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Hey, it’s Iris – helping you to find your passion, and make it your work. 

Now, if you’ve watched my video from last week, you’ll already know that I used to work in the corporate world, why I was so unsatisfied with it, and what made me hand in my notice. If you haven’t watched it, make sure you watch it. I’ll put the link in the description below this video. 

In today’s video, I’m going to share part 2 of the story, and that’s how I figured out what else to do with my career – in the hope that, if you’re in the same boat as I was back then, it’ll help you to figure out what to do with your career. 

But before I do that, as always… please like this video if you like it, and subscribe to my Youtube channel – that way you’ll never have to miss another one of my videos!

Alright, let’s get to it! 

So, how did I figure out what to do with my career? 

If you’ve watched last week’s video, you’ll know that I didn’t have this epiphany, where all of a sudden I knew exactly what I was meant to do with my career.

It’s one of the biggest myths about finding work you love, or making a career change: that you’ll have this ONE moment, where all of a sudden you just know what you should do with your career. 

Sure, some people have that light bulb moment, but an awful lot of people (myself included!) won’t – and they don’t need to either. 

Now, there’s one thing I want to share with you about my career change story, and how I figured out what to do with my career, and that’s that it felt messy.

I can sit here and pretend like it all happened easily, but the truth is: it didn’t. 

I had a lot of questions, doubted myself probably even more, and didn’t know whether or not it would work out in the end. 

Why am I saying this? Well, I can imagine that you might be in that messy part right now – and I want you to know that that’s totally normal, it’s part of the journey, and you’re certainly not doing anything wrong.

Please don’t doubt yourself if you don’t have all the answers. 

I hope that, by sharing my story, and by sharing what I’ve learnt – not only from my own experience, but also from helping others along this path, and from reading a ton about it, your story will be easier, smoother and that it won’t take as long for you as it did for me. 

Okay, so back to my story.

The first thing that I did, and that I recommend you do as well, is this: I asked myself: “What am I interested in? What do I care about?”

Quite a few things came up: travel, fitness, yoga, wellbeing, cooking, and… personal development. 

Initially this only made me more confused. How do you decide what’s the right thing to pursue?

Intuitively, I cut out travel and cooking because I knew those were more hobbies or interests than something I wanted to pursue professionally. So, I was left with fitness, yoga, wellbeing and personal development. 

I then did a bit of desk research, and learnt about life coaching. The more I learnt about life coaching, the more interested I got. So I signed up for a taster weekend, to learn more about life coaching training. I felt excited, spoke to more people about it, and signed up for the training. 

Now, I didn’t really have a clear plan as to how I would turn this into a career, but at least I was moving into the right direction – I was doing and exploring something that I was excited about, interested in, and that I cared about. 

And, as I’ve later learnt, that is the first step.

When you’re just starting out, you don’t need to know how things are going to work out.

You don’t need to know how you’re going to turn something you’re interested in into a career, you just need to start following and exploring that interest. 

Alongside my life coach training, I started blogging about making a career change, hosting live events and workshops in London, and through that I got my first coaching clients. 

But, I didn’t go all-in on coaching just yet. 

I tried different things, and this is the second thing I’d recommend you do too, if you can’t make up your mind. 

I dipped my toes in the fitness and wellness industry too. I started a business called ‘The Wellscene, and organised pop-up fitness and yoga events in London, Amsterdam and Los Angeles. I did that for a good 3 – 4 years. 

Those 3 – 4 years weren’t always easy. I wasn’t quite sure where I belonged, or where my career was heading. Was it coaching? Or the fitness and wellness industry? I wasn’t here, nor there. I hadn’t made my mind up, and often felt confused. 

But looking back on it, I know that those years have been incredibly valuable. I met some brilliant people, and those years actually helped me figure out what to do with my career. 

I realised that whilst I loved organising fitness and yoga events, my heart really lies in coaching.

So, that brings me to the final thing I did, and again, what I’d recommend you’d do too! It’s this: when you’re pretty certain what it is that you’d like to do: double down on it. 

When I realised my heart lies in coaching, I made plans to hand over The Wellscene, and I started focusing more and more on my coaching business. I wanted to double down on it. 

This was also the time when I finally felt comfortable answering that question that people ask you when they meet you: So, what is it that you do? 

I’ve now stepped away from The Wellscene, and am fully focused on my coaching business. 

So all-in-all, it took me roughly 5 years to figure out what to do with my career. Told you it wasn’t exactly an epiphany! 

And what I did was: 

1. I asked myself ‘“what am I interested in? What do I care about?”

2. I tried different things

3. I doubled down once I knew what it was that I wanted to do

Now, there’s one thing that I didn’t do, but that I would highly recommend you do when figuring out what to do with your career, and that is speak with people who work in the field that you’re interested in, or have the type of job that sounds like your dream job. Go speak with them, and learn more about what it’s really like. If you want to know why this is SO important, and how to do it, make sure you watch this video. 

Okay, that’s it for me today. 

Thank you so much for watching! 

Next week, I’ll be talking about how to find more meaning at work, especially when you’ve lost your enthusiasm or love for your job. Subscribe to my channel, or email list, and you’ll get a notification as soon as post that video. 

See you next week!

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