In this empowering episode, Kim Sawyer, Founder of theWealthSource®, shares how to take ownership of your career as a pre-founder in stage 1. If you’re feeling stuck in a job, dissatisfied despite a good paycheck, and wondering if you should make a change, you won’t want to miss it.
You will discover:
– What active participation looks like to build your desired future instead of leaving it to chance
– Why treating your career as a business where you are the CEO gives you real control
– How to discern between your current job, long-term career, and overall life priorities
Episode Transcript
Scott Ritzheimer
Hello, hello, and welcome. Welcome once again to the Start Scale and Succeed podcast, the only podcast that grows with you through all seven levels of your journey as a founder, or as we’ll say today, a pre-founder. I’m your host, Scott Retheimer, and today we’re talking to all those folks sitting in a job, maybe a great job, maybe a bad job, but one way or another, they’ve outgrown it. They’re staring at the door, wondering if the grass is actually greener, or if they just haven’t learned how to grow grass yet. But whatever it is, it’s not working to the extent that it should. We call these folks dissatisfied employees, and no matter how good your paycheck is, that doesn’t quite seem to check the box, and my guest today, Kim Sawyer, has extensive business experience and has been a professional coach for more than 20 years.
His coaching firm, The Wealth Source, coaches facilitates and helps key professionals, executives, teams, and organizations to create extraordinary wealth in all its forms, they accomplish this by developing unique and powerful models, tools, and approaches that elevate the performance and success of the executives they coach to the next level. Kim has coached leaders across some of the most respective organizations, including Continental Airlines, JPMorgan Chase Bank, the British Broadcasting Corporation, IBM Chevron, and Spectra Energy, and he’s here with us today. Kim, I’m really excited about this. We’ve had a chance to talk through a couple different approaches here, and this idea of folks, especially if they’re a little later in their career, second half of life, there’s this feeling that the deeper you go into your career, the more stuck you are. The energy that you have to start over, the willingness that you have to change, feels like it starts slipping away from you. How do you help folks that feel like they’re in that stuck place, can’t really get past it, and don’t even know if they should.
Kim Sawyer
First of all, Scott, thanks for having me here. I really appreciate the opportunity to talk to you and your audience, and it’s a really good question, because the problem so many successful executives, business founders, and owners face that they don’t even realize is that they think if they just keep doing what they’re doing really well, everything will turn out great in the end, and it just doesn’t work that way. Now, if they tried to run their business that way, they know the business would not turn out great in the end if they didn’t have a say and weren’t actively working toward it, but they don’t look at their careers in the same way, they just leave it to the hands of other people’s decisions and circumstances. So I’m here to challenge that paradigm.
Scott Ritzheimer
I think one of the things that that contributes to that. I won’t even say that it causes it. Is it’s difficult to feel like an owner when you’re working, like when you feel like a cog in a machine. It can be hard to really take ownership when it feels like so much is out of your control. How do you help folks, whether entrepreneurs or or even high performing executives who feel that twinge of how do I take ownership of this, how do I really start to build the thing that I want.
Kim Sawyer
The first thing I have them look at is the broader perspective. Okay, this is my job today, or my business, this is my career, in which my business is just the current state of my career, and then this is my life, and career and job are just parts of life, and all of them have to serve each other in that order of priority, my job serves my career, my career serves my life. Now, given that it’s suddenly time to start thinking, well, goodness gracious, how am I going to do anything about my career or my life if all I’m doing is working in my current job or business? Once they grasp that, then it just begs the question of, well, how do I go about actively participating in my career?
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah, yeah, how do you help folks discern between those, because you know, at some point they feel like they’re all the same thing. My career, my job, my life, they’re all happening at the same time. How do you help folks start to discern the differences between those and and the work that they need to be doing on each
Kim Sawyer
Great good question for most people, especially employees, but even business owners, they think when they go home every day, their career’s over, they get up, they go to work, they go home, their career is done until something. Happens outside their control, and suddenly it’s not going right, and they realize they hadn’t been doing anything to have some influence on what was going to happen next. So the first thing I have them do is to realize that just like your employer’s company is a business, just like your current business that you own is a business, your career itself is a business, and you’re its CEO. You’re bringing yourself to market. You have one current customer, which is either your current business or your employer, and if you did nothing but sit around serving that customer all day long. What would happen to your business? Well, no, that would be insane. So I need to be engaged in things beyond serving my current business or customer that will help build what comes next in the future, so that it fits me and so that it happens when I’m ready for it.
