In this episode, Martin Wachters joins me. We talk about how a hobby can turn into a full-time career. We also cover the importance of other skills and interests that can make this a reality.

Martin is the founder of Muziekles Amsterdam, a Netherlands-based music school. He also has several published online courses and resources to help beginners and more experienced students learn and improve the guitar and piano.

Key Takeaways

• If you are not in your ideal career, don't think that the experience or skills you learn are wasted
• You may not always land in your dream career, but often something closely related that you might not have initially considered
• It takes courage to quit the comfortable and move into the unknown
• Bringing together areas of interest such as (in Martin's case) music, teaching, entrepreneurship, and technology can create a niche
• Don't cater to everyone; pick a niche
• Start small by not committing to something big before you have tested the idea
• Be willing to think again, as you won't always be right
• Once you create your core offering or service, you can grow an ecosystem of businesses or services around this

Resources
Martin recommended the following books:

• Unleash the Power Within: Personal Coaching to Transform Your Life by Tony Robbins
• Start With Why by Simon Sinek
• Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know by Adam Grant

Connect with Martin
Listeners can learn more about and connect with Martin by visiting:

• The Muziekles Amsterdam website
• His LinkedIn
• The Guitar Game website
• The Piano Game website

In this episode, Sonja Price joins me. We talk about making your career work for you. This means thinking about the guidance and finesse you will need, and what the decision criteria are for choosing what you do in your career. Very importantly, we talk about getting paid what you are worth.

Sonja is a career strategist and founder of Dynamo Careers. She is passionate about empowering professionals to accelerate their career success, to become financially free, and to make a positive impact around the world.

Key Takeaways

• Does your work, work for you? Are you getting the most out of your current role?
• Taking on a role at a small organisation can provide big opportunities for learning and growth
• Don't be afraid to re-invent your career. Multiple times if you have to
• A side hustle is a great way to soft start your new or changed career
• Pay attention to where you are at the moment, what skills you already have, and which you need to learn
• Create opportunities and even craft your ideal role
• Instead of a stretch goal, set yourself a stretch role
• Don't underestimate the value of building relationships and developing your social capital
• Having valuable skills (and knowing what these are) makes a big difference
• Use a combination of clarity and research to determine what you want from your career
• To get there, understand whether incremental adjustments or big jumps would work best
• Don't hesitate to seek help if you are stuck

Resources

We discussed the following resources on the show:

• Does your work = work for you? https://dynamocareers.com/quiz
• How much more could you earn in your lifetime? https://dynamocareers.com/calculator
• Helping people everywhere find a job and company they love - https://www.glassdoor.co.uk
• Salary insights with https://www.payscale.com
• Make fair pay a reality https://www.salary.com

Connect with Sonja

Listeners can learn more about and connect with Sonja by visiting her website or LinkedIn.

In this episode, Bruna de Palo joins me. We talk about changing your nine to five to your nine to alive. We cover mapping your career, finding your ideal role, considering a career in the non-profit sector, and the importance of neuroscience when it comes to your career.

Bruna is a certified leadership, executive & career coach, keynote speaker, corporate trainer, and founder of Think and Act Differently.

Key Takeaways

• Don't use your passion as a compass. Create a map to help navigate your career
• A good career is one where you can express yourself and be who you are
• Know the difference between talents and skills
• Speak to people who have similar characteristics to you. Find out what career role they are in
• 'Learn to turn poison into medicine', i.e. make the most from a bad situation
• Regulating stress and handling your emotions is important
• Use a feedback loop to identify your limiting beliefs
• Differentiate your transferable skills from the obvious
• Know yourself, know others

Resources

We discussed the following resources on the show:

• Bruna's TED Talk
• Bruna's Nine To Alive series
• This was not strictly discussed on the show, but a great resource to help find a job with purpose, Escape The City
• The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science by Norman Doidge

Connect with Bruna

If listeners are considering a career change or would like to learn more about, and connect with Bruna, please visit her website. You can also sign up for her newsletter on the website.

In this episode, Jim Barnish joins me and we talk about an alternative to climbing the career ladder. We also talk about how careers no longer follow straight lines; Jim shares how his career didn't follow a traditional straight line either.

Jim has spent the last two decades growing tech companies as an entrepreneur, operator and consultant. Jim now runs Orchid Black, a growth services firm complete with growth experts, just like Jim, that share an incredible track record for making technology companies worth so much more.

Key Takeaways

• When considering job opportunities, don't only dwell on the functional aspects of the job but look closely at the company culture
• Sometimes your dream job isn't your ideal job
• Don't underestimate the value of having a coach
• When looking for your ideal role, look beyond the career and personality tests
• Ikigai is a fantastic tool to help find your purpose and ideal role
• Success is not built on success. It's built on failure. It's built on frustration. Sometimes it's built on catastrophe
• It is okay to make mistakes, as long as you are learning from them
• Perseverance and working hard are the basic skills that everyone should develop
• Wherever you are on your career or entrepreneurial journey, there is always help available
• Even if you are not a project manager, having those skills is important
• Key transferable skills are communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving
• Being a team player means that you don't always get the wins yourself, but you help others to achieve those wins
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Resources

We discussed the following resources on the show:

• Ikigai on Wikipedia
• The Squiggly Career: The No.1 Sunday Times Business Bestseller - Ditch the Ladder, Discover Opportunity, Design Your Career by Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis
• How Successful People Lead: Taking Your Influence to the Next Level by John C. Maxwell
• Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Handbook of Silicon Valley's Bill Campbell by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, and Alan Eagle
• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• How to Ikigai: Lessons for Finding Happiness and Living Your Life's Purpose (Ikigai Book, Lagom, Longevity, Peaceful Living) by Tim Tamashiro

Connect with Jim

Listeners can learn more about and connect with Jim by visiting his LinkedIn page or the Orchid Black website.

