10 Year Anniversary of Quitting Corporate
I was going to write about month-end workflow today. Something about Zapier automations for client document reminders and nuances of the dates those go out. But maybe another time.
If you’ll have me, I’d rather write about what’s filling my head this week…
I’m celebrating an anniversary this week. Ten years ago, in September 2016, I left my corporate job to be a stay-at-home mom. I think of it every September, but this September feels heavier. Ten years is a long time. Most of a lifetime for both of my kids.
I left corporate because we (my husband and I) weren’t living the life we wanted for our family. It was rushed, hurried, intensely stressful. It was also really hard to decide to leave. I had a lot of pride and security wrapped in my corporate title, salary, importance, etc.
But I did leave. I spent 2 years as strictly a stay-at-home mom, then started a firm slowly (very slowly) on the side.
This past weekend, I couldn’t help but run the numbers on the past 10 years. (I’m never not an accountant.)
What was my opportunity cost in the past 10 years?
What did I gain in the past 10 years?
In the past 10 years…
💰 I gave up $1.3M in pre-tax income
⏰ I gained 13,000 waking, non-school hours with my kids
So much money given up. So much time gained. And I can’t imagine my life having gone differently in the past 10 years. Things have happened in our family’s life that never could have happened if I had stayed. Things I never could have predicted.
Curiously, I don’t feel or care about the losses. I only feel and care about the gains. My husband and our kids would tell you the same thing.
In hindsight, the decision to leave my corporate role is obvious and easy, but I remember struggling with it SO badly for the entire year leading up to putting in my notice.
If you are struggling to make a major career change because something in your life isn’t working how you want it to (health, family, relationships), I wish I could show you your hindsight now. I wish I had a silver bullet of clarity.
In the end, I think it comes down to good planning and a lot of trust.
In real life today, I had to run to our little rural town’s local lumberyard this morning (nearest big box store is an hour away) and I got to talking to a church-friend who runs the place. He’s a little older than me and he and his wife are first-time parents as of 6 months ago!
Interestingly, he spent many years on tour with Colt Ford as his lead guitarist. This morning, standing in his family’s shop, he told me about his time on tour: how the lifestyle was so rough on his health and relationships (he was a gentleman and spared me the details 😉).
I asked, “Was it hard to leave touring?”
He said, “So hard. I loved the work. It just wasn’t good for my life.” Then he asked, “You know how great a feeling it is knowing you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be?”
Yeah. Yeah, I do.
Cheers,
Erica
PS- I’ll share more details on the $1.3M and 13,000 hours on LinkedIn in the coming week as I process my thoughts better, if you want to see it in pretty graph format. You can follow along there.
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