0:00

being in a position where you're unemployed can feel

0:02

very shitty. But I think it also

0:04

can give you like what you're doing is giving

0:06

yourself an opportunity to like figure

0:10

it out and do it in a way

0:12

that's really thoughtful and really healthy

0:14

versus just like, shit, I better

0:16

find another shitty job that because. You

0:20

know, because that's what I'm supposed to be doing,

0:23

you know?

0:59

Hello friends. Hello POD people.

1:02

Welcome back to We're Doing This

1:04

Right? Right.

1:06

Welcome. Hi.

1:08

Hi Adrienne. Adrienne.

1:11

say your last name 'cause it feels like

1:13

it should be Bra, is that

1:15

correct?

1:17

That feels right. Yes, it's.

1:18

Okay. Adrienne is

1:21

with us. So Adrienne, is

1:23

from Mountain View, California originally, and

1:25

she was there pursuing a passion for

1:27

event management. Well, she went to Cal Poly

1:30

here down in San Luis Obispo, which is where we

1:32

met. She specialized her focus

1:34

on special event management during college. She

1:36

interned at Hospice de Rhone

1:39

a wine festival that. Still she

1:41

helps out with every year. In 2011, she

1:43

landed her dream job at Eventbrite in

1:45

San Francisco, spending 11 years

1:47

there in various roles from customer

1:49

experience to hr. After

1:51

a stint as Chief of Staff

1:53

at a small startup, she's now focused on developing

1:56

and scaling operations for local businesses

1:58

outside of work. Adrienne loves exploring the

2:00

central coast with friends and her cute dog,

2:02

and works at a wine bar for fun, which I love

2:05

to frequent. Adrienne.

2:08

Thank you for having me. Thanks,

2:10

you too.

2:11

So we asked Adrienne to come because Adrienne found

2:14

herself fun employed after

2:16

all of that amazing work experience.

2:19

And I think that

2:21

that looked different than she expected and what

2:24

that job market looks like and the

2:26

feelings that are part of

2:28

becoming unemployed. And

2:31

so I, we just wanted to have her here to kind of talk

2:33

through what that looked like for her.

2:35

We've talked a lot about the evolution of

2:38

women's careers, especially people who

2:40

are in entrepreneurship, so I think this is like

2:42

a really poignant

2:45

piece of that because

2:47

in that path. There.

2:50

talk a lot about gaps and I think sometimes we talk about

2:52

gaps and people assume that means you've had

2:54

a child or something, but

2:57

there are gaps in careers

2:59

for lots of reasons sometimes

3:02

because you need to find

3:04

a new one. So I think that this is

3:06

a great conversation for us to

3:08

have to really like normalize

3:11

this, talk about this 'cause I. You

3:13

kind of touched about just in talking

3:15

previously, like the grief

3:17

of losing a job and I'm sure there's some

3:19

lots of feelings and maybe shame feelings

3:22

or maybe, you know, whatever those things are.

3:24

Talk to us about you

3:26

don't have to tell us why you don't have that, that

3:28

job didn't happen anymore, but like, so,

3:30

okay, you don't have the job anymore

3:32

now. Now what? Like, tell us, walk us through

3:34

that story.

3:35

Yeah, 2023 is probably the most humbling

3:37

year of my life. I've never felt more

3:40

like I lost sort

3:43

of my identity and had to rebuild

3:45

it. And so a lot

3:47

of people say this to me when they leave

3:49

companies especially in tech, that

3:51

they, really like do lose their sense

3:54

of self and realize how much their ego is tied

3:56

to what they do. And I always thought

3:58

that I wasn't one of those people, but I certainly

4:01

was one of those people. And so

4:04

I take a lot of pride in what I do and I think I'm a very

4:06

high performing individual, so it's very difficult

4:08

for me to, be an environment

4:10

where. The market is really

4:13

difficult because everyone is being

4:15

laid off in tech and there are tons

4:17

of people looking for work and not a lot

4:19

of work. Tech companies really tightening their belts

4:21

this last year in preparation for the recession.

4:24

And the impact was huge. And

4:26

so for me it was, I. Feeling like

4:28

this total, like, oh my

4:30

God, what am I going to do? And also, there's not

4:33

a lot of hope for getting an actual,

4:35

another really great job. I kind of with

4:37

that chief of staff position, I finally was in this

4:39

role that I felt like really suited my skillset,

4:42

but I didn't feel like I had enough experience in it

4:44

to successfully interview

4:46

for that next chief of staff role because

4:49

people are looking for very senior people. So.

4:52

Greater tenure at my company

4:54

before searching for that next job. And so

4:56

there's a lot of, you can probably hear me talking

4:59

self doubt in what am I, how, what

5:01

am I, can I even apply for, would they even

5:03

talk to me? And then there's, so much networking

5:05

that needs to be involved. The fact, the fact that even left

5:08

at ATE after 11 years was largely because

5:10

of my network and I got an opportunity.

5:12

And so these things, I sort of live my

5:14

life by stopping. I hate

5:16

trying to force things to happen and I like to

5:18

look and pay attention to what doors are opening

5:20

and kind of walk through those doors. And it has felt

5:22

a lot like I am pushing and

5:24

forcing, trying to get this like next

5:27

job versus. Reflecting

5:30

and focusing and figuring out like kind of like

5:32

living and being happy and seeing what

5:34

doors open because I'm so conditioned

5:37

to be making and

5:39

providing and serving. And

5:41

so with all of that, I can say

5:43

that identity has crumbled

5:45

but also been rebuilt. I've liked to say that

5:47

all of the toxic things in

5:49

my life sort of left in 2023 and

5:52

sort of priming myself for. Really

5:54

great healthy dynamics at

5:56

work, relationships, everything in 2024.

5:59

So I'm kind of embracing that mindset. And

6:02

I'm also telling myself, you know, what's meant

6:04

for me will, will, will happen.

6:06

Like, I'm not going to force the wrong opportunity

6:09

and the right one will just feel right and

6:12

to keep your head up and your eyes open.

6:15

But in first leaving the,

6:17

the job it was, I. A huge

6:20

I dunno if you all know the five stages of grief,

6:22

but I was, I teach that a lot. I've been

6:24

doing learning and development for a long time in

6:26

work. So I teach the change curve, which

6:28

is essentially the same thing as the five stages

6:30

of I found myself in very much in denial

6:33

and I was super angry, and then

6:35

I was bargaining, and then I was depressed

6:38

and I was just sort of like going between

6:40

these stages of that, the, the

6:42

stages of grief until I think finally

6:44

after probably about six to eight

6:46

months I got to this place of acceptance.

