I was reading Word fan page on Facebook and came across this note. Pretty true that if you enjoy what you have now this helps you to maintain focus on the things you want. Are you making the time to enjoy all you have? If you have a positive quote for today send me one. I’d love to share it.

Name- Inua Ellams

Job Description – Word and Graphic Artist

Currently-Self-employed

Back in september I met this young vibrant young man by the name of Inua Ellams.

This amazing encounter with 26-year-old man, left me asking myself and wondering a lot of questions. How does a young man develop so much zeal and entrepreneurial mind?

If you asked him what he wanted to do when he grew up he’d say being in a “boy band“. He even had a group name at one point “3 Shades of Black”. consisting of him and his two friends.

But he also wanted to be a business man- architect and visual artist.  How he ended up  a word and graphic artist seemed pure luck. Since he couldn’t afford to go to University and he started writing in order to be more creative with his hands.

The most impressive thing is that he began his self-employment at age 19  and has never had the need to”find a job” again.

Note to self. Now, if only  I had done that earlier.

I originally chose him because he is an amazing storyteller.I discovered him by chance at  a poetry night at which I had attended  upon subsequent events and currently receive his newsletter.

But during our interview I slowly realised that this unassuming young man had seriously hidden depth.

There was so much insight in what he had to say and so much wisdom in what he knew. I got some serious inspiration.

Audio for Inua………….will be uploaded  here soon….

Inua can be found here  and here and also on twitter

Help I think I’m in one!

So I’ve been reading this book by Seth Godin ” The Dip” and just noticed how my motivation has gone from high to low. The week didn’t start out as good as I wanted it.  So you’ll  probably have never heard me speak in this manner but I’ am experiencing my “DIP”.

The DIP -

usually what happens after you made a big decision about something you’ve decided to do and you hit your first crisis or a number of them.

Please take a look at some examples of dip that could happen to you.

What did my DIP consist of

• A really lousy weekend low motivation to do any work

• Mon- though I had a plan, I didn’t stick to it

• Didn’t put a blog post

• I focussed way too much on other people’s projects than my own- I know I told myself I would help other people in order to build my skills and learn something in return but I gave too much.

• Tues-  Spent almost two hours arguing with Talk- Talk about huge phone charges.  Missed  my 2pm appointment with the food bank . Still, no time to blog, write or make calls

• The bank charges me for late fee

• Wed- focused on other people’s project’s once more. Attending a fundraising meeting for a charity I support.

• 1 hour 30 min arguing with the bank about late charges

• Stay calm, it can only get better

• Where are your priorities Mathy!!!

• My Klout is going down

• Thur- the job centre made my day. Losing all my paper work, delaying payments and making me miss an interview. I will kill them!!!!

• I still haven’t changed my theme , blogged………….

• My hair is drying , I feel like I am pulling it out slowly

I am now asking myself” is this a result of the dip or is it  bad planning? I had all this high energy last week and  now I am re-assessing how much do I want to turn my ideas into a reality.

In the midst of it all something real positive stuff happened.  I did a guest blog on TheEmployable website.Yeah!! And their migth be a job offer starting next week.

Most people when faced with a challenge QUIT. But the DIP teaches you not to quit your projects, or dream. But it may reveal what’s worth quitting in a healthy way.

Please read The DIP!!!!!!!!

And for some reason everyone  around me was talking about the DIP in my creative group. On Tuesday night, one guy (from my creative group) said

“what would life mean if you didn’t have this project  with or without a job?

Wouldn’t it just make work boring and meaningless?

“This gives me a sense of purpose. So quitting is not an option. “He says

Maybe I need to reassess my time-management!?

Flickr image by iMylene

In my last post “What activities are you still working up the courage to try” I mentioned the importance of taking action and exploring your secret ambition which is why I want to talk to you about the 30 day challenge.

So late last week I was catching uo with an old friend who I met at a scanner’s event and we decided we would get together more often to support each other on our creative ideas. What’s a Scanner? Please read the definition of a Scanner.

In the last 8 months I have given myself a series of 30day challenges which I’ve reviewed every 1-3months. It’s given me the freedom to play with my ideas not just in my head but to see if it could work.  Once you start one you do need to finish it.

The 30 day challenge What is it?

• A  goal or activity you decide to do in 30days
• You will need a list
• Best to start with one
• But you can have more than one goal
• They have to be realistic done at your pace – eat the elephant one chunk at a time
• Perhaps start at the begining of the week if you can’t start at the begining of the month.

Benefits

• Helps to build a habit
• It takes between 14-30 days to build a habit.
• Will help build consistency
• With the help of and accountability group or partner
• Helps you to finish what you start
• Helps you play with your Ideas

What does playing with your idea look like?

