Anna S. E. Lundberg

Coach, Speaker, Writer

Fearless Fridays: From bridal stylist to Instagram strategist

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kara-cahill-fearless-fridaysThis month’s Fearless Fridays interview is with Kara Cahill. If you’re part of the One Step Outside community, then you’ll recognise that name because she is none other than our very own Community Manager!

Kara was working in a bridal shop when she applied for the role with me and, in less than a year, she has transitioned completely out of what was a full-time job to run her own business. Starting out by offering admin services as a virtual assistant (VA), she focused more and more on social media management and now coaches other VA’s on how they can get their business up and running just as she has!

Leaving a corporate job behind to follow your passion: From bridal stylist to Instagram strategist

Kara Cahill was working long hours and weekends as a bridal stylist and in less than a year, she has been able to quit her job and now works remotely as an Instagram Strategist and Coach for other virtual business owners. Today, she loves her work, helping VAs, Social Media Managers and other virtual business owners with their marketing strategy so that they can book out their services and take their business full time as well.

 

1) At what moment did you decide it was time for a change?

kara-cahill-fearless-fridays
Traveling has always been one of Kara’s biggest passions, and now her business gives her the flexility to work from anywhere…even Bali!

So in the bridal world, in weddings, it’s very much a customer service role, very customer-facing. You’re working with people one on one, and it’s very emotional – a lot of emotions, a lot of people, a lot of families that you’re always dealing with. So it’s very fun sometimes, but it can also get super draining too. It’s high-pressure sales and a lot of intensity, all the time. I was working full time, so it was sometimes 40 plus hours a week. It was every single weekend and I was working nights, very late nights, sometimes until 8pm if brides wanted to come back in – it was my job was to be there for them and be super accommodating. I felt like my life and the things that were important to me were being put on the back burner because of this job. So that was getting to be really tough; it was so draining.

I had just bought a new home with my fiancé, who worked a typical 9 to 5, Monday through Friday; then I was working on the weekends too. It felt like we would never catch each other – I would come home really late and then he would have to go to bed to wake up in the morning early. So we were on this different time schedule. I was missing family events and time with my friends, who were all spending time together on the weekends; and I couldn’t even be there for a friend’s bridal shower. And it’s those little things that you think are okay to miss at first, but then when you continue to miss them and miss them, it starts to be like… I don’t want this anymore.

I would have people come up to me all the time saying, “This sounds like the dream job, you’re playing dress-up and this is so fun! It’s so glamorous here.” And it was – it was beautiful, and it was fun. But when I looked at the lifestyle, I knew it wasn’t what I wanted. And I had thought it was for the longest time. I had gone to school to be an event planner, that was my path, and I had thought, “I finally made it!” And then when I made it, I realised: this is not what I want. I had asked for weekends, “Is there any way I could have a weekend off?” And when they finally came back to me and said the best that they could do was one Sunday off a month, I just couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t picture doing it for 30, 40 years – I had to find a new way.

I came across working online, and I didn’t even know this was a thing. I started following all these people online and they were working online, traveling while they work. And I wondered, “How are they doing this? I need to find a way to do this for myself!” So I just started researching.

Luckily, I signed up for a retreat in Bali – it was a social media retreat – and I learned from people that were doing it, who had online businesses. Within a month after coming back, I connected with you, Anna, and then the rest just kind of took off.

I started off as a virtual assistant, working online, and I grew my business just using Instagram; now, that’s what I teach others to do! And it feels so much better – I just couldn’t be happier with the way things turned out.

2) What was the biggest challenge you faced in making the change?

I think it was really scary to first decide that I wanted to work online and to start telling other people in my life that I wanted to work online. I had told my fiancé, told my mum, my family… and no one really got it. They would ask, “What does that mean? How are you going to make money from this?” So I think the biggest challenge was having to first believe in myself that, “Okay, I’m going to make this happen,” and then trying to explain it to other people who weren’t familiar with it, who were so much more accustomed to this 9-to-5 job world.

In the end, they were on board for anything – they knew I had to get out of that job, and they were very supportive. But getting people to understand what it was that I was then doing was hard. My job as a bridal stylist was a well-paid job, and I was very comfortable with what I was making there. But honestly you could have paid me all the money in the world and it wouldn’t have mattered, I wouldn’t have stayed there.

And then, just figuring out all the skill sets that I would need. A lot of things were pretty easy to transition to, but it did require a bit of training. I did have to invest in some things and some courses and that retreat, just to learn those skills and get my confidence up to where I could say, “Okay, this works now, I understand how to do this.”

3) Where did you get the support you needed to make it happen?

So when I started, I did the retreat in Bali and that was just kind of me going in, learning from people that were working; just meeting people that were doing what I wanted to do first and foremost. And just seeing, “Okay, these are real people that have similar experiences – I can do this too!” So that was really great, just to hear from others that were in a place that I wanted to be; and it was attainable. So that was number one.

Then when I came back, I invested in a couple of virtual assisting courses to get my skill set up – so I knew what a CRM was, I knew how to do email marketing, things like that.

