Walking Away from the Success You've Built: The Art of Making Countercultural Decisions (with Jordan Schanda King)

Show Notes

Walking Away from the Success You've Built: The Art of Making Countercultural Decisions (with Jordan Schanda King)

Some seasons of life don’t ask politely. They rip open the seams of your identity and force you to decide what you’re willing to carry into the next chapter. This episode is about that moment. It’s about the woman you become when the version of you that built your success isn't a fit anymore.

Jordan Schanda King is a serial entrepreneur, author, and former founder of Easy Scaling and Scaling School. She’s built and sold multiple companies, supported hundreds of women in scaling their businesses, and lived most of her working life in the dual roles of visionary and integrator. Somewhere between her second and third child, her ambition shape-shifted, her identity cracked open, and the business she once loved no longer fit. Her decision to sell Easy Scaling at the peak of its success became the catalyst for a full internal reorientation.

This is for anyone who feels the quiet tension of outgrowing the life--and success--they've built. 

Women whose ambition feels different than it used to. 

Mothers who sense they’re changing in ways no one talks about--and in ways they couldn't have predicted.

Jordan’s story is a clean, honest look at identity shapeshifting, trusting your gut, and giving yourself permission to evolve without apology.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why identity shifts often show up as confusion, restlessness, or a sudden lack of attachment to work you used to love
• The profound shift to motherhood, and how it can fundamentally alter your ambition, energy, and sense of self
• The difference between pressure-driven ambition and grounded desire, and how Jordan recognized the line
• What really happens emotionally and practically when you sell a business at your peak
• Why most women already know the answer to the change they’re avoiding

The REAL Change Kickstart is a 45-day 1:1 coaching intensive designed to help you:

• Identify the behaviors keeping you stuck
• Unlearn what is no longer serving you
• Create new patterns that align with what you truly want

Click here to get started.

Interested in longer-term support for making a significant change? Send me a message at meg@megtrucano.com to get started.

Want to learn more about the art, science, philosophy, and psychology of making significant life changes? Sign up HERE for my weekly newsletter and have the Changeology podcast delivered straight into your inbox!

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Transcript

@0:14 - Meg Trucano 

Welcome back to the Changeology Podcast. I'm with guest Jordan Shonda King today, and I'm so delighted to have you on, Jordan.

@0:24 - Jordan King

It's nice to see you again. It's great to see you. I'm thrilled to be here.

@0:28 - Meg Trucano 

It's going to be fun. Yeah, we're going to have an awesome conversation today. For historical context, Jordan and I met when I was a client of hers, actually, in the scaling school program of her business, Easy Scaling.

Jordan, by your own acknowledgement, you are a serial entrepreneur, and I'd love for you to kind of get our audience up to speed on what early entrepreneurship.

bit in the absolute of nonprofit. Thank you. And you built, you know, two successful brands and sold them. You published a book, which I didn't know.

And you are a thought leader. And I'm certain you're going to start another several businesses in your working life to come.

@1:16 - Jordan King

But tell us about those early days. Oh, okay. How early do want me to go? First business?

@1:23 - Meg Trucano 

Yeah, first business.

@1:24 - Jordan King

Okay. So my first business, my first like true business, I started with my mom. And I think like most entrepreneurs, most business owners generally, but especially entrepreneurs, like when you stumble into your first business or your second or third or however many you do, it's kind of out of like necessity or just like, you know, a situation that you're in and like you see a problem and you see a solution.

And you just kind of stumble into them. I find that that's like super common. And that's what happened, happened.-hmm-hmm .

Mm Mm Thank My mom and I, so we started this college prep business just based on the experience that we had with the process and the experience we knew we were going to have with my younger brother.

So I saw a problem, created a solution, we were like, why does this not exist, kind of thing, and ended up writing a book, publishing a book, selling these books, really nationwide, but internationally, and then sold that business.

And it's kind of like a bug, you know, like you get it and then you like, it's hard to see like any other way of working after you've started your first business, I think.

@2:38 - Meg Trucano 

Yeah, okay. So where does Easy Scaling come in?

