Step 7 to a Portable Career - Build a better Mouse Trap: adjust your career to fit your location and local opportunities.

As you could read in the previous blog, there are a lot of options and great opportunities out there for your portable career. You have done a lot of soul searching, introspection and reflection as you gathered all the answers to the questions around the first 5 steps to a portable career. Now the key is to bring it all together and I’d like to challenge you to not be too attached to all that you have done in the past career wise, but to grab the opportunity to think out of the box as you define your personal portable career. Try to shake off the obstacles that you already foresee and tune down the voice of your inner critic. Often enough we ourselves are the architect of that box and the limitations that sitting in the box brings.

“What makes expat life so addictive is that every boring or mundane activity you experience at home is, when you move to a foreign country, suddenly transformed into an exciting adventure. When abroad, boredom, routine and ‘normal’ cease to exist. And all that’s left is the thrill and challenge of uncertainty.”
– Reannon Muth

At this point you are sitting on an opportunity to bring excitement and fulfillment back into your life, change your perception and approach to your career, set goals that are backed up by the confidence that even though some doors are closing because of your traveling existence, other doors are also opening, welcoming the specific skills, talents and services that you have to offer.

Reality is, the world is constantly changing, technology is evolving, and opportunities arise even during challenging economic times. So for you to streamline your thoughts on defining your career you want to know the following (mostly to be gathered from the questions answered throughout Step 1-5 to a Portable Career):

What being successful and having a successful career means to you;
What sense of purpose you are seeking while establishing and pursuing your career;
What personal needs and values you want to express through your work;
How you want to live;
How and under what conditions you want to work;

Knowing the above will allow you to apply what you know to explore opportunities and demands for someone with your talents, skills, experience and training in your new post. As such, you manage your expectations appropriately and prevent yourself from having setbacks during your relocation and transition time. Thanks to social media you can easily connect to people based in the country or city that you’re relocating too. Find someone to bounce your questions off, and do a reality check with about as well as obtain a realistic image of the opportunities available in that location, so that you can anticipate on your challenges ahead. You want to know if your career / services idea is viable in your new destination by looking at it from all angles so that you do not head for disappointment.

With all this you are now ready to start thinking outside of the box by reflecting on your career evolution until date. Take about half an hour to:

Reflect on how your life and work methods have changed over the years, include the change in your work methods thanks to constantly changing technology, and fluctuating demands for certain skills in different geographic areas, at times where the global economies are constantly shifting and moving.
Do some research and find someone who according to you is working in a ‘non-traditional’ way, and describe how (s)he is working and define what you dislike and like about this way of working.
Describe how you can convert your skills and talents in a non-traditional way that would allow you to find the fulfillment you would like to obtain from your portable career in your new environment.

As I said earlier, when a doors close, there are also doors opening. When you are willing to be flexible and open to change you may just stumble upon an opportunity that is more fun and rewarding than you ever thought possible.