Welcome to another edition of my Weekly Journal! I use this space to share about my journey from lawyer to jewelry business owner. In last week's journal entry, I gave you something to think about when it comes to finding career happiness in 2023. And in this week's journal entry, I'm encouraging you to take a risk. Bet on yourself. Life is short. If there is something you feel possessed to do, do it. You can always go back to your "old" life if it doesn't work out!

Whether you feel called to start your own business, switch career paths, or just take a completely different route within your established career path, there are no guarantees that it's going to work out well for you. Heck, there are no guarantees that any one of us is going to wake up tomorrow! At some point in time, you are going to have to take a risk and decide to go for it (or not). But here's what I want to tell you. Here's the perspective shifter. It's not about whether the business succeeds or whether the career change turns out well for you. It's about what you learn along the way and how you grow and develop as a person as a result of the experience. You've heard me say it before and I'll continue to say it again: it's about the journey not the end result. For example, perhaps you'll quit your job this year and start your own business, and perhaps it'll fail before you can even blink. But along the way, you meet so-and-so and they are starting this other new company and, when your company goes belly up, you go work for them. And at that new job you meet your future husband, etc, etc, etc. You just don't know WHY you are being called to do something when you are called to do it. Perhaps, like in my example, you'll look back and see that it had nothing to do with your career development but something else wonderful came of it. You just don't know. Don't let another year go by playing it "safe" if you have a burning desire in your heart that just won't go away. Trust it. Trust yourself. Trust yourself enough to know that if it doesn't work out, you're going to be ok and you'll figure it out. You will!

And for goodness sake, give up the false assumption that your corporate job is "stable" and "secure" and therefore not worth giving up. This is one of the biggest road blocks to starting your own business or switching careers. And it's especially applicable this year! Layoffs are going to be everywhere you look because of the economy. That corporate job does have some risk to it. Don't be fooled otherwise. Listen, I know a little about layoffs because I used to be an employment lawyer and as part of my job, I sometimes organized and approved them from a legal perspective. It pained me to know that I had a list of names of people who were going to be laid off in a few weeks or a few months and they had no idea. No clue! In a small business, where you're really part of the inner workings of the business, you might have an inkling that layoffs are coming because you know the company stats and the revenue numbers, etc. But in a big corporate America, where you are just a cog in a wheel and there's no transparency, you have absolutely no idea how the company's budget is allocated and where it's suffering, or even if it's suffering, and how the leaders are going to handle that problem (i.e. by getting rid of you and some other employees). So stop kidding yourself. A corporate job is not stable. People are blind-sided by layoffs every. single. day. So please don't use the excuse that your job is "secure" as a reason to not pursue what's on your heart. And as I said before, you can always go back if it doesn't work out (or to another corporate job - because there are millions of them)! 

I hope in this new year, you get the courage to follow what's on your heart. You just don't know where it's leading you!

If you'd like my Weekly Journal sent straight to your inbox every week, click here to subscribe.

P.S. Are you on Pinterest? I have a Weekly Journal board on Pinterest so you can easily navigate my journal entries. You can view and follow the board by clicking here. I've written so much about quitting my lawyer job to start g+h over the past few years and I want to make it easier for you to access and read the entries that resonate most!

xoxo,
Stacy

Welcome to another edition of my Weekly Journal! I use this space to share about my journey from lawyer to jewelry business owner. If you're new around here, I was a lawyer for 11 long years before I quit my job in 2017 to start grace + hudson. As you might imagine, I know a little bit about career unhappiness. I also know a little bit about how to break free! This coming February, it'll be 6 years since I made the dramatic change from lawyer to jewelry business owner. I can hardly believe that much time has already passed. If your resolution for 2023 is to make some changes in your career to find more happiness, this journal entry is for you! 

Looking back on my own experience, I can tell you there is one thing you should focus on before you make any career changes and that's this: you must change your thinking before you make any changes in the external world. Huh? Let me say it differently - you have to change your focus. If I had to bet, up until this point you have been mostly concerned with job titles, salaries, raises and promotions, correct? Where has your happiness, peace of mind, and personal sense of fulfillment come in to the equation? Yeah, that's what I thought. It's secondary or it doesn't even factor in at all.

