I Left Behind My Successful Career as a Leader in Direct Sales and Found My True Calling! S4/EP5

Why would someone quit a lucrative career where she was earning good money and had finally reached the pinnacle of success in her company? This is my story, and it didn’t make sense to me either, but chasing your calling doesn’t always make sense!  In this episode, we turned the mic around, and my husband, Tom, interviewed me! You get to hear my complete unedited story of why I left and how the Discovering Your Calling Process was created!!

SHOW NOTES

After running a chimney cleaning business, other entrepreneurial ventures, and 25 years in direct sales, Sheri made yet another career move!  This journey to find her destiny and purpose was paved with detours, potholes & deadends.  It wasn’t always easy and truly seemed like a crazy career transition. Her journey led to the creation of the Discovering Your Calling Process, which helps others find their calling. 

In this episode, you will learn the following:

1. How did CliftonStrengths help Sheri Miter discover her calling? 
2. How do you know if it’s time to step away from a successful career to pursue the perfect one?  
3. Why Sheri choose to give up her Pink Cadillac Career to become a Clifton Strengths Coach, and  should you make a career shift in 2024? 
4. Do we only get one calling in our lives? Or are there seasons of calling? 
5. The incredible four-step method she uses to guide others in finding their calling.

“It was so ironic because it was knowing my talent themes and strengths and using those with my team, I had my team take the CliftonStrengths, that led us to have some of our best years. But it was also going to a workshop that I realized, "Oh, if I stay here, a lot of my talent themes are going to go unused."

Get in touch with me:
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Transcript

TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Sheri: Welcome back, friends, to another episode of the Discovering Your Calling Podcast, and I'm your host, Sheri Miter. But today, we're going to turn things around a little bit, and my husband, Tom, is actually going to interview me on my True Calling story, because I've had a lot of people ask me like, "How did you find your calling?" Why did you make a change? Why did you leave direct sales?" All of the questions so we thought it'd be kind of fun to turn things, switch around and have Tom interview me. So welcome to the podcast. Tom,

[00:00:39] Tom: All right. Well, thank you very much for having me. It's going to be an interesting time. I have never done a podcast interview where I'm the interviewer. I've done a couple where I'm the interviewee, so this ought to be pretty interesting and probably a little bit of fun.

[00:00:50] Sheri: Yeah. And you know, I may have had to bribe him a little bit with a little adult beverage. So, we'll see how it goes by the end.

[00:01:00] Tom: Should be fun. 

[00:01:02] Sheri: All right, take it away. 

[00:01:04] Tom: All right. So what we're going to do today is to interview Sheri Miter on her journey to starting the podcast, Discovering Your Calling, and becoming a strengths and discovering your calling coach. So I've got a series of questions I'm going to ask, and I'm going to let Sheri answer in her own way, in her own time, and hopefully, I won't be speaking all that often, which is hard for me.

[00:01:32] Tom: So to start with, I'm going to ask Sheri to kinda tell us your story. Where did you start? What led you to where you are now? And what were some of the roadblocks and some of the difficulties along the way?

[00:01:49] Sheri: Well, that's the whole podcast. So that one question... so my story, as most of you know, today, I finally figured out my calling. My calling is helping you figure out your calling and we rebranded the podcast. It's just been a whole lot of fun coaching people in this arena. But if I go back to my... take you back 30 something years ago, 35 years ago, when Tom and I were first married, and even after having... we have three boys, and they were little and the first 10 years of our marriage, it was really, I was... Justin, Jeremy and Jacob's mom and Tom's wife. And I've always worked at something. Tom and I ran a chimney cleaning business together. He's a professional firefighter for those that don't know his story. And we had that business. I was always dabbling in something, so I always had a little side thing going on. And I was always searching for my calling. I didn't know at one point, I went to college for teaching, though I wanted to be a teacher. Hmm, did some volunteer in the school and decided, "Ah, not where I want to go." And just like many of you searching... searching for what is that thing? What do I want to be when I grow up? 

[00:03:10] Tom: Right. If I remember and be like, "I'm sure I do," there were a number of things that you dabbled in. You went to school for a little while, and for travel and tourism, you ended up working at a car rental business. You did some things outside the house and some little things here and there. You even did some sewing. You know, the fire department patches and repairs the guys' uniforms and things like that when they mess them up at fires and such. So yeah, you did a lot of different things. And it was very interesting to watch your journey at that point until, I think, it was 1994, when you kind of found your thing that you did for quite a while.

