How to Quit Your 9 to 5 Without Going Broke: Job Exit Strategies | Tania P. Brown

Small Business Pivots with Michael D. Morrison welcomes Tania P. Brown, a Job Exit Strategist from Lawrenceville, Georgia, who helps women over 40 build a confident path from corporate life to self-employment freedom.

In this inspiring episode, Tania shares her journey from growing up in Brooklyn, to military service, to financial services, and ultimately into entrepreneurship. She breaks down:
 ✅ Why financial strategy is the key to leaving your 9 to 5 without going broke
 ✅ The difference between what clients need and what they want when starting a business
✅ How toxic corporate experiences can follow you unless you heal before launching your business
✅ Practical boundaries and time-blocking tips that keep entrepreneurs focused and balanced
✅ Why hope, confidence, and clarity matter more than hype when planning your leap into business

If you’ve ever wondered how to quit your job, build a financial exit plan, and create a business that lights you up—this episode is for you.

Ranked in the top 10% of podcasts globally, Small Business Pivots brings you the raw stories and strategies from entrepreneurs who’ve been in your shoes.

Tania P. Brown: Founder & CEO of Tania P. Brown Services, Job Exit Strategist

Website: https://www.taniapbrown.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taniapellewbrown/

Blog: https://www.taniapbrown.com/blog

#SmallBusinessPivots #MichaelDMorrison #BOSS #BusinessLoans #BusinessCoaching #AtlantaBusiness #GeorgiaEntrepreneurs #WomenInBusiness #JobExitStrategist #SelfEmploymentFreedom #CorporateEscape #EntrepreneurJourney #BusinessGrowth #SmallBusinessPodcast #WomenOver40 #QuitYour9to5 #AtlantaPodcast #BusinessOwnershipSimplified #OklahomaCityPodcast

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Job Exit Strategy
• 2:12 From Brooklyn to Financial Awakening
• 5:25 Breaking Free from Corporate Toxicity
• 9:03 Finding Your Ideal Clients
• 14:10 The Five-Step Transition Plan
• 21:40 Creating Freedom Through Boundaries
• 29:15 Monetizing Your Corporate Skills
• 40:14 Your Business Answers Prayers

Transcript

Michael Morrison: 0:00

All right, welcome to another Small Business, pivots, where we bring special guests from around the world. And if you've watched or listened to our podcast before, you know that no one can introduce their name in business like the business owner. So I turn it over to you Introduce yourself, tell us where you're.

Tania Brown: 0:22

My name is Tanya P Brown. I live in Lawrenceville, georgia, which is about 30 minutes north of Atlanta, so I own my own business as a job exit strategist and I know some people are like what the heck is that? I help people. A lot of times. Women who are ready to leave the nine to five to become self-employed create a financial strategy so they don't go broke, end up in a pile of debt or have to go crumbling back to their old job.

Michael Morrison: 0:54

That happens, wow, okay, so well, I know that this is an alignment. It's parallel to each other because the first statement on your website is ready to become your own boss, and that's the name of our company. So let's introduce the show here and we'll get to the real stories and learn what you have to share with our audience. Welcome to Small Business Pivots, a podcast produced for small business owners. I'm your host, michael Morrison, founder and CEO of BOSS, where we make business ownership simplified for success. Our business is helping yours grow. Boss offers business loans with business coaching support. Loans with business coaching support Apply in minutes and get approved and funded in as little as 24 to 48 hours at businessownershipsimplifiedcom.

Michael Morrison: 1:54

I know that the entrepreneur journey is a little bit messy for some, but before we get to that, can you share and get us caught up to, kind of maybe your life journey, getting into adulthood? Because a lot of us grew up differently and because of that some of us had trials and tribulations. Maybe that led to some mindset stuff. Maybe we're stuck a little bit on limited beliefs, and then there's others that just cruised right through life, had the best life ever. We don't like those people. No, I'm just kidding, I can't relate to those people how about that? But what was your childhood like? So we can kind of get caught up to where you are today.

Tania Brown: 2:35

Okay, I grew up in Brooklyn, new York, and this is not the gentrified Brooklyn of 2025. I am a child of the 70s, so this is the rough Brooklyn. We grew up poor to the point where I remember rats crawling between our mattress and box springs free cheese lines. No, we were poor. Poor and the only thing I knew about money this is what I felt. What I learned was that people who had it were either corrupt or just lucky.

