Page 93 - Talane Miedaner - Coach Yourself to a New Career_ 7 Steps to Reinventing Your Professional Life (2010)

STEP 3: DESIGN YOUR IDEAL LIFE 81

Most people don’t need to make such dramatic life changes, but if
you do, why waste another minute in the wrong life?
While you are changing careers, you might as well take the
time to consider all aspects of your ideal life. After all, if you’ve
always dreamed of living in New York, it won’t do you any good to
be taking a job in Kansas City. Your job is just one aspect of living
an ideal life. If you are miserable in cold climates, you won’t want
that job in Alaska, no matter how rewarding it may sound!

SUCCESS STORY

The Assistant Ad Writer Who Quit and
Became a Multimillionaire

Ali Brown is currently the founder and CEO of Ali International at
alibrown.com, but she started out as an assistant ad writer. She quit her
job, started working as a freelancer, and is now, ten years later, a multi-
millionaire who has just launched her own magazine. Her magazine is
Ali, geared to female business owners and entrepreneurs. She also has
more than forty thousand members in her online programs.
I worked with Ali when she first started a decade ago. When I met her
in a networking group in New York City, she hated her job working in a
small advertising company. She had been a job-hopper, jumping every
two years to a new position. She was restless. She was always wanting
and trying to make changes to help the company become more suc-
cessful but was constantly told just to focus on her current tasks. She
began to think she was unemployable and kept looking for a situation
that would be the right fit. Her last staff job was with that ad agency—
although she was unhappy there, she was allowed to work with clients
and got the feel of running a business.
Her salary had been meager for New York City at $35,000 a year. She
said that she used to envy a freelancer for the company who could come
and go as he pleased. One day, inadvertently, his invoice for services
ended up on her desk, and she was shocked to see that his bill for one