Brooke Montgomery was spending another night at an extravagant dinner with clients in a big American city, enjoying the perks of success in her high-pressure corporate position, when she realized it: She had no desire to be there.
“It seemed glamorous at first,” she recalled. “But then you realize that you are missing time with family and friends and spending most of your time with strangers. And you never get to really visit the cities that you work in.”
In addition to monthly travel, a constant stream of emails, phone calls and deadlines made Montgomery feel as though she was “drifting away from herself.” And it was time, she decided, to get herself back.
So, she quit her job.
Montgomery had enrolled in a holistic health coach certification program nearly two years earlier, but had never found the time to complete the courses. This fall, she made the decision to follow her passion full time; she’s abandoning the corporate world for what she hopes will be a new career as a self-employed health and wellness consultant.
“I’ve been thinking about doing something in this field for more than five years, and I realized that if not now, then when?” she said. “I could keep putting it on the backburner forever, or I could just do it.”
It’s a feeling Reinaldo Gonzalez knows well. In the years before he and Lesme Romero began Lexington Pasta, Gonzalez was a successful employee at several Fortune 500 companies. Yet he said he was never truly satisfied with his career path.
“I was chasing someone else’s dream, building someone else’s wealth, instead of chasing my own,” he said.
The idea for Lexington Pasta was born around a kitchen table, and three years later, Gonzalez is completely off the corporate ladder, managing his pasta business full time.
But the process of creating a business wasn’t without fears or doubts, he recalled.
“I still doubt myself every day,” he said. “But that’s what drives you. You are driving your own success, and there’s no one else who can do it for you.”
Even with the stress and worry, Gonzalez said his only regret is not starting his own business sooner.
“I am so much happier than I have ever been,” he said. “I work hard, but at the same time, I enjoy what I do and I get a huge sense of satisfaction with every little win.”
Satisfaction and meaningful work are hot topics among the businesses that partner with the University of Kentucky’s Institute for Workplace Innovation (iwin), according to Lynn Bertsch, director of employee engagement.
Bertsch said the topics are particularly tied to the career values of Generation Y — and those values might be even more important to Generation Y in the recession economy.
“Employees in Generation Y have seen parents and friends who have given so much to their companies get laid off,” Bertsch noted. “There’s a lot of focus with Generation Y on having meaningful work — and it has to be meaningful. They are not just doing it for a paycheck.”
While Bertsch said the 40 participating businesses in the institute roundtable groups have not discussed a concern about employees quitting their jobs specifically to pursue self-employment, she noted that satisfaction and engagement have been forefront in group discussions.
Iwin reported to its partners in 2012 that, according to Leigh Branham’s book “Re-Engage: How America’s Best Places to Work Inspire Employees in Extraordinary Times,” 60 percent of surveyed employees wished to leave their jobs, including 25 percent of the top producers.
Downsizing, salary freezes and layoffs can add to the feeling of discontent, said Bertsch.
Iwin, she said, is working with employers on methods of flexibility, evaluating productivity through different means, and creating opportunities for growth and collaboration that can foster feelings of satisfaction, meaning and engagement.
“Practices that are good for the employees are good for the employer’s bottom line,” said Bertsch.
However, Bertsch noted the stage of life you are in will greatly affect how and where you want to work. And iwin’s studies suggest that those who are adamant on leaving the workplace tend to do so because of an entrepreneurial spirit and a desire to fulfill a need in the market rather than a lack of satisfaction.
But Montgomery felt that in order to find self-fulfillment, happiness and meaning in her career, she had no other choice than to leave her job.
“It’s so easy to get wrapped up in a corporate job, but you have to find a balance in your life and give yourself the attention and focus that you need,” she explained.
She recently began working concepts for her health-and-wellness consulting business, which she calls The Well Factor. Montgomery said she hopes to work with companies on health-and-wellness practices in their offices that can energize employees and maximize productivity — and perhaps create a feeling of satisfaction that retains talent.
“I am creating balance in my life, and I want to help others do the same,” she said.
Montgomery’s definition of success now lies in doing what she loves and doing it well.
“I get to be 100 percent myself now,” she said. “And hopefully I will get to make a living out of what I love.”