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Dreaming of ditching your 9-to-5 and launching out on your own? Maybe a side hustle has captured your attention. Maybe you’ve been mapping out a full-time business that you want to serve the world through.

Maybe you’ve seen what you want, sitting right in front of you.

That’s what happened to Amy Porterfield, today’s guest on Dear Gabby. Amy was an all-star corporate ladder climber when she felt drawn to something else. She was sitting in a meeting with men who operated their own businesses when she recognized exactly what she wanted.

“They were talking about creativity, lifestyle, freedom—and financial freedom.”

That desire propelled her to become the powerful business owner she is today.

If you share that dream—or even if you’re just looking to realign with your purpose in your career—you need to hear what she has to share in our Big Talk conversation.

finding the courage to start your own business

Amy has been a dear companion in my own entrepreneurial journey, and her new book—Two Weeks Notice: Find the Courage to Quit Your Job, Make More Money, Work Where You Want, and Change the World—is the guide I wish I’d had years ago.

A lot of people may not consider the kind of inner work it takes to “un-boss” yourself. Those same core wounds that can block us in other areas of life don’t go away when it comes to your career. And those are the same wounds that will require your attention as you launch and lead a business.

That’s not to say that you need to wait until you’re ready. In fact, Amy’s got some great insight to share about readiness. You’ll want to hear her approach to getting clear about what you want and putting courage ahead of confidence.

listen now

finding purpose in your career

Aligning our purpose with our work is something all of us want. Work is where we spend most of our waking hours, and so many people struggle to figure out how they want to spend all of that time.

But starting with your overall life’s purpose can be daunting. Instead, Amy suggests spending time simply thinking about what brings you joy. What lights you up? What are you good at?

What comes naturally to you?

All of these questions are part of her “Sweet Spot” exercise, which can also help you find your competitive edge. Figure out what you love, and then figure out how you can best use those talents and ideas to serve others. 

spend time identifying and reframing your expertise 

You may be closer to having a viable business idea than you think. 

In our talk, Amy shares her approach to finding out how much you already have to offer.

listen now

finding your freedom

The truth is, the desire for freedom is the core driver for all of us who run our own businesses. It’s not for everyone—and you really have to be willing to do the hard work to make it happen—but it’s always been worth it for me.

in this episode, you’ll learn:
  • Steps to identifying your purpose in your career
  • How to find the courage to start your own business (even if you don’t have the confidence)
  • How not to lose yourself as you navigate the demands of starting your own business
  • How to find your competitive edge
  • How to reframe your expertise and discover how much you have to offer
  • The importance of putting in the work, including the inner work, to build a strong foundation for success
Dear Gabby podcast: How to Quit Your Job & Manifest your Dream Career!

How it started … and how it’s going! From working from home in 2015 to connecting with you all from my studio for this episode, I’ve come a long way—and I’m still rocking the same T-shirt! So thankful to have you on this journey.

listen now
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disclaimer

This podcast is intended to educate, inspire, and support you on your personal journey towards inner peace. I am not a psychologist or a medical doctor and do not offer any professional health or medical advice. If you are suffering from any psychological or medical conditions, please seek help from a qualified health professional.

dear gabby #129 Apr 03, 2023 emotional wellbeing 38 min

how to quit your job & manifest your dream career!

Listen on:

The following podcast is a Dear Media Production.

Hi there, Gabby here. This podcast is intended to educate, inspire, and support you on your personal journey towards inner peace. I’m not a psychologist or a medical doctor and do not offer any professional health or medical advice. If you are suffering from a psychological or medical condition, please seek help from a qualified health professional.

Before we get into the show, I just wanna let my Aussie listeners know that I am coming to Australia. The last trip I took before March of 2020 was in February of 2020. I was in Australia giving a live talk, and it’s been a long time since I’ve been back and I’m really excited to go to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane leading a live tour.

Melbourne on April 29th, Sydney on April 30th and Brisbane on May 2nd. I will see you there. This is a full-day workshop that you’re gonna get, and it is all about how to manifest a life beyond your wildest dreams. So if you’re in the Aussie area, if you’re across the world and in Australia, I welcome you to join me.

So head over to deargabby.com/australia to get your ticket now and get ready to join me live.

That’s DearGabby.com/australia.

Hey there. Welcome to Dear Gabby. I’m your host Gabby Bernstein, and if you landed here, it is absolutely no accident. It means that you’re ready to feel good and manifest a life beyond your wildest dreams.

