Help me find my next career...

June 3, 2009 4:28 PM

Help me find my next (perfect) career...

This is a brainstorming, pie-in-the-sky, kinda question...

Scenario: Degreed, 40-something, freelance graphic-designer, former corp. advertising/creative director - tired of spending my days in front of the computer. The creative thrill (for this) is gone.

What I like: Being "out and about", flexible time, autonomy, making stuff, working with creative ideas and people, consulting, brainstorming.

What I don't like: cubicles, 9-5, busywork.

Unlikely I'd go back to school, probably wouldn't want to now anyway.

What do you do? Do you have ideas? What's the best job you know?

Thanks!

posted by ecorrocio to Work & Money (5 answers total)

Landscape architecture would be good, but that's school city.
posted by jgirl at 5:16 PM on June 3, 2009

I work for Trader Joe's as a manager and love it almost every day. Do you have one near you?
posted by Andrea2880 at 5:18 PM on June 3, 2009

Why not "promote" yourself to more of a sales/management position by building your graphic design business? You could spend your time meeting and brainstorming with clients, while having designers who like laboring in front of the computer do the actual work.
posted by DrGail at 5:27 PM on June 3, 2009

Do you have any hand skills? It might be fun to translate some of those creative skills into tangible production- fancy blacksmithing / ironwork, welding, or high-end fabrication might be interesting, rewarding, and fulfillng to learn.
posted by jenkinsEar at 5:35 PM on June 3, 2009

Don't do sales. I would go one of two routes: shop your skills around to agencies looking for corporate and niche experience, or get back into the market by constructing a greatly crafted portfolio for a product.
posted by parmanparman at 7:20 PM on June 3, 2009