It was 3am and I was wide awake. Again.
I grabbed my phone and opened my bank account, squinting at the screen: $487.
After three years of building my coaching business. After leaving that soul-sucking corporate job where I spent my days waiting for permission to breathe. After working 12-hour days, posting on every platform, answering DMs at all hours, and giving free strategy calls to anyone who asked.
I had made $500 that month. If I was lucky.
My family kept dropping hints about “getting a real job.” My old colleagues probably thought I’d completely lost it.
And honestly? That night, I wondered if they were right about how to get out of corporate life.
But 18 months later, after building a consistent four-figure monthly business working less than I did in corporate, I know the truth: The problem wasn’t my work ethic. It wasn’t my content. It wasn’t even my offer.
The problem was something I couldn’t see at the time. And once I saw it? Everything changed, including how to make more profit in your business.
The Hustle Prison I Built for Myself
Back then, my days looked like corporate hell disguised as entrepreneurship:
6am: Wake up in a panic. Immediately check Instagram. Did my post from last night get any engagement? Three likes. Refresh. Still three likes. Feel my stomach drop.
7am-10am: Open Canva. Spend three hours trying to create the “perfect” carousel. The perfect hook. The perfect design. The perfect color scheme. Rewrite the copy five times. Second-guess every word choice.
10am-12pm: Finally post it. Watch it get minimal engagement. Scroll through my feed and see other coaches, I follow, coaches who seem to barely try, post a simple picture with one sentence and get hundreds of comments. Watch them casually mention they made $10K that day.
12pm-2pm: Leave thoughtful comments on other people’s posts. Engage, engage, engage. Send DMs. Give away my entire framework for free. Hear, “OMG, this is so helpful; I needed to hear this!” Wait for them to ask how to work with me. They never do.
2pm-4pm: Eat lunch at my desk. Usually something quick because I don’t have time for a real meal. My health is suffering, but “this is what it takes to build a business,” right?
4pm-6pm: Create more content. Research what’s working for successful coaches. Try to figure out what I’m missing. Feel jealous. Feel frustrated. Wonder why I’m working so hard with nothing to show for it.
6pm-8pm: More Instagram stories. More engagement. More value-giving. More hoping someone will finally see me.
8pm-11pm: Try to relax but end up scrolling. See someone post about their $30K launch. Feel physically sick. Question everything about myself and my business.
Repeat. Every. Single. Day.
I was doing EVERYTHING the online business gurus told me to do:
Posting multiple times a day (sometimes three times)
Creating “valuable” content (educational, inspirational, all of it)
Showing up authentically (whatever that meant)
Engaging with my audience for hours
Giving free advice in DMs
Promoting my offers in stories
So why wasn’t I figuring out how to make more profit in your business?
I blamed myself. My content must not be good enough. My niche must be wrong. I need better equipment: a better camera, a better microphone, a better laptop. I need another certification to be seen as an authority. Likewise, I need to work harder.
I kept searching for the external fix. The missing strategy. The secret formula everyone else seemed to have.
But the real problem? It was something I couldn’t see. And it was sabotaging my entire business.
The Pattern I Brought With Me
One afternoon, after watching another coach casually post about their five-figure month while I stressed over my $500, something clicked.
I was treating my business exactly like I treated my corporate job.
In corporate, I learned that success meant:
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Working longer hours than everyone else to “prove” I was valuable
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Giving 110% and hoping my boss would finally notice
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Watching mediocre colleagues get promoted while I stayed invisible
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Believing, “If I just work HARDER, they’ll finally recognize my worth.”
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More money meant more time at work, more responsibility, and less life
In my business, I was:
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Working 12+ hour days to “prove” I was worth hiring
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Giving everything away for free, hoping people would finally pay me
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Watching other coaches succeed with way less effort while I stayed stuck
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Believing, “If I just work HARDER and give MORE, people will finally see my value”
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Sacrificing my health, eating at my desk, burning out in survival mode
Same pattern. Different environment.
I hadn’t escaped corporate. I had recreated it.
From the time I was a kid, I was taught, Work hard to be successful. When you don’t have all the resources, you compensate by working harder. Prove yourself. Earn your place. Suffer for your success.
That belief system followed me from school, into corporate, and straight into my business.
