that you have been getting a bunch of duplicate entry updates.  I had to go back to my posts and make sure they pinged back to Technorati.  Every time I save and republish a post, Feedblitz interprets it as a new entry.  Sorry to be annoying and I promise to get better as I go along!

Free teleclasses to help promote your business

I just learned about these Wednesday night teleclasses from the creators of the Build a Better Blog ebook.  The series is called Conversations with Experts (How to Build Your Business On and Off-line) and it is free!

Being a strong auditory learner, I love teleclasses because I enjoy hearing people's voices and the interaction between callers.

Besides, you can't beat free!

The who, what and how of working for yourself

In all the years I have been working with people trying to leave the corporate world and work for themselves, I have finally realized that there are three critical areas to look at, in the order described below, to make this transition successfully.  They are:

Who:  Who are YOU?  What does your truthful, intuitive, inner self really want to say?   What makes you happy?  What kind of people, environments, work content, ideas, level of income, work schedule and work activities light your fire? What do you want to share with the world before you die?  What kind of a partner, parent, child, sibling, friend and neighbor do you want to be?

What: What specific business could you create that would be built squarely on the platform of who you really are?  What kinds of people (your target market) would be interested in the kind of work you have to offer?  What are all the different ways that you could provide service to your target market?  What kind of work would meet your goals for happiness, income, lifestyle and contribution?

How:  Once you zero in on the specific kind of work you want to do, how do you actually make it happen? How do you create a business plan, do research, put together product lines or service offerings, market and sell products, build your infrastructure and manage your business?  How do you raise or save the money to do all of this?  How do you manage all the tricky areas of self-insurance and benefits?

If you are in the middle of this transition yourself, you may want to go back to square one:  Who are YOU?  This is the step most people skip and it provides the greatest clarity for the whole process.