From Entrepreneur to Employee... 90 Days Later
Picture the scene of me writing this…
A chilly and wet Monday day in the Pacific Northwest, after a day of rain. I am on my sofa sitting criss-cross-apple-sauce style, in my pajamas, with my furry blanket and laptop on my lap, a lidocaine patch on my lower back, and the tv screensaver on. While waiting for my daughter so that we can start our weekly tradition of Monday night movie night, I decided to crack open my laptop and finally write about a major transition I recently made…
From entrepreneur to employee!
Today — well today that I’m writing this, because who knows when I’ll publish it — marks exactly 90 days since the day I started my new job as a visual merchandising manager. Now in case you missed it, here’s the short version of how/why I went from being an entrepreneur to being an employee…
The final months of spring and well into the summer were some of the hardest months for me — my health, my marriage, my relationship with my daughter, and my business were all strained. At every turn, even in the midst of a multitude of blessings, I felt as though I was being beat up by life and I needed to reclaim some semblance of control. Going “back to work” for me marked a new and necessary chapter of my life — I could be creative and productive without the pressures of running a business; I had something for me that was outside of being a wife and a mother; and it was something I was just effortless good it… and not to mention steady, extra income.
Funny enough, I found the job on Instagram while laying the groundwork to do hopefully do some in-store promotions for my book! So really… the job found me!
1 phone call, 2 interviews, and 3 weeks later, I was started my new journey back into employment.
Fast forward 90 days later, and I wanted to share with you what that transition’s been like — if it was what I expected, if I will continue to work for myself, challenges I’ve faced, and just all the nitty-gritty details in between.
Health
While I’ve struggled with different physical and mental health issues for most of my adult life, I underestimated the toll transitioning would take on me, as well as the toll entrepreneurship and employment separately would take on me. Working from home meant holding myself accountable for staying physically active, and I wasn’t always very consistent — sometimes I wasn’t very good at it at all.
Entrepreneurship, being the rollercoaster that it is, also affected my mental health, like a lot.
Stepping into the role of working for someone else alleviated a lot of those physical and mental challenges, but also presented some of their own and its definitely been a process of getting acclimated to all the change, from the physical labor of work to adapting to the standards of a company that isn’t my own.
Finances
One of the benefits of self-employment is making your own hours and charging your own rates, but that doesn’t always make for a steady, predictable income. On the other hand, going out and “getting a job” means that I can count on getting a reliable paycheck every two weeks. Admittedly, I was never that entrepreneur that was too good at paying herself — shame on me, I know — so naturally, while I didn’t get nearly the amount of money I was used to living in NYC, there has been a comfort that comes with the stability of direct deposit.
Relationships
After moving from NYC to the west coast, I struggled (and still do) with being out here with no friends or family. Back home, most of my friendships came from school and/or work. I didn’t have that luxury now, and instead I would have to rely on online relationships and trade events — neither of which I was very good at to be quite honest. Stepping into a work role outside of my home has allowed me to interact with actual adults and find mutual interests with new faces; but it also meant now needing to find time to keep in touch with my virtual friends since I was no longer home, tethered to a screen.
Product Knowledge
When I decided to “go back to work” I wanted to make sure I was being intentional about where I’d be working — will I be using my innate skills, will I still be creatively stimulated, and will I continue to build on everything I’ve learned thus far? Taking a visual merchandising management role ticked off all of those boxes, specifically because I chose to work for a retailer in the home space. What I didn’t count on, however, was how much MORE I’d be learning as it related to products.
I have been learning so much that has in turn made me a more informed shopper and content creator.
All in all, the transition has been tough and as I sit here typing this, full disclosure, I am evaluating my next 30 day plan — continue working through the holiday season or take time to tend to my health and family, because the lidocaine pain patch I mentioned at the top of this post is NOT for shits & giggles. Being an employee again has quickly reminded me how stressful both sides of the coin can be — as an entrepreneur you have the added pressures of running operations and servicing, but as an employee you still have ensure you’re adhering to someone else’s policy’s and procedures.
Both have their pros and cons, and after 60 days, I am ready to objectively decide which best suits ME.
Has this meant putting many parts of my businesses on the back burner? For sure!
Has this meant reevaluating the entire trajectory of my career? Definitely!
But it’s also meant making space for difficult but necessary self-reflection, because in the throws of this transition, I was also trying to heal my body and my home. Life is funny that way isn’t it?
I can’t wait to see what the next 30, 60, and 90 days hold — 2020, is that you? — but I am more excited by all the lessons the past 90 days have brought into my life. While unexpected and unplanned, and sometimes unwelcome, I wouldn’t have written my story any other way!