[00:03:49] Sheri: Yeah. So that was in the direct sales realm, and I was always searching, I was always looking for that thing that I could claim as my own and still have the freedom and flexibility to be a mom, be a full-time mom and have my own identity. Really, I was searching for my own identity and my own income. And I fell into Mary Kay, which was kind of ironic because I really wasn't big on huge makeup wear or huge skincare. It didn't really necessarily fit the persona. You may have thought of, but I fell in love with the company's philosophies. I fell in love with the personal development that was in there. I liked the people I was working with. And it felt like my niche, and I really put my heart and soul into it. And you know, as our boys got older, I was able to devote more time into that business and did quite well. I really did well at it.

[00:04:47] Tom: Yeah. As I remember, you became a sales director after about five years. And you basically, spent the remainder of your time there before you retired from Mary Kay Cosmetics, I believe you worked your way up each year a little bit better and a little bit better and a little bit higher in the sales director ranks until you did the ultimate and actually brought home the pink Cadillac SUV, which was pretty, pretty interesting. Pretty cool.

[00:05:13] Sheri: Yeah. And the journey was... I mean, there we had and we're not going to go into that, in that podcast. In this podcast, you can listen to an interview I just did with somebody else. But there was a season of five to six years that we went through some life changes, your deployments, my mother passing away, a lot of life that I did take a dip, but so it wasn't a slow progression all the way up. There was like anything, it was like the heart monitor chart, up, down, up, down, up, down. But for the most part, it was still always slowly moving up, besides those dip ears that we had. And I thought it was my thing. I thought if somebody had asked me six years ago if I would ever retire, I would've said no way. No way. I'm going all the way, I'm going to the top. And I loved the person I had become, and I loved the income, and I loved the free cars. I loved all the things that was happening six years ago.

[00:06:13] Tom: Right. And it was interesting to me when... I wouldn't say it was sudden but when you actually said, "You know, I think it's time for me to step away." I've done what I wanted to do here. I could see that it wasn't really your passion anymore. I could see that, it didn't seem to be your calling anymore. But what was it in you that prompted you to say, "Okay, I'm going to make that change." What really deep down inside of you prompted you to say, "Hey, Tom. I'm not going to do this anymore, I'm going to do something different.'' 

[00:06:48] Sheri: And I don't from your perspective, what it looked like. I know from mine, it was a very gradual, slow thought. It was a slow process of realizing, "Wait a minute, is where I want to be forever?" I don't know. And I remember, there were a lot of little things, a lot of little things that kept coming into my life. And one of them that was significant is we just came off of our best year ever. And you know, achieved, led our unit to the $350,000 unit club. Our unit had just sold $350,000 in product that year. We earned that pink Cadillac. The thing that you're working, striving for as a sales director, that's the thing to do. And it was an exciting year. It was a fun year.

[00:07:45] Sheri: But I remember having a conversation with a good friend of mine, and we had both just achieved both of these things. And we're now at the beginning of the physical year in our company, July 1st, and we're out for a walk in the beginning of that season. And I remember saying to her, "Is it ever enough?" Because even though we just had this exciting finish to the year, we were both back to starting again. Zero.  Zero.

[00:08:14] Tom: And the thing about that company is that every July 1st, you're starting over again. 

[00:08:18:] Sheri: Yes. 

[00:08:19:] Tom: And you had to re-achieve, I don't wanna use the word mimic, but I will because it's all that's coming to mind. But you want to achieve what you did.

[00:08:30] Sheri: Repeat it, repeat, repeat, repeat. Yep. And do better. And do more.  And do more. Yes.

[00:08:31] Tom: And after a while, I think, even I can see that it was starting to somewhat take a toll because there was always be, you used to be in the beginning, you'd be very excited about July 1st, and then towards the end, it was more of an exasperation as, "Oh gosh, I gotta start over." 

[00:08:49] Sheri: And I just... that was the beginning of it, just thinking that, here I am 50 years old, I don't know if I can keep doing this. And I think that age played a lot into it if I'm really being true because I wasn't willing to get out there and hustle anymore. I hustled a lot in the early days, and the hustle was over for me, but leave the hustle on the dance floor now. And so that was the beginning of that. And I was just sharing this with somebody else I was talking to, and the only way I can really describe it, was I felt like at that point, I was willing to peel back the curtain and I'd been inside of this world for so long that I thought I belonged in forever, and I just peeled back that curtain and peeked outside of that curtain to see what else is out there. What else? Maybe should I be doing? Is there something else? And I feel like once you get in that frame of mind that you can start looking outside, things start happening, things start opening up that you didn't even know that they were there ahead of time. And so that was the beginning of it. And there was also this feeling of angst, that just started to feel like, "I just don't know if I belong here anymore."