6:49

And it was then that I started to.

6:52

Instead of just live in this fear and anxiety

6:54

spot and spiral, I was like, okay,

6:56

like my life can go on. I can do

6:58

other things. I can depart

7:01

from the thinking that I need. Like success

7:03

is working at a really great tech company.

7:05

It could be contributing to your community or doing

7:07

something on a smaller skill. And so I've

7:10

been working to design my life to make that

7:12

work and kind of buy time and for me to

7:14

figure out what that next thing really is

7:16

gonna be, that's gonna be really fulfilling

7:18

for me.

7:19

I love the design my life.

7:22

That is such a good, such

7:25

a good message for anybody

7:27

that finds themself in a moment of change or

7:29

needing a moment of change. I.

7:32

Yeah, absolutely.

7:34

And I think that's, you know, Cheryl

7:36

and I is kind of, I. Whole thing

7:38

is like design the life that you want live

7:41

the life that you know, that makes you happy and defining

7:44

success, how you want to define success, not

7:46

how society or somebody

7:48

else has decided what success looks

7:50

like. But I wanted you to talk

7:53

to us about like, that grief period for

7:55

you, you said was like six to eight months,

7:57

right? During that time,

7:59

are you working? Are you, did you find another,

8:01

like are you doing part-time? Like what's happening?

8:05

While logistically, like,

8:08

how are we keeping the lights on during that time?

8:10

Like what are we, what does that look

8:12

like? Because I think that's the part where it's like, you, you

8:15

have these gaps, but like, I

8:17

mean, my question is like, okay, well how would I pay

8:20

my bills? Like how does that, what

8:23

you talked

8:24

Yeah. That's where a lot of the fear,

8:25

Yeah.

8:27

yeah. Yeah. So that's where a lot

8:29

of the fear sets in of what

8:32

I always said. I was living. Something

8:35

mindset. It's like when you, scarcity

8:37

mindset. I was really, I felt like

8:39

I very strongly that I was living from

8:41

this place of scarcity and trying to figure

8:43

out how to stop that. Because when you're doing

8:46

that, you're obviously not like innovating and you're not, well,

8:48

you're not like you could be innovating 'cause you

8:50

have to, 'cause you don't have much. But like you're not

8:52

really being

8:53

You're not in growth mindset. You're not in abundance

8:55

mindset. Yeah. You.

8:57

Exactly. You're like, oh my God, how do I survive?

8:59

So survival mindset was real for me. And

9:01

so to do that, I, there are a couple things that happened

9:03

that got me positioned that I was very fortunate,

9:05

which was I bought a house

9:08

in 2020, which like

9:10

all the stars aligned. I was really fortunate

9:12

to work at a great company that went public. So

9:14

I had money for a down payment. I got

9:16

in right before the market went crazy

9:19

and covid hit. And so I. under

9:21

offered on my house and ended up getting it and like

9:23

to say, paint a picture. That just doesn't happen right

9:25

now. And so there's some life

9:27

things that lined up for me to be positioned

9:29

really well. Another thing is with

9:32

this house, I really wanted to remodel the kitchen and

9:34

I decided, you know what? I just didn't feel right.

9:36

I didn't, I just something about it because I knew

9:38

I would blow all my savings in order to remodel

9:40

this kitchen, and so I. And

9:43

so at the time where now I'm faced with not having

9:45

a job, rather than having zero in my savings

9:47

account, I had a cushion, which I would recommend to

9:50

every person in the world to have no

9:52

shit fund because my God, I'm,

9:54

I was always like that. That will ever happen to

9:56

me like that. I'll be fine. But that does, it

9:59

can, and it could happen to anyone. So

10:01

I want you, I want you to pause there because I think

10:03

there's two really important life

10:06

skill moments. One,

10:09

importance of owning your own home. Doing

10:12

that as soon as you can, as, because

10:14

that is a real, real asset. And

10:16

I don't know, you haven't talked about it, but like there's opportunities

10:19

there where you could have pulled money from your house or

10:21

things, you know, like the equity in your home. And then two,

10:24

the financial part of that, which is

10:26

having the cushion and putting that money aside.

10:28

Like those

10:30

are things that a lot of people don't do.

10:32

They don't have that or they don't feel like capable

10:34

of that. So how.

10:36

Yeah.

10:38

Have lined that up for yourself.

10:41

I don't know the statistic, but it's,

10:44

it's very shocking how few people

10:46

have money in their savings account when you

10:48

like, it's a really, really scary statistic

10:51

how few people have the oh shit fund. And

10:54

that's terrifying because so many

10:56

people wind up where they do where

10:58

you are right now. Like it happened.

11:00

Right? It does. And I do feel like I'm

11:02

coming from a huge place of privilege from having

11:05

the savings because my life largely

11:07

felt lucky to that point where I had

11:09

that, the savings. I worked at

11:11

a company that did really well, and

11:13

so when it went public, I did well, but

11:15

I could never save money

11:17

to save my life. It was really difficult paycheck

11:19

to paycheck to actually build a savings.

11:22

So I would say my heart goes out to people that are

11:24

struggling with that because I certainly do

11:26

and did as well. I just happen to. Be

11:29

at the right place at the right time. But

11:31

yeah, so that super helped

11:33

me because I,

11:36

you know, I

11:38

had a little bit of breather, like, I wasn't like

11:41

so afraid. But I also

11:43

am very, like, I didn't wanna

11:45

use my savings to float

11:48

by my life during this like awful

11:50

time. And 'cause I would've resented that. I,

11:52

so I be created a personal challenge

11:55

because ultimately I do want that kitchen remodeled. But

11:57

I created a personal challenge for myself

11:59

of how do I make

12:01

my savings last as long as humanly

12:04

possible by getting scrappy. And that was sort of

12:06

what spurred my motivation to think of how

12:08

to live creatively. And

12:10

so, my friends, somehow

12:12

someone told me about Furnish Finder, which is

12:14

where you can find traveling nurses and

12:16

I live very near a hospital

12:19

and so I was thinking, okay,

12:21

like I could rent out my rooms to help

12:23

me with my mortgage and

12:25

like property taxes, HOA, all that. There's my living

12:27

expenses and so. I ended

12:29

up putting up the house, or,

12:32

and I have, I have a three bedroom, three bathroom. So

12:34

I'm fortunate that people can have their own space

12:36

really, really easily. So it's not like you're living on top

12:38

of each other. I had been living alone

12:40

and I was finally like, yes, I've made it. I can have my own

12:42

house. I live alone. This is fantastic.

