The Career Clinic Blog

Why would you sweep the floor when you could hire someone to do it? John Nese from Galco’s Soda Pop Stop in Los Angeles says that one’s easy. He gets some of his best ideas while sweeping.

Here’s an idea. Watch this video. John shared some of his bubbly personality with us on The Career Clinic recently, and has a suggestion for would-be business owners. Don’t try to be everything to everybody. Just do one thing really well.

Doing something really well doesn’t necessarily mean doing it faster, by the way. Have you ever heard the expression that a shortcut’s the longest distance between two points? That’s how I feel about some of those computer shortcuts Darrell’s forever trying to persuade me to use. It drives him nuts to watch me take two or three keystrokes to pull off what he can do in one--which drives me nuts right back. He thinks I’m wasting time. I think I’m saving it--by making fewer mistakes--and savoring it.

When I was a youngster, someone told me there’s more to life than speeding it up. Sweeping, keyboarding, living. It’s not a contest, or a race. Is it?

It’s like I told Colleen Wainwright on the last show. I want The Career Clinic to be an oasis, the radio equivalent of a porch swing. Remember those? Where you’d sip--sip, not gulp--lemonade, and linger over a conversation?

Doesn’t that sound soothing? I hope so!

Thanks for reading, and listening.

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Do you get the feeling people aren't taking you seriously in meetings?

I once heard a great suggestion about this. Whenever you make a contribution to the proceedings, ask yourself, "So what?" Then follow your contribution with the answer to that question.

You're not just telling people something, now. You're telling them something, and why it matters.

Hope this helps!

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I got a present the other day, some great suggestions about the radio show from someone I barely know. Here’s how he wrapped them…

And I thought, “Yeah, good luck if I take number two to heart!”

Decision time. I could…

I love what my newest best friend says about situations like this: “Put dimmer switches on the parts you don’t like.” She would know. She’s built a business, a robust business that makes the world a better place one uplifted heart at a time, by paying attention to her cheerleaders--and smiling politely at the naysayers as she walks briskly past them.

Maybe this man wasn’t a dream crusher. Maybe there was only good intent behind everything he said. This is a tough business--though aren’t they all?--and perhaps he didn’t want me to get my hopes up.

Too late!

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"A resume is used to screen you out." Common knowledge, according to my sources. So why do we put all that effort into our resumes? We send so many copies out into the world in hopes that--with what? some fairy dust?--one of them will make it into the hands of our dream employer.

I once tested the advice given by What Color Is Your Parachute? author Dick Bolles, and saw how far I could get without a resume. I replied to an ad for a radio sales representative. The ad said, "Resume required." I sent a letter instead. I mentioned three or four things the position required, and the corresponding ways I’d proved--on other jobs--I had those skills. I got an interview and was hired.

I sucked at radio sales, but that's another story.

I didn't let a resume screen me out because I didn't send one. The interviewer seemed enchanted by my letter, and a little annoyed with himself for that! "Is this a resume," he asked, "or a resume substitute?"

But hey, it worked.

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What's the best way to help young people find work they love? By doing it yourself, of course.

You may not remember much of what your parents said, but I bet you remember a whole lot about how they lived--whether, for example, they were excited to go to work in the morning.

My daughter Katie has a front-row seat to my story, and I don’t want to bore her or me. Take resilience. I want to inspire that in Kate, and it’s an ongoing, three-step process. I let her know how badly I want something. She watches me fail. Then she giggles at my reaction: “I sucked! And I can’t wait to try it again!”

You don’t have to take my word for it. The little girl who graced this commercial for The Career Clinic is growing up, and came home from school yesterday with a report card for me--a speech she gave in English class.

Katie has big dreams. Lucky for her the tag line of this business could be, “Get your hopes up!" Even though inside I might be thinking, "Gulp."

Enjoy. Especially the part where she talks about how I hate running and love it. Truer words…

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Get your hopes up. Please. Believe you can have a wonderful life, and go get it. Not sure how? I wasn’t either. That’s one reason I went to a workshop given by Dick Bolles.

Dick convinced me it was okay to want what I wanted. One thing I wanted was a radio talk show, and the people who attended the workshop with me made me promise to go after it. What a supportive group! Don’t get me wrong. I had wonderful friends back home who were as nurturing as they were fun to be around. But there was always this hesitation when it came to the really big dreams.

I wondered when that starts. You wouldn’t pull aside a five-year-old, bursting with excitement on her first day of kindergarten, to say, “Whatever you do, kid, don’t get your hopes up.” Yet at some point, I bet you started hearing it. I bet you’ve heard it a lot. And I bet it came from someone--or many people--who love you more than life itself. I challenge you to find more good intentions in one statement than, “Don’t get your hopes up.” It can be a spirit killer, though, if you take it to heart.

The Career Clinic was designed to help you get your hopes up, and keep them up. We trust you're strong enough to weather the inevitable disappointments, and learn something that'll help make your dream come true the next time--or the time after that.

Do you remember when you were little and your heart was set on something--until you got it, and you wondered what all the fuss was about? Not so with the talk show! It took me seventeen years, and it’s more fun than I thought it would be.

Thanks, Dick.

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My life changed when I quit worrying about whether my career plans made sense to other people. It wasn't their lives we were talking about. I suggest you pay attention to that little voice inside that knows going after still another corporate job is wrong. Sure, some careers command more interest at a cocktail party or will pay for fancier vacations. But if you hate what you do for forty or fifty or sixty hours a week, you'll probably spend more time at cocktail parties...or on vacation.

I once read a story about a man who loved his job so much he was embarrassed to get paid for it. What would you love doing that much? Think it's impossible, that you shouldn't get your hopes up? Not according to my sources.

Who decided you shouldn't get your hopes up, by the way? A few people who did, and were disappointed? That's their story, not yours. Do yourself a favor. Go after a job you're so excited about it won't matter so much what you put on your resume or wear to the interview. Passion for the work is one thing employers consistently tell me is irresistible.

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