For the past few months, our news feeds have been filled with stories of millions of people quitting their jobs, whether it be from exhaustion, pandemic shock, or for more personal reasons. After all, sitting in our homes for months on end gave a lot of people something they never had before: time. Maggie Greene used that time to think about what she wanted to do with her life. So she quit. And she started a company that’s tailored to help others.
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Be sure to follow Maggie on all of social media channels:
https://www.instagram.com/greenstylemags/
https://www.tiktok.com/@greenstylemags
https://www.linkedin.com/in/greenemaggie/
Mike Morrison:
Hi, my name is Mike Morrison and welcome to my podcast, I Quit. I've been an entrepreneur for the past eight years. And during that time I've loved having conversations with my fellow entrepreneurs about the nitty and the gritty of running their own businesses, specifically, how they got started. This is a third season of I Quit and I'm so excited to have you join us so you can hear all about the amazing stories from these amazing folks who quit their jobs to do what they really love, running their own businesses.
Mike Morrison:
Welcome back to I Quit. This is episode two of our third season. And in case you missed our last episode, this season, we're focusing on entrepreneurs that quit their jobs during the pandemic. And a time when it seemed like the best thing to do was to hunker down and hold on to everything you had, some people decided to let it all go. I think sometimes those folks make the best kind of entrepreneurs.
Mike Morrison:
For the past few months our news feeds have been filled with stories of millions of people quitting their jobs, whether it be from exhaustion or pandemic shock or from a personal reasons. After all sitting in our homes for months on end, give a lot of people something they never had before, time. Maggie Greene used that time to think about something she wanted to do with her life. So she quit and started a company that's tailored to help others. All right everyone, so welcome to episode two today. Our guest is Maggie Greene. Nice to meet you, Maggie.
Maggie Greene:
And you as well, Mike. Thanks for having me.
Mike Morrison:
You're one of the brave souls who quit your job during the pandemic. Can you tell me a little bit what you were doing before you quit?
Maggie Greene:
Yeah. So just generally in a nutshell, before I launched my business I was in marketing and communication. So I worked for a number of different industries but specifically the job that I quit in the pandemic I was working in event technology. So still in a marketing role, 100% remote. I had been working from home for a number of years. And I think I was there that job, it was less than six months, which is a shorter term for me, but it was time for a change.
Mike Morrison:
So you were used to this idea that so many people are still a year and a half struggling with is, the work from home. You were already doing that.
Maggie Greene:
Yep. Exactly. And the work life balance piece is always a challenge but designating an area in my home specifically for work helped create those boundaries a little bit. But yeah, I love the flexibility and that was part of why I signed up, applied for that role to begin with, is that it gave me that flexibility to work from home or work from anywhere really.
Mike Morrison:
Yeah, exactly. And we'll get into what you do now, but tell me a little bit about what did you quit your job to do? What's your full-time job now?
Maggie Greene:
Again, in a nutshell my short answer is the job that I have now is my dream job. I created it for myself. I actually built a business. Entrepreneurship was not originally part of my plan. As with a lot of folks, the pandemic inspired some deep reflection and retrospection, introspection...
Mike Morrison:
So all the spections, covered all of those.
Maggie Greene:
All the spections. Yes. I was looking deep, looking broad, looking forward mostly to, what can I imagine doing for the rest of my life? And it was really important that I could create a marriage among all the skills and acumen that I've garnered over the years, like I said, across industries in marketing and communications. But personal style was since probably toddlerhood. Since I was a child I've been obsessed with style and aesthetic and creativity. And so a marriage between rather personal brand and personal style is the foundation that I created this business on.
Mike Morrison:
So those are two big changes. One being full-time employed and becoming an entrepreneur, but then event marketing technology to personal style. How quickly did that happen from when the pandemic started till you decided, "Hey, I want to try this thing that I've been thinking about."
Maggie Greene:
I would say the idea had been simmering for a few months actively. I've been fantasizing about something like this, looking for that dream job for 10 years or more. And it just didn't exist or rather I didn't find it, so entrepreneurship was the gateway to creating it really for myself. And yeah, I know it sounds like a big leap but marketing and communication's personal brand, they all have the same flavor and function. And so it felt like a really logical next step for me.
Maggie Greene:
To answer your question about when, so I was actually in Edmonton in February of 2020 at an event as an advocate and an agent for the company that I was working for at the time, met some awesome folks and really got super inspired and started thinking more deeply about this possibility of entrepreneurship, got back home and then lockdown happened. So it was really the first two weeks of March I was thinking, "Can I do this? Should I do this?" And by the end of March I put in my two weeks notice and had launched the business officially, website and all as of April of 2020. So really soon after the pandemic.
