Exit a Dead-End Job 6: Find Related Outside Opportunities

This continues our series to help all of you who feel trapped in a dead-end job to find an exit

Sally found herself trapped in a dead-end job. She worked hard and delivered great productivity and quality. She worked to get the education the company required for advancement. She anticipated being promoted to branch manager when her branch manager retired. Instead management brought in an outside manager. Sally decided to take some of her skills and start a part-time business. Her business flourished and gave her a venue for her creativity and satisfaction.

Opportunities to Use Your Motivated Skills

Never have as many opportunities existed to find ways to use your skills outside of, but related to, your job. Today’s information/technology world requires little capital to start microenterprises, moonlight, or earn money. True, security suffers and risk increases, but can still be managed.

Ensure that your outside opportunity uses your motivated skills—and does not conflict with your career values—or you will find it unsatisfying nor rewarding. I do not have space to list all the opportunities to use all of the skills. However, some opportunities include:

• Contracting for projects on Elance, Guru, or other project or freelance web sites provide paid work for graphic designers, web designers, typists, editors, programmers, marketers, and other skills
• Work from home on your off hours for employers listed on RatRaceRebellion and other web sites (Though do not click on the ads. They are not screened.) for tutoring, accounting, legal, secretarial, call center, writing, graphic design, and IT skills
• Create or buy products and sell them on Ebay, Etsy, or other specialty sales sights
• Write, blog, or record something related to your skills and sell it through CD or Book Baby, monetization, or just for fun and fulfillment

Cautions about Conflict of Interest

Carefully review your employer’s policies about intellectual property, conflict of interest, and other restrictions the company may place upon your after-hour or creative efforts. Make sure they do not own all your thinking or products.

Monday we review how you can let your current job pay for fulfillment unrelated to your job