Tania Brown: 3:04

So you fast forward and I joined the military. And back in the day when I joined this is like around the early 90s they gave out credit cards like kids get candy at Halloween, and I racked it up and I don't know if I had a go big or go home mentality, but I ran up debt to the point that would be admirable if it wasn't a good way. So in the military, you don't pay your debts. They reach out to your commander, so my commander calls me in. To this day. I feel so sorry for that poor man, because you can just imagine me with the Brooklyn attitude hey, we got these debts. I'm like yeah, notice, you didn't pay them. I'm like what's your point?

Michael Morrison: 3:44

You have to pay those.

Tania Brown: 3:46

You actually pay those. So his punishment was I had to create a debt payoff plan and I had to create a savings plan. Nothing clicked. I was mad that I had to do it, but grateful that I didn't get punished. Further Nothing clicked until about a year later. A year later, I get a message that my grandmother had passed away and my mother did not have the money to go to her funeral because of that plan that I cursed underneath my breath. I had the money to pay for myself and my mother. That is when the light bulb went on that the choices and decisions you make about money allows you to live out your values. That's what clicked. And then, right after that, I started working at in banking, and this is about 97. Now I still made some crazy mistakes. I wish I could say the path was rosy. So still yes. So that's pretty much kind of how I got into the financial service industry initially. Fantastic, so that's pretty much kind of how I got into the financial service industry initially.

Michael Morrison: 4:47

Fantastic Well, you've already kind of mentioned that, to me at least that you had some messiness in your entrepreneur journey. So let's go from the banking to the entrepreneur. What was kind of that transition? Why did you do it? I know a lot of people, a lot of listeners that we have, are still wanting to dive into entrepreneurship, but there's something keeping them back, and that could be numerous things. So what was kind of your journey that said I'm doing this?

Tania Brown: 5:18

I was not the person that I jokingly say came out the womb with an LLC in their hand. So entrepreneurship was not on my radar. But I had started working, started kind of rising up the corporate ladder. It was almost like a consultant role where I would travel. So I have kids and a family and I remember getting on an airplane and, I kid you not, the flight crew was like hey, tanya, how are the kids? Something about that struck, because when the airline crew knows your family on a first name basis, you know you're traveling too much and it just kind of reflected what I was seeing. So that was part one.

Tania Brown: 5:57

Part two is what I lovingly call the performance review from hell. So I was on a consulting meeting. I was heading towards a consult. Actually we were planning was on a consulting meeting. I was heading towards a consult. Actually we were planning rather a consulting meeting and I was getting ready to close on my house. So I let my leadership know hey, I'm not going to make this meeting. I got to close on my house and they were like fine, great, I got punished for about six months on performance reviews because that was deemed as a lack of team spirit.

Tania Brown: 6:25

I'm not even joking. Wow, there really was no going back from there because of the work we did in our finances. And I just want to mention as a side note when we got married, we were a hot mess. It took us years to get on the same page and work with our finances, but those decisions meant it wasn't an if I can quit, it was a win. But I was done, done. So I thought I had been by this point in the financial service industry, helping people build wealth, helping small business. I thought. I thought how hard could it be? I just we didn't make a plan financially. We did have a plan of somewhat for business, but I thought once I left, how hard could it be? And became a business and started a business.

Michael Morrison: 7:13

Well, I appreciate you sharing that, because so many of us, all we see, are the the limelight, the stages, the bright lights of entrepreneurship, and we never hear about the struggles and including myself, like I've told you to this day being a business coach for two decades plus to this day when I'm involved in a new startup or something we still have struggles, we still have challenges, and so I want that to be an encouraging message for those that want to start a business. It's not easy at all, but it can be simpler than people make it out to be. I know you had some struggles and challenges that could possibly help some others prevent those from happening or just be aware that they're coming and how to overcome those. Can you share some of those with us?

