If you have been thinking about making a big career move like changing roles, companies, or industries, then you have probably experienced a fair amount of stress concerning this life-altering choice. This stress is most likely stemming from your fear of the unknown, but fear not, there are many different ways to help you assuage that fear.
In an article written by Sean Ogle and published on TheDailyMuse.com* he outlines his three-step process for making a major career change and how to overcome your fear of change.
1. Phase one: Fear of uncertainty
- Being afraid of change is a natural human emotion and that fear can cripple the person trying to make the change.
- Start by breaking down your fears and getting to the point your uncertainty stems from. This can be easily accomplished by writing down your fears and asking yourself why you are afraid of each of them. (Example: not having enough money, then ask yourself, “how will I make money if I switch careers to a lower paying but more fun job?)
2. Phase two: Overcoming uncertainty
- After writing your fears down in question form, you can then begin to see where opportunity pokes its head through your fears.
- If you asked yourself the question, “How will I make enough money if I quit my job?” Some possible answers are to cut expenses or take on a side job.
3. Phase three: Embracing fear and turning it into an asset:
- Once you have figured out what you are afraid of, you can take steps toward overcoming that fear of uncertainty.
- Two things that will help you embrace your fear:
- Look at life as an experiment. Not everything you do has to be perfect the first time; taking risks and making mistakes helps you learn what is right and what is wrong for you.
- Take charge of defining your success. Don’t base your model of success on someone else’s; take the time to look deep inside yourself and find out what success means to you.
While Mr. Ogle’s three step process is a great way to help you overcome uncertainty and fear, the next step in your process is to take action and find out what exactly it is that you want to do.
Dawn Rosenberg McKay is a career planning professional with over twenty years of experience and has authored multiple books and has been the Career Planning Guide on About.com since 1997.
In a piece she authored about career exploration**, she outlines the necessary steps to make a change in career paths. She states that after a self evaluation where you delve deep within yourself and evaluate your skills, expertise you then form a list of possible career choices.
Once you have done that, the next step is to gather some basic information about the career options that you have chosen for your list. Getting information on each of these possibilities will help you cut out some that are outside of your interest and narrow down the field to your most preferred careers
Once you have narrowed down the list to your favorites dig deep to find out what the actual job experience is like; talk to people in the industry, network with anyone you can, set up informational interviews and ask about shadowing any of your contacts around work so you can experience, “a day in the life.”
After this long process of self exploration is complete and you find that you are an extremely independent person and it is time for your career change to include becoming your own boss and starting your own business, consider different franchise companies to help get you started.
There are many different industries with franchise companies, how to start a business is up to you but when you work with a franchisor you get the power of a strong brand name behind you. Companies like Jani-King and CertaPro Painters have the ability to always be profitable because there are always people looking for commercial cleaning services and residential/commercial painting services. Freedonia, a leading international business research company, estimates that by the year 2015, the global paint and coatings industry will be worth $142 billion.***
Take some time to do the proper research and decide what industry will be the right fit for you. If you decide that you want to be part of a $142 billion dollar industry, then CertaPro Painters may be the perfect solution for you.
Resources:
*http://www.forbes.com/sites/dailymuse/2012/01/28/the-3-phases-of-a-major-career-change/
**http://careerplanning.about.com/od/exploringoccupations/a/exploration.htm
***http://www.reportlinker.com/ci02362/Paint-and-Coating.html