Raise The Anchor
Raise the Anchor- is a transformative podcast hosted by Melissa Burbridge, where ordinary people share extraordinary stories of life-changing moments.
From overcoming health challenges like a life-saving liver transplant to bold decisions like a career pivot or adopting a life-altering diet, each episode dives into the pivotal moments that reshaped lives for the better. Through Melissa's thoughtful interviews and powerful narratives, "Raise the Anchor" inspires listeners to let go of what holds them back and set sail toward a brighter future.
Join Melissa each week for stories that will spark inspiration, ignite courage, and remind you that it’s never too late to rewrite your story.
Raise The Anchor
What did you have to give up? with Melissa Burbridge
This week Melissa shared her story about what she had to give up to leave a job and start a business of her own.
Highlights of this episode are:
- Getting rid of bad habits
- Some changes are temporary
- Align yourself with a good support group
- Research your coaches and mentors
She also shared that we will be upgrading the show and moving away from seasons on the podcast and migrating over to episodes.
We want to offer the most value you deserve. Share any feedback: aliseicreativesolutions@gmail.com
Welcome to Season 3 of Raise the Anchor with your host, Melissa Burbridge. This season, we are going to inspire, ignite, and create space for you to go after the change you want with invigorating interviews and some deep diving into my personal story. We hope you enjoy. What have you had to give up? With your host, Melissa Burbridge. I'm here today to share my story a little bit on what I had to give up to become who I am today and a little bit of details onto why I had to give those up and how they've affected a change within. And the reason I'm sharing this is because this is a question I get asked all the time. It's also a pillar of Raise the Anchor. It's something we really pride ourselves on educating women around, what they might have to give up temporarily, what they might have to give up permanently to go and do what they're wanting to do, because there are things you're going to have to give up, whether you like it or not, when you're trying to chase after something you really want. So it's an interesting episode. I can't believe that it's taken me so long to really want to talk about this. I think I was hiding behind the fact that, you know, These are things that people might not want to know about, but people ultimately do. They ultimately want to know those nitty-gritty things that you've had to do to get to where you are today because society shows us that being an entrepreneur is wonderful. You get to adjust your own hours around your own schedule. You get to do whatever you want and be whatever you want. But there's a lot of hard work, hustle, and and time given up to actually achieve what you want to be achieving. It doesn't come just like that. You have to work your butt off to get where you are. So there are certainly things I've had to give up along the way. My morning routine used to be two cups of coffee, chill and watch TV with my husband, and then go to work and get the kids ready and all of that. Well, I've kind of had to give that up, but it's actually for the better. It's better for my health as to what I do in my morning routine. And I will have a morning routines episode, so I'm not going to spill the whole thing. But the first two hours, I don't do work. And before, while we were watching TV, I would be doing work. I would constantly be on my phone. I would constantly be on my computer. And that's just in the business sense. When I was a nurse, it would be literally... rushing to get everybody ready, getting a shower, getting dressed, get out the door. And I didn't have a morning. I didn't have a routine. I was just getting out the door. So those kinds of things I did have to give up, which if you think about both of those types of morning routines, you're not healthy because as a nurse, I was shoving whatever I could into my mouth. It wasn't a nice, complete breakfast. It wasn't a healthy breakfast. It was whatever I could fix fast and get the kids out the door. Then when I became an entrepreneur, it was, My husband and I sitting on the TV. So it would be like maybe bacon and eggs or like some sort of breakfast that I thought would be healthy. And then we'd be watching TV and we'd be having coffee. And there was no real anything because I would be on my phone working. So that was a healthy habit. So I had to give up that bad habit. And now I have a smoothie in the morning, a beautiful smoothie that my naturopath has given me the recipe for. And it's invigorating. I grab a book and I start reading from that book. And it's usually a book geared towards the business. So it is business oriented in the morning, but it's this calming piece. And then I will do a workout or I will go for a walk with my dog. And it's just a peaceful type of morning. It's a good way to get the energy up. I still have to get the kids ready, but they've accustomized to my routine. So they've adjusted their routines and they're It's a much more peaceful morning other than the fact that I have two teenagers and anybody who's a mom of teenagers knows that you're always going to have a little bit of fun with your teenagers in the morning because mornings are not teenagers friends. Although I do have one teenager who is a morning person and he has his own routine and he takes care of himself. But those are a couple of the things I had to give up. Another thing I had to give up when I left nursing was the sisterhood. it's an amazing community nurses stick together if you find that group of nurses you become this bonded this bonded like family and I did have to give that up to leave which is Really, I hate it. I do try and stay in touch as much as I can. But when you're an entrepreneur, you know that the first couple of years of your business, you are working your butt off. So you don't really have a social life at all. So right now, yeah, I don't have a social life. I'm starting to integrate that back into my life because I finally built the business to a place where I can. But I don't have, you know, like evenings and weekends to really go and do a lot of things because I'm in the process of building the business. So I did have to give up that piece, but it's slowly coming back now that I've really stuck to it for the last couple of years. Now my life is starting to be to the place where I want it to be, where I dreamt it would be as an entrepreneur, because ultimately we get into business to have a little more of that flexibility, but you have to build that solid foundation in the beginning. And people think