999 Drea Lynn:

Wings of Inspired Business Podcast EP999 – Host Melinda Wittstock Interviews Drea Lynn

Melinda Wittstock:

Coming up on Wings of Inspired Business:

Drea Lynn:

I went to my company to tell them that I had decided to make this shift. You know, I had started this division of COOs. We had a great relationship. I did not want to leave them in a lurch, uh, here’s a 3-to-6-month plan. And so, I went in on a Tuesday, and they told me Friday was going to be my last day. And that was not a part of my plan, that I was going from an income to zero in 4 days. And so all of a sudden, my 6-month kind of runway of finances I had for living plus income quickly dwindled down because now I have business expenses plus living expenses plus zero income in a, in a business coming in plus zero income in a salary.

Melinda Wittstock:

Making the transition from corporate job to business founder is never easy, even with the best-laid plans. So, when it comes time to make your big leap, how can you avoid all the pitfalls of a plan that quickly turns to panic. For Drea Lynn, the very first entrepreneurial lesson – how and when to pivot – came faster than expected. A corporate COO who had spent years leading high-performing teams, Drea went from six-figure salary to six-figures in debt before she built her multi-million-dollar consultancy, and she now helps professionals make the leap into entrepreneurship with the four-phase Smart Quit framework, and entrepreneurs escape burnout, scale with confidence, and take control of their business and life with The Smart Shift System®.

Melinda Wittstock:

Hi, I’m Melinda Wittstock and welcome to Wings of Inspired Business, where we share the inspiring entrepreneurial journeys, epiphanies, and practical advice from successful female founders … so you have everything you need at your fingertips to build the business and life of your dreams. I believe in paying it forward, so as a five-time serial entrepreneur, I started this podcast almost 10 years ago to catalyze an ecosystem where women entrepreneurs mentor, promote, buy from, and invest in each other. Because together we’re stronger, and we all soar higher when we fly together and lift as we climb. Please take a moment, hit subscribe so you never miss an episode, tell your friends and colleagues, and we appreciate it when you help this wisdom get discovered with a 5-star rating and review. 

Melinda Wittstock:

Today we meet an inspiring entrepreneur who is on a mission to help people cash in and clock out, by helping them transition from unfulfilling jobs to building bold and living free as entrepreneurs. Drea Lynn is an attorney, former corporate COO and author of the book Smart Quit, and she’s the first to admit, she learned the hard way how to make the leap into entrepreneurship. 

Melinda Wittstock:

So today we talk about the art and strategy of making a “smart quit” from corporate life. The biggest lesson? A massive mindset shift – including finding inspiration through personal missteps, getting comfortable outside your comfort zone, and embracing the inherent unpredictability of building a business.  Financial planning is important too, so you don’t run out of cash as you bootstrap to your first paying customers, and as Drea says, and it’s 100% accurate, progress always takes longer than what you expect. 

Melinda Wittstock:

We dig into Drea’s step-by-step four ‘P’ framework of Prepare, Position, Pivot, and Profit, plus how to cultivate resilience, avoid desperate decisions, and find true freedom in the work you choose. 

Melinda Wittstock:

Let’s put on our wings with the inspiring Drea Lynn.

[INTERVIEW]

Melinda Wittstock:

Drea, welcome to Wings.

Drea Lynn:

Hi, thank you for having me.

Melinda Wittstock:

I love this whole idea about how to smart quit because people find themselves in these jobs that aren’t really working for them, and society is necessarily becoming more and more Entrepreneurial. So, tell me, what was the inspiration behind The Smart Quit? Because I suppose you yourself did a smart quit.

Drea Lynn:

Well, I tried to do a smart quit. And so, the inspiration behind it was probably my not-so-smart quit and wanting other people to be able to smart quit because of my mistakes and let me pay the costs so other people don’t have to pay them.

Melinda Wittstock:

What were those big mistakes?

Drea Lynn:

Yeah, I believe, you know, uh, one of the big ones was I really believed what made me successful in corporate was going to be the same skills that made me successful in the entrepreneurial world.

Melinda Wittstock:

Oh.

