02 Why I Quit My Job: My Journey to be a Full Time Entrepreneur

From HR for Millennials to building my Career Love brand and entering my Black Woman Bliss Era, I'm walking you through the mindset shifts, planning, and purpose that led me to quit my job with purpose and clarity.

You’ll hear about:

• Why corporate America was never built for us (and what that means for Black women)
• How I planned my exit with intention and a financial strategy
• What it means to build a business that supports your lifestyle and legacy
• The power of flexibility, freedom, and flow (yes, I’m sleeping *and* thriving)
• My dreams of full-time RV travel with my fiancé and our furbabies
• Finding your Black Woman Brilliance and how it guides your next career or business move

I hope this episode inspires you to reclaim the vision you have for your life and build a life and business you truly love.

If you’ve been thinking, “Girl, I want out too,” then this episode was made for you.----

✨ Want to join the Career Love Community?

This safe, powerful space was created by and for Black women navigating big goals in career, life, and business. With coaching, training, and sisterhood built in, you’ll never walk this journey alone. Learn more & join us now: https://www.mercedesswan.com/join

Connect with Me:

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💼 ⁠Connect on LinkedIn⁠: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mdswan

💌 Email me: [email protected] 

Why I Quit My Job Episode Transcript 

*AI Generated transcripts

Mercedes Swan (00:00.206)
Hey sis, have you ever really felt like you were not cut out for a 9 to 5? I know. Me too, I'm there with you. Okay, I'm there with you. Because I recently exited my 9 to 5. I'm about 80 days or so from exiting my 9 to 5 to being a full-time solo entrepreneur. So I am going to tell you a little bit about my journey, why I've gone this route, and you know, a little bit of, a little bit of sudden, sudden, if you wanna kinda...

replicate this journey, okay, for yourself, because you know it's nine to five ain't it, okay? So let's talk about it. Let's talk about how I'm really creating this amazing life and business that I love. Let's get into it.

Mercedes Swan (00:44.62)
Hello love, this is Mercedes Juan. I'm the Career Love Coach and of course your host of the Career Love Podcast. This podcast is my love letter to the 9.8 million black women in the workplace who want a safe space where they can change the world and build a business career and lifestyle they love. And of course today we're talking about the girlies that said, I'm done with the career. We're done with the nine to five, okay? It is stressful out here for our beautiful black women, okay?

And so that is what we're talking about today, all about this idea of exiting your nine to five. I'm going to share with you a little bit about my journey, what I've learned, and yeah, some tips along the way. So I hope you join me for this. I'm really excited. So yeah, to kind of start us off, I launched my business in 2018. The name of my business is HR for Millennials. I'm actually in the process of changing it because my business has changed so much.

since I originally had that name. But I'm really excited to say that, you know, I worked really hard to really create a business that I loved. I was very unclear. I didn't have, I always didn't have the right, you know, tools or understanding of how business works. And so I'm proud to say that I feel like I've finally figured out the foundations of a business that I will really love. And to put it into context, I started my business all the way back in 2018.

as a way to leverage my HR skills to provide career coaching to Millennials. That's how I got the name HR for Millennials. Today my business is all about career love and helping black women fall into career love as well as business love. Understanding that we need a safe space to grow and explore and really recover from a lot of the toxic experiences that we've had in the workplace. And so that's not unique to you. It's not unique to me. It's ghetto out there.

And that was you know a lot of my contributing factors I had a lot of big goals for what I wanted to how I wanted to live my life I'll share some of those with you and hopefully if you Identify with some of those you'll let me know in the comments or on social media wherever you find me But I wanted to live my dream and I didn't want to settle

Mercedes Swan (02:59.427)
for something just because it's what I was taught, right? To live that nine to five, to go to work, to clock in, you know, and eventually retire when you're old, eventually see the world. And that's not the life that I want to create for myself. I want to create a world where I can truly live and lean into my black woman bliss. So that's what we're talking about today. My journey.

everything that I've learned, some of those goals and why I'm doing what I'm doing. So yeah, let's get into it. So my first one is this idea that like corporate America and the workplace in general is really not built for black women. I mean, if we think about it, a lot of the world is not built for us either, but I think it doesn't provide us the space to be soft and to rest and to be in a good mental state.

