Finally! Made a move.

My blog has been bugging me. Every time I looked at it, or thought about it, I was reminded that I haven't made any moves towards my career dreams in months. Finally, I got my web page together.

Here I am, a career counsellor, helping people with their career dreams, and being stuck for so long. I guess I'm not any different than most people, getting frustrated with the perseverance needed to follow through on a dream.

I must admit, by writing out my dreams, or at least blogging, created a personal accountability (it's always there to bug you)....and it works. I strongly recommend everyone to document your dreams. It gives your dreams extra potency.
Go ahead, click on my website and check it out. I made it with iLife on my Mac. I needed to upgrade my iWeb to iLife in order to handling the HTML snippets from Paypal (to generate the payment buttons).

Don't forget to wright out your dreams.

Working in the Wilderness

It was a good experiment working on my sailboat from a Northern Ontario lake, Lake Temagami. From the town docks I picked up the free wireless internet form the local library. On the sailboat I was able to Skype people, give feedback on a cover letter, and send out a career counselling training proposal.
Once we sailed to our destination lake, Spawning Bay, we were out of wireless range. However, I noticed a cell town at the Municipal Docks in the centre of the lake. I have no doubt that with the portable (cell) internet stick I would be able to access the web.
What I like about our 21' Sirius sailboat is the ability to trailer it to remote locations. Lake Temagime is huge...45Kilometers from top to bottom. We took our canoe along, tethered behind the sailboat. I would not recommend teathering a canoe since it's just one more thing to add to the already numerous cables and ropes involved with sailing. It's not bad with a head wind, but is tricky with a tail wind. We disovered this as the wind blew the canoe sideways and the teather rope ended up pulling the canoe over filling it with water. What an ordeal! I should have tied the teather under the canoe looping up through the front seats, that avoids the teather rope from capsising the canoe. Oh well...live and learn!

Life is like building a boat

For the past 6 months I've been helping my friend, Steve, building a canoe. We've taken our time wanting to build it from wood we cut and shape ourselves, taking pride that it does not contain any nails. Looking a several completed canoes we had a vision of what we wanted.
I find building that "perfect career" is much like canoe building. My inspirational song this morning, Dare You To Move, by Switchfoot, made it clear that going after your dreams is not easy, full of challanges, and sometimes fears. It's easier and safer "not to move".
Steve and I could have taken the easy way with the canoe and bought a kit and used nails....but, it would not be as close to our vision of a "beautiful boat" if we did not persevere.
This convinces me to preserver after my career and work dreams. What are your dreams?

Am I called to Make a Living on a Sailboat?

It may sound silly wondering if I am "called" to find a way to make a living from a sailboat. During my daily inspirational Podcast I was challenged to consider how I have been gifted to help others. This made me think of two people I wrote resumes for; one in person and the other online. In both cases I could sense the person's confidence building as I helped them create accomplishment statements (such as Katie moving to Toronto from Vancouver who needed a resume to go from the movie industry to event planning). I feel I can help people see their inner strengths and encourage them to find work matching their strengths. I need to not be so lazy and spend more time finding opportunities to do resumes both on Elance and through my own website. It's funny how our weaknesses can get in the way of blessing others. I just got to make a point of getting my website done. I need to make a public commitment....that's it....I'm going to set September at my target month.

Give Elance a Second Chance

Had a good Elance experience writing a resume. I find the trick is not to set up too many project markers for payment. What I mean is not to ask for multiple payments. In stead of establishing a partial payment after each resume draft, simply request 50% up front and the balance after the final resume draft. It's a lot less administrative work and there is less chance your customer's credit card will be cancelled due to suspicious activities with numerous small charges.
I'm surprised that I rank in the top 25% with only $110 in sales and two positive customer feedback comments, and that's out of more than 25,000 frelancers. I guess a lot of people don't actively bid, but just hope customers will look them up.
Even though I get three free bids per month, I think I will purchase the minimum of 20 bids for $20 and see if I can "drum up" more business.

Many make a living from a sailboat.

