Leaving A Toxic 9-5 Culture and Going Full-Time in Business with Taylor Parker
Can you take us on a journey where you were a couple of years ago before you started this business? What was happening at that 9-5? [1:29]
Taylor Parker: Absolutely. So, my husband and I had been married nine years, right before we had our oldest son, who’s now four. We started a trucking company together that we run locally here around Nashville, TN.
So that was business number one. I was like “I’m going to be a stay-at-home mom. This is going to be great.” We had our first son and about six months in, I was going crazy. I had to do something.
I had to have something going on so I actually went back to a lady I had worked for, on and off since I was about 14 in the catering and event space and helped her for a while.
I managed her social media presence as social media became bigger and bigger and I learned a ton. I got to experience and learn and grow as all the platforms did. I also supported her with the catering and event side of the business as well.
Two years ago, I had my second son and last year everything changed with the pandemic and life goals. I turned 30 and I thought, this isn’t what I want to do all the time. I don’t want to be away from my kids at nighttime.
I want him to take him to school. I want to pick him up and I want to be able to do it but I don’t want our lifestyle to be influenced by the fact of income, so I started a digital marketing company with a business partner last year.
We had a fantastic year. Luckily for us, digital marketing exploded during COVID. We had a six-figure year and after that, my goals, my life, my everything just kind of changed a little bit.
“This isn’t what I want to do all the time. I don’t want to be away from my kids at nighttime.”
So, the culture of the job that I had wasn’t necessarily wrong for everyone. But it was wrong for me in that time of life. In this space of life, it wasn’t conducive to where I was trying to get to.
My husband and I have goals as well, but I just wasn’t cut out to be that stay-at-home mom or the 9-5 mom. I take my kids to school every day. They go to 1/2-day preschool; I pick up my 2 year old at 12 and I bring him home.
When we’re home, we do schoolwork and we also have a nanny a few days a week. But in order to get to that, I had to look back and realize, “this culture isn’t building my goals, it isn’t pushing me to where I want to go.”
After the digital marketing agency began to take off, I started business coaching in late 2021 and that has been fantastic. I never realized how much I loved helping other people build their dreams!
I have a broad spectrum right now of everything I love to do, and I’ve never had this much clarity of loving what I do!
“This culture isn’t building my goals; it isn’t pushing me to where I want to go.”
That’s where life is right now, and it’s fantastic. I tell everyone the last 16 weeks of my life were massive changes and I never really thought I would quit that catering and social media job; I loved it.
It was just not conducive to growing my digital marketing agency like I needed to because my time was split. Being able to take that time, focus and regain some clarity, allowed us to close more six-figure contracts in December than we’ve ever closed.
We set ourselves up for massive success in 2022 and all the doors just seem to open at the right time with that decision.
Do you have any specific examples of the toxic culture that you were experiencing? [7:28]
Taylor Parker: One of the things I’ve noticed about a small business is that women are hard to work with, especially in groups. If there’s no structure and leadership in that environment, it runs rampant and it’s very easy to get wrapped up in the drama.
Those aren’t conducive to building a business. You’re not generating sales. You’re wasting brainpower on things that don’t matter, and I loathe wasted time.
I think we all as humans look for inclusion. We just want to fit in. We want our tribe and our group of people, and I think at certain times of your life, you outgrow the tribe, the group, the room you’re in, and you know leaving that group is hard.
It’s emotional a lot of times, especially for females. It’s not always great, and a lot of times it’s not a happy clean break either, so that adds to it. Understanding and realizing that you’ve outgrown this group and need to move on is obviously a hard place to get to.
But once you get to it, once you move on and you find that that next group that supports, builds, and encourages you, its life changing.
What would you say right now to somebody who is in a 9-5 or they’re in a toxic environment and they want to leave, but they’re really scared to do so? [13:57]
Taylor Parker: If you’re ready to make the jump but aren’t there financially, get it on paper, get it written out. Create a plan. If you can’t, find a coach, find someone who relates and who can sit down and map it out with you.
You can always adjust the plan. The plan doesn’t have to be set in stone but get something out there so you know what to work toward.Most importantly – get it out of your head and on the paper so you’re not second-guessing everything.
Make sure you’re tracking your successes too; this will help you feel better. Hit a milestone, celebrate the win, get to the next milestone, celebrate that win.Maybe you walked twice this week. Maybe you made it to school every day with your kids on time.
Whatever it is, we celebrate it. Those small wins add up and they change your mentality.
“You can adjust the plan. The plan doesn’t have to be set in stone but get something in place so you feel confident in making the leap.”
An easy thing to do right away is to join some Facebook groups for women in whatever your field is. Make sure they’re the good ones.
There are a ton of great ones out there for women or people that want to support you and they’re looking for the same things you are – inclusion, growth, and the life an dream they’re trying to build.
What does a “traditional” week or day look like for you? When are you your most productive self? [23:28]
Taylor Parker: I make a schedule. My sons go to preschool from 8am to 12pm every day.
So, I spend the first three hours or so at that time, usually a coffee shop, either a Panera or Starbucks, just working through whatever is on the list. I have a team built for my digital agency that handles almost everything.
I spend less than five hours a week managing the team. A lot of my time is spent on calls, new clients, onboarding, that kind of stuff. I bring my kids home around noon every day and I block off two days a week to spend with them.
We go to a park or trampoline, park or whatever, weather permitting allows. We try to get outside, move as much as possible, and then the other three days, we have a nanny that comes and stays with my son from one to four and I spend those hours in my office at home.
That time is usually spent on coaching calls. We do a lot of live streaming around the country, for conferences and things like that, so I usually travel to those, but I have a fantastic support system here with my husband, my father, my nanny that stays with our boys, so they all make it make it possible.
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