My goal for a new job

 First off, I just have to say, technology is an amazing thing sometimes.  I couldn’t get the old writing juices flowing this morning, so instead, I can write on my “lunch break” on my phone.  How cool is that?  You never know where you will have the time and quiet to write, so why not be ready?  Ok, yes, I am easily amazed, but I couldn’t resist sharing that.

 Now that I am down to my home stretch at work, I have started to think a great deal about what I want from a new job.  Since goals that don’t get recorded, don’t get accomplished, I am writing a wish list for myself of things that I want from a new job or career path.  That way I can take a look at what it is I really want to do.

 I do find it amazing to see even as I scratch this list out, how much I have changed over the last five years.  When I was job hunting before, I was so concerned with staying inside of my comfort box.  I looked only at pay and benefits.  That was it.  Bonus points for being able to sell technology products.  Now, while I still care about being able to support my family, I don’t care about any of that crap now.  So I am writing myself a shopping list of what I want, that way I remember.

 When you come up to a career transition, you should do the same thing.  If we continue to only accept the status quo, we will never change our outcomes.

 1) I want to be self employed fully within 3 years.

 I have changed so drastically in the last few years, I see this being doable, even if I don’t exactly know in what form yet.  At this point I have so many ideas, I just need to throw them at the wall and see what sticks.  I will certainly be starting out doing these things PT on the side.  I will have to go get a mainstream job at least at first.  

 So here is how I will measure success with that.  I want to make 10% of my income in the first year, 30% in the second, and 60% in the third.  If I can make 60% replacement income with something that’s only PT, there is no reason you couldn’t exceed your income by doing it full time.  If I don’t hit that number, I stay in the mainstream world.

 2) I want to work with my wife

 Working a job by myself would be boring, and take time away from my family.  I like spending time with her, and if you do what you like, you never work a day in your life.  Our chicken book was good because she co-wrote it with me.  Tribal succeeds when she helps me with posting and reaching out to people.  So whatever job venture we embark on has to be done together.  God has forced me to be humble by making me desire to write, but only write well when I have the help of my soulmate.  At least my ego won’t inflate. 

 3) I want to work with my hands

 We always say work smart, not hard, and that’s good advice.  Unfortunately, so many of us are taught that if we work with our hands, we are a failure.  Working with my hands is very freeing for me.  It allows my mind to wander, create and dream, while I am doing something else.  It keeps me from getting burned out.  So I want to build or create something with my own hands.

 4) I want to work outside

 It took living in the desert to teach me that I like to be outdoors.  I also realized that I don’t like being in the desert outdoors anymore.  So I want to be able to work where I can feel the wind on my face.  I want to work where I can feel the sun on my back some days, and the fog in my face on other days.  I want to see trees, grass and blue sky.  This office wall crap is for the birds.

 5) I want to listen to music while I work

 I never thought this would be a big deal for me, and it might be a product of my home theater sales background, but I loved having a stereo in my office at the store here.  I could plug in my tunes and get my work done while listening to music.  I want to have that with my new gig.  Whether it’s music or podcasts, my brain works better when it has something to absorb while I do other things.

 That is my dream list.  We will see how many of those I am able to achieve in the short term.  In the long term, these are a requirement.  I am glad that I thought this out.  I think too often we are afraid to seek what it is we really want, because we are told it can’t happen.  Well heck with it, I am going to MAKE it happen.

Lead from the front, not from the mud

 Despite how much I am desperately looking forward to leaving at least this particular part of my career behind, feel like I have taken many good lessons away from it.  I had the good fortune to work for two of the best mentors I have ever had.  One who taught me how to sell, and one who taught me how to lead.  As I look back on all that has taken place, I am thankful that I have learned these things, and they will make me more able to succeed in my own dreams.

 One of the best lessons I took away was actually unlearning a bad leadership habit from the past.  I think it is one that many people suffer from, and it almost feels un-American to question it.  Yet by following what we feel is the most noble or egalitarian route, we are actually damaging the unit as a whole.

 That is the principle of leading from the front.  In every interview you are asked how you would lead or inspire the people you are put in charge of.  For some reason, the vast majority of us feels compelled to talk about how you would lead from the front and never ask people to do something you wouldn’t do yourself.  

 This isn’t a bad sentiment, and no doubt the vast majority of people that make this statement mean it with all possible sincerity.  We don’t want our bosses to think of us as sitting back in an easy chair while the crew does all the work.  So then we hop in there with them and dust the shelves, or fix the price signs, or clean the fridge, or whatever.  No doubt this makes the team love you.  You are one of the boys, proud torch carrier of the noble traditions, but are you really doing what you should?  Is that really the best use of your time?

 As a leader, you are paid more, and given more responsibility.  It is your job to ensure the success of the entire team.  That is why you are paid more.  Your job is to be looking at the big picture, and making decisions based on what you see.  For as good as it feels to be part of the team, if your unit fails, talking about the number of shelves you dusted isn’t going to go over well at your next performance review.

