From Blueprints to Branding: A Journey of Reinvention with Sofia Inacio | Ep #122

From Blueprints to Branding: A Journey of Reinvention with Sofia Inacio | Ep #122

Join host Shannon Russell in this insightful episode of the Second Act Success Career Podcast as she engages with Sofia Inacio, a dynamic entrepreneur, about her transformative journey from architecture to entrepreneurship. Dive deep into Sofia's story as she candidly shares her struggles, triumphs, and pivotal moments that led her to discover her true passion in branding strategy and design.

Explore topics ranging from the challenges of career indecision to the power of manifestation in shaping one's path. Sofia's journey offers valuable insights into the importance of self-awareness, strategic planning, and leveraging transferable skills when navigating career transitions.

Discover how Sofia's multidisciplinary background in architecture, sales, and marketing laid the foundation for her successful venture, Vago Designs. Learn about her holistic approach to branding and design, and gain valuable tips on personal branding, business strategy, and the pursuit of a fulfilling career.

Tune in to gain inspiration, practical advice, and a fresh perspective on career changes, entrepreneurship, and finding joy in the journey of self-discovery. Whether you're considering a career pivot or aspiring to build your own business, this episode offers valuable insights to help you navigate your second act with confidence and purpose.

SHOW NOTES
https://secondactsuccess.co/122

Connect with Sofia Inacio:
website - https://www.vagodesigns.co.uk/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/vagodesigns/
----------

You belong in the Career Clarity Collective! Figuring out what you want in your career often feels like a full time job, BUT you don't have to do it alone! If you feel miserable at work and need a change, join like-minded women in this membership. You'll get access to group coaching, masterclasses, and community.  https://secondactsuccess.co/membership

Grab my FREE Level Up Career Journal to help you plan your next career move!
https://secondactsuccess.co/careerchange

TAKE THE QUIZ!
Is Now The Right Time To Change Careers? Take the Quiz! https://secondactsuccess.co/quiz

Book a FREE Discovery Call with host/career coach Shannon Russell - https://www.calendly.com/second-act-success/coaching-strategy

LET’S CONNECT!
Instagram - https://instagram.com/secondactsuccess
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/secondactsuccess.co
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@secondactsuccess
All the latest - https://secondactsuccess.co/links
FREE Resources - https://secondactsuccess.co/resources

REVIEW & SUBSCRIBE THE PODCAST!

Transcript

Second Act Success Career Podcast
Season 1 - From Blueprints to Branding: A Journey of Reinvention with Sofia Inacio | Ep #122
Episode - #122
Host: Shannon Russell
Guest: Sofia Inacio
Transcription (*created by Descript and may not be perfectly accurate)

[00:00:00] Sofia Inacio: you have to build yourself up and the way you can build yourself up is by understanding what you already have. And what do you want to achieve and what do you want to bring into that puzzle of skills that you

have, 

[00:00:46] Shannon Russell: How many times can you change careers? In my opinion, the amount of times are endless 

and I think my guest for today's episode agrees. I am here with Sofia Inacio of Vago Designs. [00:01:00] She went from studying architecture in Portugal to working in sales, social media, and marketing in London. And now Sofia has built her own business based in brand strategy and design. 

We have an in-depth conversation around the benefits of being a career changer and the importance of being self-aware while you do it. 

I am so excited to introduce you to Sofia and get this conversation started. This is Sofia Inacio of Vago Designs. 



[00:01:29] Shannon Russell: Sofia, welcome to Second Act Success. 

[00:01:31] Sofia Inacio: How are you doing? Thank you. Yeah, I'm really good. I'm really excited to be here. I love talking about this and I think career changing, it's such a big world and it's very scary for a lot of people.

So the more we talk about it, the more normal it becomes and I'm grateful to be a part of it as well. 

[00:01:48] Shannon Russell: Oh, good. Yeah. I totally agree with you completely and yeah, your story fits in so perfect to everything that we chat about here on the podcast. 

why don't you start me off with what you wanted to do when [00:02:00] you grew up? 

[00:02:00] Sofia Inacio: It's so funny that you actually asked that. So I was living in London for the last five years and then it just came to a point where I was like, okay, I need bit more of a sustainable life.

