How to nurture creativity
Creativity thrives on kindness and self care. According to career and success coach Tama Kieves, that’s one of the biggest things she personally had to learn after ditching her job as a lawyer. She was a Type A, ambitious, and driven linear thinker. When she first left law, she figured she would just pump out...
Letting go of what holds us back
An energy within each of us is looking for a way to express itself. So says John Murphy, author of Zentrepreneur and a business consultant based in Grand Rapids, Mich. Yet some people think that Bill Gates or Steve Jobs or Thomas Edison or their favorite change agents are real entrepreneurs, but that they are...
Linear success vs. inspired success
The times. . . they are a changin’. So many invested in corporate America. They figured if they just put in a good 30 years, they would be safe, solid, and vested. They would have all they needed. But then the layoffs struck. And broken promises fluttered to the ground. People realized that there is...
On the power of books
You can never overestimate the power of books to help you find your calling. Books helped Walter “Skoog” Fordham find the work he loves. Diversity is his passion. His niche is an unusual one. He facilitates diversity training, team building, groups, and employee relations interventions for nonprofits. Some highlights of his work in diversity training...
One FT job resembles a basket of eggs
Someone got canned at work. Or at least, I think that’s what happened. It was choreographed better than the Bolshoi. The person sent an email to her staff at the end of a day. But seriously, who really would rather quit work to spend time with their kids? That surely is more harrowing and exhausting...
Mom on a mission
A mother puts her own spin on fitness. Lisa Druxman was a new mom when she had one of those aha! moments. All moms are looking to get back into shape after having a baby, she realized. And they were also looking to connect with other new moms. “I decided to blend my passion for...
Roots of a startup
Call it serendipity. Sometimes a new business emerges by accident. When Ryan McMunn moved to Shanghai in 2004 to do quality control for a manufacturing company, one of his goals was to learn to speak Chinese. He never dreamed where that goal would take him. Now the founder and CEO of BRIC Language Systems, which...
Sleep your way to the top
I knew that would catch your attention. Of course, it takes on new meaning if we’re talking about entrepreneurs who work for a company of one. If you’re a freelancer, one big problem you face is keeping your morale up, says Diana Schneidman, a freelance marketing writer based in Illinois. She should know. Schneidman started...
Set a big, hairy, audacious goal
You may not have heard of Jack Canfield. But you have no doubt heard of his “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books. Forty-seven of his books have landed on The New York Times bestseller list, he says. Canfield has sold over half a billion books. Besides earnings from speaking engagements, coaching, and teaching gigs, he...
How a dog and some sheep led Patricia Elliott to the world of cheesemaking
An obituary in The Washington Post caught my attention today. When Patricia Elliott was in her late 60s, she began milking her sheep to make cheese. As she developed Everona Dairy, her artisanal cheese company, she became one of the leaders in the farmhouse cheese movement, according to a New York Times food writer. How...
PT freelancers eye way out
Many part-time freelancers are planning their exit strategies. According to an online survey, 72% of those still at “regular” jobs want to quit to be entirely independent and 61% say they will probably quit in two years. Freelancers are on a quest for more flexibility in how they work, according to responses from more than...
Entrepreneurs never stop learning
Feeling moldy at work? Or bored out of your gourd, because you haven’t learned anything new in years? If so, you might prefer entrepreneurial work where the need to learn new skills is constant. Entrepreneurs are more likely than other workers to say they learned or did something interesting the day before (71% vs. 66%),...