Make sure what you’re looking at interests you.

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“Make sure what you’re looking at interests you.” – Michelle Ward, Entrepreneur

“Passion” gets over-used. You can be led to expect that you need to wait for play that grabs you by your very soul and drags you into doing it at every opportunity, and that anything less is ripping yourself off.

Yet sometimes, what you think is passion is actually novelty – the rush of exploring something unknown.

Once you start to define and make familiar the new thing, the “passion” diminishes, and you start wondering whether the thing you thought was your thing really is.

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The thing you’re creating isn’t necessarily yours.

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“The thing you’re creating isn’t necessarily yours.” Andrew Navaro, Art Director, Fantasy Flight Games

There’s a natural tendency to be protective of your play.

If you’re doing it right, then it’s something that comes from within you, that’s yours, that speaks to others of the creator that you are. To paraphrase Dr. Seuss, there’s nobody out there more you-er than you, and there’s no one else who could create exactly the same things you create.

The trouble comes from the fact that you’re not just playing for you.

You’re playing for, and sometimes with, others.

That means you need to keep them in mind, whether as the audience of your product once you’ve completed it or as the fellow members of a team building something that your play is going to be a part of.

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Channel Your Path

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“Channel your path.” – Deji Adiatu, Actor and Employment Consultant

The curse of getting paid to play is that each of has so, so many ways to play, and when we engage that desire, we’re spoiled for choice!

Between having so many options and paralysing ourselves through trying to analyse each of them in order to find the “best” – we end up doing nothing.

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Look for the Positives in Everything

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“Look for the positives in everything.” – Matt Bond, Matt Bond Photography / Productions

One thing a lot of us have trouble with is the here-and-now, especially if we find our circumstances uncomfortable.

Five years before I spoke with Matt Bond for the podcast, he was working in a convenience store serving drunks after nights out.

My immediate internal reaction was, “you poor bugger.”

My first paying job was in fresh produce in a supermarket. I tend to think of it in therms of “having paid my dues” and “never again.”

Yet Matt told me that has never done a job he didn’t love. Continue reading →

Embrace Your Weird

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“Embrace your weird.” – Catherine Caine, Cash And Joy

Have you ever censored an idea because you were afraid it would freak people – especially those closest to you – out?

Yeah, me too.

The good news is, we can stop, because giving our inner weirdos free rein could not only be beneficial, it could be a great basis for getting paid to play.

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Don’t Make Excuses

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”Don’t make excuses” – Saffron Bryant, Fantasy Author

Excuses are great things. Neat little shifts of the blame for our inability to do something to a cause outside of ourselves.

It wasn’t my fault that I didn’t do it. I was too exhausted after a rough day at work to put the time in. I had to give all my attention to the kids that whole weekend. Something came up. I couldn’t give it my best.

Have you ever wondered: If I’m making excuses more often than I’m making the effort to do my thing, is there a deeper reason behind my excuses?

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On Fear: Audiolog Episode 2

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In my second (not third as I say in the recording) audiolog, I talk a little about the reasons for the gap between interviews 31 and 32 and dwell some on fear and (some of) the things I’m specifically afraid of.

My hope is that turning the fears in my head into spoken words will help take away the (at times literal) hold they have on me – and maybe help you shine some light on those fears of hour own that stop you taking action on getting paid to play.

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Keeping it About the People: Deji Adiatu, Actor and Employment Agent – Episode 32

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Deji Adiatu migrated from Nigeria to Australia a few years ago and has been working almost non-stop since, not just as an actor who got his break as an extra on no less than The Great Gatsby (yes, that The Great Gatsby) but also with charity organisations like the UN High Commission for Refugees and employment agencies seeking to place people looking for work.

And in the midst of all that, he’s been looking after his young son.

Deji is very much a humanist who believes in helping everyone be the best they can. I’m very lucky to have had him as a guest on the podcast!

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Solopreneur Style Maven: Gerlinda Aras, Mirror Image Consultations – Episode 31 / Brazen Episode 3

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Gerlinda Aras of Mirror Image Consultations.

Gerlinda Aras, owner, operator and chief stylist of Mirror Image Consultations. Image provided by Gerlinda.

Welcome back for the third edition of The Paid to Play Podcast released in conjunction with Brazen!

Having a child tends to put a cramp on your ambitions – a stable, secure income from an employer looks more attractive than the unreliable income of a freelancer when you need to feed, clothe and educate your kids.

Cairns local Gerlinda Aras, though, used the impetus of wanting more family time than her day job would allow to create her own business as a style consultant for individuals and clothing store chains. With a little help from family and friends, Gerlinda is now completely self-employed and has no shortage of work!

Listen in to find out how Gerlinda does it – and how I’m applying the lessons I’ve learned from her in my own search to get paid to play!

Styling Her Way to Self-Employment: Gerlinda Aras, Mirror Image Consultations – The Brazen Careerist

As this is cross-posted from the Brazen Careerist web log, I’ve closed all comments on this page. Can you place any comments on the Brazen page linked above, please?

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