Lessons

Lesson Info

Your "Perfect" Day Job and Your Plan B

I want to spend just a few minutes on this, and I'm glad it hasn't. It hasn't come up yet, but I'm waiting for someone to ask. But, Michelle, I need what's the perfect day job? I get this question a lot over the years, and it kind of seems weird to talk about the perfect day job while we're in a class called Picture Day job. But the first thing you might need to do to get to your dream career, uh, is like me to get a new job on. So, you know, what's the perfect day job, right? This is like asking me, um, you know how to find a unicorn unicorn. If it's a perfect day job, then you should probably stay in it, right? It means that you're in a fulfilling environment that you're doing work that you love. You're working to your strings with people you like working with your getting paid what you need. You have benefits. Like if you have all those things, then you don't need to be here. You are dismissed, right? And you've got obviously bonus points for work, life balance. And you know, the va...

cation days that you need your time for your passion projects. If that's what you have, then Amen and hallelujah. But if not, then let's just adjust our expectation, right? Perfect Day Dub is the one that gives you time and energy for your business as well as financial peace of mind. That's it's the end, right? So instead of focusing on what the perfect day job is gonna be, I want you to look at it just a better day job than what you have just looking for. Ah, better day job, Right? So the first thing you could look for and you could look for these things point by point or if you can manage to find something with all of them than amen and hallelujah to that is something you're yearning for in terms of environment. For collaboration. I had a client who was a writer who intentionally took a job working at a bakery in the morning because she was an early riser. And she said, I don't work well as a writer, knowing I have, like, all whole days ahead of May. I want to be able to know that my day is from 12 to 5 or whatever and I have to do my work in that time, so that gave her that structure. Writing is very solitary, so she liked the thought of being in a bakery and being with colleagues and having that environment and being able to talk with people. It was the social piece that she wanted, and she wanted to work with her hands. So that was a really that was a better day job for her, Something related to what you want to dio or learn. Stephanie, who were talking to tomorrow, is a really great example for this, because when I first met her, she was a nonprofit management, and then she started her business, old Town suds, And then while she was working on her business, she made a transition into marketing and she didn't have a marketing background. But and I love this to she didn't hide the fact that she had a soap business, and she wrote about it on her resume and about her experience with the business and how she's grown it. And she was hired, as I think, a marketing manager, and she was able to use the things that she was learning in marketing for her day job with her business. That's great. Like, Amen and hallelujah to that where there is something related to your easily marketable skills. Ah, Hama was a great example of this who spoke to in the last segment, right when something's easy. Uh, then you just tell people I'm looking. I'm looking just looking for a better a better job gonna give me time for this. I think that I could find work as attempt or an organizer or whatever, Like just just let it be easy. Just let it be easy, please. Everything. You're allowed to let it be easy for me. I chose to how have my my day job be an executive assistant because that was an easy sell based on my skills. And I thought that as long as I found the right environment, as long as I didn't go work for a company that was bring me a BlackBerry and taking away my nights and weekends that that that was gonna give me everything that I needed. So, you know, you're allowed to have a job that's just punch in, punch out that you don't care about. But that's gonna give you the time, the energy and the money that you need to keep going. So I like to actually call these jobs Briggs jobs, because we know that there the structure that allow us to get from point A to point B. So my e a job. My executive assistant job was a Briggs job because thankfully, I didn't get yelled at. Mostly. I did sometimes. But it didn't affect me as I had protection of my personal time, and it gave me financial peace of mind. And there's something about having that mindset to that. You know, this is your Brinks job. You know, that means to you in your head that you're leaving, right? And I started that job knowing that I was leaving. And I think that helped my mindset at, you know, at that point. So hopefully you guys are, you know, writing down some of your Brinks job ideas on We're gonna hear them in just a moment. So So start reading them in the Shatt. But first, I want to kind of bring us into Plan B, which is how we're gonna wrap up today, right? So Plan B is really a bottom line. What could you do if you had Teoh, but we know it's really draining and soul sucking to just do something because you have to do it. I'm always very adamant that when someone comes to me who doesn't know what they want to be when they grow up, we talk about their transferable skills, but only the ones that they like, because if you're doing things that you don't like doing, but you're good at doing like that's that's