Career World

Many people feel so hemmed in by earlier educational and career choices that they see no attractive alternatives remaining. Whenever I speak with someone who feels this way, I'm reminded of the 1969 Western film directed by George Roy Hill, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Let me explain.

In that movie, Butch Cassidy and his friend, Harry Longabaugh, were bank robbers in the Old West of the United States who became so notorious that sheriffs and bounty hunters relentlessly tracked them in hopes of earning a large reward. Discouraged that it was too dangerous for them to rob banks in the Old West, Butch and Sundance headed for Bolivia and started robbing banks there.

You guessed what happened next. People in Bolivia wanted the reward for capturing them as well. As the movie ended, the Bolivian cavalry surrounded them. Where do you go from there? Their choices were, in fact, quite limited due to their bad behavior.

If you compare yourself to Butch and Sundance at the end of the movie, your choices are better.

Yet, like Butch and Sundance, most people who feel hemmed in by earlier life choices are only considering a narrow range of alternatives, variations on what has worked for them in the past, even if circumstances have changed so that there is no place else to go.

Unless you face decades of prison time for past criminal activity, your career choices are a lot better than you think they are. That's because new methods for achieving career success are opening up faster than entrepreneurs can learn how to use them. As a self-employed person, you don't have to pass muster with bosses . . . just with customers.

Whenever someone describes an overly narrow view of career choices to me, I introduce them to the opportunity of becoming a marketing professional. Invariably, the "hemmed in" people fall in love with marketing after they try it and begin to see their choices expanding in unexpectedly attractive ways.

Let me show you why marketing is such a desirable profession by describing some of the experiences of Krzysztof Sroka, a Rushmore University MBA graduate, who was born in Poland while it was a communist nation.

During his Lyceum studies, he was frustrated by having problems in some subjects and seeing limited opportunities under the communist regime. As a result, he decided not to attend a university after graduating.

Drawn to various Eastern philosophies and religions, Mr. Sroka began to practice meditation and eventually became a monk. During this time, he also learned English by reading books written in that language. In addition to his spiritual studies, he spent part of his time selling books for the temple. Visits to India provided much enjoyment.

Eventually, he decided to stop being a monk but to continue with meditation. He also began to think about starting a family.

Mr. Sroka began selling paintings and earned enough money to pay for a trip to Bangkok. While there, he fell in love with the beauty of Thailand, the friendliness of Thai people, and the delightful tropical climate. He began looking for a job so he could stay there.

Lacking a university degree, he wasn't sure what he could hope to do other than sell paintings door to door. Such selling was unappealing as a career, and he was looking for new possibilities when a new Thai friend suggested that he teach English.

Despite not being a native English speaker, Mr. Sroka was soon educating adults and children in his newly acquired language. Over time, teaching English ceased to appeal to him. Because many of the children weren't very motivated to learn and better teaching jobs went to native speakers with university degrees, he felt hemmed in.

He also decided he wanted to marry and raise a family. He wasn't sure how he could earn enough money as an English tutor to do that and still provide a good education for any children who blessed his marriage.

All the career choices that appealed to Mr. Sroka required a university degree. He decided it was time to earn one, and he took action.

Because he needed to continue tutoring in Thailand to pay for his university studies, he looked for an online school with flexible class schedules. From seeing how many university graduates have trouble applying what they have learned, he decided to learn practical skills.

Mr. Sroka began to take courses in Internet marketing. This field appealed to him because he could earn a significant income and enjoy a higher quality of life while working at home during flexible hours.

He also appreciated that he could establish Internet marketing businesses while still employed as a tutor, until his marketing income increased enough to make tutoring unnecessary.

During the studies, he read many books written by highly regarded Internet entrepreneurs. From studying their methods, he quickly learned that Internet marketing is such a rapidly evolving field that even the newest books described many techniques that were already obsolete.

Realizing that his chosen profession required him to become a continual learner, he refocused his courses to identifying attractive online marketing opportunities, choosing what to offer, and to making online sales with few expenses.

Mr. Sroka identified several opportunities and started several online businesses. While doing this, an unexpected change occurred in his perspective. He began to enjoy tutoring children and became better at it. As a result, all parts of his working day became more fun and rewarding.

Since graduating, Internet marketing has been successful, and he's on a growth trajectory to earn the income he seeks and to save enough money to retire young. While it's not a get-rich-quick, rags-to-riches success, his accomplishments are personally satisfying as he builds the life of his dreams in the place that he loves.

More important than the business success, Mr. Sroka's life has been enhanced in all ways through having more skill in doing what he cares about, continually gaining helpful knowledge, building his confidence, and experiencing ever-increasing hope of a better tomorrow.

He no longer sees himself at the end of a narrowing trail that might come to an end, but rather as being near the beginning of a continually expanding highway of Internet marketing opportunities and personal happiness.

What assumptions are you making about your future?

Could it be that those assumptions are limiting you more than reality does?

What can you do to break out of any such self-limiting thinking?

About the Author:

Donald W. Mitchell is a professor at Rushmore University, an online graduate school, where he often teaches mid-career professionals who want to advance more rapidly or to shift careers through earning MBA, DBA, and Ph.D. degrees. For more information about ways to engage in fruitful lifelong learning at Rushmore to increase your effectiveness and improve your career, visit http://www.rushmore.edu .

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