@2:42 - Jordan King

So Easy Scaling was my third business. So that was my first, my second one I started with a friend as well.

So two, two businesses I co-founded, which is important context for Easy Scaling because when you are a co-founder, when you're in a partnership.

Next step. You kind of slot into the role that you're typically best suited for, right? There's a lot of different types of business owners.

Visionary and integrator, those are kind of terms that people use a lot to describe the two roles that are really important for a business to run.

And I love to describe myself as both, but in my partnerships, I always got slotted into the integrator role because I was doing a lot of the back-end operations, the in-the-weeds type stuff.

know, like the taking the action and getting the thing done, like making the idea come to fruition. So that was the role that I was in.

And it became really obvious that a lot of business owners are not like that. They are more the visionaries and like to live in that space of ideas and like the problems that they're solving and the client work and all of the things.

And so I had all of this experience being slotted into the other role. And it came so naturally for me.

was like, well, I can do This is a gap that needs to be filled like I was talking about.

So yeah, I started Easy Scaling and specifically was calling myself a contract COO or fractional COO that was coming in as that integrator side, the operations-minded person, the analytical-minded person to get the things done.

@4:21 - Meg Trucano 

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. And Easy Scaling then bore a child, Scaling School, right? And so Scaling School was, well, I'll let you describe Scaling School.

@4:34 - Jordan King

I would say Easy Scaling had many children. I loved every offer and everything that we did. And again, because I feel like I am part visionary, part integrator, it's actually a little dangerous because I can come up with the ideas.

And then, like, I can very quickly build the thing out, right?

@4:54 - Meg Trucano 

So fast, so fast. Okay, well, like, maybe this idea will work.

@4:59 - Jordan King

Let's just try it. So we did a lot of different things. We had a really cool mastermind that I was obsessed with that went by several different names.

We did a collective-type membership thing. This was all in addition to that high-level one-on-one stuff that we did where we were in the back-end of these women's businesses, really running their business.

But yeah, Scaling School was really the final offer that I got to work on before selling Easy Scaling. Because my first business was in higher ed, I worked in higher ed for almost a decade in various different roles.

And so I have like this little obsession with higher education. So I couldn't get this idea out of my head of like, I want to create like a school for women where they can come in and they can learn and be around.

And , , And so scaling school was born from, from that little obsession and idea.

@6:05 - Meg Trucano 

Yeah, it was, it was lovely. We had, you know, professors and, and mentors of all different kinds in all different domains.

And it was a, it was a really, while I was in enrolled, it was really wonderful. But there came a moment after your third child was born and you made a choice to step away and sell that business.

And I, I would love to hear all about that process. So what changed, what prompted the decision to, to make an exit?

@6:40 - Jordan King

Yeah. So I knew when I started easy scaling that at some point I, I would potentially like to sell it.

I'll put it that way. wasn't like specific plans or timelines in mind when I first started the business, but I knew that I wanted to create something that was sellable because I

We made a lot of specific decisions when we created Easy Scaling and we created our offers and our team structure that would eventually allow me to sell or to get out of the role that I was in.

So that was in the plans. I still didn't have a timeline in mind, but I will also say that I did not expect it to happen so soon.

That business wasn't that old when I sold it. It was a little over three years old, so fairly young business still.

And I felt like we were still in this like this growth kind of mode. And yeah, I had already had one child and been on maternity leave one time with Easy Scaling as my business.

And so I thought with the next child, with my third, that it would kind of be the same thing.

Like we would we would just kind of keep doing what we're doing, like the team knew how to handle maternity leave.

And I thought it would just. And same kind of deal. But that third pregnancy, I felt different. And I don't know, I think women can relate to this kind of generally, like, at least I can.

@8:16 - Meg Trucano 

I don't know, like, maybe it's just me.

@8:17 - Jordan King

But like, hormonal fluctuations, like I feel differently about my business, about life, everything, like depending on what's going on with my hormones.

And this pregnancy in particular, I was just like, not the same person. Like, I still loved the work I was doing, but something about it felt different.

And I kept like, I had a coach at the time, and I kept telling her, I can't wait to have this baby, because I want to just like feel normal again.

