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Transitioning into Your Creative Dream Job

Don't be a Quitter!

By Chris Dunmire

Eliza* was one of my most favorite co-workers of all time. I met her when I was just 21 and a new hire at the electronics giant I worked seven years at. Eliza had a ream of work and life experience that would trump any fresh-faced newbie like me, and had less than 10 years to go before she would be able to retire from the 9 to 5 production grind.

I took an instant liking to Eliza — and her to me. We spent many days working side-by-side as she mentored me with her work expertise while I built aftermarket products and wrote the technical manufacturing process specifications for them. I could always rely on Eliza to give me the straight dope on how to do things the right way AND on the political undercurrents going on in the manufacturing facility.

Over the years, Eliza and I formed a friendship and spent more time talking about our personal lives and what we really would like to do if we didn’t have to build electronic doodads for our division. I was certain that Eliza saw grand potential in me, which was reinforced the day she presented me with a personalized pen-and-pencil set proudly displaying my first and last name in capital gold letters: CHRIS DUNMIRE. In that instant I knew I was destined to go on to do important work. It was also then that I found out Eliza’s secret love for putting together silk flower arrangements. She was a florist in disguise, with creative flair and zest for designing beautiful things.

One day Eliza brought in a stack of photos showcasing dozens of her beautiful flower arrangements. As she showed me each one, her enthusiasm and joy for her creations was abundantly clear. I could feel her energy soar and instantly learned her secret to her day-to-day job endurance: she had something to go home to that allowed her to express her true creative nature. Knowing this, I realized an exciting potential in her.

“Have you ever thought of doing flower arrangements full-time?” I asked Eliza one day, hoping to plant a seed of possibility in her already-wise mind.

“I’d love to, but I don’t know how I could.” She answered in a disappointed tone, resigned that her weekly paycheck was a necessity and not a luxury, and she only had so many hours in the day.

Even then, I knew Eliza could build up her flower-arrangement business on the side if she wanted to. She had a small client base of people who loved her work and a word-of-mouth network already buzzing. She had a portfolio of work samples ready (the pictures) for anyone who wanted to see them. She had the talent and know-how. And she had the passion to see it through. She was already living a part of her creative dream, but didn’t realize that she could ‘hitch her wagon to a star’ and take it as far as she wanted to go if only she would embrace the affirming “Yes!”

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