This episode is a clear-eyed reset for anyone questioning the promises of corporate stability or the romanticized version of entrepreneurship. Vivianne lays out six practical rules to help you reclaim agency, reduce hidden risk, and build real options without reckless leaps. If you feel stuck between burnout and fear, this conversation offers a grounded framework for seeing your situation clearly and making strategic, sustainable moves. In this final episode of 2025, Vivianne dismantles two dominant but broken narratives: the myth of corporate loyalty and the fantasy that entrepreneurship is inherently freeing or less risky. She argues that both employment and entrepreneurship carry risk, but only one is honest about it. From that tension, she introduces six rules designed to help you stop outsourcing your security and start building it yourself, whether you stay employed, start a business, or do both in parallel. This is not about quitting your job tomorrow. It’s about clarity, leverage, and long-term self-trust. The Six Rules: 1. Your Job Is a Loan, Not a Career. Employment is a transaction, not a relationship. Treat your job like capital you’re borrowing to build skills, savings, and insight. 2. Your Side Hustle Should Scare You More Than Your Day Job. If it’s completely safe and comfortable, it’s probably a hobby. A real side hustle carries stakes: emotional, reputational, financial, or temporal. 3. Stop Waiting to Be Ready, You’re Already Overqualified. Many high performers underestimate themselves when working for themselves while confidently handling massive responsibility at work. The gap isn’t skill, it’s conviction. 4. Your Corporate Job Is Teaching You What Not to Build. Every frustration is data. Every inefficiency is market research. Most people vent; strategic thinkers document. 5. Entrepreneurship Isn’t Riskier Than Employment, It’s Just Honest. Employment feels stable because risk is hidden and outsourced. Entrepreneurship feels risky because decisions (and responsibility) are visible. 6. Work Your Job Like a Consultant, Not an Employee. You can keep an employee title while adopting a consultant mindset: clear deliverables, documented impact, firm boundaries, and emotional distance. Vivianne closes the year with a reminder: courage is not one dramatic leap but a series of small, strategic choices. You don’t need permission to build a life with options. You need clarity, honesty about risk, and the willingness to invest in yourself consistently. —-------- If this episode resonated, share it with someone who’s quietly questioning their path! Sometimes clarity is contagious. -Follow Vivianne on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/vccastillo/) for grounded insights on courage, work, and building real security in uncertain times. -Download The 6 Rules for Building the Life That You Want (https://choosecourageinc.kit.com/9fd7efb4ae): a practical guide to reclaiming agency, reducing risk, and building what’s yours without dramatic leaps. This guide walks you through the same framework from the episode with clear prompts, exercises, and next steps you can apply immediately, right where you are. -Join The Walkout (https://jointhewalkout.com/), an online 2-day experience from January 15th – January 16th for UX professionals interested in building a life and career outside of corporate without regret, guilt, or starting from scratch.
