Speaker #0Welcome back to From Corporate Into Calling. I'm your host Alyssa Murphy and today we're going to talk about something that sits at the very heart of this show and has played a very important role in my life. We're going to talk about what it takes to really build meaningful work on your own terms. So whether you are in a position where you are hating your job Whether you are ready to quit corporate or sitting there terrified of the next slack message that comes in because of all of the layoffs that you're seeing, if you are craving a radical change in your career, not just an incremental step to another role with the same problems, this episode is for you. It's also for you if, on paper, it looks like you have exactly the kind of job that everyone seems to aspire to. Maybe you work in sustainability or impact perhaps for a big corporation with a really impressive name where surely you have the possibility to create so much change. But that's not the day-to-day reality is it? The reality is that the will and resources for sustainability and social impact programs and impact investing has all dried up. Corporations don't even have to pay lip service to climate change or net zero targets anymore. And there you are, this amazing individual with so much passion and potential, stuck in a job that should be everything you want, knowing that it never can be. Whichever of those descriptions applies to you, please know it does not mean that you can't make a deep and meaningful contribution through your work. What it does mean is that you need to think seriously about where you actually have the possibility to do that. Is it inside the existing system or out of it? Is it while you're beholden to corporate priorities or when you are free to pursue purposeful work on your own terms? Really think about that because from where I'm standing there is a wealth of opportunity waiting for you. when you finally step away from corporate. There is a world of difference between trying to do impactful work inside the system, inside corporate structures, inside organizations where your values are diluted by the profit-driven priorities around you, and then stepping outside to create work that is truly aligned with who you are and the kind of life you want to lead. And I want to really invite you into that difference today. not as a concept, not as a pipe dream, but as something real that I've lived and something that I have supported others to build for themselves. Let's really immerse ourselves in what this kind of work feels like. There's a moment that I see in the people I work with and maybe you all have had this experience and recognise it in yourself. There's this kind of quiet, powerful realisation and it often happens when you're sat in front of your laptop at 10pm at night, when you've just missed another bedtime or you're walking out of yet another meeting that made no sense and you think, I can't keep living like this. And it's not because that you lack the skill or talent to do your job, it's not because There's something broken in you and your burns help beyond repair. It's because something in your body knows this is not meant for you. It's not your path. This is not your work. And yet at the same time, the alternative feels foggy. It's unknown. It's a little frightening. You are drawn to the possibility of work on your own terms, but you don't yet know exactly what that looks like. You don't yet have the confidence to start building it and you really need to know that it can work for you. It can be work that supports you and supports your family and supports your life. I've been on a similar journey. You may know that for many, many years I ran my own company. It was a company I founded and I grew that company. I set up European operations, I developed our reputation over many years, I grew the team. And I loved that company. It was in the climate tech space doing communications for climate tech companies, helping them to raise significant amount of investment, to expand their reach into new markets, to grow internationally, to build their sales, all of this kind of thing. And I felt so passionately about the work that we did. I believed in the possibility of climate tech. I loved the people. in the sector, just amazing, passion-driven humans. I loved that I worked for myself. In fact, I've never worked for anyone else. It's the only way I know how to do things. I loved being an entrepreneur. I loved solving problems. I loved having an idea and bringing it to life. I was really proud of the way that we were able to do things differently because we weren't... beholden to shareholders or you know owned as part of an umbrella group or anything like that you know the culture that we were able to build within the company the just fun things that we were able to do because we just had that possibility to say well this feels good to us so we're going to do it doesn't always have to be about efficiency and productivity there was a lot a lot of good in that company i am incredibly proud of what i built alongside my team. I'm very proud of the reputation and the work that the company continues to do. And there came a point, probably about 10 years into this work, where as I got deeper and deeper into the climate tech sector and really became very familiar and intimate with the kind of power levels that were at play, and began to understand more about structurally how the whole system operated, particularly inside the world of investment and venture capital in particular, it became increasingly clear to me that there was a fundamental problem and that we were trying earnestly and from a very genuine and authentic place to you make real change happen, but doing it inside a system that looked very, very much like the system that caused the problem in the first place. Right down to the fact that a lot of the money that was funding climate tech came out of oil and gas. And then kind of went through this big circle where it would come out of oil and gas, go into funds, go into funding climate technology. And then the climate tech founder would exit. and often that company would get bought up by a big corporation, often with oil and gas industries. It's just one example, and I'm not going to go too much into all of that detail, but hopefully it gives you a sense that unless you are really dealing with the systemic power structures, there is a real limit on how much change you can actually make. And for me, I reached a point where I needed to do something different. I needed to explore work through a different, specifically a regenerative