Tania Brown: 8:13

Okay, a couple of things. The first thing if you are in a highly toxic work environment, if you don't get healed from that, you will take all of that into your business. But I've, in all fairness, had to own my part. I did not have good boundaries. So who do you think are the clients that found me? The ones that had no boundaries and completely exploited my lack of boundaries. I took on projects that I really probably should not have, but what I heard was you just take anything, which is exactly what I did. So on paper I looked great, but I was miserable. And here's the thing when you take on clients, you shouldn't. And they really like you. They didn't recommend their clients and you didn't have it's a their clients.

Michael Morrison: 9:05

It's a compound effect.

Tania Brown: 9:06

It's a compound effect, so not really taking some time to detox from my past employer, not really assessing what I wanted my life to look like. I didn't really think if I do this, this means I don't have this time off. If I take this, I'm not really working in what I like. I didn't really think if I do this, this means I don't have this time off. If I take this, I'm not really working in what I like. I didn't really think about how each client I took literally shaped my business. The writing projects I took all of those. It shaped my business and it took it in all these different directions. So I didn't have a cohesive message. I didn't know how important that was and, oh my goodness, I'm so embarrassed. I also changed my website like six times and I didn't realize I was killing my SEO, killing it, changing it Like I would get a new hair and brain idea. Okay, change website. How bad could it be? It was. So I'm basically just self-sabotaging myself.

Michael Morrison: 10:10

You know you brought up a good point, and I don't remember if we talked about this in the past you and I, cause we've talked before and something that just dawned on me again is the lifestyle or the types of jobs, careers that we have. We kind of get stuck in those. So what you're talking about the toxicity in the corporate world yet you're helping people in the corporate world. I grew up in small business, service business related industry, and that's who I coach now, and so do you find any parallels in that with? Because you mentioned that you kept getting the wrong type of clients and then they would refer you to another bad client, and so I'm wondering if there's some inspiration or insights there that we can crack the code open for others to realize. First of all, find your demographic, find those that you like to work with, have those defined. Can you share, maybe, how you figured that out?

Tania Brown: 11:10

Lots of pain and trial and error. Just talking to a lot of people, I realized it was also two-sided. So it was finding the people who were good for me but finding the people who actually wanted me. There's some type of synergy between you and that person and just because you want to work with that demographic doesn't mean that demographic wants to work with you. So it was. It was just um. The only way to do it is to just keep going, like I wish somebody would have said at the first year. You're just validating and you're just asking a ton of questions. I just asked enough clients and got enough no's till I got to the yeses that I liked.

Michael Morrison: 11:49

Yeah, that's good information, and we use DISC. So for those that haven't heard of that, it's Predictable Behavior Traits and in the sales world we know that people buy from those they know like and trust.

Michael Morrison: 12:00

So, between what you just offered and maybe someone investigating, diving into what DISC is. Because people do buy from those they know like and trust and so find kind of your predictable behaviors. Because I know on that assessment I'm not a high D at all and so I'm probably not going to be able to help them. So between what you said and DISC it can probably help people real in who their ideal target is, who they'd like to work with. Is that valid?

Tania Brown: 12:31

100%. I am a really high D and I Like my. I edges out my D, but I am super high in both and my C is like nonexistent.

Michael Morrison: 12:43

But opposites attract, and that's why you and I are here.

Tania Brown: 12:48

Ironically, if I had to do a disc, I find I attract a lot of Cs, so I feel like there must be something in there that seems to be working. But I have to adapt a little bit of my style to that explaining more understanding, a level of detail. My website has more words, but I learned my people read. So at first I had the trend of have as little on your website as possible and that wasn't working. My people read every detail. It's almost like they highlight sections and ask. So understanding that person helps you to even understand. Where do you fall in terms of your website? Where do you fall in terms of your words? How direct or not direct do you need to be? It's all those things. It's trial and error. The only way is just to ask a lot of questions, be open, be humble to being wrong. I was so wrong in my first product or my first service.

Michael Morrison: 13:48

You make a lot of valid points, so I would say the biggest thing out of that is define who you want to work with first, and that will save you a lot of problems with websites and contents and all that good stuff so moving. Once you found your ideal target, what happened next?

