Dear Lee #5: The Truth About Leaving A Lucrative Career
On taking a 69% pay cut, adjusting my lifestyle, and forging a new path.
Welcome to Dear Lee, the advice column where we dive into topics like changing habits after leaving the cult of wellness and letting go of how our Instagram content performs. This column is for paid subscribers only. Want a question answered? Submit yours here.
Hi Lee,
I've read about how you walked away from a high-paying six-figure career as an influencer and took a 69% pay cut of your income overnight. I'm curious to know how this transition was for you and how it impacted your life.
I’m no influencer, but I’m contemplating a similar leap of faith in my own line of work. I want to leave my job in PR/Comms and focus more on my ceramics and writing. Could you share some insights into this journey and the personal challenges and triumphs you encountered along the way? Was it worth it?
Thank you for being a source of wisdom and inspiration.
XO
Scared to Make Less
Hi Scared to Make Less,
I’m so glad you asked this question.
We tend to romanticize the idea of leaving the big-big job to follow our hobbies. “Love what you do and you’ll never have to work a day in your life”, they say.
Just this weekend I was re-watching Bridesmaids, and one of Annie’s (Kristen Wiig’s character) plots is that she had a bakery and it went out of business, and now she works for someone else in a job she hates. Her cute cop boyfriend is trying to get her back to her passion, baking, throughout the course of her relationship.
Last year, Beyoncé’s hit song “BREAK MY SOUL”’s line, (“Release ya job”) caused a stir that echoed the current cultural sentiment: F*ck the big man. Do what you love.
But here’s the truth when it comes to leaving a high-paying job and taking a leap of faith: it’s scary, and it’s not always easy. Let’s face reality: making good money brings privileges that allow life to be easy. It affords you a life of less stress, a life that lets you think about things beyond your immediate needs.
Adjusting to a pay cut after leaving a high-paying job comes with a lot of learning, a lot of trudging through murky waters, but mostly: a lot of fear.
In my case, the job that paid me well that I wanted to leave was influencing. I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do next, but I knew I needed to leave.