If you’re working in corporate America, chances are you don’t love your job.
Gallup reports that only 29% of millennials are engaged at work, while the vast majority of workers are disconnected emotionally and behaviorally from their jobs. While 43% of millennials who leave their corporate jobs say it’s because they weren’t following their passion, 42% say the corporate lifestyle wasn’t for them, and 33% say they felt too restricted.
As one former corporate employee puts it, “I was compromising my life and compromising my purpose to achieve success. I was making all this money, but I had no time to spend it, no time to take care of myself, and no time to spend with my friends and family.”
Meet Kelly Roach, a mom and now-entrepreneur who left her behind her life as a Fortune 500 executive with a dream of building a business that would afford her time, purpose, and freedom. Today, she’s the CEO of Kelly Roach Coaching, which helps entrepreneurs build a life they love, the host of the top-rated podcast, Unstoppable Success Radio, and an international bestselling author.
This week on the Unconventional Life Podcast, Roach shares how she built a 7-figure business straight out of corporate America that started as a side-hustle.
Follow Kelly’s tips for hustling your way to a job and lifestyle you love below.
1. Listen To Your Gut Instinct. When you’re in a high-paying corporate job, logic can override your emotions and convince you to stay when you aren’t truly happy. Roach says, “If you’re getting a pull deep down that something’s not right, that there has to be more, I can’t be working this hard and getting this little reward for it, you’re absolutely right. I would say listen to this gut instinct and do something about it.”
2. Be Smart And Strategic. The reality is, most of us can’t leave our jobs with nothing else lined up. Half of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck, and paying bills takes precedence over feeling fulfilled. If you want to shift into entrepreneurship, starting your business as a side-hustle may be the most viable option.
“Test yourself first,” says Roach. “Don’t jump all the way into business if you’re having trouble. Be smart. There’s a reason 95% of businesses fail, and that’s because 95% of what’s required to build a successful business is not what you want to do when you want to do it, it’s what’s necessary to do. Most people don’t realize that it’s more responsibility to be a full-time entrepreneur than it is to be an employee with a side-hustle.”
Use your side-hustle as a way to become accustomed to the lifestyle of managing your own time, taking your own initiatives, and being fully responsible for the successes and failures of your business. If you can handle your side hustle, it’s a good sign that you’re ready to take it full-time. But if you’re having trouble, heed the warning and consider that entrepreneurship may not be for you.
3. Shortcut Your Success. If you’re ready to become an entrepreneur, there are things you can do to accelerate your success and avoid mistakes that most inexperienced entrepreneurs make. Roach’s top recommendation is to seek the counsel of those who are already successfully doing what you want to do. Consider listening to entrepreneurial podcasts that feature entrepreneurs in your industry, or investing in a coach who will guide you through the ropes of building a business.
When you become confident in your abilities, it’s a good idea to consider building a team. “When you can start getting results through others, there’s a multiplier effect that keeps expanding what you can do without putting more hours in. Get a team of 15 people together and you’ll be able to accomplish 15 times what you could do on your own,” says Roach.
4. Establish Goals And Realistic Timelines. “You want to be growing each month at a rate that feels comfortable to you. Look at your numbers each month, the amount of money and new clients coming in. It will be different for each person, but you want to have a growth-oriented mindset that will enable you to eventually achieve financial stability,” says Roach. While success doesn’t happen overnight, by tracking your metrics and employing a strategy to grow, you can ensure that you’ll eventually arrive at where you want to be.
5. Remember Success Is A Big Picture. In building your first business, it can be easy to have a narrow-minded focus on earning money. While generating revenue is essential, it shouldn’t be your only focus. Instead, look at your business as a single pillar of your life. Other pillars might include relationships, health, and well-being. Be sure to keep yourself in check and not pour energy into your business at the expense of other pillars. “Be able to say, good is good,” says Roach. “I pushed myself so hard and have always have ridiculous growth expectations of myself and my business. This was the first year of my life where I said good is good, I’m taking off every Friday and spending it with my family.”
Be balanced in building your business, and remember to celebrate the small wins along the way. Reward yourself for achieving your goals and milestones with time off, or a small token like a massage. As important as it is to grow, it’s also important to take stock of how far you’ve come and to upgrade your quality of life as your business affords it.
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