Take this Job and Shove It! The Reason Why I Left the Corporate World

People often give me grief and ask why I left the corporate world and big organizations to start my own business. From my perspective, I find it all rather amusing.

There remains a culture in the U.S. that believes big organizations will take care of you, that they are the only powerful bodies shaping our economic future. Therefore, we should be thankful, loyal, and always return to the “MOTHER SHIP.”

I disagree.

Should everyone quit their jobs and start a business? NO.
But what would it be like if everyone realized they have choices?
What if people made those choices consciously, not out of fear or by default?

It makes me sad to hear questions that come from such a narrow, dependent perspective. 

Questions like:

• “Aren’t you worried about the economy out there on your own?”
• “Doesn’t working from your home office seem lonely, or don’t you get distracted working from home?”
• “Wow, you must be getting some big checks now that you are a business owner?”

Let’s take these one at a time.

“Aren’t You Worried About the Economy?”

This one is almost humorous to me.

Big companies with big money can make big mistakes. The Enron fiasco should have taught us that years ago. Enron’s collapse in 2001 continues to affect the lives of thousands of former employees (lost pensions, limited access to health care, and destroyed livelihoods) more than ten years later.

The death of Enron was a perfect demonstration of how a large, lucrative corporation can disappear overnight. It became the subject of lawsuits, long-term economic case studies on “WHAT NOT TO DO” taught at major universities worldwide, and the impetus for new accounting regulations like the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

Yes, that’s an extreme example, but here’s my point:

I Created My Own Economy

I am creating my own economic system.

• I have a PRODUCT: career coaching, which I excel at and enjoy.
• There is DEMAND: people who want better careers, more satisfying work, jobs that support their lives financially and personally.
• I have CUSTOMERS who pay me for coaching that helps them get there.

In my business, there is a balance of CREDIT and DEBIT.
People pay me for my services. I pay bills, taxes, employees, and myself.

That is my economy.
It works for me. It may not work for you, but I am enjoying it.

Through coaching, I see clients negotiate more money, more free time, and better opportunities in their current or future companies all the time. You’ve got to love that.

“Isn’t Working From Home Lonely or Distracting?”

Yes, I have quiet stretches where I don’t need to interact with the outside world, but I have choices during those times.

I often choose to:

• Work on my back porch
• Go to a bookstore with free Wi-Fi
• Write (like I’m doing now)

And honestly, after hosting a booth at a conference, where over 160 incredible women visited me in less than eight hours, I need some quiet time.

So no, I’m not lonely. I choose to use quiet to my advantage.

And here’s a thought: you can learn to leverage quiet time in your J-O-B, too. Have you ever thought about that?

About Distractions…

Yes, I get distracted.

The dogs bark.
The doorbell rings.
Kids come home from school.
My husband, who also works from home, is laughing on the phone with his favorite customer.

I’ve learned to manage it. I carve out quiet space, both in my house and on my calendar.

And some interruptions are priceless:

• A great grade that can’t wait to be shared
• A smile from my husband over soup at lunch
• Watching my very small dogs chase even smaller, faster, smarter squirrels

I cherish those distractions.

What if, through coaching, you could find the gifts in those “blips” in your own workday?

“You Must Be Getting Big Checks Now”

People who ask this usually haven’t been in business.

They haven’t seen all the checks going out—business filings, taxes, employer taxes, marketing expenses. Those checks can be daunting and scare the britches right off you.

Yes, there has to be money coming in for a business to survive.

But I am not a career coach because of the big checks, although they are nice.

Why I Really Do This Work

My favorite checks come after I help a client make a career decision that genuinely improves their life.

Those checks, no matter the size, mean:

• I connected with another human being
• I improved how they spend their time at W-O-R-K

You know… the place where we spend more time than we do with family, friends, on vacation, in church or temple, or even asleep.

On really great days, I get a check tucked inside a glitter-covered Dr. Seuss card with a handwritten note about the difference I made.

It isn’t about the money.

It’s about doing work I love and making a difference in people’s lives and in the world.

Why I Left Corporate (For Good)

That difference is something I couldn’t do in corporate where I was told I had too much imagination, was too loud, and had too much of a Texas accent.

Making a difference in how people experience their work—that is why I left the corporate world.

I love what I do.
And I want other people to love what they do, too.

So, I say: TAKE THIS JOB AND LOVE IT!