Top 3 Questions You Should Ask to Carve Your Career or Business Path

Hello and welcome to Shedding the Bitch Radio, where you can discuss, debate, and get advice on how to discover and shed the bitches of fear, insecurity, self-doubt, and negative mindsets so you can realize your dreams and life purpose and create and accelerate the riches you want in life. Join us here live every Tuesday at noon Eastern and dialogue with us at 818-572-2910. You can also chat with us at blogtalkradio.com/sheddingthebitch or share your stories on our website at sheddingthebitch.com. Whatever the bitch is that's holding you back from living your life to the fullest, it's not worth giving up the riches in life that you deserve. So call in now and let Bernadette Boas know what's holding you back. 818-572-2910. Good day, good day, good day everyone. How are you on this beautiful Tuesday? I hope it is a beautiful moment of the day or night, wherever you might be. It is the last Tuesday of April. Can you believe it? I honestly can't. We've been through 4 months of 2019 already. Time is flying, and let's just kind of like try to slow it down, at least for the next 50 minutes or so, and really just kind of get present and still and kind of just take a deep breath and let's enjoy our time together. We're going to have a great conversation. It's really focusing on 3 top questions you should be asking yourself at various points in your business or career. And actually, it does bring your life into the picture, obviously, since everything does, but more so as you are contemplating your business or career path, these 3 questions are great grounding questions. They're great things to really be considering and assessing and contemplating on a regular basis just to ensure that you're just kind of very intentional about what it is that you're doing and how you're going about it. And if you're not and/or if it's really not— the path that you want to be taking gives you an opportunity, um, to be realistic about that so you can make some adjustments. But before we get into all of that, I am actually sitting here looking out at still water and some beautiful sand and some people walking by with their dogs and others that are trying to, uh, test the freezing waters of the Atlantic Ocean. I'm in Ocean City, New Jersey, and for those of you who might have followed the program at least since last year, this time last year, and/or the last several, every Mother's Day week my 5 sisters and any nieces over 21, we meet up in Ocean City, New Jersey, and we spend some really good sisterhood time together. And so that's where we are, and I love taking all of you from the Shedding the Bitch community with me for the ride. And today, like I said, the conversation is really going to be about really contemplation and assessment, but we've had some great episodes over the last several weeks. We've talked about shedding the stuck bitch, if you ever get stuck. We've talked about regrets. We've talked about how to assess assess your own performance and your own capabilities at work. We've talked about hiring, how to hire people properly, and what you should and shouldn't be doing in that regard. We've had some really lively discussions that would really help ground you in wherever you might be within a life journey, a career journey, or a business journey. So, Feel free to go out to sheddingthebitch.com for the episodes there, blogtalkradio.com, just look for our Shedding the Bitch radio channel. You can go out to iTunes, you can go out to Apple Podcast, and of course you can go out to our Facebook and Twitter pages of Shedding the Bitch and you'll find our episodes posted there as well. However you join in, we just are appreciative that you do. So let's just have some— let's just have some good conversation today. My sister is saying bok bok, so I'm assuming we have a— you'll have to forgive me. You might have some fellow jungle chicks, as we call ourselves, my sisters. You might hear them in the background since we are all in this lovely beach home for our Jungle Chick week. And Jungle Chick, it's a very long story. It comes from a fly fishing tournament called Jungle Cock, believe it or not, that my 6 brothers go to each and every year. Now it's been a ritual that's been going on for about 58, 59 years with my father. It's a father-son fly fishing weekend camp that they always go to the weekend after Mother's Day. And finally, about 20 years ago, my sisters and I caught on saying, why don't we go away and why don't we spend time together as a sisterhood and, of course, with my mother. So our week started being called Jungle Hen in compliment of the boys' Jungle Cock. My mother since passed, 5 years ago actually. So, and we always called ourselves chicks. So we call it now Jungle Chick Week. And so that's a little history about that. But if you happen to hear some, some laughter, some rumbling, or I get distracted with these texts that they're sending because they're getting photos of dolphins that are jumping and passing by the house and all that kind of good stuff. So I'll just excuse myself in advance of that. But good, so we're going to have a conversation about the 3 questions you could be asking yourself within your business or career. And when we get back, we're going to dive right into that. I'll talk to you in a minute.

