Life After College by Jenny Blake » General

Happy 4 Year Blogiversary to Life After College!

Jenny — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:59:03 +0000

FOUR YEARS. I can’t believe that this little project, cooked up on a whim based on a love for writing that started with a family newspaper operation out of my living room at age 11, has turned into the very center of my life and career.

Starting a blog is easy — buying a domain, setting up WordPress, making a few tweaks. Writing quality content week-over-week, cracking yourself open again and again, coming up with original ideas, and exposing your innermost thoughts for public review and scrutiny, is not. But damn is it rewarding.

About this post:

In these round-ups, I outline my favorite and the most popular posts of the year, give statistics about blog traffic, and share personal milestones and achievements. It’s the best way to get a view of the entire blog on fast-forward and the full year in review.

I hesitate every year to publish these because it seems so self-indulgent, but it feels like the best way to honor all the work that goes into the blog. I hope that by the end of this epically long post that you learn something new, feel inspired or catch some helpful content you might have missed.

Previous Round-ups

The 4 Most Important Lessons I’ve Learned in Four Years of Blogging

Big projects become successful after thousands of micro-steps taken regularly and consistently over time. Everyone starts somewhere. While some bloggers seem to skyrocket to success over night, I have taken an alternate route with my blog. I have never once had an explicit goal to grow my traffic. Partly because my day job kept me very busy for the first 3+ years, and partly because I don’t like to force things or “over-effort.” My mission has always been to focus on delivering the best content I can muster as consistently as I can each month. When people look at my blog today, they may not realize that it’s has been a four-year process of making micro-revisions, one tiny little adjustment at a time. The first version was a design hack-job I did myself, and it wasn’t until three years later that I paid a professional to clean things WAY up. The categories, format, posts, about page — every single sentence, piece of content, widget and plug-in has been tried and tested and tweaked dozens of times, over time. There is no way I could have done it all at once, and you shouldn’t expect yourself to either. Start somewhere. Then fix while flying.
Constantly push yourself to be more vulnerable and transparent than you’re comfortable with. This is the hardest lesson to practice, and though it has gotten MUCH easier over the years, I still have to frequently ask myself what I’m afraid to write about and then GO THERE. My most popular posts without question are the ones in which I reveal struggles, flaws and bumps. We bond through shared struggle, and while that doesn’t have to be the sole focus of a blog, it is a great service to others if you can allow yourself to open up more.
Make real connections with people. Blogging should really be referred to as an “insta-friend generator.” Blogging has introduced me to the most wonderful network of friends and readers — I am absolutely rich with relationships because of it. However it still isn’t a magic bullet; relationships — online and off — take work to cultivate. They require setting aside time, proactively reaching out to people, and keeping your commitments.
Don’t forget to thank the hand that feeds you. I see some newer bloggers who are hungry to make it big, land a book deal, and/or strike it rich. While those are all nice dreams, of course, that tunnel vision it creates forgets that blogging is really an act of service. It doesn’t often pay well, if at all, and the most successful bloggers remember that their readers are everything. At least to me. You are not a means to an end in my life — you are my life. You are the reason I was able to quit my job at Google and break-even after my first six months of running my own business. You are the reason I got a book deal, and get asked to do speaking engagements and can create meaningful courses and content to help you gain clarity and take action in your life. Don’t forget where you came from, and don’t forget to thank the hand that feeds you — whether you are a blogger, an employee, a company, or frankly . . . a living, breathing human being.

Personal Milestones

After two years of intense work, the Life After College book was released March 27, 2011! It has 88 reviews on Amazon and has sold about 7,000 copies to-date which is about halfway to earning back my advance (after which point I can start getting royalties).
It has been such a joy to hear from readers who are inspired to improve their lives after reading the book — I am humbled by and grateful for every reader who has helped bring the book to life.
I took a three-month sabbatical from Google to go on a self-funded 10 city book tour.
As part of the book tour, I spoke at spoke at TEDxCMU (April 2011), appeared on the BetterTV Morning Show (May 2011), and delivered my very own Authors@Google talk on 10 lessons I learned during the publishing process.
When it came time to go back to Google, I realized there was no way I could effectively juggle both any more. It wouldn’t be fair to Google and my teammates, and it wouldn’t be fair to my projects and big dreams. I wasn’t willing to give up the latter.
I gave Google my two-weeks notice on June 15. It was one of the hardest decisions of my life, but deep down I knew what I needed to do, if only I could overcome the fear of uncertainty and failure.
I became an official no-strings-attached solopreneur on July 5, 2011.
Seth Godin mentioned my 15-tab Book Marketing Spreadsheet on the Domino Project Blog; it got over 6K downloads in the first month.
I moved to New York City on September 11 and haven’t looked back since. I document most of my love affair through Tumblr.
I launched my first course, Make Sh*t Happen, two days later despite massive fears that no one would be interested and my hopes and dreams as an Internet entrepreneur would be crushed. The course sold-out in less than 24 hours.
I decided to slow things WAAAAY down in Q4 by saying no more and only scheduling meetings on one day a week. It has worked out so well I plan to keep things this way.
I’m also excited to share that I’m one of Brazen Careerist’s 20 Brazen Young Professionals to Watch in 2012 (announced today!), one of eHow’s first annual Shift List honorees, and ProBlogger’s (!!) 20 Blogs to Watch in 2012. Thank you so much!

