Step back in time a few years when you hadn’t hit double digits for your age and the world was a different place.  You probably didn’t know what impossible was yet.  Growing up on a farm I had access to a larger version of legos known more commonly as hay bales.  I used to build forts which had multiple rooms, and in some cases were more than one story high.  When the hay was gone I would build elaborate forts out in the woods.  Likewise most kids are able to create something out of nothing and do it effortlessly.  It’s only when we get get older that it becomes hard to start that creative process again.

Most youngsters don’t get their creative endeavors featured on CNN, but one young boy named Caine did recently.  He loved arcades and decided to build his own out of cardboard boxes in the back of his dad’s auto parts shop.  If you have ever had an excuse as to why you didn’t do something, this is proof that it probably was not a good reason.

Caine’s Arcade from Nirvan Mullick on Vimeo.

Most people/companies tend to focus on doing just one thing well, but that is not the path for everyone.  For some of us, we have multiple areas of expertise and talents and a thirst to share them all with the world.  Lisa Montanaro is one of those people.   It is this sense of adventure and drive for reinvention that ultimately led her to create LM Organizing Solutions, LLC (LMOS).

Upon graduation from law school, she practiced employment, labor, education and disability law for 9 ½ years.  Although she had a profound respect for the law, she did not appreciate the way it was practiced in our society.  It became too negative in the hands of those that wanted to use it to fight.  She was trained as a mediator and became a lawyer to help people, but she often felt a huge disconnect between her beliefs and her daily work. “I started to become restless and knew that there were other ways I could share my talents and expertise with people and organizations to improve the world.  I did a lot of soul searching and arrived at the conclusion that I needed to leave the traditional practice of law and become an entrepreneur in order to truly make a difference.”

During that time of career transition, Lisa realized that she had been organizing people’s lives on an “amateur” level her whole life, and that her organizing and coaching skills transcended her work as a lawyer, teacher, mediator, writer, speaker, and performer.

In 2002, Lisa launched LMOS, which serves as the umbrella for her many areas of expertise, and provides a platform to offer a variety of services to clients.  Through LMOS, she is able to offer productivity consulting, success coaching, business strategizing, and professional speaking to individuals and organizations.  “These main focus areas allow me to combine my lifelong passion for creating order with my skills gained as an educator, mediator and performer, and lawyer.  LMOS gives me the ability to enact positive, proactive change.  My clients rely on me for leadership, guidance, support, encouragement, and coaching. “

Lisa considers herself “a multi-passionate entrepreneur”.  “My business is both a profession and a passion”.  She took a leap of faith and created a business that allows her to meld together many different, but related, “callings” at the same time, while helping people live more successful lives and operate more productive and profitable businesses.  The result has been both successful and rewarding.

”Anyone that knows me (or even just meets me) can tell that I love my business and work really hard. But I’m not only a passionate entrepreneur, I am a multi-passionate person” One of the worst mistakes Lisa ever made when she first became an entrepreneur was to “compartmentalize” her life. “It dawned on me a few years ago that I don’t have a “personal life” and a “professional life,” but simply A LIFE. Consequently, I do things when they feel right, which might include writing an article or taking care of client work on a Saturday or Sunday morning, and going on a bike ride, taking a yoga class or heading out with my dogs on a hike on a Wednesday afternoon.” For Lisa, flexibility and freedom are part of what makes being self-employed so glorious. And yet, so many entrepreneurs continue to separate their personal and professional lives in ways that actually work to avoid any semblance of balance.
Lisa likes to mix things up and see how it feels. “I try to tap into my natural energy flow and rhythm so that I can do tasks when I am in top form, and not when I am  “supposed” to”. This is easier said than done, and it is a constant battle to have the freedom and flexibility so many entrepreneurs crave. She still has to function within the 9-5 world we live in, and be able to serve her clients at a time when it is convenient for them. Lisa tries not to get caught up in the compartmentalization that can cause entrepreneurs to overwork and resent their business. She makes a conscious effort to cultivate her hobbies and passions. Not only does it help her to feel rejuvenated, but it also makes her a better and more well rounded entrepreneur because of her non-work related activities.

For example, Lisa loves to travel and explore new cultures. This could be viewed as only a personal activity. And yet, her travel and exploration of other cultures infiltrates her work in surprising and refreshing ways. “I sometimes find myself “studying” the ways of other cultures and comparing them to Americans in terms of productivity, work-life balance, attitudes on business, goal setting, etc. This makes me a better productivity consultant, success coach, business strategist, speaker and writer for sure!” Even a simple personal activity like taking a hike or bike ride can fill Lisa with wonderful new ideas to write or speak about, help her work through a client issue that she is helping him or her with, or clear her mind to make space to create new programs and products.