Let’s get started.

Welcome back, my friends. Welcome back to Dear Gabby. Today I have a really great Big Talk that’s gonna cover a topic that I know so many of you are ready to touch into, and this is the topic of really claiming your purpose and stepping into an entrepreneurial venture—if it is something that you feel called to do.

I’m interviewing, back on the show for a second time, my friend Amy Porterfield. And she is a multihyphenate businesswoman and entrepreneur, teacher, bestselling author, and a lot more. She just came out with a book called Two Weeks Notice, and it really teaches you how to fire your boss. And to really get yourself out of that nine to five if that’s something that you feel called to do. Or even just make adjustments in your current career path.

So if you’re somebody that’s dreaming about making changes in your career, this is your episode. Do not miss this. You are gonna really be blown away by what’s possible for you, even when you think that there’s a glass ceiling. So listen to this show. Get psyched. Amy’s gonna rock your world and then give a lot of my own entrepreneurial experience and advice in this show as well.

So listen up, my friends. It’s a good one.

GABBY: Got my full Gaga vibes in the studio today with my beautiful friend Amy Porterfield, who is not only my companion on my journey of entrepreneurship, but you’re also my very dear friend, and I just love you. I just love.

AMY: I love you so much. I’m so grateful for you. I wouldn’t be here today talking about this book if it weren’t for you.

You have helped me every step of this journey. I’m so grateful and I wouldn’t have even gotten it out into the world without you. So thank you, my friend.

GABBY: Thanks, babes. I love to be a good book sherpa.

AMY: You really are.

GABBY I’m a book midwife and it’s so exciting cuz here we are with Two Weeks Notice – Find the courage to quit your job, make more money, work where you want and change the world.

Boom. I think everybody out. In a weird way, raising either two hands, one hand, maybe raising like a pinky. Ooh, that sounds really, really good. So tell us the core message, Amy. What’s the core message?

AMY: The core message is it is never too late to create the business in the life that you deserve. And going for freedom and a different kind of life.

And what exactly you want is deserved by all of us. And my book is to give you the courage to do so.

GABBY: Okay. Give you the courage to do so. But we’re talking specifically to people who are entrepreneurs, right? Because I mean, you kind of have to have some buy-in in order to have the guts to say, I’m gonna start a business.

AMY: Yes. Yes, for sure. We are definitely talking about people who are in a situation right now who they know they want more. They know they deserve more. They’re looking around. Maybe they’re in a nine to five job, maybe they’re in a cubicle, maybe they already left, but they’re not sure what they wanna do, and they think there’s got to be something better for me out there.

This cannot be it. But they want to create something by their own design. Not everybody wants to create their own business. But those that genuinely want that, they’re going to want this book. They’re going to want the guide.

GABBY: And then there’s folks out there who maybe have side hustles and they wanna have these side projects. This is very appropriate for them as well.

AMY: Yes, absolutely.

GABBY: You are a born entrepreneur, but you weren’t always an entrepreneur. So if it was always in your blood, but you weren’t always an entrepreneur. And so, talk a little bit about your experience not being in this way, not being in your entrepreneurial light, and what it gave you to step into that truth.

AMY: You know, it’s funny you say I’m a born entrepreneur because I’ve never really felt that about myself. It actually could be true, but for so long, I never even used the word entrepreneur because it felt so fancy and big. But basically, I was a corporate girl for life. I always thought that I’d be climbing that corporate ladder.

I liked to be an employee, quite honestly, because I like to climb the corporate ladder, get the rewards, the promotions the ‘atta girls.’ I really like to kind of shine in that way. But then what happened was, and I tell the story in detail in the book, but I found myself in a meeting where there were a bunch of online business owners.

They were all men, but they were all online business owners, and they were talking about the businesses they created. They were talking about creativity freedom and lifestyle freedom and financial freedom, and what they’ve created and who they’ve impacted. And in that moment, I thought, I don’t even know what these guys are doing.

Fast forward, they were doing courses and memberships and masterminds, but I didn’t know at the time. All I thought was, I’m not free. I have never felt that kind of freedom and I wanna go after that. And that really just propelled me into 14 years later, having the business that I have today.

GABBY: I think the desire for freedom is the core driver for all entrepreneurs.

AMY: Yes, it has to be, right? Can’t imagine if it wouldn’t be.

