Comments on: Are you ready for a mid-life career change?

By: Patricia

Patricia — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:54:41 +0000

me too!

By: Eliza

Eliza — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:42:49 +0000

@Patricia – ah, doing everything you love, but not the reality of the job. I totally get that. I am doing everything I love at work BUT the reality of the work environment is I am blocked at every turn. I was so upset for over two years, thinking I had to find something totally new to do. Then it slowly dawned on me, I could still do what I love, but just do it in a different way. Which led me to starting my own company. Not to say that your solution is to start your own company. Just that I hope you are able to find something new yourself that allows you to continue doing what you love.

By: Patricia

Patricia — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:16:34 +0000

When Nixon abolished the draft on a Thursday afternoon, by Sunday the quad was so full of Uhaul trailers that nearly half the graduate students left Seminary. I remember standing in my window thinking I should be leaving too. I knew I was not in the right spot, but was 50k in debt and only had 1 semester to go.

I was doing everything I loved – just it is not the reality of the job.

My partner does exactly what he loves to do….and until this big recession we made enough money to meet our needs and spent no money on wants…we made it.

Now we have lost our retirement we each need another 12 years of income and I am hoping I figure it out sooner rather than later?

I haven’t found any one who wants to pay me for what I am good at. Well, everyone loved how their houses looked when I was done cleaning them….

By: Eliza

Eliza — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:08:22 +0000

@Charlene – wise advice and inspirational. Thanks so much for sharing!

By: Charlene

Charlene — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:31:56 +0000

@Eliza: you’re absolutely right on both counts. Hubby thought I should have done this 10 years ago. It was me holding me back. As for the tipping point – I’ve been around business and marketing and such too long to think anything will happen overnight. Which is why it was important to me that we have our emergency fund properly stuffed, a savings account for the business for 1 year of operating expenses, 6 months of living expenses in house fund and a full freezer. Most of the monies have been drained because of emergencies, loss of job/work, etc. But not all. And, because I refused to borrow from the bank or SBA we don’t have the additional expense or stress of a loan payment. We did have to dip into the credit card a few hundred dollars for transmission work, but that’s been it.

We have shelter, food, clothing and transportation – we also have hope for the future.

By: Eliza

Eliza — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:07:29 +0000

@Burke Research – Hurray! It’s the life is too short part that I go by. I am not wasting a single second. You go! Two interesting points for me from your comment. 1) support from your husband – critical! Mr Very Right and I had multiple conversations about me starting a business and what that means to us as a couple. I wanted to be very clear on his and my expectations before I even started. Fortunately, he knows even better than I what it means to run your own business. 2) your tipping point occured around the one year mark. I am all about ignoring naysayers, but at the same time we need to be realistic. I hear of too many people who think they are going to have a successful business in no time flat.

By: Charlene

Charlene — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:36:55 +0000

So much happened in such a short time (circumstances, illness, joblessness, homelessness, etc.) to me and my husband. Boils down to this: I realized that life was way too short to let other people determine my career path. At 35 went back to school, have 2 degrees, moved for job, stranded cuz laid off, found crappy jobs, area not good for my expertise, etc. etc. etc. Then, with husband’s push and belief in me, I said fine! My turn! Researched options, found what I wanted to do, held back again by circumstances (lack of high speed internet in area, only had 1/2 of funds saved, etc.) Finally, through financial assist from family member, took the plunge and purchased necessary equipment and software and hung out my shingle. Following month the economy went south. To heck with it – I’m ignoring the naysayers. My business hit a tipping point this past April, I’m signing on clients one at a time, I’m moving forward, I’m hoping to support my husband and I in a few months. Goal is to sell house and move south – should be able to do this in one year. If not, to heck with the naysayers, we’ll ignore them and do it anyway Again, life is too short. Oh yeah – I’m 45 now and 1.2 years into it

By: Eliza

Eliza — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:52:53 +0000

@Karen – yes, there comes a point where you have to bite the bullet. You either have to jump right into the new business, or go back to the old one. I am hoping I’ll know when that point is!

By: Eliza

Eliza — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:51:11 +0000

@Friar – one of my frustrations with the pure Follow Your Passions Come Heck or High Water proponents is that this doesn’t take into consideration the realities of life. Hey! I like my pretty home, my Volvo, and my hot tub. I am not ashamed to state that. I worked hard for these pleasures. So, they must be considered in deciding on any career changes. You can still Follow Your Passions, but you need to build the boat to deal with the High Waters so you can keep from drowning. This takes time and patience.

By: Karen Bryan

Karen Bryan — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:05:45 +0000

I was working for several years concurrently in my freelance “day” job whilst establishing Europe a la Carte, my online travel content site/blog. I’d reduced my day job to 2 – 3 days a week but it got to stage where I was constantly frustrated and decided that I needed to focus totally on travel site/blog in order to make a go of it.