Penelope Trunk

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  • Mailbag 11:16 am on May 22, 2012 Permalink | Reply  

    How do you network when you live on a farm? 

    As someone who lives on a farm in Wisconsin, I’m curious as to how you continue to build and maintain your social connections from such a remote location. Obviously there are social media outlets, but I find that they can only supplement the social connections made from more real, and meaningful correspondence.In your case, I’m guessing that your experience living outside the farm allowed acquired adequate social resources to allow you to move to a farm and still be connected.

    Basically my question is:What is the most effective method to network when you are physically isolated from most of the people whom you would be looking to network and socialize with?

     

    • Penelope Trunk 11:27 am on May 22, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      It’s true that I lived most of my life in big cities. But what that taught me about networking is that most of the networking stuff people do in big cities you can do from a farm or any other remote location. Because what good networkers do in big cities is help each other.

      You don’t need to be in person to help someone. You need to be aware of your own skill set — what you’re good at — and you need to understand what that person needs.

      I have noticed that people at the beginning of their career offer to help by doing a small project for free. And people who are further along in their career will offer to help by making an introduction to a person or a service that can help.

      If you help someone then you have made a meaningful connection and the person remembers you.

      Also, you if you want to get to know someone you can share ideas. I remember the people who make good comments regularly on my blog. I’m sure other bloggers remember good commenters as well. That is a good path to getting to know someone with a blog.

      You can also share ideas by sending someone a link to something you think would help them that they probably have not seen. People like to be understood and cared about and that’s what you show when you send someone an idea that is helpful to them.

      The key thing about networking – both in a city and outside of cities – is quality over quantity. Early on, LinkedIn did a study that showed that your network on LinkedIn is very valuable with just 30 people in it. But those 30 people need to know you and feel that you are a connection in their life.

      So focus on one or two people who you think can help you a lot. Figure out how to get their attention and then be ready with the questions you want to ask them. Once you have someone’s attention the burden is still on you to ask good questions so that the connection becomes useful to you.

      In the end, a connection is only as good as the questions you think to ask that person.

      Penelope

  • Mailbag 9:34 am on May 15, 2012 Permalink | Reply  

    Why are you so defensive about homeschooling? 

    I have a question. Why do so many feel they must vigilantly defend their decision to homeschool?

    So much of the dialogue I read regarding homeschooling seems to be centered around defending/justifying the decision. I admit to having done this, however, at some point, I realized that it was no longer important for me to do this. We homeschool our child and have enjoyed the benefits and frustrations that come with it. I am not sending this to you as some sort of troll. I have found your blog entries to be honest and thoughtful and wanted to pose this question to you.
     

    • Penelope Trunk 9:35 am on May 15, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      I think all good writing is an honest exploration of the things we most fear. Hemmimgway, for example, wrote about love. Malcolm Gladwell wrote his last book on what makes people special because he fears his dependence on the fact that he is perceived as special.

      My fear is that I am sqandering my kids’ childhoods. So I write about the decisions I make and the repercussions.

      Penelope

  • Mailbag 7:29 am on May 4, 2012 Permalink | Reply  

    Is the sex worker industry a good idea to get fast money? 

    I have an idea for a yoga studio in LA, but I don’t have much cash. I was thinking of escorting on the side to pay my bills while doing this. I was wondering should I do this? I’ve always been open minded. Have you ever participated in the sex industry, or tempted to?

     

    • Penelope Trunk 7:30 am on May 4, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      The problem with the sex industry is that it’s a dead-end job. So there’s no point in doing it unless you can turn it into something that is not a dead end. And in this case, I don’t think you are able to do that.

      Because I don’t think you have a good understanding of how yoga studios make money. The most successful business model for a yoga studio in LA is all marketing and connections. Running a yoga studio in LA has very little to do with yoga. The yoga world is way too competitive and heavily funded by companies who use the studio as marketing to get people to the things that really make money, like conferences and retreats.

      If the only way you can figure out to get money is the sex industry you’re probably not well connected enough to make a go of the yoga studio. Even with the extra cash.

