March 24, 2022 • 38 mins
Dan recently asked his social media followers "What would you do with your career in 2022 if you knew with total certainty that success was assured?" Would you leave your corporate job and start your own business? Would you stay in the stability of a 9-5 but pivot into a new, more fulfilling career? Or would you stay in your current career and simply switch roles?
The results were overwhelming in one direction. 45% on Instagram and 50% on LinkedIn said they'd leave corporate and start their own business.
That tracks with Goggle's latest search data... "How to start a business" beat out "how to get a job" in all of their search metrics in 2021. While millions are quitting their jobs, many are doing it for the freedom to be their own boss.
So where do you go from here?
This week on the podcast, Dan reflects on his own journey out of corporate America in 2015 and gives you 5 points to consider to help you start your business and take charge of your future.
Follow Dan on Instagram at http://instagram.com/cscdanmason
To learn how to work with Dan one-on-one, visit http://creativesoulcoaching.net
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I recently pulled my social media followers and asked what
would you do with your career in two if you
knew with total certainty that your success was assured. Would
you leave the corporate grind forever and start your own business?
Would you stay in the stability of a nine to
five but pivot into a different, more fulfilling career, or
(00:22):
would you stay in your current career and simply switch roles.
The results were overwhelming in one direction. Forty five cent
of my Instagram followers said that they would leave corporate
and start their own business. Of my LinkedIn connections said
the exact same thing, and that informal poll I conducted
(00:43):
tracks ride in line with Google's latest search data, how
to Start a Business beat out how to Get a Job,
and all of their search metrics. It does appear that
while millions of Americans are quitting their job in search
of higher salaries, many of them are doing so because
they want the freedom to become their own boss. But
(01:06):
how do you get started? Coming up this week on
the Life Amplified podcast, I'll reflect on my own journey
out of corporate America in and I will give you
the five points to consider to help you start your
business and take charge of your future. Welcome back. What
is an amplified life. It's having amplified relationships with people
(01:27):
who support and encourage you to be your best. It's
having amplified energy to conquer the challenges of the day.
And it's having an amplified career, one that's meaningful to you,
the world, and your bank accounts. I'm Dan Mason helping
you discover your calling and create an amplified life on
your terms. This is the Life Amplified Podcast. The latest
(01:54):
data from the US Census Bureau revealed that American submitted
a record five point were million business applications in one
That is the highest number in nearly twenty years, and
applications are on track to be even higher this year.
So if you are one of the people thinking about
leaving corporate and blazing your own trail, becoming your own boss,
(02:18):
the good news is you're not alone. But the sobering
news is there's about success rate on entrepreneurship. If you
look at the latest statistics on the percentage of new
businesses that fail in the United States, we see that
more than one fifth of them close operations after their
(02:39):
very first year. In business. By year two that number
increases to thirty one percent, and by year five, fifty
percent of new businesses fail. Now you can look at
that data multiple ways. I mean, the success rate and
entrepreneurship is about the success rate of most marriages. On
(03:00):
the divorce rate is the same. And if I told you, well,
you just can't ever get married now, you would assume
the best. You'd be like, I love my partner. We're
going to be the crazy kids that make it. Yet
we don't really have the same rosy outlook when it
comes to pursuing a dream of starting a business or
(03:22):
going the self employment route. You know that need for money,
it is primal. It is linked to survival. And many
high performers who come to me reach out in their
coaching applications often say the same thing. They're like, yeah, Dan,
I have this business idea. I have this idea, a message,
a product that I want to share with the world,
(03:43):
But I can't give up my lifestyle. And we tend
to think about lifestyle simply in terms of the acquisitions
that we have in our life. Has spoke to one
woman recently who is the vice president of sales at
a you know pretty decent sized company. And she talks
about the house that she owns, and she talks about
(04:04):
the investment properties that she's bought to use as passive
income on Airbnb. And you know, she talks about the
car that she has and the fact she's able to
send her kids to college. But what she doesn't talk
about lifestyle is her actual day to day life, the
emotional wellness. She told me she wakes up every day
(04:25):
and her soul feels sad that she's on this career
path that her bosses have charted out for her. They've
moved her up to VP next year. They want to
make her an s v P. We get into this
chase of letters, right, even if the alphabet soup doesn't
taste good to us when we're when we're consuming it.
(04:46):
You know, she talked about her physical health as well.
She knows she's not getting younger. You know, there are
some health concerns that are coming up. I totally get that.
I told you about my journey being in a high
paying but low fulfillment corporate job where all of a
sudden I contracted shingles and found myself on blood pressure medication.
Living in Florida at thirty eight years old. It's like,
(05:08):
what am I doing here? Right? So, you know, lifestyle
means a lot of different things, and my hope is
that you know, even through this podcast, we can start
a more holistic discussion of what a healthy, balanced lifestyle
means to you. And it shouldn't just be the number
in your investment portfolio or how much crypto you own,
(05:31):
or how many investment properties you have. And that ultimately
has been the biggest gift of the pandemic over the
last two plus years is we have all had a
chance to step back and reevaluate, reassess, perhaps even renegotiate
any part of our life that is not working. And meanwhile,
for those of you still in the corporate rat race,
(05:52):
you have the people like me on Instagram who have
our photo ops of us on the beach, you're working
from anywhere, you know, I joking. They took a photo
on my Instagram stories while at playing tourists, I went
to this place called the Carl's Bad flower Fields here
in southern California, and it's just me standing in this
beautiful flower field with like my arms out like I'm
(06:14):
Rose on the Titanic. I'm like, look at my life
of freedom. Everybody. You know, there are a lot of
entrepreneurs and thought leaders who sell that lifestyle. And trust me,
I am so glad I made the decision and my
own sense of wellness is so greatly improved then when
I was running on the treadmill every day just sort
(06:36):
of selling my soul to corporate America. However, I will
be the first to tell you that entrepreneurship is not
for everybody. That there are some people. You know your
neural programming and your life is not wired for risk.
You were not comfortable with uncertainty. And if that's the case,
(06:56):
you know, getting into starting your own business could be
a path for a whole lot of pain for you.
So there are some key considerations that you need to
figure if you were going to make this leap and
make it successfully. And that is what this week's episode
is all about. I want to give you five points
that you should consider before you quit your corporate job
(07:18):
and head out into the world of entrepreneurship. And here
is point number one. And man, this is the foundation
of anything. If you have not addressed this question in
your life, uh, it's going to be very hard for
you to move forward or to stay aligned when the
ship hits the fan. Here's the question you need to
(07:40):
ask yourself, am I starting something that I am passionate about?
