I made an offhand comment today that I should hang out my shingle as a career coach because I have been doing a lot of that for other people lately. I have sent job leads, made suggestions for cover letters, polished up a resume, helped people answer their own questions, and given endless encouragement. But it might be useful to be my own career coach first.
Coming along for the ride?
Let’s take stock of my strengths and assets first: I am creative and patient. I try to understand people. If am curious about everything and I love learning new things. I have a lot of life experience. I am flexible and adaptable, so changes that come down the pike are interesting challenges, not frustrating obstacles. I have boundless enthusiasm for my passion projects.
On the technical side, I’m quick to learn software systems, and I’m not half bad at hardware either. I am also good at math, although I am slow to begin with as I work through each new concept.
Among my assets I count my friends who genuinely care about me. I am lucky to have a great family— both my blood family and my family-in-law. I get a monthly pittance (<$500) for Social Security disability, so even a zero month won’t be a total zero. And I am what my grandmother called “a tough old bird.”
Now for my weaknesses, as much as I hate to drag them out to look at them. I sometimes have the charm and social graces of feral hog. I have the salesmanship and business acumen of a feral hog also.
Then I must consider that I have physical disabilities and mental health challenges, although the former doesn’t apply quite so much to work-from-home internet careers. The latter is 90% under control with meds and therapy. I wasn’t sure if these should fall under “weaknesses” or the “threats” category we will get to in a few moments, but why not both?
Yes. I am doing SWOT analysis on myself. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. I learned it from an online project management course, and we all know by now that I am a project.
Onward to opportunities! This feels like a good place for a bullet list:
- Growing my professional network and my circle of friends through people I meet in my media ventures
- Growing brand awareness where “brand” = me. Growing Mia awareness.
- Possibly selling my own products and services (anything from amigurumi to ebooks to freelance writing)
- Affiliate marketing, sponsorships, maybe Patreon or Ko-fi subscriber-only content, each as appropriate.
- Expanding my media empire into audio and video
- A degree from Getting Out There and Trying University
And then we have our threats, another bullet list:
- Running out of time and/or money to work on my own businesses
- Having an extended exacerbation of any of my disabling conditions, physical or mental. (I told you it would come back around and here it is.)
- Getting discouraged because this is probably going to be a long and arduous journey
- The Unexpected, the only thing you can count on in life. This is the wild card threat that could be anything from bad weather to being hit by a bus. Wise preparation can mitigate a lot. Except for that bus thing, in which case my online career will probably be the least of my worries.
The take-away, packaged up in a paper box:
If I can manage myself, my money, and my time , my prospects are fairly bright. If I maintain a level of preparation necessary to just survive the day-to-day chaos and develop enough situational awareness to predict some of the new chaos around the corner, my fledgling business and I might survive. And there’s a 100% chance that this is a learning experience that will help me in the future, even if I fall flat on my face with a dull but slightly squishy thud. And there it is: 🥡
How many of you were SWOTting yourselves in the back of your mind as you read this? Good for you! Let’s get this bread! 🥖 🍞🥐
The Mia Experiment 