IG Live with Create & Cultivate
How To Take The Leap From Corporate Position To Small Business Owner.
This talk can be found on the @CreateCultivate IGTV page. Below I share the slides & notes discussed.
About Me:
NOTES: Jasmine Imani is a conscious beauty service business focusing on lashes and brows. Right now in Soho New York, and I am launching a full studio in Fall 2020.
In beauty, I want to bring the connection of the artist and the client together. Working on someone’s body plus the connections we share as women, should no longer be taken lightly. I want to highlight it and celebrate it.
Previously, I lived and thrived through corporate life and starting other businesses. After every business I’ve started, I found myself going back to corporate positions to learn more. You should be looking at your corporate positions with a sense of gratitude. You’re get a paycheck to learn.
You should go into a corp position as a student, but of course with a sense of knowing what you contribute.
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Business Path
In my second business, there were two of us.
I did everything from customer service, book keeping, fulfillment, and management. I had to learn it all quickly.
I went to FIDM and being in the Fashion Industry was my joy
After leaving the software business, I was lucky enough to take a year off before starting my own company
From here I went corporate and I did this purposefully. For one, I wanted to learn and see what other big businesses were doing.
My entire career, I’ve either worked a corporate job, or started a new businesses, and just prior to starting Jas Imani, I was doing both at the same time.
I quickly realized I was bored and not serving a real purpose. I waited patiently and gathered the mantra of “be in motion” - to just flow.
The concept of Jas Imani popped up on my head while at my desk, and the purpose developed over time
Intuition
Set boundaries and make them your practice. You should start this while at your corporate job, and let that evolve into your small business practices
Now this is a bigger conversation that I hope we all continue to have outside of the space. As women, even more so as black women, we have become almost comfortable with a certain amount of suffering. We have a high tolerance for pain. This just lives in us and we continue on. We women take on too much, and we should start asking ourselves - why do we allow ourselves to overwork, or make the type of sacrifices that ultimately stunt our growth.
So before you do anything, listen to your intuition, and get comfortable following it.
The Exit Plan
Exit Plan - aka Your Business Plan or To Do List
What’s Your Number
This is where you must get the yeses and the no’s in
what do you need each month to keep yourself happy?
How drastic do you want to be?
Here’s where I say to keep the extras that keep you being you
Things like therapy, working out, a monthly mani-pedi, a night out, should all be in this budget
Credit card spending should not be done during this time, nor budgeted in
They should actually be cut off. Get used to living on a budget without accruing debt.
What’s your number?
I have left companies with three months worth of savings to a year worth of savings
At the end of the day, Sometimes you just have to move to survive. If you find yourself here, look for options to transition. Maybe take a lower position somewhere else so you can focus on your business. Maybe find a part time job.
But I think it’s very important to stack your FU money :D
It empowers you to move with ease and clarity. and there’s no better feeling to know you have a cushion to live while you create.
What’s Your Purpose
You must be clear on what you are creating, but also hold space for your idea because it will forever be evolving
And your Why will become your mantra to keep pushing you forward
You own business will test you in ways that a corporate job never has, but your own creation will feed you better than any corporate job can. So with that, you have to know how this business is serving you. If it’s serving you, it should also be serving others.
This is something that will also help push you forward, because there will be many days where you will have to search for that joy again. So you need to be able to recognize that feeling so you can get back to it when you need it.
Be In Motion
This would include - setting up your domain, establishing your DBA, grabbing all your social handles, building the website. Also, having a business plan just for yourself is a great guide to have before leaving your job.
You may not be able to hire when you first leave, but you should start seeking out the things you need. This may be a content creator, this may be an assistant. Start seeking out the positions you would need in order to make space for them
While still at your corporate job, you should be doing something everyday that contributes to your small business (Be in Motion)
Talk About It!
Hold Yourself Accountable
We get in the habit of being held accountable by others when in a corporate position
This is a habit that you should begin shifting before leaving your job so that you are accountable to yourself first and foremost
Flow Forward
Flow forward. Seek your answers
Listen to other’s stories. Become a student. Soak up the good news.
A great start is right here. I took a deep dive in this Ask the expert series. I found tons of gems and wonderful advice from women from all paths. Take advantage of all this good news.
I have an exercise - When I was prepping for this, writing down what I’ve accomplished, created big and tiny, much was rediscovered. I highly suggest you write down your career path so far. Look at what you have done, give yourself the flowers pass yourself the trophies, cuz you are here creating. My biggest heartbreak is to hear people say that they are not creative. Everyone has their joys and what moves them. Everyone has their passions, they just don’t know how to observe them. Observe and explore your passions and know that this is where you are creative and these passions and pathways will grow.