You know? One of the things that's happened in the
gig economy is you have a lot of people who
are leaving the corporate grind, and what they're doing is
they're still fulfilling the same job duties that they were
doing for their former employer, but they're doing it on
(08:01):
a freelance basis. There is a woman I know who
in the pandemic left her job as a bookkeeper for
a corporation that loved her, that you know, paid her
reasonably well, you know, for that market and for the
area that she lived in. But what she really wanted
to go was to go into business for herself. So
(08:23):
she started her own book keeping business. And she got
about a year into that and what she realized is
is I don't even really love bookkeeping, Like this is
something that I am good at. It is a skill,
but it's not an inherent passion. It's not the thing
that I feel most alive when I'm doing. And now
(08:46):
she's really hit the wall here where what's come up
for her is she's had some new creative interest and
some passions to start a completely different business in a
different lane, and she's working through that fear of well, God,
all I know is that I've been paid in this
one career to do this one job. Would anybody even
(09:07):
pay me for this other thing that I have to offer?
And the question, the answer to that question, if you're
in the same spot, is always yes. People will always
pay you for anything that is solving a problem for
them or helps add value to their life. You know,
one of the biggest mistakes people make when they pivot
away from corporate and have these fantasies about starting an
(09:30):
entrepreneurship is they just focus on well, how can I
make money? And your subconscious mind, whenever you're asking that question,
we'll find an answer, but it's going to go through
all the internal reference files that it personally knows. You know,
it will say what are the ways we have made
money in the past, and you'll start thinking about every
(09:51):
job or every side hustle or career that you've already done.
It will also go through the reference files for maybe
your parents to see how did my mom and dad
make money? But it becomes very hard for you to
ever think bigger than what you've known up until now.
So the really powerful question to ask is what problems
(10:14):
am I passionate about solving? The entrepreneur mindset knows that
where there is a problem in the world, there is
an income opportunity if you can solve it. So it's
got to be something that you are passionate about. And
you know, when I was still rotting in my soul
sucking job, I remember being in an HR meeting where
(10:35):
they presented the results of the Gallop Employee Engagement study
that they put out every two years, because our company
had been part of that study. And the minute that
I saw that two and three employees globally around the
world hated their job, but we're addicted to the paycheck.
For me, a lightbulb went off. A It greatly reduced
(10:59):
my shame. I didn't feel alone anymore. I didn't feel
like an ungrateful dick because I didn't wake up every
day excited to go to work. But number two, I said, Man,
if I can figure this out for myself, if I
can figure out what my purpose is, then certainly I
could help other people do the same. And you know,
here I am six and a half years later, having
(11:21):
worked directly with clients in eighteen countries, this podcast has
reached an audience and plus or minus about a hundred
and twenty countries. I haven't really looked recently, but you know,
a global audience by showing up and teaching people how
to solve a problem that I've figured out in my life.
(11:41):
So what is that thing for you? Really taking the
time to to to come up with three concentric circles
and ask what do I love? You know? What am
I doing when I'm most switched on and alive? What
am I good at? And what does the world need?
And the intersection there is going to be the place
(12:02):
where you find this next career, and boy, it had
better be something that you were passionate about, because even
your co chair, there are days where it seems like
nothing's working. There are days when things fall through the
cracks or there is a huge setback in business, and
even I will have the day where I'm like, ah,
is this the path that I want to be on forever?
(12:25):
But then I think about you and how this podcast
has impacted your life, and I think about the clients
and all the testimonials that I've had, uh from people
who have radically transformed the trajectory of their life. They've
improved things for their family. You know, the people have
told me that literally doing the purpose work and making
(12:47):
this pivot save their life. And that gives me the
inherent motivation to show up even on the days when
it's not comfortable and it's not easy. So that is
question number one that you want to consider, right, What
am I passionate about? Number two? A question to check
in with yourself on am I starting this business for
(13:11):
the right reasons? When I think back on my old
corporate career working managing successful radio brands all over the country,
there were times when we built these new radio stations
from nothing. We would put a new format on the
air in a city and literally, you know, take these
radio stations from worst to first. And that was such
a thrill for me to start something and just that
(13:35):
alchemy of creating something from nothing. There was also a
big part of me in corporate that like to call
the shots right. I wanted to like whether we want
or lost in the ratings. I wanted that to be
on me, and I was very happy to take the
risk and and celebrate when we won. But I was
(13:58):
also willing to take full responsibility when things didn't work
out the way that we wanted. But I also had
a desire right to have more flexibility in my schedule.
The older I got, I knew that I wanted to
do something that would leave a legacy in the world.
You know, I always think about that sometimes if for
some reason there was a terrible accident and all of
(14:21):
this ended for me tomorrow, you know, if if I
lost my life tomorrow, cancel universe. Cancel universe. We're not
putting that out into the ethers, but it's pretty cool
for me to think about the fact that there's some
one hundred and seventy episodes that people would have that
could improve their life today, and if people found this
(14:42):
podcast in ten years, twenty years, the principles will still apply.
I think about all the television interviews in the media
I've done that had just gone worldwide, that still exists
on YouTube, and I think about the people who are
still finding that on YouTube searches. I had somebody reach
(15:02):
out to me about coaching the other day based on
a Huffington Post article I wrote six years ago that
I forgot that I wrote. So there's a certain legacy
um that I'm really proud of, and that legacy is
still being formed, right, it's still being built upon. But
these are all wonderful reasons to step out into entrepreneurship.
(15:24):
That you want more freedom over your time or schedule,
That you want to build wealth for yourself and your family,
and you don't want your value to be dictated by
some corporate weasel and a tower somewhere who just looks
at nothing more than a number next to your name
on the spreadsheet you know when it's time for budget cuts.
Those are all wonderful reasons. There are also some other
(15:48):
reasons that I don't want to judge as being bad
or wrong, but they are going to set you up
for frustration on this path. If you're simply starting a
business because you your job and you don't like dealing
with people, it's going to be an issue in entrepreneurship,
(16:08):
right because at some point you're going to have to
be visible, You're gonna have to be seen, You're going
to have to interface with people, You're going to have
to ask for what you want. Right if you are
starting a business simply because you want to become a
air quote influencer and become famous it's probably a good
idea to reconsider because you're always going to be in
(16:31):
this comparison trap being well, this person is making more money,
or this person has more followers, or I believe somehow
this person is more successful than me. You know. So
if these patterns of control have run your career up
until now, you're going to get into entrepreneurship and realize, well,
(16:51):
you can prepare, and you can plan, and you can
have a great business plan, but there are things that
are out of your control. One of my friends who
has been on this podcast past started a tech company
right she left a super successful career in finance, started
a tech company in January. Was that the right idea? Yeah,
(17:12):
you know, she had a tech idea that was going
to be in the wellness industry, and unfortunately it was
just at the wrong time because COVID happened and the
world went upside down. So there was a lot of
pivoting and figuring things out. There was a lot in
that moment that was out of her control. So you also,
(17:33):
you know, need a sense of being adaptive and being
flexible if you're going to start your own business. These
are things that you have to self reflect on. And
be like, are these strengths of mind? Or can I
improve these things in my life? Can I work with somebody? Uh?
To become more adaptive and nimble when it comes to
(17:56):
setting up a business. So that is the second point, right,
we want to know your reasons for starting a business.
