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In this episode Joel and Antonia tell their stories of how they navigated their career life.
In this podcast you’ll find:
We live in a different world now. Our parents/grandparents typically worked in the same career all their lives and retired from that same career in their 60s.
Many Gen Xers and Millennials are finding themselves shifting between careers.
The Internet has enabled us to expand our entrepreneurial options.
The unstable economy keeps us shifting careers as jobs change or cease to exist.
The traditional way of earning money is shifting.
Antonia’s Story:
- Raised in an extremely religious environment that discouraged college. She was encouraged to volunteer her time toward a ministry that had zero financial reciprocation.
- She had to subsidize her full-time ministry job with a part time job.
- Her goal was to make the most money in the least amount of time.
- Went to a trade school to learn radiology. It was a means to an end.
- She dropped college in preference for what she believed was a higher priority – ministry.
- She did a bunch of random part-time jobs to support herself. Temp work.
- Learned a lot in the ministry: the art of persuasion, public speaking, sharing unpopular messages, living counter-culture, etc.
- Her family never encouraged her to think in terms of a career.
- When she left the religion, it occurred to her that she could finally have a career. She could focus on generating money.
- So she started attending seminars and events for self-education.
- Moved from Alaska to Las Vegas to live in an internet marketing incubator.
- She made a lot of mistakes along the way by getting involved in dead end projects.
- After meeting Joel, as they were growing Personality Hacker, they were starving artists.
- She just keeps going until circumstances force her to stop, and nothing has forced her to stop yet.
Do something outrageous. Don’t force yourself to fit into the templatized world.
Don’t feel like you have to fit into the mold. Careers and the business industry are just as broken as the school system. Square pegs into the round holes. Most companies hire on the stupidest criteria.
Bypass the entire system and do something outrageous.
Remove the limiting beliefs that things should be done a certain way.
We shouldn’t be looking at the older generation’s concept of career as a model for modern behavior.
Joel’s Story:
- He grew up in a very religious paradigm. He didn’t get the message it was wrong to have a career.
- As long as he weaved God into his career, it was okay.
- His parents decided to start a non-profit youth ministry camp.
- Lots of creative outlets.
- He was encouraged to follow creative pursuits. His father was on the radio in Pittsburgh doing a religious based program.
- Joel was taught to produce and script radio programs at 12-13 years old.
- He wanted to go into that creative field. He was encouraged to do so.
- He went to college and got his masters in leadership to work as a leader in ministry. He has a Masters in theology. Bachelor’s in communication.
- He worked in his parent’s ministry for three years and got married.
- She wanted to move to her hometown Baltimore, so Joel ripped himself away from his career path and went to work at the Baltimore Zoo.
- He had been homeschooled and employed in his parent’s ministry. He never had a day job where he had to report to a boss and clock in and clock out.
- He worked at the zoo for five years. Every time he brought up creative ideas, he was usually shot down in preference for the status quo.
- His marriage ended. After having two children.
- He never lost the desire to be creative. He felt trapped.
- Joel would leverage his experience in his job by going to pod camps or take on any public speaking opportunities to harness new opportunities.
- He started doing video work for other companies in Baltimore in an attempt to broaden his options.
- He would reframe his experience at the zoo, so he didn’t focus on the misery of the job. He would view it as CEO training. He would listen to personal growth podcasts when he could. He would spend weekends and evenings working on other opportunities.
- He met Antonia at an NLP event in LA. Moves to Las Vegas to start connecting with what he felt he was meant to do.
- Five years later they are running PH, focused on personal growth and helping others to create a better world.
- Joel worked a job that was depressing to him, but he kept telling himself it would be okay and he never gave up. He never stopped hustling.
Try new things. If they fail, try again. A lot of entrepreneurs have a ton of false starts before they hit the thing that works.
At some point, they both decided the status quo was not for them.
If you are not going to go the traditional route, you are going to have to hustle and try new things and be willing to struggle.
Most people go down the traditional road because it is a well-worn path. Tried and true.
If a traditional career feels good to you, go for it.
Give yourself permission to do other things if the traditional path is not what you want.
Don’t let what you think you have to do get in the way of what you want to do.
It isn’t the only path. There are always other options.
We live in an ever-changing world, and more possibilities are coming. There are no rules about what you have to do.
If your inner wisdom tells you to do something different than what you are doing, listen to that voice.
Anytime the stakes are high we create a lot of narratives to make sure everyone stays on track. Otherwise, things may get destabilized.
There are a lot of narratives around safety and security.
If a voice inside says you want to do something else, turn up the volume. Give it a try. Your one regret at the end of your life may be that you didn’t listen to that voice.
Ask yourself:
If you could duplicate your exact income right now, but you didn’t have to do your current job, what would you do?
If your answer isn’t “I would be doing what I’m doing now,” you may need to reevaluate.
Where are you at right now? Are you passionate about what you are doing? How did you get there?
