One of the main reasons we stay stuck in a job we don't like is that it pays us well, or at least adequately. We reason, “well, maybe my job isn't so great, but at least I can pay the mortgage/fund my kids' numerous after school activities/go on that Caribbean holiday/justify my daily cake habit.”
Understandably, we're reluctant to relinquish our financial security to chase a hazy dream. No good can come of it: we'll eke out the rest of our days in a cardboard box under Waterloo Bridge, fighting with the seagulls for food scraps thrown by passing tourists.
However, whilst a career change (particularly if you're setting up a business) will almost inevitably require a financial sacrifice in the short term, it needn't be one of unbearable proportions. And remember, in the long term, fulfilling work does NOT have to mean less pay. In fact if you find something you love to do, you'll get really good at it - and the chances are you'll make more money than you did previously.
Here are 7 ideas for funding your dream whilst living your life - without seagulls for neighbours:
1. Cut back
This is a great starting point as it's directly within your control and the changes you make will reinforce to yourself that you mean business.
So take a hard look at your expenses and see where you can cut back. Take away coffee is a well-publicised example of a needless expense! Your daily Starbucks could be costing you over £600 a year. Also see if you can get a better deal on car or home insurance (or do without the car altogether).
Mobile phones are another obvious area to make a quick saving. Not SO long ago we all survived without them. Why not cancel your contract and try out a mobile-free lifestyle for a few months? Or if that thought is too horrendous, consider converting to pay as you go.
Check out Martin Lewis's site http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ for a head-spinning number of ways to cut back without hurting...!
2. Moonlight
Start small, edging into your dream whilst holding down your current job. Keep up your professional standards, but don't throw good years after bad: limit the time and energy you devote to a career you have mentally abandoned. Maybe this means leaving at 6pm three days a week, or making sure you take your lunch breaks. You'll free up precious time and head space to:
- Take an evening course
- Do some internet research
- Set up brain-picking lunches with people who've done what you'd like to
- Test your business product or service - sell samples to friends or take on freelance projects
- Acquire relevant work experience - by volunteering or shadowing someone.
(If you can't do this in the evening, try negotiating with your employer that you work one day a week at home. Then spend part of the day getting hands-on experience in your new field, and catch up on your workload that evening).
3. Reassess the "need" to retrain
I know I just mentioned evening courses, but before signing up, do ask experts in your chosen field whether they think a qualification is definitely necessary.
If you want to be a doctor I guess you can't avoid medical school. But we often vastly underrate our transferable skills. And sometimes we enrol on courses because it makes us feel like we're doing something tangible and positive, when actually there are more practical (but scarier and less immediately obvious) things we could do which would move us forward more quickly - like the connecting and shadowing mentioned above.
So check first and it could be that you can scratch re-training expenses from your list of financial worries.
4. "Sell out" for a couple of years
With moonlighting, you keep your job but invest energy in starting up the new you on the side. With the sell out approach, you pour all your energy into maximising the earning potential of your current job, creating a nest egg to fund your dream later down the line.
This strategy is most effective where you work in the type of role that a) has a high base salary and b) rewards performance. Also consider converting to contract work - it's less secure but often you can command a much higher rate than you would earn as a permanent employee.
5. Use your savings
I know, no-one likes to raid their savings. But if you're facing a short term drop in income, and you can't cut back sufficiently on your lifestyle, using personal savings is one of the simplest ways to bridge the gap.
Decide up front the amount you are willing to invest and the time period you are willing to subsidise your transition, and stick to it. Assign your savings to support a fixed expense, like a percentage of your rent or mortgage, rather than using them on daily living expenses, as these can creep upwards.
6. Borrow
Friends and family are an obvious first port of call although with equally obvious dangers if things go wrong. Other sources of borrowing are banks and, if you're think of starting a business, angel investors. The Business Link website, a free business advice and support service, has a comprehensive article outlining the merits and risks of the various funding sources:
(Although bound up in red tape, government grants are also available for some types of businesses. Again see Business Link for details).
7. Move overseas
I saved the most drastic for last! You might initially gulp at bit at this one but it's a strategy that's close to my heart.
I moved to China when my daughter Elsa was 3 months old. For the past 4 years my child care costs have been £50 a week for up to 40 hours' work, including 2 evenings' babysitting. Ayi (like a nanny) is a lovely, warm lady who Elsa considers her Chinese grandmother - and she's the reason Elsa is now fluent in Mandarin (sadly unlike her mother).
Without any doubt the lower cost of living I enjoy here made my own career change more viable, gave me breathing space to experiment, and has allowed me to work fewer hours, so that I can spend most afternoons with my daughter.
Obviously you've got to want to live overseas! - but if you have any sort of inkling in that direction, do consider it seriously, particularly if it's to somewhere with a lower cost of living than the UK (and that doesn't narrow your options much does it!).
Sarah helps mid-career professionals transition from the corporate world to a career and lifestyle that is more "off the beaten path". Her clients' impetus for change is a desire to follow a passion, express their creativity or help people or society in some way - and at the same time to lead a richer, more family-friendly lifestyle.
Sarah started her professional life as a solicitor in the City of London, then moved to the voluntary sector where she specialised in marketing. Three years ago she realised a long-held dream of living overseas by moving to Beijing with her daughter Elsa.
Through her business Cows From My Window Sarah now coaches, writes, speaks and runs workshops about living and working off the beaten path. www.cowsfrommywindow.com
You can take a first step towards finding fulfilling work by signing up for Sarah's free 5 part e-course 5 Keys to Finding Freedom By Doing What You Love at www.nomoredreadingmondays.com
Are you ready to change career but don't know where to start?
Then the brand new Careershifters Guide is designed for you.It will take you step-by-step through the career change process with practical exercises and expert guidance on how to figure out the career that suits you best through to the practicalities of making the change happen (even when you have a mortgage to pay and family to feed!).
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