Natalie Shuman’s journey takes us from the hustle world of marketing to opening and operating a dive shop in the clear blue waters of Roatan, Honduras.
Ever wondered what it’s like to swap a high-pressure corporate job for running a dive shop on a remote island?
Natalie Shuman’s journey takes us from the hustle world of marketing to the clear blue waters of Roatan. She opens up about the pressures, recognition, and burnout from her previous career, and how she and her husband followed their dream to own a dive shop. Discover how taking smart risks, setting boundaries, and pursuing passion led her to a fulfilling new life that blends diving with conservation. Dive into her inspiring story and see how she turned her dream into reality!
Episode Takeaways
Connect with Natalie
Jenny Dempsey (00:00.194)
What's the stronger feeling, the feeling of fear of failure or the feeling of disappointment because you didn't try? Hello and welcome to The Career Flipper, a weekly podcast featuring career change stories from people around the world in a bunch of different industries about how they get from point A to point B and all the twists and turns in between. I'm Jennie Dempsey, your career flipping host.
After more than a decade working in customer service and experience leadership in the tech industry, as well as teaching to Udemy training customer service courses, speaking at business conferences and running a global customer service mentorship program, I found myself laid off in 2022 from my main corporate job. And despite all of my experience, I couldn't land a new job and I really started to question my worth. What am I supposed to do now? Then a friend gave me an old junkie table.
I saw potential. I binge YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram videos to learn how to fix it up and found joy in giving something unwanted a brand new chance at life, which really resonated with me after getting laid off and feeling unwanted myself. And this led me to start my furniture makeover and restoration business, San Diego Furniture Flipper, where I rescue and restore good furniture to keep it out of the landfill. Alongside that, I speak at events,
do some consulting on the side, and offer one -on -one career change coaching sessions. Let me know if you'd like one. Despite all this wonderful stuff, I was feeling alone and honestly kind of delusional about this new path. I mean, who really goes from the corporate tech world to covered in paint and sawdust in their garage? So I started to reach out to a few people that I knew who've also done some career changes throughout their lives and hearing their stories motivated
and it made me realize that it's totally okay to change direction at any point in life. And I realized that there are way more people out there who flip their careers more than I'd ever imagined. And that's why I started this podcast. It came to me in a dream to share these incredible stories and offer support to anyone considering having already been through or currently going through a career flip of their own. So I really hope you'll find something in each episode to help you on your
Jenny Dempsey (02:21.728)
New episodes are released every single Thursday. Now, let's get into today's episode. Have you ever wondered what it's like to swap a high -pressure corporate job for running a dive shop on a remote island? Natalie Schuman's journey takes us from the hustle world of marketing to the clear blue waters of being an owner, operator, but most of all, community builder at Sun Divers Roaton in Honduras.
She opens up about the pressures, recognition, and burnout from her corporate career and how she and her husband followed their dreams. In this episode, discover how taking smart risks, setting boundaries, and pursuing passion lead her to a fulfilling new life that blends diving with community and conservation. Let's dive into her story now. Hey, Natalie. Hi.
Hi, thank you so much for joining me on the Career Flipper. I'm so excited to talk with you. It's been way too long and I'm so excited that we're reconnecting in this way. Yeah, it really, really has. For everyone listening, Natalie and I worked together at a company years ago. I had just started working at this company. I think maybe I had only been there a few months and it was remote. We were all in different places.
And yeah, and I remember that day seeing that Slack message that you posted and sharing that you're taking a different journey. And I was like, I mean, this was four years ago now, like this was 2020 and I was just like, whoa, how cool, how bold. I remember separately messaging you of like, just like how amazing I thought this choice was. So I, yeah.
Yeah, I always said it was either going to be seen as very brave or very crazy, all depending how it worked out. Luckily, I can say it was brave. Probably still a little crazy for sure. Only the best can say that though. But yeah, I'm just going to let you jump into it because this is going to be such an amazing story that we can all learn from. So Natalie, tell me your career flip. Cool. Well,
Jenny Dempsey (04:34.158)
I am basically a corporate dropout turned coral nerd is what I like to say. But I think my story really starts even before my career did because, you know, I was one of those typical overachievers with elder sister syndrome and kind of a perfect poster child for hustle culture. I was the first in my family to go to college. I graduated in three years and I entered corporately at barely 21.
