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 this big, amazing shift I see in people who want to start their own business and consciously embrace the idea that their current job and career are temporary. Let's dive in because this is a good one and might really serve you in your day-to-day life moving forward.

Let's face it, most people (not all) want to start their own business because they don't like something about their current job situation. So they complain and complain about their current job, and while they might have a really well thought out business idea, they are scared to take the leap. Does that sound like you? It was me for a while. But there can be this big, huge shift that happens when you embrace the idea that your current job is merely temporary. That it's a means to an end. That it can actually "fund" your business idea. This shift is so powerful because it takes you from this place of complaining and moves you into this place of gratitude. All of a sudden, you can appreciate your job because you can use some of your paycheck to fund your new business expenses. And you know what else happens? You will probably stop taking your job so seriously because you realize it's temporary. Sure, you'll still show up every day and do your best, but you realize you won't be there forever and that provides a wonderful sense of freedom. You don't get so hung up on all the office politics. You almost emotionally disassociate from all the office drama.

Doing this frees up so much mental and emotional energy and space. I often hear a certain complaint from aspiring entrepreneurs and it's this: "I work a lot so I have no time to work on my business idea or make it a side hustle." Believe me, I can identify. When I was a lawyer, I barely had the energy to walk my dog after work let alone work on a business idea in front of my computer. But when you embrace the idea that it's all temporary, a lot of mental and emotional energy frees up. It's amazing! And you might find you have enough energy to work on your business plan for an hour after work.

So if you're stuck in a job or career you don't like and you want to start your own business, try embracing the idea that your current situation is temporary. At first, you might have to repeat that phrase to yourself under your breath all day long - "This is only temporary. This is only temporary. This is only temporary." But after a few weeks, you might notice that you really begin to believe it. You might notice that you don't feel as drained. You might notice that you do have the energy to work on a business idea after work, even if it's only for 30 minutes in the beginning. You may notice that you have more mental space to think about your business idea because that space is no longer occupied by office politics and office drama. Give it a try! I bet you'll notice some, or all, of these things.  

I hope you're able to learn something valuable from my own journey and experiences. My wish is for everyone to know the feeling of doing work that brings them joy. It truly is an unbelievable gift to not dread Mondays and hope for Friday's fast arrival. 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'm in the process of creating a Weekly Journal board on Pinterest so you can easily navigate all of 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 couple 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 the importance of prioritizing purpose and connection in all aspects of life but especially when making career decisions. 

Let me tell you a story that goes something like this... I just got promoted, I'm making over 6 figures, I live in a beautiful condo downtown, I have great friends and family. I feel fortunate for what I have, but I am deeply, deeply unhappy. I cry most days, I have no energy after work to do anything but watch reality tv or HGTV, and the dread I feel on Sunday nights overwhelms me.

Does that resonate at all? You know, the "outside" seems pretty darn great but the inside is crying out about unmet needs? That was me. For a very, very, very long time. Eleven years to be exact. And I know there are a lot of you out there who have felt the same. 

Looking back, here's how I would boil it down - I was deeply unhappy because I was lacking connection and purpose in my life. And what made me even more unhappy was that everyone was telling me I should be happy because I "had it all"... and then this made me feel even worse about myself. And it left me drained and depleted.

We can strive for the next promotion, and the next promotion, and the next promotion and win them all, but at the end of the day when purpose and connection are missing, we will be unhappy with every win. We "think" that next thing is going to make us happy, and then it doesn't. So we strive for the next thing, and that doesn't make us happy either. If that pattern continues, it won't be long before a real sense of disillusionment sets in about the story we've been sold. You all know the "story" I'm referring to -- get into the best college, get into the best graduate school, get a high paying job, get married by 30, buy a house, get a dog, have a child, etc and at the end of that very long list, happiness awaits.   

We need to be smart enough to recognize that happiness is unique to each individual and not based on some superficial list of life achievements. And we need to be brave enough to admit what isn't working for us. We have to be brave enough to be radically honest, without judging ourselves and without minimizing our experience. 

I find that what usually is missing in this equation is purpose and connection. That's at the root of the unhappiness so many "successful" women experience. It doesn't matter how much money or friends you have - if you are lacking fundamental human connection and purpose, you will be deeply unhappy. And on the flip side, this is why people with "average" jobs and "average" salaries can be deeply happy. If they go home after work to a wonderful, big family and a supportive partner after working in a job that matches their purpose, they will experience deep joy and fulfillment and be much, much, much more happy than the person who appears to "have it all" per the story we've been sold growing up.

