Lessons from a Quitter

Erin spent 22 years climbing the corporate ladder and climbed her way right up to the very top as CEO of PayFlex, Inc., a large healthcare financial company. As the CEO, Erin was in charge of overseeing 1000 employees and over $2bn in financial assets.  In late 2018, just when things were getting really good, Erin decided to exit the corporate world after 22 years and go down a path less traveled to start b Authentic inc.   Erin felt pulled to help create a new generation of authentic, diverse, and humble leaders. She started her own business, b Authentic Inc., where she hopes to change the face of Corporate America. Through individual and company trainings, Erin is on a mission to toss aside traditional approaches and help teach the very things that made her such a successful leader.   On this episode, we dive deep into what made Erin make the switch and how we can make the switch when we are no longer being served in our current role.   Here is what we chat about in this episode: How she climbed her way up the corporate ladder to become the CEO of PayFlex, Inc. How she dealt with the feeling of always wanting more and how she used that to fuel her achievements Why she walked away from her amazing CEO position How she navigated her jump with her spouse and her advice for how to get your spouse on board with your next move. Why she wanted to start her current business, b Authentic Inc., and how she hopes to shape the new generation of leaders   Where to find Erin:   Website: https://www.bauthenticinc.com/ https://www.facebook.com/bAuthenticInc https://www.instagram.com/b_authentic_inc/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-hatzikostas/ Follow along for more: www.lessonsfromaquitter.com https://www.facebook.com/lessonsfromaquitter https://www.instagram.com/lessonsfromaquitter/ https://twitter.com/quitterpodcast

Jen is an all-around rockstar! She started her career as a lawyer and practiced civil litigation at a prestigious law firm. Then, she “saw the light” and left to start her own business and pursue more creative endeavors (and she’s never looked back!)   She is now the President & Founder of Jeneration PR, a Public Relations & Social Media Marketing firm specializing in promoting beauty, baby & lifestyle brands. Jen’s retainer clients range from small and mid-sized brands to multi-billion dollar publicly traded companies, and everything in between.   Jen is also the creator of the Agency Accelerator, where she teaches entrepreneurs how to launch, grow & scale a profitable PR & marketing Agency. She also recently launched Press Success, a PR Master Class for entrepreneurs to learn the step-by-step framework for executing a PR strategy that converts into massive media placements for their businesses.   She has been featured in the New York Times, Forbes, Inc.com, Business Insider, Yahoo! Finance, Entrepreneur Magazine, Huffington Post, EOFire, CBS.com, PR Week, Fox News, and PR Web sharing her expertise, and was profiled on Apple.com as an “entrepreneur on the go” using Apple products to power her business. Jennifer was also selected by Babble.com as one of the 10 “Mompreneurs Who Made it Big!”   Here is what we chat about in this episode: How she got started in marketing by reaching out to a company to work for them for free How she started her PR work on the side while still working as a lawyer How she dealt with disappointing her family when she chose to quit law How she started and grew her PR agency Why she decided to add an online arm to her business How she made 6-figures in 6 months with her new online business   Where to find Jen:   Website: www.jenerationpr.com https://www.facebook.com/JenerationBuzz https://www.instagram.com/jenerationpr/ https://twitter.com/jenerationpr buzz@jenerationpr.com   Follow along for more: www.lessonsfromaquitter.com https://www.facebook.com/lessonsfromaquitter https://www.instagram.com/lessonsfromaquitter/ https://twitter.com/quitterpodcast

Jena is a wife and mom who taught 5th grade for 6 years until she realized that her career as a teacher no longer fit with her life.  Without knowing what she wanted to do next, she just started by putting herself out there as a virtual assistant. When one of her clients needed her to learn Pinterest management, Jena discovered her love for lead generation and Pinterest strategy. In just 2 years, Jena has created her own Pinterest-focused marketing business where she works for driven and purpose-filled online brands who want to reach more people and make more impact with their content. Her business has allowed her to replace her income while spending more time at home with her children. She thrives on providing hospitality, serving her clients through personalized attention, and loving on her husband and two beautiful daughters.   Here is what we chat about in this episode: Why Jena left teaching even though it was a career she loved How she got started in the online space How one client’s needs led her to her current business How she has replaced her income in under 2 years Whether Pinterest is right for your business Why there is always room even in a saturated market for your service   Where to find Jena:   Website: https://www.jenaliat.com/ Freebie: https://www.jenaliat.com/pinterest-quiz Email: jena@jenaliat.com   Follow along for more: www.lessonsfromaquitter.com https://www.facebook.com/lessonsfromaquitter https://www.instagram.com/lessonsfromaquitter/ https://twitter.com/quitterpodcast  