And I had just always felt this really huge sense of responsibility to honor, I'm like gonna get even get a little teared up here, honor my immigrant grandparents who came to the US so that, you know, their kids could get a rung up on the ladder of life's success. And then my parents who worked really hard to put me through
But if I'm being honest, I think I also just really thrived on the recognition I got through my professional success and you know, it really became wrapped into my identity and kind of my self -worth and so I really hustled from you know a young age to really try to grow myself professionally and kind of climb that corporate ladder and
As far as my career path, I gained experience in a number of different disciplines in marketing and communications. I learned very early on that I really loved taking data, data like consumer insights and turning it into marketing strategies and then making those marketing strategies come to life and seeing the business results from that. Like I just really, really thrived on that. So eventually my career evolved into retail marketing and I spent the bulk of it in
produce where I was helping specialty brands work with grocery retailers so they could help consumers be aware that there was something interesting and unique in the produce department. And before the career flip, I was running international retail and trade marketing for a sustainable food technology company that was trying to combat climate change through reducing food waste. And that's where we met.
Jenny Dempsey (06:54.058)
Luckily, and I loved the work. I loved the mission. I was very fortunate to travel around the world with my career and work with amazing people. But really, I behind the scenes, I was very burnt out. I was burnt out by the travel schedule. I was burnt out by the long work days that startup companies require and really any company these days always being connected.
And I just felt this constant immense pressure to perform, whether that was internally or externally placed. But you know you need a life change when you are packing your bags to go to amazing places like Berlin or Vietnam, and you're crying as you do that. So.
At the same time, about 11 years ago, I met a really hot, smart guy who is also on the corporate fast track. So yes, this is also a love story. And he was a part -time scuba instructor on the side. And our conversations around that reminded me that as a kid growing up in SoCal, I had this immense love for the ocean and I was fascinated by
So I super stoked when he offered me scuba lessons. And we always joke that, you know, I just thought I was getting free scuba lessons from a hot guy and he thought he was going on a date. Seems he was right. was right. So, spoiler alert, he's my husband, did my business partner. But he's actually the one that had this dream to run a dive shop on a remote island.
And the more we talked about it, the idea of living internationally in a new culture, getting to live amongst nature, getting to be boots on the ground or what I say now fins in the water in terms of being on the front lines of conservation. know, all of that appeal to me as well as the idea of getting to be my own boss and really create a work culture that I love to be a part of and that other people would love to be a part
Jenny Dempsey (09:07.734)
So we kept talking about it it was always like this pillow talk thing. And then finally, I was just like, you know, why don't we just stop talking and let's start doing. So we would have these sessions that I called dream planning, which was basically meetings that we would hold over the weekend. So we would like go to a little downtown eatery or we would go to a brew pub. We were living in Denver at the time.
And that's where we were doing research on locations, kind of figuring out the financial plans for this, writing the vision and the business plan for what we wanted to create. And then, of course, also doing, you know, quote unquote, site visits, which meant dive trips in cool Caribbean locations. And around 2020, we booked a dive trip out to Roatan, Honduras.
We didn't know much about it other than it was off the coast of Honduras. It was known to be really a gem in the Caribbean in terms of world -class diving. And we also didn't know when we booked this trip that COVID was about to hit. So we actually got stuck on the island because they closed the borders and we were here for about two weeks. And it was just enough time to really fall in love with the place.
So we didn't end up buying that dive shop we were looking at originally, but another one came up for sale and we only saw it through WhatsApp video, but it looked like the perfect little beachside dive shop. And we said yes. And over the course of six to eight months or so, you know, all the stars just kind of magically aligned. And here we are three and a half years later or so. And I'm really proud to say that we have one of the most
reputable shops in in Roatan. And, you know, it's become so much more than just a dive shop or a dive center. For me, it's become this just beautiful community hub of people from around the world who love to explore, love to adventure in the ocean, but also really want to do their part through conservation and citizen science, which is something that we promote a
Jenny Dempsey (11:31.416)
to help protect this really fragile and beautiful ecosystem that we have here.
