10 Tips to Help You Grow Your Career or Business
Making money, whether through a job or business, occupies a significant portion of our lives.
What you choose to do, how you invest in it and yourself to improve will greatly impact your comfort level and quality of life.
Choosing a career or business you enjoy can be amazing but even if you’ve chosen something you aren’t passionate about, you can still thrive.
I am 40 now and have had numerous careers, businesses and opportunities.
My main focus has been my kids and living a spontaneous life of adventure while helping others.
As such, my experience is varied and I didn’t grow anything to huge multimillion dollar heights but I have lived a life my kids and I enjoy.
My Career Pivots
The changes I have made throughout my professional life are extensive.
I started in a government job after I dropped out of year 11 but I didn’t like being in an office.
Hairdressing and beauty were next, first the apprenticeship and extra course, then salon management then my own business.
Party plan e.g. Tupperware and similar where things I did at one point but more for me to get what I wanted at a discount, plus win stuff, which I did but I do NOT recommend MLM or anything similar.
Writing was always a passion of mine but I was strongly discouraged from it.
Starting with blogging about my life, then setting a goal to be a millionaire by 30 (which I achieved) changed everything for me.
A book contract, international speaking, more websites, founding then selling a marketing company, using my experiences to advocate about homelessness and domestic violence etc.
Then tourism writing and marketing, while still running a few websites, doing some speaking and having more kids.
I’ve also owned real estate in Sydney during my first marriage, and now in Vanuatu.
In Vanuatu we have a few properties, a tourism business and other investments, all to support the tribe as my son will be the future chief. Our main focus for business will be Vanuatu from this point forward.
We are about to move to Perth for my daughters wrestling and for the father of my kids career. I know I can thrive over there too so am excited about the move.
Here are 10 tips to improve your career or business.
1. Set Clear Career or Business Goals
Progressing in your career or business requires clear goals and a change of behaviour to match those goals.
Without clear goals, you are essentially driving to any random destination instead of knowing where you are going with specific directions.
You might have fun along the way but you won’t achieve what you truly want to.
Your career and business goals could include desired income, perks, position, retiring early or having enough money to quit/take a year off, whatever you want.
How to Set Career and Business Goals
Setting goals is one thing, creating systems to ensure their success is another.
Read my 10 step method for success with goals and apply it to whatever you want to achieve with your career or business.
Know exactly what it is you want to achieve, think about the people already at that level and what they have done to get there.
Review your life, your habits and choices. What do you need to change to become the person who achieves the career and business goals you have?
2. Continuously Upgrade Your Skills
If you don’t keep learning, you will fall behind.
Whether you are in a job, want to have a business or expand one you already have, you will need to upgrade your skills.
I have known very few people in my life content with the job they have or level they are at.
Most people want higher wages, a different career or to get promotions, learn more and to grow.
To do that, you need to upgrade your skills. Check out how to improve yourself with continuous education and learning.
How To Upgrade Your Skills
There are quite a few ways you can upgrade your skills, even if you don’t have much of a budget or much time.
Mentoring
Start with where you are and seek out mentors within your workplace.
Even if they aren’t willing to fully mentor you (or you are too scared to ask), you can observe how they do things, ask for book or podcast recommendations etc.
You can learn something from everyone around you but you need to decide what is worth keeping and what you don’t want to do.
Alternative, seek out mentors or coaches outside of your workplace who have had success at the things you want or who come recommended.
Mentors can come in the form of successful people sharing their tips online as well.
Workplace Opportunities
Check if your workplace offers any training opportunities to increase your skills and what you need to do to be part of that.
When I was a hairdresser, there were often extra courses we could do and my bosses were generally happy for me to attend as it helped the salon.
Two of my siblings were able to have their university degrees partially funded and get extra time off to study through their workplaces.
My stepdaughters mother has had incredible opportunities through work and training scholarships.
These have provided both a qualification and a cultural experience (she’s from the Solomon Islands and has had experiences in Australia, Fiji, Hawaii and Malaysia, including one with Barrack Obama).
See what is available through your resources first because you might be surprised at what’s out there.
Enrol In A Course
Whether it’s a short course to boost what you already know or a full degree, there are options.
Find out what qualification you need to progress to the next stage of your career or to boost your business then look for the best way to attain it.
If you don’t need a qualification but want to learn more, there are free courses, short courses and workshops available everywhere.
In the past few years I have invested thousands in courses, books and learning. All of it has been worth it and after my baby is born, I know I am in a position to take things to the next level.
I needed that time to learn first though and I am so grateful for the resources available now.
3. Build a Strong Personal Brand
Whether you are working on a career or want your own business, your personal brand matters.
Your reputation, how others speak about you, the network you develop and your general presence will all determine your success in some ways.
Having a strong personal brand doesn’t mean you need to have a huge following on social platforms or start a YouTube channel.
Your character, integrity, work ethic, ability and general presence all impact your personal brand.
Having an online presence can be beneficial too.
LinkedIn is great for professionals and you can share lots of insights there.
Other social media platforms vary with their audiences and how useful they will be to you.