not gonna work for you, right? So we're looking at Not only what could you do if you had to, but what wouldn't be you and down doing what you have to and knowing that it's soul sucking is like Plan C or Plan L or Plan X tonight. So I want you to think about and you could go back to what you just wrote about the worst thing that can happen and what you could do to offset it. There might be some ideas there that would be some like non soul sucking ideas. What could be a good bridge job? Well, Heather, what do you writing? Um, I want something where I have a variety of responsibilities, so I'm not just sitting doing exact same thing in the exact same spot all day long. Uh, and right now I do that alone in a cubicle attached to a telephone. Oh, I can't imagine. And it's a very stressful and difficult, because I don't like it. Um, and so something where I have a variety of and have people interaction. And, you know, uh, I just having, you know, I guess just variety I So what jobs kind of come to mind that you think could give you that variety? Anything in particular, Papa? No. You know, I immediately think, um, like, you know, retail not, you know, man management, restaurant management, or working within a small I think anything within probably small businesses. If you know you're working for a small company, there's probably more of a likelihood that you're gonna get to wear many hats. Yeah, and maybe maybe you're helping on florists in the area with, you know, setting up weddings or something. Or maybe there's still something create a creativity wise that be doing. But I love that. And I think that's something you don't need to hide one. And if you look for another job um, and saying I'm the person that wants to do you do, for they find the person that would welcome wearing a lot of different hats. And and I want variety. My work. Someone's gonna need a Jill of all trades and that could be a really good fit. I really like that. What about you live that I actually have a lead on a potential rich it's doing um, uh, Js consulting work part time from home with a small consulting firm that I'd be able to adjust my hours, we'd be able to figure out and she's gonna be very flexible on if I want o reduce my hours down to 10 hours or bump it up to 30 hours. We confined projects to do that work. And so it's got me really excited. That's amazing. I love that you like taking the easily marketable skills and running with it. She's so great. I also have to give a shout out to my guess. She's my assistant, in a way, Jamie, uh, who helped me put all this power point together. She's my Jill of all trades, and I found her because she emailed me and she's someone that I knew kind of not not so well, kind of an acquaintance. And she emailed me in a very casually it professional manner and said, I love your business and I really admire it and I would I would love She's a comedian and she said, I want to have my day jobs be around things that I like doing And I think it would be really great to work with you. And I wonder if there's anything that that I could offer you that you need. And we went for coffee and I told her what I needed. And I heard from her what she likes to do and where I was like, if I could give you 10 hours a month on she said, Okay, and we had a starting point, and I think it was such a gift. Hi, Jamie. If you're watching, she's such a blessing because she's smart and she cares about my business. And, um, she is someone that I'm happy to have be client facing or someone that works really well behind the scenes with me. So don't be shy. If there is a business in real life or online, someone that you admire that? Maybe you don't know very well or you don't know at all. Don't be afraid to reach out to them and say This is what I could offer you. Uh, you never know what's gonna happen with it, right? So in the chat, are they talking about their breaks? Jobs? They are. They are. And we have a variety of ideas from people or there are a number of people that say they're already in their bridge jobs. So that's great to hear. Great to hear whether that's Cheryl nonprofit work, social media work. Receptionist. We have SP who is a studio artist working for an art publishing company. And so the work of their publishing company is a little bit more commercial eso when he or she comes home, Hey, can still or she considered be creative. That's it's practicing that skill rate but not being totally burned out. Right? So somebody who does social media being able to do that on the side online community manager. So, yeah, people are people are getting ideas coming from a I'm so glad to hear it. So with all those ideas, just write down. This isn't complicated. People gets right down your plan B, which is really, like, out of the Briggs job ideas that you have. What lights you up the most, like that's really it, right? What would you be the most excited to Dio? I left space in the workbook for Plan C and D because sometimes it's just, you know, good for our mindsets to get those down. So So for me, I guess this is still my plan B and Plan C. But it was always, you know, my plan B was gonna be restaurant and retail. Not that I'd be excited to restaurant in retail, but that, to me, is less soul sucking than going back to a desk job 40 hours a week. And I could still in my mind, work on my business in a pretty hands on way with just having, you know, shifts to go to or cover on my plan c would be go back to corporate America, uh, which, you know, would give meaning more money that I needed, but would definitely be more