Natalie, I'm getting like a little emotional. feel like what it, mean, the dream came true and with the timing, the COVID and it's like, you said the stars aligned, like it all just worked out in the way that it needed to. I'm, I, know, when we, when I remember seeing that message, I'll go back to that. remember feeling, I was just very burnt out at work, you know, and I was working a couple jobs at that time. And I just remember thinking, gosh,
And so when you started to tell people about it, you my reaction was that. But what were other people, you know, what were other people saying to you? And what was that like? Were there any naysayers? Were there any moments when you were like, maybe we shouldn't? Like, was there any imposter syndrome there? What was the experience kind of like when you were telling people you were going to do this big change or when you had to turn in your notice at work or like, what was that
goodness, there were there were all the feels for sure. You know, I think I think there was a fear of failing and and I would talk about that a lot with people. But what I came back to was at the end of the day, you know, when you're on your deathbed and you're looking back, like what's going to be what's the stronger feeling, the feeling of fear of failure or
the feeling of disappointment because you didn't try. So we knew we had to do it and the reaction was really positive and the reaction was surprising because when we talked about what we were going to do and this major change that we were making to chase a dream, it opened up this conversation with so many people where you found out that they had dreams too.
Jenny Dempsey (13:35.572)
So many people have these kind of like latent passions that they're pushing down every day because they feel like they're doing what's right by, you know, following that really traditional career path. But yet there is something that's always in the back of their mind or in the bottom of their heart that they would love to be pursuing.
So I love having the conversation. I love getting to talk to you here today because I think it's just an opportunity to show people that, you you can take that calculated risk and you can make the leap and, you know, the path will rise to meet you most of the time. And if it doesn't work out, what I told myself was like, what's the worst thing that can happen? I've had a great career. I have an amazing network.
you know, have strong reputation, I can always go back to doing what I was doing before. Right, right. Exactly. And I like how you call it calculated risk. I think a lot of the times, you know, career flips can be seen as very black and white, you just jump and you do it. And a lot of us are planners, we're cautious. and like the thought of like doing that is like, we'll stop us in our tracks. But when there is more calculation behind it, more thought, more strategy
still the dream, like not letting go of that. It does feel a little bit kind of safer to hop into it or when you're completely pushed into it, like I got laid out, like I never would have taken this journey had I not been laid out and it's like a blessing in disguise, but like sometimes you just need to really like think about those steps before jumping in and then you still do it, but you have some of the backbone there as well,
Yeah, absolutely. You de -risk it a bit, right? I mean, we had been talking about this for four years. And one of the things that was really valuable about that was as we were thinking about owning our own business, I was thinking about what are the skill sets that I need to have. And so, I was able to even in the confines of my career and my position,
Jenny Dempsey (15:51.694)
create opportunities for me to learn certain skill sets that would be valuable for me down the road in this position. So that calculated risk is something that not only like minimizes the risk for you, but I think can also help better prepare you for what you're stepping into. Yeah. Yeah.
I will say you can never be 100 % prepared and you're not going to be able to plan for everything. I'll give you an example actually. When we moved here and we took over the dive shop, we start training and I'm looking at employee schedules and all of a sudden, it's dawning on me that people are working six days a week. And that's owners included. And I'm like, wait a
I came here. I came here to work hard, for sure, but to work less, right? To have a little bit more of a life balance. So we maintained that schedule because it's kind of the industry standard for a while. And then we just finally said, you know what, it's not working for us. And honestly, it wasn't working for people either. I could tell that people were tired, stressed out, getting sick, that sort of thing. So we finally...
