Page 194 - Marky Stein - Fearless Career Change_ The Fast Track to Success in a New Field (2004)

Fearless Career Change

If, then, you are on a mission, what is it? Well, it is certainly
something that transcends just a job title or the name of your new
business. There are lots of people out there merely doing job
duties and trying not to get fired.

Living with the mantle of your authentic calling
will mean that you transcend routine, prescribed
“duties” and go beyond “playing it safe.” It
means thinking big.

Why would you start your own business if you just hope to
break even or make enough money to get by? Surely with the spe-
cial talents you bring to your new career or business you can hope
for and even demand much more.
Again, what is your mission? It could be making a million dollars
or hundreds of millions of dollars. It’s been done before, and some-
one, somewhere will do it again. Your mission could be to become
the finest and the best-known practitioner in your field. It may be to
produce the most modern, efficient technology of its kind. Your mis-
sion could well be to relieve the world of suffering by making it a
safer, more beautiful, more prosperous and peaceful place to live.
In Chapter 4, I briefly mentioned a woman who started a
group focused on women’s financial issues who charged $10 per
person for a six-week program. At the time, she didn’t know that
disseminating her ideas was her authentic calling, but look what
happened: She started small and followed a path that beckoned to her.
Now, she has multiple best-selling books, has appeared on nation-
al television, is enjoying a syndicated magazine column, and earns
large profits from the seminars she teaches.
What started as a job in which she was essentially earning less
than $1 per hour ultimately became her mission. Her special purpose
was not seeking the approval of others, settling for security, or staying
out of the line of fire. It was her mission to make the world a better
place by helping women to control and maximize their financial lives.
Her mission put her work into a much larger context than that
of just making another dollar (although, as a result of following
her calling, she is now a wealthy woman).

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