Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 277. Career Talk: 7 Lessons I've Learned In 7 Years Of Self-Employment

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277. Career Talk: 7 Lessons I've Learned In 7 Years Of Self-Employment · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:00
Speaker 1: During the moments when that imposter syndrome kicks in that
0:03
Speaker 1: am I good enough for this? Is this for me?
0:06
Speaker 1: I stop and I ask myself, why not me?
0:24
Speaker 2: What's going on?
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Speaker 1: Hurdler's Emily a body Here. You are listening to episode
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Speaker 1: two hundred and seventy seven of Hurdle, a wellness focused
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Speaker 1: podcast where I connect with everyone from your favorite athletes
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Speaker 1: to top experts in industry CEOs about their highest hies,
0:38
Speaker 1: toughest moments, and everything in between. We all go through
0:42
Speaker 1: hurdles in life, and my goal through these discussions is
0:45
Speaker 1: to empower you to better navigate yours and move with
0:49
Speaker 1: intention so that you can stride towards your own big
0:51
Speaker 1: potential and of course have some fun along the way.
0:57
Speaker 1: Something that you have all let me know listeners is
1:01
Speaker 1: that you love a solo episode. And I know that
1:05
Speaker 1: five minute fridays are just me behind the mic. But
1:08
Speaker 1: there are different topics, different things that I want to
1:11
Speaker 1: take the time to dive into, especially when there are
1:15
Speaker 1: a lot of messages coming in. So today's episode is
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Speaker 1: all about working for yourself. I'm giving you the seven
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Speaker 1: lessons that I've learned over seven years of self employment,
1:30
Speaker 1: and I'll get into all the particulars today, So what
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Speaker 1: I've been doing over the last seven years, what i
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Speaker 1: was doing before I started working for myself, and answering
1:40
Speaker 1: a lot of questions that came in, ranging from what
1:44
Speaker 1: do I do about health insurance spoiler alert, it is
1:47
Speaker 1: not inexpensive, how do you manage your finances and plan
1:51
Speaker 1: how do you structure your days? And how do you
1:54
Speaker 1: balance your work and personal life? When the lines are
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Speaker 1: easily blurred, blurred is an understatement, I can totally totally
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Speaker 1: relate to this one. I actually had a moment before
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Speaker 1: sitting down to record this that I'm in disbelief. I
2:09
Speaker 1: haven't really dedicated an entire episode on this before, so
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Speaker 1: I'm happy that this will live in the feed now
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Speaker 1: that y'all can come back to this as a reference point,
2:22
Speaker 1: and I feel it necessary before we really dive in,
2:27
Speaker 1: to reiterate that your work, what you do to have
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Speaker 1: a livelihood, that is a huge component to your life.
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Speaker 1: We spend a third of our lives sleeping and likely
2:41
Speaker 1: a third of our lives working, So knowing that, knowing
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Speaker 1: how much time you invest in this regularly, I truly
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Speaker 1: believe that we owe it to ourselves to do something
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Speaker 1: for work that we enjoy, and I feel really fortunate
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Speaker 1: that I've been able to figure out how to do
3:00
Speaker 1: that for myself. Make sure if you're not yet following
3:03
Speaker 1: over on social specifically my account over at emily a Body.
3:07
Speaker 1: Lots of insight into what my days look like over
3:10
Speaker 1: there if you are curious. Also follow the show over
3:13
Speaker 1: at Hurdle podcast. I'm really excited. There's a huge rebrand
3:17
Speaker 1: coming up for Hurdle at the top of the new year,
3:21
Speaker 1: and it's just time to liven things up over here.
3:25
Speaker 1: I look at the cover art for this photo and
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Speaker 1: I see a young version of myself that had no
3:31
Speaker 1: idea what was ahead of her. And as I'm approaching
3:34
Speaker 1: the six year anniversary of Hurdle, I couldn't be more
3:41
Speaker 1: blessed and more happy, more thankful for the crazy path
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Speaker 1: that this has taken me down. With that, let's get
3:49
Speaker 1: into it, let's get to hurdling. Growing up, I never
4:07
Speaker 1: had an aspiration to be an entrepreneur. Absolutely never did
4:13
Speaker 1: I think that I'd be working for myself. I had
4:16
Speaker 1: dreams of working for glossy magazines, and don't get me wrong,
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Speaker 1: I followed those dreams and I did that before I
4:26
Speaker 1: went out on my own and started freelance writing, which
4:31
Speaker 1: led me to Hurdle, which I'll get to in Justice. Second,
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Speaker 1: I had a career working in editorial at first For
4:39
Speaker 1: three and a half years. After I graduated from the
4:42
Speaker 1: University of Connecticut Go Huskies with a degree in journalism
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Speaker 1: and political science, I was at The Stir, which was
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Speaker 1: a woman's lifestyle blog owned by Cafe Mom. There, I
4:57
Speaker 1: was an editorial assistant, then an associate editor, and really
5:00
Speaker 1: worked my way up the ranks until I decided that
5:05
Speaker 1: it was time for a pivot. That pivot was prompted
5:08
Speaker 1: by an unexpected email that came in from someone at Rodale,
5:13
Speaker 1: which used to be a publishing company that owned titles
5:17
Speaker 1: like Women's Health, Men's Health, Runners, World Prevention, Bicycling, etc.
5:22
Speaker 1: They were purchased by Hurst after my time there, and
5:26
Speaker 1: so I got an email from a woman at Rodale
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Speaker 1: who asked me if I was interested in becoming a
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Speaker 1: fitness editor over there. And I at this time had
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Speaker 1: a vested interest in health and fitness. My first ever
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Speaker 1: internship was actually at Fitness Magazine, which is no longer
5:44
Speaker 1: and I had been on this journey to embracing what
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Speaker 1: wellness looked like for me for years. At this point,
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Speaker 1: I already went through that big weight loss in college.
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Speaker 1: I had picked up running, and so movement and whatnot
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Speaker 1: was a huge part of my day to day, but
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Speaker 1: not always a big part of my work. Although I
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Speaker 1: did write in Our Health Vertical over at the STIR,
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Speaker 1: it was once a day a two hundred and fifty
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Speaker 1: word post. And this was going to be a really
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Speaker 1: big pivot for me. I had my hesitations because I
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Speaker 1: was worried about getting monotonous and mundane writing about fitness
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Speaker 1: all the time. But I decided to make the jump,
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Speaker 1: and when I made the jump, I was met with
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Speaker 1: so much growth and excitement. I learned rather quickly that
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Speaker 1: it wasn't monotonous at all. In fact, it was completely
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Speaker 1: the opposite. I really enjoyed my work. Not to say
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Speaker 1: that I didn't like my first job, but this just
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Speaker 1: felt like I was really aligning my passions and my purpose.