said we're just going to venture out on our own and we're going to break the mold and we're going to change it. And so now we work five days a week, which to us is a standard work week. And employees all have the choice to work five or six days. And we have some people that opt for the six days. But the majority of people are working the five days a week. And I feel really good about that because I know that there
getting a little bit more balance back in their life. Yeah, I love that. And that's aligning with your values. And that's another risk right there. It sounds like, know, kind of shifting this cold industry culture and doing it a different way. And that's incredible. It's successful. I want to hop back to something real quick, because earlier you mentioned about work and worth. And I want to touch on that for a second, because this is something that
Jenny Dempsey (18:10.562)
think I've been still unraveling for the last year and a lot of people that I know are maybe in it or unraveling it as well. you know, when we follow this traditional career path and we get a lot of validation around, you're really good at the business stuff. And there's nothing wrong with any of that, but like you mentioned, it becomes your worth. And I always, I always thought like, actually the day that I got laid off, was like, wow, work is the only thing I'm good
What am I going to do now? And then like the thought of like sitting here now thinking back to that, I'm like, my God, ow, like my heart hurts. Like that's not the only thing I was good at, but for years I thought that that was it. And when you mentioned that, you know, how have you kind of unraveled that or worked through it or what is, what has that journey been like for you when, you know, there's still work, we still have to do work, but it's like a different kind, you know, you chose it. And
How, yeah, I'm just curious about all of that. Yeah, you know, I actually think that it's still a work in progress for me, honestly. One of the most important life lessons that I learned through this transition was that even bosses have to set their own boundaries. You know, I think I was under the impression that if I was, you know, CEO and president, I could
I could set my deadlines and move them however I wanted. And that I was removing myself from this hustle culture that I think a lot of times we're putting corporations as the villains in. And I was moving to an island where island time is a real thing. And yet I still had that urge to put professional success over my personal needs.
So, you know, in the beginning, when it was the first year of the business, that was somewhat expected. was learning a new business and I was really trying to wrap my brain around it. But when it got to, you know, here we are in the second year, and actually at this time, Shannon was taking a step away from the business to pursue some other interests. So I really was kind of solo at the home.
Jenny Dempsey (20:33.87)
I was realizing that I was wrapped up in that same cycle and that that wasn't good for me because that's not what we set out to do this for. And I wasn't modeling good behavior for my team. And so I needed to make a shift because it wasn't going to be sustainable for the business either for the long term or for me personally, health -wise. So
went back to that dream planning model. Like what was the vision? And this time it wasn't about, you know, what's the business or where do we live? It was who am I in that business? And what does my life look like? What does my life look like on a daily basis, weekly basis, monthly? And when I was able to figure out kind of who I wanted to be, I recognized I had a staffing issue. You know, we were under supported.
in the kind of daily operations management of the business. So we put the structure in place. And I can say that that has helped immensely. And it's given me a lot of a lot of space. I think I still go through times where, you know, on the weekends when I'm off and I am sitting on the beach reading a book, I sometimes feel guilty.
And I have to remind myself that, you know, I am employing other people. There is a value exchange. They are getting paid to do the work. And that part of me taking the time to do things that I love and enjoy and that recharge me away from the dive center is only going to make me a better leader when I'm there. So it's a continuous conversation with myself for
Yeah, yeah, ongoing progress. I hear that completely. I'm yeah, just learning that the furniture flipping sometimes I'm like, okay, I don't want to work on the weekends. And honestly, it'd be great to even take Fridays off, for example, in my mind, like, it'd be amazing to do that. But then I do I feel the guilt come in or I'm like, well, it's only me doing this, I need to get this done. I should be in there working on this. But it's like, I don't need to I've structured my days where I can get things and
Jenny Dempsey (22:56.952)
kind of like pulling myself back, having those conversations, as you mentioned, that just talking to yourself of like, it's okay, it's okay. And the other thing that it's so true when you mentioned like the corporations, we make them out a lot of the times to be the villain. And a lot of the times it's not, it's just the people and it's what we've learned over the years. Like, gosh, before I worked at the company, we worked it together. There was another company I worked at and I was working so many hours.
Did the company actually enforce that? No, they didn't. It was me. And I was burning myself up because I thought that that was going to prove my worth. And yeah, and kind of unraveling that and realizing that. And even now getting caught back in that, well, I got to do this, this and this to show that I'm good. Wait a second. Yeah, you kind of have to ask yourself, like, what's the common denominator here? Yeah. If you're moving from...
career position to position, different industries, different corporations, and still finding yourself in that cycle. It's like, okay, well, what's the common denominator? And yes, some of it is a bit indoctrinated, but there are ways, there are tips and tricks to silence our phones, close the chats out.