If it's simply about you and having more control, you're
going to throw in the towel the first time that
there is a global crisis like we're living in right now.
But if it's about improving your life, improving the lives
(18:19):
of your family, uh, and also about improving the lives
of the people you're here to serve. You've got a
powerful y and you're going to show up for it.
Point number three. If you're ready to leave the nine
to five behind and start your own business, you need
a high level of self awareness. You need to know
what it is that you don't know. You know, so
(18:41):
much of entrepreneurship is being able to live in your
zone of genius. If you go back to the episode
that I've recorded last year with Gay Hendricks. Uh, that's
a beautiful concept, right, like living in your genius zone?
What are the things that you really excel at? Uh
that nobody else can do the same way you do.
(19:03):
And a lot of entrepreneurs who struggle the uh, it's
because they're living in their zone of competency, maybe a
zone of excellence, but they're wasting too much time doing
things that they could outsource to other people, or they're
trying to do the parts of their business that they're
just not very adept at, that they don't know very well.
(19:25):
So we want to figure out, right, what are your
strengths and how can you do more of that in
your business while also seeking out resources to supplement the
parts where you need assistance, because you can't do everything
by yourself. I look at some of my early marketing
materials from sixteen when I first started my business because
(19:47):
I thought that I had to be great at graphic
design and creating PDFs or even creating various web pages
like the opt in pages for webinars or trainings, and
holy hell that they are so embarrassing to look at
because I'm just not skilled that way. I don't have
(20:08):
a mind or a brain for visual design, right, And
my business has gotten infinitely easier the more that I've
outsourced those things. And by the way, for those of
you who are really hung up on the money idea
when you're starting out in business, remember so many of
these things can be done affordably. You can go on
(20:29):
these sites like fiber and up work and you can
find overseas virtual assistants who are so skilled at these things,
and because of the exchange rate, they can do it
at a very affordable cost. And also know that you're
not taking advantage of these people because of the exchange rates, right,
Like you know you might be paying thirty dollars for
(20:50):
a service, but at the same time because of the
exchange rates, like these people are like the breadwinners and
providing for their family, so they're all There's so many
reasonable resources where you can get extra help right to
supplement in the areas that you know are not in
your zone of genius. I pretty much learned at this
(21:10):
point after it took me a while to get there.
My zone of genius in my business is just showing
up and talking to people, being in the act of
coaching people, being in the act of creating podcast or
writing content. Content creation in various forms. But man a
lot of the admin stuff, the behind the scenes things,
(21:33):
the building out all the email funnels. My brain does
not work that way. So thank god, I've got some
people right now supporting me who are way better and
way more efficient at it. But what does that look
like for you? You know, if you're taking an honest assessment.
And the thing is is a lot of times when
you're starting out, particularly as a new entrepreneur or a
(21:56):
solo preneurs remember, like n of the new businesses that
have been started over the past two years or what
are known as micro businesses, so the majority of them
are actually solo preneurships. And I believe the other like
thirty to forty are companies with less than ten employees.
(22:16):
So you know, when you're when you're first starting out,
you might not even know what you're good at and
what you're not. But I would also tell you follow
the joy, right If you're immersed in learning something new,
if it's about skilling up in a new area, then hey,
that's that's cool. If you're in a high vibrational state
when you're learning a new activity, great. If you're ready
(22:39):
to throw your laptop out the window and you find
yourself punching walls, uh, that might be something that it's
just more efficient and better for your mental health to
outsource and one of the other areas that most new
entrepreneurs do not invest in. Right, they'll invest in things
like a web designer, to invest in a social media manager.
(23:02):
And I'm not telling you that any of those or
aren't wrong. Those are valuable people to have behind you. Uh.
The thing though, that helped me scale my business when
everything turned around after like a year and a half
of pain, was having an actual coach in my corner,
somebody who could help me discover the blind spots in
(23:24):
my mindset. You know, if you're a person who has
resistance to giving up any control and you can't delegate,
and you can't ask for or receive help, and you
think you've got to push a boulder up a hill
to scale the six or a multi six figure maybe
a seven figure business, you are going to work yourself
(23:46):
into the ground. You are going to trade in the
soul sucking nine job for the soul sucking entrepreneurship. Right.
So it's all about creating something that you feel good
about at the end the day. Get a coach. That's
been such a big thing for so many of my
clients who were struggling to get their business going and
(24:08):
then they were able to double their income, triple their
income because they had support in their corner. So a
quick recap here as we talk about these first five
steps that will help you trade the nine to five
for your own business. Number one, you want to start
a business that is meaningful to you that you're passionate about.
(24:29):
Number two, you want to do an internal inventory. What
are my reasons for starting the business. Is this about flexibility?
Is this about more time with my friends and my family?
Is it about leaving a legacy? Or am I in
this because I think it's an easy route to money,
or that it's an easy route to become famous. We
(24:52):
want to have a real clear why before we take
the lead. Number three, know what you don't know and
hire some mentors and some coaches behind you to help
you speed up the process in discovering one that is,
there is no better self development journey right than getting
(25:13):
into a new romantic relationship or starting a business. Here's
tip number four for you. You have got to have
a massive vision while simultaneously be willing to start small.
And there's you know, sort of a balance in their right.
When I started out my my company and I left corporate,
(25:36):
my biggest dream at that point was man, if I
could just replicate my corporate salary, uh that that would
just feel so great. I would feel like I had
made it. And that took about a good year and
a half, almost two years for it to happen. When
my business took off is when I raised the expectations.
When I actually set a goal and started creating plans
(26:00):
in a vision for what a seven figure business would
look like. I quickly scaled from you know, next to
nothing to multi six figures. Because when you have a
bigger than my vision, it's going to force you to
start thinking about bigger than life action steps right, and
(26:22):
that is such an important mindset shift that can help
you move forward. Even if you're somebody who maybe in
the great resignation, you've started your business but you're struggling
to get footing, start thinking bigger. If this for a
seven figure business, what would I be doing? How would
I show up differently? How would I market myself differently?
(26:44):
Would I be undercutting myself just to get clients or
what I charge what I'm worth? Would I even push
myself to charge a little bit beyond what my ego
thinks I'm worth? Um, But that's such an important thing,
and also the willingness and the humility to be seen
(27:04):
starting small. You know, I was always the kid, starting
in high school, through college, all throughout my corporate career.
I was the classic overachiever and always wanted to be
the best at whatever I was doing. You know, in
high school, it was like, I gotta be the best
at theater. I want to get all the lead roles.
And then I you know, went to college and I
(27:26):
wanted to be the best at the campus radio station
when I was doing that whatever activity I got into,
you know, I was really really always thinking what can
I do to be the best at this? But the
way that you become the best at anything, and it's
easy to lose this, and it's easy to lose sight
of this is to suck at something first. And I
(27:49):
was so ashamed when I started out. Like when I
created my mailing list for my business, I had seven
people on my mailing list and I was two of
The address is right like my And if you've ever
gone into online business, or you keep any sort of
email database, like you'll look at the open rates on
each email. You'll find out what is the percentage of
(28:11):
my list that opened the email. And I remember the
first training email I ever set out to my to
my mailing list had like a thirty five percent open rate,
it was something like that, and it were two out
of seven opens and they were both my emails from
my account. And it's so deflating because on one hand,
I've got this dream that, oh my god, I want
(28:31):
to serve the world. I want to make a difference.
