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I Pick This.

If you need a reason to get going this morning, to hustle, to bust it, to make awesome stuff, feel free to let it be this: Because you’ve had the jobs that you hated. But this job. This thing that you are fortunate enough to get to wake up and do everyday. It still might be hard work (in fact it should be) but is it not awesome that we get to work hard to do the things we love instead of working hard to do things we hate?

I pick busy.

I pick tired.

I pick risky.

I pick this crazy life because this hard work is 150% better than the alternative. Which do you pick? I love this Hugh Macleod Quote:

Hugh-Maclead-Quotes021


Happy Wednesday, awesome people!

Question:

What is the worst job you’ve ever had?

  • Donna Butler - Hi Chris, today’s post spoke to me. (I might have to repost on my FB). I have been working on building my business for four years now…getting this or that done in the limited hours I had outside of a stressful full time day job. I had an hour or two each night and more on the weekends. It just wasn’t coming together as I wanted. I need to devote full time to it. SO, I just lost my day job and am free to go all,out with my business. I really want to be successful at this. I do not want to go back to a 9-5 hell hole. I don’t have a large client base so I am worried about staying booked (portrait work). I have enough backup funds to pay my bills and survive for about 3 months. I feel I am ready to launch but any tips, advise or encouragement are welcome. Did you have a mentor?ReplyCancel

    • Chris Creed - Hey Donna!

      Thanks for reading and reaching out. I’m so sorry I never responded to this!

      I don’t know where you are today compared to this time last year when you posted this but I want to encourage you to keep going. Keep making good work and keep adding value. As far a tips to stay booked: be seen, be heard, be active. I really do believe that if you’re just busting it and actually doing stuff (even if it feels small and insignificant) that energy will come back to you. It’s the Compound Effect. Small seemingly insignificant steps and actions will compound over time in to something awesome.

      Also, there will be months when your income is not where you want it to be. There will be months where it’s more than you could have imagined. Don’t let that discourage you becasue it’s to be expected. But we don’t want consistency. Because that’s normal and normal is what you don’t want to go back to. You’ve signed up for awesome. And awesome is never safe, predicable, or consistent. But it IS awesome 🙂

      Mentors. I would consider a few of my close friends mentors but not officially, no. BUT it is a good idea to have someone in your life who knows you, your business, your goals, and will tell you the truth.

      I would recommend reading…. just everything you can. I have a reading list you can look at to get you started. And here’s another one that I also follow. Also, Listen to audiobooks and podcasts. I seriously listen to probably 3 hours of podcast and audiobooks a day when I’m driving, working out, cleaning… It’s time where I can’t really be doing anything else anyway so I may as well learn something and listen to people who are smarter than me. Of which, there are many 🙂

      I sincerely apologize for the delay in my response and I hope you’re well. Please let me know how it’s going!!

      ChrisReplyCancel

  • Chris Scott - I had a job erasing pencil marks out of standardized test booklets for a summer. 8 hours a day. Every day. Erasing pencil marks.

    I’ll take hard, meaningful work over easy, mindless work any day of the week.ReplyCancel

    • Chris Creed - HAHAHA! That is amazing. Thanks for sharing that, man! ReplyCancel

  • Kathy Chastain - Hello Chris, I came across you post because a friend had shared it on FB. It touched home for me, because during my life I have actually had a few different career paths with my share of jobs I never want again, but actually had a couple I loved. My husband and I spent the last 16 years sharing his career doing PR in special events. Event PR is very hard work but we both loved it. Company mergers forced us into retirement. Sort of. I sat around, knowing I should be doing something, but was tired of going out and getting a job just for the sake of having a job. I have always works for two reasons, obviously one was to eat, sleep, and be merry. The other was to support the hobbies I really love having in my life. A wise friend suggested that maybe I was facing the wrong direction. Do what you love! So here I am, months later with an extremely successful business right here under my feet – literally. I love dogs and my art hobbies. I started a dog overnight boarding & daycare/training service. Yes, I know, not near as glamorous sounding as PR or news crews management, talent agent, or event photography. I have received a few strange looks from a few of our associates.

    Every client I have met with, cannot wait to leave their little loved ones with me. My calendar has been packed for months now and we are booked for the next several months. The repeat/returning clients keeps every little spot on the calendar filled. Of course, there is the poop-scooping part of the business! But after working for over 45 years, I can honestly say there is some form of poop-scooping in every job. I never get asked to reduce my fee, my clients are so happy, they bring us gifts or add extra tips including Starbucks gift cards! After working for so long we have every little “thing” we could ever want or need. If I tell any young person one thing – it is “less is more”. We do not need near as much stuff as we think we do. I have spent the last five years giving “stuff” away. What seems to be the most important to us now, is how we spend our time. And the best part is at the same time I get to spend as much time as I want with my 2nd passion – my art.

    Kathy ChastainReplyCancel

    • Chris Creed - Wow, Kathy! What an amazing story! Thank you for sharing that with me. Congratulations of the business too. That is incredible. Two things you said here I will never forget:

      There is “poop-scooping” in every job.
      How we spend out time is most important.

      Thank you for being awesome! ReplyCancel

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