Making your own change

by Marty Kramer   How do you turn your daydreams about making a career change into reality? Start by visualizing your switch or "reinvention," suggests Felicia Zimmerman, president of F.A. Zimmerman Consulting and author of Reinvent Your Work: How to Rejuvenate, Revamp, or Recreate Your Career. "Make sure that your abilities line up adequately, if not well, with the requirements of your new career," she says. For example, if moving into commercial real estate involves making contacts with local business people and you’re not comfortable networking with business types, you may be setting yourself up for failure. Conversely, if you’ve worked for a large real estate firm for several years and, by doing so, have identified better ways to generate revenues or serve clients, you may want to strike out on your own. But if you do, you must also be able to manage other people as well as handle administrative details. If you’re not sure whether you’re ready or able to do so, you may want to join a smaller real estate firm instead of launching your own business.

"In the current marketplace, whatever you’re doing, you need to be resourceful,"Zimmerman says. "For example, are there people who’ve made successful transitions whom you can learn from? Are there ideas or approaches that you’ve seen, heard, or read about that you might employ to further your own career? Or, are there individuals whom you can contact that might provide helpful entrees?" Whatever you do, an honest assessment of your current situation and what it will take to get where you want to go are essential.

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