When I made the decision to leave my management position at my corporate job a few years ago, I did so with the understanding that the job had actually given me the training to run my own business.

I had this epiphany one day on the job. I was walking the department, order book in hand, making an order for the department. I literally walked from one end of the department to the other, stopping to face the sales floor.

And when I turned and looked out ahead of me, the thought suddenly came. I began to think of my department as my own little business within the larger facility.

And then I thought that the company was actually teaching and training me to run a business:

• I was learning inventory, merchandising, customer relations, supervising employees, and leadership ability.
• I was getting coaching experience–long before I decided to become a professional coach–through my daily interactions with the associates in my department.
• I was also learning the administrative aspects of the job, such as sales and labor projections.

My favorite thing, connected to the paperwork side of the job, was reviewing the department’s profit and loss report (P & L), and seeing how much profit the department had gained from week-to-week and for the year.

I mention this last part especially because it was in the first year of my tenure as manager that the department had become profitable—and was making money consistently the additional three years I was there. I realized that the job had taught me not just how to run a business—but the ability to make that business profitable.

The company also taught me how to run a two-manager department (every department has a manager and assistant manager) by myself. When I arrived at the facility, I was an assistant manager. Three months in, my department manager was transferred out—and not replaced. I was told that I was “the strongest of all the talent in the district” and could run the department myself. And I did for the next 6 months (the time in which the department went from being in the red to the black).

Remember when I said I was learning about business on the job? I was savvy (which is translation for intuitive) enough to read what was really going on with the “strongest talent” observation: I was the most recent managerial promotion in the district at the time—which also meant the lowest paid—and the facility was benefiting from having me perform the work of two people and being paid one salary.

Making the department profitable ensured a promotion, which I did get. And the rumor was that I was going to get promoted—and still remain a one-manager operation. I did eventually get an assistant—but she had so many personal issues going on in her life–which directly affected her attendance–that I might as well have continued to be by myself.

Those experiences taught me that I could run a solo operation, and I do now. And I also work with people who also want to become solo spiritually-based business owners.

Which brings me to the gist of this article: Maybe you’re like I was, and you have a “day job” and perform your spiritual service “on the side,” (I was conducting Tarot consultations and Dream Decoding sessions around my demanding day job schedule) with the hope and dream of turning it into a full-time business and ditching the job.

If that’s you, I want you to consider how your “day job” is training you for the time you’re ready to step into your spiritual service biz full-time.

You know it’s no accident that you’re there. So what transferable skills are you learning that you’ll be taking with you when you say “hasta la vista, baby” to the job?

You’re there now because you wouldn’t get those skills anywhere else.

I’ve told you mine—now I want you to tell me yours. Share your thoughts and experiences with me in the comments section below.

Your partner in learning on the job,

James

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