Ali Boone is a lifestyle entrepreneur real estate investor, author and speaker. Ali has literally defined non-conformity when it comes to her career. Ali left her corporate 9-to-5 job as an Aerospace Engineer, despite the “dream job” status that came with it, to follow her passion for being her own boss and creating true lifestyle design. She went from being on food stamps in her first year of entrepreneurship to facilitating over $18M in real estate transactions in her first five years of business. In addition to running her real estate investing company Hipster Investments, she’s a pilot and teaches flying and she can often be found snowboarding, hiking, or volunteering in California prisons. Her ultimate goal is to one day challenge Tim Ferriss to a lifestyle design duel.   This episode is packed with great information for anyone who wants to quit their job but has no idea what they would do next.   Here is what we chat about in this episode: What led Ali down the road to Aerospace Engineering When was the moment that she realized she didn’t want to be an Aerospace Engineer How she prepared herself to leave the corporate world Why fixing her mindset was the most important part of quitting her job How she pushed past the lows in the entrepreneurial roller coaster What her company, Hipster Investments, specializes in What Ali’s “why” is and how it guides her in her business   Where to find Ali:   Website: https://aliboone.com/ Business website: http://hipsterinvestments.com/ Social Media: @aliboonedotcom   Resources mentioned Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki   Follow along for more: www.lessonsfromaquitter.com https://www.facebook.com/lessonsfromaquitter https://www.instagram.com/lessonsfromaquitter/ https://twitter.com/quitterpodcast  

  We all care what other people think, even if we pretend like we don’t. A healthy relationship with other people’s opinions is actually needed. It teaches us what works in communities and what doesn’t. It keeps people accountable to each other. However, so many of us, myself included, let the obsession with what other people think run amok and control our whole lives. We’ve been raised to be nice and not make any waves. Especially in the corporate setting, we place value on being a team player and suppressing your own needs for the greater good. Over time, that completely hinders our lives. We play small, keep quiet and make sure that other people’s needs are met over ours. It can cause an unbearable amount of stress and sadness. Ultimately, it leads to us not living lives on our own terms. This is glaringly evident when it comes to staying in a career you hate. So much of what keeps us stuck is our fear of what other people will think or say, how our family/friends will react, how upset our spouse will be, etc. If you’re going to find the courage to go after a life you love, you first have to learn how to stop people pleasing and be your authentic self. On this week’s episode, I’m so excited to have on Dr. Aziz Gazipura to talk about his book Not Nice and how we can go about limiting these toxic tendencies we’ve picked up. Dr. Aziz is the world’s leading confidence expert. He helps people break free from hesitation, fear, and self-doubt so they can rapidly grow their businesses, become more powerful leaders, and enjoy outstanding relationships. He completed his doctoral training at Stanford and Palo Alto Universities and is the founder of the Center For Social Confidence. He has a large online following with his podcast and YouTube videos and is the author of two additional best selling books: The Solution To Social Anxiety and The Art Of Extraordinary Confidence.   Here is what we chat about in this episode: Why niceness isn’t rooted in goodness but rather in fear How to deal with the long view of changing your view to being more authentically yourself How to handle other people’s emotions in reaction to you speaking up for yourself Why it is necessary to be authentically yourself even if it hurts the people closest to you. How Embarrassment Inoculation can change your life   Where to find Dr. Aziz:   Website: https://www.socialconfidencecenter.com/ Twitter:  https://twitter.com/DrAzizCoach Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrAzizGazipura/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/GetMoreConfidence   Resources mentioned Dying to be Me, by Anita Moorjani Mind Over Medicine, by Dr. Lissa Rankin Do It Scared, by Scott Allan Follow along for more: www.lessonsfromaquitter.com https://www.facebook.com/lessonsfromaquitter https://www.instagram.com/lessonsfromaquitter/ https://twitter.com/quitterpodcast

