It is said that today’s graduates will have six different careers in their lifetime. Not six jobs, but six different careers! At the age of 38 I took on my third major career change and decided to learn the art of Web Mastery after getting laid off as a project manager when the construction industry tanked in the Carolinas and future job prospects were becoming slim. (Thanks Barry-O!… luv ya… mean it!)

Though our President’s stimulus didn’t stimulate the economy (with North Carolina currently peaking 12.8% unemployment!) he did stimulate me into thinking I ought to pursue something that I would have greater control over my career destiny. I decided to pursue website design.

With a laptop and Google at my disposal, I soon learned how to setup domains, hosting services, web and email services, and how to setup up shop as a webmaster. Next I had to choose a platform to become an expert in, and I chose WordPress. The harder part was branding myself and creating a design on my business model.

Nothing teaches like experience and after a few fits and starts, as the unemployment was drying up the contracts started coming in. The old adage of “It’s a dream job to be able to set your own hours, work your own schedule” is true, but you do need to make sure that the work you do includes billable hours! Just as in physics where “work=force times distance”, the business world lives by the equation “income=billable hours x deliverables”.

I’d considered several different career options, some continuing in technology, some a sidestep like Project Management, and some totally different like landscaping, but I’ve come to see the truism that whatever you do, it has to be something you love to do, something that is intellectually stimulating, allows you to be creative and flexible, and of course, pays!

Have you found yourself having to change careers with the economic crisis our country is going through? Have you sidestepped, downgraded or changed completely? Has what seemed to be an insurmountable challenge bring great opportunity? What lessons can you share? Inquiring minds would like to know…

-A

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