One Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life Success

221 Pages·2007·1.74 MB·English

by  Marci Alboher

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A
SLASH?
Have you ever said any of the following?
A. “I dream of leaving my day job—or at least taking some time off—so that
I can pursue other passions.”
B. “I’m happiest when I’m juggling tasks. Sometimes I do my best thinking
when I put a project aside to work on something else for a while.”
C. “I need a career that engages me fully—but is flexible enough that I can
spend time with my family or doing other things that nurture me.”
D. “I often feel pulled in many directions—not because I can’t focus, but
because I have so many interests and ideas.”
E. “I’m comfortable with new beginnings. In fact, if I do the same thing for
too long, I become bored by the lack of challenges.”
If you agree with one or more of the above statements, a slash career could be
right for you. In fact, you’re probably already on your way to one. In today’s
increasingly elastic workplace, people with curiosity, vision, and a streak of
independence can reject a conventional job—and custom-blend all their skills
and interests into the slash careers of their dreams.
“For those of us (all of us) who have way more than one goal/passion/talent in
life, this is the ultimate guide! Right now you’re holding the best advice of more
than 100 folks who’ve done it already. Better get out your thank-you cards,
because you’ll be writing one to Marci Alboher before you finish chapter 3!”
—Keith Ferrazzi, CEO/speaker/entrepreneur/author of Never Eat Alone: And Other
Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time
“A must-read for anyone wanting to successfully navigate multiple callings.”
—Gregg Levoy, author of Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life
“Marci Alboher presents a descriptive and informative picture of a contemporary
approach to building a career. . . . [This book] provides hope, inspiring case
studies, and tangible tips for people who want to combine multiple interests and
skills into a completely fulfilling career.”
—Julie Jansen, author of I Don’t Know What I Want, But I Know It’s Not This and
You Want Me to Work with Who?
“Written for those people who have multiple skills and interests, ONE
PERSON/MULTIPLE CAREERS provides a winning strategy for both
surviving and prospering in today’s changing economy. A quick and interesting
read with plenty of examples, the book will have a long-term impact on those
who want to pursue several different careers simultaneously or in quick
succession. It will help bring direction and sanity to multitaskers who are skillful
at many things and want to figure out how to have it all.”
—Bill Coplin, author of 10 Things Employers Want You to Learn in College: The
Know-How You Need to Succeed
“Your ability to identify and fully exploit all your talents is essential to
maximizing your success. This book shows you, step-by-step, how to fulfill your
true potential.”
—Brian Tracy, author of The Way to Wealth
“Having multiple occupations is not only feasible but often fulfilling. There are
some really interesting stories in here of personal triumph over the mundane and
routine.”
—Abby Wilner, researcher/speaker/webmaster/coauthor of Quarterlife Crisis
“Insightful . . . essential for anyone trying to find time to pursue multiple
passions.”
—Laura Stack, speaker/mom/author of Find More Time: How to Get Things Done at
Home, Organize Your Life, and Feel Great About It
“No one likes to be pigeonholed or put in a box. Marci helps us see that in our
quest for fulfillment we can be many different things, all wrapped up in one
authentic person!”
—Rebecca Zucker, founding partner of Next Step Partners
“I really like this book—especially the concrete examples of how ‘The Slash
Effect’ can help you build your own business while maintaining security at the
same time. Not only that, Alboher may have cracked the code for how to
successfully integrate all our passions into multiple careers in a meaningful and
profitable way.”
—Michael Port, author of Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest, and Most
Reliable System for Getting More Clients
“Marci Alboher is the Walt Whitman of the new world of work. She realizes that
we are large, that we contain multitudes. With deftly told stories and plenty of
smart advice, Alboher shows how multiple professions and multiple identities
can converge into a unified—and better—life. If what you do feels out of sync
with who you are, this may be the most important book you read this year.”
—Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive, A Whole New Mind and Free Agent Nation
“This groundbreaking book identifies a new model of work and explains a future
that’s already arrived.”
—Gretchen Rubin, New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Project
If you purchase this book without a cover you should be aware that this book may have been stolen property
and reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher. In such case neither the author nor the publisher
has received any payment for this“stripped book.” Copyright © 2007 by Marci AlboherAll rights reserved.
Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced,
distributed, or transmitted in any formor by any means, or stored in database or retrieval system, without the
prior written permission of the publisher.
A HeyMarci.com Production
New York, NY
Original paperback version published by Warner Business Books.
Warner Business Books is an imprint of Warner Books, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America First Edition: February 2007
10 987654321
Updated digital and print editions: February 2012
Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Alboher, Marci.One person/multiple careers : a new model for work/life success / index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-446-69697-5ISBN-10: 0-446-69697-81.
Supplementary employment. 2. Job satisfaction.
I. Title.HD5854.5.A43 2007650.1—dc222006019193B
February 2012 Digital Edition
ISBN: 978-0-615-69441-5
CONTENTS
Introduction
Part I. A Slash Career: Getting Started
CHAPTER 1. The Slash Mind-set: Begin, Improve, Reinvent. Repeat
CHAPTER 2. Slash Breeding Grounds: Starter Professions, Volunteering,
Passions, and Detours
CHAPTER 3. Thinking Like a Modern Moonlighter
CHAPTER 4. Writing, Teaching, Speaking, and Consulting: Four Slashes That
Go with Anything
CHAPTER 5. Anatomy of a Slash Combination: An Excercise
Part II. Succeeding in a Slash Life
CHAPTER 6. Presenting Yourself: Introductions, Resumes, Business Cards,
and More
CHAPTER 7. Synergies, Leveraging, and the Power of Incongruous
Combinations
CHAPTER 8. Working the Twenty-First-Century Workplace
CHAPTER 9. Overcoming Overload, Naysayers, and Other Slash Stumbling
Blocks
CHAPTER 10. Special Considerations of Parent Slashes
Epilogue
Appendix
Notes
Index
In memory of:
EMANUEL ALBOHER
(born December 28, 1930)
who taught me to embrace all aspects of life.

