How To Change Careers & Thrive: Simple 7-Step Framework

So you want to change careers. We see you.

Are you also feeling a mixed bag of emotions thinking about a career change? That's natural. Taking control of your career journey is empowering, yet a bit scary in the same breath.

You might be feeling like you want something more meaningful, lucrative, or just all-around better for your life. However, intentionally breaking the day-to-day rush to explore a career change isn't always easy, even when you know it's the right choice.

If you feel called to make a change in your professional life, you owe it to yourself to at least learn more. What would you rather be doing? How can you start doing it in a way that minimizes risk and anxiety?

In this guide, we're going to help you navigate these questions and come up with your own answers. We'll also review a peer-proven framework for building a new career that we've seen work for all kinds of people from different professional backgrounds. Here's what we'll cover:

• Possible career change routes
• The importance of training and momentum
• Using the Organic Networking Framework
• Career change success stories
• Some age-specific career advice (30s, 40s, and 50s)
• More career change resources and tips

This brings us to our first piece of advice:

💡 Knowledge is the Antidote to Fear 💡

Fear of the unknown, fear of change, can be a detrimental paralysis in decision-making. Did you know we make more than 50,000 decisions a day? Now add on making a major life shift like pivoting careers, and there are bound to be some pesky fears blocking your way.

⭐ But here's the thing: Simply exploring your options is easy and risk-free. Knowledge allows you to unwrap some of the "unknowns" that make change unnerving. You can move forward if you know how. Learning even a little bit about what those first steps might look like is how you get started. Step by step, not a leap into the unknown.

As you learn more, the landscape of your potential career change becomes more brightly lit. You can lay out a real action plan, one that accounts for your practical concerns while keeping up the forward momentum you need to stay motivated. You can define your guiding question for a career change that aligns with your values moving forward.

We recommend a clear-cut methodology for career changes, what we call the Organic Networking Framework. The framework is made up of steps that are easy to learn, repeat, adapt, and take at your own pace.

Who are We?

We're Learn Grant Writing, home of the Global Grant Writers Collective. We provide curriculum, coaching, community, and certification for those ready for a career pivot to become well-paid grant writers.

Our members have made career changes that allow them to earn more while building lives of freedom, flexibility, and purpose. On average, it takes our members just 6.6 months to land a new job and 9 months to launch their own freelancing careers!

👉 However, rest assured that this guide is for everyone.

We've seen countless members pull off successful career transitions, so we've learned a thing or two about what that process looks like.

You will see a few grant writing-specific examples below to illustrate how our members changed careers, but the process we teach can apply to any industry, skill set, or professional background. Make our framework your own, and you'll impress yourself with the results.

Is Grant Writing For You?

If you are looking for a career change and interested in grant writing consulting, check out this training on how to get started. Build a flexible life you love!

Watch Video

Career Changes and Your Possible Routes

First, what does a career change look like? What's the end outcome?

Career changes come in all shapes and sizes. Yes, the end result is paid work in a new field that better satisfies your financial, emotional, intellectual, or lifestyle needs. However, this looks different for everyone.

Generally speaking, career changes take one of these three routes:

• Switching to a new job in a different industry or field
• Going independent with a new small business or consultancy
• Starting a freelancing side hustle—a viable option if a new full-time job won't mesh well with your daily responsibilities or lifestyle (popular with stay-at-home moms and semi-retired people)

You might already have a clear sense of which route you want to pursue. Great! If you don't, no problem! Better to figure it out now than commit to something that's not the right fit. Our framework helps you ease into finding the right direction that will suit your goals and needs.

What Do These Career Change Paths Have in Common?

No matter which route makes the most sense for you, they all share a few necessities:

• Training
• Networking
• Getting some experience under your belt

Makes sense, right? You can't dive into a brand-new career without at least some background knowledge and connections. Preparing will allow you to get the job or find the opportunities in the first place and then actually do the work.

