3 Career Ideas for Natural Born Leaders

If you know that you're great at leading people, it can be tricky to find a career to pursue when you're just starting out. After all, it takes time, dedication, and experience to get to the level where you’ll be managing others.

At the same time, it's important that you understand where you eventually want to end up. Otherwise, you may never get to that point in your career where you can lead others. Here are three career ideas to shoot for if you are a natural born leader.

Run your own franchise

Running a franchise can be just as rewarding as running your own business, but without all of the hassle that comes from launching your own startup. There are a wide range of franchising opportunities out there, and many are at levels that even someone just starting out could afford. Some franchises can be started for as little as $10,000 or $15,000, and that includes pricing on all necessary equipment that you need to run the business successfully.

Some people consider franchises as an option for people who are only interested in running a restaurant or fast-food establishment. However, that is not true. In fact, there are plenty of franchises that deal with all sorts of industries, including wedding planning, travel and vacation agencies, and shipping outlets.

The main takeaway is that if you’re interested in running a business, a franchise can be a great way to dip your feet into the water. A franchise gives you an infrastructure to work with while still letting you call the shots and hire your team.

Become the head engineer

If you're planning on pursuing a degree in a STEM field, but still want to work in a career that allows you to lead, it may be worth studying engineering. Leading a team of designers and engineers can be a great way to lead while still getting your hands dirty as an engineer yourself.

Particularly if you already have some skills in the field of engineering, working your way up to head engineer can be a very rewarding and lucrative career path. When you consider the fact that entry-level engineers often make about $50,000 a year, clearly there is room for growth in the field as you work your way up through the ranks.

As a head engineer, you are responsible for coordinating with the rest of the team and ensuring that you meet your goals for production. In larger companies, this can be a very complex job, offering you many opportunities to excel as a natural leader.

Teach

Some people do not think of teaching as leading. However, if you think back on your best teachers when you were a student, you will likely recognize the leadership qualities of each teacher or professor.

As a teacher, you are responsible for leading multiple classrooms towards certain educational goals and standards. This can really call upon all of your interpersonal skills as a leader, since teachers must manage various classroom dynamics while empowering each individual student to achieve their goals.

The world desperately needs more teachers who are passionate about their subject and about leading others. So if you feel like you could see yourself thriving at a high school, elementary school, or in a college classroom, it is definitely worth considering becoming licensed as an educator.

While people who are good leaders often want to view themselves at the head of a company, there are plenty of other job paths to consider if you want to put your leadership skills to use. From leading small teams of engineers to working with students or hiring employees at a franchise, if you begin to outline your goals, you can make a plan to achieve them.