jumping out of one thing into another and becoming an entrepreneur, you could just, you know, I can do whatever, whenever I want. And that's how being an entrepreneur is. But to build that solid foundation, that's going to take a bunch of grit first. You're not going to become like, oh, I can organize. I only work two hours a day, three days a week, and my life is all good. No, you're going to have to work your butt off for the first couple of years, and then you'll have that foundation, and then you can have more flexibility. So it is going to be giving up a little bit of time. It is going to be giving up a little bit of your social life, a little bit of your family life. But I will say that when you actually get to do the social life or the family life, you are way more present. And it's way more quality versus the quantity. So I don't want that piece to scare you off of going into a career that you want, because it is way more rewarding when you do actually get to do those things. I will say I do get to see certain things in my kids that I didn't before, like those soccer games. I was always scheduled for nursing shifts during soccer games. I actually get to be present during holidays, which is fantastic. I get to do some cooking, which is fantastic. I also get to go away a little bit more when I want, which is nice because I work for a lot of different things. So I get to take advantage of that in the end. So I do want to say, if you do have to give things up, I want you to not think of it as giving it up permanently or It has to be the end of something. Certain things you may just naturally want to give up. Certain things you may want to just pause. I have been pausing on TV, not because I have to, not because anybody has said, but because I like to keep my mind in a certain space. I'm going through a lot of mindset changes. So as I want to grow the business, I want to hold that space for the business piece. And then when I'm not working, I want to have my space for my family. So I've kind of given up TV. I don't want the distraction. I don't want to get sucked in because I have clear goals on what I want to be doing. So I've temporarily given up TV. I'm not giving up TV forever, but I will say that not doing the TV piece has actually been really kind of enjoyable. I do watch movies with my family still, but not getting sucked into a show day in, day out right now has put a more positive space in my energy, which has helped me get past some of my burnout and stuff because I would get to a wall in the middle of the day where I wanted a third coffee, where I needed something to do to break it up And I would just turn to the TV. Instead, I've started to go for a walk. I will pick up my book or I will be intentional with my time. I will pick up and do a chore. I will just be intentional with what I'm doing in that time while I'm taking a break from actually working. So I'm changing my energy by giving up TV. You certainly don't have to give up TV. That is a life choice that I have made. But you will have to... Be more strategic with your time. You will have to be more strategic with who you allow in while you're building your business. You will also have to be very careful of getting sucked into all these hypes and professionals. You want to be wise with who you align yourself with. Because if you align yourself with the wrong person, it's going to take that much longer to get where you're wanting to go. So it's very easy to fall into a rabbit hole when you go on social media and Google sales. You're going to find a billion different people that will teach you sales. You're going to find so many freebies. You're going to find so many different things. But find that person that aligns with you and find that person that gives you that good feeling. So I've gotten a little more spiritual over the last year and don't get scared by that, a little woo-woo-y. I've always had that when I was younger, but I kind of ignored that for a long time. It's not like I'm going to say, let's go do a seance or let's go to church because spirituality and religious are two different things. But what I'm saying is I really, I got my human design read by an amazing lady who Dawn. She's absolutely beautiful. And she's woken up certain things in me that I've pushed down because as a nurse, oh, that's it. You can't trust your gut. You have to trust science. Or you, as a mom, you don't look at certain things. You don't feel with your gut because you have to be practical. You have to be what society wants you to be. So I've really leaned into myself being a generator and listening to my gut because I don't have the same intuition piece because my intuition is different because it's how my human design is. My intuition is a little different. So I have to listen to my gut. So that is something that I've had to really take and practice with. So I listen to my gut and how it helps me make decisions. So if I'm sifting through all of these different salespeople, And I'm looking at what they're doing. If they're pushy, if they're not pushy, if they're just like, do this and you'll get a million sales. I want to look for the person who my gut says, okay, I want to reach out to them because they sound like my type of person. So don't get sucked into the rabbit hole. I know that was a long way around the rabbit hole, but you just want to be strategic about Another thing I've had to give up were my bad habits. And I know that sounds funny. How is that even a bad thing? It's not a bad thing. So I told you about the TV thing. I'm working on my coffee thing, but that was a whole burnout thing. I did give up alcohol for a while because when I was going through a lot of my nurse stuff as a mental health practitioner, I did lean more towards alcohol to cope. So I gave up that coping mechanism for a while so that I can go through the fields so that I can process everything. Because owning your own business can be stressful, you are more... apt to lean into those devices you've used before. So you want to be careful in what you're going to do. And you want to align yourself with a community that helps you know that you don't have to do things alone. So that is another thing. In the beginning with the business, I tried to do everything alone. I did eventually get some help, but with that help, it didn't fully align. So I was on my own again. And in doing so, I didn't want to reach out. I didn't want to have other people come and help. I had a hard time giving up that piece, but what I was actually doing was internalizing everything. And I was turning back to that stressful ball that I was as a nurse. I was turning back into that zombie walking through my life. And I just had to take a moment back and say, okay, this