You are listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio with Bernadette Boas. We are inspiring individuals around the globe to discover, confront, and shed their bitches of fear, insecurity, and negativity so they can create the riches in their career, business, and life they deserve. Be sure to check out Bernadette's books Shedding the Corporate Bitch: Shifting from Bitch to Rich in Life and Business, available on Amazon and sheddingthebitch.com. We also want to thank our sponsors, North Georgia Tax Solutions, who offers a broad range of tax services for small to corporate size clients. Go to ngtaxsolutions.com to learn more. And Parker House Virtual Services, who provides virtual assistance and and social media support for small to medium-sized businesses. Email Deborah Parker at deborahparker.va@gmail.com for more information. To become a sponsor or advertiser on our program, email us at mediarelations@sheddingthebitch.com. Shedding the Bitch Radio airs every Tuesday at noon Eastern time. Be sure to go to blogtalkradio.com www.facebook.com/shuttingthebitchradio and follow the program for all of the updates and announcements of our guests and show topics. Now let's return to Bernadette and Shedding the Bitch Radio.

Excuse me, you might have gotten some of my coughing as we came back into the program. We are talking the 3 questions that you should be asking yourself when it comes to your business or career. And typically, being both a business coach coach and a leadership coach, I'm often asked this question of what are the top questions I should really be thinking about and considering and that kind of thing. And when drilling into the discussion with my client and/or an individual, often what they're looking for is more of the tactical, analytical, vision, planning type of questions. So, you know, for instance, should I be really thinking about my customer or my demographic or my vision for the company? Should I be thinking about what my, you know, sales plan is? They often don't necessarily bring up the touchy-feely, the emotional side of being a professional, whether that is in your own company or in a corporate environment. It— especially in corporate, there's a tendency to not really recognize the interpersonal junk, I want to call it, but it's also good stuff that we bring, each and every one of us, to our businesses or our careers. They tend to want to always keep it hands-off approach to all of that emotional stuff. And therefore, they don't ask those questions of themselves to really understand them as a person and how they come to their, their role, their position, their job, whether that is within their own company or for somebody else. And that's what this conversation is going to be about is what are those questions, whether you're looking to make a transition or a change, or whether or not you're in it and you're just making sure that along the way you're really grounding yourself in self-awareness and in transparency and intention about what it is that you're doing and whether or not it's fulfilling what you've laid out and planned for yourself. So we're going to— we'll start off with the first question, and what I've done was there's a lot of overlap when it comes to whether you're working for yourself or for somebody else that, you know, you want to consider. So the questions can be applied from either a corporate professional or an entrepreneur, and then even what I'm going to share with you as things to consider, things to think about, ideas, tips, and pieces of advice is the same. You might tweak them a bit for either, you know, working for yourself or for someone else, but a lot of it, there's a great deal of overlap, all right? So, the first question you want to consider, whether you're considering a change or a transition or whether or not you're wanting to, you know, assess at some duration of time you've already been in the work that you're doing currently. And that is, are you able to or can you do what you want in the role that you have? So, a lot of times I do help people transition from corporate to entrepreneurship. And the first question I'll ask them is, okay, so what is it that you want? Why would you be leaving corporate and what is it that you're looking for? Working on your own. However, you could be choosing to stay in corporate, but you still should be asking this question: Am I able to do what I want? Is the role, is the job, is the company giving me what it is that I need to be a full, complete, you know, satisfied, accomplished individual? So that's the question. Can you do what you want in the role, in the position, in the type of environment that you're in. Now let's break it down. So, you know, one side, the left side, I have kind of for you business people, you entrepreneurs that are working on your own for yourself. Maybe you're the only individual in your company or you have 10 employees. It doesn't matter. But you're working for yourself. And then I have, you know, on the other side of the piece of paper is for those of you working for somebody else. And it might not be corporate as far as huge conglomerates. It could be a, you know, small or medium-sized company. But the point is you're working for somebody else. So the things that you really want to consider about whether or not the role, the position that the employer is providing you what it is that you want. Being that you, you know, might spend 9 to 5 there, being 9 o'clock to 5 o'clock there. Maybe