As you’ll soon read, this young professional is at a crossroads, and as I’ve shared in my own personal career challenges here, I can completely understand her dilemma. With her permission, today, I’m sharing her story with you all. Afterward, is my advice to her.
But here’s the thing, I want you to weigh in in the comments section below.
What advice would you give based on the information she’s provided here in the following (unedited) email?
I also recently realized that I really am a good writer – I got a perfect score on the writing portion of the GRE, and have thought about blogging so as to lead to publishing and book and/or article-writing.
I also have written raps while teaching Social Studies and am considering recording, packaging, and marketing them to educational companies. I’m praying for God’s will and direction in this and am practically begging him to make a way. My son is 20 months and my daughter is 5. I really want to be more free to be with them.
There’s lots I could do, but I need something that won’t take too much time right now and that is practical and will earn hopefully a minimum of $30,000 (ideally $50,000) a year.
It sounds like you’ve got a lot of ideas floating around in your head. You first must decide what you’re BEST at. And what you really enjoy doing. If you take a job merely for the purpose of trying to get out of a job that you dislike right now, you’ll likely find yourself right back in another job that you really dislike. Therefore, don’t jump ship unless you’re certain of what you want to do next. Be wise. In this economy, we can’t afford to just up and leave a job without putting some realistic, tangible goals in place.
I went on to explain that, based on my own previous experience working with a similar business model, that the Nu-Skin opportunity, might not be the right avenue if she’s determined to find a gig that could potentially rake in at least $30,000 a year. It’s certainly not impossible, I told her. However, starting in a service industry such as that, is much like starting a small business — it will require a lot of time and patience in the beginning, I said. And the amount of time she might expect to devote could very well steal her away from her family, rather than open up the ‘family-time’ floodgates.
Plus, selling beauty products requires great promotional, marketing and people skills, I said. I suggested she table that idea, and consider it, perhaps, as a fun side project when she has a more solid foundation.
I went on:
Your other ideas sound great. Securing writing gigs is certainly a great idea. You should consider applying to the Examiner. But keep in mind, these writers generally get paid based on how many people view their articles; it’s not salary-based. It boils down to having some compelling content. Also, blogging is a great platform. But again, this is another idea that most bloggers don’t make much, if any, money from.
However, blogging is a great way to build your platform and could lead to writing gigs and other opportunities down the road. Like other writing gigs, it will take work and persistence, and networking.
To me, it sounds like the grad school acceptance is the most promising route.
Lastly, I laid out some really practical guidelines and spiritual advice to get her on her way, and to help her narrow her career choices.
- Ask yourself : What do I want to accomplish in the next year or two? What’s going to offer me the greatest return on my investment?
- Take out a sheet of paper and jot down the pros and cons of each of your ideas, staying honest with herself.
- Since she’s a Christian, I recommended she pray through her options and to ask God to make it very clear which route she should take.
- Lastly, I told her to be prepared and to have a Plan B, or be prepared to stay in her current job as a school teacher until something more promising introduces itself. Sometimes what we think we think we want to do (no, that’s not a typo), might not be what we ought to do at the present time.
Now, it’s your turn. What advice would you give? Share it in the comments section below!
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