
20 Steps to Making More Money Freelancing in Just 1 Month
Partner Content
A version of this article previously appeared on Skillcrush, an online education program for creatives, thinkers, and makers that gives total tech newbies the tools to make major career changes.
Randle Browning, Skillcrush
This article is a follow-up to The Ultimate Guide to Transitioning Into Freelance, a step-by-step handbook to navigating the 4 phases of leaving your old office job for a flexible freelance lifestyle.
When you launch a new freelance career, there are a million thoughts swimming through your brain:
Can I really do this?
How am I going to finish this project?
What if I don't know enough?
How am I going to talk to clients?
But I'm willing to bet that the most pressing question of all is:
How am I going to make enough money doing this?
Once you've made it through the 4 phases of transitioning into freelance, you're faced with the basic (and yet crucial) issue of making ends meet. But it doesn't have to be rocket science. Whether you've been freelancing for a while, and could use a boost, or you just launched your freelance business, paying attention to these 5 factors can help you raise your rates and make the money you need (without losing your marbles).
But if all of this seems like an insurmountable amount of work, keep in mind that you don't have to do all of these tasks every single day to make sure your business is profitable. In fact, giving due diligence to just ONE of these factors every day can be enough to keep you running to the bank to make deposits. Download the handy 1-Month Calendar to Make Money Freelancing at the bottom of this post and stay on track to do just ONE small task a day. Before you know it, your business will be running like a well-oiled machine.
5 Keys to Making (Lots of) Money Freelancing (even your first year!)
1. Get your finances in order
It makes sense. If you want to figure out how to make more money freelancing, the first thing you should think about…is the money!
FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU NEED
Like I did, most freelancers just starting out spend a lot of energy worrying about how much they can reasonably charge for their web design or development work. They're not always confident asking for substantial amounts of money to work on a project using completely new skills. But in reality, "How much can I charge?" is not the most important question. Instead, you should ask yourself, "What do I need?"
As counterintuitive as it might seem, rather than figuring out how much you want to charge first, you should take a long, hard look at your expenses and figure out how much you NEED to make. Not only will the looking at your expenses all stacked up together make it easier for you to start charging (you NEED the cash!), it also means you're more in control of your freelance work. For example, if you know you need to make $5,000 this month, are you likely to accept a 2-week project that pays $100? Check out this guide to calculating your rate to see how much you truly need to bring in.
And don't forget to think about the perks you might have been used to at your former desk job. Being a freelancer means lots of freedom, but you also need to set up your OWN benefits package to find out exactly how much money you need to make to cover your freelance business expenses.
KEEP TRACK OF EVERYTHING
And don't stop there. Make sure you keep track of your expenses as you go, from tracking your hours, to keeping a folder full of business-related expenses, client coffee dates included. One of the most common mistakes new freelancers make is the tendency to lose track of important documents, like invoices and receipts. You can't get paid if you don't keep a record of your work!
RAISE YOUR RATES ON THE REGULAR
As you start freelancing, you'll probably notice a trend. If you charged $150 for your very first project, you'll probably charge double that for the next one. And once you realize how many hours these projects really take, before you know it, you'll be charging exponentially more than you did at first. I know I did. In a few months I went from charging a few hundred dollars per project to a few thousand.
And that's good. As your skills and experience improve, your rates should go up accordingly. For a guide on what to factor in when setting your rates, check out this Ultimate Guide to Charging for Freelance Work.
And once if you want to show clients exactly what they're paying for, use this Foolproof Formula for Calculating Your Price to help them make sense of your new rates. You'd be surprised what a few simple tweaks to the way you present your prices can do. One tiny trick that actually involves taking awayzeroes can make you richer.
And if you can't convince your clients to pay for your new rates, you might need to think about what YOU can do to make your work seem (and be!) more valuable.
KEEP THE TAX MAN HAPPY
And of course, you can't forget about good old-fashioned responsibility while you're counting your cash on Cloud 9. To make sure you get to KEEP that hard-earned money, find out everything you need to know about freelance taxes before April rolls around.
