Changing careers: what do I need to ask myself before deciding?
Do you find yourself going round in circles deciding whether you should retrain or change careers?
I searched for years (literally) from 2011 until 2015 to find something I could start as a business that I could do from home.
It was a complete shock to me that the options were so limited, or at that point, I “thought” they were limited.
Back in 2012, someone suggested I inquire about a job in Sainsbury’s so I could “find something part-time”.
Absolutely no disrespect to anyone who works in Sainsbury’s but I’d been in sales and marketing for 15 years at that point, managed large teams, helped businesses scale and worked on multimillion pound projects.
How the F**k did this happen?
This isn’t just a problem for mothers. But being a new Mum did massively contribute to the limits of what I could do.
Should I do a course or retrain?
In 2015 I retrained so that I could work from home and juggle motherhood (or at least attempt to)! At that point, I couldn’t find many options that would help me to be able to earn money and work from home.
I’d gone from being in senior management to completely retraining. I’d set myself a limit before I even started to work only certain hours and all I needed was a small amount of money. I completely discounted all the experience I’d gained before I’d retrained, which severely knocked my own confidence and I ended up undercharging and over-delivering because of this.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved the course and the following 10 other digital marketing and coaching courses I undertook.
However, with hindsight, I wish I’d really got to the bottom of what I wanted to actually do before I retrained.
What did I end up doing? Helping businesses with their sales and marketing… hang on, wasn’t that what I was doing before?
Ok I know I needed the digital skills that we need today, but a more precise direction and not discounting what I was already brilliant at doing would have helped.
In 2019 I think there are many more options out there for us, it’s an exciting time where we can learn and build the business we want. There’s also a massive need for more digitally skilled people.
How can you work out what business YOU want?
First of all, this isn’t a decision you can make overnight. So take the pressure off yourself right now. Also, it doesn’t matter how old you are, you can change your mind and you can re-invent yourself.
Start by asking yourself these 4 questions.
- If money wasn’t an issue, what would you really want to do?
- What job or project have you worked on that you really loved? You know, the type of project where it didn’t feel like work.
- Who have you loved working with during your career? Could they be your ideal client?
- Can I work this out myself or do I need to do a course or get support through coaching?
I really believe you have to look to yourself to find the answers and really dig deep into what you’re really passionate about.
Many of us in our 30s, 40s and 50s have been conditioned to work for other people – entrepreneurship and having our own business is a hard thing for many of us to comprehend and we see it as something “other people do”. Millennials and Generation Z have been brought up (hopefully) learning about it, whereas a lot of us have to do a lot of work on challenging that mindset shift.
Give yourself the time and space to actually work out what it is you want to do, explore it and really try and enjoy finding out what that is.
Are you struggling to work out what your ideal business and client is?
Do you want to learn more digital marketing skills so you can start building a successful business on your terms?
Why not book a free call to find out more about my The Online Business Blueprint Programme and 1-2-1 coaching packages.
I have 20 years of sales and marketing experience. I’ve done all the courses, so you don’t have to!