Why I spent $1,545 on SEO courses.

I just spent $1,545 on SEO courses.

Is $1,545 a lot of money? Yes.

Is $1,545 relatively a lot of money? If I do what I say I'm going to, hopefully not.

Here’s why.

Overcommitting forces me to do something.

If I know there's something I want to do, but for whatever reason, I am hesitant about taking the next step, I overcommit by doing the one thing I otherwise try and avoid. I spend money — enough to make it hurt.

After some initial success launching my DTC brand, Liip, I overcommitted by ordering 10,000 lip balm tubes because I knew that would make me take it seriously and turn it into a business. I did it again with Liip when I started paying for ads before I knew how to run them so I would learn how to do it profitably.

If I didn't overcommit, I know I would spend too much time thinking, researching, and analyzing whatever I want to do to the point that it's no longer interesting to me or I've missed the opportunity.

So, for me, I sometimes simply need to force myself to commit to what I say I want to do by raising the stakes and putting some money on the line.

Right now, that's how I'm learning SEO.

And I don't just want to learn it, but start implementing it so I can make my money back.

Ideally, I'll earn back quite a bit more than my $1,545 investment. The upside could be limitless.

My plan is to use Liip as a playground to test what I learn and prove to myself I can do this kind of work. Then eventually, I'll offer SEO and content marketing services to other companies. Doing this is another step in my evolution as I work toward what I really want to be doing.

My path toward SEO and content marketing.

I got into advertising because I wanted to learn how to grow businesses.

Now, I've seen a lot of the creative side and how to produce work, but the problem with agencies is that they don't want to be tied to revenue or growth goals because it's never a sure thing if their work is going to affect the bottom line or not. But with SEO and content marketing, I think I can do that where the content I create can be directly attributed to revenue and the metrics that signal business growth.

So, that's why I'm doing this, and I'll get there eventually, but first, here are the courses I bought, why I chose them, and how I'm going to put them to work.

And, like I said, I've worked at advertising agencies for over seven years. First, as a project manager, and more recently, as a content strategist. 

The only reason I bring this up is to say I'm not entirely unfamiliar with content marketing and SEO, just that I don't have a ton of experience creating and implementing it myself. Which is what I'm trying to fix with these courses.

Three reasons why I choose paid courses over resources I could find for free.

One. I know I can probably find all of the info in these courses online for free. I don't doubt that for a second. But I also know I would probably have to spend a lot more time searching for it and having to decide for myself what's reputable or not. Paying for this information gives me a shortcut to validated, high-quality content. The point is to implement these strategies as fast as possible, not just reading and thinking.

Second. I could have picked one of these courses to start with and then gotten another once I completed the first. And if I were just starting or unsure if I wanted to do this, then that'd be the way to go. But I know this is what I want to do, and by having these three courses, I've defined a curriculum and removed having to make decisions about how I will learn. Knowing where my information is coming from means, I won't have to think about anything other than going through the courses and practicing what I'm learning.

Third. The whole point of this article. I'm committed. Now it's on me to figure this out and make my investment worthwhile.

My SEO curriculum.

For what it's worth, I did take one SEO course, Nat Eliason's SEO for Solopreneurs, earlier this year before I purchased these other three. So I did do the thing I said above about starting with one to see if this is something I'd want to explore further. That and I've been reading a bunch of free articles, which I'll have to share the best of another time.

I guess I got to a point where if I wanted to take this seriously, I would have to do something to get to the next level.

So here are the three courses I bought, why I chose them, and what I hope to get out of them.

Also, they're in the order I'm going to take them if that matters to you.

Lean SEO by Pat Walls - $249.

I first heard about Pat Walls and Lean SEO on the 30 Minutes of Growth podcast a few months ago.

I'd been thinking about trying out content marketing with Liip but wasn't sure how much time or money I'd need to invest if I wanted to do it right. But, from my work experience and a general sense of things, it seemed like it'd be a lot. And mainly a lot of time because I wasn't going to pay other people to write for me. At least not yet. I like writing, and I think I'm ok to somewhat good at it, but it's something I have to work at as it doesn't come easily to me.

So when I heard Pat Walls talking about his Lean SEO method, I was intrigued.

His idea to take the minimum viable product concept from startups and adapt it to content made sense to me.

Lean SEO is a content strategy that runs minimum viable content tests for 30 days. After which, you evaluate how things are going, tweak what you can, cut what's not working, and double down on what is.

The point is to not waste time on things you don't know will work or not.

I know SEO is a long game, but as I'm just getting started, the quicker I can see results in my analytics, the better, which is exactly what Lean SEO promises to teach. Not that it will guarantee results, but that I will learn a framework to quickly and effectively test and validate my content ideas.

SEO Blueprint 2 by Glen Allsopp - $597.

In addition to growing my businesses, part of the reason I'm doing this is to start freelancing again and be able to offer SEO and content marketing services to clients.

I think the easiest and most low-risk way to do that is to offer SEO audits which won't take me a lot of time and aren't a significant investment for a client. Audits are great because, most often, they will always reveal some number of actionable quick wins that make the investment worth it.

I can also give audits away for free as a way into opportunities if they're interesting to me. This makes audits the best tactic I have for getting more into this kind of work.

Now, there's much more to SEO Blueprint 2 that I'm excited to learn, but there's a whole section on auditing that I think will make this entire course worth it as it will give me the ability to confidently start offering audits I know people will get value from.

After looking at the structure of the courses, I'll probably do the beginning sections of SEO Blueprint 2 and then switch over to the next course, Grow and Convert, before coming back to the second half of SEO Blueprint 2.

