All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
– Walt Disney
I still remember this incident which happened few years back, I was single then and one of my colleagues questioned me about my vision for the upcoming years. I smiled and replied him back that I wouldn’t be a part of any MNC and I would land up in some other work which will quench my thirst of being creative. Then he popped up his next question “So you are planning to quit and stay at home or do you have any other plans?” My vision was clear but I had no answers for what’s next?
I worked till I availed my maternity break and I broke my relationship with corporate once my leave got exhausted. Friends and well wishers called me often to lift my spirit of getting back to work. I made few attempts to get any work at home projects but I failed to meet the employer’s expectations. At a moment I felt an internal pressure of losing all my confidence.
My life changed completely in next following months and my daughter kept me busy around the clock because I was her only care taker. I wonder how fortunate daily waged women are. Despite the low salary she has a liberty to carry her kids to her work place and she can manage both of her roles (worker & mother) with so much grace and no guilt of separation. To kill my time during my daughter’s nap time I browse and learn what’s trending and usually look for the opportunities which can help me out to get an internal satisfaction of what I do without any guilt of staying away from my daughter. It took almost one and a half years to figure out the right choice.
Planning for an alternative career? Few tips to narrow down your search…
1. Each and every hobby of yours might not lead you to an alternative career.
I have multiple hobbies. I am in to crafts and love to pen down every single incident of my life. I always love to experiment in my kitchen venture different kinds of cuisines using the veggies from my garden. But unluckily crafter, cook, gardener in me failed to succeed in the process of filling my wallet but writer in me helped me receive a limelight and I made it as an alternative career.
2. Trial and error with minimal investment
If you are planning to fleet your own business make sure you invest a minimum amount on it and conduct detail research on what you are going to do and always have back up plans too.
- If you are in search of internal satisfaction then I would suggest you to research on all the hobbies of yours so that it would help you to find any interesting opportunity that suits you and gains you some monetary benefits.
- Never ever try to imitate other’s alternative career decisions. It might not be your piece of cake.
3. Planning to take up a course?
Every single simple interest of yours has groups in Facebook, join them prior to trying your hands on the new arena. Get insights, opportunities demands about the course and then enroll into it.
My cousin who stays at the US visited us last week and he complimented about my blog posts and he was very happy for me. He said even his college friend is into writing and he added that he would introduce me to her so that I can get many assignments. Later he shared her facebook handle. We shared few messages on how’s, where’s & what’s. At last she introduced me into a new term called Copy Writing.
To be continued in my next post…
You may want to read other articles by this author : All About Blogging, Blogging Insights, Tips for sustainable blogging.
About the author:
Meenakshi Chandrasekaran – I was writing large lines of codes before my Little Gal happened to me. An avid reader, i spend most of my time in front of books and laptop. Being a first time mom bringing up my girl helped me to gain more knowledge on every stage of parenting so i just wanted to pen down my experience to be able to read it again and again to relive those moments. Other leisure time activities include experimenting in my kitchen, crafts and gardening.
(The author is a guest blogger at Her Second Innings. The opinions expressed are those of the author.)
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