Your job might be the most important part of your career, right now, but it’s not the only component of your success. Success is all about personal development and personal wealth. It’s not just about how high you climb in one company, after all, you never know how long you might be with the organization. If you’re a high-achieving woman it’s never too early to explore steps to success that exist outside of a job and that are critical regardless of where you are working now or ten years from now.

Personal Enrichment
The most important asset at your disposal is the opportunity to learn. Never stop looking for opportunities to develop new experiences and new skills. If your employer values you, they should be offering you training courses and have a development plan for you. Even if that is the case, however, you should be building your career through training outside the company as well. Make sure you’re not just building the skills that make you better at your current job. Think of where you want your career to go and build the skills that are going to help you in that future job as well.

Financial independence
For most career-minded people, a 9-5 is always going to be the principal means of making their money. That’s not necessarily a bad thing because not everyone can be an entrepreneur, but it doesn’t mean it has to be the only way you can make money. Most financial experts agree: if you want to build real wealth, you also have to look at investing. Using platforms like CMC Markets, you can start putting aside a portion of your earnings and start growing them by trading in the markets such as Forex and stock. You can start small, putting in only what you can afford to risk. Over time, however, your investments can keep growing, and if you reinvest your winnings into new ventures, it can help you achieve a level of financial independence. This way, even if you switch careers or lose your job, you still have assets that can provide for you.

Building bridges
Never underestimate the power of networking. It can help you find allies within your company, build good relationships with your bosses, and get your foot in the door for future opportunities. But you should also look at networking outside your business, even outside your industry. As Work It Daily suggests, attend conferences, trade shows, and networking events of all kinds. Build your contact roster, as you never know who you might be asking for a job, a partnership, or funding for your own business idea in the future. Start building the bridges now so that you can more easily access them when you need to.

There’s nothing wrong with being career oriented and committed to a job within a specific business. However, every high-achieving woman knows it’s much wiser to become self-sufficient and self-sustaining, as well. You never know what the future might hold, and you could find yourself relying more on the steps mentioned above somewhere along the line. Today you’re building someone else’s dream, tomorrow; your dream takes precedence.

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