At some point in their
lives, people ask themselves at least two difficult questions: Am I happy with
my work? and Should I change my career if I'm not?
If the answer to the
first question is no, think hard of the cause. You may likely be suffering from
burnout and that's temporary—usually this means you need some time off,
especially if you've been working for a long time without taking a much-needed
vacation.
Burnout from work
should be temporary. Should time-off fix the problem, then you're likely ok
staying in your present career. But, if you find yourself feeling restless and
many “what if” questions keep you up at night, maybe then you should consider changing your career.
After all, some of the
most popular people we know didn't start with their current careers. Get
your inspiration from these five people who became hugely successful after
switching jobs.
1. Jeff Bezos
Yes, the world's
richest man, founder, president and CEO of Amazon got to where he is now via a
career change. After graduating from Princeton with degrees in Electrical
Engineering and Computer Science, Bezos went ahead to become the IT guy at
Fitel, a fintech startup. He then became the head of customer service at
that company for a few years, until he made his first career switch to become a
product manager at Bankers Trust. He switched to one more job after a couple of
years; this time, a finance company that ran a hedge fund. Not long after
getting hired, Bezos became that company's fourth Senior VP at age 30.
It was after taking a
long road trip that Bezos thought of Amazon, but it initially was meant to be
an online bookstore. Bezos eventually expanded to other product lines,
borrowing billions from banks to expand. Now, Amazon is the largest online
shopping store in the world. The company hit the $1 trillion valuation mark
recently, right behind
Apple Inc. Not bad for a career change.
2. Harrison Ford
Devoted Star Wars fans
know him as the cheeky and gruff privateer with the 7-foot furry sidekick and
the fastest starship in the galaxy. But while Harrison Ford did start out in
film, it was behind the camera. Ford was a carpenter who was part of the crew that
built sets for a then-unknown space saga, with an even more obscure cast. A
producer who was a friend of Ford fooled him into reading for the part of Han
Solo, and Star Wars creator George Lucas, director, screenwriter and owner of
Lucasfilm Ltd., let him take a screen test.
Ford thought he was
only helping out his producer-friend, but Lucas seriously offered him the part.
At first, Harrison refused, citing how his $1000-a-week paycheck was too low,
but he eventually agreed. It's a good thing he changed both his mind and his
career as Ford's role as Han Solo established him as one of Hollywood's
royalty.
3. Colonel Harland Sanders
Affectionately known
as Colonel Sanders, Colonel Harland Sanders was born in the year 1890 in a town
called Henryville in Indiana. A hard worker all his life, the Colonel began as
a soldier in the US Army by lying about his age (he was only 16), only to be
honorably discharged a year later. Sanders then worked as a laborer to help put
up a railway, and he studied law as he worked. Unfortunately, he was laid off
and had his law career sabotaged—by himself. Sanders was a stubborn man who'd
occasionally get into fights, and that's how he lost these two jobs. After
those fiascoes, he lived with his mother while working as an insurance
salesman. This was another job that he lost due to insubordination. In 1920, he
put up a ferry boat company, which he then sold in the hopes of putting up a
lamp factory from the profits. Unfortunately, his competitor already had a
better lamp.
Sanders then became an
entrepreneur and sold chicken dishes at a service station, but that business
fell through after getting into a bad argument with a rival that turned into a
shootout. Some years later, Col. Sanders bought a motel and restaurant, but
both were razed by fire. He built a new motel sometime later, but had to close
it down as there were too few guests while World War 2 raged on.
Following the war,
Colonel Sanders drove all over, looking for people to buy franchises of his
restaurant and his “secret recipe” for “Kentucky Fried Chicken.” He was
rejected 1,009 times before landing a franchisee. Bad luck hit Sanders again,
and he was forced to sell his successful restaurant after an interstate highway
was put up near the property. Undeterred, Sanders put up other franchises of
his Kentucky Fried Chicken in the US and abroad. Once his brand had attained
some success, Colonel Sanders sold the company for $2 million. The Colonel's
legacy remains today, with 18,000 KFC stores serving his delicious chicken in
118 countries.
4. Alan Rickman
Before becoming one of
Hollywood's famous villains at the time, Hans Gruber of Die Hard fame, Alan
Rickman was a degree holder in Art from London's Royal College of Art. Rickman
would land a decent job as a graphic designer at a newspaper, then own a
graphic design studio with a couple of business partners. While he did enjoy
some success in his graphic design career, the acting bug bit him at an early
age. Rickman always considered his art degree as a fallback for his real dream
of becoming an actor. He wrote to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts for an
audition, and he was accepted as a student, eventually earning a second degree
in drama.
He took on a variety
of small theater roles for years, supporting himself mainly by working as a
costume maker for his fellow actors. Rickman finally landed a big role in his
40s. He was cast in the famous play Les Liasons Dangereuses, which would become
the hit Hollywood movie, Dangerous Liasons, starring John Malkovich and Glenn
Close. Ironically, Rickman wasn't picked to take his theater role to the big
screen version, but his breakthrough movie role would be Die Hard's Gruber as
foil to Bruce Willis' character. His other memorable roles after that would be
Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies and Harry, the Prime Minister's
brother-in-law in the now-classic rom-com, Love, Actually.
5. J. K. Rowling
Fans of the Harry
Potter series of books and movies will always lay praise on its creator, J.K.
Rowling, for both her creativity and her tenacity in overcoming adversity
before bringing Harry Potter to life. Born Joanne Rowling in Yate,
Gloucestershire in 1965, this now-successful author, film and TV producer,
screenwriter and philanthropist wasn't always so. Her idea for Harry Potter
came to her while waiting for a train to take her from Manchester to London.
That was in 1990, when she worked as a researcher and bilingual secretary for
Amnesty International. Rowling's life turned for the worse in 1997 when her
mother died, she got divorced and delivered her first child. Alone, jobless and
a single parent, she lived off state welfare and barely had money to feed
herself and her newborn. Rowling had always wanted to be an author, and being
unemployed allowed her to go to cafes and flesh out the Harry Potter stories
she wrote, with her baby daughter sleeping close by.
She had completed the
first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in 1995, but every
publisher she approached rejected it. It wasn't until a small publisher picked
up the book four years later that she made money, a small advance amounting to
£2,500. Her first book would go on to sell over 300,000 copies. Then in 2001,
Warner Bros. Studios bought the rights for the first two books to be made into
movies, and the first movie grossed almost $1 billion in the box office
worldwide. Rowling became the first author to be worth over a billion dollars,
but she gave away a large portion of her money to charity, and has since
established charities to fund a variety of causes.
If there's anything to
be learned from these people, switching careers can be risky, but any price is
worth it if it means being happy. Notice that these people who decided to
change careers didn't mind the work involved, nor did they care about their
age. Reaching their goals and pursuing their passions are what mattered most to
them, and success naturally followed.
There are many
alternative careers for you to pursue, and that includes teaching others how to
succeed in their present career, or succeed in a new one. By this, we mean
learning how to become a leadership coach. Cliche as it sounds, it's never too late
to switch careers and become successful.