Update!

As promised, I'll be comin' at ya every Tuesday. The only problem is, I've been so crazy busy that even though technically, it's Wednesday, I am still considering it Tuesday because I haven't gone to bed yet. I want to brag for a second, but also hope to inspire too.

When I was a kid, I fell in love with acting and performing. I participated in the drama club in middle school and was always a member of the advanced production class in high school. Not to toot my own horn, but I've got talent.

Then I went off to college and figured it was time to grow up, get a real job, etc. I studies mass communication (media, basically) and while I really liked it, I always felt a little empty.

After 10 years of tucking my love of acting into a deep crevice of my mind, swearing never to dig it out again for fear of pain and resentment that might stray me from the path of what I thought was mature discipline, I woke up one day and decided to go for it. That day was less less than two months ago. I have since booked four separate, PAID acting jobs. The pay is rather low, as I expected, but I honestly don't care because first, it's experience, and second, IT'S PAID! That's a HUGE deal! I've gotten parts in four out of five auditions that I've attended. That's pretty damn good if I may say so myself. I know that frequency will not likely remain, but I'm still stoked.

Whatever it is you're wanting to do, it's not too late. I know it seems impossible to believe when you're stuck in a depression, but once you put the simplest thing into motion, you'll get what you want. It may come slowly, but it will come. Your brain won't let you forget it. It will nag at you, poke at you, and ask you, "WHY THE HELL HAVEN'T YOU DONE THIS YET?!"

Ask me how I know....because that's what I did for *10* years!

You can't simply dream, you have to DO. Right now, get a piece of paper and a pen or open a blank Word document. Write ONE thing you've always wanted to do. It doesn't have to be some life-altering experience. It can be as simple as going to store that has always looked interesting, but that you've never visited, or reading a certain book, or taking a random art class, or making one phone call to a company you've always been interested in working for. Then do it.

Keep doing it. After you visit that store, read that book. After you finish that book, take that art class. After you take that art class, call that company. You'll condition yourself to say yes to your desires and you'll learn ways to make them happen. You can start making increasingly "harder" goals. It won't be as easy, of course, but what worth having is? Don't believe me? Look at all the obscenely wealthy, yet incredibly vapid losers we all idolize who seem to have everything handed to them by right of birth. Yet somehow, they're miserable, they turn to drugs or other types of thrill seeking, they can't stand the pain of knowing they don't really do anything.

I know, it kinda sounds kooky, like something from The Secret, or one of those other lame self-helpless books, but I'm not claiming anything mythical or mystical....mythistical? Anyway, I am merely suggesting things that you can definitely do, and I'm not basing it off of any defined pseudoscience. These are just simple tasks that anyone with a pen and paper can do.

I know, I know, I know. It's HARD, but think of it the way, you're going to be dead soon. It may seem far off, but it's not. Besides, it could also happen any time, so you have to make the best of your life NOW because when you're dead, it won't matter, even if you do have some kind of spiritual belief about the afterlife. Of course, I'm not here to take that away from you, however, I would love to murder the idea that suffering equals reward. It doesn't. Always keep the Golden Rule. No matter what your beliefs are, if you always consider others, live with passion and goodness, you should still qualify for whatever super-neato, post-mortem experience you subscribe to.

Don't let your "faith" hold you back from anything! Besides, you're not following your faith's rules 100% anyway. More importantly, no belief should get in the way of you doing what you really want...unless your dream is like...stalking some hot celebrity or something. In that case, seek a psychiatrist.

Please, today, right now, this moment, do something that makes you happy, no matter how small.

Excuses, Excuses

Humans are such great excuse makers. I'm not sure what the evolutionary significance of this trait is, but in any case, we all tend to let this negative ability rule our lives. We can't lose weight because we're old. We can't take on a hobby because we're poor. We can't enrich our relationships with friends because we don't have time. We can't enlighten ourselves because we don't know how (and refuse to learn). Even as I write this blog damning the process, this very second, I am making excuses for not accomplishing other things I really want in my life.

In terms of career, my basic goal is to organize enough small, part-time gigs that I enjoy to amass a full-time income. This mission is easy enough for me because I've always been single and lived modestly. It may be more difficult for many of you out there that are chasing your dreams and have families, nice houses, car payments, etc. The things I'm trying are really meant for me, but I always hope to be able to inspire other people. So, perhaps you might not be able to walk away from your miserable job right away. Perhaps you might not be able to save money. Perhaps you don't have time to take on any more responsibilities.

Sorry to be a brat, but those are all excuses. I know, it's ugly and unpleasant, but I do my best not to bullshit people; there's enough bullshit in this world as it is. Sadly, what most people do the second they hear this, is come up with more excuses. This is far from the first time I've made that statement and every time I make it, I am met with what seems like a battle royale of pseudo-sympathetic excuses. Inevitably, to remove the focus from themselves, people will always politicize the point. "Oh, so, you're saying that it's poor people's fault they're poor? WELL YOU'RE WRONG! If it weren't for this or that political blabla then blabla wouldn't blabla." Never mind that I never said any of what they're assuming.

