The Leadership Gap: Why Entrepreneurs Outpace Corporate Professionals

In this thought-provoking episode of Lead Between the Lines, we challenge the conventional approach to career planning as the new year approaches. Unlike the common "new year, new you" mindset, we uncover why many corporate professionals delay setting their goals until January—if at all—while entrepreneurs hit the ground running weeks ahead.

Join us as we dive into the stark contrasts between corporate and entrepreneurial mindsets, emphasizing the importance of intentionality, vision, and momentum creation. This episode is packed with actionable insights on crafting an exit strategy, leveraging mentorship, and aligning your career with your long-term personal goals. Whether you're navigating the corporate ladder or considering a leap into entrepreneurship, this episode will equip you to lead your future with purpose.

Key Topics and Timestamps:

• 00:00 – Introduction to the Podcast
• 00:30 – The Importance of Early Planning
• 01:17 – Corporate vs. Entrepreneurial Mindsets
• 04:24 – Reflecting on Career Milestones
• 07:41 – Intentional Career Planning
• 09:23 – The Role of Mentorship
• 09:53 – Vision and Reality Creation
• 12:47 – Corporate Culture and Leadership
• 22:12 – Exit Strategies and Personal Freedom
• 26:52 – Enhancing Efficiency and Connection
• 28:28 – Balancing Work and Family
• 32:09 – The Importance of Being Present
• 34:39 – Reframing Busy Work
• 35:59 – Creating an Exit Strategy
• 39:11 – The Journey of Personal Growth
• 46:27 – Final Thoughts on Planning and Vision

Key Takeaways:

• Start creating momentum for the new year now; don’t wait for January.
• Align your career goals with long-term personal aspirations for a more fulfilling journey.
• Intentional planning bridges the gap between reactive decision-making and proactive leadership.
• Mentorship and vision work are essential tools for both corporate professionals and entrepreneurs.
• Developing an exit strategy provides not only freedom but clarity on how to navigate your next big move.

Ready to elevate your personal power and step into your most authentic self? Download the Reinvention Roadmap now and start your journey toward unmatched clarity, self-mastery, and bold transformation. This powerful guide will help you redefine your path and create a vision for your future that aligns with your deepest values and aspirations. Get instant access and begin crafting the life you’re meant to lead.

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Transcript

1:08

Welcome back my friends. This is the lead between the lines podcast. Where we dive deep into the unspoken truth of personal leadership career reinvention and intentional reality creation. And today's conversation is one of reflection, vision and recalibration. As we look towards the new year. And this isn't your typical new year, new you conversation. We are pulling back the curtain on why most corporate professionals wait until January, at least to plan their goals. If they plan them at all. Well, entrepreneurs are already running full speed ahead into the next year. We're discussing intentionality vision and how to create momentum before the clock strikes midnight on December 31st. And whether you're navigating your corporate career or contemplating an exit strategy, this episode is packed with insights to help you align. With your longterm goals and show up as the leader of your life. So let's get into it. So we hit record because we were deep in conversation about the new year upcoming and how entrepreneurs seem to, the ones that know how to run a business, seem to begin planning and prepping for the new year, weeks before the new year hits. Yet, women in the corporate world don't plan their next year career until next year, if at all. So. And I think that's a good point because I feel like we get really focused on planning next year personally, but. We rarely think about planning next year in our job. What am I going to do in January? I say a lot. Oh, we'll just leave that for January. We'll just leave that for January. But all I'm doing is creating a pile of things to leave for January. And there's no conscious creation. There's no Intention of, and focus of what the goal is. What are we trying to create in January? Whatever we're trying to create in January needs to be planned right now. And I think I'm guilty. I know I'm guilty. We leave it to our leaders, our vice presidents, our presidents of our companies. To lay that out for us. And then we will take action from there, whatever they say, we're just going to take action from there instead of just going ahead and creating the plan ourselves. And then when they do lay out their plan, adjusting, because I know at our company, we don't get that rollout of the plan till February, March, probably March is when we get it. And I mean, we're already three months into the calendar year at that point. So, and you've already given up on your personal annual goals at that point. Is usually any resolutions have been shot. So at the point when you're like, yeah, whatever. Then you get a plan to execute for the company's year, which is all too late. It's, it's not too late, but it is too late. It's people are not no longer engaged. It feels to me like there's this opportunity that the new year represents for all of us. To capture and create momentum, but you can't create momentum in the month that you want momentum, right? So if you want momentum in 2025, you have to be building the plan. Now you have to be generating some tour, some sort of action now. And yeah, you even just said before we turned the camera