6:48
Speaker 1: When I was at Rodale, I studied to become a
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Speaker 1: certified personal trainer through ACE, and I did that because
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Speaker 1: I wanted to be able to work with experts in
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Speaker 1: a way that made the content reliable and fact checked
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Speaker 1: and safe for my consumer. I was at Roadale for
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Speaker 1: about two years and then I.
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Speaker 2: Got let go.
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Speaker 1: Definitely wasn't down my BINGO card, ever, I was frightened.
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Speaker 1: I remember I had recently moved into my first ever
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Speaker 1: studio apartment on the Upper East Side, and I was
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Speaker 1: so scared thinking about how I was going to be
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Speaker 1: able to afford it. I didn't know the first thing
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Speaker 1: about freelancing, and so the moment that I got let go,
7:31
Speaker 1: I exported all of my emails onto a USB drive.
7:36
Speaker 1: This is like life before the cloud. I exported everything
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Speaker 1: onto a USB and I went home and I sent
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Speaker 1: so many emails, so many emails to everyone I knew
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Speaker 1: in the wellness journalism industry, saying, hey, I am looking,
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Speaker 1: I just lost my job.
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Speaker 2: Let me write for you, let me edit for you. Whatnot.
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Speaker 1: Turned out one of the people that I emailed was
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Speaker 1: Liz Plosser. Liz is now the editor in chief of
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Speaker 1: Woman's Health, but at the time she was the deputy
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Speaker 1: editor over at Self Magazine. I took on a couple
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Speaker 1: of freelance assignments for her, and within five days of
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Speaker 1: handing those in, I got an email from her that
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Speaker 1: just said fitness editor. And then the body of the
8:16
Speaker 1: email was when can you come in? And so I
8:20
Speaker 1: did that, and I went in and I got offered
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Speaker 1: a job the next day. And it's a job that I, arguably,
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Speaker 1: if I hadn't been let go, don't know if I
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Speaker 1: would have applied for because on paper, I wasn't qualified.
8:36
Speaker 1: Despite having a plethora of years of experience working in digital,
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Speaker 1: I had no print experience and this was a print
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Speaker 1: fitness editor job. What I did have was my certification,
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Speaker 1: which was extremely valuable to this role, and the dedication, passion,
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Speaker 1: determination to do whatever I needed to do because it
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Speaker 1: was at the time my dream job. I remember sitting
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Speaker 1: in the editor in chief's office the day before I
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Speaker 1: got hired, and I looked at her and we had
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Speaker 1: just met, and I said, I might not know this
9:08
Speaker 1: one program that you use to lay all this out,
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Speaker 1: but what I do know is that I'm going to
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Speaker 1: do this job better than anybody else that walks into
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Speaker 1: your office, period. And so I did it. I did
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Speaker 1: it for about a year until Self Magazine folded, and unexpectedly,
9:26
Speaker 1: again not on my Bengo card, I got let go
9:29
Speaker 1: for the second time. But this time I felt more ready,
9:32
Speaker 1: I felt more prepared for the unknown, and although I
9:37
Speaker 1: was unsure if I'd stick with freelancing or just start
9:41
Speaker 1: applying to jobs like crazy, I knew that whatever would
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Speaker 1: happen next, it was all going to be okay because
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Speaker 1: I had the power to make it all okay. Little
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Speaker 1: did I know at this point that this would be
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Speaker 1: the beginning of what has now been a seven year
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Speaker 1: stretch of working for myself. And I cannot imagine ever
10:05
Speaker 1: going into someone else's office and working for someone else
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Speaker 1: and being on payroll ever again. Which if I played
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Speaker 1: this clip for myself seven years ago, there's no way
10:18
Speaker 1: those words I would have anticipated coming out of my mouth.
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Speaker 1: I'd say my entrepreneurial journey has really been divided up
10:27
Speaker 1: into three parts. The first part was a year of
10:32
Speaker 1: a lot of yes and a ton of writing. When
10:36
Speaker 1: I started freelance writing, I was very fortunate in that
10:38
Speaker 1: I had a ton of contacts in the industry, and
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Speaker 1: so pitching ideas was relatively easier for me because I
10:47
Speaker 1: had an existing network. My biggest piece of advice to
10:51
Speaker 1: anyone who is interested in freelance writing would be make
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Speaker 1: sure that you are differentiating your based on the outlets
11:01
Speaker 1: that you're after. So fitness journalist, wellness journalist, tons of
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Speaker 1: women focused wellness publications, PopSugar, Self dot Com, Woman's Health,
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Speaker 1: Shape Health. All of these publications speak to a similar woman,
11:20
Speaker 1: but they do it differently, and being able to recognize
11:24
Speaker 1: the style the voice of a specific outlet that is
11:27
Speaker 1: absolutely critical when it comes to formulating your pitch. So,
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Speaker 1: for an example, if I want to write an article
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Speaker 1: on what it felt like to run my first marathon,
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Speaker 1: I might see that self dot Com would want that
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Speaker 1: article to be paired with a lot of expert insights
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Speaker 1: outside of my own account, getting people to weigh in
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Speaker 1: on how to train safely, what nutrition you might need,
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Speaker 1: how to recover well. Versus over at Woman's Health. They
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Speaker 1: may be more friendly to a format like a first
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Speaker 1: person account, and I might not need an expert So
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Speaker 1: knowing your audience and knowing who you're writing for and
12:09
Speaker 1: not just sending the same pitch with no specificity while
12:14
Speaker 1: that word is a word, Yeah, that's my big tip
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Speaker 1: to beginner freelancers.
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Speaker 2: But I digress.
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Speaker 1: So the first chapter in this entrepreneurial journey freelance writing,
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Speaker 1: I was writing up to like thirty articles some months
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Speaker 1: for a ton of different brands I named a bunch
12:31
Speaker 1: of them self, dot Com, Pop Sugar, GQ, Women's Health,
12:35
Speaker 1: Men's Health, Runners World, you name it. I had and
12:39
Speaker 1: still have candidly a bylines bucket list of different outlets
12:43
Speaker 1: that I wanted to be able to contribute to and
12:45
Speaker 1: see my byline there. And that first year of being
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Speaker 1: my own boss was hectic. It was a lot of
12:53
Speaker 1: grunt work. And I've talked about my column ABC method
12:58
Speaker 1: here on the show before, I'll reiterate what it is briefly.
