Career Independence: 4 Steps to Make it Happen

Career independence: It’s what many professionals dream of obtaining, but what some never really get to achieve. In fact, a study conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) indicated that the amount of employees who consider work-life balance very important to their overall job satisfaction continues to increase.

So, how can you take a step back from your career to make time for other things — like your family, hobbies, or long-term goals — without losing your career in the process? Here are four steps to making career independence happen for you:

Explore Costs

When it comes down to it, you have to make a living. This is the main reason why people seek out work. If you want to break away from your career in order to explore other avenues, you have to make sure you can actually afford it.

So, let’s say you want to leave your career to travel the world. Do you have enough money saved up to do this? Can you work online or freelance so you can earn at the same time? Is working remotely even an option in your industry? Sometimes it just takes a bit of foresight and planning to get to a point where you can successfully break away from your 9 to 5. With this in mind, be sure to explore the costs of gaining career independence to guarantee you can actually do it.

Gain the Right Contacts

Connections are everything these days. The right ones will help you on your journey to achieve career independence, especially when you’re unsure of which direction to take.

Here’s a great way to get started: Attend a professional networking event where you’ll know influential leaders will be present. Pick their brains, ask how they achieve a work-life balance, and try to gain as much advice as possible. In addition, stay in touch to keep them updated on your journey and open up the gates to mentorship. Acquiring the right professional contacts can help you to get your foot in the door when an opportunity for a flexible position or other career advancement opportunity opens up.

Look At Your Options

It’s important to evaluate all of your options when you’re looking to gain career independence.  You may believe you only have one avenue to take —  like leaving your professional career or having an awkward conversation with your boss — when in reality, there are tons of options out there to feel more fulfilled and independent in work and life.

For example, you could ask your boss to work remotely a few times a week. Asking for flex time is also another route you can take. If you want to go in a completely different direction, try freelancing to open up new professional doors. Or consider partnering with a like-minded professional to work on new projects like a startup, volunteer group or some other community event. It’s all about what you want out of your career independence, how much time you’re willing to invest in yourself, and what you’d like the outcome to be.

Make A Move

Many of us want something more out of our lives, including career independence. However, many are guilty of putting it off because they expect things will improve in their current situation. This isn’t the right mentality to have. Ultimately, nothing will change until you make a move and initiate the change yourself.

It may take something as small as having a meeting with your supervisor, doing your research on alternative options, attending networking events, exploring volunteer opportunities or seeing what your colleagues have done to gain career independence. Regardless of how you begin your steps to career independence, you have to actually get a move on. Otherwise, you’ll be in the same position as you are now, which doesn’t do much to improve yourself professionally.

Gaining career independence may not be easy, but it will make you happier, more engaged, and bring you to the professional level you’ve always wanted to achieve. These reasons alone should be the catalyst to getting your life in gear and taking the above steps to career independence.

What do you think? What are some other necessary steps a professional can take to gain career independence?

IMAGE: Courtesy of Victor1558; Flickr