Changing Points
I was all set to write about people seeking new career direction. “I Want Out” will certainly be a blog in the days to come, a rant about how job seekers are clamoring to leave their selected fields of endeavor and searching for a “safe haven” in which to land their professional behinds.

The aforementioned piece would’ve been ready for posting had I not received a call from an elementary school buddy of mine, Danny Schneider. He’s an enormously modest, successful, attorney/entrepreneur (I know this cause I Googled him), and as we are all pretty much grownups now, everyone refers to him as “Dan”.

Danny and I reconnected a couple of weeks ago through the miraculous world of SN (Social Networking). Before this reconnect, I last saw Danny about five years ago during a camp visiting day up in the Woodstock, NY area, where my kids and Danny’s nephew attend summer camp. You know when you see someone in an environment that “they don’t belong in”; you have a hard time recognizing that it’s that person? Well, that’s how it was when I saw Danny that summer afternoon up in Woodstock.

Anyway, Danny and I have been catching up on old times the last few weeks, and as it turns out he’s put together an incredible non-profit organization called “I Can Still Do That” http://icanstilldothat.org . Danny and his advisory board have created a platform by which business people, professionals from all walks of life, artists, etc… are going to offer mentoring, strategic coaching, and simple life support for anyone adversely affected by the recession.

With a palpable energy, and the same youthful excitement that made Danny a Far Rockaway High School “personality”, “I Can Still Do That” has set out to offer a grass roots, one-on-one support system for job seekers in distress.

You know it’s so funny when I think back on the lives Danny and I had in Far Rockaway. There couldn’t have been a more middle class lifestyle anywhere in the five boroughs. I may be over evaluating our parent’s property values, as the City of New York saw fit to build miles and miles of low income housing, and State run nursing homes along 15 miles of pristine Atlantic Ocean beach front.

But I make this point because growing up in the Rockaway’s in the 60’s and 70’s as Danny and I did, you had two indisputable feelings about your life. First, you were the richest, luckiest kid in the world, because you could walk to the beach by yourself. Second, if you needed anything, no matter where you were on the peninsula, there was someone that knew you, or they knew someone in your family, and they would make sure you got what you needed, and were taken care of.

That’s why it is not surprising that Danny created “I Can Still Do That”. It is not surprising that he’s made himself a professional and familial success, and that he has the drive to offer support, assistance, and guidance to “Virtual Contacts”, and everyone he’s met along his life’s journey. Sincerely, that’s the way we lived on the Rockaway peninsula.

Danny is interested in the Live Webinar series my company Allow Me To Introduce Myself, Inc. www.allowmetointroducemyself.com is producing. The series offers job seekers a variety of strategies, and basic approaches on how to look for a new career direction. I’m going to do everything I can to incorporate the webinar series into Danny’s non-profit organizational model. Not because I’m this enormously modest, successful professional/entrepreneur, but because coming from where Danny and I grew up, you understood about loyalty and connection to your neighbor. You knew when the family down the block was having a tough time, and you always invited them over for a barbeque.

The sister organization to “I Can Still Do That” is “First Monday’s” http://www.firstmondays.com . These two social networking groups are easy access points of entry for anyone involved in a career search, and in need of an unbiased, helpful ear.

When you see Danny schmoozing around at these social networking events, talking everyone up, and looking very “Manhattan” in his nappy attire, remember that if he had to take off his shoes, white sand would fall out.

If you are searching for career guidance, professional direction, or can offer your life experience to people in transition, please feel free to reach out to “I Can Still Do That” http://icanstilldothat.org . Here’s hoping that everyone lands safely on shore.