Preview of the book 'Testdrive Your Dreamjob'. A travel guide through Paris to find or create your dreamjob in the footsteps of Midnight in Paris and Julie & Julia. If you want to order the book mail me at peterdekuster@hotmail.nl or call me 0031 633661772

1. Testdrive your Dreamjob
A Step to step Guide to Paris in the footsteps of Julie & Julia
and Midnight in Paris for Finding and Creating the Work You Love
PARIS in

2. Travel in a worldcity and meet your heroes and heroines
who earn their money doing what they love.
They will inspire you to create your own legend.
From Paris with love
Peter de Kuster
Founder of The Heroʼs Journey
with Rachelle Wessels

3. Travel with us and:
1 Testdrive your Dreamjob
Learn more about your Dreamjob
before changing your career with
1 on 1 mentorship
Ready to find your
second career?
Discover your passion.
Find your dreamjob.
Follow a succesful mentor who
is already working in your dreamjob.
Burned down and ready for change in your career?
We can help!
Find your Dreamjob!

4. 1 Testdrive your Dreamjob
Yes, you can try your hand at the career of your dreams without risking your
present job, your next mortgage payment or your kids’ future.
In Testdrive Your Dreamjob in Paris, one of the exciting The Hero’s Journey travel
guides, you’ll discover how a Testdrive in Your Dreamjob – meeting rolemodels in
the exciting city of Paris who actually work in the profession you’ve always wanted
or want to be excellent in – can be the first step toward making that dream come
true.
Dream...
Experience your own
Travel...
Find...

5. Revolutionary and practical, this hands-on journey in Paris from the founder of The
Hero’s Journey will help you mesh your working life better with your deepest sense
of yourself as you learn how to:
• Plan a Testdrive in Your Dreamjob of your own in any career.
Don’t be stuck
• Build the skills and gather the knowledge you’ll need to embark on your new
career.
• Learn to be excellent in your present career by meeting the best in your
profession and improve rapidly through their wisdom.
• Start a new career in the second half of your life. To create work and a live you
are passionate about and never want to retire from.
• Overcome the fear of changing careers.
• Turn a layoff, transformation of your business or other involuntary career change
into the opportunity of a lifetime.
Testdrive
• Design and create a Dreamjob that doesn’t exist... yet.
• Manage a smooth, safe transition from your present job to your Dreamjob.
• Minimize financial risk as you embark on your bold new life.
your
dream
get out and
in Paris
Travel through Paris

6. 2 start of your journey
The
in the Rodin Museum

7. 2 start of your journey
The
in the Rodin Museum
It is a fact that most people hate their jobs. It feels sometimes like the Gates of Hell
from Dante in the Rodin Museum.
They would rather be doing something else – anything else. It doesn’t have to be
that way.
What if I told you that you would never have to work another day in your life?
Would you be interested? When you find the right fit in a career, it no longer feels
like work. You wake up every day excited about how you earn your living. This per-
fect harmonizing of your talents, skills , personality and work style creates a passion
and a desire as well as a feeling of contentment that is worth more than gold.
It can all be yours, if you make the Testdrive your Dreamjob in Paris and apply its
principles. Finding contentment in your career is a lot like looking for a hidden
treasure.

8. Using a map, you embark on a journey, an adventure in search of yourself. The You know – if you’re considering a Dreamjob – that the push toward a dream
point is that there isn’t a rational ‘best’ solution waiting for you. The Testdrive your career is not just about how you spend your working hours. It’s about having work
Dreamjob, the pursuit of the treasure is the reward. The hidden treasure is your that matches your values, that feeds instead of exhausts you, that doesn’t require
passion. Because, when it comes to a Dreamjob, there is no fixed job. It is all a you to leave your priorities at home and leave your heart at the door.
search. Enjoying the search is what success is all about.
The Rodin Museum. A great place to start getting a new perspective on your life
Our hero from Midnight in Paris meets his first ‘guide’ in search for his calling in a tour and your Dreamjob.
in the Rodin Museum. He is contemplating his life. When we imagine a Dreamjob, we imagine a job in which we are fully ourselves, in
which are hearts and minds are equally engaged.
Through the centuries and generations people have made Testdrives in their Dream This engagement is what people feel in the Rodin Museum looking at the work and
Jobs in Paris. For architects, artists, writers, designers, cooks, actors is Paris a place for life of Rodin. This is what they feel while making their Testdrive in their Dreamjob.
professional inspiration. Almost every one of them has come away invigorated, and And once they reconnect with the deepest sense of self, few are willing to return
more determined than ever to make his or her Dreamjob happen. After years of to their status quo.
fantasy, something about living the job for just a few days (or midnights) empowe-
red them to take action. Partly it was the learning – the concrete knowledge they
gained about their desired business. Partly it was the mentor who held their hand,
boosted their confidence and offered ongoing help.
In search for your passion. In your Dreamjob. In your life.
Partly it was the contacts they made, which made taking the next steps easier. But
above and beyond those practical things, there was something else: the Testdrive
Your Dreamjob awakened and energized something deep inside them. It connec-
ted them with the truest part of themselves, a part that had previously felt dormant
and that, once awakened refused to be ignored.
Our hero in Midnight in Paris is finally able to tell his story.