Mike Morrison:
So while I was crying on my couch, you were just launching websites and businesses and just going full tilt?
Maggie Greene:
Yes. Something hilarious. And I didn't include this in the pre-interview but I have literally spoken with, connected with and engaged with more people in the last year through the whole pandemic, virtually of course, thank goodness for Zoom. I've connected with more people in the last year and a half than I have in my entire seven years in Seattle.
Maggie Greene:
Working from home is almost like you're working under a rock. If you don't do a co-working space or you're not going into an office regularly, you're alone at home. And I was physically alone at home with my partner and the pets and things like that, but I just really have blossomed socially. Feel like I've been training for this my whole life I guess but... Yeah.
Mike Morrison:
So this kind of social activity works for you, these online Zoom meetings?
Maggie Greene:
Totally. Yeah. I love it.
Mike Morrison:
I want to go back to a few things that you said. Can you describe to me what your dream job is to you? What does a dream job mean?
Maggie Greene:
It's not just a reason to get up in the morning, it is the reason sometimes I can't sleep at night like a child on Christmas Eve. It's just the anticipation of Monday for example. Monday was a pain, I dreaded it in previous roles. And so now it's my favorite day of the week, I get to jump right in, it's a new week with new possibilities and new opportunities.
Mike Morrison:
To be fair, when you're an entrepreneur you don't know what day it is?
Maggie Greene:
Yeah. They all run together. Exactly. Exactly. So every day is my favorite day, including weekends when sometimes I work, sometimes I don't. But yeah, the dream job is what lights me up viscerally with electric joy, that enthusiasm and that passion, being able to channel that in a productive way that has an impact on others. I'm getting goosebumps as I'm talking about it, this is the thing for me.
Mike Morrison:
And I was going to say so this right now, it feels like your dream job?
Maggie Greene:
It does. Yeah. It feels very much the definition, the Latin root of vocation, right? Is like a calling. I feel like I am doing finally what I was born to do, I feel very called and compelled to do it. And it feels like I'm walking in my purpose, which is not something I've experienced before with work.
Mike Morrison:
That's amazing. And so did you think that feeling you have today... When you quit did you think you would have that feeling you have today so quickly?
Maggie Greene:
I don't think I could have imagined. The first big milestone was saying it out loud, making it true, I am launching a business and here's the website. And this is what you can expect to see from me going forward. So there was that big wave of anticipation but that electric joy is the closest phrase I can come up with to really describe the feeling. I don't think so. No. So it's been a pleasant surprise for sure.
Mike Morrison:
And the reason I asked that is the first year, even in normal times is you're setting up accounts, you're networking, you're doing all these things to build the foundation of your business that it can often feel like, "Why did I do this? I had it so good. I had it so good. I had a nine to five. I had vacation days. I had it so good." But did you ever have those feelings in the last year or so?
Maggie Greene:
So there have been fleeting moments of doubt, I would say. Business isn't predictable, especially during the first year. Fortunately, I'll never forget filing my taxes for the first time as an entrepreneur.
Mike Morrison:
Oh my gosh.
Maggie Greene:
Yeah. And I was like, "Oh my God, it's profitable. This is a thing, this is viable. I can do this." And there was the, I can do better next time. Next year is going to be even better. And I could see the exponential growth and possibility in my mind but... Yeah. And of course there are not so fun parts about running a business, administrative task and just little things like that, taxes for example, not exactly the dream, but wearing all the hats was part of the dream as well. I used to tell-
Mike Morrison:
No pun intended on your stylish side there.
Maggie Greene:
Yeah. Well, exactly. I used to say in job interviews, once I really got clarity around what I wanted and what I wasn't willing to compromise on I would tell prospective employers boredom is the enemy for me at work. I've got to be engaged. I've got to be challenged. There's got to be a rainbow of variety and tasks and responsibilities. I've just got too much to offer to be keeping a chair warm. There were those kind of roles, even with marketing it was just too narrow. I needed to do more. I wanted to do more.
Mike Morrison:
Before you quit, who were you talking to? And were any of them, those trusted people saying, "Are you kidding me? It's a pandemic, don't quit your job."
