Thinking of Pivoting Careers? Take a Look at These Options
There are times you reach a crossroads in your life and evaluate the job you have. When those days come, you may decide that pivoting careers is your best move. Here are some options you might consider for your next career:
Give the Gift of Surrogacy — and Get Paid
Surrogate mothers are women who offer to bear a child for a couple unable to have one. Women who offer to be surrogate mothers may do so in memory of a family member who struggled with infertility. However, there are also legal ways to profit from the surrogacy process. It’s not a full-time job, but if you’re pivoting careers, becoming a surrogate could bring enough profit to allow you to stay home with your family.
To qualify to become a surrogate mother, you must have previously been pregnant and have given birth. You must also be a non-smoker – or be smoke-free for a year. A physician must certify your health and attest to the absence of conditions that could interfere with a healthy pregnancy. You must also live in a state where surrogacy is legal.
Legal documentation is required, for which you may choose to contact a family lawyer. Some women will seek a surrogate from their family or friends. Others will go through an agency, which will facilitate the legal processes involved in adopting a surrogacy baby. The current average amount paid by a couple to a surrogate is between $120,000 and $130,000 – of which up to $30,000 is intended to cover medical expenses.
Offer the Joy of Flowers and Plants
If you love flowers and plants and have the creativity to arrange plants, being a florist may be the right job for you. Depending on where you work, you could be responsible for caring for plants, designing arrangements, and helping the flower shop’s customers find what they’re looking for. Caring for plants includes mixing solutions that can increase the plant’s endurance.
Although you can work in a flower store with minimum experience, to be a florist, you must have a minimum of a high school diploma. To increase your knowledge of caring for flowers and plants and become the best florist, you can obtain an associate’s or bachelor’s degree in floral design. These classes will provide teaching in natural science, horticultural science, and the elements of design. If you’re pivoting careers, being in the floral industry will provide you with a job that will always bring joy to its customers.
A florist can work in a flower warehouse, arranging large crops of flowers harvested from a flower farm. Many florists choose to work in flower stores that provide bouquets and cut flowers, as well as arrangements for events such as weddings, funerals, and other occasions. Flowers and plants are also sold at some grocery stores or by street vendors. The national average salary for a florist is just over $35,000.
Provide a Popular Food Additive
Today’s food industry often uses additives to improve the texture in our foods or to increase the ease of making them. Lecithin is usually extracted from sunflower seeds but is sometimes derived from soybeans. The seeds are taken to a facility where they are cleaned, pressed, and where their oil is extracted. The oils are phospholipids, and they’re beneficial to our bodies.
Phospholipids are valuable because they prevent the buildup of fats in the liver. They also work with proteins to form our cell membranes. Phospholipids can be added to chocolate, salad dressings, and baked goods. It is also used in cosmetics and animal feed. People knowledgeable about lecithin and its properties can acquire the supplies they need to open a store or create an online business as a lecithin wholesaler.
The average salary for a sales director at a national lecithin company is currently cited to be over $179,000. 3 The amount of salary will vary by the size of your business. However, if you’re pivoting careers, that potential salary may attract you to being a lecithin wholesaler. In 2022, the global market demand for lecithin was $477 million, predicted to reach $877 million by 2027.
Create a Stunning Outdoor Design
If you enjoy working outdoors and want a career where your creativity can produce an outdoor masterpiece, working in landscape architecture may be the right choice. Many people need clarification on the jobs of landscape designer and landscape architect. While a landscape designer typically works on projects for people’s homes, a landscape architect works on large commercial projects. A landscape architect is licensed, and their job entails research, planning, and designing landscaping projects.
One challenge landscape architects face is preserving the environment while arranging and changing its appearance. To be a landscape architect, you must obtain a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture. The course will include liberal arts, natural sciences, and botany classes. After you get your degree, you must also pass a licensure test called the Landscape Architecture Registration Exam
Although you must have much background knowledge to become a landscape architect, you also need a creative streak. If this combination interests you, consider pivoting careers and becoming a landscape architect. In 2021, the median salary for a landscape architect is $67,950. However, the top 10% of people in that job are making up to $115,000.
Turn Your Love of Hairstyling into a Career
If you’ve always enjoyed styling your hair, and your sisters and friends have begged you to style them, this might be your job. Hair stylists (hairdressers) will wash, set, curl, or cut hair. They can apply chemical solutions to hair to provide a permanent wave. Other chemicals can be used to dye (change the color of) hair.
To become a hair stylist, you need vocational or beauty school training. Some vocational high schools have cosmetology programs so students can have a good profession after high school. Some people choose hairstyling after doing another job, and then, when pivoting careers, will select one of the local hair schools for their training. After working as a hairdresser, you may take marketing or business classes and purchase a hairstyling business.