on, um, That you today or this week is your 20 year anniversary at your company. And you don't know how you got there. I mean, I can walk it back. Oh yeah. We got here, but when I started, I had no vision of being here 20 years. I didn't know what 20 years were, was going to look like. I feel a little old that I've been here 20 years. Mature. Well, you're 27. You started young. That's right. That's right. That's what I told my daughter, too. But, I, and I, I definitely reached some milestones along the way and goals along the way. But 20 years went fast. Even for me, like, I didn't know that I could create my climb intentionally. I think it happened the same for you. Like, we had some propensity of skill in some area and someone said, Hey. We think, you know, you would do really well in this role. So we're like, okay, here I go. And I go to that role and it just went like that without sitting down and saying in 20 years, here's, I want to make sure that I have. A retirement or some sort of, um, savings of a million dollars. And in order to get there, I have to place myself strategically in these rooms so that I can grow and expand. And I don't think very, very, very few. People and especially women do that. We just kind of bounce based on whatever is happening at the moment. Or I think sometimes it was bouncing and taking the next opportunity. And sometimes it was. Planning the next step, but I could only ever see as far as the next step. I rarely saw even two steps ahead. And I don't know if that comes with age or if it comes with like, we talked about this a while, a while ago, but the mentorship that's needed, um, amongst women, amongst corporate, amongst entrepreneurs. Just to say, Hey, you need to take a breath, sit down out of the busy and, and look at what you want to create and have someone to guide you because. I don't think, like, 20 years ago, I didn't know, I don't think I knew my job existed, the job that I've been in now for seven years. Um, and so, I might have been interested in it, I might not have, there might have been something else that I would have found, um, but I think it's important, um, for us to share that with others so that they can intentionally create. But now, okay, so what do we do right now? Because I'm like, okay, well, 20 years past, that's gone. It wasn't wasted. It was really good. Um, but now if I want to create intentionally for the next 20, what does that look like? What do I want? Um, what I just want for next year, like start, might need to start a little smaller than 20 years. But even, um, I think you said a few things I want to dissect in there. One, you. Yeah, you think that you need to know how, right? But creating a long term vision doesn't have anything to do with how it's just knowing that I want to end up in a particular place, right? So I think we can, if you, if we look at a corporate ladder, we can say, okay, I want to end up in the C suite or as a VP or some level. Okay. Cool. Right. And how I get there. I don't know yet because I don't know what opportunities because. I mean, quite frankly, the position that you've had for seven years may not have existed 20 years ago. Right? So you can't, it's not like I can say I'm going from this role to this role to this, you know, that it's, it's not a straight stairstep client, but it is in setting sites on some type of long term end game. Right. That never is the end game, obviously, but it is a milestone point of reference that I can drive towards. And I think to your point, mentorship is not, it's getting better. I think it's getting a lot better, especially as entrepreneurs are teaching corporate people. Things and vice versa, right? Corporate's bringing the structure. I think we've talked about this on previous podcasts. Corporate's bringing the structure to the entrepreneurial world, but entrepreneurs are really showing intentional reality creation to the corporate woman. Yeah, I don't think there's a lot of, um, you call it intentional reality creation or beyond that vision. Like, There's no vision boarding in corporate. Um, even, even when you do your developmental plan or your road mapping, I think. Calling myself out here. Like I was so reliant on the structure that the corporate gave me. I never thought to go outside of that and create my own vision. And in corporate, it's always been create a one, a three and a five year plan, right? That's sort of status quo. Who thinks to go further than, than five, but if you want to create a life, you, you have to go further than five. And back to your how question. I think. We also, I want to know how, because that's the next question my boss is going to ask me. Oh, you want this, you want this big thing? How are you going to get there? And I, I don't, how do you answer that? How? I think that's his question to answer, right? Your question to him should be, hey, I want to get here. What does it take? And it's up to him or her to tell you what it takes, right? Because Assumingly, there's a skill gap, right? Or you'd already be there. So there's a belief gap on your part, and there's a skill gap that has to be filled in order for you to qualify, air quote, for that level, right? We always, just like we do in, in the entrepreneurial world, right? We look to someone who already has what we want, and then we ask them. How did you get here? Like, what do I need to do? What, what don't I know that I don't know, right? Are they going to respond with skills or with ways of being? Does it matter? There's a gap either way, or there's a gap both ways, in my opinion. Well, that's gonna be my next question, is like, which