Drea Lynn:

And, and those— some of those things, um, are, are the same. They still take shape in a different way, and I don’t think I had totally prepared myself for just the complete different of mindset, just the way you have to operate. I mean, it’s just completely different. I think you need the same grit, determination, some of those things. But I also think my worst-case scenario— I had not really thought about the worst-case scenario. And so, I think I should have planned for a little bit longer of a financial runway. I should have planned a little bit longer to get my first client. I should have planned that, you know, my network that I was anticipating was going to be, you know, that circle that was going to be that business development.

Drea Lynn:

What would happen if that wasn’t? Like, I just knew that was going to be certain because really everything that I kind of put my hand on, you know, in my corporate or, you know, um, that career prior to this had really had kind of instant success. This is probably the first time that, you know, out of the starting block it was pretty tough for me. This was really the first time in my life. And so, but in hindsight, there were things that I could have done differently and better that I think other people could have. And Melinda, actually, the tagline of Smart Quit is actually more of what the book is about because the tagline is cash in and clock out. And really, I’m telling people to smart quit the idea that your work is just about cashing in as much money as possible and clocking out as soon as possible. Because if you think about your job as more than just taking a paycheck, but think about the skills, the relationships, the systems, and other resources that you can get. If you think about that while you’re working, you can prepare yourself for your smart quit of entrepreneurship better.

Drea Lynn:

And those were the things that really, I think, on the other side of before becoming an entrepreneur, I could have done to make that transition, uh, better. Some of those things I did very, very, very well, which is why I think I was able to recover. But, um, I think I could have done that more proactively, uh, on the front end.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, you know, you’re, you’re not alone in this because I haven’t met an entrepreneur, and I’ll say this about myself as well, that wasn’t wildly overoptimistic because you really believe in it. You found a gap in the market or a problem. And you, you, you can see, you, you have this vision, you can see this completed, right? So, like, it’s obviously a no-brainer because it’s a no-brainer to you. And so, and, and the problem is with entrepreneurship, um, is there’s so many things beyond your control, right? Like, you, you just can’t control a lot of the circumstances.

Drea Lynn:

Melinda, you know, but I almost think you almost need that optimism. Like, you almost need a little bit of that crazy—

Melinda Wittstock:

You do.

Drea Lynn:

Even if I won’t give it up, you know, I’m gonna, you know, sleep on the couch and hold on to it forever. I think you almost need that though when you think about successful entrepreneurs. It is that, that belief that they will not let go, that their thing is the thing that really makes them successful. So, it kind of— it’s like a double-edged sword because it is something that could be what defeats you, but it also is your success too.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah. How to balance, how to balance that. But I think the thing you said is that it’s always true, is it always takes longer than what you think.

Drea Lynn:

Oh, yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

Always. Yeah, I can’t find any, any of my businesses or any of the women that I’ve interviewed on this show. It’s like more than 1,000 people now, um, uh, that, that haven’t experienced that. It takes at least twice the time for anything that you’re doing.

Drea Lynn:

And I actually think now, and it’s one of the things that brings me joy because I’m able to work with those who are a little bit younger than me. And I think now with our microwave age and with social media, I kind of think it’s a little bit difficult for those to really understand the time and energy and commitment that it takes to become like an overnight success. That behind every overnight success is like 10 years or even longer.

Melinda Wittstock:

A lot of real grind. Well, I mean, the other thing about entrepreneurship is entrepreneurship is continual learning. So, you have to be open to learning. And I, I know you— and we’ll get into this— you talk about the pivot because on one hand you’re maniacally, you know, loyal to your own vision and, and heading towards your North Star, but you got to pivot along the way. And knowing the difference, yes, right, is, is tricky. Talk to me a little bit about that, like, in your own journey. So, like, you, you leave your job as a COO, you know, you start your business, it’s taking longer. 

Melinda Wittstock:

And so how did you balance all of that yourself?

