Curt Burnett was the Enterprise Manager of Advanced Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering at John Deere for several years until he retired in November of 2016. Before retiring, however, he took up a special assignment as a Loan Executive. He spent three years starting the Quad Cities Manufacturing Innovation Hub. This opened many Encore Career doors for him. 

Curt and I have many similarities but his career path has been different than mine in several ways as well. This illustrates the variety of things you might choose to do in your Encore Career. 

On Creating Your Encore Career, Curt shared more about the journey towards his Encore Career and how so many doors have been opened for him.

Invest in Yourself

Many people working corporate jobs get really focused on executing today. Therefore, they forget about investing in themselves. However, if you want to prepare for your Encore Career while you’re still in the corporate world, you must be intentional about investing in yourself.

There are many different ways you can invest in yourself. One of the easiest ways is to get involved in professional organizations. In these groups, you will see how other companies operate and learn a lot of their important strategies for how to be competitive. 

You can also invest in yourself by going to conferences and other places that get you outside and looking at how other people do things. 

Additionally, take advantage of when your company brings outside people in to help you with the business. Always volunteer for those kinds of things because you’ll get to see how other consultants and coaches work and manage projects. 

Throughout this process, your skills will grow. This is beneficial for your current job but will also set you up with a network and contacts that will be extremely important when you launch your Encore Career. 

Where to Find Work

Once you begin the transition to an Encore Career, it can be confusing to figure out where to find work. Truthfully, though, if you keep your awareness up and are always looking around, you will see that there are opportunities everywhere. Each project will open new doors for you. 

For example, Curt worked as an Executive Director, having no idea that he wanted to keep working. Part of the reason he took his special assignment job was that it was going to be something new and different. He knew he would meet a new group of people and had personally chosen to be focused outside the walls of his company. This created relationships and opened doors for him. 

You can do the same in every project you undertake. Throughout each one, keep your eyes open, keep looking, and doors will open for you. 

This also largely depends on what your motivation is. If it's about income and security, you should seek to find a company that will find customers for you and provide you with a steady stream of work. However, if it's about the excitement of creating and doing on your own, find some bigger customers, projects, or startups.

There were many other things Curt did to prepare well for his Encore Career, including clarifying his purpose and reminding himself of it every day. Join us on the podcast to hear our full conversation.