Start with Training for Your Career Change

More power to you if you can run a marathon without many weeks of training beforehand. For most people, that'd be demoralizing (at best) and downright dangerous (at worst).

Sure, this example is a little dramatic, but so is the idea of trying to change careers into a brand new line of work overnight. It's a recipe for frustration, setbacks, and unnecessary risk.

Instead, make training a priority and learn as you go. Better yet, earn as you learn to build a portfolio you can leverage to either land a dream job or scale up to be your own boss. Regardless, you can't fake the fundamentals of the actual work.

Once you have the lay of the land and are confident that you could produce a real deliverable—whether it's a grant proposal, graphic design project, sales pitch deck, or whatever you're called to do—allow yourself to go for it. Shift focus to getting your foot in the door (we show you what a "toe-in-the-door deliverable" might look like in the Organic Networking Framework) and then keep learning.

This is our philosophy for building our members' skills and confidence. We offer a complete grant writing curriculum and certification designed to give people the experience and connections they need to start getting paid work. It's possible to earn and learn, even on your first project.

How to Change Careers with the Organic Networking Framework

We recommend approaching your career change with the Organic Networking Framework. This strategy will build your confidence and reduce your risks. It allows you to gain experience and then decide your next steps—no life-changing commitments required until you're ready for them.

If you're a visual learner, check out our video of the Organic Networking Framework or follow along below for a detailed walkthrough of the framework:

👉 Quick summary of this career change strategy:

Freelance in your new line of work until you earn your first $15,000. After that, you can decide to scale up into an independent consulting business or leverage your shiny new portfolio of completed work to land a job.

👉 The benefits of this approach:

• The Organic Networking Framework doesn't require you to make an immediate choice or leave your current job.
• This approach helps you prepare and build experience. This de-risks the career transition and makes it easier to open doors to new opportunities once you're ready.
• It also works on your timeframe. You can figure out what works best for you without the added stress of imposed big-picture deadlines (unless you find them helpful and set them yourself—sometimes a good idea!).

👉 How it works:

The Organic Networking Framework consists of seven key steps:

Step 1: Create an Outreach Contact List.

First, sit down and think about what connections you'd like to form in your new career. Is there a specific company that you want to work for? Or a company or individual you could support with professional services? An organization in your chosen line of work that you just find cool and want to learn more about?

If you're early in your journey, this step may require some upfront research. You'll need to identify potential contacts and the individual at that organization who can best answer your questions. We recommend you develop a list of at least 20 potential contacts.

Once you have a list of contacts, reach out to one! The goal of this first outreach is to simply learn more about their work and how you could support it.

A quick email will do the trick—here's an example for an aspiring grant writer:

There you go—short and sweet while providing the context the contact needs to understand your request.

Step 2: Host an Unformational Interview.

An informational interview with a business contact is your opportunity to ask a ton of questions, listen, and learn. Before you freak out thinking "I hate networking and don't want to sound salesy," remember you're just having a genuinely curious conversation.

⭐ You're not trying to pitch yourself and your services. Rather, you're here to learn about the challenges that this organization faces. If you recognize that you can truly solve a problem the organization faces with your skills, it will feel natural to get into solutions on how you might be able to help.

Once you have an informational interview lined up, take some time to prepare a few questions. For our example above, these might include:

• How do you know which grants to go after?
• Do you have a strategy for pursuing them?
• Who writes your grant applications?
• What does your organization struggle with most when it comes to consistently getting grant applications out the door?

Customize a series of questions for your own contacts and go into the meeting with a listen-and-learn attitude. Take notes, lean in, ask thoughtful follow-up questions based on their responses, and show up with curiosity. Understand where an organization needs help and you'll be able to recognize where you can propose being part of their solutions (your services).

Step 3: Offer a Deliverable That Will Allow for a Quick Win.

