Kara discusses the importance of having a smart transition plan when converting a side hustle into full-time freedom. She emphasizes the necessity of maintaining a safety net to avoid making decisions out of financial scarcity, which can lead to poor choices. By highlighting her own experiences, she provides insight into the balance between risk and stability, encouraging listeners to experiment with different skills and services without the pressure of immediate income. Kara also stresses the value of self-education in acquiring new skills, particularly in today's digital landscape. Ultimately, she inspires her audience to embrace their passions and create a fulfilling life that blends work and enjoyment harmoniously.

Takeaways:

• Creating a smart transition plan for your side hustle is essential for long-term success.
• It's crucial to have a financial safety net before fully transitioning to entrepreneurship.
• Experimenting with different skills in your side hustle can help you find your passion.
• Making business decisions from a place of abundance, rather than scarcity, leads to better outcomes.
• Investing back into your business is important for its growth and sustainability.
• Life is about pursuing happiness and purpose, not just chasing money for its own sake.

Hey there, I'm Kara and welcome to Design youn Dream Life podcast where we dive in and explore how you can use practical personal development to up level your life.

Whether you are looking to have better or deeper relationships, fix your problems with money, learn to love yourself unconditionally, leave a dead end or high stress career, or just want more happiness in your life, my friend, you are in the right place. Are you ready? Hello my beautiful friends and welcome to another episode of Design youn Dream Life.

I am your host, Kara and I am so excited you're here. Today is a good one.

I want to talk about bringing a side hustle, converting that, starting that and figuring all of that out and turning it into full time freedom. What is that smart transition plan? So I will say, like for me, I was kind of thrown into this, right?

For those of you who know my story, I got home from the dream vacation, I was downsized and I did have a bit of a safety net. It's not something that I would ever recommend.

While I pulled it off and everything worked out fantastic for me, it's definitely a higher stress situation. So in an ideal setting, in the perfect world, you are going to want to have a transition plan. And here's what's fun about this.

The thing that is fun about this is that you get to discover and play with things instead of having to perform right away. Because I've always said to people like, if you have to earn income to survive, then you need to go get a job.

Like you should not go into something where you have to be the sole income provider or like you need to make this money for the house over like the roof over your head, the food in your house, like honestly, if that's what you need, like you need something steady. Because stepping into this entrepreneur world is, listen, it is not steady at first.

Now you can figure out ways to create the steady income and all that. And that's another reason why I love being a service provider too. You have monthly retainers, all of that stuff.

Whereas if you were an influencer or E Com or digital course creator, you know, that can fluctuate. You could have a launch that goes shit, you could like all of these things.

And so why I love being a service provider, it does give you a little bit more of a solid path to cash that feels, feels like, it feels like stability, right? But if, if you get thrown into a situation where you're just having to chase the dollars, number one, you are not going to make the right decision.

I feel like anytime there is Financial pressure. You're not making it from a sense of happiness and peace. You're making it out of a sense of like scarcity. Right.

And so nothing ever, ever good comes from making decisions out of scarcity or a scarcity mindset.

So I always say to people, I, and I would even say this like in, if they were trying to do marketing and all that, like if you don't have money, you can't lose, then don't do it. Like have your safety nets in place, have the things, because then you can make decisions from a place of power as opposed to a place of scarcity.

So, so powerful. Right? So I want, I want you to get that in your head. And so what does that maybe look like for you?

Listen, I know over the years I've sold things around my house, I've saved up, I've done things and I like in order to pay for things so that it's not so scary and I'm not going into a deep, dark financial place.

And while I believe that there is a balance between like risk, you know, doing some risk, putting things on credit or whatever, I also have gone bankrupt. So I, I, I'm generally a play it safe kind of girl. Now like I said, I, I do take some risks, but they are definitely calculated.

And so it's not like I'm gonna go jump off a cliff, right? And so for you, if you're in a spot where you're like, okay, I wanna have more freedom in my life. I wanna create the life of my dreams.

And I know that in order for me to do this, I can't work at 9 to 5. Like I can't. Or maybe it's 24, 7, you know what I mean? Like I can't do this.

