170: {Sassy Solo} You are capable of more than you know

Have you ever felt stuck? Either professionally or personally? Yeah, I have too. And today's episode I'm here to be your hype girl when it comes to making the pivot. As someone who has made lots of pivots, it's normal to feel the urge to do something else when maybe you've been in a career or been doing the same thing at home for a long period of time. And when we think about making our next move, it always seems so scary. If any of this resonates with you, you are not alone! 

takeaways

• Start taking action even if you don't have all the skills.
• Embrace the messy process of learning and growth.
• Focus on serving your audience and staying true to your values.
• Comparison is the thief of joy; focus on your journey.
• You are capable of more than you think.

Transcript

Caroline Pennington (00:00.618)
Alright today I want to jump on the mic and talk about something that keeps coming up in conversations I've been having with women over and over and over again, and I don't know if you're like me I turned 39 in December of last year and in my former career as a recruiter headhunter I felt like after doing it for 15 years I had mastered the craft so if you're sitting there and you feel similar like maybe you've been in a career for 10 15 20 years and you're like I got this I'm not learning and growing anymore

and you're getting the itch, you want to start something different, that's completely normal and okay. This actually started heading with me and that voice inside of me started really rearing its loud head and probably my mid thirties, which is one of the reasons I started this podcast here. And so my encouragement to you is if you have that voice inside of you, in the pit of your stomach that keeps on coming up in your mind, in your head over and over and over again.

Don't ignore it because by the way, it'll just keep getting louder and louder. And that's what happened for me when I was a recruiter headhunter. I love my job. I was working at the absolute highest level and I knew I wanted to use my same skills that I had in that role to do something different, which is the reason behind you starting this podcast, which I had literally no clue what I was doing. I knew that I was a great interviewer because I had done that for 15 years.

And at that time I was operating at the C-suite level recruiting C-suite candidates. So I knew no matter what the guest qualifications or caliber or personality was or whatever, I could handle it in an interview. And so I wanted to take those same skills from recruiting and headhunting and use them for podcasting. So I had already come 50 % of the way, I had 50 % of what was needed to have a successful podcast, which was the interviewing skills.

And by the way, if you don't have interviewing skills, that's 100 % okay too. For those of you listening, my solo podcasts pop off three X what my interviews do. So, and actually my solo podcasts are uncomfortable for me because I'm, I was used to interviewing people for a living. I was used to doing that for 15 years and so for me to jump on the mic, even now, after three years later doing this, I still get uncomfortable these solo podcasts. So here I am.

Caroline Pennington (02:26.828)
I committed in 2026 to showing up for more solo sassy podcasts. And my message to you today is if you want to start something or do a pivot in your career and maybe you have some of the skills or maybe you have none of the skills, that's completely okay. I had no clue what I was doing, especially when it came to the tech stuff, when it came to podcasting, I had no clue what I was doing with editing. I had no budget to outsource this. I had to figure it out on my own.

But y'all, what used to take me three hours to do takes me less than five minutes now. So my point to you is just start learning and growing and you will start to feel so much more fulfillment and purpose in your life and your relationships and everything that you're doing, the things that you talk about. Don't let anybody derail that or dim your light because you have a gift. Every single one of you listening to this podcast has a gift.

And you just have to start working towards it every single day. And maybe you're like me and you're like in a mood sometimes or didn't sleep well or you know, sideways, a family member, whatever, fill the blank. We all have those issues too. And again, even if it's small, taking small action, take small action every single day. And you may sit there thinking like, okay, well, I don't know how to do whatever fill in the blank that I want to do. Guess what? When I started Chilled Vino,

the wine product that I invented, I also literally had no clue what I was doing. I just started taking action and stepped towards making it happen. The same thing with this podcast, okay? My point is, one of my favorite books I've ever read is by Marie Folio. I don't know if you follow her or know of her, but if you don't, go follow her online, read her book. She has a great book out there called, Everything is Figureoutable.

And I love that because I agree with that 1 million percent. And all we have to do is start making the effort, taking the actions. And guess what? It's messy for every single person. It's messy for every single one of us. So don't compare your journey now in day one to someone who's been doing it a year, two years, three years, five years, because comparison is truly the thief of joy. And just do yourself a favor and don't even go there. And I know it's hard.

Caroline Pennington (04:52.746)
I find myself in that trap sometimes too of comparing myself to some of these really large podcast guests who have these massive programs and sponsorships and downloads and all the things. But I find when I come back to my podcast, my core, my values, my audience, and actually focus on serving them and continuing to learn and grow about what you guys want to hear from me, what you guys want to listen to, how I can best support you as a podcast host.

that has been the ultimate fulfillment. So whatever it is you have on your heart that you wanna start, start learning and growing, you will feel so much more fulfillment and purpose in your life as a human being by doing that than I can ever put words to. And yes, it takes time, yes, it takes effort, but is it anything worth doing, taking time and effort out of your life?

I mean, raising kids, taking care of other people or sick or elderly, starting a new business, learning a new skill, going back to school, all those things that are major milestones in our lives that really move the needle for us, they all take time and effort. And guess what? It's okay. You will look back after taking steps in the right direction for your journey and be so proud of yourself. And that feeling is just, I can't even put words to it. So.

My point here is you're capable of more than you think that you are. You just have to start. And those are the barriers that hold most people back as they think, cause they're not an expert at XYZ. They can't do it. And that's not true. I was not an expert at podcasting when I started this journey either. Now three years later I am, but I'm completely self-taught. And if I can do this, you can do this too. So thanks for listening. I appreciate you. Don't forget to share and subscribe.