13:02
Speaker 1: If you take out a piece of paper and you
13:04
Speaker 1: have columns A, B, and C and you're thinking about
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Speaker 1: the work that you do. In column A is the
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Speaker 1: stuff you're doing every day that you absolutely love and
13:13
Speaker 1: you want to do more of. In column B is
13:15
Speaker 1: the stuff you're doing regularly and it's fine and you
13:17
Speaker 1: don't mind it. And column C is the stuff that
13:20
Speaker 1: you wish you didn't have to do at all. I
13:22
Speaker 1: would say, in the first year of this entrepreneurial journey,
13:26
Speaker 1: I was doing a lot of B and C and
13:29
Speaker 1: not a ton of A. And as I got to
13:33
Speaker 1: the end of that first year, I started to be
13:37
Speaker 1: honest with myself about how I could do more things
13:41
Speaker 1: in A and what my life would look like if
13:45
Speaker 1: I followed that path in column A. At the time,
13:49
Speaker 1: I wanted more autonomy. Working for myself is a term
13:53
Speaker 1: for sure, but I was actually working at the time
13:56
Speaker 1: for like a dozen different editors right I was working
14:00
Speaker 1: on deadlines, I was getting people what they needed, and
14:03
Speaker 1: I was navigating edits. And it just got to a
14:06
Speaker 1: point where I was tired and I wanted to own
14:10
Speaker 1: something that was mine that I didn't have to run
14:13
Speaker 1: by someone else to get permission to do. And so,
14:16
Speaker 1: and I talk about this in episode one of Hurdle.
14:19
Speaker 1: But I was going through a difficult time after a
14:23
Speaker 1: big breakup. I was in a really low place, and
14:26
Speaker 1: I believe that from our lowest moments we have the
14:30
Speaker 1: biggest opportunities. And so in this Hurdle moment, I came
14:37
Speaker 1: up with the idea for the show. I was talking
14:39
Speaker 1: to a friend about something entirely unrelated to podcasting, and
14:43
Speaker 1: I said to her, I so badly just want to
14:46
Speaker 1: get over this hurdle. And when the words came out
14:49
Speaker 1: of my mouth, I knew that this was it. I
14:51
Speaker 1: knew that Hurdle was the name of this podcast that
14:55
Speaker 1: I was going to start. And I had no aspiration
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Speaker 1: for how much of my life it would become or
15:02
Speaker 1: how much of my life would be impacted by that
15:04
Speaker 1: decision on that day. But I was up for the challenge,
15:08
Speaker 1: and so that's that first year of entrepreneurship was a
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Speaker 1: ton of writing, and then the transition to concepting Hurdle.
15:17
Speaker 2: The next phase of my entrepreneurial journey.
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Speaker 1: I would call the grinding years of a lot of podcasting,
15:26
Speaker 1: a lot of writing. I was very much it felt
15:31
Speaker 1: like all over the place. This was so fun for
15:35
Speaker 1: me because in the second chapter of my work story,
15:40
Speaker 1: I had the opportunity to meet so many phenomenal, phenomenal people.
15:46
Speaker 1: Until the pandemic, I recorded Hurdle almost exclusively in person.
15:52
Speaker 1: So I mean, I can't put a number on how
15:54
Speaker 1: many episodes were done like that, but like the first
15:57
Speaker 1: hundred something episodes, I only recorded three of them remotely,
16:03
Speaker 1: and it was really doing the best I could with
16:08
Speaker 1: what I had and asking a ton of questions which
16:11
Speaker 1: we will certainly talk about in a little bit. And
16:14
Speaker 1: in doing the best I could with what I had,
16:17
Speaker 1: I was recording in a studio space inside of a
16:21
Speaker 1: we work that I could rent with credits for my
16:23
Speaker 1: membership and then I networked and found another studio space
16:28
Speaker 1: that I was recording at inside of the Smile, which
16:31
Speaker 1: is inside of the Freehand Hotel in Grammercy. And then
16:36
Speaker 1: during my time working at we Work, I befriended a
16:41
Speaker 1: team that owned a music licensing business and they were
16:46
Speaker 1: building out a studio space a block from our we work,
16:49
Speaker 1: and I started recording there. And so I felt as
16:52
Speaker 1: though this was like a very serendipitous point in my
16:56
Speaker 1: life where I was networking and really hustling and made
17:00
Speaker 1: making all these connections and really building a foundation.
17:03
Speaker 2: For where I am now.
17:05
Speaker 1: During this time as well, I also started hosting panels
17:09
Speaker 1: and doing live podcasts, and this was the beginning of
17:13
Speaker 1: my foray into getting in front of really big groups
17:17
Speaker 1: of people. It was through my experience hosting lives that
17:21
Speaker 1: I became even more comfortable speaking, and I began to
17:26
Speaker 1: then in turn do speaking engagements. So to this day,
17:31
Speaker 1: not only do I offer keynotes for companies about a
17:35
Speaker 1: range of things from how to own your mourning to
17:39
Speaker 1: how to navigate life's hurdle moments surprise, surprise, but I've
17:43
Speaker 1: also had the opportunity to go and share my story
17:46
Speaker 1: in front of really large groups, and that is something
17:51
Speaker 1: that makes me feel really fulfilled to have that in
17:54
Speaker 1: person connection. This is also the era where travel became
17:58
Speaker 1: a big part of my regular routine. And this travel
18:04
Speaker 1: is for a multitude of reasons. And these days I
18:08
Speaker 1: rarely travel if I'm not getting paid to do so.
18:12
Speaker 1: So when i started traveling a lot, it was to
18:16
Speaker 1: do what they call brand trips. So, for instance, I'm
18:21
Speaker 1: looking at a pair of Apple headphones on my desk.
18:24
Speaker 1: If Apple is launching a new headphone, they may do
18:28
Speaker 1: a brand trip to Hawaii or something. I'm just making
18:33
Speaker 1: this up, where editors and writers for different publications and
18:37
Speaker 1: media go there and try the headphones and have an experience, an.
18:41
Speaker 2: Immersion with the product.
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Speaker 1: I've been on brand trips with I mean countless brands now,
18:47
Speaker 1: probably almost every wellness brand you can think of, Nike, Adidas,
18:52
Speaker 1: New Balance, Puma. All of these companies have brought me
18:55
Speaker 1: to different places in the world. I went to Hong
18:58
Speaker 1: Kong with Rebok once and Inner reviewed Ariana Grande. I
19:02
Speaker 1: went to Paris for a huge moment for women in
19:06
Speaker 1: sports with Nike. I mean, I've had such amazing opportunities,
19:10
Speaker 1: and those opportunities, what would happen is that I would
19:13
Speaker 1: write a story based on that experience for one of
19:16
Speaker 1: the outlets that I contributed to. And I was doing
19:19
Speaker 1: all of these brand trips while starting to build Hurdle.
