Growing up, like many millennials and Gen X’ers, I had it ingrained in me that I needed to get good grades in school. These good grades would get me into the university of my choice and in turn, I would receive a valuable post-secondary education and then find a decent job at a decent company and work there for 25-30 years. After those 25- 30 years, I’d collect a pension and all would be well. That’s what my parents did and it worked for them. So why wouldn’t it work for me, right? I would just follow in their footsteps.
But every generation is different.
And while I have inherited many things from my parents (my mom’s looks and my dad’s personality), I am a different person, part of a different generation.
I am part of a generation who didn’t grow up with cell phones and the internet right away, but it was part of our childhood/teenage years. I remember MSN messenger and ICQ. I lived during a time when Facebook was the most popular form of social media. Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat and Instagram didn’t even exist yet. Neither did LinkedIn. Big organizations and corporations didn’t have social media accounts back then.
We saw a lot of change growing up, but I don’t think that changed many peoples’ views about how to find jobs or about the job market itself. I think a good chunk of my generation has followed a similar path of our parents. At least in my circles. While the majority of my friends and family still embrace stability, these days I embrace freedom and flexibility more.
However it wasn’t too long ago that I was also a passenger on that stability train. After landing a job with the federal government, I assumed I was on that very same path as my parents. I was just short of 5 years, when I decided to pull the plug for many reasons. At the end of the day, I knew I couldn’t stay there any longer and that I was meant to pursue a completely different path. The longer I stayed, the more miserable I became. When you’re miserable, it can be very difficult to see the positivity in things. It seemed that everyone had it much better than me.
To be honest, I felt the blog was one of the few positive things in my life during that time.
Curiosity was what helped me create the Makinthebacon Interview Series. My first interview was with financial expert Ellen Roseman. This interview was long before the idea of an actual interview series popped into my head. I was just looking for a different type of content to publish, other than a typical blog post. After learning about her journey, I was inspired to find out about other peoples’ paths led to a career they loved. Each request was met with an enthusiastic yes. I absolutely loved reading their stories and the valuable advice they provided, based on their own experience. I knew this was something that my readers would enjoy and get a lot out of it. It slowly turned into an irregular series (Irregular meaning I published an interview whenever I had one. There was no actual schedule for them).
This year, I wanted to take it one step further and decided to select various interviews to compile them into an ebook.
If you are sensing that gut feeling that it’s time for a change and are looking for some inspiration, I hope this ebook will inspire you and give you the courage to take your life and career to the next level. While everyone’s journey is unique, the common thread is that it takes a tremendous amount of time, effort and patience to pursue your passion.
You deserve a rewarding career.
You deserve happiness.
Everyone does.
Take the necessary steps and make the necessary sacrifices to get there.
What are you waiting for?
Sign up below in the opt-in form to grab your free copy of the ebook: Cook Your Own Bacon: Create a Life and Career That Sizzles.
Ohhh how I can relate to this. I had a great job as a sales manager, made plenty of money and wouldn’t go as far as saying I hated it, but the pressure brought many sleepless nights and my hairline was starting to disappear further and further up my forehead! I made the switch to be a copywriter, similar money but my huge bonus was gone, mum thought I’d lost my mind when I told her that i was going to do this freelance some day and write from wherever in the world I landed. The look on her face was a picture, “make money from blogging? Don’t be an idiot!” I showed her what I have invoiced for so far this year, on top of my 9-5. Needless to say, mum isn’t quite so skeptical anymore!!
Hi David, if its really affecting your overall health, then the large sum of money isn’t worth it. I’ve always believed in health before wealth. Although blogging has been around for quite some time and people have been making significant sums of money from it also for many years now, it is still seen as just a hobby in many eyes. That’s great that your mum isn’t so skeptical anymore. 🙂
Hi Karen,
I felt like I was in a time machine there for a minute! I spent so much of time on MSN and ICQ over the years as well. I was part of that same generation where technology seemed to come all of a sudden and became such a big part of our lives. Updating the MSN name to indicate where I would be that evening or ask people if they wanted to hang out… what a time.
Take care!
– Ryan