When you start out on a creative career, the last thing that you are probably thinking about is giving something back. What if I was to tell you that there is a great benefit to thinking about giving something back the moment you begin your career?
You might think I’m crazy when you are worrying about the finances and how you are going to make the rent. But actively building this into your career plan can actually help you get ahead.
When we try to help others, they in turn will pass it on and help those coming up through the ranks. Obviously there are going to be a few who take things without giving back, but if we all helped each other up the career ladder, rather than trying to climb over each other we would have a stronger and more stable career.
Some people are great at giving back, but often do it at the detriment to their own success. There is no point cutting your own arm off, if that stops you being able to help more people with two! Sometimes we can’t do everything we believe in straight away, but having an idea of what we plan to do, will enable up to structure our career around it.
In this podcast I explain why it is so important to do this, and I have set you a challenge to complete this week to give something back yourself.
If we know that we want to give something back as our career progresses, there are some simple ways that you can do it.
Giving back
- Share your knowledge. It is something that you already have, and can put out into the world. You could write a blog post, record a video or a podcast. Passing your knowledge on this way is an easy first step.
- Run a workshop taster. It doesn’t have to be a full on workshop that lasts all day. You can do a thirty minute taster, so that people can see if it is something that they really want to sign up to.
- You can make a handy check list. This is something super simple to do around a subject. If you are a whizz with certain software, or making podcasts, you can have a 10 point check list of how to get started.
Start with something simple and build up from there. The key is to share and not expect anything in return.
Thinking about giving back at the start of your career might help you to charge more as well, if your long term aim is to set up a charity or run free workshops for those less able. The key is to picture how you want your future career to look- not someone else’s vision. It is up to you how you shape your career- but giving something back might just give you more than you could imagine.
Do try out this week’s challenge to give something back. Let me know in the comments below how you get on with it, and if you made any new connections because of it.