My Favorite Posts

The Life After College Book Journey

Speaking

Big Goals & Finding Your Path

Breakdowns & Important Reminders

My Big Leap

Blog Statistics:

Visits - In the last month I received 21,767 visits (45,959 page views) from 134 countries, about double from last year’s 11,580 visits (20,532 page views) from 110 countries and 2009′s 7,000+ visits (13,500 page views) from 97 countries. The total visits for 2011 was just over 124,821 uniques (365,449 page views) from 180 countries, up from last year’s 100,000 uniques (200,000 page views).
Top Keywords - In 2010, the keyword “life after college” sent 12,769 visits (up from last year’s 8,773 visits). “Jenny Blake” was the next highest search query with 4,793 (compared to last year’s 1,199 visits).
Quirky question keywords (always fun) – is female and male viagra the same? (I have no clue), is it hard to date after college? (you are asking the wrong girl), is it normal to be lonely after college? (yes, for sure — we all have ups and downs), is it possible to keep everyone happy? (no!), is it unprofessional to skype interview in your bedroom? (I’m gonna go with…YES), is it worth experimenting after college for your dream? (HELL YES!)
Best “Jenny Blake” keywords - how old is jenny blake (28 folks!), jenny blake kickboxing free aerobic lesson (ummm…last I checked I don’t offer those), jenny blake millionaire (YES! Where do I sign up??), jenny blake naked (sorry to disappoint…none of that here), jenny blake ninja (::blushing:: I like to think so), jenny gets kicked in the ass (ouch! really?), i love jenny blake (aww, thanks!)

What’s on the docket for 2012?

In general: to slow down, relax and ENJOY my life. This is not going to be a year of massive striving — any big leaps or opportunities that occur will be nice surprises. This is my year to practice being fully present, grateful, intentional, graceful and positive.
More freedom– I’m putting the “lifestyle” piece square in the center of my lifestyle business. I want to design a business that is not intended for crazy growth, but rather to allow me to live my days in ways I love (which typically involves reading with a cup of coffee in the morning, going for a run, going to yoga class, doing strategic and/or my best creative work, and hanging out with friends).The parts of my business that I love are speaking, coaching, writing and my new baby, the Make Sh*t Happen course (which will re-launch in January).
Building out my store page — One important part of a lifestyle business is adding products that will help my audience AND allow me to scale myself and my ideas. In addition to offering services that involve trading time for money (ie 1:1 coaching) I’d like to keep building evergreen products that can sell while I sleep. I hesitate to call this passive income because there’s nothing passive about the work that goes into them, but they do eventually become self-sustaining (if built with adding tremendous value in mind). On that note, stay tuned for another awesome course that Emily Smith (my MSH Angel) and I are putting together based on my book!
My biggest personal goal is to finish my yoga teacher certification and start teaching Geek Yoga classes in NYC for my entrepreneur friends (and anyone else who would like to join!). I’ve been taking classes 5-6 times a week since I moved here; now it’s time for me to stretch outside of my comfort zone (no yoga pun intended!) and TEACH, even though I’m often intimidated at the thought of it. The funny thing about yoga is that I don’t know exactly what form it will take in my business moving forward . . . all I know is that it is my rock in life. It keeps me sane, grounded, and true to myself, and I am thrilled at the prospect of sharing that gift with others and creating a place for my community to congregate.

THANK YOU EVERYONE for making this such a memorable, incredible year. I look forward to serving you to the very best of my ability in 2012 and far far beyond. Happy holidays, and see you in 2012!

New York, New York + Personal Updates

Jenny — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:02:28 +0000

“I’d known since I was a child that I was going to live in New York eventually, and that everything in between would be just an intermission. I’d spent all those years imagining what New York was going to be like. I thought it was going to be the most exciting, magical, fraught-with-possibility place that you could ever live; a place where if you really wanted something you might be able to get it; a place where I’d be surrounded by people I was dying to know; a place where I might be able to become the only thing worth being, a journalist.And I’d turned out to be right.”

—Nora Ephron, I Remember Nothing

Why New York?

I get that question all the time, and I don’t have a great answer. To me, it has never been a question. As Ephron said, I’ve known since I was a kid that I wanted to live in New York.

Every time I’m in the city, from the first moment I smelled the distinctive subway air at nine years old, I’ve felt ALIVE. I visited something like 15 times prior to moving, and each time I’d feel like I was in a movie while walking down the street — iPod blasting, smells wafting, people zig-zagging as I smiled, observed, and soaked it all up.