19:23
Speaker 1: I distinctly remember about a year into building out the show,
19:28
Speaker 1: when I went from one episode bi weekly to then
19:33
Speaker 1: an episode every Monday. I went to go run Seawee's.
19:39
Speaker 1: Lululemon took care of me and brought me up to
19:41
Speaker 1: Vancouver and there was a workshop that we did before
19:46
Speaker 1: the half marathon. And in that workshop, I got on
19:50
Speaker 1: stage in front of five hundred people and I said
19:53
Speaker 1: my big scary goal at the time, which is that
19:55
Speaker 1: I hope that within the next three years Hurdle is
19:58
Speaker 1: going to be the main thing, meaning that I I
20:00
Speaker 1: won't have to write as much. I can get rid
20:01
Speaker 1: of some other things in column see and figure out
20:04
Speaker 1: how to make a livelihood just podcasting. And little did
20:08
Speaker 1: I know that, I guess I'm kind of doing that now,
20:12
Speaker 1: which brings me to the third chapter here, and that
20:16
Speaker 1: is really building out the brand that is Hurdle and
20:20
Speaker 1: candidly myself for my mainstreams of income. Now, I'm using
20:28
Speaker 1: the certified professional coach certification that I have to facilitate
20:34
Speaker 1: workshops around the country, both on Hurdle's name and then
20:40
Speaker 1: also on behalf.
20:41
Speaker 2: Of big brands during their big moments.
20:43
Speaker 1: And I'll talk about this shortly, but it has filled
20:47
Speaker 1: me up in so many ways, being able to help
20:51
Speaker 1: people get out of their own way in a way
20:53
Speaker 1: that I know I've had the opportunity to do through
20:56
Speaker 1: the podcast for so long, but to be able to
20:59
Speaker 1: see people in person and watch this work happen, it
21:04
Speaker 1: is the most fulfilling and exciting and just inspiring thing
21:09
Speaker 1: that I'm doing at this moment. And that's a really
21:12
Speaker 1: big reason why you'll see more of this from me
21:16
Speaker 1: in the next year or so. So while yes, the
21:20
Speaker 1: show is definitely doing well and I make revenue from
21:25
Speaker 1: the show from the sponsors that support Hurdle, I would
21:29
Speaker 1: say the biggest part of my income now really stem
21:35
Speaker 1: from hosting events. So this could be something like when
21:40
Speaker 1: I went to San Francisco to host a panel for
21:43
Speaker 1: Puma at the San Francisco Marathon, or if I am
21:47
Speaker 1: working with under Armour and They're having a run summit
21:51
Speaker 1: for ambassadors in Media and I'm a speaker at that
21:55
Speaker 1: and facilitating discussions or another brand collaboration. For instance, last year,
22:00
Speaker 1: when I joined with Nike for Global Running Day, I
22:04
Speaker 1: recorded a live podcast with one of their coaches some
22:08
Speaker 1: of you may know her, Jess Woods, and we did
22:11
Speaker 1: it in front of a big audience, and that was
22:13
Speaker 1: a really fun brand partnership that I was then able
22:16
Speaker 1: to bring here to the podcast. So that stuff's really
22:19
Speaker 1: fun for me because not only do I get that
22:21
Speaker 1: in person component, but then I get to bring that
22:24
Speaker 1: knowledge and that content to all of you here on
22:26
Speaker 1: the feed. And then, like I said, the workshops that
22:30
Speaker 1: I am creating. So last year I was able to
22:33
Speaker 1: do two really amazing, amazing workshops, one alongside A six
22:39
Speaker 1: and one alongside Hokah. With A six, I went out
22:43
Speaker 1: to host a personal development workshop for about forty five
22:48
Speaker 1: women that they brought over to run the Paris Marathon,
22:51
Speaker 1: and then with Hoka during UTMB Ultra Trail de mont Blanc.
22:57
Speaker 1: It is you can liken it to the World Series
23:00
Speaker 1: of Trail Running. I went out there because I saw
23:04
Speaker 1: an opportunity to make women feel seen in a place
23:07
Speaker 1: that they don't often see themselves. That race specifically is
23:11
Speaker 1: about ten percent women and ninety percent men. And we
23:14
Speaker 1: wanted to create a safe space for her to communicate
23:18
Speaker 1: and get open and honest in no more scenic of
23:22
Speaker 1: a location than Shamani, and so I was able to
23:26
Speaker 1: go there and run a two hour workshop and had
23:29
Speaker 1: an absolute blast. The thing about solo episodes is I
23:33
Speaker 1: feel like it's a lot of rambling, but this easily
23:36
Speaker 1: segues me into what I've learned over the past seven
23:42
Speaker 1: years of entrepreneurship. My first lesson is that it starts
23:47
Speaker 1: with you. You have to be your own biggest advocate.
23:50
Speaker 1: Those concepts I just told you about those epic trips
23:53
Speaker 1: to Paris and Shamani. Those were ideas that I had
23:58
Speaker 1: that I pitched to my contacts at those brands with
24:03
Speaker 1: a deck, and I brought them to life with their help.
24:08
Speaker 1: And that wouldn't have happened if I was just waiting
24:11
Speaker 1: for someone to come to me with an opportunity. Just
24:15
Speaker 1: like when I started the podcast, I didn't know the
24:18
Speaker 1: first thing about podcasting, but I made it my mission
24:22
Speaker 1: to do the best I could with what I had learn,
24:25
Speaker 1: as much as possible from people that were already in
24:27
Speaker 1: the industry, and then stand on my own two feet
24:31
Speaker 1: and be proud of what I was putting into the world.
24:34
Speaker 1: We owe it to ourselves to be our own biggest
24:38
Speaker 1: hype humans, period full stop. If you don't show up
24:42
Speaker 1: with confidence and certainty, then how are you going to
24:45
Speaker 1: expect that the people that you are pitching, collaborating with,
24:49
Speaker 1: working with are going to have that same unwavering faith
24:54
Speaker 1: in you. You have to be your own biggest hype human.
24:58
Speaker 1: And I recognize that at times it I might not
25:00
Speaker 1: feel that way right. You might go through moments where
25:02
Speaker 1: you're doubting yourself or experiencing imposter syndrome. I still experience
25:05
Speaker 1: imposter syndrome constantly, but I know this to be true
25:11
Speaker 1: that when I've advocated for myself in the past, amazing
25:14
Speaker 1: things have come from it. And so during the moments
25:18
Speaker 1: when that imposter syndrome kicks in that am I good
25:20
Speaker 1: enough for this? Is this for me? I stop and
25:24
Speaker 1: I ask myself, why not me?
25:28
Speaker 2: Why not me? Why not you?
25:30
Speaker 1: What's stopping you from going after the things that you want?