While on my sailboat this weekend, at Kon Tiki Marina, I discovered several people make a living from their sailboats. The owner, George, said that some of the other sailboat owners work from their sailboats, saying "If you can work from a computer, we have the wireless."
I thought I alot about that anchored in the south end of Lake Simcoe on Saturday cooking dinner on the boat BBQ. I though of how peaceful it would be anchored there all day writing resumes for clients.
I got to start putting out more bids on Elance and getting my webpage done!!!!

Want cheese with your Joomla?

My webmaster, David Bird of www.birdwebwork.com, set me up on Joomla as a tool to help develop my Unlimited Worth website. It's a great idea, I use this interface to create the content of my website. Once it's functioning in Joomla the website "skin" (the layout and images) can be applied over the content.
This makes it much easier to create websites. It eliminates much of the time involved in sending content back and forth to the webmaster. Not only is David Bird a smart webmaster, he's my nephew. Talk to him if you need a website.

Faith to Navigate.

Blogger, Carole, left an interesting post under the "Stick-to-it'ness" blog. She related sailing navigation to career direction. Even though we can use all the slickest navigation tools, such as GPS's and charts, we still use a bit of our "gut feeling". This relates to career direction in that we can take all the assessments in the world, but it comes down to what that "small inner voice" is saying to us....that's where faith comes it. It's so true! So many of my career counselling clients say "I should of listen to my gut" when making career and job decisions.
Problem is, I have two "inner voices" saying "yes" to both my current work and the idea of making a living from a sailboat. A sermon this week challenged me to "feed my sheep". For me, that means to help people see hope for thier futures. I difinatly feel like I am doing this at the career centre, but, I have also recieved positive feedback by offering on-line career counselling (the type I could do from a sailboat). I guess this is where faith comes in, to just continue in both until something forces a decision. What do you think?

Natural Healing

Time to get the sailboat ready! Natural Heeling was the name of my boat when I purchased it, and I kept the name. It reminded me of how nature can calm the soul. Sailing out of Bing Inlet with my buddy Neil, we anchored near the tree in the picture. It was the same area where Tom Thomson, of the Group of Seven lived and painted.
I staired at the tree and rocks and thought how little they have changed from the Group of Seven days. In a world full of change it's nice to be near, climb, and touch things that have not changed for hundreds of years. It makes me think of what legacy am I going to leave? Time in nature is actually a catalyst for me to change.
How does nature heal you?

Gadgets for work and life on the water.

It's worth it to keep your kids. My daughters bought me a set of BlueChart maps for my Garmin GPS (which they also bought for me). With the nautical maps this GPS is a perfect gadget for getting around the lakes, especially when looking for great places to anchor for a day of online work.
With the push of a button I can locate recommended anchor spots close to my sailing location. I can also call up tons of details about the nearby marinas, such as services, washroom facilities, restaurant, and accommodations. I can see myself using this gadget to locate marinas to hang out at for the day.
I especially like the "anchor slippage", a warning that sounds if the boat anchors slip...great if you're "sleeping on the job"!

The Power of "Stick-to-it'ness"

It's funny how things work. A friend knew I liked designing programs for youth and asked me for a proposal. When reviewing the client's website I noticed they were looking for an Internet Liaison. I fired out an email of inquirey and got a call the same day. The organization, Venture Academy, is a residential youth counselling and treatment program. They need someone to participate in chat sessions and blogs to talk about the benefit of youth counselling. This seems "right up my alley".
After talking to the founder, Gordon Hay, I think the internet work is something I could do and would be very interesting. I'm going to give this a lot of thought.
It's funny how you end up stumbling across good things if you are looking for it. I guess that's the power of sharing your dreams. What are your dreams?

Distress vs Eustress

I co-facilitated a workshop last week titled Freak Out Management, along with a well-experienced facilitator Jim McLeod. I learned there are two types of stress.....Distress...that stuff that exhausts you, and Eustress....that stuff that "pumps you up".
With doing 22 workshops for 420 people last week I definitely experienced Distress. I don't think it was the work, but more the environment....talking to so many people....it exhausted me. I think I am more of a one-on-one person. I get pumped when I've helped one person (on-line or face-to-face). I had one on-line client say "I feel like I have my own person motivational speaker".
I can see rewarding work coming from on-line one-on-one career counselling.
Where does your Distress or Eustress come from?

