Cory Peppler is a teacher, friend, and colleague. He has also had a great experience getting started in his Encore Career, something he did before even leaving his existing career.
On Creating Your Encore Career, Cory and I discussed this journey. He learned great insights from starting his side business and has amazing tips and tricks for those of us wanting to do the same.
Marketing: How Cory Learned It
One of the most important things Cory learned as he built his business was all of the aspects of marketing. As an introvert, he has had to do a lot of work with his mindset in particular. He’s had to figure out what it is that he’s really doing when he’s asking somebody to buy his course.
We must do the same. When we offer our product or service, we are really offering our potential customers something that's going to help them and be transformative for them. Try to change your mindset from having that icky feeling about selling to knowing that you’re offering to take them to the next level.
This boils down to the idea of reciprocity: if we do something good for someone else, they're not obligated but are much more likely to want to give something back in return.
Networking: His Top Tip
Before you even begin your Encore Career, you need to start networking.
Create a robust LinkedIn profile and then start reaching out to people. Tell them that you want to connect with them and mention the things you have in common. You could also ask them for a quick phone call where you build a relationship with them and ask them questions about themselves.
Then, when the time comes for you to transition, you will have relationships and a healthy network in place that you can start to gently tap for possibilities.
Additionally, you can learn everything else in business. Knowledge comes pretty quickly. However, relationships need to be nurtured over time. Therefore, the sooner you can start, the better.
Flexibility: How to Discover Your Transferable Skills
When you’re leaving a long-time career and starting on a new venture, you need to rethink your resume. The truth is, you are qualified for many different industries; you just need to figure out what skills you already have and how you can transfer them. Here are some steps to do so:
1. Take your existing resume and translate everything you’ve done into a different industry. For example, as a teacher, you might rephrase “students” to “learners” or start thinking of yourself as a presenter rather than a teacher.
2. Think about every skill as a transferable skill. Imagine what it could be in a different role. There are transferable skills in everything you do that you can take into the next chapter.
3. Change your mindset from, “I can’t do that job” to, “I could absolutely do that and am definitely qualified for that position.”
4. Polish your resume by rethinking the whole language of it. Change the language to fit the industry of the employer to whom it is being sent. This gives you a better attitude and mindset towards positions that you probably would have dismissed in the past.
5. In your resume, explain what value you will bring to the employer.
Get flexible and try polishing up your resume in this way today.
