Lessons from a Quitter

Lindsey started out like many people pursuing a career in the corporate world. Even though she was doing great at her job, it was during the 2008 recession that she realized this wasn't a stable path. She then decided to enter entrepreneurship part-time through a company called Isagenix, a network marketing company which she still currently works with.   From that company, she then created Powerhouse Women, an online community, a yearly event, a book, and a podcast. (Whew!). After seeing numerous women in her life stop short of pursuing their own entrepreneurial dreams because of fear and self-doubt, she saw the need for more honest conversations about the ups and downs of entrepreneurship in order to show women that they don't have to have it all together to get started.   What I love the most about Lindsey's story is that she sets an example for her community. She didn't wait around for a huge social media following or to have some kind of star-backing, she wrote a book because she wanted to write a book and became a best-seller. She created an event because she saw a need and now it's growing year after year! If you take away one single message from Lindsey's story, let it be this: just start. Whatever it is that you want to do, just start doing it. You never know where that path may lead!   Here is what we chat about in this episode: How no one actually knows what they're doing and you don't have to do it alone. How fulfillment comes from giving yourself time and space to do the things you want to do. Why it's important to think about the limitations you're arguing for. And so much more!

Here is what we chat about in this episode: - What the FIRE movement is really about - How Paula got started on her own journey to financial independence - How freelancing gave her freedom to travel for over 2 years and the skills to never go back to a “job” - Where the big opportunities in freelance writing are today - How she built her rental property portfolio and the resources she offers her community to do the same - What some possible downsides are to the FIRE movement and how to have the proper discussions to work around those issues - And so much more!  

Our book review for April is Brene Brown’s Rising Strong. The entire premise of the book is how to get back up when life has thrown you down. Given that every one of us will get knocked down in life, learning how to rise and write your own story is one of the greatest skills we can cultivate.    Especially during this uncertain time of a global pandemic, Brene Brown’s insights can help us weather the storm and regain some control.    Here is what we cover in this episode: What the 3 steps of Rising Strong include Why it’s so important to get curious about your emotions Why the messy middle is a non-negotiable  How to deal with grief How to own your story 

One of the things that I try to stress on this podcast is the fact that there are opportunities everywhere. As new technologies emerge, entire new industries are born and those industries sprout tons of new jobs and business ideas. My guests today have been taking advantage of just that.  After Airbnb started gaining in popularity, Annette Grant and Sarah Karakaian each saw an opportunity to leverage the platform into a short-term rental business. And they each did it in their own unique way--Annette teamed up with a business partner who invested in the properties while Annette runs the business and Sarah and her husband started by renting out their own properties on Airbnb.   And it was on this mission to share their spaces and live their dreams that Annette and Sarah met at a City Council meeting in Columbus, Ohio, where they were fighting for their right to host these short-term rentals responsibly and legally.  Since then, they knew they would have to find a way to elevate their voice and share what it means to be a host with heart so that having a short-term rental in a community was an asset, not a nuisance.  Aside from managing 20+ properties, Sarah and Annette host a popular podcast all about the short-term rental industry called Thanks for Visiting.  Before their Airbnb endeavours, Annette helped build two businesses from the ground up into multi-million dollar businesses. Her expertise ranges from service-based to e-commerce. And Sarah spent 14 years in New York City as a musical theatre performer before she hung up her character shoes, packed up her life with her husband, Nick, and 12 lb. cockapoo and moved to the midwest. Inspired by their opportunity to be involved in 8 episodes of an HGTV show, Sarah and Nick knew that working in and around homes was their calling! They flip, stage, and invest in homes with stories all around Columbus, OH.