• So, you will need a list
• It does have a target and you do need to aim for it- no pressure, you’re the boss remember.
• Brainstorming and Action is a labour of love
• Enjoying every moment
• Being consistent
• scheduling when you do it
• Not Feeding your fear but “feel the fear and do it anyway”
• Creativity is your key- you have no limitation or boundaries

False Evidence Appearing Real -Image by LWPrencipe via Flickr

Your support Network

• Find yourself a supportive network.
• A group of like-minded people – not necessarily friends
• Encourage each other and ask the other person how their project is moving forward.
• Meet regularly face to face
• Communicate often phone, email, Facebook
• Stay accountable

My current 30 day challenge

1. Complete and upgrade new blog
2. Organise another “Tell it like it is”event
3. Blog more regularly at least 3 times a week

What does your 30 day challenge look like?

So have you got an idea that you can’t seem to get off the ground? Are you too afraid? Scared it wont work? Scared people will laugh at you? Stop kidding yourself Mathy I need to get back to work and look for a real job! No seriously. Why can’t you do both? If you have all the time in the world this is your opportunity.

I was actually really successful here, gaining a promotion to Portfolio Analyst, which I thought is what I wanted, but 7 months later I woke up to the realisation that I was mentally and physically exhausted and that I was even more of a shell of a woman then I was before – although now I knew what I wanted – to write and I wanted to help people by sharing my stories. I didn’t want to suffer for a job anymore. And so I did what I had never done before…I quit without a job to go to.

Which brings me to today.  After a month off in between jobs, and some soul-searching, I have taken up a part-time PSO position in a smaller organisation to bring in some cash as I focus on all things me: health, happiness and wellbeing – which includes writing, designing ebooks and helping others.  It’s going well as I now have my very first paying client, with many more opportunities to come.

No arms, No legs but damn he can swim and play golf!!? So I bumped into this video the other day which made me realise how ungrateful I am in life for the little things. Here I am, everyday thinking and wondering if what I do could make a difference to someone in this world. Yet, this guy with no arms and no legs goes out there with no care in the world. Most of the things we can never seem to do boils down to one thing the lack-off.

Is not having a job worse than not having any limbs?

I know in the first instance that when you are out of a job, you may think and feel you have lost your limbs but it’s far from that. And plus, being out of a job or in limbo is a temporary mode not a permanent one. I pretty much feel embarrassed to know that a limbless guy could do better than me and have a job. With how much potential there is to create opportunities out there, I don’t think anyone can complain nowadays. Of all the things you could be doing, you could be taking action. Think about the things and activities that really matter to you. So which one to start with.

What are you yet to accomplish?

Please don’t spend the whole day doing job-search or looking for work opportunities. That is not a healthy work-life balance and will keep you feeling hopeless, lacking skills and depressed. There is more to life than spending your time on the hunt, on the computer and in news-papers all day.

Why not add variety;

• spend time building or looking at activities that you’ve always wanted to do.

• You have an opportunity to explore your secret ambition.

• You could spend some time brainstorming but that doesn’t always work for everyone.

•  The simplest thing would be to begin with “ONE THING”. One activity that you’ve really been wanting to do.

• Once you have an idea put it into action. Do it, do it before it’s too late and you lose the drive.

• Then find yourself a group of like-minded people to hold you accountable to and keep your fuel going.

Lack-off

What is your lack-off? So you might be limbless in other areas of your life. Is it psychological-limbless your suffering from? You may think you are unable, incapable, but physically you are more than able to do something with yourself.

So what do you desperately need to do today? Are there activities you want to do now but don’t know how to? Why not try a 30 day challenge. I tell you what, I’ll talk about it in my next post and share with you my recent successes. In the mean time take action.

My evolution - Image source paoracle.com

So I’m excited about change but you must forgive me for not being able to keep you updated. I needed some time for reflection. It’s been pretty busy in my life and Whathejobisthis is evolving on it’s own.Three things that have been progressively on my mind one is Personal Branding, to Upgrading the blog, and surviving.

Personal branding

I’ve been asking myself and others about Personal Branding. I also had the pleasure of asking some of my tweet friends what they thought my brand was? Where do I fit in? I got some great responses.

This is what they said

“You sometimes struggle with what is thrown at you but make the best reflecting on what happened” Allie @allierambles Ramblingsofawahm.com

Improvement- Post more regularly and choose a template, website that best represent you.