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I was still seeking external validation.
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Still waiting for permission.
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Still trying to EARN the right to charge what I’m worth.
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Still operating from that deep belief that I had to prove myself before I deserved to succeed.
Except in business, there’s no boss giving you a promotion. No performance review where you finally get recognized. No one telling you, “okay, you’ve worked hard enough, now you can charge premium prices.”
And that’s precisely how I stayed stuck on how to get out of corporate life, by bringing all of corporate’s toxic patterns with me.
This pattern was costing me everything:
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Time: Three years of 12-hour days, constantly stressed, always “on”
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Money: Stuck at $500/month when I should’ve been making four figures
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Health: Burnout, stress eating at my desk, sacrificing my body for a business that wasn’t even paying me
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Energy: Uninspired, copying other people’s content, feeling like a fraud
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Mental health: Jealousy watching others succeed, frustration at working so hard for nothing, constantly questioning if I made a mistake
All because I was trying to PROVE my way into success instead of DECIDING I was already worthy.
The Mindset Shift That Changed Everything
That 3am moment wasn’t the first time I’d felt like a failure. But it was the first time I decided I was DONE playing the proving game.
I decided I’m not going to prove my way into success anymore. I’m going to DECIDE I’m already enough and build from there.
This one shift entirely changed how to make more profit in your business for me.
Because when you stop trying to prove yourself, you stop doing desperate things. And desperation? It’s the most expensive business strategy there is.
But the mindset shift alone wasn’t enough. I needed a real process. A strategy that actually worked.
After months of trial and error, I discovered something crucial: money online isn’t correlated with time or effort. It’s correlated with value.
When you see someone working less than you but making more, it’s not because they have some confidence. It’s because they’re connecting with what people actually want:
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Solving their real problems
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Speaking to their desires
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Understanding what they’re willing to pay for
This realization led me to create an entirely different approach to how to get out of corporate life and build a profitable business.
The 5-Step Process That Took Me From $500 to Four Figures
After everything I learned, I developed a process that addresses both the internal blocks AND the external strategy. This is what actually moved the needle:
Step 1: Identify Your Dream Client (Who Is Actually Your Past Self)
Most people overcomplicate this. They create elaborate customer avatars and ideal client profiles. But the truth? Your dream client is your past version.
When I created the content you’re reading right now, I thought about my past self who was:
Burnt out and in survival mode
Stress eating at my desk
Uninspired and copying other people’s content
Sacrificing my health for my business
Hustling 12 hours a day for $500/month
My dream client wants the transformation I already achieved:
Working less and making more
Taking care of my health
Attracting clients even with a small audience
Building a business that doesn’t drain me
Once I got clear on this, everything became easier. I knew exactly what pain points to address and what transformation to promise.
Step 2: Understand That You Don’t Need a Massive Audience
This was huge for me. I was obsessed with growing my following, thinking that was the key to how to make more profit in your business.
But the math tells a different story:
If you have 200 followers and create a $50 product, and 50 people buy it? That’s $2,500.
If you offer 1:1 coaching at $2,500 and 3 people say yes? That’s $7,500.
You don’t need thousands of followers. You need to deeply connect with a few of the RIGHT people.
This took so much pressure off my content creation. I stopped trying to go viral and started focusing on genuine connection.
Step 3: Build an Email List With a Freebie That Correlates With Your Paid Offer
This is where most people mess up. They create a random freebie that gets downloads but doesn’t lead to sales.
Your freebie needs to solve ONE specific problem that naturally leads to your paid offer solving the BIGGER problem.
The goal isn’t just to grow your list. It’s to:
Build real connections with people
Nurture them with valuable content
Make offers (both free and paid) that actually convert
When your freebie is strategically aligned with your paid offer, people WANT to buy from you. It’s not pushy. It’s natural.
Step 4: Create a Digital Product or Offer That Solves a Real Problem
Not a product you think people need. A product that solves the problem they’re actively searching for solutions to.
I stopped creating offers based on what I wanted to teach and started creating offers based on what people were desperately trying to fix.
That’s the secret to how to make more profit in your business: solve problems people are already aware of and willing to pay for.