Tania Brown: 14:07

Oh, my first service flopped. So it's, I mean, it worked, but it didn't. So here is what I wish somebody would have said to me it's not about what someone needs, it's about what someone wants. My service was what they needed, but it wasn't what they wanted and I was too many steps ahead. So after the first few I'm not going to say it flopped, but I had to pivot really hard when I realized what I was doing wasn't working. I finally got to what worked. So, even taking yourself out of it and because this was an experience, I walked so serving women who are going from corporate to self-employment. Just because I walked, that didn't mean I knew everybody's experience and it took me a while to understand that and to adapt to. This is what these people, this experience is for this person, this is what this person wants to kind of lead with that and I can incorporate the need in that.

Michael Morrison: 15:12

How did you find out what they wanted? Because I know that's a great piece of advice, because most people do offer what they think people need and but you said it's it's the opposite. So how did you find that out what they wanted?

Tania Brown: 15:27

I asked a ton of questions. I'm a big believer that people are intelligent enough to know what they want and just start asking. Also, when I got into my sessions, I was really big at taking down notes, not only for the client meeting. But where did we gravitate to? Where was the majority of our time? And the majority of the time wasn't where I thought it would be. That makes sense and vetting other services, but to me it's simply asking the questions, being really in tuned when you're in meetings as to where do people seem to shift their attention and just stay there.

Michael Morrison: 16:09

That is interesting, and I never thought we'd open this can of worms, but I'm fixing to open it. So we are actually kind of going through the same thing, and here we are coaches, and so we realize that most, most small businesses want to grow. They're usually almost want, always wanting more sales, but their business is a hot mess. They can't, they can't do more sales. All they're going to do is compound their problems with more sales. So most business owners want more sales, and we're like you got to fix you in the business first. So how do you? What have you found through that transition of okay, I understand what you want, but you can't have that until you get this? Did you figure anything out of like here's what you need, though, even though this is what you want, is that too loaded of a question?

Tania Brown: 17:03

No, I had to tee them up, like it. This is it's funny, cause I did a workshop a few weeks ago and nobody had even spoken to a client but everybody wanted to know what business entity to have. So I had to tie what they wanted to what they needed. So I'm like I'm so happy you're interested in figuring out your business entity, but your entity is going to go nowhere if you don't even know how much you spend per month, like. So I had to tie the language of what they needed to what they wanted and let them which they did get to a place like okay. So one was like you're trying to tell me I'm focused on the wrong stuff. I said you're saying that.

Michael Morrison: 17:49

Yeah, right, yeah, marketing 101 for all of us new business owners out there to understand define your target first and then offer what they want, not need, and then tie it in together and explain that so well. So you continue down this journey. I'm sure you've learned more since those first obstacles.

Tania Brown: 18:16

So once I started to understand again what people wanted and honestly it was just what was on the brain, so it's just getting what was on the brain off so you can get to what they needed it was understanding what they needed from their perspective and how to package what they needed in a way that was meaningful to them. To be honest, my first few services were just overkill. It was too much for what they needed. And I realized what they needed was the basics. And there is a business coach out there and she I remember she looked at my services. She was like this is just ridiculous. And she made a comment that stuck with me and she says make it so simple. You almost feel you're wrong.

Michael Morrison: 18:58

Almost feel what.

Tania Brown: 18:59

That you're wrong.

Michael Morrison: 19:00

Oh, that you're wrong, okay.

Tania Brown: 19:01

Yeah, and she just, and she kind of went on to say do not assume that what seems so simple and easy to you is simple to other people.

Michael Morrison: 19:12

Keep it simple.

Tania Brown: 19:14

Almost two. Whatever you think simple is, go two steps below, and that was some just wisdom and that served me well.

Michael Morrison: 19:23

You're just full of nuggets today because we get so surrounded in our own environment that we just think, oh, everybody should know that. I mean, come on, so that's also good advice. So tell us a little bit about what your services are, who you help and what that process looks like.

Tania Brown: 19:43

Yeah, it is such a simpler version. So again, I serve women I typically trend over the age of 40 who are in corporate roles and when I say corporate, I have a decent percentage of nurses and teachers. So they work for large entities, typically highly skilled managerial, some executives. And, as one woman put it, I love how she said. This woman said she's tired of living in the margins of her job. I heard someone say this on another podcast.