PROTECT YOURSELF FROM CALAMITY
That might sound dramatic, but you wouldn't leave your wallet on your front porch, I'm guessing. Keep your earnings (and your business) safe. To protect yourself from liability (and hefty legal costs) by always using a custom contract. This isn't a time for the DIY mentality—in fact, "do it yourself" contracts can be one of the biggest pitfalls freelancers find themselves in!
2. Stay productive
Your first year of freelancing is sure to keep you busy either working with all your new clients or working hard to get new ones. You'll need to stay productive to be able to do it all – and still have a life!
USE THE TOOLS
Two essentials you should make sure you have in your freelancing toolkit are a production calendar and a to-do list. The calendar is where you'll plan out the steps for each projects to make sure you have a realistic schedule that also meets your client's deadlines. And the to-do list is where you'll keep track of the work for each phase of the project as well as the tasks needed to keep your freelance business running.
JUST DO IT!
Speaking of those tasks… There are bound to be a few parts of running your own business that you're not so excited about. Now that you're on your own you won't be able to pawn these off on anyone else. To get the tasks off your to-do list and off your mind is to do them as soon as you can. That way, you'll stay on top of your business and your client work – a sure way to be productive in your first year!
KEEP IT TOGETHER
When you get busy, it can be tempting to let your freelancing "housekeeping" fall by the wayside. (Not to mention actual housekeeping. Laundry – Ugh!) But you'll be much more effective if you make a regular habit of organizing your files – both paper and digital, going through your snail mail and email, and tidying up your workspace. When you know what you have and where you can spend your time and energy focusing on your freelancing.
REFRESH AND RECHARGE
No matter how much you enjoy your work, sometimes the best way to stay effective is to STOP working! Just because you aren't doing the 9-to-5 with a boss watching over you, you still need to draw a line between work and play. So, get the most out of your weekends and free time, and don't forget vacations now and then. You'll come back full of energy, ideas, and excitement – aka some serious productivity mojo!
3. Get clients and keep them happy
If you spend most of your days alone with your code editor, talking to clients can feel like a major shift. And many freelancers struggle more with client relationships than with code. But just like coding, you can master the art of keeping your clients (and you!) happy by taking it one bit at a time. And remember, without happy clients, there's no money, honey.
SET THE "BAIT"
Okay, clients aren't fish, but you do have to do some work to hook them in. Start by making sure your new tech portfolio is killing it. You don't have to be an expert to have a well-stocked portfolio. You just need to figure out How to Build an Impressive Portfolio When You're New to Tech.
Start by doing unpaid projects (that pay off in other ways, like experience and publicity), and move on to smaller projects that can earn you $500 or so. And as you're gaining experience and a track record for excellent work, take some time to build your personal brand. A personal brand ensures that your potential clients "know you for" something, and it build your credibility (and clients' trust in you). Win, win!
GET IN TOUCH
But don't expect your portfolio to do all the work. Make sure clients know about you by sending out emails looking for work—these 5 email templates are a great place to start—and make the most of social media by perfecting your Twitter bio and updating your LinkedIn. Starting a blog is a great way to get noticed too.
MAKE THEM HAPPY
And once you have your clients, if you want them to be paying customers, do everything it takes to earn their trust. That means saying and doing all the right things the very first time you meet them, and keeping them satisfied throughout the process by doing everything from asking them zillions of questions to meeting deadlines.
DEAL WITH STICKY SITUATIONS
Of course, there's no way to keep clients happy 24/7, so when something DOES go wrong, make sure you're ready to handle it in the most diplomatic way. These email templates cover everything from what to say if you're not going to meet a deadline to how to mend a miscommunication. They should keep you from making any serious faux-pas or irreparably damaging your client relationship.
REMEMBER THE LITTLE THINGS
Clients are people too. A sure way to turn a client into a repeat customer is to show your appreciation through little things like occasional personal emails (just to check in), and sending customized holiday cards.
