Today's prompt from Rebecca over at Florence Finds for her #JanuaryJoy series, is to 'refocus on your career'.
Regular readers will know that I have a PhD and I'm a part-time scientist... and my blog is my creative outlet that I write in my spare time.
I've dipped my toes into other careers over the years... retail, hospitality, photography... but science was always my strong subject and it seemed sensible to pursue a job in this field.
I don't know many people who have swapped their career, but one person that sprung to mind was Steve over at Cherry Tree Films.
Steve was the videographer for my wedding, and the wedding films he creates are just amazing (I'd definitely recommend them, and a few of my friends have since used Steve for their weddings). Anyway, Steve has a degree in Biology and worked for 8 years in the pharmaceutical industry before turning his hobby into a business.
I'm not saying I want to completely change my career... I spent 8 years training to do what I do (5 years at uni for my first degree, and then another 3 for my PhD) and so far I've only been working in the 'real world' for 6 years.
My current employer is brilliant and I've been so lucky in that respect. My hours are flexible and at the moment I'm working part-time.
What concerns me are the next 2 years whilst I juggle nursery & school runs with the kids dad. I'm hoping it will become easier once they're both at school, which will be August 2016.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a lottery win (what are the chances??) and then I can pursue one of my dream jobs, like opening a cupcake cafe/gift shop or working on the CBeebies show 'Nina & The Neurons'!
Thanks for your kind words Sarah!
ReplyDeleteI think the biggest motivator for me to leave the Pharma industry was to look after our young son. Time with him just seemed that little more important than spending all hours out working for someone else! I was lucky to be able to juggle both 'lives' for a while until I had built up my business to a point where I could hit the ground running, plus some serious saving in the previous year helped!
It was a pretty hard few months and scary as hell, but looking back it is without a doubt THE best thing I have ever done (apart from marrying Yvonne, and then having our son Callum of course!).
I think we actually work longer and harder now that we ever did in our 'old' jobs but the motivation to work for yourself is so much more powerful and we have an amazing amount of flexibility to work around a schedule that suits us, and that allows us to prioritise family.
I think we're considered a little odd by some of our son's friends parents who do the whole Mon-Fri 9-5 corporate thing. Still, being able to take 2-3 weeks of a Christmas is awesome :D
I've been very lucky to have been able to make this career change, and to get to do something I totally love...!! :)
I hope we'll continue to grow and enjoy this awesome job for many years to come, although I still reckon there will be ANOTHER career change before retirement looms... (grand plans, but not for at least another decade yet ;)
Good luck Sarah! :)
Steve
Cherry Tree Films