I know that like if I didn't think that a business is what I wanted that there are plenty of ways for me to have created that experience for myself. I absolutely believe that I am a career coach, right? We can create the experiences that we want in our careers as well. But I knew for me that the structure of you know, the workplace just wasn't something that was going to work for me long term. I feel like

A lot of times we do have to really fight. And even if we are in a good organization that pays us well and values us, just due to the workplace dynamics, whether that's politics or getting a promotion, a lot of those things are just not set up for my worldview, right? I'm very much a people-centered person. I'm very much a connection person. I'm very much do what's right. Doesn't matter why or how.

You need to get it done, but you need to do right by people. And of course, that's what ultimately led me to do Human Resources. I launched my HR career because I wanted the workplace to be a positive place for everybody to work, but particularly for individuals like myself, black women who look like me. And of course, we know the experience that black women have in the workplace. And so as I went on, know, I definitely went into

Mercedes Swan (05:00.431)
environments and spaces where I very much loved what I did. I loved my supervisors. I loved my colleagues, but over time and whatever the different career moves or shift or change changes happen, I talk about a lot of that on all sorts of platforms, but those.

things just really shifted over time for me where I really didn't enjoy showing up and going to work each day and what I call right this like toxic job search cycle. So whether it's a cycle where you're going from toxic job to toxic job, or maybe you're going from a positive job to a toxic job, or there's all sorts of shifts and changes that can become really tiring. And ultimately what I discovered was that

The workplace stress that I was experiencing actually led to me figuring out or having an adult ADHD diagnosis. And the workplace stress from trying to mask that actually led to anxiety and depression, as well as a couple of different experiences that I had with poor supervisors, leaders, political issues that I was having in the workplace. And I know that's not unique to me. And so I think that there...

are plenty of black women where they're like, you know what? It doesn't really matter to me. I'm just showing up for a paycheck. I'm getting the job done. I'm getting my paycheck. That's not me. I very much want to enjoy and love the work that I do and love the people that I work with. If we're being honest here, I met my fiance in the workplace. OK, I like the other people that I work with, not all of them like that. OK, I'm an agamist. But, you know, that being said,

It just is hard. It takes a toll on you. And as black women, we have another layer of that for us, right? Of having to be perfect, dealing with misogynoir in the workplace and having different standards and how we're attacked with, you know, performance evaluations and things like that and stereotypes makes it really challenging for us to be in a state of ease and relaxation. And I think even though I've been generally

Mercedes Swan (06:56.911)
and organizations that were really positive. It was those really hard moments for me with the, with conflict and just poor collaboration that just meant that it was no longer a place that I wanted to be long-term. So even though I started my business in 2018, I always knew this was a place that I was going to get to. didn't know when, I'm glad it's now. Um, but yeah, it just, it wasn't going to happen. It wasn't going to happen for me. Um,

I think that's also really connected with, you know, my purpose and my passion. And so I find that as an HR professional who then pivoted into diversity, equity, inclusion, it's probably it's probably clear to you, right? That I I want to love what I do. I'm passionate about the world being a better place, social justice, equity, inclusion, belonging, diversity. All of those things are really integral to me and my values and who I am. And so.

