Sharing is caring!

Welcome to a special episode, our 4-year celebratory episode since the podcast launch on September 4, 2017

It has honestly been a blink of an eye and it’s still amazing how there have been so many changes from 4 years ago. 

I honestly didn’t imagine that this is where I would be 4 years after my launch. 

Almost a quarter of a million downloads, speaking to hundreds of remote workers and digital nomads, leaving my 9-5, and taking the risk to gain more freedom and become location independent. 

In this episode, I answer 2 most asked questions from my listeners. 

 

Listen Below:

RELATED EPISODES:

My Offbeat Journey: Moving from Active to Passive Income!

My Offbeat Journey: Stop living up to other people’s expectations and start living the right lifestyle for YOU!

My Offbeat Journey: Make your lifestyle the goal, not your income!

 

It has definitely been a long road, with a lot of mistakes and failures along the way. 

But along these failures, I have gained a ton of lessons. 

But what I do want to do today is to answer some questions that many of my readers and listeners continually ask. 

Which is the really hard road of leaving the 9-5 and transitioning to remote work or entrepreneurship.

Most people give you advice on how to do the transition, but what I want to talk about today is how to stay positive and how to create a strong mindset when you are preparing. 

When you are still in the 9-5 hustle, when you are in an environment that doesn’t inspire you, or even an environment that you can’t stand anymore. 

This is something that I had to go through for a long time.

If you followed my journey, and have listened to My offbeat journey episodes, then you know that I have started and failed 3 businesses before I succeeded with my business now. 

And believe me, I still have a long way to go. 

I had to go through all these hopes and failures for years while still working a day job. So I know what it is like to want something so bad, but feel like you’re sinking in quicksand when things are not happening fast enough. 

So today we’ll talk about:

How to deal with a toxic work environment and most importantly learning to appreciate your 9-5 before you transition to working remotely. 

First and foremost, a toxic working environment. Let’s talk about reality here. 

Whether in a regular 9-5 of a remote job, this can happen in either scenario, so just because you leave the desk job, doesn’t mean it can’t happen again. 

In my previous job, I was a therapist for children with autism and I worked in homes and schools. 

I had great co-workers and bosses, so I was not in a toxic work environment with my company, but I was in environments where I saw some abuses that I had to deal with.

It eventually affected me so much that was the reason that I left my American Dream job. I felt helpless when my hands were tied behind my back and I didn’t want to be there anymore because I felt like I was just part of a broken system. 

The way I dealt with this was to do everything I could to help my kids and do what’s best for them. Thinking about their needs and putting them first. 

That’s what allowed me to last that long. Another thing that I did was communicate with my co-workers, companies, and families. I made sure that I always had open communication. 

I find that whenever I was in a toxic environment, whether it is a too demanding boss, a conflict with co-workers or clients, the best way is to always face it head-on and communicate. 

I am not the type of person who loves confrontations and I don’t know many people who are, but when I am faced with something that I know is not just, I will speak up. 

So if this is you, I encourage you to communicate in a healthy way, ask for a meeting, write down everything that you are feeling so you do not forget it during the meet-up and share the problems that you are facing and ask how you can work together to solve it.

I know this can be extremely hard to do, but if you want any chance at all of making your environment better before you leave, then it has to be done.

Now, I do want to emphasize that you are creating this meeting to create a neutral and peaceful way to solve the issues, being overly emotional and confrontational is not going to help. 

So be patient, be open to other ideas and listen to the other person’s side. 

If you have done this and nothing changes, then make sure that you are putting all of your ducks in a row, doing everything you need to do to be able to leave this job and start working remotely. 

Let this become the light under your ass that will get you motivated to finally do 101 percent of being committed to change.

There is always something you can take away from the meeting and if anything else, you know that you tried your best. 

Now let’s talk about dealing with a day job that doesn’t have anything wrong with it except for the fact that you know it is not something that you are meant to do.

Maybe you’re getting bored, you are not being challenged or maybe you are just restless and want to be out of the job ASAP but do not have anywhere else to go yet. 

My best advice is to first have a sense of gratitude, gratitude that you have a job, gratitude that you are able to support yourself with this work, gratitude that you are able to have a healthy body and mind to be able to do it…

You can also take a look at the different aspects of that job that you enjoy, is it a certain task that you love, your co-workers, what it can afford you, and so forth. 

Write this down every day and let it put a smile on your face. 

Let it be stronger in your mind than the negativity that you are hearing. 

Another suggestion that I have is to also start working on the projects that you really want to do. 

The great thing and sometimes bad thing about having a day job are there is less pressure for you so you can take your time to figure out what you really want to do. 

But I do want to remind you not to let this make you complacent. Allow it to give you the opportunity to pursue your dreams while you are able to support yourself. 

Whether you are looking for a remote job, or want to start your own online business, be grateful for the opportunity and start working on the project ASAP. 

This will allow you to feel like you are accomplishing something, while you are working towards your eventual goal to leave. 

When you combine both gratitude and preparation for your goals and future, it will allow you to move forward and to reach your goals. 

I hope this helped you get a bit of perspective of how to appreciate and to work through your 9-5. 

I know how hard it can be and I have been in the same shoes. I wanted to dedicate this 4 year anniversary episode to those of you who are still in the grind and struggling to find your purpose. 

Just know that you will get there, as long as you work, fail often in order to learn as much as possible. 

Thank you so much for being here and for sharing 4 years with me, for seeing me and my show grow. 

For allowing me to share my story and my guests’ stories with you. I am looking forward to the next four years with you. 

And to celebrate, I have also decided to design a few digital bundles for you so you can track your progress to becoming a remote worker. From work from home templates, resume templates, Land a client checklist and so much more! 

Visit theoffbeatlife.com/resources to grab the bundles for a special 4-year anniversary price! 

Alright friends, that’s it for now! If you have any other questions for me, feel free to email me at hello@theoffbeatlife.com and who knows maybe I’ll answer your questions next time too!