Finding the right balance between pushing yourself to achieve and not overextending yourself is never easy. In this episode of Career Relaunch, former McKinsey consultant turned CEO of PocketSuite Chinwe Onyeagoro will explain how she made some tough choices to bring a better balance to her life and approach her work with even more joy. In the Mental Fuel segment, I’ll talk about setting reasonable expectations for yourself so you can maintain a sustainable pace to your work and life.
Key Career Insights
- Rather than spreading yourself too thin, focusing your energies on one particular sector helps you add significantly more value.
- Instead of simply chasing credentials and resume building, focus on what you can learn and what exposure you’ll have to people with the functional skills you’re hoping to develop.
- Given all the sacrifices you have to make whenever you’re devoted to a professional cause, you have to approach your work with a sense of joy. Otherwise, it’s simply not sustainable.
- In order to turn a side gig you have for supplemental income into a real, full-time business, you have to enjoy finding clients and building a business.
- Returning to full-time employment after running your own business can be a tremendous opportunity, but it may involve re-skilling up and training again so you can reintegrate into your former industry that’s potentially evolved.
Resources Mentioned
What makes a workplace experience “great.” (according to Great Places to Work):
- Purpose– People have pride in what they do.
- Camaraderie– Sense of connection with others.
- Trust-believing other people in your organization “have your back.”
For unique insights on how to start and run your own business, you can text PocketSuite at +1 415-841-2300.
Listener Challenge
During this episode’s Mental Fuel segment, I challenged you to take stock of all the key work activities filling the hours of your day, then loosen your grip on one of them. Allow yourself to just slow things down with one activity you regularly invest your time and energy into. See what happens, see how you feel, and most importantly, see if dropping from 110% to 90% effort ends up benefitting you in some other way.
About Chinwe Onyeagoro, CEO of PocketSuite
Chinwe’s the CEO of PocketSuite, who sees an opportunity to give early stage independent service professionals specific and useful tips to help them grow their businesses. She’s been the president of Great Places to Work, a top management consultant, an advisor to Fortune 1000 executives and the U.S. Small Business Administration, and a TEDx speaker.
She currently serves on the boards of private equity firms and lending institutions that have invested more than $1B in small and medium enterprises that create good jobs in underserved communities and is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute.
Chinwe has co-authored publications with the Pepperdine School of Business, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, focused on business financing and financial health. She’s also written for Entrepreneur Magazine among others.
Follow Chinwe on LinkedIn & Twitter.
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