9. Write...
The Rodin Museum.
A great place to start
getting a new perspective
on your life
and jour Dreamjob.
your Dreamjob
Story

10. 3What is a Dreamjob
for You?

11. 3What is a Dreamjob
for You?
You know - if you’re considering a Dreamjob – that the push toward a dream
career is not just about how you spend your working hours. It’s about meshing your
work life with your deepest sense of yourself. It’s about having work that matches
your values, that feeds insteads of exhausts you, that doesn’t require you to leave
your priorities at home and check your heart at the door. When we imagine a
Dreamjob, we imagine a job where we are fully ourselves, in which our hearts and
minds are equally engaged. This engagement is what people feel on a Testdrive
Your Dreamjob. And once they reconnect with that deepest sense of self, few are
willing to return to the status quo.
Les Deux Magots: one of the places from which Julia Child made her
discovery journey of Paris and undertook her Testdrive Your Dream Job.

12. Which of course brings up the next question; what happens after the Testdrive in But most people take it more slow. They continue working in their current jobs while
Your Dreamjob? You go; you fall in love with a career; you leave fired up to work in transitioning gradually into the dream. They do research, they write a business
your chosen field...and then what? Sure, you had a great couple of days, weeks, story, they figure out how to begin their new career without taking on more risk
months; sure, you know what you want to do – but there’s a whole other story than they can handle. Some go to school to get more training.
between wanting and making it happen. And when you look at that story it’s full
of house payments, car payments, bills for the kids, food bills, health care, ... How Some dedicate a period of time to paying off debt and building savings so they’ll
exactly do you take the next step? have funds for their new careers. Some find work in the new field while they put to-
gether a business of their own. The path and the timeline vary from person to per-
son; what they all have in common, though, is the passion and the inspiring story to
move ahead.
It took a while before Julia searched for her Dreamjob in the direction of her
passion for “French Food”. She discovered this in small (jolly) steps.
Your Dreamjob is where your heart is.
The question is its own answer. You take the next step. The next small step. The big- Of course, after a Testdrive Your Dreamjob, some people find that the job they
gest surprise for people who find or create their Dreamjob is that it doesn’t have tried was not the job they thought they wanted. Finding that you don’t love your
to happen all at once. It doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing leap from security in Dreamjob as much as you’d hoped can be disappointing; the dream is crashed,
the unknown. the ‘what next?’ question is alarmingly reopened. But even people who have that
experience usually consider their testdrive a success; they’re thankful that it sho-
Instead, it can be a series of small steps that you take only when you feel ready. wed them what they didn’t want before they ventured further.
Sure, there are the few really bold (or independently wealthy) Dreamjob Hunters
who cut the ties to their previous careers and hurl themselves full-time into new For most people – whether or not they find their Dreamjob the journey is like ope-
ones. ning the door to a long – closed room.

13. Step in Julia’s footsteps
Sunlight and fresh air touch something that has long been in the dark, and the
Visit Les Deux Magots
result is a renewed sense of self and a new sense of possibility. Testdriving your
Dreamjob will be fun (it is a vacation after all); it may be exhausting (people tend
to work hard at the jobs they love); it will be exhilarating to spend time with some-
one who works at his or her passion. And it will probably leave you changed.
So don’t make a Testdrive Your Dream Job if you’re afraid of sparking something
passionate inside you. Do it only if you’re ready to be renewed.
Renew your identity
Recreate your life
Have a lifechanging experience
Discover the power of rolemodels
The quote from Julia Child “Bon Appetit” who became famous as the culinary Be inspired by new people
writer who made the french kitchen accesible for the American audience.
But it started with her “Testdrive your Dreamjob”.
Feel the cityvibe!

14. 4Why travelling with Rolemodels?
A walk along the Seine
What
new
world li
es
behind t
hese
doors?

15. 4Why travelling with Rolemodels?
A walk along the Seine
This travelguide through Paris will tell you how to create a Testrive in Your Dreamjob
by creating your own Midnight in Paris. It will tell you how to choose a mentor; how
to prepare yourself to the Testdrive and, most important of all, what to do when
the Testdrive is over.
This Travelguide will explain the little steps you can take from where you are now,
to where you want to be. Along the way you will meet lots of people - heroes and
heroines form present and past - who have done it. They, and many others, will tell
you about the fears and challenges, the mistakes and the lucky break throughs, the
surprises and accomplishments they exprerienced while travelling in their Dreamjobs.

