I’ve made a few wholesale career changes.
Career 1: My first 20 years was in hi tech, networks and telco infrastructure, I spent 15 of those years as an exec in a suit.
Got tired of the non stop travel and too fast lifestyle so I quit and burned all my suits.
Career 2: Textile developer/manufacturer. my wife wanted to take her $1000/mo mail order home business (selling fabrics to remote Canada) to the next level so I rewrote some open source Perl and went live. I ended up running the biz, did quite well and after 10 years I sold it with the intent of retiring.
This was a ground zero thing for me, I knew zero about sewing or fabrics. That biz went from $1000/mo to six figures a month within 2 years. Over the 10 year span, I became an industry expert in protective materials.
Career 3. Retirement. At 50 I couldn’t master that - boredom.
Career 4: Banker. Spent 6 years at a big bank, started in customer service as I know zero about banking. Used my background in coaching, sales and marketing to work my way into on-boarding and training retail bankers and insurance brokers. I was the only one at the bank that taught more than 2 practices, most taught only one. I delivered training to every pillar- Retail branch bankers, call center bankers, credit cards, mortgage and lending, collections, fraud, auto-finance, and insurance - and I trained trainers in most of those
Couldn’t take WFH during Covid so I cashed out my chips.
Career 5: General management, light industrial products. A friend’s company was struggling after being acquired by a successful but quirky competitor. I planned to help them reorganize and improve process and procedures under their new ownership. Did that for 2 years, then stuck around as ‘horsepower’ for another 2 as all the heavy lifting was done. The work became routine, almost clerical so I packed up for another crack at retirement.
Career 6: Retirement. Again, this didn’t go well. Wife still has a career.
Career 7: Construction. Started renovating derelict houses in the north. Turns out there are dumpsters full of money to be made - but it’s tough work and keep me away from home. I’m doing that and a bit of project management (FIFO) up the James bay coast and into Nunavut soon.
I have a bit of experience in this area, all my own projects.
What have I learned?
1) if you wake up 5 days in a row and don’t want to go to work because your job sucks, quit and find another job.
2) Don’t be afraid of a wholesale change. You might take a pay hit if you change completely, but it takes less time to move up in your second career.
3) Be prepared to work your ass off for at least a year. Stick up your hand when the boss needs volunteers for ****** jobs - you need to make a mark.
If youre successful in your current career and you work hard and smart, it won’t take long.
What’s next for me? Lumber salesman? Brain Surgeon? Who knows. I’m trying to ease into retirement by doing projects that have an end then taking time off inbetween. So far there hasn’t been break… but that because the money is pretty good!
