Photo by 춘성강 from Pixabay
In a casual chat over drinks, I asked this to a small group of accountants: “Do you ever dream of switching your career?”
“Every day,” replied one of them. The others chuckled in agreement.
If you’re a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) who’s reading this, you have probably thought of switching careers more than once. You dream about it every day. But you never get there.
You see, dreaming is different from doing. It cannot stand on its own. That’s why when deciding to do something, the steps often come in threes.
Here are my three ways to reinventing your CPA title for any career you want. Start with your why. Be realistic and practical; but also, don’t forget the dream. Take a small step. Then, many small steps.
Start with your why.
One hot afternoon while walking to the client’s office, I asked one of my coachees/co-CPA, “Why do you do what you do?”
The common response I receive is that “I do it for my family”.
The easy answer would be “It pays the bills”. When I feel uninspired (which is not often), that’s what I would say.
After working for five years in the corporate world, my real “why” somehow became lost in the everyday monotony of drafting work papers, reviewing financial statements, attending client meetings, preparing budgets, and other administrative stuff.
The world I was working in felt very detached and impersonal. I became attached to its practicality and stability.
I was lost until I read Simon Sinek’s Start With Your Why and the story of the two stonemasons. It grounded me. My “why” took shape. Here is the story:
You walk up to the first stonemason and ask, “Do you like your job?”.
He looks at you and replies, “I’ve been building this wall for as long as I can remember. The stones are heavy and lifting them day after day can be backbreaking. I’m not even sure if this project will be completed in my lifetime. But it’s a job. It pays the bills.”
About thirty feet away, you walk up to a second stonemason. You ask him the same question, “Do you like your job?” He looks up and replies, “I love my job. I’m building a cathedral.
Sure, I’ve been working on this wall for as long as I can remember, and yes, the work is sometimes monotonous. I work in the scorching hot sun all day.
The stones are heavy and lifting them day after day can be backbreaking. I’m not even sure if this project will be completed in my lifetime.
But I’m building a cathedral.”
Who are you among the two stonemasons? Are you building a cathedral or paying the bills?
Photo by Daniel Chekalov on Unsplash
Be realistic and practical. But also, don't forget the dream.
When I finally quit my job as an auditor in a local firm, people thought I was working on a plan. They got it wrong.
I was doing something about my dream. Planning came later.
But even the best of plans gets derailed.
I was preparing to start employment at an international firm. That move promised possibilities, more money in my pocket, and more time to invest in my dream.
Then, Covid-19 happened.
My move got delayed. I was in limbo to cancel the contract and find another job or wait until the situation fixes itself.
I played it safe. The waiting period took nine months. They were nine months well-spent.
I savored the early “mini-retirement“, in the words of Tim Ferris.
For nine months, I was working on a dream without money but plenty of time. It’s not the most ideal situation.
But I’ve got to make the best out of it.
In between creating budgets to sustain my unplanned employment break, I made lists. I took inventory of my strengths, mapped relationship diagrams between my strengths and the profession I wanted, drew the timeline, and drafted my career journey. I talked to people.
You’d think doing all these things held the secret to success. It was nice to read about your goals on paper but enacting them, truly enacting them, was another complication.
This was my most important realization among all these exercises:
When switching careers, fulfilling a childhood dream, or even simply reinventing a career, you have to secure these two things first: money and time. If you want to successfully do it, there’s one thing that you should never secure: other people’s validation.
Take a small step. Take many small steps.
There is an investing principle behind getting rich. It’s the concept of compounding interest. In a compounding interest scenario, your money grows an interest, interest grows on your money plus the interest, interest grows on the previous interest plus your money and the interest…You get the idea.
Reinventing a career is much like the compounding interest principle.
You take a small step. That step can be building a skill relevant to that career, exploring professions related to those skills, talking to people, growing connections, etc. Keep on adding, one step at a time.
My singular small step began in January 2020 when I created a Facebook page The Grit in Me Movement. It served as an experimental space, among many others.
Through it, I dabbled into content creation. Alongside it, I took up side projects to hone the craft. In the spare time (and there’s plenty of it), I studied and learned and experimented and failed as much as I could.
Eventually, I wanted to grow my content creation into a business. I wanted to create freedom and opportunity for myself in the long run so that I can work on my dream and my dream can work for me.
But these giant goals swallowed me whole.
All I wanted at the start was the courage to publish my first post on Facebook.
And that’s what I did.
So, as you can see now, it started with that small step, followed by many small steps.
As I got more comfortable interacting online, I finally decided to purchase an online space. This blog became a reality although it’s still another one of those small steps.
I’m nowhere near to fulfilling my dream but all those small steps compounded my courage. I’m no longer just dreaming. I’m working on a dream.
Do you see the difference?
Photo by Jill Wellington from Pexels
Building a cathedral or paying the bills?
As I read through Simon Sinek’s book, my WHY became clearer although, not entirely distinct.
I want to use my skills, knowledge, and expertise to spread positivity and inspiration.
I’m starting with a group of people who are close to my heart. They’re accountants who feel overworked, underpaid, and unfulfilled in an accounting firm or on wherever professional space they are in right now.
I want to give them something to hold unto other than the three-letter title after their name.
I want them to keep increasing their value and not settle for anything less. I want accountants to be seen as value-providers and problem-solvers regardless of which field of work they end up on.
And eventually, I want to empower young professionals like me to go beyond their professions and find meaning in their work.
I’m not just working hard and enduring sleepless nights. I love my job.
Sure, I’ve been working in a public accounting firm for as long as I can remember. And yes, the work is sometimes monotonous and uninspiring. I worked hard all day.
The workloads are heavy. I endure sleepless nights at times. I’m not even sure if my projects will be completed on time.
But I’m building a future where young professionals can grow their wealth, reach their potential, inspire other people, and triumph against odds.
I’m building a future where millennials and Gen Z professionals can work on their passion and chase their dreams without rebuke.
I’m building a future where young professionals can be responsible for mapping their careers and creating the life they wanted, regardless of their race, background, gender, and inclination.
Because of this, I’ve stopped just being another CPA. I’ve re-invented my CPA title to Content Creator, Problem-Solver, Accountant. In whichever role I’m stepping in, either as an accountant or content creator, I am empowered to find solutions.
That title held more weight to me.
By choosing to reinvent my career, I can find meaning and fulfillment. I can now connect the things that I’m passionate about to the profession that gives my daily bread & butter.
So if you ask me today if I ever dream of switching careers, this would be my response:
Not today. I dreamed in the past. And today…today, I’m doing it.
