Hi Jeffrey,

What a great and relevant question! While we normally ask one career coach to answer, I have sent your question to a few of our career coaches so you can get a variety of opinions and responses. We'd also love to follow up with you after you're received their feedback so we can discuss further.

You should hear back shortly!

Best regards,
Maddy Meislin, Associate Manager of Programs

Hi Jeffrey,

As a long-time career coach and volunteer for Cancer and Careers, I will tell you that so many survivors want to find a meaningful, flexible, and autonomous next career. You sound amazing and you are quite young so there are many opportunities for you. I am not sure where you live however almost every metropolitan area has business development non- profits, SCORE offices, and local networking groups as well as coaches who are reasonably priced.

I suggest that you think about causes that are important to you, the skills and competencies you want to use or that you'd like to learn, and what your needs are regarding income, benefits, lifestyle, etc. FYI, freelancing is the most popular type of self employment. Once you narrow this down you probably want to start networking with people to hone in on what exactly you should focus on.

I realize that my advice is a bit general. Maybe you can write back to tell us what your online business was as well as your most recent venture, and what some of your ideas are and I can be more helpful. I know several of our other coaches will be writing to you as well.

Take care,

Julie

Hello Jeffrey:

First of all, I’m glad that you’re on the road to recovery.

I am an entrepreneur who had a cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment. My treatment slowed me down quite a bit. I had to give up a demanding travel schedule to focus on my health. I also get it about not wanting to work for someone else. I started my consulting practice in 1988. By 1998 I was joking that I was glad I liked what I was doing, because after 10 years of self-employment, I had made myself unemployable in the eyes on many employers.

You say that you ran a successful online business for over a decade. Can you get back into a similar business? Or is a non-compete agreement preventing you from so doing?

You say your current venture is struggling to get traction. Is it generating any income? Do you think it is viable in the long term? If you believe it is, I suggest that you keep plugging away at it. If you think that it is not viable, it probably is best to look for something else.

The good news here is that you seem to understand the online business world, so you don’t have a steep learning curve in the mechanics of making an online business work. It appears that your challenge is to find something that interests you -- and that you can monetize.

I would caution you to stay away from services available on line that will promise they will show you how to create and run a successful online business. I personally have wasted over $25,000 in my lifetime on such services.

My best advice to you is twofold. First take a hard look at your current venture to see if it has long term potential. If so, keep plugging away. If not, shut it down. Second, if the current venture is not viable in the long term, find something about which you’re passionate and figure out how to monetize it.

You were not very specific on the type of business you ran previously. So, I can’t be more specific here. Feel free to post a response that provides some specifics and I’ll respond.

All the best as you go forward in your life.

Bud