Blogging Tips

If you’ve found yourself dreading the thought of going into work the next day or you’re feeling stuck in a job rut, perhaps it’s time to make a career change. Whether you’ve been in the same job for years or started out on a new path, often, there are times when niggling doubts creep in about the choices you’ve made.

Is your job right for you? Have you made the right decision about your career? Are you supposed to be doing something more meaningful/artistic/exciting/less stressful with your life? It happens to us all at some point or another. But how are you supposed to know whether the grass is greener? Or if you have a case of the Monday blues?

Work Out What Bugs You

Before jumping ship, it’s a good idea to think about what it is that makes you want to leave. Make a list of all the things that cause you the most grief — it might be a colleague, the environment, the workload, the paperwork, the hours, your boss or all the above.

If you have more than one thing on your list, prioritise them so that the worst offender is at the top. That will give you a clearer picture of what it is that you don’t want when you make your next move. 

To Be Employed or Not to be Employed

If you’ve thought about going it alone for a while, perhaps now is the time to give it a try. Whether you’re done with office politics or want to be your own boss, self-employment has plenty of perks. And though there are obvious pros and cons to working for yourself, as there are if you stay in employment, don’t let that hold you back if you want to follow your dream and work for yourself. 

List Your Interests

After making the decision to change careers, many people stall at the next hurdle. What is it that you want to do? It sounds like a simple enough question, but with so many options out there, it can feel overwhelming trying to narrow it down. Make a list of your skills and interests to give you an idea of what you’re good at and what makes you happy. Then try to find a crossover between the two. Consider your values as well and try to find a career that matches up with them. 

Write an Action Plan 

Now that you have a rough idea of where you’d like to go, work out how to get there. If you need training or qualifications for your new path, look for ways that you can achieve them. Are you prepared to start at the bottom and re-train from scratch? Or would you prefer to go into a career that already uses some of your existing skills?

Another consideration is how much money you need to make. Draw up a list of your income and outgoings so that you can work out how much you need to bring in each month to stay comfortable. Set yourself realistic goals and put dates in the diary so that you can stick to your plan and achieve your career switch.

Look for Inspiration

One of the best ways to work out your next move is to see how others have made the switch before you. There are plenty of people who have started out in one career and then veered off in a different direction completely. Take, for instance, Martha Stewart. After starting out as a model for CHANEL, she made a leap into selling securities on Wall Street. She then discovered the joys of catering and entertaining and the rest, as they say, is history.

Walt Disney was a newspaper editor before founding his legacy, The Walt Disney Company. PSPC winner Ramón Colillas dreamed of being a sportsman but due to an injury ended up working as a personal trainer instead. He took up poker on the side of his day job and ended up winning a $5.1 million prize. Last but not least, Ellen DeGeneres used to be a paralegal before making her name as a comedian and TV personality. So, however wild your next move might be, remember that many other people have made the switch, so it is doable! 

Good luck with your new venture! 💋

For many bloggers, having a blog is enough. But some want to break out of just writing text on a page and expand their influence through other channels. Many of the most famous bloggers in the world build their base through their blog site, but then they move over into other activities once they’ve reached a critical mass of support.

Here we’re going to look at what some successful bloggers have done to bust out of their blogging rut and really make profound and lasting impacts on their follower’s lives.

If you are thinking about becoming self-employed you have probably already spent quite a bit of time online trying to find out what life as a freelancer is going to be like. Unfortunately, there are quite a few common misconceptions out there, and you will probably read a lot of myths about the life of a freelancer.

Trust me, I hear it all the time “well, you just get to go to the beach everyday, right?” and “oh you’ll never be able to re-mortgage”. To help you figure things out and work out whether going freelance is the best option for you, here are some of the most common myths about freelancing busted.

Myth 1: You Will Never Own Your Own Home

Big old NOPE, right here! Lots of people believe that being a freelancer means that you will no longer be financially stable, this doesn’t be further from the truth. I make more money being my own boss than I ever did working for somebody else, which makes saving dead easy.

Whilst technically it has the chance to be unstable, I always have people wanting to work with me and I have a loyal client-base, so I actually feel more stable than ever. If I need extra money for any reason (we’re looking at going somewhere epic for our honeymoon…) then I just do a bit more work, it’s really that easy.

I bought a house before I quit my job to go freelance because I thought I’d never be able to do it once going self-employed. It’s true, you need three years of accounts before they consider looking at you, but once you’ve got that then there’s no problem. It’ll fly by, I’m already 2 years in and I’m not planning on moving yet, so it’s worked out perfectly for me. 

If you are worried about buying a house and then experiencing a significant drop in your income, you might want to speak to dicksonlegal.com or a similar foreclosure expert. They will be able to inform you of the measures you could take to protect your home in the event that freelancing didn’t work out for you.

Myth 2: You Won’t Have To Answer To Anyone Else

Hate to break it to you, but nope! One of the main benefits that most people think of when they think of freelancing is that they can be their own boss and won’t have to answer to anyone else. However, this isn’t strictly true… After all, you will still have to work for clients and make sure that you follow their instructions and stick to everything they tell you.

I can’t just disappear and not answer my clients emails, they’re the one that are paying my mortgage and my business expenses. There is always someone you need to answer to if you are going to continue getting new contracts and projects as a freelancer. The silver-lining is that you are in charge of the situation though.

I’ve worked in jobs before where I’ve been bullied and harassed but still had to carry on working. When your freelance you can simply decline work if you feel like it’s becoming too taxing on you financially or emotionally. 

Myth 3: Freelancers Just Can’t Find Employment

Definitely not true. When I first went freelance I left a great job at a digital marketing agency on the beach. The pay was good, the people were lovely, we had flexi time, and we got free food on a Friday. What more could I ask for!? This was my number 1 reason I was so scared of going freelance because I actually had a great job.

Lots of people choose to be self-employed because they want to be. They might prefer working from home, choosing the exact projects they work on, or not having to deal with colleagues in the office. In fact, there are quite a few reasons why people choose to be freelance, some of which are outlined at creativeboom.com.

For me, the driving factor behind quitting my job was to regain my work-life balance that I craved. I felt like I was wasting away the best years of my life behind a desk when I could be outside enjoying life. Now that I’ve been my boss for 2 years, there’s a hundred reasons I wouldn’t go back to working for somebody else (that’s for another post). It was the best decision I ever made, and my only regret is not doing it sooner.

Myth 4: Freelancers Get To Do Whatever They Want

This is probably the biggest myth of them all! Of course, freelancers can choose what work they take on to a certain degree, but when there isn’t much work going around, they just can’t afford to be choosy. After all, waiting around for their dream project to turn up could result in them missing out on a few months’ worth of work from other less desirable projects. At the end of the day, you need to go where the money is!

It also means that just because it’s 33 degrees outside doesn’t mean you can just take the week off. If you did that, you’d have very unhappy clients and your business would probably tank. But hey, that doesn’t mean you can’t take your laptop in the garden or down to the beach and piggy-back off the café’s WiFi.

I’m settling into the new office pretty quickly 🐚🐠

A post shared by Sam Charles 🌺🥥 (@samcharleseuk) on Jun 27, 2018 at 6:19am PDT

Whilst being freelance is full of opportunity and it’s undoubtably the happiest I’ve ever been in my entire life, it’s not always what it seems. We’re working our butts off over here to keep the roof over our head, and we’re not just sunbathing, promise! 🍑