I always felt a little disappointed in myself when I’d tell people I was born and raised (and still living in) California. I loved being close to my family, I owned my condo, I owned a car, and I had a great job. Would I ever find the motivation to leave it all behind and try living life on the opposite coast? Was I cut out for it, or was it a dream meant only for others, an itch I’d never find the courage to scratch despite my frequent Jealousies?

I’m so thankful that I found that courage, and that the path to moving here has unfolded in such a beautiful way. I don’t know how long I’ll stay and I don’t care — right now I’m just living in the moment and taking in every single sensation of it. On that note…

An Important Announcement

Last week was a rollercoaster.

I arrived at midnight on Sunday, spent all day Monday preparing for the Make Sh*t Happen launch, and sold the course out in less than 24 hours on Tuesday. By Wednesday morning I felt happy, grateful and proud, but also exhausted and completely spent.

On Thursday, I found out that my dog Patches had been put to sleep just shy of 16 years old, a few short weeks after I kissed her on the nose to say goodbye, knowing deep down that it might be the last time I’d get to see her. By Friday, I didn’t want to get out of bed.

I have been building and creating and working and GRINDING for five years (if not my whole life) — most recently between Google, the blog, the book, and my course. When I quit Google, I thought time would magically open up before me and to a certain extent it did — but I felt so much pressure to earn income to prove to myself that I’d made the right decision that I never really took a break.

It’s time for a break.

I’m going to take Q4 off from building. I’ll still be blogging, but I’ll be slower to reply to emails, comments and requests. I may not take as many meetings (as much as I wish I could say yes to everyone and everything).

I won’t be creating something new unless it’s so exciting that I jump out of bed to work on it with glee. I am going to focus my energy on my existing coaching clients and on helping my kick-ass inaugural Make Sh*t Happen crew find smashing success. I’ll be taking a very reactive approach to everything else so I can prioritize my health, happiness, and rejuvenation – which will allow me to serve you even better in 2012 and beyond.

I hope you’ll stick around.

I might be quieter, but I’m not going away. I just need to exhale a little bit…to remember that it’s okay to relax and to learn HOW to do that over a sustained period of time. I’m going to work less and get out more — New York City is a great catalyst for that. I don’t want to be inside 24/7 when I have so much excitement waiting right outside my door.

To Patches

Patches post-swim on one of her weekly walks at Google

The greatest dog I could have ever asked for. To a dog who lived a long beautiful life, who loved her weekly swims in the Google fountains and running free around the parking lot afterward.

To a dog who hung out in the living room only when we were eating dinner and there were scraps to be had, who jumped in the driver’s seat of the car if she thought we’d be leaving without her, and who sat quietly at my feet and joined me many days this summer for walks around the block while I was staying at my mom’s house in-between book tour stops.

To a dog with a huge heart, baby face, and childlike spirit all the way until her last days. After 16 joyful years, we will miss you tremendously and remember you forever.

A Parting Video for the NYC Move

In lieu of Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ Empire State of Mind, I leave you with this video instead:

Life After College: Makeover Revealed!

Jenny — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 21:07:15 +0000

Today is a VERY exciting day. If you’re reading in a feed reader, pop on over to the blog to check out the fancy new digs!

I’ve had the same logo and tagline since 2005 when I first set-up this website — that’s SIX years! To say that I’ve outgrown it is an understatement (“No one said it was easy” — c’mon, I can do better than that). I feel like my blog and I (yes, we’re basically imaginary friends now) just moved into a mansion after living in a nice comfortable house that we had outgrown.

Thanks to the incredible Nina Cross (@crossnina), I’m thrilled to reveal a major site overhaul today, including:

Completely new design that matches my book’s branding. The tagline actually means something to me — it’s the impact I want to have on other people through my writing: to help people of all ages “Wake up. Live big! And love the journey.”
A landing page with four clear options so that people can “choose their own adventure” (I’ve gotten a lot of feedback that my current blog landing page can be overwhelming for newcomers)
Category landing pages that lay out a clear roadmap for each section so that people know where to start with my 4 years of archives
Simplified sidebar — one column instead of two, far fewer options to get distracted by. I also added in some “As seen in…” social proof icons
A Store + Freebies page to hawk some new wares — I’m trying to get creative about packaging my existing content and ideas to be helpful to you AND to pay the bills in post-Google life
I moved to the Thesis theme to help with SEO, customizability, and to clean up some of the clutter from my existing (free) theme. At first I resisted because I didn’t want my site to look like every other Thesis blog, but Nina did a great job personalizing it, and the benefits of using Thesis were too great to ignore.

This upgrade has been a long time coming…

There have been so many things that I’ve wanted to do here over the years, but never felt like I had the time, focus or energy while working full-time.

With Nina’s help, I’ve finally been able to implement my vision for the direction this site can go. I’ve been wanting a site design that is friendly, easy to navigate, inviting, and ridiculously useful. The category archives alone could provide tons of value to new visitors — if only they were easier to sift through — so I wanted to make sure they are well-organized and laid out in a way that focuses on the user (not just reverse chronological order).

