Making the leap from day job to DREAM job!

Published by Karie Millspaugh on December 18, 2014December 18, 2014

(revised and updated version 11-18-2015)

It’s going on over 3 years now and I still feel like I have to PINCH MYSELF most mornings to believe it’s REALLY TRUE! I get to work for KARIE! She’s the coolest boss ever!

Some of you may actually LOVE your career choice in the corporate world and are truly in bliss and that’s how it should be. I was in your same shoes… then life started to take a strange twist that created a turn of events that were nothing but DIVINE INTERVENTION.

Here I was working for a global business, completely happy, or so I thought until a friend pointed out that I was just “comfortable” …”content”.

She was right… as that truth sunk in, I started to revise and update my resume thinking about looking elsewhere. Everything about that thought felt HEAVY. Felt like going backwards somehow. So what were my other options? I had tried the entrepreneur route and I was TERRIFIED that if I went in that direction I would somehow fail once again. The trick to success is to KEEP TRYING. My old fears of that past business venture not working out terrified me.

I’m a single mom. I need a solid income and benefits. I need SECURITY. I need a nest egg…all these fears showed up for me when a life coach challenged me on why I was playing so small, flying under the radar of life.

I explained my past business failures to him with clenched teeth as that old fear rose up in my chest. My exact thoughts were, are you insane! I’m not going to quit my job and work for myself ever again, I apparently am not that great in that department… once again, this was fear doing the talking.

18 months later. I did exactly that… I quit and walked away from job stress and embraced JOY FULL NESS! (I can show you too, in my FREE Webinar HERE)

I embraced my new life, a career in my zone of genius where I belong and SHINE the BRIGHTEST!

Sounds like a fairy tale doesn’t it? I left out all the GOOD STUFF!

So let me back up a bit. Something very deep and personal happened with my boss that made me feel very UNAPPRECIATED and invisible. Something inside me snapped and I realized the efforts I was putting in for the company was something I could do on my own and reap all of the benefits and the rewards. I was told I was just a “connection” during a major meeting with him and a well known celebrity broker that I had worked hard to connect him with… then further he also stabbed me emotionally discussing that the only “gift” employees get, is the gift to KEEP THEIR JOB. Those words stung after being such a loyal employee. This all took place during a short meeting that I had spent a year arranging for him and his brand. I sat in my chair, defeated and deflated.

But guess what…?

BEST GIFT HE COULD HAVE EVER GIVEN ME!!!

I left that meeting, texting my boyfriend that I was DONE… the work I had put in for others I will start to do for myself.

speaking1 2 years later…that celebrity broker called ME direct to arrange a meeting to promote my speaking events and Television appearances.

Isn’t life interesting? Isn’t this A LOT MORE FUN!??

The beauty of it all my friend, is that I hired a business coach to teach me how to build my business on the side globally and online so that one day I could take the leap from laborer to liberator!

I did put in extra hours and yes some days I would wonder where my social life went but I knew I was living that quote, “Today, do what others WON’T so tomorrow you can live the life that others CAN’T”. I knew it would all be worth it…

Be mindful, it takes dedication and once you make up your mind that you want the freedom to write without censorship and live in your authentic genius zone you start to fight anything that feels like a distraction or a detour.

I also noticed some very painful times for me started to show up. Once I hired my business coach, I got a demotion which bruised my ego a bit. Then I had to sit next to the very same people that I had hired … worse yet, IN A DARK CRAMPED CUBICLE!

Then the universe realized I wasn’t moving fast enough in my freedom fest to entrepreneurship so it started to squeeze my heart a bit tighter. I got a PAY CUT! Yikes! Wasn’t it bad enough that I hadn’t gotten a raise in 5 years? So here I am, knowing in my heart that my game plan was to quit by the fall and a pay cut showed up in the spring. Let’s just say it put a wrench in my game plan and I almost laughed to myself through the tears that the universe wasn’t done with me yet. I couldn’t believe that I was making the same wage that I had at age 24 and was spending 40+ hours in a cramped dark space that felt like prison.

cubicle I struggled to make ends meet as this new pay cut was pretty massive and came out of nowhere. So I started to feel torn again, which is a sign of resistance. I started thinking should I look for another job and that felt horrible, backwards, heavy…icky. I wanted to be FREE! God has big plans for me and living in a corporate box trading wages for hours wasn’t His almighty plan.

So I created a bridge.

I started working on building the income that I would need to replace my current salary. I also did something that works well when it comes to goals. I told my daughter I would be working from home by fall. She would have mommy more often for the upcoming school year and there was NO way that I was going to let her down!

Goals outside of yourself usually keep you more accountable to reaching them.

One month before my desired resignation date I got pushed out AGAIN by the universe! I had clearly outgrown my position and it was almost laughable at this stage. They wanted to downsize my department altogether and create a different position for me which would feel even MORE confining. My spirit screamed and twisted in torment! Noooooo!!!! I WANT MY FREEDOM!

Every night that I would get home from work, I would run to my laptop so excited to work on MY brand, my business and connect with MY clients… what PURE JOY…what PURE BLISS! I craved the day that I could work solely on my dreams and goals. Not someone else’s… the day I cleaned out my desk and walked away, never looking back was the most liberating feeling on the planet! Yes fear shows up, but it always will. You get to decide how much energy you feed that “ghost” that “monster”… I’ve had very few bad days since my leap to freedom. I created a brand, a marketing machine and recurring income so that I could settle into the fun world of business coaching other coaches and entrepreneurs.

I have public speaking events lined up, clients from all over the globe and my first published book is launching for the NEW YEAR of 2016. My ultimate goal will be a Television show where I can actually HELP people with my entertaining educational heartfelt style.

Do you have an ache in your heart for more freedom, balance and time with your loved ones like I did? Are you the creative – free spirited type that wants to break down the corporate barriers that feel like confinement?

Then you will benefit from my Employee to Entrepreneur program where I will mentor and guide you to taking that leap of faith!

Is it your turn to break free? See my upcoming Program Details HERE