[00:10:08] Tom: And what were in that day, I remember these conversations because it wasn't that long ago, but I remember that there was also, "Well, maybe I should just stay and continue." What were the thoughts going through your mind that kind of kept you stuck and maybe I should just stay where I am. What were those things that were holding you back and just letting go. 

[00:10:29] Sheri: Well, one, it took me 25 years to get there. And the money was good. I mean, we were making some nice paychecks, and it was like, "This is what I worked for my entire life to get here." And now I want to walk away from it like it doesn't make sense. When you think, and even now, I laugh because I look back like, "It just doesn't make sense, Why on earth do you walk away when you're at the height of a career?”

[00:11:00] Tom: And we'd be lying, right? I certainly have some conversations because we still do. We have a very decent lifestyle and there were concerns with, well, you know, that's the thing about direct sales, right? Once you step back, the money, you don't retire and have a pension like I did, unless you have a good 401(k) and things like that, which you do, but they weren't bazillions of dollars, so there was some concern like, "Should I be doing this?"

[00:11:28] Sheri: Right. Definitely. And I thought about like, "What would people think?" That's a huge one. "What will other people think? And will I lose my friends?" All my friends were in that realm and was I going to lose my friends? There were a lot of questions, and I think that's why it took me, probably, really a year and a half before I made, well, probably a year that I made the decision to step away because it was really 2018 that I started to have this angst. And it was 2019, if I remember right. And you know, I don't remember years correctly half the time, but going backwards, 2019, I just kind of stayed with it. And we still did pretty good, but I was just not -- 

[00:12:10] Tom: You just kinda steady. You weren't really...

[00:12:11] Sheri: Yeah. I lost my passion. It wasn't as fun. That was a year, it just wasn't as fun for me anymore. And then, again, there were things I knew, by then, I had really invested in my talents and strengths. I've been introduced to that in 2016 and 2017. And it was so ironic because it was knowing my talent, themes, and strengths and using those with my team. I had my team take the CliftonStrengths and we used it to have some of our best years, but it was also going to a workshop that I realized, "Oh, if I stay here, a lot of my talent themes are going to go unused."

[00:12:49] Tom: Right. And not only that, so how did you overcome that mindset of, "We're doing well, maybe I should just stay here? I know I'm not really using my talents and strengths now that I know kind of what they are," but how did you finally overcome that mindset? Was there a light switch? Was it over time? What exactly made you finally say, "I have to do this, I have to step away from this" 

[00:13:15] Sheri: And that's such a good question because, I think, when I look back, I do remember one of the... what do they call it? The "straw that broke the camel's back" was a company that made a decision with that I totally did not agree with. They let my coach go, my mentor go, and that was a huge impact for me. And I think it was the combination of all these things and more that just kept weighing and weighing and weighing.

[00:13:45] Sheri: And I think there get to a point that the benefit of staying does not outweigh the angst of staying. And the anxiety I was starting to feel for staying was greater than the paychecks, greater than what people would think, greater than all those other thoughts of, "Maybe I should stick it out" 

[00:14:05] Tom: And once the decision was made, how did that make you feel? Was there a weight lifted off your shoulders? Was there like just let your breath out and relax. How did you really feel when you finally said, "That's it, I'm done.''   

[00:14:19] Sheri: I think there was a little bit of weight lifted off, but then it was like, "Okay, so what am I going to do?" And I don't know if you remember, but it was again, still, I took a year before I actually stepped away.

[00:14:28] Tom: Right. I remember.

[00:14:29] Sheri: You know, I took a long time. Once I made the decision, that it was still a year and a half later that I actually retired. I had to get prepped for it. So it was a long process. But I do remember too, because COVID hit, and that was a key part, too. On the other side of it, talking about looking outside the curtain that when COVID hit, and I was seeing all these businesses freaking out or closing their doors and my strategic brain just went into high gear of like, "Well, wait, don't they know they could do this? Don't they know they could do that?''

[00:15:01] Tom: You would see those things on the news and be like, "Yeah, but didn't they think of this or that?" It was amazing to me that you would just come up with these things.  

