142. Transition Your Career to a Lifestyle that Makes You Happy with Juliana Rabbi

What would you do if you could not fail? And this question stopped coming to me very often. And I was like, wow, how do I answer this question? The reality. And the answer was always like, traveling more. And I knew that if I didn't travel more and I died, I would regret read that. This is the main thing I would regret. I was like, okay, stop thinking about what you would do and take actions to create the lifestyle you want to have. So this question, what would you do if you could not fail followed me into a point.

I was like, I'm tired of thinking about it. I'm tired of answering this question. I wouldn't leave it.

Welcome, everybody. I am super excited to have Juliana Rabbi here today to talk to us about career transitions to lifestyle that makes you happy. How she went from an employee to a business owner to create a more free lifestyle, travel more and share a little bit about what she's been doing with that. So, first of all, welcome. Thank you for coming out to speak with us today, Juliana.

Thank you. I'm very excited to be here.

Awesome. So Juliana has 15 years of experience working as a recruiter in multinational companies. She's interviewed thousands of candidates and has been working remotely for over seven years. And she enjoys helping people to be happier with their career and lifestyle. So this is right up our alley for what we're talking about, what we talked about in the pre interview that I would love it if you'd start with, if you don't mind, Juliana is just a little bit about your story, your story of transition and wanting a little more financial stability.

What was that like for you? And how did you get on this path?

Yeah. So I think that there are some major changes in my life. So I was born in Brazil, and when I was 25 or 26, I moved to Spain. So there was a big change already in my life, and it kind of opened up my mind to travel more, to get to know new people, different lifestyles and all of that. So that was a bit like, well, there is more out there than I was used to have. That was the first thing. And then I really got into travel.

I found out that I really love traveling and that's one of my main passions. So I was trying to travel more and more. But still, I was working. So I had a full time job as a recruiter for different companies in Spain, and I had to squeeze my traveling into the weekends or holidays, all of that, which was okay until a certain point. But at some point, I was like, you know what I want more of that, more of my passion, more of the things that I really like.

So I was working as a recruiter, and I started working remotely. Actually, 2014, there was some internal change in my company. So the funny part is that I didn't choose to go remote at the first point. It just happened to me. I was like, okay, what am I going to do now? How do I organize my lifestyle, my routine. But it was easy for me, getting adapted to it, getting used to it. And I started logging it. So I started bringing some more traveling to my life.

But at some point it was like, I still want more. I want to travel more. And the fact that it was a remote contract, but I still had to be in Spain. I still had to ask for permission to do longer, triples and all of that. So I decided, you know what the next step for me? The next thing that made sense in my life in my career was to work on my own, to have my own business, because then I would have complete freedom to be location independent and still make money, none of them.

But for me, the financial stability was one of the things. So there was different pillars important in the process. But I didn't want to just quit my job. And then I'm going to figure out what I'm going to do. I know that works for some people. They're like, yeah, whatever. I'm going to find a way, but not for me. So for me, the financial part was an important aspect. So for two years, I was still with my full time job, working 4 hours per week and parallel to it, I was creating my own business.

So I was working like, crazy, like, 1112 hours. Well, just by saying that I'm still like, wow, I need to breathe because it was very intense at that time. But I knew what I wanted and this kind of transition. Although it was hard at the moment for me, it was the only way to go because I needed to create a financial stability and test out the market. Also, because at the very beginning, I was like, what am I going to do working on my own? So there was this thing about also testing the market and the services that I was offering get some feedback, improving my service.

So this transition works perfect for me. There was a lot of work involved. But doing two years, I combined my full time job creating my business. I was also collaborating with two companies as a freelancer, doing pretty much the same thing, preparing candidates for job interviews and doing resumes and LinkedIn profile all of that. So I went from working in a company, working as a freelancer, creating my own business. And then two years later, I quit my job and I start traveling full time and working on my own.

And that was 2019. So that was my transition to a more free lifestyle that I love by doing.

That is awesome. Thank you. There's so much in that. What you just said there first thing is that it's something that you had to have. And there's something I've heard I think Wayne Dyer had mentioned, and it's a quote by Abraham Maslow that he said, people who are looking to self actualize, they have to be what they can be. They have to do what they can do. And yet there's a flip side of that where some people think. And at one time I did that. That means, okay, I'm going to do exactly the job.

