I’ve got my dream job.

Photo by Jon Galloway

Ramit Sethi asked in this post about people who have successfully achieved their dream job, and my comment on the post got lots of responses. So I realized it’s time for me to describe it on my own blog.

I design websites while living in Costa Rica.

It took me some time to find what my ‘dream job’ even entailed; I was stuck in a miserable 60+ hour a week job, learning great skills (sales and networking) but I wasn’t providing lasting value to the world, doing anything artistic, or changing up my projects.

Once I identified what I really liked about my job, and started listing things that I would like in a dream job, I began to construct that job for myself.

To make this happen, I followed these steps:

  • Identified what qualities I would take from my current job
  • Asked myself what qualities in past jobs (and recreational activities) I would like to incorporate in my dream job
  • Added on a few ideal characteristics into the dream job profile
  • Brainstormed on all the businesses that fit that profile
  • Narrowed the list down to what matched my skill set and aptitudes
  • Learned the skills I was lacking
  • Built my website and started doing free work
  • Built a portfolio and started charging market rate
  • Moved to Costa Rica

For people with an entrepreneurial spirit, running your own business (if it’s designed to accomodate your skills and personality optimally) is the dream job. Because as my own boss, if I don’t like what I’m doing, I hire someone else to do it, or I politely decline the work.

I was only able to find this unique mix of circumstances because I stopped asking myself ‘what can I do with what I have?’ and instead asked myself ‘what do I really want, and what do I need to get it?‘