Hi Brooke, I am about to resign from my corporate job as a HR Director to pursue my dream of being an entrepreneur and coach senior executives. I’ve got a couple of clients (who are well paying and i’ve had great results with) but no where near enough to provide the income I need. I’ve spent months doing very little on my business except tinker around the edges with a website and an online course but not actually doing the hard work of getting clear on my target audience, making a plan and getting the business in.
I’ve got to work three months notice in any case so my thought is that i can achieve a lot in three months (while working my notice) to provide enough of a spring board for me getting started with my business. I don’t have savings so really would need to be making money by month three in order to pay the bills. Part of me feels this is being reckless but a bigger part of me thinks I can achieve anything I put my mind to and with enough hard work and commitment I can make this work. I have been disillusioned with my job for a while now, it is a bullying culture and I have seen and experienced this personally over the past few weeks so i’ve been encouraged by this I guess to make the decision to move on. I know you coach us to love our jobs then leave, I actually feel it is affecting my mental health and wellbeing and making me feel stressed unnecessarily. I know I can model these thoughts too and could choose not to feel stressed and anxious about the bullying, but it just seems like I could use my energy better to focus on my new business.
But, before I do resign, I’ve been trying to do a thought download and a few models. Here is where I got to:
Thoughts: I am ready to leave. If I leave now I can focus on my business. I’m fed up with the stress of my job and the behaviour of the CEX. If I don’t set my self the deadline of an end date (in my job) I’ll still be talking about this in 10 years time. Each day and week is precious, I want to be adding value to the world through what I do in a way that I find meaningful (not currently how I feel in my current role) and living my dream of running my own business. I can always get an interim job if I needed to. Fear – what if I don’t make any money. Am I rushing into it? Should I be developing my business alongside my job for longer? Will there be enough clients out there for me in executive coaching? I’m scared I don’t have what it takes to be credible in the world of executive coaching. I am not sure what to do next to establish and grow my business (cardinal sin to say I don’t know I picked up from the Entrepreneur videos).
Model:
c – resignation
t – now I can really concentrate on my business
f – fear / excitement probably in equal measures!
a – Get to work – no more ‘I don’t know’
r – Grow my business / attract new clients.
What i’m not sure about is why i’m not concentrating on my business already. I’m ‘doing’ a lot of overwhelm and ‘I don’t knows’ so part of me realises that resigning won’t suddenly give me all the answers but, I’ve convinced myself it will sharpen my mind, allow me to focus and give me the excitement and buzz I need. I’m also mentally exhausted from the job and the unpleasant culture. I’m just not getting any enjoyment or fulfilment out of my work either. Should I work on getting that first and would that then put me in a better place for pursuing my business? I’m sure you coached someone on that same point?
I’m not asking you to confirm whether I should resign or not, clearly that has to be my decision. But what do you make of all my thoughts about it? I know without doubt that I can and will be successful in my business (despite some of my fear thoughts above which I model a lot already) but I haven’t even got as far as making a plan or working out how I will make my first £100k…….though I know I am capable of making that amount if I put my mind to it and went to work.
Even writing this (now very long) post I can see i’m all over the place with my thoughts but I’m sure it is the fear talking not me. I think I need to just make the decision, commit and not look back. But perhaps you will pick up on something in all this and have some words of wisdom for me!
Thanks Brooke. Sorry for the long one.
Julie