you spend a lot more hours there, maybe you spend fewer, but you really do want to consider what was it or is it that you're looking in— you're looking from your role, looking from your position, looking from your career or business, looking for from your employer, even if it's yourself. Is it giving you, for instance, balance and flexibility? Is it giving you the lifestyle that you want? Is it giving you the financial freedom or the financial stability that you're looking for? For some people, when it comes to considering this question of can you do what you want in, you know, in your own business or in the corporate career that you have, they even, you know, want to look at kind of the trend or the technology stability that their role or environment gives them. So let me explain that a little bit. Certainly corporately, you're pretty much given everything that you need in order to operate. You're given literally the technology, and even if you work in an office with that company, they're going to give you a computer or laptop, they're going to give you a phone most likely, they're going to give you the internet, the Wi-Fi, the applications, the software, whatever it is that you need. And if you work for yourself, obviously you need all those same things, but you need to provide them for yourself if you run your own business. So there's a good many of you entrepreneurs out there that make sacrifices. In that regard because, you know, corporately it's not coming out of someone's pocket to buy or invest in all of those different things, especially in all of the most up-to-date things that are needed. And if you're working for yourself, there's a lot of compromises, there's a lot of concessions, a lot of sacrifices that you make because of that. So for instance, a lot of entrepreneurs, they may not get the latest and greatest phone. They may not get the latest and greatest printer capability or maybe applications, CRM applications, sales management applications, time management applications, whatever, you know, whatever it might be because there's investment there. There's a lot of money there.— and we'll talk about that in a minute. But so there, you know, so part of this question that I want you to consider about can you do what you want, whether you're contemplating a change or whether you're fine where you are, you're just wanting to assess your current position, you want to be thinking about, you know, what are those things that I, you know, want to be able to do, and that's why I'm doing whatever it is I'm doing. And one of those things would be, Do you have what you need technology-wise to do your job, to run your business, to advance in your career, or whatever the case might be? It's something that you want to consider. Another area that is often overlooked from both business and corporate individuals, career individuals, is really the skills. Not necessarily the skills you have today, but the skills you want to be having. So can you do what you want? Can you grow and learn and even leverage what skills and capabilities that you have right now and/or obtain them, learn them, be coached or mentored in them? Does your current situation provide you what it is that you need? Obviously, there's a difference in your— when someone has a business of their own to corporate where they want to be thinking about as far as can you do what you want, you know, from a growth perspective, from an opportunity advancement perspective, from a— and growth I want you to consider, especially you entrepreneurs, I want you to consider growth not only in yourself personally but in your business itself. There are some that are perfectly comfortable with, running their own business or maybe having 1 or 2 other people, and those 1 or 2 other people might even be contract type of individuals. They might even be part-time project-specific. They're not necessarily employees or day-in, day-out individuals. There's others that on their own, from a business ownership perspective, they want to grow a company. When I first started out, back in 2008, I thought I wanted to build an enterprise. I wanted to build another type of company that I came from, and therefore everything that I was planning and doing for those first couple of years was all around taking that hierarchy, that organization structure where I was assigned to every box, taking that and making sure that other people were hired and contracted in to do that work and not myself. But then, you know, by the 3rd, 4th, 5th year of being on my own, I realized, you know what, I'm really not looking to build, you know, an enterprise. I'm looking to have a team, but I'm looking to keep it somewhat small and nimble and flexible because now my desires have moved into more of the creative space and not necessarily the growth, ambition. Corporate, but even entrepreneurial space. So there was just some reconsiderations there about when I asked myself the question, am I able to do what I want to do in the environment I am in today versus next year? What am I planning for? I would often come up with that it was changing from wanting something bigger to something very comfortable and it gives me the flexibility to do what I really want to be doing, answering the question of, you know, going out and being able to write, going out and being able to be active in my social life because I didn't have one for 25 years when I was in corporate, you know, that kind of thing. So as you're asking yourself