How to Make a Career Pivot
by melanie barr
So, you're considering a career pivot. Maybe you want to try something completely new, make a leap in your current career or launch, acquire, or continue to grow a current business. Career pivots can be intimidating but they also can be incredibly inspiring, life changing, and one of your best life decisions.
One of my biggest career pivots happened right before I went to work for the Los Angeles Dodgers. I had been promoted to Regional Sales Manager of a Fortune 500 company at the age of 25, managing sales teams throughout Southern California. I was gaining great management and business development experience, but after several years with the company, I was feeling stagnant and ready for more. I just wasn’t sure what that was, what it meant, or what a next career leap would look like.
I read books about making a change, listened to audio from people I admired, and surrounded myself with positive thoughts, people, and mentors. Someone mentioned I should read “The Art of Possibility” by Benjamin Zander. It was while reading this book that I allowed myself to dream. To think through “if I could do anything, what would that be and what would that actually look like?”
As I took the time to figure out what I really wanted, I decided I wanted to work in sports. In college I had an athletic scholarship for dance, I played multiple sports growing up, have run marathons, and had always been athletic and competitive. I started working on a plan to get there. From there, I got my dream job working for the Los Angeles Dodgers and — after having our twins and ready for a more flexible work schedule — to launching and creating the She Built It™ company and community.
Now, my dream is to encourage others to follow their passions, and to become a resource for others to make leaps like I did — to live the life that they crave. The She Built It™ community is here to support you to live your best life, achieve career goals at the highest level, and to make meaningful connections, with the support of empowering people around you cheering you on.
If you’re thinking about a career leap, it’s never too late. You get one life, so together, let’s make it a good one and live the life that we crave. Change doesn’t happen all at once — sometimes it takes years — but even if you start making the small daily leaps, your life will start to shift and the small leaps will start to add up and lead to the monumental ones. If you're thinking about a career pivot, but you’re not sure what that looks like or what you’d like to pivot to do, here are five things to consider.
1. Take a Minute to Dream - It’s Your Time
If we don’t allow ourselves to dream, we’ll never know what we truly want. In today's world we can get so caught up in the rollercoaster of just trying to maintain that we forget to take a few minutes to ourselves to make sure we are doing what we truly enjoy.
This might mean something on the side that provides an outlet for you to start doing what you love. Sometimes, trying something new might mean a monumental change. Other times we can make the small daily leaps toward what we truly want until we’re ready to make a shift.
To start a career pivot or at least to start thinking about one, take a dedicated 15 minutes a day to check in with yourself. Start by writing down five things that you are doing that you love and five things that you wish you were doing more of or more often. This exercise can be very telling. Then schedule in your calendar regular check-ins with yourself to make sure you are staying on track.
2. Trust Yourself
Most often, our instincts know what is best. Listening to our instincts and acting on them takes confidence, especially if at times we can be reluctant to listen. Whether you're making a small or big leap, your instincts will know if it’s the right time.
At times, we have to push ourselves out of our comfort zones and really listen to know the difference between the wrong time and the right time to push through. If you feel ready, and your instincts tell you you’ve done your research, make the leap — big or small, even if it’s scary. If you fail, that’s part of the process; what truly matters is how often you get back up. You’ll learn and become better after every failure.
I recently hired someone new. Even though my instincts told me “this is not going to work” I thought to myself, “this is a new team and a new process… give it a chance.” So I did.
Two to three weeks later something happened, where I knew I couldn’t go forward with the team I had hired. I thought to myself, “I’ve had these thoughts since the beginning. Tt hasn't been right and it’s time to move on to a team that is going to help make the leap faster.” I didn’t wait months or years. I listened to my gut and instincts and now I’m able to make the leap a reality at a quicker pace. Throughout your pivot, listen to yourself, your instincts usually know the way. The more you learn to trust yourself, the easier it gets, and the better your decision making becomes.
3. Reach Out to Your Communities
One of the best things that happened to me very early in my career is when the company I was working for told me I had to join an organization to meet people that could possibly turn into potential clients. I figured that if I had to join this organization, I wanted to become as involved as I possibly could. I’ve never been good at doing things halfway.
I decided to join a group called the Ambassadors. An Ambassador had to reach out to new members to welcome them virtually and greet them entering the door at any in-person events. We were also tasked with looking for people at events who did not know anyone or seemed a bit uncomfortable, and start a conversation and introduce them to other people.
When I first heard this, I thought: “walk up to someone I don’t know and start a conversation!?” I was usually one of the youngest people in the room and in the beginning, it was very intimidating. I taught myself and I learned to do it. I learned to walk up and ask a question, like, “Hi, I’m an Ambassador for the organization, how are you involved? Or, “How did you learn about the organization?” It all became easier from there.
Now, because of this experience and other training, I have no problem walking up to someone I don’t know and starting a conversation. It took hours of practice, though, with falling and continuing to get back up. Investing your time in a community takes effort, time, and finding your confidence, but it can also help you build valuable relationships, collaborations, knowledge, and skills that you’ll take with you through your life as you continue making leaps and have success.
4. Fully Commit to Taking On Something New
When we start something completely new — a new job, launching a company, or getting to know new teams and people, it can be time consuming and intimidating. When I want to make a leap that might be intimidating or a bit out of my comfort zone, I make a commitment to someone else, then I know I can’t back out. I have to find a way to learn, prepare, and make it happen. I use this when I want to do something but am having a bit of trouble taking the first step to make the first small leap.
I’m a big believer in following through with commitments so I know if I commit I’ll show up and push myself to make it a success. I’m also big on being prepared when taking on something new. I push myself to commit then prepare, prepare, prepare. The more prepared we are, the better we feel walking into the situation and the more likely we’ll succeed.
5. Learn from Mistakes & Celebrate Your Victories
It’s not the number of times we fall or fail, it’s the number of times that we get back up. When we fail we learn, and when we learn we get better.
Failing at something that we really want or that we’ve given 100% of ourselves to can be very difficult for anyone to handle. In moments like this, I tell myself that I’m probably the one who cares the most. That others who I fear might have noticed have probably moved on. Most likely, no one else is dwelling on it like I might be.
I also give myself a time limit. It’s time to stop thinking about it and time to start making sure that falling down doesn’t happen again the next time around.
It’s also so important to celebrate our victories, even the small ones. It can be as simple as brewing your favorite coffee and taking a minute to enjoy it, adding an in home spa treatment to your night, seeing friends, spending quality time with family, or a night out.
When you are treating yourself, dedicate it to a recent victory — big or small — as a cheers to the success you’ve achieved. It makes any next failures easier to take because if you’re staying out of your comfort zone, which most of us making leaps are, it inspires you to keep moving forward and towards your next monumental leap.
Until next time! Keep growing and building your business, making the small daily and quantum leaps, and let nothing stop you from living the life that you crave.
With gratitude,
Melanie Barr
Founder & CEO, She Built It™