Being an entrepreneur means you have to be ready, willing, and able to take risks – calculated risks. In many cases, the due diligence that is necessary for taking these risks is, well, not considered. Why is this? My opinion: there’s not enough education that exists around starting a business and what’s necessary to do so.

What happens as a result: a number of things. Failed businesses. Burnt-out founders. And a departure from entrepreneurship back to ‘Corporate America.’ I sat down and gathered stories from 3 entrepreneurs who left their businesses went back to ‘Corporate’ in some capacity. They all had one BIG thing in common that is attributed to their departure. Listen to find out!

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Connect me on LinkedIn: Lauren Loreto & follow with me on Instagram: @shesbusyaf

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Welcome back to another episode of She’s Busy AF – this is episode 43 “Why I went back to corporate, former entrepreneurs tell-all”.

Okay, so this isn’t me. I didn’t go back to corporate, in case you’re wondering. A couple weeks ago, I was having conversations with past clients and friends, and just seeing buzz on social media of people who decided to go back to corporate, whether they’re open about it or not. It was very interesting to me. And I know it’s interesting to some other people too, who are maybe questioning, you know, “should I leave my business? Should I go back to corporate?”

And so through the conversations I was having, I was like, this would be a great podcast. So this is a little bit of a different format today because I decided to interview these people. So I’m going to not disclose their names for their privacy.

They asked to remain anonymous. I am going to shed some light on their experience as an entrepreneur and why they decided to go back to corporate, and kind of weigh in on my thoughts as well. These are all different stories and different outcomes and different feelings. Everyone is a different human being. So that’s obvious, and that should be expected.

But with that being said, I’m gonna dive in and then stay tuned to the end of this podcast. I’m gonna talk a little bit about what the plans are for season three, which is going to kick off in January. Very excited about that too. So without further ado, I’m gonna go ahead and dive in.

 

Learning The Hard Way

All right. So this first person is near and dear to my heart. They all are. I love every single one of these three women who chimed in on their stories. We’re gonna go ahead and dive in with the first one here and just keep in mind. I’m reading off a piece of paper. It’s not my story, it’s her story. And this is number one.

“I have a huge passion for creating, and helping people. I love to travel and be flexible with my work schedule, so starting my own business seemed like an ideal situation. At the moment I did not like my corporate job. I was not fulfilled. I did not like the nine to five hours, and I felt like I couldn’t be creative. Once I started making decent money in my business, it made me realize how quickly this could become my full-time job and I can make more money than ever before – or so I thought.” So she continued on to say:

“I was a serial investor. I fully believe you have to spend money to make money, but I think I took that to an extreme with my investments. I invested in several businesses and marketing programs, mindset programs, masterminds, one-on-one coaching, copywriting, web design, tax, strategist, branding funnels – you name it, I bought it.

I felt good in the beginning about my investments, but I made a lot of poor decisions that weren’t backed on data, but feelings. (Oof) So to put it bluntly, I was broke. I invested most of my money into my business and couldn’t pay myself. That stress alone seeped into all different parts of my business. I had to get clients in order to pay my bills and expenses, but sometimes that wouldn’t happen. My needs weren’t met and my business became really, really hard. Also, it was a lot like a rat race. I felt like I had to talk on social media all day long.

I felt like I had to explain my every thought and move and sell every freaking day. My mental health became absolute shit. I was tired and I was broke and something had to change.” So, okay. So I asked her how she felt about being in a nine to five now. And this was her response:

“I feel free. Like a huge weight had been lifted. I picked a job that is a complete dream. I can creatively express myself, make my own hours, expect to be paid every two weeks, be around people, watch my projects, come to life and not feel the need to show up on social media every day. I feel at peace and I haven’t been this happy in over a year.” And then I asked her, would she revisit entrepreneurship as full-time ever again? And her response was:

“I can see that happening again, solely because I thought I’d never go back to a full-time job and yet here I am. I am interested in pursuing passive projects that don’t require me to market myself or the product 24/7. I am also interested in consulting locally based on the network I have built that allows me to not have to have an online presence in order to have clients.”

Okay – so this one hurts my heart so much because it just sounds like she didn’t have the right guidance, and had shiny object syndromea little, thinking everything would help her. And, you know, before she realized it, it was too late and she was into all these investments. It also sounds like she didn’t have the clarity exactly she wanted, and again was feeling burnt out. And that’s hard, that’s really hard. Like, I can see how this could totally turn you off to entrepreneurship, but I love that she’s like, “I could see this happening again, I could go into consulting.”

It sounds like through all these experiences, she gained a lot of knowledge. Like there is a bright side to this. She gained a lot of knowledge, a lot of information. She’s actually able to take a lot of what she learned and what she knew previously and take that into her corporate job.

