Becoming A Full-Time Entrepreneur (And Why I Quit My First Full-Time Job)

I’m sitting in the back office while I begin writing this post (I’m on a break I promise). It’s my last day wearing the jacket with “personal trainer” embroidered on the back and I feel calm, at peace and confident in my decision.

Some people would call me crazy, or even stupid, for quitting my first full-time job to be an entrepreneur after only 2 months. But do you know what I say to those people? It takes more courage and strength to quit your first full-time job after only 2 months to follow a dream you’ve had since you were 8.

Did I know exactly what I wanted to do when I was 8-years-old? Of course not. But I did know that I wanted to own my own business. I’ve always known that. When I was growing up I would play office instead of playing house, slipping into the garage to play at the antique desk my parents stored there. I carried around a little felt purse with a heart on it and called it my “traveling office,” filling it with little notepads and pencils, always ready to jot down my ever-so important 8-year-old ideas. I created a newsletter for me and my three best friends growing up, teaching myself how to use Microsoft publisher and denoting myself as editor. I later created a card business with another friend and instead of selling lemonade on the corner, we sold handmade cards and although it lasted a day, I remember putting so much time and energy into it. My favorite American Girl book was a money-making book. I would read it over and over and over when I was little, always feeling inspired to start my own business. Should I be a babysitter? Dog walker? Cookie baker? There seemed to be so many options even at my young age. I didn’t know then what it was called, but I always had an entrepreneurial spirit. I guess I always somehow, in the back of my mind, knew I would be an entrepreneur. Always.

But 14 years later I finally do know exactly what I want to do. I want to keep doing what I’m doing – inspiring and helping others live their healthiest and happiest lives – but in a deeper way. I want to transform lives and show people how GOOD they are meant to feel. How alive, awake and happy they are meant to feel each and every day. I want to have a deeper impact on individuals. I want to invest in all of YOU to help you truly reach your full potential. I want to be a resource, a teacher, a coach.

So I did it ya’ll. I took the leap and have begun studying through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition to become a certified integrative health coach. And I. Can’t. WAIT. To start transforming lives as a one on one coach. I have business plans to create and programs and courses to design and details to iron out and SO MUCH to learn, but man am I ready.

Ready to make my REAL dreams come true.

Ready to make changes in the lives of others.

Ready to make my 8-year-old self proud.

Ready to stop living in FEAR of what could go wrong and start living in ACCEPTANCE and EXCITEMENT of the unknown.

Ready to be a full-time entrepreneur.

After weeks of feeling incredibly worn down, fatigued to an extreme I’ve never felt before and torn in a million different directions, I sat myself down and thought long and hard. I knew something had to go. And the more I thought the more I realized everything that would seem like the “options” to most people, were the things I knew I could never give up. My blog, my dreams, my aspirations. It broke my heart thinking about stepping back more than I already had to while working full-time. The moments I got to spend working on this platform, collaborating with companies and being creative in the kitchen filled me up SO much, even if it was causing me to sleep less and have a little less sanity. And that’s when I knew what had to go. If I was ever going to make my dreams happen, I simply couldn’t work full-time.

And I know some people can make it happen, but I saw the negative effects it was having on my health. I experienced constant stomachaches in the past two months (some even bringing me to tears at work), more anxiety than I’ve experienced in a long time and the extreme fatigue I mentioned before. I literally felt like I was walking around as a zombie for those two months and I was getting so scared about making myself extremely sick again. It was hard for me to concentrate at work, engage with clients and act as happy and positive as you want your personal trainer to act. And for me, health is my BIGGEST priority.

Following your dreams is scary, trust me, but it’s also exhilarating. It’s exciting. It’s life-changing. I wake up with such a PURPOSE and know that I am meant to be on this path. I am meant to work for myself. I am meant to change lives. I am meant to help people feel good and confident and healthy. I am meant to continue sharing my life and my story in order to help others. And knowing what I’m meant to do and acting on it feels so liberating.

And so, I want to encourage all of YOU to truly follow your dreams too. Too often do I see people ignoring their dreams. Treating them as just that – dreams. Something to be thought about at night, during their morning commute or when they’re staring off during work.

But dreams can only become reality if you put in the work. Stop waiting for the right time and realize there is no right time. I could have kept waiting for the perfect moment to quit. When I felt like I had “proven myself” in my current career, when I felt like it was “appropriate” to quit, when I felt like people wouldn’t judge me for quitting, when I was 100000% sure I was ready that very next day to launch my business. But then I realized, the longer I waited, the longer it would take me to reach my dreams and goals and that wasn’t a tradeoff I was willing to make.

So here’s to making big leaps, to following dreams, to being an entrepreneur, to doing what I’m meant to do and to not giving in to societal pressure. I’m thankful for the time I had working full-time at the gym I worked at and I’m thankful that they’re letting me still work very part-time on the weekends in a different role. I love the gym, the vibe and the people I met there so I’m excited to still be a part of the family. And I’m excited to put to use my personal training knowledge with my clients, but just in a different, more holistic way. I can’t help people feel their best or BE their best by only focusing on fitness. It’s about the food they’re eating, and even more importantly, the way they’re talking to themselves.

So when I slip into my new home-office with tea in hand before anyone else is awake, when the sun hasn’t quite started rising, I feel like my 8-year-old self slipping into the garage to play pretend once again. But this time I get to pinch myself and realize it’s real. It’s all real. I manifested it, created it and worked hard for it and I can’t wait to keep working hard for my dreams. Will it be easy? Of course not. But it will be so, SO worth it. So, let me reintroduce myself -  hi, my name is nat and I’m an entrepreneur.

And damn does that feel good to say.

XO nat