16. You will find out that these heroes and heroines don’t see themselves as risk-takers. There’s very little in our sociaty that encourages us to know what we really want to
Afterwards, many of them are surprised they have taken such a courageous ac- do. When we were children, people asked us what we would want to be ones we
tion. But after years of working in a job that didn’t feed their passions, they felt like were older. But ones we were teanagers we were told what to be.
they no longer had a choise: they had to go past their fears and make a switch. ‘I
came to a point in which I could no longer live with myself by not trying’, they say. We are canalised into a limited range op careers based on security and stability
‘Failing while trying, would at least let me know I tried.’ Not trying at all would have rather than passion. The notion of following our hearts when it comes to jobs, is well
been the failure. trained out of our system by the time we leave high school. So who can blame us
for the fact that, by the time our practical jobs no longer fulfill us, we forgot about
how to find our passions inside for a long time already?
There could be another reason to consider a Testdrive in Your Dreamjob. It enables
you to experiment. To test all sorts of jobs that seem appealing. You could be able
to get a Dreamjob and be ignorant about it, unless trying one or two.
Are your blanc on your passion?
Find it while making a
Testdrive in your Dreamjob...
What did help out heroes and heroines was realizing that the risks they had to take
weren’t that overwhelming. The most scary moments - quitting their jobs, buying
real estate, sign for a loan, the moving - all came when they where far ahead in
their planning, or even after their new career was already on track. It was still
scary; it was still a risk; but it was a calculated risk.
The very moment they took the risk, they felt they were most likely to succeed.
What if you don’t have a clue on what your Dreamjob is? What if you’re bored
and unsatisfied in your current job, but when you think of what now you’re
completely blanc? Well, then you’re not alone.

17. 5 Overcoming your fears;
Julia Child at Le Cordon Bleu

18. 5 Overcoming your fears;
Julia Child at Le Cordon Bleu
This travel guide of Paris will tell you how to make a Testdrive in Your Dreamjob. Ten
years ago, when I read about people who made their money doing what they
love, I tought; ‘that’s great but how do I make this happen for me?”
I was impassioned by my idea – but too scared to do anything about it. Perhaps
that’s how you’re feeling now. I know that what I needed more than anything then
was help getting past my fear.
I needed someone to tell me that;
• Going after my Dreamjob didn’t require the daredevil leap that I thought it did;
• What it did require was a series of small, incremental steps; and
• Those steps could be fun rather than scary
Take small steps, just like Julia did. And remember; have fun!

19. If someone had told me these things back then I might have been skeptical – but What changed was something inside the people. They had crossed a line. They
I also might have been willing to give it a try. I might have started my Testdrive my had moved from a place where they were making rational arguments for not pur-
Dreamjob years sooner. suing their dream to making an emotional choice to do so. And once that line was
crossed, there was no turning back. So what gets us to that line?
You are probably skeptical too. The idea of giving up the security of a “real” job
– with a real paycheck and real benefits – is pretty scary no matter how you cut it, If you, too, are wishing for your dream job but are immobilized with fear; how can
and imagining even the most exciting Dreamjob doesn’t do much to mitigate that you get to that line yourself? Let’s take a moment to look at your nemesis, fear.
fear. When it comes to fear, we are little better than rats.
The only way to do that is to address those fears head-on. So let’s do that right Brain research shows that we are wired to instant gratification over long term gain.
now – because the sooner you get mobilized, step by incremental step, the sooner Much as we want our Dreamjobs, our brain circuitry pushes us to stay with the se-
you’ll make that Dreamjob real. cure jobs and situations we already have.
In the years since I started with The Hero’s Journey (my Dreamjob) I’ve talked to In other words, now we want our steady paycheck and benefits; in the future we’ll
many people who gave up “security” to start their dream jobs, and I’ve discover- risk pursuing the job of our dreams. And as if our own physiology weren’t obstacle
ed that most people had an experience similar to mine. They spent years thinking enough, there are plenty of other factors that encourage us to stay where we are.
about making the switch before finally taking action. Like me, they had found their
fear insurmountable. Money, family, loss of identity, fear of exposing the “real you”, the “fraud factor”
(that voice in our heads that says “you mean you really think you can succeed at
They had a million reasons for not doing it: kids in school, mortgages and tuitions to that?”) are all steely, gripped forces that work to keep us where we are.
pay, an impending promotion, not the right time...
But they don’t always keep us where we are. Despite the fact that everyone faces
Every reason was completely legitimate, but somehow, at a certain point, those those hurdles, some people manage to surmount them and move forward toward
reasons ceased to matter. Sometimes the reasons actually went away (the kids their dreams.
graduated, the mortgage got paid off), but just as often the underlying situations
didn’t change.