If this resonates with you, I strongly encourage you to start here -- evaluate your goals. If they consist of things like "get the next promotion" and "book that trip to Greece", I encourage you to take a deep look at what you're chasing in life. In my opinion, the biggest and largest and best goal any of us could ever strive for is deep, meaningful, and true connection and a job that fulfills our purpose. Get away from goals that center around words like promotion, job title, salary, and fancy trips and cars, and move towards goals that center around the things that are going to bring you joy, meaning, peace, connection, and fulfillment. And *most importantly* I can't tell you what those goals are because they are different for everyone. What makes me truly fulfilled is going to be drastically different from what makes you truly fulfilled. What brings me peace and joy is going to be different from you. We are all unique and special in our own ways and the "cookie cutter" approach to goals has been all wrong from the very start. We are all very different, and therefore we shouldn't all want the same things, but yet most of us are striving for that cookie cutter list I rattled off earlier (you know, the high paying job, husband, dog, house, kid, etc).

Warning: This is not easy. It sounds simple right? Draft a better list of goals with meaning? But it's terribly hard for so many women, including myself back in the day, because most of us have been programmed growing up to want that cookie cutter list and we have literally never thought about what we truly want. If you're say, 35, and this is the first time you've ever thought about what you truly want in life, it's going to be difficult. It's probably going to bring up some tears. It isn't an afternoon project - it might take months to figure out. It might even require the help of a coach or therapist. But it'll be worth every tear, every minute, every dollar you spend on it. I can say that from personal experience. I sought the help of a therapist in 2015 and, in 2017, I made the drastic choice to leave my job as a lawyer and start grace + hudson. It took me two years to work through some things and get really clear on what I want. Don't be surprised if it takes you that long too. That's important work and it can't be rushed.

At the end of the day, we all deserve to be deeply happy. And when you start to think of goals in a different way - when you start to think about YOUR unique happiness instead of the cookie cutter list of things that are "supposed" to make you happy, the idea of happiness seems a whole lot more attainable. And when we feel our goals are more attainable, we feel more empowered to reach them. In short, when you follow your unique purpose and the things that bring connection and fulfillment, you'll never be led astray. You'll always have the means of reaching them. It might take a long time, but you can get there. It was what you were put on this earth to do, and only you can stand in your own way. The other stuff is just obstacles to help you grow and help you become a better you. 

I hope you're able to learn something valuable from my own experiences. My wish is for everyone to know the feeling of doing work that brings them joy. It truly is an unbelievable gift to not dread Mondays and hope for Friday's fast arrival. 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 all of 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 couple 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. As I write this week's journal entry, grace + hudson is about to celebrate its 5th birthday. I opened the virtual doors to my grace + hudson e-commerce shop on June 14, 2017. Many new businesses never see the 5-year mark so I'm definitely experiencing some big, overwhelming feelings of gratitude and awe. Awe for just how much my life has changed in 5 short years. Gratitude that I get to show up every day to do something I love, in a space I adore, in a city that's the perfect match for me and my brand. I started grace + hudson in Chicago, with no plans to move to Charleston and no plans to ever open a brick + mortar shop. But the universe had some interesting things in store for me that I never could have planned! In tonight's journal I'm sharing the top 5 things I've learned in 5 years of business:

1. I had no idea how much personal growth work would be required to succeed.

When you start your own business, all sorts of stuff comes up for you. It's a challenging journey so that shouldn't have surprised me, but I was so focused on the nitty gritty details of things like my website, logo, and products that I totally neglected how much mindset work would be involved. Thankfully this came quickly to my attention and I've been a loyal student of mindset work ever since. The job is never done. It's like peeling back an onion. You master one area, and then lurking behind it is yet another. For example, you've probably heard of "imposture syndrome" and that's definitely come up for me at times. Imposture syndrome is having persistent feelings of self-doubt despite education, experience, and accomplishments... you know, the good ole "who am I to think I can succeed at this while everyone else toils and sweats in a 9-to-5 job?!" Feelings of lack (as opposed to abundance) and fears around money also came up BIG for me and required some real growth work. You see, if you believe you'll never make as much money selling jewelry as you did in your 9-to-5, that'll be true for you. But just the same, if you believe you can make just as much or even more selling jewelry, that'll be true for you too. It's amazing how much power our beliefs have on the experience of our reality. It truly is "all in our heads." Yet another thing that came up for me is control and perfectionism. Having practiced law for 11 years, it should come as no surprise that I'm a bit of a type A control freak at times, striving for perfection. Well, I had to learn how to let some of that go. I had to learn how to channel the good, positive side of that character trait into a more productive form. I had to let go of always having every single detail right every single time. Why? When you do that, you lose focus of the big picture. You spend time getting the margins and font on that email just right, instead of spending time on the important revenue-generating functions. There were countless other things I've learned and grown through - so many that I should probably write a book about them!