[00:15:07] Sheri: So that enabled me to start using this piece of my brain that I really wasn't using a lot of. And in fact, one of my clients who's still with me today, owns a bridal boutique. And I remember her and she watched one of my free webinars, and we ended up working together. And basically, we kept her wedding planning business alive in COVID. No small feet to hurt. But I realized like, "Oh, wait, I can do this. This is fun. This is different. This is exciting.'' So it was seeing that and just experimenting with what else could I do? If I don't do this, what else could I do?

[00:15:47] Tom: Right, could you kind of explain it? Because you know, and I lived through it with you, but I would be the first to admit that there were times it was a little confusing to me, which is exactly what you were up to. But I did, and I want to make sure everybody knows this. I did support your decision. I wasn't one of those guys. "Get back to work at Mary Kay and get those big paychecks back." I wanted you to be happy. But explain a little bit of once you left Mary Kay, because it was interesting to talk about the journey that led you to where you are now. Explain that journey, that process. 

[00:16:19] Sheri: And again, with hindsight's always clearer than moving forward or while you're in it, is always murky and muddy while you're in it. So while I was in it, I couldn't have told you what I was doing and I didn't know half the time. I really. And there were definitely times of doubt. Definitely. Times of should have stayed? Should I just have stayed a director, collect the paycheck? There were so many ways I could have done it differently.

[00:16:45] Tom: But wouldn't that have weighed much heavier on you if haven't done that?

[00:16:48] Sheri: Right. It didn't settle right with my soul, so I had to do what was best for my soul and I will never. I just wanna make this perfectly clear for anybody listening to this, if you are in direct sales or network marketing or Mary Kay, any company out there, they were some of the best years of my life.

[00:17:04] Tom: Oh, absolutely. We have been blessed.

[00:17:05] Sheri: And they served me so well, so well, so I'm not bashing and I wanna make that totally clear. Never, ever would I do that because they really gave me so many gifts. Physically, trips, memories, personal growth, all of the things. I don't regret any of it for a minute.

[00:17:28] Tom: And a real quick way, to look at it, is that without that, it wouldn't have led you to where you are now.

[00:17:32] Sheri: No.

[00:17:33] Tom: Because what Mary Kay was, if I'm correct, was a good season of your life and it led you to a new season. And stepping away was what you needed to do to expand you, right? So...

[00:17:48] Sheri: Right. Absolutely. And actually, I want to stay on that for a minute, the seasons, because I do feel like we have seasons of calling, and it's not like we can have several callings in our life based on the season that we're in. And you know, especially as moms, that there may be a season that your calling is to raise your kids, and then there may be a season that you're calling is to do something that allows you to have other,  maybe, I know some people listening are taking care of elderly parents, so their season is cutting down on their hours to balance these things. And then there's gonna be seasons that you're doing one career and then you switch careers and you can do that well. So there are seasons of calling. It's not like we have one calling and that's it for our entire life, and you know... 

[00:18:38] Tom: And I would totally agree with you. Since so many people that have kind of changed gears or shifted gears, as I would say, because something was there going for a number of years, or a season whatever, however you want to describe it. And then they changed gears and went into something else that may have been a little bit mind-boggling to me, looking at their situation from the outside. But then you realized they were totally happy. So with that in mind, so continue on with the process. So you decided that you were going to get into coaching, so explain that process and how that started and what led you to discovering your calling.

[00:19:13] Sheri: Right. And that was a three-year process. So once I made the decision, I retired from being a sales director with Mary Kay. It took me three years to get where I am today. And really, that's the process now that I teach people moving forward because I didn’t have that process. I didn't know it. I just kind of fumble my way through, and it really was like a giant experiment. And that's "process." That's one of the pieces of the puzzle is just trying things.

[00:19:40] Sheri: So initially, I thought it was going to be working with newer entrepreneurs and helping them run their businesses, and being more of a business coach. But something about that didn't really feel right. And looking back, I wish I had a coach, then I could see where my mind was. Because all I really needed to do was tweak a little bit. I really needed to adjust the sales slightly just a little bit. And instead, I ended up doing a whole 180. I chased a shiny object that sounded really fascinating. Took another... and along the way, I also got certified with CliftonStrengths, that's the one thing I wish I had done sooner 'cuz that has always been my passion. That's been the number one thing that is the common thread in all of this. How I was successful in direct sales to what I'm doing today. It's the number one thing that I'm truly, truly passionate about. 

