HOLY MOLY I HAVE BIG NEWS! And I’m really nervous to share this with you, because it’s been a long-time coming…

I have to confess, I’ve been holding out for a couple of months now and but I am finally ready to share…

I’ve been in business with my side hustle for 5 years now, and my business has morphed and changed over time – from the days of Gina Wellness (shout out to you who have been with me from the beginning) to The Women’s Side Hustle Society and Gina Louise Coaching, which is my group and current coaching practice.

Well on December 1st, I resigned from my corporate job and it’s a really big deal – HUGE!
THE founder of The Women’s Side Hustle Society has resigned from her job! (Crazy)

I want to tell you about the process, because if you know my story, I’m a bit of anomaly, as I’ve always loved my corporate job, I’ve always loved the work I do in the world, and will tell you even 3 or 4 months ago, this was not in the plan for me. So, how did I come to this place where December 1st, was the last day in corporate?

There are a lot of reasons and I will give you some insight. But first, what is your reaction?

Some people are like “woo hoo, that was always the plan, isn’t that what every entrepreneur wants?” Not necessarily. For me it is a huge deal and it was a long process, so I want to give you some snippets from that and what that was really like.

Some of you may be shocked as you might know me from the corporate world, maybe that’s where you met me, and I’ve always been hugely devoted in the work I do as well as worked for a really good company.

Some of you may not be shocked, as you may be thinking Gina’s been on this path for a while, plus I do have a 3-year-old son keeping me spread thin… but here’s the thing – the core of what I teach – is to make decisions based upon how you want to FEEL. To really develop that inner compass that can guide the feelings so that you make choices that feel good, because if you make choices that feel good, you can’t go wrong. I promise.

And if it’s something you get really good at and you regularly check in, then it just gets easier and easier. This is me really living and breathing this practice because we all want to hit our goals – we want to quit our job, go on that vacation, or buy that house, but what it’s really about is what we are craving – we really desire how achieving that goal is going to make us FEEL.

So those of you who are starting businesses or want to quit your job, once you have that, how is it going to make you feel? Focus on achieving that feeling now.

Anytime you feel how you don’t want to feel, then we start course correcting and we make decisions that are going to make us feel how we want to feel, to get us back on track. Ok, you get the gist of it…

I’m going to take you back 5 months ago, I loved my corporate job, I’ve had a really successful side hustle, and I’ve enjoyed all the work I did in the world. I felt a really good balance, everything was working beautifully, and I had my jam going. It felt good. But in September my son started pre-school and I started feeling constricted again and I started feeling like I couldn’t handle all the work that was being thrown at me and that does not feel good. My son has been diagnosed with sensory processing disorder and though he is super cute and smart, he’s exhausting. He takes a lot of management and shouldn’t be at pre-school all day. We are working through the process, and I know it’s not going to be like this forever, but I need to slow down, and I need to focus on what’s important.

Then when I did my Girls Weekend For Your Soul retreat, in September, I checked back in on my core desired feelings (Connection, Freedom, Ease, Joy) and how I want to move forward but what came to me was that something has got to give. I am ready, I feel confident on where my business is going. I know I need to be more present with my son, and I know that I need to make this work. And though it was not an easy decision, I was at peace about it. I’m not going to lie, I had a lot of emotions about it. There were days where I was sad, but I knew in my heart when I checked in internally that it was time for me to say goodbye to my corporate job, time for me to leave. And though I it was not an easy, I am at peace and confident with my decision.

I have already told my tribe, in the Women’s Side Hustle Society, that I have quit and they have been following along with me as I’ve shared some candid experiences inside the group. I so appreciate their love and support. There are some people who just want to “screw” their 9-5 and move on, but for me it’s been a journey and a process and growing at my own pace and slowly letting go. I had a lot of ego and expert status tied up in my job and I’m willing to take that with me and move forward.

Instead of jumping off the cliff, I feel like I truly took the stairs. I’ve been working on my side hustle for 5 years and it’s been successful and making money, all good things, and I’ve been able to keep the balance to the point where I felt like I was ready. I like to call this process “taking the stairs” – being able to step by step take myself through the process of growing my business in a way that feels good to me, not comparing myself to others and always continue to make decisions that feel like I’m moving in the right direction.

I am not one to sky dive, so for me it did not feel like jumping off a cliff, it felt like that next stair, that last step on the staircase and that is truly what it is! It’s what my client’s come to me to navigate starting their business in a way that feels really good, that they don’t feel like they are sacrificing their lifestyle, health, and sanity, and they don’t want to throw it all away. They want to do it in a process.

This is something I’ve been working on over the years and I’m living proof that it can work, and it can feel good and everything can all be in alignment.

So, that is the big news, I’ve been holding out – those of you who aren’t in The Women’s Side Hustle Society and you are a woman wanting to start a business on the side, please join us over there. Or, maybe you already have a side hustle and you want to learn how to navigate it successfully, please join!

What’s going to change is you’re going to see more of me talking about side hustle, mindset, success, and confidence.

It’s exciting and I celebrated my last day with a champagne toast with my husband. We know there will be more challenges, but the theme for now is slowing down to speed up. 😉

Thanks for listening to my story, it feels really good to focus on the things that are really important to me right now.

I’ll talk to you all again real soon.

XO,

Gina