SEO Blueprint 2 has sections on content creation, but it seems the real value is in the technical SEO modules. That, and because I want to learn the Grow and Convert Paint Point SEO content strategy. I think their bottom of the funnel focus is exactly the type of content I need to know how to create to generate the business outcomes I want to achieve.

Grow and Convert Course - $699.

The Grow and Convert blog is full of incredibly detailed posts, and I'm sure a lot of what's in their course can be found here for free. 

But knowing that, I still paid seven hundred dollars for their course for these three reasons.

First, if the quality of their free content indicates what I can expect inside the course, then I know this will be worth it. And while I said most everything seems to be available for free, I'm looking for insight into the framework and ways to think. So, while they outline their Pain Point SEO strategy in this blog post, I'm hoping they get more into the nuance and insights they've learned from implementing this strategy over time. Whatever mistakes they've made and can help me avoid will be a bonus.

Second, the course is structured around case studies. And not just their projects but their work for clients across different industries. They're not just showing one example and expecting me to understand how it applies to my business. Instead, they show examples of how it works for B2B, B2C, SaaS, Services, and eCommerce businesses. Doing this proves the strategy is adaptable and not just something that worked once or works in specific instances. I'm confident I, too, will be able to learn the method and apply it.

Then lastly, and this is the most important reason for me, the Grow and Convert philosophy is about creating content that positively impacts a business's bottom line. Their success is determined by their ability to help their clients achieve their business goals. So not only are they aligned with the brand, they're incentivized to produce work that moves them forward.

At this point, I've gone from a broader start with the initial course, SEO for Solopreneurs, and gotten much more tactical with Lean SEO, SEO Blueprint 2, and Grow and Convert.

What I hope to learn.

The purpose of this curriculum is to acquire the knowledge, skill set, and tools to start freelancing again with a specific offering and eventually turn it into a complete, done-for-you content marketing agency capable of launching and growing businesses.

The main things I hope to learn from each of these courses to help me achieve that are:

• I want to learn a lightweight testing framework with Lean SEO.

• I want to learn how to deliver valuable content audits with SEO Blueprint 2.

• I want to learn how to create content that moves people to purchase with Grow and Convert.

Running my own business has always been the vision I've had for my career, and I'm finally taking control and doing what I need to to make it happen. So this isn't step one, but it's the next step after seven years of working at advertising agencies and learning the business.

What I know about courses.

All that said, I think it's important to acknowledge these courses won't make a difference on their own. I could go through them, and nothing could change.

Instead, it's what I do with the information that matters.

It's up to me to make this worth it and create the outcome I want.

So, while these courses aren't a shortcut, I'm glad I have them to teach me the frameworks I should work within.

That's why overcommitting only works when you know what you want to do.

When to overcommit.

You shouldn't overcommit to something you're not sure about.

Overcommit only when there's something you know you want to do but still find yourself not getting started. Overcommitting forces you into action by putting something on the line. For me, it's spending money. Though spending money might not be what does it for you. You'll have to figure out whatever your thing is.

So that's why I spent $1,545 on SEO courses.

I knew I wanted to do this, and I was tired of avoiding it or making excuses like I didn't have enough time or whatever else I'd been telling myself. I knew if I didn't do something soon, I'd lose my motivation and look back six months from now, wishing I'd started when I wanted to.

Overcommitting has worked for me in the past, and I know it will work again with this.

It's the one life hack I've found that helps me skip the busy work and do the things that matter.

Fake productivity.

You know the people who go around telling everyone how many books they've read in a year?

I do because I used to be one of those people. Those people are annoying—I was annoying.

Usually, and I'm speaking for myself. These people are ambitious. They have big dreams and ambitious goals, and it seems like they're always working toward something. But as time goes on, you begin to realize they really haven't done anything. They always talk about what they want to do but never have anything to show for it.

Really, how many self-help books do you need to read before you actually start working on becoming a better version of yourself? How many business books do you need to read before starting the business you want? How many podcasts or YouTube videos do you need to watch to feel #inspired?

Probably not many. At least not enough that you'd bother putting it in your Twitter bio and telling everyone about it.

While there's nothing inherently wrong with trying to learn as much as you can, it's just more so disappointing. Disappointing because you know if these people spent even half the time actually working on the things they say they want to instead of thinking they’re not ready, then they'd be so much further along.

I know this because I had to learn it myself.

There's, of course, merit in immersion and educating yourself before you start something so you don't make mistakes that can be easily avoided. But then there's also the experience and education that comes with actually doing whatever that thing is. And this isn't to say you should skip the initial education part. Rather, it all comes down to where you're at and what your intentions are.

When you're starting out, you should read and search out new perspectives a lot. It's actually kind of your job when you're young. To become well-rounded, you need to try as many things as possible, as fast as possible. Reading, listening, and watching others help you do this quickly, as there's no way you could do it all on your own.

Sampling many different things is how you find the ones that interest you and rule out those that don't.

Then, once you have a general idea of where you want to end up, it's much easier to identify the next step.

In an ideal world, you take what you've learned and start to apply it. And, eventually, you won't have to rely on reading, listening, and watching as much as you'll be learning by doing. You might even start creating the things that other people read, listen to, and watch.

The trouble, though, is when people, like you and me, mistake things that feel productive as actual productivity and don't transition from learning to doing.

Fake productivity feels productive.

Reading books feels productive because we're reading about all of the progress others have made. Listening to podcasts makes us feel like we have also gone through the same journey as the guest we're listening to. Watching a YouTube video makes us feel like we, too, have done the work we're watching.

