Why Do Successful Women Stay in Jobs That Drain Their Energy and Potential?

I'll be totally honest, I’ve always worked in traditional 9-to-5 corporate jobs, and when I first thought about pursuing entrepreneurship, I didn’t even know where to start or if I could really make it work.?

But as I started asking people their take on this, this is what I heard constantly: “Staying in a stable corporate job is the safest way to secure your financial future, and entrepreneurship is too risky for most people.”? It’s advice that’s been echoed for years: stay on the safe path, keep your head down, and grind your way to retirement.

But then I started digging through career transition guides and corporate success strategies, and I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by how deeply the traditional career mindset is ingrained. Every guide seemed to follow the same formula: work harder, climb higher, and sacrifice more.

You can also take corporate leadership training.

Endless meetings, time-consuming projects, navigating office politics, and balancing family life. Point being, it’s a lot.

The average corporate professional spends about 60-70 hours a week on work-related tasks. And all this constant juggling of tasks and responsibilities uses up lots and lots of resources—mental, emotional, and physical.

Burnout and stress management in the workplace use billions of dollars in healthcare and wellness programs every single year, and it takes countless hours of unpaid overtime to keep your career on track, which for a senior executive is over 100 hours of work per week in a month.

In a more demanding corporate culture, a single working mom in a leadership role can use up to 80% of her energy and focus just to stay afloat in the corporate race. That’s the same amount of energy you could be using to launch a side hustle or passion project.

And all this overworking and sacrificing personal time creates mountains of stress and mental fatigue in the personal lives of professionals every year.

So staying in a corporate job is by far the most common career choice for professionals, but it seems like it’s maybe not the most fulfilling or freeing option.

So I had to wonder, if you don’t want a corporate 9-to-5 grind but you also don’t want an unstable, risky career path, what should you do?

The solution is to create a career that aligns with your passions and values—one that offers freedom, purpose, and stability without the burnout of a traditional corporate job or the uncertainty of going all-in on an unplanned venture.

As Oprah Winfrey once said, “The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.” It’s not just about risk; it’s about channeling passion into something meaningful and sustainable.

You can build a purpose-driven business or side hustle that not only provides financial freedom but also gives you control over your time and energy.

By leveraging your existing skills and experiences, and strategically transitioning from your corporate job, you can pursue entrepreneurship in a way that feels manageable and empowering, not overwhelming.

This is where coaching and support come into play. You don’t have to do it alone. With the right mindset shifts, practical steps, and a roadmap tailored to your goals, you can design a career that works for you—one that offers fulfillment, balance, and clarity.

Steve Jobs famously said, “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” This is exactly what pursuing a purpose-driven business or side hustle allows you to do—merge passion with purpose.

Choosing to pursue a purpose-driven business or entrepreneurial path offers several key benefits that are hard to ignore:

• Flexibility: You have control over your time, allowing you to balance your personal life and career more effectively.
• Fulfillment: You get to align your work with your passions and values, creating a sense of purpose.
• Financial independence: Building a business that excites you can lead to financial freedom without the exhaustion of a corporate grind.
• Growth: As an entrepreneur, you’re constantly growing and evolving, both personally and professionally.

Did you know that according to a report by the Kauffman Foundation, the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs in the U.S. are women over 40? This highlights how more and more women are rethinking traditional career paths and opting for entrepreneurship as a viable, fulfilling alternative.

In a video interview, career expert Marie Forleo said, “When you take charge of your own career, you’re not just trading security for freedom—you’re building a life and business that reflect who you are at your core.”

As Richard Branson said, “Entrepreneurship is about turning what excites you in life into capital, so that you can do more of it and move forward with it.” This encapsulates the importance of pursuing a career that is deeply aligned with your values and passions.

For so long, this is what people envisioned when they thought of the corporate dream. And for some, maybe it is.

“Staying in a stable corporate job is the safest way to secure your financial future, and entrepreneurship is too risky for most people.” —Career Strategist

But for others, the career dream might be an entrepreneurial venture that requires less emotional burnout, comprised of more flexibility, passion-driven work, and personal growth opportunities that are actually more fulfilling and sustainable.

Maybe it’s time we reimagine what the career dream can look like.

If this resonates with you, I invite you to my FREE 5-Day Career Freedom Challenge (Message me if interested). It’s time to rethink what success really means for you.