Coffee Unlimited with J&D

Making the Leap

Janelle and Danielle Season 1 Episode 1

In this premiere episode of Coffee Unlimited with J&D, Janelle and Danielle share the raw, real stories behind their leap from corporate careers to the uncertain (but exciting) world of entrepreneurship.

Janelle reflects on her two-time transition out of executive roles, what she learned about identity, money, and self-worth, and how inner peace—not a title—became her success metric. Danielle offers her own journey of letting go of labels, taking naps with her dog, and figuring out how to structure her days in a way that fills her many “cups”—from health to purpose to rest.

Whether you're dreaming about leaving your 9-to-5 or just craving a more purposeful life, this conversation is full of practical tips, money advice, mindset shifts, and real talk about building a life you don’t need a vacation from.

In this episode:

  • How to know when you’re ready to leave your job
  • What to do with your time before diving back into work
  • Business setup tips (from bank accounts to Canva Pro)
  • Why rest is part of the work
  • Learning to separate your identity from your job title
SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to Coffee Unlimited with Jay and Dee. We are going to be talking about our transition from the corporate space to becoming entrepreneurs and working for ourselves. I'm so excited to be here with Janelle. And before we get started, I would just love to hear what's important in your life right now.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, thanks, Danielle. Actually, you know what is top of mind? My middle child is turning 13 next week. And so there's a couple of things. One, I feel this pressure to make her 13th birthday like big, you know, like becoming a teenager. It's kind of a milestone, obviously. So I want it to be special for her. And then the second is just, well, kind of how to make it special. Like, what do I buy a 13-year-old? I swear all she wants is Sephora skincare and sweats, like hoodies and sweats, which is basically all I ever want. So maybe I'm more youthful than I make myself out to be. But, you know, I wish that there, I feel like it used to be easier, you know, to get kids gifts. Like there was something, some toy, some big toy they wanted that you could get and you knew they were going to be really excited. Um, but I'm just kind of at a loss right now. So I'm, I'm trying to figure out what to get her that would be, um, really special. Um, and I still haven't figured that out. So if you have any ideas, um, let me know, but yeah, that's, that's pretty much it. Um, for me right now is just thinking about her and her big day coming up.

SPEAKER_00:

I love that. 13, it is absolutely a milestone. I mean, I don't know about you, but I feel like I can't remember two years ago being a parent. Like, oh, what was it like when they were 16? I don't know. So for me, 13 just feels like it's so far away. Probably Sophia won't want this, but Blanca, we just bought this like some kind of an LED face mask. Face mask. Have you seen

SPEAKER_02:

that thing? Yeah, I want that. Buy me that.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, we just went to Ulta and we got it yesterday. So Blanca was using it and she pretty much forced me to put this thing on my face. I look like a robot. Let's do the anti-aging settings. I had this thing on for eight minutes and it was really great. pretty cool. Like it was really cooling under my eyes and I don't know if it's making a difference, but then Scott tried it too. So, I mean, maybe that's not for Sophia right now.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I mean, I'm, I'm really honestly thinking about getting it for myself. It's funny you say that because she wanted this weekend to, take me through her evening skincare routine and her morning skincare routine. So we did that. She brought all of her supplies into my bathroom and she, it was so cute. It was like a tutorial, which was endearing because it was as if she thought I really didn't know how to wash my face. Like the way she was telling me, and then you do this and then you splash and then you dab. And then she kept watching me do it. And I would play along like, Oh, like this. I

SPEAKER_00:

mean, you're putting Pretty low maintenance. So I would assume that, yeah, your skincare routine is not like an extensive list.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Korean toner. So exactly. All over the body. But it was really fun. So she has this whole, you know, kind of a six step evening routine of sprays and serums. And then she has her morning routine. It's pretty cute. And we put our little fuzzy headbands on, which was really fun.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh my gosh. It's making me think, would Sophia love to have like a spa day with mom where you two get facials and maybe you get into like have a whole day? I

SPEAKER_02:

love that. And then maybe we could squeeze in a trip to Disneyland.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm

SPEAKER_02:

going to meet you there.