I also FINALLY added a newsletter freebie (should have done this years ago). My templates are no longer available from my top navigation — I’m giving them away as part of a kick-butt “Organized Like a Ninja” toolkit in exchange for signing up for my Inside Scoop mailing list.

Curious about what the site used to look like? Life After College through the years…

It started with the HTML version I built in 2005 (notice the “we’ve” in the second paragraph? I didn’t want anyone to know it was just a 22-year-old behind the curtain…too funny!):

Then I gave it a face-lift in 2008/2009 by upgrading to a free WordPress theme that I customized (here’s the very first blog post I wrote, when I had zero subscribers. Note to future bloggers: best to create an archive of posts FIRST, then announce to friends and family):

Drumroll please….the new site!!

The brand new “choose your own adventure” landing page — (people clicking over from email/rss/social media will still go directly to the blog page):

I’m beyond excited to keep building out this site as I continue to grow into my business, and as always, I welcome your feedback at any time!

For any of you looking to upgrade your own sites, Nina Cross is an absolute pleasure to work with. She was able to read my mind and translate my vague descriptions into something beautiful; she was responsive, took feedback incredibly well, and handled every step of the process professionally. Big huge thanks to Andrew Norcross for his WordPress ninjary too — to call him the hero of the blog community would be a massive understatement — he has come through for me countless times, and this launch was no exception. There aren’t enough words to thank him properly…

So wherever you are, let’s lift a virtual cupcake and toast Nina for doing such a fantastic job!

Enough about me, a little bit about you: the Life After College survey results

Jenny — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 15:41:57 +0000

Huge thanks to the 230 of you who took the Life After College reader survey that I posted a few weeks ago – your kind words, encouragement and suggestions are helpful and motivating beyond words!

Before I share the results, here’s a short 2-minute thank you video, in which I also share a quote that recently rocked my world (at the 0:55 mark):

Survey Results

Overall, you are here for a mix of inspiration, relatedness, community, and practical tips. The areas that people are most focused on are motivation, career growth, taking risks, personal finance, personal development, time management and overall life happiness and fulfillment, which makes sense since that’s what I write about!

The biggest takeaways for me are:

I actually have a TON of content already created (a webinar on How to Rock Your Personal Finances, for example) — now I need to figure out how to package it so it’s easy for all of you to find. Nina Cross and I will be unveiling the new website in a few short weeks, and I’m going to use that as motivation to better organize everything! Each category will eventually have a “start here” map that walks people through getting that area of their life organized.
My big, hairy scary project of the moment is my 8-week Make Sh*t Happen course, which is still in development. Your survey results helped me understand what kinds of ambitions you have, and how important it can be to have accountability, community and support when going after what you want in life. I originally planned on launching the course in July, but the perfectionist in my wants to make it as outstanding as possible, so it’s still a work in progress. Click here to sign-up for updates in the meantime, and to be on the early notification list for when the course launches (the pilot class will be limited to 30 people).

Because I enjoy reading survey recaps on other people’s blogs (I find the insight into other people’s wants and needs fascinating), I’ve included more detailed results below. Feel free to skip the rest of this post if this doesn’t interest you!

DEMOGRAPHICS

Gender:

Take these with a grain of salt, since the respondents are not necessarily a representative sample. For example, my blog readers could be 68% female OR it could indicate that women are more likely to respond to a survey than men.

Age distribution:

Again, not necessarily representative, but interesting nonetheless! I often hypothesized that I had a good number of non-recent grads, given that my content is not skewed toward the nuts and bolts stuff people are often looking for at 21-22.

CONTENT THEMES:

Why do you read life after college?

Writing Style — Many of you shared that you appreciate the authentic, vulnerabile and inspiring nature of the blog (thank you!)

“Because I think what you have to share to SO authentic and real and vulnerable that my heart beats in my chest when I read about your journey and it lives out that piece about ‘letting your light shine and unconsciously giving others permission to do the same!”

“I read the email updates for inspiration. And consolation – because I am often hard on myself and it’s nice to have affirmation that I am doing a good job, that I have taken risks, and that I am pursuing my dreams. Reading the blog reminds me of all these things and encourages me to continue dreaming big.”
“SO real/authentic, humorous, but practical and very helpful.”

Career Growth — A large portion are interested in career changes, entrepreneurship and professional development in general:

“It is inspiring, engaging, and challenges me to seek growth- personal & professional- – kind of like my own career coach/guiding light now that I’m graduated and don’t have a career services department at my side.”

Community/relatedness — The recent grads out there are reading for a sense of community, and to know they’re not alone (you’re not!):

“I read Life After College because it is such a huge relief to hear that, as a recent college graduate, I don’t have to have it all figured out, that everyone has doubts, and that I can take big leaps even if they’re risky. There are real tools here to help me improve my life, and because of a lack of pretension, I feel comfortable trusting those tools.”