Sometimes when you're in the workplace, you can't always be in alignment with those values at every time. Right. Like as a business owner, I can say, hey, the way that I have structured this program or how I'm interacting with others or how I'm showing up online or my policies and my procedures for how I run my business, they're ultimately always going to align with me because I'm a solo entrepreneur. Right. If I don't like how I'm structuring my career, love community or my coaching programs, like it's totally fine. I can always be in alignment with what

feels good. Now I'm not going to say as a business owner, some things aren't uncomfortable or some things aren't things that you have to figure out to make sure that you're in alignment. That is absolutely always going to be true. And I think that changes as we evolve. But for me, I wanted to be able to like really pursue my purpose in a way that wasn't

like restricted by just bureaucracy and personal egos and you know just the things that get in the way of us being good humans to each other whether that's financially driven or we have political agendas or our own progression i just didn't want to deal with the political maneuverings of that i say all of that to say that people have generally complimented me on my ability to do that and

Mercedes Swan (09:04.289)
Again, it's because I've always cared about my character and how I'm showing up with others. I think the biggest thing for me is that I didn't want my character or my sense of self to be negatively impacted by how I was interacting with others. It's so important for me. And so I think, again, that connection of being able to pursue your purpose, do what you feel like you've been called to do in the world, be passionate about it, be energized by it, and kind of not have the dynamics that happen when humans come together.

in that way that sometimes out of your control or precarious just wasn't something that I was willing to do. And also like I really, really love the mission of my business. I just want to see black women win. Like I just want us to have the recognition and the safety and the ease and just the fulfillment of doing what we want to do on our terms. And doesn't mean in a harmful way because I think in overall like black women are just beautiful humans that just in general really want to

support and help the world, right? And I think if we're bogged down kind of about, you know, the policies, the procedures, white supremacy culture that shows up in the workplace, it's really hard for us. And so for me, it was more important for me to even in moving in a precarious way to like launch my business, you know, be full time employed by myself, pay my own bills from my own business.

It was way more important for me to be able to feel like I was connected and aligned with my purpose Yeah, that was so important for me. So I would say the tip or the piece here for you, right? If you're trying to decide whether you want to exit your nine-to-five whether you want to have a business I would ask you like what is your mission? What is your what is what is it that you want to achieve in your legacy?

And is that most aligned with the business? And it isn't always that way, right? I'm not here to say that everybody should be in business for themselves. I always say like, it's always good to have multiple streams of income because you never know what these employers are going to do. Okay. And there's a lot of freedom in that. But again, that doesn't necessarily mean that you need to be a full-time entrepreneur, but those are, again, I'm sharing some of the things with you that I've learned. Okay.

Mercedes Swan (11:19.853)
The next one is greater flexibility. so for me, one of the greatest things for me right now is that I'm just waking up when I want to. I'm creating my own schedule. I'm prioritizing what matters. I have a high level of balance, even though everybody wants to say, my gosh, girl, you're a full-time entrepreneur. You must not begin any sleep. And like, and I am getting my sleep and I am doing this with balance because it is not about building a

business or an empire, like doing it in the like tech bro business bro like advice, right? Like I'm not at all in this masculine energy in this. OK, I'm in my soft girl like enjoy, enjoy the ride. I'm not saying that I'm not like really like sometimes I am not feeling like, my gosh, this is a scary thing or and I'm also not saying that I feel 100 percent confident every single day when I wake up. That is not the truth. And also, I told you, right?

I had an anxiety and depression diagnosis. Like sometimes your girl has an anxious day. Sometimes she has an off day. Sometimes she has a day where I was doing too much introverted and I need to reel it back. But it's just this idea of really being in a spirit and how I want to create my life. And I've talked about this a lot, but like I've embodied this as black woman bliss. What would it truly mean to be blissful and to really prioritize how I create?

Design my life around my own bliss and what I want to see and for me Flexibility was a number one key. I know I'm not ever gonna be a person never again Who is wanting to clock in at 8 who wants to drive into an office who wants to have set hours? You know, I think if I were to ever reenter corporate America for any reason

I would be looking for extremely flexible workplace situation because I'm just much happier being in my own flow and rhythm and not really having to do things as people say they are. Now, please don't take that as that I'm not accountable or I don't have structures around me for like, for instance, my clients, right? Of course I have meetings with my clients. Of course they have time to show up in my career love community and teach and do podcasts and work, right? But it's a difference when it's what I love.

