Awesome Career Leap is a personal project. I am not sure if there are Filipinos who would be willing to pay for a webinar on career shifting or how to design your career at work.
My interest is from frequent conversations with friends. We often talked about how one gets promoted at work. I am more of a listener since I never got promoted at work. I moved by promoting myself from one career to another. And when I join these conversations, it has something more to do with what makes a person employable.
My Career Leaps
Many times, I consider myself unemployable. But then, that’s not really true. I was an excellent employee. I gave the extra mile every time. The problem was that I started in teaching, an industry where the likelihood of promotion is less likely if you are in a small school. Or if you don’t enjoy politics.
Let’ me tell you about how I jumped from one career to another.
It took me three years to pivot to a new career. I was a passionate teacher, but I knew that I wanted to be more. I chose to remain in the academe even though I was gravitating toward something else.
I was making a difference. Teaching is an inspiring and meaningful job. Helping students learn and transform was my greatest reward.
Truth be told, I never wanted to become a teacher.
Before I got hired for my first teaching job, I planned to be a human rights lawyer. Teaching was a temporary job.
But teaching charmed me.
After a year, I enrolled in a Master of Arts in Teaching program at the Central Colleges of the Philippines.
For the first time in my life, I took studying seriously. I got 1.0 for my first seven subjects.
I took the LET and passed.
But I never finished my MAT. I was bored to death studying educational theories.
In 2004, I decided to leave the academe to become a motivational speaker.
I was inspired by the writings of Og Mandino, Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, and Les Brown. And I wanted to speak like Pagsi.
I imagined it to be easy for me. I was a seminarian, an activist, and a teacher. I was used to speaking in front of a crowd.
But I was not getting anywhere, so I took some tutorial jobs to get by.
I started blogging.
Every week, I sent dozens of letters to school principals to offer my speaking services for free. Speaking for free is something that many motivational speakers do when they are just starting.
But no one was interested.
My friends told me that I committed a huge mistake because schools do not pay speakers.
My family did not say anything though they could not understand what I was trying to do.
No one knows how a motivational speaker earns a living.
After three months, I applied for another teaching job as a high school teacher. After six months, I took a college teaching job.
I knew that I was afraid.
I knew that I would regret it if I would not give myself the chance to follow my passion.
It was clear that I wanted to become like John Maxwell and Les Brown and Pagsi. To become a motivational speaker is a career leap I must make.
I was wrong.
During that time, I had no idea about consulting, coaching, keynote speaking, and all the other professions we never learned in school.
In 2006, I left the academe again.
For more than a year, I tried everything I read about selling, marketing, personal branding, positioning, and so on.
I ate rejections every day and met frustrations at every turn.
I needed clients, not only to prove that I did the right thing. I had bills to pay and family to support.
Every rejection confirmed what I had heard from naysayers: I made a big mistake.
I was not even sure if what I was doing was because I was courageous and gutsy — or I was just stubborn and stupid.
There were times that I felt like an imposter. There were days when I chose to do nothing.
I had given up many times.
And I started again each time I quit.
So, I completely understand why many people stopped pursuing their dream jobs.
I understand why people keep the jobs they hate rather than get the jobs they love.
The stakes are high.
People have good reasons for avoiding career transitions.
Mario said that at 40, he does not want to start again. The dream of starting a business is still there. However, he needs a stable job. He does not want to fail.
Ruby left the corporate world 15 years ago to be a full-time mom. She wants to use her college education, but she felt that the world has changed and she was left behind. She does not know where to start.
Romeo is a school teacher and guidance counselor. He wants to become a motivational speaker. He joined a professional speakers association and has been networking with other speakers. But he said he is not ready to leave his teaching job because he is not yet ready.
Janine is an executive at a BPO company. She is happy with her job. But she has always dreamed about becoming a novelist. I first heard about her dream 15 years ago. She told me recently that the desire to write her first novel is still there, but she is too busy to write.
Many of us are looking for ways to realize our potentials and fulfill our biggest dreams. But they don’t know where to start. Or they don’t dare to get started.
I want to help.
If you want to do a career leap, I want you to know that you can. You can do it better than I did.
You can learn from my experiences. You don’t have to commit the same mistakes I did. Instead, you will create better mistakes.
I did not have anyone to guide me. This is why, this time, I want to serve as a guide, a coach, and a confidante to those who want to make an awesome career leap.
I may launch this webinar in June 2023, or perhaps earlier. It may take some time before you get to join. But it won’t be bad to be in the priority lane.
You may also contact me via lifelong.learners@jefmenguin.com