I think I need to switch careers
August 30, 2023 9:03 AM Subscribe
I am not making enough money and burning myself out (again.) I'm realizing that I have a pattern with burnout and am working on this, but realizing that what I'm doing exhausts me *and* doesn't pay enough. How can I figure out what I can switch into with my skills?
I thought about getting a career coach but can't currently afford that... so I thought I would ask the brilliant Metafilter!
I currently am working part time at a start-up. The other part I own my own business and the other other part I teach a class adjunct. Because I could feel myself getting burnt out at the beginning of this year, I decided to not do too much for my own business and just take in clients here and there, but now I am getting more demand. However, I'm unsure if I want to even continue to own my own business full time. I know I could potentially make better money than I ever had in my career, but the idea of balancing marketing/insurance/business aspects and seeing clients makes me want to cry (at this point.) Without working as a contractor, it's not a guarantee like a regular salary. I guess I might not be cut out for being an entrepreneur, which I feel some shame about.
I am at the point where I am dreaming of a job where I have less one-to-one people interactions like I did at my older roles. I fantasize about a data analyst job with some people interaction, but I don't have enough "direct" experience to break into it. I even thought about a stenographer or court reporter, where I get to interact with people but I might not be as emotionally involved with clients on a one-to-one basis (I only thought about this bc I can type fast ha.) I really enjoy working with people and don't want to lose that aspect, but this work I do now is INTENSE emotionally. I'm not particularly strong at math, but I like working in data and spreadsheets, organizing, looking for patterns, helping people figure out what they need or getting them to A to B, advocating for others and equity, etc. I do public speaking but sort of hate it even though I'm relatively good at it. I recognize now that all the marketing and talking I have to do for my business--I'd much rather be in the background making all of that work rather than be in the spotlight. I thought about being a project manager, and have a certificate in it, but I also know that role comes with a lot of stress.
I get stuck on my own job titles when I think about pivoting into another career. All I can think of is doing roles that have similar titles to mine. And I work in a niche currently and have been for the past couple of years. I used to work in public health and state programs doing program coordination, federal guidance analysis, coordinating stakeholders and facilitating meetings, doing community education and advocacy. Now I work in mental health (medical side) and education. I've only stayed in my previous "career" roles for 2 years each and the longest I've stayed in a role is my current business, but that's because I was able to do different contracts to keep up with my interests and moving. I have good references from my previous roles.
I think I got lost after my last *terrible* burnout in a public health program--I escaped in the middle of the pandemic to do 1 on 1 work with clients, and I loved it. I felt so good at what I did and fulfilled. However, I currently feel overloaded with clients in my part time job and getting demand from my business that I can't fathom working with clients right now. I am no longer good at my job. My job is a combination of medical and therapy-like services. I'm basically monitoring and intervening on medical conditions, coordinating and advocating with therapist/psych/MD, and motivating clients to make supportive changes in mental health related nutrition. I see about 15-20 people weekly on top of my business work and teaching.
Talking to other people who do my job, I know I'm not alone. It seems like a ton of people want to avoid burnout with client work so they're finding other roles to do (usually within their own business--which I don't want to do.) We also are an underpaid field for the advanced degrees and certifications required to hold our positions. I just don't think I want to do this anymore after 7+ years of being in the field. And I need to make more money at this time, I haven't been able to make more than $59k in my career. While that is more than the average, I'm not able to save as much and help pay for my parent's care. I know people with less experience than me but in different fields who make much more.
Can you help me figure out what I could try to switch to? Or at least resources for figuring out that switch? If I had experience like 3-4 years ago in something, I can still apply that to a job hunt right? I can't afford to go back to school but man, I'm desperate to get out. I know an option could be to let go of one of my jobs, but I don't have enough savings for that :( Any help is appreciated!
I thought about getting a career coach but can't currently afford that... so I thought I would ask the brilliant Metafilter!
I currently am working part time at a start-up. The other part I own my own business and the other other part I teach a class adjunct. Because I could feel myself getting burnt out at the beginning of this year, I decided to not do too much for my own business and just take in clients here and there, but now I am getting more demand. However, I'm unsure if I want to even continue to own my own business full time. I know I could potentially make better money than I ever had in my career, but the idea of balancing marketing/insurance/business aspects and seeing clients makes me want to cry (at this point.) Without working as a contractor, it's not a guarantee like a regular salary. I guess I might not be cut out for being an entrepreneur, which I feel some shame about.
