You Don’t Hate Working — You Hate How You’re Working

Welcome back to the Good Girls Get Rich podcast and I’m your host, Karen Yankovich. If you’ve ever thought, “I like working… I just hate the way I’m working,” you’re not alone.

This episode of the Good Girls Get Rich Podcast was inspired by a Facebook post from a new mom on maternity leave who dreaded going back to her job. She loved being productive and using her brain — but hated the micromanagement, the stress, the traffic, and missing her baby’s milestones.

And I remember that feeling. The early-morning commutes. The endless meetings. The sinking sense that your brilliance is building someone else’s dream while yours waits on the sidelines.

Here’s the truth: This isn’t burnout — it’s misalignment. And alignment is your birthright.

 

We want to hear your thoughts on this episode! Leave us a message on Speakpipe or email us at [e-mail].

 

About The Episode and Highlights:

In Episode 322, I share 10 high-income business ideas you can build from the career skills you already have — so you can work in your zone of genius, enjoy more flexibility, and create financial independence. These strategies work whether you’re ready for a full career change or want to start something alongside your current role.

The Consultant Path – Turn Your Expertise into a Premium Service
Consultants get paid for their brains, not just their time. If companies hire outside experts for projects you could do, you can become that expert. Instead of billing hourly, create value-based packages that reflect the results you deliver.

Example: If you’re in HR, offer a “Recruitment Process Audit” for growing companies — at a premium rate.

The Course Creator Path – Build a Profitable Online Program
You’ve likely taught or explained something 100 times in your career. Package that knowledge into an online course, workshop, or training series. You can create it once and sell it over and over.

Example: A PTA president could create “The Ultimate Guide to Running a Successful PTA” and sell it nationwide.

The Coach or Mentor Path – Guide the Next Generation
People already ask, “How did you do that?” Turn your experience into a coaching or mentoring business. Whether 1:1 or in a group, you can support the next wave of women in your industry

Example: A finance VP could mentor women looking to break into leadership roles.

The VIP Day Model – Deliver High-Value Results in One Day
Some clients want high-touch, quick results and are willing to pay a premium for it. A VIP Day lets you dedicate one day to solving a client’s problem from start to finish.

Example: A yoga instructor offers a private, customized wellness retreat day — including movement, meditation, and nutrition planning — for $2,000.

The Done-With-You Model – Collaborate for Success
Perfect for perfectionists — you don’t do everything for the client, but you work alongside them. This builds intimacy and keeps your workload lighter.

Example: In my She’s LinkedUp program, we write LinkedIn profiles with our clients, ensuring their voice shines through.

Digital Products – Sell What You’ve Already Created
Templates, checklists, email scripts, or spreadsheets you’ve made for your own job can become instant-download products. They sell while you sleep and position you as an authority.

Example: A project manager could sell a “Team Communication Toolkit” with meeting agendas and templates.

Speaking & Training – Get Paid to Share Your Expertise
Corporations, associations, and schools all pay for expert speakers and trainers. Build a speaker kit and start pitching topics you’re passionate about.

Example: A marketing director could teach “Brand Storytelling for Nonprofits” at association events.

The Thought Leadership Path – Build a Brand that Attracts Dream Clients
Consistently showing up online builds authority. Post on LinkedIn, do podcast interviews, and publish articles. The more visible you are, the more opportunities come to you.

Example: A career coach shares weekly LinkedIn posts and guest articles on work-life balance, leading to client referrals.

The Advisory Path – Offer Strategic Guidance
If you have expertise in startups, boards, or nonpro

Episode Transcript

Unknown (00:00):
Karen,

(00:10):
hello, hello, and welcome toanother episode of The Good
girls get rich podcast. I'm yourhost, Karen Yankovich, and today
we're getting raw and real andradically honest about something
that I know so many of you arefeeling, but maybe haven't said
out loud, and that is, I don'thate working. I just hate the
way that I'm working. I live innorthern New Jersey, and I'm in

(00:31):
a local women face, you know,something moms, right? Facebook
group, and there was a post, andI'm gonna and it came from a
woman who was on maternityleave, and I'm going to
paraphrase this, because I don'twant to out her too much, but
she basically said, I'm reallydreading going back to work. We
make great money, but it's stillnot enough for me to stay home
with my baby. I hate beingpaged, I hate being on call. I

