From corporate marketing to founder of the independent publishing house, 10 Little Rules, meet Carol Pearson of Bay City, Michigan.
In this episode, host Jenny Dempsey is sitting down with Carol Pearson from Bay City, Michigan—founder of 10 Little Rules, an independent publishing house. Carol’s career journey has taken plenty of twists and turns. She started in corporate PR and marketing, moved into freelancing, and eventually built her own publishing business. But this conversation isn’t just about career changes—it’s about life changes, too. Carol opens up about navigating divorce, losing both of her parents, and how those experiences reshaped her perspective on gratitude, resilience, and finding meaningful work.
We dive into the emotional side of career transitions—because let’s be real, they’re never just about work. Carol shares how storytelling became a tool for self-discovery, why aligning your career with your values matters, and how to take small, intentional steps toward the life you actually want.
Episode Takeaways
If you’ve ever found yourself at a crossroads, wondering what’s next, this episode is for you. Let’s get into it!
Connect with Carol
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Automatically Transcribed With Podsqueeze
Carol 00:00:00 Can you imagine how powerful we can become if we've got the courage to create and live by our own rules constantly? Can you imagine how that changes the world?
Jenny 00:00:11 Welcome to the Career Flipper podcast. I'm your host, Jenny Dempsey, just a regular person in the middle of figuring out my own career flip. And let's get real, I'm not a career flipping expert. I spent 18 years in customer service in the startup tech world, but in the past couple of years, my path took a turn. I got laid off, had 403 job rejections, started freelancing, got into furniture flipping, launched this podcast, and now I'm juggling all that while taking on a brand new corporate full time marketing job. Basically, the investors in my dreams. And yeah, I get how overwhelming and messy career pivots can be. And while I have a lot to learn as I navigate this and pave out my new career path. So this podcast really exists because I have so many questions. You know, how do people actually pull off big career changes? How do they push through the uncertainty, self-doubt and moments of what am I even doing? How do they juggle so many different things and still make sure the bills are paid? So I decided to ask.
Jenny 00:01:25 Every week I sit down with real people from around the world, from all different industries who've made these career flips, as I like to call them, and talk about what really happens behind the scenes, all the twists and turns so you and I can keep on our own paths with a smidge more wisdom in our tool belts. So if someone sent you this episode, they shared it with you. That's pretty cool, because it means they believe in you. And whatever career pivot you're thinking about, You've got some great people in your corner, so grab your earbuds, get comfy, and let's dive into some real talk about career changes. And hey, don't forget to hit subscribe so you never miss a new episode every single Thursday. In today's episode, I'm sitting down with Carol Pearson from Bay city, Michigan. Carol is the founder of Ten Little Rules, an independent publishing house, but her career journey has been anything but traditional. She started out in corporate PR and marketing, then took the leap into freelancing, and eventually built her own publishing business from the ground up.
Jenny 00:02:35 Along the way, she's navigated some of life's big, tough, ugly challenges divorce, losing both of her parents, and through it all, she's really found strength and gratitude, resilience and the power of storytelling. Carol opens up about what it really looks like to build a career that aligns with your values, the ups and downs of figuring things out on your own, and how writing became a way for her to process life's biggest challenges. If you've ever had to start over, navigate unexpected changes, or just wonder what's next, I think you'll really connect with this conversation. Let's get into it now. Hello, Carol. Welcome to the career flipper. It's so great to have you here.
Carol 00:03:24 Thanks so much, Jenny. I'm already having a great time. Just a couple of minutes. We've just chatted and I'm so excited for this.
Jenny 00:03:31 I love that, I love that, I know for the episode we were chatting about who is listening in and how and how the structure of the episodes go, and I've been so excited to have you on because we connected in such a I say the word serendipitous, and I mean that because the way that we connected, it's just like how we know other people outside Of, you know, for example, past guest Jeff Wasser.