I want exactly what I like to do, exactly how I want to do it. And it's going to pay me millions. And it's going to be very easy. It's just going to flow kind of like the myth that marriage is easy, let's say or raising kids is just easy. There's no work to it just because there can be joy in it. And what I like what you did is you move towards it. Gosh. There's so many things here. So many people also have a high degree of expectation that it's going to happen very quickly and they actually get on themselves.

They get down on themselves if things don't happen very quickly. So they think, okay, I'm doing this wrong. And I think that's why a lot of people stop. They think it's supposed to happen right away. And I'm blessed to have had a father or have a father who was an entrepreneur. And he always taught me, wait, anything that's good as a business is going to take at least three to five years to get going. And that's about what you did. You started it while you were working.

You're willing to put in the time. So it's not just this. Oh, well, I want this from the universe, and I'm just going to sit here and wait for it to happen. You made it happen. Tell me if you don't mind sharing because you mentioned that was a five year transition. A lot of people aren't willing to do that. But then when you come out the other side and I know this is an entrepreneur, you feel so much better. What would you say to the person who's saying I'm not sure if I can do it your way seems to be actually a safer path, a more intelligent path, a wiser path that's more likely to succeed.

What would you say to that person? Who knows they want to do it, but they're afraid of starting.

Yeah. And being afraid to start is normal. I mean, it's a major change in your life. So there's nothing wrong with feeling afraid. And I think it's a good feeling because it makes you think and create a strategy. Don't go just like crazy and give up on everything that you have. It's not about it. Some people do like that. But again, for me, it's about planning and creating it and testing that. So it's okay to feel afraid. That's the first thing. Let's make our piece of that.

Second, I think it's creating a strategy. It's having a plan because try so many different things, your energy and your time will go into different directions, and you're going to lose focus. Define what you want. In my case, it was like, okay, I have 15 years experience as a recruiter. I'm a psychologist. I have an HR master and blah blah. So I know how to do it from the company's point of view. So I'm going to change side, how I like to think about it. I change side and how I help candidates to land the job faster.

And because I was working remotely for seven years already, I want to help people to land a remote job. So I bring my life experience, my work experience all together. I'm going to help people. So this was the plan. This was the strategy. And I also have to say that at that time, I hired a coach to help me in the process because it was overwhelming in my mind. I knew what I wanted, but I didn't know how to do it. And I was like, you know what?

I don't need to do this alone. This is too hard for me. I'm busy. So I had a coach who helped me, like, a lot in the process. So having a strategy asking for help if you consider that is necessary. And also, don't be afraid of starting small, because when I started my business, I knew it was not going to be the business. I knew it was not everything, that it was not my perfect life. And I'm not in my perfect life yet. So I'm evolving.

I'm changing. And so many things change already in this process. I was like, which is the first step that I can do to make this new life true. So I didn't want to go crazy and invest a lot of money and test brand new ideas. I was like, what do I know how to do? Which is my background, what people come for me for. I have a reputation around it. I could have started something brand new, and some people do it. But I was like, the easiest way for me was like, what I know how to do.

I'm going to ask for help, and I'm going to test it. So it was like a small step. It was a big step. But it was like, I didn't change everything. And it started brand new. So I put all the knowledge I had into that step. So that's creating a strategy, asking for help if you want, and you don't need to shift completely what you do, like, ignore your background and start a brand new career just because some people work remotely and they have that career.

No, you can start with what you want, with what you have in your backpack or your knowledge, your skills, your background, your stories, your connections, your network. Start of that build up like, the next step and things will change naturally. It's wrong to think that we can plan everything and they are going to happen, just like we plan. Just go for the next step, and then things will unfold as you can, because otherwise we keep paralyzed and waiting for the perfect moment, which will never happen.

Awesome. Gosh there's so much that too. One of the things I love is when you talk to somebody who's done something and has done it over a period of time. There are so many lessons that I'm sure you could write a book about that you're not mentioning, but you're giving the highlights. And in my case, when I started as an entrepreneur, I left my organization great company, and I actually had plans to do a slightly different type of work. I invested a bunch of money and without going too much in detail, the plan just fell flat on his face within three to four months.

And it was very clear.

Wow.

I went back to consulting to the people who I had worked with before. Just like you did. Someone was recruiting, sales, coaching, basic stuff. And it wasn't all my soul work, my work. I always wanted to do. But I thought to myself, if I can have the freedom. So for me, it wasn't even three day weekend or four day work week. At first, it was just freedom, like you said, to be able to make my own decisions. Okay. I'll invest some time the same way I might invest some time to get a promotion or raise or to make more money.