Enviroment vs Employment

It's funny how it's hard to find the ideal balance between between work environment vs employment. I know I would love the environment of working in the outdoors on my sailboat. However, the work opportunities to make that possible are not always close to what I love to do. What I mean is that my buddy, Neil Cragg, has a good opportunity for me to help manage the finances of his business expansion. It's part-time work I could easily do from my sailboat, but, it's not the work I feel "called" to do. Yet, if things work out I could be helping a lot of young people be trained for the new business....that would be cool.
It's always a conundrum trying to figure out the balance. How's your balance.

The new website...to go where no chart has gone before!

I think I will go with Carole's suggestion of a nautical theme for my new website. What I like about sailing is that it is very unregulated, no licensing, no registration, and no fees. It's kind of like the freedom of freelancing.....so.....sailancing is a very appropriate term.
Plus, our futures are as vast as the oceans. Almost anything is possible if we have faith in possibilities. Even though sailing requires a lot of "target setting" on landmarks, when you are in open water you need to depend on chart. I see career counseling as the charts for uncharted areas of your work life. It is my hope and prayer to help people to discover the uncharted possibilities of their lives.

On-line Resume Community

I came across (through Elance) an interesting approach to resume assistance through www.resumeposse.com. It' an on-line community that helps each other with their resumes. Once a person is happy with thier resumes they can upload it to the Resumeposse resume bank, or any online reusme bank. This could be an interesting opportunity for my online carer counselling service.
I guess I better get my new website up and going!

Win credits for your ideas!

I want to give 25 Career Counselling credits to anyone who can help me come up with an image for my new website. Blogger, Carole, gave me some good ideas to blend the "journey/sailing" moteph into the site. I just can't come up with an image for the central work area. This will be the splash image that will be replaced by working screens such as assessments, resumes, ect.
My old website was very corporate looking. I'm thinking about moving towards a more non-conformist look. Here's an image I'm considering.

Let me know what you think and it I choose it I will give you 25 credits that could be used for a new resume, cover letter, and a survey to figure out what you want to be when you grow up.

Sail now, don't wait for better weather!

I bumped into a person, Sherry Burton (maiden name) whom I worked with in 1983. It's surprising how we can catch up on 26 years in just 5 minutes! When she asked "What are you doing now" I jokingly answered "Trying to figure out how to make a living from a sailboat, I'd like to figure this out for my retirement". She questioned why wait until retirement and explained how she reduced her full-time job to 3 days per week to enjoy the things she loves to do.
Today's drawing reflects the feelings I had as a young child, walking to the small public school in Schomberg. Taking the long way through the fields and rivers with the sun on my face, breaking the ice along the rivers. It's the freedom of time I cherished. I'd like to get back to that. A psychologist had a theory that we spend our entire lives trying to get back to the age of 7. What do you think?

Weakness from waiting

It is very possible to making a living from my sailboat. The technology and access to work opportunities is very accessible. I am well suited to work independently. My personality type needs solitude and aesthetically pleasing work environments. I just need to update my website, continue checking for work, and wait. However, I'm not good at waiting. I tend to loose confidence and doubt myself. However, like job search, waiting pays off. I need to hang on to the things that give me strength.
This morning's drawing is of a deer I saw early one morning north of Baxter. The scene reminded me of a Bible verse how God created me with the grace and strength of a deer. If I am created with Intentional Design there must be a special purpose for my design.....I just got to wait while I'm discovering it.

Need ideas for my new website

Encouragement from my bloggers to "stay true to who you are" led me to redesign my website. Here is a pencil drawing of the new layout (click on it to enlarge). I want to help people dream through thier career moves by helping with questions like:

1. Who Am I?
2. What's Out There?
3. How do I get there?

I'll still do resumes since that often leads to these three questions above. I just need to come up with a photo idea for the centre to replace the very "corporate" looking photo in my old website.
Any ideas?