Maggie Greene:
I think largely that was the consensus with my family, my immediate support network. Fortunately, my partner whose opinion mattered the most, I guess, because obviously it impacts our household. He was and is super supportive. He was like, "You can absolutely do this." And had been telling me for years, "Why don't you take this leap for yourself?" I don't know if I had direct interactions where someone said to my face, "She must be crazy." Not only quitting the cushy nine to five to start a new business from whole cloth, but a style business in the middle of a pandemic when no one's even showing up for work.
Mike Morrison:
I was going to ask you about that. I'd never heard the term hard pants before the pandemic, all of a sudden people were calling anything not sweatpants, hard pants. And you launched a company that helps people with their style. That's another barrier. How and why did you do that?
Maggie Greene:
My early conversations, sales conversations, networking, all of that, it really revolved around this notion of self care, let's not forget, even though the world is on fire and it's probably going to end tomorrow, you've got to take care of yourself. And what does that mean? Right? Especially if we're talking about showing up for work. So it's all about context. And a lot of these folks had... I don't know, foundered or just wallowed for months on end and it was they're starting to get painful.
Maggie Greene:
They can start to see a light at the end of the tunnel like, "Maybe this won't last forever. Eventually we're going to come back to the real world, post pandemic and be seen again." So I really focused on self-care and I also focused on, which is, this is a bit kind of juxtapose, I guess with personal brand. It's how do you want to show up for others? Right? What do you want people to remember about you or know you be known for? It's not about anyone else. So if you're at home, what actually makes you feel better, more confident and more productive.
Maggie Greene:
And sometimes that means getting dressed from head to toe, including shoes. Even though no one's ever going to see it, that's what I dug in on, right? It's not about them, this is really about you, your relationship with style. It wasn't so much like... I tell folks I don't write prescriptions, right? It's a comprehensive programmatic approach based on your unique needs.
Maggie Greene:
So what are the barriers you feel you have? What are the things that you fantasized about wearing growing up but people told you wasn't the right thing for you? Things like that. People have taken to it like wildfire, it's really another one of those pleasant surprises. I'm happy to say I'm not only still standing. I'm there. I'm moving and... Yeah.
Mike Morrison:
You've navigate so much of it. One of the themes I think of the season where we talk to people who quit during the pandemic is, it's this idea that now it's time to take care of yourself personally, professionally, mentally, emotionally, physically, and absolutely close style, do make a lot of people feel better. And so when you have those days where you don't feel like getting out of bed and putting on a great outfit that you feel comfortable and that you look good, and even if no one's going to see you, it probably makes a difference.
Maggie Greene:
It does. I'm sure there are studies out there in terms of how it impacts productivity as well. That's not really my style to quote numbers and stats and things like that, but there is evidence out there that... And I can share from personal experience and from clients as well, if I'm not wearing a bra and I've got sweatpants on and a long to-do list versus this morning getting up and showing up for myself, I'll check more items off that to do list today versus sweatpants and braless.
Mike Morrison:
Do you think you would have quit your job if it wasn't for the pandemic?
Maggie Greene:
I've thought a lot about this actually and I'm not sure that I would. It was globally, worldwide, a moment to take pause and reflect. I'm fairly introspective anyway. I'm always looking forward and thinking not quite five and 10 year plan but kind of that way. I'm always thinking ahead. What's the next move? I think I would've with the job for sure. I feel very good about that decision, but I don't know that I would've started my business immediately after.
Maggie Greene:
I think I would've done what I had always done and been proactive about the hunt, got my exit strategy in order and not quit until I had another position lined up. So yeah. Even saying that out loud, this is probably the biggest risk I've ever taken, ever.
Mike Morrison:
Would you call yourself a risk taker? Did you take risks before the last year and a half?
Maggie Greene:
Yeah. The next biggest one that I can think of is when I left my hometown in central, rural Kentucky, no turning back. So to come to Seattle and actually I quit a career at that point. I'd been in government. So talk about a cushy, well, established nine to five, not going anywhere anytime soon. And I just had climbed the ranks, but I felt like tapped out. I grew bored, which is like I said already, right? The enemy.
Maggie Greene:
So I came to Seattle cashed in what little tiny retirement I'd accumulated over those years, no formal plan for what the heck was going to happen when I got out here. And I landed in the startup world, which was pretty perfect in retrospect. I learned a lot, got to wear a lot of hats. I had a few jobs before this last one, the last job that I quit.