After your meeting, figure out what you can offer your contact that will help solve the challenges discussed in your informational interview. The deliverable is your foot-in-the-door strategy to secure your first freelancing client. There's one big caveat to keep in mind:

Why are speed and ROI important? You want to make it as easy as possible for your client to say "Yes!" to your plan (especially when you're new to the work). Offer a solution or support service that you can accomplish quickly, addresses a tangible need, and saves them time and/or money.

🦄 Here's an example: At Learn Grant Writing, our recommended first deliverable is a Grant Funding Strategy. A Funding Strategy is a 12-month roadmap outlining grant opportunities with the highest likelihood of success to fund an organization's needs. Nonprofits often struggle to pursue grants consistently, treating it as a sporadic activity to tackle whenever they have time or a pressing need. A Funding Strategy saves them time and gives them a concrete plan to generate more revenue for their projects than they'd likely be able to pursue on their own.

What's an ideal foot-in-the-door strategy for your chosen industry or niche? Determine one based on what you've learned from your contact and your own research. Think of it as a low-risk way for you to get to know one another and to prove your value to them.

Once you've determined your deliverable, reach out again to offer a proposal with your deliverable:

Asking for a proposal sets up the expectation of this gig being paid. Plus, a proposal can easily be converted into a contract with a quick signature from the client.

If all goes well, you'll secure your first low-risk freelancing work. Get ready to dive in!

Step 4: Create the Deliverable.

Now comes the really exciting part—doing paid work in your new chosen field!

Your career change is off to a stellar start. Solve your client's problem and do a job you're proud of. Remember, you have value to offer!

Refer back to all the training and resources you've gathered to prepare for your new career. If you're part of an online community like the Global Grant Writers Collective, tap into all the help at your disposal if you need it, like mentoring, guides, and advice from fellow practitioners.

Complete the deliverable according to the timeline in your initial contract or wow your client by delivering the work ahead of time. Allow a week or so for your client to make any iterations to your deliverable (set this up in the proposal to minimize excessive back and forth) and, boom, your deliverable is finalized for the client.

Step 5: Amend the Contract to Extend the Work.

Here's where you turn one-time work into sustained business. This simple step can be a game-changer.

Meet up with your client to present your deliverable, answer their questions, and then pivot:

If the client agrees, you'll secure more work, and they'll have an even easier time realizing the ROI of your plan. Your help will likely be less expensive and/or time-intensive for them than it would otherwise cost to devote a paid employee to the task. If the client's challenge is important but difficult to prioritize internally (common for busy, cash-strapped nonprofits), you can help them quickly address it without siphoning time away from their most pressing activities.

🦄 In our field of grant writing, we've seen this step turn quick odd jobs into $100k contracts! By offering to write all the grants in their funding strategies, our members have quickly launched lucrative freelance grant writing careers and raised over $567 million in funding for nonprofits in their communities—real win-win outcomes.

Of course, not every opportunity will play out like this. However, if you're starting from scratch in a brand new industry, any new business represents growth. In fact, any new conversation is a step forward. Don't underestimate the power of an informational interview even if initially they don't become a client. We've seen grant writers land clients months after their initial conversations.

This tip applies across all industries and skill sets, too. Take a close look at your deliverable and think about the extra work that the client will have to do to implement it. How can you fill those needs?

Step 6: Repeat Steps 1-5 (and Keep Improving).

Remember your list of potential contacts? Return to it and work your way down the list.

Repeat the steps above and build a knockout portfolio of freelancing work. Keep listening, learning, and improving along the way.

Keep refreshing and expanding your list of contacts. Ideally, you should have a couple of projects going on simultaneously but at different stages of work (i.e., producing a new foot-in-the-door deliverable while you're also implementing an older one for a different client). The goal is to keep your plate of available work nice and full.

Master this process and you can build a thriving side hustle.

Step 7: Earn $15K and Decide your Next Step!

Finally, you'll decide how to springboard your hard-won freelancing experience into a real career change.

