So what are you going to do with your one wild and precious life?
That is the question Kimberly Jung poses to you.
As you’re about to hear she thinks a lot about they question and has experiment with all different types of work in her quest for a life well lived.
She served in Afghanistan, then headed to Harvard Business School, started a spice company back in Afghanistan and is now planning to go back to school again.
Her career path is the perfect example of how the lines between traditional and self-employment are increasingly blurring.
When we spoke, Kimberly was the co-founder and CEO of Rumi Spice, but has since handed over the reigns to her successor. Inspired by her experiences serving in the military in Afghanistan, her company helped create new economic opportunities for thousands of women in Afghanistan.
Lot of great lessons in our conversation including:
- How non-profits can be misaligned with the communities they serve.
- Going through a friend-divorce with a co-founder.
- The similarities between entrepreneurship and the military.
- Why the choice between self-employment and conventional employment don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
Life Skills That Matter In This Episode
- Plan your actions
- Build community
- Practice self-awareness
How Kimberly Works and Thinks
- Wake up time: No set time.
- Ideal work environment: On a team of really smart people, solving a finite problem with a timeline
- Regains focus by: Daydreaming, writing down the ideas, and then listing steps for certain ones that she might want to pursue.
- 90-day goal: To add value for the company she’s consulting for and to learn all the engineering math and robotics that she needs when she goes to MIT.
Inspirational Quotes
“I want to contribute and I want to have experiences and I want to contribute to experiences and meet a lot of people and do great things.”
“You can pursue your interests and it doesn’t have to be in one job.”
Coaching Advice
I asked Kimberly how she knew it was time to leave her company and she gave the following interesting points about why she made the decision and also why it might be a mistake:
1) After discussing her exit for a while, the team is on board with the transition.
2) Some of the investors are worried since they made decisions based on her more than the company and the team and that could slow growth.
3) The CEO that is replacing her thinks differently and could be more beneficial to the company as it continues to grow.
4) The company is stable and she knows she’s not needed anymore for it to function smoothly.
Resources + Bonus Materials
International Taste and Quality Institute
Related Episodes
Make Work Fun With Brandon Webb (162)
Connect With Kimberly