Should you become an entrepreneur?

by 3 Comments

One of my favorite blogs (actually I just discovered it this week — but it’s quickly getting star status for me) is Pamela Slim’s, Escape from Cubicle Nation.  With a name like that, how could it not grab me?

One of her posts was, “Top 10 Reasons Not to Become an Entrepreneur”.   Before you click to read it, I have to add 3 more for the chronically ill!  Notice I don’t use her terrific graphics but the message is there just the same.

SO, all 10 she cites, and then:

11. Make sure that you have a business idea that people know they need and that this is something you care about putting all energy into  (or that job you left is going to be looking all too good, too soon.)  And, when you’ve been under or unemployed because of chronic illness, it’s hard to take the time it takes to field test your idea.
12. Ask yourself if you are someone who likes working alone for long periods of time because that’s what it’s going to take.  It can easily feel like you’d do anything rather than have to answer to others on days you don’t feel well.  But on the other hand, there’s a lot to be said for seeing a friendly face and having to show up someplace when you don’t feel so hot.

13.  Are you cut out for this?  It can be hard enough living with a chronic illness.  And it can be very hard being a self employed, entrepreneur — unless it’s your passion.  So check that out.  You want to minimize, not maximize, the stressors.  Sometimes we make decisions and don’t realize that we’re actually jumping from the fat to the fire.
Rosalind

"Sick" humor or Affirmations – either can be good for the soul

by 1 Comment

I love this posting, The top ten worst suggestions commonly given to someone with a chronic illness, on a very fun site, But You Don’t Look Sick. I’m so NOT “funny” (I wish I was though) — but I love when someone can make me laugh. But along the lines of different strokes for differentRead More

Disease Management: A place for career coaching

by 1 Comment

Recently, a new industry has emerged that many people are unaware even exists. It’s called disease management and it’s another effort at health care cost containment. These programs are funded by employers (and or their insurance companies) with the intention of reducing the high costs incurred by a small percentage of people. According to TheRead More

Weight – Is too much a chronic illness?

by Leave a Comment

Should being fat be considered a protected category? Should it be considered a chronic illness? An article in last weekend’s Boston Globe Magazine, Do We Really Need a Law to Protect Fat Workers?, talked about a bill that is being considered by the MA state legislature to protect obese people from discrimination. “… it’s hardRead More

The Best Careers in 2006

by Leave a Comment

In today’s The Wall Street Journal Online – Career Journal there’s an article about the “Best Careers in 2006”. The WSJ researchers came up with 8 careers: Curriculum and instructional coordinators High-school special-education teachers Hospital and clinic managers Management consultants and analysts Medical researchers Physical therapists Sales, marketing and advertising managers Social workers, counselors andRead More

"Can we talk?" I live with an ileostomy

by 1 Comment

This week, I had an epiphany. I don’t talk about living with an ileostomy. What made me realize this? My friend and colleague, Jenny Prokopy (Chronicbabe.com), is a freelance writer and was looking for people to interview for a piece that she’s working on for The Phoenix, the magazine of the United Ostomy Association ofRead More

The CDC recognizes the "reality" of chronic fatigue syndrome

by 1 Comment

Hooray. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) is releasing studies showing that chronic fatigue syndrome is a real disease and not just “yuppie flu”. They’re also sponsoring a $6m public awareness campaign about the illness. That’s a start in the right direction toward helping individuals with this disease feel less like they’re “psych cases” orRead More

Do you think of yourself as someone who lives with a chronic illness?

by 10 Comments

Recently, I was in a conversation in which we were talking about how you find information — particularly on the internet.   I asked if she uses such search words as chronic illness or multiple sclerosis (which is what she has).  She said,  “I don’t like to think of myself as having a chronic illness andRead More

How loudly do you talk?

by 4 Comments

Have you ever noticed that when people talk about chronic illness, the conversation seems to get more hushed, more low key, less energetic.  Multiple sclerosis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, FIBROMYALGIA?  When was the last time someone told you they have this and said it loudly and clearly? This weekend I met a neighbor and she wasRead More

Headaches can be a real pain

by 2 Comments

This spring, I’ve had miserable headaches from allergies. I’m noticing that it’s affecting my relationships. Just today, my dog, Iko, looked at me quite angrily when I cut our walk short because every footfall caused ratcheting pain. The pain gets so bad sometimes that only acupuncture (thank you my wellness medical team) gives relief. I’veRead More

Love medicine

by Leave a Comment

A friend, Kelly Packowski (she and her husband have a foundation, The Kelly Packowski Foundation for MS, changing one life at a time), has had a tough spring with multiple sclerosis symptoms and she’s trying a new drug therapy that requires a surgical procedure to put a port-a-cath in her chest. I emailed her toRead More

Tired and can't get no respect

by 2 Comments

My friend, Janie, is on prednisone to counteract a horrible skin rash from poison ivy. The poison is slowly getting better but she’s finding the prednisone is horrible. At first she couldn’t sleep and now, slowly tapering it, she feels like she’s in a fog, is tired all the time and can’t make it throughRead More

News flash: Neuropathy and bad balance with MS makes it hard to sit in the balcony

by 3 Comments

The other night, my husband went to the Boston Lyric Opera’s production of the Marriage of Figaro. I was so excited that Jake wanted to go ( a “Deadhead” — he’s a recent convert to “serious music”, since listening to Robert Greenberg’s lecture series, How to Listen to and Understand Great Music). But, after weRead More

Chronic illness is a work & family issue

by 5 Comments

This morning, I went to a meeting of the Association for Career Professionals – Boston to hear the executive director, Brad Harrington, of Boston College Carroll School of Management, Center for Work & Family, talk about the Protean Career. Huh? Well for those not up to date on career theory, this is a model thatRead More