The bottom line is that being an entrepreneur affords Lisa the opportunity to benefit from a free flow of ideas, activities and use of time that feels authentic and allows her to be the best business owner and person she can be.

Lisa says that her biggest lesson learned was to “Feel the fear and do it anyway” or “Jump … and the net shall appear.” The main “fears” were the following:

- Financial
- Perception of friends and family
- Hadn’t paid for student loans yet
- Good at being a lawyer, so why turn back on it?
- If being an entrepreneur didn’t work, could I go back?

Lisa overcame these fears in numerous ways.

She paid off my student loans so I would no longer owe money for my law degree. She also saved money and put it aside to help build her business and have a draw during the first year.

She stopped worrying about what others’ thought about her leaving the law. Many lawyer friends took it personally, when it was not about them at all. Lisa wasn’t running away from the law, she was running towards a great new career that she was eager to explore. “Once I stopped worrying about what others’ thought and gave myself permission to fully embrace my change, my mindset shifted and people stopped questioning my career change as much. I must have projected a much more confident decision. People can smell fear a mile away! ”

Lisa also realized that while she was great at being a lawyer, that didn’t mean she had to stay in the field. She had given it 9 years of full time practice and it was okay to leave it behind to explore other options. Lisa also came to the realization that she would be taking her legal training and education with her to any new career path, as the knowledge would influence everything else she did.

Lastly, Lisa decided to stop worrying about what would happen if she did not “make it” as an entrepreneur. “I knew that I needed a positive attitude to make it work, and in the worse case scenario, if it did not, I could always do something else, including going back to law if I so chose.”

So getting over the fear was a combination or trusting herself, shifting her mindset, and concrete research and planning.”

Lisa is happy to report that she is now in her 10^th year of business as a successful entrepreneur!

Lisa took her business seriously from the start! “I was so excited to be doing something I love and no longer practicing law that I think I did not see myself as a “real” entrepreneur early on”. As time progressed and Lisa realized she was a “real” business owner, she started implementing business systems and that made a huge difference. It also caused an important mindset shift where she started seeing herself as an entrepreneur and, therefore, so did others. “We often start our businesses because we love doing the technical skill, but that is not enough. We are also a business owner. I wish I had seen that from the beginning as I would have taken myself much more seriously.”

Lisa’s recommendation to new business owners is to treat your business as a “real” business from the beginning. Put all of the operational procedures in place that you need to in order to have the business run like a well-oiled machine. Obtain proper insurance coverage, create a business structure that matches your needs, and protect yourself and your business through smart use of intellectual property, such as trademark and copyright. Start by “blueprinting” your business little by little and, over time, you will have an operations manual and proper protections in place so that the business runs and grows like a powerhouse!

Lisa plans to continue to be locally active, but globally engaged. She is offering her coaching, consulting and speaking services virtually and in person around the United States and soon, the world. “My mission is to marry my passions with my profits”.  She is making a conscious choice to step into a bigger purpose to help people around the world.  This is a personal decision to take her business to the next level to reach a wider audience, establish a strong online presence, and to do it without any full time employees.

Primary URL: http://www.lmorganizingsolutions.com

Lisa’s recommended reading:

• Finding Your North Star by Martha Beck
• Joyfully Jobless by Barbara Winter
• Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow by Marsha Sinetar
• The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber
• The Million-Dollar Consultant by Alan Weiss.

I heard a statistic on the radio the other day that caught my attention.  During the game, the ball will only be in motion for somewhere between 12 and 14 minutes.   So what is going on for the other 9 plus hours?  First we have the pregame show which is 5 hours long.  Then there is the game itself divided by multiple $3 million dollar 30 second commercials.  And who can forget the half time show.  There’s another 30 minutes.  And for good measure there’s another 30 minutes tacked on to the programming calendar just in case.  The fact that they haven’t needed it in 46 years doesn’t stop network executives from planning for the inevitable (Just in case your DVR stops before the end of the game).  Last year 111 million people watched the Super Bowl making it the single most watched television program in history.  Over 1/3 of Americans spend almost the equivalent a working day each year watching this single event.

