Career Advice: Do What's Easy NOT What Drives You INSANE!
"Do what's easy for you. If it's easy, you'll do it well; if you do it well, you'll succeed. Don't go where it's difficult, because you'll compete with others who [have it] easy. Go with what you feel confident and strong in. That, to me, is one of the best pieces of advice I could give you," she told the audience (Stephanie Saltzman, Fashionista.com 2016)
Saltzman quoted costume designer Patricia Field who nails it in her quote to do what is easy…
Early in my career, I was informed of the career path of a photo stylist and I remember thinking “woah, that’s a job? I can do that no problem”! The more I went with it and pretended to know what I was doing the more opportunities I started to get which seemed kind of too good to be true! One thing led to another and I had some family and health stuff go down and needed to gain stability in a career and a steady income (most of my early career was freelance work). I ended up getting involved in recruiting and yearned for my old styling work everyday. Once life came together a bit more, I quit that job (it was a horrible work environment and I needed out of there) so, I landed a role at a photo studio doing project management.
I KNEW Project Management was not my strength but it seemed like a great opportunity to gain confidence in skills I was lacking in. That said, I am a bit torn on what I would recommend here… While I do believe it was great I got to gain confidence in these areas, I think I could have done that while staying true to my career path and goals. I have felt like I have been struggling to be average in this job since I started and I am someone who is competitive and very passionate about my work. I don’t feel like I can be either of those in this current role and it drains me every day. Some people thrive in this day-to-day but I know this is not for me. That said, I am getting back out there to help others avoid making this same mistake by providing insight into these career paths and how to follow your dreams and make them a reality.
I also find that coaching is something that comes super easy to me along with interviewing and networking in general. That said, bring on the interviews and bring on the next discovery phase of my career!
Is it too late for me to discover what I want to do for my career? I mean so many people enter into their careers and start climbing the latter at age 25… I’m 30 years old and am still at the cusp of figuring out really want industry I even want in. CRAP. But, maybe not. Just time to start networking again and figuring out where all my experience and strengths lend to :D
I want to shed light on how others in creative roles have identified their strengths and paired those with a particular career path. I will come at all of this with a refreshing boldness and will cut through the BS. If someone I am interviewing gives me a surface level answer, best believe I will dig into that! I want my audience to learn… I mean really learn from these interviews if I’m going to put in the effort to conduct them.
Get ready to learn from talented creatives in the workforce today from fashion to design and advertising. I hope you learn from this and are able to identify where you want to take your career and how to do that!!