What’s the biggest pain / problem / challenge / struggle you’re facing right now?

Job Satisfaction — Many of you cited feeling professionally lost as a current challenge:

“Finding my true passion and having the guts to go after it 100% – no fear, not allowing my self to worry about what others may think or say, and finding the energy to dedicate myself to it.”

“Job satisfaction and work/life balance. I’ve hopped around jobs quite a bit, and still have not found that 100% satisfaction I’m looking for. Also, being a young professional, I’m really struggling to find the right balance for my personal life – I feel like I can never fit in all the exercising, healthy eating and cooking, socializing and other things I want to do in my non-working time.”

Personal Finance– this is an area that people of all ages seem to struggle with (understandably so!):

“Complete financial independence. I’ve got the stepping stones in place (job, savings plan that works, good credit, brokerage account, IRA, side hustle) but I somehow feel like I’m missing something so that I can move out of my house…quite possibly even to another city.”

“Paying off student loans! But I think Ive got a good handle on it. Your blog post about a day in the life of your paycheck, combined with the budgets are sexy blog and my own knowledge, I’ve got a good system down, just wish I made a lot more so I could pay it off quicker.”

Entrepreneurial Advice — I’m still a newbie, but I’ll do my best!

“Same as you. Needing the motivation and confidence in myself to walk away from a six figure desk job as a commercial banker to go solopreneur!”

“Right now I am jumping into a new career path as Life Coach and eventually launching my own business. I am so excited and engaged in this process, but there is a constant feeling of having way too much on my plate and not knowing where I should be focusing my energy. I thought I would LOVE transitioning from my full time job in an office to working out of a coffee shop, but I am not feeling that “warm loving” feeling.”

Overall happiness – Other themes that came up were life balance, health (getting back on the wagon), coaching advice, and general fulfillment:

“The balancing act that comes with post-college life — how to juggle work, my personal health/fitness, my long-time boyfriend, my dog, and still maintain some semblance of a social life with my friends. Also identifying what I want to do for the rest of my life!”

“Managing my full time job and trying to pursue my passion on the side.”

“Time Management – in terms of setting priorities and time accordingly. For example I have a blog, a marketing role on a conference, a full time job and a screen writing big dream. Where does my own blog fit into this journey? You did a great job moulding yours to support your goal.”

Dating — Ay caramba! Not sure how I can help on this one, but have a fun super-secret related project that I’ve been working on…

“Meeting great people to date. I cycle between wanting to settle down with someone really sweet and who will support/be there for me – and wanting to be flexible to hook up with any pretty girl that crosses my path. Not that I’ve had much luck with either!”

“Falling in love isn’t always convenient to the lifestyle we have previously chosen. Girl likes boy. Boy likes girl. They live on separate continents.”

Personal Development — becoming the best version of yourself:

“Gutting everything about my lifestyle (type of work, income streams, personal circles, food/exercise, habits, etc.) to completely reinvent myself.”

“I struggle with self-doubt and low feelings about self-worth as I try to figure out my next steps into the “real world.” I lack solid ground and am in major “transition mode.” “

“Trying to figure out what I want to do as I don’t want to pursue graduate schooling in what I majored in at college. Also, I have a hard time not wanting to just try to emmulate everyone else instead of being the best version of myself.”

How do you think I could serve you best, for your particular needs?

Entrepreneurial Advice / My own career transition:

“Posts about working for yourself would be helpful. Anything that has advice for people who are choosing alternative routes or guest posts from people who have successfully done it. I like reading stories about people who do their own thing, because it gives me hope that I can too.”

“I’m excited about your decision to leave Google and take on new opportunities! Maybe this will push me to make scary decisions, too. I’d love to hear more about the challenges you face as you move, work for yourself, etc.”

More on Personal Finance:

“I would like to see more about budgeting though. I’m terrible with money. I’d really like to hear some of your tips for budgeting to start your own business.”

“I would love it if you talked about getting out of debt, specifically student loans. I have zero credit card debt, I have a car, I’m living with my parents, and after a year of searching I got my dream job. Student loans seem to be the largest issue looming both for myself and my friends, no matter what college or school they attended. There are obviously exceptions but I would love and in-depth tackling of this issue.”

Personal Development:

“Sharing a variety of experiences — yours and those of others — while also asking good questions.”

“Writing articles about how shy people can gain confidence”

Time Management:

“How can I manage the side-hustles with my day job, while being true to both? I am juggling so much that it’s grossly inefficient, and not a pleasant experience. Or you could find a way for me to pay off my debt, but that’s a more complicated matter ”

***

Thank you AGAIN for the incredibly helpful guidance — I feel like I’ve just won the blogger lottery!

Want to chime in? I’m going to leave the survey open so people can continue to share their thoughts.

Now I’m off to work — gotta start delivering on as much as I can above!