So. I moved back home to Portugal where I'm originally from with my partner and the first three weeks before we moved into our new house, I was at my parents house and I was just looking at my childhood photos, and I was just thinking, gosh, I could never really tell how my life was going to turn out when I was this young.

I was never really one of those kids that I just knew what I wanted to do from the get go. I was always a bit jealous even of my friends that were like that. I think I was always like, Oh, I love dancing. So maybe I should be a dancer or I love animals. So maybe I should be a vet. But up until I was 18 and I had to make a choice before I got into uni, I could never really tell one thing that I was just extremely passionate about.

loved so many things and I wanted so many things that it was kind of a. tricky thing for me. and then [00:03:00] eventually when I went into uni and I had to make a choice, I think I chose architecture because of something that my brother said to me. He said something like, Oh, you know, you like a bit of science.

You like a bit of the creative stuff. Architecture kind of combines it all. So why don't you just go with it? And because I didn't really have any other plan, I just went with it. so yeah, that was kind of the start of my career. 

[00:03:22] Shannon Russell: You fell into it really. You just took a leap. You just made a choice for me It's so funny that you said you didn't have something that you knew you a hundred percent wanted to be when I was little I 100 percent knew I wanted to be an actress But yet that turned into me saying, I don't know if I want to be on camera.

I want to be behind. And I got into producing television. So I feel like I always knew I wanted to be in that industry. But what's funny is I did it for so long. And then I, transitioned into being a business owner and now a career coach. So I think even if you do start off when you're little and you have something you want to be.

You can [00:04:00] be it. And then like 10 other things on top. So it's, there's always a chance to do it 

[00:04:04] Sofia Inacio: all. Definitely. I think, you change so much throughout your life. Even if you'd set yourself to do a career, the way your career grows will always change with time. So whether you're constantly changing or sticking with one thing, but you evolve into more within that field, I think, you need to take a lot of what life is giving you.

to develop yourself in whatever career works out for you. but I also think there's a lot of pressure in us on choosing something if you want to go through the academics world. And to choose something that you are supposed to do your whole life when you're 17 and you know nothing about life.

It was always something that really didn't sit well with me. I was just always why am I choosing something? I cannot even foresee the next five years, much less next 40. I think there's so much pressure on it. And I think it's something that we need to talk about. And it's something that we need [00:05:00] to educate our kid, the newer generations a bit more about, because I felt like I was a kid and I knew nothing about life.

So to put that responsibility on me just felt crazy at that time. Oh, 

[00:05:11] Shannon Russell: yeah. and I think going to university, getting an education, no matter what that's in is so beneficial. Yeah. But you're taking all that in. It doesn't mean you want to be that thing that is in your major about one particular job.

So for you, you chose architecture. Yeah. You went to university and then what happened from there? How did you learn to love architecture or hate architecture? 

[00:05:39] Sofia Inacio: So I think. There's something to be said about jumping into things when you're not very sure, which is if the passion is not really there, you always feel like there's something missing.

And the only way you can go around this is by working your butt off. But if you work really hard towards A directionat the [00:06:00] same time, the passion is that there, I feel like there's always something missing. There's always something that's not entirely for you. So I felt like that was my whole university path was like, I was okay, but I didn't feel like I was as passionate as everyone else.

I didn't know all the architects out there. I didn't know everything that was being built. So I kind of felt like there was something missing. And then I thought, well, Maybe it's, the teachers are not motivating me as much. Maybe when I start working, if I land a new, really good job, I can actually learn from the architect and kind of build my career around that.

But then when I started working, I realized a couple of things. One. When you're that focused on one specific science, you don't really learn anything about anything else. So I knew nothing about business. I knew nothing about what it was like to be an adult, what it was like to pitch something, what it was like to even do my own taxes.

So like, there was so many things that I didn't know about what life was like as a worker. And so felt really [00:07:00] inadequate, but then at the same time, the first couple of jobs that I had,the passion was not there at all. And I was so unmotivated. And I think the year two after uni, I was like, yeah, I cannot spend my whole twenties chasing something that.

the passion is not there. and so I kind of took a little bit of a break after my second internship. And I was like, okay, what am I going to do? What is my life going to be like? And at the time I found something called Escape the City, which was a company based in London that did a series of workshops about career changing.

