Podcasts Business Lessons from a Quitter How Joe Hansen walked away from Big Law to travel the world with his family

How Joe Hansen walked away from Big Law to travel the world with his family

Published: Jan. 15, 2019, 11 a.m.

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For most of us risk-averse, type-A personalities, walking away from a multiple 6-figure career to pursue an entirely different career is a HUGE, scary step. Most can\\u2019t muster up the courage to even take that jump. But to leave such a \\u201csuccessful\\u201d career to just travel around the world with your family would make most of our heads explode. What if I can\\u2019t get a job when I get back? But what will we do for money? WHAT IF WE BECOME HOMELESS? You get the point. We\\u2019re crazy.

Luckily, Joe Hansen is a little less neurotic than the rest of us because he did just that. He walked away from his Big Law job, making a great salary and living in San Francisco, to travel the world for a year with his wife and 2 young children.

While traveling, he is pursuing his original passion of writing by working on his first novel, an apocalyptic thriller set in San Francisco. I love Joe\\u2019s story because he intentionally took this step without having everything buttoned up and planned out. As you\\u2019ll hear, he and his wife are taking one step at a time. He has back-up plans in case he needs to go back to being a lawyer but, otherwise, he\\u2019s realizing that everything is figureoutable...no matter what happens.

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Here is what we chat about in this episode:

  • What led him to law school and what his experience was like at a big law firm
  • Why the big law firm life is not a realistic one
  • Why he decided to travel the world for a year with two small children and how he prepared for it.
  • How his coworkers were more supportive about his decision than Joe initially thought they would be
  • How he\\u2019s moving through his journey without knowing exactly what he is going to do in the future
  • Whether people can take a gap year or two and return to the law
  • How they\\u2019re tackling world travel with 2 small children
  • And so much more!

Where to find Joe: \\xa0

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