Why Boardroom Bye?

Welcome to Boardroom Bye. This newsletter and website is my passion business, it is the guidance I wish I had at my fingertips years ago.

Working for someone else as an employee always felt like I was leaving myself short. This isn’t to say I corporate life was bad, necessarily– I just couldn’t kick the feeling that there was something more out there for me.

At the deepest depths of my soul, I was not being authentic to myself by staying on that path. Took a long time to realize that.

Outwardly, my career appeared to be very successful. Steady upward mobility, accolades, accomplishments, and promotions. At the same time, I felt like I was becoming increasingly trapped. My income level made it seem like there was no possible way to make that much money on my own, to clear that gap between executive paycheck and scrappy startup. This would lead to constant cycles of low self-esteem, depression, and existential crises. What was I doing with my life? How did I get here? How did I allow myself to get here?

The higher up you get in your organization and your career, the harder it is to make a huge pivot to something totally different.

There seemed to be a void in the career advice market, it seemed, for someone pivoting as a late-career high-earner. The career transformation gurus, articles, videos, and books I consumed were packed with great advice and guidance but none of it addressed what seemed like the elephant in the room: how do you actually do this, for real?

I don’t want you to feel trapped, stuck, or in a rut. My goal with this publication is to give you everything you need to confidently leave your executive or high-level job and follow a path that aligns with your soul, all while minimizing any drastic lifestyle changes for you and your family.

I said “you” a lot in the previous paragraph. Wait– are you my audience? Well, does any of this sound familiar?

1. You are a high(er) earner, and this level of income just seems impossible to replace on your own. The fear of a drastic income reduction is enough to kill the dream on the spot, over and over. Yet, that calling/yearning will not go away
2. You’ve always felt like your job was not aligned with your full potential, it has NEVER felt right your entire career and this feeling will not go away
3. You’ve yet to bank an equity “win”, a big “financial exit”, inheritance, or lotto win. There’s little to no financial net or reserve. You might think a fulfilling entrepreneurial path is just for “those lucky people” that have banked a win and not you
4. You might beat up your “younger self” for making choices that led you to being career-bound instead of taking risks earlier, when you were younger and had fewer obligations. You might think: “How did I get here?” “What was I thinking?”
5. You feel like you’re too late, you missed the bus on this change. Your 20’s and 30’s are probably behind you and now you’re too saddled with expenses and commitments to risk not having that steady paycheck
6. You rarely feel tangible value, output, or fulfillment with what you do every day as a manager or executive at work. You yearn for the days when you were able to really roll up your sleeves and build things at work, to really make things happen
7. Though you’ve read a pile of self-improvement and life-hack books, you have yet to really dig in and make the change
8. When you see motivational quotes, videos, or speakers you might be screaming internally “YES that’s all great but TELL ME HOW TO ACTUALLY DO IT!” Right? You feel like those people must be talking to someone else, not you, because although what they are saying feels good and sounds good, you cannot see the path for yourself specifically

I thought all of those things, for years. I still do, occasionally, if I’m honest. The difference is that I’m a few steps ahead of you. My knowledge and experience is fresh because I just recently made the leap to being self-employed, this isn’t something I did in another time or another economy. It’s happening right now. I’m still learning, I’m still making mistakes, I’m still growing. I’ve learned a ton along the way and I can’t wait to share it with you.

If you sign up for my newsletter, I promise that I will work hard to produce content that will motivate, guide, and inspire you every week. Boardroom Bye is more than a publication– it is about creating a movement and a sense of belonging. See you in the next issue!

-Joel