4. Make sure you still have in-demand skills.
Part of what makes tech such an exciting industry is the fact that it's always changing. This means new software, hardware, technologies, and trends you can offer your clients. But first you have to know how to use them! You can think of it as "learning for earning".
CATCH UP ON YOUR READING
Thanks to the Internet, you have a world of information just a mouse-click away. You can keep up on freelancing and tech on blogs, forums, and even Twitter. Make it a regular habit, and you'll always know what's up and coming so you can keep your clients informed and impressed.
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
If you want to keep practicing your craft without having to worry about your client's reaction to your experimentation, try things out on your own personal site. Try out that new jQuery effect or revamp your color palette. It'll let you put your skills to the test and will keep your portfolio looking fresh too.
STAY OPEN
Or you can do some "real life" work on an open-source project to keep yourself sharp. Open source is an amazing opportunity to build up your tech karma while also getting experience and exposure for your talents. And, like tweaking your own site, you'll be able to do it without the pressure of a paying client.
GET SOME CLASS
To really move ahead with your freelancing, invest in a course or tutorial to learn a new skill or improve your current knowledge. For example, if you're a web designer, find out about web development. Or, if you're a web developer, learn about WordPress. Not sure where to start? Check out all our Skillcrush Blueprints to take your skills to the next level!
5. Become part of the tech community
Just because you're going it alone doesn't mean you have to be lonely. By getting involved in the tech community, you'll find people with the same interests who you can learn from, have fun with, and maybe even work with.
GO VIRTUAL
Wherever you live in the world, you can take part in online forms, follow industry leaders and innovators on Twitter, or take part in workshops and conferences virtually. So don't let location or your lifestyle hold you back from finding a community.
MEET AT A MEET-UP
The meet-up is a phenomena that tech has especially embraced. These groups, that get together regularly, are nearly always very welcoming to people of all skills levels and backgrounds so don't be shy. If you just show up and introduce yourself, you'll soon have a whole clan of people who share your same passions and can give you plenty of tips and support.
COMMIT TO A CONFERENCE
Conferences are also huge in tech, and there are plenty of huge ones – and not so huge ones – all around the world. Just do some Googling to find ones in places you'd like to visit and then start making travel plans. Even though the trip will be an investment, it'll pay off when you meet tons of new people, make in-person connections, and hear about the hottest topics in tech.
GIVE AS GOOD AS YOU GET
Once you've found the communities you love, you can "pay it forward" by volunteering with the group. It's what keeps most of these groups going so that more newcomers like you can benefit from them. And it's also a chance to work with more people in the industry and even gain some skills and experience that could help you out with your freelancing. Not bad for a little unpaid side project!
And if all of these categories feel like too much to keep track of, do NOT worry! Paying attention to each of these areas just once a month is enough to maximize your earning. Just follow this simple 1-Month Calendar to Making Money Your Freelancing. Have you ever seen one of those chores calendars? This is like that, except all of the tasks are challenging and fun, and sure to yield results in your bank account. Download it right this minute, and get ready to watch your bank account grow.
Want to join the engineering teams at Workiva? Learn more about them!
💎Want to know what engineering teams are like at Workiva? Watch the video to the end to find out!
📼 Engineering teams at Workiva are constantly hiring. Marie Yue, Senior Engineering Manager at the company, tells you what they look for in a candidate and what the dynamics of teamwork are like.
📼 The typical path in the engineering teams at Workiva is that you grow into a senior, and then you move into a lead role. From there, there are a few different tracks that you can take depending on your interest. You can become a staff engineer, an architect, or even an engineering manager. What are you waiting for to apply?
📼In the engineering teams at Workiva every member should feel empowered to do their job effectively. For this, each has to understand how the work they do day to day solves customers’ problems. Managers will always seek to be aware of members’ career path aspirations so that they can look for opportunities and projects to help each person reach the next step in their career.