I’m a Free Agent: From Six Figures to Suitcase

Jenny — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 14:35:26 +0000

Grab a cup of coffee, friends — this is an epically long post. (Update: had to change the link, so the Facebook/Tweet counts started over. Thanks to everyone who shared so far!)

This post has three parts:

Some jumbo news; the biggest in the history of this blog (and my life). No, I’m not pregnant.
A 5-minute reader survey that I would LOVE for you to take. Pretty, pretty please?!
A Q&A with myself for those contemplating a great leap in their own lives. Live big, baby!

1. The big news

There’s this love that is burning
Deep in my soul
Constantly yearning to get out of control
Wanting to fly higher and higher
I can’t abide standing outside the fire.
Life is not tried it is merely survived
If you’re standing outside the fire.
–Garth Brooks, lyrics to Standing Outside the Fire

My heart is pounding as I write this…I’m exhilarated, nervous, and excited to share some big news with you. I’m moving to New York (more on that in another post)….aaaaand…

I quit Google.

After five years at the company and near-daily deliberation during my sabbatical, I’ve made the very difficult decision not to return to Google. Friday was my last day.

I checked all the boxes for my own Life After College, and yet something was still missing. I worked at a start-up, got a job at Google, became a manager, bought a house, bought a car, ran a marathon, and wrote and published a book. I checked every box along the “template” American Dream life that I grew up aspiring to have…and yet, after I turned 27 and saw many of my friends getting married and having babies, I realized I might not fit the mold I had created for myself. I found myself wanting to break free from it all, and move toward a life full of spontaneity, travel, independence and FREEDOM.

So I am walking away from a six figure salary, three meals a day, yoga classes, gym, the best health care money can buy, and 25,000 brilliant co-workers to see if I can hack it as a solopreneur.

For better or worse, my life (and identity) has revolved around Google for many years…and for a long time I was afraid that I wouldn’t be interesting or “valuable” to people if I no longer worked there.

And yet, my heart lies elsewhere. It lies here, with you — with Life After College and Make Sh*t Happen and everything else I’m building.

In the end, I’m choosing to leave all of the perks behind for the uncertain promise of a more passionate future. My co-workers deserve someone who is fully committed to them, and you — my readers — deserve someone who is fully committed to you.

I was supposed to go back today…but I just couldn’t.

I couldn’t knowing how alive, happy and engaged I’ve felt these last three months.
I couldn’t subject myself again to the stress of trying to manage two full-time jobs.
I couldn’t look you in the eyes and write blog posts, coach clients and deliver speeches with integrity if meanwhile I was ignoring my own heart and gut.
I couldn’t continue signing books with “live big!” and “take great leaps!” if I was unwilling to take my own advice.

So here I am, taking the greatest leap of my life.

The goodbye email I wrote to my co-workers sums things up pretty well:

I’ve stepped into life as an author these last three months, and yet — somehow I find myself overcome with writer’s block as I try to find the words to say goodbye.

After five amazing years at Google (on the Training, Career Development and Authors@Google teams), I have made the incredibly difficult decision not to return after my sabbatical. As much as I wanted to come back, my heart was torn; I knew it wouldn’t be fair to Google or to my team if my attention was focused elsewhere. For that reason, I will be directing my full time and energy on pursuing the many ideas I have related to my book, blog, coaching and speaking business — also known (only half-jokingly) as Jenny Blake Enterprises. What was once a side project has become a full-blown love affair, and though I am slightly terrified about how to feed myself in the real world, I am taking my own advice about “living big” and pursuing my passion by making the leap into self-employment.

It’s now Jenny Blake Enterprises or bust — so get ready for a roller-coaster, baby!!!
Stick around for Part 3 of this post for a Q&A with myself about the decision…

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2. I would love to hear from you!! Click here to make my day

If it’s wrong for me to want to change the world with what I got
Let me make my own mistakes,
That’s a chance I’m gonna take
If I’m right, I saw you all,
In my dreams so long ago
–Lyrics to All I Want (by Kate Earl)

As the lyrics to this song describe, I saw you all in my dreams a long long time ago (cue sappy music). From the time I was a little girl, I spent my days making worksheets, writing a monthly family newspaper and video-taping myself practicing to be a news anchor.

I was born to fly this plane full-time, and I finally mustered the courage to do it.

The way I see it, I now have all of my energy and creative faculties available to me to try to make a positive impact in all of your lives. And I want to do that over and over again.

I truly believe that’s what I’m here to do.

That’s where you come in. I would *love* to know what you’re struggling with and how I can help. I can fly this plane blindfolded or with help from all of you, and I much prefer the latter!

Please, pretty please — take 5 minutes and share your thoughts in this survey. 1,000 karma points included!

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3. An Interview with Myself on my Departure

I’m going to share the details behind this decision with you Q&A style. If this bores you to tears, feel free to skip this part of the post, but since Google has been such a big part of my life (and income!) I want to spend some time explaining my decision for others who may be contemplating a big leap of some kind in their lives. (As you get to the end, you’ll see that my gremlin snuck in some questions too.) Those who subscribe to my Inside Scoop newsletter already heard this two weeks ago — but I wanted to make sure I gave all of my co-workers the respect of telling them first before announcing publicly through my blog.

