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Shannyn Allan from FrugalBeautiful.com is featured in this episode. Shannyn shares her story of going from owning her own business by re-entering the traditional workforce. She talks about why she decided to shut down a successful freelance business to rejoin the cubicle nation, concerns she had along the way, and how she made it happen.

In this episode, Shannyn does what many of us would consider, a “reverse launch” – going back to a traditional office environment. She shares what she has learned while working for someone else and how she hopes to take that knowledge and blaze her own career path.

TOPICS DISCUSSED INCLUDE:

  • Transitioning from her own business back to being an employee
  • How to make the “unpopular” decision
  • Things to consider before making the leap
  • What it is like to go back to the traditional workforce after being on your own

 

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Want to get in touch with Shannyn?

 

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MORE ABOUT SHANNYN ALLAN

Shannyn is the creator of FrugalBeautiful.com and a full-time Social Media Community Manager (a job she snagged through her experience as a blogger).  She has authored an ebook on blogging for freebies and side income at RockstarBlogging.com after getting freebies, free trips, and paid vacations from her blog.

She lives in Chicago, Illinois with her two pugs and fiancé and is a proud “slow runner” who completed 15 half marathons in 2013!

ENJOY THE PODCAST?

Melissa Anzman (00:00): This is a launch yourself podcast with Melissa Anzman episode. Number five, featuring Shannyn Allen.

Melissa Anzman (00:06): Hello. Hello. Hello, and welcome to the launch yourself podcast, career, business, and brand advice to help you be seen, make an impact and deliver at your maximum potential. And now here's your host, Melissa. Anzman

Melissa Anzman (00:25): Welcome to the launch yourself podcast. I'm your host, Melissa Anzman today. We're going to be chatting with Shannyn Allen. She is the creator of frugalbeautiful.com and a full time social media, community manager, a job that she snacked through her experience. As a blogger, she's authored an ebook on blogging for freebies and aside income at rockstarblogging.com after getting freebies free trips and paid vacations from her blog. She lives in Chicago, Illinois with her two pugs and fiance, and is a proud, slow runner who completed 15 half marathons in 2013. And more than that, she's a great person and an honor guests. So please welcome her to the show. Welcome to the show. Shannyn. I'm so excited to have you join us. Thanks for having me, Melissa. I'm excited to be here. Absolutely. So today I really wanted our listeners to hear your story because it's very interesting.

Melissa Anzman (01:18): And unlike the traditional path that we hear from the online world, which is kind of an oxymoron, right. Traditional path online. But typically we are told if we want to be our own boss, if we want to be an entrepreneur that we need to quit our job and just write Epic shit and all of that, that falls under that bucket. So with that, you've chosen a different route and you have had a very successful business and side hustle for a while. I'm very impressed by it, by the way. And we can talk more about your site at the end but you've taken a different path to your quest for solopreneur and entrepreneurship, and I'd be really excited to hear from you what your background is and where you're at today. And then we can talk more about your launch itself. Awesome.

Shannyn Allen (02:10): Yeah. Well, I'd be happy to tell you a bit about my journey because you know, if it's been a long road, but a very good and exciting road. So gosh, three or so years ago I was a broke grad student in Chicago and I was working a part time job and decided that I was going to start a blog in order to talk about what that experience was like. And as I began blogging, I started reading all of these, you know, entrepreneur things and solopreneur and follow your passion kind of stuff. And I decided at that juncture, I was going to build my blog into a business. And I was also going to start a a freelancing business for social media. And I also launched an ebook about, you know, blogging and how to blog for income. And they were all really great. I mean, I had a good business. My blog was doing much than most blogs

Shannyn Allen (03:00): Ever. Do you know, with like, what is it? A blog has started every like 0.5 seconds. So there are millions of blogs created every day. Just tons of content out there. And I just remember that even though I was having success in my first year or so of being a blogger and solopreneur running my freelance social media consulting company I was really struggling with that as well. So I was earning income. Sometimes it was sporadic and you know, but it was good and I was getting opportunities to speak at conferences and I was meeting these amazing people, but I found that I was constantly number one, struggling with this idea that in order to be happy, you have to quit your job and follow your passion because I wasn't solo preneur working from home and I wasn't quite happy with it.