Back when I was younger, I was focused on getting into the best college and the best law school, then I was focused on getting a job at the best firm making the most money, and then I was focused on getting a nice car and building a nice home. Everything, and I mean everything, was focused on building a life that looked perfect. My own sense of peace, joy, fulfillment? It was no where to be found. Life shifted for me when I lost my dad to cancer when I was 34 -- that's when I started to realize that life isn't about the outside "stuff" and that I had been chasing outside stuff my whole life. Hence, my unhappiness. Let me quote a passage from a book I stumbled on recently - it'll help illustrate my point:

"I'm learning that for a variety of reasons, I've spent much of my life focusing on form rather than substance. My focus has been on having my hair done perfectly, wearing the right clothes, having my makeup applied perfectly, living in the right place, furnishing it with the right furniture, working at the right job, and having the right man. Form, rather than substance, has controlled my behavior in many areas of my life. Now, I'm finally getting to the truth. It's substance that counts." -- by anonymous, as quoted by Melody Beattie in The Language of Letting Go

Does that resonate? If you're an over-achieving personality like I used to be, I bet this hits you right in the stomach. Form rather than substance. Ugh, that hurts to even read. It's so, so true. How could I have missed this? How could you have missed this? Be gentle on yourself. If you're like most people, you simply consumed the messages that your parents and society forced down your throat about work and career. 

When you change the focus, when you start focusing on joy and peace and fulfillment instead of job title, salary, and promotions, the entire world changes. You start evaluating job opportunities differently, for example. Instead of being mostly concerned with salary, you are mostly concerned with - does this workplace inspire a sense of peace in me? Can I see myself being happy amongst this group of co-workers? Do I see myself feeling like a contributor and going home most nights feeling like I made an impact by sharing my gifts and talents? Does this job make good use of my gifts and talents - the ones I enjoy using the most (not just the ones that make the most money)? This is a game-changer.

Word of caution: you may have some inner work to do before you can really embrace this idea. If you've lived your entire life striving to impress your parents with your job title or promotions, or if your entire identity is built upon this "picture perfect" life you've tried to create and portray to the outside world, you're not going to be able to easily detach yourself from the things you've been assigning meaning to up until now. If I had to guess, I bet some self-worth and self-compassion work is first on your to-do list before you make any career changes. But that's ok - it's worth it. Take it from someone who's been there. I spent a good 2 years doing this type of work before I made my dramatic career change. It's the best investment of time I ever made in myself and it led to lasting change. And I can proudly say that I have so much peace and happiness in my work life now. If I can do it, you can do it too!

I hope you're able to learn something valuable from my own experience. If you'd like my Weekly Journal sent straight to your inbox every week, click here to subscribe.

P.S. Are you on Pinterest? I have a Weekly Journal board on Pinterest so you can easily navigate my journal entries. You can view and follow the board by clicking here. I've written so much about quitting my lawyer job to start g+h over the past few years and I want to make it easier for you to access and read the entries that resonate most!

xoxo,
Stacy

Welcome to another edition of my Weekly Journal! I use this space to share about my journey from lawyer to jewelry business owner. I was inspired to write this week's journal entry from a conversation I had with a friend this week. We were talking about career choices and career trajectories, and it made me think about the reason most people end up unhappy in their careers. It boils down to unintentional career decisions. And by that I mean decisions that are made with out any intentional decision-making. They're decisions that are backed with the phrase, "Well, that's just what you do in my career field." For example, "Well, everyone who is a lawyer at a law firm eventually tries to become partner." No, no they don't. They leave for a lawyer job at a corporation, they go to work in politics, they leave the law altogether and do something entirely different. You see what I mean? But it's so, so easy to get trapped on the path that "everyone else" takes, especially when you are young and don't really know any better because of the lack of career experience. 

Think about your last performance review at your workplace. Chances are your manager discussed growth potential and possible next steps in your career, right? I hope so. But, chances are, there was something lacking in this conversation and that's what YOU want for your career. Chances are your manager assumed that you want to be promoted to the next level and assumed that you are going to take the "normal" career path that everyone in your role at your company takes, correct? It's hard to speak up, and much easier to just go along with the assumptions your manager has made, isn't it? But the absolute worst thing you can do in your career is live by default, do what's "normal" for your position or role, and allow your boss to determine your career trajectory. This is how we become unhappy at work, if we aren't there already.

Like anything in life, when you completely neglect what you want, you end up living by other people's standards or expectations. This is often a recipe for unhappiness or - at best - a mediocre feeling about your career. This is because you've had no input into the course of your career. And 40+ hours per week is a lot of time doing something you didn't intentionally decide upon. And, trust me, it feels even longer when you are very unhappy doing it.

