Are you going in so many directions that you don’t have time to think about your dream job, let alone actually trying to do something about it?

My friends over at Common Craft (who do some of the most amazingly “simple” instructional videos I’ve ever seen) have hit a serious home run to deep center field with a piece on the things that have simplified their work-at-home lives.

They’ve given me pause to think about my own life and how I run my businesses.

Really good stuff.  Check ‘er out.

Popularity: 87% [?]

Business Week recently ran a story, based on reader submissions, about the design and use of home offices.

While the offices they show are interesting, I think that what’s more important here is how the entrepreneurs in the story have weaved their lives, careers (dare I say it? — dream jobs), and work spaces into one tapestry.

Check ‘er out.  Good idea fodder.

Popularity: 87% [?]

From the “if they could do it, I could do it too” file . . .

Check out this interesting article at Yahoo about a few people who’ve created businesses with unique ideas.

Popularity: 90% [?]

A lot of career and success writers, coaches, and self-appointed gurus will tell you to follow your passion when going after what you want.

You know the scenario: Follow your passion and the money will follow.

Well, there are lots of folks who’ve followed their passions all the way to the poor house.

So, what’s the regular Dream Job Seeker to do?

Scott Allen’s got a really good bit of advice about this over at About.com.

Good stuff; check ‘er out.

Popularity: 90% [?]

Having something go viral is the dream of every entrepreneur.   Going viral, as related to working on the Internet, relates to having a product, promotion, or some other activity be perceived as something so incredibly special that it gets passed around, usually via email, from one person to another to tens of thousands or millions of people.

So, literally, word spreads — like a virus — about you and your product, usually without you having to do anything.  This is the marketer’s nirvana.  The dream world.

And, I’m pleased to say, I’ve had a recent experience with something going viral.  But, the interesting thing about what I learned is that you cannot plan for something to go viral — it just does.  Oh, I’ve tried to come up with all sorts of clever ideas that I thought would go viral — My goodness, I say to myself, how can others not realize how brilliant I am here? — but none never have.

Until recently, when the whole idea of viralness (yup, that’s a word) never even entered my thoughts.

At InfoSource Learning, we created a product called SimpleAssessment that is designed to test the digital literacy skills of school kids.  Now, this is an important thing these days because the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) statutes from the federal government mandate that kids have these skills by the 8th grade.  Consequently, schools need a way to assess their students.

Enter SimpleAssessment.

We decided to give it away (as a way to introducing ourselves to new customers, who we hoped would buy something else from us later) and our lives have changed dramatically.  We simply can’t keep up with the demand that has been created for SimpleAssessment, and the freebies are now turning into paying customers.

My point is that we didn’t set out to get people passing our offering around; we were simply immersed in trying to create something that we thought we could share with the educational community.  We’ve been creating and selling educational products for over 25 years, and this was one small thing we could do to give back.

And, the dang thing has gone viral on us.

Which got me thinking about what it might take to get your own personal dream job to go viral.

Let me ask you this:  Are you obsessed with finding and having your dream job?  Because, like getting something to go viral, maybe focusing on it too much is not such a good thing.

Here’s an idea for you, then:  Whatever your dream job passion, just start working on it, even if it’s a few hours a week.  Just plug away at it.  Don’t obsess over the fact that it’s not your entire life just yet.  Work at it, sow some seeds, do a little more every day.  Maybe, just maybe, who knows, you might turn around in a few months and find that your work has gone viral and you’re actually working full time in your dream job.

Popularity: 94% [?]

Work at home or want to?

Of course, just about like everyone else, I’ve got my own set of resource bookmarks, yellow stickies, notes on my bulletin board, listings on my notepad, underlines in article and books . . . on and on.

So, what an incredible pleasure it was to run across an incredible and tested resource listing that’ll let me do away with all of the above, because the Ittybiz site has gathered the best of the best for us work-at-home types right here in one editorialized list at 45 Business Resources:  Things and People that Help You Make Money in Your Underwear.

Really good stuff; check ‘er out . . . a Top 5er.

Popularity: 40% [?]

I love lists.

Especially when they’re lists of advice from people who know what they’re doing, because they’ve done it before.  (Conversely, I don’t trust many of the yappers out there who simply guess-n-spew.)

So, if you’re already in business for yourself, head on over to Anita Campbell’s excellent Small Business Trends website where she’s divulging some of the best-of-the-best marketing how-to’s from some of the best been-there-done-that achievers on the planet.

Yummy food for thought; check ‘er out.

Popularity: 32% [?]

Scott Allen, who keeps track of all things entrepreneurial, has a recent article about where to find dough for a new business.

I’m pretty much in the camp that says any sort of external funding is a bad thing.

Evil, actually.

For one, you get sloppy.  Real sloppy.  I remember an old pal of mine telling me about his start up and all the new goodies (office furniture, new computers, yaddy yaddy) he was acquiring.  When I asked him where all that stuff was coming from and how it was being funded (he’d had a loan from a family member to start up his venture), he said something like . . . ahh, not to worry, the company’s paying for it. Read more »