Engineering Teams At Workiva: A Safe Space
Marie Yue’s team is a safe space for people to make mistakes and ask for help, and each member feels a sense of belonging and inclusion. She wants to make sure that everyone is individually empowered to lead and make decisions. For this, the team has regular meetings where they do fun things like play virtual games or eat lunch together, and they also like to re-review and add to their team working agreement once a quarter.
🧑💼 Are you interested in joining Workiva? They have open positions! To learn more, click here.
Get to Know Marie Yue
If you are interested in a career at Workiva, you can connect with Marie Yue on LinkedIn. Don’t forget to mention this video!
More About Workiva
Workiva was founded to transform the way people manage and report business data with various collaborators, data sources, documents, and spreadsheets. Today, people all over the world use their platform to seamlessly orchestrate data among their systems and applications for transparent and trusted connected reporting and compliance. At Workiva, they are innovative in everything they do—from how they build their software, to how they serve their customers, to how they treat their employees.
Careers in Web Development: Which One's For You?
We all have our favorite websites– the ones we frequent, bookmark, and recommend to others. You might even enjoy some website features so much that you’ve found yourself wondering why they aren’t more popular. Or maybe you’ve experienced times where you were frustrated with a website and wished you could add features or even design your own!
If you’ve ever found yourself intrigued at the prospect of designing and developing your own websites, then a career as a web developer might be just for you!
As a web developer you would be responsible for coding, designing, optimizing, and maintaining websites. Today, there are over 1.7 billion websites in the world and, in turn, the demand for web developers is on the rise. In order to figure out what kind of web development work best suits you let’s start with an introduction to the three main roles in web development that you can choose from.
The Three Types of Web Development Jobs
Front-End Web Development: The Creative Side
Think of front-end development as the décor of a house. The color scheme, furniture, manicured lawns, and overall aesthetic. In terms of a website, front-end development is laser-focused on the appearance of a website and its presentation on different devices. If you’re considering a role in front-end development, it’s important to learn programming languages such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. These three languages go hand-in-hand. HTML allows you to create user interface elements, CSS helps you with stylistic elements, and JavaScript allows you to incorporate online tools and connect your website to back-end functions.
In addition to programming skills, front-end developers need to be detail oriented, creative, willing to keep up with the latest trends in web development, cyber security conscious, and geared toward user-friendly designs. The median salary for a front-end developer can reach well into the $90,000 to $100,000 range.
Back-End Web Development: The Logical Counterpart
While a house can be beautifully decorated, it’s incomplete without a solid foundation and efficient infrastructure. Similarly, a well-designed website depends on logical and functional code to power the features of that website. Back-end web development is code-heavy and focused on the specifics of how a website works. If you enjoy the analytical challenge of creating the behind-the-scenes code that powers a website, then back-end development is for you.
Since this role is more code-heavy, it’s important that you learn numerous programming languages and understand algorithms and data structures. Some languages that are essential to back-end development are Ruby, Python, SQL, and JavaScript. Back-end developers also ensure that users can successfully retrieve and access data. This requires creating and using APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) which act as messengers that relay data related requests. Additionally, developing the code for the inner workings of a website also requires back-end developers to be conscious of the user interface features designed by front-end developers and to internally mitigate potential security risks. Due to the increased technical aspect of this position, back-end developers normally earn higher salaries than front-end developers. The average median salary for this role is around $118,000 per year.
Full-Stack Web Development: A Little Bit of Everything
A full-stack developer is essentially the Jack (or Jill)-of-all-trades in web development. Full-stack developers need to be knowledgeable about both front-end and back-end roles. This does not necessarily imply that you would need to be an expert in both roles, but you should fully understand the different applications and synergies they each imply. In order to work in this position, you will need to know the programming languages used by front-end and back-end developers. In addition to these languages, full-stack developers also specialize in databases, storage, HTTP, REST, and web architecture.
Full-stack developers are often required to act as liaisons between front-end and back-end developers. Full-stack developers need to be both problem solvers and great communicators. The end goal for a full-stack developer is to ensure that the user’s experience is seamless, both on the front-end and on the back-end. In return, you can expect to earn a median salary of $100,000 – $115,000 a year for this role.
