Karli Williamson, former Event Marketing Manager, shares her journey from tech burnout to career coach.
Ever felt like your job defines your entire identity?
Karli Williamson, former Event Marketing Manager and Consultant turned Career Coach, founder of Guided Coaching Co and Lumpy Pot Co.
The Career Flipper podcast, hosted by Jenny Dempsey, explores the inspiring stories of individuals who've navigated unique and often unexpected career transformations. New episodes drop every Thursday—don't miss out!
Karli Williamson’s career journey began in event marketing within the tech industry, where she thrived until burnout and declining mental health forced her to take a leave of absence. This pivotal moment led her to discover her true passions and values, prompting a career shift into coaching.
Episode Takeaways
Connect with Karli Williamson
Jenny Dempsey (00:00.31)
What are some things that you do outside of work? And a lot of people are like, I couldn't name one. Welcome to the Career Flipper, a weekly podcast featuring career change stories from people around the world in a variety of industries about how they get from point A to B in all the twists and turns along the way. I'm Jenny Dempsey, your career flipping host. After more than a decade working in customer service and experience leadership, I found
laid off and burnt out. Despite my experience, I couldn't land a new job and I started to question my worth. Then a friend gave me an old table. I saw potential. I learned how to fix it up and I found this new joy in giving the table a brand new chance at life. And it really sparked a passion for furniture flipping, which I now share on Instagram as a business, St. Diego Furniture Flipper. Despite that, I was feeling alone
kinda insecure about my new path. mean, who goes from the corporate tech world to covered in paint and sawdust in their garage? So I reached out to others I knew who have also flipped their careers and hearing their stories inspired me and made me realize it's okay to change directions at any point in life. And that's why I started this podcast, to share these incredible journeys and offer support to anyone considering a career
So I hope you'll find something in each episode to help you on your path. Today, we'll chat with my colleague, Carly Williamson from Portland, Oregon. She went from working in event marketing management to becoming a career coach, founding her own business, The Guided Coaching Co. In our episode together, she shares her experiences with burnout and mental health in the corporate world, leading her to take a leave of absence and eventually find a new
we discussed the difficulties of navigating work -related identity. On that note, let's dive into the episode. So great to have you on the career flipper with me. How are you? I'm good. Good to see you. It's been a while. It has been a while. Thank you so much for making the time. This podcast has been so interesting because there is so much going on in the tech space right now that we've worked in for so many years.
Jenny Dempsey (02:22.004)
and people are doing things differently. And you came to mind for me, I was like, ooh, I gotta have Carly on. She's gotta talk and tell her story. Because you are just a vibrant, wonderful, beautiful human. And I am, yeah, I'm just gonna, you know what, just take it. What's your career story? Tell everybody. I have been in tech for
years, eight, 10 years, something like that. And it was primarily in event logistics and moving to event marketing and marketing in general. I started contracting and consulting and it was meant to be a brief thing and was like, oh, I'll do this. I needed to get out of where I was at and then was like, I'll move into something else, flash forward a couple years later. But when I decided to contract, I started having all of these people
reach out to me that were so excited to work with me. That was very flattering, especially from coming from companies where I felt really undervalued and part of the company that I had left was because they wouldn't give me the promotion and just respect and authority that I felt like I deserved. All of a sudden you have these companies coming to you that are like, want to work with you. I was like, great. Just flattered and I just said yes.
to like everyone. At the same time, my mental health was just like gradually declining. That's kind of where everything really came to a head. Like my mental health just like kept decreasing, depleting. I just was like really heading towards a crash and I knew that. And so part of me was like, well, you have to work more to make more money because you know this crash is coming.
And so we need to be prepared. know, because I didn't have paid time off. was working for myself and paying my own health insurance. That's really where things went, is I just was like, I'm not where I want to be. And with work, with life, was just in a really rough place. to like, end up taking a leave of absence, you know, moving in with a friend because, you know, mental health professionals were like, maybe don't be alone right now. So it was, you know, it was a pretty intense situation and it was like the best five weeks.
Jenny Dempsey (04:34.702)
of my life. was like, not be doing this job, know, event marketing. It was pretty intense and I had like 12 clients. So I'm traveling constantly. I'm having to just like, you you're managing all these tasks and product management and trying to be, you know, strategized for different clients, like bouncing from call to call to be like, right, okay, we're working on this. And you know, I was working constantly, constantly. And so having those five weeks, I was like,
I'm myself again. I'm me. I found me. I told someone, was like, it's like coming home to myself. And when I was done with, I was meant to be four weeks and I was like, need an extra week. I know that I'm going to need a little bit more time. And it kind of ease back in. And the first call with a client was just rattling off this list of things.
And I sobbed afterward. I just was like, my God, all of that sounds miserable. I don't want to do any of that. And so the wheels just kind of started turning. Like it was just this point where I was like, the thought of doing this job like just seems like so.
