Encouragement for Pivoting, Reinventing, or Transitioning in your Career
I have become a master of pivots, leaps, and reinvention which is why with my business The Unveiled Way I get so jazzed about helping women with their own. I know the power in our stories and I’d love to share a very fast-tracked version of my professional journey to make a point about pivoting.
It started after I graduated with high honors with a B.S. in Accounting & Economics, knowing that this would not be my chosen career path after a summer internship in the field left me uninspired.
In my gut, I knew I wanted to build my own business but at 22 years old I needed more experience. Plus I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do.
After completing my MBA in marketing, I ended up in a marketing research career that would keep me tethered for over 15 years.
During my season as a researcher, I changed teams myriad times which often required me to pivot in some way. I loved the research design process, as it allowed me to use my analytical, strategic, and problem-solving abilities to design research projects that answered my corporate clients’ most pressing concerns.
Later, as a Vice President and team leader, I was able to finesse my communication, relational, and leadership skills.
But the entrepreneurial bug never left me, and to everyone’s surprise but mine, I jumped ship at the peak of my research career to build my image consulting firm, Elan Image Management. Talk about a 180-degree pivot!
I went from a safe corporate career to the unpredictability and uncertainty that is the reality of every new entrepreneurial business.
It was an exciting and creative period and one that stretched the limits of what I thought I could do and the impact I could have. I worked with women one-on-one, created and led “Dress for Success” workshops in organizations, associations, universities, and corporations, facilitated Personal Branding workshops, was interviewed on TV as an image expert and was a sought-after leader in my field—all things I could never have envisioned doing before.
In 2011, I wrote and self-published an image empowerment book, “Frumpy to Fabulous: Flaunting It”, that quickly became an Amazon best-seller in its category, selling tens of thousands of copies globally.
I was serving hundreds of women with my offerings and fulfilling my dream to empower women to show up in the world as the highest, finest version of themselves, by dressing with intention, with purpose.
But I would never have had all these amazing, meaningful, and memorable experiences and served my sphere so transformationally, if I had not made the leap, and pursued my dream to pursue my passion wholeheartedly.
It took courage, a belief in my strengths, and a strong desire to make an impact that mattered to me. If I had the power to change one thing about this expansive season of my life, it would be that I wish I did not do it all alone because entrepreneurship can be a very lonely journey. But it doesn’t have to be.
This is not the end of the journey, of course, (I’ll share more next time), but I’ll pause here for now and create the space for you to reflect on your journey. Are you in a season where you’re pivoting, transitioning, or leaping into something brand new? It’s exciting but scary too, right? If fear wasn’t in the way, what step would you take today to move towards your new destination? What do you need to give up or let go of to take that step?
I get jazzed about seeing women bring their dream to fruition, making the impact they’re designed to make. Like I say all the time, when one of us rises, we all rise! I’m all for the elevation of women, especially my Woo Women!
Who are the Woo Women, you’re wondering? Ah! They are the women who can know their brilliance fully and intimately and who have designed a role, career, or venture where they can leverage their Woo to the fullest. How do they do all that? By working with the Brilliance Unveiler, Moi 😊. Working with me, you get to go through your transition with an encourager, championer, coach, guide, co-creator, strategist, and “unveiler.”
Here’s a snippet from one of my client’s experiences with my Unveil Your Brilliance program:
“I was going from small to small, boxing myself into positions that weren’t the best for me, that didn’t leverage my strengths. I was telling myself, that I was making these empowered choices. But now I see they were just consistent with my pattern of playing small…..Now I own my strengths, my voice, and I am empowered to ask for what I want. My self-talk is so much more emboldened. You helped me reconnect to my purpose and to know it’s a calling from God. I want to be a trailblazer—that’s who I am, who I’ve always been.” Unveil Your Brilliance Client
Start building a team of allies who can keep you accountable to your bold vision. We all need our Success Squad to support us as we navigate the uncertainty of leaping into the unknown.
As "The Brilliance Unveiler," Natalie Jobity leverages more than a decade of experience empowering hundreds of women as an image consultant and now as a leadership and career coach of The Unveiled Way. She works with high-achieving women at career crossroads to unveil their distinctive brilliance, see the possibilities in their purpose, and have ripple-making impact in their leadership arena.
Natalie Jobity is an ICF-certified leadership and career transitions coach, consultant, bestselling author, mentor, speaker, and facilitator whose “Why” is empowering women to unveil their full magnificent selves to the world.
Visit Natalie’s website to learn more about how she partners with leaders and high-achieving women with her signature “Unveil Your Brilliance” program which helps propel them forward so their impact and influence increase.