Today's special guest on The Accidental Pren-her Show, Stories of the
Unexpected is Accidental Pren-her Marie Kerpan. This 12 minute
interview talks about Marie's entrepreneurial journey from being a banker on Wall Steet to being the owner and founder of the first career consulting practice supporting the transition to careers that promote Green careers.
Today, Marie helps people translate their interest in ecological sustainability into a viable green career through her business, Green Careers.
The gemstone of this interview is Marie's recommendation: whenever possible, take six to nine months after leaving your traditional work place to figure out what your passion is and what your interests are, before launching your new green career.
You can listen to Marie's interview from your computer by clicking on the play button, download the MP3 file and listening on your iPod or other MP3 listening device, or read it in full below.
Welcome to another episode of the Accidental Pren-her Show: Stories of the Unexpected. My name is Susan Reid, and today we have as our special guest Marie Kerpan, founder of Green Careers, the first green career consulting practice supporting the traditions of careers that support green sustainability. Welcome, Marie!
M: Thank you, Susan!
S: It’s great to have you hear, and we’re all very excited to hear about what your journey was - and is – into the entrepreneurial lifestyle. For instance, I know that you’d been traditionally employed as a banker, and then you made a move into career transition consultant. And, now, you’re a green career consultant and sole proprietor of Green Careers. Take us on a short journey. When did this entrepreneurial journey begin?
M: Well, way back in the ‘80s, I was in banking on Wall Street for about 10 years and I never really enjoyed my work, but I was successful nonetheless. So I had sort of the “golden handcuffs” there, which I think many of us have in corporate America. But, finally, I had to leave in 1984 to find more satisfying work, although at that time I didn’t have any idea what that would look like. But I was determined to find out, so I kind of quit my job and jumped into the void, realizing that I would never figure out a career change while I was working 60 hours a week. So that was the first time I jumped off a cliff, and that was the beginning of my journey which has resulted in starting my own business, though that wasn’t my intention at the outset.
S: Working in banking on Wall Street – how more traditional can you get than that?
M: That’s the truth.
S: Had you ever been a small business owner before?
M: Not before I left the Wall Street position. After I left Wall Street, I experimented with doing business consulting. I was consulting on my own as an independent consultant to small businesses, helping them to improve their management and their bottom line. That was my first experience with being on my own, though I didn’t think of it as a long-term thing. I thought of it as an interim project while I figure out what I was going to do with my life.
S: That’s really great for us to know. As we make that move from traditionally employed – in your case, banking on Wall Street – to wherever else we’re going – and eventually you ended up being the founder of Green Careers – it’s nice to know that we can do something in between the transition. We don’t have to jump into whatever the perfect thing is, do we?
M: That’s quite true. I really think that whatever you can do to give yourself some space to figure it out is a good idea. Like, if you can quite your job and then consult so that you have less than a full-time job happening to support you – you always have to pay the bills – but if you can do something that frees up some of your time so that you’re not completely tied up with full-time work, then you can really give the exploration process the time it deserves.
S: You said something really significant – giving the exploration process the time it deserves. And if we are, like you said, involved in working traditionally 60 hours a week, there just isn’t that time or even that mental energy to process where we’re going to next, is there?
M: I agree, Susan. It’s common wisdom you should never leave a job until you have another job – you know that story. But the problem with that is it’s so incredibly difficult to find work or think about work, especially if you want to make a change, when you’re working full-time. So I actually advocate the opposite to my clients who are working full-time and hating it. I advise them to see if they can afford to spend six months to a year investigating a career change, and leave their job and work part-time or consult, rather than try to figure it out and do it while they’re working full-time, because it’s really, really difficult.
S: That’s such sage advice.
M: Thank you.
S: Marie, what made you decide to go into business for yourself?
M: I ultimately changed careers into career consulting with adults in transition after I left the Wall Street job. I was doing that in the context of a large consulting firm, so it still really like working full-time but doing something I love a lot more, so that was a big, positive shift. Eventually, after several years, I sort of got “itchy” and felt like I wanted to make another change. I was chafing in the corporate environment again, so I decided to take some time off and figure it out. Again, I quit my job. I had some money in the bank – I had a cushion where I could spend some time thinking and reading and talking to people. Again, I had no idea what I would do. But as I started looking around, I realized the magnitude of the problems we’re facing as a global community and the necessity of moving towards sustainability. I felt that I needed to apply my skills to advance the sustainability agenda. I could see that I could use my career consulting skills and experience to guide people interested in having a green career, by which I mean one that supports sustainability in some way. This is what I call a “path of least resistance” type of career change where you apply your skills and experience to do something you’re most interested in. In my case, I love doing career counseling. I just was tired of helping people get jobs in large corporations that are not necessarily contributing to the wellbeing of the planet. At the time in 2000, no one else was doing anything like Green Careers, so I saw the opportunity to start something new that would utilize my background and experience in a job that I loved doing – mainly career counseling – and just apply my energy towards helping people transition into green careers, rather than “business as usual” careers. It really grew out of my wanting to make a difference and seeing that there was a job to do that wasn’t being done and one that I was happy to do. Now I encourage people with entrepreneurial spirit to find a need and fill it, because the entrepreneurial opportunities are unlimited in the green space and it’s truly a new frontier of extraordinary financial opportunities.