soul sucking for me. So see, is what you could do, but you probably don't want to dio, um and be is more of like what you could do. And you'd be jazz to Dio Uh, so I'm just curious. Do you guys write anything specific? I feel like plan B for you live is Is that consulting job like that thinks another perk is that I get to work from home, which is even more ideal. So that's good. We'll be crossing you. That works out. That's amazing. That's anything anything come up for you. I feel like this is good homework for you tonight. Kind of be thinking more about on looking into those sorts of opportunities. Yes, I don't have anything like that's probably, you know Yeah, Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid, Teoh. Email your your people to your own network and just tell them. You know, I'm looking for something in addition, either to replace your job, which it sounds like, maybe needs to happen. Or in addition to your job, to be saving more money And just be honest with what you're looking for. You never know who knows someone else. I gotta lie. A lot of clients say, Oh, well, I want I want to work on and in an advertising, but I don't know anyone that works in advertising. Well, you probably know someone who knows someone who works in advertising. So send out emails to the people that you trust. Burlington is a really great search tool on Facebook, actually. Surprisingly, you could go in the Facebook search bar and say friends who work at advertising or something, and you'll see people that come up but linked in, uh, you could put in the companies that you would like to work for it we'd like to work for, and you could see how you're connected on you Probably be surprised that two who you might be connected to that's connected to something that you wanna dio, right? So that is absolutely, we're looking at Have any questions? Come in Kenna from that? Ask a question. Because we have some time. Teoh, before we wrap up today really dig in to anything that anyone still freaking out about or wanted want answers to? Yeah, that would be great. In fact, people can vote on the questions, has been sitting around all day a number of cancer. Um, and this is from Miss Iraq, with eight votes isn't absolutely vital to get completely out of debt before quitting your day job as you pursue your dream job. No. Uh, no, I don't think so. That sounds to me like another roadblock. Like you're telling yourself I have to get completely out of debt. I still had credit card. I think when I left my day job, I think, um, for a while. But I think as long as you know, you're making the payments that you want to make and you're not defaulting on your loans anymore and maybe you're paying a bit more of the minimum, then you can than that, then that's that's fine. I feel like I wouldn't want that to hold anyone back, because that could be especially if you have student loans or something that could just be something that Oh, well, until I pay off my student loans, that's in 10 years. You know, um, we wouldn't want to do that. So which is really a relief, Teoh. Uh, what? What do you think is the sort of balance then of, like, have this debt? And I'm trying Teoh get the safety net on by breathing Really easy number. Breathe easy number on. And then, like having right job now balance. Is that a hard question? Yeah, I know. It's not a hard question. I mean, I wish that there was a magic formula. I wish I could say like, Oh, you should put, you know, with the money that's going out the door, you should put, you know, 10% in your dick today. Job funding 25% in your debt and, you know, 50% in your house or whatever. It's not that cut and dry. But if credit card debt or student loan that something like that is really an issue for you, then I would just encourage you to find tools for that particular thing to help you. I know what help me pay down. My credit card debt was a credit card debt calculator that I think was like through, like CNN money website or something like that, and I put in the A P R rate of every credit card and how much debt I had for each card and it told, and how much money I was able to pay every month towards my debt. So I I'd be able to say, Well, I have $500 every month and it spit out this plan for me to pay, you know, pick credit card number one, which has the highest PR $300 play pay credit card number to $100. And then the credit card number three. Another $100 in total. You've paid everything off, and you could see that timeline, because when you input it, it'll spit out like you'll pay off all these credit cards and, you know, 50 years or whatever on then you could kind of adjusts things. So I think you should definitely pay the minimum pay as much as you can. But you could also, you know, do wonders transferring things to 0% a p, your credit cards and maybe you're paying a little bit of a fee up front. But in the long term, it's, um, not, you know, it's going to save you some money. And so if you know that that's an issue, like definitely get get help for that you is just is making that plan, Yeah, not just ignoring it. But when you're looking at your particular scenario, like whether it's dead or what have you like, and if it is, that's gonna take me two years, Teoh Payoff. That lets still within that plan of okay. Might be taking me two years to ditch my day job as well Be a piece of it. Absolutely. Um, And one other question that kind of builds flows into that is then, if you're ditching your day job, maybe we're going to talk about this tomorrow. But what are the additional expenses that you