Change the things that can be changed, accept those that cannot, and have the wisdom to know the difference.
Serenity Prayer
This site is my story as a Brand U and in many ways may become the story of your work, career, and job. So, pay heed. Understand the conventional rules of work and challenge/hack the rules
I started out of high school doing manual work. My first job was as an ordinary seaman in the merchant marine. I worked on rust buckets on and off for 5 years. This manual work was very hard and frankly not suited to my style, abilities, temperament, and life direction.
Hard Lesson Learned: This was my first big work lesson: Do what you love and develop an aptitude to do it well.
I then got a liberal arts degree in political science. Great! But, what was I going to do with a degree that pointed me to politics. Me – a libertarian. Go figure!
Hard Lesson Learned: Have a vocation and an avocation. Your vocation is your portable meal ticket and your avocation is something you love to do but doesn’t necessarily pay the rent. And, if you can blend your avocation with your vocation, you’ve been blessed.
Since I needed a vocation I migrated into engineering in my mid twenties. I became a licensed mechanical engineer. Great decision! Had loads of fun as an engineer building things: oil terminals, high-pressure pipelines, and process facilities. Until the oil bust. Then, I couldn’t get a job for my life. This was my third big lesson.
Hard Lesson Learned: Things change so be prepared.
I stayed in engineering but reengineered my career horizontally. I became proficient in mechanical, manufacturing, quality, software, cyber security, and industrial engineering.
I even started writing books on these subjects. These geeky tomes were full of multisyllabic words that were the identifying trademarks of engineering professionals. I learned I had the ability to glue words together.
Hard Lesson Learned: Messages about inherent abilities come from unexpected quarters. So, listen carefully.
During this period of my portable career, I worked for a number of ‘my way or the highway’ bosses. This management style clanged with me. So I left big business to become an entrepreneur for which I was totally unprepared. I had been trained, nurtured, promoted, and reinforced for geek abilities. I mostly had had a safe corporate home.
Hard Lesson Learned: Degeek. Well, what do I mean? Entrepreneurship requires new skills. Technical abilities whether accounting, law, or engineering get a job done, but don’t necessarily support entrepreneurship in terms of running a business, making payroll, or making a profit. I had to learn how to sell and schmooze – in others words I had to grow horizontally again and become a people-person.
So, now I’ve written about ten books. Some bombed. Some floated. And, one or two actually earned out. I’ve also founded a number of businesses including Greg’s Outrageous Cookie Company, a publishing business, and loads of others that did OK.
Hard Lesson Learned: Do, do, and do again. Learn from your mistakes then do things differently until the magic is discovered.