How to Escape the 9-to-5 and Become a Spiritual Entrepreneur

Today, I’m talking about how to make that transition from your 9-to-5 job to becoming a full-blown spiritual entrepreneur. Perhaps you’re at that point in your career where you feel like “Oh, I just know that there is something that needs to be changed here,” but you're not quite sure how to make that happen. Well, make sure you watch today’s video because I will give you my best tips on how to take those first steps and make a successful transition.

I’ll share my story of how I went from a corporate job to making a million dollars per year as a spiritual entrepreneur. And then I provide my tips for how to navigate the sticky parts of starting and growing a successful business (spoiler alert: it’s not always easy! But it’s worth it!).

https://youtu.be/f961VIWUn5A

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

How to Escape the 9-to-5 and Become a Spiritual Entrepreneur

Hi, I’m Brigit, Founder of Biddy Tarot, the online learning community for people who love to read Tarot.

Today, I’m talking about how to make that transition from your 9-to-5 job to becoming a full-blown spiritual entrepreneur. Perhaps you’re at that point in your career where you feel like “Oh, I just know that there is something that needs to be changed here,” but you're not quite sure how to make that happen. Well, make sure you watch today’s video because I will give you my best tips on how to take those first steps and make a successful transition.

But first, I want to share with you my personal story about how I was able to shift from my corporate career to doing Biddy Tarot full time.

MY STORY

I started Biddy Tarot way back in 1999, and back then, it was really just a hobby, a way of me being able to share what I was learning as I was reading Tarot. Meanwhile, I was studying my Bachelor of Commerce degree with honours, then going on to do a Masters of Human Resource Management and working as a management consultant and, later, as a human resource manager within a large financial institution.

Biddy Tarot was really just a way for me to be able to practice Tarot and have a fun side hobby. It was never created with the intention for it to become a business.

However, what started to happen was I moved from my management consulting career into corporate, and I started feeling like “Oh, this is not quite what I wanted.” I had been so enthusiastic about my career up until this point, but I found that my new workplace was incredibly limiting. I had to do what I was told. It was kind of like colouring in between the lines. There was so little creativity, so I felt very constricted, and I knew that something had to give.

In 2009, I picked up a book, and it was The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss, and this book changed my life.

As I read it, I saw a whole new possibility that I could actually take my passion for Tarot and turn it into a source of income—possibly even a full business. But at this point, I said, “Yep, a source of income, and I could live life in a very different way.”

After that book, what I started to do was I started to treat my hobby a little bit more like a business.

I created some e-books and started selling e-books. I built a blog. I started an email list. I just started to give much more energy and attention into Biddy Tarot as if it had this possibility of becoming a business.

Meanwhile, back at the corporate job, things were not getting any better. In fact, they were probably getting worse as we went through more and more redundancies, and the whole energy in the organisation was just going downhill very, very fast.

By 2012, I set myself a goal: If I can get my business income at the same level of my corporate career, then I’m done—I can quit, and I can be OK.

But, of course, even with this whole promise to myself, I was still really worried and anxious. I had invested 15 years of my life into academic study and building my career, and I thought, “Oh my goodness! Am I just throwing it all away by becoming a Tarot reading? It’s not what you read in the books that you would leave a six-figure corporate career to go and start a business in Tarot.”

Nonetheless, I kept focusing on my business and building it up as much as I could, and finally, in the middle of 2012, the income from my business started to reach the same as my corporate income. I thought, “Oh, that’s good! Month one, it hit the same. Wow, interesting!”

But I still wasn’t ready.

Month two, I get to that same amount, and I’m like, “Oh, I just don’t know if I can do it!” And it really took until the third month and a whole bunch of dreams, Tarot readings, conversations with friends, synchronicities that were happening in my life. I needed all of these different intuitive signs to go, “OK, yes, it’s it.”

In August 2012, I handed in my resignation.

I remember walking out of there, and people were thinking, “What is she doing? Why is she leaving all of this behind to go and do a Tarot business? She’s crazy.”

But I knew who was crazy, and I knew that I had made the right decision for myself.

Of course, it was nerve-wracking and scary, but I remember walking out of there and going, “Wow, this is it! This is the beginning of the rest of my life.”

Now, five years later, I look at what Biddy Tarot is now, and I’m just blown away.

We are one of the most popular online resources for learning Tarot. We have over 15 million visitors to our website every year. We have a team of 14 people around the world, all serving Biddy Tarot and making it into what it is today.

And, of course, Biddy Tarot has enabled a beautiful lifestyle for myself and my family, which I’m incredibly grateful for.

FROM YOUR 9-TO-5 TO SPIRITUAL ENTREPRENEUR

How do you make this transition from your 9-to-5 to becoming a spiritual entrepreneur?

I want to get real with you first.

People feel that you could probably just quit your job one day and start the next day in your new career in your new spiritual business, and everything will be hunky-dory.

For a select few, perhaps that is the case, but I like to do things in a more conservative way.

And here’s why: It takes at least a year or two to start earning a decent income from your own business.