This is why getting caught up chasing knowledge instead of results is so easy. It's so much easier to feel like you've accomplished something than actually trying to do it yourself. There is such a fine line between productivity and procrastination. How do you even know what side you're on?

It's actually kind of simple. And really, we know when we're doing it. It's just a matter of acknowledging it and adjusting our actions accordingly. When you do things to learn and expand your perspective, you are being productive. When you do those same things as a way to put off actually doing the work, you're procrastinating.

I am sure the people who read to impress others are no longer here, but I want to make sure it's clear I'm not saying you shouldn't read. Just make sure you know why you're reading—or listening—or watching something. Because while I said focusing on being exposed to as many perspectives as possible is a young person's job, it's also for anyone trying to learn or figure out what to do next.

We'll all go through phases, and sometimes we will need to read entire books to help us define our next move, and at other times, might only need to seek out specific information and read one chapter. The point is not to let those things get in your way of being productive and making progress.

So, instead of racking up vanity metrics to maybe impress people with things like how many books you’ve read. Focus on doing things that propel you forward. Because excelling at the game of fake productivity isn’t a game worth winning—play your own game instead.

After trying every productivity system I could find, I designed the Output Journal to take advantage of everything that worked and get rid of everything that got in the way. You can get this framework and a few emails with the strategies and psychology of why it works here:

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Output Journal

Sale Price:$0.00 Original Price:$10.00

The best strategies and tactics from various task tracking, time management, and productivity systems distilled into one actionable framework.

Includes:

• 1 Output Journal PDF

• 1 Dot Grid PDF

• 5 “How To” Emails

Files will be included in the welcome email followed by one email per day over the next four days.

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Infinite leverage.

When you work for someone else, time is your only leverage.

And, it’s hard to get ahead when selling your time as there’s a limit to how much one person can do. This is especially true when you realize the only reward for working smarter and accomplishing more in less time is, in fact, more work. Whoever bought your time wants to get as much out of it as possible while paying you the least you’ll accept.

It’s an endless race you can’t win.

This is why we need more leverage than just our time. Now, there are other types of leverage like labor, tools, and automation, but along with time, capital is the other main form of leverage. And really, capital is the ultimate form of leverage as it allows you to buy those other things like labor, tools, and automation, essentially buying time, which can multiply your output.

But our goal in increasing our leverage shouldn’t be to increase our output. Instead, we should want to do more with our time so we don’t have to work all of the time.

Lucky for us, we now live in an age of infinite leverage where this is possible.

Instead of trading our time to acquire capital or taking on outsized risk with loaned capital, this new form of leverage doesn’t require permission from anyone else and costs basically nothing.

If you haven’t guessed already, I’m talking about the internet.

Things like blogs, podcasts, and youtube channels specifically.

These mediums and platforms allow you to do things you once needed permission and capital to start but now can set up in an afternoon on your own. 

But it’s not just that these are now cheap to produce. No, it’s that they give you infinite leverage. When you write a blog post, record a podcast, or upload a YouTube video, you create something with incredible potential. Instead of doing something that is 1-to-1, these are 1-to-many.

Your article, podcast, and video can be read, listened to, or watched an infinite number of times. Instead of getting out what you put in, the output of your effort extends way beyond the moment you created it. Your content is available to anyone, at any time, without you having to do anything more. These platforms will actively promote your work as their main objective is to share useful content with their users. You creating content ultimately benefits both them and you.

And not only do each of these mediums work on their own. They can also be stacked and become leverage for each other where the success of one creates the opportunity for another. Infinite leverage is built with compounding assets.

That said, there’s one thing you have to be aware of if this is how you want to get away from trading your time for money.

When we start, and for a while in the beginning, we’ll be investing our time and getting no money. That’s the paradox of infinite leverage. It’s a slow burn fueled by delayed gratification. But if you commit to seeing things through, the right things will build over time until one day they pay off way more than you ever realized possible.

So start right now. Or, you’ll have to wait even longer.

Play your own game.

Eventually, ambitious people all realize the same thing.

The game they're playing isn't meant for them.

More specifically, working for someone else isn't for them.

Having a job and working for someone else is great when you're starting and want to build your skills quickly. Learning from people who've been doing something for years when you don't have any experience is the best way to fast-track your growth. You get to see firsthand how things come together, and you don't have to worry about making mistakes as you won't be in a position to make any that truly matter. It's all upside, and you get out way more than you put in.

However, this advantage slowly starts to disappear as you gain more experience and responsibility. Your growth will begin to slow down as your knowledge gap decreases. Instead of being expected to learn, you'll be expected to contribute, which is exactly what ambitious people want. Real stakes and an opportunity to prove they know what they're doing.

But what they don't realize are the limits that come with this new responsibility. Just because you're now allowed to do one thing doesn't mean you'll be allowed to do the next thing. The company you work for doesn't need someone to keep growing. They need someone to do a specific job.

Now, there's something to be said for pushing through this in the beginning. When you're starting out, you don't have any leverage. Even when you have some responsibility, you still don't really have any leverage. At this point, you're getting out pretty much what you put in.

This is why people invest their time into becoming good employees. They want to one day have enough leverage to demand more. But getting too comfortable being an employee can lead to career risk.

What looks like a clear growth path is often an illusion.

Being an employee means there's a limit to how much you can achieve. It means your opportunities are limited to the company's opportunities and what you're allowed to participate in. It means there's a limit on your income and how fast you'll be able to get it. And, ultimately, it means you're not in control of your career.