25:34
Speaker 1: And if the answer to that question is only you,
25:39
Speaker 1: You're the thing stopping yourself, then it's time to do
25:42
Speaker 1: an audit. It's time to get out of your own
25:44
Speaker 1: way and advocate for yourself. The second thing that I've
25:49
Speaker 1: learned over the past seven years of entrepreneurship is that
25:52
Speaker 1: you can be firm and kind. So hand in hand
25:56
Speaker 1: with advocating for yourself is also knowing what you want.
26:00
Speaker 1: And there have been so many times in an email
26:04
Speaker 1: exchange or on a call or something where I have
26:07
Speaker 1: to say something like it is, and I know that
26:10
Speaker 1: what I'm saying might not be the popular opinion, or
26:13
Speaker 1: it might not be what this other person wants to hear.
26:16
Speaker 1: With that said, there's something about your delivery. There's something
26:20
Speaker 1: about how we treat people. There's something about the fact
26:23
Speaker 1: that you don't know what that person is dealing with
26:25
Speaker 1: outside of the capacity of your working relationship. And so
26:28
Speaker 1: I have prided myself. I've prided myself. I pride myself
26:33
Speaker 1: in how I have treated people over the last seven years.
26:39
Speaker 1: I know that my relationships empower me to do really
26:43
Speaker 1: awesome things, both within my work and beyond, and so
26:47
Speaker 1: it is always a priority for me to be kind
26:50
Speaker 1: to the people that I'm working with, even if there
26:52
Speaker 1: are going to be moments of disagreement.
26:55
Speaker 2: I often use the.
26:57
Speaker 1: Compass seek first to understand and then to be understood.
27:02
Speaker 1: I'll say that again, seek first to understand and then
27:07
Speaker 1: to be understood. My third lesson, don't do things because
27:12
Speaker 1: they look cool, do them because you have a why
27:15
Speaker 1: attached to them. So in the age of social media,
27:18
Speaker 1: it is so enthralling to see individuals chasing their exciting
27:23
Speaker 1: career aspirations and it inspires you to do something similar. Right,
27:28
Speaker 1: I was there, I'm still there, I'll always be there.
27:30
Speaker 1: We have an opportunity every day to be inspired by
27:33
Speaker 1: the people that we keep up with on the internet.
27:36
Speaker 2: Right.
27:37
Speaker 1: But with that said, there are going to be cool
27:40
Speaker 1: things that I see that I have actually no passion
27:43
Speaker 1: or excitement about personally, but I might say, oh, it
27:47
Speaker 1: would be really.
27:47
Speaker 2: Cool to do that.
27:49
Speaker 1: If I don't have that passion, that why behind doing
27:53
Speaker 1: a certain thing, creating a certain tool, talking to a
27:56
Speaker 1: certain group, then it's not really going to serve me.
28:00
Speaker 1: So in practice, if you see someone is writing a
28:04
Speaker 1: book on Instagram, they're working on their memoir and you think, man,
28:09
Speaker 1: I really want a memoir, but you have no desire
28:13
Speaker 1: to actually put in that work or a strong why
28:15
Speaker 1: as to why you would want to write a memoir,
28:18
Speaker 1: then that's not going to be for you. And let
28:20
Speaker 1: me tell you something that's oh okay, do yourself a favor.
28:25
Speaker 1: Just like that three column list the ABC, write down
28:29
Speaker 1: the things that excite you. Do a little journaling exercise
28:32
Speaker 1: so you can be cognizant of what it is that
28:35
Speaker 1: you do want to achieve and break it down even
28:38
Speaker 1: further than that. Think about long term first and foremost.
28:42
Speaker 1: If you were to ask yourself today, what are the
28:44
Speaker 1: things that I want to accomplish during my time here
28:47
Speaker 1: on this planet? Start there, write down your biggest, your loftiest,
28:51
Speaker 1: your most brilliant goals, and then work backward. Be honest
28:56
Speaker 1: with yourself about your timeline. Think about the different phases
28:59
Speaker 1: of your life and how these goals can interplay with
29:03
Speaker 1: one another. Maybe in the next five years you're focused
29:07
Speaker 1: on family planning, but in ten years you could see
29:11
Speaker 1: yourself going back to school to get your masters in
29:14
Speaker 1: higher education. Whatever it is we have to be go
29:19
Speaker 1: back to this idea of our own biggest advocate, and
29:22
Speaker 1: that starts with being honest with yourself about the things
29:25
Speaker 1: that you really want so that you can show up
29:27
Speaker 1: holistically in your day to day. My fourth lesson of
29:32
Speaker 1: entrepreneurship it's not for everyone, and that's o k It
29:38
Speaker 1: takes a certain type of person to like a life
29:42
Speaker 1: like this. There is a lot of unpredictability in being
29:46
Speaker 1: your own boss. I have absolutely no retainers, which means
29:52
Speaker 1: that I don't have a consistent check coming from anyone
29:56
Speaker 1: at any time. What I do have are relationships and
30:01
Speaker 1: motivation to make my rent, pay my bills, save up
30:06
Speaker 1: for a Brownstone one day, and that is what guides me.
30:11
Speaker 1: And I'll talk about the logistics of that and just
30:13
Speaker 1: a little bit.
30:14
Speaker 2: Don't worry.
30:15
Speaker 1: But what I'm saying is that some people really like
30:18
Speaker 1: the stability that comes with a nine to five job,
30:21
Speaker 1: and in fact would feel really anxious if they had
30:23
Speaker 1: to do things like handle their own calendar and quote
30:28
Speaker 1: unquote find money, which is what I say. Sometimes I'm
30:30
Speaker 1: like today, I'm going to find some money. AKA, I'm
30:33
Speaker 1: going to come up with big ideas. And if you're
30:35
Speaker 1: the kind of person that doesn't want to do those things,
30:38
Speaker 1: it's okay. There's nothing wrong with that. This goes back
30:41
Speaker 1: to what I was just talking about when it comes
30:43
Speaker 1: to being honest with yourself about what you want to
30:47
Speaker 1: do and what your why is behind it. I'll also
30:50
Speaker 1: say this, there's absolutely nothing wrong with trying it right. Like,
30:55
Speaker 1: maybe you are at a crossroads in your work and
30:58
Speaker 1: you feel as though you need to leave your current job,
31:01
Speaker 1: and you have an opportunity to start your own business
31:05
Speaker 1: in any field, and you go out on your own
31:07
Speaker 1: for two three months and you're realizing that it's not
31:11
Speaker 1: for you. The worst thing that happens in this situation
31:14
Speaker 1: is that you're exactly where you started. That's actually what
31:18
Speaker 1: happens more often than not. And we're so scared of
31:21
Speaker 1: trying something new because of the concept of quote unquote failing.
