I had just joined the 3^rd different company in my career. Still Finance. It was what you could call a good position.  I thought I’d have better hours. I didn’t. I thought the job would be fun. It wasn’t. I thought I’d like it better. I was wrong.

8 weeks was the time between deciding to quit and actually have the courage to do it. There were too many questions in my head, one of them being, “what I am going to do?”. This was what I had been doing for 14 years.

I had just become a certified Life Coach and had been intensively coached, so I was somehow feeling fearless. I had a few coaching clients, a growing page on Facebook and I was writing. I wasn’t quite ready to tell the world (or myself) that that’s what I wanted to be doing. Writing. So, I just started having a few coaching clients here and there. I did start writing about coaching and one thing led to the other. At first, a few texts for a startup. Then, volunteering as a blogger to CreativeMornings Lisbon. Then, another client. Things started happening without me really looking for it. It just happened.

On our last event, Nuno Mesquita told us a little bit of his own journey and how he quit his job to pursue something more fulfilling. Many people asked him “So, would you tell anyone who is unhappy at his/her job to quit?”. And that is such a hard question to answer. There are so many stories and they can be all so different. So, I’m telling you mine.

I might not be perceived as successful as Nuno’s. It has now been a year and  half and I am far from the results Nuno told us regarding his own businesses. I am currently what you would say “between jobs”. I have had clients who paid me poorly, I have had clients who never paid on time or never paid at all, my texts have been edited, my subjects have not been chosen by me, clients have dropped my service to get it from someone doing it for free. Doing what I like made me lose the perks I was having at a corporate job. I no longer have a salary at the end of the month, health insurance or an air conditioned place to work. I still have frustrations, but I have been resilient. More than I knew I could be. Every time I send a CV out I feel as scared as when I quit. “Would they find me too old, too bold or too inexperienced? Would they like my writing style? Am I really talented for this?”

On the other hand, I have my own schedule. I have the time to dedicate to a beautiful project as this one, CreativeMornings Lisbon. I am learning every day, more than I ever did in Finance and definitely more passionately. I’m meeting new people every day. And most of all, I have been writing. Sometimes getting paid to do it.

I don’t know what the exact definition of success is. Is it money, is it happiness, is it freedom?

All I know is that from time to time I receive a message, a comment or a mail from someone telling me how my text resonates with them. And that’s when I’m sure. I might not know where I’m going, but I’m on my way.

Elisa Baltazar

CreativeMornings Lisbon Host