We recommend earning your first $15k through freelancing projects. Then, you have a choice:

• Keep the ball rolling and officially launch your own consulting business. As an independent consultant, you'll continue with the contract-based work you've been doing. This means quitting your current job to go full-time with your own work. It's a little nerve-wracking, but you've proven you can do it. We see grant writers in the Collective transition to full-time consulting in just nine months. Of course, you can also wait until you've earned more than $15k if that will relieve your fears (just remember that changing careers was your ultimate goal—do not get burned out working two jobs at once).
• Find a new job in your chosen career. Your new portfolio of paid work and network of contacts and clients will help immensely. Even if you're technically underqualified for a fantastic job opportunity, you can still succeed because you've proven you can do the work. We see it happen with our members all the time.

There you have it! This straightforward career change methodology reduces risk while building your experience and confidence. It gives you the flexibility to make the right choice for your circumstances when the time comes. And it works—check out the examples below for proof.

Is Grant Writing For You?

If you are looking for a career change and interested in grant writing consulting, check out this training on how to get started. Build a flexible life you love!

Watch Video

Career Change Success Stories

Want to see how some real people pulled off successful career changes?

If you follow the Organic Networking Framework, you'll eventually reach a crossroads in your freelancing journey: Go independent as your own small consulting business or find a new job in your chosen field. We've got examples of each path:

🦄 Loretta Skiff: From $14/hr Working in a Dog Kennel to $100k as a Grant Writer

Loretta, with a master's degree, was making $14/hr working in a dog kennel. She now charges $18,000 for grant proposals. She scaled her team and now hires other Collective unicorns because her flywheel is churning. She even helped win half a million in funding for the redwood forest she used to hike as a kid!

🦄 Diane Debrovner: 20 Years as a Magazine Editor to $50K Grant Writer in One Year!

Diane loved her career as a magazine editor, but technology was quickly shrinking her industry. She made a late-in-life career pivot to grant writing. Working part-time hours, Diane secured over $50,000 in revenue as a grant writer. She's found time to do more of what she loves like securing a publishing deal for her first book.

🦄 Joel Dulin: From a Dead-end Job to Grant Writing Success in Eight Months

Joel hit the ceiling in his marketing job. Looking at a career pivot, he sent out hundreds of emails, but got zero responses. He instead used the Organic Networking Framework to have curious conversations with contacts. After eight months of grant writing, he was able to leave his job in marketing. He doubled his salary working for himself and had more financial security to support extracurricular activities for his three kids. As a bonus, he also had time to publish a novel he'd been working on for eight years.

🦄 Jessica Stack: Launched a Successful Consulting Business

Jessica joined the Global Grant Writers Collective in 2021 after re-evaluating her personal and financial goals during the pandemic. As a busy teacher and mother of young children, she decided that she wanted to find a new opportunity that would give her schedule greater flexibility, help her earn more for her family, and ultimately let her build a freer life.

After learning about grant writing and building a freelancing portfolio, she dramatically grew her practice. After 18 months, she hit $100k in revenue from grant writing contracts.

🦄 Julia-Grace Sanders: Doubled Her Salary in a Brand New Field

Julia-Grace was a journalist covering niche topics but found that the work wasn't personally fulfilling and didn't offer much room for career growth. After hearing about grant writing from a friend, she took a closer look. She found that the things she loved about journalism—talking to people, telling stories, learning something new every day—transferred beautifully to grant writing.

Fast forward, and Julia-Grace successfully followed the Organic Networking Framework to build her grant writing experience (including a $22k freelancing contract). Before long she'd landed a full-time grant writing job that pays double her old salary.

We share these stories not to show off our thriving grant writing community (although we're pretty proud of it 😉) but to illustrate the power of the Organic Networking Framework.

Start small, learn the ropes, and build your confidence and experience. This way you'll give yourself real options and stronger chances of building a thriving career that you love.

