Could a Former Fed Find Success in Entrepreneurship?
Former feds with strong technical and subject matter expertise may find entrepreneurship a worthwhile next career act.
Could a former fed find career success transitioning to entrepreneurial life?
This is a topic that I posed earlier this season to our guest on What’s Your Work Fit?, federal work and workplace expert Mika Cross.
2025 is turning out to be a difficult year for career professionals, and an extremely difficult one for the thousands of workers cast off from their federal departments and agencies.
Entrepreneurial life is fluid, sometimes chaotic, and best done by people willing to accept some semblance of financial risk.
One's former government life, by contrast, was safe. One never got rich at their former government job, but stable paychecks allowed them to a live descent and rewarding life.
And yet, for former feds who possess strong technical and subject matter expertise, leaning into entrepreneurship might be a worthwhile next career act.
A former fed could become:
➡️ An independent contractor (a 1099) who leverages their skill doing project work for government and non-governmental clients or the private sector.
➡️ A start-up founder, perhaps joining up with other former feds.
➡️ A side-hustler doing something completely different than their former federal scope of work. My wife's and my side-hustle is selling vintage clothing. And several of our colleagues at the outdoor vintage shows are former feds.
Some of you reading this post may scratch your heads and wonder, could a former fed make such a dramatic career transition?
Well, it does require a major mindset shift. But I venture to guess that there's a cohort of former feds who could, with a boost of self-confidence and a good support system, find their career bliss through the self determination of entrepreneurship.
It could be the work fit that former feds never knew they could achieve, to make work a wonderful part of the day doing other wonderful things.
And when work fit happens, our best days lie ahead.
Check out the full episode (CLICK HERE).
Note: image rendered on ChatGPT 4o based on our prompts.
I’m Dan Smolen. As host and executive producer of WHAT'S YOUR WORK FIT? I help you make your work and workplace decisions result in better and more satisfying professional experiences and outcomes. I am also a Founding Member of The Future of Work Alliance.