2. I understand the concept of "service" on a level I never understood before.

When you start a business always make service your top priority, not revenue. "How can I serve?" has taken me out of some whicked funks. Business ebbs and flows and, especially in the beginning, it's really easy to get tied up on that daily revenue number (and to freak out when it doesn't seem to be moving upwards). But the energy around that is complete lack, and it causes you to push and "hustle" in ways that never work. I learned early on that if I'm in a revenue slump, all I have to do is get back into the beautiful energy of "how can I serve?" and in no time, I see a turnaround. Why is that? I believe we are here on this earth to be truly helpful to others with the gifts we've been given, and it doesn't need to be fancy. You don't need to be volunteering in a homeless shelter to be of service. Sure, that's wonderful, but service is much, much broader than that. You merely have to extend your unique gifts to the world to be "of service." How can you help another? Maybe you are helping solve world hunger and that is your passion, or maybe it's much smaller than that. Maybe you are helping a bride desperate for a nice, classy gift for her bridesmaids that costs around $50 to show her appreciation for all the time, money, and effort they spent on her over the last few months. So, what problem can you solve? How can you be of service? How can you use what you were given to be useful in the world and provide a solution to someone else? Focus on service, not money, and you're much more likely to succeed in the long run. People can feel that.

3. Starting and building a new business is a marathon, not a sprint. In fact, it's a long, long, long marathon.

This one came as no surprise, but I wanted to mention it now that I'm rounding the bend on 5 years in business. A lot of online courses and teachers have popped up over the past few years and be very, very wary of the ones promising "quick ways to double your revenue" or "increase your social media following 10 times in 10 days." Nothing lasting and permanent is built that way. The people who succeed in business show up every day and make a little progress every day. I know that sounds simple but I know SO many business owners that started out around the same time as me but gave up years ago. They wanted instant results and, frankly, weren't willing to put in daily, consistent work for multiple years. "Sticking with it" has so much power and, I've learned, is something few people are willing to do.

4. When you create an authentic business, meaning one that is a true expression of your natural gifts and talents and experience, you will have few competitors.

I wrote about this one in detail last week so I won't expand on this a lot here. But when you create a business from your soul - you know, one that is a pure and true expression of your gifts, your talents, your personality, your experience, all wrapped up into one, you really distinguish yourself in the ever-increasing marketplace and have few direct, one-to-one competitors. For example, there are no other former lawyers designing dainty jewelry, specializing in weddings and writing weekly journals about career change and small business ownership every week. I'm the only one. And there's a business that each of YOU can create that is just as unique. Are you curious enough to find out what that is? It takes some digging and maybe even some coaching from a business coach, but it can be done. You can read more about this in last week's journal entry linked here.

5. Your friends will change when you make massive changes.

Maybe sad, maybe not, but the people in my circle right now are completely different than the ones that were present in my life 5 years ago. I attribute that to all the change I have gone through. I'm not the same person. And consequently, my friends have changed. This wasn't a terribly big surprise to me, but it might be to you. I can only think of maybe two lawyers I still keep in touch with, whereas five years ago almost all of my friends were lawyers like me. We're just on totally different paths now and share little in common. I find it's natural for people to want to spend time with people who can relate to them, and perhaps are experiencing similar things as them. So now I find myself surrounded by people with alternative careers like my boyfriend, or running their own business like the deli next door owned by a family from Massachusetts, or the wedding photographer who rents the office next to me, or the hair salon owner that set up shop in the space behind my store. These are my "co-workers" that I share daily chats with now. People come into our lives for a reason or a season, and if you accept that, this part will be a lot easier. And maybe you've already experienced this when, say, you got married and spent less time with your single friends or when you got pregnant and spent less time with your friends who don't yet have children. There will always be those few people that stick with you over a lifetime, but it's okay for the daily people we interact with to change every so often. It grows us.

I hope you're able to learn something valuable from my own experiences. My wish is for everyone to know the feeling of doing work that brings them joy. It truly is an unbelievable gift to not dread Mondays and hope for Friday's fast arrival. 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 all of 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 couple 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 am sharing the best piece of business advice I ever received. There is no shortage of business advice out there - both solicited and unsolicited. When you're just starting out, everyone wants to give you their two cents (and most of the advice you'll receive isn't even worth that much!). Hopefully though, you'll stumble upon a few nuggets of wisdom that just stick with you over the years.

For me personally, the most valuable nugget of wisdom that I received came from Marie Forleo. If you've spent any amount of time researching entrepreneurial advice online, you've probably come across her name. I took her B-School course online before I started grace + hudson and it was worth every single penny. I'll just say that the business I was going to start before I took B-School and after looked very different. There were many nuggets of wisdom in that course, but the one that stuck with me the most is Marie's advice about branding and marketing. The beginning of the course is really devoted to finding your niche in the marketplace. And the key is to niche down, niche down, niche down to a super specific market. Many entrepreneur coaches will tell you that - it's not unique to Marie. It sounds kind of counter-intuitive though because the tendency of an entrepreneurial novice is to want to "be everything to everyone." You know, if you try to sell something that appeals to everyone, you'll sell loads of it because your market is so big. Well, when you do that, you end up appealing to no one. Again, this point is not unique to Marie, it's just who I happened to learn it from. And that is the best nugget of wisdom I ever learned early on in my entrepreneurial journey because it's where I found my voice - it's where my brand became "dainty jewelry designed by a former lawyer pursuing a happier life." How many former lawyers do you know who sell dainty jewelry and share their journey about pursuing a happier life? I would bet I am the only one. And that's Marie's point. When you find your authentic voice and get really specific about what your brand is, you no longer have direct competition. There are no other former lawyers selling jewelry and writing weekly journal entries like me. And that's how you identify yourself in a sea of jewelry companies. Do you know how many people have come into my store and said, "Yeah, wait, aren't you the former lawyer who makes jewelry now?" It's my identifying, distinguishing mark. It's something that allows me to stand out from the crowd. And it would be pretty darn hard for another former lawyer to come along and do what I do, and do it better than me. It's just too specific. So in that way, you make yourself competition proof to some degree. 