31:25
Speaker 1: But if the worst thing that happens is that you're
31:28
Speaker 1: exactly where you started, then realistically where you started probably
31:32
Speaker 1: wasn't that bad in the first place. So that fourth
31:35
Speaker 1: takeaway entrepreneurship being your own boss might not be for everyone,
31:39
Speaker 1: and that is okay. I personally think that I thrive
31:43
Speaker 1: in this kind of ideating and uncertainty. It makes me
31:48
Speaker 1: feel excited, but it definitely has its fair share of difficulties.
31:55
Speaker 1: My fifth lesson there is always something that can be done,
31:59
Speaker 1: but it doesn't mean that you've got to do it.
32:02
Speaker 1: I was so guilty of doing everything all the time
32:07
Speaker 1: in the first I would say five years of this chapter,
32:11
Speaker 1: I was very bad at exercising boundaries. I didn't really
32:15
Speaker 1: feel like outside of my wellness practices, I was taking
32:17
Speaker 1: a lot of time for myself, and more often than not,
32:20
Speaker 1: I was working at all different sorts of hours. I
32:24
Speaker 1: was a yes person, and what I realized is that
32:27
Speaker 1: I needed to be more realistic about what my bandwidth
32:30
Speaker 1: is so that I can better show up when I
32:34
Speaker 1: want to be on. Instead of giving fifty percent all
32:38
Speaker 1: the time, I can give one hundred percent during less
32:41
Speaker 1: time and make the most of all of my time.
32:44
Speaker 1: So in practice, Emily, what does this look like? While
32:47
Speaker 1: I'm so happy you asked, just because I have free
32:50
Speaker 1: time on a Sunday afternoon doesn't mean that I need
32:55
Speaker 1: to spend it at my desk doing work. And I
32:57
Speaker 1: don't need to feel guilty out having a lazy afternoon
33:02
Speaker 1: knowing how much that I have on deck for the
33:05
Speaker 1: week and accomplished the week prior. An old version of
33:08
Speaker 1: myself would should myself into constantly doing something, constantly coming
33:14
Speaker 1: up with an idea, constantly pitching things, doing whatever you know,
33:17
Speaker 1: and it was just too much. So make sure that
33:21
Speaker 1: you have those boundaries on when you are working and
33:27
Speaker 1: when you need time for yourself and be honest about it. Again,
33:31
Speaker 1: I'll say this lesson, there's always something to be done,
33:33
Speaker 1: but that doesn't mean you have to do it. It's hard,
33:37
Speaker 1: that's really hard, especially when you are responsible for your livelihood.
33:41
Speaker 1: But I have come to realize that very rarely anything
33:46
Speaker 1: is obscenely urgent. And also, someone else's sense of urgency doesn't.
33:52
Speaker 2: Need to be your problem all the time.
33:55
Speaker 1: I'll say that again, someone else's sense of urgency doesn't
33:59
Speaker 1: need to be your problem all of the time. The
34:04
Speaker 1: sixth lesson I've learned in seven years of entrepreneurship, things
34:10
Speaker 1: show up for you when you're ready for them. I
34:13
Speaker 1: know that sounds kind of woo wooie, but this year
34:18
Speaker 1: I walked into it with the idea of good degree,
34:22
Speaker 1: that I wanted to get out of my own way
34:25
Speaker 1: and step into this next chapter, that I was done
34:28
Speaker 1: settling for good, that I wanted to level up, that
34:30
Speaker 1: I wanted to try even new things. And don't get
34:34
Speaker 1: me wrong, I know that we all can be our
34:37
Speaker 1: own biggest critics. But for me, it looked different in
34:42
Speaker 1: my head than what happened. But what happened has been
34:45
Speaker 1: astronomical and absolutely amazing. I didn't give a TED talk
34:50
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three, and you know what, candidly, that's
34:54
Speaker 1: because I wasn't ready for it yet. I so wholeheartedly
34:58
Speaker 1: trust in the timing of my life, and I know
35:02
Speaker 1: that there are things that I've had to do over
35:05
Speaker 1: the last three hundred and sixty five days to step
35:08
Speaker 1: into my power and feel better in my body and
35:11
Speaker 1: show up authentically as I am, not only for myself
35:15
Speaker 1: but also for my community. And knowing all of that
35:19
Speaker 1: makes me confident in the concept that things show up
35:24
Speaker 1: for you when you're energetically ready. I have so many
35:27
Speaker 1: things simmering on the stove right now.
35:29
Speaker 2: What a term.
35:29
Speaker 1: I don't think I have ever used that before, but
35:32
Speaker 1: there are so many things simmering on the stove right
35:34
Speaker 1: now that have me absolutely one hundred percent geeked out.
35:38
Speaker 1: And I can tell you with one hundred percent certainty
35:42
Speaker 1: that if these things were in the pipeline at the
35:44
Speaker 1: top of this year, I don't know if I would
35:46
Speaker 1: have been ready to handle them.
35:48
Speaker 2: Now I am.
35:49
Speaker 1: Now, I have the confidence I need to step forward
35:52
Speaker 1: and step into my power and do things that excite me.
35:55
Speaker 1: On a whole other level, I feel more in alignment
35:58
Speaker 1: than maybe I ever have before, and that is why
36:02
Speaker 1: these opportunities are coming to fruition right now, they're presenting themselves.
36:06
Speaker 1: It's because I am ready for them. Again that sixth lesson,
36:11
Speaker 1: things show up for you when you are energetically ready,
36:14
Speaker 1: which means that I'm continuing my good to great motto
36:18
Speaker 1: into twenty twenty four. And the last lesson I've learned
36:23
Speaker 1: in seven years of entrepreneurship. And also, let me just
36:26
Speaker 1: say that there's so many lessons I've just chosen these seven.
36:30
Speaker 2: The last lesson is it's okay to ask for help.
36:34
Speaker 1: There are so many things that I do on a
36:38
Speaker 1: day to day, and most of them are done completely alone.
36:43
Speaker 1: With the exception of recording or meetings or whatnot that
36:48
Speaker 1: I have on the calendar, my work is done solo.
