Written by Pamela Skillings

Whether you’re an exultant Obama supporter or a disappointed McCainiac, the results of Tuesday’s election should be encouraging in at least one way. The election of Barack Obama as President of the United States clearly demonstrates that no brazen career goal is unrealistic if you are willing to work your butt off and never give up.

I can only imagine how many times Barack Obama was told to give up on his “unrealistic” presidential goals. After all, it was clearly a tremendous long shot.  U.S. voters weren’t ready to elect an African-American candidate as President (remember the Bradley effect). Besides, Obama was inexperienced. And what about that middle name “Hussein”?

I will leave the in-depth analysis of Obama’s win to the eight zillion pundits and political bloggers who have been living and breathing the election for months. Obviously, Obama is a symbol of hope in many ways for many people.

However, as a passionate advocate for those seeking meaningful and fulfilling work, I want to point out that he is also a perfect example of someone who followed his passion and triumphed in spite of significant obstacles.

Barack Obama never escaped from Corporate America. But he has made many courageous and non-traditional career choices — all of which helped guide him to the White House.  He graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School and took a job as a community organizer. “Community organizer” was certainly not the most lucrative or prestigious choice to make (just ask Sarah Palin). Obama could have easily opted for a more traditional path and accepted a position at a law firm or as a corporate attorney. I’m sure many wise people advised him that he would never make any money as a community organizer.

But Obama followed his principles and his passions. They led him to the Illinois Senate, and then to the U.S. Senate (after an unsuccessful run for the U.S. House of Representatives). And now, he’s preparing to move his family and new puppy into the White House. Oh yeah, and  along the way, he also became a bestselling author (so much for those predictions that he’d never make any money).

So what is Obama’s lesson for career changers? Don’t let anybody tell you that your dream is impossible or unrealistic. Your goal may very well be a long shot, but that doesn’t mean you can’t achieve it. It may take a lot of hard work and some temporary sacrifices and discomfort, but so what? Nothing worth achieving is easy.

A tough economy doesn’t mean you should give up on your dreams and settle. It just means that you’ll have to be smarter and more resourceful to get what you want. You’ll have to be patient if it takes a little bit longer before you can quit that day job and pursue your dream full-time. But don’t wait to start your planning and take your first steps.

Barack Obama didn’t wait around for racism to go away or for someone to ask him to step up. He went after what he wanted with every bit of energy and passion that he could summon. And now he’s the President-Elect of the United States of America.

So what are the obstacles on the path to your career dream? What can you do to overcome them? What would Barack Hussein Obama do? You really can achieve any goal if you’re willing to devote the same energy and passion to them that Obama devoted to his campaign. You can do it. Yes, you can.

Written by Pamela Skillings

Don’t you just love Halloween? It’s a chance to cut loose, score free candy, and dress up as your favorite fantasy. I guess it’s no surprise that some of those fantasies involve dream career paths not taken.

And why not? For most of us, “career” means more than just a job. What we do for a living is a big part of who we are. I know that I have changed immeasurably in the four years since I escaped from Corporate America and changed careers. That’s partly because my new career forces me to get out of my comfort zone on a regular basis, try new things, and meet new people. It’s also because I can finally truly be myself now that I no longer have to pretend to be the perfect corporate employee.

People are almost as likely to fantasize about a new career (and by extension, a new life) as about a new sexual partner. Sometimes the two fantasies go hand in hand — as they seem to with all of the “Sexy Occupation X” costumes.

Why else would so many people live out their fantasy careers through their Halloween costumes on October 31st? I caught some great photos at the NYC Village Halloween Parade this year. Some people dressed as career fantasies and others as career nightmares (photos after the jump). read more…

Written by Pamela Skillings

Gerard Butler is probably best known for his leading role (and jaw-dropping abs) in The 300 and being romantically linked with Jennifer Aniston and Cameron Diaz. But did you know that this movie star and sex symbol also escaped from Corporate America (okay, it was Corporate Scotland in Gerard’s case)?

I read Gerard Butler’s inspiring story in the latest issue of Men’s Health and couldn’t resist featuring it here on the blog (and not only because it would give me an excuse to post a shirtless Gerard Butler photo to pretty up the site).