      Penelope

    • Sadya 6:30 am on May 5, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      By far the most interesting question posted in the mailbag. What do you think about Belle de Jour ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_de_Jour_%28writer%29 ) , she became a callgirl to sustain her education- Ph.D in forsensic science. And well lets face it she did make money in the short-term & with her identity revealed, in the long term as well.

    • Penelope Trunk 8:00 am on May 7, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      This seems like a pretty poor example. She is known for being a call girl to support herself, right? So that is her identity and I think very few women would want this for their life. The call girl thing as a means to an end only works if it’s temporary and gets you to somewhere new. Otherwise the call girl thing is a means and an end.

      Her story also speaks to a huge problem with the sex industry which is that many women think it’ll be temporary but the money and attention are intoxicating and it’s hard to stop once you start. I think she’s a good example of that.

      Penelope

    • Ellie 10:17 am on May 7, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      If she were in a good PhD program she would receive a stipend from the school, probably additional grants from the govt and outside grants from endowments and scholarship funds.

      A good rule for PhD programs- if the school doesn’t pay you enough to live- don’t do it. If you can’t make money doing your research as a student, you will never be able to after your PhD.

    • Penelope Trunk 12:28 pm on May 7, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      Great point!

    • emily 1:32 pm on May 7, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      Also, I think the question is an example of a quick solution to something that requires the exact opposite. It may be totally reasonable to want to own a yoga studio in LA – but the type of long term thinking the project requires is exactly the opposite of doing quick and dirty work.

      And by dirty, I don’t mean sex work. I just mean work that requires very little of your own planning. In fact, I think sex work isn’t a fast and easy way to make lots of money. If it were, a lot more people would probably give it a try.

      Also, after reading the wiki entry on Belle de Jour, it seems to me that she was a writer who happened to do sex work for a short period of time. So her identity wasn’t just as a sex worker. If she were a guy, people would just call her a journalist.

  • Mailbag 11:42 am on May 2, 2012 Permalink | Reply  

    Graduate school for industrial organization 

    I’m about to graduate in May with a degree in Psychology. Although I will be graduating Summa Cum Laude and had previous internships, I have not been able to find a professional job. My network options have been exhausted as well. Of course, I always try to network as much as I can, but I only seem to land high-end retail jobs (glorified retail position) based on my previous work experience. I live in a place that’s probably the country’s capital for hospitality and shopping. Not much else going on. I knew that I would need to go to graduate school if I wanted to thrive in psychology; however, I’m still not completely 100% sure if what I want is to spend the next 5 years trying to obtain a PhD in Industrial / Organizational (I/O) Psychology. I’m not interested in the traditional clinical path, I am interested in I/0 Psychology. Many people don’t know about it but it’s getting recognition. It is basically Psychology Applied to business. and I love it. However, I think that through professional experience I can learn much of what I would learn in school. My dilemma is going to grad school (and spending all the time, effort, and money) to validate that I can learn practical and tangible skills in this era of graduating with “useless” degrees or simply try to find a professional job in HR or organizational development.

     

    • Penelope Trunk 11:43 am on May 2, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      The first litmus test for whether or not you should get a degree is whether the job you are certain that you want actually requires that degree.

      And I don’t think there are any jobs that require a degree in industrial organization. I think the people who move up the ladder in human resources do not need an advanced degree – it’s a management skillset that they need.

      And people who consult about industrial organization need to be great at marketing themselves to the Fortune 500. I don’t think they need a degree. Just use Google search terms for the types of people who are consulting to the Fortune 500 to tell them how to reorganize. It’s not PhDs.

      Don’t get that degree. It won’t help you. Go get a job in human resources putting industrial psychology to work. See if you like it. It’s most important for you to try jobs to see what you like. You don’t need to be on any set path right now.

    • Mark W. 7:58 am on May 8, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      “I live in a place that’s probably the country’s capital for hospitality and shopping. Not much else going on.”

      In addition to what Penelope wrote, you may consider looking for opportunities in places other than where you presently live.

    • Jenni 1:36 pm on May 14, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      Hi,
      I thought about doing a degree in I/O for a very long time, now I work in the field of Organizational Behavior which is essentially the same field as I/O but in a business school setting, i.e. more money. Unless you want to do research, do NOT get a PhD. Also, I agree an I/O degree is hard to market because most people don’t know what it is and you have to be able to convince people of what you do and what skills you have. Spend the time actually building and demonstrating those skills instead of just learning about them. You could also look into OB, consulting, and HR subsets. Good luck.