Want to see more success stories about grant writing? We've got tons more from our community.

Discover Grant Writing as a Career

If you’re interested in becoming a grant writing consultant, check out this free training on how you can pull off a meaningful career change.

Access Free Class

Some Age-Specific Career Change Advice

Age is one of the biggest concerns that people have when weighing a career change. Am I too old to venture into a new field? Am I too young to bring enough relevant experience to my job search? If you've been asking one of these questions, you're not alone.

The fact is that ages can make a difference during a career change. This difference isn't always in the opportunities you're able to pursue (although age discrimination unfortunately does happen), but also in your personal circumstances and mindset.

After all, things change as we go through new eras of our lives. We have new, more, or different responsibilities that we need to factor into the career change equation. We bring different attitudes and skill sets to the table that can impact the amount of friction we encounter during a big professional transition.

Here are a few age-specific career change tips that you may find helpful. We recommend reading through all of them.

The tips stack as you go—they're helpful for everyone, but we want to call out specific advice that might be most relevant for people in different age groups. Use the Organic Networking Method as your foundation and build up from there:

How to Change Careers at 30

In your 30s, you're getting comfortable in your working life.

Maybe you've landed a career that's been working fine so far, but it's not really tapping into your passions or offering the growth opportunities you want. Maybe you want to earn more, or you have new responsibilities or priorities in your life that have made you re-evaluate your career choices. Maybe you've struggled to find a satisfying or well-paying career at all and want to take control of your journey.

Whatever brings you to considering a career change, there are some key tips to keep in mind:

• Really take the time to understand what you want. Knowing this now will set you up for a long and fulfilling career that meshes with your interests, life goals, and needs. Do you know that you want to start a family? Or that your top priority is landing a high-paying position? Do you value independence and want to start your own business? Factors like these will all shape the journey you take.
• Identify your transferable skills. Many job-changers in their 30s already have valuable experience in a different field than the one they want to break into. A common concern is that a lack of directly relevant experience will hold them back. (Those unrealistic requirements in job listings don't help, either.) However, you probably already have transferable skills that will serve you well in your new field. Look back at the success stories above—a former journalist found that her storytelling and interviewing skills translated perfectly into a new grant writing career.
• Have patience. When you have a clear idea of what you want from a new career, it can be easy to lose patience with the whole process. Even if you're in a hurry, think twice before quitting a job cold turkey to find one in a new industry. The world's unpredictable, and you'll thank yourself for taking the time to thoroughly prepare. Get some training, research on your own time, and follow the Organic Networking Method described above. You may be surprised at how quickly (and smoothly) it goes for you.

Want a real-life example of a career change in your 30s? Check out Erin's journey from scientist to grant writer.

How to Change Careers at 40

In your 40s, you're established in your working life. If you're like many, you've been at a job for a while and know your industry well. This is also a time when our personal responsibilities—family, mortgages, all that fun stuff—reach a peak.

Maybe you're feeling burnt out and have realized that a personal passion of yours would make for a more fulfilling career. Perhaps you need or want to earn more to support your family, or you're thinking ahead to retirement and want to see if you can earn more with something new.

Consider these tips:

