Hate Your Job? Time For Something New? Try Solo-preneuring™!

Rafiki’s post last Saturday. “Overworking and Underthinking” did get me thinking. It reminded me of a quote from the Pulitzer Prize winning book, “Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do” by Studs Terkel. In the book, a woman called Nora Watson says in an interview with Terkel,



“Most of us have jobs that are too small for our spirits. We are on a quest for more fulfilling work, work that is equal to the size of our spirit, our energies, our passions”.



That was 1974 but it doesn’t mean that much has changed. Many people today, despite their advanced educations, more sophisticated jobs, more options for work, still feel the same way. Their jobs are unfulfilling and do not demand much from them. But they need the jobs; they need the money or the health care benefits that the jobs bring.



Like Rafiki said, we spend too much time working and not thinking about what changes we can make. The little time we spend thinking we do it at a surface level and the options seem near impossible to attain . . . a new career requires possibly going back to school; entrepreneurship requires a good-to-great idea or massive capital. Of course, nothing good comes easy but most of the time it seems easier to stay where we are than to try something new.



Rafiki’s article reminded me that a few years ago I had attended a talk on Solo-preneuring™ by Cathy Stucker that was very eye-opening, mainly for its simplicity. At the time I decided I would attempt it immediately but I let life and that soul-draining job get in the way i.e. I did nothing.



I dug through several cartons of books to find the manual I bought when I attended her talk. The manual is called “Solo-preneuring™ - The Art of Earning a Living Without a Job; The Self-Help Guide For Those Who Want To Escape Corporate Bondage And Find Success Doing What They Love!” by Cathy Stucker. It is available on her website at http://www.idealady.com/.



In a nut shell Stucker says, “The Solo-preneur™ is someone who has found a way to make money from her interests. One can earn money from a part-time job, contract or temp work, direct sales, a business, investments or any combination of these sources”. She exhorted us to ask ourselves:

What do I know that others don’t?
What can I do that others can’t?
What can I do that others won’t?
What can I do for others faster, cheaper, better than they can do it for themselves?

What I learnt from the talk was that I can quit my job if I can combine several interests that can generate the combined income that I want while doing work that I enjoy.



When I look at my options from this angle, suddenly it seems a lot easier to start doing the things I want to do. I don’t need some grand plan or great idea or massive amounts of capital to start. You too can start small and depending on your drive and ambitions you could scale up as much as you want, if you want.



Solo-preneuring™ is an unfamiliar term but it is one that we are actually very familiar with. Think about it—I will explain in Part 2. Stay tuned.