Alas, we are so good at making excuses for ourselves that we'll even make them for other people to convince ourselves of our own bullshit. Hey, if someone else really can't control their circumstances at all and it's not their own fault, it's possible that my own unhappiness is not my own fault. That's the hideous truth of these defenses. We hate to admit to ourselves that we are in control. We look to faith, we look to government, we look to family, we look to community, we look to give control of our lives to ANYTHING but ourselves to make damn sure we have "good" excuses. It's not me, it's God, it's karma, it's Republicans, it's Obama, it's Sarah Palin, it's my parents, it's my neighbors, it's this girl in my class, it's my teacher, it's glandular. Why the hell would you let any of the above things control YOUR life?

The bottom line is if you want something badly enough, you'll do whatever it takes to get it. That may mean not sleeping for as many hours, not eating as often, giving up a hobby, cancelling your cable, downgrading your cell phone plan, turning your air conditioner off, line drying your clothes, giving up meat, selling some of your nicer things.

To put it a little better:



I do not know this man personally. I am not a representative of him or his company or anything related to making money off of showing you this. It's valuable advice we can all use.

STOP WITH THE EXCUSES! There are 24 hours in a day. Use them all!

Finally, a start!

As described by my profile, I walked away from a corporate job and hopefully won't have to turn back. Though, the date seems to be fast approaching that I may have to take on something part time. If I do have to turn back, then it will just be a bump in the road. Nothing is going to stop me from pursuing my dreams, even if it means temporarily dealing with a job I can't stand.


I am not a professional motivational speaker or author. I am not a part of any get rich quick scam. I am simply a gal tired of seeing people throw their lives away miserably because they've been programmed to believe, that they don't really have a choice, that they're too poor, too old, too fat, too shy, too awkward, too stupid, too BLABLABLAAAAA. Excuses. That's all you have, a list of excuses. As someone who has suffered for depression for ages, I know it's nearly impossible to get out of that mindset while you're stuck in it. This is why I am starting from the beginning. I am starting with nothing.

I don't want to give the wrong impression. I AM a capitalist. I love money. Artists, intellectuals, and creative types tend to disagree. In fact, I have often been accused of not being a "real" artist, intellectual, or creative type because I do support capitalism. Apparently, creativity only manifests itself through socialists. I guess I never got the memo. I always figured that art supplied were expensive, gotta pay or 'em somehow, use money as your avenue to success. Success is nonpartisan and capitalism is the one and only way. There is never any point to working hard for anything if the benefits don't increase thusly. The disparity comes when people believe that through capitalism, only the uber-rich can succeed.  BIGGEST MYTH EVER, but you can research economics on your own.

Long story short, if you don't believe in your success, no one else will either. You can blame your age, your weight, your location, your education, the government, your looks, whatever you want, but the only person on this earth that believes in you and can help you is you; not the president, not Jesus, not even your own parents. You, just you, are the alpha and omega of your life. Whatever your faith, or lack of it, there is no point in not living the life you want.

It is my intention to let you hitch a ride while I chase dreams, tell you what I've tried, what I haven't, what has worked, what hasn't, and how you can get up the guts to say, "EFF YOU," to the job you have and hate.

There's a scam for that

Desperate times create desperate people and with unemployment being "epic" by American standards, scammers just can't resist the urge to take advantage of as many folks as possible  I'm talking about job scams.  You are not stupid if you fall for a scam. Smart people fall for scams all the time. Some scams are more obvious than others. "My name is Mubuto and I am part of the Nigerian royal family, but my dream is to run my own business. I am willing to pay you $1M a year to keep my identity a secret," scams are pretty easy to spot, but other scammers go to great lengths to lull victims into a false sense of security.

Fake websites to match fake job ads to get you to accept fake checks that cost you real money. You'll get fake emails from fake people setting up fake interviews. You'll be told very detailed fake information. You'll be taken to real offices to be given fake presentations and sold fake training materials. The falsities of the job market are enough to make reality tv seem real.

It's not just cheap con artists on craigslist either. Some, who've obviously been successful enough in their scamming, manage to place ads on the higher dollar job sites like simplyhired.com, monster.com, and snagajob.com.  While all these sites have legally binding terms of service, people who break the law for a living aren't really concerned with breaking the rules of a website.

To avoid wasting time and getting scammed in your career search, here are some pointers:


1. Never, ever, ever, ever, EVER pay money to work...EVER! Do not pay for start-up kits, specialized guides, marketing information, instructional materials, training programs, or informational courses. They're all lies. It's frightening how real some scam companies seem, but it doesn't matter how many real people you meet, how nice of an office space they rent, and how many pictures they have of themselves in the Bahamas. It's merely a credit to their abilities to bullshit people out of money. I've even been physically brought in to real, lavish offices full of seemingly real employees sitting at real desks, typing on real computers, using real phones and breaking only to explain to me how their initial $800 investment was a hard decision to make, but now they're livin' large! Doing what? Who knows, but they make a billion dollars a week by doing virtually nothing! Note: No one will tell you exactly what the training covers or what you'll be doing at work until after you've paid for it.



