Serena Berrey is five years post-college and in a job she LOVES because she didn't waste her time in misalignment. As an Executive Recruiter, Serena has tons of motivational advice, including starting your day right, surviving any day in the industry of your choice, and filling your cup before pouring it out. Serena has hot takes and hot tips for interviewing with recruiters, networking constantly, and always finding ways to feel you're moving forward. This episode is getting me through my own survivable but challenging work days. It's worth a listen, a relisten, and some notes!

Chapters
1:12 Serena: Obnoxious Optimist
8:41 How are you going to change the world
26:09 ADHD: Attention isn’t the problem
30:00 Don’t Stay Just Because (Hot Take 1)
49:55 Always Be Networking
57:23 Fill Your Cup First
1:03:58 Diagnosed: Type I Diabetes
1:14:25 Be Curious
1:23:20 When They Ask About Your Weakness (Hot Take 2)
1:27:12 Get Outside
1:29:07 Today is Survivable
1:38:44 The Best is Yet to Come
1:41:00 It Worked For Me

Links
Serena on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/serena-berrey/
Serena quoted Serenity’s book, The Thank You Room: https://www.serenitybohon.com/thankyouroom

This episode is sponsored by H34Contracting.com

I Do This For a Living is independently produced.

@serenitylive

Please welcome Jason Benson, general contractor in Wyoming, former worship leader, and someone who never used to ask himself, "What do you want?" It's a question he learned through therapy after a series of panic attacks and a sabbatical made him realize he was headed into a very big quitting story. You know I love a quitting story. For Jason, this one felt more like Owen Wilson's line in the Loki TV series: "Burn it to the ground." (Reference mine. I have no idea if Jason watched Loki.) Jason's story is heartbreaking and inspiring, and I love that it can be simplified to the gentle question we are allowed to ask ourselves: What do you want?

Chapters
2:16 Let's talk about fame
5:53 Jason Intro: Geography and Childhood
10:25 Music Interest or Identity?
35:01 Quitting
52:53 Therapy & Learning What You Want
1:14:09 Back to school + Running a Biz
1:25:06 Telling Our Stories and Showing Up
1:41:57 It Worked for Me

Links
h34contracting.com

Books discussed
Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives by Richard Swenson

The Emotionally Healthy Leader by Peter Scazzero

Music discussed
Prizefighter, Mumford & Sons (album)
Dan Fogelberg (artist)

I Do This For a Living is independently produced.

@serenitylive

Kristin Flannigan is a speech pathologist, living and working in California. It's a role that took her some time to identify. However, when she found it, she wondered if the career was made for her or if she was made for the career. Kristin loves fun and was always drawn to linguistics and to serving people. She learned the term Pura Vida on a trip to Costa Rica where she hopes to live or at least visit again one day. Pura Vida is a phrase that can mean a lot of things, and the sentiment seemed perfect for the title of this episode. Kristin followed her language interests through college but took a bit of a detour into administrative work before discovering the path to speech pathology. Her message in this episode is, "If you can be flexible, you can do whatever you want." Recently diagnosed with ADHD, Kristin is still learning about herself every day, giving the world's most healing hugs, and chasing Pura Vida. You're going to love this one.

Chapters

2:24 Who is Kristin? (And what makes the world's most healing hug)
8:19 Discovering ADHD and how to manage it
30:23 Early understanding of work
35:34 The path to speech pathology
1:13:29 Work wishes
1:17:30 If you're flexible, you can do anything you want
1:24:14 It worked for me

I Do This For a Living is independently produced.

@serenitylive

Please welcome Valerie Peavler to I Do This for a Living. Valerie has a confident recommendation for how NOT to choose a major. She is a consummate planner but learned early in her career that plans can change. Her advice is about how allowing those changes can help you grow and get you where you really want to be. Her story took her from exercise science to cardiac rehab and finally to the photography company where she works today. For a person who needs a plan, Valerie has an inspiring contentment with life exactly as it is - changes and all. Her story is relatable, comforting, and promising as she finds herself in a company unmatched for its positive work culture and intentional values.

Chapters
6:21 Who is Valerie?
16:43 Childhood plans
20:30 How (NOT) to choose a major
26:48 Cardiac Rehab to Photography
39:39 Different work for different seasons
48:49 Work culture over following the plan
1:04:49 Getting intentional about getting together (It worked for me)

I Do This For a Living is independently produced.

@serenitylive

Today's guest is Nikki Corder. In twenty years of friendship, Nikki and Serenity have had many conversations about work, life, and what they dream. A lot of the time, their conversations are about learning to cope and adjust when it feels like life is nowhere near the dream. Their career paths are similarly winding for many reasons, but Nikki has learned a lot about her strengths and what she's good at, even if nobody's paying her for it. Serenity and Nikki talk generational stereotypes, Enneagram, and pop culture. In the end, Nikki shares her obsession in an "it worked for me" that's all about making time and space in our lives for reminders that the job does not define us.

