Billy Keels  0:01  What you need to know about corporate life's security. Today's episode is sponsored by Billy Keels advisory services. If you want to learn more about how to make your 99 optional, just go to makeitoptional.com. Once again, that's makeitoptional.com. What you need to know about corporate life security is truly inspired by a conversation that I had with someone that I met through LinkedIn. And if you have ever asked yourself or felt the concern about being unclear about how sustainable your corporate life is or will be, you need to just invest a couple minutes in this very brief episode, because I'm going to answer the question with a true life experience that happened to me, that I know you will be able to gain a lot out of right? And this will be, this will be brief. I like to keep these episodes very brief. I like to keep them on point. And yeah, if I can share a story that's part of my life that will help you, that's what this is all about. So it takes me back to a point in my in my corporate career. Remember, I did a 20 years, 26 year stint in corporate, meaning, I stayed in corporate life for 26 years, enjoyed it, had a lot of really, really good times. And this is actually a point in my life where I was enjoying my role, but it was once I started to get that second stream of additional income that was predictable because I could create it. I started realizing that there were some things that were happening in corporate life that I was really not enjoying, and I started thinking to myself, like I could enjoy this role, but I wonder if I'd be able to serve my own clients and serve them in a way that really was in alignment with the person that I was becoming right at that moment in time. Or I started thinking also too, like, do I really need to be doing all these meetings that I'm doing? Is there something that I could be doing with my time ie investing it with my family even more, like owning more of my time? Could I also build this second stream of income so that it was building in a way that built my confidence at the same time. And the thing is, and like, if this has ever happened to you, you're not alone. Because I stopped thinking so much about the KPIs that I needed to continue to drive, and I started thinking about my dreams, my goals, how I could pour into that so that I would ultimately be able to have more time with my family instead of higher status on the airlines? Right? If you're shaking your head, you're like, Yeah, I can relate to that. I know you do because, like, I just wanted to be able to start to make more of the right decisions, right? Because this is what happens when you're a high achiever when you've done this for your entire life. And also there's a point where you start to recognize, like, I want to keep the right decision streak going forever and ever. And that ties into, how long is the long is the is the career, the corporate career, going to be sustainable in my life? Because at the end of the day, the more and more right decisions I was making. I ultimately wanted to be able to continue to make my family safe, know that my family was safe and was able to do the things that we wanted to be able to do, and I was the person that was primarily providing for for that I took pride in that right that was one of those things that I wanted to continue to keep going. And as life was going, I started asking myself these simple questions, because now the second stream of income is is pumping. I'm starting to understand about how I can then use those same transferable skills in my corporate career to build my own business, right? Because I'm thinking about the longevity and how much this corporate career is going to be sustainable, like, should I start going for the next promotion, or maybe that taking that promotion a little bit extra money and a lot more extra time, maybe it works for some people, but it started, I started to question it. Is that really what I want to do? It I want to continue to go up the promotion path. I think most of you know that I decided the last seven years of my 26 years to not take a a vertical move up the org chart. I still was able to influence and lead I just didn't need the title. Started asking myself, like, do I have enough money? Like, if I'm really good, or should I continue to make more money for the family? What would happen if I started to attract my own clients? Was a very big difference in working for a worldwide industry leading brand versus my own company name, right? Like, so all of these self doubts and limiting beliefs started to come in. What if I would fail? I later learned that I should ask the question, what will happen when I succeed? Because that's what you're going to have to deal with as a high achiever. More on the success side, but your brain wants to think about the failure. But if you look at your track record, it's been successful. So start to think to yourself, what will happen when you succeed? And when I couldn't wait anymore, like, I just had to start, like, that was the thing. Like, I just had to get there. And here's I'm going to share something that I probably in the beginning, I didn't feel comfortable with. But anybody who is a high achiever will start to realize, like, I started seeing other either COVID. Colleagues or people that I was meeting, because I started to change some of my social circles, in my professional circles, it's going to feel really weird to admit but I started seeing people that I felt were less talented than me, like go way by where I was even thinking I could do in terms of building this life outside of their corporate, investing more time with their family, building a business on the side that was becoming more profitable, allowing them to have more