(00:51):
hate the stress, I hate thetraffic. I just feel so stuck.
Does it get better? And Iremember that, oh my gosh. I
remember that. I think I've toldyou guys on this show. I
remember driving back to Iwasn't going to go back to work
after I had my third kid and
my ex husband quit his job, so Ihad to go back to work. And I

(01:12):
remember, I mean, northern NewJersey, the traffic's insane.
It's insane.
I remember driving back to workscreaming at the top of my
lungs, I can't believe I'meffing doing this. Like you
just, you know, you're trying toraise kids, but you have to be
at work at eight o'clock. Shemeans you have to leave it like
630 even if you're only like, 15miles away, you know. And then
you don't get home, even if youget out at four, you don't get

(01:35):
home till like, six o'clock. 536o'clock was, it's crazy, right?
So if it hits home for you.Like, it hit home for me when I
read that. And if you ever foundyourself asking, like, is this
everything or like, I just Idon't I'm ready to I want to
work. I love contributing. Ilove what I do. I'm so good at
what I do,
but there's got to be a betterway to do it. I decided that I

(01:56):
wanted to do an episode just forthat, because that really is at
the heart of everything I teach,right? It's at the heart of
everything I teach. What is yourzone of genius? How can you
create a big, beautiful, bold,ask, offer for that and and then
sell that, whether you're a fulltime entrepreneur or it's a side
gig, whatever it is for you. Butthere's people are doing this,

(02:19):
so why not you? So we're goingto walk through 10 powerful ways
today that you can turn thecareer that and the expertise
that you've worked so hard tobuild into a high income
business, if you want, right onethat you can fit around your
life, not the other way around.And I've created a free guide to
go with this, 50 business ideasfrom real life paychecks. You
can grab that right now at KarenYankovich, Comm, slash, three to

(02:41):
two, download, and I'll tell youmore about that later as well.
All right, so let's talk aboutthe big elephant in the room
here. Okay,
the real issue is that you youdon't hate being productive,
right? You don't hate using yourbrain. In fact, you probably
love using your brain. You lovehaving impact. What you hate is
being micromanaged, missing yourchild's milestones for meeting

(03:05):
that could have been an email,right? Trading your piece for a
paycheck, being brilliant andstill feeling broke or boxed in,
this isn't burnout. It'smisalignment. And let me just
tell you, alignment is yourbirthright. That's all we're
looking to do here, take thatbeautiful genius you have and
align it with something thatwill bring in the money, and

(03:27):
oftentimes, way more money thanyou were able to get at a
paycheck, right? And instead ofpouring all of your heart and
your soul and your energy andthings you want to pour into
your family, into someone else'sbusiness, someone else's dream,
start building your own. So ifthat all sounds aligned to you,
then you're in the right place.So let's I'm just going to talk
quickly about like 10 differentways you can take your skills
from your paycheck and turn theminto a profitable, aligned

(03:50):
business. So the first one Iwant to talk about, and this is
a big
one, the consultant path.Listen, we all know consultants
get paid. Nope, nope. No.Corporation is expecting to hire
a consultant and not pay them,right? So, and maybe you even
seen that. Maybe you've evenseen consultants come into your
company and you're they'regetting paid

(04:12):
five or six times what you getpaid to do things that you
probably could do. Right?Consulting is kind of simply
charging for your brain insteadof your time, right? So, like,
think about what kinds of thingsyour company might bring a
consultant in for that youprobably have a lot of the skill

(04:33):
for. You have to have all thisskill because, let's get real.
We can learn, right? You don'thave to know. Like, this is
another issue with women. Wefeel like, if we don't know all
the things, we can't do it yet,you can learn right? As long as
you know, you can accomplish itone person, one problem, and
charge a premium. Becauseremember this as a consultant,
let's say you get paid $50 anhour, right? And you're like the
consultant gets paid $200 anhour. You don't want to charge

