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People who always see themselves as unemployed often don’t see the possibilities around them for reinventing themselves. They may pass up unusual job opportunities, thinking they can only replicate what they were involved in prior to losing their job. They always forgot that if they are willing to consider new ways to reinvent themselves, the more opportunities become available. Imagine that you are going to your local grocery store and need to ask the clerk behind the counter to get your groceries for you! If it hadn’t been for a man named Clarence Saunders, a grocery wholesaler from Memphis, Tennessee who took a patent out in 1917 for what he called “Self-Serving Stores” we all might have been at the mercy of store clerks who kept the goods behind a counter. He thought it would save time and money to have the patrons gather their own goods and bring them up to the front of the store where clerks would ring up the purchases. We generally take for granted the process of going to a grocery story or department store and collecting what we want in our baskets and checking out with the clerks, but if you’ve ever had occasion to visit a historic restoration site such as Gettysburg or Old Sturbridge Village, you’ll see general stores set up on the pre-1917 plan with long counters winding in front of stacked shelves. What is it with people like Saunders who see different possibilities when the rest of us just take what is habitually handed to us for granted? How do they see the value of change when many of us would argue for the status quo? Truth is all of us have the ability to look at our lives and our surroundings and choose to see them differently than from what they are. We have to be willing to stretch our imaginations and consider different possibilities. Recently my husband and I vacationed in Lanesboro, a small town in the southeast corner of Minnesota. The whole of "downtown" Lanesboro is on the National Register of Historic Places. Yet as late as the mid-1980’s the town was, dying and in general disrepair. What brought it back to life was the opportunity presented when the state came in and paved asphalt over an old railroad bed between Fountain and Money Creek Forestry Unit, creating a 40-mile trail suitable for biking, hiking and in-line skating. This brought tourists and outdoor enthusiasts en masse to enjoy the outdoors and the surrounding area. It didn’t hurt that there was also a nearby water body, called the Root River, providing opportunities for kayacking, canoeing and tube gliding. Interestingly enough, according to a guide who led us on a tour of the nearby Amish community that arrived in the area nearly 40 years ago, Lanesboro was the poorer of the surrounding towns in the years up to the trail being paved over. Nearby towns like Preston had funds over the years to revamp their old buildings with aluminum siding and demolish and build new structures. But Lanesboro, lacking such funds had only a stock of aging buildings, dating to the turn of the century and earlier. Yet because Lanesboro homes and businesses were so old, they were ideal for reinvention into historic bed and breakfasts and unique shops. Today there are more than 14 such homesteads, serving the needs of the upscale tourists, heading for this vacation spot, 45 minutes from Rochester, Minnesota and about two hours from the Twin Cities. Lanesboro has become the mecca for the area, while the earlier prosperous surrounding towns have become only mild side attractions to visitors to the trail and its environs. Lanesboro has reinvented itself especially because of its uniquely historic standing buildings that were fortunately spared the wrecking ball for lack of earlier funds! How ironic! How are these stories of invention and reinvention instructive to people considering career change? They both are tales of seeing possibilities others may not see. Very often I find myself correcting those who tell me that they are “unemployed” by reminding them that they are in the process of becoming “re-employed.” This may sound like semantics, but there is more to it than that. People who see themselves as unemployed often don’t see the possibilities around them for reinventing themselves. They may pass up unusual opportunities, thinking they can only replicate what they were involved in prior to losing their job. Yet the more they are willing to consider new ways to reinvent themselves, the more opportunities become available. While in Lanesboro we met the proprietor of a lovely motel called the Green Gables Inn. She has enjoyed building up this business over the course of the last ten years. Her move to hotel proprietorship was a career reinvention for her, seemingly a renaissance soul who enjoys finding new ways to exploit her talents. Prior to taking over the Green Gables, she had toured the country, staying in bed and breakfasts throughout the United States to gather ideas for her own establishment. She credits the success of her business today in part to her having taken the time to gather this research and incorporate the best of what she found on her travels. If you or someone you know is at the point of inventing or reinventing themselves, out of choice or necessity, I hope that you will use these examples to inspire yourself to open your eyes and consider the possibilities around you. Here are some questions that can spur you on:
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