Quit Chasing The Paycheck And Start Choosing Yourself

Money is a factor, but it’s not the point. I’m unpacking the real reason so many women feel pulled toward entrepreneurship, even when they already have a solid career: we want our lives back. More choice. More freedom. More flexibility. More say in how our days actually work. After a recent conversation with a close friend who’s a mother and thinking about starting her own business, I reflect on my own leap from corporate and the honest tradeoffs that came with it. No sugarcoating, and also no regret.

Transcript

Nika Lawrie 0:00

Hey, and welcome back to another episode of This Is How We Rise. I, of course, am your host, Nika Lawrie. As always, I am super, super grateful to have you join me today. So today, I want to talk to you about something. Well, let me start first. I just had a conversation with a dear, dear friend of mine

Welcome And The Real Question

Nika Lawrie 0:17

about considering starting her own business. She's currently has a really great career, but she's a mother and she's thinking about potentially going in a new direction and starting her own business. And I had the conversation with her about what that was like for me and what the sacrifices were versus what I got out of it and whether or not I regretted leaving the corporate world and starting my own business. And the short answer is absolutely not. Starting my own business has been one of the best things I've ever done for my life. But with that did come some sacrifices. But on the flip side, I got so much out of it. So I want to talk to you about why building a business is not just about money. It's truly about reclaiming your life. So I'm going to talk to you about a bunch of different things. But one of the things that I think is most important to drive home is that building a business,

Business As Choice And Freedom

Nika Lawrie 1:12

again, is not just about making more money. You can make more money, but what it really does is it creates more choice for you, more freedom, more flexibility. And that is truly the key to everything. It's about waking up and knowing you're not trapped inside of somebody else's schedule, somebody else's limits or expectations. You have the ability to make those choices for yourself. And the other piece of that is you really get to work on something that you desire, that you feel passionate about. And it's not building something for somebody else, it's building something that inspires you, that came from your soul that you can give to the world and you feel proud of doing. So again, money matters. Of course, it's important, but really the peace that comes out of it is the freedom and is the ability to make your own choices. I think a lot of you probably already know that at the core, but it's important to say over and over again so that you really understand why starting your own business can be such a powerful thing for who you are as a woman. Most women do not want to build a business because they feel greedy. Most women do not go into this just thinking about the money. They think about the breathing room that it gives them. They think about the service and the impact it can have on their community. They want

Choosing Yourself Builds Identity

Nika Lawrie 2:42

to stop asking for permission to rest, to travel, to create, to earn, to grow, to be present with their families, to have self-care time, to just breathe. That is why most women start their business. One of the things that I truly love about starting a business is it can actually be a path back to your own power. It gives you a way to use your voice, your skills, and your story. It allows you to use your lived experience to create something meaningful. It allows you to build income around your values and not just in survival mode. So many people go into careers and stick with careers for a long period of time, even when they're miserable, simply because they are in survival mode. Starting that business can give you that power back and really helps you think about who you want to be and how you want to impact this world. For many women, building a business is the moment that they stop waiting to be chosen and start choosing themselves. This was really key for me. It took me a couple of years, even when starting my business, to really understand that it was okay to choose myself and to really think about how I needed to be as a woman in order to make my business successful. And again, it wasn't just about revenue. It's really about identity and it's about becoming the kind of woman who trusts herself to create, lead, and solve problems to really build something real and impactful. When you build a business, you are not just building an offer and a website or brand. You're building capacity, you're building your confidence up, you're building ownership, which gives you power and influence. You're building a life that no longer depends on somebody else giving you permission to rise. Instead, you rise yourself because you have that internal power and that internal permission. The goal is not to work more, the goal is to live more freely. The goal is to create a life where health, family, purpose, and your peace are not constantly sacrificed for a paycheck. And this can be

Foundations That Create Safety

Nika Lawrie 5:11

done if you build out your foundations correctly. Business, when built well, becomes the tool for freedom. It becomes the tool for sustainability, for impact, for self-respect. It becomes the tool to keep you safe. So you move out of survival mode and you have the means to be safe in this world. And that is so powerful for so many women. At the deepest level, this is never about money. It's about reclaiming your time, reclaiming your energy, reclaiming your voice, reclaiming your future. And you have to remember that this is the one chance you have. Remember that this life belongs to you. And it's your turn. It's your opportunity to design that life to fit the way you want to live. So, with that, I want to share something with you. I am launching a course called the Next Era Accelerator. I'm launching it on June 15th. And I can't wait to share it with you guys because it provides all the tools and resources to build your foundation to then

Next Era Accelerator Launch Details

Nika Lawrie 6:22

start and grow your business or take your business from where it's at now to the next level. If you feel like you are scattered and fearful and unsure of what to do, you have that uncertainty and you're overthinking. This course will help you work through that. It will help you get your health and energy together. It will help you rebuild those belief systems so you don't have that fear holding you back. It will help you create the identity of the self yourself that shows up as the calm, confident CEO that you need to grow that business. It will help you build the systems and structures that you need to really make that business successful. It will give you a community to connect with other like-minded women who are going through this process together. And it will teach you the basics around ownership and wealth and finance so that as you grow the business, you can make a greater impact in your community. You can build safety and structure for yourself and your family, and you can build that long-term wealth. Again, this is for someone who is just starting out, or someone who's been doing it a while, but knows that you need to do it a little differently. Maybe you're burnt out, maybe you need some support, maybe you just need some more guidance on how to do this without the stress and chaos. This course is for you. So check out the show notes below. Again, it's the Next Era Accelerator. It's going to open on June 15th. And I can't wait to share it to you, share it with you. If you have questions now, reach out to me. I'm happy to answer them ahead of time. But with that, my friend, I'm wishing you a happy, healthy hustle. I will see you in

How To Join And Closing

Nika Lawrie 7:58

the next episode, and I hope you have a wonderful day.