Time For a Change? To Burn the Ships or Make a Long Bridge? 🤔

When you're standing at the edge of a big life change—finding a new career, launching a creative dream, starting over—do you go all in and burn the ships, or do you build a long, sturdy bridge to ease the transition?

In this episode, I'll explore both approaches to change: the bold, no-turning-back leap and the thoughtful, strategic phase-out. Which one is braver? Which one is wiser? And is it ever really that black and white?

Links:

https://www.amazon.com/Meant-This-Mindset-Strategy-Impossible/dp/1098351169

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Decoding the Unicorn is live on Amazon! Check it out: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DSCS5PZT

Transcript

 Transcription by Otter.ai.  Please forgive any typos!

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Burn the ships, long bridge, self-employment, career transition, creative living, entrepreneurship, financial insecurity, editorial review, Tony Stark, Captain America, staffing agency, business ownership, passive income, creative goals, survival mode.

Welcome to the Causey Consulting Podcast. You can find us online anytime at CauseyConsultingLLC.com and now here's your host, Sara Causey.

Hello, hello, and thanks for tuning in. In today's episode, I want to talk about, do you burn the ships or do you look for a really long bridge? This is a question that a lot of people grapple with whether you're working a corporate job and you're thinking about starting your own business, or maybe you have a side hustle, or some part time moonlighting freelancing, gigging that you're doing, and it started to take off. It's really sprouted some legs. And you're rubbing your chin thoughtfully, like, Hmm, if I could do this more hours out of the week, I could make more money, and that might be enough to kick my full time job to the curb. I might be able to do this at the same time. It's scary, even if you're in a full time job that you loathe, which, let's face it, most people are. I don't hear a lot of high level of satisfaction surveys going around in the job market. It's scary. I remember after I had taken the plunge and tried self employment for the first time, one of my advisors at the SBA was like making the connection between a ramshackle canoe or a dinghy and a cruise ship. Even if the cruise ship was full of loud screaming people and the ice cream machine was broken and the bathrooms weren't very clean, you still felt like there was some sense of security being on the cruise ship, and it's a bit like disembarking from the cruise ship in order to get into some little dinghy that you've cobbled together. And you hope to god, it's not going to spring a leak before you can paddle your way to the shore. That's a pretty good analogy. So people start wondering, do I burn the ships or do I look for a really long bridge? And here's what I mean by that. Several months ago, I started reading Erica wernick's book meant for this she is more so focused on Hollywood type jobs, people that want to get into acting, producing, directing, screenwriting, doing art or graphic design for television and movies, etc. But the topics that she talks about in that book are really applicable across the board. You don't have to only be focused on trying to, quote, make it in Hollywood in order to get something usable out of the book. I started reading it several months ago, actually, when my book decoding the unicorn was in its final round of editorial review, and you have to leave the book alone. Whenever the book is being edited, you have to leave it alone. And that's difficult when you're an author and a Tony Stark I have come to realize that about myself. Just a little digression here, a little side note. I have really come to understand that about myself in watching the Marvel movies, I usually say that I find Tony Stark's character more interesting, but ideologically, I'm probably closer to Captain America. It's like in some of the movies, where he's talking about, whenever people try to win a war before it starts, innocent people die, and he's horrified by Project Insight and Arnhem Zola's algorithm is very Minority Report, like he's going to tell the government who might commit a future crime, who might be a problem later, we're just gonna eliminate you, because you maybe might turn into a problem later, and Captain America is like, Oh, my God, no. Yeah, exactly same energy. But Tony is a tinkerer. He is a mad scientist. He messes around, messes around with things. He doesn't just let things be. Look at how many iterations of the Iron Man suits that Tony makes. And I have discovered that about myself really embracing my career as a writer and a creative I have had to face down that Tony, Stark aspect of myself. I too, am a tinkerer, a futzer, a mess her around with her. A mad scientist in my own way. And so it's really hard when the book goes into editorial process and the editor is like, you have to leave it alone. We can't have multiple copies floating around. You have to let me have this copy and then leave it go do something else with your. Time, but leave the book to