The Royal Society says that “A PhD is an advanced and respected research qualification” and I agree! They also suggest that PhDs should ‘consider the wide range of careers open to them upon completion’. I also agree! The more that I considered leaving academia the more I realised that we don’t have access to resources to make it happen. My goal with The Leveraged PhD is to give you the resources and confidence to use your PhD to its full potential, whatever that path is.
The idea behind The Leveraged PhD is to help you use your PhD to its maximum advantage thereby gaining more from your PhD than you put in ( and I know you put a lot into your PhD).
About the founder of The Leveraged PhD
Hi There! I’m Melanie Bruce founder of The Leveraged PhD (Formally The Professor Is Out). I earned my Doctorate of Philosophy in Marketing in 2013. I taught at a university in Australia for a few years while completing my PhD and for a year afterwards. Then the professor was out: I moved to the USA and taught as a Visiting Professor for a year, I then got tenure track position which I started in 2015. (If you are considering an academic position in the USA check out this blog series I wrote for The Professor Is Out.) Right now I am doing a visiting position at a university in the USA while I build up my side hustle. My goal is to be earning more from my side hustles by the end of this academic year (May 2020).
My side hustle (that will become my main hustle)
I help small businesses develop their marketing strategy. In particular, I help female entrepreneurs who are creating eco-minded products develop a marketing strategy for launch and growth.
Academia burnt me out and the culture of publish or perish in paywalled journals made me feel like I wasn’t doing anything useful with my life. This blog and my side hustle let me help others change the world and that make me feel fulfilled. If you want to check out others who are living their best lives through side hustles and non-academic careers then take a look at the Friday feature interviews on this blog.
Keep up to date
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Want inspiration and a peek into my day-to-day life? Follow The Leveraged PhD on Instagram
Where did The Leveraged PhD come from?
LIfe is about evolution and growth. This blog is no different. Here is the story so far.
I originally started this blog in 2017 for professors, administrators, and staff of colleges and universities who wanted to overcome the challenges of international educational experiences and create more opportunities for all students to participate in a life-changing international experience. As I created content I soon realised that my most popular posts were about how to build a personal brand for academic and non-academic careers and side-hustles. Therefore, I switched up the focus of my blog in January 2019. In May 2019 I rebranded from The Professor Is Out to The Leveraged PhD.