Drea Lynn:

Well, and I’ll even start at the point of leaving because really my first step in my plan that, that really got shifted was when I went to my company to tell them that I had decided to make this shift. You know, I had started this division of COOs. We had a great relationship. I, you know, I thought I was, you know, served them well. And I really had this plan because I did not want to leave them in a lurch, uh, to talk to them about, you know, really, hey, here’s a 3-to-6-month plan. You know, I don’t— I’m not trying to, you know, leave you guys tomorrow. Uh, you know, how can this transition be healthy so, you know, I can slowly, as I’m building my business, uh, transition out, but then also you guys can find somebody to replace me. But really, they felt that the business I was building was too similar to what I was in.

Drea Lynn:

And so, I went in on a Tuesday, and they told me Friday was going to be my last day. And that was not a part of my plan, that I was going from an income to zero in 4 days. And so all of a sudden, my 6-month kind of runway of finances I had for living plus income quickly dwindled down because now I have business expenses plus living expenses plus zero income in a, in a business coming in plus zero income in a salary. Um, and, and that probably was my first pivot where I was like, whoa, that was not my plan. And, and, and, you know, part of what my book is about is how do you leave with a plan instead of in panic? Because then when you start panicking, your decision-making changes. When you have a plan, you kind of have to make more rational decisions versus when you’re panicking. Sometimes your decisions, you’re either, you know, how you go to flight or fight, or you kind of get stuck. And you look back and you’re like, oh, would I have made that decision had I really had the time to think through? And that probably was when I started making my first pivoting, because now I look back and I think, uh, my first few clients, I would not have actually probably taken them had I had a better transition into entrepreneurship and starting my business.

Drea Lynn:

Um, but, but I had to because I had to, you know, I had to make money, you know, whatever way I could have.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right. Yeah. So having that, having that runway is, is so important and knowing what that runway is going to be. So, like, if you are planning a business and you’re kind of gainfully employed, like say you’re an executive or you’re a team member or team leader or whatever in a corporation and you have this idea, you basically need to build— burn the midnight oil before you even announce you’re leaving. You have to have something to land into, I would imagine.

Drea Lynn:

Absolutely. And it’s extremely personal because depending on— in my situation, I’m a single woman. And so, I don’t have a second income. Maybe if you’re married and you have a second income, that may look differently for you of how soon you can do so. But if you have kids and, you know, maybe you have a college tuition you’re paying for or, you know, private school, you really need to do a self-evaluation of how long that runway needs to be. How much money does that need to be? You know, do you need income from your side business coming in to supplement some of that salary that you’re going to lose prior to leaving? So, a lot of that pre-work, you know, my book is separated into phases. And in that prepare phase, that’s what you’re doing. You’re evaluating What, what can we, what can we sacrifice? What, what, what is, what needs to remain? Like, what, what must we have? And really run and crunch the numbers so you get to that freedom number of saying, okay, this is where we need to be prior to me being able to have any conversation with my company, just in case they say, hey, today is your last day, that you can comfortably make that shift into whatever’s next.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right. I mean, entrepreneurship is hard enough without having to worry about where your next meal is coming from. If you’re in that scarcity mindset, everything about the company is— that’s just going to weave itself into the company itself. Like, every sale is going to be desperate. It’s difficult to close a sale with a client if you really need the money, you know, personally.

Drea Lynn:

Oh, oh, that is such a good point because they’re going to smell desperation. I think about— and I actually, thankfully, looking back, I didn’t take the client. But this was my first sales kind of pitch that I did. And at the end of it, you know, I kind of told the guy how much my fee was. And I remember because I, I did it with this whole leadership team, and it was the CEO, and he said— he asked for the whole leadership team to leave, and he sat me down. He said, ‘so how much is it really going to cost?’ And I was like, you know, I told him my fee again. He was like, no, like, how much are you willing to take?

Drea Lynn:

Like, and so then I asked him, ‘how much is your budget’? Because at this point, I really, you know, I’m— I need anything. And he was like, my budget is however, how, you know, the minimum amount you’re willing to take. Well, at that point, it was too much of not a core value match. Like, I don’t— that, that started to feel icky to me where I didn’t want to do business. But I’m sure he just smelled the desperation of like, just, I just needed a dollar. And you don’t want to be in that position where, you know, the person on the other side is just smelling that, you know, it’s kind of free, the blood is in the water. Um, and so I totally agree with you.