And they were actually enrolling for one that was going to happen in a couple of weeks. So I made the decision to enroll. I moved to London in a couple of weeks and I started that workshop, which was the most life changing and career changing experience I had. It was three months of just focusing on myself and not a lot of people have that opportunity.

but it was great, [00:08:00] lots of group dynamics, individual dynamics, and it really made me understand what I was passionate about and what I could potentially see myself doing in the future. But above all, it made me realize that I wanted to create something of my own. 

[00:08:14] Shannon Russell: So it made you realize that architecture was not it, because something was missing so much that it made you take a step back.

Thank goodness for this program to really open your eyes. 

[00:08:26] Sofia Inacio: I know this is tricky. Not everyone believes in the power of manifestation, but I think I do when you set your eyes on something and you really wanted it kind of comes to fruition and I've had a few stages in my career that where that was like All I could aim for it is like I need something to happen and it kind of ended up happening and this was one of them it was kind of the first breaking free moment for me, or like stepping outside of the mold that I was supposed to be on post university finding your first job, etc.

I think I was quite quick [00:09:00] to do that mindset shift to invest into a new career but then I think when, once you make that choice of I need to change, it's like you have so many steps after that to actually put the change in motion. And that was the issue. It's like, okay, I know I want something different, but I still don't know what that different is for me.

all I knew at that time was, I don't know anything about anything, so I need to train myself. So let me go back to basics. And at the same time that I was doing the course, I started looking for jobs that were starter jobs in other fields. So my first job in London was a six week contract in an advertising company.

Then from there, I went into sales, then into marketing, digital marketing. And I kind of always. Took one step after the other based on what I was building in terms of skills. And that was kind of what happened for the next three years was I just went back to scratch, build myself up until I got [00:10:00] to a good position in sales.

And then all of a sudden I was in a role where I was constantly talking to other business owners. And after having, I don't know, 200, 500 conversations with business owners, it starts resonating with you. Their processes, what they went through. What they are doing, how they are promoting themselves. That was my school was just talking to other business owners.

And I think eventually I just came to a point where I was like, okay, I'm burned out from my sales role, but I'm really, really ready for. whatever is coming next. And so I took another leap of faith and I left my job and that was a bit of a scary moment because I had been building a career consistently, but at the same time, I was like, this is not.

it yet, but I didn't have a plan B at that time either. So it's kind of another leap of faith. and, that was the moment where I kind of stopped and thought, okay, [00:11:00] now what next, what can I do next? 

[00:11:02] Shannon Russell: I want to just bring up internships and the idea of jumping because I have always been a huge believer in internships.

It really helped me during college shape where I went with my career. And I think it's so valuable because you could have just went into architecture got that job after university and then been there forever not been happy but by taking that leap going through this program.

A little bit of sales, a little bit of digital marketing, you got to learn about that field. So how did that teach you about the direction that you wanted to move in? Was it helpful? 

[00:11:35] Sofia Inacio: Yeah, I can tell you today, there's one thing that I'm very sure of when in my business, there's lots of areas that I still need to improve on and all of that.

But one thing that I do really well is an initial consultation with a client, and that comes from having a background in sales. So I feel like every kind of step that I took, it was for a reason, and it was so that I could incorporate it in building a business. So I had to really [00:12:00] think about, okay, what is it?

That I will need. If I'm going to have the business by myself and manage it all by myself, which is the stage that I'm at the moment, even before you start delegating and all of that, you need to know finances. You need to know how to organize yourself. you need to know how to sell your products, how to pitch, how to convert and how to guides.

The client through it all right so that those are the fundamental bits and pieces of a business, and Ihave nothing like I think about anything so for those three years I was just like okay, now I know this. Now, how can I take this in and learn the next step and I started putting all the pieces together, 

This is hindsight, right? When you're going through it, you're like, I'm not sure why I'm doing this, something will come of it. Sometimes that's how kind of life works, I guess. So, I think all of those learnings, nowadays, I incorporate them, not just in the way that I manage my business, but in the way that I deal.

With my [00:13:00] clients as well, because doing branding and strategy, everyone's pretty much at the beginning of their business. So I feel like I always come packed with a bit more knowledge in terms of business and what works, what doesn't. And that really helps me do the strategy and design side, even for them.