And she’s having a lot of fun with it. And, you know, maybe she’ll get burnt out on that, and wanna go back to entrepreneurship or not. She’s seen both sides of the coin now. I think at the end of the day, what really matters is her mental health, and that she’s happy and healthy again. But I know this person specifically could do really well with consulting when she comes back one day, and that’s gonna be so amazing for her. Totally appreciate her sharing this story and know that she’s not alone in this.

I’m sure there are people listening to this right now who are probably like, oh yeah, I made all those investments too. Didn’t wanna do this anymore. So she went back to court and again, great for her amazing love that journey for her.

 

Programs Are Not One Size Fits All

So this next one here – all right, we’re gonna go ahead and dive in. So she started with, “I have been an entrepreneur and in entrepreneur roles, on and off for the last 10 years with coaching,” but technically started her company about three and a half years ago. She wanted to start an official coaching business when she moved to a new city. And she’s always liked the idea of working with herself as well as the flexibility it brings to her schedule. “So initially it started out okay, because I was collaborating with other fitness professionals at a gym and had somewhat steady clientele, plus some projects that brought in some money.

In addition to coaching certifications, I have invested in a few business programs to try and learn, understand running a business, and more specifically making online business more successful. My coaching starts have always been worth it because of continuing education. However, I sort of regret the business programs I invested in – one of them was around $3,000 and had a lot of good information, but was completely DIY. I think I needed more one on one guidance.

I also invested in a small group mastermind, which was the scariest and most expensive investment at $10,000, but I thought would really help me get to that next level. Looking back, it wasn’t a good decision and I wasn’t ready in my business for that type of program. Plus I didn’t care for the actual program itself.” Oh boy. We’re gonna talk about this.

“After a period of time through COVID, and after trying to implement things I had learned, I just felt lost. I started to also lose my identity as a coach and question whether I even wanted to coach anymore because of the lack of consistency and constantly feeling like I had to chase clients. I was overwhelmed and burnt out. At that moment, I decided I needed to do something else right now that gives me structure in my day, a reliable paycheck and someone else to report to other than myself. After experiencing that nine to five work day for the last two months, it reminded me of how much I truly love flexibility, and not having to request off time to travel. Although I love having a structured job with a team and it has provided reliable pay and also ease of mind with not having to worry about my business because I’m showing up to do work in someone else’s business – it brought me clarity with the nine to five role long term.”

Then I asked if she’d revisit entrepreneurship ever full-time. Again. She said, “yes, I’ve actually realized I don’t wanna give up coaching just yet. And I have a ton of ideas for how I can get back and do it and still potentially make it a successful business with consistency. I also think that if I could make it consistent, I wouldn’t want to do 40 hours a week. I would try to shoot for around 20 to 30 hours possible. I definitely want to keep it as remote as possible for travel purposes.”

Okay. I wanna dive into two things here. Number one, investing in programs. I’m seeing this as a trend investing in programs and feeling burnt out. I think that a while ago there was a lot of talk and chatter about how this online space is so unregulated and investing in coaches is so unregulated.

I have to give advice for anyone listening to this who has not yet invested in programs, or is thinking about investing in programs. Do your research, talk to the person you’re about to make this big investment with, ask a lot of questions, read the contract. Make sure it’s something you can get out of, if you absolutely need to. Lastly do it from a place of want, not need.

I was actually talking with someone on Instagram about this the other day, and a lot of resentment in investing in big programs like this, I find comes from expecting big results out of these big investments, and hinging your business income, and success off of that. You should not be investing every penny you have into something like this and expecting an ROI on that right away. You just shouldn’t.

For example, I invested in a mastermind last year, and I honestly didn’t even look and see if I produced an ROI until like maybe couple months ago. Because it came from a place of a want, not a need, meaning I wanted to be in a mastermind, I wanted to be around like-minded people. I wanted to see how the online space worked and what was possible for my business.

I didn’t need this to produce an ROI for me. So really think about that, when you are going to make these big investments. Instead, look at making investments in things that are going to produce results for your business. That could be strategy. That could be social media management, whatever is going to yield you a maybe quicker ROI than someone who going to give you ideas of what to do.

Actually, I was having a conversation with someone else today, which was more about baking an apple pie, right? Like I’m gonna stand next to you while you show me how to bake this apple pie. But at the end of the day, like it’s not gonna come out as good as yours. And so for that reason, I’m just gonna hire you to make my apple pie. So it’s the same situation here. Hire someone who’s going to get those results for your business, as opposed to ideas and mindset and stuff like that. That’s like my number one thought out of this.

The other one was when she mentioned revisiting entrepreneurship and saying she doesn’t wanna work a full 40 hours a week. She wants to work 20 to 30 hours a week. I think that’s possible. It’s all about how you structure your pricing. It’s all about what time commitment you put towards things, and this all bleeds out into like obviously your service suite and like how much you’re gonna charge for these things.

So I totally think it’s possible – and I’m also the type of person who I think (not to like to my own horn or sounding egotistical) but a 40 hour week to me is like a 60 hour, 70 hour week for let’s just say a normal person. I work really, really,really fast. So it’s also about how fast and efficient you can be with your work. So I do think that shorter work weeks are realistic.