36:52
Speaker 1: I'm a solopreneur. I will coveat this by saying that
36:56
Speaker 1: I have an assistant, Chelsea. Hey Chelse that helps me
37:00
Speaker 1: with the show, but outside of our bi weekly calls
37:05
Speaker 1: every other week, that's a completely virtual relationship. And so
37:10
Speaker 1: this experience can be very lonely for me, and I
37:14
Speaker 1: recognize that I am not alone, actually, and that there
37:20
Speaker 1: are so many other people who are doing something similar
37:23
Speaker 1: that feel how I feel, and we have the opportunity
37:27
Speaker 1: to help one another. So if I am feeling lonely
37:30
Speaker 1: in my business, I know I have the opportunity to
37:32
Speaker 1: reach out to a good friend and talk to her
37:34
Speaker 1: about what's going on. Or if I have an idea,
37:38
Speaker 1: or I get a contract from a brand and I
37:41
Speaker 1: need feedback on it. I have working relationships now that
37:44
Speaker 1: I can reach out and say, hey, I would love
37:46
Speaker 1: to run this by you if you don't mind, and
37:47
Speaker 1: you have a second I through that second lesson of
37:52
Speaker 1: being firm and kind, have developed such strong working relationships
37:57
Speaker 1: that I feel like I have an army in my
37:59
Speaker 1: core despite the fact that I am the only person
38:03
Speaker 1: in my LLC. I definitely went through a time period
38:06
Speaker 1: where I felt really alone, and that's because I wasn't
38:10
Speaker 1: asking for help from anyone. I wasn't talking about what
38:13
Speaker 1: was going on in my business, and so asking for
38:15
Speaker 1: help has been a major major game changer. Segueing into
38:22
Speaker 1: answering a few of the questions that came in about
38:25
Speaker 1: this era very very frequent question, what do you do
38:30
Speaker 1: about health insurance? So this is probably one of the
38:33
Speaker 1: biggest downsides of being self employed, and especially choosing to
38:38
Speaker 1: be self employed in Brooklyn, New York. Health insurance is obscenely,
38:44
Speaker 1: obscenely expensive, Like I think I'm paying something like seven
38:50
Speaker 1: hundred dollars a month right now for it. There used
38:53
Speaker 1: to be a penalty that you'd have to pay annually
38:57
Speaker 1: when you did your taxes if you don't have health insurance.
38:59
Speaker 1: That expired in twenty eighteen. So it's frightening to say this.
39:04
Speaker 1: I know a lot of individuals who don't have health
39:06
Speaker 1: insurance just because the cost is exorbitant. I don't really
39:10
Speaker 1: feel comfortable doing that, so it's just something that I
39:13
Speaker 1: account for when I think about my budgeting when doing
39:16
Speaker 1: my research every year when the marketplace is open.
39:21
Speaker 2: This just sounds so jazzy.
39:23
Speaker 1: I will say that my crazy expensive health insurance is
39:26
Speaker 1: literally the cheapest option I could find and really doesn't
39:31
Speaker 1: cover much. I don't even currently have dental, but I
39:35
Speaker 1: do get an annual visit to a general physician as
39:39
Speaker 1: well as an OBGI in every year, and my prescriptions
39:42
Speaker 1: have coverage, and this is what we pay for. The
39:48
Speaker 1: next question, how do you create and keep with routine
39:51
Speaker 1: when you're your own boss?
39:52
Speaker 2: Every day? For me, looks different.
39:54
Speaker 1: I just sat down and did the calendar planning for
39:56
Speaker 1: the week, and Tomorrow I have a recording that's a
40:00
Speaker 1: seven am and on Tuesday, I have a seven thirty
40:03
Speaker 1: am shoot to rebrand the show, and then after an
40:07
Speaker 1: insane few days of work, I'm planning to take Friday
40:10
Speaker 1: off because I'm working on Sunday.
40:12
Speaker 2: This is the opportunity that.
40:14
Speaker 1: I have in making my own schedule, but it also
40:17
Speaker 1: can be very hectic. I do try when I am
40:20
Speaker 1: in New York working to keep mostly the same schedule,
40:23
Speaker 1: which is that I'm up, I'm working out before I
40:27
Speaker 1: get my work day started, and I'm at my desk
40:30
Speaker 1: by around nine thirty and I'm done by around five thirty.
40:33
Speaker 2: But there are very rarely days.
40:35
Speaker 1: That my day is exclusively in the studio at my
40:38
Speaker 1: desk from nine thirty to five thirty. I will also
40:41
Speaker 1: note that routines make the unpredictability of a schedule like
40:44
Speaker 1: this really helpful, especially when I'm on the road, So
40:47
Speaker 1: that means that I know what helps me feel good
40:50
Speaker 1: day to day, things like journaling, things like moving my body,
40:53
Speaker 1: getting regular bodywork done, hitting up in infrareds ONA, things
40:57
Speaker 1: like that. Even when i'm not home, I make them
40:59
Speaker 1: up top priority. I will go out of my way
41:02
Speaker 1: to schedule in time, even though it might feel a
41:05
Speaker 1: little inconvenient, to get these things into my schedule regardless
41:09
Speaker 1: of where I am, so that I can feel better
41:11
Speaker 1: in my body and then be more capable of showing
41:15
Speaker 1: up for others. Another question that came in, how do
41:18
Speaker 1: you start when your new idea isn't something that makes
41:22
Speaker 1: you money yet. Yeah, so I talked about how Hurdle
41:25
Speaker 1: started as a bi weekly podcast while I was making
41:28
Speaker 1: money doing a lot of the writing. As I made
41:32
Speaker 1: the cadence of the show more regular and continued on
41:37
Speaker 1: that journey, I got to a point where I was
41:39
Speaker 1: monetizing the podcast more and was able to offset some
41:44
Speaker 1: of the other work that I had been previously doing.
41:46
Speaker 1: So it was a slow transition from point A two
41:50
Speaker 1: point B to what is now point C, in which
41:53
Speaker 1: I outlined before making money in a completely different way.
41:56
Speaker 1: This time period is really the definition, and I don't
41:59
Speaker 1: love this word, but of hustling, because you're often doing
42:03
Speaker 1: one job while thinking about your passion, which could be
42:07
Speaker 1: your second job, and doing that in your extra time,
42:11
Speaker 1: while also trying to balance any sort of a social
42:14
Speaker 1: life or a personal life, And so I would just
42:17
Speaker 1: say that this goes back to knowing your why right,
42:20
Speaker 1: knowing that if this is what you want to do,
42:23
Speaker 1: whatever it is that is your side hustle, so to speak,
42:26
Speaker 1: then make sure you are really about it, that you
42:29
Speaker 1: have a super strong foundation so that you won't be
42:34
Speaker 1: angry at the fact that you're giving up some of
42:37
Speaker 1: your other free time. Another question, what is your advice
42:41
Speaker 1: on overcoming scarcity around not being able to.
42:44
Speaker 2: Make enough money.