I want to throw a lifeline to people who are
miserable in a corporate job. Well also this feeling of
it's not enough, I'm not doing enough. I'm going to
embarrass myself. What are you know? What are the people
around me and my life going to think? So it
is the balance aim higher than you think is possible,
(28:54):
while also having the humility to start smaller than you
think you should. That is the sweet spot for you
to stay in consistent action, for you to live your
purpose without throwing in the towel. And finally, the fifth
step that you need to consider when you're leaving the
nine to five start a business is you have to
(29:16):
know your numbers. Number one. You need to know what
is the monthly number you need to hit in order
just to pay all your basic expenses with maybe just
a little bit an extra for entertainment and things like that.
Just get clear on what the base level number is.
(29:38):
You also need to have an income goal. You know,
one of my very good friends who has been on
this podcast a couple of times is a successful coach,
and when she and I first linked up and we
first started networking, she never actually had monthly goals in
her business. You know. For her, she was just she
was afraid it would put too much pressure on her
(29:59):
that it if she didn't hit it, she'd beat herself up.
At the minute that she started getting clear on what
is the number each month that I want to get to,
she started hitting those numbers very quickly, began exceeding them,
and now she's on track this year to do half
a million dollars you know, from a business that was
you know, probably right at the six figure level when
(30:19):
she and I first met up. So you've got to
know exactly what all this is for you. And here's
the thing there is a while, yes, you absolutely should
have some money in savings when you're going to walk
away to start a business, I will also tell you
that the amount you think that you need could actually
(30:39):
be a liability. You know, I had saved and saved
and saved. I had nine months worth of salary in
the bank. If I did not make a penny and
my first nine months of coaching, I would have been
able to pay all my bills. And in some ways
that was an excuse to play small because every day
I'd open up that online backing banking app and I'll
(31:02):
look at this big amount of money here. Of course
I can pay rent this month. I'm fine, And it
kept me from taking the courageous action to really share
my message with the world. This podcast did not exist
until all of a sudden that that money got down
to the danger zone. When that I was on the
(31:22):
warning light, like on your gas tank. Then all of
a sudden I was like, oh, I really need to
get moving. So know that sometimes having the large sum
of money can actually hold you back. This is also
why you should have a coach, a mentor somebody to
hold your feet to the fire to stay in action.
(31:44):
And there's also one other huge misconception when it comes
to starting a business that I want to share with
you is that you need a lot of money to
get started. Now, if you are going to build a
brick and mortar business. Yes, there are lot of hard
expenses in that. If you want to start a tech
start up from the ground up, yes there's going to
(32:06):
need to be a pretty significant amount of capitalization. But
so many of the new entrepreneurs who come to me
are in the knowledge business. That they have some sort
of knowledge within them, something that they've studied, They have
a problem in their life that they have figured out,
and they can create a system to help somebody else
(32:26):
figure out the same problem in their life, you know.
So it's a knowledge business. You could either do this
in terms of creating books, seminars, retreats. You could also
start a coaching business of some sort. Over the past
few years, I've had numerous people start holistic health businesses,
physical fitness, personal training businesses. I had a woman who
(32:50):
started a business coaching mothers with postpartum depression. There are
so many different niches and avenues to explore. But that
knowledge business doesn't take a lot of money. So what
I want you to consider is that the majority of
businesses that have been started in the past couple of
(33:10):
years during the pandemic, if you look at the statistics
of them, were started with less than five thousand dollars capitalization.
This business that I'm in today that's helped me exceed
all of my dreams started out the day that I
left my corporate job and turned in my uh my
(33:32):
Apple computer to them. I went to Best Buy, I
bought myself a laptop. I bought a podcast microphone. I
went home. I bought a web domain through go Daddy.
I paid a couple hundred dollars to file my business
at that point. This business started with probably under four
(33:54):
thousand dollars. I think I paid about fifteen dred dollars
to a web designer, and yet that small investment is
multiplied itself by hundreds, if not thousands of times. And
aside from the money, it gave me my life back.
People ask me all the time where would I have
been had I not gone on this journey to walk
(34:15):
away from a corporate career and to figure out my purpose.
And I tell them, with no hint of irony, I'd
be dead. If literally I had not like physically died
from the stress I was under, I would have been
like so many other people who are just like the
(34:36):
zombie apocalypse walking in every day into the office. There's
there is that segment of the workforce that is the
walking dead. You're there, you're physically present, but emotionally, your
heart's not in it. You've lost your spark for life,
and that loss of spark is holding you back in
other areas of your life. It's holding back your family
(34:58):
because you're not really showing up as the version of
yourself you want to be. There are so many people
who can't even get to the point of dating or
building a family or having a social life because they
are so chained to the job. You know, there was
a few months ago I went out on a first
date with a woman who worked in the in the
(35:21):
healthcare industry and had a really good first date, and
then she canceled the next three dates, all with like
an hour and a half notice because she's like, well,
I'm sorry, I have an emergency conference call that I
have to get on. I'm I'm always attached to my work.
And then she shared She's like, this is why I'm single.
I cannot pull myself away from the job. Um, And
(35:45):
there's so many people are going through that that you know,
it's not just the toll on your happiness, it's the
toll on your social life. On the dreams that you
want to share with a partner one day, and how
much longer are you willing to tolerate at life? And
I want you to understand entrepreneurship is not the only
way out of a life of stress and overwhelming burnout.
(36:10):
I've worked with so many surgeons, lawyers, doctors, high performers
who come to me and just need some coaching around
setting better boundaries in their life and detaching their very
identity from the job that they're in, which leads to
a lot of overwork for people. So there's so many
(36:31):
different paths to get to that amplified life on your terms.
Consider today just one option that exists. It's this is
just a guide post, right, it is a blueprint for you.
And if you need some additional support to work through
this on a one on one basis, my one on
(36:52):
one coaching programs are the fastest way to move forward.
You know, I think of the client that I have
right now in Michigan who just end up with me
in January, completely lost. Right. She had been the support
person for everybody else in her life, like helping with
her husband's business and helping raise a family, and you know,
here she was now as an empty nests saying what
(37:13):
do I want for me? And within eight weeks she's
already launched a side hustle and she's making money on
her own and doing work she's really lit up about.
You know this is it's not just an escape from
corporate per se. What it is is a desire to
march in the direction of what brings you joy and
(37:34):
what makes you feel alive. That's my great wish for
you in if I can help you with that, you
can go to my website Creative Soul Coaching dot net,
click that coaching application, fill it out, schedule a complimentary
discovery call. We will get the ball rolling in the meantime.
