Welcome back to our weekly CCG podcast! Today we are talking about your second act in your career and in your life. Maybe you are feeling like a career transition is needed and you are a little stuck in a rut. This is for you. I am excited to share an interview with me today by Andrea Shields from the Your Second Act Summit.

Andrew asks me some excellent questions about career transitions and how to narrow down the right career fit for you. I share how I started my blog, how to get started networking and how important it is to figure out your interests when job searching. I’ll also explain how to be proactive when figuring out what your purpose is.

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I think you are going to love this one so let’s dive in!

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Your Second Act: Navigating Your Career Transition:

(Here are a few of the questions Anna answered on the podcast)

What strategies do you recommend for women looking for more balance and fulfillment?

One of the most important things is getting clear on what your ideal workday is to begin with. That’s one thing we forget to do when we job search or start a business. What do you want to happen when you wake up? I am still doing this today as I run my business. If everything was going perfectly, what time would you wake up? What would you do first thing? Would you work by yourself? Where would you work? What would your lunch break look like?

Know what you want first.

I also challenged myself to do a networking challenge. Talking to a lot of other people gave me clarity and confidence. In 2011, I did a 4X4 networking challenge where I met with 4 people I did know and 4 people I did not know every month. If you look who I talked to throughout that year, I changed what I wanted to do during that year and I got really focused after that networking challenge.

The people I spoke to gave me so much more clarity about the direction I wanted to go, even though it might sound scary to talk to people when you don’t know what you want. Ask them what their workday is and see if it matches your ideal workday.

How did you start networking and doing informational interviews?

The four people I already knew each month in my challenge are those people who escape from your to-do list like your grandma or your aunt. Those people are easy to network with but we get busy and forget them, unfortunately. So you have to make them a priority first.

I also counted a networking event as “one person” I didn’t know. It was a lot of introductions and LinkedIn messaging. I did a ton of informational interviews. I searched career coaches and messaged all of them in San Diego. I did informational interviews with all of them.

The first month is the hardest because you are starting from scratch. Most people have someone they can introduce you to. At the end, I would always ask, “Do you have anyone that would be beneficial for me to talk to?”

I planned ahead a month prior so I knew the 8 people I would meet the month before. Most of the time I ended up meeting with more people anyways. It was just 15-minute calls too because I didn’t have a lot of time. But, you do have a lunch break or you can do an early morning call before work, right? It’s not easy and it’s not overnight but you get a ton of clarity from it.

It helped me get started much faster because now I partner with a lot of those same career coaches that I interviewed previously in my challenge.

What do you think are some mistakes people make in career transitions?

I think one of the biggest mistakes is having a negative mindset and being scared and fearful. Telling yourself that your goal is not going to work. Be aware of your mindset and the words you are telling yourself all the time. Are you saying that the job isn’t possible or that dream business isn’t possible? You could never do something like that. Are you listing all of the negative things that could go wrong? Getting around people who are going to support you and are positive and believe you can start a business or get your dream job on CNN. It really all is possible.

The other mistake is not knowing what the right career fit is for you when you start job searching. I see so many people online job searching and not having any success because they are applying to any old job out there. Every one of my courses is all about starting at square one. What is your calling and your purpose?