I'm going to make that investment to get my own business. But like you said, I didn't start out of nowhere. I had a reputation. I had all these contacts, people I had worked with, and so it was actually not very difficult to start. And in that business model, I've still made the majority. Over the last 20 years, I've hardly done any paid advertising because it was a network. I networked with people. And so there's so much of that. And again, it was responsible. It's safe. My wife and I have about to be a 15 year old and a twelve year old.

We got to move back and forth to Peru where she's from and still live a life, have her be able to be a stay at home mom. And in all of that, I haven't always done the exact work I want to do. Like you say, I'm still very much a work in progress. But also, I'm very grateful I've been able to also be location independent at that time. That phrase wasn't out. So I used the word told my wife I wanted to be a geographical because I just want to live wherever I wanted to live and being able to start that and gradually ease into it.

It made it almost shift from impossible to inevitable. It's like, okay, well, I'm going to do this. I'm not concerned with exactly when I get there, but I'm going to do it no different than the whole idea of when somebody says, I'd like to get a degree, a master's degree or a doctorate degree or a College degree or whatever it is and they say, but it's going to take four years and you say, Well, how old will you be in four years? You'll be the same age, whether you do it or whether you don't do it.

The only question is whether you have a degree. So I think there's so much wisdom to what you do. And finally, the myth that entrepreneurs are all dangerous and they're taking these risky jumps. And to your point, a lot of that's just irresponsible. If you're at an age where you are living with your parents and you don't have a lot of expenses and you can afford to take those jumps. Awesome. Go for it. If you're in a situation where your responsibilities, it might be that it takes a longer path.

And if you're also looking to enjoy your family, it might even take a slightly longer path. But in my case, it took me 22 years after starting in the workforce and 15 years after starting as an entrepreneur to get to the three day weekend lifestyle I have in a four day work week, and it's still worth it. And I'm still here. So I would do it again if I had to do it. Some of the mechanics. I'd be curious again, going back to how you stabilize things.

How did you stabilize your income? And how did you mention something to me in the pre interview that you knew your first attempt didn't have to be your final version? Because I think that mindset is so huge. I think that might be one of the main reasons. Again, expectation why you've done so well, would you share a little bit about that?

Yeah. So I like to take the design thinking approach. So basically, instead of knowing everything from the beginning, having a completely clear vision of that, I start even if I have doubts, even if I don't have everything clear. So I start testing prototyping ideas. I see how I feel in the process. I see if I like it. I learn in the process and I can always come back and take a different path and all of that. So that removed a lot of pressure from my shoulder. So I was like, you know what?

I'm going to start and the start took me two years. But it was like I'm going to do it even if it's not perfect, even if I don't know if I'm going to really enjoy the situation, all of that. So I took this approach and I'm going to give it a try. And on the financial side, I was very clear to myself about, okay, this is the amount of money I have. This is the amount of money. We need to invest in this dream at the beginning, it was a dream for me, like I have my own business and travel the world and work at the same time.

So when it was still a dream, I was like, this is the amount of money I'm willing to touch. If I'm not making enough money to leave, I'm going to touch until this amount of money. So it was clear for me I didn't go into any debit. So out of my savings, I chose a certain amount. This is the maximum I'm willing to put if I'm not making any money. So I was covering the worst case scenario because I have my own expenses and I believe with my parents and all of that.

So I had to pay my bills and my lifestyle. But also, I didn't want to go in, let's say, cheaper lifestyle. I know some people are okay with that, but I didn't want to live in hostels and sharing apartment or cooking at home. And I wanted to live a nice lifestyle. So it was like, okay, I'm not going lower. I want to keep at least the same lifestyle I have. And I'm willing to touch this amount of money. And another thing I did in the two years that I was transitioning from having a full time job, working as a freelancer and creating my own business was like I was checking how much money I was making per month.

And when I got into a certain amount that I can live with that money without touching those savings that I said before then that's when I quit my job. So there were different stages on the process. But so far, I didn't touch the savings, but I'm okay if I have two because it's like it's planned. So it kind of freed my mind from what if everything goes wrong? Well, I have a plan B, a solid plan B, and then I can create a plan C heavy options.

I think it's important. Think about the finances. It's also important to do it. And this approach is I don't need to know everything at the very beginning because I think we never know. And when we started joining, I changed my business so much in those two, three years already, and I know I'm going to keep changing. So it's okay to do that. And yet it's a learning process, but we need to start because otherwise it's all here and we never make the change.

