What does it actually take to build a life and a business that are actually yours, not just impressive on paper?

Jen Baxter has rebuilt her career three times: eight years in health insurance, a job in book publishing that ended on a Zoom call, and now her own business helping nonfiction authors build their audience on Substack.

Along the way she's had to figure out what stability even means when the ground keeps shifting, how AI upended the copywriting world she'd just landed in, and why the version of herself she'd been performing for everyone else wasn't actually who she was.

We talk about the pause that comes before every real reinvention, the martyr role she played for years without knowing it had a name, what it means to build something creatively instead of just profitably, and the identity work she didn't know she needed.

If you've ever felt the quiet tug of "maybe there's something else," this conversation is for you.

🔗 Get clarity on your own next move: beldenstrategies.com/clarityconsult

What You'll Learn
⭐ Why "stability" doesn't mean what it used to
⭐ How to recognize when you're playing a role nobody actually asked you to play
⭐ Why the pause before your next chapter is the work, not a delay from it
⭐ How to know when you're building a business that's actually yours versus one that's just familiar
⭐ Why creative fulfillment matters as much as the financial plan
⭐ How to do the identity work that actually changes what you're capable of building

Key Insights

Stability Isn't What It Used to Be
After watching her company collapse on a Zoom call, Jen realized chasing a "stable" job might be riskier than building her own thing. The old rules about safety don't hold the way they used to.

The Pause Isn't Empty. It's Where the Choosing Happens
Jen didn't rush back into stability after either major life disruption. She let herself stop, even when stopping felt like falling behind, because moving forward without first asking what she actually wanted would have just rebuilt the same life again.

The Martyr Role Often Gets Praised Right Into Place
Jen spent years as the one who "had it handled" while caretaking for sick parents — a role she didn't choose so much as absorb, partly because the people around her kept thanking her for carrying it.

Building a Business Creatively Matters as Much as Building It Profitably
Jen realized she'd been setting up her work to protect the parts that feel creatively alive to her, not just the parts that are easiest to scale. That distinction, more than any strategy, is what makes the business sustainable for her.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro: meet Jen, three careers and three reinventions in
03:12 The Zoom call layoff that changed everything
08:18 How AI upended the copywriting job market overnight
09:58 What "stability" even means anymore
13:00 The power of the pause
18:51 Bali: realizing it's a choice, not a sentence
21:09 The uncoiling — letting go of who you had to be
24:00 The martyr role nobody asked her to play
27:43 Learning to live — and build a business — creatively
36:07 What is your "enough"?
37:47 Oxford, writing, and the identity she almost missed
44:17 NLP, belief work, and the fear of being left behind
53:17 The legacy question

Resources and Links

Find host Kristin Belden on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinbelden/
Or at https://www.BeldenStrategies.com

Sign up for Kristin's newsletter Big Deal Energy: https://www.BeldenStrategies.com/newsletter

Connect with Jen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenbaxter/

Sign up for her Substack: https://jenbaxter.substack.com/

If this conversation resonated, share it with someone who needed to hear it, and consider leaving a review. It helps more women find these conversations!

#careerchange #careerreinvention #womeninmidlife #permissiontochooseyourself #burnoutrecovery #creativeentrepreneurship #midlifecareerpivot #womenleadership #buildingyourownbusiness #substackstrategy #aiandwork #womeninbusiness #legacy #over40 #kindofabigdeal #kristinbelden