Lessons from leaving corporate America
No 1. If it costs you sunshine, relationships, or health, your salary is irrelevant
For years, I believed a story that circulated throughout my agency and more broadly the marketing world: this would be the best job I’d ever have. I was terrified to quit because I believed the convenient lie that I’d never have it better. I’d never have more free lunches or airline miles or get to do something creative while also receiving unlimited PTO.
Two years after leaving my job, I no longer have debilitating carpal tunnel and I’ve doubled my salary. And I did it as a poet. I work 10x harder now but it’s because what I love and what I do are all mixed up together. I’m not telling you this to brag. I’m sharing to shed light on the insidious myth that corporate life is the only way we can thrive financially.
No 2: Work won’t make you good
I used to believe that promotions made me excellent. That winning clients made me successful. That creativity made all marketing meaningful. That surviving toxicity made me strong.
But corporate life didn’t make me good, it kept me exhausted.
Reality was—the longer I stayed in that environment, the more I felt less like myself and further from the future that haunted me every single day.
No 3: Have a point of view
Years of being a copy director and influencing creative direction taught me the power of choosiness.
What clients always crave is a considered viewpoint. An informed, thoughtful and meaningful perspective. So get choosy. Have a rationale for your creative decisions. Stand by them and soon, people will seek you out for your viewpoint. This lesson has served me more now as a solopreneur than anything else.
No 4: It’s all bullshit
No one, I repeat, no one knows what they’re doing. My first day at the agency, my buddy gave me a Post-it that just said IT’S ALL BULLSHIT and I survived for years on that note alone. The reality is, everyone is fumbling their way through. Imposter syndrome was invented to maintain traditional power structures. Your ideas are just as stupid and just as good as anyone else’s. Stop telling yourself you don’t deserve to speak.
No 5: Nurture your knowing
When I was an intern at my first agency job, I remember seeing all the creative directors and writers sitting at a fancy conference table and brainstorming. Hear me when I say it wasn’t exactly envy that I felt. It was knowingness. I ached because I knew I belonged at that table. I knew I could lead a creative team and create stories that resonated. And within three years, I was a copy director at another agency and sat at all those tables. My knowing was true.
Years later, that same knowing told me I could leave and write a book and by then, that little baby muscle within me had grown strong enough to make the leap.
The lesson? Nurture your knowingness. It will lead you through the magic dark.✨
Have you left the corporate world or are you thinking about it? I’d love to read what you’ve learned in the comments below.
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