Step 5: Create Strategic Content That Generates Leads and Drives to Your Email List
Notice I didn’t say “post three times a day” or “create every type of content.”
I said strategic content. Content with a purpose:
Solve a problem (show your expertise)
Generate leads (attract the right people)
Drive to your email list (build your audience)
Every piece of content should do at least one of these things. Preferably all three.
I went from posting three times a day with no strategy to posting 4-5 times a week with clear intention. My engagement went UP. My leads went UP. My income went UP.
Because I wasn’t creating content to prove myself anymore. I was creating content to serve and sell.
What Actually Changed (The Results)
Eighteen months after that 3am breaking point, my business looks entirely different:
Income: Consistent four-figure months (not $500 if I’m lucky)
Work hours: 4-6 hours per day, and I actually take weekends OFF
Content: 4-5 strategic posts per week (not desperate daily posting on every platform)
Energy: Excited about my business again, inspired by my work, not burnt out
Health: I eat real meals. I move my body. I sleep at night instead of doom-scrolling at 3am.
Clients: I attract people who value my work and pay me accordingly
But the real transformation? It’s internal.
I don’t seek permission anymore. I don’t wait for validation. I don’t check my worth against my bank account or compare myself to other coaches.
I trust myself.
Furthermore, I own my value.
I set boundaries.
I rest without guilt.
And the wildest part? I work LESS and make MORE.
Not because I found some magical strategy. But because I finally stopped trying to PROVE I deserved success and started BELIEVING I was already enough.
This is what it really means to understand how to get out of corporate life: you have to leave the corporate mindset behind too.
If This Sounds Like You
If you’re reading this at 3am, wondering what you’re doing wrong…
If you’re posting every day but your bank account doesn’t reflect your effort…
If you’re giving everything away for free, hoping someone will finally recognize your value…
If you’re burnt out, stressed, sacrificing your health for a business that’s barely paying you…
It’s not because you’re not working hard enough.
It’s not because your content isn’t good enough or you need better equipment.
Furthermore, it’s because you’re replaying a pattern you learned in corporate. A pattern that says, Prove yourself first, get paid later. Work harder to earn permission. Sacrifice to succeed.
And that pattern? It will keep you stuck at $500 a month forever.
The day you decide to BREAK that pattern?
That’s the day everything changes.
That’s the day you stop seeking permission and start claiming what’s already yours.
That’s the day you truly understand how to get out of corporate life: mentally, emotionally, and financially.
That’s the day you figure out how to make more profit in your business, because you stop undervaluing yourself.
You don’t need to work harder. You need to identify the “prove yourself” patterns that are sabotaging your business, and heal them.
Ready to Build a Business That Doesn’t Burn You Out?
I created a free guide called The Anti-Burnout Business Model that shows you exactly how to structure a $5K-$10K/month business working just 20 hours per week.
Inside, you’ll discover:
The exact offer suite breakdown that creates consistent income without the hustle (no more throwing spaghetti at the wall)
My “perfect day” template that shows you what’s actually possible when you stop replicating corporate patterns (this will blow your mind)
Boundaries worksheets to protect your energy and time so you can actually enjoy your business (and your life)
The pricing strategy that honors your worth without apology (no more $500 offers)
My personal content strategy that converts without posting three times a day (quality over quantity actually works)
The mindset shifts that make everything else work (because strategy without inner work keeps you stuck)
This guide gives you the complete roadmap to building a profitable business that doesn’t require you to sacrifice your health, your time, or your sanity.
Download The Anti-Burnout Business Model → [LINK]
And if you want ongoing support as you build a business that pays you well AND feels good, I send weekly emails with real talk about entrepreneurship. No toxic positivity. No “rise and grind” nonsense. Just honest strategies and mindset work that help you understand how to make more profit in your business while actually enjoying your life.
The kind of emails I wish someone had sent me when I was spending three hours in Canva for three likes.
Because you deserve a business that pays you well AND doesn’t drain you. Both things can be true.
You’ve worked hard enough. Now it’s time to work smarter, and build something sustainable.
If you are serious about quitting your corporate job and starting to grow your business without burnout, check out The Course Creator’s Freedom Blueprint. For just €55, you’ll get access to a course that will teach you how to master course creation, launch strategy without ads, and email marketing.
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