Page 132 - Marky Stein - Fearless Career Change_ The Fast Track to Success in a New Field (2004)

Fearless Career Change

and content for most of those years until her son, granddaughters,
and daughter-in-law moved out of state. Without the support and
warmth of her family, she suddenly experienced a void.
She came to career counseling saying that she wanted to return
to part-time work but she wasn’t sure she had the skills. In her active
working years when Elsie was a secretary for a large insurance firm,
she used a typewriter—not a computer—and she feared that going
back to work as a secretary would mean learning to use computers.
It was not an area into which she wanted to venture, and I could tell
from her voice and body language that being a secretary was no
longer of interest to her. She certainly wasn’t desperate for money,
and she wanted to do something meaningful and fun.
What we uncovered with the career fingerprinting process was
that Elsie was an artist. For years she had been doing oil painting,
making wooden toys for children, and designing and making jewelry
in her spare time, but she never thought she could make money at it.
When she examined her fears about stepping out into the
marketplace after so many years of retirement, she figured she
had nothing to lose. She decided to give it a try. First, she began
displaying her custom-made jewelry at local street fairs and chari-
table events. She was happily surprised that people were actually
willing to pay up to $300 for her beautifully designed necklaces
and bracelets.
After building her confidence for a few months by witnessing
other people’s excitement about her work, she began to approach
retail stores and sell her items to them in bulk. Soon, she had more
orders than she could handle and had to hire an apprentice.
Elsie, once unable to even balance her checkbook, was now
taking Visa and MasterCard. She never, to my knowledge, learned
how to handle a computer, but that was okay—her assistant did
that for her. Elsie is as active as ever, and her jewelry seems to be
giving joy to many people.

Often, we find our true calling is a hobby like
photography, planning weddings, fixing cars,
doing historical research, electronics
troubleshooting, cooking, sewing,
writing, drama, or sports.

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