Last week, the women of Zikoko HER conversations were concerned about making a successful career shift. Nusaybah Fuad-Gafar, community manager for Zikoko’s #ShiftTheStory campaign, moderated the conversation on our X (FKA Twitter) space. She was joined by Omotara Tomisin, Founder of Henna by Tara and star of episode 2 of our HER docuseries. As well as Amaka Amaku, social media manager for Flutterwave.
Together, they explored the topic: Rebranding Yourself: How to Reinvent Your Career With Confidence in detail.
Here are five key takeaways from the discussion on how to confidently reinvent your career.
1. Explore Your Talents and Skills
It might be difficult to believe, but a lot of the work we do in our corporate life aligns with our talent(s) and skill(s). This makes the process of changing or reinventing our careers easier. Map out the things you’re good at, particularly your soft skills, and identify corporate spaces likely to benefit from them..
During the conversation, Amaka talks about how soft skills were one of the things that helped her make the switch in her career.Omotara speaks about her experience being a footballer before becoming a henna artist and her intention to pursue many more of her interests.
The takeaway? Explore all of who you are and what you can do to find out what fits. Then grow in that area.
2. Take Branding Seriously
Once you’ve determined where and how you want to make the switch, branding follows suit. This is possibly the most important thing in ensuring your people take you and your work seriously. What you’re selling has to be so concrete, no one doubts you. So concrete that even if they say no to you, you’re confident enough to trust that it’s just not the right market or time.
Whether you’re starting a business or choosing to stay in the corporate world, branding matters. People trust people who know or at least look like they know what they’re doing.
It’s important for you to reflect on this. Even if you’re not where you want to be, let people know you’re all about what you’re aspiring to be.
Also Read: I Went From Earning ₦160k/Month to $7.8k Working Remotely. Here’s How I Flipped My Career and Income
3. Market Yourself
You’re only going to get to your destination if people know about you, and the best way to do that is by telling them. It might be difficult to do that, especially if you have to deal with some imposter syndrome. But it’s important to remember that your life is yours, and no one is living it with you.
The only person who can help get you to your destination is you. Speak to the right people and take the right steps. Tara targeted locations where she knew she would find customers for her henna business. University hostels and salons were her second home when she began scaling, and she made sure everyone who was anyone heard about her.
4. Get Guidance and Experience
Reinventing your career is great. Especially when you’ve done the research and know exactly what you need to do. But another important way of getting there is by getting a mentor. Sometimes, the best way to learn a thing isn’t experience, but learning from the mistakes of others. Both of our speakers went through phases where they maintained and still maintain relationships with people who had run the race they sought to run.
Depending on what you’re looking to do and the direction in which you want to pivot. Our speakers advise making a list of companies or people who are where you want to be, or well-known industry leaders in your field. Attend networking events and speak to people about the things you’ve done, are doing and want to do. Let them know you share similar visions and how they can be instrumental in helping you achieve yours. Sometimes, they’ll say no to directly mentoring you, but honestly? It’s not the end of the world.
5. Document Your Wins
Finally, people will only believe what you say if there’s proof of it. Your words have to be backed by an archive of the things you’ve done. Remember, you’re not just going to use this to keep records of your professional experience and achievements. It will also act as a reference point for when you are introducing yourself to me for mentorship and employment opportunities.
Sometimes, the difference between where we are and where we want to be is in putting ourselves out there. Regardless of how embarrassing or cringeworthy we find these things. Use the apps, post the wins and talk about them. Closed mouths don’t get fed!
To hear more from our speakers on how they’ve achieved the things they do, click here to listen to the X space conversation.
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