I fault managers for this. They take a one-size-fits-all approach and just assume that everyone in Role X wants to next be promoted to Role Y, and so forth. We aren't all the same and people want different things. Why managers aren't taught to accept this is beyond my imagination, especially in this day and age when it's very common to only work at a workplace for several years before moving on. It creates secrecy in the manager/employee relationship and it leads to surprise when someone leaves the workplace. Perhaps if your manager knew, for example, that your ultimate goal was not to become a law partner in the law firm but to work for a legal department at a big company, he or she wouldn't be shocked when you turn in your resignation papers and have to scramble for your replacement. But he or she never asked and, furthermore, made it uncomfortable for you to express your desired career path by making assumptions. Both sides suffer here.

So my biggest piece of advice to you is to think intentionally about where you want your career to go. What do you want to be doing in 2 years? 5 years? 10 years? Do you want to stay full-time or go part-time at some point? Do you want to move to a different geographic location at some point - for example, closer to home to be near your parents when you start to have kids of your own? What do YOU want? Some people have never even stopped to think about it.

Once you've gathered your thoughts about your career desires, make career decisions from that point of view. Don't haphazardly take on responsibilities and volunteer for things in your workplace if they are out of alignment with what YOU want. Sure, there are some responsibilities we don't have any choice about. Some things we have to "go along with" until we move on. But I'm talking about the things you CAN change and the things you DO have input on. Don't just do things because "it looks good" and because it'll impress your parents or your co-workers. Make decisions in alignment with where YOU want to eventually end up in your career. Because if you don't - and this is a harsh truth - you will have no one to blame but yourself when you wind up unhappy and stressed out 5 years from now because you made very unintentional decisions about your career. Make your career happiness and your career goals your first priority, and take intentional, purposeful action from there. 

If you've been unhappy in your career for some time now, take a breath and think about this. Did you give up personal responsibility for your career decisions and just go along with what your boss assumed or expected of you? What intentional decisions can you start making today, to change your career trajectory? Get a plan in place - you don't have to do anything drastic or sudden. Book an appointment with a career coach if you really need some guidance. You can do it! 5 years from now, you'll be so happy you did.

I hope you're able to learn something valuable from my own experience. If you'd like my Weekly Journal sent straight to your inbox every week, click here to subscribe.

P.S. Are you on Pinterest? I have a Weekly Journal board on Pinterest so you can easily navigate my journal entries. You can view and follow the board by clicking here. I've written so much about quitting my lawyer job to start g+h over the past few years and I want to make it easier for you to access and read the entries that resonate most!

xoxo,
Stacy

Welcome to another edition of my Weekly Journal! I use this space to share about my journey from lawyer to jewelry business owner. In this week's journal entry I want to impress upon you the importance of being different when you start your own business. There are so many businesses out there. What makes yours different? Get very clear on this, or it's going to be very hard for you to succeed in the long term.

In this day and age, we have the ability to shop anywhere. Thanks to online shopping, I can as easily buy a sweater from a store across the country as I can from a store that's one mile from my home. Think about it - that wasn't always the case! That means we have a lot more choice when it comes to retailers. So, if you plan on starting a retail business, what is going to make someone choose you? The same goes for other businesses, whether you're starting a life coach business, a new doctor's office, or a business consulting group.

Too many people start businesses that copy the models that are already out there, and then they wonder why they fail after a year or two. You have to give people a reason to choose you, and you have to make sure you communicate that reason to them, whether that's with words or pictures. You wouldn't believe the number of people who forget that last step. Maybe the clothes you sell are all made in the USA. Or maybe the jewelry you make is from recycled metal and handmade by cancer survivors. Or maybe there's no bookstore within 10 miles of your home and you decide to start one because no one else has yet. You get the idea. Find something special about what you do and talk about it often, or do something basic (like open a bookstore) but do it in an area that doesn't offer it yet. Find the niche that you can fill. Don't just try to be another store offering similar items as the rest of the stores in your area. It will be very difficult to succeed that way. Why? Because you'll have a lot of competitors. The same goes for service businesses. If you're a life coach, what makes you different from the thousands of other life coaches out there? Maybe it's the method you use, or your own particular background. Point out the differences and emphasize them.

