My 5 Favorite Things In: One Person/Multiple Careers

When I first read Marci Alboher’s One Person/Multiple Careers, I felt vindicated. After all, while I had been happily frolicking from interest to interest, maintaining a comprehensive list of things I wanted to do and accomplish in my lifetime, my husband had been calling me unfocused. Unfocused! Can you believe it!?

Alboher’s book assured me that I wasn’t a weirdo for wanting to do so much. She wrote that “slashes” (those receiving income through multiple avenues) seem more satisfied, and less oppressed, than those holding only one job.

I immediately read the passage aloud to my husband and made nyah nyah sounds at him, my immature way of announcing victory. The reasons you should pick up this book as well

1. Alboher talks you through the fears that are only natural when creating a new beginning (never mind beginnings) for yourself.
2. There is advice on how to establish credibility in your chosen field, a daunting task for anyone who is just starting out. One of those tidbits of advice has to do with attitude: “‘Tell everyone you’re a writer,’ she said emphatically. She then clarified: ‘I mean everyone you know, everyone you meet, and everyone who asks you what you do. Pretty soon it’ll be true.'”
3. Alboher points readers in the direction of slash-friendly employers, incredibly helpful for those who want to juggle more than just one ball (my version of juggling one ball when I was little consisted of throwing a ball in the air and clapping before I caught it again; it counts!).
4. Despite being an advocate of job-juggling, Alboher is firm in pointing out that the word “no” is still a powerful and crucial one. Know how to use it.
5. For all the wannabe parents out there, Alboher includes a chapter on how leading a slash life can work with parenting. As one who is pushing toward a completely at-home work existence (I have one regular on-site gig) so that I can someday be home with my children, it’s a topic I’m glad she addresses.