Shannyn Allen (03:48): And the other thing was that you were basically in order to make a living, you were just going to have to keep blogging. And I was just a little bit worried about where my career was going with just blogging and being a solopreneur. And I started having a case of like the envies and analysis paralysis, where I would see all of these other people that seem to be doing this, you know, quote right. Epic shit kind of stuff. And I started to feel like as a business owner, not only was it difficult to live with, you know, a sporadic income, but I was also thinking that I wasn't even living up to my potential. I mean, I had essentially quit my job, you know, to avoid the traditional cubicle nine to five, but I still was struggling so much with what my identity was going to be like.

Shannyn Allen (04:36): And if this was really the path for me. So I actually left my freelancing business and decided to get a traditional job. And I find that I'm like, I don't want to say a gazillion times happier, but I am much more fulfilled. So I guess my, my call to action for people is, you know, you're going to hear a lot out there about, you know, just quit your job, follow your passion, you know, cubicle stuck. And I'm in a cubicle now, you know, for my day job, I mean, granted, it's, it's mixed. But I'm much more happy doing a nine to five, you know, social media gig. Then I was working on my own with clients as a freelancer. So that kind of flies in the face of what your read a lot out there. And I really struggled for a long time to accept that, that I was actually going back to the cubicle and it was really uncomfortable for me.

Melissa Anzman (05:24): Absolutely. And that's one of the things that I find very interesting about you and your story and, and probably what bonded us as friends, to be honest way back. When is you decided that even though I'm doing well, even though my business is earning an income, even though my blog is making money for me, that there was more for you and it didn't feel right, and you decided to explore your own path on your own terms, which is really what this whole entrepreneurship and solopreneurship deal is about, is figuring out for yourself what works for you instead of following that formula that other people think you need to do in order to be successful. So for us, we tend to on our site, we really talk about launching yourself as that moment in time, when you purposely decide to take action, whether it's to fulfill your maximum potential or to reach for more in your career busier brand. So can you bring us back to that time? I know you just briefly mentioned it, but can you bring us back to that point of saying here are what my options are and here's what I really need to do to move myself forward into, or back into this traditional type of job.

Shannyn Allen (06:40): Right. And, you know, I will say though that you can be an entrepreneur in a nine to five, like, just because you give up your, your quote dream of being an entrepreneur that can still resonate in your day job. And when I was looking over my freelancing business, I realized that there were obviously things about a cubicle that didn't appeal to me, but there were also some problems with anyone we'll say with launching yourself into your own business that you have to decide at the end of the day, you know, are you your best own boss? And I remember looking over my day at the time and just sometimes feeling really frustrated that I wasn't accomplishing enough in a day, even though I was working around the clock and I was really not ready to be my own entrepreneur, I think I should have researched things a bit better.

Shannyn Allen (07:27): And so eventually I was able to look over what I liked in my freelancing business and see if I could find an existing employer that would kind of allow for some of those things to take hold in my position within the company. And I'm happy to say that I, it did work out a bit that way, but it did take a lot of trial and error, a lot of research and you know, some frustrating and hard, difficult decisions because it's hard to build a business that you love. And then just say, Oh, sorry, it's not for me anymore. And just like give it up. So I find that sometimes you don't have to go either all one way, but you have to incorporate things from either side, you know, what you're willing to compromise and what you really want to build a life around. Because, you know, sometimes it's easy to see as an entrepreneur that your life is, you know, your life and business are the same thing. And then sometimes when you have a day job, it's easy to see that your job is just a job, but I feel that there should be some overlap with that.

Melissa Anzman (08:29): Have you found that going back to working for somebody else, have you picked up and learned skills that would have been beneficial for you while having your own business full time?

