Career path change

I have been at a firm doing valuation work for about a year and am finding out that I strongly dislike the work for a few reasons:

1- I know I am in finance, but I really dislike working in huge excel models all day. I am not terrible at it but I find that it drains me and bores me to death.

2- I am a big picture kind of thinker and person. I don't enjoy getting lost in the weeds looking at tons of numbers, figuring out how to fix models. I can understand trends and do a lot of analysis, but I more like to look at things from a higher level and not pay attention to tiny details. Given the job, and all of the many nuances I need to work through in order to model businesses out, it is not exactly the best fit.

3-I want to find a job/career that has more qualitative aspects. Again, I understand that I am in a finance career, but I don't like dealing with just numbers. I have a pretty creative and entrepreneurial/innovative side that, I feel, is getting squashed by working in this job.

4- I value a work/life balance. I know this varies from firm to firm and by position, but I don't think I can ever be happy working 75-100 hour weeks, even if making a ton of money. I would absolutely sacrifice some earning potential and upside for a job that allows me to have a life.

I have really been considering a lot of different paths I can take from here. However, it makes it very tough when you are unable to narrow your search when looking for jobs. I know I should leverage my experience in this role and not negate my skills and experience in finance completely. With that said, I am not sure where to look and go from here. I'm not sure if I'd be a good fit in something on the investment/buy side or in capital markets. I know there is some modeling and financial analysis inherit in those types of jobs too but at least I wouldn't have to work with insane amounts of business and accounting data to model. I am definitely not a "data" type of person.

I have looked things up like business development, corporate strategy, investment analysis, ect.. but I really don't know what would be a good or terrible fit given the points noted above. I don't think I'd be great at pure sales positions but I do have a very personable side that allows me to connect to people.

From people with experience in different areas of business and finance, do you guys have any advice or insights on things I could check out? Believe me, I am doing a ton of research on my end but it is very difficult to do without narrowing a focus. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

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