For me in particular, I decided to fill a niche. Think about the jewelry businesses out there. Aside from the very high end jewelry retailers out there, most jewelry businesses offer what I call "cool girl" jewelry. You know, it's the trendy jewelry of the moment that everyone is wearing. Right now it's gold paperclip necklaces and snake chains that were popular in the 80's and bold plastic statement earrings. I noticed there were very few, if any, jewelry brands that were very feminine and timeless. I also noticed there were very few jewelry brands specializing in bridesmaid jewelry (that's how I got my start!). So I decided to make a very feminine, classic collection that lent itself well to bridal parties but could also be worn again post-wedding.

You see, when you try to fill a niche in the marketplace, you have very few competitors. When you try to be like everyone else, well... everyone else is your competitor. Which sounds like a smart business decision to you?

xoxo,

Stacy

Welcome to another edition of my Weekly Journal! I use this space to share about my journey from lawyer to jewelry business owner. In this week's journal entry I want to encourage you not to get stuck in the mindset that you need to go back to school if you want to change careers or start your own business (or both!). That is simply not true!

So many people are under the wrong impression that you need to go back to school and invest in a new degree if you want to do something different for your career. But real life work experience is far more valuable to most employers, and there are so many things you are already qualified to do that require no additional schooling at all! You simply have to get a new perspective. You have to start looking at your skills and work experience in more general terms. I know this can be hard if you just spent a decade doing a certain job, but you can do it. Sit down with a trusted friend or family member and brainstorm how your current skill set translates into other positions.

For example, I know so many lawyers who say to me, "I want to quit the legal profession like you did, but I just don't know what I'm qualified to do." What?! Lawyers have so many transferrable skills. They are typically excellent writers, negotiators, problem solvers, and public speakers. They know how to do research better than almost anyone. And they're the most amazing critical thinkers. From day one in law school, they are taught to see both sides of any argument because, in order to win a legal case, you have to anticipate the other side's best points and know how to get around them. These days, the ability to analyze things from both sides is so valuable. Most people simply don't know how to do that. Lawyers today often have great data analysis skills too, since some cases turn on spotting small differences in digital data and digital documents. What are some things lawyers can do with these skills? Honestly the list is almost endless, but to start they can be a university professor, a real estate agent, a political researcher, a human resources executive, a CEO, or a business consultant. 

This brings me to my next point: don't get stuck in analysis paralysis. Once you get to work on your general list of skills and talents, you might become overwhelmed at all of the options out there that require those skills. There are tons of job titles out there, most of which we don't even know exist. And it can be overwhelming to look at job postings. This is where you need to engage in research. Rather than throwing your hands up in the air as you stare at the open job postings in your city, take a deep breath and pick out the ones that naturally look most appealing to you. Then spend some time doing a little research on what those positions actually do and what skills they require. This is not a five minute project. This might take you a few days or even a few weeks. But the goal is to expand your perspective on the options available to you, and to get out of the pigeon-hole of your current job title. I know, I know, it's so comfortable there. You know what jobs are available in your industry and you know in a split second whether or not you're qualified to do them. But you're a fish out of water here, exploring new jobs and new industries, and you have to expect some ignorance and discomfort at first. But don't get stuck there. Don't become so overwhelmed by all the options that you become paralyzed and give up.

If you truly become stuck in analysis paralysis, you can hire a career coach or a headhunter. These people are trained to help you find alternative careers that suit your skills so they are a great resource. Some are free and some charge a fee, so see what you can find in your area. You might even be able to consult the career office at your old university or grad school. Think outside the box and if you need help, don't be afraid to ask for it. It's better than spending 10 years in a career you find unfulfilling or completely draining. 

Sure, there are some jobs you cannot do without a relevant degree. For example, you can't be a doctor or lawyer or nurse or therapist without the required education. But most jobs don't require additional education if you are otherwise qualified and have translatable experience. So, if you catch yourself in the trap of thinking you need to go back to school, ask yourself - am I using this as an excuse to stay stuck and avoid the discomfort of a major career change? No matter how unhappy you are in your current career, changing careers can be scary and intimidating. It can feel like "starting over" and that's hard, no matter how much courage or strength you have as a person. It's simply a part of being human. So, unless you want to go from baker to doctor, or teacher to lawyer, check yourself and really determine whether additional schooling is required or whether your mind is just trying to keep you secure and avoid major change. And last but not least, do not under any circumstance think you need to go to business school to start your own business. I have quite a few friends with MBA degrees and let me tell you, they are clueless on what it takes to start a small business. People with MBA's tend to be groomed to work in higher level executive positions at existing large companies. They aren't really taught how to start a small business. So, please please please don't think you need a graduate education in business to start that bakery or catering business or book store or fitness coaching business you've been dreaming about.

