Career Relaunch®

How do you know you’re cut out for a job you’ve never done? Or if you’re going to enjoy that job you’re switching into more than your current one? At some point, you have to decide when you’re ready to leap, even if you don’t have all the information you want about your new position. Dawn Drewett did exactly that in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic when she decided to retrain to become a phlebotomist for the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK. She left school at 15 without sitting her exams, and she had no medical background. Her past jobs had absolutely nothing to do with phlebotomy, at least on the surface. Before she ever picked up a syringe, she worked at McDonald’s, spent seven years volunteering with the police, and staffed the front desk at a leisure centre gym. I met Dawn somewhat serendipitously. She was the phlebotomist who drew my blood at a routine appointment down the street from my house. I usually stay quiet when I’m getting my blood drawn so I don’t distract the person holding the needle. However, Dawn and I started chatting, and a few weeks later, we recorded episode 112 of the Career Relaunch® podcast together. Dawn shares what it felt like to give up a stable job for one she wasn’t sure she could do. We also talk about how she went door to door handing out her CV and why this is the first job where she’s felt respected. During the Mental Fuel® segment, I share a story from my own career when I had to make a bold leap into a job I wasn’t sure I was cut out for. 💡 Key Career Insights Self-doubt is normal when you change careers, and it doesn’t mean you can’t do the job. Learning at your own pace is still learning. Even those jobs other people may look down on can teach you things you’ll use later. Dawn’s previous jobs taught her patience and people skills, which matter when a nervous patient sits down in front of her. Persistence helps, but who you talk to helps more. Sometimes, just having one conversation, instead of firing off more job applications, can change your entire career trajectory. 💪🏼Listener Challenge During this episode’s Mental Fuel segment, I talked about erring on the side of brave action instead of further analysis. To permit yourself to try something out, even if you don’t have 100% confidence that it’s going to be right for you. Especially if you’re not fully satisfied with the current state of affairs in your career, one of the best things you can do to clarify whether another path could be right for you is to really go out and test the waters, not to look from the shoreline, but to dive into the sea. It doesn’t necessarily mean closing the doors on your current career. But it does mean loosen your grip on your desire to have complete information before making a move, and instead take a brave leap so you can immerse yourself in something else and finally find out whether that place feels better for you. 📖 Episode Chapters 00:00:00 Episode preview 00:00:16 Introduction 00:03:58 Chat with Dawn 00:07:15 Dawn’s early career 00:16:57 Life as a receptionist 00:24:18 The switch to phlebotomy 00:33:02 First blood draw 00:39:19 Career lessons & self-belief 00:45:54 Mental Fuel®: gain clarity by doing 00:54:46 Listener Challenge 00:55:58 Wrap-up 👤  About Dawn Drewett, Phlebotomist Dawn Drewett has worn many professional hats over the years. As the proud mother of 3 daughters, with a strong sense of resilience and adaptability. After 7 years of working as a receptionist in a leisure centre gym, Dawn made a bold career change at the age of 55 during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. For the past 6 years, she’s been dedicated to supporting others through her work as a donor carer for the National Health Service’s Blood and Transplant team and as a phlebotomist for the NHS and General Practice Alliance. Her transition into phlebotomy was initially really daunting, and at first, she was very nervous about making the move, but as someone who learned how to embrace new challenges over the years, she now loves making a meaningful difference in people’s lives. Dawn was recently honoured to receive a King’s College Hospital Quarterly award in recognition of her dedication to her patients and colleagues. 👍🏻 Did You Enjoy This Episode? Please Let Us Know! Review: I’d also love for you to leave a positive review and rating for the podcast on Apple Podcasts, which helps my show reach more people who want to relaunch their careers. Follow: Be sure to follow the Career Relaunch® podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or Android so you can automatically get each new episode on your device. Full instructions. Stay in touch: Follow the Career Relaunch® podcast on Facebook and LinkedIn. You can also follow host Joseph on LinkedIn, Instagram, Medium, YouTube, Facebook, Threads, and Bluesky. 💬 Comments, Suggestions, or Questions? If you have any lingering thoughts, questions, or topics you would like covered on future episodes, record a voicemail for me right here. I LOVE hearing from listeners!  Leave Joseph a Voicemail You can also leave a comment below. Thanks! 