Or maybe, you know, you might be a stay at home mom and you've done like some mlms or some other things and you're like, oh gosh, like I don't want to sell another candle or weight loss thing. Like, I just wanted to make some extra money again for you. I feel like a service provider is also, you know, the next best thing.

But again, you would have to create a transition plan. Right. Even in, in either case. So you really want to create a strategy.

So let's go back to if you're in a job, you definitely want to create your exit strategy. But first you've got to define, you know, what it is that you want to do and you've got to go develop those skills.

And we live in a day and age where I will tell you something, it has never been easier to acquire skills for a very affordable price than ever before. And I will tell you, I am all self taught.

I all self taught and I think in today's day and age, you know, people are like, oh, you need like a university education. Well, depending on the yes, if you are going to be a doctor, you need a university education. You can be a dentist, you could do any of those things.

But if you are going to go into some of this new age stuff, especially anything with AI or market and marketing is a huge umbrella, right? Like even I know people who have a service based business just producing podcasts, right?

And that's, that's what they specialize in and they make their, their living just producing the podcasts. They have their clients, they do. There's email marketing, there's SEO, there's E Com, there's social media management, there's all of these things.

So many, so many things. And so you just have to go and figure out, and that's a whole, you know, other topic.

What it is that you want to do and what's really cool is in your plan. You can play with those things, right? Like let's say you love Pinterest.

I don't know, you probably don't, but let's say you did and you're like, you know what? I want to learn what it's like to kind of be a Pinterest manager and da, da, da.

And you go and create the skills and you go and play with that and you get a few clients and you hate it. That's okay.

You're allowed to hate it and be like, oh, but that doesn't mean that you just like throw in the towel, towel and be like, I'm never doing this. Like, no, it's just like, okay, well I'm gonna look at this as I try that. I definitely don't like it. What's another skill I can play with and try.

And that's what's so fun about creating like a smart transition plan is that you have your income that is stable, that is what you need.

And then you got to look at this as a playground that you get to play and experiment with and then you can land on eventually what it is and maybe you're lucky and you're going to knock it out of the park. The very first skill you try, the very first thing you do and you're going to absolutely love it. Others of you might take a little bit.

And I just want to say that that's completely Normal and totally fine. And that is what is so great about having a safety net.

And I feel like there's a few things with the safety net I think also too, people will start making this income and they like, like, they blow it. They like, they're like, it's all coming in and it's all going out. And you need to be smart about this because this is how people get in trouble.

So in part of this transition plan, if you've got a side hustle, you get to play, you find your thing, and you eventually want to transition to full time. You need to create your safety now, but you also need to reinvest your money into growing your business.

And that's what's another amazing thing, is if this is truly what a side hustle is, right, is that you can nurture this baby, you can feed this baby and you're reinvesting into this baby. And at some point this baby is gonna start walking and talking and it's gonna be super amazing. But you've gotta nurture it.

And that's what is so important. Where is if, you know, you jump right in and let's say you're like, I've had it. I quit my job. I'm going to do this. And you really don't have a plan.

You don't have any proven success. You don't have. You can see how that might be a recipe for disaster, right?

Like, it, it could be, it could, it could blow up in your face just a little bit. And so I don't want that to happen to you. So I would actually really strongly recommend dreaming and creating a plan.

And then also when you finally do make that transition that you have safe, like you actually do have a safety nest. You know what I mean? Like, you have an emergency account. You have, you know, what did I. Last year? It was last year for my business.

Do you know what I did? Do you want to know what my gift to myself was last year for my birthday? It was the first time I've ever done this. It was so scary.

I didn't pay myself out of my company and I draw a decent salary. I decided not to pay myself and invest my salary a hundred percent right back into my business. And that was my birthday gift to me.

And it was an interesting experiment because it was so scary because I was like, oh my gosh, like, I'm not going to bring home any money. I am the sole income provider in my household. So, you know, I'm the breadwinner. Actually, I shouldn't say that my.

My husband is, like, now semi retired because he was too young to just not do anything. Uh, but he's just doing things he enjoys, which is not. It's. You know, he used to make a lot of money, and now he doesn't make.