12:44

I, I just figured out how to make enough money

12:47

to make that work and so I was really

12:49

not wanting to go backwards. It felt like

12:51

a massive in the direction

12:54

with where I wanted my life to go. But

12:56

I will say. I've

12:58

had now one, now

13:00

I'm going on my fourth at the end of February, traveling,

13:03

nurse, moving in, and they've just sort of, I've

13:05

either had one room or both rooms rented

13:08

and it's just been so amazing and

13:10

it's been really, really helpful for me in making

13:13

this experience a little bit better.

13:16

I have to talk about that 'cause I am

13:18

such a proponent for making your

13:20

assets make you money. And

13:23

so I bought my first place in 2012

13:26

and rented out the

13:28

second bedroom the entire time.

13:30

And then when Alex and I bought our place

13:32

together. We continued to

13:34

rent out the extra bedroom. I mean, we had a lot more

13:36

bedrooms now, but we rented one of them pretty

13:39

much the entire time. We always joked we'd taken strays

13:42

and we weren't making like loads of money, but we were

13:44

offsetting our expenses

13:46

by having somebody else contribute and we had the space.

13:48

And then when we were getting ready to get married and have kids,

13:51

we built on an extra bedroom with like a separate

13:53

entrance and that could be closed

13:55

off from the house, but could also be utilized by the house

13:57

and that we rented on

13:59

Airbnb. Like would just lock

14:02

it off and it

14:04

was, it was monumental.

14:06

It was like, okay, we were able to put money

14:08

in savings. Like that was really great. And then also

14:10

like the weekends we'd be out traveling

14:12

and just like living our best life. It's like, well,

14:14

it's cool. We've got like $500 being deposited

14:16

in the account this weekend because we're

14:19

doing nothing. We're making money while we go

14:21

travel, and I

14:23

just really. It's sacrifices.

14:26

Like I can't tell you the number of people I've spoken

14:28

to over the years that are like, Ugh, but I don't

14:30

want somebody in my house. And I'm like, I get

14:32

it. I understand that. And

14:35

sometimes we make sacrifices to like catapult

14:37

forward and Alex and

14:39

I catapulted forward. I catapulted

14:41

forward from my condo to my house. To where?

14:44

To the property that we own now, and

14:46

it was because we were willing to make those like

14:48

kind of uncomfortable choices that a lot of people don't.

14:50

Even with hosting an AU pair, so many people

14:53

are like, I don't want somebody in my house. I'm like, okay, well

14:55

I'm paying a fraction of what you are in childcare

14:57

to share my house with someone. I already have the

14:59

space, so. Just

15:02

making those conscious choices

15:04

towards like the direction you wanna go.

15:07

Like in your case, you probably didn't have another option.

15:09

I'm sure this was huge at

15:12

like replacing the income you lost

15:14

For me, thankfully it hasn't been that, but it has

15:16

contributed to our savings account and our oh shit fund

15:19

for sure.

15:20

And I think too, like understanding somebody

15:23

mentioning something to you but then.

15:26

Putting that into action and like

15:29

being courageous

15:31

enough, I don't know if that's like the word, but

15:34

being courageous enough to like take that

15:36

and put that into action for like

15:39

survival purposes, but also like for your life.

15:43

Right.

15:44

There are so many people in the world who are given

15:46

really good ideas. Or

15:48

ways to help themselves or ways to survive,

15:51

and they choose not to take them. And

15:53

so I think that that is

15:54

My dad.

15:55

a credit to you, right? That you,

15:59

that is the survival

16:03

spirit or the prospering spirit

16:05

at its finest, right? To, to be able to take

16:07

that and put it into action so

16:10

that you can build the life that you want

16:12

so you can live the life that you want.

16:14

Even in a really shitty situation,

16:17

you know, like that's setting yourself up

16:19

for success.

16:22

Yeah, my life has largely felt fairly

16:25

unchanged, but. Which

16:28

is kind of shocking. Like I feel like I'm maintaining

16:31

lifestyle, but I haven't like, dyed my hair for

16:33

a year, which I'm like, now I'm embracing

16:35

having my natural hair color. Like, wait.

16:37

I'm like, no, grays are starting to come in.

16:40

So I'm thinking, wait, this, maybe this is the last time in my life I'm

16:42

ever gonna have like my beautiful

16:44

natural brown hair. Why wouldn't I just let that

16:46

go? And I, my friend's been cutting my hair, so

16:48

I'm like very much like taking

16:50

cuts where I feel like I can,

16:53

and trying to make, put a positive spin on

16:55

it, I guess.

16:56

Yeah.

16:57

Yeah, also like there's,

16:59

there's mindset to that too, right?

17:01

Like. Viewpoint and

17:04

framing, and there's a

17:06

lot of this that could have been like, this fucking

17:08

sucks and I am going to

17:11

sleep and lay in my sweatpants

17:14

for six to eight months. That's what, that was my question.

17:16

Right? It's like there is this grieving process

17:19

and that doesn't mean you're not feeling shitty. It doesn't mean

17:21

that you're not grieving. It doesn't mean that you don't feel

17:23

the loss of this

17:25

identity or this career, but it also.

17:29

Is like, but you still have to like do

17:31

the things every day, right?

17:34

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I can talk

17:36

about what I did because there were, I did wanna

17:38

just lay in bed, but I also I, know

17:40

that there's so many resources out there speaking of

17:42

podcasts and things that you can listen to, to

17:44

kind of help motivate you. And so

17:46

I got, I think actually my friend Summer,

17:49

who, you know Cheryl,

17:50

yeah.

17:51

The like, only thing I knew I could, I have a dog and I was like,

17:53

I've gotta walk my dog, so I'm gonna get up in the mornings. That's

17:55

a healthy-ish feeling habit. And I'm

17:57

gonna walk him. And so I, as I was walking him

17:59

on there's this really, really beautiful bike trail near

18:01

my house, which I feel really fortunate to have. Mel

18:04

Robin, I listened to her and be like, well, what's the deal

18:06

with this lady? Anyway, she, I heard her talking about like

18:08

the perfect morning routine or the good

18:10

nighttime routine, kind of set your life up. And so

18:13

I started trying to implement some of those

18:15

things to, just motivate myself

18:17

and kind of get into my creative and think

18:19

a little bit more outside of the box, and so.