20. People with nothing in the bank quit their jobs and open successful businesses. One solution is to precommit , that is, to take an action that requires you to make
that more difficult choice now.
Sole earners with families to support move cross country to work at starting wages
in their career of choice. People who have spent years building respect and cre- Precommitment is also an excellent strategy for circumventing fear. Book directly
dentials in their profession leave it all and go back to square in another. And peop- a Testdrive Your Dreamjob before you can talk yourself out of it. A precommitment
le who are terrified to expose the dream they’ve sheltered inside for decades, to something that feels scary. That way, when the time comes, when your brain’s
manage to give up the career that was “expected” and take up a very different limbic system urges you to put off the Testdrive your Dreamjob, you would no lon-
kind of work they love. ger have the option.
How do they do it? What enables them to put aside their fear and
take the risk?
Throughout the Dreamjob process there are many ways you can precommit to cir-
cumvent your fear: schedule a Testdrive your Dreamjob three months in the future
because that far away it won’t seem so scary: register now even though it won’t
Behavioral economists, who look at how people make choices are well aware of start until the fall (same reason); commit to a bank loan or a lease, or a business
the fact that we tend to choose the thing that feels most desirable in the present, partner even if those actions scare you silly.
and postpone a harder or riskier choice to the future.
Fortunately, they’ve also noted ways for people to work around this.
Dear Hero(in)
Conquer your fear!
You can do it...

21. Don’t commit if on every level you question the decision but do commit if in your Whatever you imagine the right personality type to be, I am sure you’re going on
heart you know your course is right and it’s only fear that is making you hesitate. such a succesful Testdrive your Dreamjob that will turn the stereotype on its head.
But that’s not to say that successful Dreamjob seekers don’t have anything in com-
Often when I describe the process of Dreamjob seeking, people will say “Well, I mon. They do. The more people I talk to, the more I see certain stories that most of
couldn’t do that because I’m not the right kind of entrepreneurial person” as if them share.
there were a certain personality type that is capable of making the switch. I know
what they mean. They have the idea that the type of person who can successfully Regardless of their proclivity toward risk, or their life of assertiveness they have simi-
pursue a Dreamjob is someone who is exceptionally gutsy (or perhaps foolhardy); lar stories about life and themselves that make it easier for them to proceed.
is very decisive and assertive; has a high tolerance for risk and ambiguity; and has
a history of creating opportunities and trying new things.
I suppose if I hadn’t seen so many different types of people successfully create
Whatever you imagine
their Dreamjobs, I would assume the same thing, but I’ve known enough heroes
and heroines in the past and present to know that isn’t so.
the right personality type to be,
People who create their Dreamjob seem to come in all personality configurations;
some are so assertive that they resemble bulldogs, while others seem very timid.
I am sure you are going on
Some have a history of starting new ventures and others have worked entire ca-
reers in the same job. Some rattle off decisions with heroic force; others deliberate
a successful Testdrive your Dreamjob
until the last possible moment – and then change their minds!
that will turn the stereotype
on its head.
~

22. 1 A Clear Story
Successful heroes and heroines in a Dreamjob have a clear story of what they
want to do. It may be a particular job, it may be a lifestyle and a location (I want
to work in Italy). Though the level of specifity varies for every person; they share a
clear mental story of themselves doing that work. The clarity of their story acts like
a magnet pulling them forward. When they meet obstacles along the way that
magnetic story tallies them and keeps them moving toward it.
2 Optimism
In addition to having a clear story, successful heroes and heroines believe that
their vision will become reality. Otherwise, they wouldn’t do it! Some have a gene-
ral confidence in their own abilities based on a history of success; others believe
that this particular venture is primed to success. They know that failure is possible
(and occasionally can‘t stop fear from creeping in) but most of the time they anti-
cipate success as if that were the far more likely option.
3 Comfortable with failure
When they do consider failure they don’t become terrified. Their story is “What’s
the worse that can happen? Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it”. They imagine a
period of difficulty and adjustment after the failure, and then life will move forward
positively once again.
4 Heroism
Over and over, in different words successful heroes and heroines express the same
story. ‘I would rather try and fail than knowing I didn’t try.” “I would be so disap-
pointed in myself later if I hadn’t given it a try.” It is a recurring story: what pushes
Not everyone who makes the switch has every one of these stories, but the people
them past the fear, is the knowledge that by not trying they will be letting themsel-
who successfully undertake dream careers seem to have most of them. Together,
ves down.
these stories make a legendary package that seems to make it easier for people to
move out of their comfort zone and try something new.
But even these attributes don’t fully explain why some people switch and others
don’t. Something is still missing from the equation. And that missing something, I be-
lieve, is queesting. People who make the switch have reached a point in their lives
at which they simply have no choice. The call for a quest is reached. It is no longer a
matter of wanting to make a change. They have to.
I’m the perfect example. How many years did I stay with a job for which I really had
no passion? How many exit opportunities I let pass by before a nearly death expe-
rience was the push I needed?