GABBY: Yeah. You have to have a strong longing for being untethered.

AMY: Yes, and that desire for freedom, and I love that that longing to be untethered also comes with this concept that actually you helped me create in the book called Un-bossing. This concept that you can lead yourself believing that you can lead yourself, and that you do not need anybody else to tell you what to do or when to do it, or how to do it.

But being led is so ingrained in so many of us. If we’ve ever had a nine to five job, we always have had a boss. And so being untethered and un-bossing yourself and believing in yourself at that level, that does not happen overnight. And it’s something I talk extensively about in the book because it’s a process.

It takes time, it’s a journey. And you have many back steps. I tell a story in the book of almost losing my business because I gave a big portion of it to somebody else because I thought I couldn’t do it myself.And then I almost lost it because again, I wasn’t totally un-bossed yet.

GABBY: Right.

AMY: There’s so much personal growth with entrepreneurship that I know that you talk about, and that concept of knowing you can lead yourself is one of the biggest pieces of growth that you’ll see.

GABBY: What was it that it took for you to know that you could lead yourself?

AMY: For me, it took a huge crash and burn, so I hate that. I wish it wasn’t so dramatic, but I thought that I was un-bossing myself. I went out on my own. 14 years later, you know, I look back and think, well, I took that leap, but the first few years I went out on my own and I did my thing and it was a struggle.

Probably the reason why I wrote the book is cuz it was such a struggle, I wanted a guidebook for others. But then, I found myself three years in thinking, oh my gosh, I almost hit my first million, but this is hard, and what if it gets taken away from me and what if I can’t figure it out? So then someone approached me and said, you know, I could help you. Make me a partner in your business.

I could grow this with you. And it took me one night of sleep to say yes for a business that had almost hit a million dollars—one night of sleep. I woke up and said, I need help. Yes. And the part I hate to admit is it was a man. I felt like I needed a man to help me, that I couldn’t do it on my own. And so that’s like deeply-rooted in a lot of my childhood and how I was raised.

And so, when he became a partner and we did great things together, but years in, I lost myself. I had literally become an employee to this person, and I knew it. Getting out was really rough. So, to get out meant I almost had to lose my business and just dissolve it and start over. Luckily, through the book, I explained how we figured out I didn’t have to do that, but it was that moment that I thought, never again am I going to give my power away to somebody else.

I’m going to start believing in myself. That was the moment. I un-bossed, but it doesn’t need to be that traumatic or take that long.

GABBY: Right, right. And I think that often the core wounds that block us sometimes have to be dismantled in order for us to actually make that deeper change.

AMY: Yes, that was my story.

[AD BREAK]

It’s spring people and that means that the heavy coats are going away. The snow boots are in the basement, and it’s finally time to get into our cute spring clothes. And I did this massive spring cleaning recently, and there was a few things in my closet that I was just not going to let go of, and that was my Rothy’s.

I’ve talked about this product in the past, and I’ve gotta tell you, it’s not coming outta my closet. It is my spring obsession. Rothy's is a fun, super comfy, really chic line of shoes and they have bags as well. And it’s really perfect to add color and variety to your wardrobe. But there are actually a lot of reasons why I’m totally obsessed with this product.

First, Rothy’s come in almost every single color imaginable. And of course, looking good isn’t the only thing. This kind of effortlessly chic style does not sacrifice on comfort. They are so comfortable, and I always wear my Rothy’s when I’m walking around this city. They’re super cozy.

You know what’s really great? If you get them dirty, you can put them in the washing. You heard that, It’s all sustainable, made with their signature thread spun from single-use plastic bottles. Isn’t that even more amazing? But honestly, there are dozens of options for you and you can just check out their fan favorites, like the flat, the point, the all new almond loafer or their original slip-on sneaker.

Take your look to the next level with a capsule of shoes and bags for your own personalized palette. For stylish and comfortable, shop Rothy’s. Get $20 off your first purchase at rothys.com/gabby. That’s R O T H Y S.com/gabby.

So every night, I have this really hardcore beauty routine. God, go for it. I’m like the Instagram influencers that are like lathering products on their face, but there’s something new that I’ve added to my evening routine. I will not go without. In fact, I do it twice a day and it’s Droplette. Droplette takes powerful skincare ingredients and turns them into a fast-moving micro mist and painlessly delivers them into your skin.