Taking the Next Step
Web development is both in-demand and lucrative! All three roles described above contribute to specific aspects of web development and the scope of each one can be customized to the industries and positions you feel best suit you. Regardless of which role you choose, all of them need a foundation in programming.
To gain the programming skills needed in each role, you can enroll in courses or learn independently. Coding bootcamps are a great way to boost your skillset quickly and efficiently.
Click here for some of our highly rated programming bootcamp options! Make sure to check out the discounts available to PowerToFly members.
Clyde’s Joseph Arquillo on the 6 Things Leaders Need to Do to Build Inclusive Spaces
Joseph Arquillo doesn’t work in Human Resources — he works in People Operations. And the distinction matters.
“It was named ‘human resources’ because it saw humans as resources, utilized for certain tasks or behaviors. But that’s not really what it’s about,” says Joseph, who is a Senior Manager of People Ops at Clyde.
“Calling it ‘people ops’ adds back what you lose with ‘HR.’ My philosophy is that I am there to support you. I am there to work with you, empower you, and enable you so you can be your best self.”
For Joseph, a key element of helping employees become their best selves is making sure that the workplace, whether in-person or virtual, is an inclusive space for all. That doesn’t happen by accident — it requires a dedicated DEIB strategy and leaders who are committed to asking hard questions of themselves and others.
We sat down with Joseph to hear more about his professional journey, and the practices of leaders who create environments where everyone feels included.
More Than Just a Number
As a college freshman, Joseph planned on sticking with liberal arts when it came to choosing a major. But then he took a class in Boston College’s School of Education, and loved its holistic approach to applied psychology.
This inspired him to switch his major to psychology and human development, and select minors in political science, and management and leadership, where he enjoyed learning about organizational psychology.
After graduation, he explored the consulting space to put theory into practice, but found out during an internship at a multinational consulting firm that finance or accounting weren’t the places he wanted to build his career.
“Since Big Four companies have 250,000 employees, you become just a number,” he says of the experience. “It wasn’t my cup of tea. Too corporatized.”
That kicked off Joseph’s interest in startups.
“It’s always fun to get in the weeds! One thing that’s very interesting to me is a challenge,” he says. “When you’re helping a company like Clyde grow and scale, joining when they’re at a Series B and helping them get to the next level, you really get to focus on the interaction between people, process, and product,” explains Joseph. “You need to hire the right people to work towards increasing efficiencies in all areas, but also make sure that we’re enabling them to create a strong product.”
6 Keys To Building Inclusive Spaces as a Leader
Across the different industries and companies that Joseph has worked in, he’s identified the behaviors that create truly inclusive environments — as well as those that discourage them.
Here’s what he’s seen:
- First, recognize your own privilege. “If you’re a man, you have privilege, even if you’re a gay male. If you are a white woman, you have racial privilege. It’s really important that you’re cognizant while you interact with somebody how they might interpret the interaction based on your identity.”
- Leaders should always speak last. This is important always, but especially in in-person spaces, where it might seem even more nerve-wracking to speak up in a crowd, says Joseph. “You want to make sure you’re creating that space for employees who aren’t as senior to feel comfortable voicing their thoughts.”
- And, leaders should use check-ins liberally. “You need to ask yourself how you’re supporting your employees. Are you checking in on them as people before you ask about certain tasks? You want to foster a workplace where employees from all walks of life can feel supported,” he says.
- DEIB isn’t just about adding new initiatives — sometimes it’s about removing barriers. “You need to remove unnecessary bias,” explains Joseph. “That can mean making sure you have appropriate policies and practices that don’t hinder people depending on who they are or where they live.”
- Maximizing participation requires planning with a diversity lens. Joseph has helped the Clyde team gather together and bond as a group. Along the way, he’s been careful to consider physical and psychological safety for everyone involved. “For instance, if you’re doing an event, do you have someone who’s not drinking? Have you set up the environment for people who might have a physical disability, or carefully planned the flow of activities for people who might be neurodivergent?”