I mean, he barely makes minimum wage, right? So he's doing the things that he loves just to keep occupied and do something. Which. Side note, I do strongly encourage you.

I know too many friends of mine who have retired their husbands and they end up getting a divorce or their marriage goes south because, like, it's just like. Like, you need to have passion and purpose. And I think this is also part of it. Like, I love what I do, and this is, like, next level for me.

You know, I love the consulting side of my company. I love working with the clients I work with. But I also love this, too. Like, it.

It lights me up to be able to inspire and connect with you guys and, like, help you figure out, like, exactly how you can create your own dream life. And I love it. Like, it makes me happy. It makes my heart happy. I hope you can feel my energy through this microphone of how happy this makes me.

And this is not about money for me. Right.

And so I feel like that is so important because at the end of the day, I really want to reiterate that life is about doing things that make you happy and not just chasing something for money. And I think everyone needs to have some kind of purpose. To wake up every morning and now listen, this doesn't have to be a profound purpose.

My husband once said this to me. I'm like, don't you want to do more? He's like, no, I'm just happy to do the little things that I'm doing. I don't need to have some huge life mission.

He's like, that's you. Like, I'm just happy to get up and do the things that I love that I'm doing. That, you know, and. And that's okay as long as you're doing something.

And so I will say this.

If your plan is to retire a husband and all of that, man, I would also have conversations and talk about what that transition plan looks like, because, like I said, so many people that I know that have had that happen, they don't necessarily have the talks. And then there's either resentment or depression or divorce or all of the things. So in all of this, make sure you have conversations, right?

Because your partner might come on board with you or you might not want to work together at all. Or they might want to go do their own thing.

That is just not nearly as, like, I was going to say high pressure, but maybe it's not even high pressure. But they're just doing things that they love just to do something, you know? And I hope that I can do this for a long time.

I mean, as long as I am able. Like, I love my business and life so much. As long as I'm able, I'm going to work.

I'm hoping I'm working into my 70s because I love using that part of my brain. Like, I just don't want to sit around and do nothing. Like, that's just not part of who I am. And maybe that is part of. For something for you.

And again, no judgment. If that's what you love, awesome. But if you're like, man, like, I need something to, like, drive me, then that's okay too, right?

And so that's pretty much what I really, really love, is that in my business, I can work, like, till whenever I want. And it's so funny because I was at. I see an osteopath and I don't. Anyone who's ever seen an osteopath, oh, my gosh, are they like voodoo doctors?

I did, like, it's so crazy. I had a shoulder injury. This guy is helping me. It's so crazy how he can do something and like, five days later, the body. It's just really weird.

It's so fascinating to me. But anyways, we were talking about this exact thing the other day. We had these amazing conversations, and I was like, I don't want to, like, retire.

Like, I could. Like, I feel like I'm living my retirement now. And I feel like that's the goal.

The goal is that your life is so fucking good that retirement's not even a thing because you're living pretty much a retired life and you're sprinkling work in, which is passion work, which lights you up anyway, so it doesn't even feel like work. And that's the ultimate win. So how do we get that for you?

But anyways, he was telling me about the guy who, like, invented the osteopath or whatever, like the osteopath framework and da, da, da. Anyways, one of the original founders worked until they were 90, 90 years old doing this because they loved it so much.

And they figured out a way that they could even adjust the bodies and, like, work with the bodies where it didn't take a lot of their own physical strength allowing them to do it. So. So Much later in life. And I'm like, how inspiring is that?

That to me was like, yes, a who doesn't want to live till 90 and like, could you imagine, like, obviously that man had to like be in good health and even very cognitive to still work with patients. Well, you would think anyways, I'm making a lot of assumptions here, but I thought it was just really inspiring.

And I think for me that is something that is really important is to, as long as I'm loving my work, to be able to continue to do that. So what else do we want to talk about when we're talking about transitioning into full time freedom?

I think also knowing when to make the leap because it's so scary. So some people stay too long. I know people who were making like crazy amounts of money.

And I mean, we're talking probably about like, especially when their job was like, let's say you're making a hundred grand a year, right? And your business is making 60,000amonth and has been making $60,000 a month for several months now. And yet you're still scared.