Literaly...making a living from a sailboat

One of the bloggers, Danielle, said "why don't you literaly make a living on a sailboat by taking people on the boat for a day or weekend to think through their career dreams". I just stared, like a deer staring at headlights, and after a long pause said "Cool!".
It was successful when I took teenagers on 7-day canoe trips to dream about their futures. There is just something about getting away from the hussel-and-bussel of daily life in order to step back and take a look at your life.
Danielle, who is trained in art therapy, suggesting taking time on the sailboat to read, write, and draw. Again, something I find extremely beneficial as I sit, here, in my sailboat every morning. I think the drawing would be a lot more therapeutic anchored in a cove off Georgiana Island in Lake Simcoe.
Would you spend a day on a sailboat just to get an idea of your work dreams and future?

Sailancer experience

I don't think I'll use Elance for resume writing service. My first online client found it a lot of work setting up an Elance account, confirming partial payments for each resume draft, confirming final funds release to me, and providing feedback. I liked the feedback part, but it was a hassel for the client (the picture is iStockphoto, not the client...although...she looked like this explaining her troubles) . To confirm her identity Elance issued two small refundable credit card charges for her to confirm. Consequently her credit card provider cancelled her credit card since they were suspessions of the mulitple small charges from Elance.
Elance is very good for large projects spanning several weeks or months, but for one-time resume writing I'll just offer a Paypal payment method on my website.

Dying to Change

My Web Designer, Rachelle Maynard, asked me "what does your web site do?". My drawing of dying grass, near the Nottawasaga River, came to mind. I journaled on the drawing:

"I watched, over the months, this grass sprout up, grow, and now die. All parts of God's creation experience cycles. Yet, the river still flows, birds still sing, rains still come. I guess there is a time for everything. I hear the rain coming, God always seem to provide signs of change."

I want my on-line career counselling business to help people who know it's time for a change in their lives. An article titled "How I lost my Bay St. job and found true happiness" is a good example of the people I want to help. They don't have to be "Bay Street" professionals, but, anyone that has a dream.
I beleive it's dreams that keep people motivated for life. How about you?

Niggles out of Fear

I drew this picture of ice stuck in the river's ebb circle since Carole related life to this image. Her reply on March 15th summed up a great observation that we can not ignore the "Niggles" that move us beyond fear. Well, this week I experinced seveal very strong "Niggles" to move on with my dream to make a living from a sailboat.

1. Carole mentioned "I ignored the Niggles to my perile....years can go by"
2. Time spent in nature last weekend confirmed how I need that in my life.
3. Some online clients told me "your help is the energy I need to keep going"
4. Today's Pray As You Go challanged me to face my fears

For the past month I have done nothing to move closer to my work dream. I need to do what I recommend to so many people, to use others to hold yourself accountable. So, I'm going to hold myself accountable to you Bloggers to come up with a new website design by the end of this month.

Connect with Nature

I took some time for photography and sketching during my visit to the Black River. I just love the look of white snow and evergreens back dropped by a blue sky. Laying on a warm rock and just stared at the sky and trees. There is something about being so close to nature, it helps me connect to how God designed me.

I remember my camp counsellor in Agonquin Park say “once you pick up a paddle you’ll never be the same”. It’s true. It's kind of like the connection that the early Celtic people had in 400A.D. They saw God’s design and wisdom in nature….like Jesus said “even the rocks will cry out”. How do you connect with your design?

Break the Fear of Change

Spinning in circles, around and around. That's how ice trapped in an eddie, flows at the bottom of a waterfalls. During my weekend at Black River I could see for three days, from the cottage, the same piece of ice trapped in an eddie. It made me think about life’s routine and how difficult it can be to break out of a safe routine.
Walking down to the edge of the eddie I pushed a log with my foot to see if it would escape ebb circle, but it got pushed back by the force of the river.
I think it takes a strong push for people to break the fear of change. That push can come from the “inside”, a value or need not being met, or "external", by a person or event that makes you wake up. I think my need for solitude and my constant work with people is pushing me to find a different work environment. What kind of pushes have you experienced?

Winter Bla's in a Sailboat.

Nothing much to write about. Still sitting in my boat each morning, drawing pictures, listening to my inspirational Podcasts from Pray-As-Y0u-Go. I am looking forward to this weekend, it's my 25th anniversary.....of a "guys" weekend I do every year with the same guys.
We rent any available cabin up North, eat the food our wives won't let us eat, and take guns to shoot unwanted gifts (it's better than regifting).
It's funny, every year we talk and dream about living in the north...."if only we could earn a living from a cabin". However, the technology to make a living from a sailboat could also be used to make a living from a cabin in the North.
I wonder what stops people from living a dream?