If this podcast has served you today, would you please
(37:55):
do me a favor? Would you screenshot it? Would you
upload it to instag Graham be sure to tag me
at c SC Dan Mason give me a follow while
you're there. Links to all the other socials are in
the show notes. But I love you for listening, and
remember it's time to turn down the volume on your
negativity and time to turn up the volume on your
(38:17):
purpose so you can live life amplified. I'll talk to
you next week.
I recently pulled my social media followers and asked what
would you do with your career in two if you
knew with total certainty that your success was assured. Would
you leave the corporate grind forever and start your own business?
Would you stay in the stability of a nine to
five but pivot into a different, more fulfilling career, or
(00:22):
would you stay in your current career and simply switch roles.
The results were overwhelming in one direction. Forty five cent
of my Instagram followers said that they would leave corporate
and start their own business. Of my LinkedIn connections said
the exact same thing, and that informal poll I conducted
(00:43):
tracks ride in line with Google's latest search data, how
to Start a Business beat out how to Get a Job,
and all of their search metrics. It does appear that
while millions of Americans are quitting their job in search
of higher salaries, many of them are doing so because
they want the freedom to become their own boss. But
(01:06):
how do you get started? Coming up this week on
the Life Amplified podcast, I'll reflect on my own journey
out of corporate America in and I will give you
the five points to consider to help you start your
business and take charge of your future. Welcome back. What
is an amplified life. It's having amplified relationships with people
(01:27):
who support and encourage you to be your best. It's
having amplified energy to conquer the challenges of the day.
And it's having an amplified career, one that's meaningful to you,
the world, and your bank accounts. I'm Dan Mason helping
you discover your calling and create an amplified life on
your terms. This is the Life Amplified Podcast. The latest
(01:54):
data from the US Census Bureau revealed that American submitted
a record five point were million business applications in one
That is the highest number in nearly twenty years, and
applications are on track to be even higher this year.
So if you are one of the people thinking about
leaving corporate and blazing your own trail, becoming your own boss,
(02:18):
the good news is you're not alone. But the sobering
news is there's about success rate on entrepreneurship. If you
look at the latest statistics on the percentage of new
businesses that fail in the United States, we see that
more than one fifth of them close operations after their
(02:39):
very first year. In business. By year two that number
increases to thirty one percent, and by year five, fifty
percent of new businesses fail. Now you can look at
that data multiple ways. I mean, the success rate and
entrepreneurship is about the success rate of most marriages. On
(03:00):
the divorce rate is the same. And if I told you, well,
you just can't ever get married now, you would assume
the best. You'd be like, I love my partner. We're
going to be the crazy kids that make it. Yet
we don't really have the same rosy outlook when it
comes to pursuing a dream of starting a business or
(03:22):
going the self employment route. You know that need for money,
it is primal. It is linked to survival. And many
high performers who come to me reach out in their
coaching applications often say the same thing. They're like, yeah, Dan,
I have this business idea. I have this idea, a message,
a product that I want to share with the world,
(03:43):
But I can't give up my lifestyle. And we tend
to think about lifestyle simply in terms of the acquisitions
that we have in our life. Has spoke to one
woman recently who is the vice president of sales at
a you know pretty decent sized company. And she talks
about the house that she owns, and she talks about
(04:04):
the investment properties that she's bought to use as passive
income on Airbnb. And you know, she talks about the
car that she has and the fact she's able to
send her kids to college. But what she doesn't talk
about lifestyle is her actual day to day life, the
emotional wellness. She told me she wakes up every day
(04:25):
and her soul feels sad that she's on this career
path that her bosses have charted out for her. They've
moved her up to VP next year. They want to
make her an s v P. We get into this
chase of letters, right, even if the alphabet soup doesn't
taste good to us when we're when we're consuming it.
(04:46):
You know, she talked about her physical health as well.
She knows she's not getting younger. You know, there are
some health concerns that are coming up. I totally get that.
I told you about my journey being in a high
paying but low fulfillment corporate job where all of a
sudden I contracted shingles and found myself on blood pressure medication.
Living in Florida at thirty eight years old. It's like,
(05:08):
what am I doing here? Right? So, you know, lifestyle
means a lot of different things, and my hope is
that you know, even through this podcast, we can start
a more holistic discussion of what a healthy, balanced lifestyle
means to you. And it shouldn't just be the number
in your investment portfolio or how much crypto you own,
(05:31):
or how many investment properties you have. And that ultimately
has been the biggest gift of the pandemic over the
last two plus years is we have all had a
chance to step back and reevaluate, reassess, perhaps even renegotiate
any part of our life that is not working. And meanwhile,
for those of you still in the corporate rat race,
(05:52):
you have the people like me on Instagram who have
our photo ops of us on the beach, you're working
from anywhere, you know, I joking. They took a photo
on my Instagram stories while at playing tourists, I went
to this place called the Carl's Bad flower Fields here
in southern California, and it's just me standing in this
beautiful flower field with like my arms out like I'm
(06:14):
Rose on the Titanic. I'm like, look at my life
of freedom. Everybody. You know, there are a lot of
entrepreneurs and thought leaders who sell that lifestyle. And trust me,
I am so glad I made the decision and my
own sense of wellness is so greatly improved then when
I was running on the treadmill every day just sort
(06:36):
of selling my soul to corporate America. However, I will
be the first to tell you that entrepreneurship is not
for everybody. That there are some people. You know your
neural programming and your life is not wired for risk.
You were not comfortable with uncertainty. And if that's the case,
(06:56):
you know, getting into starting your own business could be
a path for a whole lot of pain for you.
So there are some key considerations that you need to
figure if you were going to make this leap and
make it successfully. And that is what this week's episode
is all about. I want to give you five points
that you should consider before you quit your corporate job
(07:18):
and head out into the world of entrepreneurship. And here
is point number one. And man, this is the foundation
of anything. If you have not addressed this question in
your life, uh, it's going to be very hard for
you to move forward or to stay aligned when the
ship hits the fan. Here's the question you need to
(07:40):
ask yourself, am I starting something that I am passionate about?
You know? One of the things that's happened in the
gig economy is you have a lot of people who
are leaving the corporate grind, and what they're doing is
they're still fulfilling the same job duties that they were
doing for their former employer, but they're doing it on
(08:01):
a freelance basis. There is a woman I know who
in the pandemic left her job as a bookkeeper for
a corporation that loved her, that you know, paid her
reasonably well, you know, for that market and for the
area that she lived in. But what she really wanted
to go was to go into business for herself. So
(08:23):
she started her own book keeping business. And she got
about a year into that and what she realized is
is I don't even really love bookkeeping, Like this is
something that I am good at. It is a skill,
but it's not an inherent passion. It's not the thing
that I feel most alive when I'm doing. And now
(08:46):
she's really hit the wall here where what's come up
for her is she's had some new creative interest and
some passions to start a completely different business in a
different lane, and she's working through that fear of well, God,
all I know is that I've been paid in this
one career to do this one job. Would anybody even
(09:07):
pay me for this other thing that I have to offer?