 

Seeing The Light In Things

All right, so we’re gonna move on to the last one here. This one’s also interesting. This person in particular has a family, the other two do not have children. So this is a different perspective. She said, “So I started my business in March, 2020. My industry collapsed with the pandemic and so did my husbands, I needed to keep the lights on. Initially I made some bad investments.” (This looks like a trend) “Folks who sold well, but it was all smoke and mirrors. I made some great connections and have chosen to see the value that I got from the program. ”

So great. Her mindset was great on these,I love that. “Lauren and Brand Good Time,” (Oh, Hey, that’s me! ) “It was actually a fantastic investment!” (Thanks girl.) “She’s also a contact I made directly from those other investments. (So see, she’s choosing to see the light in all of this bottom line).

“My willingness to invest in my business also built the confidence to show up as more of a CEO and less of a, this is my small business.” So the pivotal moment that caused her to think about going back to structured environment. She said, “I stumbled on a job at a company I used to work at. The salary was four times what I made in my business. My husband’s industry got back up and running and it became an opportunity to really dig us out of the financial hole that we were in during the pandemic.”

When I asked her how she feels about being in a nine to five now she said “Some days it’s great, other days, not so much. It’s nice to have paid vacation development, funds, colleagues, etcetera, but there’s less freedom in corporate.” Then I asked about about revisiting entrepreneurship full time. She said, “Absolutely. When I took this corporate job, like when I started my business, it was a decision that I would do it as long as it made sense. I’ve kept the business on the side and was open with my employer about that. So all the things are possible down the road.”

I love this. So she’s still running her business. And I know this for a fact and she’s doing very well with it, and she’s still working her corporate job and her corporate job’s aware of it. As long as it makes sense to her, she’s gonna continue to do it. So again, back to investments – making bad investments.

You could choose to be really upset about making those bad investments, or you could choose to see the light in them, and the connections and the opportunities that have arisen out of them. I have actually gotten clients from bad investments. The bad investments may not have paid off in the way that they were meant to, however they did in other ways, like getting new clients from the people that I’ve associated with or getting referrals from those people.

So it’s all on how you look at it. But I really thought these were interesting perspectives, three totally different stories, definitely some underlying themes of making bad investments, being the reason why they wanted to go back. So if you learn anything from that, make better investments and be very cautious about where you put your money and the smoke and mirrors and the sales tactics.

Maybe I’ll do a whole podcast episode on like what buzzwords and smoke and mirrors things to look for before you invest in another program. But with that being said, I wanna talk a little bit about what’s to come in season three, if she’s busy AF we are changing things up a little, just because I wanna, I wanna offer more.

I wanna offer variety. This is the feedback I’ve gotten. So I’m going to be bringing in more guest episodes with industry wavemakers that are not just like fun. It’s like, of course it’s gonna be fun and fluff. You want something to listen to. That’s gonna be exciting, but also things that actually provide you strategies to push you forward in your business.

So in the new year, I have interviews booked with quite a few people. We have someone who’s an expert in networking. We have someone who is an expert with websites, but also like brand personality, which is huge, no matter what size business you are. So we have those scheduled. We also have an agency owner coming into, which I’m very excited to talk with an agency owner. Like, as you probably know, I formally own an agency. So really exciting interviews coming up.

We’re gonna have a new form of guest features, with one specialized episode every other month. I can’t divulge what that is yet cause I really wanna build the hype. You can follow us on the She’s Busy AF Instagram. If you want to sneak peek of what that might look like, but very excited to bring something that is generally more an in person thing onto a podcast. And that’s all I’m gonna tell you.

Obviously we’re gonna have more Tequila Friday episodes now that I’m actually able to drink tequila. So please look out for that. Those are, if you’re not familiar, I don’t really talk too much about business in there. I actually update more about what’s going on in my life.

Like work mom life. I think the last episode I did was like announcing my pregnancy and how I plan to balance it all, and the really funny things that like have happened throughout pregnancy, probably sharing more of like funny things that are happening throughout motherhood and working from home and like those things.

But they’re fun. I drink, I’m usually drinking like a tequila, sharing my favorite tequilas, that kind of thing. And then lastly, of course, I’m going to stick to the OG content that you see in here today, giving you tips and tricks and trends and things that I’m dealing with real time with my clients to help you through your business things, to help you push your business forward. Those are still gonna continue to flow, nice and steadily.

Be on the lookout for that. Thank you so much for tuning in today. If this episode was impactful to you at all, please share on social media, help me get in front of other eyes and help other entrepreneurs there. Or send me a message on Instagram. I’m open to have more open dialogue about going back to corporate, or not going back to corporate. Love having those conversations down in the DMS. So, and with that being said, thank you so much for tuning in there is not gonna be more like educational informative She’s Busy AF episodes for the rest of the year. So with that being said, I will see you in season three in the new year, happy holidays.