Browsing Tag

become better

Entrepreneur's Corner, My Thoughts, Personal Growth

How To Change Careers In Your 30s

There is no right or wrong way to live your life and what you should do as a career. How To Change Careers In Your 30s is my own personal life story. I have come full circle from what I thought I wanted to do, what I am good at and what I actually enjoy doing. I am not alone. Many people of all ages and status in their lives have gone through a reinvention period. Read my two part series here How To Reinvent Yourself.

Recently one of my clients shared with me how she got into the design business. She is very successful and has a well established client base. So I asked her. To my surprise she shared with me that it had only been two years since she started her career. She isn’t 18 or even 30 she’s older that that. She had been in the private equities industry for over 20 years earning a six figure income as one of the companies top executives. Despite the prestiges title and money she earned, she felt unhappy and no longer enjoyed what she was doing. She had always had an eye for design and always enjoyed it. Now I didn’t want to peer to deep into her personal life, but I can only assume she probably had a mortgage to pay for, possibly some credit card debt and a lot of financial responsibilities.

Now you can guess what steps she decided to take next as I already spoiled the story for you, but what excites me about this story and this lady is her desire to progress and…. Try. How To Reinvent Yourself starts with you wanting to.

I can see that there are many others who may have or currently feel like my friend Liz felt…but ignore their inner feelings and get overtaken by fear.

Top three fears that stop us from progression and trying something:
Fear of judgement.
Fear of failure.
Fear of starting over again.

I too am not immune to those fears, but what good comes from allowing yourself to be ruled by those fears???

Some of you are in your twenties and can’t seem to take that step in the direction of acquiring a new skill or doing something you’ve wanted to do. Stuck. Feeling like it is better to at least have his one paycheck than risk getting that paycheck taken away.

Or it is fear of judgement. Like what will my friends think if I have to start going back to school. FYI I don’t think anyone has ever been against someone learning and acquiring a skill.
One thing I always did was progress and do things that would boost the money I was making,the number of people I met and the skills I would learn.

One of the first businesses I started at age 18 was in network marketing. One thing about it is that 1% achieves any success. Majority just hangs on the coat tails riding along for the ride or in the company I used to promote for people just hang in because they get a chance to live in the basement of someones bigger house and say they too have a “mansion”! Funniest and most low class thing ever! But hey, too each his own!

When I started this business my income wasn’t stable at the time so I immediately decided I better get a job to pay the bills while I grow my business. Of course some people were totally against it because they felt getting that job would ruin this “image” of a successful person they so badly wanted me to project, but I didn’t listen and got one anyway. I knew that running anything on empty is no good. If you are trying to go to college and your broke like a joke or you are trying to start up a business and again you are broke as a joke. Being broke will take up so much of your energy and thoughts and make you worry that you will not be able to do anything well. So long story short the same chick that suggested I do not get a part time job “miss leader” one year, the next year she was hiding from embarrassment from getting her car repossessed. … Me? I never had a single car repossessed or have to get a collection agency to consolidate my debt and I manage to make more money and create a bigger business than 99% of those people.

Why am I sharing this with you? Because I want to illustrate how I wanted to build a business, but I also knew I needed to make money so I just did both. Got a part time job that allowed me to still build a business. You have to first figure out what your priority is and work everything around that. Whether it is you graduating from college, attending grad school, your children, your family, your music, whatever!

I was watching Undercover Boss the other night, and one story they highlighted was a college student who worked the night shift so he can go to school during the day.
Again, a just get it done mentality. Is it the most glorious job? Are there better jobs out there that pay more? I am sure, but he chose one that allowed him to work around his number one priority, which to him was becoming a college graduate.

So if your stuck with wanting to do something,but afraid to take the first step. I will tell you this…everything always seems to fall into place after that first step.

Maybe it may mean you may have to take a pay cut or work longer hours.. Do it.
In the end you will not regret it. I have found that life has an interesting way of making the pieces of your life puzzle fall into place once you begin to take action. It is during inaction that it feels impossible to complete something.

If you are feeling a little stuck with your life or career here are some steps you may want to take.
1. Share your feelings with someone you trust.
Many times simply talking about things helps lead to resolutions.

2. Pay attention to your gut and to what excites you.
What do you enjoy talking about, doing, watching, collecting, etc. You may not pinpoint it right away, but paying attention to your own interest can narrow your search.

3. Take Action
Either find a mentor who may help you to learn from them or take things into your own hands and teach yourself. Register for a class. Shadow someone for a day or two or three if you are lucky enough! Whatever it is start, take action here and things will fall into place.

In the next post I will share with you my own person reinvention and how and why I do what I do, but in the meantime I would love to hear your thoughts or stories on how you reinvented yourself or if you feel a little stuck share and maybe some advice can be helpful!

by
Entrepreneur's Corner, My Thoughts, Personal Growth

How To Reinvent Yourself

Do you remember the time when you would say “when I grow up I want to be…?”
Well when I was young my three choices were an ice cream woman, an astronaut and an accountant. My oh my has that changed! Reinventing yourself has no age! Read my How to change careers in your 30s post here.

I eat a lot of ice cream, but I do not sell it for a living.
I keep a pretty detailed account of all my earnings and spendings, but I am not an accountant.
My life is out of this world, but I never became an astronaut.

So I became nothing of which I “wanted” to become…when I was 5. Would you call me a failure? I would say most of you would say no..and thanks for that. I appreciate the positive outlook.

But what is the difference even when someone is 30 and is something different than what they so badly wanted to be at age 22?
Is there a difference there?
Would you say that person failed?
Or succeeded?
Of course, we have to consider what they are doing and if it is a downgrade from what they had X years before.

So here is the question: If becoming someone or doing something completely different at age 35 than what you wanted to be at age 5 is ok, why be fearful of doing something different at age 40 than what you were doing at age 28?

Few people are as blessed to end up doing what they have been wanting to since they were a kid or even what the ended up going to school for and be HAPPY doing it. You know how many unhappy financial stockbrokers I know? Or unemployed engineers ? Or network marketers who have been at it for over 10years and still “faking it till they make it”… Too many!

We all have our share of trial and error. I like to call it simply TRIAL.
To Try. To Do. To Take action.

Every segment of your life teaches you something about you and also teaches you skills you can have and hold on to for your next segment. I find that the biggest disappointment in people is when I see those who are either trigger shy or too stubborn to change.

The trigger shy folks are those who don’t ever quite seem to jump into adulthood. Like they are still living at home or working at places where they are overly qualified. For these folks I would wish for you to be more daring and take initiative on your life.
It is never to late to go to school. Get an education or learn a new trade. It is also never to late to switch jobs or professions. Like the good old saying goes “you never know until you try”.

Continuing on, then there are those who are too stubborn to change. Like they clearly are not happy with their current state. Maybe it’s the job they are at or they feel they can be making more money, or they have been doing what they do for way too many years expecting a different result and every year its the same.

I brought up this topic because I too have been either too qualified and stuck at a dead end job or at one point in my life was very stubborn to change. The transformational changes I have made for myself in the last 3 years have led me to a place where I am very happy and feel others could gain a lot from just the thought of reinventing themselves.

In my later post I will share with you my own story and that of a client of mine. For now stay tuned and please share with me if you have or currently feel like a change in your life is overdue.

by