How to Make Your Ideal 9-5 Job Work for You
Sarah knew that entrepreneurship and working from home was not for her. She shares “I like the structure [the nine to five] and I can give, you know, my 110% during a fixed amount of hours. And then after that, I don’t have to worry about work. I don’t have to file my own taxes. I don’t have to be thinking about my clients or stuff like that at night or when I’m on vacation. I’m not really interested in having unlimited flexibility. I really like the boundaries between home and work and being able to turn those on and off. Especially since my husband has very few boundaries between life and work, you know those constantly bleed into each other. For me, I want those that strict time blocking of now I’m working, and now I can focus on my home and my husband and something else.”
Sarah Diehl is a program evaluation manager with experience in the public, private and non-profit sectors. She worked in New York for four years as a manager for the Student Exchange Visitor Program and is currently based in South Carolina where she works as a program evaluation manager in the E-Learning industry. Her technical skills are data management and client engagement. She’s known for her dedication to compliance and excellent organizational skills when working on complex projects. Ms. Diehl graduated magna cum laude with a dual Bachelor of Arts in German Studies and International Business from the CUNY Baccalaureate School of Unique and Interdisciplinary. She also holds a Master of Public Administration and Policy from John Jay College where she worked as a research assistant for the Department of Public Management. Ms. Diehl volunteers as Lead for her local Military Spouse Professional Network and as a Key Spouse for her husband’s squadron in Charleston.
Things we discussed in this episode:
- How Sarah took a lot of time to prepare her career and military spouse life
- How Sarah listened to other’s horror stories to understand how they happened and how she could avoid them
- Sarah took a long period to plan and think and work through the things that scared her
- She turned those fears into a lot of plans and goals
- How to be intentional, knowing your career might look a little bit different becoming a military spouse
- The importance of strategic thinking in advance considering your options
- Ask yourself what will you need to do in advance of actually making the move
- How to be confident that whatever your next move is
- Why you should break the cycle of imposter syndrome in the military spouse community…you have to view yourself as the number one priority
- Why should you be networking aggressively within your industry, since they’re the ones who really understand what you do
- The difference between job-hunting and networking
- Tips for just networking in general
Meet Laura:
Laura Briggs is empowering the freelance generation. Through her public speaking, coaching, and writing, she helps freelancers build the business of their dreams without sacrificing all their time, family, or sanity. Laura burned out as an inner-city middle school teacher before becoming an accidental freelancer with a Google search for “how to become a freelance writer.” Since then, she’s become a contributor to Entrepreneur, Business Insider, and Writer’s Weekly. She worked for more than 300 clients around the world including Microsoft, Truecar, and the Mobile Marketing Association. She’s delivered two TEDx talks on the power of the freelance economy for enabling freedom and flexibility and how it’s being used to address the technical skills gap in the U.S. Laura is the host of the Advanced Freelancing podcast, a sought-after public speaker on the gig and digital freelance economy, and a freelance coach focused on aspiring six-figure freelancers. Laura’s books, courses, and coaching have reached over 11,000 people.
As a military spouse, Laura is passionate about serving her community and founded Operation Freelance, a nonprofit organization that teaches veterans and military spouses how to become freelancers and start their own business.