23. It took me so long because all those years, unhappy as I was my fear was greater Now, on your way to work you find yourself dreaming of ways to overcome them.
than my unhappiness. Instead of wishing there was a way that you could move forward with the dream,
you find yourself thinking about how you’re going to do it. Instead of imagining
But then suddenly something switched when I divorced one day and nearly died some vague, open ended timeline you start fixing your actions to concrete dates
three days later due to a almost anyeurism. That constellation of events pushed when you know you will be able to act. An enormous internal shift has taken pla-
me over the line to a point where the unhappiness fear equation inverted; to a ce, and now even major fears such as money, family, identity, and exposing the
place where my unhappiness became greater than my fear. And in that moment ‘real you’ begin to lose their insurmountable quality. As if a Jaguar has begun rol-
my desire – no, my need – to pursue my dream became unshakable. Even the ling inside you, from that moment on, you steadily gather momentum.
financial crises could deter me.
This is exactly what I’ve learned in the stories of heroes and heroines from the past
and present in Paris. Eventually the pain of not acting outweighs our fear of ma-
king a change. It simply becomes too uncomfortable to stay. That is the point at
which we accept the risk of change.
And that is a magic moment – because the moment we cross that line, things that
previously felt like insurmountable fears begin to look more like manageable hurdles.

24. 6The power of your
story; in Hotel Le Bristol

25. 6The power of your
story; in Hotel Le Bristol
Now you can focus your story on your Dreamjob.
Instead of planning some vague timelines, you can concentrate on data when
you will be able to act. An enormous internal journey has taken place, and even
important fears as money and family begin to lose their invincibility.
You’ve started a ‘Midnight in Paris’ story inside you, and from that moment on, you
will get more and more momentum. By daring yourself to step into something new,
you will enlarge your capacity to grow. Again, another argument to aspire to your
Dreamjob.
Hotel Le Bristol. It was here that our hero could no longer
deny his passion: becoming a writer.

26. For many, maybe most people, this is a big fear. There are bills to be paid. Children Many of the heroes and heroines who took one of these paths to their Dreamjob,
and parents to look after, medical expences to think of, saving something for a will tell you they never thought that they would make obe of these transitions to
rainy day. fund their dreams. But when they came to a point where their pain of staying, be-
came bigger than their fear of moving forward, they were more willing and more
You can’t just pack your bags and chase after a dream that is financially insecure. creative. That was the moment they started living up to their dream.
It’s totally not practical, and this alone is reason enough to keep being stuck in
traffic, while Dreamjob fantasies are running through your head. However, there Some are lucky: their partner chares their dream. For many people in a relation-
are ways to fund the transition to your Dreamjob: ship, it’s not that easy. Family prevents you from pursuing your dream. Your child-
ren, or partner, could be unwilling to move, while your Dreamjob requires you to
•Working parttime in your Dreamjob, to fund the transition to your
move to another location.
Dreamjob career.
•Keep working fulltime in your current job, and start building your
Dreamjob on the side.
•One of both partners is keepng his, or her job, while the other one
is starting the new business full time.
•Selling your house, and temporarely living with friends or family
untill your new business starts being profitable.
The inlaws don’t make it easy on our hero in Midnight in Paris. There could be pa-
rents who need your support, who don’t leave you energy, time and money to
undertake your new business. There could be a partner who is not willing to take a
financial risk, or family members who don’t support your desire for change.
Some of these obstacles can be overcome with a little patience and creativity.
Sometimes, postponing your dream for a fixed period of time, will buy you time to
do the necessary research and planning.

