What the Past Year Taught Me About Creating My Own Career Path

It takes courage to create your own career path. It also takes focus, dedication, and trial and error. When I first began my independent journey, I constantly reminded myself that my new journey would be both an inward and outward experience. I was not only building a new career—I was also discovering new things about myself along the way.

At first, I thought I knew the exact services I wanted to offer as a marketer with over ten years of experience. I’ve always loved strategy and saw myself creating marketing plans for organizations while developing internal best practices to support streamlined implementation.

Within a few weeks of freelancing full time, I instead found myself leading creative brainstorming sessions, planning book launches for authors, and writing email marketing campaigns for events. I collaborated with CEOs, thought leaders, and organizations I once dreamed of while working at my 9-5, which gave me an exciting glimpse into what was possible.

I had no idea my journey would push me to explore my varied interest and exercise the skills I had developed throughout my career. Though I understand the benefits of niching down and offering a select few services, the beginning of your independent journey is an opportunity to explore your interests and allow each project to provide you with feedback.

Giving myself the time to assess what projects aligned with my professional ethos challenged me to define my service offerings and refine my client list. So as you create your own career path, here are three things to keep in mind:

Whether you are freelancing, working remotely for a company, exploring contract work, or running your own business, if this is a new experience, give yourself room to figure out what does and doesn’t work for you. It’s an accomplishment in itself to leave your comfort zone and explore new territory, so be prepared to make a few mistakes and trust yourself enough to evolve past them.

Your previous job description or title should not limit you from exploring your interests and skills. Just because your title was Email Marketing Specialist doesn’t mean you can’t learn social media management or copywriting. More often than not, our skills are transferable and foundational for training us in other areas. Though I have a varied marketing background, marketing strategy laid the foundation for me to write copy that converts, create launch campaigns, and design my website through a strategic eye. Give yourself the freedom to discover new things about yourself and your skillset; who knows what you might find.

The services I offered a year ago are entirely different from the services I offer now. I have also refined my client intake process, do fewer consulting calls, and more retainer work. At first, I tried different services and worked with various clients, which taught me a lot about compatibility, setting expectations, and honoring my boundaries. I am now more selective with who I work with and prefer working with purpose-driven agencies, start-ups, and small businesses on long-term contracts instead of doing one-off projects. Now I wouldn’t have known this if I didn’t encourage myself to figure out what did and didn’t work for me. I quit my marketing job two months before the pandemic and looking back, it was the best decision I could have made. I’m no longer afraid of failing or changing direction because I get to wake up each morning and create a career that I love. Challenges are sure to come my way, but I’m choosing courage over fear, and I hope you do too.