one is more important? The being or the skills? What if they're equally important? If I'm picking, I've got one spot on my roster. Do I want the player that's got 70 percent of the skill, but has the, the beingness, I'll call it, that I know you can get there, or do I want The person who has 110 percent of the skills, but no belief. Well, that's a great question, but it's more of, do I, as the person filling the role on the roster, know what I need that would make my team better? And I think that, I mean, that's a whole nother podcast because I don't think we ever really think intentionally like that. I was listening to, um, Alex Ramosi this morning and he said that he's right now they're in the mindset of less people, more skill. So they are really making sure that the person they're bringing in is. The person that is going to advance the agenda that they're trying to complete right now versus hiring a bunch of people that are okay. Right? So knowing what the role is, not just from a technical standpoint of, you know, am I a coder or whatever it is, do I have the project management skills? It's can. You be influential within the team and help propel the whole team help, you know, I was more going for VP just so you know. No, no more PME. We're going bigger. We're going for VP. Yeah, we're going bigger there. And then it's the the same way coming down is everything from the top down gets diluted, right? So The CEO might have great standards and a great vision and culture, you know, he has a culture in mind, but at each level below him, it gets diluted and diluted and diluted and diluted. And if he and his team aren't willing to work with him. To correct the behavior down, then the whole thing ends up at shit. And you know, like I do when at the executive level, we think we have a type of culture and then when you get with the people, it's like, that's not what's really happening and it's a, it's almost like blinders, even if we know that's not what happening, we're going to lie to ourselves and tell, tell, tell the world that we have this great culture. Yeah. Then you go on Reddit or somewhere and realize, no, that's not true. The culture is flat or it's not. Yeah, I do think a lot of layers puts a lot between the CEO's vision and actuality. It doesn't mean things, I think things can get disguised in a big company because there's still, it's still a lot of output. There's still a lot of goodness happening, but if it's happening or not at the CEO's. Standard, who knows? Because I think the person doing the work probably doesn't understand what the CEO standard is. Not because the CEO hasn't explained it, but it's just they're running in different orbits. Well, and I think to circle back to your question, if I have to. Me as a person trying to move to a different role, I'm going to prioritize being over doing, because once I can wrap my head around the, who I need to be in order to achieve that position or role or whatever, then I know I can develop the skills, but without the belief. And without that forward thinking, uh, then the skills might fall flat. And I'm also assuming that as you progress up, it's more about leading teams and managing people than it is managing things, which to you actually pulled out a great point earlier. You said negotiation skills, being able to pull your team up, um, which becomes the skill of the leader. Like that's the skill to develop. It's not an easy one. How, I mean, That's a whole different conversation on how to, how to lead people like that. Um, but I, I agree. I think that putting the belief first and the skill second, as you start to believe, okay, well, let's do this. I start to believe I'm a strong leader and a skilled negotiator. These are the perfect people for me. Like those three beliefs. can start to change the dynamic of your team. They're not going to change everyone, honestly. Um, but I, I do think that those can propel you to that leadership position or that next, wherever you're going. Yeah. Well, and I think, Um, like you just touched on it is you have to be able to put yourself in rooms with people who are exhibiting those skills as well in order to really embody them. And especially in the corporate world, because there's so much crab in the bucket. Stuff going on, like to really separate yourself from, I don't want to say the common folk, but the people who are there just for the job versus wanting a career and wanting to personally develop. You have to be able to separate yourself from them. So like we've talked about before, your circle gets smaller and smaller, but you start moving into different types of rooms, different conversations. So let's circle back to the very beginning of the new year is coming. What is, what is happening in the entrepreneurial world? That's different than the corporate world is they are like focused on both closing the year strong and setting themselves up in full momentum before the new year calendar clicks over so that they hit the ground running. And they're not get to January 1st and go, okay, now what I want to do this year, right? It's they're planning. And I mean, corporate plans, but they plan in August and September for the next year, and then everybody gets wrapped up in the year end close. It doesn't really, it doesn't trickle down. There's no starting next year before next year. I feel like it doesn't trickle down enough so that the, the, I call it individual contributor level, just they're not kicking back, but they're easy enough, the gas, let's say that as they go to the end of the year, there are some people, depending on your department, some departments are