145:  How To Know When It’s Time to Make a Change with Stacie Mitchell

How do you know when it’s time to make another change? This is the topic we’ll be discussing today on the Career Clarity Show. Host and Career Clarity Coach Kelley Shields and our guest expert Stacie Mitchell dive deep into how you can know when it’s time to quit or make a pivot, especially when you’ve already made a big change and achieved a goal that you’ve been working for in your career.

Show Notes:

• Stacie Mitchell Coaching
• Stacie Mitchell Podcast
• Roadmap to a Fulfilling Career eBook

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Transcript

Lisa Lewis Miller  0:04   

Lisa Lewis Miller  0:04   

Welcome to the Career Clarity Show. If you want to create a career path you’ll love you’re in the right place. I’m Lisa Lewis Miller, career change coach, published author and your host, and each week, we’ll bring you personal transformation stories, advice and insights from experts about how you can find a more fulfilling, soulful and joyful career.

Kelley Shields  0:30  

Hello, and welcome to the Career Clarity Show. I’m your host for this episode, Career Clarity Show coach Kelley Shields. I am so excited about our topic and our guest. Today, we are going to be talking about how you can know when it’s time to quit or make a pivot, especially when you’ve already made a big change and achieved a goal that you’ve been working for in your career. How do you know when it’s time to make another change? How do you let go of the vision you had for what you wanted? How can you as our guest today would put it make room for something even better. And so our guest today is Stacie Mitchell, a life and business coach and host of the something even better podcast, a podcast about letting go of what’s no longer working and aligned to make room for that something better. Stacie has been coaching for over 10 years and has helped clients all around the world figure out their next steps, as well as stop the bad habits that keep them from moving towards those next steps competence needs. I’ve done Stacie for a couple years during the time, we were both diving into full time entrepreneurship. She’s a wonderful coach, a delightful human being and I have really found her career journey to be an inspiration, I think you will as well say welcome to the show.

Stacie Mitchell  1:48  

Thank you so much, Kelley, it is a joy to be here. And it’s a joy to know you. I’m just so excited. Thank you. Me too.

Kelley Shields  1:56  

You know, I think you have an incredibly empowering career story. Would you you know, just start with sharing an overview of your journey with our listeners.

Stacie Mitchell  2:07  

Yeah, I don’t even know where to start. So many people feel about their career journeys at some point. But I’m not going to tell you the entire story, I will tell you, I think the most important part for the journey right now. A couple of years ago, maybe three years ago, I was doing coaching as a side business. And I’d been promoted in my own like full time job. And it was the director of operations role. And while I actually am very good at operations, and like to have some of that in my roles, I was like, This is not for me, this job was not for me. And I very quickly realized I would love to be coaching full time. And I wanted to do it on my own. Like I had this very intense longing of being an entrepreneur and you know, doing the thing and having what they sell us like the freedom and all the things of being an entrepreneur. And I worked really, really hard at that for probably like a year and a half while I was still in that full time job, and then made the very scary for me at least decision of quitting that job. It was good job. Like I loved the people I work with great benefits, good pay. It was a really tough decision for me. So that’s where I left, right. And that was in 2021, early 2021. It’s all blending together, I have to think about the day. But I have success, right, I was doing pretty well. But I would say probably about eight or nine months, then I started to feel like this isn’t right doesn’t feel good anymore. And that was really, really hard for me to face. Because I’d gone through this entire, like, I’m gonna quit my job. Everybody knew like, this has been very public, to all the people that are following me on my podcast, everything else. Like I’m gonna quit my job. People were so excited. I had a lot of clients, I was helping build their coaching businesses. And I was like, I don’t really know that I love having like full time entrepreneurship as my thing. It felt very scary. There was a lot. There’s a lot that we’ll get into later, I’m sure but I decided, like I’m gonna look for a job. And I got a full time job coaching, which is amazing. And I love it so much. And yeah, this something even better concept really came from like, hey, like that didn’t that wasn’t quite it. But if I could let that go, I can make that room for something better. So yeah.

