Welcome to Episode #231 of the Own Your Best Life Podcast

When you’re burning out, bored, or just plain exhausted, you start wondering if corporate life is for you. You don’t know if the grass is greener on the other side. What if you did something more entrepreneurial or just left your current role for a different one? Would things change?

Today’s podcast is for the professional who has been on the professional track, doing the corporate hustle, and wondering if this is really it.

A Surprising Truth About My Journey

Something that might surprise you about me is that I never wanted to become an entrepreneur and have my own business. I never had these dreams of wanting to run my own business and make all the calls. I didn’t want to lead everything, and I didn’t want the responsibility that came with it.

So why, then, have I built this business that keeps thriving year after year?

The Pivot: From Corporate to Coaching

It started off as the “how” behind how I could do the coaching work. I remember when I was pivoting careers, looking around and interviewing for roles within the corporation I was already at during this time. I was trying to transfer into work that would get me closer to coaching and human development.

I had completed my coaching certification at Columbia, where I did my MBA, and it truly felt like a calling. I had that wake-up call that changed everything—the sudden death of a loved one that reminded me that time is not owed to me and that I wasn’t living the life I knew was possible. I wasn’t having the impact I wanted to have on the world, and I didn’t even know what my gifts were.

I say this because I know that sometimes it looks like people were born just knowing exactly what they are going to do with their lives, and that is not true. Everyone, including myself, will have a different journey of ups and downs to discovering why they’re here and what they want from life.

The Corporate Dead-End and a Question That Changed Everything

When I made the big shifts to actually do the work I thought I was here to do, my journey wasn’t without its challenges. I kept feeling like I hit a dead end when I couldn’t make it work in my corporate job.

But the key here is that I didn’t give up. I started a business, not thinking it would become what it is today. I did it because getting paid for coaching hours was part of the Columbia executive coaching program certification.

Then, something shifted—I wanted to go all in on the business and get out of the corporate world. I heard all the voices saying, “Burn the boats, entrepreneurship is the only way.” But I also kept thinking about how I could make it work where I was. I had connections, industry knowledge, and expertise in sales and marketing.

The Power of Asking the Right Question

I kept hitting dead-ends, though. I’d interview for roles, and then they’d be put on hold. I even thought I’d exhausted all possibilities until I remembered getting coached and realizing that I didn’t know what other possibilities were out there.

That’s when I changed my thinking: instead of saying, “There are no possibilities,” I asked myself, “What other creative possibilities are there?”

That one question led me to a conversation with someone I hadn’t yet spoken to, who was leading a team that had someone in a sales training role. It wasn’t even a position I’d considered before, but I treated it as an informational interview—and found out they were upleveling the role. I wouldn’t have known any of this if I hadn’t asked the right question.

Busting the Myth: You Can Do Both

Here I am now, doing both corporate work and entrepreneurial work after thinking I had to choose one or the other. I want to bust that myth that there’s only fulfillment in one thing or the other.

How to Love What You’re Doing (Even When Stuck)

If you’re feeling stuck but not sure where to go next, here are a few ideas that can help you love what you’re doing even more.

1. Your Happiness Isn’t In Your Job

You thought that your job should be your entire identity. I know I did. But spiritually, we’re not here to just work. We’re here to connect with the world around us, and sometimes that happens through our work, but often, it’s through our interactions with others, nature, and who we are as humans.

When you make your job responsible for your happiness, you become burnt out. You tie your achievements to your worth. When you stop making your job your whole identity, you start to feel more at peace with your work and life.

2. You Don’t Have to Suffer Financially for Fulfillment

There’s a common myth that you’ll have to suffer financially in order to be happy. Let me clear this up: I’m not going to tell you to leave a well-paying job, but I do want you to understand how you can scale your life with your money.

Research shows that what truly impacts fulfillment is your ability to spend time doing what you love. When you overwork yourself and don’t prioritize your well-being, you start to resent your work. You need to understand what you’re willing to trade for money and make adjustments accordingly.

Spiritual High-Performance Strategies for Success

To get both more money and more fulfillment, implement these strategies:

• Increase your skills: Focus on areas that you care about. You’ll find that you’re happier doing more work when you care about the outcome.
  
• Constrain your hours: If you’re working all day, every day, you’re burning out your energy. Protect your time to focus on higher-level thinking.
  
• Create a community: Don’t isolate yourself. Be open about what’s going on in your life. Building a support system makes all the difference.
  
• Get support: Many clients wish they’d started coaching earlier. The right support can be life-changing, and it’s often the thing that propels you into the next stage of your growth.
  

Starting a Business vs. Staying in Corporate

If you’re wondering whether to start a business or stay in corporate, my answer is simple: Both. You don’t have to do just one.

I thought I had the worst corporate situation, and yet now, I’ve created a life where I thrive in both.

Trusting Yourself on Your Journey

Finding fulfillment looks different for everyone based on life stage and values. For me, I had young kids and needed stability. I didn’t want to give up my corporate income while building my business. You don’t have to rush your journey, but you also don’t need to slow it down.

Ask yourself if you’re following someone else’s timeline or your own. The beauty of this journey is that it helps you develop more self-trust and learn who you are outside of your work.

Conclusion: Your Next Step

Whether you choose to stay or leave, the skills you develop in trusting yourself and aligning with your purpose will guide you to the most fulfilling path. And if you’re ready to start building these skills, the Spiritual Achiever® Coaching Program is exactly what you need.

You’ll learn everything from embodiment practices to high-performance strategies—tools that help you lead and live with confidence, clarity, and calm.

Start Here: Free Training

👉 Watch the free training:
STAND OUT AND LEAD – How to use spiritual and high-performance strategies to achieve time and financial freedom.

Apply for Coaching

Ready to live a life that feels as good as it looks?

📞 Apply now at www.mayempson.com/contact
Risk-free: If you don’t start seeing results in your first month, you’ll get your money back.

Want to know more about what happens when you join?

1. When you join Spiritual Achiever® Coaching you’ll be supported for a full year: Career Revelation Academy: A 5-step career change process (if you have a job you want to stay in, I’ll show you how to love it even more) that can launch you into your next career chapter in 30 days.
2. 2x/month group training and coaching on Spirituality, Achievement, Earth Energy and Harmony. You’ll know how to design your days for breakthroughs, create a personal brand and community, lead yourself and others through change, become more physically and mentally fit, reduce stress and reinvent what’s possible in this next chapter of your life.
3. Discover your Leadership Strengths and Branding Workshop: Increase your awareness of what makes YOU different from others and how to become even better at your genius zone.
4. Your Best Year workshop: Create your one year plan and design this next year, no matter what time of the year it is.
5. Your Next 5 Years one-day virtual retreat: Vision what’s possible 5 years from now and break out of your old routines so you can step into new habits, behaviors and routines.
6. Tickets to all in-person Spiritual Achiever retreats (discounted rates): Highly immersive and intimate gatherings where we spend time in nature, experience energy work, eat and move well – all while making big decisions and committing to what’s next for us.
7. Monthly 1:1 Coaching Sessions: To help you break through obstacles, define your individual path, and to work on both strategy and mindset.