You see, Butler was president of the University of Glasgow Law Society and thought he had made it when he landed a position at a prestigious law firm after graduation. Unfortunately, he was miserable as a lawyer. “I was drinking constantly. I hated my life,” he told Men’s Health.

It wasn’t until Butler saw a production of Trainspotting in 1995 that he suddenly felt alive and certain that his true calling was acting. Others might have dismissed the idea as impractical. Butler gave his notice at the law firm and moved to London a week later to pursue an acting career.

read more…

Written by Pamela Skillings

Name: Nicole Witt
Previous (corporate) occupation: Strategic Consulting and Brand Management
Current occupation: Business Owner, Adoption Consultant
Website(s): www.TheAdoptionConsultancy.com and www.AdoptANewLife.com

1. Tell us a little bit about your corporate career path.

I spent four years in consulting, then earned my MBA from the Johnson School at Cornell. I always had thought about running my own business, and even took a lot of classes in entrepreneurship, but somehow found myself back at work for one large corporation after another. This time around, I was doing Brand Management and, although I was quite successful, I was terribly unhappy. I always knew deep-down that I was just not a corporate kind of person.

2. What made you decide to change careers?

After my husband and I went through a personal crisis with infertility, and ultimately became parents, I just couldn’t go back to what I had done before. It suddenly felt completely meaningless. Additionally, I couldn’t justify the control my career would have over my life in exchange for nothing but a paycheck. So I decided to follow my passion. I launched The Adoption Consultancy to help other couples struggling with infertility to become parents through the miracle of adoption.

3. What were your biggest career change challenges?

• Everybody’s #1 – Money. Adjusting to the initial lower income was tough, but it just made it that much sweeter once I started making money again.
• #2 – Fear and self-doubt. Another fairly common one, I believe. But I knew it was possible because other people were making a living in this field. I just kept telling myself, “If they can do it, I can do it.” It turns out I can!
• #3 – Recreating my definition of success. This was a tough (and ongoing) one. In my previous world, success was defined by title, salary, office location, and lots of other corporate nonsense. Sometimes I struggle to remind myself that my definition of success is different now, and I have achieved it! When I’m wrestling with this one, it often helps to picture my kids telling their friends what I do. I’m so much more proud of them knowing that I help to build families, and that helps me come to grips with my lack of access to a corporate jet.

4. What are the best and worst things about your new career?

The best is that I love it! I jump out of bed in the mornings eager to get to work. I am pursuing my passion and my calling and am making a lasting difference in the world. There’s nothing better than talking to my clients right after they’ve become parents. Another wonderful aspect is the flexibility that my work provides. I bring my kids to school in the morning. I spend Wednesday afternoons with them. I’m home whenever they’re sick. And I never have to worry about missing a game or recital due to the whims of my boss!

The worst things are the rare times when an adoption doesn’t work out, sometimes dealing with difficult clients and having to pay for my own benefits.

5. What advice would you give to someone who feels stuck in an uninspiring job? Do you have any success secrets to share?

Take the leap! You can do it. Define what success means to you, what you need to do to get there, and start tackling it one step at a time. That’s the trick. You don’t have to do it all at once, but if you create a realistic plan and work it one step at a time, you WILL achieve your goals. There are ways around every obstacle that is out there. You NEVER want to look back on your life and think ‘what if.’ The time is now!

Written by Pamela Skillings

If you read Escape from Corporate America, you know that it’s full of the personal stories of corporate escape artists and their advice for others who feel stuck in their careers. I spent months tracking down and interviewing amazing people who had busted out of their cubicles to pursue their dreams.

When I was feeling trapped in Corporate America, I had no idea that there were so many of them out there. Way too many to fit in the book, in fact. And since I finished the manuscript, it seems like I meet a new escapee every day.

So I decided to create a regular blog feature to highlight more daring tales of corporate escape. First up is Shannon McCaffery, a woman who bounced back from three layoffs and endured enough corporate stress to land her in the hospital before she decided to start her own business. Read on for her brilliant advice for getting unstuck.
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Shannon McCaffery’s Daring Tale of Corporate Escape

Name: Shannon M. McCaffery

Previous (corporate) occupation: Director of Corporate Communications

Current occupation: Marketing coach, consultant and implementer. Founder and CEO of McCaffery Communications.