You're so scared because you think that this could stop. You think that the money could all disappear. You think that like this, this is too good to be true. It can't last.

Listen, I know I have clients who've gone through this. I know people and it's very real.

And it's also validating at some point because it's so hard to stand on your own two feet sometimes you can really get paralyzed by the fear because there's this thing over here on, you know, this job that is supposed to be secure. That is, you know, we have been brainwashed into thinking that that is security.

But I want to challenge you to think that you are your security and that you know how to make money.

And when you figure this stuff out and when you're transitioning in is having the confidence to know that I can make money and I can always make money, right? And so some people stay a little long.

I don't think it's horrible to stay longer other than, you know, once you finally leave, people are like, oh my gosh, why did I wait so long? I think sometimes can leave, people can leave too early. So like there is you again. You have to like look at your plan.

Like, how much money did you need in the bank? You know, what is your safety net? Can you go three, six months without making money in your business?

So like for me, I like having safety nets in both my business and my person. Like my Personal account, right? So I've got a personal safety net and I've got a business safety net.

And both of those allow me the ability to sleep at night and just feel like I'm okay because they're both covered.

And I will say this too, there are times and this is where the real work comes in, where those accounts, you have to use them and then you can easily go into scarcity mindset again because you're like, oh my gosh, my reserves are low. Like the frickin sky could be falling. I could go under. This could be like there's all of these thoughts, right?

And you have to be able to work through them. And one of the thoughts that I always love to, to adopt is I've always said this, like I know how to make money. Like money flows to me.

I always know how to make money. And so I also am not fixated on the account, the account balance.

Like I need a hundred thousand dollars in safety net and if it's not a hundred thousand, I'm a. And it's like, no. Like I had to release all of that and know that money flows, it comes and it goes.

And I am so good at making money and I have to focus on that because anything else isn't serving me right?

If I'm being like, oh, I'm scared and I'm hoarding money because I don't want to use the money in the reserves or I've used the money in the reserves, so what does that mean? Am I failing? Oh my gosh, I'm like one thing away from complete failure. And it's like, no you're not. Because you'll figure it out.

You always figure it out and there are always next steps and guess what? Figuring it out, you know, worst case, like I always love going worst case scenario.

I'm like, I go all the way to the worst case scenario, figure out my plan and come all the way back. And I'm like, okay, so for me now I know that I'm fine if the worst case scenario happens. I just figured it out.

As opposed to people just living in this fear of worst case scenario of what if. But I love to go into the future of that, figure it out and then come back because it makes me feel calm.

And so this is, it's, it's such a fun topic for me to talk about.

Like when you're playing and experimenting with a side hustle and then it becomes a baby and it starts walking and then you get to like actually come and focus on this thing full time. And there's a lot of stuff that happens in transition.

Sometimes, you know, people leave work and then they start like they start feeling guilt around their business and they're because they're like gosh, I should be doing more or I like, you know, because you've been doing it as a side hustle for so long. So you have to release all of that and like really learning to enjoy the success that you've created.

And then how do you scale that and grow that well, remaining like with the same core values of freedom and all of that. And it is something to me that is the best journey.

And I hope, I hope, I hope that you my friend are going to be on that journey because I'm telling you a life full of freedom is just absolutely amazing. And I believe that the quickest way to do that is to become a service provider.

To create like to create so much value, learn a high paying skill and really just knocking it out of the park.

And if you are interested in learning about this, I am going to be creating a course that's called well you know what, I'm just going to give you a domain name, even put your name on the wait list and there'll be some trainings and stuff like that around it. But become a service provider.com if you want to go check that out.

We are going to be running some awesome trainings and eventually a course that will be happening teaching you exactly how to identify skills that might be passionate, like be a passion for you. Because for me it's not just about a skill. It's like what are you going to have fun doing?

What's going to light you up but then how you can go and acquire those skills because even that's you might not be an expert at that skill and that's totally fine. But how do you go find that skill for very cheap and get educated on it for super cheap.

And then how do you start to dip your toes in creating a side hustle and then become booked out and then transition and live a freedom life. So if you're interested in something like that, please go check out become a service provider.com and I will see you on the next episode.