And the question, the answer to that question, if you're
in the same spot, is always yes. People will always
pay you for anything that is solving a problem for
them or helps add value to their life. You know,
one of the biggest mistakes people make when they pivot
away from corporate and have these fantasies about starting an
(09:30):
entrepreneurship is they just focus on well, how can I
make money? And your subconscious mind, whenever you're asking that question,
we'll find an answer, but it's going to go through
all the internal reference files that it personally knows. You know,
it will say what are the ways we have made
money in the past, and you'll start thinking about every
(09:51):
job or every side hustle or career that you've already done.
It will also go through the reference files for maybe
your parents to see how did my mom and dad
make money? But it becomes very hard for you to
ever think bigger than what you've known up until now.
So the really powerful question to ask is what problems
(10:14):
am I passionate about solving? The entrepreneur mindset knows that
where there is a problem in the world, there is
an income opportunity if you can solve it. So it's
got to be something that you are passionate about. And
you know, when I was still rotting in my soul
sucking job, I remember being in an HR meeting where
(10:35):
they presented the results of the Gallop Employee Engagement study
that they put out every two years, because our company
had been part of that study. And the minute that
I saw that two and three employees globally around the
world hated their job, but we're addicted to the paycheck.
For me, a lightbulb went off. A It greatly reduced
(10:59):
my shame. I didn't feel alone anymore. I didn't feel
like an ungrateful dick because I didn't wake up every
day excited to go to work. But number two, I said, Man,
if I can figure this out for myself, if I
can figure out what my purpose is, then certainly I
could help other people do the same. And you know,
here I am six and a half years later, having
(11:21):
worked directly with clients in eighteen countries, this podcast has
reached an audience and plus or minus about a hundred
and twenty countries. I haven't really looked recently, but you know,
a global audience by showing up and teaching people how
to solve a problem that I've figured out in my life.
(11:41):
So what is that thing for you? Really taking the
time to to to come up with three concentric circles
and ask what do I love? You know? What am
I doing when I'm most switched on and alive? What
am I good at? And what does the world need?
And the intersection there is going to be the place
(12:02):
where you find this next career, and boy, it had
better be something that you were passionate about, because even
your co chair, there are days where it seems like
nothing's working. There are days when things fall through the
cracks or there is a huge setback in business, and
even I will have the day where I'm like, ah,
is this the path that I want to be on forever?
(12:25):
But then I think about you and how this podcast
has impacted your life, and I think about the clients
and all the testimonials that I've had, uh from people
who have radically transformed the trajectory of their life. They've
improved things for their family. You know, the people have
told me that literally doing the purpose work and making
(12:47):
this pivot save their life. And that gives me the
inherent motivation to show up even on the days when
it's not comfortable and it's not easy. So that is
question number one that you want to consider, right, What
am I passionate about? Number two? A question to check
in with yourself on am I starting this business for
(13:11):
the right reasons? When I think back on my old
corporate career working managing successful radio brands all over the country,
there were times when we built these new radio stations
from nothing. We would put a new format on the
air in a city and literally, you know, take these
radio stations from worst to first. And that was such
a thrill for me to start something and just that
(13:35):
alchemy of creating something from nothing. There was also a
big part of me in corporate that like to call
the shots right. I wanted to like whether we want
or lost in the ratings. I wanted that to be
on me, and I was very happy to take the
risk and and celebrate when we won. But I was
(13:58):
also willing to take full responsibility when things didn't work
out the way that we wanted. But I also had
a desire right to have more flexibility in my schedule.
The older I got, I knew that I wanted to
do something that would leave a legacy in the world.
You know, I always think about that sometimes if for
some reason there was a terrible accident and all of
(14:21):
this ended for me tomorrow, you know, if if I
lost my life tomorrow, cancel universe. Cancel universe. We're not
putting that out into the ethers, but it's pretty cool
for me to think about the fact that there's some
one hundred and seventy episodes that people would have that
could improve their life today, and if people found this
(14:42):
podcast in ten years, twenty years, the principles will still apply.
I think about all the television interviews in the media
I've done that had just gone worldwide, that still exists
on YouTube, and I think about the people who are
still finding that on YouTube searches. I had somebody reach
(15:02):
out to me about coaching the other day based on
a Huffington Post article I wrote six years ago that
I forgot that I wrote. So there's a certain legacy
um that I'm really proud of, and that legacy is
still being formed, right, it's still being built upon. But
these are all wonderful reasons to step out into entrepreneurship.
(15:24):
That you want more freedom over your time or schedule,
That you want to build wealth for yourself and your family,
and you don't want your value to be dictated by
some corporate weasel and a tower somewhere who just looks
at nothing more than a number next to your name
on the spreadsheet you know when it's time for budget cuts.
Those are all wonderful reasons. There are also some other
(15:48):
reasons that I don't want to judge as being bad
or wrong, but they are going to set you up
for frustration on this path. If you're simply starting a
business because you your job and you don't like dealing
with people, it's going to be an issue in entrepreneurship,
(16:08):
right because at some point you're going to have to
be visible, You're gonna have to be seen, You're going
to have to interface with people, You're going to have
to ask for what you want. Right if you are
starting a business simply because you want to become a
air quote influencer and become famous it's probably a good
idea to reconsider because you're always going to be in
(16:31):
this comparison trap being well, this person is making more money,
or this person has more followers, or I believe somehow
this person is more successful than me. You know. So
if these patterns of control have run your career up
until now, you're going to get into entrepreneurship and realize, well,
(16:51):
you can prepare, and you can plan, and you can
have a great business plan, but there are things that
are out of your control. One of my friends who
has been on this podcast past started a tech company
right she left a super successful career in finance, started
a tech company in January. Was that the right idea? Yeah,
(17:12):
you know, she had a tech idea that was going
to be in the wellness industry, and unfortunately it was
just at the wrong time because COVID happened and the
world went upside down. So there was a lot of
pivoting and figuring things out. There was a lot in
that moment that was out of her control. So you also,
(17:33):
you know, need a sense of being adaptive and being
flexible if you're going to start your own business. These
are things that you have to self reflect on. And
be like, are these strengths of mind? Or can I
improve these things in my life? Can I work with somebody? Uh?
To become more adaptive and nimble when it comes to
(17:56):
setting up a business. So that is the second point, right,
we want to know your reasons for starting a business.
If it's simply about you and having more control, you're
going to throw in the towel the first time that
there is a global crisis like we're living in right now.
But if it's about improving your life, improving the lives
(18:19):
of your family, uh, and also about improving the lives
of the people you're here to serve. You've got a
powerful y and you're going to show up for it.
Point number three. If you're ready to leave the nine
to five behind and start your own business, you need
a high level of self awareness. You need to know
what it is that you don't know. You know, so
(18:41):
much of entrepreneurship is being able to live in your
zone of genius. If you go back to the episode
that I've recorded last year with Gay Hendricks. Uh, that's
a beautiful concept, right, like living in your genius zone?
