As any of my regular readers already know, I started kicking around the idea of a career change last year after some personal changes in my life. I started blogging about my journey as a way of gathering my thoughts and exploring possibilities. I quickly decided to take the safe route and use jobrepreneuing as my means of exploring a change in careers. For the uninitiated, jobrepreneuing is my word for exploring being an entrepreneur while keeping your day job. I wasn’t ready to take the full plunge and leave my regular employment, but I wanted to start doing something different…something that could lead to a new career.

In November I decided on a plan to focus my energies on Internet media. I was a frequent user of the Internet and loved the open ended possibilities. I have also been interested in design and technology for most of my life, so the fit just seemed right. This blog was the very first step into my new Internet media career.

The ideas came quickly, and I envisioned all sorts of ways to make money online. And, of course, I was reading blogs and websites that told me how easy it was to make thousands a month with just a few niche websites. But being a realist, I knew it would not be that easy…and it hasn’t been.

I now have four established blogs and am developing three non-blog websites. I recently completed a course at the local community college on Dreamweaver web design. I also invested in a one-year subscription at Lynda.com where I learn even more about web design and programming.

I not yet moved into the money making aspect of my new side career. Revenue is small from the few blogs that I have. I now view my blogging, not as a money making venture, but as a tool for learning and an outlet for creativity. The blogging has also been a venue for planning as I continue to work out my personal career change.

Finally, I must share that my day job experience has changed during the past several months. There is a renewed motivation and, dare I say, excitement at work resulting from a clearer mission for our organization. It was this new energy (and several major work projects) that kept me away from UTurn during the past month. The work has become valuable again.

So, I am continuing my path of jobprepreneuing and growing my Internet enterprises. I have no plans for leaving my current employment, nor do I want to drop my moonlighting work. Both career paths are exciting to me now. When the two conflict, I will put the day job at the top of the list. I owe that to my employer. But the Internet media work will dominate my evenings and weekends.

Be sure to drop in regularly as I will be adding posts much more frequently.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

But all this work is a good thing.  Well, maybe not the long hours.  But having important work to do is what motivates me.  And that formula is adding up to some real excitement at my job.

I’ve always been a believer that it’s not your employer’s job to motivate you.  But it is their job to give you work that is valuable to the companies success.  Everyone wants to feel that their work is meaningful and important.  And I believe that most good workers find motivation increases as the significance of their work increases.

If you find yourself unmotivated at work or feeling bored, take a look at the work you are doing.  Is it important?  Does your employer or supervisor value what you produce?  Find a job with important work to be done and you will find a career that is motivating.

So, I’m taking a break from the excitement at work to write this quick post.  In a week or two I hope to be back to my normal writing pattern of two to three posts each week.  Until then, why don’t you share with us what motivates you at work? 

[PhotoCredit:BrianU]

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

So, it’s time to update you on what is happening in my own pursuit of a midlife career change. Several weeks ago I wrote about my decision to stay in my current job while pursuing business options on the side. I call this being a jobrepreneur, and I wrote about the advantages of this work arrangement in January. It is challenging to do both, but it’s actually given me a new motivation for my day job.

As part of the preparation for my conference workshop, I created a website on using technology in a nonprofit business. NPTechnology.org was originally going to just be a simple site for answering participant questions that could not be addressed during the conference. But in speaking with other nonprofit leaders, I saw there is a need for more information in this area. So, I’ve decided to make the site a regular part of my Internet publishing group, Coryan Media.

I’m continuing to operate and write for four websites/blogs, and have recently been adding advertising to each site, one at a time. I’m also working on a couple more sites, but I know that I will need help to manage all of this…so the new sites are getting little of my time.

My hope is that all of this work will lead me to some new midlife adventures. I want to keep my position as the nonprofit director, but I love the technology/Internet work as well. I will be finding ways to promote myself as a speaker/trainer to nonprofits on the use of technology. In the meantime, I’m having fun and making some extra change…in my life and in my pocket.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Well, keeping with the career change theme of this blog, I’ve decided to post seven strange job related facts about myself.

1) I was a waiter for Olivia Newton-John and her date. To make it even stranger, the dinner was under a circus tent in the middle of the field on a horse farm. So let me explain…it was Anita Madden’s famous Kentucky Derby Party being held on her horse farm in Lexington, Kentucky. I was a waiter for the Marriot Hotel that was catering the dinner. Olivia and her date were the only guests at my table. That was 24 years ago and we both looked a lot hotter.

2) I was paid $20 to paint a 12 foot mural in a church Sunday school room. It was my senior year of high school, and I was really into art (paintings, drawing, ect.). The scene was a creek running through the countryside with trees, butterflies and a couple other animals. Was it good? Nope. I was really disappointed, but the church folk seemed to like it.

3) Two weeks after I got married, my wife and I moved into a group home to care for six troubled teenagers. And we are still together today! My wife and I…not the six boys. We worked in the home for a year. That work lead to me getting my Master’s in Social Work and a career in nonprofit administration.

4) When I was a teen, I worked as a bouncer at our county fair. Okay, this one needs some explaining. The main attraction at the county fair in Harrodsburg, Kentucky is the horse show. I got a job working in the reserved seating. I had to check a list of names to be sure no one without paid reserved seating was in the section. At the end of the week, I would make another $20-40 helping the carnies break down the rides. It was my one week summer job.

