(Preview) Is Job Security a Myth? ft. Megan Gillman

[00:00:00] Here's a quick cut preview of an upcoming episode of the Work It Live It On It, Podcast.

[00:00:07] What advice would you offer aspiring entrepreneurs who are hesitant to leave their current

[00:00:18] jobs and pursue their passions?

[00:00:20] Yes, I would say well you have a team, right?

[00:00:23] Don't think that you're on your own starting off out by yourself, because you don't have

[00:00:27] employees, doesn't mean you don't have a team.

[00:00:29] Maybe your team is your partner or your sisters, you have people you can ask for help

[00:00:34] and learning to receive help without shame is the number one thing that's going to

[00:00:40] help skyrocket you as an entrepreneur.

[00:00:42] And any business you decide to start know that your team is already there, you can start

[00:00:47] asking them right now for help and support.

[00:00:50] Whether that looks like asking for capital or asking for help making connections or asking

[00:00:56] for someone to watch your kid for two hours while you figure some stuff out.

[00:01:00] My second piece of advice would be if you're holding yourself back from leaving a full

[00:01:05] time job and transitioning into entrepreneurship.

[00:01:08] I want to make sure you're not doing it because you think that having like a W2 job

[00:01:14] where you're an employee is a safe bet, because as a matter of how cushy the job is

[00:01:19] or how much money you're making or how stable they want you to think it is, doesn't

[00:01:24] matter if they say our job is a family reality is that if something happens and then you

[00:01:29] need to lay people off, they're not going to lose sleep over letting you go.

[00:01:33] I know so many people who are in tech jobs right now, who are going through layoffs after

[00:01:38] layoffs after layoffs because things are changing fast.

[00:01:42] If I had stayed in my job at the university right through the pandemic, all of the people

[00:01:46] got laid off from university is doing the pandemic because people weren't coming to colleges

[00:01:51] in the same way.

[00:01:52] We were changing the whole way we do education.

[00:01:55] There's a strong message coming at entrepreneurs and especially women and especially women

[00:02:01] who have families that the safe and responsible thing to do is stay and employ you because

[00:02:06] that is safe.

[00:02:07] But it's not actually any safer than being an entrepreneur, it's just someone else's success

[00:02:13] or failure is the dictates whether you have a job and a paycheck instead of your own.

[00:02:18] So if you're keeping yourself small because you think it's the safer option, just zoom

[00:02:23] out real big and look around.

[00:02:25] Remember that that's the story that we've been telling ourselves that may or may not have

[00:02:30] been true at some time in the past but it's not necessarily true right now.

[00:02:34] So if it's not true, does that change the way you feel about starting your own business

[00:02:39] now?

[00:02:40] And if it does, go for that.

[00:02:41] Because what you just said right there actually feeds into this statistic, I mentioned

[00:02:47] in a previous episode that men are more apt to leave a job where they are uncomfortable

[00:02:56] with, they are fighting depression where there's a lot of stress.

[00:02:59] They will walk away, take a pay cut for happiness.

[00:03:03] Where asked statistically as women we feel I got a hold onto this job because it means

[00:03:09] security and as women I think a lot of us, I know for me, security is a big thing.

[00:03:15] I want security and you think that that nine to five with the health benefits and I'm not

[00:03:20] taking away from that because health insurance is very important but we'll hold on and we will

[00:03:25] suffer.

[00:03:26] We will allow ourselves to be talked down to discredited, devalued for that nine to five.

[00:03:33] So you brought up a good point.

[00:03:34] Don't think that that job is ultimately secure.

[00:03:38] I've worked in education for over 20 years and I can tell you there have been times that

[00:03:43] I've lost my position, even in education.

[00:03:46] Nothing is secure under the sun but if you're willing to put in the work to make it happen

[00:03:53] for yourself, having a schedule that's going to work for you because hey if you think about

[00:03:57] it yes, if you had a brick and mortar you had that coffee shop then you got to be open

[00:04:01] for business.

[00:04:02] Got two repertoire questions for you.

[00:04:04] Are you ready?

[00:04:05] I am.

[00:04:06] What's the most surprising thing you've learned about yourself since becoming an entrepreneur?

[00:04:11] The most surprising thing I have learned about myself since becoming an entrepreneur is that

[00:04:17] I am a great employee but I am a terrible boss to myself.

[00:04:23] I'm not a mean boss but I'm not always the most assertive.

[00:04:27] Right, a good boss is going to give you structure and boundaries and direction clear goals

[00:04:33] to reach and sometimes I struggle with doing that.

[00:04:36] I can show up for other people above and beyond but in my own business it's really hard

[00:04:42] to do that because my boss is Lee and she's too lenient, she's too lenient sometimes.

[00:04:47] We can be so lenient on ourselves, absolutely when we're given structure and tasks some

[00:04:53] of us do great without it and they can focus and then point and then some of us we're

[00:04:58] just Lucy Goosey, we just fly by the seat of our pants and we're wrote we go rogue.

[00:05:04] So I get it great.

[00:05:05] If instead of hiring like a virtual assistant we get a higher like a virtual boss to just

[00:05:09] like, I listen to you.

[00:05:12] I think money doesn't do better stuff and all right, I think we can get accountability

[00:05:16] partners that can say okay what are your goals for the week and then check in or even

[00:05:21] those groups like you talk about what are some things that we're going to focus on for

[00:05:25] this month and then check in.

[00:05:27] Yeah, I get it.

[00:05:28] We can get accountability partners with someone to check in with us at least once a month

[00:05:32] minimal to hold us accountable, hold our feet to the fire as it were.

[00:05:36] Second question for you, if you could travel anywhere in the world tomorrow where would

[00:05:43] you go and why my gosh I would go to Denmark okay, I'm going to go again specifically

[00:05:48] it's been on my list for a while.

[00:05:50] I am obsessed with Denmark like it's either the number one or number two happiest country

[00:05:55] in the world.

[00:05:56] I'm a life coach right like I want to help people find happiness.

[00:05:59] I feel like this is ready to go.

[00:06:00] This is my need to learn from like why are they so happy how can we out this?

[00:06:04] Also, I think it's just beautiful in picture-ast.

[00:06:06] I love this sort of the Scandinavian country is with all the water and canals and the