Do This To Have More Options In Your Career

Picture this: You're not searching for jobs; they're searching for you. Promotions? No problem. They have been handed to you—invitations to speak at events land in your inbox. Consulting gigs pop up without you lifting a finger. Your network? It's opening doors you didn't even know existed.

Sounds like a dream, right? Well, it's not. It's what happens when you create more options for yourself.

Creating options for yourself in your career is about building a professional profile that gives you choices. It's about positioning yourself so that opportunities come to you rather than you always chasing them.

I never applied for my role at Microsoft. They contacted me two years after I worked with them as a client. When I asked for 25% more than their offer, I got it—no questions asked.

My consulting work at Google wasn’t published anywhere. I was referred to the hiring manager, and two phone calls later, I was in. They never pushed back on my hourly rate.

No applicant tracking systems. No resume revamps. No applying to hundreds of companies. And barely any competition. This is the power of having options.

Why is this important? Because the job market is unpredictable. Industries evolve, companies restructure, and what's in demand today might not be tomorrow. You're not at the mercy of these changes when you have options. You're in control.

How To Create More Career Options

Creating these options is about more than luck. It's about strategically building your skills, network, and reputation over time. It's about becoming so valuable in your field that you're always in demand. And the best way to do that? Build your brand.

Here is how I built mine and how you can do the same:

1. Decide to commit to investing in your executive brand

This isn't a part-time gig; it's a career-long journey. It requires consistent effort and patience, but the payoff will be worth it.

Building a brand puts you in the public eye, but that’s not for everyone. I get it. That’s why you need to be intentional about it. I spent many years in the shadows before deciding to go public with my brand.

2. Figure out what you want to be known for

Standing out means having a perspective, a point of view, and maybe even a vision. It doesn’t need to be grandiose or innovative; it just needs to be yours.

When I was thinking about my marketing brand, it became clear that I wasn’t the typical cookie-cutter marketer, as one of my managers described me. I spent a lot of time in the startup world and adopted many of the qualities of an entrepreneur. I ran experiments, looked for imperfect solutions, and always challenged the status quo.

This means I was a great fit for some companies and opportunities and a complete mismatch for others.

3. Choose Your Platform

There are endless ways to build thought leadership. Select a medium that feels authentic to you. It doesn’t matter if you write on LinkedIn, give keynotes on stage, or start a podcast. Just pick one and start.

Do you have to share in public to build a brand? The short answer is yes. You don't have a brand if other people don’t know about you. You have a one-man show. That’s why I said you need to decide you want to do this.

I started by writing articles for different publications and later started to write on LinkedIn.

4. Share your thoughts

This is where most people get stuck:” But what do I write about?”

You have two options:

First, you can document your journey. This is a great option if you don’t feel like an influencer yet. Talking about what you are doing and learning is a great way to share your voice.

The second option is to teach. Use your experience to help people who are a few steps behind you. This is a great way to build rapport and be seen as a leader.

Do these long enough, and you’ll eventually reach expert status. At this point, you can write with authority and share your expertise and knowledge.

My first blog posts documented my journey in marketing. I shared what I was learning and added my own opinions and points of view. About a decade later, it felt like I reached expert status when invitations to speak about my experience started knocking.

5. Don’t stop

This is the tricky part. Your brand is built over time, not overnight. Every small step, every post, every interview compounds and creates your reputation. You’re not likely to see results immediately, which could feel frustrating.

The biggest difference between the people you see as ‘successful’ and everyone else isn’t skill or talent. It’s consistency. They kept going when everyone else stopped. I know that is true for me.

When I started writing on LinkedIn in 2019 . . . crickets.

I posted 5 times per week for 5 months and barley saw anything, but I kept going. I tweaked the content, asked for feedback, and tried again and again. Four years later, I had more than 100,000 followers, several job offers (including my last VP role), invitations to speak on stage and do podcast interviews and a profitable business.

None of that would have happened if I stopped because I didn’t see immediate results.

Your next steps

As the saying goes, "The best way to predict your future is to create it." And that's exactly what building your brand is all about - creating a future full of options and opportunities.

So ask yourself: Am I building a brand that opens doors?

I believe in you, and I’m rooting for you.

Maya ❤️