Mercedes Swan (13:39.085)
And I also have the flexibility to shift or change things that are working for me and that aren't working for me. And I think that's given me this true sense of bliss where I'm really waking up happy unless I had a bad anxiety day, which will always happen, right? Well, hopefully maybe one day it won't, but sometimes I do have those days, right? But the flexibility and the joy of being able to create the balance and the exact lifestyle that I want.

10 out of 10. I don't think I'll ever get that of a nine to five. This next one is travel and retire early. So, so your girl has lots of financial goals and I also have lots of travel goals. So for me, my biggest dream and what I'm working towards right now, so y'all are going to like watch me in this journey, right? It's going to happen. You're going to see it. It's going to be posted. It's going to be a glorious moment for me, but my goal is to fully be a digital nomad. Now,

I'm not making all of that bank, right? I've got me a good little cushion. I got me a good little retirement. got, I'm on target for a lot of things, but I'm not yet in a place where I'm able to make this purchase that's going to allow me to move into my full black woman bliss era. Okay. And that is I want an RV. I want to do full-time RV living. I want to pack me and my fiance and my two puppies up. Wait.

Two puppies up, all four of us into an RV and travel the world. I want to go to every national park. I want to do RV camping. I want to see every single state. Maybe I want to drive it into Canada. Like I just want to see the world in a way that feels like I'm taking my whole life with me so I can truly enjoy it. Right. No more flights for the week or the weekend or whatever. Right. To just be in a city and experience it or

like no more feeling like you know I'm hustling and bustling of like packing up everything for a quick trip somewhere and then I'm coming back. Like I love this idea of just having my whole life with me and my whole life rotating and surrounding travel and I feel like having the business that I've built will allow me to do that right because if I have coaching clients right

Mercedes Swan (15:50.959)
and I have a set schedule for those coaching clients, I could always be out and about and moving around at certain times of the day and whatever that's going to work for that. If I have the Kyrgyz Love Community, which is a subscription based business, then all of those things are always flexible as well. And it also allows me to have reoccurring income and allows me again, this like freedom of time and flexibility of time that allows me to travel and see the world that in a way that I want to.

you know, of course like nine to five, like I'm not saying anything to you. That's not like obvious, right? you know, we don't get that much time off. It's hard to travel and work a nine to five, right? just because of the expectations to be at your desk or whatever. Yeah, like I really like this idea of just like leaving my RV and going out to like a museum or a festival and spending half a day and then going to a coffee shop and getting a YouTube video recorded and

then going back to the RV, taking my coaching calls, like going out, playing some games with my fiance and, you know, walking the dogs on a trail at the evening and like coming back and just, you know, maybe the next day we would go somewhere else. Maybe the next day we stay there. Just this idea of just always being in travel and experiencing new things. And I think a lot of that is very much connected like to my ADHD, right? Because sometimes when I'm at home or I'm at, you know, even at work, right, even right now before I'm like,

fully out there traveling. I very much get into this idea of like, I just need to be out there. I just need to do something and experience something different. And I know that dopamine has to be like dopamine hits or whatever. Right? If you watch my podcast with my mom, which is called the chasing 100 club. So you should go see that. we have great episodes and we should have some new ones coming out soon. But yeah, if you go watch that, you'll hear a little bit about, you know, dopamine and why it's so important.

for everyone in general, but particularly for ADHD brains and having novelty, having things that are engaging so that that can kind of, it improves your mood. It's, is a neurotransmitter and it's responsible for a lot of things and connected to a lot of things. But ADHD brains have a deficit in it, in our brains. And so we need to be more intentional about how dopamine shows up.

