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A year and a half ago, I had the biggest debate of my life. Do I quit academia to pursue my dream of fashion design? One side is a perfectly good career path that gives me respect, stability and flexibility. The other is one I’ve been dreaming about my whole life but had zero real experience in.
If you are also considering a big career shift, then you know how overwhelming the sheer number of things you need to consider is. Will you be able to financially sustain yourself? Would it mean wasting your whole life’s work? Is it too late to start over again? Does it mean that you need to put your life plans on hold?
First off, either way you choose, the fact that you are contemplating this decision is already a great thing. Your world is going to be bigger as a result of pursuing a career path you love. Congratulations to you!
For me, I did decide to make that switch. I started my own womenswear brand. Neither coming to that decision nor going through the transition has been easy. I’ve learned some key lessons along my journey of switching careers, and I hope these nuggets of wisdom will make yours easier to navigate.
Take off your rose-colored glasses.
This one is super important if you, like me, have been dreaming about it for a long time. Chances are, you are idealizing the reality to some extent. I thought being a fashion designer meant drawing up sketches and handing them off to a factory. The reality is much more complicated.
With limited funding, I had to take care of my own operations, finance, public relations and marketing. Luckily, I also found these things interesting. If I didn’t, then I would have been miserable.
Talk to people in the industry you are interested in entering into before making the transition. Ask about what their days look like. This will give you a realistic picture of the profession. Or simply Google, “What is it really like to be a (fill in the profession here)?” What you find out may or may not stop you, but it’s a decision much better made ahead of time.
It’s easy to get trapped in the overwhelming feeling of starting from nothing, especially for women. The truth is, even between two seemingly unrelated professions, many skills can carry over. I, for one, have been blown away by how much my analytical and research skills have come in handy for my fashion business.
Your different background can also give you a unique perspective. My engineering background gives me a unique approach to design that I wouldn’t have attained from attending fashion school. Think hard about creative ways you can use your existing skills in the new venture. They can very well end up being your competitive edge.
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