I always wanted to be a writer. When I was at school, I loved writing essays and short stories, and I really loved to read, I still do.
But writing is not a stable or well paying profession, unless you are J. K Rowling, so understandably, my parents ‘encouraged” me to get a “real” job, and I ended up working for Lloyds Bank in the UK. When I started, I was quite enthusiastic, I had visions of myself ending up in charge of vast amounts of money, influencing the economy, and eventually ending up as Prime Minister. Naturally. So it came as a blow to my overactive imagination, when I was showed into a small windowless room, far, far away from even the tellers, and informed that my main job was to run all the cheques and deposit slips through a large noisy machine called an “encoder” and make sure it magically “balanced” at the end of the day.
My soul was crushed. Not immediately, but over time. I eventually moved through all the low level jobs, and merely by chance ended up being quite good at them, but I was miserable.
I’m not going to bore you with my life story, but I spent nearly twenty years in jobs that inside of me, I viewed as temporary, until I figured out what I REALLY wanted to do with my life. Twenty years is a long time.
Now, after an impulsive move to Canada, and a series of twists and turns in my life, I AM doing what I want to do. Most of my day is spent writing. Either content or marketing for The Inventor’s Business Academy, or marketing material for my husband’s business. (And a secret novel).
I would like to tell you that I planned this, I saved a budget and started my business at just the right time. That I proceeded cautiously, and worked another job part time while I got this business up and running. Nope, that’s not how it happened.
And when I talk to my clients and other entrepreneurs, they tell me the same thing, they either ‘fell” into it, or simply had no choice because there was no other work available, or like me, they couldn’t possibly spend another twenty years doing a job that crushed their soul.
My point is this – the best time to start doing what you want to is NOW. Twenty years passes really quickly.
And if you are worried about stability, and a little fearful, here’s what Jim Carrey, the comedian and actor had to say about this,
“Fear is often disguised as practicality..”
During a speech in 2014, Jim Carrey tells the story of his father, who could have been a great comedian, but decided instead, to take the “safe’ route and become an accountant (you see why this resonates with me). However, after many years in this “safe” job, he was let go, and had to do anything he could to survive and take care of his family. Jim Carrey said;
“If you can fail at what you DON’T want, why not take a chance on what you love?”
