5 Actions to Take A Leap Into a New Career

These are five actions that will get you in ACTION mode as you Take A Leap into a New Career.

1) Find a Mentor - You don't have to know someone personally. Read about him/her in a book or online (Follow them on Twitter/Facebook). You can learn a lot by what they say and do. Then you put your own spin on it.  To find out more about the benefits of working with a Mentor/Career Coach, you can sign-up for our Take A Leap Career Mentoring Program and/or buy our Take A Leap E-book for $2.99 (link to right).

2) Take your hobby more seriously-  If you like photography then pitch your photos to a local or national magazine. If you want to be a writer, start your own blog about what you are passionate about. Add Google AdSense to earn money with your blog.  Be a guest blogger on other sites.

3) To take your new career to the next level, work on it at night and/or weekends. Many people started their own business moonlighting.  Be careful not to conduct your new career work at your "Day Job."

4) Go back to school or get trained in your new field-   Going back to school do not have to mean just attending a four year College.  It can also mean a two year degree, certificate, or independent study abroad trip (ie...culinary, foreign language).

5) Save money from your "Day Job" that is then forward to a new account set up for your new career.

Rhonda W.

Quebec City, Canada (Videos)

We are excited about Phase II of Take A Leap. The Career Mentee/Mentor component will encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and go for your personal dreams. No more "woulda", "coulda", "shoulda".

View the two videos below of the beautiful sights of Quebec City, Canada, where we will be staying during MLK weekend 2014. Get your Passport and lets Cross over the Border.

Join us for the Take A Leap Career Mentoring Program International Retreat. New website coming SOON!!!

We would love to read your comments about Phase II of Take A Leap. Are you on the fence of starting a new career or striking out on your own? Do you need a career mentor/coach to help encourage you and keep you accountable?

Rhonda W.

Stepping Out on Faith

Stepping out on faith is not an option, but our destiny.  No longer can we let our secure jobs hold us back on what we are destined to do with our purpose-filled life.  No, we aren't going to quit our job, today or tomorrow, but very soon. We've put a date out there, and we're going to use the time until then to perfect our craft and follow our dreams.

It was alluded to in a previous post that we wanted to expand Take A Leap.  We've decided to add a career mentoring program based on our recent international travels that indicated that career satisfaction often propelled someone to Take A Leap.  The launch is set for Fall 2013, and we'll invite up to 12-15 persons from all over the world as clients to take on a unique career mentorship.  It'll include meeting with a career mentor/coach in or near your city [or via Skype, if need be], financial planning, activity sheets, journaling, spiritual reflection, and travel.  In fact, one key component in this program is that you will be required to go on an international retreat that will include a series of career and financial seminars; a scavenger hunt in the international city; and more.  The ideal persons are those that are stuck in their current career and/or seeking to transition to another.  Whether you're in your mid- 20's or late-50's, this is your chance to escape the rat race and attain the purposeful life God has intended for you.  We'll also document and film the program in special segments of our Take A Leap webseries.

FYI...Sharee is a certified Global Career Development Facilitator (GCDF) and Real Estate Agent; and Rhonda is a certified Retirement Specialist.  So where ever your new career takes you, we'll make sure you are settled in your new environment if you need to uproot from your current city, and make your money work for you with proper financial planning.  You're in good hands with the Washington Twins!!

Sound off and share your opinion of this unique career mentoring program. Would you participate or know someone who would benefit? 

Rhonda & Sharee Washington

Take A Leap...Moving Fwd Part II

The Indiegogo campaign has ended and we raised $480 ($420 with fees taken into consideration).  We have our entire hearts into this project and will see it through.  We paid the final payment for our trip to Italy in November last week.  We have received our airline details, and airline tickets will be sent within the next month.  It's interesting to note that daylight savings times will be going on during our travel to Italy. We'll actually get to stay in Rome one additional hour.  How exciting!!  We are in the process of getting our funds together for the final payment of our December trip to China due in early October.  God is our provider and will make our provisions. We do believe!!

I've entitled this post moving forward part II because there is so much more that is needed to make Take A Leap get off the ground (pun intended) other than money.  We are revving up our efforts to put into play our next initiative.  One of the points that I made early on when I started this blog was how it was more than about chronicling Black Expats.  Yes, that's our premise, but our mission is so much more. We want to encourage more people to obtain Passports, take a Gap Year, or make career transitions.

A story many people don't know about is that last year this time we helped a friend Take A Leap by following her passion to head out to Los Angeles to become an actress.  Her story does not have a fairy tale ending with her landing "the role of a lifetime", but she's constantly knocking on doors, and ever so grateful for our help to get her there.  We were able to utilize hotel bonus nights points and although we didn't quite have enough frequent flier points, we were able to provide funds for a low-cost one way flight to LA.

Via Sean Kelly, LA Times

I share this story because our next initiative is to start a Take A Leap Hotel Bonus Nights and Frequent Flier Miles Club.  We want to make it possible for people to donate either unused or expiring points from hotel stays and airline flights.  We'll share in a later posts how the new initiative will work but it will essentially benefit two fold.

One--half the hotel and mileage points donated will support Rhonda and I in future Take A Leap travels.  We have been asked to consider France, UK, Latin America, and S. Africa as future locations to chronicle Black Expats.  This is exciting for us, but also overwhelming because of the costs involved and we don't want to constantly be asking for money time and time again.  Having our flights and accommodations covered via donated points seems like a less invasive way of asking for HELP!!

Two--half the hotel and mileage points donated will support people who we either know personally or will extend an invitation to.  The purpose will be to help someone Take A Leap to travel domestically in US or internationally in pursuit of career goals; Gap Year or Sabbatical; cultural experience; Volunteer opportunity; or other.

Do you have a Take A Leap experience that you've taken or plan to take? Would you like to benefit from the donated points of our new initiative? Please comment or email us weconnectedprod@gmail.com.

Sharee