[00:13:16] Shannon Russell: So everything came together or I worked really hard at putting it all together, I guess. You're taking those skills from all of those different roles and bringing them together. And so when you left sales, when you knew that that wasn't what you were passionate about and you left, you were back at square one again.

What happened? Did you immediately know I'm going to create my own 

[00:13:39] Sofia Inacio: business? I knew I wanted it. I still didn't know. And going to try to tell it in a way that people can take something from it so that it's not just my personal story. But there was two things that I felt like were really important throughout the whole process.

One is being really self aware of what I knew and didn't know so that I was always [00:14:00] chasing the next. learning curve. And then the other thing that was really important was to have a plan. It didn't have to be a three year, five year plan, but it was like, okay, the next month, even what am I setting myself up to learn and to do and to improve on.

So when I stopped, I had to have a plan for that first month. So I kind of went back to basics and I even went back to my notebook from the course that I had done with the career change three years before. And I did some of those exercises again. And I,basically kind of did this list of jobs that I had in the past, things that I really liked about it, my skills.

And then knew things that I could do with those skills that I had. think I even reached out to two or three really close friends of mine and asked them like, what do you think I'm really good at doing? So that I could get that feedback and incorporate into it. And then at the same time, I felt like there was one thing that was missing [00:15:00] in my life, which was with all the sales referrals and digital marketing, I stopped being creative.

So I started drawing again, I went back to my graphic design, like Adobe programs. I started experimenting again, and I ended up doing a graphic design course that had a bit of logo design and branding in it, and I just fell in love with it. And this is when things clicked for me. And I was like, okay, yeah, 

this is what I want to do. It's like, I love the design, I love the creative process, but I love the business side. I love talking to business owners. Like, seeing what they are doing, how they want to be out there, what products they are creating. So, branding just fit within everything. And it just became really organic.

I started that break without knowing what I wanted to do and a month later I had clarity because I had done these exercises and I could connect the dots. so that was the catalyst. But then as [00:16:00] I said, there's another stage, which is great. I have the idea, but what now? How do I actually go about it?

And because I had left my job at this time, I didn't have like an income, right? And so this is where the second part of the power of manifestation comes in. I basically made a list and honestly, I advise people to do this. I made a list of what I needed to do to be able to build a business. I knew I needed some sort of income while I was doing it because it was going to take time.

So I set myself to find a part time job that was three days a week and left me two days per week to work on my business. I already wanted it to be slightly connected to what I was going to do, so I wanted it to be with In the digital marketing graphic design side of things, I wanted it to be very close to home so that I didn't waste time traveling and I can use the rest of my day building the business.

And last thing [00:17:00] was I wanted it to be still connected to architecture interior design because I still loved it. And if I was going to do digital marketing, it made sense to apply to two of my strengths in a way. So this was a very specific list and I was like, no way in hell I'm going to find this. But within that month, I found a job that was a digital marketing role interior design studio, two minutes from my house, literally two minutes walking from my house.

I was very, very. but this is why I believe in these things. It's like it happened and it was what I needed and it came when I needed. And that was really how I started building my business. I kept my part time job. I didn't just dive into it. no craziness.

I live with my partner. We have a dog I needed to pay for my bills. So. I kind of stayed grounded and took that responsibility on. and then I started working on the finances, the backstage of the business and eventually I launched and with that [00:18:00] job that I had, what happened was.

I switched it, so when I got to a point where I was getting clients in, I reduced my time there for one day a week, and instead of me being their employee, they became my first retainer client, so I switched the contract. So instead of me working for them, I was invoicing them from my company. And that was kind of a change that I made, all just became about my business organically.

In a way. 

[00:18:29] Shannon Russell: Wow. So they were supportive of what you were 

[00:18:31] Sofia Inacio: building. Yeah, they were. I was always very straightforward because it was very consuming at the time, and because I was there part time anyway from the beginning, Iwanted them to know, you know, I'm just not here, I also have my business, and yeah, they liked what I did, they Decided that they still needed the support and, it was still nice because like freelancing and having your own business, it's not sure that you're going to get the same amount of clients every month.

So retainer clients can [00:19:00] really help you, with having a short amount of money coming in every month. and that was a really big help for me. and I still had to for it. That is to focus on my business and work with other clients. So yeah, it was, it became a natural progression in a way.

