I Do This for a Living

It's The Mama Episode! Let's hear from Kathy Nickerson, mom of four (including your host, Serenity Bohon), emotional/spiritual mom to hundreds more, author, and eternal optimist. Kathy knew from a very young age that she wanted to be a writer, but it took her some time to admit it and go for it. Now, she has five books published in her "granny lit" series, a book for young readers called Jack and the Green Dragon, and a book on its...

Nathan Bransford is the writer's champion, offering A to Z advice for writers about the craft of storytelling, finding an agent, navigating the publishing industry, and everything writers need to make their dreams come true. Don't leave if you're not a writer, though! This episode is for anyone who loves the stories people tell about their varied career paths. Nathan has amazing advice about determining your values and making them ...

Meet my brother, Lt. Joe Nickerson. He started in law enforcement as a side gig and discovered it was the perfect fit for his specific strengths and calling. Joe describes his first experiences in the police academy as "life-changing." Learning a new job within law enforcement became Joe's next aha moment. Now he had found not just a calling but a role comprising everything he cared about most. I loved this conversation with one of...

Dennis Trinkle was the son of a pastor and on a similar track until a teaching job along the way inspired him to go back to school. He liked teaching but knew he would have better success with more education. When fulfilling a liberal arts requirement led him to a philosophy class, he discovered an interest that would shape his next move and his continued education for years. There are more pivots in Dennis's story--all sparked by ...

Carrie Gaines and I have a shared work experience but very different relationships to work in general. We worked together in the grant-seeking and management department of a health professions university - a workplace that set the bar for both us when it comes to professional and supportive work environments. Carrie transitioned from her grants management role after getting new assignments at the University that piqued her interest...

It's another sister episode! Today, Serenity chats with her younger sister, Charity, "a singer and a mom." Charity had her dream job, a paid worship pastor at her church. She has a lot of insight about what it really means to have a job in ministry/nonprofit. When her leaders took the team through the Working Genius framework to discover their work personalities, Charity realized why the administrative parts of being an on-staff wo...

Deana Berrey was nine years into teaching when she looked for a pivot and found medical school. Today, she is Dr. Deana Berrey, an anesthesiologist who loves her job and has inspiring ideas for anyone considering a tough road toward a new dream. Dr. Berrey's episode addresses mom guilt, quality over quantity when it comes to the time we have for what matters, and walking through life's open doors when they present themselves. Her f...

Serenity interviews Melissa Cassera, a screenwriter, author, and publicity strategist, who introduces herself as a girl who has lots of obsessions. Melissa wants us all to celebrate something every single day, specifically something we accomplished. She offers advice about knowing what you want to do and applying it at a high level in many different ways, describing how she is a storyteller, which plays out in her publicity work, h...

Meet Josh Smith. He loved stories of knights as a kid (a little romantic and a little heroic), and he makes sure his life today is about serving others in the same way. He does this wearing many hats, including IT manager at a drug and alcohol recovery center, husband and dad, youth pastor, gamer, and writer. He also cooks, plays the bass, and loves to travel. Josh has a dynamic friend group that writes together when they're not pl...

Today's guest is Serenity's sister, Felicity White, and their voices may sound nearly identical, but their work experience is a study in contrasts. Felicity White has moved intentionally toward a job in her dream industry, and she flat-out loves it. Listen to see how she got there, if she finds even one small thing to dislike about it, and what she dreams for the future. Felicity teaches exploratory studies for a living, so her ins...

Meet Caroline Starr Rose, a children's author and prolific reader who believes we should all be lifelong learners and embrace a wide variety of genres when we read. Serenity and Caroline met online over their shared love for the book Anne of Green Gables and its author, L.M. Montgomery. In today's episode, they talk about the real work of being a published author and Caroline's passion for honoring the child experience. They also g...

In today's episode, Serenity's guest is her fifth-grade crush (now husband), Mike Bohon. (She calls him Michael.) Mike describes his job as a risk consultant working mainly in the transportation industry. Mike finds meaning in his work, which he explains, but he defines his calling as something beyond the job. In this episode, Mike and Serenity talk work, parenting, jobs versus careers, finding meaning at work, and work-life harmon...

Welcome to I Do this for a Living, the show that questions everything about work culture and asks how we can spend as much time and energy on the things that matter as we do on the things that pay. 

I'm your host, Serenity Bohon, a writer, day jobbist, and sarcoma survivor. After decades in the American workforce, I have a lot of questions about how we view work, what we do there, and how we find meaning in it or in the lives o...