Shannon's Blog: Minding My Own Business

Photo courtesy of Ylanite Koppens @ Pexels "Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day of your life." - Unknown Every week? people typically ask when I tell them about my blog posts. Me: Every week. That feels about right to build discipline,  exercise my writing muscles and stay on the radar. What if you're away? I can post remotely. What if you're sick?  Well, okay, I always prioritize my health, but I don't get sick very often.  That sounds busy... The question I get asked most since I launched my blog goes something along the lines of: You're doing this in your spare time?!  You must be busy...   The truth is, it does take up quite a bit of time outside of my day job.  There's so much I want to write, research, plan and create to advance the project. And only limited hours per week. But - much like the burn in your legs after a long run - it's the good kind of pain. I've struggled with the oth

Don't compare yourself with other people; compare yourself with who you were yesterday.                                                                                                - Jordan Peterson, psychologist It's easy to compare ourselves to others. I'm prone to it, and something tells me you might be too. As I start up my own little startup, it's very compelling to compare myself to those who are also going through the process, or those who have gone before.  But that's usually when the doubt starts creeping in:  I should be further along by now.  Ms. Smartypants over there probably didn't get stuck on this banal decision.  I must not be cut out for this... This time zone metaphor resonated with me, and I thought I'd share it while I'm out enjoying the last remaining hours of my vacation. Attribution is important to me.  I tried to identify the author of this work, but nothing definitive came up. So for now I'm tipping my

You just have to find that thing that’s special about you that distinguishes you from all the others and through true talent, hard work, and passion, anything can happen.  -Dr. Dre I came across a blog this week on CareerShifters.com, about a British public servant who left his job to (successfully) pursue a career in photography. I'm sharing it here, as I was inspired by his success. People sometimes ask me if I'm aiming to grow my business into a full-time job that will allow me to quit my 9-to-5.  The honest answer is: I'm not sure yet. I'm still at the very early stages, and for now, building is its own reward.  Ask me again in a year or two! I enjoy following the CareerShifters' newsletters, as they take a different approach to changing careers than other traditional job advice websites.  There's a real emphasis on discovering your passion, more so than leveraging your existing skills. If you've ever wondered " what if...? "

  “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” — Winston Churchill Sometimes success arrives in a different form than we expect. I had an opportunity to practice my pitch the other day, and although my services were not needed, I was glad to A) practice talking with prospective clients and B) think through the range of services I offer. As I consider billing options, I've been percolating on how to account for the valuable consultation portion of my service.  It just wouldn't do to walk a client through a tailor-made needs assessment, only to have them decide they're now ready to write the tribute themselves. In preparing my pitch for this specific client - and without thinking about it too much - I developed a structure that helped clarify the three levels of service I offer: 1) Getting started - the needs assessment: if they want, a client can take the notes from this session and write the tribute themselves from here.  Thi

Without labour, nothing prospers.  - Sophocles Am I the only one who didn't know the origins of Labour Day? I always imagined it had something to do with taking one last day to put up our feet before digging in to the heavy work required between now and the harvest leading up to Thanksgiving. In fact, here in Canada, Labour Day doesn't have anything to do with farming. It dates all the way back to 1872, when print workers in Toronto won the right to a nine-hour day, down from 12 hours.  Check out the details here. One hundred and forty-six years later, it can still be tricky to find that elusive work-life balance. Between family, home and personal responsibilities (not to mention getting enough rest and having enough fun!), the struggle is real.  I'm lucky to work for an employer that offers several flexible options. This Labour Day, I'm celebrating:  my request has been approved to shift down to four days per week starting in October! This is somethin