Was it an easy decision to make?
No. This was one of the hardest decisions I have EVER made, and I did not make it lightly. How could I walk away from my “dream” job as a Career Development program manager, where I worked for one of the most innovative companies in the world, where thousands apply and get rejected every day? I struggled with this decision for almost every day of my sabbatical — every day I felt differently than the one before, and the limbo-mode became very tiring.

The thought of going out on my own struck TERROR in my heart — and yet, once I made the decision I knew with 100% certainty that it’s the right thing to do. I’m still scared, but mostly hopeful and excited. Deep down, I knew what I needed to do in January when I declared this year my Year to Fly. I hate to disappoint those of you who saw me as an example of working at a company AND maintaining a successful side hustle, but in the end, I just couldn’t do both for the long haul given the momentum around my side hustle — so I knew (and have always secretly hoped) this day would come.

When did you realize it was the right thing to do?
That’s where you come in. As I said in my Book Tour Best Moments post, you have given me wings. During my 3-month sabbatical I felt lighter, freer and happier than I’ve ever felt in my life. I connected with inspiring people every day. I worked many 14-hour days on my own projects. I started Life After College as a website six years ago, and the blog almost four years ago. I built it during nights and weekends, with whatever time and energy was left over after my intense Google responsibilities were taken care of. I started wondering what I might be capable of — and how I could serve you even better — if I directed 100% of my energy back into my business.

There were also many angels along my book tour who looked me in the eyes and said they saw more for me — and that they would not let me fail if I chose to make the leap, despite my intense trepidation and desire to be fiscally responsible.

So how will you make money? What if you end up in a van down by the river?
As Danielle LaPorte said at The World Domination Summit, “The universe speaks in cash flow.” Here’s hoping!!! There is a part of me that deeply trusts that things will work out, AND a part of me that knows I will have to work my ASS off to meet the Universe halfway. I have a lot to learn about sales, marketing, accounting, health care, and all kinds of other unexpected things. But that’s the exciting part! I’m ready for a challenge, and I trust myself to put every ounce of brainpower and effort available to me into trying to get my business off the ground. And if I fail? At least I know that I tried.

I can only hope that my audience (all of you!) don’t run away in protest once I start offering paid products…which has been a very real fear for me for a VERY long time. After almost four years of blogging, my book was the first thing I ever felt comfortable pitching…and that’s because I put THREE years of work into it! But I know that with my full energy and creativity that I can create things in a shorter time frame that people will love and value. And it doesn’t have to be everyone — many can continue to enjoy all of my free content and templates without ever spending a dime on coaching or courses (except for hopefully the $12 to buy my book .

Are you going to start telling everyone to quit their jobs and become location independent?
Absolutely not. I was very happy working for a company for many years, and I fully realize the self-employed path is not right for everyone (though I can tell you that I’ve never felt freer or lighter). But at this moment in time it is right for me.

I care WAY MORE that you are following your heart and gut and deepest desires — no matter what those end up to be. I would have felt like a complete fraud if I continued signing books with “Live big!” and “Take great leaps!” while being unwilling to follow my own advice. I’ve known for YEARS that this work — coaching, speaking and writing in service of inspiring others to live their best lives — is what I was born to do; I just needed the courage to do it full-time.

What if you regret leaving? What about all those people that would kill to work at Google? What if you fall on your face and have to beg for your job back?
For the first time in my life, I am willing to go all in on JBE. I am willing to spend my entire savings, sell my stocks, sell my car, and even sell my house if I have to. I will live out of a suitcase and I will go back to “frugality smackdown” mode until I give this a fair shot. At the end of the day, what do I have to lose? I will forever regret it if I don’t try the self-employed thing. I’ve worked at a start-up and now a big corporation; it’s time to go balls-to-the-wall and see what I can do on my own. Going back to Google would not have been fair to them or to me — my heart wouldn’t be in it, and I’d be giving every project the short-shrift by burning out again trying to do it all.

I thought about going back part-time, but at this point, I’m not even willing to spare an hour a week on something that isn’t directly in line with making sure my book and blog are successful. Another factor is that my book still has a loooong way to go in terms of sales if I ever want to get another book deal — with ~2,000 down, I’ve got about 10,000 more to sell.

So what’s next?
Over the next few months I plan on ramping up my speaking and 1:1 coaching, and applying my 5+ years of Training & Career Development knowledge toward building widely accessible coaching products that will directly benefit my audience without costing as much as individual sessions — I like to call it “inspiration at scale.” I’m incredibly excited about spending the month of July preparing to launch the 8-week Make Sh*t Happen course that will take people’s biggest, scariest goal and turn it into an inevitable snowball of momentum. I live for helping people achieve their big dreams.