Once I knew I wanted to transition into social media, I took an Instagram course. I was just learning all of these things to make sure that my skillset was up to where it needed to be. And then, I said, “Okay, I have a baseline for skills, now I need a coach.” So I invested in a coach and we started working together – just to have that extra level of support from someone who was doing what I wanted to do. And I could ask questions too, because there are so many things that pop up and I would have no one to ask these questions to. Especially in the virtual world, there’s no one among my friends or family who does anything remotely similar. So, if I asked them, “How do you do an email funnel?” they don’t know what that is! It’s nice to have someone to bounce ideas around, someone in the same area and field. That has been really helpful.

At first I was still half and half, so I was working on my business as more of a side hustle and I still had my other full-time income. So when I first started, I was doing lower-level courses just to get started, and it didn’t seem that scary, because I still had the other income coming in. Now, I’m still trying to level out my income, so when I do invest, it does seem a little bit scarier, but at the same time I know I need to do this in order to get to that next level. I just look at it as an investment, and anytime I’ve invested in myself, I have grown – both the business and me as a person. As an entrepreneur, I feel like you have to do so much personal work and self-development. So you’re never not getting a return on that!

4) What’s the best part of your lifestyle today?

kara-cahill-fearless-fridays
Today, Kara loves helping other online business owners learn the Instagram marketing strategies that have helped her grow her own business!

So first of all, I just love working from home. It’s nice to be able to sleep in a little bit, and I don’t have to get dolled up for work and wear high heels every day! So working from home, from my yoga pants, sometimes my PJ’s is great.

But really, the best part is to have more time with my family. A couple of weekends ago, my fiancé and I just went out and got brunch on Sunday – and that was something that we had never done. It was so great to be able to do something so mundane, and we had the time to do it together and I felt so grateful for this. So there’s that piece.

But then of course also just doing something where I feel like I’m in the right place. I feel like I’ve found my passion; every day, I’m so excited to work on my business – and I’ve never felt that before. It’s been so nice to feel like I am exactly where I want to be. I can have the flexibility to travel, to pick up and go somewhere else. It’s been such a great transition.

5) What one piece of advice would you give to someone who is considering making a big career or lifestyle change?

My biggest piece of advice is: if you are unhappy where you are, it doesn’t have to be that way. I thought for the longest time that I was going to have to work at a job that was 9 to 5 – I thought that was just how it was. And I hated it, I’ve never felt so unhappy, and I was looking at other jobs and it all sounded the same. And finally I realised that there was another way, and there is something that you can do that’s outside of that box, that there is a way to do that, even though you might not feel ready to make the leap… I definitely wasn’t ready when I first decided to do this!

I remember not even having a contract for one of my first clients, but you just make it happen, and you figure things out along the way. The only way you can really get to where you want to go is just by taking those little steps. And it might be a little messy, it might not be perfect, but you just do it and you’ll learn and you’ll grow with each step you take.

So I would say just start before you’re ready and know that you don’t have to stay where you are if you’re unhappy. There are so many other opportunities – especially today, there are so many opportunities to have flexible work, or part-time work, or online remote work. And I think if you can open yourself up to the idea that there is a new way to do things, that’s really eye-opening.

This past weekend, I went to an entrepreneur’s event, and everyone was doing the same thing that I wanted to do; and seeing their success and seeing these people crush it in their industry was so exciting. To hear that, and be in their world, in their sphere, was, like, “Wow!” It shows you what’s possible for you. And I felt that these people were my people. And they’re just a couple of steps ahead of me – and you can get there too.

So it’s really just about being around people, surrounding yourself with people who are in a similar sphere. Especially online, it can get really lonely when you work from home – so try and find some networking events; even online communities, Facebook groups and stuff like that can be amazing.

You can find Kara on Instagram and if you’re a would-be virtual business owner then make sure you join her Facebook group, the VA Visionaries!

Fearless Fridays: From graphic designer to pioneering business owner

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Fearless-fridays-with-carol-j-dunlopThis month’s Fearless Fridays interview is with Carol J. Dunlop. At the time of recording, we were taking part in a virtual summit with and for women… When she heard about the work I was doing, she said to herself, “Oh, I have to be on this. I have to do this.”

Carol is, I’d say, our most experienced escapee so far. She started her business from home when that wasn’t just something you did! I took the opportunity to explore with her how she has been able to continue growing, learning and pivoting in her business so that it has lasted for the past 25 years (yes, 25!).

Read on or watch the full interview below to discover how Carol got started 25 years ago, and how she’s still going strong.

Leaving a corporate job behind to follow your passion: From graphic designer to pioneering business owner

Carol-DunlopCarol J. Dunlop had spent her whole career working as a graphic designer or in some kind of design role. When her husband prompted her to go out on her own, that’s what she did, and she became an ‘early adopter’ of the work-from-home business model. Today, she is still the Chief Communications Officer at CSI Corporation, the website and marketing strategy company she founded 25 years ago with her husband Alvin.

1) At what moment did you decide it was time for a change?

All my life, I’ve been a graphic designer. And I just got to a point where I was like, “I can’t do this anymore. I want to be on my own. I want to work for myself.”

And I just made the decision one day: “I’m going to do it.” And I’m so glad that my husband was there because he actually made the decision for me. He was like, “You need to get out of doing this. You need to be on your own. You’re too good to work for someone else.”

