Are You As Loyal To Yourself As You Are Your Company?

TGIF! Especially after another wild week of layoffs. We saw Sony lay off 900 PlayStation employees. The most affected was their London office, which was eliminated entirely.

Many thought the gaming world was untouchable at the moment – one of the safest spaces to shield from the ever-rocky corporate economy. Especially if you're like me, the mom to a 10-year-old boy whose life revolves around his PS5 and Fortnite, bro!

But here we are. 900 layoffs later, and 2024 continues to prove job security in the corporate world is a fleeting myth.

Truth? It only exists in the most perfect of contexts.

Your job is secure as long as:

• You're loyal to a fault. And you're completely ok with knowing the loyalty you give is never funneled back to you. It's reserved solely for the shareholders, board members, and the bottom line.

• You accept less-than-moral behavior from toxic leadership, management, and co-workers for the "good of the business."

• You allow 40+ hours/week to be micro-managed, inspected, and controlled by an archaic structure that insists you can only be productive and contribute to a job between the hours of 9-5. And in no shape, or form are you allowed to divert any of your attention to anything but your work, or that loyalty will be continuously questioned. But never expect the corporate world to show that same respect by staying out of your inbox during evenings and weekends.

• You invest your entire identity and self-worth in a job title placed within a hierarchy of an org chart that can be crumpled up and set on fire at a moment's notice.

This "loyalty" is ruled by fear, control, and submission. But it still doesn't protect one from having the rug pulled out from under them. It doesn't protect from being included in a mass round of layoffs the minute it's in the best interest of the company's overall health.

But imagine if you took all of the time and energy spent playing office politics and company loyalty games and instead invested it into YOURSELF.

So let me ask:

Are you as loyal to yourself as you are to your company?

If that answer is a resounding no, don't panic. We have ALL been there. I have DEFINITELY been there. Nothing hurts more than realizing you invested so much into a job title that you had no clue who you were when it disappeared.

I recorded a podcast episode on this a couple of years back with my best friend, Barrett Evans, after he was laid off from Macy's. You can listen here if you're interested in how we both reclaimed our identities outside our titles. It still tracks.

In the meantime, now is as good as ever to begin reclaiming your professional identity and taking back control of your career narrative.

Here's how:

Re-center your focus on yourself with a good old-fashioned brain dump. I'm challenging you to take an hour or two to disconnect from the outside noise and reconnect with who you are and who you want to be.

A few prompts to get you going:

1. When you were young, what was the most outlandish career dream you ever imagined for yourself? You know – before an adult eventually convinced you it was a cool hobby but not an appropriate career path.

2. If you could pick up a new skill in an instant, what would it be?

3. How would you spend your time if you had complete autonomy of your day-to-day schedule?Would it really be working 8 hours a day?Would you finally write the novel that's been circling your brain?Would you find time to join a gym and clean up your lifestyle?

4. What do you love most about your current or most recent job?

5. What do you HATE about it, and what would you do to fix it or eliminate it entirely?

It can get uncomfortable coming to grips with the reality that we put so much weight into a professional identity that we ultimately have no control over. But it's an essential step if you are committed to creating and curating a life that works for YOU.

You have to be clear on what you want so you can lay the groundwork for how you will get it.

My why has always been set in freedom.

Freedom over my calendar.

Freedom from a salary cap.

Freedom to choose what's best for me and my family without explaining or justifying myself to anyone that doesn't actually matter.

Since that realization, my actions to achieve this have been a mix of freelancing paid and organic social media management, which led to the opportunity to add a revenue stream as a short-form video content creator. All the while, I've been sharing the journey here and across multiple platforms, which builds a personal brand that allows me to monetize my knowledge through additional avenues like 1:1 coaching calls, affiliate marketing opportunities, and the digital product library full of resources to help at any stage of the process I'm building now.

But one of the biggest flexes I'll make in this journey? I've built a network of industry experts, just by sharing my own experiences. I'm lucky enough to call a couple of them dear friends. We all need a support system when it comes to bouncing ideas around, sharing discoveries, and of course, the occasional bitch session!

So, if you're looking to get the real, nitty-gritty details on freelance life or want to learn the latest in marketing and content with a pop-culture twist, follow Chelsea Bradley & Brianne Fleming here on LinkedIn and be sure to subscribe to their newsletters!

In the meantime, if you've got a topic or a question you want me to cover when it comes to breaking free from the 9-5 grind, let me know! I'm always open to hearing how I can better support you along this journey!

Happy Creating,

Mindy