I AM: a cliff-jumper
Hi, I'm Steph. This is where I begin...
Seven months ago I jumped off the cliff of a full-time job and into the great unknown of entrepreneurship with Full Time Life. The only reason I know for sure that I am right where I am supposed to be is because I am an experienced cliff-jumper. I writing this from the jump (I’ve got a lot of hang time here), and my internal navigation system is telling me to brace for impact. It’s hard to know what that means, but one thing I know from experience is that it will be thrilling. So I thought I’d start documenting it. If you care to follow along I saved you a front-row seat…
I am still in the stage of my entrepreneurial endeavors of credentialing myself: my education, my career experience, and my certifications. But credentials are funny and never really tell the full story. I have some good ones for sure: fancy degrees and big firm names and certifications galore. Lined up chronologically on a resume they are like luxury goods in a window display at Christmas: shiny & sparkly & pretty. But they could never tell the full, vibrant story of ME.
Credential defined (by oxford): a qualification, achievement, personal quality, or aspect of a person’s background, typically when used to indicate that they are suitable for something.
Based on this definition of what a credential is, and seeing as I am in the midst of having to STICK A LANDING from a cliff jump, I need past-me to remind me that 2024-me is so suitable to stick this landing.
Cliff-jump defined (by me): when, daring greatly, you leave the (seemingly) solid footing of land to pursue something clear in your mind, but out of reach of your actual line of sight.
I have a history of moments of radical clarity, taking the leap, and sticking the landing. And I suspect you do too. So as I reflect on mine, this is your sign to reflect on yours. What are your cliff-jumping adventures? You may not need this list today, but it will be a nice reminder that you have all that you need and to trust your intuition when the next cliff appears and you are thinking about jumping.
It feels both intimidating AND thrilling at the same time, and I’m leaning on all the tools in my toolkit during this hang time (my faith, my cheer squad, my high vibe rituals, my accountability besties, my GTD systems, my trust in how things are unfolding, my curiosity when opportunities land on my doorstep). There is only my inner compass guiding the way and on days when I question my actual sanity I remind myself: I am both highly credentialed AND an experienced cliff-jumper. I’ve got this, and you do too!
Career-cliff-jumps, a brief summary:
2000: Turned down a full-time offer with PWC (after a summer internship in Charlotte, NC) because I wanted to live in Florida to be near family and they wouldn’t transfer my offer. PAYOFF: I started my tax accounting career with Arthur Andersen in Tampa, eventually leading me to go back to school to get my law degree.
2005: Turned down a job offer with the law firm I interned with because it didn’t pay enough, with nothing else lined up. PAYOFF: Ultimately took a job with A&M in Charlotte, NC. I would end up at A&M for the next 18 years.
2008: Asked for a transfer to NYC because one of my bosses was moving there and the only other boss I worked for was a monster (paraphrasing). I saw only 2 options: move firms or move cities, so I moved cities. PAYOFF: I was in the right place at the right time to get assigned to one of the firm’s biggest clients of all time, providing me with tremendous career opportunities while I lived in NYC.
2015: Asked for a transfer from Tax Consultant to Chief-of-Staff to the CEO at my firm, they said no and told me to get back to work (which was better than firing me outright). So I kept working AND started interviewing for a chief-of-staff role. PAYOFF: 6 months later I had a job offer for a chief of staff from a competing firm AND a job offer from my current CEO offering me a position on his team. I stayed with A&M and started working for my CEO.
2023: I am finally starting to find my full-time life balance, which extends beyond career success. My priorities start to shift in one direction at the same time that my job responsibilities shift in another, and the misalignment is palpable. It is not just that my job goalpost is moved, it was taking me further away from what sets my soul on fire: to spur others on to dream big and go boldly in the direction of those dreams. I see an opportunity to jump off what felt to me like a runaway train in the wrong direction, and I gather my things and jump. PAYOFF: cliff-jump in progress, stay tuned.