 | | |
| Escape from Corporate America: A Practical Guide to Creating the Career of Your Dreams | 
 enlarge | Author: Pamela Skillings
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $8.09
You Save: $6.91 (46%)
Buy New/Used from $3.05
Avg. Customer Rating:  (13 reviews)
Sales Rank: 22431
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 0345499743
Dewey Decimal Number: 650.14
EAN: 9780345499745
ASIN: 0345499743
Publication Date: May 13, 2008
Release Date: May 13, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Customer Reviews:
Well done June 25, 2008
A well-written, well-researched book with great personal stories. Escaping corporate America is a hot topic, and this is a hot book. Read it. Enjoy it.
 Are you serving twenty-to-life in a cube farm? June 18, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Skillings' book addresses a dream that many have and that many have made come true: getting out of that cube and into the best job in the world. She presents the case for and the means of escape in a variety of ways: sound advice, case studies in success, gradual approaches to leaving the rat race, and resources for the legal, tax, and other factors that go into creating a business. Through it all, she maintains a bouncy optimism that could well be contagious. Various chapters deal with the problems of the corporate world, the attraction of 'solopreneur' life, and the steps needed to bring the vision to life. Others deal with "corporate jobs that don't suck," careers in the nonprofit world, teaching, and other ways to find satisfaction without the many (and possibly under-represented) problems of going it alone.
One thing stands out in many of these success stories. So many of them start with person X leaving a six-figure (or higher) paycheck that it starts to sound like a pre-requisite. In many cases, starting your own business will go through a lean year or two or more, so any savings you start with will help a lot. In others, the costs of equipment, materials, trade shows, sales trips, and a gaillion other things have to be up-front money, before you see your first nickel of revenue. So, what about the man or woman who starts with less, maybe lots less? Some of the advice here, like starting the new thing months or years before leaving the old, will help the startup starting with less. Still, this book might not be ideal for those who haven't already made a pile elsewhere. This book's other weakness lies in near-zero mention of the publicity campaign you'll need for selling yourself. There are endless opportunities there, including writing reviews at Amazon! (My current job came because of an Amazon review, and my brother has been invited to add to a forthcoming book based on one of his reviews - it can happen.)
Despite minor flaws, Skillings does a great job of motivating the reader to get on with her (or maybe his) dreams. She acknowledges that change can be scary, especially when it means a dramatic down-sizing of income, possibly to zero or less, during the startup phase. Well, fear isn't all bad. The right kind has amazing power to focus your attention, and one message comes through consistently: focus and dedication are two things needed to live the life you dream, and might be the only things needed.
-- wiredweird, reviewing a complimentary copy
Comforting, Funny, Energizing June 9, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Pamela Skillings has written a super book for everyone who is stuck in the corporate rut and is looking either to escape completely or just pull one leg out of the swamp. Her book is full of great exercises, suggestions and inspirations that can help anyone imagine a happier working life.
Changing your existance from dread to dynamic... May 17, 2008
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
I'm fortunate... I love my job. That doesn't mean there aren't some days where I'd gladly trade it in for a new model, but that's true for anything you do. However, I'm constantly amazed by how many people truly *hate* what they do, and only continue working because they can't afford not to. Pamela Skillings looks at people in that predicament and offers them a way out in her book Escape from Corporate America: A Practical Guide to Creating the Career of Your Dreams. It's a well-written book that should give you all the help you need to start making choices and decisions to change your current situation.
Contents:
Quiz: Are You A Corporate Casualty?
Part 1: Plan Your Escape
1. This Is Not Your Father's Job Market
2. The Trouble with the Rat Race
3. True Callings and Wrong Numbers
4. Let's Get Practical
Part 2: Exploring Escape Routes
5. Corporate Jobs That Don't Suck
6. Take A Break
7. Swim in a Smaller Pond
8. Go Solo
9. Build a Business
10. Follow Your Creative Dreams
11. Make A Difference
Part 3: Going Over the Wall
12. Going Over the Wall
Have a Nice Escape
The Escape Tool Kit
Acknowledgments
Meet the Corporate Escape Artists
The thing I like most about this book is that it doesn't try to fit everyone into a "one size fits all" mold. In the job world, "one size fits almost nobody". Skillings lays out the reasons why you may not be satisfied with your corporate existence. Sometimes it's due to burnout, sometimes to disillusionment, or even due to reorganizations that have relegated you to working for the boss from hell. Whatever the case, getting to the core of your dissatisfaction is key to figuring out how to correct it. Once that's established, she then explores the potential options that you might want to explore. For some, corporate life is fine, but you need a new pond. There's nothing wrong with a cubicle if that fits your style and comfort zone. Perhaps for others, it's just a sabbatical that's needed to recharge the batteries a bit. Maybe a start-up where you're playing a variety of roles? Become your own boss as a contractor/consultant? All those possibilities are put out there for you to consider, along with hints as to why or why not each one may be right for you. The final part of the book wraps everything up with a realistic expectation of what you'll feel when you've made the decision to pull the trigger... fear. Often that fear keeps people from taking that final step. With Skillings's help, you can see that for what it is and act accordingly.
Another thing that makes this an enjoyable read are the real-life examples interspersed throughout the book. She's gone out and interviewed a number of well-known people and asked them how they fell into their "dream job". What you'll find is that the differences between you and them are not as large as you'd think. In many/most cases, they started with the same fears and concerns you have, along with a feeling that they were missing something in their current situation. The main difference between them and you is that they've taken the step and done the hard work, and are now reaping the rewards. You're not guaranteed to succeed, but you're guaranteed to fail if you don't begin.