this first question of, you know, is your business or career giving you what you want, you want to consider those things as well. And then the bigger thing— well, actually, I'm going to wait on that because these two kind of roll into this— into that one. So then a couple of other things, especially this also, I have a lot more of my corporate clients thinking about this versus entrepreneurial. But, you know, corporately, the number one response when I have them really think about this is they want to be able to chart their own path. And control their own growth even though they're within a kind of a corporate environment and they don't, you know, they're working for the man, so to speak. That's a very old term, but sadly it still exists. And they are considering and contemplating what that means for them when they really do, even though, you know, they're graduating college, they have, they're working working in one industry, one type of organization, and as they grow and evolve and get into their 30s and 40s, they want some influence. Let's call it influence as opposed to control. But they have some influence in where their career path is going. And that's very important to them when they consider is their work, is their, is their situation giving them what they want. They want to be considering how they can chart their own path, control their own destiny, control their own growth, that type of thing. And lastly, leading from those two things is, in my work especially, I deal with a lot of ego. And it's good ego though. So let me explain that. Sometimes it's bad ego, but primarily it's good ego. And that is, we do what we want to do, and we're doing, you know, our business or our career certainly from a survival perspective. Let's not fool ourselves about that. But even strip that away, and we're doing it from our ego perspective. We're doing it from the satisfaction that we get from either our business or our career. And you can touch on it a little bit further and push it a little bit harder to say, you know, the ego from the air of vanity or the air of achievement, success. And again, that's not a bad thing. It's when it becomes more narcissistic and more controlling and more, you know, greedy that lends itself to kind of the ugly side of the ego. But what you want to be thinking about when you ask yourself the question of, you know, does my business or career allow me to do what I want, does it give me what I want, you want to think about it kind of egotistically because you want to have that satisfaction. You want to be, you know, finishing up at the end of the day, the end of the week, the end of the month and saying to yourself, You know, yes, I feel good. I feel accomplished. I feel like I've, you know, achieved something and I'm making a difference. And, you know, from an ego perspective, that's not a bad thing. So I want you to be thinking about that and taking that angle on things as well. Okay. So that's the first question that you want to be doing whether you're making a transition or a change. Maybe you are going from— corporate career to own your own business, but maybe you're also— because I've worked with those individuals that have been out on their own, and, and, and as they've assessed over the 1, 5, 10 years, they've realized that it's not giving them the satisfaction that they need, and therefore they're redirecting it back into now a corporate career again. And even I, I was asked this question myself. I was actually, actually these 3 questions about a month ago. I've been out on my own now for 10, 11 years, and I had this question asked of me as far as, are you still getting what you want? Is being out on your own versus the corporate career, is it giving you what it is that you, you want? Now, of course, you need to know what those things are. You need to have sat down and really thought about you know, kind of what is it I want from my business? What is it that I want from my career? Which will support you then being able to say, okay, so can I do what I want and have what I want, you know, now that I'm assessing and considering where I'm at currently? We didn't start with that question to really kind of map that out because we talk about that a lot. We talk about your goals, we talk about your— your planning, we talk about your vision, and I wanted to kind of put a different spin on what it is that you need to be thinking about because most of the people that I work with will say to me, "Oh, I got that. I totally understand it." It may not be complete or as specific as I would— I prefer they had it, but they have a good general idea. Well, now what I want them to do is say, "Okay, so I know why— what it is I want, why it is I want it." and what I don't want, that kind of thing. Now I want you to say, are you getting what you want from the decisions that you've made, from the environment that you're in, from the type of role that you have? And, you know, and again, these things— balance, flexibility, skills, growth and opportunity, technology, charting your own path, controlling your own growth, ego— are different, you know, angles and factors you could be using. To answer that question for yourself. All right, we're going to take a quick break. When we get back, we're going to dive into the next question, which is all going to be about the investment, as I like to look at it. Others look at it from a cost perspective, but I'll explain all that when we get back. We'll be right back.