What are the things that you really excel at? Uh
that nobody else can do the same way you do.
(19:03):
And a lot of entrepreneurs who struggle the uh, it's
because they're living in their zone of competency, maybe a
zone of excellence, but they're wasting too much time doing
things that they could outsource to other people, or they're
trying to do the parts of their business that they're
just not very adept at, that they don't know very well.
(19:25):
So we want to figure out, right, what are your
strengths and how can you do more of that in
your business while also seeking out resources to supplement the
parts where you need assistance, because you can't do everything
by yourself. I look at some of my early marketing
materials from sixteen when I first started my business because
(19:47):
I thought that I had to be great at graphic
design and creating PDFs or even creating various web pages
like the opt in pages for webinars or trainings, and
holy hell that they are so embarrassing to look at
because I'm just not skilled that way. I don't have
(20:08):
a mind or a brain for visual design, right, And
my business has gotten infinitely easier the more that I've
outsourced those things. And by the way, for those of
you who are really hung up on the money idea
when you're starting out in business, remember so many of
these things can be done affordably. You can go on
(20:29):
these sites like fiber and up work and you can
find overseas virtual assistants who are so skilled at these things,
and because of the exchange rate, they can do it
at a very affordable cost. And also know that you're
not taking advantage of these people because of the exchange rates, right,
Like you know you might be paying thirty dollars for
(20:50):
a service, but at the same time because of the
exchange rates, like these people are like the breadwinners and
providing for their family, so they're all There's so many
reasonable resources where you can get extra help right to
supplement in the areas that you know are not in
your zone of genius. I pretty much learned at this
(21:10):
point after it took me a while to get there.
My zone of genius in my business is just showing
up and talking to people, being in the act of
coaching people, being in the act of creating podcast or
writing content. Content creation in various forms. But man a
lot of the admin stuff, the behind the scenes things,
(21:33):
the building out all the email funnels. My brain does
not work that way. So thank god, I've got some
people right now supporting me who are way better and
way more efficient at it. But what does that look
like for you? You know, if you're taking an honest assessment.
And the thing is is a lot of times when
you're starting out, particularly as a new entrepreneur or a
(21:56):
solo preneurs remember, like n of the new businesses that
have been started over the past two years or what
are known as micro businesses, so the majority of them
are actually solo preneurships. And I believe the other like
thirty to forty are companies with less than ten employees.
(22:16):
So you know, when you're when you're first starting out,
you might not even know what you're good at and
what you're not. But I would also tell you follow
the joy, right If you're immersed in learning something new,
if it's about skilling up in a new area, then hey,
that's that's cool. If you're in a high vibrational state
when you're learning a new activity, great. If you're ready
(22:39):
to throw your laptop out the window and you find
yourself punching walls, uh, that might be something that it's
just more efficient and better for your mental health to
outsource and one of the other areas that most new
entrepreneurs do not invest in. Right, they'll invest in things
like a web designer, to invest in a social media manager.
(23:02):
And I'm not telling you that any of those or
aren't wrong. Those are valuable people to have behind you. Uh.
The thing though, that helped me scale my business when
everything turned around after like a year and a half
of pain, was having an actual coach in my corner,
somebody who could help me discover the blind spots in
(23:24):
my mindset. You know, if you're a person who has
resistance to giving up any control and you can't delegate,
and you can't ask for or receive help, and you
think you've got to push a boulder up a hill
to scale the six or a multi six figure maybe
a seven figure business, you are going to work yourself
(23:46):
into the ground. You are going to trade in the
soul sucking nine job for the soul sucking entrepreneurship. Right.
So it's all about creating something that you feel good
about at the end the day. Get a coach. That's
been such a big thing for so many of my
clients who were struggling to get their business going and
(24:08):
then they were able to double their income, triple their
income because they had support in their corner. So a
quick recap here as we talk about these first five
steps that will help you trade the nine to five
for your own business. Number one, you want to start
a business that is meaningful to you that you're passionate about.
(24:29):
Number two, you want to do an internal inventory. What
are my reasons for starting the business. Is this about flexibility?
Is this about more time with my friends and my family?
Is it about leaving a legacy? Or am I in
this because I think it's an easy route to money,
or that it's an easy route to become famous. We
(24:52):
want to have a real clear why before we take
the lead. Number three, know what you don't know and
hire some mentors and some coaches behind you to help
you speed up the process in discovering one that is,
there is no better self development journey right than getting
(25:13):
into a new romantic relationship or starting a business. Here's
tip number four for you. You have got to have
a massive vision while simultaneously be willing to start small.
And there's you know, sort of a balance in their right.
When I started out my my company and I left corporate,
(25:36):
my biggest dream at that point was man, if I
could just replicate my corporate salary, uh that that would
just feel so great. I would feel like I had
made it. And that took about a good year and
a half, almost two years for it to happen. When
my business took off is when I raised the expectations.
When I actually set a goal and started creating plans
(26:00):
in a vision for what a seven figure business would
look like. I quickly scaled from you know, next to
nothing to multi six figures. Because when you have a
bigger than my vision, it's going to force you to
start thinking about bigger than life action steps right, and
(26:22):
that is such an important mindset shift that can help
you move forward. Even if you're somebody who maybe in
the great resignation, you've started your business but you're struggling
to get footing, start thinking bigger. If this for a
seven figure business, what would I be doing? How would
I show up differently? How would I market myself differently?
(26:44):
Would I be undercutting myself just to get clients or
what I charge what I'm worth? Would I even push
myself to charge a little bit beyond what my ego
thinks I'm worth? Um, But that's such an important thing,
and also the willingness and the humility to be seen
(27:04):
starting small. You know, I was always the kid, starting
in high school, through college, all throughout my corporate career.
I was the classic overachiever and always wanted to be
the best at whatever I was doing. You know, in
high school, it was like, I gotta be the best
at theater. I want to get all the lead roles.
And then I you know, went to college and I
(27:26):
wanted to be the best at the campus radio station
when I was doing that whatever activity I got into,
you know, I was really really always thinking what can
I do to be the best at this? But the
way that you become the best at anything, and it's
easy to lose this, and it's easy to lose sight
of this is to suck at something first. And I
(27:49):
was so ashamed when I started out. Like when I
created my mailing list for my business, I had seven
people on my mailing list and I was two of
The address is right like my And if you've ever
gone into online business, or you keep any sort of
email database, like you'll look at the open rates on
each email. You'll find out what is the percentage of
(28:11):
my list that opened the email. And I remember the
first training email I ever set out to my to
my mailing list had like a thirty five percent open rate,
it was something like that, and it were two out
of seven opens and they were both my emails from
my account. And it's so deflating because on one hand,
I've got this dream that, oh my god, I want
(28:31):
to serve the world. I want to make a difference.
