Episode 94
The Quiet Pivot: Curiosity Doesn’t Pay the Bills. On Plan B, Buffers, and Peace of Mind
What happens when curiosity leads you toward a big change – but your bank account doesn’t agree? In this solo episode, I share a personal story from the early days of starting my own business, and how a surprisingly unglamorous Plan B gave me the freedom to explore a new direction.
You’ll hear why having a buffer matters, how to calculate your minimum viable income, and why your Plan B doesn’t have to be perfect – just practical.
Whether you’re shifting careers, launching something new, or simply testing the waters of change, this episode will help you think through the financial side of creativity and courage.
🔑 In This Episode:
- Why curiosity alone isn’t enough in a career pivot
- The story behind my freelance translator “Plan B”
- What a buffer really is – and why it gives you creative oxygen
- How to calculate your Minimum Viable Income
- Reframing “the worst-case scenario” to reduce fear
- How to create space for learning, growth, and sustainable change
🛠️ Resources Mentioned:
Want to be a guest on Stories for the future: Beyond the Bubble? Send Veslemoy Klavenes-Berge a message on PodMatch.
You can always find more information about the podcast and my work on storiesforthefuture.com
Transcript
Welcome back to the Quiet Pivot, this miniseries that aims to give career changers maybe, like you, some of the tools and tips I was missing during my own Pivot.
Speaker A:Today we're diving into something that often gets left out when we talk about following our curiosity and inspiration and finding a new direction in life or work.
Speaker A:And that's the financial bit.
Speaker A:Money.
Speaker A:Because as inspiring as curiosity is, it doesn't pay the bills.
Speaker A:I'll share my own story about creating a plan B, doing some surprisingly random freelance work, and how that buffer gave me the freedom to take a leap.
Speaker A:Maybe it will inspire you to design your own plan B and B buffer zone.
Speaker A:So in the last episode, I talked about curiosity, how it can be this quiet but powerful compass when you're standing at a crossroads thinking about making a change.
Speaker A:Maybe you're not sure what that new thing is yet, but something in you wants to change.
Speaker A:And I ended that episode by saying curiosity doesn't pay the bills.
Speaker A:And, well, it really doesn't.
Speaker A:That's probably one of the first things we have to acknowledge when we start feeling that pull towards something new.
Speaker A:It's really exciting.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:But in the middle of all that inspiration, we still need to live.
Speaker A:We need income.
Speaker A:Not just to survive, but to stay calm enough to think clearly.
Speaker A:Because.
Speaker A:Because what really kills creativity and the ability to learn.
Speaker A:Financial stress.
Speaker A:Lying awake at night wondering how we are going to cover next month's expenses, that shuts everything else down.
Speaker A:I have really experienced this myself, so I know it to be very, very true.
Speaker A:So let me take you back to when I was in exactly that place myself after I left oil and gas and of course struggled or really wanted to replace that income that I had left.
Speaker A:I had just discovered the world of entrepreneurship, and wow, was I inspired.
Speaker A:New ideas, new people, new possibilities.
Speaker A:And I decided at some point there to start my own company.
Speaker A:You might not be planning to start a business, and that's totally fine.
Speaker A:Maybe you're looking to change careers, go back to school, or just explore a new field, but no matter what, if you're in a transition, you need a buffer, a little Runway space to explore.
Speaker A:And in my case, I didn't have a perfect plan.
Speaker A:I didn't have a plan at all, to be honest.
Speaker A:I accidentally stumbled across a course on freelance translation.
Speaker A:And this time, I really think that the algorithms did its purpose in some way, because I think I was the exact correct target for this ad.
Speaker A:It was exactly what I needed.
Speaker A:So I thought, why not?
Speaker A:It seemed simple enough.
Speaker A:It wasn't really that simple.
Speaker A:I would say.
Speaker A:But I thought that okay, this I can master this I have the skills it takes, I thought at least.
Speaker A:And I did a course and learned how to set it up.
Speaker A:And in a few weeks I would say I was translating everything from product descriptions for floor coverings to manuals for massive machinery.
Speaker A:And I didn't know much about any of it, I would say.
Speaker A:And at some point there I had to call my father and ask him for a lot of help because he knows a lot more about heavy machinery and engineering than I do.
Speaker A:So just to like understand what I was writing about.
Speaker A:But I learned, I.
Speaker A:I taught myself how to do research, how to write clearly, how to adapt and maybe how to be.
Speaker A:Have the courage to.
Speaker A:To do this because it was so totally out of my both comfort zone.
Speaker A:But just like the idea of anything that I would be doing.
Speaker A:So it was a very steep learning curve.
Speaker A:Was it fun?
Speaker A:Not really fun.
Speaker A:It was interesting, but not fun.
Speaker A:But it gave me this financial buffer.
Speaker A:I knew that if things were slow in my, the business I wanted to build, if I didn't get the funding I was applying for, etc.
Speaker A:I could take on more translation work.