(04:53):
hourly as a consultant, butlet's just use those numbers as
a round numbers, right? Rememberthat you're not really getting
paid $50 an hour because there'sa.
Loaded labor rate. They'repaying payroll taxes on you,
then maybe they're paying forsome benefits, right? So your
$50 an hour is probably close to$100 an hour. And that
consultant that's getting paid$200 an hour out of that $200
they have to pay their overhead,right, all the things that go

(05:15):
into running a business. Socharging a premium isn't
overcharging. To just stayaligned. You got to charge like,
two or three times what anhourly rate might be, just to
say even. And then, of course, Iwant you to stick it. I want you
to take that a little a levelhigher, right? And that's what
I'm here to help you with. Thesecond path, the course creator
path, right? What do you know?Package it into a workshop,
package it into a training,package it into a digital

(05:37):
course. You've something you'vealready taught 100 times, right?
Why not record it once and sellit forever. This can doesn't
have to be a business thing, bythe way, right? You can run a
digit, let's say you're thepresident of the PTA, right? But
you can create a course aroundhow to run a successful PTA,
right? There's courses foreverything. It's courses for
everything. And most of thestuff that goes into this, you
can, you know, you can get freerecording up, you know, like,

(05:59):
you know, this microphone that Ihave is very inexpensive, right?
And it's a good one, like it'sthat stuff doesn't cost that
much to get all the things youneed to create a course. The
third path, the coach or mentorpath, people are already asking,
how'd you do that? Right?Whether you're a nurse or a
teacher or the VP of Finance,you can mentor the next wave of
women coming up behind you,right? And you can charge for

(06:20):
that. You can charge for that,whether you have groups or
whether you or whether you havea community, or whether you do
it individually, right? Speakingof individually, the fourth path
I want to talk about is the VIPday model.
I am telling you
there are people that wouldrather pay high, a premium price
to have you to their self, tothemselves, than to be in a

(06:42):
group or be something lowerticket, right? So, one high
touch day where you're solving afull problem, you know, that's
it. One day, big value, premiumprice. I've talked to like yoga
teachers about this. Like, youknow, you're focusing on your
$20 a person class, focus on,like, what does $2,000 to spend
the day with you look like?Right, creating custom

(07:03):
yoga sequences and maybeessential oil blends, or maybe
building in some massage,whatever it is you do, right?
Like, there are women that arejust not going to come to your
yoga, your yoga class, becausetheir rotator cuffs are torn and
they're they feel uncomfortable,right? Work with them privately,
VIP day. People want to do this.I promise you, there's
opportunities for this. One ofthe first things we teach in our
she's linked up program, is howto create a VIP day. Model

(07:26):
Number five, the done with you.Model this is perfect for the
perfectionist that are listeningto me here, right? You don't
have to do it all. Just do itwith your clients, right? It
builds intimacy and it keepsyour workload light. They can
bring you in, you know,consultant, mentor like you
know, you're saying, I'm goingto do this with you. I've done
this before, right? And I'mgoing to teach you how to do it
as we do it together, right? Ourshe's linked up. Program, is it

(07:46):
done with you? Program, thereare things we do for you. We
write your profile for you, butwe do it with you because it
allows us. You know, I'm nevergoing to log into your LinkedIn
profile. It's against allLinkedIn Terms of Service, and I
don't want to do that, right? Sowe do this with you. There's
lots of things you can do with adone with you. Model number six,
digital products, templates,checklists, email scripts,

(08:07):
instant downloads, right? You'vealready built some of these,
maybe for your own, for the workyou've been doing right now,
turn them into making money,right? And help let's chatgpt Or
somebody help you create all ofthat, right? Like they can help
you chatgpt or AI can help youcome up with what the digital
products are that you have aunique ability to do. Number

(08:27):
seven, speaking and training.Get paid to teach what you know,
corporations, schools,associations. These people are
craving real world wisdom. Okay,you've got it. You've been in
the workforce or these all theseyears, right? What is this? You
know this. So let's just put,let's say this, the person that
put this Facebook post up, like,say she goes back to work
because she just didn't buildthis in yet. But at the same
time, she creates a speaker kit,right? What can she go out and

