PP547: Getting Caught Up in Our Cinderella Tale

Welcome back to another episode of Positive Productivity. Today I want to ask you – have you felt like you’ve been caught up in your own Cinderella tale? And, no. I’m not talking about having a wicked stepmother and two wicked stepsisters, or being in love with a prince or princess. But, I’m talking about a situation where you knew that you were better than the situation you were in, but other parties were holding you back.

If you feel like that’s where you are right now, I want you to know that you have a choice. You can either stay, or you can leave. In 2011-2012 I was working at a local company — I’m not going to share names right now. You can actually go back and listen to previous episodes to find out who I was working for, but I don’t want to put them on the spot right now — and I knew I was much better than the position I was working in.

If this is your first episode of the Positive Productivity podcast, before I left my ex husband, I had been an interior architect for over a decade and I was really good at what I did. But I lost my job as a result of the recession in 2008, and I found myself working as an administrative assistant. I was really awesome at my job, and most of the previous people in that position had left after only three or six months. But after a year and a year and a half, I started going out for other positions within the company. And, let me tell you, that this is a large international corporation.

Over the course of a year and a half, I applied for an interviewed for more than 10 different positions within the company, and I know that I was overqualified for quite a few of them. But if I was over qualified for those higher positions, you better believe that I was overqualified for the administrative assistant position I was in.

I’m sure you can understand that I grew increasingly frustrated because I was earning $12 an hour rather than 30 40 60 even $80,000 a year and, my family was struggling. So one day I simply asked, “Why aren’t I getting hired for any of these positions?”

And the response I received felt like a slap in the face, “Kim,” I was told “It will be harder to replace you in the role that you’re in right now then it will be to move you up.”

I was floored.

The reason why I wasn’t getting hired for the higher positions was that my current manager was keeping me back. His managers knew how difficult it would be to find somebody to fill my role. So, rather than move me up and have to replace me and the administrative assistant position, they decided to keep me where I was.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that that was not going to be okay with me, and it was a very easy decision for me to make when my husband started college to work on starting my freelancing career. As it turned out, all the stars aligned and within only a couple months of him starting college, I was able to leave that job to pursue my business full time.

It hasn’t been an easy journey, but it’s definitely been more satisfying than working in a role that I knew I was overqualified for. I would love to say that the Cinderella story stopped there, but I’ve realized that I’m in another one of those situations now.

Looking at my current client roster, I can tell you that I love my clients dearly. They have done as much for me as I would like to think that I have done for them, and I would do anything to support them and and I would hope that they would do just as much to support me. However, I’ve realized that a season with one of my clients is approaching its end.

While I know that it’s time for me to move on because I have grown past the work that I’m doing, and my value has moved beyond what I am being compensated, the client is holding me back. Every time they see that I’m starting to move into a new step, there’s more work to be done for them. There are days that I feel like Cinderella getting ready for the ball. Cinderella’s stepmother says, “Sure, you can go to the ball — IF you get all your chores done and if you can find something to wear.”

Well, my chores are done and I’m working on putting together my dress, but then the client catches wind and throws on fifty more chores to perform.

Listeners, we don’t have to put up with this. When we’re in business for ourselves, we can choose what works for us and what doesn’t. And I can tell you right now that scarcity mindset has been a struggle with me.

Okay, Kim, if I don’t do this, what’s going to happen? Am I going to lose this client and not have any work? Or, am I going to step up to do better things, to do greater things, to be compensated according to my value, or am I gonna stay as I am right now? Am I going to stay in scarcity mindset, worried about taking a next step because I’m worried about giving up what I have.

This is a struggle that I go through every day and I’m working on it and through it. There are times when I’m not doing the client work because I realize that I need to work on MY business more than I work on the businesses of my clients. And I want to let you know that you need to be doing that too.

There were years when I was working on my clients’ businesses 80 plus hours a week, and I didn’t spend any time or give any attention to my own business. And I can tell you right now then my business didn’t grow during that point. My confidence didn’t grow, my mindset didn’t improve and myself care went down the hole.

Basically, my self care was nonexistent. I don’t want to see that happen to you.

When I was in that pattern of working 80 hours a week in client work, I received an email one day from Rachel Luna. It was sent out to her list and in it she shared the journey of how she had begun to step out of working only on her clients’ businesses and started working on her own. So I sent her a response. I said, “How did you find the time?”

And her response will always stick with me. She told me, “I started putting in one hour a week at a time.”

Hearing that from her was like angels singing from above. I realized that I might not be able to put in 20, 40, 60 hours a week into my own business, but one hour a week was something that I could easily do. And let me tell you, so can you,

I’m no longer in the one hour a week role. I’m more like 20 hours a week, but I’d really love to be 40 hours a week in my business. Well, maybe not 40, but I think you get the picture.

I want my business to be about building my business. While I love supporting my clients, I also want to support my lifestyle, my family, and my growth. I don’t want to be sacrificing time with my family because I’m too wrapped up in my client’s work. That is NOT why I started my business. I could easily go back to working the nine to five and have time to go to soccer games and track meets and every other child activity, whereas I don’t always have that time when I’m stuck in the client right now.

So, today, I want to challenge you to join me on escaping the Cinderella tale. Reclaim your time from your wicked stepmother, whatever, and whoever your wicked stepmother is.

You didn’t go into business to work 80 hours a week for somebody else, and I would love to see you step into the role of working 20 hours a week for yourself.

If you got an “Aha!” out of today’s episode, I would love if you would share it with me. So head on over to thekimsutton.com/pp547 and let me know what your “Aha’s!” were.

Now, with all this said, go forth and make it a positive and productive day.