You are listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio with Bernadette Boas. We are inspiring individuals around the globe to discover discover, confront, and shed their bitches of fear, insecurity, and negativity so they can create the riches in their career, business, and life they deserve. Be sure to check out Bernadette's book, Shedding the Corporate Bitch: Shifting from Bitch to Rich in Life and Business, available on Amazon and sheddingthebitch.com. We also want to thank our sponsors, North Georgia Tax Solutions, who offers a broad range of tax services for for small to corporate size clients. Go to NGTaxSolutions.com to learn more. And Parker House Virtual Services, who provides virtual assistance and social media support for small to medium size businesses. Email Deborah Parker at deborahparker.va@gmail.com for more information. To become a sponsor or advertiser on our program, email us at media-relations@sheddingthebitch.com. Shedding the Bitch Radio airs every Tuesday at noon Eastern time. Be sure to go to blogtalkradio.com/sheddingthebitchradio and follow the program for all of the updates and announcements of our guests and show topics. Now let's return to Bernadette and Shedding the Bitch Radio.

Welcome back, everyone. We are talking the top 3 questions you should be asking yourself when it comes to your business or career and determining your satisfaction, your success, your achievement within it. And the first question we talked about was, can you do what you want as a result of the business or the career choice that you've made? And that you're in. The second question I want you to be thinking about, and I tend to put a different spin, I like to view it in a different way than many people do, but my question would be, is the investment of doing it worth it to you? Is the investment of working for yourself in your own business or the investment of working for a corporation Is it working for you? Now let me break down as to why this question is important. The other angle many people take to this question is looking at it from a cost perspective. And that tends to— everybody go, oh yeah, that makes sense to me. Yeah, yeah, I have to look at, you know, the cost of being out on my own, the cost of working corporately, it gives them immediate things to be thinking about. And we're going to get into all that. But what I'd like you to do is I'd like you to really think about changing that word of cost or spend to investment. Because any time that you— let's say any time that you transact monies or transact your time, towards something, you know, you could look at it as a cost, but if it is meant to build you up, help you grow, advance your cause, in this case it being your role, your position, your company, your revenue, your business overall, then it's really not a cost. It's more of an investment, and I spend a lot of time especially with entrepreneurs, but even in corporate, getting professionals, I'll call them, because it could be at any level of a company, to really understand that just because you're spending money, you're putting out, you know, a dollar bill, or you're even putting a half hour of your time or an hour of your time, it's not— it is spending, obviously, but it's not a cost just because you're doing it. There's value, there's benefit, there's growth that you're gaining as a result of that spend. And therefore, the better way, the more productive, the more effective way of looking at it is by— with the lens of investment. So, is the investment that you're making into your business or into your career worth it to you? So, let's break that down a little bit. You know, obviously, if you are out on your own, whether it's a brick-and-mortar, whether it's a business services company, whether it's a professional services type of company, there is spend. There is investment that you're going to make. Forget about the time for right now, but there's investment of monies, of life savings, of a loan, of some sort of financial currency that you'll be doing credit cards, and yet it's an investment. If you're doing it right, if you're spending it on the right technologies, on the right training, on the right hiring, on the right products, on the right services, then obviously, yes, they are going to be a debit against your bank account, your credit card, whatever the case might be. However, Those spends, you would have looked at them by this point to say, yes, they are going to either— two things about money when it comes to business. They're either adding to your revenue or they're reducing your cost. That's what you want to spend money on. Getting growth as a result of that spend or having savings in costs as a result of that spend. That's why I like— for any of you to look at it from an investment perspective. Even in your career, you know, the investment would be whether or not your— the salary, the insurance, the benefits, the 401, the time, the working for somebody else and not yourself, the willingness to relinquish control control or relinquish your, you know, past is your investment in working for somebody else. Because what you're gaining from that investment is stability, is security, is consistency, despite the fact that there's also things that kind of are debited against, against what it is that you might prefer to be doing, but yet you've evaluated the fact that no, there's definitely more pluses than minuses, and therefore my investment is working for the man, so to speak, not having complete