Tania Brown: 20:14

I just thought that beautifully described 99% of the people who come to me and they want an exit strategy and they feel hopeless because in their minds there's only two options to entrepreneurship you either go for broke or you stay in something you hate. And I'm like there's a third option. So I want them to build their own unique journey. So the first step with me is we actually do a transition assessment how, where do you fall on being prepared for your transition? And I actually walk through the process. Actually, I've just gathered the information. I'm able to do the assessment From there. We just zone in on what can kill you, because there's a thousand things out there, but I'm like here are the things that can kill you. Where do you want to start? And we start there, but normally after we talk their perspective shifts and that kind of goes back to kind of starting with what they want, tying it to what they need, because they begin to realize these little things are really important.

Michael Morrison: 21:16

Yeah, yeah. So is there some financial discoveries along the way? Apply in minutes and get approved and funded in as little as 24 to 48 hours at businessownershipsimplifiedcom. If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to hit the subscribe button and share it as well. Now let's get back to our special guest. So is there some financial discoveries along the way, then, that you help them with?

Tania Brown: 21:59

Oh yeah, discoveries along the way then that you helped them with. Oh yeah, Okay, it's funny. When I started I did not realize how important this was. I just assumed if you're going to quit your job and start a business, you're going to take a look at your finances. You're going to know how much you I don't know how much I really thought you're going to at least know how much you spend. So in this five, how much I really thought you're going to at least know how much you spend. So in this five-step process that I call ready, the first thing is review your actual numbers, not fantasy numbers, not what you think. I want them to go back at least 30 days, ideally longer, and I want them to know, to the penny what did you spend last month? That by itself is eyeopening. I hear a lot of times I had no idea I was spending this much or I didn't really know my money was going in all these different directions. Yeah, it.

Michael Morrison: 22:50

It's amazing how perspective is wrong many times, because I remember when I started my first business back in the day, the dollar amount of all my debt didn't really impact me. But when I started thinking like, oh, I could make $500 on this job and $1,000 on that one, that sounded big and bold and amazing. But what I didn't realize was I had $8,000 to $10,000 worth of debt every month that I was trying to pay off. But the monies of what I could make got so exciting I didn't think about what it would take to survive.

Tania Brown: 23:28

Yeah, and that happens a lot, and that number is the basis of everything. That number is going to determine how much money you need. I deal a lot with solopreneurs, so that is critical to how much money you're going to need to live off of. That's probably going to be how you price to make sure you can keep a roof over your head.

Michael Morrison: 23:48

So you do webinars and you're a speaker. Who do you speak to and what kind of webinars do you have so people can learn more?

Tania Brown: 23:57

So I do something Escape your 9 to five plans. So it's your nine to five escape plan, and in there I go through these five steps. That is critical to being able to plan for a smooth and successful transition. And from there I break it down into various points. The ultimate goal for me is how do I help you build a foundation to have the best shot of success and what I like to call the self-employed gap, like that season, between steady paychecks and consistent business income. So every webinar takes a point from one of those five steps.

Michael Morrison: 24:33

What would you say that your services provide someone emotionally?

Tania Brown: 24:43

services provide someone emotionally. Hope is the number one thing I hear, which brings me to tears as I say it, because a lot of times they come in after listening to what I like to call the highlight reel of entrepreneurship and they can't. And I appreciate someone who started their business at 25, who's never worked in a corporate job, telling people just quit their jobs. But if you have lived a little bit, if you're in your forties, the risk is real. When you're like me, who had the mammogram from hell I literally went from a mammogram to emergency surgery within days telling me to just quit my job, forget healthcare instead of business, is very different. We need to manage the risk of doing it, especially when you're older.

Tania Brown: 25:26

So telling them there's a third solution you could do strategic funding. Hops, it doesn't have to be a leap, you don't have to have a ton of cash, but understand it's going to take time because you basically are leveraging different jobs to get you to self-employment, almost like you start off full-time, you do this part-time and then we're kind of going to tilt it to where maybe it's part-time work and you're full-time self-employed and then ease you out of that. That is going to take time, that is a way. And then every job you do is strategic. It is strategic in building skills, whether technical or soft, to get you there. But you can build this and you can build this in a way that's suitable to you. So when I'm done, I hear I'm like, is this possible? And I'm like, yes, it's very possible.