So if you're looking to start a business someday soon, I highly encourage you to first educate yourself on marketing and branding especially as it relates to the social media space. And then second I would spend a LOT of time on finding your niche. When you think you've gotten specific, niche down again. And again. Find the way(s) in which you can distinguish your brand from every other in your industry. I promise you, this will be time well spent. And I promise you, if you don't do this, your business journey is going to feel like an uphill battle. There are just too many shoe stores, clothing stores, apparel brands, pet stores, etc, etc, etc  already out there - and if you plan on just doing what they're already doing, you're going to have a hard time. How is your brand different? That's the key. And don't stop there - you need to communicate that in your branding and marketing every single day. Heck, I've got a sign outside my store in Charleston that says "dainty jewelry designed in Charleston by a former lawyer pursuing a happier life." Do you know how many people come into my store because they read that? So many. And I know it because they tell me. They'll tell me they saw my sign outside and it brought them in. So that's what YOU have to find - what is going to bring that customer through your front door or your virtual door if you're solely an e-commerce business?  

I hope you're able to learn something valuable from my own experiences. My wish is for everyone to know the feeling of doing work that brings them joy. It truly is an unbelievable gift to not dread Mondays and hope for Friday's fast arrival. 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 all of 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 couple 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 have been following grace + hudson or my personal journey for a while you might already know that I am a pretty positive and optimistic person, usually able to see the good even in supposedly bad situations. I would say that I strive to live a peaceful and joyful life and, on most days, I truly feel that way. I wasn't always this way though and in this week's journal entry I want to share a little about that. It's important that you know that I wasn't always in a good place - in fact, things got pretty dark for a while. Maybe that's where you find yourself now and, if that's the case, maybe it'll give you some hope to know that I was there once too and reached the other side where a much better career (and life) was waiting for me.

I was an attorney for 11 years and I hated every second of it. Every. Second. I knew very early on - within a year or so - that I had made a really poor career decision. I mean, really poor. We're not just talking the typical, "I don't like my job." A legal career is obviously ridiculously demanding and very grueling. Long days and nights at work (and often weekends too), urgent emails all hours of the day, very demanding bosses, constant arguments. It's not a very "happy" career. By nature, I'm pretty optimistic, reserved, and gentle. But at work I was asked to be critical, argumentative, and aggressive. If someone had said to me before I went to law school, "Your entire life is going to feel like one huge argument," I definitely wouldn't have enrolled. But I didn't look at it that way. I was smart and capable of getting into a good graduate program and I just thought it's what I was "supposed to do." We're all pretty much taught to get the best, most stable, well-paying job we can, right? That's certainly the message I heard throughout high school and college and I bet you, too. No one ever sat me down and talked to me honestly about career choices. We pay thousands upon thousands of dollars to attend college and no one ever sits down with you to take an inventory of your natural skills, talents, and areas of interest to help you pick a career that might be fulfilling. Sounds crazy when you put it that way, doesn't it?

Anyways, I ended up in the legal profession and it was really out of alignment with who I am as a person. When that's the case, it's really hard to find any happiness at work. I felt so disconnected in so many ways, and I felt I was being asked to do things (like argue in court) that just really didn't fit my personality type in the least bit. I almost had to put on a fake facade to even make it through the days where I had to "turn it on" and be argumentative in court. Because of this internal struggle, I wasn't the gentle, optimistic Stacy you know today. Not at all. I had a pretty miserable outlook on life, a touch of depression, and little hope for a better future. Was my life just going to be about working long hours in a job I didn't like with hardly any personal life? Year after year went by and I could really sense this disconnection, this mis-alignment if you will, in my body. I was always sick. Nothing serious thank goodness, but I always had a stomach ache. I always had a cold. I often got 24 hour viruses. I even got mono in my 30's and I still to this day have no idea where I got it from. Looking back, I know that my immune system was weak because of the stress. This wasn't just the natural stress of being in a demanding profession - this was also the stress of being in a career that felt really contrary to who I am. And that stuff builds up. I look back at pictures of myself from ten years ago when I was a young attorney and I look older back then than I do today. It's a little scary. I hate to think about what my body would feel like five, ten, twenty years from now if I had stayed in the legal profession. Stress is real and it has a real impact in terms of your immune system, cancer, and countless other health issues. Your body simply can't operate in that state for your entire life without real impact. 

