“Shocked” is the word I am hearing most often these days. The recurrent question: “Why would you transition out of a successful company and go to work for yourself?” The fact is - it wasn’t a hard decision at all. That’s because I’ve already spent a lot of time thinking about what I would do if I had the opportunity to work in a field I wholeheartedly believe in, in a way that could have meaningful impact. Here’s how I made my decision and what you can learn from it:
Working with purpose.
Over the last decade I have answered numerous employee satisfaction surveys with each company I’ve worked for. Each time, the surveys come back saying the same thing: Having purpose gives greater satisfaction at work. Let’s think about that for a minute. Purpose—not more money, not extra resources, not work-life balance, is what would have the greatest impact on someone being happy in their job. For me, having purpose took me in a very specific direction.
Diversify your skills.
Diversifying my skill set was a very intentional and deliberate career decision. If you’re not getting the skills you need from the job you’re in, it doesn’t necessarily mean finding a new job.
Do what feels right, instead of what looks right.
Even though I worked hard to build my business, I knew this was a unique opportunity and one that I had wanted for years. I wasn’t going to pass it up. Let’s get back to the part where people are shocked about my decision. From the outside looking in, I run a successful health practitioner company and I am a passionate entrepreneur. But if I am being true to myself, my calling is to use my skills to help others on a larger scale.
Sometimes the career decisions you make won’t make sense to others. And your professional satisfaction matters.
Believe in what you do.
I have been fortunate enough to help so many people already this year since setting up my company to achieve their goals and new health and vitality as well as bring awareness of the benefits of living a lifestyle which may not be drastically different to what you already were living but small changes that can have a big impact. If you can’t speak passionately about your company, there’s a problem.
The decision to change careers and build my own business was an easy one. But it wasn’t without careful thought and consideration...over time. I feel like my entire career has led me to this moment, one step at a time.