You might already be familiar with Elie Mystal from his frequent appearances as a political analyst on major news shows or his considerable body of work on Above the Law and other news publications. It is often easy to look at Elie’s success and assume that he had a straight, easy path out of law into journalism. But what you may not know is that Elie walked away from his 6-figure legal job at a prestigious New York law firm, after having received his law degree from Harvard Law School, without a plan as to what to do next. With the support of his wife, and after months of sitting on his couch with no real idea of where to start, Elie began his journey to be a writer by taking a job working for free at a local news agency.   I got to talk to Elie about how he dealt with all of the pressure from family and society, especially as an African American man, to stay in a “successful” career. We discuss how his path has led him to where he is today as the Executive Editor of Above the Law.   If you’re a frequent listener of the show, then you might remember that we had David Lat, the founder of Above the Law, on episode 14. We delve more into what Above the Law has evolved into in that episode. In this episode, we focus mostly on Elie’s journey. Feel free to check out Episode 14 here.   Here is what we chat about in this episode: What lead Elie down the path to law school Why he felt that making the decision to go to law school instead of working for Hillary Clinton’s Senate campaign was a “dumb” decision Why law school just wasn’t for Elie How being a “successful” lawyer as a minority put additional pressure to stay in the field How the support of his wife was essential for Elie’s decision to quit law. How he dealt with the difficult time of figuring out what his next step was going to be What his path as a journalist has looked like How he ended up winning a competition to work for Above the Law How others can break into a career in writing   Where to find Elie:   Website: www.abovethelaw.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/atlblog Twitter: https://twitter.com/ElieNYC   Follow along for more: www.lessonsfromaquitter.com https://www.facebook.com/lessonsfromaquitter https://www.instagram.com/lessonsfromaquitter/ https://twitter.com/quitterpodcast  

Shinah is a whiskey-loving, curse-word slinging, Harvard-trained former corporate attorney who left everything behind to find her passion. Shinah spent her entire life on the straight, "proper" path. She went to an Ivy League college, then a prestigious Law School, then worked her butt off as a corporate attorney for a big international law firm. But, after one too many days of uninspiring work and nights of sleeping under her desk, she decided she wanted to reclaim her life! She quit her job and explored so many creative avenues - knitting, woodworking, drawing, graphic design. But CALLIGRAPHY is what she fell in love with. Shinah needed plenty of inspiration along the way, but the usual sugary, sincere stuff about beauty and dreams didn't reflect what she was really feeling. So she created Crooked Calligraphy to spread creativity, courage and honest, gritty life inspiration through calligraphy. Crooked Calligraphy has worked with huge brands like Disney, Anthropologie, Jo Malone, and Dom Perignon, but Shinah’s favorite work is teaching calligraphy and encouraging her students to look their fears in the face and move toward a life that will make them happy.   Here is what we chat about in this episode: How she spent her childhood working towards the predictable path to “success” including getting a 1600 on her SATs and getting into Harvard How affirmation and praise can become a drug that keeps you in doing things you hate How she started realizing that she wanted to quit her job as a corporate lawyer and what steps she took before quitting How she quit law without having any idea of what to do next What she did in order to figure out what her next steps would be The importance of exploration and experimentation in finding your passions How she found calligraphy and how it turned into a business How she figured out her unique brand and voice with Crooked Calligraphy   Where to find Shinah:   Website: www.crookedcalligraphy.com Instagram: @crookedcalligraphy   Follow along for more: www.lessonsfromaquitter.com https://www.facebook.com/lessonsfromaquitter https://www.instagram.com/lessonsfromaquitter/ https://twitter.com/quitterpodcast  

