The American South, Part 3: The Career Change
In the last seven years, I made two major, life-altering career changes. One was a professional bucket list item, the other I never saw coming.
Back in early 2015, I was transitioning into a new promotion in my career that was incredibly large in scale and scope and involved worldwide travel (including an extended summer living in Hong Kong) – simply put, a dream job for me. But along with it came some incredibly hard, low points including a soul-crushing reduction in workforce with my team and being diagnosed with breast cancer that required an aggressive treatment plan.
By the time I made it to 2016, I knew I was languishing. I had been hyper focused on the imperfections of my body due to the disease and treatment, and I knew I needed an external distraction. At the time, our home was about 10 years old and due for a refresh. This was the perfect side project, but I had no idea where to start or even the vernacular to use to describe what my vision was. Eventually I connected with a designer and we got started.
It was the worst remodel project ever and I loved every minute of it!
By the end my husband and I were functioning as the GC, and while the experience was tough, I found that my years of running a large corporate business had paid off. I got first-hand experience in the home design and construction process while flexing my project and people management skills. Something about the two things together clicked.
Our family home’s kitchen before and after the renovation. While I may be a professional designer now, I am by no means a professional photographer. One of my first business lessons learned - always have a project professionally shot!
Like many remodel stories, our Phase I refresh led to a Phase II and Phase III. I found that I enjoyed the design process as much as I loved the finished project. I knew I could just keep going, but remodeling our own home was too expensive of a hobby, and frankly I’d run out of space. I was also still doing my large corporate job and trying to squeeze in family time with my two teenage boys and husband. A side hustle simply wasn’t feasible in the moment, but what I could continue to do was to build skills. I enrolled in evening classes for the more technical design skills: drawing plans and elevations, understanding code requirements and ADA fundamentals, learning how to generate revenue on various design services, etc.
Over the next five years, I continued to grow and move upward in my career, eventually becoming the CEO for a same-day delivery company.
At the same time, I had continued to soul search about what role I wanted design to play in my daily life. During this period of time, I worked on interior design projects for family members, designed our new family home, and worked on designing for some investment homes. I would squeeze this work in during evenings and weekends where I would lose myself for hours in the work. I couldn’t shake the feeling of excitement and bliss that it brought me. I was hooked.
I could get lost in the work of pulling together design inspiration and for that moment when all the pieces seemed to finally click!
By 2021 I knew it was time to start the next chapter of my life and career with a focus on design. We all know how few women are represented in CEO positions, especially within the tech sector, so I did not take my decision to give it up lightly. I hoped that the mentorship I’d been able to provide to other women along the way would help usher in a new generation of female executives. The departure was bittersweet, but I felt confident in the decision because of the work I had put into the transition over the years. This work was critical in allowing me to pursue a passion I couldn’t have told you a decade ago I even had.
Here are a few of the keys to my approach for starting the next chapter in my professional and personal life:
Skill Building: I knew how to run a business based on a successful career for a large retailer, but I didn’t have the specific design knowledge like how to create a space plan, draw construction plans, specify interior architectural details, etc. To learn, I took classes and worked on smaller scope projects, expanding the size of the projects as my knowledge expanded. The combination of classes with hands-on experience grew my skills. This was important to me because I am a curious learner and I respect the need for education in whatever form it takes. I knew having a “good design eye” was not nearly enough to qualify me as a designer or set me up for success in this new business structure.
Business Branding: Taking the time to work with other design professionals to nail down a polished and authentic brand was key. From there came a professional website, business cards and all the little things that make it feel real!
Financial Planning: In my 30’s I set up a “I want to spend my time differently” fund to allow for a change in lifestyle or for following a passion without sacrificing our primary financial goals. By developing a business plan, forecasting, saving for startup costs and the cash burn you usually experience in years one and two, and being willing to make trade off choices along the way, I was able to leave my corporate job early in order to start this next chapter.
Career Coaching: I leveraged one-on-one career coaches to help me articulate my purpose and what I wanted for the next chapter. When you’re starting a solo business, it’s so helpful to have an outside, impartial person to bounce ideas off of and get feedback from. I also listened to a variety of podcasts to understand what goes into starting a design business.
It’s now been six months since I left my role as CEO and have been working on Regarding Design full-time. Most days I wake up energized, excited and so grateful to be in this place. But there are some days I wonder “what did I just do?!?” I left a role I enjoyed, a team I loved and a company I have the utmost respect for to open up what sometimes seems like a little lemonade stand compared to my last position. On top of this, I’ve started a home design business at the start of a housing pullback and potential recession. But regardless of all this, and no matter what happens, I would do it all over again.
If you’re thinking about making a major life change, here’s my humble advice:
Know your why. Work hard at unearthing and articulating exactly why you are yearning for this change. Identifying this early on can help you focus your pursuits OR pivot in areas that don’t align with your why.
Determine if it’s a hobby or a calling. We all have things we enjoy doing – gardening, embroidery, running, woodworking. But that doesn’t necessarily mean we need to turn them into a career. When you’re doing this thing you enjoy, ask yourself whether you just really like doing it when you have time or if it’s a calling that feeds your soul and makes you hungry for more work.
Take the new life for a test run. Build your skills and start small. Surround yourself with other people doing what you want to do. Ask them questions, maybe even see if they can let you shadow them for a bit. This allows you to see if you love it as much as you think you do before fully committing.
Create the conditions for your calculated risk. For me, this was financial planning for the business investment and a timeline. Those are the things that made me feel secure and confident in moving forward. For others it may be thinking through a daily schedule, identifying a business partner or investor, or nailing down a perfect location. Figure out the safety net that works for you and allows you to move forward with confidence.