[00:20:30] Tom: And that is an amazing process. You know, just when you had me do it, just the things that I learned about myself and how I could apply that to my career in the fire service was amazing to me. The last few years that I stayed before I retired, using the CliftonStrengths and my day-to-day to kind of figure out how to communicate with people and how to be a better leader was amazing. And I want to thank you for bringing that to me because many times you talked about it, I really didn't get it. And once I understood, it was like, "Oh yeah, the light bulb went on." So yeah. Thank you for that.

[00:21:01] Sheri: Oh, you're welcome. Thank you. So I spent the first year was like working with the entrepreneurs. And there was like, "Oh wait, there's this whole program here I can get certified in and I'll work with leaders, and go into corporate America and do teens, and there's a lot more money in that," and you know, yada yada and I chase that thing. That was so not my thing. That was so not my thing.

[00:21:24] Tom: Yeah, I remember that. I remember you were really into it, but there was also some frustration with it.

[00:21:29] Sheri: A lot of frustration. A lot of frustration with it. And that's how you know, it's not your thing because I felt like every time I tried something to get it started, it was like brick wall after brick wall. You know, I was good at it, it was just harder to do. It didn't come as natural, and there was more frustration with it than joy. And finally, it dawned on me like, "Why on earth am I trying to step into a world that I have never, ever, ever been a part of?" I have never, of all the things I've tried in my life, they've always been entrepreneurial, always. Small business, being an entrepreneur, being a leader, never in corporate America. I've never been there. Never wanted to be. So why am I trying to step into that world?

[00:22:24] Tom: Right. Exactly. And I do remember those conversations when you were shifting gears again, shall we say? And I was actually kind of relieved. I was like, "Yeah, because this is really isn't you." And I do remember the conversation that led us where you are now. So let's talk a little bit about... So you did that, and eventually, in recent months, though not that recently, this past year, you rebranded, shifted gears and the light bulbs were flashing. Now I'm home. This is where I am. So explain that a little bit.

[00:22:55] Sheri: Right. And honestly, and maybe you remember, I don't even remember how I ended up there. I just remember in the summertime having conversations, again, about like what do I wanna do? And again, it goes back, it kind of brought me back to that whole working with entrepreneurs, but it was more of helping people discover their calling. Like seeing again and need, which is part of the process I realize now is like, "What does the world need me to do? What's the problem I see? And what does the world need me to do?" And when I really sat and thought about it, and I need my quiet time to think and journal and get away from the noise so much, And I think that happens to so many of us that when we're caught up in the middle of something, we're so busy, and the world's noisy around us that we don't even know what we want to do. We can't think.

[00:23:48] Tom: And I have to laugh because you need that quiet time and that reflection time. And I'm a background noise guy. I want the music, I want the television, I need that. I think better when there's some kind of background noise, and you were just the opposite. We had to traverse that to say, "Okay, so Sheri needs her quiet time, especially in the morning. I leave her alone for a little while and go on." But I always find that interesting.

[00:24:15] Sheri: But you know, it was taking that time to really reflect like, "What do I want to do? What am I good at? What problem can I solve in the world? What do I want to do moving forward?" Which brings me back, reminds me to come back to vision in a minute and what does the world mean right now? What does the world need from me right now? And those were the thoughts that I had, which is what I now put into this whole "Discovering Your Calling Program.'' That's what we talk about, all those elements. And it was the thing that actually attracted me to Mary Kay was I loved recruiting women into it because I wanted to help get them out of corporate America, get them out of the jobs that they didn't like and give them a new opportunity. But the problem there is that you're only recruiting them for one opportunity. What I realized is that I could create this way of working with people to help them figure out all the world's opportunities out there, which there's so many things people can do. Like it's crazy what people do to make money.

[00:25:19] Tom: And which one works for them? Yeah.

[00:25:20] Sheri: Right. What works for them. So it's not one thing, it's just helping them find what their calling is and what does the world need? You know, what’s their skills? What’s their strengths? What’s talents? What do they want for their lives? Which again, brings me back to vision. Don't let me forget this. What's their mission? And when I tell about the mission, it's like, "What's the problem you see out there that you know you can fix?" And that problem for me has always been seeing people, worked at a job for 20, 25, or 30 years that they never really liked. That sucks the energy out of them, that they live for Fridays because they're miserable Monday through Friday, and they're waiting to retire to enjoy life.

[00:26:10] Sheri: And you know, my mom passed away at 58 years old. Now luckily, they had 18 years of life because my father retired at 40 of enjoying retired life. But for most people, they don't have. And that has always been like my beacon that directs my life is like we are not promised tomorrow, so we've got to enjoy what we're doing today. Don't wait for retirement to start enjoying life.

