By Arthur Orchid

Have you ever experienced people giving you more advices that you really wanted?

I almost sure you had...

At these times people mean well; however there bombardment of thought and ideas can be more detrimental then helpful. I experienced this recently when I left my job and career of twenty five years to do something different. I had worked as a social worker for that time span and was feeling that I needed to take a break from the emotional turmoil of dealing with other peoples issues, crisis’s and problems on a day to day basis. I hate the term burned out, but I guess that is what I was.

I wanted to do something completely different. I knew I had skills in many areas; however when you do not have the experience or education to back that up it is hard to convince a perspective employer to give you an interview. I was trying to come up with small business ideas so I could be self employed.

When I mentioned this to people they either discouraged me by stating all the headaches that go with self employment, or they told me a number of small business ideas that they had considered. Although some of the advice was sound, I wanted this venture to be mine. Through the years I have done many different crafts. Working with yarns, beads and the sewing machine was my way of working through the stress of dealing with people all day long.

There have been many times when people have seen my handiwork and have told me that I could sell my creations. I had given away a great share of the things that I had made as gifts; however I had many pieces of jewelry, several quilts, multiple quilted pillows and several afghans.

I had also started making knit purses as well as canvas bags. Of all the small business ideas that I had considered the idea of a craft boutique was the one that I thought was the most feasible. I thought I could have my own things displayed, have an area for consignment craft items and a line of quality gift items. I also love to bake so I thought I could sell baked items in addition to the other things.

We live in a resort area so there are many visitors that come to the area. A small town four miles from our house has several gift shops and has specialized in drawing people to the community with special shopping event through the year. I spoke with several of the business owners about my small business ideas.

They thought a shop like this would be a great compliment to the existing shops. There was a space to rent that had a kitchen area that has passed state inspection where I could make the baked goods.

I have decided that I am going to rent the space for six months and see what happens. If things do not go well I will not be out a great deal of money and if they take off I will extend the lease. It will be a nice change of pace.

To Your Success!

By Arthur Orchid

When I was a student I met very different kind of students with various ambitions and talents. Some of them had a writing style as personal talent. I met again 15 years after I left the University, one of this very talented writers. Even if he previously worked a literature teacher, he's now a newspaper writer paid per article.

Here are what I discovered talking with him. I left him my keyboard so that this is a part of his working story:

When you decide you want to be a writer, you have a lot to think about, but the problem is that some think too hard. There're certain things you can decide that you want to do, but you may find that you don’t like them, or that your talents will lead you in another direction. This is common in many different careers, but I've never seen so many people go back and forth as I've seen in some of the writing communities I belong to. There are many who wanted to start out writing newspaper articles, and they ended up writing a romance novel. There are some who are sure they were meant to write the great American novel, only to find out they like to write greeting cards or short stories.

Most of the people who are interested in writing newspaper articles start out in high school with the school paper. Though I loved to write back then, I never really thought of doing it for my high school paper. I came from a small town, and many of the ideas that came from the pens of those writing newspaper articles were short minded and narrow. That really turned me off. I didn'’t think at the time that perhaps I should also be writing newspaper articles in an effort to change some of that.

If you want to make a career of writing newspaper articles, you should go to college for journalism. There're many things you have to know, and there are many special classes you should have. Those who go into journalism are usually very passionate about what they do, and desire to do so goes far beyond writing newspaper articles. They often have a sense of wanting to change the world in a way, and they want to do it through reporting and finding the news.

If you want to start writing newspaper articles, but you don’'t have the time or the money to go to college, you are going to have a harder time breaking into the business. However, if you have the go-getter type personality that is needed in journalism, you can learn a lot of what you need to know on your own. You should make sure you find someone else who is writing newspaper articles for some advice, and spend a lot of time researching writing styles and techniques.

I'm now popular enough to write newspaper articles on demand. My style is appreciated and I know where to get the facts my readers love to read. My passion became a win-win occupation. I don't regret my careers' choice, I truly believe every little choice has a link to the previous and the following action you take. Working when you can do what you're passioned about is almost like having fun all the time.

Are you working and making money from your passion? This is obviously what you'll have to consider when thinking of the next job you'd invest time and sometimes money.

To Your Success!