The Beginning

This is the first of many stories I want to share about my path to entrepreneurship (damn, that’s hard to spell!) Today is the start of a new adventure. But I want to share how I got here.

OK, now, where to start? Let’s go back in time 4 months. I was working as an Operations Training Manager at a trucking brokerage and I was miserable. It wasn’t the job I had originally accepted — a Learning and Development Manager building a new L&D department — and loved. That job disappeared only 6 months in as the company made huge slashes to our headcount and reorganized my department. I was suddenly no longer leading, strategizing, or coaching — I was taking orders, writing curriculum, and teaching. All of which I love to do. But without all the leadership stuff, I wasn’t happy.

And I was told that I was making a lot more money than my counterparts. At the beginning of January, the person at the company who was my champion announced he was leaving. I knew my days were numbered.

On January 18, my team was instructed to create ROI calculations and project charters for all our current work. Uh oh. RED FLAG! I was required to prove my worth in numbers and I just knew as soon as the senior leaders saw how much I made per hour (remember, I was leading a department when I started!) that I was toast.

On January 23 (you guessed it!) I got an unexpected Teams call from my manager and an HR person I had never met. “I knew it, you bastards,” went through my head as they started to tell me the details of my termination. Part of me felt a little vindicated that my gut instinct was right. A co-worker told me a few days prior that he didn’t think I was in danger because, “Companies always need trainers,” but I didn’t believe him. I could feel it coming.

I’ve always had really good instincts. I’ve not always been good at listening to them.

More on that later.

I threw myself into a job search for a new L&D role. I thought this was what I wanted. Even though the majority of my work for the previous decade revolved around small business marketing, I didn’t want to do marketing at the corporate level. I felt that I needed a corporate job to fulfill my financial goals, and therefore L&D was my only move.

I was doing really great for the first 2 months. I had a slew of interviews with over a dozen companies and I felt like I would land something any day now. Then in late March/early April, they all dried up. Every single one. And I was no longer getting responses to my job applications. It was like all of a sudden everyone stopped hiring. The market was flooded with candidates from tons of corporate layoffs and I started to panic.

I connected with a networking group called The Inner Circle through my fantastic career coach, Tami Palmer. I started attending their Zoom networking events as a guest and I found my dance card suddenly full of networking calls. I met everyone who wanted to meet me. I was determined to find my new role through a connection.

Then something started to happen that I didn’t expect. Throughout these calls, I would talk about my corporate training and L&D experiences, and eventually, I would bring up my experience in marketing in response to a problem the person mentioned. I found myself going into full detail on how to solve their problem and how easy it was. The person would lean in, reach for a pen, and start jotting down my every word. I would feel the excitement rising in me from my gut, and a warm glow filled my heart with gooeyness. I was loving this!

Wait a minute. Would somebody pay me to do this? I THINK SOMEONE WOULD PAY ME TO DO THIS. Did I just figure out what I really want to do in my career? I THINK I DID!

As the days wore on, I found myself jotting down notes and lists. A storyboard of a website. A list of what I can offer.

“Figure out LLC.”

“Blog??”

“Business plan?”

I started introducing myself during these Inner Circle networking events as a freelance digital marketer. People started booking time to chat with me. I assumed it was just to connect me with others in their network, but no — these people actually wanted my help! I was writing proposals and sending out invoices before even building my website. Who’s ever heard of such a thing? I hadn’t. But it was happening to me! And I FREAKING LOVED IT!!!

So now I have a website. And a blog. And I’m going all in. I’m taking the next few months to dig deep and build this business into something that can pay my bills. And hopefully more than that, someday.

I hope you join me on this adventure. My bags are packed, I’m ready to go!

xo

Julie