I hope you're able to learn something valuable from my own experience. If you'd like my Weekly Journal sent straight to your inbox every week, click here to subscribe.

P.S. Are you on Pinterest? I have a Weekly Journal board on Pinterest so you can easily navigate my journal entries. You can view and follow the board by clicking here. I've written so much about quitting my lawyer job to start g+h over the past few years and I want to make it easier for you to access and read the entries that resonate most!

xoxo,
Stacy

Welcome to another edition of my Weekly Journal! I use this space to share about my journey from lawyer to jewelry business owner. In this week's journal entry, I wanted to talk about the common reasons new businesses fail. It is hard to start a new business and become successful with it. If it weren't difficult, almost everyone would do it! If you know the common reasons why businesses fail, you are more likely to avoid those pitfalls and build a business that lasts. These reasons are from my own observation and own experience, and the list is by no means exhaustive! Here we go:

1. No marketing or not enough marketing

This is probably the most common reason a new business fails. If no one knows about your business, no one can purchase your product or service. "Marketing" is getting the word out. It's the act of making people aware of your business. It can be anything from running advertisements on Facebook to participating in a local market and handing out postcards about your business. When you start a new business, educate yourself on marketing. It is crucial to your success. You simply cannot build a business and wait for people to come find you. You'll be waiting a very long time. You have to get the word out.

If you are uncomfortable with marketing, you need to outsource it. But be careful though - outsourcing marketing is very expensive and often not very effective. There are a lot of people and agencies touting themselves as marketing experts these days when, in all honesty, they aren't. Marketing in the digital space changes almost every day (that's no exaggeration) so unless you're hiring a person or agency that is on the cutting edge of digital marketing, I don't think it's worth a dime. Instead, I suggest you educate yourself well on marketing and then delegate it (if you really have to) so that you know whether or not the person or agency doing your marketing is doing a good job. If you aren't educated about it, you'll have no idea. And, chances are, you'll waste a ton of money.

2. Investing in the wrong things

Speaking of money, a lot of businesses fail because they spend money on the wrong things. For example, they use super fancy, expensive packaging that is going to get thrown in the garbage anyways. Or they spend thousands of dollars on a web designer, when they really could've hired someone for a few hundred dollars to set up a website for them on a reliable and well-established e-commerce platform like Shopify. Listen, I'm not telling you to have cheap packaging or an ugly website. But you can have pretty packaging and a pretty website at a much lower cost if you're smart about it. Do your research before investing in things. What are the alternatives? What do you need now... and what can wait for an upgrade later once you know your business is generating enough revenue to be profitable?

In my opinion, far too many businesses spend money on things that don't matter when they should really be directing those dollars towards marketing. From my personal experience, you want that marketing budget to be as high as you can possibly make it (because you are a new brand and NO ONE knows about you but your friends and family!). So spend that money on advertising and not the gold-foil tissue paper branded with your logo that's going to get thrown in the trash anyways. Later on, when you are booming with success, you can afford that custom tissue paper.

3. They quit when they don't get instant gratification

For some reason, people start a business thinking it's going to be easy. I have no idea where they get this idea from. It takes years to build a successful business, not months or weeks. And it's tough. You are going to have super, super highs and super, super lows. Weeks when you'll want to quit. Days where you start searching for a "real" job online. Months when you feel it's really over this time and finally time to throw in the towel. But if you want to ultimately succeed, you'll keep going and you'll figure it out. No matter what. A lot of people do not have this kind of grit and tenacity. They don't have the patience. They set up a business, run it for a few months or a year, and they abandon ship. That's not fair to you or to your business idea. That's like boiling 10 minute rice and throwing it out at minute 2 because it's not done yet. You feel me? If you go into business ownership, have the right expectations and give your business some time to get off the ground. Otherwise, you might jump ship on a business that could have been a million dollar business if you had only given it some time. There is no instant gratification in business.