So fast forward to today, where I've found a career path I love. I'm pleased to report that not only am I really happy at work, but I am SO much healthier. I don't get constant stomach aches, I don't find myself sick with colds or minor ailments all the time, and I feel healthier at age 42 than I did at 32. So what's my point in sharing all of this? If you can identify with this story - and again, we're not just talking "I hate my job," we're talking a true misalignment - then I want to be honest with you that it doesn't get better. It doesn't. I practiced law for 11 years even though I knew it was wrong for me in year one. I tried different jobs in different cities and nothing worked. I knew switching law firms wasn't the solution. I knew I had to leave entirely. But hey, I can sit here today and confidently say that I tried a few different jobs in the legal profession before I gave up on it. It makes me feel more confident in my decision to leave. If you know you're in the wrong career, trust that. Sure, try a few different things to confirm your decision, but don't be surprised when they don't work out.

And the other message I would leave you with today is this: it gets better. You deserve better and better is out there. You just have to have the courage to make a change. Think of it like a poor romantic relationship. We've all experienced them in life at one point or another, right? Whether it was in high school or later in life, chances are you've heard the phrase, "You deserve better." And the same is true here. If you find yourself in a real misalignment, if you find yourself in a career that you know without a shadow of a doubt is never going to bring you fulfillment, you deserve better. I don't care how much the job pays you, it is not worth it. I can say this because I was earning well into the six figures and I can tell you without a doubt that the money was not worth it. It's not worth poor health. It's not worth the mental struggle of constantly having to be someone or something you're not, like me trying to be aggressive and argumentative when a court battle required it. It is not worth it. And trust me, you CAN find a new path. Maybe you'll have to "pay your dues" for a few years like me, and sacrifice a bit like I did during those first initial years of grace + hudson, but then you get established in your new career, start to earn more money, and you find yourself in the beautiful position of having career fulfillment AND stable finances. It IS possible. I am a living example of it.  

I hope you're able to learn something valuable from my own experiences. My wish is for everyone to know the feeling of doing work that brings them joy. It truly is an unbelievable gift to not dread Mondays and hope for Friday's fast arrival. 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'm in the process of creating a Weekly Journal board on Pinterest so you can easily navigate all of 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 couple 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 am encouraging you to be motivated by authenticity and growth - not money - as you decide upon your career or ponder a career change.

I think the root cause of the rampant career dissatisfaction in our country is that we're taught to be motivated by money. Ask people why they're working at a job they don't like and I guarantee you that they'll all give you an answer relating to money: "I can't afford to quit" or "I can't make this kind of money elsewhere" or "I'll never make money doing what I love." We all know that "money doesn't buy happiness" but many of us make decisions based on money and then wonder why we aren't happy. This is why my biggest piece of advice for you is this: be driven not by money, but by what will grow and evolve you into a better version of yourself.

I can already hear you saying, "Yeah, that's a nice idea, but I've got bills to pay." Paying bills is important. Obviously. But when did financial security become the only goal that matters? It's like, we think if we have financial security, all of a sudden we'll be happy and our life will be perfect. Spoiler alert: that's not true. I had financial security in my job as a lawyer and I was a hot mess. You wouldn't even recognize "old Stacy" as I like to call her. Sure, you can wear nice clothes, drive a nice car, buy a nice house, but if you aren't happy, those things don't make you happy either. So I'm telling you - if the only thing that's driving your career decisions is money, you are in for a big disappointment over the course of your life. Even if you make all the money and get all the promotions, you are going to feel pretty empty at the finish line. And then what?

My father was a real life example of this. He worked hard, saved religiously in a 401(k), budgeted his finances like a pro, bought us a large family house and worked on his beautifully manicured front lawn so that the "outside" picture of his life was nearly perfect. But he was quite unhappy on the inside. And I think it was a big disappointment for him when he "checked off" all the things on the checklist of life, and happiness wasn't waiting for him at the end. I think he strived to "do all the things" and achieve and be perfect, hoping that inner peace and joy would be waiting at the end. Not so. Life isn't about how much money you make, your job title, and how big your house is. Life is much deeper than that. My dad passed away fairly young - he had just turned 65 - and it was a glorious experience to see him soften at the end of his life while he fought a short 10-month battle with cancer. He learned during that time that friendships, your children, quality time, and laughter are priceless and really make up a life. Not the type of house you live in or how green your lawn is each summer. He spent a lot of time obsessing over the "outside" details of life, and not enough on what mattered.

Listen, I don't deny that money has to be a factor in the career decisions you make. But let it be just that: one single factor in the overall decision-making process. Let me encourage you to be driven less by money and more by what is going to grow you and evolve you into the next highest version of yourself. What were you put here on this earth to accomplish? What gifts do you have to share? What do you feel called to do? When you line up with those things and start living YOUR authentic purpose, life has an entirely different flavor. Your life becomes about serving others with the unique gifts that only you have. And when you're in alignment with that, life just flows. I can happily say I live in this space now, after 11 long miserable years as an attorney. I was put on this earth to be the former lawyer turned jewelry maker pursuing a happier life. I was meant to share my gift of jewelry design and to show people that you can make a massive career change that benefits you in ways you never could have imagined. What were YOU meant to do here? What gifts or message or story does your life tell?   