I want to throw a lifeline to people who are
miserable in a corporate job. Well also this feeling of
it's not enough, I'm not doing enough. I'm going to
embarrass myself. What are you know? What are the people
around me and my life going to think? So it
is the balance aim higher than you think is possible,
(28:54):
while also having the humility to start smaller than you
think you should. That is the sweet spot for you
to stay in consistent action, for you to live your
purpose without throwing in the towel. And finally, the fifth
step that you need to consider when you're leaving the
nine to five start a business is you have to
(29:16):
know your numbers. Number one. You need to know what
is the monthly number you need to hit in order
just to pay all your basic expenses with maybe just
a little bit an extra for entertainment and things like that.
Just get clear on what the base level number is.
(29:38):
You also need to have an income goal. You know,
one of my very good friends who has been on
this podcast a couple of times is a successful coach,
and when she and I first linked up and we
first started networking, she never actually had monthly goals in
her business. You know. For her, she was just she
was afraid it would put too much pressure on her
(29:59):
that it if she didn't hit it, she'd beat herself up.
At the minute that she started getting clear on what
is the number each month that I want to get to,
she started hitting those numbers very quickly, began exceeding them,
and now she's on track this year to do half
a million dollars you know, from a business that was
you know, probably right at the six figure level when
(30:19):
she and I first met up. So you've got to
know exactly what all this is for you. And here's
the thing there is a while, yes, you absolutely should
have some money in savings when you're going to walk
away to start a business, I will also tell you
that the amount you think that you need could actually
(30:39):
be a liability. You know, I had saved and saved
and saved. I had nine months worth of salary in
the bank. If I did not make a penny and
my first nine months of coaching, I would have been
able to pay all my bills. And in some ways
that was an excuse to play small because every day
I'd open up that online backing banking app and I'll
(31:02):
look at this big amount of money here. Of course
I can pay rent this month. I'm fine, And it
kept me from taking the courageous action to really share
my message with the world. This podcast did not exist
until all of a sudden that that money got down
to the danger zone. When that I was on the
(31:22):
warning light, like on your gas tank. Then all of
a sudden I was like, oh, I really need to
get moving. So know that sometimes having the large sum
of money can actually hold you back. This is also
why you should have a coach, a mentor somebody to
hold your feet to the fire to stay in action.
(31:44):
And there's also one other huge misconception when it comes
to starting a business that I want to share with
you is that you need a lot of money to
get started. Now, if you are going to build a
brick and mortar business. Yes, there are lot of hard
expenses in that. If you want to start a tech
start up from the ground up, yes there's going to
(32:06):
need to be a pretty significant amount of capitalization. But
so many of the new entrepreneurs who come to me
are in the knowledge business. That they have some sort
of knowledge within them, something that they've studied, They have
a problem in their life that they have figured out,
and they can create a system to help somebody else
(32:26):
figure out the same problem in their life, you know.
So it's a knowledge business. You could either do this
in terms of creating books, seminars, retreats. You could also
start a coaching business of some sort. Over the past
few years, I've had numerous people start holistic health businesses,
physical fitness, personal training businesses. I had a woman who
(32:50):
started a business coaching mothers with postpartum depression. There are
so many different niches and avenues to explore. But that
knowledge business doesn't take a lot of money. So what
I want you to consider is that the majority of
businesses that have been started in the past couple of
(33:10):
years during the pandemic, if you look at the statistics
of them, were started with less than five thousand dollars capitalization.
This business that I'm in today that's helped me exceed
all of my dreams started out the day that I
left my corporate job and turned in my uh my
(33:32):
Apple computer to them. I went to Best Buy, I
bought myself a laptop. I bought a podcast microphone. I
went home. I bought a web domain through go Daddy.
I paid a couple hundred dollars to file my business
at that point. This business started with probably under four
(33:54):
thousand dollars. I think I paid about fifteen dred dollars
to a web designer, and yet that small investment is
multiplied itself by hundreds, if not thousands of times. And
aside from the money, it gave me my life back.
People ask me all the time where would I have
been had I not gone on this journey to walk
(34:15):
away from a corporate career and to figure out my purpose.
And I tell them, with no hint of irony, I'd
be dead. If literally I had not like physically died
from the stress I was under, I would have been
like so many other people who are just like the
(34:36):
zombie apocalypse walking in every day into the office. There's
there is that segment of the workforce that is the
walking dead. You're there, you're physically present, but emotionally, your
heart's not in it. You've lost your spark for life,
and that loss of spark is holding you back in
other areas of your life. It's holding back your family
(34:58):
because you're not really showing up as the version of
yourself you want to be. There are so many people
who can't even get to the point of dating or
building a family or having a social life because they
are so chained to the job. You know, there was
a few months ago I went out on a first
date with a woman who worked in the in the
(35:21):
healthcare industry and had a really good first date, and
then she canceled the next three dates, all with like
an hour and a half notice because she's like, well,
I'm sorry, I have an emergency conference call that I
have to get on. I'm I'm always attached to my work.
And then she shared She's like, this is why I'm single.
I cannot pull myself away from the job. Um, And
(35:45):
there's so many people are going through that that you know,
it's not just the toll on your happiness, it's the
toll on your social life. On the dreams that you
want to share with a partner one day, and how
much longer are you willing to tolerate at life? And
I want you to understand entrepreneurship is not the only
way out of a life of stress and overwhelming burnout.
(36:10):
I've worked with so many surgeons, lawyers, doctors, high performers
who come to me and just need some coaching around
setting better boundaries in their life and detaching their very
identity from the job that they're in, which leads to
a lot of overwork for people. So there's so many
(36:31):
different paths to get to that amplified life on your terms.
Consider today just one option that exists. It's this is
just a guide post, right, it is a blueprint for you.
And if you need some additional support to work through
this on a one on one basis, my one on
(36:52):
one coaching programs are the fastest way to move forward.
You know, I think of the client that I have
right now in Michigan who just end up with me
in January, completely lost. Right. She had been the support
person for everybody else in her life, like helping with
her husband's business and helping raise a family, and you know,
here she was now as an empty nests saying what
(37:13):
do I want for me? And within eight weeks she's
already launched a side hustle and she's making money on
her own and doing work she's really lit up about.
You know this is it's not just an escape from
corporate per se. What it is is a desire to
march in the direction of what brings you joy and
(37:34):
what makes you feel alive. That's my great wish for
you in if I can help you with that, you
can go to my website Creative Soul Coaching dot net,
click that coaching application, fill it out, schedule a complimentary
discovery call. We will get the ball rolling in the meantime.
If this podcast has served you today, would you please
(37:55):
do me a favor? Would you screenshot it? Would you
upload it to instag Graham be sure to tag me
at c SC Dan Mason give me a follow while
you're there. Links to all the other socials are in
the show notes. But I love you for listening, and
remember it's time to turn down the volume on your
negativity and time to turn up the volume on your
(38:17):
purpose so you can live life amplified. I'll talk to
you next week.
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