like. Full, full steam ahead into the end of the year to close it out. Um, while other departments are easing back because most of the people are on vacation, are on vacation. And so getting everyone together to work on a project is challenging. And so what a great time to be able to use, to like develop the plan for next year, even, um, if it's your own plan. So, I don't know, because. I can, I have some ideas of what I want to do with my team next year. Um, I don't really know what my team's going to look like. So that's all this stuff that allows us, uh, to easily say, Oh, we'll just wait till next year. We'll wait and see how this unfolds versus sort of doing like, okay, well, I think it's probably going to look like this. And if it looks like this, then this is what I want to do. And if you just lay that out, then you can respond within that framework that you've already set. Yeah, and I think, um, with every project, right? Big projects, we do postmortem, but personally, I don't feel like we do postmortem and especially in the corporate world of what did I plan to do this year? Because most of us forgot now, totally forgotten what the plan was in January. Right? What did I do? What didn't I do? What went? Well, like a SWOT analysis or personally. What gaps did I close? What gaps do I still need to close? Like all of that in this time of the year is to me, it's the perfect time. It's perfect to assess how the year went and begin to look at, okay, what is next year going to bring and what do I need to do differently? And what do you carry over from this year? Yeah, because and you and I were just talking about or I was talking about exit strategies and how I feel like more women than ever are going to begin to create exit strategies in 2025, whether they execute them or not. I feel like the knowing exactly how you would exit and what would need to be done in order to exit allows you to prep for it and Is extremely powerful from a personal standpoint in the, you don't have to settle in 2025 because you have a strategy that you can pull the trigger on anytime you want, as long as you are doing the things in there, right? It's about self trust. It's about clarity of vision. It's strategy. It's execution. All of that you get to work on and clean up so that you don't have to feel trapped or stifled or just complacent. Well, that's, that was, whenever you mentioned that to me earlier, I thought the word that came to mind was freedom. Like, just, now, let's, Be real. I'm a project manager. So plans are freedom to me. Um, they're not, they're not to everyone, but this like putting together an exit strategy, knowing what are all the pieces that would, that I would want to fall in place, what would be my big vision? Like that just feels really freeing. It starts feeling like. It's a choice. I'm making a choice to go to work every day, to go to my job every day. And it doesn't feel so constricting anymore because should they decide, we don't need your services anymore. It's like, okay, I've got a plan. I've been working on it anyways, and I'll just go ahead and kick that one up to number one and y'all will go to the side. And, um, here we go. I'll just, I'm going to take this. Highway instead. Well, and that's interesting too, because it doesn't, um, well, it takes away the fear of the normal layoffs, right? The reduction in workforce and it actually allows you to be better at your job. Like I've always said this, that having. Of like a solid backup plan allows you to go all in on your job versus not having any exit strategy, escape plan, whatever you want to call it, and feeling like that you're, you have to perform, you're so much less likely to play to win and so much more likely to play not to lose. Yeah. When you go out there thinking, this is just one of my options. You're like, I guess I'm going to, I guess I'm going to go all in on this one today, this week, this month, whatever it is. Well even your, when you said it's freedom to you, I was laughing because I was working on some content and I had freedom to choose, freedom to lead and freedom to create a life that aligns with who you truly are, not just who you've been. Perfect. That's where I was going. Perfect. Creating the exit plan isn't just, it isn't just about work. It starts you thinking about what you want for your life and work is only a component of it. Work provides income, however we want to phrase all of that. Um, but it got me focused on. Oh, well, what I want is I want a home that my kids are successfully launched from and want to come back to. Um, that's what I want. That's my biggest goal right now is to do that. And so how do I do that? And if that's my biggest goal, what is that? What does my work look like to do that? And I'm talking like at my corporate job, does that mean, um, what kind of hours am I working? How much am I working in the office? How much am I working at home? How am I splitting up my days? What's my attitude? Like all of those kind of. Questions and that makes me better because now I'm more efficient. Now I'm more connected to the people I work with the people I'm leading because I'm also. looking for what's driving them to push back on this, this piece, this ask, why, why are they pushing back there? Is it something personal? Is there something happening in their organization that's affecting this? Like it's, it's just creating a stronger, better me. And I know what I'm, I know what I'm going after. It's not a paycheck. So interesting. Right. Because in the beginning it is a paycheck, like, yeah, absolutely. And, you know, we've talked about this multiple times of