So, Gabby, why is this so important? Let me tell you, because your skin works as a barrier, making it incredibly difficult to get ingredients in. This means that something like collagen, which is notoriously too large for absorption, yet critical for maintaining firm, hydrated, youthful skin, can now actually penetrate your skin and keep it healthy.

I’ve been using the collagen hydrofiller and the radiant detox for the past month or so, and my skin has never looked better. I just love it. And this is an award-winning brand that has this cool handheld device that transforms serums into high velocity, micro mist, okay? It’s absorbing into the skin 20 times deeper than topicals. Like I said, it’s like now part of my big evening routine.

So all you have to do is choose from an array of serums that best suit your skincare needs, and then you’ll get formulations with these capsules. Like kind of little Nespresso pods and you can infuse the treatment right into your skin. It is truly amazing and it’s fun to do. For a limited time, listeners can get $200 off your Droplette device at droplette.io and use code Gabby.

That’s d r o p l e t t e.io, code Gabby.

[END AD BREAK]

GABBY: You talk a lot about purpose in your work and in this book, and so what would you say is the clear path to someone identifying what their purpose is in terms of their career?

AMY: So when I think about helping people identify their purpose, I actually take the word purpose out because a lot of my beginner students, it’s very big.

It’s very overwhelming. What is my life’s purpose? And they won’t get started. So I talk a lot about what lights you up, brings you joy? And I specifically actually take people through an exercise called the Sweet Spot in the book where I start with, what are you good at? What do people say, “Oh my gosh, how do you do that? Show me!”

What comes natural to you? Because we often dismiss what comes natural to us, thinking it’s easy for everybody and it’s not. And so I start in that place. But one thing I teach that is very important for people to hear, to find that thing that they’re gonna start in their business is that you only need a 10% edge.

You don’t need more and more certifications and years and years of education. Where you stand right now, you need a 10% edge. You just need to be 10% ahead of those that you want to serve. And one of the easiest ways to figure out who you want to serve it usually is you just a few years ago, or five years, 10 years ago.

It doesn’t have to be. But for a lot of my students, they’re helping those that they understand where they’ve been. I’ve been there before you. And so that 10% edge means you just are going to get to lead them cuz you’re 10% ahead, but you don’t need to be light years ahead. Which means you can start now. You don’t need to make excuses. You are ready.

GABBY: That readiness, I think, is some of the biggest blocks to people who are starting a business or even just taking a leap or just doing something different.

AMY: Yes.

GABBY: What is it that you feel is required for that readiness?

AMY: Ooh, I love this question. What’s required for you to be ready to go out on your own to make this happen? To quit that job, to leave behind what you don’t want?

I believe that it takes courage, so I believe that you are not looking for confidence. You don’t have confidence. To me, confidence comes when you have a proven track record. Oh, look what I did. I sold these things online and I made a thousand dollars.

Okay, I’m a little bit confident to move forward more. Courage is I believe that I can have something different. I want something different. And getting clearer about what you want. What genuinely, ultimately do you want? What do you want your life to look like? What do you want your makeup to look like?

What do you want it to look like? And then saying, okay, I want that bad enough. I’m going to take a leap of faith. That’s what I actually think it takes. Because if you asked me 14 years ago, were you ready, Amy, to pull out of that San Diego office of my nine to five job for the very last time and be a boss, I’d say, absolutely not. I’m not ready.

I think in my heart I felt I was ready, but figuring out how to do it, no, but I wanted something bad enough. I wanted that freedom more than anything. So it was courage that pulled me out of that parking lot and into my new life.

GABBY: We all have those friends in our life that are like, oh, I hate my job. I hate my job. But they don’t do anything about it.

AMY: Nothing.

GABBY: And I really wanna know what your advice is for those folks, because I have so many of them in my life, and I’m gonna send them this episode. So tell me what you think they need to do.

AMY: Okay. So if you’re in a nine to five job right now, and you do not like it either you’re underpaid, undervalued, you’re just not happy, but you’re doing nothing about it, the first thing I want to ask you is, is that enough for you?

Are you willing to live the rest of your life like that? Most people are like, wait a second, I don’t want this forever. Well, what are you doing about it? So is this good enough for you? And if you say it’s good enough, I want you to reevaluate the value that you are putting to that. Because when you look around and you think, I’m not making enough money, I’m not appreciated, I’m not happy.