We Don't Have The Power Capt'n!

Typing this blog on my Mac in the sailboat each morning works well since I have enough battery power for the hour, plus I'm close enough to my house to pick up my wireless. However, working from the middle of Lake Simcoe the Mac would last only a few hours. I need more power Scotty!
My sailing magazine explains how to put solar power in a sailboat. It's pretty easy, just hook up a solar panel to a car battery. A laptop can be powered through a simple car adapter. Presto! I'm surfing at warps-speed all day.
I already have a 40 watt panel (that cost about $150) and two batteries for my camper trailer. I just need to mount the panel on the boat hatch and run a wire down to the battery compartment. That would run my laptop all day. However, it I want to run my fridge I would but would be out of power by noon each day. I don't have any more room for another panel. I could put up a wind mill. I saw this neat wind mill that can double as a water generator by dragging behind the boat while sailing. I could alway avoid using the fridge, but, that's the beuaty of working from the boat, it's like a home away from home. I need more power Scotty!

Discovering Terry

This morning's drawing journal made me think of the importance of going with the flow of life, and not pushing back to make is something it's not. I wrote on my drawing:

"It seems that every chapter of life peels another layer from my pretend life, exposing the mystery of God's design in me."

Instead of trying to be something that I am not, or questioning why I am attracted to certain work, I need to go with the strengths of my God-design and figure out how to use these strengths in work.
I can see changing my website to reflex the journey of my work life. Who knows, maybe I will connect with those on or seeking the same journey. Any ideas of what I should include in my website?

Staying True to Myself

Our blog follower, Carole Cotton, critiqued my website and said "I'm surprised not to see a picture of a person with a laptop on a sailboat". After several minutes reviewing my site it was pretty clear the site did not portray who I am.
I guess I wanted to create an image that would appeal to those who could pay for career counselling, and not necessarily those looking for more meaningful careers. This is so strange since I got into career counselling because I was looking for more meaning in my career than what I got from working at a bank.
Carole was right in suggesting that people would be interested in my journey, that they need to see hope for positive change in careers, that it is possible to make a living with a dream....even on a sailboat.
I definantly need to reflect my career dreaming in my website, and stay true to myself. Can anyone relate to this?

Am I an inny or an outty?

I mean am I an introvert or an extrovert? As the possibility of making a living from a sailboat becomes reality I seriously ask myself if I would like a work life of solitude?
I was attracted to a solitude work life after visiting some light houses while sailing in the Bustard Islands last summer.
My journal for my lighthouse sketch says.

"The choice of the Lighthouse Keeper. To choose an occupation so lonely and remote must take a person who loves solitude, yet sacrifices social for the opportunity to help someone in dire need. - Byng Inlet Oct.5, 2008."

To help with this question I took an online Introversion/Extroversion assessment. It showed that I am an introvert. That does not mean I'm a backwards mouse-type personality. It means that I get rest and re-energized by solitude. That is so true with me. That's why I sit in my sailboat every morning for an hour typing blogs, listening to inspirational music and Podcasts, and drawing. I guess a work life on a sailboat would suite me.

Down and out in a sail boat

I felt a little "shallow" sharing my dream to make a living on a sail boat. Especially with my sister showing me art work of children in Africa needing support to attend school. I immediately thought of Mbuma, a child I met in Africa. He asked me "Don't forget me...I want to work in America".
My daily Pray As You Go pod cast was about Jesus encouraging us to be like little children, to abandon our worldly desires. I thought to myself "Crap! Now I really feel shallow". In my drawing/journal I questioned the difference I have made over the past year.
Yet, when my sister asked if I would help the children in Africa I said "I'd be all over it like a kid on candy".
Maybe the flexibility of freelance work would help me be available for volunteering? Does this make sense, or am I just fooling myself to not feel so shallow?

Found the answer to virtual work!