Jenny 00:03:57 and and then, you know, your brother Frank has been on and then Kate has also been on and, and I'll connect with everyone in the show notes so people can see these past episodes. But I just love it because it's like, finally you and I are meeting.
Carol 00:04:12 I know it seems long overdue, even though we've just I've just been aware of you for such a short time. But my new mantra, Jenny, is normalize the woowoo. Okay? When we find those serendipitous moments and those connections just lean into it. Just embrace it.
Jenny 00:04:28 I love.
Carol 00:04:29 That.
Jenny 00:04:29 That should be on a shirt.
Carol 00:04:32 I think it will be soon.
Jenny 00:04:34 I'm into it. So tell everyone about where you are, what you're doing now, and then we'll get into all the juicy career flips.
Carol 00:04:42 Okay, well, I am living in Bay Valley, Michigan. back close to family after spending about seven years down south on the coast of North Carolina, which was heavenly and terrifying, and it's nice to be back up north.
Carol 00:04:58 I'm originally from New York and spent some time in California, so I've done a lot of moving and this my soul feels like it's coming home, so it feels really good. And I'm just leaning into this next chapter of my life. I am the founder and publisher of Ten Little Rules, which is an indie publishing house. We currently have nine books and they're based around author narrative, along with inspired journaling questions to help the reader hear a story, find those common points in their own lives about particular things. And then there's space in the book to journal your own thoughts. And the idea of these is that they're designed just to help us learn from what we're going through, and we're all going through it, and we're all going through something, and we can choose to learn from it, or we can choose to just be frustrated by it. So that's the intention behind Ten Little Rules. And we're like an overnight success 12 years in the making. So it's kind of exciting.
Jenny 00:05:58 Speak to the power of those books and the questions of reading someone else's true story, the challenges they went through.
Jenny 00:06:04 And then suddenly it's like, oh, you know, answer this about your own life. It's like, oh, whoa. It's definitely a powerful the stories are there. They're short, they're relatively short. But the power that's packed in there and the insight that you get out of it to then turn around and look at your own life is incredibly powerful. So how did all this happen, Carol? How did you get started with this? How did this come to be?
Carol 00:06:29 that's a great question. And I'm going to dive in. But just first, I want to thank you for that insight, because that's exactly the intention I had when I created my first book, that I needed to write this for myself to figure out some stuff, and I'll get into that more in a minute. But then I thought, hey, this might help somebody else. And so that's when I published it and started this crazy journey I'm on thinking about my own career. It's really more of a cartwheel than a flip.
Carol 00:06:57 Followed by, like, a tuck and roll and then a springboard. And here I am. I'm still not sure if I stuck the landing, but that's okay. the cartwheel really started back at the end of the last century, so I'm dating myself here. I was working in traditional PR and marketing. This is before the web, before Facebook, before LinkedIn, all of that. And I was I became known as the words girl. Whatever job I had, they're like, I give that to the words girl, give that to the words girl. So that's been a common theme throughout my career. And then this internet thing started happening, right? And I had a client asked me one time, can you do one of those funny electronic newsletter things? And I thought, well, yeah, if I can stay 20 minutes ahead of what she knows, I'm the expert, right? So let me learn this. and I started doing it. And it became I became an early adopter of work online, working for some comms in the startup aid, which is all very exciting and very crazy.
Carol 00:07:58 And this was before Wysiwyg editors. Right? So if you wanted something bold, you couldn't just click bold. You had to type the HTML code to make it bold. So I learned this whole HTML language is very cool. love the work I was doing. It was really exciting, just constant learning and constant growth. And then part of the cartwheel was I had these two beautiful daughters, and they were starting to get a little older, and I really needed a way to be able to do this from home, rather than working for companies out of out of the house. And I remember it was Mother's Day and I was I had to go to a conference near New York. So I got on the train and I looked out the window, and there's my husband with my two beautiful little daughters on his shoulders, and they're all crying and waving goodbye on Mother's Day. And I realized, okay, I have to figure out a way to do this as my own self, my own company. And so that's when I started a freelance career and beautiful 20 years of digital content creation and management.