might need to start the new business? So not just that, Like amount that I can live on with how I am now. But adding in that, what is it gonna take me to launch? Yeah, you know, this is this is we're not covering that specifically because it's so hard to do that. Generally, for the thousands of you who are here, that's a really like, personalized thing and obviously be very different for what a life coach names as opposed to a photographer as opposed to a writer as opposed to a social media marketer on and on and on and on. But what we will cover are my favorite platforms and resource is to keep your costs low. I really think that there is just no reason that launching. Starting your business should show cost you anything significant unless you have to buy it unless you have to buy expensive equipment for your business in order for it to succeed. Um, I know for me my my expenses and granted. You know, I don't have a product that I'm making on only to buy materials. I don't have a separate office space or a brick and mortar shop or anything like that. I just needed my website and a reliable telephone been and some programs to like get clients or documents and have them, you know, schedule their sessions. And on the on the outset of when I launched like, I think I paid for my sins and we gain in my hosting and I paid. Eventually I paid, like $300 for a logo, a block banner, my business cards and letterhead to be designed for me. And like that was it. I think for a long time, until I decided, Let's, you know, let's invest in an online scheduler. Let's invest in a newsletter list that were like my newsletter grew so much that I had to pay for it. Um, that sort of thing But when you're just starting out, that's what we're really going to dig into. Tomorrow is what I like to call phase one. So taking the business tools that you know you need on really kind of like what we did with the breathe easy number. Really Be honest, just what you need to really be honest about what you need to start. I heard a lot about people just wanting to focus and prioritize and feeling overwhelmed in the shot. There was talk about that today. That's what we're gonna be doing tomorrow. So this is a good time to and we still have some time for questions. But this is a good time to say to come back tomorrow for the last day of picture day job because we're gonna go over phase one. A simplest cost effective but most impactful things you could dio for your business. We're also talking about platforms and resource is my recommendation recommendations. So you don't have to spend time or money going down that black hole of go eso I'm gonna give you the companies that I think are really great family support and support systems. We dug into that today I know how important that is for everyone at home and so know that there's a whole segment on that Tomorrow we're gonna hear from Stephanie of old town studs dot com and talked about her on and off today. And she did her side hustle with her business for three years with plans to quit her day job this year. But she got laid off last year and the weekend that she got laid off. She sold more soap that weekend than she made money in the entire prior month at her day job. So she set herself up really well, and she's gonna give us her secrets tomorrow. And then you're gonna leave with your snap your safety net action plan that is gonna be deadline driven. That is going to be reward your then. So that one we have wrapped up tomorrow you're gonna have your sheet of paper that says I need to start a blawg. July 1st. I'm gonna be like on instagram and, you know, putting up my photos. August 15th. I'm gonna, you know, open my shop with three products October 1st. And this is how this is what I'm gonna do to open my shop. So we're gonna get really, Really, really So I hope to see you guys there. Please come back tomorrow. Come back. It's fun, right? We're having fun. Even though this is all the scary stuff, tomorrow's definitely less scary. Just rip the band aid off. Absolutely. Before I come up and join you, I wouldn't Teoh have you again Talk about all the resource is that you have on your site and where people can go sign up for. Those people were asking again What was that private website? Yeah, I'm a private. What? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Tell everyone a little bit about Skoda when I grow up coach dot com slash day job dick on their you will say like, hello Future day job picture and a little like something from me and then a place to put in your email address. And when you subscribe to that list, you'll get an email right away That says, here is how you get into my private Facebook group. And as soon as we wrap today, I'm gonna be on my phone just, you know, approving everyone to go in there. It's a wonderfully support of creative community of at the time of this taping, I think almost 300 mostly women. But some dudes, too, uh, who are making their dream careers happened. They're in various stages, whether they've just figured it out or they're working in it, and they want it to grow bigger. But it's basically for anyone that's worked with me in any sort of capacity on. And then in about a week's time, you've got an email with, like, kind of a curated list of block posts that I feel like we're gonna help you most through this transition. So there things that you could read in bookmark, and we'll hopefully be helpful for you because I know this isn't an overnight thing. I know that it's not. And so whatever I could do to support you along this way, I want to dio