me, it's like so I started reading Mint for this as an opportunity to catch up on some reading and a distraction. Frankly, I don't need to think about my book. I don't need to miss my book. I don't need to worry about the editor. I need to just focus on something else. And I was still in the process of reading it when the book came out of editorial its last round of editorial review. So I put it away, and then came back to it to finish it, not that long ago, and towards the end of the book, that's when she gets into this idea of burning the ships, because there's this story, whether it's true or whether it's kind of like historical urban legend, like how some people debate, did Marie Antoinette really say let them eat cake? Did Nero really fiddle whilst Rome burned? Did Cortez really tell his soldiers burn the ships because we're not going back, we're conquistadors, damn it, and we're not going back. I don't know. I don't know. And was I there? No, hell no, I wasn't. But the idea is, you cut it off. It's like ripping the band aid off. You're not leaving yourself with a safety net. And you're not saying, Well, you know, I want to do this. I'd love to have a different career. I'd love to give this a real shot, but I can't. I'm gonna leave myself with a way out. It's going really all in, betting on yourself hardcore and saying I'm not leaving a safety net. I'm burning the ships. I'm barricading the escape route. I have to deal with this. I have to be an adult and face this head on, and I'm not going to leave myself any opportunities to squirrel out that is one line of thinking again, whether you're talking about starting your own business, trying to turn a side hustle into something more full time, or it could even be from a creative perspective, making that transition away from the corporate hamster wheel or entrepreneurship or business ownership, because let me tell you, these individuals who are peddling systems and Whatever you want to call them methodologies. Oh, for 97 bucks, I'll teach you how to do this, or enroll in my YouTube course, or whatever. There's so many of these people who, in my opinion, are Grifters, and they want to convince you that if you own and operate your own business, it's just going to be passive income. You won't have to really do anything. You can just sit back and watch the checks roll in. You can be sipping daiquiris on the beach and the business will just run itself. And I'm like, Yeah, as a business owner, I strongly disagree. Being a business owner is not an automatic gateway to freedom, and I personally would be very careful of anybody who tells you that it is more than likely they're trying to sell you something, because all of these individuals have their books and their courses and their programs and their methodologies, and that's not a coincidence. Just saying. So, this can also be applicable to I'm tired of being a business owner. I'm tired of being an entrepreneur. I don't really want to be in the business world, per se. I want to get into more creative living. I would rather be a painter, a sculptor, a writer, a poet, and not be doing these other things that are quote, unquote in the business world. Do you burn the ships, or do you look for a really long bridge? Now, an argument in favor of the really long bridge. I've told my story before, and so if you're a frequent tuner, enter. I don't want to bore you by telling it all again. Just suffice it to say the TLDR is when I got ready to be self employed for the first time, I thought I had done everything right. I had money saved up. I had read like tons of entrepreneur magazines. I'd watched every episode to date of Shark Tank. I had read tons of books about sales and marketing, starting your own business, etc. I mean, I couldn't even go back and think of all the things that I did to prep. Had a line of credit at the bank and like, an 830 credit score, I felt like I had done everything correct. I would say my Achilles heel at that point in time, on the front end, was there's not any way that you really can give yourself a long bridge. When you're working in a staffing agency and you're trying to start your own staffing agency, they don't exactly take kindly to the idea that you're sitting there working for them Monday through Friday, from eight to five, and then as soon as you get home on nights and weekends, you're trying. Get your own thing going. They really look at that as a conflict of interest, and depending upon the employment contract that you signed with them, you could get yourself in hot water. So I knew that it was not going to be possible for me to get my own thing going until I had fully exited my job. I did have to jump off the cliff, and it was damn scary, but at the same time, I had the assurance of thinking, Well, I've done everything right. I've read the right books, I've watched the right shows, I've visited the right websites, I've saved the money. I have the line of credit and an awesome credit score. I feel like I'm in good shape overall, and I have years of experience doing this job. I have candidates who've always said they'd follow me and be loyal to me. I have clients who've always said