Chapters
1:50 The kid years - wanting to be a teacher
6:56 Long-running daydream - wife and mom
16:27 Education decisions - Psychology vs. English
25:16 Wake-up call: the end of teaching
29:30 Job scrambling
40:19 Being a millennial in the workforce
44:56 Event planning (what it takes!)
51:07 Delightful obsessions
1:08:04 The endless possibilities game
1:12:00 When it's not what you dreamed but beautiful anyway
1:14:16 It Worked for Me

I Do This For a Living is independently produced.

@serenitylive

Simone Stolzoff is an author and journalist who explores big questions about work, meaning, and identity. A former design lead at the global innovation firm IDEO, he is the author of two bestselling books: The Good Enough Job and How To Not Know. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and on the TED stage. He lives in San Francisco with his wife and son.

Serenity has been following Simone since his first book. Many of the ideas behind I Do This for a Living were built on or enhanced by Simone's ideas about diversifying our identity beyond our careers. In this episode, she gets to ask him about the ideas and concepts that have helped her the most.

Where to find Simone
HowtoNotKnow.com or https://simonestolzoff.com/how-to-not-know

Chapters
5:02 The importance of asking, what do you like to do?
15:22 Making career decisions in a culture of abundance
20:33 Why does it feel like work is so much of our lives?
26:48 What is the good enough job?
37:23 Why work/art tension is not a problem to solve
44:38 How To Not Know
1:01:41 Choosing your burdens
1:04:47 It worked for me

I Do This For a Living is independently produced.

@serenitylive

Maureen Yaconis had a career in hospitality when COVID practically collapsed the industry. After a year or so out of work, Maureen found her way into market research. Today, she runs her own business and manages multiple income streams. Maureen has a question-everything approach to work. She loves identifying better processes and more efficient ways of working, and she does not hesitate to implement them. She is passionate about empowering women and always learning. Maureen also has an awesome wish for the next generation about choosing work they love.

02:28 From hospitality to market research
14:28 A quitting story
15:42 Not really understanding work as a child (ah, bliss)
19:16 A college story
32:06 Work archetypes and questioning everything
43:17 Work philosophy and lifelong learning
49:42 Starting a women-owned business
53:01 What is a business operations architect?
59:06 Women: Be Empowered
1:08:00 Hobby time
1:13:34 Making decisions (if it's not hell yes, it's no)
1:18:42 A wish for the next generation (do what you want!)
1:25:19 It worked for me

Maureen's business: www.unparalleledmrs.com

Mia Poppe, Esq. law firm: https://www.miapoppe.com
Coaching community: mc2lifecoaching.com

Sign up to be a guest: serenitybohon.com/guest
Newsletter: serenitybohon.substack.com

I Do This For a Living is independently produced.

@serenitylive

Meet Ashley Rott-Nettleton, Serenity's market research mentor and forever friend. Ashley leveraged a financial layoff (from a company that still desperately wanted to work with her) by starting her own biz! Now she has that client plus many others, is her own boss, and will "never go back." Ashley tells you how it's done (even when you're risk-averse!), and she and Serenity talk about work philosophy, negotiating for your worth, and never apologizing.

Chapters
7:37 Serenity's day job (finally!) or what is market research?
9:57 Participating in market research (it's not a side hustle)
13:59 Serenity's start in market research/meeting Ashley
20:47 When the workload fluctuates
24:25 The near impossibility of saying no in client services
28:09 Convincing experts that market research is legit
32:41 How to find remote jobs
40:46 One thing about Ashley's work that matters
45:24 Thank a business you love! Write a review
48:51 Ashley's quitting story
53:44 Salary negotiating - Ashley's story
56:20 Never again (insisting on the work-life balance you value)
1:01:04 From layoff to starting a business
1:08:51 Even the risk-averse can do it!
1:12:42 Is starting a business for you?
1:17:20 Work philosophy (do what you love vs. make enough for a life you love )
1:21:47 Work with Ashley!
1:24:32 It worked for me (a request)
1:29:12 Stop apologizing at work

Links
Sign up for Ashley's panel to get paid for your opinions: https://insightrecruit.com/join-our-panel/

Hire Ashley to recruit for you: https://insightrecruit.com/services/
Ashley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/insightrecruit/

FlexJobs: https://www.flexjobs.com/lp/remote-jobs1 (linger on the site for a while, then hover over the X to close it, and it might offer a discount)

HireMyMom: https://www.hiremymom.com/

Serenity's sarcastic blog post about starting a business to crush your dreams: https://www.serenitybohon.com/blog/think-again

I Do This For a Living is independently produced.

@serenitylive