Bill, a 28-year-old Web developer and programmer, is stuck in a job he no longer enjoys. He hates sitting in front of a monitor all day, worrying how the stress of corporate life will tragically shorten his life. "I know," Bill admits, "I am trading money for health and happiness." He secretly dreams of being his own boss: "This sounds crazy, but I want to be a locksmith or somebody who works with their hands and does not sit in a chair between four walls all day."

So what's stopping him? Ignorance, money fears, and time. The solution to overcoming all three of these common "dream busters" is startlingly simple: become more informed. The unknown can be frightening. The more you know, the less there is to fear. And, thanks to the Internet, becoming an informed person takes virtually no time at all. Information, much like truth, is exactly what Bill needs to set himself free.

Look Within
The first place any dreamer should look for answers is in the mirror. Despite being desperately unhappy in the computer field, Bill is reluctant to change. "Traditionally, a locksmith is not a respected position and the money may not be that great. When I tell people I am a programmer," he says, "I see something in their eyes that says I am smart."

Everyone has a personal definition of success. For Bill, earning a certain amount of money and being seen as intelligent are clearly in the mix. But, to a growing number of people, success means enjoying more control over their lives. When Working Woman magazine asked women business owners why they became entrepreneurs, the number one reason was freedom and flexibility, not money. For many, true success equals happiness. In a recent survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, new college grads said that the most important factor in a job is enjoying what you do ("making lots of money" ranked a distant ninth).

Looking within will inevitably bring Bill and his dream to a fork in the road. If holding fast to some socially contrived image of being "smart" is important--and he is willing to pay the price for this shallow validation--then Bill should stay put. Otherwise, he really needs to continue his quest for information.

Look to Others
Perhaps the best information about any line of work comes from those who are already doing it. Most people are more than willing to talk about their jobs. Walter Kulas, of BMT Lock and Key in Massachusetts, certainly was. I selected Walter's business at random from my local yellow pages. Despite catching him in the middle of a job, Walter said that he and the other locksmiths would be only too happy to talk to someone who wanted to know more about the work they do. But if, after talking to all the locksmiths he can find, there are still holes in Bill's information bucket, he still has a vast resource to tap.

Look It Up
Bill complains of being constantly caught between a clock and a hard place. "I was going to take a vacation once," he laments. "My plan was to quit it all for a week. Walk out of my house with my clothes and spend the next seven days just being a bum." Wandering the streets for a week may be one option, but think how much more ground Bill could cover if, instead, he spent a single hour roaming the information highway.

It only took me an hour to discover that, despite any reservations Bill might have on the IQ issue, today's locksmiths have to be pretty smart. The Associated Locksmiths of America (aloa.org) tells prospective members that installing electric locks, alarms, access control systems, and surveillance devices requires electrical and electronics knowledge and specialized mechanical and mathematical skills.

Any further qualms Bill may have about joining a group of stereotypical "blue-collar grunts" would be quickly put to rest by reading I Am a Locksmith at thenationallocksmith.com Web site. In it, Marc Goldberg explains that his profession isn't all nuts and bolts--a locksmith is equal parts businessman, diplomat, and psychologist.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Outlook Handbook predicts no slowdown in the locksmith and security field through 2008. Perhaps less encouraging for Bill, however, is the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage database. It estimates that locksmiths earn, on average, $26,640 a year--presumably far less than Bill pulls down as a programmer.

But, yet again, good information comes to the rescue. If Bill consults national job postings at the New York Association of In-House Locksmiths, he'll see that a job in California can bring in as much as $60k. Self-employed locksmiths earn more as well. If big money is still his benchmark, Bill should think like a true entrepreneur and calculate how many freelance programming projects it would take to bump up his earnings.

A mere hour of gathering data and Bill's crazy dream suddenly doesn't seem so crazy. What is crazy is not trying to make your dreams come true. Looking for information from within, from others, and from the Web may be key to unlocking any dream.