I Quit My Job, And You Can Too!

Inside: I quit my job, in 2020. That sounds crazy, but stick with me here. It makes a lot of sense, and if you’re itching to make a change too then why not start planning your portfolio career today?

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13 years ago, I graduated college and started my career.

5 years ago, I became a mom for the first time. Shortly thereafter I was a working mom figuring it out as I went.

4 years ago, I became a second-time mom and began thinking about who I was now as a mother and a professional. For me, these two pieces were not separate but intertwined in a way I couldn’t quite explain yet.

3 years ago, I began to put the pieces together and build the foundation of the life I’m living right now, not knowing if it would pan out, blow up, or grow into something amazing.

2 years ago, those pieces became a solid business plan with multiple income streams and goals and a cute little planner I carried around everywhere.

1 year ago, I told my manager that I was planning to leave my job, go out on my own, and pick my son up from kindergarten every day at 3pm.

Today, I left my full-time job. In the midst of a pandemic and a financial crisis, I packed up the boxes, handed over my laptop, and waved goodbye to a campus that had been my professional home for nearly 13 years.

I cried a little and then smiled as I walked out of one door and opened another to a life as an entrepreneur, writer, and career coach. And then I gave my kids a snack after school.

The Road Starts Here

It sounds crazy when I say it out loud. I willingly quit a steady job in 2020? What the what? But it was the right choice and the right time, and if you’re feeling an itch that made you open up this article then I want to help you do it too.

To do that, I’ll give you a little insight into what’s going on over here.

When I started my career in higher education 13 years ago I knew I liked the idea of helping students but I wasn’t sure how. By taking classes and having lots of informal conversations with peers, professors, and professionals, I felt drawn to career services and this connection between school and work. Years earlier as I gave my high school graduation speech, I referenced this idea of “creating yourself” instead of “finding yourself” and to me, that was what a great career services experience helped you to do.

When I started working in career services I fell even more deeply in love with the field as it truly was a place where we helped students create who they were going to be next. We helped them learn about themselves, explore their interests, and carve new paths. Well, I sort of did. I was in a very operational role and worked mostly with companies in my first, second, and third positions, but I knew where I wanted to go.

This idea started to form in my head – if I could get really good at this career development business, I could make a difference and create a life I wanted. I could be a career coach working 1:1 to help others. I wouldn’t have to work 9-5, but maybe from 9-10, then 11-1, and 4:35 – 7. It was possible to be a working mom and get my kids off the school bus one day.

The next step was figuring out how to get there.

How I Got Where I Wanted To Go

So I started asking questions and started raising my hand in order to learn, grow, and train to be a career coach with the ultimate goal of impact and flexibility. This all started before my kids were born, perhaps as they were twinkling in my eye, and writing alongside coaching wasn’t even part of the equation yet.

Month after month and year after year I started getting where I wanted to go. I proved myself, I put in the work, and “suddenly” (after years of training, shadowing experienced coaches, and reading everything I could find) I found my name and headshot on a career coach roster that I shared with Harvard MBA graduates and talented coaches the world over.

While this was all happening in my professional life, my personal life was growing and evolving too. The kids were born in rapid succession and I was a stressed-out working mother with a long commute who loved the work she was doing but felt like she was losing a bit of herself.

That’s where the writing came in.

My blog became this creative outlet I didn’t know I needed. I could share stories about motherhood, and my childhood, and funny things I observed in life. Plus this hobby of mine was free! When I started the blog I didn’t invest a dime in it, it literally cost zero dollars to start with a free WordPress account. Later I built it up and bought a domain name and a fancier website when I realized you could actually make money blogging through advertisements, affiliate marketing, and sponsorships. But at first, I simply dipped my toe in the water.

Creating the Business Plan and Sewing the Parachute

The more I coached and the more I wrote, the more the pieces came together. I developed a business plan that let me do both of the things I loved while talking to an audience and working with coaching clients who I could relate to on a deep level.

There was a need in the market to extend the career development work I did with students to working moms and that was my sweet spot. There would be a blog, books, coaching, freelance writing, social media, even a few speaking gigs in the mix, all done around the topic of careers and parenthood with a big dose of humor.