is not healthy. This is not how I should be doing. So you should be giving up those things to work through those processes so that you can then do what you want. So the other thing was I had to give up doing things by myself because I am only one person. I have big, big visions. I had to learn to be able to give out to staff and to a community that I can go back and forth with. I can give them any problem and they will give me answers back or they will give me suggestions. I had to give up that piece that when I know it's going to be more helpful for me. So as much as I don't want to say, ooh, this project is all me, me, me, it's not completely me. I've had help and I just have to own that piece. So you do have to give up some things. So in short, you will have to give up some things, but a lot of times it's going to be temporary. I know I tend to ramble, but I get so passionate. I think I'm going to have to work with somebody to make sure that I can get my point across without this large story, but it is who I am. I do ramble, especially when I'm passionate and And I hope that this episode is a little bit helpful for you. It doesn't scare you off. There are so many rewards for going after what you truly want. I can tell you, I probably worked more over the last two years than I did as a nurse, but I was less tired. Yes, I did go through burnout. So that's a whole different story. That was for different reasons. It had nothing to do with the business itself, although it could very well be have been the business because I could have gone down that rabbit hole. But when we created our group programs, we made sure to implement strategies for the women who go through the programs so that they don't burn out in the end, so that they can still get that hustle and grind that you have to do in the first two years, but put certain boundaries in place right off the get-go because there's no way around building a big business or having a big vision without doing the work, there's always going to have to be that work. But you do have to find those boundaries. You have to find those ways to keep yourself protected, your health intact, so that you can go and be successful and move on to the next day and the next task and grow the business to where you want it to be. So those are things that we purposely built into our group program. So I... I can't even imagine going through what I've just gone through over the last two years if I didn't have some of the supports that I have in these group communities that I have or some of the networkings that I've had. But it was very hard during a good six-month stretch when I didn't have any of that. And I did have to give up everything because I was too busy trying to do the hustle just to keep the business afloat. So you want to be strategic with what you give up is the long story. I know I've rambled a lot. I'm going to try and make these podcasts a little more purposeful as we grow this podcast to where we want it to be. There's going to be a few more changes in the podcast. We're really working on tweaking some things to make it a little more bite-sized for you. So we'll have the big episodes that we normally do with the guests and the short ones with myself, but we're also going to try and have it so that they're to the point for you so that you don't have to feel like you've listened to an hour-long podcast podcast to listen to five minutes of the actual thing, if that makes sense to you. So we want to be more mindful and intentional with the time as we bring our episodes to you. Although I think when I have a guest, we haven't had any of that piece, but I do find some of my personal episodes because I am such a rambly talker that they probably take 10 times longer for the short point that I want to get across. And that is, I did have to give up some things. I've had to give up some friendships. I gave up most negative things because I want my place in life to be more positive. If I'm going to live for me and I'm going to live for my family and I'm going to live for this life that I want, I wanted to be in a positive space. So I did have to give up a lot of negative things, which is actually more for my benefit. So it's not... a disadvantage. And I want that stigma of, okay, you're starting your own business. You're going to have to give up all of these things and it's going to be so crappy. It's not going to be worth it. It is so worth it. I can't even imagine doing anything else right now in my life as I look forward to the plans that I have over the next couple of years. I know that what we are trying to build and grow and do is going to make such an impact on women that it just lights me up. We want to help as many women as we can go out into the workforce, either as an entrepreneur or into a job that they want, and actually live for who they want because COVID has taught us that things can change like that. So why are we going to a job that makes us sick, that gives us no pleasure, that actually sucks the life out of some people? So I want us to help you go to that place that makes you want to get up in the morning, that makes you feel good even if you're working more than you think you should be. because it's doing something positive for your life. So I hope you've enjoyed this episode. I know it's another rambly one, but I am so grateful for all of you guys reaching out to me and letting me know what you want to know on the show, what you want more of, what you want less of. It is so helpful for the community to be able to share actual nuggets to you guys that you want So if there is anything else you would like from us to put on our show, because our show is no longer going to be seasons coming up, we are getting rid of the seasons and we are going to be doing more episodes. We will be working up to probably two episodes in a week, but that's going to be probably in July because we have a lot of other stuff launching over the next couple of months. We don't want to overwork ourselves or burn out. So we're trying to be strategic, but, There are no longer seasons. So even though we're technically in season three, as of next week, there will no longer be seasons of the podcast. It will just be episode, I think we're on 42 right now. And then going forward, it will be in that kind of platform. So if there are more things you would like from us, if there are things you would like us to include in our podcast, in our show notes, let us know. And I hope you have a beautiful rest of your week. We hope you found that story very inspiring. We look forward to bringing you more each week. Subscribe to the podcast to stay in the loop. Don't forget to leave a five-star review to spread the love even further. We hope you have smooth sailing.
