In today’s episode, Cody and Justin bring you the boss we all strive to be. She realized being a lawyer wasn't in her future and swapped career paths to the tech industry and never looked back. While she makes a hefty income with her day job, she maintains a dedication to side hustles.

We also loved J's alternate take on Financial Independence by not rushing it. She loves her jobs and wants to be very stable. Just another great example of the many paths to FI.
Episode Summary

Studied political science in college
She thought she would become a lawyer
Became a legal assistant at age 22
She was in Boston and then moved back in with her parents
Some of her friends started blogging
She started her own blog about studying abroad to help students figure out where they should study
She finds an internship for the U.S. Olympic committee for digital marketing
Started working at USOC in 2012
All the experimenting with her blog directly translated with her new internship at the USOC
She turned that internship into a full time position where she would work with the field hockey team
She still uses a lot of the same strategies she did with her first blog including hiring out some posts on areas she isn’t as familiar with and  using keyword planning tools
One strategy she uses is to write content that’s funny and slightly controversial
She talks about the power of pintrest as the “Google of Pictures” and allows for tons of free advertising
J talks about how important it is to experiment with posts and pictures early on when your readership is low to figure out what works
She felt like the USOC job was great but wanted to learn from a bigger company
Her focus was on tech jobs in a fortune 500 company
She landed a job with an insurance company in Colorado as a project manager
She cited her management of a website that she helped a startup create with $15k as project management experience which allowed her to land the job
Her job was working with engineers to develop internal software
She got her Master’s reimbursed and got it in Information systems
Worked there for 3.5 years
She networked at the Grace Harper celebration
There she interviewed at a Silicon Valley tech company and made the move to California 9 months later
She received the AnitaB.org scholarship to Grace Hopper Celebration
She got a pay bump from the move to California
Although the standard of living there is more expensive she actually lowered her expenses in Colorado by living in a tiny 1 bedroom
At that time they were in debt from student loans and other various debt
They became debt free in 2016
After a year of living in Silicon Valley she realized it was not for her
She moved to the pacific northwest where she feels she can get the best of both worlds
She loves her job so much now that she’s not hyper-focused on the retire early portion of FIRE
There is a desire to spend more time with family but she worked a deal with her current job to work remotely from time to time in an office near them
J’s list of best side hustles: Air BnB, Turo, and her new favorite -- Etsy digital downloads

Key Takeaways

You can never learn too many skills: J went to college for political science and now earns a majority of her money through tech and blogging. She was able to increase her perceived value by constantly gaining new skills!
Design your lifestyle: Taking "risks" yields rewards. J was never afraid to take a leap at a new opportunity. Whether it was moving across states, trying new jobs, or finding a new role, her ability to take these risks vastly improved the trajectory of her life. Don't be afraid to take calculated risks!
Enjoy the FI journey: You don't have to hit your FI number or reach your cash flow goals as fast as possible. J explains how she is enjoying her journey and soaking up as much as possible along the way.

Call to Action