Shannyn Allen (08:41): You know? Yeah. honestly I it's worked both ways. I mean, to be completely honest, I got this position because I had run my own freelancing business and, you know, my employer was impressed that obviously I was a self starter and you know, I, I knew how to manage my day. But conversely I have learned so much from this position, like the bigger picture and that's precisely why I went back to my career sometimes. And people, you know, your listeners may find this, that when you start your own business, it's easy to be in your own bubble. And you start only listening to the same people. Like you start reading the same blogs, you start re you know, listening to the same podcast. And you're not really pushing yourself beyond that to get contrary viewpoints. You know, like I said, one of my biggest frustrations when I was running my own business was that the only things I seem to be finding online were people that were saying, Oh, you know, what, if you just quit your job and follow your passion, that's it like, that's the end all be all, you just need to have your own business.

Shannyn Allen (09:39): And that was really frustrating for me. And so I wasn't really learning and growing as quickly or as much as I had hoped. And I found that being in a traditional job, of course, incorporating some untraditional things of, you know, you know, aspects of my entrepreneurial business. I have learned so much from working a nine to five, like, and also with networking, I've learned some influence you know, gotten to know some influential people in my business. I've basically learned about the bigger picture and what's actually possible and easy to demonize, you know, the nine to five. But when you find a company that resonates with your personal values, and that will work with you, understanding that you're kind of a, you know, a free thinker and entrepreneur, the doors open up, you may find that you were just in the wrong job or at the wrong company.

Shannyn Allen (10:28): Maybe not to say that every cubicle is evil. And so, I mean, I have learned basically how to play a bigger game than I was when I had my limited scope of freelancing. And I also got to, to learn more about what my ideal client would be. I found that as a freelancer and entrepreneur, I pigeonholed myself and my client base so often that I've limited myself to the point of like sheer, extreme frustration. And now I see that there are more types of clients in different kinds of industries that I could potentially work with because I had to, in this position, push myself out of my comfort zone. Typically before I would only work with small businesses, which meant that my going rate, you know, my ask for a social media consultant was pretty low and I couldn't ask for what I needed to survive, but now I see I could easily pitch myself to a much larger company or a company that sells products or services I wasn't necessarily familiar with. Cause I've had to be forced to be on campaigns that I didn't really went into picked myself. Does that make sense?

Melissa Anzman (11:30): Oh, absolutely. And that's exactly what getting experience in different types of industries and roles and clients and all of that stuff leads for us. Right. It lends itself to giving us the information and tools to look beyond our horizon. So some people find that in, you know, looking at different entrepreneurship, but I have found for me personally, that when I worked for other people, it was intense. Like you were able to expand the possibilities a lot more because first of all, your income is a little bit more stable. Right, right. So you can take, I think, a few more risks and challenges when you have somebody else sort of footing the bill in that case. Yeah. And, and be able to be a little bit fearless around that. Whereas I found for me, and, and maybe it's true for you as well, that when you are solely responsible for your income, you have to stick with, or you're told to stick with, which may be more the case, things that you're intimately familiar with. So you leave yourself out of the running for a lot of great opportunities.

Shannyn Allen (12:38): Oh, totally. And I just know that sometimes it's easy. Yeah. When you're running your own business to get in that place of fear, like your bills come due and your landlady doesn't care, you know, if your client hasn't paid you or you're just waiting for them to sign that IO, you're just waiting for the business to come. But yeah, you're able to take a few more risks. And I think, you know, one thing I wish I would have realized, and I wish I could have told myself two years ago is that it's okay to have a full time job while you build your business. It's okay. You know, there's no shame in it. Additionally, nothing you choose in this life is permanent. Like you may choose to have a quote, you know, traditional nine to five cube job for awhile about, I had a tendency to think in such long strokes that, Oh my God, if I get a nine to five job, that's it forever.

Shannyn Allen (13:28): Or if I commit to this freelancing business, that's it forever. Like until I physically cannot do it anymore. And I realized that, no. I mean, even when you're freelancing an opportunity may knock where somebody is like, no, I want to hire you as an employee. Like, I don't want you as a freelancer or just as a small business, you know, as a contractor, I want you on my team. And you know, you just have to evaluate what that's going to be like if that opportunity were to knock, if you're an entrepreneur, what will you do with that opportunity comes your way. Are you against being in a cube? Would you consider it? Okay.