🙏🏻 Thanks to ALPAKA for Supporting Career Relaunch If you’re looking for a way to keep all your travel essentials organized during your work commute, ALPAKA offers sleek, versatile accessories that are functional, eco-friendly, and built to last. I own plenty of their slings, totes, and pouches myself, made of recycled, technical fabrics perfect for protecting my gear, especially when it’s raining, as it often does in London. Get $10 off YOUR first ALPAKA order by visiting CAREERRELAUNCH.NET/ALPAKA 📄 Episode Transcript [00:04:01] Joseph: So this is the first time I’ve actually had somebody on the podcast whom I met in the neighborhood where I live, which is Beckenham, and I should probably explain how we met. I was actually getting my blood drawn, just like a routine blood draw down the street. And you were the phlebotomist who drew my blood. And we started chatting, and you had an interesting background. And that’s how we are here together today. So thanks for taking time out of your busy day. I’d love to hear, first of all, just what you’ve been focused on in your career and your life right now. What’s been keeping you busy? [00:04:33] Dawn: Well, obviously, work has been keeping me busy since I joined that. My main focus has been on perfecting my skills because I have no medical background training. So for me, when I took this job, I was like, oh my goodness, what am I going to be able to offer? I’ve got no medical background. Are they ever going to accept me? It was a challenge as to what I was going to be able to offer. So when I did start, the very first time I took blood, I went out in the back room and cried because it was such an emotional experience, because I didn’t know who knows whether they can take blood. When I applied for this job, because I didn’t have any background in medicine, I wondered what the training was going to be like. I wondered if I could do it, I wondered if I was clever enough to do it, because I left school with no qualifications. So I thought, how am I going to fit into this role? What am I going to be able to do or not do? So the very first, my question in one of the training rooms was, how do we know if we’re suitable for this job? How do I know if I can do this job? And what if I put the needle in somebody and I don’t like the feeling of it going in or I faint? Yeah. And then the guy said to me, then it’s not the job for you. [00:05:59] Joseph: Probably not if you’re a phlebotomist. [00:06:02] Dawn: Simple as that. But you don’t know as much as I thought I could do the job. And I’ve always thought I’d love to do that. I’d love to be a phlebotomist. How do you know if you’re cut out for it? But because I saw the job advertised and I had to give up my job to be able to do this job, I was thinking, there’s no tryout, you know. You couldn’t say to them, look, let me see if I can do a needle first before I give my notice in my job. Let me see if I can perform for phlebotomy. You can’t do that. So you have to take this risk. [00:06:36] Joseph: Just to set some context here also. You mentioned having some doubts about making this move, and I want to get into this whole journey of how you ended up here eventually, but you made this change when you were 55. Yes. During the COVID-19 pandemic. So this wasn’t something that just started when you were a young, young individual. This is something that came along later in your life. And so I want to hear all about that journey. But before we do that, I’d love to go back in time because I know you haven’t always been a phlebotomist. Dawn, can you tell me a little bit about how your career started? And I know you alluded to this a moment ago, is that you actually left school, and maybe we could start there and move forward from there. [00:07:15] Dawn: I left school, as I say, I didn’t enjoy school. Didn’t. I think some people thrive in school. I didn’t. I wasn’t very academic. I could do things. If you showed me how to do something, I was better with my hands. So showing me how to do things was better for me than learning on a piece of paper. So I left school. I was 15 when I left school, so I didn’t even turn up to do my exams. I just sort of left school at 15, which you could back in them days. And I got my first. My first job was in McDonald’s. [00:07:47] Joseph: Yeah. What were you doing at McDonald’s? I know you mentioned that when we chatted before. [00:07:50] Dawn: Yeah, I just working on the counter. They give you different sections to work on whether you’re cooking the burgers. But being a vegetarian, cooking burgers and me didn’t go together. Oh, wow. I didn’t last too long in the job. [00:08:03] Joseph: How long were you at McDonald’s? Out of curiosity? [00:08:06] Dawn: About 18 months. While I was there, one of the managers left there, got another job in another restaurant, and he took me with him to the other restaurant. I ended

Hear Scott Lamb, VP of Content at Medium, discuss why writing remains such a powerful tool for thinking and communicating, especially in the age of AI, on Career Relaunch® podcast episode 111. We explore how consistent writing can help you clarify your ideas and build confidence. Scott also shares how putting your thoughts out into the world can create unexpected career opportunities. During the Mental Fuel® segment, I also share my own bumpy journey into writing.