Carol 00:09:03 And then there was the snow globe incident. And this is what started my ten little girls journey. Within the course of six weeks, my life became unrecognizable. My husband and I decided to divorce after 24 years. My oldest was moving out of the house to pursue her master's degree. My youngest was graduating from high school. my the people I was in business with mind have lost their minds and tore the company apart. And my husband lost his job. And this was in six weeks in the middle of the Great Recession. Right. So it was like somebody took my snow globe and shook it and slammed it on the counter. And all I could do was dig out, right? So I learned a lot. I, you know, one shovel at a time. I just plowed through. How what do I want my life to look like? What do I want it to be? And a friend of mine, Lori, I'll never forget that day. She said, you know, you're broke.
Carol 00:10:00 You're divorced, your kids are mad at you. You're renting my house. You had to sell your house. your business is in shambles, and you're happier than I've ever seen you. What is your secret? And I thought, wow, that's a really good question. And so I thought about it for a couple of days, and then I sat down and I wrote this list of rules that I was now living by instead of everybody else's rules I'd always live by. And I turned that into a book called Ten Little Rules for a Glitzy Life. And that was the start of my publishing career. So I self-published it, turned it into a book that was, you know, self-publishing was a new thing, right? And all of a sudden I had this book and it was selling, and I was hearing from people that it really helped them. And I thought, okay, this, this could be cool. Let me, you know, see if this works. But in the meantime, I still had to make a living.
Carol 00:10:54 Right? So I, I rebuilt my freelance business and was continuing to do online content, but I was looking for work that had more meaning, that had that it was making real change. I'll never forget the day I was working. I was writing a story as a ghostwriter for a CEO, for a company, and he wanted a story about neuromarketing and the impacts, which was really fascinating subject. I had to do a lot of research, and part of the research I came across was another article that appeared in ink magazine. I was like, this sounds really familiar, and it has some interesting points. And I realized I wrote that six months ago for another client, and I was like, wait a minute, I'm referencing myself online in the internet and arguing a different point. It was insane. It was like I realized all of a sudden that this content I'm writing and churning out for all these people under assumed names or under, you know, their names. It was well researched and and carefully crafted and all of that.
Carol 00:11:54 But it was it was really bizarre. Like how much of the internet is really being written by the people who are out there positioning themselves as experts. Right. So I kind of started shifting into more work with nonprofits or really passion based organizations. And then the pandemic hit, which kind of, you know, tore everything apart again. And so I rebuilt again, looking for those right clients. And I found this client I was working with, beautiful organization, Mission Based Love. The work had a huge project, and I felt like I was at the top of my game. Right? My skills were just sharp. I was like everything I'd ever learned I was bringing to bear on this really good stuff. And then the project I was working on, which was funded by a multi-million dollar grant through the state of Washington. Crashed and burned. So I lost my job. And that was the springboard that was like, okay, boom. at that point, I had absolutely zero energy or interest in rebuilding my freelance career.
Carol 00:12:59 And so I just decided it's now or never. I'm diving headfirst into ten little rules, and this is my day job now. So it's been a flip 25 years in the making. But here we are.
Jenny 00:13:13 Here we are. All the ups and downs. I mean, when you were sharing like that, you know, six week period where everything, you know, the snow globe was shaken up and thrown around. And I mean, I first of all, I have so many questions for you. the second before, I want to dive into the the depth of how do you keep your head on straight and not go into scarcity mindset and fear based choices, and those moments when it's like, I just need to make money and figure my stuff out. But I want to start by asking, Carol, how did you learn to be so resourceful? Like, did you have people when you were younger that you looked up to? Did you see this in your life? Like, because I feel like, I don't know, like sometimes it's hard in those moments to think like outside the box as you did and to think, okay, I'm just going to start my own thing.