when you get to a certain level, when all of your basic needs are met, then what, right? Because then that's no longer motivating. To do it, you have to have something so much bigger and for you, like you just said, launch your kids and have some place they want to come home to, which I think that's the greatest gift, right? My, my kids want to hang out with me more than I want them to. So I guess I did a good job, right? They want to come and spend time with them, which is awesome. But, um, I forget where I was going with this. It's just that vision for your life. I think having the vision. for your life, frees you from feeling tied to the job. Well, and I think, um, and you said something earlier that made me think about this as well, is there was a time when we had two boxes. One was work, and one was family, home, whatever, life. And they didn't, Meet right compartment compartmentalized a lot more, um, especially in the beginning, but now to your point, right? You're when you are learning to lead people when you are growing in that area, whether it's. It's for your job or not, you also become a better parent. You become a better partner to your spouse, right? Or boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever, because you don't just learn the skill for that box, you learn the skill period and you embody that. And I think there's so much more of an inter tangled and entangled or intertwined, um, relationship now between personal and. professional. And we don't have to choose anymore. We just get to be who we are regardless of where we are. Even though I might act differently, respond differently in certain rooms than others, I'm still being true to who I really am. Um, what my standards are, what my values are don't get, um, pushed aside, depending on the room. I always lead from that place and then I can respond to the situation anyway, but I don't have to compromise who I am in either room, which I think we used. I agree. I used to feel a lot more constricted is the word that comes to mind. I know I said that earlier too. I used to feel a lot more tense. When I was leading people, because I felt like I had to do it a certain way and now I'll bless my team because I'm like, okay, we're going to try it this way. And if it doesn't work, then we'll come back to the drawing board. We'll try it a different way. And I've got an amazing team that is up for it. And they will challenge me if they know from the get go, it's not going to work. My family, same way. Okay, kids, this is, well, we're doing it. Oh, mom's got a new experiment. Yeah, she does. And they're super flexible because of it. Um, they're able to, to roll with the punches and adapt and, and follow and lead and sort of, you know, Um, so I think it's actually good, but it's, again, that's just a testament to, I'm the same person essentially at home as I am at work. Yeah. And I think, I think that's one of the gifts that entrepreneurship gave the corporate world in showing women that, Hey, you can prioritize your family and build a business. You don't have to choose. Now, I will say, I think that it's not even across the board, a hundred percent of the time. Like there's always a family is more of a priority and business, you know, dips down a little, and then business is a priority and family dips down. But when you look at it over an extended period of time, there's a good balance that happens. So, because priority is singular, not. Multiple, I think the corporate world believes. So, I think you, the key is being present with whatever is that you're working on, right? If you're with your family, be present with your family, don't think about work. If you're working, be present with work and don't think about your family. So, it's just like in that moment. And we try to convolute it because we're human. Your being present made me think about busy work because I was listening to that Ryan Moran podcast with Brooke, um, Brooke this morning, and he was talking about how he realized he was very busy, but not necessarily getting things done. Um, and I think that's, The case often is that we're very busy, but not getting a whole lot done. And so by looking at what's my, what's my goal, what's my focus, what's my value, then you can narrow down and toss out all of the, the extra stuff that isn't getting you there. That goes, that's like the 10 X, um, you 10 X is easier than two X. So you, you focus on the 20%. That's getting you to your goal, and you have to toss out a lot of, a lot of stuff, um, that you, you're used to doing. Yeah, we make things matter so much more than they actually do. Yeah, my daughter told me something. She told me the same thing last night. She's like, I think you're making this a bigger deal than it is. Like, Oh, you're so wise. Thank you. Yes. Yes. So, I mean, to your, to your point of what you just said with busy work, that's. The corporate world for the next six weeks, right? Because people are checked out. People are just trying to get to the end of the year so they can have their holiday and be done. And then they'll try to catch an inhale and start all over again in January. So it's probably like second to the NCAA basketball tournament in March. It's probably the most unproductive time in the year. Right. Two for the corporate world with regards to their stuff. Okay. So something that I decided to do this year to reframe that, because I do get very frustrated about the unproductiveness and the, just, Busy work and box checking. And I, um, my team does some great volunteer events and I don't typically do them because I feel like they're box checking events and I decided this year I'm participating in them because it's either, I can either just sit at my desk and do busy work or I can go and serve and connect with these people on my team and really enjoy it. And just go with like a full and open heart. To the service events. And now I'm sort of actually excited about them. And so I'm thinking as I look at these next, I mean, there's probably like four weeks left for me. Um, if I look at the next four weeks, it's focused on service. Focus on wrapping up, um, 24, focus on planning my 25. I know I just put in three priorities. Um, You called them focus, not priorities. Like if I do that, I end the year on a great note. Yeah. So what do you think about creating an exit strategy now? What do you mean? Even if you don't use it, Dude. Do you see the value in having it? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I could, I could jot mine down and outline it and probably about 12 minutes. Maybe I like outline outline, not detail. Um, I thought about it enough that I think I know inherently what it is because I've not only thought about it, I've written it out, written out what my next steps are written out what. The vision is what, how I want, I do think about how I want my next 20 years to look, how old will I be? Um, I'll be a little older. Um, but I think I'm in my third quarter. I still have another whole quarter to go. That's right. I just started this one. So, um, well, I have a ranch, might have a ranch. I can't see stopping working. I can see not working for a corporation. Um, my kids will be off doing their thing. Like I can, I'm starting to put pieces of it together. It's, can I create an exit plan? Yes. You and I have talked about how it's really challenging for me to create like a full vision. People talk about like. Um, just visually walking through what that looks like in 20 years and I can't quite get there. Um, maybe I just need more quiet time to do that. Well, that and you have two more years, three years before your kids are all off to college. Yes. Like thinking about a three to five year. If you wanted to exit around the same time, or if you're, you need to get them through college before you exit. What does that look like? And how, yeah, it's going to be 27 years anniversary instead of the 20 year anniversary, but what does that look like? And could you be prepared to pull the trigger in less time if the opportunity presented itself to where. Everything just fell into place right where you're like, okay, you know what I've done like for me, it was like, I've done everything I came here to do, I'm, I'm ready for a different challenge was, you know, one of the big motivators in me leaving the corporate world when I did of, I don't feel like I could execute at a level that I wanted to anymore within that space. And I was, I was fine with that. I'm like, okay, I'm good. I can, I can walk away, not feeling like I was running away and, or that I was running from something. It was like, no, it feels complete. I think there's different ways for it to feel complete because as far as skillset learning, um, the work that I'm doing, the work that I'm doing is interesting. Um, but it is fairly repetitive at this point, just because I've been doing it for a few years. Um, if I go on a new project, there will be a burst of, of newness that will, um, injects the, the repetition. But my point is that. It's not just about, am I done, have I completed what I've come here to learn? Probably, have I completed what I've come here to build? Building being like, my foundation for the family. For us to be able to support two kids in college in the next Four to four to six years. Yeah. Cause it'd be, yeah. Um, they're doing it in four or two. Um, and then just to be able to go and do what I want to do. Like, have I built that base strong enough? Have I built a financial base strong enough to be able to support us so I don't have that stress. Yeah, and you and I think different because I say, build it on your way down. We'll figure it out. Right? Which is great. Like we all have different ways of Needing to build our Legacies and no neither one is wrong. Mm hmm. It's just you know, we're We have totally different, uh, risk tolerance levels, right? Mine has gotten, mine has increased. I have more tolerance for risk than I did a few years ago. But it's, it's still pretty, my threshold is still pretty high. So, so I guess when you say exit in five years, I'm like, there's a little, there's like this, I start thinking about what, What's that going to look like in five years? Like I just jumped my brain to five years and I'm like, Oh, do I want to go intern in my resignation in five years? Like, how does that feel? What am I thinking as I do that? Am I going to actually have the courage to do that? Um, so like all of those thoughts went through my head. Well, and I think that's, that's the perfect point, right? An exit strategy isn't a date on a calendar. It's the process of becoming someone who exits, right? And how much courage do you need to develop? How much risk tolerance do you need to develop? What needs to be put in place where they kind of have to know what you're going to do beyond that, if you wanted to keep doing something, right? So it's all of those pieces coming together. And it's also knowing that. It's going to be difficult, like, it's going to be like we talk about all time, 50, 50, you're, you're going to be somebody totally new and you're still going to be who you are. Right. So what we just talked about, which again, exciting and disappointing at the same time, because you are you who you are, and, you