What stops a lot of people from quitting careers that they don’t like is that they don’t know what else they would do. Well, today’s guest, provides an excellent example in how to develop your passions on the side while still working in your day job.   Joanne Bourgault is a dentist based in Saskatoon, Canada. When she found herself unfulfilled with her current work, Joanne began working in the online space on the side. After dabbling in various roles, she found that she loved working as a copywriter and marketing strategist. You can now find her helping female entrepreneurs grow their businesses doing meaningful work so that they can design lives that suit them and their families - instead of settling for "average."   What I love about her journey is that she is taking the time to find what she truly loves, editing as necessary, and building her dream without having to quit her job and make dramatic changes. Her story is the perfect example of how to put in the work to give yourself a realistic escape from a job you hate. Here is what we chat about in this episode: Why Joanne left her career in accounting to go to dental school How working with a life coach led her to realize that she wanted to transition out of dentistry too How she experimented with different side hustles to figure out what she really liked How she dealt with talking to her husband and family about leaving dentistry How she deals with her changing identity from dentist to marketer How she finds the time to balance her full-time job, family life, and side hustle.   Where to find Joanne:   Website:  joannebourgault.com Instagram: @joanne_bourgault   Follow along for more: www.lessonsfromaquitter.com https://www.facebook.com/lessonsfromaquitter https://www.instagram.com/lessonsfromaquitter/ https://twitter.com/quitterpodcast

For most of us risk-averse, type-A personalities, walking away from a multiple 6-figure career to pursue an entirely different career is a HUGE, scary step. Most can’t muster up the courage to even take that jump. But to leave such a “successful” career to just travel around the world with your family would make most of our heads explode. What if I can’t get a job when I get back? But what will we do for money? WHAT IF WE BECOME HOMELESS? You get the point. We’re crazy. Luckily, Joe Hansen is a little less neurotic than the rest of us because he did just that. He walked away from his Big Law job, making a great salary and living in San Francisco, to travel the world for a year with his wife and 2 young children. While traveling, he is pursuing his original passion of writing by working on his first novel, an apocalyptic thriller set in San Francisco. I love Joe’s story because he intentionally took this step without having everything buttoned up and planned out. As you’ll hear, he and his wife are taking one step at a time. He has back-up plans in case he needs to go back to being a lawyer but, otherwise, he’s realizing that everything is figureoutable...no matter what happens.   Here is what we chat about in this episode: What led him to law school and what his experience was like at a big law firm Why the big law firm life is not a realistic one Why he decided to travel the world for a year with two small children and how he prepared for it. How his coworkers were more supportive about his decision than Joe initially thought they would be How he’s moving through his journey without knowing exactly what he is going to do in the future Whether people can take a gap year or two and return to the law How they’re tackling world travel with 2 small children And so much more! Where to find Joe:   Website: www.backpackrugrats.com Instagram: @joseph_c_hansen Instagram: @paolabregneti Follow along for more: www.lessonsfromaquitter.com https://www.facebook.com/lessonsfromaquitter https://www.instagram.com/lessonsfromaquitter/ https://twitter.com/quitterpodcast

Well, there is nothing better to start the New Year off with than an episode all about how to get financially independent so that you can do what you want! I’m so excited to have the incredible Paula Pant on the show today to do just that!! As she likes to say herself, Paula is unemployable. She quit her job more than a decade ago, has traveled to more than 40 countries and refuses to work for anyone else. She runs the website Afford Anything, which holds a community of more than 53,000 email subscribers. She's the host of the Afford Anything podcast, which has enjoyed more than 4 million downloads. Both spread the idea that you can afford anything, but not everything.   After building financial independence through real estate investing, Paula is helping people all over the world figure out how to get out of debt and create financial independence for themselves. On this episode, we get into the details of her path to early retirement and how we can all get started on our own paths. 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!   Resources mentioned in this episode: Email Series on Rental Properties: www.affordanything.com/viplist Free e-book on FIRE: www.affordanything.com/escape   Where to find Paula:   Website: affordanything.com Podcast: podcast.affordanything.com Instagram: instagram.com/paulapant   Follow along for more: www.lessonsfromaquitter.com https://www.facebook.com/lessonsfromaquitter https://www.instagram.com/lessonsfromaquitter/ https://twitter.com/quitterpodcast