Welltodo Careers Blog

So You Want A Career In Wellness – But What Happens Next?

Welltodo’s Founder & CEO, Lauren Armes, shares her personal experience with crafting a career in wellness – and some of the key things that helped her to get started. 

I frequently get asked how I got into the wellness industry, and it’s a question I love answering. 

It’s usually a similar line of conversation; that realisation that ‘this is something I feel truly passionate about’, ‘it feels right’, ‘it makes me happy’, and ‘it’s definitely an industry I want to work in’.

Realising that wellness is what lights you up, begs the question: what next?

 What can you do to get a foot in the door and carve out a career doing something you really love?

As more individuals realise a passion for health and wellbeing, the faster the industry grows — and I’ve seen first hand just how many opportunities now exist to contribute to this forward momentum. The global wellness industry is booming; with strong investment and new ventures launching daily. 

Opportunities in the wellness industry are now emerging beyond the typical (more general) industry segments like fitness or nutrition – as we see splintering (and fast-growing) industry segments emerge like: digital and connected fitness, personalised nutrition, functional health, transformative technology and sexual wellness.

When I launched Welltodo 5 years ago, I had no idea what it would become. My goal at that time was to simply to get an understanding of how the industry worked. Masquerading as a journalist, I talked to and wrote about hundreds of other people starting out in wellness to get a sense of what type of business I might create. I realised that my fascination with wellness existed through the lens of business analysis, and that in actual fact, demand for these insights would become a business in its own right.

Transitioning into a new career or launching a business in the wellness industry is an exciting prospect but it does take time. However, whether you’re considering jumping on the entrepreneurial roller coaster, or you just know that wellness is a sector that you could really find your feet in, there are definitely a few things you can actively do to speed up the process.

Connect with like-minded people

Knowing that I loved business, wellness, and connecting with people, I started writing about it. Meeting and connecting with people I could write about led to opportunities, which led to further clarity on what I really wanted to achieve. 

Having built a small audience, I launched a series of events exploring entrepreneurship and the business of wellness — which to my surprise, people paid to attend. It created a platform for other people wanting to start businesses, work or invest in wellness to learn from each other and I’ve seen amazing things come out of those connections.

There are so many events now both online and offline (way more than when I first started out) that bring like-minded people in the wellness community together — and when you’re in the company of people who think the way you do, incredible things happen.

>> Check out upcoming Welltodo events to really boost your insights into the wellness industry.

Ask yourself why you want to work in wellness

Are you a change-maker? Are you fascinated by the idea of food as medicine? Do you want to have a positive impact on people’s lives? Have you improved your own quality of life through simple changes, and want to inspire others to do the same? Do you feel passionate about the wellbeing of children? Corporates? Seniors?

Whatever it is, getting a sense of why you want to work in wellness will provide you with a starting point through which you can filter any opportunities that come your way. From there, you might seek out businesses who share a similar ethos and are looking for talented new team members, or start generating ideas for a business of your own.

Figure out what you’re good at

My friend Rebekah quit a high-paid but uninspiring job in finance to train as a yoga teacher, before realising that a head full of numbers and good commercial sense were a good foundation on which to launch an innovative healthy drinks business. 

It was a similar scenario for Jayne, who knew she was good at communicating but worked in the past-paced fashion industry. So she joined a healthy food startup. At first, she was managing a cafe and using her communication skills to build relationships with key customers.

One particular encounter actually led to a PR role with a leading boutique fitness studio – and now five years on she’s a senior part of their team and working in an industry she loves. 

>> Take the Welltodo Careers Quiz

 Job satisfaction isn’t always a million miles from where you are.

Sometimes it’s easy to confuse a dislike for the work you do, for a dislike for the industry or company you work in. Breaking down your current experience into a set of core skills that you’re really good at (and enjoy) and aligning it with what you’re passionate about (i.e. wellness) might be where your dream job exists. 

For example, you may be an incredible graphic designer and love wellness. Why not find a job working for an agency with a portfolio of wellness-focused clients?

To make it even easier, you can use Welltodo Careers to keep an eye out for new job opportunities popping up all the time. With industry growth, comes a demand for top talent, and you might have exactly what these businesses need to reach even more people.

And even if your dream job doesn’t exist yet, by connecting with other people who share your vision and inspire you, by blogging, reading, turning up to events or just taking a leap into the unknown, you might find yourself enjoying the path to discovering where and what that next step is.

 

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