Mercedes Swan (18:09.167)
And of course is related to things like us being able to our memory and executive function and getting things done and motivation, right? So there's a lot of things and so I feel like that lifestyle will help to support that In a way that allows me to see the world and do what I want to do Another thing is that I do want to retire early and that's of course connected to making money, right? And so for me, of course, it's like man, I'm definitely leaving I feel like I'm leaving money behind by not having

you know, a 401k that my employer is putting money into. So I know for me and like building my business, I'm going to have a much higher opportunity to really increase my income, right? Because I'm not necessarily tied to the nine to five. All of my energy is not going into that. So it's harder to do it when it's a side hustle. And of course at this end, right? Like your earning potential is a lot higher of a cap, right? Like even if I were to go...

and advance my career and become a chief HR officer or to become a chief diversity officer. That paycheck is not going to look like a million dollar business, which is my goal, right? Or more. And so my goal is for this is to say, yes, I'm really building this business that's going to support this lifestyle. It's going to support the RV. It's going to support the travel. But I also really want to retire early. Now I am definitely a productivity work.

I don't want to call myself a workaholic, but I love to work. And I know that's kind of weird that people, say that out loud, but I mean, I love to do work that's fulfilling. I don't just love any work. Like I love to be passionate about what I do and I love to do things that I think matter, right? And so that's why it's important for me to be a career coach and a business coach for black women, because it matters how black women are able to show up at work matters for us today, as well as the next generation.

us building generational wealth is important for us today, but it's important for the next generation as well. I am intentionally childless. Okay. So there won't be that type of generational wealth for me. Um, but I really love this idea of, know, you know, after, you know, whatever my end of life planning and being able to say, you know, I'm going to start this fund or, um, you know, I'm going to start, you know, have this endowment or maybe even a charity that I,

Mercedes Swan (20:28.015)
create or whatnot or a nonprofit that I create and what would be the importance of that, right? Maybe it's empowering younger black women who need the careers resources and services, right? I'm really excited about what that looks like in terms of my legacy and what I want to say I was here to do. So that's why work matters to me and I think for me it's connected back to that purpose to say like, hey, I want to have a legacy that

really means something to me that's deeply connected to what's important to me and what I think is important to the world. And so yeah, making more money is absolutely going to support those goals. It's going to support the black community. It's going to support little black girls that need these types of resources and stability and guidance in life. And that's something that's super important for me too. So I'm excited about that, right? And I'm excited also for me to be able to say, Hey,

I'm retiring early. Now I really get to do whatever it is I want to do because I really, I really don't care about the paycheck. So I'm not going to talk about financial independence or retiring early in this episode in detail because I actually have a really amazing episode coming up next with Amanda who's just fabulous. And she teaches personal finance and is a tech girlie. So that episode is going to be really great. And I also have another one coming out.

In the chasing 100 club podcast with my mom where we talk about this and talk about generational wealth and all of those things So yeah, stay tuned. Those are gonna be great. Make sure you subscribe So you can get access to both of those. Yeah this podcast and the chasing 100 club But yeah, those are those are my really really big things and my really big goals that really is how I got to this decision and why I knew like becoming a full-time entrepreneur was really the right path for me

And I also know it's because, you know, people talk a lot about, well, is full-time being a full-time entrepreneur really for you? And it's like, is it? I don't know. And like for me, I know I'm very self motivated to get things done because I'm driven by that passion. I'm driven for that. I'm driven by this idea of creating a legacy and doing what I really love. And so I'm driven to get it done. And that's part of this.

Mercedes Swan (22:47.966)
talking about my journey and hopefully, I think anyway, I'm pretty sure I am, inspiring other black women to go for it, right? To not settle for a career or a lifestyle or even a business that doesn't truly serve them, does not contribute to their legacy. Yeah, that's the whole plan. That's what we're doing here. So I know you probably like, girl, I know you're doing the...

full-time entrepreneur thing, but I came here for the guidance. Or maybe just want to hear about my story. I don't know. I'll definitely do one more about career pathing and like how I got to where I am and maybe even how I actually started my business in like more detail. But I did want to talk a little bit about like my journey and in terms of like how I knew this made sense and some of the guidance and steps that I took.