  • Mailbag 10:42 am on April 30, 2012 Permalink | Reply  

    Does social media favor extroverts? 

    When I was using Google asking how to start a blog your name came up. I took your message to just begin and ran with it. That was a few months ago and I still do not feel as though I have a direction or voice yet but I truly enjoy it as a creative outlet.

    I have read many of your posts and the other day came across one where you were talking about Twitter.  I have an aversion to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, all the Pinterest, all of the social media for the masses.  I have taken the Myers Briggs test 4 times professionally and always an INFP.  Since you are a Myers Briggs fan do you think Introverts are on Twitter or is it the 75 percent Extroverted population that find it so lovable?

     

    • Penelope Trunk 10:49 am on April 30, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      First, as background, here are the two posts we’re referencing:

      http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/penelopes-guide-to-blogging/

      http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2010/02/10/twitter-can-save-your-life/

      The short answer is that extroverts do not have an advantage in social media. Social media is about sharing ideas and caring about people, and introverts can do these things as well as extroverts.

      That said, today, 95% of all communication online is through social media. The last 5% is email. No kidding. This means that if you want to be relevant in today’s workforce you have to pick some social media tools you are comfortable with and start using them.

      I like blogging because I think it provides the largest range of benefits for the least amount of work. I know this sounds counter-intuitive because writing a blog post is more work than, say, writing a tweet. But a blog is about your own ideas and a tweet is about sharing other peoples’ ideas. So you get more mileage sharing your own ideas.

      A blog is not about getting traffic. A blog is about finding a way to convey your ideas so people can quickly understand how your brain works when they want to get to know you. So, with that as the goal, maybe you are doing a better job on your blog than you realize. And, if you are not interested in sharing your ideas, you should figure out why.. who wouldn’t want to be known for how their mind works?

      I did a series of webinars about how to get benefits from blogging without having a lot of traffic. You can get a job, meet new people, rise up in your field quickly, all sorts of stuff that does not require a lot of traffic. Here is a link to the webinar series:

      http://brazenu.com/secrets-of-an-a-list-blogger-a-week-with-penelope-trunk/

      Penelope

    • Rachel 5:16 pm on May 10, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      What’s up with the Twitter post? It seems to be cut off just after beginning of point number 2 (of 5).

    • Penelope Trunk 7:23 am on May 14, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      Thanks for letting me know, Rachel. I fixed it.

      Penelope

  • Mailbag 11:41 pm on April 24, 2012 Permalink | Reply  

    I have a choice now between a Going… 

    I have a choice now between:

    a) Going back to school for 3 years to get a degree in speech-language pathology – and the school I was accepted at is across the country.  What I would gain is a career that would be intellectually engaging, be in a field that’s growing (career stability) and be a in a field where I can take a couple months off a year to travel or do other hobbies (because I could work in a school district).  I really would rather work less with more time to travel, camp, hike, sew, and do other pursuits.

    b) Stay at my current job which is ok.  I’m in human resources, but not all that successful in a corporate culture, haven’t been promoted in 5 years, but I meet the job requirements, and since I’ve been with this company so long I get about 5 weeks of paid time off a year.  What I could do by doing this is – pay my house off in 4 years, continue living 3 houses away from my sister, maybe start a little Etsy business in my basement, and my boyfriend lives here, so we could easily continue our relationship.  But as far as working until retirement — I don’t know if I could do what I do forever.

    Right now I make 65K/year…and would make about the same working year-round coming out of school.  If I I can make $17/K a year while going to school, I could pay for college and out with no debt – but my savings account depleted.

    I’m stuck because if I have to work for the next 20-25 years – I would much rather be a speech-language pathologist. But what I really want more than a career I love – would be to be married and have a kid – and I’m 33 so my clock is running out.

    Any thoughts on what to consider?

     

    • Penelope Trunk 11:43 pm on April 24, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      I think the grad school idea for speech is okay.

      The real problem, though, is not your career. It is that you want to get married and have a kid, and you’re time is running out.