While the podcast showcases the specific steps and tactics people used to start over in new careers, my goal is to actually demonstrate the mindset that you need to take the leap.  Because without the mindset, all of the tactics in the world won’t help you start over. If you get stuck in the fear and the doubt, you’ll be stuck forever.  Through my own journey and talking with over 90 quitters, I’ve come to realize that the most important mindset shift is in truly understanding that you CAN figure anything out. Once you become comfortable with the unknown, not because you’re certain, but because you’re confident in your ability to figure it out, you become unstoppable.  No one embodies that mentality more than my guest this week, Emily Sexton.  Emily started out on Wall Street as Vice President of Communications and Change Management. Feeling like something was missing, she quit without knowing her next move. When Emily discovered the opportunity to open up a pop-up retail truck that would combine her love of fashion with her desire to support female vendors from developing countries, a cause she was passionate about, she jumped on it.  With no retail experience, Emily leaned on her community to make the pop-up shop a success. A year later, she turned the Flourish Market into a brick-and-mortar shop. And when she was presented with the opportunity to move to a bigger space, she seized that too. But the space was actually too big for just a retail shop. Emily had to figure out what to do with all the extra space. So in the Summer of 2019, she launched The Locality, a co-working space + incubator for 60 female entrepreneurs, with membership spots selling out before construction even started! And now with the Covid pandemic, when so many businesses are struggling, Emily took only a couple of days to pivot her co-working space into an online membership. She is such a testament to the fact that opportunities are all around us, if we’re willing to see them. Her outlook and attitude are infectious. And she provides the hope and clarity we need in this time!

What if the secret to your happiness wasn't in getting to the next milestone, or doing a bunch of things that society tells you to do, or accomplishing anything?  What if the secret was in undoing all of the BS you were sold?  What if the secret was in returning to who you were always meant to be before you were forced to be something you're not? This week on the podcast, I got to talk to Erika Gerdes about how she left the dream career and dream life -- an executive at Google, married with 2 young kids -- to start undoing the facade that she had built around herself.  We'll talk about how it took a divorce and quitting a job at the height of her career, and one she actually liked, for Erika to master the Art of Undoing -- a framework that she now uses to help other people. We talk all about how she jumped without a plan while being a single mom of two little girls and the sole breadwinner!  Erika is such an incredible example of the fact that you can always go back to who you were always meant to be. 

I’m so excited to jump into March’s book club pick, Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic. If you haven’t taken the time to read it, do yourself a favor and pick it up.   I think this book is all the more important during this uncertain time of a global pandemic. Many people are rightfully re-evaluating their life and work.    The entire premise of the book is that we need creativity in order to live the rich, fulfilled lives we so desperately crave.  And Liz Gilbert gives us the perfect blueprint to get started.    In this episode, we’ll discuss: Why every human is a creative being Why we all need creativity for a fulfilled life How to ditch the tortured artist stereotype How to pursue creativity even if you’re afraid How to fold it into your life And so much more. 

As we head into uncertain economic times, it’s important to look to examples of people who have, not only survived but thrived through similar situations.   We need reminders that, while there are so many things we don’t control, we always control how we show up.   There is no better example of this than my friend, Janelle Copeland.    Janelle had a successful career in leadership and management at large retailers such as Circuit City, AT&T, and Best Buy. But during the 2008 recession, both Janelle and her husband were both laid off from their lucrative 6-figure jobs.   After having to file bankruptcy, Janelle had to find another way.    What she did next is incredible:   She started the Cake Mamas with her husband's EX (What?!? I know.) They quickly grew their in-home bakery to over $10k a month She then decided to open up her first brick-and-mortar bakery She's run that successful bakery for over 10 years with 15 employees She has been featured a number of times on Food Network, even winning the popular Cupcake Wars.  She has built an incredibly strong brand and business  She also started a second business coaching and consulting with female entrepreneurs   Janelle's story is such a powerful reminder that sometimes our hardships are true blessings in disguise. That's not to say they're not difficult. But we didn't sign up for “easy” with this life.   It can be incredibly powerful to see how others were able to, not only get through but thrive ​​​in tough times.    Janelle's perspective is one we could all use right now. 

