This is my story of how I made a career pivot and completely changed directions in midlife. It has not been an easy path, but it has been a necessary journey. Starting a new career in my mid-40’s has been one big life lesson. It has taken me some time to find my way and to feel confident in my journey. There are still days when fear overtakes any gains I have made, but I have no regrets in taking this leap to believe in my abilities and myself.
At the Top of My Game
Have you ever found yourself deep into a career that is no longer satisfying? Are you bored and unchallenged but feel incapable of making a change because you’ve invested so many years—or decades—and college education into this career?
I found myself in this situation a few years ago. With a successful career in higher education policy that spanned over 20 years, I was a leader, manager, and employee who received consistently exceeds expectations performance evaluations year over year. I had even won the President’s Award for Excellence.
However, I was also increasingly feeling bored and ready for a change. The problem was I had no idea what I wanted to do instead.
There were many viable reasons to stay right where I was in my career:
- The money was great and I loved the lifestyle I had.
- I was still paying for the student loans for my doctorate that allowed me to advance in this career.
- Two decades of relationships and expertise to fall back on is hard to walk away from.
- I absolutely loved the team I managed and believed in our ability to achieve big goals and make a difference.
There was just something missing.
Midlife Crisis
There was a constant nagging feeling that I wasn’t living up to my potential. I wanted to grow and develop my expertise to the next level but my entire day was spent putting out fires. I ended each day mentally drained with no energy to think about other career possibilities.
Then, I was laid off.
It took less than a 10-second phone call to open up a world of possibilities.
I knew this day was coming and had spent the previous two years watching hundreds of long-time colleagues suddenly gone from one day to the next. My personal expenses were cut back to save as much money as possible before the inevitable happened.
I applied for other jobs and was recruited for a next-level position that required moving to a different state. This was not a good option. Registering as a lobbyist and working out of Washington D.C. became an option, but that didn’t excite me or feel right either.
My husband, Wesley, and I talked about various scenarios but they all required even longer hours and time away from home. I had traveled extensively for work since the beginning of our relationship so me not being home was part of our norm. We could make it work, but I was tired of figuring it out. The list of what I was tired of was growing daily and included:
- 16 years of nearly full-time business travel.
- Constant daily stress.
- Wasting an entire day on putting out other people’s fires.
- The political landscape around education policy.
Deciding on a Career Pivot
In 2015, I spent 5 days hospitalized with near-fatal pneumonia because of chronic stress and burnout.
In 2016, I had an emergency hysterectomy because in less than 6 months my body became riddled with fibroid tumors because my hormones were so out-of-whack due to chronic stress.
I needed to change directions mentally and physically.
My career is of utmost importance to me and my personal happiness is deeply ingrained in my professional success. My identity is wrapped up in my career. While some may believe this is not a healthy belief system, this is who I am. I am a career-woman and a workaholic. I need to make a difference.
In late 2017, I suddenly found myself without a career. It was the holiday season so I decided to enjoy the simple pleasures in life for a few weeks. I would begin figuring out the future in the new year.
Explore the Possibilities
Changing directions in your career is not easy at any point. After decades, the shift may seem beyond possible, but it is not. You can teach an old dog new tricks.
During my first few months of unemployment, I explored all kinds of possibilities and quickly realized I wanted to write for a living and figure out how to integrate travel and wellness practices.
I signed up for every free webinar I could find about travel writing, blogging, and copywriting, attended a few conferences, and enrolled in several online courses about copywriting, travel writing, and blogging.
I’d go down one path but it just didn’t feel right so I tried something else. This cycle continued for many months. Looking back now, I can clearly see that it was fear holding me back (and not properly healing from my burnout but that’s a whole other post for another day).
Perfectionism, procrastination, overwhelm…whatever you want to call it…it all boils down to fear.
Fear is a dream killer. It zaps your energy, motivation, and ability to move forward.
Fear will make you doubt yourself in the worst possible way.
How do you overcome fear?
By facing it head on and following your heart, dreams, business plan, core purpose in life…whatever it is that is floating around in your head as a possibility. Lean into it. My best advice now is to just start. Your career pivot is waiting for you.
Don’t let fear win.
Taking the Steps for a Career Pivot
Once I took my own advice, I was able to start focusing my efforts in my career pivot. I researched different career options related to writing. Google, Pinterest, and Medium are full of ideas on how to make a good living as a writer. At first, I chose to focus on building an entrepreneurial writing business. I was still unclear if this would include blogging, freelance writing, and/or copywriting, but I had narrowed down my choices at least a bit.
The exact steps I took in that first year included:
- Hired Benjamin Hardy, Ph.D. as a mentor and enrolled in the Accelerated Momentum Program aimed at teaching you how to take massive action and achieve big goals.
- Enrolled in copywriting training through American Writer’s and Artists, Inc. I completed six training modules and received a certification, attended their annual professional conference, and hired a copywriting coach to help me launch my business.
- Enrolled in a few different blogging and travel blogging online courses. I started and stopped several different blogs attempting to find my niche.
- Enrolled in a travel writing course through Great Escape Publishing and attended their annual conference in Austin, Texas.
- I read business books, personal development, psychology, and goal setting books along with books on writing, blogging, and copywriting.
Looking back a few years later I wish I had it all figured out much faster, but I didn’t and there is nothing I can do about it now. What I continue to learn and understand is that you have to stay positive and open to new possibilities when exploring a career pivot. If you only remember one thing about this post, that’s your golden nugget to remember.
Charting New Territories
Making a career pivot is a journey. There is no easy button. My confidence has taken a good beating from time to time, but with experience and exposure I expanded my thinking and created a profitable company that is all my own. I launched Sandra Smith Communications in October 2018 as a wellness copywriting business. I had my first client call in my first week and have consistently worked for clients since then.
In 2020, I took my business to the next level while still doing client copywriting work. I joined a six-month group coaching program that taught me how to become a writing and business success coach. After that course, I upgraded to a one-year mastermind with the hopes of scaling my business to even bigger hopes and dreams in 2021.
I ended the year by launching a one-on-one coaching program to help other women over 40 design a second act career as a professional writer and online business owner. The process of connecting with other women seeking a career pivot was immensely enjoyable, but the time and energy involved with leading a coaching program proved to be too much for me.
Another Career Pivot
Though I enjoyed aspects of coaching, I quickly discovered that I really only wanted to write and I wanted total autonomy and freedom of time. I also realized (now 3 years later) that if you don’t properly heal from stress and burnout, it doesn’t just go away on its own. The effects of chronic stress and burnout became all-consuming once again.
In early 2021 I decided to take a month off and began the hard work of healing myself mentally, emotionally, and physically by focusing on finding joy in my daily activities, reading, eating healthy food, and seeking professional help. I remembered that I needed to stay positive and open to new possibilities.
I also decided to try fiction writing and learned that I LOVE it. All my little steps have led me to this place of becoming a contemporary romance author with stories focused on wellness, reinvention, and starting over later in life. I found the perfect way to connect with other like-minded women and still have the autonomy and freedom I crave. I hope you are able to find the same balance and hope in your career pivot.
Would you like to learn more about making a career pivot or becoming a full-time writer yourself? I have a few ways for you to learn more:
- Sign up for my Writing & Wellness newsletter where I share intimate details from my writer’s life.
- Follow me on Instagram @sandrasmithwrites
- Buy my books! I get inside the head of my characters, sharing their internal thoughts when faced with pivotal points in their lives.