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17 comments
Hi Joel and Antonia,
I want to start off by saying you two and the podcast has made such a difference in my life. I first took the MB test when i was in third grade. My mom brought it home from her counselors. Since i was so young i didn’t complete it but i answered enough they could some what type me as an INFP. I again took it in college I then was typed as an INFP. I always assumed I was an introvert because Im not obnoxiously wanting attention and crowds. I ammused extroverts were like this. Growing up i would play alone but not because I wanted to but because I didn;t always get the attention I craved. Listening to many of your podcasts i began to feel that typing not the best fit. Something was off. I took the genesis test and came out as an ENFP. (Im always glad to here Joels input as an ENFP) After looking more into it and wrapping my head around that type. I believe it is the best fit. Since then it has changed the way i see myself in the world and in my current career as a middle school art teacher. I feel unleashed now. Before i had been carrying around the idea that i was the shy, weird quiet girl. It was the story i had always told myself growing up. I felt trapped by the introvert category. and now i realize it was just a label that was put on me. I also see introverts in a different light after learning more from PH/ My husband is an introvert and it really helps me understand him.
Im also writing about the career episode. I felt so ‘juiced’ up-as you two would put it after listening on my commute this morning. like i said i am currently an art teacher. This is my 7th year at the same school and i substitute taught for 3 years before this job. Teaching art has been my dream and goal since i was about 16. I am now 32. Growing up i was ingrained with the idea that you pick a career and stick with it and that’s what makes you successful. My mom job hopped for awhile and seemed so defeated doing that. My dad recently retired after 40 years of being a dentist in his own practice. So i thought when i finally got my teaching job that it would give me purpose and meaning for the rest of my life.
2 1/2 years ago my son was born. I had a very traumatic labor. It was 28 hrs. There was no sleep involved and many interventions. About 10 days after labor I had not been sleeping much and this triggered a very serious illness called postpartum psychosis. I was hospitalized for 10 days. Scariest thing that has ever happened to me. Being wrongfully imprisoned used to be my worst nightmare and it literally happened. Mental illness was not something I had experienced before so this was a whole new ballgame. After treatment I became very depressed had a second hospitalization. Thankfully we were one summer vacation for months during the thick of it. During my recovery time I began pursuing personal growth. I was recommended to Wayne Dyer by a pastor in the hospital and i literally clung to his teaching for months. From there I was led to many podcasts and typology systems like the Enneagram. Im a (social) 4. and Spiral Dynamics then to the MB and you guys. Along the way i am keeping several therapists in business! The more personal growth I do the more uncomfortable I am at my job. Finally now i see why Ive been forcing and convincing myself to stay there year after year when I know its not the best place for me. About 2 months ago it hit me what I wanted to do. I love home decorating, interior design and real estate. Considering those 3 loves combined with enoying working with people I an going to start a home staging business. I want to focus on helping people prepare their homes for sale. I have been going back an forth about this for weeks about should i quit my job and do the staging full time. And i have decided this will be my last year as a teacher.I know to fully commit all of my working hours is the only way to go. Otherwise there isn’t enough hours in the day. Your podcast today really helped strengthen my belief of…I can do this! Yes its not a conventional career and that’s ok! I have saved this episode and I know I will refer back to it as needed.
Being an entrepreneur has always been a concept that has seemed way out of reach for me. Also being someone who makes a lot of money and charges their true value has been very intimidating. As an artist I always under value my pricing. Ive really enjoyed your episodes on money. I was one of the people that equated money with snobbery and corruption. I still am searching for the root of my belief around that. As someone who will be charging others I need to do some work on money issues. Im looking forward to reading ‘Think and grow rich’.
Love you two, Keep up the great work!
Also I do have a request for an episode. Since I do a lot of personal growth and work sometimes I get frustrated with friends and family that put zero effort into it. Not sure if PH ever gets into Astrology? I know its out there but i love it! Just an idea. Thanks
Anne
The topic of this podcast couldn’t have come at a better time for me. I don’t feel the message is really anything different than what you’ve been teaching all along but it’s more focused and in depth and in your face truth about the why I feel the unhappiness and that stuck feeling in my life and what I need to do to change it. Which means following my gut on what I already have known to be my truth but have been too indoctrinated into the one way of doing it professional model that really never worked for me.
It looks like this:
• You go to some sort of trade school or college and then you work hard at your profession, or • You don’t go to school, you just work hard for someone else in order to pay the bills and be a “productive member” of society.
• You don’t hop around from job to
Job because that makes you seem wishywashy and looks bad on a resume.
• You find a job where you’re lucky enough to make more than minimum wage and get a good benefits package so you can provide for your family.
• Working at a “job” you love is resebed for celebrities.
• Those lucky billionaires who invented the computer or made it big with an internet startup were just that, lucky, or in the right place at the right time and 9 out of 10 people who try to make their own path that way end up broke and then back working for “the man” anyway. They are cautionary tales.
• Your self worth and reputation is directly tied to your loyal years at your place of employment where you’re lucky enough to be allowed to show up everyday and collect a paycheck.
• Why not just pursue your passions as a hobby on the side and don’t throw away your security?
I just turned in my resignation to my corporate employer of the past almost 17 years last week. The more I have learned about myself, the more I’ve experienced my own self growth and development through your various programs and podcasts the louder that inner voice has become for me. I feel so free and conflicted at the same time. Breaking out of that “in the box” way of assigning values and purpose is hard to do. I’m throwing away my obvious path of security in order to pursue something that only I can feel (from a gut level) is the right path for me. It’s disappointing to so many people who matter to me and that really hits me hard yet at the same time I feel so excited and hopeful. As I said, it’s a range of conflicting thoughts and emotions.
I can’t thank you enough for the work you do and for being virtual mentors to so many of us.