New Book Offers An Honest And Humorous Look At The Career Transition To Entrepreneurship
Gisele Aubin offers an honest look at what it means to change careers in midlife and how she personally found her own happiness. “In Transit” is not your typical step-by-step guide to success, but instead offers a realistic, emotional, and ultimately messy but satisfying story of how one woman discovered what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. And readers will find empathy, hope, and ideas for advancing their own careers in these pages.
Gisele Aubin is a woman after my own heart. She has known the stress of the corporate world, and when her job came to an end, instead of feeling discouraged and jobless, she saw it as an opportunity to take a year off from work and instead spend the time reinventing herself, trying to figure out if she wanted to continue in the corporate world or become a freelancer. At first, she didn’t know what she would do if she became an entrepreneur: what kind of business could she start herself? And a few times, she was inclined to return to a regular job as different opportunities arose, but each time, she felt her spirit rise against the idea, so she continued with her transition to self-employment, or as she calls it, “you’re-on-your-own-and-good-luck with that!”
Anyone who has worked in the corporate world knows the stress it can cause, the demands coming from all directions, and the general insanity of it all. Although I never had a job like Gisele’s, where she had to travel a lot, I could completely relate to her constant frustration of trying to communicate with people in a world that never stops communicating:
“Long flights are the best. I move completely away from the cabin around me and bring my screen closer. That four and a half hours in the air is like eight in the office. Where else can you afford to be protected from endless phone calls, emails, instant messages and any other way people can communicate with you? The day mobile phones and Internet access are allowed on all flights will be the day I stop traveling, I hope.”
Also, Gisele’s corporate life was so busy and travel-filled that she rarely had time for herself. She admits that she hardly has any personal life or emotion, always keeping sadness at bay with humor, as when she comments that “You know you’re in dire need of a life when emotion is a salad in an airport terminal.” Even her weekends were packed with work:
“I never, ever caught up unless I was playing by myself while no one else was. The only time to get ahead was the weekend or the middle of the night. Then, of course, I could have won the make-up game that day, but I lost on other fronts like sleep, relationships and health, just to name a few.”
And then the company she works for is suddenly sold, giving her the choice to stay at the new company or the chance to choose unemployment, or rather a sabbatical to rediscover herself and transition to self-employment. Choosing the latter, Gisele re-cultivates her relationship with her boyfriend, travels to Europe, takes classes, and remembers what it’s like to just have fun again, like when she and her sister surprise their parents by showing up to breakfast in their pajamas, and finally figures out what she wants the rest of her work and personal life to look like.
Watching Gisele go through this transition was fascinating to me. After her years in the corporate world, she was something of an adrenaline junkie, and she constantly refers to the hamster in her brain that doesn’t stop but she always needs to be busy, planning, scheduling, figuring out what’s next. She knows that she needs to learn to relax and stay in the moment, but like most of us, this is easier said than done, which is why I and so many others will identify with her story.
Many books have been written on how to become an entrepreneur and build your own business from scratch, but few discuss it from a personal perspective. “In Transit” is more like business therapy where we get to see a woman’s daily frustrations and emotions during her career transition, almost like we’re watching a reality show about becoming an entrepreneur. Gisele takes it all with courage and a good sense of humor that will leave readers laughing at her, relating to her, and ultimately feeling motivated to follow her own dreams.
If you’re ready to make the leap into self-employment or any other major change in your life, you’ll find in these pages a kindred spirit who understands where you are, where you want to go, even if you’re not, and who can show you how you managed to get there. Get ready for a career and an experience that will change your life.