I think he saw the entrepreneurialism in me, and I was such a bad employee anyway. I mean, I did not follow the rules, I didn’t want to listen to the authority. I always had other things that they needed to do. If they told me to do one, two and three, I was like, “Well, you should do one, two, three and four.” Or, “Five, six and seven. Why are you not doing this?”

I needed to be on my own. Because as you know, most people, when you’re working for a company or boss or whatever, you’re limited on the things that you can do for yourself. And there’s really no creativity or freedom. It’s just, “Here, do this, do that. Thank you very much. Okay, do this again.” And I don’t flourish in those types of environments, so I knew I needed to get out. That was basically it.

And to top it all off, my mother, my grandmother and my great grandmother all worked for themselves. Now granted, my great grandmother and my grandmother grew up in the States in this kind of oppressed, Deep South and blacks only do certain things. But my great grandmother owned a farm, which was kind of unheard of for a woman, and a black woman at that.

And then my grandmother, she worked for the local, I guess rich people, cleaning their homes and stuff. But I like to call her an Independent Contractor. She just worked for whoever she wanted to. She interviewed them and they came after her. And then my mother actually owned a day care centre.

So I grew up with seeing all these women bosses all around me and they weren’t taking anything from anybody. And I was like, “Why was I?”

But, you know, when you’re born you’re set on this track. And then as you grow up, your parents or other grown people around you are always trying to get you to do certain things like go get a job, finish school, have a career. So that’s what’s pumped into you, and that was what was pumped into me. Go to school, get a career, live your life, get that gold or platinum watch or whatever it was.

My dream was to actually start an art studio because I am an artist, by heart. My God, he gave me that talent and I was like, “Oh, okay I want to just paint and travel and all that.” So I knew I had that yearning. It’s just… sometimes I think you need someone to push you forward and make you realise how great you are. And that was my husband.

2) What was the biggest challenge you faced in making the change?

I think the transition was like it was for everyone: “Where is the money going to come from? Where am I going to get these clients? How am I going to deal with this? How are they going to pay me?” Just all those little things you really don’t think of when you want to go out on your own, and there’s no one there to tell you exactly what you need to do. Just hitting the ground running and saying, “What do I need to do?”

The first thing I did was to connect with a couple of people I had worked with previously and they hired me to do some freelance graphic design. And then that’s the other thing: “How much am I going to charge?” and being brave enough to say, “No, I don’t want this,” and not just working for anything.

Because when you’re working for yourself and you just push yourself out there, you think, “Okay, I’ve got to get money. Okay, I’ll just discount this piece. Okay, I’ll just … ” And then before you know it, you’re discounting everything and you’re not making any money. And you think, “Darn, I should just go back and work for the man because I’m not making enough money.”

So, it’s all about giving yourself that time to learn and to grow. Because when you first go on a job, you don’t know how to do the job. It’s going to take you about six months to a year to really perfect it, to really know what you’re doing. And sometimes when you go out on your own, you don’t have the luxury of that time. Depending on if you just got fired or if you just quit, or if you’re just making this decision right now, you need money now. So, that influences what you do and how you do it.

3) Where did you get the support you needed to make it happen?

The internet. But it was 25 years ago, the internet wasn’t what it is now, so I had to turn to people who were already doing that and to books at the library. I’ve always been a curious person, even nosy – curious as to how things work. So, I’m always looking at others, how they’re doing things and trying to look ‘behind the scenes’. Now, when the internet broke out and you could find anything, oh, I was just a ‘gobbler-up’ of information. And today it’s so much easier to find stuff because you can follow people who are doing stuff that either you want to do or need to do. And the ease of access is just so much exponentially greater than it was.

Plus, depending on what you’re going into and what you’re going to do, you can always temp. The temp agencies weren’t really around that much, not like they are now, when I started out. You can work from home and do just about anything now. When I started, you couldn’t work from home and do anything. Nothing.

Believe this or not, and I know some of you will go, “Oh my God”: if you tried to get a telephone number for your business and it was out of your home, Southern Bell was not having that at all. You could not have a business number out of your home.

So, those were the barriers and the things that I had to contend with. And then, of course, if you were a business, you needed a location and working from your home was just unheard of. “Well, working from your home, what are you doing? Keeping kids?” “No, I’m not. There’s no childcare here.” So I got started before SOHO, small office home office, came about.

Today, it’s so much easier and you get so much respect, so much more instantaneously now because people don’t ask you, “Well, where’s your office?” And if your office is in your home, you can always meet somewhere else. “Let’s meet at the coffee house.” They don’t think anything about it.

So basically, the library was my best friend until the internet really came out and gave us all this information. And I have books upon books – I had three tiers of books on working from home, working for yourself, being a consultant, all of that.

The stuff was out there – It was just harder to get hold of than it is right now.

4) What’s the best part of your lifestyle today?

Today, Carol teaches entrepreneurs to perfect their marketing strategy to get more clients and live the life they want.

I would have to say it’s everything. It’s everything that I had wished for and then sometimes it’s nothing that I thought that I would get.

And then on some days, I have to be honest, it’s the worst thing that ever happened. It’s the worst thing, worst decision I ever made. “Oh my God, what is wrong with me?” Even this long, you get frustrated, you get tired. You have to look at it like your job, right? You go into work every day, you get up, you have your ritual, you do your thing, you go through the day. Your boss pisses you off so bad you want to quit and then you’re just cursing him out in your head, but you don’t quit. You keep going because you need that money, or you need that check or whatever.