[00:26:38] Tom: And I've always in that vain, I've always been amazed by people that would work until they were... a lot of people these days work until they're 65, maybe even older and in jobs they don't really like. And don't get me wrong, many do love their jobs. I can think of one friend of mine who's... I won't mention his name, who's still doing it at age 65 or 66 and he still loves what he does. So that's great. But the amount of people that hated their jobs for their entire adult life, and they had to wait until they were like 65, so they felt like they could afford to retire like how much time do you have left now? 

[00:27:10] Sheri: Right. And how many people do we know that the year or two after they retired, or people on their retirement vacation passed away, you know, so we don't have that. So that has always, always been something that tugs at my heart. That's the problem I see in the world that I want to help fix. And I did it, like I said, originally through the direct sales realm, but now I get to do that in a much more open way.

[00:27:35] Tom:  Right. The world is just wide open now.

[00:27:37] Sheri: Right, for anything. Yeah.

[00:27:39] Tom: So, explain the process of helping one, just like one individual or a small group of people, explain the process of what you do now to help them discover their calling. And you did say something interesting earlier, and I know we'll come back to vision because you keep talking about coming back to vision. But you did say something earlier today about remembering that the calling that you're helping them discover may not be a career, it may be something they do outside of their career that really fills them and makes the career part of it, just something they do while they're getting to this other thing. But the process is really amazing. So go ahead and just explain that if you can. 

[00:28:19] Sheri: Right, So, the process is really a four-phase process, or four-element process, as I should say. I take them through 12 phases, but there’s 12 main steps in it. And again, these are the steps that, looking back, I took myself through these past three years to get where I am today. And the first one is knowing you. It’s knowing who you are at your core. What are your natural talents and strengths? So we use the CliftonStrengths Assessment. As for the first part, we had a lot of time on that. We talk about core values. What are your core values? What are your non-negotiables in life? What are your skills?

[00:28:55] Sheri: And here's the beautiful thing. You know, back when I was in my twenties and trying to figure out what I wanted to do, I didn't have all these skill sets. And that's what's really cool 'cuz most of the people I work with today, they're like forties, fifties. So all the things you've been doing up to here, you’ve got skills that have now come with you. You have experiences, you have all these things that come with you to move into the future with. So it's really, really cool. And what you didn't like, you can leave behind. So it's really cool. So the youth part of this is huge. It's all those things about you. 

[00:29:35] Tom: You say, you're a part of me. 

[00:29:38] Sheri: It’s you. Y-O-U- It's who you are. Your talents, your strengths, your skills, your experiences, your core values, all of that. Then we look at the vision. And the vision is what do you want your life to look like moving forward? And this is where I wanted to come back because that was another element of me leaving Mary Kay, because you and I had already started talking about what happens when you retire. And we were on a five at that point, I think a five to seven year plan of.

[00:30:07] Tom: You might have got extended a couple of years.

[00:30:09] Sheri: Yeah. It got extended quite a bit. But, anyway, we knew when you were ready to retire that we wanted to buy a bigger boat and travel on that boat down the East Coast. And I realized that running a direct sales business was not really going to work. Living on a sailboat. 

[00:30:30] Tom: You weren't going to keep the product? 

[00:30:31] Sheri: No. No. You know if I really wanted, maybe I could have made it work, I don't know, but I didn't want to make it work. It seemed like more headache than it would've been worse. So I realized that for my vision  of what I want our lives to look like. And I also knew that I wanted to be able. If I want to take August off, I want to take August off. If I want to take July and August off, I want to take July and August off. So, you know, that was the vision I had for us. We didn't know it at the time, but now our vision is we need a lot of freedom and flexibility to travel because we have six grandkids in three different pockets. You know the northeast.

[00:31:10] Tom: Right. And we're trying--

[00:31:13] Sheri: Right. And I know, I want to be able to travel to see my grandkids every other three months at the most or so, at the least. So these things are all part of that vision, and that's part of the process is like what do you want your life to work look like? And it even comes down, and I mean, the exercise I take people through is like, "It's even like what hours of the day do you want to work?" You already shared, I'm a morning person. If I have my way, I get my best work done in my pajamas between seven and 10 o'clock in the morning. You know, so I don't do client calls in my pajamas. But Tom's choking on his beer with that thought.

[00:31:57] Tom: Excuse me.

