Ep. 202 Four-year book anniversary

*Resources mentioned during the episode*

The Outsiders Business Incubator – A year-long business incubator for experienced corporate professionals who want to translate their skills and passions into a profitable and fulfilling business. onestepoutside.com/9to5

Escaping the 9 to 5: A Roadmap –  Download this free roadmap to start planning your transition out of the ‘9 to 5’ and into working for yourself. onestepoutside.com/leaving-your-corporate-job

Book Anniversary

Hello, hello there. This is Anna Lundberg speaking. And this week we have another celebration. So we were celebrating 200 episodes on the podcast not that long ago. And now we’re celebrating four years since the publication of my book, leaving the corporate nine to five. So another self indulgent episode, reflecting on my evolution on what’s happened since the book but also highlighting stories, the continued stories that I’ve lived on beyond a bit of some of the wonderful people who are in the book. So do check out Instagram in particular, I think so you can follow me at Anna Ste Lundberg, we’ll be sharing insights and perspectives from some of the people in my book. So the book let me read the blurb on the back, leaving the corporate nine to five after interviewing 50 People who have left the corporate nine to five to forge their own path, Anna Lundberg has collected their stories and a book they would inspire you with the possibilities that are out there and reassure you that you’re not alone in looking for an alternative. Or they the people interviewed all share the experience of leaving a full time job to pursue something different, that something different has manifested itself in varying ways. The stories include those who have moved into a different sector, gone freelance, launched their own business, created a portfolio career or taken a leap of faith, not yet knowing where the next step would be. As long as the stories themselves, Anna shares additional perspective, from her own experience of leaving her corporate nine corporate job in 2013, and also coaching her clients through the process, drawing out key insights to help you create your own career transition story.

Now looking at my little bio, actually, it’s still very much accurate, the photo is a little bit dated, but apart from that it more or less holds up. Now, if you know me at all, if you’re part of my community, you’ll know that I often talk about my passion. And if I can be so bold as to say my talent for writing and writing is always something I try to focus on as much as possible. In my business. This book was a particularly special one for me, because it became something physical, I could hold in my hands really something that I’d written that I could say I’m an author of it gave me a platform for speaking on podcasts, and it fed into mine still does feed into my business incubator program, what is now my business incubator at the time. It was actually I don’t want to say an easy fix, but it was a cheat a bit of a cheat perhaps because I collected these stories together. So although it is let’s see, it is do 273 pages with index 277 odd, let’s say no, there’s a bit of an atom, less than 300 pages, but a lot. It’s feels like a substantial book, right? Most of that is stories.

And I’ve added my perspective, there’s an intro, there’s an introduction to each section, and a one step at the end and so on. I was really relying on these wonderful people who have been interviewing over the years now it started out as an interview series on my blog. It then became something that I also filmed on video via call rather than just having people’s answers on a Word document. And relatively recently, I’ve turned it into the monthly podcast episode. So at the end of each month, you get the escape the nine to five interview with somebody. But it was a blog that I started, I think 2014 was the first interview. So some of the stories in the book actually are from 2014 15. And what’s interesting, and I hope, important to hear or I believe I assert it is important for you to hear is that so much has changed. For so many of these people and for some people not so much has changed in good ways and bad ways in professional ways in personal ways. I’ve had a couple of people in the book, who I know have gone back to corporate jobs, one or two out of necessity, perhaps one or two out of realizing that that’s what they really wanted to do. And that’s okay, that’s wonderful.

In fact, we’re celebrating that. I hope you get the message from me that we’re not talking about quitting your job or being the only solution.

In fact, it probably is never the solution to the fact that you have quit your job once doesn’t mean that you can’t have another job. People find their dream roles. Now, there are many people who I’d say are tempted back into taking a job simply because they haven’t given themselves a shot. They maybe given up too soon. They’ve had one idea and then when it turned out harder than they thought it would. They’ve just given up and gone back. Perhaps they’ve missed having a team and felt a bit alone and instead of surrounding themselves then with peers and communities and masterminds and getting the support they needed. They have then again chosen to go back to the more familiar core For the environment, so never any judgment, but please know if you are in that process and sometimes tempted back and so on a it’s perfectly okay if that’s what you want to do but make the decision intentionally and be please make sure that you feel like you have tried everything. People often say I’ve done everything, but believe me, you haven’t.

If it’s not working, you haven’t tried everything, it’s up to you to decide when you stop trying.

And it’s certainly up to you to decide how much work you want to put in and pivot and try different things. But if you want to make this work, you can. Now over on Instagram, as I said, I will be sharing some snapshots. I don’t have them all yet, so I can’t tell you too much. But just a quick dip into the book. Um, I’ve Kelly Roach, who had on the podcast, and I was actually working with her as my business coach some years ago, I have sometimes shared very briefly the insights about her journey, because when I was working with her, I was working one to one and a group program. She was certainly successful, but I think she was quite a best kept secret as some people might recognize. And she is now her coaching company is one of the top 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America. She’s won lots of awards, she’s got a huge team of I don’t know, 40 people now she has lots of people appearing on videos and running programs for her. She is absolutely on fire. She has another business which she runs with a co founder. And she contributes to a charitable foundation. And most importantly, perhaps she’s made changes personally, she’s always talked about putting family first, she’s moved with her husband and daughter to the sea, and then a bit like myself, although I’m not the fastest growing company in America, I can guarantee. And so she’s really demonstrated his incredible success.