Kelley Shields  4:34  

Yeah. You know, I think that it was so interesting to have known you during this whole time and to see because, you know, when you started out full time in your entrepreneurial business, you are actually I mean, you’ve been very publicly transparent because of what your work was and how you were working with coaches. So you had a lot of success very early on, and it’s not like, you know, the common entrepreneur struggle is Oh, my goodness, I can’t get it. single client at the very beginning, it takes a long time to learn how to do these things. And yet, you know, you did this in a very smart, methodical way where you learn, you know, you had, you know, spent even going further back into her background, she spent a very long time she had all the coaching skills, and she, you know, you learned all of the business skills and so you jumped in, and it, you know, immediately was like, wow, anyone starting out would be so lucky to be having the kind of success you’re having. Um, so I mean, but even setting that aside, like, you know, you still have had this dream of becoming an entrepreneur, and you actually realized it. So, you know, I assume that the worst some things that you really loved about it. And you know, I’m curious what some of the things even though you figured out eventually, wait, this isn’t working anymore? What was some of the things that were working on it?

Stacie Mitchell  5:53  

Yeah, that’s a really good question. And there were definitely things I loved about it. I would say, first and foremost is like, you get to choose your work, right? You get to choose your clients, you get to choose what you want to focus on what you want to work on every day. And that was really nice. Like, I love the creativity aspect of entrepreneurship. That’s why I still have like the side businesses because I love being creative. I actually one of those, I would say kind of weirdos when it comes to coaching, I really enjoy marketing. And I really enjoy copywriting. I really enjoy all of that a lot. So for me, that was fun. And I think like getting to know people and growing that community, like entrepreneurs, especially in say, like online entrepreneurs, and especially coaches are just such a fun community to be a part of that, like that. I think I got some fear about walking away from that, because this is amazing, right? And also, just like the, there’s a lot of pride that goes into creating something and be like, I created this, like this was from my brain space, right, that this came. And it’s just kind of amazing, in its own way.

Kelley Shields  7:00  

Yeah, I mean, all of that. All of that sounds really wonderful. And I know that those a number of the things you’re sharing are things I have loved about, you know, being a coach and being an entrepreneur and being in the online space, especially those relationships and choosing the kind of work you’re you’re doing, which is really wonderful. Um, and I imagine was hard to let go of which we can maybe talk about in a minute, but what did you start finding wasn’t working so well for you?

Stacie Mitchell  7:33  

Yeah. I talk about this quite a bit, because I don’t think it’s talked about enough. I think for most of the time, when you see online business owners, and I think especially business coaches, there’s a lot of focus on the good stuff, right? The good stuff of entrepreneurship, which makes sense, like, of course, you’re gonna sell the positive. So your business coach, why wouldn’t you, right? But there’s also a lot of things that just are never talked about. So I mean, this is like, very, you know, logistical, if you will, but, you know, like taxes, like you have to do your own taxes, and taxes are a lot more money than you think. And at least in the US, like you pay more taxes being self employed. And of course, there’s like deductions and blah, blah, blah, but for somebody that’s like, I really don’t care for that kind of thing. And I really like having a lot of money, like it was really, really hard to see more of my money going to taxes than it was before, like the self employment taxes. And I think like, you know, it’s it’s kind of a grind, and I wasn’t working as much as I think some entrepreneurs will say that they’re working, I was doing like 30 hours a week. But it was intense, like brain work. I was in it, like 30 hours a week. And I think people don’t realize like that’s, that can be very draining to be the be the one be the creator. Like, it’s funny, because I said like, I love that part. But also, I think there’s a downside to that where it’s sort of like I have to have to show up, if I don’t show up, I’m not going to get clients if, if I phone it in for too long. Things are going to like slowly take a dive right. So I think it’s like that Chase sort of can be very exhausting. And even despite like I have a lot of success, and I tried very hard to build a foundation before I quit my job, but even so like there were big dips and there were big quiet seasons which is normal by the way in business, but that was like it really terrified me. So a lot of times I say if if you’re somebody who even remotely struggles like money issues or you know you have any sort of money mindset stuff going on, like handle that before you quit your regular job, because it will like come back up. I felt like I had savings. I have an on ramp I’ll be fine and then I got deep into it, and I got quiet. And I was like, This is so scary. And I didn’t love it. I didn’t love that part. So I think with all of that sort of together, it just sort of came into this, like, this isn’t for me, like, I enjoy the creativity. But I don’t enjoy feeling like I need to always be like, on the hunt for a new client, if that makes sense.