Michael Morrison: 26:10

That is strong advice that, even if someone's not thinking or considering about starting a business, that's applicable in everything. I ran a marathon earlier this year and everybody says how do you know if someone ran a marathon? Well, we'll tell you. Okay, you don't have to ask, we'll tell you. It's an accomplishment that less than one of 1%, I believe, in the world even do. But one thing I noticed that kind of aligns with what you're talking about is confidence, and so most people would say, well, I could never run 26.2 miles. And I'm like, well, you probably couldn't without a plan. So clarity the plan equals confidence and hope that you can, and that was one of the things that I was like once I had a plan and hope that you can. And that was one of the things that I was like once I had a plan. I had clarity of what I needed to do and I did it and it happened. And so one of your statements on here is your confident path to self-employment freedom. What is the freedom that people can get from owning a business?

Tania Brown: 27:18

To do work that lights them up and work that they feel is impactful. To have time. Okay, I know it's so funny. I feel like I'm at this stage I wasn't at before. I baked cookies for my kids coming home from school one day. That would have been impossible with me traveling as a consultant, and I know that sounds old-fashioned, but it was just nice to be able to do something for my kids that they liked in a time frame. I couldn't have done it before. A friend who lost a parent and me being able to say I can switch some meetings around, I'm going to come see you, being able to be present mentally again, to have a choice in the work you do you versus a performance review to decide how much to charge for something. So it is a freedom to fully be yourself. I'm a person of faith, so I'm a really big believer. That is a way to step into the calling that God has for you as well. So there's this peace in the midst of the chaos when you're in all of this.

Michael Morrison: 28:25

Yeah, that's good. So when you talk about freedom, I know that, and you mentioned the word earlier, but we can also, by not having boundaries, our freedom can stress us out. So what kind of boundaries would you suggest someone should set from the get-go, so that you're not being pulled in so many different directions, taking on every single client? What are those boundaries that you found to be worthwhile sharing?

Tania Brown: 28:55

This may sound weird, but if you're coming from a corporate environment, I tell people go get therapy while you're still working and go get therapy on their dimes that they screwed you up. Let them pay for it.

Michael Morrison: 29:06

That's great advice.

Tania Brown: 29:07

You're going gonna need a sounding board because you have to be honest with your role in how everything happened and I wasn't honest enough to say that I was a part of my detox job. So I think the pretty step is a level of self-awareness that I said yes when I really should have said no. I stayed in the job when I probably should have left. So some level of responsibility. And then what's your triggers? Definitely, like everybody else, to struggle like the overachiever need to like that achievement.

Tania Brown: 29:40

Dopamine hit is hard. So recognizing my individual triggers meant I didn't duplicate it when I was self-employed and then just looking for how, what your specific triggers are. I'm a big believer in community. So I had people and I was like call me out when I'm crazy, call me out when I'm like. Tanya, you said you wanted to go in this direction but you're doing this because if bright, shiny object disease was a club, I would be chairman of the board.

Tania Brown: 30:09

And that unfortunate high D means I'm racing before I'm thinking. So like if I'm like my friends know if I say I'm doing something, if I'm saying I'm thinking about something, I probably have already started it. So those people that can slow you down, but knowing your own triggers, having boundaries around when you stop working, having even on the email, hey, I will get to you within 48 hours. Here are my work hours, making it clear a hard lesson I learned and I learned this in consulting the heart of that client is to onboard with the. With the amount of what they're asking for, the harder they are to keep. Not all money is good money.

Michael Morrison: 30:50

Yeah, that's more great advice, and so I've got a couple questions out of that conversation. So I always share with adults that we do personal development with coaching, growth coaching and one of the things I find fascinating is, as a kid if we can all take ourselves back to growing up in the household most of us couldn't wait to get out of the house because we knew better than our parents did. We wanted that freedom. We were tired of being home at a certain time or being told, no, you can't do that. And then we get out into the adulting world and we don't know what to do because we have no structure. So the reason I bring that up is because, along with freedom and boundaries, there's got to be something about accountability, because once you've got that freedom, for a lot of people it's hard to be productive productive. So what advice would you give to us of those that go from you have these boundaries or don't have boundaries in the corporate world to, all of a sudden, the world is my oyster, but how do I keep motivated?