In this episode of the Career Relaunch® podcast, Luke Parker, a British Army Officer turned Google Cloud delivery executive shares his thoughts on how professional relationships can open doors and the importance of self-marketing during career transitions. I also share my reflections on the state of modern day friendships and glimpses into.my personal story of how people I’ve crossed paths with in life have had a huge influence on my career. 💡 Key Career Insights Self-marketing matters. Proactively driving visibility for yourself and what you want to be known for can open new doors. Maintaining relationships is critical, but it takes work. You never know what a connection of yours may create for you in the future. Your nontraditional background isn’t necessarily a liability. In fact, it may be the precise reason you’re able to add unique value in environments where people have more traditional backgrounds. ✅ Share Thoughts on Friendship with Joseph 👉🏼Complete friendship survey👈🏼 📚 Relevant Resources A few friendship resources I’ve compiled. I mentioned The ABCs of Networking by Thom Singer who said that if people don’t immediately respond to you, you should not take it personally. 7 Practical Ways To Add Value To Your Professional Network– my Forbes article about giving back to your network During the Mental Fuel® segment, I ended with a quote from Robert Waldinger who wrote the The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study on Happiness. 💪🏼Listener Challenge From today’s Mental Fuel® segment, I’d like to challenge you to reconnect with someone in your professional or personal network with whom you’ve lost touch. Start with someone who’s been consistently energizing, helpful, supportive, or even inspiring to you. Instead of just sending a text message or email or LinkedIn message, pick up the phone and call them, send them a voice note, record a video message, or even drop a card in the mail if you really want to change things up. 📖 Episode Chapters 00:00:00 Epsiode preview 00:01:07 Introduction 00:02:23 Chat with Luke 00:04:14 Luke’s military career 00:13:03 Transitioning to the private sector 00:18:24 Networking & self-marketing 00:23:31 Life at Google 00:30:06 Antebellum Angels 00:32:44 Mental Fuel®: nurturing relationships 00:39:58 Listener Challenge: reconnect with someone 00:44:22 Wrap-up 👤  About Luke Parker Luke Parker is a Delivery Executive at Google Cloud, where he manages complex, Air-Gapped programs for strategic clients. A former British Army Officer with over 11 years of service, Luke brings a unique perspective on leadership, having transitioned from commanding Royal Engineers Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Search (EOD&S) teams to driving digital transformation in the public sector. Beyond his role at Google, Luke is a DataIQ Top 100 influencer and the Co-Founder of Ante-Bellum Angels, a network investing in early-stage defense technology. He also holds a Master’s (Msc) in Geospatial Intelligence, and is a Chartered Engineer (CEng). Connect with Luke on LinkedIn. 👍🏻 Did You Enjoy This Episode? Please Let Us Know! Review: I’d also love for you to leave a positive review and rating for the podcast on Apple Podcasts, which helps my show reach more people who want to relaunch their careers. Follow: Be sure to follow the Career Relaunch® podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or Android so you can automatically get each new episode on your device. Full instructions. Stay in touch: Follow the Career Relaunch® podcast on Facebook and LinkedIn. You can also follow host Joseph on LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Threads, and Bluesky. 💬 Comments, Suggestions, or Questions? If you have any lingering thoughts, questions, or topics you would like covered on future episodes, record a voicemail for me right here. I LOVE hearing from listeners!  Leave Joseph a Voicemail You can also leave a comment below. Thanks! 🙏🏻 Thanks to Wise for Supporting the Career Relaunch® podcast Wise is the world’s most international bank account. It lets you hold and convert multiple currencies all in one place, offering a smarter, easier way to move money internationally without the typical bank fees or foreign exchange commissions. I’ve used it for years myself to handle many of my own international transactions. Try Wise for free at CareerRelalunch.net/wise. 