- Saying you want to be better isn’t enough — articulate actions you will take. “Pride is a great example,” explains Joseph. “Yes, June is a time to celebrate. But it’s also a time to march. And beyond that, how do you show up and celebrate with the LGBTQIA+ community throughout the year?”
Embracing the Unknown
If you visit Joseph’s LinkedIn profile, you’ll see his personal motto: “Without challenge, change, and a bunch of unknowns, it’s no fun.”
That belief has led him to study what he’s passionate about, to take on new and exciting roles at growing startups, and now, at Clyde, to help formalize what world-class people operations looks like at a fast-growing company.
“I view myself as a connector that really empowers people, challenges teams, and helps drive us towards what I consider to be an improved future,” he says. “I feel like it’s my responsibility to be the chief advocate for each of our employees, and remove any barriers in the way of their growth.”
Want to learn more about what opportunities Clyde offers? Check out their open roles!
Navigating Mid-Career Pivots and Finding a Company Where You Can Show Up Authentically
Insight from SoftwareONE’s Jeff Cannon and Chris Lecosia
SoftwareONE’s Jeff Cannon Business Development Executive US) and Christopher Lecosia (Senior Consultant) share a similar adventurous and brave spirit, which has led to a long trajectory of creative experiences for both of them. From taking care of two new puppies to backpacking across Europe — neither of them back down from a challenge.
As members of the LGBTQIA+ community, Jeff and Chris spent a large portion of their careers fighting for inclusive workplaces where they feel a sense of belonging, and opportunities to use their experiences to serve people, no matter what career stage they’re in. And they’ve both recently found that in the global provider of end-to-end software and cloud technology solutions SoftwareONE.
We sat down with Jeff and Chris to hear their stories on how they navigated mid and late career changes and their journey to finding a company where they felt valued. Keep reading to the end for four major tips on how to successfully pivot careers.
The Journey to SoftwareONE
Jeff Cannon was born in Tacoma, Washington, but considers both Texas and Georgeia his home. After graduating from college with a bachelor's degree in English and History, “I wanted to go to graduate school for history,” he explains. But upon arrival, he realized graduate school was not the right path for him, so he packed his backpack and set out for a trip through Europe instead.
This adventurous spirit led him back home to pursue exciting challenges, such as opening a hotel in Austin, working as a flight attendant in New York and Hawaii, and eventually pursuing a sales career at Dell. “I was an account executive for large university systems and large K-12 systems providing information technology to students to be able to further their education. It really fit in with my mantra around how important education is in society,” Jeff explains.”It's kind of my thing.” But after nearly 20 years at the company, he decided to look for new opportunities. “I was tired of doing the same thing all the time.” Enter SoftwareONE.
“This was an opportunity to do something completely different and take the information that I learned and use it to help build a practice that can accomplish some of the same things,” Jeff explains. He joined the company as a Business Development Executive Executive where he works to build the company’s education practice within the public sector in the United States.
SoftwareONE is a company where Jeff can thrive professionally and personally. He specifically cites the company to be people-first, which his coworker Christopher Lecosia agrees with. “SoftwareONE is a place where you can thrive as an employee, and where your creativity can flourish,” says Chris.
SoftwareONE is a leading global provider of end-to-end software and cloud technology solutions, with headquarters in Switzerland. The company itself prioritizes people as their “greatest asset” and advocates for life-work harmony. Their company’s core values are Employee Satisfaction, Customer Focused, Speed, Passionate, Integrity, Humble and Discipline, to name a few, and they ensure that they have “a welcoming – and constantly evolving – work environment for all”, no matter the racial, ethnic, religious, sexual or other preferences.
