Transitioning to Your Dream Job
By Jeremy C. Wright | Related entries in Job & WorkA friend of mine is about to leave his old comfortable job behind, in favour of a step closer to his dream job: being a freelance writer. I’ve had a few emails asking me to elaborate on my transition into this role, which I’ll do at sometime this week, however I wanted to highlight an oft-overlooked part of going from your current “job hell” to your “dream job”: the Transition Job.
A Transition Job is one that lets you keep one foot in both worlds. It allows you to maintain a paycheque, but also allows you the freedom to begin ramping up to your dream job (or something like it).
For my friend, he’ll be working with local mental health organizations transporting children between foster homes. He’ll make 50$ per trip (even if it’s only 30 minutes away), and he can take or deny assignments as he desires.
This gives him the freedom to pursue his dream (or at least the next step in it), while still having income, if he actually ends up needing it.
I never really had a transitional job. I, like the dumbass I am, tried to work my fulltime job AND do my dream job at the same time, until I nearly broke down (honestly). I wish I’d thought of a transitional job, like being a pizza delivery boy or a contract computer repair man, because I really could have used a bit more freedom.
As you look at your dream job, and I know a number of Wealthy Blogger readers are, remember that you don’t need to jump straight from your current situation into your ideal one. You can take a few months to get there, making a couple of stops along the way. It’ll be slightly more frustrating, but it’ll be better for your mental state and it will mean you aren’t anywhere near as stressed going into your dream job as you would have been had you tried to work two full-time jobs at once.
This is one time where you can be selfish: think about how your plan will affect you as you go through it. You won’t regret taking a few extra weeks to make sure your dream is actually your dream.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 12th, 2005 and is filed under Job & Work. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
July 30th, 2005 at 8:46 am
Hi there,
In Canada, there is a program funded by HRDC which is the Self-Employment Assistance Program. If someone is eligible to receive EI or received EI recently (or for women this can be retroactive for 5 years for the maternity leave stuff), then you can apply to be part of this program. If accepted, you receive EI funding to your maximum for just under a year. Best of all, if you make money in your new venture, the EI is NOT clawed back. It is the only legal way to make money and collect EI at the same time. Plus you must attend 4-6 weeks of entrepreneurial training, write a business plan (with the help of an advisor) and receive ongoing monthly advice with a regular advisor. I currently teach Tax and Financial Planning (budgetinig) for one of the Toronto programs. I was also a participant in this program when I started my own business.
August 3rd, 2005 at 3:39 am
Another way to switch to your dream job is via a transition job which has some familiarity with your current job. Fe. you are a software developer in the car industry and your dream job would be an editor at a publishing company. You could first switch away from the car industry to a job as software developer at a publisher. This would become your transition job. This way, you’re still in your familiar work environment, the environment where your current skills are. Probably you don’t have to cut on salary, which is comfortable.
At the same time you are a giant step closer to your dream job. Working as a software developer at the publishing company, you can now quite easily explore the possibilities of becoming an editor. I must admit I haven’t followed this strategy yet, but I’m certainly looking for opportunities to make such a transition.
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