Kelley Shields  10:23  

Yeah, I think what I think that’s a really great advice for anyone who is thinking about going into business for themselves to take this time, while you have a full time job to do some serious work on your money mindset. And, you know, I think that’s going to be an ongoing journey. Everyone who is in the entrepreneurial space, I think says that is incredibly intense inner work, because all the stuff you didn’t realize you had issues about comes up through entrepreneurship. So it’s an ongoing process. But, you know, diving into doing it first would be really helpful. And also something that I think is really important that you’re mentioning there, and that I’ve heard from other coaches in particular, but I think is more broadly true is, it’s different to either show up as a coach or and or as an entrepreneur business owner for 30 hours a week than it is to you know, have a job for 40 hours a week. But what you’re doing in those hours, like the way you have to show up, and I’m not saying people who are working in regular jobs are working intensely. But you know, you’re not counting like the downtime, when you’re chatting with a co worker, like when you’re counting 30 hours a week, it’s almost more, I think, the concept of billing 30 hours a week, which is like really focused work. And it is very tiring. And I think that sometimes the idea of oh, I can, you know, only work, you know, I don’t have to work 40 hours a week, and I can still, you know, support myself, I have my own business. I think sometimes that the quality and like the tiredness of those hours can get lost in translation. So I’m really glad you brought that up, too. So was there a specific turning point for you, when you realize this? And were like, you know, I really do want to make this change?

Stacie Mitchell  12:18  

Yeah, it’s a good question I, I talked about and I got this from my business coach, Marissa Bailey, she, she talked about, she actually got a job before me. So she was my coach. And she got a job. And we talked about it on my podcast. And it’s funny, because I had a lot of emotions come up during that interview. And I was like, what is happening? Why do I feel so emotional about this? And of course, she was my coach. So I think there was that there too. But, but I also, and this was, I think, like in May of 2021. So long before I actually decided to get a job. But I think that was the first sort of inkling that something was like, tugging at me. And then I saw more and more people that I knew in the online space, getting jobs, and I felt jealous. And I was like, Oh, that’s a sign. That’s an interesting sign. Like, why do I feel jealous? Why do I feel envious of this when before which is really kind of funny. I was really envious of people quitting their jobs, right? But I was like, something’s here. And I took my former coach’s advice. What she did was she made a list of what she wanted in her job. And, you know, it just like it came to be, right. I mean, I know that sounds like super simple, but she actually had somebody reach out to her, like, she didn’t even apply for anything. So it’s pretty amazing what she did. I did apply for something. But I made the list of the things that I really wanted things that I really wanted out of a job, what I’d be willing to sort of overlook what I’d be willing to like what was like a non negotiable, right? So like, it has to have this. And I started searching. And I mean, it sounds kind of bananas, but I think it was only like the next day or the day after that. I saw the job posting for the job I have now, which was like I I am a full time business coach for an online business program. So I coach entrepreneurs, but I just have a job, which is amazing. That’s very, it’s a very real job that But uh, yeah, I saw it like I think like in the next couple of days, and there were other jobs sort of like that, that I saw that I also applied for so keeping it real, like I did apply for more. But as soon as that job got back to me, I was like I’m going all in because I was so excited about it. It had flexibility. It had like I could work from home, I’m still doing the work I really love doing which is coaching entrepreneurs. It’s just kind of had it all. And it’s like why would I do this on my own and be like stressed out all the time when I could do this and another person business and have a job.

Kelley Shields  15:02  

Oh my goodness. And I can even just the way you’re still talking about it now, even though you’ve been in that job for a while, like the energy and enthusiasm you have around that is it’s just so obvious. And, and I love that also what you’re saying is, oh, wasn’t this, like, Okay, I’m just going to get a job so I can have income stability, it just needs to be a job. You were very deliberate about, wait a second, like, first of all, you’ve been really paying attention to your feelings throughout your career journey. And following those nudges and realizing, Wait, there’s something I need to pay attention to here. And then it wasn’t okay, great, I need to get a job. It was what’s important to me, what are the things I really care about? What are the things that are deal breakers for me, and then look for those things, and it just happened to be in the context of a full time job for you. So I think that’s a great model and inspiration to remember, wait a second. And even if there is some, you know, we all have that kind of fear and anxiety about oh, wait, I want stability, I want you know, to know where my paycheck is coming from, I want to be able to meet my basic needs. And that comes up a lot in the job search project process, especially for someone who’s lost a job, or for somebody who is in entrepreneurship and having a dry month, those kind of anxieties come to the surface. And I love how what your story is showing us. We just think it Yeah, you can look for those things. But let’s get clear on what’s important first, and then let’s go look for those. So I’m finding a job that fits who I am, or by the next step that fits who I am, rather than trying to contort myself into something just to like, check that box and, you know, satisfy and smooth out that anxiety that’s happening. Yes, I