An excellent book to recommend to that cube dweller who continually laments their lot in life. Things can be different, and Escape from Corporate America can help show you the way.
A field guide to help you understand what you really want from work and how to get it May 17, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
From the number of people I have heard talking about getting out of the corporate rat race, I would guess nearly everyone has that desire at some point or another. However, very few people actually do it. To understand this, it helps to know a beautiful word that isn't used often enough: velleity. It dates from the early 17th Century and comes from the Latin word velle, which means wish or will. It represents something you feel a desire for, but not strong enough to overcome inertia and do anything about it. Sometimes, not acting is a very good thing. You shouldn't abandon your family because of a single fit of anger or frustration. Nor should you quit your job and dip yourself into the molten hot problems of not being able to pay your bills, not being able to finance your dreams, or have enough to even eat on a regular basis.
Whenever I am in a vast room with acres of cubicles I can barely breathe and want to flee. Despite their regular paychecks, solid benefits, and structured work life, I know for certain that life is not for me. For some people, the dread of spending any more of their precious time and life energy in one more meaningless meeting, or working one more day in a beige half-cube sitting in identical chairs, working at identical computers, regulated by identical policies as if you really were just another cog in a vast machine becomes too much to take. When you get to that level of dread, for your own mental health, you should investigate your alternatives. Not that you should rashly act on the first idea or two that pop into your head. Instead, you should read this book and look at the wonderful range or opportunities Pamela Skillings has laid out for you. Best of all, she gives you toolkits for each idea that help you work out whether that path is right for you.
The great thing Skillings does is to show you a number of alternatives to the horror show your present job has become. You don't have to leap from a reasonably secure and comfortable mid-level management job to the utter uncertainty of starting your own business from scratch. There are a large number of alternatives you can and should investigate. She divides the books twelve chapters into three parts.
Part 1 is called "Plan Your Escape" and has chapters on why today's market is not what it was a generation or two back, the burnout and boredom that can accompany modern corporate work, the myth of the one true calling, the fantasies we have about work that we pretend can become a reality (they can't), and how to try out your dream job without jumping off a cliff. She also talks about the practicalities of career change and how to mitigate the very real downsides and landmines you can set off with a careless misstep.
Part 2 is "Exploring Escape Routes" and guides you through seven gradations of alternative changes. The first is how to "Corporate Jobs That Don't Suck". And really, that is a personal thing. What you may think is a great job may well be a poor choice for me and vice-versa. There is also a chapter on switching to part-time work, or even taking some time off, a sabbatical, or leave of absence and how to make your case to your boss so you can have a job to come back to if you need it. Another alternative is moving to a smaller company. Skillings walks you through the positives and negatives of leaving the big machine for a smaller one.
Her discussion of the solo-entrepreneur or solopreneur as she calls it is quite good and something I have experienced first hand. She doesn't discuss much about what can happen if things take longer to catch fire than your expected. It can be a tough go, and you really need to make sure you have enough steel in your soul to bear it. Also, does your spouse want it with you? I want to say that I believe firmly that sacrificing a family for work is never a good idea for any reason. Work is for supporting your family not a substitute for it. Work is not the meaning of life, it is a means to provide and support what really matters.
Next, she takes you through the basics of building your own business and it is quite good as far as it goes. This is a very complex subject and there are serious issues about funding and your continued ownership or participation in the business that she doesn't discuss. Just know that once the original owners let the venture capitalists in their firm they will likely, very likely, be completely out of the firm within five years. And usually without anything like the financial benefit they dreamed of. Beware! However, there may be no other way for you to accomplish your dreams.
Nicely, the author also spends two chapters exploring the life of the artist and the life of working for a not-for-profit whose cause you believe in passionately. It may well be that you are an artist who thought you had to live a practical life and it is killing you. On the other hand, you have to be prepared for the very real financial sacrifices and life difficulties being an artist of any type always has (except for the very, very few who make it big). Working for a cause can bring benefits that can compensate for the bureaucratic red-tape you will still have to deal with for funding and the politics that always accompanies these kinds of organizations. Remember, the fights are so big because the stakes are so small.
The last part is a single chapter discussing what to expect from those around you once you go over the wall. The fear and peer pressure you will feel, the envy others might express, and so forth. The author wants you to be prepared for the other changes in your life changing your job will cause.
I love the humor in the book, the stories of others who went through what that chapter is discussing (The Daring Tales of Corporate Escape), the lists she asks you to fill out to help you think through your situation, what your real priorities are, and your financial situation. Skillings also gives you a process for each job type. If you follow her sound advice, you will certainly increase your odds for success and leave yourself bail out points so you don't have to ride the plane all the way through the crash. Best of all she is an advocate for YOU and YOUR HAPPINESS rather than trying to talk you into one path or another. Just terrific!
If you have ever thought about switching jobs or heading off into the great unknown, get, read, and USE this field guide to see what it is you really want. It may be that your present situation is better than you had previously considered. Or it may open the doors to a work life of excitement and joy you had never though you can experience.
Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI
You might also want to look at:
How'd You Score That Gig?: A Guide to the Coolest Jobs-and How to Get Them
Delaying The Real World
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| | |