27. Some of these obstacles can be overcome with a little patience and creativity. For how many years have you been working in your job? How many years have
Sometimes, postponing your dream for a fixed period of time, will buy you time to you spend on gaining expertise, respect of your colleagues, confidence, building
do the necessary research and planning. Sometimes, adjusting your dream enables contacts and building trust? In short, how long have you been busy building an
you to make it more achievable. Sometimes, changing your job will tell your family identity based on your work? Why would you be willing to give that all up? And
how serious you are on your dreams, and it will disprove their objections. For others, start all over again as a freshman? Not so weird we refuse to strive after our Dream-
solving the conflict between their relationship and their dream, won’t be that easy jobs. It challenges us in who we are.
to do. It could point out to be an invincible conflict. The proces of striving after our
Dreamjob awakens a deep feeling whitin ourselves, that sometimes doesn’t fit with Untill that day it starts feeling uncomfortable. One day our current work will be so
our existing relationships. conflicting with our new story, we start to have a feeling inside of living the ‘nine-to-
five’ lie. This is the point we start taking our Dreamjob seriously.
Sometimes heroes and heroines, just awaken, come to the conclusion that they do
expact more out of a relationship than they can get. Or that they would like to have Your ‘Real Story’. Here’s one of the cruelest ironies of striving after your Dreamjob.
a different relationship than the one they are currently in. They feel like this new per- On one hand, we feel forced to find our Dreamjob, simply because our current job
son in an old outfit, of which the shoulders and the length don’t fit anymore. It’s no doesn’t feel in lign with our true story. On the other hand we feel paralysed thinking
surprise tensions will rise. Through conversations the hero or heroin and theirs partner of that new job.
can change their relationship in a way that the ‘new story’ will have room for deve-
lopment, as will have the partner. I can’t advise you on what to do when you’re in a
conflict with your partner about you striving for your Dreamjob.
All I can do is to ask you the following:
Not so strange we reufuse to chase
after our Dreamjobs.
It challenges our feeling of who we are.
What calling can be found in the deepest part of you?
Does your partner understand how important this is to you?
How can you be authentic?
What’s your story?

28. What if I go after my ‘real story’ and I don’t like it? What if I tell my ‘real story’ to
the world, and other people don’t approve? What if my ‘real story’ requires me to Most of the time, an undefinable superficial fear is the mask behind the deeper
do things that don’t match with my current life? Or, most scary of them all, what if fear of your survival. It’s growing out of proportion in the darkest part of you. Once
I go after my ‘real story’ and fail? No matter how much we’re longing inside to be we bring these fears to the surface and examine them with common sence, two
authentic, to be ourselves, showing our story, and acting to it, can feel like a really things will happen: First of all, your fear will shrink into a more realistic proportion
scary movie. (you will see you’re going to survive, this is only about money). And however mo-
ney and survival seem to be linked closely, in real life, they are two different things.
There are a million reasons why not to go for your Dreamjob! They are all rational. Second, you can put your realistic fear of loosing your money, into a rational per-
When it comes to the crunch, or when fear of change meets the pain of being spective. What if you will loose your money?
stuck, deciding to go after your Dreamjob will be emotional. How will you handle the situation? Maybe you will live with relatives for a while.
Eventually you will find a new job. Maybe your fears are not about money, they
All the rational reasons in the world seem to disappear, ones you reached the are about family. Are you affraid to upset your partner? Or abandon your family?
point you know you need to act. Or yourselves in case of faillure?
Whatever your fears are, exaggerate them to the most irrational end: maybe your
How to reach this point? Aha! This will be different for every person. Talking to loveones will lose their respect for you. Maybe they will leave you. Maybe you will
people who done it will help a lot: they’ll prove it can be done. A Testdrive in your end up old, sick and alone. Allow yourself to feel the deep emotion associated
Dreamjob will help: it’s a painless way to build your confidence and trust. with these scenarios. Yes, this can hurt for a cuple of minutes, but when the fierce
emotion is over, you will see there’s a rational path beyond these catastrophes.
But most important is what you can do to face your fear, and to get past it. So, The fears will lose the grip on your life, making it easier to move on.
when fear of change petrifies you, discover your fear. Find out what it is exactly
that you are most affraid of. Are you affraid of loosing all your money? Exaggerate Talking about your fears also helps to minimize their power. Often we unintentio-
this fear way beyond proportion. Will you lose your house? Will you have to live with nally reinforce our fears by keeping them inside of us, where they can prosper in
your family? Will you get sick and be poor once you get old? the dark. When we talk about them, we open up. This helps putting them into a
more rational perspective. Another way of rationalising your fear is by being con-
fronted with it in smaller pieces, so your tolerance will grow in time. Just like lear-
ning to drive a car; making small testdrives. Step by step. This same step-by-step
approach can be used to minimize your fear of transforming your current job into
your Dreamjob.
The first small step is to Testdrive your Dreamjob. It’s fun, without any risk, like driving
whitout the danger. When Testdriving your Dreamjob is boosting your confidence,
you can go onto the next step; maybe another Testdrive; maybe further investiga-
tion in your Dreamjob career; maybe a seminar on how to start a business.
Transforming your current job into your dreamjob can be cut into small pieces that
will please you, and can be spread out over a period of time.

