Archive for the Entrepreneurship Category
Interview with Social Media Expert – Nathan Hangen
Every now and again, I like to bring you short interviews to give you a new perspective on work happiness. During my study of work happiness I found that there are many paths to the same goal. Some people believe that loving what you do is a must, while other people believe that relationships are vital to enjoying the work that we do. Interviews are a great way to get out of our own perspective and see what other people are doing to be happy at work.
Today we have a social media extraordinaire, Nathan Hangen with us. He has recently published an ebook called Beyond Blogging that case studies 15 successful bloggers and how they were able to make their dreams a reality. He is on his way to making his blogging dreams a reality too. He has blown up in the last few weeks and I wanted to catch him before he stopped taking my calls. 
Karl: On a scale of 1- 10 (10 being very important) how important is work happiness to you? Why did you pick that number?
Nathan Hangen: Work happiness is a 10…absolutely. When Gary V said that he changed direction because he was only something like 99% happy, that really resonated with me, because I’m always trying to find the path that leads to 100% happiness.
At the same time though, I don’t want to get caught in a pattern of never being happy, so I try to remember that it’s a journey, not a destination.
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Career Renegade Interview
As always, I’m trying to bring as many perspectives about work happiness to you that I possibly can. Jonathan Fields of Career Renegade is a friend who I met at SxSW and he is also a wonderful writer. I reviewed his book and took away a ton of great ideas. He’s a serial entrepreneur and that’s why I asked him for an interview. Many of you may not want to start your own business, but all of you are entrepreneurs, whether you are working for a company or yourself. It’s up to you to make your career come alive.
That’s why I love this interview. Jonathan is always bubbling with energy and concepts that we could all use to improve our working lives.
Let’s begin…
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Career Renegade – Book Review
Are you working at your job and wondering why you aren’t doing what you love? Maybe your passion is surfing, finance, or knitting. Regardless of what your passion is there is always a way to make money off what you enjoy doing. That is if you can find the right angle. You just need to find a way to deliver value to people so they will pay you for your skill.
The “doing what you love” method of making money is a popular topic lately. Many people are flooding into this market. The problem is that they don’t have enough true wins or losses in their past to be considered an expert. They just talk a good game.
We must separate the fakers from the real deals. After meeting Jonathan Fields at South by South West I’m confident that he is the real deal. His book, Career Renegade, takes the reader through the steps necessary to take his/her career to the next level.
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A Work Happy Now Interview on Let It Flow
An interview is a wonderful way of understanding what you believe. You can’t prepare for random questions; you just have to say the first thing that pops in your head. Most of the time. We can’t say everything. Stacey of Let It Flow asked me some very interesting questions, so check out the half hour interview and listen to what we talked about.
Podcast Wednesday: Interview with Karl Staib of Work Happy Now
My favorite technique of Stacey’s was her ability to ask follow up questions that dug deeper into the subject of work happiness. There are millions of staged interviews, but they are always boring. Always! The best ones are when the conversation flows naturally.
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Escape From Cubicle Nation – Book Review
You probably look at cubicle walls and wonder, who the hell designed these ugly monstrosities? But that’s not even the point. Why would any company put their valued employees in these little human pens?
Do they really care about what I think, and if they do then why don’t they ask for my opinion?
If you’ve ever worked in a cubicle, you probably have had these thoughts. The corporate world often does what is easy instead of what is right.
There have been signs of corporate culture changing in large and small companies, but it doesn’t seem to happen fast enough.
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Thomas Edison on Work and Money
“One might think that the money value of an invention constitutes its reward to the man who loves his work. But… I continue to find my greatest pleasure, and so my reward, in the work that precedes what the world calls success.”
- Thomas A. Edison
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New Media is Changing How We Feel about Education and Career
This is a guest post from Christine Gallagher of Communicate Value.
Gen Y grew up with the internet. Some of us first encountered it in high school; others of us can’t remember a time when we were ever without it.
We’re used to doing everything online. We know how to find things there—anything we care to. The physical yellow pages are an oddity. If we come across a brick and mortar store that doesn’t have a website, we’re aghast—and feel somewhat sorry for them. If we meet you, you are under 35, and you don’t have a Facebook account, we get thoroughly confused.
“But, but, I don’t…understand. You’re not ON it?”
Ok, perhaps some of this is a slight exaggeration. However, it’s not too far off. Technology is a way of life. And not just in the sense of socializing and looking up facts and figures or the closest coffee shop.
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Your Company Should Do Annual Career Counseling
I believe that creating an “entrepreneur track” for employees will actually help a company retain employees longer because they are helping employees build skills necessary to go out on their own. Why leave a company that’s helping you develop your career happiness?
You can’t. Or at least not right away. That’s why companies should do annual career counseling. By giving an employee what they need, they will stick around longer.
It’s why so few people leave Google; the experience is just too good to give up. Many entrepreneurial personalities work at Google. They are smart, motivated, and talented enough to make it on their own, but they stay at Google for awhile because they are paid well and work with great people.
Your company should create an environment that will nourish a person’s needs, not deny them until they just get fed up with all the bureaucratic crap.
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Gary Vaynerchuk – Do What You Love
Gary Vaynerchuk is a marketing juggernaut . He understands the importance of networking, doing what you love, and not being afraid to make money doing it.
Here is his words of wisdom:
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A Steve Pavlina Interview on How to Build Your Career
Work Happy Now was granted an interview with Steve Pavlina, the online Personal Development King. I just gave him that title, but I think most of us can agree that no one has more online “personal development” clout than Steve.
I was nervous. I wanted everything to go perfectly. My voice was a little shaky at the start. You’ll notice this when you listen to the first podcast. I calmed down after a few minutes and I delivered a pretty good interview.
I told my wife that I probably would put Steve at the top of my list of famous people to interview.
“What about Obama?” she asked.
“Sure, I would love to interview Obama, but interviewing Steve meant more to me. I would probably get more readers with an Obama interview, but that doesn’t matter. I’ve been following Steve’s blog for almost three years,” I replied.
“Wow! You really enjoyed talking with him.”
“Yeah, he’s down to earth and intelligent. I couldn’t have asked for a better interview.”
“You’ve worked hard for this. I’m proud of you.”
“Thanks.”
I broke the interview down into five parts:
The sound quality isn’t the greatest since I recorded it using Skype. I had to increase the volume on Steve’s answers so it matched my volume. It’s not a perfect recording, but I’m sure you’ll find it interesting. Steve’s answers are honest and unique.
Enjoy! I know I did.
Check out my review of Steve’s book Personal Development for Smart People.
Articles Related to Steve’s Brilliant Advice:
- Personal Development for Smart People – Book Review
- 50/50 Effect
- How Transitions Can Dramatically Improve Your Productivity
- Your 3 Careers – Are You Ready?
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