Over the years, I’ve helped many experienced professionals successfully navigate to the next stage of their careers. These weren’t people making a job change; they wanted something different—something that leveraged their accumulated wisdom while aligning with their sense of purpose and lifestyle needs at their present career stage. To a person, they rejected the idea of continuing in their corporate careers for all the reasons you can think of…stress, lack of control, a history of bad bosses, an income cap, limited freedom, long commutes, and so forth. If what I call Career Re-Mix is on your mind, great! However, it pays to know the common traps that derail too many on this important journey.
An important part of any career shift process is minimizing risk. Here are some lessons learned about key traps, including one big one that I encountered on my own career re-mix project.
Top Five Career Re-Mix Mistakes to Avoid
1. Passion is a blind alley. Focus on purpose.
Purpose and Passion are two different things. I’m passionate about backyard grilling. I love creating great dining experiences for people who visit us at our lake home, and I’ve fantasized about turning this passion into a business. There are at least 4,324 reasons why opening a bbq shack would be a bad move for me, not the least of which is that it doesn’t fit my sense of purpose at this stage of my career and life.
My purpose is to help motivated professionals achieve things they never thought possible in their careers. My leadership and coaching work, as well as my writing efforts and Career Re-Mix programs, fit this. The barbecue smoking will remain in the backyard as a fun hobby.
2. Hobbies usually make lousy businesses — don’t ruin the fun
I would hate for my backyard barbecuing to become anything other than a labor of love. Many people fall into the trap of trying to turntheir hobbies into businesses. The problem is almost always marketability first and the grind, second. Will someone pay you for the output of your hobby, and will enough ‘someones’ pay you at a level that meets your lifestyle and income needs? And the work of running a business built on a hobby can suck the joy out of the former hobby. Note: There are some exceptions where individuals have pulled this off and are having fun. It’s not impossible. Just difficult.
3. Beware the Chicago hot dog and beef stand fantasy
Hot Dogs have always been big in my hometown of Chicago. (No ketchup!) The same goes for beef stands (as highlighted in the show, The Bear). More than a few family arguments have broken out over favorites (Mine: Super Dawg for hot dogs and Portillo’s for beef sandwiches.) If you, like 40% of the people I know around Chicago, have fantasized about opening your own hot dog or beef restaurant, here’s soem solid advice: Don’t! If you’re intent on ignoring this advice, at least take some stored-up vacation time and go work at one about 40 miles from your home so your neighbors don’t start talking. You’ll get a master’s class where reality converges with fantasy. Reality is never quite the same.
4. The all-activity, no-vector trap
This is the one that caught me. Armed with some financial freedom from a company sale, I set out to make up for lost time by doing everything I had wanted to do. I wrote a book, started consulting, began teaching in an MBA program, started a blog, hired a speaking coach, and began keynoting on leadership and transformation.
I don’t regret a single achievement in this phase; however, when it came time to make an income, I didn’t have a sustainable business model. That led to a need to reset once again.
I can view my activities above as advanced exploration, but somewhere along the way, I forgot to look for a business that fit my purpose and met my lifestyle needs.
5. Trying to solve for your ‘forever’ career
Feeling you need to solve for ‘forever’ in this next career step adds pressure and paralyzes action and decision-making. Give yourself a break. Instead of ‘forever,’ think about your ‘next.’ This takes away some pressure and acknowledges that you are on a journey of discovery, and chances are you’ll do what most do: hop, skip, and jump as you tune in to your ideal next step. Some people get it in one jump, but most don’t. Adjust your expectations.
The Bottom Line for Now
If you, like many, are ready to seize control and design the next stage of your career, it’s both exciting and daunting. The approach I use in my Career Re-Mix programs is intended to help you create clarity and minimize risk. Work hard to avoid the traps outlined above that keep too many from moving forward with the rewarding, purpose-driven career shift they seek. Forewarned is forearmed.
Learn about and join an upcoming cohort for Art Petty’s Career Re-Mix Program to help you get traction, direction, and avoid the traps.