1. Tell us a little bit about your corporate career path.

I started right out of college in publishing. I was a sales representative for Random House’s College Division. They sold their college division 4 years later to McGraw-Hill and hence my journey from company to company began. I loved books and just wanted to write, edit, market and be around books. My trajectory went from working in sales and sales management to working in marketing and loving it. My favorite job was as Director of International Marketing because I literally got to see and change part of the world. I traveled from Bali to Australia to Amsterdam. Then everything started to crumble.
read more…

Written by Pamela Skillings

“Where do you see yourself in five years?”

It’s a stupid interview question. There is no remotely honest way to answer this question in an interview that will please a hiring manager. I always went with something like: “Working in a challenging role in a fantastic company like yours!” Which is a total BS response, but always seemed to satisfy interviewers (Do you have a better answer or a really unwise answer that you regret? Please share.)

But have you ever REALLY thought about where you see yourself in five years? Most of us haven’t — especially in the corporate world. We move from opportunity to opportunity without much thought about the future beyond wanting to keep advancing and making more money (and avoiding the layoff fairy). That’s probably because it’s almost impossible to predict what’s going to happen during five years of reorganizations, mergers, and other fun corporate games.
read more…

Written by Pamela Skillings

Some say that a true entrepreneur could never work in Corporate America. Many claim that you have to be born with that entrepreneurial DNA and will know from an early age if you’ve got what it takes to run your own business. I strongly disagree. I believe that entrepreneurial skills and attitude can be acquired.

In fact, doing some time in Corporate America can be a great way to pick up very valuable business expertise that will come in handy when running your business. As Aliza Freud, founder and CEO of SheSpeaks, puts it, “I think that the skills that I gained when I was working at a big company really helped to make me a better entrepreneur.”

The trick is to get out before the bureaucracy crushes your entrepreneurial spirit.

Sure, the stories about entrepreneurs who started their first profitable businesses during junior high are inspiring. But it’s also true that many of the most legendary entrepreneurs of all time started out as corporate employees.

 

• Henry Ford was the son of farmers and toiled in an engineering job before striking out on his own to form Ford Motor Company.
•  Walt Disney was an illustrator for an advertising agency before he and his brother Roy started a business in their uncle’s garage that eventually became the Walt Disney Company.
• Ray Kroc was a salesman for the Multi-Mixer Corporation when he bought a California hamburger restaurant from the MacDonald Brothers and turned it into a multibillion-dollar international chain.
• Mary Kay Ash was a sales director for Stanley Home Products for twenty years before she retired and used her life savings of $5,000 to get Mary Kay Cosmetics going in 1963.
• Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak spent time as engineers at Atari before they created Apple Computer.
• Jeff Bezos quit his job as a senior vice president on Wall Street when he came up with the revolutionary idea for Amazon.com.
• Michael Bloomberg was a senior manager at Salomon Brothers until he was squeezed out after the company was acquired in 1981. The unemployed Bloomberg went on to make his fortune by starting Bloomberg LP, the financial information company, and later used
  his billions to finance a successful run for mayor of New York City.
• Martha Stewart had a successful career as a stockbroker before she turned a catering business into a media empire.

Do you have other nominations for the Corporate-to-Entrepreneur Hall of Fame? Don’t be shy. Show your entrepreneur-sized ego and nominate yourself if you like!

Written by Pamela Skillings

A reporter for a major media outlet is interested in interviewing people who were recently downsized/laid off and seized the opportunity to start a business (or expand a sideline business).

If this sounds like you or someone you know, drop me a comment or email me ASAP. This could be a great media opportunity for a new entrepreneur.

Written by Pamela Skillings

On Friday, I had the pleasure of speaking at the Womensphere Women’s Entrepreneurial Summit. It was a great event with lots of terrific panels and presentations.

I also had the opportunity to meet a number of amazing women  — including many successful entrepreneurs who escaped from Corporate America to pursue their entrepreneurial passions.

Check out some of their stories for a bit of inspiration to keep you going next time you start wondering if your dream is really possible.

Analisa Balares is the founder and CEO of Womensphere. She is also a Harvard MBA who served in senior roles at Goldman Sachs and Microsoft before launching her career as an entrepreneur. Analisa was recently selected as one of 35 “young leaders” to join the New York City Young Leaders Program, a public-private partnership between the New York City Government and private NGOs.

