What’s it like to leave your stable agency job behind to become a creative freelancer? In this episode of Career Relaunch, Polly Aspinall, a former Creative, Producer and Account Director at London-based agency turned freelance Set Designer shares her thoughts on the importance of creating connections with a diverse set of people and allowing yourself to be open to new ideas.  I also share some thoughts on being open to opportunities, even when they’re not exactly perfect.

Key Takeaways

1. The best things happen in your career when you stop saying “no” all the time and instead start saying “yes” to new opportunities.
2. Meeting up with everyone you can allows you to expand your network, to make connections with people who may just turn out to be surprisingly helpful.
3. Sometimes, saying yes to imperfect opportunities can open up new doors and uncover unique career ideas that never crossed your mind

Tweetables to Share

Resources Mentioned

• Polly referred to an “Opportunity Mindset,” where you say yes to things and remain open to new ideas. Here are a couple articles on this topic:
  • Entrepreneur article on Recognizing Opportunity is the First Step to an Entrepreneurial Mindset
  • Inc article on How to Change Your Mindset to See Problems as Opportunities.

Free Tool: Saying Yes to Opportunity

During this episode’s Mental Fuel segment, I talked about being open to opportunities that aren’t 100% perfect. For some help in doing this, you can download my “Saying Yes to Opportunity” Worksheet.