know, it'll, it'll still be there. Wherever we're going is not better than where we are. It's different than where we are, but it's not better, which is kind of mind. I know. Well, I was thinking about that this morning that as I was listening to that podcast about wherever you're going is not going to be any better than where you are. And my brain, the first thought was like, well, then what's the point? I think that's probably a pretty typical thought. And then my next thought was that means the vision has to be so big that there is a point that it does draw you that is interesting that you do want to do it that you will commit to it. And so what does that vision look like? And you can see I'm, I'm starting to paint what that looks like. But I'm not there yet. I guess I'm a lot further along than I was 20 years ago when I painted No Vision and I just followed, I just went to the next stop on the map. Well, which is good, right? Because look at what you've done. Like without a plan, look at what you've done. Imagine what you could do with a plan. That's what I'm always like reminding myself of is like, you didn't really have a plan other than to keep climbing. Right. Whatever that looked like, but now like there is a vision. There is a longterm vision and I know where I want to be. And I know what that looks like. And. And now it's just building the beliefs that support that as I progress in that direction. So it's to me, to your point, like, I don't have to do any of this. I could just retire, but I don't want to, like, I'm not, I've, I'm not done. There's so much more I want to do, even though I know that wherever I'm going is going to have just as many challenges as where I am. And it's going to be equally satisfying and fulfilling as where I am right now. So the whole point Is the journey and being willing to become someone different, like letting go, being able to release that 80 percent you were talking about. That's the challenge. That's the exciting part is, can I do that? Because as humans, we're so attached to who we are. Like the thought of letting go of 80 percent is scary as hell, exciting as hell. Yeah, letting go of the 80%. It's like, that goes back to that busyness. It's like, Oh, that means I stop cooking all the meals. That means I stop doing all the laundry. That means I stop taking everyone everywhere. That means I, like, those are the things that I stop. And my kids are old enough to do all that stuff themselves, uh, mostly. Um, but can I stop it? I don't know. I sort of have a habit of doing it and I sort of like doing it and if I'm doing it then I don't have to do the other stuff. It's the other stuff. More rewarding, but harder. All right. I think this is a good place to wrap it up, but I am very excited to see your 12 minute exit strategy. Well, I think it takes a little more than 12 just for the average person, but I know you've been working and talking about it for a while. So it's not like you're starting from scratch. So it's just an outline, just an outline. You got to start somewhere. So after we stopped recording, we realized that we didn't really talk about. Um, my exit strategy from the corporate world. And I will just say, I didn't really have one. I knew I wanted something different and I knew I was done. But I didn't create a strategy to exit in the way that knowing what I know now I would have done and what I help women do today, because. Um, Just having that rough outline that Jessica referenced isn't enough. It will not get you where you want to go. Um, as easily. As if you had spent some time actually laying it out properly. So I would say. Um, not that I did it the wrong way. I did it the right way for me. Cause that's how I did it. So that's how I know it was the right way, but in hindsight I would do it differently. And I highly recommend that if you are considering a career. Change of any sort like leaving corporate for entrepreneurship. Even, um, being an entrepreneur, but changing. Uh, niches or changing. Um, Like, maybe you're a coach and you want to become a business owner if investing in traditional businesses, whatever it is, whatever big significant change that you want to make. The more time you put in on the front end. Like trying to, um, determine every obstacle that you might come up against and then trying to solve for that ahead of time. The quicker you will move once you are in that place. And I cannot stress that enough. So. I think this is where, um, we can wrap up for this episode and. Let me just, uh, let's leave it at this, right. This conversation. What's actually a masterclass in the power of intention, clarity and momentum. And if there's one takeaway, I want you to hold on to it's this. Your future doesn't start in January. It starts right now. And are you ask yourself these questions? Are you setting yourself up to lead your life on your terms? Are you creating a plan or are you leaving it to chance? Like I just said, that's kind of what I did. And I think that I would be in a different position today. Had I been strategic and had a plan? So this next year, right now, it is a blank canvas. And it's up to you to decide how you will fill it. Whether it's drafting your 12 minute strategy like Jessica does, or building a vision that excites you. The time to act is now. And if today's episode resonated with you, share it with a colleague or a friend who's ready to redefine their path. And don't forget to subscribe to the show, uh, for more and bold conversations about leadership, legacy and transformation. And until next time. Keep leading between the lines, your future self is counting on you.