Then that is not the life that you know that you can live. So I think you have to turn inward and ask yourself, why am I staying here? The number one reason that most people stay in a job they do not want is because security. It’s a regular paycheck. Financial security is a big reason why people won’t leave, and what I tell them is, let’s start a side hustle.

Because what a side hustle does is it gives you clarity about what’s possible out there. What could I maybe do long-term in the future? And when you start making a little money from a side hustle, let me tell you, it changes your perspective and you start to get really excited about what’s possible.

What I think is happening is a lot of people in a job that they don’t love, they don’t even see what’s possible. They don’t even know what’s out there for them. Essentially, why I wrote the book, I didn’t know there was a whole other world out there for me till these guys came in and started talking about their businesses.

And so when you start a side hustle, and I like to get tactical with that, it allows you an opportunity to start moving toward a direction that you want and building that out. And one day, that side hustle might become your full-time thing. And everything I teach in Two Weeks Notice can be used for a side hustle or a full-time business.

GABBY: Well, I actually can testify to the side hustle because while I never have had a boss, I did have a previous business and I used to be in PR prior to getting sober at 25, and I had a PR business and I was working my ass off. But also partying my ass off and destroying my life. And I also had these experiences of a speaker, cuz I would go and speak for free all over the place.

And I started this nonprofit called the Women’s Entrepreneurial Network—WEN. We called it WEN. I was actually making money that I was then putting back into it cause it was a nonprofit and I was seeing so clearly that I was so lit up and having so much fun with this side hustle of just being with women, inspiring women, giving talks.

My first event I hosted 300 women, showed up to a bar. I’m not even kiddng.

AMY: To a bar?!

GABBY: Yeah, to a bar.

AMY: Love it.

GABBY: And, I saw that and I was like, oh. And I remember sitting at my desk like hungover and doing my PR, and I was like, but I just wanna be doing that women’s entrepreneurial connection speaking thing all the time.

And so it just kind of is bestowed upon you if you just start. I really believe that.

AMY: Yes. If you just start, I’ve believed in the fact that action creates clarity and you won’t really know exactly where you wanna go until you make those first few actions and get out there. So that’s why, in the book, I talk about a starter idea.

Let’s just get something going, just exactly like you did to see where it might lead. And so, I think why I talk about the starter idea and the 10% edge and the courage is because this doesn’t have to be bigger. You think it needs to be so big, so set in stone, I need a business plan, I need a website, I need business cards.

You actually don’t need any of that. You just need to have the courage to get something out there to see what might happen. I didn’t have a, a website when I first started. I didn’t have a plan of exactly what’s going to go down, but I did have a desire. And so, anyone listening that follows you, Gabby, they know how to tune into their heart and what they genuinely want and what they need.

And I think it all starts there. Even on the entrepreneurial journey. I could teach you strategies all day long, and I teach you tons of strategies in my book, but I really do think it starts with that knowing, but being courageous to listen enough to that knowing. What do you ultimately want?

[AD BREAK]

Sometimes I wake up after a restless night of sleep and I’m just super anxious and I, I know a lot of us have that experience when we wake up and we’re like, ugh, I can’t start my day like this. And that’s when I turn to my meditation and just spending a few minutes with Calm each morning ensures that I’m taking the right steps to do what I need to do to set myself up to win for the day.

And Calm can help you stress less, sleep more, and live a happier, healthier life. Calm has guided meditations, sleep stories, relaxing music, tracks on daily movement sessions, and just lots of different ways to improve the way you feel. And even if you’ve never meditated before, you don’t have to worry because Calm is gonna give you the support that you need to improve your focus and uplift your mood.

And one of my favorites is the sleep stories, which I practice with my son before we go to bed. That’s a big mom tip. If your kid has trouble falling asleep, listen to one of the Calm sleep stories.

So if you head over to calm.com/deargabby, you’ll get 40% off a Calm premium subscription. And what’s really great is that there is new content added every single week.

So relax, rest assured. Calm’s got everything you need for a happier, healthier, you. And it’s a great way to begin a meditation practice or to elevate your existing practice. For listeners of the show, com is offering an exclusive offer of 40% off a Calm premium subscription at Calm.com/DearGabby.

Go to Calm.com/deargabby for 40% off unlimited access to Calm’s entire library. That’s

Calm.com/deargabby.