Melissa Anzman (14:00): Absolutely. I love that one thing. I found for me when I became an entrepreneur failed at it, frankly, and decided to go back to the corporate world. I found a lot of judgment around that from external sources, a lot of negative thoughts and maybe some of it was internal and, and me being fearful of the sense of failure around that. Or me sort of going back with my head, my tail between my legs. Did you find that for you at all, was that an issue or a thought or any, did that play into your decision making at all?

Shannyn Allen (14:41): Oh, of course. I mean, I wish I could say I'm above it, but I'm not. I felt like the biggest failure ever. I mean, cause I, I thought I was having the dream granted, you know, my income wasn't where I wanted it, but it was, you know, I thought it could be scalable, but I found that the business model I had created for my social media consulting business at the time was number one, not enough to achieve the financial goals I had for myself. And number two my days, weren't what I thought they would be. Now. I'm not saying it was, I thought at anytime it was going to be sunshine and rainbows, but I felt stagnated in my personal life. I felt that my clientele was kind of hitting a wall. I found that I was working around the clock and I hadn't, I realized my own shortcomings, I guess that's the best way to put it.

Shannyn Allen (15:27): I realized that I wasn't ready to be an entrepreneur. I'm just now like completely, fully, depending on my freelancing business to pay all of my bills and reach my financial goals. And there was, it felt like a really crappy place to be for a bit. And yeah, I, I dealt with it and I know I talked to you about it and I've talked to, you know, some of my other blogger friends that I felt like the world's biggest fraud, you know, here I was, you know, doing what everyone says you should do. And I was so worried that going back and getting a day job meant that I had epically failed, but I'm happy to say that once I finally bit the bullet and got the, you know, quote, you know, nine to five day job, I still, I feel like I was able to accomplish what I wanted with my freelancing business.

Shannyn Allen (16:15): You know, I have, you know, work flexibility. I'm able to work from home on certain days. I still get to travel when I need to travel. I'm meeting the people I want to meet. I get to attend the conferences I want to attend. And I find that I'm building skills that if I were to, because of, you know, illness or personal choices or just needing a break from my normal job, that if I needed to build a freelancing business, I feel that I could do it more successfully this time around because I've seen both sides. But of course I, I totally struggled with, with that decision four months, gosh, it must've been like eight or nine months. I waffled back and forth and I'd put, you know, applications in, Oh, I don't know, should I do it? And then, you know, my income would, you know, not do so well or I'd get a client that just didn't resonate. Well, I was making too many concessions and I felt, I felt like a jackass a lot of the time until I finally bit the bullet.

Melissa Anzman (17:08): Yeah. And so you did sort of suffer from it. Did you hear any external stuff where people in the online world, did they say anything to you or once you made the decision, it was off to the races and everyone was supportive around you?

Shannyn Allen (17:23): Well, I, I found that, you know, once I finally like made the decision and I talked about it on my blog, everyone was generally supportive, but in the months go before that, when I would ask people what I should do, it was almost like I was, you know, tarnishing the dream by giving up on, you know, my business. And they're like, but why, why would you do that? You know, you followed your passion and passion, passion, passion. And I got so sick of that word, passion and, you know, anti cubicle. And I just like, you know, non-conformity kind of stuff, you know, we all read those blogs and love them, but you know, people just didn't really understand that I wasn't the kind of success I wanted to be. And by admitting that I had failed it almost sometimes would shine a light on their darkness that they too were worried that they would fail. Yeah.

Melissa Anzman (18:18): I think, I think what you just said about taking it basically chipping away a little bit of the dream for themselves is so true, right? Because that's really where the insecurity and others, when you make a choice that isn't the one that we latched onto for ourselves that becomes pretty scary for that other person of them sort of seeing you living out what they thought was the way and you choosing something different. And that, that could even happen in the entrepreneur world, which I used to equate only with traditional jobs. Right. Of, Oh my, my friend got promoted and I didn't, and I'm jealous or, you know, I'm better than somebody because of this. Whereas even in the online world, it's, this is the dream. How dare you step away from it, you're living your path.

