7 Tips for Successful Career Change for People with Creative Brains who Feel Stuck

Feeling stuck in your career is a common experience, especially for creatives and entrepreneurs. The unique wiring of your creative brain, with its hunger for novelty, variety, and self-expression, can actually make career stagnation even more frustrating. Boredom, burnout, underutilization of your skills, and lack of diverse challenges can quickly kill your creative spark. If you're a creative feeling stuck and yearning for a career change, read on.

Have you been daydreaming about a different path? Questioning whether you should leave your current role altogether? Perhaps you've considered taking on a new role in that other department, but you hesitate. You've heard the manager there is stiff and very structured, and you're afraid the work will be boring, and you'll quickly tire of it. Or maybe you want more and crave a deeper sense of meaning and purpose in your work.

These are common dilemmas for creatives. I know because I've been supporting creatives in getting unstuck from unfulfilling careers for the past decade, and this guide will help you navigate these questions and create a fulfilling career change for yourself.

1. Understand Why You Feel Stuck:

• Acknowledge the unique challenges: It's important to recognize that the needs of your creative brain might not be met in a traditional work environment. Repetitive tasks, rigid structures, and limited opportunities for innovation can lead to feelings of frustration and underwhelm – what I call the "creative bore-out." This is particularly true for creative generalists who thrive on variety and the ability to apply their diverse skills.

• Ask yourself:

  1. Am I experiencing burnout from overwork or bore-out from under-stimulation?

  2. Is my broad skillset fully utilized, or am I pigeonholed into a narrow role?

  3. Do I have enough autonomy and flexibility to express my creativity?

Take my client Sarah. A talented graphic designer with a wide range of creative interests who felt stuck in her role at a large agency. The work was repetitive: even though she has a masters in graphic design, the only thing she was asked to do was typesetting commercial brochures and posting about them on social media. She wasn't given the autonomy to truly express her creative vision. Through self-reflection, she realized she needed more variety and ownership over her projects to be happy. This led her to launch a successful freelance design business, where she now enjoys the freedom and flexibility to pursue projects inspiring projects she can be passionate about.

2. Envision Your Creative Career Ideal:

• Clarify your creative vision: Go beyond simply identifying your passions and interests and how they could serve you at work. Imagine your ideal creative ecosystem. What kind of projects excite you? What impact do you want to make? What level of autonomy and flexibility do you need to thrive? For creative generalists, this might involve a portfolio career or a role that allows cross-disciplinary collaboration, which, luckily, is more and more in demand today!

Consider Mark, an entrepreneur who felt trapped in his own business. While he had built a successful company, the day-to-day operations had become monotonous and sucked up all of his time, and he longed to return to his true passion: computers and bringing knowledge about them to the world. By clarifying his creative vision, he was able to restructure his business, delegate routine tasks, and reclaim his time to work on the new chapter in his entrepreneurial life. Watch out, world, something incredible is coming!

3. Explore Paths to a Fulfilling Career Change:

Sometimes, career change means staying in your job but redefining it or transitioning to a different role within the same company or structure. If you're feeling stuck or unfulfilled in your current job, consider talking to your manager about taking on new projects or responsibilities that align with the needs of your creative brain. You could also look for courses and training opportunities to expand your skillset and open new career paths.

• Reimagine your current role: Can you be more creative in your current job? Explore opportunities to craft a new job, propose new initiatives, or look for projects that align with your passions.

• Embrace the entrepreneurial spirit: If your current environment can't accommodate your creative needs, consider alternative paths. Freelancing, consulting, or launching your own business might offer the freedom and flexibility you crave. This can be especially appealing for creative generalists like many of my clients, who thrive on variety and autonomy.

• Ask yourself:

  1. Can I negotiate more autonomy or variety within my current role?

  2. Is it time to explore alternative career paths or entrepreneurial ideas?

4. Cultivate Your Creative Community:

• Connect with other creatives: Surround yourself with a supportive network of creatives who understand the unique challenges and joys of the creative journey and living with a creative brain. Share ideas, collaborate on projects, and find inspiration in each other's work.

5. Invest in Creative Growth:

I've witnessed the power of creative investment many times. My client Maria, a writer and poet, felt stuck in her career as a communications manager for a big soda brand. She decided to invest in a writing workshop focused on a new genre and to attend slam poetry contests. This changed everything for her. Her passion for writing led to a successful career change as a full-time freelance writer and published poet.

6. Take Action to Get Unstuck:

• Break free from fear, worry, and "just thinking about it": Creatives often struggle with self-doubt and perfectionism, which create difficult-to-escape cycles of overthinking and worry. Don't let these fears hold you back. Take the leap, experiment, and embrace the messy, imperfect uniqueness of the creative process.

• Ask yourself:

  1. What small step can I take to move closer to my creative goals today? Once you have it, DM me on Instagram or LinkedIn and let me know!

  2. How can I overcome my fear of failure and embrace creative risk-taking?

7. Embrace Unconventional (Creative!) Strategies for Career Change:

• Side Hustle Exploration: A side hustle can be a playground for your creativity, allowing you to experiment with new ideas and build a portfolio while maintaining financial stability from your day job. Nothing is set in stone, so as long as you keep costs low and have fun while developing your idea, you have nothing to lose. And remember, you can always change your mind!

• Creative Sabbatical: Take a break from your routine to recharge your creative batteries, travel, explore new interests, and return to work with a fresh perspective. It doesn't need to be a month or a year. Even a few hours or a long walk can be enough! I've had one-day sabbaticals that gave me the best ideas for my business.

For creatives, entrepreneurs, and creative generalists in particular, feeling stuck in your career can be exactly what you need to finally get up and change.