 This was something I learned here.  I used to clean the items.  I used to fix the price signs.  I used to do all of those tasks.  What I wasn’t doing was watching and listening to my crew.  I found out how much more valuable it is to stand back and evaluate and train than it is to task.  When done right, you can operate a team of six people as an extension of yourself, and that can’t be done when you are down in the mud with them.

 It is a noble ideal that we are all equal in what we do, but we aren’t.  Someone has to make the choices, and that person is you.  Don’t get so lost in the trenches that you can’t see over the next rise.

Why ELSE permaculture hasn’t caught on

As I mentioned yesterday, in the course of writing my post, I was able to think of three more reasons why permaculture hasn’t caught on yet.  So rather than creating one long mega post, I split it up into the two days to make it a little more readable.  The other thing I noticed about how these fell, is that these three can apply to more than just permaculture.  These three are all excellent reasons why many initiatives fail.  So while I am writing this about permaculture, I bet you could apply these to just about every environmental initiative you know.

#1 Hippies aren’t good spokespeople

Ok, now this one may come off as touchy if you don’t look at it objectively, since many of my readers either were legitimate hippies or at least identify with the movement.  So don’t get defensive.  This is strictly a discussion on the use of hippies as spokespeople, not a commentary on hippies in general.

There are two main problems with identifying as a hippie when trying to promote something.  First, they look different.  When you are selling an idea, you want people to be able to identify with the person selling it.  Either they could be that person, or they could be with that person.  Often people can’t feel either when it comes to hippies.  So while hippies might be a great draw to college children, they aren’t going to make any in roads with the actual movers and shakers in life.

Go for less of the Jerry Garcia look, and more of the Ben Falk.  Ben runs Whole Systems Design in Vermont and is a certified PDC Instructor.  Also looks like a professional.

Second, hippies aren’t very good at actually executing ideas.  Lets take a look at the occupy movement shall we.  A bunch of hippies had the idea that they would block traffic in major cities and change the world.  They got the first part done, but couldn’t even agree on goals.  So in the end, they just ended up hanging out in a park until they got cold and dirty.  So when we have a great system that is PROVEN TO WORK, we lump ourselves in with that when we present it wrong.

Again, this is about presenting an idea, not how you live.  Live however you want.

#2 Free Giveaway = garbage

Sign up for this credit card, get a free T-shirt.  That little toy inside the crackerjack box.  Free ski weekend if you sit through this Timeshare presentation.  People automatically associate free with bad.  Free can’t be quality.  It’s going to break.  Worst of all, by accepting this free thing, I am somehow going to get snookered down the road.

So why do we keep trying to give permaculture away for free?

Charity is a wonderful thing, and many people feel called to do better for their neighbours, and those are noble ideals, but people automatically distrust free.  We need less veggie co-ops and more “Eddie’s edible landscapings”.  We need less Permaculture blitzes and more “Bluegrass Food Forestry”.  We are standing on a gold mine of food information that is PROVEN TO WORK.  Stop trying to give it away for free to prove it.  We are living in an era when people are paying $10 a pound for organic Kale.  Get out there and make some money.  People are much more likely to sit up and take notice of a successful business that is creating good in a community than yet another group of idealists looking for donation.  Plus, once a business is successful, others will try to replicate it.  If it is really about making the world better, rather than stoking your ego, the best way to do it is to create a business.

#3 – We can’t afford green initiatives

Permaculture is an excellent way to save the planet.  The upsides of this system are nearly endless.  It uses no chemicals, less water and improves the land.  Animals are happier.  People are healthier.  It is the deliverance of all of the green initiatives ideas into one form.  Best of all, it actually makes people freer, unlike many green initiatives relying on government strong arming.

Boy, that sounds really expensive.

It isn’t.  We all know that it isn’t, but we continue to pitch it in a way that sounds expensive.  People are automatically associating us with the $10 kale movement mentioned above.  When you talk about what something can do for the earth, you set off the cash register sound in someone’s head.  Bad for marketing.

What we need to do, is emphasize how much it can save people money.  How much money would you save if you provided 25% of your own food?  Or 50%? What if you didn’t have to pay for medicine anymore because you weren’t sick?  What if you only had to drive to the store once a month?  What if you made some extra money selling veggies or eggs to your neighbours?

Again, these are all concrete benefits that are PROVEN to work.  So lets talk about what they can do for someone.  Marjorie Wildcraft has sold 250,000 of her DVDs because she called it “Growing your groceries” not “Saving the planet in my backyard”.  You need to hit people where it counts.  In their wallets.

So the next time you feel sad that permaculture isn’t the way of the land.  Stop thinking like a zealous true believer, and think about what you can do to correct the situation.  This will spread or fail based on what we do.  So let’s spread the right message.