Tania Brown: 32:03

Okay, this may be a little bit too anal for some people, but I'm a big believer in time blocking. But I block my days Like I have. My Fridays are my CEO days and I used to think that was just stupid. I'm being honest, like when a friend told me to block off a day where I'm strictly in CEO mode and I'm thinking strictly, I was like no, and I realized, not having those days, I've made worse decisions. So having like my Mondays where I'm focused on any of the writing, my Tuesdays through Thursdays I call those moving the needles. Those are my hardcore.

Tania Brown: 32:39

I am knee deep in the business days. It helps me to focus. So for me, a focused day helps and then within there I have hours. I have learned the hard way. I have to have blank space. I used to think, no, I mean for us overachievers, you just work until you fall down. It just doesn't work. In business you have to protect your energy, knowing when I'm at my high, knowing when I'm at my low. So I think I start.

Tania Brown: 33:10

I was floundering all over the place and then I decided to pay attention to when I naturally did stuff. When did I just you couldn't make me work on this to save my life day. I just didn't do it on that day, like, for whatever reason, I am not writing on a Wednesday. I don't know why I'm not writing on a Wednesday. I have no, it's not going to happen. But on a Monday I'm refreshed. I have no idea. But so I learned to work with my natural rhythm for what I focus on and what I naturally do. And that took time, but I actually did an inventory and kind of eventually came up with it. I am very strict at sticking to my schedule when I don't everything go off the rails. Also, having days where I have I love co-workers, there's different words for it but I'll get on a Zoom call with a friend and we just, you know, put it on mute and we work. So having that really helps community.

Michael Morrison: 34:08

Wow, I haven't heard of that one. That's, that's, that's good. So you, if you're a solopreneur, sometimes it can get very lonely. A lot of times it can get lonely, but that's, that's great. So, on the the freedom part, you're also saying that there's gotta be structure.

Tania Brown: 34:25

Yeah yeah. It's kind of the same when I tell a client about a budget. A budget isn't restricted. What a budget is is give you the boundaries, to have the freedom to do the things that matter most. What having a schedule for your, your week year, however you plan it is? It gives you the freedom so you can do the things that matters most, rather than being cluttered with just stuff.

Michael Morrison: 34:49

Yeah, so we're going to address the people that haven't quite made the leap. What are some industries or careers that people leave the corporate world for and they go do this? What are some of those things you see people doing to start another business? Because I know for a lot of people in the corporate world they're just always told what they can and can't do, and so a lot of people they can't think about what could I do on my own? What are some of those things that people are jumping out into in the entrepreneur world, coming from corporate it's funny.

Tania Brown: 35:25

You said I just had a conversation with someone, with a client, about this and it got to the point where she was so beaten down that I literally told her just tell me everything you do in a day and everything she said. I said someone gets paid for that. Someone gets paid for that. If someone is hiring you to do a job, that literally means that what you have can be monetized. So everything from virtual assistants. If you are helping other people sort out schedules, well, business owners need that same help. If you are helping provide a service, someone else needs that service. So for every service that you are delivering to your employer, you can outsource that to other people. So really there's.

Tania Brown: 36:15

I have seen. I have seen stuff where I thought there is no way. I will never. I will never say never. At one point I was the chair of a small business committee for a local chamber of commerce and I saw businesses. I would have bet my house would have failed, and didn't? You find the right audience and you market. Well, I am learning. Just about anything can be a business.

Michael Morrison: 36:45

Well, and you mentioned a good point is don't look at the money side of it. You didn't say this, but I'm saying. Point is don't look at the money side of it. You didn't say this, but I'm saying this Don't look at the money side. But what you did say was find your passion, what are you good at, and go make money from that. In other words, I see so many people getting into entrepreneurship and they're thinking oh, I want to make five million, 10 million. You know they're looking at the dollar signs and I'm like now start with what you love doing first, which is kind of what you were saying, right?

Tania Brown: 37:15

Yeah, that keeps you because I love your opinion on this. What I have learned is the secret success to business is being around long enough for it to work, being consistent. And that's it I mean when you think about it. If you stick long enough of doing something, saying something consistently I mean with few exceptions it's probably going to work itself out. But you have to have something bigger than money to anchor you into those sucky years, because you are doing so much work without seeing results and I wish somebody would have said that to me in our early years. You're doing so much marketing, you're validating, you're figuring out what doesn't work, and the dollars aren't following the effort initially.

