AIBU to ask you what career advice you would give a 24 year old?

[dancingstarlight]

I am very confused about my career. I have come for relationship advice before so hope someone can help me.

I think I would really like to be self employed, work from home, run a small business helping to inspire women.

How do I do this?

Don't just focus on what you want now; think about the future. That's not just balancing work and family, if you want children, it's having a career that flexes to fit your needs and wants at different stages of life, and that keeps you interested and developing.

The sort of role you are describing might not have a lot of flexibility or room for growth. You don't want to find yourself in a cul de sac. Think about how you can acquire skills and experience that will give you a range of options. I agree with PPs that there is always a market for good HR people.

Just because the OP is 24 and has limited experience doesn't mean her business wouldn't be capable of inspiring women. Some posters are so negative and youth bashing!

OP- you describe yourself as quiet and enjoying the running of the business side of things, so it sounds like you could project manage something where you employ freelance trainers / other inspiring women of all ages and backgrounds to deliver sessions, talks, inspirational workshops, or videos or whatever, to whomever your target audience / customer is. You sound perfectly capable to work through this idea. Just start small and run a pilot, then gather customer feedback, refine your model and do it again bigger.

Good luck.

@TwoSwans

Just because the OP is 24 and has limited experience doesn't mean her business wouldn't be capable of inspiring women. Some posters are so negative and youth bashing!

OP- you describe yourself as quiet and enjoying the running of the business side of things, so it sounds like you could project manage something where you employ freelance trainers / other inspiring women of all ages and backgrounds to deliver sessions, talks, inspirational workshops, or videos or whatever, to whomever your target audience / customer is. You sound perfectly capable to work through this idea. Just start small and run a pilot, then gather customer feedback, refine your model and do it again bigger.

Good luck.

Hardly youth bashing

If the op was 39 and had decided she wanted to inspire women with nothing inspiration worthy under her belt they would most likely get the same responses

Op if by rhe age of 24 you’ve started a business that employed seven people (assuming not some pyramid thing), sold it for personal reasons, and started working in paid employment yes, absolutely I think this is hugely inspiring.

@MissLucyEyelesbarrow I know a lady who is a coach. She is so fantastic she is booked out for six months in advance at £200 p/h. She works 20h a week. She is very good, has spent 8 years working up to this point, and doesn't have to do any advertising because she gets referrals. I know for those who are really good they can get financial stability and flexible hours. Its hard work and only a few get there.

@TwoSwans Thank you you have been very kind and helpful

@Bluntness100 thank you, I was trying not to feel discouraged. And it is not an MLM

@beantrader If you are coaching or similar I would target people around your age and younger (16-25) because I'm 34 and I wouldn't take advice from a 24 year old who didn't have that much experience.

Agreed, but 16-25 year olds don’t tend to have much spare money to pay for inspiration/life coaches.

Have you thought about going into teaching, OP? You could have an amazing impact on young lives.

What about doing something inspiring children and teenagers? Like working in STEM?

I’m sorry but I agree with pps that you yourself wouldn’t be very inspiring yet (no reason why you couldn’t be in future), with only one small business and a few years working under your belt, but this could be very inspiring for children who haven’t yet started careers.

Only 2 bits of advice from me

1. Whilst you're young and (presumably?) don't have dependents, you have the freedom to take some chances and make some mistakes. Take those chances and make those mistakes, because that freedom doesn't last forever unfortunately.

1. When you do come to some conclusion about your next step and career plans, try to only share them with people you truly trust to be supportive but also honest in a critical way - both personally and professionally (e.g. a mentor if you have one?) You don't want to share ideas with someone who is going to be out and out negative and dismiss your ideas instantly...but at the same time if you can find someone to bounce ideas off who will give you criticism and useful feedback, and point out the blind spots you haven't noticed, that will help you refine your ideas and plans.

Good luck

@Calmandmeasured1

You want to be self-employed, wfh and run a business inspiring women and you are then looking to others for inspiration because you have no idea how to? 😂😂😂

My advice would be that you aren't ready to run a business or inspire women to do anything. We all have pipe dreams. This is what this sounds like as this stage of your life.

You haven't even told us about any talents you have or what you have achieved with your life that women could aspire to.

Do you know how to set up a company?
Do you have any finances? A business plan? Any ideas at all of your own that we could advise on?

this

I'm not inspired by your posts so far - what do you plan to do, come on MN everyday and ask for an inspirational quote to pass on?

@MrsToadlike thank you

@MaskingForIt I have done teaching and while I really liked it, it did become quite repetitive

To all those who say I am not inspiring. I can't imagine an anonymous person on mumsnet vaguely describing some of her accomplishments is very inspiring at all. You may or may not find me inspiring, but you have so little information to come to a negative conclusion.

I follow a girl who is only a little bit older than me and has less experience than me on paper before she began working on her dream. Her attitude, ideas, and personality are very inspiring to me and the other 120k odd followers she has. She runs a podcast and talks about the law of attraction.

I am sure each one of you has done something inspiring that can bring value to others.

I would never intend to bash another aspiring woman entrepreneurs dreams, or discourage her aspirations. Women have enough barriers in their way as it is to have to deal with being torn down by other women.

Have you thought about going into teaching, OP? You could have an amazing impact on young lives.

Not Instagrammable enough.

So essentially you want to be some sort of Instagram/social media influencer?

a qualified careers adviser should have a post grad level qualification, post qualifying on the job training and continuous professional development and yearly training - plus work to professional standards

life coaching is not the same

@MojoMoon no I am not interested in social media, I am leaning more toward coaching

[quote dancingstarlight]@MojoMoon no I am not interested in social media, I am leaning more toward coaching[/quote]
What about motivational/keynote/after dinner speaking?

I think I'd wonder - as a customer what skills and life experience you had, what qualifications, what about you was 'inspirational' to me?

a qualified careers adviser should have a post grad level qualification, post qualifying on the job training and continuous professional development and yearly training - plus work to professional standards

life coaching is not the same

100% this 👍🏻

@Butchyrestingface that sounds very interesting thank you for the suggestion

@ghostyslovesheets if I said anymore fear I would out myself

We are facing economic Armageddon post COVID. Are people / companies really going to have the spare cash for coaching, conferences, etc which can be filed under “nice to have” rather than “essential”? I think, OP, you need to be really sure of your potential market and as others have said HR may be a good career move for you - you will get a lot of experience and gain skills whilst dot some extent have some influence in career progression and training aspects which it sounds like you are particularly interested in

24? I'd advise them to find something they enjoy doing and do it better than anyone else - oh, and make loads of contacts in chosen area.

It helps to find an area others find difficult/repellant but you are good at in my experience

Not being nasty but to "inspire" others you have to have:

A. Have achieved a lot
B. Have a background you have overcome

You can't just choose to inspire people - THEy have to find you inspiration

If you were a life coach, what would you say to yourself ?

There's your answer.

What do you enjoy doing? What brings you joy? Can you make that into a small business on the side (I think the trendy term is hustle) and see where that takes you?
I have a friend who makes a living as a declutterer. That is sort of inspiring and helping women to get their lives in order.
Or personal stylist?
Counsellor?
Artist/crafter?
Author?
Publisher?
Publicist?
Personal security advisor/self defence coach.

OP why not apply for a DWP work coach role?

@SueEllenMishke
Absolutely. It infuriates me how many people have set themselves up as life coaches with minimal training. Qualifying to become a careers adviser is equivalent to doing a PGCE. I don't think people realise the amount of training and how it is very very different from what is involved with becoming a life coach.