I was listening to an interview with Jim Korkis. Jim Korkis is a well-respected Disney historian, author of ‘The Vault of Walt’, which has a foreword written by Walt Disney’s daughter, Diane Disney Miller.

When Jim was 12 years old, he was interested in animation, so he would watch the old ‘Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color’ TV series, then write down the names in the end credits. He would then look up the names in the Glendale/Burbank telephone book, and call them, asking for an interview.

His first interview was with Jack Hannah, who worked on Donald Duck and Chip & Dale cartoons. Jack took a liking to the young writer, and referred him on to interview other Disney animators. Jim wrote articles for his high school newspaper, some of which were also published in the local newspapers.

Later, Jim moved to Florida and worked at Walt Disney World, performing as Merlin and other roles. He also taught classes about animation, computer animation and animation history at the Disney Institute. In 2008, Jim was let go in a massive company-wide layoff, and he wondered what he could do next, his career at Disney seemed to be at a definite end.

Taking stock of himself, Jim asked himself, “What do I like to do?” and “What can I do that no one else can do?” He realized that it was writing about Disney. So he went back to all his old interviews and started writing his first book about Disney history. He has also written many articles for Mouseplanet.com and JimHillMedia.com, among others.

Jim Korkis asked the important question, “What can I do that no one else can do?” Everyone has a special talent that no one else can do in quite the same way. If you want your dream job, you have to discover what that talent is, and what makes it special.