I was having panic attacks after having such a lovely, I was doing yoga, was painting, I was just being myself. Unfortunately, it took a pretty rough time in my life to figure out what I wanted to do next and to know that I needed to be out of that. That's really what led to me being like, okay, we need to try something completely different. Through a lot of twisting and weaving had come to this idea of
I really enjoy supporting people, guiding people. I really enjoy being that contractor or consultant, not really in -house. so I feel like clients sometimes will tell you a lot more and talk to you a lot more than they would if you were really working with them and for them. And so I found myself talking through people's careers and my personal life and my professional life. so after some time, I just thought maybe I can make a job out of this.
Jenny Dempsey (06:42.958)
and that's what led to me starting my coaching company. It was a much needed shift. I just was like, I need to get out of this space and do something that really aligns with my values and who I am. That's exactly how we became connected because in the customer experience space and CX Accelerator, I saw you joined and I saw your career coach and I was at the very early stages of my career flip trying to figure things out pretty much in that solving stage. She seems
great connection and when we talked and you know how to have these conversations around that are challenging, but they're like, things are so confusing and up in the air because you've been there as much as hard as it is like to have these like rock bottom moments where we're just the things that we did no longer work for us. And it sounds like maybe we're a little similar where we got like semi -retired people pleaser thing going on. We're like, yes to this, yes to this. And suddenly we're like, my gosh.
I bit off way more than I can chew and I want to do none of this and realizing that and then making a change. Because I'm sure you know people too, I know people who don't, who are just stuck in that cycle of like work, work, work, sob, sob, sob, work, work, work, sob, sob, sob. And they're really stuck in that. What was the moment where you were like, this can't work for me? What was kind going through your mind around that time of what?
actually cause you to make that change risky or not? Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think that even just being like, need to take, and it was a leave of absence. It was a mental health leave. That's definitely what it was. And luckily I was working with an agency at the time, and so I was able to pause and pass things off. I think even just the fact that I had to do that was like, whoa. I had been a hustler. I had been...
Climb in the ladder, hustle in, like, you know, was like on paper very successful and like could be in like the prime of my career. I could have gone a lot of directions and continued to climb. But I think just the fact that I had to take that time off was.
Jenny Dempsey (08:53.432)
pretty earth shattering to me. And then I think like, yeah, I mentioned that shift of coming back and having that just the juxtaposition of being like, I had this like very peaceful, very like I was in charge of myself. could like, essentially I would be like, I'm not feeling like doing this today. I can do this. And just like really learning to listen to myself and what I needed. And then realizing that that moment of having that first call with someone who
a friend who I considered a good friend who I really like. Not all clients really got the full story, but they have gotten the full story. And so to have someone who was a friend be like, okay, cool, you're back. my God, I need help with all these things. I just was like, there's no space for me in this path. that kind of like having those experiences back to back and having like literally the first person I talked to want so much of me was just.
earth shattering like those first two days back and I ended up giving notice to the agency and to clients like within within a couple weeks from that I just was like I can't do it and I had kind of been mulling over this idea of career coaching and you know for a long I've been having these thoughts for a long time which when I've talked to clients and I guess I should say like what I coach on is helping people figure out what they want to do next and sometimes that is a total career flip sometimes
moving into different kinds of companies, different kinds of roles, maybe it is moving up. A lot of times it's like, I'm going to quit my job and do something else. I'm always like, yes, this is why I started doing this. Everyone quit their job and chase their dreams. But I'd had these thoughts and one of the things that I've noticed with clients is it's a very common theme where you have this feeling of this isn't quite it. Maybe you move up the ladder or you change companies or in marketing you change specialties or whatever.