[00:31:58] Sheri: But some people are not... It's like all these things that you get to design moving forward. This is your calling. You can create whatever you want. So that's the vision piece. And then the mission is that what I was just sharing earlier, what's the problem you see in the world that tugs at your heart and you know you can solve it. And it doesn't have to be this grand... I'm gonna feed the starving children in Africa, that kind of thing. And you know, world peace. No, it's like I said, mine is seeing people spend half their life in a job they hate to wait for retirement to enjoy life. That's my ‘’Thing’’ that I see in the world that I want to help solve.

[00:32:41] Sheri: Other people might see, like one of my clients, that I always go back to her but she is very well organized. She sees that, "Oh, new homeowners, maybe they don't know how all the things that should be done in their house for the year," she wants to help them. She also helps organize a closet. I mean, me, I want to shut the closet door. I'm not going to look in there, but she can help organize the closet, that's the problem she sees. Another one of my clients. She's an extremely good speaker, and she has a process and how she does that. She can teach people how to do that. So those are just examples of the different problems. You see a different problem than somebody else. So it's that mission that you have that tugs at your heart. 

[00:33:22] Sheri: And then the last step is the impact. And this brings it to what does the world need you to show up and do? And for a lot of us, it's what people are willing to pay money for. That's a problem they want solved.

[00:33:38] Tom: Right. At the end of the day, everybody needs to make a living at the same time, right? 

[00:33:43] Sheri: Right. Now, again, we'll come back in a minute to, ‘’Not all the time is your calling. Going to create a paycheck." But for most of us, we want to be compensated for it. We want our calling to be our next career per se. So that's the final step. So it's you, your vision, your mission, and then the impact you want to make. 

[00:34:05] Tom: That's really cool. Just those four elements, I think they're really cool. I like that. And we talked about that earlier today, as you've been putting your program together, you've been developing that and I've really thought that was really cool. And like I said, we talked about that earlier today. 

[00:34:22] Sheri: Yeah. And I think looking back, you had asked earlier what was it that made me switch again from trying to work in corporate to this Discovering Your Calling? And really, it was I saw that the need, like the problem I see and want to solve. I saw it was a huge problem people needed solved because having conversations with people over and over again of ‘’I don't like my job. I don't know if I can stay here. It's eating me, you know, sucking the soul out of me. I have no energy, but I have no idea." This was the phrase everybody finishes those comments with, ‘’But I have no idea what I would do.’’

[00:34:58] Tom: Right. And that's great  because now, you've got a process. And this is what I love. And with all the discussions we've had, you actually have a process to take someone who really doesn't know. They just know that they're stuck. They're in a situation that they don't want to be in because they don't really feel fulfilled or whatever. And you've developed this process to help them move forward and discover their own calling, and then work within that calling. Again, whether it actually falls into a career field or something outside of a career field, because there are many people that have callings outside of their career field that they haven't even realized that they have. And then I love the process. So, what is it that you love about the situation you're in now? What do you love most about it? 

[00:35:46] Sheri: One, I just love... I love seeing people get that like, "Oh, I didn't even know that was a thing. Oh, people would pay for that?" And seeing people have those AHA moments, I love that it's a bigger impact because it's not just even about that one person when they get that, it's when they start getting excited again about what they're doing or what they're even working towards, it changes their relationships at home. It changes the energy that they bring into life. You know, it just makes people happier like it really brings joy.

[00:36:29] Sheri: And I love it. For me, I know without a doubt that this is what I'm supposed to be doing because this... I mean, yes, there's a lot of pieces to it that the technical stuff and the backend and creating a sales page and blah, blah, blah. But when I'm working with people, I love it, and it's easy. Things seem to be  falling into place now versus when I was working with leaders last year, and it was like ugh, dead end after dead end, pothole after pothole.’ 

[00:36:59] Tom: What would you say is different as compared to three years ago? I mean, in terms of how you feel, what's different? 

[00:37:08] Sheri: Clarity.

[00:37:09] Tom: Clarity. Yeah.

[00:37:11] Sheri: Yeah. Crystal clear. You know, having crystal-clear clarity that, "Oh, this is it." 

[00:37:16] Tom: Right. And I think you even have something you call a "Clarity Call," where you discuss with potential clients. They get you thinking on a clear... which I think is really cool. So before someone decides to spend money with you, work on discovering their calling, you'll give them a "Clarity Call" and explain what a "Clarity Call" is. 

