Hooray! I make less money!
Two weeks ago, I left my well-paying corporate consulting job to focus on launching my own holistic career coaching practice.
When I shared the news with my Grandmama (the only name my grandmother will let us call her), she said, “Congrats! Did you get a raise?”
I chuckled to myself, thinking… well.. no, definitely not. I mean, of course, I really hope to build a business that can be a source of steady income, but it sure isn’t there right now!
(Want to help me with that? Share this post with someone who would find it useful!)
But even if I never hit my old salary, I’m OK with that. Granted, it took a long time of nail-biting and deconstructing my deeply rooted-scarcity mindset to get here, but I’m here!*
One of the major reasons why I’m OK with this new financial reality is from insights I gained when I got my Designing Your Life Certification, led by the wise & wonderful Stanford thought-leaders Dave Evans and Bill Brunett. They introduced me to “The Maker Mix”, which is a helpful tool to reframe thinking of what you “make.”
*Big caveat: Another critical factor here is that this transition has taken years of careful financial moves AND a lot of privilege that comes from being a dual-earner household once again (my husband has been on his own start-up rollercoaster!), among other privileges that tend to come with my demographic.
What do you (really) make?
In their amazing book Designing Your Life, Bill and Dave discuss that we often think of money as the only thing that you “make” in your job. However, there’s a lot more that you can take home from your work than dollar bills.
For example, in the social and non-profit economies, we often think of impact as the critical outcome of work. How many mouths did you feed? To what extent did your initiative improve lives? How many cats were adopted out of the Cat Cafe? (If you’re ever in Chattanooga, TN, please go visit the Naughty Cat Cafe. It’s great).
Then, if you’re in a creative-centered field, you might consider self-expression as the primary outcome of your work. For example, an artist might prioritize being able to create their own work over the financial stability that comes with soul-sucking commissioned kitsch art. Even in your more traditional, less-creative job, there are ways to increase your self-expression. For example, perhaps you can pick projects that align more with your interests, pursue your passions in your free time, or finally wear those colorful blazers you’ve been wondering if are too “extra” for work.
Sometimes I wonder if we’re missing another outcome here: meaning. But, the more I think about it, I’m hard-pressed to define what “meaning” might be made of outside of impact and self-expression (and maybe money, depending on how you use it and what your personal values are). So, after much debate with myself, I’m OK with leaving it off of this list because I believe it is already represented here in its parts.
What’s your ideal maker mix?
Bill and Dave put this idea into practice with a wonderful exercise called the Maker Mix, using the image below of the 3 sliders. The idea is to use these sliders to evaluate your current job’s maker mix (we’ll get there in a second) as well as your ideal. They ask you to evaluate these on a scale of 0 to 100.
It’s important to keep a few key principles in mind when you’re completing this exercise:
More is not better. It’s OK if your sliders aren’t 100 out of 100; they don’t need to be! They just need to be in a place that feels right to you.
It’s your mix: We each have a unique mix of what we’d prefer to make, and no two maker mixes will look the same. The emphasis here should be what feels right to YOU… not what your spouse, mom, or society thinks you should make. It can be had to peel away all those other voices telling us what we should be making, but this is your invitation to be “selfish” (quotation marks because it’s not actually selfish) and focus only on yourself for the moment.
You’re more than your job: You are a complex human with a robust life outside of work. This is great news because it means that even if your current job isn’t hitting your ideal maker mix, you still have many opportunities in your non-work life to pursue your needs. For example, perhaps you increase your money via additional income sources, your impact via volunteering, or your expression via artistic hobbies. It’s actually great if we achieve some of these needs in our non-work life because it encourages a more multi-dimensional and balanced existence.
Try Stuff: Analyze Your Own Mix
Ready to apply this to your life? Great! I like you action-oriented, ready-to-change people.
First, analyze your current job:
On a scale of 0 to 100, how much money, impact, and expression do you currently make? I’d suggest doodling the above image on a piece of paper so you can see this visually represented. (If you’re a current client of mine, I have a whole worksheet for this; shoot me an email, and I’ll send it to you).
Great! Now, reflect a little:
How does your current maker mix feel?
What are you noticing about yourself?
Why did you put each category where you did? What’s bringing it up or down?
🧐 Hey you… Are you really trying to skip this exercise?? I know, I know, you’re busy. But please, don’t skip it! This takes two minutes and will give you valuable insight into what you need from your job to feel happy and fulfilled. Remember, insights are only useful if they drive real-life change, and these exercises are where you translate ideas into improvements for your own one wild & precious life.