Jenny 00:14:11 It's it's a wonderful gift. But I'm wondering, did you learn that from someone? Was there, someone that mentored you along the way or, someone that you looked up to as a child? Can you. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Carol 00:14:23 It's a really interesting question, Jenny. Nobody's ever asked me that. And the one person that comes to mind when I was in elementary school, we had a music teacher who would wheel her organ into the classroom and do music classes. And every other thing I learned was at my desks, like traditional. And I thought I was I think I was in second grade. I thought, this is really cool. She's doing something, you know, weird way. That was the only way I could describe it. We're not going to the music room to learn. She's bringing it to us. And so, you know, just when you were asking me that question, she popped into my brain. And I really think she gave me a look at being able to do things differently.
Carol 00:15:11 Right. So I had that kind of, oh, if she can wheel an organ around, I can write a book, you know, not really tangible in my brain, but I think that might be where it started.
Jenny 00:15:21 That's interesting. Thanks for letting me ask that. For everyone listening. We don't rehearse these questions. I ask random stuff because it just pops in my head along the way. And I love that because I think sometimes a lot of us, we think we have to have a, you know, a mentor that, you know, has been with us for many years. And while there's so much value in mentorship, I would never knock that. I think what your answer shows me is that sometimes it's the unexpected mentors or, you know, examples that are set for us in our lives that make a big impact. And that's so powerful that that is what came into your minds. Because I think maybe if we all go back to elementary school or high school or moments like that, there are teachers or people that popped in and out that, you know, left an impact and showed us an example of you can do certain things a certain way.
Jenny 00:16:16 And that's, I don't know, I love that, I love that thank you for sharing that. And I was just so curious. I'm like hearing your story, you know, going back to those six weeks and and that's like, oh my gosh, I you know, why did one why does it all happen at once? Like One of us can answer that question. But like when it does, I and I know for myself when I got laid off and then my dad had died six months before, I also was going through some health issues, and lots of little things happening, like all within a six month period. And I went right into fear mode and like scarcity Mindset, I was like, oh my gosh, like all the things of like, I'm not good. And like I just went down a spiral and it took a lot to get me out and to be able to think outside the box and make different choices. So in that moment when things were like falling apart, how like, how were you able to really keep your mind in a place where you're like, okay, I'm just going to be looking for the next thing and I'm going to create this thing.
Jenny 00:17:19 I'm going to, you know, whether it's the freelance work or, you know, all of the things. How did you how did you do that?
Carol 00:17:26 I think I have to give a lot of credit to my mom and dad, who We're just solid people in my life. We lost both of them during the pandemic, which was devastating, but they were there for me at that point. They were also very, big in the marriage encounter movement. Committed relationships were huge for them through the Catholic Church. That's how I was born and raised. And here I was, their daughter, about to get a divorce, and I put off telling them for a long time my mom knew something was wrong. And finally she said, we're we're coming for the weekend. They lived about seven hours away back in New York, I was terrified. I'm having anxiety attacks. How am I going to tell them? How am I going to tell them? I sat him down and I told them what was going on and my dad said, no, I never liked him that much anyway, and I was not.
Carol 00:18:15 He didn't really mean that, but it was his way of saying, it's okay, we're here. You know, we were able to talk through it. So my parents were there for me emotionally in a very tangible way. And also, I was at that point in my life where things had gotten out of control. I was very unhappy before all of this happened. And I had been just, you know, praying for I need a change. I need a change, I need a change. And boy howdy, I got it. And the thing that really saved me as I pulled out of it was, understanding the importance of gratitude in every moment that. Yeah, I mean, a really bad situation. And the rent is paid, I mean, a really bad situation. And my car's still running. I'm in a really bad situation. And I look at my friends and how they're rallying around me and the people I'm with, and I still have my talents, my computer still works and just really, really, really leaning in hard, finding gratitude in every day.
Carol 00:19:13 In fact, that's rule number ten and ten little rules for busy life is always be grateful. And every day with gratitude. And I think that in itself is a really powerful way to live.