And also ways that I package that that's like a lot more accessible based on what I learned like I didn't need to go through all of that I need to go through all that drama. Okay

Mercedes Swan (23:53.086)
Of course you know about the CareerLove podcast, but do you know about the CareerLove community? The CareerLove community is a safe, inclusive, and warm environment that I created for Black women who are working on their big career, life, and business goals.

The community not only offers a safe space for you to achieve those goals, but it also offers training, guides, resources, and even support like group coaching to help you accomplish those things faster. And because the community is by Black women for Black women, you'll know that your experiences and how you navigate the world as a Black woman is seen, heard, and deeply felt by the other beautiful Black women in this beautiful community. It's my goal to help Black women enter their Black women bliss era by creating careers and businesses they really love.

clarity and confidence. So if this sounds like you, go ahead and learn more about the community in the show notes. You can watch a webinar or you can directly join. And of course, let me know if you have any questions. You're always welcome to reach out. All right, let's get back to the show.

Mercedes Swan (24:54.664)
So for me, one of the things that I did, right, so I'm gonna go back, but I'm gonna say right now, how did I know it was time for me to leave my nine to five? I knew that I was in the best place to do that about a year ago had I made the right decisions. And I wasn't quite sure whether I was gonna leave, but there were absolutely things that I wanted to have in place in case that's what I wanted to do.

And so I really started, I mean, this journey started several years ago. So I'll share a journal that I had written in 2022. I took a picture of it. I had been defined it just like on accident in the beginning of this year. And I looked at it I was like, wow, this is how far I've come from somebody who is absolutely living paycheck to paycheck, did not have an emergency fund, was not at all ready to like start a full-time entrepreneur journey. And I looked at that journal, I said, wow, look how far I've come. And so

And from 2020 until the beginning of 2024, I was really in the stage of just trying to like get things in order, create systems that allowed me to better manage my money, figure out what was working in my business. And in 2024, I had this moment where I said, hey, I'm really planning on getting this RV, right? If I'm making this money in my business, I'm making this money in my nine to five, I can absolutely afford to buy this RV.

and we can start our travel journey and everything else. And then I had a moment where I was like, also part of that had to do with me paying down lots of debt and creating a bulk, know, an emergency savings that made sense. So there was a lot going into the planning of this, multiple spreadsheets, multiple notion pages. Your girl was in her big girl planning moment, okay? Like I was strategically planning for my whole life and it felt good.

And I actually went on this little trip with some friends and I was like, I was looking at it. It's just like a reflection moment. I was like, wait, I could do this and have this like huge liability and then have to keep my job or, I could do it the other way and start my business and get my business to where I need to be, where I can afford this RV without a nine to five. So I'm not stuck in that. So I can truly enjoy my travel. And I said,

Mercedes Swan (27:12.19)
what if I looked at this completely different and said, I'm gonna take all of this, all of the money, and I'm gonna shift it away from this big RV fund and this big RV payment with the truck. Okay, there was a lot. And I'm gonna reallocate this to pay off as much debt as I can to have as much savings and to create investments so I have passive income coming in. And so in 2024, that is what I did. basically, I mean, I already had a sense of like,

where all of my money was going, but I really got super serious about it and that was my goal. So essentially right now, and when I left my full-time job, I had two requirements for myself that I had paid off everything but my car. Because yeah, I paid off everything but my car. And then I essentially had reduced all spending.

down to the very bare minimum. I still took care of like the soft life stuff, right? I still have my nail fund, you know, I still have my fund fund, right? It wasn't like I was living in lack, right? Cause I was never the goal. If y'all know, I had some trips last year, okay? I wasn't living in lack, but I was absolutely very intentional about where I was putting my money. And so again, that led me to a stage where I had six months and when I was sleeping, I was about at six months of emergency savings.

That wasn't including other savings that were more like long-term for particular planning, but like stuff is hitting the fan six months. And then I, like I said, I had paid off everything and I also wanted my business to be in a place where it's like, if I left right now, would the business be able to cover my bare minimum expenses? And that's what I did. I felt like I hit that in January. And so I was like, well, sorry.