Speaker A:And when things picked up as I hoped it would, I could scale it down again.
Speaker A:So this was my plan B.
Speaker A:And what I realized, and this might sound counterintuitive, I think, is that it helped me that my plan B wasn't something I really wanted to do because I wasn't tempted to stay there in the like, the comfort of this as a income.
Speaker A:It gave me the security, but not the distraction.
Speaker A:And I think this might be different from person to person.
Speaker A:Maybe you prefer doing something which is more related to the direction you want to go.
Speaker A:But for me, this was absolutely the right choice.
Speaker A:So let's talk about your buffer because your version of this could be totally different.
Speaker A:Maybe you can rent out a room, maybe you have a car you can sell.
Speaker A:Maybe you can take on some side gig from few months.
Speaker A:The point is that you build yourself a bit of space.
Speaker A:Space.
Speaker A:And I think an important question here is also to ask yourself how important is it for me to do this, make this leap?
Speaker A:Because it can be, okay, I don't really want to sell this car.
Speaker A:I need this car.
Speaker A:Or I don't want anyone to live in my spare room.
Speaker A:It's like, it's not what I planned.
Speaker A:But if you ask yourself how important is it for me to make this move, where do I want to be in a year?
Speaker A:You can give yourself that push and it's all about priorities.
Speaker A:I guess.
Speaker A:But back to building yourself a bit of space.
Speaker A:To do that, you need to know your numbers.
Speaker A:What's your minimum viable income?
Speaker A:The lowest amount.
Speaker A:You need to live reasonably well for a while.
Speaker A:And I say for a while because this is temporary.
Speaker A:And it's important to remember that I didn't do it in this order.
Speaker A:If I were to do it again, I would definitely look at my minimum viable income first, because when I calculated my number, it gave me clarity, it gave me power, in a way, and it helped me make better choices because I wasn't operating out of panic.
Speaker A:So when I'm talking about this, I'm not talking about living your best life.
Speaker A:I mean, the basics.
Speaker A:Housing, food, bills, basic comfort, what you actually need to, to create peace of mind.
Speaker A:And I think you will be surprised because we often, at least when you leave a job and you have this number in your head, which is what you are leaving and to replace that can be really, really hard.
Speaker A:But if you strip it down to the basics, you get a lot more room.
Speaker A:And that's also why I say it's temporary.
Speaker A:Another thing which can also help is to ask yourself, what's the worst that can happen?
Speaker A:And for most of us, especially if you live in a country with a safety net, the worst isn't that bad.
Speaker A:I know that I'm speaking out of privilege in this case because I live in such a country, but for most of us, this is the case that the worst that you can imagine in your mind isn't really that bad.
Speaker A:Maybe you need to take a job you're not thrilled about.
Speaker A:Maybe you have to start over again.
Speaker A:Maybe if you're so lucky, you can go back to your former employer, if you were the one who left.
Speaker A:Of course, maybe that's an option.
Speaker A:For most of us, the worst that can happen is livable, not that bad.
Speaker A:So that can help.
Speaker A:It can really help to think about that.
Speaker A:So now, to sum it up, if you're standing at this transition point now, here's what I would like you to do.
Speaker A:Number one, calculate your minimum viable income and do it in this order.
Speaker A:Know your number.
Speaker A:And number two, think about what kind of buffer you need and create your plan B, your safety net.
Speaker A:It might not sound very glamorous, but I promise it's really powerful.
Speaker A:Because when you create a little peace of mind, some space, you make a lot of room for everything else to grow, like creativity, optimism, learning, curiosity and inspiration, all of it.
Speaker A:So with this episode five of the miniseries, I am taking a little break actually, for July or at least for a few weeks.
Speaker A:I will come back with at least one more episode in this series, but it will be after the break.
Speaker A:So thanks for listening today.
Speaker A:And and if this resonates with you, if you're in a transition or even thinking about one, take some time to build your own buffer.
Speaker A:Design a Plan B that gives you breathing room, and if you want to share what you're thinking about, I would really like to hear from you.
Speaker A:You'll find all the contact information in the show notes.
Speaker A:Either you can go to my website or to Substack.
Speaker A:You can find the links under this episode and as I'm taking a little break, what better time to check out the Quiet Pivot Companion pack where I gathered all the different tools, some of the the ones that I've been talking about in these episodes, but also a lot more.
Speaker A:All the tools or the tips and tricks that I was missing back then during my own Pivot.
Speaker A:And I think it should be available for everyone, the different ways of thinking.
Speaker A:And of course this is just my advice.
Speaker A:I'm not a career coach or like an expert in this, but what I would have needed myself was somebody to ask for help.
Speaker A:Somebody that could just point me in different directions and give me suggestions about what to do.
Speaker A:So I hope that you will check check it out.
Speaker A:That is also available on my substack vclumnas.substack.com or on my website stories for the future.com forward/pivot until next time, Stay curious as always and I will talk to you soon.
Speaker A:Sa.
