Taking a job.. any job.. to keep afloat, but make it the BEST job-gig ever!‏

Taking a job.. any job.. to keep afloat, 
but make it the BEST job-gig ever!‏

I (and the Universe) know that many ppl out 
there are jobless right now. Or are they just not deciding 
to hop into a new rowboat that could take
them down a different stream than they're used to?

Granted some of the job-gigs might be 'low end' 
in their opinionated realm, but are they really?

We're all cognizant of other things we can be doing,
but don't recognize them for the fun they might just 
end up being. And an example of this for me was when 
about 4 years ago I was working in a call center 
(THAT"S RIGHT!! Here in America!!) and there was a lady, 
Deb, who would always bring in soaps she'd made. They 
were very professionally made and wrapped and as we 
talked more, she said she got them from a company in 
Chicago, but was also contracted to make some of the 
soaps here and sell them at the flea market or wherever.

So, I'd buy some every couple of weeks, LOVED EM!! 
As time went on, I left the call center and a year later, 
my friend Linda and I were wandering aimlessly around the 
flea market and there she was!

We stopped to talk and sniff soap .. yeah, we're in a 12 
step program for that, but we're not huffing out of paper 
bags yet (I am Bekki and I AM a soapaholic).. And we said 
something like, wow, let us know if you ever need help 
making the soap. She told us she was good for now.

Another bit of time (a year) went by and I went to make a 
bank deposit and there was a lady behind me in line at the ATM
.. so?.. and then I went back to my car and there on the 
vehicle in front of me was lettered in the window the soap 
company that my friend Deb worked for: www.sudsmama.com !
What?? so I waited.. not entirely in stalk mode, but ALERT! .. 
and here she came.

I hopped out of my car and said, "Who are you? I recognize the 
company name!" turned out she's the owner, also named Deb. 
And we talked for about 30 minutes. Seems she lives here in town.

I told her I wanted to start carrying soap on my websites and 
scheduled a meeting. So, Linda and I met w her and since Linda 
is a dog groomer, she wanted clean organic stuff for her dogs. 
(Interesting that I always spell it god before I type it dog.. 
maybe cause we're all god groomers!) Well, time went on w/o any
more contact and then when I was told that we were going to 3 
days a week at the driving place, versus my usual 5-6, 
my heart slammed and I panicked for a second..

Ever see that advert where the guy is on a ladder and pulls 
something and the ladder starts falling and he's freaking,
then his face calms and he thinks, "ah, I've got Aflack" 
and sort of half-smiles before he falls in the bushes? Same 
sort of face came over me.. Ahhh.. I'll call The Debs and tell 
them that both Linda and I have a LOT of availability.. 
'ya need any helpers?'

I wrote them emails and owner Deb wrote back and said, it was 
amazing timing b/c they were just finishing a contract and 
if they got a renewal of the contract they would VERY much 
need us. And she'd let me know by the next monday. 

So as not to bug them TOO much, I waited til wednesday to bug 
her again and GUESS WHAT!?!?!?!?! They'd just finished one 
contract and had just gotten the contract for another 5600 bars 
of soap and how soon could we start?
(Side note.. we went, we worked our buns off, our soap sold 
out on Home Shopping Network and we're into our third contract 
with two more waiting. And they were dissatisfied at how the 
soap, once they came in, and were re-wrapped individually. So 
they've  added that task to our list of tasks with additional 
$$ for the extras as well)

Now, how did this work? WE PAID ATTENTION. 

When we wish for the Universe to bring us stuff, I think that an 
addendum request needs to also be added, "And Please give us the 
POWER OF DISCERNMENT to know when it's being delivered to us."

Since I work every room, sound out every person I meet and 
market the hell out of myself, I'm never in lack (sometimes 
I look it square in the eye, but choose not to respond to it). 
I think to succeed in anything, one must be a social person, 
if for nothing else, to get the goodies. Yeah, it's work to 
stay working and groovin in this life. But SO worth it!

