What does it take to leave an office job behind to  become an independent Freelancer Writer? In this episode of Career Relaunch, Kat Boogaard, a former Marketing Assistant for the Green Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau turned Freelance Writer shares her thoughts on not allowing yourself to be defined solely by your job and managing the people who critique your career choices. I also share some thoughts on more meaningful ways to respond to the question, “What do you do?”

Key Takeaways

* Taking charge of your own career future and doing something really scary can also be really exciting.

* Taking the decision to leave your full-time job is often the most challenging part of the career change process.

* Keeping your eye on what you’re working toward and celebrating the small wins can help keep you on track.

* What you do professionally in your career does not define you. You have an identity outside of your day job.

* Don’t limit your response to the question “What do you do?” to simply your job title. When you share more about yourself, others get a more complete picture of who you are.

Tweetables to Share

Resources Mentioned

* Visit blog Lemonade Linings & subscribe to Kat’s newsletter to receive her articles on career, lifestyle, and personal development topics.

* Joseph’s TEDx Talk, Reshaping the Story of Your Career on the question, “What do you do.”

* Dr. Suess Quote on Being Who You Are (although this has also been attributed to others)

Free Tool: Define Your Commitments

During this episode’s Mental Fuel segment, I talked about other things you can say when asked, “What do you do?” For some help in doing this, you can download your “Expand Your Identity” Worksheet

About Kat Boogaard, Freelance Writer at Lemonade Linings

After working full-time in the “real world” as a Marketing Assistant, Kat made the decision to leave her steady job and pursue a career as a freelance writer.

Now, she spends her days crafting content—mainly related to career and self-development. Her work and career advice has been published by the likes of The Muse, Forbes, Inc, Mashable, and LifeHacker. You can check out her articles on her blog, Lemonade Linings.

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