Yes – anyone who loves football will counter “but it’s the Superbowl!”.  It’s almost un-American not to watch it.  Much like the world cup in the rest of the world.  It’s not quite the event that the cricket world cup is in certain parts of the world, but for those of us in North America, it is “the” sporting event of the year.  Getting back to my 12 to 14 minute statistic, the Superbowl has been stretched into something deliberately intended to suck up your attention for the purpose of advertising.   I don’t remember how long the Superbowl was on TV in the 1960s by I’m guessing it was far less than nine and a half hours.  It’s just one more example of how things in today’s society expand based on someone else’s agenda. Am I going to watch the Superbowl?  Yes.  Am I going to do on the network’s timeline?  No thanks to our DVR.  I’m hoping to get through the whole game in about an hour.  If you are going to escape the 9 to 5,  you have to be able to set your own agenda.

If you are still getting used to that Kindle you got for Christmas, here is your chance to practice downloading books.  For anyone planning their escape from the 9 to 5 or just anyone at all,  there is a must read book - The Flinch.  It’s absolutely free, but I’m sure you will find it has immense value in your life.   The Flinch is about that fear based reaction that all of us have when faced with situations that we are afraid of.  What would be a 2 minute conversation for most people is dissected in great deal, giving a new level of clarity to the seemingly unchangeable reactions we have to our world.  If you have hit the wall, are looking for alternatives, or just want a good read, The Flinch lets you explore how you deal with the world, and is destined to change it in the process.

While Marc was looking for a job along with 13% of America that year, he also got to spend a lot of time working on his personal hobby: a food blog called NoRecipes.com.  His site sounds like a food contradiction, but it is really about the traditions, techniques and ingredients of a particular dish and not an exact combination of measurements.   “I met lots of interesting folks through the blog including some people who made a living off their blogs and related lines of business. As my blog grew I felt like Id finally found that dream job in beijing. The problem was, it was still too early and having lived off savings in New York City for nearly a year, I decided to take a full time job towards the end of the year”.

Last year he reached the point where he was turning down food writing and photography gigs because there simple wasn’t enough hours in the day to do the regular 9 to 5 and take on all the leads he had gotten through the blog. “The time felt right, I quit my jobs in beijing, and there are no regrets so far”.  It was a tough leap of faith given he still wasn’t getting enough business to pay all the bills, but Marc says, “it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made”.

Marc thinks escaping a 9 to 5 is less about taking classes or reading books and more about finding that passion that drives you to do whatever it takes to make it work.  He now enjoys the freedom to work from where ever he is in the world.  His food blog has taken him all over the world and has spawned a second web site http://wanderingcook.com.  Marc is engaging in what he calls a “delicious adventure, tasting his way around the world”.   Anthony Bourdain may have some competition on the horizon.

One of Marc’s challenges in escaping the 9 to 5 is that he doesn’t see himself as a salesman.  ”I’ve never enjoyed sales, but part of freelancing is selling your services. One of the things I’ve learned is that leads come from the most unexpected places”. As a writer he often get pitched products and services to try by marketing agencies. They’re often cookie cutter press releases and can become tiresome. One day he got a little fed up with the generic pitches and tried pitching the services back at the agency that sent the email. That email turned into a paying gig.

Marc cautions potential escapees to not sell themselves short.  This was a tough lesson for him when he first left the corporate world.  ”When I first started out I was up till 3am every morning because I took every job that came my way regardless of how low the wage was”. It didn’t leave me much time to enjoy his new found freedom and it took time and focus away from projects that actually paid a descent wage. “It’s hard to say no to work especially at first, but it’s important to know when to start saying no”.

Marc summarizes his approach to life  as “seizing the day”  (even if it is an overused phrase).  ”So many of us spend days that turn into months that turn into years at jobs we’re not passionate about dreaming about someday going off on our own. During that time, life happens and we can never quite get to a place where we’re comfortable leaving a stable job to follow a dream. I think the key to leaving a 9 to 5 is to stop chasing the dream and start living it. It may be hard at first, the obstacles may even seem unsurmoutable, but if you dedicate yourself to it, and live for today, tomorrow always seems to work itself out”.  Sounds like a perfect recipe to me.

Check out Marc’s adventures at:

http://norecipes.com
http://wanderingcook.com
Twitter: @norecipes

They say that a plan never survives the battlefield, but starting with no plan is a sure path to disaster.  If you have a plan – great.  If not,  it’s always best to try and follow someone who has already done it.  Sharing your plans, past or present, is a great way to get help, or help others along the path.