[00:37:34] Sheri: Yeah. I mean, you won't have clarity on your calling in 30 minutes, but it's more clarity, 'Do we even want to work together? Do we mesh?' And I usually can help people with one, maybe at least see that there's possibilities and hope out there. 

[00:37:49] Tom: And everybody always looks back on this. So through this process, what would you do if you had a crystal ball and could have looked into the future, what would you do differently in this process as compared to when you first started having the angst that maybe, direct sales isn't where you want to be anymore? What would you do differently to get from there to where you are today?

[00:38:17] Sheri: Oh. You know, I don't really regret as far as process of how I decided to step away from that. It worked for me. The only thing I can think of that I absolutely would've done differently is... and I had worked with some coaches but they weren't the right coach to see this. My only real regret, two regrets. One, I would've done the CliftonStrengths became certified with them sooner. I would've invested in that sooner. And that was the only thing the investment was what held me back. That was a major investment.

[00:38:52] Sheri: And second of all, I wish there had been somebody in my life to see when I pivoted into the leadership realm to say ‘’No, why are you doing that, Sheri? Let's just see, what do we need to tweak here?" And that would've saved me a year off

[00:39:06] Tom: So the person, that coach, if you will, that would've been able to see that maybe what you're thinking of isn't going to be the right thing for you. And do you feel like for other folks that that might be something you can do for them? Help them figure that out? 

[00:39:19] Sheri: Hopefully.

[00:39:20] Tom: Hopefully. Yeah.

[00:39:21] Sheri: And you know, with this program, I was just talking to somebody who's thinking about joining the group program is, here's my promise, is that you are not going to walk away in 90 days with a business intact. But what you hopefully will walk away with is that clarity that took me three years to get. And then we work on what's the next steps. You'll end with a plan of like, ‘"Okay, what are the steps now you need to go forward and start implementing.’’ And I do, you get your hands dirty in the program? Like we get your hands dirty in it. So... 

[00:40:00] Tom: Yeah, all right. Well, with that, we've been at this now 42 minutes. And I know that, you've talked about you don't wanna lose people. So... but before we end, I'd ask what are some of the books and/or quotes that have inspired you along this journey that you've always felt really spoke to you. 

[00:40:19] Sheri: Well, it was really... it's hard for me to say a book 'cuz as you know, I am an avid reader, and I probably have thousands of books that I've read.

[00:40:26] Tom: Does anybody need any books? You know, just name one, I probably got it and I'm sure she probably got it and I can sneak it away and send it to them. 

[00:40:33] Sheri: Yeah. So there have been hundreds of books that have made an impact. But there's one quote that I always go back to that I absolutely love, and Mark Twain has been credited with it. Whether or not he actually wrote it is debatable, but he's been credited with it so we're going to give him credit for it. And it's that, "20 years from now, you'll be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bow line, sail away from the safe harbor, and catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, dream, and discover."

[00:41:05] Tom: Excellent, excellent. And I think that speaks a lot towards you're doing. So that's really great. All right. Are there any last minute things you'd like to say as we close? I'm gonna turn it back over to you 'cuz it is your podcast. So I'll actually let you do the closing. I asked a lot of questions and we had a great discussion, but I'm going to turn it back over to you now. 

[00:41:26] Sheri: No, and thank you, Tom. You did a great job. And in a future podcast, I will be interviewing Tom on the show because he is one of the rare people out there that I look at because I think there are a lot more of people like myself that you are always kind of searching for that calling. Or maybe you had a career that was your calling and now you're wondering what's next. So I think we are more the norm, whereas Tom is one of those people that at three years old, knew exactly what he wanted to do and he did it. But, there are also pieces of his story that are can be impactful. So he will be a guest on a future show. 

[00:42:04] Sheri: And I just want to finish, too. Something else to look forward to in another upcoming episode is Tom kept saying this but we'll be interviewing Tom's cousin, Mike Newhouse who is a runner. And his calling is not his job. His job pays the bills, his calling is his running. So sometimes, your calling is a hobby. It comes in a different form than how you actually make an income. So I'll just put that out there and you'll have to wait to hear the rest of Mike's story. But it's pretty powerful. Pretty powerful.

.

[00:42:34] Sheri: So thank you, as always, for listening to the Discovering Your Calling Podcast. And if you are interested in hearing any more about the Discovering Your Calling Group Program, we're kicking it off this week, actually. If you're listening to this podcast live at the end of January 2023, we are starting this group program. And also, if you just wanna schedule a Clarity Call and see if we are fit to work together at any time. The links are in the show notes.