I am at the point where I am dreaming of a job where I have less one-to-one people interactions like I did at my older roles. I fantasize about a data analyst job with some people interaction, but I don't have enough "direct" experience to break into it. I even thought about a stenographer or court reporter, where I get to interact with people but I might not be as emotionally involved with clients on a one-to-one basis (I only thought about this bc I can type fast ha.) I really enjoy working with people and don't want to lose that aspect, but this work I do now is INTENSE emotionally. I'm not particularly strong at math, but I like working in data and spreadsheets, organizing, looking for patterns, helping people figure out what they need or getting them to A to B, advocating for others and equity, etc. I do public speaking but sort of hate it even though I'm relatively good at it. I recognize now that all the marketing and talking I have to do for my business--I'd much rather be in the background making all of that work rather than be in the spotlight. I thought about being a project manager, and have a certificate in it, but I also know that role comes with a lot of stress.
I get stuck on my own job titles when I think about pivoting into another career. All I can think of is doing roles that have similar titles to mine. And I work in a niche currently and have been for the past couple of years. I used to work in public health and state programs doing program coordination, federal guidance analysis, coordinating stakeholders and facilitating meetings, doing community education and advocacy. Now I work in mental health (medical side) and education. I've only stayed in my previous "career" roles for 2 years each and the longest I've stayed in a role is my current business, but that's because I was able to do different contracts to keep up with my interests and moving. I have good references from my previous roles.
I think I got lost after my last *terrible* burnout in a public health program--I escaped in the middle of the pandemic to do 1 on 1 work with clients, and I loved it. I felt so good at what I did and fulfilled. However, I currently feel overloaded with clients in my part time job and getting demand from my business that I can't fathom working with clients right now. I am no longer good at my job. My job is a combination of medical and therapy-like services. I'm basically monitoring and intervening on medical conditions, coordinating and advocating with therapist/psych/MD, and motivating clients to make supportive changes in mental health related nutrition. I see about 15-20 people weekly on top of my business work and teaching.
Talking to other people who do my job, I know I'm not alone. It seems like a ton of people want to avoid burnout with client work so they're finding other roles to do (usually within their own business--which I don't want to do.) We also are an underpaid field for the advanced degrees and certifications required to hold our positions. I just don't think I want to do this anymore after 7+ years of being in the field. And I need to make more money at this time, I haven't been able to make more than $59k in my career. While that is more than the average, I'm not able to save as much and help pay for my parent's care. I know people with less experience than me but in different fields who make much more.
Can you help me figure out what I could try to switch to? Or at least resources for figuring out that switch? If I had experience like 3-4 years ago in something, I can still apply that to a job hunt right? I can't afford to go back to school but man, I'm desperate to get out. I know an option could be to let go of one of my jobs, but I don't have enough savings for that :( Any help is appreciated!
Unless you are trying to break into academia, you are probably making less than minimum wage as an adjunct- is it worth it to keep doing it?
posted by rockindata at 12:00 PM on August 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by rockindata at 12:00 PM on August 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
Do you must teach face to face? Can you distill your teaching into videos and sell them on Udemy?
posted by kschang at 3:37 PM on August 30, 2023
posted by kschang at 3:37 PM on August 30, 2023
Could your business be more profitable if you hired an assistant for the marketing/insurance/etc., and focused on the parts your education, experience and training mean only you can perform? Have you considered a business partner?
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:44 PM on August 30, 2023
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:44 PM on August 30, 2023
A lot of what you said resonates with me because I've been there. There are some other great questions by other commenters but I did want to mention that you should not feel shame from dropping your business if you no longer want to be an entrepreneur as you mention above. You are not what you do for work. Work is what you do to have money to survive and then do what you love.
The feelings of failure and shame at not "succeeding" at my job are what held me back from making the best mental health decision for me, switching careers.
Another tip is that I too was hung up on titles. I didn't want to feel like I downgraded when I moved roles. Let go of that too. I went from "Manager" in my previous title to now "Specialist" the pay is exactly the same and the role has the same level, it's just that this company labels their roles differently. But yes, when I tell people what I do, I leave off the word Specialist. So I may have gone from Marketing Manager to Engagement Specialist, so I just say I'm in Engagement not I'm an Engagement Specialist for the sake of my ego-ha!
Good luck!
posted by xicana63 at 11:21 AM on August 31, 2023
The feelings of failure and shame at not "succeeding" at my job are what held me back from making the best mental health decision for me, switching careers.
Another tip is that I too was hung up on titles. I didn't want to feel like I downgraded when I moved roles. Let go of that too. I went from "Manager" in my previous title to now "Specialist" the pay is exactly the same and the role has the same level, it's just that this company labels their roles differently. But yes, when I tell people what I do, I leave off the word Specialist. So I may have gone from Marketing Manager to Engagement Specialist, so I just say I'm in Engagement not I'm an Engagement Specialist for the sake of my ego-ha!
Good luck!
posted by xicana63 at 11:21 AM on August 31, 2023
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posted by metasarah at 11:52 AM on August 30, 2023 [5 favorites]