lens. And I needed a radical new relationship with my work. Because while I did love it, I also worked incredibly long hours under quite a lot of strain and responsibility. and I was ready for that to shift. I was ready. It was a different season of my life and I wanted to explore a different relationship with work. I was concerned about the sort of systemic piece that I've already discussed and I felt like I had this amazing team around me who were able to take the work forward to kind of take up that mantle and to do it in their own way. But I was ready for a different path and I didn't know exactly what. that path was going to be. In fact, I can really remember how frightening that felt because what I did know is that it wasn't going to be the conventional path that a founder takes when they exit. So I sold my company to my team. That transition took quite a while. I still sit on the board for the company. So it's a really nice, smooth way of transitioning. And it means that the the company is owned by the employers, which I also feel really good about. But I knew I wasn't going to go into, you know, the typical pick up some board roles and, you know, do some consulting. That wasn't it for me. I was ready to really step outside of the system. but I didn't know exactly what was coming next. And so over the course of the next couple of years, as I was transitioning out of my CEO role and overseeing the transition to employee ownership and all of that handover, I began exploring what this path might be. And I simply followed what I felt most passionately about, which at the time, and still very much is, regenerative thinking. And I really immersed myself in that world and I learnt. a lot and joined some amazing programs to to learn more and challenge my ideas and my thinking and to open up to a new world view and at the same time I also trusted what brought me joy and that's actually how I came to coaching and how I did my coach training was through my own development my own exploration and what sparked joy and interest for me and the other really strong factor in that was coming back to my relationship with nature which you know the irony of working in climate change for a very long time is that I spent very little time really in nature I just that wasn't really a luxury that I could do I was you know I was working all the time and commuting and traveling and when I wasn't doing that I was with my kids and I had lost that connection to nature and so allowed myself to come back to that and The pandemic helped because there was nothing else that I could do. So me and my babies would spend hours walking around in the woods and just being outside in nature. And it really brought something, some part of myself back into alignment. I also did a lot of unlearning and detoxing from 13 years of founder and CEO energy. And, you know, I've never been directly in the corporate world but my goodness I was close enough that it had infiltrated into my thinking and my language and the way I built relationships with people. And there was a lot that I needed to untangle and let go of. But importantly, during all of this exploration period, which I sort of had the luxury of really being able to take my time with because I was still transitioning out of my previous role, I didn't just magically expect something to form. out of this exploration. I didn't think that just because it interested me and I felt passionately about it that it could materialise into a viable business. That came from going back to what I was really good at and had long experience and deep skills in and that is turning ideas and visions into viable scalable businesses. That's what I did for my own company and what I did for hundreds of other impact-focused founders and businesses. And then finally, I layered on this market fit piece, which is definitely borrowing some corporate language, but sometimes that's important, because the market fit meant that I had to have the sort of discipline and rigor to think, well, who firstly shares my passions and values, but also urgently needs my skills and the support that I could offer them because it's not just enough that I have passions and skills and then I go right here I am I'm open for business. There needs to be that market fit piece and that is what led me to working with corporate professionals who want to build their own businesses in the meaningful regenerative space. Now today my work feels very different. It's smaller but no less powerful. It's proportionate to the season of my life with young children who need me to be very present. and I show up completely as myself. There's no mask, no pretense, no need to impress or play politics. I wear whatever I want to wear. I'm currently wearing the grown-up equivalent of a romper suit. I hardly ever put makeup on unless I really feel like it. I have time every day to walk in the woods and, you know, make snacks for my kids and I have busy seasons, of course. So I'm coming into one right now as I give up. before the launch of the Meaningful Business Incubator and our first cohort in January. But even then, I'm not yanked right out of family life or forced to put my health second ever. I don't ever have to make that compromise. Work feels balanced and energised, joyful, creative, and very, very meaningful. So let's break down what this can look like for you, how you can bring those component parts together, and exactly what it takes to build meaningful work on your own terms. Let's start with the three core components of a meaningful business and there's actually a really easy framework that we can understand this through which is the why, the how and the what. Start with why. Start with what truly matters to you, what you are passionate about, what you feel absolutely has to change, what you are obsessed with, the thing that you think about all of the time that you want to give all of your energy to. This passion piece, these values, this truth, this is not something that you Layer on at a later date once you've got a functioning business up and running. That is the equivalent of corporate sustainability, right? It's like this nice to have that we will aspire to maybe one day and then just put aside when things get tough. Inside of a meaningful business, your why is your starting point. It is where everything begins. It's what everything else grows out of. So you're not starting with market research, you're not strategy, you know, so you're not starting with market research or strategy or niche, you're starting with what genuinely matters to you. So let me give you some quick