- In this video,
I'm sharing a three part strategy
on how to leave the job you hate,
even if you don't think you can afford to quit.
Welcome back.
If you're new to this channel,
I'm Annie Little
I'm an ICF certified career coach
and a former lawyer.
I created this channel
for lawyers who are looking
for a practical process
for finding and landing their ideal job.
Okay, let's start with some real talk.
When I was a miserable real estate lawyer,
I had six figure student loan debt, a mortgage,
and plans to start a family.
So naturally, I thought
I was going to be slogging away
in the same lawyer job for the next 30 years
so I could pay it all down.
I didn't even want to look at my expenses
because as far as I was concerned,
I owed like a gazillion dollars a month.
And the thought of looking at
my monthly expenses in detail,
it just, it made me nauseated.
But when the discomfort of staying in my job
exceeded my financial-induced nausea,
I sat down with my husband
and we dug into our finances.
And I was pleasantly surprised by what I found.
As in, I wish I had done it a lot sooner.
First step, triage your finances.
So this may seem pretty basic.
And it's not that I don't think
that you know how to do this,
just kind of needs to be said
so that you know, yes, this is what you do,
this is what it needs to happen.
I know you feel like you might want to throw up,
but just give it a shot, right? (laughs)
Like I said, that was me,
and I wished I had just done it
a whole lot sooner.
So, start with your expenses,
especially at the big ones,
like mortgage, student loans,
car payments, utilities,
phone bill, all that kind of stuff.
And then you can go into
sort of the smaller type expenses,
but that are recurring,
like Netflix membership,
grocery bill, even take out food bill,
any entertainment,
savings that you've committed to,
insurance premiums.
And so when you add those all up,
that's going to tell you how much money
you need to make per month
to pay all of your bills.
And as you go through,
you might find that there are certain things
that you can totally cut out,
or you might decide,
"Oh, maybe I can focus my efforts here
and pay down this debt sooner than I thought,
or refinance something here or there."
But I'm not a financial expert,
so my recommendation to you
is to reach out to a financial coach,
planner, someone like that.
I have people that I trust
and that I'd be happy to recommend to you,
so you could just shoot me a message
and I'll send along my recommendations.
So the second step is
calculating how much your job costs you.
(laughs)
I know, what?
Your job costs you something?
Absolutely.
And both monetarily and non-monetary.
So, we're going to cover both.
So things to consider on the monetary front,
are you being underpaid?
What about opportunities for advancement
raises, bonuses?
How about commuting costs
like gas and even parking?
You've got going out to lunch
when you go in to work,
having a work wardrobe.
And then how about the coping mechanisms?
Like retail therapy, actual therapy.
And for some of us, even medical bills.
All right so also,
consider what your current job is costing you
non-monetarily.
Don't discount the impact of feeling
undervalued and underappreciated,
which can also come in the form
of having no room for advancement
in your current job.
And think about the toll
that a commute takes on you
and the toll of your job on your physical health,
your emotional health, your mental health.
How about sleep deprivation?
How about relationships
with your friends and family?
And just how much downtime are you able to get?
Then you want to ask yourself,
is all of this compensation worth
the tangible and intangible costs to you?
Then next you're going to want
to create your exit timeline.
Once you realize that your current job
is costing you way more than you realized,
it can be really tempting
to want to quit your job the next day.
At least that's how I felt.
But in order to maintain financial stability,
you'll probably want to put together
more of a long-term plan
that's in alignment with your risk tolerance.
So for me,
that looked like having my coaching business
as a little side gig
while I continued to work full time
as a real estate lawyer,
so that I could meet my financial goal
of putting a year's worth of my salary
into savings.
And that took me about a year to do,
which was about what we had planned.
And then we also refinanced our mortgage
and decided to continue
to pay our student loan debt
on their existing schedules.
For one of my clients that looked like
taking on some contract legal work
to pay their bills
while they got their freelance writing career
up and going.
That can also look like
paying down your student loans
on an accelerated schedule,
so that you can take a lower paying job
in the next year or two
that's more aligned
with the type of work you want to do
and your longterm career goals.
Keep in mind
that leaving your current high paying job
doesn't necessarily mean that you
have to go into a lower paying job.
Sometimes there will be a temporary pay cut
if you're going into different industry
or new practice area
and you have to start a little closer
to the entry level end of the spectrum
than you would if you stayed in your lane,
so to speak.
But, in the end,
you're going to be earning the same amount
or more than you would be,
had you stayed in your prior job.
But, of course you know
where I'm going with this, right?
That the intangible benefits
of being in a job that you actually like
is absolutely priceless.
So if you're feeling like you now have
a real chance at leaving
the job that you hate right now,
you should check out my free masterclass,
three simple strategies for uncovering
any lawyer's transferable skills.
I've linked it in the description below.
And now that you could see
money doesn't have to keep you
in a job that you hate,
you can go out and land the job
that you actually want.
(upbeat music)