[00:19:18] Shannon Russell: I think everything you've done up until that point in between your transitions was really taking a moment to talk to yourself and plan it out. You were manifesting it for yourself by making that list and taking that time. So many people don't take that time to look inward and say, what do I need?

How can I get there? 

[00:19:38] Sofia Inacio: No, exactly. I think that this is why being spontaneous is great. that first initial thought of, Oh, I'm just going to leave everything. I'm just going to start fresh. It's so freeing. It's awesome. It's great. But it gets you through the first year. That high.

You're lucky, yeah. If you're lucky, that high is not consistent. So after [00:20:00] that high passes, that's when the work comes in. Year two, year three are really tough years. That's where consistency comes in. That's where you see all the highs and lows of What it's like to career change or if you decide to build a business to build a business.

So that's where you need to have a plan. And again, it doesn't have to be a three year plan, but it's like, okay, this month I'm setting myself to do this and to learn this. And then, we'll see what comes next. but yeah, it isn't, I would never just say someone like jump and then whatever comes, comes now.

I don't think that's how things work in real life. 

[00:20:36] Shannon Russell: No, and I have my own program that's about career change and really helping you get there and I'm very big on first identifying with yourself and then really making those steps to get you there where you're not just throwing your whole life into chaos.

I think it's really important to do it in a strategic way. Like you did having that income. From a part time job and knowing that and setting yourself up. It's really a lot of discipline when you're [00:21:00] doing that. Okay, I'm working this part time job, but then these other days aren't for me to lay on the couch and watch Netflix.

I'm here to grow a business. So to be disciplined and move yourself forward. So your life wasn't thrown up in disarray. You were still paying the bills while you were building your dream. 

[00:21:18] Sofia Inacio: Yeah, don't get me wrong. Some months were tough, but I think it was tough as well. And he touched on something there, which is the Netflix and the chill and all of that.

Like, it's important to have that balance, right? that's why most of us end up setting our own businesses. That's why we transition into careers that we're more passionate about building that balance is really important. It doesn't come in the first month or two. Maybe it doesn't come in the first year.

Like sometimes I'm Still struggling with it. you know, my partner has his own business. So we're both entrepreneurs working together from the same space. And sometimes we have to stop ourselves and say, okay, enough, let's go out, let's do something 'cause [00:22:00] it's 9:00 PM and we're still working.

So it's not easy. And finding that balance is not that easy. And I think there's another thing in career changing, which is you have to adapt. Whatever your passion is or what you're going through to how your life looks at that time and how you want your life to look whether you have a family or not, whether you're by yourself, if you're investing this time and effort, and it can be a really mentally draining process.

So you have to be in a good place and you have to understand that it's for the better. Otherwise, it's a spiral and you can go down, very quickly if things don't go according to your expectations. So building that balance, having a solid foundation, whether that's a family or your friends or the people that surround you are as important as having a plan to go like step by step, to try to get to where you want to be.

[00:22:58] Shannon Russell: Absolutely. You're so [00:23:00] right. And it's also the fact that you're building that confidence, that support team gives you the confidence to keep moving forward and not just stopping and give it up. And I think that confidence comes from, for you too, like just knowing that you've learned. All of these different areas of business and you have these skills and I really want to touch on the idea of transferable skills, which I discuss all the time and I know you value as something so important when career changing as well, because those transferable skills, when you sit and look down at them on a piece of paper, wherever it is, it's giving you that confidence to know that you can do it and you can change and you can move 

[00:23:39] Sofia Inacio: forward.

yeah, I could not describe it better. I think. Transferable are what is going to get you by, you can never go to transitions and you can never jump from one role to the other even if you're starting at the bottom without believing that you have something that you can bring onto the role.

It doesn't matter if you're like folding [00:24:00] boxes, you have to believe that you have already some sort of skill that you can use in that because that's what it's going Bring you to the next step and the next step and if it wasn't for that I wouldn't be able to build a business that relies on everything that I've learned throughout my career changes and like everything that I talk it's really interesting as a business owner and talking to.

My clients, there's one question that I ask at the beginning of every strategy session, which is who are you as a business owner? And this question kind of always stops people because you don't actually know what your identity is as a business owner, when you're setting yourself up to do something. And that's the same when you're setting yourself up to change a career.