Stacie Mitchell  16:49  

love the way that you just put that because I do think that it can very easily turn into this, like I have to get something immediately. And I need to do it yesterday. So I’m just gonna take whatever I can get. But then that creates so many more problems in the future. So yeah, that slowing down, I think it just making sure you’re getting, you’re sort of ticking the boxes that are most important to you so that you are happier long term. And you’re not just sort of stuck in a process of like, okay, well, that didn’t work out, let me get something else.

Kelley Shields  17:22  

Yeah, and I think that’s where a lot of people are afraid they’ll end up as well when they’re thinking about making a change. And, I mean, I know I’ve had a lot of clients who’ve had those fears, I think we all face those fears. Because, you know, no one really teaches us how to go about figuring out what those things are, that are really important to us, and that are going to make us feel for achieving, like the success that feels like real success to us the happiness and thriving and flourishing that we want. And, again, I know, I know more about Stacie’s background that we talked about, but she like me is just deeply interested in careers and thriving and happiness. And, you know, people being happy at work. So I know you actually did figure out you did know how to do that. Because of all the extensive work that you’ve done in that area throughout, you know, your education and job history. Even knowing what you wanted, and that this was a step to make you even happier than you’d been as an entrepreneur. Was it difficult to let go of that dream that you’d had of being a full time entrepreneur?

Stacie Mitchell  18:30  

Absolutely. I think it’s not again, I’m coming back to like, it’s not talked about enough. It was it sort of like breathing. You know, it’s like, I’m letting go of this, like, huge thing that I thought and honestly, like I started being interested in being an entrepreneur, I think in like 2016. But I just I sort of dabbled I wasn’t super serious about it. I was just learning about it. And so, you know, five years later, I’m like, I’ve put all this effort and all this learning and I’m like, Am I just going to walk away from this huge dream that I had for so long? And what’s funny is, and this is very common in entrepreneurship, but I had a lot of business friends that were like, do not do this. Like they were like do not get a job like Are you out of your mind. Like you can’t you can’t leave behind all the success you’ve created. Like, don’t be silly, right? It’s just a dry spell. So and that’s very like common in entrepreneurship. It’s like you coach each other you cheerlead each other but like the worst thing you can do is get a job which I think is hilarious. No, no, no. Like you’re drunk joining a cult or something.

Kelley Shields  19:40  

Yeah, it’s not like it’s fine.

Stacie Mitchell  19:42  

I’m very happy.

Kelley Shields  19:47  

I do you enjoy the have you read? Well, have you heard of the book cultish, by any chance? Yeah, it’s about for any listeners. It’s a book about kind of think of it like Spanish cultish. But but language that kind of surrounds cultish kind of systems which define very, very broadly, but I love that, you know, entrepreneurial way of speaking as having a cultish tendency as well, I think it’s a really accurate and fun thing to think about. Um, I mean, you also told us that you haven’t completely left the world of entrepreneurship, you just pivoted, and now have side business. So, you know, has moving into full time work and moving your business decide? Has that improved your experience of entrepreneurship in any way? Or maybe I should just ask, you know, how has that impacted your experience of entrepreneurship, whether for good or for bad?

Stacie Mitchell  20:45  

I personally think that having it, this is gonna sound really weird, but I’m just gonna use the word sort of like the security blanket of a job. And it’s a really good job, I love the job. So I don’t want it to come across as like, I just have it for the money. But having that has really allowed me to sort of pull back in a good way in the entrepreneurial lane that I’m in and just see, like, what do I really want out of this business? Like, do I want it to be this? Or do I want it to be that, and I know, that’s a weird way of talking about it. And it’s pretty vague, but it’s because I’m still going through it, right. So I’ve been in my job, I think, almost four months now. And so I’m still sort of playing with a side business of what I want that to look like. But the great part about that is that I don’t have to be rushed. I don’t have to be like forcing things to happen. I can be very slow and very intentional in the way that I’m thinking about what I want the side business to be because I don’t have to be worried like I have to be making money, or I have to be growing fast. Because I don’t think at least right now it’s something I’m still exploring myself. But I don’t think that I’m going to want to be an entrepreneur, like a full time entrepreneur, again, like that could change. I’m very open to that changing. So if you listen to this three years from now, and I am like, okay, it changed. But I think like, it’s just allowed me to explore it more and not feel pressure, if that makes sense.

