E34 From corporate job to a life of freedom in just 3 years, with Kelli Femrite

The My Journey to Fearless Podcast

Welcome to episode 8 of the “How She Did it” mini-series where I’m interviewing 8 inspiring women who have kindly agreed to share their stories about how they found their passion and purpose, started their businesses, and left their day jobs.

Today I’m speaking to Kelli Femrite and Kelli is telling us how she started her business and left her corporate job. We talk about so many important topics such as:

• How Kelli’s daughter re-ignited Kelli’s own creativity and inspired her to start her own business
• How Kelli is creating a life of freedom for her family and how this is so much more than she could have achieved working her day job
• How Kelli would come home from work feeling like she had nothing left to give to her family as she was so drained
• How we need to be so protective over our energy at work, and we need to know what (and who) drains our energy so that we can protect it!
• The fears Kelli had when she finally handed in her resignation and how she overcame them
• Kelli’s best piece of advice for you if you’re stuck in a job you hate - hint: embrace your creativity and it will lead you to where you’re meant to be

There are so many golden nuggets in this episode that you can’t afford to miss - especially if you’re unhappy in your job and you’re looking for a way out!

Timestamps:

2:27: Kelli shares how as a child she was so creative, but she lost this when she became an adult and started to follow the path she was “expected” to follow by society. She was set for life with a pension etc…

3:57: When Kelli had her daughter in 2015 she had to return to work after 7 or 8 weeks. And her perspective on everything changed. It reignited her creativity, as her daughter is so spirited and creative and Kelli also embraced this energy.

5:12: Kelli thought about what she could do that was creative and she remembered she loved writing so she started a blog.

6:22: Kelli’s daughter actually inspired her business and now Kelli is working to create an amazing life for her family.

7:27: This summer they are taking a 3 week-long vacation together as a family for the first time. This is a major accomplishment for Kelli and she can’t believe she’s made it here!

8:42: Kelli used her existing skills from her job to start doing some work as a virtual assistant.

9:42: Freedom and flexibility are two of the things Kelli values most about having her own business. Kelli is able to create her own schedule over the summer so she can spend every Friday-Monday with her daughter.

12:27: Kelli is planning to offer “done in a day” services for web design so that she can work around her family.

13:02: If Kelli had taken 3 weeks off from her day job she would have come back to a huge pile of work and all of the relaxation she had from her holiday would go straight out of the window.

14:17: Kelli takes us back to when she was unhappy at work and shares how it affected her life. Kelli would often feel like she didn’t have anything left to give to her family after a day at work. She constantly felt like she was behind and couldn’t catch up because the work never stopped and if you left work on time you would have to find time to catch up on the work that was left.

16:12: Kelli explains how it’s hard to see things in perspective when you hate your job and how it’s really hard to think positively in this situation. You can also be draining yourself by the things you do at work - so you need to be really aware of where your energy is going. Overthinking your situation is the biggest drain on your energy.

19:12: When you stand in the office and complain with your coworkers every day you’re just attracting more of what you complain about. Be careful about what your topics of conversation are with your colleagues.

22:37: When Kelli was stuck in her corporate job she knew there was a bigger purpose for her, but she wasn’t sure what it was - now she has found her purpose and she’s living it!

23:12: Kelli explains how she felt when she finally made the decision to leave her job. In 2020 Kelli was working from home during the pandemic, but the expectations and workload were the same, even though she and her colleagues had their children at home with them. Her mindset was already on leaving and the pandemic pushed this to the front.

25:27: Kelli left her job during the pandemic as she re-evaluated her priorities and what she wanted from her life. She got a little glimpse into what life would be like working from home and spending more time with her daughter. Kelli got to think about what she wanted from her life in the future and what she wanted her life to look like.

28:37: Kelli talks about the differences between working for an employer from home and working for yourself at home.

29:47: Kelli tells us how she felt when she handed in her notice at her job. One day she just knew that it was the right time to write her resignation letter, so she did it! She had almost done it a few times before but had backed out of it. This time felt different and her mind had decided.

31:47: Kelli had fears about whether her business would be successful or whether she would need to go and get another job in a few months. But remaining positive and keeping the negative thoughts at bay has really helped her. She works on this every day to keep herself in a place of forward progress.

33:42: Listening to something positive every day really starts to reprogram your brain.

34:42: Kelli shares the biggest fear she’s had to overcome on her journey so far. It’s the fear that once she quit her job she would fail somehow and be forced to go back to a career that didn’t make her happy. She shares how she’s moving past this and gives some great tips!

39:02: Take messy action - it doesn’t have to be perfect.

39:43: Kelli shares her biggest piece of advice for you if you’re currently stuck in a job you hate. Creativity will lead you out of your day job - but we often box this up when we take certain jobs.

45:57: Clarity comes from action. You’ll hear this a lot - but it is SO true!

47:27: Kelli tells us all about her business and how you can find out more about what she does.

Links

Free resources to find your passion and start your business

Find out more about Kelli here:

The Working Mom Collective - Blog + Podcast

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