But do you see how the Universe was gravitating The Debs 
and Linda and I to getting together? It started YEARS ago! 
And by our cognizant memory of "things that make you go 
'hmmmm'" we were able to grab this meteor from the shower 
that continues to go by all of us ALL the time and 
pluck it out of the rest and make it work for us.

Opportunities are just like that.. constantly wandering 
by us and so many  of us are just
1. Not looking for it,
2. can't see it,
3. won't see it, or
4. Refuse to grab the star for some reason probably 
not even known 
by them!

What do you do if you've worked the same gig for a 
billion years and there are no more gigs like that 
around to go 
work at?

One suggestion, list all your passions that you'd 
like to immerse yourself into.

If you'd like to be around Ice Cream. Go find an 
ice cream place to work in.. This will show you 
the good, the bad and the frosty of what your passion 
is. Just like an article I wrote a billion years ago 
about starting your own business.
Go work at a place like it to see if that's something 
you'd like to do 24/7 (cause that's what owning a biz 
is, right.. WORK!). See how it is worked, good or bad 
and see what it takes to create the biz and keep 
it going. Same w just getting a job.

What's cool is that you can dangle your pinkies into 
the water and decide if it's too hot, too cold or just 
right.. ahhhhhhhhh.. You don't have to like it enough 
to live there.. you only have to decide if you'd 
like to work there for a while and keep some income 
floating in..

I want to someday learn how to make pizza.. and since 
I'd be working w kids younger than my daughter and not 
actually related to them, I might not be as annoying to 
them as I am to her.. wait.. oh, yeah, I will, but I 
WILL learn to whip out pizza like a pro!! AND make a 
spot of money if I need to. And having tossed, move on!

But think outside the bun.. find something to do for 
the fun and adventure of it.. what do you have to lose? 
Many have not worked in a long time.. go PLAY!!!!! 
It's sure better than packing to take to Goodwill and 
go live under a bridge! AND you get free pizza or 
ice cream!

But DO SOMETHING. HAVE FUN and KEEP YOUR EARS AND 
EYEBALLS and MIND open to what's being meteored past 
your very nose to grab one and do something else!

Now is the time for advenuture, fun and experimentation.
Some of the greatest inventions, Fortune 1000 companies and
other cool things came from necessity of having to jump into 
something and turn it around to make it GREAT!

The 'woe is me' thing keeps you totally rowing upstream 
and your mind and sense of adventure totally locked down, 
unable to be accessed thru your fear of change and your
loathing of the situation at hand.

We're never given more than we CAN handle, just mostly 
more than we WANT to handle. But by not handling anything, 
it guarantees that what might be a great adventure could 
turn into a cataclysmic ICK situation.

We all have choices.. personally, I always chose fun and 
variety and ADVENTURE! But for many, this could slam their 
sphyncter shut so that it sounds like the double sonic boom 
not unlike a shuttle landing. May I suggest to all who can't 
live the life we're in, we might all need to start engaging 
in to giving great change a shot.. oy! vhat could it hoit?

When we were Mormon, we were told that someday, we'd 
have to ditch everything and walk to Jefferson City, MO 
with hand carts.. hhmm.. can't remember why now, or if
even that's the place but I remember being told about 
having to walk a great distance to get ... somewhere.. 
but I digress.. That time for many has come NOW.

What are we doing about it? Doing the Nancy Kerrigan 
'WHY MEEEEEEEEE?' wail and cryin in our pretzels 
(and washing off ALL the salt), doesn't work. 

So our just getting ON with what we now have to do 
needs to get started right now! I hope we are doing 
the getting on with it.. many of us have no choice.. 
so what ever we find, make good choices.. Look around 
see what's already around you, grab those meteors of 
opportunity, difference and FUN!!!

And like Dr. Phil says.. LET"S DO IT!!!!!!

Love to all and as ABERS I KNOW we'll have a fabulous 
life with ourselves!
Bekki
Copyright 2008, Bekki Shanklin from her 
"Thinking All The Time" series