I felt like I hit that actually about October of last year, but I didn't quite feel like I was ready. And so I was thinking through a couple of things and I'm not going to put all of those things out there into the world. But I will say that like there were a couple of deciding things based in like where I was in life in my career and things like that, that I needed to work through before I made a final decision. And so then, yeah.

Mercedes Swan (29:32.062)
at the end of the year, November, December-ish time, made my final decision, I'm gonna quit my job. And so that's where I am today. And so I'm gonna walk you through, like had I not, we all go through a journey to like build our careers and build our business and really find out what alignment is. But I'm gonna tell you a couple of the key things that supported me in this journey.

And I'm also going to tell you a way to really get a step-by-step way of doing that if you would like to by the end of this podcast. So for me, I think one of the first things that I had to really get clear about is what I call my black woman brilliance, right? There are always a lot of things that we can do in our careers. There's a lot of businesses we can build. There's a lot of career paths that look appealing. But if we're saying we're living a life of alignment and we're following our purpose and we're being aligned with our values,

A lot of that is being clear about our gifts and what we're meant to do, our purpose, our calling, whatever you want to call that. And that is one of the first things that I had to get really clear on. So in this time of being really anxious paycheck to paycheck, all of these things, I didn't quite know. I knew I was advancing my career, right? Cause sometimes you can be advancing and can be growing and everything can be right, but you're out of alignment and you're not fulfilled. So if I called you out, you better let me know. With love.

But, you know, I was going into at the time I was in talent acquisition and I thought that was the route that I was going to continue to go in because I was doing really well at it. Like talent acquisition doesn't matter. Absolutely a gift for me. I'm really good at it. But I didn't quite know that I had kind of falling out of love with it a little bit, actually. And I was actually falling in love with diversity, equity and inclusion. Again, when you look at my values and what's important to me.

it makes sense, but I wasn't there yet. I wasn't ready to like acknowledge that as an issue. And so, um, it took me a while to get there and I actually, you know, we always talk about, we make jokes about the, you know, the direction, you know, the rejection is a redirection, but that's really true. was having a hard time finding a talent acquisition job and that's insane because I'm really talented.

Mercedes Swan (31:49.02)
And so it wasn't until I actually took a step back and I really thought about what I love to do and what I wanted to do, which is a little embarrassing because I'm a career coach and I didn't do what I tell my clients to do. I will call out myself. And I realized I was like, I, I want to do diversity, equity, inclusion. And so I re shifted everything in my career and my job search should then focus on DE and I, and my job search went like this. It was just so fast. Pivoted.

went to a job that was like a dream job, allowed me to use my HR skills, my DEI skills, and just the organization had a really great mission, right? And so it was just really perfect, right? And sorry, let me go back for a second. At the same time while all this was happening, I was getting really clear about my black woman brilliance in my business. And that was that I told you at the beginning that I had started my business serving

Millennial professionals, which a lot of them were black women, but I hadn't figured out that was me. Like I'm happiest on a phone with a black woman helping her build confidence, helping her see herself, helping her bet on herself in a way that like builds her confidence and like she dreams about the career that she thought she she like had written it off and thought it wasn't possible. That is my happy place. my gosh. It's my happy place. And I was discovering that in

in my business and how I was growing. And I knew that was the path that I was going on as the career love coach to be a career coach for black women. And so I was discovering these things in my business. So yeah, so what I'm trying to say here is that discovering your black woman brilliance is an evolving thing, right? You're going to grow, you're going to learn, but it's also going to be really exciting because it's going to feel right. It's going to feel like ease, even if the other things that

come with pursuing it feels a little hard. And I promise you that, like if you trust that process, you follow your gifts, your talents, it's, going to lead you to the right place. So that's my first step. And so when I tell you like black women, brilliance isn't always just in one area, such as your career, your business, you're going to figure out what feels right in both areas. Right. And so if you know that ultimately your most aligned life,

