Pivot Careers to Create More Time for Your Family

Do you wish you had more flexibility and time for your family? Or maybe you're just tired of your current job, but enjoy aspects of what you do? Have you considered how you may pivot careers or pivot to a different business model with your current career?

Career pivoting is “doubling down on what is working to make a purposeful shift in a new, related direction.” - Jenny Blake

You can pivot careers by getting a new job focusing on the parts of your job that you love. I loved teaching, so I pivoted to become an instructional designer (which is designing training for adults). I also thought about being a consultant for an educational software company, or a family advocate for parents who don’t know what’s available for their children. But, it didn't give me more time for my family.

I pivoted again and started a traditional training development company. My goal was always to have more time to spend with my kids. But, I choose an income stream that took more of my time and required me to trade time for money (work an hour to get paid for an hour). Working through what I was doing wrong is how I decided to start a digital product online business. It allows me to work where and when I want to and focus on my strengths and passions. I never have to report to anyone or trade time for money.

The best part about this business model is using what you know to create digital products. You can use what you already have to make templates, tools, or e-books. They're quick and easy to create and don't take a lot of overhead or expenses. It’s doable even if you don’t feel like an “expert.”

There are a few key steps you can take to successfully pivot your career, start your own online business, and use your existing knowledge: 

1. Decide what you want.

What are your biggest desires or goals for life? What do you want to achieve? What are you not willing to compromise?

Some people want to make more money. Others want more time freedom. And some people want to have a greater impact on the world.

Get clear on what you want, what your goals are, and the timeline you need to make it happen.

Based on my market research, my audience wants more time freedom, as I do. You also need to make more money and want to have an impact on the world. After you get clear on what you want, the steps below will help.

2. Identify what you love about your career

Which component of your career or job are you really good at? What part of what you do are you most passionate about?

• Example: Project Manager
  • You’re a project manager and you love making Gantt Charts and spreadsheets to plan projects or analyze project data.
• Example: Assistant to a Realtor
  • You’re an assistant to a realtor and you love helping them to get and stay organized.
• Example: Teacher 
  • You’re an elementary teacher and you enjoy creating hands-on activities: doing experiments to help students gain a deeper understanding, using storytelling to make history more enjoyable, or using visuals to help students remember and recall information.

The information below is an example, so you can see how to apply this concept to your own life and business. In real life, though, making assumptions about problems or solutions could lead to a struggling business. You need to figure out what your ideal customer’s problems are and what solutions they want/need from you by doing market research.

3. Identify who needs what you enjoy doing

Let’s use the previous examples to think through who needs you… 

• Project Manager’s Needs - Project managers need better spreadsheets to manage and analyze data.

• NOTE: Marketers and lots of other professions also use spreadsheets. But, the data and systems are different from what project managers need. So, if you understand project management, focus on the needs of project managers and how you are uniquely qualified to help them.

• Realtor’s Needs - Realtors could benefit from your organizational expertise specific to their job.

• Teacher’s Needs - Elementary teachers need ideas and templates for creating hands-on activities to achieve the goals of the lessons they design.

 4. Get more specific on your ideal customers - What problem are you uniquely positioned to solve for them?

 Choose 1 ideal customer and 1 problem that you can provide a solution to (use market research to figure this out).

There are intentionally 2 different kinds of people mentioned in each example to help you think about a specific person you enjoy working with. Your message won’t resonate with anyone if you use general terms like “project manager” or “realtor” - so get specific. You’re not excluding anyone by being specific. If it also applies to someone, they’ll say - “hey I could use that too.”

• Project Manager’s Problem
• They don’t know how to create useful spreadsheets (problem - lack of knowledge) and they need a template to help them get started instead of a blank spreadsheet (solution - spreadsheet template).
• Or they’re overworked and have too many projects, so they don’t have time (problem - lack of time) to set up systems (solution - systems).
• Realtor’s Problem
• They’re a fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants kind of person (problem - no systems or structure) and they have a hard time getting organized (solution - systems).
• Or they’re super busy (problem) and don’t have time to get organized (solution - templates).
• Teacher’s Problem
• They’re a new teacher (problem - lack of experience) and need some activity ideas that are proven to work (solution - activity ideas and templates).
• Or their district doesn’t give much planning time (problem - lack of time) and they want to buy lessons and activities to save time when planning (solution - done-for-you activities they can buy)

5. Help your ideal customers & prioritize your life

For each of these examples, let’s say that the priority in your life is time with your family. 

• Project Manager Example - You’re already managing projects and a family. You can’t manage more projects. It’s not the best use of your time if your priority is time with your family.
• Use some of the spreadsheets you already have to create templates that other project managers could use.
• Realtor Assistant Example - You’re hands-on involved in solving your primary client’s day-to-day problems, and can’t take on more realtors and still focus on prioritizing your life.
• Re-create a few tools you’ve already created and sell them individually (or as a bundle) to help other realtors get/stay organized.
• Teacher Example - You’re teaching all day, and trying to save your best for your priority in life in the evenings. You don’t have time to train other teachers right now.
• Package and sell the lessons and activities you’re already creating for your own students so that other teachers can buy and easily use them.

Where to sell digital products

You’ll make the most money per sale by hosting your digital products on your own website because you don’t have the fees that marketplaces charge you.