Jenny 00:19:26 Yeah, it definitely is incredibly powerful. I can speak from experience that, and I think one of the things that I'm hearing you say is that it was okay to feel all of these, you know, the the there was sadness, there is frustration. There is, you know, I'm sure anger, like all the feelings, it's okay to feel that and still be grateful. You can feel both. And I think that is something that sometimes I hear a lot and I don't know, certain circles maybe like more social media things of like look at the positive, focus on the positive, focus on this. And it's like, yeah, there's value there. But I feel sad and I still have to acknowledge and there you can, you can have both and sometimes well, actually all the time you should be thinking of all the things because you still got to take care of all your feelings.
Jenny 00:20:12 And then like you said, you look, your car's still running, okay? They're still running. I still got this. I'm so sad. I'm so angry. I'm so confused. I'm so all of these things. But my car runs cool, okay? And then eventually you find yourself in the footing and you're looking around and you're like all the the things that you have that are so wonderful and grateful and, but you really, at least for me, I have to get there by feeling my by feeling my feelings. I got to feel it all. and I think that's an important thing that you called out, that you can have both. So that really resonates with me.
Carol 00:20:46 You absolutely can have both. And I remember, you know, you you said you recently lost your dad and at the same time you lost your job, and that's a lot. And during the pandemic, for example, in my family, we had two weddings, which was challenging in itself, a beautiful two babies being born and two funerals.
Carol 00:21:07 So we were feeling and these were in weeks of each other, you know, just we lost my mom six weeks after my first granddaughter was born. And just the cascade. I'm getting chills again, just thinking through it and knowing that I can hold extreme joy and extreme sorrow in my heart at the same time. It's so powerful, and I never really was able to put that into words before what that really feels like, and it gives me so much more empathy for people I'm around. Right? like, now I see somebody having a bad day, and I don't automatically just think, oh, you're being a grouch. I think, oh, honey, you know what's wrong? And it's I don't know, there's this new kindness in me that opened up through all of this. And I think that was probably the greatest gift I took out of the pandemic. And everything that came with us was just this softness and kindness.
Jenny 00:21:59 Yeah, you never know someone else's story, and you never know what level of people pleaser that that individual has and that they're just showing up and hiding every single pain we can find.
Jenny 00:22:11 Sometimes we do need, you know, sometimes there's a time and place for things or whatever, but like, you never know what's really going on underneath that or what's built them up to be where they are today. So it's so important. It's so important. And I really appreciate you touching on the emotional aspect of it, because I think when it comes to, you know, the cartwheels and the slips and slides and flips and all the tumbles, there's so much emotion attached to it. And so at this point, Carol, you know, you're you you're freelancing and you are you're creating this on your own. And I know that when taking a choice like that, like the financial part, you know, being able to do these things on your own and sometimes you may have a client, sometimes you don't, and you got to go out and look for them. And, and I don't want to turn this episode into how do I find clients, but I am curious a little bit more about the financial part, because that element, I mean, it's a very realistic thing.
Jenny 00:23:12 how did and if you're comfortable talking about it, how did you kind of launch that? Did you have any financial backing. Do you have a thing? Like, was there something there that helped you feel comfortable in going out and looking for clients and then like, how did you kind of find them if you can talk about that high level? I know a lot of people listening are like, oh, I would love to start that and be home with my kids. And like, how do you even kind of begin that from from the point that you started?
Carol 00:23:42 It's a great question, and I was thinking a lot about that over the weekend and what I did. I didn't quit my day job until I was about 70% of where I needed to be income wise with my freelance, so I was basically working two jobs at once. I didn't have, you know, money in the bank. I could just pull out and live off for a couple of years. So because I was an early adopter of the internet, I was actually one of the first 10,000 people to join LinkedIn.
