Posted Under: Entrepreneurship, Our Heroes

Today we are talking to Marissa Bracke, our next guest under the “Our Heroes” series. Originally an attorney by profession and education, Marissa is now the Can-Do-Ologist and helps growing business by building a system around their tasks or projects making them more effective instead of being tied up with busy work. Marissa’s employee to entrepreneur transition was mostly due to office politics at the legal firm in which she worked. Today she feels more empowered and secure than when she was working as an employee.  Let’s dig deeper into her success story…

DD: Who are you & what kind of corporate job were you at?

MB: I’m Marissa Bracke, and I’m a Can-Do-Ologist. I work with creative entrepreneurs who have established and growing businesses. I help them get closer to their “ideal day” by figuring out what they can delegate and how, and by building structure and systems around their tasks or projects so they’re effective instead of busywork. I also lend a hand with a variety of tasks, from customer care to copy editing, web page tweaks to social media management (and all sorts of stuff in between). In my corporate life, I was an attorney, first for a large Midwestern law firm and then for a large national corporation.

DD: What made you leave the job? When did you realize that you wanted to be an entrepreneur & why?

MB:I left the large law firm because I realized that while I adored the work itself, I did not enjoy the office politics, the rigid hierarchy and the overall environment in which that work took place. I moved to corporate law in search of a different environment, but found the elements I disliked from the big firm to be very much a part of big corporate life too. Around the time the economy took a nosedive, my position was eliminated at the corporation, and I found myself hunting for another attorney position.

As I was job hunting, I contacted a blogger I liked, just to tell her I enjoyed her writing and her work. She wrote back to me and said she liked my communication style, and asked if Id be interested in working with her. I said sure–I figured it would be a good way to bring in some extra money while I continued looking for work. However, I quickly realized that I loved the work I was doing, and I was bringing in new clients fairly quickly–I realized I didn’t need to keep hunting for a job. I had one, and it was one I really enjoyed. So I didn’t so much realize that I wanted to be an entrepreneur as I realized I already was. And then I ran with it!

DD: What did you do to break the corporate jail? How did you prepare for the employee to entrepreneur transition?

MB: My break out of corporate jail was somewhat accidental. I didn’t realize that’s what was happening at the time… it “just sort of happened.” But looking back on it, I realize that I was preparing for the transition without knowing it. I was learning to trust my gut instinct and my own knowledge, I was making decisions based on what I knew was right for me even if they didn’t fit within the established template, and I was opening myself up to new connections with people outside my corporate sphere. I laid the groundwork for the transition even though I wasn’t consciously intending to do so.

DD: What are your tips and suggestions for aspiring entrepreneurs?

MB: 1. Be prepared for it to be scary. There’s a lot of talk about how freeing it is to be an entrepreneur, and that’s true. It is. But that freedom can also be incredibly intimidating, when you realize no ones giving you a map anymore, and that you’re steering the ship on your own. Know that just because it’s scary doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong. It’s a normal part of the experience.
2. Seek out support. Being an entrepreneur can be lonely. Don’t be afraid to connect with others, through their websites, through Twitter, through forum boards, through mastermind groups, etc. Don’t allow yourself to be solitary. No one does it alone!
3. Be aware of the peaks and valleys. Being in a corporation can act like shock absorbers: you as an employee don’t tend to feel every bump in the road, because you’re cushioned by the structure of the corporation. However, as an entrepreneur, you will feel every bump, every hiccup, and every curve in the road. There’s no buffer between you and the road. At first, that change will be jarring, and every success will feel like you’ve “made it,” and every downturn will feel like you’ve failed. It takes some time to recalibrate so that you realize that what you’re experiencing are normal parts of the journey, and not actually giant pendulum swings in either direction.
4. Don’t believe anyone who says it happens overnight, that you can actually work just four hours each week, or that it’s impossible. They’re all wrong. Success is doable, but not instant. Your definition of work will change, but you’ll still have to put in the time. And it’s definitely possible.
5. Know that it’s always an evolution. You’ll never get to the point where you can say, “I’ve made it, and now I can stop adapting.” Being an entrepreneur is a perpetual journey, a constant experiment.

DD: How are you doing and how do you feel now?

MB: I’m doing great! I feel exponentially more empowered and more secure than I did when I was an employee. I still have moments when it’s frightening and I nostalgically long for the days of “secure” employment when someone else was making the big decisions–but all I have to do is ask myself, “Would you go back?” The answer is always a gut-level “Hell no,” and that reminds me how much I appreciate where I’m at now. I never planned to be where I’m at, but it’s the absolute right place for me to be. Funny how that works, isn’t it?

DD: Marissa Bracke, ladies and gentlemen! I love the title she has now… Can-Do-Ologist so much more better than Attorney or Lawyer 🙂 The two pieces I’d love for every aspiring entrepreneur reading this story, to pay attention and take away are – 1. Be prepared for it to be scary… Know that just because it’s scary doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong. It’s a normal part of the experience. and 2. Don’t believe anyone who says it happens overnight, that you can actually work just four hours each week, or that it’s impossible. They’re all wrong. Success is doable, but not instant. Your definition of work will change, but you’ll still have to put in the time. And it’s definitely possible.

Definitely check Marissa out at – http://marissabracke.com/

Success to all!