You don't know who your identity is going to be as that. Specific thing that you're trying to be. So you have to build yourself up and the way you can build [00:25:00] yourself up is by understanding what you already have. And what do you want to achieve and what do you want to bring into that puzzle of skills that you have, and then you have to leverage those skills and this is why it's so important to understand what you have you cannot build a foundation for a business or a career unless you understand what you have and what you bring to the table and how you can leverage that to build something that connects with other people and makes business.

Your life better in a way. understanding where you are being self aware, but then knowing what you bring to the table and how to leverage that to connect with people or sell a service or deliver product or whatever it is. Those are like three really big steps to understanding who you are.

Now, like, who are you, what do you bring to the table in a way, 

[00:25:54] Shannon Russell: and you can speak to that because it really is, it's personal branding. It's taking all of that and saying, okay, how [00:26:00] can I sell myself to this new hiring manager? How can I sell myself to build this business? Right? Yeah. 

[00:26:06] Sofia Inacio: Yeah, exactly. And I think, most business know what the business says 

Nowadays, even if they are an entity, they still like you to know who's behind the business because we're more inclined to connect with people. We connect with stories, we connect with their backgrounds. If someone comes to me and they know I have background in marketing and they also have a background in marketing, they are more likely to hire me because they know I'll be able to speak the same language that they do.

and that's part of my personal branding, right? So applying to this. Strengths that I have, or if it's an architect and I'm working with them, yeah, I'm not an architect anymore, but I understand the field. That's still a skill that it will never go away. That's still knowledge that, unless something happens, I will always have it.

So kind of having that as your emanation and being able to sell that story, that's what will make people connect with you in [00:27:00] any capacity, whether you're applying for a role, whether you're building your own business, selling to clients. Having a story, having a narrative that people can connect with, that's what's going to make you successful 

[00:27:12] Shannon Russell: in a way.

So tell us about your business and where it stands today and what you do and who you serve. 

[00:27:20] Sofia Inacio: So I do a lot of brand strategy and design and well, I can kind of say that I am jumping onto my next act. Yeah, so you know how I was talking about these like kind of cycles that I went on.

now I understand it takes you three years on average to make a full. Whether that's a career change or when you start the business, the first three years are like crucial to understand whether you're going to make it or no. and I'm kind of reaching the three. earmark with my business, which is called Vago Designs.

and so far I've done a lot of brand strategy and design. I work with a lot of creative and service based, [00:28:00] companies. And I've had a very holistic approach from the early stages of Strategy sometimes all the way to design packaging, recently with a client I've been working on their launch party.

So it kind of goes everywhere, but I think now I'm also in, at a point where I'm a bit more aware of the skills that I have now as a business owner. So I'm ready for what's next. So I've, been thinking about it, it's almost like a reward to myself.

I worked really hard in this last three years. Like, where can I go next? How can I elevate my life? I'm thinking of ways that I can become a bit more of an entrepreneur. Overall, that might look like a bit more of consultancy where I can reach more people, and talk a bit more about business, not just branding.

I also want to invest a bit more in other areas. there's a whole world out there and I think part of being an adult is you can start making decisions, whether that's property, that's, just having something under your [00:29:00] name. I think that's also part of having a business. mindset in a way.

It's like, how can I evolve my life in a way? And then I want these two things to be a part of it. But then I still want to have a sustainable life. That's why I moved back to Portugal. I still want to have more freedom, more time. and I think I just, want to reach more people. I want people to know that business is not linear, career changing is not linear.

There's so many ways you can go about it. You have to find out what works for you. And that's really what I want to help people, get 

[00:29:36] Shannon Russell: to. You're listening to yourself to know what, 

you want to do, how you want to follow your path to the next step.

[00:29:42] Sofia Inacio: Yeah, I think that's the key thing and also feel the joy, like there's no point in going through all of this if you're not joyful about what you're doing, yes, some days will suck still, like some days will be horrible and hard and like I cannot tell you how many times I've cried and like it can be really [00:30:00] stressful and you're therapy can be a big help or there are ways to cope with emotions or feelings that you're about to embark on, you need to find what works for you.

But that's also why I think it's important to have these conversations. I feel like when I started looking at businesses as a career in itself. There was a lot of misinformation. There was a lot of, Oh, you, you can only be an entrepreneur if you wake up at five every day and do your morning workout.