Carol 00:24:12 I got the little badge and the whole bit, and at first I thought, this is stupid. You know, I'm not going to get them. But like, That's where I started. I started connecting with people and the people that I had worked with, and the people that I knew were good people online and had something to say professionally and literally. That was where 90% of my freelance business came from was my LinkedIn connections. And I believe it's still the same, still has still has the same power today. You find the people, the niche, the kind of people you want to work with. You tell them what you're looking for, and then the things come. The opportunities came along. I was really, really fortunate to connect with a few people that loved me and referred me to everybody they knew, and that was golden. And I did fall to the temptation of that paycheck. Every now and then I would work for somebody and they'd say, we'd really love you on the team, and they'd offer me a salary.
Carol 00:25:06 And, it's okay, I'll try it. I'll try it. And then they want me in the office, and they want me to wear shoes and just, you know, that's what I'm living on the beach. What? so I did a couple of those, and I decided, I decided that just wasn't going to work because of the kind of commitment I still needed to go to those lacrosse games and those basketball games and travel for the kids. And, you know, I needed to be there. So that was a commitment. So I guess, you know, if if we're talking with somebody that's in the middle of trying to figure that out, start now, start today, right. Every decision we make. My husband reminded me of the Sartre saying that every decision leads to a thousand new possibilities. So when you make those decisions, it doesn't have to. You don't have to quit your job today, but you have to move yourself a little closer toward your dream. my daughter is working at a highly technical online job that consumes her full workday, and her dream is to open a bakery.
Carol 00:26:06 So she whips up her bread dough in the morning, lets it rise, needs it at lunchtime, and sells the bread to friends. Right. So she's working toward her dream. so yeah, if you can afford to just quit and open your craft brewery, great. Go for it. But, you know, there's it can be a cartwheel. It can be a gradual process.
Jenny 00:26:29 And that's so it's so realistic. It's so realistic. And it takes it takes time. But it sounds like from what I am hearing you say, is that you knew what your values were and you knew that by taking that, you know, great offer, full time role, having to wear shoes, you know, didn't align with your values. Family was that's a value. And that if if you take that and you don't have this and I think that comes so it's so relevant. because when we're trying to figure it out, a lot of people are like, well, I don't know what to do. How do I make this choice? Well, what are what what's important to you? What are your values? And when you really have that aligned, you can it can kind of be a helpful tool in in creating those decisions.
Jenny 00:27:14 And that's what I really took out of that was like I you knew you knew what mattered to you. And whether or not that evolves down the road like this is what matters now. And you knew taking that opportunity. Paycheck wise. Yeah. That's gonna look real good values wise. it's not and it's not going to help you towards your goals. And I love that your daughter is doing that. I hope one day she could be on an episode like this is.
Carol 00:27:38 Oh, I'm so.
Jenny 00:27:39 Cool.
Carol 00:27:41 he is writing a ten Little rules book, so that's coming out next week, next year, which is pretty exciting for that.
Speaker 3 00:27:47 All right. Very cool. I just think that like it's so.
Jenny 00:27:51 Realistic and people and I even speak for myself, thinking back in the day I didn't think I had any other choice besides corporate. There were other things that I enjoyed, but I was like, no, I gotta put those on the shelf because work is what's number one. But and that's fine, you know, that's where I was at that time.
Jenny 00:28:06 But when we really look at the, the picture of things where you can do things in the morning, you know, I don't know if that I don't know how long it takes her for the ride. Maybe 15 minutes, you know, or even if it's just, like five minutes a day. How much? How many people are not even doing five minutes a day? I'm doodling, you know, just because they love her or whatever. Like, what if we just start small and do the little, little bits of things that eventually lead us towards something down the road? But it's not going to happen overnight, and we gotta stay true to our values if we do ever want it to happen.
Carol 00:28:39 I do that 100%, and you've got to listen to your heart. You've got to know your heart. I mean, it's that old thing. If you have a decision to make, flip a coin. You'll know whether you want it to land heads or tails. Right? We know we just have to tune in and really start to listen to our to our true heart.