18:22

It was largely like when you wake up in the morning, don't look at your phone,

18:24

which is hard, but actually really great

18:26

when you can do it. Then give yourself

18:29

a high five in your mirror and then like

18:31

set your intention for the day and like, and

18:34

so I would be like, I would do that and then

18:36

I would, and they would say, get outside. Do something physical,

18:39

but get, get set on your skin. Everyone's saying

18:41

get set on your skin first thing in the morning. And so I would

18:43

go on a back your

18:45

mind and I would journal. And

18:47

so through the journaling I started thinking

18:49

what do. Trying,

18:52

trying to figure out what I want has,

18:54

I think across my life has been one of the most difficult

18:57

things. 'cause I'm sort of like, like

18:59

a servant type person where I'm like, where am I needed?

19:01

How can I help? Not like, what do I want

19:03

and how do I go for the thing that I want

19:05

the most? And so that's been

19:08

a huge, hugely challenging, but I found

19:11

that that was really

19:13

helpful to get me focused and clear my head and think about

19:15

what I do want. And that was a, a. Those

19:17

stages of grief for sure was like prioritizing

19:20

myself and

19:21

picture you're painting of the life

19:24

sounds like, like this. This

19:27

is my slow morning routine that I

19:29

really, that I really would love to have

19:31

like the get Get sun on your skin

19:34

and get outside and journal like

19:36

that's my dream Adrienne. I

19:38

don't ever take the time to do that, and I,

19:41

you know what, you guys, I'm fucking worthy

19:43

of taking the time to do that for myself.

19:45

Credit Despi Mayes on that one. I

19:48

need to make these shifts and do this

19:51

sort of thing for myself. It sounds like I.

19:53

Anybody at any stage of life working,

19:56

not working, this is like what

19:58

we all should be doing. But

20:00

then we get in that cycle

20:02

of like not rise and grind. 'cause what you're

20:04

describing isn't really, isn't rise and grind, but

20:06

it's like the things we should be doing, you

20:09

know, that like should, then we feel shame

20:11

when we're not doing it. I'm just,

20:13

I'm thinking out loud, I'm spinning through this, but God,

20:15

it sounds glorious what your mornings look like.

20:17

Well, well it, but it ha it's had to shift

20:20

for me. This was actually, okay, so kind

20:22

of big picture thinking. I

20:24

used to wake up every morning and get

20:26

on my computer and I literally

20:28

lived, breathed whatever work.

20:31

I wouldn't come up for air until 5:00 PM

20:33

and I just was a frigging hyper

20:35

achiever. And that was like.

20:37

I, I completely prioritize my work.

20:40

And so a shift has been to prioritize myself.

20:42

'cause like what, what work am I gonna prioritize right

20:44

now? You know? And

20:47

so it has now become something I

20:49

look forward to and want to do, which was something

20:51

that's been like a lifelong journey for me, is

20:53

how do I flip the script from like,

20:55

ha, you should be going outside and doing

20:57

this for yourself because. You

21:00

should be doing, you know, versus like, oh, I

21:02

get to go do that. And like I get to walk my, and

21:04

like I like being in the cold

21:06

air and I like walking coffee, and I enjoy

21:09

that activity, which my whole life

21:11

has been spent like. Completely.

21:13

Again, not knowing what I want, but doing what other

21:15

people tell me I should be doing. And so that was a

21:17

really great transition for me. And even

21:20

now I found I've always

21:22

had a struggle with like going to the gym. 'cause for me

21:24

it was associated with like weight loss

21:26

and trying to look a certain way. And it was never

21:29

a thing that was like, Hey, do this because you

21:31

enjoyed what you're doing. And I will say, I've been

21:33

going to Kismet Cheryl and

21:35

I'm obsessed

21:36

Shout out Brittany at San

21:38

Luis.

21:38

I know, and it, it couldn't

21:40

be the worst time of a class possible.

21:43

No offense, Brittany, but like it's at four 30 every

21:45

day, which happy hour has got to get in

21:47

the way or life, you know?

21:49

But I am like, no, forget it. I'm going Like the

21:51

other day I was at happy hour and I left for an hour

21:54

and came back and I was like, I'm just gonna, I'll pop

21:56

out and come right back. And it's like so accessible

21:58

and fun that I just don't even think about it. So

22:01

those are pretty big wins.

22:03

I would say for me in this experience is finding something

22:05

that I love to do for myself and

22:07

like. Showing up to do it

22:10

Cheryl's talked about this before too. Like sometimes

22:12

you need those times of quiet

22:15

or those times where there's nothing to do

22:18

to really like refocus

22:20

and reset and like kind of get your.

22:24

You know, like do the journaling or do whatever it

22:26

is to, to ask yourself

22:28

those questions. What do I want to do? How do I

22:30

wanna serve? Who do I wanna serve? Maybe

22:32

I should be serving myself. Like,

22:35

maybe this is the time where I should

22:37

start, like putting

22:39

myself first instead of others. You know,

22:41

when we're in this 8:00

22:43

AM to 5:00 PM constantly

22:46

on the computer, constantly working, constantly

22:48

doing, you don't have those

22:50

moments. To be creative,

22:52

to think, to innovate,

22:55

you know, all of that stuff. So, being

22:58

in a position where you're unemployed can feel very

23:00

shitty. But I think it also

23:02

can give you like what you're doing is giving

23:04

yourself an opportunity to like figure

23:08

it out and do it in a way

23:10

that's really thoughtful and really healthy

23:12

versus just like, shit, I better

23:14

find another shitty job that because. You

23:18

know, because that's what I'm supposed to be doing,

23:21

you know?

23:22

I will say for everything

23:24

I have on the backend, like I have been doing

23:26

a bunch to try and figure out what that next

23:28

job is going to be, and

23:30

I've been applying for a ton of jobs that would

23:32

be that same exact experience

23:35

that I had before. And that's not

23:37

working. Like I'm not getting the jobs

23:39

and I can't help but think. I mean, that's

23:42

really humbling as well because you

23:44

like go from this like performer at a. Not

23:48

being able to even get a job. And so there's, we

23:50

can probably talk about interviewing because that's really terrible.