Mercedes Swan (34:03.93)
is to still have that career then go that route, right? If this is the deciding factor that's like, girl, I think I'm supposed to have that career. I'm supposed to have that career in addition to that business. That's okay. But if you're sitting here thinking about my talents or gifts and really what you want to do, and that's leading you to business love, then that's all good too, right? And then your goal here is to create a strategy and a way that allows you to operate in those gifts, whether that's career or business, right? And again, for me,

I really, I really love using my black woman brilliance in my career, right? But again, I know that the most aligned thing for me for the lifestyle that I want and the business and what I love doing is absolutely to be in my business love era. Okay. All right. and so that's my advice to you from this podcast, right? If you're here, you want to quit your job. You want to go on this journey, get really clear.

on the business. think the worst thing that you could do. And I'm not saying this to scare you, right? Because like I absolutely failed. I probably do a whole nother podcast about every time I failed in my business, I could talk about it a lot. It doesn't mean that it's always perfect or right. But what I mean is like don't go out of your way to intentionally create a business that you know isn't an alignment. Like a lot of times we follow the trends or we try and create a business that's just the easiest thing to do, but it doesn't really align with who we are. And then we keep chasing fulfillment.

I want you to create a business that feels really aligned with you that you're excited about because that's going to propel you through all of the hard things that come up with business, whether that's being consistent or putting yourself out there or making a sale or being like vulnerable and crying online like me. I used to say, I don't understand how people cry online and I was making a video. was like, I'm crying now.

Mercedes Swan (36:01.206)
but yeah, so I'll bring it back. So all of that to say like my goal in this is like I started this off talking about I knew I wasn't built for a nine to five. I knew I wanted to pursue my purpose. I knew the life that I wanted for myself. So that's my piece of advice. Like I want you to quit love. I want you to quit anything that's no longer serving you. I want you to go for your dreams and your goals and your best black woman blissful life. That's the whole goal of this podcast. So

Before we wrap up, I wanted to share that I have a career love community with beautiful, amazing, just talented black women that create this space that's just warm and easy and just, I love the space that I'm creating in this community. But on top of that, I have a Black Women Bless training portal in that community that teaches you all of these things. So it teaches you.

how to find your black woman brilliance. It teaches you how to fall into career love, right? Not just a career that you clock in for, not just a career that you can get money, get well paid in, a career that does it all and that you can love and that you can feel like aligns with your values and your passion and help you feel fulfilled. Do what you really want to do. That is career love. But I also have a business love training portal in there as well that really takes you through everything that you need to know to build

brand and a business that's aligned with you and do so successfully because it's all about the profit over here. Business love, career love, but we get paid. Okay? Because we need to get paid. Right? There is nothing without that generational wealth building. Okay? That financial freedom. Okay? So all of that being said, if this sounds like a community, you are an ambitious black woman who's working to bring your purpose and your dreams and your vision for your life.

to the reality that we live in today, I'm going to encourage you to go join me in the career love community in the comments and the description. I would absolutely love to have you there. If you have any questions or you want to connect about anything that I shared in this podcast, you can find me wherever I'm most likely on LinkedIn, TikTok and YouTube, but you can also email me. That will be in the show notes as well. But that being said, this is my love letter to you.

Mercedes Swan (38:15.482)
If you do nothing, do whatever it is that empowers and inspires you to build a better world. And if it's doing it scared love, then do it scared. Cause I promise you, I was scared the whole time. I'm actually a little bit scared right now. No, I'm not truly scared, but change and growth and new things are really scary. So all of that being said, love, I hope you really enjoyed this podcast. It was great spending some time with you to share a little bit more about why I quit and maybe why you should too and yeah, I will see you for the next episode. Like I said, it's super exciting. All things financial independence. So make sure you subscribe. And of course, if you like this, make sure you like it. Make sure you leave me a comment. I love, love, love to talk to you all. But until next time, I'm wishing you all the career and business love that you deserve and that you enter your black woman bliss era. Okay. Bye.