I’ve just gotten back from an incredible week in Italy and London with my family, and our time together made me think about how not long ago, James and I didn’t have the freedom – of time or financially – that we have today.
With that, I realized that there’s a story I’ve yet to share with you: the story of how I quit my 9-5 job.
Here’s how it happened…
Last September, I realized that it was time to go part-time in my 9-5 job as a Matchmaker (yes, I helped wealthy people in London find love!) so I could build my coaching business. (That decision was easy since I wasn’t getting paid much anyway!)
About a month later, I still felt trapped in that position for a few reasons: I knew I wanted to go to the US in December, but that I wasn’t going to have enough vacation time, and I was also sick of being paid barely anything for 20 hours of work a week.
At that point in my coaching biz, I had made a little over $6k in sales that month, but I still had credit card debt from all of those months where I was investing in my dreams without the funding to back it up. (You may know the feeling!)
One evening in the beginning of October, I stayed up until 2am to speak to my own coach on a group call she was hosting from California. I “raised my hand” and asked her how you know when to leave your 9-5 job.
She paused and said that it’s different for everyone. Then she asked me about my finances and what was stopping me from quitting today.
She asked, “If debt wasn’t an issue, what would you do?”
I said, “Quit tomorrow” without hesitation.
The very next day, I woke up and asked for guidance on the situation and a sign and then went about my day.
A few hours later, I got a text from my husband who was at his own 9-5 job. He said that he supported me no matter what and if I felt that it was time to leave, he would understand and back me up.
(Although he had always been my biggest fan, he had never said something like that before and the thought of me not having the stability of a paycheck had previously freaked him out.)
I took it as a sign.
Later on that day, my boss at the time called me unexpectedly. I had the day off, so when I saw her number pop up on my phone, I knew something was up.
Despite me telling her months before that I was starting a coaching business and going part-time within her company to build it, that day she told me she had just “stumbled” upon my website and was upset by it.
She felt that my company was distracting me from the work I was doing with her.
When we hung up the phone, I felt a knot of guilt form in my stomach, but I quickly pushed it away and decided that I wasn’t going to let that conversation ruin my day.
After all, I had a call with a client 30 minutes later and a call with my own one on one coach after that, and I didn’t want to waste time talking about something that I knew was temporary and not a part of getting me the life I’d always wanted anyway.
So I had those calls and then went to a yoga class.
That evening, during downward dog, I started laughing out loud when I realized what had just happened in the past 24 hours: I had literally declared that I wanted to quit tomorrow and that happened to be the day my own boss discovered my website for the first time.
I took it as another sign and sent her my resignation email when I got home.
Clearly the Universe was calling me to quit and take that leap of faith. It could not have been any more obvious.
My point? Sometimes the Universe has to give us a push. Sometimes we don’t see what’s right before our eyes. Sometimes we aren’t brave enough to make the decision on our own so it’s decided for us.
Things don’t need to happen perfectly for them to work out.
Whether you believe in anything spiritual or not, I’m sure there have been times where you, too, have needed guidance.
And if today’s one of those days, ask for it.
I’m not telling you to go and quit your job, but I am suggesting that if you feel called for something – starting a business or taking your own leap of faith – do it!
If you’re feeling called, take action.
If you’re feeling scared – great, that means there’s something big around the corner.
You don’t have to see the whole staircase.
You can do this, lovely. I believe in you.