23:53

But then also just like what, what

23:56

cues do you pay attention to in life that help

23:58

you figure out when you're on the right path? Like on,

24:00

I don't wanna say right, but a path that you

24:03

kind of should pursue following. And

24:06

that's something I'm currently struggling with because

24:08

I. I can also talk about things

24:10

that I am doing. I am working locally in a community,

24:13

doing things, and I'm

24:15

also applying for jobs that would be kind

24:17

of going to what I was doing before. But

24:19

certain things are sticking and certain things aren't, and I'm

24:22

curious in where that will lead me. 'cause I'm still

24:24

not very sure.

24:26

This is our second guest of the year that's curious

24:28

about what's gonna happen this year.

24:30

Yes.

24:30

Like it.

24:31

Now, you've been doing all this like applying,

24:34

are you applying for

24:36

you, you're applying for similar jobs and in

24:38

that process when you're not getting where

24:40

you want to go or maybe whatever.

24:44

Are you feeling like you still wanna do that

24:46

or do you feel like maybe like, oh, maybe I

24:48

should pivot. Like what kind of, what

24:51

happens during that process?

24:53

I feel a lot of desire to pivot.

24:55

Okay.

24:56

Well, because, so my, so this is

24:58

where I'm kind of talking about this like theme in my life where I

25:00

go where people need help or needed.

25:02

And so I felt like my career sort of went in a direction

25:04

that was not

25:06

necessarily what I would've chosen,

25:09

but one where I got called to

25:11

go and. So

25:14

I was at Eventbrite and I was working in the customer

25:17

support. I didn't necessarily wanna do customer

25:19

support forever, but I had kind of grown outta that position

25:21

and, and was working on this, in this really cool role

25:24

doing more product operations and voice of the customer

25:26

where I got to advocate for feature requests

25:28

and things like that based on customer contact. I thought

25:30

it was like the coolest job. However, sort

25:32

of, kind of felt like I reached the peak in that role. And

25:34

at the time I had worked for a new leader

25:36

who was in learning and development, and he was

25:39

just like a most incredible person I'd ever worked

25:41

with. And I still, he's a great friend of mine today,

25:44

but he had open headcount. To

25:46

switch gears and go to his team, and so. And

25:50

totally took a leap of faith. Went to a completely different

25:52

career and one that I wasn't sure if that was,

25:55

you know, I had no idea if I wanted to do that, but it was

25:57

like a cool opportunity and I knew I wanted to learn

25:59

from this person. And so after

26:02

I switched gears and went to his team, I did really

26:04

enjoy what I was doing, but he ended up leaving after

26:06

eight months. And so now I was in this job

26:08

that I didn't know if that was what I wanted to be

26:10

doing for the rest of my life. Foreseeable

26:13

future. The leader

26:16

that I wanted to work for was gone. And so that

26:18

was a huge life lesson to anyone

26:20

who's considering taking a job for a manager

26:22

but not isn't sure of the work. Like, do not do

26:24

that. Really think about is that the role you

26:26

want to be doing? And is that work going to ignite

26:29

you and light you up? Ultimately what's

26:31

really interesting is in learning development,

26:33

we learn, talk a lot about. Psychology

26:35

and you know, human behavior.

26:37

And I'm incredibly fascinated about that

26:39

in my personal life. I just love understanding

26:42

how people tick and what motivates them. And

26:44

so it's this field that I'm very interested

26:46

in, but I'm not someone who likes to

26:48

get in front of a classroom and teach and facilitate

26:50

workshops. But a large, huge part of learning

26:53

development is doing that body of work.

26:55

And so long story, long is those

26:57

are the types of roles that, like, those are the types

26:59

of things that I'm equipped to do on my resume. If you look

27:01

at my resume, you'd say, oh, she a,

27:05

I. Role that I want. I'm much more operational

27:08

in nature. I love to design incredible programs

27:11

and be like the person behind the screen, kind

27:13

of developing employee programs

27:15

that make businesses have a great place to work.

27:18

And so I do think I need to kind of shift

27:20

the things like I need a, I think there's a lot behind

27:23

updating your resume to be catered towards

27:25

the job that you want, but I

27:27

am also like, you know. When

27:30

you get opportunities, it's really difficult to get an interview.

27:32

And so what I've been doing is going to my network

27:34

and saying, Hey, like do you know anyone

27:36

who's known? Anyone who's known, anyone who's like, could be hiring?

27:38

And so I get these opportunities that largely

27:41

have been l and d roles, and I'm like, okay, is

27:43

this coming to me because this is what I should be doing?

27:45

Or is this coming to me? Because that's just like, there's

27:48

like these huge questions. So I keep going for these roles

27:50

and it not landing and I'm like, can't help but wonder.

27:52

Okay. Is that just a completely the wrong role? Do

27:54

I need to work on my interview skills? Like what is going

27:57

on? And so there's a huge, I

27:59

think, open question for me in that area right

28:01

now that I'm trying to work through.

28:02

when you're applying for these,

28:05

Adrienne, I heard this statistic one

28:07

time, or I don't know, somebody said it, but

28:09

it's

28:09

She made it up.

28:11

Up women will look at list

28:14

of job requirements.

28:16

Check every single one of those

28:19

job requirements, they won't apply, but

28:21

men will look at a list of requirements

28:23

and if they check two, they'll just apply.

28:26

Like I feel like that is so interesting.

28:29

Like do you feel like you're going after stuff

28:31

or do you feel like you're having to be like perfect

28:34

for these jobs? I

28:36

will admittedly say I haven't applied

28:40

formally for a job. I

28:43

mean, I've run my own business since

28:45

2018, and prior to

28:47

that I worked at the same place

28:50

for a long time. So like,

28:52

I don't, I, I'm just, I don't know, like,

28:54

is that part of the process

28:57

when you're looking for jobs?

28:58

You definitely wanna look at the qualifications and see if it

29:01

aligns to your skillset. 'cause

29:03

they're gonna ask you about it when you're interviewing. So you either

29:05

have to go to fake it till you make it, which I'm not good at.

29:07

I'm not a good liar. I'm not good at like, embellishing

29:10

my, my career experiences.