[END AD BREAK]

GABBY: So I do think there’s also a lot of people out there, and particularly, I don’t want to call it any specific generation, I’m just gonna be nice here. But there are certain generations too that have a mindset of, well, I saw my contemporary start these little businesses on Facebook. Why not me? And that’s awesome.

I love the ‘why not me’ mentality. And I also wanna acknowledge that. Running your own business is a lot of hustle and it takes a lot of work, and I see a lot of that generation kind of thinking that they can do that without the work.

AMY: Okay. I love that you said this.

GABBY: Let’s talk about it.

AMY: Okay. So this is something that I too tread lightly on because I don’t wanna knock what people are doing now or what’s working for them, but we gotta say like a TikTok influencer. You see that and you think, oh, that’s, that’s easy. Which I don’t think it would be easy, but that’s easy. And I could do that.

And I’m not gonna do all this work. I’m just gonna start just throwing up some videos and seeing what happens. And I think you’re trying to take a shortcut to literally this long-term opportunity that could be spectacular for you. I don’t believe on cutting corners. I don’t believe thinking that I don’t wanna do any of that, but I’m just gonna do this little piece and see what works.

Cuz what happens is, 99% of the time does not work, and those people won’t continue forward. I hear people all the time say, I started, but I stopped. I started, but I stopped. I believe that a foundation of anything is essential. Two Weeks Notice is the foundation to create an online business—no matter what you want to do.

Influencer, courses, memberships, masterminds, physical products—whatever it might be. If you’re going to use the online space to build it and to market it you need a strong foundation. And so, I don’t believe in cutting corners. And if you’re looking for that magic pill or that shortcut, you’re not gonna find it here.

And I think you and I are examples of, no, we really did do it the right way. And it’s hard at times. That’s why you have to come back to why do you want it? I always say the worst day of my entrepreneurship, and I could outline probably four or five really bad days. And I talk about ’em in the book, the worst day as an entrepreneur is still better than the best day in my nine to five job. Because I’m free.

Because I’m actually making decisions and calling the shots. And so, I think there is something to be said about what we see in people thinking they can just get started real quick by throwing up some videos. It’s more than that.

And it’s way more rewarding when you actually do the work.

GABBY: I also wish I had this book when I was first starting out. I had a book called How to Make a Living Without a Job. That was my book. I carried it around with me...How to make a living…

AMY: Was it a real book?

GABBY: Oh yeah, it’s a book. Isn’t it a great title?

AMY: It’s a great title.

GABBY: I met the author. I had her come speak to my Women’s Entrepreneurial Network. I was so into it. In retrospect, I don’t really even remember if the book had that much value for me. But the title just was, I literally would take the subway with this book in my hand. And so, had I had your book, had I had Two Weeks Notice, I would’ve really probably saved myself a lot of years of stress and started my business with more of a foundation rather than just let’s throw it in the air and see what sticks.

Of course, we have to do it however we’re meant to, but it’s a jumpstart. And I think that the thing that I know now what, even when it comes to therapeutic processes, that so many of the resources that we have right now, whether it’s for personal growth or entrepreneurial endeavors, the resources that are available now are people who have done all the work and are living to tell how to do it so that you can get it done faster.

AMY: Yes.

GABBY: And so, it does take a lot of. I’m gonna teach you the therapy and the spirituality that will help you get to a place of freedom faster. You’re gonna teach the entrepreneurial tips and tools and internal methods to get you to entrepreneurial freedom faster. And so, it doesn’t have to take as long as it took for us.

We did the work for you.

AMY: Yes, we did.

GABBY: But now you really do have to do work, but not the heavy lifting of trying to figure out the roadmap. And that’s why I love this book so much. And I think that when somebody is feeling like they have that entrepreneurial desire, it’s really hard to deny it. It’s really difficult to deny it.

AMY: It really is. And one thing that I talk about in the book, and I encourage my readers to do is when you have that on your heart, when you think, I really want to be an entrepreneur, if you’re like me and couldn’t even say the word, I just wanna be a business owner. What I want you to do is I want you to think about who you would tell, and I want you to think about telling three people, but maybe three people only.

And here’s why. Most people cannot hold space for your dreams. Especially a dream like this. I wanna quit my job and start my own business. Most people will think you are crazy. That is too risky. Why would you do that? And then they’re gonna tell you 20 reasons why they shouldn’t, including their cousin Frank did it 10 years ago and now he’s downsized his house and he divorced his wife. They just tell you these wild stories.

