You guys: This is one of my favorite stories to share. There’s something about giving a voice to your little secrets that makes them so powerful! 

This (real life) tale is designed to inspire & give courage to anyone who is on the verge, and feeling called, to quit their job in order to pursue something more meaningful. This is part of the Taking the Leap resource, a database full of real-life stories from people who have successfully gone from job dissatisfaction to career emancipation.

The story below includes the truth about what it’s like & what it takes to make the leap — so you can figure out for yourself whether taking the leap is right for you!

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I have a big secret that I used to be ashamed of that I want to share with you, okay?

In early February of 2013, I was fired from my full time day job. For a while afterwards, I went around saying things like “I no longer work for them” or “I recently went full time with aspire&grow” or pretty much anything to avoid the F-word.

Fired. Like, they didn’t want me any more.

It’s so easy to take it all so personally and feel like it was a punch in the gut. And it WAS – that fact is not to be ignored. At the end of the day, they didn’t want me in the role any longer, and that can be a hard pill for anyone to swallow. I needed to lick my wounds for a moment… and then peel myself off of the couch and get to work. I realized that this moment was a momentous opportunity — for my business, for my life.

Here’s the thing: I didn’t hate my job. In fact, there were many parts of it I really enjoyed. I worked for a cool company, creating fun events with rad people, and I got to mostly work from home. Seemed like I had it pretty easy.

But that’s the rub. I started aspire&grow while in that job because I knew I wanted more. I wanted to be my own boss, make a difference in the world, help people, stand up and shine. Meanwhile, my job meant I didn’t have to really push. I never took the leap into full time entrepreneurship since I figured I could do both while I was still semi-digging the work I was doing in the J.O.B.

My business was at a stand still (limited by evening and weekend hours based around my full time job) but I could feel that it wanted to grow. It was like a plant that was in a pot it had outgrown but no one replanted it into a new, bigger, more beautiful pot. When the first pot broke into a million pieces and it’s roots spread out a bit, the plant’s caretaker either had to replant it into a bigger pot with room to grow or watch it die.

I was the caretaker. I replanted the growing plant.

I realized I was given the greatest gift – the gift of a choice I wasn’t ready to make for myself. I couldn’t take the leap myself so I got the push I needed. In the course of the three days to follow, aspire&grow was thriving with happy and loving clients whose businesses I adore.

Getting fired is the world’s way of telling you that you had the wrong job in the first place.

I’ve had some incredible jobs, for sure. And they all taught me skills I use now, every single day. They just weren’t what I was supposed to be doing. Getting fired isn’t a reason to drown yourself in Ben & Jerry’s while sinking deeper into your couch cushions (at least not for more than a day or so). It’s a chance to do the thing that is deep in your soul, that thing that makes you hum with energy and light.

Go hum and make magic. Take the leap (or accept a push). Congrats. You’re on your way.

xo

 

 

 

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If you’re on the verge of taking the leap to quit your job, but aren’t quite sure you have what it takes, I invite you to check out more of these inspiring stories by going to the Taking the Leap resource, where you will have access to some other stories just like this one.