Shannyn Allen (19:11): Yeah. And I mean, I think, I think that the online, you know, passion, people are starting to evolve a bit too because they're starting to see more people like me that you may have a mixed method. You may have a traditional job for a time. You may run a side business or a full time business, or you may be working a traditional job while your partner works, you know, their own small business. You have to find what works for you. And I think we're getting more sophisticated because the, everyone should, you know, move to Tahiti. And like, you know, cause I read a lot of blogs like that, where people were like leaving their traditional job and working in a foreign country for like $5 a month and, you know, hiring VA's and all these buzz words. And I am starting to see more people that are exploring different options and different mixed methods and investing in different ways of making income that may not be having your own business. And that can still be just as fulfilling. Absolutely. What for you

Melissa Anzman (20:06): Was the absolute hardest part about transitioning back into a more traditional work environment?

Shannyn Allen (20:14): The hardest part for me was really dealing with my own sense of failure. It's almost like giving up on your childhood dream, you know, like when you finally like put your, your stuffed animals away for the last time, you know? And you're like, no, I can't be, I can't be this person anymore. I have to put it away. I'm transitioning out. And I, I found that I really struggled with building something that I couldn't continue building now, not to say I can't go back to it. I mean, I run my blog while work, but my job is pretty demanding and I'm not really working for, you know, clients and dealing with, you know, sometimes clients would find me after I'd shut my business down and you know, at least the freelancing portion of it and they would come and find me like, I really want to hire you.

Shannyn Allen (21:05): And I had to tell them no. And then, then I would feel like, Oh crap, you know, how they just stuck around, I would have gotten this client and you almost see it as evidence to like go against what you've decided and you really can struggle with that. But I still know I've made the right decision and transitioning back into a, an idea that you haven't completely closed the door. You're just putting it to the side. It's not over forever. You know, and that you haven't completely failed. You're just transitioning. You're pivoting a bit and dealing with that as I have my full time job that, you know, nothing is fine, you know, final, you can always go back. It just may be different than it was before.

Melissa Anzman (21:44): Absolutely. And when you find that you come across that, I mean that client that wants to hire you and you have to say, no, that is like the essential gut wrenching moment, right? Oh, did I make the right decision? Do you have a way to keep yourself on track? Because for me that would be, you know, like you said, a spiral almost down the I should have and I made the wrong choice and what am I doing? How do you keep yourself so focused on this is the right decision for me right now.

Shannyn Allen (22:16): You know, honestly, I, whenever I get in that, you know, the could've, should've, would've kind of things where I get that one client that finds me, gosh, you know, and this happened a couple of times, you know, at one, one month or two months after I closed my doors and like, Oh crap, you know, had I just stuck it out a little bit longer. I find that I stay on track because I look at what my path now has enabled me to do. And I focus on what the next goal will be and what I'm able to achieve in the situation I am now. And, you know, I just have to stay almost in the moment with a Ford focus. It's easy to focus on the past. Like, Oh gosh, that one client, I could have had that one client and instead focusing on, okay, well, who knows what's going to happen because of the path I'm on now.

Shannyn Allen (23:00): Right. And who knows, you know, that one of, one of those things I've heard people say that are in relationships, like with love, you know, what is it with the fact that I was looking for my ideal partner for years and years and years. And finally, when I get in a relationship with one, all of these, like single guys coming knock in, and that's kind of how it is. Sometimes it's freelancing too. You know, you're looking for clients, you're looking for clients and you can't find any, or you just don't find the right ones. And as soon as you're unavailable, that's when they come around and you're like, Oh, well, crap. I think that's just the way of the world. That's just like a universal law. Then that's just how it happens and just stay in the moment and keep a forward focus and you'll be able to see a bit more grounded that way.

Melissa Anzman (23:41): Yeah, absolutely. Have you set out any specific goals or toolbox learnings or insights that you want to be sure that you achieve or learn or grow in your current position or in this sort of traditional workspace that you're in right now? Do you have milestones around that?

