Lessons from a Quitter

Latest Episodes:

From Teacher to Pinterest Strategist: How Jena Liat developed a new skill, started a business and replaced her income all within 2 years Feb 26, 2019

Show notes

Jena is a wife and mom who taught 5th grade for 6 years until she realized that her career as a teacher no longer fit with her life. Without knowing what she wanted to do next, she just started by putting herself out there as a virtual assistant. When one of her clients needed her to learn Pinterest management, Jena discovered her love for lead generation and Pinterest strategy. In just 2 years, Jena has created her own Pinterest-focused marketing business where she works for driven and purpose-filled online brands who want to reach more people and make more impact with their content. Her business has allowed her to replace her income while spending more time at home with her children. She thrives on providing hospitality, serving her clients through personalized attention, and loving on her husband and two beautiful daughters.

Here is what we chat about in this episode:

Why Jena left teaching even though it was a career she loved
How she got started in the online space
How one client's needs led her to her current business
How she has replaced her income in under 2 years
Whether Pinterest is right for your business
Why there is always room even in a saturated market for your service

Where to find Jena:

Website: https://www.jenaliat.com/

Freebie: https://www.jenaliat.com/pinterest-quiz
Email: jena@jenaliat.com

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How Ali Boone quit the corporate 9-5 as an aerospace engineer to start her real estate investment company Feb 19, 2019

Show notes

Ali Boone is a lifestyle entrepreneur real estate investor, author and speaker. Ali has literally defined non-conformity when it comes to her career. Ali left her corporate 9-to-5 job as an Aerospace Engineer, despite the "dream job" status that came with it, to follow her passion for being her own boss and creating true lifestyle design. She went from being on food stamps in her first year of entrepreneurship to facilitating over $18M in real estate transactions in her first five years of business. In addition to running her real estate investing company Hipster Investments, she's a pilot and teaches flying and she can often be found snowboarding, hiking, or volunteering in California prisons. Her ultimate goal is to one day challenge Tim Ferriss to a lifestyle design duel.

This episode is packed with great information for anyone who wants to quit their job but has no idea what they would do next.

Here is what we chat about in this episode:

What led Ali down the road to Aerospace Engineering
When was the moment that she realized she didn't want to be an Aerospace Engineer
How she prepared herself to leave the corporate world
Why fixing her mindset was the most important part of quitting her job
How she pushed past the lows in the entrepreneurial roller coaster
What her company, Hipster Investments, specializes in
What Ali's "why" is and how it guides her in her business

Where to find Ali:

Website: https://aliboone.com/
Business website: http://hipsterinvestments.com/
Social Media: @aliboonedotcom

Resources mentioned

Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki

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How to stop being nice and start being your authentic self with Dr. Aziz Gazipura Feb 12, 2019

Show notes

We all care what other people think, even if we pretend like we don't. A healthy relationship with other people's opinions is actually needed. It teaches us what works in communities and what doesn't. It keeps people accountable to each other. However, so many of us, myself included, let the obsession with what other people think run amok and control our whole lives.

We've been raised to be nice and not make any waves. Especially in the corporate setting, we place value on being a team player and suppressing your own needs for the greater good. Over time, that completely hinders our lives. We play small, keep quiet and make sure that other people's needs are met over ours. It can cause an unbearable amount of stress and sadness. Ultimately, it leads to us not living lives on our own terms.

This is glaringly evident when it comes to staying in a career you hate. So much of what keeps us stuck is our fear of what other people will think or say, how our family/friends will react, how upset our spouse will be, etc. If you're going to find the courage to go after a life you love, you first have to learn how to stop people pleasing and be your authentic self.