“Strong, determined, beautiful , innovative, entrepreneurial and funny” Michele Rempel @michelrempel Mediavinemarketing.com

Improvement – Revise your tag line to make the message clear

” Inspiring, vibrant, go-getter,unique and funky” Janine Ripper @neanster77 reflectionsfromaredhead.com

Improvement – use different font, more colour to make the site more vibrant.

These ladies are such good friends and have so much experience. Therefore, I really value their opinion. Who knew I would make such connections online

Also after attending a personal branding event by.womenintechnology.co.uk/  I started looking a little bit more  on searching for my self on-line to see what results would come up. It’s a really important step towards owning your brand. Nowadays employers and prospective clients look you up online before doing anything business-related. It’s important to be mindful about what you put out there.

This leads to my next point.

Upgrading the blog – in the next couple of days I will be upgrading the blog. Looking more closely at one can be improved. Choosing the right theme can be so time-consuming. So by the end of the month I may have something to show for. Let’s aim for that.

So things are starting to make sense to me and I am realizing the things which are most important. Balance is greatly needed especially with so many new tasks and idea it’s difficult to maintain focus

Surviving

As I am slowly making my way through my career-transition I’ve decided to freelance and registered to become self employed. I am starting to see a pattern. My social media experience has pretty much provided me with 6 month of experience and a new path towards employment. It’s pretty much carving its own journey for me. The most important question now, is ? Do I need a part-time job or can I turn this new skill in a way to earn an income?

Can you help? Do you have any on-line business experience or know how to  on leverage and income through writing, blogging or social media? If so your input would be highly considered.

Wow I feel good! na na na na na na na……. I knew that I would now….na na na na na na na…!

Okay so I woke up on Sunday 4th of September  I saw a tweet from @neanster77, Janine Ripper AKA Red-head, which said “I have awarded you with Versatile Blogger Award.” I didn’t know whether to scream, jump or just fall back to sleep.

This was pretty amazing, as the day before I had just finished recording a radio interview with Spectrum. So I was lost for words. Yes, me! Lost for words!? It’s unbelievable but it happened.

I love Janine Ripper’s blog. http://reflectionsfromaredhead.com

I am so glad she has now become one of my on-line friends. She has such a refreshing style of writing and she is herself going through a career-transition but I still recognize a serial blogger from afar.  Anyway, all I can say is:

“Thank you Janine!!!! For thinking of nominating me as Versatile Blogger”

Three things you need to know as Versatile Blogger -

1.You’ll need to thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them in your post;
2. Share 7 things about yourself;
3. Pass the award along to 15 recently discovered blogs (contact them to let them know).

7 things about me-

Homemade

1. Who doesn’t know I love fashion. I use to get called the fashionista at my old workplace and had several male colleagues asking me to become their style guru. Even made my own wedding outfit more recently, for my sister’s wedding. All homemade by hand.

2. I love Ben and Jerrie’s. If you ever get me mad, the best way for you to be forgiven is Cookie-dough. Look no further.

3. I have 9 siblings 5 brothers 4 sisters and we all have different mummy’s thanks to my dad. I am never surprised when someone from my family says.”hey! Meet your brother or sister.” Thanks again daddy. I also have to make sure that if I date a Congolese I check who his daddy is. So I don’t find myself in an Awkward situation.

4. My favourite sitcoms – Ugly Betty, Suits, V (2011 and the 1980s version) and I looooooooooove Awkward black girl.

5. I use to be the biggest nerd at school, tall, skinny, glasses, Jerry-curl and couldn’t speak a word of English. I still am actually. I just took care of making myself a trendy nerd.

6. I speak 3 Languages French, Lingala, English(is my third language) and I dabble in 3 more. Thanks to my parents who gave me early international exposure to the beautiful world of traveling, I have lived in 5 different countries. Whenever I am restless I get itchy-feet and feel the need to travel.

7.  I’m hyper-active. Give me sweets and it gets worse. If I buy them myself, you wont get arrested for being my accomplice.

So far I have 11 out of 15 bloggers  and they are:

1. http://hairspiration.blogspot.com/  Author -Bell

2. http://onthepavement.com  Author – Sarojini Seupersad

3. http://www.whatlittlethings.com/  Author- Samantha  bangayan

4. http://www.mrs-rosie-thorn.com/  Author – Rosie Thorn

5. http://www.motivatingwords.net/  Author – Dominique brown

6. http://www.kickstartcareers.co.uk/blog/ Author – Mark J anderson

7. http://astoriedcareer.com/ Author -Kathy Hansen

8. http://bglhonline.com/  Author – Leila Noelliste

9. http://butyoureagirl.com/  Author – Adria Richards – My knew technology hero

10. http://theretronatural.blogspot.com/  Author- Curlychronichle a very trendy lady. God I love vintage.

