My first job I helped my dad at his shop for the summer break. My 2nd job was in the career field I wanted to do. And that was during summer break in highschool. I kept part time hours during the school year.

I never really made a conscious decision to start a career, but I do tend to keep jobs for a long time. When I was 17, my dad helped me get my first job after I had spent a year looking and nobody would hire me. I still have that job, and it's been 6 years. I've had a few other jobs in the mean time, working 2 at one time since I was about 19. I'd still be at my second job, except they went out of business. Same with my third. My last job was the only one I've ever quit.

I started my career right after I graduated from HS. I knew what I wanted to do and my options were to go to college OR start at the bottom and work my way up, so I did that. Essentially both paths would've put me in the same place at the same time and I don't regret it at all. I stayed at that company for about six months, took that experience elsewhere, stayed about a year, took that experience to a better position, did that a couple more times, and have now been at the same company for 7 years this Oct (I'm 28) and am a department coordinator.

I volunteered working with autistic children, while I was in college, working on my Pre Med work. I then was hired to do it for pay. As time went I and I graduated (and didn't have the money or the time for Med School) I realized that I was burning out on working with this population, especially when I started having my own kids. I spent many years at home raising my babies, and I became a Lactation Consultant almost by default, by what I was doing in the meantime in medicine.



The market for home business is so bad, I haven't made a profit in 3 years. People say, "Do what you love and the money will follow." I'd like to know where the fuck all this money is because I haven't seen any. I am about to close a business that I LOVED and honestly have no freaking idea what I am going to do. It sucks, badly.



Sorry. The economy is really getting me down, yanno, the being broke part. My Man and I did every thing right, we went to college, got our degrees, stated our careers and we are worse off than we were 10 years ago.



I honestly am not the one to give you advice.