(08:50):
speak to? Like, whether it'sreal estate agents or insurance
agents or some, I mean, there'sassociations for, you know,
people that so buttons on dolls,you know, and more, right? So,
so think about the speaking andtraining path. That could be
another path to build income foryou, the thought leader path
number eight, start showing uppost on LinkedIn, do guest
interviews, build a brand aroundyour expertise, and doors will

(09:12):
open. I say this all the time. Iwish I could tell you what the
actual mathematical equation isfor reach out to this many
people and you get this manyclients, but I can tell you, if
you do, if you build a networkwith intention and you just do
outreach intentionally and andfrom your heart and from your
area of expertise, the businessfollows every single time, every

(09:32):
single time the advisory path,right? Maybe you have expertise
in startups or boards ornonprofits be the voice of
wisdom without being on theirpayroll, this is very attractive
to a lot of these people. And bythe way, startups often have
cash, right, so they can pay youfor this stuff. And the 10th one
that I'm listing here now. Andremember, we have a download for
you where there's 50 ideas theboutique agency path, hire a

(09:56):
small team to do what you do nowand step into that CEO role.
Smart. Start small.
Start small, get one or twoclients, and then grow on your
terms.
There's so much more we can talkto about this, like I would love
to talk to you individuallyabout this. If you go to Karen
yankovich.com/call I'm happy tochat with you about what it
looks like for you, but everysingle one of these models is
rooted in skills you alreadyhave. I'm not asking you to get

(10:18):
another certification. You don'tneed any of that, you just need
the strategy. Okay, you justneed the strategy. So let's talk
about what this really takes.Okay,
it's not more hustle, it's notmore sacrifice. It's giving
yourself permission to buildthat bridge from your paycheck
to your entrepreneurial vision,right to take up space, to value

(10:41):
your piece more than your jobtitle, your LinkedIn profile,
absolutely can open doors todream clients. I know that. I've
seen that I teach that yourstory can become your brand,
right? Oh my gosh, I can. I can.I can just rant on this forever.
But, and the reason that Iincorporate PR into these
conversations, you know, publicrelations. I want you

(11:02):
interviewed on podcasts andmagazines, newspapers, whatever,
a little PR, a littlepositioning and a whole lot of
self trust. You can build abusiness that supports your
life, not one that drains it. Sothat's why I created this
episode, because I read thatpost on Facebook and I was like,
All right, I
I just want to spark like, whatif, right? What if I'm not

(11:22):
asking you to I mean, eventuallyyou have to take a leap. Right?
I did right? Many of us thatentrepreneurs did. I took a leap
at one point, left my securepaycheck, you know, to do what I
do now. So that's why I createdthis new free resource, 50
business ideas from real lifepaychecks. You're going to find
real examples of women turningjobs into offers, business
models for nurses, teachers,admin assistants, creatives,

(11:45):
quick monetization hooks foreach of these ideas, right? And
a little inspiration, because Iwant you to believe that you can
do this too. This is not fluff.This is the idea that can change
everything. So you can grab thatat Karen yankovich.com/
322, download, okay, and you cangrab that free checklist. Here's
the truth. You're not stuckbecause of your job. You're

(12:06):
stuck because no one showed youanother way, or no one because,
let me tell you something, whenI took this leap,
I had to lean into myentrepreneur friends, not my
friends and family who love mebut didn't get me right. So
there's going to be people thatare like, wait, what? You got a
six figure paycheck, and youlive in Bergen County, and

(12:26):
you're gonna walk away from thatto do what? Right? I'm here for
you. I want you to imagine thatlike you're walking into a
Monday morning. The sun's comingin the windows, your kids are
laughing in the background, andyour calendar is full of people
who value you, right? You'recharging a premium price for the
genius you are, and you're doingwork that feels like an

(12:49):
extension of your heart, notfeels like a drain on your
entire being. That life iscloser than you think, but
you've got to choose it. Sostart with downloading the
guide. Start with downloadingthe guide. Let this episode be
your sign. Okay, make sure thatwe're connected as well and on
LinkedIn, and let me know howit's going,
and know that you were bornworthy the world is waiting for

(13:13):
what only you can bring. I willsee you right here next week for
another episode of The Goodgirls get rich podcast.