Yeah, I like that approach of making it safer by doing the groundwork in anything. If you practice at something for years and years, it's not going to be surprised if you're good at whether it's a sport or a musical instrument or whatever it might be. And I think a lot of people I look at my situation. I actually had overblown confidence because my father is an entrepreneur. I came from that company in that company had I stayed there. There was a very secure, laid out path of how I would do very well.

And I just assumed, Well, I'm the same guy. If I go over here in this other opportunity, it's going to be the same. And it definitely wasn't the same guy different situation. And so I know in sports, they sometimes call it unjustified confidence, like I had unjustified confidence. I was overconfident. And so it caused me to be a little overly optimistic. I think as entrepreneurs, we do this. Sometimes I'll invest in this one course and I can buy my way. In other words, if I invest enough in this course, it's going to make $100 course.

That probably won't work. But if I get $1,000 course, no, I'm going to get a $10,000 course. I got a $10,000 course. Then it's going to work out. It's like, no, the course isn't going to do it for you. It's the work that you have to do. And yet I think there's so much wisdom to what you're saying. And I love that you decided you weren't going to compromise your lifestyle. Not that a person should or shouldn't, but so many people say, Well, I will compromise, or I'm willing to give up this.

But what you're willing to do is be patient. So you're willing to give in that area. It wasn't like you said, Well, I'm going to be exactly my way. Otherwise, I'm taking my ball and I'm going home. He said, it's going to be this, but I'm willing to be open. And I think that's something that a lot of people don't take action on, because, again, the jump feels so big. Why do you think that most people give up? Is it that they make it to be too big, of a monster, that they make it to be all or nothing?

What are the main reasons why people either never start this or fail at this attempt?

It can be because they make it out of a monster like they imagine it's going to be impossible, too hard to get there, or they compare themselves with others that are making tons of money. And there are years ahead. But they don't see the process. It's like, don't compare your stage, the backstage or something like that. Right. So they have some reference, but they don't understand everything that was behind the pros. Normally, people see the final results and they don't see the process. In my case, those two years that I was working 1112 hours per day, Monday to Monday, people didn't see that because literally, I was at home working.

So it was not something I was showing because I was busy doing the work. So when people say, oh, you're so lucky now you can travel the world and work. I hate this word lucky because it's like, no, look at what I was doing. Two years, I got three years behind preparing it. And look what I do now. Every day to keep up with my business and all of that. So people tend to see the final results and don't understand everything that is behind that. This is one reason.

Another reason is don't have a plan, just have the idea, but don't make it concrete. Don't materialize that interaction. Okay. Which is the first step I need to take, which is the second step, the third step. So they remain dreaming, sitting on the couch and imagining a different lifestyle that will never happen because they're not putting the time in the airport. And also, it's like sometimes we let other people make the decision for us instead of really connecting with what is important for me. What do I care about?

What am I willing to pay the price to have? And how do I get there? Because when I did this transition, I remember a lot of people were telling me, wow, Julienne, your life is perfect. I was living in Barcelona at the time, and the space, it was like, you live in Barcelona, live in a great apartment. Your neighborhood is amazing. You already work remotely. You travel a lot. Your life is perfect, right? And inside was like, do you want it for you? I'm giving away my life because I'm not happy with that.

But from the outside, people are always saying, wow, you have a perfect life. And I could have said for that if I was just listening to others and their feedback, because it was not a bad life. It was a good life. But I knew that I could have more. And for me, it was important. So stop listening to others and look inside and decide what you care about what is important for you. And then that will hopefully motivate you to take action, to create an action plan, to stop comparing orders that are years ahead and focus on your own process.

Yeah. I think there's almost the two extremes there's the people who have no plan. And then I've done this at certain times. I've actually done both of these. The other extreme is to think that you have to know, like a psychic all 20 steps of what's coming. Instead of saying here's the next two or three steps. Here's the next 90 days. I'm 49. Other than a couple of vision exercises, I usually don't plan my life more than about 90 days in advance. And some people might say that's irresponsible.

Maybe it doesn't. Again, I know the foundations. I'm willing to work. I'm willing to do what I need to do to pay the bills, that sort of stuff. But what I've also found is there are so many limitations. And I've studied so many authors. I have a master's degree in psychology. I've spent over 100,000 on coaching this, and that. So I'm one of those people. One of those people I said, Wait, did you study? Were you open minded? Yes. I've been sometimes stupidly open minded, as my wife would say, as far as money and expenses.

