“My self-image had to change to realize I had something to offer.”
Last time, I wrote about my friend Dave Miller and his journey from actuary, to successful business coach, back to actuary. This time I’m going to talk about Alan Seiden, who turned a little bit of moonlighting into a consulting practice where he is seen as a rock star in his narrow niche.
Alan worked for an employer who didn’t fully appreciate or support his talents. He was getting more and more frustrated with that, and derived more satisfaction from a little moonlighting he was doing. He ended up deciding to go out on his own, and completely replaced his 6-figure salary his first year out.
How did he do that?
Here are some key thoughts that came up in our interview.
On the preparations:
“I first thought: learn technology that helps me in my current company but is also useful elsewhere. I started going to user group meetings—actually first in a totally different field. My cousin told me about meetings; someone invited me to a technical holiday party, and I learned more. It wasn’t a straight line, but my eyes were open. I talked to everybody, asked questions.“
…
“Eventually I got known in the community, got on an advisory board because I was early, and I decided to write an article about it. I started writing articles before I really knew what I was doing. It felt prestigious, I got paid a little, learned, and got my name out there.
“This gave me confidence. Sometimes my articles weren’t even about knowledge I already had. I attended meetings, covered them like a journalist, wrote up what I heard. They got published in industry journals. That became my calling card—a URL I could send to another editor to prove I could deliver.”
On creating a successful practice:
“My self-image had to change—realizing I had something to offer. And in my world, everyone’s an introvert. I’m an introvert too, but I can perform. Little by little I expanded: “I can do this, I can do that,” and people noticed and asked me to do more—run panel discussions, etc.”
On building a powerful image – becoming the ‘rock star’ of his narrow niche:
“I found a way to combine everything. I play trombone and sing. I helped someone at a conference who did a little sing-along, then I got ambitious and created full parodies of popular songs with IBM lyrics. I even got the chief architect of IBM i platform to be the lead vocalist—he was very professional about it. People are looking for creative outlets, and I created one. It became educational too. We put videos on YouTube.
“It definitely brought out a dormant part of me. It got mentioned in articles—our band name showed up in a serious article. I sent a framed photo to the chief architect of DB2; he tweeted it. You never know where these things end up. I use pictures in my presentations—it shows involvement.”
You can watch the entire interview here.
I’d love to hear what you think – leave a comment!
This is very encouraging to hear of others reinventing their careers. So often we feel the need to stick with what we have always done. Thank you for sharing this interview.
Danielle: You’re welcome. I’m on my 3rd career now. I’m lucky that all 3 have been ones I loved, though my current (and final?) one is my calling.
This was such an encouraging story to read.
You shared the journey honestly – no glossing over the learning curve – and that makes the growth feel real and attainable. I especially appreciated how clearly you showed the shift from doing the work to owning the value you bring. Thank you.
Florence: I’m glad you found it encouraging!