This year we plan to feature even more escapees and their stories.  If you would like to be one of them, please fill out our survey form and we may feature your escape story this year.  escapeesurvey

viagra

The irony is that space is in fact the gift that we as entrepreneurs most need.   We need space for our various creative endeavors to grow into.  Without space we are constantly faced with having to move things around or running into walls.  If you have ever transplanted plants, they get to a point where they can’t grow any more in their container and will die if left there.  Entrepreneurs are much the same way.  We need need space for our ideas to grow into.   In many ways, the gifts we are given are similar to the activities that make up our 9 to 5 lives.  They are determined by others and destined to take up your time.  Even with the best intention, that XBox 360, or copy of the Hangover 2 is time away from other things.  This is not intended to be a cynical view of Christmas presents.  Some of the best Christmas presents are made with popcycle sticks, crayons and finger paints.  These are true gifts because they are acts of creation and they enhance our world without being distractions.

If you want to give someone the ultimate gift for Christmas, or whatever holiday you are celebrating this season, give them the gift of space.  Get rid of the clutter and make room for art to happen.  Whether they are current or future Escapees from the 9 to 5, everyone needs space in their life to grow.

She went to undergraduate school at the University of Rochester and graduate school at the University of Virginia. Upon graduation, her goal was executive engineering management. “There was a visiting professor from IBM at UVA and he convinced me that IBM would be an excellent place to start my career”.  In her years at IBM, she worked in three locations developing products from financial software to multi-processor computer systems to components.

“Upon reflection, my years at IBM were well worth it.  I gained expertise in a wide range of business functions. Still, a few moments at IBM made it clear that IBM was not the company for me.”  The first was when she worked for an executive manager in the midst of accelerating his corporate career through extreme political maneuverings. Cynthia knew she was more of a performance oriented person, and far less of an office politician.  This was the game to be played for big company success and she couldn’t see herself engaging in such extreme politics.

Next, there was a series of human resource meetings; one was the annual salary survey and the other retirement planning. She just couldn’t figure it out. The salary meeting showed compensations were less than the market averages. At the same time, the retirement planning meeting showed after working for the company for 30 years, the pension would only provide a small percentage of the funds needed to maintain an employee’s standard of living.  “I remember thinking, if you get paid less than average then how can you save enough to make up the difference by retirement?”

The final straw was when her product line was re-organized under a new division. As the person responsible for strategic product planning and representing the product line with the new division, it was clear that the new division had no interest in her group. “My group was unwanted and placed on hold until its fate could be determined.  I knew the group would be disbanded. It was only a matter of time.”

At that point, she knew this couldn’t be her career direction. It didn’t make sense and it wasn’t compatible with her talents and personality.

“I convinced eight other IBMers to join me in a new venture.  The key architect and I spent more than six months contacting companies and flying around the country looking for funding.”  The team knew digital video, a hot commodity as it was the early days of the MPEG technology.  Cynthia contacted the President of Micron Computer and one day received a phone call from him. He told her that although Micron wasn’t interested, he had mentioned our proposal to the president of another tech company, and they were interested. “Here was the chance occurrence that got us the deal. I’ve learned how fortuitous happenings can have a big impact on success, which is why networking is so important to start-ups.”

“A few lessons stand out in my mind about this effort. One was how much every person contacted placed on what the team had done.  Everyone wanted to know what successful products in the market place specific team members had worked on and how they had contributed to the product’s success.  This was beyond listing professional accomplishments; it was about being part of a winning team.  A second lesson was the emphasis on the make-up of the team. I had put together the right team with management, marketing and engineering experience in the advent of an emerging technology.  It was beginner’s luck.”

Eventually the startup settled Cynthia back into role of an employee as General Manager for an established corporation—a routine, mundane, 9-5 position.  She missed the challenge of creating something from nothing. So once again she headed off and co-founded another venture. This time it was a fabless semiconductor company producing low-cost components.  A strategic partnership with a recent technology IPO and a darling of Wall Street launched this start-up. This start-up only lasted 18 months. It was an enlightening failure.

The demise was caused by another emerging technology. This new one promised to be the end-all technical advance. The market stalled as customers waited to see how the new technology would pan out. Customers put their orders on hold or canceled them, and investors lost interest. Unfortunately, they had waited to raise more funding until they reached a critical milestone. They had even turned down funding. The start-up ran out of money.

“In retrospect, one of my big lessons was to never fight the trend. Instead, embrace the trend and find the opportunity within it.” Next lesson was a start-up can never have too much money. Nothing about a start-up goes according to plan. The extra funds will help the company make the necessary transition change because no start-up gets the product right the first time.  Unfortunately, a start-up doesn’t know what and when that transition will take place and can’t be budgeted for in advance. In the early stage of a start-up, funding is a never ending process. Another painful lesson is they were too focused on the product development and should have put more effort into the marketing sooner.