Shannyn Allen (24:01): Oh, for sure. I mean one thing that this position that I have now working for, you know, a normal, you know, day job it's enabled me to be more cutting edge. I have milestones that I want to attend certain conferences that I want to actually be able to dedicate the time to being at the top of my industry and being aware of, you know, social media for my industry, social media and online marketing changes that occur so quickly. But sometimes when you're freelancing, it's easy to miss because you're so far in the trenches, you don't even realize that. I don't know, for instance, you know, Facebook has an algorithm update and you don't even know what's happened until after, you know, we could. So, you know, cause you're so busy, like chugging along doing your own stuff, promoting your own material, that it's easy to miss trends.

Shannyn Allen (24:49): And so I really focus on, you know, being able to be on the cutting edge of trends and making sure I have the time to dedicate, to bettering myself as a professional. And I also want to, you know personally I want to have an emergency fund put together. I want to be more fit. I found that some of the things that I wasn't able to do as a freelancer are now, you know, I want to be a holistic person and having this position is helping me be a better professional. You know, I'm able to dedicate a little bit more time than my personal fitness, and I'm also able to save up for an emergency fund simply because I have some predictability to my life. So my position enables me to be a better professional because I feel that my employer understands, I need to be aware of changes in my industry as they happen. And they encourage me to actually, you know, be ahead of the game a wee bit as much as I can.

Melissa Anzman (25:45): I love that. So final thought before we are final question, before we go into closing thoughts, if somebody were in an entrepreneurship right now, they're their own boss and they're just sort of thinking this just isn't feeling right for me. This just, isn't what I thought it would be. It's not what I hoped it would be. It's not what everyone told me. It would be. And started down the road of exploring, going back into a traditional position. What would your best nugget or two of advice to give them? What would that be?

Shannyn Allen (26:19): Oh, for sure. So, I mean, if you've decided that entrepreneurialship or maybe your, your freelancing job or your small business or whatever you have, isn't working for you, first piece of advice would be number one, be careful who you ask. You're going to have some people that respond to you based on their own fears or insecurities as happened with me. I mean, I eventually like yourself most, I found you when you gave me such solid, great advice for navigating this change. But I did ask some other like bloggers or freelancers what to do. And my problem was was that I was asking bloggers and freelancers what to do, you know, right. They were doing exactly what I was thinking of transitioning out of. And sometimes they would respond with their own fear insecurities or their own, you know, lens of seeing the world. What I should have done is ask people like yourself, you know, who had done the transition that had worked on both sides of the coin, you know, that had no motivation either way of pushing me towards one thing.

Shannyn Allen (27:16): They just wanted to be genuinely helpful and weren't responding from a place of fear. So number one, be very careful who you ask because I would often crowd source on my blog and I would get a variety of opinions. Some of which would just piss me off, not be really helpful, you know, people that are just really opinionated. And so just take it with a grain of salt. The other thing I would also recommend is just realize that nothing has to be forever and that when you transition, if you decide to transition back to work or you don't put time frames on things say, okay, by April of this year, if I am still feeling this miserable, what's my plan. You know, if I, if I hit springtime and I don't feel any different, I'm still feeling that my business isn't bringing me what I need.

Shannyn Allen (28:01): What's my plan. And then also setting timeframes for what will happen when you transition into a day job, you know, what criteria would get you back in a cubicle? You know, what are you really looking for? Kind of romance it up a little bit. The job market seems to be doing better. That was one of my biggest fears is like, Oh my God, what if I transition out of my freelancing business? And there isn't a job available, you know, or what if I'm just struggling and I'm, you know, straddling, you know, freelancing and finding a job at the same time and neither one is successful. So that goals and deadlines for yourself, you know, by springtime, I want to do this by fall. I want to do this. If I'm feeling, if I'm still feeling this way, what you, by this date, what should I do?