Kelley Shields  22:20  

And it does. And I actually love how that ties into what you were saying earlier on about what you loved about entrepreneurship. And it sounds like you’re getting a lot of that. I mean, some of it’s different. But you’re getting that creativity, you’re getting the choice and autonomy, you’re still get to market to the extent you want to and copyright and things that you enjoyed. But now you don’t have the income inconsistency and the pressure. So Oh, wait. So literally supporting myself and my family depends on this, which frees you up to you know, have more, just purely be in those moments and enjoy that and choose what you want it to be for yourself. So what would you say has been the hardest part of this journey for you?

Stacie Mitchell  23:04  

I think it’s probably because I’ve been so open and honest and transparent. And I was that way in my business. And in my own podcast, it’s probably been the Okay, now I sort of have to have this, almost like an about face. Like what I made a mistake. And it’s a weird, weird thing when you’re sort of and it’s not like I have 1000s and 1000s of followers, but I have people who are very dedicated, you know, fans, if you will, and friends even. And it’s hard to then come back and be like, actually, I’m going in this direction. And this is why. And I think there was a lot of fear that came up within like probably that that month that I was really like going out, I was applying for jobs. I was, you know, doing all these things. And it felt it felt sort of like I was lying to people because I had been so open and transparent. And suddenly I was like pulling back a little bit. And not talking as openly because it was weird, right? I was sort of in that like, you know, between right the weird in between of like, I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen. And as you said, I got very intentional about what I wanted, which also meant that I was ready and prepared for it to take longer. Right. I was like this might take me longer to get the thing that I’m really looking for. I was lucky it didn’t. But there was so much discomfort for me and like still showing up in my business because I sort of felt like well, this is my thing that’s supporting me. I can’t completely disappear. But also, I might be going in a totally different direction but I don’t know when that’s gonna happen. So I think that for me, it was very, very hard. There’s a lot of motions. There was a lot of how do I keep showing up, how do I be really authentic? And still not tell everyone everything, right? It’s a very, very hard line to walk.

Kelley Shields  25:11  

Um, I’m really glad that you’re sharing that because I feel like that is really related to something I hear from a lot of people who aren’t entrepreneurs, but who are thinking about making a pivot in their careers. And it’s, you know, combination of, Oh, my goodness, what are people going to think? And are they going to think I failed? Am I going to look like I failed? Do I think that are they going to judge me for making this change, but also the discomfort of continuing to show up, even if it’s, you know, it’s not your business, it’s your regular full time job, and putting on, you know, a face in many cases to, you know, be happy or be good, or trying to put the energy into continuing to show up and do a good job. There’s comfort for some people, you know, again, I like radical authenticity. So I think it’s really fortunate if you’re in a position in a job where you can actually have a conversation with your boss and let them know that, hey, I’m thinking about next steps. I’d love to work on this together so that I can such set you up for a successful transition. But not everyone’s in that position. So I think what you’re sharing is really relatable, even for people who aren’t in business and aren’t posting on social media and creating a following. So I think that’s just really important. Would you say to somebody who is struggling right now, or even who has made a pivot in the past and know how something that’s good, but you know, maybe they’re feeling some of the things that you were feeling? Like, wait, there’s elements of this that aren’t right for me, but, you know, I hear from a lot of clients that kind of fear of, am I, if I turn it back on this? What are people gonna think of me? Or am I gonna have failed with this? What would you say to somebody who’s in that kind of a situation?