Having your own business is the same way. Clients frustrate you, tactics, things that you have to do, marketing – they frustrate you. But you don’t quit, you just keep going, if this is something that you really want to do.

And actually, I did a podcast episode about this. What do you do when you want to quit? Because I had that feeling, a couple of weeks ago, it was just so hard. And then I had four of my best business friends say, “I’m ready to quit. I’m tired of this, I’m getting frustrated.”

If this is your calling, your purpose, you know this is what you want to do, you can’t quit on it. You have to find ways to keep yourself going.

I have business besties who, when we feel that way, we call each other, cry on the phone, pray, meditate, whatever you have to do, just to get through it. Just because you’re having a bad day, life doesn’t stop, it keeps on going. The clients still need stuff, you still need to get stuff done. You still have to pay for things, you still need to keep your videos going, your podcasting, your writing, whatever it is you’re doing.

Every day is different, you never know. The things that come into your life, the people… The people that you meet that otherwise, if you just stuck in a J-O-B – unless you’re a travelling salesperson or a rep or something – you would never meet these people. Like you, you and I, how we came together.

5) What one piece of advice would you give to someone who is considering making a big career or lifestyle change?

Well, that’s a great question.

I would say – if you haven’t done it yet, if you’re thinking, “I need to do this,” – get a coach. Get a coach who is coaching in whatever it is you’re trying to do. Even if it’s a success coach or a money coach or a productivity coach, whatever. Get some type of coach so you can get your bearings.

The thing is now, you don’t have to be a pioneer. You don’t have to go out in the forest and cut all the trees and make the log cabin all by yourself – it’s already been done. So find some people who have already done it and get with them so that you can have that kind of instant community.

Now, if you are hell bent on doing it yourself, go ahead. But go to the internet, follow some other people who have been doing it and listen to them for a little bit. Because the best thing is, if you’ve got time, if you have a J-O-B right now and you’re making money, use that time to fund your business and set yourself up for success. Now, sometimes you can’t. You get fired or you lose your job right away or you just can’t take it…

But there’s too much information out there now for you to be stuck saying, “What do I do next?” There are paths and roads and blueprints and all of that. Some of them are free, some of them are low cost, some are expensive – but there is information, so you don’t have to do it alone. You don’t have to be sitting there thinking, “What’s the next move?” Because the next move has already been planned. Someone else is in your shoes right now and because of this new digital economy, this new digital age and technology is right at our fingertips, you can connect with someone who is at the exact same place you are right this second, even if they don’t live where you live.

But then one person says, “Go down the shiny road,” and the other person says, “No, leave the shiny road alone. It’s the dog road you need.” So you have to at some point, after you get this help, make a decision: what you’re going to do, what your path is going to be… and then you do have to jump. Because sitting there, procrastinating, waffling back and forth, whatever you call it, is going to cause you not to do anything. And if you’re the type of person – like you and I are – where entrepreneurialism is just calling you, it’s going to eat you alive otherwise. So you’re going to have to do something.

Even if you fail. I have failed many times and still will fail many more times, and I don’t make the right decisions all the time… but I’m still moving forward on what I need to do. So, don’t contemplate on it too long. Find out as much as need and then just make a decision and go. If it’s the wrong decision, so what, you’re not the only one to have failed. Who was it, Edison? He said he didn’t fail a thousand times, he just found a thousand ways it wouldn’t work.

Find out more about Carol J. Dunlop on her website and listen to her UN-Market Your Business podcast on your favourite podcast app (e.g. Apple >>).

Fearless Fridays: From Grey’s Anatomy to weight loss transformation

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Fearless-Fridays-with-angela-tranThis month’s Fearless Fridays interview is with Angela Tran. We are both part of a business mastermind and I suddenly realised that her story was an inspirational one to share with you all!

Angela took a “detour in the right direction”, as Gabby Bernstein puts it, training for 12 years to be a doctor only to then realise that the work didn’t feel meaningful to her, and wasn’t compatible with having a family.

She recognised the need for mentoring and guidance right from the start, turning first to free resources available online and then investing in a business coach to help her achieve her goals.

Read on or watch the full interview below to discover how Angela has transformed her own life, and now helps patients transform theirs.

Leaving a corporate job behind to follow your passion: From Grey’s Anatomy to weight loss transformation

Angela-tranAngela Tran started out as a primary care doctor but quickly realising that it wasn’t what she wanted to do, and it wasn’t compatible with having a family. Today, she is a medical weight loss doctor in Denver, Colorado, helping busy professionals lose over 50 pounds in less than six months without surgery, using one-on-one nutrition, fitness training and medical supervision all under one roof.

1) At what moment did you decide it was time for a change?

angela-tran-profile
“I love telling my story because there are too many people out there who are so burnt out and really in the wrong things, and I want to really open that process and allow them to take away their fear and really step outside to do what they were meant to do.”

I was the classic story, little girl with a dream of becoming a doctor. And by the time I finished 12 plus years of training, I ended up not wanting to be a doctor after all. Isn’t that a terrible feeling to have that? “Did I just waste 12 years of my life to really go back to square one?”

