For over four years I have had the honor to facilitate groups of highly creative women that join together with no other purpose than to support each other to create their dream life.
By far, the most requested dream life goal involves discovering work that is meaningful and fulfilling. There are many variations on this theme but almost everyone who comes to my groups share one commonality. They all want work they love and they want it now!
Instant gratification is my middle name as well. I often call myself the “cup of soup” gal; I love pour and stir goal attainment. But what about career changes that may involve whole new skills sets and may take years to attain?
What are our “cup of soup gals” to do? We want to quit our “jobs” and get started, yet may not have the funds right away. Rather than the go for broke approach (pun intended), map out your approach to career change. Here are some strategies:
Beef up your emergency fund before you quit your day job.
Rather than the standard 3-6 months of savings, have at least 9-12 months of savings, to give yourself a cushion, while you are shifting career directions.
Cut your expenses while developing your new dream career.
Come up with creative ideas to cut your overhead: like, move to a less expensive home or rent out a spare room.
Find a “good enough” job.
Barbara Sher of “Wishcraft” fame says that as you are developing your dream job find a job that pays the bills, with people that you like well enough and which leaves you with some energy to craft your new dream.
Follow my “one to go”, “one to grow” and “one for some dough” approach.
When I was getting into my dream career of life coaching, I could not quit my recruiting/organizational development director position and jump right into my dream career of life coaching and pay my bills right away. So, I located part time recruiting work (this was my one ready “to go” skill), began 1-1 coaching training (my one new career “to grow”- over time), and did Organizational Development consulting work (to earn some “dough” with another of my marketable skills).
Diversify with a portfolio career.
Just as you would not put all of your investments into one stock, the same can apply with careers. Find three different versions of your ideal career. In my case, for many years, I did three different types of Coaching: individual coaching,group coaching and even took a one year position as Director of Life Coaching at a university.
There are dozens of creative ways to fund your dream. For many of us it is most important to get started, so that we are doing what we love, instead of just talking about it. Got to go, my “cup of soup” needs stirring!