We’re all feeling scared and uncertain about the future.   I don’t have the answers. But I’m hoping my perspective might quiet those fears a bit.   My advice basically falls into a couple DOs and DONTs.   DON’T:   DON’T take anyone’s advice about all of the things you should be getting done right now while in quarantine.  This isn’t a vacation. A lot of us are panicked and we don’t need to add a layer of shame on top of it because we’re not re-organizing our closets or creating the perfect homeschooling plan for our children.   If you have the bandwidth to use this time to tackle the things you usually don’t have time for, great! Have at it!  But if you don’t, give yourself grace. It’s ok to just be. In our society of hustle, we don’t need to turn a pandemic into a time of productivity.    Let yourself do whatever you need right now and take off the guilt.    DON’T spend all day watching the news.    While I just said you can do whatever you want, that comes with one caveat: you can’t just take in hours and hours of news.   Our brains are evolutionarily wired to seek out all information about possible dangers. But it wasn’t evolved to take in a 24-hour news cycle that gets more ratings the scarier it is.   While you need to stay abreast of what is going on, you don’t need a minute-by-minute update of every person who has died from the virus.   Walk away. Do anything else.    DON’T try to predict the future.   “We suffer more in imagination than in reality.”- Seneca    When our thoughts run unchecked we try to come up with every possible scenario of what can happen. The reality is that we have no idea what is going to happen. Stop trying to control or plan for every possible scenario.    There are tons of factors that we have no control over--the government, how many people self-quarantine, etc. All we are doing in our attempt to control is increasing the amount of time we suffer. Know that you’ll deal with whatever issue comes up.    DO:   DO look at the silver linings-   While this can be hard, mindset work is the most needed in tough times.    I like to think about the Law of Polarity- everything has an equal, opposite side.    We’d never know what happiness was if we didn’t experience sadness. Think about it. How would food ever taste good if you were always full?  So while these events are hard and can be painful, there is another side. Maybe that’s getting time to be with your family. Maybe that’s giving mother nature a break from our constant onslaught. Maybe it’s just changing your perspective to stop worrying about all of the minor things.    Whatever it is, spend time each day focusing on that. No better time than now to start a gratitude practice.    DO look at how other people have thrived in uncertain times.   “You can’t be what you can’t see.” Marian Wright Edelman    It helps us to see others who have come out of tough times. It lets us know that it is possible.    Luckily, we’ve had tons of guests on the podcast who lost their jobs during the last economic recession in 2008 and it turned out to be the best thing that happened to them. Take some time to remind yourself that it’s not always as bad as we think it is.    Episode 2 with Steve Trang Episode 3 with Erin Wade Episode 28 with Paula Pant Episode 61 with Lindsey Schwartz   Everything is cyclical. Humans have gone through these uncertain times over and over again. And we’ll make it out...sometimes much stronger.    DO take care of yourself.    The most important thing is to figure out what you need the most and give that to yourself right now, without shame or blame. Do whatever you need to take care of yourself mentally and physically.    Xoxo Goli

What if you quit your career and start over only to find out that the new career also isn’t something you love?! I think that is one of the biggest reasons people stay stuck. We have this idea that if we jump, then the next thing has to be our purpose. So we become frenetic about finding it. We become so obsessed that we can’t slow down long enough to figure out what we actually like (see the problem here?) Having come out on the other side of this process, I now see that there is no 1 thing. Life is a series of experiments and, with each one, you learn a little bit more about yourself. And if you have the courage to keep trying, you get closer and closer to your calling. That's why I love having people on the podcast who have quit multiple times and had the courage to keep trying.  Today, on the show, I got to talk to Mary Eberle about her super interesting career path. Mary is a former lawyer who reinvented herself as a genetic genealogist. She quit two previous careers and now has a fascinating and rewarding career solving family mysteries. (how cool is that?!) Mary founded DNA Hunters, where she solves family mysteries by analyzing DNA test results and genealogical records. Many of her clients have been trying to solve their family mysteries for decades—and sometimes even over multiple generations. Family mysteries include “Who are my birth parents?” and “Is my surname the correct surname?” To solve family mysteries, she applies many skills from her 10 years as a DNA lab technician (Career #1) and her 13+ years as a biotech patent attorney (Career #2). She finds great satisfaction in repurposing these skills to provide long-sought-after answers to her clients. Check out her story! Mary's Links: Website: https://dnahunters.com Free download:  https://dnahunters.com/dna-roadmap-2/   Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/DNAHunters/   LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-eberle-jd/