How Mark Radcliffe Found His Aha Moment
I’m really excited to bring you today’s interview as it is quite different than most interviewees that we’ve had. What I think that all of you will really respond to is that he doesn’t do just one thing.
He really has found “what he’s made for” and has pursued all avenues. Truth be told, we are all good at many different things and for some of us, what makes life interesting is exploring all of those talents.
Be sure to check out his website: www.markradcliffe.net
Here is his story:
Tell me about what you do for work.
I have two careers, actually. By day I’m a writer, and by night I’m a musician. My writing consist of both a career in advertising as well as various fiction and essay-writing exploits. As for my music, I’m a singer/ songwriter, performing both on guitar and piano, performing mainly in New York, but occasionally touring nationally. I have two albums out, all on iTunes, Pandora, Spotify, etc. and am writing the third now.
What type of work were you doing prior to what you are doing now?
I joke with friends that I’ve already had 10 other careers even before my current two. I was an English teacher and counselor at a private school right out of college, then studied acting and film for a while (and correspondingly was a waiter/ bartender). But I’ve also been a lawnmower, a driveway sealer, an SAT tutor, public speaker, and dabbled in standup comedy.
What kinds of frustrations did you have with your previous job(s)?
The most difficult period was probably when I was a teacher. It wasn’t so much the intense daily schedule–that was actually rewarding in a sense. The hard part for me was the monotony–having the exact same schedule every day. I hated knowing exactly what my day was going to be like for the next 30 years. I’ve learned I thrive on variety and unpredictability. Now with my two careers, every month is a new set of challenges. And in the years since I’ve left teaching, I’ve lived in over 8 cities in every corner of the country.
How did you come to discover this was what you were meant to do?
I’m not sure I really ‘knew’ anything at the time. All I knew when I quit teaching was that I had this vague instinct that I wasn’t ready to grow old in front of a chalkboard in a small town in Maine. I knew I had so much more that I wanted to express. That I wasn’t quite ready to only help others express themselves. I thought it might be in writing, but I thought it also could be in film, or music, or even architecture. Whatever it was, it was going to be creative in nature, of that I was certain. (The hard part was figuring out how to make a living at it.)
What fears did you have to overcome to take the leap?
Quitting my career as an established private school teacher took a great deal of faith, and I encounter a lot of rolled eyes from family and friends at the time. It was a classic example of “jump and a net will appear.” I had no idea what I was going to do next, when I quit at 25, but I knew that if I didn’t, I sure wasn’t going to figure out my next move just by sitting around. I knew that I’d have to expose myself to utter failure and joblessness to create the kind of urgency wherein I’d make a solution happen.
What do you love most about what you do?
What I love now is that my life is about expressionism, whatever form that may take. Some days I’m writing songs and performing in front of 100 people. Some days I’m writing a national ad campaign or creating an international website. Other days I’m working on my novel. Another day I’m publishing an essay on single life in New York. I get to travel a lot, too, whether it’s shooting commercials on location, or doing a month long West coast music tour.
If you were to give advice to people thinking about changing careers, what would it be?
Well I’d say a few things:
1) Do your homework first. A successful career change is not simply about “just going for it!” You’ve got to balance a number of factors, and do your research. It’s one thing to have an instinct, such as ‘I really love acting,’ but it’s another thing to ask yourself, “Am I truly ready to commit to the daily realities that being an actor really entails?” (constant rejection, postponed financial reward, working a 2nd job, constant uncertainty). A lot of us have romanticized notions of what certain careers are like, and we later find out they’re not like what we envisioned at all. This pertains to a lot of lawyers I know – a path I almost went down myself since given my background an English major and debater. But most lawyers don’t get to argue passionately in a courtroom defending an innocent victim–they end up filing 300 pg documents, sitting in a small cubicle. And they’re very frustrated. So whatever career you think you want, make sure you really get to know it first–shadow someone in it for a week or do informational interviews, etc.
2) Every career has a pile of bullshit included, so don’t think there’s some bullshit-free life out there waiting for you. (If you’re a musician, it’s probably poverty and living on the road; if you’re a successful doctor, there’s still stress, long hours and bureaucracy; if you’re a pro athlete, there’s injury, public obligations & being away from your family; if you’re a writer, it’s loneliness, deadlines and torturing yourself over the details.) Just figure out what pile of bullshit you’re willing to deal with.
3) If you are unhappy, there’s probably something else you could be doing, and it’s almost your moral imperative to seek it out. This is partially as an obligation to yourself to maximize your own potential, but partially to society so you’re not another angry, depressed citizen who’s unpleasant to be around. I swear there’d be a lot fewer bar fights, a lot less divorce, and a lot fewer “going postal” incidents if most of the world were happier with what they were doing with their lives.
4) My biggest advice: Whatever you like to do in your free time, there’s probably a career for that. My step-sister laughed at this and said, “I like to talk on the phone with friends, how does that get me a job?” And I said, “Well, embrace that; you’re a communicator; you could be a presenter, or a tech support specialist who solves problems for people on the phone, or you might be an amazing hotel manager who has to constantly manage lots of people.” She’s now a high school counselor with a masters in social work.
If you like to plan parties, you could be come a wedding planner or an event coordinator.
If you like to complain, you might be a great standup comedian or joke writer for Conan.
If you like redecorating your apartment, look into interior design, or set design at a movie studio.
If you love reading, you could be a book critic, or a script reader at Paramount.
If you like tinkering with stuff in a woodshed, or played with Legos, you could be an engineer or invent the next iPod.
For me, I just always needed to write. I couldn’t go a day without doing it from age 14 & on. From keeping a journal, to writing letters to friends (or girls), or poetry, or short stories. It was a compulsion I was born with – to express myself in some way. It just took me a while to find out a way to bet paid reliably for it. But I’m glad I kept searching. When you find a career that comes out of something you do naturally, it doesn’t feel like “work,” it just feels like you being you.
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Aha Interviews
My mission is to inspire others to find what they were made for.