I had finished all the way through. I became a primary care doctor, so I was writing prescriptions, helping people with knee pain, coughs and so on, and then I started seeing diabetes and heart attacks. But at the end of the day, all I felt like I was doing was putting Band-Aids, and I wasn’t really saving lives.

I tell people doctors aren’t like they are on the hit TV show Grey’s Anatomy here in the US.

So it really made me re-evaluate. I came to a point where, gosh, if I were to start a family in the terrible state of mind that I was, I was going to be a terrible mother, terrible wife, terrible all around. So that’s when I really started my own personal journey.

I hope this resonates with all the listeners out there. I was caught in the middle of the highway, and it was high traffic, and literally it was eight o’clock at night… I was clocking in for months of 12-hour plus days; I could feel my blood pressure go up. And I literally had a moment where I said, “Gosh, if I had a child waiting for me at home…” I really felt that I would be the worst mother of all. So that was really sort of my ‘aha moment’, where, “There has to be more. I can’t live life like this.”

So I panicked. Just like anybody else, I wanted an out, so I was on the internet. You’re obsessed with looking for the next best thing and the next job, and then you realise, well, this office is further away, or this office makes you be on call on the weekends. I literally just said, “Okay, universe, you win. You know, give me a sign.”

And believe it or not, I met a doctor who actually helps doctors like me who are classically burnt out. And I went to his workshop, and that was the start of it all. He said, “You know, Angela, you remind me of one of my friends in Texas who does weight loss. I’d like to introduce you.”

And so we spent an hour on the phone. She said, “I truly am actually helping people.” And I said, “Really?” And she said, “I enjoy what I’m doing.” And I said, “Who says that? Who?” I didn’t even think that existed, that people actually really enjoyed their job. I thought it was just a means to live life. And so it was love at first sight. As soon as I got off, that was my journey. I started to try to figure out, with zero business background, how to build my practise.

Fast forward seven years later: I started from two employees to ten, that I love to death and drive me crazy. But I’d never give it up to go back to the corporate job that we all feel the pain in.

2) What was the biggest challenge you faced in making the change?

I gave up a six-figure salary paycheck. It made me want to vomit, not only to quit all the work… I was a straight A student! I gave up partying and I studied, and I really worked hard to get into medical school. And then all of a sudden, to even give it up financially; I know some people out there are the primary breadwinners. I wasn’t even married at the time. Yes, I was dating my now husband, but it was just all on me, and I didn’t ask him for any help. I said, “If I’m going to make this work, it’s all up to me.”

That was the biggest challenge of all, committing and going ‘all in’. You don’t have a plan B. You know, as an entrepreneur, there’s no such thing as a plan B. You make it work, and that’s why you’re successful, because you don’t think that there is ever going to be a plan B. That’s probably been one of the secrets.

And then the second obstacle was, “I have no idea how to run a business.” I know how to look under a microscope, and I know how to prescribe an antibiotic, but I don’t know anything about profit-and-loss statements and hiring employees and pricing products and services.

3) Where did you get the support you needed to make it happen?

The nice thing is that the internet is your library of resources; everything and anything that you ever need is right there.

Here in Denver, Colorado, they also have a centre called the Denver Small Business Development Center. So you take a business basics class, and then they assign you a free mentor that you can meet with. So for an entire year, I literally was in her office every other month. I was seeing patients, running back to the corner office, making phone calls. And fast forward to about 2012, when I officially opened doors, right after I put in the resignation to my chief.

Yes, I had the support of my mother and my now husband, but they’ve never run a business, and so thankfully, they just said, “You can do it.” But really, I had to find resources again, what was accessible to me, like the mentor at the Denver Small Business Development Center, and just took a few courses online, a few business conferences. I just had to open myself up to the world, because you get caught in your corporate job; you have a very narrow-minded one point of view.

And then once you release what I call the golden handcuffs so to speak, the universe is at your feet. So I let the universe support me, and I was more open to it. Rather than my narrow-minded, “I want to control things,” “I want this to happen,” I just sort of released whatever I thought was right, and allowed the blueprint that I believe already existed, and kind of took the Indiana Jones leap of faith. You don’t see it at all. You literally feel like you’re going to fall – that’s exactly how it feels. But all you have to do is take a step.

4) What’s the best part of your lifestyle today?

Angela now has a team of ten employees, whom she loves!

Oh my goodness, I’m just on an all-time high. Yes, I do have the stresses of running a business. Youmentioned we are in a Mastermind group called Legacy Leaders, and our business coach is Kelly Roach. I owe everything to her, because back in 2015, I still struggled. I still didn’t really know what I was doing. I kind of almost recreated my corporate job. So I was still the one-woman show where I was seeing patients back to back to back. And I was doing the marketing and the bookkeeping and even answering the phone calls. I remember I had one employee and she was feeling ill, and so I was it, the only one in the office.

And so I finally came across Kelly Roach, who really helped me understand how to build a true business and build a team.

Fast forward to today: rather than seeing 25 patients a day, I see roughly about five patients a week. But I’ve been able to build an actual team that can really facilitate the programme and formula that I’ve created. Now I still see all patients, but it’s just in such a different atmosphere.