On this week's episode, I'm so excited to have on Dr. Aziz Gazipura to talk about his book Not Nice and how we can go about limiting these toxic tendencies we've picked up. Dr. Aziz is the world's leading confidence expert. He helps people break free from hesitation, fear, and self-doubt so they can rapidly grow their businesses, become more powerful leaders, and enjoy outstanding relationships. He completed his doctoral training at Stanford and Palo Alto Universities and is the founder of the Center For Social Confidence. He has a large online following with his podcast and YouTube videos and is the author of two additional best selling books: The Solution To Social Anxiety and The Art Of Extraordinary Confidence.

Here is what we chat about in this episode:

Why niceness isn't rooted in goodness but rather in fear
How to deal with the long view of changing your view to being more authentically yourself
How to handle other people's emotions in reaction to you speaking up for yourself
Why it is necessary to be authentically yourself even if it hurts the people closest to you.
How Embarrassment Inoculation can change your life

Where to find Dr. Aziz:

Website: https://www.socialconfidencecenter.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrAzizCoach
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrAzizGazipura/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/GetMoreConfidence

Resources mentioned

Dying to be Me, by Anita Moorjani
Mind Over Medicine, by Dr. Lissa Rankin
Do It Scared, by Scott Allan

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How Elie Mystal quit practicing law and wrote about it instead Feb 05, 2019

Show notes

You might already be familiar with Elie Mystal from his frequent appearances as a political analyst on major news shows or his considerable body of work on Above the Law and other news publications. It is often easy to look at Elie's success and assume that he had a straight, easy path out of law into journalism. But what you may not know is that Elie walked away from his 6-figure legal job at a prestigious New York law firm, after having received his law degree from Harvard Law School, without a plan as to what to do next. With the support of his wife, and after months of sitting on his couch with no real idea of where to start, Elie began his journey to be a writer by taking a job working for free at a local news agency.

I got to talk to Elie about how he dealt with all of the pressure from family and society, especially as an African American man, to stay in a "successful" career. We discuss how his path has led him to where he is today as the Executive Editor of Above the Law.

If you're a frequent listener of the show, then you might remember that we had David Lat, the founder of Above the Law, on episode 14. We delve more into what Above the Law has evolved into in that episode. In this episode, we focus mostly on Elie's journey. Feel free to check out Episode 14 here.

Here is what we chat about in this episode:

What lead Elie down the path to law school
Why he felt that making the decision to go to law school instead of working for Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign was a "dumb" decision
Why law school just wasn't for Elie
How being a "successful" lawyer as a minority put additional pressure to stay in the field
How the support of his wife was essential for Elie's decision to quit law.
How he dealt with the difficult time of figuring out what his next step was going to be
What his path as a journalist has looked like
How he ended up winning a competition to work for Above the Law
How others can break into a career in writing

Where to find Elie:

Website: www.abovethelaw.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/atlblog
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ElieNYC

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How Shinah Chang quit the straight path of law for Crooked Calligraphy Jan 29, 2019

Show notes

Shinah is a whiskey-loving, curse-word slinging, Harvard-trained former corporate attorney who left everything behind to find her passion.

Shinah spent her entire life on the straight, "proper" path. She went to an Ivy League college, then a prestigious Law School, then worked her butt off as a corporate attorney for a big international law firm.

But, after one too many days of uninspiring work and nights of sleeping under her desk, she decided she wanted to reclaim her life! She quit her job and explored so many creative avenues - knitting, woodworking, drawing, graphic design. But CALLIGRAPHY is what she fell in love with.

Shinah needed plenty of inspiration along the way, but the usual sugary, sincere stuff about beauty and dreams didn't reflect what she was really feeling. So she created Crooked Calligraphy to spread creativity, courage and honest, gritty life inspiration through calligraphy.

Crooked Calligraphy has worked with huge brands like Disney, Anthropologie, Jo Malone, and Dom Perignon, but Shinah's favorite work is teaching calligraphy and encouraging her students to look their fears in the face and move toward a life that will make them happy.