SPEAKER_00:

I want

SPEAKER_02:

to go to Disneyland. Um, but yes, I love us. You know what? She would love that. That's a great idea. That's a really great idea with like robes and stuff. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, I love having girls.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. It's great.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, we're going to be talking about our transitions from the corporate space to becoming entrepreneurs. And I know, Janelle, for you, this is your second time making that transition. What have you learned? Are there any insights or what was that like? How were you able to do that?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, this is the second time I've done it. So the first time was in 2020. And up until that point, I worked, you know, straight through all my jobs, you know, never took any time off in between roles or anything. So stepping away, like truly stepping away from a corporate job was a big step for me and something completely different. different. So the first time I did it was in 2020. I didn't necessarily I hadn't been planning it. I wouldn't say that I was planning on it for a long time. I just knew I had peace of mind for many years at that point. I had peace of mind that if I ever wanted to take the leap, I could. And what I mean by that was like a couple of things. I could financially, like I'd saved money. So I knew that I could go a little while without an income, like a steady income. And which that is a big component of doing this, you know, because there are startup costs to becoming an entrepreneur. And there's a period of time where you're not making any money, usually as you're building client base and whatnot, or building your products. So I was financially able to do it because I had saved, you know, for many years. And then the second thing, when I say that I knew I could do it was, Mentally and emotionally, I knew I could do it. I had gotten to a place where my job and my title didn't define me. It used to. So I used to really see myself as this working woman. And it was a big part of my identity, a leader at a big organization. That was an important part of my life and an important part of my identity. And then through... Really, like after major burnout and depression, and then doing a lot of inner work and soul searching and spirituality, I realized how silly it was for me to define myself by the job I had, or my career. So I reached this point. in 2018, really, I can pin it down to 2018, where I realized I am not my job. My worth isn't tied to my job. It's not tied to the company that I work for. And so I was at Lululemon at the time, and I worked for an additional two years with that mindset, with this inner peace of knowing that if I left this job today or if I was fired even, like if I was rejected, I would be okay because it doesn't define me and I'm capable and whole without my job. So it was kind of those two components that made the leap, I guess, from corporate to working for myself. And not scary. Like I really wasn't scared to do it. And I was, I was excited to do it. So I did it the first time in 2020. I went back to a corporate role. And when I left in 2020, I spent as I left in June, I spent through the end of August, not doing anything. Even though people reached out for consulting work, I said no, because I wanted to purposely give myself space. It was summertime. And so with kids, it's the perfect time to not be working because I could be enjoying the the kids summer, you know, when they're not in school. And I wanted to just have time to sleep a lot and read all these books that I'd wanted to read for years and just, you know, be easy on myself. So I did that on purpose. And like I said, I knew financially speaking, I could work for, I could, I could spend some time without an income. And then when September came around, I started consulting. And a lot of it was through word of mouth. I think one of the benefits of working for big organizations like you and I have worked at is you naturally develop a pretty large network with the people that you've worked with and also the external partners that you work with in the corporate space. So when... You know, people realized on LinkedIn that I had left Lululemon. There were a lot of questions. Oh, what are you doing now? And so I could naturally say, well, I'm planning to consult on diversity, equity, inclusion and consult on HR. So I, you know, the word was out there. And then I was able to get clients just through word of mouth, like people just reaching out to ask me if I was available. And I really liked that. I really liked working for myself that first time. I liked the flexibility of it, freedom of it, freedom of my days, freedom to choose who I work with and who I say no to. And then an opportunity, a recruiter reached out about a corporate role that just sounded... perfect, you know, and, and, um, um, I, as I learned more about it, I decided that this was an opportunity that I would go back to the corporate space for, and don't get me wrong. I recruiters had reached out about other corporate roles before that. And it was a no for me. Like I, there wasn't, um, a desire to go back into a corporate space until the one at van city credit union, um, came across my desk. Um, and that's what prompted me to go back to corporate. which, um, was great for a couple of years. And then, um, once again, it was time to work for myself again. So, um, yeah, I've, I've chose this twice now and I have no regrets whatsoever, um, and, and really enjoying it for now. And, um, I, I, I find myself saying that I'm not going to go back to the I also believe, you know, never say never because you just don't know what is going to come across your desk that actually feels right at that time. What about you, Danielle? Like, so this is your first time, right? Leaving corporate. So I'm curious how you're finding it. And did you take any time off? Like, did you rest or did you go right into your work, working for yourself? And then, Right now, if someone were to ask you, would you go back to a corporate role? What would your answer be? Well,

