After dedicating 25 years to the fast-paced public relations industry across New York and San Francisco, John McCartney realized his career had plateaued and he was no longer feeling challenged. When his agency faced headwinds at the beginning of 2020, John found himself at a definitive fork in the road: dust off his resume to work for another agency, or take the terrifying leap to chart his own path.

He chose the latter, founding JMAG PR. But John didn't just want to build another PR firm; he wanted to completely overhaul toxic agency culture. Driven by the philosophy that "we work to live, we don't live to work," John built his boutique agency with workplace wellness embedded directly into its DNA. Today, he joins us to talk about his incredible journey from a small-town reporter to a successful agency founder who puts the mental health and well-being of his team above the traditional corporate grind.

In this episode, we cover:

• The Bronx Foundation: How growing up in a single-parent household with a mother who worked seven days a week as a bank teller and at a bakery instilled a relentless work ethic and grounded perspective.
• The Leap of Faith: The fear of leaving behind the security of a consistent corporate paycheck to start a business from scratch, and why John decided it was worth the risk to live a life without regrets.
• Redefining Agency Culture: Why John refuses to be a boss who demands 20-hour workdays. Instead, he hired a fractional HR director and a transformational consultant to meet one-on-one with his team, ensuring every employee feels seen, heard, and supported both personally and professionally.
• The Reality of Founder Income: The "rude awakening" of shifting from guaranteed, predictable corporate pay to structuring an S-Corp, balancing an owner's draw with a "reasonable salary," and navigating the tight financial realities of business ownership.
• Choosing Happiness Over Success: Why John actively prioritizes his mental and physical health through 10 minutes of daily meditation, two-mile walks, and therapy, proving that true success is actually found in peace and balance.

John's ultimate advice for taking the leap? Figure out what brings you joy and what you are good at, then just jump in. The worst-case scenario is that it doesn't work out and you go back to working for someone else—but you owe it to yourself to try.

Where to find John McCartney:

• Website: jmacpr.com
• LinkedIn: John McCartney
• Email: john@jmacpr.com

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101 Ways Out explores how thoughtful, capable people step away from inherited definitions of success and begin designing lives rooted in freedom, meaning, and joy.

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🌱 Part of the 101 Ways Out transformation platform

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We are often told that if you work hard, follow the rules, and land a great corporate job, you will ultimately feel fulfilled. But what happens when you reach that milestone and realize you feel completely stagnant?

In this episode, we sit down with Ari DeGrote, a former corporate change management and innovation leader who realized she had hit her corporate "expiration date."

For nearly a decade, Ari led leadership growth cohorts for venture-backed tech founders at the Sprint/T-Mobile Accelerator. She was deeply proud of her work, but after navigating a chaotic "triple whammy"—returning from maternity leave, the onset of the COVID-19 lockdowns, and a massive corporate merger all within a two-and-a-half-month window—she realized she was facing a split in the road.

Ultimately, Ari realized she was running towards something rather than just running away. She took a highly strategic leap to build Upward & Inward, a solo coaching and consulting practice where she helps impact-driven leaders merge people, profit, and purpose. Today, she joins us to share her journey of redesigning her life for ultimate autonomy, getting out of the corporate box, and learning to tune back into her intuition.

In this episode, we cover:
- The Corporate "Expiration Date": How to recognize when you've outgrown your environment, and why Ari decided the risk of ignoring her passion was greater than the terrifying leap into entrepreneurship.
- Prototyping Your Exit: How Ari strategically used virtual "coffee connects" during the pandemic to validate her business and sign her first major clients before ever handing in her notice.
- Designing a "Life System": How Ari radically restructured her week, including reserving her Fridays entirely for creative writing, big ideas, and true autonomy.
- Embracing the "Woo": Why Ari practices "emotional alchemy" and somatics to tune into her body's wisdom, pushing back against the corporate conditioning that tells us to only live "from the ears up."
- Unconventional Life Hacks: Ari shares how she uses ChatGPT to organize her brain during anxiety spirals, why she joins virtual "cocoon" co-working spaces for one-minute dance parties, and how she intentionally used adult intramural kickball leagues to build her community from scratch in new cities.

Ari's ultimate advice for anyone looking to make a change? Don't take yourself so seriously, treat every failure as useful data, and learn to love the "never-ending" process of iteration.

Where to find Ari DeGrote:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aridegrote/
Website: upwardandinward.com

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101 Ways Out explores how thoughtful, capable people step away from inherited definitions of success and begin designing lives rooted in freedom, meaning, and joy.


🎧 New episodes weekly
🌱 Part of the 101 Ways Out transformation platform

🔗 Learn more: https://101WaysOut.com
📷 Instagram: https://instagram.com/101waysout
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/101waysout/

What do you do when you're frustrated by a broken system? If you're Sarah Hartenberger, you spend five years becoming the expert who fixes it.

Sarah came from the world of corporate market research — working with global brands, climbing the ladder — until the birth of her son revealed a gap in postpartum care she couldn't unsee. Struggling to breastfeed and feeling failed by the resources available to her, she made a decision: she was going to become the support she wished she'd had.

Getting there wasn't simple. Sarah didn't have a healthcare background — just degrees in communications and Spanish and a drive that, as she puts it, makes people want to get out of her way. She took anatomy, physiology, biology, and nutrition courses from scratch. She negotiated a part-time role at her old marketing job to fund the transition. She clocked over 1,000 clinical hours. And when the governing body changed the certification pathway mid-journey and threatened to set her back seven years, she found another way.

Then her marriage ended — and rather than retreat to the safety of corporate, she went all-in on her business. Today, Nurture Lactation KC is a team of 7 IBCLCs serving families across Kansas City, operating in-network with major insurance providers, and fighting publicly for lactation care to be recognized — and covered — as the essential healthcare it is.

In This Episode

• The "nap time warrior" years: how Sarah built her certification while working part-time and raising a toddler
• Why she negotiated a flexible role at her old company, and what her mom's advice had to do with it
• Sink or swim: going full-time in her business after her divorce
• The moment she realized she "likes to go against the grain" in her 30s
• Fighting insurance companies to enforce what the ACA already requires
• Why she caps her own income, and why that's actually a power move
• "Who made these rules? I'm making new ones."
• What lights her up: seeing moms recognize their own power

Connect with Sarah

Instagram: @NurtureLactationKC

Website: nurturelactationkc.com

Email: hello@nurturelactationkc.com

Find 101 Ways Out

Website: 101waysout.com