Mike Morrison:
Yeah. I think when you're talking about moving from Kentucky... When you talked about that, it pinged this memory in my brain of last March when the pandemic hit and I ran conferences and I still do, but we had to move online and it was so scary. I was just crying on my friend's couch. And she's like, "This is like the least scariest thing you've done. Look at all these things that you've done that are scary." And I really needed someone to say, all those other things you've done are those big decisions. You can make big decisions. So did you lean on those decisions you made to move to quit those jobs to know that you'd be confident with this?
Maggie Greene:
A bit. Yeah. I would say more than being apt to take risks, I'm resilient. And that starts from early childhood development. I was in some challenging situations. We'll put it lightly, I guess, as a child and growing up through adulthood as well. And it was like, "No matter what happens, I will bounce back." Right? I will have learned a ton about something or myself, which ultimately arms me and prepares me for whatever's next, even if I don't know what that next thing is. So yeah.
Mike Morrison:
People are listening to this and I always think it's people who are so close to quitting or it's entrepreneurs, or it's my mom. What would you tell that person that needs that little nudge, knowing that everyone's situation's different, knowing that incomes are different? All that sort of thing. To the people that might relate to your story, what is the push that you would give them to make this decision?
Maggie Greene:
No, of course having a support network is really important. And I think engaging with other entrepreneurs. I'm a woman so of course women entrepreneurs engaging with that community was really important to me. But I think at the end of the day, the biggest piece of insight I could offer is everything you need you already have inside of you. And that's not to exclude or devalue the skills and experience that exist outside of your core skillset, which is where that support network comes in.
Maggie Greene:
If you're building a team, it's important to find people who are different than you, different from you, to balance that skill and that value. But if you have the appetite, if you are considering it, most people don't, right? So there's something special about you already if you're considering taking this chance on yourself and building something new like a business, go for it and know that at the end of the day everything you already need, you already have.
Mike Morrison:
Oh, that's such good advice. And I agree when people would reach out and say like, "Oh, can I talk to you about becoming an entrepreneur?" One of the first things I'd say over coffee or whatever is like, "You're already quitting. You've reached out to basically a stranger for advice. You're hoping I would tell you not to do it." I think that's the final stage before you're quitting. You look for someone to say don't do it. And you're like, "Okay, well, they said I can't do it. So I'm just going to just go back to my job." But you're so far down that conveyor belt at that point. And so we have to get going but I loved how you talked about this being your dream job. What are you setting up for yourself so that this stays your dream job?
Maggie Greene:
I'm working a lot, I'm making new connections all the time. I'm also thinking about and well aware of my individual personal limitations. So I'm only one guy, right? Which means in terms of scalability I'm starting to think about what it could look like to grow. And that means support. It means the items like marketing that I love to do but don't often have time to do, the list of things that consistently gets deprioritized every single week, every single month, delegating that.
Maggie Greene:
Sharing some of the responsibility for just internal operations is definitely part of the plan. As far as domestically speaking, this is an investment in my and my partner's future. My goal is to retire him. So that's going to mean a lot more work, a lot more face time with clients. He would rather not work and I can't imagine not working. I love it so much-
Mike Morrison:
Okay. Sounds like a match made in heaven?
Maggie Greene:
Yeah. We're just going to keep pushing in that direction I think.
Mike Morrison:
Oh, that's amazing. That's so great. And so if people want to reach out, what's the best way for them to reach out to you?
Maggie Greene:
Probably social media @greenstylemags, that's green the color, the word style, M-A-G-S or my website, which hopefully will capture in show notes, but it's maggiegreenestyle, but that's green the color with an E at the end, my last name, maggiegreenestyle.com.
Mike Morrison:
It's a really great website. You have such a strong brand for a relatively newish entrepreneur. I noticed that when I was researching you. And it's great to see you come out of the gate so strong.
Maggie Greene:
I really appreciate that feedback and I'll also share the website, the branding, all of it. I did myself.
Mike Morrison:
Unbelievable. You're amazing. I'm excited. I want to follow up with you in a year or so and see how much this company is grown and if you've retired your partner yet.
Maggie Greene:
Yeah. Do it. I'll still be around.
Mike Morrison:
And then if you can retire me with you, that'd be great. Excellent. Well, thank you so much, Maggie.
Maggie Greene:
Thank you, Mike.
Mike Morrison:
Best of luck.
Maggie Greene:
All right. Take care.
Mike Morrison:
Thank you so much to our guest, Maggie Greene. You can follow her on Facebook on Instagram and on TikTok, greenstylemags. You can follow me at Mike's blog on all the same channels. Thank you so much. And we'll see you in the next episode.