What to do if You Love Your Work, But Hate Your Job
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You have to wonder sometimes: do you think the guy who tests rides at Disney World wakes up and says, “Crap… It’s Monday… I have to ride the friggin’ roller coaster.”?
Does the staff photographer at Playboy say, “Stupid 8 a.m. photo shoots,” when his alarm clock rings?
Wonder if the buyer for Macy’s gets up on Monday and thinks to herself, “I can’t believe I have to buy all those purses.”
It wouldn’t surprise me.
The bureaucracy and office politics of the workplace can suck the fun out of the most creative, most meaningful work, turning it into… a job. And jobs are full of micromanagers, non-existent managers, backstabbers, risk averters, and the ilk who seek to commoditize inspiration and who turn the thing you were born to do into the thing you are bored to do.
Fortunately, technology and new business models offer us radical options. The world can be your workplace. You can even keep your current job while you experiment with some of the following options, designed to refresh your inspiration and give you an opportunity to transform your job back into your passion.
Consult
If you already have experience and have built a resume of success, you can leverage that experience into a consultancy gig. Companies, especially startups, will pay for your advice and experience. It can often be handled remotely.
Here’s an article from Entrepreneur Magazine on how to start a consulting business.
Volunteer
Obviously, this won’t necessarily help you quit your day job, but it may re-ignite those flames of passion. Lots of people, however, have found that volunteering has led to career changes.
Volunteer Match is a great place to start.
Start It Up
Start your own side business. You can start an online business to test the waters for pennies.
I recommend starting at Startup Nation.
Writing
Freelance writing gigs can help you earn some money and build up a reputation as an expert. Starting a blog is another way to create revenue streams, while offering advice and expertise.
Not only can this serve as a way to make some spare cash, it can be an excellent networking tool as you build a bridge from the job you hate to the work you love.
Try Copyblogger and Problogger as resources.
* Note: By the way, this is our 700th post! We want to thank you for your input and encouragement–and often your criticism that has made writing these posts so rewarding.
We are giving away a free copy of our eBook, The Wealth Singularity, to the reader who adds a comment with the best story of how they turned a job they hated into work they love, or how they’re planning to turn their job into a real mission. Or, a variation on that theme.
Related posts:
- Signs of a Legitimate Work-from-Home Job
- Facing Down Your Job Insecurity Complex
- Move Your Own Damn Cheese: Five Business Book Lies
- Weekly Wisdom: C’mon Let’s Get Happy
- How to Tell if Your Boss is a Dinosaur
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is one of my favorite financial books of all time. It's an allegory about a guy who has a terrible job, and how he overcomes challenges to achieve his dreams.