11. http://www.ramblingsofawahm.com/tag/allies-rambles/   Author – Allison Irish aka Allie

So 4 more bloggers for me to nominate. I will be back with more stay tuned.

If you like this blog why don’t you take another step and Subscribe and even join me on http://www.facebook.com/whathejobisthis

I know you

I know! You  are all curious for me to tell you what happened at our last “Tell it like it is!” event Tuesday night and the good thing here is a little peak preview.

More than I bargained for

” I know You!!!!!”

is what one of the storytellers said to me yesterday at Tell it like it is! Storytelling. I almost fainted.

My response was

” What really !”

I couldn’t remember this dude’s face or where I met him. He looked familiar but I was hoping it wasn’t one of my ex-boyfriends. So I doubted him. I thought maybe he meant that he saw me before. A lot of people say they know me.

“No, I know you!!” he insisted and said with such conviction.

“you use to come to the job centre and back in 2000 and you sat me down and told me an analogy about red cars and what happens when you really seek something. It was London Bridge Job centre. I saw my whole world tumbling down

Then he says to his wife who is next to him.

“babes you remember when I left uni and I was without unemployed and signing-on at London Bridge”

And I knew he was right that was me ten years ago in a jobcentre where I use to go in and make regular one-to-one appointments for clients who were interested in receiving Mentoring/coaching session on how to find work.

I was amazed I made a different in this man’s life and he had remembered me  after a decade but I couldn’t remember him. What a difference ten years make. I now recalled his face and a glimpse of speaking to him.

I actually thought it was going to be much worse. I had a combination of strong butterflies as extreme terror. Is this candid camera? Because if it is I am definitely caught?

I was still in shock and couldn’t stop laughing it was a moment unheard of.

The theme for the night was “What You Think is not What you think?”

Fantastic speakers

Jacqui Shaw – A designer on the road to discovery – wondering if fashion was the right choice for her coming to terms with what she wanted to do. She now has a superb Launch for her book called Africafashionguide.

http://africafashionguide.wordpress.com/

Rachel Johnson- How cancer and not wanting to go back to her job made her start her own Business. A very brave young woman and mother of two. If you’d met her you’d never thought she’d be here smiling, and telling us something so personal. A real diamond!

http://www.brightandbeautifulhome.com/

Mathy aka Me – I quit, I traveled, I conquered

How my trip to Japan made me quit my job, work at Starbucks, lose my mother, sleep on the floor,injure my leg but travel anyway.

And finally but not least

Malachi Talabi – interruption may be your reconstruction

http://www.malachitalabi.com/

Malachi in action

Watch this space cause the video will be out soon.

Stories are powerful to the point where one young man remembered me 10 years ago at the London Bridge Jobcentre. So despite the rain, it was a successful event and I am still laughing listening to the sound of Malachi sharpening pencils and encouraging children.

What’s your career-transition story?

Why taking time-out works!

Well hello there!! I’m sorry for keeping you out of the limelight. I’m trying to keep up to date with everyone including myself. From Weddings, to business events, to radio interviews I feel like I have now achieved the status of Networking-Queen!! AHA! It’s hard being this glamorous.

But blogging is on my mind 24-7 and thinking of you this week, I came across this book by Michael Froehls called “The Gift of Jobloss” which I think would be a great share.

Why taking time out is good?

I asked myself this question this week and realised it’s a necessity. It is very unhealthy to jump from one job to another especially in a time of crisis without time for personal reflection. Whatever the situation is, living in the now (in the moment )is so important. For a nation that mainly lives on automatic and the stimulation of instant gratification we fail to see a door or window of opportunity when it presents itself so clearly. So Micheal takes us through tips from his own personal experience. He’s more of a doer than a talker having lost his job himself he is the ideal success story.

Jobloss could be an opportunity” to do all the things you’ve never had time for while being employed. Why not do a few things that really matter to you before continuing your hard 30- to 40-year-long working life? Why not realize some lifelong travel dreams, improve your health, invest in your family and friends, fire up your love life, acquire new job skills, or check out a different location for a better career?” Michael Froehls

You might feel pressured by the idea of figuring out how to pay your rent, paying your bills, loosing your habitual lifestyle and what everyone else is saying. But do you really need to give yourself another opportunity to make your current situation worse than it already is, making a rational decisions. You can obtain an e-copy for $2.99 that’s about 1 quid on Amazon Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Gift-Job-Loss-Practical-ebook/dp/B004SY5XDI/ref=tmm_kin_title_0/192-5590966-1085223?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&qid=1303424777&sr=8-1

So can being jobless be a gift or a nightmare?