Sarah Blakely said when she first cut the feet out of her pantyhose and made the first prototype of her product, she didn’t tell anyone in the beginning because she knew she was so vulnerable that if they told her it wouldn’t work, she would have believed them.

And I think that’s very true for most of us. So my challenge is, who are three people that you could tell that will not only cheer you on, but keep you accountable. For me, I told my husband, Hobie, who loves Gabby, he thinks Gabby’s the best person on earth.

GABBY: He’s my boy. We have like, we are family.

Oh wait, you have to tell him that I drank the Kona coffee. It’s very caffeinated and I love it.

AMY: I will tell him. These, oh geez, these two have a special connection for sure. So I told Hobie, I told my mom who thinks I could land on the moon, and I told my best friend, but only three. Notice I didn’t tell my dad who I knew traditionally, he could not understand what I wanted to do.

And I. And I took stock in what he said too much. And so I had to be careful. And so in the beginning, that’s all who the people I told. Now, when it got hard in the book, I talk about creating a runway from your nine to five job into entrepreneurship.

GABBY: Love it.

AMY: My runway was six months. And so, in those six months I was listening to the podcast, reading the books, doing all the things, getting ready to leave, and at one point looked at Hobie and said, maybe I’ll keep my job.

Cuz I had golden handcuffs. I had a great boss. I got to travel the world. I was very lucky. So I told Hobie, maybe I’ll just keep my nine to five job and just do a side hustle. And that’s when he said, I need to remind you what you told me. You want to leave. You do not feel free. You want to make more money, you’ve hit the glass ceiling.

There’s things that you want, you’ll never get in your job. I’m just gonna remind you what you told me, and that’s what I needed, that accountability. So find those people, but also reserve telling everyone in the beginning. In the book, I put scripts of how to tell people that you know are going to not take it well.

And when you do get to the point that you do need to tell them, or how to work with a spouse that doesn’t think that you should do this, there’s many spouses that will not support this. How do you navigate that? We talk about in the book as well.

GABBY: But it’s also important to mention that you had the realistic six month route and onboarding, and you’d prepared for it.

And you planned for it. And then there’s some folks who do jump too soon. And it’s like, I want out. And then they’re like, fuck, I should have kept that job a little longer. And I think that’s really important because one, you need to pay your bills, especially if you have children. And two, you don’t wanna put that much financial pressure on your dream.

AMY: Yes. I love that you said that. You don’t need to put that much pressure on your dream. And so, when you do jump ship too soon and then now all of a sudden you better hustle to make money, you’re doing things you don’t necessarily wanna do. You know, there’s part of me, I did start a business I did not love, and my first two years, my starter idea was I did social media for small businesses.

And in the book I talk about Boss Traps and one of my Boss Traps…

GABBY: You’ve got a lot of bosses in that job.

AMY: What’s that?

GABBY: You got a lot of bosses in that job.

AMY: A lot of bosses, yes. All of a sudden, instead of having one boss, I had like 10 bosses. Cause I had 10 clients who literally I let them boss me around every which way.

And so, I felt desperate to make money cuz I had quit my job and I didn’t save a lot of money—and most people don’t—that I had to make this work. So one thing I wanna caution people about is staying in something that’s not serving them, even if it’s the business you started. You still get to make the decision to change that up if you need to.

Two years in, I fully changed my business model and thank God I did. But again, you get that opportunity. Pivots are going to be at every corner in the very beginning. Allow yourself to have that. But getting back to your point. You need to be careful that you’re not creating a situation that you’re so desperate to make money that you’re gonna do anything.

Because then you’re never going to love the business you create.

GABBY: That’s right. Yeah. And don’t put that pressure on your dream.

AMY: Yes.

GABBY: So if there was one method from the book that you would want someone to really take home and practice and just own and live by, what would it be?

AMY: Well, I’ll give you two. One’s gonna be a mindset. One’s a strategy.

The first one is non-negotiables. What I didn’t have when I was starting out as boundaries, and like I said, I said yes to everything. I was everybody’s employee, even when I was an entrepreneur, and I didn’t know how to say no. And so, I created these non-negotiables about two years in, but I wish I did ’em from day one.

Even if you’re in a nine to five job, do the non-negotiable exercises, and essentially, you’re creating the life you really want. I wish I had had, first had a vision for my lifestyle and then built a business around that. My mistake was I built a business and tried to fit a lifestyle in it, but the business always won.