S: Indeed. “Green” is all the rage right now. It seems everybody – at least, in the United States – is jumping on the bandwagon with it. Let me just ask . . . When you say “green career”, are you specifically talking about sustainability, or is there more to it?
M: Well, it’s a very big – I don’t even think of it as a category – I feel like green careers encompass virtually everything, because we’re faced with having to redesign everything from the ground up: all of our products, all of our services, all of our practices. We need to produce, consume, and stop wasting in totally different ways. So, green careers include all of what used to be called traditional green careers – like working in the environment as a biologist or forest ranger or working on protection and preservation of natural resources – but it also includes business jobs of all kinds because, as we know, we have a lot of work to do to clean up our products and make them less toxic. We need to move toward mitigating the impact of global warming through converting to renewable sources of energy and conserving energy and water, and we need to get into building differently – the whole “green building” space – and the whole transportation space. We need to get out of our gas-guzzling automobiles.
The business opportunities are sort of the newest frontier on the green front, but all of the traditional jobs still apply. All of the non-profits that work on protecting species are still critically important.
S: If somebody comes to you and they’re interested in a green career, do they need to have some kind of technical background or special degree?
M: They sure don’t, and this is a really important point because I think it stops a lot of people from considering a green career. Virtually any type of skill set can be applied to a green career. For example, I was doing career counseling in traditional business, but saw the opportunity to use my career counseling skills to help people transition to green careers. I’m doing the same job effectively, using the same skill set, doing the same activity day in and day out, but the context in which I’m working has completely shifted to helping people move towards green careers, which makes all the difference in the world in terms of my values being aligned with my work. Other examples: you can be an administrative assistant or an accountant or a business manager . . . any job title can be applied to a green career. You simply have to look for a company or a non-profit organization that’s working towards sustainability and which is doing work that you’re intrinsically interested in. I really want to stress that. I think the number one criteria for any career change has to be something that you’re really interested in doing, and not just doing something because it’s the hot thing to do or because somebody else thinks you should do it. I think that’s the most important factor in pursuing a career change of any kind.
S: I agree with you, especially for people who make the career change a little later in life. Make sure they’re connected with something that they’re passionate about and interested in doing.
M: Absolutely.
S: Well, Marie, we are at the end of our interview, and we have five questions that we ask everyone. So here we go:
What one word describes your life today?
M: Flexible!
S: And what quality or characteristic is most important to you?
M: Authenticity.
S: What turns you off?
M: Hype.
S: What inspires you?
M: People making a difference.
S: And what’s the most precious thing you’ve learned along the journey from Accidental Pren-her to entrepreneurial woman?
M: To follow my own inner guidance.
S: That’s a great reminder for all of us! Follow our inner guidance! Marie, once again, thank you for being on the Accidental Pren-her Show today. I know that you’ve got a special Accidental Pren-her Show discount to give people, so tell our listeners and readers how they can get in touch with you, and what this discount is all about.
M: First of all, my website is www.geocities.com/greencareers or, more simply, you can just Google “Green Careers” and you’ll find me within the first two or three listings. My e-mail is greencareers@comcast.net. What I would like to offer is encouragement to encourage people to act now to align your values, skills, and interests with your work – it’s the most powerful thing you can do to make a difference in your work and in your world and in your life. If you’d like to be supported in doing this, please contact me and I will offer you a discount on my hourly fee after you’ve heard this interview.
S: That’s wonderful, Marie, and thank you so much for your generosity about that, too. So, Ladies, head on over. The easiest way to do this is just Google “Green Careers” and you’ll find Marie. Just let her know how you heard of her so that she can give you the 20% or 30% or 40% or whatever that wonderful discount is that she is offering to you. Thank you, Marie!
M: Thank you, Susan!
Thanks for a great interview Marie. I found, too, in my own journey that having some time to sort through issues, explore possibilities, and discover what I was passionate about made a difference. For me, it was important to have some time to honor and grieve my losses...those I chose and those I didn't, before I could be really open to the "new".
Good luck to you Marie as you continue to make a difference in people's lives.
All my best.
Jina
Posted by: Jina Daigle | May 06, 2008 at 08:25 PM
You are right Jina. Honoring what is no longer is an important, validating action for one to take. It is the final action one can take to appreciate and value what gemstone the loss left behind.
Final actions are important for closure, for moving on. Something every Accidental Pren-her must do in order to embrace the next chapter of her life.
Posted by: The Original Accidental Pren-her | May 07, 2008 at 07:24 AM