And like, I don't feel normal about stuff. And I was so excited to have the baby, and then get right back to work, because that's what I did with my second.

And I had that baby. And I was like, oh, my gosh, Blake, which is I was like, I don't want to do that business anymore.

Like at all, like at all. And I was like, this is really weird. Like, maybe this is just postpartum hormone.

We're going to let this phase pass, you know? And I reached out to a gal. Her name is Carrie Kirpin.

She helped me sell the business. She's absolutely amazing. And this is what she does. And I reached out to her because she's worked with a lot of agency owners.

And I was like, Hey, I want to work with you on growing my agency, but also I maybe want to sell it.

And she was like, well, that's like kind of a weird, which one do you want to do? And I was like, well, I don't know one of them.

And we had a phone call and it became immediately obvious on that phone call that it was time to sell my business like yesterday.

Right. So it just, it just kind of, came out of no, like, like, it didn't come out of nowhere.

Cause like all of the stuff that I just told you, like it was leading up to that, but I kept thinking it was going to pass.

You know, and it didn't.

@10:02 - Meg Trucano 

Wow. And so was the, like, did you feel conflicted up until that point you had that conversation about whether to stay or go?

@10:16 - Jordan King

Or you just, you just didn't know? I felt super conflicted. I was very confused about how I was feeling because I was legitimately feeling just, I don't even know what, it was like, it was like previously in my business, I was really obsessed with what I did.

Like I was obsessed with it. I wanted to work on it all the time, like day and night. Like I was just, like obsessed is probably a good word, which was just like maybe not healthy, I don't know.

But that's how I felt. And I loved it. And I like thrived on it. And that was just kind of gone.

And so I was more like, it felt a little bit like I was going through the motions. And I still enjoyed it to an extent, but like the passion of it was kind of gone is how it felt.

And so that's why I was like, this is just like, this is going to pass. It's just because I'm pregnant or it's just because I've got this newborn.

Like, it's just, I'm just feeling weird, you know? But yeah, it just didn't, it didn't pass. And so it was, to answer your question, like I was conflicted because I had put so much effort and energy into it and so much of myself.

And it didn't, it didn't feel like, I didn't feel ready to let it go, but also I didn't feel like I was going to be able to do it justice anymore, you know?

@11:45 - Meg Trucano 

Oh, okay. Yeah, that makes sense. And, you know, a lot of people have that observation, I think when they are faced with some kind of a big change, whether it is self, self-initiated or whether it's, you know, surprises them.

But this idea of like, I don't want to let this go. I don't want to start over. I don't want to waste all that effort that it took to build this thing up until this point.

Because you left Easy Scaling or you sold Easy Scaling. It was, as you said, still growing. And it's not like there was a problem with the business or whatever.

It was like, it was you. You decided that this was no longer.

@12:30 - Jordan King

Yeah, I completely changed. I was like a different person. And I wasn't expecting to become a different person because it's not like it was my first kid.

It wasn't even my second. Like, you know, I, it was very unexpected. And I, I jokingly tell people all the time when they asked me, like, why I sold my business.

I'm like, my third baby warped my brain. Like he warped my brain. It like wasn't the same brain anymore.

It wasn't the same person, you know, very strange.

@12:56 - Meg Trucano 

Yeah. And I feel like we talk as a society, as a culture, as. about that transition to motherhood with the first baby, right?

Or in my case, both, that it's a huge transition, but we don't often hear about like inter-child changes exactly like yours, right?

Like where you're just like, oh man, things have really changed for me. And this is my new reality. And I have to figure out how I'm going to solve this problem or figure out what to do.

So my, I want to ask you though, about this, this honoring of yourself and your change that you, you honored what was coming up for you in a really effective, efficient way.

Like you didn't belabor this decision for, you know, years, right? Like some people might.

@13:49 - Jordan King

Yeah. Well, I mean, you know me, you know, I don't do that, period.

@13:55 - Meg Trucano 

That is very true.

@13:57 - Jordan King

Yeah. mean, that's kind of like my motto is And I think I've been asked, you know, what's a quote you live by?

And this is a quote my husband told me years and years and years ago, like right after we met, and he was like, strong opinions loosely held.