examples from clients that I've worked with. So Claire cared very deeply about community and storytelling and felt that the power of narrative needed to be harnessed by grassroots organizations rather than being kind of... handed down from on high by strategists or by sort of corporate powers that be. Eleni had a longing to work with land and was passionate about regenerative agriculture even though that bore no resemblance to the kind of work that she was doing in big tech and she wanted to find a way to do more of that through her work while also honouring her cultural heritage. Anna cared about ecological restoration and had had this kind of wild dream to create a mini version of the Eden project where she lived in Catalonia and just kept putting that dream on the back burner but also couldn't let it go. It kind of filled up her consciousness. These things that I've described they're not business models, they're values, they're desires, they're truths and they are the building blocks for your meaningful business, the things that light you up, the things that you couldn't put down even if you tried. Then you can come on to the how. How do you want work to feel? I think very few people actually ask themselves this question and to me it's actually a really essential part of how you ensure that your work is regenerative because to me my understanding of regenerative is something that actively supports life so that means your life and all of the life around you people communities ecosystems but it has to also work for you and I think when we start from that point of view we almost can't help but create a business that has that same effect and benefit for others so think about what it might be for you do you want work to feel balanced or Calm but energised at the same time. Do you want it to feel creatively exciting? Do you want it to feel steady? Do you want it to feel like it makes you feel alive? Most people I work with, they don't mind hard work. They want to know that that work matters. They want work that brings joy and satisfaction. They want to be present for their families, for their communities. for themselves and look it's also okay to define this how through the negative because that might be what is just most present for you right now you know you don't want to feel overwhelmed you don't want to feel like all of the pressure is on you you don't want the fear that someone can pull the rug from under you you don't want to just end up in a different version of the same constant grind The important thing here is to get to clarity about how you want to work. The important thing here is to get clarity about how you want work to feel because that is the foundation of your boundaries and your business design. And then the third component is the what. And actually here I suggest really focusing on commercial viability because this is the piece that gets forgotten. quite often in regenerative spaces and It's actually really quite heartbreaking to see this happen. I think what happens is that people immerse themselves in regenerative thinking, they courageously step away from extractive systems, they reconnect with meaning and purpose, but they can also forget something crucial which is that fundamentally a business is producing something that people want or need. and will pay you for. And that actually isn't because you are extractive. It's not because you're selling out or because you're compromising on your values. It's because you deserve to be compensated for your expertise. It's because your work has value and that needs to be honoured in a value exchange. It's because work needs to sustain you. It's because your family deserves financial stability and regeneration also requires resilience. Commercial viability is what keeps you resourced, steady and grounded and able to do meaningful work for the long term and really build something that is going to last and serve you and your family for years and years to come. Does this mean returning to extractive norms? Absolutely not. It means respecting yourself and your work enough to build something that is financially real, not fragile. So you Your what will of course come out of your skills and your experience and the uniqueness of what you are able to offer but it must go through the lens of commercial viability. So those are your three components the why the how and the what of your meaningful business but there are more ingredients that go into the mix because if those three things were all you needed Everyone would be able to do this, right? It would just be an exercise that you could do on paper, but it's absolutely not an academic exercise. It is a spiritual awakening. It is a winding path. It is a journey that is going to define you in incredible and challenging ways, because creating a meaningful business is richly rewarding. but it's not straightforward and it requires the courage to step away from what feels safe and secure and predictable you know from the kind of job that you've always thought you were supposed to have that you were maybe you've worked very very hard for for a long time you've done a lot of training for um a system that you've grown up inside of that is kind of part of how you make sense of the world stepping out of that. takes incredible courage and it also requires real personal resilience we've talked about the importance of your business being resilient but you have to be resilient too because you know things will get wobbly at times there will be challenges that come your way and the easiest thing will be to go back to how it was before you know to jump on the job boards and think well I'll I'll go back to what I was doing before. you know that was easier that was safer it takes real resilience to keep going with something like this to face the challenges with energy and enthusiasm and to know that you are putting one step in front of the other towards you know towards some a journey I was going to say towards a finish line but it isn't it isn't a finish line it's an ongoing journey that just gets richer and rewarder. the further you go and the longer that you keep at it. And it takes a kind of ingenuity. It takes the kind of entrepreneurial muscle of trying and testing and adapting and solving problems and spotting opportunities and all those things that I could talk about for hours because this is the part that really lights me up. And you might not feel that you have those muscles right now, but it's... just like going to the gym I promise you I say this as someone who has recently started on my crossfit journey and you know if if the gym