control, less flexibility, less charting my own path, that type of thing. And of course, as an entrepreneur, You know, you should be asking yourself on a regular basis, is the investment of doing it worth it? Because even though you may not make the same amount of money, have the benefits, have the stability, have the 401, have those technologies paid for, you are getting, you know, other things that you might find even more valuable. You are getting that— flexibility, that control, that charting your own path, that ability to, to, to, you know, work with only those people you want to work with for the amount of money you want to work with it. And therefore you're willing to sacrifice and, and give up things as a result of it. I call this whole— when I look at this question, I kind of look at it as my eating peas chapter of my journey, so to speak, because I certainly have asked this question of myself many, many, many, many, many times over the last 10 years, because it has gone to a point where it was strong and stable and consistent when it came to the number of clients I had and the amount of money I was making against, you know, what it was that I wanted to be making. And that was really nice. For a good 3, 4 years, and then I decided to go in a different path, which meant that if I was going to start writing and doing some more of these creative things, then I was going to take a hit to my revenue. I was going to take a hit to the number of clients. I was even going to take a hit to the amount of networking and prospecting I could be doing because I just didn't have the time, nor did I have the energy anymore to do it and to really spend that much, not only, you know, nights or weekends or days, but also just the mindset, you know, your emotional— your state that you have to be in to go out and network and network and say hello and tell your story and to meet other people and to be, you know, fully engaged and present and wanting to be there, yet you're exhausted from dragging yourself to these things. And having business cards pushed in your hands on a regular basis. So, I had to kind of say to myself, okay, you know, is the investment of doing this worth it? Because, you know, it certainly was going to be taking away some of those other things that from a corporate perspective were— even my first few years of entrepreneurial perspective were much more stable and consistent. And I said, absolutely. I'd rather eat peas, as I call it, I'd rather eat peas than to, you know, to kind of fill my roster up again, my calendar up again with networking and those kind of things, let alone even consider going back to corporate, which I spend a lot of time coaching and helping individuals through that thought process. Like I said earlier, you know, I have clients that have started their own business and I didn't know them corporately and maybe they didn't even have a corporate job never had a job before. I've had those types, and then I've had the types that went from corporate to business, and then I've had those that went from corporate to business and now they're considering going back to corporate. And so these are the type of questions that they want to be asking themselves and assessing for themselves to really get a good handle on what exactly, you know, is fulfilling them and making them happy and satisfied and feeding— remember, feeding that ego. In a constructive way because we all want to, you know, be doing what we want to do, not what we need to do. Though there will be times that you might need to do something and you want to be doing something totally different and you just need to decide which one it has to be at any given point in time. And trust me when I say I've had to eat peas, not because I wanted to, but I needed to. And I'm happy to say that it's not that I'll never be back there again, but at least for this year, the last 5, 6 months, I've had a choice and I've chosen not to have to and eat something differently. I'll just leave it at that. But when you think of the second question along with the first, so the first question that we talked about was, You know, can you do what you want to do based on the choice you made or the environment that you're in, whether that be your business, your own business, or your corporate career, or maybe you are looking to make a change. The second question then says, okay, so I've answered this and have a good idea about whether or not I can do what I want to do, but now I want to make sure, is the investment worth it to me? You might, like, you know, a few of my clients, say, you know what, the stability, the salary, the insurance, the benefits, the 401 is not worth the lack of flexibility, the lack of balance in my life, the lack of growth and opportunity personally versus professionally that I want, so forth and so on. And therefore, you decide to make a change. So this question is really good just to make you get out of your head and think about Am I satisfied and getting what I want out of what I'm doing? And/or is the investment, and for those of you that like to look at it as a cost, is it worth it? All right, when we come back, we're going to take another quick break. When we come back, we'll get to our third question, which will then allow you to put these three questions together and do a really good job at understanding where you're at right now at this very moment in time. And like we always talk about, self-awareness is key to a happy, productive life. We'll be right back.