they would follow me and be loyal to me. I'm probably going to be all right. I really did not have any immediate sense of impending doom. Maybe I should have, I don't know, but as I say so, often it once I really got out and started doing it, it felt like I went splat at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. I think I could make that louder. Hang on, splat at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Now, I had a friend who told me, actually, I think you were trying to climb Mount Everest with the wrong tools and equipment. That's a bit softer. It's a bit kinder interpretation. But in any event, it did not work out for me, and I really feel like not having a bridge, not transitioning slowly, made the whole experience more anxiety inducing, even though that didn't happen immediately within the first few weeks, it definitely happened. As the bank account balance got lower, as the debt got higher, I was scrambling around. It felt like I could not close the deal to save my freaking life. The stress and the financial insecurity just became overwhelming, and it was a miserable time, truly so that's one argument in my head for Well, if there's any way possible to give yourself a long bridge, you might not stress out as much. But then there are plenty of arguments in favor of burning the ships, because for some people, if they know that they have an escape route. They'll take it 10 out of 10 times. They won't follow the dream. The minute that something gets tough, they'll say, Well, I don't really have to do this because I have income coming in from something else. I don't really have to apply myself. I don't have to better my craft. I don't have to get a certificate. I don't have to do any of this because I still have my fallback. There are points in favor and points against either way, and you're typically not going to find anybody to take a firm stand in print. That's one of the reasons why. On this podcast, I always say you have to come to your own conclusions. I don't give you advice and I don't tell you what to do. I opine for your entertainment only, and that's what content creators and authors have to do, because there's always that idiot who will do something completely foolish and out of hand and be like, well, somebody said so in a book, or I heard somebody say so in a podcast, and instead of using my own critical thinking and rationality, I just decided to leap off the cliff, and then it didn't go so well for me. Common Sense is not common nowadays, but certainly this topic has been on my mind of Do you rip off the band aid, or do you try to look for a really long exit ramp. That was my game plan, totally like man plans and God laughs. Okay, that was my game plan for transitioning out of staffing and into living as a creative and an author full time. My thought was, give yourself a long exit ramp from staffing and then give yourself a long entrance ramp to being an author and a creative on a full time basis. Spoiler alert, the universe was a bit like, hey, hold my beer and watch this. You think that you're gonna have this long, smooth transition, but no, no, not today. I had been working on the last staffing project I had that was of any length and of any consequence in q4 of last year. That opportunity ended on Black Friday, which is odd, but at the same time, it's not odd, because a lot of people expect freelance labor and contractors and business owners to be on 24, 7365, even if it's a holiday like the day after Thanksgiving, where most people are with friends and family and they're focused on having a nine. Long Weekend, they expect that you're going to be on. So it's like, no, I'm not billing any hours or doing anything on Black Friday. But you know, I do appreciate you letting me know. Thank you. And Monday, when I got back in the office and was sitting at my desk, I thought, God, it's q4 the job market sucks. The economy is in the dumper, and we're in the no man's land between Thanksgiving and New Year's, where nothing happens much anyway. A lot of decision makers are out of the office right now. We're seeing way more layoffs than hiring. How in the hell am I going to find anything and if I did, it would probably be, oh, it would be a company that's having difficulty hiring anybody because they suck. Now I want to call myself out, to be completely clear and to be totally fair, I want to call myself out. Was that a limiting belief on my part? Absolutely it was. I could have chosen to tell myself a different story. I could have said it's not about what it looks like. It doesn't matter about the economy, it doesn't matter about the time of the year. God will provide for me. The universe will provide for me. Something good will come my way, and it won't take long. I absolutely could have told myself that, but clearly, on some level I didn't want to. I really think that I was just done. I used to tell people that employer me and employee me didn't always see eye to eye on things, because employer me would have the tendency to be like, well, you need the money. You better get to it. It doesn't really matter how you feel. It doesn't really matter if you want to take a