Let me leave you with this idea. It's great if the career path you're on will lead to both more money and personal growth. But when you're given a choice between the two, choose growth. Think of it as a long-term investment. When you become a better version of yourself, the money follows. It won't be immediate, but if you stick with it, it comes. It really, really does. And earning money from something you enjoy even feels a lot better than money earned from doing something you don't particularly like. It's temporary sacrifice for long-term gain.

I hope you're able to learn something valuable from my own experiences. My wish is for everyone to know the feeling of doing work that brings them joy. It truly is an unbelievable gift to not dread Mondays and hope for Friday's fast arrival. 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'm in the process of creating a Weekly Journal board on Pinterest so you can easily navigate all of 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 couple 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 the importance of surrounding yourself with role models. More specifically, with people who are doing what you want to be doing. If you've been working for a little while, you've probably heard the expression, "If you don't want your boss' job someday, you might want to think about a different career path." It's true. Why would you work so hard if you don't want to progress on the path you're on? That sounds kinda silly, doesn't it? A lot of people have identified that they don't like their current career path, but a lot of people haven't figured out what's next. So they stay stuck. And stuck is often an unhappy place to be. I was there for a long time, so let me help you.

Five years ago, I was a lawyer living an unhappy life, struggling with the prospect of making a career change. I was highly educated - with degrees from both Cornell University and Emory Law School - yet I felt my career options were limited. WHAT?! Yes, it's true. And I bet you can relate no matter your career or education level. We get pigeon-holed into a certain career and we think there's no other options available to us. Let me be the first to tell you that this is highly inaccurate. And all it takes is getting outside your little career bubble.

You see, when I was a lawyer, I often spent 70+ hours a week devoted to work and my (very little) free time was spent running errands and, you know, just keeping my life together by paying bills, walking my dog, grocery shopping, and going to a yoga class or two. When you find yourself in this position, your exposure to other people is pretty limited. In other words, it was hard for me to see beyond my little career field, beyond my little bubble. There are millions of people out there performing millions of jobs, but I was so trapped in the legal profession that - when I wanted to look for other career options - my mind went blank. Maybe you can relate. Maybe you're a nurse or a teacher or in the IT field - whatever your field, it's easy to get a little stuck there. It's easy to become pigeon-holed. We often make friends at work, so perhaps many of our friends do the same jobs as us, too. We get so comfortable in this little world (even if we don't particularly like it) and it becomes difficult to see beyond it. I know so many lawyers that dislike their jobs, but they all say to me, "I just don't know what else I'd do with this degree." There are literally thousands if not millions of jobs they'd be qualified for. Lawyers have so many transferrable skills. Just to name a few, most lawyers are great writers, amazing researchers, and very skilled at analyzing data, negotiating, and critical thinking. 

So how do you get outside this little bubble? It can be as easy as Google! Do some searching. I bet you'll find articles and maybe even podcasts and interviews. For example, if you get on Google and search "former lawyer," you'll actually find a podcast with tons of interviews of former lawyers who are now doing something else (click here to listen to mine!). If you listen to one of these podcasts per day, in just a couple of weeks you will have expanded your mind from "I don't know what else I can do with this degree" to "there are so many other possibilities for me." That's pretty powerful stuff. There is huge power in surrounding yourself with examples of people who have already done it. That's why I named this journal entry "the power of role models." When you're in this state of possibility, good things start to happen. Opportunities start to arise. That good energy of "I can do this" and "there are options" and "I don't need to stay stuck here" really can propel you forward. It replaces the negative energy of "I'm stuck here" and "I don't have options" and "I'll never be able to do something else." If you've been following my journal entries for any length of time, you know I'm always emphasizing mindset. This is no different. Expand your mind. Find proof that there are lawyers {or insert your current job} doing other things with their lives. There is TONS of it. You just have to look for it. And then this proof will naturally expand your mind as to what's possible for YOU. 

Let's talk about some other examples, just to get your mind going. Did you know a nurse can work in the legal profession? Yep! Nurses are needed in medical malpractice cases. So maybe you don't like the day-to-day work of being a nurse, but maybe you'd like lending your expertise in a legal case. Or maybe you're a teacher. Did you ever dream of starting your own business one day? How about creating an online course in something you're proficient at? There are tons of people teaching all sorts of things online and you, my friend, are leaps and bounds ahead of them because you already have some real life teaching experience. Plus, online courses have exploded during the past few years and it's an awesome business to start as a side hustle. 