When your income relies on trading your time for money, and you don't get a proportionate amount of money for the outcomes you generate, you tend to feel like you're being taken advantage of. Instead of feeling like there's an even split, you start to think you're putting in more than you're getting out.

This is when ambitious people realize working for someone else isn't for them.

It's no one side's fault more than the other. It's simply the rules of the game they're in. The company wants to get the most out of its employees while paying them as little as possible. And the employees want to get the most out of the company without having to sacrifice all of their personal time.

Now, this works for some people. But if this arrangement doesn't work for you, don't get caught complaining about it. It's simply what it is. Instead, I suggest playing your own game. One where you create the rules. A game where you define success and allows you to follow your ambition as far as you possibly can.

Unlike working for someone else, your growth might be slow initially, but it will most likely pay off big in more ways than one.

How to change careers without starting over.

Realizing what you're doing is no longer right for you is hard.

It's hard to get excited about something if you don't like it anymore.

It's hard to think all of your skills and experience might not have any value if you do something else.

And, it’s hard to think about who is going to give you a chance to do something new at all.

That's why I think it's so much easier to change careers while staying at the company you're at.

Though, unfortunately, many people don't think they can change jobs and stay where they are because all of the career advice says you either need to just be happy you have a job or that the only way to get what you want is to quit and go somewhere else.

This advice ignores the most obvious opportunity you have.

The relationships you've built at your current job are the best leverage you have to make a change and define the career you want.

You know the nuances of the company, what they value, what their challenges are, who can help you, and where the opportunities are. And, most importantly, they know you.

Imagine having to develop new relationships and prove yourself at a new company while also taking your first steps down a new career path. There are so many things you have to do right that inevitably, something will go wrong. And that's assuming a new company is willing to take a chance and hire you for a job you don't exactly have any experience with.

Now, imagine starting a new job you're excited about with people you already have relationships with, who trust you, and are as committed to your success in a new role as you are.

It sounds too good to be true.

But, I'm going to tell you the exact conversations to have and questions to ask to make it happen.

I'm going to show you:

1. How to have tough conversations with your boss

2. Why you have to be honest with yourself about what you want

3. The questions to ask as you research different career opportunities

4. How to make sure you don't pick a job that ends up being just like your old one

5. The three-phase approach to effortlessly transition into a new role

It's all here. But first, I'm going to quickly tell you about the first time I switched jobs before I knew how to do any of this.

Create the right opportunities for yourself.

The first time I switched jobs, I went from being a project manager to a new business manager.

As a project manager, I was managing a team producing social media content for Google. But, being new to advertising, I wanted more. I was young and ambitious, and I wanted to be on different projects all of the time. Not stuck on one project with no end in sight.

And, I thought interacting with the executives at the agency was a way to fast-track my career.

To me, joining the new business team was the way to achieve both things.

I'd get to work on the most exciting projects with the best talent at the agency as we pitched all types of clients interesting ideas and new technologies.

So, I needed to figure out how I'd get there.

But, the new business team was made up of an agency executive, a director, and an account manager. And the three of them had it covered.

From the outside, though, I could tell there was no consistent process in place as each pitch looked like it was barely being held together as it was delivered. As a project manager, I believed there was a better way if someone was able to put a little structure and consistency in place.

So I started suggesting little things I thought could help.

Things I posed as questions to see if they'd thought about doing it differently. All I wanted was to be a part of the conversation. And, by bringing these things up, I figured I was at least positioning myself as someone interested in helping out if they ever needed it.

After a while, I told my boss if there were ever an opportunity for me to lead a new business pitch, I wanted to do it.

This was all I could do unless something changed.

Then, things did when the director left for another job on the other side of the country. Now a team of two, the executive and the account manager had to keep everything together, which they managed for a while.

Then, as it happens at advertising agencies, a couple of pitches were already underway when another came in that they just couldn't say no to. But, the problem was, they didn't have anyone to run it.

This was the opportunity I'd been waiting for.

I told my boss and the new business team that I was interested in running the pitch if they'd let me. It was time to see if the goodwill I'd been building up by being interested and helpful all of those times before would be enough to get me my shot.

Thankfully, they said I could if I was sure I wanted it and was willing to do it on top of my current responsibilities as a project manager.

Of course, I wanted to, and no problem. I'd make it work.

It took about a year to go from talking about wanting to work on new business to my first real opportunity. But because I was patient, helpful, and clear about what I wanted, I had positioned myself to be the person they thought could do it when they needed someone to step in.

If I'd never said anything about wanting to do that type of work, no one would have known that's what I wanted or been comfortable with me taking it on when there was an opportunity.

Luckily the pitch went well, and from there, I kept getting opportunities to lead pitches until it became inevitable that I would switch teams and work on producing new business full time.

Being capable and persistent were the keys to making it happen this first time.

The next time I switched careers, though, was a bit more formal.

I don’t want to leave, but I don’t want to do this.

Switching into new business at my first agency was great, but I started to get restless again about a year and a half later. And this time, I felt like there was no more opportunity at the company for me. So, I quit. Then the next place was fine for a while and when I felt like there wasn't any opportunity there, I quit again. And, I quit the company after that too.

I was chasing a career, thinking I wasn't satisfied with what I was doing because of the company.

That's until I got to where I am now. This time I realized it was me that needed to change.

I loved the company, but I didn't love the job. I was simply over it.

I realized the reasons I wanted to pursue a career as a project and new business manager were no longer true.

I was ready to do something else. I wanted a new challenge. And, I didn't want to shift my focus like I did the first time. This time I wanted to do something completely different—a new career in a new discipline.

