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Exploring a new career while on ‘vacation’

The Hartford Courant, 6/29/08

Abstract:

Ever fantasize about what it might be like to go into acting, run your own coffee shop become a chocolatier or work in the wine industry? Interested in finding a way to test drive a new career without losing a paycheck or risking the mortgage payment?

Missy Grohne did just that. She was working as a consultant in a LASIK eye surgery clinic, but she felt as though her real calling was in entertainment or acting. About 18 months ago, she saw a tiny advertisement about VocationVacations, a business that offers clients one- to three-day immersions with mentors in various careers and businesses. She discovered there was an opportunity to work with Kim Crow, a voice-over professional in Florida.

Grohne, who lives in New York City, was supposed to spend two days with Crow but ended up spending three...

...Grohne returned to New York with a voice-over demo tape and entered a professional voice-over school where she spent eight weeks perfecting her technique. Now she has her own burgeoning voice-over business. She hasn't quit her job at the eye clinic yet, but she expects she'll be able to do so soon...

...Brian Kurth came up with the VocationVacations concept in 1999 when he was sitting in traffic on Chicago's Kennedy Expressway during his long daily commute to his job in product management for a regional phone company. He started daydreaming about what he'd rather do in life — make wine, guide tours, train dogs. He thought about how great it would be if there were a way to test an occupation for a few days...

...
Eventually he left the phone company job and got a job with a dot com. When a pink slip arrived in late 2001, he went on a road trip. Along the way, he asked the people he met if they would be interested in a company that offered short internships for grown-ups contemplating career changes. He almost always received a positive response.

By the end of his journey, he decided to take a job in the wine industry and to move to Portland, Ore., but the concept for VocationVacations was percolating. He worked to develop the business as a hobby and then officially launched it in 2004.

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