SPEAKER_00:

before I answer that, I just wanted to highlight a couple of things that you shared. And if we could all learn that we are not our jobs, we are not our careers, you have this grace and fluidity like, okay, now I'm working here. Now I'm not working here. Now I'm working at this other organization. Now I'm not working there. I might work somewhere else. Lightness of being. I remember leading teacher trainings at Lululemon, yoga teacher trainings, and there were so many 20-something-year-olds who were completely attached. Their identities were attached to the brand. I was like, oh, let's try to decouple this. And I think when we are in our 20s, when we're younger, we do have this mindset of like, I am my job.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I certainly did. I

SPEAKER_02:

certainly did. In my 20s, I worked for Nike at the time. I would literally tell people that I was going to retire with Nike. I was going to work at Nike forever. This was my forever place. I'm retiring at Nike. And thankfully, I grew out of that because... I think when you attach something so strongly like that, you're bound to be disappointed at some point in your life or feel like a failure. If you equate one thing to another, your worth to this job or your identity to a brand, it's just the risk of losing that identity and feeling lost because of it is going to be high if you keep that attachment.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Totally. I remember transitioning out. So when I was in musical theater in my twenties, I went back to my old waitressing job in Los Angeles. Okay. And throughout my time as a musical theater performer, I was always introduced like, this is Danielle. She's in the cast of Miss Saigon.

SPEAKER_01:

I

SPEAKER_00:

had a lot of pride with that where I would be like, yes, that's who I am. And I remember busting my own tables, busting, busing. I can't remember what the Both.

SPEAKER_02:

I think both

SPEAKER_00:

is the

SPEAKER_02:

verb. Busting your butt and busting

SPEAKER_00:

tables. Busting tables while busting my butt. I'm picking up rigatoni or something from the floor. What was also really challenging was because it was the same... job I had in high school and part of college. So I had a lot of people in my old neighborhood in LA, kind of right adjacent to Beverly Hills. So so many of the people I grew up with in high school, they would come in and they'd be like, oh, you're a waitress? Oh, I thought that you were a musical performer. So it's even more just... Wow. Wow. But what was really insightful was that having to do that again or choosing to do that made me question, who am I beyond my career, beyond the title?

SPEAKER_02:

That's

SPEAKER_00:

invaluable. Wow. Yeah. But yeah, back to the transition. I mean, I am just loving it. I feel like I'm still resting. That's one of the hardest things I feel like about being an entrepreneur is that I need to get a little bit more organized and create a schedule because every day. So this is going to be almost a year now that I'm. on my own. And I still have my retreats and my coaching clients and consulting clients too. But it's not like I'm working every single day for hours a day like we used to when we were in the corporate space. And part of me is like, I kind of like it like that. I like being able to have space to go to the gym, take a nap with my puppy. There's so many things that I really enjoy. So I still feel like even though I'm working, I'm also resting.

SPEAKER_02:

Honestly, I think it's the best part about working for yourself is the complete autonomy over your day. And I like this idea of scheduling things. I've had to do that. I've use my calendar and schedule things like, you know, I'm taking an online course, and I put it in as like, like school, you know, like, this is my class. And I tell myself, this is class, like, I have to go to class, just like my kids have to go to class. And I have to do it now. And it's, it's self led. So it's not like, I log in, and there's a person there. But if I don't schedule it, I might go two weeks without doing it. And then I get behind, or I forget. What I, what I was working on. So I have to schedule it in so that I do it frequently, but, but this is the thing I think, you know, how they say, um, know fill your cup you know you need to fill your cup i i think of myself as having many different cups that i need to fill like i have multiple cups i have the cup of knowledge that i have to fill once in a while when i'm craving like expanding my mind and learning something new i have a cup of like health like physical health um and rest and things like that, that sometimes I need to fill. I have career cup that I need to fill sometimes. Like if I go too long without feeling like I've done something in alignment with my purpose to serve others, then I need to fill that up. And so I think part of it, the beauty of having space to design your day is you can consider what cup's Right. You know, like this morning I went to a bar class. I'm really loving bar. I feel so strong after I go to a bar class. And so, you know, I went today, but I hadn't gone since last Thursday, maybe. So I was really feeling it like I was I needed to fill that part of me. I needed to work my muscles and feel strong. And so I had it scheduled and then I've scheduled another one for tomorrow. And so it's, yeah, I think it's all about designing your week and your days so that you're getting that balance of things and the naps once in a while. And then you have your time where you need to just, I call it my house admin, all the things for the house, like scheduling things. And the dogs are included in that. So one of our dogs needs to get vaccinated tomorrow. So just like figuring out all those things because with my husband working, A corporate job and full time. I do see the house admin as my part of my job. I do have, you know, other stuff that I do for quote unquote work, but it's more my job and his because I have more space to do it and I'm here all day, every day.

UNKNOWN:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

And he was doing all that when you were working and he was taking time off, right?

SPEAKER_02:

Exactly. So we've both been there, he and I, and we both understand what it involves. And we also appreciate when the other person gets to have this space. So we don't take it for granted, but we know that it's such a gift to have the space and the autonomy to design our days.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So good. I love how you were talking about those cups, filling your cups. It makes me think about the wheel of life, that coaching tool. Exactly. And you've inspired me to look at that on a weekly basis, because I'll use that with my coaching clients as part of a discovery call for them to look at like, what is an area of my life that I want to feel more fulfilled in. But if I were to look at that every single week, you know, with the knowledge, career, health, family, the things that are important to me, I would probably prioritize different things throughout the week. Right. It's like going to bar. Totally. Totally. Well, if, um, is there any advice? So if somebody I'm, I'm thinking about some practical ways, because I know both of both of us get asked this a lot about like, how did you do it? How did you transition out from a nine to five to now working for yourself? Some practical tips so that maybe one of our listeners, they're like, yeah, actually, this is something that I'm interested in doing too.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. I think there's a couple of different paths or avenues. So When someone, if you're leaving maybe a traditional corporate role and you want to be an entrepreneur or a solopreneur working for yourself or a consultant kind of, you know, there's different types of work of working for yourself. I think the first thing to consider is what knowledge have you gained through your career that then you can teach? So for me, that's what my focus is. What can I teach others that I've learned throughout my career? So I learned it through the corporate space in a lot of ways and some things I've learned outside of corporate. But what, like mindfulness as an example. So what is it, what is my knowledge that I'm selling? Because that's what I sell. I don't sell a physical product per se. I sell knowledge, the things I've learned and what's in my mind and what my experiences have been. So that's what I've learned. Some people, maybe you're a designer, then maybe you're transitioning to designing your own products. And so that is more about what do you want to design, what sings in your heart and you want to sell and sell to others. So it's what gift do you have or how do you want to serve others? Because I really think our culture, work should be about living into our purpose and our purpose is often what is it what what are we who are we in service of and what are we in service of? What are we offering to the world? For some people, it's music. They offer their creativity and their music to the world. For me, I offer my experiences, what I've learned along the way. Part of my purpose is also to ensure that the world is fair and just and everyone has the opportunity to live into their potential. Part of my purpose is to spread kindness. So when I think about my work, I want to be giving that to the world. I want to be giving kindness. I want to be creating equitable spaces and things like that and sharing my experiences. So you need to think about what it is that you're going to be offering and then how you're going to deliver it. So I think one of the Easiest or best places to start for someone is if it's knowledge-based, like you and I have knowledge that we share. Courses are a great way, and there's so many ways to record courses and offer them out. Digital tools, so digital one-pagers, a digital e-book, those are great entry points to then create and then put out there into the world. Um, and thankfully, um, I learned a lot of these, um, systems or, um, tools, like just by watching YouTube videos and, and there's a couple, um, audio books that I've listened to as well. Um, one is how to get paid for what, you know, I think it's called how to get paid for what, you know, an audio book. Um, And then, yeah, I've watched a lot of YouTube videos to figure out how to set up a newsletter. You know, I have a newsletter, you have a newsletter. So determining what email marketing system to use. I just watched some YouTube videos and chose. I use MailerLite, but MailChimp is great. And there's a lot of other great ones. Beehive is really popular. What one do you use for your newsletter? I just use it through my website, Wix. Oh, okay. Perfect. See, that's great when you've got an all-inclusive platform and you can do everything through there. So I think the most important thing is to know what you're going to offer the world and then how you're going to offer it. There's a lot of different ways to go about doing it. But like I said, there's some startup costs. So MailerLite, I have a monthly subscription fee for MailerLite. I have a monthly fee for Zoom because I want to be able to have coaching conversations or talk to people through Zoom. What are some of my other ones? I have FreshBooks for all of my accounting. So my invoices for consulting, I go through FreshBooks. And then when it comes to tax season, I just give my accountant a link to my FreshBooks. So then he just pulls everything out and I don't have to do anything. So FreshBooks, Canva, I have the Canva Pro. So these are just like monthly costs. And then For a tip, when you are going to start your own work for yourself, I recommend having a business account, a bank account or another personal account. It doesn't have to be like titled a business account, just a separate account from like your spouse or wherever, anything else that money's coming in. That anytime you get paid by your clients or someone buys your products, it goes to that account and that's your income for your job. And then you keep it there. And then I recommend paying yourself every month. So determine how much you want to make every month. Pay yourself that amount. keep whatever is left in your business account. And that's where your business fees and your monthly expenses for Canva and all those things should be paid through that. So then it's a really clean accounting system for what your business expenses are. Because when it comes to tax season, all of those subscriptions, all of the courses I take, they're tax write-offs for a business, right? And that's all tracked through FreshBooks for me. So it's really, really simple. But yeah, if you have everything in one account, it's really easy to keep track of it. So that's one tip that I have for someone is pay yourself. Otherwise, it's just like if you're just like spending it when it comes in, it's really hard to like really understand how you're doing as well. Like how you're like, are you making money that you thought you'd be making? And then paying yourself just makes sure that you have a monthly income. You're building that back up because that's one thing that you miss from the corporate world, I think, is that biweekly paycheck that you can count on. Absolutely. If you can recreate that in some way, that is the best case scenario.