Melinda Wittstock:

Exactly. Because that, that leads to also, if you do accept clients like that in the early stages, I’ve seen so many women in service businesses do this where they’re under— they’re over-delivering and undercharging.

Drea Lynn:

Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

And then burning out because they’ve got you know, just the act of servicing all these clients. And then there’s— then they get stuck in this loop of, oh my God, where are my next clients coming from? And oh, it can be— it can— well, it’s definitely a recipe for burnout. And it doesn’t really work. I think it’s interesting, though, what you’re doing right now. And I think your book and all of this is very timely because of the impact of AI on our society.

Drea Lynn:

Hmm.

Melinda Wittstock:

People are necessarily going to have to become at least entrepreneurial.

Drea Lynn:

Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

Because there’s like, just the idea of job security seems quaint now.

Drea Lynn:

Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

Like, you can’t rely, like, on any— it feels like you can’t really rely on anyone except yourself and your ability to get great team members to help you and your ability to just have all these entrepreneurial skills. Right. So, is your book very much in your process, very much about teaching that kind of entrepreneurial grit or spirit that you need even within a job market?

Drea Lynn:

Absolutely. And I’m so glad you said that because that’s one of the things I talk about. This is not like entrepreneur versus employee. And I think sometimes there is this mindset of like, oh, you know, entrepreneur is better than working for somebody or working for somebody. You know, these entrepreneurs are all over the place. I always say, If you’re a good entrepreneur, you want employees. And so, because your business is going to grow, so you don’t want to like be downplaying, you know, people who actually work for people because you’re going to want somebody to work for you. And the opposite too, you want people to be building businesses because if you want to work for somebody, you need someone to build that business.

Drea Lynn:

And so, it isn’t an either or. But I do say that, you know, to build real wealth, you do need to have ownership. So even if you are working for someone, you’re talking about that entrepreneurial mindset. You do want that mindset of growth and building and ownership. And even if you are working for somebody, having that in terms of leadership or owning what you’re owning in terms of your work, there, there is that, um, of how to think like an entrepreneur. And I talk about the, the step in how to become an entrepreneur is also shifting your mind from thinking like an employee to a CEO, because as soon as you step into owning a business there’s no one who’s going to be giving you tasks to do or tell you the problems to solve or tell you what’s next. And that is a, a very big shift in mindset if you’ve been used to that your entire career. And so, you— that’s training that you need to do on the front end.

Drea Lynn:

So, we talk about that and we have kind of quizzes to kind of talk about the difference in that shift and what that looks like before you actually have to make that launch. And so that’s part of that transition.

Melinda Wittstock:

That’s really important too. So, for any young company that’s entrepreneurial, hiring people from corporate America can be a disaster because in any young startup, like, say, all of mine have been like, you know, tech companies, uh, you know, that you need people that show initiative and like just natural problem solvers. Like they see a gap or they see a problem and they roll up their sleeves and they go and fix it like they’re self-driving people. Those are the kind of employees that you need, or team members. And so, if their background was in corporate America and they were just waiting for tasks to be given to them, they haven’t developed that muscle. So those types of people fail spectacularly if they get hired into a startup.

Drea Lynn:

Right, right. And I actually encourage when I talk to— actually talk to sometimes HR teams in corporate and talk to them about sometimes if you hear some of your, your talent talking about they want to leave to start something, that’s probably the talent that you may want to stay. And the way in which you do that is they— you give them ownership within your team. Like, there is ways where you can give someone P&L within your company because those are the owners. Those are the ones who have ownership mindset, and they really are your A+ people, to your point, because those are the ones who are problem solvers. They are the ones, and usually they’re trying to go start something on their own because they don’t feel the challenge. They don’t feel that ownership. They don’t feel that sense of purpose where they are in where they’re sitting.

Drea Lynn:

And so, they’re going to build it for themselves. And so, to your point there, you have to be able to identify that and build that into your own teams, so they don’t go and launch it for themselves. Because that, that type of talent, if they aren’t being led well, that is what they do. They jump ship and they’re like, oh, Uh-uh, if you can’t lead me well, if I feel like a better leader than you, if I feel like I’m solving bigger, bigger problems than you, I can go solve them for myself. And that’s usually what happens.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, no, that’s 100% true. So many entrepreneurs, particularly women entrepreneurs, were intrapreneurial within their company. I know I was like this in my, in my 20s. You know, I was a journalist, but also it was, you know, an executive producer creating television shows and such. But I was, I was doing that on my own initiative within large companies, whether it was News Corp or the BBC or whatever. And I got incredibly frustrated. I was like, okay, that’s it. I’m just gonna go build my own, you know, my first business was a news agency.

