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The Quiet Pivot: Curiosity Doesn’t Pay the Bills. On Plan B, Buffers, and Peace of Mind
Episode 9430th June 2025 • Stories for the future • Veslemoy Klavenes-Berge
00:00:00 00:13:02

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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

Transcripts

Speaker A:

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.

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Money.

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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.

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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.

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I accidentally stumbled across a course on freelance translation.

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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.

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It was exactly what I needed.

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So I thought, why not?

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It seemed simple enough.

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It wasn't really that simple.

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I would say.

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But I thought that okay, this I can master this I have the skills it takes, I thought at least.

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And I did a course and learned how to set it up.

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And in a few weeks I would say I was translating everything from product descriptions for floor coverings to manuals for massive machinery.

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And I didn't know much about any of it, I would say.

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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.

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But I learned, I.

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I taught myself how to do research, how to write clearly, how to adapt and maybe how to be.

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Have the courage to.

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To do this because it was so totally out of my both comfort zone.

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But just like the idea of anything that I would be doing.

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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.

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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.

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Maybe you can rent out a room, maybe you have a car you can sell.

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Maybe you can take on some side gig from few months.

Speaker A:

The point is that you build yourself a bit of space.

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Space.

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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.

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