break. You better. You better take this. And employee me would be like, but this sucks. The company is terrible. It's going to be difficult to recruit for, if not impossible. And I'm worn out. I need a break. And I think in this situation, employee me finally prevailed, and I'm like, I just need a break. I have not had any significant time off since 2020 I need a freaking break. And in my mind, I'm thinking, I want to have this exit ramp out of staffing and an entrance ramp into being an author and a creative full time. Because how does, where does the money come from? How does one really earn a living doing that? I have no idea. This is totally new staffing. I could do blindfolded and hanging upside down, because I have done it for so many years that I just knew it backwards, forwards and sideways. But this, this is a challenge. It's something different. And I thought, We'll take your time with it. Don't burn the ships, just give yourself a long bridge. And then the universe was like, no, no, that's cute, but no, I'm gonna go get an Acme dynamite kit like Wiley Coyote and blow the bridge to smithereens, and you're gonna have to figure it out. And that's pretty much how things have been for the past few months. But I don't miss my old career at all, and I think that that is another mark in the burn the ships column, if you are burned out, if you are exhausted, if the idea of being in that career, even if you have a high degree of freedom, let's say you're working remotely. Your boss is not a jerk, or you own your own company, so you're getting to set your own schedule and make a lot of your own rules. If you are still miserable. I feel like that's an important sign. Now again, I can't tell you to burn the ships or burn the bridges. All I can say is that I know from my experience being miserable and burned out and tired and just over it, I think absolutely played a role for me in making the decision or having the decision made for me by the universe, then I'd have to go in the burn the ships column, like it or not, the bridge was getting blown up, and I was just going to have to figure out, oh my God, how do I run across it and get to the other side without falling into the ocean? And if I do fall into the ocean, I guess I'm going to have to cobble together a life raft or find an inflatable donut to try to survive this. But as I say, I have made it. We're not starving. I'm not living under a bridge. Things somehow have just worked out. I have felt a little bit like the story that I've told several times in staffing last year because of how bad the job market and the economy were, I really felt like the story of Elisha and the widow woman, where he's like, just put your empty jars out and God will fill them with enough oil for you to survive. It was really a lot about survival. It was not about thrive. It was not about prospering, it was about basic survival. What's funny about this is, even though I'm still feeling a bit like that, I'm still feeling a bit like I'm just setting a jar of oil out or an empty jar out every night and praying for the Lord to fill it with oil. I don't have any resentment about it. It's like I'm free. I'm free. Thank God, I escaped the matrix and I feel free. I feel like I'm living in alignment, and I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing at this moment in time. And that's an amazing feeling. And I'm not sure that I would be at the place I am now, I don't feel like I would have been able to really pour accelerant on my career if I were still trapped in contracts for other people, if I were having to do 40 hours of work every week for staffing clients and then try to squeeze in Writing and content creation and the promotion of said things on nights and weekends. There you go. You're in the same boat all over again. Of I'm putting myself and my real goals, my real priorities, in second place, and it feels like there aren't enough hours in the day. Oh, and then I also have to sleep at night, because I'm human, so there's six to eight hours in the overnight hours that I'm not able to do anything for anyone because I have to rest. So to summarize, no, I cannot give you a nice, clean, tidy answer if you're standing at this same precipice and you're wondering if you should look for a really long bridge and take everything nice and slow and easy. I've done that before, and I've had it work out well. I've burned ships before and had it work out not well, and then I've burned ships and seen it come together somehow, like taking the leap and just trusting that there will be solid ground underneath you when your feet are ready to hit the Earth again. I really think for me, a lot of it has come down to the happiness factor. Or you can look at it Conversely, the misery index. Sometimes when we get so unhappy, where we are when life reaches a point where you say, I cannot tolerate this any longer, it is time for change. It's really difficult to keep one foot in that world while you're also trying to have another foot in your dream life. Just some points to ponder. Stay safe, stay sane, and I will see you in the next episode.

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