29:13

Which maybe that could be something that other people might

29:15

feel more comfortable with. I'm sure there's personality

29:17

types that I have no problem doing that. But

29:20

no, I certainly like, well, I've applied

29:22

for things that I'm grossly underqualified for

29:24

because I'm like, you know, you miss all the shots. You don't take.

29:27

Because I just feel like these

29:29

dudes, these bros be out here like

29:32

applying for jobs that are like way,

29:34

underqualified for, but they're getting 'em

29:36

right because maybe they're confident

29:39

enough or maybe, I don't know. I don't know. Or

29:41

they know the right bro.

29:42

They've gotta be able to Yeah, they know the right people.

29:45

Yeah, that helps too. But I've

29:47

had a very, very warm,

29:49

very good references and not gotten jobs,

29:51

which has been really, which is fine, but

29:53

I'm like, oh my God, like something is definitely

29:55

wrong. So my, my mentor was like, okay,

29:58

I think we need to do some mock interviews 'cause something is not

30:00

clicking. And I was like, okay. Which kinda made

30:02

me lose confidence because I do believe the right job

30:04

will just inherently and the right opportunity.

30:08

Fit. It doesn't matter how much I practice my star

30:10

questions or whatever, like when you

30:12

drive for the right people and you're applying for the right thing

30:14

kind of kids, like it'll

30:16

just, it should just work. And so I'm kind of between

30:18

this like strengthen

30:20

the interview skillset and accept that like

30:23

the right job will come and it

30:25

will match. It might not be what you think it is

30:28

or,

30:28

Or maybe you need to

30:30

might look differently.

30:31

your own business.

30:32

Colleen and I are just over here doing the same thing.

30:34

Like, come on Adrienne, just jump. Just jump

30:36

over here with us. Be an

30:38

I know,

30:39

I just.

30:40

I know. Well, trust,

30:41

Today in my InspireHER Collective

30:43

group here in Indie. Somebody

30:46

asked like, well, how do I find these networking

30:48

groups? I can't find them. And I just said,

30:50

if you can't find it, you create it. I

30:52

don't know, maybe the stars are aligning for

30:54

you, Adrienne. Like if you can't find what

30:57

you're doing, maybe you need to create it. Like,

30:59

I'm over here like texting Cheryl on the side.

31:01

Like should she be like a, like

31:04

is there an opportunity? Like what, I

31:07

think there's such, and everybody's

31:09

wired differently, right? Like, but my

31:11

brain is like, oh,

31:13

okay then like we should

31:15

just figure out what your next company

31:17

should be. You.

31:20

Totally. So I, I will say we can navigate

31:22

towards talking. What about what I have been doing, because

31:25

it is largely related to consulting

31:27

and thinking about how to work.

31:30

I. Start my own thing. And

31:32

that's been really fun. It's been there, there's so

31:34

much I would love to learn from you both

31:36

and being entrepreneurs and owning your own businesses

31:38

because the departure for me in

31:40

having a steady paycheck and insurance

31:43

is so scary. It's hard

31:45

to mentally commit

31:47

to, and especially when you don't have a product per

31:49

se, and clients who wanna

31:52

buy your service. So I have just been

31:54

taking this approach of like. I'm

31:57

gonna do stuff and I'm doing a lot of stuff

31:59

right now and see what kind of

32:01

story I can form based off I've

32:03

been doing so. leaving

32:06

tech. I was like, I just don't wanna

32:09

work remote anymore. It's been,

32:11

I've been remote since 2017, sitting

32:13

at my computer grinding and

32:15

I live in this beautiful place that has

32:17

a, a incredible community. And I was

32:19

like, I just wanna like be around people

32:21

again and like. Give back to the community.

32:24

And so I talked to my friend and I told her this and

32:26

she said, oh, well my husband might be hiring for,

32:28

you know, you need some help. He's growing his business and so

32:30

I've been working for a local mobile

32:33

vet clinic to help them with their operations.

32:35

And I've done some really cool

32:37

stuff with them. They're kind of a startup in a way.

32:39

And so it's been really cool to take my knowledge

32:42

and skillset and apply to the things that they're working on

32:44

and help them kind of grow

32:46

and expand their business. So,

32:48

I have to pause you right there. Because

32:51

last week we had to say

32:53

goodbye to my pup and this

32:55

is a mobile vet clinic and Adrienne

32:58

and I know a lot of the same people. And

33:00

so I texted a mutual friend and this

33:03

hu the hus, the wife of the husband, she was just talking

33:05

about and I was like, Hey, I need to know

33:07

a mobile vet number. So text

33:09

me and my, I made my husband do the call and

33:12

he, he calls me, he's like, the girl

33:15

that answered the phone knew you, and

33:17

he kind of described her. I was like, that's Adrienne. I

33:20

know, I know who that was, but just such a

33:22

I was shocked. I was like, I

33:24

was like, could you spell your last name? And he

33:26

was spelling it and I was like. Do

33:29

I know this person? And then because

33:31

I, his voice didn't sound like Alex. I

33:33

was, I was not. I

33:35

didn't, I didn't, I did not connect the dot. Then he said, my wife

33:37

knows the doctor's wife. I was like, oh

33:39

my gosh. Okay. We'll definitely fit

33:42

you in today. There's no

33:43

Well, thank you so much because I was like

33:45

not able to function until it was over.

33:49

I was like paralyzed, so thank you

33:51

and rest in

33:52

Oh, I'm so

33:53

girl and Dr. Dan is badass.

33:55

If you're in San Luis Obispo, Dr.

33:57

Dan is my hero. He cried with us. He

34:00

explained everything to my daughters, like

34:03

he was, it was just like the warmest hug.

34:06

And so anyways, thank you. So keep going.

34:08

So you're doing, you're growing, you're doing things

34:11

locally, you're like figuring it out based

34:13

on like, what's, tell me, tell us more

34:15

because I see you

34:17

have the spirit

34:19

Yeah. I'm like, you already are an entrepreneur.

34:22

You're already going into other people's businesses. You're consulting,

34:24

you're doing this. I'm like. You could,

34:26

your, your job could be to go into

34:28

small businesses and set up the systems for them

34:31

and get the things like rolling for them,

34:33

because small business people need those

34:36

things and they don't know how to do them because

34:38

they have a product that they sell, or because

34:40

they're a great baker typically

34:43

means that they don't know how

34:45

to do. Other

34:47

parts to it and so I Congratulations.

34:50

You are now a business consultant and

34:52

we've just created your business for you right here

34:54

on air and everybody,

34:59

she is available.