29. When you won’t come to this point, when you want to know more and more, and
inspite of an overkill on information, you won’t shop for a mentor, something else is
the matter. You will probably be scared.
Explore the deepest of your fear. This will liberate you to move on. Or maybe your
resistance will give you another message. Maybe the career you’re considering is
not your dream career. This can cause its own form of freeze. How can you walk
away from this path after all the effort you invested? What will your friends, family
and partners think after all you’ve told them? And if this is not your Dreamjob, what
IS?
Knowing what to do with our lives is giving us a confortable feeling, knowing what
the next chapter will have in mind for us. Letting go of this comfort can be more
scary than not having a dream at all. It’s not surprising that we stun when, after
doing research, our dream career is not our dream career at all.
If this is the case, try to relax and accept. Another dream will come by, just as this
one did, but it can’t come by untill you let go of the old one. In fact, the fact that
I would like to tell you, that ones conquered your fear, it’s never about to return. you had this dream, will perfectly enable you to find the next one. You already
But unfortunately, it isn’t so. Fear can be headstrong. It will always return. Whene- did all the hard work to let go of the status quo. You already had the courage to
ver the little voice inside your head is spreading doubt. share your dream and ask for help. You got effective in researching your dream.
Who told you that your first dream has to be THE dream? Looking for your dream
You gather courage, you decide to do a Testdrive and yes, there it is again when is a journey. It’s not a straight line. It’s not leftbrain. It’s a path with circles moving
you’re gathering courage to call your possible mentor. (what if she laughs at me, forwards and back. Left and right, exploring options. It’s not your goal to have a
what if he hangs up the phone?) particular job or profession. It’s all about finding out who you are, and what kind of
job will connect with the deepest feeling inside you.
When your mentor agrees and your Testdrive is planned, fear will come again
when it’s time to show up at work. (What if they don’t like me, what if I make a
fool out of myself?) The truth is, fear will be your temporarily travelling compagnion
for the whole of the proces. But then again, that’s the keyword: temporarily. It will
come and go, and every time you will be able to manage it better. Graduately
you’ll find yourself to have a track record in conquering fear. Reaching that point
will make you less vulnerable to your own fear. You can look at it as a milestone,
because every fear you conquer on your journey will bring you closer and closer to
your dream.
How will you know, it’s the right timing for you to Testdrive your Dreamjob? There’s
not a fixed rule on this one. Some people whil keep on looking around, and won’t
be satisfied until they have closets full of information and securities. Others will
jump in and get their hands dirty in a Testdrive. Both ways are fine. You will do more
research after your Testdrive. For now, it’s time to quit ones you’ve learned enough
and can’t wait to take the next step; making contact with your potential mentors.

30. 7How to contact your mentor?
A taxiride in the night through Paris

31. 7How to contact your mentor?
A taxiride in the night through Paris
Why are busy entrepreneurs so willing to help strangers going into their business?
Why are they willing to take time of from their job? To reveal the secrets of their
business? To train their potential competitor?
They do this for several reasons:
•They love doing what they do, and to share it with others (don’t you get energie
out of talking about things you love, especially with people who also love it?)
•They will give something in return for all the help they got while starting themselves.
•They are willing to give to others what they didn’t get, to save others from making
the mistakes they made.
•They love the energy a new passionate person brings.
•They enjoy teaching and the pride coming from being asked for advice.
•They believe in their profession and want to see the branch grow.
•They are reminded of the fact that they are having a Dreamjob themselves, and
appreciate what they’ve learned and accomplished.

32. * Connection
So there are mentors willing to work with you. How will you find one? Searching
on the internet, or talking to friends and relations, you will stumble on people who
could be your mentor. The trick is to find out who of these persons will be the right Of most importance. Find someone you connect with. This will enable you to ask
mentor for you. The process of selecting a mentor is a mutual interview. The men- questions, be honest with, share your exitement and fears, feel comfortable and
tor will check you out to find out what kind of person you are and whether you are have fun. In short, you’re looking for someone who makes you feel at home. When
someone they want to spent time with and at the same time you make sure he or having the choice between a very experienced but detached mentor, and a less
she will be able to give you what you need. Here are a couple of things to pay experienced mentor who treats you as a friend, choose the second option. You
attention to: can always make a second testdrive with a more experienced mentor later on.
* Passion
Make sure your testdrive will be as comfortable and fun as possible.
It’s most important to look for people who are passionate about their jobs. When The best way to start making contact with your mentor is an e-mail. Sending an
you’re meeting people to talk to them, look and listen to signals that show they e-mail will give your potential mentor the opportunity to digest the concept of
genuinely love what they do. You don’t want to learn from someone who’s bored mentorship without having to give a response directly. It will also make your follow-
or worn out. up phonecall a whole lot easier. The mentor knows why you’re calling. Your intro-
* Expertise
duction e-mail: short, to the point and respectful are the qualities that will help you
getting a response to your mail.
Look for the experts in the field. Maybe you heard about someone with a great
reputation. Ask people how they think about your potential mentor. •Keep it short: the less your prospect has to read, the more he or she absorbs.
* Teaching ability •Are clear in your questions: I would like to lean by your side on a moment that
Look for good teachers. It’s not enough to be an expert in the field; your mentor suits you.
has to pass on the knowledge to you.
* Success
•Make it personal: explain why you chose him or her above all others.
If possible, choose someone who is working in your Dreamjob for at least five years. •Let your personality ad passion shine through: show your prospect why he or she
By that time the mentor will have overcome most bugs, will have shown the power would want to work with you.
that’s needed to survive and prosper and will have a long term perspective to
pass on.