Like, I have very strong opinions, but I will change my mind all the time. And I'm happy to change my mind.

And I think the more that you do that, and you're okay with changing your mind, the easier it gets.

It's so strange. And so we change our mind about stuff all the time. And it's fine. You know, it's just kind of, it's like part of our personality now, or our personalities, I guess we have, you know, I feel like sometimes we're one person, but we're not.

And so yeah, it's, I mean, as hard as it was to come to terms with wanting to sell the business and like completely changing, like completely changing my life.

Yeah, I didn't need that long to think about it. You know, I, like once I knew, I knew, and then like, you just.

Take action, move on, is kind of my approach, generally.

@15:04 - Meg Trucano 

And so was there fear involved at all in this process?

@15:09 - Jordan King

I mean, yeah, for sure. All around, about all the things. Like, fear around, is this the right decision? Am I going to be able to stay at with my kids?

You know, fear about, it's something totally new and I haven't done it. Actually, I had done it. And I think this is maybe where the fear comes in.

Before I started my second business, I quit my job. I was working for a non-profit and I was very unhappy there.

And I quit before I had really kind of figured out what I was going to do. Maybe that was before I started Easy Scaling.

I can't remember the timeline. But anyway, I told Blake, I was like, oh, I'm just going to stay home and try that.

And I lasted like two weeks. And I was like, no, this is not for me. And I think that was honestly the scale.

The part is, like, I knew the decision I wanted to make, and I was making it, and I was going forward with it, but I was really kind of scared that I was going to get into it and be like, oopsie, actually, I changed my mind.

want to do this, you know? So that was really scary, but also it was scary because I felt like I could sell the business, but I didn't know that for sure.

The business wasn't sold, you know? So that was a whole other, like, the logistics of that was a whole other thing to handle, you know?

@16:35 - Meg Trucano 

So it sort of sounds like you are the perfect example of feel the fear and do it anyway, and having exercised this skill of changing your mind, like, having a strong opinion, changing your mind, and having that strong opinion, and changing your mind.

Like, this helped build up the resilience against that fear, taking-

@17:01 - Jordan King

Yeah, I mean, like I kind of already like it's a muscle. It is how it feels to me. And like, the more you practice it, the easier it gets legitimately.

And I think because I've done some crazy stuff in my life, and none of it's ever been a bad thing.

It's always been a good thing. Like, even if it's been hard or like crazy or hectic or stressful, it always ends up being a good thing.

My husband and have conversations all the time where he's like, Oh, like, do you regret anything? And he gets arguments about this, because I'm of the opinion that you can't really regret anything, because it got you like to where you are.

Like, that's my opinion on it. And he thinks it's like a silly opinion to have. He's like, No, but like, what, like, what would you have done differently?

I'm like, I would do nothing differently, because I'm where I am. And I like that, you know, and he gets so frustrated.

@17:55 - Meg Trucano 

He's like, that's not what I'm asking. He's like, yeah, okay.

@17:58 - Jordan King

But I don't know, it's But Um, I really do believe every crazy change or risk I've taken has been a good thing in the long run.

@18:09 - Meg Trucano 

How do you think motherhood has shaped your identity? And was it different with the first two than the third?

@18:19 - Jordan King

Yes, for sure. For sure. Um, I think the third has some type of like special power to, like I said, warp your brain.

Um, I'm anxious to see if that keeps happening, if we keep having kids, because I didn't feel like I changed that much with my first two.

I felt kind of like, and I shouldn't say that. mean, like becoming a mother like changes you, obviously. But, but kind of who I am to my core didn't change that much.

I didn't feel like. But with my third, I feel like it did. I feel like I'm much less anxious.

I'm way more like go with the flow. It's harder to kind of like, I don't know, like the resilience aspect.

It's just, it's harder to get me kind of like stressed out and frazzled. Whereas before, because I'm a super type A person.

I'm a perfectionist. It just, I don't know, like I hadn't, it hadn't changed that part of me and something with this third kid.

I don't know if it's because like every moment of every day is so chaotic that you literally just have to change who you are.

@19:50 - Meg Trucano 

You'll go crazy.

