There’s the cliché of leaving Wall Street to become a Yoga instructor. And then there’s actually doing it. As a young salesperson at Morgan Stanley, Lauren Imparato put her entrepreneurial prowess on display winning over both clients and bosses. Initially, Lauren immersed herself in yoga, nutrition, and meditation, to help manage the daily grind – hiding it from her colleagues to avoid the “weirdo hippy girl” look. But the push to start her own business eventually overtook her and she went on to create RETOX, a wellness brand, Yoga studio, and best-selling book. We discuss mixing business and passion, using social media to build a brand, and the dangers of entrepreneurship as a form of escapism.

More about Lauren Imparato

+ Lauren’s website

+ Follow Lauren on Twitter and Instagram

+ Buy Lauren’s book [amazon_textlink asin=’0425278506′ text=’Retox: Healthy solutions for real life’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’khemaridhhy0a-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’9cc921d9-fa0f-11e7-8287-336864a8b95c’]

I mean, I feel like people, everybody these days and then… is looking for less stress, but what is less stress?…. I feel like stress IS stress.

Lauren on “following your passion”

Why do you want to leave where you are, I think that’s the first question. Are you escaping something that you don’t like or are you running into something that you do like? And once you turn your passion into your career, your passion is no longer your passion in the same way again, it is now a totally different beast, it may or may not be ever the same again.

Once you’re checked out from your day job

you know it’s now or never, and once I had checked out, I didn’t want to be the person that didn’t want to be there when my heart and soul were invested in creating this other thing.”

Sunk cost fallacy in leaving Wall Street

You worked really hard to get that seat and it comes with a lot of perks, health insurance, salary, sick days, vacation days… its kind of cushy.