I did it all for my daughter Hailey. I get to drop her off at school next door to my office. I take her home during my lunch break. If she has a soccer game, I get to take her. If she’s sick, I get to go home and take care of her. If I want Fridays off… I don’t remember the last time I worked a Friday. That’s the beauty of really stepping out of what you thought was security, and opening yourself up to what you were truly meant to do, and the universe just rewards you over and over again.

And I heard this from another mentor: “The universe is your business partner.” And I truly believe that.

5) What one piece of advice would you give to someone who is considering making a big career or lifestyle change?

Commit to yourself first. I know that some people kind of hear that, and it logically makes sense, but they never actually implement that all the way through, because of fear or whatever barrier stories. You can say it logically, but you have to actually feel it, commit to yourself first, and then things will work out the way they’re supposed to. You actually have to make a decision, meaning that you eliminate all other alternatives by committing.

I know there are a lot of people out there who are scared, and I was there, and guess what? I’m still there. We as business owners just have a different tolerance of fear, and we’re able to make decisions around it. But I’ve been there, and I just want to encourage people; there is so much on the other side that you are giving up by staying where you are. So commit, figure it out, and it will be fast to get you to where you want to be. Life is too short for you to stay where you are.

Find out more about Angela at denverweightlossclinic.comor find her on Facebook.

Fearless Fridays: From food editing to keto cooking

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Fearless-Fridays-with-julie-mokhtarThis month’s Fearless Fridays interview is with Julie Mokhtar, also known as KETOJules, who I came across on Instagram.

She is another of the people I’ve spoken to who really loved her job, so it wasn’t a question of leaving to get away from something terrible. She felt, however, that there was a disconnect when it came to the work that she was doing in her day job and her growing side hustle.

Watch the full interview below or read on to find out how Julie set up her KETOJulies website, how she learnt all she could about entrepreneurship and how to monetise her content, and how she I’s now making the most of the freedom, flexibility and fulfilment that comes with running your own business.

Leaving a corporate job behind to follow your passion: From food editing to keto cooking

julie-mokhtar-profileJulie Mokhtar was working as a food editor in Kuala Lumpur when, having discovered the benefits of a keto diet for herself, she saw an opportunity to help her fellow Malaysians implement a ketogenic lifestyle. She set up a website and within two months she had money coming in to the point that she decided to quit her job to go full time. Today, Julie is a certified ketogenic living coach and has a blog, a starter guide and a number of e-books to help people kickstart and sustain a keto lifestyle.

1) At what moment did you decide it was time for a change?

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Food has always been Julie’s ‘thing’ and, although she was working with food in her previous job as an editor, she felt drawn to helping people more with improving their health by eating a nutritional diet.

I was working as a food editor at one of the largest digital content producers that we have here in Malaysia, and it was, I would say, a dream job in most ways. My role was to create content centred around food – making recipe videos, brainstorming sponsored content for our clients, and so on. I was happy, I loved it so much, and it was fulfilling in so many ways. I worked with an amazing team, and I had an editor that I really looked up to. So people would ask me, “Why are you going to leave that and work on this new, uncertain thing?”

I think there were two big things that influenced my decision.

The first was that I wanted to be more authentic. Part of my day job was going out to try new foods, and going to food events. At that point, I was already on the keto diet and KETOJules was already there, and so at my day job, I was trying to eat around the carbs. So, at a pizza event for example, I was just eating the toppings – and I looked like the most ridiculous person ever!

I felt like there was a disconnect between me as a career person and then who I was with the KETOJules brand. On KETOJules, I was trying to promote nutritional awareness of how we choose to fuel our body, and so it felt inauthentic that I was there eating foods that were not part of what I felt was great for me. And I had to eat some of these things, because there were times that I had to be talent in the video, and I had to eat burgers and stuff like that!

So I felt that, “Okay, I need to pick which person I want to be.” I naturally gravitated to the keto side of things, because it has made me feel so much more centred, both physically and mentally – and that’s how the decision was made!

I think the bigger reason that made me eventually decide that I had to leave was that we also worked with a lot of food brands that wanted to appear much healthier than they actually were to the public. I really believe in clear branding and transparency and this misleading information that I was helping them put out didn’t really sit well with me. I felt, ethically, that I could not be okay with that, and I didn’t want to be part of the problem. I wanted to be part of helping people and empowering them to make a more informed decision when it comes to their health. So, that was how I decided that it was KETOJules all the way!

2) What was the biggest challenge you faced in making the change?

I think monetisation was my biggest challenge. I wanted to make sure that I could pay my bills and have some form of sustenance at the end of the month! And although I was producing all this content, I had never actually known how to make money from it.

And so, when I quit my job, I learned all I could about entrepreneurship. I went for master classes, I would be listening to webinars the whole day, and going to seminars and talks. I was getting to know other entrepreneurs and really trying to figure out: what’s the best way for me to make money in the long term?

I was also starting up a few different income generators and then analysing which one was most profitable, and how much time as well as how much mental and physical capacity it would take to generate this income. Because if you want something to be sustainable, you have to look for something where you can make money in the least amount of time with the least resistance; you don’t want to be making money at the expense of your mental health.

3) Where did you get the support you needed to make it happen?