@19:53 - Jordan King

It, I don't know. I'm just, I'm just different. I'm just, I'm just, my personality feels different. Mm-hmm.

@20:01 - Meg Trucano 

That's so fascinating to me. I experienced a massive change, too, with becoming a mother, but not in that way.

Not in the chiller way.

@20:15 - Jordan King

Not in the total opposite direction. Exactly. That's what I'm saying. I became almost more neurotic. You know what I mean?

More ambitious and more trying to do all the things. Then I was like, yeah, whatever. I don't need to do that business.

I checked that off my list. I don't have anything to prove. Whatever. I don't care anymore. I became that person.

I was like, I don't even know who that is. That's not me. But I guess it is.

@20:51 - Meg Trucano 

Here I am. Yeah, that's so fascinating. That actually leads to my next question, which is, you know, before number three.

1. 3. You were like, and I witnessed this personally, you were like, absolutely on top of your . 100% of the time, I'm sure it was like, you didn't think that way all the time.

But from the outside, you were driven on top of it. You were just like, absolutely an expander, right? Like you just, you were such an amazing entrepreneurial influence on me personally, but on many of the other people that were in scaling school as well.

And then we as clients experienced your maternity leave and everything was great. Like we were, you know, you were going to come back and everything was going to, we missed you, but it was, it was still running, still standing.

We still had awesome support from the people that you, the employees and the people that you had set up the maternity structure with.

And then when you didn't come back and we heard that it was because something had changed and you had just, like, made this decision to sell, and then I found out through personal channels and talking with you that it was actually like a real personality revolution.

It's so fascinating to me how this happened between two and three, child two and three. So what does ambition look like to you now, and how does it feel?

You said you kind of, like, you weren't that, you didn't feel as ambitious as you had before.

@22:46 - Jordan King

I think that, yeah, this is so interesting. I think a lot about this. I'm not sure I totally have the words to describe it yet.

But I think before my ambition... And, like, my drive, although I do think there's something, like, kind of core to my personality about that, like, I'm not going to say that it's totally gone, right?

Okay? I am a very competitive person. I like to spend my time playing competitive tennis and doing anything else where there's a potential for me to, like, win something.

Like, I'm there, right? So, like, it's still my personality, but I kind of feel like I applied it almost in, like, an unhealthy way, if that.

Like, that's going to sound really bad, but it can be, like, all-consuming, I think, when you approach kind of everything like that is how it felt.

and I did feel, it's like a heavy, it's like a heavy thing. The ambition is very heavy, because it's constant, and, like, nothing is ever good enough.

And that's not. Like, totally gone. Like, it's partly why we're doing construction on our house right now and things are moving very fast.

Like, I keep talking to my family and they're like, I don't understand how you've gotten that much done, like, in that short amount of time.

And I'm like, well, yeah, because I'm not really going to be satisfied until it's, like, kind of finished, you know?

So, like, I want to move it along as fast as possible. So there's still, like, I still am that.

But it's not, it's, when I had the layer of the business and, like, the pressure of the business, it felt a little unhealthy and that I couldn't quite turn it off ever is how it felt, which wasn't, which was a stressful experience to me, like, also being a mom.

So, like, to your point, you know, oh, it seems like you have it all together. Like, yeah, to an extent I did.

But when I was working with my coach, it was always, the conversations were always about, like, but I just don't feel present, you know?

Like, I just I don't feel, I just don't feel like I can turn it off and like I can just kind of like be without the constant pressure of like more, more, more, like I want to get to the next level and like I'm not satisfied that we made half a million.

want to make a million and I want to make like multi-millions and it just was like consuming me. And I, not that I think there's anything wrong with women who stay on that trajectory and like do that, but I wasn't feeling good about it anymore, if that makes sense.

@25:39 - Meg Trucano 

Mm-hmm. It does. It does. There was a point in my early motherhood where I was very frustrated with how my business was going and I had, you know, the twins were pretty small.

And I had this just really powerful desire to burn it all to the ground. And just like, make hand pies with them for the rest of time, you know, and of course, that's not realistic.