And you're like, well, maybe this is it then. And you just kind of keep having these, you know, I started having conversations with like a chief of staff or like a HR professional, or I was just kind of like trying to find this way. And then it just kind of clicked and I talked to a couple of career coaches and I was like, yeah, this seems like I could do this. Yeah. Making that space for you to be able to do that, carving that path out, was that tied to your identity? And
Jenny Dempsey (11:17.004)
I feel like that's such a big part of the shift too, where you're like, I know this isn't right. I don't know if this resonates with you, but I was very much for many years, like this is all I'm good at. This is my worth. This work is my worth. If I'm not doing this, then I'm not anybody. And it sounds like bonkers, but having to kind of work through that in addition to all of the nitty gritty stuff of just your own health insurance or
How do you get your next client? Or the basis of all this stuff is very much, it's a grieving process in a way. You go through all these different stages and it can get very, very heavy sometimes. Yeah, yeah. That identity piece is so huge. think that, you know, especially in like Western culture and especially in the U .S. identity, way more so than work. And I think once you kind of like find yourself again,
It can make it easier to leave those things. But, you know, so many of the clients that I work with, one of the things that I ask them is, what are some things that you do outside of work? And a lot of people are like, I couldn't name, like, I don't have anything. If I did have something, it would be this. And so then, you know, one of the full weeks of that we work with each other on is really just like, what is, let's work on your personal values. Like if you had the time, if you had the budget and not even the time, but
energy because when you're in these roles, even if you're not working very much, your energy is just zapped because you hate what you're doing. You feel stuck, you feel trapped. And so even, you know, I worked with clients who were like, I'm really only working like 20 hours a week. And I couldn't tell you what I'm doing with the rest of my time because I'm just so miserable. That's like so true. And to hear you say that, you know, from the work that you do with your clients and how that is
so calm and there was a business conference I was at recently and you know the little lanyard you can write your name and your company and whatever. So I wrote you know consultant and furniture flipper and I can tell you here's a here's a conference at a business conference. I think one or two people asked me about consulting everybody asked me about every you know the flipping people were pulling me aside and saying like my gosh I love that you do this because I love to do x y and z hobby like I'm an artist right whatever they're making things and they're
Jenny Dempsey (13:35.862)
never have the time and I feel guilty, you know, for taking that away from my job, you know, and other things even too, like my family or like I should be doing this. I should, I should, I should. And they're like, I wish that I could do this. And it's like, yeah, me too. The only reason that I did it was because I hit that rock bottom and had no other choice and had to come back. And like you said, refined my identity, who I am without this. And
you bringing that up is just like such a crucial piece of this. And I'm curious when you're working with clients, because I think a lot of the people listening to this show specifically are, you know, working the full time jobs. They're in that like sobbing stage, let's just say that, or they're, you know, maybe getting there, you know, and it's scary to think about leaving something, especially in this market. How do you recommend people in that that stage to slowly shift into something without giving everything up, you know, without taking the huge
leap right away. Yeah, I mean, I think like one of the like homework assignments I'll give clients is one hour this week, just like do something different, do something for yourself that isn't or maybe it is like sitting and watching TV if that's not a thing you normally do go in for a walk if that's not a thing you normally do just take one hour a week and it sounds like not that much you know you're like an hour I'm sure I already do that and then you'll find out you really don't a really intentional
time of like, am going to do this very intentional thing and not like, I had an hour freeze, so I cleaned my apartment or whatever it is. I think like that's a really good place to start is just like take a bit of time to start finding that identity because you're going to need this could be a big shift and you're going to need that anchor. You're going to need those things to come back to that. I would say first and foremost is the most important. And then I would just start to like pay attention to like those moments
do give you energy, whether it's in your job or your personal life. What do you like Googling? What's your TikTok feed? For me, if it were TikTok, they'd be like, you're going to be a stand -up comedian and a choreographer. it's not a good example. I would love to one of those things. I think just start paying attention to those moments. I started my flip by, had a running list of things that gave me energy, things that made me feel really good. It helped.
Jenny Dempsey (15:59.124)
in that sobbing stage to be like, I really do enjoy these pieces of it. And when I looked at that list, none of it had anything to do with the vent mark. Parts that I really loved about it could be applied to a lot of different things. And so I think like those two pieces of paying attention to like, what is filling you up? What is bringing you joy? Whether it's like, you know, one of the things for me was I was mentoring a new direct report and I loved it. I loved talking about her career. I loved like coaching her through.
new skills or interpersonal things. I even loved when I had to give her hard feedback because I felt like I walked her through it in a way that I hadn't experienced. And those had nothing to do with event marketing. And then just like that one hour a week and try and increase it gradually to even like, okay, now we're going to break this up. it's 10 minutes a day or 20 minutes a day to just create that anchor for yourself that you will have to come back to because your whole world is going to be rocked if you really flip.
If you really flip this, like it's gonna rock your whole world. The small baby steps and how much realization we have of like, oh yeah, 10 minutes a day, that's easy. Oh, actually, no, that's really hard and I'm not doing that and I can't even do one minute. Just the realization to that is huge for years ago for myself included. Wow, this is such, I feel like we could talk
on all of this and I want people to be able to connect with you because you have so much to give. You can follow me on LinkedIn. It's probably where I'm most active talking about careers, talking about bridge jobs, which is kind of like a new phenomenon. You might know me from that viral barista post that made me get off the internet for a long time because it's got so attention. Follow me on LinkedIn.
If you are into weird, hand -built ceramics, you can find me at Lumpy Pot Co. Or if you're looking for coaching, you can find me at guidedcoaching .co. But yeah, it's Carly Williamson, K -A -R -L -I on LinkedIn. That's probably the best place. Carly, thank you so much for being here with us. I appreciate you so much. Thanks so much, Jenny. Good to talk to you. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of The Career Flipper. Make sure to connect with Carly using the links in the show
Jenny Dempsey (18:16.622)
If you enjoyed this episode, which I really hope you did, please share it with a friend who could use some inspiration. Read and review the show and hit that subscribe button for more flippin' stories like Carly's every Thursday. Your support helps me reach more career flippers and future flippers -to -be, spreading the love, support, and motivation we all need on this journey. To connect with me, just head over to thecareerflipper .com. Keep on your path, my friend. What's the best that could happen?
Talk to you next week.