Melinda Wittstock:

Like, I can do this better, like, on my own, right? And like, it’s like, they had ideas to innovate. And I, yeah, it was like, no, we don’t do that this way here, right? So, okay, well, go watch me. I’m gonna go do that. Right.

Drea Lynn:

Yeah, but that’s also just speaking to someone who is in someone’s company right now, because I think about now being an entrepreneur, all the things that I can do in my business because I did not wait to ask somebody for, for me to learn something that was not underneath my purview or control or underneath my job description. There’s so much I learned just by being curious and asking questions and taking on responsibility that wasn’t mine, that it might have looked like I was overworked or, or, you know, doing too much that I wasn’t being paid for. But I am benefiting from that exponentially now in my business because, you know, there are so many things that would not have been, you know, oh, this was under Drea’s job description, but I’m not having to pay somebody for it now. Or even if I am paying somebody for it now, I know the value of it because I know how to do it. So, somebody’s not going to be able to you know, rip me off because I 100% know, you know, the X’s and O’s of how to get it done. And that’s from me really being, um, what you said, uh, entrepreneur in the business and, and not waiting for people to tell me, oh, you know, that’s not your area. Oh no, no, no, you know, this isn’t your team. I’m like, no, no, if you open a door for me, I’m gonna sit there because I want to learn.

Drea Lynn:

I want to explore. I want any, any, anywhere relationship Any skill, any system I want, I want to be there so I can grow as much as possible.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, 100%. So, let’s walk through your system and how you work with your clients. You’ve got a framework: Prepare, Position, Pivot, Profit. I love the alliteration of that. I love it. Yeah, it makes it sound easy, but it’s not. So, take me through how you work with your clients.

Drea Lynn:

Yes. So usually someone comes to me and they’re like— and, and this is how I, uh, started with my book. Someone came to me and they said, hey, oh my gosh, I want to be an entrepreneur. I want to leave my company and start a business. And they— and this happened to me a lot. And I, I realized, I said, oh, I’m making entrepreneurship look way too easy. I was like, hold on. And I love entrepreneurship, but I was like, hold on, pause a minute.

Drea Lynn:

You know, this isn’t something just you know, you want to leave your job tomorrow, just jump there. There’s a lot of steps before that. And definitely, if you have the security of a paycheck right now, let’s keep that as we are preparing. There’s no reason to— your point you said earlier— there’s no reason to do this without, you know, bringing in something, um, as you’re establishing the foundation for it if you don’t have to. And so first, the prepare is really about what we’re talking about, that mental, okay, what is the reason that you really want to do this? You know, if somebody tells me they want to do this because they don’t like their boss, um, that’s not enough purpose-driven to keep you in entrepreneurship when entrepreneurship gets hard. If you’re leaving your job because you don’t like your boss, there are going to be things in entrepreneurship that’s going to make you jump ship in entrepreneurship.

Melinda Wittstock:

Mm-hmm.

Drea Lynn:

So really, there’s a lot of self-work and self-evaluation to do to say, hey, what is really the reason why you’re wanting to become an entrepreneur? You’re wanting to build something. And so, we really talk about that. really go through and dig deep and talk about, as I mentioned, kind of the mindset of shifting from being an employee to a CEO, kind of from a fixer to a founder.

Drea Lynn:

And so, employee to CEO, fixer to founder, and just making sure really you’re, you’re ready mentally for, hey, you’re no longer going to be an employee, you’re going to be an entrepreneur, because that is, as we were talking about, this seismic shift. And then we start talking about, hey, what is this business going to be? And so, is it going to be a service or a product? Have you already started? So, do you have this side hustle idea that now you’re just wanting to build into an actual business? And so, the prepare phase is really just building the foundation of mental and then whatever this business is going to be. And so that is— that’s that phase 1 of what that looks like, right?