Joan Coukos is the CEO and chocolatier behind Chocolat Moderne, an award-winning chocolate maker that has been featured on The Today Show. Joan was a banker for many years before she fell in love with the art of chocolate making. She started her new career by experimenting with chocolate recipes in her tiny New York kitchen and testing them with her banking colleagues. Pretty soon, she was ready to turn pro and start Chocolat Moderne (I happily sampled some of her wares and can attest to her talent!)

Nadine Vogel joined the conference fresh from a speaking gig at the United Nations. She is the founder and CEO of Springboard Consulting, a firm that helps companies communicate with the one third of the U.S. population that either has a disability or is the parent of a child with a disability. Previously, Nadine had a long and successful career as an executive for a large financial services company.

Feyi Boroffice is a cofounder of 2 Hats Network, a consulting firm devoted to helping companies retain and advance emerging leaders, particularly mothers and women of color. Feyi is a Harvard MBA who spent years in senior corporate roles before leaving to start 2 Hats. She and partner Simi Sanni Nwogugu (a former investment banker and media executive) boast an impressive list of Fortune 500 clients.

Read more daring tales of corporate escape or check out my corporate escape artist directory.

Written by Pamela Skillings

Last night, I had an inspiring dinner with three old friends who are living proof that it really is possible to change your career and your life — and that a little bit of support can go a long way in getting you started.

The four of us first met years ago when we signed up for one of author Barbara Sher’s Success Team networking groups. We got together once a week for eight weeks to share ideas, contacts, and war stories.

I remember feeling skeptical as I made my way to a stranger’s apartment for my very first Success Team meeting, but it turned out to be an extremely valuable experience. At the time, I was in the final stages of my escape from Corporate America and feeling a bit overwhelmed. I loved having weekly opportunities to report on my progress and get feedback and ideas from a group of smart and creative people who were rooting for me.

After our official  sessions ended, we tried to keep informal meetings going for a while. But everybody got busy and we eventually drifted apart.  Last night, we finally had a chance to sit around a table again and catch up on the last few years. I was blown away by the dramatic changes in my old friends.

Last time I saw Ellen, she was still struggling to find a way to leave the corporate grind for good and make a living from her passion for yoga. She now spends her days teaching yoga at some of Manhattan’s top gyms. She looks ten times happier, not to mention ridiculously buff.

Navid joined the Success Team because he was spending too much time working and felt something was missing in his life. Today, he is balancing the work of managing his small business with more hours spent running in the park, taking photographs, and writing poetry.  His experience even helped to inspire his wife Amy to join a Success Team and get serious about pursuing a career as a musician.

When I first met Adrienne, she was stuck in a job she had outgrown and trying to figure out her next career move. Since then, she has landed a much better job and also set up a thriving side business as an image consultant. She looks like a new woman — much more confident and  energized than the Adrienne I remember.

None of us magically changed overnight because of a few group meetings. However, we all agreed that the Success Team experience gave us a valuable boost  when we really needed it.

If you are going through a career change (or a major life change of any kind, really), I strongly recommend finding or creating your own support system of like-minded cheerleaders. The benefits are many. First of all, you’ll get lots of valuable advice and ideas and connections. Even more importantly, your team meetings will offer you opportunities to talk freely about your goals without being judged or criticized. You can  brag, vent, or cry without embarrassment. Your team members will hold you accountable when you’re feeling lazy and refuse to let you give up when you’re discouraged over a minor (or even major) setback.

Since my Success Team days, I have  discovered other great support networks — through both formal networking groups and lucky introductions. I have come to believe that you can never have too many. So I was thrilled to re-connect with Ellen, Navid (and Amy), and Adrienne and hear about all of their amazing accomplishments. In fact, we were having so much fun that the restaurant had to kick us out to close up for the night (we finally got the hint when they started flickering the lights).  So we are setting a date for our next meeting to discuss how we can help each other tackle the next goals on our to-do lists. 

If you’d like to connect with your own group, I highly recommend Barbara Sher’s Success Teams (especially here in New York, where groups are led by the wonderful Andrea Reese). If your focus is on career change, you also might want to check out one of my Escape Club groups. And you can always recruit your own supporters and build a team on your own terms. Start out by inviting some likely candidates to gather for dinner and brainstorming. If the chemistry is good, you can make it a regular event.