15th
Plan B
I’ve been asked by the Scarsdale Adult School to participate on a panel this evening entitled “Plan B” – for those interested in finding a job or switching careers. It’s free for those interested in attending.
Thought I’d jot down some of my thoughts in preparation for the panel:
First, it’s been clear that throughout my life I’ve had many different jobs/careers and continue to reinvent myself. I’ve been an attorney, a coat check girl at Restaurant Daniel, led a bicycle tour through France, taught English as a second language, worked at Random House, been a literary agent and now am an entrepeneur that’s created and run a company – DailyLit – that’s delivered over 25 million book installments. So, if this panel is about Plan B – I’m probably on to Plan M or N! Figuring out what you want to do in life is a continuing process.
-Second, if you’re trying to figure out what it is you want to do, you (meaning all of us) need to get yourself out there and be consistently pursuing your career as you’ve probably done in your home, raising your kids and with your first career. I’ve found a helpful tool in this transition is to buy a simple, small notebook that you can carry around with you. Every day, I’ve made sure to do at least 10 things to pursue my career. I literally list them 1 by 1 and at the end of the day, there needs to be 10 on my list. I start with folks I know – a call to an old friend counts, an email to a former colleague, breakfast with a neighbor, dinner with my brother. It all counts. If you don’t know what you want to do (I didn’t at various stages of my life), I’d ask each one of them to tell me whom they know who does the most interesting things – who’s the happiest. And whoever sounded interesting, I’d ask my friend to make an introduction. In fact, with each person I meet, I ask them to introduce me to at least 3 people they know. If there’s a particular area of interest, then I focus on that area. But careful not to think too narrowly. I make sure to follow up with each of those people with an email, phone call, and, hopefully a meeting. You’ll find getting to 10 each day really isn’t that difficult.
-Third, we have opportunities now in social networking that we’ve never had before. This is a place where each of us can excel and build up a following in a particular area so that we become experts. It may sound daunting, but if you start slowly — reading other people’s blogs, following others on Twitter, you’ll get the hang of it. And once you’re ready, start a blog (Tumblr is an easy tool to do that). Start tweeting on Twitter. And join Facebook. I’m sure your kids, husband or neighbors can help you get started – mine sure have!
Finally, think about interning or externing at a company that works in an area you’re interested in. For instance, at DailyLit, the company I run, I got an email out of the blue from a woman I had met a year or two earlier who said she wanted to volunteer her time to help us, and in exchange, get in experience in social media and digital publishing. It was smart of her and great for us.
That’s probably all I’ll have time to discuss, but I hope these few nuggets may help you:
1. Get a notebook and list 10 things you do every day
2. Establish yourself as an expert in your field by being active in social media (a blog, Twitter, Facebook)
3. Think about interning or externing in your field of interest. And if anyone is interested in social media or digital publishing, we have spots open this fall at Dailylit (we’re based in Mamaroneck, NY).
Good luck!
