The Value of Experimenting During a Career Transition

Being in Liminal Space makes you feel like you are not on solid ground, yet you are learning more about yourself through introspection, assessments and journaling. How about trying something new – an experiment. That way, you get into action and learn even more about what works and doesn’t work for you. Just do it.

From introspection to practical application.

·      EXPERIMENT Take what you know, have learned about yourself and try applying it to a new job in a new field. “Solitary introspection without active experimentation is day-dreaming.” (Herminia Ibarra)

Let me tell you about one of my experiments

When I was job searching for a new position in tech marketing, an opportunity arose to become a fashion stylist part time. I would be my own boss, selling a line of women’s clothing called cabi.  Mmm, I already had cabi clothes in my closet from shopping at parties in the past.  I thought well, I was named best dressed in my senior year of high school and I loved putting outfits together. Looking professional, looking like I was put together and a leader had been important as I advanced my career in international marketing. I thought I could be good at this, earn some money and help women feel better about themselves while I helped them find their style. Plus, I could broaden my network for “real work” – i.e. another marketing job in tech!

Soon I learned that being an independent stylist was hard work. Schlepping my rack and clothing from house to house, from hostess to hostess, was physically hard (especially in the rain and the snow). While I enjoyed the process of helping women see their images differently, in a new way, I felt that I wasn’t helping enough to feed my soul. During the home “shows”-fashion parties, I would learn about these women’s hopes and dreams – the one who was single a long time and couldn’t find the right man, the mom who wouldn’t spend on herself, only her children, the one who depended on her husband’s income only and had to “hide” her purchases, the one who couldn’t buy anything right now as she was job-hunting.

A new outfit could change their outside images, but what about the inside? I wanted to know more.  I also wasn’t earning enough to even envision becoming a top stylist. This endeavor was not a good return on investment of my time and ambition. After 4 seasons of selling cabi, I stopped.

·      LESSONS LEARNED Rather than regard this period of time as a waste of energy, I took what I learned and applied it to my renewed search for the next career, the next possibility for me. At the most basic level I learned that people buy from people (called H2H in the business world).  In the corporate world, that’s why we provided sales with tools to take buyers on a journey using storytelling and solution-oriented sales tools. I was able to earn the trust of many lovely women, many of whom felt stuck in their lives with no tools or instructions to make changes in their lives. But how could I help them more?

Next episode:

My AHA moment of discovering my true calling.