Why or Why Not Opt For Multiple Careers? Why not try your hands on multiple careers, analyze and discover your strengths and settle for the one you can identify with the most?
By Sania Gupta
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
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You are an entrepreneur. Is it possible to be a content writer at the same time?
Have you seen someone in a finance job as well as owning a kindergarten school?
Is it possible and feasible to opt for multiple careers?
Yes, in the global world, it is possible, feasible and advisable to have multiple careers! You may wonder that you are unable to justify one career completely. How to juggle between two? Let us analyze few factors, which if kept in mind, will help you balance multiple careers, family life and help you escalate in your career graph.
1. Multiple income streams
You are endowed with multiple talents and interests. Why not encash them and turn them into multiple revenue sources? After all, a secured monthly income coupled with passive income is always a security for an unknown future!
When one company faced downsizing, Yogesh Aggarwal, CEO of Sudesh Brickworks, diversified from the brick kiln business to hotel industry. He happily runs two diverse business units and quotes, "One should generate multiple streams of income to enhance security. Put all your eggs in different baskets and enjoy the fruit".
Ashish Gupta, CEO of Reva Enterprises suggests, "Working in two different, yet related factories have given me a diversified income all through the year. The slack period in one factory is compensated by a full season in another factory."
2. Dynamic resume and skills
As you develop multiple skills, you will be the most sought-after employee owing to your dynamic multifarious skills. The companies are on the hunt for multi-talented and multi-skilled employees. Why not opt for multiple careers and build dynamicity in your portfolio?
Lavish Mahajan, Director of IGEN Solutions supports dynamic careers and says, "We have strict hiring policies so that our employees do not work with our competitors, however, on the contrary, we prefer hiring employees who are good as programmers, web developers and other non-technical solutions. Hiring one multi-skilled employee is beneficial than hiring two differently skilled employees."
3. Prioritize and manage time
A word of caution: To efficiently juggle between two or more careers, you need to be meticulously planned and organized. Yogesh emphasizes that to maintain a balance, you need to chalk out a plan, prioritize tasks and meet deadlines so that no job suffers and you are able to do it calmly.
Ramneet Kaur, COO of Rapid Skillz, suggests, "You have to plan a weekly/monthly schedule and keep ticking off the items as they are done. A 15% time margin has to be kept for errands or contingencies. You tend to enjoy your work if you can do so with all the mental peace and ease."
4. Networking is the crux
With multiple avenues to work, you will come in contact with manifold people as you work. You will be a dynamic faced individual with a wide network around. Ramneet, further, suggests that the network you build with a versatile career can help you add value to your business further.
Tilak Goyal, CEO of Anmol India Pvt. Ltd. says, "It was my broad network of friends owning to my chairmanship at a Government college that helped me build my first clients for my coal trading venture."
You definitely feel more secure and independent with multiple careers and a widened horizon.
5. Identify yourself
Why not try your hands on multiple careers, analyze and discover your strengths and settle for the one you can identify with the most. Develop a portfolio career that suits your personality and temperament. Give a shot to careers which were unheard of in the past. Why not try and be a programmer, code developer, app developer or even a drone operator. Pretty interesting, isn't it?
You will eventually develop your perfect fallback option if one of your jobs is threatened. "You will retain mental sanity in case of downsizing or market slump", adds Tilak.
Words of Wisdom: With a global platform and multiple study options available in today's time, millennials are adopting a global outlook. What really matters is you should stay true to your goals. You ought to enjoy what you do and manage your time smartly so that along with work, you don't ignore your health and family.