📄 Episode Transcript [00:00:00] Luke: If you expect something to happen straight away, then you’re thinking in a transactional networking mindset, which is not a healthy mindset. Networking is a long game. And so the earlier you can connect with someone and the more that you can keep that engagement going, the better. [00:00:16] Joseph: Welcome to the Career Relaunch® podcast, where my mission is to inspire you to pursue more meaningful work. My name is Joseph Liu, and I’m here to help you gain the clarity, confidence, and courage to overcome the challenges of reinventing your career so you can truly enjoy your professional life. In each episode, I feature people who have stepped off the beaten path to reinvent their careers. We talk through their unique personal journeys, the challenges they overcame and the lessons they learned along the way. To help you understand what it takes to relaunch your own career. Today, my guest is going to share his story of going from serving in the British Army to working at Google Cloud. We’ll discuss how professional relationships can open doors in your career and the importance of self-marketing during professional transitions. Afterwards, during today’s mental fuel. I’ll share my thoughts on maintaining strong relationships in your career and life. Today, I’m speaking with Luke Parker, a delivery executive at Google Cloud, where he manages complex airgapped programs for strategic clients. A former British Army officer with over 11 years of experience, Luke brings a unique perspective on leadership, having transitioned from commanding Royal Engineers, explosive ordnance disposal and search teams to driving digital transformation in the public sector. [00:01:30] Joseph: Beyond his role at Google, Luke is a DataIQ top 100 influencer and the co-founder of Antebellum Angels, a network investing in early stage defense technologies. He also holds a master’s in geospatial intelligence and is a chartered engineer. Now, I first crossed paths with Luke when I heard him speak on a career change panel that followed a talk I gave at Warwick Business School, where he’s completing his executive MBA. I decided to invite him to come on to the show because I thought his comments on the panel really stood out as being very thoughtful and practical, and his perspectives of shifting from the military to the tech sector can be useful to anyone who is considering a major career pivot, but is not exactly sure how to lay the groundwork for your transition. You can get all the show notes from today’s conversation at careerrelaunch.net/110. Luke spoke with me from London. [00:02:23] Joseph: Hello, Luke, and welcome to the Career Relaunch® podcast. It’s great to have you on the show. [00:02:27] Luke: Hey, it’s great to be here. Joseph. Thank you for inviting me. [00:02:31] Joseph: Before we get into your whole career history, I’d love to start off by just finding out what you have been focused on and what’s been keeping you busy in both your professional life and also your personal life. Just to get us started. [00:02:42] Luke: My day job. I am a delivery leader at Google Cloud and that keeps you quite busy on its own. I also am finishing off my executive MBA at Warwick Business School currently. And so my thesis has been submitted in the next 4 to 5 weeks. So every spare moment I’m not working, I’m diligently typing to hit the required word count. On top of that, I’ve got a two year old. For those parents in the listenership that have a two year old, you know that that’s a full time job in itself. But I have a fantastic wife that helps there or does most of the work. [00:03:21] Joseph: Now, I should also mention that you and I first crossed paths at Warwick Business School, and I was doing a workshop on personal branding. I heard you on a career change panel that followed my workshop, and I know that you did talk a little bit at the time about what a. I guess your official title is Delivery Executive at Google Cloud. Could you just give a glimpse into exactly what that means to somebody who maybe isn’t familiar with Google Cloud, or even what a delivery executive does. [00:03:51] Luke: At Google Cloud, a delivery executive leads multifaceted teams delivering the most complex cloud transformation programs. And so although the term has executive, you are not an executive in the formal sense, but it’s a senior delivery role that brings together multiple teams for lighthouse customers. [00:04:14] Joseph: Great. Now, you haven’t always been at Google Cloud, and I would love to just go back in time a little bit. And first of all, just get a sense of where you grew up, where you’re from, maybe a little bit about your upbringing and your childhood. And then after that, we can talk about your time in the British Army. [00:04:31] Luke: I am from Rotherham in South Yorkshire, which is in the north of England. I lived there until I was about 16, so I had a very good upbringing. South Yorkshire is, I would say, quite a deprived part of the UK. The history of the area. It used to be quite an industrialised steel and mining part of the UK, which suffered a lot through mining and steelworks shutdowns. But I think I was relatively insulated from that. I went to a great school at 16. I decided that I was going to join the Army, the British Army. [00:05:08] Joseph: And how did you come to that decision, Luke? Because that’s a big decision to move into the military versus, I suppose, continuing on in your education more formally. [00:05:18] Luke: My great grandfather was a soldier in World War II, and I had his medals and his picture