I hope you're able to learn something valuable from my own experiences. My wish is for everyone to know the feeling of doing work that brings them joy. It truly is an unbelievable gift to not dread Mondays and hope for Friday's fast arrival. 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'm in the process of creating a Weekly Journal board on Pinterest so you can easily navigate all of 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 couple 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! If you're new to grace + hudson, I use this space to share about my journey from lawyer to jewelry business owner. In last week's journal entry, I shared how grace + hudson is actually my second business. Yep! I had a small jewelry store in 2010 that failed after just one year and you can read about that here. In this week's journal entry, I wanted to expand upon that and talk about failure. 

Some would label my first store a "failure" but, looking back, grace + hudson wouldn't exist today without that experience. You see, brides-to-be would come into my first jewelry store looking for bridesmaid jewelry gifts. And they all raised the same complaints about the current options in the marketplace. I have never been married, so there was no way for me to know firsthand about these complaints. If you weren't following me back in 2017 when I launched grace + hudson, I launched my company primarily with bridesmaid jewelry in mind. In fact, I didn't even offer bridal jewelry back then! That came later. At first, my goal was to offer timeless, classy bridesmaid jewelry with sophisticated, subtle colors to match a wedding. And it had to be at a giftable price point since some brides have very large bridal parties. And it had to be versatile - you know, so that it could be worn again after the wedding (so it truly is a “gift” and not just something to wear in the ceremony). So you see, having that first “failed” store was a crucial step in me building a successful second business.

That first “failed” store taught me so much about what it takes to run a business, too. You can read all day long about starting a business but until you’re in it, you just don’t know. All the mistakes I made the first time taught me how to be better the second time. My second attempt definitely didn't feel as overwhelming as the first. I knew what I was getting myself into and I knew I could handle it. Opening my second storefront felt like a breeze compared to the first one.

After my first "failure" I also felt a lot of freedom to take risks. Business ownership comes with risk - in fact, it requires it. No one builds a great business by simply copying everyone around them. So, after "failing" once, I felt great freedom to follow my ideas and my intuition the second time around. So many people told me "it's so hard to break into the jewelry market" and "there are so many competitors in jewelry online" etc, etc. But I knew I found a niche that I could really run with (bridesmaid jewelry) and I trusted my intuition on that. And, bottom line, I knew if I failed at it, that nothing major was going to happen. I wasn't going to die, I wasn't going to get hurt, I wasn't going to... anything. I might have to pay off some business-related debt but that's about it. I think once you "fail" in a big way, you're not scared of failure ever again. You realize there is a silver lining to every situation. You learn to focus on what you learned from the experience, not how you "failed." Is it really a failure if it led you to your second successful business? Is it really a failure if it grew you up as a person and gave you new skills? The lessons and life skills we learn can never be stolen, no matter what happens to the business in the end. 

I hope you shed your fear of failure today. You might encounter some difficulties along the way to your dream, but - like me - the difficulties and the "failures" might be leading you to your big success. They might be appearing to teach you something very important you'll need for big success down the road. Keep a good perspective and go after it!

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

P.S. Are you on Pinterest? I created a Weekly Journal board so you can easily navigate all of 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 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! If you're new to grace + hudson, I use this space to share about my journey from lawyer to jewelry business owner. It's been quite a journey! Some of you may know this already, but grace + hudson is not my first business. I actually owned a jewelry store back in 2010 that only survived for about a year. It was a brick and mortar store in New Jersey where I grew up. So yes, that's right, I actually quit my lawyer job twice! Once in 2010, after about 2.5 years in the legal profession, and then again in 2017.

A lot of people say to me, "Wow, you were brave to try again." I suppose that is true, but I don't see it that way. That first business - that first "failure" - proved to me that I wasn't going to die if I tried to start a business or change careers. I say that with some humor but it's true! When you want to make a big change like I did - opening a jewelry store after practicing law for 11 years - we think the decision to do so is life or death. It can feel massively overwhelming. But the fact of the matter is, it isn't. I don't say that to trivialize the change, but to emphasize that the decision isn't necessarily permanent. If it doesn't work out, you'll probably just go back to your first career and maybe even the same job you had before (if you left on good terms). Sure, you might lose some money in the process, but relatively speaking the damage is quite minimal. It is NOT life or death. My first failure taught me that. When I closed my brick and mortar jewelry store in 2011, I went back to being a full-time lawyer and I paid off the small amount of debt I had acquired from the store. That's it! Was there some shame involved? Of course. It was a little embarrassing to fail. But those feelings quickly passed in a matter of days. People are too wrapped up in their own lives to spend too much time dwelling on a failed jewelry store. Who cares, right? It's an interesting bit of gossip - that's about it.

So, if you are just dying to make a huge career change or start your own business, do it! Try it out. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. I guarantee you you'll learn some things along the way and probably meet some new people. And maybe, like me, you'll try again 5 or 6 years down the road with different results.