Afterwards Cynthia spent a brief stint as a consultant as a subject matter expert in the very technology that collapsed the previous venture. Soon the market heated up as the promise of the end-all technology faded. The older technology became hot once again.  She founded a bootstrapped company offering a software product version of the technology from the previous start-up. “We actually started with the code base from the failed company and got customers to pay for the remaining product development.” Yet another lesson is that smart and talented people fail because of circumstances beyond their control. We would all like to believe that we are in complete control of our destiny. “The reality is we only control about one-third, another one-third is controlled by the competitors and the remaining is simply a matter of luck.”

Next, Cynthia wanted a short break from start-ups and briefly went to work for a large company. “I thought of it as more of a working vacation.  What was I thinking? I found it was impossible to go back. Yes, it was a vacation, but it was utterly uninteresting. I found it difficult to get up in the morning and be the least bit enthusiastic about work.  I had no tolerance for the work environment anymore.” It was clear that the path of entrepreneur was the only path for her. And to this day, she continues on with her ventures and helps others with their ventures.

“With each and every venture, I continue to learn new lessons.  I continue to make mistakes.  I bring my experience and knowledge to each, but more importantly, it’s my outlook that has changed from the first one. Every new venture will be a different situation, everything will and can go wrong, but it’s just a situation to be managed.  I’ve learned failure is okay. It’s quite liberating once you no longer have a fear of failing; when you learn the consequences are mostly in your mind.  It lets you try new things. If you aren’t worried about failure, you can focus on success. “

One could say that Cynthia has escaped the 9 to 5 job in beijing, which by the word “job” means working for someone else. However, that does not mean that she has a short work week or is less stressed. “In fact, I work all the time. My laptop is almost always with me. It never leaves my side. The difference is I define myself by what I do and like what I do. And so opening up my laptop at odd times and in strange places doesn’t seem unnatural. I can’t imagine what entrepreneurs did before mobility gave us the ability to work from anywhere at any time.  The more impact an individual has on the bottom line and success of a company, the more pressure there is on them to perform.  Entrepreneurship is not a relaxing life style. It is more like living La Vida Loca.”

——

Cynthia Kocialski is the founder of three tech start-ups companies. In the past 15 years, she has been involved in dozens of start-ups. Cynthia writes the Start-up Entrepreneurs’ Blog www.cynthiakocialski.com Cynthia has written the book, “Out of the Classroom Lessons in Success: How to Prosper Without Being at the Top of the Class.” The book serves up tips, insight, and wisdom to enable young adults and parents of kids to know what it will take to forge a successful career, no matter what their academic achievement.

Most people see cruises for their ambiance, fine dining and exotic destinations.  I look at them a little differently for a couple of reasons.  First, I own a travel agency.  Back in the day we were the first exclusively online cruise agency.   I did the occasional seminar, was featured on the front page of “Prodigy”  and showed up in the New York Times travel section for free a couple times.    Through a combination of choice and circumstances we faded into the digital landscape as the mega travel agencies took the internet.  We still do a fair amount of business, and as such I take a couple cruises every year.  Cruising as much as I do,  my opinion is slightly jaded.   When I would go on cruises, sometimes I will skip ports and I probably spend more time in my cabin than most people.  I once wrote an entire system spec on a cruise ship.  People look at you a little strangely when you tell them you wrote a technical document on a cruise. For a long time I thought I looked at cruises the way I do because I take them so much.  Lately I’m thinking there’s more to it than frequency of travel.

In many ways, cruises are to vacations the same way 9-5 jobs are to work.  There are lots of things to do, and for the most part they have been scripted by someone else.  Now the first time you see napkin folding or participate in an acupuncture demonstration it’s kind of interesting.  After you have seen them a few times, they have all the appeal of a weekly staff meeting.   All you have to do is look at your outlook , I mean cruise calendar, and you know what is on the agenda for the day.   Making the switch from 5 days of 9 to 5 structure to 5 days without any structure can actually be a challenge for some people.  Cruises substitute a structure of common tasks and activities for a structure of uncommon tasks and activities (or so they seem unless you’ve done them a couple dozen times).  Once you get past the novelty factor breakfast, activity, activity,activity,lunch, activity,activity,activity,dinner looks pretty much the same whether you are in corporate america or sailing in the Caribbean.

Much the same way I try to self determine my work life, I also try to self determine my vacation life.  I think that once you can recognize the structures that are imposed on you, you can start to break free of them.    Sometimes you can’t see how your day controls you at work, but you might be able to see it while you are on vacation.