By understanding and focusing on the unique needs of your creative brain, embracing self-reflection, and taking bold action, you can get unstuck and unlock new levels of fulfillment, purpose, and creative expression. Now, get off the couch and take that first step!

Ready to get unstuck and create a career that will keep your creative brain happy and engaged?

I can help. As a career and business coach for creatives, I am dedicated to helping you bring more joy, purpose, and success into your career while giving you the tools to understand your creative brain better.

You deserve fulfilling and sustainable work that allows you to thrive creatively and financially. Are you ready?

Schedule your free session!

How to Create a Portfolio Career as a Creative Generalist

Throughout my life, I never set out to stay doing the same thing for too long. It’s always been my dream to live in NYC, for instance, and while it might not happen for a while, it makes me think about how I organize my life and career into buckets and how unusual that is for entrepreneurs. Most people I meet think they have to stick to one career for their entire lives, but really, we have the power to change and evolve whenever we want. 

In my coaching business, I hear all the time how my clients are being pulled in all these different directions and they don’t understand how to rationalize their innate need to do different things, take on different roles, with society’s need to settle them into a specific box. For instance, doctors aren’t supposed to be coffee shop owners who sit on the board for toy companies. And entrepreneurs who own companies that distribute luxury amenities aren’t also supposed to have kitchen cabinets importing businesses…right? 

Well, why not? Why can’t we do everything we dream of doing and every opportunity that comes our way that lights a spark inside of us? 

Here’s the truth: we can. And I help clients do it every day.

Take my own story for instance, my career portfolio includes business and career coaching, writing books, speaking engagements, investing in small businesses, and creating new businesses - like my conference in the fall and my soon-to-be-launched Creative Generalist Network (more to come on that below!). And before that, even though I went to university to pursue a masters’ degree in philosophy and ended up working for, and founding, several web agencies.

The path we are on right now doesn’t have to be the path we stay on forever. There is no shame in jumping around - in fact, it’s empowering. This need for variety is what makes us creative generalists. We were never meant to fit into the classic 9-to-5 life, and when we fully embrace our creative generalism, we have a leg up when it comes to pursuing our dream career paths! 

So how do we pursue a portfolio career that bolsters our ability to excel as creative generalists? 

1. Various income streams. Have various income streams so that as you flow between the different roles, you never have to sacrifice your wants for your needs. You might try adding to your earned income with investments, online courses that require upfront effort to create but quickly produce passive income, and freelance consulting. However you choose to gain income, there’s power in having multiple streams at your disposal. 

2. Don’t choose, combine. Stop trying to choose a particular career or project, learn to combine them. The beauty of a portfolio career is that there are no rules. You can do anything you want! (This is one of my superpowers. Let’s talk if you want help with this!)

3. Talent stack. Figure out your talents and skills and start stacking them to create a sweet spot that will raise your value in whatever field you’re interested in. For instance, if you are a copywriter who is also an audio engineer, pitch your talent to a podcast production company looking for a marketing guru who can also clean and treat the sound on the rough recordings.

4. Learn new skills. Are you a web designer who’s always been interested in teaching ballet classes to preschoolers? Or a college student studying molecular biology who also wants to write fiction novels about underwater gateways to other planets? Whatever it is that you think you might enjoy, go after it. Never stop learning. Go where your inspiration takes you! 

5. Stay open-minded. You never know what you might learn from other people’s perspectives. Staying open-minded allows you to connect easily with others, building networks, and furthering your work and life in ways you might not expect.

6. Find a work-life balance. While individuals in mono-type roles don’t have to worry about their work invading their personal lives, creative generalists do. Our work is so varied and flexible, that sometimes that flexibility works against us, allowing business to bleed into our personal lives. The best way to combat this is to create a work-life balance that is sustainable to maintain. 

7. Embrace change. Instead of trying to fit into a particular role, embrace jumping from role to role. The beauty of a portfolio career is that you don’t have to stick with the traditional career path, which includes sticking it out in a business or job you hate. Feel free to shake things up!

8. Find your community. Creative generalists tend to be isolated because of the solitary nature of their careers and work versatility, but finding your community is the best way to help you succeed. As a creative generalist myself, I created the Creative Generalist Network to help my clients and readers engage with like-minded individuals who will help them find inspiration and opportunities to grow. 

9. Understand your why. Many people fall into a portfolio career, while others plan extensively for them. Either way, you should know why you are pursuing it now. Do you want more flexibility? Do you want to pursue every idea you’ve ever had? By knowing your why, you will be able to identify your creative generalist values more easily, which will in turn help you create the life you’ve always dreamed of!

10. Keep at it. Don’t give up when things get tough or confusing. Keep going and know that it will happen. The roles will come. The income will flow. And the fulfillment and success will bloom. 

Building a portfolio career - like we generalists like to call it - is a lot easier than you think. There’s no need to toil away at work you don’t enjoy, or to sift through ideas and goals until you find the one most acceptable by the internet. You can have multiple passions or interests, pursue them all, and be better for it. It’s a lot more beneficial to your soul! When our work is aligned with our hopes, dreams, wants and needs, we can achieve anything.

Take small steps everyday and before you know it, the life you want will be right in front of you.

Scared to embrace your portfolio career?

Stepping outside the “norm” can feel overwhelming for anyone, especially if you’re a creative generalist with a streak of perfectionism. But pursuing your portfolio career is less about nonconformity and more about embracing who you are inside.

You were never meant to sit in a job or career you don’t enjoy. It’s time to follow that little voice inside you that tells you it wants more, it needs more…it deserves more. So stop limiting yourself. In our coaching sessions, I not only help you take that first step towards the life you actually want, but I help you build a roadmap to the exact spot you want to land!

Schedule your free session!