Credit goes to my husband, who was my financial safety net at that point. I told him, “Hey, so this is my plan: I’m going to leave my job.” And he wasn’t even shocked, he just said, ”Okay, so how can I help?” He was really there for me.

And my family members are amazing, and I have amazing girlfriends who are always there. They make sure to call me at some point just so I have human interaction when I’m working at home by myself!

Having that support system has been really, really great for me – and that’s really helpful for any entrepreneur, I think.

4) What’s the best part of your lifestyle today?

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Running her own business gives Julie the freedom to make her own decisions, the flexibility to manage her day according to what works for her, and the fulfilment that comes from knowing that she’s making a difference with the people she works with.

I’m going to quote you on this, because I saw your video that you did on freedom, fulfilment and flexibility! These really spoke to me on a whole other level, these are the things that I was looking for.

As I mentioned, the job that I had before was fulfilling in some ways, but to be able to have that freedom to make a call on every decision in the business – whether I fail or I succeed, everything is on me right now – I think that is a great thing.

It teaches me a lot and it gives me a lot of freedom in the sense of choosing what sort of content I want to produce. I pick what sort of brands I want to continue working with, that are great for the community.

And flexibility in the sense that I’m free to carve out my work schedule according to how I like it to be. I could work a bit later in the morning and get my workout in first, whereas when I was working before, most of my energy was spent on the job and by the time I came home, I was super tired and I didn’t really want to be doing anything else. It gives me so much more space to really work on all these other things that are also important in my life, like my health, and things like that.

When I was working, I would look at all those people in coffee shops at really odd hours on week days, and I would think, “What do they do? How come they’re so free and they’re here having coffee while I’m at work?!” And I’m so happy that I’m one of those people now! It’s just so freeing, to make your own decisions about when and how you want to work.

Where I am right now, it also carries a lot of meaning in the sense that I am working with people to help them better their health – and I feel like I have more of a purpose.

5) What one piece of advice would you give to someone who is considering making a big career or lifestyle change?

Make sure that you’re – if not 100% ready – at least 99% ready! I think it’s best to validate your business idea first, to make sure that it’s going to be okay – because if you quit and it doesn’t work out, it’s going be so much harder to bounce back.

So, if you really need to stay at your job first, for the financial security, that’s fine, there’s really no shame in that. There are also a lot of things that you could learn while you’re on the job, and a lot of what I do right now, I learned from my previous job.

So have a plan; validate it; and, when you feel that you are ready to do this, then just go full steam ahead!

Find out more about KETOJules on her website or follow her on Instagram.

Fearless Fridays: From investment banking to transformational coaching

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Fearless-Fridays-With-Gareth-Martin-2This month’s Fearless Fridays interview is with Gareth Martin, who I discovered thanks to his girlfriend Maressa over on Instagram. Gareth is South African, has been living in England for the last 20 years, I met him via his Brazilian girlfriend, and he’s about to move to Portugal later this year!

Watch the full interview below or read on to find out about how Gareth ‘tried’ to leave his investment banking job already back in 2013 but found himself back there before long; how the second time round he was much better prepared, putting in place a plan, learning new skills, and increasing his savings buffer; and how the reality of running your own business doesn’t always match your expectations…

Leaving a corporate job behind to follow your passion: From investment banking to transformational coaching

Gareth Martin was an investment banker for about 20 years and really loved his work. Deep down, however, he knew that it wasn’t what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. He left two years ago, thinking he would do something with his long-standing passion of fitness and wellbeing. Today, he is a transformational coach, also running The Ridiculously Human Podcast, and really feels that he has ‘found his calling in life’.

1) At what moment did you decide it was time for a change?

I actually tried to leave… I think it was in 2013 the first time. I’d always had this thing inside me that I wanted to do something else. So, I left, and I went and did all these courses on learning how to build apps and do tech stuff and whatnot… but I didn’t really have a plan, to be honest with you. And, eventually, I came back into banking! I thought, “I’ll just come back briefly,” and it ended up being three years.

But when I went back, I realised, “Okay, I need to have a plan now,” so I made sure that within those three years, I used my time wisely, and I trained up as much as I could in terms of what I wanted to do; I also saved as much cash as I could.

Then, two years ago, I was said, “Cool, I’m ready to go. I know what I want to do, and it’s time to jump in at the deep end.”

When I left investment banking, I thought I was going to get into the health and wellness space. I trained many years ago to be a personal trainer, and in those last three years, I was training people on the side. I figured, “I’m definitely going to get into this and do some sort of high-end personal coaching.”

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Gareth trained to be a yoga instructor and meditation teacher in India.

At the same time, I felt like a one-trick pony, because I’d been doing banking for such a long time and I didn’t really have a tonne of other skills. So, I said, “Okay, I need a year to go and up-skill myself.” And I wanted to offer something quite boutique-y and unique, not just personal training – there’s so much more to being healthy than just hitting the gym.

I went to India for two or three months, and I trained to be a yoga instructor and meditation teacher; I then came back and studied to be a chef. Then, while I was finishing off my chef diploma, a friend of mine said, “Why don’t you come and do this executive coaching certification with me?”

There’s a real art and science to coaching people properly, and I thought, “I can learn this and apply it to the fitness side of things.” We did the course together and I realised, “Actually, I much prefer this!”