Michael Morrison: 38:01

But when I talk to to confirm what you just said, to piggyback on that, I know so many business owners that are very successful and money was never their target. It was the freedom, the freedom of time, their choices. If they want to make more money, they can. If they just want to chill and pay the bills, they can. They don't have to answer to anybody and I always back that up with because I've been an entrepreneur for so long and I plan on being one forever, God willing. But the thing I love is I don't have to ask what I call permission to go watch my child at two o'clock in his school play, Like that's the freedom we're talking about, that overrides money all day long.

Tania Brown: 38:53

Absolutely. But it's funny because, on the other side, that's why the money planning is so important. So when I do mention planning to people, I understand. For most corporate people, when they leave, the first few months are a dead zone. They are recovering from toxicity, they're recovering from life. I actually have them build that into their plan. And then, as we're talking about the financial planning and this new era, I'm like build in the money for freedom. I had worked for a startup and part of the downfall of the startup was they had gotten themselves into a financial position to where they couldn't say no and I knew when I started a business I would never put myself in that position. So, creating the financial environment or creating the finance either keeping your expenses low in the beginning, but figuring out what low means to you, that extra savings so you can say no to the things that take you off purpose, like going to your kid's play or me baking cookies, so you can do those things that just matter.

Michael Morrison: 39:58

Yeah, that's awesome. Well, I guarantee we've perked some ears today. So what's the best way to get a hold of you and then follow you, Because some people they just like to follow more advice.

Tania Brown: 40:12

So the best way to get a hold of me is my website, tanyapbrowncom. You can follow me on LinkedIn. So I do do videos and posts, just giving really quick tips. I try to give just one actionable tip, because I know this can be so overwhelming, just to get you going and to keep you motivated.

Michael Morrison: 40:35

Yeah, I see you're doing a blog as well, and so are you open to connections for our listeners that want to reach out.

Tania Brown: 40:43

Absolutely. If you go to my website you can book a free consultation, where sometimes I've listened to people just cry. Other times we get to explore your dreams and I always say I am here to be a safe space for those dreams and I'm here to point you in the right direction. The nice part about being around since the dinosaur age, as my kids say, is if I'm not the fit I know, I typically know who is and can point you in the right direction.

Michael Morrison: 41:11

That's interesting because we're all about hope, right, giving people hope, being a voice of hope. And you mentioned that people call and have cried on the phone. Yes, for those watching the video you can't see, but just to my right we have a box of tissues. For the same reason, people come in here and they just got to let go. So if you're a business owner or someone considering doing business and you're afraid to ask for help, please, please, ask for help. That's all I can say. Most of us, like yourself and I, we coach from a sense of empathy and not judgment, and so that's why we're here. That's why we do what we do, right. So I want to wrap up here with I always ask the same question, and that is if you were in front of a group of business owners of all seasons of you know 10 years, 20 years, but different industries, what's something applicable for all of them? It could be a quote, a tip, a book or just something that you would like to share.

Tania Brown: 42:10

Let's see, there's so much. I know it One of the things I would always say. Going back to the fact that I'm a person of faith, I always, for most businesses, I find it's a calling and this passion, and I tell all of them that are feeling low sometimes that your business is an answer to people's prayers. Please do not let your fears or insecurity prevent you from answering that call.

Michael Morrison: 42:39

That's good stuff. Well, tanya, you've been a blessing to many and a wealth of information. I appreciate you today sharing all of your insights and good tips, and I encourage our listeners to go connect with you on LinkedIn. Go to your website, schedule that free consultation and you will be better off having done that. Thanks again.

Tania Brown: 42:58

Thank you.

Michael Morrison: 43:00

My pleasure. Thank you for listening to Small Business Pivots. This podcast is created and produced by my company, boss. Our business is growing yours. Boss, offers flexible business loans with business coaching support. Apply in minutes and get approved and funded in as little as 24 to 48 hours at businessownershipsimplifiedcom. If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to hit the subscribe button and share it as well. If you need help growing your business, email me at michael at michaeldmorrisoncom. We'll see you next time on Small Business Pivots.