And, but I understand that drive to like, really simplify almost and, and really home in on the presence and, and being with your kids.

So did you have to confront any like, criticism of your decision?

@26:31 - Jordan King

I'm to think, I, I don't, I don't really remember anyone being critical. I think the, the kind of like, the feelings that I wouldn't, I would describe more so than like being criticized was like a little bit of like guilt.

I felt like, oh, I'm like, I'm, am I letting my clients down? I letting my team down? down? Like.

That was part of the pressure that I was excited to get away from, too. That felt very heavy to balance what I felt like I needed personally with what I felt like I kind of owed other people, like I had set this whole thing up and people were relying on me.

I was responsible for this business and my employees and all of those things. And that was more so the negative side of things, I think, rather than anyone being, like, outwardly critical toward me.

@27:39 - Meg Trucano 

That makes sense. So throughout this whole process, do you feel like your relationship changed with your kids?

@27:51 - Jordan King

Yeah. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. Um, it's, it's so strange. strange. And my kids were always at home.

Like, I was super fortunate when I had my business that we always had a nanny at home, right? So even though I was working, they were there.

But I will tell you, like, I have, like, a lot of weird, like, memories. And I'm sure they don't, like, their experience of it is very different than mine, right?

But I felt so weird about constantly having to tell them, like, I'm working, like, I need you to leave my office, like, pushing them away.

It almost felt like kind of like the dark side of work from home that maybe we haven't really learned the impact of yet, that your kids are always around watching you work, rather than going somewhere else while you work.

It honestly felt like I was constantly having to tell them to go away, you know? Even though I know that's not the case, but, like, it felt like that.

And that was real. They're waiting on me too. And so, I don't know, maybe, like, I feel like my relationship is different because I don't have to tell them to do that all the time.

Like, we're just always together. I have to tell them that sometimes, right? But for the most part, like, that's not a thing anymore.

And I like to think that maybe that has a good impact on them at some point, like, from their perspective.

It definitely does from mine with like the guilt thing and just feeling really awkward about it. And just generally, like, uncomfortable with the dynamic of working from home.

don't feel like I hear people talking about that, but I found that experience to be very strange.

@29:41 - Meg Trucano 

Yeah, I remember that, too. And actually, you and I had a conversation about this when we were working together in Easy Scaling.

I have glass doors that go into my office. And so anytime the nanny would take them upstairs to do something or anytime they would, you know, go up or down the

They would see me. And yeah, that just, it breaks your heart to like, you know, what feels like rebuffing your children and telling them to go play with a nanny.

But that is, it's really hard to hold both things, your desire and your ambition. And I know with Easy Scaling, you and have had this conversation before that it was very mission driven.

You were, it was not, uh, you know, based in like, uh, anything other than a strong desire to serve women in this particular way.

And when you have a mission driven business that your heart and soul is in and kids that are your heart and soul, it's just so hard to navigate that, that change.

Um, so what does success look like to you now?

@30:59 - Jordan King

I don't know. I don't I know if I know the answer to that honestly. Like it hasn't even been a year since selling the business and the first, I would say the first for sure three months but probably six months after selling was very much me still trying to like figure out my identity and figure out like how to live this new life.

You know, it, it didn't really feel like it wasn't like, Oh, I sold the business in the next day.

I knew how to like step into my new role. Like it was a very rocky learning experience with a lot of like emotional baggage, a lot of conversations around like, who am I?

What am I doing? And like, what is my purpose? like, you know, deep stuff like that was coming up because I just felt like I was, I was completely changing who was about

I was, and what mattered to me, and to your point, what does success look like? I feel like I'm getting closer to figuring that out, but it's still very much like a constant conversation, and I'm having this conversation with my husband all the time, like, am I insane to want to homeschool my kids?

Should I just send them to school? It's right across the street. Like, I don't know, like, am I that type of mom?

Like, do I want to try that identity on? Like, how do I feel about that? What does that look like?

How long is that? Is that what I'm going to do for the next literally, like, 15 or 20 years of my life?

How am I going to feel about that at the end of 20 years, you know? I don't know, because on the other hand, I'm having conversations all the time about, like, new businesses I want to start.