All sorts of setbacks can come up during your career. You narrowly miss landing your dream job. You get put on a project you don’t love. You have a horrible manager. You go through a round of budget cuts. You have a family emergency come up. You have a sudden health issue. Or you realise you’ve taken the wrong job. We all experience disappointments, stressors, or unexpected twists and turns in our career that test our resilience, patience, and fortitude. Career setbacks can’t be avoided. No matter how well you plan things out, stuff comes up, and your ability to navigate and manage those setbacks will make the difference between you getting stuck in a rut or bouncing back to find a better way forward. In this episode of the Career Relaunch® podcast, Ben Kuhl, a sports and events hospitality management professional turned woodworking, shelf-making craftsman shares his thoughts on his shift from white-collar to blue-collar work, and I also share some thoughts on the hidden blessings behind career setbacks. 💡 Key Career Insights We all experience setbacks in our careers, and your ability to accept, embrace, and manage them can make the difference between getting stuck in a rut and opening a new, more promising chapter in your career. While career disappointments are inevitable, sometimes, they’re blessings in disguise that enable you to recalibrate and relaunch yourself down a more fulfilling professional path. The past roles you’ve had, even those that felt like a poor fit, can play a critical role in your career evolution. You never know how your past experiences will show up again and assist you in your future career. 💪🏼Listener Challenge During this episode’s Mental Fuel® segment, I talked about the importance of recognising and embracing career setbacks as an opportunity to shift your career in a new direction. Consider a situation in your own career you’ve found stressful, unsettling, or disappointing. Then, think about what this experience may be telling you about what’s truly important to you at this moment in your life and career. What’s one step you could take in the new year to honor that priority and move yourself in a more promising direction? 📖 Episode Chapters 00:00:00 Overview 00:01:07 Introduction: Career Setbacks 00:03:12 Ben Kuhl’s Career Journey 00:37:08 Mental Fuel®: Blessings in Disguise 00:45:03 Listener Challenge: Identify Career Setback’s Upside 00:45:32 Wrap Up 👤  About Ben Kuhl Ben Kuhl initially built his career in sport management and hospitality, gaining experience in operations, events, and client service. After getting laid off from his most recent role in product management, he launched Shelf Expression, a Charlotte woodworking brand specializing in custom, high-end floating shelves and mantels. His background gives him a unique edge in blending business strategy with hands-on craftsmanship. Today, his shelves ship nationwide while maintaining a focus on quality and design. Learn more about Ben’s work on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram, and be sure to check out Ben’s Etsy store. 👍🏻 Did You Enjoy This Episode? Please Let Us Know! Review: I’d also love for you to leave a positive review and rating for the podcast on Apple Podcasts, which helps my show reach more people who want to relaunch their careers. Follow: Be sure to follow the Career Relaunch® podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or Android so you can automatically get each new episode on your device. Full instructions. Stay in touch: Follow the Career Relaunch® podcast on Facebook and LinkedIn. You can also follow host Joseph on LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Threads, and Bluesky. 💬 Comments, Suggestions, or Questions? If you have any lingering thoughts, questions, or topics you would like covered on future episodes, record a voicemail for me right here. I LOVE hearing from listeners!  Leave Joseph a Voicemail You can also leave a comment below. Thanks! 🙏🏻 Thanks to Vista Social for Supporting Career Relaunch Vista Social is a versatile, time-saving tool to manage all your social media accounts in one place. You can easily create, schedule, optimise, and publish content directly to multiple social media profiles from one simple dashboard. I actually use it myself to manage all my online profiles. 