Speaking of which, how did you come up with Make Sh*t Happen as your next project?
In my work with dozens of coaching clients and interactions with hundreds (if not thousands) of book and blog readers, I’ve realized that just about everyone I talk to has a big giant goal that they are tip-toeing around. These goals are so gigantic that it’s hard to even say them out loud, let alone start taking action.

I put together this program as a natural extension of my book; after people get clear on their ideal vision for every area of their lives, they are ready to pick one or two major areas in which to take meaningful action. Besides, I’m right in the thick of my own “Make Sh*t Happen” goals (including a move to NYC in the fall!!) — so I look forward to participating right alongside with everyone. This book (and coaching program) will take your goal from impossible to inevitable — and I can’t wait to share it with those of you who are ready for the challenge!

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If you made it this far, HIGH FIVE!!!

This is the last time I’ll bug you: please take this reader survey if you haven’t already — I will love you FOREVER.

Oh heck, who are we kidding. I love you all anyway

Table for Two: Human Magic and a Hot Mess

Jenny — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 15:30:21 +0000

Serenity, grace and ease.

That’s one of my mantras for how I want to be in my life.

I am ashamed to admit that I haven’t exhibited much of the three these past few weeks.

Try lethargic, sad and stressed. Burned-out, zombie-like, and exhausted. Impatient, dull and over-committed.

Symptom: Blogger’s Block. Cause: Witholding Information.

I’ve written three blog posts that I didn’t have the guts to hit publish on these last few weeks. Partly because I knew that this is the post that really needed to be written. This is the truth, and that is what I make a continued commitment to deliver to you.

I am terrified to admit all of this…so publicly. I am terrified because the last thing I want to do is seem ungrateful for all of the gifts of my life. These professional diamonds I carry of having a great job at Google and a book due out in one rapidly-approaching month (now selling for a mere $9.10!).

I read somewhere that authors should never complain about anything related to their book…because most people would kill to be in their shoes…complaining about those very things.

So I can’t help but feel confused and disappointed in myself that I am not singing in the shower and leaping out of bed with unadulterated joy every morning. What is wrong with me?

Aha Moments

Yesterday, in a coaching session during which I ran through half a box of Kleenex, I understood why. It might be blindingly obvious to all of you, but forgive me — I can be a little slow in the compassion-for-self department.

The tectonic plates of my life are shifting and I am feeling the aftershocks…without wanting to admit it.

I want to be GREAT for you. For me. For my family. For my friends and coworkers. I want to be cheerful, gracious, grateful, and over-the-moon excited. That’s what I see in people’s eyes when I tell them what I am up to.

But what about me?

Me and My Crazy Gremlins

In another moment of clarity I realized that for three years now I have felt like Atlas carrying two globes — one for Google and one for the blog/book (aka Jenny Blake Enterprises — JBE).

I have two weeks left at Google before I take leave (after five intense, awesome years), and four weeks until the book comes out. I can see a finish line ahead and yet it feels like I’ve slammed into a wall. I’ve been putting tremendous pressure on myself to tie everything up in a beautiful bow; a pressure-cooker of chaos from juggling these two large responsibilities and my sanity.

I also realized that for the first time in three years I can put the globes down for a minute and give myself a rest and some credit. And in that realization, it has come to my attention that I might need to put the globes down right now. Because I have not been myself these last few weeks (if not more) and that is no way to kick off a time-of-my-life book tour.

My gremlins (the personal development police) tell me that there are starving children in Africa and that I am not curing cancer. That I have no right to feel tired or stressed. That I should just relax and be present. And yet, it’s funny how massively unproductive those sentiments are. They do not change how I actually feel.

Breaking News: I am human! (I had almost forgotten)

I was supposed to have a book marketing brainstorm call with my genius friend (and virtual work-husband) Willie Jackson last week. We’ve never met in person, but by the tone of my voice within five minutes of our opening chit-chat he asked, “Do we need to talk about Jenny Blake the author, or Jenny Blake the human being?” Cue waterworks.

Not even an hour later my book-trailer-producing friend asked how I was *really* doing over a Chipotle dinner. Once AGAIN, I broke down into hysterical sobs. Mid-restaurant. Hot mess for one?

I hated that my breakdown was so blindingly obvious to everyone around me. There was no hiding from it anymore. Book-trailer-friend looked me square in the eyes and said, “You’re fucking magic, JB. But you’re human magic. Give yourself a break.”

These men — brilliant angels, if you ask me — had a point.

Growing pains…a sign of great things to come

I know without a doubt that I am just experiencing growing pains (a sure sign that greatness lurks), and that I am not going to give up at the eleventh hour.

But I also want you to know that I am human, and you are human, and none of us are immune from pesky things like FEELINGS or BIG CHANGES.

I’m serving myself up a side of compassion this weekend, and I’ll be sending the same to any of you in need. If I’m slow to call back, respond to email, or post something new, you’ll know it’s because I’m practicing the fine art of giving myself a break.

To human magic, and with endless gratitude for your presence,
Jenny