Hi folks,
When we strike out on our own and launch our freelance businesses, we tend to play it safe at the start.
If you previously worked at a marketing agency, you might offer services like copywriting and content marketing. You might try to target clients in the niche or industry that you were immersed in. After all, that’s where the bulk of your professional network — your potential first clients — may be.
There’s nothing wrong with playing it safe. In fact, I really encourage people to get into a safe place — financially, mentally, emotionally —before they take bigger risks. (We talked about this in depth in an earlier episode this season with Nicole Tsong!)
But there might come a point in your career when you realize the job you have, or the business you built, may no longer be the one that lights you up. You might feel stuck.
The beauty of building your own business is that you get to design something that suits how you want to live and your interests at a given inflection point in your life and work.
My guest this month is Maya Lau. You might know Maya from Other People’s Pockets, a show from Pushkin about other people’s money, where she interviews people about how much money they make, how they feel about their finances, and if they’ve figured out anything out about money that the rest of us haven’t. Maya also runs Anza Research, where she investigates companies and the people who run them for investment firms. You might also know Maya from her former work at the LA Times, where she covered the criminal justice system.
In this episode, we talk about:
How to recognize when you might feel stuck in your career path
The power of informational interviews with individuals whose careers you want to draw inspiration from
How to think about the granular skills that we can leverage when switching industries and career paths.
… and so much more.
You can find this episode wherever you podcast!
If you feel inspired to conduct your own informational interviews, take a leaf out of Maya’s book and steal her email! She shared her approach ion a LinkedIn post.
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