📄 Episode Transcript [00:03:22] Joseph: Okay, well let’s just start off by getting a lay of the land. What’s happening in your current life right now? Like what’s been keeping you busy both personally and professionally? [00:03:33] Ben: I own my own business. Started a woodworking business back in the beginning of 2020, right before Covid. And ever since then, things have just absolutely exploded with work. So my woodworking business, I primarily focus on floating shelves and mantles. And yeah, things in 2020 just exploded and it’s just snowballed from there. So my life right now is woodworking out of my little two car garage and my family. So my wife, I have two kids, a nine year old and seven year old. So trying to figure out the balance between working from home, you know, on nights and weekends and also trying to be there for my kids is primarily what takes up most of my life at the moment. So maybe in a half hour for scrolling on Instagram before bed. But mainly those things. [00:04:17] Joseph: It’s interesting when you’re running your own business. It’s kind of a balance between running your business, making sure you’re still spending time with your kids, making sure you have time to actually rest here and there, and also just have some downtime to just mentally check out a little bit, because I know it can be all consuming to run your own business. Can I hear a little bit more about the types of woodworking that you do at Shelf Expression, which is the name of your business? [00:04:43] Ben: I started the business back, like I said, end of 2019, beginning of 2020, just making generic floating shelves to help pay for childcare, any additional unforeseen bills that came up and posted those on Etsy and they really took off. Then March of 2020 lockdown happened. Everybody was at home. They were redecorating their homes. They were trying to figure out how to bring a little bit more life into their office or their home offices. When everybody was at home in lockdown and things exploded. So right now I focus 95% on making floating shelves. It’s almost don’t really like to say that I’m a woodworker, because it’s one of the most, I wouldn’t say boring aspects of woodworking, but it’s shelf making. So I love being able to get creative and try to figure out different ways that I can keep my mind fresh on making the shelves as I go along. But yeah, 95% of my woodworking is making high end floating shelves and then also fireplace mantels, so hopefully continue to grow. [00:05:45] Joseph: Well, I do want to come back to your time now as a shelf. I’m just going to call it a shelf craftsman. [00:05:51] Ben: There you go. [00:05:52] Joseph: Perfect. Yeah, I actually have some questions about shelves for you, which we can come back to later. But exactly. I do want to go back to your time before working in this space. And you used to work as an event manager and eventually as a director of product management for Sports Hospitality Company. But before we get to that, I’d love to hear a little bit more about you and just where you grew up. And I guess specifically, what do you remember being interested in during your childhood days? [00:06:23] Ben: So I grew up in north central Ohio, right on Lake Erie, about 45 minutes west of Cleveland on a farm. So my childhood was always helping my dad out on the farm. When I was younger, as I got a little bit older it was more sports. So being involved in basketball and football and baseball, as I did through middle school and high school in the summers, waking up at five in the morning and picking sweet corn and being covered in pollen and always having that little bit of a blue collar mentality behind, you know, seeing my dad come home at 8:00 at night and being out for 14 to 16 hours drove home with me. The how important work ethic is to being successful and being a, you know, a son of a farmer really taught me that. You know, unfortunately, a lot of times, no matter how hard you work, you often aren’t as successful as you could be, especially in farming, because there are so many variables that play into being successful, like weather and markets and soil conditions, and seeing him work his tail off and being upset that it hadn’t rained in a month. Or maybe it’s rained five inches over the last two days, and knowing that your yield was going to suffer because of that really made me start to think about, you know, maybe carrying on the family farm isn’t something that I had as much interest in as I did when I was a kid. So that’s when once I started transitioning to being more involved in sports in the city I grew up in, started thinking about more about going off to college and getting a degree and getting out of north central Ohio. You know, my parents are so prevalent through my upbringing and the instilling of work your tail off and hopefully good things will happen. At least it’ll set you up to have a positive outcome for the rest of your life if you work hard. [00:08:24] Joseph: As you may recall, when we first chatted, I actually grew up in Ohio, also myself. I spent about age 2 to 6 in Hamilton, Ohio. I grew up in a very not fully rural, but it certainly wasn’t in an urban area like you mentioned. Very blue collar, very kind of ordinary. I would say life, but it does instill you with a lot of good values and good work ethic. Now you would eventually go on to Ohio University and you ended up studying sports and Fitness Administration. You did mention that there was, at least I guess, a potential consideration of continuing with the family farm business. Was that a very straightforward decision for you, or was that something you had to kind of wrestle with? I’d be cur