      You have a stable work situation right now. I think keep the job and put all your energy into getting married. That’s what you need right now. Or just have the kid. I mean, do whatever you need to do to have that kid. I’m not saying you need to be married, but I’m saying that you need to focus on one problem at a time, and the having a kid problem is a much higher priority than going back to school.

      Going back to school and relocating to do it will take lots of time and energy – it’s a big change for you. You should not distract yourself from your highest priority right now. You can go back to school for speech pathology after you have the kid. If that’s still what you want to do.

      Penelope

    • Rachel 12:05 pm on May 10, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      Penelope,
      I have commented several times on your blog over the years, but I have never taken the time to say thank you. This letter, and your wonderful reply, remind me that your blog gave me the best advice I have ever received.
      When I read your post “Get married first, then focus on career” (http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2006/06/01/get-married-first-then-focus-on-career/?utm_source=sidebar), I was 31. The post says that if you want kids, you need to start focusing on that at around 24– depressing! I had spent my 20s travelling and working lame jobs, and I felt that I was supposed to be having fun and enjoying myself. But the reality of my situation (single, childless, biological clock that will actually run out at some point) suddenly hit home. What also hit home was all the bad advice I got growing up– all that “don’t worry about kids, have a career, see the world” stuff.
      My favorite thing about that post, though, is the crystal clear plan for dealing with the situation: Focus. Focus on having kids, make that your first priority, make a systematic plan for finding a partner or having kids on your own, and proceed in the same organized way that guys around you are pursuing their careers.
      I changed jobs. I moved nearer my family. I forced myself to meet lots of new people. I know this formula will not work for everyone, but taking clear steps with the goal of having a family was the best thing I ever did. I am now 37 and married and pregnant. I know 37 is very late to start a family (high risk for fetal abnormalities), but I am grateful that I am not too late. And when I look around at my single friends, I think, thank god I started changing my life when I was 31.
      Thank you Penelope. Your advice here is right-on.
      Rachel G

    • boo 1:44 pm on May 11, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      Re: focusing on having a kid, get a copy of “Taking Charge of your Fertility” and start keeping track of your cycles so you can know if anything’s weird NOW. My husband and I thought we’d have plenty of time to get pregnant and now that fertility problems have cropped up, our 30s are flying by as we try to save money for either IVF or adoption.

  • Mailbag 2:39 am on April 23, 2012 Permalink | Reply  

    Followup after an informational interview 

    I’ve been doing informational phone appointments with people who are employed in the industry I hope to be in (financial services).  I’ve been very lucky to have “chemistry” with all of my contacts.  However, I am not sure how to follow up with them as my graduation date (and need for employment!) approaches.

    How does one follow-up with contacts after an informational phone appointment? Does one ask for a job? Ask for more contacts? Ask if the contact knows of any jobs? Ask for an in-person meeting?

     

     

    • Penelope Trunk 2:46 am on April 23, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      First of all, try to get the informational interview in person. Meeting face-to-face makes it more likely that you can get the person to feel invested in helping you. That’s the goal of an informational interview – that the person likes you so much that they help you get a job.

      The person can like you in two ways. Either the person genuinely connects with you and wants you in their life, or the person recognizes that you’ll be a star and they want to be associated with you because it will make them look good.

      In any case, you don’t want to ask directly for a job – if they really like you, and they ahve a job open, they’ll say something. Instead, figure out how they can help you get to a job. Advice, connections, things like that. The hardest part of making the informational interview matter is to be able to think of ways to get the person to help you after the interview is over. The questions are the hard part, but asking the questions and showing that you take action based on the answer – and then asking another question — this is the process that makes someone feel more and more invested in your success and therefore more and more willing to go out on a limb for you to get you a job.

      Here are some posts about how to ask good questions.
      http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2010/05/06/five-tips-for-asking-better-questions/

      http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2007/09/09/whats-a-good-question-whats-a-good-answer/

      Good luck with your job hunt!

      Penelope

  • Mailbag 3:35 pm on April 9, 2012 Permalink | Reply  

    Do you always have to think about money? 

    A recent post on your blog talks about having challenging goals for which you can focus your energy on. You also mention you need to be able to make money doing it. Does that mean the only worthwhile goals that you focus on and try to reach everyday are ones that you can eventually make money from?

