I quit a PR agency then accidentally formed my own?—?and dug my way back out

What happens when a well-intentioned career shift swings full-circle? It places you exactly where you are meant to be.

I went blindly into my first job out of graduate school. To this day, I am still unsure why I was hired. I spelled the company's name wrong on my cover letter. I did not know what “PR” stood for until my second week behind the desk. “Drinking from a firehose” was the common phrase I heard from my new peers as I learned the ropes of public relations, traditional media, thought leadership strategy, social media, scientific writing, event planning, budgeting, branding, design, etc., on behalf of companies in the healthcare and emerging biotechnology industries. Over time I grew accustomed to the long work days, no lunch breaks, demanding clients and high expectations. Our teams worked with a range of clients, from small biotech startups to government agencies to high-powered pharmaceutical companies. My client load was a mix at first, but was soon tailored to my “expertise,” (if you can call it that at age 25), in public health communications.

I took pride in my job. Strutting down the busy streets of Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C., listening to hype music on the way to the office. Pencil skirts with tennis shoes and heels under my desk. A fancy coffee in-hand. That’s what I was “supposed” to do, right? College degree, graduate degree, job in a city at an international consulting agency. My ego was thrilled!

As the years went on, the shine wore off. The company was entering into a merger which meant a slough of top-level departures that trickled down more work to junior staff with zero promise of compensation. The stress became too much to handle. At the same time, my personal life was circling the drain. Turns out being in an emotionally abusive relationship while working in a cut-throat corporate environment is not a great way to stay mentally healthy. And my passion for health and wellness did not translate into my day-to-day routine — in fact, it was the direct opposite. My coworkers, friends and family were my lifelines, but I knew I had to make a change.

My departure from the corporate PR world wasn’t as outwardly dramatic as I felt inside. I quit after taking a 6-week mental health sabbatical at no surprise to my boss or any of my colleagues. I walked out of the all-glass building in January 2018 with nothing lined up. Brave or stupid? I still wonder that sometimes, but I’ve mostly settled on brave.

My next step: I wanted to get back people. Face-to-face, in the flesh, making a direct impact. Health was always my passion, especially seeing others transform their lives by learning to nourish their physical and mental health: that’s the reason I sought higher education in the first place. After years admiring the emerging field of health coaching, I had finally built up the bravery — or desperation — to express my passion through the vehicle of entrepreneurship. I enrolled in a year-long health coaching certification program and took a part-time job at my gym up the street (no PR salary = no money for gym fees, so at least I could work out for free as an employee). I dived head-first back into a working-student lifestyle (aka broke) with a Master’s degree and 4 years working at the world’s leading PR firm under my belt. My ego was NOT thrilled.

But taking a leap of faith to follow a path that feels true means putting your ego aside. My ego mind fought hard to talk me out of a decision I knew deep down was the right one. It took effort to fight back from the negative chatter drilled into my psyche by not following societal expectations. I learned a crucial lesson during this phase: to stand up for myself and take agency over my life.

After passing my final health coaching exam, I made the necessary decision to move back to my home state of North Carolina with the flexibility and freedom to be my own boss. I formed an LLC, launched a website, switched to an Instagram business account, designed fliers, hosted a community event, and waited for my inbox to spill over with eager clients.

Crickets… Then, one client. I was overjoyed! My measure of success in health coaching was never to get hundreds of clients per month. It was simply to help one person. That’s what divides a job from a calling. But, a business still has to make money.

My first piece of advice from an early-career coach was: “never quit a full-time job to be a health coach.” Oops. A well-intended career shift into single-entity entrepreneurialism is sometimes just that: well-intended. It won’t dig you out of the red in the first month, or two or three. I give the same advice to new coaches today.

I was left with a choice: panic or pivot. While I worked continuously on my health coaching business, I needed steady income fast.

Before I left D.C., a friend had connected me to the owner of a small business dedicated to helping individuals improve their health through nutrition coaching, athletic performance testing, body composition analysis and metabolic rate testing. They needed help with marketing and communications and I jumped on the opportunity.

Back in North Carolina, I was met with similar coincidences. A friend knew a friend starting a health-oriented business but had no idea how to communicate it. Another connection knew a healthcare CEO who needed a go-to for website design and copy. A connection at a coffee shop evolved into a project with a startup in athletics. An old college friend had 10 hours a week for me at a boutique PR firm out of New York City. ?I called these opportunities “coincidences,” but deep down I knew it was because I still enjoyed to do the work I learned at my old agency. And I was damn good at it.

Suddenly, I had a book of clients. I was a public relations, communications, branding, and consulting solo-operating agency — and all of my clients were more or less in the business of health. My office was my 600-square-foot studio apartment and my desk mate was a plant. Despite my change of scenery, I had come full-circle.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. I had no intention to live in the black hole of the gig economy forever. I kept growing my coaching business and juggled any 1099 position I could get my hands on. Two years into my solo agency venture, another opportunity knocked. Like most gigs, it was a small project that formed into a formal consulting agreement. But unlike other projects in the past, it fully encompassed my passion for personal health and expertise in communications consulting. I didn’t want the gig to end.

I said yes to every request, worked beyond my hourly limit, and studied the specifics of the field. I stacked on my other client work and health coaching sessions and somehow kept afloat.

Then one day, my boss asked: “So, do you want to be a gig worker for the rest of your life?” At that moment, I knew I had earned my spot at the table.

Soon after, I accepted an in-house role at an early stage company working in a single area (and my favorite area) of healthcare. My consultant lifestyle was over. The best part: I was able to keep my health coaching business alive thanks to the flexibility of a forward-thinking company.

Nothing in the sequence of my career so far has been left to chance, as risky and desperate as it felt at any given point. I left a job that was no longer serving me to pursue a calling that if left ignored, would have been a source of regret for the rest of my life. I fell back into similar work for a reason: it led me to a position so perfectly “me,” while still leaving me room to continue breathing life into my own venture.

Entrepreneurs/consultants/risk-takers, trust this process: what you are saying “yes” to right now is leading you to exactly where you are meant to be. Balance what you love and what are great at with what is needed in the world. If you find yourself full-circle, smile and thank the serendipity.

Originally published on Medium.