Eighty percent of success is just showing up.
-Woody Allen
I've got the job I've got because I posted some stories on a message board. That's it. And I've got whatever computer skills I have because way back in the day I asked my boss if I could plug a linux box into our network so that I could spend my free time at work playing with it. I was a print operator at the time, I hadn't even made it to the level of computer tech. I was literally in a job that was lower than "entry level".
I've built a couple of careers out of just finding interesting things and getting involved with the communities that support them. First it was computers, then it was writing. I didn't do either of these things because I necessarily wanted to "break into an industry". I did them because I was interested in them. If you do something well, the job offers follow.
A friend of mine is lazy. Smart kid, tons of potential and it means nothing because he's lazy. He wants to be in politics and when he sees people doing cool things he craves to do them as well but he doesn't get off the couch long enough to get those opportunities.
I push on him to take some initiative, to get involved in something. For a long time he resisted. Then he finally went ahead and took a pretty cool volunteer position with a republican organization, after I leaned on him for a week. He co-hosted one event around the election debates, worked the room a little and landed himself a spot on the local morning show out here in LA. Now he's in a pretty good position to help rebuild this organization he's with and make a name for himself in the field he's most interested in entering. All because of one event. It really is that easy sometimes. Not always but you never know until you try. Who knows what he'll do with his new found visibility. Succeed or fail, he's at least in a position now to take advantage of the opportunity, something he'd never have if he'd not gotten off the couch.
Go get involved in something. Anything. It doesn't matter if it's "commercially viable" or if it's a "safe industry". Go do something you're interested in, that's the only way you'll find the motivation to do it well. And if you do something well, the money will follow.
Posted by Ben Corman at 9:49 AM