     

    • Penelope Trunk 3:41 pm on April 9, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      Certainly there are many worthwhile goals that do not involve money. Making time to have sex with your partner, for example. (Although now that I write this, I think we could, in a stretch, argue that everything is about money — even making sure your kids are safe. But I’m not going to make that argument.)

      The problem is that we only have so many hours in the day. Most adults have to earn a living and/or take care of children. That takes a lot of time and energy. Most adults also want to have a significant other — someone who they love most and the person loves them back. That type of relationship takes time and energy as well.

      What is left is maybe, for lucky people, time enough for one hobby and some close friends and family.

      My point is that we spend most of our time earning money, so we should spend most of our time considering our goals for earning money. By the same token, if you spend an hour a day doing art then you should spend a commensurate amount of time in your day figuring out the best plan for how to spend that hour and what it’s leading up to.

      Penelope

    • Gavin 2:59 am on April 19, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      Using your example of art in the mailbag, if a person practices say painting, takes classes in painting, moves across the country to study under the best art teachers and spends a significant portion of time and money on this but doesn’t really think it lead to any monetary payoff directly, is this unwise?
      If it is unwise then it seems to run against your “Don’t do what you love” column that postulates that it’s unnecessary to get paid to do what you love because you would be doing it anyway.

    • Penelope Trunk 3:01 pm on April 23, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      In general, if we cannot maintain a stable life, we cannot be close to people we love. We need to be able to earn money and care for ourselves and other people and be able to put those things before art for the sake of art. When there is time and energy left over, then there is room for other things.

      Rarely, someone emerges who is so drawn to something that he or she will do it at the expense of close relationships. Melville letting his kids starve while he writes Moby Dick. Picasso constantly hooking up with a woman because he wanted her in his art, and dumping her when he was done. Muriel Spark giving up her son to someone else to raise so she could write. Mother Theresa being everyone’s friend but close to no one.

      If you are one of those people, then traveling all over the world in the name of your art makes sense. But you know early if you are one of those people. You are drawn to your oeuvre in an insane way.

      Otherwise, earning money and creating stability for people you love means more to you than the passion. And you just need to own that. Most people are not Melville. It’s fine.

      Penelope

    • Ebriel 12:30 am on May 14, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      “If you are one of those people, then traveling all over the world in the name of your art makes sense. But you know early if you are one of those people. You are drawn to your oeuvre in an insane way.”

      As someone who’s traveled around the world to do just that, I have to agree. You do know it pretty early on. And it leads to many insane and unstable years. It’s hard on your relationships and on your finances.

      But money always comes into play. Always. As I prepare for my next project in China, my first concern is: how is this going to pay for itself, and pay me?

      Most professional artists spend at least an hour of marketing for every hour creating art. For me, it’s often been double that — two hours of marketing related activities. This is because I usually coordinate my own exhibits rather than working with gallerists who handle a lot of the admin (and take 50% of the profits).

  • Mailbag 10:45 pm on April 2, 2012 Permalink | Reply  

    Can you stay at a good job too long? 

    My husband graduated 5 years ago and got a job at his current company and loves it. I’m an avid reader, so I know you’d approve of the reasons why: He’s always learning. He’s thrilled to have opportunities to travel, and even live, abroad. We’ve both made good friends with a few of his colleagues. It’s close to our families, and he has a ten minute commute. There’s bullshit like anywhere, but we feel like it’s worth it. And he just got a promotion and a big raise.

    The trouble is, he’s happy to stay there indefinitely as long as they pay is good but I worry that in the modern job market, he’ll seem odd for staying at the same company – his first job out of school! – for much longer. Can that be a bad thing? If so, can you mitigate it by diversifying a resume with other things like being active in industry organizations or volunteering?

    Could it possibly make sense to give up so many good things for the benefit of having more diverse experience?

     

    • Penelope Trunk 10:56 pm on April 2, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      This certainly does sound like a good job. And I appreciate that you know all my hot-buttons for why people should change jobs.