33. Write your next chapter
Dear Mentor

34. Your questions/ lines:
You will test your mentor in the same way he or she will be testing you. These are
things you should be willing to ask:
•Do you love what you’re doing? (just because your mentor is working in the field,
doesn’t mean it’s their Dreamjob, so check it out).
•What’s driving you? What give’s you energie every morning?
•Would you have time to spend with me when I came over (or would you redirect
me to someone else)?
•What are the things you can imagine us working on together?
•Would I be able to...? (Fill in whatever you would like to see or do).
•Are there other people in your staff with who I could spent time?
•Have you ever been a mentor or something similar?
It’s not likely you get the chance to ask all these questions, but being prepared will
increase the value of the information you get.
You can have more than one mentor.

35. 8Your questions for your mentor;
When you found your first mentor, and you’ve taken your Testdrive, you can de-
cide there are things you would like to learn or experience with someone else.
A second mentor in the same field can give you another perspective on your
Gertrude Steins salon
Dreamjob, and give you a chance to bring to practice what you’ve already
learnt.
A mentor in a related profession can give you an experience which is complemen-
tary on what you’ve already done. Most of the heroes and heroines who have
ever worked with a mentor began the relation with an open mind on advice, en-
couragement and maybe a few new contacts and sometimes they got so much
more out of it: long term business partnerships. Whether it’s about formal or infor-
mal working relationships, ad hoc arrangements, both mentors and heroes and
heroines stayed in relationships that had advantages for both of them.

36. 8Your questions for your mentor;
Gertrude Steins salon
Here are some of the things you would want to ask your mentor.
Your own list will grow while preparing for your visit:
•What skills do I need to be succesful in this profession?
•You’ve talked to me and see me work; do you think I’ve got what it takes to be
good enough and succeed? (how difficult it is to ask this, ask your mentor to be
honest. There’s no point in putting all of your energy, heart and soul into something
that’s not right for you. Although, you’re the only one to decide to do so or not).
•Time. How many hours a day do you work? Has this changed compared to the
beginning?
•How do you balance your profession with your private life?
•How much would it cost to get the right education?
•What does it cost to find your place in this Dreamjob?
•Could you advice me on how to get a loan and work with bankers?
•What are the biggest expences? The most inpredictable ones? The most hard to
monitor?
•Which expences can I skip, and which ones are inevitable while starting up?
•What can I expect to earn in the beginning? And later on?
•How long did it take you to reach your break even point? And making profit?
•What where you biggest mistakes when it comes to money?
•What did help you in maximizing your profit and minimizing your costs?
•Would you be willing to show me your business plan? Your yearbudget?
•What do I have to know on instruments, buying, suppliers, location,
technical processes?

37. •What would I absolutely need to do?
•What should I absolutely not do?
•Which other questions should I be asking
you?
•How did you end up in this profession?
•What can you imagine for me?
•What are the next steps I would have
to take to move forward?
•Do you have any contacts who could help me?
•Are there other people you would recommend me to talk to?
Gertude Stein is the ‘mentor’ of Picasso when it comes to marketing and sales.
Later on he got briljant at this. Our hero in Midnight in Paris can learn quite some • Are there organisations in this profession I should join? (or stay away from?)
thing from her when it comes to earning your money as a writer.
Don’t forget, your Tesdrive in your Dreamjob is a ‘quest’.
So, ask the right ‘quest-ions’!!
•What sort of training would you advice?
• How do you attracks customers? What does work? What doesn’t?
•How do you determine your prices?
•What where your biggest mistakes?
•What where your biggests successes?
•What where your biggest surprises?
•What was the hardest time for you?
•What is the most difficult for you on a
ongoing basis?
•What would you do different when starting all over today? Gertrude Stein gives our hero an honest and direct feedback
on his life and work as a writer.
•What is the biggest obstacle you think you’re going to face?