Hairstylist salaries will vary by where you work. Hair artists can work in a local beauty parlor, at an upscale salon at a mall, or as a stylist for a theater, television, or movie crew. Hairstyling is a profession that can be creatively satisfying. The current national median salary for hairstylists is $33,290.
Open a Great Family Restaurant
If you are a good cook and have some experience working in a restaurant, you may decide to open a family restaurant. A family restaurant is defined as a place that serves ‘simple food at reasonable prices.’8 Many types of jobs are available in family restaurants, including cook, server, host, dishwasher, and manager. If pivoting careers is done to open a family enterprise, it can be a way for your family to draw closer together.
To start a family restaurant, you must begin with planning. You need to decide the size of your restaurant (which may depend on finding an available place for sale). You must also make legal preparations, including establishing your restaurant as a legal entity and registering to pay necessary taxes. You’ll need a business bank account and the licenses and permits required by your state and municipality.
A family restaurant starts with a good cook but needs more than that to succeed. For a family restaurant to succeed, it must gain a reputation for good food, prices, and service. In time, working together as a team and creating a good family restaurant is possible. Current statistics say restaurant owners make between $31,000 to $155,000 annually, averaging $65,000.
Upscale Your Culinary Talents at a Steakhouse
A family restaurant can be a great workplace, but steakhouses require more refined culinary talent, a more significant monetary investment, and upscale cuisine. The people who cook in a steakhouse are typically called chefs, and many attend culinary school before working at a steakhouse. A steakhouse also typically features designer decor. While there are discount steakhouses, the quality of their meat is often mediocre, and the ambiance is lackluster.
Chefs at a steakhouse typically require training at a culinary school. At culinary school, you’ll learn cooking methods, and knife skills, and acquire information about seasonings, pastry making, and flavoring profiles. You’ll also need hands-on experience, which will help you learn how a kitchen staff works together. Before you become head chef at a fine dining restaurant, it will be an excellent experience to serve as a sous chef (a chef who works under the supervision of a head chef.)
chefs go on to become restaurant managers, and some go on to own restaurants. According to talent.com, the average salary for a steakhouse chef is $72,500 per year, while the top salary cited is $117,000.11 If you’re extraordinarily talented and lucky, you might become a celebrity chef like Jamie Oliver, whose net worth is reportedly $300 million.
Reassure Yacht Owners of Their Vessels’ Safety
A yacht surveyor (also called a ‘marine inspector inspects or examines sailing vessels for damage or checks the condition of their cargo. These surveyors will also look at equipment intended for use on a yacht or ship to see if it’s compliant with acceptable standards. Yacht surveyors check on the vessels’ structure, machinery, and equipment. Marine surveyors work closely with maritime insurance companies.
Surveyors may inspect a vessel before its sale to determine its condition. They will also examine a vessel after it sustains damage to estimate the nature and amount of the damage accurately. Although you need extensive information about the structure and machinery of sailing vessels, there is no national or international licensing requirement for a yacht inspector. Internet courses are available for those pivoting careers to become a yacht surveyor.
A marine inspector must carry errors and omissions insurance to protect them against accusations of missing important details. They would also be more likely to be hired if they were a member of the International Institute of Marine Surveying. Ziprecruiter.com cites the current average salary for yacht inspectors as $69,373.
Welcome Travelers to Your Cabins
Vacation rentals are a growing business. Ever since the pandemic ended, people have increased their desire to travel. Many of these travelers may still be hesitant about staying with large groups. These vacationers often look for a cabin for rent, so they can have fun but closely socialize only with their families.
You can start by deciding whether to build or buy already-made cabins. After you find your cabins, you must secure a business license since every business must have one. You’ll need to prove you do not live in the cabins. Taxes will be required on your property, so you should figure that amount into your projected budget.
Pivoting careers to a cabin rental business is much like managing a motel, so attending hotel management classes could be helpful. Your income from cabin rentals will vary by how many cabins you have and their location. According to Georgiacabinsforyou.com, if your initial investment in cabins is $450,000 and your annual income is $55,000, your profit after paying your mortgage and expenses would be approximately $40,000.
Transform a Bar or Restaurant
When a bar or restaurant owner decides their restaurant needs to be remodeled, they must find an experienced contractor to oversee and perform the job. If you’ve been working with a construction team and want to open your own business, there are a few qualifications and requirements before you can form your own company. Someone who wants bar and restaurant renovation work will ask to see your license and want pictures of jobs you’ve participated in.
To become an independent remodeling contractor, you’ll need years of experience and to pass a licensing exam. It’s also essential to have general contractor insurance. The average salary for a remodeling contractor to work in a bar or restaurant is $39 per hour.
You can choose many interesting jobs if you’ve decided it’s time for a change. Choose one of the careers listed above or do some research on your own. The perfect job may be out there, and you’ll find it if you keep looking.
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