were like entrepreneur school my experience of going to the gym would be maybe what exactly what you feel if you've never worked for yourself I don't know if I'm making this clear but you know day one going to the gym I was just terrified I felt like I didn't belong there I was pretty sure I was going to pass out I didn't think I would be able to do it. You know fast forward a couple of months and I am lifting weights that I look at and go well there's just absolutely no way I can lift that and yet I do and I feel strong and energized and I feel great and that is exactly what can happen when you start practicing working with your entrepreneurial muscles. At first you know it's going to feel awkward, you're going to feel out of place, you're going to question whether you can do it but you can and when you have the right kind of trainer and coach guiding you along the way. you're going to find that those muscles build so much more quickly than you ever imagined they could do. Another ingredient is, of course, self-belief or self-confidence. And this is something that is, you know, it's really hard. You can't, you know, you can't just reach out and grab it. It's often our relationship with confidence or self-belief is something that's ingrained from really early days and maybe a pattern we've had throughout a whole life. But again, this is also a muscle. This is something that you can build over time. and As that muscle develops and as your confidence starts to grow, there are also things that you can do for yourself right now to bolster that confidence. You can surround yourself with people who believe in you, even when you're not too sure. You know, you can surround yourself with people who are choosing a different path and those kind of relationships and that exposure to people who are doing things differently makes all the difference. And then the final ingredient that I want to talk about because it is important to me. to be really honest with you about what this takes. I think this is an incredibly exciting journey. I believe it's rewarding. I believe it will give you so many of the things that you long for, but it will take time. This is not something where you just go through the checklist, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, put all the components in place, and boom, you have that meaningful. resilient business that you've longed for. There are a lot of things that you can do to increase your chances of success but the reality is it takes time and you have to be willing to invest in this future that you're creating for yourself and to be patient and to allow it to evolve. There's one more thing that I want to talk about because If I could go back and start my entrepreneurial journey again, there aren't many things, to be honest, that I would change. I mean, if I did it again, it would all happen probably a lot more quickly than it did. But, you know, I'm proud of my journey and I learned so much from that experience. It made me into the person that I am today. That's why I feel so passionately about helping people on their own entrepreneurial journeys. But there is something that I would prioritise. right from the beginning, which I overlooked for many years, and that is community. Because pursuing a regenerative path can be lonely. Pursuing an entrepreneurial path can be lonely. Not everyone is going to understand why you're doing this. You may have already noticed this in conversations that you're having with friends and family, even the ones who love you the most. You know, they want to keep you safe and For them, that might mean encouraging you back to what they see as the stability of a conventional job. You know, they may not want you to take risks. It might feel scary to them on your behalf. And even the people who really support you, unless they're on that journey themselves, they can't know exactly what it feels like when you have to take big decisions. They can't know what it feels like when Growing your business also involves putting yourself out there and showing up and being visible. That's something that you are doing, but you don't have to do it alone. Community is so important. You need people who get it, people who won't question your desire for meaning, people who will celebrate every little win, people who hold space for the wobbles that you have, people with whom you don't have to prove anything. You can just be exactly... where you are and just be honest and upfront about that and people most of all who believe in you and in the work that you're creating. Relationship really is central to regeneration and community is what keeps you steady and moving forward. So what does it really take to build meaningful work on your own terms? It takes clarity about what matters most to you. It takes intention about how you want work to feel. It takes commercial viability and really knowing that there is a market for what you're going to do. It takes courage, resilience and self-belief and it takes a community that walks alongside you. And this is exactly why I created the Meaningful Business Incubator. It's a six-month, deeply personalised programme to design, test and launch your regenerative business. If today's episode resonated and if you are ready to move from intention to action, then go and take a look at the link in the show notes where you can find the full programme overview and book a call with me so we can discuss whether joining the January cohort of the incubator is the next right step for you. You're also warmly invited to follow the Meaningful Business Incubator page on LinkedIn. So if you're just kind of taking a look and considering options right now, then come over and follow that page on LinkedIn and you'll see lots of updates and insights and conversations from people who are building meaningful work of their own. Thank you for being here. Thank you for caring deeply about work that brings life back to you and to the world around you. Next week, I'm going to be talking about why I think that now is the perfect time to build your own meaningful business. Until then, take a breath, take a walk, be in nature, find the time to listen to what's calling you. And I'll see you in the next episode. Welcome to the Regenerative Work Life podcast. If you are ready to make the leap out of your corporate job and into purposeful regenerative work, this is the show for you. This journey you are embarking on means taking risks, going against the grain, overcoming challenges and writing your own script. It takes entrepreneurial muscle, powerful vision and a willingness to change. Here we go.