Like, I have no idea. Yeah, I think it's kind of, I ‑‑ It's very much something I'm like in the thick of right now.

But I will say my gut is leaning more towards like, I love being a mom and I love personally raising my children.

And part of why selling the business became really obvious is because I did not want anyone else watching my third kid.

And I hadn't felt like that about my first two not that I don't love them just as much like but I just couldn't fathom someone watching all three of my kids at one time.

And I was there's no way they're going to be able to do that as good as I would. So nope, like, I'm not going to give this baby to anybody.

So I still kind of feel like that. And I kind of want have more kids.

@33:46 - Meg Trucano 

So like, there's no way they're going to be even more kids.

@33:50 - Jordan King

And and so I think success is going to end up for me looking like like raising my Kids and being totally present with them for the next probably 15 or 20 years.

We'll see how I feel about that, you know, in a couple of months or a couple of years or whatever.

@34:09 - Meg Trucano 

might change my mind. Yeah. Well, you reserve the right to change your mind at all times. Exactly. This has been such an insightful conversation, but I do have a rapid fire round for you, Jordan, if you're game.

All right, let's do it. All right, so what have been the most surprising lessons or gifts from this season of life?

@34:33 - Jordan King

Oh, hmm. Lessons or gifts. I think probably patience. We talked about the presence a little bit, and I think presence and patience are a little bit different.

But, you know, you and I have talked about different, like, human design and, like, different things over the years.

to information And I will And something that always comes up and I know for a fact is something I have to work on is patience.

And when you're with your kids all day, every day, you have to be more patient or it's literally going to be no fun for anybody, you know?

And I am by no means perfect. It's still like probably the number one lesson I need to learn in life.

But I feel like I have become, I have, I am a lot more patient than I used to be, put it that way.

I'm still working on that one. It's a, it's a rough one.

@35:37 - Meg Trucano 

Yeah. Manifesting generator. Exactly. Okay. So hard. Okay. So what has been the hardest part of this season of life?

@35:50 - Jordan King

Um, the hardest part, I think it's, it's, It's tough to answer that question because there's so many other factors.

If the biggest thing that I had done in the last year was sell my business, we'd be having one conversation, but I've done a lot of other things.

I've moved many, many times. Yeah, I think the chaos has been the most difficult thing and not feeling settled.

I think partly because it was partly what I was looking forward to the most when I sold my business and I was going to be home was calm and being settled.

And instead, what I've gotten is like constant change and chaos over the last year. And it was very unexpected.

And thank goodness I sold my business when I did. But also I've been frustrated. It has been so chaotic and I felt like I haven't been able to like totally enjoy it in the way that I was expecting, you know, because of all the chaos.

So I think that's been, that's been the hardest part.

@37:12 - Meg Trucano 

You've moved a lot.

@37:14 - Jordan King

I've moved a lot. I've moved a lot.

@37:18 - Meg Trucano 

How many times in the last year?

@37:20 - Jordan King

In the last year, I think probably three times, but that doesn't count the three months of living in, you know, half a dozen or more Airbnbs.

So, you know, I've laid my head in lots of different beds.

@37:39 - Meg Trucano 

Oh, man, I can see why you feel so unsettled. Okay, so if you could go back and tell yourself one thing before embarking on this chapter, what would it be?

@37:53 - Jordan King

Before embarking on this, like, chapter that I've been in for like nine-ish months.

@37:58 - Meg Trucano 

Mm-hmm.

@38:00 - Jordan King

Um, man, if I'm being real, what I would say, what I would work on actually is the phone. You know, I hate social media.

I'm never on. I hate it. I despise it. Right. Like I'm not on there. And that has been the biggest like silver lining to selling my business is I do not have to portray a persona online anymore.

It's amazing. I love it. don't have to take pictures of what I'm doing or whatever. I hate doing that stuff.

And so that has been great. I'm like completely off social media for the most part. I have to get on Facebook marketplace a lot because I like to buy and sell things, but, um, that's a story for another day.

But I still am like, I have like a phone addiction, probably in like the way that everybody has a phone addiction these days.