Once I’d finished that course, I thought, “This is definitely what I want to do.” And it was that executive coaching which really changed my trajectory towards the coaching that I’m doing now.

2) What was the biggest challenge you faced in making the change?

First of all, it takes much longer than you’ll ever imagine.

I think the picture that people have, that I had, for example, was that, “I’m just going to be at home and be able to do my own thing, and I’m going to have so much time!”

And the reality is that, actually, you’re going to work much harder than you probably ever worked in your corporate job, especially in the beginning. And by “the beginning”, I mean the first two to three, maybe even longer, years. It takes a lot to get a business going.

It’s also much lonelier than you think. Personally, I thrive around people, that’s where I feel like I’m in my element. And so, being at home is definitely lonely.

You need to really understand these things and get your mindset into the right place, to be happy with your own company. I’m so happy that I’ve been working on mindsets and trained yoga and meditation and all of these sorts of things, because you get to actually be a bit more comfortable within your own skin.

Also, your network changes. You’re going to have to be ready for some of your friends who don’t understand what you’re doing.

3) Where did you get the support you needed to make it happen?

I did a lot of courses, so I met a lot of people through that. There was another course I didn’t mention, as well, the altMBA, by Seth Godin – that was a real game-changer for me. It was online, but it was still an amazing network, and I’ve since met a lot of those people in person.

I think you have to put some rules and things into place in your life: you have to make an effort to get out of the house every single day; you have to make an effort to join groups; possibly go to a co-working space once or twice a week, just so that you can actually speak to people and see them.

4) What’s the best part of your lifestyle today?

Gareth loves seeing the transformation in people over just a few months of working together.

Like I said, I loved investment banking, but it feels very one-directional. You’re just there, you’re helping the bank earn more money, and you’re not really providing much value in the world. So, for me, there was this huge void. I thought, “Fine, I’m doing a good job, but I’m not actually providing something positive back into the world; I’m not helping people.” I knew I wanted to do that – and, now, I feel like I’m doing that. It’s amazing!

Every single week on our podcast, we speak to such interesting people, people who have done incredible things, and we really get to know these people in such a long-form podcast. We book in a two-hour slot and, for most of the time, we’re basically chatting to them about their life story; and you learn so much about people through their own stories. And for us, Craig and I who run it, it’s been beneficial, selfishly as individuals; but then the really cool thing is when you post an episode, and you have people who listen and who say, “I totally related to that, I found it so powerful.”

So you realise, “Okay, I’m doing something good. We are providing value; we’re helping other people.” And that, for me, nourishes the soul. If we can touch one person a week and help them out, then that is the best thing ever.

And then, on the coaching side, it’s the same thing. You see these transformations in people – people who have a bit of low confidence or low self-esteem, or who are confused and a little bit lost and don’t know how to get to the place that they want to get to – and over 12 weeks, their outlooks and their perspectives on the world have completely shifted. These sorts of things make such a big difference to my life now.

And also, just not having somebody to answer to every day! I feel fortunate that I had some great managers when I was working for the investment bank, but then at the same time, you also have the odd one who really makes your life a misery, and that was the case for one of my last roles for almost two years. Micromanaging for me is just not the way to do it; I’m not the type of person that needs to be micromanaged, and I really disliked that.

It’s just being in charge of your own day, and your own destiny. It’s such an amazing feeling, having autonomy in your life. And now I have a fully online business, so if we want to go somewhere – say, Maressa and I are going to go to Portugal later on this year to live – then we can! I’m not bound by where I need to be. And just having a little bit of that flexibility in your day to go and drop some keys off this afternoon, and have a cup of coffee with somebody, and I don’t have to ask anybody; I can plan my own day around that.

Those are some of the things that I really, really love.

5) What one piece of advice would you give to someone who is considering making a big career or lifestyle change?

I think everybody in this world has something amazing to share, and I think because of the way society is, it’s kind of ground out of us from a young age. We learn, “Okay, this is how the world works, this is what you must do, you must go and study, you must do this,” and blah, blah, blah.

And you forget to be creative, you stop being creative, and you actually almost forget who you are as a person. And so, you really need to do some inner work first: everything comes from inside you. You need to start understanding, and remembering, who you are, and that you do have something amazing to offer this world.

I think every single person in the world is different, and they’re going to need different things…  But I actually wish that I had had a coach, somebody who had done what I wanted to do. If you can get yourself a coach, that will expedite your journey and your path so much more than you can ever imagine – these people have done what you want to do, and know the pain, and know the struggles, and everything that you’re going to go through and experience.

At the same time, you also need to go and do work yourself: you need to go and join courses, read books. You need to just go and do things, go to events, and find out what is out there. You’ll have an idea of what you want to do, but that’s going to morph over time – it may even become something completely different.

Another thing that I think is super-important is that you need to speak to those people who are close to you. You need to tell them what your plans are so that you get their buy-in, to get them on board. You need to say, “Look, this is what I want to do, and it would mean the world to me if you could provide me with your support and your backing.”

Make sure that you saved double the amount of money that you think you need; and make sure you have a plan.

Find out more about Gareth’s transformational coaching on his website, and have a listen to his podcast, Ridiculously Human.