Entrepreneurship
Multi-Path Career
Passions
I was a permanent, full-time employee for industry icon KPMG for more than twenty years. For many of those years, I never contemplated any other option. Corporate life was stable, comfortable, and rewarding. Why introduce risk?
To put all your eggs in one basket is to risk everything.
Security alone is a compelling reason for building a multi-path career. If you have multiple career paths, if one takes a sideways turn you can turn down a different path. If not this then that … or that.
I remember the pressure to choose a career path in high school, and have seen the same pressure with my own kids.
I don’t believe it’s realistic for high school students to choose what they want to do for the rest of their life. Many of us at middle age or beyond are still trying to figure that out.
Why do you have to choose?
A multi-path career allows you to organically pursue multiple interests at the same time, enabling you to play to your analytical skills in one role, your artistic abilities in another, and your leadership capability in yet another.
Pursuing multiple interests simultaneously allows you to embrace your whole self and can lead to a great sense of fulfillment and eliminate the frustration that can sometimes grow as a result of pushing an area of passion to the sideline in favour of a career that pays the bills.
As my career coach Dev says, “Do what you need so that you can do what you want until you can do what you were meant to do”.
For some of us, it’s not just about having multiple interests; it’s about how it makes us feel to pursue them.
In any given week, I’m moving my children’s charity forward, chasing funding for my prebiotic soda company, working on research projects for the technology innovation consultancy, and yes, still managing KPMG’s largest business-sponsored portfolio.
It energizes and challenges me to move between multiple career paths. And each career path is enriched because of the others.
Leverage helps you go further, faster
When I’m researching funding options for the soda company, I learn about opportunities that can benefit my children’s charity, in addition to the innovation consultancy and our clients.
I leverage my non-profit experience and passion when I’m designing and executing the corporate social responsibility strategy for the soda company.
My experience launching multiple start-ups positions me well to coach new entrepreneurs, and to speak and advocate from a place of first-hand knowledge on the challenges facing small businesses.
At most networking events, I establish contacts for multiple career paths.
Working as an Executive Producer in the film industry has built an entirely new network and set of skills, including how to build a recoupment model for private investors and even structure a winning Dragons’ Den pitch, which is now coming back into play as we pitch the Dragons for the soda company.
My KPMG experience provides me with leadership, management, coaching, mentoring, portfolio and project management expertise built on best practices, which benefits everything.
And I can go on and on. The number of leverage points between the multiple career paths has probably been one of the most surprising outcomes of my multi-path career journey.
When you pursue a multi-path career, you will be amazed and inspired by the network of incredible individuals you meet who are also pursuing this career path. I wouldn’t be writing this blog if wasn’t certain that there were so many of you looking for a more fulfilling, flexible and rewarding career option.
I meet new people every day and although within our individual portfolio careers we are pursuing diverse interests for different reasons, overall we are pursing the same thing.
Individuals with multi-path careers are by their nature positive, driven, achievers. And energy and ideas are amplified when you bring these like-minded individuals together. Accountability is also increased. I meet with one of my multi-path career friends once a week for dedicated working time on our respective projects, and we both meet with two others weekly to talk about our progress and challenges and to talk through our challenges and opportunities. We have a set agenda and takeaways from each meeting. And you can be assured that I make sure that I can report progress at each meeting.
As with any relationship, if you focus on making these relationships mutually beneficial, you’ll give and gain much more than you could have imagined.
Flexibility
I can’t imagine going back to a permanent, full-time job now. Even the thought of it constrains my brain. Right now I’m in Niagara Falls overlooking this spectacular view while my family is asleep in our room upstairs. I’m happy as a clam because I’m doing what I want when I want. When they finally wake up and find me here, I’ll head for a nice leisurely breakfast with them. Yesterday before they woke up I met my business partner Darren just five minutes away from the hotel and we auditioned to pitch our soda company on the upcoming Dragons’ Den season. Today on our drive home I’ll work on another blog. And tomorrow, I’ll meet with two incredible organizations Crazy D’s is looking to sponsor, start promoting our next Lonny’s Smile fundraiser, and have what I know will be an amazing dinner meeting for our innovation consultancy with a business partner and one of our visiting team members from Atlanta. It’s not an unusual week. It’s my multi-path career.
What About You?
Does this kind of career, this life appeal to you? If it kind of terrifies or overwhelms you, that’s okay too. It certainly did when I first set out on this journey. I wanted to do it; I just didn’t know where to start.
The first step is to identify if it’s for you. Think about how I’ve described the benefits of having a multi-path career. The details, the stories aren’t as important as what they represent. Your portfolio career may be vastly different from mine.
Does the ‘why’ of a multi-path career ring true to you? If so, what about it appeals to you the most? Write down your hopes and dreams. Be specific. I want to …
- Invest energy into doing something for myself.
- Take advantage of a business opportunity.
- Make my ideas happen.
- Apply my skills and experience to something I love.
- Build a better quality of life for my family.
- Restructure my life in a way that will give me greater freedom and fulfillment.
- Figure out how my personal passions can make me money.
- Wake up every day and feel excited about what I do for a living.
Be honest and take time for this part, because it’s fundamental to everything that will follow. And if after reading this, you decide that a multi-path career isn’t for you, then that’s okay too. Just make sure that it’s because it doesn’t appeal to you, not because you’re afraid or because there are obstacles in your path. Because we can deal with the pains and fears, and we can kick those obstacles to the curb.