Whether it is for personal use or building a business, find out where your target audience is/the people you want to connect with and focus your efforts on building those platforms first.
Think about how you want to be remembered and what you want to be remembered for then live accordingly.
4. Network and Build Professional Relationships
Attend networking events relevant to your career and business.
Look for opportunities to connect with others, speak at events and provide value.
One of the keys to networking well is providing value.
Too many people are in groups online only to self-promote or they only talk about themselves at every event.
When you are providing value and become known for that, others are likely to recommend you and you have more credibility.
There are groups you can join who meet in person and network as well.
Remember, it is about building relationships and a reputation.
Think about the reputation you want, the connects that are good for you, research where to connect with those people and businesses then act accordingly.
5. Ask for Feedback and Act On it
When asking for feedback, make sure you do it from a reliable source.
Such as a superior at work or others who have been successful in business.
Most people in your life are not in the career you are in or pursuing the business goals you are so don’t take their feedback and advice.
This is excluding customers or clients, of course.
Seek their feedback and make changes accordingly.
You don’t need to do everything someone says but you do need to evaluate it and see if you or your business can benefit from it.
6. Take Calculated Risks for Growth
When we repatriated to Australia from the Solomon Islands in the middle of 2020, we had to make some big decisions.
One was whether to remain in Australia or repatriate to Vanuatu.
In Australia there was government help, a better medical system and education was easier.
Vanuatu was free of the virus though and our living expenses significantly lower as we own real estate outright there so no rent or mortgage payments.
Ultimately, we decided to stay in Australia, get Justin residency and then get him qualified as a commercial diver.
He had experience as a diver, including being part of the crew for the expedition to find Amelia Earhart’s plane in 2019.
To him, commercial diving was the next step, followed by saturation diving (offshore oil rigs etc).
I had our son in January 2021, he got residency in May 2021 and I fell pregnant soon after with our daughter.
We decided the best time for him to get qualified was now which meant he was in Tasmania for 4 months while I was in Noosa with the kids.
3 weeks after he was qualified he had a permanent job in another state and a few weeks after that, our daughter was born.
The decision to pay $30,000 for this qualification was a risky one, especially as he was not working and I had to juggle teens, a newborn and a pregnancy with health issues but it paid off.
He is now a supervisor with numerous other qualifications and will soon move to saturation diving.
The timing won’t always be perfect but if you make a calculated risk and take action sooner rather than later, it can be hugely beneficial.
7. Improve Time Management and Efficiency
Time management skills and being more efficient in all areas of your life will improve the quality of your work and life.
Learning how to outsource, how to use AI to make things easier, how to streamline anything you can and knowing what you personally have to do can make a huge difference.
You cannot do everything yourself so you need to work out what the tasks are that can only be done by you then see how you can outsource or simplify anything else.
There is so much available to make tasks quicker and easier now that it is worth learning and investing in them.
Check out these 18 time-saving tips to help you get started and these 13 things you can streamline to make life easier.
8. Find a Mentor or Coach
If you want to improve quickly, know exactly what areas to work on and how to do it, a coach or mentor can be extremely beneficial.
Be smart about who you choose as your coach or mentor, research them, get recommendations and make sure you are compatible.
If you cannot afford one right now, get the books and listen to the podcasts of people you admire who are achieving in the areas you want to.
Many highly successful people share their tips for free so you can gain a lot from following them.
Using a coach or mentor speeds up the process though as it is tailored to your situation and provides a plan specifically for you.
Free content can only take you so far and can take a lot of time to sift through to find what’s right for you.
Coaches and mentors cut through that to help you improve faster and more effectively.
9. Stay Adaptable and Open to New Opportunities
Being rigid or thinking you know everything will keep you stuck.
Keep an open-mind, listen more than you talk, look out for new opportunities and stay adaptable.
Sometimes it is only a small change you need to make to see a big improvement but if you remain closed off, you won’t know about it.
Read these tips to improve in every area of life by as little as 1%.
You don’t want to be the big fish in a little pond, the one everyone comes to for advice.
It can be beneficial to teach others but being able to adapt and learn from others is important too.
Keep an open mind, remember you don’t know everything and seek out opportunities to be surrounded by people you can learn from.
10. Prioritise Work-Life Balance
Work life balance feels like a myth to many with the pressure most companies place on people now.
The hustle and grind culture of the last 15 years or so is toxic and was pushed heavily by men who had a wife doing everything for them so they could hustle 24/7.
Remember to make time for family, hobbies, travel and fun.
If all you do is work on your career or business, it will consume you.
When you are on your deathbed, your work won’t matter.
Live in a way you want to be remembered.
Create memories with your kids and enjoy your life.
Find tips on balancing work and life here.
Resources Mentioned in this Article
10 step method for success with goals
How to improve yourself with continuous education and learning
18 time-saving tips
13 things you can streamline to make life easier
Tips to improve in every area of life by as little as 1%
How to balance work and family
Books That Helped My Business and Career
Profit First
We Should All Be Millionaires
Chill and Prosper
Level Up
The Diary of a CEO: 33 Laws of Business and Life
48 Laws of Power
The Power of One More
Atomic Habits