SPEAKER_00:

That's such a helpful tool. I feel like I want you to walk me through all of that offline, look at my accounting or lack of, because I don't pay myself. And so I'll have a lot of money coming in when I launch a retreat, but then I have a lot of money going out when I pay the venue.

SPEAKER_01:

And

SPEAKER_00:

so it's like, I don't really I mean, every month is completely different.

SPEAKER_02:

Very different. That's why, you know, having just like a plan in place for the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur is helpful. I never paid myself until I took a course last fall with the Dow Janes. I love this organization. It's two women, Britt and Lorianne. They created this company called Dow Janes. They do a lot of webinars. Their audience is women and their goal is to teach women how to take care of themselves financially so that you don't have to rely on anyone else You learn how to invest. You learn how to, if you're an entrepreneur, how to pay, you know, how to set up your accounting and all that. They have financial coaches that are all women. The whole staff is female. So I took this course through Dow James and they have a whole course. curriculum for starting up your own business. And that's where I learned all these ins and outs and how to invest it and, and, and how to do, you know, get a, get a business credit card because a business credit card doesn't, if you default on it, it doesn't affect your personal credit score.

SPEAKER_01:

So if you have a

SPEAKER_02:

business card, a business card doesn't affect your personal credit score. So that's the benefit of having a business card, which is different than a business account, a business credit card specifically to buy all your stuff.