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

P.S. Are you on Pinterest? I created a Weekly Journal board so you can easily navigate all of 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 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! If you're new to grace + hudson, I use this space to share about my journey from lawyer to jewelry business owner. It's been quite a journey! And I know a lot of you would love to leave your 9-to-5 someday and start a business doing something you love. In this week's journal entry, I am writing about my daily mindset practice. If you follow me on Instagram you already know that I share a daily inspirational phrase each morning. I started this practice a long time ago in my own life, but I began to share it on Instagram at the beginning of the pandemic when the world felt really overwhelming. I got such positive feedback that I've continued sharing inspirational phrases every day over the last two years. If you don't follow me over on Instagram already, you can do so by clicking here. Anyways, here's why this daily practice has been one of the keys to my success in making the successful leap from lawyer to jewelry business owner.

Let me start by sharing an example of what I share on Instagram each day. At the beginning of the week, I usually post something like this: "I'm excited about all the possibilities this new week holds. I don't have to dread Mondays. I can choose to be excited about all that will happen this week." You see, the storylines that run through our minds shape our experiences. We can choose to repeat negative stories (for example, "Mondays suck") or positive ones (for example, "I am excited about a new week"). When we choose to adopt a positive perspective, we grow our ability to look at something "negative" and focus on the important lesson it taught us rather than the heartbreak it brought us. And when you have that kind of perspective, it becomes easier to manage life and to "roll with the punches" sorta speak. Negative things no longer hold the extreme power over us that they once did. Sure, we all have to deal with negative things and that's a part of life, but we can become more stable and even-keeled and "bounce back" sooner when we have the right perspective. Maybe we spend just one day crying in bed about a negative event rather than 8 or 9 or 10 days. You see what I mean?

After you start to use affirmations or mantras for the small things (like how you feel about Mondays) it becomes easier to use mantras for the big things. And this brings me to my point - mantras were one of the keys to my success in making the successful leap from lawyer to jewelry business owner. When I first wanted to make this big career change, I became very aware of the powerful negative stories that were holding me back and I started to change them by using mantras. This didn't happen overnight because, let me tell you, I had some pretty powerful negative stories about career and money running through my head. But slowly and surely, my beliefs and my stories changed.

For example, one of the thoughts I had running through my mind was that I will never be able to make as much money selling jewelry as I did as a lawyer. When I became aware of that belief, I realized how much it was creating my reality. If you believe you can't make a living selling jewelry, you won't. If you believe on the other hand that you can make even more money selling jewelry than you ever did as a lawyer, you will. It really is that simple. And so I began to say this mantra over and over again: "I can make more money selling jewelry than I did as a lawyer. I deserve to make money doing something I love." It worked! And I have concrete evidence to prove it. I had a jewelry business about ten years ago, in 2010, and it failed after about 12 months and I had to go back to being a lawyer. Why? I didn't believe I deserved to earn a living doing something I love. I didn't believe that a job could or should be fun. I didn't believe I could earn enough money to support myself making jewelry. But this time around, with grace + hudson, I do believe I deserve to earn a living doing something I love. I do believe that work can and should be fun. I do believe I can earn more money than I did as a lawyer. And you know what? That's exactly what's shown up for me this time around. (Side note: I also did a TON of self-development work on myself in the intervening 10-year period between these two businesses. And it was hard. It brought up a lot of tears and caused me to examine a lot of things about myself, some of which I didn't particularly like. But it was 100% worth it. Some storylines take a lot of work to reframe.) 

So how do you implement a similar mindset practice in your own life? It starts with awareness. It's hard to be honest with ourselves about the storylines running through our heads. You might think you're a positive person, but upon further examination you might realize that you actually have a lot of negative storylines running through your head each day. This is where the personal, self-development works comes into play. It takes a lot of courage to admit where we can do better, and to ask for help in making changes if we need it.

Once you've identified your negative storylines, the rest is (comparatively speaking) easy. Switch those negative stories into positive ones. Change your perspective. And start repeating the positive ones whenever the negative ones try to creep back in. For example:

• If the storyline you hear in your head all week long is "I hate this job and I'm never going to be able to break out of it and pursue my dreams" change it to "I wouldn't have been given this dream if I didn't have the power to make it happen. I might not be happy at this job right now, but it's paying the bills and teaching me things I might need to know down the road. I'm saving a little more money each week so that I can one day leave this job and do what I've been put on this earth to do."
• If the storyline you hear in your head all week long is "I'm overweight and I'll never feel good in this body" change it to "I am releasing excess weight that is holding me back. I am grateful that my body can move and support me and it's only a matter of time before I feel healthier in this skin."
• If the storyline you hear in your head all week long is "I am not smart enough to start my own business" change it to "I may not have any experience with business ownership but there are online courses available to me and so much free information on the Internet. I know I'll be guided to what I need to learn." 

In time, you'll begin to change your beliefs around the subject you're struggling with. And the positive storylines will drown out the negative storylines. Once this happens, new and different things will start to show up for you in your life. New opportunities and relationships and people and events and options. Your reality will gradually shift, which is an exciting thing to experience.

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

P.S. Are you on Pinterest? I created a Weekly Journal board so you can easily navigate all of 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 and I want to make it easier for you to access and read the entries that resonate most!

xoxo,

Stacy