Stacie Mitchell  27:00  

Yeah, I think there’s a really big fear of disappointing people, of course, but also like the fear of looking flaky, I think is a very big one. And that was one that came up for me too, which was, well, I said this and now like, it hasn’t been that long. And I’m big into something else. Like, I’m super flaky. But also, I guess my best advice is, life is too short. I mean, we all need to work to support ourselves, or most of us do, not all of us, I guess I should say, but most of us do. And I’m of the mind that, you know, and it’s only to everyone’s benefit, even the people who might feel discomfort with you changing or upset with you changing or whatever it may be, or even think you’re flaky. It’s to their benefit, that you’re doing this work, that you’re digging deeper that you’re, you know, wanting to find something better, right, you may have something good, I had something good, right? I didn’t love every aspect of it. But most people would be like, Hey, you have something good, and that full time job that you had. But it wasn’t the thing, right? It wasn’t like the thing that I got really excited about. And so I started to see like, some bitterness creep in and like, that is not me, I don’t want to be better. Right? So what I mean by bad is like, I didn’t want to keep a good thing, and slowly turn into this person that was like, at work. I would rather

Unknown Speaker  28:27  

move into

Stacie Mitchell  28:29  

a new, like a new thing, have a little bit of discomfort at it, and know that everyone around me is going to benefit from that. Right? Because I think a lot of times it comes from this, I don’t want people to think this or, you know, I they’re going to think I’m turning my backs on them or that I’m not loyal like especially when it comes to something like teaching or social work, or even like counseling or something like that. It can feel very, like I’m moving away from something and people gonna think I’m a horrible person. But no, like you’re doing it for everybody for yourself. But for everyone else, too. It’s for everyone’s benefit.

Kelley Shields  29:09  

I just love so much of what you said when that yeah, this is just so many people’s benefits and realizing, Oh, wait, like the impact the positive ripple impacts that you can have, and that it’s not selfish, and it’s not ignoring other people. But also, one thing that I do love about your story is that you’ve been in good situations, and you have kept, you know, I love that about your podcast and your view on this is that you’re not saying oh my goodness, what I had before was terrible. You’re saying that I’m looking for something even better. I’m looking for something more aligned. And I think that’s a really important message for people to hear and a really great way for people to start, you know, to think about this career journey process because it’s not just this one and done thing it is, you know, our lives and an evolution Throughout our lives, um, what’s been the best thing about your latest pivot into full time employment or this, you know, your latest, something better?

Stacie Mitchell  30:14  

The best thing, I think, is the team that I am a part of. They are amazing, we’re growing. And it’s the team, I think. And so I coach in a program, so we call them students. It’s a team and the students, we attract the very best team members, we attract the group of students. And I think I’m just incredibly lucky and grateful. I mean, I just messaged my manager yesterday, like, I am still just so grateful to have this job, like, this is the best job ever. And I know that’s like gushing a little bit. But I get to do what I love to do. But without like, the the pressure of it. And so I can’t really think of anything like better than that, in that sense. Being able to show up, love your work, but also like, keep it where it’s meant to be, you know, like, it’s still work. And so I can walk away from it and not think about it. And that feels very different from how I felt in entrepreneurship. I know that people are able to do that, like they’re able to separate it, I was not able to easily do that. Maybe it’s because I was newer to entrepreneurship. But yeah, I feel like it work is where it’s meant to be for me right now. Like, it’s still work, but it feels really good. And I love the team that I’m that I’m in.

Kelley Shields  31:27  

Oh, that sounds so great. And I do want to just be clear, to clarify something for our listeners, you’re not anti entrepreneurship. This is not, don’t be an entrepreneur. Okay? I’m a business owners.

Stacie Mitchell  31:40  

I love entrepreneurship. I love it. I love entrepreneurship. I love entrepreneurs, I coach entrepreneurs, I think it’s still an amazing path for so many people. And it might even still be my path, right? Like, I have not said like, this is never going to happen again. But I do think like, build your risk tolerance, right? Right. I think that’s that my key message is like, build up your risk tolerance. And everybody has different risk tolerance, like some people can more easily take that leap because of their personality type. Because of you know, their financial situations, whatever it may be, like, they might have some privileges that I didn’t have, which is totally fine. So I think like, it can be an amazing path. And so many people get so much good stuff out of it. And I think especially I hear from a lot of people with like immune issues or you know, physical ailments, or even mental health issues tend to go into entrepreneurship, because it has that flexibility and that freedom that they might need. So there’s still so much good bear for sure.