And for:
EMANUEL ALBOHER
(born December 28, 2005)
who will keep that spirit alive for all of us.
A Note to E-Readers:
The world has changed dramatically since 2007 when One Person/Multiple
Careers was first published. But the book and the ideas in it are more relevant
than ever.
Less than two years after the book was released, the economy took its
historic nose-dive and slashing became even more prevalent -- but it had a new
dimension to it as many were adding a slash by necessity not by choice. The
book had a revival as people sought out its lessons as a survival handbook for
this new world we found ourselves in. So I’m releasing this e-book after
countless demands for a digital version.
We are now fully entrenched in what Tina Brown famously named the “gig
economy” – and it’s affecting everyone from young people fresh out of school
eager to start their careers to baby boomers who need to work longer because
their retirement savings have been decimated.
The explosion of social networking has accelerated the pace at which
people can access their networks, spread the word about new ventures, and
create an online presence.
Slashing has also taken hold overseas. In recent months Australian Vogue,
Le Monde in France, Visao in Portugal, and CHIC in Sweden have interviewed
me about the slashing phenomenon as the same factors that helped it bloom in
the US have taken hold other places.
There’s still no one tracking the slash workforce. Freelancers Union puts
the number of independent workers “lots working in more than one way” at 41
percent of the US population– all those are potential or actual slashes. But I’ve
long believed that the slash story isn’t in data and numbers, it’s in individual
experiences. In five years, I’ve heard from hundreds of slashers, such as the
acupuncturist from Spain who wrote to me a few months ago, telling me how
much the slash approach helped him when he found himself living in New York
and unable to do the work he was trained to do. He explained in an email:
“I started doing the only thing I could do: teaching Spanish. I loved it from
the beginning, but then there was a problem when I tried to explain to people
what I was doing. What’s a licensed acupuncturist doing working as a Spanish
tutor?” he wrote, adding “Your book helped me to clear those doubts and taught
me how it is possible to balance a life with different paths.”
The economy may eventually spring back, but we will likely never return
to the high-flying and spending ways that got us all here. We have a new passion
for sustainability, both for ourselves and for the planet. And slashing fits right in
with that new mindset.
Over time, I’ve seen the slash model applied in scores of new ways to
reflect the new world order. Yet slashing always boils down to one of these five
models:
-Money gig/passion project (Financial analyst/sculptor;
Entrepreneur/activist)
-Left brain/right brain (Engineer/museum curator)
-Mind/body (Professor/massage therapist)
-Writing/teaching/speaking/consulting (These four slashes go with
anything)
-Many hats, one job (Most small business owners fall into this category,
but employees playing more than one role show up here as well.)

A couple of other things have changed since 2007. I caved in to the term
slasher, which I initially resisted because I thought it sounded too much like
those horror films. It’s likely that many of the people you’ll read about on the
coming pages have rejiggered their slash-filled lives since I initially told their
stories. That’s how it goes with slashers.
And after more than a decade as an indie worker, I took a job -- one with
colleagues, benefits and vacation time. I’m helping to advance a new big idea
around work – encore careers with social impact. Even with a full-time job, I’m
still slashing. When people ask me what I do, my answer depends on the
situation. Sometimes I say I work for a nonprofit, sometimes I’m an evangelist
for new ways of working – or sometimes I say I’m a writer, a speaker, an
educator... even a former lawyer. The point is that I’m definitely not one thing.
I’ve got options. And so do you.
I hope this book helps you to think about slashing in some new ways, and
that you turn to it whenever it’s time to shake things up.
-February 2012