Jenny 00:28:54 Totally. And going back to you, I mean, why you started this in the first place, the rules that you set for you. And instead of following the rules that what everyone else is telling you, we have so many rules in our life, whether it's society, whether it's our family systems or friends that we spend time with, things that we put expectations on ourselves that are just unrealistic. There's all these rules everywhere, but it's like when we chip it down. Like if we create and write these rules for ourselves and, and know that they are fluid and flexible and that we get to decide. I mean, that is that's freedom. That's a gift. That's a privilege. I mean, let's get real. It's a it's a very wonderful privilege that we have to be able to do that, but to push away the things that we think everyone else wants us to be and to listen to our heart. I mean, it's just it hits. It hits. So now, Carroll, like you, you've had all these cartwheels and these ups and down moments and and now you have multiple books and more coming out and you're and you're publishing them.
Jenny 00:30:03 Can you talk a little bit more about where you're at now and, and how how do you even kind of plan Like where do you see yourself going? Like, what's your vision? Let's normalize the woowoo and talk about these. Like I'm going to use that all the time now I love that okay, I'm going to get you.
Carol 00:30:21 my vision right now. I had a vision when I wrote the first book, and I started getting some good feedback. And I don't know if you remember the Chicken Soup for the soul series. It was all these different topics by different authors. And I thought, what if we could create kind of a chicken soup for the souls around these really cool people and these breakthrough moments they've had, and help other people learn how to rewrite their own rulebook. And I thought, okay, that's a cool goal. And I realized, well, around this time last year that I've got that I've got nine authors, I've got two more coming on. I've got people interested all the time.
Carol 00:30:57 I've got these books and we all work together and we all cross-promote, and we all help each other and read each other's books. And it's this huge, just, powerful Affirmation of the power of living authentically and sharing your own stories authentically. so my goals, ideally, I would love to get this line in a place where it's big enough that it attracts maybe a major publisher who wants to pick it up or not. Or maybe one of our authors wants to step up and become a publishing guru when I'm ready to retire. I'm really open and fluid to where it goes from here. The bottom line is we want to connect with these people who have these great stories to tell. Help them get those books out into the world and support that and just support change. And can you imagine how powerful we can become if we've got the courage to create and live by our own rules constantly? Can you imagine how that changes the world? That's that's what we're all about here. And I'm not. There's a lot of good rules already existing.
Carol 00:31:59 Be nice to people. Pick up after your dog. You know, I'm not saying throw out all the rules you've been raised with, but that authentic, heartfelt passion that gets you through your days. That's what we're all about supporting.
Jenny 00:32:15 And I love that you are creating that as a resource for so many people to dive in. And I also really love what you said, that it sounds like very much unattached to the outcome, where if it's picked up, cool. If not, you know, here's what's next. And that's also an important element, I think when we are reaching into these different paths or kind of making our dreams come true, and I don't know, I found for myself that I sometimes have to really detach from what the outcome is, because if I don't, then I'm so focused on what I expect to happen as opposed to what is going to happen and what opportunities could come out of that. And sometimes things pop up that I'm like, oh, I never saw that coming.
Jenny 00:33:02 And had I been so focused on one particular outcome I would have missed that it would have just been like I was driving by and it would have just been another thing on the side of the road that I didn't look at. And hearing you say that like the outcome part, that yeah, that really resonates as well.
Carol 00:33:20 And it's it's not focusing on the house so much. You have a dream. Great. Go for your dream. Take that next inspired action. But don't get too focused in your, you know, five year plan, right? leave room, leave room for the wonder. Leave room for that. The serendipity and those moments where things just click and start to make sense, and you meet that person and you have that conversation, and there's this whole new level of inspiration. And I just want to touch on something that you said about privilege, and I'm absolutely happy that just so pleased you brought that up, because I, we do speak from a privileged position. Just the fact that we're online, we've got internet where we can make these decisions.
