But I had a vision of freedom, passion, and fulfillment in my head that I couldn’t shake. I began exploring my options.

Let me first say this: there is no ONE right path. Whatever speaks to YOU is right for YOU. I can only speak to my considerations, experiences, wants and needs. If there’s something that bristles YOUR heart, then it could be right for you. (And I am right here to cheer you on, sister!) But below are a few options I considered before making the leap from corporate America into starting my own business, in case you’ve ever thought about it too…


Missed Part 1? Read here.

At first, when I thought about leaving corporate America, my thoughts went something like, “What, are you crazy? You’ve finally secured a steady job, a title that rolls off the lips at cocktails parties, and a comfortable salary… you want to change everything NOW?!” 


Maybe someone’s befriended you in your DMs on Instagram to sell you on their latest fitness regimen or beauty products. Maybe you’ve even thought to yourself… could this be for ME?! Could I make a ton of cash selling supplements? I was approached by many network marketers offering for me to join their team and, for a hot minute, I totally considered it.

I know lovely people who use network marketing as a way to build some side income. But according to the FTC, only the top 1% of network marketers actually make money, so the people I know succeeding in network marketing are HUSTLERS who have dedicated MASSIVE amounts of time and resources into growing a large community of buyers.

While I admire their hutzpah, I knew I would exhaust even my most supportive friends and family pretty quickly, and I just didn’t feel that I was the gal who could confidently sell products in DMs. I didn’t consider myself a social media guru (and honestly liked taking breaks from it sometimes) and I wasn’t ready to change that to build a massive social media following of buyers, so I decided to keep exploring my options.


Network Marketing

Virtual assistants (VAs) help other business owners run their brands and offload tasks. These helpful tasks include everything from engaging with other Instagram accounts to publishing pre-written social posts, following up on invoices, or sending pitches on a biz owner’s behalf.

For me personally, I just knew it would require more hours than I could work in a week to replace the salary I’d worked up to after a decade in corporate America. The starting salary for VAs is around $15 to $20. While many VAs scale up from there, to make 6-figures per year, it takes earning around $50/hour working 40 hours/week, or $100/hour working 20 hours/week. I began researching other industries to see if any offered that from the start. (And I found one—more on that later.)

I also kinda loved the idea of being able to choose ONLY the projects that were most fulfilling to me, be my own boss, and own my schedule. I was intrigued by building my own business and automating as much of the task-side as possible. I decided to keep looking…


Virtual Assistance

Maybe due to one-too-many Shark Tank episodes, but another part of me felt like I had to come up with a brand new product, service, or business idea to justify leaving corporate America. What I didn’t fully realize (but probably should have) is that that coming up with a brand-new business model is often one of the harder, longer, more expensive routes to freedom.

But it was the only thing I saw initially, so I decided to turn my passion for wellness into a business from the ground up. I had background in marketing, so I thought to myself… how hard can it be?!

So, I built a website for digital products. Posted on social media. Wrote blog posts. Created freebies. Grew my email list. Designed my brand. Tested various price points. Invested in advertising. Learned to sell. Developed anxiety rash from said selling…

Ya’ll, it was WILD. 😂

What I didn’t realize with digital products is that, at $50/product, I would have to sell 2,000 products to hit a 6-figure year. I didn’t have a ton of money to invest in advertising, so I wasn’t able to make ends meet this way—especially with all the unpaid hours mentioned above.


New Product or Service

As mentioned above, my first business was primarily a coaching-based model in wellness caoching, and while there were some parts of this I LOVED, ironically the more successful my business became, the more I began to realize that coaching wasn’t the best use of MY energy or skills.

While I LOVED my coaching clients, the more my schedule filled with calls, the LESS time I had to manage the business side, and the MORE I found myself tied to my phone in back-to-back calls.

As a coach, not only are you responsible for coaching, but for growing and managing a business—all the parts that you DON’T get paid an hourly rate for. Coaching comes with many of the same hurdles as launching a new biz model—testing a niche, doing sales calls, helping people navigate complex challenges, marketing your brand, tracking down payments, and holding the mental and emotional energy to be on calls all day every day...

I had left corporate America to create more freedom for myself, but found myself on more calls than when I was in an office. I felt tied to the phone instead of free to design my day or travel, often taking client calls at midnight across timezones. As much as I loved my clients, I started to feel like a one-woman circus keeping it all afloat.

I also found myself feeling more like a salesperson than a coach. I loved helping people—that’s what drew me to coaching—but found it awkward to follow a sales script or convince people to invest in coaching. I had a lot to learn about money mindset and my value at that point, and it was cringingly apparent on those calls!


Private Coaching

Another popular option is purchasing a home and putting it on a site like Airbnb or VRBO.

But for me personally, I felt more comfortable pursuing a side hustle that didn’t require massive monthly payments or for me to be on-call as a landlord.

Everyone I knew was getting into Airbnbs, so for me it felt like at some point, there could be more supply than demand, and I didn’t want to be left with a massive mortgage if Airbnbs become oversaturated, a recession hit, or the housing market changed and there was no longer a way to offload my property...

Vacation Rentals

I began to wonder if there was a way to take what I’d learned to create the best of ALL worlds…
Part 3: The most underrated route that provides ALL of these things (and makes it possible to replace an income in months instead of years!)

UP NEXT...


  • to do work that felt meaningful to me about the topics I was most passionate about
  • to have ownership over my schedule, balance, health, and days
  • to be able to travel instead of being grid-locked into calls on one timezone
  • to be compensated for every minute of work vs. juggling hundreds of unpaid tasks
  • to have more freedom and flexibility while still finding ultimate creativity and fulfillment

That’s when I took a step back and looked at what WAS working…