42:45
Speaker 1: I'll be completely candid, like December is a low month
42:48
Speaker 1: for me, and then the beginning of the year is bonkers,
42:51
Speaker 1: and I have moments now where I am like super
42:54
Speaker 1: anxious about my finances. I know to be true though,
42:58
Speaker 1: that there are going to be high months and low months,
43:01
Speaker 1: and I just have to do the best I can
43:03
Speaker 1: with what I have. When I started out, my goal
43:07
Speaker 1: before the top of every month was to secure and
43:10
Speaker 1: know where seventy five percent of the money that I
43:13
Speaker 1: wanted to make would be coming from in the next
43:16
Speaker 1: thirty days, and then as other opportunities came in or
43:19
Speaker 1: I had other ideas throughout the month, I would then
43:22
Speaker 1: pitch new ideas and secure the remaining twenty five percent,
43:25
Speaker 1: so that I was fully committed to the amount that
43:28
Speaker 1: I was after.
43:29
Speaker 2: I know this to be true.
43:31
Speaker 1: Living in this fear of not having enough money isn't
43:34
Speaker 1: the thing that's going to find you enough money. So
43:38
Speaker 1: rather than letting it's kind of like with imposter syndrome, right,
43:41
Speaker 1: rather than letting the gremlin in your head, this little
43:44
Speaker 1: voice that's telling you you're not good enough, You're not
43:45
Speaker 1: gonna have enough money, everything's going wrong, whatever it's saying
43:48
Speaker 1: to you.
43:49
Speaker 2: Rather than letting that voice win.
43:51
Speaker 1: Get to a place where you're saying things that make
43:55
Speaker 1: you feel good. I have the potential to earn X amount.
43:59
Speaker 1: I have all the tools I need to be successful.
44:02
Speaker 1: Using this positive language is what's going to help you
44:06
Speaker 1: come out on top. Remember you are the person that
44:09
Speaker 1: talks to yourself the most in any given day. You
44:12
Speaker 1: are the person that talks to yourself the most during
44:17
Speaker 1: any given day, So you owe it to yourself to
44:21
Speaker 1: have that conversation be positive. Remember you are your own
44:26
Speaker 1: biggest hype human, so act like it. The last question
44:30
Speaker 1: I'm going to answer for now, and if you have
44:32
Speaker 1: more of them, I'd love to answer them in an
44:34
Speaker 1: upcoming five minute Friday, So click on over to the
44:36
Speaker 1: show notes and leave me a voice message and ask
44:39
Speaker 1: it the last question, how did you know you were
44:42
Speaker 1: ready to move to self employment? And if you listen
44:45
Speaker 1: to the story at the top of this kind of
44:47
Speaker 1: outlining my timeline, I didn't. I didn't know I was
44:50
Speaker 1: forced into it, but I knew that I was capable
44:54
Speaker 1: of figuring it out. I knew, like I said, that
44:57
Speaker 1: I could jive with this type of work style, that
45:01
Speaker 1: I had the grit to live this way. There's nothing
45:06
Speaker 1: wrong if self employment isn't for you, genuinely, I mean
45:10
Speaker 1: that from the bottom of my heart. You have to
45:12
Speaker 1: do what feels right for you and don't should yourself
45:15
Speaker 1: into any one way. Now, if you are contemplating leaving
45:20
Speaker 1: a nine to five and going to self employment, before
45:23
Speaker 1: you make that leap, I would encourage two things. The
45:26
Speaker 1: first thing is make sure you have some sort of
45:28
Speaker 1: a savings that you can fall back on. So you
45:31
Speaker 1: may have projections on how much you can make every month,
45:34
Speaker 1: but if something were to go awry, you never want
45:36
Speaker 1: to be in a position where you cannot handle yourself.
45:40
Speaker 1: I literally have six months of finances set aside should
45:45
Speaker 1: everything go awry, should everything get messed up, should I
45:50
Speaker 1: become ill, should I whatever the case may be. I
45:54
Speaker 1: have certain responsibilities like paying my rent and my bills
45:57
Speaker 1: and taking care of myself, and those all require money.
46:00
Speaker 1: And if something happens where I cannot make money because
46:02
Speaker 1: I am self employed, then I need to make sure
46:04
Speaker 1: that I have this safety net so that I can
46:06
Speaker 1: take care of myself. And so that's the first thing
46:09
Speaker 1: I would tell you if you're thinking about leaving a
46:11
Speaker 1: nine to five to go out on your own. The
46:13
Speaker 1: second thing I will tell you is that you want
46:15
Speaker 1: to make sure that you have clients in place for
46:19
Speaker 1: when you make this jump. So, regardless of what fueled
46:23
Speaker 1: you're in, have an idea of where your money is
46:26
Speaker 1: going to come from, and be honest about what you
46:28
Speaker 1: can expect, because lying to yourself in self employment is
46:33
Speaker 1: going to do you absolutely no favors. I mean, lying
46:36
Speaker 1: to yourself doesn't really ever do you any favors. But
46:39
Speaker 1: what I'm saying here is if you're not honest with
46:41
Speaker 1: yourself about what is, then you can't do something about it.
46:45
Speaker 1: So recognize what is realistic, what is within your bandwidth?
46:50
Speaker 2: How does this make you feel?
46:51
Speaker 1: Does it make you feel secure and know all of
46:53
Speaker 1: these things, really do a full evaluation before you take
46:56
Speaker 1: the leap. I will say also this, you probably won't
47:01
Speaker 1: ever feel truly ready to do something like that. It's
47:04
Speaker 1: a big pivot from going to showing up in an
47:06
Speaker 1: office every day. Someone else is giving you a check
47:09
Speaker 1: every other Friday. There's a lot of security in that.
47:13
Speaker 1: So it's up to you to create your own security
47:17
Speaker 1: and understand that you might never feel really ready, and
47:20
Speaker 1: that's okay. Sometimes we have to take the leap. We
47:25
Speaker 1: have to greet an uncomfortable situation with optimism and excitement
47:30
Speaker 1: and do the best we can with what we have.
47:32
Speaker 1: You are worthy of your own investment. I will say
47:35
Speaker 1: that a thousand times over and over until you truly
47:38
Speaker 1: can repeat it back to me every single day. You
47:43
Speaker 1: are worthy of your own investment. And like I said
47:47
Speaker 1: at the top of this, a third of your life
47:49
Speaker 1: is sleeping, a third of your life is working, so
47:52
Speaker 1: you might as well figure out how to enjoy what
47:54
Speaker 1: you do for your livelihood.
47:56
Speaker 2: Day in and day out. Again.
47:58
Speaker 1: If there are any other questions on this all ears,
48:00
Speaker 1: I would love to answer them. Hit the show notes,
48:04
Speaker 1: hit me up over at Emily A. Body and at
48:06
Speaker 1: Hurdle podcast, Another hurdle conquered. Catch you all next time.