Creating a Job that Doesn’t Exist with Aileen Bennett - a podcast by Mark McGuinness

This week's guest on the 21st Century Creative Podcast is Aileen Bennett, Roving Creative Director and Idea Thinker Upper.







In today's interview, we tackle a question that many creative people struggle with - what do you do when you look at the jobs on offer, and none of them seem the right fit? Not even the self-employed ones, like consultant or freelance designer?



Should you try to fit in, like a square peg in a round hole? Or should you do what Aileen did, and create a job that doesn't exist?



I'm delighted to introduce you to Aileen and her work in this episode, she's a delightfully creative thinker and maker, and a great example of how being yourself can help your business thrive as well as sparking your imagination.



You can get more inspiration from Aileen on her Creating Clever blog and Aileen's Notebook on Instagram.











Take Aileen's Creative Challenge (and win a limited edition print)



Every week, at the end of the show, I ask my guest to set you a Creative Challenge - something practical you can do that will help you put the ideas from the show into action.



Here's how you can take part - and maybe win the prize of a print of Aileen's drawing of Brooklyn, NYC, and its inspiring text.







1. Listen to the interview part of the show, either in the player above or on iTunes or your favourite podcast platform.



2. Here's the challenge, in Aileen's words:



Think of a job that doesn't exist. Combine two or three or more of your skills and create a job title, and a brief job description, of the job that would be perfect for you - without worrying whether anyone already does it, or whether anyone would ever pay you to do it.



3. Leave a comment below this post with the description of your ideal job.



You have until midnight United States Pacific time on Friday 4th August 2017 to complete the challenge and leave your comment.



4. Once the challenge has finished, I will pick 3 winners at random from the comments, who will receive the prize of a copy of Aileen's print.



5. Over the weekend I will send a bonus recording with my feedback on your comments and what we can all learn from the challenge. I'll be looking through the comments for common patterns, whether that's ways a lot of you get stuck, or great solutions you're finding to the challenge. I'll also be sharing reflections from my own perspective.



6. As usual the feedback recording will NOT be released on iTunes or anywhere else the show is syndicated. It will only be available via the 21st Century Creative mailing list - click here to join the list (and get a free Creative Career course).







One last thing...



If you're enjoying the show it would be a huge help to me if you would take a moment to subscribe to The 21st Century Creative in iTunes.



And if you'd like to leave a brief review in iTunes, that would be even more helpful.



The more people who subscribe and review the show, the more visible the show will be in the iTunes store, and the more creators I can help with it.



This is particularly important in the first few weeks of a podcast - so if you enjoy the show, and you'd like to support it, taking a few moments to subscribe and/or review will give the podcast the best chance of success.







Thank you!



Mark McGuinness is a poet, a coach for creative professionals, and the host of The 21st Century Creative Podcast.

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