The hustling always won. The work always won until I figured out this is not sustainable. You don’t need to do it that way. So I teach people how to create a lifestyle first and then fit their business into that. That is with non-negotiables. So getting clear on what you want and what you don’t want, and actually putting pen to paper there.

But then there’s strategies in the book that will help anybody building a business or starting a business. There’s a huge chapter on content, content creation, content planning, messaging, who you are in the world, in your business. And I put so much focus on content because it does shape who you are and it brings in the right people.

And this is something you could still do in your nine to five job. You can start that podcast while you still have another job working for somebody else. You can still start that podcast or the blog or video show or whatever it might be, but let’s do it in a really systematic way that will stick when you eventually leave.

So the strategy of content creation and content planning and getting clear on what content to create. It’s a very big focus in this book.

GABBY: And also what type of content creation you enjoy. Because yes, if you’re an artist and you are like, I do not wanna be on camera, start a gorgeous Pinterest page, right?

Or a blog that’s like showcasing your art. If you’re someone who, for me, it was often easier for me to just speak it than to write it early on.

AMY: Same.

GABBY: And so I would just do these quick little videos and that’s what I started using. And so do what you love when it comes to content creation. That’s…

AMY: Yes, because that’s what you’re going to stick with. You’re so right. I started a blog early on, never blogged, and then when I started my podcast and realized, Ooh, I love this. This brings me joy. I was consistent. And consistency is everything. You’ll see that word throughout my book a million times because it literally is, what is the difference between an entrepreneur who stays in the game and one that goes back to a nine to five job.

Is that consistency. So find something you will be consistent at.

GABBY: What I like about your work so much is that you give methods for leaving. You give methods for really claiming the boss within you and really accepting that. And so there’s a lot of personal growth methods in here, but you’re also such a strategic marketer.

And so you could do all the right things to build a business, but if you don’t know how to sell what you’re selling, it ain’t gonna work. And so, Amy will be the best teacher to teach you how to build a business on a strong foundation, but also market it. And this book is not void of those tactics and techniques and it’s, it’s very impressive.

AMY: We do not skip over that. There’s an entire chapter of. How to create your first offer. What does it look like? How much do you charge? How many units are you going to sell? How do you package it? These things that I wish somebody would’ve told me in my first few years of business, I wish I had that.

There’s also a chapter around making sure that you put together a product suite that will offer whatever it is you wanna offer to the people that you’re bringing into your world so they stay in your world. You don’t wanna just be one and done and then you lose them. So the way you make consistent revenue is people stay in your world and they love what you’re offering.

So we, we spend a lot of time on putting together an offer and figuring out the money situation and how much you wanna make and how you’re going to make it.

GABBY: Beautiful. Yeah. So I will say this very, very loudly. If you are sitting at your desk right now listening to this podcast, or you’re commuting to or from work, and you’re listening to this podcast and you’re like, Hmm, I really don’t want my day job anymore, I want you to stop the car or get off of your work computer and go to your phone, and I want you to go to Amazon and I want you to buy your copy of Two Weeks Notice right now because this is the moment.

If you’re listening to this all the way to the end, that’s a sign. That’s a sign that you’re ready. That’s a sign that you wan this.

It’s a sign that you’ve raised your hand and you’re like, hell yes, Gabby. Hell yes, Amy. Show me how to do it. And you don’t have to figure it all out like we did. You could have Amy as your guide. And just like me, when I was walking around with my little book that said, How to Make a Living Without a Job, you’re gonna be like walking around with your Amy’s book Two Weeks Notice, and you’re like, I’m starting a business!

So I’m telling you people go out, grab it. Link is in the show notes. Just go to Amazon. Don’t miss this. I’m so proud of you. I am so grateful that your work is now in print because so many more people need it. It needs to be democratized and so much more accessible to people and I just love you so much and I’m so proud of you.

Congratulations.

AMY: I love you, Gabby. Thank you for encouraging me to do this and so many others. Putting a book out into the world is a very magical thing. It’s like incredibly fulfilling and you were a huge part of that, so thank you so much. And I cannot wait for people to get this in their hands and change their lives so that they can have the life they deserve.

GABBY: Yes. Love you.

If you made it to the end of this episode, that means you’re truly committed to miracles. I’m really proud of you. If you wanna get more Gabby, tune in every Monday for a new episode. Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss any of the guidance or special bonus episodes.

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