These days, there’s no shortage of distractions out there with endless amounts of content that’s just a tap away on your phone. As much as social platforms like LinkedIn are really handy for sharing and receiving professional updates, they’re also places that provide endless points of unnecessary, unproductive comparison. Not allowing external voices to sway you too much in your career is half the battle in finding work that’s right for you. In this episode of the Career Relaunch® podcast, electrical engineer turned artist Sangeetha Gopalakrishnan has had to find ways to quiet the influences around her so she can focus on pursuing a career that makes her truly happy. In our conversation, we’ll discuss paying attention to what your body’s telling you, following your intuition, and finding space to reflect. In the Mental Fuel® segment, I’ll discuss how I quiet career distractions. 💡 Key Career Insights Especially when you’re young, you may pride yourself on being able to hustle and power through challenging times in your career. However, your body has a way of telling you when you’re pushing yourself too much. Pay attention to these signs of burnout and overexertion before a bigger problem arises. Building a financial cushion provides you with the freedom to make a risky career move, so if you can put in the time, energy, and discipline into building this cushion, it enables you to move more confidently into the next stage of your career. Don’t be too consumed with what other people think about how your career should look. 💪🏼Listener Challenge During this episode’s Mental Fuel segment, I talked about the importance of finding one way to have a quiet moment when you can be still and sort out your thoughts. I know life gets busy, and I know this isn’t easy to do, but you might be surprised by what clarity you might gain from the momentary pause. 📖 Episode Chapters 00:00:00 – Overview 00:01:07 – Introduction 00:03:47 – Chat with Sangeetha 00:48:11 – Mental Fuel® 00:54:01 – Listener Challenge 00:54:40 – Wrap Up 👤  About Sangeetha Gopalakrishnan Sangeetha Gopalakrishnan has had to find ways to quiet the influences around her so she can focus on pursuing a career that makes her truly happy. She spent nearly two decades as an electrical engineer in semiconductor chip design before deciding to make a big change. After growing up in India, she moved to the U.S. for graduate school in electrical engineering and built a solid career designing chips, managing teams, and leading projects. In 2024, she left her job to become a full-time outdoor oil painter, hiking into remote places to paint landscapes using sustainable, non-toxic materials. She also leads a women’s hiking group with over 1000 members in Southern California, helping others find confidence and connection in the outdoors. Her story is about choosing purpose over predictability—and having the courage to start again. Follow Sangeetha on Instagram and LinkedIn. 👍🏻 Did You Enjoy This Episode? Please Let Us Know! Review: I’d also love for you to leave a positive review and rating for the podcast on Apple Podcasts, which helps my show reach more people who want to relaunch their careers. Follow: Be sure to follow the Career Relaunch® podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or Android so you can automatically get each new episode on your device. Full instructions. Stay in touch: Follow the Career Relaunch® podcast on Facebook and LinkedIn. You can also follow host Joseph on LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Threads, and Bluesky. 💬 Comments, Suggestions, or Questions? If you have any lingering thoughts, questions, or topics you would like covered on future episodes, record a voicemail for me right here. I LOVE hearing from listeners!  Leave Joseph a Voicemail You can also leave a comment below. Thanks! Thanks to BrandYourself for Supporting Career Relaunch BrandYourself offers simple tools and services to help control what people find when they Google you. To clean up, protect, and improve how you look online, visit BrandYourself.com and use promo code ‘RELAUNCH’ to get 50% off a Premium membership. 📄 Episode Transcript [00:00:01] Joseph: Okay, Sangeetha. Well, thank you so much for getting up early over there in California to join me here on the Career Relaunch podcast. It is great to have you on the show. [00:00:10] Sangeetha: Thank you. It’s my pleasure. [00:00:11] Joseph: I would love to start by hearing a little bit about what you’re focused on right now in your career and your life, so maybe we could start with that, and then we can go back in time and talk about your pivots along the way. [00:00:23] Sangeetha: As you can see in my background, that speaks volumes about what I do now. I am an artist. I’m a fine artist. That means I do these finished oil paintings. I get inspiration from the outdoors. I usually go on my outdoor expeditions as just for recreation, and I paint outdoors, and I come back to my studio and I paint