Episode Details

Six months into this midlife career change experiment, Molly’s pulling back the curtain — not on a guest, but on herself. Two lessons the guests keep teaching her, two mind shifts that have quietly changed how she thinks about money and risk, two things that have flat-out not gone to plan, and two she’s reworking heading into the back half of the year.

It’s an honest midyear check-in for any woman in her 40s or 50s rethinking her own second act. Then, rolling into the holiday weekend, she replays the episode that started it all: Joanna Ehresman, and the one piece of coaching advice — treat your next thing as an experiment — that took the pressure off everything.

What You Will Learn — Molly’s Midyear Recap

[00:48] Lesson one: almost no one pivots alone

[01:37] Lesson two: real career change takes three to five years, usually built alongside the day job

[02:53] Mind shift one: treating your next thing as an experiment — and the weight it lifts

[04:32] Mind shift two: rethinking income and benefits — non-traditional money, and Melanie’s hospital-board health coverage workaround

[06:11] What hasn’t gone well

[09:03] What she’s working on: flipping the schedule

[10:07] The inner work — doing the work

[11:06] Feedback is a gift: the stories and voices Molly most wants to hear next

Replay — Episode 1: Joanna Ehresman

“Using Your Existing Skills for Your Second Act”

After years in wealth-management marketing, Joanna’s role was eliminated in 2023. She rested, launched a fractional-CMO consultancy, then experimented her way into a created role at Fika Design Group — getting her foot in the door with a simple, honest ask: can I shadow you for a week? It’s a masterclass in career reinvention — bringing the skills you already have into the field you’ve always wanted.

[13:46] Molly’s intro to the replay

[14:05] Meet Joanna — growth strategist to interior-design operations

[15:37] The marketing career, the rapid growth, and the 2023 layoff

[16:42] Rest first — then choosing consulting over another full-time role

[17:46] The podcast guest who reframed career moves as experiments

[18:29] Finding a coach, listening to her gut, and “say what needs to be said”

[22:23] The interior-design dream she’d been too scared to name

[23:44] The job-shadow pitch — and how an honest ask opened the door

[25:26] Turning a one-week shadow into a created, pilot-to-primary role

[37:06] Letting go of an old identity — and the fear underneath it

[38:59] The money math: equity, living below their means, working half as much

[43:06] The strengths she carried straight into the new role

[49:36] Where to find Joanna & Fika Design Group

[51:01] Molly’s takeaway: pivots aren’t always linear — and you can build as you go

[52:37] Bonus: the behind-the-scenes conversation and the “give yourself a year… we’ll see” permission that started it all

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