It's like, how do you live in today's world without your phone? Like I order my groceries from my phone, you know, like I take notes on my phone to remember stuff.

I feel like there's, it's so easy to just like have the phone. And that's like my next big thing that I'm going to work on is like de-phoning my life.

And if I could go back, I would tell myself to like start on that sooner. Um, cause I think it would have been easier to like completely cut from it.

Um, when we were making all these changes, but I don't know, maybe that's not true. It's tough.

@39:32 - Meg Trucano 

It's hard to know. I can think of a lot. I think it can think of a lot of instances where it would have been necessary and then like important, like Airbnb booking.

@39:41 - Jordan King

Yeah. And like house hunting. But that's the thing is like, you can literally always come up with a reason with why your life is easier with the phone.

You know, and I, I haven't been able to figure out how you, how do you like completely cut the dependence that I so I shouldn't.

Say, like, addiction. It just feels like everything is so convenient on the phone. But I think if I don't do anything about it, I I'm to really regret it.

@40:14 - Meg Trucano 

Yeah. I think speaking as the, you know, from a psychology background, I think you have to look at the equation of, like, what is it preventing you from connecting with the now and with the people in your life?

Yeah. And if it really is becoming a hindrance there, then it's, like, absolutely must excise dependency from you. But you're right.

It is so convenient. And it is, you know, almost a staple in today's life. But I also agree with you.

I look at people who have managed to go completely, almost completely tech-free, except for work-related things. And I'm just like, how do you do it?

But also, can I do it? Yeah.

@40:57 - Jordan King

Yeah. Yeah. I got to figure this out. need to thank you for Like, asking me that question because it's prompting me to go, like, do some research on my phone about how to get out of the phone.

Maybe I'll do the research on my computer.

@41:12 - Meg Trucano 

It's, like, not quite as fun. It probably means that you'll stay on it less, right? Okay, so what's one thing you want listeners to take away from this episode?

@41:28 - Jordan King

Um, I think what feels kind of, like, most important to me is in this whole experience and everything I've gone through, like, through my whole life or whatever is not being afraid to let your identity change.

And even if it's, like, a deep, I didn't, like, like, me staying at home, like, being a stay-at-home mom, I still, I can't, like, totally say it out loud and, like, take it seriously.

Um, I'm still working on it, but that's such a... And difference to who I was literally ever in my whole life.

And I think just don't, I don't know, don't be afraid of that. It's like such a fun, interesting experience to like be changing and doing different things and trying on new roles.

And I think mostly, and you probably talked about this, mostly people probably have regret because they didn't make the decision fast enough.

Like, don't be afraid of it. And just like, try it on, like, try it on, see how it feels, like, take the action, do the thing and you can change your mind.

@42:36 - Meg Trucano 

You can change your mind. Yes. Yes. All right. Final question for you, Jordan. What advice would you give to someone who is considering making a big life change?

@42:48 - Jordan King

Do it.

@42:48 - Meg Trucano 

Just do it.

@42:49 - Jordan King

Just do it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, seriously. Um, I feel like 99% of the time we know the answer in our gut.

it. I'm sure you get this all the time in your work. I get this all the time with friends, like for sure with clients and all the work that I've ever done.

It's like, you have the conversation. I'm like, I don't even know what we're talking about here because you clearly already know the answer.

You know what I mean? Like, why are we even talking about this? You already know the answer. So like, just do it.

You know, we almost always know the answer and we just need to trust our gut and just do the thing.

@43:27 - Meg Trucano 

Excellent advice. Couldn't have said it better myself. Jordan, has been such a pleasure talking with you today. And we will make sure that, well, you're not on social media.

@43:42 - Jordan King

No, don't come find me. Don't find me.

@43:45 - Meg Trucano 

So this is a rare appearance for Jordan John King on Changeology, but thank you so much for joining me today and for sharing your experience because I don't, I don't think this is talked about enough.

This identity shift and. And turn inward.

@44:01 - Jordan King

For sure.

@44:03 - Meg Trucano 

Thank you so much. This was great. This was great. And thank you for listening to Changeology, and I'll see you in the next one.

The recording has stopped. Awesome. Amazing.