I Quit my Corporate Job

I just typed, “I quit my job,” for the first time and it feel surreal. I am officially, 100% self-employed. It feels like the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders. Like I can breathe for the first time in 4-5 years!

There is nothing like having a baby to put things into perspective. Once Ryan arrived into our lives, my relationship with work began to change more and more with each passing day. Honestly, my relationship with EVERYTHING in my life changed. Work, people, projects, money, food, exercise, sleep etc.

Saying “no” has become second nature now that I am a mother. Ryan’s big brown eyes, full of innocence and wonder, have completely changed my outlook on life, in the best way. She has taught me that there is absolutely zero time to spend on things that cause loathing, pain or suffering. Especially when our pride (or the way we were raised) is the only reason we were spending our time that way in the first place.

I’ve known deep down for YEARS that corporate life was not for me, yet I stayed. Year after year. I commuted to the office, logged 10+ hours on the computer each day, attended pointless meetings, sat under florescent lights, decorated a cubical, replied to 5 million bazillion emails, caught flights, attended conferences away from my family, small talked in circles and circles, replied to the question “how are you,” with a fake answer 6x a day. Smiled through sadness, anger, loss, hurt, depression, got judged for what I wore, how I spent my time outside of work. Ate way too much fast food and crappy sack lunches, and delayed progress on my own businesses, hobbies and interests.

I stayed out of fear. Corporate life felt comfortable, stable, responsible. It’s what years of college and an MBA was for. When I was 17 years old, I chose a path of climbing the ladder. How are we supposed to know what we want our lives to look like at 17?! Success looked so much different to me back then.

As the years went by, I slowly unraveled that definition of success and started creating my own. To meet this new definition of “success” I was going to have to push through the fear, get uncomfortable, welcome instability and realize that sometimes watching out for my SOUL is the responsible thing to do.

I’ve always known I wanted to own my own business, but there were so many hurdles in the way. Fresh out of college, I pitched a website build out to my dentist. I started a blog about marketing, then about dogs, and then about faith. All of those “failed” for one reason or another.

A few years later, I started the Instagram account Thoughtfully Thrifted. I sold everything from vintage coffee mugs to vintage furniture. I quickly realized that I enjoyed the styling, decorating and photography aspect of the business much more than I did selling the items.

In early 2017, a painful break up pushed me out of my comfort zone and I launched THIS blog alongside my vintage business. Four years later and writing and sharing here still brings me so much joy.

Shortly after I started this blog, I created Thoughtfully Designed which was later rebranded to MS Digital Marketing. I owned and operated the agency for three years, and I hated every minute of it. Everything about the business was out of alignment with my “why.” I kept trying to make it work because I was so desperate to make enough money to leave my corporate job.

In 2020, wedding planning fell into my lap. I had rented some tables and chairs for a personal backyard party and the rental company shared my photo on their Instagram page. A bride saw me tagged in the photo and contacted me to ask if I planned weddings. Thoughtfully Designed became a wedding planning business, and I have never looked back.

Going into 2022, I am 100% SELF EMPLOYED. As scary as that is, I couldn’t be more excited. This is something I have been writing in my journal for years, and it’s here. It is happening. It took a lot of work, both physically and mentally, to get to this point, and now I am ready to invest, and learn, and grow as an entrepreneur. Cheers to all that is to come with this new found freedom and responsibility!