I wasn't exactly sure how I would do it, but having the experience of switching careers once before let me know it was possible. I also learned from the times I'd quit and seeing the people visibly so surprised to find out that I was unhappy that I should start the conversation with my boss.

Unfortunately, most people don't do this because they're afraid of getting fired.

They think if they tell their boss they don't like their job, they'll find someone to replace them.

Naturally, the first assumption in all of this is that you have a good relationship with your boss. That's a given. But it can still be intimidating to bring something like this up, especially when you don't intend to leave. So you need to be prepared. You don't want to start a conversation about how you want to do something else but then not be able to answer any of the questions that will inevitably be asked or not propose any clear next steps.

So, if you’re like me and want to do something else but don’t want to leave the company you’re at, here are the five steps to making that happen.

Mitigate the risk of not being taken seriously by thinking through potential objections and coming prepared with a proposed plan of action.

1. How to have tough conversations with your boss.

It's a myth that your boss only wants to hear good news.

I used to think this way. I thought if we only talked about things that were going well and avoided anything that wasn't perfect, they would be happy. I didn't want to bring up how I was feeling or if I was struggling with something because I didn't want to be a burden or create more work for anyone. I thought if I brought those things up, people would think I was being difficult, which is the last thing I wanted people to think.

But what I know now that I didn't know then is that it's a boss's job to help the people who work for them, especially when it comes to knowing whether the people on their team are happy or not.

Bosses want people who are engaged and excited about the work.

That's why I knew that instead of silently resenting my job until another opportunity came up as I had before, the right thing was to talk to my boss first.

So, during one of our weekly 1:1's, I told her how I was feeling disengaged and uninspired by the work I was doing and that I wanted help figuring out what we could do to make it better.

We'd had a couple of conversations before this where she'd given me some feedback saying that other team members said I didn't seem to care as much as I once did. So, me bringing it up wasn't something completely new. And it was important that I was coming and asking for help instead of deflecting and not taking any responsibility for what I was doing and how I was feeling.

It was in this conversation that I brought up the idea that I might want to do something else.

I told her how the reasons I started down this career path five years before didn't seem to be the ones that would keep me in it for the long term. That when I looked at the natural progression of where this career would take me, I didn't feel like it was getting me closer to the goals I have for myself.

I told her I felt I was ready for a new challenge and wanted to learn a new skill set and wondered if that was something we could explore together.

Your boss wants to know how you feel, even when you're not feeling great.

It was important we'd had a few related conversations about how I was doing at work before I brought up the idea of switching careers, so I didn't catch her completely off guard.

Seeding the conversation like this helped make it seem like a natural route we could go down. This isn't to say it wasn't a bit shocking for her to hear one of the people on her team no longer wanted to work for her. I'm sure it was. But, she took it in stride and quickly shifted from a superior to a collaborator in helping me figure out what we should do next to see if this was even possible.

Since this was the first time we talked about me switching careers, we both agreed the next step was for me to really think about how I was feeling, what wasn't working, and what I thought I might want to do. Then we'd meet again to go over this self-evaluation and figure out what we should do after that.

Thinking back on this conversation, I think these three things made it successful and are things you should consider as you plan out how you'll bring up the idea of switching jobs with your boss.

Take the lead.

Come prepared and be ready to talk through what you're thinking so your boss has something to react to. You don't want to bring this up and make them feel like it's their job to figure it out for you. It's not. But also, don't make it seem like you already have a complete plan in mind. Doing this shows you're serious but also keeps things informal at the same time.

Ask for help.

Ask your boss for their help in figuring out your next move. This helps them feel invested and makes it something you do together. And, you're definitely going to need their help with getting everyone else who needs to sign off on this onboard.

No ultimatums.

You absolutely cannot use this as a bargaining chip. This is not about getting an offer and using it to go somewhere else or increasing your salary where you're at. The reason you can have this type of conversation is that you have a relationship built on trust.

Remember, if you're not willing to have a tough conversation, nothing will change.

Only you can decide what’s going to be best for you, what you value, and how you want to live your life.

2. Conduct an honest self-evaluation with these four questions.

With my boss now onboard, the next thing I needed to do was write things down and consider what it would mean to switch careers from all angles before we could take it up with other people at the company.

I realized that if I wanted a job that wasn't like my old one, I'd have to approach it differently. And that meant being honest with myself about what I was doing and what I wanted.

I didn't want to rush into something new only to find out it wasn't how I thought it would be.

So, what I did is use a modified version of the Japanese concept of Ikigai. Ikigai is a framework to help you define your overall life purpose. For this, though, I was just trying to figure out if a different career would provide me more satisfaction and fulfillment at work.

Ikigai asks, What are you good at, What can you be paid for, What do you love, and What does the world need?

To focus on my career, I adjusted it to What I am good at, What I am bad at, What I want to do more of, and What I want to do less of.

I figured defining each end of the spectrum would help clarify how I was feeling and give me a better perspective as I eventually would decide what would be the best fit for me going forward.

It's important to answer these questions honestly based on how you feel and what you believe. Not what you think you should say, what other's expectations are, or what anyone has told you before.

This is a self-evaluation, so now is the time to be selfish.

Likely, you don't like your current job because you did what other people wanted you to do instead of what you knew was right for you.

With that in mind, here's how you should think about each of these four questions.

What am I good at?

This should be an easy one. It's whatever you find easy that's hard for other people. These can be things that are directly related to the job you're doing now. Or something you don't get to do at your job but know you're competent at.

