Episode 37

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Published on:

20th Jun 2021

Corporate Executive Turned TikToker on Taking a Career Break | E37 Tim Traill

Today's guest is Tim Traill.

Tim has spent three decades working his way up to a Corporate Executive in the financial services industry.

Last year, Tim decided he needed a career break. As you’ll hear, the beginning of his break was a challenging period. Tim was missing a sense of purpose and community he found through work.

That was until he stumbled into TikTok. It started as a joke with his kids. He created DIY videos showcasing home improvement, decor ideas, and handyman tips but what started as a joke turned into viral content, and only 5 months later, Tim has 148,000 followers and 1.6 million likes.

Of course we’ll talk about TikTok, but I hope you also pick up something about embracing change, developing curiosity and empathy too.

 

Key Takeaways:

[2:10] How Tim find himself on TikTok

[9:13] Why Tim decide to take a career break after 30 years

[21:26] Responding to criticism with respective and empathy

[25:55] How Tim became an Executive

[31:48] Parenting and what Tim has learned from his kids

 

Favorite Quotes:

[5:44] “What I find about TikTok is that it is bringing together the masses in real time but it is not sugar coated. It is not like FakeBook...or the Facebook.”

[12:45] “I realized that TikTok allowed me to be who I am...be myself.”

[18:59] “As a 49 year old, I can tell you, we continue to learn every single day.”

[33:42] “Just take an opportunity to learn something new. Introduce yourself to things, to people that you otherwise might not want to.”

[45:21] “I realized that I am so grateful as a human being to get the opportunity to be able to learn and be corrected every single day.”

 

More of Tim:

TikTok: @thediytraill

Instagram: @thediytraill

 

More of TSIR:

Find show notes and more at https://www.tsirpodcast.com/

Follow us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/tsirpod/

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About the Podcast

FI Minded - Financial Independence, Early Retirement & Lifestyle Design
Achieve Financial Independence & Have Fun Doing It
Pursuing financial independence, financial freedom, or early retirement often leads to the same questions: How do I become financially independent? How much should I save? What happens after I reach FI?

FI Minded helps you use money to create more freedom, without turning your entire life into a financial optimization project.

Host Justin Peters explores the decisions behind building a flexible, work-optional life, from reaching financial independence and navigating Coast FI and Slow FI to spending your money, changing careers, stepping away from work, and figuring out what comes after FI.

Each episode combines practical personal finance with conversations about early retirement, lifestyle design, work, spending, healthcare, self-employment, and life after financial independence. The goal isn't simply to reach FI as quickly as possible. It's to make progress toward financial freedom while actually enjoying your life along the way.

On FI Minded, you'll learn how to:
- Reach financial independence without burning out
- Build a flexible, work-optional lifestyle
- Navigate Coast FI, Slow FI, and other paths to FI
- Make smarter decisions about spending and saving
- Prepare financially and emotionally for early retirement
- Figure out what life can look like after financial independence
- Think through the tradeoffs behind major money and lifestyle decisions
- Make progress toward financial independence while actually living your life.

Some of our past guests include Carl Jensen (1500 Days), Jeremy Schneider (Personal Finance Club), Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show), Andrew Giancola (The Personal Finance Podcast), Jordan Grumet (Earn & Invest), Rachael Camp (Work Optional), Jillian Johnsrud (Retire Often), Sean Mullaney (FI Tax Guy), Jill Sirianni (Frugal Friends), Jackie Cummings-Koski (Catching Up to FI), Joel Larsgaard (How to Money), Cody Garrett (Measure Twice), Jesse Cramer (Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors), Jess (The Fioneers), Chris Hutchins (All The Hacks), Diania Merriam (EconoMe), Andy Hill (Marriage Kids Money), Fritz Gilbert (Retirement Manifesto), Maggie Tucker (Inside Out Money), Cody Berman (The Financial Independence Show), Joe Saul-Sehy (Stacking Benjamins), Doug Cunnington (Mile High FI), and and others helping you rethink how to approach financial independence.
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