Archive for March, 2010

Screw goals – here’s something better

You want to make a great living out of work that’s fun for you, but it seems a long way off. How do you get there? A lot of people would get you to set goals. Sigh. There’s a problem with this incessant goal-setting that so many gurus recommend. It places a focus on the future and [...]

Threadless – the incredibly successful accidental business

Jeffrey Kalmikoff and Jake Nickell, developed “a fun side-project” into the hugely successful, crowd-sourced t-shirt design website Threadless. They didn’t plan it, they didn’t really know what they were doing, they just played it out. A superb model for us all. Watch them explain how they did it and what their “Get Shit Done” ethic means [...]

3 steps to make your dreams come true right away

Whatever you dream of doing with your life, you can start it right this moment. You can of course sit down, decide exactly what you want, set goals, and develop a plan to get you there – but the fact is an awful lot of people fall at this first hurdle. What if you don’t [...]

If it’s not fun…

Here’s a great quote I saw on the wall of London social enterprise startup LeapAnywhere who help “find the coolest and quirkiest charity events and volunteer activities in your city so it’s easier for you to have more fun and do more good”: The Basso quote is a good guide for anyone’s business or career. [...]

What to do when you have no idea what work you would enjoy

Are you totally stuck on finding work you would enjoy? Hit a brick wall? Nothing looks very appealing? Or maybe you have a few ideas but can’t for the life of you decide which one to pursue? You’re just going round and round in circles in your own head. STOP! Want to know what’s really [...]

How to get paid to watch YouTube

Lindsey Mountford is one of the case studies in Screw Work Let’s Play. After graduating, she fell into some pretty miserable sales jobs and ended up frittering away time at work playing around on Facebook and YouTube – so she went out and found a way to get paid to do exactly that. “I came [...]

How to tell when it’s time to change your work

I got sent some very dull trade magazines back when I was a broadcast systems consultant. A typical front page headline would be “New metadata schema agreed”. Most of these would go straight in the recycle bin. However, as I was a highly paid consultant I felt I needed to do something to keep up [...]

Is the dream of your ideal work possible?

Are you one of those career changers or aspiring entrepreneurs who has spent a lot of time pondering whether the work you want to do is possible? Whether you can get paid for it? Whether you can beat all the competition to get to do what you want? Give it up. It’s time to make a [...]

How to smash your career block: the truth about ‘the truth’

Yesterday I did 8 hours of back-to-back 15 minute career consultations. (I was at the Vitality Show at the Earls Court exhibition centre in London on behalf of Careershifters.) It’s a fascinating experience; a complete stranger sits down in front of me, they tell me their career challenge, and I try to do something helpful within 15 [...]

How to find the sweet spot for your ideal work

If you want to get paid to play – that is to do something that comes naturally to you and you love doing – you need to find your sweet spot. Your sweet spot is where your talent, skill and passion meet. Talent is what you’re born with. Great comedians have been making people laugh since their [...]