them large. People want to buy them. So I, I would call it like a business, but that’s not how I intended it to be. That’s my career now, an artist who works for myself. [00:00:57] Joseph: I know you got into this a little bit. You talked about oil painting, but like how would you describe your style of art and your focus as an artist? What do you like to paint? Do you have a certain theme around your art? [00:01:09] Sangeetha: I would call myself a plein air landscape artist. So plein air. I think it’s a French word that means outside. So the style is that you go outdoors, you paint what you see. So you’re actually capturing the emotions, the exact feelings that you get from looking at a scene, not from a photo, but an actual scene. And you paint it. And I do those on my hiking trips. I go on to these remote trails and capture them, and I usually capture them small, like small canvases, and I bring them home. And the ones that really speak to me, I paint them large. And these are done using oil paints. And there’s several ways that you can do it. People use like plenty of colors. People use certain kinds of paints. Paint, but I do all non-toxic paints in my oil painting process. I use only four colors and it’s done in an impressionistic style, so if you look at it, it’s not a photorealistic. It’s not what you see in a photo or even like exactly how you see in the landscape. But it’s an impression of what I see. So you can bring the painter’s emotions onto the canvas. So it’s a different style of paint making. [00:02:25] Joseph: That’s amazing that you’re painting with just four colors, because when I see your background, this is an audio podcast. But when I look at your background and some of your paintings there, I would just assume you’re using the whole rainbow of colors out there. So that’s very interesting. [00:02:37] Sangeetha: I love challenges, so just with four colors, as you know, with color theory, you can make the infinite spectrum of colors interesting. [00:02:45] Joseph: I know that your art business is also a California green business, so it’s certified for your use of sustainable art making the non-toxic Toxic paints. Why is it that people don’t do that? Like, why don’t more artists follow the sustainable art making process? Because to me, that sounds like a great way of doing it. [00:03:06] Sangeetha: It’s just the same reason as why people wouldn’t do sustainability in any part of their life, right? Like, you know, that’s how everyone has done. So you just go with the flow and you never question it because the masters have done it with all the chemicals. And so you think, oh, that’s the only way. That’s the way I’m supposed to do. But I’ve grown up because of where I grew up and my family values. I always was drawn to doing things in a green way, eco friendly way. So when I first started painting, I was shocked by the amount of chemicals these artists were using. I took some workshops and the teacher was like mixing up all these chemicals in this and she was saying, oh, let’s leave the windows open because these fumes are. We have to let the fumes out. I’m like, this is not making any sense. I started doing some research and doing my own experimentation, and I figured you can use less toxic paints. You can use zero chemicals in your studio or outdoors. And I started trying it and I’m like, yeah, none of my paintings need those things that everyone was using that intention of wanting to do. And most people are not aware of it. They’re not thinking about that. [00:04:20] Joseph: You haven’t always been an artist. You were once an electrical engineer in the semiconductor chip industry. But before we get to that, Sangeetha, I would really love to start by hearing more about your early years and you alluded to this. Where you grew up, where did you grow up in India and what do you remember about your childhood there? [00:04:40] Sangeetha: I grew up in South India in the state of Kerala. When I say Kerala, I’m describing it would be very different from the rest of India because Kerala is very tropical, closer to the equator and it’s very green, full of coconut trees. Humid. Very green. Lush state. We get a lot of six months of rain almost because of the monsoons. It’s called God’s own country because of people feel how blessed it is for how it looks and the abundant resources. So that’s where I grew up. Until I was 18, I lived in Kerala until I moved out to do engineering. What I remember is, yeah, my childhood. I grew up in a family which is very middle class. My parents were central government employees. They worked for the Department of Telecommunications. They were focused on giving education to their two daughters. Very blessed to have been born. My family, I was like a math science nerd. I just focused on solving math problems. Like, that was like, my thing. [00:05:43] Joseph: Was that because you liked it, or was it because you loved it. [00:05:47] Sangeetha: Came very natural and obsessed with ma