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Are you fed up with the corporate bullshit holding you back? Welcome to Invest in Yourself, the digital Entrepreneur Podcast. The ultimate launchpad for entrepreneurs ready to seize control and unleash their creative genius. Hosted by Phil Better, the podcast mogul, each week he's breaking the chains of conventional work with bold strategies, raw insights, and inspiring success stories from the entrepreneurs who took the risk and invested in themselves. This is your call to arms. Invest in yourself. Break free from someone else's rules and build the empire you deserve. Now, let's dive headfirst into today's explosive episode.

Thank you for listening, and welcome back to another exciting, electrifying episode of Invest in Yourself, the Digital Entrepreneur Podcast. I am, of course, Phil Better, the podcast mogul. And today we're about to explore the secrets of unlocking growth, profitability, sustainable success with a trailblazer who has made it her mission to transform small businesses. Our guest is the mastermind behind Leadership Leader Leadership, an innovative program that empowers small business owners to implement strategies that not only save money, but set the stage for lasting growth and prosperity, which we all want. With over a decade and a half of corporate experience, leading teams, redefining operations, and saving organizations millions, she's boldly stepped away from her corporate world in 2017 to pursue her passion for helping others. Thrived. Armed with a supply chain degree from the University of Tennessee, an MBA in global businesses from Georgia Tech, and a Robins Madison life coaching certificate, she has guided over 2500 individuals and businesses to unlock their true potential. Her groundbreaking work even earned her a feature in Forbes in 2020, a testament to her incredible impact.

She believes that true business transformation doesn't require fancy degrees or specialized know how, just curiosity and the courage to evolve. Get ready to be inspired, motivated, and equipped to take your business to the next level as we bring in the extraordinary Emily Hawkins. Emily, thank you so much for being here.

Oh, my gosh. That was like, the best introduction ever. I was either about to talk or be like the head of a wrestling match. Either way, I'm so in for it. I did your brother, so it's possible, Like, I have skills there as well.

I'll call the wwe. I have, you know, Triple H on speed. I'll let them know that we got someone for the next diva search, but we're going to focus more less on your wrestling career. We're going to focus on your entrepreneurial career for now, even though you have a budding wrestling career in the ground. But, Emily, thank you so much for being here. I'm going to start with, the first question that I always ask. What made you throw off the shackles of a decade and a half of corporate life to jump into the wild world of entrepreneurship?

I love that you call it the shackles. I think I like to call it the golden handcuffs. Because I think we're all lured. I say we, anyone who has been in the corporate world, we're lured in by safety, security, steady paycheck, amazing bonuses if you get the opportunity, great benefits. All of these really have the ability to turn into golden handcuffs. It's really hard to leave that stability. But I had an amazing opportunity to do so. And it was on the heels of a layoff.

I was not laid off. Actually, half of the company that I was a part of was laid off. So I worked for a tech organization, loved it. It was a startup. And I took My department from one, I was a department of one, up to 25 people in three countries. And we were doing this amazing. And I have a background in supply chain. I was in the supply chain side, but the tech side, we were doing a lot of switching.

And so half of that piece of the business left. And I knew about it because I was part of upper management. And so they were telling us, you know, hey, the layoffs are coming, they're going to be a Thursday, Friday event. And I was so naive. I was like, well, nobody on my team was affected, so like, I don't really care. That sounds horrible. But I didn't. I was like, well, you know, my team is sort of insulated and it's not really a big deal.