and to recognize that we're going to be all the better for it when we are working, if we're taking the time to nurture ourselves, right? Yeah. Yeah. So true. So true. And I think that is, you know, what people get caught up in then why they don't pursue other dreams or even hobbies on the side, like taking an hour every weekend and just painting or whatever it is,
A lot of the times because we're like, well, we got to do this, we got to do this and like, I got this notification on my phone. got to jump to this. And focusing because that is feeding into this belief that work is our worth. And if we're not doing that, then we're guilty or feeling guilty or we're not good enough or whatever it is. And then suddenly all of these wonderful, beautiful things that bring us joy and recharge us are left on the table and we consistently feel so stressed and tired.
Jenny Dempsey (25:09.998)
What if we were to just take a little bit of time? Like, gosh, sometimes I even think like five minutes a day. Like it doesn't even have to be a lot. It makes a change. Yeah. Little micro resets. You know, I think the flip side to that is when you are doing something that you love, it does feel a lot less like work. So when we started this dive center and we really started thinking about it as
Like I said, not a dive center, a community center. And we weaved into it, you know, our personal passion for conservation. You know, next week, we're gonna be keeping the dive center open for three nights in a row. But all of that is to do coral spawning monitoring.
something that is an amazing phenomenon to witness and we're doing it in support of local conservation efforts. So yes, we're working late, but at the same time, it doesn't feel like work because we're bringing together our employees to volunteer. Some of our customers are volunteering. We're working with the Marine Park and we're doing something for good. And that it just doesn't feel like
It feels fun. Yeah. Yeah. That part, it just like lights you up and knowing that there's so much good. I mean, that sounds amazing. I'm like, I wish I could go. that sounds incredible. And it's so true. And I'm learning that like with, you know, with this kind of diving into art, for example, like I just, I w I think about it all the time. I want to be in there doing this and like making this magic happen with, you know, a paintbrush. And it's just
Whoa, but it is still work. There's still sweat. covered in sawdust. I got splinters. You know, it is messy. you know, there's that quote that we've all heard, like when you love what you do, you never work a day. And I'm like, I love what I do, but I still, it does still feel, there is still work involved, but it is a mix of like a different, it's a different feeling. It's the kind of work that I'm like, I want to do this. This is so fun and really lights me up. And the challenges are ones that I want to take on. They're
Jenny Dempsey (27:27.542)
exhilarating. like, learned something from this. Like it's messy and yeah. So it's, yeah, like you said, it's a whole journey. It's ongoing and you kind of, sounds like, you know, making decisions along the way that align with your values. and then changing it if it doesn't work is really, yeah. Yeah. It's always an evolution. think. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Well, you know, Natalie,
If people want to come diving with you, they want to hear more about your story, connect with you, ask questions. Gosh, like your story is just so inspiring. And I'm just so grateful for you being here today and sharing so much. And where can people find you and connect with you? Well, thank you. It's such a great opportunity to get to pay it forward, honestly, for all the people that motivated me. And hopefully the conversation sparks some inspiration for someone else.
But if folks want to get some virtual vitamin C and check out all the cool stuff that we're seeing under the waves here, you can find Sun Divers Roatan on Instagram and Facebook. We also have a guide to the most epic diving in Roatan on our website at sundiversroatan .com. Amazing. that's so cool. Thank you so much, Natalie. This
This was wonderful. You're an absolute burst of sunshine and I'm just so grateful for you. Thank you so It was been such a pleasure. I'm so glad to get to see you again. And I hope next time maybe we're sipping some cocktails with umbrellas and them on the beach. I love this idea. I love this idea. I've never been scuba diving, so I'm in. All right. Well, there's no better time to start. for tuning in to this episode of The Career Flipper.
Be sure to connect with Natalie using the links in the show notes. I hope you get to go scuba diving with her. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend who could use some inspiration. Please rate and review the show and hit that subscribe button for more flippin' stories like Natalie'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.
Jenny Dempsey (29:47.82)
And if you ever need a Career Flipping Speaker for your event, want to sponsor the podcast, or just want to say hi and share your story, I hope you'll pop over to thecareerflipper .com. I'd love to hear from you. Keep on your path, my friend. What's the best that could happen? Talk to you next week.