You are listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio with Bernadette Boas. We are inspiring individuals around the globe to discover, confront, and shed their bitches of fear, insecurity, and negativity so they can create the riches in their career career, business, and life they deserve. Be sure to check out Bernadette's book, Shedding the Corporate Bitch: Shifting from Bitch to Rich in Life and Business, available on Amazon and sheddingthebitch.com. We also want to thank our sponsors, North Georgia Tax Solutions, who offers a broad range of tax services for small to corporate-sized clients. Go to ngtaxsolutions.com to learn more. And Parker House Virtual Services, who provides virtual assistance and social media support for small to medium-sized businesses. Email Deborah Parker at deborahparker.va@gmail.com for more information. To become a sponsor or advertiser on our program, email us at mediarelations@sheddingthebitch.com. Shedding the Bitch Radio airs every Tuesday at noon Eastern Time. Be sure to go to blogtalkradio.com/shuttingthebitchradio and follow the program for all of the updates and announcements of our guests and show topics. Now let's return to Bernadette and Shedding the Bitch Radio.

Welcome back everyone. We are talking the top 3 questions you should be asking yourself around your business or career to ensure that you have a productive, rich, and happy life. So the first two was— and you can go back and listen if you're just joining us— was can you do what you want being in the business that you might have right now on your own, or the career that you have, or if you're making a change or considering a transition, can— that role, that position, that environment that you're in give you what you want. The second question is, is that environment, is that situation worth the investment? So some people would say, oh my God, being an entrepreneur is so hard. I've given up so much leaving my corporate career, but I wouldn't choose anything different because of X, Y, and Z. Some other people look at, you know, from a corporate perspective, look at going out on their own going, "Oh my God, I'd be giving up this, this, this, this, and this for the risk of doing this, this, and this, yet," you know, and then they fill in the blanks. So you really want to be thinking about is the environment you're in and/or you're considering worth the investment of doing it. You know, both of them are hard. It depends upon what it is that you're really looking for. The third question, this question I didn't understand this question when it was first posed to me, and that was like a couple years before I left corporate or before I was infamously fired from corporate, but that's a whole different story for another day. But it became, you know, very apparent to me and become now one of my first questions I go to when I am considering whether or not I'm still happy and satisfied and challenged in doing what I'm doing. Because, and you'll understand why in a second, it's very telling. And that is, does the business or career that you're in right now allow you to show up strong every day? Does it allow you to show up strong every day? Now what does that mean? What that means is of course there's times when we don't want to get out of bed. We don't want to hit that Monday morning traffic and get into work whether you are on your own or in corporate. There is that pleading for Friday to come along for that weekend, but it's when that, casual or infrequent urge becomes more daily, becomes more prevalent of being a negative versus a positive. There's sometimes we all need a vacation and we all want, you know, Friday to come along. But when it becomes pervasive, let's call it, that's when you want to really kind of step back and take account. Of where you're at, and that's how this question came about for me. It was probably a year and a half, 18 months before I left corporate, and I really wasn't aware of the answer. I just, you know, when I was given it, I kind of looked at the person going, well, I'm not sure what you're talking about, because they were asking me, you know, are you really able to give it all, you know, as much as you've given for the last 20, you know, 25 years? You know, you seem to be dragging, you seem to be unfocused, you seem to be disconnected, you seem to be this, you seem to be that, all these kind of things. And when the question was then asked of me more specifically a couple years after I left corporate and I started working on my own, and then I've begun to ask it ever since, it's one of my favorite and one of my most critical questions. Because I found only once or twice in the last 10 years where I really contemplated heavily whether or not I made the right decision to go out on my own and/or should I go and reconsider and potentially go back to a corporate type of role. Because if your role, your environment, isn't allowing you to show up productive creative, excited, motivated, inspired, show up strong, then you really need to be thinking about and go back to that first question. You know, can you do and can you get what you want out of the business or the career that you're in? And if the question is yes and you're just tired and burned out, well fine, then go get a vacation or go to the spa or go to the gym. Take a walk, whatever the case might be. If it is more pervasive, more prevalent, more consistent, and you're just not happy after