But at the same time, there are things that, in my experience, when you go on a journey and you're willing to open up that in a month from now, there's five other options that you hadn't even considered. And I don't mean crazy stuff. So people say, like, no, I'm not joining the circus. And there's nothing wrong. Join the circus. I have no desire to join the circus. So that's not going to probably happen for me if I'm the circus a month from now, you can laugh at me, but I don't see myself in the circus, but it's still something of possibilities.

And usually it's either something that flows better or it's bigger, or it's more true to what you're about. Or it helps more people. And it's something that almost can't be. There's not a formula to it. So on one hand, I think it's great when people will work a process like they'll say, Wade, you know what? If you want to get good at something. And my father taught me this study what the best people do, and there's brilliance to that. Hey, if you want to be a great soccer player, study what Pele or Marona or Messi did or whatever it is.

But then there's also certain parts where it can become too scripted. Like, I see people when they're doing product launches or business launches or book launches. There's wisdom and you want to say, Well, hey, these things generally work great. But then there's a part where some of them are so rigidly following as if it's a recipe or a formula that's like trying to write a hit song or trying to make a viral video. So you want to be informed enough. Okay, this is kind of what it looks like.

So you want to obey best practice. This is not saying you have no framework, but at the same time, if you get so caught in that that's where the magic gets lost, because all you're doing, then is repeating what somebody else did. And almost by definition, it's not going to be magic. Now, if you say, Wait, I don't need magic. I just need predictable income. Great. Then that's a system. That's what systems are for. There's nothing wrong with that. But when you're trying to connect with what's important to you, I think that can be difficult.

One of the things you mentioned was you wanted you to be proud of your life. Why was that such a big drive? And what's that feel like? Actually, where are you on that continuum as far as where you are?

That always started when I got clarity about my values, which are my core values, which are the things I really deeply care about. And then purple is one of my values has always been. I didn't have a name for it, but at some point, oh, that's it purple. So for me, it's important to feel that what I do, make a difference, make an impact on other people. And when people were telling me you have a perfect life, but I was not feeling it. It didn't make any sense for me because it was not an external validation.

I have to say, my life is good, that I like, that I enjoy so everybody else can be telling me the opposite. But if I knew I'm on the path that makes sense to me, then that's when I'm happy. So this is what I call purple. And the change I did towards being a digital, Nomad location, independent work on my own business was very aligned to it because I was like, I'm sacrificing a big part of my life because I want to be a good professional, but I still want to be a good professional, but I don't want to put aside the lifestyle I want to have and the thing about traveling and getting to know new people and all that.

So I was like, how can I do both things? Still take care of my work aspect of life, the pillar because it's important to me, but respecting my values, I have other values. But the purpose was one of the main ones that drove me towards this change. It's still in process in progress, the purple thing, so I don't feel like I'm done yet. Probably if I'm done yet, I'm going to go for new values because I still tune in the work. I do, the kind of services I offer, the way I serve my clients, the kind of message I put out there on social media, for example.

So I always try to take one step back and say, Is this really aligned with my purpose? Am I happy doing that? Do I see any deep meaning on it? Am I helping people make an impact? I want to make so steering programs, but it's all aligned with understanding my core values and making them more present in my life.

Awesome. One of the things that I think you seem to have down pretty well is this balance of being content with where you are and yet still wanting to grow. I know a lot of people struggle with that, and I think definitely part of it is what you mentioned about the over comparison. And I know comparison is just something we do naturally as human beings. We say, okay, well, you did it that way. How did you Bake your cake? How did you whatever it is. And so again, it can be helpful in the sense of giving you guidance.

That's how we learn language. There's so many things that we learn from modeling, so it's certainly not a bad thing, but there's a part where it can lead to just this constant state of discontent because you're looking at 20 other people and you want to be like all of them. And by definition, one of them is, I don't know. Let's say one of them is a minimalist, and one of them has a huge yacht and like, okay, how do I be a minimalist with yacht? So some of the things are just really contradictory.

How have you been able to be content with where you are and yet still have the drive to keep improving? And what's that balance like.

Sometimes the balance doesn't work out for me. Okay. So this is something I need to be alert. So I'm not perfect in this process. And sometimes I catch myself comparing with other people that are living fully the lifestyle I want to live. They manage better, their working hours or they make a bigger impact. So this is something I constantly work on it. Sometimes I do better. Sometimes I'm like, okay, this is too much focus on yourself again. But the main strategy of what I have behind when I try to do that is compare myself with my previous self.