Next, analyze alternative paths:
Ok, now let’s analyze some alternative jobs or career paths. Perhaps you redraw your mix for your “dream” job, that other career path you’ve been toying with, or that one job you loved years ago. I would recommend saving this tool for future reference, as it’s a super handy exercise to do whenever you’re considering a new opportunity or career chapter!
Now, reflect again!
Ask yourself:
What are you learning about yourself?
What are you craving more of that you’re not getting right now?
What would you need to change in your work or life in order to get more of what you’re craving?
Improvement time:
I always like to think of actions in three different time scales: Immediate, medium-term, and long-term. So, ask yourself:
Immediate: What’s ONE small thing I can do this week to change my job or work to be more aligned with my ideal maker mix?
Example: Let’s say you’d like to increase your expression, and you’re a corporate consultant with small children. Perhaps you realize that you’re missing your old art hobbies, so you buy yourself a new set of chalk pastels & a notebook. Then, you intentionally set aside an hour or two once a week after the kids go to bed to create art.
Medium-term: In the next 6 months, what’s one larger action I can take to change my job or work to be more aligned with my ideal maker mix?
Example: Same goal as before; increasing your expression. Perhaps design thinking is a passion of yours, so you make a plan to job shadow a different department in order to learn how to use design thinking and then apply it to your role. You make a plan, pitch it to your boss, and then get approval to pursue this new expressive learning.
Long-term: In the next 1-3 years, what’s one big action I can take to change my job or work to be more aligned with my ideal maker mix?
Example (still trying to increase expression): After reflecting on your career, you realize that your current job just doesn’t have as much room for autonomy and creativity as you’d like. You put your head down and came up with a plan: What if you become your team’s certified Design Thinking professional, allowing you to create new offers for your clients? You carefully craft a 2-year roadmap that showcases the business case for this change and again go to your boss with a pitch. After a few weeks of discussion with your leadership, you get the plan approved, allowing you to pivot your current role into something more aligned with your ideal maker mix.
PSA: You don’t always have to switch jobs to get more of what you need! Notice that all three of these examples involve staying in your current job, potentially just tailoring your role to better fit you. In the field of organizational psychology, we call this job crafting; it’s a proven strategy for increasing your satisfaction at work!
If you need help figuring out how to do this in your own job, I’m here for you; let’s chat.
IRL: My Own Example
Let’s take a real-life example from my own recent history.
Here’s my maker mix pre-coaching transition, when I worked as a global consultant helping executives create better cultures and employee experiences.
And here’s my mix as it stands today:
As you can see, my money dial went way down (again, I hope it doesn’t stay that way forever, hence the optimistic dotted line, but for now, that’s the way it is). But my expression and impact dial went way up, which is exactly what I wanted! Now I feel incredibly fulfilled and happy in my new career chapter, and this mix feels right to me for now.
It’s worth noting that at a different time in my life or for a different person, the maker mix that I had at my old job would’ve been perfect. There’s nothing “wrong” with those sliders being in that location. In fact, for the first few years in my job, when my focus was on earning dollars and learning/growing professionally, it was exactly what I needed. However, your needs change, and now I’m craving a mix that’s more aligned with my new one I can achieve through coaching.
But wait, there’s more…
For just 3 payments of $9.99 (I’m kidding!).
Money, impact, and expression are SO much more complicated than these first-glance sliders. For example, in my consulting job, I got to lead trainings with hundreds of people and talk to C-Suite executives about improving their culture… so why wasn’t my impact 10 out of 10? Well, it’s because it wasn’t my ideal type or “flavor” of impact.
I’m going to dive into this concept (and many more) in the following newsletters, dedicating at least one per Maker Mix slider because these concepts are literally the backbone of having meaningful work that aligns with your core needs.
Bye till then,
Lydia Johnson MS
PS: On the subject of increasing my money mix (😂)… I’m accepting a limited number of new 1:1 coaching clients! If you or anyone you know could benefit from decreasing your work-related stress and increasing your career fulfillment, let’s talk! I specialize in helping ultra-busy professionals design a fulfilling, burnout-free life so that they have more time and energy to do what they love… because you’re so much more than just your job. Grab a free consult call to see if coaching can help you thrive at work. Do it soon because I’m offering 25% off my monthly coaching packages for the month of June!
Hey there! I’m Lydia Johnson, MS. Consider me your partner in crime for creating a career that lights you up and leaves space for the rest of your wonderful life. I’m a dual-certified coach with a master’s degree in Industrial-Organizational Psychology (basically the study of careers & organizations). I use approaches grounded in psychological research, design thinking, and intentionality to help ultra-busy professionals design fulfilling, burnout-free careers so that they have more time and energy to do what they love.