But, you probably don’t have a website or audience yet. You could wait until everything is perfectly aligned, OR start making money while building your business. You want to get started, right? 

Here’s how to start making money while building your business:

• Create a digital product
• Put your digital product (downloadable) on marketplaces that your ideal customers already use like Etsy, Creative Market, Notionway, and/or TeachersPayTeachers.
  Notion templates are very popular. If you're interested in creating them, here's a list of many of the Notion marketplaces you can list your templates on. If you're interested in Notion but don't know what it is yet, stick with me... I'm in love with Notion and working on some templates for you. 
• Differentiate yourself in some way (your focus, your beliefs, your process or approach)
• Charge a little more than others (I'm talking a few dollars more). Your goal is to turn this into something bigger, right? Let's set the bar a tiny bit higher. People don't always choose the least expensive option. For building your business, you want to attract people who are interested in quality and value over cheap. 

How do you know which websites your ideal customer already uses? Ask them.

Find a group of people online who are very similar to your ideal audience and ask them: “What’s the best online marketplace to find ______?” 

The blank _____ is the type of tool you’re making: spreadsheet templates for project managers, done-for-you lessons and activities for teachers, etc.

How to keep going and build a digital product business in the future

It’s not likely that you’ll quickly make a full-time income hosting one product on a marketplace. Over the course of about 6 months, you can grow your digital product business to be a significant income stream. You can do it without spending 40 hours a week working on it. The key is knowing what to do next. Don’t get stuck in trial-and-error mode. 

So, here’s what to do after you have one digital product if you want to grow your digital product business:

• Start building an audience online using content marketing:
• Be helpful and build authority - Share “valuable” information that solves the problem your ideal customer has.
• Build trust - Share your values, beliefs, and opinions about your industry. The stronger your opinions, the better. Stand out. Make yourself memorable. 
• Pique interest - Share behind the scenes of what you’re working on.
• Be reliable - Show up every week online, to stay top of mind and build trust. 
• While you’re building an audience, figure out what else your ideal customers want and need (ask them).

Word of Caution: Don't start offering services (yet)

Some people will tell you to pivot careers by offering services - freelancing, consulting, or creating custom products. Basically, just doing what you do now, but on your own. What they don’t tell you is that offering a service is the quickest path to burnout, if you're trying to create more time for your family. Once you’re busy with clients/customers, you don’t have time to create a digital product business that will allow you to create the life you’re looking for.

How do I know? I did it - twice - before I realized I had chosen the wrong business model if time and family is my priority. 

The reason people recommend starting with services is that it helps you learn what your ideal customers want and need. But offering services isn’t the only way to figure out what people want and need. Research is another great way to do that, which is why I teach you how to do market research before anything else. It’s a critical skill that you need to use over and over again. Research is the most essential thing you can do to influence the success of your business, no matter what income stream you decide to start with.   

Once you know how to find the right people and ask the right questions, you don’t need to offer services. You can have more time with your family and scale your business (make more money) more easily if you serve many people through digital products.

So, while it’s tempting to start offering services, keep in mind that if time is your priority, services pull you away from growing your business and prioritizing your family. I wish someone would’ve steered me down a path that led me to my goal of spending more time with my family, even while I was growing my business. 

But, if you really want to offer services, do it strategically:

1. Prioritize new digital products and audience building. The best way to do this is to:
   • Create a freebie and host it on a landing page.
   • Capture emails to download it
   • Put the link to your freebie on all of your social media bios.
   • Use content marketing to get people to and drive people to your email.
• Create new digital products. Capture people’s email addresses if you can. You have to ask permission to email them or add them to your email list. You can’t email them just because they buy something.
• Build an audience of your own via email, so that when you are ready to share something new, you have a warm audience of people who already bought from you. 
2. Offer services to a limited number of people who have bought your digital products. Charge a higher dollar amount, and work with fewer people. This allows you to prioritize creating things that make you money and audience-building while protecting your time.  

As you can see, there are a few ways to pivot careers. The two most popular are to get a new job or start a business. It’s essential to think through the different income streams and decide which will get you closer to your life goals the fastest. You can be yourself and build a career that works for you. 

How I can help:

• Ready to embark your exciting entrepreneurial journey?
  Start by taking my free quiz to discover the Best Online Business Type for You.
  
  
• Kickstart your online business with confidence:
  Join my Start an Online Business 5-Day Challenge. During this transformative experience, you'll develop your niche, handpick your ideal customers, and conduct market research to create a blueprint for your online digital product business. By the end of the challenge, you'll have invaluable insights and a robust database to guide you as you lay the foundation for your thriving online empire.
  
  
• Want to keep reading first? Here are some other helpful posts:

  • Break Free from the Hustle: The Busy Mom's Guide to Starting an Online Business That Allows You to Prioritize Your Family & Your Life 

  • How to Start a Profitable Online Business: 3 Things to Do Before Getting Started

  • Online Business 101: Create a Niche

  • How Much Does it Cost to Start an Online Business?

  • 7 Big Mistakes New Entrepreneurs Make and How to Avoid Them

  • What is a Digital Product?

  • 5 Reasons Selling Digital Products is the Perfect First Income Stream for Busy Moms

  • Recurring Income vs. One-Time Income: The Digital Product Edition

  • Mindset and Strategy: The Dynamic Duo for Online Business Success