So, like when I started this journey three years ago, which were the dreams that I had where Jas Takhar in that moment and then see where I am at this moment and acknowledge the journey that I have done and celebrate that. So this is one thing. Always look back to myself to my life and see, okay, this is everything that you have walked. And also another thing is to celebrate the small victories. So at some point, I was just celebrating big things in my life. But now it's like, okay, one new client, I'm going to celebrate.

It's a new country that I visit. I'm going to celebrate. I bought this thing that I want. I'm going to celebrate because we also train our brain to enjoy those little things. So it's not in ten years time when I get there, it's like the journey and the steps. So the celebrating small steps, small achievements has helped me to also value more what I have to do. Sometimes we take for granted that. Yeah. Whatever. So until I have this thing, I'm not happy. No, I'm happy because I have this.

And that. So also journaling. I do a lot of that, like gratitude Journal and write down everything that I care about, everything that put a smile on my face. And it can be like it was a sunny day. I went out for lunch or it can be like a major thing. But I acknowledge the small things. So writing helps me a lot to do. That awesome.

Thank you. What's been the most important element to help you in this process? What would you not have been able to do this if you didn't have by this process.

You mean my career transition, my life transition and all of that. What has been more important? I think the main drive I had, the whole process was like I knew I wanted it. I was clear that it doesn't matter if it's going to be hard. It doesn't matter if it won't work out. I have to do it. So he always started now, looking back, trying to connect the dots. I remember doing different kinds of workshops and self knowledge activities, and all of that. A lot of people are asking, like, what would you do if you could not fail?

And this question is not coming to me very often. And I was like, wow, how do I answer this question in the real way? And the answer was always like, traveling more. And I knew that if I didn't travel more and I died, I would regret that this is the main thing I would regret. So I was like, okay, stop thinking about what you would do and take actions to create the lifestyle you want to have. So this question, what would you do if you could not fail followed me into a point.

I was like, I'm tired of thinking about it. I'm tired of answering this question. I wouldn't leave it. There was a thing so that's when I started, like, okay, it's time to take actions and shift everything. So I think the main motivation was like, I want to live the life that I was dreaming about. I want to build it up. That's what I'm doing until now. But at least I can say I'm on the way. I'm walking towards the life I want to have. And it's much better now.

Definitely much better now than before. I feel the alignment with the things I was talking about, say from here, but they're not connecting here with my heart. So now it's like, okay, I'm going towards the direction I want to go towards the direction that makes sense to me.

That's awesome. So one of the other things that I think is so interesting and I can't fully relate to because I have a father who's an entrepreneur, and I had that background. You mentioned me, you had no idea about business. Nobody in your family is an entrepreneur. Did you look to other people? You mentioned you did courses. You did. How did you know that you learned enough that you could take action? What was that process like, I didn't know.

And I still don't know. This is a learning process for me because this is completely new from my background. Both of my parents are doctors, and they had, like, a stable job. They work at the same place for their whole life. Most of my friends at that time before I made this step, they were also, like, traditional career paths, land a job, work for a company, get the career progression, the corporate area. And I keep saying, it is still very new to me. So that I was three years of my life that I have been as an entrepreneur and digital normal.

So this is brand new in my life. It is exciting. It is scary. Still. So I don't have the magic formula. I'm still testing out things. There's plenty that I can improve, but it makes sense to me again. I go back to what is the lifestyle that I want to have. So what am I willing to give it a try to test, to sacrifice, to have that? And the choice I made was having my own business, which is definitely not the only choice I could work for a company fully remotely, for example, with a flexible working hours, I could do that.

I don't know. There are other options out there, but this was the one that I decided to give it a try, fully living. It improved, taking courses with other mentors and talking to people and putting myself in situations that I'm surrounded by people that have this lifestyle. This is something also extremely important because before my friends had a different mindset, they didn't understand. Like, Why are you going to quit a stable job, a stable life to do that. So I could not talk to them about it because their perspective was limited.

They didn't have any background and knowledge on it. So at some point I was like, I need to talk to other people because the kind of conversation I want to have, the kind of things that are interesting to me. I cannot talk about it with my previous friends. I had also to shift, not ignoring my old friends. But I need to add new people around me and they say you are the average of the five people you surround yourself with. So I was like, okay, which kind of books I'm going to be, which kind of events I'm going to attend?