Scott Ritzheimer
There’s this word we tend to use in this, this sphere of thought quite often, and I don’t think we’re actually using it properly. I think we’re talking about something else and putting it in fancy language, but a lot of times we’ll think about loyalty, and we’ll think, hey, if I’m, if I’m thinking about something like that’s being disloyal to my job or to my current commitment. What is that loyalty? Is that something else? How does loyalty play into all of this?
Kim Sawyer
Well, first of all, loyalty has a context. Okay, it’s not infinite and boundless. If I’m in a relationship with someone or an institution, a company, then they’re, we have an agreement that they’re going to do certain things for me, and I’m going to do certain things for them, and within that relationship we honor, trust, and serve one another, but beyond that, we each can live and operate the way we choose, so for me, if I were the CEO of a business, okay, and I were looking to find new customers or go to new markets or launch a new product, would that be disloyal to my current customer? Would they think somehow I was betraying them? No, that only makes sense in the paradigm of I’m at the mercy of my employer or my current company.
Scott Ritzheimer
I have found that folks who are really, really frustrated with their job, sometimes that’s because of the job, but sometimes it’s because of something in us, and if we try and solve the problem in us by quitting our job, we just take that problem to a new job. How do you help folks discern whether the problems that they’re feeling, the dissatisfaction that’s boiling, is job specific or has something more to do with a lack of attention to their career or their life.
Kim Sawyer
Actually, it’s all the above. The fact is, if I want to grow my business, I want to take great care of my current customer. I want to build a good relationship there. I want to do my part to make it really work and serve them and make sure that they’re also treating me in a way that I want to do business with them, so my current job, it’s up to me to make it the best it can be, and that means I have to learn what I have the power to do and change, and what actions I can take to enhance it, because it’s my friend, it’s the basis on which I’m going to stand, so that I can move into the future without it. Then I would be lost, I would be unemployed, I would be some guy on the street looking for an opportunity, not a good place to stand when you’re trying to run a business or launch a career.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah, when, when folks are thinking about a big career change, and they’re, they’re wondering, hey, should I, should I switch companies? Maybe they’ve always had a dream of being an entrepreneur, or, or starting something of their own, but they’re wondering, like, can I really start over again? What advice would you give to them in that moment?
Kim Sawyer
First of all, starting over again is a bad idea. Everything is a transition from one state to the next state. I don’t want to leave behind all the gold I’ve created and the value I bring to the table from all my experiences and relationships and skills. I want to take it with me into the future. However, I may want to add some new things to that and move it in a direction that I have more interest in, or more passion. So I need to look for opportunities that take where I can take. What I do now, and bring it to different people, or in a different way. Otherwise, I start over again as a rookie, entry level in whatever I’m doing. Not a good thing. So, it’s all about managing a transition, planning for the transition, exploring for the right directions and opportunities, and then when it appears, then it’s a time to make the move,
Scott Ritzheimer
yeah, yeah. I love that you say rookie, because it’s actually what we call stage one of the processes that rookie, or the trainee, and, and, and, and one of the things that, because I almost exclusively work in the world of founders, so I work with folks who’ve made the decision to go out, start their own thing, and do that, and unfortunately, I come across a lot of people who shouldn’t have. They really shouldn’t have. There are much easier ways to fulfill the vision that they have for their career and their life than getting rid of the boss by starting their own job. How do you help folks navigate that decision. Should I, should I start something of my own, or should I engage in an existing enterprise
Kim Sawyer
like anything else? My coach used to tell me, Kim, the answers, the instructions are in the box, not on the box, so I don’t know what the best future is. Reality is much bigger than what I know, and the future hasn’t happened yet, so I have to remember I move in directions that seem like good ones, but then I learn as I go. New things happen, new people show up, I learn more about me, and ultimately I run across the right next thing. We find each other, I’m actively engaged in exploring. I have some ideas where I want to go, and I put myself out in front of the right people. Something shows up, then I know that’s the thing. Now it’s launching a business is something I’m considering. Then I need to begin exploring. Is it franchises? Is it launching a startup? Am I joining somebody else’s startup?