• Shout out your strengths. After your years of work, you understand your professional strengths better than anyone. Take some time to think about and define them. Let them shine front and center as you explore new career options, apply for jobs, or launch your own business.
• Carefully weigh your responsibilities. Retirement savings, relatives getting older and requiring care, kids getting ready for college sooner than you think—there might be a lot more on your mind than in your 20s and 30s. Considering your unique mix of practical needs and responsibilities is especially important right now as you chart out a career change path.
• Tap into the power of your network. By the time we're working in our 40s, we've met plenty of people, including bosses, coworkers, clients, partners, and all kinds of other supporting characters. Don't be afraid to break out the old Rolodex and revisit your network of contacts. Someone you know may have launched their own business or moved into a new organization or line of work that interests you.
• Don't feel defensive about age. Don't let the inherent anxiety of a transitional period like a career change get the better of you and make you feel defensive about your age. Everyone started a new career at some point. You should feel proud that you're taking control of your career path. Prepare, network, learn, and earn—you've got this.
• Get up to speed on the tech used in your chosen space. Every industry has its own unique set of tools, some or many of which might be brand new to you. You don't need to be a whiz off the bat (that's what job training is for), but you should have a working knowledge of what these tools are and how/why they're used. Try to get firsthand experience with them if you can. Prioritize training resources that cover common industry tools. Keep an eye on AI, too. It's transforming all kinds of fields (grant writing included), so a solid understanding of how to use it in your new field can set you apart.

How to Change Careers at 50

By your 50s, you know a thing or two about your skills and priorities. Maybe you've spent decades in one career or have hopped around within related fields, expanding your skillset and network along the way.

Some of the responsibilities of your 40s and earlier 50s may have relaxed a bit, too, for instance, if a child graduated college and is fully supporting themself. You might be looking forward to retirement and want to plan ahead for a personally fulfilling side hustle to supplement your income and keep your hands busy. For some, the idea of retirement might be a new source of financial anxiety, leading you to want to supplement your income now with a better job or freelance career.

What should older working professionals keep in mind when changing careers or launching new side businesses? Here are our tips:

• Build an online presence. You've probably been online just like everyone else, but are you up-to-date on the web practices that people use to promote their businesses and brands these days? LinkedIn is totally free to use, and simple websites for your side hustle or brand are relatively inexpensive (and easier to create than you might think).
• Make passion a priority. You know your needs and circumstances best, but for many looking to change careers in their 50s, the goal is to build supplemental income through a personal passion. If this is you, let your passion lead you. You've worked decades to get where you are (possibly in a career that you didn't enjoy). Take the opportunity to build the freedom and fulfillment you've wanted.
• Use your years of experience to your advantage. As an older working adult, you've seen it all—good and bad bosses, coworkers, and business strategies. Think back on the most impactful lessons you've learned along the way. Take stock of all the skills you've picked up over the years. List your professional strengths and weaknesses. Use these to help shape your decision-making as you move ahead with a freelancing move or interviews for new jobs.
• Be prepared to work with younger people. If you follow the Organic Networking Framework and choose to find a new job, be aware of what you're stepping into. Your new coworkers or managers may be younger than you and have different attitudes than you're used to in professional settings. Remember, there are just as many unhelpful generalizations out there about younger professionals as there are about older professionals. Team players who don't fall prey to those generalizations are the ones who thrive long-term.

Want an example of a successful change in your 50s? We've got a great one—Check out Abigail's journey to becoming a nonprofit Executive Director and grant writer.

Is Grant Writing For You?

If you are looking for a career change and interested in grant writing consulting, check out this training on how to get started. Build a flexible life you love!

Watch Video

More Resources and Tips for Starting a New Career

Let's review a few additional tips that everyone—regardless of age, skill level, or intended career—should keep in mind when preparing for a professional transition:

