Scrooge Your Career

Perhaps you have found yourself watching the movie A Christmas Carol, Scrooged, or another version of the Dickens story of personal redemption. Let's consider this story with an eye to our careers or businesses. We cannot change the past, the present is of our own making, and all that remains under our control is our future. Or does it?

I know I have seen and heard many friends with a spirit of despair when it comes to their economic future. We feel betrayed by big industry's failings, our state's poor choices, our employers for not planning for darker times. Do you feel frustrated by customers unable to afford your great product or service? Just as Ebenezer Scrooge looked to Christmas Past and Present with horror, we too can share his joy in looking to our futures. We can shake off what we can't change and change course, look to new directions, find something in yourself that was obscured to you and bring it front and center. Be bold.

Scrooge needed to learn to be generous in spirit with others. I',m going to guess that you've been doing that all along and the neglected one is.... YOU! These are times for Bold Change. Do not be discouraged by the economy we live in. Refuse to participate. Look to the new decade as your personal milestone of great change and growth, just as Scrooge does.

So where do you start with this Bold Change? Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• "What would I do with a million dollars?" You just may find that some of your ideas don't cost a million dollars at all, in fact they may cost nothing.
• "Why do I do what I do for a living?" Again you may be surprised. Is it because you are afraid or just comfortable? What is the back burner career you have dreamed of making real?
  
• "If I were to be assured that my circle of friends and family would support a change in my career/business/economic standing, what would I do differently?" When you've answered that, consider why you care so much about what other people think!

Your future is yours. Isn't that great? Don't be a captive of routine or expectation. Be bold and unafraid. Go back to school, relocate, kick your grown kids out of house, change the way you promote yourself and your business. Just do something to take charge of your future.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Life!
Your friend, Mary Rogers

Northern Michigan's small business culture

So, a view of the Bay means half the pay, blah, blah, blah. Well, that view of the Bay seems to have another impact on our lives: unstoppable optimism and creativity in forging a life here. In speaking with TC Chamber president, Doug Luciani, he shared his experience of meetings with people who have recently closed their businesses or lost their jobs. Consistently, he finds them enthusiastically reinventing themselves, regardless of the blow they've just received courtesy of Michigan's economy. No whining, no pity party, just a comfortable state of "hmm, what next?".

I believe that spirit comes from our naturally entrepreneurial culture of small business in northern Michigan. We don't have many mega-employers, and there is a "business as usual" feeling about supporting ourselves through hard work and supporting our neighbors' businesses. You just figure it out.

The sheer numbers of self-employed, independent freelancers, based here, doing work around the globe seems disproportionately high for a non-urban region. Our corner mom & pop businesses, started with a dream and driven by an unexhaustable work ethic make this economy and this lifestyle work. We just figure it out, committed as we are, to staying here.

I love it. The people here are so much more interesting than corporate cubicle dwellers.

If you love it too, be sure you are buying local goods, supporting local retailers, dining in locally owned restaurants, supporting our farmers, wineries and utilizing the services of local professionals. These times are NOT business as usual, and our spending habits will make or break this small business dream in northern Michigan.

Keep the dream alive, with EVERY purchasing decision you make. Your livelihood may depend upon it.