Changing Careers: Here's How I Did It
In my latest post & vlog, I talk about having "The Best Job in the World." What a lot of people are surprised to hear is that I didn't find it looking through a job board. I didn't get a call to interview for it. I created it myself.
When I realized my TV News Reporting gig wasn't fulfilling, I left that and went back to school for a Master's Degree in something different: Entertainment Business. When I wasn't sure if freelancing was for me, I accepted a corporate job with a title that looked good on the resume. However, all of that was still not what I loved to do. So, what did I do? I started making changes like this:
Online Presence
Making sure all of my social media sites were on point has been were I've seen the highest ROI of my time and energy.
Is my Facebook showcasing what I can offer instead of what I do in my free time?
100%. As much as I like spending time with friends, those photos of a BBQ are not making it anywhere near my timeline. Not even talking about my vlog's Facebook page, but about my personal Facebook, as well. Your friends can have business opportunities for you, too, and this is the perfect place to remind them what you're up to professionally. There are ways to shameless plug your own projects without sounding like a broken record trying to get people to "buy your product" or "like your company's Facebook page."
What about Twitter?
One lazy Sunday, I went as far as reading every single one of my 32K tweets on my personal account to make sure the stuff I said back in 2006 wasn't dumb. Believe me, some of it was, and yes... it got deleted.
These are just a few of the steps I took to make sure I was selling myself in the best way possible. This was just what I did the free resources social media has to offer. Remember there's even more things you can do like having a website, for example.
Having a strong personal brand online can get you in front of the eyes of people that you'd like to be working with and those who could be your clients. I had to make sure my brand was doing its job.
Trying 27287 Different Things
In these 3 years, I've done everything from vlogging about an Android app to starting a cleaning business which I sold. If I could, I'd try and get into even more crazy projects. Actually, that is one of my goals.
Why? Because doing things out of your comfort zone teaches you skills you will not learn if you didn't take those risks. That cleaning endeavor had absolutely nothing to do with my employment background or my experience. I could have been crippled by that thought and decided to not do it. The result of that would have been for me to lose the opportunity of setting up and most importantly, selling my first business.
Networking
My favorite way to connect with people: online. Whether it is on Facebook groups or LinkedIn, I've met lots of friends, potential clients & people I'd like collaborate with down the line.
As a digital nomad, finding relevant meet-ups where I'm currently at isn't always possible. It sure isn't as easy as going to a co-working space and starting to make connections there. Most people (myself included) will go to one of those with the sole purpose of knocking tasks off their to-do lists, and human interactions might not always be feasible.
Thankfully, the Internet is full of like-minded people you can find with a quick LinkedIn search or through an Instagram hashtag. Let's take advantage of it. Sometimes, you don't even have to take the first step. If you brand yourself correctly, appear on people's screens and make a first good impression, they could contact you. How often does that happen while you walk down the street?
Publish Content Consistently
This right here is the best way for people to find you, get business deals, land cool opportunities, network, grow your reach... and the list goes on.
Now, I'm not just posting photos without a purpose because I have "to upload content every day." No way.
If you look through my social media sites, you will see (and I'm not sorry for this) that each and every single post is me selling myself, my brand, what I can offer or what I'm doing.
Even if it's a photo on IG, I'll take advantage of that caption to somehow showcase my skills or knowledge. You never know who will be reading. Captioning an Instagram photo with something generic like "Beach Vibes" instead of talking about something that can be valuable for someone is wasting precious billboard space.
In fact, this article right here is an adaptation of a (much shorter) Instagram caption with a much more casual tone (and emojis)! So, whenever you feel like creating online pieces can be daunting: just repurpose the same message and adapt it to the style of each of the different platforms where you usually publish content.
Having the Best Job in the World
This is the vlog in which I talked about how lucky I am to have The Best Job in the World. It took a few tries. It wasn't my first career option, but with some out-of-the-box thinking, this job is proving to be my favorite one... so far.
What about you... do you have the Best Job in the World?
This "overdose in travel" article was written from Panama. Next one, who knows!
Andrea Valeria
I am a vlogger & digital nomad. I've created it's a Travel O.D. to showcase the lifestyle of full-time travelers and stories of other people with cool travel projects. To overdose in travel daily go read my captions on Instagram or watch my vlogs on Facebook.