Unless you have an amazing run of luck or what have you, generally, you’ve got to anticipate there’s going to be a year or two of quite minimal income from a business.

Number two, when you don’t have as much income coming through, and you’ve got pressure with your living costs, it can lead you to do crazy things in your business—discounting your prices, underselling yourself, coming across as a little bit desperate and needy in your conversations with clients and so on.

What I recommend is a more conservative and sustainable approach to making this transition.

Let me break it down for you.

FIRST, YOU NEED TO COME UP WITH YOUR MAGIC NUMBER.

Now, what is this magic number? So, think about your living costs for each year. Let’s say you think about your rent, your food, and allow for things like holidays and doing fun stuff. Maybe you realise: “OK, I need probably $30,000 for me to have a decent lifestyle every year.”

You take that number, and then you think about “OK, knowing that there are tax and business expenses and so on, what do I need to earn in my business so that I can kind of have a net amount of $30,000?”

After running the calculations, you might go, “All right, I need to earn $60,000 in my business so that then I have $30,000 to spend on my own lifestyle.”

$60,000 is your magic number. This is the number that you need to earn in your business before you can really comfortably leave and quit your day job.

We have that magic number. We know at what point we can make the transition.

SO, WHAT DO YOU DO IN THE MEANTIME?

There are a few things.

A good way of starting is to see if you can negotiate part-time work hours at your day job. Instead of working five days a week, maybe you work three days, and you spend the other two days working on your business.

Another way is you just hustle. You might be working 9 to 5, five days a week, and maybe you can carve out another two hours in the morning or two hours in the evening and use that time to really build up your business. You’ve also got weekends as well.

And I know you might be thinking, “Well, aren’t I meant to be lounging on the beach with my laptop and sipping a cocktail?”

But no, business can be hard!

It is about working really hard because you put in all that effort up front, and then, once things have gotten a lot more momentum, then you can ease off if you choose that path.

Think about how you can use your extra time.

Less TV! It might even be less socialising. Who knows where you might want to make those compromises. You can find extra hours in your day to build your business.

You might also find that there are other opportunities, like your commute to your work or your lunch breaks, where you can invest time in building your business. There are often a lot more hours than you realise.

Now, I remember when I was working, and I was very efficient at my work, so I would actually have an extra couple of hours during my work day that I could spend on my business. I know that’s not going to be right for everybody, but it’s another possibility.

Now, here’s another idea: You could always quit your day job but take on a part-time job where at least you know you're getting a steady income while you build up your business.

I know that maybe working three days a week isn’t an option for everyone, Maybe you can leave that job, go and work part time, even in just a regular job, and you’ve got that income while you build up your business. You might continue that way for quite a period of time, so you have a level of security and stability with your income.

Another way of building your business and getting to that magic number, think about hiring an admin person. You can hire people for around $10 an hour. Maybe they can take on tasks so that you can move your business forward quicker and reach your magic number quicker. That’s always an option.

Schedule a time into your calendar some time for you to build your business.

Let your friends and family know, “You know what? Saturdays are for me to build my business. It’s incredibly important. It’s not always going to be this way, but Saturdays are my day.” Schedule a time into your calendar, and stay committed to that.

Finally, I really do recommend that you invest in your business skills.

It’s one thing to have a passion for something, but you are building a business, and if you want to build a successful business, you need to learn how to build a successful business, so keep that in mind as well.

ONCE YOU REACH YOUR MAGIC NUMBER

You have been working and hustling really hard, and finally, you get to that point of reaching your magic number. You’ll have that first month where you go, “Yes! I’ve done it!” but make sure that it’s a consistent result over time. I waited for three months until I saw consecutively that I could hit that goal each time. I recommend that you do something similar so that you are playing it safe because you don’t want to be in that position where you just don’t have the income coming in and so on.

There you have it. Hopefully, you get to that point where you finally reach that magic number, and you can make the transition into your spiritual entrepreneur role and do that as your soul focus, which will be incredibly exciting.

Just to recap, I want you to know it is possible to make this transition, but I ask you to do it in a way that is sensible.

I don’t really recommend just quitting your day job one day and then starting your business the next. I suggest building it up at the same time. To do that, you might look at part-time work solutions, hiring a team member to help you build your business while you're working (and do it quite quickly), using your time more efficiently and strategically as well, so you’ve got more time to work on your business.

And, of course, know what your magic number is. Know what that number is inside your business. What do you have to earn in your business in order for you to be able to comfortably quit any other kind of income-generating activity—your 9-to-5 day job?

I hope this has been helpful for you. I am absolutely here to support you in your journey. I’ve seen firsthand what is possible when you make this transition. It is amazing, and I’m truly grateful for what I’ve been able to create.

Now, if you do make that transition, just know that, again, I am here to support you. My new FREE masterclass is perfect for doing this, for showing you all of the different foundations to build your business.

If you're feeling that nudge, now is the perfect time to join the FREE masterclass and get the information you need to move confidently forward!

Bye for now!

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