I work with a lot of people who are ‘in transition’. You probably have met one of them, they are the people who have a great job in the corporate world, but would really like to go out on their own. The problem most people have when crossing the chasm, is that their ‘Day Job’ is paying the bills, and going out on their own would put them in a financial disaster unless they knew they had clients lined up for their services. So how can somebody bridge the gap?
Lets look at two Scenairios:
Neil Negative (yes, the names have been changed to protect the innocent) has a good paying job with a Fortune 500 company as project manager. He is pretty frustrated with his job, and would love to become a consultant to other companies managing projects. The problem is, if he quits his job, his wife, kids and dog will up and leave him. He feels stuck, and frustrated, but sees no way out except to keep plugging away at work and hope that things will change. If we go out five years from now, Neil is still going to be at his job, in a bigger cubicle, but nothing else will have changed, except his wife, kids and dog will be mad at him because he is always cranky when he’s at home.
Orville Optimist is in the same situation as Neil, but he has a compelling vision of going out on his own. He also has a wife, kids and a dog, and knows that he needs to get something going NOW so he doesn’t end up gathering cobwebs in his small dark cubicle. He begins by taking a small step and starting a blog about Project Management. He has a lot of ideas on how to better manage projects, and is able to test- drive some of them in his current position. He isn’t worried about his company finding out about him, since he doesn’t share any confidential information, or even his full name when doing his blog. He is slowly building a following of subscribers, and gets some good input from readers, and eventually people begin to contact him to see if he would be interested in taking on a project for them. Once he has a few of those lined up, and has more offers in the pipeline, he makes a very smooth transition into ‘Independent Professionalhood’ without sacrificing any income. In fact, he is making more money now, and even got a contract with his existing company. When we peek into his life five years from now, he is feeling free and happy, his wife is always smiling like June Cleaver, and it started with a blog.
If you are in transition, maybe a blog will be the perfect way for you to test the water. Time is going to pass whether you take action or not, so why not make the most of your time and get started now?
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