I need to begin taking some classes, exploring if I have an interest or not, reading a few books, so I can really see if that’s a fit for me. And then, if it is, begin building the pieces while I have my day job, and then when it’s starting to work and it’s demanding more time than I have to give, then I can see if I can go to contract in my day job and begin to divert time, or at that point I make the leap, but I’ve got to make, here’s the thing, most businesses fail in the beginning because the business owner depends on the business revenue to pay their bills, so the time isn’t right to make the move unless you know your basic bills are paid safely and you can run your business for its own merits.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah, gosh, we could stop on that and it would be worth its weight. But I do have a couple more questions for you here. The first one is a question that I ask every guest that’s been on the show, and the question is this: What is the biggest secret that you wish wasn’t a secret at all? What’s that one thing you wish everybody watching or listening today knew?
Kim Sawyer
That the future doesn’t take care of itself, it’s going to happen one way or another, but if I want it to end up someplace that works for me, I’ve got to participate in it actively, whether that’s the life I want to live someday or it’s the career I want to have someday. It takes active participation to have a say in my future.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah, so good, Kim. There’s some folks, and they’re right there, they’re in it, they, they, they’re in that spot they don’t want to be in. They’d love some guidance, helping get beyond the frustrations of their current job, and, and into the deeper things of what they want and value, and in their career, and in life, even more. So, how can they reach out to you? How can they find more out about the work that you do, or take us their next step forward?
Kim Sawyer
So, first of all, again, I want to thank you for having me here, and I want to thank all the audience for listening in. If what I’ve said so far, and what Scott and I’ve talked about, resonate for you, if you feel like you’re in one of those positions, I’m offering my career mastery session, complimentary session. We’ll meet, we’ll explore your career history, we’ll explore what’s possible for you, and we’ll take a look at what you can do about it to begin moving forward. You’ll walk away with a couple of clear action steps to take, and whether you choose to work with me or not, you’ll get launched with some new ways of thinking. Normally, it’s $300 but if you mention Scott, it’ll be complimentary to you. I’m going to give Scott all the information necessary to put into the podcast notes, so you can redeem this offer.
Scott Ritzheimer
Absolutely fantastic. Well, we will do that. We’ll get all those notes in. And the episode notes for you, so take a look there, wherever you’re watching or listening to this. Kim, it was just such a privilege and honor having you here today. I loved this conversation. There’s, there’s so much more that I could have dove into, but for the sake of our listeners’ time, we try and keep them nice and short and sweet. But thank you for being here, really appreciate it. And again, love this conversation, and for those of you who are watching and listening today, you know your time and attention mean the world to us. I hope you got as much out of this conversation as I know I did, and I cannot wait to see you next time. Take care.
Hey everyone, Scott Retheimer here. Thank you so much for listening to the Start Scale and Succeed podcast, I hope this episode gave you exactly what you need for the level you’re in right now. If you want to discover what level you’re in, take our 10 question founders evolution quiz for free at foundersquiz.com. That’s foundersquiz.com it’ll pinpoint exactly where you are, and give you tailored tips to move forward and reach that next level in your journey as a founder. If you got something out of today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, or review. It helps us reach more founders like you. And let’s be honest, it means a ton to me, my team, and all our incredible guests. So, keep starting, scaling, and succeeding, and I’ll see you in the next episode.
Contact Kim Sawyer
Kim Sawyer has extensive business experience and has been a professional coach for more than 20 years. His coaching firm, theWealthSource®, coaches and facilitates key professionals, executives, teams, and organizations to create extraordinary wealth — in all its forms. They accomplish this by developing unique and powerful models, tools, and approaches that elevate the performance and success of the executives they coach to the next level. Kim has coached leaders across some of the most respected organizations, including Continental Airlines, JP Morgan Chase Bank, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), IBM, Chevron, and Spectra Energy.
Want to learn more about Kim Sawyer’s work at theWealthSource®? Check out his website at https://thewealthsource.com/
Connect with Kim through his LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/coachkimsawyer/
Are you a successful executive who feels stuck in your career and not sure what to do about it? Kim is offering you his $300 Career Mastery Session – FREE when you mention this podcast. There are limited spots, so sign up now: https://calendly.com/thewealthsource