“Sell the sizzle, not the steak” – some readers may know of this famous phrase from the world of sales and marketing; and attributed to the master American salesman of the 1930s, Elmer Wheeler.

It precisely summarizes how advertisers appeal to human nature – they sell through the senses (“hmm, steak smells good!”) and to our emotional triggers.

Of course ‘they’ are not just faceless ad executives.

With varying degrees of ability and success, ‘we’ do this whenever influence and persuasion are required in our daily lives. Think “performance review time” or even “finding a mate”

Another example is the “quit your job and work at home” lifestyle – often aimed at people fed up with “working for the (wo)man”.

On the face of it the idea seems wonderful – kick back, fire your tyrant boss and work from home in your pajamas. Take vacations when you want. Goof off till noon etc.

Yes sir, that’s one mouthwatering sizzle folks imagine they’ll be chewing on.

The reality is usually very different – a very, very few will “aim for the moon, overshoot and hit the stars” almost their first time at bat. These are the ones you’ll hear and read about.

But for the majority it’s likely to be a sobering case of:

“When opportunity knocks, it comes dressed in overalls and looks like hard work”.

Be Prepared!

Four years ago the debt-fueled housing/economic boom in US, UK and other countries drove a “rising tide lifts all boats” belief in the seemingly endless ability of stock, property and “good times” to keep on rolling.

Even career change was seen as something folks could drop into – and out of again. Plenty of jobs out there…

Spring 2009 paints a different picture of increasing job losses, wage deflation and of firms hunkering down for even tougher times.

So, with my career coaching hat on, think very carefully before leaving a well-paying (mortgage, food-on-the-table, daily living) job for the uncertainties of “working from home.”

But do consider starting a part-time business on the side – especially if you think you might be getting a pink slip before long.

Obviously, I can’t advise you on the risk/reward of your particular situation – but I do believe it’s worth learning from people who are successfully doing what I want to do.

One such person is the freelance writer, Nick Usborne. As well as sharing great articles on his site(s) he’s also released a free, 21 page guide on the popular document sharing site, scribd.com titled:

Are You Really Ready To Quit Your Job And Work From Home?

Nick’s been doing exactly that for over 25 years – check him out.

- Mark McClure

If coaching’s taught me anything, it’s that accountability is a formidable tool for personal change when wielded constructively. People often hire coaches to hold their proverbial feet to the fire – and that can be well worth the cost.

Another approach is to follow the ’success crumbs’ of someone who’s already doing what interests you. That’s how I’m going about adding freelance writing to a mid-career change repertoire.

I signed up for Angela Booth’s “Sell Your Writing Online Now“, and for $37 per month I get a weekly lesson on a particular writing topic – along with some exercises. And usually a bonus file. (BTW – Studying Angela’s online marketing approach for this course is a great way to learn about outsourced passive income streams, ably run by her virtual assistant. But that’s a story for another blog!)

A recent lesson was to sign up and get some experience with the online freelance sites.

And as you can see from the graphic, I’ve now got a profile on Elance.com.

Elance.com and others like it, bring together buyers (looking for writers, software programmers, virtual assistants) with service providers such as yours truly.

Right now I’ve made “sealed bids” for 3 jobs – two tech blogging roles and some writing for a personal growth site.

Sealed bids make it “interesting” because only the buyer can see what everyone is asking for. I’ve been advised to go with slightly less than my advertised freelance writing rates but not to compete with the bottom feeders. (No disrespect intended – but 1 cent per word is a market best left to others… you really get to understand the free market and globalization of labo(u)r resources by competing in an Internet-enabled marketplace like Elance. I can handle that, gulp…)

I’ve also found it helpful to check out other more established writers on Elance and then go find their own professional blogs. (The successful writers seem to use the freelance bidding sites as just a part of their marketing approach. I’d agree with that – imagine waking up one day and finding Elance gone to that great big ether in the sky…)

And the accountability aspect of Angela’s program?

Well, you get what you pay for! If I needed full-on personal accountability I could hire her as a private writing coach. I don’t need that at this stage and am motivated enough to just “get with the program” – although I’ve emailed her VA for support and advice. That helps.

Other than “putting food on the table” (a good one, by the way!), what accountability approaches are you using to help “learn and earn” in these testing times?

- Mark McClure

PS – I will blog for money The rate is 10 cents per word ($35 per typical 350 word post.) Plus – get 20% off advertised rates if you pay in full when ordering and also buy 10 or more posts.

See the Samurai Writer’s Ghostwriting info for details.

As regular readers may know, my current mid-career change strategy follows a multi-pronged approach – and includes roles from my professional past, such as school teaching. It’s still very much a work-in-progress and I’m making things up as I go along – while trusting in the serendipity goddess to make an appearance from time to time

This week I did some substitute teaching which included showing video #1 from the PBS series, “Triumph of the Nerds“. Although made in 1996, it’s still an amusingly watchable and fascinating story of the PC / microprocessor revolution.

Of course, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs feature prominently but other players such as Paul Allen and Steve Wozniak get honorable mentions.

Another gentleman’s story, Ed Roberts, kept me guessing as to the connection between the 1970s “solution-in-search-of-a-problem” personal computers he helped bring into being, and the “BASIC interpreter” software that Gates and Allen were busy sculpting. (Wikipedia does a good job of filling in those details.)

What struck me about Ed Roberts was that even though many other professionals at the time thought what they were doing wouldn’t work, he and his colleagues persevered. I think he said on video words to the effect of:

“We kept going because we never knew that it was impossible.”

There were surely business reasons behind Ed’s desire to succeed but also a very personal ‘wish’ to simply have a computer of his own (however impractical – see the wiki article!) to play with.

And that’s as good a working definition of “do what you love” (and the money might follow) as I’ve seen!

- Mark McClure