Hey… Your Career Clock is Ticking!

Strategies to Keep your Eyes Wide Open to the Ticking Career Clock!

Career Clocks

Most of us have heard of the concept of a “career clock ticking” But are we paying attention to this concept? Most of us lost sight of the ticking in our current hustle bustle life. Being swept up in family, shuttling to multiple sports practices, caring for aging parents, and worrying about college expenses all tend to take our eye off the career clock ball. Then, all of a sudden, the clock stops ticking and we find ourselves out of a job or trapped in a job that is not a fit.

What do I mean by career clock? I mean that as we age, we potentially become more of a bottom-line liability to our companies. As health care costs rise as we age, and we find ourselves in our fifties staring sixty in the face, companies, all to often, see this progression from their payroll cost perspective. This means that as we age, we fall into a more expensive health care bucket. But most of us have no idea what those costs are for our companies. The reality is, whether it’s legal or not, it costs more to insure older employees thus making them more vulnerable to downsizings. Since we are currently having deep health care cost conversations in the US, I suggest we start planning better for the inevitable.

Multiple Income Streams

One way to do that is to strategize about building multiple income streams. By creating a side gig, turning a hobby into a money-making venture, or investing in real estate or other goods and services, we can protect ourselves from the instability of employers and cost cutting lay-offs. I believe that a part of any career clock plan should be to evaluate what types of side income could be built into a second or third stream of income. What are you good at and what are you willing to build over time?

Here are some thoughts to consider:

Fluency in Other Languages

Are you fluent enough in another language that you could act as an interpreter? Interpreters are always in demand and if you have a particular knowledge in a specific field, like real estate, medicine, law, court proceedings, you may be able to make even more money. I know of multiple people doing this, one was from Nigeria and helped out at the Immigration Office part time. The others were French native speakers who translated in real time, a real estate conference from English to French. Both were very specific topics. English as a second language teachers are in real demand. Can you build a business on this, yes you can. And additionally, if you can take it online, you can do group classes and reach even more people nationwide or worldwide.

Skills

Do you have another skill that you are good at? Could you teach other people that skill? Or could you use it to create a side business? You could sign up for Task Rabbit or Angie’s List if you are handy. Computer skills are always in demand. Putting together furniture, handling big screen TV’s, wiring sound system are always needed. What can you put into a “how to” video on You Tube? You can turn that skill into a side gig and list yourself on Fiverr or Upwork.

Passions

Perhaps you’re a secret photo-shop creator, a committed cook, or an obsessive organizer. There are innumerable ways to share those skills with others. I know of a few people who are making over six figures from an online business doing crafts and organizing. Their business is based on teaching these talents through videos and online courses. If you are musical, good enough and enjoy playing for others, you could play side gigs around town or for weddings and other special events.

Professional Licenses

If you have a professional license such as law, nursing, accounting just to name a few, you could moonlight in private practice seeing clients. You can also create podcasts or You Tube videos on a variety of topics related to your field that would be useful to the non-licensed public. General tax tips for accounting, health tips for nurses, basic documents that are needed like wills, trusts and power of attorney for lawyers.

Thinking Outside the Box

The point in sharing these ideas is to get you thinking about what else you could start on the side to make long term additional income. Think of the trapeze acrobats in the circus. They perform with a safety net below in case they fall. In some cases, they just bounce back up to the swinging trapeze. The point is that they recover and go on.

The idea of side incomes is very important for a variety of reasons. 1. It gives you another income stream to hep boost up your savings in the event of a downsizing, and it can possibly sustain you until you land again. 2. It can provide supplemental retirement income in your sixties and beyond, especially if you get into an online business with residual subscription income, or self-paced online classes or products that people can just buy off your website.

Check out our other blogs on career transitions and coping with the emotional side of job transitions. Be sure to sign up for our email list to receive a free copy of our Top 10 Things to do when you are Downsized, and Supportive Reading Resources for Transitions. As always, please feel free to reach out to us with any questions or thoughts at support@mindfuljobalignment.com. We’d love to hear from you!

By: Diana C. Stephens, PhD