      For those who are not so well versed in the virtues of job hopping, here’s a post about why job hopping is important for your career.
      http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2006/12/24/good-news-for-job-hoppers-frequent-change-maintains-passion/

      And here’s a post about how to tell if you have a good job.
      http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2007/09/07/do-you-have-a-good-job-take-the-test/

      Once you’ve read those posts, you can see that this job that your husband has does, indeed, seem like a keeper.

      But here are the risks of staying in that job more than five years:
      1. Your husband does not learn job hunting skills. These are the skills that keep adults afloat in the world. To not develop these skills and have to support oneself, and maybe even a family, starts to feel scary. The older you get, the harder the skills are to develop because it is so incredibly humbling to job hunt.

      2. Your husband is not building a network outside of his company that can provide a safety net for him in bad times. If he were to lose his job because of trouble at the company, most of his network would also be out of work.

      3. He is overly reliant on his company. This, I think, is the biggest problem. The longer you stay with one company the more reliant you become on being able to stay longer. The company does not owe you anything. So it’s awkward to be so dependent on it.

      That said, there are some people who are such hotshots in their field that it doesn’t matter if they stay a long time at a company. They make their own tornado of ideas and innovations and the company they are at is secondary to what’s in their head. These people are always employable. These people are usually at very high-profile companies doing high-profile projects, and that high-profile nature of their job makes them employable even if they’ve been there for ten years.

      Most people are not in that situation. Most people have to worry about staying employable. And it’s very risky to put all your eggs in the basket of one company. Most of us would rather put our eggs in our own basket, that we control. And that’s what job hopping provides for.

      Penelope

  • Mailbag 9:05 am on March 26, 2012 Permalink | Reply  

    How to get a job in a different city 

    Do you have advice for trying to relocate across country and find a job? Does one need to lie and say you are actually in the new town? It seems like they can find that out in a background check. They seem to be more interested in local candidates, even when I stress I would pay for my own move.

    I just cannot afford to quit and go live in the town in order to interview because of overhead.

     

     

     

     

    • Penelope Trunk 9:09 am on March 26, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      People will not interview you if they think they need to relocate you themselves. Why would they do that? There are plenty of local candidates to hire and it’s easier. So you need to overcome this problem to get a job in a new city.

      Step one: Put a local address on your resume. It’s not a lie to give a local address on your resume. Tons of people have multiple addresses. You are giving the address where you will get mail if you are in that city. The person reading the resume draws the conclusion that you are living in the city already. Your goal with a resume is to get an interview.

      Step two: Fly to an interview if you get one. Tell the interviewer you will be relocating permanently in three weeks. Which would be true, if you got the job. So it’s fine to say it in the interview. If you have to go through a phone screen first, tell the interviewer that you are planning to move in three weeks but you will be in town the next week and you can interview then. This takes the pressure off the interviewer worrying that they are dragging you into town for an interview – they don’t want to feel that they are doing that.

      If you do not have a the resources to get to the new city for an interview and you don’t have the resources to move without a job then you don’t have the resources to move. Only very, very hard-to-fill positions allow for paying for travel to interview a candidate.

      Penelope

    • Sasha 10:10 am on March 26, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      Thank you. I just was stalled on interview #2 with a company and so I sent them an email saying “I would like to fly there for a face-to-face meeting. What is your availability?” and then next thing I knew they wanted to interview me for a job in current city. I had to tell them “Sorry, would love to work for you but my goal is to relocate, I already have a residence and I am paying for my own relocation” Ughhh!

    • Adam 4:41 pm on March 27, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      I made the move from Vancouver Canada to San Diego CA last summer. I applied to several hundred jobs using a San Diego address I had pulled from the internet, and managed to land 6 interviews. I scheduled them for the same week, put everything I owned in a U-Haul, and drove on down.

      I landed 2 of the jobs, took my pick, and signed a lease. It can definitely be done. However, I had a contingency plan that included steel-toed boots in case I landed no jobs and had to work laboring somewhere until I got something legitimate.

      Best of luck! Dive in head first, you’ll never no how it will work if you don’t try!

      And if it makes you feel less nervous, I had a wife and son who came with me.

    • Adam 4:44 pm on March 27, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      Wondering if my usage of “no” instead of “know” twice was some sort of Freudian thing…

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