Latest / Career Coaching with Fexingo: Professional Coaches, Career Counselors, and Guidance for Workers / How a Career Side Project Can Test Your Next Move
Transcript
- Lucas: So before you hand in your notice to chase that shiny new career direction, there's a smarter way to test it first. And I'm not talking about a weekend hobby or a vague 'I'll work on it when I have time' thing. I mean a structured side project, with a question, a timeline, and a way to read the results. Luna: A career experiment, basically. Like a science fair project for your professional life. Lucas: Exactly. And we've got a great case to dig into. A marketing manager I talked to recently — let's call her Priya — she was feeling stuck in her role, but she wasn't sure if the jump to content strategy was real or just a grass is greener fantasy. So instead of applying for jobs or quitting, she built a small newsletter. Just a weekly email where she wrote about brand storytelling. And she gave herself six months to see if she actually enjoyed it and if anyone cared. Luna: That's a solid timeframe. Six months feels long enough to get past the novelty but short enough to make a decision. Lucas: Right. And the key was that she defined success before she started. Not just 'I hope it goes well.' She said, 'If after six months I have a hundred subscribers and I haven't missed a single week, that tells me I can sustain this. If I'm dreading the writing by month three, that's a signal too.' Luna: So she had a clear metric, but also a qualitative gut check. That seems important. Because a hundred subscribers is arbitrary if you hate every minute. Lucas: Exactly. The numbers give you structure, but the feeling gives you the real intelligence. And that's what separates a career side project from just a hobby. You're not trying to build a business — you're trying to gather data about yourself. Luna: Data about yourself. I like that. So how do you actually design one of these experiments so it doesn't become a second job? Lucas: First, pick one question. Not, 'Should I become a content strategist?' That's too big. Better: 'Do I actually enjoy the day-to-day of writing long-form content?' Or, 'Can I consistently come up with ideas that people respond to?' One question, one project. Luna: And then you time-box it. You mentioned six months for Priya. Is that a sweet spot? Lucas: It depends on the project, but I'd say three to six months is a good range. Long enough to see real progress, short enough to keep the pressure on. And you need to set boundaries. Priya did her newsletter on Sunday mornings, two hours max. That was it. She didn't let it bleed into her evenings or her actual job. Luna: That's a good discipline. Otherwise you're just adding stress to an already full life, and your experiment gets contaminated by exhaustion. Lucas: Exactly. And the other thing she did was build in a feedback loop. She sent a short survey to her subscribers at month three. She asked them what they liked, what they didn't, and whether they'd recommend it to a colleague. That gave her real data, not just her own impressions. Luna: So she was testing not just her own interest, but whether the market cared. That's a powerful combination. Lucas: And here's the part that surprised her. By month four, she had about eighty subscribers, which was below her hundred target. But she found that she was actually looking forward to writing each week. She'd catch herself drafting ideas in her head on a Tuesday. And that was the signal she needed. The numbers were close enough, but the enthusiasm was unmistakable. Luna: So she pivoted? She went for it? Lucas: She did. But she didn't quit her job the next day. She used the newsletter as a portfolio piece — she showed it in interviews, talked about the growth and the feedback she got. And within three months she landed a content strategist role at a mid-sized tech company. The side project wasn't just a test, it became proof of her ability. Luna: That's the dream outcome. But what about the other scenario? What if the experiment goes the other way? Lucas: Then that's a win too, in a different sense. I had a friend who thought he wanted to go into data science. He did a three-month coding project, and he hated every minute of debugging. But he loved the part where he presented his findings. That told him he didn't want to be a data scientist — he wanted to be a product manager who works with data. So the experiment redirected him, which saved him a lot of time and money. Luna: That's such a good point. A negative result is still a result. It's like a career GPS that recalculates. Lucas: Right. And honestly, that's the real value of a career side project. It's not about building a side hustle that turns into a business. It's about de-risking a career move. You're spending a few hours a week for a few months to avoid a potentially costly mistake. Luna: And that's something we should mention — the listeners who find this useful, they're the reason we can keep making these episodes. A small group already chips in monthly through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo, and that's literally what funds this whole thing. No ads, just listener support. So if you've gotten value from a career conversation like this, that's a direct way to keep it going. Lucas: Yeah, it really does make a difference. And it keeps us ad-free, which we love. But back to Priya — the other thing she did well was she set a hard deadline. At month six, she sat down and reviewed her notes, her metrics, and her feelings. She had a simple rubric: if I'm excited more than fifty percent of the time, and I have a clear portfolio piece, I move forward. If not, I walk away. Luna: That's so clean. A decision rule like that prevents you from drifting into indecision. Lucas: Exactly. And she was honest with herself. She even wrote a one-page reflection document. What did I learn? What would I do differently? That document became a talking point in her interviews. Employers loved that she had that reflective, evidence-based approach. Luna: So a career side project isn't just a test, it's also a story you can tell. It shows you're proactive, self-aware, and able to execute. Lucas: Precisely. And that's why I think this works for any career question, not just a big pivot. Maybe you're considering going freelance. Do a few small paid projects on the side to see if you like the client work. Or you're thinking about moving into management. Volunteer to lead a cross-functional team for a quarter and see how it feels to mentor people. Luna: What about the practical side? How do you find the time without burning out? Lucas: The key is to treat it like a commitment, not a hobby. Schedule it in your calendar, same time every week. And start small. One hour a week is fine for the first month. You can scale up if it's going well. The goal is to build a sustainable rhythm, not to sprint. Luna: And what if you don't have a clear question? Like you're just curious about a few different directions? Lucas: That's a common starting point. And that's okay. You can do a 'career sampling' project — try one small thing for a few weeks, then another. But I'd recommend picking one direction first, because focus is what gives you meaningful data. If you're spread across three projects, you don't learn much about any of them. Luna: That's true. It's like trying to date three people at once. You never really get to know any of them. Lucas: Ha. Exactly. So pick one, commit to it for a set period, and give it your honest attention. Luna: One thing I want to ask — how do you know when the experiment is actually telling you something versus just being a temporary rough patch? Like, what if you hit a wall at month two? Lucas: That's a great question. And it's why you need to define your metrics ahead of time. If you're struggling because the work is hard in a way you expected, that's growth. But if you're dreading it consistently, that's a signal. The trick is to separate the challenge from the burnout. Priya had a rule: if she missed three weeks in a row, she'd schedule a check-in with herself to ask what was going on. Luna: So it's not just about the end result. It's about how you feel along the way. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the beauty of a side project. It's a low-stakes environment where you can learn about yourself without the pressure of a salary or a performance review. The cost of failure is just a few hours a week, not a career setback. Luna: I think that's the takeaway. If you're feeling stuck, don't just think about it — run a small experiment. It's the most practical way to test your next move. Lucas: And the side project itself becomes a portfolio piece, a conversation starter, and a proof of your initiative. So there's really no downside.