Episode #1: It’s difficult to focus on one career path when you have more than one passion you’d like to pursue. That was the case for Liz Navarro, a marketing communications consultant and adjunct professor at Southern Methodist University. As a kid, Liz couldn’t decide if she wanted to be a writer, a teacher, a journalist or something completely different. As a college student she was constantly changing majors; as a young professional, often changing jobs. 

Years later, she’s found a way to incorporate all of her passions into her work as a communications consultant and educator. In this conversation with Liz, we talk about making career pivots, career FOMO, imposter syndrome, experimenting, and finding clarity in your strengths and talents–even when you aren’t sure of the end goal. 

For multi-passionate professionals and entrepreneurs, here are three of the episode’s key takeaways for pursuing a career you love. 

Build intentional relationships through networking

One of the key lessons Liz has learned is that opportunities come from relationships. By sharing her goals, interests, and ideas with advocates in her network, she’s been able to pursue opportunities with companies, organizations, or industries that interest her. Networking is what allowed her to turn her side hustles into a sustainable business, one that allows her to write, teach, speak, and collaborate with clients. Here are her key networking tips (and these are coming from an introvert…)

• Find your champions and advocates, and make it a goal to share your interests and ideas with them
• It’s OK to be different! Network with groups where you have something new to bring to the table, and you’ll be able to make a memorable impression
• Create content that showcases your skills (Liz’s was a TEDx talk), and share those packaged, polished ideas with your network to activate new opportunities

Let Yourself Experiment

For many of us, it’s hard to move forward without a plan. When we don’t have a clear path to follow or specific goal to pursue, we stop taking action to move toward it. That was the case for Liz, too, until she accepted that it’s OK experiment without an end in mind. In the times in her career where she felt the most stuck, she’d take a small step forward to pursue something new. Here are some examples: 

• Submitting articles for publications for free
• Collaborating with other consultants on their projects
• Saying “yes” to any opportunity that came from her network

After a few years of side hustles, passion projects, and introductions, Liz found that her small experiments were building the foundation for a larger career path. Experimenting helped her focus on projects that made her most excited and energized. Ultimately, she discovered that nothing is a waste of time if it allows you to learn, meet someone new, or develop a skill. 

Say “yes” to new opportunities

There are so many reasons we tell ourselves “no” when opportunities come our way. It’s easy to assume we’re underqualified, taking too great of a risk, or wasting our time. Liz discusses how saying “yes” is what ultimately helped her grow in her career–despite moments of imposter syndrome, uncertainty, or doubt. 

As a multi-passionate person, she found herself saying “yes” to many different kinds of work while seeking clarity in her career. The result is her current business, Liz Navarro + Co, where she gets to spend her days doing a little bit of everything she loves: writing, learning, teaching, creating content, and meeting new people. 

Are you a multi-passionate person trying to figure out the next step in your career? Listen to our full conversation to know more.