evaluating this question, then you really need to consider a change. Now that certainly doesn't mean you have to go from corporate to business or business to corporate. It might just mean that you need to look for another department in your company. You might need to look for a different role in your company. You might need to look for a different manager, a different boss who might not be giving you kind of the challenges that you want or the support that you need, whatever the case might be. So it's not, you know, it can be a major life-changing decision and/or it can be just a, you know, ramping up, amping up, shifting and adjusting type of answer. But making sure that you're considering it is what's important because we all want to jump out of bed and be excited about what it is that we do. We all want to jump out of bed and go out inspired and motivated and energized and focused and, you know, we all want to contribute in our day at work or at home or at play. And when we're not, we become, you know, all of a sudden we're becoming drained and demotivated, maybe even depressed, and that's not a good state of being to be in. So things to consider in regards to if you, you know, aren't feeling strong or you're not— if you want to assess whether you're showing up strong. I really— you know, this was a major factor for the past 6 months for me. Many of you know I spoke for the first couple months of the year about being stuck. I wasn't motivated, I wasn't excited, I wasn't being challenged, I was no longer kind of energized about what it was that I was doing. So I wasn't showing up strong. I wasn't even showing up. I spent most of January and February on my couch, you know, kind of working my current clients because all of them, you know, give me excitement and give me joy. But apart from them, there really wasn't much other than that. I talked about playing a lot of pickleball, which I did, because that got me, you know, got me out of my head. But you want to consider that, and of course I talk to my clients when it comes to them deciding whether or not they're going to go out on their own and/or they're going to, you know, kind of continue working in their corporate career and advancement and whatnot. I make sure, you know, from a business perspective, an entrepreneurial perspective, you need to show up strong every day because it's your business. You know, you need to be able to work alone, you need to be able to— to sacrifice the fact that you don't have a staff anymore if you are coming from corporate. You need to define that plan and have that accountability, whether it's accountability to yourself, from yourself, accountability from a friend, accountability from a formal coach, whatever the case might be. Because you know that in a business, you're the salesperson, you're the marketing person, you're the HR person. You know, you're the trash man, you're everything. So, you know, are you, whether it's a month down from when you started or a year or 5 years or 10 years later, are you showing up strong every day to do the things that you need to do in your own business? Same thing from a corporate perspective. And this was my issue for those last 18 months of my corporate career. You know, I wasn't excited, I wasn't motivated, I didn't want to be teaming anymore. I didn't want to be an individual contributor anymore. I didn't want to kind of interact with my clients anymore. It just became mundane and monotonous, and I was bored and frustrated. And at the same time, you know, I felt shifts going on, not only within myself but within the company. I wasn't enjoying my bosses anymore. I wasn't, you know, enjoying my mentor anymore. I wasn't enjoying the job I was doing anymore. So I wasn't showing up strong every day. And that, you know, again, those 18 months didn't really make sense to me, but it certainly did 2, 3 years after leaving, and then on, you know, a number of occasions ever since when I really have thought about this question. So there— so it's a great question to be asking yourself at any point in time as far as making sure that you're still contributing, you're still feeling good about what it is that you're doing, you're still motivated, you're still inspired, you're still wanting to grow and be challenged. These 3 questions of can you do what you want to be doing in your business and/or in your career, is the investment you're making into it worth it to you for having the things that you can have as a result of it, and does it allow you to show up strong? Answer those 3 questions, and you're going to have a really good idea as to where you're at right now and where you actually want to be and whatever gap there might be so you can make changes and adjustments and new strategies and new ideas from there. All right. Next week is the first Monday— or I'm sorry, next week is the first Tuesday of May, so it will be Ask Bernadette. So be sure to post your questions on Facebook or Twitter, and I'd be honored to give you some tips and advice at that time, plus right here on Shedding the Bitch Radio. So everyone have a great week, and I'll talk to you next week, noon Eastern time on Tuesday. Take care. Thank you for listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio with Bernadette Boas. Join Bernadette every Tuesday Tuesday at noon Eastern as she helps you shift your bitches to riches. And the dialogue is always going on at sheddingthebitch.com. See you next week.