4. Not enough money

Ok, ok, I know... more about money. But a business ultimately is supposed to generate money. And not having enough money is a problem. If you go into business ownership without much money, you're going to have a tough time. You have to be able to invest in your business. Think of it like a house. You have to put a down payment on a house, right? And, after you purchase it, maybe you'll need to inject a little money into a kitchen and bathroom renovation. The same with your business. And the idea is, that initial investment will ultimately pay off down the road and you can sell it for much more than you initially invested in it. So please, please, please don't expect to start a business with little to no cash. That is very unrealistic. And, on the same note, don't expect to draw a paycheck from your business right away. That might be news to some of you! But most new business owners don't get paid anything for some time. Any profit the business is generating needs to be put back into the business, so make sure you have enough savings or a part-time or full-time gig that can cover your personal expenses for at least a few months.

Sometimes people ask me, how much do I need to start a business? It depends! There is no one answer. Every business is different. You have to figure it out. For example, a service business (like a wedding photography business) probably needs a lot less money than a product business (like a shoe company). A wedding photographer needs a camera, a nice website, and a system for invoicing and contracting with her clients, etc. A shoe company, on the other hand, needs a lot of inventory. They need shoes in every size and color. Therefore, the up-front investment is going to be much higher. Word to the wise here: if you can't figure this part out, you probably don't want to start a business. Business ownership is hard and if you can't even get past the first hurdle of "how much money do I need?" there is absolutely no way you are going to successfully make it through the first few difficult months and years. I hate to be so blunt, but it is true and I want you to be realistic about business ownership before you waste a whole lot of money and energy on something that fails quickly.

There are lots of reasons why a new business might fail, so this is by no means a comprehensive list. But if you go into business ownership with your eyes open to these 4 common mistakes people make, you'll be more likely to avoid them!

I hope you're able to learn something valuable from my own experience. If you'd like my Weekly Journal sent straight to your inbox every week, click here to subscribe.

P.S. Are you on Pinterest? I have a Weekly Journal board on Pinterest so you can easily navigate my journal entries. You can view and follow the board by clicking here. I've written so much about quitting my lawyer job to start g+h over the past few years and I want to make it easier for you to access and read the entries that resonate most!

xoxo,
Stacy

Welcome to another edition of my Weekly Journal! I use this space to share about my journey from lawyer to jewelry business owner. In this week's journal entry, I'm talking about mindset. Mindset is, hands down, the most critical ingredient to following a passion. Whenever someone asks me for advice on how to start their own business or quit their current job to pursue one that's more in line with their passions, my first piece of advice is always this -- work on your mindset the most. Even more than you work on your website or your resume! If your mindset isn't right, absolutely no amount of work is going to connect all the dots on the path to a successful business or career. If you've been trying to make changes in your career but you feel like nothing changes no matter what you do, mindset is likely the reason why.

By "mindset" I mean, quite simply, knocking out all the fears that are keeping you in your current job and preventing you from following your passions. These may include the following: fear that others (such as your family) will judge you for quitting a stable job; fear of uncertainty; fear of giving up a steady paycheck; fear that you can't make enough money doing what you love; fear that it will take too many years to build a business that can support you financially. If you believe you can't earn a living being a writer or personal stylist or baker, you won't. Similarly, if you believe you can make more money pursuing a dream than in your current job, you will. It really is that simple, but it does take a lot of work to get to that place of true understanding and belief in these simple principles. One of my favorite quotes to sum up this learning process is from the Wizard of Oz, "You always had the power my dear, you just had to learn it for yourself." We are our own worst enemies -- but the beauty in that is that we hold the power to change. You don't need to convince anyone else but yourself. 

The biggest difference for me between my first business (a brick and mortar jewelry store which ultimately failed in 2011) and my current business (grace + hudson) is my mindset. Back in 2011, I didn't truly believe I deserved a better life than working 80+ hours per week as an attorney, constantly arguing with others for a living (if you've come to know me, you know that doesn't fit my personality).  Now, I believe I deserve to earn a living doing something I love. I believe that I don't need to "sell my soul" to afford my living expenses. I believe that I can create a business that reflects my ideals and my authentic self, and therefore brings me joy on a daily basis. I believe that I can blaze new trails that lead to a super successful business, and that I don't have to be like every other jewelry artist on the planet, struggling to make sales any which way they can. When you truly have these beliefs, you receive out-of-the-box inspiration, you wind up in the right place at the right time, you come up with ideas that seem divinely inspired, you blaze new trails. For example, if you believe you can only make $20k per year as a baker, begging to sell cupcakes to passersby, you are completely foreclosing other possibilities. What if Oprah Winfrey stumbled upon your cupcakes, posted about them on Instagram, and you sold your entire daily inventory and received 1,000 online orders in 3 minutes flat? Your negative mindset is completely foreclosing that option, and other less radical ones that have just as much power to lead to a "sold out" sign. The mental momentum of out-of-the-box possibilities is a powerful thing, let me tell you!   

