Hate Your Job? Five Steps To Escape And Do What You Love
While young boomers change jobs over eleven times over the course of their working lives, millennials spend just two years
with each employer, adding up to a whopping 25 job switches by the time
they retire. Clearly, the way we work has been seriously disrupted.
Whether by choice or reality, more and more of us are not doing the
9-to-5 thing or staying in one job (or even career path) for very long.
The good news? If you’re bored, slaving away for an unappreciative
boss, or just wish you had a reason to leap out of bed in the morning,
you’re not stuck. With everyone pinging from job to job and so much
being done on a project-by-project basis, new possibilities abound to
reinvent your career and find ways to do what you love. But you have to
be proactive, because in this new world, we’re all our very own CEOs.
Here are five steps to ditch your day job and pursue your passions:
Step #1: Take the “work” out of work
Figure out what you love to do. Ask yourself, what can I do that
doesn’t feel like work? What would I do for free? And then make that
thing your Gig.
Do you love making new friends? Maybe you’d be an engaging
interviewer. Spend a ton of your free time reading? Your dream career
could be copy editing. Can’t help doodling? Perhaps you’re a
natural-born illustrator.
Our parent’s generation thought that your job was for security and
you should only do what you really loved as a hobby, on the weekends.
There’s no need to settle for that anymore. You spend most of your
waking hours working – put the effort in to make sure you enjoy them.
It’s simpler than you think. Just follow the next four steps.
Step #2: Hone Your Skills — Online or Off
You’ve discovered that you really love designing, marketing, writing,
etc. How do you take your passion and turn it into a sustainable
career? First, you need to get really good at it.
Thankfully, taking classes has never been easier. Options abound on
the Internet and off for learning any subject at any skill level. You
can learn to code on sites like Udemy and Codeacademy, write a novel via
Gotham Writer’s Workshops, and create business plans on the
government’s small business administration site. You can do it around
your obligations. And you can get it done on a budget.
Truthfully, the big hurdle isn’t availability of educational
resources, it’s time. You must make room in your busy schedule to hone
your skills. That means foregoing some of those hours you spend watching
TV, gabbing to your friends on social media, and generally hanging out.
Instead carve out space to deep dive into what you love doing. Take
classes and practice, practice, practice. It’s the only way to get so
good at your passion that people will pay you for it.
Step #3: Who are You, Really?
Once you’ve become adept at your skill, it’s time to figure out how you’ll market yourself.
Do some deep soul-searching to find your business’s personality. This
is called brand identity and it’s not just for big corporations
anymore. You have to figure out what makes your services unique and
desirable. Are your services faster or more personalized than your
competitors? Do you want prospects to think you’re friendly and cool or
corporate and formal? Who are your clients and how can you help them
solve their challenges?
I’m not going to lie, this step isn’t easy. But it’s essential.
Because you can’t move to the next step and spread the word until you
know just what it is you’re talking about.
Step #4: Build Your Brand
Now that the soul-searching is done (whew), it’s time to tell the
world. You need to own your brand, proclaim it, and shout it from the
rooftops.
Good thing there are a slew of tools to help you get the word out.
You can create promo videos with your phone, post them on various online
platforms, and create a digital footprint with a Facebook Page,
LinkedIn Profile, and company website.
If your skills can’t take care of all your marketing needs, you can —
within minutes —find other entrepreneurs on online marketplaces to help
you out. Hire self-starters just like yourself to design your logo,
write copy for your ads, and create your brand’s website.
Step #5: Find Your Clients (and Your Community)
And finally, it’s time to get connected. Network your heart out to
find not only the people that will pay you, but also those that make
building your own business a less lonely and more productive endeavor.
Social media is key here. Start and join
conversations to learn from others and establish your expertise. Use
online marketplaces to link up with both clients and other entrepreneurs
around the world. Find mentors across the web and eventually take
novices under your wing.
Because essentially the future of work is about community. It’s about
breaking down old barriers — brick and mortar offices, corporate
middlemen, and formal hierarchies — to find and help each other create
success on our own terms in this new world that we call the Gig Economy.
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