How Can I Do My Dream Work and Pay the Bills?

05/13/18 • 34 min

If there's one question I get over and over, it's "How can I pursue a dream career as a content creator/artist/inspirational speaker/influencer and still pay the mortgage?"

Is this you? On paper everything is perfect, and yet: you're a talented, well-paid professional seeking a path of much less security, and probably, less income. Or like Karen Walrond, you're waking up decades after Dad said, "You're a math person. You should be an engineer."

My guest Karen Walrond and I rehash our paths from corporate America to new, creative, careers. Karen is a renowned speaker, coach, author, photographer and blogger. Learn about her shift from engineer and corporate lawyer to multi-hyphenate.

We often hear the before story, and the happily ever after story. But what happens in between? How do you make the pivot and build a new path as a creative person? How do you pay the mortgage throughout?

Karen and I talk through the process- and work in progress.

If there's one question I get over and over, it's "How can I pursue a dream career as a content creator/artist/inspirational speaker/influencer and still pay the mortgage?"

Karen and I talk through the process- and work in progress.

Previous Episode

The Mothers Are Coming

"There is nothing a gun extremist has as much love for as we do for our children." That's the true theory of change behind Moms Demand Action, a 50 state strong movement of over 4 million Americans who demand legislators fix our epidemic of gun violence.

Moms Demand members show up in state legislatures (and my Twitter feed) almost every day, fearless in the face of threats. Founder Shannon Watts says "All credit goes to every talented, Type A, badass moms who breathed life into this movement."

I wanted to know, what is life like as a grassroots organizer working in the perfect storm of a startup and politics? What's the organizing model that allows Moms Demand to function? How does a mom go from social media fan to activist? What kind of social media strategy does the organization employ? How did Shannon create the brand, one that appeals to red and blue state moms alike? And how do Moms Demand volunteers stay above the fray of ad hominem attacks on social media?

Shannon Watts started a Facebook page the day after Sandy Hook; she wanted to start something like Mothers Against Drunk Driving to allow mothers to fight gun violence. Learn how she and a team of dedicated volunteer activists built one of our most powerful grassroots armies.

Next Episode

No Match for Moms

From the time she was five, Kelsey Wirth traveled with her dad Tim Wirth as he was up for reelection in Congress- every two years in a swing district. Kelsey says she grew up in the spirit of both unpredictability and standing up for what you believe in. She is comfortable with uncertainty, something she credits with her success as an entrepreneur (she co-founded Invisalign at 27) and her work behind the non profit Mothers Out Front, which uses grassroots organizing to tackle the dirty energy powering climate change. Mothers Out Front creates practical solutions against a threat that can feel hopeless. Recently, members mapped gas leak spots in their community, setting in motion a plan that could reduce methane from gas leaks Massachusetts by 50%.

"We take an enormous threat and we break it down into pieces that enable mothers to take action and make meaningful change." The grief Kelsey felt while watching a documentary about polar bears in the Arctic with her daughters led to the birth of Mothers Out Front, but the work of Mothers About Front is local and not political in focus. Local moms and grandmothers take on often giant, entrenched utilities and corporate interests. Kelsey is hopeful and inspiring in her belief behind the power of the "snowflake" organizing model, made popular by President Obama in his Presidential runs and created by Marshall Ganz at Harvard. If you're an organizing nerd you'll love listening to how Mothers Out Front has grown!