Daniele Driusso, Founder of Strive and Shine
For many, a 4-walled cubicle life means a highroad to success. It comes with stable pay check, fancy titles, benefits and everything else that can help to support your lifestyle without ever having to worry about financial situation.
But what if your dreams expand beyond those four walls?
Or, what if you start that cubicle life of your dreams, only to find out that how you are as a person, is simply not a fit? Only to find out that you don’t have what it takes to climb up that corporate ladder?
This is exactly the situation where Daniele Druisso, the founder of Strive and Shine, found herself in.
“I entered the office in the morning in a good mood (with coffees in hand), only to have eyes rolled at me,” Driusso recalls. “I’d show up to every problem with a we-can-figure-this-out attitude, and would always feel... belittled. I tried my best to not let it phase me or bug me. But it did have a major effect on me.”
Feeling that her job was not reflecting her strength, and feeling that her skills were taken for granted, Driusso found herself thinking of ways to change her situation. However, the answer did not come right away. She found herself overworked. Her hours were restricted. Income was capped.
She eventually found her answer— after continuing to work a 9-5, taking on odd jobs to make ends meet, and working countless holidays and weekends to make her ends meet.
“I always knew I wanted a purposeful career- something that would allow me to lead. I knew my dreams expanded far outside the four walls of an office, and I decided that I’ll create a job that I’m passionate about,” Driusso remarks. “I started my business as an escape during my lunch breaks. Then I slowly built it up until I was confident that I can work full time on my business to make my dream job as my career.”
Her lunch time hustles continued for a long time, until her corporate job contract was about to expire. When the contract was about to expire, Driusso decided to not seek full time employment with a company in her field. She decided to continue on with her business instead. But it did not lead to a happy ending right away— in fact, the road to entrepreneurship came with a stumbling block right away.
“The moment I said I was going all in with my business, I made very heavy investments for my business without a backup plan. No savings. My credit card was maxed out. And then... my laptop broke”, Driusso says. “Which made it really hard to get ANYTHING done, especially in online business world. That means I had no access to my international clients. I couldn’t collect my payments. I couldn’t make a living. I couldn’t promote my business.”
Most people would have chosen to either beg back for their 9 to 5 contract, or give up from there, as something like this means a situation that they cannot do anything about— especially since fixing a broken laptop (or buying a new laptop, for that matter), is not a light investment.
“I wanted to make this work more than anything— there was no way I was going to back down,” Driusso says. “I knew my business would be able to help hundreds of other women. I didn’t want to give up on everything I worked for because of a small bump in the road.”
So she didn’t.
Daniele Driusso
6 months later from that bump on the road, and fast forwarding to today, Driusso now runs her business full time (with a new laptop— as her old laptop could not be fixed). She now specializes in helping millennials find their voice in the world, and monetize their passion. Driusso’s business, Strive and Shine, has now served hundreds of millennial women through her private coaching, group programs, as well as through her private Facebook community.
"Millennials have something seriously special. They have the determination to make a huge difference in the world and show up big— it’s just that they’re a little lost on how to do that while trying to live up to the society’s standards, ” Driusso, now as a thriving CEO, says. “If I can get every millennial to realize that, the world doesn’t need the next Oprah or Tony Robbins— the world needs their voice, and them as a whole.... I know I’ve done my job!”
You can learn more about Daniele’s work at striveandshine.ca, or come say hello to Daniele in her private Facebook community.
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Author Biography:
Clair is a proud millennial entrepreneur, musician and a speaker. Her work has been featured on major publications such as The Huffington Post, Entrepreneur magazine, YFS Magazine and more. Through her live streams, posts and consulting, Clair spices up the approach on business systems (+ tech), and helps high-performing service-based entrepreneurs to take their miserable, chaotic 50+ hour workweeks to 3 day workweeks with day naps and bigger profit.
When Clair isn’t consulting online, or offline, you can find her surfing through YouTube and at a local bakery. Learn more at clairlydesigned.com