SPEAKER_00:

Look at you with all your business acumen right now. But

SPEAKER_02:

I only just got it last fall. I wasn't doing this before and I really was willy nilly about it. I can't, I can't really tell you like much about, you know, I had a lot of consulting clients from 2020 to when I worked at band city, but like, I don't really know how much I made that, you know, like it was just like here and there. Whereas now I'm like, I'm locked in, you know, so,

SPEAKER_00:

and it feels good. I'm going to check this out. And I love that name Dow Janes. How cool is

SPEAKER_02:

that? And they're great. I highly recommend them.

SPEAKER_00:

The only thing I would add to that from my experience, and especially coaching clients who want to leave the corporate space is to have an exit strategy. And that exit strategy doesn't need to be three months or six months. It could be a 10 year strategy, but start to, you know, think about your future, like you were saying, start to save funds because there are startup costs and recurring costs as well, being an entrepreneur. And of course the gift, what can you, what can you, how can you serve others with your gift, your talents, your uniqueness? And so really starting to think about your exit strategy, even if you're like, oh, I'm actually happy in this job right now. But maybe in five or 10 years, you might want to do something else and to be in a place where you can set yourself up for that transition can be really supportive.

SPEAKER_02:

And I think it's a good lesson for like managers in the corporate space. When someone leaves your organization, be happy for them, you know, because this is something that they've been working towards for 10 years to set themselves up to be able to work for themselves and have the freedom that you and I have been talking about. Oh, wow. like it's not personal and they don't bring you up with me. Yeah. They don't owe you their loyalty. It's a business transaction. They work for you, you pay them, but they can also make their own choices and go work somewhere else or go work for themselves. But, but yeah, like recognize that maybe this has been someone's goal for 10 years and be happy for them and support them.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, maybe we should talk about that in another podcast about how to celebrate employees when they leave an organization.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

Right? I

SPEAKER_02:

love that. How to celebrate it. Yeah. Danielle, if someone were to ask you today if you will ever go back to a corporate

SPEAKER_00:

role, what would you say? All right. Thank you for following back up on that question. I, like you, feel like I have this flexibility where if the right job came about, that was completely aligned with my values. So I want to make sure that it's innovative, progressive. I have autonomy, lots of creativity. Like I know you and I both love going into jobs where we get to create. It's not like, so it's like a new role.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes. A blank slate and no roadmap, just like figure it out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, I love going into a hot mess. It's like hot mess is where I thrive.

SPEAKER_02:

That is so, that is really interesting actually. Cause I thrive like that too. It doesn't scare me. And then think about it. Like both, we both, celebrate it, like, or not celebrate, but we welcome it. And we're okay with the uncertainty or the, you know, no roadmap and all that. And we both were comfortable leaving the we're okay with the unknown and we don't need a playbook. Um, maybe that's why also, you know, we made the transition was pretty smooth for us because when you transition to work for yourselves, there is no playbook. Yeah, exactly. No, exactly. No salary, no benefits. So, um, yeah, you have to be okay with it. So maybe that's part of it is, um, in, and if that's not your natural state, like I've always been this way, but I do think that you can still have a very successful transition from corporate to working for yourself, even if you don't love chaos or a hot mess, because you can build the resiliency, but you can also be really planful ahead. So planning ahead will help create that roadmap for you.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. Having that exit strategy. I mean, you can start to create your roadmap. You can have all of the structure that you need And you can have all that time to build

SPEAKER_01:

your

SPEAKER_00:

savings so that you actually can make that transition even more smoothly.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Yeah. I love that. That was so great. Well, I'm glad that you're happy, Danielle. I'm glad that we get to do this together now because we're not in corporate.

SPEAKER_00:

I know. How fun.

SPEAKER_02:

So that's another benefit of you and I both leaving the corporate space is that we have... the time to create this podcast together and have some fun and share some of our stories with others. So anything else you want to say, Danielle,

SPEAKER_00:

before we wrap it up? Just happy to be here with you, Janelle. I'm looking forward to our next conversation. Yeah, who knows what it'll be?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, thanks everyone for tuning in. You know, make sure you subscribe because we are launching new episodes every Wednesday. So if you want to make sure that you receive that, make sure you subscribe and stay tuned and we will chat with you again next time.