If you're having trouble coming up with examples, think about what other people tell you you're good at. And if you still can't figure it out, ask them.

What am I bad at?

This might be a little harder to define because we all want to be good at everything. But, knowing what you're not good at will help you identify what type of jobs you should stay away from simply because you're not innately suited for them.

These are things you struggle with. Things that take more time than you think they should—the type of things that seem to come easy for others that you have to work at.

What do I want to do more of?

These might even be things you're not doing at all now but want to start doing. Being able to say how you want to spend your time will help you qualify potential opportunities based on whether or not they'll allow you to work on these things or not.

What do I want to do less of?

This is probably the easiest of the four. These are the things in your current job that you for sure don't want to keep doing. Knowing what these are will help make sure you don't find yourself in the same situation again.

The key is knowing you won't get everything you want.

There will always be some things you have to do even if you don't like doing them. This is about finding a better balance and helping you do more of what you like and less of what you don't.

Once I'd answered these four questions, my boss and I met again to go over them.

Now, I had more details and specific examples of what wasn't working for me, my strengths, and what I wanted to spend more time on. Going over this with her helped me validate what I was thinking and check to see if I was missing anything.

From here, we talked about what disciplines I might be interested in that would maybe satisfy the things I'd written down. And, we picked four that I would look into more. This was helpful because it meant I didn't have to research everything. Instead, I could focus on things we thought had a high probability of being right.

The four we chose were Project Management, which I was doing currently, Account Management, Strategy, and Analytics.

As I research them, I listed out the pros and cons as well as wrote a paragraph on my feeling towards each discipline and why I thought it might be a good fit or not.

It was important to include Project Management as it’s what I’d been doing and would be the baseline for how I’d evaluate the others. And, I couldn’t rule it out entirely as maybe in doing this I’d realize it was the right job for me and what I wanted to keep doing but that I was at the wrong company. That’s not what ended up happening, but I don’t think I would have had as strong a perspective without it.

After I looked into these disciplines, my boss and I met to see where I was starting to lean and set up the next step.

When asking other people their opinion you’re not looking to copy what they’ve done, rather you’re looking for insights to help you make better decisions for yourself.

3. Learn about different careers with these five questions.

Up until now, it's been a lot of self-reflection and research.

But, the next thing to do if you want to make an informed decision is to talk with people at various stages in the careers you're interested in.

This will help you know what you might be getting yourself into.

You don't want to change careers only to find it's nothing like what you expected. Or worse, exactly like what you were trying to get out of.

Unfortunately, many people don't know what to ask, so they just make assumptions.

They observe and think what they see is what they'll get.

But, if you don't talk with people and ask the right questions, you might find yourself in a new job where:

• You're not challenged in the ways you want to be

• There's more of the work you don't like doing than you thought

To make sure this doesn't happen, all you have to do is find a few people who will talk to you about their job for 30 minutes and ask these five questions to better understand what it's like.

And since you're looking to switch careers while staying at the same company, you have everyone you need to talk to right there.

After we had narrowed down what disciplines I was interested in, my boss had started to talk with other people at the agency who would need to sign off on me doing something else. So, at this point, it was easy for us to set up these informal interviews without having to hide my intentions as I could be completely upfront about what I was doing.

You don't want these conversations to feel like an interrogation, but you do want to get an overview of what this person does, along with some specific details about how they do their job.

These five questions do both of those things.

They're open-ended enough to let the person answer however they want while also specific enough to get you what you need.

Explain your job as if I didn't know anything about it?

Often, people try and overcomplicate what they do to make it seem important. But that's not going to be helpful to you.

You want the basics from someone who does this every day. You want to know what the expectations are, how it fits in with the company's other functions, what projects you'd be a part of, and when you'd get involved. All of these things you could probably infer, but you want to confirm by asking.

Also, by asking it to be explained as if you didn't know anything about it, the person might offer up some invaluable information they take for granted, but you wouldn't have any idea about it.

What are the primary skills and tools you use?

With this, you're trying to determine if any of the skills you already have line up with what the job requires. Of course, you're also figuring out what you're going to have to learn and whether or not that interests you.

Also, most everyone will say the tools don't matter, but if you find out what these are, you can start getting familiar with them before you need to use them.

Are there any frameworks you rely on?

Now you're starting to ask about the craft of the job.

By asking about frameworks, you'll get insight into different ways to approach various problems. If there are any best practices, you should know about, and generally how the work comes together. It's a good way to learn about the type of thinking you'll have to do in a new role.

Also, most of the time, people will use real examples to explain what they're talking about, which will help you understand the theory and how it's applied.

What do you not like doing?

I'd be willing to bet that everything anyone has said has been about the good parts of their job until this point.

But, no matter what, everyone has something they don't like doing. Asking this will help you get a sense of the less glamorous aspects of the job.

Also, they'll likely tell you what more junior people have to do to work their way up the ladder, which will be helpful as you learn what it takes to grow in this career.

Where do you learn from?

This shows you're serious and not just basing your decision on one conversation.

It also gives you something you can deep dive into on your own, whether they tell you about books, podcasts, websites, newsletters, Twitter handles, or whatever else. And, you're going to need to know where to go to find answers and information if you decide this is the path you want to go down, so it's helpful to get familiar now.

The best part about talking with these people is they become your peers.

As you wrap up these conversations, I'm sure they will all say you can follow up with them if there's anything more you want to ask or get their opinion on. This is important because these will be the people you end up working with if you decide to move into their discipline.

