Transform Your Existing Talents to the Web

Two years ago I resigned from my job, cashed in my savings, applied for a Student Loan and returned to school as a full time student.

So far, not an unusual story. It becomes a little unusual, perhaps, when we throw in the following pieces of information: I was leaving a fairly well-paying management position with a not-for-profit society. The training program I enrolled in was multimedia production training at Vancouver Film School's Multimedia Campus I was a 50-year-old divorced grandmother.

After a lifetime spent "doing good works" with a community focus -- providing alcohol and drug counseling, community development, and managing vocational training programs for adults with chronic psychiatric illnesses -- I was faced with a difficult situation.

Management jobs in my field were becoming obsolete, thanks to a political restructuring taking place in my province. The handwriting was on the wall for the future of my own job.

I could foresee receiving a layoff notice within a year, along with many others in the region who were employed in similar positions. I visualized hundreds of people like myself in my city desperately competing for the few remaining jobs in our field.

It was a scary thought. Two choices: hang in until I was laid off, then find work clerking in a store, perhaps, or gamble big-time and make a complete career change.

"No guts, no glory," they say. With a leap of blind faith (or madness), I cashed in my life savings and enrolled in the newly opened Multimedia Production Program.

What followed was 10 intensive months of total immersion training. My class of 26 consisted of 22 guys, four gals (including myself), with the average age being somewhere in the mid twenties.

I found it difficult to keep up with these bright, energetic young kids who had cut their teeth on computer disks. My problems occurred both in terms of the sheer physical stamina required to keep up, and the cognitive ability needed to quickly grasp so many new skills. I soon became discouraged and fatigued.

The turning point came around the end of the second month. Struggling futilely with a difficult software program, and near tears, I took myself for a walk around the block and considered my options.

Again two choices: give up, lose my tuition fees and look for something easier, or grit my teeth and carry on. I said to myself "You will do this thing because you have NO CHOICE but to succeed."

I graduated.

Near the end of my training, I realized that job opportunities would be few, thanks to the large number of graduates being turned out by the several multimedia schools in the area. I also believed that my age would be a negative factor when job hunting, as many multimedia companies in my area are owned and operated by guys and gals younger than my own adult children. Would these young folks hire someone who reminded them of their mother? I thought not.

Again, two choices. Abandon this career change, and look for other more traditional work elsewhere, or open up my own business and "hire myself out." Almost broke, I used what was left of my savings to purchase the bare essentials of multimedia equipment, registered my home based business -- Nightcats Multimedia Productions -- and set up shop.

It's now 13 months since I graduated, and I'm happy to say that I've managed to survive my first year as a free lancer in the field.

It's been wonderful and it's been horrible. There have been times of feast and times of famine; times when I've been almost overwhelmed by the realization that I must also learn a new set of business skills on top of the multimedia skills just acquired.

To survive, I've done everything from designing Web sites to maintaining internet data bases to selling free lance writing. I've also learned that some of the prior skills that I developed while managing community agencies transfer directly to the work that I am now doing.

Writing, for example. As an agency manager, my work involved writing reports, proposals, press releases, policy and procedure manuals and more.

I use those skills now to submit proposals, bid on a tender or develop marketing material for my new business. I sell computer-related articles to a local computer newspaper, write content for Web sites, and occasionally do business writing for other companies.

My former jobs involved budgeting, project management, administration, teamwork and communication. All of these abilities come in to play in the new work I'm doing. For example, I just finished writing a technical article for publication.

The man I interviewed emailed me after he saw the article and said "you do a good job of catching the information being thrown at you - lots of experience listening to techie types babble on, I suspect...:-)." He was only partly right.. The listening experience comes from the 20 years I spent as a counselor, a supervisor and a manager.

I've recently reached another turning point. I now understand that although I can (probably) survive as a free lancer, I will not likely make a steady income, nor will I have much freedom to create in my own way. So again, two choices: try to get a job, or keep on free lancing while trying to develop and market my own products.

By now, you probably can guess which road I chose to travel. I've recently entered into a joint venture with a buddy; we are launching our own service, TopicTrackers, a new marketing concept to help businesses and organizations promote their Web site. So far, lottsa work and no sales, but I'm getting used to acts of blind faith by this time.

I work long hours, seldom have a day off, and have no financial security. Technology changes so fast that I continuously need to learn new things. Many of my friends and family members don't understand what I'm doing and think I've gone mad. That's the downside to my new life.

So was it worth it? Yes, yes, yes. Despite the challenges to overcome, including my own self-doubts and fears, I've never enjoyed life more.

The pluses include loving what I'm doing, working in my housecoat all day if I want, no traffic jams to fight on a daily basis, meeting new people who are involved in cutting edge technology, discovering that I have a creative side that I never recognized, and learning that I have talents I had never known about.

Besides, my cats like having me at home all the time and as a home worker, many of my living expenses are tax deductible!

Would I advise others to do the same thing? No. I would not presume to advise anyone on what they should do with their life. But I would encourage people to believe in themselves. Inner strengths materialize when we need them the most. We can rely on that!

Nightcats Multimedia Productions

Multimedia, video, Web design & Consultation, Business & Free Lance Writing AND... Introducing TopicTrackers