I like to share her as an example. Both are something that I don’t aspire to personally, and I hold my hand up there, because I don’t want a team of 4050 people at least not right now. But also because she’s always worked really hard and diligently behind the scenes. And now I really see that that’s paid off. I may have shared shared in the past Dorie Clark’s book, the long game, if you’re familiar with Dorie Clark, she’s quite a thought leader in America in the space of personal branding and career pivots, actually. And she talks about how she worked, you know, five, six years behind the scenes, writing hundreds of articles and so on. Losing book deals, losing her book agent, until suddenly she breakthrough and her success was exponential. And I think this is another case with Kelly Roach of that happening. Another one of my favorites is Ruth Coetzee, Ruth already when I spoke to her the second time, a few years after her initial interview, a lot has changed in terms of pivoting in our coaching business. But now she’s running two businesses. So she does her original coaching business. She’s also running a training business called optimist coach Academy, where she trains people to be ICF accredited coaches. But again, most importantly, when she shared her insight with me, they’ve moved to her their dream house, they relocated to a different area of London, and they live close to a forest and they really prioritize work life balance. So, you know, huge professional success, we can’t deny that. But also, importantly, perhaps more importantly, prioritizing what really matters.

I never want anyone to feel bad. And including me, let’s say this, I’ll be vulnerable here about not having launched three businesses and charities and move to a dream house and so on. Right? That’s not what it’s about. So please don’t, don’t think there’s that pressure. I hope you can see these stories as inspiring and I certainly do a little push to perhaps be a bit more ambitious and audacious and your goals, also to reflect on what is really important to you. In terms of my own evolution, I think I have shared or certainly shared a couple of episodes ago on the 200th episode a little bit about my evolution and so on. It is very much consistent certainly four years ago, when I published this book, and I started the series as I said in 2014, I still work in much the same area, I have the same foundations of my individual coaching and business coaching. But I a group coaching rather. But I’ve up leveled to in many aspects, right. So the websites look much more professional, the lead magnets, the funnels, the the video workshops, everything just feels much easier.

It’s all very much a rhythm for me creating content. So now, of course, it’s not easy, but things that seemed completely unthinkable.

In fact, when this book came out, I hadn’t even launched the podcast. And now I’ve done four years almost of the podcast, right? I’ve done over 200 episodes. I have had articles published in the press, maybe not as many as I would have liked. But hey, I’ve had some in physical magazines. I’ve had plenty in online publications. I’ve been on lots of different podcasts. I have spoken on stage again, perhaps not so much but out of choice mainly, partly also, of course pandemic in young children getting a little bit in the way but that’s something that I can focus on more in the future. Really thinking about how that definition of success evolves right over these these months and years for everybody because when I quit in 2013 I quit my corporate marketing job. I was single, I wanted the freedom I wanted to be a digital nomad and I wanted to make money blogging and I was very naive. So There will, in fact, be an episode on this very, very soon. But what I want you to think about is being really audacious and ambitious, and idealistic and your big dream and goal, and then be pragmatic and flexible and how you get there. So there can be multiple ways of getting to your bigger goal, right? And yes, the goal may evolve to, as I said, being single and carefree in 2013, traveling 2015 16.

Before I met Luke, really, I want to say living my best life really spending a lot of money, hotel ballooning, and road tripping and paddleboarding and all sorts having amazing adventures and meeting people are having a lot of fun, while dabbling in my business, that of course, shifted when you become part of relationship when I want to take my business more seriously. And I really hunker down and tried to get more systematic in terms of how I was sending emails and showing up on social media and so on. Now, I’ve got to the point, of course, where I’m showing up very consistently and this about then perhaps selling more or growing more, or getting in front of new audiences, having children, as you can imagine, has really shifted. I wouldn’t say my values, but certainly what I’m prioritizing what’s important. I may have said before that one of my colleagues, Coach colleagues has said, You know what, no, this is not our season, she said, This is not my season for necessarily having the success that some of these others have had, perhaps when you’ve got two kids under two, that’s not the moment when you’re also going to be on the TED stage.

And so maybe it is, but perhaps it’s not. And that’s a choice you get to make. The point, again, is getting clear on your definition of success, allowing that to evolve. But also holding on to the bigger vision and then being flexible in how you get there. So for me, yes, I have frustrations, and certainly unfulfilled ambitions, but I feel pretty at peace with where I am, I really tried to be present and focused on being with the kids, when I’m with them on, you know, I’ve been working with a personal trainer and nutritionist I’ve shared that before, lost quite a bit of weight the last few years after having the children, I’m aiming to run a half marathon and publishing my next book, I am focusing on things and that are more interesting, I think, and more important than perhaps necessarily only the traditional career path, even as it stands outside of the nine to five, right, there are still traditional milestones, and so on. And there’s still this definition of success that is accepted in, in the business world to in terms of being a best selling author and having 1000s of 1000s of followers and scaling your seven eight figure business and so on. And if that’s not meaningful to you, or at least if there are other things are more important, that’s okay. Really allowing yourself to, to focus on what’s important to you and being clear on that.