And, remember, the point of asking these questions isn't to copy what someone else has done. Rather, it's to give you more context so you can make an informed decision.

You want to develop compounding skills so that whatever you’re doing today continues to be more valuable over time.

4. You want to do something unrelated but similar.

I call this Degree of Separation, which is how you balance the skills and knowledge you've already developed with the opportunity to learn something new.

It's what helps you start to qualify and narrow down your decision.

As you can see with the list of disciplines I was looking at, they progress from completely overlapping with what I was already doing to things further away from my existing skillset.

The point of this is to make sure you're not starting over. But you are instead becoming more valuable by choosing a new career where you can use your existing skills in new ways and have the opportunity to develop additional skills.

You want to find something that allows what you've done and what you will do to complement each other.

Finding the right balance.

I think the best ratio of new to existing skills is 60/40.

50/50.

I think 50/50 would leave you doing too much of what you were doing before. It would be too easy for people to expect you to split your time between your old job and your new job. And because you’re going to be better at your old job you’ll inevitably be expected to spend more time doing that instead of gaining experience with your new job.

60/40.

60/40 gives you enough new things to learn so you're challenged and feel like you're growing. While leaving enough existing knowledge, you can fall back on so you don't feel in over your head. This is important because you don't want to feel discouraged or like you’re falling behind. You want to create enough momentum so you always feel like you’re making progress.

70/30.

On the other side, 70/30 would mean you'd have to spend a lot more time training and would basically be starting over, which is what we're trying to avoid.

Of course, determining what’s going to give you a 60/40 split is going to be a bit subjective. But based on your self-evaluation, what people told you about their discipline, and opinions from those helping you out you should be able to have an idea of what makes sense.

Choosing your perfect job.

At this point, after you've talked with your boss about your desire to do something different, were honest with yourself about what you wanted, researched and spoke with people in other disciplines, and evaluated your skillset against what you'd have to do in different jobs.

You're now ready to make a decision.

Taking everything you learned, you need to think through what will be the best job you can have that'll put you on a career path you're excited about.

You need to think about your strengths and what you want to be doing more of and see what disciplines line up with that. And what you want to be doing less of, and rule out any disciplines requiring more of that type of work.

You also need to think about your existing skills and make sure some of them will still be relevant and that the new skills you're going to have to learn are things you're interested in.

And, you have to think about the future too.

Right now, you're focused on seeing if you can make every day better. This is important, but you also need to make sure whatever you get into next is something you can see yourself doing and being excited about for the long term.

Switching jobs like this isn't something you can do often, and definitely not twice at the same company.

You want to be sure the path you're about to get on is going to be worth it.

For me, this was moving into Strategy.

When I evaluated the different disciplines, we selected I knew staying in Project Management would continue to be the same, and I wasn't excited about where that would lead.

Many people thought I'd be good at Account Management, but I knew that it had more of the things I didn't like doing as a project manager just with a different focus.

And, while I love using data to inform decisions, the core skills of Analytics were just too far out of my existing skill set to let me go into that type of work without having to start over.

The more I researched and talked with people about Strategy, I realized a lot of the skills I'd developed as a project manager would easily translate to this new discipline.

Things like writing clearly, viewing challenges from various perspectives, managing different types of people, and putting together actionable plans that teams could execute on. All things that I was good at as a project manager were also indicators of great strategists.

And strategy let me be more creative, which was the one thing I wanted to do more of that I wasn't getting as a project manager.

This meant the things I needed to learn were new frameworks and understanding how things should happen from the strategy side. All things that are part of the craft and can be easily taught.

This overlap of skills made it an easy sell to my boss, the leader of the strategy discipline, and the rest of the agency executives who needed to sign off on this as they could see how things fit together and that it would be a win-win for everyone.

If you want to go fast, start slow so you can build up a solid foundation of knowledge and habits.

5. Three steps to successfully transition into a new career.

Now that I'd selected Strategy as the discipline I wanted to switch into and got the approvals I needed, the next thing we did was put a plan in place for how we would make the transition happen.

Obviously, I knew it wasn't going to happen immediately. All along, I'd been sure to tell people I didn't have any timing expectations other than I didn't want this to be something we stopped talking about.

I knew I was asking for a lot already, and demanding it to happen by a certain time didn't seem appropriate at all.

Mostly because switching disciplines meant they'd have to find someone to replace me who I would have to train, and then there would have to be an opportunity on the Strategy side that I could fill. So a lot of things had to come together to make it happen.

Everything up to this point had taken about four months—talking with my boss, doing my self-evaluation and research, and my informal interviews with people in different disciplines. However, switching disciplines ended up taking about eight months to fully transition once it was official that I'd be moving into Strategy.

So, about a year in total.

Doing it over this period of time was great, though, as I was able to gradually reduce my responsibilities as a project manager while building the knowledge and skills I'd need as a strategist.

Going slow like this meant I never felt in over my head and was able to build up my confidence and muscle memory, so by the time I was a full-time strategist, I was ready and didn't feel overwhelmed.

Most people, though, want to get thrown in the deep end to prove themselves.

You don't want to try and do too much too fast.

If you do, you might not build the proper habits as you rush to just get things done. And while you'll be taking skills with you, you have to realize you will be reorganizing and rebuilding your foundational skills. So it's important to remember:

• It takes time to ramp up and get acclimated

• No one expects too much from you yet

• You don't want to make a mistake you can't recover from

I ramped up over time through these three phases as I built up my experience.

Doing it this way allowed me to set the right expectations and get the right experiences with the right people to prove I was capable in this new role and build up my knowledge and confidence.

