Is leaving a 6 figure paying job to start your own business scary???  Of course. I did it! And I was f**king scared. I couldn’t deal with “obeying” the rules any more and the thought of only having 4 weeks holiday each year was crippling. 

Freedom + Flexibility were calling me. And I had to listen to their call.

I left my high paying marketing role with a false sense of security. I was living with my then boyfriend, I had $20,000 aussie saved in the bank. I was ready to take a 2 month trip around the Maldives, Sri Lanka, India and Singapore. Everything was aligning. After the trip I had already lined up a “freelance” contract for one client and I was going to put my efforts into building more clients in the wellness industry.

But everything came crashing down. I spent most of the money on travelling, and after I returned home,  my boyfriend broke up with me which left me not only heart broken, but homeless and hopeless.

At the age of 30, my friends and family told me to go get another “real job” but I couldn’t return to the system of the 9-5 world. To me, it was a prison. To others, it is safety and certainty. Each to their own. You do you.

I decided to rebuild myself

“Started from the bottom now I’m here” plays in my head as I write this.

Sleeping on my sister’s couch. Crying most days thinking I was a failure whilst nursing a broken heart. It is a hard place to be when at the age of “30” I thought I had to have it all sorted.

But I had a choice

I had to choose if I was going to wallow. Or choose to continue on.

I wallowed for a bit, then I made a choice to not only survive, but thrive.

In Dr Edith Egar’s book “The “choice” really struck a chord with me. Dr Edith is a psychologist and one of the few remaining Holocaust survivors old enough to remember life in the camps.

In Oprah’s words, “The Choice is a reminder of what courage looks like in the worst of times and that we all have the ability to pay attention to what we’ve lost, or to pay attention to what we still have.” She published a book at the ripe old age of 90!!

Now if you are needing a SIGN that it’s never too late to go after your dreams – this is it.

I reflect back on this “rock bottom” in my life (almost 9 years later now), and I’m so proud of the broken girl that didn’t give up and go back to the 9-5.

She made it work. She hustled hard. She didn’t take no for an answer.

I can say now, it was all worth it. I wouldn’t be living in Bali, running my own online business and living the life of freedom if I didn’t take that first big leap.

So my message is to you – don’t stay with the safe option if you want to build you dreams. This may not be quitting your job with no safety net. It might be enrolling in a course, starting your side hustle whilst still in a full time job. But be brave, take the risk, and know that it will always be scary – but totally worth it.

x Phoebe

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Interested in learning how to build your own online business? Join my 12 week Consciously Alive CEO program. An in-depth dive into creating a soul aligned business from the heart. I cover topics from how to find your passion, how to create your niche, how to use digital marketing, how to use social media, how to create your launch plan, how to create passive income streams and memberships, how to create a beautiful personal brand including websites and more. What makes it unique is there is also a healing conscious element. Each week the course is aligned chakra healing work, mindset blockages and confidence healing tools that might be coming up with building your business. Visit the conscious business coaching course page for more information.

And if you want to listen to some inspiring stories of women that have quit the 9-5, created a dream life they love then head to my podcast – Consciously ALIVE.