Melinda Wittstock:

And so, the preparing is everything. Like, sometimes you have to go a little bit slower, um, to go faster. So, then you’re talking about positioning. We’ll go through all your, your, your 4 Ps here. We’ve done prepare. So, what is the work on the positioning?

Drea Lynn:

Yes. So now that you’ve done the prepare, it should set you up where you know what you need to do for positioning. So now you know, okay, so is this going to be a 6-month kind of time frame that I’m going to be working? Is this going to be a year? Is this going to be 2 years that I need to ask preparation? Because maybe you said, hey, you know, there are certain certifications that would make this transition better. Now you know, oh, I need a year worth of runway. Whatever you did in the prepare stage should have said the work that needs to do in positioning. There may be certain relationships that you may want in your job that would help with this transition. Maybe you want to be on certain teams, or maybe you want a promotion at your job that would put you in a certain position where you would learn something that would help you. And so that’s really what you’re talking about in the positioning stage.

Drea Lynn:

Whatever money that you need to earn, whatever skills that you need to learn, whatever relationships that you need to build, whatever systems that you need to be, um, working on, uh, developing and learning— that’s what you’re doing when you’re positioning yourself. So, whatever you kind of set the foundation for and preparing, you’re positioning yourself for in the position stage.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, 100%. So, pivot. This is when you get out there and you— and all the perfect plans are perfect until they’re not, right?

Drea Lynn:

Right.

Melinda Wittstock:

I assume this is what gets us into pivot. Um, you got to be kind of nimble and flexible, and you’re going to be learning a lot of stuff along the way, right?

Drea Lynn:

Right. So, the last, the last part of the position is— I call it writing your exit story. So, it’s not a resignation letter. You get to, you know, because you want to leave well, because you never know what relationships or You know, your, your last job might be your first client. You just never know. And so, you kind of write this exit story and it leads you into the pivot, which should be, if you did it well, you know, you actually have a sustained, a real business. You know, I, I just had a conversation with, um, a, a client and she was telling me how she kept pivoting, but she kept pivoting to things that wasn’t making any money. And I was telling her until she made money, it actually was a hobby and not yet a business, and stopped pivoting until she— no one had told her what she was pivoting to was actually a need that there was a demand for.

Drea Lynn:

And I told her, I said, I think you should find something that someone is actually saying that is a problem that they’re willing to pay for. And I think that’s where the business is. And so, you know, we should be pivoting somewhere where there’s actually, you know, someone paying you for either the product or the service. And so that’s where we have actual income coming in. And so that’s where we’ve leveled up. We are that CEO that we have transitioned ourselves into, and we are scaling into that actual business being built. And so that is that actual shifting stage.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right. And obviously along the way, as you’re growing it, I mean, you’re learning, you’re learning from your customers. I mean, you’re learning.

Drea Lynn:

Absolutely.

Melinda Wittstock:

Your operations, you’re learning what works, what doesn’t. You’re figuring out what kind of help you need, when you can hire, all these things, right? Um, and there are so many lessons along that path. Like, what’s your best channel? Like, who are your best customers?

Drea Lynn:

And that is so good. And I think to stay nimble, you know, sometimes we’ll say, oh, you know, my, my, um, my customer is going to be 21 to 25-year-olds. But if 40-year-olds is buying your product, I suggest your market be 40-year-olds, you know, and just so, so never get stuck in a place where what the data is telling you, you can’t move to fit what it is telling, you know, because sometimes we’ll get stuck in our mind and say, no, this is what it needs to be. And it’s like, no, no, no, just make sure that you’re ever able to move and, and really be flexible to be able to make those changes if necessary. Um, you know, when required.

Melinda Wittstock:

100%. Okay. And then we get into the fun part, profit.