fun while they were at the job. And I was thinking, like, What in the world? Like, I've got to continue to get like, I don't want to keep doing this, because then there, as you're going in your post corporate career, or even during your corporate career, like, like, that was a proof of concept that was something that I wanted to replicate. So what did I do? Like, look, I got to start to silently build or continue to build, and to be able to do that in a way that I felt comfortable with, because I didn't want to go out there. Early on, I had had some early successes in real estate investing, and I wanted to continue to lean into that. At the same time, it wasn't perfect, because I also lost, like, $25,000 I remember that lesson, that life lesson, just me being lazy and not seeing something that was clearly stated in a in an inspection report. So as I'm building silently, as I'm having more and more successes, I'm getting, like, real life experiences, financial loss, and I'm still surviving through that. I realized later on, actually, not much later on, I started like I was putting in pieces of the first pillar of the program that I'm now helping, high paid, highly visible, and when I say highly visible, meaning that there's some roles that you feel like you constantly need to be around, that you have to be seen by your n plus 1n, plus two. That means people that are higher on the org chart than you, everybody below you, needs to know where you are in the org chart. And you just have to, you feel like you need to be highly visible, because you're highly paid, been there, done that, and as I was going through this process, I was building the first pillar of the program, and I had to face through all the fears, right? Because as I'm thinking about the longevity of corporate all of this corporate stability, the the high paid salary, the German luxury car, the great health benefits, all of these things were suddenly in jeopardy because I started thinking to myself, am I going to be around this long? Is the role going to be around this long? What happens if something starts to fail? Right? Those are the types of questions that went through my mind, and I had to fight through that fear. And ultimately, what I realized is, what you need to know about corporate life, security is it will be as secure as it needs to be until it's not. The question is, what are you doing to future proof, something that you can't change, which is a corporate entity, a corporate structure? Yes, you can have great relationships, but when you build a an enterprise to a certain size, it takes on a life of its own. And so what you need to know about corporate life, security and or stability in this particular instance is it will be there until it's not. So what are you doing to prepare for your future, for your family's future, for your own security, for your own identity, right? Because what I started to realize, and this is the thing I really wanted to share with you, as we think about what you need to know about corporate life's security is that I got to a point where I realized that corporate was just a part of my identity. It wasn't my identity. And once I got that clear, you know, what that allowed me to do, to help others and to contribute to others is I started to realize that I could enjoy my corporate role for as long as it lasted, and at the same time, I could build my own dream on the side and keep my family safe like that was the big boom, aha moment. And that's what you need to know about corporate securities. A corporate life security is that it will be there until it's not there anymore, but in the meantime, what you can do, because I did it, right? I did it. And I feel like, yeah, you know what? I've done some good things in my life, but I'm not super extra special, right? In that regard, I just put in the work. I got clear on what I wanted to do. I realized that there was excess capacity that I could use my time for other things, just in sitting in recurring meetings all the time, and then I was able to use those transferable skills to build a predictable stream of additional income. Because once I realized that my identity was not my role, it was just a part of my identity, and I could build my dream, and I could provide for my family and contribute and keep them safe. That was the day that I realized, like, it doesn't matter how long the corporate security lasts, because it doesn't last forever, no matter what, it just doesn't.Billy Keels  9:58  So don't beat yourself up if you've got this. Dream that you want to go ahead and put some life into. Heck, I did it, and I know more and more people are doing I'm helping clients do it today. So if you're worried, you're concerned about the stability of corporate life and the security that you have, I'm here to tell you just to be realistic that it will not last forever. The question is, are you in control of it, or is it the corporate machine that's in control of it? There's no wrong answer. I just want you to be prepared. I want you to know about this. And hey, listen, if this is not you, but it's someone that you know, like love or trust. Take today's episode, share it with them. You can be the beacon of light that helps to shine in their world. And while you're doing that, talk to them about what you've heard here, share the ideas go from theory to practice. Because while you're doing that, guess where I'll be? Yeah, I'll be right here, right here, preparing for the next episode. So until then, go out and make it a great day. And thank you very, very much. Today's episode is sponsored by Billy Keels advisory services. If you want to learn more about how to make your 99 optional, just go to make it optional.com. Once again, that's make it optional.com.