35:01

Also like at this moment, what do you have

35:03

to lose? You already don't have

35:05

the job. Like

35:07

you, you don't have the insurance right now.

35:10

Like those are the hardest, that's the hardest part about

35:12

jumping into your own business. Like when I was leaving

35:14

my corporate job that I was in for 12

35:16

years, it was like, fuck,

35:18

I'm gonna walk away from like paying $400

35:21

a month for my entire family's insurance.

35:23

I'm gonna walk away from my matched 401k.

35:26

I'm gonna walk away from my pension. I

35:28

still have some of my pension. I was vested you guys,

35:30

but like I'm walking away from all of these

35:32

security things. To

35:34

bet on myself, and I had the confidence

35:37

to bet on myself, but fuck,

35:39

I do miss those other things,

35:41

but you already don't have 'em, so let's go.

35:45

I know Well, so I have been going, that is

35:47

what, what I've been doing is I work with

35:49

a couple different businesses right now and consult

35:52

and help them with their, their things. I've done, I've

35:54

helped Summer, I've helped my friends Ria with her travel

35:57

company. So I've helped, I helped summer

35:59

automate all of her Compass communications

36:02

from the time I close a deal to. The

36:04

next five years, which was like, I love automation

36:07

and scale. And then my friend RAA

36:09

opened a travel agency and she needed help launching

36:11

her kind of client CRM, which

36:14

with automation and scale like communications.

36:16

Um, and then I've been doing the vet

36:18

and then I'm working for Hospice Jerone right now,

36:20

again, helping them with their, their wine festival

36:22

and then also helping at the winery at 15

36:25

C. So there's a lot of things

36:28

I'm doing right now and I.

36:30

And you still have time to get up and take

36:32

your dog for a walk and journal,

36:34

and you're paying all your bills.

36:37

It's been busy.

36:38

Okay,

36:39

literally living

36:39

for being unemployed, I.

36:41

you're like living everyone's best life

36:44

I think that I

36:46

have my newest member of InspireHER

36:48

SLO because you are

36:50

an entrepreneur and you need to join us. Yeah,

36:53

we're gonna talk about this after. You've gotta join us

36:55

and InspireHER. I think that you are like the

36:57

exact right fit for. So

36:59

it's that thing that we talked about before, like

37:02

if there's not already what you want in the world, create

37:04

it. So Colleen and I created InspireHER

37:06

Collective, which is like a women's

37:08

mastermind group that has no

37:11

financial costs currently to be a part

37:13

of. It's just us creating a group

37:15

of women from different industries that come together

37:17

monthly and help

37:19

we grow together by me teaching

37:22

my skillset, learning from your skillset

37:24

and It is, it's been really

37:26

incredible so far, and I'm so excited world.

37:28

This will be available nationwide, internationally.

37:31

At some point we will bring you in on our

37:33

syndication. We're gonna have an InspireHER Collective

37:36

Yeah, so we'll just turn this into an infomercial

37:39

now. So in

37:41

InspireHER Collective national,

37:44

we'll basically launch if you will, this

37:47

week because we have an

37:49

indie group. We have a central

37:51

California group. We will shortly

37:53

We're Central Coast. Colleen, I have to teach you,

37:55

we're the central coast. We're not central California. That's Fresno

37:57

and Bakersfield, which I love you Fresno and Bakersfield,

37:59

but we're in San Luis Obispo

38:01

Sorry, I'm so sorry. The

38:03

Central Coast has, has

38:05

a membership and then we're gonna be launching

38:07

in Denver and

38:09

I think Austin and Philly.

38:12

So we're

38:14

gonna have a big network of really amazing

38:16

female entrepreneurs who all

38:18

wanna help each other, who all wanna share

38:20

secrets, who all want to

38:22

not gate keep and rise

38:25

by lifting others. And,

38:27

uh, it's, you're perfect.

38:29

So welcome. You're in it. Good job. And

38:32

we love your new business. Now you just like

38:35

un unrolled here, so you're no longer unemployed.

38:37

You are it you are an entrepreneur. You're

38:40

a business owner. Wow. This is so fun.

38:42

We did.

38:44

I just did my LLC. I can walk you through

38:46

how to do your LLC and file your

38:49

articles of organization so that you

38:51

can be official and start collecting money and writing

38:53

all this shit off because,

38:55

so funny, I actually started I started a business in

38:57

2018 or 17,

39:00

a property management company still going strong.

39:02

Yeah. See you've been

39:04

done the, the LC stuff.

39:06

Yeah.

39:07

What. not even unemployed.

39:08

Well, you're unemployed in the best

39:09

say, let's just say I'm not making the

39:11

money that I wanna be making yet.

39:13

Well, you'll, you will. We

39:16

all will like it.

39:19

It's just like a, it

39:22

takes time and then it'll be exponential

39:24

and incredible. Like

39:26

you talking to you, it's like.

39:29

Shocking to hear you were ever fun

39:31

employed because you're so well

39:33

spoken. You're so intelligent, you have so much

39:35

to offer, it's you're

39:38

gonna, you're gonna be able to help so many more people.

39:41

So when I left corporate world,

39:44

and that was a little over two

39:46

years ago now I

39:49

now see how. or like

39:51

held back. I was, because

39:53

now I get to have this creativity

39:56

be like, oh, I could try that. Oh, I could try that.

39:58

Oh, I, I can shine here. Like I can create

40:00

this. I can do that. I wasn't doing any

40:02

of this, like none of my superpowers.

40:05

The only superpower that got to shine was my

40:07

people person. 'cause I was in sales. So

40:09

like that was where I got to shine.

40:12

But I'm so much more than that and

40:14

I didn't. Get to know that

40:16

by being stifled, by working for a company.

40:19

Now that I work for myself, I just get to be like,

40:21

this is lighting my soul on fire. And I get to

40:23

see what it's doing to all those people over there. And now

40:25

this is lighting my soul on fire and look at all these people

40:28

that it's contagious for and like the

40:30

universe is really excited

40:32

about what I'm doing and I'm excited about what

40:34

I'm doing and it's the best.

40:36

So I think that that was a

40:38

real gift for you, Adrienne, because I see

40:40

so much in your future.

40:43

Oh, thanks. Y'all are making me feel real

40:45

nice.

40:46

Yeah, you're incredible.