Kelley Shields  32:44  

Um, yes. So listeners, if your heart is calling you to entrepreneurship, we are not trying to discourage you. We are just sharing in a Stacie’s particular experience and cannot hold on to this idea that, you know, it doesn’t have to be like, This is my final step where looking for the next step that is continuing to be a better place for you. One thing that you mentioned and that I know you talk about on your podcast, but I think is really important to talk about is the idea of you know that all of us have different privileges that help us, you know, I’m in different areas of our lives and help us on our journeys. And I’m curious, you know, what privileges allowed you to make the shifts that you’ve made in your life and

Stacie Mitchell  33:30  

career? Yeah, great, great quote. You know, I love this question. I. So first, I’m white. I mean, that immediately is a privilege, right? I’m straight, I’m says all privileges. But I think too. I had a good job. As I said, like, I was making decent money. So I was able to invest a lot of money in my business, without it affecting the rest of my financial situation. Like we were never in a precarious place because of my business investments. And, like, I just, I think I completely can’t think of the word right now. It was even right, so I spent 20,020 20, sort of with all the investments and on raping my business and getting ready to quit. And I made 20,000. So I didn’t make any money. I spent it all. And that’s very common. That’s very common. I think, especially in the first few years of entrepreneurship. You put money in, you don’t always see, you know, enough return to make money. But I was able to do that because of the financial situation I was in I’m also married and he had a job, right. So and he has a job now. But before like during the quitting situation, we had saved money. I actually think the silver lining of the pandemic, if we can call it that I’m still not happy about the pandemic, by the way was that I was able to save money right in 2020. I say more even with those investments. I saved money because we weren’t traveling We usually like to travel, we weren’t spending money on gas or clothes, or as much makeup or anything, right haircuts. Like it all sort of added up. So I was able to have a decent amount of savings before I quit that job and went full time. And I couldn’t have done that if, you know, if all of these things could wouldn’t have aligned. And like having, I mean, just to be really honest, I also have family, right? Like, I would not ever want to go to my family to get pulled out of situation, that would be like a worst case scenario. But I know that there are people out there that don’t have that option. So it’s, it’s a privilege, right? And I’m educated. And there’s just there’s, I feel like there’s so many things that go into that. But, but yes, there were definitely definitely privileges that allowed me to be able to do all of this. And I always like to be really aware, and try to put as many out there so that you can kind of see what those were.

Kelley Shields  35:58  

Yeah, thank you so much for sharing those. I agree that it’s so important to start being transparent about those and having the conversations and I love how much you bring that into your podcast and your conversations as well. So thank you for sharing that with us. Now, actually, relatedly I know that you’re, you know, idea of something even better, you don’t limit strictly to, you know, careers. And so we are focused on careers with this podcast, but I’m curious about other other areas of your life, where you are also exploring what the something even better might be.

Stacie Mitchell  36:38  

Yeah, well, there’s been a big one, I think in January, and this is 2022. As we’re talking, I took 30 days completely away from social media. And I still have not like added the apps back to my phone. I think I’m checking them maybe once or twice a week. And this is Facebook and Instagram for me, everybody has through like trouble. Social media, right, like the ones that suck them in. And I think I suspect that with being an entrepreneur, I got way more into social media than it was before because I was marketing on it. But then I found like, I’m spending so much time and it felt addictive, really, to me to sort of go back and check the apps and see my likes to see. And this is embarrassing to admit. But we’re just going to put it all out there. See how many people watch my story and all the things right? Like we do that. That’s what we do. And that’s what it’s made for. Let’s be honest. And so I took that break. And I was like, this is kind of amazing. And I don’t know why I haven’t done this. And I actually led a book club the how to break up with your phone book club in January. Two, it’s kind of like a really fun little thing I did on the side. And during that book club, I started creating like a list of resources and really dove deep into social media and how quitting it or at least like really pulling back from it can change your life. And I am very much in that camp now. Like just putting it into a little box that doesn’t overtake your life is just incredibly helpful.

Kelley Shields  38:05  

And that’s really, I know, that’s been really difficult for a lot of people. I feel like I mean, we all check our phones all the time. And I feel like during the pandemic, it’s gotten even worse, and it’s so easy to get so sucked in on social media. You know, I spend a lot more time on there, even though I don’t post that much. And it’s just so easy to get lost and just reach for the phone and look for that distraction. So I think that’s something that I don’t feel quite ready to explore yet personally.

But again, it’s another thing that I there’s I feel something in me that’s like responding to that so that I might think about for myself, I will say that listeners check out her Instagram, which we’ll get to in a minute, but even old, even old photos, because I do miss seeing pictures of your dog Bodie on walks, which is a beautiful dog. So I’m an animal person. So you know that that’s the one downside maybe for those of us who are following your account? Um, yeah, and if our listeners are just loving what you’ve had to say, and are also feeling inspired about your journey, want to hear more of your amazing, you know, wisdom and insights and how you’re living those things out as a model. Where can they find you?