And then by the time that it's 10 PM, you're almost have a full 10 AM. You almost have like half of your day gone. No, that's not how it works. Like it doesn't work for me. If I wake up at five, I'm not going to be productive in the first two or I. Cannot think about anything worse than waking up at night and start working at night, if that makes sense, especially leaving while I was living in London when it would be night until like 8, 9 a.

m. Right. Like for half of your days, leave that night. Like that doesn't work [00:31:00] for me. And, there was so many self. Guidebooks, podcasts, all of this that preach a certain lifestyle to you as a business owner. And I don't necessarily think it needs to be that way. I think you can make it work how it works for you, your body has a clock, your body has a way of working that it's not like everyone else.

it's the same as everyone being on the same diet, for example, it's not going to work for everybody and the having a certain process, identifying what works for you, that's the only way you can actually make this work and your mind will work and your body will work and you don't feel like the world's against you because you're actually working in a productive way.

[00:31:44] Shannon Russell: Yeah, that's brilliant because you're right. It's not linear and we're all on our own schedule. Going back to your three year cycle. I had actually never heard that and it's really true and I'm just in my head going, yeah, there was three years and something happened in my business and three years.[00:32:00] 

So it's nice to give yourself almost that grace of knowing that. you do change and your business can change and you have the power at any time to change any of it. And I think that's what being an entrepreneur is, or just even working in corporate, you can say, okay, this isn't for me.

I want to switch departments or I want to try going to a different company. We're not on this one path until retirement. 

[00:32:20] Sofia Inacio: No, I think that's a very old thought process like I admire my parents who stayed in their jobs for 45 years without changing roles or like I props to them don't know how they did it.

But I just know that's not my life and I know that I need variety, I get bored very easily and I've learned to accept that I've learned that that's totally fine like I like the next challenge I like to challenge myself I like like. What else can I learn? Like, what can I do now that's different? And, I think we're almost in a very privileged time where we can actually, we have so much education around us.

There's so many ways you can educate yourself, connect to [00:33:00] communities, start from scratch, network. There's a whole world inside your laptop that you can look at. You don't have to go to uni to train yourself again. there's so many. Other ways that are more, better use of your time to retrain yourself.

It's just taking advantage of that really. 

So what

[00:33:18] Shannon Russell: Is one piece of advice that you would give to someone who's about to start their second 

[00:33:22] Sofia Inacio: act?

Start by being very self aware. Start by doing lists. Sit down, have a look at everything you've done so far. Have a look at all of the skills that you have, write them down, ask your friends, ask your family. What are you good at? What do they see with us? what other people see sometimes in you, it's more valuable than what you see in yourself because we self doubt a lot and We always feel like we're imposters in one way or another.

So let that be validation, do an inventory of all skills that you have and [00:34:00] then put them together with what your ideal life would be like, what is it that would make you fulfilled and happy and then cross. like find ways to connect them. What are some career changes? What are some business ideas?

How can you leverage those skills and use them in a way that you're gonna get to that ideal life? That would be my advice. Start like that. Start by understanding where you are and where you want to be and how you can make that happen. 

, so where can my audience connect with you?

[00:34:34] Sofia Inacio: find me online anywhere with Vago Designs.

So that's V A G O. I'm on Instagram, mostly, and then you can find my website as well, which is VagoDesigns.co.Uk. and Drop me a message, come chat to me. If you've listened to this, episode as well and it resonated, I think that's why we do it, right? To hear how our story connects with other people.

So [00:35:00] yeah, just, come chat. 

[00:35:01] Shannon Russell: Oh, I love it. I'm going to link to everything in the show notes. And yeah, this has been such a great conversation to not only hear your journey, but all of your advice and just everything that you've shared is so tangible. I feel like someone can listen to this and really go make their list and go look at their next three years and just kind of plan things out and really just get in touch with themselves.

So I thank you so much, Sofia, for everything you shared. 

[00:35:26] Sofia Inacio: Thank you. It's been a pleasure. I think sometimes things click for you even when you're talking about certain things out loud when you say them out loud. Oh, yeah. So I really do hope it resonates. But thank you for having me. Thank 

[00:35:39] Shannon Russell: you. [00:36:00]