I've been coaching youth rugby for eight years now. In that time there have been (and still are) so many lessons that I have learnt. The interesting thing is, these lessons can be directly applied to leadership. In this episode, I dive into more detail on these lessons.

The lessons are:

• Sometimes you need to work with what you’re given
• Even top performers have bad days
• Peer pressure counts for more than you think
• Everybody has baggage
• Commitment varies – not everyone is there because they want to be
• Team members need to be engaged
• It’s not always about talent
• A team requires balance
• Some like to lead, others are happy to follow
• You can’t win without an aligned team

Listen in for the detail on these learnings.

In this episode I also talk about The Agile Career Podcast being recognised as one of the top 20 careers podcasts in the UK. I am truly honoured by this. Check out the link below to find out more and also to see some other great career-related podcasts that you can listen to.

https://blog.feedspot.com/uk_career_podcasts/

In this episode, I revisit an earlier episode with Anita Toth, discussing the importance of a side hustle. In Anita's case, it was experimenting with several business models and growing experience. When her role was made redundant, she already had the experience to get her own business up and running. What a fantastic insurance policy!

In today's episode, I bring you seven more reasons why you should start your side hustle sooner than later:

1. It is low cost and high reward
2. It makes you location independent
3. It helps you grow your wealth
4. It helps you create multiple streams of income
5. You can scale it beyond your dreams
6. It can give you peace of mind
7. You can control your destiny

Very importantly though, I bring you a fantastic deal on this episode. One of my products, the e-learning course "How To Build a Business Plan", has been selected to be part of Infostack's Side Hustle Toolkit 3.0. This means that you get lifetime access to my course (priced at $97) and 30+ other resources (priced at $4,946) for only $49!

What's the catch? There is no catch, other than this deal is only available for a week, till 27 July 2021. Check it out at https://gunterrichter--infostack.thrivecart.com/sh3/.

(Spoiler alert! This is an affiliate link, which means that if you decide to purchase anything, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. I have purchased the Side Hustle Toolkit 3.0 product personally and have not been given any free products or anything else for the mentions in this podcast episode. The only consideration is in the form of affiliate commissions. I only promote those products or services that I truly feel deliver value to you, and this purchase of the Side Hustle Toolkit 3.0 is certainly one of those.)

So, are you ready to launch your side hustle? Everything you need to:

• Identify a profitable niche
• Create your product
• Build your simple sales funnel
• Automate your marketing
• And scale to the moon

Is available here https://gunterrichter--infostack.thrivecart.com/sh3/

Finally, here are some pics of the new home office/man-cave https://www.instagram.com/p/CRkGtLrrl-W/?utm_medium=copy_link

In this episode, Fiona Hathorn joins me and we talk about the importance of boards in organisations, and how becoming a board member could enhance your career. Fiona shares the benefits of serving on a board, whether it is a commercial or community-based organisation, and how you might get started.

Fiona is CEO of Women on Boards UK and has several board positions. Fiona launched Women on Boards in 2012 to support women, and men, make the right connections and career choices to get to board level within their own company or to take on a non-executive board role. Since its launch, Women on Boards has supported over 1800 women and a number of men get onto boards.

Key Takeaways

• Serving on a board is a great way to further or enhance your career
• Many skills you have developed are transferable and will help you fulfil the duties of a board member
• Serving on a board is ultimately about conformance and performance. Which is your strong skillset?
• Serving on a board can help you build your future and grow several additional skills
• Boards want to understand what value you can add. Know who you are and what you do
• Networking outside of your 'box' is a large part of success
• There are no certification requirements to serve on a board, and there are many resources available to help you
• Serving as a board member is not limited to commercial organisations. Your local charities and community organisations need help and guidance too

Resources

Fiona recommends the following resources to learn more:

• The Wates Report - improving corporate governance standards
• Three Great Reasons to Consider a Board Role
• The Seven Reasons Why Being a Director is Good for Your Career
• Are You Ready for the Boardroom?
• Get on Board workshops

Connect with Fiona

Listeners can learn more about and connect with Fiona by visiting her LinkedIn page.

In this episode, Joe Delagrave joins me; we talk about his love for sport and how he was set to make that his career. Unfortunately, a significant, life-altering event changed everything. Joe shares his journey of how he moved on from, probably, the lowest point of his life to representing the United States internationally, at a competitive level.

Key Takeaways

• Step into what it is you want to do. Live for your purpose and stop trying to please others. It doesn't matter what other people think
• Stop playing the blame game. It might be easy, but it won't take you very far
• Let go of thinking you can do everything by yourself
• Don't see the obstacle, see the opportunity
• It is important to have people around you that can lift you up and also bring you down when needed
• Find a mentor and your tribe
• If you can't see the impact you are making, don't quit. Set smaller goals to help you achieve your bigger goals
• Make your goals public, for accountability
• Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you are right
• You'll never find success if you stay in your comfort zone
• If you are feeling stuck, just move forward one step at a time

Recommended Reading

Joe recommends Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done by Jon Acuff

Resources

The podcast episode discussed the following resources:

• The United States Quad Rugby Association - Smashing Stereotypes One Hit At a Time
• The Wounded Warrior Project - helping veterans and service members who incurred a physical or mental injury, illness, or wound while serving in the military on or after September 11, 2001
• The Agile Career Club

Connect with Joe

Listeners can learn more about Joe and connect with him by visiting:

• His website
• Instagram
• Twitter