Here is what we chat about in this episode:

How she spent her childhood working towards the predictable path to "success" including getting a 1600 on her SATs and getting into Harvard
How affirmation and praise can become a drug that keeps you in doing things you hate
How she started realizing that she wanted to quit her job as a corporate lawyer and what steps she took before quitting
How she quit law without having any idea of what to do next
What she did in order to figure out what her next steps would be
The importance of exploration and experimentation in finding your passions
How she found calligraphy and how it turned into a business
How she figured out her unique brand and voice with Crooked Calligraphy

Where to find Shinah:

Website: www.crookedcalligraphy.com
Instagram: @crookedcalligraphy

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Dentist & Marketer: How Joanne Bourgault is building her business on the side while still working as a dentist Jan 22, 2019

Show notes

What stops a lot of people from quitting careers that they don't like is that they don't know what else they would do. Well, today's guest, provides an excellent example in how to develop your passions on the side while still working in your day job.

Joanne Bourgault is a dentist based in Saskatoon, Canada. When she found herself unfulfilled with her current work, Joanne began working in the online space on the side. After dabbling in various roles, she found that she loved working as a copywriter and marketing strategist. You can now find her helping female entrepreneurs grow their businesses doing meaningful work so that they can design lives that suit them and their families - instead of settling for "average."

What I love about her journey is that she is taking the time to find what she truly loves, editing as necessary, and building her dream without having to quit her job and make dramatic changes. Her story is the perfect example of how to put in the work to give yourself a realistic escape from a job you hate.

Here is what we chat about in this episode:

Why Joanne left her career in accounting to go to dental school
How working with a life coach led her to realize that she wanted to transition out of dentistry too
How she experimented with different side hustles to figure out what she really liked
How she dealt with talking to her husband and family about leaving dentistry
How she deals with her changing identity from dentist to marketer
How she finds the time to balance her full-time job, family life, and side hustle.

Where to find Joanne:

Website: joannebourgault.com
Instagram: @joanne_bourgault

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How Joe Hansen walked away from Big Law to travel the world with his family Jan 15, 2019

Show notes

For most of us risk-averse, type-A personalities, walking away from a multiple 6-figure career to pursue an entirely different career is a HUGE, scary step. Most can't muster up the courage to even take that jump. But to leave such a "successful" career to just travel around the world with your family would make most of our heads explode. What if I can't get a job when I get back? But what will we do for money? WHAT IF WE BECOME HOMELESS? You get the point. We're crazy.

Luckily, Joe Hansen is a little less neurotic than the rest of us because he did just that. He walked away from his Big Law job, making a great salary and living in San Francisco, to travel the world for a year with his wife and 2 young children.

While traveling, he is pursuing his original passion of writing by working on his first novel, an apocalyptic thriller set in San Francisco. I love Joe's story because he intentionally took this step without having everything buttoned up and planned out. As you'll hear, he and his wife are taking one step at a time. He has back-up plans in case he needs to go back to being a lawyer but, otherwise, he's realizing that everything is figureoutable...no matter what happens.

Here is what we chat about in this episode:

What led him to law school and what his experience was like at a big law firm
Why the big law firm life is not a realistic one
Why he decided to travel the world for a year with two small children and how he prepared for it.
How his coworkers were more supportive about his decision than Joe initially thought they would be
How he's moving through his journey without knowing exactly what he is going to do in the future
Whether people can take a gap year or two and return to the law
How they're tackling world travel with 2 small children
And so much more!

Where to find Joe:

Website: www.backpackrugrats.com
Instagram: @joseph_c_hansen
Instagram: @paolabregneti

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How to Gain Financial Independence with Paula Pant Jan 07, 2019

Show notes

Well, there is nothing better to start the New Year off with than an episode all about how to get financially independent so that you can do what you want! I'm so excited to have the incredible Paula Pant on the show today to do just that!!

As she likes to say herself, Paula is unemployable. She quit her job more than a decade ago, has traveled to more than 40 countries and refuses to work for anyone else. She runs the website Afford Anything, which holds a community of more than 53,000 email subscribers. She's the host of the Afford Anything podcast, which has enjoyed more than 4 million downloads. Both spread the idea that you can afford anything, but not everything.

