“To make a change, don’t be afraid to try things. Experiment, explore, and do your best to reframe challenges into opportunities to learn and grow.”

— Shannon Powers

Shannon Powers: her remarkable career transition from lawyer and academic - to tech marketing expert - and how she did it

What do you do when you’ve dedicated your entire career to one field, but one day you come to find that it no longer meets your needs or expectations? If you are like most people, you reluctantly find a way to re-adjust your expectations to meet the realities of your chosen career and soldier on. Or, you can examine your options with precision and forge a completely new career that provides you more opportunity and satisfaction.

The latter is the route that Shannon Powers took when she realized after years of working in international human rights policy, getting a law degree, and pursuing a PhD, that her options were not going to result in the kind of career she wanted and needed: something challenging in which she could stay in Washington, D.C. for her husband’s political law job while maintaining the flexibility to spend more time with her young son.

In 2016, she made the brave choice to move on from her field and start anew providing content marketing services in the tech industry. Less than five years later she is running not one, but three ventures, while still having the time to pick up her son from school every day and volunteer with causes she cares about.

Shannon’s career transition is a remarkable but not impossible choice for anyone at a similar crossroads hoping to make a big career change. In this interview, she shares the process and mindset she undertook to build a new career from the ground-up.

How did you decide to pursue a career in marketing after years of working in policy and law?

Ten years ago, I couldn’t have imagined this as my career, but after I realized how niche and limited the jobs were in my specialty, I knew I needed to do something else that would give me more flexibility and opportunity. I started by getting past the degrees I held and thinking more specifically about my skills which included writing, research, teaching, and constantly learning something new – all things that marketing requires! I also read a lot of books, including Designing Your Life, which helped give me a tangible framework for career exploration.

What is the best advice you can give to people thinking about a career change?

Sometimes people get stuck in analysis. They think a lot about it but don’t actually act. I read a lot of books as I mentioned, but I learned to take that information and act on it. To make a change, don’t be afraid to try things. Experiment, explore, and do your best to reframe challenges into opportunities to learn and grow. Always stay curious because there are so many resources out there for us to lean on.

What mindset do you use to reframe your challenges?

A great piece of advice I once read about facing challenges said, “Don’t ask why this is happening TO me, but why this is happening FOR me.” This simple shift automatically takes a limiting belief and turns the situation into endless possibilities. I also find that changing something from a statement to a question has the same power. For example, I literally had no experience in marketing when I started applying for jobs. Naturally, I couldn’t even land an interview. Instead of saying to myself: “I have no experience. I’m not going to get a job in marketing,” I reframed it into a question: “WHY am I not getting interviews? It’s because I have no experience. So HOW can I get experience?” Answering this question led me on the path to where I am today.

That’s great advice about mindset! How did you start getting experience?

I started pitching my services on a freelance website called UpWork. At first I did a few projects for free or for very little to help build my portfolio. But it wasn’t long before I was getting referrals and was able to increase my rates. From there, I started to really hone my client service skills, so the work keeps coming and evolving.

What is the most important lesson you’ve learned along the way?

It’s ok to let things happen incrementally – change takes time so have patience with yourself and let it happen as naturally as possible. Also, take a step back when you can. Don’t take on everything and anything; otherwise, you’ll end up getting overwhelmed and stretched in too many different directions to focus on what really matters to you. The more you say no to the things that don’t matter, the more time, space, and focus you have to say yes to the things that do matter.

A special thanks to Shannon for sharing her advice about the importance of mindset and some planning when considering a career change. With these tools, her story proves that any change, big or small, is possible!