Shannyn Allen (28:40): And just trust your gut on that because your gut will know. I mean, of course you'll be scared as hell with no matter what you decide, you know, if your business isn't giving you what you want, but I found that putting a date range on mine really helped, like mine was you know, the end of 20, the end of like last year, I was like, okay, so I need to make a decision by this and I need to go full throttle for either. So if you decide, you know, whether you decide to stay or you decide to find a business that you can be an employee with or a contractor with full time, I would definitely say, you know, pick goals, tangible goals, and set them on a timeframe. So you're not waffling into eternity.

Melissa Anzman (29:18): Love it. And I agree with that by the way. So that's awesome. Now talk, I want everybody to find you online. I am going to put all of your information and contact information there, but tell us if you would, where people can find you and also what's next for you on the horizon. Okay.

Shannyn Allen (29:38): Okay. So if people would like to find me you check out my blog at frugalbeautiful.com. That's my blog. And my ebook is rockstar blogging at rockstarblogging.com. And so basically my next thing will just be to see where 2014 takes me. I'm actually planning a wedding, which, which seems to be like a part time job in and of itself. And my goal, other than that I really just want to work on practicing what I preach. You know, my blog essentially is about living debt free and living your best life. That's physically, emotionally and financially free and being your best self. And so I'm really working on practicing what I preach this year and just being a bit healthier, you know, and being more financially set and also, you know, continuing to challenge what I think is possible. So I know that sounds really cheesy and corny, but I love it on my blog. You can read about all the actual tangibles, how that filters down into dollars cents, pounds, and timelines for what I, this, you know, kind of woooo way. I live my life right now.

Melissa Anzman (30:46): I do want everybody to know just how inspiring you are. I'm with the fitness sector for me personally, in so many people as well Shannyn started running and it kind of, for me, it seemed like it was out of the blue just decided to start running and you have run girl, you did so many amazing races last year and, and half marathons and craziness. And so I just wanted to personally say, thank you for inspiring me. And also so many other people with, on your track, even though quote unquote you're in a traditional job, you're still influencing people and their behaviors as a thought leader. So I just wanted to say, thank you personally.

Shannyn Allen (31:30): Thank you. I'm honored. And I really absolutely have to thank you as well. I mean, I know this is a podcast and a place for kudos, but your content, I cannot tell you what a dark place I was in. And that's probably why you wanted to be on this call trying to make the decision to go back to a quote, traditional job. I struggled with that for like, God, what, like a year, a year and a half. I just wasn't sure what to do. And you really talked me through that and I appreciate you in the space that you're not just like all, you know, passion fluff, and you know, if you build it, they will come BS, like we have bills to pay and you totally understand that. So, yeah, absolutely. Awesome. Thank you.

Melissa Anzman (32:07): Well, thanks for coming Shannyn. And I'll be sure to send everybody your contact information in the notes, but I appreciate having you on until next time.

Shannyn Allen (32:15): All right. Thanks. Take care. Bye bye.

Melissa Anzman (32:18): I hope you enjoy today's episode with Shannyn Allen. She shows us that there's not only one path to entrepreneurship or having your own career path. And I love that about her. She's made a decision and figured out what worked for her and made it work. If you'd like to get the show notes for this episode, you can go to launchyourself.co/session5. Again, that's launchyourself.co/session5. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe on Stitcher and iTunes and leave us a review until next time.

Melissa Anzman (32:48): Thanks for listening to the launch yourself podcast. Join the conversation at www.launchyourself.co.

Join the discussion One Comment

  • I loved chatting with you about this! My experience is contrary to the typical “quit your job and follow your passion.” When I was a social media freelancer I couldn’t find a business model that worked for me, I was struggling financially and wasn’t attracting the right clientele. Needless to say, I’m much happier in that “lame cubicle job” some bloggers rail against. I LOVE it. Someday, I know I could return to freelancing if I wanted to since I’ve gained so much experience at my current position, but some of us can’t follow the “follow your passion” advice- or at least not right away.

    I felt like a huge failure, but I appreciate the conversation and am happy to say it all turned out ok! Huge thanks to you again for guiding me through my decision to leave freelancing behind and find a 9-5 which I LOVE when I turned to you last year. Your resume critique and HR experience made you an amazing coach and the only resource for 20somethings I trust when it comes to post-recession career advice.

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