Where am I going to invest my money to be surrounded, like to pay for proximity with those people who kind of friends. I want to hang out. So it was a big shift also, how I use my time, the people I spend time with and I share my idea. So I'm still in process. I'm not done yet. There's a big learning for me, the entrepreneur side.

Yeah, I think you're so right about that. As far as not letting go of the people who you're close to just because you're learning something new. So I have a group of friends that I play beach volleyball with, and that's our common element. Some of my friends are entrepreneurs. Some of them are employees, some of them are unemployed, but that's not our area of meeting there. We meet over that topic, and so we love that we enjoy that. And we'll still have conversations. But I wouldn't go to all of them for my entrepreneurial ideas.

It doesn't mean they're bad, just that's not their area, and certainly some of them. If I talk about that, they might be very fearful or whatnot, so I wouldn't want that and vice versa if I talk to some of my entrepreneur friends about playing volleyball, they're horrible at volleyball. I wouldn't want to play volleyball with them. Sorry, love them. I don't want to play volleyball. With them. So I think that's something that people forget that you can have multiple groups. And in fact, in my experience, it's always been better to have multiple groups of friends.

I know I did that at least since high school or College, because when one group kind of got too serious or when they'd be like, really serious things like, we're mad about this, and Johnny did this or Suzie did this. Oh, I got to go over there because I just didn't want to be in the middle of those conversations. But also, I think no one group is going to meet all the needs for you. And I'm very familiar with the five people you spend your time with.

And I believe that things might be shifting. Maybe it's because of technology. Maybe it's because of how much we can connect with people. I almost think it's like groups of people because I don't think it's just five. In my case, I have a lot of people who are friends who are entrepreneurs, and I get a lot from them, but it's not any one in particular, but it's almost like a group of people, but definitely a situation where that group of people, I have to surround myself with them when I'm trying to do something big, even something as simple as starting a podcast.

I bought two courses from really good teachers, and I didn't start the podcast. My Podfest. It took me seven years, and then finally, a friend that I met at an event helped me. And what she did is she had a course on doing a Podfest, but she had a Zoom call every week for six weeks, and I just needed that. And here's the thing that some people say, wait, are you slow or this or that? No, I've got a master's degree. I've got insurance designations. I'm a 20 year entrepreneur, but in that area, yes, I'm slow.

I think that's what gets people because I thought there must be something wrong with me. I do well at standardized tests, but I was a social moron growing up, so everybody's got their thing. But I needed that network that supportive people. But without that, whether it's the five people or the people around me, I wouldn't have been able to do that. And like you said, you sort of just kind of get to the point where you realize everybody else is thinking this way and you start adopting that thinking.

And that can be positive and not so positive depending on what the group is into, but certainly surrounding yourself with people who are legitimately doing it doesn't always mean somebody who's selling the course because sometimes they don't know what they're doing or they're just doing it, or they're teaching you a short part. Or there's a lot of people who sell courses who actually don't realize what their journey was, so they might have been. Okay, put it this way. In your journey, somebody might say, oh, so I can do what Juliana did in five years.

I can do this. No. Hold on. Juliana had a career before that that she brought forward with her. She didn't start at square zero. She already started, like you said, comparing our stage, our step five with somebody else's step one, or, however, that's where did I forget or their page one with your page 30 or vice versa. But in essence, you already had something that was something as a foundation you built upon. And I think when people start taking a look at what are the assets and the things they have, it's not so difficult.

One of the things I try to help people realize is, like you said, you might be able to right now, especially there's never been an easier time that I can think of in history, that I've been alive, that you can work remotely than right now. And so to say, if I can help you, Mr. And Mrs. Employer get such and such results, do you care where I'm located now? Of course, some jobs don't lend themselves to that, because if you're an in person salesperson at a car dealership, well, you need to be there in person.

That's the nature of that job. But there's other people, even in that same company that have other jobs that they'd say. Well, we don't care. And in fact, more and more companies don't even want the expenses. They don't want the overhead to pay for it. It's a great go work from wherever you're at. And as long as you can do the things you need to do, it's no different than having parents. When you do your chores, you can clean your room. When you eat your food, vegetables, you can eat your ice cream.

I think maybe this is we need to make it simple for people. It's not that difficult. When you do what you need to do, then you can do what you want to do. And it's some balance of the two. So last question I have for you. How do you keep the process? Joyful? Because the whole time I'm talking to you what I'm noticing, and some people might be listening to it, but they probably can't even hear it. If you're listening to the podcast, you might hear it through it.