There are exceptions to this rule, but they are very particular exceptions. For example, to work as a lifeguard, you may be required to pay out of pocket for CPR certification through the Red Cross. To work as a personal trainer, you may be required to get a nationally recognized fitness certification such as ACE or ISSA at your own expense. The difference is, these are nationally recognized, public certifications available to anyone and can be used in a variety of ways at your discretion. They're not some top secret method for one company only that costs $800 up front and guarantees you'll make it back quickly in a day as long as you HAVE THE DREAM and stuff enough envelopes one day a week.


2. Never send (or accept) money to anyone you don't know. This is usually an advance-fee fraud. Someone offers you a job, but there is some necessary equipment you need. So, the company will send you a check for $4000 and tell you to take a $1000 signup bonus, spend as much as needed on a list of necessary materials and to wire or send a check back to them for the remaining amount. So, you take the signup bonus, spend $2500 on the equipment and send them a check or a wire transfer for the remaining $500. The problem is, their check was fake. Not only have you sent $500 to someone and bought a pile of crap you don't need, but you're also liable to you bank for the $4000 bad check. 

3. Never buy THE DREAM. If the company's main selling point is, "Look how much money you can make," or, "Look at this fabulous lifestyle you can lead," and not the product itself, then it's a dream only because you'd have to be asleep to believe it. They should be able to tell you what the product is, how it works, and who your target is. If they emphasize income over product, then there is no product or it's a product no one can sell.

4. Stay away from refer-a-friend jobs. This is another technique often, but not exclusively, used by the above dream scammers to sell pyramid schemes. Pyramid schemes are everywhere, but they have new names such as "Multi-level Marketing" or "Vertical Marketing." Arguably, it is possible to make money off of these jobs, but they almost always require an initial investment, knowing all along most people won't make that money back. Since you likely paid a handsome sum for that initial investment your brain really wants to find a way to justify it. Scammers are banking on this principle knowing it makes you more likely to try to get other folks to make the same mistake you did so you can feel like you didn't waste your money. Again, the product should be the focus, not how many friends you can get to fill their basements with herbal supplements they're never going to sell.

5. Africa and Russia have no jobs for you. Unless you're in the Peace Corps, on a specific program, or a Mormon, you're not getting a job Africa, Russia, or Eastern Europe. First of all, Russia, Eastern Europe, and most African countries are facing their own economic, unemployment crises. Boris isn't going to hire an American at $30 an hour to do data entry when he could hire Natasha down the street at an extremely small fraction of that. It's usually bait for an advance-fee scam.There are legit work at home jobs, but they're usually based in your home country.

6. Beware of multiple postings of the exact same job. Some people don't even try to cover their tracks and will post, "EARN $1000 A DAY - ENTRY LEVEL MARKETING - IMMEDIATE START," three times in a row every single day. Some will try to change it up with one instance of the previous quote, one instance of, "Sales and Marketing - Entry Level," and another of, "Immediately hiring entry level sales and marketing," but if upon clicking the ad, you're feeling deja vu, it's the feeling you've been scammed before. These aren't always straight up scams, but when they're not, they're real, albeit extremely unpleasant work such as door to door sales.

7. Look for customized domains. This isn't fool proof because, as mentioned, some scammers do go to great lengths that include fake websites and fake domains, but if someone who claims to work for a multibillion dollar, Fortune 500 company has a hotmail account, you may want to raise an eyebrow. It may seem like for the purpose of hiring, an anonymous email address would make sense to protect the company from receiving a flood of applications through their website. There is a simple solution called "Company Confidential." Through many job sites, companies can post job ads confidentially and will only accept applications through the job site if they don't want a billion phone calls to their offices or a billion applications directly from their Careers page. If your application is received and selected, you should receive an email from an official domain. It may also seem to make sense that a small business would have a regular ol' Yahoo, Hotmail, or Gmail address. Custom domains are not that expensive, a web address is as vital as the yellow pages once were, and if a business is too cheap and incompetent to buy a domain, how much money do you think they're going to spend on you?  Plus, Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail etc., are free and easy to dump if a scammer is found out.

8. Federal government jobs are available online in one place only: usajobs.gov and it's FREE. Any other company, email, website, job ad, employment offer, or service claiming to offer federal jobs is selling some serious bovine booboo.

9. Craigslist...Craigslist IS a legitimate website that is full of real offers. I have personally found real jobs, paid surveys, and paid focus groups on craigslist.org. It's a great option for small businesses since most of the bigger name sites' ads start at $200. Unfortunately, due to its loose terms of use and inexpensive posting costs, Craigslist is a haven for scammers. While scammers can use any job site, they want to spend the least amount of money to steal the most. Take extra care when viewing ads on Cragislist.


10. If it seems too good to be true, it is. Period.

So, there you have it, the 10 Commandments of avoiding job scams. It is sad there are greedy, sociopathic crooks out there, but the best way to protect yourself is to recognize a scam before it starts. If you have been a victim of a scam, call your bank and credit card companies immediately, place a fraud alert on your credit by contacting Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion (you only need to file it with one of the three), and report it to the Federal Trade Commission.

Have you ever been scammed? Have you ever avoided a scam? Share your stories below!