• Do a reality check. You can make a plan to follow your dreams (or at least take your first steps toward them), but you also must take stock of your circumstances and practical needs. Make a list of the pros and cons of your intended career change. To be safe, assume you'll make less money than you currently do, at least in the short term. How would this tangibly affect your life? Your family's lives?
• Invest in education (but don't jump the gun). If you're 100% positive you want to move into a field in which a particular secondary degree would be necessary to land your dream job, go for it. If you're not 100% positive, hold off on making a big commitment to an expensive higher education program. Scale your education investment to your needs until you're confident in the direction you want to go. Your training options will vary significantly depending on the industry, but practical, hands-on training is often the best choice for newcomers in non-academic fields.
• Find a community. Speaking of finding practical training opportunities, look for communities of fellow trainees and practitioners in your chosen field. The Global Grant Writers Collective is a great example for grant writers. The right combination of training curriculum, coaching, resources, and community can be incredibly empowering. Find the right community and rest assured that no matter the problem you're facing, a fellow member is currently dealing with it or has overcome it in the past.
• Consider lateral career change opportunities. Before moving forward with a significant career change, make sure to review all your options. Your current place of work might offer lateral career change possibilities, i.e. moving into a new, unrelated role within your current organization. It's worth feeling these out or explicitly discussing them with your manager beforehand. If your organization is well-managed and open to lateral job changes, you could do this now. If you're not sure, you might want to wait to bring it up until you're fully prepared to leave your current role.
• Recognize imposter syndrome when it rears its ugly head. As your efforts take off and you begin to see the fruits of your labor, it may feel strange. Who are you to be successfully venturing into a new field? Do you know what you're doing? Are you just getting lucky? These self-sabotaging feelings create imposter syndrome, and it can paralyze your progress if you let it. Prepare to encounter it, listen to it (in case it does help you uncover particular weak spots to improve), but then let it go and keep moving.

Quick exercise: Let's say you've spent a few months learning, practicing, and taking on paid freelance work in your chosen field. You're still feeling a little iffy about your skills. Then you find two perfect job listings: One with a "coordinator" title and another with a "manager" title. Which one do you apply for?

⭐ Spoiler alert—there's no right answer, but this is a scenario where unchecked imposter syndrome might really hold you back from amazing possibilities.

Want to hear about this real-life example? Learn Grant Writing member Wedeline Casimir shared her amazing story with us. Take a look to learn how she overcame imposter syndrome and took a risk to land a dream role.

Helpful Resources for Changing Careers

Looking for additional resources to help you navigate your career change? Here are a few to explore:

• Occupational Outlook Handbook from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This official federal resource compiles pay statistics and other details for various occupations. Use it to roughly gauge a median income and get the lay of the land for your dream role.
• CareerOneStop from the U.S. Department of Labor. Here's another federal resource that rounds up tons of helpful information and resources for job seekers, including self-assessments, certification information, resume and interview tips, and more.
• Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS) from the U.S. Department of Labor. If you're a U.S. military veteran, service member, or spouse, this program provides a range of helpful job change resources, services, mentoring, and workshops.
• American Job Centers. These government resource offices established as part of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act help to connect job seekers with local businesses. Explore the website to learn more and find your nearest Job Center.
• CareerLeader. If you're interested in business and want to forge a new career, this well-regarded self-assessment program can help you narrow down potential industries and identify your strengths and weaknesses. Note that the program costs $99.95 but may be worth the investment if you want a little upfront guidance to narrow down your interests and potential career fields.
• My Skills My Future, a part of the CareerOneStop suite of resources. This easy tool helps you identify and explore your professional skills. Enter your current or past job to explore others that draw on the transferable skills you already have under your belt.

We hope that this guide and the Organic Networking Framework empower you to chart out the career you've dreamed of. Whether you're looking for better pay, more flexible hours, or more fulfillment, this process can help.

One last note: We strongly recommend grant writing as an ideal choice for many prospective career changers. This is especially true for those with backgrounds that involve writing, project management, and nonprofit work (although it's still an excellent choice for anyone with a desire to claim more freedom in their life while helping support worthy causes).

Want to learn more? Here are a few additional resources (some grant-specific) from our team:

• Career Change for Teachers: How-To Guide and 15 Ideas
• Part-Time Entrepreneurship By Necessity
• Why Start a Side Hustle Grant Writing?
• Freelance Grant Writing: How to Start Strong & Succeed
• Can I Make Money as a Grant Writer?
• How to Plan Your Quarter for Business and Life

Discover Grant Writing as a Career

If you’re interested in becoming a grant writing consultant, check out this free training on how you can pull off a meaningful career change.

Access Free Class