If you're watching the video, you can see this Giuliana is smiling about just about everything she's talking about. So I'm imagining somewhere in there, there's gratitude, there's appreciation. What do you do to keep yourself in that sort of a mindset? And how important is that to your success and what you've created so far, it's extremely important.

I discovered that or I confirm that I have heard about it. But now I did it like when you have your own business, your business will only grow as much as you grow as a person, as a human being. So it's extremely important to be happy with my life to be healthy. So I pay attention to the things I eat, doing exercise. I do yoga almost every day. So I knew those things were important. But now that I have my own business and I travel all the time, so that requires a lot of energy and a lot of decisions all the time.

I need to make decisions more than if I were in my home and in the city that I live with, the people that I know from high school and all of that. So it's a lifetime that's traveling all the time in a digital moment that requires energy and decisions. So I need to take care of myself. It's a choice. And I think it's the only choice that works because it's not only about business, it's about the lifestyle, and it's about enjoying. As you said. So I constantly ask myself, Am I happy here?

Am I really enjoying it? Because it happens that I go to a place, I travel to a city that everybody loves and everybody's like, oh, my goodness, this is the perfect place to be. And then I'm dead. And for some reason I'm not happy. Like, Why am I not happy here? So I wish I were because everybody says that the place is amazing and all of that. But then I'm not happy. So I need to be connected to myself and ask this question, do I want to stay longer here?

Because I can't choose? That's the thing. That's the beauty of the lifestyle that I chose. If I'm not happy in a place where I'm going to give it more of time. But it's like, I need to be true to myself. So if I'm not happy in a place, I can and I will move if I'm offering a service that is not winning me joy, or I'm doing it just like a robot mechanic thing, and it's like, oh, my goodness, I have a new client and not like, yeah, I have a new client.

Then it's time to review it. Or if the kind of people I'm surrounding myself with, it's only like putting me down for some reason because I'm comparing to them or because they don't value what I do or they're not open to connect in a deeper way. I need to review my friendship. So it's a constant exercise of going back to the initial goal that I have, like, a lifestyle that I enjoy more freedom, having a bigger impact on people. So going back to the initial goal, the initial motivation and check on the way.

Is this working for me? Is this the place I want to be now? Is this the kind of impact I want to make into my plans? How am I using my time? Am I working too much, or should I put more time on work? Am I paying attention to my food? So there is no recipe? Actually, it's just like being aware of why am I on this connect with my wife again? Why did they start? Why did they change everything my life to be here and constant check like, am I happy?

Am I really enjoying it or why I'm crying? Because there is crying on the way that I've sad moments that are ups and downs, like life. It is alive. It's just that I chose a path that might be less traditional. But if this constant okay, stop analyze here with your mind, but also with my heart. Am I happy? Am I enjoying? Does it still make sense to me? And if you ask if not making adjustments to bring this mile back. But I talk a lot about being happy.

And I remember when I was writing the text from my website. The Copyright said, to be honest, too many times they were happy. It's getting repetitive. We need to find a synonym.

That's great. So one of the things we always put in the show notes the links to all the different places to reach you. But in general, what's the base place? And you can just say, like LinkedIn or Facebook or whatever it is. What's the best place for people to connect with you to learn more about how you can help them with either career coaching services, helping them land a remote job or doing some of what you're doing.

Yeah. So LinkedIn. I'm very active on LinkedIn, so you can just search for Juliana Rabbi R-A-B-B-I. And also my website, which is also JulianaRabbi.com. You can find the link to all the social media.

Awesome. And just for those listening, the correct pronunciation of her name is Juliana, which I learned from her LinkedIn, but she's spelling it out. Rabbi for those of us who wouldn't have known unless we listened to her LinkedIn profile. But that's how you spell her name, but yeah, we'll have all those links. Thank you so much for coming and doing this. I think hopefully a lot of people take out of this is the process can be joyful, the process can be happy, it can be something that's uncertain and that doesn't have to be bad.

Again. So many people. I love your example of going to place that everybody says is awesome, and then it's just not. It doesn't mean the place is bad. It's just maybe it wasn't your place. But thank you so much. So much of what you shared is just true from what I've seen. And I think so many people are trying to make this pivot and this transition. So definitely, if you get a chance you want to learn more, you might not be able to find her physically because she's going to be all around the place.

But you can find Juliana through the latest and whatnot and connect with her. And so, as always, I look forward to helping you create the life and the lifestyle you most desire, so you can better enjoy your family your friends and your life. Thanks for listening.