If you've got a tough work situation right now, Dan Miller is the guy to talk to. As a career expert, an author—and a Christian—Miller is great at improving career opportunities. He's been featured by a number of media outlets, from CBS to Crosswalk to The Dave Ramsey Show. His latest book, No More Dreaded Mondays, was designed to help you find opportunities that will make your career something you look forward to. We spoke with him last week, and he has some really interesting ideas.

New Man: What are the most common job concerns you're hearing from men today?

Dan Miller: Everyone is wondering whether the recession is getting better or worse. But the thing is—"recession" is just an economic term. We hear it bandied about in the news and on Wall Street. But, really, the chances for your success are determined not at the White House but at your house. We've got to get away from this "sky is falling" mindset. We may be in a down period of the economic cycle, and we may have fewer opportunities. But we only need one opportunity. We don't need to cure everything—just our own situation.

The question is, can you still find an opportunity in the midst of this? Absolutely. You've just lost your job—can you find a new opportunity? Absolutely. Now, if you're just looking for a job, you're going to be disappointed. If you understand your area of expertise, if you have confidence and if you handle yourself well, you will have companies waiting in line.

The other thing that comes up a lot is starting a business. That used to mean starting a bowling alley or salon or something like that. The "bricks and mortar" idea. But with what we have available today, it's never been easier to start your own business. You don't even need any money. All you need is an area of expertise, and you can be in business this afternoon.

New Man: How has the workplace changed in the last 30 years?

Miller: Well, we're not going to see this expectation where you stay at your job for 30 years, get a gold watch and retire. That model is gone. If you look at the statistics, the average person between the ages of 18 and 42 will have 10.8 jobs. The average length of time a person in their 20s keeps a job is 13 months. Your career path no longer means looking for the perfect job and staying there forever. You can have a positive, healthy career path going from organization to organization.

Because of this volatility, however, it is imperative that you have a clear understanding of what is unique about you, what strengths you have. That allows you to have a compass even while things are changing repeatedly. We've got to get out of this sense of, "I lost my job, I'm a failure." No, you lost your job because things changed in your company, and you need to move on. It's not fair, but that's the way it is.

From a Christian perspective, there are three terms that we generally use interchangeably that are actually very different: calling, career and job. Your calling is the big picture, what you feel called to do. If you want to leave the world a better place, if you want to help ease pain and suffering, that's a calling. Your career is a subset of your calling. It's a way of working out your calling as a doctor, sports trainer, massage therapist, teacher, pastor or whatever. Your job is the smallest component.

Your job should never change your calling. You have to remain confident. I work with a lot of pastors who are frustrated by the unrealistic demands placed on them. They say, "I'm about to have a nervous breakdown, but I can't walk away from my calling." My question is: What is your specific calling? If you are called to work with the downhearted, can we come up with other ways to do that that won't leave you burned out? I've seen pastors change their careers, yet increase their ministries. It's about understanding your calling and finding different ways of applying that calling.

New Man: What made you want to write No More Dreaded Mondays?

Miller: The title references the fact that we're trying to erase the negative stigma work has among people, often [among] Christians. We have this myth that work is a curse of God. We want to get rid of that. Mondays should be just as enjoyable as Fridays if your work is meaningful, purposeful and profitable.

In No More Dreaded Mondays, I look at how you can take an idea and turn it into profitable, fulfilling work. For instance, if you like being outdoors or doing interior design, or if you have an Internet idea, you can learn to make that work with your responsibility as a family provider. Work really should be an outflow of the way God has designed us.

There are so many options for things you can get into and so many ways to make them personal and unique. I've seen people find something that's a fit for them, and they get a sense of purpose and a way of living out their purpose. They often find more compensation there as well. That's a counterintuitive idea to us. Most people think, I'll go into computer science or law because that's where the money is. But there are people out there making wood sculptures who are making more than $100,000 a year because it's the right fit for them.

New Man: What are some practical ways that men can start looking for different ways to work?

Miller: There are so many things you can do without having to start from scratch. If you want to write, there are so many ways you can get a platform for your writing, you could start this afternoon. Start a blog and see if you attract an audience. That's an easy segue into articles for magazines and newspapers, and then a book proposal. You can do that without any real risk.

I talked to a lady who made T-shirt designs. She asked me if she should print 10,000 of them and start trying to sell them to local stores. I said, "No way." You can go to sites like cafepress.com and put up your designs, see if people respond to them, and then have them printed. That's a totally different way of looking at business plans that didn't exist three years ago.

It's also much easier to build an audience when you have social media. You can build an audience around an idea or a common interest.  Say you are an expert on a particular area of theology. When you have a niche like that, it's hard to build a church around it. But when we're talking about social media and the Internet world, you can have a narrow area of focus and still attract 20,000 people. Once you have an audience, you can start producing products, seminars and workshops. We do a lot of things with my organization, 48 Days, that would have been impossible to work 10 years ago. We just did a No More Dreaded Mondayscruise. What a hoot. Someone suggested it, and we decided to do it. Before, we didn't have the technology to popularize an idea like that and spread the word.

New Man: What is your advice for men who are seeking regular jobs right now?
 
Miller: You have to be very active in the process. If you see a job on a job site, you've already missed your window of opportunity for that. There's probably another 30,000 people who have also seen that ad, many with better qualifications than you. You have to take the initiative. Identify 20 companies in your area that might be a match for the values you bring to an organization. Create a three-step process of contacting them that starts with an introduction letter, then a résumé/cover letter, then a phone call for best results. Very few people do that. But the model of finding all your jobs from advertisements probably won't get you anything.

You also have to understand the subtle changes in the work model. Let's say you are a graphic designer or a bookkeeper and you are looking for a job. Well, a company has to be a certain size to justify those positions with full-time salaries. They'd probably need to have at least 100 employees. But only 2.6 percent of companies in America have at least 99 employees. So instead of looking for one company where you can put in 40 hours of work a week, what if you found five companies that you could work for for 10 hours a week? You have just exponentially exploded your opportunities and removed many of your competitors. When you change the work model a little, those are the people finding work opportunities.

There is so much of a market for what I just described. What many people find when they do it is that they can reduce their total number of hours and increase their compensation. I'm not saying you have to be some raving entrepreneur. Just make a subtle change in the work model.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicted that by 2012 only 50 percent of the workforce will be actual company employees. The rest will be in positions defined by terms that we hear so often, like consultant, independent contractor, etc. That's a whole new work model. Is the old model going to be there as well? Sure—but we're starting to see a different model overall where we shift from being paid for our time to being paid for results. If you keep insisting on being paid for your time, your opportunities are diminishing. If you expect to be paid for your results, your opportunities are growing.

Find out more about Dan Miller and No More Dreaded Mondays at 48days.com.