Page 40 - Talane Miedaner - Coach Yourself to a New Career_ 7 Steps to Reinventing Your Professional Life (2010)

28 COACH YOURSELF TO A NEW CAREER

How did following your passions and values help you find the right
career/ business?
I used to make beautiful, handmade dog collars to sell in a bou-
tique—just something I did because I liked to do it. My best friend
was the director of sales at the Ritz Carlton in New York, and she
hooked me up with the other head in D.C. I had lunch with her,
and we were talking about putting together a pet package for Billy
Joel’s dog—a cute little pug—a nice bed, personalized Ritz Carlton
dog tag to wear while they were there, some special dog treats. We
did dog packages for a few stars. So, I started putting together dog
packages with hand-painted bowls and special beds and collars. I
made a little money doing it, but I soon began to think that there
had to be a way I could make enough money in a business to quit
my legal job. Although it was fun to create these dog packages, the
business just didn’t have enough income potential. I realized that
people need services, and there is more markup in that. Soon all
the corporate hotels started doing their own stuff, so there wasn’t
that much business. It was fun to do it for celebrities, though. That
was all part of my status phase. Now that isn’t that important to
me anymore. I goofed around with that business on evenings and
weekends. I was seeing more doggie day cares in New York and in
D.C. and thought, hey, I could do this. When I was in college, I used
to volunteer at the dog centers. I always knew that dogs were my
passion, but I suppressed it because I didn’t think there was a viable
business in it.
Thinking back on it, when I graduated from college, I had two job
offers for tiny salaries doing work as a news reporter. My father was
worried it wouldn’t be enough money and encouraged me to go to
law school because he thought journalism was a silly career. Funny
enough, my dad didn’t even finish college himself! He said he’d pay
for me to go to law school if I got in, so I did. I was doing it for him,
not for me. I had been on the right path. I was a journalism major,
and I wanted to be a TV reporter. I’m still fascinated with CNN. If I
could, I’d be a Diane Sawyer. My second fascination, after dogs, is
news and current events. Who knows but that might be what is next
for me now that Hip Hounds is running so smoothly.