After building financial independence through real estate investing, Paula is helping people all over the world figure out how to get out of debt and create financial independence for themselves. On this episode, we get into the details of her path to early retirement and how we can all get started on our own paths.

Here is what we chat about in this episode:

What the FIRE movement is really about
How Paula got started on her own journey to financial independence
How freelancing gave her freedom to travel for over 2 years and the skills to never go back to a "job"
Where the big opportunities in freelance writing are today
How she built her rental property portfolio and the resources she offers her community to do the same
What some possible downsides are to the FIRE movement and how to have the proper discussions to work around those issues
And so much more!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Email Series on Rental Properties: www.affordanything.com/viplist
Free e-book on FIRE: www.affordanything.com/escape

Where to find Paula:

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How Anna Lundberg reimagined success by taking one step outside of her comfort zone Jan 01, 2019

Show notes

Anna Lundberg is the founder of One Step Outside, where she helps people around the world build businesses and create a lifestyle that allows them an unimagined sense of freedom, flexibility and fulfilment. But that's not how she started her career. Like most of us, Anna began by climbing a traditional corporate ladder at Procter & Gamble as a brand manager. In her 7 years with the company, she worked on high-end fashion accounts like Dolce & Gabbana and lived a glamorous lifestyle.

But after leaving for a short sabbatical, Anna realized that she didn't want to go back. She left her career without much of a plan. Through consulting and taking on clients of her own choosing, Anna created a new business and life for herself. Since leaving her corporate job in 2013, she's now reimagining what success looks like and she's passionate about inspiring and supporting others to do the same.

In addition to her own coaching business, Anna recently launched her own podcast, Reimagining Success.

Here is what we chat about in this episode:

How she got the courage to leave her job
How she decided what she was going to do next after leaving her job without a plan
How she pushed past her "Good Girl Syndrome" to do what she really wanted to do
Why you shouldn't tell everyone about your plans to quit in the beginning
Why you ultimately have to just take action
The difference between the "what" and the "how" of the next step
How to find the right coach for you
And more...

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Book - http://leavingthecorporate9to5.com

Where to find Anna:

Website: onestepoutside.com
Facebook: facebook.com/onestepoutside
Podcast - http://reimaginingsuccesspodcast.com

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How to set goals you'll actually achieve Dec 25, 2018

Show notes

Merry Christmas!!! Happy Holidays friends!!

Thank you so much for tuning in to the show. I can't tell you how much it means to me! We're almost at 6 months and already have over 10,000 downloads! I'm honestly so grateful to be able to do this podcast and I can't thank you guys enough!!

While I usually only do interviews, I wanted to take this holiday episode to talk a little bit more about the new year and goal-setting so that hopefully you can get closer to your goal of quitting whatever is making you unhappy. Now, I know that the whole "New Year, New Me" gets a really bad wrap and people roll their eyes at resolutions. But setting goals is not the problem. Not following through is the problem. We should all be re-evaluating our lives and what we want to change all the time!

"Most people overestimate what they can do in a day, and underestimate what they can do in a month. We overestimate what we can do in a year, and underestimate what we can accomplish in a decade."

This quote by Matthey Kelly sums up exactly what is wrong with how we usually set goals. We're an impatient bunch and we want change now. But that sets you up for failure because we typically only stick to things that we can turn into habits and keep up with in the long-term.

So this year, I don't want you to focus on what you can do in the next 2 months. I want you to focus on what you can do in the next 2 years.

I talk all about why the approach in the book, The Compound Effect, by Darren Hardy is the best way to approach goal-setting. In this book, Darren Hardy talks about how making little, small changes will completely change your life. You don't need to lose 20lbs in a month. You need to cut 100 calories every day. And over time, that 100 calories will transform the way you look, feel, and act.

Make sure to check out the whole episode before you start writing your goals!

We'll be back next week with an all-new interview episode!

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