If mindset is holding you back, I would highly recommend meditating. Meditating helps stop negative, fearful thoughts and helps you get in touch with the amazing, powerful possibilities that come to us in stillness. I would also recommend reading a few books by some of my favorite thought leaders (listed below). This is the exact path that worked for me, and I continue to reinforce it everyday. It's the first thing I do in the morning. It doesn't need to take hours. Even a few minutes per day of meditating and reading a short passage will lead to gains. Or, on a really busy day, just set an alarm in your phone that goes off every hour and says something like "I welcome new possibilities for success" or "I choose positive thoughts over fear-based thoughts."  

Here are some of my favorite books to get you started. Financial fear is probably a big one for you, as it was for me -- and, if so, I'd recommend reading "You are a Badass at Making Money" by Jen Sincero (get it here). If you already meditate and/or believe in the law of attraction, I'd recommend reading "Life Visioning" by Michael Bernard Beckwith (available here). It'll help you get in touch with the vision you have for your life, and it'll help you understand only you have the power to make it come true. And, similarly, only you have the power to make it not come true. If you've never meditated before and need help with the constant stream of negative thoughts that hold you back from following your passions, I would recommend a 40-day practice called "May Cause Miracles" by Gabby Bernstein (find it here). It's a great place to start to end those negative, fear-based thoughts that are keeping you stuck. It only takes about 5 minutes per day -- get it on Audible and play it while you brush your teeth in the morning. Giving up these fears is a daily practice. A daily choice. But it does get easier the more you do it. 

If I know one thing for certain, it's that a fulfilling, successful business first starts in your mind.  Changing your mindset is the greatest gift you will ever give to yourself, and your future business or career!

I hope you're able to learn something valuable from my own experience. If you'd like my Weekly Journal sent straight to your inbox every week, click here to subscribe.

P.S. Are you on Pinterest? I have a Weekly Journal board on Pinterest so you can easily navigate my journal entries. You can view and follow the board by clicking here. I've written so much about quitting my lawyer job to start g+h over the past few years and I want to make it easier for you to access and read the entries that resonate most!

xoxo,
Stacy

Welcome to another edition of my Weekly Journal! I use this space to share about my journey from lawyer to jewelry business owner. In this week's journal entry, I want to challenge you to think differently about retirement. When you stop to think about it - our American culture almost teaches us that life begins in retirement. It's when you can "finally start living" and doing what you want to do. We are encouraged from a very young age to stuff as much money as we can into our 401(k)'s and "plan early for retirement." Blah, blah, blah. You've heard it all, I'm sure. I have a real problem with this for multiple reasons which I'll share below. Why am I bringing this up? Well, when you start to look at retirement from a different angle - from a more practical, realistic point of view - it can greatly impact the decisions you make today about your career and your life path.

I started to question the way our culture thinks about retirement when I lost my father to cancer in 2014. He was such a planner. The 401(k) saver. Spreadsheets and trajectories about future finances. Plans to move and retire to the beaches in North Carolina. He did everything "right" by society standards when it comes to retirement. But you know what? He died one month after he turned 65 years old. He never got to retire. It really made me question the value we place on retirement because... what if I don't make it there either? Let's face it - not all of us will make it to the ripe old age of 65. Shouldn't we be enjoying life now? 

Back when I was a lawyer I heard so many people say, "Yeah I don't like my job but I'm just going to suck it up, work really hard now, and retire early." But there's several problems with that. First, you might never get there, like my dad. I think about how hard my father worked and planned for retirement, and he never got to retire. What a cruel joke. If I had remained a lawyer, I can think of nothing worse. With this mindset of "work really hard and retire early," you are giving up so much during the prime years of your life with the goal of "start living" at some older age that you might not even reach. 

Now let's say you do make it to age 65 and retire, or that you are lucky enough to retire much earlier. What are you going to do with your time? Sure, you may have grand plans to travel and such, but unless you plan on visiting every country on the map and have the funds to do so, travel isn't going to take up 365 days of the year. What will you do on the other days? The thrill of retirement might last a year or two, but what will you do in year three? Have you thought this through? If you don't have purpose and a plan, boredom can be a dangerous thing. 