Phase 1 - Orientation.

Before you officially start, you'll want to start getting acclimated.

This will likely be with your new boss or someone above you who can teach you more about the role. It'll probably be one of the people you had an informal interview with, most likely.

While your exploration conversations were about the role overall, these are more technical and get into the activities and deliverables.

For me, this was a weekly 1:1 where we would go through different examples of strategy work, an introduction to the tools I needed to know, and general discussions about what I should be thinking about and focusing on.

Phase 2 - Boot camp.

Most people think they can start once they know the theory, but it's never that easy.

You won't have an awareness of what to look out for just yet. So, you'll want to shadow someone on a project to learn and see how they do things. This will help you start to get a sense of what to look out for, where the roadblocks are, how to navigate project politics, the type of deliverables people will expect from you, and how to be efficient with your time.

I was lucky enough to work on a mid-sized project with one other Strategist who showed me the way and let me do some of the work with their oversight. This was great because I was able to apply what I'd been learning and get immediate feedback on what I had right and what I could do differently.

It's so much easier to learn by doing when the stakes are relatively low.

Phase 3 - Basic training.

Finally, once you've gone through orientation and shadowed on a project during boot camp, you'll be ready to start doing some of the work yourself. You won't be ready to take on an entire project alone just yet, but you'll continue to partner with someone on the team so you can keep learning while getting more and more responsibility.

And, most projects are often big enough that it'll never just be one person anyway, so don't worry about not leading a project for a while.

While this is a linear process, there's no set time frame you can expect for them to occur. You have to wait for the right opportunity to come up. And then every project is different and will take however long it needs to.

The point is to build up your confidence and muscle memory, so you know what to do when you're on your own.

The last question you need to ask yourself before changing jobs.

While it's exciting to think about getting a new job, you can see the way this works is to be intentional about how you approach it.

You don't want to rush into anything.

That's hard, though if you're to the point of thinking your current job is so bad, you'd literally do anything else.

If that's how you're thinking, then any opportunity to change is going to look attractive.

If that's you, all I want you to do is ask yourself this one question before deciding anything.

Is a new job going to be better, or just different?

Honestly answering this simple question will tell you whether or not you're excited about a new job because it's better than your current one. Or if you're excited because it's different.

If it's better and gets you closer to where you want to be or doing more of what you like, you should go for it.

If it's just different, you're probably better off making a plan to find something that's better.

Changing jobs because it's different just to get out of your current one has risks like:

• A new job might have the same problems as your current job

• A new job might not give you the fulfillment you're seeking

• A new job might mean having to prove yourself all over again

Taking the first opportunity that comes your way is risky because you might end up in a worse situation.

I know this from my experience changing companies enough times to get out of where I was instead of finding something better to know it's not worth it.

Once the newness wore off, I was back to dealing with the same problems, needing to impress people I didn't know while feeling frustrated by my lack of progress.

So, again, is it better, or just different?

Wrapping up.

Changing careers isn't easy.

But after doing it twice now, I've developed this repeatable method for how to do it.

As you can see, the process is pretty straightforward, but it requires a lot of patience and confidence in your ability to navigate unknowns and have uncomfortable conversations.

The secret for all of it, though, is that you need to come prepared and be willing to put in the work.

You can't expect anyone else to take this seriously if you don't show how committed you are. That's why there's such a focus on self-reflection and research to make sure you're making the best decision for yourself.

This is why it's so rewarding to know you took control of your career when you're able to make it work.

You know you've done something for yourself that not only makes your life better, but likely everyone's around you as well.

Often, though, people stay in jobs that aren't right for them because they don't know that they can orchestrate a change. Or, they're held back from talking about it because:

• They've been doing their job for so long they don't think they can do anything else

• They don't know what it is they want to do; just that it's not what they're doing now

• They're worried they'll have to completely start over

• They're not sure they'll be paid the same in another role

But the only way to answer any of those questions is to start the conversation.

To recap, here are the five steps to change careers without starting over.

Step 1: Have a tough conversation with your boss.

This is critical. You have to tell your boss how you feel.

You can't expect them to know how you're doing or what you want if you don't tell them. Let them know you're looking for their help in figuring out how to make your time at work better by switching into a new role.

The key to this is seeding the conversation beforehand, so you're not catching them completely off guard.

Step 2: Conduct an honest self-evaluation.

Next, you have to do an honest self-evaluation.

You'll want to create a list of things you're good at, things you're bad at, things you want to do more of, and things you want to do less of.

This is what's going to guide you as you explore different careers you might be interested in.

Step 3: Explore different careers.

Next, you want to do your own research and have exploration conversations with people in different disciplines to see how your self-evaluation lines up with the work they do.

You want to get a sense of what these different careers are actually like from the people who do them.

Step 4: Choose something unrelated but similar.

With all of the information you've gathered, you're now ready to decide on whether or not you're going to stick with your current job or if you want to do something different.

If you're going to change careers, you want to pick something that gives you a 60/40 split between new things you have to learn and your existing skills.

Step 5: Gain experience and build your confidence.

Once you've done your research and identified what new job you want to transition into, you and your current and future bosses can then start to develop a plan to make it happen within the company.

Doing this in a phased approach will allow you to ramp up into the new role and not feel like you have no idea what you're doing.

I know changing careers will never seem as easy as I laid it out here, but know it's possible if you follow these steps and are willing to put in the work.

And, remember. If you don't decide what you're going to do with your life, someone else will decide for you.

If you have any questions about changing careers or want to learn more about lifestyle design, follow me on Twitter @wesjonesco.