When I shared with my sister Lynn that I wanted to make a living from a sailboat she immedialty held up a little red USB drive and said "this is the answer". Well, it wasn't a drive, but a Roger's Mobile Internet Stick. My mouth dropped in amazement and vissions of working from the middle of Lake Simcoe danced in my head.
Lynn has spent the last month in Tanzania implementing a Rotary project called ABCD. It sponsors kids for school by getting them to share their dreams in drawings.
While we were downloading Africa video from her camera to my Mac we were a little board and ended up Skyping each other on the couch..., it was fun talking to each other with a split-second delay...we sounded like some cheap used car commercial going crazy with the echo machine. What a laugh!

The art of "Blabbing" part II

The art of “Blabbing” (networking) is alive and well. I shared my dream of making a living from a sailboard to a friend, Doug Humphries. With excitement he told me how he’s using www.gotothemeeting.com for virtual meetings with his consulting business. This is another great tool for doing on-line career counselling. More proof that sharing your work dream not only gets other people helping, but also helps you get a clearer idea of your desired work.
Doug continued with his dream of helping retail business owners develop an inviting environment for shoppers. I loved his idea of building employee moral as a critical component of an inviting shopping experience. I offered to help him design motivational workshop……something I could easily do as a Sailancer.
It’s your turn, share your work dream.

Clueless in a sailboat

I’m still wondering if making a living from a sail boat is the best use of my time. At church I watched a montage of Martin Luther King Jr. quotes. The quote “We must use time creatively -- and forever realize that the time is always hope to do great things." really got to me. Am I doing great things by working from a boat?
At times of doubt I often journal…..not in a diary….or my guy friends would beat me up (emotionally). But, when I draw. My journal entry on this drawing says:

Journey – Snowy, windy day, white outs from the North. This road makes me think of the journey God has me on, unexpected turns, yet still heading in the same direction. Winds of change can bend me, but God’s strength keeps me from breaking.

I guess if I always do what I love (use my gifts to help people) I’m heading in God’s direction for my work life.
What do you think about following a destiny?

Just because I can.

When freezing in my sailboat each morning I listen to a Podcast called Pray-As-You-Go. Today it talked about how God gave up heaven to come to earth in a human body to help and spread Good News. It made me think about the purpose of making a living form a sailboat, is it just to satisfy my own wants, or to help others?
It made me think if I should go after this dream just because I can. Therefore, I took one of those on-line Spiritual Gifts assessments and it said I am gifted with Exhortation, Serving, and Mercy. I guess that's why I feel so good when people see hope of their future after making or updating their resumes. I hear people saying "I did not realize I had so many great skill to get into the jobs I want".
I think I could still use these Spiritual Gifts making resumes for people from my sailboat. Actually, virtual career counselling might be able to help those in remote locations or challenged with getting out.

This image of an Owl making a face plant in the snow was pointed out to me during a snow shoe hike at the Wild Centre in Tupper Lake, NY this weekend.
Brad, the nature interrupter, pointed to a bunch of marks in the snow and said "look at this, it's amazing". At first I just saw mark that look like someone dropped a mitt. But when Brad started to describe the Owl the entire image and story started to appear to me.
Sometimes our search for work happiness does not seem clear to us. Often it takes someone else to point out the possibilities. That's the nice thing about sharing your dreams, it gets those with a different perspective a chance to help you.

I like what Brad said about this blog, he provides some widsom:

"So many people get stuck in a rut especially those who prescribe to the go to school, get married and then let fifty years roll by doing not much. The nuclear family ideal (which I believe never existed in reality) has really stuck in people’s head. I have moved as many as five times in five years and I have no regrets. I’ve met so many neat people and seen so many great things. I wish you all the best and good luck!"
Yours,
Brad Donahue
Interpretive Naturalist"

I hope Brad didn't mind me posting this?

I'm an eLancer Sailancer

I’m a eLancer Sailancer! Sailancer is the name I made up for a person who wants to make a living from a sailboat. eLance is the name of an online bidding site (kind of like eBay) that connects freelance workers with customers. I opened a free account, getting 3 free bids per month. I have yet to win a bid for doing on-line resumes, however, a person saw my profile and asked me to do a resume. Cool!
A lot of the tools for me doing virtual work seem to be falling into place. Anyone use Guru? I think it’s the same as eLance.