Drea Lynn:

Yes. And profit here for me is 2 ways because really profit, of course, is the financial profit. But also, I’m really talking about what does freedom really look like for you? Because a lot of times we talk about wanting, you know, everybody wants to be, you know, millionaires and billionaires, but we really need to count the costs on what do you really want your business to look for? What are you really building this for? You know, what does quality of life look like for you? Um, what, what is it really? Do you want more time with your family? Are you trying to, you know, have more vacation time? What you don’t want to do is to be leaving— to be leaving your job and creating a prison for yourself where you’re working 80 hours a week. And if you’re not very intentional about that on the front end, you will look around and you would have created something that you did not intend to. And so really we develop that and say, you know, these are the boundaries around what I want, what I’m building to look like. And so, this is what I’m— this is the freedom, or this is the— this is, this is what I am looking for of why I’m even becoming an entrepreneur. This is what I want my business to look like. And so that’s really what— yes, financial profit, but really also kind of the freedom of what is the life that you’re really trying to build out of this? What does that why look like?

Melinda Wittstock:

Exactly. Now, you also have a Smart Shift System. And so, tell me about that.

Drea Lynn:

Yes. And so, the Smart Shift System is this system. But it fits for— so, the Smart Quitter are individuals who are quitting from their job. And then, the Smart Shift System is also Smart Start, which is where I was talking about the HR development aspect of it. Where if you have someone in your business where they look like they’re shifting out of it, but you don’t want it to, how do you restart them where they actually will kind of get a restart and won’t want to leave? And then the start portion of it, where with universities, sometimes as graduates are graduating, they’re not necessarily graduating into their dream job. And so, the same principles on the skills, the relationships, and systems, we teach them those same skills and the models to help them. We’re saying, hey, this may not be your dream job, but you can really utilize this job to set you up for success for what’s next. And so maybe they want to be entrepreneurs, but maybe it’s for a job, for their next job.

Drea Lynn:

It’s still kind of training them in the same way. And so, the system is all of that. So Smart Quit, Smart Restart, and Smart Start Makes the whole smart shift system. Right.

Melinda Wittstock:

So, leadership is something that’s not really taught in school, right? Unless you’re maybe on a sports team, right? There are a lot of entrepreneurs that have successful entrepreneurs. And if you look in their background, they played sports as a kid. And they sort of learned leadership, and they learned teamwork and they learned all of that through sports often. But it’s not something that is taught in school or really emphasized. It’s more like you’re following a plan. It sort of mirrors more the corporate structure. A lot of people, I think, have the ability to be leaders, but they don’t really know how, or there’s some sort of mindset that holds them back, or they don’t really know how to be good leaders. So, talk to me about that, because that’s so much of a part of entrepreneurship as well.

Melinda Wittstock:

Like, your, your job as a CEO is to be working on the business, not in it, leading people, making sure that people have the resources they can to succeed, that your team is growing individually, that they’re contributing well, that they’re getting a lot out of it, all these different things, which requires great leadership skills. So how do people hone up on that?

Drea Lynn:

Yeah, you know, I really feel the biggest barriers to most people being a great leader is the lack of self-awareness, of being able to see their own, or a willingness to own their flaws. And what I mean by that is, and I think about me and my own leadership and the time that I was really able to dig deep and to see, like, my own insecurities and where that was impacting my leadership. and where just the places where I needed to grow, and I wasn’t being honest with myself. Once I had that discovery, just how it opened me up to be able to pour into my team and to really fit in. Because I believe I was holding my team down because I needed myself to be elevated because I had issues that I hadn’t dealt with. And so, I really believe when people can really do some self-evaluation and kind of see where they need to be better developed, then they can go in because there are resources out there. And definitely nowadays, there are resources everywhere. There are books, there are videos, there are programs.

[PROMO CREDIT]

Wings of Inspired Business is brought to you by the podcast, Zero Limits Business Growth Secrets where Steve Little – serial entrepreneur, investor and mergers & acquisitions maestro – shares the little-known 24 value drivers that spell the difference between a $5m business, and a $50mm even $500 mm business. It always pays to understand what’s driving the underlying enterprise value of your business. So, check out Zero Limits Business Growth Secrets at zerolimitsradio.com – that’s zerolimitsradio.com and available wherever you get your podcasts. More information about valuation growth at Zero Limits Ventures.com

Melinda Wittstock:

And we’re back with Drea Lynn, coach, consultant and author of Smart Quit.