Humans need purpose. They need a reason to wake up in the morning. Sure, it's fun to sleep in, travel, do what you want, but it gets old after a while. You need purpose on top of those things. This is another problem for people who "work really hard so they can enjoy an early retirement" -- when they don't have to "work really hard" anymore and suddenly have a lot of free time, they don't even know who they are. Work has comprised so much of their identity that when it is stripped away, they don't even know themselves. They've spent so many years building a bank account, they haven't built themselves and their identity. And they're lost when work is all of a sudden out of the picture. That's why I see a lot of people in retirement picking up part-time jobs. They were sold a lie in my opinion. Just work really, really hard for 65 years and save a lot of money, and then you can start to live and will be so happy. Wrong. Talk to a few people in retirement and you'll know exactly what I mean. This is also a big problem for people who are able to successful retire at an early age - say 45 years old. If you've worked hard enough to retire at 45, that means you've spent little to no time working on yourself. You barely know yourself. You've been distracted by work for years on end. Do you think you're just going to feel happy, comfortable, and safe when you give up the thing (work) you've been addicted to for so many years? The answer is no. You'll go through an identity crisis first.

And what will be the state of your health? I think back to the eleven years I spent as a lawyer in my 20's and 30's. I was sick all the time - nothing serious thank goodness, but I constantly had a cold, or a stomach problem, or this or that. Stress wreaks havoc on your body. I think about the condition my body would be in, at age 50 or 60, if I had remained a lawyer. When you are miserable, and stressed out, your body takes a beating and I can only imagine I'd be more likely to battle something like cancer or high blood pressure. I even look back at pictures of myself when I was 30 years old and still a lawyer - and I look older back then than I do today at age 42. Now let's assume that your health doesn't take a beating and you make it to retirement in excellent health. And, like everyone else, your plan is to move to the beach and travel a lot. Um, have you noticed that older people don't generally love to sit in the sun on the beach and would rather be indoors when it's hot outside? And travel requires a lot of stamina - do you think you're going to have that kind of energy - to explore and adventure outdoors the way you might now, in your 20's, 30's or 40's? Probably not.

And let's talk about one more thing - the celebrities we all know and love who worked until old age doing what they love. Betty White is the best example that comes to mind. She loved what she did and she did it until she died at the old age of 99. Tony Bennett is another person that comes to mind - he's still living at the age of 96 and he just performed his last concerts in 2021. I've always been inspired by the both of them. There are many more examples I'm sure, but the people who love what they do and keep doing it until the day they die are happier and more fulfilled and, arguably, live longer lives. Sure, as they age, they take on much less demanding schedules and work less (and they should!) but what a gift - to love what you do, to have found your purpose on this earth, and to keep doing it (on your terms and on your schedule) until you're in your 90s. Now THAT sounds like a good plan. And that's MY plan for retirement. I would love to get to the point when I'm about 60 years old that everything in my business is delegated to someone else, and I can work at my leisure, on my schedule, on my terms as much or as little as I'd like until the day I die. To have purpose and meaning, but also to have freedom and the leisure of doing whatever I please, whenever I please. That sounds like a healthy retirement to me. And that's what I'm working towards.

If you were to change your ideas about retirement, how would that impact the decisions you make today? Would you take that high paying job and run yourself into the ground for 25 years so you can retire early? Or would you spend more time now building a career (and a life) you love? If you don't want to give up the "traditional" ideas about retirement, that's totally fine! I just want to bring up this topic because retirement isn't all flowers and hearts. It can be a tough time psychologically when, all of a sudden, you feel you lack daily purpose. Do a lot of research on what retirement actually looks like and feels like, and don't go into it with this false sense of "oh my life is finally beginning!" because you will be sorely disappointed. Talk to people who are in retirement, find out the psychological impacts retirement can have, and be ready for those. It's not the dream your 401(k) company tries to sell you, believe me. I've seen it first hand. 

I hope you're able to learn something valuable from my own experience. If you'd like my Weekly Journal sent straight to your inbox every week, click here to subscribe.

P.S. Are you on Pinterest? I have a Weekly Journal board on Pinterest so you can easily navigate my journal entries. You can view and follow the board by clicking here. I've written so much about quitting my lawyer job to start g+h over the past few years and I want to make it easier for you to access and read the entries that resonate most!

xoxo,
Stacy