Carol 00:34:02 And to be so cognizant of the fact that not everyone is there, and to live our lives in a way that brings more people in. If you can, I don't know if that's the right way to say that, but to, kind of embrace a wider audience, you know, with my I'm holding my arms out. I'm from New York, so I talk with my hands, but, just be able to open your heart more, I guess. Just more empathy to everyone. And, it was just a really important point you brought up. So thank you for saying that.
Jenny 00:34:35 Shared so many, so many pieces of wisdom and so much vulnerability about your journey. I'm wondering if, you know, for someone listening right now who might be thinking about making that pivot. Do you have any last pieces of advice that you could give to them?
Carol 00:34:57 I would say start by getting yourself to source. Get some quiet time. Take a walk, meditate, pray, whatever it is where you can clear your mind for a little bit.
Carol 00:35:08 Listen to your heart. Really listen to your heart and what it's telling you. I was trying to decide whether I should quit that one job, or they wanted me to wear shoes. Really? Deep meditative state, deeper than I ever had. And it was almost like a lucid dream. And I remember really clearly I was in a line of people pushing something uphill, and I realized that they were our coffins. This is the I'm being really vulnerable here. I was pushing my own coffin up a hill in the line with all of my coworkers, and at one point I realized I can walk away. I just turned to the left and walked down the hill and my the point being that my my heart and I sold my brain knew what I had to do. I already knew the answer to the question. So start there. Get that time to just really sure. Ask friends for advice, as family for support, whatever. But really listen to your heart as the primary arbiter of your decisions. That's what.
Carol 00:36:12 That's what I would recommend. And then name it, create it, build it right at start, you know, start doing something with it. Yeah. Own it. I got such a kick out of one of your recent podcasts where the woman said, I don't even know if this is a job description, but I'm just calling myself this. Yeah. Name it. claim it is yours.
Jenny 00:36:32 Absolutely is. Well, Carol, that was I mean, that's the wisdom right there of just like that first step, that first step. And I, you know, I know people listening may want to well, hopefully will want to absolutely check out your book, the other books in your lineup, the ones coming out and connect with you and potentially even reach out and ask questions, because that's what I love about this show, is that it's we're all real, you know, we're all fully accessible. So, Carol, how can people find you? How can they learn more and purchase your books? And how can they connect with you?
Carol 00:37:12 They can connect with me.
Carol 00:37:14 I'm Carol Pearson on LinkedIn. I'm also at Kendall Rules company name, and you can find us at ten rules on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. And ten little rules. The number ten little rules spelled out.com is our website where you'll find our books. You'll also find a connect with Us page. Shoot me an email, shoot me a message through LinkedIn. Actually, that's probably the platform I'm most active on. and I would love to have these conversations with it. I, I love talking about this stuff and the more the merrier. So absolutely. And I also want to offer a little, a little bonus, anybody who's listening to this and wants to buy one of our books at the website. Use the code flip me and in honor of your podcast and you'll get 25% off a book. And I'll throw in some freebies too.
Jenny 00:38:08 Love it! Well, thank you so much for offering that. That's so generous. And thank you for being here. Thank you for sharing so much. This has been incredibly insightful for me personally.
Jenny 00:38:19 I'm just like I'm buzzing. thank you so much, Carol.
Carol 00:38:23 Jenny. Thank you. I'm so grateful to be here today, and I just can't wait to learn more about your audience and hear from them.
Jenny 00:38:31 Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Career Flipper podcast to connect with Carol. Be sure to check out the links in the show notes. If today's story really clicked with you, or maybe you know someone who's trying to figure out their own career change, do them a favor and share this episode with them. It could be exactly what they need to hear to keep trying, even when it gets really tough. And if you ever want to share more about your own or your friends career flip, go to the Career flipper.com to learn how to be part of a future episode. And remember, every teeny tiny step counts. It may not feel like it in the moment, but it really does. You'll see what's the best that could happen.