[INTERVIEW CONTINUES]

Drea Lynn:

But it really takes us to do some kind of inner work to be able to see, hey, where is it where I might be holding myself back or holding somebody down? Personally, for me, I think a lot of identity was in my work. I liked that everybody had to come to me for the answers. But I was a bottleneck in most of my, in most of my jobs. And I realized I got to a point where I had to have the answer, but not give the answer. And oh my gosh, when I was able to do that for my teams, my teams got so much better. My leaders on my teams got so much stronger. The companies I was in, in those areas, they grew so much. They scaled.

Drea Lynn:

And I was the problem. Like, that little piece, that little piece of me just releasing my identity from my work just allowed everything around me to grow and blossom. And so, I just really think that’s a really big piece of people being able to Do some inner work, and then once you find out whatever that thing is, to get the resources to be able to develop.

Melinda Wittstock:

100%. So, if someone’s listening today and they’re thinking, oh God, I really— I don’t like my job, I’ve always had this idea for this business, you know, I, I think I could do it but don’t really know how, what’s the first thing they should do?

Drea Lynn:

Go get my book.

Melinda Wittstock:

Good answer. Well, yeah, no, I mean, you have the framework and I love what you’ve done because, you know, Drea, you’ve lived this yourself, right? And so many of the best businesses are businesses that solve problems for real people. And if you’ve you know, gone through that yourself and solved it for yourself, you can pass that on. It’s— entrepreneurship is a lovely pay forward in that, in that respect.

Drea Lynn:

Yes, absolutely. I’ll also say this. I believe, uh, if you really want to go far in your entrepreneurship, become immune to the word no, right? You’ll hear it a lot. And, and, and once you do that, it really will unlock you because on the other side of 100 no’s is the yes that could change your life. And so, once you become okay with, hey, you know, they’re, they’re going to be investors, there’ll be clients, there’ll be customers, there’ll be so many no’s that you’ll hear, but just keep, just keep driving through and believe in yourself, and there will be a yes that will unlock something so major for you. I really, I really do believe that for, um, I really do believe that for people.

Melinda Wittstock:

100%. No, you gotta actually learn to like the no’s. Weirdly, a mentor years ago told me— I had an enterprise software business, and he actually instructed me to go out and get as many no’s as possible.

Drea Lynn:

I love that.

Melinda Wittstock:

Counterintuitive because it turns out that I was really good at evangelizing for the product, but I wasn’t really asking for the sale in a crisp enough way.

Drea Lynn:

I love that.

Melinda Wittstock:

And with the specific metric of getting no’s meant that I had to actually ask, and the no’s started turning into yeses a lot quicker than I thought. But there’s some things like that that you can do that seem sort of counterintuitive, but actually, like, I think that should be our takeaway for people.

Drea Lynn:

Go get some no’s.

Melinda Wittstock:

Go get some no’s.

Drea Lynn:

Yeah, exactly.

Melinda Wittstock:

Because, and don’t take it personally, right? No, take it as market testing, right? Like you’re in a lab as a scientist, you’re just doing some hypotheses. You know what I mean? Right. It’s not about you. And the no’s make you better.

Drea Lynn:

And it’s going to throw people off when they say no and you smile and say, thank you.

Melinda Wittstock:

Exactly. Exactly right. So, Drea, where can people best find you and work with you? Tell us about where they go to get the book and follow you on the socials and all the things.

Drea Lynn:

Yeah, absolutely. My website is howtosmartquit.com, which have a link to my book. My book is also available on Amazon and Audible. And Barnes Noble and all the things. And then I am drealynn.co, D-R-E-A-L-Y-N-N.co, on all the different social media platforms.

Melinda Wittstock:

Fantastic. Well, thank you so much for putting on your wings and flying with us today.

Drea Lynn:

Yes, thank you for having me. I really appreciate it, Melinda.

[INTERVIEW ENDS]

Melinda Wittstock:

Drea Lynn is an attorney, former corporate COO, and author of Smart Quit who helps employees transition to entrepreneurship, and  entrepreneurs escape burnout, scale with confidence, and take control of their business and life with The Smart Shift System®. 

Melinda Wittstock:

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Melinda Wittstock:

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