40:47

If you'd like to be coached by us, we will also

40:49

be launching coaching at the end of the year, by the

40:51

way.

40:53

Oh, y'all. I'm a certified

40:55

There you go.

40:55

it.

40:57

But yeah, coaches need coaches. Like I

40:59

just hired a coach. I have two coaches now.

41:02

So that's

41:05

just part of it, but

41:06

I was in more meaning that's a whole other business

41:08

in of itself. You can go.

41:10

it can really, like I'm

41:13

working on it right now and I like see

41:15

the benefits of it in my real estate business and I

41:17

see the benefits of it in the podcast. I think it just

41:19

makes you like a very well-rounded individual

41:21

with, and it opens your eyes to other

41:23

thoughts and other ideas that maybe.

41:26

You didn't have the opportunity to explore without

41:28

that certification. But I've

41:30

been a coach my whole life, y'all, without any certifications,

41:33

so oh, okay. What

41:35

else should people know about the

41:38

experience of going from employed

41:40

to non-employed suddenly? What

41:43

other things do you think would be helpful

41:45

Oh, I would just say if

41:48

you have a job and you're feeling good about it, just update

41:50

your resume. I can't tell you how

41:52

low I felt when I was

41:55

suddenly unemployed and I did

41:57

not have a resume because I, even for the

41:59

new job I got, I barely even people I. Really

42:02

look at it like when you're a good in networking

42:04

connection. So, but like

42:06

to apply for a job that I wanted,

42:08

then I had to go sit and focus and like

42:10

write this whole thing about what I've been doing at a job

42:13

that I did not wanna talk about. It was

42:15

very challenging and

42:18

so I would just say write it. Take

42:20

the 20 minutes and have

42:22

people read it, help you update it chat. GPT

42:25

is also really great for helping with resumes and things

42:27

like that. So like how to word things. So

42:29

get, get organized, like get your, oh shit

42:31

fund, have an updated resume at all times.

42:34

I'd say just always have that plan B kind

42:36

of ready in case something happens

42:39

I feel like we've lo we've learned some really

42:41

important life skills in

42:44

this conversation. One, you should buy a house

42:46

as soon as you can. Two,

42:49

you should have you should have some sort of,

42:51

oh, you know, you call it a oh shit fund, some sort

42:53

of savings fund, some sort of emergency

42:55

fund, and. It's gotta be more than a thousand

42:58

dollars. I think there's, like Dave Ramsey

43:00

tells you to put a thousand dollars in it. A thousand

43:02

dollars is gonna pay my bills

43:03

Oh, that's that's baby step. That's the

43:05

baby step. His big thing is like six months

43:07

of income or six months of expenses

43:10

put away.

43:11

yeah, but make sure it's more than a thousand dollars,

43:13

I guess is the point. And and update

43:15

your resume. Keep your resume updated because new

43:18

opportunities and new things, but then also like.

43:21

I really am taking away from this that

43:24

like having the space

43:26

and the time to think

43:28

and process and search

43:30

and find is really,

43:32

really where the magic happens. It's really

43:34

where you have the opportunity.

43:36

Yeah. And I've just been saying yes to the things that feel

43:39

like they're flowing well. And

43:41

like, for example, working for the

43:43

vet, like I could have said no because I was

43:45

like, oh, I need to make this much money. But I'm

43:47

like, no, I'm not gonna use money as a constraint.

43:49

I'm going to do the

43:51

work, get the experience and see

43:53

kind of where that takes me. And

43:56

be, and that's really the grit and scrappiness of it

43:58

is like, you know. I

44:01

think you have to say yes to the things that are coming and

44:03

feel right and go for it, even if it's not

44:05

really how you thought it was gonna

44:06

Yeah. Be flexible.

44:09

Yeah.

44:10

Mm-Hmm.

44:11

thank you so much.

44:12

is all part of our vision to reality. We've

44:14

talked about crowdsourcing, we've

44:16

talked about pivoting and being flexible.

44:20

Love it. Okay, Adrienne, where

44:22

can people be connected with you? Do you want

44:24

to connect with people? What do you want?

44:26

What if somebody's out there.

44:27

Yeah. I wanna talk to.

44:29

They wanna hire you immediately. Where should

44:31

they contact you?

44:33

My email is an easy way, it's my first

44:35

and last [email protected]. If

44:37

there's Adrienne [email protected],

44:40

that's also Instagram, A-D-R-I-B-R

44:43

@adribra.

44:45

Perfect.

44:45

Okay.

44:46

Message me slide into my dms.

44:49

Yes,

44:49

I will with the InspireHER information

44:51

because you're joining me.

44:54

yes.

44:54

Amazing. Yeah, I just got recruited.

44:57

See, this was the best job interview I've had in

44:59

months.

45:00

You're hired. You're hired. It doesn't

45:02

pay and you have to buy your own lunch every

45:04

meeting. But,

45:05

oh my God. That's how most of my jobs have been going so

45:07

far for the course.

45:09

It will pay in dividends

45:12

down the road with the, what you learn

45:14

from the incredible women that are part of

45:16

it. And

45:17

Yeah.

45:19

And then it'll pay me because I'll learn from you.

45:22

Absolutely,

45:23

Oh,

45:24

I love it. Well, thank you so much.

45:26

I know it's a vulnerable topic

45:29

and

45:30

Yeah.

45:30

you brought a lot of light and laughter to

45:32

it, and I love that so.

45:35

Oh, well, thank you for having me. I'm sorry for the wifi

45:38

issues.

45:38

It's fine. I'll just cut it all out. You guys.

45:40

Adrienne is to blame if it's choppy in the editing

45:43

because we have some wifi

45:45

snafus way.

45:47

That's

45:47

Adrienne wins the award for most

45:51

freezes. More than like,

45:54

I think your wifi is worse than Colleen's,

45:56

and Colleen's is generally terrible, so.

46:00

It's cool. This is a shout out to Elon Musk

46:02

in starlink because mine is always

46:04

great and I live in the middle of nowhere. We

46:07

are sponsored by starlink. Thank you, Elon.

46:10

I'll send the affiliate code out in our show

46:13

Yeah, send me a Tesla.

46:16

Yeah, I'll take, I'll take my Tesla whenever you're ready. Or

46:19

my Tesla battery wall. I want one of those

46:21

here out in the middle of nowhere. Okay. I

46:23

digress. Thanks.

46:26

Bye.