Christopher works as Senior Consultant for SoftwareONE. He entered the field of IT in 1974. “Back then it was called data processing,” he jokes. “But I kind of fell into IT consulting.” He enrolled in college as an accounting major, but quickly realized that was not the path for him. “I drove into the parking lot of this college for the first day and I got very scared,” explains Chris. “I turned around and went home and I found a job.” And he was able to pursue jobs that allowed him room to change and grow with the market. He began as a systems programer and, progressively, he scaled to managerial data processing roles at multiple software companies, including IBM. He played a key role in leading and growing software asset management programs, directing support for configuration and asset management, and serving as a senior project manager for multiple teams in his previous companies.
His successful 40+ year-long career led to the start of a well-deserved retirement. “I turned 65 last October, and I thought, ‘okay, I think I’ve had enough,’ and I decided to retire in full.” But his retirement was short-lived. “A few months before I retired, [my company] had put out an RFP to the street, which SoftwareONE responded to, and I'll never forget,” says Chris. “I was hearing them respond to me and I thought, ‘Wow, these people know what they're talking about. They're really sharp and I really believed in the value that they could bring.’” So when he was offered a position as a Senior Consultant, he didn’t think twice about coming out of retirement. “In November, a recruiter from SoftwareONE called, and I started in January of 2022.”
All-Around Authenticity
Changing jobs after working for a company long-term can be risky, especially later in your career. But both Jeff and Chris agree that the benefits of working at a company like SoftwareONE are well worth the risk. And for the first time, they’ve felt like they can show up as their full, authentic selves at work.
Jeff recalls past workplaces that, when push came to shove, “had an undercurrent of non-acceptance.” This undercurrent brought many challenges, but he credits them for his confidence today. “I have no issues whatsoever showing up originally as myself. And at SoftwareONE, everybody's been really lovely.” Even remotely, he finds ways to connect with his coworkers, and he feels like he can do so authentically.
Chris reiterates this in his own trajectory at SoftwareONE. “When I started, my Regional VP asked me for a bio. In my bio, I talked about my husband and my two dogs and how long we've been together. That got sent out to everybody in the organization. So when I onboarded, everybody already knew,” he explains. “It was the first time in 65 years that, right from the get go, there was no pretense at all as to being something different than I am. And that's how I came out at SoftwareONE. It was good to do that. I feel truly authentic.”
Advice for Mid-Career Pivoters
Both Jeff and Chris have successfully pivoted roles and companies later in their careers. They offer four tips to consider before making the jump to a new role or joining a new company.
1. Find a place that values service to the client. “Have the mindset of service,” says Chris. “ I'm a service oriented person and part of being of service is to share my experience, strengths, and hope with other people. Whether that's on a, social, spiritual, mental level, or on a professional technical level, this helps bring growth to you, and to the company you’ll work for.” Jeff shares that, “with this mindset, we see the challenges that customers face, so we're able to better articulate to customers what our value proposition is. We can help clients achieve their goals, and everything comes a lot more easily and naturally.”
2. Believe in what you have to offer. Chris and Jeff share that aligning with the company’s mission is another key aspect to consider before changing companies. “I never thought that anybody would want to hire me at 65 years old,” Chris shares. “I had been in my former job where I saw many opportunities that I thought I was perfect for, in terms of advancement, but I wasn't given those opportunities because of my age. I started to feel dried up a little bit. When I got the offer at SoftwareONE, I felt I really wanted to come back, be of service, keep my brain sharp, and do something. I do believe I have something to offer to many clients, as well as colleagues. And that's what made me make the move.”
3. Think of the experiences you bring to the table. Jeff shares how he transferred his knowledge to his new role. “I was able to take everything that I had learned about building an organization and bring it over to a company that needed that expertise specific to the United States. Being able to have the opportunity to do some of that background work and build on alliances has been, and continues to be, a great opportunity.”
4. Find a workplace that prioritizes diversity. “Each one of us brings a certain set of characteristics with us that sit well with our clients,” explains Chris. “The diversity we bring to the company — whether it be age, gender, color, educational background, intellectual capacity — all of that color makes us more relatable to our clients and our customers.” This leads to the company’s overall success.
SoftwareONE is constantly looking for dynamic employees like Chris and Jeff. Check out their company page to find out more about their roles!