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This time years ago, I did the scariest thing I’ve ever done.

I left my stable, high-paying corporate career to start my own business as my own boss. And while I wish I could say it turned out to be the easiest, most natural, and immediately profitable thing I had ever done that would be FAR from the truth.

So often, entrepreneurs cut straight to the success part of their story. But building a successful business was a JOURNEY for me… so in case you also have dreams of starting your own product, service, or side hustle… instead of showing you the highlight reel, I want to share the real behind-the-scenes story of how I went from corporate America to…

• Becoming my own boss

• More than doubling my corporate income (still sounds crazy to say)

• Creating the freedom to work (and live) anywhere

• Being able to completely design my schedule, clients, work, and life

• (Fumbling my way to) building a business I absolutely love

Because, even though it wasn’t without ups and downs, all of that DID eventually fall into place. And in hindsight, I now that believe ANYONE can experience the same (and even without the trial, error, and time it took me).

So let’s take it back to the beginning, shall we? Like, way back…

– – –

The Beginning

After graduating college, I landed a job in corporate America. Like so many people, initially I thought a high-powered career in corporate America WAS my dream. I had everything I was supposed to want. I made a solid salary. I could put up with the office politics. I could muster the energy for the back-to-back meetings. I mean, there was a keg in the breakroom… I was supposed to be living the dream, and on paper at least, I was. 

Technically, everything was FINE.

But as a little girl, I never imagined a life that was just FINE…

I imagined a life full of experiences and adventure.

Where I felt like I was doing work that was meaningful to me. Able to travel the world. To have the energy at the end of the workday, instead of wanting to melt into the couch with a tub of Ben and Jerry’s. To feel healthy and vibrant and inspired and alive. To not live just for brunch on the weekends, but to wake up genuinely excited for the days in between.

To have not just enough to get by… but enough to create a beautiful life for myself, my family, and others in need.

I longed for more fulfillment, but honestly, I thought my only options were to continue climbing the ladder, making myself available 24/7 to get a promotion, squeezing in a trip with the little vacation time I saved each year, and using time OUTSIDE work for enjoyment.

Little did I know what was just around the corner…

– – –

As fate (and a touch of irony) would have it, through professional networking events I began to meet people who had built their own businesses. Who weren’t tied to a commute, an office, or even a salary—but who were working on their own schedule, anywhere and anytime they chose. They weren’t beholden to a boss… they WERE the boss.

I continued climbing the corporate ladder, but inside, a dream began brewing…

What if I could start MY own business? What if I could work on my own schedule? What if I could escape the excess meetings and fluorescent cubicles… what if I could do the work I wanted, when I wanted? To work for myself and only on work that felt meaningful, because I was the boss and completely in charge of my own work, schedule, clients, and life?

While I didn’t know how to get there, I knew I didn’t want to choose one or the other…

A solid income versus a life full of memories.

A meaningful career versus time with my family.

A successful career versus health and balance. 

I wanted it all. 

And I have a feeling that, because you’re reading this, you do too!

At the time, the answer felt so far away. I didn’t realize that, when I put one important skill to use, it WOULD be possible to replace my corporate income. To work from coffeeshops in Spain. Coworking offices in Argentina. Planes on flight into Italy. To have complete time and location freedom. And to do so in WEEKS…. after trying to piece it together for YEARS.

I couldn’t pinpoint HOW I would do it, but I began to research my options…

up next…

Part 2: All the options I considered before leaving corporate America…
(and, having tried them personally, my honest thoughts on all of them)