Stacie Mitchell  39:21  

Yeah, if you’re listening to a podcast, I assume you like podcasts. So talking about mine, something even better is probably the best place to find me. And it’s also where I really go deep into topics and talk a lot about this. And I talk a lot about this specific topic of sort of letting go of, you know, your old dreams or you know, quitting a business or quitting a career path or whatever it may be quitting social media, even for a lot of people to make that route, right? Because I think we get so like, we attach ourselves to an identity or we attach ourselves to something and we just we don’t have the room for that something even better to even appear because We’re so attached. So I really dig deep into that. And, again, it’s something even better. I think it’s available on pretty much every platform out there, that’s the best place to find me. If you’re more of a reader, Stacie Mitchell Commons event is a really good place because I have my blog there. And I love my newsletter. So feel free to sign up for the newsletter as well. And you can actually get to that you can get my list of social media resources at Stacey mitchell.com/social. And try to make that super easy for people. In case you’re interested,

Kelley Shields  40:31  

marvelous. And what do you have going on in your personal coaching business that you do still have that you’re excited about?

Stacie Mitchell  40:40  

Yeah, so I do one to one boxer coaching, which for some of your listeners will be like, what is that? What is that? Boxing coaching or boxer I should say, is a walkie talkie app. So it’s voice and text messaging. And I found that it’s really, really helpful for my clients who are in this stage of like indecision, who are trying to decide on what’s next. They’re not quite sure if they can let something go. It’s sort of I kind of call it like quitting coaching, like you’re trying to quit something quit coaching. But I do that on boxer. And it’s really, really helpful. And I think, because so many people are so burned out on Zoom, I have found that that was my sort of way of helping people and coaching people without having to jump on like a video call. Because so many of my clients are like, I just like one more video call I have to be on and I just cannot do it. So I’m like, well, let’s shift and let’s try something different. And it’s been really, really amazing for my clients who have done it.

Kelley Shields  41:42  

And that’s really awesome. So if I were your client, instead of jumping on an hour video call with you, I would I use the boxer app and send you a voice message or typed message. And you just get back to me with that and respond.

Stacie Mitchell  41:57  

Exactly, yeah. And so I have like live boxer sessions, too. So it is like a live call. Because it is a walkie talkie app. So you literally like you can hold a button, or you can like change your settings. So you don’t have to hold it, which is nice. But it’s like a phone call, in many ways. So I do that. And then yeah, throughout for a month, it’s a month long engagement. You can message me during the workweek, and I’ll respond in the morning and in the afternoon. And we coach that way. Generally, it’s usually about like 15 minutes of coaching each of those days. So it’s really, really, it’s really nice and also nice because it keeps the client really engaged, right? So the person I’m working with, stays engaged stays thinking about it. Whereas like, the traditional format, which there’s nothing wrong with by the way, I’ve had clients that way too. But you’re not getting usually that in between support or thinking I guess if that if that makes

Kelley Shields  42:51  

sense. No, I love that. I also love the way your creativity is coming through in creating that offer. That’s not the standard model. And you know, as a coach, I do love the trician I love seeing someone in the hour long in depth digging into things that I think there’s something really exciting about that and how you can have more of this ongoing back and forth, not just once every couple of weeks. Stacey, thank you so much. It has been an absolute delight to talk with you and you have just, I think sharing so much wisdom that is going to be helpful for so many people.

Stacie Mitchell  43:24  

Thank you so so much. It’s been a pleasure to be here. So much fun, always.

Lisa Lewis Miller  43:36  

And that’s a wrap. Let us know what you thought about today’s episode. Leave us a review on Apple podcasts because not only can your stars and words help us find great guests and topics to feature on future episodes. Your input also helps other people find the resources they need to discover the work that lights them up. And make sure to check out my book Career Clarity: Finally Find the Work That Fits Your Values and Lifestyle for the link to order it go to GetCareerClarity.com/book And don’t forget to get your other tools resources and helpful goodies at GetCareerClarity.com/podcast. Thanks again for joining us for the Career Clarity Show today. And remember, if you don’t love your work, we should talk because life is too short to be doing work that doesn’t light you up. Talk to you next time.