So all this to say that for years since the book came out, I would have loved to have published more books in the meantime.

But hopefully my next book will be out very soon. And I’ll keep up the pace a bit more in the coming years, having come out of the youngest children phase as well as the pandemic of course, I will continue to evolve both what I’m focusing on, I suppose, big picture, and I am looking more at, in person events, perhaps stepping up my game in terms of speaking getting out of my comfort zone, as I always recommend that you do. So I’m trying to role model that as well. It’s easy even for me to get into my comfort zone or just pumping out these episodes. And I’ll do another post on LinkedIn, and so on and just staying with what I’ve been doing. So it’s interesting to challenge yourself sometimes to, to mix things up into to work with a different type of client and try a different messaging and try a different format and less social media perhaps and more in person, more conversations with people and so on. So I’m certainly continuing to evolve and reflect on how I’m getting to my bigger picture vision. And I will be spending more time on that, of course as the year ends, because then it’s this wonderful time when we get to create vision boards and business strategies and plans and all sorts for the next year for 2023. But and I’d love for you to of course head on over to Amazon to find the Kindle or Paperback or hardback, if you’d like a really beautiful high end addition of leaving the corporate nine to five, you can search leaving the corporate nine to five, and you’ll find that or you can go to leaving the corporate nine to five.com. And you find the book, of course, if you have read it, if you’ve got value from it, I would love for you to leave a review because that’s so helpful for other people to find the book as well.

And looking out for the next book, which will be outside of the nine to five.

And in fact, that’s the main message of today that I wanted to get across. That’s been my main lesson and something I keep pushing with my clients and my community. And I’ll repeat here as well. The main shift for me is that when I wrote certainly when I started the interviews in this book and when I wrote the book leaving the corporate nine to five, it was about that moment picture on the front is the the woman with the balloon floating out of the cage and And it was that moment of I quit. Indeed, one whole section of the book was around taking that leap of faith. And that’s what I did not really knowing what you wanted to do or not quite yet knowing what was next right and then creating it once you’ve left. And there are people in there who have created a portfolio career, lots of different ideas and going on and evolving since then, as well launch your own business, perhaps they have grown now looking and having had a bit of a nosy on some of these people’s LinkedIn pages, and so on. Some are absolutely in the same business continuing in the same vein, growing the same business, some have launched a second business, some have gone, as I said, to a nother full time job, maybe making shifts in their work life balance and other priorities. And some would have changed entirely to different business. And all of those paths are absolutely okay. Maybe driven by different things, as I said, maybe financial necessity, maybe not having the clarity on what they actually wanted, maybe. Yeah, no, no assumptions at all. But of course, there are fears, there are concerns, there are challenges that we come across. And this is the key message I always push. Now it’s about ongoing resilience, to cope with those ups and downs that will continue in your business. As you raise the bar, as you challenge yourself at a higher level, you will find some things that used to be crazy, complicated and scary, super easy, and part of your natural rhythm and routine. And other things become difficult, right. And that’s why I talked about the five pillars of building your life outside the nine to five, because it’s not about it’s not only about that moment, when you say I quit, it’s not about that at all. In fact, it’s about getting the clarity on your perhaps evolving definition of success.

It’s working on shifting those beliefs and the mindset, it’s on choosing the right business model. And they use that loosely to cover portfolio career part time work multiple businesses, and so on freelancing and it is about stepping out of your comfort zone, becoming more present as a thought leader, expert, personal brand. And above all, all of these, I think have in common this focus on work life integration, on managing the business alongside children, or their well being and making sure they don’t burn out again, because some of the stories in the books are unfortunately rooted in in burnout, and work and so on. So it’s not only about the moment of quitting, it’s not about that at all. In fact, it is about re imagining success, redesigning what work life integration looks like for you, and being flexible as to how you get there. So again, grab the book, leaving a corporate nine to five if you don’t already have it, do you write a review if you have read and it’s been useful? And here’s to the success of everybody in the book. Thank you, of course, to all of you who were part of the book at the time, and have supported me since. And yeah, here’s to many more. Of course, I am continuing the series on the podcasts. So since 2018, you’ve got another four years worth of interviews, on reimagining success podcast.com on the blog on the website. So do read those as well. And every success to all of you as you pursue your own stories of leaving a corporate nine to five. Thanks so much. I’ll see you next week.

Thanks for listening to reimagining success with Anna Lundberg. You can find my book leaving the corporate nine to five stories from people who’ve done it and how you can too in paperback and Kindle format on your local Amazon site over gives you both inspiration and concrete tips on how you can craft your own alternative career path. Happy reading

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The Outsiders Business Incubator

A year-long business incubator for experienced corporate professionals who want to translate their skills and passions into a profitable and fulfilling business. onestepoutside.com/9to5

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An ongoing mastermind for service-based business owners, freelancers and online entrepreneurs who are ready to achieve success on their own terms. onestepoutside.com/accelerate

The Outsiders Business Academy

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