2017 started out as a year of transition for me. I ended a marriage, lost 30 pounds, began dating again, met someone incredible that I was not expecting or looking for, gained about 20 pounds back, had a great visit with my Dad for the holidays and met some amazing new people and lost some friends in the whole process. I learned a lot about myself and came to the realization about many things in my life and career. So 2018 rolled around and the obvious mode and motto for the year was Make Stuff Happen for 2018. I needed change...BIG CHANGE, especially in my career. One of those career realization is that while I maybe very good at my job and doing 'meh' financially, I can do much better. Second career realization...I no longer want to work for someone else, I want to get back to my passion of being an entrepreneur and create my path towards financial and personal freedom. Freedom in the sense that I want to spend more time with my family, pick my daughter up from school and do her homework with her, to not be made to feel bad or shamed that I need to take time to take her to the doctor or watch her gymnastics practice or see her win an AR award at school. I've missed way too much for far too long when it comes to my kiddo.
So one morning about a month ago, I woke up around 2-3am just because I do that now and was scrolling around Facebook. I came across this video of a man named
Rock Thomas on Goalcast. He was telling his story about how he overcame so many things in his life to become a success. Follow the link above to watch it...truly inspiring. It got me thinking about redefining myself and my 2018 motto of make stuff happen. Was I really working at that mindset that I had chosen for myself this year? I was looking to make a change with my work...I had an opportunity fall in my lap for a new job. $20K more in salary, HUGE commission potential, work from home and travel. I had 4 interviews with this company. After the final interview, everyone asked me if I thought I might get the job. I realized I had mixed feelings. I am pretty good at gaging my interview success and job offer chances. But this one, I honestly didn't know what to think. I thought the interview went well but I had this feeling of uncertainty about making the move. Was it my passion to work for this company? No not really. Was the appeal the money, working from home and traveling for work? Yes but would making the jump to this new company make me happy...and the answer was no. So when I got the response from the recruiter that I didn't get the job, I was truly ok with their decision and mine not to take it.
I had another plan. I began mapping out my mission, my vision and my passion/purpose for what I wanted in my career and my life. Rock Thomas calls it your MVP. I started to ask myself questions to get me to the point where I would narrow it all down to the very essence of what would challenge me, make me happy, give me the freedom I was looking for and bring me financial security. And I asked myself this-What would I do if I knew I could not fail? Well, the answers were simple
- be a dj on the radio again-BEST job I ever had
- be a stand-up comedian-that's my secret dream job (oops..not anymore)
- own my own restaurant-a pipe dream but one that feeds my soul
- own my own business again
- a job that would give me more time with Zoe and completely support us
So that was my list. The last one was the motivator. Under that I wrote 2 things-real estate and consultant for Government Contracting. I remembered I saw some recently advertised career nights for 2 real estate agencies. One agency had a workshop beginning at 5:30pm. I emailed my interest and mentioned my time constraint as I didn't get off of work until 5:30 and I would be a little late. I was met with a bit of rude inflexible response from that agency and moved on. I RSVP'd for the Keller Williams career night scheduled a bit later in the evening, fitting my schedule and attended. I asked a lot of questions. Can I do this part time? How much is the real estate course? Can I do it online? Are there classes that will fit my schedule? What are your experiences with starting out? How long did it take you to transition? How did you do that? Any many more after that...I think they knew I was serious about making a change. So there I sat, listening to other agents talk about how much they loved what they do, how it affords them time with their families, how they support their family completely...a lot of the things I was looking for in a career/life change. So I took the plunge, signed up for the class, got a nice little discount on it, fits my schedule and in as little as 6 months, I will have my real estate license. And with my transition plan, I will quit my job in 365 days and have my own business again as a real estate agent working my MVP.
So why the blog? Well, I adored the movie Julia and Julie, where Julie Powell chronicalled her life, career and foodie way through my favorite cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking by none other than the amazing Julia Child. I wanted to record my journey in the same fashion and this way, I hold myself accountable and hopefully..if anyone reads this too...you will hold me accountable too, or exchange ideas, offer encouragement or be inspired to make a change too.
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