Coaches Corner
		with Melanie Keveles

Last week my Internet provider did a major upgrade of equipment. I lost telephone and Internet service.

When the service came back up, my wireless router wouldn’t connect me to the Internet. I went back and forth with my cable company and my router manufacturer.

Eventually, it turned out coincidentally that my router had become damaged and needed replacement. Aside from the time I lost trying to get reconnected, I found how unsettling it was for me to not have telephone and Internet service. While I live and work in Superior, I am truly a citizen of the world. When that world is seemingly out of my reach, I feel alone, cut off and unable to contribute.

Coincidentally, my husband uncovered videotapes we took the first year we moved to Superior. There I was on the tape, 21 years younger. When I looked at that woman on the screen, I saw someone who based her livelihood solely on the “local economy.” The Internet was not yet a reality to me, nor was the coaching credentials I gained a decade later.

Had our phone service gone out then, I would not have found it as disconcerting as it was now. How different my world was then when I worked at Project Soar and UW-Superior and my clients and students truly were only locally based.

Today, my clients include people in Japan, Costa Rica, Canada and Americans from coast to coast, including local individuals. In addition to my coaching practice, I lead two classes for the coaching school that credentialed me — nine participants each, six months in length — and students from Norway, Germany, The Netherlands, Israel and Canada.

Ironically, I’m the only American on this bi-monthly conference call.

How the technology and training has connected me to a larger world!

From time to time, I hear people complain in the region about the lack of suitable employment. But it is possible for many of us today to gain our livelihood from places other than this region. I get payments from around the world and feel like a citizen of the world, right from Superior, WI.

Recently, a friend and I were talking about her friend who is soon to be released from prison with a felony conviction. We discussed how challenging it might be for her friend to find a job locally that pays a living wage with this extreme mark on his record. Immediately we talked about alternatives, such as his getting a business going on eBay. How the Internet can open up the options of such a person!

Whether we gain our livelihood from other places in the country or elsewhere in the world, we all truly are connected to a larger world, here. And with the technology we have that levels the playing field, we can enjoy the benefit of living in our wooded, natural locality without feeling disconnected from the rest of the world (as long as our technology is working properly).

I guess we can think of it as having the best of both worlds — the nature around as well as the opportunities that have opened up with the Internet, Blackberries, cell phones and the like.

We have to be different when we think of ourselves as connected to this place as well as the larger world around us. We have to be changed, if not unconsciously at times, having been able to view that photo taken on the Moon of our entire globe, the Earth.

Shortly after moving here more than two decades ago when we were trying to decide what part of the Twin Ports we’d settle in, I heard people tell me that back in the ‘60s, crossing the St. Louis River between Duluth and Superior required a toll, and telephone calls between these two cities were long distance.

While gas prices today keep us from thinking twice about ambling down the road to the Twin Cities, I can’t imagine feeling the distance with Duluth because of long distance charges and toll collections. I might have felt more like I was contained on the island of Superior.

I guess one idea I’m coming to is that each of us today needs to open ourselves up to the possibilities afforded by living in an interconnected world. We can look for opportunities on an individual level to have commerce with people in other parts of the nation and distant parts of the world. Besides having the technology, however, we must open our minds to the options. We need to see beyond our immediate geographic borders.

I may have an advantage because I’m not an area native. I’ve generally reached beyond Duluth/Superior. I’ve come here with friends and relatives from other parts. But today all of us can take the psychological leap. We can all find ways to connect beyond our perceived geographic limits.

What are some ways to do that? If you’ve been reading my column, you know I’m fond of making recommendations as starting points. Feel free to add your own suggestions to the list, and do let me know what they are.

• Sign up for Internet tele-classes in areas that interest you. These virtual classrooms can be windows on the world. You’ll meet people in these programs who are from other parts of the United States and the world, and they will open up your spectrum of opportunities.

• Visit a site such as www.ratracerebellion.com where you can learn about a host of part time job opportunities that you can do for organizations that are located elsewhere.

• Increase your curiosity about people in other parts of the country and the world. Read newspapers from other cities. Just Google the city or go on Yahoo and click on the get local link, supplying the areas you’re curious about.

Melanie Keveles MA, CPCC, MCC, master certified coach, has been a career and outplacement consultant, trainer and writer for more than 20 years. She coaches clients seeking career satisfaction, wanting to launch entrepreneurial ventures or aspiring to get published. You can reach her to set up a complimentary phone session atmelanie@startingfreshcoaching.com; at 715.394.4260, or www.startingfreshcoaching.com.

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