How I Started Multi-Careering
I am excellent, excellent starter. I’m the person you want at the genesis of your project. I’ll ra-ra enough that I can get even the most grumpy person excited. But, I’m only now learning to manage projects well in the middle and I’m always learning how to finish well.
When I left college, I was already a few months pregnant and puking my guts out every day. We moved across the country and I had Noah about 5 months later. I slinked into stay-at-home-momming without much thought. But, within months, I was hatching new ideas during every naptime.
Over the next few years, I tried out every creative outlet as a small-time business. I felt badly about myself, because I started believing I was a chronic quitter. It didn’t help that in college I collected majors like trading cards.
However, along the way, I learned something about myself. I love starting! I love ideating! That is the most fun part of the business for me. That isn’t wrong, it just means that I need to have a plan for after the business has started and I find myself slogging in the day-to-day tasks. I need to create teams to help keep the momentum going.
Sometime a year or two ago, I heard Bob Goff talking about multi-careering. He has his hands in a million different projects. He’s a gifted attorney, he’s a professor, an author, a speaker, and heads up a charity in Uganda. That’s nutso right? He’s also a big fan of quitting what isn’t working or what you’re being lead away from. His favorite thing to say is “It’s Thursday, quit something!”.
I have now found myself as a bonafide, multi-careering woman. I get to have a flexible schedule. I get to have new ideas all the time. I get to experience financial freedom, because my income isn’t tied into one crucial source. Sure, I have to work hard. Of course, there is stress and risk.
I work for new ideas. I am a social entrepreneur (Wildly Co.), a leader of women (@InfluenceNet), an author (#WildandFreeBook), a blogger (here, duh!), and a speaker. It’s a whole wide world out there and for women in particular.