5) I once made a nearly $200 tip tending bar for a reception with the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Jeane Kirkpatrick. She was speaking to the Fort Worth, Texas Chamber of Commerce during her last year as ambassador, and I was assigned as the bartender for the reception before her speech. The tip was 15% of the bar tab for only about 40 guests. They liked to drink.

6) I created the term jobrepreneur to describe those of us who start a business while remaining employed. Jobrepreneuing is not so weird, but the word sure is. I first used it on this blog a couple months ago. I needed a word to describe what I was doing, but couldn’t find the right one. So, like any good wordsmith, I slammed two words together! BTW, did you know that Coryan is also a word smash? It combines the names of my sons, Cory and Ryan. My real name is Jim Lockwood.

And I’ve saved the best for last…

7) I once sold Avon products door-to-door. I was the second leading salesperson in our region despite being a 20 year old man selling in the housing projects. I had just graduated college and needed money for a car. This was the only work I could find in our small town. I sold five days a week for six months, even recruiting other moms to sell for me for a small commission.

I hope you enjoyed this little break from the regular U-Turn posts. Now, I’d like to see some weird facts from Ben at TheBlogscape.com, Tish at BloggingGal.com, KoTa at Ko-Ta.com, and Shari at ExpressMarketingMemo.com. You’ve all now been tagged! BTW, these are all great blogs, so check them out.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

In past updates I spoke about the website Listonga.com. I’ve actually stopped development of that site for a couple reasons. First, I am considering changing the platform from a self-designed website created in Dreamweaver to using WordPress. The effort to design a quality website with the minimal skills I have was proving to be too much.

The second reason for delaying work on Listonga is that I wanted to launch another blog that I had been developing. On January 1st I made my first post at SevenActions.com. Seven Actions is a blog about setting goals and taking action to change your life. It, like this blog, is the direct result of things that are occuring in my own life.

So, I now have two blogs in place, another in development, and two websites on the drawing board. I am considering this time a learning experience for me. It is also a test of my commitment and interest in web-based businesses. So far, my interest is not waining.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Also, I registered for a community college course on web design. It will be interesting. I’ve not taken a class that was graded since 1988! My son also registered for classes at the same time. Funny thing – he didn’t want to be in any class that I was in.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Be sure to check back and see how Listonga is developing. You can also read a bit more detail about my work on Listonga at my other blog. [Editor's Note: This blog is no longer active.] Also, let me know what you think by leaving a comment here or email me at jim_coryan@yahoo.com.

I spent last night registering this blog with 30-40 RSS feed websites. It took some time, but right now I am just too cheap to pay someone to do it for me. I also learned a bit and found a couple helpful websites.

I have also found myself not keeping up with everything at work. I’ve stopped putting in extra hours at work and focus all my spare time on the website development. I need to put some more energy back into work so that I have keeping that a priority. As long as I am employed, I need to give my employer the best I have. As a matter of fact, it’s 6:30 p.m. and I am taking a break from an extra long work day. I have about another hour of work before I can head home. So, goodbye for today…and I’m back to work!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Well, the website is coming along. I’ve been designing templates for the pages and trying to work some on content. I completed a page today that you may find interesting. It’s called Current News Lists. I’m not nuts about the name, or the complete look of the page (needs some graphics). Nonetheless, I really like lists that are linked to on the page.

I’ve actually started making come small pocket change off the advertising on this blog. Nothing major, but it’s a start. (Google restricts me from sharing the specifics.) I’ve included Google Adsense advertising on the Listonga.com website and just a couple days ago added some Amazon.com advertising. I like the look of the Amazon ads, but we will have to see if they pay off. I may add some Amazon links to this blog. I can select the specific ads, so I might promote some of the books that I have read.

Be sure to follow the progress at Listonga.com. And, if you have ideas, comments or a suggestion for a list, drop me an email at coryan@inbox.com.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

About a month ago I decided to begin the steps to changing my career. As I’ve explained in other posts, I decided to go the moonlighting path to starting a business of my own. I’ve choosen to create some websites that will earn revenue through advertising, memberships and possibly product sales.

I first generated a list of about 10-12 website ideas. I then went right to the Internet to search for available domain names. This turned out to be more of a challenge that I had expected. I used GoDaddy.com to research specific domain names and NameBoy.com to help generate new name ideas. After about three hours of work, I had a list of 20 available names that had (in my opinion) some potential for the website ideas I had generated. I then narrowed the list down and purchased six of the domains.

I then started this blog and another called Listonga. [Editor's Note: The blog is no longer active, so the link is now to the Listonga website.] The blogs were to help me develop two of my website ideas and to learn about web design and advertising. I also signed up at Lynda.com, an amazing website with video tutorials covering more than 100 software titles. I have been learning to use PhotoShop and DreamWeaver (web design software) by watching the videos. It’s been a lot to learn, but it’s enjoyable and necessary.

So now I have to put these new skills to use. I will talk more about that in my next update. Keep an eye out for Coryan Updates in the future. They will occur on occasion between the regular articles and information.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.