The 3 Most Effective Ways to Fund a Career Change
Author: Nicky J. Davies |
0
Categories: Career Reset
When you know exactly what it is you want to change your career into, there is often a cost involved; re-training, additional qualifications or maybe the costs associated with starting your own business. In this article we are going to look at the three most effective ways to fund your career change. These are tried and tested methods, and you’ve probably used them yourself at different times in your life. The least effective way is going into debt unless you can see a very clear path to recovering the monies quickly. Having decided that you are going to make a career change and knowing what that change requires in terms of time and commitment, next comes the planning stage of making the transition work money-wise.
Here we are going to explore the three most effective ways to fund a career change based on my own personal experience, and that of working with hundreds of managers who have changed their careers over the years.
1. Savings – if you haven’t already, start building an emergency fund that covers 6 months’ worth of living expenses. Give yourself a deadline to work to and reduce your spending as much as you possibly can to quickly achieve your goal. This will help reduce some of the pressure. Factor in any additional training you may need to undertake for your new career choice and think about how you can get paid to use your new skills whilst still training. For example, I can remember studying for my ILM Diploma in Executive Coaching and initially taking on non-paying clients but quickly ramped this up to paying clients as I developed confidence in my skills and abilities, and could see the results I was getting for my clients. This meant that I got a quicker return on my investment too. Having worked with private paying clients and completed my qualifications in tandem it was also then easier for me to market myself to corporate clients – they could see I had the experience as well as the qualifications that mattered to them.
This really links with the next most effective way of funding a career change….
2. Having a Side Hustle – this strategy works particularly well if your career change ultimately involves setting yourself up as self-employed or in business. Starting while you are still fully employed makes sense in terms of managing money, but can be a challenge in terms of managing your time. You will need the support of your family around you to share family responsibilities and the earlier you have that conversation the better. When working in an organisation you have access to all the support functions needed for you to be productive in your role. We tend to take these for granted. When you are setting yourself up as self-employed or as a business, suddenly you are faced with no IT help desk, you often have to handle the marketing and sales yourself, oh and invoicing, chasing payments, order fulfillment…..
Plan and set yourself goals for revenue and outsourcing of various tasks you can delegate as you hit those revenue goals. There are a number of services available where you can pay for Virtual Assistance on an hourly basis while you are ramping up your business – Google Virtual Assistant Services and you will find a long list of different services available. As the business grows you can look at employing people in defined roles. There are HR Specialists and Accountants that specialize in supporting small to medium sized businesses that can help provide support function services.
3. Transferrable Skills & Getting Started Immediately – your knowledge, skills and experience as a manager also have a value. Find out what skills are needed in your new career choice and where you have transferable skills. Transferable skills are often the ‘softer skills’ such as communication, organisation, presentation, teamwork, planning, managing and leading. Think about the job-specific skills that you may need to learn eg. These may be technical skills such as IT, or knowledge-based such as legal.
Is there an opportunity to work within your new career of choice using your transferable skills whilst learning the job-specific skills on the job with your current employer? Will they also fund / part fund your training? Good managers are hard to find and your employer may be more open to supporting your studies and/or helping you move departments rather than lose you – have the conversation with HR and find out what the opportunities could be.
Medium sized businesses are often crying out for enthusiastic skilled managers with the right attitude, and can provide an environment to learn some of the job-specific skills needed in your new career choice whilst completing your studies. By reaching out and leveraging your network you could be working in your new career much quicker than you think! Who in your network can you approach? We will look at how you can leverage professional relationships in a future article.
So, there you have it, three of the most effective ways to fund a career change. Here are some related questions to think about:
- Where can you cut down on spending to build up an Emergency Fund as well as pay for any training?
- What creative actions can you take to get a quicker return on your training investment?
- What could a Side Hustle be for you?
- What support can you ask other family members and friends for? And what could you offer them in return?
- Who in your network could you ask for help? And what could you offer them in return?
All of the above is taking you one step closer to your new career. Addressing the funding issue is key. With this piece of the puzzle in place, you are creating a sense of certainty about your future – it is possible to make the career change you want. That confidence and certainty will pull you forward into a new reality, one that you can get excited about again and one that will help you fall back in love with your life.
Nicky works with managers who are looking to make a mid-career change, helping them make the changes needed to fall back in love with their lives. To book a Strategy Call with Nicky to look at your particular situation and what useful next steps could be, click on this link: Strategy Call with Nicky
We also have a Private Facebook Group which you are welcome to join and where we have regular Facebook Live sessions. Click on this link: Progress My Career Private Facebook Group.